Juno News - December 08, 2018


The True North Report： There is an existential crisis in Alberta


Episode Stats

Length

23 minutes

Words per Minute

170.689

Word Count

4,029

Sentence Count

244

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

In this episode of the True North Initiative podcast, Candice Malmquist talks about what's going on in Alberta, the economic engine of Canada, and why it's time for the rest of the country to pay attention to what's happening in Alberta.


Transcript

00:00:00.760 Hi, we're live.
00:00:01.760 I'm Candice Malcolm with the True North Initiative, coming to you live this Friday afternoon,
00:00:06.320 Friday evening.
00:00:07.320 Hope everyone is getting ready for a great weekend coming up.
00:00:12.360 And I think there's a lot to talk about.
00:00:13.760 I've been going all week, really strong writing about this ridiculous United Nations Compact
00:00:18.680 on Migration.
00:00:19.680 I've already done a live video on that and have three columns written, so make sure to
00:00:24.680 check those out.
00:00:25.680 Lots of criticisms, not just about the disastrous UN Compact itself, not just about the Canadian
00:00:32.520 government, the Trudeau government, insisting on ramming this through without any kind of
00:00:36.600 a public debate, but also the media and the way that they are engaging in the sort of politics
00:00:43.080 and mudslinging, trying to discredit people who are concerned about this compact.
00:00:48.200 So there's a lot to unpack there, which I think we've done in great detail today.
00:00:52.640 I want to focus on something entirely different, entirely different.
00:00:57.300 And that is what's going on in Alberta, the economic engine of Canada.
00:01:02.380 There's something that is going on that I think is being missed in the rest of the country.
00:01:07.200 Every time I talk to Albertans, I've been, I visited Alberta five or six times this year.
00:01:11.520 I was just in Edmonton a couple of weeks ago.
00:01:14.260 Every time I'm up there, I hear an increasing frustration from people, literally all walks
00:01:21.020 of life.
00:01:22.020 The richest person I know, and the guy that's serving to importance, or the people who work
00:01:32.860 part time, or young people, or people who are struggling, people who are out of work.
00:01:37.020 Every walk of life, you hear the same kind of things.
00:01:40.260 It's not just about the oil.
00:01:42.260 It's not just about, you know, record high unemployment or record low crude oil prices.
00:01:48.140 There's something more, and I've touched on this a little bit in past columns.
00:01:52.260 I think that there is sort of frustration that isn't being addressed at all.
00:01:58.580 I've heard more and more people talking about Alberta leaving the country, Alberta leaving
00:02:03.260 Canada, Alberta joining the United States.
00:02:05.260 Those kind of really, you know, ideas that are pretty fringe, breaking up Canada over,
00:02:11.260 you know, sort of trivial conservative versus liberal disputes.
00:02:16.260 But, you know, I think that when you have that level of frustration, just feeling like
00:02:20.260 there's nothing that can be done, that your values, and that your views, and that you as
00:02:24.380 a person, as a Canadian, you're not being respected or listened to.
00:02:29.260 That frustration is really bubbling over, and that's really what I have been seeing.
00:02:34.260 I've been seeing a lot of it on social media, hearing from a lot of you guys, followers on
00:02:39.260 social media, readers of my columns in the Toronto Sun, hearing it a lot.
00:02:44.260 And it's pretty disconcerting.
00:02:46.260 I think that the rest of the country should listen up and pay a little bit closer attention
00:02:52.260 to those concerns.
00:02:53.260 So, you know, you guys all know the background.
00:02:58.260 Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government have a clear agenda, a pretty clear agenda when
00:03:03.260 it comes to energy, when it comes to oil.
00:03:05.260 We've seen literally pipeline after pipeline, there's been four pipelines that the Trudeau
00:03:10.260 government has had a hand in blocking.
00:03:13.260 There has been, I mean, they imposed carbon taxes, and the whole idea behind selling this
00:03:18.260 carbon tax scheme was to build some kind of social license so that Canadians would sign
00:03:24.260 off on allowing Alberta to continue to develop and sell its natural resources.
00:03:29.260 That was a lie.
00:03:30.260 That didn't happen at all.
00:03:32.260 There's also plenty of other evidence that the Trudeau Liberal government is intentionally
00:03:39.260 punishing Albertans, punishing Alberta workers.
00:03:42.260 You had a story when Trudeau was first elected, they moved a major federal immigration processing
00:03:47.260 office out of Vegreville.
00:03:49.260 They moved it away from a, you know, Vegreville is a small town in sort of northeastern Alberta.
00:03:56.260 And this immigration processing center was the largest employer in this town.
00:04:01.260 And the Trudeau government just literally moved it to a different part of Alberta that
00:04:06.260 was a liberal riding.
00:04:07.260 And that kind of intentional sort of just, you know, to spite these people that voted conservative,
00:04:13.260 we're going to move this to like one of the few little liberal pockets of Alberta.
00:04:17.260 There was another news story that came out today that was sort of similar that the, let
00:04:23.260 me pull it up here because I don't want to get it wrong, but that the government was moving
00:04:29.260 a military, I mean, let me just pull it up here because I don't want to get the facts wrong.
00:04:36.260 Here, just one second.
00:04:41.260 Anyway, you know, once again, moving jobs, intentionally moving jobs out of Alberta.
00:04:46.260 And, you know, these are, these are, it's pretty, you know, adding insult to injury when the economy
00:04:53.260 is just doing so terrible.
00:04:54.260 So here it is.
00:04:55.260 The feds to move military aircraft training from Alberta to Ottawa.
00:05:00.260 So there's about 188 personnel for the Canadian Forces.
00:05:06.260 Well, they're not going to stay in Alberta anymore.
00:05:09.260 Trudeau is going to move it out, move it out of Alberta, bring it to Ottawa.
00:05:14.260 And, you know, when, you know, whenever there's a story of job losses in Quebec or Ontario,
00:05:20.260 Trudeau is there, you know, pledging and promising to do whatever he can to keep those jobs.
00:05:26.260 And, you know, tens of thousands of jobs have disappeared from Alberta.
00:05:29.260 Trudeau kind of pats those people on the head and says, they're there, no big deal.
00:05:34.260 You know, it's all part of Trudeau's vision of sort of a post fossil fuel economy,
00:05:42.260 which, you know, anyone who has any sense of realistic outlook
00:05:47.260 on what's happening in the world knows that we're not there yet.
00:05:50.260 And Trudeau wants to be the one that's sort of leading Canada that.
00:05:54.260 So I think the latest, most patronizing thing that Trudeau said,
00:05:59.260 he did this interview with CBC's Rosemary Barton.
00:06:03.260 And he talks about, you know, she kind of pushes him a little bit, a little bit.
00:06:08.260 I'm going to play the clip here.
00:06:09.260 And you'll see what he says.
00:06:12.260 On Sunday, the Alberta Premier announced a steady reduction on oil production
00:06:15.260 to deal with these historic low prices in Alberta.
00:06:18.260 She's also buying rail cars to try and find more ways out.
00:06:21.260 The Premier is concerned about the short term,
00:06:23.260 and that's why she's doing these things right now.
00:06:25.260 What have you offered to her?
00:06:27.260 What can you do for, you know, tens of thousands of people laid off in that sector now?
00:06:32.260 Is there anything you can do?
00:06:33.260 We are absolutely looking at the tools we have around EI.
00:06:36.260 We're looking at the tools we have around income support.
00:06:39.260 We've done a number of things around that, around situations in the past,
00:06:43.260 and we're going to continue to do that.
00:06:44.260 And I'm also willing, of course, to sit down with Premier Notley
00:06:48.260 and hear about how the federal government can be a partner in solving this.
00:06:52.260 But she told you she wanted you to buy rail cars, for instance.
00:06:55.260 You know, that's something we're happy to look at if that's a proposal that she thinks is going to be.
00:07:01.260 All right. So, EI and income support.
00:07:04.260 The Prime Minister of Canada wants to put Albertans on welfare.
00:07:07.260 You know, after all he's done to contribute to the job losses,
00:07:11.260 to contribute to the downward decline of that entire industry in the province.
00:07:15.260 The province, by the way, that has long been the economic engine of Canada.
00:07:19.260 You know, Trudeau and these Liberals and these central Canadian elites
00:07:21.260 are more than happy to take transfer payments from the provinces.
00:07:25.260 People who don't know how this works, every province, there's this concept in Canada
00:07:29.260 that every province should deliver the same types of social services and welfare services,
00:07:35.260 regardless of their own income in their province.
00:07:38.260 So we have these transfer schemes.
00:07:40.260 Every single year since the creation of this project, of this program,
00:07:44.260 Albertans have been shifting money to other provinces, to have-not provinces.
00:07:49.260 So provinces across the country that have been economic basket cases
00:07:53.260 that have driven their provinces into the ground,
00:07:55.260 that have contributed to job losses and unemployment,
00:07:58.260 those provinces get rewarded through these ridiculous transfer payments.
00:08:02.260 It's always Alberta.
00:08:03.260 Alberta's the one province that's always been half province,
00:08:05.260 that's always transferred funds.
00:08:07.260 So these other actors across the country, provincial premiers, Liberals in Ottawa,
00:08:12.260 have always been more than happy to take that money and use it for their generous welfare states,
00:08:17.260 use it for free healthcare and universal education and all these programs across the country
00:08:23.260 that's funded by Alberta because of the entrepreneurial and economic spirit in Alberta,
00:08:29.260 because of the diversity and because of the money that is made in that province,
00:08:36.260 the entrepreneurialness.
00:08:38.260 That's why we have such a rich country, that's why we're able to have such generous welfare programs
00:08:45.260 that they don't have in other countries because of Alberta.
00:08:47.260 So these people are more than happy to take that money while dismissing Albertans,
00:08:52.260 while making disparaging comments against them, while putting them down,
00:08:55.260 insulting them, failing to respect them, and then, you know, purposefully undermining their industry.
00:09:02.260 And now we've hit this point where it's a crisis, and the response is,
00:09:05.260 oh, we'll increase their welfare payments.
00:09:07.260 We'll send them more EI, which is employment insurance.
00:09:11.260 Like, what an insult.
00:09:12.260 That's not what Albertans want.
00:09:13.260 Albertans want to go to work.
00:09:15.260 They don't want to be on welfare like the rest of the country.
00:09:17.260 And so it's incredibly condescending for Trudeau to say that.
00:09:22.260 And then, you know, the other issue they're talking about with the rail cars there,
00:09:25.260 that's a temporary solution, saying, you know, we're not going to let you build your pipelines
00:09:30.260 to get your product to market, but we'll let you temporarily use rail cars,
00:09:34.260 which in most studies that look at the comparison between oil and rail cars
00:09:41.260 know that rail cars are far less efficient, they're far more dangerous,
00:09:44.260 they have a higher environmental footprint.
00:09:46.260 Pipelines are the best way to ship oil, the safest way, the most environmentally friendly way.
00:09:51.260 Buying rail cars is fine as a band-aid solution while you wait to get real pipelines built,
00:09:57.260 but it's not an actual solution.
00:09:59.260 So even what Rachel Notley is advocating isn't that great.
00:10:03.260 I mean, it's better than nothing, I guess, but it's not that great.
00:10:06.260 And then Trudeau sort of dismissively saying, sure, we'll give them welfare.
00:10:11.260 Sure, we'll give them some rail cars for now if that's what they want,
00:10:15.260 while continuing to block the pipelines.
00:10:18.260 You know, he could do a lot of things.
00:10:20.260 He could appeal the Trans Mountain Pipeline decision.
00:10:23.260 He could declare that that project's in the national interest.
00:10:26.260 Same with the Energy East project, he didn't do that.
00:10:28.260 Instead, he brought in these new laws, Bill C-69,
00:10:32.260 which brings in that ridiculous gender-based analysis clause.
00:10:38.260 It'll basically mean that no pipeline will ever be built again in Canada.
00:10:42.260 You guys probably saw this clip of him down in Argentina.
00:10:46.260 Just an absolute idiot talking about how construction workers have a negative impact on rural women
00:10:54.260 because these construction workers are mostly men.
00:10:56.260 I mean, that's about as insulting to Western Canadian working men as you can get to imply that what?
00:11:03.260 That they're sexual predators? That they're going into rural areas and wreaking havoc on the women?
00:11:09.260 I think that's one of the most insulting things that Trudeau has ever said.
00:11:15.260 And again, you know, when I read the posts that folks from Alberta put, when I talk to friends,
00:11:20.260 when I go visit, you know, go to conferences and go to events and that kind of thing.
00:11:25.260 I spoke at the University of Alberta a couple weeks ago.
00:11:28.260 The thing that I hear from Albertans is just a total, total frustration.
00:11:32.260 And I find it, it's sad, it's interesting, but recall that when Justin Trudeau,
00:11:40.260 before he became Prime Minister, when he was just an opposition MP and the leader of the Liberal Party,
00:11:46.260 he used to get himself into a lot of trouble because he had really controversial positions when it comes to Canadian unity,
00:11:54.260 when it comes to recognizing especially the value of having Western Canada as being part of Canada.
00:12:03.260 Like I think Trudeau's Canada kind of like ends like somewhere like just west of Toronto.
00:12:09.260 That's like, that's like where the end of Trudeau's, that's the end of Trudeau's Canada.
00:12:14.260 And so back in 2012, he got himself into a scandal because in 2010,
00:12:20.260 he had been a guest on a French language radio program where he said that Canada was suffering
00:12:31.260 because Albertan politicians were in charge of the country.
00:12:35.260 And he argued that Canada is always better off when Quebecers are running the country.
00:12:41.260 So he says it in French, so I don't have the clip.
00:12:44.260 But this is the news story about it from back in 2012.
00:12:50.260 Trudeau campaign forced to address 2010 comments on Alberta.
00:12:54.260 Now I know, you know, that's almost 10 years ago, people's views change.
00:12:58.260 So I'm not saying that Trudeau feels this exact same way today.
00:13:02.260 I think that people, that we, that we should give people room to, to change and mend their views.
00:13:07.260 I think that the whole debate that's happening right now over the Oscars and them canning Kevin Hart,
00:13:13.260 who was supposed to be the host over things that he had tweeted like a decade ago is silly.
00:13:18.260 That said, I don't think that Trudeau's views have really changed.
00:13:22.260 I think that this still really represents what he's saying.
00:13:24.260 And, you know, it's telling, I'll explain why.
00:13:27.260 So he says, you know, that's, that's what he used to look like with the November, November beard, mustache growing there.
00:13:34.260 Anyway, he says, Canada isn't doing well right now because it's Albertans who control our community and our socio democratic agenda.
00:13:42.260 It doesn't work.
00:13:44.260 It just doesn't work when Albertans are in charge.
00:13:46.260 Forget about the fact that when Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who's the Albertan that Trudeau hates.
00:13:52.260 Forget about the fact that when he was Prime Minister, we had a booming economy.
00:13:56.260 We had the world's richest middle class.
00:13:58.260 We had, you know, low unemployment.
00:14:01.260 Forget about all that stuff.
00:14:02.260 Trudeau thought that it just didn't work when there were Albertans in charge.
00:14:06.260 He said that he thought that Canada was better served when there were more Quebecers in charge than Albertans.
00:14:14.260 And he laughed.
00:14:15.260 He said, I'm a liberal.
00:14:16.260 So, of course, I think so.
00:14:17.260 Yeah, you can certainly look at the great prime ministers of the 20th century.
00:14:21.260 Who does he name?
00:14:22.260 His own dad, of course, as well as Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien, and Paul Martin.
00:14:27.260 Right.
00:14:28.260 Those were the best prime ministers of the century, according to Trudeau.
00:14:32.260 So, anyway, he was taking a shot at conservatives, but there was something a little deeper than just taking a shot at conservatives.
00:14:38.260 He was really, he was talking about Albertans.
00:14:40.260 He was saying that there was something that was un-Canadian about Trudeau, you know, just completely arrogant and out of touch with Western Canadians.
00:14:48.260 And I think that same sentiment is alive and well when you hear comments like Trudeau saying that essentially rural construction workers are sexual predators.
00:14:58.260 I mean, that just shows a sort of disdain for working Canadians, for Western Canadians, for Canadians working in the energy and the oil and gas industry specifically,
00:15:08.260 because that's sort of what he's hinting at there.
00:15:10.260 Now, Trudeau apologized.
00:15:13.260 So, these comments were made in 2010, then in 2012 he was running for the leader of the Liberal Party and he apologized.
00:15:20.260 He said that that wasn't really what he meant and that he's apologizing.
00:15:24.260 Okay, fair enough.
00:15:26.260 But then, a few months later, also in 2012, Justin Trudeau made another comment about Albertans.
00:15:36.260 He said that he would be for Quebec separating from Canada if Stephen Harper continued to be in charge.
00:15:45.260 In a 16-minute radio interview on Radio Canada, which is French CBC, he said this.
00:15:52.260 He said, I always say if at a certain point, if I believe that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper, maybe I would think about wanting to make Quebec its own country.
00:16:04.260 So, once again, you know, Stephen Harper, conservative values, if you have those, if you're from Alberta, Trudeau said he would actually consider wanting to make Quebec its own country.
00:16:18.260 So, he listed a couple specific examples of the values that he thought were the un-Canadian values, going against abortion, going against gay marriage, going backwards in 10,000 different ways.
00:16:32.260 Well, I mean, it's interesting because it's not like Stephen Harper actually banned abortion or banned gay marriage.
00:16:39.260 Both of those things were completely legal and accessible throughout all of Stephen Harper's time as Prime Minister, even when he had a majority.
00:16:47.260 And there's not really evidence that he actually had strong positions on those two issues.
00:16:51.260 Anyway, Trudeau kind of made a caricature of Alberta values or of conservative values.
00:16:58.260 And he said, if that is the, if those values are represented in the Canadian government, then Quebec, then he could understand Quebec not wanting to be a part of that, which is about as divisive as a comment as you can make.
00:17:13.260 If you imagine, like, what is it that makes Canada a country? What is it that makes us united?
00:17:17.260 And you say, you know, if there's these two or three social issues that I don't agree with, that become a law, then I just don't want any part of Canada.
00:17:24.260 Forget the entire experiment. Forget the 150 years of history of history that we've had together.
00:17:30.260 Forget about the wars that we fought, the people who came to this country, you know, when there was nothing here, when it was just completely barren land.
00:17:39.260 And who, you know, developed this country, who suffered through cold winters, who built our cities, who built our country.
00:17:46.260 Forget about all that. If, if, if my position when it comes to abortion isn't the rule of the land, then I don't want, I don't want anything to do with Canada.
00:17:57.260 I don't want anything to do with this country anymore. I think that's a really superficial and very weak understanding of Canada.
00:18:04.260 Again, you know, Trudeau apologized and he said that he was sorry and that he didn't mean it.
00:18:10.260 So you can take that for what it is. Maybe he was taken out of context or maybe he doesn't believe that.
00:18:18.260 But then, you know, when you look at what's happening today and all this trouble in Alberta, all these feelings that people have about not being respected
00:18:26.260 and not being included in the conversation and being intentionally, you know, excluded or put down or, you know, having your industry taken away from you,
00:18:36.260 having all the opportunities, you know, that you had growing up, maybe not being able to give that to your children or knowing that, you know, your sons or your children, your daughters
00:18:45.260 aren't going to have the same kind of opportunities and prosperity that you have because there's a government on the other side of the country that just loads you,
00:18:53.260 that doesn't believe that your industry should exist and is doing their best through public policy to basically suffocate you and suffocate your industry.
00:19:03.260 I mean, that's a pretty tough pill to swallow. I have a column coming up on this this weekend. It'll come out in the sun.
00:19:17.260 And, you know, I think that there's something really sad that's happening in Canada.
00:19:23.260 Like I said, I've been hearing from so many people about this sort of new movement or sentiments anyway,
00:19:30.260 that Albertans are just frustrated. They're feeling alienated.
00:19:33.260 I think Charles Adler, who's a radio host and a legend in Canada, he sort of captured this.
00:19:41.260 Let me show some of his tweets. This was a couple days ago. I think he raised a really good point here.
00:19:48.260 So this is Charles Adler on Twitter. He says, Alberta has an 8.2% unemployment. Massively uncomfortable question.
00:19:58.260 What do you think the rate would be if Alberta was a U.S. state?
00:20:02.260 I mean, it's kind of a sad question. It's a good question. He says that, you know, if Alberta were a state,
00:20:09.260 it would be the superstar, the Connor McDavid of state economies, if the governments and the courts weren't albatrosses around the necks of Albertans.
00:20:17.260 He says, how can you blame Albertans for looking at 8.2% unemployment, billions of dollars of investment they aren't getting,
00:20:23.260 and ask questions like, what are our options? Is there a better path forward?
00:20:27.260 Is there a powerful connection to Canada as much about our past than our future?
00:20:31.260 As a Canadian patriot, I wish I didn't have to ask these questions.
00:20:34.260 But, you know, they're fair questions. You look at the U.S., the economy is booming. Oil prices are high.
00:20:40.260 Unemployment is at the lowest it's been in three decades. I looked this up today.
00:20:44.260 North Dakota, which is also an oil producing state that's most probably similar to Alberta, their unemployment rate is 2.6%.
00:20:52.260 So 2.6% in the U.S. have got pipelines being built. There's no problems. You know, production is as high as ever.
00:20:59.260 And they've got 2.6% unemployment. Alberta, you know, just a couple hundred miles away, run by a different set of, you know,
00:21:10.260 government policies and ideals, and they have an 8.2% unemployment rate. That's devastating.
00:21:17.260 It's such a contrast. And it's so, you know, it's right there. That it's, you know, it's a question that's worth raising.
00:21:24.260 I don't agree. I think that Canada, again, is stronger together. I think we have this shared history that we've built something that's really amazing and unique in history.
00:21:34.260 And I don't think that we should abandon it. You know, my personally, my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents all fought in Canadian wars and wars to defend Canadian freedom.
00:21:46.260 So, you know, it's hard for me to imagine them, what the kind of sacrifice that they made, and then to turn around and say, well, you know what, Canada should split up and let's let Alberta go and let's join the U.S. or whatever.
00:21:58.260 You know, I don't think that that's the right approach. But at the same time, you just have to wonder, from an economic perspective, how different things would be if Canada were governed differently, if we had a different leader with a different philosophy.
00:22:15.260 And I think, you know, it's, it's pretty severe, it's sad that we have these massive swings, you know, where you have someone from Alberta leading the country, and, you know, the economic, the economy is strong.
00:22:27.260 But then you have people in Quebec who feel their values aren't represented. And then you have a Quebecer in charge, and maybe Quebecers do feel like they have their values represented, they have this, I mean, I don't think all Quebecers really do.
00:22:39.260 I don't think Trudeau is that popular in Quebec, but you know, liberals and leftists and feminists feel that Trudeau really embodies their worldview and their values.
00:22:48.260 And meanwhile, you know, the entire economy is going to hell. And Alberta is just sinking. And, you know, there's no, there's no light at the end of the tunnel, there's no end in sight.
00:23:00.260 And it's pretty devastating. I guess, I guess the light at the end of the tunnel could be the fact that there's an election coming up in less than a year.
00:23:10.260 So maybe that's some positive light. Anyway, I'm going to leave it at that, guys, I've got a Christmas party that I'm heading to tonight, my husband's work party.
00:23:21.260 They call it a holiday party, I call it a Christmas party. So anyways, have a wonderful, wonderful weekend.
00:23:27.260 Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas and excited. And I will be back again for another live video next week. So take care. Bye.