Juno News - Trudeau despises a free press

00:00:00.000 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Alberta again this week, and this time he took a few

00:00:04.380 minutes out of his schedule to meet with the Premier. However, that didn't stop him from

00:00:08.440 blacklisting the second most popular Conservative female in Alberta, yours truly, spent the day on

00:00:13.800 Wednesday trying to track the Prime Minister down, but was foiled at every turn by hotel staff,

00:00:19.840 by city police, the RCMP, and by weak-minded security at the Southern Alberta Institute of

00:00:25.420 Technology. To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister then addressed media about the importance

00:00:30.240 of a free press to hold officials to account. That's not the first time we've seen astonishing

00:00:36.440 levels of hypocrisy from the Prime Minister. Under his direction, independent reporters were

00:00:41.620 barred from his press conference, and then threatened with arrest for showing up. Fear of

00:00:47.740 free debate has rotted all of our institutions, and there's no one more afraid than the Prime

00:00:52.440 Minister himself. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:01:04.700 Taking a look at our first story here, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told Prime Minister Justin

00:01:09.440 Trudeau that cancelling the scheduled increase to the carbon tax would be a, quote, political win,

00:01:15.220 end quote, at a time when the Liberals desperately need one. The two leaders met in Calgary at the

00:01:20.780 Sheraton Hotel early on Wednesday morning, and although they attempted to keep that location

00:01:25.420 secret, you better believe I found them there. Justin Trudeau's polling numbers are in the toilet

00:01:30.460 nationwide, but especially in the West, and his recent trips to Alberta have attracted hordes of

00:01:35.960 protesters. In an exclusive interview with True North and the Counter Signal as she left the hotel to

00:01:40.900 return to Edmonton, Premier Smith told us that she urged Justin Trudeau to cancel the scheduled

00:01:46.580 increase to the carbon tax. Take a listen. And I also told him it'd be a political win if he

00:01:51.420 paused the increase in the carbon tax on April 1st. According to legacy media pool reporters who were

00:01:56.880 allowed in the room with Trudeau, the Prime Minister reminded Danielle Smith that as the carbon tax goes

00:02:02.840 up, so do rebates. The Trudeau government will be raising the carbon tax an additional 17 cents per

00:02:08.540 litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel, and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1st.

00:02:16.040 Seven premiers have called on the Prime Minister to cancel this increase. Meanwhile, Federal Conservative

00:02:21.340 Leader Pierre Polyev is calling on Canadians to protest the carbon tax outside of Liberal and NDP

00:02:26.820 MPs' offices. I asked Danielle Smith what she thinks about that. Take a listen.

00:02:31.540 Well, I'd have to say, I mean, we've got seven premiers now that have all asked for a pause.

00:02:35.300 And there's a reason for that, is that I think the Parliamentary Budget Office found that regardless

00:02:40.720 of the rebates, we're still paying more in the tax than any of us are getting back in the rebates.

00:02:44.640 People know that. They feel it. They're also seeing that that's having an impact on inflation.

00:02:49.040 And inflation is one of the reasons the Bank of Canada says that we can't see a reduction in

00:02:53.040 interest rates, which is hurting people when they go to renew their mortgage. So I do think it would

00:02:57.640 be a political win to say we're accomplishing enough with the tax at $60 per tonne. We don't need to

00:03:03.680 increase it anymore at this time. We have to be addressing affordability issues. So we'll see

00:03:09.300 whether it's the protests, whether it's the opposition leader, whether it's the premiers

00:03:13.180 weighing in on this will make a difference. Following his meeting with the Premier,

00:03:16.280 Trudeau headed to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, where he had a press conference.

00:03:20.680 Despite emailing the Prime Minister's office to register for accreditation the night before,

00:03:25.300 True North was not given access to the press conference. And when I showed up to ask

00:03:29.700 Justin Trudeau a question, state security asked me to leave or said I would be charged with

00:03:35.020 trespassing. It's very interesting that the school does not support journalists,

00:03:39.020 despite having a journalism program of its own.

00:03:48.320 At that press conference, Trudeau went on a tirade about how Canadians must reduce their emissions

00:03:57.900 and why the carbon tax is so important. Take a listen.

00:04:01.320 There are real challenges in the world right now. And one of the challenges everybody is seeing

00:04:07.960 is climate change. Alberta declared a start to its forest fire season in February this year.

00:04:16.440 We had one of the worst years for wildfires ever on top of some of the worst years for drugs,

00:04:22.460 floods and droughts in different parts of the country as well.

00:04:25.580 The impacts of climate change are real.

00:04:30.420 Okay, guys, moving on to our next story here. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appeared on Ryan

00:04:35.400 Jesperson's podcast this week, where he asked the Premier how she feels about the Red Deer Catholic

00:04:40.800 School Board banning the use of pronouns in staff emails and course outlines, as well as banning pride

00:04:48.060 flags. Here's what the Premier had to say about it.

00:04:50.680 I mean, look, we want to create safe and caring spaces for kids. We do. And we want kids

00:04:55.560 to be able to have the opportunity to talk to their friends, talk to a trusted teacher,

00:05:00.440 if they're having issues going through puberty, if they have same sex attraction, if they have gender

00:05:06.860 identity struggles. Those are important conversations to have. Where we are going is that when a child

00:05:16.620 makes the choice to come out to the school community, change their pronouns, change who they are,

00:05:22.520 you have to have parents included in that conversation. So I would say that perhaps

00:05:26.940 they're going in a direction that is inconsistent with what it is that we're trying to do. We want

00:05:33.080 to make sure that all kids feel safe. No one is outed. And that we have a process in place to help

00:05:41.040 kids as they're going through these struggles.

00:05:42.680 Okay, guys, it's finally happening. This is the story we've all been waiting for. Dippers across the 0.97

00:05:48.060 province are saying that they're preparing an exit strategy in case Daniel Smith remains

00:05:52.620 premier of the province. Let's take a look at this. Greg Coulahan, the former NDP MLA for Calgary

00:05:58.480 Klein posted on X this week saying, quote, anyone else talking to their kids about them having an

00:06:04.080 exit strategy out of Alberta, if it remains under Daniel Smith's control? Question mark. Well,

00:06:09.900 Mr. Coulahan, you are welcome to leave no skin off our back. But let's dive into some of the

00:06:14.940 comments underneath his post because they are hilarious. User Jack said, this isn't an airport.

00:06:21.000 There's no need to announce you're leaving. A username Rose reminded Coulahan of something we

00:06:25.780 cover very often on the show. And that's that it seems most people are trying to move to Alberta

00:06:30.800 under the UCP government. She said, most people I know are trying to move there, especially if they

00:06:35.680 have children. Alberta is protecting minors from groomers better than any other province. And

00:06:40.580 Premier Smith is looking after the interests of her people. To which Coulahan predictably said,

00:06:45.600 no more bigots welcome have enough. And a user named Alberta succession came in with the hottest 1.00

00:06:50.700 response writing, I hear Venezuela and Cuba are nice places to live. Likely more in line with you

00:06:56.700 ideologically. It would actually be nice if some of the dippers left this province to make room for

00:07:01.540 all the conservatives moving here, which leads me to my next story. And that is that rents are increasing

00:07:06.440 in Alberta more than any other province in Canada. Rent in Alberta has increased by 20% since the same

00:07:11.700 time last year, according to a new report by Urban Nation. Between March 2024 and 2023, Calgary's average

00:07:19.660 rent has increased by 10.6%, while Edmonton's average rent has increased by 17.3%. That's greater than any

00:07:27.380 other of the country's largest cities. Despite the rent increases in Calgary and Edmonton, the cities

00:07:32.880 ranked 16th and 23rd respectively for price ranking from a dollar perspective out of Canada's 25 largest

00:07:39.880 municipalities. I asked Premier Smith this week if it's time to end the Alberta is calling campaign

00:07:45.020 because rent is spiking so much. Here's what she had to say about it.

00:07:48.260 We do need to have more skilled workers coming to build those houses. So our next phase event is going

00:07:53.120 to be the launch of our Alberta is calling tax credit that is targeted specifically at those

00:07:57.980 building trades jobs. We know that Dow Chemical, for instance, is going to need 6,000 to 8,000

00:08:02.920 construction workers. And so we will have a very focused campaign to make sure that we're bringing

00:08:09.280 people in with the skills that our economy still needs. And while we're hoping that dippers will 1.00

00:08:13.680 start leaving the province, they might stick around to see who will win the Alberta NDP leadership race.

00:08:19.100 The deadline to enter that contest ended on Friday, and we have six candidates who will be running

00:08:24.800 for the next leader of the Alberta NDP. Let's take a look at those. Calgary MLA and energy critic

00:08:30.620 Kathleen Gainley was the first candidate to throw her hat in the ring. She was followed by Sarah Hoffman, 1.00

00:08:36.520 the former health minister under the Alberta NDP government. As well, we have Raki Panchali. She is

00:08:42.320 an Edmonton area MLA, and she is also a lawyer. She was elected in 2019. There's also Jody Callahoe-Stonehouse.

00:08:50.480 She was just elected in 2023. Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour,

00:08:56.400 announced his leadership in early March. And the candidate with likely the biggest profile who

00:09:00.800 entered the race this week was former Calgary Mayor Naheed Dunchie. And he's already taking aim

00:09:05.440 at Alberta Premier Daniel Smith. Take a listen.

00:09:08.300 Our insurance rates, our auto insurance rates are something like two and a half times what they are in

00:09:13.300 Saskatchewan next door. This is direct results of UCP government policy. Setting aside the crisis impound

00:09:20.140 family doctors, the closure of emergency rooms, the fact that here in one of the wealthiest

00:09:24.500 jurisdictions in the world, you can't be guaranteed that you'll get an ambulance when you call 911

00:09:29.420 when you're in need. This is sheer incompetence combined with the lack of any moral fiber. And

00:09:35.380 you know, I will call them on that every single day.

00:09:37.840 Okay, guys, moving into our weekly comment roundup, which continues with this theme of leaving the

00:09:41.860 province. You guys had a lot to say about Dr. David Keegan, the activist doctor who's attacking

00:09:47.580 Alberta Premier Daniel Smith following his adult nephew's suicide. User, a normal average everyday

00:09:53.660 guy says, quote, he's not wrong that something has gone wrong. Too many people like him living here.

00:09:59.360 After 16 years, I'd say take off and don't let the door hit you on the on the way out. And our weekly

00:10:05.220 comment roundup keeps up with this theme of people leaving the province. In response to the news that

00:10:10.000 I was barred from Justin Trudeau's press conference on Wednesday, ex-user Perspective Canada wrote,

00:10:15.280 in all honesty, admit that you're happy you didn't get access. Otherwise, wouldn't have anything to

00:10:21.200 complain about today. Spoken like a true socialist, you assume that just because you're lazy, everyone

00:10:27.480 must be lazy. I actually like my job and I know the work that I do is important. That's not a question,

00:10:33.300 it's a statement. And it is absolutely wrong that the Prime Minister bars reporters who don't agree

00:10:39.860 with his government talking points from his press conferences. And it also reveals what the Prime

00:10:44.720 Minister thinks about regular Canadians. He doesn't like them and he doesn't have time for them and

00:10:49.620 he never will. Okay, everyone, that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for tuning in.

00:10:54.480 As always, please like this video and subscribe to True North if you haven't already. If you want to

00:10:58.900 support our work, you can do that over at donate.tnc.news. Have a great weekend and God bless.

00:11:14.720 Thank you so much for tuning in.

Juno News - March 16, 2024

Trudeau despises a free press

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