00:00:00.000The United Conservative Caucus of Alberta has officially reinstated Jennifer Johnson
00:00:04.860following a recent controversy involving a heated exchange with a transgender activist.
00:00:10.400We discussed this meeting between Johnson and the transgender ideologue on a previous episode of the show,
00:00:16.180but we'll dive more into Johnson's reinstatement shortly.
00:00:19.320I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your host of the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:30.000I'm happy to be back on the show with you all this week, but I'll be even happier to see you in person very shortly.
00:00:39.000For those that haven't heard, I will be speaking at True North Nation in Calgary on October 26th
00:00:44.420alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, author Andrew Lawton,
00:00:48.360and my colleague and former host of the Alberta Roundup, Rachel Parker.
00:00:52.460During the show, I'm going to be going through a top 10 list of the worst and craziest ideas from Alberta left-wing leaders these past few years.
00:00:59.380Feel free to leave any ideas in the comments.
00:01:02.260You can buy tickets at truenorthevents.ca, and I can't wait to see you all there.
00:01:08.580But now, hopping back into this development with Jennifer Johnson.
00:01:11.800The United Conservative Caucus of Alberta announced on Wednesday afternoon that Johnson would be rejoining the group.
00:01:17.960They posted the news to X with a video of Johnson.
00:02:44.800Before I would ever say, though, that this was a productive meeting and be counted to the list of contacts that you've reached out to in the queer community,
00:02:52.320I have to know a few things of where you sit.
00:02:55.620Will you state on the record right now that trans women are women?
00:03:35.760This meeting is only happening because you're on Twitter, in the Twittersphere, and people are debating whether or not you're going to be led back into caucus.
00:05:17.460Despite various local pride societies releasing a joint statement slandering Johnson, she did not bend the knee.
00:05:25.960Some people celebrated her for not capitulating to the woke mob.
00:05:30.380Johnson's return to caucus follows conservatives from across the province pleading with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to reinstate her.
00:05:37.420In Wednesday's press release, the party said that Johnson's reinstatement actually follows an internal caucus vote.
00:05:43.300Over the past 17 months, MLA Johnson has done a very good job as a local MLA.
00:05:49.220After having a very thoughtful discussion with our caucus team, our MLAs voted to acknowledge her hard work, recognize her efforts, and welcome her into the government caucus, said Chief Government Whip Shane Getson.
00:06:00.760Johnson had been sitting as an independent since her removal from the party, but her status as United Conservative MLA is in effect immediately.
00:06:08.380So now we're going to move over to the news we've seen coming out of Jasper over the last few weeks, and yes, it is a lot of information.
00:06:16.560I spent many hours this week researching clips and testimonies coming out of the House of Commons this week, but honestly, it still wasn't enough.
00:06:24.800The Conservatives are now setting forward a motion that calls for additional testimony from forest management experts, stakeholders, Indigenous communities, and impacted individuals during the four additional meetings that they are calling for.
00:06:38.680Conservative MP Dan Mazier wrote a post to X where he shared the motion, and he said,
00:06:44.160Quote, over the last two weeks, an alarming amount of evidence has been released at the Environment Committee that shows Minister Guibo was negligent in protecting Jasper.
00:06:54.080Mazier runs through a few of the key developments, one being that Guibo's senior officials were found discussing the cancellation of prescribed burns for, quote, political purposes, months before the fire, which caused nearly $1 billion in damage and destroyed a third of the town.
00:07:10.640Yes, this resulted in over 360 square kilometers of burned or partially burned area and 358 destroyed structures.
00:07:19.280Mazier said the investigation also revealed that the top officials at Parks Canada could not say how many hectares of dead pine remain in Jasper.
00:08:04.960And of course, True North's previous exclusive featured Peter Schultz, who was hired by Parks Canada in 2008,
00:08:11.960and he estimated that by last summer, close to 40% of Jasper National Park trees were standing deadwood killed by pine beetle infestation.
00:08:21.120Another shocking revelation that recently came out of the investigation was that Parks Canada turned away firefighters who arrived on the scene to help fight the fire.
00:08:30.94050 firefighters and 20 firetrucks were turned away by Gebo's office when they arrived in Jasper to help fight the fire.
00:08:37.940President of Arctic Fire Safety Service, Christopher Livam testified that they were deemed, quote,
00:08:44.620non-essential and were ordered to leave by Parks Canada.
00:08:48.500He also revealed another shocking development, which was that Parks Canada ordered hydrants for Jasper with different threading than those used in Alberta and British Columbia municipalities,
00:08:58.940which meant that only seven compatible adapters were available for firemen to use.
00:09:03.940At one point, Livam said that his crew was forced to watch structures burn because they could not connect to the nearby hydrant due to its incompatible threading.
00:09:13.940The statement that I provide today will provide a shocking example of how mismanaged the Jasper fire of Glasgow Parks Canada
00:09:21.800and should warrant a deeper investigation into this agency's fire management and overall role as guardians of Canada's most important and cultural assets.
00:09:29.280The next thing that happened with Livam is insane.
00:09:32.220At one point, the committee chair stopped him from testifying, arguing that the interpreters could not interpret him.
00:09:38.860However, various people testified in French directly after him and had no issues with interpretation.
00:10:32.120I was very surprised to hear that all of the resources weren't there to fight fires.
00:10:37.580And I imagine that there must be certain structural problems with regards to management and with all the different organizations.
00:10:46.240But I can't really pronounce myself more than that.
00:10:49.140But like us, you must have been shocked and outraged to hear that there are firefighters who are there willing to fight.
00:10:57.140Fight, yes, well, we've got over four minutes.
00:11:01.180Maiden Taylor-Rice, it's your turn now.
00:11:03.380Separately, Alberta's Minister of Forestry and Parks, Todd Lowen, testified that Alberta increased the firefighting budget by 55% from $101.4 to $155.4 million.
00:11:16.840The province also increased its contingency amount from $1.5 to $2 billion, a 33% increase.
00:11:23.380He said that the Liberals' Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Harjit Stajan, was not opposed to Alberta being in the Unified Command and in a decision-making position.
00:12:18.000Now, moving on to some other big and controversial news.
00:12:22.400This, that business owners in Alberta who faced economic losses due to pandemic closures may soon be able to proceed as a class action and sue the provincial government for damages.
00:12:33.600This, of course, at the expense of themselves, the taxpayer.
00:12:36.680Yeah, what a conundrum we found ourselves in, wherein business owners who suffered financial losses due to pandemic restrictions are essentially trying to sue themselves, the taxpayer, for lost income.
00:12:48.440So, Justice Feesby presided over a class action certification hearing on October 2nd and 3rd, during which the court reviewed whether business owners from across Alberta who were restricted by public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic should be able to sue the Alberta government as a collective.
00:13:05.700The lawsuit is spearheaded by two primary plaintiffs, Rebecca Ingram, a gym owner, and Christopher Scott, owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe.
00:13:15.000Both allege that their businesses suffered substantial losses due to public health orders issued by Alberta's former chief medical officer of health, Dina Hinshaw, during the pandemic.
00:13:24.460This, of course, before she was removed from her role by Alberta Premier Daniel Smith in 2022.
00:13:30.520Despite initially questioning the suitability of Ingram as a lead plaintiff, the Alberta government later conceded that Ingram could serve as a representative plaintiff.
00:13:39.580However, the government's legal team was more critical of Scott's suitability.
00:13:43.560Alberta's lawyers argued that Scott's actions, including operating his business against public health orders and benefiting from public donations,
00:13:51.280disqualified him as a class representative because he may not have suffered losses in the same way as other business owners.
00:13:58.720They argued that because his personal circumstances did not reflect the broader class, he was unsuitable for the role.
00:14:05.020However, the plaintiff's lawyers contended that the class action could proceed with Ingram as the sole representative plaintiff,
00:14:10.780so it didn't really matter what they thought of Scott, and of course, the defense, which is Alberta, disagreed.
00:14:16.020So, if certified, business owners who operated in Alberta between 2020 and 2022 and were impacted by the public health orders may be eligible to join the class action lawsuit.
00:14:27.880Wrath & Company, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said that the legal foundation for the case is derived from the Ingram decision,
00:14:35.520which determined that the rules were outside of the law regarding the Public Health Act.
00:14:39.720Of course, I was lucky enough to be at this class certification for over the two days, so the certification process for a class action involves a five-part test.
00:14:50.000The court must determine whether the claim represents a valid cause of action, identifies an appropriate class of persons,
00:14:56.120presents common issues of fact or law, demonstrates that a class action is a preferable procedure,
00:15:02.520and shows that the proposed representative plaintiffs are suitable to advance the case on behalf of the class.
00:15:08.520This test also requires the court to assess whether the plaintiffs' claims are strong enough to be pursued on behalf of all affected business owners.
00:15:16.700The plaintiffs' legal team asserted that the public health orders exceeded the government's legal authority,
00:15:22.440seeking compensation for economic losses suffered by businesses that were forced to close or restrict their operations.
00:15:29.540They emphasized that a class action was the most efficient way to handle the claims,
00:15:33.800as it would prevent the need for thousands of individual lawsuits.
00:15:37.520In defense, Alberta's legal team maintained that the restrictions were implemented in good faith based on the best available science at the time.
00:15:46.300They also pointed out that Alberta Health Services, not the provincial government, was responsible for enforcing the orders.
00:15:53.860Additionally, they argued that the diversity of businesses involved, ranging from small to large,
00:15:59.120would require highly individualized assessment of damages, making a class action inefficient and inappropriate.
00:16:05.300If Feesby certifies the class action, business owners who suffered under the COVID-19 restrictions will automatically be included
00:16:13.920unless they choose to opt out and pursue legal action on their own.
00:16:18.720Whether the class is certified or not, if any plaintiffs are awarded damages,
00:16:23.540the money will come from all taxpayers in the province, including the plaintiffs themselves.
00:16:28.300Feesby concluded the hearing by saying that he felt the case was argued very well by both sides.
00:16:34.720He added that there were many documents to sort through, and it would not be a simple process.
00:16:39.280He hoped to have a decision ready by December 1st, at which point he said,
00:16:43.680you can come knocking on my door if I haven't gotten back to you by then.
00:16:46.340Yeah, feel free to let me know what you guys think about this crazy situation in the comments.
00:16:51.900I'm personally finding it hard to cheer for the business owners, considering I'll be the one picking up the tab.
00:16:59.280So will you, assuming you live in Alberta, and so will they.
00:17:03.500Now moving on to our next story, Danielle Smith announced on Tuesday that her chief of staff,
00:17:08.760Marshall Smith, was retiring from the public service after 32 years of working in it.
00:17:45.720After countless achievements, the Alberta model is gaining international recognition
00:17:50.380and sweeping Canada as the common sense approach to addressing mental health and addiction.
00:17:55.580So deaths from opioid addictions are down 53% in June this year compared to last.
00:18:01.080Additionally, opioid-related EMS responses have decreased by 59% between June 2023 and 2024.
00:18:07.940Alberta's per capita rate was 49% lower than BC in June 2024.
00:18:12.540Smith said that she's been working on the transition plan since January
00:18:16.820and that Rob Anderson, who has served as her executive director of the premier's office over the last two years,
00:18:22.360will become her chief of staff by the end of the month.
00:18:25.520Now moving on to our last story of the day, and you guys know I like to lighten it up for the last story,
00:18:29.960not only on this show, but on other ones as well.
00:18:31.840So this comes from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who are urging all provincial premiers to join New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs' federal carbon tax legal challenge.
00:18:42.440The Federation's call follows Higgs relaunching another legal challenge against the federal carbon tax as the province nears an election this month.
00:18:50.400The federal director of the CTF, Franco Terrazzano, said,
00:18:54.400Higgs is right that the carbon tax is an unfair punishment on Canadians and all premiers should stick up for their taxpayers by following his lead.
00:19:02.640Despite initially urging all premiers, the CTF later called on Smith directly, and they also called directly on some other premiers.
00:19:09.280But Chris Sims, CTF's Alberta director, said,
00:19:13.380Alberta successfully led the fight against the No More Pipelines law at the Supreme Court,
00:19:18.920and Smith should get our province to do the same against the carbon tax.
00:19:23.060She added that Albertans are being punished every time we pay our heating bills,
00:19:27.400and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is shredding constitutional accountability with his unequal application of the carbon tax.
00:19:34.320Sims said that removing the carbon tax would save the average Albertan home about $439 a year based on how much natural gas they use.
00:19:43.020This doesn't even begin to account for the compounding effect of the cost of the carbon tax, by the way,
00:19:47.900which is that every item you ever purchase has numerous chains wherein it uses gas,
00:19:53.920and the carbon tax has an effect on the cost.
00:19:56.760Seven provincial premiers previously called for carbon tax relief, and so too did seven in ten Canadians.
00:20:02.540However, as you'll remember, despite the calls, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected any requests to meet about the carbon tax and discuss its future.
00:20:11.520With the many provincial elections upcoming, we've seen even left-wing groups like the NDP take a stance against it.
00:20:18.720My question is, how long until we're finally done with this tax?
00:20:23.140And I hope that when we're finally lucky enough to kiss it goodbye that we never see it again.
00:20:29.640That's probably how girls feel about me.
00:21:28.580It's even that that happening is even more rare than something truthful coming out of your mouth, Randy.
00:21:33.600Imagine now, imagine now, imagine now if you were involved in a scandal involving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and your reward getting promoted.