Juno News - November 25, 2025What’s at stake at the UCP AGM？
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Summary
According to the CBC, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have agreed to a broad outline of an energy deal, including support for a pipeline between Alberta and British Columbia, which could be a big deal for the future of our country.
Transcript
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Hi, I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show. Thank you so much for joining us
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today. A bit of a big story to report today. According to the CBC, this came out last night,
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Ottawa and Alberta are agreeing to broad outlines of an energy deal, including support for a
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pipeline. So this could be a big deal for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for the future of our
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country, for the future of our economy. We may be at a point where people in the West, people who want
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Canada to have a working economy, a functioning economy, get our resources and our energy to
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markets around the world. We may finally be starting to make a little bit of progress and to dig into
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this a little bit more with me today. I'm pleased to be joined by Wyatt Claypool. Wyatt is a political
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commentator and the founder of the National Telegraph. So a couple of stories on this over at the CBC.
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But really, the main thing is that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith
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have agreed to some kind of a memorandum of understanding, some progress on making steps
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towards building pipelines. So what is your take on this news story, Wyatt? And what do you think
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about Daniel Smith's abilities here? Well, first off, memorandum of understanding is the most Mark
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Carney thing I've ever heard in my life. Somehow he didn't stick the word catalyze in that small
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title as well. With this, I do think it's a step forward because it's normalizing the idea of
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actually getting a pipeline done for so much of the country. I think they just never thought it was
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actually going to happen. And this at least, you know, tips its toe into the pool of saying that we
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might do it. The problem is, this is kind of in the same vein of what I've been saying that Mark Carney's
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going to do for a while now is that he will keep saying yes, and then he will outsource saying no
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to other people. He's not just saying yes to a pipeline. It's a memorandum of understanding. We
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are going to move towards a pipeline. There may be a pipeline. But he is still holding to standard
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that the provinces have to say yes, indigenous groups have to say yes, and there will still be
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environmental assessments and whatnot when it comes to pipelines. And if Mark Carney, like people
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assume he is, is looking for an election well before 2029, then there's going to be no chance
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that a pipeline is actually going to be in the ground being built before he either has a majority
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government or he's out of office. Well, OK, let me just read a little bit from the story, because I
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think you're right about the political calculation here. Mark Carney's side, like his, you know, his
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constituents aren't exactly in favor of this kind of thing. So according to CBC, it says Mark Carney
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and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have agreed to broad outlines the memorandum of understanding
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that would give Alberta special exemptions from federal environmental laws and offer political
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support to a new oil pipeline to BC's coast. CBC has learned the deal is set to be formally
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announced in a joint Carney-Smith news conference in Calgary this Thursday. It would be contingent
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on Alberta embracing a stricter industrial carbon pricing regime and a multi-billion dollar
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investment in carbon capture from the Pathways Alliance of oil sands companies, according to
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sources who spoke to CBC News. So take with that, you know, grain of salt, we're talking about anonymous
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sources here, but presumably this is going to happen on Thursday. We are going to see some kind of
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an announcement. And I think that is a big step for Premier Danielle Smith. I mean, we saw from the
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beginning, she was more optimistic about Mark Carney. A lot of us were a lot more skeptical of Mark Carney,
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given his previous roles with the World Economic Forum, his past statements about sort of the like
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the end of oil production and whatnot. And yet, Premier Smith was pretty optimistic about him and
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said he's much better than Trudeau. And a lot of people are skeptical that, you know, maybe she's
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working her own angle saying, you know, this is something that we all need. This is, this could be a
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big W for the whole country if we start getting these pipelines in the ground. The CBC previously
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reported, this is back on November 21 last week, that Carney is open to considering such a project
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in Alberta as proponent conduits to necessary Indigenous consultations and negotiations with
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the BC government. Among other conditions, Alberta will have to do the regulatory and constitutional work
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required, and only then would Ottawa consider referring to the Major Projects Office to get
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something done. You know, it's interesting because this is a pipeline that's going to go across
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British Columbia. And we know the Premier of British Columbia is very, very opposed to this. We're
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talking about a very hard left NDP Premier, David Eby. And just earlier this month, he came out,
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we played this on the show before, but he came out and said that there will be no pipeline. There will
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be no pipeline. He said that the only reason there might be some pipeline would be if taxpayers funded
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it because he doesn't think there's any business case for it. I remember I showed this clip to you
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before when you were on the show, Wyatt, but I'll play it again. This is Premier Eby out in British
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Columbia basically saying it's not going to happen. I'll point out what is obvious to me and has yet
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to fully sink in for some individuals, which is that there is no pipeline project across the north.
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There is no route. There is no proponent. There is no financing. Simply because the Premier of Alberta
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would like to get rid of the oil tanker ban on the north coast does not mean that anybody wants to
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build this pipeline. I don't see any prospect of a pipeline unless it is fully taxpayer funded and
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the federal government forces it through over provincial and indigenous objections.
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And then, of course, there was a piece in iPolitics that we're speaking again to unnamed
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Liberal MPs out in British Columbia. And they said, this is a quote from iPolitics a couple days ago,
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it says, BC caucus colleagues, this is of course within the Liberal caucus, caucus colleagues are very
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concerned and up in arms about supporting a pipeline, would put five to six seats in question with
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little chance making pickups in Alberta, Western Canada. So it's very purely a political calculation,
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just saying that if Mark Carney is to go ahead and push your pipeline, it could cost him seats,
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it could cost him a potential majority government. So what do you make of Mark Carney being willing to
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make this kind of a risk? The thing is, I actually don't think there's much of risk in terms of
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normal middle class voters. If you build a pipeline, I think you will be more popular.
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There are ideologues inside the Liberal Party who I think will give Carney a tough time and they'll say
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that this will be bad simply because they don't like it. But I also do think that Carney probably takes
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that sort of stuff seriously. So in his mind, it's a risk. So that's why I think he's going about this
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in such an obtuse way. And there is an angle here where Daniel Smith could actually be hurt by this.
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If she signs on to a stricter carbon capture standard and a higher industrial carbon tax,
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and then we don't even get a pipeline, well, then it looks like, did you basically help Mark Carney
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hurt the oil and gas industry just for the promise that there may be, might be some pipeline of some
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sort someday? It's like that is kind of, I think the game Carney's playing. He will just keep saying
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yes all day long, acting very, very green by forcing the Alberta oil and gas industry to take
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on stricter environmental standards. And then he's never actually going to get a pipeline done because
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he can just let David Eby keep vetoing it until the end of time.
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Well, and then also, David, we mentioned the tanker ban off the West Coast. And so that's
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something else. I mean, it's great. You can get a pipeline to Prince George or Kitimat, but then
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if you can't have tankers up there, then there's not really a point. So there is still a couple of
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regulatory hurdles, big ones that they're going to have to get through. We have a little montage here.
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This is just a couple of liberal MPs asked about the pipeline deal, and I'll get you to react to it
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Or an MOU with Alberta if BC Premier David Eby is against it.
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You've heard the Prime Minister, you've heard Minister LeBlanc say a number of times publicly that
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for any projects to materialize, those projects will have to be made with the accord, the agreement
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of provinces. I think the Prime Minister was pretty clear that the projects would need the support of
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the jurisdictions in which they're being built. So I think there's got to be some conversations
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with the Premier. And in terms of First Nations, I mean, there needs to be significant support.
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It doesn't necessarily have to be unanimous. It wasn't in the case of Trans Mountain, but there
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needs to be significant support. And at present time, I don't think there is.
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And Alberta would need to do some of the other elements that the government is looking to execute
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on, including strengthening the carbon price. Do you think there's any openness among your
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constituents for the federal government to lift or create any exemptions to that oil tank or moratorium?
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I'd say that what I've heard from constituents is very much in line with what Premier Eby has said
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very publicly about that. There has to be Indigenous consent. The province's impact
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have to be on board. And those are the conditions. And right now, I don't see that. And it's all
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hypothetical right now. But the government's position has been clear that the provinces have
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to consent and that First Nations have to consent before any project. We'll go ahead.
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Till there's a consent from Indigenous people and till there's a province of police
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online with it, there will be no impact. Prime Minister has been very clear till those conditions are
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met. They will not be okay. So you basically hear them all saying the exact same thing,
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which is that First Nations get a veto and the British Columbia gets a veto. And so, you know,
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what's the point of having a federal government? But you could clearly see that these MPs are not
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really on board with the idea of pushing a pipeline through. What do you think, Wyatt?
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Well, actually, what's funny is that Montauk started off with two of the MPs who actually potentially may
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resign as well over the next several months, Stephen Gilboa and Jonathan Wilkinson. And so he would also,
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the Prime Minister would have to be worried that especially of one of the DC-based MPs ends up resigning
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to go take some other role somewhere that maybe he's going to have to test how popular his new position
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is with the progressive left in that particular riding if it's in the Vancouver area.
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Again, the thing is that they clearly have spoken to Mark Carney. They clearly know what Mark Carney's
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actual standard is, or else they would all be saying different things. It's that, again, Carney
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will just keep saying yes until the end of time. And he will let David Eby, he will let band councils
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keep saying no. And he'll say, well, I'm not saying, I'm not saying no, we just need to negotiate more.
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And then he basically sticks Alberta back into the same endless negotiations that lead to nothing
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while acting like this is a real path to getting a pipeline. At the end of the day, the federal
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government, it's their job for interprovincial projects to say yes. Nobody else has to say yes.
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It's just the federal government. And the more Carney says that you have to talk to this person and that
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person, he's just saying no in a very much longer way. Well, so do you think that Danielle Smith is
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getting played then? Do you think that she's just falling into a political game and Mark Carney's
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really the one with the upper hand here? Not exactly, in the sense that it would be
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foolish for Danielle Smith to come into this situation acting cynical, like, oh, of course,
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there's going to be no pipeline, not taking it seriously, acting like she doesn't need this with
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Carney. The thing is that she can turn around later on if it does turn out to just be complete
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nonsense and that he's going to force her to again, trying to note negotiate with EB to get
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a pipeline done, which is impossible. And she can say I was optimistic. I came into this with just
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maybe even naive optimism. But what I want to do was get a pipeline built and I was willing to do
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anything to do it. And they pulled the carpet out from under Alberta when we were actually getting
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close to actually getting a deal done. That's what she could easily say. And she could say, well,
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you know, now Mark Carney's definitely fueling the separatist movement in Alberta
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by pretending, toying with the idea that things will get better and then just ending it five
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seconds before we could have actually gotten something done. Well, it's not an easy predicament
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that they found themselves in, but it is still good to see, you know, her out there in good faith,
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trying to negotiate, trying to show optimism for the future of our country. I want to switch gears
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and stick with Premier Danielle Smith. So the United Conservative Party is having its annual general
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meeting this weekend in Edmonton, November 28th to 30th. And there's a whole bunch of really
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interesting policy resolutions that are up for debate. Some of the ones that are relevant only
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to Alberta, other ones are main cultural issues we talk about all the time here at Juneau News. So
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I want to go through a couple of them with you, Wyatt, and get your thoughts on them. So one of the
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ones that stood out to me, there's a policy resolution that will make it so that only official
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government flags, specifically Canada, Alberta, and then any municipality may be flown at provincial
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buildings, which would be great, because you know what, I don't like driving around and seeing
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the various iterations of Pride progress and Pride flags. So get rid of the Rainbow Mafia from
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government buildings. There's also another one, sort of similarly, but a resolution that would require
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all third party resource materials related to gender identity, sexual orientation, human sexuality,
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being used in an Alberta school, be pre-approved by the Ministry of Education, and very importantly,
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made available to parents of the school upon request. So these are two big steps, potentially,
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in again, fighting against this sort of cultural madness that has taken hold of Canada over the
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last several years. My opinion, a step in the right direction. What do you think?
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Absolutely. This is especially a fear of the UCP turning it back to just sleazy electoral politics.
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This is stuff that the average middle-class family definitely wants to be tackled,
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because the news media can pretend like Canadians are these sort of downtown Toronto far-left
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progressives, even though most people in Toronto don't agree with this stuff either.
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But what this ends up, like this is basically the kind of bread and butter issues for a lot of people
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at this point, is they want cultural normality. They want the flags on the buildings to just represent
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the place that they're in as if you walked out of your house in 2005. I just want things to be normal,
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and when my kids go to school, I don't want to be worried with what random materials the teacher's
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going to pull out and force them to read, because they had heard that this is like, you know,
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the new progressive way of teaching when they got their degree in teaching recently. Like,
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I've always heard there's a big divide between people who graduated and became teachers maybe five
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to ten years ago, and those who have been teachers for 20 years, and have a very different
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outlook on what you should be educating children with. Well, that is true, although I've heard
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just anecdotally again that a couple schools, especially even like private schools, it'll be
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like there'll be one hardcore activist teacher who's LGB, and they basically set the agenda for
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the whole school. They could be older, could be younger, but they're the ones that push it. And so
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it's like if you have one or two of those people in your school, regardless of what age they are,
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they're gonna push it. To me, a flag is supposed to be a symbol of unity, right? So a Canadian flag is
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something that we all belong to. It's something that unifies us and that we all identify with,
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right? So when I pull up to a building or a school and I see a weird political far left logo that gets
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changed every few years to add another aggrieved group, I just think it's it's a symbol of dividing
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our country, of dividing our culture, pitting people against them, the whole dichotomy of oppressor
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versus oppressed, and the idea that fundamentally the rainbow flag is a flag about sexuality. And that
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has no place in a building educating children, like children, small children. There is no room
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for somebody's sexual orientation to be promoted as like the main symbol of a school. My husband
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and I were looking to put our kids into a school. We pulled up, saw the rainbow flag, literally turned
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around and left. It's like there's no point in us even entertaining the idea of putting our children
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in the school because I know there'll be like a fundamental values dislocation. So I think that's a
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great one. And then obviously parents should be made aware of the perversions that are trying to
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be taught at school. I want to talk about a couple of other ones with you here. Wyatt, there's another
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resolution number four here, ensuring access to provincially funded health care and social benefits
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for Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and recognized refugees only. So temporary workers,
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or sorry, temporary residents, visitors, undocumented individuals, and those with unsuccessful asylum
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claims should be responsible for paying their own services. That just seems like such a basic thing.
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That seems like something that should have been the law in Canada already. Interesting that it isn't.
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There's a couple of other ones related to immigration. They want to make it so that only Canadians can
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purchase farmland or something like that. I can't see it in front of me here, but there's that one.
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There's another one to replace the Canadian pension plan with the Alberta pension plan. Another one to
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increase the ability of Albertans to legally protect themselves, their family, and their property.
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Yes, really good ones. Any thoughts on any of those ones I just read out?
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Those are all great. The only one I would basically caution the UCP on in passing is the Alberta pension
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plan one. That one, when you look at the polling, it's like 30% of people are on board, 70% of people are
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against. Is it irrational? Yes. Technically, an Alberta pension plan would perform better on every
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metric than a Canadian pension plan because you're not having to carry the rest of the country. And,
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you know, being the disproportionately wealthy country province, doing the pension plan itself
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would be better. But I think there's a lot of Albertans out there who just get queasy when they
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think, oh, you're touching my pension. It's like, well, your pension is going to be stronger,
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more robust after this. But there, again, I think that's just something that the UCP probably doesn't
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want to have to take on in an election just simply because it's a super easy issue to give to Nahid
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Nenshi and the NDP where they can say, well, see, we're protecting your pension. But everything else
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there is great, especially around requiring non-citizens, non-permanent residents to pay for their own
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health care, requiring basically just actually protecting the public institutions for the tax
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paying members of the public. Again, basic common sense. It's crazy that a visitor just visiting the
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country could come and use our health care. That doesn't even make any sense to me. Imagine getting
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on a plane to Mexico and using their health care and then assuming that the Mexican taxpayers will pay
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for it. It just doesn't make any sense. My party in BC proposed a bill on that,
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and I think we did get everyone to vote for it on the opposition side except for the Greens.
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But we had people online saying, oh my goodness, well, that's so bigoted. They are paying taxes
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because they're temporary foreign workers. I'm like, how much tax are they really paying? They
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haven't exactly been here for 10 working years of paying taxes to make it worthwhile. And we had just
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proposed you have to put up $5,000 to basically cover any potential medical expenses you have if
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you go to the hospital. You get it back at the end of the... If you never use it, you can get it back,
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but you can't just enter the country to get every medical service that you need then leave.
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That's how the NHS is going down and Canada's health system is in worse shape than even the NHS.
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Like, I'm sorry, but any country in the world, right? If I went and got a visa and lived in Australia
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or something like that, I would have to pay for my own healthcare, right? Like, if you go to Italy,
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you're working, whatever, you have to pay for your own healthcare. Like, that's just the sort of basic
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standard of how places work. I'm sure there's a couple of places that you mentioned. If you pretend
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to be a refugee and you go to the UK or parts of California, you might get it. But basically,
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most places in the world have the standard. I want to talk to you about another very important
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policy resolution here that is very important to me, and it's related to something in the news.
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Policy number 29, cease public funding for third trimester abortions, except for in cases where
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the physical health of the mother is at risk. And I mentioned that because there was a huge breaking
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story last week, some intrepid investigative journalism and undercover footage by an advocacy
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group called Right Now. So this undercover footage from the pro-life advocacy group shows doctors
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providing advice to a woman who's going undercover with a camera, and how to get a late-term
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abortion, how to abort a baby that could survive outside the womb. You know, the people on the
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left, basically every political party in Canada, Wyatt, has this same kind of stance on abortion, which is
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that they don't want to talk about it. And so because of that, we have no restrictions, no real
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restrictions on abortion. In this country, everyone says, oh, there's no such thing as late-term abortion,
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it doesn't really happen. Well, they proved that it does happen, happens with some frequency, and it's not
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just someone saying it, it's not just an accusation. They literally prove it, because I'm going to play
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the tape, it's about a minute long, but the doctor says, yes, it's very possible. 30 weeks, no problem.
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I'll tell you exactly where to go, it happens all the time, this is what you do, right? So for people,
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the pro-abortion side to say, this doesn't happen, this is lies, whatever, no, this is literally happening,
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and they proved it on tape that it's happening in Canada. So I'm going to play this clip again,
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undercover reporting from the group right now. I know you're right at our limit, you're very close,
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you have another leak here. Our limit is 24. Canada doesn't have a limit, okay? Our limit is 24.
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But there's a hospital that sometimes people come here, they're not so sure, they need more time,
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under a house car limit, and they end up deciding, yes, I do want it, but we can't do it anymore.
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I send them to women's college hospital. It's a hospital that's close by, it's 10 minutes from
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here. They don't have the limit, they sometimes go up to 32, I believe. I can tell you that once
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things reach 35, 36 weeks, it might be impossible to find someone that would do it, okay? 24, up to 30
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weeks, it's very possible. The system certainly doesn't get too far. And do they have, you know,
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sometimes you hear, like, oh, your health has to be in danger. They'll beat us at, like,
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some classic abortion care. That kind of abortion care hasn't been in Canada since, like, the 1960s.
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So they don't ask you anything, you don't have to work through, like, oh, I'm at risk, or anything like
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that. Absolutely. And so pretty clearly, they're saying that there doesn't have to be a medical reason.
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We can do it, no problem, six months, no problem, seven months, you know, once you get into the final
00:22:49.240
few weeks of pregnancy, probably not. But really, and to me, what this proves is, yes,
00:22:56.200
the political parties all have an aversion to talk about this stuff, like Pierre Polyev doesn't want
00:22:59.240
to come out and say this stuff is outrageous. Dr. Lesson Lewis, a Conservative MP, came out and did
00:23:04.680
mention that Canada is the only Western nation with no legal gestational limits on abortion,
00:23:09.880
which means that abortion can happen at any point in pregnancy, even in the nine months,
00:23:13.720
according to law. And I just noticed that on social media, she was sort of getting pilloried by
00:23:18.280
all the same voices saying like, oh, this isn't true. This is lies, whatever. It is true. They
00:23:22.680
just proved it, right? It was on the front page of the National Post, the undiscussed truth about
00:23:27.160
late-term abortions in Canada. This should be something that we can all agree on, okay? This
00:23:31.560
is something very basic. If a child can survive outside the womb, then you cannot end the life.
00:23:38.280
Like, it cannot happen. It should be straightforward, easy. I'm happy to see that Alberta has this written
00:23:46.520
into a policy resolution. I hope it passed, and I hope Premier Danielle Smith imposed it. I don't
00:23:50.600
know that the investigative journalism that we saw there was in Toronto. I don't know if it's the same
00:23:55.160
thing that's happening in Alberta. You might know a little bit better, but to me, it's unconscionable
00:23:59.240
that we don't have laws on this kind of thing in Canada. It would basically be everywhere because,
00:24:05.000
again, our national standard is absolutely no standard. It's not like any province has a restriction
00:24:10.520
on it. This is absolutely something I'd hope would pass, because the thing is that even from
00:24:17.320
the electoral politics perspective, I actually do think this is a winning issue for conservatives.
00:24:22.120
Not only on a moral level should they be running on it because you should obviously want to be
00:24:26.280
protecting life, but the thing is the left is so overextended on this issue. The thing is that other
00:24:33.000
countries have the left who also is considered to be too far on abortion. We have literally the furthest
00:24:39.320
current establishment on this issue possible, and I think if you actually move for a restriction,
00:24:45.480
they will then have to actually defend the practice of extreme late-term abortion. Who wants to actually
00:24:51.800
sit down and start trying to argue about that and actually say, no, no, no, yes, the child could survive,
00:24:57.720
but we basically just need to kill it. You're just covering evidence at that point. At that point of
00:25:02.760
pregnancy, you're just basically just trying to get rid of the child so you don't actually have to
00:25:06.600
speak its name one day. That's getting to the point where you're not just pro-abortion or pro-choice
00:25:12.760
as a political party. You're just a goblin at this point. You can't let just the child survive.
00:25:18.920
Do you know that every single liberal MP voted against a policy to just upgrade criminal sentencing
00:25:26.360
for murdering a pregnant woman? The conservatives put up that bill, every single conservative
00:25:31.480
voted for it, and no liberal could actually vote for that, which is insane because they make the stupid
00:25:36.920
slippery slope argument. Oh, well, if we vote for this, you might ban abortion before birth or
00:25:42.600
something like that. It's like, guys, I don't know what to tell you. So literally, the child is worth
00:25:48.600
so little to you that even if you murder a pregnant woman or assault her, there's nothing owed. It's
00:25:54.280
just a basic assault. It's unbelievable. And I think you're right. I think that the average,
00:25:59.000
typical, normal Canadian sees this third trimester stuff and is horrified and is grossed out. And it's like,
00:26:04.680
you know, we have something wrong morally with our country if we can't agree that a child that can
00:26:09.240
survive outside the womb is not a child, right? And, you know, the complication stuff, they want to
00:26:15.560
pretend that really it's about denying access to health care, but it's not. She made it very clear
00:26:20.840
there, even if there's no health risk to the mother and the lady, the doctor said, no problem.
00:26:25.480
I think that this is something that could be a winning issue, Wyatt. But I also think that other
00:26:29.960
cultural issues like transing of children could be a winning issue for conservatives,
00:26:34.600
but they're just too afraid. They're too afraid to embrace it, to talk about it, to try to persuade
00:26:39.560
Canadians. They would rather just take the extreme, ghoulish, liberal position. Like, I think that
00:26:46.120
Pierre Polyev is just as pro-abortion as Mark Carney and any other left-wing politician in the country,
00:26:51.240
because he'd rather just not make it an issue. And that is the real problem that we have.
00:26:55.960
Well, the funny thing is, Polyev actually had a very pro-life voting record up until he became
00:27:00.840
leader. And I think when you get into that position, it's like your team starts making
00:27:05.320
you overdose on conventional wisdom and they're like, you can't touch anything. This is a third
00:27:09.880
rail. That's a third rail. Never talk about it. It's like, okay, well, we've tried never talking
00:27:14.920
about it and the left attacks you anyways. So what's the point? Like, I've told people this in the past,
00:27:20.680
the thing, the worst of both worlds position is that you are not willing to be pro-life, but the left
00:27:27.640
still attacks you as anti-abortion. Okay, well, why don't you just be pro-life then? At least you'll
00:27:33.000
actually have the pro-life groups show up and help you in your elections, because you still get accused
00:27:38.760
of it. And everyone who wants to believe it will still believe that you're against abortion. So why not
00:27:45.160
just be against abortion then? You'll actually get the pro-lifers out. You'll actually increase
00:27:49.240
your evangelical and Catholic vote turnout. Why not try it? Right. And you'd be surprised how
00:27:56.120
much common sense there is among the Canadian population for some middle ground, you know,
00:28:00.520
like for some restrictions. I think everybody agrees with that. Well, Wyatt, really appreciate
00:28:04.840
your time and insights. Thanks so much for joining us. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on, Candace.
00:28:09.000
All right, folks. Today's episode is sponsored by Albertans Against No Fault Insurance. So did you know
00:28:13.720
that the Alberta government is overhauling its auto insurance system under a new model called Care
00:28:19.000
First coming into effect in 2027? Most Albertans injured in car accidents will no longer be able
00:28:23.960
to sue the at-fault driver. Instead, decisions about care compensation will be made by the insurance
00:28:29.640
companies, not your doctor, not the courts. Critics say the system puts insurance companies first and
00:28:34.680
removes key insights from victims and their families. Albertans Against No Fault Insurance is a campaign
00:28:39.480
raising awareness about these changes. They're calling on the government to rethink this decision
00:28:43.480
before it is too late. To learn more about how these changes could affect you and your family
00:28:47.720
in a car accident, visit AlbertansAgainstNoFault.com. And this is related to what we're talking about
00:28:53.960
in the show today because one of the policy resolutions that will be discussed in Edmonton
00:28:57.400
this weekend for the UCP convention is policy resolution number two, repeal the no-fault insurance
00:29:03.880
legislation in Alberta and return to a tort-based system, also known as at-fault-based insurance. I
00:29:10.600
wanted to delve into this a little deeper to help the audience and myself understand what these changes
00:29:14.840
are and how it will impact the province. And so I'm pleased to be joined by Fred Litwinok. I believe
00:29:20.760
I'm pronouncing that correctly, Fred. Fred is the owner of Litco Law. He's one of Alberta's most prominent
00:29:26.680
personal injury lawyers and a long-time advocate for maintaining Alberta's right to sue negligent
00:29:32.520
drivers. Litco has represented accident victims for decades. Fred has been outspoken in warning about
00:29:37.640
this move to no-fault or restricted rights model, which would benefit insurers while harming injured
00:29:44.040
Albertans. So, Fred, welcome to the program. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:29:47.880
Thanks, Candice. It's a pleasure to be here with you and your audience.
00:29:50.600
Okay. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about the changes that are being made
00:29:54.440
and where they're coming from, why they're coming, and why you think it's a bad idea?
00:30:00.120
Yeah, I think the thing to start with is that Albertans were feeling the pressure from
00:30:06.920
increased auto insurance premiums. And I think that's something that, you know, Canadians across
00:30:11.480
the board are feeling regardless of the jurisdiction where they are. And, you know, because of that,
00:30:16.840
I think our government felt some pressure to create some sort of relief for Albertans. And so that is,
00:30:24.040
I think that those are the good intentions behind the Care First system. But unfortunately,
00:30:30.520
the system that has been proposed is not going to deliver savings and you don't have to take my
00:30:35.880
word for it. It's the Insurance Bureau of Canada that's saying that. So, the $400 savings that
00:30:40.440
were promised are not materializing. And I think Albertans are already seeing that indeed rates are
00:30:44.680
going up and will continue to go up. And it is, frankly, it's a 1920s solution. It's not a modern
00:30:51.560
solution. It's something that's been around for a hundred years and has basically failed in every
00:30:55.720
place that it's been tried. So, I don't see how it's going to benefit Albertans generally or injured
00:31:02.760
Albertans specifically. Well, it is case, you know, I'm from British Columbia and British
00:31:07.160
Columbia has a model where we basically, you know, you only have one choice when it comes to
00:31:11.240
insurance and it's the government and, you know, the premiums are very high and there's a lot of
00:31:15.640
parts of it that aren't fair. I mean, that's what happens when you have a government monopoly about
00:31:19.480
just about anything. And so, I'm wondering like why, you know, I feel like Premier Daniel Smith and UCP,
00:31:25.720
they're pretty innovative when it comes to policies are usually pretty connected to the grassroots. So,
00:31:29.800
why do you think that they selected this sort of like, like you said, like a 1920s solution?
00:31:35.160
Under Martin Baum, yes, you know, cost of living is going up in increased premiums. It's there for
00:31:40.200
every part of life. And so, it's not that surprising that would happen to insurance as well.
00:31:44.440
Why do you think they chose this as a solution? And what would you, what would you say would be a
00:31:47.880
better alternative? I think, I actually don't think it's Premier Smith's fault. I think she's been
00:31:53.880
misled, unfortunately, by insurance companies and they made some promises, which included
00:31:58.120
some massive reductions in premiums. I think the promise was $400 per person and those are just
00:32:02.920
not materializing. And now that that's coming out, you know, I think that's why there is a grassroots
00:32:07.960
movement to go back to the fault-based system. I mean, it's a lot to give up. You're giving away
00:32:13.960
all of your rights to sue and going to, you know, something like a WCB type system for injuries.
00:32:20.760
But what are you getting in return? The promise was $400 reduction in premiums for every Albertan.
00:32:26.760
That promise is not coming true. And in fact, rates are going up. So, the question becomes,
00:32:33.160
why do it at all? And I think that's the question that many Albertans are asking. And I think there
00:32:38.040
are other better alternatives, including the system that we currently have. So, you know, I just,
00:32:44.520
I'm very concerned that giving away your right to sue, giving away your right to challenge the
00:32:51.560
insurance companies is a dangerous thing. Because as you know, when rights are taken away,
00:32:58.040
it's really hard to get them back. And so, you know, if you can't challenge the insurance companies,
00:33:02.520
you can be sure that they're going to challenge you. Well, 100%. And so, I guess we should be
00:33:07.400
like, pleased or reassured to see that there is this policy resolution to repeal this no-fault
00:33:13.400
legislation and return back to the previous thing. You know, the UCP members appears to be ready
00:33:19.240
for, you know, to reject the government's direction. What do you think is driving this grassroots
00:33:25.480
resistance? Do you think it's because premiums haven't gone down as promised? Or do you think,
00:33:29.720
you know, Alberta's, when I think of Alberta, I think of, you know, it's the land of freedom,
00:33:33.960
right? People want to be free. They want, you know, there's another resolution in there to be
00:33:36.760
able to stand your ground. Something like Castle Law, someone breaks into your house,
00:33:40.280
you can use reasonable force to stop them from harming your family. That's the same kind of,
00:33:44.840
you know, spirit that you think of Albertans. Like, you know, if someone is acting recklessly and puts
00:33:50.120
you and your family at risk and at harm, whether it's someone breaking your house or someone driving
00:33:53.960
recklessly, you know, you should be able to have that right to fight back and to stop them.
00:33:59.080
I think that's true. I'm a born and raised Albertan myself. And I think that property
00:34:04.680
rights are incredibly important to Albertans. I know they are to me. And I think what other property
00:34:10.440
is there except your body? You know, you're talking about a case like this, where you're
00:34:14.920
really turning over decisions about what kind of care you're going to get and what kind of
00:34:19.160
compensation you're going to get to insurance companies and having no recourse really to do
00:34:24.200
anything about it. And I think that that is just something that goes against Albertan values. And
00:34:29.480
so, yeah, I don't view this policy resolution as a rejection of the government, but rather saying to
00:34:35.000
them, hey, we want something different. We want something innovative. We would like to have,
00:34:41.160
you know, we would like to have savings on our insurance premiums. This isn't going to deliver
00:34:44.920
it. And it's just giving up too much to, you know, for nothing really in return. And if you think about
00:34:51.560
it, you've got, you know, at least with the WCB, you've got one body, so you can ensure consistency.
00:34:56.680
But in this case, a private no fault system, you're turning over the decision making to 40 plus
00:35:01.880
different insurers. So who's to say that each insurance company will administer the benefits
00:35:07.560
fairly and in the same way, it seems pretty unlikely. And so, you know, will your quality of
00:35:13.000
care, the benefits you get depend on the choice that you made when you purchased your insurance? That
00:35:18.280
doesn't seem fair. And so I think that's what the grassroots is saying. I mean, we talked to
00:35:24.120
injured Albertans. We talked to Albertans of all stripes, physiotherapists, doctors. It's not just
00:35:29.000
it's not just lawyers who are concerned about this. It's everyday Albertans who are worried that, hey,
00:35:33.720
we're giving up too much and we're not getting anything in return.
00:35:36.200
Well, it sounds right. So, you know, if you could communicate one message directly to UCB members,
00:35:41.400
people going to vote at this convention, people going up to Edmonton this weekend,
00:35:46.440
what would you say to them about this particular resolution? And then do you think that it will
00:35:50.920
pass? Do you think that it has the support of the base?
00:35:55.480
I think it does. I really do. I truly do. And I've seen that, you know, a similar resolution
00:35:59.800
has been passed in the past by this party. And so that's why I think this proposal is so surprising.
00:36:08.440
I think, you know, in terms of messages that I'd want Albertans to hear and understand,
00:36:13.800
and this is something that the people aren't talking about, this is really a massive transfer
00:36:19.000
of wealth and power from Alberta to Ontario, because most insurance companies are in Ontario.
00:36:24.840
And this means a loss of jobs and a loss of money, thousands of jobs and billions of dollars being
00:36:31.080
sent to Ontario at the expense of everyday Albertans. And I don't think that's something
00:36:35.880
that resonates with Albertans. I think they'd rather see a made in Alberta solution
00:36:40.360
than a send more money to Ontario solution. Wow. That's quite a way of putting it. I hadn't
00:36:45.160
even thought of the fact that most of these insurance companies aren't even necessarily Alberta-based.
00:36:50.360
Yeah. And I think, you know, the other problem that I think really came out when
00:36:56.200
the government had the meat chart leaked, right? And that's sort of the list of injuries and the dollar
00:37:03.960
amounts. I think, uh, there was one on there that people found particularly offensive and that was
00:37:08.200
the $13,000 for the loss of an unborn child. Um, you know, my, my wife and I struggled personally
00:37:15.080
with fertility challenges and, you know, thankfully we're blessed with two incredible children, but
00:37:20.120
I just think of, you know, it, it just makes me sad to think about, you know, people who are trying
00:37:25.000
to have children and you're in an accident and the loss of your, the loss of your unborn child's life
00:37:30.920
is $13,000. I mean, I think that's, I think that's incredibly offensive to most Albertans,
00:37:36.280
if not all. And I think when you look at any sort of meat chart like that, I think,
00:37:40.680
I think it is offensive, um, to think that, you know, you can put these price tags and that every
00:37:45.800
single person in Alberta deserves the exact same amount for the exact same injuries. And so I just
00:37:51.560
think that, you know, we're calling on, we're, you know, our, our group is calling on the Alberta
00:37:55.720
government to create an Alberta first solution, something made in Alberta, not, not made,
00:38:01.560
you know, in the United States a hundred years ago and perfected by, you know, Manitoba. Um,
00:38:07.400
and I think this is also, you know, a slope to a public insurer. So if we believe in private
00:38:12.520
enterprise in Alberta, I think this is the first step and who knows in the future, there may be
00:38:16.440
another government who is more excited about a public insurer. Right. And, and in those systems
00:38:22.520
where they have public insurance, a lot of times people say, well, that's great. I mean,
00:38:25.720
I get cheaper insurance in, in Saskatchewan or Manitoba, um, maybe not BC, but there's a couple
00:38:32.440
of things that I would want Albertans to think about. Number one is we are the richest province.
00:38:38.360
We have the highest incomes and, you know, we drive the newest cars. Um, and so naturally our
00:38:43.800
premiums, um, are going to be higher, but number two, the, while the premiums on the face of it may look
00:38:48.760
lower, every single one of those provinces has had to shore up their public insurer with taxpayer
00:38:53.800
dollars, every single one. And so, you know, that's the slope that we find ourselves on. I
00:38:59.080
think it's, I think it's dangerous. So I think we want private enterprise. We want to keep jobs in
00:39:04.040
Alberta and we just want the government to come back to the table and create something innovative and
00:39:09.720
new that actually serves Albertans and, and not the insurance companies. Well, it sounds like, uh,
00:39:14.920
there's some movement on it and, uh, that policy resolution will be up for debate over the weekend,
00:39:19.320
folks. So we will keep the audience informed as to how Albertans and UCP members, um, vote on that.
00:39:24.440
But Fred, we really appreciate your time and expertise here. Thanks for breaking it down, uh, for
00:39:29.480
us and joining the show today. Oh, it's my pleasure, Candice. Thank you. All right, folks. That's all the
00:39:33.960
time we have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back again soon. I'm Candice Malcolm.
00:39:37.800
This is Candice Malcolm Show. Thank you and God bless.