Juno News - Why Alberta needs autonomy (ft. Brian Jean)

00:00:00.000 Welcome back to the Andrew Lawton Show. We've been talking on and off about the UCP leadership

00:00:13.580 race in Alberta. Now, this is a particularly interesting race because unlike the federal

00:00:19.060 conservative leadership race, this one is going to be deciding the premiership of Alberta, not

00:00:25.680 just the leadership of the UCP. Whomever wins the leadership in October is going to go right to the

00:00:32.340 premier's seat, replacing Jason Kenney, and then they'll have to try to renew that term in an election

00:00:37.840 up against Rachel Notley and the NDP. And why this is an interesting dynamic is because the stakes are

00:00:45.500 a lot higher. And we've seen Danielle Smith, who has been outside politics, come in and do very well

00:00:51.720 talking about the importance of really resisting the Kenney government's COVID policies, talking

00:00:56.940 about Alberta sovereignty. Brian Jean, the former Wild Rose leader, actually, they're both former

00:01:02.880 Wild Rose leaders. He's now been elected as a UCP MLA in a by-election, very critical of Jason Kenney.

00:01:10.040 He's been very critical of the COVID situation, but he's also tried to be a lot more broad in his appeal

00:01:16.480 compared to Danielle Smith. And it's been interesting to see the contrast between these two.

00:01:21.740 We've had Danielle Smith on the show. We've also had Rebecca Schultz on the show. Interestingly enough,

00:01:27.120 I asked Lila here a while back if she would come on the show and her campaign said, why don't you just 1.00

00:01:32.280 send us a questionnaire and we'll, you know, fill it out and send it back to you. And I'm like, well,

00:01:36.660 like, what do I do? Just read that on my show? No. And I've asked and haven't been able to get her on.

00:01:41.680 So other requests have gone to other candidates as well. But in any case, let me now bring into the

00:01:47.240 program, UCP MLA from up in Fort McMurray and also UCP leadership candidate, Brian Jean. Brian,

00:01:54.120 good to talk to you. Thanks for coming on today.

00:01:56.580 My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

00:01:58.280 So let's start first off with the theme of your campaign here. You're talking about autonomy for

00:02:03.400 Alberta, but you're distinguishing this from the sovereignty and separation debate. So what is it

00:02:09.600 that your campaign is really about? And what is it that autonomy is about in your eyes?

00:02:13.860 Well, autonomy and sovereignty are a little bit different. And, you know, I'm not about building

00:02:18.900 walls. I'm about tearing them down and bringing people together. Autonomy is about a series of

00:02:24.480 freedoms, personal autonomy, my body, my choice, financial autonomy. You know, I believe people

00:02:31.960 should own houses, own businesses, own, have individual ownership of things. I think that's

00:02:36.540 a better scenario and makes them feel freer and happier. And of course, that's part of my theme of my

00:02:41.860 campaign as well. And not just financial autonomy, employment autonomy, but also community autonomy.

00:02:49.560 As a Christian, you know, I think it's very important that we protect people's rights to be

00:02:54.140 able to, you know, enjoy the freedoms that they have. I, for instance, was appalled at the arrest of

00:02:59.660 a pastor. It never would happen under a Brian Jean-led government ever, nor would we ever shutter

00:03:05.100 churches. That's just, in my opinion, religious persecution. I thought so at the time. I continue to 1.00

00:03:10.300 think that now, and it would never happen under a Brian Jean government. And that's why I wanted to

00:03:13.860 make sure autonomy was clear in people's minds. I'm not interested in sovereignty or separation.

00:03:18.720 I am interested in making sure that we have as many rights as we possibly can here in Alberta

00:03:22.680 for Albertans, not just for Alberta, but for Albertans. And that's why I want also more autonomy

00:03:27.460 for Albertans within Canada. And that means if other Canadians get to enjoy the rights and

00:03:32.000 privileges that Canada give them, we should get the same rights and privileges. And right now,

00:03:35.780 we don't, whether it's unemployment insurance, whether it's our pension issues or, you know,

00:03:40.380 many different opportunities in other provinces that we don't have here in Alberta. I'm going

00:03:44.460 to make sure that we have all the opportunities that any other Canadian has in any other province.

00:03:48.340 And I think that's very important. That's what it's about. It's about autonomy, about freedom,

00:03:51.360 personal freedom, freedom to make choices, freedom to be without government intervention,

00:03:55.060 freedom to know that you get up in the day, in the morning, that you're going to be happier

00:03:58.500 and healthier. Because, you know, I've made it very clear that the theme of my campaign

00:04:03.440 is autonomy, but it's also the end goal is to be happier and healthier, to be more free,

00:04:10.260 most free and most prosperous people in Canada and the world. And, you know, but you want freedom?

00:04:16.480 Well, if you want health and you want happiness, you have to have freedom. It's very clear. If you

00:04:21.700 want to have happiness, you have to have a good healthcare system. That's very clear. You have to

00:04:26.320 make sure that people are wealthy and prosperous or else they're not going to be able to make the

00:04:29.940 decisions they want as far as autonomy goes. And autonomy is about good conservative principles

00:04:34.140 of people making their own decisions for their own life based on their own priorities. And that's

00:04:38.240 what it's all about for me, whether it's personal choice, whether it's business community, whether

00:04:41.920 it's your religious or other community, you deserve the freedom to decide what you want to decide for

00:04:48.180 your future, your priorities, your community priorities, your personal priorities, your family

00:04:52.820 priorities. Those things government should stay out of and other people should stay out of.

00:04:56.320 And you should be able to enjoy them as much as possible. And that's what autonomy is for me.

00:04:59.280 It's about staying in Canada, about trying to fix Canada. I know it's broken. There's no question.

00:05:03.280 I think everybody recognizes that, but trying to fix Canada through a proper negotiation, sitting down

00:05:08.240 at the constitutional table and trying to get a fair deal, because right now we're too afraid of

00:05:12.560 getting any deal at all. So we're thinking that, you know, we're going to be pressured and, and,

00:05:16.800 and frankly, bullied by the bigger provinces. It's not the case right now is a tremendous

00:05:20.560 opportunity because every province in Canada knows that they're not getting enough healthcare funding based

00:05:25.680 upon what the federal government's requiring. Every, every, almost every government in Canada

00:05:30.160 recognizes that the pipeline ban is absolutely an infringement on our section 92 rights under

00:05:35.040 the constitution. And, you know, all of these things are actually guiding our principles of

00:05:43.200 change. And what I'm saying there is in particular, I've been working on this particular passion to open

00:05:48.720 up the constitution through equalization. That was a tool we use. And, you know, as wild rose leader,

00:05:54.160 we talked about making sure that we could open up the constitution so we can get to that point where

00:05:59.040 more Albertans could have more autonomy and more freedoms. And we're going to push that through.

00:06:03.600 Let's talk about the equalization aspect specifically. We know that Albertans overwhelmingly voted to

00:06:09.280 really reevaluate the equalization system that we have right now. And obviously the prevailing thesis is

00:06:16.160 that when a province comes together like that and votes in such a way, the federal government

00:06:20.480 has to negotiate, but a duty to negotiate, a constitutional duty to negotiate is not a duty

00:06:26.320 or requirement to give any concession. And the Liberals have been consistently resistant to,

00:06:31.760 I think, respecting a lot of the concerns that Albertans have. So what would you do differently or

00:06:37.520 what would you do to actually get what it is that Alberta wants and needs from the federal government

00:06:42.720 at that negotiating table? I'm glad you asked that because other candidates are talking about getting

00:06:47.440 angry and what we're going to do up to a certain point, but they have no answers for what happens

00:06:52.480 afterwards. So they're writing people up, getting people mad for no reason. We live in an amazing

00:07:00.800 country. It's a free country and the constitution clearly lays out that under section 46, if a majority

00:07:06.400 of a population in a certain area is dissatisfied with the current confederation and how they're being

00:07:12.240 treated under confederation, we can send notice after receiving a clear mandate from the people,

00:07:17.360 a majority of the people, a good majority, we can send that mandate to the people under the section

00:07:22.080 46 notice and then they have to sit down and negotiate with us. And if they don't, then we go

00:07:25.040 to the Supreme Court of Canada and ask for reference. Listen, you know, let's be clear here. I'm the only

00:07:29.520 lawyer, litigator, person that spent 10 years practicing the law here in Alberta. I know how it

00:07:34.000 works. I'm not guessing it. I don't have to talk to another government bureaucrat lawyer to tell me how to

00:07:39.680 pursue this and how to go forward. I've spent enough time understanding both 10 years federally

00:07:43.840 as a member of parliament, as a parliamentary secretary and as a practicing law in Alberta

00:07:48.000 for 10 years. And then as a business person, I know what Albertans want. They want more autonomy,

00:07:52.080 more freedom, less oversight and overwatch from Ottawa. I mean, that's where all the gatekeepers

00:07:57.360 are. That's what we have to remove from. But if the constitution gets them to the table,

00:08:01.280 what do you do at the table that will get that change you need? Get the rest of the provinces on

00:08:06.320 side to get better hospital, better health care funding, get more rights in the Senate and the

00:08:11.520 House of Commons. So we actually have equal votes across the country. There are so many things that

00:08:16.160 we need to change. The fiscal imbalance is clearly there. Equalization is one of those things.

00:08:20.720 The rest of the provinces, the premiers are ready to go to the table over the pipeline ban.

00:08:24.640 We're ready. You know, you have to wait. Timing is everything. And we started this process as

00:08:29.040 Wilder Rose leader on equalization referendum. I think five years ago, six years ago, almost now,

00:08:34.240 I got three economists from across the country to recognize that we're sending $20 billion more

00:08:39.600 per year to Ottawa than we get back in services. And we have to do something about that. That is

00:08:45.840 absolutely essential. And right now is a great time to do it. All the other provinces are ready

00:08:50.000 to sit down and Albertans are too. But if they don't listen, if they don't agree to negotiate,

00:08:56.240 where are we going to be? Well, I think Albertans are going to be angry. I know I would be if they didn't

00:09:01.840 sit down and talk to me if they just told us to buzz off. That's when we have to make the next step.

00:09:08.240 And that's when Albertans get to decide whether we use every single tool in our toolbox to establish

00:09:13.280 our autonomy, to establish our rights to Section 92, our resources, our people, our health care,

00:09:19.440 our education. You know, some people are making up stories about Trudeau coming in here and taking

00:09:23.360 our kids and forcing them to be vaxxed and at school in order to continue school. Well, folks,

00:09:30.080 people are lying to you. Justin Trudeau has no ability to do anything with our kids in schools

00:09:36.480 or schools. He has no ability to do so to infringe in our lives. And we have to stop listening to the

00:09:42.160 chatter out there and just deal with what we need to deal with. And that is to renegotiate the

00:09:46.000 Constitution so that Albertans feel they're part of Confederation. And if they don't agree to us

00:09:50.640 doing that, then we're going to be using other tools that are available at our disposal. And I know

00:09:54.320 what those tools are. And we will do whatever we need to do in order to get those tools to the people of

00:09:58.560 Alberta and make a decision on how we go forward after that. But I don't think Canada wants to be

00:10:03.040 in a position where they're going to make Albertans angry. No, I would agree in general with that,

00:10:09.680 but I'm still not getting a sense of the how, because I agree that getting to the table is

00:10:13.840 itself an important step in the process here. And I also appreciate that you're saying, let's not look

00:10:18.480 at equalization and isolation. Let's also talk about health care. Let's also talk about representation.

00:10:23.680 So if you're going to have this full scale discussion, what are the red lines for you?

00:10:28.400 Because a negotiation is give and take. What are the things that you will absolutely not compromise on?

00:10:33.200 And what are the things that you really expect the government to hand over that are without that,

00:10:38.880 in your view, not a real good faith negotiation?

00:10:42.640 Well, I look at this the same as I look at a corporate negotiation or a relationship negotiation,

00:10:48.720 and that is people sit down at the table in order to try to settle things, to solve things,

00:10:54.000 so they can move on together. I don't think we have to look at a divorce and go nuclear immediately.

00:10:59.120 That's what some people are suggesting. I think what we need to do is sit down and negotiate.

00:11:03.200 What forces them to negotiate? The opportunity to continue on as the prime minister and the

00:11:08.240 premier in government. That's what helps them continue the opportunity.

00:11:11.120 But I'm asking what happens at the negotiating table. Let's assume that we've gotten there.

00:11:15.680 What do you do at that table that gets you the changes that you're promising Albertans?

00:11:21.360 Find all the things that bring us together as a country in each province. Because like I said,

00:11:25.040 there's a lot of things that people are dissatisfied with right now. There's some

00:11:28.000 things they're satisfied with. For instance, PEI has about 40,000 people or so per MP.

00:11:33.280 Alberta has 120,000 people per MP. Well, PEI is probably satisfied with that, but places like

00:11:39.360 Ontario aren't. Places like Quebec aren't. They're never going to be satisfied with their

00:11:43.440 representation no matter what happens unless they're on their own. Let's be clear.

00:11:47.920 We have to find that commonality, those things that bring us together so we can

00:11:51.600 figure out how to go forward. The Supreme Court of Canada in the reference case in Quebec has laid out

00:11:56.320 a path. Now, I will tell you the Laurentian elite, the Ottawa entitled, they're the ones that made sure,

00:12:04.000 along with the Supreme Court of Canada, that there was a path ready for the people of Quebec to decide on

00:12:09.200 how they want it to go forward. And what would happen for the people of Quebec if indeed there

00:12:13.600 was a 51-60% leverage like we had here in Alberta that said, we want to open up the Constitution,

00:12:18.240 we want to change, we want to leave. Well, the Supreme Court of Canada laid out a path according to

00:12:23.920 Section 46 of the Constitution giving notice, legal notice by the way, of the necessity to negotiate

00:12:30.800 that path for the people of Quebec. Little did they understand that the people of Alberta would

00:12:34.080 be using that same path in order to force negotiations and to take the next step and find

00:12:39.520 those tools that we need to do. I want to have our own pension plan. I want to have our own

00:12:43.520 unemployment insurance plan. Why? Because right now we're paying far more than we need to. That's

00:12:48.400 an unmentioned equalization. We're paying far more in our pension plan and our unemployment insurance

00:12:53.280 plan because of our nature of our population and how much we work and how much we make compared to

00:12:57.440 other places. Well, I understand that, but that's still equalization. The people that work longer

00:13:01.680 hours need more support systems. They need better daycare for their children. They need to make

00:13:06.720 sure that they have better mental supports, better health supports. We need more staying here in 1.00

00:13:11.200 Alberta to support the type of lifestyle we have and they need to stop taking that $20 billion a year

00:13:15.680 and spreading it out to their friends. That will be the first thing we deal with, but there's so many

00:13:20.240 other things and the rest of Canada are ready, but who forces this? Well, just like anybody forces that we

00:13:26.800 have a judge in cases of a divorce or mediation or separation or a corporate commercial contract

00:13:33.360 that needs to be renegotiated, we have a judge. This is the rule of law that we're guided by here

00:13:38.320 in Canada and the rule of law is guided substantially or primarily by the Supreme Court of Canada.

00:13:44.320 They will make sure that Albertans have the rights as they're supposed to under the Constitution and they

00:13:50.400 will make sure that we have the opportunity to have that discussion about what the next step is to

00:13:54.880 renegotiate the Constitution because they need to protect that for the people of Quebec. We're

00:14:01.120 just going to use it first and we really appreciate them laying out path for us and being clear on how

00:14:05.520 we can go about it to get our fair treatment from the people of Canada and frankly it's not the people

00:14:11.280 of Canada, it's more the Liberal politicians from out east. They seem to want to pick on Albertans because

00:14:15.840 it gets the more votes there and I know it does and that's what disgusts me is right now the Prime

00:14:20.880 Minister and the Liberal Caucus are beating up Albertans and primarily the West, rural West,

00:14:25.920 in order to get votes in Quebec and Ontario and Eastern Canada. Now who wants to support the

00:14:31.840 Prime Minister or Premier that divides people? We need to find the things that bring people together

00:14:36.640 and that's what I'm going to do as the Premier of Alberta. I'm going to bring people together,

00:14:40.240 find the things that we have in common and instead of dividing us and that's where we need to go with

00:14:45.280 our path in the future is bringing Albertans together to be solid, to be strong because we've

00:14:49.760 got a lot of work ahead of us. You mentioned earlier, Brian, that you significantly and strongly

00:14:55.120 oppose the the jailing of pastors, the shuttering of churches and I think that's a very important

00:14:59.840 position to take. What about some of the broader COVID policies here? Because I know Premier Kenny,

00:15:05.360 when he sort of addressed why he thought the membership turned on him, he thought it was entirely

00:15:10.960 about the COVID situation and I think there are some disagreements about whether that was really

00:15:16.000 the limitation of the frustrations. But vaccine passports, could you take them off the table 0.50

00:15:21.200 entirely as Premier? Yes, for the need for vaccine passports in Alberta, 100% gone.

00:15:28.480 And restrictions in general, capacity restrictions? I want to be clear that religious persecution is

00:15:34.800 what happened here in Alberta. I really believe that. As a Christian, as a born-again Christian,

00:15:39.120 I would never do that to any religion because that is religious persecution. It's unacceptable.

00:15:43.840 Lockdowns as a whole are extremely hurtful to people's mental and physical health. It is extremely

00:15:51.200 hurtful and painful for families and for businesses and it should not happen. So, you know, for me,

00:15:56.800 I just, I think lockdowns should be a resort that we never ever fall into. And to be honest, I'm the only

00:16:05.760 candidate that's come forward with, yes, we will not have lockdowns, but not only that, I will bind

00:16:10.960 future governments, future Premiers to make sure if they try to do a lockdown, which we can never stop.

00:16:15.920 Let's be clear. I can tell you what I'm going to do or not do, but I can't tell you what the next

00:16:20.400 person's going to do unless I put a whole bunch of blockades and barricades in front of them. And I 1.00

00:16:24.320 propose that people are not watching that. But what I proposed is let's make sure that every emergency act,

00:16:29.120 anytime anybody has the opportunity to open up and close things, open up the emergency act and close

00:16:35.600 down people's businesses or homes, well, they have to make sure that they're transparent on those

00:16:40.160 decisions. So no more cabinet secrets, which is going on right now and has been going on for two

00:16:43.760 years, no more cabinet secrets on that stuff at all. And just make sure that people understand why

00:16:49.520 they're making the decisions. And that caucus, the government caucus actually has to vote on it

00:16:56.880 within two months of it being put in place and has to confirm that it's valid. And

00:17:01.840 anything that happens, depending on what level of lockdown it is, there would be judicial inquiry,

00:17:07.120 a public inquiry, a huge, huge onerous provision on future governments. And the fact that it would be

00:17:16.000 transparent cabinet decisions, I think people would change their mind very quickly about doing

00:17:20.320 lockdowns because we've seen this. But is this all about lockdowns for Jason Kenney and the government?

00:17:25.680 No, it's not. Let's be clear. Before COVID came on the scene, we were looking at a situation where

00:17:32.800 the premier was not popular, where he was spiraling into a situation of non-confidence by the people of

00:17:37.840 Alberta. And it's clear that COVID didn't help any, but we're at a crossroads right now. And if we don't

00:17:43.760 renew and revitalize the party, the UCP, the NUP are going to win. And I just can't have that. I was

00:17:50.160 watching from Fort Memorial as I took care of my family after leaving politics and taking care of

00:17:56.320 three estates and my businesses. And the people of Fort Memorial mean a lot to me because obviously

00:18:01.680 that's been my home for my entire life. And I think if Rachel Notley wins, we're going to lose

00:18:06.320 Fort Memorial. They're going to shut down my town. They're going to shut down a lot of what's going

00:18:09.120 on in Alberta. And I just can't have that happen. An overwhelming NDP majority with Justin Trudeau in

00:18:13.680 Ottawa will destroy my community and my province. And I can't let that happen. That's why I did what

00:18:18.000 I did. That's why I wanted to renew the party. And that's why I'm so excited about the opportunity of

00:18:22.480 possibly being premier, having that privilege and being able to take Albertans to that task,

00:18:27.600 to the equalization formula, to where we were going five, six years ago on our path. And I have

00:18:32.640 passion and purpose for that. It's not just, you know, oh, that's good policy about lockdowns or about

00:18:38.160 churches or that's what I believe. That's what I believe. So it's not hard to put forward policies

00:18:45.600 that you believe in because those are the things that Albertans want to hear. They want to hear

00:18:49.840 somebody that actually believes what they're doing, not just that they're doing it because the people

00:18:54.960 are pushing that way. Let me just ask you one final question then on that note. You talked about

00:19:00.160 Rachel Notley. If you win the leadership, you become the premier of Alberta, but you'll also have to

00:19:04.800 run for reelection very soon after. There have been a lot of internal struggles in the UCP,

00:19:10.080 a lot of people that have frustrations with the status quo under Premier Kenney.

00:19:14.240 How confident are you that you could turn around these challenges in time to win a general election?

00:19:20.400 Well, you know, there's been discussion about me saying I'd put Rachel Notley in my cabinet and

00:19:25.120 I can't think of anything more ridiculous than having Rachel Notley make decisions for Albertans. And

00:19:30.480 me suggesting that she's going to make somehow decisions for Albertans is ludicrous.

00:19:34.640 I never really understood how people interpreted that from what you actually said there.

00:19:40.800 I know. I know. What I said was, let's take the politics out of COVID because people are dying

00:19:45.040 because politicians are playing politics with people's lives. Let's take the politics out of it. 1.00

00:19:49.680 You know what Rachel Notley did? She took the politics out of the fire when I was the opposition 0.99

00:19:54.480 leader. I asked and she made sure that I was able to be briefed on everything. My staff knew what was

00:19:59.040 going on. And all of a sudden, I was in a situation where I knew everything that was going on.

00:20:02.640 Both of us were working for the people of Fort McMurray and Alberta at the time. And she totally

00:20:08.800 took politics out of it because I couldn't play politics. Not that I wanted to, but some people do.

00:20:13.440 Some politicians are prepared to play with people's lives in order for their own agenda. That's not

00:20:19.120 acceptable. Why I wanted to do that for Rachel Notley and get her involved in COVID? Only so she could

00:20:24.400 listen and she couldn't play politics because it would stop the NDP from doing so. How do you play politics when

00:20:30.480 you're actually privy to all of the information and you're there when the decisions are being made?

00:20:34.240 Not only do you have to keep them confidential, but you can't play the political game that Rachel

00:20:39.360 Notley has been playing. And we have to look beyond just the hard and fast, passionate partisanship

00:20:46.000 of politics. We have to think smart about how we do things that are better for the people.

00:20:50.560 And better for the people is certainly taking the politics out of very dangerous situations. You know,

00:20:55.520 Winston Churchill did it. We did it at the time of Confederation when we were drafting the Constitution.

00:21:01.840 We take politics out of it because it's better for the people. And would I want to put Rachel

00:21:07.440 in charge of anything? Listen, the reason why I'm back right now and I put my family life on hold and

00:21:12.480 my businesses and everything else on hold is because I don't want Rachel Notley to win the next election.

00:21:17.040 I will do whatever I can as the Premier and the leader of the UCP within the obligations and rights that

00:21:24.160 we have as politicians to make sure that Rachel Notley does not form government and make sure that 0.96

00:21:28.960 we unite the Conservative movement here in Alberta behind the UCP and win the next election by an

00:21:34.080 overwhelming majority so we can bring in the good policies for Albertans because you know what it

00:21:38.960 should be for Albertans and other people have talked about what they would do. Well, let me tell you,

00:21:44.080 look at my background and see where I have done things, where I have resigned my position and gave up

00:21:49.120 a paycheck in order that we can unite these parties so we can bring them together into a movement.

00:21:54.160 That's what I'm interested in because that movement should represent Albertans and Albertans should

00:21:58.880 be the beneficiary of every single decision that a Premier, a Cabinet and a caucus make for them.

00:22:06.000 UCP MLA and leadership candidate Brian Jean. Brian, thank you so much for coming on.

00:22:10.720 Thank you, my pleasure as always and great to be here. Howdy all your listeners.

00:22:15.360 Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.

00:22:23.520 My community, aren't you sure, have a good chance but thank you for joining us right now,

00:22:25.840 Hoover State

Juno News - August 12, 2022

Why Alberta needs autonomy (ft. Brian Jean)

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