Juno News - August 10, 2021


Why aren't the Conservatives ready for an election？


Episode Stats

Length

38 minutes

Words per Minute

168.71603

Word Count

6,458

Sentence Count

373

Misogynist Sentences

10

Hate Speech Sentences

6


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.
00:00:06.700 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.
00:00:12.760 Coming up, the Conservative Party's fourth wave paranoia.
00:00:16.220 A politician apologizes for supporting freedom.
00:00:19.300 And look at Alberta's upcoming equalization referendum.
00:00:24.480 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.
00:00:30.620 Hello and welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.
00:00:34.100 It is Monday, August 9th, 2021.
00:00:37.040 Great to have you tuned into the program.
00:00:39.080 As of yet, still no election.
00:00:41.740 Though all signs are pointing to, if you listen to the whispers
00:00:44.700 that are coming out of Ottawa and the Parliamentary Press Gallery
00:00:48.200 and political circles, an election will be coming up
00:00:51.600 in just a few days' time, potentially.
00:00:53.940 It could be any moment now.
00:00:55.180 By the time I finish this show, we could be in election mode.
00:00:58.680 And still, the Conservative Party of Canada is not ready.
00:01:03.700 Remember in 2015, when the Conservatives were going up against Justin Trudeau,
00:01:08.800 that was their whole message, that he's just not ready.
00:01:12.280 And the Conservatives are now applying to themselves
00:01:14.660 the same line that they were trying to use
00:01:17.020 to take down Justin Trudeau in 2015.
00:01:19.060 They don't want an election.
00:01:20.620 They just do not want to go to the polls.
00:01:22.900 Now, they don't come right out and say that they're not ready for an election.
00:01:25.980 They say, as we talked about last week,
00:01:28.200 oh, well, it's dangerous.
00:01:29.460 We've got a Delta-driven fourth wave spike coming.
00:01:32.780 Who knows what other variants are just going to be around the corner.
00:01:35.580 And I made a prediction.
00:01:37.360 I'm noting this now because I specifically said
00:01:40.240 I rarely make predictions because I don't want to be wrong.
00:01:42.660 But I did make one very clear prediction last week.
00:01:46.380 I talked about some of the rhetoric we were hearing
00:01:48.760 from staffers of O'Toole's team,
00:01:51.080 that things were a little concerning,
00:01:53.820 that they were worried about COVID
00:01:55.320 and having an election during a pandemic and all of that.
00:01:58.260 And I said, this seems to be a test balloon
00:02:00.680 for lines we're going to hear before long from Aaron O'Toole.
00:02:05.160 Then over the weekend, this comes.
00:02:08.240 Canadians are worried about a fourth wave of COVID-19.
00:02:11.260 The dangerous Delta variant is here and we have to be ready.
00:02:15.120 Now is not the time for an election.
00:02:16.980 We can all wait and go to the polls when it's safe.
00:02:19.940 We need to focus on health and well-being,
00:02:23.280 securing our economic future and fighting COVID-19 together.
00:02:26.920 My wife and I had COVID.
00:02:28.500 Like many families, we want to get past this pandemic.
00:02:31.600 But let's pull together for one more fight.
00:02:34.320 Let's beat COVID-19 and have an election when it's safe.
00:02:41.220 Oh, we hit all the checkboxes there.
00:02:43.620 Dangerous Delta variant.
00:02:45.120 Canadians are worried about a fourth wave.
00:02:47.140 Now is not the time.
00:02:48.360 I don't actually buy into that premise that Canadians are terrified of this existential threat
00:02:54.360 that is the looming fourth wave.
00:02:56.160 I think that people have been able to, by now, make their own determinations about risk.
00:03:00.440 Those who wanted to get vaccinated got vaccinated.
00:03:02.860 Those who didn't are dealing with the consequences or lack thereof,
00:03:06.080 depending on what they think about their decision.
00:03:07.860 But the reality is Canadians are going to go forward.
00:03:12.720 And as most of the experts are now saying, this involves learning to live with COVID in the world,
00:03:19.320 learning to live with COVID in our country and in our communities.
00:03:23.440 Dina Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health in Alberta, has had the most clarity on this position,
00:03:28.860 saying that the point was never going to come where we were just going to be able to flip a switch and say COVID's over.
00:03:34.180 However, it's about how we adapt and live our lives around it.
00:03:38.480 Cases are irrelevant.
00:03:40.960 Hospitalizations are down.
00:03:42.200 Deaths are down.
00:03:43.160 And these are the metrics that should matter more than the cases on which the media seems to be resting its alarmism.
00:03:49.820 So this idea that there is this looming, Delta-driven, fourth-wave terror that is so bad,
00:03:57.680 democracy must be suspended.
00:03:59.660 That's the whole thing.
00:04:00.240 Not just that there's an uptick, but that things are so bad that Canada is incapable of having an election,
00:04:05.520 simply is not true.
00:04:07.800 And I laid out my two theories on this last time, and I'll restate them now.
00:04:12.220 Either the Conservatives are true believers on this.
00:04:14.600 They're buying into this fear-mongering, or they simply just aren't ready for an election.
00:04:19.820 And I think everyone is lining up in that latter column here.
00:04:25.240 That the Conservatives just see this as being the best possible way they can try to delay this,
00:04:30.980 because they don't want to head right into a defeat.
00:04:34.880 And I get it.
00:04:35.660 You don't want to lose elections.
00:04:36.880 Ideally, you go into them and want to win them.
00:04:39.000 But the focus should be, how do we win the election, not how do we try to delay the inevitable?
00:04:47.500 Now, a lot of Canadians get very annoyed with elections.
00:04:50.720 Minority governments are inherently unstable.
00:04:53.300 Stephen Harper had a minority in 2006 that lasted two years,
00:04:56.860 gone three years out of the 2008 minority.
00:04:59.340 But we know they do not last forever.
00:05:01.920 So the idea that we were going to have a four-year-long election term
00:05:07.060 after Trudeau was taken down to a minority was just never going to happen.
00:05:12.320 So the question then becomes, what is the best timing for the election?
00:05:18.460 And I'm not one of these people that actually thinks an election is a bad idea.
00:05:22.740 I think that you have a huge situation in Canadian politics that was unforeseen in 2019.
00:05:29.800 You've got COVID.
00:05:30.980 You've got a government that is trying to move its agenda forward.
00:05:34.800 I don't happen to agree with a lot of that agenda,
00:05:36.900 but the government is trying to move its agenda forward.
00:05:39.920 And then on the other side of that, you have Canadians that will have, in an election,
00:05:44.360 the opportunity to assess whether that government is on the right track.
00:05:47.780 About its pandemic response, about its spending,
00:05:50.040 about any number of other things that have topped the liberal government's agenda.
00:05:55.020 So I would actually say this is probably the first time I've agreed
00:05:59.440 with something Justin Trudeau does about democracy and elections
00:06:04.100 if they go down that road that we all think is happening
00:06:06.900 and are pretty confident is going to happen, which is calling an election
00:06:09.660 because it's giving Canadians the opportunity to basically say,
00:06:13.760 yeah, you are able to stick around or no, you're not.
00:06:17.180 Now, the caveat here is that Justin Trudeau has been running for re-election for months,
00:06:22.440 going across the country, doing spending announcement after spending announcement
00:06:26.140 after spending announcement while opposition parties are waiting.
00:06:30.580 So in that sense, there is an unfairness there because he knows his plans.
00:06:34.580 He knows what he's going to be doing.
00:06:36.160 And it's the other parties that have just sort of waited
00:06:38.280 and they don't have the opportunity to go and hand out taxpayer money
00:06:41.700 as part of this pseudo campaign that they aren't really saying is a campaign.
00:06:45.780 But the point is, an election is an opportunity for Canadians to tell the government
00:06:50.120 they don't want them around with any government.
00:06:53.020 That is the very nature of elections.
00:06:55.920 So when you are the opposition, as the Conservative Party is, the official opposition,
00:07:02.640 you should be welcoming the opportunity to put your agenda to the taxpayers,
00:07:07.780 to the voters ahead of your opponents, ahead of the governments.
00:07:11.100 And the point here, when I see this video from Aaron O'Toole,
00:07:15.060 which just comes across as the most disingenuous message imaginable,
00:07:20.220 I'm like, well, what have you been opposing and criticizing the government for
00:07:23.580 if you think that that government is the steady hand that should be buckling down
00:07:27.700 and getting Canadians through this deadly fourth wave?
00:07:30.740 If there is a deadly fourth wave coming and things are that bad,
00:07:34.020 what the Conservatives have now said is that Justin Trudeau is the guy to steer Canadians through it.
00:07:41.440 And that's not exactly a winning message when it comes to politics.
00:07:45.440 So last week, we started to see this coming from Aaron O'Toole staffers,
00:07:49.340 from Conservative campaign people.
00:07:51.020 Now this is the message of Aaron O'Toole.
00:07:53.140 And it's obviously not something that they're completely buying into, if they are at all.
00:07:59.860 He's still campaigning.
00:08:01.020 They've still got their campaign studio in downtown Ottawa.
00:08:04.740 Their candidates are still knocking on doors.
00:08:06.700 So clearly, they haven't suspended their campaign because of this threat.
00:08:10.420 Aaron O'Toole was at the Calgary Stampede shaking hands, posing for photos.
00:08:14.720 Clearly, they do not buy into this.
00:08:18.160 Nor should they.
00:08:19.040 I don't want them to be alarmist.
00:08:20.740 I just don't want them to pretend to be alarmist
00:08:23.260 because they think it gives them just a slight political edge
00:08:26.760 for, you know, half a second when an election is called.
00:08:29.940 And they want to claim that Justin Trudeau is being irresponsible with it.
00:08:33.100 That is not helping us get out of all of these lockdowns.
00:08:38.160 Like, the battle lines are very significant here.
00:08:41.100 Just look at what's been going on between the federal government
00:08:43.500 and the provincial government.
00:08:45.480 You have Patty Hajdu, who is calling out Alberta for reopening.
00:08:50.640 So, again, the permanent emergency.
00:08:53.220 These people want a permanent lockdown.
00:08:55.040 Patty Hajdu wants Alberta to pony up its documentation
00:08:59.000 to give evidence to justify its reopening.
00:09:01.920 And this is a letter that Patty Hajdu sent, which is absolutely insane.
00:09:07.120 She says,
00:09:07.500 Alberta, like I mentioned earlier, is no different than many other jurisdictions.
00:09:26.380 It's maybe seen a few cases here and there.
00:09:28.740 But deaths and hospitalizations, the metrics that matter, are virtually non-existent.
00:09:33.640 And I don't think anyone in Canada believes Patty Hajdu when she says,
00:09:39.060 well, anything, but when she talks about the federal modeling,
00:09:41.900 which has been wrong at pretty much every turn.
00:09:44.560 This is a clip from Jason Kenney's response to Patty Hajdu's letter,
00:09:49.740 which basically says the federal government could go pound salt.
00:09:53.280 Alberta is open.
00:09:54.600 I find this ironic coming from a minister who refused to close the borders of COVID hotspots
00:10:00.840 at the very beginning of the pandemic,
00:10:02.300 who effectively facilitated the entry into Canada of the virus
00:10:07.020 when other countries like in East Asia immediately shut their borders
00:10:10.780 in January and February of last year.
00:10:12.380 Minister Hajdu was arguing to keep them open as long as she could,
00:10:15.420 even from the worst hotspots in the world.
00:10:17.760 She still hasn't taken responsibility for that incompetent and dangerous decision.
00:10:23.420 She was arguing against masks.
00:10:25.200 She was following blindly the mistaken advice of the World Health Organization
00:10:30.440 that there was not a pandemic until they finally changed their tune in March.
00:10:35.160 So we're not going to take lectures from Minister Hajdu,
00:10:38.160 particularly when it appears that she and her boss, Justin Trudeau,
00:10:43.040 are hell-bent on a federal election campaign.
00:10:46.040 If they really are that concerned about COVID,
00:10:49.360 then why is she getting ready to start putting up campaign signs?
00:10:56.360 I think this is just an obvious political ploy, and it's divisive.
00:11:02.720 I would ask that the federal government respect the expert advice
00:11:08.500 of each province's public health officials.
00:11:11.160 In our case, our brilliant Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hinshaw.
00:11:15.680 The plan that we are moving forward with was designed by Dr. Hinshaw and her team
00:11:21.740 in order to address all public health challenges
00:11:25.300 and recognize that there's not just one health challenge that we face as a society.
00:11:30.240 And so I at least respect her expert advice,
00:11:35.480 and it would be nice if the federal government would show similar deference.
00:11:37.960 And I should point out here that this is not just a political battle
00:11:41.860 between the federal health minister and the Alberta premier.
00:11:44.940 The government officials that have been pushing lockdowns and restrictions
00:11:48.420 have been telling us for a year and a half now
00:11:50.460 that we have to listen to the experts and listen to the science.
00:11:54.340 Alberta has been very transparent with it.
00:11:56.800 Dina Hinshaw, their Chief Medical Officer of Health,
00:11:58.980 has been remarkably clear in her communication about Alberta's plan
00:12:03.040 and about why Alberta is pursuing the route it is.
00:12:07.080 And she wrote an op-ed in the Calgary Herald just a few days ago
00:12:10.940 in which she talked about this.
00:12:12.680 She went in a very clear manner,
00:12:14.220 the kind of communication that we wish had been coming
00:12:18.160 from public health officials for most of the last year and a half.
00:12:21.820 And she talked about, again,
00:12:22.980 there's not going to be this COVID-0 pandemic over moment.
00:12:26.600 We have to adjust and we have to adapt.
00:12:29.380 And she is the expert.
00:12:30.740 She's the public health official.
00:12:32.560 And it's interesting that all of the lockdown-happy goons
00:12:36.680 in so many governments have been telling us to listen to the experts
00:12:40.100 until an expert disagrees with their lockdown narrative.
00:12:45.200 And this is when it becomes very revealing
00:12:47.340 that it's not about listening to the experts,
00:12:49.080 it's about listening to their experts.
00:12:53.380 No, no, the second that someone with a bunch of letters
00:12:55.560 after their name, no matter how esteemed they are,
00:12:57.980 no matter how well-regarded they are,
00:12:59.780 the second they go against the government narrative,
00:13:03.040 well, they're no longer an expert.
00:13:04.140 We can't listen to them.
00:13:05.760 So yeah, we have to listen to Teresa Tam.
00:13:07.940 We don't listen to Dina Hinshaw.
00:13:09.640 There was this one guy in Alberta
00:13:12.120 that the media has held up as an expert,
00:13:14.200 Dr. Joe Vipond.
00:13:16.160 And well, we have to listen to him
00:13:17.800 because he's telling us all the things we want to hear.
00:13:20.200 He's having pro-lockdown rallies,
00:13:22.200 which I don't even understand how you justify doing that
00:13:25.300 when it involves leaving your home.
00:13:26.840 And then of course,
00:13:27.720 he's been a tens of thousands of dollar donor
00:13:30.560 to the Alberta NDP,
00:13:33.460 which CTV finally came around to reporting after True North.
00:13:37.840 But I'm going to give the edge to my colleagues over at True North
00:13:40.560 who pointed that out.
00:13:41.360 Again, hidden in plain sight.
00:13:42.640 But these people are politicians.
00:13:45.740 They're not public health officials in a lot of cases.
00:13:49.520 They're political figures pushing a political agenda.
00:13:53.540 So Dina Hinshaw,
00:13:54.580 who at the beginning of the pandemic,
00:13:56.100 everyone was holding up as great.
00:13:57.720 Now they're throwing her to the wolves
00:13:59.220 because they don't like that she's actually giving
00:14:01.380 a province license to reopen.
00:14:04.800 Do not doubt for a moment
00:14:06.560 that so many of the voices from whom we've been hearing
00:14:09.500 that we're told to trust blindly
00:14:11.320 do not want reopening to happen.
00:14:14.540 They want the control.
00:14:16.500 They want the control that comes with keeping people
00:14:18.900 in a permanent state of emergency.
00:14:20.800 We've seen in Canada and around the world,
00:14:23.540 but particularly in Canada,
00:14:25.180 how eagerly and willingly people hand over
00:14:27.880 their civil liberties to the government.
00:14:29.780 Do not doubt that this will become a template
00:14:33.420 that is used in any future emergency or pseudo-emergency.
00:14:37.480 And I don't like saying things that sound like
00:14:41.100 they are conspiratorial.
00:14:43.240 But it's not even predicting the future
00:14:45.580 to just point out what's happened
00:14:47.660 and say, yeah, this will continue to happen.
00:14:51.560 And listening to the experts is not about that.
00:14:55.040 It's about listening to their experts.
00:14:57.660 And I want to actually show a clip from Dina Hinshaw
00:15:00.580 when I talk about the clarity of communication
00:15:02.460 so you understand what she's been doing.
00:15:04.260 She's been very transparent.
00:15:05.940 She's actually been doing the rounds,
00:15:07.480 a number of interviews with a variety of outlets
00:15:09.920 over the last couple of weeks.
00:15:11.300 And she's been talking about why it is
00:15:13.900 that Alberta's doing what it's doing.
00:15:15.680 So again, for Patty Hajdu to say,
00:15:17.380 well, you need to turn over your evidence,
00:15:19.080 well, just turn on a TV.
00:15:21.040 You know, this won't come as news to you,
00:15:23.260 but a number of medical experts
00:15:24.720 have criticized your decision,
00:15:26.060 including the Canadian Pediatric Society
00:15:27.800 and the Alberta Medical Association.
00:15:29.800 So, you know, why are you confident
00:15:32.740 that this is the way to go
00:15:34.020 at this stage in the pandemic?
00:15:37.580 Sure.
00:15:38.180 And I just want to be clear
00:15:39.220 about the process in Alberta.
00:15:41.040 So I make recommendations to cabinet committees
00:15:44.520 and then their decision is what informs policy.
00:15:48.060 And then the orders that are carried out
00:15:50.820 are the tool that implements the policy decision.
00:15:53.900 So I just want to be clear
00:15:55.280 that there's always that interplay
00:15:56.760 and the recommendation is certainly mine.
00:16:00.580 So in terms of why I believe
00:16:02.820 this is the right step for Alberta at this time,
00:16:05.940 it's really twofold.
00:16:07.740 One is about my,
00:16:09.880 I believe I have an obligation
00:16:11.220 to continually assess the proportionality
00:16:15.000 of the requirements that I place
00:16:16.960 on Albertans province-wide
00:16:18.340 in terms of legal mandates
00:16:20.240 to do or not do certain things.
00:16:22.120 And I need to continually assess
00:16:25.260 the province-wide risk
00:16:27.120 and whether or not that meets the test
00:16:30.500 of requiring those particular interventions.
00:16:34.500 So as you may know,
00:16:36.840 the majority of public health measures
00:16:39.880 were lifted on July 1st.
00:16:41.620 We have been watching cases since then.
00:16:43.540 There has been, as you mentioned, an uptick.
00:16:45.900 We've seen our acute care admissions
00:16:48.800 holding roughly steady.
00:16:50.280 So we know that the vaccination
00:16:54.900 that we have widely available
00:16:57.100 can disrupt that connection
00:16:59.340 between cases and severe outcomes.
00:17:02.200 And so we, like Saskatchewan did on July 11th,
00:17:06.000 are planning to lift that provincial-wide
00:17:08.920 mandatory requirement for isolation and quarantine.
00:17:13.900 And as BC did earlier in July,
00:17:17.620 lifting the mandate province-wide
00:17:19.760 for masking in transit taxis and rideshares.
00:17:24.460 We will be maintaining some specific measures
00:17:27.700 in various locations like acute care
00:17:29.800 and continuing care.
00:17:31.400 And so there are measures in place
00:17:33.160 that will not be changing.
00:17:34.580 And at the same time,
00:17:35.980 we're going to be moving
00:17:37.080 from a province-wide approach
00:17:39.040 to really looking specifically
00:17:40.340 at local interventions where they're needed.
00:17:42.780 So if we have surges of cases
00:17:45.200 leading to acute care impacts,
00:17:47.360 being able to target those particular locations
00:17:49.800 with measures that are needed,
00:17:51.380 as opposed to, again,
00:17:53.420 the mandate at a province-wide level.
00:17:56.200 As I said, clear, direct,
00:17:59.060 and going against the grain
00:18:00.600 of the prevailing state narrative right now.
00:18:02.920 So therefore, worthy of cancellation.
00:18:05.300 No matter how many letters she has after her name,
00:18:07.420 how many degrees, how many accolades,
00:18:09.380 nope, she's telling people
00:18:10.980 they don't need to live in fear.
00:18:12.540 And we can't have any of that
00:18:13.920 taking place in Canada now.
00:18:16.120 And it's amazing how the bounds of society,
00:18:19.360 of polite society,
00:18:20.380 what people are allowed to say,
00:18:22.100 are allowed to think,
00:18:22.860 getting ever and ever narrower
00:18:24.960 throughout the course of the pandemic.
00:18:26.680 Even when someone accidentally stumbles
00:18:28.260 into the right train of thought,
00:18:30.160 they have to apologize.
00:18:31.640 This one is great.
00:18:32.660 My province, Ontario,
00:18:34.000 has an NDP leader, Andrea Horvath,
00:18:36.440 who has been reasonably capable
00:18:39.580 as an NDP leader,
00:18:41.500 but she came out
00:18:42.780 and opposed mandatory vaccinations.
00:18:46.500 Now, at a time when that's becoming
00:18:48.120 one of the big cultural battles,
00:18:49.880 this was a big thing.
00:18:50.760 And I think a part of this was because
00:18:52.340 she's heavily influenced by unions
00:18:54.560 as an NDP leader.
00:18:56.000 Public sector unions don't like the idea
00:18:57.740 of their members being forced to be vaccinated.
00:19:00.160 So she talks about the importance
00:19:01.720 of charter rights.
00:19:03.200 Again, not something we're used to hearing about
00:19:05.220 from a New Democrat,
00:19:06.620 but I will take it.
00:19:08.400 Unlike Mr. Del Duca,
00:19:10.460 I don't take lightly people's charter rights.
00:19:13.400 And so that's why what we're saying is
00:19:15.160 rapid tests or your vaccination status
00:19:19.480 and being vaccinated.
00:19:21.260 So vaccination or rapid tests
00:19:23.460 before going to work,
00:19:24.880 it's the very least we could be doing,
00:19:27.020 we should be doing,
00:19:28.240 to make sure that folks are safe at school,
00:19:33.440 that our students are safe at school,
00:19:35.020 that our workers,
00:19:36.580 our education workers and teachers
00:19:37.960 are safe at school.
00:19:38.860 I really think that we can't simply ignore
00:19:44.440 that there are folks that are not going
00:19:46.820 to get vaccinated.
00:19:47.780 And I don't think that the right thing to do
00:19:50.040 is just to shut them out,
00:19:51.940 as it appears that Mr. Del Duca is prepared to do.
00:19:54.640 So she does that interview.
00:19:56.380 She makes what I think is a perfectly valid point.
00:19:59.560 The backlash she received was insane.
00:20:02.220 And it was actually concerning to just pay attention.
00:20:04.420 I mean, paying attention to Twitter
00:20:05.620 is oftentimes not enjoyable,
00:20:07.400 but it was crazy to just look at
00:20:10.680 how many people were so angry at someone
00:20:13.300 for opposing mandatory vaccination,
00:20:15.340 which is one of the most egregious policies
00:20:17.840 a government could come up with
00:20:18.960 to force people to inoculate themselves
00:20:21.180 with something if they don't want to be.
00:20:23.140 In any case,
00:20:24.160 so this happens
00:20:25.400 and she was apparently receptive to it
00:20:27.300 because then she shared this video
00:20:29.820 in which she completely reversed course.
00:20:32.640 Hello, Ontario.
00:20:34.800 I've always been a strong advocate
00:20:36.700 for doing everything we can
00:20:38.600 to ensure every Ontarian is vaccinated.
00:20:42.140 This is especially critical
00:20:43.680 in health care and education.
00:20:45.860 I fully support mandatory vaccination
00:20:48.460 in health care and education
00:20:49.620 based on science and public health priorities.
00:20:53.320 I should have made that position clearer
00:20:55.300 much earlier
00:20:56.180 in support of the health and safety
00:20:57.920 of the most vulnerable among us,
00:21:00.000 seniors, people with disabilities,
00:21:03.220 people who are sick
00:21:04.040 and children who can't yet get their vaccines.
00:21:07.540 I also believe we need to reach out to people,
00:21:10.460 find out what their barrier is
00:21:12.180 and address it.
00:21:13.900 Whether that's paid time off
00:21:15.620 for a gig worker
00:21:16.420 or taking the vaccine directly
00:21:18.440 to the home of a single parent
00:21:20.020 with two jobs and two kids.
00:21:22.720 Doug Ford has failed to do that work.
00:21:24.700 On Wednesday, I made a mistake
00:21:28.640 suggesting a mandatory vaccine policy
00:21:31.340 during a global pandemic
00:21:33.000 should take a back seat to Charter Rights.
00:21:35.940 I regret the comment.
00:21:38.200 I was wrong.
00:21:40.200 My fight and my focus
00:21:42.060 must be on keeping people healthy and safe.
00:21:46.540 This unprecedented time
00:21:48.380 requires unprecedented actions.
00:21:51.320 It's time to make sure
00:21:52.380 every education and healthcare worker
00:21:54.540 gets the protection of a vaccine.
00:21:57.500 Now, let's work together
00:21:59.340 to convince Doug Ford.
00:22:01.600 She made a mistake
00:22:03.180 to say that mandatory vaccines
00:22:05.680 should take a back seat
00:22:07.420 to Charter Rights.
00:22:08.280 In the tweet accompanying
00:22:09.140 her video statement,
00:22:10.540 I made a mistake yesterday
00:22:11.860 raising Charter Rights.
00:22:13.360 I was wrong.
00:22:14.860 When is raising civil liberties,
00:22:16.860 when is raising
00:22:17.500 constitutional freedoms
00:22:18.700 a mistake?
00:22:19.420 Like, this is completely why
00:22:22.600 some people, as I've mentioned,
00:22:23.800 have been completely allergic
00:22:25.500 to victory.
00:22:26.880 This is why the NDP in Ontario
00:22:28.860 is doomed to be the permanent
00:22:30.500 perpetual opposition party
00:22:31.980 because they apologize
00:22:33.400 for valuing freedom.
00:22:35.500 By the way, I don't even know
00:22:36.480 if they value freedom
00:22:37.300 on a day-to-day basis,
00:22:38.380 but in that one interview,
00:22:39.840 they valued freedom.
00:22:41.120 And now this is something
00:22:42.580 that apparently warrants
00:22:43.740 an apology.
00:22:45.640 Now, in this case,
00:22:46.920 it probably works for her politically
00:22:48.700 because her base
00:22:49.600 doesn't support the Charter.
00:22:51.120 Why would you appeal
00:22:51.840 to Charter Rights
00:22:52.580 when your base
00:22:53.300 doesn't seem to care
00:22:54.520 about those things?
00:22:55.260 That was clearly the problem
00:22:56.980 that all of these people
00:22:58.340 that she was expecting
00:22:59.720 would be behind her
00:23:00.720 were actually not
00:23:02.120 because they all support
00:23:03.100 mandatory vaccine now.
00:23:04.480 And I don't buy this distinction
00:23:06.080 that mandatory vaccine
00:23:07.180 for healthcare workers
00:23:08.260 is distinct from mandatory vaccine.
00:23:10.880 At a certain point,
00:23:11.860 if the state is making
00:23:13.520 your employment conditional
00:23:14.860 on getting vaccinated,
00:23:16.880 it's as though the state
00:23:17.820 is mandating it
00:23:18.600 because you are creating
00:23:19.920 this stratified society,
00:23:21.920 which is not something
00:23:22.820 that we should at all
00:23:24.320 be welcoming or inviting.
00:23:26.520 It's the same as a lot
00:23:28.200 of this allyship culture
00:23:29.520 we see in other areas.
00:23:30.600 It's not enough just to agree
00:23:31.640 with someone's right
00:23:32.360 to live their life.
00:23:33.240 You have to like actively
00:23:34.500 be on the front lines
00:23:35.740 fighting against the enemies
00:23:37.280 of that position.
00:23:38.860 So standing up for free speech
00:23:40.400 in a conversation
00:23:41.480 about mandatory vaccines,
00:23:43.040 standing up for vaccine choice,
00:23:44.860 standing up for the freedom
00:23:46.180 to decide what you put
00:23:47.420 into your own body.
00:23:48.280 Nope, that is not allowed.
00:23:50.400 So if she gets turfed
00:23:51.820 in a leadership review,
00:23:52.760 that'll be the reason.
00:23:53.640 It will have nothing to do
00:23:54.640 with electoral results
00:23:56.020 is that she has gone against,
00:23:57.440 as we said with Dr. Hinshaw,
00:23:59.220 the official narrative.
00:24:00.540 And that right now
00:24:01.560 is an unforgivable sin
00:24:03.260 in Canadian politics.
00:24:05.640 Before we take a break here,
00:24:07.120 I want to put in a plug
00:24:08.320 for our friends
00:24:09.160 over at secondstreet.org.
00:24:11.180 You may wonder,
00:24:12.100 well, what could be done
00:24:13.000 about rising government debt,
00:24:14.620 about long healthcare waiting lists,
00:24:16.620 unemployment?
00:24:17.720 Well, secondstreet.org
00:24:19.040 has co-authored a free ebook,
00:24:21.760 Life After COVID.
00:24:23.520 So you can download your copy
00:24:24.920 of that free ebook
00:24:26.440 and find lots of other great stuff
00:24:28.280 that they're working on
00:24:29.120 over at www.secondstreet.org.
00:24:35.400 You're tuned in
00:24:36.640 to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:24:41.220 Welcome back
00:24:42.160 to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:24:43.560 We've spoken a fair bit
00:24:45.440 about the upcoming
00:24:46.360 equalization referendum
00:24:47.980 that Albertans will be able
00:24:49.360 to participate in in October.
00:24:51.700 I spoke about this
00:24:52.480 with Premier Jason Kenney
00:24:53.820 a few weeks back.
00:24:55.280 And one of the big questions is
00:24:56.820 if Albertans decide
00:24:58.260 to vote in favor of this,
00:25:00.680 to basically re-evaluate
00:25:02.860 Alberta's relationship
00:25:03.920 with the rest of Canada
00:25:04.920 as it pertains to equalization,
00:25:07.180 does the federal government
00:25:08.560 even have to pay attention to it?
00:25:10.740 There was a great op-ed
00:25:12.320 in the National Post
00:25:13.620 looking at this very question
00:25:14.920 and it said the feds
00:25:15.860 will have a duty to listen
00:25:18.020 if Albertans vote
00:25:19.120 against equalization.
00:25:20.820 This was written by
00:25:21.740 Dr. Bill Buick,
00:25:23.060 the executive director
00:25:24.060 of Fairness Alberta,
00:25:25.440 who joins me now.
00:25:26.700 Bill, good to talk to you.
00:25:27.540 Thanks for coming on today.
00:25:29.960 Yeah, my pleasure.
00:25:31.920 So what is the question?
00:25:33.360 Let's start there.
00:25:34.040 What is it that Albertans
00:25:34.980 are actually going to be voting on
00:25:36.300 in October?
00:25:38.720 The question we'll be asking
00:25:40.560 if Albertans want to remove
00:25:43.440 the section from the Constitution
00:25:45.260 that affirms a principle
00:25:47.360 of making equalization payments.
00:25:51.300 And this is a federal program,
00:25:54.100 not a provincial one.
00:25:55.440 So we get now
00:25:56.200 to the enforceability of it.
00:25:57.760 If Albertans do vote overwhelmingly
00:26:00.300 or even narrowly for this,
00:26:02.240 what does that compel
00:26:03.600 the government to do,
00:26:04.840 if anything,
00:26:05.400 at the federal level?
00:26:06.620 Well, there's some dispute
00:26:07.620 about that.
00:26:08.300 But in the 1998 Supreme Court
00:26:10.760 reference case
00:26:11.500 regarding Quebec secession,
00:26:13.960 they, of course,
00:26:15.640 went further
00:26:16.520 into what secession would entail.
00:26:18.700 But a few times
00:26:19.520 in that judgment,
00:26:20.840 they just sort of affirmed
00:26:22.060 a general principle
00:26:22.960 that if there's a province
00:26:24.620 that's so upset
00:26:26.220 about something
00:26:26.940 in the Constitution,
00:26:28.000 that it's causing enough
00:26:28.940 political consternation
00:26:30.300 in a province,
00:26:31.420 that they have a referendum
00:26:32.440 to change the Constitution,
00:26:35.100 that the rest of the country
00:26:36.840 needs to pay attention to that.
00:26:38.460 And the federal government
00:26:39.180 and the other provinces
00:26:40.040 have a duty
00:26:41.220 to engage in discussions,
00:26:44.100 engage in constitutional discussions,
00:26:45.800 it says at one point.
00:26:46.880 And it's just sort of common sense
00:26:49.180 that if you have,
00:26:50.080 you know,
00:26:52.440 any of your partners
00:26:53.560 in Confederation
00:26:54.520 are that upset about something
00:26:55.880 and they have a referendum
00:26:57.520 where the people's will
00:26:58.760 explicitly says
00:26:59.960 that this isn't just,
00:27:01.140 you know,
00:27:01.420 some politicians
00:27:02.140 trying to score points
00:27:03.300 or it's not just,
00:27:04.200 it's not just somebody,
00:27:07.000 yeah,
00:27:07.260 doing political purposes.
00:27:08.360 this is the people
00:27:09.420 are upset enough
00:27:10.300 that they want some change
00:27:11.520 that you can't just ignore it
00:27:13.460 and that you have to engage
00:27:14.640 with the province
00:27:15.360 in good faith
00:27:16.320 and discuss the problem.
00:27:19.300 But you don't have to
00:27:20.840 go along with it.
00:27:21.960 You have to have a discussion.
00:27:23.520 Of course.
00:27:23.560 Is that basically the standard?
00:27:24.720 There's an amending formula
00:27:25.740 for the Constitution
00:27:26.720 and that this does not
00:27:28.900 in any way meet
00:27:29.860 that threshold
00:27:31.700 of seven provinces
00:27:32.700 and 50%.
00:27:33.600 But it's just a way of,
00:27:35.360 you know,
00:27:35.880 arguably letting off steam
00:27:38.260 but more importantly
00:27:39.460 in re-engaging
00:27:40.540 with a province
00:27:41.160 that has a real problem
00:27:42.820 and is frustrated
00:27:44.260 and needs something addressed.
00:27:47.020 So it's just kind of common sense
00:27:49.140 that you wouldn't just brush that off
00:27:51.300 in a way that it's probably easier
00:27:54.400 to brush off a political leader
00:27:57.780 who's asking the feds for something.
00:28:01.180 Maybe he's in a different party.
00:28:02.940 Maybe there's other motives going on.
00:28:05.680 But when the people of a province
00:28:06.760 speak up loudly
00:28:07.880 that they need something addressed,
00:28:09.660 the federal government
00:28:10.680 has a duty to address it.
00:28:12.980 And that's actually a very key point
00:28:15.120 because a few weeks back
00:28:16.420 when Premier Jason Kenney
00:28:17.860 was sitting down
00:28:18.720 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
00:28:21.080 Premier Kenney had put to him
00:28:22.640 the upcoming Alberta Senate elections,
00:28:25.220 which are also going to be in October,
00:28:26.580 and had asked Trudeau
00:28:27.960 to hold off on appointing
00:28:29.780 any senators for Alberta
00:28:31.120 until Albertans could
00:28:32.340 put a candidate forward.
00:28:34.320 And Trudeau basically said,
00:28:35.660 yeah, yeah, yeah,
00:28:36.100 that's not how we do things
00:28:37.160 and gave, to use your words,
00:28:39.240 the brush off there.
00:28:40.420 So in that sense,
00:28:41.900 having an obligation to,
00:28:43.660 no, no, no, you're going to sit down,
00:28:45.360 you're going to talk about this,
00:28:46.900 forces you to respond to it
00:28:49.120 because then, you know,
00:28:49.960 voters, other premiers,
00:28:52.120 the media can ask you,
00:28:53.620 okay, well, you know,
00:28:54.560 what did he say?
00:28:55.180 What did you say to him?
00:28:56.100 And I think there's an obligation
00:28:58.140 to at least take something out of it
00:28:59.960 if you have to go into
00:29:00.740 that engagement process.
00:29:02.600 Yeah, and another example is the,
00:29:05.080 another sort of thing
00:29:06.900 that critics of this approach point to
00:29:09.860 is why can't you just bring it up
00:29:11.480 with the premiers
00:29:12.240 at the Council of the Federation?
00:29:13.840 Why can't you just get the work,
00:29:15.200 work through the normal channels?
00:29:17.280 And I would say, well, one,
00:29:19.180 there's about five provinces
00:29:21.180 who receive a lot of their funding
00:29:24.160 from this or at least a significant chunk
00:29:26.740 that they're not going to want to just,
00:29:28.460 you know, go with,
00:29:28.980 they don't want any negotiations
00:29:30.200 because they're pretty happy
00:29:31.240 with how things are.
00:29:32.300 But there are five other provinces
00:29:33.880 that are paying into this
00:29:36.220 without getting anything.
00:29:37.300 So you could have a little five-on-five
00:29:39.700 at the premiers conference.
00:29:41.540 But when you look at 2019,
00:29:44.460 the Alberta government
00:29:45.460 did get every single premier
00:29:47.840 to unanimously agree
00:29:49.340 to give Alberta
00:29:50.140 a significant retroactive payment
00:29:52.020 of five, six billion dollars.
00:29:54.160 Because in 2015,
00:29:56.120 Alberta's revenues dropped eight billion.
00:29:58.580 That's 20% drop in revenues.
00:30:00.640 And so there's this program
00:30:01.560 called fiscal stabilization
00:30:02.920 that is meant to cushion the blow
00:30:06.280 when you have a sudden drop
00:30:07.420 in revenues like that.
00:30:08.820 But it was,
00:30:09.580 it had a 60 per person cap,
00:30:11.960 $60 per person,
00:30:13.060 which meant that Alberta got
00:30:13.980 $250 million on that $8 billion drop,
00:30:17.980 which was about a 3% insurance payment,
00:30:20.740 which is obviously not stabilizing anything.
00:30:22.580 And so partly out of recognition
00:30:24.980 for all that Albertans have contributed
00:30:26.520 to other provinces
00:30:27.500 through our taxes that we pay,
00:30:30.240 which is much more than we get back,
00:30:32.080 the rest of the premiers said,
00:30:33.700 please give Alberta this retroactive,
00:30:36.200 like change the program,
00:30:37.340 which could benefit all of them conceivably,
00:30:39.500 but give Alberta a retroactive payment,
00:30:41.780 which obviously only helps Alberta.
00:30:43.760 And it's pretty unusual, I think,
00:30:45.080 to get every premier to agree
00:30:47.320 to give one province money.
00:30:48.680 I mean, it's easy to get them
00:30:50.240 to all agree to ask the feds
00:30:51.860 to give them all more money,
00:30:53.040 but this was a pretty significant win
00:30:56.080 and the feds just ignored it.
00:30:58.340 So I don't know,
00:31:00.040 I mean, part of this is,
00:31:01.160 for those who criticize the process,
00:31:04.260 well, what would you do?
00:31:05.180 Because the status quo isn't good enough.
00:31:07.600 There's a lot of people in Alberta
00:31:09.280 that are getting increasingly frustrated.
00:31:12.060 You know, I put out posts on these topics
00:31:14.760 and the number of people who are so upset
00:31:17.380 that they want to leave the country
00:31:18.680 that speak up is, you know, troubling.
00:31:22.660 So we have a serious problem here.
00:31:24.260 And it's not just, you know,
00:31:25.720 it's too easy, I think,
00:31:26.720 for some politicians and groups in Canada
00:31:30.040 to sort of write off Alberta,
00:31:32.440 demonize Alberta, mock Alberta.
00:31:34.680 But that's not going to last much longer
00:31:37.620 before more serious things happen.
00:31:39.800 So I feel like this referendum
00:31:41.320 is a really good sort of first step
00:31:43.360 in saying, hey, we're not happy.
00:31:45.580 Can we get this addressed?
00:31:48.220 Yeah, and I think you are right
00:31:49.780 to point out that chapter in Canada
00:31:52.220 where other provinces had agreed
00:31:54.600 to give Alberta money
00:31:55.460 because that actually reinforces
00:31:57.780 that the equalization formula
00:32:00.000 does not entirely capture
00:32:01.920 the economic realities.
00:32:03.960 And this is still a problem
00:32:05.120 that Alberta is contending with now
00:32:06.520 where the economic situation in Alberta,
00:32:09.320 which has been hit not just by the pandemic,
00:32:11.240 like many other provinces,
00:32:12.320 but oil and gas related issues as well.
00:32:15.780 It's still not being reflected
00:32:18.120 in the equalization formula.
00:32:19.820 So even if someone is committed
00:32:21.540 to equalization,
00:32:22.660 surely they should be able to look
00:32:23.800 and say, the way we do this
00:32:25.760 isn't really working right now.
00:32:27.580 Yeah, the equalization,
00:32:29.180 yeah, so there's two things going on here.
00:32:30.800 One is the symbolic attempt
00:32:33.180 to get some recognition
00:32:34.400 for all that Albertans have contributed
00:32:36.240 and how little we've gotten back
00:32:37.560 from the country for decades.
00:32:38.900 But then, you know,
00:32:41.760 so this is an avenue to address that.
00:32:44.420 But equalization is seriously flawed.
00:32:47.360 The provinces since 2015
00:32:48.920 have come much, much closer together
00:32:52.440 in fiscal capacity
00:32:54.120 is the way they measure
00:32:55.060 their kind of wealth
00:32:56.140 and ability to pay for services.
00:32:58.940 Alberta, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan,
00:33:00.860 we used to lead the country in 2015,
00:33:02.980 and it's really come down
00:33:04.960 with the energy downturn
00:33:06.080 so that the provinces are,
00:33:08.060 it was about a $5,000 gap
00:33:09.900 between the median have and have not.
00:33:11.840 Now it's about $1,600.
00:33:13.540 And when you think of the different
00:33:14.420 costs of services in places
00:33:16.080 like the Maritimes in Quebec
00:33:17.660 versus Ontario and Vancouver
00:33:19.440 and Alberta,
00:33:21.180 that's basically nothing.
00:33:22.360 So the provinces are more
00:33:24.220 close together than ever,
00:33:26.360 which means equalization
00:33:27.480 is less necessary than ever,
00:33:29.460 if at all.
00:33:30.520 You know, I would argue
00:33:31.140 maybe New Brunswick
00:33:32.140 and PEI are far enough
00:33:34.220 below the average
00:33:35.000 that maybe something there
00:33:36.780 would be fair.
00:33:38.020 But Quebec and Ontario
00:33:39.520 are getting increasingly close,
00:33:41.500 especially if you use a factor
00:33:43.100 like the cost of services.
00:33:44.940 So it's less necessary than ever,
00:33:46.940 and yet the payments have grown
00:33:48.300 to $21 billion this year.
00:33:50.700 They're tied to GDP,
00:33:52.120 and they grow every year
00:33:53.200 regardless of the need.
00:33:54.940 And so we've got
00:33:55.940 massive payments going out,
00:33:58.360 at least $10 billion
00:33:59.540 more than what is justified,
00:34:02.240 which means that there's
00:34:03.100 just $10 billion
00:34:04.120 that all Canadians
00:34:05.500 are paying into
00:34:06.360 that are going just to 30%
00:34:08.000 of the country
00:34:09.160 to pay for provincial services.
00:34:11.260 And this is at a time
00:34:12.040 when Alberta is saying
00:34:13.220 we need more funding
00:34:14.620 for provincial services.
00:34:15.760 Ontario is saying
00:34:16.760 we need more funding
00:34:17.900 for provincial services.
00:34:19.460 Well, you're paying
00:34:20.680 for provincial services
00:34:21.940 a lot more than you think.
00:34:23.800 It's just that Ottawa
00:34:24.700 is sending those dollars
00:34:25.680 specifically to five provinces.
00:34:27.220 One of the concerns
00:34:30.560 that I've seen from this,
00:34:32.520 and you touched on it
00:34:33.380 a bit earlier
00:34:33.820 when you talked about
00:34:34.480 the independence sentiment,
00:34:35.800 is that a lot of people
00:34:36.620 that think this doesn't
00:34:38.080 go nearly far enough,
00:34:39.400 that think, you know what,
00:34:40.020 the problems are not
00:34:41.000 going to be fixed.
00:34:41.660 They're certainly
00:34:42.020 not going to be fixed now.
00:34:43.180 And it seems like
00:34:44.180 there's a bit of resistance
00:34:45.140 to this referendum
00:34:46.420 that's coming from
00:34:48.360 the other side of it,
00:34:49.600 from the independence.
00:34:50.460 And I'm curious,
00:34:51.540 as someone in Alberta,
00:34:52.980 how much you see that
00:34:54.220 as being a factor here?
00:34:55.280 Yeah, I mean,
00:34:57.360 I understand the frustration.
00:35:00.440 It is frustrating.
00:35:01.580 But at the same time,
00:35:02.520 we're only sort of
00:35:03.600 11.5% of the country.
00:35:06.380 We have to understand,
00:35:07.880 and we have sort of
00:35:08.640 different interests
00:35:09.300 than a lot of other
00:35:10.920 sections of the country.
00:35:11.980 So there is a sort of
00:35:13.620 systemic issue
00:35:15.840 that we will always
00:35:16.840 have to deal with.
00:35:18.240 And so I do understand
00:35:19.680 why people think
00:35:20.460 it's fruitless and hopeless
00:35:22.460 and we'll never get
00:35:24.840 anywhere near close enough.
00:35:27.120 But from our perspective,
00:35:28.740 is that we need to try.
00:35:30.380 And there isn't really
00:35:32.100 too many groups
00:35:33.540 that have really tried
00:35:34.620 to do what we're doing,
00:35:36.460 which is telling
00:35:37.720 the rest of Canada
00:35:38.620 the facts,
00:35:39.880 saying,
00:35:40.360 here's how much
00:35:40.880 Albertans have been
00:35:41.700 contributing.
00:35:42.800 Here's how vital
00:35:43.740 Alberta's economy
00:35:44.680 and economic prosperity
00:35:46.080 has been to the rest
00:35:46.880 of the country.
00:35:47.820 Here's all the
00:35:48.520 spillover effects
00:35:50.160 when it comes
00:35:50.760 to either taxes
00:35:51.500 or jobs
00:35:52.280 that the rest
00:35:52.700 of the country
00:35:53.080 benefits from.
00:35:54.480 And just try to shift
00:35:55.460 the perspective
00:35:57.140 for the rest
00:35:58.500 of the country
00:35:59.040 from thinking
00:36:00.140 that somehow
00:36:00.640 Alberta's lucky
00:36:02.140 and has a bunch
00:36:03.500 of free money
00:36:04.280 and that somehow
00:36:05.540 their success
00:36:06.200 comes at our expense
00:36:07.260 and say,
00:36:08.200 no,
00:36:08.620 Alberta's energy sector
00:36:10.100 is a huge source
00:36:12.740 of productivity.
00:36:14.140 And when it's
00:36:14.760 functioning well,
00:36:16.220 the spillover effects
00:36:17.260 for the rest
00:36:17.640 of the country
00:36:18.100 are enormous.
00:36:18.560 And so,
00:36:20.080 you know,
00:36:20.620 get people to realize
00:36:22.080 that a good Alberta
00:36:23.140 is really good
00:36:24.040 for the whole country
00:36:24.780 and that the country
00:36:25.480 needs that prosperity
00:36:26.640 right now more than ever
00:36:27.660 as we try to come
00:36:28.660 out of this COVID mess.
00:36:30.320 And so,
00:36:30.840 we're going to do
00:36:31.440 a good faith exercise
00:36:32.460 here and we'll see
00:36:33.580 where that can get us.
00:36:35.860 Bill Buick,
00:36:36.840 Executive Director
00:36:37.620 of Fairness Alberta.
00:36:39.100 Great op-ed
00:36:39.660 in the National Post
00:36:41.180 called,
00:36:42.340 If Albertans
00:36:43.140 vote against equalization,
00:36:44.480 the feds will have
00:36:45.500 a duty to listen.
00:36:47.220 Bill,
00:36:47.520 thanks so much
00:36:48.020 for coming on.
00:36:48.620 Great to talk to you.
00:36:49.060 Yeah,
00:36:49.180 my pleasure,
00:36:49.780 Andrew.
00:36:50.000 And it's a pretty
00:36:50.720 critical time
00:36:51.440 in the next few months
00:36:52.240 here,
00:36:52.500 so I encourage people
00:36:53.420 to go to
00:36:54.380 fairnessalberta.ca
00:36:55.620 and see the information
00:36:57.000 we're providing.
00:36:58.200 And we can only
00:36:59.200 function on the
00:37:00.200 generosity of donors,
00:37:01.720 so please consider
00:37:02.740 a donation
00:37:03.220 if you like
00:37:03.700 what we're doing.
00:37:05.940 Perfect.
00:37:06.340 Thanks very much.
00:37:06.960 Thank you,
00:37:07.320 Andrew.
00:37:07.960 Thank you,
00:37:08.320 Andrew.
00:37:08.860 That was Bill Buick
00:37:10.500 of Fairness Alberta.
00:37:11.780 We've obviously
00:37:12.600 been covering
00:37:13.320 Alberta independence
00:37:14.200 because no one
00:37:15.420 else in the
00:37:16.160 mainstream media
00:37:17.020 is in any
00:37:17.820 substantive way.
00:37:18.800 And when they do,
00:37:19.900 it's oftentimes
00:37:20.720 through the lens
00:37:21.760 of, oh,
00:37:22.100 look at these,
00:37:22.660 you know,
00:37:23.040 disgruntled hillbillies
00:37:24.020 not realizing
00:37:24.760 the very real concerns
00:37:26.040 and very long-standing
00:37:27.540 concerns that people
00:37:28.700 in the West have.
00:37:29.900 And it isn't just
00:37:30.640 about Alberta.
00:37:31.360 It's about a province's
00:37:32.880 ability,
00:37:33.440 a province's right
00:37:34.460 to assert its own
00:37:36.000 agenda.
00:37:36.620 And it's interesting
00:37:37.320 that we have
00:37:37.900 all of these politicians
00:37:38.940 that will tiptoe
00:37:40.320 around Quebec,
00:37:41.180 refuse to tell Quebec,
00:37:42.200 no,
00:37:43.280 but when Alberta
00:37:44.340 tries to do
00:37:45.200 the same thing,
00:37:46.340 in fact,
00:37:46.680 not even the same thing,
00:37:48.260 a pared back,
00:37:49.280 a pared down version
00:37:50.280 of it,
00:37:51.000 it gets mocked
00:37:52.220 and vilified.
00:37:52.980 So that's why
00:37:53.380 we're standing up
00:37:54.120 and I hope you'll
00:37:54.820 continue to
00:37:55.500 as we head towards
00:37:57.200 the referendum
00:37:57.960 in October.
00:37:59.020 We've got to end
00:37:59.840 things there.
00:38:00.420 We'll be back
00:38:00.880 in a couple of days'
00:38:01.760 time, however,
00:38:02.300 with more of Canada's
00:38:03.660 most irreverent talk show.
00:38:05.520 This is the Andrew
00:38:06.140 Lawton Show on True North.
00:38:07.560 Thank you,
00:38:08.020 God bless,
00:38:08.640 and good day.
00:38:09.320 Thanks for listening
00:38:09.960 to the Andrew Lawton Show.
00:38:11.160 Support the program
00:38:12.220 by donating to True North
00:38:13.460 at www.tnc.news.