Juno News - Why aren't the Conservatives ready for an election？

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. 1.00

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. 0.71

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. 0.99

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? 0.81

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? 1.00

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. 0.91

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. 1.00

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, 0.99

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 0.97

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 0.98

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 1.00

00:22:48.700 because her base 0.62

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 0.92

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. 1.00

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 0.51

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 0.99

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.

Juno News - August 10, 2021

Why aren't the Conservatives ready for an election？

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