Rebel News Podcast - Alberta Election Edition： NDP go heavy on character attacks, light on policy (Guest： William McBeath, Save Calgary)

00:00:00.000 Hello Rebels, you're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show, The Gun Show.

00:00:05.220 My guest tonight is William McBeth from the Taxpayer Advocacy and Government Accountability

00:00:11.860 Organization, Safe Calgary. We're discussing just how ridiculous and sleazy the NDP tactics have 0.94

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00:01:33.160 Well, the first week of the Alberta election campaign is in the bag. Just three more to go.

00:01:38.860 Tonight, my guest and I look back at the wild week that was. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed,

00:01:44.600 and you're watching The Gunn Show, Alberta Election Edition.

00:02:05.440 Well, I knew the NDP would go low and personal in this election campaign. It's, you know, really all

00:02:12.560 they have. They can't run on job creation, economic growth, fighting for Alberta pipelines or fiscal

00:02:19.800 competence either. But the depths to which the NDP have sunk, I think they've surprised even me. And

00:02:27.900 I've got to be honest with you here. I didn't think I could have a lower opinion of the NDP than I

00:02:34.360 already had. But here I am. The campaign started with Rachel Notley saying that Jason Kenney might

00:02:42.040 not be racist, but he has a problem with racism in his party. Then the NDP accused Jason Kenney of

00:02:51.100 homophobia in an attack ad. Then they accused an Oxford-educated UCP candidate named Kaylin Ford of

00:02:58.940 being a white supremacist. The NDP and their proxies in the mainstream media then accused an

00:03:07.000 Iraqi Christian immigrant who was also a UCP candidate, a woman named Eva Kyriakos, of being

00:03:13.720 Islamophobic. Oh, and of course, of course, Calgary progressive mayor Naheed Nenshi just had to stick

00:03:20.900 his nose into it all and also accused conservatives in Canada of winking at white nationalists on an

00:03:28.960 appearance on the CBC. And as for policy, God only knows what sort of policy the NDP are introducing

00:03:34.980 because apparently all they've been doing is character assassination. So joining me to dissect

00:03:43.020 this first insane week of the Alberta election campaign is a veteran political operative and a

00:03:50.040 political watcher, my good friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary. He and I try to make sense of

00:03:58.320 all the NDP hyperbole and innuendo in an interview we recorded Monday afternoon.

00:04:20.040 Joining me now from Calgary to talk about the world of Alberta politics as crazy as it is these days

00:04:28.380 is William Macbeth from Save Calgary. Hey, William, thanks for joining me.

00:04:33.520 Oh, well, thanks for having me again, Sheila.

00:04:35.520 I love having you on because the time just seems to fly by and it hardly seems like work.

00:04:40.320 But let's talk about the elephant in the room here. As you know, Jason Kenney is a raging homophobe 0.87

00:04:46.560 because of something he said 20 years ago about something he did 30 years ago. And that has

00:04:53.500 absolutely nothing to do with the work he did at least over the last 10 years to rescue

00:04:57.940 persecuted sexual minorities, in particular in the Middle East, or so Rachel Notley's NDP would have

00:05:04.400 us believe. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. I would say there's very few people who can look back over

00:05:11.320 their entire lives and not come up with examples of things where their thinking has changed, where

00:05:17.560 their attitudes have changed and evolved, and where simply as a society, you know, we have come

00:05:23.460 to believe in different things. So in the case of Jason Kenney, you know, he did say some things

00:05:28.840 a long time ago and campaigned politically for some things that he now says he regrets. And I think

00:05:35.400 that to say that he hasn't changed his views fails to take into account the actions he's taken while

00:05:41.640 he's been an elected official. As you mentioned, he created a refugee program for LGBTQ people from

00:05:49.800 Iran who were facing severe persecution in that country. He allowed them to come to the safety of

00:05:55.480 Canada. He also has worked incredibly hard to make sure that the party he's leading, the United

00:06:01.720 Conservative Party is a broad, inclusive party that welcomes Albertans from every single walk of

00:06:07.960 life. And I believe that Albertans are going to be smart enough to see through the NDP's fear

00:06:13.820 mongering at this to look at Jason and say, you know, the man he was 30 years ago isn't the person

00:06:19.260 he is today. And it certainly is reflected in the statements and actions he's taken while being leader

00:06:24.440 of the United Conservative Party. You know, it really is remarkable how far the NDP had to go back

00:06:30.020 in Jason Kenney's life to get that. I mean, when you look at the age of the NDPers that are sitting

00:06:36.540 as MLAs, many of them weren't even born yet, like Thomas Dang and Deb Drever. And I think Trevor

00:06:43.280 Horn, he's under the age of 30. So I mean, I guess times have really changed. I mean, those people can

00:06:51.100 look back and say things are a lot different than when I was a kid. Well, Jason Kenney was saying those

00:06:55.240 things before they were even born. I mean, and I suppose the heart of it is Jason Kenney campaigned

00:07:01.420 against domestic partnership law in San Francisco. And his side of the campaign really, it won.

00:07:12.380 San Francisco at the time, and I think still remains the most LGBTQ friendly city probably in

00:07:21.180 the entire world. So all it means is that Jason Kenney was going, he was part of the mainstream

00:07:27.540 in San Francisco at the time. So that's how much sentiment has changed.

00:07:33.640 Yeah, you're absolutely right. And of course, I think also important to point out that, you know,

00:07:37.680 when asked about this, Jason talked about the fact that it was his, his church's position, his,

00:07:44.540 his faith's position to support traditional marriage, and that he viewed domestic partnership

00:07:51.140 as being, you know, sort of moving forward with legalizing same-sex marriage, which people

00:07:57.860 forget at the time was widely opposed by not just hardcore Republicans, but by Democrats as well.

00:08:05.780 In the not too distant past, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both campaigned against same-sex marriage,

00:08:14.540 saying that they believed that civil unions were the right approach and not same-sex marriage.

00:08:20.120 In the late 90s, the Liberal Party of Canada voted along with the rest of Parliament to affirm

00:08:26.900 marriage as being the union of one man and one woman. Now, today, I don't think there's a serious

00:08:33.860 politician out there who wants to roll back the definition of marriage to not include LGBTQ people.

00:08:41.160 I don't believe any serious politician believes that anymore. Certainly, Jason Kenney at the Conservative

00:08:48.220 Party Convention in Vancouver was one of the overwhelming majority of delegates who voted to update the

00:08:55.000 party's policy book to reflect support for same-sex marriage. So again, I think you're right. People,

00:09:01.660 it's hard, I think, for younger people to understand just how much society has really moved on LGBTQ issues

00:09:09.000 over a relatively short period of time. And that's thanks to many brave and hard-working people who fought to

00:09:15.780 advance LGBTQ rights over the years. So I think it actually should be celebrated how much we've moved as a group and how

00:09:23.780 people's attitudes have changed. Because if people's attitudes hadn't changed, we would never have had things like same-sex marriage or the

00:09:29.780 protection of LGBTQ rights codified into law, things like that. If we didn't expect people to change their minds, we would never make progress on some of these files.

00:09:41.780 Well, and, you know, there are many religious people in the part, or like in the conservative movement, myself included. And I think this is where we sort of meet with the LGBTQ community when we say, I just want to be left alone. You just want to be left alone. 1.00

00:09:58.780 You go and love whomever you want. And my church will marry whomever we want. And I think that's the balance that conservatives have been able to strike, so that there's a place for everybody in the conservative movement.

00:10:12.780 Absolutely. I think churches, you know, when we talk about equality rights and protections under our charter, religious freedom is absolutely one of those rights that is protected.

00:10:23.780 So if a mosque or a synagogue or a church doesn't want to perform a particular marriage or ceremony because it's not in accordance with their articles of faith, that's that church's decision.

00:10:37.780 It does not in any way preclude people of different sexual orientations to get married, just not in that particular institution.

00:10:46.780 And I do think it strikes the right balance for a society that values both individuals' freedoms and personal rights and the freedom of religion, which has been a fundamental right in this country since it was founded.

00:10:58.780 Now, moving along, now that we've got that out of the way, that horrible NDP slander, I mean, really on Jason Kenney, but also on the entire party.

00:11:08.780 Rachel Notley said at the campaign kickoff that she doesn't think that Jason Kenney is racist, but boy, he's got a racism problem in the party.

00:11:19.780 And I just thought that was completely outrageous to say, considering the party is, you know, what is it, 100, 100 and a half thousand people?

00:11:29.780 That's a hell of a assumption to be making about that many people.

00:11:34.780 It's a tremendous accusation to hurl at a vast number of everyday hardworking Albertans because, you know, in my life in politics, I've had the pleasure and privilege of traveling the length and breadth of Alberta, as I believe you are doing right now.

00:11:52.660 And every single community I visited, I met the same warm, welcoming, tolerant people who, frankly, welcomed people from right around the world to come to Alberta to make it their home, to bring with them their skills, their creativity, their energy and their passion to make our province a better place.

00:12:14.020 And to make the accusation of Jason Kenney, first of all, to begin by saying, I'm not saying Jason Kenney is a racist.

00:12:19.220 Well, that's that's damning by faint praise.

00:12:21.460 Yeah, Jason Kenney, the better part of Jason Kenney's career as a minister in Ottawa was spent building bridges between not only the Conservative Party, but the government of Canada and different ethnic communities right across this country.

00:12:38.340 And he was rightly recognized, I think, for all of that hard work by the amount of support he's gotten from different ethnic communities in Alberta for his leadership race and then for this election campaign.

00:12:53.080 You know, the joke, of course, being that Jason's nickname when when he was minister of immigration was minister of curry in a hurry because it reflected the the volume of events that he would go to in a single weekend.

00:13:04.840 Sometimes it would be 20 or 30 cultural events where he knew all the customs, he knew how to greet people, you know, in their own language and in a respectful way to to understand the issues, the unique issues that that some, you know, ethnic Canadian groups face because of of their their culture, because of their history, because of how the government may be treated them in previous years. 0.93

00:13:30.580 So for for for for Rachel Notley to accuse Jason Kenney of anything, racism is is absolutely ridiculous. 0.73

00:13:39.300 It's a ridiculous suggestion and shows, I think, the desperation that the New Democrats have in this campaign. 0.66

00:13:45.360 Yeah, I've seen the poll numbers over the last week go up for the UCP. 0.68

00:13:49.120 It seems the more the NDP sort of get personal because they can't run on their own track record, the more people are just rejecting them.

00:13:57.480 It really is the politics of division.

00:14:00.260 And, you know what, I'll say it hate.

00:14:02.100 They like to accuse everybody else of being hate mongers.

00:14:05.320 But, I mean, this mining of people's lives and statements from decades ago, I mean, no person will be ever able to run for political office if we hold every single candidate to these standards the NDP want to hold conservatives to.

00:14:24.280 And the NDP, they're certainly not holding themselves to these standards, considering they expect us to think that they had some sort of come to Jesus moment change of heart over the last four and a half, five years about pipelines, about Israel, about a ton of other different things that, you know, that that they've now moderated themselves and left their terrible ways behind them.

00:14:45.480 But at the same time, they're they're mining into the lives, decades, decades and decades of data on conservative candidates.

00:14:54.280 I think you make a really important point, Sheila, and I'm not going to say that some some of the comments that I've read from some UCP candidates did, in my mind, not reflect the values that many Albertans hold as as being central to their identity as Albertans.

00:15:12.260 But there are also some candidates who just posted either dumb or or thoughtless things on social media, as I think many of us are want to do.

00:15:23.360 I do it 100 times a day. 0.98

00:15:25.520 And I look at, you know, for example, there's one candidate who posted an unfunny joke about the relationship with his wife.

00:15:34.160 And, you know, subsequently, he said he regrets it.

00:15:37.020 But I think to myself, look, making an unfunny joke is a reason not to sit next to someone maybe at a dinner party.

00:15:42.960 But it's not a reason to disqualify them from seeking public office.

00:15:47.200 And to and to try and and whip up the same outrage over someone posting an unfunny an unfunny joke or or or a joke that wasn't in good taste with someone who has genuinely expressed hatred or intolerance, I think it is just completely unacceptable on the part of the Democrats.

00:16:06.980 What they also won't admit is that every major political party has a handful of people in it who are outside of that mainstream, who who don't share the common values that the ninety nine percent or more of the party do.

00:16:22.820 And and even the Democrats, because, you know, looking at federal new Democrats, well, first of all, deeply opposed to all energy from Alberta, deeply opposed to oil and gas, deeply opposed to pipelines, you know, uses the language of saying that Alberta oil is evil and that the people who work there are evil.

00:16:41.660 But also real problems on issues like anti-Semitism within left wing parties that, you know, do I think the new Democrats are anti-Semites?

00:16:51.220 No, I don't think I don't think that they are. But I do know that there are some people who hold those views, who associate themselves with with the new Democrats in the same way that there are a handful of people who associate themselves with the United Conservative Party who don't reflect the mainstream values of that party.

00:17:10.260 So I I worry that this is the new norm for how elections are going to be waged and it's being done so at the expense of sharing the vision for the province or for the country that they're wanting to lead, because, frankly, I have no idea really what the new Democrats have have put out as policy so far, really, because they haven't spent anywhere near as much energy talking about their vision for Alberta as they have about daily attacking Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party.

00:17:40.260 Yeah, you know what I think also you're very temperate in your criticism of the NDP far less than I am, especially with their their anti-Semitism problem.

00:17:49.540 I'm old enough to remember, oh, I don't know, last year at their convention when they had a little bit of a civil war on CPAC live because their BDS motion just didn't go far enough for the party.

00:18:05.000 And, you know, like that sort of attitude is really mainstreamed in the party.

00:18:10.360 So I always think it's ironic when they say stuff like, you know, the conservatives are the party of white supremacists.

00:18:17.360 And I think, no, you actually have policy platforms that could easily be adopted by any white nationalist group as policy platforms about Israel in the NDP.

00:18:27.160 So I think it's funny when they point those fingers because they have it codified in their own party.

00:18:34.000 Now, about the how the NDP are targeting some of the UCP candidates, they did nuke a couple of high profile female candidates, which is strange considering the NDP are all about women and putting women in positions of power.

00:18:52.160 But I would suggest these were two highly qualified female candidates, Kaylin Ford and Eva Kyriakos. 1.00

00:18:59.680 Eva, who, you know, is a persecuted minority in her own right, who came to Canada to, you know, to make something of herself and escape persecution.

00:19:09.540 And as it turns out, because of some clumsy, I mean, and I wouldn't even argue that they were clumsy.

00:19:16.060 I mean, she shared a meme from Creeping Sharia, which is, you know, a phrase coined by Pamela Geller, a Jewish lady.

00:19:26.060 And they, you know, they basically accused her of being a racist and and a whole host of other things.

00:19:32.040 It's really character assassination based on social media faux pas.

00:19:36.960 Yeah. And I think one of the real downsides to communicating by social media is is you only ever get to see a glimpse of the conversation that that's happened.

00:19:50.220 So it's difficult to know, you know, all of the context around these things or or or what what led up to it or or if it's a comment on an article, what the what the original article had said.

00:20:02.880 You know, she in the case of Eva, which, of course, just as happened last night, since this is Monday right now, I don't know what the full story is there.

00:20:14.260 She's made comments that she was being targeted or bullied by some unnamed individual who who wanted to see her out.

00:20:22.860 And in a very similar way to I think what happened to Kaylin Ford, who was bullied and harassed by by another person.

00:20:31.180 So to me, I find that very worrying that women candidates are being targeted for bullying and harassment.

00:20:37.460 And certainly I don't I don't I don't think it's going to help the long term goal of electing more outstanding, high quality women to elected office. 1.00

00:20:46.580 If if we allow these bullies behind the scenes to continue to to harass and and and go and attack women while they're seeking public office. 1.00

00:20:58.320 So I do think there's some some more concern here than just the comments that these candidates have made.

00:21:03.980 But, you know, that that really should be looked at in the fullness of time.

00:21:08.220 Yeah, I think so, too. And I I think it's funny, like I'm working on a story right now about an NDP MLA and some of the things that he said about eugenics.

00:21:18.040 And that's going to get a pass. It's not going to be in the mainstream media.

00:21:22.420 It's just going to be glance straight over, even though he's a high profile, well, he likes to think he's high profile, powerful guy in the NDP caucus and really should be the focus of some extreme vetting from the mainstream media.

00:21:38.380 And he's going to get a pass. And I think it's especially distasteful considering Alberta's horrible history with eugenics. 0.95

00:21:45.240 No, you're you're absolutely right. I just saw a few of those comments on on social media last night and this morning where this person, I believe, indicated one of his political opponents should be should have been genetically eliminated earlier in in his time.

00:22:05.160 So to me, that is an abhorrent statement to have made and and should be the focus of the same kind of consequence for people in this election who make outrageous statements.

00:22:19.660 And and and I don't know if he is going to face the same kind of scrutiny that conservative candidates have, because that has not been our playbook traditionally.

00:22:30.900 We have we have preferred to run campaigns on the merit of our ideas, on the basis of what we're advancing as an agenda, as a plan for Alberta or for Canada is better for Canadians or Albertans than what our opponents have have put forward for their plan.

00:22:48.400 It's how I like to run campaigns. I want to win with better ideas.

00:22:52.400 I don't like how much of politics these days has descended into these this mean minded, attack driven, personal level of political engagement.

00:23:03.400 And for a premier of a province who won primarily, I think, because people liked her and thought she was positive and thought her party was positive.

00:23:15.400 It is completely destroying that brand for Premier Notley and New Democrats right now.

00:23:20.920 I don't think anyone's going to go into the ballot box on Election Day thinking that Rachel Notley and the New Democrats are the party of sunny ways to quilt the prime minister.

00:23:29.580 So I don't know if that's a winning strategy for them, but it's certainly, I think, going to be off putting to everyday Albertans who really want to know what her plan is to fix our province's huge economic problems.

00:23:41.380 Well, and I think on some level, as much as it might not be a winning strategy at the ballot box, it is very rewarding for the NDP, considering the UCP seems very risk averse.

00:23:54.280 The second a whiff of anything comes out about a candidate, as small as it might be, they nuke that candidate immediately.

00:24:02.580 Either the candidate resigns or they are withdrawn as a candidate.

00:24:08.480 But it's working.

00:24:10.460 You know, if you're an NDP strategist, these tiny little social media flubs are nuking very high profile candidates.

00:24:19.280 And the UCP is letting it happen.

00:24:21.820 At some point, I think, to put a stop to this, the UCP is going to have to say, no, enough is enough.

00:24:27.880 We're not letting press progress decide who gets to run as a candidate in the United Conservative Party.

00:24:33.620 I think you're absolutely right, Sheila.

00:24:36.160 In political speak, we call, when you release a negative piece of information, we call that a destabilizer,

00:24:42.760 because it destabilizes your opponent's message for the day or for the week.

00:24:49.340 But I do think you're right.

00:24:50.640 I think the UCP also has to differentiate between a candidate who maybe said something thoughtless or unfunny,

00:24:59.100 and a candidate who has said something really at odds with the party's values and policies.

00:25:05.720 And I think it is perfectly legitimate to zap a candidate who is really off base with what your party believes and wants to do.

00:25:16.600 But to zap people who just posted a dumb meme on Facebook five years ago or 10 years ago,

00:25:24.960 I do think only contributes to, well, it emboldens the Democrats to keep this up.

00:25:31.440 And for press progress to go for another notch on their belt when they get to claim they took out another candidate.

00:25:39.460 So I think you make a very good point that the UCP may have to start differentiating between something that's politically a bit of a problem

00:25:47.200 versus something that's fundamentally at odds with what they believe in as a party.

00:25:50.980 Yeah, I mean, you'll see the NDP will not nuke any candidates that Kian and I vet for them going forward.

00:26:02.880 The service, Sheila, that you're offering, they should appreciate.

00:26:06.480 I'm doing yeoman's work, but they won't do that.

00:26:10.360 They don't apologize.

00:26:11.660 They don't back down.

00:26:12.660 As much as I dislike the NDP, that's probably one of their better qualities is they just do not bend to political pressure from across the aisle.

00:26:26.400 It serves them well, especially here at election time.

00:26:29.680 Now that we've talked about all the social issues and everything like that,

00:26:35.280 Jason Kenney, he's spoken quite a bit this past week about how roughly 50% of Albertans are expressing some form of separatist sentiment, myself included.

00:26:52.300 I think we need a better deal in confederation.

00:26:55.060 Not to say that I'm a separatist, but I think we're not getting a fair shake.

00:26:59.680 And he's sort of thrown a bone to those Albertans who expressed that separatist sentiment.

00:27:07.240 He's decided that should he become premier, from my lips to God's ears, he would create the Alberta Parole Board and withdraw from the federal one as a way to deal with the recidivism and crime rate in rural Alberta.

00:27:21.560 I think this is an incredible idea.

00:27:23.860 You're absolutely right.

00:27:24.960 I think anybody who's spent any measure of time talking with people, not just here, certainly in my hometown of Calgary, which has been facing tremendous economic problems for the past several years,

00:27:37.820 but really anywhere in this province, feels that under this liberal government, under this prime minister, Alberta really is getting a raw deal.

00:27:47.000 And you only have to compare and contrast how much sort of activity or effort or care Justin Trudeau has shown about 150,000 unemployed energy workers and a lack of pipelines,

00:28:01.320 as opposed to a theoretical 9,000 jobs at SNC-Lavalin, to which he was prepared to overrule judicial independence, the rule of law and every other institution in our federal government to try and get them a sweetheart deal.

00:28:16.380 So I think Jason knows that the next premier of Alberta will have to be the one who fights Ottawa for Alberta's economic future and for Alberta's rights.

00:28:28.200 And the choice couldn't be clearer there between Jason Kenney, who wants to have an Alberta Parole Board, who says you're not taking the issue of rural crime seriously enough.

00:28:36.700 You aren't understanding the problem that farmers and ranchers are having with crime happening when the police can't get there in five minutes.

00:28:45.020 You know, it's going to take them an hour or two hours or three hours to get there.

00:28:50.040 And that means we have to we have to make some changes.

00:28:52.580 They don't understand that how irksome and frustrating it is to watch Quebec post balanced budgets while our economy creeps ever closer to putting $100 billion worth of debt onto the backs of our of our of our of our province and every one of our citizens.

00:29:09.760 Of seeing our pipelines stalled over and over again by federal groups, by by by federal court, the federal court of appeal and by two pieces of legislation that are currently being considered by the Senate to fully stop Alberta getting its resources to market.

00:29:27.460 And Rachel Notley, I'm sad to say, as premier, walked hand in hand with Justin Trudeau for a lot of her time as premier of this province.

00:29:35.480 She she was his most reliable provincial partner on on every major file, not realizing that this is a prime minister that is, frankly, hostile to the interests of Albertans.

00:29:45.380 So I think you're going to see Jason Kenney really pushing that idea that this election is as much about Alberta standing up for itself against Ottawa as it is about Jason Kenney versus Rachel Notley.

00:29:57.540 A couple of questions before I let you go.

00:29:59.460 I've, again, gone way over my 20 minute mark, but that's fine.

00:30:04.140 What is your prediction for seat count?

00:30:09.820 Do you have a prediction?

00:30:11.420 Well, I I should put a coda here that I'm almost always wrong about these sorts of things.

00:30:16.200 That's OK.

00:30:16.540 I think, right, if, you know, unless something really spectacular happens one way or another, I think Jason Kenney is headed for a majority government somewhere, I would imagine, in the in the 50s or 60s for seat count based just on on how it's gone so far, possibly a little higher if if we win, if the UCP wins a good chunk of seats in Edmonton.

00:30:43.360 But because I think a lot of people think, oh, you know, is a minority government possible?

00:30:49.300 Well, the mathematics in Alberta provincial politics make a minority government extremely unlikely.

00:30:54.620 So I think people need to bear that in mind, that that they're going to have to vote for the party that they want to win the election, that that that's the most important way that they can cast their ballot.

00:31:04.500 The one that's going to vote for the party that you think will have the best plan to help Alberta.

00:31:08.000 Don't try and overthink it by voting for a third party because you think it might create some sort of minority government situation.

00:31:17.500 Yeah, you know, and Edmonton has so many seats.

00:31:21.500 I think Edmonton has 20 seats.

00:31:24.220 Yeah, so that's that's pretty weighted in favor of the NDP just because Edmonton.

00:31:31.120 I love the people there, but it's a progressive hellscape of government bureaucrats and they love to elect the NDP there federally and provincially, although the the federal conservatives pretty strong there, especially in the bedroom communities and towards the outside.

00:31:48.980 So I would say like the NDP finishing with maybe 15 to 20 seats province wide is what I think.

00:31:57.720 I think the polls are I don't think the polls are quite reflective of just how strong the UCP really is.

00:32:06.700 No, and I think you might well be right there.

00:32:09.080 I also think that for a lot of Albertans, their choice is going to be that when they walk into that ballot box and they're given their ballot, they're staring at the choices they have to make.

00:32:19.760 They're going to think to themselves, do I really want four more years of what I've had with Rachel Notley and New Democrats, four more years of sky high unemployment, four more years of businesses closing their doors, four more years of investment fleeing our province,

00:32:32.640 four more years of pipelines getting stalled in every single direction, four more years of watching Alberta be subordinate to Justin Trudeau's Ottawa, or is it time to try something new?

00:32:46.400 And I think for anybody who wants to try something new, that vote will will go to the United Conservative Party, Jason Kenney.

00:32:52.840 Speaking of never trying something new, let's talk about Calgary really fast for a second.

00:32:57.440 They had the opportunity to try something new, but instead they voted for Mayor Nenshi again.

00:33:02.220 And he seems to think that Conservative leaders, I mean, he may as well have just come right out and said Andrew Scheer, Jason Kenney, are winking at white supremacists for some reason.

00:33:15.220 And basically it was apropos of nothing that he said this.

00:33:19.380 No, I think, well, sometimes the mayor just says things because he hasn't seen his name in lights recently enough.

00:33:27.960 So he's decided he'll say something just to get the kind of media coverage he likes.

00:33:32.220 But no, he did make that, he virtually did accuse Andrew Scheer and Jason Kenney of collaborating or, you know, tacitly seeking support from white supremacists.

00:33:46.920 Which, again, is a ridiculous assertion to make for either of these people who have long and established records as elected officials and who have gone to great pains to promote visions of their party that fully welcome people from every corner of the country and province and every walk of life.

00:34:05.580 We want them defying homes in the conservative movement.

00:34:09.040 So I don't know why the mayor thought he should weigh in on that, but it's certainly an outrageous accusation.

00:34:15.940 And I think, you know, you could play that racism card over and over again, but if you do it too much, and if you especially do it to people who really aren't racist, to do it to people who aren't supportive of intolerance, then it starts to take away the power of that accusation.

00:34:33.600 And people start to turn a deaf ear. And I actually think that's a tremendous problem because when that happens, then it makes it harder to stop actual instances of racism, which should and must be stopped when they happen.

00:34:46.320 But I really hope that the mayor reconsiders that there's a very decent chance he's going to have to work with one or both of these individuals in very important positions, as, you know, Jason Kenney is premier of Alberta, Andrew Scheer, prime minister of Canada, potentially there.

00:35:01.680 And does he really want to set up a relationship where both of those people just don't like him very much?

00:35:08.120 I don't think that's going to be good for my city of Calgary.

00:35:10.100 Well, I just think that this, like, constant focus on white supremacy, white supremacy, white supremacy, I don't see it.

00:35:17.320 I really, I honestly believe that the supply of neo-Nazis does not meet the demand.

00:35:23.760 For a lot of political reasons, the left likes to think that there's this vast swath of neo-Nazis running loose in Canada, and I just don't see it.

00:35:32.600 I think they have a very pessimistic view of Canadians that I just don't share.

00:35:38.600 I think that there are some, some small, teeny tiny minority of actual white supremacists in the country.

00:35:46.240 The rest are probably undercover cops.

00:35:48.700 And that's about it.

00:35:50.300 I mean, I really don't see the problem that everybody else sees.

00:35:54.940 Maybe I just have a higher opinion of my fellow Canadians than our left-wing politicians do.

00:36:02.200 No, I think you're absolutely right.

00:36:03.800 It is the same fear-mongering attacks that have been hurled at Conservatives since time immemorial.

00:36:09.920 Anybody who's old enough to remember when Stephen Harper was leader of the opposition, campaigning to form government with the new Conservative Party,

00:36:19.000 they hurled every accusation they could think of at him.

00:36:22.520 And what did we get?

00:36:23.580 We got 10 years of outstanding government, outstanding Conservative government that dealt with Canada, you know, competently, that was, had smart policy.

00:36:35.720 And I think a lot of Canadians are looking back wistfully wishing that we had that kind of leadership on the national stage right now.

00:36:41.120 So I don't, I didn't believe it when they said it about Stephen Harper.

00:36:44.800 I don't believe it now when they say it about Jason Kenney and Andrew Scheer.

00:36:47.660 And I think that's what a lot of Canadians are going to think too.

00:36:50.900 Yeah, the hidden drum, or the, sorry, the hidden agenda drum is getting very, very, very old.

00:36:57.860 I mean, it's, it's just getting worn out.

00:36:59.880 No one's paying attention anymore.

00:37:01.700 Under Stephen Harper, it was so hidden.

00:37:03.540 It stayed there, hidden for the entire 10 years he was Prime Minister.

00:37:06.720 Didn't make a single appearance.

00:37:08.260 So, wow, is that a well-hidden agenda that even as Prime Minister of majority government,

00:37:13.660 he didn't follow through with the so-called hidden agenda.

00:37:15.780 You know, I always hoped the hidden agenda was getting rid of the CBC, but even, I mean, it's still hidden.

00:37:21.600 So I don't know.

00:37:23.560 William, how do people find Save Calgary?

00:37:25.680 How did they find you?

00:37:27.680 You're sort of in the big time now because you were on Power and Politics,

00:37:31.540 and I assume you're going to become a regular there.

00:37:33.940 So I just want to thank you for gracing my little show with your presence.

00:37:38.420 But how did they find you?

00:37:39.280 How did they support you?

00:37:40.580 Well, thank you.

00:37:41.560 That's very kind.

00:37:42.780 We'll see if Power and Politics have me back.

00:37:44.600 But the two places to find Save Calgary are through our website, savecalgary.com,

00:37:50.320 and also through our social media, particularly our Facebook page, facebook.com slash savecalgary.

00:37:56.240 We try and put out content daily, a weekly newsletter, some other things like that to keep people informed and in the loop.

00:38:03.320 Just on the municipal thing, you know, city council's looking here in Calgary at a $500 per year tax hike onto the Calgary homeowners.

00:38:13.740 It's like, pay attention to municipal politics because it's going to hit you in your pocketbook if you don't.

00:38:18.180 And so we really hope that people can look us up and help us out in our fight for taxpayers here in Calgary.

00:38:24.120 Yeah, you really do good work and you are, you know, frankly, you're pretty alone in that battle, municipally speaking.

00:38:32.540 So, I mean, you have a really big battlefield.

00:38:35.620 But for just your little skeleton crew and shoestring budget, you are really scaring the daylights out of City Hall, I think.

00:38:44.700 Well, it's very kind to say I hope that, you know, we're at least making it not quite as easy to just raise taxes with wild abandon as it has been in the past.

00:38:54.620 So, hopefully, we'll be able to keep City Hall a little more focused on taxpayers.

00:39:01.460 Well, William, I want to thank you for coming on the show.

00:39:03.980 And I'm sure we'll talk again before April 16th, which is Alberta's Liberation Day.

00:39:11.880 Well, thank you very much, Sheila. I hope so, too.

00:39:14.040 Thank you.

00:39:24.620 It's going to be a very long three weeks.

00:39:29.620 We're all going to get called a lot of names.

00:39:31.920 It's going to be a dirty, sleazy campaign from the very people who spent the last four years scolding Conservatives as mean and out of touch with normal people. 0.89

00:39:42.240 I think Albertans have had enough of being talked down to and lectured by Rachel Notley and her perpetually inept MLAs.

00:39:50.700 Albertans care about the economy.

00:39:53.100 They care about jobs.

00:39:54.620 They want to get back to work.

00:39:56.280 And they don't care about things someone said 20 years ago.

00:40:00.060 Now, it might be hard to stay hopeful as a Conservative for the next three weeks as the mainstream media continues to act as attack dogs for Rachel Notley and the NDP.

00:40:10.740 But you know what?

00:40:12.120 I take solace in the desperation of it all. 0.98

00:40:15.320 The more desperate the NDP gets, the more personal and dirty they get, the more I know they know that the sewer rats will get their revenge. 0.97

00:40:24.920 April 16th. 0.94

00:40:26.020 Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.

00:40:28.640 Thanks so much, as always, for tuning in.

00:40:31.220 We'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.

00:40:35.140 And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:40:38.980 holes don't say that you don't say that you've had too much to think.

00:40:45.960 Thank you.

Rebel News Podcast - March 28, 2019

Alberta Election Edition： NDP go heavy on character attacks, light on policy (Guest： William McBeath, Save Calgary)

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