Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Living up to great expectations of Albertans is the big test ahead for Danielle Smith

00:00:00.000 Tonight, a feature interview with Derek Fildebrandt, the boss of the Western Standard.

00:00:19.160 It's October 10th, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:22.800 You're fighting for freedom! 0.99

00:00:25.680 Shame on you, you censorious thug! 0.97

00:00:30.000 Well, I'm in Calgary, headquarters of the New West, heart of the New West. 0.98

00:00:42.500 That's one of its official mottos.

00:00:44.300 And what better place to be than in the headquarters of the new Western Standard?

00:00:49.360 I should tell you, I have a tiny bit of paternity over the subject.

00:00:52.720 Fifteen years ago, I was the publisher of a print magazine called the Western Standard.

00:00:57.020 Alas, it was a victim of the internet technology.

00:01:00.320 But Derek Fildebrandt revived the brand, and now it's an online product, including videos, written reports, podcasts.

00:01:08.100 And they've really filled that space of pro-Western, pro-conservative reporting.

00:01:13.480 So, we're in a country that's dominated by what I call the regime media or the media party.

00:01:19.320 So, if you're in Alberta, as I am today, to cover the new ascension of Daniel Smith, the next leader of the United Conservative Party and the next Premier of Alberta,

00:01:29.700 you don't want to talk to the CBC.

00:01:31.820 Obviously, the Toronto Star is no help.

00:01:34.420 You need to go to the Western Standard.

00:01:36.220 What a pleasure today to be sitting in the headquarters of the Western Standard with Derek Fildebrandt.

00:01:40.240 Great to see you, Derek.

00:01:40.860 It's a pleasure to have you back at home.

00:01:43.720 Well, it's nice to say, I mean, I am a Westerner at heart, but I've been in exile for long enough.

00:01:48.300 I think I'm going to have to start calling myself a Torontonian.

00:01:51.380 Let me just say, you have taken the Western Standard and you have breathed life into it.

00:01:57.260 I'm impressed with the hustle bustle of your office.

00:02:00.480 You've got a big team.

00:02:01.860 You're doing print.

00:02:02.680 You're doing on-the-spot journalism.

00:02:04.400 You've got podcasts.

00:02:05.840 You're doing a hell of a job as an independent journalist.

00:02:08.560 Thank you.

00:02:08.960 We built an incredible team.

00:02:11.340 It started very, very modestly.

00:02:12.760 We had no money when we started, but we just clawed our way up bit by bit.

00:02:17.220 And, you know, we've been supported by other independent media like yourself and The Rebel, you know, welcoming us into the field.

00:02:23.140 You know, you guys have just been welcoming.

00:02:25.940 And we tried to follow in the footsteps of yourself at the original Western Standard and then the buy fields with the Alberta report before it.

00:02:32.260 In fact, the Alberta report is now the Alberta section of the Western Standard.

00:02:36.520 Someday we might launch it out as a more semi-autonomous sub-publication.

00:02:41.380 But, no, we're following in big footsteps that come in the tradition of independent media in Alberta.

00:02:47.440 And we just saw a voice that had to be filled.

00:02:49.440 And I figured, what the hell, I'll do it.

00:02:52.540 Well, I'm glad you did.

00:02:53.560 And you're right.

00:02:54.340 Just walking in here, looking at the old front covers of the Western Standard and then seeing some of Ted Byfield's work here.

00:03:01.120 There is a real Alberta tradition of independent journalism.

00:03:03.940 And you're kind to give a shout-out to Rebel News.

00:03:06.620 I think that there's starting to be a critical mess.

00:03:10.860 Yourself, Rebel News, True North.

00:03:13.760 I like to see it.

00:03:14.940 For example, at the leadership event where Danielle Smith was announced as the winner, there were, I'm going to say, 20 different people there associated with different independent outlets.

00:03:27.160 Five years ago, that wouldn't have been the case.

00:03:29.720 I think there's a demand for it because people don't really trust the incumbents anymore.

00:03:34.460 They see them as the regime media.

00:03:36.100 And really, so many of them are on the government take.

00:03:38.260 How could you possibly trust them to give you the straight goods about a new subject where Justin Trudeau has an interest?

00:03:44.660 If Justin Trudeau pays the CBC, CBC is going to run errands for him.

00:03:49.980 Yeah, and I think independent media has an outsized role in Alberta relative to anywhere else in Canada.

00:03:56.140 You know, the Rebel, I think you guys have had a strong base here long before we showed up.

00:04:02.340 You know, you got True North here.

00:04:03.920 There's a number of really independents, like one-man shows or two-man shows that are out there going around, mostly on the conservative leading side, but not exclusively.

00:04:12.960 It's even on the left in the so-called center.

00:04:15.000 And I think a lot of this, the influence of independent media in Alberta was borne out in, you know, J.C. Kinney was stunned thinking, hey, you know, he would say, I didn't do anything worse than Doug Ford.

00:04:27.160 Doug Ford got re-elected with the majority government.

00:04:29.120 Why am I getting all this gone?

00:04:30.460 I think the difference is Doug Ford didn't have to deal with this bigger role of an independent media.

00:04:35.620 You know, Ontarians are, there's obviously a market for it in Ontario, but as a proportion of the population, it doesn't have the critical mass that it does in Alberta that I think made life so difficult for Kenny, leading to his eventual loss of the leadership of the UCP.

00:04:53.240 And, you know, I don't think someone like Danielle Smith could be elected anywhere but Alberta. 1.00

00:04:56.660 Some of that is just Alberta's political culture, but also that there's an independent media that is more free thinking here.

00:05:01.820 Albertans have a long tradition of distrusting Eastern-dominated institutions, and that goes back to railways and telephones way back in the pre-Depression era and banks.

00:05:12.440 But all the more so now.

00:05:13.700 You have four major daily papers in Alberta, Calgary Sun, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Sun, Edmonton Journal.

00:05:19.840 All four are operated by Postmedia out of Toronto, and Postmedia in Toronto was owned out of New Jersey.

00:05:25.220 There's not a single homegrown major daily newspaper in Alberta, and that all, I think, came together.

00:05:31.820 A lot of the different aspects of it came together.

00:05:34.720 There's going to be very fertile ground for a strong independent media in Alberta that's just rising.

00:05:39.620 I think you're right.

00:05:40.400 And, I mean, the province is the most freedom-oriented in its bones and its history and its people.

00:05:45.460 But add to that independent journalists, and you are going to have a kind of opposition to Jason Kenney when he goes hard on the lockdown and soft on Ottawa.

00:05:55.160 Let's talk a little bit about that.

00:05:56.340 I mean, I used to know Jason Kenney pretty well.

00:05:59.220 We sort of are similar in age.

00:06:01.400 I met him when I was in law school in Edmonton.

00:06:03.740 We, you know, and I saw him rise through the ranks of the Harper Conservatives.

00:06:09.880 When he stepped down to come back to Alberta, I would say it was fair to call him the leading conservative politician in Canada.

00:06:17.960 I mean, he had the highest profile.

00:06:19.560 He had strong connections, not just in Alberta, but in Ontario with new Canadians.

00:06:26.740 I think he was the leading guy.

00:06:29.480 How do you go from the leading conservative hope, fiscal conservative credentials?

00:06:34.180 He used to run the Taxpayers Federation.

00:06:36.740 Social conservative credentials.

00:06:38.240 He was for religious freedom for Christians.

00:06:39.880 How do you go from that guy to imploding a conservative party in a conservative province?

00:06:45.380 I think a lot of people outside Alberta will not understand how that happened in less than one term.

00:06:53.220 I think there's a lot that goes into it.

00:06:56.160 But, you know, similarly, I think I knew Jason Kenney pretty well.

00:06:59.800 And at one point I thought he was the great right hope.

00:07:02.220 But it, there's a number of things.

00:07:06.200 One is, I don't think he understood the Alberta Conservative Coalition.

00:07:11.200 And the Alberta Conservative Coalition is different than even the federal conservative coalition in Alberta.

00:07:16.160 Yeah.

00:07:16.340 Because Albertans' expectations of our federal conservative politicians is, don't make it any worse than it is.

00:07:23.660 Just, we have such low expectations.

00:07:26.760 Okay, we born and got long gun registry or gone.

00:07:28.600 Okay, so just don't actively drop salt into our eye.

00:07:33.380 Like, that's the low, low bar.

00:07:35.240 But we have a different bar we set here.

00:07:37.440 Also, you know, the tradition Jason Kenney came up in, the base of the Reform Party and the Federal Conservative Party were generally thought to be social conservatives.

00:07:46.380 And social conservatives, I think, don't ask enough for themselves in Canada.

00:07:50.300 They, you know, the deal with conservatives is detente when they're in power.

00:07:55.700 Well, we're not going to make it any worse for you.

00:07:57.460 It's kind of like the Western deal.

00:07:58.900 We're not going to make it worse for you.

00:08:00.560 But social conservatives aren't expecting conservatives to come in power and, you know, ban abortion and gay marriage.

00:08:05.460 Like, there's just no expectation of going in that direction.

00:08:07.900 So, you know, Kenney thought that the base in Alberta would just accept words and respect but not require any action.

00:08:15.260 And then he could pander to the other side.

00:08:17.160 And so, you know, there was an – he set the expectations that he was – we were going to go to war with Ottawa.

00:08:24.020 We were going to fight.

00:08:25.380 And we were not going to cut deals that are not in our interest.

00:08:29.740 And, you know, he always had an eye, I think, still on the prime minister's office.

00:08:33.260 You know, I'm not sure how – if it was always front of mind for him, but he always had an eye on it, meaning that he couldn't do anything that would permanently despoil his reputation in the rest of the country.

00:08:44.320 But he just didn't understand that, particularly after Trudeau's re-election in October 2019, which is – we launched the Western Center two days after that happened.

00:08:53.560 He didn't fully appreciate the explosion of anger that there was.

00:08:57.940 You know, he had Wexit and all these things.

00:08:59.560 He announced a fair deal panel and that stuff.

00:09:01.780 And actually, that looked like a good start on a few fronts.

00:09:03.880 But it was just talk.

00:09:05.500 Nothing happened.

00:09:06.520 Virtually nothing happened from it.

00:09:09.200 So, you know, and then, of course – so he was already in danger then.

00:09:13.220 And then COVID just drove a freight train through his government.

00:09:16.520 And, again, he just thought, well, the right will – and libertarians will just put up with me not calling them bad things, but we're still going to do everything that the NDP tells us to do.

00:09:30.920 And he just managed to blow it apart.

00:09:33.220 He – and I think he also fashions himself very much more of an old-fashioned Berkey and Tory conservative.

00:09:39.000 You know, there's the two big conservative traditions in Canada epitomized – are epitomized by Ontario, Upper Canadian Toryism.

00:09:48.100 Yeah.

00:09:48.600 Founded by the Loyalists.

00:09:50.280 Yeah.

00:09:50.460 The people who fled the American Revolution because they didn't want to cover themselves.

00:09:54.480 Yeah.

00:09:54.660 Yeah.

00:09:56.660 And that – and its chief virtues are stability.

00:10:01.360 Yeah.

00:10:01.680 Tradition.

00:10:02.240 Yeah.

00:10:02.680 These are good things, but those are its chief virtues.

00:10:05.080 Whereas the – Alberta conservatism comes more from the tradition of the American Revolution, diametrically opposed.

00:10:11.740 Individualism, populism.

00:10:13.720 Yeah.

00:10:14.380 And so while they're both conservative, they both come from traditions in the American Revolution that were diametrically opposed to one another.

00:10:23.980 And I don't think he fundamentally got the small-R Republican Alberta tradition quite to the same extent.

00:10:30.720 And so he just – I don't think he was able to read the room, and his own autocratic leadership style just didn't go – there's just so many reasons why.

00:10:40.620 But in the end, he never stopped to think, is there something I'm doing wrong?

00:10:45.360 Yeah.

00:10:45.460 Instead, he turned around and, you know, after that rodeo in Bowdoin – I know the Rebel was the only other media along with the Western Standard there – he said, well, if that's our base, I want a new base.

00:10:54.180 Yeah.

00:10:54.740 It's shocking talking.

00:10:55.980 Near the end, he started to sound like Justin Trudeau a little bit.

00:10:59.820 I mean, he was – 1.00

00:11:00.240 He called his – if you're opposing his leadership, you're a racist, you're a kook, you're a lunatic. 1.00

00:11:05.420 Yeah. 1.00

00:11:05.600 Just if you oppose his leadership.

00:11:07.000 I think by that point, he was – he had crossed a certain line, and he realized he was never going to be accepted by parts of the base again.

00:11:15.060 I think you're spot on when you say he was always casting an eye back to Ottawa, because I think his ambition was to return.

00:11:22.420 I think he just – when he left after Stephen Harper was defeated, I think he didn't want to be the first guy to tackle the young, energetic, strong Justin Trudeau.

00:11:33.320 He didn't want to be the opposition leader for five or ten years.

00:11:38.240 He wanted to do something, build himself up, and then go back in to take on Trudeau when Trudeau was weaker.

00:11:44.340 He thought Alberta would be a safe place to go, but he was always thinking, what will Ottawa say about this move if I'm too vigorous resisting equalization formulas?

00:11:56.760 If I'm too much of an advocate for firearms rights, that won't look good on CBC when I'm running for PM.

00:12:04.520 I think he was always pulling back and saying, what would the prime minister do as opposed to what would the premier of Alberta do?

00:12:11.480 Yeah, and it just meant that he was – he didn't view Alberta as the highest office.

00:12:19.720 So he didn't view the Alberta premier's job as the highest office in the land.

00:12:22.680 He still viewed the prime minister's job as the highest office in the land.

00:12:25.680 The prime minister, for many Albertans, is a distant imperial warlord.

00:12:33.760 And, I mean, the best we can hope for was Stephen Harper, who –

00:12:37.280 Did no harm, really.

00:12:38.520 He did no harm.

00:12:39.600 He did a few positive things, long on registry and we bored.

00:12:42.280 But overall, like even Stephen Harper, who probably genuinely wanted to go much further, he couldn't under the federal system.

00:12:47.920 If you want to serve Albertans, the best way to serve Albertans is as the premier, not as prime minister.

00:12:53.900 And I think he just – you know, he was a creature of Ottawa.

00:12:56.740 He spent his entire adult life as a politician in Ottawa.

00:12:59.860 And how do you not look at the prime minister's chair and say that is the hype?

00:13:04.400 That's the game of thrones.

00:13:04.800 That's the big throne.

00:13:06.600 So that's how Jason Kenney came undone.

00:13:09.560 Danielle Smith is an interesting story because she was once before the leader of the Wild Rose Party,

00:13:15.820 which was really on the move.

00:13:18.000 I mean, you know a little something about that.

00:13:19.500 You're a former legislator yourself.

00:13:22.400 And it was – I mean, you know much more than me.

00:13:26.400 Maybe you can speak a little to it.

00:13:28.680 I don't know if it was panic or a shortcut or people whispering in her ear,

00:13:32.660 but she did the most astonishing thing I can think of.

00:13:35.760 Without consulting members or voters or anything, she struck a secret deal

00:13:39.820 to undo the Wild Rose opposition and throw in with the red Tory progressive conservative government

00:13:48.080 and say, we're all one anymore.

00:13:50.780 You don't need an opposition party.

00:13:52.080 You never really did.

00:13:53.140 Let's all win this together.

00:13:54.640 It wasn't just undoing the Wild Rose Party.

00:13:57.500 It was undoing the entire democratic notion of an opposition.

00:14:01.920 Oh, we don't need two sides of the story.

00:14:03.780 We can all agree.

00:14:05.200 People want disagreement.

00:14:06.420 They want that clash of ideas.

00:14:07.520 I think that was a stunning, stunning error.

00:14:11.680 And not only did it destroy the PC party of Alberta and the Wild Rose,

00:14:15.880 but it didn't destroy the Wild Rose.

00:14:18.040 It weakened it.

00:14:19.200 It nearly destroyed it briefly.

00:14:20.560 Yeah, and it put Rachel Notley, the NDP, in power

00:14:23.300 because she was the only one not sullied by the whole thing.

00:14:25.820 That's how it looked on the outside.

00:14:27.840 Tell me a little bit more about what you knew about that.

00:14:30.380 And how did Danielle Smith make such a shocking and undemocratic decision? 1.00

00:14:35.220 You know, so this was December 20, I think it was December 17, 2014.

00:14:42.820 I'll remember.

00:14:43.460 It was a day that'll live in infamy for me.

00:14:45.140 I was working in this very building, actually, just a number of floors up.

00:14:48.460 I just started a new job as the vice president of the Oil Drillers Association.

00:14:52.760 And I couldn't believe it.

00:14:54.940 I started getting phone calls and whatnot before the news broke,

00:14:58.320 but I couldn't believe it.

00:14:59.180 It was the most outrageous, crazy thing imaginable.

00:15:04.020 I started making phone calls around, and then it started to smell real bad.

00:15:11.480 Look, there's a number of things.

00:15:13.260 I think she had lost confidence in herself.

00:15:15.500 They had lost four by-elections that Wild Rose thought they were going to win at least one.

00:15:20.160 They got beaten in all four.

00:15:22.960 She had some floor crossings, including one who was a very close friend of hers, Carrie Toll.

00:15:26.980 This was a key ally of hers in caucus and a personal friend.

00:15:32.180 You know, and then their behind-the-scenes had been a lot of...

00:15:38.680 There was a move by some senior members of her caucus to defect to the PC's apprentice.

00:15:43.300 From what I know, she was largely presented with a fait accompli,

00:15:47.340 where it's like, well, we're going to go.

00:15:49.180 You should come with us, and you'll look like you're leading the charge,

00:15:53.660 and you'll be a part of what we're going to build on the PC side.

00:15:56.980 And I think by then she had just lost confidence in herself

00:16:00.080 and made the most incredibly terrible political decision I think has ever been made,

00:16:06.860 possibly in the country, to go.

00:16:09.680 And it, I mean, it was packaged as we're uniting conservatives,

00:16:15.380 but the NDP, remember, was like 10% in the polls at the time.

00:16:17.860 No one cared about the NDP.

00:16:19.240 It was a fringe party.

00:16:21.160 And all of a sudden, it just, the NDP became the only credible option.

00:16:26.640 We had to rebuild the Wild Rose almost from scratch.

00:16:29.820 It was just absolutely hollowed out.

00:16:31.960 We had to rebuild it in no time.

00:16:33.520 And it was just a stunning, terrible political betrayal

00:16:38.680 that it took me a very, very long time to forgive.

00:16:44.440 I took it very personally.

00:16:47.280 And I wouldn't even listen to her radio station, her show for years,

00:16:51.800 because I just, I was still so angry.

00:16:56.460 I'm the same way, and I was living out east by then.

00:16:58.860 I thought it was such a shocking thing.

00:17:00.740 I remember your interview, actually, with her.

00:17:03.560 You were still on Sun News Network.

00:17:06.880 And I remember when that played, I was sitting with some friends,

00:17:12.060 and we watched it, and it was so spectacularly brutal.

00:17:17.340 And we watched it on repeat, because we were just broken by it.

00:17:20.560 We felt so stabbed in the heart.

00:17:22.580 I had, I mean, I had known her for years.

00:17:24.360 I went to university with her, and I didn't agree with every word she said,

00:17:27.780 but I thought she was a bit of a hero.

00:17:29.080 Yeah, well, that's why it was so hard.

00:17:31.900 And she sold everything and everyone out. 1.00

00:17:33.760 I, like you, didn't talk to her.

00:17:35.420 I did take it personally as well, even though it was a political move.

00:17:39.120 I felt it was a betrayal of so many things.

00:17:42.340 And here she is now, eight years later.

00:17:45.660 I should note that in last night's speech, you don't hear this often.

00:17:49.400 She said, I made a mistake.

00:17:50.660 And let me play a clip from, sorry, when she won.

00:17:54.480 We're recording this on the Friday.

00:17:56.160 It's airing on the Monday, so this is Thursday night.

00:17:58.620 Take a quick lesson.

00:17:59.600 You don't often hear a politician talk about mistakes,

00:18:02.120 but this was such a big mistake.

00:18:03.940 Here, take a quick listen.

00:18:05.140 On a personal note, I want to thank Brian for showing leadership

00:18:08.080 after I made a mistake in judgment in 2014.

00:18:11.340 Learning from your example has prepared me for today,

00:18:14.780 and this party will always owe you a debt of gratitude

00:18:17.700 as one of the founders of this united conservative party.

00:18:21.020 Thank you, Brian.

00:18:26.460 You know, she said a lot.

00:18:28.180 She said she didn't go out in public for three years

00:18:31.520 because she didn't want to face people.

00:18:33.520 There was hate and anger.

00:18:37.400 And she has said sorry a thousand times.

00:18:39.500 I think she means it.

00:18:41.220 It's tough to know.

00:18:42.260 I mean, if she wanted a political career, 0.95

00:18:44.360 she had to deal with this enormous elephant in the room.

00:18:47.260 Do you think she is genuinely sorry?

00:18:49.340 I mean, she must be.

00:18:50.300 It blew up in her face and derailed her.

00:18:53.860 Can someone come back after that?

00:18:56.080 Is it forgivable, or is it a life sentence

00:18:58.100 when you do something that bad?

00:19:00.960 Look, six months ago, I would have said,

00:19:03.060 a year ago, I would have said it was probably a life sentence.

00:19:07.760 You know, there's been talk about her for a while.

00:19:10.380 You know, she actually announced she would run 1.00

00:19:11.820 for the UCP leadership on the floor of the UCP's convention

00:19:15.740 last November, because she had a show for a couple months

00:19:21.200 with the Western Standard, and she stunned us all on the floor 0.99

00:19:24.100 on a Western Standard broadcast saying,

00:19:27.220 yeah, if Jason Kenney's gone, I'm going to run.

00:19:28.580 And we just about fell out of our chairs.

00:19:30.860 But, you know, there had been quiet talk about this for a while,

00:19:33.780 and I thought that, I don't know,

00:19:35.780 people had largely forgiven her by then,

00:19:39.560 but was the forgiveness conditional on,

00:19:43.200 well, okay, she's a great radio host, 0.99

00:19:45.380 and she's got something out of the conversation,

00:19:47.500 but it's conditional on her not ever going back into politics?

00:19:51.340 Right.

00:19:52.080 Or was it more carte blanche?

00:19:54.140 Was it a broader forgiveness?

00:19:57.400 And as we saw Thursday evening,

00:20:00.660 it turned out to be a deeper forgiveness.

00:20:02.920 I think some of that, though, was coupled in that,

00:20:05.440 you know, they had broadly forgiven her,

00:20:07.100 but I think there was a lot of misgivings around trusting her again

00:20:10.300 after what had happened.

00:20:12.220 But I think she got over that by giving skeptical,

00:20:16.580 particularly, you know, kind of former Wild Rosers,

00:20:19.060 giving them something no one else would,

00:20:21.700 giving them something that has been portrayed as radical

00:20:25.180 as the Sovereignty Act that no other major politician

00:20:29.740 anywhere in the country outside of Quebec would ever fathom doing.

00:20:34.760 And so by offering something so appetizing,

00:20:38.640 she forced down the throat of those reticent Wild Rosers, 1.00

00:20:43.540 they forced, even if they didn't forgive her,

00:20:45.960 she still forced them to vote for her 1.00

00:20:48.200 because no one else was offering anything like this.

00:20:51.100 Now, the Sovereignty Act is not written yet,

00:20:53.160 which is interesting how people can oppose or support it

00:20:55.900 without seeing the text of it.

00:20:58.400 And one of the things she said,

00:21:00.220 well, let's write it together.

00:21:01.280 Let's write it as a caucus.

00:21:02.100 Let's get some legislative counsel on it.

00:21:06.320 I mean, writing a law is a difficult thing.

00:21:09.820 In her speech, when she won the vote,

00:21:13.760 she made it clear she's not a separatist.

00:21:15.820 She doesn't want Alberta to leave.

00:21:17.700 She just wants it to be like Quebec, 0.95

00:21:19.380 the master maitre chenou, as they would say in French.

00:21:22.100 Here's a quick clip.

00:21:22.620 Lester in her home.

00:21:23.260 That's right.

00:21:24.100 Here's a quick clip of her remarks,

00:21:26.340 which I think would tamp down sort of the Ottawa press corps.

00:21:30.800 Oh, you're a separatist.

00:21:32.120 At least it seems like she was trying to calm some of the nervous.

00:21:35.900 Nellies, here's a clip of her election, 0.98

00:21:38.140 leadership election speech.

00:21:40.500 They don't want us to succeed.

00:21:42.480 And sadly, these folks will do and say almost anything

00:21:45.280 to keep us from succeeding.

00:21:47.060 They will dredge up old statements and mistakes from the past.

00:21:50.520 They will use cancel culture and fear-mongering 0.98

00:21:53.540 in an attempt to scare and dissuade Albertans

00:21:55.900 from supporting our MLAs and me.

00:21:58.240 For example, it is safe to say

00:21:59.880 that many in the not-leasing Trudeau alliance

00:22:02.300 will claim that my plan to stand up to Ottawa

00:22:04.520 with the Sovereignty Act is somehow meant

00:22:06.380 to move Alberta toward leaving our beloved Canada.

00:22:09.700 That is a lie.

00:22:11.360 What Albertans want is for our province

00:22:13.360 and all provinces to have our rights

00:22:15.600 under the Constitution of Canada

00:22:17.260 protected and respected

00:22:18.720 by an increasingly hostile Ottawa regime

00:22:21.940 that seeks to control every aspect of our lives.

00:22:30.060 From health care to education to free speech

00:22:32.940 to delivery of our social programs,

00:22:35.060 they want to control it all

00:22:36.420 because that makes it easier for them

00:22:38.960 to impose their agenda on Albertans and on Canadians.

00:22:42.640 That is not the way to unify a country

00:22:44.700 or secure prosperity.

00:22:46.180 That is a road to division and economic ruin.

00:22:49.940 Which is why, in closing tonight,

00:22:52.200 I want to speak to our fellow Canadians.

00:22:55.460 Albertans love Canada.

00:22:57.080 It is our country, our home.

00:22:59.400 All we want is to live, grow,

00:23:01.520 and prosper in the manner that we choose.

00:23:04.100 We want to set our own course,

00:23:11.940 develop our resources and economy,

00:23:13.800 and run our social programs and society

00:23:16.940 as we think best.

00:23:18.580 We also want to share our prosperity

00:23:20.260 with the entire country.

00:23:22.160 So tonight, I invite every Canadian

00:23:24.080 to partner with us,

00:23:25.900 partner with Alberta.

00:23:27.320 Let's work together to build

00:23:28.680 the strong, prosperous, and unified Canada

00:23:31.360 that we know that we can be.

00:23:38.020 A Canada where provinces work together

00:23:40.720 and empower one another

00:23:42.080 to reach our unique individual goals

00:23:44.060 and aspirations.

00:23:45.400 A Canada that celebrates

00:23:46.860 our great diversity of opinion and thought,

00:23:49.420 rather than one that demonizes

00:23:50.940 and sanctions one another

00:23:52.240 for expression and speech

00:23:53.580 deemed unacceptable

00:23:54.720 by woke politicians in Ottawa.

00:24:00.060 A Canada that respects

00:24:01.840 all of our citizens,

00:24:03.080 regardless of their religious,

00:24:04.800 cultural, or political beliefs.

00:24:07.200 Together, we can be the solution

00:24:09.260 to the world's energy crisis

00:24:10.880 and wrestle away the leverage

00:24:12.860 that thug dictators are using

00:24:14.900 against an energy-starved Europe.

00:24:21.060 Together, we can be the energy

00:24:23.200 superpower that provides billions

00:24:25.220 of people in Africa

00:24:26.620 and in Asia

00:24:27.820 with the clean LNG

00:24:29.320 needed to replace their reliance

00:24:31.220 on coal, wood,

00:24:32.260 and other high-emission fuel sources,

00:24:34.360 saving billions of tons

00:24:35.580 of emissions

00:24:36.140 and replacing them

00:24:37.360 with billions of dollars

00:24:38.500 for our citizens

00:24:39.500 and our economy

00:24:40.640 and our social programs.

00:24:45.320 We can become the nation

00:24:47.040 that develops

00:24:47.780 the breakthrough technologies

00:24:49.060 that make continued fossil fuel use

00:24:51.020 not only possible,

00:24:51.980 but preferable for fueling

00:24:53.780 the energy needs

00:24:54.600 of this generation

00:24:55.400 and the next.

00:24:57.400 And we can feed the planet

00:24:58.640 with our world-class food producers

00:25:00.720 and technologies.

00:25:02.160 We can build the most innovative,

00:25:04.580 entrepreneurial,

00:25:05.460 and well-educated workforce

00:25:06.620 in the developed world

00:25:07.740 where students are taught

00:25:08.960 to create and build

00:25:10.700 and innovate

00:25:11.780 rather than to conform,

00:25:13.660 obey,

00:25:14.200 and profess allegiance

00:25:15.220 to failed

00:25:15.980 and outdated ideologies.

00:25:17.420 Alberta wants to play

00:25:21.940 a central role

00:25:22.760 in building that Canada

00:25:24.400 with you

00:25:25.300 as an equal partner

00:25:26.540 and invites you

00:25:27.820 and those you elect

00:25:29.000 to join us

00:25:29.740 in building the most prosperous

00:25:31.020 and free country

00:25:32.060 on earth.

00:25:32.820 You know,

00:25:39.180 if all Alberta does

00:25:40.920 is take up

00:25:41.820 the constitutional space

00:25:43.340 that Quebec does 0.99

00:25:44.200 on pension plans,

00:25:46.100 on police forces,

00:25:47.100 on employment insurance,

00:25:48.080 on immigration,

00:25:49.280 if Alberta just got

00:25:50.700 the same things Quebec got,

00:25:52.760 so many of Albertans' grievances

00:25:54.880 would be dealt with

00:25:55.640 practically and substantively,

00:25:57.660 but more importantly,

00:25:58.920 they would feel emotionally

00:26:00.320 like they were in charge

00:26:02.080 of their own house again.

00:26:03.420 I think that would be

00:26:04.300 a very good thing

00:26:05.180 for Alberta,

00:26:05.760 and frankly,

00:26:06.200 it would lower

00:26:07.080 the demand for separatism.

00:26:09.900 Well,

00:26:10.460 I half agree.

00:26:12.720 The difference is,

00:26:13.680 you know,

00:26:14.200 Quebec,

00:26:15.400 it's always been tough

00:26:18.400 to find,

00:26:19.240 a lot of people say,

00:26:19.840 well, you know,

00:26:20.400 Alberta and Quebec

00:26:21.160 both want decentralization,

00:26:22.740 they're actually natural allies

00:26:23.800 if we don't agree

00:26:24.500 on a lot of other things.

00:26:26.120 It's tougher than it actually

00:26:27.280 seems on the surface,

00:26:28.200 though,

00:26:28.340 because Quebec wants

00:26:29.180 a different kind

00:26:29.900 of decentralization

00:26:30.760 than Alberta.

00:26:31.580 Quebec wants cultural

00:26:33.160 and social decentralization,

00:26:35.980 dealing with ethnic,

00:26:38.180 linguistic issues.

00:26:39.600 Alberta wants 0.99

00:26:40.180 fiscal decentralization.

00:26:42.500 Quebec only wants 0.99

00:26:43.300 fiscal decentralization

00:26:44.480 in the sense

00:26:44.820 that they want

00:26:45.300 all the money,

00:26:45.840 the ability to spend

00:26:46.920 all the money

00:26:47.380 to get from Ottawa,

00:26:48.200 however they want,

00:26:49.280 but they still want money

00:26:50.120 to come from Ottawa,

00:26:51.300 whereas,

00:26:52.180 you know,

00:26:52.480 Alberta,

00:26:53.460 our issues,

00:26:54.780 unfortunately,

00:26:55.580 can't all be solved

00:26:56.980 by just taking up

00:26:57.860 that constitutional space.

00:26:59.200 Right.

00:26:59.300 We do need ways

00:27:01.280 to starve the beast 0.83

00:27:02.620 of Ottawa, 0.96

00:27:03.100 to stop the flow

00:27:04.180 of our revenue to them,

00:27:05.160 to stop them

00:27:05.720 from blocking

00:27:06.460 our resource development,

00:27:07.780 but much of what

00:27:08.620 you're saying

00:27:09.480 can absolutely be covered

00:27:10.680 domestically

00:27:11.320 with the powers

00:27:11.880 we have under the Constitution

00:27:12.800 if we would only

00:27:13.680 assert them.

00:27:16.360 You know,

00:27:16.600 my column,

00:27:18.380 the night of Danielle's win,

00:27:20.440 I think I may have

00:27:21.780 introduced a new term

00:27:23.120 to the Canadian parlance,

00:27:25.580 borrowing on the terms

00:27:27.300 used around the European Union

00:27:28.620 and Brexit.

00:27:29.500 You know,

00:27:30.260 you had Europhiles

00:27:31.160 and Europhobes,

00:27:32.040 and I talked about

00:27:34.700 federal phobes

00:27:36.660 and federal files,

00:27:38.300 and the federal phobes

00:27:40.400 of which I would put myself in,

00:27:41.700 it's a really broad range

00:27:43.900 or a spectrum of views

00:27:45.080 ranging from

00:27:47.180 firewallers on a light side 0.98

00:27:50.640 to full-blown independence,

00:27:51.960 and I think Danielle falls

00:27:54.720 into the strong

00:27:57.620 firewall tradition,

00:27:58.840 but it's bringing over people

00:28:01.000 who were firmly

00:28:02.920 in the independence camp

00:28:03.780 for some time.

00:28:04.680 Six months ago,

00:28:07.120 the Wild Rose Independence Party,

00:28:08.360 a party with no seats,

00:28:09.280 no money,

00:28:09.840 no leader,

00:28:11.220 was at about 15%

00:28:12.960 in the polls.

00:28:14.340 Like,

00:28:14.760 absolutely astounding.

00:28:16.240 With an expectation

00:28:17.140 that Smith was likely

00:28:18.100 to win the UCP leadership

00:28:19.100 as of about two weeks ago,

00:28:20.940 it was about 4%,

00:28:22.740 and that's why the UCP

00:28:24.040 is leading in the polls again

00:28:25.040 as they've pulled those people

00:28:26.560 back in from the right flank.

00:28:27.840 They haven't necessarily

00:28:28.360 convinced a bunch of

00:28:29.240 New Democrats to come over,

00:28:30.700 but they've convinced

00:28:31.320 these Wild Rose Independence

00:28:33.120 folks over

00:28:34.500 who, yeah,

00:28:35.860 probably would prefer

00:28:37.060 a Republic of Alberta,

00:28:38.940 but they see this

00:28:41.040 as an aggressive,

00:28:43.500 tangible step

00:28:44.340 towards greater independence,

00:28:46.440 if not full du jour

00:28:47.720 independence from Ottawa.

00:28:49.400 So I think

00:28:49.960 if Smith

00:28:51.380 can succeed in this,

00:28:52.940 she will probably 0.73

00:28:53.940 temper down

00:28:54.560 the full-blown

00:28:55.380 independence movement

00:28:56.380 by bringing it

00:28:57.040 into something

00:28:57.560 a bit more

00:28:57.920 in the mainstream.

00:28:59.620 But she has set

00:29:00.420 these extraordinarily

00:29:01.300 high expectations.

00:29:02.540 This was one of the

00:29:03.040 problems Kenny had.

00:29:03.700 He set these

00:29:04.180 sky-high expectations,

00:29:06.540 and he didn't actually

00:29:07.800 seem to make a ton

00:29:08.640 of effort to actually

00:29:09.440 meet them other than

00:29:10.120 some angry letters

00:29:10.980 he'd sent to Justin Fruto.

00:29:12.900 But Smith now has got

00:29:13.900 even higher expectations

00:29:15.440 than Kenny,

00:29:16.400 and it's going to be

00:29:18.700 difficult for her

00:29:19.740 to meet that.

00:29:20.720 And if she

00:29:21.640 disappoints those

00:29:23.520 expectations,

00:29:24.620 she will have to

00:29:25.600 probably suffer

00:29:26.400 the same fate

00:29:27.040 as every single

00:29:28.460 Conservative leader

00:29:29.420 since Ralph Klein

00:29:30.340 in 2004,

00:29:31.280 almost 20 years ago.

00:29:32.960 Not a single

00:29:33.580 Conservative leader

00:29:34.320 has completed

00:29:35.120 a full term in office

00:29:36.340 since Klein in 2004.

00:29:37.680 I'm only wrong.

00:29:38.300 You get to finish

00:29:39.440 the end of your

00:29:40.280 predecessor's term,

00:29:41.240 and you get about

00:29:42.300 two, maybe if you're

00:29:43.240 lucky, three years

00:29:44.040 of your own term,

00:29:45.320 and then you're gone.

00:29:46.460 And for her to

00:29:47.420 break that cycle,

00:29:48.560 there's going to be

00:29:49.240 a lot of different

00:29:49.860 things at play,

00:29:50.540 but one is she's 0.97

00:29:51.600 going to have to

00:29:51.960 meet these very

00:29:52.760 high expectations,

00:29:53.680 she said.

00:29:54.820 Very interesting.

00:29:56.020 Well, listen,

00:29:56.440 you've been very

00:29:56.860 generous with your

00:29:57.420 time.

00:29:57.620 I just got one

00:29:58.200 last question for you.

00:29:59.160 I was looking

00:29:59.820 on Twitter,

00:30:01.160 as I often do,

00:30:02.280 for the reaction

00:30:02.960 from other camps

00:30:04.020 to Danielle

00:30:06.460 Smith's win.

00:30:07.940 The first question

00:30:09.000 I looked was,

00:30:10.020 will Justin Trudeau

00:30:10.660 even acknowledge

00:30:11.300 it?

00:30:11.460 He has this

00:30:11.940 habit of ignoring

00:30:13.200 political successes

00:30:14.740 for his enemies.

00:30:17.000 He didn't say a

00:30:17.700 word when Jair Bolsonaro

00:30:18.620 of Brazil won

00:30:20.080 last time.

00:30:21.200 He didn't say a

00:30:21.760 word when

00:30:22.100 Giorgia Meloni

00:30:23.440 of Italy won.

00:30:24.660 Now, those are

00:30:25.080 foreign leaders,

00:30:25.760 but there's a

00:30:26.160 tradition of just

00:30:26.840 saying congratulations.

00:30:27.800 He's a G7 leader.

00:30:28.700 Yeah, he hates 0.99

00:30:29.940 especially women 0.97

00:30:31.660 he doesn't control.

00:30:32.580 Look at his own

00:30:32.960 party, Jody Wilson

00:30:33.740 and Selena

00:30:34.400 Seja Zerban.

00:30:35.460 So I thought,

00:30:35.900 how's he going

00:30:36.320 to handle her?

00:30:37.480 Well, you know,

00:30:38.020 he actually had a

00:30:39.240 fairly good,

00:30:40.660 boilerplate.

00:30:41.120 So I was

00:30:41.460 surprised that he

00:30:42.660 wasn't being as

00:30:43.380 petty, but the

00:30:44.020 pettiness will come.

00:30:45.840 I looked at the

00:30:46.760 NDP in Alberta

00:30:48.840 and they,

00:30:51.240 at least outwardly,

00:30:52.540 claimed to be

00:30:53.200 jubilant.

00:30:54.200 Now, I think they

00:30:54.840 would say that no

00:30:55.640 matter what.

00:30:56.680 Even if they were

00:30:57.280 deeply scared of

00:30:58.240 her, they would 0.94

00:30:58.580 say, oh, she's so 0.99

00:30:59.280 radical, this is the

00:31:00.100 best thing for us.

00:31:01.200 Rachel Notley's

00:31:01.780 going to win for

00:31:02.380 sure.

00:31:02.620 I think many

00:31:04.560 NDPers believe

00:31:05.920 that Danielle

00:31:07.020 Smith is too 0.64

00:31:08.160 extreme, too

00:31:09.040 radical, and too

00:31:10.500 conflict-oriented

00:31:11.460 to win.

00:31:12.400 And they think

00:31:13.380 Rachel Notley is

00:31:14.520 going to become

00:31:15.240 premier again.

00:31:16.760 I don't know how

00:31:17.680 much of that is

00:31:18.200 puffery or self-delusion.

00:31:21.140 The NDP has

00:31:22.160 receded to its

00:31:23.220 more traditional

00:31:24.340 fringe place in

00:31:25.460 the polls.

00:31:26.360 Are you worried

00:31:27.380 that Rachel Notley

00:31:29.340 and the media

00:31:30.100 party will beat

00:31:31.480 Danielle Smith

00:31:32.200 and the UCP

00:31:33.000 party?

00:31:35.360 Well, I think

00:31:36.280 the NDP is a

00:31:37.160 contender for

00:31:37.720 power now.

00:31:39.240 I mean, their

00:31:39.780 traditional place

00:31:40.380 was actually always

00:31:41.060 8 to 10 percent.

00:31:42.500 10 percent would be

00:31:42.980 a good year for

00:31:43.560 them.

00:31:44.980 They now have

00:31:46.140 completely

00:31:46.880 consolidated the

00:31:47.860 left.

00:31:48.700 And so they are

00:31:49.280 contenders for

00:31:49.920 power, but the

00:31:51.940 odds, I think, are

00:31:52.540 still stacked against

00:31:53.320 them.

00:31:53.620 Just as the odds

00:31:54.420 are stacked against

00:31:55.060 conservatives at

00:31:55.660 the federal level,

00:31:56.980 the elector math,

00:31:58.280 the odds are

00:31:58.760 stacked against the

00:31:59.400 NDP at the

00:32:00.360 provincial level in

00:32:01.100 Alberta.

00:32:01.480 Conservatives, I

00:32:02.100 think, still have

00:32:02.780 home ice advantage.

00:32:04.120 That doesn't mean

00:32:04.760 they can't blow it.

00:32:07.500 Smith, there's kind

00:32:09.560 of two broad

00:32:10.100 polls you should

00:32:10.680 look at determining

00:32:11.360 who was the most

00:32:12.240 electable among the

00:32:13.000 UCP.

00:32:14.680 There was the

00:32:16.420 kind of intensity

00:32:17.200 of likability and

00:32:18.500 dislikability, and

00:32:20.480 Smith had the

00:32:21.080 highest negatives

00:32:22.440 on that among all

00:32:23.460 the UCP leadership

00:32:24.180 candidates.

00:32:25.040 Now, one is

00:32:25.820 probably she was by

00:32:26.400 far the most well

00:32:27.080 known, and two, she

00:32:28.340 was the most

00:32:28.700 polarizing.

00:32:29.280 But those

00:32:29.760 negatives were 1.00

00:32:30.420 hyper-concentrated

00:32:31.660 among hardcore

00:32:32.580 NDP voters.

00:32:33.620 So NDP voters who

00:32:34.900 weren't voting UCP

00:32:35.700 anyway, they just

00:32:37.320 particularly hated

00:32:38.320 her.

00:32:39.900 But she had the

00:32:40.660 highest positives

00:32:41.320 among conservatives.

00:32:43.400 The NDP is

00:32:44.320 probably self-deluding

00:32:45.780 itself because the

00:32:47.360 media is so negative

00:32:48.240 towards Smith, and

00:32:50.180 their personal

00:32:51.360 intensity of how much

00:32:52.800 they dislike Smith is

00:32:53.700 so strong.

00:32:54.200 But that intensity, as

00:32:56.320 I was saying, doesn't

00:32:57.100 really affect how

00:32:57.600 people are actually

00:32:58.100 voting at the end of

00:32:59.040 the day.

00:32:59.640 It just meant that

00:33:00.140 New Democrats were

00:33:01.380 particularly boiled

00:33:04.460 about how much they

00:33:05.640 disliked her.

00:33:06.540 And that, like Alberta

00:33:08.420 conservatives can make

00:33:09.980 the same mistake about

00:33:10.780 Justin Trudeau.

00:33:11.900 Justin Trudeau is

00:33:12.640 passionately hated by

00:33:14.200 most Albertans.

00:33:15.640 And we just kind of

00:33:16.640 assume that people out

00:33:18.020 East feel the same 0.99

00:33:19.100 way.

00:33:19.480 I mean, opinions are

00:33:20.860 changing, but people

00:33:22.280 here, you know, Trudeau

00:33:23.280 gets re-elected, and

00:33:24.180 everybody says, how

00:33:25.780 did he get re-elected?

00:33:26.580 I don't know anyone

00:33:27.700 who voted for him.

00:33:28.880 Yes, because you're

00:33:29.700 in Alberta.

00:33:31.000 And so, you know, you're

00:33:31.660 in downtown Edmonton,

00:33:32.920 and you're hanging out

00:33:33.520 in socialist circles.

00:33:34.880 You might be thinking,

00:33:35.700 well, I don't know

00:33:36.260 anyone who likes

00:33:36.980 Danielle Smith, so she 0.92

00:33:37.900 can't possibly win.

00:33:38.940 And I think the New

00:33:39.760 Democrats have the

00:33:41.160 risk, at least, of

00:33:41.820 falling into the same

00:33:42.500 trap as Alberta

00:33:43.600 conservatives do with

00:33:44.460 Trudeau.

00:33:45.080 Yeah.

00:33:45.600 Well, it's very

00:33:46.320 interesting.

00:33:46.840 I'm excited about it.

00:33:47.920 I was a big critic of

00:33:49.960 my old friend Jason

00:33:50.820 Kenny because he lost

00:33:51.620 his way.

00:33:52.000 And like you,

00:33:54.220 Rebel News is going

00:33:55.120 to try and hold

00:33:55.960 Danielle Smith to

00:33:56.680 account on her

00:33:57.200 promises.

00:33:57.760 And one of the

00:33:58.080 things we care about

00:33:58.900 is her revocation of

00:34:01.320 the lockdowns and the

00:34:02.160 prosecution of those

00:34:03.620 caught in the

00:34:04.180 lockdowns.

00:34:04.620 We have a petition

00:34:05.180 at lockdownamnesty.com.

00:34:08.600 We're going to give

00:34:09.440 it to Danielle Smith.

00:34:10.340 Hopefully she'll just 0.56

00:34:11.020 stay all those 0.68

00:34:11.680 prosecutions.

00:34:12.980 Very interesting

00:34:13.640 times.

00:34:13.980 Derek, I'm grateful

00:34:14.620 for your hospitality

00:34:15.460 showing us around

00:34:16.320 your beautiful office

00:34:17.120 and spending some

00:34:17.820 time with me.

00:34:18.600 I know that you

00:34:19.340 guys are going to

00:34:19.800 be the ones to

00:34:20.320 watch for the

00:34:20.840 coverage of this

00:34:21.420 issue.

00:34:21.760 So thanks again

00:34:22.320 and congrats.

00:34:23.100 My pleasure.

00:34:23.600 Thanks very much

00:34:24.200 for joining us

00:34:24.900 here.

00:34:25.180 Well, it's been

00:34:25.600 my pleasure.

00:34:26.120 There you have itκ.

00:34:26.600 Derek Fildebrandt,

00:34:27.320 the boss of

00:34:28.360 Western Standard

00:34:29.140 Online.

00:34:30.220 From Calgary to

00:34:31.860 you at home, on

00:34:32.820 behalf of all of us

00:34:33.680 at Rebel News,

00:34:34.840 good night and

00:34:36.340 keep fighting for

00:34:36.980 freedom.

00:34:37.380 who does not

00:34:38.680 takeonder.

00:34:39.180 Give for it to

00:34:49.620 them.

00:34:50.540 Give for it to

00:34:52.000 another time,

00:34:52.920 to their

00:34:54.200 own

00:34:54.800 wife's

00:34:55.120 bedroom.

00:34:55.580 It's been

00:34:56.340 the best

00:34:56.900 room.

00:34:57.380 Welcome to

00:34:58.360 their

00:34:58.900 home.

00:34:59.220 It's been

00:34:59.700 a good start,

00:35:00.260 to have a

00:35:01.380 you

00:35:01.840 mummy,

00:35:02.480 which

00:35:03.500 could

00:35:03.740 have a

00:35:04.180 nya

Rebel News Podcast - October 10, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Living up to great expectations of Albertans is the big test ahead for Danielle Smith

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