The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - December 10, 2022


Alberta stands up to feds, passes Sovereignty Act


Episode Stats

Length

9 minutes

Words per Minute

174.70848

Word Count

1,738

Sentence Count

114

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

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00:00:26.640 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:28.640 I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:30.240 I'm sorry I missed last week's show.
00:00:31.920 I know you guys miss me, but I was overseas doing some very important work.
00:00:36.320 Now we have a lot to catch up on, so let's jump into today's topics.
00:00:40.000 The Alberta legislature has approved the Sovereignty Act.
00:00:43.280 The United Conservative Party is pulling ahead of the NDP in recent polling.
00:00:47.920 The Premier has secured Tylenol for kids.
00:00:50.480 And Danielle Smith skips Rachel Notley's portrait unveiling.
00:00:54.080 All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:56.800 Okay guys, up first.
00:00:57.920 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's Sovereignty Act passed through the Alberta legislature
00:01:01.520 in the early hours of the morning on Thursday.
00:01:04.000 It was just 10 days after it was tabled.
00:01:06.560 It feels like we've been talking about the Sovereignty Act for months.
00:01:09.280 Well, because we have.
00:01:10.880 Danielle Smith first pitched a Sovereignty Act during the United Conservative Party leadership race
00:01:15.360 as a means to bar federal legislation deemed harmful to Alberta and its interest.
00:01:19.360 She said, in fact, a Sovereignty Act would be her first bill as Premier if elected.
00:01:24.240 So this is a big deal for her having made good on that promise.
00:01:27.520 Some say the bubbles in an arrow truffle piece can take 34 seconds to melt in your mouth.
00:01:32.560 Sometimes the very amount you're stuck at the same red light.
00:01:35.680 Rich, creamy, chocolatey arrow truffle.
00:01:39.120 Feel the arrow bubbles melt.
00:01:41.200 It's mind bubbling.
00:01:42.560 The United Conservative Party majority government passed motions at the final three stages of the
00:01:47.680 bill to limit debate and quicken the bill's passage.
00:01:50.240 In its final form, Bill 1, or the Alberta Sovereignty within the United Canada Act,
00:01:55.200 was stripped of a provision which would have granted Smith's cabinet the power
00:01:58.880 to rewrite laws outside the legislative process.
00:02:02.160 Following criticism, the government put forward amendments to remove those powers.
00:02:06.240 But the Premier wouldn't say whether the original wording was intentional.
00:02:09.600 The House then moved into third reading and the bill was approved around 1am Mountain Time
00:02:14.240 on Thursday morning.
00:02:16.000 The final vote was 27-4 and 7 against, with opposition NDP MLAs voting against the legislation.
00:02:23.040 The NDP also voted against the amendment and the bill at all three readings.
00:02:27.120 It's also worth noting the NDP didn't offer any amendments to Bill 1.
00:02:30.880 But before its passage, NDP leader Rachel Notley hosted a press conference on Wednesday
00:02:35.360 with former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge to convince Premier Smith
00:02:39.280 that her flagship bill would chase away investment in the province.
00:02:42.880 Here's what Dodge had to say.
00:02:44.800 Unfortunately, it seems to me that even proposing the Sovereignty Act
00:02:50.560 creates a climate of uncertainty which makes it less attractive for investors to participate
00:02:59.040 in the building of such a platform for growth.
00:03:02.560 Whatever its final form, the Act is a signal to the world that we don't quite know what we're doing,
00:03:09.760 that we can't quite get the fundamental stuff right.
00:03:13.440 That press conference didn't go over very well with the Premier.
00:03:16.400 Take a listen to her exchange with Notley in the Legislature this week.
00:03:19.440 Mr. Speaker, today I stood with the former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mr. David Dodge.
00:03:24.240 Mr. Dodge, very articulately, impressed upon Albertans how the Premier's Sovereignty Act,
00:03:29.120 amended or not, will harm our economy.
00:03:32.480 So let me get this straight. We have a Liberal appointee to the Bank of Canada,
00:03:37.600 who is not even from Alberta, who didn't read the bill,
00:03:42.400 who didn't read the amendments, and quite frankly, the Bank of Canada increased interest rates 0.5% again today,
00:03:49.440 which actually has a dampening effect on investment, coming to Alberta to tell us how to run our affairs.
00:03:57.200 You know, I'm wondering who this opposition leader is going to have at her next press conference.
00:04:01.760 Maybe she should just invite Justin Trudeau.
00:04:03.760 Yeah, yeah.
00:04:04.560 Polling from the Angus Reid Institute has previously found that a majority of Albertans
00:04:08.240 don't support the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which Danielle Smith says she hopes she never has to use.
00:04:13.840 Speaking of Angus Reid polling,
00:04:15.280 Danielle Smith has the approval of 42% of Albertans. She placed six out of Canada's Premiers,
00:04:20.720 ahead of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and behind BC Premier David Eby.
00:04:25.120 Under Smith's leadership, the UCP is also polling ahead of the NDP for the first time since September.
00:04:30.640 According to a Main Street research poll, the United Conservative Party is leading by two points,
00:04:35.360 and an Angus Reid poll shows the UCP leading by four points.
00:04:39.440 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says shelves will soon be restocked with children's pain medication,
00:04:44.240 after reaching a tentative deal with a Turkish manufacturer to supply five million bottles
00:04:48.880 of acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
00:04:51.520 The deal with Adabane Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals is still subject to approval from Health Canada,
00:04:56.960 but provincial officers are confident the supplier will be green lighted to ship medications to Alberta
00:05:01.440 in the coming weeks.
00:05:03.360 Shelves across Canada have been stripped bare of the fever reducing medications,
00:05:07.600 with pharmacists keeping supplies behind the counter to prevent stockpiling.
00:05:11.040 Take a listen to what the Premier had to say about it earlier this week.
00:05:14.880 Right now, your government is working with Alberta Health Services and Health Canada on
00:05:19.440 the details and logistics to import this medicine. And you can feel confident that we are all moving
00:05:25.600 as quickly as we can, so that Alberta families can get what they need. And it will be available at your
00:05:31.680 local pharmacy in short order once it arrives. I know there's still more work to do, and I want you
00:05:37.040 to know that your government is listening. I truly hope that this new supply will provide
00:05:41.200 a little bit more comfort and relief to our families. I'd now like to invite Minister Copping
00:05:46.400 to provide you with some of the details.
00:05:49.040 Now, it seems for some people the glass is always half empty. There is a fair number of
00:05:53.360 criticism to this announcement. One Twitter user says the bottles won't address the systemic failures
00:05:58.640 of the UCP under both Kenny and now Smith. Another user calls it a Band-Aid solution.
00:06:05.200 And still another says the bottles will alleviate a few symptoms of a viral infection,
00:06:10.000 but not complications from the trifecta of viruses impacting children.
00:06:14.160 Well, I'm sure parents of sick kids are very relieved to hear about the announcement.
00:06:18.000 Another big story coming out of Alberta this week, this one is from the CBC's Janet French.
00:06:22.480 A new code of conduct for Alberta teachers requires them to report to authorities any
00:06:26.640 colleague who harms or abuses a student. The new code, which will apply to all of the
00:06:30.320 province's 53,000 teachers as of January 1, could see teachers who conceal their colleagues abusive
00:06:36.480 behavior also be charged with unprofessional conduct. This seems like a very positive step to
00:06:41.280 me. What do you guys think? Moving into the controversy of the week. Premier Smith skipped
00:06:46.400 NDP leader Rachel Snotley portrait unveiling at the Alberta legislature earlier this week.
00:06:51.600 Shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday, word came that Smith wouldn't attend.
00:06:55.920 She sent Nathan Newdorf, one of her deputy premiers. In a statement, Smith's office said,
00:07:00.480 Premier Smith had hoped to attend Rachel Notley's portrait unveiling ceremony.
00:07:04.320 However, she attended an important meeting with the Keytas Key Now Tribal Council
00:07:08.800 and a caucus meeting. Deputy Premier Nathan Newdorf joined the unveiling ceremony in her place.
00:07:14.080 The Calgary Herald's Dawn Braid says premiers always pay the respect for past premiers at these affairs.
00:07:19.120 Notley, in fact, did it herself three times when she was the premier unveiling portraits of former
00:07:23.920 PC premiers Alison Redford, Dave Hancock, and Jim Prentice. Okay guys, what we're watching in the
00:07:29.200 weeks to come, this is not an Alberta specific story, it is a national story, but I have been
00:07:33.280 keeping you guys updated with it and I promise that I would keep you in the loop about recent updates.
00:07:37.360 You guys know that the Liberals tried to sneak in a last-minute amendment to Bill C-21 to further
00:07:42.240 restrict access to semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, including those primarily used by hunters,
00:07:47.600 farmers, and sports shooters. During question period on Thursday, several NDP MPs stood up
00:07:53.200 and denounced the government's move. NDP MP Taylor Bacharach said people feel hoodwinked by
00:07:58.400 the last-minute amendment as the government goes after the tools his neighbors use for hunting,
00:08:02.400 predator control, and backcountry safety. When is the Prime Minister going to realize the mistake he's
00:08:07.600 made, fix this mess, and back up the bus? Meanwhile, NDP MP Alistair McGregor also had some choice words
00:08:14.080 for the Liberal government, and we'll play those for you now. Mr. Speaker, the government's proposed
00:08:19.520 amendment to C-21 has become a textbook case on what not to do. This change was brought in at the 11th
00:08:26.720 hour with no consultation and no testimony. It has distracted from the original purpose of the bill,
00:08:33.280 and it hurts rural communities. Hunters, farmers, and indigenous communities are outraged that some
00:08:39.600 of the rifles and shotguns that they used to provide for their families could be banned. The Minister of
00:08:44.960 Public Safety blindsided Canadians when he made this mess. How is he going to fix it?
00:08:51.360 But not everyone was so impressed. Conservative MP Dane Lloyd said it's about
00:08:55.280 time the NDP joined the official opposition in standing up for firearms owners. Okay guys,
00:09:00.000 I'm ending on a light noted topic for you here. The official Last of Us trailer is here.
00:09:04.880 The Last of Us is an upcoming HBO American post-apocalyptic drama television series.
00:09:10.640 It's based on the 2013 video game, and the series follows a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenager
00:09:16.480 across the post-apocalyptic United States. But why are we talking about this? Well, the series,
00:09:22.080 said to be the largest television production in Canadian history, was filmed in Alberta from July
00:09:27.040 2021 to June 2022. Definitely take a look at the trailer and see which Alberta landmarks you can find.
00:09:33.600 Okay guys, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:09:36.560 If you're so inclined, please visit donate.tnc.news to show us your support.
00:09:40.480 I'll see you next week, and God bless.