The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - Notley steps down as Alberta NDP leader

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:03.900 I hope that you all survived last weekend's cold snap. As I am sitting here recording this,

00:00:09.120 I am just hoping that my ceiling doesn't cave in on me. I just came upstairs to record and

00:00:14.320 what do I find? But paint all over the floor, it looks like our ceiling is leaking and it is quite

00:00:20.080 a mess. So hopefully I can make it through the show. But if it does happen to start caving in

00:00:24.400 on me, at least you all know what happened. Now taking a look at what we're going to be talking

00:00:28.780 about on today's show. Rachel Notley has announced that she will step down as leader of the Alberta

00:00:34.440 NDP and we're going to have some speculation on who might replace her. As well, Albertans,

00:00:39.120 you guys responded to Alberta's energy crisis last weekend and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith

00:00:44.780 has some thanks for you all. Next, the CBC says that electric vehicles are the best to drive in

00:00:51.100 frigid temperatures. Not sure about that one. And finally, I have an exciting announcement for you

00:00:56.060 all so you're going to want to stay tuned till the end of the show. All that and more happening now

00:01:00.180 on the Alberta Roundup.

00:01:11.000 Up first, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley has announced that she will step down as the leader

00:01:16.340 of the New Democrats once a new leader is elected. In her remarks on Tuesday, Notley reflected on her

00:01:23.000 time as Premier and as opposition leader. Take a listen.

00:01:26.180 Now, we didn't get everything right. But we governed with integrity, an ambitious agenda,

00:01:34.520 and an earnest desire to make life better for Albertans. So four years later, last spring,

00:01:41.560 we came so close to earning the right to lead Alberta again. We received the highest percentage

00:01:48.220 of the vote that the Alberta NDP ever has. We won all of Edmonton. We won the majority of seats in

00:01:54.240 Calgary. We increased our vote throughout the province, and we elected the largest official

00:01:59.400 opposition in the history of this province. An opposition that is very, very ready, by the way,

00:02:06.980 to take over the reins of government. But it wasn't enough. And that's why it's now time for me to

00:02:13.900 leave. But if there is any one accomplishment that I can leave behind me, it's that we are not

00:02:21.280 a one-party province where Albertans have no real choice about how their province is to be run.

00:02:28.280 Albertans do not ever have to feel that elections and their opinions do not matter.

00:02:33.380 It was that way when I started. It's not that way anymore.

00:02:37.180 The announcement came after poor polling for the Alberta NDP and after Notley lost two elections to

00:02:44.420 the United Conservative Party. Notley said that she isn't sure whether she will stay on as an MLA

00:02:49.520 or also step down from that. But she did say that she's not interested in joining federal politics.

00:02:55.400 In honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to share one of my favorite memories with Rachel

00:03:00.100 Notley, this one taken at an Alberta NDP press conference during the spring general election.

00:03:06.440 By this crisis.

00:03:08.580 Rachel Manuel, to more with Ms. Notley, how is the premier showing insensitivity

00:03:12.160 when you're here in Calgary today hosting a campaign event and she's up at Edmonton dealing

00:03:15.980 with the wildfires?

00:03:19.080 I believe that we are both continuing to work on the campaign. Indeed, we've seen both of us do that.

00:03:26.780 And so that's what we're doing.

00:03:29.660 You guys probably remember that the NDP did not like it when independent media reporters showed up

00:03:34.260 to their press conferences and had, it seemed a policy of banning us from asking questions,

00:03:38.800 they would just simply never pass us the mic when it was our turn. So I just got in the habit of

00:03:43.340 yelling out the questions and it seemed to work pretty well because as you can see, I did get an

00:03:46.540 answer from her there. That was during the wildfire crisis in the summer when the NDP were attacking.

00:03:51.720 Danielle Smith were not doing enough. Well, they of course were continuing to campaign.

00:03:55.720 Now that Notley has announced that she will resign when a new leader is selected, the question is,

00:03:59.520 of course, who is going to replace her? According to the Canadian Press Caucus members,

00:04:05.280 Rocky Pancelli, David Shepard, Sarah Hoffman, and Kathleen Gainley, are rumored to be considering

00:04:10.820 a leadership bid. Last week, Gainley made a video which many interpreted to be a leadership race

00:04:16.600 self-promotional video in which she said, quote, average families here in Alberta should have access

00:04:21.840 to the basics. The independent media outlet, The Counter Signal, also said that Janice Irwin is 0.91

00:04:26.740 interested in the contest, describing the far left politician as, quote, an MLA with close ties

00:04:32.580 to the Antifa movement. They also reported that Shannon Phillips of Lethbridge is also seen as a

00:04:37.920 possible leadership contender. The question of the week for all of you is who do you think will

00:04:42.460 replace Rachel Notley and how far left is the NDP going to go? Of course, there was a time when Rachel

00:04:48.980 Notley herself was seen as a moderate. I would personally disagree with that, but I'm wondering if now is

00:04:54.200 the party's opportunity to elect a real moderate, or if what is more likely someone like Janice Irwin

00:05:00.600 is going to take the party very far to the left. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

00:05:05.480 Moving into our next story here, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is thanking Albertans for their quick

00:05:10.040 response to last weekend's cold snap when Albertans reduced their energy uses to avoid rolling blackouts

00:05:17.020 throughout the province. Last weekend, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued an alert,

00:05:21.840 warning residents that the extreme cold resulted in high power demand and placed the province's grid

00:05:27.720 at high risk of rotating power outages. The Alberta Electric System operator declared a grid alert due to

00:05:34.200 extreme cold and several power facility outages at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The emergency alert sent to

00:05:39.580 Albertans mobile devices throughout the province asked Albertans to limit their electricity use to

00:05:44.540 essential needs only. And Albertans responded. Premier Smith later posted on X,

00:05:48.840 when the Alberta Electric System operator issued a call for energy conservation, Albertans answered.

00:05:54.920 The swift and impactful actions led to a remarkable 200 megawatt reduction in demand,

00:06:00.160 averting the need for rotating power outages. Thank you, Alberta, and thank you to our energy

00:06:04.980 workers for keeping our families warm and dry. The energy crisis was abated by help from Saskatchewan,

00:06:11.200 with Premier Scott Moe announcing last weekend that SAS Power provided 153 megawatts of electricity

00:06:17.260 to Alberta on Saturday night, as the warnings were issued, to assist us throughout the shortage.

00:06:23.100 Moe wrote on X, quote,

00:06:24.560 that power will be coming from natural gas and coal-fired plants, the ones the Trudeau government

00:06:29.780 is telling us to shut down, which we won't. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has warned that federal

00:06:35.240 regulations could result in power outages during instances of extreme cold. But those regulations

00:06:42.120 haven't yet been enacted. So what exactly went wrong last weekend? Well, it has to do with something we

00:06:47.500 talk about so much on this show, the high numbers of interprovincial immigration. There are so many

00:06:53.080 people moving to Alberta from other parts of the country, and of course, we need to be able to

00:06:57.220 provide energy for all those people. During instances of extreme cold, such as we saw last weekend,

00:07:02.580 there are more people across the province demanding use of energy. And while energy operators are

00:07:07.540 interested in looking for ways to increase their baseload power, such as building another power

00:07:12.100 plant, they're afraid that by doing so, they will fall into conflict with Ottawa's regulation for a

00:07:18.460 net zero power grid by 2035. In fact, energy operators are afraid that someone could end up in jail

00:07:24.640 if they come into conflict with this 2035 regulation that Ottawa is still hanging over their head.

00:07:30.140 So while that target is more than a decade off, it's already impacting how energy providers are

00:07:34.960 operating now. And it's only going to get worse as people from the rest of the country continue to 1.00

00:07:39.700 move here for the Alberta advantage. Moving into the controversy of the week, as Albertans reduce

00:07:45.220 their energy consumption to respond to the cold snap we saw last weekend, the CBC is touting electric

00:07:51.000 vehicles as the best vehicle for frigid temperatures. You just can't make this stuff up. Despite warnings,

00:07:57.340 the CBC published an article last weekend titled, Electric Cars, the best vehicle in frigid

00:08:02.400 temperatures, SASC advocates say. EVs have a track record of unreliability in colder temperatures.

00:08:08.740 Even the CBC's cited experts said that the range of electric vehicles go from 500 kilometers to 300

00:08:15.240 kilometers on cold winter days. That's a 40% decrease in range. And True North has reported that temperatures

00:08:21.460 below negative 6.7 degrees Celsius can cut an electric vehicle battery capacity by up to 41%.

00:08:28.280 We've also reported that electric vehicles have 79% more problems than gas vehicles, even in warm

00:08:35.160 weather. Still, the CBC reported on two electric car enthusiasts who said they love driving their

00:08:41.520 vehicles in the winter. Tyler Cross, who sits on the board for the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle

00:08:46.400 Association and founded the Tesla Owners Club of Saskatchewan, told the CBC, quote,

00:08:51.860 it heats up faster than any gas car I've ever had. It's more reliable. He also said, quote,

00:08:58.060 you know, there's no starting of the car. It's always just kind of on, right? It's like a phone,

00:09:04.040 basically, or a computer on wheels. Matthew Pointer, a founder of the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle

00:09:10.120 Association, who also drives a Tesla Model 3, says he finds his EV to be a much better driving experience

00:09:16.660 in the winter than a gas car. He told the CBC, quote, I believe that an electric is the best

00:09:22.460 vehicle in these temperatures just because it's a simpler car. It's taking care of itself even if

00:09:27.680 I'm not thinking about it. I can leave my vehicle unplugged overnight to negative 40, fire up the app

00:09:33.280 on my phone, preheat the car, heated steering wheel, heated seats. Basically, I hop in the car,

00:09:38.900 everything is defrosted, toasty warm, and away I go. Both sources acknowledge that EVs likely won't work

00:09:45.120 for all drivers in the province, especially those who have to drive long distances. Still,

00:09:50.060 the article led to disbelief from pundits and politicians across the province. Alberta Energy

00:09:54.880 Minister Brian Jean asked if the article was a parody. Rebel News founder Ezra Levant roasted the

00:10:00.460 state broadcaster on X, writing, quote, no one believes this. No one even says this, not even the

00:10:06.860 electric car companies themselves, only the desperate Trudeau regime and the government journalists at the

00:10:12.480 CBC state broadcaster. Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come, Alberta Health

00:10:17.120 Services says a number of factors contributed to a temporary pause in the kidney pair donation

00:10:22.680 program. Alberta Health Services cited a lack of operating room capacity, a shortage of anesthesiologists

00:10:28.420 at the University of Alberta Hospital, along with a backlog of local and national pairs waiting on

00:10:34.380 Edmonton's list. A spokesperson stressed that the change will only affect the Northern Alberta

00:10:39.120 transplant program, not the Southern Alberta program in Calgary. They also said that Alberta

00:10:43.960 Health Services continues to provide other organ and tissue donation and transplant services.

00:10:49.280 Sean Delaney has had two transplants and has even spent time on dialysis. He told Global News,

00:10:55.220 the news that patients will have to wait longer is tough to take. He said, quote,

00:10:59.760 it can be very emotionally draining. It's a bit of a roller coaster to be waiting and wondering,

00:11:04.140 do I have a donor? Do I not have a donor? Speaking about his friends on the list, Delaney said, quote,

00:11:09.660 it's going to be tough for them to know that they're on hold for six months because this kidney paired

00:11:14.200 program only runs three times a year. It's tough on the donor as well because they have to put their

00:11:19.700 life career on hold. Okay guys, and before you sign off, I have my exciting announcement, which I

00:11:25.340 promised you at the beginning of the show. Beginning in February, we are going to be moving the show up to

00:11:30.360 twice a week. I'm going to be doing an interview style show midweek on Wednesdays and then on

00:11:35.700 Saturday, we will keep to this show the regular format, which is really just a breakdown of the

00:11:40.420 news of the week for those of you who want to catch up super quickly. So I am super pumped to be

00:11:44.820 bringing you that beginning in February. That's all I have time for today. Thank you so much for

00:11:48.600 tuning in. As always, if you're able to support our work, you can do that over at donate.tnc.news.

00:11:53.920 And hey, I made it through the show without my ceiling caving in, so that's great. But I guess I

00:11:58.280 have to take care of that this weekend, which isn't very fun. I hope you all have better plans

00:12:02.560 than me planned for the weekend. I'll see you guys next week and God bless.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - January 20, 2024

Notley steps down as Alberta NDP leader

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