The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - January 28, 2023


Smith calls out the CBC

Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux
Mentioned
Danielle Smith Justin Trudeau Demetrius Nicolaitis Rachel Emanuel Chuck Thompson Andrew Stanton Kate McKinnon Nancy Schaefer Daveed Diggs User Aslan COVID-19 Oscar
Smith takes on the WEF Hinshaw hired in British Columbia

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

162.3

Word count

1,993

Sentence count

120

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

This week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has called the CBC's reporting "defamatory" and asked them to retract it and apologize. We also take a look at the Premier's proposal for a Sustainable Jobs Act to replace Trudeau's Just Transition proposal, the Alberta government has a plan to increase rural healthcare physicians, and I have an exciting announcement about the Freedom Convoy!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:00:26.880 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:28.800 I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:30.400 I hope that you guys had a great week so far.
00:00:32.320 We're going to style the show a little differently today because I want to spend a lot of time talking about one story.
00:00:37.760 But before we get into that, here's today's topics.
00:00:40.320 Daniel Smith has called the CBC's reporting defamatory and asked them to retract it and apologize.
00:00:46.960 We're also going to be taking a look at the Premier's proposal for a Sustainable Jobs Act to replace Trudeau's just transition proposal.
00:00:54.880 The Alberta government has a plan to increase rural healthcare physicians.
00:00:59.600 And I have an exciting announcement about the Freedom Convoy.
00:01:03.600 All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:01:07.360 Okay guys, let's start with the biggest story in Alberta this week.
00:01:10.080 I'm sure you guys have already seen some of this online.
00:01:12.080 I want to dive into the details with you here now.
00:01:15.040 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling a CBC News article which alleged that staff in her office emailed Crown prosecutors challenging their assessment of the Coutts border blockade cases defamatory.
00:01:27.200 And she's asked CBC to retract the story and issue an apology.
00:01:32.160 We talked about the story a little bit last week in which CBC News relied on anonymous sources to make their claims.
00:01:38.640 After publishing the story, CBC issued an update saying the reporters who had written the story had not seen the emails in question.
00:01:45.280 In response to the story last week, Smith said she had no knowledge of such emails, but had the Civil Service undergo a review of emails received and sent to Crown prosecutors anyways.
00:01:55.920 On Monday, that review found no evidence of emails sent between Alberta Premier Daniel Smith's office and Crown prosecutors.
00:02:03.440 CBC reported that staff in Smith's office sent those emails in the fall.
00:02:07.680 Again, they did not name their sources out of fear that those sources could lose their jobs.
00:02:11.900 In a statement released this week, Smith called the allegations, quote, baseless.
00:02:15.520 She said, quote,
00:02:16.900 The Premier calls on the CBC to retract its outrageous story, and further, that the CBC and the official opposition apologize to the Premier, Premier's office staff, Alberta Crown prosecutors, and those in the Alberta Public Service, for the damage caused to their reputations and that of Alberta's justice system.
00:02:35.960 In an email to me earlier this week, CBC head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said the CBC stands by its reporting and as such have no intention of retracting it.
00:02:46.340 He said, quote,
00:02:47.480 As is our practice, we gave the Premier and her office an opportunity to react, and we included that response prominently in the story, including the sub-headline.
00:02:56.540 The CBC also doubled down on its reporting, with another story also released on Wednesday, the same day the Premier issued that very strong statement.
00:03:04.200 In its second story, which also relied on anonymous sources, the CBC said Smith had been pressuring Tyler Shandro, Alberta's Attorney General, to drop COVID-19-related cases.
00:03:15.920 Smith has said publicly a couple times that she's asked Shandro to consider on a regular basis whether it's in the public interest to pursue charges related to COVID-19.
00:03:25.080 But she said that communication has always been appropriate and made through the proper channels.
00:03:29.400 Sources allege that those conversations went beyond consideration and veered into pressure about dropping COVID-19-related charges.
00:03:38.520 One source told the CBC, quote,
00:03:40.380 They're constantly pushing. I would interpret that as pressure.
00:03:44.340 Shandro's office denies that Smith issued direction on COVID-19-related cases.
00:03:49.320 And as I mentioned, the Premier also denied the allegations.
00:03:51.840 She said, quote,
00:03:54.160 The CBC's allegations and insinuations to the contrary are, once again, baseless.
00:03:59.960 Okay guys, so I don't normally do this, but I'm going to give a little analysis on what I think about the story, mostly because it is my industry.
00:04:06.260 So for starters, I don't think there's anything wrong with relying on anonymous sources in stories, but I think that the story is unique.
00:04:12.620 Because after the first story was written, the Civil Service, Crown Prosecutors, and Daniel Smith's office said it wasn't true.
00:04:19.320 In this specific story, because there are so many parties coming out and denying the allegations made in the story,
00:04:24.540 I think there is a burden of proof on the CBC to provide more evidence to its claims.
00:04:29.600 And nowhere in the story do they say how many sources did they speak with.
00:04:32.800 Is it one? Is it four?
00:04:34.300 CBC then did not retract its story after the review came out saying no such emails were found.
00:04:38.900 And instead, as I mentioned, they doubled down and wrote another story.
00:04:42.620 Now, I found this a bit incredulous because there are already so many doubts in the first story that they publish,
00:04:47.840 and it seemed to be lacking hard evidence.
00:04:50.260 This is where you can run into issues using anonymous sources.
00:04:53.520 And again, this is where CBC needs to show their homework and say that they've seen more evidence than just talking to people.
00:04:58.820 Because people lie.
00:05:00.020 Especially when someone is an anonymous source of the story, they're being entirely protected.
00:05:04.060 It's also worth noting that even within the government, Daniel Smith has enemies.
00:05:07.780 Even within her own party.
00:05:09.000 You guys are very familiar with the fact that the United Conservative Party only merged a couple of years ago from the Wild Rose and the Progressive Conservatives.
00:05:16.760 Of course, Daniel Smith comes from the Wild Rose side of that party.
00:05:20.160 But the Progressive Conservatives held the balance of power within the United Conservative Party and within the Alberta government for years prior.
00:05:26.860 So even within the UCP, there's factions that are vying for power.
00:05:30.380 And I think that needs to be taken under consideration when you're talking to anonymous sources, that there are going to be people who have an agenda.
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00:06:06.140 I would just close by saying that if any evidence is found to support the CBC's stories, either of them,
00:06:12.120 it's going to be a big problem for the Smith government, especially headed into an election.
00:06:16.220 She has really staked her reputation on saying the allegations are untrue at this point,
00:06:19.680 even going so far as to call the CBC's reporting defamatory.
00:06:23.480 Okay guys, moving into our next topic.
00:06:25.740 Alberta is no longer projecting a shortage of healthcare aides, and its projected shortage of nurses is halved.
00:06:31.800 That follows investments into post-secondary education to open more spaces for people hoping to study in those industries.
00:06:38.800 Speaking from Calgary this week, Advanced Education Minister Demetrius Nicolaitis said more needs to be done to encourage healthcare workers in rural areas.
00:06:46.700 He announced a $1 million project to explore the development of two regional healthcare facilities in Lethbridge and Grand Prairie.
00:06:53.120 Our two established medical schools at the U of A and the U of C will lead the planning effort to explore a new model
00:07:01.000 that will ultimately increase training of rural physicians.
00:07:06.760 This includes exploring the feasibility of delivering training through the regional health centres in Lethbridge and Grand Prairie, as I noted.
00:07:15.560 This plan would also propose and detail hands-on learning opportunities to be delivered and made available in these regional training hubs.
00:07:26.560 We know that these types of opportunities lead to greater recruitment and retention of healthcare workers.
00:07:34.560 Research shows very clearly that when students train closer to home, they are more likely to stay in that region throughout their entire careers.
00:07:48.560 Danielle Smith is proposing a sustainable jobs alternative to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Just Transition proposal,
00:07:54.980 which she said would face irrepressible opposition from Alberta.
00:07:58.060 The federal government has yet to table its Just Transition legislation, but it said it will be a priority for them this spring.
00:08:04.940 In an open letter, Smith said Alberta has reached a crossroads in its relationship with the federal government.
00:08:10.460 She wrote,
00:08:10.860 We can continue with the endless court challenges, legislation to protect jurisdictional rights, and inflammatory media coverage over our disagreements.
00:08:19.400 Or, as is my strong preference, Alberta and Ottawa can work in partnership on a plan that will signal to all Canadians
00:08:25.140 and investors from around the world that our governments have cooperatively designed a series of incentives and initiatives.
00:08:32.460 In the past, the Premier has said Just Transition is social justice terminology that's meant to phase out the coal industry.
00:08:38.800 When Trudeau uses that terminology, she says he's appealing to an extreme base.
00:08:43.400 So, in her letter, she also implored the Prime Minister to drop the name Just Transition and to call it the Sustainable Jobs Act instead.
00:08:49.680 She wrote,
00:08:50.940 The federal government has yet to respond to Smith's letter.
00:09:11.720 Okay, guys, and now I'm going to take a couple minutes to answer some of your comments from last week.
00:09:17.100 The question of the day last week was,
00:09:18.540 What did you think about Alberta Premier Daniel Smith's response to the unvaccinated woman in Alberta who has been denied an organ transplant?
00:09:25.480 She's now asking the Supreme Court to hear her case. 0.98
00:09:28.640 So, I played Daniel Smith's comments on the issue for you last week, and I'm going to take a look at some of your comments now.
00:09:33.240 User Aslan is on the move, fantastic name by the way, said,
00:09:36.100 I'm not sure Daniel answered the question about the woman's removal from the transplant list.
00:09:39.800 I think it is unconscionable that medical people would remove her just because she didn't want to participate in a gigantic trial of drug.
00:09:48.300 No one knew what adverse reactions there would be.
00:09:52.120 Karen Icon wrote,
00:09:53.280 Danielle must soft-pedal controversial issues until she is elected. Patience, everyone. 0.99
00:09:58.460 And Nancy Chivers wrote,
00:09:59.800 I think we ought to push on this woman's behalf. We don't know her, but she matters.
00:10:04.520 Okay, guys, and finally, I want to announce a big project that I've been working on for most of last year, actually.
00:10:09.040 My brother and I have been working on a documentary about the Freedom Convoy.
00:10:12.940 I was living in Ottawa at the time that it happened, and I had so much footage that I wanted to use in a productive way.
00:10:18.000 So, that is going to be released on February 16th.
00:10:20.400 We're very excited about it, and I'm going to play the trailer for you now.
00:10:26.120 It became pretty clear that these folks were not going to leave in a day or two.
00:10:30.060 I think that people were being told to be a lot more worried than the situation warranted.
00:10:35.480 In fact, it was excessively intimidating.
00:10:37.540 People were coming out and supporting this because they knew they had to.
00:10:51.100 And the potential for destruction was huge.
00:10:55.260 So, our original plan was to stay until all mandates were lifted.
00:11:04.700 The folks who lived in the downtown core were terrorists.
00:11:08.080 It was clear there was no justification.
00:11:27.340 Well, they really misjudged the moment.
00:11:29.660 I think that's going to be a big problem for the government.
00:11:33.820 It's clear that Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act as a political tool.
00:11:37.780 If you're interested in hearing more about our documentary or supporting it, you can find more information at freedomoccupation.ca.
00:11:51.560 Okay, guys, that's all I have for you today.
00:11:53.280 Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:11:54.920 Have a great week, and God bless.
00:11:56.100 Thank you.
00:12:12.180 Thank you.