The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - April 13, 2024


Smith pushes back against the feds


Episode Stats

Length

14 minutes

Words per Minute

173.08928

Word Count

2,424

Sentence Count

150

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made new strides in pushing back a federal government
00:00:04.800 intent on controlling all aspects of Canadian policy with no regard to jurisdiction. This week
00:00:11.000 Premier Smith proposed new legislation which would ensure her government sign off before Trudeau
00:00:16.740 inks deals with municipalities. And in doing so, the Premier revealed that she's taking her lead
00:00:22.080 from another Canadian province. A province that has its own pension plan, controls its own
00:00:27.020 immigration, and even refers to itself as a society distinct from the rest of English Canada.
00:00:33.000 Quebec is no stranger to playing tough with the federal government. And while Quebec and Alberta
00:00:37.700 are rarely seen as allies, I think most of us here in Western Canada have some begrudging respect for
00:00:43.080 French Canadians who seem to have no problem getting what they want from Ottawa. But let's not forget,
00:00:49.020 Quebec has long utilized the threat of separation to get a fair deal from the federal government.
00:00:53.920 So sure, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing hardball now, but we haven't even played our
00:01:00.300 royal flesh. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.
00:01:13.640 Okay guys, taking a look at our first story here. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is following Quebec's
00:01:20.380 lead as she proposed new legislation this week, which would force the federal government to receive
00:01:25.820 the Alberta government sign off on deals it hopes to strike with municipalities. The proposed legislation
00:01:31.560 is titled the Provincial Priorities Act and seeks to enforce section 92 of the constitution, which states
00:01:38.240 that municipalities fall under the jurisdiction of the provinces, not the federal government. Here's what
00:01:43.820 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had to say about it this week, Wednesday.
00:01:46.700 Those federal dollars come with ideological strings attached, offering funding on its own terms,
00:01:52.780 bypassing the provinces, and forcing municipalities to dance to Ottawa's tune, like funding for so-called
00:01:59.320 safe supply, or electric buses that don't work. Well, what we really need is envelope funding to expand
00:02:05.860 existing provincial programs that already exist in these areas. Funding for what Alberta's priorities
00:02:12.720 are that we need. Federal interference, we don't. Ottawa should be staying in its own lane.
00:02:18.060 The way we see it, federal and provincial funding should be spent collaboratively, not for, not at cross
00:02:23.640 purposes. And it should be spent on Alberta's priorities and not on Ottawa's, because after all, a lot of that
00:02:29.760 money came from hard-working Alberta taxpayers in the first place.
00:02:33.180 The Premier also revealed that other provinces have complained about Ottawa stepping over their jurisdiction
00:02:37.660 to reach municipalities when she was speaking with all other premiers at the Council of the Federation
00:02:42.920 in Nova Scotia in November 2023. She said it was at that meeting that the federal Quebec minister
00:02:48.760 gave the other provinces a copy of Quebec legislation, the same legislation which Premier Smith has now used
00:02:54.160 to create the Provincial Priorities Act. And while addressing the Provincial Priorities Act at the
00:02:58.240 Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference on Friday, Premier Smith also took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
00:03:03.940 Take a listen. When you see in Alberta that we are going to take a posture, more like Quebec, which is no thank you,
00:03:10.300 we don't need your policy advice on school lunch programs, on pharma care, on dental care,
00:03:16.220 that is, just give us the money and trust that we'll be able to deliver on this. That's the approach that
00:03:22.980 we're going to take and we're going to be pretty vocal about doing so and I hope to see some of the other
00:03:27.640 premiers do it. Also at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference, my colleague Andrew Lawton
00:03:32.040 had the chance to ask Premier Smith why she hasn't asked the Provincial Carbon Tax. We know that the
00:03:37.360 Federal Carbon Tax has increased once again and gas is more expensive than ever. Premier Smith has been
00:03:42.160 facing some criticism for not cancelling the Provincial Tax. Here's what she had to say about it.
00:03:46.980 So I would say that I cannot sacrifice our need to gain revenue, to build roads, to make room for them
00:03:54.740 to continue with a punitive tax that does nothing. A couple of things I'd say. The argument that they
00:04:01.060 make that it will encourage people to change behavior, they completely undermine because Stephen
00:04:06.060 Guibault admitted that the carbon tax isn't going to have an effect until 2060, which means we're all
00:04:10.860 paying punitive taxes until then and there really just aren't options. I talked to any of the automakers
00:04:17.860 and the auto dealers. If you wanted to go out and switch to an electric vehicle tomorrow to avoid
00:04:24.180 the tax, you couldn't because there aren't enough of them being produced and the infrastructure isn't
00:04:28.580 in your home to do it and the infrastructure isn't there for public charging station to do it.
00:04:32.520 Hydrogen vehicles as well. We have a hundred of them in Alberta. We've got a 5,000 car challenge,
00:04:37.700 but if you wanted to go out and buy a hydrogen zero emissions vehicle, you couldn't because they're
00:04:42.200 not producing enough of them. If you want it in my province where I think 90% of the homes are heated
00:04:47.560 with natural gas, you simply couldn't switch to a heat pump because they don't work in minus 35 and
00:04:54.120 you can't get insurance if you do without having a backup of some other type of heating. So all it
00:05:00.280 is then, if there isn't a reasonable way to switch to an equal or lower cost option, then all it is
00:05:07.160 is a punitive tax on consumers. That's the reason why they're different.
00:05:11.400 But when the Alberta government offered fuel tax relief, those issues you described were still
00:05:19.800 there and it was a recognition that life was unaffordable and unaffordability comes in layers.
00:05:23.960 There's inflation, carbon tax, fuel tax, general cost of living. So the crisis of affordability is
00:05:31.160 still there.
00:05:31.960 Well, let me say, when we brought through our relief program, our gas prices in our province
00:05:36.360 were $1.89. So our tax is 13 cents. So that would have taken it down from $1.89 down to $1.76.
00:05:46.440 And right now, today, gas prices in Alberta are $1.58. So we will continue with our program
00:05:54.200 that when oil prices go beyond $90, we'll take that tax off again. In fact, I'd love to see the
00:06:00.840 federal government do the same. Make it variable so that when the prices get up above a certain level,
00:06:05.960 we're all paying more because of that, take the tax off at that point so that you're not adding to
00:06:10.200 the problem. And I should mention that we remain, along with Saskatchewan, the second lowest in the
00:06:17.880 country in our overall price of fuel. Manitoba followed our lead, reduced the carbon tax, or took their
00:06:26.040 fuel tax off after Wab Kanu got elected. But the other provinces, I think British Columbia, who are the
00:06:31.640 poor souls from British Columbia facing $1.98?
00:06:34.360 They couldn't afford to fly here, actually. That's why there aren't more of them.
00:06:37.640 That's why. So I would say we are trying to be variable because we also have to run a balanced
00:06:43.960 budget. And that's the first promise that I made to Albertans. And that extra four cents,
00:06:49.640 a litre that we added back on just on April the 1st, that's the difference between us running a $400
00:06:55.000 million surplus or not. So when those additional revenues come in, absolutely. Our strategy is to
00:07:00.040 give the money back to Albertans. Okay, guys, moving into our next story here. A few weeks ago,
00:07:03.560 I took aim at the Canadian Junos and I was right to do so. There's very few Canadian musicians that
00:07:08.920 we can actually be proud of or want to listen to nowadays. They're all jumping over each other
00:07:13.720 in their efforts to be more woke than the person that came before them because they're not actually
00:07:17.800 talented. They're just using their politics to try to get some attention. Well, I have some good news
00:07:22.680 for all of you who are hoping to find some Canadian content that you actually like and that you're
00:07:26.680 actually ideologically aligned with. My cousin Daniel Roy has released three new tracks. You can
00:07:32.120 find them on YouTube or Spotify under Daniel Roy. He actually left Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:07:38.040 He lived in Ontario like me and he simply couldn't stomach the pandemic policies anymore. So we left
00:07:43.400 to Austin, Texas in search of some freedom. We're going to play a clip of his music for you now.
00:07:58.760 I suggest you all go give his three new tracks a listen and a subscribe and a follow on YouTube
00:08:17.640 and Spotify. As I mentioned, it is hard to find Canadian content that we like and that we can be
00:08:22.320 proud of. And when there are people who are talented and who are aligned with our views,
00:08:27.780 I think it's important that we support them. So I recommend you go give those songs a listen and let
00:08:31.620 me know what you think about them in the comments below. Okay, everyone moving into the controversy
00:08:35.780 of the week. A UCP MLA is telling Alberta NDP MLA Marlon Schmidt to seek anger management treatment
00:08:44.340 after a verbal altercation between the two resulted in the legislative assembly security service to
00:08:50.340 intervene. UCP MLA Jackie Lovely was in the members lounge on Monday following a speech on a private
00:08:56.260 member's bill on urban parks when a verbal altercation occurred between her and Schmidt. That altercation
00:09:03.140 became the subject of a lengthy point of privilege in the chamber on Tuesday. Here's government house
00:09:09.140 leader Joseph Scow speaking to that effect. When she told the member that, and I quote, you are scaring me,
00:09:16.020 he outright mocked her in an aggressive and intimidating manner. He mocked her, Mr. Speaker.
00:09:25.060 As she tried to leave, the member from Edmonton Goldbar followed her, sought her out to continue this
00:09:32.260 onslaught of harassment. In fact, a member from the legislative assembly security service had to
00:09:39.220 intervene and tell the opposition member to quote, take a walk. After Scow was finished speaking, Schmidt
00:09:46.740 rose in the chamber to offer his quote, own version end quote of the events. He said that Lovely instigated
00:09:53.700 the dispute by continuing the conversation outside the chamber. He also said he wasn't following the
00:09:59.380 female UCP MLA, but was merely headed in the same direction as her. He also offered his apology.
00:10:05.860 House Speaker Nathan Cooper called Schmidt's actions inappropriate, but said the matter was
00:10:11.140 now settled because the NDP MLA had offered his apology. Moving into what we're watching in the
00:10:15.940 weeks to come, Alberta has applied for intervener status in the parents bill of rights case currently
00:10:21.300 before the Saskatchewan court of appeal. Saskatchewan parental rights legislation requires that parents be
00:10:26.820 notified when children under the age of 16 choose to go by a different pronoun at school. The
00:10:32.340 provincial government invoked the notwithstanding clause in response to legal challenges from LGBTQ
00:10:38.180 advocacy organizations, which contested the law's compatibility with charter rights. The University of
00:10:43.620 Regina Pride Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity filed an action against the government of
00:10:48.260 Saskatchewan in August 2023. The Minister of Justice here in Alberta and in Saskatchewan filed a joint
00:10:53.780 statement saying quote, Saskatchewan and Alberta agree that the key figures in children's lives are their
00:10:59.140 parents and our provinces are both committed to supporting families and children so that they can
00:11:04.340 work through unique needs together. Notifying parents and requiring their consent before a child's name
00:11:09.460 or pronouns can be changed in schools and before classroom discussions about gender identity and other
00:11:14.340 sensitive subjects occur ensures that the parent-child relationship is respected and paramount. Of
00:11:20.020 course there's nothing controversial about that it just goes to show how far our society has fallen
00:11:25.940 that we even have to be having these conversations and of course Alberta is choosing to apply for
00:11:29.700 intervener status before they table their own parental rights legislation which is expected this fall.
00:11:35.220 I'm sure we can expect to see some challenges of that when it comes. Okay everyone moving into our weekly
00:11:41.060 comment roundup. Last week we talked about Calgary Mayor Jodi Gondek. She of course succeeded in passing
00:11:46.740 that recall but she was booed at a Calgary Flames game a little while ago and I asked you all what you
00:11:52.180 thought of that. Many of you said that a politician should not be shown respect until they show respect
00:11:57.460 to the people. Let's take a look at some of your comments. User at Granny B says, why should we show
00:12:01.780 respect for politicians who have absolutely no respect for citizens? Respect is earned. Like I said,
00:12:07.780 I saw many such comments to that effect. And user Enigma Fidelity said, wait, wait, wait. Are you
00:12:13.700 saying booing is impolite? Okay, so anybody who thinks she shouldn't be booed needs to learn what
00:12:19.140 democracy means. We the people will voice our opinion. We will be heard. If you have a problem
00:12:24.420 with the voos, did you have a problem with the convoy? I think I get one of these comments at least
00:12:28.340 every week where I present two different sides of the coin and ask you all what you think and someone says,
00:12:32.580 you think this. No, I never said I think this. I simply presented two different sides and asked
00:12:38.420 you all what you thought. I personally don't care that Jodi Gondek was booed at a Calgary Flames gate.
00:12:42.500 I think that she is anti-Canadian. This is someone who is continually raising taxes during a period when
00:12:48.260 many people are struggling to afford basic necessities. Maybe she should look at cutting
00:12:52.740 some of her own government spending. But even worse than that, this is someone who actually tried to
00:12:56.500 cancel Canada Day celebrations. So I hold no love for Jodi Gondek in my heart. I don't think she's doing a
00:13:02.260 good job. I think she should resign. And I think that's fairly obvious to people who watch my show
00:13:06.180 consistently. Okay, everyone, that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:13:10.340 As always, please don't forget to subscribe to True North so you don't miss any of our content
00:13:14.820 and like this video. If you are feeling so inclined to, you can support our work over at
00:13:20.180 donate.tnc.news. I will see you all on Wednesday. Have a great weekend. God bless.
00:13:32.260 I'll see you all on Wednesday.
00:13:34.260 Bye.
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