Smith takes on Quebec separatists
Episode Stats
Words per minute
158.55695
Harmful content
Misogyny
2
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Summary
Alexis Lamoureux, host of the Alberta Roundup, joins me to talk about the latest in the ongoing back and forth between the Alberta and Quebec governments, and the recent sentencing of four members of the so-called Coutts Four.
Transcript
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Quebec Premier Yves-François Blanchet have been exchanging blows throughout the week.
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Smith said that the Liberals have no mandate to bargain with Quebec separatists at the expense of Alberta, the West, and the rest of Canada.
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She warned that if they do, an election should be called immediately.
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I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your new host of the Alberta Roundup.
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If you were expecting Rachel Parker, you can catch her at The Rachel Parker Show.
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I hope that you don't find me replacing her on this show as too much of a detriment.
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You may know me from my previous work elsewhere with True North.
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I've appeared on this show a few times as a guest, and also I have the odd appearance on Off the Record and normally a bi-weekly appearance on The Daily Brief.
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I also write articles for True North, and chances are, if you've ever read an article about Alberta, that I am the author.
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Let's get back into that Alberta-Quebec exchange.
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Blanchet said that when he saw Smith's post, he found it so funny that he shared it himself.
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He suggested that Smith thinks the Bloc is serving Quebec better than the Conservatives are serving Alberta.
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But instead of being just not satisfied with the job made by the Conservatives sent by Alberta to Ottawa,
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compared to what the Bloc Québécois does for Quebecers,
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maybe all regions of Canada should just do the same.
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And if she's interested in knowing more about the way we did it,
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because, obvious, she seems to believe that Quebec is better served by the Bloc than she is by the Conservatives,
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She said that she didn't need lessons from Quebec, as the province's record speaks for itself.
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She added that Albertans object to the Bloc's plan to leverage the Liberals to advance its own separatist and socialist agenda,
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all the while blocking Alberta and even Quebec's natural resources.
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The back and forth follows NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's announcement that he would be ending his coalition agreement with the Liberals.
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A majority threshold in Canada consists of 170 out of 338 seats in Parliament.
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The NDP have 24 seats, meaning those two parties together can pass any vote they want.
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However, the Bloc Québécois also have 32 seats,
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meaning that even if the NDP-Liberal coalition comes to an end,
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the Bloc Québécois could take the NDP's place in propping up this Liberal government.
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An election is triggered if the government loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons.
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such as budget bills or specific bills calling for confidence.
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A judge sentenced the remaining Coutts protesters to over six years each on Monday.
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The two remaining members of the Coutts Four had spent over 900 days in remand awaiting trial.
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Two of the initial four members, Chris Lysak and Jerry Morin,
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accepted a plea deal on lesser charges in February.
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The conspiracy to commit murder charges were dropped and the two men were released.
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Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place,
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and Morin was sentenced to three and a half years for conspiracy to traffic firearms.
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Both sentences amounted to time served awaiting trial for the two men.
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Olenek and Carbert both had conspiracy to commit murder charges dropped earlier this week before this recent ruling,
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Monday's ruling resulted in Chris Carbert being sentenced to six and a half years for mischief and obstruction,
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and Anthony Olenek being sentenced to six years for the same charges and possessing an explosive weapon.
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However, after accounting for time served, the remaining sentences are brought down to about two years each.
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Both will also be subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition and have to submit their DNA to a registry.
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Opinions of the sentencing varied online, with some commentators, including Carbert's mother,
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Gord McGill, a writer and trucker who commented on the Coutts trials in the past,
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said that the judge's ruling obliged the Crown and spent much of the time
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re-litigating charges for which the two men were found not guilty.
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To me, it just shows how our justice system isn't very just.
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And I don't feel that the judge based his decisions on actual facts.
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I also feel that he based some of it on the charge that they were acquitted from.
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Other Canadians noted their disbelief at Canada's lenient jailing procedures in non-politicized trials.
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As people are charged and released the next day, only to be charged again the following day,
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a cycle that's been seeming to repeat itself with this catch-and-release policy.
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Every day in this country, we have politicians and senior bureaucrats committing crimes that are way worse than mischief,
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Sad day for Canada, said Marty up north, a well-known Albertan commentator on X.
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The Alberta government is said to be releasing new guidelines on photo radar in December.
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CTV News obtained a copy of the guidelines which listed the following policy changes.
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Banning automated traffic enforcement, photo radar, on provincial highways and numbered highways and roads that connect with provincial highways.
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Restricting automated traffic enforcement to playground, school, and construction zones.
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And eliminating speeding enforcement by intersection safety devices at intersections.
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This feels like a promise that has been looming in Alberta for some time now.
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As I'm sure many of my fellow big city Albertans can attest to,
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I've been frustrated with photo radar for, well, most of my life.
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Especially considering there are some data suggesting that photo radar does little to nothing to actually improve road safety.
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Because obviously it makes drivers more nervous, but it also does make some drivers drive slower,
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For example, a 27 study by Jason Garipi titled,
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Picture This, Mobile Photo Radar in Its Efficacy on Traffic Safety,
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There is no statistical evidence between the presence and absence of photo radar
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and the frequency of traffic collisions every month.
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Also, something that always irked me is that small towns in Alberta seem to have already outlawed photo radar
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because I guess their populace generally has more influence on city council
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than, say, the population of a big city like Edmonton or Calgary.
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but I do look forward to roads like the Anthony Hende,
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the Yellowhead, the White Mud, Calgary Trail, and the list goes on.
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In Alberta, photo radar generated $171 million in 2022-23.
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The revenue from traffic fines are split between governments,
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so that means that 40% goes to the province and 60% to the municipality.
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While some councillors have expressed opposition because they believe that photo radar makes the roads safer,
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Alberta has previously called photo radar, quote,
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and Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Drieschen
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previously announced photo radar restrictions on ring roads near the end of 2023.
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Alberta has the highest usage of photo radar in Canada,
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and these changes will finally eliminate the cash cow that affects so many Albertans.
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Photo radar must only be used to improve traffic safety,
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municipalities will no longer be able to issue thousands of speeding tickets
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At the time, he said that more changes were to come after they consulted municipalities,
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which they estimated would end December 1st, 2024.
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these changes and recommendations are slotted to come in December.
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So Drieschen and the Alberta government are following through on their word.
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All right, people, now for the much-anticipated sports section.
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And surprisingly, we actually have two sports stories back-to-back.
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I didn't even really expect to have one on this first week,
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meaning this upcoming season, their jerseys will have advertisements.
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The initial post released by Edmonton on Monday was just a video
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but it didn't really explicitly say what was happening,
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But the same cannot be said for a post that they issued a few minutes later
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with a press release explicitly describing the changes.
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And if you thought jersey advertisements were bad enough,
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While the home jerseys will feature a Play Alberta logo on them,
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the helmets will also have a Game Sense advertisement on them
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I scrolled through every single comment on the second post
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and it was more or less impossible to find a positive one.
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especially with them being related to gambling,
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and contained vulgar language like trash, disgusting, and gross.
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I'm really not sure what caused the shift for the Oilers.
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They were previously celebrated during the 2022-23 season
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when they were one of the few teams to say that they wouldn't have advertisements on their jerseys.
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This may be the change here that PlayAlberta.ca
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And this contributed to the $1.5 billion in total gaming revenue
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Even before gambling ads flooded arenas appearing virtually on boards
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and on the ice during games and all across city signage,
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a January 2023 Ipsos poll revealed that nearly half of Canadians
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Nearly 48% of Canadians felt that the volume of gambling advertisements
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Additionally, 63% supported limiting the amount or placement of ads,
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which have since essentially become unavoidable.
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the greatest player right now and the greatest player of all time,
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appeared collaboratively in a Bet MGM commercial promoting sports gambling.
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many of my fondest memories growing up were watching sports with my family.
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I can only imagine the children now that are bombarded with these sport gambling ads.
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I'm curious, given the money these companies are making for the leagues,
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Sticking with hockey, another hockey story and development
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surrounding Johnny Goudreau came to light this week.
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former Calgary Flames forward Johnny Goudreau and his brother
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were both killed by an alleged drunk driver on August 28th.
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set to be groomsmen at their sister's wedding the very next day.
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They were riding their bikes when both of the brothers were struck by a jeep driver,
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who allegedly was trying to pass another vehicle and they were both pronounced dead at the scene.
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revealed that she is nine weeks pregnant with her and her late husband's third child.
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John and I had the best six months as a family of four.
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These will forever be the best six months of my life.
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There's specifically one week that I will cherish forever
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and will be my favorite week of my life out of those six months.
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I'm in my ninth week of pregnancy with our third baby.
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A total surprise, but again, John was beaming and so excited.
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The post-to-ex of this announcement has already garnered over 1 million views
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Good luck reading through them without teary eyes.
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there has been an outpour of support across the country.
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as fans were seeing sporting jerseys throughout the arena.
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Today, Johnny and his brother were laid to rest
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on a day when this community continues to remember him.
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I'm outside the Saddle Dome where a very large display of love
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to honor the memory of Johnny and Matthew Goudreau
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Johnny Hockey, as we lovingly refer to him in the hockey world,
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spent the better part of a decade electrifying hockey fans
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The type of player that got people out of their seats
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and onto their feet the second the puck was on his stick.
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Now we're going to get into the comment roundup portion of the show,
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and I really like the connection it builds with fans.
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So I'm going to go through a few comments from last week
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So now I just have to add another show to my list.
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Yeah, it really means a lot that you showed me out there.
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Let's take the money the city had aside for the green line
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and reallocate it to a new water supply for the city,
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Generally, private industry can do things more effective
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And I don't know how long Calgary's been in this water crisis.
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I really hope that you guys get out of this pretty quick.
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Gondek had better start focusing on Calgary's water supply
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not patched up long enough for it just to break again.
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Nenshi ignored our infrastructure in favor of vanity projects,
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spending huge amounts of money on things that were unnecessary.
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Keep that in mind while he looks for your provincial vote.
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as if Calgarians haven't forgotten the kind of mayor he was.
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when I have a stressful situation the next day.
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So that really helped things move along swiftly here.
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it might be because I'm not wearing a three-piece suit
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But if you remember someone coming on talk shows before