The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - September 14, 2024


Smith takes on Quebec separatists

Topics
Alberta-Quebec exchange Edmonton Oilers jersey ads controversy Johnny Goudreau memorial Calgary water crisis
Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux
Mentioned
Johnny Goudreau Danielle Smith Rachel Parker Devin Drieschen Yves-Francois Blanchet Meredith Goudreau Chris Lysak Gord McGill Coutts John Matthew Goudreau Anthony Olenek Connor McDavid Jagmeet Singh Calgary Trail Wayne Gretzky Jackie Redman Johnny Hockey Jason Karp Terry Moran and 5 more
Alberta pulls funding for THIS “multibillion-dollar boondoggle” Can Alberta handle Trudeau’s mass immigration policies？

Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

158.56

Word count

2,722

Sentence count

156

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

6

sentences flagged


Summary

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

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

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Quebec Premier Yves-François Blanchet have been exchanging blows throughout the week.
00:00:07.360 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.
00:00:15.340 She warned that if they do, an election should be called immediately.
00:00:18.900 I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your new host of the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:30.000 If you were expecting Rachel Parker, you can catch her at The Rachel Parker Show.
00:00:36.340 I hope that you don't find me replacing her on this show as too much of a detriment.
00:00:40.380 You may know me from my previous work elsewhere with True North.
00:00:43.000 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.
00:00:51.140 I also write articles for True North, and chances are, if you've ever read an article about Alberta, that I am the author.
00:00:57.240 Let's get back into that Alberta-Quebec exchange.
00:01:00.000 Blanchet said that when he saw Smith's post, he found it so funny that he shared it himself.
00:01:04.580 He suggested that Smith thinks the Bloc is serving Quebec better than the Conservatives are serving Alberta.
00:01:10.360 But instead of being just not satisfied with the job made by the Conservatives sent by Alberta to Ottawa,
00:01:22.720 compared to what the Bloc Québécois does for Quebecers,
00:01:27.180 maybe all regions of Canada should just do the same.
00:01:33.840 And if she's interested in knowing more about the way we did it,
00:01:39.160 because, obvious, she seems to believe that Quebec is better served by the Bloc than she is by the Conservatives,
00:01:47.140 I will be very glad to do it.
00:01:50.580 Smith responded once more.
00:01:52.060 She said that she didn't need lessons from Quebec, as the province's record speaks for itself.
00:01:57.580 She added that Albertans object to the Bloc's plan to leverage the Liberals to advance its own separatist and socialist agenda,
00:02:04.820 all the while blocking Alberta and even Quebec's natural resources.
00:02:08.440 Smith said, quote,
00:02:09.640 The back and forth follows NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's announcement that he would be ending his coalition agreement with the Liberals.
00:02:27.680 A majority threshold in Canada consists of 170 out of 338 seats in Parliament.
00:02:34.880 The Liberals currently have 154.
00:02:37.760 The NDP have 24 seats, meaning those two parties together can pass any vote they want.
00:02:45.140 However, the Bloc Québécois also have 32 seats,
00:02:48.240 meaning that even if the NDP-Liberal coalition comes to an end,
00:02:53.000 the Bloc Québécois could take the NDP's place in propping up this Liberal government.
00:02:58.280 An election is triggered if the government loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons.
00:03:03.160 Confidence votes can occur on key issues,
00:03:05.780 such as budget bills or specific bills calling for confidence.
00:03:09.600 A judge sentenced the remaining Coutts protesters to over six years each on Monday.
00:03:14.000 The two remaining members of the Coutts Four had spent over 900 days in remand awaiting trial.
00:03:19.660 Two of the initial four members, Chris Lysak and Jerry Morin,
00:03:23.200 accepted a plea deal on lesser charges in February.
00:03:26.340 The conspiracy to commit murder charges were dropped and the two men were released.
00:03:31.020 Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place,
00:03:37.160 and Morin was sentenced to three and a half years for conspiracy to traffic firearms.
00:03:41.660 Both sentences amounted to time served awaiting trial for the two men.
00:03:46.140 Olenek and Carbert both had conspiracy to commit murder charges dropped earlier this week before this recent ruling,
00:03:52.640 but Crown prosecutors are appealing.
00:03:55.140 Monday's ruling resulted in Chris Carbert being sentenced to six and a half years for mischief and obstruction,
00:04:00.940 and Anthony Olenek being sentenced to six years for the same charges and possessing an explosive weapon.
00:04:06.440 However, after accounting for time served, the remaining sentences are brought down to about two years each.
00:04:13.300 Both will also be subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition and have to submit their DNA to a registry.
00:04:20.020 Opinions of the sentencing varied online, with some commentators, including Carbert's mother,
00:04:26.120 doubting the soundness of the sentence.
00:04:28.280 Gord McGill, a writer and trucker who commented on the Coutts trials in the past,
00:04:34.140 said that the judge's ruling obliged the Crown and spent much of the time
00:04:37.980 re-litigating charges for which the two men were found not guilty.
00:04:43.300 Carbert's mother agreed with McGill's take.
00:04:45.500 To me, it just shows how our justice system isn't very just.
00:04:51.660 And I don't feel that the judge based his decisions on actual facts.
00:04:59.040 I also feel that he based some of it on the charge that they were acquitted from.
00:05:04.800 Other Canadians noted their disbelief at Canada's lenient jailing procedures in non-politicized trials.
00:05:11.420 As people are charged and released the next day, only to be charged again the following day,
00:05:17.020 a cycle that's been seeming to repeat itself with this catch-and-release policy.
00:05:21.080 Every day in this country, we have politicians and senior bureaucrats committing crimes that are way worse than mischief,
00:05:27.000 but get away with it.
00:05:28.520 Sad day for Canada, said Marty up north, a well-known Albertan commentator on X.
00:05:34.620 The Alberta government is said to be releasing new guidelines on photo radar in December.
00:05:38.840 CTV News obtained a copy of the guidelines which listed the following policy changes.
00:05:44.260 Banning automated traffic enforcement, photo radar, on provincial highways and numbered highways and roads that connect with provincial highways.
00:05:51.860 Restricting automated traffic enforcement to playground, school, and construction zones.
00:05:57.280 And eliminating speeding enforcement by intersection safety devices at intersections.
00:06:03.140 This feels like a promise that has been looming in Alberta for some time now.
00:06:07.200 As I'm sure many of my fellow big city Albertans can attest to,
00:06:12.120 I've been frustrated with photo radar for, well, most of my life.
00:06:17.000 Especially considering there are some data suggesting that photo radar does little to nothing to actually improve road safety.
00:06:22.760 Because obviously it makes drivers more nervous, but it also does make some drivers drive slower,
00:06:27.560 and I guess those balance each other out.
00:06:29.180 For example, a 27 study by Jason Garipi titled,
00:06:34.600 Picture This, Mobile Photo Radar in Its Efficacy on Traffic Safety,
00:06:39.560 concluded that, quote,
00:06:40.900 There is no statistical evidence between the presence and absence of photo radar
00:06:45.140 and the frequency of traffic collisions every month.
00:06:48.280 Also, something that always irked me is that small towns in Alberta seem to have already outlawed photo radar
00:06:53.360 because I guess their populace generally has more influence on city council
00:06:57.980 than, say, the population of a big city like Edmonton or Calgary.
00:07:02.080 Obviously the same can't be said for Edmonton,
00:07:04.460 but I do look forward to roads like the Anthony Hende,
00:07:07.100 the Yellowhead, the White Mud, Calgary Trail, and the list goes on.
00:07:10.600 They will no longer have photo radar.
00:07:12.300 In Alberta, photo radar generated $171 million in 2022-23.
00:07:18.360 The revenue from traffic fines are split between governments,
00:07:22.040 so that means that 40% goes to the province and 60% to the municipality.
00:07:27.120 While some councillors have expressed opposition because they believe that photo radar makes the roads safer,
00:07:32.700 Alberta has previously called photo radar, quote,
00:07:35.320 cash cow, 0.90
00:07:36.580 and Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Drieschen
00:07:40.260 previously announced photo radar restrictions on ring roads near the end of 2023.
00:07:46.320 Alberta has the highest usage of photo radar in Canada,
00:07:49.160 and these changes will finally eliminate the cash cow that affects so many Albertans.
00:07:53.980 Photo radar must only be used to improve traffic safety,
00:07:57.120 and with these changes,
00:07:58.500 municipalities will no longer be able to issue thousands of speeding tickets
00:08:01.860 simply to generate revenue, said Drieschen.
00:08:04.920 At the time, he said that more changes were to come after they consulted municipalities,
00:08:10.520 which they estimated would end December 1st, 2024.
00:08:13.760 And surprise, surprise,
00:08:14.880 these changes and recommendations are slotted to come in December.
00:08:18.480 So Drieschen and the Alberta government are following through on their word.
00:08:21.600 All right, people, now for the much-anticipated sports section.
00:08:24.140 And surprisingly, we actually have two sports stories back-to-back.
00:08:27.200 I didn't even really expect to have one on this first week,
00:08:29.900 but yes, we have two.
00:08:30.760 So the Edmonton Oilers announced their, quote,
00:08:34.480 jersey partner on Monday,
00:08:36.420 meaning this upcoming season, their jerseys will have advertisements.
00:08:40.620 The initial post released by Edmonton on Monday was just a video
00:08:43.380 showcasing their jersey partner,
00:08:45.580 but it didn't really explicitly say what was happening,
00:08:48.280 so it didn't get ratioed that hard.
00:08:50.440 But the same cannot be said for a post that they issued a few minutes later
00:08:54.040 with a press release explicitly describing the changes.
00:08:57.960 And if you thought jersey advertisements were bad enough,
00:09:00.300 it gets worse.
00:09:01.880 While the home jerseys will feature a Play Alberta logo on them,
00:09:05.580 the helmets will also have a Game Sense advertisement on them
00:09:08.500 during every single home game.
00:09:10.760 I scrolled through every single comment on the second post
00:09:13.180 and it was more or less impossible to find a positive one.
00:09:16.720 Most replies complained about the advertising,
00:09:18.960 especially with them being related to gambling, 0.98
00:09:21.760 and contained vulgar language like trash, disgusting, and gross. 0.94
00:09:26.080 I'm really not sure what caused the shift for the Oilers. 0.90
00:09:29.900 They were previously celebrated during the 2022-23 season
00:09:33.500 when they were one of the few teams to say that they wouldn't have advertisements on their jerseys.
00:09:38.400 This may be the change here that PlayAlberta.ca
00:09:40.960 generated $235 million in net sales last year,
00:09:45.140 which was a $42 million increase from 2022-23.
00:09:49.240 And this contributed to the $1.5 billion in total gaming revenue
00:09:53.960 funneled into Alberta's general revenue fund.
00:09:57.120 Even before gambling ads flooded arenas appearing virtually on boards
00:10:01.120 and on the ice during games and all across city signage,
00:10:04.460 a January 2023 Ipsos poll revealed that nearly half of Canadians
00:10:09.380 believed gambling ads were out of control.
00:10:11.940 Nearly 48% of Canadians felt that the volume of gambling advertisements
00:10:15.980 was excessive and should be reduced.
00:10:18.360 Additionally, 63% supported limiting the amount or placement of ads,
00:10:23.460 which have since essentially become unavoidable.
00:10:25.880 While the Oilers had previously avoided ads,
00:10:28.240 the greatest player right now and the greatest player of all time,
00:10:32.000 Connor McDavid and Wayne Gretzky,
00:10:33.580 appeared collaboratively in a Bet MGM commercial promoting sports gambling.
00:10:38.820 Look, as an avid hockey fan myself,
00:10:40.840 many of my fondest memories growing up were watching sports with my family.
00:10:45.620 I can only imagine the children now that are bombarded with these sport gambling ads.
00:10:50.660 I'm curious, given the money these companies are making for the leagues,
00:10:54.620 whether we'll ever be able to tone it down.
00:10:57.200 Sticking with hockey, another hockey story and development
00:11:00.440 surrounding Johnny Goudreau came to light this week.
00:11:03.960 For those who don't know,
00:11:05.440 former Calgary Flames forward Johnny Goudreau and his brother
00:11:08.360 were both killed by an alleged drunk driver on August 28th.
00:11:11.900 The two were in New Jersey,
00:11:13.620 set to be groomsmen at their sister's wedding the very next day.
00:11:18.280 They were riding their bikes when both of the brothers were struck by a jeep driver,
00:11:23.240 who allegedly was trying to pass another vehicle and they were both pronounced dead at the scene.
00:11:28.200 At the brothers' memorial on Monday,
00:11:30.960 Meredith Goudreau, Johnny's wife,
00:11:32.880 revealed that she is nine weeks pregnant with her and her late husband's third child.
00:11:37.160 John and I had the best six months as a family of four.
00:11:41.800 These will forever be the best six months of my life.
00:11:45.560 There's specifically one week that I will cherish forever
00:11:48.560 and will be my favorite week of my life out of those six months.
00:11:55.200 We're actually a family of five.
00:11:58.200 I'm in my ninth week of pregnancy with our third baby.
00:12:00.940 A total surprise, but again, John was beaming and so excited.
00:12:07.400 The post-to-ex of this announcement has already garnered over 1 million views
00:12:11.080 and the comments are flooded with support.
00:12:13.480 Good luck reading through them without teary eyes.
00:12:16.520 Aside from the announcement of the child,
00:12:18.260 there has been an outpour of support across the country.
00:12:21.760 At a recent WWE event in Calgary,
00:12:24.260 they gave the Goudreau brothers a shout out
00:12:26.280 as fans were seeing sporting jerseys throughout the arena.
00:12:30.940 That number 13 jersey around town.
00:12:34.100 Today, Johnny and his brother were laid to rest
00:12:36.620 on a day when this community continues to remember him.
00:12:40.380 Jackie Redman has more.
00:12:46.220 Tess, thank you.
00:12:47.280 I'm outside the Saddle Dome where a very large display of love
00:12:50.740 to honor the memory of Johnny and Matthew Goudreau
00:12:53.480 continues to grow.
00:12:55.020 As fans arrive here tonight,
00:12:57.200 they walked by dozens of number 13 jerseys,
00:13:00.940 love letters from fans,
00:13:02.700 and even some of Johnny's favorite snacks.
00:13:06.520 Johnny Hockey, as we lovingly refer to him in the hockey world,
00:13:10.420 spent the better part of a decade electrifying hockey fans
00:13:13.580 in this very arena.
00:13:16.160 And he was a special type of player.
00:13:18.220 The type of player that got people out of their seats
00:13:21.080 and onto their feet the second the puck was on his stick.
00:13:25.000 I mean, he was magical to watch.
00:13:28.000 Now we're going to get into the comment roundup portion of the show,
00:13:31.440 which I know Rachel started,
00:13:32.580 but as a fan of the show myself,
00:13:34.400 I always loved watching
00:13:35.600 and I really like the connection it builds with fans.
00:13:37.860 So I'm going to go through a few comments from last week
00:13:40.540 when Rachel was hosting the show.
00:13:41.760 Obviously, it wasn't me,
00:13:42.620 but still I read through all your comments
00:13:44.180 and I'll read some now.
00:13:45.920 So the first comment featured is from Leona369
00:13:48.580 and it says,
00:13:49.220 I really like Isaac as well.
00:14:17.320 So now I just have to add another show to my list.
00:14:20.160 Awesome.
00:14:20.800 Thanks, Leona.
00:14:21.520 Yeah, it really means a lot that you showed me out there.
00:14:24.120 So I really, really appreciate that.
00:14:25.560 This one from MikeCortese931.
00:14:28.080 He said,
00:14:28.520 Here's an idea.
00:14:29.940 Let's take the money the city had aside for the green line
00:14:32.760 and reallocate it to a new water supply for the city,
00:14:35.960 considering we're still under a water ban
00:14:37.800 due to a total incompetence at the city level.
00:14:40.920 Might be a good idea to fire everyone first,
00:14:42.980 then give it to a private company to complete.
00:14:45.960 Look, Mike, you're right.
00:14:46.920 Generally, private industry can do things more effective
00:14:50.640 than the public sphere.
00:14:52.820 And I don't know how long Calgary's been in this water crisis.
00:14:56.940 It seems like it's been months now, 0.94
00:14:58.320 but this is ridiculous. 0.93
00:14:59.700 I can't believe it's still going on. 0.91
00:15:01.580 And for all the residents of Calgary,
00:15:03.340 I really hope that you guys get out of this pretty quick.
00:15:06.540 Then the last comment here,
00:15:07.740 and sort of on Calgary as well,
00:15:09.380 this from BrianWing2326.
00:15:11.260 He said,
00:15:11.660 Gondek had better start focusing on Calgary's water supply
00:15:15.380 rather than wasting so much money elsewhere
00:15:17.460 that pipe needs to be replaced,
00:15:19.580 not patched up long enough for it just to break again.
00:15:23.020 Nenshi ignored our infrastructure in favor of vanity projects,
00:15:26.460 spending huge amounts of money on things that were unnecessary.
00:15:29.800 Keep that in mind while he looks for your provincial vote.
00:15:32.360 So, Brian, I decided to shout that out
00:15:34.460 because I really like the mention of Nenshi.
00:15:40.220 He's running for provincial politics
00:15:42.040 as if Calgarians haven't forgotten the kind of mayor he was.
00:15:45.160 And I remember his approval ratings were
00:15:46.840 among the worst I've ever seen.
00:15:49.740 So just going to do a quick outro here.
00:15:51.360 Just wanted to thank everyone again
00:15:52.900 for wishing Rachel good luck on our new show,
00:15:55.700 The Rachel Parker Show.
00:15:56.640 I'm sure she'll do amazing. 0.99
00:15:57.780 And try not to be too critical of me.
00:16:00.800 This is my first time,
00:16:02.040 and Rachel had years of experience.
00:16:04.060 I hope to one day be able to live up
00:16:05.940 to her revered reputation.
00:16:09.580 I didn't get much sleep last night,
00:16:11.060 which generally happens
00:16:12.580 when I have a stressful situation the next day.
00:16:16.400 And then, worse yet,
00:16:17.220 I wake up to my roof leaking.
00:16:19.660 Yes, my roof leaking in my house today.
00:16:22.120 So that really helped things move along swiftly here.
00:16:25.720 And I've been dealing with that all day,
00:16:26.940 so you can imagine.
00:16:28.140 If you don't recognize me from before,
00:16:29.980 it might be because I'm not wearing a three-piece suit
00:16:31.860 and I shaved my mustache.
00:16:33.120 But if you remember someone coming on talk shows before
00:16:36.440 with a mustache and wearing a suit,
00:16:37.800 yes, that was me.
00:16:39.240 I know I look much different now,
00:16:40.680 so my mom will be happy.
00:16:43.320 She really hated that mustache.
00:16:44.560 She's very happy.
00:16:58.480 She'll look at me this now.