00:00:30.000Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:45.780I hope that you guys are having a great week so far.
00:00:48.160Apologies for my exceptionally bland background this weekend.
00:00:51.980I traveled up to Bonneville for an event, so I am at the mercy of my hotel room and there's not a lot to work with.
00:00:57.200Okay, let's take a look at what we're going to be talking about today on the Alberta Roundup.
00:01:01.440Alberta Premier Daniel Smith's office has hinted at a possible defamation suit against CBC News.
00:01:06.840The Alberta Independence Party has turfed former leader and controversial pastor Art Pulaski.
00:01:13.160And there's some new discussion on whether there will be electronic tabulators in the upcoming provincial vote.
00:01:18.840All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:01:21.460Okay guys, let's take a look at our first story here.
00:01:23.580We're going to be spending a bit of time on this, but this is not the first time this story has made it into the headlines.
00:01:29.660Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office has hinted at a possible defamation suit against CBC News,
00:01:34.760following repeated stories about contact that her office has had with justice officials regarding cases stemming from COVID-19 and the Coutts border blockade.
00:01:43.960You guys probably remember the first of these cases broke back in January.
00:01:47.480At the time, CBC News relied on anonymous sources to report that Danielle Smith's office had been in contact with Crown prosecutors regarding COVID-19
00:01:55.680and challenging their assessment of those cases.
00:01:59.580The Premier's office denied those allegations and called the story defamatory.
00:02:04.540A couple weeks later, there was another story this time that the Premier's office had been inappropriately pressuring
00:02:09.480her justice minister and her deputy about these COVID-19 cases.
00:02:13.340The Premier said, no, that is not the case.
00:02:16.380And she said that she's been honest with the public, that she has been in contact with her justice minister
00:02:21.400to see if there's a reasonable likelihood of conviction regarding COVID-19 cases.
00:02:26.640You guys know by now that Danielle Smith was no fan of restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:02:32.980And immediately after winning the premiership, she said she wanted to pardon those charged for breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
00:02:39.360Only a couple months later, she backtracked on that promise, saying she had learned that she didn't have the same power
00:02:45.880that governors in the U.S. had and that she was not able to grant clemency.
00:02:49.960But legacy media outlets have been following the story closely and it's once again back in the headlines.
00:02:55.300This time, following a leaked call between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Alberta Prosperity Project leader Dennis Maudry,
00:03:03.560and controversial street pastor Art Pawlowski and the former leader of the Independence Party of Alberta.
00:03:09.360On the call, Smith said she's been in weekly contact with, quote, prosecutors regarding cases stemming from COVID-19
00:04:02.900In her statement, the Premier continued,
00:04:05.140allegations to the contrary are defamatory and will be dealt with accordingly.
00:04:09.260Now, CBC had this leaked phone call weeks ahead of everyone else.
00:04:13.440But after Art Pulaski was turfed from the Alberta Independence Party this week,
00:04:17.200a version of the phone call made its way to the Alberta NDP,
00:04:20.660who hosted a press conference on Wednesday and played the entire recording for the public.
00:04:25.420On the call, Artur Pulaski tells the Premier he's facing 10 years in prison for his charges regarding the Coutts border blockade.
00:04:33.140And he appears to blame the Premier for not following through on her earlier promises of clemency.
00:04:38.160Pulaski faces charges of mischief for allegedly inciting protesters to continue blocking the international border crossing in Coutts, Alberta in 2022.
00:04:48.160He is also charged under the Alberta Infrastructure Defense Act with willfully damaging or destroying essential infrastructure.
00:04:56.500And he has a lengthy trail of charges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:05:01.180His recording with the Premier came in January, just weeks ahead of his February court hearing in Lethbridge.
00:05:07.920Smith explains to Pulaski in the recording, quote,
00:05:10.580That is consistent with what the Premier has told the public she's been saying to justice officials behind closed doors.
00:05:28.320The Premier also tells Pulaski multiple times that she is unable to intervene in the legal matter.
00:05:33.600Rob Anderson is the Executive Director of the Premier's office,
00:05:36.320and he is also referenced multiple times on the call as a person who has been charged with speaking with justice officials about these cases.
00:05:43.720He also took to Twitter to describe the CBC's reporting as defamatory.
00:06:31.480Tuesday, February 24th and Wednesday, February 25th.
00:06:35.000Open your PC Optimum app to get your coupon.
00:06:40.060Okay, guys, moving into our next story here.
00:06:42.440I know that you guys are going to have a lot of thoughts about this one as well.
00:06:45.360Ontario reported the largest share of residents ditching their home for Alberta in 2022.
00:06:51.280You guys know these stories make me laugh because I am one of those people that moved from Ontario to Alberta last year.
00:06:57.160Of last year's top 10 provincial migration patterns, Ontario found itself on the list six times.
00:07:03.980Each time as residents ditched their home province for another.
00:07:07.140A net of almost 23,000 Ontarians moved to Alberta last year, marking the highest provincial migration patterns of the year.
00:07:14.940Alberta was followed distantly by Nova Scotia, with just over 10,000 Ontarians leaving for that province.
00:07:22.060BC residents are also moving to Alberta.
00:07:24.420Following that, about 9,000 Ontarians moved to BC, while a couple thousand Manitoban and Saskatchewan residents also left for Alberta.
00:07:32.180This story comes shortly after the Alberta government launched its second iteration of the Alberta is Calling campaign,
00:07:37.960which you guys know we talked about already.
00:07:39.760Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he's not a fan of, probably because so many young people are leaving his province.
00:07:45.440Okay guys, moving into the controversy of the week.
00:07:48.360The Independence Party of Alberta says it divided ways with controversial street pastor Art Pulaski because of his, quote,
00:07:54.620divisive rhetoric, and that the party wants nothing to do with a leaked phone recording between him and Premier Smith.
00:08:01.720Pulaski was elected to head up the fledgling party in September, but lasted just seven months before the provincial board voted to remove him earlier this week.
00:08:09.960Party president Dan Duggan said the party board knew that Pulaski was controversial, but wanted to give him a chance because he's such a successful freedom fighter.
00:08:18.560But he said that after just a couple of short months, his rhetoric turned divisive and condescending.
00:08:23.600He told True North, quote, I'm talking about Pulaski accusing Alberta Health Services of intentionally killing people or the COVID-19 vaccine being a weapon.
00:08:32.760He added, quote, I don't believe that the Independence Party of Alberta was any more a good fit for pastor Art than Art was for the Independence Party of Alberta.
00:08:40.880He needs a platform to be able to share his passion and his message unfettered without any kind of structure that he himself has not created.
00:08:48.080He said that he had many conversations with Pulaski about changing his tone, but the pastor said he refused to be, quote, stifled.
00:08:55.960Eventually, Duggan said, the party decided to respond with more punitive measures.
00:09:00.420So on Tuesday night, the provincial board gathered and passed a motion to remove Pulaski as leader.
00:09:06.500Pulaski was not informed that the vote was happening until it had passed.
00:09:09.740In a statement posted to Facebook, Pulaski said the board voted to remove him on his 50th birthday with the charges headed up by a, quote, transgender secretary spearheading this attack.
00:09:21.280He said the removal followed the board consistently demanding he stop speaking about God, drag queen shows and abortion.
00:09:28.120He wrote, quote, a handful of directors decided to remove the leader that you elected and override your democratic voice.
00:09:34.660Later on, he added, in conclusion, I truly believe that this party has been infiltrated for a simple reason.
00:09:46.000We grew too big, too fast, and we had become a real tangible threat to the corrupted establishment.
00:09:51.560Duggan said the decision to turf Pulaski has been met with mixed results from party members, with some expressing their disappointment, while others thanking the board for having the courage to speak up.
00:10:01.520Some say the bubbles in an aero truffle piece can take 34 seconds to melt in your mouth.
00:10:06.840Sometimes the very amount you're stuck at the same red light.
00:10:16.860Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come.
00:10:19.060The Alberta lawyer representing Albertans' concern that electronic tabulators could be used in the upcoming provincial vote,
00:10:24.880says they are trying to ensure election integrity.
00:10:27.420On Monday, Alberta litigator Leighton Gray of Greywalk Spencer LLP sent a letter to Elections Alberta saying he represents the many Albertans who don't want electronic tabulators used in the upcoming provincial vote.
00:10:39.540Gray said the intention of the letter is to ensure that Elections Alberta hand counts the ballots and that it keeps all ballots for three months following the provincial vote.
00:10:47.940As is stipulated under the Alberta Election Act, he told True North, quote,