The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - June 07, 2025


The Alberta Roundup ｜ UCP slams NDP over defending porn in schools

Topics
porn in schools ban Alberta emissions and energy production report trade agreements & Oilers Stanley Cup
Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux
Mentioned
Danielle Smith Edmonton Strathcona Darby Crouch Nahid Nenshi MLA Lori Sigurdsson Doug Ford Ipsos Alberta Environment Alberta Roundup Rebecca Schultz Wayne Gretzky Julian Kozak Evander Kane Angus Reid X. Smith Notley Trump
Nenshi seeks a seat while Smith dominates polls The Alberta Roundup ｜ Smith warns separatism surging as pipeline fight escalates

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

167.82

Word count

2,216

Sentence count

127

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The Alberta UCP is blasting the provincial NDP for trying to stand in the way of protecting children, as the province plans to ban sexually explicit material from K-12 schools. A report that came out this week is showcasing that Alberta s oil production has ramped up over the last decade while reducing emissions across various industries. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to eliminate trade barriers between their provinces. While sports haven t been covered on the show in a while, the Edmonton Oilers were victorious in their first Stanley Cup final game, and polls are suggesting that national unity could be on the line. All that and more on this week s Alberta Roundup.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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 The Alberta UCP is blasting the provincial NDP for trying to stand in the way of protecting
00:00:15.720 children as the province plans to ban sexually explicit material from K-12 schools.
00:00:20.760 A report that came out this week is showcasing that Alberta's oil production has ramped up
00:00:25.620 over the last decade while reducing emissions across various industries.
00:00:29.100 Alberta Premier Daniel Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford also signed a Memorandum of Understanding
00:00:34.980 to eliminate trade barriers between their provinces.
00:00:38.200 While sports haven't been covered on the show in a while, the Edmonton Oilers were victorious
00:00:42.020 in their first Stanley Cup final game, and polls are suggesting that national unity could be on the line.
00:00:48.220 All that and more on this week's Alberta Roundup.
00:00:50.740 I'm your host, Isaac Lamoureux. Let's hop in to that first story now.
00:00:54.280 The United Conservative Party is accusing the Alberta NDP of hindering efforts to protect
00:00:59.800 children from sexually explicit materials in K-12 school libraries.
00:01:04.580 This comes after NDP MLA Lori Sigurdsson criticized the province's plan to ban such content,
00:01:11.360 labeling it as censorship.
00:01:12.600 She said, "...make no mistake, this actually is about banning books, and Smith's administration
00:01:19.120 is not the first in history to target and ban books seen as contrary to its ideology in
00:01:24.640 order to control public discourse." 0.75
00:01:26.980 Darby Crouch, the UCP candidate for Edmonton Strathcona, called Sigurdsson out.
00:01:32.380 Crouch said, "...what the NDP calls banning books is what most parents would call basic common
00:01:38.360 sense. We're talking about school library books that depict graphic sex acts,
00:01:43.440 pornographic scenes, and other content that has no place in an elementary or junior high school.
00:01:49.100 Why the NDP thinks children need access to this is beyond comprehension." 0.57
00:01:53.640 The books in question contain shocking quotes and pornographic imagery for any age group,
00:01:58.520 let alone children. The books in question are so vulgar that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
00:02:03.280 issued various graphic content warnings in her post to X.
00:02:07.140 Smith said, "...albertans deserve to know what's really being shown to children in some of our
00:02:12.940 K-9 schools. This isn't about banning books, it's about protecting kids from graphic,
00:02:18.860 sexually explicit content that has no place in a classroom." 0.74
00:02:22.340 The Alberta government confirmed that books such as Genderqueer, Flamer, Fun Home and Blankets,
00:02:28.160 which contain depictions of sex acts, child molestation, and sexually violent slurs,
00:02:33.460 have been found in Alberta K-12 school libraries. Crouch said that what the Alberta NDP calls
00:02:39.340 censorship, her party calls protecting kids and respecting parents. She said,
00:02:45.460 "...parents deserve better. They deserve to know what their children are reading in school,
00:02:49.760 and that the content is age-appropriate." An online survey remained active until June 6th,
00:02:54.920 where Albertans could weigh in on what type of content should be available for school library
00:02:59.380 collections. Even the survey came with a slew of warnings. A link was available to see some of
00:03:06.460 the photos that were available to these kids in their libraries, and the survey's warning read,
00:03:11.880 quote, "...warning. This link contains graphic content that may be disturbing to viewers and is not
00:03:17.700 appropriate for young viewers. Viewer discretion is advised." We'll see how the province proceeds after
00:03:23.820 analyzing its survey data. Crouch is running in the Edmonton Strathcona by-election on June 23rd
00:03:29.860 against NDP leader Nahid Nenshi. She had some harsh words for him. Take a quick listen.
00:03:34.900 I'm Darby. I'm running to be your next MLA for Edmonton Strathcona. I also have the
00:03:39.900 pleasure of running against NDP leader Nahid Nenshi. Now, there are some key differences between Mr.
00:03:45.840 Nenshi and me. When someone once asked him about living in Edmonton, he said,
00:03:49.080 why would you wish such a fate as living in Edmonton on me? Could I do it part-time? If you
00:03:53.780 ask me the same question, I'll tell you I'm not just visiting. Like so many young Albertans, I chose
00:03:57.980 to make a life in Edmonton to chase opportunity and because the Oilers might actually win the cup.
00:04:03.180 My opponent, uh... I'm not an Edmontonian, and in fact, it's going to take a lot to get me back
00:04:08.840 into that jersey. Can't forget a few weeks ago when he covered up his Oilers jersey as he cheered for the
00:04:14.340 Winnipeg Jets. Hockey love aside, there's so many real differences between us. I think the people
00:04:19.200 of Edmonton Strathcona are not only incredibly hardworking, but they're some of the most creative
00:04:23.460 and friendly people in Canada. Just like them, I think we need a government focused on keeping the
00:04:28.420 cost of living down. Things like cutting red tape to build more housing and lowering personal taxes
00:04:33.100 so we all can afford doing more of the things that we love. And just like them, I think we all deserve
00:04:38.240 safer streets, matched with more health care, funding for compassionate intervention, so we all can
00:04:43.260 have a community we call home. Again, I'm Darby Crouch, and I'm absolutely proud to run as your United
00:04:48.420 Conservative Party candidate in Edmonton Strathcona, and I will work for you every single day to make
00:04:53.780 this place an even greater part of Edmonton. On June 23rd, please show up to the polls and cast your vote
00:04:59.040 for me in this election. Thank you. The riding Crouch is running in against Nenshi is the Alberta NDP's
00:05:04.380 safest in the province. Notley held the seat between 2008 and 2024. The last time the Conservative held
00:05:11.260 it was Julian Kozak between 1971 and 1986. We'll see what happens in the upcoming by-elections on
00:05:17.960 June 23rd. Now for our next story, we'll be looking at a recent report that came out on Alberta's oil
00:05:23.500 production and emissions. The report, released Wednesday, showed that overall emissions in Alberta
00:05:28.740 decreased almost every single year since 2015 after peaking in 2014. Between 2015 and 2023, holistically,
00:05:36.420 the province's total emissions fell by 9%. Emissions have decreased in conventional oil,
00:05:41.660 transportation, and heavy industry since 2015. They have also fallen in natural gas processing,
00:05:46.960 methane, and electricity emissions. Despite the significant emission cuts, Alberta has boosted
00:05:52.020 energy production by 20% since 2015. The province also eliminated emissions from coal-fired electricity
00:05:58.560 more than six years ahead of schedule after the last coal-fired power plant transitioned to natural gas
00:06:04.020 fuel in June 2024. Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schultz said the report proved Alberta
00:06:10.320 continues to lead the way in responsible energy development. She said, quote,
00:06:15.900 we don't need top-down policies from the federal government to do this, and we'll continue to
00:06:20.640 drive common-sense progress that benefit both our economy and the environment. Emissions from oil
00:06:26.020 sands bitumen fell 26% between 2012 and 2023, while production increased by 96%, reaching 1.56 million
00:06:35.620 barrels daily as emissions continue to decline. Alberta had the highest absolute reduction of emissions
00:06:41.620 nationwide between 2022 and 2023, after reducing emissions by 2.1 million tons. The report shows that
00:06:50.320 Alberta is also succeeding in decoupling emissions from economic growth. From 2005 to 2023, Alberta's GDP
00:06:58.360 increased by 41%, while emissions grew by just 4.8%. Over that same time, emissions intensity per $1,000
00:07:06.600 of GDP fell by 26%. Alberta introduced the first industrial carbon pricing and trading system in North America
00:07:13.920 in 2007. Between its introduction in 2023, 254 million tons of emissions have been addressed by compliance
00:07:22.020 measures beyond on-site reduction, including offset credits and technology investment. Earlier in May,
00:07:29.260 the province froze its industrial carbon tax at $95 per ton in response to the tariff war. Smith said the
00:07:36.080 freeze came in response to concerns of business and industry leaders who warned that further tax hikes would
00:07:41.300 harm Alberta's competitiveness and be detrimental to their businesses. Smith said, quote,
00:07:47.160 Alberta remains committed to reducing emissions through the development and implementation of new
00:07:52.080 technologies, not unrealistically high taxes, while responsibly powering the world for decades to come.
00:07:58.360 Speaking of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, for our next story, her and Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed a
00:08:03.900 memorandum of understanding aimed at removing trade barriers between the two provinces on the 1st of June.
00:08:09.740 Smith hailed it as a milestone for interprovincial commerce, while Ford broadened the effort by
00:08:14.760 signing similar deals with several other premiers. Smith said, quote,
00:08:19.600 Together, Alberta and Ontario are taking a big step towards a more open, competitive, and united economy.
00:08:26.280 This agreement is about getting results, making it easier for people to work, do business, and grow across
00:08:31.880 provincial lines. It's time to stop letting outdated rules hold us back and show Canadians what real
00:08:37.820 economic leadership looks like. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed June 1st at the First
00:08:42.860 Ministers' meeting in Saskatoon, pledges to ease the cross-border movement of skilled workers and permit
00:08:48.480 direct-to-consumer alcohol sales between Alberta and Ontario. The agreement also opens the door for
00:08:54.500 Ontario to potentially join the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, which currently includes Alberta,
00:09:00.320 British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Yes, this was the same conference where Ford called Kearney
00:09:05.920 Santa Claus, but we won't dive into that on this show. Ford expanded the scope of interprovincial
00:09:11.700 cooperation by signing agreements not just with Alberta, but also with Saskatchewan and Prince
00:09:16.800 Edward Island. Ontario has now signed trade agreements with six provinces in total, more than
00:09:22.160 any other jurisdiction. Two-way trade between Alberta and Ontario was worth $62.4 billion in 2021,
00:09:29.280 while Ontario's total interprovincial trade reached $326.6 billion in 2023. Ontario's government framed
00:09:37.720 the agreements as a key part of its strategy to build economic resilience in the face of growing
00:09:42.640 U.S. protectionism. The province has also introduced legislation to Protect Ontario through Free Trade
00:09:49.060 Within Canada Act to eliminate trade barriers and encourage labour mobility. Ford said, quote,
00:09:54.860 It's just the latest steps we're taking to build a stronger, more competitive Canadian economy that
00:10:00.460 can outlast President Trump's tariffs and whatever else comes our way. Now, hopping into something a
00:10:05.340 bit lighter than normal for our last story today, which the shirt I'm wearing might have foreshadowed,
00:10:09.400 the Edmonton Oilers triumphed over the Florida Panthers with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 of the
00:10:14.240 Stanley Cup Final, held in the province's capital on Wednesday. I'm guessing most Albertans watch the
00:10:19.500 game, so without diving into too many details on the game itself, we'll talk about what winning the
00:10:23.920 Stanley Cup might mean for all of Canada, not just Edmonton. Of course, a Canadian team has not won
00:10:29.180 the Cup since 1993, which was actually before I was born. Edmonton has not won the Stanley Cup since
00:10:34.540 1990, despite the Oilers trading Wayne Gretzky just over a year before. A newly conducted poll by
00:10:40.720 Ipsos found that 63% of Canadians say they're cheering for the Oilers, a 6-point increase from last
00:10:47.040 year's Cup Final matchup. Also, 56% believe the Oilers will beat the Florida Panthers, a 7-point
00:10:54.140 increase from 2024. Ipsos' report reads, quote, the Edmonton Oilers winning the Stanley Cup would be a
00:11:00.660 significant triumph for Canada, symbolizing national spirit and resilience. Almost 7 in 10, 68% of
00:11:07.700 Canadians now see the Oilers as Canada's team. Even Oilers players are realizing the importance. For
00:11:13.620 example, Edmonton forward Evander Kane said, quote, playing for a Canadian team, the Cup having not
00:11:20.640 been back to Canada in 30 plus years, it's something that I think we all understand representing the
00:11:26.240 Edmonton Oilers. Being able to kick it off here is going to be pretty special, he said before the
00:11:31.260 first game took place in Edmonton. The City was electric after Wednesday night's win. Take a quick
00:11:36.740 look at some of the celebration. If you were in the City, I'm sure you felt it, at least felt some of that
00:11:41.380 energy. And the City will definitely be on fire if the Oilers win the Stanley Cup. I mean, just to be a
00:11:47.040 part of that, I might go out and walk the streets all night to experience the party that we so seldom
00:11:52.620 get to experience at. So if I don't show up for work the next day, I'm guessing I won't be the only
00:11:57.760 one. The Stanley Cup final is showing signs of rekindling unity, with 56% of Canadians saying they
00:12:04.700 will pay more attention to this year's final than in previous years, as the stakes are now higher than
00:12:09.720 ever. Over 8 in 10 Canadians, 85%, said the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup would be a significant
00:12:16.420 triumph for Canada, symbolizing national spirit and resilience. So I'm a bit curious if any parties
00:12:22.820 will occur in other cities across the countries if the Oilers win the Cup, because it really might be
00:12:27.660 Canada's victory. A previous Angus Reid poll from April found that 71% of fans said they would support
00:12:34.420 any Canadian team in the playoffs, which was the highest percentage in a decade. But while hockey may
00:12:39.560 serve to boost the national sense of unity, broader national pride has been more volatile. A recent
00:12:45.360 Leger poll showed that Canadian pride surged during the election period in March, when it peaked at 86%,
00:12:51.000 but fell back to 76% in Quebec and just 70% in Alberta following the re-election of a Liberal
00:12:57.740 government. I'm wondering if winning the Cup could bump those numbers back up. I guess we'll have to
00:13:03.060 wait and see. That wraps up this week's edition of the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Isaac Lamoureux.
00:13:09.500 Thank you for tuning in. Have a great weekend, and God bless.