The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - Trudeau despises a free press

00:00:00.000 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Alberta again this week, and this time he took a few

00:00:04.400 minutes out of his schedule to meet with the Premier. However, that didn't stop him from

00:00:08.460 blacklisting the second most popular conservative female in Alberta, yours truly, spent the day on

00:00:13.820 Wednesday trying to track the Prime Minister down, but was foiled at every turn by hotel staff,

00:00:19.880 by city police, the RCMP, and by weak-minded security at the Southern Alberta Institute of

00:00:25.440 Technology. To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister then addressed media about the importance

00:00:30.260 of a free press to hold officials to account. That's not the first time we've seen astonishing

00:00:36.460 levels of hypocrisy from the Prime Minister. Under his direction, independent reporters were

00:00:41.640 barred from his press conference and then threatened with arrest for showing up. Fear of

00:00:47.760 free debate has rotted all of our institutions, and there's no one more afraid than the Prime

00:00:52.480 Minister himself. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:01:04.740 Taking a look at our first story here, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told Prime Minister Justin

00:01:09.460 Trudeau that cancelling the scheduled increase to the carbon tax would be a, quote, political win,

00:01:15.240 end quote, at a time when the Liberals desperately need one. The two leaders met in Calgary at the

00:01:20.800 Sheraton Hotel early on Wednesday morning, and although they attempted to keep that location

00:01:25.460 secret, you better believe I found them there. Justin Trudeau's polling numbers are in the toilet

00:01:30.500 nationwide, but especially in the West, and his recent trips to Alberta have attracted hordes of

00:01:36.000 protesters. In an exclusive interview with True North and the Countersignal as she left the hotel to

00:01:40.920 return to Edmonton, Premier Smith told us that she urged Justin Trudeau to cancel the scheduled

00:01:46.620 increase to the carbon tax. Take a listen. And I also told him it'd be a political win if he

00:01:51.460 paused the increase in the carbon tax on April 1st. According to legacy media pool reporters who

00:01:56.780 were allowed in the room with Trudeau, the Prime Minister reminded Danielle Smith that as the carbon

00:02:02.320 tax goes up, so do rebates. The Trudeau government will be raising the carbon tax an additional 17 cents

00:02:08.220 per liter of gasoline, 21 cents per liter of diesel, and 15 cents per cubic meter of natural gas on April

00:02:15.260 1st. Seven premiers have called on the Prime Minister to cancel this increase. Meanwhile,

00:02:20.700 Federal Conservative leader Pierre Polyev is calling on Canadians to protest the carbon tax

00:02:24.960 outside of Liberal and NDP MPs' offices. I asked Danielle Smith what she thinks about that. Take a

00:02:31.100 listen. Well, I'd have to say, I mean, we've got seven premiers now that have all asked for a pause,

00:02:35.760 and there's a reason for that, is that I think the Parliamentary Budget Office found that regardless of

00:02:40.940 the rebates, we're still paying more in the tax than any of us are getting back in the rebates.

00:02:44.600 People know that, they feel it. They're also seeing that that's having an impact on inflation,

00:02:49.060 and inflation is one of the reasons the Bank of Canada says that we can't see a reduction in

00:02:53.080 interest rates, which is hurting people when they go to renew their mortgage. So I do think it would

00:02:57.660 be a political win to say we're accomplishing enough with the tax at $60 per tonne. We don't

00:03:03.400 need to increase it anymore at this time. We have to be addressing affordability issues. So we'll see

00:03:09.340 if, whether it's the protests, whether it's the opposition leader, whether it's the premiers weighing in on this

00:03:13.880 will make a difference. Following his meeting with the Premier, Trudeau headed to the Southern Alberta

00:03:17.740 Institute of Technology, where he had a press conference. Despite emailing the Prime Minister's

00:03:22.080 office to register for accreditation the night before, True North was not given access to the

00:03:27.140 press conference. And when I showed up to ask Justin Trudeau a question, state security asked me to leave

00:03:33.340 or said I would be charged with trespassing. It's very interesting that the school does not

00:03:37.980 support journalists, despite having a journalism program of its own.

00:03:48.300 At that press conference, Trudeau went on a tirade about how Canadians must reduce their emissions and

00:03:58.280 why the carbon tax is so important. Take a listen.

00:04:01.340 There are real challenges in the world right now. And one of the challenges everybody is seeing

00:04:07.980 is climate change. Alberta declared a start to its forest fire season in February this year.

00:04:16.500 We had one of the worst years for wildfires ever, on top of some of the worst years for druds,

00:04:22.480 floods and droughts in different parts of the country as well.

00:04:25.600 The impacts of climate change are real.

00:04:55.600 Okay guys, moving on to our next story here. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appeared on Ryan

00:05:05.500 Jesperson's podcast this week, where he asked the Premier how she feels about the Red Deer Catholic

00:05:10.900 School Board banning the use of pronouns in staff emails and course outlines, as well as banning pride

00:05:18.140 flags. Here's what the Premier had to say about it.

00:05:20.400 I mean, look, we want to create safe and caring spaces for kids. We do. And we want kids to be

00:05:25.940 able to have the opportunity to talk to their friends, talk to a trusted teacher. If they're

00:05:31.540 having issues going through puberty, if they have same-sex attraction, if they have gender identity

00:05:37.540 struggles, those are important conversations to have. Where we are going is that when a child

00:05:46.740 makes the choice to come out to the school community, change their pronouns, change who

00:05:52.020 they are, you have to have parents included in that conversation. So I would say that perhaps

00:05:57.040 they're going in a direction that is inconsistent with what it is that we're trying to do. We want

00:06:03.180 to make sure that all kids feel safe. No one is outed and that we have a process in place to help

00:06:11.140 kids as they're going through these struggles.

00:06:12.620 Okay guys, it's finally happening. This is the story we've all been waiting for. Dippers across

00:06:17.960 the province are saying that they're preparing an exit strategy in case Daniel Smith remains

00:06:22.720 Premier of the province. Let's take a look at this. Greg Coulahan, the former NDP MLA for Calgary

00:06:28.560 Klein posted on X this week saying, quote, anyone else talking to their kids about them having an exit

00:06:34.440 strategy out of Alberta if it remains under Daniel Smith's control? Question mark. Well, Mr. Coulahan,

00:06:40.480 you are welcome to leave. No skin off our back, but let's dive into some of the comments underneath

00:06:45.820 his post because they are hilarious. User Jack said, this isn't an airport. There's no need to

00:06:52.120 announce you're leaving. A user named Rose reminded Coulahan of something we cover very often on the

00:06:57.060 show. And that's that it seems most people are trying to move to Alberta under the UCP government.

00:07:02.980 She said, most people I know are trying to move there, especially if they have children. Alberta is

00:07:07.380 protecting minors from groomers better than any other province. And Premier Smith is looking after

00:07:12.160 the interests of her people. To which Coulahan predictably said, no more bigots welcome have

00:07:17.300 enough. And a user named Alberta succession came in with the hottest response writing, I hear Venezuela

00:07:23.000 and Cuba are nice places to live. Likely more in line with you ideologically. It would actually be

00:07:28.940 nice if some of the dipper has left this province to make room for all the conservatives moving here,

00:07:33.100 which leads me to my next story. And that is that rents are increasing in Alberta more than any other

00:07:37.920 province in Canada. Rent in Alberta has increased by 20% since the same time last year, according to

00:07:43.560 a new report by Urban Nation. Between March, 2024 and 2023, Calgary's average rent has increased by

00:07:50.800 10.6%, while Edmonton's average rent has increased by 17.3%. That's greater than any other of the

00:07:58.040 country's largest cities. Despite the rent increases in Calgary and Edmonton, the cities ranked 16th and

00:08:04.560 23rd respectively for price ranking from a dollar perspective out of Canada's 25 largest

00:08:09.980 municipalities. I asked Premier Smith this week if it's time to end the Alberta is calling campaign

00:08:15.100 because rent is spiking so much. Here's what she had to say about it.

00:08:18.360 We do need to have more skilled workers coming to build those houses. So our next phase of it is going

00:08:23.220 to be the launch of our Alberta's calling tax credit that is targeted specifically at those

00:08:28.080 building trades jobs. We know that Dow Chemical, for instance, is going to need 6,000 to 8,000

00:08:33.020 construction workers. And so we will have a very focused campaign to make sure that we're bringing

00:08:39.360 people in with the skills that our economy still needs.

00:08:42.340 And while we're hoping that dippers will start leaving the province, they might stick around to see

00:08:46.420 who will win the Alberta NDP leadership race. The deadline to enter that contest ended on Friday,

00:08:52.020 and we have six candidates who will be running for the next leader of the Alberta NDP. Let's take a

00:08:57.880 look at those. Calgary MLA and energy critic Kathleen Gainley was the first candidate to throw her hat in

00:09:03.720 the ring. She was followed by Sarah Hoffman, the former health minister under the Alberta NDP

00:09:09.120 government. As well, we have Raki Panchali. She is an Edmonton area MLA, and she is also a lawyer.

00:09:15.720 She was elected in 2019. There's also Jody Callahoo-Stonehouse. She was just elected in 2023.

00:09:23.300 Gail McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labor, announced his leadership

00:09:27.420 in early March. And the candidate with likely the biggest profile who entered the race this week was

00:09:32.000 former Calgary Mayor Naheed Denshi. And he's already taking aim at Alberta Premier Daniel Smith.

00:09:37.260 Take a listen.

00:09:37.780 Our insurance rates, our auto insurance rates are something like two and a half times what they are

00:09:43.240 in Saskatchewan next door. This is direct results of UCP government policy. Setting aside the crisis

00:09:49.740 and family doctors, the closure of emergency rooms, the fact that here in one of the wealthiest

00:09:54.600 jurisdictions in the world, you can't be guaranteed that you'll get an ambulance when you call 911 when

00:09:59.840 you're in need. This is sheer incompetence combined with the lack of any moral fiber. And, you know,

00:10:05.660 I will call them on that every single day.

00:10:07.940 Okay, guys, moving into our weekly comment roundup, which continues with this theme of

00:10:11.560 leaving the province. You guys had a lot to say about Dr. David Keegan, the activist doctor

00:10:16.700 who's attacking Alberta Premier Daniel Smith following his adult nephew's suicide.

00:10:22.140 User, a normal average everyday guy, says, quote,

00:10:25.460 He's not wrong that something has gone wrong. Too many people like him living here. After 16 years,

00:10:30.380 I'd say take off and don't let the door hit you on the a** on the way out. 0.50

00:10:34.520 And our weekly comment roundup keeps up with this theme of people leaving the province.

00:10:39.080 In response to the news that I was barred from Justin Trudeau's press conference on Wednesday,

00:10:43.560 ex-user Perspective Canada wrote,

00:10:45.800 In all honesty, admit that you're happy you didn't get access. Otherwise, wouldn't have anything to

00:10:51.300 complain about today. Spoken like a true socialist, you assume that just because you're lazy,

00:10:57.360 everyone must be lazy. I actually like my job and I know the work that I do is important.

00:11:02.360 That's not a question. It's a statement. And it is absolutely wrong that the Prime Minister

00:11:07.340 bars reporters who don't agree with his government talking points from his press conferences. And it

00:11:13.660 also reveals what the Prime Minister thinks about regular Canadians. He doesn't like them and he

00:11:18.400 doesn't have time for them and he never will. Okay, everyone, that's all we have time for today.

00:11:23.300 Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please like this video and subscribe to True North if you

00:11:27.400 haven't already. If you want to support our work, you can do that over at donate.tnc.news.

00:11:32.460 Have a great weekend and God bless.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - March 16, 2024

Trudeau despises a free press

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