00:16:25.820Now, Mel, I was surprised to hear Abby Lewis and the Gang of Five being played as a force in this,
00:16:30.480but here we are. I mean, what do you make of what we've heard from the premature,
00:16:34.460the rationale, the approach she's taken here?
00:16:36.400Yeah, it was really interesting. And, you know, kudos to you in that interview,
00:16:40.000because you kept tasking her on, you know, why are you still going ahead with this,
00:16:46.160you're saying that you want to stay in canada and the reasons behind that and and to me the
00:16:49.840way the way that yeah yeah we i will be making a completely separate video on david cochran's
00:16:56.000interview with danielle smith it was asinine that he should just change his last name to asinine
00:17:01.760because it would make it would save me having to actually just say the word over and over again
00:17:06.080if i just had to already say it to introduce the man oh why are you calling the referendum
00:17:11.520if you don't support it because people signed 300 000 signatures were collected to have it and
00:17:17.680we're dang well going to have at least a version of it if the courts won't let us like democracy
00:17:23.180is confusing to these people people went through the democratic process collected the signatures
00:17:28.100in winter and you're like well why are we even having it while all of us in this nice toronto
00:17:32.760office are collecting our tongues and saying it's so terrible maybe or maybe they're in ottawa i
00:17:37.520don't actually know like oh my goodness we don't like it in our fancy cocktail party in Toronto
00:17:42.040why are we even doing this oh my goodness this really perms my hair it's like having to describe
00:17:48.980anything to these people it's like having to teach a toddler like calculus it's impossible
00:17:55.180she was responding it sort of sounds like this is someone who um when the separatist movement
00:18:03.820was helpful to her it was helpful to fuel that and to you know use it to her advantage in order to
00:18:10.460get to where she's going and now that that is can she describe what she means by that when was it
00:18:14.860useful to danielle smith when did she use it notice how there was no example there because
00:18:19.860there is no example she's never used the alberta separatist movement for anything
00:18:24.660people will try and point to old and uh to separate to get a pipeline no she didn't
00:18:30.300No, she didn't. She just said that you realize the sentiment for separatism has risen like 10 points over the last few years, simply because people haven't been able, you know, there's no pipeline built. Albertans feel, you know, mistreated. It's just, she just uses it as a talking point of saying, you know, people feel disrespected because they do. Of course they do.
00:18:48.080that she hasn't even used she's not been in the league with the separatist movement but again
00:18:52.480these people are all butthurt because danielle smith is clearing the decks so that this is not
00:18:58.160going to be an issue for her in her 2027 re-election this is going to basically mean
00:19:03.600that naheed benji is politically cancerous because everything else about the man is detestable he is
00:19:11.160a know-it-all dweeb who does hates anyone who's ever worked with their hands he has a layabout
00:19:18.060professor. He literally wants to run against parental rights in favor of banning coal mining
00:19:25.680in the Rockies. He wants to raise taxes on businesses. He wants to basically stop the
00:19:34.200oil and gas industry from developing at the speed that Daniel Smith wants to develop at.
00:19:39.240I don't know what he even offers that would actually entice Albertans. The only thing he
00:19:45.060has is, oh my goodness, you had to vote for me or we're going to separate. He knows that they're
00:19:48.520not going to separate. He just wants you to think that we are if you don't vote for him and if you
00:19:53.920don't vote against the separatist referendum and then vote for him and the NDP. That is his only
00:19:59.260game. And if he doesn't actually get to be on the ballot with a referendum, he's screwed. And right
00:20:05.320now, Nenshi is butthurt because he's screwed. Happen. She's kind of over her skis a little bit
00:20:10.260is now going to have to figure out how to manage going forward the the question around you know you
00:20:16.260just signed this this mou with with the prime minister and that being put at risk because the
00:20:20.900business community is just it it it's a little bit bonkers to to understand that you would put
00:20:28.740something that you've worked so hard for uh you know she talked about working with prime minister
00:20:34.340Notice what she's doing right now. She's attempting to try and pave the pathway to blame Danielle Smith for a pipeline not being built. Oh, you work so hard on this MOU with Mark Carney and you're going to throw it all away for a separatist referendum and scare businesses away.
00:20:53.940No, she's providing certainty by showing the movement doesn't have the teeth that the media
00:21:00.500pretends it has. That's the funny thing. Even though the media will one moment actually say
00:21:06.380that the support isn't there, they will then fear monger about foreign interference and foreign
00:21:11.680money supporting it. Oh my goodness, and data leaks. Oh my goodness, they could win because
00:21:15.540of cheating. It's like they're not going to win, guys. You like to pretend that they're going to
00:21:19.580win in order to hurt Danielle Smith and then call her some traitor to the country. But you
00:21:26.240yourselves know that the support is not there. And now she's, again, trying to say that somehow
00:21:31.660this referendum in October is her throwing out the whole MOU in the pipeline. No. The person
00:21:38.640who's throwing away the pipeline is Mark Carney, who has put so many dumb stipulations in the
00:21:44.160agreement that it's guaranteed no pipeline's ever going to get built.
00:21:47.540Trudeau talking about putting this on the on the paper with Prime Minister Kearney.
00:21:52.120You're putting that completely at risk by going ahead with this and not only going ahead with this, going ahead with this a week after signing that MOU with the prime minister.
00:21:59.320It just seems nonsensical. And it also to, you know, credit with the interview.
00:22:05.500She was a good communicator in talking about why she was going ahead with this.
00:22:09.040But there was no real reason other than, you know, we said that we would listen to people and now we're going to listen to people.
00:22:13.840there are a plethora of other ways to listen to people and um this this is yeah but you said that
00:22:19.900you were going to honor the petition signatures and hold a referendum if people collected enough
00:22:27.580to do it you only needed around 177 000 or so they have over 300 000 yeah well they're unverified
00:22:33.860like the other guy said yeah come on we really think they're all fake they're real come up they're
00:22:38.180real guys i saw them collecting the signatures myself down the hill from where i live they were
00:22:43.860definitely doing it i know tons of people who signed the thing we're just going to pretend to
00:22:48.820be stupid and like there's no legitimate reason to hold it the only reason they didn't verify
00:22:53.140them was because of the courts blocking it being verified it's just a super extreme one so so greg
00:22:58.660before i get to you i want to just show something from uh one of the liberal mps because the prime
00:23:02.500ministry is trading lightly on this referendum but one of the alberta mps is laying out exactly
00:23:06.660what he thinks about this in a post on social media cory hogan wrote in part the simple reality
00:23:12.340a reality you would not find in her speech her being the premier is this she has pushed along
00:23:16.580a question because her group has threatened to bring down her and her party if she does not
00:23:21.300her internal political problems have become our national crisis yes there are some separatist
00:23:28.020people who threaten that if daniel smith doesn't put forward the question they're going to try and
00:23:32.420and take over the ucp party now the separatist people tried to take over the ucp party at the
00:23:37.300last ucp agm and they pretty much i believe they lost every single board election position
00:23:44.180available because at the end of the day even if you like the idea of independence in the ucp
00:23:49.300you don't want the independence people just running the ucp you don't want single issue
00:23:54.340people just taking over the party and then demanding that we all have to cater to their
00:23:57.860you know hobby horse issue again you might care about it very deeply and you might have good
00:24:03.300reasons for it fair enough i'm not trying to denigrate that i'm trying to denigrate those
00:24:06.900who would basically take over a big tent political party and demand it's going to be about
00:24:11.540independence now these people are not going to succeed in doing that plus i'm pretty sure that
00:24:16.500there would actually be a good reason that if you noticed a bunch of people are trying to join
00:24:20.660for the sole purpose of just independent stuff you could kick them out and say you're not joining for
00:24:24.820for a legitimate purpose you're not really interested in becoming a ucp member you're
00:24:28.840joining because you know mitch sylvester told you to join and you're going to try and take over the
00:24:33.040party that's not actual democracy that's basically just a shakedown anyway so but no and even the
00:24:39.840separatists are still mad at danielle smith because they don't like the question even though
00:24:42.740she can't ask a stronger question if she wanted to greg what are your thoughts on that that's a
00:24:47.440pretty unequivocal statement from cory hogan there yeah it's very well said i mean in her
00:24:52.480attempts to unify Alberta, she's unified us all with none of us can figure out what this
00:24:57.360referendum is actually about. You know, I understand being allergic to commitment, but
00:25:02.560I didn't know that Greg McEachern was allergic to reading. You can literally read the question.
00:25:07.260Do you want Alberta to remain in Canada? Or do you want them to start the legal process
00:25:12.040to have a binding referendum on separating from the country, which might take years to actually
00:25:17.820be able to do that legal process and make sure that the courts would actually clear the question.
00:25:21.860but that's not confusing i could read it i could understand what it was but apparently greg mckecker
00:25:28.420and liberal like a political expert here doesn't know what it means you know a referendum to have
00:25:33.780a referendum seems a little odd and and now her you know her she explains why she had to do that
00:25:40.660political spectrum and her supporters are from the you know the pipeline supporters to the
00:25:45.30051st state curious and i think she's really diminished herself this week um she you know
00:25:51.140Mel and I both have talked about, you know, she's a very, very able communicator,
00:25:56.580but Graham pointed out right away the issues when she keeps citing, you know, the numbers
00:26:01.300that participated in this. It's like, you know, it's like, it's self-defense that these people
00:26:06.660got involved, you know. The 400,000 assigned Tom LeCassox, they'd be happy to have this go away,
00:26:11.780or most of them, you know, and all of them. And you know, like I saw you raise that twice.
00:26:15.300If you're admitting that, if you're saying that they would like this to go away,
00:26:18.420the 400 000 who signed his petition you're just admitting that lukasik was only doing this for
00:26:25.620like was a bad actor from the beginning he was just trying to block the other petition
00:26:29.860and at the end of the day what what have they proven that they're willing to have a debate
00:26:34.500on this issue that they're willing to go around signing papers regarding this issue so why don't
00:26:39.220we just throw in a ballot box and end it now it's with her i saw i think it's doing breath the the
00:26:44.180The political scientist was on the hour before your show saying something similar.
00:26:48.260The case when politicians get involved and they're running from municipal,
00:26:51.980they're going to go federal, things like this, the game changes.
00:26:54.900And so this is where things, you know, like expectations, media training.
00:26:59.140I think that she has elevated herself because Canadians really, really care,
00:27:05.040elevated herself to this another level of debate.
00:27:07.920And what she's bringing to the debate, it's not strong enough.
00:27:11.500I think she might have been able to push this stuff around, you know, a couple of months ago.
00:27:16.000But now the stakes are higher and the questions are tougher when she's in a press conference.
00:27:22.400I don't think she looks as strong as she did.
00:27:25.780Look, if you are considered strong because you're in front of a mob and you're, you know, running towards Ottawa,
00:27:33.320but you're too scared to look over your shoulder and to say to the mob, listen.
00:27:37.640is it just me or i have no clue what greg mckekern is even attempting to say right now
00:27:46.580there's a mob and you're are you you're looking strong or not because you're running towards
00:27:51.540ottawa but you don't want to look back at the mob because the mob might say something to you it's
00:27:56.240like i i apparently he's like trying to imply that danielle smith is weak because she's being
00:28:02.400forced into this by the evil orcs that run the separatist movement or whatever it's like
00:28:08.640okay um i guess is that why she stated outright that she would vote to stay in the country
00:28:15.120because she's scared of them and what they want like um okay uh well i'm kind of done with him
00:28:22.400there i don't think we need to listen to any more of that cbc panel what i now want to do just
00:28:26.880quickly jump over to what um to what mr naheed nenshi said about all this it's a bit of a shorter
00:28:33.760clip here than that prep that panel obviously uh but i just want to go into naheed nenshi again
00:28:41.300attempting to use this to attack danielle smith because the issue is not about independence the
00:28:45.560issue is about danielle smith and he is not a happy camper because he knows that this has
00:28:51.400completely upended his 2027 election strategy the full choice referendum do you want alberta to
00:29:00.520remain a province of canada or do you want the government of alberta to start the lengthy
00:29:03.840negotiations to have another referendum to stay out of canada and in fact i would argue that many
00:29:08.940separatists would say no i want alberta to stay but i want alberta to negotiate with ottawa so
00:29:13.380how do you answer the question by the way the answer is you say i want alberta to stay
00:29:16.900there seems to be like a big brainworm problem in the both the cbc studio as well as in the
00:29:26.960ndp offices in alberta uh did he not understand the question like greg mcg greg mckecher and
00:29:33.160didn't understand the question it's that they will start the process of making sure that they
00:29:38.700could set up a question that would be binding that is what the question says as what danielle
00:29:45.000smith clarified but apparently he it was too complicated for nenshi to understand
00:29:52.600but i don't know yes he's got he's just got nothing but with that said it's ridiculous
00:29:58.840it's pandering this referendum will cost albertan taxpayers anywhere between 50 and 100 million
00:30:04.440dollars in cash no it won't it's literally going on the ballot with nine other referendum questions
00:30:10.920the alberta government was already going to ask if anything this question in particular might cost
00:30:16.600an extra million bucks he just throws out that number oh my goodness she's spending a hundred
00:30:21.480million dollars the entire referendum is only going to for all the questions there's only going
00:30:26.840to cost around 10 to 20 million but somehow it's going to cost at minimum another 20 up to somehow
00:30:32.760a hundred and unlimited amount and i'd rather have that in hospitals and schools myself
00:30:38.120but in addition to that it will cause untold economic strife and it will cause untold emotional
00:30:46.080strife for a question that will have zero results the other nine questions if it gets voted down
00:30:51.620the result is that people want to stay in canada so i don't know how he came to the conclusion that
00:30:56.720it will have no result the way the anti-immigrant questions the ridiculous unconstitutional
00:31:02.200questions are also meaningless literally not one thing will change if you vote yes or no on any of
00:31:08.980those questions the separatism one is different because if we don't well i thought he said that
00:31:14.420nothing would change with the separatism one now he's saying that that's the only one that things
00:31:18.260would change with and by the way what's happening with the other questions is that they are policy
00:31:23.480questions and the smith government because we're still a year away from another election happening
00:31:28.940more than a year away from the next election, she's basically getting a mandate to pursue those
00:31:33.100things before the actual election happens. Because there's this principle that a party should probably
00:31:37.940try and not do too many things that it didn't run on doing, unless something came up and it has to
00:31:43.120react to it. Generally, you should stick to what you said. So what Daniel Smith's doing is saying,
00:31:47.220hey, we never ran on a bunch of these things. So how about we put it to voters, they tell us what
00:31:51.740they think, and then we have a mandate to deal with it. Really smart move. A really good move
00:31:57.360to have referendums to give yourself a mandate for things. Not give it to you, but let Albertans
00:32:01.320give you the mandate. But apparently, again, this is also confusing to Nahid Nenshi.
00:32:05.760Don't have a resounding, massive vote against separatism. That means this will just continue.
00:32:11.920The way that Danielle has written this, it's going to continue anyway. But at least let's
00:32:16.120send her a message by number one, giving her the thumping defeat in this referendum that she
00:32:20.800deserves and number two what thumping defeat she's literally against separatism she is a federalist
00:32:28.080what we need to give her the thumping defeat that she deserves who giving her the thumping defeat
00:32:33.840in the next election that she deserves no no she's not losing the next provincial election
00:32:44.320what if she's not actually on the ballot with the referendum but apparently we need to deliver that
00:33:46.560the game of the liberal media and the Alberta NDP, and you are probably now going to sail to an easy
00:33:52.700provincial re-election victory in 2027, because now the whole referendum question has been put
00:33:59.360to rest. It was in fact the NDP and the media who wanted this to go on forever, but because they are
00:34:05.560liars, they are now claiming the opposite to be true after Daniel Smith has put the whole thing
00:34:10.700to bed. At the very least, it will be in bed finally by the time October rolls around.
00:34:16.560Anyways, with all that being said, hopefully I didn't tick off too many people who are in favor of independence. I agree with a lot of your arguments. I disagree with some of them. And I actually find that in certain senses, I'd agree a lot with you, but I just have a different way of trying to get Alberta as much as possible.
00:34:34.680I very much see an independent Alberta as yes, a lot of things would definitely improve 100%. I also see it as okay, you're stealing the keys to the kingdom to the rest of the country to reform. But in an independent Alberta, I would say the highs are not as high as a properly functioning Canada. The lows aren't as low either as a dysfunctional Canada. And that's kind of what I do.
00:34:59.200I am an optimist. I'm a bit of a gambler, even though I don't literally gamble. And so I would rather have the chance at that 10 out of 10 perfect outcome where Canada reforms itself, then retreating to a smaller jurisdiction to make it a little bit better than the current country, maybe even a lot better, but not 10 out of 10 amazing, like if just the whole country started chugging along and actually functioning properly once again.
00:35:24.420anyways with all that being said thank you guys for watching like share subscribe and I'll see