00:00:00.000All right. Well, I made it here, Paul. It's dark where you are and sunlight where I am.
00:00:07.980I know. It's a bummer. I wish I was where you were.
00:00:11.080Well, you know what? I wish you were, too. I will tell you this. Of course, we're here on the eve of referendum, and I will be glued to the television like everybody else in Canada.
00:00:20.38085% was the expected turnout, apparently, for voting here.
00:00:56.920The CFB and the deaths of the officers really kind of put a damper on the whole conversation today across Canada and the prime minister on the weekend.
00:01:09.700But it's interesting because I thought there would be more coverage, more media.
00:01:14.540And it's been very quiet here today all day long.
00:01:18.320Even newspapers, they're not doing a lot of coverage.
00:01:21.500There were some good articles that came out on what happens next, regardless of the outcome.
00:01:27.520So if the outcome is, you know, they vote not to, you know, separate or go towards separation, what would happen then?
00:01:39.780So they were doing the pros and cons yesterday.
00:01:41.880So we had a lot of a lot of articles were being written.
00:01:44.960A lot of people were thinking what was going to happen next.
00:01:47.260And, you know, my Max Bernier, when I did the show with Max, Mike, I was very interested in his take on it.
00:01:55.240He believes it'll just keep progressing.
00:01:57.780He believes, you know, it'll just keep growing and growing.
00:02:00.740This is just the beginning and the beginning of the the onslaught to separation.
00:02:07.400Does he kind of feel, in your mind, I took away from it, that he feels that separation is going to be something that many, many provinces start to examine?
00:02:20.300Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the control of the federal government and the transfer payment inequality, the regulations that allow provinces like Quebec not to capitalize on their total resource package, that was the rationale he used for potential separation by Quebec.
00:02:43.300And, of course, you know, he has quite a bit of support, let's say, in Alberta.
00:02:50.680You know, he says 8% to 9% of the vote always goes.
00:02:59.160But, you know, it's interesting, Mike.
00:03:01.380You know, tonight, regardless of what happens, is it a – I don't know if it's a victory because they won't win their ability to move forward.
00:03:11.960But it does show a small group of people brought to light and push this to where it's gotten.
00:03:19.460And quite frankly, you know, on the ballot, there's the questions of, you know, changes in the Constitution, changes to immigration laws and acts and policies.
00:03:32.840So that's all, you know, items that need to be dissected after this happens that we're going to have to look at.
00:03:38.420And what's the federal government going to do?
00:03:41.140That's also interesting because if the questions come out positive on those fronts and not on the separation front, is the prime minister going to just shut it down quickly and move on?
00:03:55.480I'm taking a look at the article on my phone right now that you're referencing.
00:03:58.340And I think that also what Max was talking about kind of rings true in a lot of ways because what happened here was it gave credibility to the movement.
00:04:25.500They created this line of credibility, Paul, that gave them enough oomph to get out there
00:04:31.100and have the conversation ongoing to the tune of millions of dollars in the form of a vote.
00:04:38.220And so, yeah, this could just be the beginning if you think about it.
00:04:43.100Yeah. Well, if you agreed, Mike, and this is the benchmark with which every decision will be measured thereafter.
00:04:49.640So the show we did on pipelines last week, it's very interesting.
00:04:53.220So if the First Nations lawsuits cause the pipeline not to be built, that'll be the measure with which this will basically be gauged against.
00:05:04.080If the federal government doesn't go forward and force the First Nations to allow that pipeline to go forward, then that'll be the benchmark with which this is measured against.
00:05:14.160So this, you know, they've kind of they've put a fork in the sand on their position on this one.
00:05:20.780They'll show all of Canada what their support is now.
00:05:25.620So this will play the hand of the separatists to say, you know, hey, by the way, we have, I don't know what the number is.
00:06:04.580And the two consistent answers I've got is it seems very complex,
00:06:08.980and I'm not sure what this has to do with the referendum anymore.
00:06:13.160And I heard that a couple of times on both fronts.
00:06:16.540And I think that has a lot to do with Alberta just using this as a moment to examine the federal government's process.
00:06:25.320You know, I noticed today, and only because we have a senator stepping down based on the required age limit, you know, just what that process is like, Paul.
00:06:37.040And, you know, from an Albertan standpoint, there's very little representation there.
00:06:41.980There's very little input there. And so this is their moment to shine the spotlight on that
00:06:48.780at the same time. But it is a bit of a confusing ballot. And as you and I went through the
00:06:54.560questions, I think it was you and I that did it on the show. We went through all of the ballot
00:06:58.100questions. I don't know about you, but it felt like I was being led down the pathway in a sales
00:07:05.780pitch that then ends with, you see, now you definitely need to do more for Alberta, which
00:07:11.360is great and fine, but I'm not sure that it requires a vote. Yeah. No, no, I'm totally with
00:07:18.140the questions. I think if I had to guess tonight, if you know, and this is just a guess, prediction
00:07:24.980market guess, I think they get at least half a positive response. So a positive being yes to
00:07:32.940the questions so at least questions uh albertans uh buy a majority vote for um which is very
00:07:41.320interesting mike again that benchmark because uh we're coming up to the budget of the government
00:07:46.120the federal government coming up in november and one of the key questions that's going to be in
00:07:50.940that budget are you going to open up the borders again and they've they've now hinted prior to this
00:07:55.580vote that they're going to open up the borders they're going to for skilled workers going to
00:08:00.360allow quite a few new immigrants to come over if they have the qualifications.
00:08:06.820And, you know, it's the last three days ago, they actually, I hate to say it, but they
00:08:13.280changed, they look like they're changing the immigration, their immigration policies to
00:08:19.620tell the existing people that are here, it's over, and then open up again to bring a new
00:08:26.920group of citizens or potential citizens into the country all on the heels of this uh referendum
00:08:34.680which actually the first five questions i think it is yeah five questions deal with immigration
00:08:40.520and treatment of new immigrants into canada and benefits jobs all those things so this is a again
00:08:47.000you know this benchmark in the sand it depends what what happens tonight and if alberta comes
00:08:52.360out and says yes to all for the first five questions then that plays into what happens
00:08:58.040in november and then you know there any of the other i think six to nine are all constitutional
00:09:06.040questions that they if they vote yes for any of those the daniel smith will uh be going one-on-one
00:09:14.440with uh prime minister carney on constitutional issues that's also going to be an interesting
00:09:19.480thing to see what do people what are the uh the pundits thinking uh daniel smith's reaction would
00:09:28.520be in that case because you're right then she has to she has to get in the ring and really start to
00:09:34.920stir it up um in ottawa any predictions on how she will do that or how she'll fare in that in that
00:09:41.960process well you know it's interesting mike because you know you and i spoke first thing this morning
00:09:47.720we took a look at sort of the bc municipal elections um it's i'm i'm wagering a guess
00:09:56.360to say that eb's got to be shaking right now in the next few days he's coming up to vote so
00:10:03.720if he gets if the if the uh overwhelming consensus is that the incumbents are being removed
00:10:12.040If Canada is voting in a change election and voting for change right now across, especially in the West Coast, then it puts a lot of pressure on Daniel Smith to get more aggressive and to get in and really, you know, get her hands dirty and be more dominant because she'll see the wave.
00:10:32.040And I think that'll actually cause her to change some of her course, what she's because so far, you know, it's I'm getting along really well with the prime minister.
00:10:41.240I'm getting along really well with the feds. There's been a lot of that going on.
00:10:45.580You know, we want Canada to stay, which is great. But, you know, she's she's been pretty much a consensus builder over the last six months.
00:10:53.640And then if this referendum has another set of outcomes, then she's going to have to really roll up her sleeves and get in there and fight for the resolutions that Albertans want.1.00
00:11:10.540And, you know, Paul, it kind of then makes me put a focus on what premier does spend enough time in Ottawa to make a difference at the federal level for the province.
00:12:09.720I like your comment about her having to head to Ottawa
00:12:13.820and actually lobby in what Albertans wanna see.
00:12:17.820And that's really where the rubber's gonna hit the road.
00:12:20.340So, you know, on top of the fact that she's, you know, yeah, great, you know, MOUs were signed, agreements were signed on pipelines.
00:12:28.620You know, you've still got lawsuits that you've got a hurdle.
00:12:31.620You've got still, you know, whether the government changes in B.C. or not.
00:12:36.740If it doesn't change in B.C., she's still got, you know, a lukewarm, you know, B.C. government as far as moving a pipeline across their lands.0.99
00:12:46.120They've got all of those things to deal with.0.95
00:12:47.880So, yeah, she's going to have to be lobbying very hard to get all these things done and figure it out.
00:12:54.180And, you know, a burden, it's interesting because if they vote, think about it for a minute.
00:12:58.600You know, I was I was talking to the guys at the office today about it.
00:13:02.680If they vote no or yes to stay in Canada.
00:13:07.440Right. So they vote to stay. They don't want to go to separation.
00:13:11.000the next step they vote yes but they vote uh positively on all the other questions so they
00:13:18.340vote for all the other questions that really sends a resounding uh it's interesting if that
00:13:23.760did happen because quite frankly that's what they want but they don't want to separate but they want
00:13:29.480you to come up with the other things it's it's kind of like those polls that we see mike all the
00:13:34.020time where we ask canadians we say you know um do you want do you want to fight against tariffs and
00:13:40.800they say yes and then basically when we say if it cost you a hundred dollars would you still fight
00:13:46.880against tariffs and they resoundingly vote no no yeah but it's kind of one of those conundrums that
00:13:53.340she's in you know if they if they all vote yes that they want all the immigration changes and
00:13:58.780they want constitutional changes and then they vote no we're not we don't want to separate then
00:14:03.640quite frankly she's she's got to go out and fight really hard because that's the difference that you
00:14:09.100know, that's the differentiator, really. That's such a good point. Yeah, you can't, that's such
00:14:16.040a good point. You can't just get out there, and it feels like a poll. That was a really interesting
00:14:21.960thing you just said, because this election process, to me, is a poll on steroids, if you will,
00:14:31.460because everybody's going to get out and participate in it. The effectiveness of it,
00:14:36.320the there's no exacting change metric that anybody can attach to the results of this because the
00:14:43.520battle then has to be fought or not fought yeah yeah it's interesting no it's very complicated
00:14:51.060you know it's interesting before i got on with you mike the um they were saying that the uh
00:14:56.560polling the centers the election centers are delayed already because like they suspected
00:15:04.260people are having a hard time going through all the questions and figuring out you know
00:15:11.040so you think about it and they sent the interesting thing is they sent the questions to people in
00:15:17.580advance to show them what it would look like so they sent them like a mock-up of what they were
00:15:22.960going to see when they went into the so they did that in advance and so now people are going their
00:15:28.600life but you know not many people have time to sit there and you know think about all the election
00:15:33.440mail you get in your mailbox every week. They don't have time to sit around and go through all
00:15:38.360those things. So they obviously, you know. But also, Paul, you get it in the mail. Let's say
00:15:42.940you get it or it's in the paper and you read it and you have a question about three of those
00:15:47.480questions. You went through them with me and two of them I distinctly went, what? What does that
00:15:53.180mean? Yeah. Well, it's okay to see them, but there's no answers to those questions. And I'm
00:15:59.960hearing that they're going to let if you're in line in time for eight o'clock, you will be allowed
00:16:04.320to vote. That's the the elections, Alberta elections officials response to that. And that
00:16:12.120that's great. But it is. I don't mean to laugh, but it's of course, if you it's a driver's test,
00:16:18.760for God's sake. It is. It is. And so then you have the risk of error of people reading the
00:16:25.680question wrong, answering the wrong question. I think it's number five, where they actually
00:16:34.880ask the question, do you think people should need ID to vote? And then you just showed up
00:16:42.620with your ID to vote. You're looking at it and thinking, is this a trick question? I don't know.
00:16:47.420Because I did. I showed my ID on the way in. Are you guys trying to catch me? Yeah.
00:16:52.480It's very strange. Well, I think that that is, that's the recipe for disaster that is potential here. I think the intention was good, certainly as a Canadian that's, you know, I've been here my whole life, to see Canadians come together and want Alberta to stay for some of the expressions that were nonpartisan that were expressed were beautiful.
00:17:14.500You know, I think that a lot of the steam was taken out of the sale of Kearney over the weekend because his focus had to shift to this horrible moment at the CAF base.
00:17:29.500But I do think that a lot of energy arrived in Alberta last week to save the day.
00:17:38.800If that was required based on what's going on today, I'm not sure.
00:17:42.500But that sentiment was resoundingly there. I think that, you know, just about everybody thinks it is going to be a landslide, stay in Canada vote. But it's these other questions, Paul, that remain in the air that I think are the fine, you know, it's the headline that we're burying in some of those questions.
00:18:04.640hey you know it's interesting mike and i sent it to you this morning and for those
00:18:08.480which i think again i find it interesting how uh donald trump was in kentucky on the weekend
00:18:16.560and uh he he he gave a speech he gave us you know he's for the midterms he's there trying to push
00:18:23.680forward you know his agenda for republicans vote for me not the candidate because you know that's
00:18:29.360going to make the change for america and he was very interesting the approach he took i thought
00:18:35.200because he sat down and he said you know uh i definitely didn't like he says i don't trudeau
00:18:41.520was you know didn't like trudeau said nasty things about trudeau and then he said i like this new guy
00:18:48.880but you know when it comes to tariffs i don't like him and then he went on to talk about which i
00:18:57.120thought was a really interesting approach he went on to talk about health care in canada and the 90
00:19:04.000billion dollar uh trade deficit that he he that he assumes so or he always uh leans toward and it was
00:19:12.480very interesting because on the the heels of this vote we have donald trump come out and probably
00:19:19.760make his most dominant statement about uh canada when a referendum is happening in one of our well
00:19:28.800our wealthiest province so you know it's interesting because they they they allude
00:19:34.080all to the time that canada is going to get involved in the midterms but yet when we're
00:19:38.880on the cusp of doing a uh you know an essential or critical vote in the country he plays into it on