Join Western Standard Opinion Editor Nigel Hannaford, Editor-in-Chief Dave Naylor, and Legislative reporter Arthur Green, as well as reporter Jonathan Bradley, as they discuss the upcoming debate between the two main parties in the Alberta election.
00:00:28.880We're also going to have our Alberta legislative reporter in Edmonton, Arthur Green, joining
00:00:35.280us, as well as one of our Calgary reporters, Jonathan Bradley, joining us in a moment.
00:00:39.680We're going to be talking about the big debate coming up tonight, but also news that came
00:00:46.340out yesterday afternoon, NDP claiming that one of the UCB candidates is transphobic.
00:00:52.720That was definitely on my bingo card for this election.
00:00:55.660The ethics commissioner has finally come out with her report released just moments ago that
00:01:03.500slapped Smith on the wrist a bit for talking to Tyler Shandro about pardons for people convicted
00:01:11.900of non-violent COVID charges during lockdowns, etc., but also clearing her entirely of anything
00:01:20.220appropriate with prosecutors, as was alleged by the NDP and the CBC.
00:01:24.800And surprise, definitely on my election bingo card, a fourth NDP candidate, exposed now with links to communism, sharing pro-communist materials, etc.
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00:02:10.140Okay, we're going to start with the big debate.
00:02:13.400We talked about this yesterday, but this is such a pivotal moment normally in every campaign.
00:06:01.600But the media do pay attention if there's something that comes out about UCP candidates.
00:06:07.300And, Arthur, the NDP came up with a claim, maybe a recording or at least a transcript of a recording,
00:06:14.680that they say proves the UCP candidate in Lacombe-Pinocca is transphobic.
00:06:20.440The Alberta NDP is actually calling for Jennifer Johnson to resign.
00:06:25.020It released an audio recording from last fall when the NDP claims that Johnson is heard making these transphobic comments.
00:06:34.500The comments were, it does not matter that we're in the top 3% of the world.
00:06:38.700Who cares that they got 89% in Chemistry 30?
00:06:42.500Who cares that they're entering post-secondary if they're chemically castrated?
00:06:46.540Johnson said in the recording while implying that grades don't matter if children are mutilated.
00:06:53.060The NDP then claimed Johnson was talking about Alberta's high test scores, how they don't matter because students are transgender.
00:07:03.540In the conversation, she says, enjoy the cookies.
00:07:07.060I only put a teaspoon of poop in them, but it doesn't matter because it's only a teaspoon in the whole batch.
00:07:13.320The NDP claimed Johnson said this, which is comparing trans people to mixing a teaspoon of feces into a batched baked of goods.
00:07:24.340The comments were made by Johnson at a Western Unity group forum last September.
00:07:31.860Okay, so what I'm trying to get a sense of, I think what you were saying, at least in the first part, the way I'm reading this, Nigel, is that she, I think, is trying to make the point, probably pretty clumsily,
00:07:48.140but trying to make the point that someone can be performing well in school, but, you know, if ideology, you know, gender ideology is leading them to go down the road of transition, we're screwing the kid up.
00:08:15.220But I do think that, you know, what she was saying, she's speaking for a lot of people when she says, it doesn't matter how good your education system is in turning out people with qualifications.
00:08:27.200If, at the same time, you're turning them out to be unsure of themselves, to the point that you would, that they would be wanting puberty blockers, like this is not doing kids a service.
00:08:44.000If adults want to change sex when they're old enough, that's a different discussion.
00:08:48.660But the education system should not be proud of the fact that it is counseling children, some as young as eight or nine, I'm told, but certainly in their teens, are they sure they're the right sex?
00:09:06.240If she is reacting to that, I think she is speaking for a vast majority of people.
00:09:10.380So, Nigel, she is a little clear on that part, but when you get her comments about pooping the cookie batter, at an absolute bare minimum, a weird, clumsy way of making a point.
00:09:25.320This has been interpreted by the Calgary Herald, the NDP, CBC, as meaning that if you have transgender kids in a school,
00:09:36.740it's essentially tainting the school, tainting their test results, I don't think that's what she was saying.
00:09:43.800I think she was talking about the gender ideology of things, tainting the outcomes of education.
00:09:52.300But maybe I'm wrong, because it's very confusing.
00:11:16.300Arthur, any sign that this is having any impact on the campaign trail?
00:11:21.460I wouldn't believe that it would affect the campaign trail, Derek.
00:11:26.260I mean, I spoke with the United Conservative Party yesterday and they told me that she already addressed the issue about the NDP claims.
00:11:35.660You know, Johnson did tell me that the comments she made were last year and were based on what she saw parents experiencing in the United States, not Alberta classrooms.
00:11:48.380She said the situation in Alberta is quite different.
00:11:51.420For example, if parents are concerned about content in classrooms, there is a process that can be followed with the school division.
00:11:58.680And ultimately could go to the teaching profession commissioner if there was a serious issue.
00:12:04.200So, Johnson, you know, she says that she's talking about the U.S. and not Alberta classrooms.
00:12:14.100I'm willing to give a grant a charitable reading that she was not comparing trans kids to feces.
00:12:21.280Although I'm not really buying that she was talking about the United States.
00:12:24.880There clearly are these issues in Alberta and Canadian schools.
00:12:49.200Arthur, not long ago, the ethics commissioner released her report into complaints made by the NDP against UCP leader Danielle Smith,
00:12:59.560alleging that it was inappropriate for her to speak to Justice Minister Tyler Shandrow,
00:13:05.320but also repeating the claims made by the CBC that Danielle Smith had directly interfered with Justice by contacting Crown prosecutors trying to get them to drop cases against nonviolent charges relating to people breaking, you know, mandates and lockdowns and things like that.
00:13:28.820Basically, the report says that Premier Smith contravened in the Conflicts of Interest Act in her interaction with the Justice Minister.
00:13:39.520Also, Smith says that the report actually confirms that CBC and the NDP lied in regarding to Crown Prosecutor contact.
00:13:50.280You know, Smith was basically cleared of all the allegations made by the CBC and the NDP.
00:13:58.480And, you know, her office contacted the Crowns about the case, but there was no recommendations made with respect to sanctions against the Premier.
00:14:09.020But, you know, the ethics commissioner says she reserves the right to make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly once it's back in session.
00:14:25.100She has been kind of slapped on the wrist for talking to the Justice Minister, Tyler Shandrow, about this.
00:14:32.480That was maybe kind of leaning on, that could be perceived at least as putting pressure on him to do this because he's also the Attorney General.
00:14:40.680That's an important role that in Alberta at least is combined with Justice Minister.
00:14:45.240But then exonerating Smith from the CBC's allegations, which she has filed a notice of defamation for, or at least warned that she'll go to take them to court over, that she had directly contacted Crown prosecutors to lean on them.
00:15:04.000I think that was definitely the more serious of the charges.
00:15:06.940That would be direct intervention, interference in the justice system.
00:15:11.720On balance, though, the way this will play out in the media, the way it will play out in the campaign trail, is this a good news or bad news report?
00:15:18.980The bad news is she has been found guilty of contravating the act.
00:15:22.360You know, as she points out, well, how is a premier supposed to get legal knowledge from the justice minister if you can't ask him about it?
00:15:32.860So she's had her hand slapped about that, has, you know, admitted it, but basically says, you know, what am I supposed to do?
00:15:41.580Could the ethics commissioner give us some advice as to how a premier can get some information?
00:15:46.140That Smith is going to claim a huge win on the CBC and the NDP, and it is.
00:15:52.680They went for weeks with damaging headlines saying that Smith had directly tried to intervene.
00:16:28.980But that's not new information that we've learned.
00:16:31.920And I guess what we have learned is that, at least in the ethics commissioner's opinion from the investigation, that she did not directly contact and lean on the Crown prosecutors.
00:16:42.820And that was definitely, I think, the bigger one.
00:16:51.040But then there's the Crown prosecutors one.
00:16:52.820Do you think with this, now this doesn't mean definitively that she didn't, but it means that the investigation found that she didn't.
00:17:02.500Well, I think we'll have to sort of go with what the investigation says.
00:17:05.800So do you, I mean, Smith is claiming victory here.
00:17:08.740Of course, like everyone's always going to put the most positive spin on things possible.
00:17:13.340If it's about you, if it's about your opponent, you're always going to put the most negative spin on things possible.
00:17:19.440How do you think this is going to impact the campaign, especially considering the debate is this evening?
00:17:24.560Oh, I think it'll be a factor in the debate this evening, absolutely, because it's so fresh off the pot and most people haven't had a chance to consider it.
00:17:31.760In the end, if the UCP plays its hand right, this is kind of inside baseball stuff.
00:17:41.780These kinds of scandals haven't hurt the prime minister.
00:17:44.760Lord knows, what is he, up to six ethical violations now?
00:17:48.120And I don't think in the long term it's going to hurt Smith, especially when she can say, look, I have a justice minister to get advice from.
00:19:16.160But you've now got, let's turn now, what's behind door number, NDP candidate number four, Jonathan?
00:19:23.620What's behind red door number four is Alberta NDP candidate Jodi Callahoo-Stonehouse.
00:19:28.560And she's running it in Edmonton, Rutherford.
00:19:31.160And Callahoo-Stonehouse linked to a statement on Facebook about communism being on the horizon and queer indigenous feminism being the way.
00:19:38.500Okay, so I just did the math in the back of my head.
00:19:46.480I think we're day number 18 of the campaign.
00:20:08.740So Jonathan, can you repeat the quote again?
00:20:12.920So Jodi Callahoo-Stonehouse, who's running in Edmonton, Rutherford, shared a statement on Facebook about communism being on the horizon and queer indigenous feminism being the way.
00:20:23.620And the statement involves the Red Nation, which is the group that put up this statement, declaring that they stand with and move people as they move with the earth.
00:20:32.460And they talk about the masses and how we're uniting with the masses.
00:20:35.460And they mention how they're going to go to the streets carrying the torch as the revolutionary moment flares.
00:20:45.520And they speak about imperialism and how it's bad and how they're going to change society.
00:22:20.840I mean, just, you know, it wasn't one every four and a half days.
00:22:23.820Nigel, do gays and indigenous people lead to communism?
00:22:29.820Communist dialectics, Derek, as you well know, says that you use whatever is to hand if it makes the point that you want to make and moves people in the direction.
00:22:38.080So they can probably make that work if they want to.
00:22:40.480But as soon as they got where they want, they'll dump that, like, very quickly.
00:22:46.540You know, the stunning thing about this is people are always going around looking up what you said on Facebook 10 years ago, what you tweeted out in the middle of the night once when you were angry.
00:22:59.680Well, I don't honestly say that because somebody puts up a picture of Karl Marx, that he's actually a communist, a card carrying communist.
00:23:11.760But you do tend to put up what you identify with.
00:23:15.580And why would you want to identify with a movement that in the 20th century killed probably 100 million people in Russia and in China and in various other places?
00:23:50.400And their country went from being OK to being in the toilet because of calling them communism.
00:23:56.040But these NDP candidates, it doesn't seem to faze them.
00:23:58.980Rod Loyola, you know, we've said here several times, you know, had a weird kind of communist prayer made to Hugo Chavez after he died.
00:24:10.240You know, it's a fair point, a very good point, Nigel, that, you know, just because someone said something on their social media history shouldn't necessarily define them.
00:24:20.220Both sides are going to try and dig around for stuff.
00:24:22.860I won't belabor the point, but, you know, the NDP can release an audio recording of a UCP candidate having a fart in a public washroom 10 years ago.
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00:26:16.800Thank you very much for joining us today.
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