Western Standard - Alberta in the Crosshairs

00:00:00.000 Welcome to the Corey Morgan Show.

00:00:29.260 my name is Josh Anderson. I am the chief food correspondent here at the Western Standard.

00:00:33.660 Here's the twist. Corey is on vacation and I have taken over his show. So let's get to it,

00:00:38.580 shall we? But before we do, let's give a shout out to our sponsors. This episode of the Corey

00:00:43.680 Morgan Show is sponsored by New World Precious Metals based right here in Alberta. Years of

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00:00:53.560 Gold and silver are the only currencies that have held their value for thousands of years.

00:00:58.240 Last year saw 30% gains.

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00:01:09.200 I want to get the show started off today with our news editor, Dave Naylor.

00:01:13.980 Dave is a longtime Western Standard guy, one of my favorite people on the website.

00:01:19.300 Dave, what do you know today? What's going on in the news?

00:01:22.600 You're not Corey Morgan.

00:01:24.220 Oh, right. Sorry, I'm not Corey Morgan.

00:01:26.280 cory morgan's on vacation i know nobody i know cory morgan sir and you're no cory morgan

00:01:33.080 oh we're busted so you've come down from your exalted position as western standard

00:01:39.560 chief food critic yeah corresponding lowering yourself to replace cory i i actually think this

00:01:45.560 is an improvement i've always thought of the food critic job as more of a stepping stone

00:01:50.520 into cory's job and uh cory so far is only on vacation for one week if it becomes three or four

00:01:55.880 We might have to do a welfare check to make sure, and the cops may be after me.

00:02:01.160 But we'll see how that goes anyways.

00:02:04.340 Well, I'm sure it'll go very well.

00:02:05.740 I think it will.

00:02:07.420 Yeah, it's another busy day in the news, Josh.

00:02:10.740 Breaking just right now is apparently there's been a deal reached between Hamas and the Israelis

00:02:16.660 to end the fighting in Gaza for a couple of months and hopefully start releasing some hostages.

00:02:25.880 As early as Sunday, of course, either side could change their mind at any second, and I think a lot is going to depend on how many of the hostages right now are dead and what the Israeli reaction to that will be, especially around the children and the babies and stuff like that.

00:02:46.520 So it's going to be an interesting few days, especially with Donald Trump.

00:02:52.200 You know, his shadow is cast over everything now.

00:02:58.280 And in Ottawa today, the Liberals rolled out their $1.3 billion plan to protect the border.

00:03:06.800 And what do we have, 8,000 kilometers long?

00:03:09.740 Something like that, yeah.

00:03:10.060 They're buying two Black Hawk helicopters.

00:03:12.540 Oh, really?

00:03:13.080 i mean they look really cool and you see them in the uh the iraq wars uh yeah u.s pilots and

00:03:19.880 and all that sort of stuff so uh i'm not sure if they're going to be armed with missiles and

00:03:24.280 blow people up coming across the border are they new or are they pre-owned that's a good question 1.00

00:03:29.560 i don't know but it's interesting how uh uh the rcmp can get two new black hawk helicopters in a

00:03:36.920 couple days where if you're in the military and you want a new pair of boots that takes 10 years

00:03:41.560 oh yeah yeah yeah there's uh some interesting procurement uh stuff going on uh speaking of

00:03:48.840 trump uh it's a first ministers conference uh in ottawa today led by trudeau and all the premiers

00:03:55.240 are there except for danielle smith who's on holiday so she's uh she's attending by zoom

00:04:01.880 she said this morning okay everybody keep calm you know take a deep breath uh doug ford said

00:04:08.200 tariffs are no doubt on the way and took a page out of Donald Trump's playbook by wearing a hat.

00:04:15.640 Oh, did he? Yeah, Canada is not for sale. Oh. Which, you know, you don't often see a Canadian 0.92

00:04:23.400 Premier in a baseball cap. No, I'd like to see how well he can throw, actually, if he's going to wear

00:04:29.960 a ball cap. Yeah, yeah. There's a photo op for you, Doug. There's a photo op. Yesterday, the US House

00:04:37.960 past a or past a motion republican motion banning transgendered kids from competing in women's

00:04:44.680 sports and vice versa so if you're born a man a man you cannot then go and compete against

00:04:50.920 girls and this is uh from kindergarten through grade 12. it doesn't affect you know professional 1.00

00:04:59.240 olympic stuff like that or even college i'm guessing yeah or even college but you know i

00:05:04.920 I guess a start is a start.

00:05:08.280 Yep.

00:05:10.040 Carney is, oh, he hasn't gone away, but he's back in the news this morning.

00:05:15.800 We've got a story saying, you know, he loves Greta Thunberg.

00:05:19.860 Oh, really?

00:05:20.800 Yeah, that little poison dwarf is the bee's knees, according to Carney. 1.00

00:05:26.260 and he's expected to kick off his

00:05:29.700 bid for the Liberal Party leadership in Edmonton

00:05:33.860 on Thursday, going to be introduced by Calgary

00:05:37.500 Liberal George Shahall. So now we know why

00:05:41.560 Shahall was demanding you to resign.

00:05:43.980 So he didn't announce on Jon Stewart

00:05:49.640 then, he was just down there.

00:05:51.220 He was just down there being, you know,

00:05:53.940 it's it's carney hasn't given an interview with any canadian media no he's an outsider like outside

00:06:00.020 yeah yeah uh but he does john stewart and trudeau does all those cnn things so it seems like

00:06:08.880 canadian politicians are more interested in talking to american media folks which is shocking

00:06:14.540 if you consider the bailout money you know what i mean like i mean they gave him a bunch of money

00:06:20.120 and then still don't even go on their shows.

00:06:23.780 No.

00:06:24.220 And this is fresh from Trudeau canceling all his year-end interviews.

00:06:28.400 Also, note to Trudeau and Mark Carney,

00:06:31.200 I'm always willing to interview you on the Corey Morgan Show

00:06:34.480 when Corey Morgan's on vacation.

00:06:36.120 So just a shout-out to you guys.

00:06:38.940 You're always welcome on the Corey Morgan Show if I'm hosting,

00:06:42.080 which isn't all the time.

00:06:43.020 So anyways, back to you, Dave.

00:06:44.080 And this may be the last time.

00:06:45.600 Yes, it may be the last time.

00:06:47.260 Depending on how it goes.

00:06:48.500 Yeah, exactly.

00:06:49.100 Derek don't fire me yes well you know Derek doesn't even watch right I know exactly he's

00:06:54.520 too busy running around doesn't have time to watch he can run now though that's bonus so

00:06:58.920 yeah that's true but he doesn't have his cane so he's less he's less he can't he can't like

00:07:03.840 hit you yeah kick you in the shin he can try he can try it's a German military boot 0.86

00:07:09.280 that's gonna get it gotta give credit to the Globe and Mail they had a good story today on 0.99

00:07:15.080 missing students. Students come

00:07:17.240 in

00:07:17.580 to study. They get their student visa.

00:07:21.520 50,000 of them have now

00:07:23.180 disappeared and

00:07:24.880 Canadian officials don't know where they are.

00:07:28.040 So like they don't

00:07:29.200 have any record of them crossing a border?

00:07:31.060 No, they've got records of them coming here, but then

00:07:33.120 they sort of don't go to school and

00:07:34.960 disappear.

00:07:37.160 50,000?

00:07:38.280 50,000. That's a lot of people,

00:07:41.400 Joe. That's a lot of

00:07:42.200 money too. It is.

00:07:45.080 like is there the total on because they have they get government funding don't they of course i'm

00:07:49.960 sure they'll be on government grants you know in another name or someplace like that but it just

00:07:55.640 shows you the uh the complete mess that the canadian immigration system is in well exactly 0.91

00:08:01.480 and that's been an issue for a long time i know with uh migration and housing as well the

00:08:05.800 international influx of students has been a huge headwind in terms of affordable housing so it'll

00:08:11.720 be interesting to see 50 000 people that are on the lam for lack of a better term uh we'll see if

00:08:17.800 they can find those people yeah uh and uh coming up this afternoon uh one o'clock calgary time

00:08:24.840 uh justin trudeau expected to hold a press conference after the first minister's meeting

00:08:29.400 so we'll uh reporter james snell will be on that and we'll see what kind of word salad the prime

00:08:35.000 minister has to offer uh today yeah it'll be interesting especially considering he's effectively

00:08:41.080 quit um i don't know how much legitimacy he has and i and we'll talk about this later in the show

00:08:46.840 but i think there's a growing frustration with eastern politicians and the fact that they're

00:08:52.360 using our energy resources as effectively a pawn in this uh we'll call it a negotiation 0.76

00:08:58.920 uh scheme so we'll get into that a bit later um what else interesting dynamic yeah you know doug

00:09:04.680 Ford says, you know, we could maybe use energy as a bargaining chip, and Daniel Smith says,

00:09:10.420 over my dead body. So, you know, Daniel, the Premier said earlier this week, you know,

00:09:16.960 it could evoke a constitutional crisis if Ottawa tries to block the exports of Alberta oil to the

00:09:25.400 United States. Yeah, and I don't see a lot of chatter about using Ontario's industries as

00:09:31.400 pawns in this negotiation either. It's just Alberta and our vast energy resources and natural

00:09:38.120 resources. I think that is a part of the issue, especially considering the fact that Alberta does

00:09:42.180 own our natural resources. So that's what the constitution says. Section 92, section 92, Dave.

00:09:46.960 And I think a lot of the eastern politicians are forgetting that the pipeline for oil runs down

00:09:53.300 through the states and then up into Sarnia. So if you cut off your exports to the states,

00:09:59.420 people in sardine aren't getting their oil and that fuels all of uh ontario and quebec so yeah

00:10:04.980 you know what i never thought that i would ever see an ontario premier threatening to freeze his

00:10:09.760 own people in the dark but hey uh if it works it works i guess right way to go doug yeah well he's

00:10:16.120 uh he's uh probably likely to be going into a spring election uh so he's you know he's being

00:10:23.120 all raw raw and team canada and stuff like that so obviously that's going to be his uh his election

00:10:28.780 fight okay all right that's all i got man i got a head cold and i'd like to go back to my deathbed

00:10:34.580 now you know what i will allow that um and i will even put a good word into derek to let you go home

00:10:39.900 a little bit early today what like if he watches this show and uh yeah we know he doesn't yeah we

00:10:45.560 know he doesn't so i might have thanks for nothing josh i did my best i might go to his office and

00:10:50.120 try and do a favor for you get behind that door go for it i will sounds good all right thanks

00:10:55.720 dave okay we'll let you go thank you thanks for coming on and uh we'll jump right into the next

00:11:01.980 section prime minister justin trudeau entered 2025 on a rough note when canada's fastest finance

00:11:09.140 minister christia freeland announced she was speeding towards the exit alarm bells must have

00:11:13.720 been going off in the prime minister's office freeland's resignation was a devastating blow

00:11:18.620 to trudeau's ability to lead the liberal party let alone the entire government she was his minister

00:11:24.260 of everything, dutifully carrying out the instructions of the dear Prime Minister.

00:11:29.140 Losing the trust of your top lieutenant is a blow in itself. As Finance Minister, Freeland

00:11:34.060 had set a self-imposed deficit cap of $40 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year. The Liberal government

00:11:40.400 blew right through it, running the deficit to $60 billion. That's a big number. Somewhere between

00:11:47.240 $40 and $60 billion, Justin Trudeau decided he wanted a new Finance Minister. And on Friday,

00:11:54.100 the 13th of December, lucky day to pick, he informed Freeland that she would be shuffled

00:11:59.820 out of the finance portfolio. To put it shortly, Freeland beat him to it and quit on Monday.

00:12:05.600 She's very fast. With the eyes of the entire nation on Ottawa, Trudeau accepted Freeland's

00:12:11.260 resignation and went on about his day as if nothing had happened. So after a day of meetings

00:12:17.440 and speeches and other prime ministerial duties, with his nose held high, he jetted off on a nice

00:12:23.580 quiet and reflective holiday to the mountains in B.C. 0.94

00:12:29.500 Mr. Prime Minister, please get the f*** out of B.C.

00:12:35.960 Have a wonderful day, ma'am. 1.00

00:12:37.360 Yeah, you suck. 1.00

00:12:39.220 I don't think that was the walk in the snow our dear Prime Minister expected. 1.00

00:12:44.380 Trudeau finally ended all speculation about his future and mercifully announced his intention

00:12:49.560 to resign before Parliament returns from the proroguing granted by the Governor-General.

00:12:54.700 Not that he had another choice. All three major opposition parties, the required majority of the

00:13:01.500 House, had made it clear that they would vote no confidence in the government as soon as Parliament

00:13:06.320 reconvened. In order to avoid a humiliating election defeat, Trudeau had to go. Internal

00:13:13.040 liberal voices were growing louder, calling on the Prime Minister to swallow his pride and get the

00:13:17.780 blank out of office so he did announcing his intention to resign as prime minister by march

00:13:23.860 24th now our nation's political system is paralyzed for three months as the liberals select a new

00:13:30.060 leader and a prime minister in the meantime canada's economy is weak our streets are ridden

00:13:34.980 with crime and our taxes are rising morale is dropping across the country people are concerned

00:13:41.560 about their futures and they should be canada is not healthy canada is vulnerable incoming

00:13:47.320 American President Donald Trump knows this. He has deeply held frustrations about our trade

00:13:52.540 relationship. And he likes Trudeau about as much as I do. Trump has threatened a blanket 25% tariff

00:13:59.240 on all goods crossing the border. This is bad news for the Canadian economy, the United States

00:14:04.140 being by far our largest trading partner. Industries such as auto, ag and energy will

00:14:09.720 be severely impacted. Our Laurentian brothers in confederation don't seem too interested in

00:14:15.040 lowering the temperature either. Is your government prepared to cut off supplies of

00:14:20.960 energy, for example, to the United States? What I can tell you is everything is on the

00:14:25.380 table. We attack livelihoods of people of Ontario and Canadians. We're going to use 1.00

00:14:29.560 every tool in our toolbox to defend Ontarians and Canadians across the border. We will go

00:14:35.440 to the full extent, depending on how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off

00:14:40.920 their energy. Look, I don't have a doctorate in trade theory, but I don't think aggressive

00:14:46.120 posturing is going to do us any favors. The president-elect is openly musing about annex

00:14:51.120 in Canada, and I think this is a negotiation play. But Trump's 51st state taunts have had an impact

00:14:57.440 on the psyche of our political leaders and have exploded a few talking heads because it plays on

00:15:03.640 a divisive element that has existed in Canadian politics for decades. Most Western Canadians are

00:15:08.840 located much closer to the U.S. border than we are to the federal government in Ottawa.

00:15:13.020 This means that in many cases, cross-border integration has been a vital part in the

00:15:18.180 development of our industries. So when Ottawa brings in policies to protect Canadian interests

00:15:23.620 at the expense of Western Canadian provinces, such as Alberta, we have a tendency to get upset.

00:15:29.920 Think of the National Energy Program or the Canadian Wheat Board, just as two prominent

00:15:34.080 examples. And why has nobody suggested we cut off exports from the automotive industry? Or why not

00:15:40.280 just cut off all experts from the province of Ontario? What about the abolishment of the supply

00:15:45.100 management system designed to protect predominantly Quebecois farmers? Why do these Laurentians 1.00

00:15:51.200 constantly target Alberta as the scapegoat? This is exactly why when most Albertans hear the phrase

00:15:57.600 I'm from Ottawa and I'm here to help, they start running for the exit. Now cutting off the flow of

00:16:03.380 natural resources from Canada to the United States, as Premier Daniel Smith puts it,

00:16:09.500 cause a national unity crisis. Here's the thing I find irritating about Eastern politicians

00:16:16.580 making that argument. The reason I find it irritating is because we could have had Energy

00:16:23.540 East, which would have expanded our ability to support our friends in Eastern Canada and also

00:16:29.860 been an export market off the East Coast. We could have had Northern Gateway, which would have

00:16:35.860 expanded and supported export markets in a more substantial way off the West Coast. And Eastern

00:16:42.940 politicians advocated against those things. And so we went to work on expanding our access to the

00:16:49.500 United States with additional egress, with twinning, with looping. We did that because the rest of the

00:16:56.940 country wasn't interested in having that conversation. So to now make the argument

00:17:01.700 that that's a point of leverage is going to be very, very irritating, not only to me,

00:17:06.980 but also to my fellow Albertans. It is irritating. Not only do Laurentian

00:17:14.420 politicians limit our access to export markets in other parts of the world, they also, through the

00:17:20.200 principle of equalization, rob us blind every time we pay our taxes. I'm not just talking about the

00:17:26.600 formal equalization program either which hit a record 26.2 billion in aggregate size in 2024

00:17:32.480 with 13.6 billion going to Quebec alone due to Alberta's higher per capita income Alberta workers

00:17:39.600 pay more on average in taxes and yet only receive in theory per capita federal spending through

00:17:46.160 major programs about 14 percent of all federal government revenue is generated in the province

00:17:52.400 of Alberta, home to only about 11.5% of the population. The federal government actually

00:17:57.560 spends less than 11.5% of expenditures on programs in Alberta. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to

00:18:04.780 figure out we're getting hosed here. From Alberta, Smith's approach has been much more diplomatic.

00:18:10.700 She understands the importance of cross-border integration and the vital role it plays in

00:18:15.480 maintaining a healthy relationship with the United States. For months, she has been seeking U.S.

00:18:20.600 allies, and even had a quick chinwag with the president-elect in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

00:18:26.020 On Monday, she will be attending Trump's inauguration in Washington. What does this all

00:18:30.560 mean? The worst possible outcome in all of this is a scenario in which Smith's diplomacy actually

00:18:36.620 does prove to be a more effective approach, and Alberta's energy exports are exempted.

00:18:42.040 In that case, in retaliation, as we indicated earlier, Ottawa could slap restrictions on our

00:18:49.440 side of the border, limiting the flow of energy products south, all while being prorogued and

00:18:54.860 being led by a lame duck prime minister who, in all fairness, did get the out of office.

00:19:02.260 I think it's more likely that no tariffs are or that the tariffs are applied and no exceptions

00:19:07.700 are applied. And in that sense, the tariffs hit all industries evenly. Regardless, the absolute

00:19:13.820 lack of diplomatic tact from our eastern brethren puts Alberta in a tough spot and it proves once 1.00

00:19:20.200 again that we cannot allow Ottawa to act as our spokesman in international affairs. It is vital

00:19:26.300 that our provincial government defend our interests on the international stage. Our federal government

00:19:30.820 is in shambles, our economy is a joke, and in the void our political leaders are escalating rhetoric

00:19:37.580 in a trade war that I for one don't want. With that we turn to United Conservative Party MLA

00:19:43.720 representing Red Deer South Jason Stephan. Jason thanks for joining us how are you doing today?

00:19:48.200 Hey thank you so much Josh it's great associating with you on many great things

00:19:54.200 and it's great to be here on the Western Standard with you.

00:19:57.320 Well yeah no we're always happy to have you. I guess first question I wanted to ask you is

00:20:02.280 what extent we know that there is a lot of cross-border integration between Canada and

00:20:07.560 united states uh what extent uh or what impact do you think these tariffs are going to have

00:20:13.720 on alberta's economy and do you think that the approach of the premier is the right one

00:20:18.600 in being more diplomatic in the face of uh of some of our eastern partners in confederation being

00:20:24.840 in my opinion at least overly aggressive yeah i think it's important for albertans and canadians

00:20:30.920 to to know that in terms of the type of exports from canada to the u.s uh oil and natural energy

00:20:41.640 products uh you know dwarf really everything else in comparison i have uh just an estimate

00:20:49.960 of canadian exports to the us for 2023 and crude oil accounts for over 130 billion

00:20:59.560 in export value to the U.S. and Canadian dollars. And the next commodity or product

00:21:08.200 is medium petrol cars at $22 billion. And if you take all of the manufacturing in terms of cars

00:21:17.980 and machinery, crude oil in and of itself exceeds the aggregate value of all those other commodities

00:21:29.520 uh and we have even talked about uh things like propane natural gas just crude oil by itself

00:21:36.720 uh dwarfs everything else it's quite uh it's quite significant so of course these

00:21:42.480 tariffs would really cause a lot of pain disproportionately to alberta but of course

00:21:48.240 when alberta doesn't win canada doesn't win because as you mentioned and as we know really

00:21:54.960 Alberta disproportionately funds everything else in Canada. Just on your second question,

00:22:02.540 the Premier has been doing a wonderful job. I mean, I think it starts from a basic position that

00:22:09.080 the Premier, myself, many Albertans appreciate and value the United States.

00:22:14.640 They are a great country. And because the United States, we enjoy in Alberta and in Canada,

00:22:21.180 increase prosperity. So I appreciate the Premier's efforts to focus on seeking a win-win

00:22:29.240 result, focusing on how trade between the two nations has contributed to mutual prosperity

00:22:36.660 and benefit and goodwill for the countries. And so seeking a win-win relationship is the

00:22:44.400 right approach here. And so I really appreciate the leadership of the Premier on this and

00:22:51.020 certainly there's a big contrast between unfortunately some of the other leaders in the

00:22:57.020 country. My next question is about the economy and about the dollar. Canada's economy over the last

00:23:03.320 few years by almost every indicator that I've seen is lagging the United States which has led to a

00:23:08.960 divergence in the currency a weaker Canadian dollar. I was just wondering if you could comment

00:23:12.880 on that and give us some feedback on why our relationship with the United States is so

00:23:18.020 important in maintaining economic stability within the country of canada yeah i mean the us dollar

00:23:25.540 is sort of the safe harbor currency uh throughout the world and so of course they have that

00:23:34.020 competitive advantage in their exchange rate vis-a-vis all the other uh nations in the world

00:23:40.340 but this this competitive advantage of the us in particularly impacts canada because of course

00:23:47.780 were neighbors uh with the u.s but because of the destructive socialist policies of the federal

00:23:56.180 government which have led to decrease economic competitiveness for all what we see is unfortunately

00:24:05.620 a divergence in the economic performance that you see i spoke earlier about this from a per capita

00:24:12.980 GDP perspective but it has also impacted our currencies because of course the US economy

00:24:21.540 is performing significantly better than the Canadian economy there has been this interest

00:24:29.460 rate divergence where the Bank of Canada because of the slowing economic concerns in Canada the

00:24:36.660 the recessionary concerns, which are going to come as surely as night follows day in Canada,

00:24:45.020 has been forced to cut interest rates at a quicker rate than the U.S., which is enjoying economic

00:24:54.540 recovery. So the divergence in interest rates are really an indicator or an alignment of the

00:25:02.400 economic performance between the two countries but we have seen a very profound uh recent

00:25:09.360 impact from the canadian dollar we we've seen this now now our our exchange rate to get um

00:25:17.840 one canadian dollar gets you less than 70 cents uh from a u.s perspective uh we were in the mid

00:25:26.240 70s for a long time but the con the the impact here is just beginning is very very concerning

00:25:34.480 because our ability to import capital which improves our productivity it's now going to be

00:25:42.000 more uh difficult more expensive for us to become in that way and while you know we do compete uh

00:25:51.120 from an export perspective perhaps because we have a lower exchange rate versus the us our goods

00:25:59.840 are cheaper in that way it also creates friction because one of the main concerns of the president

00:26:08.000 elect is trade imbalance and if we are depreciating our dollar which impacts us over the long term

00:26:17.040 in a negative way uh this is just going to increase uh that friction so again seeking

00:26:25.040 win-win relationships with greater economic integration will create greater alignment

00:26:33.920 between canada and the u.s a great and prosperous nation the most powerful economic powerhouse in

00:26:43.520 the entire world we want to work together for mutual gain and benefit energy security is

00:26:52.080 absolutely essential to the to the economic well-being of north america is there as we

00:27:00.960 move forward and as negotiations start up is there a way that we can use energy and and our oil and

00:27:07.040 gas products as a a olive branch to the united states in order to have a tariff free type of a

00:27:14.160 relationship in the long run and and do you think that this uh we'll call it a conflict between the

00:27:18.960 two countries opens the door for us to have a better relationship moving forward if we can

00:27:24.720 properly handle this through diplomatic channels i think so i mean when you think about the friends

00:27:31.680 that you have deep friendships i think about my own marriage it's important to be able to have

00:27:38.560 open conversations about things that perhaps you don't necessarily agree on all corners on

00:27:45.840 and so having a robust discussion on focused on the merits is a very positive thing for any

00:27:51.600 relationship you know and when we talk about economic security that's really an aspect of

00:27:59.760 win-win we see other nations colluding together sometimes acting in destructive ways you know

00:28:08.400 our friendship with the u.s other than with other provinces in terms of alberta the u.s

00:28:16.400 and us should be our best customers uh we you know why why buy oil and gas products from

00:28:25.440 countries and nations, which are not our friends, sometimes seeking to undermine and cause harm,

00:28:33.340 we should be uniting together. We share many of the same values of principle, seeking

00:28:40.620 individual prosperity and freedom for all of the citizens of our respective nations.

00:28:47.940 So there's really a great opportunity now to integrate more, you know, to seize upon this

00:28:53.780 as an opportunity to again have that win-win relationship. And again, the premier's focused

00:28:59.400 on that. Unfortunately, some of the other leaders in our country are not. Okay, moving on. Thanks

00:29:06.000 for that answer, Jason. Another question I had was, how about the aspect of the premier actually

00:29:12.880 getting an audience with the president? I know it's very rare for provincial leaders to get that

00:29:18.220 face-to-face time with the president. Kevin O'Leary was on the record of saying that he was

00:29:23.280 very impressed with it. Of course, he was the one that set up the meeting. I was wondering if you'd

00:29:27.140 comment on that and what your thoughts were. Sure. I think it's really remarkable and impressive

00:29:33.880 actually that the Premier was able, you know, a leader of a subnational government of Canada was

00:29:41.260 able to have in-person audience with the President-elect of the United States, the most powerful

00:29:49.120 nation on the earth. You know, the premier has many unique strengths, one of which she is 1.00

00:29:55.960 articulate. She is a great listener. She is intelligent and pleasant. And again, I think that

00:30:03.060 because the premier has been focusing in a constructive manner on a win-win relationship,

00:30:09.200 She is someone that is respected. The president-elect does not respect Trudeau. Trudeau is the worst prime minister that Canada has ever had. He is a horrible lame duck leader. He has caused so much destruction to Canada.

00:30:31.540 I am so glad that 2025, we are going to be changing.

00:30:36.720 Someone that has really been getting in the way, frankly, of Alberta and prosperity for Canada as a whole.

00:30:44.820 But it is such a remarkable thing.

00:30:47.900 She presents herself well, articulate, and again, focusing on win-win relationships.

00:30:54.020 She has really been doing, frankly, the federal government's job, which they have been failing to do.

00:31:00.160 I'm so proud of our premier representing Alberta and Canada in a good way.

00:31:06.980 Yeah, and that brings me to my next question.

00:31:09.440 It does feel to a lot of people that we've been singled out, that Alberta has been singled out in international affairs.

00:31:16.960 And especially in this case where, as we mentioned in the monologue, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie

00:31:28.140 appear to be prepared to effectively throw Alberta under the bus. 0.86

00:31:32.300 I was just wondering if you'd comment on why that makes Alberta Premier Daniel Smith's approach

00:31:37.360 so much more important in defending Alberta's interests in international trade discussions.

00:31:43.820 Well, again, it's an unfortunate pattern.

00:31:47.260 This is not something new.

00:31:48.820 We have seen a pattern of this from other provinces, frankly,

00:31:54.680 certainly the federal government but again this is a lose-lose type of mindset you know again

00:32:04.620 the premier is talking win-win she genuinely genuinely likes the U.S. so do I I respect

00:32:11.720 and admire them I respect and admire many people have respect and admiration and want to have a

00:32:19.560 win-win she likes people i really find it disappointing frankly that again um you know

00:32:27.020 unfortunately there seems to be sort of a bit of a culture of envy uh certainly from the federal

00:32:33.020 government that we're able to succeed in spite of ottawa continually being hostile capricious

00:32:41.400 getting in the way holding us back it's very unfortunate because again they hold back all

00:32:46.300 of Canada. So I like the win-win versus the lose-lose relationship. We should be focusing

00:32:52.860 on the mutual benefits and advantages that we enjoy and seek greater economic independence

00:33:00.620 or interdependence with the US. What does Trudeau say? He says, well, one of the things that define

00:33:07.680 Canadians is we're not Americans. I mean, that is so pathetically weak from the leader of our 0.98

00:33:15.140 country so weak you know and it's kind of insulting it kind of implies an insult to americans as well 0.93

00:33:22.660 i'm just so disappointed this man needs to get out as soon as he can he's getting in the way

00:33:28.740 you know and for the good of canada you know they the lemming caucus of the liberal party

00:33:34.580 has really done a great disservice to the entire nation they should be wiped out

00:33:38.820 in the next election. And frankly, as well as their sidekick mothership NDP, who has aided

00:33:48.340 and abetted destruction for all of Canada. It's very unfortunate. But again, good times are ahead

00:33:54.560 because we get to get rid of these clowns with once and for all, we got to get rid of them. 0.99

00:33:59.620 Yeah. So one of the other issues that the president raised, president-elect raised in 0.98

00:34:04.380 his communications about our international border was a lack of security in terms of

00:34:11.900 both drugs and migrant movement. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the actions

00:34:17.220 that the Alberta government has taken in dealing with this issue and how that puts us in really a

00:34:22.380 better light in terms of our relationship with the incoming president. Well again this again a

00:34:29.520 contrast in relationship. You know, everyone wants to have good border security. Everyone wants to

00:34:39.460 have controlled migration to reduce drugs. You know, unfortunately, again, this federal government

00:34:46.300 has been light on drugs with their support of more drug liberalization with all their drug sites

00:34:57.480 and just ridiculous policies, their open border, out-of-control immigration.

00:35:04.680 And, of course, that lack of security for individuals coming into the country

00:35:10.920 does create risks of more vulnerability, and that's just a matter of public record.

00:35:18.060 So I really appreciate, again, the Premier doing the job of the federal government

00:35:24.100 and focusing on making sure that our borders are more secure and safe that we're harder on drugs

00:35:31.540 and crime and i do appreciate as well that the federal government although it seems to be um

00:35:38.660 later than they should they you know if they had been doing their job in the first place this

00:35:42.980 would not be as much of an issue but they have taken some constructive action and i i do appreciate

00:35:48.900 that that's good there's room for improvement on both sides of the border but i do hope that

00:35:54.100 We do work together, again, for a stronger win-win relationship.

00:35:58.180 Again, I appreciate the leadership of the Premier because she identified, you know, addressed the concern, the legitimate concern,

00:36:07.280 and sought to improve things, you know, where we can do that.

00:36:12.220 But we're doing the federal government's job, just for the record.

00:36:15.580 Well, I think that's part of the issue.

00:36:17.120 And I think that's really where and this is coming from me is that, yeah, we as a province, we have to have our own interests in mind, because if we leave the federal government in charge of our affairs, we are going to get less than we're paying in or even just completely abused in certain aspects.

00:36:40.020 And so I do think that what we're seeing is a shift in the power dynamics in this country, that the premier is taking a more forward role in representing Alberta, and which we haven't really seen since the days of Peter Lockheed back in the 1980s, and to maybe a lesser extent, Don Getty.

00:37:00.860 But I just I personally think and you can comment on this as well, that this is absolutely essential to the future of our province, that if we, again, leave our affairs in the hands of a government dominated by 199 of the 338 seats being in Ontario and Quebec, that we are not going to ever get fairly treated and that we have to at least try and defend ourselves in the best way possible through the means that we're doing.

00:37:26.800 So, yeah, you can comment on that if you want. That's just my thoughts.

00:37:30.860 Yeah, it's really unfortunate. I actually wish that the federal government would act in a principled and fair way.

00:37:39.420 We certainly pay them a lot of money for them to do this.

00:37:45.000 They have failed miserably, miserably in doing it.

00:37:50.580 And so to protect the public interest, she has a stewardship and a duty to Albertans.

00:37:57.460 and she is having to do some heavy lifting that unfortunately the federal government

00:38:02.740 has failed to do and she has shown great leadership you know and I appreciate the

00:38:10.440 premier not only speaking and leading by example but not only in word but deed you know unfortunately

00:38:17.480 our former premier was sometimes unfortunately more talk and less action sometimes action did

00:38:26.940 not align with words. I appreciate the better alignment that we're seeing from Premier Danielle

00:38:33.680 Smith in seeking the freedom and prosperity for Albertans and for Canada as a whole. That's what

00:38:43.000 the federal government should be doing instead of focusing on lose-lose calculations. She is seeking

00:38:51.780 win-win calculations. Great job, Premier Smith. One of the issues that President-elect Donald

00:39:00.460 Trump raised in the tariff conversation was border security in the sense that Canada wasn't doing

00:39:06.360 enough to address the invisible border across the 49th parallel. I was just wondering if you could

00:39:13.120 speak to that and maybe talk a little bit about what the Alberta government has done in addressing

00:39:18.880 this yeah so you know having border security you know curtailing any flow of drugs across the

00:39:27.040 borders is something that i think you know objectively speaking we all want we all want

00:39:34.000 that both federally provincially uh from a state from a united states federal government perspective

00:39:41.440 we all want to do that and so i appreciate the premier looking at how within our own uh scope

00:39:49.680 within our own uh circle of influence what can we do to uh that we address those concerns and

00:39:59.200 seek ways of improvement and so the premier has not only spoken but has acted uh spent taxpayer

00:40:08.160 dollars doing really what is actually in the jurisdiction of what the federal government

00:40:15.600 should be doing but we're again we're seeking to be the best partner possible both to the federal

00:40:21.920 government and to um you know the us and spending our own dollars in seeking to improve that um

00:40:31.120 you know looking at what part we can do and so again i love that focus on win-win relationships

00:40:37.520 you know good fence make good neighbors i think that's kind of a phrase we've all heard

00:40:42.640 you know and we want to make sure that while we have greater economic integration that we have

00:40:48.640 good fences where we don't want to have undesirable flow of things while we want things that create

00:40:54.480 wealth and have flow between those things unimpeded we don't want to see you know flow of

00:41:02.640 negative things like drugs illegal immigration and i appreciate and respect uh the efforts that

00:41:10.320 the premier has been doing the leadership she has been doing doing uh helping out ottawa doing what

00:41:16.880 they should you know their job and which oberta disproportionately pays them to do and they need

00:41:23.920 to be better but everyone needs to be better in this so i appreciate the president-elect's

00:41:29.600 desire for that. That's what we all want. Excellent. On that note, I guess, do you have

00:41:34.640 any final thoughts? And if not, we'll let you go. Yeah, I just want to just bring across one other

00:41:40.820 aspect where there is an opportunity. And that is to the extent that Alberta can build upon,

00:41:48.440 and Canada as a whole, build upon greater economic integration. But from Alberta's perspective,

00:41:54.600 the less we need ottawa the greater leverage that we have for fairness and them treating us with

00:42:03.720 respect and principle and so as we're able to strengthen our relationship with us on the merits

00:42:11.880 which built prosperity for all oberta us and canada as we need the rest of canada

00:42:21.000 less, it does provide more leverage to hold them accountable, to make sure that they treat us

00:42:27.520 fairly and with respect. And that's how adults and how families should treat themselves.

00:42:34.260 Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming on the show, Jason. You were an excellent guest as

00:42:39.100 always. And I appreciate you doing this and helping me out. From all of us here at the

00:42:43.560 Western Standard, thank you very much and have a great day.

00:42:46.820 Josh, thanks for all you do. And thanks to the great work of the Western Standard.

00:42:51.920 Well, we appreciate that. Thank you. That it was Jason Stephan, MLA for Red Deer South,

00:42:57.960 representing the United Conservative Party. So, yeah. Well, thank you to everybody for watching

00:43:02.980 the Corey Morgan show today. And I just have a message for all of our viewers. If you support

00:43:07.840 independent media, I want you to know that the Western Standard does not accept government

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00:44:07.800 You

Western Standard - January 16, 2025

Alberta in the Crosshairs

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