Arthur Green on the UCP leadership race and Alberta issues
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Summary
The United Conservative Party leadership race is now officially in the hands of the candidates, and the race is heating up! On today's show, Jason Kenney joins the show to discuss all the latest in the race, including the withdrawal of John Horsman, Danielle Smith, and Travis Tays, as well as what to look out for in the coming days.
Transcript
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Corey, yesterday marked the last day for people to register with Elections Canada to run for the Alberta's United Conservative Party leadership.
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And, you know, we have some candidates confirmed, Brian Jean, Danielle Smith and Travis Tays, of course, were confirmed ahead of Wednesday's deadline.
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John Horsman did tweet that he was on track to meet the deadline with signatures, but quickly withdrew on Wednesday afternoon and said, you know, it was a crowded leadership race.
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And, of course, there are results still pending, and we'll bring you up to speed with those as soon as they come in.
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Yeah, so it sounds like seven of them at least have made the bar, or they're saying they are.
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That next bar, I guess, is being fully approved.
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It's got to go before the UCP's leadership committee for them to sign off on it.
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But, I mean, if they've gotten the money and the signatures, I mean, those are some very major bars to accomplish first, right?
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Again, like it has to, they have to be approved.
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I've reported this week that it started to turn into a little bit of a slugfest between Danielle Smith and Travis Tays.
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And there's a story on our website about how Tays actually texted the UCP party blast text, whatever they use,
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and said that she was for PST when she says she's clearly not.
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So, again, we'll see what happens in the future.
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I know Danielle Smith does have a rally planned for Bonneville this weekend,
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and I was in touch with Brian Jean's press secretary on a daily basis,
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and he's going to be coming out with some of his policy decisions in the near future.
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Yeah, I had both Ross Sherman and John Horsman on the show just a couple of days ago,
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so they were getting right up on the deadline, I guess, trying to get their signatures.
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But I know, you know, Horsman's saying he had enough, but he, you know, stuff to get in,
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but he just didn't feel the race was a bit too crowded.
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You know, they always leave politics to spend more time with their family and everything else, too.
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I suspect he entered a little bit too late and just couldn't quite get it that fast
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because he came in pretty late in the game there and just kind of needed an out.
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Yeah, he actually stated on Twitter that he looks forward to future opportunities with the UCP party,
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Yeah, yeah, he's not stomping out the door, you know, embittered or anything like that.
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Have you heard anything from Ross Sherman since?
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I haven't, but, again, I will be reaching out to all of the candidates via email
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I know they're quite busy to talk to the media, you know, on a constant basis,
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but in between we've caught them in between meetings and stuff
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So I'm looking forward to actually covering the race once it begins
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and we'll see who the new premier of Alberta is going to be.
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I mean, we do have the winner of this is going to become our premier.
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I was talking to, you know, Reid Small out there in BC.
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They've got one going on in BC and that'll be the same thing.
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Whoever wins that's going to become the premier with the NDP,
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but they've only got one contestant so far and it sounds like they might only have one.
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I mean, quite different than what's going on out here.
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Yeah, I mean, there's some big talk, you know, with the Smith campaign
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and the Alberta Saventry Act and, you know, she called out Justin Trudeau yesterday
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with his admission targets for 2030 saying that, you know,
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it's going to cut Alberta oil production, not just Alberta oil production,
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but all oil production in Canada by 2030 upwards of 46%.
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And, you know, the oil industry employs a lot of people across Canada,
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So, you know, she really is looking forward to pushing that act if she becomes premier.
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And then, you know, we have Brian Jean who has been actively voicing actively his opinion
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on gas prices here in Alberta and saying, you know, Albertans are getting ripped off.
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So we'll see what he brings to the table and, you know, what's going to happen in the next few weeks.
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I had her on the show a while back and I just don't hear anything going on with her campaign.
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I haven't heard much from her campaign at all, actually.
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Like I said, I will be reaching out again today now that the deadline has passed
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to put a push on, you know, getting the latest information for our readers
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because, you know, that's why they follow us, Corey, is really, you know,
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So, like I said, now that the deadline has passed, I can really put the pedal down, as we say,
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and try to get some comments and some different decisions.
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And things are saying, you know, Twitter is always a good place to hang out
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because you never know what's going to be tweeted during the day by a politician.
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I mean, you can catch the stuff as it breaks on Twitter.
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It's just not necessarily the best spot for the exchanges of ideas.
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Well, moving on from that, then we'll look at some of the other stories you've been writing on.
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The recent one, I mean, that's kind of a rough one,
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but the parole board has released that gentleman who would, you know,
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with a child who died that he left outside of a church.
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You know, they made a decision on Wednesday to release him from the Edmonton Remand Center, basically.
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He was granted parole and he only served two-thirds of his sentence.
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The parole board, you know, said that he had a difficult upbringing in a First Nations community.
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He is Indigenous, Corey, and that, you know, he was getting treated pretty badly in prison.
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And, you know, there are reports that inmates took it in their own hands to give him a warm welcome
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while in prison for committing a crime against a child.
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And, you know, they said that the conditions, you know, that he was experiencing,
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he spent most of the time in the hole, but, you know, they kind of gave him a little bit of leeway
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I guess he'll be residing at a halfway house, as we call it, in Edmonton,
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And, you know, it just amazes me sometimes, Corey, when we see different headlines.
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You know, the child was essentially beat to death with a blow to the head
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And, you know, he only served two-thirds of his sentence.
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And a lot of people, I've been reading some comments on the story today,
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and a lot of people, you know, said, you know, this isn't justice.
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And then others are saying, well, the only justice he got was from the beatings
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he received from other inmates while in the center.
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So, like I said, he's been released, and we'll see if he reoffends.
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I mean, you know, I don't like to think of prisons just being a place
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where we can offload and have people beaten by other prisoners.
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It's not really a civilized way of dealing with things.
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But if they present a danger, the goal is to keep those people out of society
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That sounds very dangerous to me, and he only did three years for it.
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Let's just hope, I guess, that he doesn't reoffend those excuses.
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Probably very true, but it doesn't mean he's not dangerous.
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And like I said, there's lots of people in Canada who have had tough upbringings
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and rough childhoods, and, you know, they don't kill people.
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No, and, yeah, our justice system is unfortunately anything but.
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I'm just kind of moving down through your scroll, though.
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I see Rachel Notley calling for inflation relief.
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I always like that when I see NDP talking economics.
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What's she proposing that's going to help us all?
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Well, she never really proposed a whole lot, Corey.
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I think it was more or less just her speaking her mind to get media's attention.
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I noticed that, you know, when a big story comes out, such as the one with inflation
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and, you know, 8.9%, I do believe, or 8.1% was the figure, 8.4% here in Alberta.
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And, you know, she's immediately calling for inflation relief, even though, you know,
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our readers are pretty smart here at the Western Standard, and, you know,
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they don't forget politics and what happened in the past.
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So, you know, there were a lot of comments on the story saying, you know,
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the NDP were the start or that created, you know, some of these problems when they were in power years ago.
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But, you know, she is calling for inflation relief.
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She thinks that, you know, Albertans are having a tough time putting food on the table.
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And, you know, with the price of everything, Corey, from used cars to cars, dealerships,
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you know, we've seen the real pinch happen in the last couple of months, you know,
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And it'll be interesting to find out, you know, what she says in the future.
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I find that she very, or she always speaks her opinion, of course,
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against being in the opposition against the UCP when something big happens.
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And, you know, we'll see what she proposes to reduce inflation impact in Alberta, Corey.
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You pointed out that Albertans are suffering under the high cost of living.
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We need to hear that second half of the conversation, Madam Notley.
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I was kind of ranting about that earlier, that her boss, Jagmeet Singh,
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but those parties are literally tied constitutionally.
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He proposed giving $1,000 to everybody in Canada to battle inflation,
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and he got roundly ripped to shreds on Twitter because of it, of course,
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Like I said, at least the proof is in the pudding, as we say in Newfoundland, Corey.
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So, you know, $1,000 seems nice to say that and seems nice on paper.
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But really, when you think about it, how far does $1,000 go?
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If you're driving a Dodge pickup, probably four tanks of gas right now in Canada.
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Okay, well, let's tell you some of the other policies yesterday.
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they're talking about enhancing support for victims of crime,
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I mean, that's an area that gets forgotten a lot.
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Forget that there's always a victim behind there somewhere, too.
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They're partnered with the Red Deer Police to offer opiate assistance to people who are arrested,
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And, you know, I applaud the UCP government for taking a stand
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because, you know, I have many off-the-record conversations as an investigative reporter.
00:12:04.480
You know, I spoke to the RCMP before, different members,
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not saying they're from Bonneville, but different locations within Alberta.
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And, you know, they see the same people in the system over and over, catch and release.
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And, you know, addiction is, don't quote me on percentage,
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but 90% of the time it's, you know, it's someone who's addicted to drugs
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And, you know, the justice system is a revolving door sometimes for these people.
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And, you know, you don't judge the person, Corey, who's down and out,
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because when you're up, you never think you're going to be down again.
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And when you're down, you never think you're going to be up again, of course.
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And, you know, don't judge the person who's doing drugs on the side of the street
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And I think it's a great program that, you know,
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people who are struggling with drug addiction and mental abuse
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will now have a chance to go virtual with an organization here in Alberta
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when incarcerated to see, you know, what is the root of the problem?
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There's a reason behind the crime, and that's drugs, Corey.
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And we saw that in the South, and we saw that with the people
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who had been repeatedly robbing my pub when I owned it
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while defending his family in southern Alberta years ago.
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That guy's a chronic reoffender, and he's almost,
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every time he gets picked up, he's also in possession of meth.
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So, I mean, it's difficult, you know, because, I mean,
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they're criminals, or they can act as criminals,
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But at the same time, just throwing them in jail isn't solution enough either.
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You've got to get them off the drugs because they're just going to keep reoffending.
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So, I mean, we've got to look at more treatment.
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So it's always good to see more treatment options coming anyways
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because that's the only way that's really going to break that cycle.
00:13:59.480
Yeah, and again, the federal government stepped up yesterday
00:14:02.780
and announced that they'll be spending $40 million on Canadians
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So, before I let you go, I pulled you in a little early,
00:14:16.600
But what else are you working on this week, you know,
00:14:27.500
and it appears that Joe Biden has announced that he's suffering from cancer.
00:14:32.200
So I'm going to dig into some international stories here this evening.
00:14:36.460
I noticed a trans swimmer was just nominated for a Woman of the Year Award.
00:14:44.280
So that's another story that I'm sure our readers will have lots to say about.
00:14:50.220
And, you know, again, I'll be talking with the press secretary from Brian James' campaign.
00:14:55.620
You know, I've reached out to Daniel Smith, and I'll do the same for Travis Tays.
00:15:00.220
Maybe we can get some reactions now that it's official
00:15:03.600
that they're in the leadership race for Premier of Alberta.
00:15:08.040
Great. Well, you'll have interesting political times,
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especially as it gets closer to the end of the race.
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And, you know, some of the candidates get desperate,
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Well, we'll see if it turns into an old Donnie broke, as Dan shared used to say.
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All right. Well, thank you for bringing us up to date and checking in, Arthur.
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And I'll enjoy things up there in the warm weather in Bonneville,