00:04:07.980And I think the main thing out of all of those, if a leader's going to come in, you're going to have a strategy, you're going to try and do things.
00:04:13.320you have to win elections or you'll have to make gains.
00:04:15.640So he watered down policy, he flip-flopped,
00:04:18.140he insulted his own caucus, but you know what?
00:04:20.320They will accept it if you win seats out of it.
00:05:58.020Yeah, well, and the only way conservatives can win.
00:05:59.740I mean, we have a more difficult path than progressives typically.
00:06:04.100I mean, they are sort of natural followers.
00:06:06.100They stick together. They stand to the leader.
00:06:08.020Conservatives, a leader has to find that sweet spot.
00:06:10.800And it's all a very tough one between the small Cs, the social conservatives, and the libertarian element, that sort, and even the red Tories to a degree.
00:06:19.340And you've got to somehow manage to keep them under 110.
00:06:21.400And that takes strong leadership to hold that coalition together.
00:06:25.360Because to be honest, with those sort of three factions, you don't have enough to win elections.
00:06:29.640So you won't be able to keep it together.
00:06:31.480And O'Toole, he managed to take them all off.
00:06:34.160Well, you've got three broad ideological factions in the party.
00:06:37.420But then you've got significant regional factions.
00:08:53.060He clearly is alienated to a large amount of his stuff.
00:08:55.360So the reason they got a secret ballot and the Alberta United Conservative Party caucus did not is something called the Reform Act.
00:09:01.200That was a piece of legislation passed as a private member's bill by a conservative MP, Michael Chong.
00:09:06.240He's actually kind of a moderate red Tory in Ontario.
00:09:08.660I can't help but like him because he's thoughtful.
00:09:12.440I disagree with him on a lot of policy issues, but he's thoughtful, intelligent.
00:09:16.760He's principled. Not the same principles as us, I guess, necessarily, but he's one of the better ones.
00:09:22.000So he brought this in, and this gives the caucus the power to trigger a vote on the leader of a secret ballot vote if you get 20% of the caucus signing a letter.
00:09:32.160Compared to Alberta, there is no rules around this.
00:11:13.080I think without a doubt, if Polyev runs, he's the front runner here.
00:11:17.140Like he's, he has cultivated a serious following among the membership and a lot of people who have drifted away from the Conservative Party of Canada over time.
00:11:24.880Like a lot of PPC style voters like him.
00:11:29.460This gives an opportunity for rejuvenation.
00:11:31.820I mean, the people who had left the party, this is when they might reconsider coming back.
00:11:35.720But it depends on who leads it, who campaigns.
00:11:37.960They, you know, again, PPC supporters might get behind a particular candidate and move.
00:11:42.540Maybe Derek Sloan's going to try and make a return, though.
00:11:45.040It was his own caucus that pushed him out of there.
00:11:46.840And I don't think he has enough of a base of support, but it'll make for a lively race.
00:11:51.240He could win, but if he's allowed to run, remember, the Conservative Party of Canada will disqualify people who they don't approve of.
00:11:57.680But if Derek Sloan was approved to run, he's allowed on the ballot.
00:12:01.360He'd probably play a similar-ish role as he played in the last leadership race, where Aaron O'Toole was actively courting him for down-ballot votes.
00:12:07.740once he knew Sloan would get knocked off,
00:12:10.320kind of as that SOCON standard bearer.
00:21:29.340And he said, Derek, I'm a businessman.
00:21:31.840I've got way better things to do than to deal with, you know, picking up dog shit in the park.
00:21:37.280Well, and his Twitter history looks a heck of a lot like mine, which means if he ran for something, it would just be a barrage of all the things he said.
00:21:55.820You can't do the Aaron O'Toole thing where you're hyper-scripted, but you're pretending to be a normal human being with a pulse.
00:22:02.520Brett Wilson, he'd be kind of a throw-of-the-dice candidate.
00:22:07.620I mean, he can come up big, or you get snake eyes.
00:22:13.260He'd be controversial and plain-spoken.
00:22:15.640And the Canadian system doesn't really reward people who actually say what they're thinking.
00:22:20.680Yeah, well, and he's not a politician.
00:22:22.180I mean, in the internal wrangling in games you have to play, you need a structure, you need things in place before you can be a serious contender.
00:22:30.600And he's never even started on that line.
00:22:32.440I mean, nothing's impossible, but I'd say that's exceedingly unlikely.
00:22:35.200But I see, I think some of the reasons some of those people are putting that out in the comments, as another had said, no more career politicians.
00:22:41.560They want something fresh and they want to see, you know, a new name pop up.
00:22:45.360I mean, I saw that and we'll have those discussions probably soon.
00:22:47.600but in Alberta when we look at all the names of potential
00:30:53.660International news is still big, even though everything's getting overwhelmed with all this craziness between the blockades in southern Alberta on the border.
00:31:07.260And now we've got jets crashing in the South China Sea.
00:31:10.220and we're here to cover it all and Dave's running like crazy so again go to westernstandardonline.com
00:31:16.380take out a membership as you can see we break this stuff you know we're not just an opinion
00:31:20.780group or something like that this is a news organization and we get that stuff out there
00:31:24.700if you want the details on these stories get up to where Dave and Eva and Melanie have been
00:31:29.180writing by the way Mel did some great live coverage of everything as it was breaking on
00:31:33.600the show yesterday and she did an interview with Pierre Justin Trudeau's half brother
00:31:37.720week that has just been amazingly viewed. It's been quite interesting. So I'm going to get on
00:31:42.920to though my opening rant, what's got me triggered today and get our show back on track. So let's
00:31:50.120face it, everybody in Canada who's willing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 has been vaccinated.
00:31:55.000The people who refuse to get vaccinated at this point have strong personal feelings on the issue
00:31:58.660and nothing less than literal force is going to make them get that shot. And policies both
00:32:03.060federally and provincially have to learn to reflect this reality. If there was ever a justification
00:32:07.740for vaccine passports and mandates, it was when it was believed that vaccination would stop the
00:32:12.160spread of COVID-19. Political, media, and medical leaders all assured us that mass vaccination would
00:32:17.260bring the pandemic to an end. Well, that narrative is crumbled as the Omicron variant is sliced
00:32:22.000through vaccinations like a hot knife through butter. Vaccines clearly don't contain COVID-19.
00:32:27.520The division and fear-mongering used against unvaccinated people was repugnant to behold.
00:32:32.120Media eagerly ran interviews of people saying they were banning family members who weren't vaccinated from teachers from Christmas gatherings, while teachers unions claimed to fear for the safety of their teachers because they might be exposed to unvaccinated children.
00:32:45.400The campaign to ostracize unvaccinated people didn't increase general vaccination rates, but it did divide families and spread a lot of fear for no reason.
00:32:53.680And now it's clear that an unvaccinated person presents no more risk of transmitting COVID-19 than a vaccinated one.
00:33:00.480The science does show, and I know I'll get the commenters over this, but vaccination does greatly
00:33:04.420reduce a person's risk of being hospitalized or killed by COVID-19. I still think it's a good
00:33:09.220idea to get vaccinated, and I've chosen to do so myself. The online harassment of those who chose
00:33:13.960otherwise, though, or the ongoing harassment, I should say, has to end. It's a choice. That's the
00:33:19.060main thing. It's a choice. If vaccines, though, don't stop the spread of the virus, why do we
00:33:23.060still have the passport requirements for entering businesses? Why are we requiring truckers and
00:33:27.200travelers to be vaccinated? And why are we even considering going further with mandates requiring
00:33:31.920interprovincial truckers to be vaccinated? Vaccine mandates aren't harmless. Thousands of Canadians
00:33:38.160have lost their jobs over these mandates. Our already decimated hospitality sector has taken
00:33:42.680on added expenses because they've had to become vaccine watchdogs while they lost a segment of
00:33:47.720their customer base. They have to sit there and have a hostess or host up front dealing with all
00:33:52.060of this and scanning documents. Yeah, think about that. Scanning documents to get into a restaurant.
00:33:56.940Stress and division between people due to the mandates has been increasing, and it serves no
00:34:01.100purpose. Now, there's two motivations behind maintaining the vaccine mandates. One's a
00:34:06.360misguided notion that if we simply harass the unvaccinated enough, they'll submit to vaccination
00:34:10.400and hopefully reduce pressure on healthcare facilities. This policy has been a grand0.99
00:34:15.260success in making the lives of the unvaccinated miserable as they face unemployment and are
00:34:19.720turned into social pariahs, but it hasn't convinced them to get vaccinated. Those remaining aren't
00:34:24.060going to. The other reason mandates remain is political, and that's even worse. Governments,
00:34:29.000both federal and provincial, have invested political capital into vaccine mandates,
00:34:32.860and they don't want to appear to be pushed off those mandates by protests. It's a point of pride
00:34:36.780for politicians now, and facts won't push them off this hill that they chose to die upon, at least
00:34:43.140not easily. This is a terrible reason to maintain a damaging policy, but it's a reality. We can't
00:34:48.420force people to get vaccinated. Truly forced medication is an abhorrent concept, and any
00:34:53.540efforts to do that would lead to nationwide riots. I mean, look what the mandates have brought in
00:34:57.440protests. Could you imagine if somebody actually tried to force it? Courts would never support such
00:35:02.080an effort anyways, and that's likely what convinced Quebec even to back off from their ridiculous0.52
00:35:05.840plan to find the unvaccinated. The current campaign of coercion of the unvaccinated is0.62
00:35:10.920little better than outright force. I mean, you were really ostracizing and making people miserable.0.98
00:35:16.140The truckers for freedom convoy protests are only the tip of the iceberg. As these restrictions and
00:35:20.340mandates drag on without purpose, more and more Canadians are going to feel inspired to push back.
00:35:25.280Protests are spreading across the country, and they're only going to get more aggressive over
00:35:28.380time. While people who have chosen not to be vaccinated might be in a minority, they still
00:35:32.700represent millions of Canadians. These people are supported by millions more who are people like
00:35:37.460myself who are pro-vaccine, but we're pro-choice. This number of citizens can't be dismissed as
00:35:42.560being fringe or extreme, though the Prime Minister and his complicit members of the legacy media
00:35:46.420continue to do so. Aside from vaccine mandates, restrictions in general are proving to be useless
00:35:51.880as we examine data from two years of pandemic policies. Johns Hopkins University examined
00:35:57.360metadata from 24 studies and determined lockdown school closures and limited gatherings only
00:36:03.860reduced COVID mortality by 0.2% and it came at enormous economic and social costs. It's not
00:36:11.680working guys and I'm not talking about natural news or some alternative site. This is Johns
00:36:15.680Hopkins so come on let's face the science we've got it now what a terrible waste of time energy
00:36:21.040and resources these restrictions have been i mean we can be forgiven for trying these in the early
00:36:24.800stages of the pandemic when we didn't know any better but now there's no reason to maintain
00:36:28.800these restrictions the science has spoken we've heard that enough times before well let's listen
00:36:32.880to it countries around the world are opening up while canada remains living in the dark ages of
00:36:36.960restrictions and mandates if we want to see an end to social discord and protest there's only
00:36:41.120one way out. End the vaccine mandates now. That's what's got me triggered today. Now, before I get0.93
00:36:49.040to my guest, I see him in the lobby there, Zane Novak. We're going to talk about something non-vaccine
00:36:52.780related. I think we all kind of need a break from that. Anyway, I do want to speak about another one
00:36:56.780of our sponsors, and that's the Canada Shooting Sports Association. These guys have been sponsoring
00:37:01.880us for a while, and they're standing up for rights. Again, when we talk about ideologies
00:37:05.420pushing us where, you know, unreasonable areas and infringing on our rights, well, that ideology,
00:37:10.880against responsible legal firearm owners has been on the case of responsible fire owners for some
00:37:17.340time. These guys are standing up for you. They are the Canada Shooting Sports Association. Their
00:37:22.020website is cssa-cila.org. And they have legal challenges out on behalf of firearm owners.
00:37:30.200They're standing up for you. They got all sorts of other resources too for the safe, responsible
00:37:33.820use of firearms. I mean, nobody wants to see dangerous or illegal use. Nobody does. It's
00:37:37.240unreasonable. The vast majority of us who own firearms would never commit a crime, but we're
00:37:42.000being treated like criminals and we shouldn't have to. So check out the Canada Shooting Sports
00:37:46.260Association, see how they can help you stand up for you. All right. So I'm going to bring in
00:37:52.180Zane Novak right away here, and we're going to talk now. We're going to pivot onto the other
00:37:57.360leadership issue that's boiling over, and that's with Jason Kenney and the United Conservative
00:38:01.980Party. Hey there, Zane. Good to see you. Hey, how are you doing? Can you hear me okay?
00:38:06.140I do. You're coming in loud and clear.
00:38:48.720And this is where this is the only means I guess members will have to say whether or not they want Kenney to remain as a leader.
00:38:55.080Now, Zane, you were the first person I've seen, I think, is kind of organizing, trying to get people together, though, because it is a campaign now to campaign on one side or another.
00:39:02.700So can you kind of frame that out, what you're calling your initiative?
00:39:07.500And I think the last time that we spoke, Corey, it was when I was running to be mayor of Calgary back in August, September, October.
00:39:16.880And after that, and kind of seeing the way everything is unfolding municipally and provincially, you know, it still has me very piqued and concerned about the path that our province is on.
00:39:26.920And so myself and a few other people got together and we organized what is called TBA 2022.
00:39:37.240And, you know, after the election and that whole process, I took a couple of months off because it was very tedious and it certainly warned a person.
00:39:44.440But I was approached by countless groups who said, you know, Zane, we really want you to be the voice.
00:39:49.800You need to speak up. You need to speak up about our rights and our freedoms and less mandates, support of business, support of children.
00:39:56.920all these types of things. But I tell you, this group that we've started now and set up is what
00:40:02.980resonated with me the most, because what it really does is it unifies people. Whether your concern is
00:40:09.520about support of small business, whether it's concern over mandates, loss of freedoms, freedom
00:40:15.420of choice for religion and beliefs and all of that, this is something that we can all get behind,
00:40:22.400because until we change the leadership in the UCP party we're not going to see any forward
00:40:29.640movement on the progressive side so kind of the interesting thing how this started was
00:40:34.320it resonated with me and the reason it resonated with me it was because it was formed in personal
00:40:39.340conversations and not just on Instagram or Facebook or or any of the other platforms
00:40:44.800telegram or anything this was people talking to each other and understanding a commonality
00:40:51.720and a common goal where we, the people, can make a choice as to the future
00:40:58.480of not only our community but our province.
00:41:00.500And the other thing that's just beautiful about it is we're utilizing the constitution that's in place.
00:41:05.160The constitution that's there, whether it's the UCP party constitution.
00:41:08.200You seem to have perhaps lost a little bit.
00:41:15.240The viewers are hearing, Zane, this could be on my end.
00:41:18.500and of course my producer just stepped out for a moment uh which he almost never does
00:41:23.960uh can you hear me oh i hear you now yes you're coming in yeah okay sorry so the beauty of tba
00:41:31.620take back albert is it's really based on things that we believe in and support which is the
00:41:36.480constitution of canada and also you know the written constitution of uh the leading you know
00:41:41.680the elected party right now the ucp with this leadership review we tried a long time ago to
00:41:46.940hold our leader jason kenney accountable for what was going on and that wasn't strategically
00:41:52.740possible at the time but we did get this concession of being able to have a leadership
00:41:57.360review on april 9th in red deer so what we're doing is we're literally and we're truly truly
00:42:03.820a grassroots community uh movement that is province-wide meeting talking with people
00:42:11.220in living rooms in kitchens some places community halls talking about what's important to us
00:42:16.920and then getting out to express our wishes via this leadership review uh in red deer yeah i mean
00:42:24.500i i guess ideally it would have been something that people could vote remotely from or for a
00:42:28.560smaller field but a smaller fee i should say uh but we have what we're working with now this is
00:42:34.700the opportunity whether we like the means of it or not and and uh if you want to make change well
00:47:42.480This is our province and it is to be run by us,
00:47:45.820the common Albertan. Yeah, well, people have tired of a lot of political wrangling and things like
00:47:51.840that. And somebody asked an interesting question, because it would impact the vote on whether or
00:47:56.820not, and I imagine you probably can't answer that, but whether or not vaccine passports are to be
00:48:00.520required to enter the convention in order to vote, because that would cut away all of the people who
00:48:04.920have chosen not to be vaccinated. I can answer a little bit, though. I did go to the UCP convention
00:48:10.240before and they did allow rapid testing for people as an alternative to being vaccinated as well we're
00:48:16.900also hearing language out of premier kenny that he's going to be reducing and retracting a lot of
00:48:21.880the restrictions i suspect shortly before the convention because he wants to make everybody
00:48:25.640happy before it happens so i think the unvaccinated might be able to vote i think you hit the nail on
00:48:31.160the head cory we've said this from day one you just mark our words he's going to roll back a
00:48:35.380whole bunch of stuff try to appease people do the typical smoke and mirror you know uh the the bait
00:48:41.960and switch get everybody to go we're good we're good and deflect from the importance of this
00:48:47.160leadership review and as far as the vaccine you know mandate to get in uh if there is still that
00:48:54.980mandate in place we're a thousand percent positive that rapid testing will be an option and we have
00:49:00.040a block of disgruntled nurses who have already stepped up and they will be helping us if it's
00:49:07.820not a if the opportunity isn't there provided by the ucp party they will be doing rapid tests for
00:49:13.740us right at the door so there can be no roadblock for us getting in and voting great yeah we
00:49:19.980definitely just want to encourage people to get out there but if you're not going to be out on
00:49:23.580typical social media channels how you know we've got uh many hundreds of viewers on right now
00:49:28.760actually how could they reach you though if they want to take part in the organization uh join your
00:49:34.120group that sort of thing well you know i'm on facebook uh and all of that they can reach out
00:49:39.640to me that way i think that we're we have people all over the province right now engaging i really
00:49:45.080don't it's pretty much we've gotten already just in the last few weeks to one degree of separation
00:49:50.360i believe it'll be not hard to google we do have a website uh tba 2022 um that you can reach out to
00:49:58.760But the best is to just start asking your community.
00:50:01.580And I would almost think already there's someone who's made contact with us or we've made contact with them.
00:50:05.760But you can go to our website and Google TBA 2022 and you'll find our website and reach us out to us that way.
00:50:13.240But this is very much a situation of, you know, we're talking to people that are like minded and we're saying, why don't you get 20 of your friends who are like minded together?
00:50:21.520We'll come have a chat and let's figure out where we really want to take this province and how we want to do it.
00:50:37.280I mean, I've spent so much time all the way from little coffee meetings with the Alberta Alliance Party, you know, almost 20 years ago to, well, huge conventions now.
00:50:44.720And now I'm finally out of all that mix.
00:50:46.100I just talk about it now, which I enjoy much more.
00:50:48.860Ali Mack was asking, any idea when the vote will be?
00:51:07.920So a couple of things that are very important.
00:51:10.600You have to renew or get your UCP membership, which is $10.
00:51:16.520It's good to take a screenshot that you've done it.
00:51:19.600And it needs to be done before March 19th.
00:51:23.760So I think it's something like 21 days before the boat for you to be qualified to vote in it, that you have to have your membership.
00:51:29.180So go online, go to the UCP website, get your membership, $10, take a screenshot before you submit it because everything's electronic now.
00:51:37.820And I do not believe they send out a hard copy anymore.
00:51:41.940Then on that same website, you can register and it is $99 for entrance fee into the April 9th event.
00:51:50.300it's $49 if you're younger than 25 and I believe if you're over 14 or over you can vote and then
00:51:57.820if you wait until March 19th to buy that entrance ticket it goes up to 149 if you wait to do it the
00:52:03.820day of it's 249 but they stopped selling it at 11 a.m on April 9th so you know be proactive
00:52:10.500if truckers can drive the whole way to Ottawa we can take a moment to get a membership
00:52:15.700Yep. Pay $99 and go out for one day on a Saturday. It's going to be a great event. We're going to have a staging yard. We're going to have a platform. We're going to have barbecues. We're going to be with like-minded people who love their province.
00:52:29.940Great. And just that reminder to everybody too. Once you take out that membership, assuming perhaps that Premier Kenny is removed as leader, now you have a membership to take part in what is obviously going to be a leadership race coming up. So that $10 is going to keep you for a year of activities and other political involvement.
00:55:20.400It's central to the majority of Albertans,
00:55:22.360but that's a long haul for somebody living in Grand Prairie
00:55:24.620or Fort Mac or high level, or, you know, even just a couple hours away, because, you know,
00:55:29.800a lot of us are working and busy and won't be able to take part necessarily. So, uh, you know,
00:55:34.280there's an opportunity though. And, and, uh, yeah, you know, as Bridget, uh, Frosted is saying,
00:55:38.940you know, uh, I think he's not going to like how that backfires on him. Maybe it will. We'll see.
00:55:43.240Uh, Kenny's fighting for his political life and it's been interesting to see what happened. I mean,
00:55:47.800of course we saw O'Toole boy, his, his caucus sure jettisoned in there. And I mean, just it's
00:55:53.180one stumble after another for Kenny. So he's not in coots, you know, down there. I'll talk to him
00:55:58.820a little bit later on that. And one of the things that came out yesterday that we've been sharing
00:56:03.360and spreading and Mel called, I believe, and Dave called, it was Mel, because Kenny was claiming
00:56:08.860that an officer had been assaulted. You know, I mean, this is looking to inflame the populace
00:56:12.900to say, this is why we have to move in on these guys. They are assaulting police officers. Well,
00:56:17.880the RCMP is confirmed. And as you find on westernstandardonline.com, no police officer
00:56:23.600was assaulted. Like talk about spreading fake news. Talk about inflammatory false information.
00:56:30.680That's a big one. Now I don't know where it came from. So I'm not quite ready to point the finger.
00:56:35.640You know, Premier Kenney might've heard it from a news outlet that was reporting on a rumor
00:56:39.020or an advisor told him, or maybe he fabricated himself. I have no idea, but somebody made it up.
00:56:44.140But it got widely reported, and it was wrong, and it strongly impacted the tone of this whole protest. I mean, yes, you know, most people are saying, geez, if these guys are attacking police officers, yeah, I want to see the police move in there and take care of this right away. Well, if it's not happening, then what do you think about it?
00:57:32.520And that's another concern. But this is a premier who's in a desperate situation right now. And it's sad to watch. You know, political games, Canadians are sick of them. They're sick to death of them. And that's why we're seeing them pushing back. We're seeing them on the leaderships. We're seeing it. You know, one of the things for those who watch Parliament, so it's still going on. It's unfortunate. But all those jackasses are still gathered actually in Parliament Hill in the House of Commons and doing their stuff.
00:58:01.040So the Liberals set a trap, and it shows just how repugnant and divisive they've been anyways.
00:58:05.660So they threw out kind of a motion on the floor, and you've got to get unanimous consent.
00:58:09.240It's just making a motion, it's making a statement, it's things they do in legislatures and parliaments.
00:58:13.860And this one had this big, long list of things that we want, unanimous consent.
00:58:17.940Everybody in here has to condemn racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, Derek.
00:58:28.100They're even talking anti-gay, anti-trans.
00:58:29.920say, I mean, you know, you found your one or two flags to try and smear tens of thousands of
00:58:33.320protesters with. I never saw any trans or anti-gay things, but they threw that into their statement
00:58:39.340too. And we want to have everybody unanimously condemn any of that that was happening on the
00:58:43.400Hill. It was a loaded statement. It was a bunch of crap. But you see, the way that works is when
00:58:46.760that goes in the house, anybody who votes against it, immediately they turn it around and say,
00:58:51.260well, you must support it then. See, and it's pointless. It's not a policy. It's not anything
00:58:55.440else. It's just a statement, but it's a trap. So every conservative, they did get their unanimous
00:58:59.200consent. They voted against all that nasty stuff that was on there. But then the conservatives
00:59:03.200turned around and threw a motion out there. And this was, again, it's political gameplay. And it's
00:59:06.920disgusting to watch. It was funny at the same time because it undercut the whole thing. There was a
00:59:10.500motion on the floor put out by a conservative member, I think an Albertan one, to condemn,
00:59:17.840universally condemn, the wearing of blackface. Because, you know, it is offensive. It is
00:59:22.240disgusting. It's making a mockery of people of another race. I mean, should you not get the1.00
00:59:28.780entire house to unanimously stand up and say, we will not tolerate such acts of racism as0.91
00:59:34.800blackface. Considering we have a prime minister who wore blackface so many times, he couldn't0.54
00:59:40.580even remember how many times. When he got caught the first time, he said, well, you know, they0.89
00:59:44.440asked, is there any other pictures? I don't think so. I don't remember. Second time they came up,
00:59:47.940any other pictures? No. Third time, there's probably more. He's just lucky there weren't
00:59:52.620more digital cameras back then. Either way, the house now had it in front of them, but can we
00:59:56.620universally could condemn this. And they didn't. The liberals wouldn't give unanimous consent.
01:00:03.400Thus, if we're going by the logic of the liberals, they support the wearing of blackface. I guess0.85
01:00:09.600they were going to rock in a hard place. How do you condemn your own leader who is Canada's most
01:00:13.880notorious blackface wearer while at the same time, you know, so, I mean, it was good at least to see0.99
01:00:21.120a silly political game turned on its head and pushed back at them. But I'm tired of these1.00
01:00:26.560games. I'm sick of the division right now. I'm just sickened by it. Look, we had well over 10,000
01:00:33.480people on Parliament Hill the other day. There's no gathering of 10,000 people you can get without
01:00:38.240having some nutcases in the bunch. I wish it weren't so, but that's the reality. I was shocked,
01:00:43.680to be honest, by how few examples they found. It was remarkable. One idiot with a Confederate flag
01:00:50.240who the crowd ran off of there anyways, got rid of.
01:00:54.160He wasn't wearing blackface, but there was no blackface in evidence
01:06:33.040I think everybody's ready for a break from my rambling voice here.
01:06:37.540I guess just to check in, maybe give a rundown of what you've seen this morning and what's happening down there.
01:06:43.940So far this morning, the village of Coots was trying to get a fuel truck in.
01:06:49.180And with a little negotiation with the RCMP, they were finally able to get a fuel truck in.
01:06:54.660I know that the plot was running low on fuel, the community skid steer was running low on fuel, and they really needed to get that truck in.
01:07:01.800So it did cross the barricades earlier this morning.
01:07:05.180I also know that the locals were able to get some propane in this morning for the protesters.
01:07:09.920They were starting to get pretty concerned last night.
01:07:13.160The propane levels were getting pretty low.
01:07:15.200They weren't able to keep the heaters going.
01:08:14.260You know, speaking of mainstream media reports, actually, I've thrown a curveball. You probably heard about this. There was the mayor of Cootes was saying that some protesters had been intimidating other elected officials in the area or something at their homes. Did you hear anything about this or what's going on with that?
01:08:28.420I have absolutely not heard anything like that. I've talked to a ton of different residents. The residents have been meeting with the protesters, coordinating with them to bring stuff in.
01:08:40.960I don't know where the intimidation is coming from or where the, I guess you could call it a rumor that a police officer was assaulted yesterday because these people are extremely peaceful.
01:09:40.340It was shortly after that, Jason Kenney's press conference happened, and I know all of the protesters watched that press conference together, and right after, I was in there, I talked to as many protesters as I can, I talked to as many locals as I can, I talked to the farmers who broke through the barricade yesterday, and I talked to several RCMP members, and no one could tell me where this assault claim came from.
01:10:06.560Later on in the evening, we were alerted that the RCMP would be putting out a press conference about the assault and making a retraction and saying that it just wasn't true.
01:10:17.720So for new viewers, maybe if you can kind of break down then what we've got going on.
01:10:22.080I believe what there's like multiple police checkpoints.
01:10:24.560Some are set quite farther north of where you are trying to stop people from coming down.
01:10:28.500You got one closer to where the convoy is.
01:32:20.460our channels and such you'll get the updates
01:32:22.360as soon as they break like if James sees
01:32:24.380something hitting the fan. He's going to get that live feed rolling. We're going to be in here
01:32:28.260and we're going to be covering it. So, you know, keep an eye on these feeds if you haven't
01:32:31.360subscribed already. Looks like actually James might be popping on again in a moment. We'll see.
01:32:39.400It's hard to tell. He's in an office. It's difficult out there in the field. He'll give
01:32:42.940me a wave if he wants to get on. If he's got anything new, he is waving. So let's bring James
01:32:47.780back and see what update we got. What's happening, James? I have an update. I'm headed outside to
01:32:53.580confirm this, but I have just been told that the drivers are opening up a lane in each direction
01:32:58.140to allow traffic in and out of the area. I'm also told that there is roughly 30 MLAs coming down to
01:33:04.960the area to meet with the protesters. I'm going to get out there. I'm going to go find out which
01:33:09.640MLAs. I'm going to get us some video of those trucks moving, but it looks like the impasse
01:33:14.800has finally moved and we're moving forward now. This is an exciting development. This is awesome,
01:33:21.840Corey. Great. Okay. Well, we'll watch for you outside. We'll keep the show rolling here.
01:33:26.720That is an interesting development. And yeah, we'll let you get out there and looking forward
01:33:30.300to the footage, James. Be back soon. Thanks, Corey. All right. And yeah, some of those people
01:33:35.120asking, there's this fantastic and beautiful viewer down in Pritis. Her name's Jane Morgan.
01:33:41.060I got a little bit of bias there, but damn, she's hot. And she watches the show loyally like my0.93
01:33:45.500mother does. And she has found James' Twitter account number there, or account ID there. It is
01:33:52.140Twitter. It's at Jimmy Bianchi. So J-I-M-M-Y-B-I-A-N-C-H-I. So if you want to follow James as he's
01:34:00.500live tweeting things when he sees them down there, that's where to go. Follow James,
01:34:05.200get stuff as it happens. So that is a big and interesting development. And as a whole pile
01:34:10.180of MLAs coming down, that's fantastic. This is what we're seeing on negotiation. I know
01:34:15.460some people got upset with me before when I've been talking saying we need to negotiate, we need
01:34:19.320to talk, we need to have an exit ramp, we need to have a vent. And there's truth to it. And this
01:34:24.060seems to be what's happening. I mean, when you've got apparently 30 MLAs coming down there to talk
01:34:28.840to them, you've got the ear of the government. It doesn't mean the government caved for those who
01:34:32.080oppose this blockade. It means they're listening and they're taking it seriously and respectfully.
01:34:38.220That's how you calm these situations. And I imagine we're just speculating the deal is
01:34:42.720you guys open up and start letting some traffic through. So James is going out to check on that.
01:34:47.780And that takes some of the pressure off. As I said, we've got commercial vehicles, as James
01:34:53.040pointed out, that, you know, it costs them thousands of dollars to go to another location
01:34:58.160to get their stuff across the border, if they can. I mean, if you've got your papers, I mean,
01:35:03.800going through customs brokers for commercial stuff, it's not like when you're going down
01:35:07.140for vacation. You don't just wave your passport and go through. It takes inspections and a number
01:35:10.920of things. And the Coutts border is the only one in Alberta that is an agricultural facility. So
01:35:16.740if you're moving livestock or a number of things, they have the specialists there to cover that
01:35:21.460sort of thing. You can't just go to another border with it to haul it over there. And it's a very
01:35:26.400busy one. It's integral for Albertan producers and American producers. So this closure has had
01:35:32.400a very strong impact. And I don't think the people at the protest want to hurt their fellow
01:35:38.500businessmen. They don't want to hurt their fellow farmers and producers as such. They want to make
01:35:44.840a goal. I'm going to take a quick break here. Perhaps we'll go to our sponsor, Algadex, just a
01:35:49.320quick ad from them. And Jimmy's getting set up outside there and we'll see what he's got for
01:35:54.160updates. So just hang on a minute and I'll see you in a moment. Algadex is owned by Algonaut. This is
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01:36:37.720Okay, welcome back. And that's one of our sponsors. And again, us being an independent outlet, we are reliant on you guys subscribing, which has been great. And sponsors who come in, you know, to reach out to you guys. So that's Algadex. They've been a good, strong sponsor for us. Check their site out. It's very interesting on developments with digital currency. For those who might have recently tuned in, so things are breaking right now. James Finkbeiner has gone out to see if he can get some live streaming of that.
01:37:03.360The truckers have agreed and they're going to be moving aside to let traffic go both ways to a degree at that border.
01:37:09.640It's not that the protest is over, but they're given some ground to say we can start letting some folks through.
01:37:14.260This is an important development, a big development.
01:37:17.500And I guess the government has agreed to send 30 MLAs down there to talk to them.
01:37:22.840And as I said, it's a sign at least that they're taking this seriously and they're looking for resolution.
01:37:48.600that's on the Western Standard site, you know,
01:37:51.500just things to watch for. We are a comprehensive site.
01:37:53.720We do more than just the streaming stuff
01:37:55.480and coverage is something with a greyhound, I believe.
01:37:58.960Groundhog. There we go. The Groundhog Day cartoon. Yes. And that's Chronicles cartoon. He does a
01:38:04.880number of them for us. As you can see, he's quite an artist and he's got Justin Trudeau and Doug
01:38:11.800Ford. It looks like Jason Kenney and the fella from BC out there and Trudeau looking, they're
01:38:17.300all popping out of gopher holes. Saw their shadow and said six more months of mandates and lockdowns.
01:38:21.200I'm reading those things up because a lot of people, by the way, download this as the audio
01:38:25.400and listen to it. You can go to any of your favorite podcast sites and look up the Western
01:38:29.880Standard. Podbean's our main one. And you can download and listen at your leisure as well,
01:38:34.300because not everybody can always tune in live and see what's going on around here. And here's some
01:38:40.540of the stories from the Western Standard. They've been at the top, as you see from Eva there. The
01:38:43.980trucker's GoFundMe account has hit $10 million. I mean, that's amazing. How often, as Dave reported
01:38:50.680earlier when I had the check-in from the newsroom. That is the eighth highest GoFundMe has ever done.
01:38:56.920I mean, they're the world's biggest online fundraising website. People from across the
01:39:01.800country are supporting this. As well, the top story we can see from Nico, we've got, yes, the
01:39:07.360breaking news of Aaron O'Toole. He is out. There's a picture of Pierre Polyev, a picture of Leslyn
01:39:12.720Lewis. These are people and names that we expect will probably run for the leadership of the
01:39:17.140conservatives. This came so suddenly, how ready they are to make their run or how prepared they
01:39:22.320are to go. We'll see. And we're going to see all sorts of names coming up. Lots of people for the
01:39:26.540comments scroll. I think Polyev is already the leader, I guess you could say, even though he
01:39:31.900hasn't formally thrown his hat in yet. And there Nikos put the numbers up. I mean, 73 to 45 was
01:39:37.200what the MPs voted to remove him. All they needed was a 50% vote in order to get him out. I really
01:39:44.620thought it was going to be kind of close. And even if it was 55%, you know, it would have been so
01:39:48.280weak, he would have been done. But this was definitive. I mean, a strong majority of the
01:39:53.000caucus members have said, O'Toole, we're done with you. Get out. It's not working for you.
01:40:00.560And who we got? Here we go. Yes, John Williamson. He's from New Brunswick. So he's saying he's
01:40:05.900going to be or he's running to be the interim leader of the party and interim leader. So
01:40:10.960there's one person we can rule out. You can't run for the leadership if you are the interim
01:40:15.940leader. So that's one person who won't be running because there's going to be all sorts of
01:40:21.500speculation about who will be running. And you know, it goes to follow something that Danielle
01:40:27.800Smith and she's done shows here before they do their show uncensored every now and then with
01:40:33.860her and Rob Anderson and Bruce McAllister. But Danielle's always said, and boy, she knows about
01:40:40.220caucus dissension that it's when your caucus turns on you when you're done you can't get by
01:40:45.440you're finished the public is you know can pressure but when you've lost caucus support
01:40:49.780you're toast and clearly uh o'toole massively lost caucus support uh something i was talking
01:40:57.320with derek about earlier you know he's been in caucus provincially and things like that and he's
01:41:01.060gotten in fights with leaders though one of the ways to avoid that is always to make it an open
01:41:06.360vote. Well, let's have the vote right now. Let's see the raise of hands. And of course,
01:41:10.060caucus members often will curl back and not vote against in that case, because they know that if
01:41:15.920the leader stays on, they're going to get the repercussions for it. But this was a secret
01:41:20.140ballot. So we don't know who voted how, but the vast majority of the conservative caucus voted
01:41:25.080this morning and said they want a new leader. So we're going to be going into a race for that.
01:41:29.880And as with talking with Zane earlier too, Jason Kenney's facing that in April 9th, you know, we're probably going to be within a year.
01:41:39.220We know the fixed election date, Alberta should be going into an election in about a year and two months.
01:41:43.900With federal elections and minority governments averaging once every 18 months or so, I think chances are really good.
01:41:51.400I mean, they've got to move fairly fast too.
01:41:52.940These parties, if you want to get a new leader, you can't do it two months before an election.
01:41:56.080You've got to get them in, get that race done and start campaigning and hopefully there to win or replace whoever's there in the first place.
01:42:03.900And that's why these parties are getting a little desperate as well.
01:42:06.240They know they couldn't wait much longer with O'Toole.
01:42:08.160They've got to get them out right away.
01:42:10.000And well, we'll see with Jason Kenney.
01:42:11.880I mean, there's a lot of discontent, but he's also a very skilled political operator.
01:42:16.720Never underestimate Jason Kenney's ability to play the political games.
01:42:23.160Derek and I talked a little bit about that when things were breaking with that.
01:42:26.080There's different skills. Derek says he'd love to see a businessman in office and win and be a
01:42:29.820prime minister, but they never do. But you see, businessmen have to, I mean, they can have their
01:42:33.780ups and downs and negotiations and play politics, but it's not the same as managing a partisan
01:42:38.420animal. That's a special skill. That's an ability to make deals, an ability to compromise
01:42:44.440and hold things together. Not many people have it. Unfortunately, really skilled politicians
01:42:53.460aren't always the best legislators. They aren't always the best ideologues. They might not bring
01:42:57.640the best policy. They're only good at winning. And that doesn't serve us very well. And Kenny,
01:43:04.200you know, my personal point of view and why he's done so badly, and he really has,
01:43:08.300there's no getting around that. I'd hoped for better, but he's done awfully as premier. He's
01:43:12.500lost a lot of public support. The party is sinking terribly. Yet he'd spent decades in Ottawa and
01:43:18.940it was very effective. He was a fantastic cabinet minister federally. I mean, some people might
01:43:22.440differ with me. I thought he was very effective. He was always known as one of the hardest worker
01:43:26.340working in there. But there's a world of difference between running a cabinet portfolio
01:43:32.440and managing a party. See, that's that weird royal jelly of leadership. You know, you don't see it
01:43:38.920that often. You really don't. There's only so many who are really that talented at pulling it
01:43:43.120together. So once he got into a party situation, you can't run a provincial political party like
01:43:48.000you do a cabinet portfolio. And he didn't know how to do it. And he hasn't managed to do it
01:43:52.380well. Ralph Klein, for example, not heavily educated in politics, not a political person,
01:43:58.040but he could pull people together. He could unite them and he could keep that conservative
01:44:02.200coalition going. And it was a skill and a talent. Again, whether you liked his
01:44:06.640governance or his abilities, just as a leader who could keep conservatives going on walking,
01:44:14.460and that's that rare trait in lockstep. Ralph Klein had it in spades and we haven't really
01:44:18.600seen anything like it since. Stephen Harper, he got a majority, he held things together for a bit,
01:44:24.160was as strong a conservative as we could for a while. I mean, a very smart man,
01:44:28.660again, a relentless organizer, played the political games and could hold it together,
01:44:33.920at least to get a majority government for a while and do a few things, but still ended up,
01:44:37.320you know, eventually losing. So the conservatives have got some very big decisions to make
01:44:42.440in the near future. You know, I mean, how on earth do you unseat this bloody Trudeau?
01:44:48.600nobody's going to want to go to another election and into another stalemate. It's just going to
01:44:53.760feel like a waste of time and effort yet again. I like Pierre Polyev, you know, it's early and we
01:44:59.620keep seeing that name popping up. I mean, the guy has just at least been, but we got to remember
01:45:03.380that I like him fine, but I like outspoken, grumpy, abrasive people. And not everybody does.
01:45:10.160He grates on a whole lot of people as well. And you've got to think about how much the electorate
01:45:16.700at large would like Mr. Poliav as a leader. I think you pull it off. I really do. But we'll
01:45:22.100see. I mean, he's got an interesting balance, you know, and that's one of those hard things
01:45:24.840when you come to the regional thing. I mean, he's initially a Calgary person,
01:45:28.260but now he's out there. I believe he's riding. He's near Ottawa. Very much a swing one. He won
01:45:33.400a tough one for the Conservatives, but he can lay a little claim to those Western routes
01:45:37.820and of course, those precious Ontario routes that you need in order to form a government,
01:45:43.260Try to figure out how you can just get all those crabby conservatives into one room and vote and move along the government.
01:45:52.620So Polyev is one of the names that comes up and the one I'm seeing the most.
01:45:57.880Candace Bergen, again, comes up a lot.
01:46:01.400Ronna Ambrose, that's a name we saw provincially all over.
01:46:04.040People really loved Ronna and she did a great job when she was in an interim role.
01:46:08.200The downside is she's made it clear so many times.0.97
01:46:11.140she's just got no interest in throwing her hat back into the political field. So we'll see who
01:46:19.380pops up though. You know, Brad Wall, that's another one I got excited about. But as Derek said,
01:46:23.180he's never really shown much interest, seems to be quite happy in his ranching role and he does
01:46:28.440public speaking circuit and other things such as that. But, you know, I could see him pulling it
01:46:34.920together. He's another Westerner, but I think he's a Westerner who could pull that coalition
01:46:41.620together. Samantha Jones LeBlanc saying, can they vote Trudeau out on Parliament Hill? Well,
01:46:47.700Trudeau is in a minority government. So theoretically, if enough of the members of
01:46:58.300all the parties get in and do a non-confidence vote, they can throw him out and throw us into
01:47:01.120an election. But Jagmeet Singh is as powerful as he's ever going to get sitting as he is right
01:47:04.900now. And I don't think he's ever going to vote to remove Trudeau. I just got a heads up from
01:47:09.260Dave, our news editor, that Justin O'Toole is set to speak at 1pm. So he's going to come out
01:47:16.640and address his now career change. So maybe I think, because James is still working out there,
01:47:23.160watch our site. I'm going to break away and we'll take a breather. And once James, if he finds stuff
01:47:28.460this developing. Chances are very good. We're going to come back on live soon and cover what's
01:47:35.280going on down there in Coots. But for the time being, you can see what O'Toole has got to say
01:47:39.720at his conference and what's happening there. Barring anything else happening, as I said,
01:47:44.160I was ready to get up at two in the morning. If things happen, I will do so and we will cover it
01:47:47.860live. Things are springing up. They're developing as we go. Make sure to go to the westernstandardonline.com
01:47:53.660to get these stories as they break. Tomorrow, I've got Travis Smith coming on. He wrote on
01:47:58.220time he spent at a truck stop with the convoyers oh geez before i take off it looks like i see a
01:48:03.060frosty james walking around out there so i might cut over to him in case uh we don't need to break
01:48:08.080the feed james how's it going hey cory can you guys hear me yes we can all right so i i have
01:48:14.400confirmed now that uh 30 mlas in the rural caucus are meeting right now to discuss dropping all
01:48:20.920restrictions in rural alberta and uh as a sign of good uh good faith in bargaining the truck
01:48:26.460drivers have decided to move and let one lane open. If the caucus meets and they don't drop
01:48:33.020the restrictions, they'll move right back into place. They'll block everything up again. But
01:48:37.740if these rural MLAs decide that they're about to drop the restrictions in rural areas, then
01:48:43.920they're going to get one lane open in each direction today. Wow, that is an amazing live
01:48:50.180development. This is what we're getting, guys, breaking as it goes. So we could see a deal cut
01:48:54.920right now. 30 MLAs are talking about getting it open. Of course, yeah, this is a dangerous game
01:49:01.100because if those 30 aren't enough to get those restrictions dropped, the guys opening up the
01:49:05.100border right now are going to be some kind of upset, I imagine. Yeah, we're going to go in and
01:49:10.640we're going to talk to everybody. We're going to get the names of those MLAs. We're going to find
01:49:15.080out what's happening. But right now, the drivers are starting to head to their trucks. Let me flip
01:49:20.740my camera around here and see uh see if uh if if we can get this here but the guys are starting to
01:49:26.460go to their trucks their trucks are starting to fire up uh they they want to they want to be clear
01:49:32.500that uh they're bargaining in good faith here they they they know that they can't keep this
01:49:38.000close forever they know that the economy relies on it their drivers themselves uh they want some
01:49:44.820dialogue and uh it looks like they're gonna get it it looks like they're gonna get what they've
01:49:49.140asked for. Excellent. I mean, this is just history in the making in a sense of seeing, you know,
01:49:55.080grassroots citizens action, getting out reasonably doing something and perhaps accomplishing some
01:50:00.320very positive change. I mean, we'll see if and when those mandates get dropped, but we're
01:50:04.720definitely seeing, as you said, you showed the camera view, the drivers are moving,
01:50:08.800they're negotiating in good faith. If the provincial government continues to negotiate in good faith,
01:50:13.400we're going to see a whole pile of rural restrictions gone, which a lot of us are ready
01:50:17.520to see and uh we can start moving forward that's fantastic news james uh um so cheryl's asking
01:50:24.520though is that just rural restrictions we're talking about so far that's all we've heard is
01:50:29.080just rural restrictions uh i'm not sure what's going to happen in the cities um i think you know
01:50:34.220i i think this is step one i think this is a big step i think this is progress i i think this is
01:50:39.660what a lot of people here wanted to see yeah and kieran o'toole saying the same thing he's been
01:50:44.560posted some great videos from his facebook page by the way from uh he went to the edmonton convoy
01:50:48.540there um but uh yeah as you said it's a step one and the cities will have a very hard time
01:50:53.600maintaining restrictions and controls if the rural ones are being dropped i mean that would
01:50:57.880just be a domino falling it wouldn't be long afterwards then the fights would become with
01:51:01.240gondek and and some of the others who love restrictions but at least the province will
01:51:05.820be out of it yeah absolutely i uh you know i i think some of the municipal politicians will
01:51:12.880have decisions to make they need to protect their own population and I think some of the rural
01:51:17.260politicians are seeing a different thing in their area and you know they've chosen to work with
01:51:23.720their constituents in this situation well that's great news and that's breaking guys that's live
01:51:29.560so here we go we've got some progress we got things going on you're chilly out there I'll
01:51:34.340let you keep going and get more information I'm sure you'll cut in as things develop and let us
01:51:38.160know and uh thanks for for keeping us up to date here james no problem talk soon cory you bet
01:51:44.760so yeah we'll uh break off the show for a bit here as things are happening as i said
01:51:50.660dave has been letting me know that o'toole is going live right away to to address his leadership
01:51:56.680status now we're seeing uh what looks to be in a deal cut or some negotiations going on between
01:52:02.680the truckers convoy at the border and the alberta government i know some people don't feel that
01:52:07.240rural is enough. As I said, though, if that starts falling just with the rural, the urban is not
01:52:13.140going to be far behind at all. And that would be an amazing accomplishment. A protest that did that
01:52:17.620and look at the pressure that'll put on Ottawa. It's showing the province can relent. Justin,
01:52:24.560why can't you? And negotiations will have to start getting going up there, whether people like it or
01:52:30.460not. So this is a good development. We could start seeing perhaps, you know, well, we are going to
01:52:34.500see it. James has said that the trucks are starting to move. Product is going to go across
01:52:37.580the border again. And, you know, hopefully we're going to see some restrictions drop. This could
01:52:42.760be a very good day in many ways, except for Aaron O'Toole, who now is, I guess, a backblancher for
01:52:48.960the time being. So thank you all for tuning in. Again, subscribe to all of this stuff.
01:52:53.180Go to westernstandardonline.com, take out a membership. We break this stuff as fast as it
01:52:57.440comes out. James will break in with a live update. If anything new develops, he's down there in
01:53:02.980person. He's going to stay down there. And as I said, even if it's going to be two or three in
01:53:06.280the morning, we're going to keep you up to date on that. So thank you all for tuning in today.
01:53:10.020It's been a marathon episode and if nothing else breaks, I will see you tomorrow at 1130
01:53:14.820or I might see you sooner. Have a good night.