Western Standard - Canada needs leadership Trudeau can’t provide

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Thank you.

00:01:00.000 Thank you.

00:01:30.000 Thank you.

00:02:00.000 Good to see you there, Kenzie.

00:02:01.700 And we can all have a good time going through the show.

00:02:03.900 And as always, there's so many issues to cover, so much going on, especially for a guy like me.

00:02:09.440 As well, we're going to have a guest coming in, Mike Thomas.

00:02:12.060 He's been on before.

00:02:13.040 He's a columnist with the Western Standard.

00:02:14.720 We're going to talk.

00:02:15.860 We're going to talk about putting my microphone on.

00:02:19.820 And you're going to hear me a lot better after that, I'm sure.

00:02:23.260 So I told you I got thrown off.

00:02:26.000 I think I don't have my earpiece in for a change.

00:02:27.920 I didn't stick my mic on.

00:02:29.040 I hope you all heard me on the opening there.

00:02:30.800 So let's get on with things.

00:02:33.160 Good to see you, Julia.

00:02:34.240 See, now it's just my stride right off.

00:02:36.780 I think I'm blushing.

00:02:37.440 I don't know if that shows on the camera there.

00:02:39.140 So let's get into my rant and get somebody else who should be blushing going on there. 0.90

00:02:42.560 As I said, we're going to have Mike Thomas on in a little bit.

00:02:44.300 We're going to talk some municipal things, one of the Standard's columnists.

00:02:47.020 But first, let's talk about one of my favorite subjects, and that's Justin Trudeau.

00:02:50.880 So Canada, it needs a serious leader, and it hasn't had one for a decade.

00:02:55.820 So, I mean, when the world was mocking Justin Trudeau last weekend as he was dancing the night away with pubescent girls while Montreal burned,

00:03:03.180 the issue wasn't that people don't feel he has the right to enjoy a night out with his daughter.

00:03:06.700 It's just that it provided the perfect metaphor for his entire term in office.

00:03:10.960 When other large, complicated, and important issues challenged Canada,

00:03:14.820 Trudeau steps out and pulls some sort of infantile stunt.

00:03:18.140 Remember the first Truth and Reconciliation Day when he went out surfing?

00:03:22.440 But Trudeau apparently recently suffered a near-political-death experience last month

00:03:26.940 when a small caucus revolt appeared to be beginning.

00:03:29.400 So in a closed-door meeting, Trudeau turned it all on, including even turning on the tears, I guess,

00:03:33.540 as he tried to convince his caucus he has a plan to pull the Liberal Party back from the brink of electoral obliteration within a year.

00:03:40.260 With a month to work on it, Trudeau and Freeland released a grand plan to selectively give Canadians a two-month break on GST payments

00:03:48.060 while issuing checks in April for $250 to selected Canadians at a cost of somewhere around $4 billion.

00:03:55.780 Liberal caucus members were surely crying themselves to sleep upon realizing just how bad the bill of goods Trudeau sold them was.

00:04:01.380 Trudeau's plan reeks of shallow political opportunism as he tries to buy the love of Canadians with their own money.

00:04:07.340 He's been doggedly claiming the GST break will help Canadians struggling with the purchases and necessities,

00:04:12.020 but this break doesn't apply to necessities.

00:04:14.760 Trudeau's GST holiday applies to beer, fast food, crossword, puzzles, and Christmas trees.

00:04:20.480 Won't exactly help you struggling to pay the rent.

00:04:23.120 The ill-conceived policy drops an accounting nightmare upon retailers.

00:04:26.160 Now businesses have to change their accounting and billing systems to temporarily offer a break over two reporting periods on certain items

00:04:32.660 while leaving the tax alone on others.

00:04:34.640 In provinces with a blended sales tax system, the problem becomes even more nightmarish.

00:04:39.420 This foolish stunt is going to cost untold cumulative millions for the extra bookkeeping and accounting costs for small businesses

00:04:45.540 that are already struggling in Canada's lagging economy while offering negligible benefits to them through any increased sales.

00:04:51.340 I mean, come on, who's going to change their shopping habits on small purchases due to a 5% break?

00:04:56.420 And those who are making big purchases, well, they're just going to defer them into that two-month period.

00:05:00.020 But we're not creating new sales, and few people are going to be realizing any real savings.

00:05:04.940 The Trudeau payout in April is even more crass and simplistic than the GST holiday.

00:05:08.840 The government's going to sink us, yes, more than $4 billion into debt to pay certain Canadians $250.

00:05:13.540 Senior citizens, though, many of them, disabled people, students, other Canadians reliant on social services, guess what?

00:05:21.260 They're not going to get the payment.

00:05:22.500 In other words, the dingbat omitted the very people who would need such a payment while giving a check to others

00:05:27.320 who are making as much as $150,000 a year.

00:05:30.820 I mean, these payments shouldn't be going out at all.

00:05:32.640 But if you must, you should be targeting the people who need them most desperately. 1.00

00:05:36.440 Trudeau did the opposite, because he's a twit. 0.97

00:05:39.060 Trudeau's disconnect with common Canadians was well displayed, though, with his little Taylor Swift performance. 0.97

00:05:43.600 I mean, tickets for that concert ranged in the thousands, and most Canadians couldn't even dream of being able to send their daughter to it.

00:05:49.060 Trudeau had the means to attend, and hey, good for him. That's fine.

00:05:51.900 He should have been cognizant of how it looks, though, and avoided his conspicuous consumption

00:05:56.220 just after he was saying he was going to save Christmas by giving us a 5% break on board games.

00:06:00.980 The reason Trudeau couldn't stay in the background during the concert, though,

00:06:03.680 was the same reason he had to steal the spotlight with an impromptu karaoke performance

00:06:07.220 during Queen Elizabeth's funeral, because it's all about him.

00:06:10.780 Trudeau's an insecure man-child and needs constant affirmation through public attention.

00:06:14.760 He must always be the center of attention.

00:06:16.760 Thus, he was wandering the crowds of the Taylor Swift concert and exchanging friendship bracelets

00:06:20.300 when he could have just been taking in the show from a private box without garnering notice.

00:06:24.420 The issues are catching up to Canada, thanks to a decade of Trudeau's vacuous and directionless leadership.

00:06:29.940 Our GDP per capita has plummeted when compared to the United States' permissive policies

00:06:33.780 with addicts, foreign interference, criminals, mass immigration.

00:06:37.040 They've led us to having crime-ridden, degraded urban centers 0.70

00:06:40.240 and the open targeting of Canada's Jewish communities by unchecked pro-Hamas hate mobs.

00:06:45.280 It's been making headlines around the world.

00:06:47.140 We're becoming an international laughingstock.

00:06:49.320 And Canada's getting roasted for not pulling its weight with NATO

00:06:51.920 due to the Canadian military being underfunded and overwhelmed with DEI policies under Trudeau's government.

00:06:56.880 In short, Trudeau has deferred every tough task in front of him since becoming Prime Minister,

00:07:01.240 and now the nation is a mess.

00:07:03.520 In the meantime, Donald Trump smells blood.

00:07:06.060 And he's signaling a tough stance, including tariffs as high as 25% if Canada doesn't get its act together.

00:07:11.100 And I can't think of anybody worse than Justin Trudeau to deal with our largest trading partner.

00:07:14.920 Not only is Trudeau too dimmed to deal with the intricacies of trade, economy, and diplomacy,

00:07:19.500 but he's poisoned the waters through antagonizing Trump for years.

00:07:22.820 Who could forget Trudeau embarrassing Canada as he was caught on a hot mic

00:07:25.580 tittering like a schoolgirl and gossiping about Trump at a NATO summit in 2019?

00:07:30.440 You know, Trump hasn't forgotten it.

00:07:32.260 Canada's swirling the drain in many ways,

00:07:33.920 and it's going to take a lot of work to pull the country out of this death spiral.

00:07:37.760 Nothing's going to be accomplished, though, until Canada's biggest problem is removed,

00:07:41.460 and that problem is Justin Trudeau.

00:07:43.160 With every week that incompetent man remains at the helm,

00:07:45.780 Canada's going to sink deeper, as does its world reputation.

00:07:49.260 The best time to get rid of Trudeau was yesterday.

00:07:51.120 The next best time is now.

00:07:53.260 We've got to get that man out of there, guys.

00:07:54.980 Because you know what?

00:07:55.840 Things can always get worse.

00:07:58.560 All right.

00:07:58.980 Well, that's what's kicking the week off for me anyways.

00:08:01.660 I had to get that out of my system.

00:08:02.840 I was screaming it in the car on the way over.

00:08:04.240 Let's check in with our news editor, Dave Naylor.

00:08:06.300 I'm sure you've got a bunch of good news to turn the tide on things there.

00:08:09.280 You forgot your mic.

00:08:10.400 I forgot my mic.

00:08:11.380 I can't believe that.

00:08:12.460 That sounds not important in a show like this, is it?

00:08:14.820 No.

00:08:15.120 I was just seeing Nico crawling along the floor.

00:08:16.860 I was wondering what he was doing.

00:08:18.160 I thought I dropped something or something.

00:08:20.360 I'm not going to look down.

00:08:21.620 You ever done that before?

00:08:22.980 I don't think I've forgotten the mic.

00:08:24.780 That's possible.

00:08:25.560 I think I forgot to plug it in one time.

00:08:27.000 Well, there you go.

00:08:27.540 Early contender for next year's starfish.

00:08:29.180 Well, there we go.

00:08:31.240 And you started your, done your Christmas shopping yet?

00:08:33.620 I don't, not really, no.

00:08:35.080 No.

00:08:35.680 Yeah, I'm usually a December 23rd kind of guy.

00:08:38.020 Yeah.

00:08:38.960 Fortunately, my kids are all adults now, so it's okay.

00:08:41.280 How much money do you want?

00:08:42.060 A little cash can always be well.

00:08:43.880 So lots of, lots of interesting stuff on the website this morning.

00:08:48.780 Corey, we're leading off at the moment with our good buddy Ezra Levant back in court again

00:08:53.480 over that Liberano's book that he wrote all those years ago.

00:08:57.900 And the lawn signs that got him into trouble.

00:09:00.160 The Liberals aren't letting it go, so he's back in court.

00:09:04.440 Got a really interesting story on a 64-year-old guy from Mississauga.

00:09:09.840 He was traveling to South Africa, and they had a layover in Dubai.

00:09:15.380 And he was carrying medically prescribed cannabis for his arthritis, you know, from Canada.

00:09:23.040 And, of course, that's illegal when he lands in Dubai.

00:09:26.080 They threw him in jail and gave him a life sentence.

00:09:30.160 All for trying to carry medication for his body.

00:09:34.340 So, obviously, his family's in a bit of a state of shock.

00:09:38.260 We have two instances of criminals who should be remaining locked up, getting freed.

00:09:44.740 One is a guy in Vancouver who, just unprovoked, stabbed a tourist in the eye in downtown Tim Hortons.

00:09:52.880 He's been released after two years.

00:09:54.500 And in Calgary, we've got a guy who was doing some break-and-enters with sexual intentions.

00:10:00.960 And he's served six and a half years, and he's now out on the streets.

00:10:04.980 So, maybe they'll get together and have a beer or something.

00:10:07.820 That monster story is an interesting one.

00:10:10.940 Because it turns out, once they arrested him recently and had him in jail, they put him in the DNA registry and found out he was guilty of a rape back in 2014, too.

00:10:17.540 So, this guy's a serial rapist, and he's now going out to pick his nice victim, I guess.

00:10:22.180 Yes, he is. 0.97

00:10:24.860 Our columnist, Murray Lytle, has got a good look at the approval down in the Crow's Nest Pass earlier this week of the Grassy Mountain coal plant and what he thinks of it.

00:10:34.660 Speaking of Donald Trump, our good buddy Kevin O'Leary, a Canadian businessman, was on Fox News and said, you know, he should just bypass.

00:10:44.740 Trump should just bypass Trudeau, go straight to Polyev, you know, because Trudeau's a nothing.

00:10:50.480 Our Vancouver Bureau Chief, Jared Yager, got a really interesting story on the vice president or co-chair of the Vancouver Police Board who was forced to resign because she says Canadians are losing their Christian values.

00:11:09.100 This is a woman who came as a youngster from Nigeria, and her family assimilated.

00:11:15.000 They said it was important to become, you know, follow the culture of Canada and whatnot.

00:11:19.520 She says that's not being done anymore, and, you know, Canada is going down the drain because of it.

00:11:25.580 So, very good story there.

00:11:27.660 Question period is about to start with both Justin and Pierre in, so that should be good fun.

00:11:33.340 Jen Hodgson is going to be watching that. 1.00

00:11:37.300 And Jared's working on a great story on a lost hiker.

00:11:39.680 He's been missing for five weeks, and he was finally rescued yesterday.

00:11:44.600 We've got his tale of survival coming up shortly.

00:11:48.760 Oh, cool.

00:11:49.660 I mean, usually after that long, you're kind of thinking of the body recovery, so it's nice to have a happy ending once in a while.

00:11:54.180 Yeah, so, yeah, what he did to stay alive is quite incredible.

00:11:58.240 Right on.

00:11:58.780 Well, lots on the go and in the cooker.

00:12:00.280 I'll let you go back into the newsroom to listen to Justin speak and question period.

00:12:03.360 Oh, that's great.

00:12:03.980 I couldn't time this show better.

00:12:05.380 If you hear me laughing, you'll know what it's all about.

00:12:07.280 If you heard me crying, you know I'm in the room.

00:12:08.740 I can't take that man's voice.

00:12:09.820 No, no.

00:12:10.540 But I'd rather listen to him than Freeland.

00:12:13.400 Well, it's close.

00:12:15.160 It's not a big, huh?

00:12:17.120 All right.

00:12:18.200 Well, I'll let you back at it.

00:12:19.800 Thanks for the updates, Dave.

00:12:20.960 You bet, Corey.

00:12:21.480 I'll see you after the show.

00:12:23.400 All right.

00:12:23.900 This time, I'd like to remind you, yes, we've got all those reporters.

00:12:26.520 We've got these columnists.

00:12:27.980 We've got this show going on.

00:12:29.300 We've got an attentive producer who lets me know when I've forgotten to put my bloody mic on.

00:12:33.540 And the reason we have all that is because you guys have been subscribing.

00:12:36.540 So this is when I got to talk about paying the bills.

00:12:38.360 Guys, $9.99 a month, $100 for a year gets you past that pesky paywall, full access to all our stuff,

00:12:44.520 and more importantly, supports independent media.

00:12:46.500 Again, we report on the things the legacy media won't because they're scared of stirring up the government

00:12:51.360 and losing their subsidies.

00:12:52.660 We don't take subsidies.

00:12:53.700 We won't.

00:12:54.900 But we rely on subscriptions.

00:12:56.200 So get on there, westernstandard.news slash subscription.

00:12:58.820 Again, Christmas is approaching.

00:13:00.160 Get a subscription as a gift for somebody else.

00:13:02.300 Whether they appreciate it or not.

00:13:03.900 Like I said, if you want to drive a liberal nuts, give them a westernstandard subscription.

00:13:07.280 Want to make a conservative happy and still drive them nuts because they're reading my columns,

00:13:10.520 give them a westernstandard subscription.

00:13:11.840 It's just a gift for everybody.

00:13:13.840 All right.

00:13:14.560 Yes, lots going on.

00:13:15.520 Let's see what's going on in the comments here, guys.

00:13:19.120 Lots of people with much of the same thoughts as me.

00:13:21.960 Again, you know, with Pierre can't come enough and it's going to come soon enough and things like that.

00:13:27.840 It's interesting to hear a commentator saying, yeah, we should bypass the prime minister

00:13:31.540 and just have Trump deal directly with Polly.

00:13:33.280 I mean, that's not realistic, but I can understand the sentiment.

00:13:37.220 I mean, it's just absurd.

00:13:38.960 But that other story that came up, you know, some of the weirdness, there's so much to hit on.

00:13:43.940 And when Dave was talking about the lack of assimilation of people coming from Islamic nations, troublesome nations, 1.00

00:13:50.580 and they're not being counseled or taught to embrace the values of the new place they've moved to,

00:13:57.840 they're still hanging on to the old ones.

00:13:59.380 People can't forget just how backwards Islamist states are. 1.00

00:14:04.340 And that's what that gentleman going through Dubai learned the hard way.

00:14:08.240 Now, when you travel, it's your responsibility, fair enough, to know what you're supposed to bring across the border,

00:14:14.100 what you're not.

00:14:14.840 You know, you should know that before you go.

00:14:16.420 Even if it's a stopover in a country, be careful because you're going to pay the price.

00:14:19.860 But the fact that Dubai would give this man a life sentence because he had some pot with him.

00:14:26.220 Now, I can understand him getting in trouble, but a life sentence.

00:14:29.180 But that's because, don't forget, Dubai's got the shiny buildings.

00:14:32.220 It's got the money.

00:14:32.960 It's got the things like that.

00:14:33.820 But it's still an Islamist nation. 0.72

00:14:36.380 People don't have human rights in places like that.

00:14:39.740 And women sure don't. 1.00

00:14:41.600 LGBTQ people sure don't. 1.00

00:14:43.900 But we embrace that crap. 1.00

00:14:45.220 We don't condemn that crap nearly enough. 0.99

00:14:47.100 We don't point out that we've got a lot of nations and a lot of adherence on Stone Age values. 0.99

00:14:54.040 And they're on our streets.

00:14:55.380 They're waving their flags.

00:14:56.620 They're chanting death to Canada.

00:14:58.220 They're chanting death to Israel.

00:15:00.920 It's time we stop putting up with it, guys. 1.00

00:15:02.820 If you want to hold on to those rotten, wretched, backwoods beliefs, go the hell back where you came from. 0.99

00:15:07.920 In fact, if you're Canadian-born and you want to hold on to those rotten, backwoods beliefs, 1.00

00:15:12.160 go the hell over to one of those countries that enjoys them. 0.71

00:15:15.040 Because we're getting sick of it around here.

00:15:16.520 We actually consider women equals. 1.00

00:15:18.660 And, yes, we let gay people be happy with each other.

00:15:21.080 I know. 0.98

00:15:21.520 Crazy on our part.

00:15:22.840 But it's time to call it out.

00:15:24.100 Quit embracing it.

00:15:25.220 Quit getting around it. 0.96

00:15:25.900 And we're taking the chicken crap approach to it. 0.94

00:15:27.920 You know, just one last thing. 0.95

00:15:28.800 Whether you like Ezra, you hate Ezra.

00:15:30.520 He's, you know, they're great fundraising things when Ezra can get himself arrested.

00:15:33.880 And he managed.

00:15:34.900 But, you know, you watch that video.

00:15:37.200 He wasn't out there stirring the pot.

00:15:38.880 He wasn't getting in their faces.

00:15:39.960 He wasn't being a pain.

00:15:41.460 He knew there was going to be problems.

00:15:42.980 But what was the problem?

00:15:43.800 It was a Jewish man approaching a bunch of Islamic extremists. 0.66

00:15:47.180 And the police thought it's easier to get rid of the Jewish guy than have to deal with the actual rot that is across the street. 1.00

00:15:52.600 They were celebrating sinwar. 1.00

00:15:54.120 They were celebrating a terrorist, a rapist, a monster, a piece of crap. 1.00

00:15:57.720 We've got to get our priorities straight in Canada, guys. 1.00

00:16:01.200 And embracing old Islamic garbage isn't the way to do it. 1.00

00:16:04.120 All right. 1.00

00:16:05.040 Let's bring things closer to home.

00:16:06.660 We've got a more positive-minded guest in.

00:16:08.220 In studio again.

00:16:09.100 You see, this way I've got to throw off my thing.

00:16:10.700 Two people in studio at a time.

00:16:11.840 I didn't have my earpiece.

00:16:13.340 But thank you for coming in and joining us today.

00:16:15.300 It's Mike Thomas.

00:16:16.100 Corey, I'm just so pleased to be here.

00:16:18.480 Oh, good.

00:16:19.460 And I appreciate you on short notice.

00:16:21.020 I mean, we kind of had a change in the lineup.

00:16:22.760 I was going to ask you to come in, actually, in a couple weeks.

00:16:24.720 What do you think?

00:16:25.260 I've got nothing else to do but hang around and wait for you to call me?

00:16:27.680 Well, I know you could have told me to go to get stuff.

00:16:29.300 Well, I could have, but no, I can't.

00:16:30.960 No, that's fine.

00:16:32.120 That was good.

00:16:32.240 No, I appreciate it because I wanted to talk to you because we're expanding.

00:16:35.500 You've taken on the role of covering Calgary's City Hall, which there's a lot to cover there.

00:16:40.180 And unfortunately, those things don't get covered like they used to.

00:16:43.620 Yeah, I started on the 18th, I guess, budget week, which was baptism by fire, I'll tell you.

00:16:52.000 Or smoke.

00:16:53.240 More like smoke.

00:16:54.120 So, yeah, the whole idea is to, I think, make counsel more, what's the word I'm looking for?

00:17:06.420 Accountable.

00:17:07.120 Responsible, accountable. 1.00

00:17:09.640 They've been kind of flying like a bat out of hell this year with all the stupid mistakes they've made, 1.00

00:17:17.020 the blanket zoning, the single-use bylaw, all of the stuff that they've done that are just silly, and Calgarians are annoyed with them. 0.99

00:17:27.360 Well, and part of our issue, I guess, you know, the media is changing.

00:17:30.860 I mean, we just don't have, you know, I was talking to Dave a bit about that earlier.

00:17:33.660 I mean, the days were that every publication had a couple of people assigned to sit in City Hall, every basement suite zoning approval, at least somebody was watching.

00:17:41.180 We just don't have the eyes on City Hall that we used to.

00:17:44.100 So, I mean, it's great to have you there to suffer through it.

00:17:47.180 Yeah, suffer is a good word.

00:17:49.420 No, you know what?

00:17:50.200 There's some great people down there.

00:17:51.380 I haven't met them all yet.

00:17:52.600 I think there's 3,000 people in the municipal building, so I'm meeting them one at a time.

00:17:59.060 No, there's some good people down there, some people that you just shake your head and go, really?

00:18:04.460 And without naming names, you probably know who they are.

00:18:07.980 But the whole idea is to get in there, find out what's going on behind the scenes.

00:18:12.000 It's all very fine and good for the local legacy media to do.

00:18:17.440 This is what council did and said and stuff like that.

00:18:19.800 And what we want to do, I think, is get behind the headlines or get ahead of the headlines, whatever is going on.

00:18:28.720 So, I'm making some contacts down there.

00:18:30.740 It's a time-consuming thing, but it's going to be worth it.

00:18:33.920 Yeah, well, so, I mean, in municipal politics in general, I mean, I think it's always been a terribly neglected area by Canadians.

00:18:41.520 We focus on the federal issues and the provincial ones,

00:18:44.500 but those municipal politicians are touching your wallet and your life a lot more directly than the others,

00:18:50.300 and a lot of people can't even name their representatives.

00:18:52.760 Well, that's very true. 0.94

00:18:54.220 And, you know, for all of the crap that council pulled off this past year, I think it's a benefit. 0.94

00:18:59.980 I really do. 0.95

00:19:00.880 Because all of a sudden, people started paying attention, particularly the blanket zoning thing,

00:19:08.360 where council just basically said, democracy be damned.

00:19:12.580 We're going after the liberal money, and we're going to go ahead with this thing.

00:19:16.540 And so, but that got people's attention.

00:19:18.780 It's like, what's going on down there?

00:19:20.760 And a lot more people are paying attention to what's going on in council now than if that had not have happened,

00:19:26.320 which hopefully will result in a better and better,

00:19:30.880 more qualified turnout for the election coming up this year.

00:19:33.740 Because it's going to be a very fiery year on council in terms of

00:19:38.820 heating the voter or trying to please the voter up until election day next October.

00:19:46.700 Yeah, I mean, this is an election year for all of Alberta municipally.

00:19:49.720 And that's when they suddenly, I mean, that's always been the Calgary pattern.

00:19:52.220 I was surprised they didn't manage to hold the tax increase to zero,

00:19:55.140 because that's usually their favorite thing.

00:19:56.540 They'll hold it to zero and then double it the year after they get back in and hope everybody forgets.

00:20:00.880 Well, what they did, and Mayor Gondek was proud of herself about this,

00:20:05.020 she said that that council held the line.

00:20:08.560 And how an increase is holding the line is debatable, except two years ago,

00:20:14.960 she said in two years from now, which is now,

00:20:18.040 we won't raise the taxes any more than three and a half percent.

00:20:21.920 So they raised them across the board, 3.6.

00:20:25.120 So that's holding the line, but it's not.

00:20:28.980 Well, and part of the frustrating thing with them is they always act on that presumption

00:20:33.140 that there are no efficiencies or savings to be had.

00:20:35.600 Cutting anything is never an option.

00:20:38.860 Increasing revenue is the only way to deal with it.

00:20:40.600 Well, yeah.

00:20:41.200 The number of tax hikers on council, and again, I'll refrain from using names just yet,

00:20:47.740 but it kind of surprised me.

00:20:50.960 Some of the language they were using when some of the councils would be suggesting a cut

00:20:56.580 or let's just leave it alone, and some of the other councils who are tax and spend types

00:21:02.060 are like, oh, just putting in abeyance just means you're cutting money from the budget.

00:21:06.000 And I'm going, yeah, what's wrong with that?

00:21:08.680 And the point was, well, we've got to raise more money to spend more money.

00:21:14.380 And that's kind of like the motto on their t-shirt, I guess.

00:21:18.580 Well, so, I mean, some of the culture, and that's what I'm looking forward to your writing

00:21:21.900 on and things down there too.

00:21:23.100 Like personally, I think one of the problems in a lot of councils too, particularly,

00:21:26.240 is their relationship between the elected officials and the city administration.

00:21:30.820 And they often, in my view, get it quite backwards. 0.85

00:21:33.800 I mean, you get city council micromanaging on some of the dumbest of little issues 0.86

00:21:37.020 when they should be offering broad oversight of city administration,

00:21:41.060 but they're reticent about holding, you know, they almost consider them sacred.

00:21:44.380 When a city manager comes in, you don't question them harshly.

00:21:46.780 You just take what they say.

00:21:48.300 Well, exactly.

00:21:49.140 And councillors, Shania Sharp tried that in council last week. 1.00

00:21:55.120 I wrote about it, where she wanted administration to be more accountable

00:22:01.220 for the money they spend.

00:22:04.880 I'm finding out about some of the backdoor money they spend.

00:22:07.900 And it's like, really?

00:22:10.120 It's just crazy.

00:22:11.340 But council shut her down and said, you can't treat administration like this.

00:22:16.540 I think, well, no, they're employees.

00:22:17.900 You know, and if they're wasting money, they should be brought to account for it.

00:22:23.200 You can respectfully ask, what the heck are you doing with the money?

00:22:26.240 But the attitude, and that's kind of a hangover from Nenshi,

00:22:28.580 because he was quite bad for that as well.

00:22:30.780 I mean, he would chide councillors quite harshly if they dared to question city administration.

00:22:35.200 Yes, and there's still that going on.

00:22:36.880 There's still some Nenshi-ism, if you will, around that circle or half circle,

00:22:40.760 where one councillor is attacking another councillor for having suggested something that makes sense.

00:22:49.080 And it's just like, well, you guys are supposed to be getting along here.

00:22:52.240 But I guess not.

00:22:53.160 I'm wrong about that.

00:22:54.820 I mean, it's a different relationship, though.

00:22:56.600 I mean, I almost wonder if city councils, though it's such a small number of people,

00:22:59.720 but if they could have a question period to get it out of their system.

00:23:02.100 I mean, you never get answers in those question periods,

00:23:03.620 but at least you can fire things at each other,

00:23:05.500 because they have to use different statements kind of to have more of an uncontrolled debate,

00:23:10.840 and that's where it can get a little harsh when they should be working together.

00:23:13.020 Yes, yes.

00:23:13.920 And there are also, I mean, obviously council's got every type of personality on it

00:23:19.240 that you could dream of.

00:23:21.000 And there are some people who just like to get up and pontificate and talk

00:23:26.100 and tell other members of council that you should be living this way, not that way.

00:23:31.680 And it's like, okay, make your point and get out of here.

00:23:33.960 You know, we were going from 9 in the morning until 9 o'clock at night,

00:23:39.760 going over numbers, and I'm not really a big numbers guy.

00:23:43.800 Yeah.

00:23:44.180 It's like, what?

00:23:46.620 But then it's like, well, you know, if you quit with the BS all the time,

00:23:51.200 we can cut this back and get out of here by 7.

00:23:53.820 But it's just nutty.

00:23:56.060 Well, that's why I appreciate you miring through it,

00:23:58.060 because, I mean, I know one of the things, too, though, with governments in general,

00:24:01.240 or if you want to really drop something nasty on the public and not have them notice it,

00:24:05.700 you make sure it's a packed day with a bunch of dry stuff and everybody's falling asleep.

00:24:09.500 And then you kind of slide something in the middle and hope that it misses notice.

00:24:13.100 Yeah.

00:24:13.280 If you ever hear that there's a council meeting on a Friday afternoon, it's not good news.

00:24:17.720 No, no.

00:24:18.560 Especially before a long weekend.

00:24:19.720 Yeah, exactly.

00:24:20.360 They can bury that.

00:24:21.420 Yeah.

00:24:21.760 So, I mean, being in election year, we're going to see the posture.

00:24:24.640 I mean, it was kind of interesting seeing Mayor Gondek, though.

00:24:27.080 She did speak a bunch of tough terms.

00:24:29.580 This was a little while back. 0.61

00:24:30.620 But when it came to it, I mean, the administration's really dragging their butts

00:24:33.220 and trying to explain what happened with the water main burst.

00:24:35.980 You know, they're not returning any solid answers. 0.98

00:24:38.800 They seem to be dragging their butts. 0.92

00:24:39.840 And she took them to task for it. 0.97

00:24:41.520 But, I mean, was that performative or, you know?

00:24:43.640 I think a lot of it was performative.

00:24:46.320 I don't think it meant it.

00:24:47.420 I have no idea what their administrative schedule is for maintenance.

00:24:50.940 I have no idea.

00:24:51.700 Yeah.

00:24:51.900 You probably couldn't find it in the thousands of pages of manuals they got.

00:24:56.480 But they're blaming it on old infrastructure, which makes sense.

00:25:00.740 Well, I mean, you're dealing with electricity and water.

00:25:03.440 It wrecks things.

00:25:04.340 There's part of the problems with politics.

00:25:06.440 I mean, it's not romantic.

00:25:07.540 It's not exciting.

00:25:08.580 It doesn't go.

00:25:09.200 Well, we want to talk about spending part of the budget to fix up old pipes.

00:25:12.100 So, you'd rather be cutting ribbons on a new park or a library or a music center.

00:25:16.000 And if you can get away with blaming administration for something, well, you just go ahead and do that.

00:25:20.700 And, I mean, you can't blame Gondek, perhaps, directly for pipes that have blown either.

00:25:24.300 But she's paying a political price for the discomfort. 1.00

00:25:26.620 Yeah, it's going to be, like you said, a really interesting year, I think, for city council.

00:25:32.300 Probably one of the most exciting ones since Dave Braun Kanye decided to hang it up and then she got in. 0.56

00:25:42.020 I think there's going to be four or five people who aren't going to run, maybe more.

00:25:46.740 So, bringing in new candidates and stuff like that.

00:25:50.760 And there are political parties now, municipal political parties, and there's three of them in Calgary so far that are going to change the landscape.

00:25:59.520 And I won't get into the details right now.

00:26:01.180 It's a pretty separate discussion.

00:26:03.960 Yeah, it is.

00:26:04.580 So, that's going to change the fabric and the way the election is run.

00:26:10.460 And, like I said earlier, I really, really hope that Calgarians will get off their butts and finally show up at a municipal election.

00:26:20.580 Because, normally, they don't.

00:26:22.440 Well, there's the old saying about, you know, in a democracy, you get the government you deserve.

00:26:25.680 Yes.

00:26:25.860 I feel it's unfairly applied often because, in Alberta, we get the government Toronto deserves when you're talking federally.

00:26:31.440 But, when it comes to municipally, that's your own backyard. 1.00

00:26:34.080 Get off your butt. 1.00

00:26:35.140 Pay attention and vote. 1.00

00:26:36.300 We're terrible for it.

00:26:37.120 Not just Calgary.

00:26:38.080 Municipal is bad.

00:26:39.040 Yeah, exactly.

00:26:39.700 But, it's like you said earlier.

00:26:40.920 You know, we pay attention to the feds because they make a lot of noise.

00:26:43.580 And then, they're provincial because they make a little bit more noise.

00:26:46.680 But, here it's quiet.

00:26:48.580 And so, people just go about the day and don't pay a whole lot of attention.

00:26:52.820 I think, like I said earlier, I think that has changed with what has happened so far this year.

00:26:57.820 Yeah, we've got an interesting year coming because there's a lot of, even though we've got an incumbent mayor who hasn't said whether she's going to run yet again or not, we've never seen one that week before, especially in a first term.

00:27:08.320 I mean, you know, with Al Doerr, I mean, we're dating ourselves and going back.

00:27:11.220 But, it was acclimations for these guys.

00:27:13.320 I mean, they would just put their name on the ballot and they would win.

00:27:15.600 Dale Hodges, I mean, nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.

00:27:17.860 He would just slide through year after year.

00:27:19.740 But, this time, they're looking, they're going to have to fight a little if they want to keep those spots.

00:27:24.860 Well, yeah, I hope so.

00:27:26.660 I really hope so.

00:27:28.280 Like I said, I think five or six people are going to not run.

00:27:31.240 I'm pretty convinced Gondek will run.

00:27:34.100 The way she was talking at the chamber lunch on Monday, she wasn't talking about what we as a council had done.

00:27:44.100 And, she said, all these things that I'm doing.

00:27:49.020 I went, well, there you go.

00:27:50.520 That's running for office. 0.98

00:27:51.440 It's starting to kick things off.

00:27:53.560 Well, what do you think?

00:27:54.240 I mean, it's, we're still looking at 10 months, but basically the campaign period is going to start after Christmas.

00:27:59.540 What are the issues these guys are going to be hanging up on in the coming months?

00:28:04.600 I think infrastructure, the infrastructure in the city is in pretty bad shape.

00:28:11.960 It is.

00:28:13.280 And nobody's at fault.

00:28:16.340 Calgary has grown so fast.

00:28:19.460 Fastest-growing city in the country.

00:28:21.580 And ever since COVID, we've had, I don't know how many, 120,000 people or something like that move into the area.

00:28:27.980 And that puts a lot of pressure on the pipes and the water and everything like that.

00:28:32.640 So, and it's old, been on the ground a long time.

00:28:35.940 So, infrastructure is going to be a big deal, particularly with what happened in Montgomery.

00:28:39.980 Where is more of that going to be found?

00:28:42.580 And taxes, I think, is another thing.

00:28:46.160 The other thing that is going to probably come to a conclusion early in the new year is the green line.

00:28:54.280 Once the province and the city get that sorted out, I think that the province is going to win that one.

00:29:02.700 But the green line will be, I think, a small piece of the election.

00:29:08.980 Then it comes down to each individual counselor fighting for the rights in their own ward and stuff like that.

00:29:17.720 Kind of to finish off, and again, this kind of applies to every municipality.

00:29:20.360 But I think a lot of our problems are coming because, as you mentioned, with the green line, well, we've got federal, we've got provincial, and we've got municipal, all in the same sand pit, all trying to make their mark on a big infrastructure project.

00:29:30.000 And as is expected, it's turning into a gong show.

00:29:33.300 But we've got a lot of issues on every level of government staying in their jurisdiction.

00:29:37.580 We've got Trudeau dangling money for housing if there's a rezoning, you know, blanket rezoning given.

00:29:42.540 We've got the province fighting and really kind of pressuring municipalities.

00:29:46.020 I'd rather see voters fix the municipality than see Premier Smith step in and do it.

00:29:50.700 But they're pushing pretty hard on municipalities.

00:29:53.800 Are we going to see more jurisdictional battles?

00:29:56.000 Like, are we going to see Gondek fighting with Premier Smith more?

00:29:58.920 I don't know about that.

00:29:59.700 I think you might see more interference by the Trudeau government, I think, depending on what is happening at the upper level of that party.

00:30:10.520 Their whole housing thing about tossing money to municipalities to increase housing is just a total failure.

00:30:19.560 It doesn't work.

00:30:20.420 I mean, would you, if you want to get houses built, do you give money to a government or you do give money to the builders?

00:30:28.620 Give it to the builders.

00:30:29.700 Or put it in the pocket of citizens to buy houses.

00:30:32.460 Well, you've got to build the houses.

00:30:34.060 I mean, we're Alberta and Calgary breaking records with new home starts.

00:30:42.640 So the stock is increasing slowly because it takes two years to finish a house.

00:30:47.920 It takes seven years to finish a high rise.

00:30:49.840 So it takes time for that.

00:30:51.180 But the starts are there.

00:30:53.140 They're happening.

00:30:53.700 So, but it's the builders who should be given money.

00:31:00.840 And I know this goes against our whole public-private thing.

00:31:04.720 But here's the money.

00:31:06.420 Go hire people.

00:31:07.900 If you must, then go there.

00:31:09.660 Stay accountable.

00:31:10.660 Absolutely.

00:31:11.400 Stay accountable.

00:31:12.420 But go do what you need to do instead of the Liberal government giving $228 million to the Calgary government.

00:31:19.080 Yeah.

00:31:19.560 And where did that go?

00:31:21.000 Magic beans or whatever the heck.

00:31:22.140 Magic beans.

00:31:22.640 Yes.

00:31:22.940 That's not right.

00:31:24.560 Well, I appreciate it.

00:31:25.640 I really was happy to hear.

00:31:27.040 I've always been a municipal watcher. 0.87

00:31:28.600 I'm just a political dork.

00:31:29.940 But, you know, there's been a dearth of coverage.

00:31:32.600 I mean, it's just the way media is going now and everything.

00:31:34.640 We just don't see enough of it.

00:31:36.000 So I'm just thrilled that the standards expanded and you've taken it upon yourself.

00:31:39.480 I mean, with so much, you know, experience in that area already to keep an eye on it.

00:31:43.520 And for the sake of our readers and listeners, because, as I said, they slip a whole lot through the unseen.

00:31:48.680 And they've been taking advantage, I think, of the lack of coverage.

00:31:51.300 Yep.

00:31:51.560 That's a good point.

00:31:52.440 And we're going to try and clean that up.

00:31:55.480 Right on.

00:31:56.740 Well, good to see you back in studio again, Mike.

00:31:59.060 And I appreciate you coming in to talk to us.

00:32:01.400 Okay, great.

00:32:01.920 Just next time, give me like a day's notice so I can do my hair.

00:32:05.660 I won't make any promises.

00:32:06.840 I'll try and avoid.

00:32:10.080 Okay, thanks.

00:32:11.060 All right.

00:32:11.260 Thanks, Mike.

00:32:12.040 So that was our Mike Thomas.

00:32:12.960 And yeah, you know, guys, just keep watching the Western Standard, you know, to catch those things.

00:32:16.940 I mean, we've got people covering Edmonton, Vancouver, the rest.

00:32:19.560 But we do have Mike now dedicated to the Calgary Show.

00:32:22.080 I mean, that's where a lot of our people are.

00:32:24.180 And I see commenter Ward there says, beautiful hair, Mr. Thomas.

00:32:26.980 You see?

00:32:27.280 So, you know, that look of just coming in has worked.

00:32:30.300 The fan base appreciates Mike's look here.

00:32:32.880 So thanks.

00:32:34.100 I mean, my hair is not exactly something beautiful to behold either.

00:32:36.440 We're political people, guys.

00:32:37.720 Come on.

00:32:39.080 But yes, this is a great development.

00:32:41.820 It really is.

00:32:42.620 I've missed having all that good city coverage for those sorts of things.

00:32:46.460 So, yeah, let's look at some of the other stuff going on out there.

00:32:49.600 Speaking of issues, you know, this is one of the ones that gets multi-jurisdictional.

00:32:52.480 We're talking about justice.

00:32:54.460 You know, municipal governments get stuck with the policing, but the federal government is dealing with the criminal code.

00:33:00.820 And the provincial governments are kind of in the middle with courts and things like that going on.

00:33:04.900 But we've got a real issue with releasing some of the most dangerous people among us.

00:33:11.680 We just can't seem to keep them behind bars.

00:33:14.920 This is one of the most common sense things, one of the roles of government.

00:33:18.320 Me as a classical liberal, a libertarian, I want as little government as possible.

00:33:22.500 But one of the roles of government is to keep us safe.

00:33:26.620 And some of that in the justice system is targeting, arresting, and preventing future reoffences from the most dangerous people when we can identify them.

00:33:39.020 And we've got some pretty obvious cases.

00:33:41.360 So, yeah, this is a case, you know, Jared's been writing about this in B.C.

00:33:45.500 We probably remember because the sheer randomness of it was so horrifying, and it was on video.

00:33:50.820 This man who went into a Tim Hortons in Vancouver and just stabbed a tourist.

00:33:55.200 I mean, just out of the blue, almost killed him, very grievously harmed him.

00:33:59.340 This was in 2022.

00:34:00.600 Well, he already got released.

00:34:03.100 And then, you know, it's not somebody gets stabbed in a robbery.

00:34:05.820 There's no justifying, but at least when you can see a motivation, it's not quite as scary.

00:34:09.140 It's maybe avoidable. 0.90

00:34:10.020 But when it's somebody that dangerous, that crazy, that will just pick somebody and just shove a knife into them.

00:34:14.060 That's pretty terrifying to think of somebody on the street.

00:34:16.860 And they let him out.

00:34:19.220 And he breached his condition, so they brought him back in.

00:34:22.600 And guess what?

00:34:23.340 They've let him out again.

00:34:25.840 This is only a few years ago.

00:34:27.200 He almost killed somebody.

00:34:29.340 This man should not be on the streets.

00:34:32.900 And he probably will hurt somebody again.

00:34:35.340 I mean, we talk about mental health issues.

00:34:37.660 I talk about them a lot.

00:34:38.840 Paradoxy, they're saying, you know, build more prisons to help with the job crisis and the housing and crime.

00:34:43.880 All at once.

00:34:44.400 I kind of agree to a degree.

00:34:46.160 But one of the areas that we really got to build is mental health facilities.

00:34:49.860 I've been on that a number of times.

00:34:52.080 A lot of the people ending up in our prisons would probably be better served in a mental health facility.

00:34:57.540 I got to admit, I'm not big on the punitive end of justice.

00:35:01.580 Because for two reasons.

00:35:02.640 I just don't like it.

00:35:04.000 It tends not to work very much, unfortunately.

00:35:06.560 When somebody's crazy or criminal, they don't care.

00:35:09.560 They're not afraid of the consequences.

00:35:11.000 But I do believe in the preventative, which means restraining them, keeping them locked up.

00:35:15.340 It doesn't mean in luxury, but it doesn't mean torture either.

00:35:17.720 You know, I'm not talking about cold cells with bread and water.

00:35:19.980 And with mental health, even if this gentleman who stabbed the guy, he's got a mental health issue.

00:35:24.920 Something's wrong with this guy.

00:35:26.140 So, no, I don't think he should be hung up and flogged.

00:35:27.980 But I don't think he should be out on the streets to hurt somebody else.

00:35:31.020 And in a lot of other cases, you see the ones wandering on the streets.

00:35:35.800 Again, you know, they're pushing shopping carts and talking at the clouds and yelling at the birds.

00:35:39.540 They aren't necessarily always addicts.

00:35:41.040 So, there's a lot of those.

00:35:41.820 Addiction and mental health are very tightly tied together.

00:35:44.780 But neither of them should be on the streets.

00:35:47.040 And, yes, prisons as well, though, paradox, he is correct.

00:35:50.000 For the ones like this guy, whether it's a mental health facility or a prison,

00:35:53.540 he shouldn't be out to be able to stab somebody again.

00:35:56.380 And then the one that Dave mentioned.

00:35:58.000 This is in Calgary.

00:35:58.680 The police warned us.

00:35:59.500 I'm not faulting the police for this.

00:36:00.860 They have no choice.

00:36:02.160 This man served two-thirds of his sentence. 1.00

00:36:04.080 One of those stupid Canadian things, too. 1.00

00:36:05.720 Two-thirds mandatory release. 1.00

00:36:08.340 He's a repeat serial rapist. 0.98

00:36:11.580 And he's out again. 1.00

00:36:12.640 I don't know.

00:36:12.940 He's 39 years old, I think, or 40.

00:36:14.500 He's pretty young. 0.99

00:36:14.940 So, he's got time to rape lots of times. 0.99

00:36:16.520 You know, get in and out and in and out. 0.99

00:36:18.140 Oof.

00:36:18.740 Awesome.

00:36:19.520 I didn't mean to make that gross optic.

00:36:21.260 I was talking about in and out of prison.

00:36:22.420 But either way, guys like him should be locked up and kept.

00:36:25.960 Ian, if you want to really dig into things, recidivism rates.

00:36:31.160 You know, the people most likely to re-offend.

00:36:34.700 And there's some pretty grisly statistics, but they're very in-depth.

00:36:37.500 When you talk about sex offenders, because those are ones that we really don't want to

00:36:40.720 see re-offending.

00:36:41.980 And ones like, you know, who randomly pick and assault people have a higher than 50% recidivism

00:36:50.320 rate.

00:36:50.520 We can't treat them. 1.00

00:36:52.280 They're perverts. 1.00

00:36:53.160 They're rapists. 1.00

00:36:53.760 They just can't stop themselves. 0.98

00:36:55.420 That means we've got to keep them locked up for good.

00:36:57.960 50%, not nearly good enough, guys.

00:37:00.120 You come up with a magic pill or a treatment or something that stops these people, and we

00:37:05.120 can start talking about early release.

00:37:06.400 But 50% recidivism, not good enough.

00:37:08.940 And when you start getting in the grisly and gross part of it, actually with incestuous

00:37:13.880 perverts who molested, you know, their own children and things like that, those ones 0.97

00:37:19.620 actually have a really low recidivism rate because apparently their thing was for their

00:37:23.060 own kids, not for people in general.

00:37:26.100 They should still be charged.

00:37:27.420 They should still be in prison.

00:37:28.340 But I'm just talking about when you're starting to determine which ones get let out again,

00:37:31.060 you do measure by who's more likely to hurt somebody again.

00:37:34.580 And yeah, serial rapists, keep them locked up.

00:37:38.700 It's just absurd that we keep letting them loose among the public.

00:37:43.920 And I mean, some of these cases are pretty clear.

00:37:45.800 We get other ones, again, with people with hundreds of re-offences and things.

00:37:49.120 Um, it's, uh, uh, you know, difficult to, um, sorry, I got thrown off a comment there.

00:37:58.280 I'm not even going to bring you up, Ward.

00:37:59.640 That's enough.

00:38:00.860 Um, but either way, we need some personal responsibility.

00:38:04.160 We need to get the dangerous people off the streets.

00:38:07.300 Speaking of dangerous people and spots, you know, let's get back to federal again.

00:38:10.720 Let's get back to Justin Trudeau and, uh, tariffs.

00:38:14.900 You know, Donald Trump, he's an interesting guy.

00:38:19.300 He's volatile.

00:38:20.440 He's thin-skinned and he holds a grudge.

00:38:23.660 It's part of what I was saying in my opening monologue.

00:38:25.560 Trudeau has poked at him.

00:38:26.720 He's insulted him.

00:38:27.540 He's been a pain towards him.

00:38:29.620 And now he's going to be, Trump is coming in more powerful than he was the last time he was in.

00:38:36.040 He's got the Senate.

00:38:37.240 He's got Congress, the Supreme Court.

00:38:40.920 I don't think, and I could be wrong.

00:38:43.460 I mean, everybody's kind of speculating and wondering.

00:38:45.060 I don't think he's going to follow through with 25% tariffs across the board on everything, like he's saying.

00:38:50.200 I mean, it depends. 0.99

00:38:50.940 If Trudeau's stupid enough, and boy, you know, he quite often is, to not take this seriously. 1.00

00:38:56.440 He's holding a first minister's meeting. 1.00

00:38:57.960 He's pulling all the premiers together.

00:38:59.860 I think even he realizes the danger that he's suddenly in.

00:39:03.580 And yes, much of it's of his own making.

00:39:06.360 But if they, there's room to address this.

00:39:08.900 We've got a couple of months, let's avoid it as well.

00:39:11.740 Because tariffs cut both ways.

00:39:14.340 They will hurt the Americans. 0.98

00:39:15.680 If Trump brings in these tariffs, even if he is a hardcore protectionist, and he certainly is.

00:39:21.540 You know, when we talk about with Alberta, with Alberta oil and gas, for example, you put a 25% tariff on Alberta oil and gas.

00:39:28.680 Well, fine, it's not like the American refineries and purchasers and customers can just say, fine, we'll get it from somewhere else and save 25%.

00:39:38.300 No, what's going to happen is they're going to pay that extra premium, which I guess will bring more tax revenue into the federal government and the states.

00:39:45.840 But then American consumers, of course, are suddenly going to be paying more at the pump, paying more to heat their homes, paying more for consumer products because fuel's gone up.

00:39:53.720 And pretty dramatically, because the Americans get a heck of a lot of their oil and gas from us.

00:39:57.540 So I suspect he's going to back down on that one.

00:40:00.600 And again, not because he likes Canada, not because Trudeau's a genius.

00:40:04.000 He certainly isn't.

00:40:05.760 But because it would actually be shooting himself in the foot with the tariff.

00:40:09.600 But there's a lot of Canadian products that he most certainly could do without or, you know, could put a big tariff onto.

00:40:16.300 Again, it shows some of the wisdom of Premier Smith, where she's been going out herself.

00:40:20.540 She's going to Trump's inauguration. 0.99

00:40:22.900 Hey, again, you don't have to kiss the man's butt, but show him some respect. 0.99

00:40:27.100 Be proactive. 0.99

00:40:28.260 Alberta has an office in Washington.

00:40:30.300 We've had it for a long time.

00:40:32.900 We don't count on the federal government to have.

00:40:35.580 I mean, that should be more foreign affairs.

00:40:37.860 You know, that should be the case of embassies and ambassadors.

00:40:40.260 But we do so much trade with the United States.

00:40:41.960 Alberta's been smart to have their own office to deal with the United States in Washington.

00:40:46.360 And boy, we're looking a heck of a lot stronger among Canadian provinces who are now sweating these tariffs that might be coming down.

00:40:53.140 Because we've got the direct air of a lot of policymakers in the United States and maintain a good relationship with them, even if our federal leader didn't.

00:41:03.100 So Alberta could be better placed to endure the onslaught of tariffs if they're coming.

00:41:10.240 But still, I mean, hey, I don't wish hate on the rest of the country.

00:41:14.040 I want to see, you know, we've talked about that.

00:41:16.340 I want to see independence.

00:41:17.120 I want to see the Constitution completely gutted and redrafted or torn down.

00:41:20.120 And I think a province leaving would be the catalyst to do it.

00:41:23.000 But I don't wish ill on other Canadians.

00:41:24.660 And if these tariffs come through, there's going to be a lot of ill coming to a lot of Canadians.

00:41:30.600 I don't want to see it.

00:41:31.900 I don't want to see it. 0.99

00:41:33.000 They've got to get that moron out of the prime minister's chair because that'll be the first step, as I said earlier, towards rebuilding a relationship and stopping the punitive. 0.98

00:41:43.520 We just can't be going to a trade war with our top partner. 1.00

00:41:46.660 We can't.

00:41:47.660 And it's in the American interest to have a good relationship with us, too.

00:41:50.520 But we've got to start behaving and start acting grown up.

00:41:54.020 And I know, I know a lot of people who don't like Trump.

00:41:56.660 And I've never claimed to be a big fan of his.

00:41:59.500 That's for sure.

00:42:00.480 He could be childish and petulant as well.

00:42:02.560 That's true.

00:42:03.420 We can't control who's leading the United States.

00:42:06.380 But we can, or somebody can control who's leading Canada.

00:42:09.160 And we've got to change that.

00:42:11.080 Look at that stuff coming out.

00:42:12.640 Chrystia Freeland, as Dave was talking earlier.

00:42:14.480 Yeah, that grating voice, you know.

00:42:16.500 Mr. Speaker.

00:42:17.980 Our finance minister, Tweak.

00:42:21.540 She talked about a vibe session.

00:42:24.020 I'm writing a column about that right now.

00:42:26.660 A vibe session.

00:42:28.880 And that's what she's saying.

00:42:30.320 The bottom line of what she's getting at is saying, Canada's doing fine.

00:42:35.820 We're rich.

00:42:36.680 The economy's chugging along.

00:42:38.100 No problem.

00:42:39.480 It's a vibe session.

00:42:40.700 Which means Canadians just have bad vibes. 0.97

00:42:42.840 They're going by their feelings.

00:42:44.420 They've got a bad feeling about the economy, but they're wrong.

00:42:47.620 It's condescending. 1.00

00:42:48.420 It's stupid. 1.00

00:42:49.660 Freeland. 1.00

00:42:50.100 They can't pay the bills.

00:42:52.640 They aren't on a federal cabinet minister's salary.

00:42:56.680 It's not vibes.

00:42:57.920 It's reality.

00:42:59.060 They're having, they say there's more month at the end of their paycheck left.

00:43:03.440 It's not vibe session.

00:43:05.380 They're broke. 1.00

00:43:06.400 You idiot. 1.00

00:43:06.940 And insulting, though, for you to say, no, things are all just fine, Jim Dandy. 1.00

00:43:12.520 You just don't know what's good for you.

00:43:14.960 This government is unbelievable.

00:43:17.620 And we just need to manage to get them the heck out of there.

00:43:21.420 We really do.

00:43:22.240 I mean, I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record when we get going on this.

00:43:25.220 And then this government's crippled.

00:43:27.640 It's been hung up.

00:43:28.740 It's been filibustered for months.

00:43:31.180 They have gotten no bills through because the corruption is leaking through.

00:43:35.020 There's a bunch of documents that a committee has asked for.

00:43:37.640 The government is obligated to put those documents over.

00:43:40.920 It's over the green slush funds.

00:43:42.480 The bottom line is the government has, there's been corruption going on.

00:43:45.920 There's been contracts going to buddies and there's documents showing it.

00:43:48.800 And the government would rather seize all business for two months and refuse to turn over the documents they're supposed to turn over rather than let us see just exactly what they did.

00:43:58.120 How bad must it be?

00:44:00.500 So we're tied up.

00:44:01.740 And meanwhile, other stuff's going on.

00:44:03.120 The Ethics Committee.

00:44:04.260 Oh, yeah, here we go.

00:44:05.300 More summons.

00:44:06.460 And where are they for?

00:44:07.320 Randy Bois.

00:44:08.100 And I remember him, Coquahontas, the, you know, last remaining prairie cabinet minister in federal government, the liberal.

00:44:16.980 He just finally sunk under on his own BS and corruption, is now a backbencher.

00:44:23.520 But they're following through because two of his former business associates, again, we're talking, could be in criminal trouble.

00:44:29.640 I mean, we're not even talking conflict of interest stuff, which can lead to criminal all the same.

00:44:33.480 But they've got some serious issues.

00:44:34.500 The Edmonton police are investigating.

00:44:36.720 But the RCMP, they don't see it as a priority.

00:44:40.000 But, again, we've got to remember who pays their bills.

00:44:42.120 Getting on to, I've heard threats now.

00:44:44.340 Oh, it sounds like another aspect of rail might be going on strike.

00:44:48.060 You know, labor, strife across the country.

00:44:50.060 So many things going on.

00:44:51.900 And for those who might have forgotten, Canada Post, they're on strike too.

00:44:57.760 Remember?

00:44:58.140 Hey, yeah, they're still there.

00:45:00.820 Jim Henry's here for the daddy issues. 0.95

00:45:02.480 You guys are just going to kill me today. 0.87

00:45:04.420 All right.

00:45:05.060 Either way, Canada Post is on strike, guys. 1.00

00:45:07.520 Again, talking about the stupid, talking about Canada, talking about not facing common sense. 1.00

00:45:11.460 We need to get in there and deal with that. 1.00

00:45:14.800 Canada Post needs to remain.

00:45:16.520 But I tell you what, it can be an organization probably a quarter of the size of what it is right now.

00:45:21.360 These strikers, they have to be told to get stuffed.

00:45:24.480 I mean, they need reform.

00:45:26.560 There's no need for house-to-house delivery anymore.

00:45:29.500 There's no need for them to have that monopoly on letter mail.

00:45:32.480 It's time to end.

00:45:33.620 Instead, they're trying to hold us hostage to give them raises.

00:45:36.460 Who's getting raises?

00:45:38.300 Maybe in the vibe-flation, vibe session, we didn't understand it.

00:45:42.200 What a bizarre, bizarre world we're going into this year.

00:45:44.600 But we're approaching Christmas.

00:45:45.760 Maybe something will come along.

00:45:48.600 Paradox is saying, I may not be accurate.

00:45:49.860 A side calculation of $3.22 cost for each $2.50 check for the checks going out.

00:45:54.640 Yeah, that could be a speculation, you know, just to kind of close things off.

00:45:57.580 Yeah, that's the other thing.

00:45:58.440 They're going to hand out, you know, $250 of your own money back at you for some people, not others.

00:46:04.540 And they think it's going to buy your love.

00:46:06.540 But remember, this is the government doing it.

00:46:07.800 They can't even get their payroll right.

00:46:09.500 The Phoenix system's a disaster.

00:46:11.340 So who knows what the number will be.

00:46:13.340 But yeah, it's not just going to be $250 ahead for these checks coming out.

00:46:16.120 Probably closer to $300 or more because they can't do something as simple as issue these things.

00:46:20.920 And you can bet they'll give them to some people who aren't supposed to get them.

00:46:22.920 And then they'll try collecting from them.

00:46:24.380 And they'll forget to give them to some of the people who were supposed to get them.

00:46:27.540 This is another reason they probably should have just done it across the border.

00:46:29.800 Well, they shouldn't do it at all, but at least it'd be easier to keep it straight.

00:46:36.080 So whatever.

00:46:38.420 Tyler Volstadt saying the Pannington Post is complaining that nobody's noticed their strike.

00:46:42.460 Yeah, or the postal workers are.

00:46:44.000 I know.

00:46:44.620 You know, it's the old days.

00:46:45.920 It's over, guys.

00:46:48.480 Here's a valid point from Ward saying a charity.

00:46:51.000 Yes, the holiday fundraising is down because a lot of seniors used to send checks to make the donations.

00:46:56.620 And it's true, and it is hurting them, and it's unfortunate.

00:47:00.720 The thing is, though, at least it's the wrong way to do it.

00:47:04.320 But a lot of those seniors are forcing themselves to learn how to do electronic means of transfers.

00:47:08.280 Not all of them will.

00:47:09.020 Some people will die of old age before losing checks.

00:47:11.180 But this is the final push.

00:47:12.400 That's it.

00:47:12.700 We're going electronic.

00:47:13.520 And that's what these posties have got to realize.

00:47:15.480 People are shifting.

00:47:16.840 And when this strike is over, they're not going back.

00:47:19.080 They're not.

00:47:19.640 Canada Post is going to be even worse off than it's ever been by a long shot after this strike. 1.00

00:47:24.480 So it's time to starve those idiots out. 1.00

00:47:27.020 Yeah, that's the way it goes. 1.00

00:47:28.640 Learn to code, guys.

00:47:29.880 All right, on that note, I'll leave it there.

00:47:32.040 I don't want to hear any more comments sending me off my game pad enough with me and the microphone.

00:47:35.340 Thank you for tuning in today, you guys.

00:47:37.240 Much appreciated and making such good use of that comment scroll.

00:47:41.180 Be sure to tune in next week.

00:47:42.560 We'll have a whole new slate of issues, more stuff for me to complain about.

00:47:45.760 Maybe I'll have some positive things to talk about, too.

00:47:47.460 I do tell you a little more upbeat as the holiday season gets there.

00:47:50.180 Be sure to take out a subscription if you haven't already.

00:47:52.840 And we will see you all next week at this time.

00:47:55.640 Thanks.

00:47:56.620 We'll see you all next week.

00:48:26.620 We'll see you all next week.

Western Standard - November 28, 2024

Canada needs leadership Trudeau can’t provide

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