Western Standard - Canada (or Alberta) as the 51st State？

00:00:00.000 Mark Carney backed Bill C-69, Trudeau's No More Pipelines Law.

00:00:09.560 It's killing energy projects right here at home.

00:00:13.620 But guess what?

00:00:15.080 While Canadian workers get left behind, Carney's company, Brookfield, is busy buying pipelines in the U.S., in Brazil, around the world.

00:00:26.640 Shut down Canadian energy. Profit off everyone else's.

00:00:32.720 Mark Carney. Blocking Canadian jobs and banking foreign billions.

00:00:56.640 I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard.

00:01:09.180 We're going to be chatting today with a guy named Brian Lovig

00:01:12.180 about Donald Trump, Canada's federal election,

00:01:17.140 the 51st state, and possibly Alberta as the 51st state.

00:01:23.540 We're going to bring him into the show right now.

00:01:25.660 uh brian lovig is a businessman commentator and host of right edition and he's a dual citizen

00:01:33.220 uh with a long history in alberta and bc he's uh got him he's got a at least one place maybe

00:01:39.040 more in states and uh but he's coming to us right now from his ranch in beautiful

00:01:43.760 colonna british columbia uh thanks for joining me brian

00:01:46.640 thank you derrick nice to see you um i think there's no denying that donald trump has had

00:01:57.020 some impact and i say some and maybe quote air quotes here donald trump has had an impact on

00:02:03.320 the canadian federal election uh the common wisdom and the common wisdom is not always wrong

00:02:09.280 for the media is that uh it's certainly been to the benefit of the liberals and if you believe

00:02:13.700 the polls, which have seen significant movement away from the Conservatives and away from the

00:02:18.820 NDP towards the Liberals. The Liberals appear to have been the sole beneficiary of this.

00:02:26.180 What's your take on the impact of Donald Trump's both tariff actions and talk of annexing Canada

00:02:34.900 as the 51st state on the Canadian federal election? Well, a couple of things. First,

00:02:39.940 Derek, let me say that I'm on an iPad in Kelowna, and it's a little tinny sounding, probably.

00:02:45.700 You're forgiven.

00:02:46.980 Hopefully, you know, you can hear and understand me. But, you know, with regards to Trump, I mean,

00:02:52.760 he's made an impact worldwide. He's changed politics. Maybe they needed to be changed.

00:02:57.620 I'm a big Trump supporter. I support his policies, but I don't support him with regard to what he's

00:03:03.900 doing in Canada. I mean, this Canada-free 51 state and interfering with the Canadian election 0.84

00:03:09.660 I don't like that at all. I mean, I read or I saw rather on Fox News here recently, he was on with one of the commentators there.

00:03:17.540 And he said, I had a conversation with the Prime Minister of Canada and I like him.

00:03:23.060 Everything went well. And I'm looking forward to talking to him after the election, which certainly implies that the Liberals will win the election.

00:03:29.880 And that's an influence. And I don't think he should be doing that.

00:03:33.300 I mean, we should vote for a Shetland Pony over Liberals. I mean, if a Shetland Pony was running.

00:03:38.480 So, I mean, there's a few things that he's doing that I certainly don't agree with.

00:03:42.300 You're not supposed to agree with everybody all of the time, and I guess that's okay.

00:03:45.580 With regards to the 51st state, I mean, maybe that's his way of boiling it down and ending up with Alberta.

00:03:52.360 Maybe that's where he always wanted to be.

00:03:54.400 I mean, I'm seven generations of my cameras on both sides, parents, mother and father, have been from Alberta.

00:04:01.740 And I was born and raised there, and I've always said that Alberta should be a separate country.

00:04:06.640 I think it should be a country long before it become a state, but whatever.

00:04:10.280 I mean, Trump is certainly, you know, causing havoc with all the things that he's saying and doing.

00:04:16.720 Do you think Donald Trump is serious about this?

00:04:19.440 I mean, when it first started, you know, it kind of came out of a dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

00:04:25.400 You know, the telling of it, you know, none of us were there.

00:04:28.620 There's no recording of it.

00:04:29.500 But the telling of that dinner was, you know, Justin Trudeau said something to the effect of, well, without...

00:04:36.640 You know, if we had tariffs on Canadian goods, we'd cease to exist as a country, something like that, to which Donald Trump said, well, then maybe you should become the 51st state.

00:04:44.380 And then, you know, then he started posting some images that it seemed like a joke, but then he kept joking and it sounded less like a joke and more like a trial balloon.

00:04:55.420 Do you think he's serious about this or is this just a power move?

00:04:59.980 Is this just, you know, when he was denigrating, putting down Governor Trudeau, or do you think he's actually serious about this?

00:05:09.520 I think he is serious a little bit.

00:05:11.400 I mean, a lot of it doesn't make any sense.

00:05:13.920 I mean, if Canada became a 51st state, the Republicans would never be in office again, because Canada, 70% of all Canadians, more or less, have never voted Conservative.

00:05:23.460 So that's a big number.

00:05:24.640 And so if you bring that number into your country, that can't be good.

00:05:30.820 I don't know what he's about.

00:05:32.880 I think he's serious to some degree.

00:05:34.480 He negotiates differently than anyone else.

00:05:36.720 And again, I think it's the West, and I think West may be Saskatchewan, but certainly it would be Alberta.

00:05:41.580 And he'll probably boil it down at some point and kind of go that direction.

00:05:46.460 But I think he's serious, but not for the whole pie.

00:05:49.840 I think he would want a slice of the pie.

00:05:51.820 That would be a smart thing to do.

00:05:53.060 it wouldn't be smart to take the whole country in my view at least so yeah that's where i want to go

00:05:58.420 with this is uh now also i've if you took the idea of canada joining the united states seriously i

00:06:05.280 don't think anyone takes it seriously that canada would be a single state it would be bigger than

00:06:10.260 cal it'd be a pretty much the same size of population as california but and geographically

00:06:14.320 it'd be larger than the rest of the united states combined it would obviously in this hypothetical

00:06:19.340 world not be a single state uh actually my biggest problem would be sharing a state with the rest of

00:06:25.880 canada because then they would help they would now own alberta's oil we own it as a province

00:06:29.980 we could theoretically own it as a alberta as a state within the united states but if we were a

00:06:35.980 state with the rest of canada in the united states we would no longer own our oil it would 0.66

00:06:39.820 it would absolutely devastate alberta we never get anything done again um maybe if you want to

00:06:45.400 just build out a bit on does he have a plan that's actually more of because of the the east west

00:06:50.880 cleavages we have particularly the prairie west and the mountain mountainous bc where you are

00:06:55.920 uh versus the east you know is he trying to pull on the cleavages within canada to take a slice out

00:07:03.120 of it rather than the entire thing it could be he's so hard to figure out the way he goes sometimes

00:07:08.920 i mean i don't know he's causing a lot of ruckus in canada i mean he's always been about america

00:07:14.540 first and i get that and i think that's great and and i wish we would have had a government

00:07:18.460 strong enough in canada to beat canada first but we haven't had that in the past and and america

00:07:23.820 does have that he's doing all kinds of things to strengthen that and and uh maybe he his thinking

00:07:29.900 is is that if i get canada as a state or certainly part of it that helps strengthen it good luck

00:07:34.620 getting that to congress though i mean i i don't know that that's even possible i mean they had a

00:07:38.940 hard time buying alaska they had a really hard time with hawaii and louisiana purchase wasn't

00:07:43.900 easy either so i mean i don't know that it can actually happen but he certainly is poking the

00:07:48.540 bear um another view on that is is that he just didn't like trudeau trudeau was a little communist

00:07:53.500 that he felt that he was at least and and he was just poking him all of the time so maybe that was

00:07:59.740 part of it but you know then of course it extends to the tariffs and and people are upset about the

00:08:04.860 tariffs but again he's doing that to help his country and it's interesting because there's

00:08:09.420 good and all bad. And when you look at the terrorists coming to Canada, Canadians are 0.99

00:08:13.500 so mad at Trump, when in fact, they should now take that and say, hey, we have our own

00:08:18.540 terrorists to deal with. You can't take buffalo meat or wine in British Columbia and sell it

00:08:23.440 legally to Alberta. You can sell it to any state that you want. So maybe open up the

00:08:27.580 terrorists provincially. I mean, east to west, you don't sell oil from Alberta to Quebec.

00:08:32.940 And, you know, there's a lot to learn from what's happening here. And, you know, all

00:08:37.140 this patronism you know from people like Trudeau who's been saying for many years that Canada

00:08:42.100 doesn't have an identity it doesn't have a culture you know it's like we're nothing and all of a

00:08:46.200 sudden he's flying the flag and there's no flags in schools anymore I don't think and we have this

00:08:52.840 kind of fake patronism going on and Trump has caused that and that's not all bad that's some

00:08:57.660 good things for the country because people are you know paying attention now well you mentioned

00:09:02.780 Alaska and Hawaii uh you know a lot of Canadians probably aren't too familiar with how that worked

00:09:07.320 they didn't instantly become states they were territories for a long time first they have a

00:09:11.420 status pretty much as Puerto Rico has today uh but when Hawaii and Alaska came in it was a package

00:09:17.740 deal because you could get Democrats and Republicans to agree to it because one state Hawaii leaned left

00:09:23.100 and another state Alaska leaned right so they kind of canceled each other out they were pretty

00:09:28.580 similar population size. The way the U.S. Senate structured, it just kind of netted out on each

00:09:34.000 other. It didn't give any political party an advantage. And also Hawaii had seen a huge influx

00:09:39.060 of U.S. servicemen who'd settled there after the Second World War. They had come through during the

00:09:43.940 war and discovered it was a very nice place and decided to stay there. So it got inhabited for

00:09:48.860 lack, let's just say it, English-speaking white people, which made it more palatable for the

00:09:55.140 United States to take it as a state, as opposed to Puerto Rico, which is Latin and Spanish speaking,

00:10:00.080 and therefore is more likely to languish in territory state for forever, unless there was

00:10:04.980 something on the other side to balance it out. But Alberta would likely be, and Alberta in Canada is,

00:10:10.400 you know, very much on the right, so Saskatchewan. But I think in the American context, Alberta would

00:10:14.760 probably be a purple state. It'd be very much a swing state up for grabs. It'd be quite the

00:10:19.100 opposite of Canadian federal elections where we're seeing very little of the leaders coming

00:10:25.440 to Alberta. They're going to make token stops here and there, mostly in Edmonton, but we're

00:10:30.280 not a battleground. And so we don't get all the federal money. We don't get the love because

00:10:34.560 we're not a battleground province. In the United States, I think we probably would get a lot of

00:10:39.080 love. If Trump was making a move for Alberta or Alberta and Saskatchewan, how do you think he'd

00:10:46.540 go about it if if that was his plan how do you think he'd go about prying them off and making

00:10:52.400 uh an offer that was appetizing enough to make such a dramatic break that's a million dollar

00:10:58.580 question derek i mean who knows look what he's doing at greenland i mean he just uh he hasn't

00:11:03.360 really gone to the people that made them an offer he's just kind of there's a lot of huff and puff

00:11:07.420 well he's not trying to make them a state he's he is trying to make greenland a territory which is

00:11:10.840 quite different yes it is but uh territories will often become states but certainly it will be a

00:11:16.080 territory. I get it. And whereas Alberta or Canada, he's talking statehood. And statehood

00:11:20.280 is a big deal. So how would he go about it? I don't know. I mean, firstly, I guess you'd have

00:11:26.900 to get the people kind of on side. You'd certainly have to get the premier on side. And Premier

00:11:31.100 Smith has said, I've heard her say that that's never going to happen. So, you know, he's a great

00:11:36.520 negotiator and he sits with people and they leave the room in a huff and a puff and they come back

00:11:41.480 and they end up writing a deal.

00:11:43.320 So what is this plan?

00:11:45.160 I don't know that.

00:11:46.540 I'm anxious to find out.

00:11:48.220 And we'll certainly hear more about this

00:11:50.040 as time goes on.

00:11:51.320 And he does have a plan.

00:11:53.160 I think we're past the bluster stage

00:11:55.020 or the, you know, the poking stage.

00:11:57.900 I think he does have a plan

00:11:59.440 and it'll be interesting to see what that plan is.

00:12:02.680 So, you know, you've said you believe

00:12:05.360 in Alberta independence.

00:12:06.480 Alberta independence consistently pulls higher

00:12:08.940 among Albertans than statehood.

00:12:11.480 uh alberta independence the very lowest it tends to get is around 25 percent with liberals in power

00:12:17.140 with conservatives in power it can get as low as 10 but with liberals in power it's in the last

00:12:21.340 five years as long as i've been pulling on seen data on it pulls at a low of 25 the highest under

00:12:26.840 certain scenarios of the west altogether i've seen it as high as 45 when anger is really white hot

00:12:32.820 but it normally hovers between 35 and 40 statehood ranks much lower but no one's even really thought

00:12:39.060 about statehood seriously in Alberta until extreme, until like five minutes ago, pretty much.

00:12:45.780 So perhaps it becomes a bit more of an option that's discussed seriously. You've said you

00:12:51.480 support independence, but if, say, independence was not the option, it was remain in Canada

00:12:56.300 or join, Alberta joining itself as a state, is that something you'd support if independence

00:13:04.280 wasn't uh on the table and and if so why would you support it i would certainly support statehood if

00:13:10.500 independence wasn't an option and i think that's what trump has to come in and do he has to show

00:13:15.480 alberta people why statehood is better than independence and and people need to kind of

00:13:20.280 get there you you need to get you know more than 50 percent of albertans who say they do want to be

00:13:25.860 independent and and when you become a state in fact you are independent from canada and and what's

00:13:31.880 the benefit mr trump why would we join you what do we get well there's a whole list of things you

00:13:36.680 do get for one derek you get a constitution a constitution is pretty cool canada doesn't have

00:13:42.460 one there's no protection they have a charter of rights that is just full of wordings that says

00:13:46.800 you can do this as long as we well but canada does have a constitution even going back to the

00:13:51.600 british north america act it's just a lot less neat it's a much messier document and it's mixed

00:13:56.540 with written constitution and unwritten convention from the british westminster tradition there is a

00:14:03.100 canadian constitution it's just gonna it's about as holy as swiss cheese but it does say that we

00:14:08.700 have to agree with what you do and you have non-standing standing clauses and a whole bunch

00:14:12.860 of other words that makes it pretty weak and whereas the american constitution is very strong

00:14:18.380 i mean right away you've got the second amendment you've got the first amendment you've got all

00:14:21.420 kinds of things that the canadian government has been taking away from canadians for a number of

00:14:25.420 years so you know it's those are things that the alberta people would have to be presented with

00:14:31.740 and they'd have to make a choice and and three choices i guess you independence you can have

00:14:36.620 statehood or you can stay in canada and continue to get screwed over like you've been screwed over

00:14:41.100 for a very long time so so you know what alberta doesn't have is a party wild rose party was there 1.00

00:14:48.140 and and of course they're not now and and and you need some group to kind of push this in in a way

00:14:54.300 way that it would, you know, kind of work. And Alberta doesn't have that at the moment. So what's

00:15:00.440 next? It's a mystery. All right. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on before we go?

00:15:07.340 No, we're just about the election. I voted this morning, as a matter of fact, in the

00:15:12.460 pre-election poll, whatever they're called. And I'm pleased that I did that. And I hope everybody

00:15:19.300 does vote. And I hope people can understand and think about things, particularly in the GTA,

00:15:24.300 And I hope they take the time to analyze what they're voting for.

00:15:28.720 I mean, Cardi, he's got a nice smile on that, but liberalism is liberalism.

00:15:34.540 You know, it's big government and small opportunities and big taxes and lots of red tape.

00:15:40.760 And I hope people take the time because we really need a new government, at least with a conservative government.

00:15:45.820 They can't change a lot of things possibly, but the damage will stop.

00:15:50.260 Whereas the liberals, they create havoc and damage every day.

00:15:53.280 And you'd be interested in this, and I'm sure you're aware of it.

00:15:56.240 Just yesterday, I read that Carney is going to double the funding for the CBC, which, of course, has an impact on you and your business and all of us because that doubles up their influence and it hurts us as taxpayers.

00:16:08.560 So, you know, I think this election is very important, and I hope we win.

00:16:14.440 All right. Well, you've got the Conservatives have a suggested new slogan from Brian here.

00:16:19.980 uh we'll stop screwing you as hard as the other guy that's right all right that's right and 1.00

00:16:26.680 politically right is right left is wrong pretty simple stuff there you go all right brian thank

00:16:32.880 you very much for joining us and thank all of you for joining us today remember the western standard

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Western Standard - April 08, 2025

Canada (or Alberta) as the 51st State？

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