In this episode, Western Standard's Willie Tam talks to former National Democratic Party of Canada (NDPP) President Charlie Angus about the possibility of MAGA foreign interference in Alberta's independence referendum. He says that he hears echoes of Brexit from online manipulation to aligned meetings between Alberta separatists and people tied to Donald Trump's local circle.
00:01:26.480But as the UK Parliament began to look into how the Brexit vote went down and manipulation and foreign actors,
00:01:34.780and there was definitely a Canadian connection to it through Christopher Wiley, who was the whistleblower from Cambridge Analytica.
00:01:40.360And then this group in BC, this aggregate IQ company that had a huge amount of the Brexit advertising budget, we decided in Parliament to do an investigation.
00:01:53.140And I will say in my 21 years in Parliament was the only time where Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats actually all worked very much together because we understood this threat was bigger than us.
00:02:03.200So I saw a lot of what foreign interference means in terms of an electorate that wasn't expecting that.
00:02:13.340And I'm seeing a lot of the same patterns emerging with the Alberta referendum.
00:02:17.520And what I'm also seeing is a complete failure in terms of regulators and the people whose job it is to make sure that everything is done on the up and up seem to be on top of this.
00:02:27.120And they're not. So that's why I spoke up.
00:02:28.920when you say foreign interference what does it mean in this context well i think one of the most
00:02:36.440striking things was when we saw last april in 2025 when a group of the alberta separatists
00:02:46.120met in washington they bragged that they were just steps from donald trump's office
00:02:51.000there was talk about a 500 million dollar fund on the table which now i guess is blossomed to 500
00:02:58.100or billion. I don't know what they're talking about with that. But if you have people bragging
00:03:03.200that they're meeting with top foreign officials and talking about money to help break up the
00:03:08.460country, that to me is a four alarm fire that has to be addressed. Imagine if a group in Canada went
00:03:15.540to Iran or China, met with top officials and talked about money of undermining elections here,
00:03:21.500there would be all kinds of outrage. And yet nothing was said. So I raised the question,
00:03:26.480who was in those meetings who who who initiated those meetings was it was that initiated by these
00:03:32.800guys from alberta did they just call up the white house and get in or was this mega attempting to
00:03:38.660intervene in our affairs by supporting this group and to me that's very much like the brexit playbook
00:03:44.660but it's also like the donbass playbook so i'm hoping we can get some answers i don't know if
00:03:49.620we will but this thing needs to be examined so you're talking about the meetings that were
00:03:54.700allegedly happened between, I can't tell you the names, but a few organizers and, of course,
00:04:00.820members of the White House or White House officials. Rank and file, we have plenty of
00:04:07.240officials here. The MAGA movement is a movement that exists inside the White House and outside
00:04:11.960the White House and GOP as well. So when you say MAGA, I mean, what specifically and who specifically
00:04:17.760are you referring to? Well, I mean, there is a large movement and you're very, very right about
00:04:22.740that. My concern was that this group claimed that they had met with the top people tied to Donald
00:04:30.880Trump. That to me is a concern. What concerns me is that we're dealing with a government on our
00:04:36.660border that said that they would break us economically. I mean, we've had pressure before
00:04:41.280from the Americans. I mean, that's par for the course. But to actually talk about moving the
00:04:45.920border, as Trump has said, saying that our sovereignty wasn't valid. And then just literally
00:04:52.880a few days after Prime Minister Trudeau then came back in February of 2025 and said, he's serious,
00:04:59.840he's serious about breaking up our country. That's when this group, the Alberta Republican Party,
00:05:05.060put in their papers. And then we started to see these meetings. So, you know, we have all kinds
00:05:10.520of meetings back and forth between political activists of the right, people go down and help
00:05:15.300the democrats back and forth that's that's common what's not common is a foreign government meeting
00:05:21.060with a group who are dedicated to break up our country that is foreign interference of a whole
00:05:25.140different level and that's what we need to focus on so besides the meetings are we talking about
00:05:31.300in terms of foreign interference from the us and from the mega movement are you talking about money
00:05:37.620advertising campaigns online messaging any other means that they're conducting this kind
00:05:42.100of interference in your view well we saw with brexit there was uh interference at a whole bunch
00:05:47.620of levels it was very much russian interference then uh i mean the russian ambassador was being
00:05:53.060advised by some of the leave campaigns um we saw the internet research agency the notorious
00:05:59.940internet research agency started by progosian who started the wagner mercenary group who did their
00:06:04.980horrific crimes in ukraine they were very much involved and now according to these reports we're
00:06:10.500seen in the media the same internet research agency is setting up with offshore accounts
00:06:15.380trying to intervene in alberta we see a flood of foreign actors pretending to be albertan
00:06:21.140pretending to be canadian starting these fights this was very much the brexit playbook so
00:06:26.340i think we need to look at uh is this playbook being used in canada how much of this online
00:06:32.580debate and rage baiting is going on is it is it albertans versus canadians is it albertans versus
00:06:39.380Albertans or is it offshore players and if they are offshore players how many of them are they
00:06:44.660being tied to foreign money um and if that foreign money is tied to governments then that is serious
00:06:49.620and I think we'd be incredibly naive to think it wouldn't happen in Canada because you look at how
00:06:54.260this has been done in other countries uh it is it has been done again and again and you're again
00:07:00.100you're not dealing with you know the traditional cross border stuff between political parties of
00:07:06.580similar ilks you're talking about a government that has intervened again and again and you've
00:07:11.380seen this with the the trump government intervening in europe putting pressure in the uk putting
00:07:17.380pressure in romania putting pressure in germany and france so canada we're sitting ducks here so
00:07:22.820we just need to be able to shine a light and say whoa who was in those meetings who put the offer
00:07:27.940of money on the table let's be up front and let's be clear before we walk into what could happen in
00:07:33.060October so a question for you Charlie is I think we're both awakened to the reality that you know
00:07:40.660United States along with other superpowers have conduct and continue to conduct foreign
00:07:46.500intelligence operations engage in the political domains of multiple nations sometimes to the
00:07:51.700detriment of stability sometimes the detriment of one government over the other and sometimes
00:07:57.220indeed in favor of an independence movement or recognizing the independence of that of one
00:08:02.980entity that maybe the host country or the host nations on its border don't necessarily recognize.
00:08:08.180So there's a lot of polarization in terms of the policy and practice and heritage there,
00:08:13.140but I just want to get to the bottom of this from the Canadian angle and from the Alberta angle.
00:08:17.620I mean, if we're looking at these stories, you talk about, you know, Europe, you're talking about
00:08:22.500Brexit, just what have you seen and has there actually been any substantial, because I know,
00:08:29.220So, you know, obviously, Daniel Smith's government is dismissing this prospect, the RCMP, the former ambassador to the U.S., the Canadian ambassador, that is.
00:08:39.100So why do you believe that it is, at the behest of the Trump administration, a part of their agenda to support this movement, materially speaking, and, you know, actually, in your words, break up Canada?
00:08:54.540Well, I mean, the MAGA administration has said it's one of their priorities.
00:08:59.720Scott Passant said they want to support an independent Alberta.
00:09:03.580An independent Alberta means an Alberta, not independent, but an Alberta that's fractured from Canada at a time when they're putting maximum economic pressure.
00:09:47.560the big mistake they made in brexit was thinking that people would be all playing by the gentleman's
00:09:52.960rules that you know um everybody would do it like a normal constituency race and that didn't happen
00:09:58.420and what happened in brexit it wasn't the stolen voter information but it was basically the stolen
00:10:03.480facebook data that allowed them to micro target people you didn't need to win a referendum by a
00:10:09.460huge number of votes but if you could target people relentlessly which is what cambridge
00:10:13.740analytica did and that's what the evidence showed you could start to up and how people thought about
00:10:20.220things that they hadn't necessarily considered before so you're not dealing you're not dealing
00:10:25.100with an equal playing field here in terms of a normal vote a normal canadian vote where we all
00:10:29.900go and vote you pick your party and one side wins one side loses the other side cries and goes home
00:10:34.860but that's democracy we're dealing with a different realm and that's my concern about
00:10:40.700foreign interference we have to have these issues cleared up before anything else happens because
00:10:46.220to trust that it's all going to be played fairly i think would be incredibly naive based on what
00:10:51.580we've seen uh in donbass based on what we saw with the russians in georgia based on what we've seen
00:10:57.100with brexit um and based on what we're seeing now with the trump interference again and again i mean
00:11:02.460the romanian election the germans they uh the idf then france it's there's a pattern here
00:11:08.220and Canada, we are sitting ducks if we don't lay down some clear rules and investigate where
00:11:15.040allegations warrant investigation. So let's look at things from Alberta's perspective and the
00:11:21.380perspective specifically of those that may or may not be supportive of independence, but at the very
00:11:26.360least have supported the process initiated by the government of Alberta to create this question of
00:11:33.480question that's coming up in this fall uh you know many albertans would say their frustrations
00:11:38.360with ottawa effectively didn't begin during trump or the mega era i mean obviously trump's now
00:11:43.960closer to the midterms this fall so it's been about two years since he took office and of course
00:11:50.120with that being said the legacy of frustration you can point it to a little bit of a predated
00:11:56.680point in history maybe uh all the way to the trudeau government's inauguration or or even before
00:12:02.600So I just want to get into your viewpoint on this. Do you acknowledge that the movement is largely driven by legitimate grievances in Alberta?
00:12:12.140I think the problem here is that suddenly this Republican Party of Alberta, I mean, at least they could come up with a credible Albertan name as opposed to being a mega front name, set up just as Donald Trump was threatening it.
00:12:25.780So that changes this debate altogether.
00:12:28.800This push for a referendum comes as they're threatening our sovereignty.
00:12:33.040And the problem with this referendum question is that it's been struck down twice by the courts.
00:12:38.780To then say we're going to have a referendum on whether there should be a referendum is Daniel Smith playing, I think, very dangerous games.
00:12:46.680What you do when you have frustrations as a region is you negotiate, you play hardball,
00:12:53.180You push for government and for the public, and that's fair.
00:12:57.680That goes back to Peter Lougheed, and I don't think you're going to meet anybody in Alberta
00:13:01.980who has a bad thing on any other side of the political spectrum on how Peter Lougheed defended his province's interests.
00:13:10.500But this is a very, very different thing, being that this Alberta Republican Party is self-styled MAGA,
00:13:17.140being that this is happening as our sovereignty is being threatened,
00:13:20.000and being that Daniel Smith changed the rules on the question
00:15:29.760Well, Charlie, if one of your criticisms was that the Alberta independence movement1.00
00:15:33.480is a disorganized machine, I would 100% agree with you.
00:15:36.280Coming from the Ottawa side, when I try to cover this topic,
00:15:38.920I always find that there are more than one voice
00:15:41.060And there's a very incoherent or lack thereof a central message, frankly, or a central organizing committee.
00:15:47.280But overall, I'm just trying to focus because I can tell it perhaps I'm supportive of Daniel Smith's government and her direction with this referendum question.
00:15:55.980I understand that. I'm just more curious about the people politics of this, because if she is doing this, she's doing this for a certain reason.
00:16:02.600And that could definitely point to politics and point to the society where we're looking at a poll of 25, 30 percent, you know, comparable to even Quebec, which has, of course, this long independence heritage, longer than pretty much any other province in terms of actually expressing it in the referendum and actually having this process of, you know, overseen by history.
00:16:25.320So, I mean, look, you're dealing with Alberta today where you have that frustration.
00:16:31.480It's quite high compared to perhaps years in the past.
00:16:38.060But I'm just trying to get the sense from you.
00:16:41.300Do you not believe that there is some credible frustration, incredible sense of mind from enough people in Alberta that this should be something that they have a forum to express?
00:16:52.840like perhaps maybe not the referendum and it's in its current wording or language but
00:16:57.080something along those lines because ultimately i'm looking at a number that i have not seen
00:17:01.200in a fairly long time from from out west frankly well what you're looking at though of course is
00:17:06.900what happens with with the uh this is again outside manipulation the online stuff trying
00:17:13.460to build rage hate where people didn't have necessarily a lot of anger before people are
00:17:18.020being forced to make decisions that they may not have been interested in. The Forever Canada
00:17:23.960petition easily beat the mark. Why isn't that the question? It's because Daniel Smith doesn't want
00:17:29.160that question. And the reason Daniel Smith doesn't want it is that she has pandered to her base of
00:17:35.780people who would rather break up the country than build a country. And I don't have a lot of time
00:17:39.920for that. If you want to be angry at Ottawa, if you want to divide or you want to debate politics,
00:17:44.920That's fantastic. That's what Albertans should do. That's the Albertans I know do. But if you're going to manipulate the question and then sit back as 3 million people's data has been stolen, everybody's phone numbers, their addresses, and not think that that's a problem and not think that that should be addressed and not think that it's an issue of a foreign government offering to put money on the table to break up our country.
00:18:08.180Yeah, I got a big problem with that. And that's the issue that I'm here to talk about. And that's the issue that needs to be addressed. And Daniel Smith is culpable in this because she's playing with fire. And I think she's manipulating people's feelings, their pride as Albertans, their pride of being in a strong people who've always stood their ground on things.
00:18:28.420I don't like people manipulating those proud feelings that people have we're not having a
00:18:34.340fair question so without a fair question then there's not a lot to talk about when Daniel
00:18:40.580Smith and Pierre Polly I think they adopt almost the same language on this but when they say that
00:18:44.880they want to see a strong Alberta in United Canada do you believe them well I mean Pierre
00:18:52.580Polly ran on Canada's broken Canada's broken Canada's broken I don't believe Canada's broken
00:18:57.460And when I'm in Alberta, I meet amazing people who really are excited by the prospects of building a better country.
00:19:04.360You know, we have come through so much together.
00:19:21.700When the rest of the premiers were standing up to Donald Trump, she was hanging out with Tucker Carlson.
00:19:25.960So she's going to do what she's going to do.
00:19:29.180I think the issue at the end of the day comes down to making sure that if there's issues of foreign interference and foreign governments undermining our country, that's got nothing to do with us being independent.
00:19:45.100And that's why I continue to call this out, because I'm not seeing the regulators whose job it is to protect us doing their job.
00:19:52.140And we saw what happened in Brexit when people trusted that it would all work out.
00:19:55.960not going to work out unless we have clear ground rules and we don't have them right now
00:20:01.400you just mentioned briefly that uh you know daniel smith met or she invited tucker carlson over and
00:20:06.360he had a you know an event in alberta i believe i was in edmonton if i can remember correctly a few
00:20:12.040years back uh do you think that kind of engagement is appropriate i mean frankly tucker carlson maybe
00:20:16.520perhaps fast forward to today is no longer as close in the trump circle as maybe he once was
00:20:21.560But, you know, overall, do you think that kind of engagement would have been useful in the Jamil Javani relationship with J.D. Vance?
00:20:27.680I mean, obviously, you can you can go after it politically speaking.
00:20:30.440But I mean, given the fact that they are in power in the United States, the Republicans, isn't that kind of engagement helpful sometimes?
00:20:36.660I think, you know, I think this question is really important because it's not about engaging with the governors that Daniel Smith would know.
00:20:46.260It's not about going down and trying to meet and find like-minded people to push Canada's issue.
00:20:54.320Tucker Carlson's talked about regime change in Canada.
00:20:57.880I would think that a premier would say to someone who's talking about regime change in Canada, hell no, that she went down to Ben Shapiro, who said that we shouldn't even be a 51st state.
00:21:12.540I think that's unbelievable that an elected representative of Canada would hang out with someone who said we don't even deserve to get a vote if we get taken over.
00:21:21.340So if Daniel Smith was standing up for Canada and Alberta, she would be down there with Alberta business leaders.
00:21:27.320She would be down there with Alberta labor leaders, Alberta chiefs out there meeting all the leaders in the West, in the United States,
00:21:34.760and that that she could be calling on for us to get a better deal.
00:24:29.800If you're from the north, you've seen all kinds of mining deals go down.
00:24:33.940This is very different because, again, Christine Noem attacked our country again and again and again.0.67
00:24:40.860She said that we represented a threat to the United States.
00:24:45.400So I got a problem with someone who says that we represent a serious threat to the United States being involved in a project, a potential project on a strategic mineral like copper.
00:24:57.400I think also from a mining perspective where they have to have proper, you know, the environmental sustainability governance rules, the ESG rules, and that includes human rights.
00:25:08.860This woman, I mean, she set up Alligator Alcatraz.1.00
00:25:12.320Her relations with Indigenous people is atrocious.1.00
00:25:15.180The last thing we need is someone like her screwing things up in British Columbia because these are really sensitive negotiations.
00:25:22.240So I've been trying to speak to Nova Red Mining.
00:28:42.080And yet he got trashed again and again by, you know, Pierre Polyev and Daniel Smith, et cetera, for hating Alberta.
00:28:50.000I think Trudeau didn't sell what he'd done.
00:28:52.580I mean, that TMX pipeline was a massive boost to an industry that was doing pretty well.
00:28:57.420also uh the industry didn't want to pay the toll fees uh on so the canadians could recoup their
00:29:04.640money and the last i had heard it was about 50 cents on the dollar for barrels going down the
00:29:08.980pipe that were still subsidizing i think justin trudeau should have said listen we gave you this
00:29:13.940this is what we put on the table and in terms of issues like uh clean energy regs i think most
00:29:19.400people would think those are pretty reasonable but he didn't sell it and i mean his carbon tax
00:29:24.360policy was a disaster because you couldn't figure out what the heck it was. I used to say to people,
00:29:29.840I'm not going out and defending this carbon tax because I don't know what it does. That was
00:29:34.940Trudeau's big failures. He put a lot on the table, but he didn't sell it. I think Mark Carney has
00:29:40.840put stuff on the table, but he's coming across better. I think Carney's going to run into a lot
00:29:46.380of trouble down the road domestically if he doesn't understand how to... He's going to have
00:29:52.680balance the the development and environmental angles i don't know what he's doing on that yet
00:29:58.360he's done pretty darn good on the international front um but you know justin trudeau failed i
00:30:04.920think to sell um to the west and when he should have been selling hard so just on the liberal
00:30:11.160party politics i want to just let you know that i i heard from a former conservative mp and now
00:30:17.880a Liberal MP, Matt Jenner, the day that it was announced that the board would be resigning
00:30:23.140and stepping aside, that he said it was a good day for Alberta, essentially.
00:30:27.580And again, it reveals the possible Big Ten politics in action in the Liberal Party, where
00:30:33.400you have the environmentalist faction and have the more pragmatic, econ-focused faction
00:30:39.600that are, let's say, a bit more supportive of these new projects tabled by, you know,
00:30:45.620Western proposals and by Mark Carney himself. So how exactly are you are you watching this? And of course, do you view the departure of Guy Bowe and the departure, frankly, of his style of environmentalist policies as a good thing for Ottawa's relationship with Alberta, as some people happen to suggest, even within the Liberal caucus?
00:31:04.140Well, I think Big Ten politics, the Liberals, they're kings of it. They ought to do it a lot better.
00:31:11.760I mean, the Conservatives used to be pretty good at it back in the days of the progressive
00:31:15.760Conservatives, because again, in Ontario, there's a lot of middle-of-the-road Conservatives,
00:31:25.140is that he does represent, particularly in the West and in parts of the country,
00:31:30.340you know there's concern for the environment um i don't know if people was that effective as a
00:31:36.240minister i was on his back all the time uh i came a real hard time when i was mp so you know uh but
00:31:43.160i think carney needs to like again the big tent you have to figure out how to maintain all your
00:31:48.980flanks so right now he's dealing with the the alberta issue but he's gonna have to be able to
00:31:54.000also say to canadians uh this is what's on offer because i mean hell this is one hell of a hot
00:31:59.440summer and people are starting to think environment again. So maybe it was time for Guy Baud to go.
00:32:04.340Maybe he was from the Trudeau era, but he's going to need to find someone, I think, a Quebec voice
00:32:09.820who could fill that void or the Big Ten starts to fall apart.
00:32:15.580Fair. I just want to look at your view again of Carney's political strategy. I mean,
00:32:20.540it really did shock me with what I do across the floor as well. I'm just thinking to myself,
00:32:25.700Is that just Big Ten politics or is there just now this complete abandonment of rigid lines on a certain number of issues, social, political issues, you know, even the most simplistic issues of starting from, you know, horseshit and other kinds of views that have been expressed from that particular member?
00:32:43.620Or do you think Carney's kind of go-to victory strategy right now
00:32:49.720is simply just eating the lunch of the red Tory base, essentially?0.99
00:34:02.800They were all really, really solid players in terms of reassuring people who might not wanted to vote for him that these people knew what they were doing.
00:34:12.700Pierre Paulyev, I think it was just sort of the rage drum.
00:34:26.460I mean, that was one of the worst things I've ever seen.
00:34:29.040And so we lost a ton of people who went to Carney.
00:34:31.880And I hear from a ton of people who voted for Carney that they didn't want to necessarily vote. But what Mark Carney offered was a sensible wartime prime minister. And Pierre Polyev didn't. And certainly Jagmeet Singh didn't. And Canadians wanted that. So I think the picking up those members to get them to majority status from the Conservatives is still the fallout in the Conservative caucus ranks.
00:34:53.520and whether or not Pierre Polyev will be able to sort of do that.
00:34:58.440It's not necessarily even a big tent thing, but sort of the big vision thing.
00:35:01.700And I don't think that that's what he was offering.
00:35:04.800Jagmeet didn't offer the big vision thing or a sense of being able to stand up to Trump.
00:35:43.740What's the vision in Canada in the coming three years?
00:35:47.280that's that's that's domestic politics is always where it comes down it's always local so that's
00:35:53.600where he's going to have to learn from and that's where the conservatives and the democrats also need
00:35:58.320to figure out what's their space uh in in carving out a message for canadians that could work from
00:36:05.120coast to coast to coast where do you see this alberta debate heading i mean october is when this
00:36:14.160referendum of a referendum is happening what's your expectations now well again i don't think
00:36:20.640the numbers are there and so i guess i shouldn't be worried but i think what i saw with brexit was
00:36:25.440the manipulation and the interference and i don't believe that the players involved are going to be
00:36:31.280playing you know by the old parliamentary rules that we expect so i don't know what's going to
00:36:37.680happen um i think that people that i'm talking to in alberta every day are out there they're really
00:36:44.480galvanized i'm really inspired by people in alberta right now who understand the importance
00:36:48.960of democracy um i i would like to see some of that spirit for democracy be you know really
00:36:56.080elevated and cheered on because i think the rest of canada can learn a lot of lessons from alberta
00:37:00.960right now in terms of people are out there they're door knocking their rallies um they're really
00:37:06.320they're engaged in our country and and that to me is the alberta spirit and i i think this idea
00:37:11.280that alberta's angry and alienated and sitting on the sidelines and not heard is a misrepresentation
00:37:18.000of that big that big spirit big vision thing that i've always seen in alberta which is why i've
00:37:23.360always felt so comfortable there i'd like after october that vision to be really brought in as a
00:37:28.480national vision but we don't know where we're going with any of this until we get through
00:37:32.880because we are in such uncertain times.
00:37:36.980What do you believe is the most effective advocate for federalism
00:37:40.020that happens to be an elected politician at any level of revenue
00:37:43.580that you've seen, in Alberta specifically, but also at the federal level?
00:37:48.480Well, I supported Heather McPherson in the NDP leadership race.
00:37:52.940You know, Heather's from Edmonton, Heather's strong.
00:37:56.720I've seen Heather handle liberals and conservatives very well.
00:38:00.200So I think she's done a very good job up in that.
00:38:05.860How do you view the leadership of the Hedon NC at the provincial level and the NDP and specifically the differencing of messaging coming from him and Avi Lewis?
00:38:14.140I mean, he talks about scrapping the gas tax at the provincial level, which is something the Daniel Smith's government hasn't done.
00:38:19.740Of course, the revenue factor is big there.
00:38:22.880The federal government has, you know, paused and put aside that gas tax.
00:38:27.860um so kind of you know of course avi lewis being you know a different kind of thinker on the
00:38:34.920environmental side how do you view that dynamic between the two and do you feel like the hidden
00:38:39.380she's more effective and do you think avi lewis is possibly undercutting him for for the you know
00:38:45.560provincial federal politics i mean i mean i don't know i had rachel notley throw me over the boards
00:38:52.440a couple of times i never took it personally she had her job to do i had my job to do uh i always
00:38:57.300got along very well and I had enormous respect for her, even though I might have lost one or
00:39:00.880two teeth along the way, but that's okay. I think what's going to be really important
00:39:05.580for Abbey as a new leader is getting in. He's done a big tour through Saskatchewan.
00:39:10.480I think getting into Alberta is really important and meeting people. I didn't think that
00:39:16.620the statement made by Nemshi and the provincial NDP in Saskatchewan about Abbey winning,
00:39:23.080I think it actually helped Abby so I think the thing is is yeah you guys can disagree I mean
00:39:28.460there's a million things we disagree on federally and provincially but how do we work together on
00:39:32.920on the big picture so I think all that's going to work out uh you know I don't I don't I don't
00:39:36.780have I don't take a I don't pay much too much attention to that actually I think it's it's
00:39:41.200just politics is normal well I asked Abby himself I've asked him quite a few questions since he's
00:39:47.000visited the hill a few times in the last session and uh one of the questions I asked him he gave
00:39:51.380me one answer one word answer and it was uh you know do you believe his style of politics on the
00:39:55.880environment is any cause or inspire a greater frustration in alberta and he said no and of
00:40:01.040course other reporters in the gallery pressed on that and i continue to defend his positions but
00:40:06.260do you believe that there is that potential possibly from avi lewis of not really picking
00:40:10.260up too much support out west given some of his environmental priorities i i think it's all going
00:40:15.360to come down to building their relations you know when i'm in calgary i meet people who have
00:40:19.380wide variety of views on the environment saying, you know, in other cities in Alberta, I mean,
00:40:24.740Alberta is a complex place and people understand environment, they understand energy.
00:40:29.440You know, this is not a black and white world. But what it is in politics is being able to build
00:40:35.620trust. I think the danger with politics is just trying to reduce it to black and white trying to
00:40:40.060say either or all the time, but saying, we got a lot of complex issues. We have a lot of things
00:40:45.720Like, for example, I mean, I spent four years in my last four years in Parliament working with people in Alberta on the clean energy file.
00:40:53.040I mean, there was, I think, $170 billion worth of projects ready to go.
00:40:57.420Alberta is the clean energy capital of the world.
00:41:04.660I think the understanding I got when I talked to workers, I talked to, you know, Chambers of Commerce, people understand energy in Alberta.1.00
00:41:13.160So there's a huge way of talking about energy.
00:41:44.240Finally, if you had one message directly to Albertans who feel ignored by Ottawa and feel that Alberta independence is the answer, what's your message to them?
00:41:53.760My message to Albertans is your spirit for Canada is inspiring.
00:42:01.000Don't let the rage and the angry people tell you that it's failing.
00:42:06.640Canada is a success, and it's a success because Alberta is so much a part of it.
00:42:11.480And I want to just thank everybody that I know in Alberta who are out there all the time with a really positive vision for building a better world.