Western Standard - April 17, 2024


CMS： It's time for the West to help Quebec find the door


Episode Stats


Length

47 minutes

Words per minute

185.16946

Word count

8,869

Sentence count

755

Harmful content

Misogyny

17

sentences flagged

Hate speech

8

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Corey has a rant about Quebec separatists and why a referendum on independence is a bad idea. And a look at why a successful referendum in the West would be a good thing for Canada. Corey is joined by retired paramedic Don Sharp to talk about that and much more.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Thank you.
00:00:30.000 Good day.
00:00:54.080 Welcome to the Corey Morgan show.
00:00:57.120 Spring.
00:00:57.860 It's almost here.
00:00:58.680 It's almost here.
00:00:59.180 I start these with just the weather small talk while you guys get on board and get ready
00:01:04.060 for a bunch of ranting, raving guests and all that good stuff.
00:01:07.560 And yeah, Calgary's covered in snow again.
00:01:09.220 I almost froze to death in yesterday's global warming, but it's supposed to get nice in
00:01:12.540 another week and we'll have another snowstorm for at least a May long weekend to look forward
00:01:16.220 to.
00:01:16.500 Eventually though, we're going to be out of winter.
00:01:18.320 I've just never learned to like winter.
00:01:20.280 All right.
00:01:20.640 Let's get on to some more stuff.
00:01:21.900 Yes, this is my weekly rant show and it's live for those who are on live.
00:01:26.140 Anyways, use that comment scroll.
00:01:27.460 I see Doug Jordan, Sean and Vision all saying hello, checking in.
00:01:31.300 Use that.
00:01:31.740 Get those comments in there.
00:01:32.800 Send things my way.
00:01:34.060 I appreciate it.
00:01:35.100 It lets me know you're there.
00:01:36.280 Gives me ideas.
00:01:37.160 Keeps things flowing.
00:01:37.840 I don't necessarily read them all out.
00:01:39.580 Just stay civil with each other if you're going to have some discourse between each other.
00:01:44.020 I got later in a bit here going to have retired paramedic Don Sharp on the show.
00:01:48.000 He's been on before and he's been like a dog with a bone on health care reform, particularly
00:01:52.560 when it comes to the paramedical services in Alberta.
00:01:55.320 And it's interesting.
00:01:55.980 He's watching the bureaucracy fighting so hard against Premier Smith and against people
00:01:59.960 like Don to avoid and just stop any productive change from coming.
00:02:05.380 It's a real micro version of what the bigger monster is with health care reform that we need
00:02:11.280 to do.
00:02:12.120 And Don's always great to talk to on those subjects.
00:02:14.260 He gets out on the ground and just gets on their case.
00:02:16.380 So, let me talk about something that's a little less divisive right now.
00:02:21.300 Let's talk about Quebec separatism.
00:02:22.820 Yes, it's coming up again.
00:02:24.680 It's been in the news.
00:02:26.120 And the independence movement in Quebec, I mean, it's never been gone.
00:02:29.620 It's only been slumbering.
00:02:31.200 And the secessionists within the Bloc Québécois and Parti Québécois, they've just been biding
00:02:35.580 their time and working to create the conditions for a successful independence referendum since
00:02:40.000 1995.
00:02:41.460 And you look at the other parties within Quebec, whether they're liberal or whatever they
00:02:44.660 might be, ADQ, soft separatists within other parties in Quebec have been doing the same
00:02:48.420 thing.
00:02:49.240 They've been building the conditions for a successful referendum.
00:02:52.080 The separatist movement in Quebec, it's real.
00:02:53.980 And the supporters of it truly want to go.
00:02:56.040 And I know I've talked to lots of people, many in the West, who dismiss the movement saying
00:02:59.540 Quebecers don't really want to go.
00:03:01.480 They think Quebec separatists just want to use the threat of secession to squeeze more concessions
00:03:05.540 from Canada.
00:03:06.140 And I mean, I'm sure a few are of that sort.
00:03:09.140 And while politicians in Quebec certainly shamelessly use the threat of secession for
00:03:13.060 Quebec's benefit, you're making a really grave error if you think that threat isn't 0.64
00:03:16.680 real.
00:03:17.760 I mean, I had the opportunity to meet with some Bloc Québécois members back in the late
00:03:21.240 90s when I was leading the Alberta Independence Party at that time.
00:03:23.980 And it didn't take long talking to them to realize, no, they really want a fully independent
00:03:28.340 French-speaking nation and nothing less.
00:03:30.540 They don't care about the fiscal costs or the challenges in leaving the Federation.
00:03:34.300 They just want out.
00:03:36.080 Now, the Parti Québécois is poised to win a majority in the next provincial election
00:03:40.040 in Quebec.
00:03:41.020 The third-place party in the polls is Quebec Solidaire, which is also a separatist party.
00:03:46.020 I mean, more than half of Quebecers support one separatist party or another.
00:03:51.040 Parti Québécois leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamendon has now promised another referendum on
00:03:56.160 independence will be held if his party takes power.
00:03:58.760 If there's one thing that the separatists of Quebec learned in 1995 is that they can't
00:04:02.680 pull the trigger on another referendum until they're confident they're going to win it.
00:04:06.480 A referendum loss sets back independence efforts by decades, even if it's on a narrow loss
00:04:11.220 like last time.
00:04:12.220 Some Western independent supporters pushing for a referendum in the West would be well 0.67
00:04:15.180 served to keep that in mind, too.
00:04:17.100 So if Plamendon is promising a referendum, it means he's confident that the independent
00:04:21.720 side will win it.
00:04:22.980 After decades of chasing non-French speakers from Quebec through oppressive policies coupled
00:04:27.200 with antagonizing the rest of Canada to disrupt national unity, Quebec could finally have the
00:04:33.120 winning conditions it sought for an independence referendum.
00:04:36.080 I remember watching the Quebec referendum from afar, of course, as a young Albertan in 1995.
00:04:41.340 Politicians, personalities, and legacy media all worked overtime in begging Quebec not to leave.
00:04:46.040 Delegations crossed the country to wave flags in Quebec and at rallies and let Quebecers know
00:04:50.820 we didn't want them to go.
00:04:52.260 We love you, Quebec.
00:04:53.200 Stay with us.
00:04:53.880 It was an almost humiliating sort of groveling at the feet of Quebecers. 1.00
00:04:57.800 It was successful, though, as Quebecers chose to stay within Canada with a meager 1% margin.
00:05:03.600 Now, as another Quebec referendum is looming, Canada's in a different place.
00:05:07.940 Legacy media, they don't have that stranglehold on information anymore, and Western provinces
00:05:11.260 aren't as solidly federalist as they used to be.
00:05:14.020 The reaction to another referendum in Quebec can, and should, be much different.
00:05:18.080 The West shouldn't beg Quebec to stay. 0.97
00:05:20.020 We should loudly come out and encourage them to leave.
00:05:22.360 We can't hold a referendum to kick Quebec out of a confederation, but we can certainly 0.98
00:05:26.640 show enthusiasm for their departure.
00:05:29.580 Canada's broken.
00:05:30.620 It has been for a long time.
00:05:32.460 The federation slanted in favor of the Laurentian provinces, and even then, Quebec still wants
00:05:36.540 to leave.
00:05:37.420 The Charlatan and Meech Lake Accords from 30 years ago, they failed to change the constitution.
00:05:41.700 The only way we can change this system is to tear a province free from it, and Quebec
00:05:45.760 is right now the best poised to do so.
00:05:47.800 If a referendum on independence was to be held in Alberta or Saskatchewan today, the
00:05:52.160 independent side would be lucky to garner 25% support.
00:05:55.400 If the same referendum was held six months after Quebec voted to go, though, I think
00:05:59.280 Western provinces would be out the door.
00:06:01.240 Once one province separates, the deal's done.
00:06:03.780 There's little sense in staying within a federation that is no longer figuratively broken, but has
00:06:08.080 become literally broken.
00:06:09.940 Provinces will work to break free and seek their own deals and destinies.
00:06:13.320 This can be a positive evolution for Canada, Quebec, all the West, all of us.
00:06:17.120 It needs to be framed as such.
00:06:19.040 So let's not decry Quebec's efforts at independence.
00:06:21.560 Let's celebrate and support them.
00:06:23.280 Quebec is the linchpin, and once it's pulled, Western independence will be soon to follow.
00:06:28.020 So yeah, I'm probably going to mispronounce it, but viva le Quebec Libre.
00:06:31.760 Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, guys.
00:06:34.040 That's what I got to say about Quebec and their independence efforts.
00:06:38.400 Go for it, guys.
00:06:39.400 I am behind you this time.
00:06:41.000 Actually, I was kind of behind you last time, too.
00:06:42.960 All right, let's see what else is going on out there.
00:06:44.940 We've got Jen Hodgson checking in from the newsroom, telling us what's dominating the 0.85
00:06:49.060 stories today.
00:06:49.580 Hey, Jen, how's it going?
00:06:50.700 Hey, Corey.
00:06:51.400 Doing pretty good.
00:06:52.020 How are you doing?
00:06:52.840 I'm all right.
00:06:53.640 I'm all right.
00:06:53.980 I smell pizza out there.
00:06:54.940 You guys bring the food in once my show starts.
00:06:56.720 It's kind of cruel.
00:06:57.800 Oh, yeah.
00:06:58.300 I'll try and save you some for when we finish up here.
00:07:00.600 Right.
00:07:02.580 So what do we got dominating the new scroll right now?
00:07:06.480 All right.
00:07:06.900 Well, our top story is the budget that the federal government just introduced yesterday.
00:07:13.340 So Christia Freeland, the finance minister, her midterm spending deficits are up 95% with
00:07:20.060 the total spending to be $498 billion.
00:07:26.540 And so there's a number of introductions to this budget, including capital gains taxes are
00:07:32.920 increased to 66.3% for over $250,000.
00:07:38.400 So we see a lot of money being filtered in there.
00:07:43.420 We also see taxes on tobacco as well as money going towards immigration.
00:07:50.240 So that means hospital care for asylum seekers, for asylum holding places, as well as lodging.
00:07:58.960 So we have a lot of money going into sustaining asylum seekers and refugees.
00:08:05.640 And only about $8 million is going towards managing smuggling of goods that are coming
00:08:12.160 through our borders.
00:08:15.600 So a lot going on with the budget.
00:08:17.540 We're still going through some of it.
00:08:19.420 And another one that's hot this week is what's going on with the Canadian security and intelligence
00:08:28.340 services.
00:08:29.360 So we have the CSIS director testifying that China is actually an ongoing problem and CSIS
00:08:37.480 is working relentlessly to deal with Chinese Communist Party infiltration in Canadian institutions.
00:08:44.260 So we saw this through the China inquiry, the Commission on Foreign Interference, where CSIS
00:08:51.620 director Vigneault testifies that actually he told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about these
00:09:00.040 warnings and they had documented evidence that this was going on in the elections from
00:09:06.540 2021 and 2019.
00:09:08.460 However, the Prime Minister denied that he was ever told this to such an extent that the
00:09:15.660 Commission called the CSIS director back to the stand after the Commission was supposed
00:09:21.620 to be over, who reaffirmed that he did tell Trudeau this.
00:09:26.480 And actually, a lot of this information came out in a late night dump Sunday evening.
00:09:31.540 I think it was the 7th of April after the CSIS director had already testified.
00:09:36.120 So we've got a lot of murky water going on there, and that's not the only scandal that
00:09:42.940 the Trudeau government is embedded in with CSIS investigating.
00:09:49.360 We also have the Winnipeg lab scandal.
00:09:52.760 So this comment about relentlessly trying to get in the way of Chinese infiltration in
00:10:02.480 Canadian politics is something that the CSIS director is focusing on, and this came out
00:10:07.040 in the wake of the two Chinese spies that were working for the Winnipeg lab, and they have
00:10:14.660 since been fired about a year.
00:10:18.520 They're fired about a year after it was revealed that they were compromised, actually.
00:10:23.920 So we've got a lot going on with our intelligence agency and our federal government.
00:10:28.680 I'm sure our listeners are familiar with the online harms bill that was proposed in recent
00:10:35.020 months.
00:10:36.060 So we have our Governor General, Mary Simon.
00:10:39.300 She hosted a private symposium for people that are in support of this online harms bill.
00:10:46.740 And it's worth noting that the Governor General of Canada is actually expected to be nonpartisan,
00:10:55.660 and she calls herself apolitical.
00:10:57.720 We have a comment from Riddle Hall insisting that this is the case, even despite the event
00:11:04.900 that she held over the weekend.
00:11:06.660 We also have our federal environment, our environment minister, Stephen Gilboa, he told the House
00:11:14.860 of Commons this week that he's met many farmers from Alberta to Nova Scotia and everywhere in
00:11:21.520 between Quebec, and farmers are allegedly more worried about climate change than they are about
00:11:28.260 this carbon tax, according to the environment minister who claimed this in the House of Commons
00:11:33.520 the other day.
00:11:34.060 And to top it all off, we have some more information on the great gold heist that went down at the
00:11:44.680 Toronto International Airport.
00:11:46.540 So it turns out that Air Canada employees have actually been found to be involved in this.
00:11:53.820 We have two present and a former Air Canada employee that has been snagged in relation to this
00:12:00.200 $20 million worth of gold bars, $2.4 million in cash, and about a half mil worth in jewelry.
00:12:09.860 That's a good haul if you can get it.
00:12:12.220 So, I mean, this budget, I mean, they've been saying it's supposed to be fair for all generations.
00:12:17.580 You know, Trudeau's borrowing so you don't have to.
00:12:20.500 So, you're of kind of a, you know, a younger vintage than I am.
00:12:24.660 Do you feel confident that this budget is going to serve your future?
00:12:28.860 Not confident at all.
00:12:30.120 As far as I can see, it's tax upon tax and debt upon debt.
00:12:35.440 So, the government is just trying desperately to fill in the holes that it's made with the gross
00:12:42.980 spending and borrowing more specifically over the last several years and trying to patchwork it in
00:12:51.440 by making up for it in tax.
00:12:54.300 So, no, not confident about that.
00:12:56.900 Looking forward to seeing some changes in our federal government very soon.
00:13:00.160 Well, I guess in the meantime, we can count on you to keep shoring things up.
00:13:05.020 We're going to put things on your credit card, you know, my generation will, and leave you guys to cover it. 0.70
00:13:10.720 I mean, we just kicked that can down the road.
00:13:12.860 So, get ready for those cuts, I guess, when it's time for them to hit.
00:13:18.520 You know, I think CSIS has been going a little wrong with things as well when it comes to Prime Minister Trudeau.
00:13:23.660 I mean, as you said, your stories keep pointing out and you rate them great.
00:13:26.940 And Justin's been told over and over and over again about all these things and he denies it.
00:13:31.580 Maybe he really doesn't remember.
00:13:33.340 But he said before, too, he doesn't read all these things.
00:13:35.640 He doesn't read it.
00:13:36.680 They've got to treat it right.
00:13:37.860 Bring him a pop-up book, a colouring book.
00:13:40.860 Prime Minister isn't like other ones, you know.
00:13:43.580 You've got to get into a song.
00:13:45.320 On his level.
00:13:46.460 Show the Winnipeg Lab and a pop-up book that has a big virus popping out of it.
00:13:50.800 Maybe then you would understand the significance of it.
00:13:54.300 Yeah, he seems quite laissez-faire about these issues, Corey.
00:13:59.740 And that's highly concerning, I think, to a lot of Canadians.
00:14:02.540 Just the lack of, really, interest or any kind of investment into these issues.
00:14:09.680 He's very cavalier about it.
00:14:11.440 As if someone else can do the reading and just give the Cole Notes version.
00:14:16.040 Well, we know what happens to those students in high school that just reads the Cole Notes versions of the books, right?
00:14:23.220 Well, we'll do what we can anyways.
00:14:25.180 We can't educate the Prime Minister, but we can educate the public.
00:14:28.260 So thanks for checking in with us today.
00:14:31.660 And I've got plenty more to write out there.
00:14:34.320 So we'll talk to you after the show.
00:14:36.560 Yes, it definitely keeps me busy.
00:14:39.580 All right.
00:14:40.300 See you later, Corey.
00:14:41.360 All right.
00:14:42.080 And that's reporter Jen Hodgson.
00:14:44.360 That's that time I'd like to remind you.
00:14:45.260 As you can see, yes, she writes a lot.
00:14:46.900 A lot of great stories out there all the time.
00:14:48.860 The reason we can do that, guys, is because you've subscribed.
00:14:51.680 This is where I nag.
00:14:52.360 This is where I try to fill the coffers up.
00:14:54.420 But it's important.
00:14:55.320 This is how we stay independent.
00:14:56.300 This is why we are not tax-funded.
00:14:58.120 It's through subscribers.
00:14:59.780 So if you haven't subscribed yet, guys, it's $9.99 a month, $100 a year.
00:15:04.680 Come on.
00:15:05.100 Well worth it.
00:15:05.840 Just like a newspaper subscription.
00:15:07.660 And if you've subscribed already, I really appreciate it.
00:15:10.340 You know, it's how we keep these things going, how to keep the truth out there.
00:15:14.200 Westernstandard.news slash subscription.
00:15:16.120 You can see it at the bottom of the screen.
00:15:17.680 All right.
00:15:18.700 Getting on to our next guest here.
00:15:19.900 We've got in-studio Don Sharp.
00:15:21.920 I said he was going to be coming in.
00:15:24.480 Welcome back, Don.
00:15:25.740 Good to see you again, Corey.
00:15:27.160 Yeah.
00:15:27.440 So, I mean, the subject, I appreciate it because, I mean, it's one facet of healthcare.
00:15:32.840 Unfortunately, it's a monstrous animal, a huge bureaucracy, a lot of areas that need
00:15:36.820 to be fixed up.
00:15:37.780 But one that I think a lot of people can relate with, EMS.
00:15:40.420 I mean, it's such an important part of the healthcare services in an emergency situation.
00:15:45.820 It's integrated with the whole system.
00:15:48.300 And if we can't fix that, how on earth are we going to fix the giant monster?
00:15:53.000 Right.
00:15:53.200 Well, I'm glad to come in and help keep track of progress or lack thereof or what's actually
00:15:59.520 happening in this one small area of healthcare.
00:16:01.880 You would think that EMS by itself would be easy to fix, but it's so intertwined with the
00:16:08.600 rest of healthcare now, not the way it used to be.
00:16:11.560 So, we have some real struggles right now that we're dealing with.
00:16:16.460 Yeah.
00:16:16.640 Well, so we've been talking for a while.
00:16:18.360 We have a more receptive Premier than we've had for quite some time.
00:16:20.840 Even Premier County was a bit receptive on some of this.
00:16:23.040 Like, that's why I say with EMS, there's some good common sense solutions.
00:16:26.060 You know, you've been pointing out, others have been pointing out, we're using a lot of
00:16:30.340 ambulances to transport patients that just don't need to be used in that sense when it
00:16:35.340 should be an emergency use.
00:16:36.200 So, they've been draining from rural populations, you know, taking the rural ambulances into
00:16:40.320 the cities and leaving other areas under covered.
00:16:44.020 Or, again, hallway medical care.
00:16:46.380 You know, paramedics have been used to maintain patients.
00:16:49.240 So, we know the simple solutions that a lay person can see, yeah, that doesn't make sense.
00:16:52.680 That's not very good.
00:16:53.480 Yet, it's like pulling teeth, getting Alberta Health Services to cooperate with changing
00:16:58.860 some of these.
00:16:59.320 And I think you've hit the nail on the head.
00:17:01.780 Daniel Smith, I think, understands very well.
00:17:04.020 Our Premier understands very well exactly what's wrong with EMS.
00:17:07.200 She came to one of our town hall meetings in Airdrie before she was elected when we were
00:17:11.520 speaking about EMS to the community.
00:17:13.980 And Alberta Health Services has certainly dragged its feet on this transfer issue.
00:17:19.700 It's been more than a year since they put out that RFP looking for contractors.
00:17:24.560 And I'm not quite sure why it took so long.
00:17:26.280 You know, in northern Alberta, north of Red Deer, 90% of patients interhospitally, and
00:17:32.580 many of them by air, are moved by private contracted services.
00:17:35.320 This is not a new phenomenon.
00:17:37.440 And there are private contractors here in southern Alberta.
00:17:41.300 There's Air and Paramedical, Genesis MediShuttle, MedSource.
00:17:44.960 It does a lot of oil field work.
00:17:47.060 I think it's called Lifelink Ambulance.
00:17:50.220 They do a lot of rodeos and standbys.
00:17:51.800 I mean, all of these qualified private operators that use registered paramedics on their ambulances
00:17:58.100 are willing to step up.
00:18:00.140 And in fact, Air and Paramedical is moving patients almost weekly, still with a phone
00:18:05.020 call.
00:18:05.700 Yeah.
00:18:06.140 Yet they didn't get a shot at the RFP.
00:18:10.020 Yeah.
00:18:10.280 They put out the RFP, but then they put a whole bunch of roadblocks and the usual bureaucratic
00:18:15.900 crap to make it almost...
00:18:16.580 And it was all done in secret.
00:18:17.820 Yes.
00:18:18.340 That was part of the frustration.
00:18:19.680 I think for us dealing with Alberta Health Services and EMS, now it's not just the fact
00:18:26.060 that they've failed to fulfill their primary mandate, which is the emergency care and transportation
00:18:31.240 of sick and injured people in the community.
00:18:33.880 They've integrated us into healthcare a lot, including putting us in the hallway, right?
00:18:38.120 And you just can't survive.
00:18:39.400 An ambulance service can't survive when half your fleet's in the hallway.
00:18:42.720 So I think we know what the problems are.
00:18:45.520 And let's talk about this latest contract debacle.
00:18:50.740 Yes.
00:18:51.100 Well, expand on it.
00:18:52.560 I mean, as you said, I mean, the things like even talking to the counties, they've been
00:18:55.240 putting things in camera or trying to get the counties to hold meetings in secret.
00:18:59.100 But you've been a thorn in their side because you're attending and you're just exposing what's
00:19:03.300 been said and pressuring.
00:19:04.840 You know, we've been...
00:19:05.620 And again, we've done this before on the show, talking about the number of transfers, non-urgent
00:19:09.940 transfers that are being done from the rural communities using the emergency ambulances,
00:19:14.360 taking an emergency ambulance out of the community for a long time.
00:19:17.360 So this new contract provider in Calgary and Edmonton was supposed to solve those problems,
00:19:23.300 but they're only going to reach 50 kilometers outside of the cities.
00:19:25.940 So if you're in a community outside that radius, this new transfer protocol is not going to
00:19:30.480 help you at all.
00:19:31.840 So what are they doing to satisfy the rural?
00:19:34.960 Well, they've got this new EMS standing committee, which I wasn't qualified to be on and frankly
00:19:39.900 wouldn't sign an NDA to join either.
00:19:42.060 But it'll be another year.
00:19:44.000 They'll meet and then they'll come up with an idea and then it'll take another year to
00:19:47.080 implement it.
00:19:47.600 Meanwhile, today and tomorrow and the next day, non-urgent patients need to be moved for
00:19:52.120 tests and treatment.
00:19:52.760 So you mentioned AHS doing in-camera closed confidential sessions with municipalities.
00:20:00.600 We caught them last week and kudos to the Foothills County Council who, when AHS showed
00:20:07.000 up and said, we want to hold our meeting with you in camera, in confidence, Foothills County
00:20:11.000 Council said, no, we have a group of citizens outside who deserve some transparency.
00:20:16.740 They've asked that this be a public meeting and we think they deserve it.
00:20:20.240 So AHS was forced to, and they've held a number of these closed sessions in Claire's home
00:20:26.180 and Nanton.
00:20:27.000 And so we're very concerned with what they're actually talking about and why they want to
00:20:31.120 keep this information from the public.
00:20:32.560 Yeah.
00:20:33.440 Well, so these non-immersion transfers, I mean, and it's going to be more acute when you get
00:20:38.720 to more rural areas because you have smaller hospitals with limited amounts of specialists.
00:20:42.400 You might have a, again, see a senior who's in mobility challenge, needs, can't just hop
00:20:49.100 in a car and drive to the city hospital.
00:20:51.600 But at the same time, it doesn't need a fully staffed ambulance as well.
00:20:55.660 It's like taking a limousine to the grocery store.
00:20:58.480 If you're a non-urgent patient who needs to go for a cast change to get orthotics, to get
00:21:04.680 an MRI because you've got a back problem and you just need a stretcher to lay on, taking
00:21:09.220 the only emergency ambulance for 1,200 square kilometers is foolish.
00:21:13.280 Let's put these reputable, capable, registered paramedics in these private contractors to work.
00:21:20.200 They do a great job.
00:21:21.140 They do it every single day.
00:21:22.260 It's not odd or different or bad to hear some of the people that object to private enterprise
00:21:28.860 being involved in health care.
00:21:31.280 It's shocking how little these people know.
00:21:34.100 They're really quite ignorant.
00:21:35.460 Well, that's it.
00:21:36.040 I wanted to get a bit onto the why.
00:21:37.620 And I mean, the why when it comes to the public a little bit, I think, is because we've had
00:21:40.320 that Canadian training, just anything private in health care, even though they don't realize
00:21:43.880 how much private's already there.
00:21:45.020 But the private in health care is inherently bad.
00:21:47.300 We absolutely must not go down that road.
00:21:49.080 We cannot do that.
00:21:50.280 And they oppose it just on principle, immediately.
00:21:53.260 I remember actually a town hall meeting you held down in Okotoks a couple of years ago
00:21:55.800 and there was a lady going off about that.
00:21:58.000 Oh, we can't have this.
00:21:59.740 I don't care.
00:22:00.700 I just want outcomes.
00:22:01.840 I don't care.
00:22:02.540 Well, and we want safety and we want quality.
00:22:05.340 And I think that these private contractors in instances like this can give us that.
00:22:11.600 And certainly north of, again, north of Red Deer, most of the patients are, especially
00:22:16.100 by air.
00:22:17.020 You know how different EMS is in northern Alberta.
00:22:18.900 Most patients, if they're going farther than 250 kilometers, they go by air.
00:22:23.580 And we haven't had any concerns or complaints just because they're private.
00:22:27.320 It's a red herring.
00:22:29.300 And it's a red herring that people who want to keep the government involved and in control
00:22:35.000 for reasons that I don't think are responsible can't defend.
00:22:40.180 So getting on to that why then, the why is AHS resisting this so much?
00:22:43.740 I mean, they're all evil people.
00:22:45.140 I mean, some of them have got to think, I want to see better services getting to Alberta.
00:22:48.860 Well, let me give you a good example.
00:22:50.280 The Calgary Zone for AHS EMS now has 70 managers.
00:22:55.920 That means that between Didsbury and Claresholm and Lake Louise and Strathmore, there are 70
00:23:00.960 people employed by HSEMS who are executive directors or managers or supervisors or assistants.
00:23:07.000 That's outrageous.
00:23:08.660 And it's my belief, having worked there for a long time, that probably half of them spend
00:23:13.540 their whole day trying to fix problems they themselves created by micromanaging and implementing
00:23:20.780 policies and procedures to mitigate problems like hallway waits, like short staffing, like
00:23:28.140 lack of training.
00:23:30.140 These are most of the problems in EMS these days were created by the people that run it.
00:23:35.240 And there's no transparency and there's no accountability.
00:23:38.680 And that's the frustrating part.
00:23:40.260 Yeah.
00:23:40.580 And as I said, I mean, it is all tied together and it is part of that big, though Premier
00:23:45.060 Smith is working on breaking up that bureaucracy, which is fantastic.
00:23:48.000 But I mean, it's an example of what's going to happen with attempted reforms in pretty
00:23:52.960 much every other department within that giant bureaucracy.
00:23:56.340 I mean, these people shuffling a piece of paper from one desk to another desk and making
00:24:00.160 six figures are not going to welcome change.
00:24:03.480 So if we start the domino falling in one area, though, I think that's important.
00:24:07.000 And maybe they see that, too, though.
00:24:08.740 You know, EMS seems to be the one that would be easiest to fix, because if you can just separate
00:24:13.660 them from the hospitals, I really believe that if you don't fix hallway waits, you're
00:24:17.540 not going to fix anything else in EMS.
00:24:19.100 We have to get our trucks out of the hospitals and back on the road.
00:24:22.240 And we're not the answer to hospital wait times.
00:24:25.220 That's a hospital problem.
00:24:26.700 It needs to be managed and fixed by them.
00:24:28.980 So once you separate EMS, fixing it should be pretty straightforward.
00:24:33.040 Focus on the core business of emergency care.
00:24:36.700 Add in the community care.
00:24:38.080 I mean, paramedics are very, we can do a lot.
00:24:41.080 Let us go.
00:24:42.160 We'll do a lot.
00:24:42.700 Look, community care is something we can do, but stop asking us to solve hospital problems.
00:24:47.880 That's not our, we're not good at it, and we're not able to do it.
00:24:51.880 It's a different specialty.
00:24:52.740 I mean, it's just as absurd as, say, we should then perhaps take the nurses and doctors out
00:24:56.780 to an accident scene to treat them on the spot.
00:25:00.020 That's not their profession either.
00:25:01.820 I mean, they could certainly help, and they've got some training, but they don't know how
00:25:04.440 to quickly bundle somebody up, stabilize them, and get into the hospital.
00:25:06.840 And it's not appropriate.
00:25:07.640 So sometimes paramedics in the hallway will hear from hospital staff, you know, we're
00:25:11.880 all on the same team.
00:25:13.160 And I go, well, I only ever hear that in the hospital.
00:25:15.540 I never see it at 3 in the morning at 40 below on the side of the highway at an overturned
00:25:20.220 car.
00:25:20.660 I don't see anybody from the hospital on my team there.
00:25:23.280 Let us do our job.
00:25:24.320 They're different professions.
00:25:25.460 Yeah.
00:25:26.240 But they're using it as an overlap within the hospitals to make up for other problems.
00:25:30.700 And so when AHS gets broken up, though, is that going to ease some of that?
00:25:35.020 Like EMS is going to kind of fall into a different one of the four.
00:25:38.800 I think the goal, and I'm not speaking for the UCP or the Premier, I have no axe to grind.
00:25:46.840 I have no interest in that, in being part of that.
00:25:49.660 But I think what is going to happen is if you separate them, you can make them more accountable
00:25:54.260 easier.
00:25:55.200 Right now, AHS is a big machine.
00:25:57.140 It's hard to find any.
00:25:58.160 I mean, you talked to some of these managers last week or the week before about who was
00:26:03.120 getting the contract, they'd all say, oh, we don't know.
00:26:06.000 Well, how can you be a senior or an executive director for EMS and really not know what's
00:26:10.580 happening in a week?
00:26:11.960 Like, it's shocking.
00:26:13.140 And the secrecy, the lack of accountability, very frustrating.
00:26:17.020 And that's why we started the Where's My Ambulance campaign.
00:26:19.680 Yeah.
00:26:19.980 And I'm going to get to that for the final part in chatting with you because you're
00:26:23.120 getting active.
00:26:23.660 I mean, you're not just putting out the problems.
00:26:24.940 You're putting pressure on in areas, bringing awareness to this so that they can push for
00:26:30.700 solutions.
00:26:31.340 And, you know, if you can't get it through the bureaucracy of AHS, the municipalities, I
00:26:36.540 mean, they're upset.
00:26:37.840 And getting them engaged, getting them pressuring or getting the people living in them realizing
00:26:42.080 just how badly served they are, maybe that'll bring some things about.
00:26:44.820 So, well, I'm not a big fan of raising awareness.
00:26:47.020 I don't like the term.
00:26:47.940 I like getting things done and fixing problems.
00:26:50.200 That's what paramedics are good at. 0.99
00:26:51.480 But municipalities, as we've talked before, that's where you start.
00:26:56.580 Your municipal elected officials are there to protect you a lot from other levels of
00:27:01.640 government, especially now.
00:27:04.280 So, again, kudos to Foothills County who said no to AHS having a confidential closed session.
00:27:12.540 And, again, there's always conversations that these organizations perhaps need to have,
00:27:18.180 short ones.
00:27:18.680 But to have your whole presentation, your PowerPoint on response times, number of out-of-service
00:27:23.780 ambulances, and especially the Q&A from counselors.
00:27:28.100 You know, we have a group of us, retired paramedics and some other knowledgeable citizens who have
00:27:34.840 offered now to spend some time with counselors who have questions about how the ambulance service
00:27:40.120 runs because when these people show up in their uniforms, with their slick presentation, they
00:27:47.160 talk fast, they use a lot of medical jargon.
00:27:49.380 And I think in a lot of cases, counselors aren't sure exactly what questions to ask.
00:27:53.740 And even when we give them questions, they're not sure how to follow up.
00:27:56.580 So, if you're a counselor in a municipality in Southern Alberta and you want to have a conversation
00:28:01.680 about what the ambulance service is really doing, feel free to call us.
00:28:06.000 Well, then, for people on the ground, I see you've got your sign here.
00:28:09.260 Oh, my goodness.
00:28:09.660 Again, I'm just talking of the raising awareness thing.
00:28:11.860 Yeah.
00:28:13.160 This is something in a website you've got on the go there.
00:28:16.460 I don't know if we can get that on the camera.
00:28:18.000 Yeah.
00:28:18.260 Where's my ambulance?
00:28:19.360 And that whereismyambulance.com.
00:28:21.560 Yep.
00:28:22.000 It's nice and simple and to the point.
00:28:23.960 Yeah.
00:28:24.380 Where the hell's my ambulance?
00:28:25.380 It's a simple question.
00:28:26.380 And, again, we go out now to town council meetings and we show up and we ask questions
00:28:30.820 and we encourage citizens in these communities to ask questions.
00:28:34.300 And we showed up, again, down in High River last week.
00:28:38.880 And we had a group of us stand out front.
00:28:40.960 And a lot of people who stopped, it was funny because they'd look at the sign and they'd go,
00:28:44.800 are you guys here because there's no ambulance in town?
00:28:47.360 People are getting it.
00:28:48.500 Well, that's what I was talking about with awareness, too, though, because a lot of people,
00:28:51.540 I mean, they aren't necessarily paying attention.
00:28:53.480 I live in Prittis, so as we said, our ambulance is getting sniped all the time.
00:28:58.020 It's there.
00:28:58.860 It's rarely there.
00:28:59.900 I mean, it's the default is our ambulance isn't in the bay servicing our area.
00:29:04.140 But your average citizen doesn't know that until they try to call one.
00:29:07.040 The medics have a special name for the Prittis ambulance, and it's not very polite because
00:29:11.860 it's never there.
00:29:12.780 And it's a tough truck to staff.
00:29:15.340 Well, yeah, because you don't feel like, you know, you joined or you got employed there
00:29:19.760 to work that area and you find yourself in an urban environment all the time.
00:29:22.640 That's not what you signed up for.
00:29:23.900 You know, and it's heartbreaking for some of these medics who work in communities like
00:29:26.820 Okotoks and High River as when they get sent to the city or when they get given a non-urgent
00:29:31.200 transfer and as they leave town, they see on the map that somebody in their community is
00:29:35.960 having a critical medical emergency and they're leaving town.
00:29:39.320 Yeah.
00:29:39.800 And that's heartbreaking for these medics to work in an organization that seems to not care
00:29:45.580 about the people where they live in their rural communities.
00:29:48.080 It's frustrating.
00:29:48.620 Well, that's it.
00:29:49.300 And the more populated areas where I live in Prittis area, Hawks Landing, Prittis
00:29:53.060 Greens, throughout that area, all within about five minutes of the fire station where the
00:29:58.560 ambulance is supposed to be sitting. 0.96
00:30:00.380 So, I mean, their question of where's my ambulance comes when they phone and 911 says,
00:30:04.540 yeah, it'll be there in 30 minutes.
00:30:05.980 All the way up to Bride Creek.
00:30:07.340 It's right there.
00:30:09.000 No, sorry.
00:30:09.440 That one's in Calgary.
00:30:10.220 I'm not going to say as much.
00:30:11.140 But you, so that's why they should be asking now, not when you're bleeding or when your
00:30:17.640 spouse has had a heart attack or when the issue is going on.
00:30:20.900 We should be asking now because people don't realize it.
00:30:23.980 They might not know it.
00:30:25.080 Yeah.
00:30:25.600 That's why your ambulance should be in your community most of the time.
00:30:28.400 The only reason it should be leaving is to take somebody to the hospital who needs to
00:30:32.000 go.
00:30:32.680 And it's pretty simple.
00:30:35.380 You know?
00:30:35.960 It should be.
00:30:36.620 It should be.
00:30:37.760 That's our goal is to make it simple again.
00:30:39.460 Well, like I said, I appreciate your work.
00:30:41.780 I mean, your work prior as a paramedic, but now just shining a light on this because it's
00:30:44.960 one of the areas of health care that, as I said, a lay person can kind of understand.
00:30:47.980 I mean, they can't take part in it, but they know, okay, there's an urgent situation.
00:30:51.120 We need to stabilize somebody and get them to care as fast as we can.
00:30:54.100 It's really as basic as that.
00:30:56.400 And yet we can't connect those dots without having to fight a giant bureaucracy.
00:31:00.520 So it's frustrating.
00:31:01.340 You get it.
00:31:02.040 Yeah.
00:31:02.340 So I appreciate you coming in to share a bit of that with us today.
00:31:05.040 And again, you got the site, where's my ambulance.com.
00:31:07.420 Is there other areas where people can see what's going on?
00:31:10.700 You know, Facebook has been a real help.
00:31:13.400 We did a number of town halls in these small communities a couple of years ago.
00:31:16.560 We've started some EMS citizen action groups in these various small towns.
00:31:20.780 Cochran's has been very successful.
00:31:22.460 They hosted a first responder appreciation day on the weekend.
00:31:25.580 And we had over 300 people.
00:31:27.520 I mean, it was just nice to recognize the group.
00:31:29.300 So that group of citizens is doing a great job.
00:31:31.180 If anybody has questions about how to start a citizen action group or become more active in this, you know,
00:31:37.700 we have a lot of service clubs now that are curious too, Lions and Rotary, that want to get involved.
00:31:41.820 So give us a call.
00:31:43.160 Where's my ambulance.com.
00:31:44.080 Leave us a note and we'll be happy to respond.
00:31:46.780 Perfect.
00:31:47.060 Nice and easy to remember.
00:31:48.060 So, yes, if you've got questions or you want to get things going in your neighborhood, guys,
00:31:51.460 where's my ambulance.com.
00:31:52.640 Don will fix you up.
00:31:53.900 All right.
00:31:54.140 Well, thanks again.
00:31:55.220 Good to see you.
00:31:56.160 Nice to you.
00:31:57.100 Looking forward to see more progress on this.
00:31:58.860 Right on.
00:31:59.140 I'll give you an update anytime.
00:32:00.440 Great.
00:32:00.720 Thanks, Don.
00:32:01.000 Okay.
00:32:01.720 All right.
00:32:02.080 So, again, where's my ambulance.com.
00:32:03.900 And, yes, it's Don Sharp.
00:32:05.100 He's been in before.
00:32:06.080 And, yeah, he's fun on Twitter and all those social media areas and that as well.
00:32:10.940 I mean, it's just the health care monster.
00:32:12.700 And there's areas that I don't understand.
00:32:14.760 You know, I'm going to make the call out right now.
00:32:16.320 Somebody, please send somebody in.
00:32:18.000 I've had a family member who's been, you know, ailing.
00:32:20.720 I've spent time at the hospital lately visiting, things like that.
00:32:23.180 And I don't understand it.
00:32:24.640 Now, I do understand that the nurses and doctors are harried and they're working very hard and everything.
00:32:28.680 But I also noticed that 90% of their time they're sitting in front of a computer.
00:32:32.620 So, what is going on?
00:32:33.760 I honestly don't understand.
00:32:35.080 I don't know.
00:32:35.540 So, if somebody can explain to me why it's so integral to deal with the paperwork, with the computer.
00:32:41.680 There's literally every, you know, stand.
00:32:43.320 There's computers all the way through the hallways.
00:32:44.860 There's these stands.
00:32:45.820 We've got dozens and dozens of patients.
00:32:47.360 You've got a few people moving around, dealing with them, doing what they can, moving them, checking on them, you know, bringing medication.
00:32:53.900 But I see them, most of the time, staring at a screen.
00:32:58.860 Why?
00:33:00.040 How much?
00:33:01.620 I mean, I understand you have to have a degree of administration and paperwork to deal with a large system in a hospital and things like that.
00:33:09.480 But when they are spending, these trained professionals who are supposed to be trained for the care one-on-one with patients,
00:33:16.880 and it looks like they're spending 80% of their time staring at a screen, something isn't working.
00:33:22.380 I mean, going farther back to, I remember Paul Heman used to bring that up in his speeches all the time when we were at the Alberta Alliance.
00:33:32.140 But, you know, to show some of the bureaucratic problems at the hospitals and things like that, and it's true if you go to them.
00:33:37.060 Go to a hospital Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and try to park.
00:33:42.000 It's just jammed.
00:33:42.880 You know, I don't want to even start on how much you have to pay for parking.
00:33:45.000 But it's full.
00:33:45.600 It's packed.
00:33:46.220 It's loaded with, you can't get in there.
00:33:47.860 The staff parking's full.
00:33:49.440 Asian parking's full.
00:33:50.980 Go there in the evening.
00:33:52.060 Go there on a weekend.
00:33:53.620 It's empty.
00:33:54.960 Aside from a few folks visiting.
00:33:56.940 Well, why?
00:33:58.240 People don't stop being sick on the weekends and evenings.
00:34:01.020 Well, it's because the parking was jammed with bureaucrats. 0.87
00:34:06.080 I mean, they still have to be cared for.
00:34:08.020 The ones working the ground, working the wards, they're there, all those other shifts.
00:34:11.480 But all the rest disappeared.
00:34:12.960 We've got a load of paper pushers. 0.99
00:34:15.080 And when you're having a heart attack, a form isn't going to save you.
00:34:19.500 Somebody typing on a computer isn't going to save you.
00:34:22.360 You need somebody physically with you.
00:34:24.720 You need a doctor later who's going to find out why your ticker is going off on you and
00:34:29.860 hopefully treat that later.
00:34:31.460 But it's hard to do when they're constantly mired in administration.
00:34:34.820 That gets back to, again, this is the nature of government-run businesses, of bureaucracies.
00:34:41.280 Private isn't a solution to everything.
00:34:43.540 We need a mixed system.
00:34:45.200 But I tell you, if there was competition, if there really was, even if it's universal, I'm going to say the blasphemy. 0.76
00:34:52.780 Yes, we need private care.
00:34:55.040 We need more of it.
00:34:55.540 I want to see private hospitals.
00:34:56.880 I do.
00:34:57.380 I want to see private emergency centers.
00:34:59.660 I want to see them advertising, trying to get you to choose them as the place to go to, even if you're not paying out of pocket.
00:35:05.860 You know, there's ways we can deal with this.
00:35:08.420 And I tell you what, it'll get better a lot faster.
00:35:10.240 Down in the States, when I was working down there, I remember in Hobbs, New Mexico, driving on the highway,
00:35:16.220 there was a billboard for a hospital, and it had a digital readout actually showing what the emergency wait times were.
00:35:21.920 It would say, come to our hospital if you need to, because they're competing.
00:35:25.900 And the emergency wait times are, on average, and it tended to be 10 minutes.
00:35:31.600 I think the longest I ever saw was 40 minutes.
00:35:33.960 Now, we're in Canada.
00:35:34.740 How are we doing?
00:35:35.180 And it's free to die on a gurney because you're waiting 23, 48 hours.
00:35:41.440 I mean, the numbers are obscene what you have to wait for emergency service now in Canadian hospitals.
00:35:47.420 So set aside that instinctive opposition to private involvement.
00:35:52.700 Let's look at outcomes, guys.
00:35:54.000 We've got to make it better.
00:35:56.100 And if you were running a private facility and you're walking up and down and your professionals are mostly sitting in front of computers all the time,
00:36:03.940 you're not going to get patients coming back because they realize they're not getting the best service they can.
00:36:08.860 And as an operator, you're going to change things.
00:36:11.240 Is it the person sitting in front of the computer is not doing a good job?
00:36:13.780 Or is it your management that's putting too many administrative tasks on the professionals who should be working on the ground?
00:36:19.600 I don't know.
00:36:20.940 These sorts of things can be solved.
00:36:22.400 But when you're in a giant, monolithic, bureaucratic system, there's only one system, there's no incentive to fix that.
00:36:31.900 There's no motivation to change it.
00:36:34.300 And again, it keeps coming down to throwing more money out.
00:36:36.100 We've been throwing money out.
00:36:37.220 Canada is one of the highest spending countries in the world when it comes to health care spending.
00:36:41.440 And it's not getting us better outcomes.
00:36:45.300 I mean, it's just not cutting it, guys.
00:36:48.280 I mean, one of the areas, too, some of the blasphemy.
00:36:51.120 Guess what, guys?
00:36:51.780 Nurses aren't saints. 1.00
00:36:52.720 I get sick of that.
00:36:53.560 I get sick of the nurses' union. 1.00
00:36:55.420 Not the nurses themselves, but their bloody union. 0.99
00:36:57.420 And they support that union, though, a lot of them.
00:37:00.460 And look up.
00:37:01.800 If you want to look up a story, look at Alberta.
00:37:03.640 And I'm sure it's the same in every province.
00:37:06.100 The sunshine list, as they call it or whatever, the ones who get over $100,000 a year.
00:37:12.620 And there are a lot.
00:37:13.980 There was one in Alberta, I believe, that nurse got over $400,000 because they play an interesting game.
00:37:20.720 Most of them are part-time.
00:37:23.060 Part-time.
00:37:24.340 But they work full-time hours.
00:37:25.640 You see, the way it works is they automatically get overtime the second they work a shift that wasn't scheduled for them.
00:37:35.260 And they play a really neat game.
00:37:37.000 So you put yourself down as part-time.
00:37:39.300 But then you sign up for all the other shifts that come along.
00:37:42.280 Even though you're only working 40 hours a week, you can end up having half of your hours being overtime.
00:37:45.860 And nurses' overtime isn't like our overtime with its time and a half.
00:37:48.780 They get two and a half times.
00:37:50.360 And then if you work on a holiday, oh, they can get up to quadruple time.
00:37:53.620 And you work in the evenings, you get an evening premium.
00:37:55.540 And you work on the weekends, you get a weekend premium.
00:37:57.340 And you can work as a part-time nurse and end up pulling in well into over $100,000 a year.
00:38:03.400 It's ridiculous.
00:38:04.100 If you're going to work over 40 hours a week, every week, change it.
00:38:08.100 Make them full-time.
00:38:08.940 Make them like real people in the real world.
00:38:10.820 If you're working overtime, you're getting overtime fine after 44 hours like the rest of us or even 40.
00:38:17.640 But no, no, they game the system.
00:38:20.660 And I tell you, the unions get worked up every time that's brought up.
00:38:22.800 That's one of their little secrets they love going on about.
00:38:25.980 You know, they're gaming the system.
00:38:27.680 Look, nurses are professionals. 1.00
00:38:28.840 They work very bloody hard.
00:38:30.280 I understand that.
00:38:32.200 But if they're screwing us, I can only support so far.
00:38:36.300 Competition.
00:38:37.400 A private operator is not going to put up with that crap.
00:38:39.680 They will pay a high price for good professionals in their institution, but they're not going to put up with them gaming them on it, are they?
00:38:46.940 Yes, we need to change this.
00:38:48.120 Either way, you know, one of the first steps, which I think was great, is, yes, Premier Smith is breaking up the AHS,
00:38:55.200 yes, the Alberta Health Services for people who are outside of Alberta, in a separate unit.
00:38:59.660 So there's going to be three or four, I believe.
00:39:02.360 That way it's not such a giant monster.
00:39:04.140 You know, she's biting it apart a little to fix it up. 1.00
00:39:06.960 And as Dawn was talking about, we can look at little areas of it, such as EMS.
00:39:12.200 We can fix that.
00:39:13.220 We can show that there can be improvements on some of these things because it's ridiculous right now.
00:39:19.420 Speaking of ridiculous, this is one of the things that Jen mentioned earlier.
00:39:21.820 So, you know, this is going to some federal stuff.
00:39:24.860 The Governor General, yeah, she's had an online harm symposium she's hosting.
00:39:30.140 And this was for Bill C-63.
00:39:32.440 She basically came out in favor of a liberal government bill. 0.89
00:39:37.600 Now, people who aren't political wieners like myself might not really understand just how egregious this is, just how bad this is.
00:39:44.500 This is the king's representative taking a stance on political policy, becoming political, becoming partisan.
00:39:54.020 She's supposed to be nothing more than a rubber stamp. 1.00
00:39:56.340 I know people talk about the office of it and she'll be respected.
00:39:58.780 No, they don't garner my respect anymore.
00:40:01.640 They're a remnant of the feudal system.
00:40:03.860 At least just be the ribbon cutter you are, the celebrity you are, the patronage appointment you are, the token you are. 0.70
00:40:11.080 Because that's what she is.
00:40:13.960 And just do what you're told.
00:40:15.460 Take your six-figure income, take your servants, take your flights.
00:40:19.120 Don't dip into the policy realm.
00:40:22.160 And she did that.
00:40:23.400 That's a huge line crossed.
00:40:25.460 Huge.
00:40:26.700 It would be the same as King Charles getting in or Queen Elizabeth in the past and actually starting to take part in the policies happening in Parliament.
00:40:36.640 You do not do that.
00:40:37.760 Queen Elizabeth never did that. 1.00
00:40:39.420 She knew better.
00:40:40.360 And King Charles doesn't seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's been well enough trained.
00:40:43.840 He knows better too.
00:40:44.940 It doesn't mean they can never speak to a policy, but you don't get right in on bills and talk about how you should support one or not another.
00:40:53.080 This was a big line crossed.
00:40:54.520 We've had nothing but crappy governor generals for a while now.
00:40:56.960 Trudeau is really picking winners.
00:40:58.260 And this line, you know, it's not making enough news.
00:41:01.560 It's gotten overshadowed, unfortunately, by the budget.
00:41:07.680 But she's a terrible governor general. 1.00
00:41:10.440 Terrible.
00:41:11.840 But she checks off the boxes that Justin wanted, and that's why she's in there.
00:41:15.820 I'm going to say it as it is.
00:41:17.080 Because that's the case.
00:41:19.460 And it's going to stop.
00:41:20.520 And that budget, that budget is a brute.
00:41:23.040 So how are they going to pay for all of this spending, this massive spending, right?
00:41:28.720 Capital gains taxes.
00:41:30.300 Capital gains taxes are economic killers, guys.
00:41:35.220 Economic killers.
00:41:36.200 You want to drive investment and innovation and enterprise out of your nation, there's no better way than a capital gains tax.
00:41:44.860 And increasing it is only going to make it worse.
00:41:46.320 They think, they think they're going to screw a $20 billion over the next few years out of people by raising that capital gains tax.
00:41:53.640 It's not going to work because people move their money. 0.78
00:41:55.760 Capital moves.
00:41:56.980 They will take it elsewhere.
00:41:58.460 They won't get the money they think they're going to get.
00:42:00.640 Plus, they're going to harm the economy.
00:42:02.040 Because when these investments, these enterprises pull out of Canada, they lay people off.
00:42:06.540 We have less services.
00:42:07.600 We have fewer people working.
00:42:09.480 And the cycle just continues.
00:42:12.360 Oh, it's just taxing the rich.
00:42:13.720 No, it's not.
00:42:15.080 No, it's not.
00:42:15.900 Oh, the corporations will pay.
00:42:17.920 Yeah, think about that.
00:42:18.860 Think about that a minute.
00:42:20.440 Corporations.
00:42:20.960 Ooh, corporations.
00:42:22.180 They're all evil.
00:42:22.660 They're all nasty, right?
00:42:25.800 My bar was a corporation when I owned it.
00:42:28.100 Pub.
00:42:28.320 Not a billion-dollar enterprise, but it was incorporated.
00:42:31.580 It technically was a corporation.
00:42:32.700 If it had gained over a certain amount of value over the years of slaving and toiling and working and building the business,
00:42:38.480 and if I'd sold it for a certain amount over what I bought it for, I'll be punished for that.
00:42:44.200 Yes, actually, that's what a capital gains tax is.
00:42:46.420 And it's not all big business, guys.
00:42:48.400 Your local doctor is probably incorporated with his clinic.
00:42:51.840 He's going to be thinking, maybe I'll just move my clinic south of the border, or I'll go to Europe, or I'll go to Vietnam.
00:42:59.500 Why do I want to sit here and get punished for success?
00:43:01.520 Because that's what capital gains taxes do.
00:43:03.960 They punish the successful.
00:43:05.700 So they keep talking about, oh, it's just on this ultra-rich.
00:43:09.280 No, it's not, guys.
00:43:11.140 It's on every corporation account.
00:43:13.020 And then the big corporations anyways.
00:43:15.320 Corporate profit.
00:43:16.300 Oh, people spit that out.
00:43:17.160 Profit.
00:43:17.760 How evil.
00:43:18.120 So, dingbats who don't understand how pensions work talk about how bad corporate profit is.
00:43:25.460 If you don't want your pension to grow, okay, then maybe you are opposed to corporate profit.
00:43:30.720 Do you think it grows like a freaking daisy, just on its own?
00:43:33.900 No.
00:43:34.860 That pension fund is invested, and guess what it's invested in?
00:43:38.720 Corporations.
00:43:40.080 And if that corporation doesn't profit, your pension doesn't grow.
00:43:44.200 You are a corporate shareholder, even if you don't realize it.
00:43:48.880 You are a beneficiary of those profits.
00:43:53.020 And those profits get taxed.
00:43:55.380 So, don't go down the idiotic, liberal, now NDP, socialist rabbit hole of constantly demonizing
00:44:03.940 corporations, businesses, people who are productive, people who are building an asset,
00:44:10.940 because it hurts all of you, even if you don't realize it.
00:44:14.180 It does.
00:44:15.360 Because that's the game the liberals are playing. 0.94
00:44:17.340 They segregate who they're going to hit with the extra taxes.
00:44:20.260 And people think, oh, it doesn't matter.
00:44:21.680 It doesn't hit me.
00:44:22.440 It is hitting you, even if you don't receive the path of how it does.
00:44:27.120 Our economy is in serious, serious trouble.
00:44:30.760 People's eyes glaze over when we talk about it, but it's important.
00:44:33.200 I keep bringing it up, look at it, the debt, or maybe not the debt, the GDP to per capita
00:44:42.760 ratio.
00:44:44.080 In the United States, GDP per capita is over $70,000 American.
00:44:49.920 Canada is $54,000 American.
00:44:53.760 Think about that.
00:44:54.520 Look at the size of that gap.
00:44:56.360 Almost $20,000 American dollars.
00:44:59.180 You have less of the pie.
00:45:03.240 That's how much less you have than our Americans south of the border.
00:45:07.740 And they have cheaper food.
00:45:09.460 They have cheaper housing.
00:45:11.680 Their cost of cheaper gasoline.
00:45:13.640 Everything's cheaper down there.
00:45:14.800 And they have more money.
00:45:16.440 Guys, we're up the creek.
00:45:18.360 And why is it like that down there?
00:45:19.500 Because their economy is doing great.
00:45:22.540 Meanwhile, we're kicking our economy in the balls.
00:45:25.680 Trudeau is going after business owners.
00:45:28.640 He's going after the corporations.
00:45:31.040 He's going after the productive people.
00:45:34.020 That's just going to cycle our per capita GDP share even lower, guys, while he digs us
00:45:40.340 deeper and deeper in debt.
00:45:41.540 And that dingbat is going to be on a tropical island someplace, retired with his trust fund,
00:45:47.980 while the next generation pays the frigging bill.
00:45:51.660 And it's just odious and it's repugnant.
00:45:53.460 And while he sits up there prancing around as he did yesterday, oh, this is fairness for
00:45:58.920 all generations.
00:45:59.880 No, it's not.
00:46:00.980 No, it's not.
00:46:02.320 It's screwing the current generation and is robbing the next one.
00:46:06.500 And this budget will pass.
00:46:08.480 You know, Jagmeet Singh, biggest pussy in parliament. 0.79
00:46:11.080 But he's doing his tough talk.
00:46:12.820 Oh, I don't know if we're going to support them.
00:46:14.320 Of course, you're going to support the budget, you clown.
00:46:16.500 You're Trudeau's little puppy dog.
00:46:18.240 God, it's going to be embarrassing being an NDP member these days.
00:46:20.720 It really does.
00:46:22.040 When your leader is such a dishrag.
00:46:24.700 Seriously.
00:46:26.100 Just don't pretend, Jagmeet.
00:46:28.060 You're going to support the budget.
00:46:29.220 Of course you are.
00:46:30.340 You don't have the money or the brains to fight another election.
00:46:32.960 You know, this is as close to power as you're ever going to get.
00:46:35.280 So, no, it's not going to happen.
00:46:38.480 Yeah, so I see the commenter, Bruce Leslie, saying,
00:46:40.620 it's amazing how few people understand how the pension plan is invested.
00:46:43.860 I know.
00:46:44.360 It's sad and it's frightening.
00:46:45.920 And if people think they're doing the world a favor when they attack businesses,
00:46:50.380 they aren't, guys.
00:46:51.320 You're dependent on them.
00:46:52.620 They're important to you, even if you don't realize it.
00:46:55.300 Either way, that's all the time I got for today.
00:46:57.940 We're going to have a lot to talk about on the pipeline a little later,
00:47:00.280 so be sure to tune in for that, guys.
00:47:02.040 And, again, take out a subscription if you haven't already.
00:47:04.700 There's lots on the go, lots to cover, lots to talk about.
00:47:09.160 So, yeah, tune in to the pipeline tonight.
00:47:11.340 Get to the westernstandard.news to catch all of this stuff directly, guys.
00:47:15.660 And we will see you all again next week.
00:47:18.400 At this time, I'll have a whole bunch of new stuff to complain about.
00:47:34.700 We'll see you guys next week.
00:47:52.480 We'll see you next week.