Western Standard - November 10, 2022


CMS： We need to break schools free of union control


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 1 minute

Words per minute

186.34338

Word count

11,459

Sentence count

656


Summary

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

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Thank you.
00:00:30.000 Good day. It's November 9th, 2022. Welcome to my show. I'm Corey Morgan and it's colder than
00:00:39.920 a witch's tent out there today. But what are you going to do? Winter had to come eventually.
00:00:45.040 It's a good time to be thankful for all of the hydrocarbons, natural gas, things like that that
00:00:50.280 are keeping us warm and alive today because we know that the windmills and solar panels aren't
00:00:56.020 going to cut it. Unfortunately, not enough people know that already. Good to see you guys checking
00:00:59.700 in already live in the comment scroll. I'd like to remind everybody we're currently not blocked
00:01:04.560 from anything. It's nice. We're streaming on Facebook, YouTube. What else are we on? Twitter,
00:01:09.860 LinkedIn, Twitch, Rumble, and Telegram. We're all over the place. I'm reaching out and annoying
00:01:13.720 people on all sorts of platforms today. And be sure to use that comment scroll. Talk with each
00:01:21.380 other. Talk with me. Send comments my way. I appreciate it. It lets me know that you guys are
00:01:25.600 actually out there. See Ashley, Ed, Diana,
00:01:27.700 Lisa, all you guys checking in. It's
00:01:29.560 great. You know, keep things civil. We get a lot of
00:01:31.560 it's been fun on Twitter. Boy, the
00:01:33.660 squirrels have been going crazy on me lately on
00:01:35.580 there, mostly because I've been poking at
00:01:37.340 public service unions. So
00:01:39.400 of course, I decided to write my
00:01:41.320 rant for today on public
00:01:43.500 service unions because they well
00:01:45.600 deserve it. And it's time we
00:01:47.540 start re-examining how we do
00:01:49.440 some things. So I'm going to have a couple of great guests
00:01:51.420 on. Robin Lohr and Will Jimmy. They're
00:01:53.480 from Neistanan. It's a
00:01:55.460 company. It's an indigenous-led one, and they're moving to basically expand the rail and pipeline
00:02:01.440 capacity to Hudson's Bay and putting a partnership together on that. A number of products that can
00:02:06.880 get out, and we can ship and get to coastal waters a different way. It's that option people
00:02:10.540 don't talk about enough. We've got a number of coasts in Canada, and that one hasn't been
00:02:14.200 utilized, so it's going to be great. They're going to be in the studio and talking with them.
00:02:16.780 We'll have the business check-in with Jim Busicum and talking with market commodities and some
00:02:24.000 agriculture products. And I will have another dingleberry of the week award. We got another
00:02:28.480 worthy one. That'll be at the end of the show where I'll bestow that new honor upon some people.
00:02:34.220 All right, let me get on to what I'm ranting about though. And you know, once upon a time,
00:02:39.220 the government and the public service unions, let's start with a story, you know, some Alberta
00:02:42.980 history. They controlled every aspect of beer production and sales in Alberta. Unionized,
00:02:48.280 government-run liquor stores offered only a handful of brands of warm beer and sales were only
00:02:52.560 available during banking hours. Those of us old enough to remember, remember it poorly. Breweries
00:02:57.140 were unionized as were the trucking companies delivering the beer to the stores, which were
00:03:00.540 unionized as well. That meant that pretty much every summer, one of those unions would go on
00:03:04.560 strike and there'd be a beer shortage in the province. I remember the massive lineups outside
00:03:08.700 liquor stores as people would clean them out in anticipation of strikes. Now back then, Big Rock
00:03:13.060 Brewery was a small brewery. They formed in Calgary in the 80s and they were having a hard time
00:03:16.380 establishing themselves because of course they had unionized government liquor stores fighting
00:03:19.600 against carrying their beers, and they sold from a small outlet out in southeast Calgary. I think
00:03:23.500 they were in Dover, if I recall, and sold directly to bars. So they had their little niche, but they
00:03:28.260 were having a hard time. Then the unions finally overplayed their hand. During a big brewery strike
00:03:32.980 in 1984, something changed. You know, it was one of those regular strikes, but Albertans this time
00:03:38.820 had somewhere to go. So they flocked to Big Rock, and they bought their beer as fast as the brewery
00:03:42.120 could produce it. People discovered there were beers besides Labatt's and Molson, and many of
00:03:46.500 never went back. It was the beginning of the end of the monopolies. Albertans had found choice and
00:03:50.960 they liked it and they wanted it. Now, Ralph Klein certainly loved his beer. One of his first acts
00:03:55.300 when he became Alberta's premier was to privatize liquor stores. Suddenly, consumers could choose
00:03:59.880 from dozens of beers, sold, chilled, and at all sorts of hours. There was no going back. With a
00:04:04.900 solid base of independent liquor stores that they could sell to, small breweries and now distilleries
00:04:09.200 are starting to form and flourish. There's hundreds of beers to choose from. The quality's higher
00:04:13.220 and there's never shortages or strikes.
00:04:15.520 Citizens won.
00:04:17.140 Now, getting more domestic, or I should say contemporary,
00:04:20.280 the Canadian Union of Public Employees overplayed their hand
00:04:23.160 when they held Ontario parents hostage
00:04:25.020 with outrageous demands for a double-digit raise for education workers
00:04:28.480 as the nation's creeping towards a recession.
00:04:30.780 Tired citizens and parents whose children had already had their education
00:04:33.660 disrupted by two years of pandemic lockdowns
00:04:35.780 called on Premier Doug Ford to intervene.
00:04:38.440 Ford, unfortunately, responded with a hammer and overplayed his hand
00:04:41.180 by preemptively invoking the notwithstanding clause so he could violate the charter and
00:04:45.420 try and force the education workers back to their jobs. QP went on an illegal strike and within days
00:04:50.560 Ford blinked and backed off. So who won in all these games? That's hard to say, but the clear
00:04:56.140 losers though are the students. Students across Canada are going to continue to lose due to a
00:05:01.540 lack of choice in schools. And I mean, sure, there's some private schools out there, charter
00:05:05.640 schools, but for the most part, the government has a monopoly on providing education and it's
00:05:08.900 all unionized. When there's a lack of choice, and when consumers can't vote with their feet or
00:05:13.340 wallets, the consumers will always lose, and quality and stability of product will suffer.
00:05:18.280 Education is a product, and students are the consumers. It's time to move to models that
00:05:22.820 best serve those consumers, and those models involve more school choice. The dollars need
00:05:27.660 to truly follow the students, and the schools, both public and private, should be able to compete
00:05:31.620 for those dollars. Students should be treated as assets to be drawn in, and schools need to
00:05:35.420 be incentivized to attract them. Union-based pay scales protect teachers who are mailing it in
00:05:40.440 while pursuing a pension, while underpaying some of the exceptional teachers who give it all they
00:05:44.600 have. Schools should be competing for the better teachers as well, as the students. Merit-based
00:05:49.500 pay systems improve quality, but the union hold has to be broken. The strikes, standoffs, and
00:05:55.460 instability won't end until the system changes. Unionization can't be banned. Hey, it's a right
00:05:59.940 for collective bargaining.
00:06:02.080 But their monopoly on education can be broken.
00:06:04.460 Let the unions compete for the teachers as well.
00:06:06.280 If they're that good, they shouldn't have problems getting them
00:06:07.960 and the education support workers.
00:06:10.260 Monopolies and near monopolies stunt innovation and quality.
00:06:13.240 It doesn't matter if the monopoly is government-run or private.
00:06:15.600 The end users of the product are going to be the ones who lose in the end.
00:06:18.760 The unions may have won the day in Ontario, but they could lose the battle.
00:06:21.520 Parents won't forget being put over a barrel like that.
00:06:24.180 If we want to see some of the best educational and healthcare outcomes on earth,
00:06:27.260 we need to break the union-dominated monopolies.
00:06:29.940 we're already spending more than just about anybody else on earth and we're not getting
00:06:32.640 the outcome. So spending more in these systems as they are is just throwing good money after bad.
00:06:37.200 It's time to give people choice. That's what's got me going today, guys. Yeah, you know, that was the
00:06:43.200 whole outcome of the mess over in Ontario and it's time to change that. All right, let's check in on
00:06:48.320 some other news and see what our news director, Dave Naylor, Dave, gee, wow, there was a dyslexic
00:06:53.500 moment. Dave Naylor in our newsroom there, our news editor covering things in Alberta and Canada.
00:06:59.680 How's it going, Dave?
00:07:00.900 Pretty good, McCoy, whatever your name is.
00:07:05.060 Jeez, you know, honest, I haven't slipped on my sobriety.
00:07:07.980 I'm just tripping on my tongue.
00:07:09.660 Tell you what, Corey, this week I have never been so grateful for my automatic car opener or car starter.
00:07:15.840 I just like to see it for you.
00:07:17.520 You know, just pop the door open an inch, press a button, and it'll be nice and warm when you get there.
00:07:22.740 Yeah, I don't have a, it's funny, we just bought a truck for Jane.
00:07:26.860 It's a used one, and it had a command start, and it only worked once once we got it home and stopped working.
00:07:31.940 So the command start now is, Corey, go outside and start the truck.
00:07:35.240 It's still effective, but I don't find it as comforting as yours.
00:07:38.180 No, it works every time.
00:07:39.540 Hey, has the cold weather helped you with your problem, Bear?
00:07:43.060 I haven't seen him in a while, so I'm hoping that the jerk's gone to sleep for the winter.
00:07:47.280 I'm sure he's, you know, just going to dream of what he's going to do to me in spring, but I'll get a break from him.
00:07:51.360 Hey, maybe he's in your attic snoring away.
00:07:54.060 I might have a winter discovery to report on yet.
00:07:56.860 All right, we got some good stuff on the website already this morning, Corey.
00:08:02.380 Leading off with our parliamentary columnist, David Creighton.
00:08:07.220 You'll remember some comments made by the Prime Minister that came to light that he didn't think the trucker protesters were very smart.
00:08:16.040 Well, our Mr. Creighton doesn't think Mr. Trudeau is very smart.
00:08:19.400 And he's got a column on why he thinks that.
00:08:23.900 Calgary police have made some steps forward in a historical 2006 sexual assault through genealogy.
00:08:32.880 They've been able to publicly release that the attacker comes from South Asian descent,
00:08:39.440 and they put out a composite sketch again of the suspect.
00:08:44.180 Now, Edmonton police got in big trouble with this when they did it a couple of weeks ago,
00:08:48.120 they released a genealogy report showing that the suspect was was black and then the black community
00:08:56.600 got into an uproar saying you're painting us all with this brush and edmonton police
00:09:01.640 apologized the very next day but that hasn't uh hasn't stopped calgary police from from doing
00:09:07.160 the same thing uh our lee hardings uh got a report on uh all the chinese influences that's uh been
00:09:14.680 going on in canadian elections uh especially focusing on on 2019 uh our matthew horwood
00:09:23.960 parliamentary reporter has been at the freedom convoy inquiry all morning uh got an early story
00:09:29.800 up from the uh counselor in fort mcmurray on uh what he has to say uh the inquiry is a little
00:09:36.840 bit stalled right now because unfortunately one of the lawyers had a medical episode and
00:09:41.880 looks like he collapsed so uh we'll be watching that this afternoon i believe the mayor of coots
00:09:47.240 uh was also on earlier and uh matthew will be filing on that uh dave makachuk military experts
00:09:53.880 got an interesting look back at the the sidewinder missile how it came about and the uh havoc is re
00:10:00.680 havoc that it is wreaking now and uh mark zuckerberg wreaked some havoc on uh facebook
00:10:06.120 employees this morning, Corey, firing 11,000 of them, 13% of their workforce. So for 11,000 people,
00:10:14.560 it was unlucky 13. And unfortunately, this time of year, it looks like they're going to be out
00:10:20.080 of work for Christmas. Coming up this afternoon, our Mike Thomas is keeping an eye on the US
00:10:26.720 midterms. The expected red wave was basically a trickle. We've got an early story up from Mike
00:10:34.580 And he's going to be monitoring that through the afternoon.
00:10:39.240 And as I've mentioned, as will Matthew be on the trucker inquiry.
00:10:45.080 So lots of good stuff up, lots of good stuff to come, Corey, on this chilly winter day.
00:10:51.820 Always lots on the go.
00:10:53.240 Looking forward to seeing those hitting the Western Standard page.
00:10:56.620 All right.
00:10:56.800 Well, thanks for the update, Dave.
00:10:57.960 And I'll see you after the show.
00:10:59.720 Have a good one, Corey.
00:11:00.740 Great.
00:11:01.380 So as you can see, lots going on.
00:11:02.860 lots of people working across the country covering these things is when I nag and remind everybody,
00:11:06.620 the reason we can do this is because of you guys who subscribe. So please guys get out there,
00:11:11.460 take out a subscription, 10 bucks a month. It's well worth it. Keeps us. We do not take tax
00:11:15.920 dollars. We will not take tax dollars. And it's been fantastic. I put a picture up of the studio.
00:11:21.000 I tweeted that out, you know, showing the inside of it from my perspective. I was just thinking to
00:11:24.560 myself, cause we hit our third birthday and as a, as a business here at the Western Standard.
00:11:28.740 and on our first year
00:11:30.940 when we did our first live broadcast in our old
00:11:32.880 office, we literally had a phone duct
00:11:34.940 taped to a tripod and it was just
00:11:36.800 a catastrophe and things have
00:11:38.860 come a long, long way and it's
00:11:40.940 thanks to you guys who have subscribed
00:11:42.820 and if you haven't yet, come on
00:11:44.960 guys, get on board, we're offering, we're not asking for
00:11:46.820 charity, we're offering a service, it's a subscription
00:11:48.680 there's people who I'm
00:11:50.900 certain spend much more than that on their monthly
00:11:52.780 OnlyFans accounts, you
00:11:54.920 can spare $10 a month to watch this, just
00:11:56.800 don't do the same thing behind the scenes. I don't want to think about it. All right. So yes,
00:12:01.160 you know, some of the stuff, the ideas we were talking a bit about my earlier rant, you know,
00:12:03.940 the teachers, somebody, Bob saying, you know, they can be paid by the number of students in
00:12:07.940 their class. Perhaps there's different things we can look at. The thing is you got to have choice.
00:12:11.840 I mean, one of the things I kind of agree with and I disagree with the teachers unions is they
00:12:14.860 always point out and rightly so that students are all different because that's when they're
00:12:20.260 always fighting standardized testing. But the reason they fight standardized testing is because
00:12:23.620 standardized testing exposes who the shitty teachers are. That's the real reason the unions
00:12:27.840 always fight standardized testing. But their case they make against it also is saying standardized
00:12:32.240 testing is unfair because different students learn different ways. That is true. But the way to deal
00:12:37.900 with that is to have as many different educational institutions and options and abilities for all
00:12:42.700 those different students as you can. But as soon as you start talking about giving school choice,
00:12:46.860 then suddenly the unions, oh, no, no, no, no, no, just spend more money, give our union teachers
00:12:49.820 more money, and we'll fix it all. And they don't. They never do. We need to change the system.
00:12:54.800 It comes back to the same thing that we see when we're talking about healthcare and others.
00:12:59.220 It's the system, guys, not just, you know, more money. But the unions don't want to hear anything
00:13:05.700 else but throwing more money at it. And speaking of unions, then let's talk about, in Alberta,
00:13:10.400 we had the by-election for Daniel Smith seeking a seat. She parachuted into Brooks Medicine Hat.
00:13:15.060 And I guess, you know, the NDP were hoping for big inroads or hoping that, you know, that Smith would do terribly in it.
00:13:23.300 I'm certain that the UCP were hoping Smith would do a lot better and, you know, get much higher.
00:13:28.760 It was kind of a middle of the road, you know.
00:13:31.160 It was a decisive win.
00:13:32.160 I mean, they never came close.
00:13:33.260 It was at 55%.
00:13:34.320 But when you keep in mind, or 54%, I think it was.
00:13:36.600 But when you keep in mind that that constituency had 60% support for the UCP last time, it's a bit of a drop.
00:13:42.220 not a trending in the right direction. And the NDP did grow in support anyways. But again,
00:13:49.640 so I mean, it's hard to read too much into those, you know, with a by-election, if there was
00:13:54.300 something way over to one side or the other, if it was a 80% win for Smith, you could really read
00:13:59.480 a lot into it. Or if it was a close call near loss for Smith, you could read something into it.
00:14:04.740 But in the middle, well, she's got her seat. And I guess we'll just work on to the next six months
00:14:08.600 and see where things go from there.
00:14:09.760 But you can't really interpret too much.
00:14:11.760 There are people saying, oh, the turnout was terrible.
00:14:13.400 Well, yeah, but if you watch by-elections,
00:14:15.000 the turnout in by-elections is always terrible.
00:14:18.380 The only thing typically in by-elections
00:14:20.160 is they often don't favor the government in power
00:14:22.960 because people look at those as a safe election
00:14:25.780 to kind of express their discontent with the government
00:14:28.020 and vote against them
00:14:29.360 without worrying about throwing them out of power.
00:14:31.840 But there's just not too much to be read into that.
00:14:35.280 Likewise in the states, you know,
00:14:36.300 the midterms happened out there. People were kind of expecting this big red wave. It was funny that
00:14:42.840 they were complaining that Twitter wasn't going to crank down on things and perhaps even cause
00:14:48.160 a risk of too many Republicans taking seats or taking control of the House. But it was pretty
00:14:53.220 muted. They didn't make the inroads they hoped to. And the Americans seem to have that constant
00:14:59.260 tradition. They bring in a president. It doesn't matter whether it's Democrat or Republican.
00:15:02.740 when they get the first chance in the midterm,
00:15:05.000 they'll vote against their own president.
00:15:06.380 They seem to like to, I guess, strategically vote
00:15:08.200 to keep that balance in their houses.
00:15:10.940 It's better than, I guess,
00:15:12.120 always having somebody with full control
00:15:13.580 on every level of government in there.
00:15:15.740 But this time, it wasn't really,
00:15:17.540 it wasn't what they expected for the Republicans.
00:15:20.440 And of course, we're still gonna be fighting
00:15:21.940 and as they tend to do,
00:15:23.400 it'll be weeks before everything's finalized in there.
00:15:26.080 But we'll be watching that as it progresses
00:15:28.680 in the next little while.
00:15:30.400 And something I said on Twitter,
00:15:32.100 and we'll be talking about more. I'll admit now, I've never been a Trump fan. And I know a lot of
00:15:37.160 you guys get upset whenever I point that out. And hey, if I lived down there and had to choose
00:15:43.280 between Hillary and Trump, I still would have voted Trump. But I'm not sad that he's gone.
00:15:48.080 And the Republicans have really got to find somebody else to get behind. And I think that
00:15:51.400 really was demonstrated in these midterm elections, guys, that the man is a liability. And if they
00:15:57.300 don't somehow, and I know he doesn't leave the room willingly, but if they don't find somebody
00:16:02.280 else to be the face of their party going into the next election two years from now, I assure you
00:16:07.060 that if assuming he's still got the mental capacity to stand up, Biden will be the president for four
00:16:11.960 more years after that. So it's on, I think they're going to have some heavy duty soul searching to do
00:16:16.640 within that party and figure out who's going to lead them into the next election. Okay, I've got
00:16:21.800 my guests in studio. Maybe we'll move to that fairly quickly if Nico's ready. If not, I can go
00:16:26.440 bit longer okay so we're just going to run a quick ad and then we'll be coming back and i will be
00:16:31.160 speaking with mr laura mr jimmy about hudson's bay and new shipping options nadian shooting
00:16:36.120 sports association without the cssa our gun rights would have been taken long long ago these guys are
00:16:42.440 on the front lines helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation
00:16:48.760 in canada and more importantly educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands
00:16:53.800 of the wrong people to become a member it's absolutely worth every penny
00:17:01.800 okay i'm joined in studio with robin lore and will jimmy of nistanan i'm pretty sure i'm
00:17:07.160 pronouncing that correctly so this is an indigenous-led group and it's working towards
00:17:11.720 expanding i guess the utility corridor or exportability to hudson's bay have i got that
00:17:17.160 correctly essentially in a nutshell yes you do okay and so nistanan for those and i don't speak
00:17:23.240 Cree, but for those who don't, it means all of us in Cree or in some parts of Cree speaking world,
00:17:31.720 us too. What's interesting right off the bat with that is that clearly it's a partnership
00:17:38.040 initiative. It's not talking about negotiating an agreement with First Nations on the way through,
00:17:43.560 it's partnering with First Nations and actually getting together on that. It's surprising it
00:17:48.360 kind of took this long and this many fights with infrastructure projects but working together is
00:17:53.400 the way probably a better way to get things done i think it's the whole concept is not new it was
00:17:58.600 talked about back in the 70s even the 60s by uh by the indigenous leadership at the time but i think
00:18:05.000 what has happened is that you know the the will uh and the expertise uh and the willingness to
00:18:10.920 step forward and take take pick up the ball and run over it wasn't there and i think over the
00:18:15.560 years the transformation of Indigenous leadership has created the opportunity for us as First
00:18:23.080 Nations or Indigenous people to pick up that ball and run with it and become a part of the Canadian
00:18:29.080 economy. Yeah well and it's the active nature of it that's good I mean it's not just okay we've
00:18:34.120 come to an agreement here's your monthly royalty and we'll carry on I mean it's participation
00:18:38.200 it's being within the agreement I think that would lead to a more productive relationship
00:18:42.040 theoretically. Sure. I would say for the economy and for the indigenous participation,
00:18:48.120 that's transformational. So I guess getting onto what this particular project is. So, I mean,
00:18:55.720 we've had a lot of bottlenecks with getting a lot of products to coastal waters. I mean,
00:18:59.960 energy has been the prime one, but this is talking about a lot of products actually,
00:19:03.400 besides just energy products. But can you kind of lay out what's being proposed,
00:19:08.840 like the route to get to to the coast on this well we're you know we're we're product agnostic and
00:19:15.800 the university of calgary school of public policy's got some really good work on this and
00:19:20.360 saying canada needs more multimodal transportation systems so uh the vision is a indigenous owned
00:19:28.440 corridor inside that can go all sorts of things be it power lines fiber optics rail lines pipelines
00:19:38.360 etc yeah all of those things so would this be uh going in and supplementing the existing rail line
00:19:44.840 that's already going to churchill or is this a whole new corridor you're talking about the
00:19:51.000 the corridor in itself would be something uh new that that would be developed from northern
00:19:55.480 alberta through northern saskatchewan northern manitoba into the hudson bay uh the rail line
00:20:01.480 itself has been there for 100 years uh it was known as the hudson bay rail line at one point
00:20:06.200 now uh now it's the one north rail line which is uh owned 100 by the by the nations and the
00:20:13.160 municipalities in northern manitoba okay so this would be a whole new line potentially going to
00:20:19.800 well it would be a collaboration with that okay with that and uh we're not uh not interested in
00:20:27.640 going to a lot of effort to replace something that already exists that's what i'm kind of wondering
00:20:32.040 so i mean we've heard that this line it's a tough one to maintain it's covering a lot of skeg and
00:20:36.200 soft areas, permafrost, things like that, and it needs some upgrading, I imagine.
00:20:42.520 Yes, it does. The line from the pod to Amory, Manitoba, I think would suffice with, you know,
00:20:51.320 some maintenance on it, upgrades. The line that goes from Amory up to Churchill is the one that's
00:20:56.320 Muskegee, and the ground conditions are not favorable to hauling heavy loads on the rail line.
00:21:02.160 Okay, so that different line has more ability to...
00:21:05.060 Yeah, the Canadian government and the Manitoba government have put forward $147 million to
00:21:15.380 improve all of that. That's a work in progress. So the kind of products that would go on that,
00:21:22.020 I imagine things, I mean, we've had a lot of supply chain issues. The more means you have
00:21:26.260 to move product in and out, it's going to be better for the nation as a whole. But
00:21:30.180 I think initially agriculturally or fertilizer, things like that would be prime type of...
00:21:34.260 Well, potash is front and center. It's a simple thing to move, and Canada has half of the world's potash reserves. It's a very necessary fertilizer to grow food, and Belarus and Russia are the other two big producers, and they're mostly off the market.
00:21:56.760 So it's a problem for the world. We think that that could be exported out of the Hudson's Bay through the indigenous ownership pretty, pretty expediently.
00:22:07.760 Likewise, I mean, I imagine, as you said, you're agnostic with it. Anything could go, but there's things you could see along the lines, like forest products, for example, that could be a potentially good area. It's an inert product. You don't have an environmental hazard in moving that. It can be stored at a port for seasonal reasons.
00:22:24.760 reasons and but also help the communities that are developing their forestry industries where
00:22:29.480 they are along the right of way would be well that's a we we were meeting with uh uh laclarange's
00:22:36.300 business group last week they're a big forestry operator in northern saskatchewan and and your
00:22:42.140 points are points are correct uh in exporting stuff to the u.s we end up with uh tariff and
00:22:49.240 royalty issues and protests about subsidization of the Canadian business, that's not a problem
00:22:56.340 heading to Europe. And again, Hudson's Bay is close to Europe.
00:23:01.980 So speaking of Hudson's Bay, though, you do have a limited shipping window when you're
00:23:05.520 in there. It's not like some of the other deep water ports on the east and west coasts.
00:23:09.120 How much time is it viable to bring product in there?
00:23:14.100 Well, you know, when you compare Churchill, the Port of Churchill, as it sits today, it's in fresh water, and it freezes solid in the winter months, probably six to seven months it's frozen, so you've got five months of shipping time.
00:23:27.900 We looked at the Port of Nelson, which is south of Churchill, and that's located in salt water on Hudson Bay, and although there's ice in the wintertime, but it's more like slush, a meter of slushy ice, and that's why we kind of thought,
00:23:43.840 well, maybe we should investigate the option of putting a port in Port Nelson
00:23:50.420 where the original site was 100 years ago, prior to moving north to Churchill.
00:23:56.580 I'll just expand on that.
00:23:58.680 We're not inventing anything here.
00:24:00.720 The Russians do all of this in way tougher conditions.
00:24:04.320 I think it is important to have a year-round shipping port there.
00:24:09.320 So that's a work in progress and discussion with the existing port at Churchill and the owners and who are, as Will said, are mostly Indigenous.
00:24:24.140 And so we're not, this isn't a them and us program.
00:24:27.720 This is a collaboration.
00:24:29.900 Yeah.
00:24:30.140 And then what about for bringing product in?
00:24:32.640 You know, that's another aspect.
00:24:34.120 I mean, I could imagine you could be bringing import products into this port for distribution.
00:24:39.480 I mean, Winnipeg is a good transportation hub for intermodal transport, things like that.
00:24:44.700 Are you looking at overseas partnerships, that sort of thing?
00:24:47.700 We haven't been looking at overseas partnerships as of yet,
00:24:50.180 but what we've looked at is actually having a container port as well as part of phase one,
00:24:55.880 and along with potash.
00:24:57.620 That way we can get the containers in there, ship them, and rail them into Winnipeg where
00:25:04.860 they have the transportation.
00:25:06.120 Okay.
00:25:07.120 Yeah.
00:25:08.120 I mean, just it would be quite an economic boon.
00:25:09.620 I mean, when we're bringing product now, right into the center of the nation geographically,
00:25:13.980 rather than to our east and west coasts and still having to ship inwards.
00:25:17.080 Likewise, I imagine there's potential to ship downwards into the Midwest and the United
00:25:20.580 States.
00:25:21.580 Yeah.
00:25:22.580 I mean, the opportunities, there's a bit of a build it and they will come.
00:25:27.120 uh uh opportunity here uh containers are how a lot of things get moved uh a center port
00:25:36.480 which is a winnipeg promoted phenomena that uh needs a deep water port uh tidewater port and
00:25:44.240 this could be a great marriage with it to service the middle of uh north america winnipeg's the
00:25:50.080 geographical center of north america and you mentioned deep water so that that is a good it
00:25:55.440 can sustain some some larger ships and things such as that like I spent a few years working
00:25:59.920 up in Inuvik for example in Tuktyak their ports but due to the nature of the delta and the ice
00:26:05.120 it's just an appropriate area for heavy shipping. Sure it you know liken it to the gulf coast of
00:26:10.400 the U.S. we would need to do some dredging we think that's a engineering work in progress
00:26:17.920 Dredging is why the original port, as Will mentioned, was moved to Churchill from Port Nelson.
00:26:27.440 Dredging was a big problem in 1920, not a big deal in 2022.
00:26:34.320 Yeah, so we've got better ability to dredge, silt builds up, and it causes issues. But are
00:26:38.880 there environmental challenges then with that? I mean, you know, looking at some of the areas
00:26:43.360 where you could get pushback from some groups or people saying if you're disrupting things
00:26:47.280 along the coast.
00:26:48.280 Is that, I imagine there's mitigation plans.
00:26:50.220 Yeah, you know what we've done is actually get the two nations that are right on the
00:26:57.360 coast involved and they've been spearheading the whole environmental and social impact
00:27:02.720 studies because it's the backyard.
00:27:05.160 They don't want to mess.
00:27:07.160 And they've taken the ball and they've hired their own, they've got two scientists that are actually from their nation that are working.
00:27:17.480 And one is a professor in the university, the other one works for an organization in Winnipeg.
00:27:22.440 And they're from the communities, they've got their doctorate degrees, one in environmental science and the other one in the social impact studies.
00:27:29.740 So they're going to take the ball and roll, run with it.
00:27:33.240 And what better way to have successful endeavor with the young people leading the charge
00:27:40.420 because it's their backyard, they know the trap lines, et cetera,
00:27:43.360 and they know the movement of the wildlife as well.
00:27:48.280 Yeah, I mean, they're going to know what's going on and they're the most impacted.
00:27:51.440 So it's good to, you know, working ahead of that rather than working after the fact
00:27:54.680 and then getting into a fight.
00:27:55.620 And I think, yeah, I think that's going to alleviate a lot of unnecessary setbacks that, like pushbacks, et cetera.
00:28:06.100 So another area with challenges, it sounds interesting with the federal government, as you said, has already put a lot of money into upgrading the line.
00:28:12.720 So, I mean, they're certainly receptive to some degree of expanding the capacity then, or they wouldn't have gone in.
00:28:17.700 Is there already communications with other levels of government?
00:28:19.980 I mean, that's always one of the areas you can kind of get tied up in red tape.
00:28:23.400 And even with the best of intentions, things can get hung up for a long time.
00:28:27.360 Can I quote you on you could get tied up in red tape?
00:28:32.380 Corey, we've built a good relationship with the government of Manitoba in this process
00:28:41.060 and are in regular contact with them, less so with Saskatchewan and Alberta.
00:28:47.800 but we are in contact with members of cabinet in both governments.
00:28:53.760 It's something that's got to be done.
00:28:56.740 This being an Indigenous-driven and Indigenous-owned project,
00:29:02.500 they have powers under the Constitution and under their treaties
00:29:06.820 that a typical industry player doesn't.
00:29:09.680 Well, I was going to come to that.
00:29:11.380 In a sense, I mean, that kind of transcends.
00:29:13.160 It's like a whole other order of government or level of it.
00:29:15.680 I mean, it doesn't give complete impunity to push a project through, but it certainly gives a different type of leverage when speaking with the federal government or speaking in, I mean, you're going to cross a number of jurisdictions if this sort of project comes along.
00:29:28.760 All true. The vision is across the prairies and the northern prairies, so that it'll be virtually all crown land, current crown land that will be transformed to indigenous land through treaty land entitlements and other existing mechanisms between governments and the indigenous people.
00:29:52.980 So if you did do a corridor, a full corridor with a number of utilities, then I mean, how wide would you be looking for a right of way? Like, you know, a pipeline right of way can range anywhere from 50 meters to 150. You know, I guess if you have overhead power, if you have pipes, if you have rail, is it a wide footprint?
00:30:12.580 Well, this one will be measured in kilometers, not meters.
00:30:17.340 So it'll be one, two, or three kilometers, depending on the part.
00:30:22.160 It's got a number of things, one of them being a large direct current power line.
00:30:29.980 Currently, Manitoba Hydro is selling power to the U.S. at less than two cents a kilowatt hour.
00:30:36.440 you can finance that existing line into alberta if you could get permission to build it
00:30:43.940 which indigenous groups think they can um with the difference with that spread in the power
00:30:50.360 which again i mean you know i don't want to get too far into the weeds on the whole thing of
00:30:55.780 renewable energy and so on but hydro generated power is a green type of energy it's emissions
00:31:01.060 free and it would fit with a lot of net zero plans if you could bring that sort of generation
00:31:05.620 and then out to the west and into Alberta and other areas where you wouldn't have to.
00:31:10.220 Well, and as one of the Manitoba cabinet ministers said, that water is going down the Nelson River,
00:31:15.620 whether we turn it into electricity for use and it's green use.
00:31:21.100 Yeah, I mean, it's not like the water vanishes when you put a hydroelectric down.
00:31:23.840 You've got to hold it up for a bit, make some juice, and the water can carry on where it was going.
00:31:28.220 That's great. So at what stage is your group at at this point?
00:31:31.780 you know is it fundraising consultation I imagine there's a number of irons you got in the fire with
00:31:37.440 this yeah what what we're doing now we thought it was very important to actually engage the
00:31:42.640 communities along the potential corridor just so that we avoid unnecessary setbacks and you know
00:31:49.880 the last year and a half or so we've been visiting the communities making presentation consulting
00:31:55.540 with them and basically getting their their support in in this endeavor and it has gone
00:32:03.620 successfully to date all along the road we've we've had no setbacks in terms of pushback
00:32:10.100 a lot of good questions mind you but at the end of the day you know a lot of nations that we've
00:32:14.980 spoken to thus far have expressed their support on a project like this it's still a bit high level
00:32:20.820 but what sort of timeline are you looking at then at this point where you think perhaps
00:32:25.220 product could actually be moving or even construction i guess moving on this right away
00:32:29.700 well the you know the the world need for this type of project in canada is yesterday or as you know
00:32:37.220 as one of the professors that looked at it said well we needed this 25 years ago all of that's
00:32:43.380 true but we didn't build it 25 years ago so the question is how soon can we move it through and
00:32:50.820 And to background to some of your questions, the largest time-consuming thing here is the
00:33:01.060 regulatory process and the consultation process.
00:33:04.420 We've focused on the consultation process because it's Indigenous-owned, and we want
00:33:11.220 not just a chief and council to think this is a good idea.
00:33:16.140 We want the community.
00:33:17.260 The grassroots people, which represents the nation to buy into this and to give their approval. And we've gotten those support. It seems to be a long, it would appear to be a long process, but I think it's the right process.
00:33:36.320 Yeah, well, you can get a hold of it if you don't do it correctly.
00:33:39.000 I think if in Calgary, for example, with the Ring Road, I mean, often they got approval from the chief and council,
00:33:43.780 but when they put it to the people on the ground, they said, no, we don't like this deal.
00:33:47.060 And they rejected it.
00:33:47.880 Exactly.
00:33:48.160 And years were lost.
00:33:49.500 If they had started at the bottom and work your way up, that road could have been done a long time ago.
00:33:54.820 So it's good to see a more proactive approach with something like this.
00:33:58.140 Because if people don't feel they've been spoken with and respected, they're not going to cooperate later on.
00:34:03.960 yeah and i think that's that's where all the setbacks with other projects have have arisen
00:34:09.160 is that the grassroots people weren't uh weren't properly consulted and as a result
00:34:15.640 were you know felt that they were they were being wronged but i think with our process
00:34:21.640 we're going to to the grassroots people explaining to them listening to their concerns and agreeing
00:34:27.320 with their concerns and putting our minds together and saying yeah but we can do it in this fashion
00:34:33.000 where it mitigates and minimizes the impact. Well it sounds like a very exciting initiative
00:34:40.120 if you know it's presuming it can come together I really you know like where it's going where can
00:34:43.720 people I mean I appreciate you coming in to speak to us if there's more you'd like to add and where
00:34:47.400 can people find more information about this? Well there's a website nistenan.ca
00:34:56.040 and it's put together by us amateurs so don't be too...
00:34:59.800 I've looked at it. It's got some good videos and things, of course, to it. So I just like to,
00:35:04.920 you know, be able to remind people while they're at it. Is this where they can find some more if
00:35:08.600 it's caught to interest? We can only cover so much in the show. And perhaps they'd have things
00:35:12.440 they want to send your way for, you know, feedback or whatnot. Yeah. And we'd welcome that.
00:35:17.800 Yeah. We think it's the right thing to do at a whole bunch of levels. It's interesting
00:35:23.640 talking to international groups that are potential partners and funders.
00:35:28.200 uh there's a real doubt out there internationally that canada could actually ever approve a big
00:35:34.160 project well that that is a concern i mean we we've tried a number of large capital uh projects
00:35:40.020 and they've been kind of stopped in their tracks and it does make investors get a little shy with
00:35:44.240 things but the uh indigenous elements always been a large part of that so if you're partnering with
00:35:50.400 the indigenous communities then i imagine a lot of that could be rectified well yeah and more than
00:35:56.500 partnering. They're owners. Yes. And I think that the big difference is not just partnering with
00:36:04.640 them, but they're, you know, we as indigenous people are leading and taking the ball and running
00:36:10.700 with this big infrastructure project. Well, excellent. Well, thank you both very much for
00:36:16.400 coming in today. It just really sounds like a great initiative. I hope to see more progress on
00:36:21.380 it. Maybe we'll check in again down the road a little and see how it's coming along. Yes.
00:36:25.060 Love to.
00:36:25.560 Thanks for your interest.
00:36:26.480 All right.
00:36:26.740 Thanks.
00:36:27.060 We'll talk again soon, guys.
00:36:28.180 Thank you.
00:36:29.460 All right.
00:36:30.020 So that was Will, Jimmy, and Robin Lohr of Niestan Annan.
00:36:33.780 And yeah, it just sounds like a really exciting concept.
00:36:36.840 You know, it's a true almost thinking outside of the box.
00:36:39.480 We've boxed ourselves in with so much of our exports and imports, things coming and going.
00:36:44.700 And well, let's see if we can't find a third way.
00:36:47.780 And I don't know.
00:36:49.480 I see nothing but win out of this.
00:36:51.640 And again, nothing's easy, though.
00:36:53.660 and this is still obviously in its formative stages
00:36:55.820 and we'll see where it goes.
00:36:57.520 But, you know, this is the way to do it.
00:37:00.660 And this is the way, I guess,
00:37:02.500 just to bypass that constant opposition.
00:37:04.680 You know, the ridiculous environmentalists,
00:37:07.680 the activists, the ones,
00:37:09.100 they cloak themselves in, you know, First Nations issues.
00:37:13.420 But in reality, a lot of the First Nations
00:37:15.160 actually do support this sort of thing,
00:37:16.660 especially if they are owning it or have a part within it.
00:37:20.000 So if we want to get things done,
00:37:22.060 this is the way to do it.
00:37:23.000 get into those interested parties. And when these foreign funded activist groups show up,
00:37:27.740 it'll be the First Nations people saying, get the hell out of here. This is our business venture.
00:37:32.700 We want this thing to get going. Do not come on our land and go away. And some of the other
00:37:37.820 things. So yeah, moving energy, moving potash, lumber. I mean, there's no end to it. As you
00:37:44.420 said, with container ships coming in, I mean, as an import facility as well, you know, and then the
00:37:49.480 jobs that come with that. When you've got yards, you've got shipyards, you've got shipping.
00:37:53.160 I like these concepts. And of course, you know, I didn't want to bring these guys into the
00:37:58.120 politicization of this, but also having a Western Canadian port. It bypasses BC. It bypasses Quebec
00:38:12.060 and Ontario. It's another way through. And that gives a little more independence to Western
00:38:18.740 Canada, you know, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, all of us, not as beholden to Confederation to
00:38:25.140 get our stuff to the port. Paradoxically pointing out, although it didn't stop the ridiculousness
00:38:29.540 with the Wet'suwet'en. Yeah, but you see, with the Wet'suwet'en thing too, that's the CGL pipeline
00:38:34.340 going on and their fake hereditary chiefs that they got along that thing. And again, the
00:38:38.180 environmentalists, those are the ones I'm talking about who wrapped themselves around, you know,
00:38:42.580 their cause and pretended to be standing up for First Nations. All 20 of the First Nations along
00:38:47.300 the cgl line made agreements to support that line but that was a case of and that's the difference
00:38:52.820 that we had you know when we're talking to to will uh in here and uh and such was this isn't
00:38:58.420 agreements and as he corrected me not even partnerships this would be outright indigenous
00:39:03.060 owned you know this isn't uh this is the contract and this is how much we'll give you a month on a
00:39:07.940 lease or something no the first nations along this right away are gonna own it so let's see
00:39:13.860 the activists come from Seattle up into northern Manitoba and try and camp out and block the
00:39:19.660 construction on a project that the First Nations in that area actually own. I don't think it's
00:39:25.700 going to end very well for that activist. You know, the First Nations people want to self,
00:39:31.320 you know, they don't want to, they want to end the dependency. That's one of the issues on those
00:39:35.940 isolated reserves. And look at the opportunity something like this can bring about. I mean,
00:39:40.400 the amount of things, as I said, they can expand their forest products, maybe some mining,
00:39:43.720 you're crossing shield country out there, or just distribution networks. I mean, we're working at
00:39:50.200 the port, all sorts of things. Not a, you know, just talking about the great development of
00:39:55.500 communities, having local industry, having access to the rest of the world. I just see so much win
00:40:02.080 going on with this. And we know there's going to be people pushing back. There always are.
00:40:09.000 And I was speaking the other day with somebody
00:40:11.440 and talking about Mike Odima,
00:40:13.000 and he's an activist.
00:40:15.300 He was the head of Greenpeace.
00:40:16.060 He's just crazier than hell.
00:40:17.620 He was saying we've got to end all oil and gas consumption
00:40:19.980 around the entire world right now.
00:40:21.240 He's that nuts.
00:40:22.080 A lot of people follow that nut bar.
00:40:24.400 They will oppose everything.
00:40:25.640 They're anti-human.
00:40:26.560 They really are.
00:40:27.100 They're anti-people, and they would fight this.
00:40:31.120 And again, though, okay, well,
00:40:34.080 let's quit having them fighting business interests
00:40:38.000 from Calgary or Toronto or Montreal and quit having them fight, you know, oil companies.
00:40:43.960 Come on and try and fight the First Nation companies that own that right away, that own
00:40:49.860 the business that's doing this. Good luck. I wish you guys all the best. And as Paradoxie is saying
00:40:57.220 as well, you know, I could even provide cheaper shipment of goods to some northern communities,
00:41:00.740 maybe. Yeah, absolutely. Like the access is everything. This was something that frustrated
00:41:03.960 to me. As I said, I spent four winters working in Inuvik on the northern coast in the Beaufort
00:41:09.080 Sea on oil exploration projects. And since 1974, they've been trying to get the McKenzie Valley
00:41:15.880 pipeline all the way up to Inuvik. There's loads of natural gas and conventional oil sitting up
00:41:21.040 there, capped, thousands of wells capped, just sitting there. They've been doing it since the
00:41:24.560 60s. Can't get the bloody pipeline in. By the time they finally approved the pipeline, the Berger
00:41:29.760 Commission held it up, all these different things, that the costs of it had just skyrocketed so
00:41:34.160 badly that the partners up there said, we're not building that thing. It's just out of bounds. So
00:41:39.500 it just, they regulate it to death. That's what the government does all the time. They won't
00:41:42.100 necessarily cancel it. They'll just regulate it so much that companies walk away. But you see that
00:41:48.200 all the time. The news likes talking about, look at the price of a gallon of milk and tuck to yuck
00:41:51.540 tuck, or look at a price of a steak in Inuvik. Well, one of the things that would have come
00:41:55.060 with that pipeline, if they'd have done it, was there was going to be a road paralleling it. You
00:41:59.360 see right now, if you want to get to Inuvik, you can drive all year round, assuming you don't get
00:42:03.420 hit by a snowstorm or something. And there's a couple of ice crossings. You go all the way around
00:42:07.760 through Whitehorse and up just past Dawson City, up the Dempster Highway. And they call it a highway.
00:42:13.240 It's a high grade gravel through some very north. It's a beautiful drive, by the way. But it's a
00:42:16.760 very long, long haul, very expensive. You can't really haul goods much there. They haul a lot of
00:42:20.880 stuff in summer by barge when the ice is gone and sit on it. But if it's fresh goods, it's terribly
00:42:25.580 expensive. If they'd have built that road straight up, because you could drive as far as Norman Wells,
00:42:31.080 I believe it is, which is kind of halfway up into the Northwest Territories, it's up north of
00:42:34.300 Yellowknife. They would have connected that all the way to Inuvik. That would take a thousand
00:42:40.080 kilometers out of the drive to get to those communities up there. And that would take, you
00:42:45.440 know, a couple of days off the timeline of transporting goods. It would bring, you know,
00:42:51.000 land access for people, whether they're driving, commuting, tourism, and again, shipment of goods
00:42:56.260 to them. It would reduce their cost of living, make them less dependent. These right-of-ways can
00:43:01.680 really help our northern communities and, you know, reduce the isolation that really hinders
00:43:06.800 them. So, you know, northern Manitoba, I haven't been up that way, but I imagine that the reserves
00:43:11.860 along those areas, um, uh, you know, are, are having the same, uh, uh, challenges with isolation
00:43:18.260 and things like that. Uh, Laureen saying, uh, you know, resources belong to all Canadians,
00:43:22.740 not just indigenous people. Did they pay for the construction? Well, the construction hasn't been
00:43:26.020 done yet. This is an indigenous company. Uh, but you see what would happen is, is it's, they would
00:43:30.680 own the right away, not the goods, but then you would have a means if you're a company that has,
00:43:35.900 I guess, product, whatever it might be potash or manufactured goods or lumber, or yeah, maybe oil,
00:43:41.860 you pay your money, you get it into the train cars, and you ship it through that right away
00:43:48.020 to get it to the port, and you pay the First Nations who own the right away, you know, you're
00:43:52.100 paying your transport for it. But you own the goods, or the company does, or Canadians do. The
00:43:56.680 resources, wherever they came from in the first place, are still from the same place. We're just
00:44:00.100 talking about another ability to ship it, another way to transport it, and having the people most
00:44:07.260 interested partnered in on it. And again, I like, you know what? The reality is, if you don't have
00:44:12.940 them partnered in, you're never going to get another capital project built, not a large one.
00:44:17.900 You're not, it's not going to happen. And Shirley's saying there's still no regulatory
00:44:21.460 certainty, no legal certainty. No, there's never certainty. No. Northern Gateway, Trudeau shut
00:44:26.700 that rate down. Kinder Morgan TMX. But you remember Kinder Morgan was a private company. So Trudeau
00:44:31.320 regulated that one to death, the moron. And then he bought it. And now he's been dragging it out.
00:44:35.200 but I don't know if it's ever going to get done.
00:44:36.640 And of course the budget's blown.
00:44:38.320 But remember, none of those were owned by First Nations.
00:44:40.740 None.
00:44:41.280 They consulted, but they weren't owned by them.
00:44:43.440 Let's see Justin go up to a First Nations company
00:44:46.380 and say, you can't do that.
00:44:48.060 Good luck.
00:44:49.780 I can't see it happening.
00:44:52.360 But we'll see.
00:44:52.860 Either way, I mean, this is still obviously
00:44:54.520 in early stages of development
00:44:58.100 on what they want to do.
00:45:01.160 And we'll see what happens.
00:45:03.920 Let's see.
00:45:04.260 somebody mentioned earlier too, and our reporter in Ottawa, our bureau chief, actually, Matt Horwood,
00:45:09.760 I think he was tweeting about it. Yeah, there was a lawyer who collapsed live during the hearings of
00:45:14.580 the Emergencies Act inquiry in Ottawa. It was kind of bizarre. I saw that little clip. He just kind
00:45:19.380 of killed over. I do hope he's okay. Somebody's saying, you know, we don't know what happened
00:45:22.560 with him. I don't know if it's been reported on yet or not, but watch for Matt Horwood online.
00:45:27.540 He's covering that. He's been watching all of those hearings, kind of just a bizarre thing.
00:45:31.380 Hopefully, perhaps he was just a bit dehydrated or something minor, but he fainted and just went
00:45:36.460 right over at the hearing. It was kind of scary to watch. Lots of stuff breaking. You know, we
00:45:42.040 got a lot of emotions. We got a lot of, there's, man, he goes fast. You know, here's the clip. So
00:45:46.560 he's speaking and then just bang off his seat and goes over. You know, pretty concerning. I hope
00:45:53.940 it's something minor. Occasionally people faint. He was going for some water. You know, we're
00:45:58.340 emotional about this whole thing. You might like or not like some people, but we certainly don't
00:46:01.220 want to see anybody uh harmed or anything at these and uh maybe he just needed some some hydration
00:46:07.360 and then some uh some rest and uh we'll find out more details of course we'll report on those as
00:46:13.580 we see them uh some of that so some of the stuff that's coming out with the freedom convoy too as
00:46:17.940 we look at it this is an interesting one internal reports from a police consultant you know
00:46:22.500 consultants these guys are something else uh and this is a advanced symbolics incorporated
00:46:29.120 And so police paid for this.
00:46:31.840 And I guess this thing concluded that the Freedom Convoy was a movement by right-wing Christians to gain converts.
00:46:40.460 I guess this was a church movement.
00:46:43.320 This is the way to build the flock, join the convoy.
00:46:47.800 These guys nuts.
00:46:48.780 This is the stuff that tax dollars go towards.
00:46:50.400 It's no wonder they had so much difficulty in dealing with those protests and responding to them.
00:46:55.920 It was bizarre.
00:46:56.840 and uh but this is the stuff that they were working on i don't expect a lot out of this
00:47:03.160 inquiry but at least we're airing some of this stuff and realizing just how flat-footed and
00:47:07.580 bizarre this government has been paradoxically saying i'm not right-wing or a christian oh there
00:47:10.840 you go i mean i'm libertarian people can call me right-wing but i'm most definitely not christian
00:47:15.200 myself and uh no number of uh convoys are going to make me convert i'm certain there were christians
00:47:20.480 among them but uh this is the police chief peter slowly then police chief yeah so this is these
00:47:25.920 are really important insights, he said. Documents didn't disclose how much the police paid for
00:47:29.960 surveillance of Christian imagery at the protests. Really? Like what? People who happen to wear a
00:47:36.360 crucifix? Or, I don't know, a Bible in their truck? Christian imagery? Where are you nutcases
00:47:43.520 even going with this? These guys were something else out there. So we'll see what comes of the
00:47:50.040 emergency's inquiry. I guess it'll be a bit delayed with that unfortunate fella dropping
00:47:54.480 like that in there. That was, again, very concerning and kind of scary, but we'll see
00:48:00.360 where that goes. Let's see, Dave mentioned that before I get to the next segment here in a moment.
00:48:07.960 Another interesting, when we look at social media and Facebook is cutting, it sounds like
00:48:14.160 11,000 jobs. I'm mixed on it. These social media giants, they kind of bloated and they're
00:48:19.940 contracting. If people old enough remember dot bomb, you know, it was kind of, everybody jumped
00:48:23.900 I mean, it was amazing. The internet was growing. If you said something was tech related, people
00:48:27.680 would pour their money into it, but it was a giant bubble. It popped and, uh, and, and things
00:48:32.040 contracted. And I think we're seeing it now though. Everybody's going crazy on Musk as he,
00:48:35.580 you know, fired a whole bunch of people from Twitter and now Facebook's doing it. It's not
00:48:39.580 even a matter of political ideology. These guys grew too fast, too big, and they're carrying a
00:48:44.780 lot of dead weight and they're, they're flushing it out at this point. I mean, I do feel for the
00:48:48.220 people who got an email in the morning and found out that they no longer have a job. That's nothing
00:48:52.820 anybody ever wants to hear, uh, except for lazy people, I guess, but, uh, it's got to happen.
00:49:00.080 And, uh, and it's just the way it is, but we're seeing a transition, I think on these social
00:49:06.320 media giants, things are changing right now. I hope for the better, I hope, but, uh, you know,
00:49:11.340 who would have imagined 20 years ago, how influential a handful of social media giants
00:49:14.840 like this, uh, uh, could possibly be. Okay. So let's get to the update from marketplace commodities
00:49:23.360 with, uh, Jim music home music. Um, Jean is going to kick my butt again, but I'm getting better at
00:49:29.860 it. I'm sure of it. And, uh, we'll talk about some of those updates. How are you doing, Jim?
00:49:34.900 Hey, you're doing good today, Corey. How are you doing? Good, good. It's chilly, but, uh,
00:49:39.060 otherwise all right. You got the name down pat almost, almost as, as I did say in a message,
00:49:44.100 I got a Dutch wife who was just mortified that I slaughtered it so badly last week,
00:49:47.600 but I'm improving.
00:49:48.300 I'm on the upward trend here.
00:49:50.500 So I am well inspired.
00:49:53.420 All right.
00:49:54.060 So I guess, you know, one of the things to talk about this week, you know, we're at that
00:49:58.360 point where I guess, you know, harvest is done.
00:50:00.300 Things are getting on the move, but logistics are a concern, the trucking logistics in Alberta
00:50:05.180 and Saskatchewan.
00:50:07.060 Yes, that is a concern from our standpoint.
00:50:10.820 We move green through Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:50:13.820 some from montana back into alberta and almost invariably every trucking company
00:50:20.540 are short drivers they're short equipment such as trucks and trailers and as a result there's
00:50:26.940 a backlog of product that is starting to build up at the farm gate it is getting moved to some extent
00:50:32.780 but just not quickly enough now we think farmers are not necessarily feeling that today or even
00:50:39.820 necessarily noticing that because they're not in a specific rush today to move their inventories
00:50:45.740 and they have the on-farm inventory they're done harvest as you said and aren't necessarily in
00:50:50.700 panic to move it now the end users that we sell to which in our case we sell a lot into the
00:50:56.620 livestock industry the cattle feedlots in southern alberta because they can't get on time logistics
00:51:02.940 deliveries of the products they need they're actually moving elsewhere to get their supplies
00:51:07.260 with more corn coming in from the united states the corn is shipped into alberta on rail and then
00:51:14.000 it's transloaded with a short trucking distance from there to the feedlot whereas when we buy it
00:51:21.060 in alberta to schedule and the distances are further away and it takes more trucks to get
00:51:26.080 the job done so that's uh yeah that's something that uh as we move into the first quarter of 2023
00:51:32.920 three I think will be more of a problem unless we can see some more action on it today so and these
00:51:38.760 are the things you guys give I guess warnings or updates on and things like that like a producer
00:51:43.240 has to keep it in mind so I mean if you're going to try and bypass that by storing on your farm
00:51:47.800 or things like that that that's impacts you're selling nowadays too right I mean if you're going
00:51:52.020 to try to hang on to your product and sell at a different time yeah exactly so I think from a
00:51:58.060 farmer standpoint we just really suggest that they get proactive with their selling of their
00:52:02.920 commodities and look at a solution to this trucking like there's not a great solution on it there's
00:52:08.640 only so many trucks around they do have a solution at the farm gate to some extent they can haul their
00:52:13.360 own grain they have the equipment they usually some do haul their own grain but many just rely
00:52:20.040 on custom haulers to move the product from origin to destination so they could help out on that
00:52:26.440 perspective but i think just being proactive like um i you know a situation i can see happening is
00:52:33.740 we do get into late winter and it tends to be a time period where farmers want to move their grain
00:52:40.020 and i think they'll find out it's difficult to move or like i said corn's starting to move in
00:52:46.720 here right now so a lot of their end use market is actually going to be replaced with a different
00:52:51.760 commodity, one that's available and price between the two actually is pretty much the same anyway
00:52:56.680 right now. So it's not a disadvantage for a end user in Lethbridge to switch to U.S. corn versus
00:53:05.900 buying barley. So I'm just wondering, actually, I'm just kind of coming out of the blue, but we
00:53:10.660 hear about this periodically. Does rail availability play into this as well? I mean, I know we're
00:53:15.420 shipping a lot of petroleum products and there was almost competition for rail cars in past times
00:53:20.220 when there are energy shortages, is that putting a bit of a pinch on with agricultural commodities
00:53:25.340 these days? It hasn't been too bad the last couple of years. So first of all, to back up in 2021,
00:53:31.380 we had a drought in Western Canada. So along with stronger energy prices, there wasn't necessarily
00:53:36.800 the competition for, you know, between agriculture and real products like there is this year.
00:53:44.200 It's possible that that becomes more apparent as we move into 2023 as well, where there's a lot of commodities throughout Western Canada that need to get to the ports to Vancouver, Prince Rupert, and they're competing for rail space for sure.
00:54:03.060 The products coming into Alberta, it's not such a big deal.
00:54:07.020 In fact, there's some efficiencies between moving corn in from the United States to Alberta
00:54:13.260 and then reloading those same cars again with export commodities.
00:54:17.320 So in essence, those cars really just get emptied at the elevator,
00:54:21.220 reloaded again almost at exactly the same origin, and then head off to ports.
00:54:26.460 So that's pretty good arbitrage efficiency right there.
00:54:29.320 Well, it's quite an involved business where we're producers now.
00:54:32.700 I mean, you have to plan everything looking from planting to downstream to where you're going to get your product to.
00:54:39.400 So, I mean, that's your specialty there at Marketplace Commodities.
00:54:42.820 Before I let you go, I guess, you know, how would producers reach you and get more information on what you guys offer for services?
00:54:49.660 So, numbers listed on the screen here below.
00:54:52.620 I mean, I'd be happy to talk to farmers.
00:54:54.800 We have six traders here at Marketplace Commodities and we're continually buying, selling the commodities they grow.
00:55:01.840 So we are always more than willing to take their calls
00:55:06.960 and discuss their marketing plans
00:55:08.920 and purchase their commodities.
00:55:10.980 Excellent.
00:55:11.460 Is there anything else you'd like to add
00:55:12.600 before I let you go for the week?
00:55:14.200 That's it for today, Corey.
00:55:15.440 Thank you very much.
00:55:16.340 Excellent.
00:55:16.760 I appreciate the update
00:55:17.680 and we'll talk again next week.
00:55:19.500 Alrighty, goodbye.
00:55:20.700 Great, thanks, Jim.
00:55:21.940 So that's Jim with Marketplace Commodities
00:55:23.620 and I'll keep working on it
00:55:24.700 and I'll have that name down
00:55:25.760 as well as pronouncing my own soon,
00:55:28.000 damn it, one way or another.
00:55:29.540 But I mean, it really does illustrate.
00:55:30.780 I mean, it really is a complicated business, you know, for those of us outside of the agricultural community.
00:55:36.240 It's big business, and you've got to look at the whole thing from start to end.
00:55:41.360 It's interesting, you know, when you're talking about logistics and bringing things in and out and the American corn stuff.
00:55:47.120 I never really thought about it.
00:55:48.540 When I worked in the States a lot, the amount of corn, especially in the East, I mean, it's such a bigger product than it is out here.
00:55:53.740 The first thing you notice is actually the eggs.
00:55:55.220 They feed their chickens with corn, so those yolks are so much brighter and darker, almost orange.
00:56:02.060 They seem almost so pale and pasty when you get back out here to Alberta and eat these local products from out here.
00:56:10.140 But again, it's worth it. It's big business. It really takes a lot of planning.
00:56:14.160 If, you know, it's one thing to grow and have a great harvest, and it sounds like Albertan producers had a really good one this year around,
00:56:19.840 but then you've got to look at all those things and make sure you have your plan to get it out
00:56:24.520 in a timely fashion, to get it out to market, get it where you've got to, and then prepare for the
00:56:28.800 next year. Let's see. Joe, not a Fed saying, Will and Jimmy might consider speaking with Calvin
00:56:33.380 Helene. He's an indigenous lawyer from Prince Rupert and was behind the Eagle Spirit Pipeline
00:56:37.560 plan to run from Fort Mac to Prince Rupert. Yeah, no, Calvin Helene's great. He wrote a book. I
00:56:43.320 think he's the one who wrote Dances with Dependency. A really good proactive book on First Nations
00:56:49.740 issues and challenges. And he's really got a good forward thinking look. And I'm certain that Will
00:56:55.000 and Jimmy must be familiar with Calvin, whether or not they've consulted with him or not. It's hard
00:56:59.180 to say, but we're seeing a lot more business leaders coming out of the First Nations communities.
00:57:05.520 And I like seeing it. We've got Stephen Buffalo. He's been very active in talking about energy
00:57:10.360 and things. And he's still very connected and proud of his community and his culture and his
00:57:16.240 heritage, but at the same time realizes that you got to take part in the economy, not fight all
00:57:21.020 the time and everybody benefits. Gentlemen like him and a number of others, Billy Morin up in
00:57:29.040 Enoch Reserve and opening private health facilities that I'm sure gives Rachel Notley gray hairs in
00:57:34.880 the night. But as I said, same sort of thing. If you want to get past these woke lunatics who block
00:57:40.420 development and expansion of services, well, let's get proactive. Let's think about it. First
00:57:45.380 nations do manage to get things done in ways that other uh collective groups can't and and uh we can
00:57:51.160 all win from this all right i'm gonna wrap things up and i do as i said this is gonna be a new weekly
00:57:55.660 award there's a lot of uh worthy ones the dingleberry of the week yes this one here goes
00:58:00.920 out to a company a canadian company a long-standing canadian company it's maple leaf foods i mean
00:58:06.140 they're huge you know these guys are are tied in for for all sorts of stuff and they've always
00:58:09.940 prided themselves on their fantastic lunch meats you know they're a giant butcher well they did
00:58:15.220 the good old go woke, go broke. And they went and invested heavily into the vegetarian market.
00:58:20.540 And they lost $191 million on their vegetable protein division. Yes, you guys are successful
00:58:29.200 butchers. You listened to some dumbass consultant who said, hey, guys, the future is vegetarian. No,
00:58:35.880 it's not, you morons. Now you've dumped $191 million of your investor's money lost just in
00:58:43.120 that division is people want to eat meat. Get over it. Hey, if you want to choose to be a vegetarian,
00:58:50.920 by all means do so. Don't listen to those hipster morons saying it's a trend that's going to take
00:58:55.500 over the world. It's not. Look at the sales. So the dingleberry of the week, I would give part
00:59:00.620 of it to whoever the corporate team is at Maple Leaf Foods who listen to, and as well, it should
00:59:06.300 be applied to whoever the consultant was who said, this is a really good idea. We should take a meat
00:59:11.680 company and move into vegetarian products. Yeah, that paid off really well, guys. Come on, get real.
00:59:18.500 Your vegan weenies taste like crap and they didn't sell. So a Canadian institution has embarrassed
00:59:24.840 itself, but at least they did get an award for it. They are this week's dingleberry. Good on you
00:59:29.860 guys. Okay, come on in next week. Now we got a lot going on as always, lots of shows, lots of
00:59:34.520 productions. Melanie, of course, is constantly doing great stuff. And Sean Newman with his
00:59:42.600 podcast that comes out. Keep watching all those Western Standard channels, guys. The Pipeline's
00:59:46.900 going to be on a little later tonight. And watch for those Nigel Hannaford editorial reads. Man,
00:59:51.780 he's great. He channels like a Rex Murphy, and you'll get those clips on a YouTube channel.
00:59:56.080 Some of them take right off because it's just fantastic as he eviscerates things. I'm going
01:00:00.180 have radio host Jamil Giovanni on. He's suing Bell Media. He got fired from them. It's going to be
01:00:07.160 an interesting discussion. Basically, the bottom line was he's a black media personality, and he
01:00:15.900 didn't, he wouldn't perform, or at least the way he's stating it, the way they wanted him to,
01:00:21.520 as what they felt a black media personality should, and he found himself on the outside
01:00:27.640 looking in. So now he's suing them and pushing back. So it'll be interesting talking to Jamil
01:00:31.880 next week. And of course, there'll be lots of other news and another Dingleberry of the Week
01:00:36.320 award and lots of ranting on my part. So thanks for joining in this week, guys. We will see you
01:00:42.160 all next week at that same time. Thanks.
01:00:57.640 We'll see you next time.
01:01:27.640 You