CORY MORGAN： Premier Smith is flirting with political suicide
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
5
sentences flagged
Summary
In this week's show, we discuss Alberta's Prime Minister Daniel Smith's comments on becoming independent from Canada, and the implications for the rest of the country. We also hear from the Prime Minister's office on a variety of other topics, including the Alberta government's response to a question put to them by independent supporters of Alberta's separation from Canada.
Transcript
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be sure to hit those like buttons and subscribe and all of that it really helps the algorithms
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and keep these productions going and spreading out to other people so we can bypass that nasty
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old legacy media and get straight to you lots going on as always this week uh hard to tell
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where to begin well of course i know where to begin i've got a ranting monologue i'm going to
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start into momentarily. So let's see. Oh, well, there's CB fixes all says I ran the 400 billion
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through AI and everything I can think of and what AI suggested came out 10 billion max. Okay,
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that's a good discussion is about what I'm gonna start talking about in just a moment. And yes,
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it is related to Premier Daniel Smith getting up and saying that becoming independent would cost
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$400 billion. So I mean, Premier Daniel Smith, she's been maintaining something of a delicate
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balancing act between satisfying the provincial sovereignist element within her party base and
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most albertans at large who lean towards the federalist side of late though the premier's
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decided to fall solidly onto one side of the debate and it may lead to some pretty dire
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consequences for the ucp in the future and it can be understand understood why the premier is
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maintaining a stance on the federalist side of the debate she never claimed to be a supporter of
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albert independence and she didn't campaign on a platform supporting it she certainly has the right
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to express where she stands on the issue too but when she went into a tirade with hyperbolic
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economic assumptions claiming that the transitional cost of independence would be over 400 billion
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she sounded much like former premier jason kenny has lately since he donned the cloak of being
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kept in canada now premier smith would be well served to remember why the word former is used
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when speaking of jason kenny's premiership well some of the leading figures in the independence
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movement have always had that chip on their shoulders with the premier they were tempered
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by the majority of independent supporters who accepted her federalism as long as they could
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get a referendum out of the deal. With the courts blocking the ability for citizens to initiate a
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referendum on sovereignty, independent supporters became a little more upset with the status quo,
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but many still grudgingly accepted the watered-down word salad of a referendum question
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the Premier added to the ballot for this fall. They took the Premier at her word that this was
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the only option available for people to express themselves on a referendum right now. With the
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premier now in an open campaign, though, against the option number two in the question,
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independent supporters are going to be sorely tempted to give up on the referendum and direct
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their resources and energy into unseeing the premier. And this is not a threat to be dismissed.
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No conservative premier has managed to remain in power beyond a single term since Ralph Klein,
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and it's tended to be party members who take them down, not the electorate.
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In needlessly provoking a segment to the UCP member base who number in the thousands,
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Smith could start a chain of events leading to her political career,
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meaning the same nasty ending her predecessors enjoyed.
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Rather than going to war against the independent supporters,
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the Premier should be focusing on accomplishments
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that may undercut the strength of the independence campaign.
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Where did that plan for a provincial pension plan go?
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When are we going to formally announce an end to the RCMP contract plan
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How about bringing home the collection of provincial taxes
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and keeping energy royalties within provincial institutions
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With three years in office, Premier Smith has talked a really good game
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when it comes to provincial sovereignty initiatives,
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If the intention is to make Alberta more sovereign within Canada,
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it would be refreshing to see a tangible indication of it.
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appear to have involved a lot of capitulations from Alberta on carbon taxes
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with no concrete commitments from the government to approve projects.
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She's set multiple deadlines with the Prime Minister
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since he was elected, only to do nothing when the deadlines were ignored. Remember that Grey Cup
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deadline? Yeah, that was a long time ago since the Grey Cup. The Premier is appearing weak on Ottawa
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and harsh against Alberta regionalists. This is creating an ugly formula which will lead to a
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populist uprising against her, and no amount of threats that it's going to lead to another term
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of the NDP might cool that. A referendum is on the horizon that presents independent supporters
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with half a loaf to be satisfied with. Premier Smith should stay clear of the campaign and let
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citizens deal with it from here on in. She made her federalist inclination clear and doesn't need
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to keep pressing it. It's changing the sentiment among independent supporters from frustration
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with the premier to rage. The 7,000 people who sat through blizzards and endured abuse from
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federalists last winter to get the referendum signatures are dedicated, hardworking Albertans.
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The premier really doesn't want to have them dedicate their hard work towards removing her
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from power. Nobody expects the premier to adopt a pro-independence stance. She doesn't need to go
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want to campaign against independent supporters either. Like you see, media and Eastern elites
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are going to label her as separatist anyways. We've been seeing that. It doesn't matter what
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she does. What Smith must do is show some victories for Alberta within the Federation,