CORY MORGAN SHOW： Alberta Republicans set back the independence movement
Episode Stats
Summary
In this episode of The Cory Morgan Show, the political parties are on summer holidays, but the news doesn t stop! There's lots to cover, lots to go on about, and lots to rant about, even if the legislatures aren't sitting.
Transcript
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This is our last one before July, end of the summer.
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The political parties, of course, are all on their summer holidays now,
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Lots to cover, lots to go on about, lots to rant about,
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I see no sense left, and he's sharp checking in already.
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Send things my way, ideas, notions, comments, debate with each other.
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We're just trying to stay somewhat civil with each other anyways.
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So I'm going to have Mike Thomas on in a little while.
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He writes on real estate, some business stuff, and a lot of civic issues.
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as it's an election year coming up in the municipal world.
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There's always some kind of election or another going on,
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and Mike's stuff is going to be very important in these months to come.
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He's been a hard one to catch lately, it seems.
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But I've got to go off on a rant before that starts.
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Something else people were watching probably saw.
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There was a number of by-elections the other day in Alberta, three of them.
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Now, Olds, Didsbury, Three Hills, for those not as familiar with it,
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it's arguably the constituency with the strongest support
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In 1982, it became the first constituency to elect an overt independence candidate
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when they selected Gord Kessler as an MLA in a by-election.
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It's a rural constituency with a strong conservative-leaning base.
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If there's anywhere that an independence candidate would do well in Western Canada,
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So in a by-election this week, Alberta Republican Lardy Party leader Cam Davies
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was solidly trounced in Olds, Didsbury, Three Hills,
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The movement for Western independence has been enjoying a surge of support
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since Eastern Canada rewarded the Liberals with a larger government last April.
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Polls have indicated, I mean, they're all over,
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but around 30% of Albertans are looking at considering a vote for independence
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if they get the opportunity to do so in a referendum.
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The lackluster electoral showing from the Republican Party of Alberta
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just dumped a cold bucket of water on the independence movement,
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just as the political doldrums of summer are about to hit.
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I mean, with that support sitting at around 30% in the province,
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it's likely closer to 50% or more in a constituency like Olds, Didsbury, Three Hills.
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Being in a by-election as well offered independent supporters an opportunity
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to send a message by voting for an independence candidate
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It was the best electoral opportunity for an independence candidate
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So why did the Republican Party fare so poorly?
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To begin with, they named themselves the Republican Party.
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Why embrace a distinctively American brand in an Albertan party?
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Independent supporters want to celebrate and build Alberta and its identity.
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We're not looking to dissolve into a larger one south of the border.
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The Republican moniker divides an already fragile support base.
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Some independent supporters like the idea of joining the U.S.,
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That prevented independent supporters from coalescing around one party.
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The party's self-appointed leader, Cam Davies, has a checkered past in Alberta politics.
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He was neck deep in the now infamous Kamikaze leadership campaign debacle
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Davies threw others involved in the affair under the bus
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and found himself fined by Elections Alberta for his misdeeds.
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His history doesn't exactly exude trustworthiness,
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and his personal presentation has been off-putting for many people.
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The campaign also seemed to be more focused on a personal vendetta
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against Daniel Smith and the UCP rather than the merits of Alberta independents.
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I mean, many Alberta independent supporters don't have a problem with Smith
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and weren't drawn in by the constant sniping from Cam and the Republicans.
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The party itself was transformed from the morbid Buffalo party only a few months ago,
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yet somehow garnered an astonishing amount of funds in a short time.
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It'd be interesting to see other financials withstand the inevitable audits to come.
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the Republican Party spent heavily on advertising
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and had what appeared to be a paid groups of door knockers
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dropped into constituencies rather than organic volunteers like other parties have.
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That didn't resonate well with voters at the doors,
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and their campaign signs were almost indistinguishable
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at a glance from federal liberal signs seen only a few months ago.
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Embracing the brand appearance of the most loathed party in the province
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it made people wonder if it wasn't being thrown on purpose.
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The party had also gotten a hold of phone numbers and email lists for people,
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and they were auto-dialing the cell phones of Albertans,
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an annoyance tactic that couldn't have helped them.
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And now they also ran in the other two Edmonton by-elections being held.
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There was no expectation they would do well there,
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but they still managed to underwhelm with 3.6% support in one of them,
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The only term to describe that sort of electoral showing
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Voters didn't reject the concept of independence in the by-elections,
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they rejected Cam Davies and his weird little party.
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Unfortunately, federalists are using the defeat of Davies
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as a barometer of Alberta's support for independence.
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Davies became the face of the movement for a short time,
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With a referendum on independence likely to be held within a year,
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independent supporters just had a tough job made even tougher by the Alberta Republicans.
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With a referendum campaign, a party isn't needed.
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Independent supporters must coalesce around advocacy groups
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and act individually to build the base for winning a referendum vote.
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They can't afford to waste time and money on independence parties
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Perhaps the Republicans provide an example of the futility of a party approach
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early enough to have taught the lesson in time to recover from it.
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so the real independence movement can get to work
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Not a member of the Cam Davies fan club, I take it.
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I know there's no shortage of those in the political world,
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You're an award-winning, sorry, best-selling author?
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I've got that third-place ribbon of the Millerville Fair.
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And now you're expanding your business empire, I see.
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So, I've made a mess of wax and everything all over the counter at home,
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So, how much are you going to be selling yours for?
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I don't think a lot of it's just going to be gifts for, you know,
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Sell it at the end of your driveway during this.
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As they pass by, because they have the sun, right?
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Lots of good stuff on the website this morning, if I do say so myself.
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Alberta Energy Regulators released their yearly report on how energy is doing in Alberta.
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Record production, record money, whether it's helium or lithium or hydrogen or bitumen.
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Whatever it is, we're getting it out of the ground and we're selling it.
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I mean, our natural gas reserve numbers are actually going up.
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So, I mean, this is something interesting for people who are not familiar with the oil field.
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I mean, yes, we're producing, but as we find and prove more resources, the amount's actually getting larger.
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Yeah, and we went from 15th in the world for LNG supply to 9th.
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So, and we still only have that one part to export it.
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So, imagine what we could do if we actually got some stuff built.
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There used to be a trade grant for men and women who were thinking about getting in the trades.
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And if you identified as a woman, you got double the amount of money because they were trying to attract more women to the trades.
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But all they took as whatever sex you were going for was just self-identification.
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So, if you're thinking, hey, a woman gets double, I think I'll just identify as a woman today and click that box.
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So, apparently, lots of people have been ripping off the government that way.
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A high school teacher in Edmonton by the name of Jimmy Bueno has been charged with a whole bunch of child sex offenses.
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And as the cops descended on the school to arrest him, they found he's fled the country.
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So, he's, well, hopefully in a country where we can extra done.
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The province is spending $5 million to build a direct air carbon capture where this thing will just sit in a field in Innisfail and suck carbon dioxide out of the air.
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Oh, then they're going to take it wherever they bury it underground.
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Set up a big fan at the Quebec border and blowing it that way.
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And the Labor Board, the Federal Labor Board, has upheld a firing of an employment insurance operator who is bitching about Black Lives Matter and saying stuff like,
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when do white people get their own day and, and saying what you said, the Kamloops school thing was a hoax.
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Yeah, I'm not so big on the White Lives Matter, I'm not so big on the White Lives Matter, do you?
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So anyways, the Board said that that wasn't creating a very good work atmosphere and they fired him.
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I mean, you got a public presentation of a person or, you know, a reflection on the place.
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But at the same time, it's political correctness overriding the ability of, so you speak.
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Well, a political correctness isn't really a problem around here, typically, as long as the mics aren't hot.
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As we're coming into July, no, as you said, the site is busy.
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You were in Banff for the G7, living in luxury.
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You were eating steaks in Israel a little while ago.
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They made us walk down the mountain because they wouldn't let us park at the Banff Center.
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People pay a lot of money to be able to go up and walk down those mountains.
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Well, I'll let you get back to your desk and recover from the hiking.
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Well, you see it looks like a new face behind me on the screen there making his premier appearance
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That nice thing with the glass, literal glass wall behind us here at the Western Standard.
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Look, the reason we've got no reporters, the reason Dave's busily trying to keep all those
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stories up and running is because you guys have been subscribing.
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So be sure to get on there, westernstandard.news slash subscription.
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Guys, if you've already subscribed, we really do appreciate it.
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It's just like a newspaper subscription and it helps cover things.
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So let's have a look at things through the comment scroll.
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Perry Dorsey saying the fact that they went on a summer holiday tells you how little they
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And how small that crisis to the yellow man to the south.
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Well, he's more orange, I think, but all the same is all smoking mirrors and BS from
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Though, to be fair, a little bit fair, you know, and I beat on politicians regularly.
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We do point out that it's a holiday over summer because the legislatures aren't sitting.
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But most of them are actually pretty busy over the summer months.
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They've got to make appearances, do their things.
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I mean, some of them just kind of mail it in, but a lot of them really work quite hard
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Now, whether they're working on anything that actually benefits us, well, that's a whole
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But, you know, the legislatures do have to break now and then.
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When they aren't sitting, there's less chance that they can do much more damage to us.
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Our question is, Kearney just joined the EU without the rest of the provinces voting
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Yeah, I know there's a big spending thing through NATO, and Kearney certainly has a big interest
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He seems to be wanting to pull us tighter over there.
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But no, we haven't informally or formally joined the EU yet.
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But he really is pushing in that direction, isn't he?
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And, well, there's a lot of things, good things and bad things with the European Union, I
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I mean, we're working hard enough to break out of the Federation, or at least I am.
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Why would I want to get mixed up in yet another group of countries across a big pond to make
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All right, well, let's get on to my guest here.
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You've read a lot of his stuff in the Western Standard, and we've got him here.
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I like summer, so I'm actually, you know, as far as I go with my grumpiness, I'm in a
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Given the weather we've had the last couple of days, it's actually warm out there today.
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Yeah, well, for people, I think it's been ideal weather.
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I like it at 30 and about, but Jane disagrees vehemently with that.
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Well, next time you can go to Arizona and leave her at home.
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So, I mean, just reminding everybody, we're coming into a municipal election year.
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I mean, we should be paying attention to these things all the time, but we don't.
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This, you know, for the next few months really should be the time people should be kind of
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Well, Stampede Week is usually when the elections really hit the streets, so to speak, because
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there's so many receptions and the candidates and the wannabes are at every single one of
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And then they disappear totally in August for the most part, because council doesn't sit
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Um, but the, uh, the shift in, in council will hit the fan on Labor Day that, that weekend
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Uh, so something, I mean, a recent piece of yours and you got a lot of them, but just
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one that caught my eye cause it's a pet peeve of mine.
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I've been watching those poor businesses in Marta Loop for people not familiar with it.
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It's kind of, it was a nice little neighborhood.
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It was a little corner of kind of older city, but businesses around nice little houses and
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they have taken it on upon, upon themselves to rebuild it and they have destroyed that area.
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Well, you know, and I mean, Marta Loop is not that far from where they messed up like
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That's another, um, but the city's on this rampage of densification that, um, I'm convinced
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Uh, they, they signed an agreement with the, uh, housing accelerator fund that I've gone
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through and looked at and Calgary got $228 million, uh, in the agreement plus bonus money
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for every multifamily permit, billing permit it issues.
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So they got, I think it was something like $22 million in bonuses a couple of weeks ago.
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So the, and the same thing in Edmonton, the same deal going on out there.
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Um, so they're just indiscriminately putting up, uh, multifamily housing.
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Um, I mean, we need housing that's, that's clear about that, but, um, to do what they've
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Um, but the planners have it in their heads that there's these things called main streets
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and 33rd Avenue, um, which runs from, if you're familiar with Calgary, 14th Street West
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to Crochow Trail is a very heavily, uh, traveled route.
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There are many roads that go across Crochow Trail, so you have to use that.
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And so their, their dictum, for lack of a better word, is that they just want to densify the
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And they take into account, they do not take into account, um, the, the, it's, what I'm
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trying to say is, they don't care what neighborhood it's in, is what I'm trying to say.
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Um, and Marta Loop is, is, is a, like you said, it was a heritage.
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Um, so I'm very familiar with the area and it was a really cool, neat neighborhood.
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A place, if you want to do an in-city day trip, you could go down there, check out, you know,
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Casablanca Video or some of the other restaurants.
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I remember going to the Marta Theater to see movies there.
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Um, but, so they wanted to, they got to clean up Marta Loop, they said.
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But what they're really doing is they're putting infrastructure in that'll handle 26-story
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And that's very old infrastructure in there, obviously.
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And it's, it's not going to take 18 months longer than what they said it would take because
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they get down there and they go, boy, this is a big mess.
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Um, and so, um, I know people are saying, well, how come it takes so long?
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Is it any different in Calgary in terms of other projects?
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Well, that's part of what I wanted to get into though.
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I mean, can Calgary get anything done in decent timelines?
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Because the issue with Marta Loop wasn't just the construction.
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They've ripped up this, this tree block area of streets.
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These businesses are going broke because people are avoiding the area like the plague.
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They widened the sidewalks a little, put in some planters.
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Well, you know, I don't know if they take longer in Calgary than say they would do longer
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So, uh, I mean, I'm, I'm going to get, I mean, certainly it's not that the people working
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I mean, the story I wrote when, uh, the, the guy from, uh, Diner Deluxe, Vince said that
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he was getting more information from the guys digging the holes than he was from city hall.
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And therein, I think lies the problem because it's not necessarily, I mean, you're going to
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run into problems digging that deep into old infrastructure.
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You don't really know what's there till you get there.
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The city of Calgary is just terrible at, at communications.
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Um, they seem to think, and I, I sit through all kinds of different things.
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I've talked to the bunch of the people involved in all these, these, uh, new developments who
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said that the city hosted these events, um, to, to get input and stuff like that.
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And most of the every, just everybody I talked to says that they didn't, they didn't listen.
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They go through the motions and then they go back to city hall and they, uh, a report
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came out, uh, I can't remember if it was yesterday or last week, uh, about what a great job the
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city does in, in, uh, interacting with Calgarians and it's bull, total bull.
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And so I think, I mean, I, I think probably if they had a, a martyr loop Marshall, uh, for
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the city, um, who went, went around the neighborhood every Monday morning, the Monday morning Marshall.
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Um, and just say, look, we've run into a problem over here and it's going to take a little bit
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But if you tell people, look, it's going to take a little bit longer.
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Um, how can we, what, what can we do to help you or whatever?
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Uh, people go, oh, okay, at least you're telling me.
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And that's the big problem is they don't communicate it.
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So this, I mean, as much as it's a big, big project for the people down there,
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this is a drop in the bucket compared to, I'm going to bring up the monster, the green
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line, because that's going to be coming up in this election a lot.
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It's an LRT expansion project that keeps growing in size and then shrinking, but the
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budget just keeps exploding and they haven't bought, they haven't laid a mile of track yet.
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Uh, there's a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow.
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Well, if they move at the speed they did with Marta loop, my great grandchildren won't see
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I've written quite a bit about it and I haven't seen that because they, they haven't
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decided, I only decided a little while ago that when they're, when they're going to
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But, um, the difference there, I think initially anyway, is it's really not heavily populated
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where this thing is going and there's no deep, uh, if you're a bunch of light industrial
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So it'll, I think it'll go quickly by city standards.
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Um, so what, cause you've got bigger properties and some of them aren't, yeah, there's, but
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Um, and, and I'm not a big fan of the green line.
00:23:09.140
Well, so getting on, I'll get more into your specialty is you've written on for decades
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The blanket rezoning, the candidates for mayor and council are already shooting at each other
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Where do you think hopefully this campaign will go to work towards maybe a better council
00:23:28.860
Well, um, in terms of, of whether or not they're going to be able to, uh, repeal the, the blanket
00:23:39.880
Um, or you do, how do you compensate people who have now, you know, a 16 unit condo or a
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row house next to, nor your single family home?
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But again, it goes back to the housing accelerator, because, um, it's all multifamily homes that
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are come under that blanket zoning and the city gets bonus money for permits issue.
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Um, they get bonus money for multifamily anywhere in the city, but including in there.
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And that was part of the, it's in the agreement.
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It says, uh, no multifamily, uh, no changing the zoning, no money.
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Well, it's one of those areas that says the federal government is really
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indirectly, but still directly meddling in municipal affairs because they dangle the
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I mean, uh, you know, if the city doesn't utilize those dollars, you know, the other
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They're throwing away the federal dollars that were handed out to you.
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Um, the, uh, you know, I mean, the money, the taxpayers money, that's the luck because
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And now, um, on Monday at Edmonton city council, there is a petition or a motion going forward
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to adjust their blanket upselling so that they can't put big 16, uh, unit row houses in the
00:25:12.320
If they want them, you got to put them on the corner, which, which is probably, I mean, it's,
00:25:21.780
Um, the, if they're, if the homes, the row houses, if they're on the corner, then the
00:25:28.080
people probably aren't parking in the middle of the street because I mean, all the issues
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So whether or not that, I think it's going to get passed because, uh, you mentioned the
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election, um, the, the, the whole thing about the, uh, three of the, three of the mayor,
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mayor candidates announced today, this week, they were going to repeal it if they were
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reelected, um, which leaves two people who haven't mentioned it.
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And one of them is Jody Gondek who wouldn't even give a thought to repealing it.
00:26:06.400
He's a, he's a old civil servant who, uh, you know, um, so what's going to happen with
00:26:18.340
I mean, it's, uh, but it's interesting that they're all making it, uh, an, an election issue.
00:26:27.840
And it's, it's part of, well, now that it's already been in, I mean, people have to look at what
00:26:31.900
Well, if those companies have already invested or started the planning or purchased properties,
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the city could be very liable if they get run pulled.
00:26:40.500
Um, or they can't, they won't be able to cancel any permits that have been issued.
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You know, with the years that are already in motion.
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Um, they're talking about using this thing to solve our housing crisis.
00:27:00.820
Um, we've got, there, there are more active list listings on the Calgary real estate board
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website right now than there have been in three or four years.
00:27:09.000
My people are listing their houses that they're selling them.
00:27:15.740
But what we don't have is enough, uh, non-market housing and, and all of this stuff that's being
00:27:23.740
built under the blanket zoning, uh, by law, none of it is market housing.
00:27:29.620
There's no stipulation in there for somebody to go in there and say, okay, I want a permit
00:27:38.020
Uh, but they don't say, oh, no, no, no, wait, you got 16, four of them have to be non-market,
00:27:42.420
which would just make, make it even a bigger problem for them.
00:27:46.500
But that's the issue with me is that they're, uh, none of this stuff that they're building
00:27:55.440
I mean, you're, if, if you go into, let's say Mount Royal and knock down a $2 million house
00:28:00.900
that you want to put row homes in there, what do you think?
00:28:03.640
Those are going to sell for, you know, that's like the infills of the inner city.
00:28:07.740
Before I left Calgary, it was 12 years ago and I lived in Highland Park, an older area.
00:28:12.100
A lot of the infills were going in and then some neighbors did that in the corner, tore
00:28:16.180
down the house, put up to a big giant gray duplex and they sold for 600,000 each half
00:28:22.460
a duplex for 600,000 in an area where you could buy a whole house for 400,000 at that
00:28:27.180
Well, if you're not making things more affordable, you just go a couple of blocks south here
00:28:30.360
into lower Mount Royal and it's a mess like that.
00:28:36.180
Well, I mean, there's lots to cover and the housing is, is your beep, but still in general,
00:28:40.620
And I just, I wanted to bring it in, you know, kicking off this, this season, cause we really
00:28:45.420
They're going to be important in this, this next few months.
00:28:48.400
What do you see or what are you anticipating covering in this election as it starts ramping up?
00:28:52.700
You know, well, the, the stages is, are, are being set.
00:28:58.820
There are going to be a minimum of six new phases on council.
00:29:05.160
Because I've got, and I got a list here to the people who've said they're not running.
00:29:23.040
Um, but if you look at it, one, two, three, four, five, six of them voted for blanket up zoning.
00:29:32.920
So now whether or not that's got anything to do with it, I don't know.
00:29:35.680
I'd like to think so that they learned their lesson.
00:29:38.480
And they're getting out of the voters and they're getting the heck out before they get checked.
00:29:41.860
Um, so, so anyway, there's a minimum of six, maybe seven new phases to, to run for council.
00:29:54.540
Um, there might be a couple of counselors yet to, to, uh, throw their hat into the ring.
00:30:01.340
Um, I think that, that it's going to be, I say this every year, the most important election
00:30:09.760
in, in Calgary's history, but this one is, is, is, um, the warring, I mean, it's a split
00:30:19.100
I mean, I, I was in council yesterday watching them talk about, uh, they were, a notice of
00:30:25.620
motion came in about, is the city of Calgary infringing on responsibilities that are the
00:30:32.760
And, and, and it was brought to, uh, to council by Sonia Sharp, who was running for mayor.
00:30:39.100
And, um, there's this great big argument going on in this split council.
00:30:45.060
No, we have to do everything we possibly can, regardless of whose responsibility it is.
00:30:50.320
And, and, and that, that was the, the pro blanket zoning people.
00:30:55.360
The self-important ones, I think, the city, the city state almost.
00:30:59.700
They're, they're, they don't, I, I don't think they think of themselves as counselors
00:31:07.980
Their first job is to, to manipulate and, and, and do whatever they can to get people
00:31:14.640
to live they want the way they want them to live.
00:31:17.700
Social engineering, the DEI stuff, all of that stuff.
00:31:21.220
Um, there's, uh, two guys on council that are really bad at that.
00:31:25.140
And that's Cora and Walcott, uh, both of whom are bailing.
00:31:33.840
Where I'm going with this, I think is, is that, um, traditionally turnout in the civic election
00:31:43.220
I think it's like 16 or 20% or something like that.
00:31:50.320
Uh, if you don't go in there and tell them you, I vote, I'm voting for you.
00:31:55.040
You, you, a big turnout will shake this council up.
00:31:58.600
Um, it didn't shake them up when they had the big, big public hearing because they had
00:32:03.260
that, all that money from the liberals behind them.
00:32:06.120
But, um, I think Calgary, I hope Calgarians are more aware of what's going on because of
00:32:14.060
the nature of this current council, which has done so many stupid things.
00:32:20.140
Uh, and that's, that's the big issue is get, get off your duff and make a plan to, to check
00:32:26.980
out all of the people who were running, uh, and check them out really well in terms of
00:32:32.860
the type of person you want to have in the government.
00:32:35.360
And don't just read their, their, uh, election literature.
00:32:40.160
I mean, find what, what job did they have before this or what job did they have now that they're
00:32:47.740
Um, uh, where they've worked in the past can tell you a lot more about them than I promised
00:32:56.740
So, well, we only get one crack at it every four years.
00:32:59.520
So if there's any time they're actually going to listen to you, it's this next five months
00:33:06.080
So, I mean, it's kind of, as you say, it's, it's, it's on you to get off your butt and pay
00:33:09.980
attention and make a good choice because you're stuck with them for four years after that.
00:33:14.520
Well, we'll be covering it and you'll be covering it and, uh, you know, informing people as
00:33:18.280
much as you can, uh, before the election day comes.
00:33:21.020
Well, there's, um, you know, I'm a little annoyed that they're not going to be in council in
00:33:26.560
August because we'll have nothing to bitch about.
00:33:29.380
Oh, I'm sure there's always, we always could find something to go bitch about, but, uh,
00:33:35.000
have you got anything in the cooker for your next, uh, article coming up?
00:33:38.760
Uh, I, I got a couple of things, but I don't want to, uh, blow them out right now because,
00:33:43.420
um, I just, I got some reports from the city that look a little silly that have to, well,
00:33:50.740
and it goes back to the blanket zoning and how proud they are that they've issued a record
00:33:55.420
amount of building permits in the last couple of years.
00:33:58.200
Uh, Calgary home builders have been leading the country, um, with, with home building and
00:34:03.460
the city's taking all the credit and which is really silly because the population growth
00:34:08.420
in Calgary has been 90,000, a hundred thousand people coming here from, uh, Ontario and BC.
00:34:15.060
And they've got people coming from BC and Ontario where the average housing is a million dollars.
00:34:23.720
So they're bringing big bucks here and they're just buying brand new houses.
00:34:27.440
And so the builders are going in and the city's going good for us.
00:34:32.200
Uh, they've loved to pat themselves on the back.
00:34:37.960
Looking forward to the stories in the months to come.
00:34:49.200
Overdue and, uh, yes, covering the municipal bead, he sits through those caught off of city
00:34:55.360
council meetings and reads those Everdell reports.
00:34:58.120
So you don't have to, because there is a lot of important stuff in both, but, uh, you
00:35:03.200
know, it's gotta be summarized for a lot of us to, to digest and make our choices.
00:35:10.800
I got a, you know, a local counselor and we have a reeve and she, yeah, she's been all
00:35:15.980
I'm not going to complain about her, but she gets, uh, acclaimed every time.
00:35:21.020
Like they don't even have people running against them.
00:35:23.660
Once they're an incumbent, they realize that you just can't knock off an incumbent.
00:35:28.140
We really, really overlook our municipal level of government.
00:35:37.020
As Mike said, you can see the frustration in them.
00:35:41.260
These guys, they bleed you dry and they regulate the crap out of you.
00:35:46.060
You should get up once every four years and get out and vote.
00:35:54.780
It turns out they lied and they didn't do any of the things they said they promised.
00:35:57.740
And yeah, that happens, but that means you got to go out the second time and fire them.
00:36:01.340
See, part of the problem with, uh, you know, many of the problems, but with municipal governments,
00:36:08.300
again, is that they get in once they're in that incumbent is in there.
00:36:11.900
It is difficult to dislodge them and, uh, get them out.
00:36:18.300
So they take it for granted that we won't trouble ourselves to fire them.
00:36:23.740
The thing with democracy that people don't like, and it's a right left thing.
00:36:35.980
And we don't like to, we make excuses not to, you know, the people say my vote doesn't count.
00:36:50.220
I promise you a lot of politicians actually want to get the job for more than four years.
00:36:55.500
But if they know that you won't get rid of them, if, if, if they
00:36:58.700
fed you a bunch of crap, well then they're not going to change anything.
00:37:03.500
And that's whether it's Edmonton, Calgary, but we've got the whole province going into
00:37:06.700
a race and as dull as it sounds, something that's different this time in Alberta
00:37:17.580
I had the fellow from a better Calgary come on and talk about things, but it is the first
00:37:24.780
And I got a feeling, not even a feeling, it's clear they need a little more time to flesh out
00:37:28.700
and get the feel of this system all together and become more functional.
00:37:34.860
I think they're going to be a bigger part of elections down the road, but right now they're
00:37:40.940
kind of in a bit of disarray and trying to establish themselves.
00:37:55.740
Dave covered a lot of this, stole my thunder on a bunch of things.
00:37:58.540
Here's an interesting one speaking of cover-ups and things that come out in, uh, uh, federal
00:38:05.100
government is, uh, the business development bank invokes solicitor client privilege and
00:38:09.900
censoring all records regarding executive donations to the liberal party.
00:38:14.940
So basically senior people with a government funded agency are donating money back to the
00:38:24.140
And now they've just invoked solicitor client privilege to say, we will never tell you how much
00:38:29.340
It sounds like, uh, the bank's chair was also the financial agent for, uh, transport
00:38:34.540
minister, Christia Freeland who used to be finance minister.
00:38:40.940
I see some questions in the, in the debate going on.
00:38:44.540
Whether I'm a, uh, farmer beekeeper, I guess I call it flying livestock.
00:38:52.620
Uh, but a question asked whether I, I support, uh, independence.
00:39:07.660
Now, whether or not enough Albertans actually vote.
00:39:13.340
We got to get a lot of realism back into this movement.
00:39:17.820
I, I, I, there's a lot of, uh, uh, confirmation bias on our own part.
00:39:23.580
Thinking there's a heck of a lot more support there than there is.
00:39:27.340
And is there, it's growing, it's stronger than it's ever been, but we have not nearly
00:39:31.900
cultivated and expanded it to the point of well past 50%, uh, percent that we need.
00:39:37.980
And that's where I got annoyed with the oxygen that went towards this weird Republican party
00:39:43.020
thing that didn't bring us any closer to it than where we had been.
00:39:47.900
And, uh, there's some people pushing, thinking that, uh, you know, that the UCP and premier
00:39:52.940
Smith should take on a full out independent stance.
00:39:55.420
Now I don't agree with that for a couple of reasons.
00:39:57.260
Uh, one of which is just, they weren't elected on that.
00:40:02.540
That's a big, huge personal sort of decision for every person to make, which is why I think
00:40:09.020
That's why I should go to a referendum rather than do a party.
00:40:12.620
Uh, but a party shouldn't take that kind of stance without actually having gone to the voters on.
00:40:20.860
As I said, the support is not strong enough for independence yet to do that.
00:40:26.220
If the UCP took on a full out, full independence stance as a party,
00:40:35.340
Uh, there would be no, uh, winning in the next election because it's just not there yet.
00:40:44.780
This is a question that should go to Albertans.
00:40:46.700
And what the UCP has done has given us the ability, which is perfect.
00:40:50.140
They've given us the means to start a referendum, to campaign and hold it and let Albertans decide.
00:40:59.420
Now Smith has started this Alberta next thing, which I'm not so thrilled about.
00:41:03.260
I, I mean, it keeps things in the discussion fine, but it sounds a lot like Jason Kenney's
00:41:10.460
What I see from a lot of politicians that they take things and they kick them down the road.
00:41:15.180
So let's have a whole bunch of hearings and then never actually do anything about it.
00:41:19.180
The fair deal panel came up with things like talking about a pension plan, talking about
00:41:23.340
That stuff was done, what, seven years ago, eight years ago.
00:41:27.100
So why do we need another, you know, Alberta next thing to come up and talk some more?
00:41:40.300
One of the discussions, one of the things Smith was talking about, you know, was the police force
00:41:44.620
Well, let's, uh, boy, they must be constructing new housing somewhere nearby.
00:41:49.660
I'm not sure if that's coming through to you guys, uh, which she's been taking an incremental
00:41:55.260
approach, which has been interesting with that.
00:41:57.260
And, uh, you know, we're seeing municipalities, Grand Prairie, others where they took on municipal
00:42:04.780
And we're seeing more sheriffs, Alberta sheriffs moving in.
00:42:07.820
So I think they're basically just squeezing the RCMP out rather than making one big blanket
00:42:16.460
I mean, as long as it gets the job done, uh, but, uh, it's going to take a while.
00:42:22.060
The pension plan, I think the provincial government blew it.
00:42:29.020
It didn't look good for them that the government, uh, sat on because they did a whole big survey
00:42:33.500
on Albertans with the Alberta pension plan idea and their own survey found at that time.
00:42:38.540
And I think it's changed since then, but still at that time, about 63% of Albertans didn't
00:42:43.980
want to go to an Alberta pension plan, which means they sold it badly because we like with
00:42:49.020
so many other things federally, we get robbed in the pension plan.
00:42:53.100
We get a bad deal on it and selling the better deal of an Alberta pension should be a thing
00:43:04.220
And now we're paying for that because we should be well on our way towards when they obviously
00:43:09.420
And I think that's a bit of what they're going to throw onto this part of what these hearings
00:43:13.100
or whatever you want to call it, town halls that are going to be traveling around and,
00:43:17.100
The thing that Smith's getting into at this Alberta next, they're going to be talking about
00:43:21.260
They're going to be talking about putting other things to a referendum question as well as
00:43:24.780
independence, independence that would probably have to come citizens initiated.
00:43:29.180
But they might put some other things on the ballot that they're going to get out of this
00:43:32.220
So there might be a pension question on there as well as an independence question.
00:43:36.140
I'm not sure yet if that's a good or a bad thing for the independence movement, to be honest.
00:43:39.260
It causes some distraction, but it moves in the right direction.
00:43:43.660
I like the idea of having more citizens voting directly on some of the bigger policies rather
00:43:48.060
than leaving it just to the politicians themselves, but we'll see.
00:43:51.740
Speaking of spending and some of the other talk.
00:43:54.780
I'm kind of, you know, running out of time to hit them all, but yeah, NATO and Canada.
00:43:58.780
Now Carney's promised to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035.
00:44:02.860
Now Canada has been riding the coattails of other countries for decades and spent what?
00:44:10.700
I mean, we wouldn't even get to 2% as we're supposed to.
00:44:18.220
It shows us paying our bills on the international front, but boy, he's, he's not wasting time.
00:44:23.420
What I get worried about is where's the money going to come from?
00:44:40.700
All right, before I get going, there's going to be, speaking of the UCP and things, he was on
00:44:50.060
He's got a sovereignty town hall tonight that's being held.
00:44:56.300
I don't know if they have tickets left or not, but I'm going to drop by and check that out and listen
00:44:59.820
There's a lot of interesting speakers and stuff going on in Calgary.
00:45:03.580
I'm not speaking at one of these things for a change.
00:45:05.340
And hey, Albertans Day is going to be in Mirror, Alberta at Chris Scott's Whistle Stop Cafe.
00:45:11.820
I'm going to be set up out there as well, actually.
00:45:20.300
And Christina Anderson is going to be speaking there about all things.
00:45:23.100
So if you're looking for something to do in Alberta and central Alberta,
00:45:32.140
And Nigel with his other shows, I think coming on Friday.
00:45:38.940
We'll be carrying on throughout this summer to make sure you're up to date on the news.
00:45:42.860
So thanks for tuning in today, guys, and we'll see you on the next one.