Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Alberta’s humiliating negotiations with Carney have gone on long enough

00:00:00.000 Good day, welcome to the Corey Morgan Show.

00:00:30.000 Getting into mid-May now.

00:00:32.460 Get ready for the snow this weekend as you celebrate the dead queen's birthday.

00:00:37.300 Yeah, usual weather.

00:00:38.620 But the weather maps have been showing flowing glowing lava for the rest of Alberta today and tomorrow, I think, because it's going to get over 20 degrees.

00:00:45.760 So pick and choose, I guess, which way you're going to die due to climate change this week.

00:00:51.280 Anyway, lots of stuff going on in the news.

00:00:52.920 Lots of stuff breaking as usual.

00:00:55.520 In a little while, I'm going to have Chris Scott on.

00:00:57.360 He was the owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe.

00:01:00.600 He's also been outspoken as an independence advocate.

00:01:03.620 He's been holding a tour around Alberta and speaking to people, having a good interactive conversation.

00:01:08.340 So that'll be a good chat.

00:01:10.080 And, yeah, we'll be discussing lots of other things, checking in on some news items in a bit.

00:01:15.000 I'm going to start, though, with, yeah, I just get tired of these victory laps being done when there's no victory.

00:01:20.460 So, I mean, among politicians in the Federation, only Alberta must go through the humiliating ritual of groveling and negotiating with the federal government to develop its industries and export its products.

00:01:32.060 Ontario's premier doesn't have to beg for permission to expand automotive manufacturing, and Quebec doesn't have to snivel if it wants to expand a maple syrup plantation.

00:01:41.120 Alberta, though, is reduced to having to offer concessions to be allowed to do what every other oil-producing jurisdiction on the planet does.

00:01:50.120 and they don't hesitate. There's little indication the federal government has any interest in

00:01:54.320 allowing Alberta to expand its resource production and export infrastructure. Kearney has talked and

00:02:00.000 talked and talked. For over a year now, we are at an inch closer to getting something done than we

00:02:04.540 were a year ago. Premier Daniel Smith keeps setting deadlines and they keep passing. Now

00:02:09.680 Smith's celebrating that her and Kearney had more officially entrenched the MOU they created long

00:02:14.140 ago. But what does that mean? Has Kearney repealed the No More Pipelines Act, which has stalled

00:02:19.220 development in Alberta for years? Is Kearney repealed the tanker ban on the west coast despite

00:02:24.700 tankers constantly docking in eastern Canadian ports? Is Kearney retracted his assertion that

00:02:29.820 indigenous consent is going to be required to get projects constructed? Is Kearney retracted his

00:02:34.820 assertion that provincial permission must be attained by BC or Quebec to get pipelines

00:02:40.840 constructed? Unless all of these things have been done, nothing of note is going to be expanding in

00:02:45.700 Alberta. Canada is uncompetitive on the world market and is going to remain so until the

00:02:50.220 government chooses to get out of the damn way. No pipeline has ever been talked into the ground, 0.96

00:02:54.760 but Carney and Smith appear determined to try that method. Alberta, Albertans have had enough

00:02:59.740 as private investors, as have private investors. I mean, according to an RBC report,

00:03:05.100 over a trillion dollars in potential investment has already fled Canada in the last decade,

00:03:09.120 and most of that was oil and gas. The conditions causing that capital flight haven't been addressed.

00:03:15.220 that's that capital flight's just going to continue. If Mark Carney truly wants to see

00:03:19.360 these projects done, he can say so at any time. He can declare these projects to be in the national

00:03:24.820 interest and that he'll use his constitutional authority to get them done. He won't do that

00:03:29.740 though. He just offers more mealy-mouthed promises and more negotiations. His major projects office,

00:03:35.340 remember that thing? It was created almost a year ago with the ostensible goal of fast-tracking

00:03:39.580 approvals. So far it hasn't approved a single one. I think we can safely call that initiative a failure.

00:03:45.220 It's an office of false hopes and continued deferral.

00:03:48.880 Nothing more.

00:03:49.920 It appears to be that way by design.

00:03:52.000 Carney pretends the holdup is with a lack of interest from private investors,

00:03:55.180 and that's just an outright lie.

00:03:56.680 Private companies desperately want to produce and export more oil and gas

00:04:00.360 while world energy prices are spiking.

00:04:02.840 They've made it no secret, though, of what's holding them up.

00:04:05.740 Sonova CEO John McKenzie called Canada's energy policies

00:04:08.960 myopically focused on the climate agenda,

00:04:11.680 arguing they've made resource development and investment in the country uncompetitive with

00:04:17.140 the rest of the world. Canadian Natural Resources Limited CEO Scott Stouth argued that companies

00:04:22.740 investing in carbon capture and storage shouldn't face an additional industrial carbon tax on top

00:04:29.280 of those costs, calling the policy an economic burden that undermines long-term growth.

00:04:34.120 The Oil Sands Alliance, all the heavyweights, they released a statement saying because of

00:04:37.440 complex regulatory processes, uncompetitive carbon frameworks, and fiscal systems that

00:04:42.640 don't incent growth. There's not been a major new Greenfield Oil Sands project sanctioning Canada

00:04:47.540 since 2013, and investment has dramatically declined. Premier Smith, I guess she was

00:04:54.280 obligated to show she was willing to deal with the federal government in good faith,

00:04:57.100 but the time for playing nice is done. She needs to approach these negotiations now with teeth,

00:05:02.460 and scheduling a referendum on independence will do that. No more pussyfooting around, 1.00

00:05:06.280 Just announce it's going to be held and that it's going to be asking the constitutional question, not Lukasik's status quo version.

00:05:12.740 Albertans have had enough waiting. Things are stalled. Quit putting out these press releases and false victories shaking hands.

00:05:19.300 Premier Smith must start the referendum clock ticking, and it must make it clear that Carney's inaction is going to increase support for the S-side.

00:05:26.260 If she doesn't schedule the vote, not only is she setting herself up for more embarrassment as Carney plays with her,

00:05:31.340 but she will be opening up her right flank for a party split as independent supporters start to 0.94

00:05:36.360 put real pressure on her nothing shy of a project scheduled with dirt anticipated to move soon

00:05:41.520 is going to satisfy albertans now no more paper guys smith must demand nothing less and must give

00:05:47.360 albertans the democratic means to express their thoughts on the federation through a referendum

00:05:51.540 talk is cheap and we've had enough all right here's what i'm pissing him on about today

00:05:57.540 how's it going it's going okay i have to protest the way you uh characterize this glorious long 0.74

00:06:03.540 weekend as the some dead queen's birthday well she is dead she is dead but victoria day long weekend

00:06:11.860 after the glorious queen victoria you know was in power a long time in england when england had a

00:06:18.260 true empire you know not the state that the countries are now but you know just be grateful

00:06:24.020 you get an extra day off well certainly i enjoy the weekend and at least i referenced it i mean

00:06:29.300 you know it's really turned into the may long weekend for a lot of people they barely even

00:06:32.580 uh they don't even know what it is no so i guess it shouldn't be reframed the dead queen weekend

00:06:38.500 but uh at least i did reference it so uh you know happy belated birthday uh or upcoming birthday

00:06:44.820 queen victoria there you go posthumous thank you i appreciate the uh the talk there what do you uh

00:06:50.180 you correctly predicted it's going to be miserable weather yes it's gonna like rain like hell all

00:06:54.980 weekend uh i don't know why people bother going out camping on weekend what are you gonna do

00:07:00.020 uh probably be hanging around the house writing stuff to uh infuriate people and uh i guess just

00:07:06.260 complaining about the weather i mean there's not much you can do no it's supposed to snow i i'm

00:07:10.420 not driving i was thinking drive to cam or visit dad but not if it's another snowstorm no no well

00:07:15.380 So I've got some updates for you on your pipeline rant.

00:07:21.280 There is reports, all sorts of reports coming out of Ottawa today

00:07:25.500 that Alberta and Canada, Smith and Carney,

00:07:30.920 will sign another memorandum of understanding on Friday in Calgary

00:07:35.460 that will agree to set the carbon tax at $130 a ton by 2040.

00:07:43.520 Alberta wanted to not bring that in until 2050.

00:07:47.520 So they seem to have capitulated a bit on that.

00:07:50.220 So we're castrating ourselves more slowly.

00:07:52.680 I don't know if that makes it nicer or worse.

00:07:54.100 Well, actually, doing quicker.

00:07:57.040 But of significant note, apparently Mark Carney is going to declare it a project of national interest,

00:08:03.540 which means we don't have to worry about Indigenous consultation.

00:08:08.400 What we would have to worry about is indigenous roadblocks and all that sort of stuff.

00:08:12.940 Because, you know, some hereditary chiefs won't be happy.

00:08:16.980 Oh, yeah.

00:08:17.260 There's always going to be some degree of opposition.

00:08:19.540 That's fine.

00:08:20.020 I'm throwing down my gauntlet.

00:08:21.020 I don't believe it for a second anymore.

00:08:22.720 Not until I see dirt move.

00:08:24.060 It's just more talk.

00:08:25.160 But, well, we'll see.

00:08:26.160 You know what?

00:08:26.580 It seems to be a step forward.

00:08:28.460 Yeah.

00:08:28.680 But we'll see.

00:08:29.800 These are such baby steps.

00:08:31.160 We're going to have the flux capacitor invented by the time we ever actually get our oil in.

00:08:35.980 Yeah, our favorite state broadcaster is under fire. They seem to be funding some weird, weird attacks on activists. Frances Whittleson, they invited her to do an interview and she thought it was all on the straight and narrow. And then when she shows up, they're dumping shoes on her desk and they've done it to a couple of people.

00:08:57.800 And it all seems to be funded by APTN, the Aboriginal People's Television Network, and CBC. 0.96

00:09:05.100 So MPs are starting to ask questions about how our taxpayer dollar is being used to fund anti-Canadian stuff crap. 0.55

00:09:14.220 Yeah, I think it was actually an American production company. 0.89

00:09:16.480 It sounds like it was up, but taking the Canadian tax dollars.

00:09:20.180 If, and I think we kind of agree, we shouldn't be pouring that money into the CBC and APTN anyway,

00:09:24.540 but if the intent is to create Canadian jobs and content, why did you have to contract somebody

00:09:30.380 from south of the border? Exactly. Speaking of temporary foreign workers, Dunkin Donuts coming

00:09:36.380 back to Canada after absence of many years. They think they can take on Tim Hortons and kick their 1.00

00:09:43.260 butt. You know, as you know, the reputation of Timmy's has gone downhill rapidly in the last 0.99

00:09:49.820 year or so uh so they're planning on opening hundreds of stores across canada so be interesting

00:09:55.660 we'll see how it goes you know i i i went to dunk a donut's quite a few times when i used to work in

00:09:59.500 the states on the coffee a little on the watery side but they're okay but i gotta i i can't take

00:10:05.580 the lineups of tim hortons anymore so if there's another one on the block you know i'm gonna go for

00:10:09.180 it i don't have that brand loyalty so it'll be interesting exactly there'd be another choice for

00:10:13.420 consumers um retired uh supreme court justice jack major who is a calgarian he wrote a paper

00:10:20.860 who's 95 wrote a paper for the mcdonald laurie institute saying we are now in an era of judicial

00:10:27.180 overreach and he's sort of uh slamming the way canadian courts are uh are ruling these days so

00:10:33.660 a bit of uh common sense into the uh the debate and did you see the video of that red deer swarming

00:10:40.140 you know what i was going to talk about it but i haven't clicked on it i saw the pictures i've

00:10:44.220 read the story i just i i have a hard time with that kind of violence the video is just sickening

00:10:49.180 corey yeah uh for those who haven't watched it yet please go take a look at it on our website it's a

00:10:54.540 support teenage girl in uh in red deer a local green space she was just beaten up swarmed uh

00:11:02.700 girls are kicking her in the head they're doing like wwe elbows to the head um she suffered

00:11:10.140 her you know terrible terrible injuries was taken to hospital you know but and the disturbing thing

00:11:15.420 is kids are videoing it and they're doing nothing to stop it all right and it's when you watch the

00:11:22.140 video you do get a sickening feeling in your stomach yeah like you said i i doubt i'm going

00:11:27.240 to click through on it to be honest i you know i've heard enough in the descriptions i mean i'm

00:11:31.100 still traumatized by the video i saw in israel yeah trying to process that so uh i think i can

00:11:38.220 Speak to the subject without watching.

00:11:39.800 Though I understand if others feel compelled, it's up there.

00:11:43.520 Yep, there's a couple of GoFundMes that have been set up

00:11:46.240 that are in our latest story if you want to donate.

00:11:50.560 And Linda Slobodian's written a column on it

00:11:53.080 on how Canada has to do a better job 1.00

00:11:56.600 of dealing with these teenage miscreants.

00:11:59.300 I mean, there's certainly enough evidence from the video

00:12:01.320 for, you know, assault-causing bodily harm charges.

00:12:03.640 Oh, yes, that's been clear.

00:12:06.020 And Red Deer RCMP are going to be under pressure

00:12:08.020 to uh i mean social media has already identified the culprits so i'm sure even the mounties can

00:12:14.400 figure this one out it should knock on wood yes knock on wood all right well again hopefully

00:12:21.280 yeah you know some people pay a price for it and hopefully there's some more self-examination i

00:12:26.280 mean it is an indication of a real social ill i mean this is this is really uh troublesome

00:12:31.840 yep you know you see it happening in other cities but this one's hitting close to home it's just up

00:12:36.140 the road yeah well and i saw that update in the news too the the girl is recovering anyways and

00:12:40.920 doing well so that much is good there's no permanent damage or at least physically anyways

00:12:46.000 currently one of her attackers kept her glasses as a trophy yeah that's awful on that happy note

00:12:52.460 i shall leave you and go back to the news all right thanks for leaving me on an upbeat note

00:12:55.880 i was already in such a fine mood today there you go see you on the pipeline i appreciate it thanks

00:12:59.720 dave you bet all right that is our news editor dave nailer and yes lots on the go not every story

00:13:04.680 is bright and fluffy as you heard but they're all important and we do report on a lot of positive

00:13:10.680 things too uh the reason we could do that the reason we're able to and we cover those issues

00:13:15.640 when others don't want to is because you guys have subscribed and we appreciate it

00:13:19.200 this is where i nag for the bucks guys check it out westernstandard.news slash subscription

00:13:23.200 ten dollars a month uh hundred dollars for a year if you don't get a volume discount you

00:13:28.600 wise with your money and you get past the paywall and help fund our reporters you can see them all

00:13:33.520 working back there. And they have been, I know I was listening in the newsroom, reaching out on,

00:13:37.460 you know, you don't get newsrooms like this much anymore. You get basically reheated press releases,

00:13:43.600 get slapped out there, and a story is made. We have reporters back there. They're phoning. They're

00:13:47.980 talking to people. They're talking to witnesses. They're talking to people involved in stories.

00:13:51.520 And we're basing our news on that. And, you know, it's expensive. And to be able to do so,

00:13:56.300 we need subscribers. You guys have been great. If you've already subscribed, thank you very much.

00:13:59.480 if you haven't yet come on guys get on there but yeah i i gotta admit see i i i i'm a grumpy guy

00:14:07.160 i'm a tough talker everything else and you know but when it comes to video images of real violence

00:14:13.300 i i'm not one who likes watching anything most people don't like watching it but i just have a

00:14:18.000 really hard time with it so i haven't watched that one with that young girl getting beaten because

00:14:22.040 you know you read enough descriptions and i i just i can't imagine i think there's enough at least for

00:14:26.280 me to get the gist of the problem with that story and things. We'll talk a little bit about that

00:14:30.360 after my guest segment, I think, as well, without me watching it. But it is available online. It's

00:14:35.160 available on the Western Standard site. And it is a serious issue. We really got to be discussing.

00:14:39.700 We really do. I think, you know, there's been violence and there's things that happened in the

00:14:42.780 50s, 60s and so on in schools and such as well. There's a nature, I think, of kids and so on. But

00:14:48.420 it doesn't mean we have to ignore it. We better look at this and see what the heck happened.

00:14:52.140 All right, let's bring in Christopher Scott.

00:14:54.780 He is, most of you already know him, the owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe, a source of fantastic food east of Red Deer.

00:15:01.640 It really is.

00:15:02.700 And also a good outspoken advocate for independence and just good laws in general.

00:15:09.320 And he's come on to talk to us today about his Let's Talk Alberta initiative.

00:15:13.500 Hey, Chris, thanks for coming on.

00:15:15.580 Hey, Corey.

00:15:16.120 Thanks for having me.

00:15:17.800 I, I did watch that video that you mentioned, and that's a, that's a real heartbreaker.

00:15:21.980 It really is.

00:15:23.360 Yeah, no, it's, uh, I, I guess I could look on the bright side with something that terrible

00:15:28.900 when it's documented, at least to drive home to people, just how big the issue is or how

00:15:33.460 big the problem is, uh, rather than just the written word.

00:15:36.420 It sometimes makes the message, you know, sink in a little more.

00:15:39.020 I really hope somehow something positive comes out of the discussion and an examination of

00:15:43.280 what happens here.

00:15:44.360 Absolutely.

00:15:45.040 Yep, definitely.

00:15:46.200 So getting on to something positive and something you've been working on, the Let's Talk Alberta initiative, you know, you've been bouncing all over the province. I've seen you as far north as I saw you in Peace River and down south. Did you come out to Hilda? Yes, you did. So what's going on there?

00:16:04.580 well um i i should let you know next month we're actually going to be up in indian cabins too so

00:16:10.480 when i say every corner of alberta i really mean it like we're going all the way north all the way

00:16:15.480 south and then uh both east and west too so we're all over the place um just for perspective it's

00:16:21.060 just north to high level yeah yeah i think i think it's like 30 minutes from the border or

00:16:25.700 something like that i don't know it's it's yeah it's way far up there yeah way far so yeah the

00:16:30.860 the idea with Let's Talk Alberta is just that we want Albertans to start talking with each other

00:16:37.980 about important issues that they're going to be deciding on in the fall. I say this at our

00:16:43.980 at our meetings, you know, Albertans are going to be asked probably the most important and

00:16:48.560 consequential question in their lifetimes about the future of Alberta. And going into something

00:16:58.380 like that it is absolutely critical that people know what they're you know they know what they're

00:17:05.100 i guess voting for they know what they're choosing you have to be informed when you

00:17:09.260 make these types of decisions if you're not well um yeah we the outcome wouldn't be wouldn't be

00:17:16.940 the best so uh yeah that's our goal just to talk to albertans about these issues find out where

00:17:22.300 people are at have the discussions and uh you know and see and see how it goes yeah the the

00:17:28.840 turnouts have been really good and and the discussion has been really good i mean the

00:17:32.120 just to let people know it's been a very you know i've attended a number of these i've spoken at

00:17:36.240 them a very interactive exercise it's really asking people and inviting people even if they

00:17:41.980 differ with it if they're undecided or even opposed come on in and let's talk i mean it's

00:17:46.360 the name of it and uh i've really enjoyed the q a parts you know i think we blather a little too

00:17:51.180 long in the opening sometimes let's just get to asking people you know what what what they want

00:17:55.700 to find out about it it's been a nice format and that's the goal here it's it's less uh you know

00:18:01.560 of course i'm going to share my opinions and our presenters will share their personal opinions

00:18:05.600 about what they want the future of alberta to look like and that's a that's a a charter protected

00:18:11.120 right to be able to express yourself like that uh and then we we we try and spend less time doing

00:18:16.520 that and more time with the Q&A, more time engaging with the people that come. If I could

00:18:21.660 wave a magic wand and get anything I want with Let's Talk Alberta, I would have those rooms at

00:18:26.460 least 50%, 60%, 70% filled with people who did not share my views, who didn't want a sovereign

00:18:34.140 Alberta. And I would love to talk to them about the reasons why. And that's really what's different

00:18:39.300 with Let's Talk Alberta than some of the other initiatives is we are more focused on listening

00:18:44.600 to the concerns or the opposition points that people have with Alberta taking control of their

00:18:51.140 future through sovereignty. That's more important to us than just talking at people for 45 minutes

00:19:01.380 or an hour and telling them why they need to be on our side. You've got a wide panel of people

00:19:07.020 who have come out and volunteered to speak at these events and talk all sorts of folks. I don't

00:19:11.960 know what your full list is but you know over a dozen or so I think I've seen people who show up

00:19:15.900 and what I I've also found in in being one of those on some of those panels people will always

00:19:21.580 throw something at me I never even thought of like we come away from those the speakers come

00:19:25.700 away from those as better educated advocates than they were when they walked in like like

00:19:31.000 we can't think of everything and people will come up with something that holy cow I never even

00:19:35.800 thought about that for a second but it's an excellent question or statement uh it's just

00:19:40.460 such a productive exercise yeah and and that stuff is so it's it's critical because you know i i'm

00:19:47.500 obviously i'm a personally i'm an advocate for an independent alberta i want to see an independent

00:19:51.860 republic of alberta that's my my personal viewpoint um and you know i'm going to work

00:19:57.820 to achieve that as best i can through through engaging with albertans if we're going to have

00:20:02.780 an independent alberta those of us who are advocating for it or have the opinion that we

00:20:08.820 need to go down that path we need to hear those things we need to think about those things we

00:20:12.680 need to you know not just the reasons why we want to be independent but what are other people's uh

00:20:18.540 what are other people's concerns that we can start internalizing and then uh create a plan

00:20:24.580 going forward because that's the other part of it right after the referendum we're either going to

00:20:28.720 it'll be successful or not and if it's successful then we have a lot of work to do and we need to

00:20:33.260 know what people's concerns are and we need to be aware of things that need to be dealt with so we

00:20:38.040 can start uh we can hit the ground running and get to work doing it yeah so i see we got a super

00:20:43.360 chat from rc lemieux and then just so folks know you can kind of pitch in a few bucks on the live

00:20:47.960 chats and things like that and it highlights your comment and gets a question up there and his

00:20:52.340 comment's an interesting one because i think it talks to a lot of things when it comes to trust

00:20:55.360 and and such he says foolishness reigns in all political what we're experiencing in canada is

00:21:01.000 nothing but lies everywhere you know there's some of that cynicism people have politician and

00:21:04.660 And bureaucratic gangster terrorist cartel has even infiltrated the Alberta independence movement.

00:21:10.300 I don't know.

00:21:11.220 I mean, this is some strong words, but there's truth to it just in that, unfortunately, politics can really bring in some ugly elements and we can be self-defeating and it can happen all over the place.

00:21:22.600 That's where I like these events, though.

00:21:24.420 It's nice, honest conversation.

00:21:26.020 It's not a gimmick.

00:21:27.540 It's not anything strange.

00:21:29.680 It's just getting people into a room.

00:21:31.620 If you've got a problem with one of the people speaking there, that's the ideal time to come up and ask about it.

00:21:37.060 This is how we can cut through things, I think, face-to-face.

00:21:39.360 There's not been enough of that anymore.

00:21:41.600 Yeah, the face-to-face is critical in a world where we don't know what's even real on the Internet anymore.

00:21:47.060 We watch a video and we don't know if it's AI.

00:21:49.040 It could be some Dutch kid sitting in his basement making fake videos about Alberta independence using AI. 0.85

00:21:55.460 We don't know. 0.70

00:21:56.060 But if someone comes to one of our Let's Talk Alberta events, they can see us.

00:22:00.400 They know that we're real.

00:22:01.620 And you know what, I got to point out, this isn't a political thing. This is a grassroots thing. This is, I'm just an average guy. I'm a business owner. I'm a father. I'm an Albertan. I'm not a politician. We don't have politicians running the show. This is all run by everyday average Albertans.

00:22:18.420 And so, you know, I understand that people are aware that politics has become or always has been this kind of swamp, so to speak.

00:22:28.740 But this isn't that. This is something different.

00:22:30.940 This is the people finally, for the first time, actually getting together and deciding, hey, this is what we're going to allow the politicians to do.

00:22:38.360 And that's really the difference between Let's Talk Alberta and, you know, a different kind of political event.

00:22:44.660 Yeah. And for those, you know, interested in wanting to pursue independence or curious about pursuing independence and so on, we're kind of in a in-between point right now.

00:22:53.300 You know, the petition really gave everybody something to sink their teeth into and focus on.

00:22:57.200 And they did an incredible job with it all over the province.

00:23:00.240 But that's finished. There hasn't been a referendum scheduled yet.

00:23:04.100 I keep saying confidently I feel there will be one, but I could be wrong. We'll see.

00:23:08.040 But for the time being, we need to keep active. We need to keep on something.

00:23:10.900 we need to keep being productive. And I think that's something that's being offered with these

00:23:15.600 events as well. I mean, you can get out there and keep promoting things or learning things or

00:23:20.920 feeling like you're still engaged. It's important to make sure there's events all the way through

00:23:25.540 until October 19th. Yeah. And even past that, I have a vision that Let's Talk Alberta isn't going

00:23:32.540 to be just a one and done for this thing. That's not it at all. The overarching idea here is that

00:23:38.100 people don't talk enough we we go into making decisions in the political sphere uh ill-informed

00:23:44.320 and the outcome shows like it shows our lack of or it shows how confused we are about these issues

00:23:51.180 so you know while this issue is a big one this alberta sovereignty is a really big one to talk

00:23:55.940 about so it requires a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of meetings after that there's

00:23:59.980 always going to be things there's going to be laws that politicians want to pass that need to be

00:24:03.960 talked about there's going to be initiatives that people are doing that need to be talked about

00:24:07.860 And if we have this network in place, if we have this structure where we can mobilize people who care about making the world a better place, we can get these conversations to as many people as we can, and we can come to the best outcomes.

00:24:21.760 You think about the last 20 years, our country has been like all but hijacked by NGOs that come in with with self-serving interests and they confuse the populace and they and they convince them to vote for things that are either not beneficial for them or they're detrimental for them.

00:24:41.260 while lining the pockets of those NGO puppet masters.

00:24:45.220 You know, we've been seeing this for years.

00:24:47.580 If we have a network where we can start talking about these things

00:24:50.040 and expose the truth behind them,

00:24:52.340 we have a much better chance of preventing that sort of thing

00:24:54.820 from occurring in the future.

00:24:57.360 Absolutely.

00:24:57.920 No, we can only do better with an engaged population.

00:25:00.780 You know, get up, stay involved, pay attention, and network.

00:25:04.960 You know, that's part of it.

00:25:05.740 I like the social aspect of what's happening too.

00:25:07.980 I mean, we've had this risk of an introverted social media society where we're spending our time sitting at home watching videos.

00:25:13.640 And, hey, I like to think we make productive videos for people anyways.

00:25:17.220 But getting off their butts and chatting face-to-face, not even with the speakers and presenters at these events like you and I, but they're talking with each other.

00:25:25.960 There's one, you know, I will make sure to plug, you know, in Okotoks happening tonight. 0.87

00:25:30.500 But this is one of those ones, not all of them have that.

00:25:33.020 You're even offering people pierogies, aren't you?

00:25:34.660 Yeah. Yeah. We're cooking dinner so we can first enjoy a meal together like human beings are

00:25:41.080 supposed to, have some fellowship with each other, and then we can get into conversations about

00:25:45.620 things that are important to all of us. Yeah. And I mean, just that across the table chat with

00:25:51.540 some of your neighbors, folks you might not have seen before and so on. I mean, people can develop

00:25:55.640 relationships with these things. I'm not talking about it being a singles network, but hey, you

00:25:59.080 never know hey if something works for you good for you but uh we've uh it's something that we

00:26:05.060 see more in small towns than cities and i felt that when i left calgary 14 years ago i i lived

00:26:11.420 there i knew the neighbors on two sides of me in one house i was in for four or five years and

00:26:16.700 nobody any farther out from that uh now i'm living rural and i i know everybody within two miles of

00:26:23.300 my place you know uh either passingly or quite well there's more of an attitude seems to get up

00:26:28.440 get to know people i mean part of the reason i knew that is i go to things at our community hall

00:26:31.960 i i go to events in our area this is the kind of event that people can come out to like i said it

00:26:37.400 bonds your neighborhood even if again you might have some political differences yeah it's a good

00:26:43.560 time i uh we did an event in um i want to say brooks or medicine hat one of the two around there

00:26:51.720 uh but but anyway uh a fellow that uh him and i have been chirping back and forth at each other

00:26:57.160 on social media for quite some time,

00:26:59.120 which is easy to do when you're not face-to-face, right?

00:27:01.120 We've been kind of rude to each other.

00:27:02.560 It's the McBride's Bakery guy, you know?

00:27:05.080 He became pretty famous on social media.

00:27:07.760 He's against most things that I am for,

00:27:09.940 but he came to one of my events,

00:27:11.360 and I met him and shook his hand,

00:27:13.920 and we talked to each other like human beings beforehand.

00:27:16.520 Then he respectfully asked some questions.

00:27:19.160 I answered them, and it was all good.

00:27:21.100 You know, and that doesn't happen on social media.

00:27:22.800 It's so much easier just to chirp and beak at each other

00:27:25.900 than to actually, you know, engage and talk about what's concerning to both of you.

00:27:30.760 And that's what happens at the face-to-face thing.

00:27:33.240 Yeah, no, and I'm certainly as guilty of getting on the phone

00:27:36.280 and belting out things more easily than maybe if I'm face-to-face.

00:27:40.980 I'm pretty inclined to be a crabby face-to-face if I feel the need to be as well,

00:27:45.820 but I'm more inclined to wait five seconds before saying something

00:27:48.780 that maybe just didn't need to be said that way.

00:27:51.740 And I think that's something that happens to all of us.

00:27:54.140 So where do people find out about these meetings?

00:27:56.860 You know, because I know they're kind of a quick turnover.

00:27:59.240 So it's not like you have them showing six weeks out or anything like that,

00:28:03.280 but they're traveling all over.

00:28:04.920 What's the place to keep up with it?

00:28:06.960 So we are working on that.

00:28:08.480 The website's letstalkalberta.com.

00:28:10.980 So you can find our upcoming events.

00:28:13.500 I just built a really cool chatbot.

00:28:15.220 You can go in there and you can ask it any question you want about Alberta independence,

00:28:18.780 about where our next meetings are, what is Let's Talk Alberta,

00:28:21.600 any of those things, and it will give you the information.

00:28:23.480 If it can't, it's going to get you in touch with me so that I can get you the information.

00:28:27.700 And of course, it's AI, so they can make mistakes and stuff.

00:28:30.640 So don't take that as gospel truth.

00:28:32.660 Always check the resources.

00:28:34.920 But yeah, letstalkalberta.com.

00:28:37.360 And as for booking in advance, we've been working pretty hard on fundraising and building

00:28:42.500 a little bit of a nest egg so that we can book these things in advance.

00:28:46.100 I want to have things booked two months out.

00:28:48.500 That's really important to me so that people can plan to be there and they can see what

00:28:53.460 what's coming so they can make their choices. But that does require a very significant nest egg.

00:28:58.860 These events, they're running an average of about $2,000 a piece. So if you think about booking

00:29:03.860 30 events in advance, well, that's $60,000. And we run this just out of our own bank accounts for

00:29:08.860 now. It's all us doing it and then people chipping in when they do it. So once we get a little bit

00:29:14.180 more established and we have that nest egg, we'll be able to book a lot further out.

00:29:19.020 Yeah. And then folks have been very supportive, uh, as I, I know going there and the other

00:29:23.620 speakers, I mean, we'll get a few bucks for gas, a bucket will get handed around and some of us

00:29:27.700 sell merch or I flog books. Uh, one more thing I'll let people know though. I mean, it's important,

00:29:31.900 you know, you sell a lot of great stuff and that's what helps fund this. Like it's not a

00:29:35.060 membership thing or so on, uh, at your site, the whistle stops, some great swag and some great

00:29:40.080 independent stuff before I let you go. Uh, where can people get to that sort of thing?

00:29:43.600 So Whistle Stop stuff, like what I'm wearing, this Republic of Alberta hat, this cool free Alberta shirt, but you can't see.

00:29:50.780 Oh, you can't really see because it's framing my face.

00:29:54.020 But it's all at WhistleStopTruckStop.ca.

00:29:57.220 There's quite a bit of stuff there.

00:29:58.440 And the reason we do that, number one, I'm a business.

00:30:00.640 I have employees.

00:30:01.440 I like to pay them well, as well as I can in this industry.

00:30:04.940 And we need to support that way.

00:30:06.360 But also, I love when we go out and we see people wearing their opinions, wearing their stance, wearing their Alberta stuff.

00:30:13.600 We go to an event and there's a sea of blue and blue hats.

00:30:16.400 And it's just really cool to see this,

00:30:20.260 that we're not this small group where it's a real legitimate movement

00:30:24.200 and the people are showing up for it.

00:30:27.580 Right on.

00:30:28.520 Well, I'll let you go.

00:30:29.720 I know you got a lot of prep.

00:30:30.600 It's a busy day, especially when you're doing those meal ones.

00:30:33.040 So I'll see you tonight in Okatooks and maybe a few of our viewers will pop out

00:30:36.340 and we'll see some of them there too.

00:30:37.660 So thanks for what you're doing and thanks for the time.

00:30:40.240 And we'll talk again very soon.

00:30:42.700 my pleasure and thank you Corey and you mentioned your book that is one of the best books

00:30:48.040 summarizing the independence movement and then the path forward I've seen so I hope lots of people

00:30:53.560 buy it well thanks I appreciate that all right well that guys that was Chris Scott from the

00:31:00.340 Whistle Stop Cafe and as you can see an active Albertan out there getting stuff done on the

00:31:05.300 ground check it out Let's Talk Alberta the name basically says it and yeah Okotoks tonight and

00:31:11.480 events going on all over the province. I don't know if I'll make it to that Indian cabins one, 1.00

00:31:15.840 but you never know. I did want to La Crete a little while back and that's not too far from 1.00

00:31:19.560 there actually. So these discussions, I mean, uh, and we can see some of the discussion in the

00:31:24.440 comments. It's, it's, uh, uh, it's, it's a complicated issue with a lot of questions,

00:31:29.920 some good, and not every question is always good, but, uh, there's some better than others.

00:31:34.600 Uh, R.C. Lemoureux is saying, you know, who's going to hire the bureaucrats that run an

00:31:38.600 independent Alberta. Yeah. Bureaucrats are one of those evils in life, you know, necessary evils.

00:31:44.660 You can't get away from them, but you really want to try and minimize them. I know that there's a

00:31:49.440 risk inherent and an independent Alberta could slap in a system that's just as bad as the one 1.00

00:31:53.240 that left or, you know, leaves bureaucratic control rather than individual control. And that's where

00:31:58.700 I'm talking about us wanting to be as informed as we possibly can going into this voting.

00:32:05.020 if things became independent, make sure that we're taking part in the Constitutional Convention

00:32:10.300 to entrench a system as good as possible. My thoughts are, I think most things are cyclical.

00:32:17.260 It's kind of like your phone or your computer. If you leave it too long running without a reboot,

00:32:22.540 it gets too bunged up, it slows down, there's way too much crap running in the background,

00:32:26.840 and your unit becomes useless. I feel a democracy is pretty similar. When you get that bureaucratic 0.88

00:32:33.240 bloat that doesn't allow you to move or flex or be functional any longer but we don't have an on

00:32:39.100 off button the thing i can see is a reset switch actually is an independent phone break out break

00:32:45.540 the system but rebuild it you know it's not like that's part of it you can reboot a computer i'm

00:32:50.480 not talking about taking a hammer to it and then not having a spare computer then you're going to

00:32:53.580 be in trouble uh somebody uh wayne asking about the address in okotoks i think it's at the viking

00:32:59.260 center people in okotoks will know that a viking rental center and it's going to be somewhere in

00:33:03.580 there uh you know rc feels without a miracle uh we've lost our land to invaders uh in independent

00:33:11.220 alberta not well i don't know i don't give up i mean i i rest assured i'm cynical and i know

00:33:15.780 things are tough and they're going to be hard and they won't necessarily go easily but uh

00:33:20.620 i'm still optimistic we just keep at it i mean i think things will improve it's just a matter how

00:33:25.540 bad it has to get before people are ready to do it. And I fear for how bad it will get

00:33:29.520 before it reaches that point, right? Then you've got

00:33:33.540 a lot to fix at that point. But the conversations are

00:33:37.540 out there. We've never seen anything like this before.

00:33:41.560 We've never moved towards a referendum before. And

00:33:45.600 it's hard to say where it's going to go. The support is stronger than ever.

00:33:49.820 But it's also not been growing much lately. There's still

00:33:53.300 a massive undecided amount out there that if this is going to happen, they're going to have to be

00:33:58.120 one. An interesting exchange in the House of Commons the other day, when there's been a lot

00:34:03.480 of debate on whether 50% plus one would be enough or not. And the federal government, liberal member

00:34:09.080 of parliament repeatedly, under questioning from the bloc, said 50% plus one is enough.

00:34:14.660 That's interesting. It's very rarely when they've actually already said and clarified that. Now,

00:34:18.720 honestly if alberta voted with with 50 plus one you know on october 19th to go i don't think it

00:34:25.400 would be enough to get out just in the fact that it would turn into a nightmare of protests and

00:34:28.760 challenges and fights they this for this to work it has to be at least a few percent past 50 that's

00:34:35.200 my view but technically the house of commons has now said 50 plus one there's part of why i don't

00:34:42.760 feel and it showed that the federal government people say they'll never allow it to happen in

00:34:47.460 Alberta, they'll never allow the process to go or they'll never allow a referendum or whatever.

00:34:51.060 If the government says that they can't to Alberta, they are by default saying that Quebec can't

00:34:57.720 either. And they won't do that. We saw that with the House of Commons discussion. If it was just

00:35:02.200 about Alberta, they would have said, we want 65% in a referendum, but they were terrified of Quebec.

00:35:06.900 They don't care about Alberta. They don't respect Alberta. We've established that.

00:35:10.980 But their testes pop up pretty fast when it comes to negotiating with Quebec. They get

00:35:17.180 totally afraid. So, no, they're not going to shut down

00:35:19.360 Alberta. They'll do everything they can to fight us, though.

00:35:21.860 And we'll see our tax dollars coming against

00:35:23.380 us. I kind of segued that into, Dave

00:35:25.180 mentioned that in the news story. The CBC funded

00:35:27.320 this bizarre

00:35:28.660 company to

00:35:31.040 run these attack

00:35:35.000 interviews.

00:35:37.440 And it was through APT

00:35:39.200 and the Aboriginal Network. And then, yeah,

00:35:41.120 they brought up American producers.

00:35:43.200 And I suggest, if you're online, look

00:35:45.140 up the video from francis widowson because they didn't realize what they were getting into when

00:35:49.780 they went after her so they they've been trying to frame themselves as a a modern or a canadian

00:35:54.980 borat you know where where if you remember his films he would get people up and and he would

00:35:59.860 fool them into interviews and and make things foolish but this was not as nuanced or as good

00:36:05.100 as that so i guess you know again francis widowson's been a professor who's been very outspoken on the

00:36:09.360 hoax with the cameloops residential school graves and and such and and they want to push back so

00:36:14.540 they set her up with an interview this is the extent of it though i mean they flew her from

00:36:18.940 calgary to wherever that interview was i don't know it was vancouver or toronto or whatever

00:36:22.340 huge studio had to be a dozen people in there all lit and then they it was a a hoax they brought in

00:36:30.960 activists who dumped a bunch of shoes on the table in front of her and everything but a whole bunch

00:36:34.740 of people more most people maybe i would have done the same thing would just like when you realize 0.97

00:36:39.800 like this is a setup just get up and walk out but she actually know francis is a tough tough woman 1.00

00:36:46.720 she just turned on her phone and turned the whole thing around and you can see the awkwardness and 0.96

00:36:53.300 embarrassment of this this goofball he was an american import i believe who was the host of this

00:36:58.480 affair in the studio when when she started questioning him i mean he she called him mr 0.98

00:37:03.700 smarmy because he had his little smirk and everything but he was crapping himself like

00:37:07.040 what do we do now? I didn't expect anybody to push back. I didn't expect anybody to question me.

00:37:12.540 And it turns out now that they'd done a setup with Lindsay Shepard as well. She'd written a

00:37:17.440 children's book, you know, positive about Sir John A. Macdonald. And of course, the woke world

00:37:22.840 hates Sir John A. Macdonald. They hate Canadian identity. They hate Canadian history. So they set

00:37:28.820 her up for one of these. I guess they tried to get Jonathan Kay as well. And this is where our

00:37:38.540 tax dollars are going. This is the cultural battle, the social battle that we've got going on right

00:37:44.080 now out there when they will fund crap like this. I don't, after this blow up, I got a feeling, 0.94

00:37:51.260 because even some pretty left of center media members and others are already crapping all over

00:37:55.980 this. Like, what are you guys doing? I think it's never going to get broadcast, you know,

00:37:59.660 but they don't care because the six figures or more, maybe seven figures, who knows how much 0.94

00:38:04.240 got tossed at them to make this garbage. They'll just fill their pockets and go home. They don't 0.95

00:38:09.800 need to, uh, uh, put it on the air. It doesn't matter at that point to them. Here's a comment,

00:38:18.900 you know, Lee, Mary harder, WS maybe make the article free. If you're going to offer help with

00:38:22.460 sharing a GFP. I'm not sure about what you mean with the GFP, but look, guys,

00:38:27.280 we can't make things for free. We've got a studio. We've got a producer. I got reporters.

00:38:32.760 We've got costs. You know, you used to have to buy a newspaper, even if it was only 25 cents or

00:38:41.900 50 cents. You used to have to subscribe if you wanted to deliver to your home. And it wasn't a

00:38:48.300 lot. A newspaper subscription for those who used to get them were what? 10 bucks a month, 12 bucks

00:38:52.860 a month. Well, that's what we're asking now. And it accounted for inflation. You're getting a really

00:38:58.060 good deal. So, I mean, I know we, we, we do broadcast for free. You can see this, you can

00:39:04.900 hear us here. There's all sorts of content we put out, but I'm afraid we, we can't go totally for

00:39:09.120 free. We, we started our model five, six years ago with the Western standard, just based on

00:39:12.840 advertising. We really did. Anybody could get in. There was no paywall and, uh, and you can see it,

00:39:18.620 but eventually we grew and which was great. But to the point that if we wanted to grow further,

00:39:22.920 we had to move to a subscription model. There was just no other way to pay the bills.

00:39:27.000 And it caused a lot of readership when we switched over to that. Um, and we offer a lot

00:39:32.580 of specials. If you want to watch those things and so on here, you can get some good deals on

00:39:35.920 subscriptions and so on, but we just had to move over and it's been a success though. I understand

00:39:40.180 that'd be nice if we could just, you know, have that out there for everybody to see. I really do

00:39:45.120 wish that was the case. We just can't afford to do it that way. And that's why, again, I really do

00:39:50.280 appreciate those who do subscribe though. And I understand that not everybody can afford to

00:39:54.800 subscribe to every publication and I'm sorry about that. I really am, but we do the thing.

00:39:58.680 So here's a, again, somebody kicking in, which I appreciate FHawk595 with a super chat with $20.

00:40:07.000 I appreciate that. It does add up. And he says, hi, Corey, thank you for your hard work. We need

00:40:10.260 to answer the question of what's going to happen to the RRSP funds and retirement funds. How are

00:40:14.840 people going to be taxed? This could be a showstopper for some. That's a fantastic question.

00:40:21.200 And it's a real concern for people. Now, RRSPs, investments, things like that, those sorts of

00:40:28.560 tools, whether it's mutual funds, everything else, they're transferable. It doesn't matter

00:40:33.020 country to country. That's your fund. That's your asset. It will go with you. The harder question

00:40:40.160 is the tax deferral. So you might, let's say, for example, Alberta becomes independent.

00:40:48.920 You have a bunch of crude in your RRSP account, but the way the nature of those accounts work is

00:40:55.360 you owe some back taxes when you cash those to the federal government. And that's been a neat,

00:41:01.440 sticky one, but basically it can be accounted for. The reality is say we become independent,

00:41:07.700 you cash that RRSP, yet you still end up basically having to send a chunk to the federal government.

00:41:11.680 It's no different than if you didn't become independent. It's just a debt owed to them.

00:41:15.520 And that's kind of between you and them because it's a private RRSP. Now, pension funds are

00:41:20.740 different. And again, that's something that's owed to the person who's eligible to get that pension.

00:41:26.600 so if some of the people saying the federal government will cut off your pension payments

00:41:31.680 if you become independent well i don't think they will i think they're lying i think they're

00:41:36.560 fear-mongering on that whole hypothetical assuming we get to a yes vote it means negotiations begin

00:41:44.480 and one of those negotiations they're going to want alberta to take a piece of the debt

00:41:49.320 and if they expect us to take a piece of the debt part of the negotiations as per the supreme court

00:41:55.620 ruling in the Clarity Act has to be in good faith. And if you cut off Albertans who are entitled to

00:42:00.640 a pension payment because of a yes vote, you're not negotiating in good faith. So we'll tell you

00:42:05.120 guys to take your debt and stick it up somewhere dark because we can afford to cover the pension

00:42:09.740 obligations for Albertans anyways, if we're out, especially if we don't take on that debt. So

00:42:14.600 that's kind of how the back and forth negotiations would go. The pension payments will continue to

00:42:21.920 Alberta seniors. And it's worth talking about because it's very important because people are

00:42:25.260 worried. A crappy pension plan is better than no pension plan. And people are concerned. It's sad

00:42:35.160 that we have so many Albertans that are one pension payment away from perhaps insolvency

00:42:39.660 or having a really hard time because it's only 800, 900, 1200 a month at the top. And that kind

00:42:45.340 of shows you, you worked a whole lifetime and that's what you get for it in the end.

00:42:48.800 So that's why we do want to move towards a provincial one. But as advocates for independence,

00:42:52.060 you always have to make very clear for people that their RRSP will be safe. Look, you can move

00:42:56.820 to Germany and retire there. You will still get your CPP payment. Those things move with you.

00:43:01.540 They are transferable. The thing I would worry about, and we've got to be realistic with some

00:43:05.000 people with concerns and things, is that with a yes vote in independence, the dollar will take

00:43:10.540 a tumble for a bit. There's no doubt about that. And that will impact the savings that are in

00:43:14.800 Canadian dollars and the obligations that are coming in Canadian dollars. We don't want to

00:43:18.480 lie to people about some of the pain that will have to come before the game. And that's why as

00:43:23.160 Albertans, we got to make sure our seniors are covered right after the day after and all the

00:43:27.200 way through so that we are hurting ourselves, you know, needlessly as we move towards an

00:43:32.340 independent state. Another quick comment from F Hawk who put up another super chat and I

00:43:36.400 appreciate it. Independence is more than pipelines. It's a way of life. And I like to be able to close

00:43:40.940 on that because it's a really good statement because we talk about pipes. My rant was about

00:43:45.260 pipes and so many other things. Uh, but even if the pipe was approved and built tomorrow,

00:43:50.840 I would be just as much an independent advocate as I am today because it's more than that. It's

00:43:57.300 a broken system. We need to, that the pipe is just a good example of how stupid and broken 1.00

00:44:03.600 our system is, but it's much more, it's personal freedoms. It's, uh, you know, having a system 0.99

00:44:09.700 that's accountable to us. As I said, it's the one that needs that reboot because it's a pipe

00:44:13.900 that's clogged with a bunch of trash that needs to be flushed out if we want it to be functional.

00:44:22.140 Here's Cyril saying, an independent Alberta could open an investment fund that outperforms the

00:44:25.560 others and pay any share of national debt owed. We can make money on it. Yeah, I think if we do

00:44:29.980 things right, we could do much, much better. We can also do them worse. So that's why we got to

00:44:34.080 be careful. That's why we got to have those talks. That's why I flogged things like that just talk.

00:44:38.100 It is important. So I'm going to close up. I didn't talk much more about that swarming.

00:44:42.600 check out Linda Slobodian's column check out all of Linda Slobodian's columns they're always

00:44:47.560 fantastic and she breaks those things down because that swarming still is a sign of a bigger social

00:44:53.800 ill a sign of seriousness with our young people it's awful and we don't want to see more of it

00:45:00.180 and you know I don't want to see a bunch of girls thrown in jail for 20 years they better all of

00:45:05.740 those who participated should be paying some penalties and price for this without doubt 0.98

00:45:09.360 but let's this is one of the things we want to look at and say what the heck happened here

00:45:14.000 that led to that awful awful thing we're better and we can be better let's keep things optimistic

00:45:21.160 alberta is the best place on earth guys we've got so much potential we got so many great people

00:45:26.040 we will fix things we got the means at our fingertips all right i'll leave it to that

00:45:30.580 tune into the pipeline tonight there will be a panel we're going to talk about a few more of

00:45:33.480 these things as we go on with that and subscribe and like all those western standard channels guys

00:45:38.040 because we are putting out content like crazy it's hard to get studio time anymore poor john

00:45:42.760 is running so hard producing all of that stuff and you don't need a subscription to see our digital

00:45:47.240 stuff there guys so thank you very much for tuning in today and uh we will see you on the next one

00:45:53.240 at this time next week.

00:45:54.200 Thanks.

Western Standard - May 16, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Alberta’s humiliating negotiations with Carney have gone on long enough

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