Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Alberta’s union-initiated MLA recall stunt has collapsed

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

00:00:30.160 As you can see over my shoulder, we've got somebody else in the new guy chair there.

00:00:34.760 That's Jackson Loy.

00:00:36.160 So keep an eye.

00:00:37.200 Let's see if he's biting his nails or something.

00:00:39.600 He hasn't eaten any noodles or anything yet, but everybody gets their introduction to the

00:00:44.040 Western Standard getting to sit behind me for one of these shows.

00:00:46.580 So as you can see, for Jackson and you guys, it is a live show.

00:00:49.460 Be sure you use that comment, scroll, send your ideas, thoughts my way.

00:00:54.040 You know, just keep civil and try not to get on each other's case too badly.

00:00:57.800 We can save that for X.

00:00:59.240 I've got for our return guests, I guess you could say we'll get it together this time.

00:01:03.180 It's Sylvester from Stay Free Alberta on the petition for a referendum in Alberta.

00:01:08.900 It's been busy going wild.

00:01:11.360 I mean, the town halls have just been overflowing.

00:01:13.080 I've been going to them, but it's kind of strange.

00:01:15.300 They've switched.

00:01:16.380 It's no longer APP now.

00:01:17.840 It's Stay Free and you've got a petition in certain areas and things.

00:01:20.280 So we'll go over a bit of that.

00:01:23.120 All right.

00:01:23.440 Well, let's get on something I've been looking forward to talking about, but I had to wait

00:01:26.300 till the deadline's approached.

00:01:28.540 And that's direct democracy in Alberta and the recall legislation.

00:01:31.380 So in the background, you know, enraged over the back to work order imposed on striking Alberta

00:01:36.900 teachers and they were emboldened by the success of Thomas Lukasik's petition about nothing.

00:01:42.820 Union activists felt they could capitalize on the ire and use Alberta's recall legislation

00:01:47.980 to overthrow the UCP government.

00:01:49.720 And I mean, in theory, it could be done.

00:01:51.980 Daniel Smith's party only holds a narrow majority, actually.

00:01:54.980 And if as many as five seats were fully flipped over the NDP and ahead an inch, you would become

00:01:58.540 the premier with a majority government.

00:02:00.780 So they began with the lowest hanging fruit.

00:02:02.640 They went after Calgary, Bo MLA, Dimitrios Nicolaitis.

00:02:06.700 Now, the choice made sense.

00:02:08.920 Nicolaitis is the Alberta education minister and he won the constituency by only a little more

00:02:16.740 than 600 votes in the last election.

00:02:19.060 So if a by-election were held in Calgary, Bo, there'd be a chance that they could swing

00:02:22.880 that to the NDP.

00:02:24.400 Now, legacy media and establishment pundits, they were overjoyed with this development.

00:02:27.860 They report on the initiation of the recall process against Nicolaitis as if it was a true

00:02:31.940 uprising of Alberta voters.

00:02:33.740 They laughed at how Daniel Smith's own recall legislation was being turned upon one of their

00:02:38.180 own members.

00:02:39.140 Some speculated it might be the beginning of the end of the UCP government.

00:02:43.180 And the recall applications, they spread further.

00:02:45.120 Every few days, legacy media jubilantly reported that elections in Alberta had approved another

00:02:48.780 recall initiative against the UCP MLA.

00:02:51.360 Soon, 26 recall initiatives have been approved, representing nearly 30% of the seats in the

00:02:56.320 legislature.

00:02:57.580 Legacy media's hushed tones implying a government overthrow were becoming shouts from the rooftops.

00:03:02.260 Surely Daniel Smith's government is going to be humiliated, hoisted by its own petard.

00:03:06.560 Political scientists speculated Alberta would be heading to a spring election so Smith could

00:03:11.500 avoid being brought down by all these recall initiatives.

00:03:14.380 Oh boy, yeah, they were really worked up.

00:03:16.180 And then when UCP Minister Rebecca Schultz resigned from cabinet, headlines ensured to

00:03:20.620 note that Schultz was one of the MLAs facing a recall initiative.

00:03:23.560 Was she fleeing before the recall could happen?

00:03:25.880 The deadline for the first recall is now less than a week away.

00:03:29.340 And reality's come home to roost.

00:03:31.680 The prime activist organizing a recall against Demetrius Nicolaitis was forced to admit that

00:03:36.880 with months to work at it, she's only garnered 6,000 signatures on her petition.

00:03:40.980 That leaves her 10,000 short of the number required to trigger a recall.

00:03:45.900 With this kind of petition, there's usually about a 10% error rate in the signatures too.

00:03:50.820 So her initiative is more likely closer to 11,600 signatures short of the mark.

00:03:55.940 It didn't even come close to making it.

00:03:58.000 Nicolaitis' political career may face many challenges, but being recalled isn't one of

00:04:01.920 them right now.

00:04:02.840 So why though was it impossible for the petitioner to get 16,000 signatures in one constituency when

00:04:07.720 Lukasik managed to get 400,000 of them across the province?

00:04:11.400 Well, it's because recall legislation is written to ensure the initiative must remain local.

00:04:15.660 Petitioners have to be registered and they got to live within the constituency.

00:04:19.340 Outside money and workers can't be used on a recall initiative.

00:04:23.580 Lukasik was able to utilize union and activist groups and concentrate his petitioning efforts

00:04:29.120 in an area of strong support.

00:04:30.820 The activists targeting Nicolaitis have to use local resources and they have to get only

00:04:35.020 local people signing and she clearly couldn't gather enough of them.

00:04:37.960 Real petitioning is tough work.

00:04:39.360 Anybody can make an online petition that can garner thousands of signatures in a short

00:04:42.760 time, but to get real physical signatures in person with a name, address, phone number

00:04:47.040 gathered by a registered petitioner is a whole different story.

00:04:50.340 A hardworking petitioner working on an eight-hour day might get 100 signatures.

00:04:54.520 To get 16,000 or more takes a large organization with a motivated electorate.

00:04:59.260 And neither of those existed in Cowriebeau and it doesn't exist in any other constituencies.

00:05:03.140 Look, all it takes to start an initiative is 500 bucks in an application formed to Elections

00:05:07.920 Alberta and that's the easiest part.

00:05:09.980 That's why 26 of them were set off.

00:05:12.180 The petitioning part though has stopped the initiatives in their tracks.

00:05:15.720 The rest of the initiatives are in areas with even stronger support for the UCP than Calgary

00:05:19.340 Boat.

00:05:19.960 One of them is against Daniel Smith in Burke's Medicine Hat where she won with 66% of the vote.

00:05:24.680 Another is in Highwood where the UCP candidate won with 69% of the vote.

00:05:28.000 These initiatives are dead in the water.

00:05:29.560 However, in a way it's good that Alberta's unions put the recall legislation to the test

00:05:33.320 like this.

00:05:33.740 They prove that the bar is set high enough to stop frivolous recall efforts and the abuses

00:05:38.740 of the system.

00:05:39.340 But it's not set so high that it's impossible to initiate one.

00:05:42.920 But it'll only have success in the most exceptional of circumstances and that's what it was supposed

00:05:46.820 to be there for.

00:05:47.800 A local MLA will have had to have breached public trust so badly that a large majority of

00:05:53.200 local electors feel they can't wait until the next election to fire their representative.

00:05:57.120 And a lot of MLAs have ticked people off but they haven't.

00:05:59.560 reached that bar yet and the electoral cycle will take care of it, I guess, in a year

00:06:04.220 and a half from now.

00:06:05.420 Union temper tantrums aren't going to cut it. 0.88

00:06:07.420 The upcoming year is going to be a historic one.

00:06:09.140 We've got petitioning to invoke an independence referendum.

00:06:11.580 It's almost sure to be successful.

00:06:13.600 And not necessarily the referendum, but the petitioning for the recall, or referendum anyways.

00:06:18.860 So it's time to turn the page on the recall stunt.

00:06:20.940 Pay close attention to real direct democracy in action though and it's sweeping the province

00:06:24.840 right now.

00:06:25.200 All right.

00:06:26.580 Well, that's what's got me going on right now.

00:06:28.140 How's it going, Dave?

00:06:29.020 Corey, my friend.

00:06:29.920 You have my deepest sympathies.

00:06:32.080 I figured you were going to want to go on about this.

00:06:35.380 Let's get it out.

00:06:37.200 Well, you guys lost your seventh straight playoff game.

00:06:40.860 Yes.

00:06:41.240 Seven straights. 0.74

00:06:41.760 0-7.

00:06:42.860 Not a good record.

00:06:44.080 And for those who don't watch regularly, yes, I'm a Steelers fan.

00:06:46.740 Still a Steelers fan.

00:06:48.520 Disappointed Steelers fan.

00:06:49.960 And you had to stay up till 2 a.m. to watch the game.

00:06:52.960 Yes, because I had been at a speaking event up in Bentley while the game was on.

00:06:58.900 So for a change, people might have noticed a gap of five hours of me no more on Twitter

00:07:03.680 or anywhere on social media because I didn't want to find out the score.

00:07:05.800 So I sat up that late to replay the game and see them mutilated at 32-6.

00:07:12.440 Ouch.

00:07:13.120 Ouch.

00:07:13.800 Well, I have offered you a chance to jump on the Seahawks bandwagon and you turned me down.

00:07:19.020 I'm afraid.

00:07:19.640 So that was a family commitment thing.

00:07:21.860 I would lean that way.

00:07:22.720 But my daughter's a 49ers fan, so I got to cheer for the 49ers.

00:07:26.160 Okay.

00:07:26.480 Well, maybe next week after we thrash the 49ers.

00:07:29.080 I'll see at that point.

00:07:30.180 Then I'll stay to the West.

00:07:31.220 I'll promise that.

00:07:32.120 What are we going to do about Jackson's mustache?

00:07:34.140 I mean, that is cheesy, right?

00:07:36.560 Yeah, it's that youthful pornstache.

00:07:38.940 We're seeing more of those going around.

00:07:40.260 That look, you know, it's kind of him, I guess.

00:07:42.120 Maybe I'll have a chat with him after we're done with.

00:07:45.100 A little caterpillar on there.

00:07:47.420 Lots going on in the news this morning.

00:07:49.400 Corey, we've got more details on that horrible, horrible attack on that woman in Edgemont in Calgary.

00:07:55.720 She was showing her house off to a possible tenant and he attacked her and tried to strangle her to death.

00:08:03.600 And it's a miracle this woman is alive and she fought back and was able to kill her attacker.

00:08:12.020 And Calgary police say it's the most blatant case, the most obvious case of self-defense that they've ever seen.

00:08:19.060 And we're all on tenterhooks for Iran, waiting for Donald Trump to press the button.

00:08:28.460 U.S. bases in Qatar are evacuating personnel.

00:08:32.120 So it looks like something will happen.

00:08:33.720 And it's also a race to save the life of that guy who's become the face of the rebels, who's due to be hung at some point today.

00:08:46.740 Francois Legault resigned as premier of Quebec today.

00:08:52.660 His party is doing terribly in the polls and would have been wiped out.

00:08:57.800 And they're going to get a new leader in before the fall election.

00:09:02.720 Interesting.

00:09:03.300 You'll find this one interesting, Corey.

00:09:05.400 The government has been ordered to release all the files into the Kamloops Residential School alleged graves.

00:09:13.680 You remember when the First Nation made that allegation, they got $12 million.

00:09:19.320 One of the things they had to do was report on the progress that they were making.

00:09:23.460 And the government has so far refused to hold it, refused to release it.

00:09:30.900 And the Information Commissioner came out today and ordered it to be released.

00:09:39.440 And Canada's former, this is not a good portion of Canada's history.

00:09:45.540 When we fled from Afghanistan and left people behind, the former ambassador there has admitted for the first time it was a bit of a mess up.

00:09:55.100 And David Duckworth, Calgary's top civil servant, is keeping his job.

00:09:59.200 There were some media columnists who were demanding that he be fired and thought that it would happen.

00:10:05.100 And it didn't happen.

00:10:06.460 He has survived.

00:10:07.360 So he gets to stay on and lead us through our water woes.

00:10:11.400 Well, yeah, it's interesting.

00:10:12.300 I mean, Mike Thomas there is watching everything City Hall and covering it excellently as usual.

00:10:17.440 I mean, we thought this would be the first time finally somebody senior at City Hall in the administration is going to...

00:10:23.680 Boy, they've got a stranglehold on the elected. 0.99

00:10:26.780 I don't know what it'll take.

00:10:28.100 There's just no accountability at all.

00:10:29.860 If this doesn't get someone fired, nothing will.

00:10:31.980 No, no.

00:10:33.900 Again, I took the wrong career path.

00:10:35.680 I know.

00:10:36.320 Should have been a federal order of...

00:10:37.680 400 and some grand a year and probably more pensions than you can count.

00:10:42.840 Well, what was it Duckworth said?

00:10:44.060 That he had to get mental health counseling for his staff.

00:10:47.880 There were little ducklings under him when the report was released because, you know, it was saying naughty things about...

00:10:54.100 Yeah, it was a scathing report by an independent group.

00:10:57.180 And, you know, before he sent it out to his staff, Duckworth had crisis counselors on hold.

00:11:02.560 Oh, lots of wimps. 0.99

00:11:03.680 It's, you know, it's ridiculous. 0.55

00:11:05.940 I mean, these people have tried to work a day in the real world and where you get real ramifications and they just wouldn't last.

00:11:14.260 Well, I mean, I still hold optimism with Jeremy Farkas.

00:11:17.760 He's an interesting one.

00:11:18.820 Yeah.

00:11:18.920 To be fair, he's not really hard to the right or left.

00:11:21.620 He just kind of goes with what he is.

00:11:22.940 He's a smart guy.

00:11:24.140 And we'll see what happens in Calgary City Hall.

00:11:26.960 It sure needs a change.

00:11:29.140 Something needs to happen, yeah.

00:11:30.980 Right on.

00:11:31.640 Well, I'll let you get back to your newsroom covering all that.

00:11:34.560 Growing your playoff beard, I guess.

00:11:36.100 Yes, playoff beard.

00:11:37.020 Not shaving until Seattle wins the Super Bowl.

00:11:40.240 Oh, boy.

00:11:41.100 Hopefully it's this year.

00:11:42.260 Hopefully.

00:11:43.860 You'll be rubbing it in for our gentleman who has difficulty with this.

00:11:47.080 Yeah, so I'm going to go talk to him about his mustache right now.

00:11:49.780 All right.

00:11:50.360 Thanks, Dave.

00:11:50.940 You bet, Corey.

00:11:51.380 All right.

00:11:52.080 That is our news editor, Dave Naylor.

00:11:54.700 And yes, I mean, look, stories all over the place.

00:11:57.160 I mean, from international, you know, things in Iran going on to locally in Calgary where, yeah, the water lines are falling apart yet again and everything else in between.

00:12:06.060 And new reporters, as you can see in the background.

00:12:09.000 The reason we can do that is because you guys are subscribed.

00:12:11.460 So I've got to remind you, get on there, guys.

00:12:13.420 Westernstandard.news slash subscription.

00:12:15.760 Take one out.

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00:12:22.580 You can get to everything, get these stories as we're writing them.

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00:12:27.080 We can keep getting those reporters spreading out.

00:12:29.900 We've got Jeremy Borg out in Toronto.

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00:12:34.820 We've got people all across this country.

00:12:37.720 So, again, thank you if you've subscribed already.

00:12:40.520 If you haven't yet, it's about time.

00:12:43.300 Let's see what we got.

00:12:46.220 Some of the things in comments.

00:12:47.640 Either way, plenty going on out there.

00:12:51.120 Hopefully, we're going to have Mitch in pretty soon in a couple of minutes here.

00:12:54.720 So, yeah.

00:12:55.400 I mean, he's going to be talking about the independence movement.

00:12:58.320 So, the referendum campaign in Alberta, well, the referendum itself isn't going yet.

00:13:04.620 So, what's going on?

00:13:05.740 There's just so much confusion.

00:13:06.720 And that's what I'm looking forward to Mitch clarifying a bunch of stuff on.

00:13:10.320 So, what's got to happen?

00:13:11.680 I'll kind of give those steps.

00:13:12.700 They need over 177,000 signatures on a petition.

00:13:15.780 Real signatures, like I was talking about earlier with direct democracy.

00:13:18.720 Has to be physical.

00:13:19.760 Has to be with an accredited petitioner there who registers with elections in Alberta.

00:13:24.260 Not just somebody picking up a clipboard and going to the door.

00:13:27.320 And they've got four months to do it.

00:13:29.420 And as I said, about 10% of those will get thrown out.

00:13:32.100 Now, this group, the Independence Bunch, APP, which now is Stay Free Alberta is the group doing it.

00:13:38.560 Mitch will explain why that had changed.

00:13:41.620 They're just going great.

00:13:42.660 I mean, they've been organizing for years.

00:13:43.800 They've been getting people ready to sign.

00:13:45.860 So, I attended a couple meetings.

00:13:48.680 One last weekend in Calgary, in South Calgary, and another one up in Bentley.

00:13:53.060 And we've been seeing the reports from Fort McMurray, Innisfail, Biceker, Lincoln Hall, just everywhere.

00:13:59.400 All these different ones.

00:14:00.560 Millet.

00:14:01.380 The same thing is happening at each and every one of them.

00:14:04.880 They are just overwhelmed with supporters.

00:14:09.540 They're just coming out in droves.

00:14:11.900 People lined up literally in Queensland down the road for blocks wanting to sign the petition.

00:14:18.920 And there was never a seat to be held for the speaking part.

00:14:21.960 A lot of people at both events I went to, likewise in Bentley I was speaking, there was maybe a couple hundred people in the hall I was speaking to.

00:14:29.400 But in the back, there was just an endless line of people coming and going, signing these petitions.

00:14:33.580 And this is just the first couple of weeks these guys have got months going on.

00:14:39.160 So, I mean, there's really something happening, you know, is the best way to put it.

00:14:44.440 Something special, something unusual.

00:14:45.800 I just want to put a note out to, it looks like a commenter, James Tower, you know, threw seven bucks at us.

00:14:52.840 Yeah, thank you.

00:14:53.520 You know, one of those things on YouTube, you can kind of toss a few dollars in to help and get some comments up there and things like that.

00:14:59.760 So, thank you very much, James.

00:15:01.320 Every bit helps us with independent media.

00:15:03.440 I mean, contrary to what some people might think, we aren't all actually all that rich and everything.

00:15:08.300 So, I appreciate that super chat going on there.

00:15:13.620 So, will we reach the, you know, the time lining for this petitioning and the rest?

00:15:21.160 I mean, I'll just carry on with that.

00:15:23.120 Four months of that, it's going to finish sometime in early May.

00:15:25.620 Probably would take elections, Alberta, a month perhaps to process that stuff and get it up there so that it can be approved, presumably.

00:15:38.320 And then the referendum would be held, I'm guessing, October.

00:15:42.700 That'd be my thought.

00:15:43.520 So, nine months of solid independence talk going on in Alberta, of re-evaluating what our place is in the Federation.

00:15:53.540 You know, polls have been coming out, different ones.

00:15:57.460 It's been interesting to see that.

00:15:59.360 And there's one group saying, this polling group saying there's 17% support for independence.

00:16:04.480 That's what they're claiming it at.

00:16:05.960 And another one, and these are both large pollsters, and the other one is saying 31%.

00:16:09.300 So, that's a rather big discrepancy.

00:16:13.940 You know, there's always going to be a little difference between pollsters and polls and things like that.

00:16:18.140 But a spread by that much is pretty outstanding.

00:16:21.860 So, what's going on out there?

00:16:24.720 I mean, this makes it hard to trust the polls.

00:16:26.720 It really does.

00:16:28.080 But most of them have stayed around 30% for the most part in the last year and some, especially since the last federal election.

00:16:36.740 Really brought people into realizing the futility of trying to change things within the Federation.

00:16:42.500 So, I figure it's probably still around 30%.

00:16:47.840 That's a long way from the 60%, I think, that really needs to happen. 1.00

00:16:55.220 And my guess would be that there's 30% that never are going to go for independence.

00:16:59.300 There's never.

00:16:59.800 I mean, that's fine.

00:17:00.860 It's a big leap.

00:17:02.200 It would have to get incredibly bad before we're looking at 80% or 90% support.

00:17:07.760 But 60%, I think, is very possible.

00:17:09.600 But it really depends on two things.

00:17:12.240 One is, how are the campaigners doing over the course of this next six, seven months?

00:17:17.980 And, of course, what the federal government does to inflame people further within the province and, you know, bring about that support.

00:17:28.720 So, some is beyond our control.

00:17:29.800 Some is within it.

00:17:31.980 Let's see.

00:17:32.740 What's this from James, a commenter?

00:17:34.360 What's this about sanctioned venues for signatures?

00:17:36.320 I thought as long as you have an Elections Alberta badge, you could be a canvasser and collect signatures pretty much anywhere.

00:17:40.840 Yes, there's some of the things I was really hoping Mitch would show up for, and hopefully we'll get him very soon.

00:17:45.580 To clarify on, so let me tell you about how it works with official petitioning.

00:17:53.000 I've signed up to be one, just as an Albertan.

00:17:54.680 I'm not a member of any group or anything else, but still as an Albertan.

00:17:57.100 It all has to run through State Free Alberta.

00:17:59.400 That's the proponent.

00:18:00.180 That's the one who filed to get a referendum going.

00:18:05.420 So, when you get involved in this, if you want to petition, you have to sign an NDA.

00:18:13.120 Some people were, that's a non-disclosure agreement.

00:18:15.360 They were all upset about that.

00:18:16.460 What's this about?

00:18:17.020 I won't have to sign it.

00:18:17.840 Look, what'll happen is you're going to get a bunch of people's personal information.

00:18:20.540 You're asking them to sign a petition to give their name, address, phone number, and all that.

00:18:24.840 They don't want to suddenly find out that they were on a bunch of mailing lists or that their employer found out that they signed something.

00:18:30.080 If their employer or not, that's all that's about.

00:18:32.080 It's just saying when you take those signatures, they will only be used for the point of the referendum, nothing else.

00:18:39.460 And then you go through, and I'm going to be going through one, a Zoom meeting with a training session.

00:18:47.240 So, they're going to go over some things with me and every other person who signs just to be sure you know exactly what you got to do.

00:18:53.340 I mean, there's a mistake that gets made a lot.

00:18:54.620 People get post office boxes on the signatures, for example, rather than a residential address.

00:19:00.900 You can't use that.

00:19:02.580 You must have it.

00:19:03.400 So, I'm going a long way here to explain what's going on.

00:19:08.500 So, Jeffrey Rath.

00:19:10.720 I really didn't want to get into him much.

00:19:12.300 He's one of the larger, in a number of ways, proponents of the independence movement.

00:19:18.680 And he's been very involved for a long time.

00:19:20.000 He's done a lot of really good work for it.

00:19:21.560 He really has.

00:19:22.140 He's brought it a long ways to where it is, but he's very outspoken on social media.

00:19:27.360 And he put out a tweet about events that Jason Levine, who's another independent media person, and he pulls people together and does things.

00:19:38.820 He's holding traveling meetings in bars just to talk about independence.

00:19:42.920 And Rath got very upset with it because he likes to keep everything around Rath.

00:19:46.560 So, he put out a large tweet this morning saying, this is unsanctioned meetings, and you can't sign at these things, essentially, or things like that.

00:19:54.780 And it caused a lot of confusion with people.

00:19:56.260 Well, can I sign there?

00:19:56.940 Can I not sign there?

00:19:57.860 What's going on?

00:19:58.800 Okay.

00:20:00.220 Anybody can hold a meeting.

00:20:02.360 I mean, you can't hold a meeting claiming you're with State Free Alberta if you're not.

00:20:05.540 And they weren't.

00:20:06.180 Nobody has been, aside from State Free Alberta, claiming to be State Free Alberta.

00:20:10.060 Anybody with, as James is asking, with their badge can be a canvasser and collect signatures when you've been properly registered.

00:20:19.360 You can go door to door.

00:20:21.100 You can have a little coffee meeting in your area.

00:20:23.760 You can do all of these things.

00:20:25.320 What we don't want, of course, is anybody misrepresenting.

00:20:28.440 Nobody would want to be, you know, saying they can collect signatures when they can't.

00:20:35.000 There's a lot of worries.

00:20:36.180 We saw some online people talking, saying that they're going to sabotage this by registering as canvassers and then falsely garnering signatures and then just throwing them away and things like that.

00:20:49.460 It could happen.

00:20:50.960 But how many?

00:20:52.200 How much?

00:20:52.920 I mean, look at the trouble.

00:20:54.060 And I know there's a lot of nuts that will get a lot of trouble out there. 0.95

00:20:56.420 Look at the trouble they would have to go through.

00:20:58.060 You'd have to sign up, put your personal information in, your ID, pretend, get all the way through the process, become accredited, get your badge.

00:21:09.640 Then you're going to have to take your own time going around door to door or whatever you're doing, getting all these signatures to throw away.

00:21:15.000 How many are you going to get?

00:21:16.300 A couple hundred?

00:21:17.920 We're talking about a movement that's dealing in the hundreds of thousands of signatures.

00:21:22.100 So any nutcase who's really going to go to that much difficulty to sabotage it, the impact is going to be negligible, to say the least.

00:21:34.320 So either way, this is how it works.

00:21:36.040 And if you're signing a petition, I guess I'll get that out there.

00:21:38.680 If somebody's bringing one to you, you will have, they will have a badge.

00:21:45.040 It's, you know, it's embossed.

00:21:46.180 It's stamped.

00:21:47.100 It's got, it's an Elections Alberta badge.

00:21:49.320 It's not something you can make easily at home or something like that.

00:21:52.360 They've been accredited to be able to garner these things and speak on behalf of that.

00:21:58.080 So it's kind of a little incumbent on you.

00:21:59.420 If you're worried about somebody disingenuously petitioning, well, make sure, ask for it.

00:22:04.700 If they aren't showing it, then certainly they should have those credentials with them while they're at it.

00:22:09.900 So, okay, great.

00:22:10.600 I think I see Mitch in the lobby there.

00:22:12.280 He's adjusting.

00:22:12.880 I know he did say he has to come in from his truck because he is running all over the place.

00:22:16.680 This man is tireless hitting meetings and speaking and doing all this stuff.

00:22:21.860 So I want to bring him in because I've been turning your ear for long enough.

00:22:25.340 There we go.

00:22:26.340 I mean, you hear me all right there, Mitch?

00:22:30.720 So I, well, we see Mitch anyways.

00:22:34.020 Hopefully he can hear me.

00:22:36.980 Maybe not.

00:22:38.080 All right.

00:22:38.580 Well, we might come back to Mitch in a couple of moments.

00:22:41.820 Maybe the coverage is a little bit limited there.

00:22:44.960 So, I mean, getting further with, I'll talk about what I've been seeing and what Mitch is doing.

00:22:49.240 As you can see, he's dressed.

00:22:50.280 He's in the truck.

00:22:51.160 I'm only guessing he's going to another meeting when he's dressed up like that.

00:22:56.880 And this is what people are really enjoying.

00:22:59.820 This is something that's been unique.

00:23:01.160 This is something how they've really built this base that now is exploding today because the meetings they're holding now are just built upon from dozens and dozens.

00:23:09.840 Now, I think cumulatively hundreds of meetings they've held over the last few years.

00:23:15.420 And it's come to a head and now they're pulling it together.

00:23:17.600 And, of course, with that organization, they are just overflowing the halls.

00:23:20.700 People are coming out in droves.

00:23:22.300 And the thing that was also astounding in going out to those meetings wasn't just people wanting to come to sign the petitions, but people coming, wanting to volunteer.

00:23:31.780 They wanted to sign up.

00:23:32.940 They wanted to get out there and do the petitioning themselves.

00:23:37.420 This is really outstanding.

00:23:39.700 I have never seen anything like this.

00:23:41.220 I mean, I've been messing around, pushing for the independence movement for a long time.

00:23:45.520 And something really unique is happening.

00:23:46.980 I think we'll see if we can get Mitch one more time on audio and see if perhaps he's in a spot where we can pull it in.

00:23:54.720 Hello, Mitch.

00:23:55.340 Have you got us at all?

00:23:59.920 Hey, Corey, can you hear me?

00:24:01.720 Oh, there.

00:24:02.340 I got you.

00:24:02.780 I heard your voice there, Mitch.

00:24:03.780 Finally.

00:24:04.160 Yes, can you hear me?

00:24:05.880 Yeah, I'm hearing you now.

00:24:07.300 Can you? 1.00

00:24:09.260 Shit. 1.00

00:24:10.960 Okay, we'll put Mitch back. 1.00

00:24:12.740 Okay, can you hear me now?

00:24:14.420 I'm hearing you, Mitch.

00:24:15.220 Perfect.

00:24:15.780 How are you?

00:24:16.980 Good, good.

00:24:17.700 Sounds like there's a little bit of a delay.

00:24:19.340 So I've been rambling away.

00:24:22.200 I know you're on the move, so it's hard to get to a spot to get good coverage.

00:24:28.800 I guess I'll start with the first question, though.

00:24:30.500 I just wanted to ask, because that's where a lot of people are wondering, what's going on?

00:24:33.620 What's Stay Free Alberta? 0.95

00:24:36.240 Why is this a new organization rather than what they've been accustomed to all this time and getting ready for the independence referendum?

00:24:44.540 I'm afraid we've lost Mitch.

00:24:45.740 Okay, well, I'll go into that.

00:24:49.320 One of these days we'll get Mitch and get it working right.

00:24:51.960 It's the technical issues that these guys work on the ground rather than digitally, which is, again, part of their strength in a lot of ways, where they can do face-to-face meetings, but not so much on the tech end of things.

00:25:04.480 So Stay Free Alberta, if you're looking to get involved with this, I'll get that out there, stayfreealberta.com.

00:25:09.480 Or as others, yes, sometimes jokingly or whatnot talk about it, it's a feminine product, people are making fun of it.

00:25:17.940 So what happened with the Alberta Prosperity Project?

00:25:20.100 It's still there.

00:25:20.820 It's still got its databasing.

00:25:21.480 It's still there.

00:25:22.820 It's still there.

00:25:23.820 It's still there.

00:25:25.260 where all of this began. I guess with the election, the referendum legislation, it has to be an

00:25:33.300 individual initiating it, not a group, something of that sort. I was hoping Mitch could expand on

00:25:37.460 that. And, uh, so they couldn't use the APP to actually initiate this thing. So the proponent

00:25:45.620 himself, if you look it up on the paperwork is Mitch Sylvester and the group is stayfreealberta.com.

00:25:51.800 Um, so it's, it's, it's the same thing. It's just different branding. They're working to get,

00:25:57.500 uh, uh, this sort of thing all registered properly. Um, it looks a little more clear there. I see

00:26:05.020 Mitch in the lobby. We'll give it one more try and see if we can get them. And, uh, okay. Are you

00:26:11.020 hearing me now there, Mitch? All right. No, that's not going to work. Okay. So, I mean, as you know,

00:26:18.400 guys, yes, the show really is live and, uh, it comes with, with most challenges. It will come

00:26:22.980 with a live show and everything. So, uh, all I can say is I suggest strongly guys go to

00:26:27.760 stayfreealberta.com, check it out. And, uh, you know, you get more details, straight up stuff on

00:26:34.960 how to support this. And, uh, hopefully, uh, you know, we'll see how the petitioning comes about.

00:26:40.460 Uh, I'm not going to be able to make it. There's a big event coming in Calgary at the BMO center

00:26:46.800 on January 26th. So for the Calgarian viewers, January 26th, uh, we want to see thousands of

00:26:56.760 people there. I mean, I, and again, I'm not saying we, in the sense that I'm part of that

00:26:59.960 group. I'm not, but I'm very supportive of it. I'm a guest speaker often for them,

00:27:03.280 but I'm an independent supporter and that's for sure. And this is the way to stop. They can't

00:27:13.480 stop us. They, you know, legacy media has been ignoring this. There's meetings with thousands

00:27:16.900 of people showing up all over the place. You're not seeing it in the news. You're not hearing about

00:27:19.960 it. They're not touching it. When thousands show up in Calgary, it's going to be hard to avoid. I was

00:27:25.480 talking to Jane the other day, uh, for people who knowing their, their Western independence history,

00:27:30.460 there's a kind of a famous picture in Alberta, but the Western Canada concept and Doug Christie

00:27:36.040 was leading it and he's standing there with his hands up like that. And I believe it was

00:27:40.560 the Jubilee auditorium in Calgary, which holds like maybe 3000 people. And that was a picture

00:27:46.680 that went all the way across the country. And that was the last really hard, big peak of

00:27:51.680 independence movements going on in Canada, particularly in the West. And, uh, uh, uh,

00:28:00.460 what we're talking about now, the BMO center could be two to three times as many people

00:28:06.040 just to catch their, uh, attention. Um, just, uh, I see, uh, sorry, our producer, John messaging

00:28:14.020 saying, I want to try calling Mitch on the phone. Maybe give it a crack. If you can get them clearly

00:28:17.740 on there, we might bring Mitch in just through audio on the phone. Cause I really, really want

00:28:21.360 to talk to him. So, uh, as I said, I won't be making it out to, uh, uh, that gathering coming

00:28:26.740 up because, uh, I will be, uh, actually popping out of a town as, uh, was mentioned a different

00:28:32.200 interview. I did taking my vacation for a little bit. I'll still be online and doing some stuff,

00:28:35.980 but I won't be able to get out to that itself. All right. Hello. All right. I hear Mitch on the

00:28:42.800 phone. Are you hearing me there, Mitch? I hear you perfectly. And I can see you and I can see

00:28:49.360 myself. I don't understand how this is not working, but let's do it this way. Yeah. Okay. Well, we got

00:28:54.180 you and I can hear you good. Now if we'll just do it through the phone with just audio,

00:28:57.100 that's that's perfect. So thank you very much. Uh, we've got you, uh, at a roadside there,

00:29:01.860 Mitch. Um, welcome to the show. Well, thank you very much for having me. Great. So I've

00:29:07.620 been kind of stumbling along. I think I know most of the basics, but I wanted to get right

00:29:11.060 to the source and ask you, cause people are still kind of a little confused and wonder what's

00:29:15.380 up. They want to, uh, uh, support things and get rolling. What's up with stay free Alberta.

00:29:20.820 Okay. So, you know, it's basically, we, we've kind of basically thought that Monday of next

00:29:27.780 week, everything would be a hundred percent flat out. We'd have canvassers, uh, everywhere.

00:29:32.740 We'd have signup sheets for everybody. Um, so you know what, that's going to happen. Uh,

00:29:38.140 we really believe that we're going to have, uh, all manner of locations all around the province

00:29:43.540 for people to sign up in place and up on our stay free Alberta.com website. So you can find

00:29:49.600 it there. Um, so you know what, another couple of three days and, uh, we'll be flat out and,

00:29:55.200 you know, we've been trying to lay the, the, the, basically the structure for this

00:29:59.600 so that once we get going, we can take all manner of, uh, signatures and, and, and drive

00:30:04.400 it forward without any further delays. Yeah. Well, and we should remind a lot of people,

00:30:08.720 I know everybody's eager and there's a bit of impatience and everything, but it kind of caught

00:30:13.040 you flat footed when suddenly they said, Hey, January 2nd, finally, here we go off to the races. And,

00:30:18.080 uh, you know, it takes a little time to get thousands of volunteers organized and moving.

00:30:22.480 I guess we've got to remind people we want to move fast, but there are a few months to work

00:30:26.960 on this. There's going to be time to, to get out there and get your name down.

00:30:30.800 Well, well, we got till May 6th and the other thing, the other thing that people have to

00:30:35.200 understand is that they kind of sprung that on us at, on, at Christmas, like the day before they

00:30:40.080 closed. And, and so what's happening is our people have had the anticipation and all of that

00:30:45.840 build building and building since then, but they didn't come back to work till

00:30:50.240 Monday of last week. So we've only actually been working with them for four or five days

00:30:54.960 and just getting clarity on what we actually can and cannot do, uh, you know, according to,

00:31:01.120 to bill 14 new rules to the citizens initiative act, uh, stuff that we had to get clear before,

00:31:06.960 you know, cause the fines are, are massive. Like if we break the rules, some of these fines are half a

00:31:11.360 million to a million dollars. So we want to be darn sure that, uh, you know, being a proponent

00:31:16.240 that I don't have to pay a million dollar bill or a half million dollar bill.

00:31:19.520 No, I understand your, your commitment to this, but that'd be going a little above and beyond.

00:31:23.760 Uh, part of it as well as, um, uh, I mean, I would imagine if they thought there was too

00:31:31.040 much untoward, they could reject the petition or parts of, or so on. So, I mean, it's very important

00:31:35.600 to keep everything above board and, and following the rules laid out. And, and we got answers from

00:31:42.000 them yesterday. So, so basically we're able to, you know, clear up some of the things that we can

00:31:48.160 do and cannot do. So in all fairness to them, they got back to us. We got an answer yesterday.

00:31:52.720 So right now the path is clear. We understand what we can do, what we cannot do. And, you know,

00:31:57.760 I'm going to exhale right now. I'll be there tonight. We have another event in red here tonight

00:32:01.760 as well. So we're going to be at both of those events. I'll be somewhere Friday as well.

00:32:06.640 And then, uh, next week we go flat out and we get going. And I heard your, your comments at the

00:32:12.160 introduction saying that our, our town halls have basically driven this. And I a hundred percent

00:32:16.880 agree with you. Oh yeah. This is going to be my 96th or 97th town hall on, on this particular topic

00:32:24.400 tonight. And, uh, we did a hundred, uh, Alberta pension, uh, town halls before that.

00:32:29.840 So, you know, we've been basically down 190 magnified town halls in the last two years.

00:32:37.200 Uh, so we've been busy, but as a consequence to that, what I believe we've done is we've built

00:32:42.240 a base and we're seeing it all over the place. That base is showing up and it's just fantastic

00:32:48.720 to, to, to see what's going on. It's exciting. Well, that's it almost a victim of your own success

00:32:52.960 because you built such a base and then everybody's ready to roll. And then it all hits at the same time

00:32:56.880 as soon as it got rolling. So it's going to take a little bit to streamline everything.

00:33:00.320 Yeah. Um, and don't worry, don't worry. We'll have lots of work for everybody.

00:33:04.800 Oh, I know you will. And there's no problem. Monday till the 6th of May, it's going to be flat out.

00:33:11.280 Yeah. So with the legislation, I just wanted a little more clarity and I see a couple of the

00:33:14.720 commenters asking the same thing. There's still just a bit of confusion from the last organization to

00:33:19.040 stayfreealberta.com. Just what, why are you the proponent, not the last organization? And where

00:33:24.880 should people be directing their, their efforts and so on?

00:33:28.640 So everything has to go through stayfreealberta.com. So, so Alberta Prosperity is an educational

00:33:35.200 society. They can't weigh in on, you know, on picking a side on this and, you know, quite frankly,

00:33:40.240 that we only have one side. So, I mean, we have to be very careful. We're, we're as partisan,

00:33:45.040 as definitely, we're very nonpartisan in our message, we think. Yeah. Because we think that

00:33:50.160 this is going to benefit all of Alberta. However, our, our problem right now is that we have to make

00:33:55.280 sure that we stay within the rules of elections, Alberta. And that's why we waited for clarity.

00:34:00.000 But, but now we're, we've built the structure from the, you know, from the bottom up. Uh, we're

00:34:06.160 basically going to involve all of our volunteers. Now, the point of getting the volunteers was to

00:34:10.400 getting to this point and then putting them all to us. Great.

00:34:13.280 That was the point of the whole. Yeah, no. And I just wanted

00:34:15.440 people to hear from the horse's mouth because they get worried when things change or whatever

00:34:18.640 else. Okay, guys, stay free. Alberta is the place to go. This is where Mitch is. This is where

00:34:23.600 the official referendum and, and signups and meetings and everything can be found. That's the

00:34:29.120 place. And this is where our volunteers are working. Mm-hmm. All right.

00:34:33.040 This is where our volunteers are working. And we're taking more volunteers all the time. So,

00:34:36.400 please sign up to be a canvasser. Yeah. That's, that's what we need you to do. Sign friends and

00:34:42.080 family. Uh, if everybody does that, we win. So, I mean, kind of looking a little ahead. So,

00:34:47.520 I mean, there's the big first step to go is getting the signatures, getting the petition done,

00:34:52.320 getting the referendum called, uh, presumably, you know, maybe in June or whenever, when they finally

00:34:58.000 say, okay, that's it. The numbers are in, we're ready to roll. We're scheduling a date. Would it still be

00:35:02.640 Stay Free Alberta that's going to be the campaigning mechanism, I guess, when it comes towards a 0.95

00:35:07.280 referendum? No, it's going to go back to Alberta Prosperity Project, I believe. Okay. Uh, you know,

00:35:12.880 and whoever, and that's going to be a full, the campaign is fully separate from this. Yeah. So,

00:35:18.720 so Stay Free, Stay Free is basically going to collect the signatures, get it to referendum,

00:35:25.120 or drop it on the Premier's desk, or Elections Alberta's desk, and, uh, hopefully have big enough

00:35:31.840 numbers to force them to, to, that there's no choice for them to call a referendum for independence

00:35:37.360 with a standalone question. Well, and I'm pretty confident you guys are going to do it, but still

00:35:41.600 nothing can be taken for granted. And it's still a huge task to, to be under undertaken. Uh, so I'm,

00:35:48.160 really appreciate you guys hitting the ground running. You, as you said, you're going to Red Deer.

00:35:51.200 I saw one of the commenters saying they're going to be coming up there. Uh, somebody else asking,

00:35:54.960 are we able to sign right up to May 6th? Uh, yeah. Oh yeah. We'll be able to sign. Well,

00:35:59.840 we have to have the petition in, uh, there a day or two in advance. Well, I would suggest,

00:36:05.040 you know what, let's, let's do a hard tap on May 1 so that we can organize all of our signatures and

00:36:10.240 get them, uh, and get them, you know, basically in the truck and accounted for, uh, before we get to

00:36:16.000 Elections Alberta with that. So I, I would say May 1, May 2, somewhere there, whatever. I don't know.

00:36:20.800 I don't know what, what the calendar looks like around those dates, but probably the last,

00:36:25.200 the last Friday of the week before we have to give all that stuff or send out all that stuff

00:36:30.400 to Elections Alberta will be the cutoff on one we can take. So I'm going to be an F bill tonight,

00:36:35.440 not Red Deer, but we have, but we, uh, stay free has a Red Deer event tonight as well.

00:36:40.000 Excellent. Okay. And I mean, again, reminding people, I mean, just because the deadline's that

00:36:45.040 far, the sooner somebody, uh, gets rolling on it, the better. I mean, we want to get it in so you

00:36:50.720 guys can, can file that, get it finished and keep reaching out to new people. So, yeah,

00:36:56.240 we'd like to get this done in the next month. Yeah. Like really. So that would give us three

00:37:00.560 months more to get more people. Well, absolutely. Get the, get the minimum done right away,

00:37:05.920 which I know we can do and what we're going to do and trying to do. And then after that,

00:37:10.080 just, uh, try and educate people on the benefits of free and independent Alberta.

00:37:15.040 Excellent. Well, um, I think you covered most of what I just kind of wanted to hit on. I mean,

00:37:19.920 I would suggest for a lot of people watch, uh, a lot of those meetings are being live streamed,

00:37:24.160 uh, or if they can get out to one themselves, get out to one, definitely get on and sign up if you

00:37:28.800 want to volunteer. So before I let you go, what else do you want to let people know before, uh,

00:37:33.440 before I let you get back on the road up to Eckville there? Well, you know what? I want you

00:37:37.600 to all understand that this is not going to get done without you. Uh, we're, we're an absolute grassroots

00:37:43.520 movement. I think the purest definition of it, and we've kind of been forced to do that based on the

00:37:49.280 fact of what's going on with media and what's going on in the world. So, so we're kind of back

00:37:54.960 to the old, old ways of neighbors talking to neighbors and friends talking to friends.

00:38:00.480 And so as a consequence to that, we need everybody to work, but I really believe we can win this that

00:38:05.280 way. And that's kind of been the path the whole way. So we're going to make sure that we get as

00:38:09.680 much social media or all that manner of stuff out there, but the real work is going to be done by

00:38:14.240 each and every individual. And that's the way it's designed that we've, we've been going through

00:38:19.440 this process now for, for a long, long time for basically two years. And everybody says to me,

00:38:25.040 well, when are we going to get a real strong leader, a real strong voice with us? And I said,

00:38:30.080 you don't understand this is about the people that leader will come and go. The people have to do it

00:38:37.040 themselves. And once they understand that, once they participate in our democracy,

00:38:41.520 then we will be very hard to unseat. Not only will we win, but then we'll pay attention to

00:38:46.320 what's going on and we'll be so much better off for it in the long run. So I believe that's the

00:38:51.120 path. That's my vision. And hopefully you'll all agree with that and participate.

00:38:56.400 Excellent. Well, you said it perfectly, Mitch, and I fully agree. You can't beat

00:38:59.680 facing somebody face to face and talking to them one on one. Social media is a great tool,

00:39:04.000 but winning hearts and minds takes talking to somebody in person. And that's what you guys have built

00:39:07.920 your model around. So, uh, thank you. I'll let you get back on the road. I appreciate your time

00:39:12.640 today. Uh, hopefully, but perhaps we'll talk again sometime, uh, a little farther down when

00:39:16.640 the referendum is getting closer to wrapping up or the petitioning and, uh, we'll, uh, report on your

00:39:22.080 success. I'd be happy to do that, Corey. Thanks for having me. Excellent. Thank you. Okay, guys. So one

00:39:27.760 more time, stay free, Alberta.com that's Mitch, uh, Sylvestre. And yeah, it's, it's, it's, you know,

00:39:34.000 everything's been changing on the dime. I saw somebody else pointing out saying that they'd

00:39:37.600 signed up to volunteer last Monday. When will they get, uh, the credentials? All I could say

00:39:41.040 is probably soon. You gotta remember there, they have been swamped. People are coming out in droves.

00:39:45.280 They want to help. They want to take part, but all of that has to be carefully, you know, uh, taken

00:39:50.320 care of and so on. So that information will get up to them and out to you. Uh, another person that

00:39:56.080 Colin had said he donated to the APP. Was it, uh, the wrong place or anything? I wouldn't say that. As,

00:40:02.560 as, as Mitch pointed out, the APP is still there. It's still important. It'll still be a huge part of

00:40:06.960 the campaign for the referendum. So donation, nothing there has been wasted. And the APP was

00:40:10.720 a whole big part of what built the base on why now this, this prairie fire of overloaded meetings

00:40:17.840 is sweeping across the province. So just keep watching because their website is going to get

00:40:22.400 more and more efficient. It's going to get, uh, uh, you know, more streamlined as these guys

00:40:27.680 scramble to get it done. When I did the Calgary meeting, uh, John Bolton was speaking of a

00:40:32.240 Chipiak and, and, uh, Dennis, uh, comma, and it was a really great thing. It was overloaded.

00:40:37.280 Uh, Heather was a volunteer there. Jeevan was a volunteer there. They were just overwhelmed. There

00:40:42.160 was just only so much you can do when thousands of people descend on you unexpectedly. So all I could

00:40:46.880 ask is give them some patience and, uh, it will come through and they want your help and they'll

00:40:51.680 certainly welcome your help. You know, being done from the bottom up, it really is, is so much stronger.

00:40:58.400 That's how something like this can't be derailed because it's too difficult. And when we're talking

00:41:05.120 about leaders and such, I, I see others, um, asking about that, you know, necessarily, um,

00:41:12.240 yeah, at this point it's, it's decentralized, but it gives a few targets, I guess, for the whole thing,

00:41:15.920 you know, to be taken down. It's, it's the people, uh, Steve, the first thing I was wondering about

00:41:20.960 this can be handed in earlier in a hundred days, 120 days, say it's 500,000 signatures, uh, by day

00:41:27.040 90. You know, I, I don't know. I don't know if they, I, if they let it run right to the deadline,

00:41:32.080 my view on it, and I'm not speaking for them, but my thoughts on it, as far as campaigning goes,

00:41:37.040 you know, I think they should run it right to the end and collect signatures every day,

00:41:40.720 as if you're a thousand signatures behind the whole time, get every possible one all the way through.

00:41:47.840 And because this is the basis of the campaign for the votes anyways, this is, you know, the,

00:41:53.200 the, the people who were volunteering to petition right now are presumably going to be the same

00:41:57.680 people volunteering to campaign when the referendum comes. What a great organizational opportunity.

00:42:02.080 This is the time to come together. This is the time to practice. This is the time to reach out.

00:42:05.920 So even if it turns out you go the whole four months and you came in with a million, well,

00:42:09.520 wouldn't that be awesome? That'll be pretty hard to stop, won't it? And you'll have had that

00:42:13.360 network of all these people working on the ground and pulling it together. We're making

00:42:17.760 history right now. And yes, I know I'm biased, not necessarily for the, you know, any individual

00:42:21.920 group or anything else, but I'm an independent supporter and I have been for a long, long time.

00:42:26.400 And all I can say is, you know, talking, as I was saying earlier, back all the way to Doug Christie

00:42:31.280 and the Western Canada concept in the mid eighties to today, I've never seen it like this. Never,

00:42:37.680 never anything even close history is being made. A referendum is going to be held, whether or not it's

00:42:44.000 one or not, that's, uh, still up, way up in the air that, but it's going to be held. We've never

00:42:48.960 even done that before. Some people had better start sitting up and paying attention. We'll see.

00:42:54.480 All right. Just a couple of stories I wanted to hit on the end. I mean, some good news and

00:42:57.760 good news from a tragedy. Uh, Dave mentioned that earlier, that horrible story. Some people are

00:43:02.560 hearing a 48 year old Shabazz Ahmed lured, uh, lured a 30 year old woman to a home in the community of

00:43:07.920 Edgemont. He was pretending to rent a place. He assaulted her brutally. She, she got broken bones,

00:43:12.960 scratches. I can't imagine. Cause the cops, as Dave said, it was the most clear cut case of

00:43:18.800 self-defense they'd ever dealt with. Uh, so yes, he died and yeah, I'm not going to weep for him.

00:43:23.360 You know, good riddance. Uh, he died. She defended herself and killed him somehow. I, you know,

00:43:28.240 there's not been details exactly how that happened after she took such a terrible beating, but for a

00:43:33.360 change, cause you know, in Canada and Alberta, it just seems usually, uh, they charge the person

00:43:38.400 defending themselves one time. They got it right. I hope she really recovers, uh, you know, fully as

00:43:44.000 much as she can. I can't imagine the terror and the trauma and the rest that's going on. But, uh,

00:43:48.960 in a sense, it's a good news story that some sick, uh, you know, violent, uh, murderer is now, um, 0.96

00:43:56.960 no longer on this planet and the goofballs in her, uh, well, and in this case, they weren't being 0.98

00:44:02.160 goofballs. Our law enforcement authorities said, no, we are definitely not going to charge her for 1.00

00:44:05.920 defending ourselves. So let's expand that further. I want to see castle laws and a great deal more

00:44:09.760 than that. But, uh, that was one story that has really made a lot of news people and realizing

00:44:15.120 now there's bigger issues as to, uh, why we've got crime issues going on in general.

00:44:20.160 Uh, coastal first nations, Mark Carney talking, speaking of why we've got to become independent.

00:44:24.800 Coastal first nations is a lobby group. In fact, they're foreign funded, you know, but the news media,

00:44:30.480 the CBC and Carney talk as if these are actually elected indigenous bands and they aren't.

00:44:35.200 Carney met with this lobby group on a pipeline to the west coast and two things happen. For one,

00:44:42.640 this lobby group said, we're not allowing a pipeline to the west coast. They have no authority to

00:44:48.640 disallow it whatsoever. Carney said, I won't put a pipeline to the west coast if they don't give

00:44:55.680 approval. So even if they don't have the authority, if the prime minister gives it to them. So guys,

00:44:59.920 if you're waiting, thinking the federal government is ever going to do the west any favors,

00:45:03.920 as long as you're giving false authority to foreign funded lobby groups, like the coastal

00:45:09.840 first nations, it isn't happening. That's why I'm an independent supporter. All right. I'm going to

00:45:14.400 close out, watch the pipeline tonight. I'm going to have a guest host in next week. Like I said,

00:45:18.240 I'm escaping for a little while and then I'm going to be doing some shows from out in the field.

00:45:21.680 Actually, it's going to be pretty fun. So keep tuning in guys. Thank you very much for tuning in

00:45:25.920 today. Thanks for the comments. Thanks for that super chat. We do appreciate that as well.

00:45:30.400 I'll see you all in two weeks. Tune in next week, though, to catch our guest host. That'll be a fun,

00:45:35.680 good show. And be sure to subscribe to The Standard. Thank you.

00:46:05.680 Thank you.

Western Standard - January 19, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Alberta’s union-initiated MLA recall stunt has collapsed

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