Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Choose Option 2 on Question 10

00:00:00.000 This campaign I've ever taken part in in my entire life.

00:00:29.780 I think everybody's pretty much exhausted with this, but I'm sure we're all pretty pumped up

00:00:35.280 anticipating whatever the heck the results are going to be. People keep asking me what I think

00:00:39.420 they're going to be. I'm being cagey with my predictions because, to be honest, I don't really

00:00:43.900 know. I have to admit, sometimes I don't know. And we're just hoping, I guess, for the best.

00:00:49.420 I'm going to talk, well, probably a lot of Alberta things today. You know, be sure you use the

00:00:53.260 comments. Scroll there, guys. Chat with each other. Send comments my way. Things like that.

00:00:57.180 just keep things civil we don't have to be like the other guys and uh you know let's have a good

00:01:02.980 show here i've got uh mike thomas coming on we're going to talk a bit about some municipal stuff

00:01:08.340 because yeah calgary city hall it's been interesting and it's getting overshadowed

00:01:12.400 with all the insanity going on with the provincial and federal stuff but we tend to forget things and

00:01:17.340 it's been a year now almost since we've replaced the gondek and the others and we've got what

00:01:24.220 appears to be a shrunken, bleached version of Nahed Nenshi in the new mayor. And I don't know

00:01:30.740 what's happened with him. Perhaps Mike can shed some light on that as we're looking at more woke

00:01:34.440 activities, protection of bike lanes, fights with Edmonton, and massive tax increases coming. It

00:01:40.480 just seems the more things change, the more they remain the same in City Hall. So I'm looking

00:01:43.880 forward to Mike coming to talk about that and things in general in there. But yeah, let's get

00:01:47.980 on to what's happening, the advanced voting for the referendum. It's begun and Albertans have a

00:01:54.560 chance to send the strongest message they ever had to Ottawa by choosing option two on question

00:01:59.580 number 10. Now there's two motivations people can have for choosing option two and neither of them

00:02:03.860 are wrong. Dedicated supporters of full Alberta independence from the federation like me are

00:02:08.440 choosing option two as a step toward creating an independent country of Alberta. Many others though

00:02:13.340 are choosing option two to send kind of a final warning shot to Ottawa that if the status quo

00:02:17.720 doesn't change, they're going to be seeking independence as well. Defenders of maintaining

00:02:21.960 the status quo understand that a growing number of citizens are considering option two as a means

00:02:26.120 of sending a message or garnering leverage from Ottawa. I mean, Jason Kenney's been almost hysteric

00:02:30.640 in trying to make the case that a vote for option two would lead to a catastrophic outcome for

00:02:34.500 Alberta. Others like Deborah Yedlin of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce claim that the process of

00:02:38.680 holding a referendum alone would cause damage to Alberta. But then that's the same Deborah Yedlin

00:02:42.420 who said that vaccine passports were going to be good for local restaurants. Economically,

00:02:46.640 actually Alberta's growing. The referendum campaign's been active for almost five months

00:02:50.600 and none of the predicted doom and gloom has come. People aren't fleeing. In fact, people are moving

00:02:54.660 to Alberta at a faster rate within Canada than any other province. Alberta reported job growth

00:02:59.820 in the tens of thousands in September, while the rest of Canada lost 68,000 jobs. High oil prices,

00:03:05.660 yeah, they've helped the province, but they aren't responsible for the job growth. Capital investment

00:03:09.360 in multiple industries has been spiking. On the political front, let's face it, Alberta's seen

00:03:14.380 more love from Ottawa in the last year than it's seen in a generation. It seems hardly a week goes

00:03:18.620 by without a federal minister announcing a new grant for housing, military, or transportation

00:03:23.300 infrastructure in Alberta. Oh, we've seen more visits from Prime Minister Carney in a scant few

00:03:28.480 months than we saw from his predecessor in years. Now, not everybody will see an increased presence

00:03:32.800 of Liberals in the province is a plus, of course, but the sudden turning of the tides is sort of

00:03:38.200 welcome. On the pipeline front, after a decade of being blocked, the notion of a new pipeline to

00:03:42.800 the West Coast suddenly been declared a project of national interest. I don't see a nationalized

00:03:48.600 pipeline as a win, but it does reflect a change in attitude from Ottawa all the same. I also

00:03:53.940 doubt the construction of the pipeline will ever break ground, much less reach tidewater, but

00:03:58.180 some people believe it'll happen though, and the clock will now be ticking for Mr. Carney. Optimists

00:04:02.800 thinking Carney is genuine will be more than disappointed if the project fails. Voting for

00:04:07.460 option two offers encouragement for the Prime Minister to follow through on that one. Federal

00:04:11.760 Liberals tend to see tooth extractions as being more appealing than spending time in Alberta. They

00:04:16.620 would much rather dedicate their time to campaigning within the Laurentian region where

00:04:20.240 they're broadly loved and welcomed. The fact that they're dedicating so much attention and time to

00:04:24.880 Alberta is solely due to this pending referendum. It's undeniable that the process has garnered

00:04:29.520 leverage for Alberta within the Federation. A strong showing for option two in the referendum

00:04:34.260 ensures that leverage continues to be in play. The path to full independence is convoluted one

00:04:39.540 and then the October 19th referendum is only a step in that direction. It isn't a commitment.

00:04:44.440 If option two side wins, those who choose it have plenty of time before the next vote to

00:04:49.900 determine if they want to choose independence or not. I would put Ottawa on notice that something

00:04:54.860 systemic must change if it wants to avoid a growing independence movement. Not more announcements,

00:05:00.280 not more policies, real lasting change to the system. Choosing option two on the ballot is the

00:05:05.320 right choice whether a person is a full independent supporter or if they're just nearing the end of

00:05:08.960 rope with ottawa choosing option one that sends a message to ottawa as well it tells the establishment

00:05:14.320 that the status quo is acceptable and alberta is ready for another round of abuse within the

00:05:18.320 federation alberta has a generational opportunity to change the status of the province within the

00:05:22.880 federation this october that opportunity is only going to be fruitful though we choose option two

00:05:27.600 on question 10. so yeah if anybody was wondering if i would beat around the bush of where i stand

00:05:31.600 on things i support option two how's it going dave i'm shocked option two yeah i know it really came

00:05:37.200 out of the blue didn't it holy cow don't like your chances uh you know people can ask for

00:05:43.440 predictions and so on i i i think it's a long shot to get over 50 i'll be honest with it but

00:05:47.680 i mean it depends on the voter turnout uh a lot of people are in the closet on this sort of thing

00:05:51.760 yeah and we'll see oh i think it's a long shot to get over 30. well i guess we'll see it uh

00:05:58.640 we're gathering about what 6 a.m on tuesday morning to uh to go through the results yeah

00:06:03.280 that'll be fun breakfast on durick anyways you were talking about the the increased economic

00:06:09.120 movement in alberta and we've got a story reflecting that today the alberta treasury

00:06:13.600 branches cormac capital markets survey is out today and it shows 90 of businesses in the oil

00:06:21.120 and gas industry say they're going to do better than they did yesterday yeah last year so there

00:06:25.280 is optimism in the patch yeah for what it's worth uh interesting story out of cologne germany which

00:06:32.880 police have arrested a robot for sexual assault apparently it's like you can get these robots for

00:06:41.840 5 000 euros and it was just a couple of teenage kids who were controlling it and you know went

00:06:47.040 into a group of girls and grabbed some bums and stuff like that and the cops pounced and put the

00:06:53.280 robot in cuffs i responded to that one on x actually i quote tweeted and just said if the

00:06:56.800 robot had yelled alahu akbar the police would have left it alone exactly exactly uh we got three

00:07:02.000 Three Canadian Armed Forces soldiers charged in Toronto today with kidnapping and stealing

00:07:08.460 weapons from the Armory.

00:07:12.240 Not a good look for the military there. 0.99

00:07:13.960 Got a scumbag Montreal father sentenced to life in jail in New York State. 0.99

00:07:20.180 He took his daughter, I think they were involved in a custody dispute. 1.00

00:07:23.380 That was a vile case.

00:07:24.380 Vile case.

00:07:25.380 A nine-year-old girl, he murdered her and hid her body and then told police that she'd

00:07:30.860 being kidnapped by a couple of men in a white van and they uh they soon cracked that one and uh

00:07:36.540 i'm glad he's serving justice in the states and not canada just about to say the same thing up

00:07:40.620 here he'd be out in a few more years to do it again do it all again uh we're having some fun

00:07:46.140 with the globe and mail who uh outrageously yesterday called the the trans man who was

00:07:52.700 involved in the tumblr ridge shooting he was sort of the the organizer down in the states

00:07:57.100 the globe called him a woman and they've continued to uh to call the the trans male shooter at

00:08:03.340 tumblr ridge a woman too so our alex zoltan is taking them to task on that uh the wacky hooties

00:08:11.180 in the desert are getting better with their missiles uh last night they blew up the headquarters

00:08:15.420 of uh saudi aramco uh in in riyadh it caused uh caused a large explosion another one you

00:08:22.300 commented on on Twitter, surveyed by the Alberta Medical Association, showing a majority of Alberta

00:08:28.680 doctors would leave the province if it became independent. And you, Corey Morgan, do not buy it.

00:08:34.420 No, I don't. Look, that performative crap. We hear that all over the place. If people don't 0.99

00:08:38.540 like American tactics, well, there's one going, guys. I mean, how many lefties in the state say,

00:08:42.280 that's it. If Trump gets in again, we're out of here. How many actually left? A handful. People

00:08:47.120 will say that to a poll. Fair enough. And maybe a few will leave. But come on, half of the doctors,

00:08:51.840 i just i find it extremely hard to believe but it's the project fear we expect that everything's

00:08:56.640 going to be bad it's going to rain frogs we're all going to get hemorrhoids everything's going to go

00:09:00.320 bad if we vote option two there was some fun in etobicoke uh when the cruiser roofed arrived to

00:09:06.480 remove a local bike line as part of the doug fords and getting rid of all the bike lands for cars in

00:09:11.920 ontario and protesters actually sent the construction workers on their way so it'll be

00:09:17.440 fun and games in the next couple days and uh i'd like to take this opportunity corey to uh

00:09:23.600 thank you for uh all your years of colleague working together i plan on retiring on monday

00:09:31.280 uh after i win the lotto max biggest jackpot in history on friday 90 million dollars i'll be out

00:09:38.880 of here so fast well you'll order us a pizza or something well i'll increase the uh the

00:09:44.720 The quality of the breakfast on Tuesday morning as I sleep in.

00:09:50.040 There we go.

00:09:50.440 Don't clean out the desk quite yet, but I wish you the best on that one.

00:09:53.020 I appreciate that, man.

00:09:54.100 All right.

00:09:55.040 I'll invest in some of your honey.

00:09:57.660 Excuse me.

00:09:58.220 Well, you don't need to win a lottery to invest in that.

00:09:59.980 I've got cheap honey, actually.

00:10:00.920 Oh, okay.

00:10:02.580 I was thinking of expansion.

00:10:03.860 Oh, well.

00:10:04.320 More hives.

00:10:05.000 True enough, yeah.

00:10:05.900 I guess I can barely manage the ones I got.

00:10:08.200 All right.

00:10:08.820 All right.

00:10:09.200 That's it.

00:10:09.700 That's all.

00:10:10.220 Well, thank you, and I'll see you in the pipeline.

00:10:12.280 See you on the pipeline.

00:10:13.320 So there we go.

00:10:13.940 folks are soon to be millionaire and soon to be former news editor dave naylor uh offering quite

00:10:20.580 a list of stuff going on i mean there's never a shortage of stuff to cover and uh we've got

00:10:24.740 a great crew of reporters out there all over canada covering this stuff getting those stories

00:10:30.100 up there and this is where i like to nag and remind all of you guys the reason dave can do

00:10:34.580 this and all those guys alex zolton and allison and all the rest out there is because you guys

00:10:39.460 have been subscribing right now there is no paywall you can get in and see that content

00:10:43.940 without spending any money whatsoever you can check out what we've got until the 20th

00:10:49.240 without shelling out and then after that yeah there'll be a subscription but we're talking

00:10:53.320 10 bucks a month hundred dollars a year guys i mean come on it's just like an old newspaper

00:10:57.320 subscription so those who've subscribed already and that's why we've been expanding and doing so

00:11:00.560 well thank you very much we're always appreciative of it and if you haven't subscribed yet come on

00:11:05.100 guys get on board take one out westernstandard.news slash subscription as i said if you've already got

00:11:10.780 subscription look at the christmas season's coming up you've got that liberal aunt that liberal uncle

00:11:15.100 get a subscription on their behalf they'll be thrilled i promise you and you can talk about

00:11:18.540 it over christmas dinner all right well let's see what we got a couple other things to come

00:11:22.780 up with yes so today is the day i guess just the closest i'll come to public service type

00:11:26.940 announcements though i've been watching the uh reports from the advanced polling stations and

00:11:31.660 honestly whatever side you're on if you're looking to get out on these advanced polls and vote

00:11:36.380 put some time aside for yourself it sounds like some of the lineups have been pretty big bring a

00:11:41.760 water bottle bring a chair maybe if you can't stand for long periods it's very important for

00:11:46.820 everybody to vote you know which side i want you to vote on but honestly i do appreciate democracy

00:11:51.340 no matter where you're going with it just be prepared it sounds like it's going to be a long

00:11:55.880 uh sit in some of these places to get it in i suggest getting the advanced ones done though

00:12:00.060 because it's probably going to be a zoo on Monday.

00:12:04.480 Let's see here.

00:12:06.100 So I'll go to BC quickly, just because, holy cow.

00:12:10.760 Alex Zoltan is doing a fantastic job out there,

00:12:12.820 covering one of the most bizarre political areas in the world, I think,

00:12:16.780 especially in the conservative front.

00:12:18.200 But the NDP is no better.

00:12:20.000 David Eby, you've probably already heard it,

00:12:22.180 the Premier, with a household income of probably over $500,000.

00:12:26.960 This is true NDP right to the core.

00:12:30.060 It turns out his kids are getting $10 a day daycare.

00:12:33.740 One of the only 1 in 10 people in BC can manage to qualify to get their kids in for that.

00:12:39.040 And guess what? Some pigs are more equal than others. 0.98

00:12:42.000 The NDP leader has his kids getting $10 a day daycare, 0.97

00:12:45.520 while I presume the waitress who's struggling and scraping to get by 0.78

00:12:48.900 has to pay full rate because she's not one of the 1 in 10 who get in there.

00:12:53.300 Reminds me very much of the late Jack Layton and his wife Olivia Chow

00:12:57.380 while they were living in subsidized housing while sitting as toronto city councillors making high

00:13:03.300 high income guys if you want to learn what socialism's about look at the ones on the top

00:13:08.260 it'll show you every time i mean yes i understand in capitalism you'll see some pretty rich folks

00:13:14.420 really enjoying a life of excess but guess what then it's voluntary people bought their products 0.99

00:13:18.980 with socialism you got to pay these jerks whether you like it or not it comes out of your pocket 0.98

00:13:23.780 all right either way i'll turn away from that and on to you know something easy local calgary 0.99

00:13:28.740 politics oh man it's being as i said earlier overshadowed with all this stuff with the

00:13:35.460 referendum going on and everything but we're coming up on a big budget year we've got a

00:13:40.980 new city council that looks just so damn much like the last city council

00:13:44.820 and uh we've got mike thomas here who's been covering it because it's just not covered enough

00:13:49.620 i really appreciate you the stories you've been writing mike and you're coming in to talk about

00:13:52.820 about it today. Well, my pleasure, Corey. And talking about the referendum, I voted yesterday

00:13:56.940 in the Beltline here in Calgary. And I got there about quarter after nine. And the place,

00:14:06.340 there was no lineup for me. And I want to say this mostly, Elections Alberta did a fine job.

00:14:15.180 I'll tell you, it was slick. I walked in, got my ballots right away, got the ID I looked after,

00:14:22.820 turned around. The stations are all full. One guy walks out. I go in, do my ballots,

00:14:30.980 and I'm in and out of there in maybe 10 minutes.

00:14:35.420 That's good. I mean, that's what I mean. I've been hearing mixed things. Some people have given...

00:14:38.440 Yeah, I was looking at that, and there'd be big lineups, and I think probably

00:14:42.020 the bigger lineups would be in the smaller centers because there wouldn't be as many

00:14:46.840 polling stations. Yeah, you're jamming more in. I mean, part of my worry with this is, again,

00:14:50.980 And there's some paranoid people thinking elections in Alberta is going to 0.98

00:14:52.840 regular crap like that. 0.96

00:14:54.280 I'm just worried about them getting overwhelmed with just such a broad number 0.98

00:14:57.760 of things to be voted on and they're short staffed and things like that.

00:15:00.740 Well, there was, there was a lot of people in this polling booth, a lot of

00:15:05.620 workers, I mean.

00:15:07.000 Um, so, and like I say, it went smooth.

00:15:09.140 It was a really good.

00:15:10.580 Good.

00:15:11.520 So it was about a year ago now, uh, close to it.

00:15:14.380 I think we went to the polls and brought in a new mayor and a lot of new

00:15:17.580 counselors and, uh, what happened?

00:15:20.980 I just, it just sounds like the reports you're writing just sound just like every other council.

00:15:25.960 Well, I don't know.

00:15:28.860 I wrote something a while ago that they, you know, they came in.

00:15:32.740 Basically, we had a brand new council.

00:15:36.400 10 of the 14 were brand new.

00:15:39.660 So they didn't really know exactly how things worked yet.

00:15:44.160 I mean, they go through training, but still to get onto the battlefield and actually have to do that,

00:15:49.720 it's it's a different thing um i think that the bear's paw thing uh in december was a gift

00:15:57.080 uh particularly to farkas um because that's not a political thing by any stretch

00:16:03.960 um it was maintenance it's it's common sense repairs and stuff like that and you know i give

00:16:09.800 uh the mayor a a salute because he he was front and center with with the whole thing

00:16:16.920 He was working words, strange hours, but he's keeping people informed of what's going on.

00:16:23.660 So that was the good Jeremy.

00:16:27.520 Since then, I don't know.

00:16:29.420 His tantrum with Daniel Smith and Williams last week, I was just like, what is wrong with you?

00:16:37.200 Well, that's it.

00:16:37.880 I mean, I've been kind of mixed on some of these things.

00:16:40.520 I'm not big on the province coming in on municipal jurisdiction.

00:16:44.340 I understand that the, you know, municipalities are basically a creature of the provincial government.

00:16:49.920 So there is the authority there, but I'd prefer to leave it to voters to deal with things locally rather than the provincial government.

00:16:56.400 Well, I agree.

00:16:57.260 But also, this is a particular case that goes back, I think, before this new council, the old council that approved blanket zoning, which they also did in Edmonton.

00:17:09.860 So they did it here.

00:17:10.740 They did Edmonton.

00:17:11.940 Well, across the country, they did it.

00:17:13.360 And this deal with Calgary, the city council at that time, there were 700 people showed up at the public hearing.

00:17:23.240 86% of them said, don't do this.

00:17:25.720 And they went ahead and did it anyway.

00:17:28.700 Okay.

00:17:28.840 Now, since then, Daniel Smith has said to Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, and to Kearney, if you're going to approach the people in the municipalities, you come to me first.

00:17:45.880 So, because this whole thing about zoning and the money that they came in with, the politicians, local politicians couldn't say no to that.

00:17:57.280 Calgary got $251 million.

00:18:01.100 Edmondson got $220 million.

00:18:03.960 And that money went towards all kinds of things that you build in a city,

00:18:10.320 from bike lanes to pipes underground.

00:18:14.180 And it was supposed to pay for a lot of new housing, affordable housing.

00:18:19.900 So I think that was Daniel's way of telling knick-knack

00:18:25.600 and paddywhack here that if the feds come to you, you come to me first.

00:18:33.980 I'm guessing at that, but it just seems to me that that's the progression

00:18:37.700 that she's gone through with that whole thing.

00:18:40.340 And it should have been that way in the first place

00:18:42.780 because it really screwed up a lot of things here.

00:18:46.800 It screwed up a lot of things in Edmonton in terms of building

00:18:50.020 those great big castles beside little single-family homes.

00:18:55.080 And they aren't affordable.

00:18:56.420 Not affordable.

00:18:56.940 I just get so upset too when they keep framing that, oh, we've got to allow this,

00:19:00.060 disifying these inner city neighborhoods.

00:19:02.320 Well, you take a $500,000 house and you tear it down and you stick in two $800,000 infills.

00:19:07.760 I don't see how anybody's getting more affordable.

00:19:09.240 No, but it's interesting during the public hearing repeal, because again, all the people were kind of going,

00:19:18.140 yes, repeal it, no, don't repeal it.

00:19:20.440 And all the people who didn't want it repealed were from affordable housing societies.

00:19:25.740 I mean, they do good work, but that's not the place for them.

00:19:29.000 But they're getting up there and talking about, oh, no, we're going to lose all this affordable housing.

00:19:32.780 And it's like you said, none of that housing that came out of that is affordable.

00:19:39.340 And if you look at the contract that Calgary had or still has with the government, they had targets they had to hit in terms of what they call missing middle.

00:19:49.200 so that's townhouses and row houses that they hit hit this many uh this is your target for this or

00:19:56.160 that and we'll give you more money but in the contract and i'm doing this by memory and i'm

00:20:01.520 really old now so i don't know if it still works but um the affordable housing target in the in the

00:20:11.440 contract with calgary wasn't wasn't 2000 it wasn't 2000 units uh but the other target from

00:20:19.680 for the middle missing missing middle housing was uh oh geez like 30 000 which calgary and edmonton

00:20:28.720 both beat big time and they got lucky because all those people came from toronto and vancouver

00:20:34.720 because they could sell the houses there and buy two here.

00:20:39.480 And so the whole thing was just a schmozzle, a bureaucratic math, I call it.

00:20:47.880 It doesn't add up.

00:20:49.100 Well, it's ideologically driven to the lowest degree we have in need.

00:20:52.820 And, I mean, we've got the room to grow out.

00:20:55.580 I know they despise that.

00:20:56.780 They call it sprawl.

00:20:57.980 They demonize it.

00:20:59.180 But it tends to be, if you look at the affordable cities in North America,

00:21:03.420 They're the ones that allowed outward growth, not the ones that tried to force it in.

00:21:06.400 Well, Calgary's really good.

00:21:08.040 I mean, the planning committee meeting this morning, I was watching that, and they're approving or developers for big developments up in the northwest that are right adjacent to newer communities, but they're developed.

00:21:24.560 And you look at the housing that they're putting in there, and it runs the whole gamut of housing that they're putting in there.

00:21:33.940 And so the council, getting back to our new council, they, I think, have gotten their legs, as it were, and a lot of them talk just to hear themselves talk, which is normal.

00:21:49.760 but um the the big one coming up is the budget yeah well that kind of i i had to laugh at the

00:21:59.320 irony of it it was a the new counselor landon who went and uh spilled out some stuff that you know

00:22:04.960 was was preliminary and so on and jeremy farkas was livid on him breaking uh confidentiality

00:22:10.700 and again all i can think of is maybe six years ago with head nenshi with his eyes bugging out

00:22:16.140 fury because jeremy farkas was exposing things from inside what he used to call the chamber of

00:22:21.580 secrets yeah yeah the mayor certainly changed a lot in the last uh six years yeah yeah well again

00:22:28.780 uh he i think he went through the the uh water main breaking and rubber rubber everybody loved

00:22:35.420 him because he was busy looking good and and and that and now all of a sudden he's just turned hard

00:22:41.820 left well that's it i mean jerry's this is where i have difficulty i've known jeremy for quite a

00:22:47.340 while very smart very hard working guy and a good person i really do believe he's genuinely decent

00:22:53.100 but man like did he hit his head while he was hiking or i mean i understand people's views

00:22:57.740 shifting over time you grow you evolve you go into new roles but we're talking a sea change i mean

00:23:02.940 he's gone full woke and i know his he likes to call himself jeremy pathfinder yeah carcass but

00:23:08.540 but now he's Jeremy Warpathfinder.

00:23:12.380 But the budget talks coming up are going to be vicious.

00:23:17.480 The whole, for me anyway,

00:23:20.420 the whole budgeting process in Calgary 0.84

00:23:22.820 is just ass backwards.

00:23:26.060 I mean, would you, sitting down at a family dinner, 0.98

00:23:29.940 looking around the table at all the kids and say,

00:23:31.860 how much allowance would you like?

00:23:35.420 And then you fight it out afterwards.

00:23:36.940 Yeah, what do you got?

00:23:38.020 But basically, that's what they're doing down there.

00:23:40.840 They go to all the different departments and say, okay, come back and tell us what you want. 0.87

00:23:45.380 And, I mean, this whole thing about the 20.2% thing was never going to happen.

00:23:50.920 But that's what it would have cost if administration got everything they asked for.

00:23:56.220 It's the wish list.

00:23:57.220 Wish list.

00:23:59.020 But so nobody else does it that way.

00:24:02.920 We don't go to Derek.

00:24:04.340 Derek doesn't come to us and say, how much would you like to get paid?

00:24:08.020 Well, Derek, it should be the other way around.

00:24:14.180 City council should say, okay, inflation is 3%.

00:24:19.920 An average last year was 3% or whatever the heck it was.

00:24:24.280 So you go to all the departments and go, you can increase your budget by 3% plus 1% maybe.

00:24:33.280 But that's it.

00:24:34.940 So make it work.

00:24:36.560 and don't come back with anything more than that percentage increase

00:24:40.360 based on inflation, which is what all of us have to deal with.

00:24:44.780 But they don't do it that way.

00:24:46.260 They just send out a note and go, what do you want?

00:24:48.660 How many people do you need to hire?

00:24:50.320 Any more new pipes?

00:24:51.540 What do you need?

00:24:52.520 Well, that's been a long ongoing thing too, though,

00:24:54.720 is there's been kind of an administration tail wagging the city council dog.

00:24:59.260 And I'd really had high hopes with a new council.

00:25:01.300 And again, Jeremy Farkas used to rail against that,

00:25:04.620 thinking, okay, somebody's going to come in.

00:25:06.020 And, you know, you don't want to go to battle with the city administration if you can avoid it, but at least put some of them in their place and look, you're accountable to us.

00:25:13.380 And this relationship has to come that way.

00:25:17.260 And I'm not seeing it.

00:25:18.800 Well, I was watching this morning, the Planning Commission, and there's a lot of the councillors, and I'm not going to point a finger at any of them, could just talk about them as a group.

00:25:28.960 But they're still asking questions of administration that they should know the answers to these questions.

00:25:35.100 So from that point of view, administration owns them.

00:25:39.580 So I don't know.

00:25:41.640 Is it wrong?

00:25:42.720 Yeah.

00:25:43.200 Should the city council have a bit more power over administration?

00:25:49.060 Maybe.

00:25:50.080 But administration are the true workers.

00:25:53.180 I don't want them micromanaging either.

00:25:54.800 Exactly.

00:25:55.240 Yes, I understand.

00:25:56.560 There's supposed to be high-level oversight not getting right in.

00:25:59.300 Back when they used to approve basement suites one by one,

00:26:02.060 And that was an example of getting a little too deep into it.

00:26:06.860 So with this budget, though, when does the real deliberation get rolling on that?

00:26:10.140 I expect it'll be some fireworks.

00:26:11.860 I think they start deliberations November 3rd or something like that, somewhere in there.

00:26:19.740 And it'll go probably the whole month of November.

00:26:22.720 And there'll be a whole lot of closed-door meetings.

00:26:27.100 And administration calls the shots on those, I should add.

00:26:30.160 that they go in behind closed doors at the recommendation of administration.

00:26:37.480 We still don't know what the parameters are.

00:26:40.780 And I think that's one thing that the mayor should do is go,

00:26:44.360 here are the Calgarians, here are the parameters for us going into meetings,

00:26:49.920 and here's why we do it.

00:26:52.020 That would clear it up.

00:26:53.660 People would go, oh, yeah, okay.

00:26:54.820 If it's a good reason.

00:26:56.680 That's a secret.

00:26:57.760 That's fine.

00:26:58.300 Do that.

00:26:58.820 But they don't do that.

00:27:00.100 All they do is go, okay, we're going behind our back doors now.

00:27:03.280 And Landon just went, enough of this.

00:27:07.120 Yeah.

00:27:07.420 That doesn't, and it doesn't add for trust or unity on there.

00:27:10.740 Uh, so getting back to some jurisdictional stuff.

00:27:13.260 I mean, I just saw that the scene and we were seeing parallels in Ontario with

00:27:16.540 Doug Ford got in and on the bike lanes.

00:27:18.680 Bike lanes, and speaking of ideological symbolism in every city, I mean, they

00:27:22.760 just want to mash these things in, whether there's a need or whether there's 0.97

00:27:25.180 not, it's, and now it looks like Devon Dreeshan might be stepping

00:27:29.720 in and uh yes he is he's getting ready he's coming he's coming and uh dan mcclain the ward 13

00:27:37.640 counselor put him a notice of motion forward um last week that's going to council next week

00:27:45.080 that says halt all construction of bike lanes until we find out what dreeson's going to do

00:27:51.640 because that he hasn't said yet and we won't know until he tables it in the ledge um but you look

00:27:57.880 Look at what they're doing over here on 8th Street.

00:27:59.780 I walk by it every time I come down here.

00:28:01.560 Yeah, I figured that was the case.

00:28:03.900 So I did a little background on that for you.

00:28:07.560 There's 10,000 vehicles that go through that 8th Street northbound

00:28:16.160 and 11,000 per day that go southbound, okay?

00:28:20.900 And they had four lanes for all that traffic.

00:28:24.900 They've now got two lanes for all that traffic.

00:28:27.880 And it's going to be the jams as they're funneling

00:28:29.780 because it's two lanes farther north.

00:28:31.260 They're going to...

00:28:32.320 Oh, no, no.

00:28:32.900 It's going to run all the way up to 17th Avenue.

00:28:36.420 Great.

00:28:38.020 They've got a plan for 8th Street to make it pretty.

00:28:42.760 Well, they could pick up the feces first.

00:28:44.500 That could be helpful.

00:28:46.000 But they're making the road, 8th Street, narrower.

00:28:51.080 And they're putting bike lanes all the way up to 17th Avenue.

00:28:54.440 and they're putting in outdoor patios and rest stations

00:28:59.820 for the pedestrians, walking up and down 8th Street. 0.96

00:29:03.240 It's ridiculous. 0.99

00:29:04.520 It's absolutely ridiculous. 0.98

00:29:05.800 But that's the wokeness, the DEI of planners 0.97

00:29:10.540 who don't live in the real world.

00:29:14.920 Well, the numbers, I mean, this has been going on

00:29:17.600 since I lived in Calgary 15 years ago

00:29:19.860 when they were just starting with painted lanes to get it.

00:29:22.360 And then, well, that wasn't enough.

00:29:23.320 Now we need these tracks.

00:29:24.440 And if people see what they've done on 8th and on each side, this is a full-size automobile lane on each side they're taking, raised with pavement.

00:29:32.080 Who knows what the bloody cost is going to be?

00:29:34.440 I can tell you.

00:29:35.500 Okay.

00:29:36.060 Yes, there we go.

00:29:37.080 I should have said somebody does know.

00:29:39.560 8th Street, the underpass is 25 mil.

00:29:44.340 They're building a bike path on 26th Avenue from 14th Street to 37th Street Southwest.

00:29:50.720 and that's going to come in around $75 million.

00:29:56.760 In total, the total amount of money spent on bike lanes,

00:30:05.400 and this includes bike paths along the river.

00:30:09.540 Which I don't mind so much, yeah.

00:30:10.820 No, there's no cars.

00:30:12.100 Yeah.

00:30:12.880 But it's somewhere around $100 million or more.

00:30:15.860 um and and that's ridiculous because that's people who don't use the bike lanes you and me

00:30:22.580 are paying for the for property taxes well you're not you're out of town but still um you get my

00:30:28.900 point so hundred billion dollars would go a long way to fix the infrastructure in the city a lot

00:30:36.380 of things that could go and and they've gone with an if we build it they will come mentality for the

00:30:40.900 last 15 years but they will back then i remember those discussions back when nancy first got in

00:30:45.560 we started this, it was about 1.8% of commuters in summer were riding bikes to

00:30:50.360 work downtown.

00:30:51.380 And now after all of this construction, all these years, all these bike lanes,

00:30:54.620 it's the same number.

00:30:55.560 It's 1.8.

00:30:56.360 There's always going to be a little set of spandex fetishists who will 1.00

00:30:59.760 ride no matter what. 0.90

00:31:00.680 And you know what?

00:31:01.020 Those guys will ride with or without lanes.

00:31:03.200 Nobody new is coming out because.

00:31:04.760 Well, the city does, it's got a, for the 12th Avenue bike lane, which is

00:31:09.140 the biggest one in the city, there's a counter just on, uh, west of

00:31:13.220 8th street, apparently. And over six years, they say there's been 950,000, uh, bikes or whatever

00:31:22.160 using the bike lane. And I'm thinking, eh, that sounds like way too many. I look right down on

00:31:31.100 12th Avenue on the bike lane. Yeah. They're pretty sparse. It's not, but, um, to help pay

00:31:38.420 for paving roads and cleaning snow off the roads, we'd get licenses, put them on our

00:31:44.060 cars, okay?

00:31:45.660 That money goes for upkeep and stuff like that.

00:31:49.080 Gas tax, too.

00:31:49.900 Gas tax.

00:31:50.980 If you're going to ride a bike and you're going to use the bike lane, you should have

00:31:55.280 to buy a license, 100 bucks a year or whatever, and get insurance.

00:32:01.960 I've seen people get hit by, bikers don't give pedestrians right away.

00:32:07.640 Oh, and if the lane's inconvenient, they ride the bloody sidewalk anyhow? 0.99

00:32:10.420 Yeah.

00:32:11.240 And so in order to use the bike lane, you should have a license from the city of Calvary,

00:32:16.760 and like I say, $50 a year, $100 a year, I don't care.

00:32:19.640 But all that money should go to pay for building bike lanes or improving them or repairing them.

00:32:26.520 Nothing else.

00:32:27.700 Nowhere else.

00:32:30.160 Because now you've got a kitty.

00:32:32.380 You know exactly how much money you've got to spend on bike lanes because you've sold this many licenses.

00:32:37.640 and away you go and don't touch any other money.

00:32:40.740 They'd probably build them in better spots then, too.

00:32:42.680 They'd actually look at it and say, well, we've only got this much.

00:32:44.740 Where do we really need them?

00:32:46.000 Well, you know, they put bike lanes on 15th Avenue in the Beltline last year

00:32:50.940 from 11th Street all the way to, I think they got to McLeod Trail.

00:32:56.520 Purely all residential.

00:32:58.060 Yeah.

00:32:58.380 And all the people, I mean.

00:32:59.980 It just cost a massive amount of money.

00:33:01.240 15th Avenue is nothing more than multifamily homes, large apartment buildings.

00:33:05.700 There's a seniors' home there.

00:33:07.640 um but the bike lane uh blocked off there's no parking on the street anymore and the bike lane

00:33:14.520 they built uh got in the way of any ambulance coming into the seniors room if they needed

00:33:19.720 an ambulance and they do but they couldn't get in there so they had to get trolley people down 0.99

00:33:26.120 bring them out to the street and load them in the ambulance it's just stupid that's the first one 0.98

00:33:30.600 that dreeson's gonna go after yeah i think well that's the thing to look forward to i guess you 0.99

00:33:34.600 In Toronto, I mean, these guys, again, they're fanatical.

00:33:37.400 They're all protesting.

00:33:38.460 They're rallying.

00:33:39.240 But I'm just going to have to stand up and say, it's too damn bad, you guys.

00:33:42.280 Well, if you look at the, Toronto's a good example.

00:33:44.520 I don't know if everybody's familiar with that, with the one they're ripping up, but

00:33:48.960 it's in the high traffic area.

00:33:51.900 Blur and something.

00:33:53.720 Yeah, blur and, but anyway, major, major route.

00:33:56.640 And it was just screwing up traffic and messing up the commercial.

00:34:02.320 There's no parking.

00:34:03.320 And people just went, shoo, get rid of them.

00:34:04.980 And so Ford went, yep, done.

00:34:06.440 But they're not ripping up all of them.

00:34:09.220 It's the ones that are going to break the rules.

00:34:11.320 And like I say, we haven't seen Driessen's plan yet.

00:34:16.900 We'll see it when he tails us.

00:34:18.280 So I suspect it's going to be a lot like what Ford did.

00:34:22.440 Well, we're kind of looking forward to the fight, I've got to admit.

00:34:24.900 But it's unfortunate it has to be had.

00:34:27.620 Before I let you go, what do you work on?

00:34:29.000 What do we got to look forward to?

00:34:30.220 I mean, I know you've got lots to cover.

00:34:31.400 Or, you know, I think maybe some eyes will turn more municipal once this referendum thing is behind us because there's a lot of important stuff happening.

00:34:37.200 Well, you know, the referendum owns everything between now and middle of November.

00:34:44.900 There's not a whole lot coming up on city council.

00:34:48.880 There's some regular business budget in November is going to be worth watching.

00:34:56.140 And from a political point of view, that's about it in the city.

00:35:00.420 But yeah, the budget thing, that gets people's attention.

00:35:04.620 I hope people watch.

00:35:05.660 And as I said, it's been a bit frustrating.

00:35:07.560 I mean, yes, I live just outside of the city, but I've always watched it closely.

00:35:11.020 I really had high hopes thinking, I understand there's going to be a transitional period,

00:35:14.660 but wow, we haven't seen a good sweeping of, you know, as you said, 10 out of 14 of them out, new mayor.

00:35:19.840 Boy, we're going to see some new initiative and changes.

00:35:22.220 No, it was kind of like, here's the election last year and getting into December.

00:35:28.340 and uh january february march and they've they've they just turned back into a whole bunch of talking

00:35:37.700 heads and and like you said earlier when we started they're looking more and more like the

00:35:42.560 last city council well we'll see what happens maybe they could be the last city council

00:35:47.440 that might be what it comes to oh lord that's better well i thank you for constantly keeping

00:35:53.500 an eye on that gong show because it's not the easiest thing to watch but it's so important i

00:35:56.860 I mean, we really overlook our local government terribly, rural and in the urban areas.

00:36:02.280 So I appreciate the coverage and keeping an eye on it.

00:36:04.740 My pleasure.

00:36:05.400 And putting it out there for us.

00:36:06.040 Okay.

00:36:06.440 All right.

00:36:06.920 Good to see you here again, Mike.

00:36:07.980 Take care.

00:36:09.500 All right, guys.

00:36:10.260 So, yeah, be sure.

00:36:11.020 Again, like I said, the paywall's down.

00:36:12.940 Check it out.

00:36:13.500 Go to westernstandard.news.

00:36:15.900 Look up Mike Thomas' stories.

00:36:17.460 You know, media has changed.

00:36:19.240 There's not as much coverage down there as there used to be.

00:36:21.860 It's hard to find it.

00:36:22.600 And Mike's keeping an eye on it for you.

00:36:24.840 I mean, it used to be you'd go into city chambers and you'd see a whole pile of reporters just filling that thing because they're watching everything.

00:36:31.080 Their resources just aren't there for it anymore.

00:36:32.820 This is the place to get it.

00:36:34.460 This is where you're going to find it.

00:36:36.260 So, you know, get on there because, hey, how often do we see that in politics when something comes along, a policy change, a massive tax increase, all of that?

00:36:45.020 And some people say, I didn't see that coming.

00:36:46.540 I didn't know it was happening.

00:36:47.880 Well, actually, you know, people were reporting on it.

00:36:50.620 You just weren't listening.

00:36:52.200 so uh you know it's good again to support this local media i know we're sounding self-serving

00:36:56.920 with all that but it's the truth uh so we can keep reporting on these things or they get away with

00:37:01.560 more and it's just so maddening that they just don't seem to change i don't know what it takes

00:37:07.320 how often do we have to fire them i think that's it's a long-term thing and it's i don't know you

00:37:12.600 know it sounds frustrating whether it'll ever work but i think if this bunch is no good i think

00:37:16.440 think Calgary citizens should fire 10 out of 14 of them again next election and if those guys turn

00:37:21.760 the same just keep doing it eventually you're gonna have to find some councillor some group

00:37:25.200 some mayor who says you know what I want to be in longer than four years and maybe I'll actually do

00:37:30.220 something I don't know maybe I'm just wishful thinking so this one I want to get on to this

00:37:37.620 is a case in in in bc and we're hearing it so often now this guy has got 274 premium previous

00:37:47.460 criminal convictions 81 of which were violent he's just this guy's right out of his skull

00:37:53.680 he's he's dangerous you know this isn't a shoplifter this isn't a pickpocket this guy is

00:37:59.600 dangerous uh his last conviction he's been released of course he's out and and about that's

00:38:05.940 why he's making the news what do you think the chances are he's going to be arrested again uh

00:38:11.540 he he was at a coffee shop and they tried to eject him and he started throwing chairs around

00:38:17.160 assaulting people stripped off his clothes uh took a dump on the floor and started smearing it all

00:38:23.220 over the walls this is a guy who's just out of control out of his head he should not be in public

00:38:27.240 bottom line is he should not be loose it's maybe it's no fault of his own you know some wires got

00:38:33.720 crossed while he was in the womb. He's just not in his right state of mind, obviously. But I don't

00:38:40.800 care. I don't care. He puts the public at risk. That's the problem. Quit releasing him. What does

00:38:49.280 it take? 81 violent convictions. There's going to be more. I mean, he hasn't gotten better. But

00:38:58.980 but just to put the cherry on top though of course as we listen to the defense lawyers

00:39:05.060 what pops up with them says the court has heard that ty is recognized and victimized as a

00:39:11.160 transgender person ah yes they're playing the trans card here we go he's trans and i mean you 0.68

00:39:19.420 look at the dude and you see the pictures of him no it's a man it's just another one finding this 0.99

00:39:24.240 the latest thing to latch on to to make an excuse for your horrific dangerous behavior

00:39:31.120 as dave mentioned one of the worst crimes we've seen in alberta in in modern history the murder 0.51

00:39:37.360 of all those children and teachers up in tumblr tumble ridge by a trans man who we now found out

00:39:43.520 was supported by a man down in the united states quit calling them she hers these guys are bearded 0.96

00:39:48.800 five o'clock shadow people with balls they're men sick of it say it like it is so i've been looking 0.61

00:39:55.680 at this czech news story that's writing about it and it talks to some people that interviewed on it 0.75

00:40:03.920 and they inserted uh you know like like square brackets around all of the statements during the

00:40:10.320 statement the quotes because the people they were interviewing were saying he and they replaced it

00:40:14.800 all with she because this bearded disturbed violent person now claims he's trans so this

00:40:23.440 person needs to be in some form of complex care or jail this person they're interviewing it seems

00:40:27.600 for the rest of and then this brackets her life she and it's bracketed is a time bomb that's

00:40:33.520 ticking it's only a matter of time she before she does something again no you're now what you are 0.92

00:40:38.800 doing as media you're actually just misquoting this person said he because it is a he let's

00:40:46.400 let's get into reality again there's a couple of realities that have to be faced with this too

00:40:51.920 two very big ones as i said one is that this person for whatever reason is extremely disturbed

00:40:57.840 extremely dangerous and should not be released in society not not ever we can't fix somebody like

00:41:03.760 that maybe if the wonder cure comes along you found an injection that will rewire this person's

00:41:09.360 brain and make them normal again fine until then though they have to stay behind bars for the sake

00:41:14.480 of the rest of the world i'm not talking punitive wise i'm just saying reality 81 violent convictions 0.69

00:41:22.080 and the other part is don't pretend this is a woman don't pretend this is somebody who's trans

00:41:27.840 there are trans people there are people who really have been dedicated to trying to change their

00:41:32.160 gender as hard as they can try surgically clothing aspects this is just a guy trying to get a lighter 0.84

00:41:39.780 sentence and let's call it out when we do and it's lazy slothful behavior on the part of media with

00:41:46.380 these guys putting all that she in there with every person they interview regarding this thing

00:41:50.840 it just uh underscores that this guy by the way if you keep playing that game you keep pretending

00:41:57.240 this man, this dangerous man, this violent man is a woman. He will end up in a woman's facility

00:42:02.540 and probably roughly assault an innocent woman in there. Let's get real. I don't know what on 0.89

00:42:11.880 earth it takes. As I've said many a time before, Canada is broken. Injustice is one of the areas

00:42:17.300 where it's strongly broken. And we start mixing trans on top of what's already a screwed up, 1.00

00:42:21.840 rotten justice system with some of the most violent people getting released all the time. 0.89

00:42:25.460 i mean what we had a child murderer out for cooking lessons in british columbia yeah we

00:42:30.820 let him out because he wants to take cooking lessons what the hell kind of country we're

00:42:34.940 living in you know i i i don't want to see a world where we're constantly incarcerating people

00:42:43.460 i do believe that we should always try rehabilitation with people it's the best outcome

00:42:47.120 when there's a criminal person you you want to have them find themselves become functional in

00:42:54.160 society become working, paying taxes, not stealing from their neighbors. And when we have the

00:42:59.580 opportunity to do that, we should pursue it. But once in a while, you got to write them off. Once

00:43:05.280 in a while, they're beyond reform. Once in a while, it's too violent. The risk is just too high. You

00:43:12.160 have to put the rights of the rest of society ahead of the rights of the offender. And we don't do

00:43:20.680 that. You know, and look at the cost. This guy with 81 convictions, I wonder how many he didn't

00:43:27.980 get convicted for. And that means there's 81 victims of assault, of violent crime. And he's

00:43:36.220 out again. The people in Nanaimo must be just counting the minutes, wondering if they're going

00:43:40.760 to be the next one he assaults. He, just remember that it's a he, before he gets thrown in jail for 0.86

00:43:47.120 another little while and then we let them out yet again i think with some of these judges

00:43:50.240 or some of these advocates should billet these people they let out keep them in your house for

00:43:56.720 a while they're that safe you think they're okay have them babysit your children for a bit 1.00

00:44:00.960 have them in as a nanny how will that work out for you have her sorry right because this week 0.86

00:44:08.720 it to her come on enough enough uh finally as i kind of wrap up let's see uh christia freeland's 0.93

00:44:18.200 book is out i just want to give a quick poke on that uh you're real shocking i guess in cabinet

00:44:23.440 meetings and then the caucus meetings there were cabinet ministers crying and hugs and public

00:44:27.900 scoldings excuse me we're uh par for the course in trudeau's caucus meetings and cabinet meetings

00:44:36.680 you know what kind of pisses me off with this isn't that she's exposing it of

00:44:40.280 course now go ahead expose it why are you coming out now when your political 0.53

00:44:44.780 career is over why the hell didn't you speak up ten five whatever amount of

00:44:48.620 years ago oh yeah because your cabinet making big money so you just put up with 0.98

00:44:52.040 it let him abuse women let him abuse others and let this miserable thing 1.00

00:44:54.800 continue you're a coward Freeland you're just trying to make money out of what 1.00

00:44:59.000 you shut your trap about what you should have with good principle been exposing 0.99

00:45:02.840 years ago. Jody Wilson-Raybould called out Trudeau for what he was. And of course, yes,

00:45:08.420 she got kicked out of cabinet for it. Same with Philpott. But you, Freeland? No, you sat there

00:45:13.000 and took it right to the bitter end. And now you're coming out and saying, oh, by the way,

00:45:17.160 he was an asshole. Glad you could share that with us now. All right, I'll leave it at that. Make sure 1.00

00:45:22.420 to get out and vote, people. This is the biggest opportunity we'll ever have. Tune into the

00:45:26.180 pipeline tonight and subscribe, like all that good stuff. We'll see you next week to talk about how

00:45:32.140 that voting result came out. Thank you.

Western Standard - October 17, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Choose Option 2 on Question 10

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