00:01:29.760I want to talk about, I don't have my easier teleprompter to work with, so forgive me.
00:01:34.500But, you know, let's talk about Canada and the United States.
00:01:36.760They've had one of the strongest, most peaceful, and longest-lasting relationships between any two nations bordering each other in the world.
00:01:44.560And now we've got opportunistic, partisan breakmanship that's threatening to that partnership.
00:01:57.120Trump's provocative, and we've got to admit, disrespectful 51st state references, referring to the prime minister as the governor of Canada to set things off.
00:02:04.380And I understand Trudeau doesn't command respect, but some degree of diplomacy between top offices is typically expected.
00:02:10.020And, of course, the tariffs aren't helping matters either.
00:02:12.760Now, the Liberal Party, under Carney's leadership, though, they used the trade and diplomatic tension to whip up a jingoistic frenzy with a repugnant but very successful elbows-up campaign.
00:02:23.040And in painting Americans as boogeymen, the Liberals managed to secure an election win from what appeared to be a certain defeat, you know, less than a year ago.
00:02:33.340They exaggerated the threats and the attitudes from the people south of our border to cause Canadians to feel insecure with their neighbours.
00:02:39.800The strategists in the Liberal campaign know that when people feel there might be an outside threat to their well-being,
00:02:44.420they tend to rally around the familiar leadership, and they'll stop pursuing change electorally.
00:02:50.200So the campaign was a success, but the price was high.
00:02:53.040As our friendship with the United States has taken a blow, which is going to take years to recover from.
00:02:57.660It's an unforgivable tactic used to win an election.
00:03:00.360I'm currently in the United States, as I said.
00:03:01.980This is my annual pilgrimage, chasing the sun down here in Arizona and now California.
00:03:06.560And since crossing the border, I've been dealing with ugly, snide, vitriolic shots at me for daring to come to the United States.
00:06:18.440You know, whether it's north or south of the border, whoever's doing it, when we're breaking up relationships and friends, families, things like that over.
00:12:28.880You know, and I compared what's happening, unfortunately, between our two countries with what happened in many instances with families during the COVID.
00:13:29.280I mean, I'm no more embarrassed to be here, you know, with the administration and the government that they have in the United States than I hope Americans aren't too embarrassed when they come to Canada and see our federal government.
00:13:44.760Because oftentimes, there's lots to be annoyed with there as well.
00:14:29.300And it was much, your experience was the same as ours.
00:14:32.300We had all these worrisome stories coming out primarily out of Ontario and eastern Canada, you know, about, oh, my goodness, like, you don't dare want to go down there.
00:14:44.560I mean, you know, you end up in jail or something.
00:14:47.580I mean, ice will be waiting for you at the border.
00:15:14.300But, you know, as well as the young lady that was at the window at the border crossing, who couldn't be have been more friendlier and welcoming for Leah and I, we answered her questions, provided our passports.
00:15:29.220She reminded us that because we were staying a certain length of time, we had to go online and register once we got settled.
00:16:53.520How, you know, you were in the federal government for a while.
00:16:56.640You didn't have to deal with anything quite like this before.
00:16:58.620But how do you diplomatically deal with, you know, Canada's interests, trade interests, with somebody as difficult as President Trump, without, you know, continuing to seem like you're bending over for him as well?
00:17:13.460It is a position they're in, no matter who was the prime experience.
00:18:06.500They identify issues where we have commonality between the two nations, where there's a better chance that you can reach a compromise, if you will, and work from there.
00:18:17.580And then deal with some others that are more contentious, like supply management, for example.
00:18:24.640It's been an irritant to the Americans long before Trump came on the scene.
00:18:29.460And it remains a big-time trade irritant because of the dairy cartel.
00:19:09.700So, I mean, again, there's some of the balancing.
00:19:11.860I mean, it got pretty clear to Canada, well, we do have our eggs a lot in one basket, just due to geographic reality, due to such a friendly relationship.
00:19:20.200But then when you get somebody who wants to be a little more hostile with trade negotiations, boy, we find, oh, we're really in trouble.
00:19:58.520No, I think that there's general acceptance, even from the opposition parties in Parliament, Corey, to the fact that the correct way to proceed is to put as much effort as possible into diversifying those products.
00:20:14.160But not to say directly or indirectly through your actions to the Americans, oh, we don't need you anymore.
00:21:03.400It's not a trade deal as per, you know, per se.
00:21:07.180It's a first step, a good one, I grant you.
00:21:12.320But then he took it that step further, didn't he?
00:21:15.260And he said, you know, while he was there in Beijing with the Chinese, the communist Chinese, he says, oh, well, you know, this is a good step towards a future partnership, if you will, for a, you know, what was it?
00:21:51.720And those particular three words like that, the question is whether it was intentional or not, because that's a very loaded term.
00:21:57.520You know, some people read that very much into the World Economic Forum or globalism.
00:22:02.340I mean, it could be, if you just took it on surface, benignly said, it's just terms you use for, but, you know, politicians at that level usually are carefully planning their words.
00:22:12.820I mean, Trudeau was a little more of just stepping on his tongue when he would speak out, but Carney is a little controlled.
00:22:18.320So what do you think his intentions were on throwing that grenade into the discussion?
00:22:22.400Well, I think it was to sort of exert himself as this world leader.
00:22:27.520And he was intent upon, you know, furthering that image as of himself.
00:22:34.800You know, I don't know how widely that's shared.
00:22:36.860Obviously, in Eastern Canada, Central and Eastern Canada, it's shared sufficiently that he won an election, as Pete said earlier.
00:22:43.880But, you know, we were talking about what steps he could take or should be taking or any prime minister should take to try and build the relationship that we need.
00:22:56.560We need a strong, especially trade relationship, but a security relationship, you know, on many fronts.
00:23:03.980Justice, you know, to stop smuggling across the border.
00:23:08.860Certainly, you know, we've been accused of being a conduit for drugs going into the United States.
00:23:16.020It's well known that certainly the conduit for guns coming into criminal hands in Canada from the United States is well known.
00:23:25.120So all of those issues need to be addressed on both sides of the border, and they always will.
00:23:30.640And, you know, from my point of view, and I think many Canadians, you're not going to help build the kind of relationship that we need.
00:23:38.860And we will always need with the Americans by poking them with a stick.
00:23:42.960And that's what happened to me anyway, when he went that step further than needed to be said in Beijing.
00:23:51.140And maybe again, that prodding of the Americans rings well with his base of support.
00:23:55.460So even if it causes more damage overall, that's what I get frustrated with.
00:23:58.940He's not looking at the bigger picture.
00:24:00.460So something that this exposed and really brought about, it kind of ties into what I want to talk a little more about, too, of course, is a subject where we blew up a lawyer with Western alienation.
00:24:09.680I mean, it became clear then for Canadians, okay, we've got to diversify our markets.
00:24:14.380Something we already knew in Alberta, we've been talking about for decades, guys, you know, 90-some percent of our energy products, if we export them, go to the United States, which is all fine and dandy, except we're losing money on a discount because they're sole customers.
00:24:26.820And we really need to move product to the coast.
00:24:29.660And suddenly, finally, Canadians realize, wow, we need to get product to the coast.
00:24:34.020So we started talking about a pipeline that, you know, well, the rest of the country started talking about a pipeline.
00:24:59.760Carney, obviously, all I can think is, no, stupid man really doesn't want the pipe to go.
00:25:04.980Well, if you look at his history as, you know, protector of the environment, if you will, and that's the course he's charted for most of his life, he and his wife.
00:25:24.240But when you become the leader of the country, I think you need to focus on, or I would hope you would focus on what's best for the country.
00:25:31.500And, you know, I just mentioned the fact that what was signed in China was MOUs.
00:25:38.100Well, of course, there was a lot of fanfare about an MOU that Carney signed with our premier, with Alberta.
00:25:46.380And it's, you know, we have to remind people that that is an MOU too.
00:25:56.760And as many, many people that are cynical as you and I about governments would say that it will never happen.
00:26:07.920And it'll certainly never happen when he keeps turning around and promising the coastal First Nations and the government of British Columbia veto.
00:27:05.440I think it's only natural that we're going to, we, Alberta, are going to have to look south of the border yet again to try to access even foreign markets.
00:27:15.640As you say, most of our oil goes down there now.
00:27:19.140You know, can we use it as a transit course or transit route to get it to places like India and China?
00:27:32.380I mean, the point of a federation is to have these independent somewhat provinces, but with agreements that bind them to be mutually beneficial across the country.
00:27:42.940One of which is free trade between the provinces, which the government has been kind of loose on enforcing.
00:27:49.740I mean, you know, the courts rule, like, with bringing beer from Quebec into New Brunswick, a person can be charged.
00:27:55.060And the courts have said, well, it's a constitutional violation, but we're still going to allow Quebec and such to block the sales beer border to border.
00:28:02.500And the authority for getting a pipeline through.
00:28:06.400I mean, you say, yes, we have responsibility to consult.
00:28:08.500And at some point, that's the responsibility of the prime minister to then say, well, we did all the consultation we could.
00:28:52.820And for, you know, this is quite a unique meeting, I might add.
00:28:58.400I don't know if there's any other situation where you could have two former leaders of independence movements for Alberta and Western Canada sitting down together to discuss this topic.
00:29:17.300We've been, perhaps we've been banished.
00:29:22.200No, I mean, seriously, obviously, I am very supportive of what's happening.
00:29:30.860Although Leah and I were discussing this the other night, as I think most Albertans are.
00:29:37.640I would just caution people, Corey, before they get too far out in front of this thing, that we saw much the same support that we're seeing in those long lineups and sub-zero temperatures outside those venues.
00:29:58.320People wanting to line up and subject cold and a cold north wind to wait their turn to sign this petition to demand a vote.
00:30:11.740They're demanding their democratic freedom to vote on independence for Alberta.
00:30:17.180And while I support that, and I applaud each and every one of them for doing that, because I am very pro-independence for our province, I just caution that we saw much the same thing less than a year ago in the election campaign.
00:30:35.700As a conservative, I was certainly excited to see on social media and on the news channels every day, these huge turnouts for Kyrpolyev and his rallies across the nation.
00:30:54.220And we were excited. We thought that, you know, despite Trudeau's exit and this new, fresh face in Mark Carney, that Canadians were going to make a change.
00:31:06.380And of course, as conservatives, a change that we felt very much needed.
00:31:11.260And so I was pleased for Pierre. He put in an enormous amount of work and effort and he was getting the turnouts.
00:31:17.320But it didn't materialize in that needed victory at the ballot box.
00:31:21.460And that's my concern here as a first step to make sure that we get way past and we will be getting way past the numbers necessary for the petition to force a referendum and give Albertans that vote.
00:31:36.940But we're a long way, as you and I have discussed off camera, to getting to those numbers where we would need to win the referendum and begin, just begin the initial step, start of course, towards independence.
00:31:51.820It's certainly moving in the right direction.
00:32:38.060Let's get more facts and information in front of the public so that each and every one of them will be encouraged to actually go to the ballot box when the time comes and to select their choice intelligently with the knowledge they need.
00:33:19.220What we're getting is redneck, hillbillies.
00:33:23.180You're not allowed to have a referendum.
00:33:25.500You don't have permission to have a referendum.
00:33:28.560Like that attitude is night and day towards how Albertans are treated when they're considering independence versus Quebec, which I think only helps the independence movement because it shows there is a double standard in this country.
00:33:41.800Yeah, it actually makes the point for those that are in favor of independence, doesn't it?
00:33:48.800And very starkly makes the point, which is that we are treated differently, you know, negatively by Central and Eastern Canada.
00:33:58.340We always have been ever since Confederation.
00:34:00.800And I would argue as a former leader of the Maverick Party, you know, in favor of Western independence, we always will be.
00:34:11.760You know, I took at that time back in 2021, I spent a lot of time with a constitutional law professor looking at our constitution and dissecting it and saying,
00:34:24.740okay, like, as a once proud Canadian, a proud Canadian of what I would call the old Canada, what can we do to stay within Canada but be treated fairly in the future?
00:35:22.660Because after this decade of darkness under Justin Trudeau, I mean, if there was ever evidence of why the West needs its independence.
00:35:33.980And when I talk, I would say the West, not just Alberta, because polls consistently show, for example, there's greater support for independence in Saskatchewan than there is in Alberta.
00:36:16.840Well, and, you know, to your point, too, in reading the Constitution and looking at things, and that's what really creates the true independence supporters.
00:36:23.980When they realize and come to that conclusion, it's not the party in power that's the problem.
00:37:09.480We get better government and then the West is lulled into a certain sense of, okay, well, things aren't that bad.
00:37:18.400Because had Paulie ever got in, and I certainly hoped he would have, and still hope he might, we would have seen the end of some of these irritants, like the No New Pipelines Act, like the ban on tankers, like getting rid of the industrial carbon tax, not just the consumer carbon tax.
00:37:40.140There would have been certain steps that, you know, he promised to do it, and I'm sure Pierre, I know Pierre well enough that it would have been done.
00:37:48.760And it would have made life a lot easier, not only for Albertans and Western Canadians, Corey, but it would have made, I would argue, life a lot easier for all Canadians.
00:37:58.840And, but the core difference and why we go through this seesaw between what I would call reasonable government.
00:38:07.760And I was part of that government, and I was part of that government, so I like to think we were being reasonable, a reasonable government under a conservative prime minister.
00:38:15.680And then, of course, being negatively affected dramatically by successive liberal prime ministers and governments.
00:38:24.480And we go through this, this seesaw arrangement, and it's been going on since Confederation, and it's never going to change.
00:38:34.180This is what's really interesting that we're seeing in our lifetimes, you know, as this goes, the Paris-Québec law is poised to win next fall.
00:38:41.720We'll see a lot of change in politics over that much time.
00:38:43.860We saw that with last year's federal campaign.
00:38:47.980The liberal government of Quebec, or not liberal, but you know, that CAQ, Phil Absinthe, are on corruption, as this is a tendency in Quebec as well.
00:38:58.580But part of the campaign platform of the PQ is that they want to hold another referendum.
00:39:02.680They're saying, we're running on holding another referendum.
00:39:06.380Theoretically, if they get a majority government this fall, Quebec's going to be scheduling another one.
00:39:12.240And this is not a sign of a functional country.
00:39:14.860You know, if we're getting these referendums happening on each side, even if they aren't winning majority support, you've got large segments.
00:39:31.760But, you know, which gives people like yourself and myself, it gives us some renewed hope that we haven't had, I would argue, in our lifetime.
00:39:42.760That perhaps we're on the cusp of some pretty dramatic change.
00:39:47.120Because at least we can make the arguments now and not have people discount them out of hand, the arguments in support of independence and why it's necessary.
00:39:59.540And there are some individuals I would argue are really helping that along by being realistic and putting forward a strong argument for a much better off Albertans.
00:40:14.120And let's face it, many of us are not doing it for ourselves.
00:40:19.420And that's what, too, is so annoying about the support that Carney got in Lexington County.
00:40:25.560He got it from people my age, you know.
00:40:29.380And you wonder, okay, don't those people have grandchildren that they're concerned about that they would, you know, for their own pocketbook?
00:40:46.860And some of the polls are showing it, though, that, yes, there's people who are fearful.
00:40:50.320They get, I think, in a later age, and they just have fear change.
00:40:52.480So they kind of, but still, there's a great deal of folks, you know, our age or older who are, again, they're thinking of the next generations.
00:40:59.040I mean, we understand that there's still only so much time on the clock for ourselves, hopefully a lot.
00:41:05.360But the younger folk, this is the first time in the independence we're really seeing they grow a lot.
00:41:10.880Yeah, because they're seeing a hopelessness, unfortunately.
00:41:13.380They're saying, I can't, I wish I can't afford to pay off my student loans.
00:41:20.900And that's a different dynamic this time that I don't know how that's going to turn up that.
00:41:23.980Well, and even peaceful revolution down through history and through all the different nations of the world that have succumbed to that, Corey, it's been the youth that has been the driving force for that exact reasons.
00:41:39.360It's that sense of hopelessness that it doesn't matter how hard they work in the modern world, certainly in modern Canada.
00:41:47.180That families have to have, virtually, if they're to be able to pay the bills and put food on the table for the kids at all, they have to have a two-income family.
00:41:59.580You know, both parents need to be out there working.
00:42:05.200And I do believe that you're right, that it's that sense of hopelessness.
00:42:09.620And we saw it in spades in the folks that were turning out for the year, probably, of rallies.
00:42:18.900You know, you had people that were in their 30s that were on the verge of fears, if not trying, because of that hopelessness and helplessness that they're facing in Canada.
00:42:34.120That's what angers me, as a former member of Parliament for 17 years, some of those spent as a Cabinet Minister, with Prime Minister Harper.
00:44:23.340If nothing else, we're in for a pivotal year.
00:44:25.860Hopefully, it's for the positive, and we'll see what happens.
00:44:29.360Well, especially as we were just discussing, for the future generations that are much younger than us, our children, our grandchildren, I certainly hope so.