Western Standard - October 31, 2026


CORY MORGAN SHOW： Don’t let the government kill direct democracy

BREAKING： Premier Danielle Smith confirms Jeffrey Rath being ejected from UCP

Episode Stats


Length

45 minutes

Words per minute

192.25

Word count

8,825

Sentence count

349

Harmful content

Misogyny

7

sentences flagged

Toxicity

38

sentences flagged

Hate speech

26

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good day, welcome to the Corey Morgan Show.
00:00:29.360 it had to happen eventually there's snow on the ground uh well i hope it warms up a little bit
00:00:34.600 by the weekend for the kids going out for halloween i got those memories from my childhood on
00:00:39.420 freezing cold nights with one of those cheap plastic masks on and a rubber band thing on it
00:00:44.760 ripping into my hair and frozen snot gluing it to my face i wouldn't give it up for the world it was
00:00:49.900 worth it to go door to door and get candy but all the same if it could be a little more comfortable
00:00:52.840 for the kids let's hope for the best well leaving you on that good lunchtime note i've got a other
00:00:58.480 more palatable stuff coming on. Franco Terrazzano from the Taxpayers Federation is going to come on
00:01:02.580 a little while to talk. Yeah, we're coming up on federal budget time. I'm sure that's going to be
00:01:06.920 a doozy and something to look forward to. And a whole lot of issues to cover. I want to give,
00:01:12.920 you know, go over a bit though now on the referendum. And no, not the subjects,
00:01:17.440 not independence. I think we've all had enough of that for a little while. But still, it's the
00:01:20.440 process itself, direct democracy. And I'm kind of sad about how this came out. I mean, the process
00:01:24.920 for Alberta's fall referenda was a mess from day one and it only got worse as time passed.
00:01:29.400 The Chief Electoral Officer made no secret that he wasn't thrilled with the entire affair and
00:01:33.160 confusion reigned for every step of the campaign. Direct democracy, it has merit. It could be a
00:01:38.520 regular part of policy making in Alberta's future. Unfortunately, the 2026 referendum
00:01:43.480 soured the public appetite for future votes. Rather than let this venture into direct democracy
00:01:48.840 die as a failed experiment though, the government should be examining what went wrong and to correct
00:01:52.360 things so it could be a tool used to garner public mandates in the future. Governments,
00:01:56.840 especially this one, are inclined to dump an initiative when it's gone awry rather than try
00:02:01.320 to correct it. An example was the Alberta government's terrible handling of the provincial
00:02:04.780 pension plan. The citizen initiative aspect of the Elections Act and the regulations associated
00:02:10.860 have to be cleaned up and clarified. I mean, Luke Kasek talked about both sides of his mouth while
00:02:15.020 claiming that he wanted to initiate a vote in the legislature sometimes and claiming he wanted a
00:02:18.540 referendum at others, and there was kind of paperwork to justify both. It should be clear
00:02:22.480 from the outset what any petition is for. The bar for initiating a referendum, well, that's been
00:02:27.100 raised financially with a huge deposit, but there's other things that need to be done.
00:02:32.420 Clarity on the identification requirements for people signing petitions and what's going to be
00:02:36.140 done to verify those once they're submitted. A massive number of signatures were declined by
00:02:40.180 Elections Alberta with both the State Free Alberta petition and Cor Blund's anti-coal
00:02:44.220 mining petition, and the reasons used felt arbitrary and confusing. The Indigenous consultation
00:02:49.140 requirement, that's got to be fought vigorously in court, and that is ongoing. This creeping trend 0.90
00:02:53.600 of giving chiefs a de facto veto over all political initiatives must be halted, and that
00:02:58.420 includes the citizen initiatives. But going forward, there's also got to be a limited number
00:03:02.800 of questions put to the ballot, and any one exercise. The dog's breakfast of questions put
00:03:06.860 to Albertans on October 19th created confusion and led to campaigns encouraging people to support
00:03:11.940 to repose entire blocks of questions rather than making decisions on each individual question.
00:03:17.480 The voting numbers indicated that many people actually made their choices question by question,
00:03:22.380 which is a good thing, but it caused longer lines at polling stations and it really made
00:03:25.600 for a messy campaign. The lesson learned from the Quebec's 1995 referendum was apparently lost. I
00:03:30.460 mean, their ill-phrased question put to Quebecers prompted the creation of the Clarity Act.
00:03:34.740 That act only applies to questions on provincial independence, but the principles of it should be
00:03:39.100 apply to all referenda questions. The questions posed to Albertans on the 19th were convoluted
00:03:43.400 and weird. And when asking people for a vote yes or no, the question being asked should be
00:03:47.780 straightforward, without much room for interpretation. The roles and abilities of
00:03:51.880 third-party advertisers, those need to be laid out and defined better. Alberta left the campaigning
00:03:56.640 in the hands of third-party advertisers, but then set fundraising limitations on them, barred them
00:04:00.540 from participating as scrutineers in the process. Meanwhile, the political parties could campaign
00:04:04.880 without limits, and only two of them were allowed to appoint scrutineers. The clown show of pretending
00:04:10.300 Forever Canada campaign was an embarrassment for Elections Alberta as well. I mean, you know, 0.83
00:04:15.300 pretending it wasn't a campaign when he had a campaign office, it discredited the whole
00:04:18.620 institution. On top of that, the government itself spent four million tax dollars to campaign on one
00:04:23.440 side of the first nine questions and the other on the 10th. Is the intention to allow citizens to
00:04:27.920 make the choice or for the government to affirm what it already wants to do? I think we know the
00:04:32.240 answer to that question. If the government wants to make a policy change, just do it. Referenda
00:04:37.000 should remain in the hands of citizens, and it should be binding. Another mistake was expanding
00:04:41.420 the use of mail-in ballots to be used by anybody for any reason at any time. Special ballots have
00:04:46.140 long been available, but people had to sign a declaration that they wouldn't be available
00:04:49.440 during regular voting times. By removing that requirement, the government invited a flood of
00:04:53.360 mail-in ballots, which contributed to overwhelming the count and robbed countless people of the
00:04:57.480 ability to cast a secret ballot. The disparity in outcomes with the special ballots compared to
00:05:02.220 ballots cast in person have raised some doubts about the integrity of the system.
00:05:06.180 Trust is essential in an electoral system, and the recent referendum eroded it. Faith in the
00:05:11.500 system was hit, and it's going to lead to lower participation in general elections, along with
00:05:15.820 skepticism about the results. Most of the mess with the referendum appeared to be due to Elections
00:05:20.160 Alberta being ill-managed and overwhelmed. These can be rectified, but they must be done sooner
00:05:24.480 rather than later. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the affair has left a good taste in
00:05:28.500 government's mouth or people in general i suspect we won't be seeing many more exercises in direct
00:05:34.260 democracy in the near future and it really is a shame we're great in places like switzerland
00:05:38.340 but we're not there are we oh well how's it going dave good we're nowhere near switzerland
00:05:43.060 what's that we're nowhere near switzerland well not in miles no no what are you doing with yourself
00:05:47.780 now the referendum's over you have a nice relaxing week ah pretty much catching up on a lot of things
00:05:53.620 picking up a lot of signs and uh just diversifying my political discourse onto more things rather
00:05:58.500 than just independent stuff all the time there you go terrible drive in today with the snow
00:06:02.180 it was a reality check of our seasonal nature uh but i haven't had too much time to look at
00:06:08.260 the weather today because it's been incredibly busy uh this morning our website is currently
00:06:12.820 leading off with a gentleman in high river high level excuse me who's wanted by the police for
00:06:19.060 or shooting some shots into the floor and pistol-whipping a guy.
00:06:23.860 And his mugshot is something you have to see to believe.
00:06:27.740 The headline says it all.
00:06:29.660 It's a face only a mother could love.
00:06:31.980 Yeah, I saw that picture.
00:06:33.020 I don't even know if his mother is really all that fond of that.
00:06:35.140 No, no.
00:06:37.280 Rob Smith, the president of the UCP party in Alberta,
00:06:40.740 no relation to Danielle Smith,
00:06:43.140 says the premier is safe from a leadership review until after the next election.
00:06:48.460 He says 65 writings have affirmed her support for her, despite last night Banff Kananaskis has reportedly voted to hold a leadership review.
00:07:03.240 So that's 65 to 5, I guess, at the moment.
00:07:06.820 It's going to be an interesting AGM.
00:07:08.580 There's that small core of the chronically aggrieved who just will not give up.
00:07:11.940 They want a separatist party, but they don't want to form one.
00:07:14.560 So they're going to try and turn the ACP into one.
00:07:16.660 It's unfortunate.
00:07:17.320 I mean, you know where I land.
00:07:18.460 I'm certainly an independent supporter. 1.00
00:07:19.800 I just don't support stupid strategy. 1.00
00:07:24.120 We've got an Indian gangster who we wanted for murder and all sorts of bad stuff in the Punjab. 1.00
00:07:30.300 He was arrested by Interpol in Surrey, of all places. 0.99
00:07:35.100 I guess he could have blended in there.
00:07:39.000 Burnaby has seen a rash of hundreds of graveyard vases being stolen.
00:07:44.180 And these, I guess, are brass or copper, which the thieves steal and burn it down and sell it and buy their drugs with it, I guess.
00:07:54.360 But it's hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:07:56.360 I mean, robbing graveyards, that's getting pretty low.
00:07:59.800 Well, you know what the cops have got to catch up on are who's buying this metal.
00:08:04.480 I reported a thing a few years ago.
00:08:06.980 I was driving Uber.
00:08:07.840 I dropped a guy off.
00:08:08.800 here was this little bay in a light industrial area and it around the back it just had like a
00:08:15.280 temporary sign painted up on top of it for metals and in the back were all the shopping carts and
00:08:19.340 all these guys with wire and who knows what they've gotten from construction sites is it really that
00:08:23.580 impossible to crack down on the buyers i mean if these junkies can't find somewhere to sell it
00:08:27.040 they might stop stealing it exactly who would have thunked up uh we got a cbc contributor in
00:08:32.880 Toronto, who's in some hot water because, uh, uh, she told the, uh, the, the loser in
00:08:38.660 the Merrill T race, Mr. Bradford, to give him to his dark thoughts and basically kill 0.95
00:08:42.760 himself. 0.97
00:08:43.280 Yeah. 0.82
00:08:43.580 So it's disgusting.
00:08:44.960 Yeah.
00:08:45.360 And then she just shrugged it up.
00:08:46.660 Oh, it's just dark humor.
00:08:47.680 No.
00:08:48.120 Telling somebody to kill himself isn't dark humor.
00:08:49.780 Yeah.
00:08:49.920 She said, I don't like the guy. 1.00
00:08:51.400 He should kill himself. 1.00
00:08:52.460 I mean, it's disgusting. 1.00
00:08:54.680 Uh, Dallywall season is approaching, uh, and the, uh, city of Calgary has issued a stark
00:09:00.520 warning today that anybody shooting off fireworks will get a thousand dollar fine. It's a huge
00:09:06.740 problem because in the past they've had to close airport runways and whatnot. Grass fires, house
00:09:12.720 fires, car fires are started because you've got thousands of people all at the same time shooting
00:09:17.780 off fireworks. Hundreds of thousands of traumatized dogs. Exactly, exactly. Quebec is set to end the
00:09:26.240 Time changes. They're not going to roll their clock back anymore.
00:09:29.920 Got to look at the Israeli election, which is still confusing, but Netanyahu in the lead.
00:09:36.060 Second time in a year, a Spanish train has hit another one, 68 dead this time.
00:09:42.460 Two Canadians aboard the train were injured.
00:09:46.680 Speaking of hitting things, a WestJet plane in Toronto hit a catering truck.
00:09:51.120 So we've got video of that.
00:09:53.520 The Bank of Canada raised its rate today to 2.25%.
00:09:57.500 And we've just learned of a Air Canada jet flying from Calgary to Toronto,
00:10:03.000 declaring a mid-flight emergency and turning around over Medicine Hat.
00:10:09.000 So we'll try and get the story on that up as soon as possible.
00:10:11.900 Yeah, that's not very far out from here.
00:10:13.940 Well, I hope it ends safely, whatever the heck that is.
00:10:17.040 I hate flying.
00:10:18.180 I just think you're those things.
00:10:20.040 It just makes it.
00:10:20.740 That's why my road trip every year is by road.
00:10:22.620 I mean, for a lot of reasons, I just like to be on the ground.
00:10:25.360 The plane has landed, but we're not sure what the emergency was yet.
00:10:29.200 That's what we're going to try and find out.
00:10:30.580 All right.
00:10:31.120 Well, I'm certain you'll find out and have it posted on the site soon.
00:10:33.780 Hopefully.
00:10:34.420 Right on.
00:10:34.960 Okay, thanks, Dave.
00:10:35.680 See you on the pipeline.
00:10:36.420 You bet.
00:10:37.560 Yes, guys, lots going on, lots breaking, lots to come.
00:10:41.160 This is a reminder, westernstandard.new slash membership.
00:10:44.760 Get a subscription.
00:10:45.540 It's $10 a month, $100 for a year.
00:10:48.420 You can get past the paywall, support us,
00:10:50.180 make sure we can keep covering all these stories,
00:10:52.380 keep doing these shows and look legacy media isn't giving you a lot of this news they won't touch it
00:10:57.660 we will and we'll discuss it here i don't want to go too far into it but i mean it's what a
00:11:02.700 lot of people are talking about that's fine look i love listening to people questioning it
00:11:09.340 cory is controlled opposition yes sneakily 26 years ago i forced i started an independence
00:11:16.940 party with a long-term goal of shoring up the danielle smith government today you crackpots look
00:11:23.580 i did everything i could in the referendum and i'm still an independent supporter and i will
00:11:30.660 still be pushing towards that but i got a taste of reality in my head guys come on now uh could
00:11:38.100 the results have been better absolutely but we're talking better to what 30 maybe 35 i'd look at
00:11:44.360 things strategically. I look at what we can accomplish. I look at what we can't. And we
00:11:48.680 accomplished a lot. This movement has moved farther ahead than it ever has. And it's going
00:11:53.400 to keep moving forward, as long as it doesn't trip over its own feet. And with these people
00:11:58.620 thinking, let's see, we had three quarters of the province reject the notion in a referendum.
00:12:03.860 Let's try and turn the governing party into an independence party and see how that goes
00:12:07.820 during an election year. It's just math, folks. And it's foolishness. It doesn't mean I have a
00:12:13.020 love affair with premier smith it doesn't mean i've given up on independence it just means i
00:12:18.940 don't see kicking myself in the democratic knackers and putting the ndp in for four years
00:12:24.020 i don't see how that's going to facilitate moving our movement forward the thing going out for
00:12:30.620 example with board members and their declaration it's unfortunate that that had to come up but i
00:12:35.360 don't lay that so much on the ucp which is protecting itself as a party as the people
00:12:40.960 pushing from the outside, trying to get in and turn it into a separatist party, which would be
00:12:45.480 political suicide. Three quarters of Albertans just rejected it. We have to accept that. Learn
00:12:51.500 from that. Figure out how to build the movement bigger than that. Don't worry, the party will come
00:12:54.820 on board. And this declaration doesn't mean independent supporters can't be a part of that
00:12:59.940 party. It just means that you can't wear that on your sleeve and have that as your goal. That's not
00:13:04.560 what you're going to campaign on. It was just established. You could still be an independent
00:13:08.460 support would be aside i'm not a member anyways but i'll be at the agm and i'll be watching of
00:13:12.620 course i'll be sharing my thoughts and i'll continue to but seriously guys we've got to
00:13:17.980 think strategically not emotionally isn't that what we always said during the campaign was that
00:13:23.740 it's people are letting emotions govern themselves rather than the realities and that's why
00:13:28.140 they allow sentiment to keep them from picking one side or the other well when you get emotional and
00:13:33.420 have a temper tantrum and try to tear down a government in power when it's only going to
00:13:36.780 make your cause harder you're not taking the right side then either take a breather think about
00:13:44.300 things a little longer and uh see if we can't come up with some good things in the next couple of
00:13:50.940 years something i mean a good thing that came out and i understand this is what the government's
00:13:55.500 trying to do to turn the page they're sick of the independence thing they're sick of the referendum
00:13:58.940 they stepped into but it was a good conference yesterday talking about removing dei requirements
00:14:04.780 from public institutions and oh nahed is quite upset and are the unions and are the people with
00:14:09.900 gender studies degrees that understand they're not going to find a job doing anything else if
00:14:13.500 there wasn't some dei thing forcing people to hire them and pay good tax dollars into 0.99
00:14:18.220 having them sit in a position we don't need in the first place let's look at that who would put 0.79
00:14:23.580 that in because the people saying oh the premier smith's covers just like the head and she's
00:14:27.180 government really do you think they would bring in something to get rid of dei no they would
00:14:32.700 entrench it deeper let's just look at things a little pragmatically look long term we'll get
00:14:38.700 there all right let's look federally we haven't had them on in a while now we got a federal budget
00:14:43.660 coming up and i'm sure it's going to be brilliant i mean how could it not be we got franco terrazzano
00:14:48.300 from the canadian taxpayers federation coming in to tell us all about it how's it going franco
00:14:53.420 hey corey i'm doing well man happy to be on your show i appreciate it uh you know i'll just start
00:14:58.300 the tone right off i see our local member of parliament cory hogan said canada has the lowest
00:15:02.860 net debt in the g7 and the strongest credit rating and debt servicing costs are going to be well below
00:15:08.060 historical levels it sounds to me like a man who's getting everybody ready for a giant amount of
00:15:13.180 borrowing yeah that's what i'm thinking as well i mean look first of all interest charges on the
00:15:18.220 debt are a huge concern let's just look at the government's own independent non-partisan budget
00:15:22.940 watchdog the parliamentary budget officer who wrote this in a recent report okay public debt
00:15:28.740 charges are the fastest growing expense okay let that sink in folks uh the government credit card
00:15:36.980 bills are the fastest growing costs in the federal budget okay you look back five years ago to 2021
00:15:43.820 interest on the debt was about 25 billion dollars this year five years later it's 59 billion dollars
00:15:51.500 Right. So in a handful of years, the interest charges on the federal debt have more than doubled, Corey, more than doubled.
00:15:59.860 The biggest waste in the entire federal government, which is saying a lot, are these massive interest charges that are only getting bigger.
00:16:06.700 Well, this is brutal. I can't stand that because I just see money spent on interest is just like burned money.
00:16:12.940 We're not seeing a service for it. We're not seeing any infrastructure for it or capital investments.
00:16:18.140 It's just money going into, well, you know, a plethora of bonds and other such things like that.
00:16:22.840 But so what are the projections going forward?
00:16:26.180 What are you looking forward to in this November here?
00:16:28.840 Well, I'm not looking forward to much, but what do I think is going to happen?
00:16:32.460 Look, tens of billions of dollars in additional borrowing, unfortunately, right?
00:16:36.240 Like what we want to happen is just no more borrowing.
00:16:39.260 Can we just get back to a balanced budget where taxpayers aren't wasting even more money paying interest on more debt that the government accumulates?
00:16:46.380 Or how about this, Corey?
00:16:47.660 And I feel like this is the most pragmatic solution ever.
00:16:51.160 Just stop blowing past your own budget targets, okay?
00:16:56.020 Why is the government spending billions of dollars over their own budget, right?
00:17:00.900 In their November budget last year, they say, hey, we're going to spend $588 billion.
00:17:05.580 Now, it looks like they're going to spend $602 billion, okay?
00:17:09.660 So they're $14 billion over their own budget.
00:17:12.640 So that's what should be happening.
00:17:14.500 Corey, I want to address one other myth here, okay?
00:17:17.140 because you hear the prime minister you hear some of his uh mps say hey we're balancing the
00:17:22.660 operating budget we're balancing the operating budget but you're not balancing squat when you
00:17:28.320 continue to borrow tens of billions of dollars every year and taxpayers are forced to pay interest
00:17:33.940 on every dollar you borrow well i saw a recent report too i mean that their revenues have been
00:17:40.160 going up the high oil prices i mean are great for alberta's bottom line in the government
00:17:44.880 though they're not that great with spending restraint either uh but federally there's a lot
00:17:49.540 more coming in as well but i guess they they just increase the spending to make up for that rather
00:17:54.620 than look at it as something they could actually balance a budget oh that's exactly what happened
00:17:59.440 i mean billions of dollars came in right so i mean billions of dollars fell into their lap
00:18:04.160 so they should be in a way better position well then what do they do well they just take that
00:18:07.720 bucket of cash and throw it right out the window as fast as the money came in right that that's
00:18:12.400 what's been going on. And look, I want to go back to a point that you just made about how interest
00:18:17.540 charges are a complete waste of money. Let me just lay down a little bit more of the facts here,
00:18:22.500 okay? The federal government will waste more money paying interest on the debt than what it sends to
00:18:27.660 the provinces in healthcare transfers this year. Or think about it this way, the next time you're
00:18:31.820 in that checkout line, every dollar you pay in federal sales tax is going to pay interest on the
00:18:37.320 debt. Okay, so let's just let that sink in for a second here and think of what we could do
00:18:41.720 if we weren't wasting all this money servicing the federal debt. We could essentially double
00:18:47.220 healthcare spending, or we could completely eliminate the GST, right? Wouldn't that go a
00:18:52.780 long way? And before you even think that the biggest threat to a government program is ideology,
00:19:00.220 it's not. The biggest threat to a government program are those interest charges. If you don't
00:19:05.120 believe me, just as the Saskatchewan NDP of the 1990s, what happens when interest charges
00:19:10.900 balloon out of control? Of course, that provincial government was forced to close down dozens of
00:19:16.120 hospitals across the province. Well, we just saw that the Bank of Canada has just raised the prime
00:19:22.640 rate. And I mean, eventually this trickles into government and so on. That's always been the tool
00:19:26.400 that governments use to try and battle inflation as well. If we raise interest high enough, we'll
00:19:31.180 will crank down people spending basically because they'll be broke and that'll reduce the inflation
00:19:36.440 but that's a really painful way to try and deal with inflation rather than than just having a
00:19:42.360 better economy and look like the problem is is the inflation that was created in the first place
00:19:48.260 right and the inflation really took off during the heart of the pandemic now Corey what happened
00:19:52.680 during the heart of the pandemic that was unusual when it comes to government finances well it was
00:19:58.180 the central bank printing hundreds of billions of dollars right out of thin air largely to finance
00:20:03.600 ottawa's deficit and then dropping that newly printed money out of thin air uh into an economy
00:20:08.620 that was going through revolving lockdowns right essentially the central bank and the government
00:20:12.720 creating the perfect storm for inflation which is too many dollars chasing too few goods right
00:20:18.740 and like look uh really no politician in power in ottawa okay no governing politician so to speak
00:20:26.160 has really taken the inflation problems serious, right?
00:20:30.340 If they were, they would balance the budget,
00:20:33.020 stop borrowing money,
00:20:34.560 do everything in their power to cut the taxes and regulations
00:20:37.780 that make it harder to actually build stuff in Canada.
00:20:41.000 And I don't mean just a couple of projects
00:20:43.140 politicians deem in the national interest.
00:20:45.860 Well, I mean, since I got you here,
00:20:47.420 I'm sure you got a few answers.
00:20:49.000 What are a few of the things they're spending money on
00:20:50.720 that they could stop spending money on?
00:20:53.560 Well, I mean, number one,
00:20:54.860 uh how about we just stop the pay raises please can we can we just stop the pay raises here these
00:20:59.880 mbs from everybody right taking pay raises every single year and you know our our national
00:21:04.840 politicians are the only national politicians in any g7 country that have taken 14 consecutive
00:21:10.320 pay raises in a row every year okay number one number two let's look at the bureaucracy
00:21:14.860 the cost of bureaucracy up 80 percent in 10 years and the pbo by the way projects the cost of the
00:21:21.300 bureaucracy to increase uh by another what about 10 billion dollars this year so still going up
00:21:26.900 corporate subsidies you're looking at more than 10 billion dollars in corporate welfare
00:21:31.160 every year uh not only are we paying an arm and a leg for the bureaucracy but the cost of the
00:21:36.740 consultants the contractors the outsourcing more than doubled in 10 years time but cbc defund that
00:21:44.160 a billion dollar savings right there uh stop bailing out failing crown corporations like
00:21:49.020 canada post or via rail cory it probably would have been easier for you to ask me well what
00:21:54.020 should they not cut uh given all the fat and all the overspending going on in ottawa well yeah i
00:22:00.060 mean there's another beauty with a capital expenditure coming up for what 90 billion
00:22:03.800 dollars estimated for a high-speed choo-choo train to uh connect a couple of spots in central canada
00:22:09.300 is that thing a done deal or like are we moving ahead with that what's going on there
00:22:13.600 oh still uncertainty i mean it looks like all the government it looks like the government wants to
00:22:18.580 move forward with it. Right. But I mean, they don't even know the exact route for their train
00:22:22.780 and, and folks, right. Uh, the government says it could cost up to $90 billion. The PBO just put
00:22:28.240 out a recent report saying, Hey, actually it could be like $113 billion. Right. So, I mean,
00:22:34.020 this might be the biggest taxpayer boondoggle yet, which is really saying a lot. And let me
00:22:38.820 talk about that crown corporation Alto, right. The one overseeing this, uh, choo-choo train 1.00
00:22:43.200 boondoggle this train wreck of taxpayers dollars um look every single one of their executives took 1.00
00:22:49.440 a bonus in the last year even though they don't even know the exact route for the train right not
00:22:55.200 a single shovel has hit the dirt and you already see a huge waste of taxpayers money uh to benefit
00:23:01.040 uh you know government executives well and that's on provincial everywhere with these bureaucracies
00:23:06.320 i just saw the the head of bc ferries got fired and it looks like his golden handshake is going
00:23:10.240 going to be 1.1 million dollars man i'll be lucky if i get to keep the desk plate if derek fires me
00:23:15.500 and i have to leave the western standard uh you know that these bureaucracies are costing a fortune
00:23:21.060 and i know mark carney the prime minister has said the right stuff he's good at saying the right
00:23:26.700 stuff but he doesn't seem to do anything i didn't he reduce the amount of bureaucracy or some of
00:23:31.520 those numbers i saw some data points though they might have been questionable very very small
00:23:36.240 reduction in the number of employees. However, look, the federal government added about 100,000
00:23:44.700 bureaucrats in 10 years. Now, we've seen a little bit of a reduction over the last couple of years,
00:23:49.960 but taxpayers today are still paying for 86,000 more bureaucrats than what they were back in
00:23:55.960 about 2016. And even though you've seen a slight reduction in the number of bureaucrats,
00:24:02.760 according to one data set uh look the pbo still projects the overall cost of the bureaucracy to be
00:24:07.720 going up right because of the higher salaries the pay raises the bonuses the more perks that are
00:24:12.780 being paid with taxpayers money and it's not only that cory like as i mentioned you know uh carney
00:24:18.200 during the the election campaign a couple years ago 2025 said he's going to cut the cost of
00:24:22.920 consultants well they doubled between uh 2015 and 2024 and you look at the government's main
00:24:28.720 spending plan from the spring. And it looks like the cost of consultants and contracting
00:24:33.280 is still going up. So if there are cuts, it's almost like a rounding error.
00:24:39.800 Well, let me play a little bit of devil's advocate. You know, we've had an ongoing trade
00:24:44.360 war tariffs, things, and they're certainly smoking the industry very hard in central Canada,
00:24:50.000 causing a lot of issues. Wouldn't now be the appropriate time, though, to borrow to try and
00:24:55.060 bridge this rough period until perhaps a better trade agreement comes for Canada in a couple of
00:25:01.040 years? No, now's the time to cut fat, right? Cut the crazy amount of wasteful spending we've seen
00:25:07.220 over the years and cut taxes, right? Okay. If our steel industry is going through a tough time
00:25:12.360 in Ontario, which obviously it is, then why are we imposing industrial carbon taxes on steel
00:25:17.780 companies, right? Why are we imposing industrial carbon taxes on fertilizer plants in Manitoba?
00:25:24.420 Corey, why are we imposing industrial carbon taxes on oil and gas companies in Alberta, right?
00:25:29.620 And not to mention just south of the border, regardless of who is in the White House,
00:25:33.400 they are not imposing national carbon taxes, right?
00:25:36.440 So we're not even doing anything for the environment because when a government imposes a carbon tax on,
00:25:42.160 for example, a steel company in Ontario, you're not cutting emissions if that steel company
00:25:46.340 cuts production in Ontario and increases production in Ohio, right?
00:25:50.700 So look, you look at tax competitiveness, Corey.
00:25:53.260 We rank 28th, dismal, on income tax competitiveness out of 38 industrialized peers.
00:25:59.580 We rank a dismal 17th out of 38 on business taxes.
00:26:03.500 On both of those measures, we're behind the United States.
00:26:06.460 So you know what?
00:26:06.800 I do think we have to respond to what's going on around the world, and we've got to do that by cutting taxes, cutting regulations, and unleashing the entrepreneurial potential here in Canada.
00:26:17.460 Well, I'm with you.
00:26:18.380 Another budding boondoggle we have, unfortunately, we're seeing the Alberta Premier and the Prime Minister hand-in-hand talking and celebrating how a nationalized pipeline to the West Coast is going to be a great victory for Canada, which may or may not take 10 years if they ever actually get it going, and it costs an estimate of $30 billion.
00:26:37.000 I mean, we know there's an appetite for private industry to build infrastructure like this if the government would just get out of its own bloody way.
00:26:44.700 We don't have to pay to build that thing.
00:26:46.320 They just need to clean up the route.
00:26:48.380 Hey, well said. And also think about what's been going on on this particular project that you're talking about, this particular pipeline, but also other other projects, right? Think about what's going on and think about how unsustainable it is. OK, where you have the government throwing up roadblocks, throwing up barriers to actually private sector investment and, you know, people trying to build major natural resource projects here in Canada.
00:27:11.600 Of course, I'm talking about the discriminatory tanker ban on the West Coast.
00:27:15.540 I'm talking about the No More Pipelines Law or the Impact Assessment Act, you know, what the bureaucrats like to call it.
00:27:21.360 So they impose these high taxes.
00:27:23.700 They impose these, you know, these awful regulations, these anti-development laws.
00:27:29.580 OK, it makes it hard for the private sector to build anything.
00:27:32.840 And then they turn around and they shovel a whole bunch of taxpayers' money at the project.
00:27:36.960 Completely unsustainable.
00:27:38.100 How about you cut the taxes, you cut the red tape, and you just let the product build these major natural resource projects?
00:27:46.580 That sure would be a refreshing change.
00:27:48.800 It just doesn't seem to be their appetite right now.
00:27:51.760 I guess, you know, you'll be watching.
00:27:53.500 You're going to be very busy in this next couple of weeks.
00:27:55.560 I mean, you know, budget time is sort of like the Super Bowl for the Taxpayers Federation to go through things,
00:28:00.140 though always more of a negative dissection rather than something to celebrate.
00:28:04.480 eight but what can we look forward to you guys uh you know writing about and exposing in the future
00:28:08.900 and where can people find your stuff well god it's going to be like full uh full course pretty
00:28:13.480 or full course press here oh uh it's everything's going to be going up against the budget stuff
00:28:17.880 right cory i mean budget is november 5th like you said it's our super bowl so we're going to be
00:28:22.120 watching it like crazy stay tuned folks because you're going to be seeing a lot uh you know going
00:28:26.840 over the government's spending going over the government's borrowing how much debt interest
00:28:30.400 charges are going to be costing you again budget uh federally november the 5th uh keep an eye out
00:28:35.460 on taxpayer.com and of course you can follow us on all different types of social media i know the
00:28:39.980 western standard you guys cover a lot of our stuff so always keep an eye out there as well
00:28:44.300 well i really appreciate it like i said you guys break it down so the uh you know regular reader
00:28:49.860 and listener can see just exactly what's going on down there rather than being snowed over under the
00:28:54.180 stuff you get to dig through so i appreciate the work you guys do and i'll let you get back at it
00:28:59.180 and maybe we'll talk sometime soon after the budget.
00:29:01.860 Hey, that'd be great.
00:29:02.820 Appreciate you, Corey.
00:29:03.980 Right on.
00:29:04.460 Thanks, Eric, Franco.
00:29:06.540 So, yeah, guys, check them out, taxpayer.com.
00:29:09.180 It really is a good resource, and it really does drive home.
00:29:11.920 I mean, part of our problem is apathy.
00:29:13.380 People aren't paying enough attention to what they're doing with your money.
00:29:16.540 You don't understand why you seem to have less and less every month to make your bills.
00:29:20.360 Well, do realize the amount that's coming out of your check in taxes.
00:29:24.000 Look at how much is harming your industry or your employer through taxes.
00:29:28.040 these things all have an impact on you. And having it broken down into relatable types of pieces,
00:29:37.800 that's something the specialty the Taxpayer Federation's really had. And I just do like
00:29:42.420 them putting that out there for everybody. So check them out if you don't already. And yeah,
00:29:46.920 some of those frustrations, I saw that in the commenting with Wayne there. Good to see you,
00:29:50.160 Wayne. That Albertans kind of, you know, just voted for the status quo. They did,
00:29:55.340 it's frustrating it really is like i said that outcome was not what i wanted to see in that
00:29:59.340 referendum uh but as it stands that's kind of where we're sitting with things so we gotta
00:30:05.340 basically work with what we've got you know we deal with it we're albertans we move ahead we
00:30:10.700 figure out a better solution and we go forward like i said not be defeatist i'm just trying to
00:30:14.620 be realistic and i know patience is a commodity and it's a difficult one i'm not known for mine
00:30:22.220 either good to see paradoxe there too uh saying that yeah the government of quebec is opposing
00:30:26.940 that train as well so i mean but that's the irony of this whole thing right that's what franco was
00:30:32.300 pointing out this this wide speed train in central canada billions are going to be spent and not a
00:30:38.300 bit of track is going to go on the ground but executives are already getting bonuses on it i
00:30:44.700 mean this is a money laundering scheme guys that's what this is and guess who gets stuck with the bill
00:30:49.820 right just brutal just brutal but i mean again where are i know where do we go i mean uh chow
00:30:58.460 she's back in power in toronto again how long what does it take how bad does it have to get in
00:31:06.460 toronto before they're ready to get rid of olivia chow well apparently worse apparently much worse 0.99
00:31:13.420 she's there for another term and it wasn't even close you know it wasn't uh a tight uh 0.65
00:31:20.300 a tight race and uh uh it's just brutal uh rgg saying more than 300 people full-time on that
00:31:27.180 train project uh again you see that you look at the waist and it's not like we haven't seen this
00:31:32.860 before and you know what we've got a premier in alberta who's fixated on a high-speed rail between
00:31:37.260 edmonton and calgary again we're gonna we're gonna take it hard there's a lot of there's the things i
00:31:43.740 want to point out i'm very critical of the provincial government guys i am and i think it
00:31:47.980 might be time to replace the premier i i can agree with that too i just think it might have to be
00:31:53.100 a year from now not in this next six months that's the thing just look at the things but yeah this 0.96
00:31:58.940 why would we want to be so stupid as to get a high-speed rail in alberta we don't need to put 0.90
00:32:02.620 another bloody lane on the highway too i mean think about it for the costs of a high-speed rail between 0.99
00:32:10.060 calgary and edmonton now this thing because everybody will have their demands they were
00:32:15.740 already talking about what they would have with this dreamland rail project forgot it would cost
00:32:19.580 billions in the expropriation because you got to create a whole new line all that prime property
00:32:24.140 along there the government has to buy it all right and then it'll have to make stops i mean some
00:32:31.740 they're all demanding stop everybody wants to stop oh we want to start in downtown calgary and then
00:32:35.100 we want to stop at the airport then we want to stop in airdrie then we want to stop in red deer
00:32:38.300 then we want to stop on the edmonton airport then we're stopping it so there's gonna be all these
00:32:41.820 stops so this thing even as high speed as it is will probably be you know take a couple hours
00:32:49.980 well it's a three-hour drive and at the cost of this thing now you've got to remember you'll have
00:32:55.020 to park somewhere and don't worry you'll pay a lot for parking at any of those train stations
00:32:58.780 you got to buy the train ticket which will cost a fortune you'll have to get separate transit for
00:33:03.420 whatever you're doing on the other end of it or rent a car and if you've got a family of four
00:33:10.460 and we're talking about something that would probably be a couple hundred dollars a ticket
00:33:14.140 into what 1200 to go to edmonton you're gonna get in the car and you're just gonna drive
00:33:19.000 It's not going to work.
00:33:21.700 Look at California and just what's going on down there.
00:33:31.960 It's been brutal.
00:33:32.900 They've been at it for, what, 15, 20 years?
00:33:34.720 And they got something like six miles of track laid, something unreal, and they've spent billions and billions of dollars.
00:33:39.300 And their market makes more sense than Alberta or eastern Canada.
00:33:43.940 They've got more population density.
00:33:46.080 They've got much more reason between, you know, if you're getting between San Francisco,
00:33:51.680 Sacramento, Los Angeles, and that whole corridor, and they can't get it done.
00:33:55.500 Not even close.
00:33:56.760 Just set aside these dreams.
00:33:58.480 It's like everything else.
00:33:59.980 If there's a market for it, let the private industry do it.
00:34:04.400 And there isn't. 0.95
00:34:05.740 So piss off. 0.99
00:34:06.900 Stay out of my wallet. 0.99
00:34:08.640 Don't go there.
00:34:10.980 But we'll see.
00:34:12.180 Everybody wants a vanity project, right?
00:34:14.080 and getting back to the same thing
00:34:16.380 as I was talking with Franco about the pipeline.
00:34:18.480 And again, there's where I'm concerned
00:34:20.320 about where Premier Smith's going to.
00:34:22.700 I mean, it wasn't long ago, she was saying
00:34:24.400 that if we have to put tax dollars into it, we've lost.
00:34:27.440 Well, I guess we really lost, didn't we?
00:34:29.420 Yeah, 90% of it is tax funded directly.
00:34:32.040 And let's face it, that 10% from Pemina pipelines,
00:34:34.580 that's token.
00:34:35.620 You had to find somebody that you offered
00:34:37.620 a sweetheart deal on this thing to make it look like,
00:34:39.600 see, see, we got a private investor.
00:34:41.040 No, you don't.
00:34:41.860 Look, oil has been sitting around $100 a barrel internationally.
00:34:46.240 They want the product desperately.
00:34:49.100 Private companies would fall over themselves to build that pipeline if they thought they could get it done.
00:34:54.860 But the government is in the way.
00:34:58.640 And then a socialized pipeline, that's not a victory.
00:35:02.540 That's not a victory we should be demanding more and we should be demanding better.
00:35:06.180 But again, coming full circle, can't rip her out this year, guys. 0.83
00:35:10.400 because if you get Ninchy in, my Lord, I know people talk about it. Oh, I'm tired of voting
00:35:17.280 for the lesser of the evils. I understand that, but I don't want to live under the greater of
00:35:20.340 the evils. We did Notley for four years and she's smarter than Ninchy. So think about what four 0.81
00:35:26.320 years of him would do to us. And that's what we'll get if we are not careful. We just gotta
00:35:32.860 be bloody careful uh bc there's a good outcome right uh ndp got tossed out i mean sometimes i
00:35:43.060 guess little victories even if it didn't happen in alberta we saw the electorate sit up take notice
00:35:47.840 and fire some politicians finally some and well deserving i mean david eby's gross calling of an
00:35:56.080 early election just for the sake because the conservatives were were in disarray. And people
00:36:03.600 were so sickened by that crass move of him that even though the conservatives had an interim
00:36:09.540 leader, and they came into it in a rush and everything else, they won a solid majority to
00:36:13.720 not just a majority, a solid majority. And if you want a good article and a good laugh, go to the
00:36:18.180 westernstandard.news. And there's a summary of all the leftist meltdowns over the election
00:36:24.100 results oh they've gone crazy or good old rachel gilmore you know i know if you want something 0.82
00:36:29.380 vacuous but at least it's comically so she's oh the poor orcas are going to be killed that's 0.87
00:36:35.620 really the rhetoric out of the left yes the orcas are going to die because there's a conservative
00:36:39.380 government in bc sharp one that girl but uh you know for some light reading i guess in a sense
00:36:46.100 and uh of of good comedy uh something as well mark carney certainly uh hit uh some heavy
00:36:55.360 embarrassment today didn't he the eu countries you know he's been trying for this associate
00:37:00.340 membership he's been trying to get canada to join the eu he wanted us to be a part of the fires
00:37:05.480 that are burning through paris and the rest of france along with italy spain even brussels had
00:37:11.040 some riots discontented students apparently bbc even did the mostly peaceful thing while the 0.99
00:37:19.840 flames are burning i thought they would have learned from cnn's idiocy when it came to that 0.94
00:37:23.720 but no so they're trying to underscore it and you know it's one of the things the reasons i'll do 0.94
00:37:26.780 the self-serving plug why to subscribe to things like the western standard we'll cover that the
00:37:31.100 legacy media look how little they covered the riots that are racking europe and they're racking
00:37:37.280 it why are we not hearing about this this should make world news the developed world is being
00:37:41.840 burned down out there why are we not hearing about it well for one because the prime minister
00:37:46.560 who subsidizes them all wants us to join them don't really want to join a group when we notice
00:37:52.880 that everybody's burning down their country and the other part they don't want to talk about is 0.71
00:37:56.720 who is burning down those countries they aren't woe betiding students guys they're illegal migrants
00:38:02.560 they're migrants immigrants whatever you want to call them and guess what let's just say the quiet 0.89
00:38:08.620 part out loud they're all muslims we got a cultural issue a cultural issue and they are not settling 1.00
00:38:15.540 in well this is began way back with the syrian refugees coming in and it's continued and you 1.00
00:38:21.560 got to remember part of being with the eu is this open border thing so you guys get to share all of
00:38:25.980 that joy among all of your countries as you open the doors and let these folks pour in look how
00:38:31.040 well that worked for Spain when they crossed the border a little while ago and got onto the Spanish 0.98
00:38:35.660 side from Morocco what did they do they burned everything huh think about that but here's some
00:38:45.140 of the embarrassing thing for Mark Carney because he's been pushing for this associate member status 0.93
00:38:52.100 with the European Union he wanted us to join them no Canadians have really been asking to join them
00:38:56.660 but apparently Mark Carney wanted to join him he's over there all the time kissing European 0.92
00:39:00.380 But considering French hygiene habits, it's not a good thing to get into. 0.52
00:39:05.100 But whatever turns you on, Mr. Carney.
00:39:07.240 But the problem is the EU doesn't want us.
00:39:10.000 They've dropped the idea of offering Canada an associate member status.
00:39:13.580 That just came out today.
00:39:15.020 And they've got a big meeting coming up, I think, in Montreal with all these leaders.
00:39:18.260 Carney was going to host with a big-ass grin and talk about how we're tightening our relationship.
00:39:23.720 And we're basically going to be a part of the European Union.
00:39:26.100 And we're going to have this associate member status.
00:39:28.100 and then the European Union themselves said yeah we don't want Canada in us wow we don't get to join
00:39:36.560 their club that's I got to thank them for that I mean Mark Carney doesn't seem to be smart enough
00:39:43.460 to realize that we want no part of that but the European Union smart enough or at least what is
00:39:49.280 it that we're bringing that's so bad that they wouldn't want us to be a part of them that says
00:39:55.160 lot doesn't it i mean jeez brutal brutal and uh yeah this is he's got to be just sobbing today i
00:40:05.000 mean how it's going to be one of those tense awkward moments now with all these eu members
00:40:09.880 gathering in uh montreal when he basically has just gotten the cold shoulder from them
00:40:18.680 getting back to bc speaking of hysterics and things so we got i guess the native wars are
00:40:26.040 going to be beginning drippa that's the declaration on the rights of indigenous
00:40:31.320 people or something like that i don't know what the a is anymore uh
00:40:36.600 that was the bc version and that was kind of the beginning of the end of the ndp 0.98
00:40:40.520 of undrip which is the united nations indigenous blah blah blah bunch of ds woke crap
00:40:47.400 but the bc modeled a whole policy on all of this indulgence for the indigenous bands this is the 0.64
00:40:51.400 sort of thing that led to land title being lost in richmond and confusion over all these things
00:40:57.880 and it sounds like the conservatives under dirksen are gonna repeal drippa finally this is brilliant 0.99
00:41:03.880 i mean serious it's just common sense get rid of it it's stupid there's no reason you should be 0.90
00:41:08.680 bound by this and british columbian voters have certainly said quite clearly they're willing to 0.95
00:41:12.760 to go down that route. And guess what? The chiefs are lighting their headdresses on fire. We've got
00:41:18.560 Mr. Alan, the Renta chief. He's speaking and he's in Alberta, but he's hand in hand with one of the
00:41:25.380 wet sweating hereditary chiefs. Let's talk about all these politics going on in BC. These fake
00:41:30.880 politics because they are fake. These hereditary chiefs. You know what that means? It means fake
00:41:34.620 chief. It means self-declared chief. It means I'm a chief because I said I was a chief or my cousin
00:41:39.400 said I was a chief or my grandma said I'm a chief and I'm going to be a chief. They got no authority
00:41:42.700 they weren't elected by anybody yet we give them alleged authority and he's sitting hand in hand
00:41:47.820 with mr allen who's a chief from northeast alberta not even close to down there and he's saying
00:41:55.580 they're gonna go to war not the allen but the other fellow he was sitting with we're gonna go
00:41:59.020 to war over drippa if they try to repeal it what is allen doing down there but you gotta remember
00:42:04.140 chief allen from alberta is known as the rent-a-chief because he took fifty thousand dollars
00:42:09.180 to oppose oil developments that was proven that was reported on enough indulging this sham these
00:42:16.940 guys don't speak for the native communities they speak for themselves it's a racket they do very
00:42:23.580 very well want to find out who the chief is on a reserve drive by all the dilapidated houses till 0.99
00:42:28.620 you find the gated one with escalades on the driveway you'll have found the chief or a council
00:42:32.540 member i can assure you it's corrupted to the core and something that's interesting too 0.86
00:42:37.660 is the howling and yelling from this Wet'suwet'en hereditary chief out there was talking about how
00:42:45.060 it's unceded, unsurrendered land, blah, blah, blah, all that crap, and untreaty, no treaty. 0.95
00:42:50.780 Well, if there's no treaty, then what the hell do we owe him? Why are we indulging him? There's 0.97
00:42:56.020 no treaty. You're just some guy out there. You're just another Canadian citizen. I don't care.
00:43:00.180 There's no treaty. Get over it. You lost. Maybe it's time for some frank talk with these guys.
00:43:05.520 perhaps no because the government's too cowardly when it comes to it but they're declaring war
00:43:10.920 wow let's see it let's see it you know as i said on on on x this war will be over in a few days
00:43:17.940 all you have to do is stop giving the money it's not like they're earning it where do they get
00:43:22.840 their money oh yes you and me tax dollars they don't get it from the people they allegedly
00:43:26.780 represent they don't tax the reserve and get the money from their band members no we pay for it
00:43:31.400 Well, get your own money.
00:43:33.060 Lobby for yourself.
00:43:34.000 We have to.
00:43:35.400 Why not?
00:43:36.140 And we've seen recently now with another demand showing personal responsibility,
00:43:39.380 the Cowichan Band, which is the one that won the Richmond thing,
00:43:44.180 their giant garbage dump, remember that from a couple of years ago,
00:43:46.780 that's leeching into the water because they were taking money to allow
00:43:50.400 construction companies to illegally dump junk on their land,
00:43:53.180 and it turned into a giant garbage dump?
00:43:54.620 Well, they haven't done anything to clean it up.
00:43:57.040 And a conservative member of parliament is demanding the federal government
00:43:59.860 get it cleaned up. 0.99
00:44:00.520 no no you know what build a fence around it and make these guys clean up their own damn mess for 0.96
00:44:04.440 a change how about some personal responsibility for the first friggin time they charge me for 0.99
00:44:08.920 trespassing because they say it's their nation land for me to go onto a public highway and shoot
00:44:13.800 video on the six account reserve because they say it's their nation well guess what you're 1.00
00:44:17.480 responsible for the trash on your nation live in it live in it clean up your own damn mess 0.99
00:44:23.800 i really hope and i know he'll be more diplomatic than i 0.99
00:44:28.840 but i really hope the new bc premier because he seems to be speaking some of the language
00:44:32.840 is saying it's time it's time to change this relationship it's time to stop this endless 0.99
00:44:36.920 indulgence it's time to stop this idiocy this race-based policy this divisive crap that's 0.99
00:44:41.560 serving nobody while indian reserves and they call it that because it's in the indian act guys 1.00
00:44:47.000 are garbage dumps literally literally garbage dumps let's change some stuff 0.98
00:44:54.200 off and repealing drippa is a heck of a good start all right well that's what I got me today
00:45:00.560 guys lost rando there was so much news I couldn't cover it all today there's a lot going on be sure
00:45:06.020 to subscribe share do all of those good things subscribe to the Western Standard watch tonight
00:45:11.240 we're going to be on with the pipeline breaking down a few more issues and things that are going
00:45:14.780 on and uh hey guys it's Alberta keep it strong and free I'll see you next week at this time
00:45:24.200 Transcription by CastingWords