Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Fighting data centres is cutting off our noses to despite our faces

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

00:00:29.520 Back in the studio where I'm more comfortable rather than those field spots out in places.

00:00:35.660 Last week, it was in Senalta.

00:00:37.620 We had the first Western Standard Stampede barbecue.

00:00:41.400 It went very, very well.

00:00:42.700 Check out the Western Standard channels.

00:00:44.440 Some of those videos have been posted.

00:00:45.960 A lot of people very gleefully pelted our publisher, Derek Fildebrandt, with water balloons,

00:00:51.380 along with Mayor Jeremy Farkas, and just a lot of people had some weenies in a really good time.

00:00:57.080 but it is hard doing those shows from out there so it's nice being back in the comfort of here

00:01:02.200 and a familiar environment i got a good show coming up ahead in a little bit jay hill former

00:01:06.660 conservative government house leader he's going to be in we're going to do some discussion on well

00:01:12.040 local independence sort of issues in alberta the referendum coming up and some federal issues of

00:01:17.720 course in general as well so i'm kind of curious about where we go with some things after the

00:01:21.920 referendum and some of these other things so good to see you checking in there david from taber and

00:01:26.280 yeah, that's a town I've been paying a lot more attention to lately than normal. So I'll get to

00:01:30.360 the title. I've already had people going off at me about it. Oh, Lord, the data centers, the WF

00:01:34.880 has taken you over. Corey, your mind is gone. One person even said they're going to take their

00:01:37.980 signs off their lawn because I promoted it. Well, get over yourself. Guys, it's technology. It's

00:01:43.620 not going away. Let's talk about it. Let's be realistic about it. Let's be pragmatic about it.

00:01:48.400 The advent of AI, you know, artificial intelligence is an inescapable reality,

00:01:53.980 and it is going to change the world as we know it.

00:01:56.040 And we don't exactly know how.

00:01:57.880 It's already impacting our day-to-day lives

00:01:59.820 and its exponential growth and scope and power

00:02:02.980 is raised from that very valid concerns from people.

00:02:06.140 The world's political, social and economic structures

00:02:08.460 are going to have to evolve quickly

00:02:10.760 to try to adapt the changes AI is bringing

00:02:12.980 and having discussions on how to best regulate

00:02:15.460 and mitigate impacts from AI is essential.

00:02:18.780 But trying to block the construction of data centers

00:02:20.940 as a response is pointless.

00:02:22.500 us. And that's the tactics and folks are taking in Alberta. Whether you're enthusiastic about AI or

00:02:28.320 if you're horrified by it, it has to be accepted. It's not going away. And we're going to be better

00:02:32.940 served in trying to maintain control over it than trying to stop it from expanding. And it does

00:02:38.160 bring us some benefits guys. In particular, these data centers can bring enormous economic benefits

00:02:43.440 to regions in Alberta and Alberta is perfectly placed to host them. Opponents to AI data centers

00:02:48.240 have worked themselves into an almost hysteric response to them and the misinformation about

00:02:52.140 these facilities has been getting rampant. They're just large hubs full of computer processors.

00:02:57.540 They do demand a lot of electricity, but so do any other large industrial projects or projects.

00:03:03.540 As with other industrial facilities, they utilize some water, but no more so than any other electrical

00:03:08.080 generating station. And that's all they are is generating stations, guys. The proposed meta

00:03:11.960 facility is the big one. And in Alberta, it's going to be using a closed loop cooling system,

00:03:16.700 which means it won't be draining water from the area. As far as power goes, Alberta has it in

00:03:21.320 abundance. People are falsely claiming the facility would increase demand and cause local

00:03:25.640 electric bills to rise. That's not true. These facilities aren't tapping into the existing power

00:03:29.740 grid in Alberta. They're going to set up their own generating facilities using Alberta's natural gas,

00:03:34.540 which did I mention we have in abundance. The gas used in electrical generation now is based on

00:03:39.300 world prices. So even if we increase domestic consumption through these data centers, the

00:03:43.480 impact on your household price is going to be negligible. What I find is ironic is so many of

00:03:47.880 people who have been stridently demanding that Alberta upgrades its oil into finished products

00:03:51.560 in the province rather than pipelining it out to be refined elsewhere, are suddenly supporting

00:03:55.560 pipelining our natural gas out of the province rather than upgrading it for value-added industries

00:04:00.140 here, like a data centre. We should be doing both. Export the gas and use it here. And that's what

00:04:06.320 they're going to do. The footprint of these centres is no larger than any large electrical generating

00:04:10.500 plant either. They won't be eating up millions of acres of farmland. Calgary has two of them that

00:04:14.440 supplies the entire city and it doesn't take up much space. You could drive the ring road and see

00:04:18.980 them. And Meta is going into an area that's always been zoned for industrial use. These aren't

00:04:23.740 sprawling facilities. If you want to see those, check on the solar generation fields in southern

00:04:27.440 Alberta. Likewise, issues with noise and power use, they're not going to be any more difficult

00:04:31.600 to manage than they are with the countless compressor stations we have for major pipelines

00:04:35.080 around the province. None of this sort of development and the associated controls are

00:04:39.100 unprecedented. As I said, Alberta is perfectly placed to host these facilities. The cool climate

00:04:44.060 reduces the need for as much power use. The peaceful environment reduces security needs.

00:04:48.960 The skilled workforce is already here, and the natural gas is plentiful, and we have the space.

00:04:53.760 People have waxed on about the need to diversify the economy for decades. Well, here's a perfect

00:04:57.520 opportunity. Yes, AI is going to cause a transformational shift in the world. There's

00:05:02.460 going to be some jobs lost. Some professions are going to vanish. To fight this, though,

00:05:07.860 through banning these centers is akin to trying to ban auto manufacturing to protect the horse

00:05:13.080 buggy. The world's going to change around you, and the jobs will still change, and you'll be

00:05:17.240 poorly placed to cope with it. AI centers aren't high in labor use, that's true, but they're high

00:05:21.580 in revenue generation, and the billions they'll bring into the local economy will serve the

00:05:24.800 province well. We don't need to dive into constructing them with a wild abandon. We have

00:05:30.280 environmental controls, and we must maintain some regulation, but it'd be foolish to shun these

00:05:33.960 facilities, though, and drag our feet in approving them. We'll lose the chance. Trying to stop the

00:05:38.840 development of AI by hindering local data centers will be about as effective as trying to stop oil

00:05:43.000 and gas use worldwide has been through hindering Alberta's oil field. We could stop local

00:05:47.600 development, but it's only going to push it outward. We'd still be impacted by the AI as

00:05:51.980 much as ever, but the benefits from it's going to be enjoyed in different countries. We can get on

00:05:56.000 board with change or we can get left behind. These data centers are offering a golden opportunity

00:06:00.820 and we must embrace it. Alberta first thing, they're surveillance centers. We don't need

00:06:04.040 BS. You know, come on. Surveillance centers? Really? What are they going to do? Put cameras

00:06:08.880 on top and look at you, they're data centers, guys, and they're happening. If you've got concerns

00:06:13.880 about privacy, you've got concerns about the government expansion, things like that, they're

00:06:16.800 all valid. But if you think that stopping AI centers in Alberta is going to change a bit of

00:06:22.180 that, you're the one who's delusional right now. All right. Not ranting on that for now. Let's see

00:06:26.620 what else is going on in the news. How's it going, Dave? Good. Well explained, I thought. I thought so,

00:06:29.860 but I'm sure I'll get a bunch of people explaining how I've... Yeah. I don't get them. I don't know.

00:06:35.240 I mean, again, there's horse and buggy people who thought we shouldn't have got cars too, but

00:06:38.400 But as you said earlier, this is the new chemtrails.

00:06:41.760 It is for some, I was starting the chemtrails.

00:06:43.840 We get all the emails about that too.

00:06:45.440 I didn't, can you mad it out, chemtrails?

00:06:48.720 So thank goodness it's over, eh?

00:06:50.960 Yeah, I've had enough stampeding.

00:06:52.300 Yeah.

00:06:52.880 Did you manage to get to the grounds this year?

00:06:54.500 No.

00:06:55.000 I went to a few events, but not the grounds themselves.

00:06:57.660 Yes.

00:06:58.280 I think I did the Western Standard barbecue and that was it.

00:07:01.060 So it was well avoided.

00:07:02.900 Yeah.

00:07:03.740 Well, and the Western Standard one went well.

00:07:05.560 It was a good time downtown.

00:07:06.960 did speaking of avoiding if you're looking for a reason to avoid going to toronto i don't have to

00:07:12.240 look too hard you don't have to look too hard but right now it's got the worst air quality in the 0.60

00:07:16.240 world you know worse than uh calcutta worse than uh uh whatever that chinese shanghai or something

00:07:25.920 one of those large forward cities yeah one of those yes this is all caused by forest fires

00:07:31.440 in northern ontario okay and now the smoke is is enveloped uh envelope toronto and the sky has

00:07:37.760 turned orange so yeah you don't want to be going there right now and west jet may not be taking

00:07:43.600 you there anyway sir flight attendants have voted to uh to go on strike uh set for the august long

00:07:50.160 weekend which is a couple weeks away so hopefully negotiations will uh uh conclude on a better

00:07:57.600 contract we've got the calgary 911 operator has been arrested for leaking confidential police

00:08:04.320 information so they have been charged with a breach of trust and uh disturbing murder case

00:08:11.440 said it was a you may have remembered the the coverage corey a 15 year old killer uh stabbed

00:08:18.160 89 year old grandmother to death on her lawn in pickering uh he got 10 years today the maximum a

00:08:26.000 young offender can be sentenced so well that is significant as far as young offenders go for that

00:08:30.960 sort of thing i i guess i can only hope 10 years is enough to fix that kid yeah i would have rather

00:08:38.400 him being tried as an adult with something serious is that 25 years um got a good story on a bc couple

00:08:45.360 they live in a condo in uh uh seashell seaslet i can't pronounce it anyways uh somewhere on the

00:08:53.200 island and in their condo complex they've hung a canadian flag canadian patriots and the somebody

00:08:59.760 in the condo board complained ordered it taken down and this couple of us said no we're gonna

00:09:04.640 keep it up so good for them uh and carney mark carney and his airline food is in the news again

00:09:11.680 uh canadian taxpayers federation have have got access to information showing that he spent

00:09:16.720 160 000 on food on just one trip 160 grand that's just obscene as our friend franco says that's more

00:09:27.600 than canadian family would spend in 10 years yes well there's your tax dollars at work there you

00:09:32.960 go and we've got a couple good columns up chris old corn is looking at the threat by uh uh an

00:09:39.600 an Ontario group who wants to prod Kearney into withholding health care payments

00:09:45.700 as a punishment for Alberta's B-11, Bill 11.

00:09:51.000 And Jay Hill, his column is up now, and I'm sure he's going to be talking to you about that.

00:09:55.700 We will chat about it shortly.

00:09:56.780 And a big new section opened up today at the Calgary Zoo, an Asian section,

00:10:02.520 featuring all sorts of wonderful, some cuddly, some not so cuddly animals.

00:10:07.580 and Leah Mushut was down there

00:10:09.640 and we'll be filing a video report on it.

00:10:11.700 Right on, what you said, Leah.

00:10:12.960 I mean, I know that was kind of one of your earliest media things

00:10:15.240 was getting over to see the pandas in China.

00:10:17.100 Oh, yeah, yeah, there's nothing.

00:10:18.820 And you know what? 0.90

00:10:19.360 They are not cute and cuddly. 0.99

00:10:20.720 They're vicious little rats. 1.00

00:10:22.280 I mean, rather dumb, I think. 1.00

00:10:23.340 And they're rather dumb. 1.00

00:10:24.460 And all their fur is very, very coarse. 1.00

00:10:26.780 It's like a Brillo pad or something like that.

00:10:29.480 Just the airport stuffies are probably the better version

00:10:31.580 than the real ones.

00:10:32.400 Yes, exactly.

00:10:33.320 Right.

00:10:34.120 Well, I look forward to seeing Leah's pictures

00:10:35.500 and everything going up.

00:10:36.400 And I'll let you back in there.

00:10:38.220 I know you're balancing between the newsroom and your football.

00:10:41.720 Go, England, go is all I can say.

00:10:44.300 Okay.

00:10:44.840 If you hear yelling, that might be me.

00:10:46.940 Yeah, well, since Derek's out of town, that's all it could be at this point.

00:10:49.440 Exactly.

00:10:49.920 Good point.

00:10:50.500 All right.

00:10:51.220 Thanks, Dave.

00:10:52.040 We'll see you in a bit.

00:10:53.500 This is our news editor, Dave Naylor, with, yes, lots going on,

00:10:57.280 lots being covered, and lots happening.

00:11:00.140 Yeah, so you see, I mean, I just see this data center.

00:11:04.580 People are going so wild over this.

00:11:06.240 And again, so much misinformation.

00:11:08.660 Look, Alberta first. 0.86

00:11:09.540 Okay, fair enough.

00:11:10.100 You know, you're commenting and you're speaking.

00:11:11.380 You said, our water infrastructure and electrical grid are stretched to the breaking point.

00:11:14.700 I don't know if you listened to my commentary.

00:11:16.720 It's a closed-loop thing.

00:11:17.740 It's using no water.

00:11:20.160 And our electrical grid, it has nothing to do with it because they're generating their own electricity.

00:11:25.040 In fact, they're buying the gas from our local producers to do so.

00:11:30.480 They don't ruin your crops.

00:11:32.680 They don't ruin the environment.

00:11:33.980 They're just generating plants, guys.

00:11:35.560 you have them all around you already. I liked one person's comment saying, imagine typing on a

00:11:39.760 YouTube chat channel and saying data centers are bad. These have to happen somewhere. And that's

00:11:45.180 the thing. They're going to happen, whether you like them or you don't like them. And the issues

00:11:50.740 are going to come with AI and all of those. Again, they might be bad issues, but stopping data centers

00:11:55.440 in Alberta isn't going to change that. It's not going to stop it. In fact, they'll open in Montana.

00:11:59.880 They'll open in China.

00:12:00.880 They'll open in India. 1.00

00:12:02.620 We're safer having them here. 0.74

00:12:05.060 And, you know, Alberta first saying more than 30,000 people arrested for their posts on Facebook.

00:12:09.560 What the hell does that have to do with data centers in Alberta?

00:12:12.160 Or do we want to ban the Internet?

00:12:13.600 Is that what we want to get to?

00:12:15.000 Guys, technology is moving whether you want it to or not.

00:12:18.760 We need to look at it pragmatically.

00:12:21.440 And these are generating computer centers.

00:12:24.340 That's all they are.

00:12:25.980 I mean, how they can be abused, how data can be abused, how AI can be abused.

00:12:29.480 all very valid. Absolutely. There's concerns and we should have those conversations. We should

00:12:34.460 watch how it's going to impact the economy. We've always got to watch how authoritarians are going

00:12:40.980 to use technology and means to step on us. They always want to, and this will provide them some.

00:12:45.920 There's no doubt about that too, but the tech is moving ahead and we can be part of it, or we can

00:12:54.400 still have all of the bad sides that may come with it and lose what benefits we can. As I said,

00:13:00.840 there's a reason they chose Alberta for these things. And it's not a conspiracy-ish thing or

00:13:06.080 anything like that. It's just that we've got the right climate, we've got the right workplace,

00:13:09.260 and we've got the energy and things around. But it'll be an ongoing discussion. We'll see where

00:13:16.720 it goes. There's lots to cover, lots to talk about. I just, before I, Jayana, I want to laugh. I think

00:13:22.800 I just want to look at it as the hypocrite award of the week. 0.89

00:13:27.280 You know, I'm not going to start a regular one. 0.90

00:13:28.640 There's just too many contenders for it.

00:13:30.680 But the winner this week is our Prime Minister, Mark Carney.

00:13:34.940 In hiring an operative from the Democrat Party of the United States as his chief operating officer in the Prime Minister's office,

00:13:43.260 the man who gave us the whole elbows up, the man who told us to buy Canadian,

00:13:47.160 the man who said we have to ensure everything stays here, 0.98

00:13:49.940 we don't support those big, bad Americans south of the border, 0.99

00:13:52.800 has hired an American into a senior position within his office. Apparently, 0.96

00:13:58.340 among the other 40 million Canadians or so, nobody was as well qualified as this American

00:14:04.460 that he hired. But he's telling you to put your elbows up and not buy anything from the United

00:14:10.980 States. Shocker, a liberal hypocrite. How unusual. All right. Well, let's see what else is going on. 1.00

00:14:18.460 We got our guest here, Jay Hill. It's been about time. It's been a while since we've had you in.

00:14:22.000 It's been a while. It's always a privilege.

00:14:24.440 As you can see, the studio has changed somewhat. Same place, a better look. John's improved things around here.

00:14:31.340 Yeah, looks very, very professional.

00:14:33.540 Yeah, so your column has just kind of gone live. Maybe kind of just to start with, and by the way, as I said at the start of the show, a long political history, a long time as a member of parliament, the house leader under the Harper government, and a lot of experience to land with us here.

00:14:52.000 What did you write about there?

00:14:53.820 Well, not surprisingly, Corey, I put my thoughts to this whole issue of the independence,

00:15:01.820 or at least the referendum about an independence vote that's going to be held on October 19th.

00:15:08.860 And I wrote about that in the sense that it came to me that whether it was intentional

00:15:15.860 or an unintentional consequence of the way the court forced our premier to word the question

00:15:24.180 number 10, it came to me that the unintended consequence could very well be that a lot of

00:15:32.320 people that are undecided about supporting independence may come to the realization,

00:15:38.340 and certainly I'm encouraging them to do that, the realization that they can vote for option two,

00:15:44.640 for independence for pursuing independence because it's a safe vote and it does send

00:15:53.440 as you've said and many others have said sends a message to ottawa that although i might not be

00:15:59.400 convinced that independence is definitely the way to go i am convinced that ottawa is doing us no

00:16:06.740 favors uh the west has legitimate long-term grievances and they need to be addressed in

00:16:13.620 other words say no to the status quo and vote for option two and that's what my column's about

00:16:19.940 right on yeah and i mean i i appreciate that and i feel kind of the same way i mean i'm of the

00:16:23.740 maybe 30 i want to go i want out i made my mind up i yes no question i i'm voting for the yes to

00:16:30.480 leave and that's not going to change uh i like to think and believe in a majority of albertans

00:16:36.660 will hit that tipping point at one day but i don't feel confident actually that we were there yet i

00:16:40.800 don't know if we were ready for that yes no question yet this fall now and that would have

00:16:46.020 been a hard cap of maybe 30-35% if we'd have gone towards such a vote maybe not I could be wrong

00:16:50.640 maybe we wouldn't have hit 150 but with this this broadens the amount of people who can

00:16:55.080 take that risk-free you know one last shot perhaps they're sitting on the fence and say

00:17:00.880 I am sending a message I'm telling them it's beyond unless something radically changes we're

00:17:05.520 ready to roll yeah yeah well as I point out in the column is that they don't ever have 0.51

00:17:10.800 to get to the point where that they become uh you know died in the world die hard separatists

00:17:16.980 i want to bring them there yeah so do i so do i uh like you and i have come to that realization

00:17:23.120 that if there isn't constitutional change in canada to treat the west fairly

00:17:28.220 then we never will be treated fairly and there's no appetite for constitutional change in the rest

00:17:34.820 of Canada and so this does give all of those people in the middle right they're not on the

00:17:42.960 extreme you know I'm a Canadian patriot and I'm going to vote to remain in Canada no matter what

00:17:48.420 and they're not on our end of the spectrum where they say look we've been doing this for 150 years

00:17:54.820 or whatever it is and the fact of the matter is is that it's never going to change and we've come to

00:18:01.560 that realization so we're going to vote for independence no matter what and then you take

00:18:06.560 I don't know what the 50 percent in the middle you got 25 on each end and the 50 percent in the

00:18:12.840 middle that says I'm unhappy with what's happened I'm unhappy that our standard of living is going

00:18:19.640 in the toilet I'm unhappy that I can't afford groceries and heat for my home at the same time

00:18:24.780 I'm unhappy about the corruption and the scandals that continue to plague our federal government.

00:18:33.000 I'm unhappy that, you know, the so-called climate change laws, which I don't believe do anything to protect us from climate change,

00:18:42.700 these taxes, carbon taxes, are still being imposed by the federal government on Alberta's primary industry.

00:18:50.460 I'm unhappy about all of this and much more. 1.00

00:18:53.540 the wide open immigration that's creating all sorts of problems for our schools, for our health 1.00

00:19:00.520 care, for our housing. I'm unhappy about all of that. And so I have the opportunity on October 19th 1.00

00:19:08.760 to vote my unhappiness by voting for option two on question 10.

00:19:15.700 So do you think if, say 60% of people chose option two, I mean, then there's going to be

00:19:21.360 the discussion of holding a binding referendum later and starting that process. But do you think

00:19:25.200 that might be enough to encourage the rest of the country to realize it's time to open the

00:19:29.580 constitution? I mean, I I'm not convinced it would be enough, but perhaps for those who want to

00:19:34.460 take that last stab at another Meech Lake or Charlottetown. Well, I think it would certainly

00:19:39.760 be conducive to the rest of Canada and especially to Ottawa and the Liberal Party of Canada who

00:19:45.880 fashions themselves as the the everlasting ruling party of canada i think it would be conducive to

00:19:53.480 forcing them to the realization that enough albertans do recognize the historic grievances

00:20:01.560 and they're real this is not a few whiners this is not albertans as our prime minister current 0.97

00:20:08.120 prime minister says they're just bluffing they don't really want to leave uh as ridiculous a 0.96

00:20:13.480 statement as that is, and it's not the only ridiculous statement he's made on this file.

00:20:18.220 So I think it would be very helpful. Now, whether it actually, as you suggest, whether it actually

00:20:24.920 accomplished the goal of forcing the rest of the country to seriously consider changes to

00:20:31.840 our constitution. As you well know, when I led on an interim basis, the Maverick Party

00:20:37.160 of Western Canada, we put forward two tracks, one of which was constitutional change. In other words,

00:20:44.140 what would it take to address the historic grievances of Western Canada

00:20:49.980 in the way of constitutional change? And we put forward five amendments that were well thought

00:20:55.880 out, easily communicated, and there was absolutely no pickup. So that was our sort of option one or

00:21:03.340 option a and then option b was to support outright independence and i and and most other mavericks i

00:21:11.180 would suggest came to the realization um belatedly for some of us uh that there is no other option

00:21:18.820 well a lot of those options and the rest of the referendum questions that are kind of being

00:21:23.100 overshadowed by the the question 10 yeah all of those almost all those would call for constitutional

00:21:28.020 change to actually have them happen they're similar to what former premier kenny did with

00:21:32.380 equalization one we can all vote 60 or more on saying we want to change it but it doesn't do a

00:21:37.660 darn thing unless the rest of the country's willing to start discussing it but again maybe

00:21:42.780 it was unintentional but seems to kind of work for some people who are still maintaining that 0.97

00:21:46.380 optimism okay i voted yes on all nine of those because i think we can you know make a bunch of

00:21:51.260 changes and i'm voting yes or i'm voting option two on question 10 as awkward as that is to say

00:21:56.940 yeah fix these first nine or and we're starting the process towards the other

00:22:01.740 part if you don't fix them so you know you can kind of it's risk-free and i mean that's the thing

00:22:07.100 too if they chose option two we start towards it and a real referenda is coming uh you know it's

00:22:12.300 going to be held and up or down a clarity act one yeah but there was actually movement on those

00:22:17.020 other nine things in the constitution was amended well maybe the person say well i changed my mind

00:22:20.780 on that but yeah exactly and they have the option to do that yeah to use that overused word they

00:22:26.620 They have the alternative to do that when the real referendum on independence comes along, whenever that might be, a year or two from now.

00:22:34.840 So this is, by my definition, a free vote in the sense that you can vote how you feel.

00:22:43.820 And it's the only time in my lifetime that we have this opportunity.

00:22:48.780 And Alberta's given us that opportunity.

00:22:51.540 And every Albertan should take advantage of it.

00:22:54.120 And in my mind, every Albertan other than the sort of the diehard, maple leaf center eyes, Captain Canada envisioning Albertan should vote for option two and give our Alberta government the power to continue serious negotiations with the federal government because they won't have that power if this referendum is voted down.

00:23:22.720 So that, again, whether it's unintentional or whatnot, that question that happened, I mean,

00:23:27.040 giving the benefit of the doubt to Premier Smith, she was cornered, couldn't do an up and down

00:23:30.240 question. Man, it's awkward though. It's hard to...

00:23:32.960 It is. You know, as I've been a part of a TPA and we're putting signs out and everything,

00:23:36.640 for a referendum, normally you'd make it pretty simple. Yes or no, show a check mark, but option

00:23:42.000 one, option two, and I got to remind everybody, by the way, that's of question 10, it makes it

00:23:47.920 difficult to campaign on that yes the one advantage is that the government says that

00:23:54.880 question 10 will be the first one on the ballot and so hopefully they stay with that so that that's

00:24:01.440 first and foremost when folks go behind the cardboard to cast their vote so that might help

00:24:08.320 but it's not that complicated in all seriousness because people are paying attention at least

00:24:15.680 those that are and in my column I write about three people that I bumped into by happenstance

00:24:23.200 when I attended a doctor's office and I raised this issue with them and in only in about five

00:24:29.440 minutes of conversation convinced them to rather than a reluctant remain or stay vote in other

00:24:37.280 words option one of question 10 I convinced them that they are quite capable and should

00:24:44.800 vote for option two for the independent side of the question. So, but of course,

00:24:50.400 how do you reach each person to have that five minute conversation? That's the challenge.

00:24:54.720 Well, that's part of it because it's not a simple conversation. I mean,

00:24:58.400 if you've got to discuss it, you're losing. That's one of the campaign rules quite often,

00:25:01.200 but that's why we've got to take this all three months to really have a lot of conversations.

00:25:05.040 And that's why in my column, I encourage them, the reader, because there's not enough of them,

00:25:11.360 obviously i mean western standard wishes there was more readers uh i certainly wishes there

00:25:16.160 wish there was more readers for my columns uh but i that's why i encourage the reader to think about

00:25:23.280 this i provided a checklist in the column to say okay when you're talking to your son or daughter

00:25:30.160 that's a voting age uh if you're a grandparent if you're talking to your grandchild or a friend

00:25:36.640 or a co-worker or just somebody standing in a line here's a checklist yeah and just go down it and

00:25:43.360 one of the questions that you want to ask is are you happy with the direction that canada is going

00:25:49.280 and if the answer is absolutely not which it is for most canadians not just albertans

00:25:54.480 then i say okay well then you must vote option two well and we've never seen this much discussion

00:26:02.720 on unity, Alberta's place in the Federation, I don't even think in the early eighties in the

00:26:06.940 WCC times, I mean, there was some big discussion, but for, it's been sustained. It's been more than

00:26:11.740 a year we've been on this and it will be all the way into October. I mean, it's interesting to see

00:26:18.220 where things are going to move. People are thinking about this and talking about this more than they

00:26:21.380 ever have. And I think that's part of what's got some federalists pretty nervous because they

00:26:25.200 realize the conclusions once people start talking about it, realize, well, wait a minute, the status 0.97

00:26:29.000 go isn't worth a crap. That's right. That's right. And thank goodness that people seem to be 0.84

00:26:34.580 taking it more and more seriously. And a wider breadth of the Alberta population

00:26:39.580 is seriously considering this opportunity they've been given. You and I know it's the one

00:26:45.620 opportunity in our lifetime. Chances are it's going to be the last one unless it goes the right

00:26:50.940 way and we actually get a real vote on independence. But we certainly want people to

00:26:58.000 consider the options carefully. We don't want to attack people just because they hold a different

00:27:03.080 opinion. We want to persuade them just as I did at the doctor's office. That's what I like to

00:27:07.300 remind people of. We're Albertans, even the ones who aren't ready to vote for option two yet. And

00:27:11.500 if an Albertan is sitting on a fence, we know what's happened. Somebody gets in your face and

00:27:14.660 yells at you. I'm going to push back and go the other way. So show the respectful conversation

00:27:20.760 and you can bring people over. And that goes for both sides because we've seen instances on

00:27:25.240 both sides where people have lost their patience, expressed their frustration. And so it's just a

00:27:33.140 reminder to everybody involved in the debate to be respectful. So something I wanted to hit on,

00:27:38.600 I mean, the time goes too quick when we're here already, but you talked about the Maverick and

00:27:42.100 the federal involvement and just something that's been coming into my mind more. I mean,

00:27:45.560 there's some very good people within the Conservative Party of Canada. I think Pierre

00:27:50.960 is a good guy and there's a lot of great members of parliament but let's be frank they're impotent

00:27:55.360 uh nothing's getting accomplished they're there to be the prime minister's mopping the floor with

00:28:00.560 them their their base of support is increasingly just ending up out here is it time to start

00:28:06.560 looking at another reform type option or is that productive or you know well i you know i it's a

00:28:13.640 matter of timing as you and i have discussed it obviously it wasn't the right time for for myself

00:28:19.060 and a small group of friends and supporters to take over the old Wexit party and morph it into

00:28:25.460 Maverick with our sort of two-track approach to confederation back in 2020. It was at the height

00:28:33.760 of COVID. We couldn't hold little town hall meetings like you've been speaking at, Corey.

00:28:39.120 So there was a lot going against Maverick at that time. I think the policies that we developed

00:28:45.360 And the strategy we developed in trying to organize a sort of a Western Bloc Quebecois, members of parliament that would belong to a party in Western Canada that would only be in Western Canada and would only vote for what's best for their constituents.

00:29:05.060 So we get away from this system of federalism, which certainly hamstrung myself and continues to the existing Conservative Party that even though people with the best of intentions vote for the Conservative Party federally in Western Canada.

00:29:24.480 And it's not only Alberta, big time Saskatchewan, my writing, old writing in northeastern British Columbia is always voted conservative, with one exception way back in Pierre Trudeau's time that, you know, almost 100 years ago, it seems like.

00:29:39.380 But I think it's time that we had that option for Westerners that they could vote for, as Quebecers have, vote for a voice that would represent their interests in Parliament.

00:29:54.960 Rather than having to water everything down in order to try to appeal to where the majority of the votes are, which is in Quebec and Ontario.

00:30:03.680 Yeah, and I mean, right now, Albertans have enough to do getting ready for a referendum in a few months and everything.

00:30:08.120 So I just wanted to talk about the broader game because I think historically looking back, some of the most conservative government we actually ever had, or at least economically, was Chrétien with you guys breathing down his neck from the reform side of the house.

00:30:21.600 Like we can actually get good policy without being in power, a minority government, a piece of parliament.

00:30:28.700 I mean, look at the unprecedented influence Jagmeet Singh had, as unpopular as he was because he was a kingmaker in a minority government.

00:30:37.540 Yeah. You know, a Western I would argue to the detriment of Canada. Absolutely. From coast to coast. But that's very true. He had influence out of all proportion to the amount of votes that his party, the NDP received. And, you know, that's just one of the ways our parliament works or doesn't work.

00:30:58.960 But as you point out that you can imagine, and I used to make this argument as interim leader of

00:31:04.080 Maverick, that you can imagine what would be the case if we had 40 or 50 Western members of

00:31:11.440 parliament belonging to Maverick in there every day, raising concerns for themselves. And actually

00:31:18.640 that brings me into a letter that I saw made public yesterday by the Buffalo Project here

00:31:27.820 in Alberta and Saskatchewan that they had sent under the signature of quite a number of very

00:31:34.400 prominent. Michelle Rempel was behind that and a few others. Well, there's quite a few business

00:31:38.500 people, more importantly than politicians, that sent this joint letter to Scott Moe and Daniel

00:31:45.460 Smith as saying, look, you guys get down to Washington and represent the interests and the

00:31:52.580 issues and the resources of Western Canada for specifically Saskatchewan, Alberta, because clearly

00:31:59.660 Carney and his government are not. They're not in Washington. And when they are there,

00:32:05.140 they're not there to represent Western issues. And we need you down there, you know, and it's

00:32:12.220 just another instance where confederation doesn't work uh thank goodness the men and women of buffalo

00:32:18.800 project um recognized and they dug in their jeans and and put money into the pot and they've now

00:32:26.240 composed and sent this letter to both premiers saying it's way past time to lead a trade mission

00:32:32.640 to washington yeah there's no sense waiting for currently he's busy hiring democrat advisors for

00:32:37.200 as well. Well, exactly. And when he does go down there, you know, he's focused on the auto industry

00:32:43.100 or the Quebec dairy industry. Uh, he's certainly not focused on promoting our oil and gas and our

00:32:49.680 uranium and our potash and go down the long list. Our wood. Canola. Yeah. Canola. Yeah.

00:32:56.580 Well, we'll see what we can do. It's always great to get you in, Jay. Uh, as I said, it's been

00:33:01.580 overdue and I appreciate the column and the insight, you know, we're, we're in a pivotal

00:33:06.100 time, no matter how we look at it. So it's, if we can get our crap together in the West, I mean, 0.92

00:33:10.220 on a few fronts, I think partisan and referendum wise, we can maybe make some positive change for 0.83

00:33:14.860 the first time in a long time. Well, thank you. It's always a pleasure. I always feel that I need

00:33:21.240 to speak out because there isn't very many that at one point in time, we're sitting at the cabinet

00:33:26.280 table with Stephen Harper that have come to the realization that myself and a few MP colleagues

00:33:33.580 like Leon Benoit and Alan Kerpen in Saskatchewan, and most importantly, Val Meredith, now Fraser,

00:33:41.020 here in Calgary.

00:33:42.960 These three other MPs and myself have sort of stuck our neck out and said, you know what?

00:33:51.780 We've been there.

00:33:52.880 We worked hard for a number of years in Parliament, and the system is stacked against us.

00:33:58.940 It does not work.

00:34:00.500 And, uh, I just wish more of the MPs, uh, both former and current, uh, would speak

00:34:08.120 out because they know the system isn't working.

00:34:10.380 Well, that's it.

00:34:11.000 And that's the bottom of it all.

00:34:12.180 Going to leave it off at that.

00:34:13.700 People realize it's the system.

00:34:15.060 So you can tinker with the party all you like, but as long as the system's the

00:34:18.280 same, your outcome is pretty much going to be the same.

00:34:20.860 Yeah.

00:34:21.160 It's a insanity, right?

00:34:23.200 Doing the same thing over and over elect conservative MPs and get the same result.

00:34:28.720 Thanks very much, Corey.

00:34:30.100 pleasure yeah it was good seeing you we'll talk again soon hey all right you guys yeah one more

00:34:35.180 time that is jay hill always great when he comes in be sure to catch his column and he's been writing

00:34:39.980 them regularly as well yeah watch those news stories i saw him and val meredith and the rest

00:34:44.260 of all those pictures popping up in my social media scroll what are they doing in their back

00:34:48.760 blast from the past but they're also bringing a blast of wisdom and experience to things so

00:34:52.940 that's what's important in that. And we got to look at things from the West as a multi-front

00:35:00.400 approach. So, I mean, number one, you know, CB fixes all says it'll never work for Alberta,

00:35:04.920 period. That's the truth. And I think what Jay and I are talking about, I mean, I'm not, by the

00:35:08.900 way, boy, we've got enough on our plate. I'm not talking about starting the process to form a new

00:35:13.120 party right now. And I'm not going to start one. That's not my thing. That actually was my thing.

00:35:18.660 and I'm not going to do it again. I hope somebody does. But this is the sort of thing that would

00:35:23.160 have to happen after the referendum, whether it's a strong vote for option two or not,

00:35:27.580 we got to get something. But I look at it more like Jay mentioned, like the bloc abecuado.

00:35:31.540 It's not talking about, you know, it's saying we're going to maximize our influence within the

00:35:36.140 system as long as we must, but the goal is still going to be to get out of the bloody system.

00:35:40.940 There's no sense pretending any longer. You know, for those of us old enough, and yeah,

00:35:45.260 starting to show how great we're getting. The old reform party, it was actually pretty effective.

00:35:50.600 When reform ended, when they decided, you know what, we've got to go for the brass ring, we got 0.99

00:35:55.640 to start operating into Ontario and going east, then the party just went to crap, to be honest. 0.92

00:36:00.560 Then again, there are very many good members and people could say that is the process that 0.91

00:36:05.420 eventually led to the election of Stephen Harper, whereas we had a federal government that was less

00:36:10.020 bad to Alberta than one had been for a while, but nothing changed systematically, right?

00:36:15.260 Jay, who was just here, was the government house leader in that government.

00:36:20.340 You know, he was right next to Stephen Harper, one of the most powerful people in the country.

00:36:25.040 And they achieved what change they could while they were in.

00:36:28.340 But eventually, Ontario said, okay, that's enough of you guys, and put the liberals back in, gave us 10 years of Trudeau, now gave us Carney, and nothing within the system got changed.

00:36:37.840 Why did nothing get changed when you had people like Jay Hill in the federal government?

00:36:42.680 Well, it's because you can't change the system.

00:36:45.360 They also knew that the second you try changing the system,

00:36:48.420 you're going to get thrown out of office by central Canada.

00:36:52.280 Trudeau or some other liberal would have gotten in even faster, even earlier.

00:36:56.260 That's the same reason that Polyev's government voted, you know,

00:37:00.340 a bunch of them abstained, a bunch of them hid,

00:37:03.040 and some voted in favor on ending Rep by Pop in Quebec.

00:37:07.520 When Quebec's population didn't warrant,

00:37:09.840 they were actually going to lose a seat in the House of Commons.

00:37:11.680 that was a very telling moment that not a lot of Canadians paid attention to. It was a few years

00:37:14.800 ago. So when rebalancing based on population in the House of Commons, I mean, we get screwed 0.78

00:37:19.760 badly enough in the Senate, we already know, but Quebec was supposed to lose a seat. So Quebec went

00:37:24.280 bananas. And as usual, Canada bent over backwards to accommodate them, including the Conservative

00:37:29.540 Party said, well, despite the fact that you guys aren't reproducing effectively enough

00:37:33.760 to warrant keeping that parliamentary seat, we will put a motion forward to make sure that you

00:37:38.720 maintain a certain amount of seats no matter what. If there are only 20 Quebecers left in all of

00:37:43.380 Quebec, every one of them will be a member of parliament because they have a guaranteed number

00:37:47.360 of seats no matter what. And conservatives voted for that. That's an embarrassment. A handful voted

00:37:55.060 against, a whole whack of them abstained, including Paulie. I'm just, we won't show ourselves to vote

00:37:59.040 one way or another on it. But why? Because they didn't want to upset la belle province because

00:38:03.520 they're trying to win the federal government. So we've got to change things. Had it been a

00:38:08.660 reform party in there, they wouldn't have cared. We're voting against that. Would it have changed

00:38:12.620 anything? No, but at least they would have made a principled stand and also demonstrated again,

00:38:17.020 the futility of changing things. So we've got a lot of things to work on, but one of the more

00:38:21.480 immediate ones is definitely the referenda that we've got to work on. Let's look at some other

00:38:26.180 news items. Here's a big one that's been in the Western Standard and everywhere else. This was

00:38:29.200 I think the New York Times that reported it or the post of the truth.

00:38:32.560 He was just a 33-year-old Canadian woman with real pride to the country, I tell you.

00:38:37.260 She was on the Jersey Shore boardwalk and she confronted over and over and harassed

00:38:41.680 and then finally assaulted a teenage girl for wearing sweatpants that said Trump and ice on them.

00:38:47.700 She fled, but you know, well, surveillance footage, talk about those things.

00:38:52.620 The cameras are everywhere, guys, including in people's hands and up on the sides and everything.

00:38:56.540 You don't get away with too many things anymore.

00:38:57.880 she was found. And because of that, she turned herself in a few days ago. She was charged with

00:39:03.720 assault, endangering the welfare of a child because he was a minor. She, you know, assaulted 0.72

00:39:08.100 and harassment and obstruction. But now she's in ICE custody and her husband has literally been

00:39:15.180 crying. Oh, terrible tears. They're going to deport my wife. They're going to deport my wife.

00:39:20.380 What the hell did she expect? When you go to somebody else's country, and I don't care if

00:39:26.120 married an American obviously ice doesn't care either you don't go assaulting minors you know 1.00

00:39:31.720 unfortunately this idiot's going to be sent back to Canada we don't want her but they will put 1.00

00:39:37.560 her here but this story when it first came out was on the sob story and oh my lord see it's not 1.00

00:39:43.000 just Mexicans and illegals and everything ice has taken custody of this Canadian woman yeah this 1.00

00:39:48.040 Canadian woman's a psychopath who assaulted a minor on a boardwalk she embarrassed Canada 1.00

00:39:53.480 Unfortunately, we'll have to take her back like the bready child kicked out of a restaurant or 1.00

00:39:57.840 something. Welcome to Canada. Who does she think she is? It's ugly, but it's a story that's getting 1.00

00:40:06.620 a lot of attention. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Her husband's pleading. I don't

00:40:09.960 think in the world of Trump that they're going to turn around and say, no, you know, her husband

00:40:13.220 cried enough crocodile tears. We'll allow her to stay because we want this violent woman to stay 1.00

00:40:18.660 with us. Unfortunately, she will be back here. Let's talk about some of the futility of change 1.00

00:40:25.480 and bad policies. It's not just the federal government, though the feds are behind a lot of

00:40:28.680 it. BC, look at them for self-destructive economy, screwing themselves, property that they're giving 1.00

00:40:34.280 away, you know, race-based access to provincial parks, all the wonderful things. They're killing 0.62

00:40:40.320 their forestry industry. That's been happening for a while. So now, unfortunately, a large pulp

00:40:45.840 Mill and Prince George is going to be shut down permanently. 300 jobs are going to be lost there

00:40:50.880 and they're not coming back. And what's going on that, I guess their forestry minister

00:40:56.680 does nothing but TikTok videos over there and things like that, but never actually did anything

00:41:00.760 with the forestry area, but they've been making it pretty clear from the opposition. And it's the

00:41:04.880 truth. This is like the energy industry and everything else. The government is regulating

00:41:09.160 ourselves out of business. It's, you know, as the opposition member said, this has been crippled

00:41:16.480 by soaring log costs, excessive regulation, permitting delays, and growing competition

00:41:21.380 from overseas. So there's not many things, competition from overseas, it's going to happen

00:41:28.840 anyways. So that means you've got to make yourself more efficient and compete. It wasn't caused by

00:41:33.860 tariffs. It was bad governance. You see, here's another one. I got to hit the commenters. Okay,

00:41:37.900 here we go. No matter how many times I say it over and over again, if people aren't listening,

00:41:41.200 these surveillance control centers, handle Medicare, the commenter saying, we use tons

00:41:45.200 of water for cooling. The Meta center won't use any water. Let me say it one more time.

00:41:49.020 It will not use any water. You said no one mentions it. Yeah, no one mentions it because

00:41:52.320 it will not use any water. Why are we in the conspiracy theories with these things, guys?

00:41:56.440 They're computing centers. They aren't surveillance control centers. I saw a commenter

00:42:00.000 talking about how Meta is going to surveil and watch and keep our data and everything.

00:42:03.400 that person commented from a Facebook account. Think harder. It's here. They're just data centers.

00:42:15.000 The fact that you're watching this digital broadcast rather than having a TV antenna on

00:42:19.940 your roof anymore is because of data centers. They're going to be somewhere. They have to

00:42:24.860 process the data. We send it out. It gets processed. It gets sent back to you. When you type something

00:42:30.580 in to ask advice on how long to boil an egg at the elevation you're at and you get an AI answer

00:42:35.400 back to you. That's because that question was processed in a data center and sent back to you.

00:42:40.740 They're already here. If your issue is surveillance, then we've got to talk about legislation.

00:42:47.380 We've got to talk about privacy rights. We've got to talk about keeping government in check. I fully

00:42:52.780 agree with all of those things, but to try and say you're a Luddite who wants to try and stop

00:42:58.840 data processing in your province and thinking that it's going to have any impact whatsoever

00:43:03.240 on the erosion of those rights you were very misguided as to where the problem lies

00:43:09.080 problem lies in our legislative changers not in what is essentially just a large bunch of

00:43:14.520 computers gathered in a spot with a generating plant next to it which if you chase out of here

00:43:20.680 we'll just set up shop on the other side of the border then you still have all of those risks

00:43:25.000 but you lose the money and yes we got to pay the bills so um you know there's a good one from

00:43:33.400 great kazoo good to see you know uh yeah ai is the internet 2.0 it can be used for bad stuff for

00:43:38.020 sure absolutely and it probably will be uh so we got to watch for that we got to figure out how to

00:43:42.420 deal with it we also says but the ai has ability to democratize many things too yes it's something

00:43:47.560 we can't stop it so let's figure out how we work with it yes hi for one welcome our ai masters yeah

00:43:54.420 I know, I'm going to get it all.

00:43:56.900 Speaking of which, let's see, Senate,

00:43:58.280 so let's talk about Charles Adler

00:43:59.560 and how many people heard about him

00:44:00.700 speaking to sellouts lately in the Senate,

00:44:03.040 you know, supposed conservative.

00:44:04.980 Look at that.

00:44:05.540 Talk about the broken system, right?

00:44:07.400 Adler, who worked with Sun News Network

00:44:09.900 and was conservative and a radio host

00:44:11.880 and the whole works,

00:44:12.920 and then suddenly flips over,

00:44:16.380 says, I'm a liberal,

00:44:17.220 and manages to get a Senate seat

00:44:18.360 in the end of it.

00:44:18.920 You know, he spent a couple of years

00:44:19.900 promoting liberal stuff.

00:44:22.600 And he's in the Senate. 1.00

00:44:23.380 Now he's been saying things like, if you buy this garbage, this desperate loser is selling 1.00

00:44:26.520 you're an imbecile, and other statements like that on social media, even the Senate 1.00

00:44:30.540 ethics code is finally cracking down on that crazy old man. 1.00

00:44:32.760 Maybe we'll get there. 1.00

00:44:33.760 Finish out with another exaggerated, hyperbolic, idiotic posting from somebody's sick world 1.00

00:44:37.540 that money is more important than life. 1.00

00:44:38.960 Well, in the modern world, money is essential to maintain life.

00:44:42.680 You will not get health care without money.

00:44:44.400 You will not get food without money.

00:44:45.820 You will not put a roof over your head without money.

00:44:47.740 You will not get the gas to heat your home in winter without money, nor air condition

00:44:51.320 it in summer.

00:44:52.840 So yes, money is as important as life

00:44:55.860 because in this modern world,

00:44:57.220 we aren't hunters and gatherers and grazers.

00:44:59.740 We need money and we need industries

00:45:01.800 and we've got to generate them,

00:45:04.580 whether you like them or not.

00:45:05.900 If you want to see how it is in the places like that,

00:45:08.020 you can go to the third world

00:45:09.380 and check out some of those spots

00:45:10.940 and see how well it's going for all of them.

00:45:12.800 And Pepe, yes, I am an expert on the subject. 0.97

00:45:15.020 And I will leave it at that, you paranoid, crazy people. 0.88

00:45:17.080 I do appreciate you tuning in today. 0.54

00:45:19.220 The AI centers are coming anyway, so let's embrace it.

00:45:21.780 make some good money at it and become more prosperous. Thanks for tuning in. I'll get

00:45:25.760 on your case about a different subject next week and be sure to tune into the pipeline tonight.

00:45:30.720 We're going to break down a few more subjects and political items as usual on this show. So

00:45:35.800 thanks for tuning in. See you next week at this time again.

00:45:51.780 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - July 18, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Fighting data centres is cutting off our noses to despite our faces

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