In this episode of the Corey Morgan Show, Corey talks about the proposed Advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centres in Alberta and why they should be built in the province. Also, Corey discusses the upcoming referendum in Alberta on whether or not to remain part of Canada.
00:14:33.540Yeah, 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.
00:14:53.820Well, not surprisingly, Corey, I put my thoughts to this whole issue of the independence,
00:15:01.820or at least the referendum about an independence vote that's going to be held on October 19th.
00:15:08.860And I wrote about that in the sense that it came to me that whether it was intentional
00:15:15.860or an unintentional consequence of the way the court forced our premier to word the question
00:15:24.180number 10, it came to me that the unintended consequence could very well be that a lot of
00:15:32.320people that are undecided about supporting independence may come to the realization,
00:15:38.340and certainly I'm encouraging them to do that, the realization that they can vote for option two,
00:15:44.640for independence for pursuing independence because it's a safe vote and it does send
00:15:53.440as you've said and many others have said sends a message to ottawa that although i might not be
00:15:59.400convinced that independence is definitely the way to go i am convinced that ottawa is doing us no
00:16:06.740favors uh the west has legitimate long-term grievances and they need to be addressed in
00:16:13.620other words say no to the status quo and vote for option two and that's what my column's about
00:16:19.940right on yeah and i mean i i appreciate that and i feel kind of the same way i mean i'm of the
00:16:23.740maybe 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
00:16:30.480leave and that's not going to change uh i like to think and believe in a majority of albertans
00:16:36.660will hit that tipping point at one day but i don't feel confident actually that we were there yet i
00:16:40.800don't know if we were ready for that yes no question yet this fall now and that would have
00:16:46.020been a hard cap of maybe 30-35% if we'd have gone towards such a vote maybe not I could be wrong
00:16:50.640maybe we wouldn't have hit 150 but with this this broadens the amount of people who can
00:16:55.080take that risk-free you know one last shot perhaps they're sitting on the fence and say
00:17:00.880I am sending a message I'm telling them it's beyond unless something radically changes we're
00:17:05.520ready to roll yeah yeah well as I point out in the column is that they don't ever have0.51
00:17:10.800to get to the point where that they become uh you know died in the world die hard separatists
00:17:16.980i want to bring them there yeah so do i so do i uh like you and i have come to that realization
00:17:23.120that if there isn't constitutional change in canada to treat the west fairly
00:17:28.220then we never will be treated fairly and there's no appetite for constitutional change in the rest
00:17:34.820of Canada and so this does give all of those people in the middle right they're not on the
00:17:42.960extreme you know I'm a Canadian patriot and I'm going to vote to remain in Canada no matter what
00:17:48.420and they're not on our end of the spectrum where they say look we've been doing this for 150 years
00:17:54.820or whatever it is and the fact of the matter is is that it's never going to change and we've come to
00:18:01.560that realization so we're going to vote for independence no matter what and then you take
00:18:06.560I don't know what the 50 percent in the middle you got 25 on each end and the 50 percent in the
00:18:12.840middle that says I'm unhappy with what's happened I'm unhappy that our standard of living is going
00:18:19.640in the toilet I'm unhappy that I can't afford groceries and heat for my home at the same time
00:18:24.780I'm unhappy about the corruption and the scandals that continue to plague our federal government.
00:18:33.000I'm unhappy that, you know, the so-called climate change laws, which I don't believe do anything to protect us from climate change,
00:18:42.700these taxes, carbon taxes, are still being imposed by the federal government on Alberta's primary industry.
00:18:50.460I'm unhappy about all of this and much more.1.00
00:18:53.540the wide open immigration that's creating all sorts of problems for our schools, for our health1.00
00:19:00.520care, for our housing. I'm unhappy about all of that. And so I have the opportunity on October 19th1.00
00:19:08.760to vote my unhappiness by voting for option two on question 10.
00:19:15.700So do you think if, say 60% of people chose option two, I mean, then there's going to be
00:19:21.360the discussion of holding a binding referendum later and starting that process. But do you think
00:19:25.200that might be enough to encourage the rest of the country to realize it's time to open the
00:19:29.580constitution? I mean, I I'm not convinced it would be enough, but perhaps for those who want to
00:19:34.460take that last stab at another Meech Lake or Charlottetown. Well, I think it would certainly
00:19:39.760be conducive to the rest of Canada and especially to Ottawa and the Liberal Party of Canada who
00:19:45.880fashions themselves as the the everlasting ruling party of canada i think it would be conducive to
00:19:53.480forcing them to the realization that enough albertans do recognize the historic grievances
00:20:01.560and they're real this is not a few whiners this is not albertans as our prime minister current0.97
00:20:08.120prime minister says they're just bluffing they don't really want to leave uh as ridiculous a0.96
00:20:13.480statement as that is, and it's not the only ridiculous statement he's made on this file.
00:20:18.220So I think it would be very helpful. Now, whether it actually, as you suggest, whether it actually
00:20:24.920accomplished the goal of forcing the rest of the country to seriously consider changes to
00:20:31.840our constitution. As you well know, when I led on an interim basis, the Maverick Party
00:20:37.160of Western Canada, we put forward two tracks, one of which was constitutional change. In other words,
00:20:44.140what would it take to address the historic grievances of Western Canada
00:20:49.980in the way of constitutional change? And we put forward five amendments that were well thought
00:20:55.880out, easily communicated, and there was absolutely no pickup. So that was our sort of option one or
00:21:03.340option a and then option b was to support outright independence and i and and most other mavericks i
00:21:11.180would suggest came to the realization um belatedly for some of us uh that there is no other option
00:21:18.820well a lot of those options and the rest of the referendum questions that are kind of being
00:21:23.100overshadowed by the the question 10 yeah all of those almost all those would call for constitutional
00:21:28.020change to actually have them happen they're similar to what former premier kenny did with
00:21:32.380equalization one we can all vote 60 or more on saying we want to change it but it doesn't do a
00:21:37.660darn thing unless the rest of the country's willing to start discussing it but again maybe
00:21:42.780it was unintentional but seems to kind of work for some people who are still maintaining that0.97
00:21:46.380optimism okay i voted yes on all nine of those because i think we can you know make a bunch of
00:21:51.260changes and i'm voting yes or i'm voting option two on question 10 as awkward as that is to say
00:21:56.940yeah fix these first nine or and we're starting the process towards the other
00:22:01.740part if you don't fix them so you know you can kind of it's risk-free and i mean that's the thing
00:22:07.100too if they chose option two we start towards it and a real referenda is coming uh you know it's
00:22:12.300going to be held and up or down a clarity act one yeah but there was actually movement on those
00:22:17.020other nine things in the constitution was amended well maybe the person say well i changed my mind
00:22:20.780on that but yeah exactly and they have the option to do that yeah to use that overused word they
00:22:26.620They have the alternative to do that when the real referendum on independence comes along, whenever that might be, a year or two from now.
00:22:34.840So this is, by my definition, a free vote in the sense that you can vote how you feel.
00:22:43.820And it's the only time in my lifetime that we have this opportunity.
00:22:48.780And Alberta's given us that opportunity.
00:22:51.540And every Albertan should take advantage of it.
00:22:54.120And 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.
00:23:22.720So that, again, whether it's unintentional or whatnot, that question that happened, I mean,
00:23:27.040giving the benefit of the doubt to Premier Smith, she was cornered, couldn't do an up and down
00:23:30.240question. Man, it's awkward though. It's hard to...
00:23:32.960It is. You know, as I've been a part of a TPA and we're putting signs out and everything,
00:23:36.640for a referendum, normally you'd make it pretty simple. Yes or no, show a check mark, but option
00:23:42.000one, option two, and I got to remind everybody, by the way, that's of question 10, it makes it
00:23:47.920difficult to campaign on that yes the one advantage is that the government says that
00:23:54.880question 10 will be the first one on the ballot and so hopefully they stay with that so that that's
00:24:01.440first and foremost when folks go behind the cardboard to cast their vote so that might help
00:24:08.320but it's not that complicated in all seriousness because people are paying attention at least
00:24:15.680those that are and in my column I write about three people that I bumped into by happenstance
00:24:23.200when I attended a doctor's office and I raised this issue with them and in only in about five
00:24:29.440minutes of conversation convinced them to rather than a reluctant remain or stay vote in other
00:24:37.280words option one of question 10 I convinced them that they are quite capable and should
00:24:44.800vote for option two for the independent side of the question. So, but of course,
00:24:50.400how do you reach each person to have that five minute conversation? That's the challenge.
00:24:54.720Well, that's part of it because it's not a simple conversation. I mean,
00:24:58.400if you've got to discuss it, you're losing. That's one of the campaign rules quite often,
00:25:01.200but that's why we've got to take this all three months to really have a lot of conversations.
00:25:05.040And that's why in my column, I encourage them, the reader, because there's not enough of them,
00:25:11.360obviously i mean western standard wishes there was more readers uh i certainly wishes there
00:25:16.160wish there was more readers for my columns uh but i that's why i encourage the reader to think about
00:25:23.280this i provided a checklist in the column to say okay when you're talking to your son or daughter
00:25:30.160that's a voting age uh if you're a grandparent if you're talking to your grandchild or a friend
00:25:36.640or a co-worker or just somebody standing in a line here's a checklist yeah and just go down it and
00:25:43.360one of the questions that you want to ask is are you happy with the direction that canada is going
00:25:49.280and if the answer is absolutely not which it is for most canadians not just albertans
00:25:54.480then i say okay well then you must vote option two well and we've never seen this much discussion
00:26:02.720on unity, Alberta's place in the Federation, I don't even think in the early eighties in the
00:26:06.940WCC times, I mean, there was some big discussion, but for, it's been sustained. It's been more than
00:26:11.740a year we've been on this and it will be all the way into October. I mean, it's interesting to see
00:26:18.220where things are going to move. People are thinking about this and talking about this more than they
00:26:21.380ever have. And I think that's part of what's got some federalists pretty nervous because they
00:26:25.200realize the conclusions once people start talking about it, realize, well, wait a minute, the status0.97
00:26:29.000go isn't worth a crap. That's right. That's right. And thank goodness that people seem to be0.84
00:26:34.580taking it more and more seriously. And a wider breadth of the Alberta population
00:26:39.580is seriously considering this opportunity they've been given. You and I know it's the one
00:26:45.620opportunity in our lifetime. Chances are it's going to be the last one unless it goes the right
00:26:50.940way and we actually get a real vote on independence. But we certainly want people to
00:26:58.000consider the options carefully. We don't want to attack people just because they hold a different
00:27:03.080opinion. We want to persuade them just as I did at the doctor's office. That's what I like to
00:27:07.300remind people of. We're Albertans, even the ones who aren't ready to vote for option two yet. And
00:27:11.500if an Albertan is sitting on a fence, we know what's happened. Somebody gets in your face and
00:27:14.660yells at you. I'm going to push back and go the other way. So show the respectful conversation
00:27:20.760and you can bring people over. And that goes for both sides because we've seen instances on
00:27:25.240both sides where people have lost their patience, expressed their frustration. And so it's just a
00:27:33.140reminder to everybody involved in the debate to be respectful. So something I wanted to hit on,
00:27:38.600I mean, the time goes too quick when we're here already, but you talked about the Maverick and
00:27:42.100the federal involvement and just something that's been coming into my mind more. I mean,
00:27:45.560there's some very good people within the Conservative Party of Canada. I think Pierre
00:27:50.960is a good guy and there's a lot of great members of parliament but let's be frank they're impotent
00:27:55.360uh nothing's getting accomplished they're there to be the prime minister's mopping the floor with
00:28:00.560them their their base of support is increasingly just ending up out here is it time to start
00:28:06.560looking at another reform type option or is that productive or you know well i you know i it's a
00:28:13.640matter of timing as you and i have discussed it obviously it wasn't the right time for for myself
00:28:19.060and a small group of friends and supporters to take over the old Wexit party and morph it into
00:28:25.460Maverick with our sort of two-track approach to confederation back in 2020. It was at the height
00:28:33.760of COVID. We couldn't hold little town hall meetings like you've been speaking at, Corey.
00:28:39.120So there was a lot going against Maverick at that time. I think the policies that we developed
00:28:45.360And 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.
00:29:05.060So 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.
00:29:24.480And 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.
00:29:39.380But 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.
00:29:54.960Rather 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.
00:30:03.680Yeah, and I mean, right now, Albertans have enough to do getting ready for a referendum in a few months and everything.
00:30:08.120So 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.
00:30:21.600Like we can actually get good policy without being in power, a minority government, a piece of parliament.
00:30:28.700I mean, look at the unprecedented influence Jagmeet Singh had, as unpopular as he was because he was a kingmaker in a minority government.
00:30:37.540Yeah. 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.
00:30:58.960But as you point out that you can imagine, and I used to make this argument as interim leader of
00:31:04.080Maverick, that you can imagine what would be the case if we had 40 or 50 Western members of
00:31:11.440parliament belonging to Maverick in there every day, raising concerns for themselves. And actually
00:31:18.640that brings me into a letter that I saw made public yesterday by the Buffalo Project here
00:31:27.820in Alberta and Saskatchewan that they had sent under the signature of quite a number of very
00:31:34.400prominent. Michelle Rempel was behind that and a few others. Well, there's quite a few business
00:31:38.500people, more importantly than politicians, that sent this joint letter to Scott Moe and Daniel
00:31:45.460Smith as saying, look, you guys get down to Washington and represent the interests and the
00:31:52.580issues and the resources of Western Canada for specifically Saskatchewan, Alberta, because clearly
00:31:59.660Carney and his government are not. They're not in Washington. And when they are there,
00:32:05.140they're not there to represent Western issues. And we need you down there, you know, and it's
00:32:12.220just another instance where confederation doesn't work uh thank goodness the men and women of buffalo
00:32:18.800project um recognized and they dug in their jeans and and put money into the pot and they've now
00:32:26.240composed and sent this letter to both premiers saying it's way past time to lead a trade mission
00:32:32.640to washington yeah there's no sense waiting for currently he's busy hiring democrat advisors for
00:32:37.200as well. Well, exactly. And when he does go down there, you know, he's focused on the auto industry
00:32:43.100or the Quebec dairy industry. Uh, he's certainly not focused on promoting our oil and gas and our
00:32:49.680uranium and our potash and go down the long list. Our wood. Canola. Yeah. Canola. Yeah.
00:32:56.580Well, we'll see what we can do. It's always great to get you in, Jay. Uh, as I said, it's been
00:33:01.580overdue and I appreciate the column and the insight, you know, we're, we're in a pivotal
00:33:06.100time, no matter how we look at it. So it's, if we can get our crap together in the West, I mean,0.92
00:33:10.220on a few fronts, I think partisan and referendum wise, we can maybe make some positive change for0.83
00:33:14.860the first time in a long time. Well, thank you. It's always a pleasure. I always feel that I need
00:33:21.240to speak out because there isn't very many that at one point in time, we're sitting at the cabinet
00:33:26.280table with Stephen Harper that have come to the realization that myself and a few MP colleagues
00:33:33.580like Leon Benoit and Alan Kerpen in Saskatchewan, and most importantly, Val Meredith, now Fraser,
00:34:30.100pleasure yeah it was good seeing you we'll talk again soon hey all right you guys yeah one more
00:34:35.180time that is jay hill always great when he comes in be sure to catch his column and he's been writing
00:34:39.980them regularly as well yeah watch those news stories i saw him and val meredith and the rest
00:34:44.260of all those pictures popping up in my social media scroll what are they doing in their back
00:34:48.760blast from the past but they're also bringing a blast of wisdom and experience to things so
00:34:52.940that's what's important in that. And we got to look at things from the West as a multi-front
00:35:00.400approach. So, I mean, number one, you know, CB fixes all says it'll never work for Alberta,
00:35:04.920period. That's the truth. And I think what Jay and I are talking about, I mean, I'm not, by the
00:35:08.900way, boy, we've got enough on our plate. I'm not talking about starting the process to form a new
00:35:13.120party right now. And I'm not going to start one. That's not my thing. That actually was my thing.
00:35:18.660and I'm not going to do it again. I hope somebody does. But this is the sort of thing that would
00:35:23.160have to happen after the referendum, whether it's a strong vote for option two or not,
00:35:27.580we got to get something. But I look at it more like Jay mentioned, like the bloc abecuado.
00:35:31.540It's not talking about, you know, it's saying we're going to maximize our influence within the
00:35:36.140system as long as we must, but the goal is still going to be to get out of the bloody system.
00:35:40.940There's no sense pretending any longer. You know, for those of us old enough, and yeah,
00:35:45.260starting to show how great we're getting. The old reform party, it was actually pretty effective.
00:35:50.600When reform ended, when they decided, you know what, we've got to go for the brass ring, we got0.99
00:35:55.640to start operating into Ontario and going east, then the party just went to crap, to be honest.0.92
00:36:00.560Then again, there are very many good members and people could say that is the process that0.91
00:36:05.420eventually led to the election of Stephen Harper, whereas we had a federal government that was less
00:36:10.020bad to Alberta than one had been for a while, but nothing changed systematically, right?
00:36:15.260Jay, who was just here, was the government house leader in that government.
00:36:20.340You know, he was right next to Stephen Harper, one of the most powerful people in the country.
00:36:25.040And they achieved what change they could while they were in.
00:36:28.340But 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.
00:36:37.840Why did nothing get changed when you had people like Jay Hill in the federal government?
00:36:42.680Well, it's because you can't change the system.
00:36:45.360They also knew that the second you try changing the system,
00:36:48.420you're going to get thrown out of office by central Canada.
00:36:52.280Trudeau or some other liberal would have gotten in even faster, even earlier.
00:36:56.260That's the same reason that Polyev's government voted, you know,
00:37:00.340a bunch of them abstained, a bunch of them hid,
00:37:03.040and some voted in favor on ending Rep by Pop in Quebec.
00:37:07.520When Quebec's population didn't warrant,
00:37:09.840they were actually going to lose a seat in the House of Commons.
00:37:11.680that was a very telling moment that not a lot of Canadians paid attention to. It was a few years
00:37:14.800ago. So when rebalancing based on population in the House of Commons, I mean, we get screwed0.78
00:37:19.760badly enough in the Senate, we already know, but Quebec was supposed to lose a seat. So Quebec went
00:37:24.280bananas. And as usual, Canada bent over backwards to accommodate them, including the Conservative
00:37:29.540Party said, well, despite the fact that you guys aren't reproducing effectively enough
00:37:33.760to warrant keeping that parliamentary seat, we will put a motion forward to make sure that you
00:37:38.720maintain a certain amount of seats no matter what. If there are only 20 Quebecers left in all of
00:37:43.380Quebec, every one of them will be a member of parliament because they have a guaranteed number
00:37:47.360of seats no matter what. And conservatives voted for that. That's an embarrassment. A handful voted
00:37:55.060against, a whole whack of them abstained, including Paulie. I'm just, we won't show ourselves to vote
00:37:59.040one way or another on it. But why? Because they didn't want to upset la belle province because
00:38:03.520they're trying to win the federal government. So we've got to change things. Had it been a
00:38:08.660reform party in there, they wouldn't have cared. We're voting against that. Would it have changed
00:38:12.620anything? No, but at least they would have made a principled stand and also demonstrated again,
00:38:17.020the futility of changing things. So we've got a lot of things to work on, but one of the more
00:38:21.480immediate ones is definitely the referenda that we've got to work on. Let's look at some other
00:38:26.180news items. Here's a big one that's been in the Western Standard and everywhere else. This was
00:38:29.200I think the New York Times that reported it or the post of the truth.
00:38:32.560He was just a 33-year-old Canadian woman with real pride to the country, I tell you.
00:38:37.260She was on the Jersey Shore boardwalk and she confronted over and over and harassed
00:38:41.680and then finally assaulted a teenage girl for wearing sweatpants that said Trump and ice on them.
00:38:47.700She fled, but you know, well, surveillance footage, talk about those things.
00:38:52.620The cameras are everywhere, guys, including in people's hands and up on the sides and everything.
00:38:56.540You don't get away with too many things anymore.
00:38:57.880she was found. And because of that, she turned herself in a few days ago. She was charged with
00:39:03.720assault, endangering the welfare of a child because he was a minor. She, you know, assaulted0.72
00:39:08.100and harassment and obstruction. But now she's in ICE custody and her husband has literally been
00:39:15.180crying. Oh, terrible tears. They're going to deport my wife. They're going to deport my wife.
00:39:20.380What the hell did she expect? When you go to somebody else's country, and I don't care if
00:39:26.120married an American obviously ice doesn't care either you don't go assaulting minors you know1.00
00:39:31.720unfortunately this idiot's going to be sent back to Canada we don't want her but they will put1.00
00:39:37.560her here but this story when it first came out was on the sob story and oh my lord see it's not1.00
00:39:43.000just Mexicans and illegals and everything ice has taken custody of this Canadian woman yeah this1.00
00:39:48.040Canadian woman's a psychopath who assaulted a minor on a boardwalk she embarrassed Canada1.00
00:39:53.480Unfortunately, we'll have to take her back like the bready child kicked out of a restaurant or1.00
00:39:57.840something. Welcome to Canada. Who does she think she is? It's ugly, but it's a story that's getting1.00
00:40:06.620a lot of attention. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Her husband's pleading. I don't
00:40:09.960think in the world of Trump that they're going to turn around and say, no, you know, her husband
00:40:13.220cried enough crocodile tears. We'll allow her to stay because we want this violent woman to stay1.00
00:40:18.660with us. Unfortunately, she will be back here. Let's talk about some of the futility of change1.00
00:40:25.480and bad policies. It's not just the federal government, though the feds are behind a lot of
00:40:28.680it. BC, look at them for self-destructive economy, screwing themselves, property that they're giving1.00
00:40:34.280away, you know, race-based access to provincial parks, all the wonderful things. They're killing0.62
00:40:40.320their forestry industry. That's been happening for a while. So now, unfortunately, a large pulp
00:40:45.840Mill and Prince George is going to be shut down permanently. 300 jobs are going to be lost there
00:40:50.880and they're not coming back. And what's going on that, I guess their forestry minister
00:40:56.680does nothing but TikTok videos over there and things like that, but never actually did anything
00:41:00.760with the forestry area, but they've been making it pretty clear from the opposition. And it's the
00:41:04.880truth. This is like the energy industry and everything else. The government is regulating
00:41:09.160ourselves out of business. It's, you know, as the opposition member said, this has been crippled