Western Standard - July 18, 2026


CORY MORGAN SHOW: Fighting the creation of data centres is cutting off our noses to despite our f...


Episode Stats


Length

46 minutes

Words per minute

185.8

Word count

8,611

Sentence count

456

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

21

sentences flagged

Hate speech

15

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 and welcome to the
00:00:28.640 cory morgan show back in the studio where i'm more comfortable rather than those field spots out in
00:00:34.720 places last week it was in senalta we had the first western standard stampede barbecue it went
00:00:41.840 very very well check out the western standard channels some of those videos have been posted
00:00:45.820 a lot of people very gleefully pelted our publisher derrick phildebrandt with water balloons along with
00:00:51.980 mayor jeremy farkas and just a lot of people had some weenies in a really good time but it is hard
00:00:58.360 doing those shows from out there so it's nice being back in the comfort of here and a familiar
00:01:03.420 environment i got a good show coming up ahead a little bit jay hill former conservative government
00:01:07.940 house leader he's going to be in we're going to do some discussion on well local independence sort
00:01:13.420 of issues in alberta the referendum coming up and some federal issues of course in general as well
00:01:18.960 so i'm kind of curious about where we go with some things after the uh referendum and some of these
00:01:23.280 other things so good to see you checking in there david from taber and yeah that's a town i've been
00:01:27.220 paying a lot more attention to lately than normal. So I'll get to the title. I've already had people
00:01:31.400 going off at me about it. Oh Lord, the data centers, the WF has taken you over, Corey,
00:01:35.940 your mind is gone. One person even said they're going to take their signs off their lawn because
00:01:39.560 I promoted it. Well, get over yourself. Guys, it's technology. It's not going away. Let's talk
00:01:44.900 about it. Let's be realistic about it. Let's be pragmatic about it. The advent of AI, you know,
00:01:50.400 artificial intelligence is an inescapable reality and it is going to change the world as we know it.
00:01:56.020 we don't exactly know how. It's already impacting our day-to-day lives, and its exponential growth
00:02:02.040 and scope and power has raised some very valid concerns from people. The world's political,
00:02:07.120 social, and economic structures are going to have to evolve quickly to try to adapt to the changes
00:02:12.280 AI is bringing, and having discussions on how to best regulate and mitigate impacts from AI is
00:02:17.680 essential. But trying to block the construction of data centers 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
00:02:43.380 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 facilities has been getting rampant. They're just large hubs full of computer processors.
00:02:57.660 They do demand a lot of electricity, but so do any other large industrial projects.
00:03:03.660 As with other industrial facilities, they utilize some water, but no more so than any
00:03:07.420 other electrical generating station. And that's all they are is generating stations, guys.
00:03:11.020 The proposed Meta facility is the big one. And in Alberta, it's going to be using a closed loop
00:03:15.900 cooling system, which means it won't be draining water from the area. As far as power goes,
00:03:20.300 Alberta has it in abundance. People are falsely claiming the facility would increase demand and
00:03:25.060 cause local electric bills to rise. That's not true. These facilities aren't tapping into the
00:03:29.140 existing power grid in Alberta. They're going to set up their own generating facilities using
00:03:33.300 Alberta's natural gas, which did I mention we have in abundance. The gas used in electrical
00:03:37.840 generation now is based on world prices. So even if we increase domestic consumption through these
00:03:42.860 data centers, the impact on your household price is going to be negligible. What I find is ironic
00:03:47.300 because so many of the people who have been stridently demanding that Alberta upgrades its
00:03:50.420 oil into finished products in the province rather than pipelining it out to be refined elsewhere
00:03:54.180 are suddenly supporting pipelining our natural gas out of the province rather than upgrading it
00:03:59.040 for value-added industries here, like a data centre. We should be doing both. Export the gas
00:04:04.960 and use it here. And that's what they're going to do. The footprint of these centres is no larger
00:04:08.520 than any large electrical generating plant either. They won't be eating up millions of acres of
00:04:12.640 farmland. Calgary has two of them that supplies the entire city and it doesn't take up much space.
00:04:17.780 You can drive the ring road and see them. And Meta is going into an area that's always been
00:04:22.300 zoned for industrial use. These aren't sprawling facilities. If you want to see those, check on
00:04:25.720 the solar generation fields in southern Alberta. Likewise, issues with noise and power use,
00:04:30.480 they're not going to be any more difficult to manage than they are with the countless
00:04:32.980 compressor stations we have for major pipelines around the province. None of this sort of
00:04:37.140 development in the associated controls are unprecedented. As I said, Alberta is perfectly
00:04:42.040 placed to host these facilities. The cool climate reduces the need for as much power use. The
00:04:45.980 peaceful environment reduces security needs. The skilled workforce is already here and the natural
00:04:50.920 gas is plentiful and we have the space. People have waxed on about the need to diversify the
00:04:55.740 economy for decades. Well, here's a perfect opportunity. Yes, AI is going to cause a
00:05:00.780 transformational shift in the world. There's going to be some jobs lost. Some professions are going
00:05:04.820 to vanish. To fight this though, through banning these centers is akin to trying to ban auto
00:05:11.160 manufacturing to protect the horse and buggy. The world's going to change around you and the
00:05:15.780 jobs will still change and you'll be poorly placed to cope with it. AI centers aren't high in labor
00:05:20.360 use, that's true, but they're high in revenue generation and the billions they'll bring into
00:05:23.640 the local economy will serve the province well. We don't need to dive into constructing them with
00:05:29.180 a wild abandon. We have environmental controls and we must maintain some regulation, but it'd be
00:05:33.240 foolish to shun these facilities though and drag our feet in approving them. We'll lose the chance
00:05:37.800 trying to stop the development of AI by hindering local data centers will be about as effective as
00:05:42.300 trying to stop oil and gas use worldwide has been through hindering Alberta's oil field.
00:05:46.680 We could stop local development, but it's only going to push it outward. We'd still be impacted
00:05:50.860 by the AI as much as ever, but the benefits from it's going to be enjoyed in different countries.
00:05:55.400 We can get on board with change or we can get left behind. These data centers are offering
00:05:59.120 a golden opportunity and we must embrace it. Alberta first thing, there's surveillance centers.
00:06:03.620 We don't need a BS, you know, come on surveillance centers. Really?
00:06:07.920 What are they going to do? Put cameras on top and look at you.
00:06:10.840 They're data centers guys. And they're happening.
00:06:13.080 If you've got concerns about privacy,
00:06:14.560 you've got concerns about the government expansion, things like that.
00:06:16.700 They're all valid.
00:06:17.540 But if you think that stopping AI centers in Alberta is going to change a bit
00:06:22.100 of that, you're the one who's delusional right now. All right.
00:06:25.180 Not for ranting on that for now. Let's see what else is going on in the news.
00:06:27.340 How's it going, Dave?
00:06:27.820 Good. Well explained. I thought.
00:06:29.260 I thought so, but I'm sure I'll get a bunch of people explaining it.
00:06:31.320 even how i i've yeah yeah i don't get them i don't know i mean again there's there's horse
00:06:36.260 and buggy people who thought we shouldn't have got cars too but as you said earlier this is the
00:06:40.760 new chemtrails it is for some i'm starting the chemtrails we get all the emails about that too
00:06:45.280 i didn't know can you mad it out chemtrails so thank goodness it's over eh yeah i've had enough
00:06:51.580 stampeding yeah did you manage to get to the grounds this year no yeah i went to a few events
00:06:56.400 but not the grounds themselves yes 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.
00:07:05.660 It did.
00:07:05.920 It was a good time downtown.
00:07:07.080 It did.
00:07:07.540 Speaking of avoiding, if you're looking for a reason to avoid going to Toronto.
00:07:11.180 Mm-hmm.
00:07:11.500 You don't have to look too hard.
00:07:12.760 You don't have to look too hard.
00:07:13.680 But right now, it's got the worst air quality in the world. 1.00
00:07:17.620 You know, worse than Calcutta, worse than whatever that Chinese. 1.00
00:07:24.540 Shanghai or something like that. 1.00
00:07:25.960 One of those large forward cities.
00:07:27.480 Yeah, one of those.
00:07:28.660 this is all caused by forest fires in northern ontario okay and now the smoke is is enveloped
00:07:35.460 uh envelope toronto and the sky has turned orange so yeah you don't want to be going there right now
00:07:41.220 and west jet may not be taking you there anyways their flight attendants have voted to uh to go on
00:07:47.540 strike uh set for the august long weekend which is a couple weeks away so hopefully negotiations will
00:07:54.180 uh conclude on a better contract we've got the calgary 911 operator has been arrested for
00:08:02.660 leaking confidential police information so they have been charged with a breach of trust
00:08:08.900 and uh disturbing murder case said it was a you may have remembered the the coverage corey a 15
00:08:15.060 year old killer uh stabbed an 89 year old uh grandmother to death on her lawn and pickering
00:08:22.900 He got 10 years today.
00:08:24.820 The maximum a young offender can be sentenced.
00:08:27.860 Well, that is significant as far as young offenders go for that sort of thing.
00:08:31.980 I guess I can only hope 10 years is enough to fix that kid.
00:08:37.040 Yeah.
00:08:37.500 I would have rather him being tried as an adult.
00:08:40.060 With something serious as that.
00:08:41.420 Yeah, 25 years.
00:08:43.400 Got a good story on a BC couple.
00:08:45.360 They live in a condo in Seaslet. 1.00
00:08:49.780 Sheshat?
00:08:50.260 i can't pronounce it anyways uh somewhere on the island and in their condo complex they've hung a
00:08:55.540 canadian flag canadian patriots and the somebody in the condo board complained ordered it taken
00:09:02.400 down and this couple of us said no we're going to keep it up so good for them uh and carney mark
00:09:09.100 carney and his airline food is in the news again uh canadian taxpayers federation have have got
00:09:14.740 access to information showing that he spent
00:09:16.580 $160,000 on
00:09:18.760 food on just one
00:09:20.540 trip. $160,000.
00:09:23.940 That's just
00:09:24.820 obscene. As our friend Franco
00:09:26.840 says, that's more than a Canadian family
00:09:28.960 would spend in 10 years. Yes.
00:09:30.800 Well, there's your tax dollars at work.
00:09:32.680 There you go. And we've got a couple good columns
00:09:34.720 up. Chris Oldcorn is looking at the
00:09:36.680 threat by
00:09:37.460 an Ontario group
00:09:40.620 who wants to
00:09:41.880 prod Kearney into withholding health care payments as a punishment for Alberta's B-11,
00:09:49.660 Bill 11. And Jay Hill, his column is up now, and I'm sure he's going to be talking to you about
00:09:55.320 that. We will chat about it shortly. And a big new section opened up today at the Calgary Zoo,
00:09:59.860 an Asian section, featuring all sorts of wonderful, some cuddly, some not so cuddly
00:10:06.800 animals and Leah Mushut was down there and we'll be filing a video report on it.
00:10:11.600 Right on, what you said Leah. I mean I know that was kind of one of your earliest
00:10:14.600 media things was getting over to see the pandas in China. Oh yeah, there's nothing
00:10:18.320 and you know what they are not cute and cuddly, they're vicious little rats. 1.00
00:10:22.160 Rather dumb. Rather dumb and all their fur is very very coarse, it's like a 1.00
00:10:27.380 Brillo pad or something like that. Just the airport stuffies are probably the 0.99
00:10:31.020 better version than the real ones. Yes, exactly. I look forward to seeing Leah's
00:10:35.180 pictures and everything going up and uh i'll let you back in there i know you're balancing between
00:10:39.260 the newsroom and your uh football uh go england go is all i can say so okay if you hear yelling
00:10:45.580 that might be me yeah well since derek's out of town that's all it could be at this point exactly
00:10:49.740 good point all right thanks dave we'll see you in a bit there's our news editor dave naylor with yes
00:10:56.300 lots going on lots being covered and uh lots happening uh yeah so you see i mean i just
00:11:02.060 see this data center, people are going so wild over this. And again, so much misinformation.
00:11:08.660 Look, Alberta first. Okay, fair enough. You know, you're commenting and you're speaking. You said 0.86
00:11:11.560 our water infrastructure and electrical grid are stretched to the breaking point. I don't know if
00:11:15.140 you listened to my commentary. It's a closed loop thing. It's using no water. And our electrical grid,
00:11:21.280 it has nothing to do with it because they're generating their own electricity. In fact,
00:11:25.480 they're buying the gas from our local producers to do so. They don't ruin your crops. They don't
00:11:33.100 ruin the environment. They're just generating plants, guys. You have them all around you
00:11:36.760 already. I liked one person's comment saying, imagine typing on a YouTube chat channel and
00:11:41.120 saying data centers are bad. These have to happen somewhere. And that's the thing. They're going to
00:11:46.420 happen, whether you like them or you don't like them. And the issues are going to come with AI
00:11:51.840 and all of those, again, they might be bad issues, but stopping data centers in Alberta isn't going
00:11:56.220 to change that. It's not going to stop it. In fact, they'll open in Montana. They'll open in
00:12:00.540 China. They'll open in India. We're safer having them here. And, uh, you know, Alberta first saying
00:12:06.400 more than 30,000 people arrested for their posts on Facebook. Uh, what the hell does that have to
00:12:10.660 do with data centers in Alberta? Or do we want to ban the internet? Is that what we want to get to?
00:12:14.980 Guys, technology is moving whether you want it to or not. We need to look at it pragmatically
00:12:20.780 and these are generating computer centers. That's all they are. I mean, how they can be abused,
00:12:27.540 how data can be abused, how AI can be abused, all very valid. Absolutely. There's concerns and we
00:12:32.620 should have those conversations. We should watch how it's going to impact the economy.
00:12:36.820 We've always got to watch how authoritarians are going to use technology and means to step on us.
00:12:43.900 They always want to, and this will provide them some. There's no doubt about that too,
00:12:47.080 But the tech is moving ahead and we can be part of it, or we can still have all of the bad sides
00:12:55.960 that may come with it and lose what benefits we can. As I said, there's a reason they chose
00:13:02.320 Alberta for these things. And it's not a conspiracy-ish thing or anything like that.
00:13:06.740 It's just that we've got the right climate, we've got the right workplace, and we've got
00:13:10.860 the energy and things around. But it'll be an ongoing discussion. We'll see where it goes.
00:13:17.000 There's lots to cover, lots to talk about. I just, before I bring Jay on, I want to laugh. I think I
00:13:22.900 just want to look at it as the hypocrite award of the week. You know, I'm not going to start a 0.94
00:13:28.180 regular one. There's just too many contenders for it. But the winner this week is our Prime Minister,
00:13:33.560 Mark Carney. In hiring an operative from the Democrat Party of the United States as his chief
00:13:41.360 operating officer in the Prime Minister's office, the man who gave us the whole elbows up, the man
00:13:45.660 who told us to buy Canadian, the man who said we have to ensure everything stays here, we don't 0.99
00:13:50.280 support those big bad Americans south of the border, has hired an American into a senior position 0.95
00:13:56.780 within his office. Apparently, among the other 40 million Canadians or so, nobody was as well
00:14:02.180 qualified as this American that he hired. But he's telling you to put your elbows up and not buy
00:14:10.120 anything from the United States. Shocker, a liberal hypocrite. How unusual. All right. Well, 1.00
00:14:16.200 let's see what else is going on. We got our guest here, Jay Hill. It's been about time. It's been
00:14:20.920 a while since we've had you in. It's been a while. It's always a privilege. As you can see, the
00:14:25.420 studio has changed somewhat. Same place, a better look. John's improved things around here. Yeah,
00:14:31.720 looks very, very professional. Yeah. So your column has just kind of gone live. Maybe kind
00:14:38.800 Just to start with, and by the way, as I said at the start of the show, you have 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.
00:14:51.840 What did you write about there?
00:14:53.240 Well, not surprisingly, Corey, I put my thoughts to this whole issue of the independence, or at least the referendum about an independence vote that's going to be held on October 19th.
00:15:08.460 And I wrote about that in the sense that it came to me that whether it was intentional or an unintentional consequence of the way the court forced our premier to word the question number 10,
00:15:24.880 it came to me that the unintended consequence could very well be that a lot of people that
00:15:32.720 are undecided about supporting independence may come to the realization and certainly I'm
00:15:38.980 encouraging them to do that the realization that they can vote for option two for independence
00:15:46.000 for pursuing independence because it's a safe vote and it does send as you've said and many
00:15:54.960 others have said sends a message to ottawa that although i might not be convinced that independence
00:16:01.000 is definitely the way to go i am convinced that ottawa is doing us no favors uh the west has
00:16:09.260 legitimate long-term grievances and they need to be addressed. In other words, say no to the status
00:16:16.040 quo and vote for option two. And that's what my column's about. Right on. Yeah. And I mean,
00:16:21.120 I appreciate that. And I felt kind of the same way. I mean, I'm of the maybe 30%. I want to go.
00:16:25.940 I want out. I made my mind up. Yes, no question. I'm voting for the yes to leave. And that's not
00:16:31.860 going to change. I like to think and believe in a majority of Albertans will hit that tipping
00:16:37.360 point at one day, but I don't feel confident actually that we were there yet. I don't know
00:16:41.020 if we were ready for that yes, no question yet this fall. Now, and that would have been a hard
00:16:46.380 cap of maybe 30, 35% if we'd have gone towards such a vote. Maybe not, I could be wrong. Maybe
00:16:50.840 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
00:16:59.940 and say, I am sending a message. I'm telling them it's beyond, unless something radically changes,
00:17:05.040 we're ready to roll yeah yeah well as i point out in the column is that they don't ever have to get
00:17:11.180 to the point where that they become uh you know died in the world die hard separatists i want to
00:17:17.500 bring them there yeah so do i so do i uh like you and i have come to that realization uh that if
00:17:24.280 there isn't constitutional change in canada to treat the west fairly then we never will be treated
00:17:30.920 fairly and there's no appetite for constitutional change in the rest of Canada and so this does
00:17:37.880 give all of those people in the middle right they're not on the extreme you know I'm a Canadian
00:17:44.860 patriot and I'm going to vote to remain in Canada no matter what and they're not on our end of the
00:17:50.120 spectrum where they say look we've been doing this for 150 years or whatever it is and the fact of
00:17:57.580 matter is is that it's never going to change and we've come to that realization so we're going to
00:18:03.660 vote for independence no matter what and then you take i don't know what the 50 in the middle you got
00:18:09.500 25 on each end and the 50 in the middle that says i'm unhappy with what's happened i'm unhappy
00:18:17.500 that our standard of living is going in the toilet i'm unhappy that i can't afford groceries and heat
00:18:23.260 for my home at the same time. I'm unhappy about the corruption and the scandals that continue to
00:18:31.340 plague our federal government. I'm unhappy that, you know, the so-called climate change laws,
00:18:37.800 which I don't believe do anything to protect us from climate change, these taxes, carbon taxes,
00:18:44.900 are still being imposed by the federal government on Alberta's primary industry. I'm unhappy about
00:18:51.920 all of this and much more the wide open immigration that's creating all sorts of problems for our 1.00
00:18:58.560 schools for our health care for our housing i'm unhappy about all of that and so i have the 0.76
00:19:06.240 opportunity on october 19th to vote my unhappiness by voting for option two on question 10. so do you
00:19:16.480 think if say 60% of people chose option two, I mean, then there's going to be the discussion of
00:19:21.920 holding a binding referendum later and starting that process. But do you think that might be
00:19:25.800 enough to encourage the rest of the country to realize it's time to open the constitution? I
00:19:30.480 mean, I'm not convinced it would be enough, but perhaps for those who want to take that last stab
00:19:35.960 at another Meech Lake or Charlottetown. Well, I think it would certainly be conducive to the rest
00:19:42.120 to Canada and especially to Ottawa and the liberal party of Canada who fashions
00:19:46.440 themselves as the, the everlasting ruling party of Canada.
00:19:51.560 I think it would be conducive to forcing them to the realization that
00:19:56.760 enough Albertans do recognize the historic grievances and they're real.
00:20:02.880 This is not a few whiners.
00:20:05.080 This is not Albertans as our prime minister, current prime minister says,
00:20:09.200 They're just bluffing. 0.94
00:20:10.300 They don't really want to leave as ridiculous a statement as that is. 0.95
00:20:14.500 And it's not the only ridiculous statement he's made on this file. 0.60
00:20:18.260 So I think it would be very helpful.
00:20:22.460 Now, whether it actually, as you suggest, whether it actually accomplished the goal of forcing the rest of the country to seriously consider changes to our constitution.
00:20:32.760 As you well know, when I led on an interim basis, the Maverick Party of Western Canada, we put forward two tracks, one of which was constitutional change.
00:20:43.740 In other words, what would it take to address the historic grievances of Western Canada in the way of constitutional change?
00:20:52.860 And we put forward five amendments that were well thought out, easily communicated, and there was absolutely no pickup.
00:21:00.480 So that was our sort of option one or option a, and then option B was to support outright independence.
00:21:07.680 And I, and most other Mavericks, I would suggest came to the realization, um, belatedly for some of us, uh, that there is no other option.
00:21:19.380 Well, a lot of those options in the rest of the referendum questions that are kind of being overshadowed by the question 10, all of those, almost all those would call for constitutional change to actually have them happen.
00:21:29.680 And they're similar to what former Premier Kenney did with the equalization one.
00:21:33.540 We can all vote 60% or more on saying we want to change it, but it doesn't do a darn thing unless the rest of the country is willing to start discussing it.
00:21:42.040 But again, maybe it was unintentional, but it seems to kind of work for some people who are still maintaining that optimism.
00:21:46.740 Okay, I voted yes on all nine of those because I think we can make a bunch of changes.
00:21:52.000 And I'm voting yes, or I'm voting option two on question 10, as awkward as that is to say, fix these first nine.
00:21:59.680 And we're starting the process towards the other part if you don't fix them.
00:22:03.160 So, you know, you can kind of, it's risk-free.
00:22:05.320 And I mean, that's the thing too.
00:22:07.400 If they chose option two, we start towards it and a real referenda is coming.
00:22:11.880 You know, it's going to be held an up or down, a Clarity Act one.
00:22:14.840 Yeah.
00:22:15.100 But there was actually movement on those other nine things in the Constitution was amended.
00:22:19.080 Well, maybe the person say, well, I changed my mind on that.
00:22:21.460 Yeah, exactly.
00:22:22.300 And they have the option to do that.
00:22:23.820 Yeah.
00:22:24.260 To use that overused word.
00:22:25.840 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.
00:22:35.300 So this is, by my definition, a free vote in the sense that you can vote how you feel.
00:22:43.720 And it's the only time in my lifetime that we have this opportunity.
00:22:48.720 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.
00:23:22.740 So that, again, whether it's unintentional or whatnot, that question that happened, I mean, giving the benefit of the doubt to Premier Smith, she was cornered, couldn't do an up or down question.
00:23:31.560 Man, it's awkward, though.
00:23:32.660 It's hard to...
00:23:32.980 It is.
00:23:33.320 You know, as I've been a part of a TPA and we're putting signs out and everything, for a referendum, normally you'd make it pretty simple, yes or no, show a check mark.
00:23:41.000 But option one, option two, and I got to remind everybody, by the way, that's of question 10, it makes it difficult to campaign on that.
00:23:49.960 Yes.
00:23:50.240 The one advantage is that the government says that question 10 will be the first one on the ballot.
00:23:58.200 And so hopefully they stay with that so that that's first and foremost when folks go behind the cardboard to cast their vote.
00:24:06.420 So that might help.
00:24:08.440 But it's not that complicated in all seriousness because people are paying attention, at least those that are.
00:24:16.420 And in my column, I write about three people that I bumped into by happenstance when I attended a doctor's office.
00:24:25.200 And I raised this issue with them and in only in about five minutes of conversation, convinced them to rather than a reluctant remain or stay vote, in other words, option one of question 10.
00:24:39.840 I convinced them that they are quite capable and should vote for option two.
00:24:46.420 for the independent side of the question. So, but of course, how do you reach each person to
00:24:51.980 have that five minute conversation? That's the challenge. Well, that's part of it because it's
00:24:56.440 not a simple conversation. I mean, if you got to discuss it, you're losing. That's one of the
00:25:00.120 campaign rules quite often, but that's why we got to take this all three months to really have a lot
00:25:03.840 of conversations. And that's why in, in my column, I encourage them, the reader, because there's not
00:25:10.880 enough of them, obviously. I mean, Western Standard wishes there was more readers. I certainly wish
00:25:15.820 there was more readers for my columns. But that's why I encourage the reader to think
00:25:22.940 about this. I provided a checklist in the column to say, okay, when you're talking to
00:25:28.740 your son or daughter that's of voting age, if you're a grandparent, if you're talking
00:25:34.300 to your grandchild or a friend or a coworker or just somebody standing in a line, here's
00:25:41.040 a checklist and just go down it. And one of the questions that you want to ask is,
00:25:45.540 are you happy with the direction that Canada is going and if the answer is absolutely not which
00:25:51.600 it is for most Canadians not just Albertans then I say okay well then you must vote option two
00:25:58.900 well and we've never seen this much discussion on unity Alberta's place in the federation I don't
00:26:05.300 even think in the early 80s in the WCC times I mean there was some big discussion but for it's
00:26:10.360 been sustained it's been more than a year we've been on this and it will be all the way into
00:26:14.280 October. I mean, it's interesting to see where things are going to move. People are thinking
00:26:19.780 about this and talking about this more than they ever have. And I think that's part of what's got
00:26:23.320 some federalists pretty nervous. Because they realize the conclusions once people start talking
00:26:27.100 about it, realize, well, wait a minute, the status quo isn't worth a crap. That's right. 0.97
00:26:30.860 That's right. And thank goodness that people seem to be taking it more and more seriously. And a
00:26:36.840 wider breadth of the Alberta population is seriously considering this opportunity they've
00:26:42.460 been given uh you and i know it's our the one opportunity in our lifetime chances are it's
00:26:48.540 going to be the last one unless it goes the right way and we actually get an a real vote on
00:26:54.240 independence but uh you know we certainly want people to consider the options carefully uh we
00:27:00.540 don't want to attack people just because they hold a different opinion we want to persuade them just
00:27:04.800 as i did at the doctor's office that's what i like to remind people of we're albertans even the ones
00:27:09.160 who aren't ready to vote for option two yet and if right if an alberton's sitting on a fence we
00:27:13.200 know what's happened somebody gets in your face and yells at you yeah i'm gonna push back and go
00:27:16.780 the other way yeah so you know show the respectful conversation and you can bring people over and
00:27:22.540 that goes for both sides because we've seen instances on both sides where people have lost
00:27:27.940 their patience expressed their frustration and uh so it's just a reminder to everybody involved in
00:27:35.180 the debate to be respectful. So something I wanted to hit on, I mean, the time goes too quick when
00:27:39.620 we're here already, but you talked about the Maverick and the federal involvement and just
00:27:43.400 something that's been coming into my mind more. I mean, there's some very good people within the
00:27:48.000 Conservative Party of Canada. I think Pierre is a good guy. There's a lot of great members of
00:27:53.000 Parliament, but let's be frank, they're impotent. Nothing's getting accomplished. The Prime
00:27:59.320 Minister's mopping the floor with them. Their base of support is increasingly just ending up out here.
00:28:05.180 is it time to start looking at another reform type option or is that productive or you know well i
00:28:12.140 you know i it's a matter of timing as you and i have discussed it obviously it wasn't the right
00:28:17.500 time for for myself and a small group of friends and supporters to take over the old wexit party
00:28:24.140 and and morph it into maverick with uh with our sort of two-track approach to confederation uh
00:28:31.820 back in 2020 it was at the height of covid we couldn't hold little town hall meetings like
00:28:36.940 like you've been speaking at corey so there was a lot going against maverick at that time
00:28:43.100 i think the policies that we developed and the strategy we developed in trying to organize a
00:28:51.500 sort of a western block quebecois members of parliament that would belong to a party
00:28:57.740 in western canada that would only be in western canada and would only vote for what's best for
00:29:04.300 their constituents so we get away from this system of federalism which certainly hamstrung myself
00:29:13.580 and continues to the existing conservative party that even though people with the best of intentions
00:29:19.980 vote for the conservative party federally in western canada and it's not only alberta
00:29:26.540 big time saskatchewan uh my riding old riding in northeastern british columbia is always voted
00:29:32.460 conservative with one exception way back in pierre trudeau's time that you know almost 100 years ago
00:29:38.760 it seems like uh but um i think it's time that we had that option for westerners that they could
00:29:46.700 vote for as quebecers have vote for a voice that would represent their interests in parliament
00:29:54.740 rather than having to water everything down in order to try to appeal to where the majority of
00:30:00.140 the votes are, which is in Quebec and Ontario. Yeah. And I mean, right now, Albertans have
00:30:05.460 enough to do getting ready for a referendum in a few months and everything. So I just wanted to
00:30:08.920 talk about the broader game because I think historically looking back, some of the most
00:30:13.640 conservative government we actually ever had, or at least economically, was Chrétien with you guys
00:30:19.360 breathing down his neck from the reform side of the house. Like we can actually get good policy
00:30:23.760 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,
00:30:33.500 as unpopular as he was because he was a kingmaker in a minority government.
00:30:37.860 Yeah. 0.53
00:30:38.440 You know, a Western...
00:30:39.560 I would argue to the detriment of Canada. 0.76
00:30:41.600 Absolutely, to the detriment.
00:30:43.420 From coast to coast. 0.90
00:30:44.840 But that's very true.
00:30:46.080 He had influence out of all proportion to the amount of votes
00:30:50.460 that his party, the NDP, received.
00:30:53.260 And, you know, that's just one of the ways our parliament works or doesn't work.
00:30:58.660 But as you point out that you can imagine, and I used to make this argument as interim leader of Maverick, that you can imagine what would be the case if we had 40 or 50 Western members of parliament belonging to Maverick in there every day, raising concerns for themselves.
00:31:18.080 And actually, that brings me into a letter that I saw made public yesterday by the Buffalo Project here in Alberta and Saskatchewan that they had sent under the signature of quite a number of very prominent.
00:31:34.920 Michelle Rempel was behind that.
00:31:36.340 Well, there's quite a few business people, more importantly than politicians, that sent this joint letter to Scott Moe and Daniel Smith saying, look, you guys, get down to Washington and represent the interests and the issues and the resources of Western Canada, specifically Saskatchewan and Alberta.
00:31:58.160 because clearly 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 just
00:32:12.380 another instance where confederation doesn't work thank goodness the men and women of Buffalo
00:32:18.820 project recognized and they dug in their jeans and and put money into the pot and they've now
00:32:26.260 uh 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 his well exactly and when he does go down there you know he's focused on the auto industry or the
00:32:43.580 quebec dairy industry uh he's certainly not focused on promoting our oil and gas and our uranium and
00:32:50.540 our potash and go down the long list our wood canola yeah canola yeah well we'll see what we
00:32:58.120 can do it's always great to get you nj uh as i said it's been overdue and i appreciate the column
00:33:04.100 and the insight you know we're in a pivotal time no matter how we look at it so it's if we can get
00:33:08.700 our crap together in the west i mean on a few fronts i think partisan and referendum wise we
00:33:13.420 can maybe make some positive change for the first time in a long time well thank you it's always a 0.96
00:33:18.080 Pleasure. I always feel that I need to speak out because there isn't very many that at one point in time we're sitting at the cabinet table with Stephen Harper that have come to the realization that myself and a few MP colleagues like Leon Benoit and Alan Kerpen in Saskatchewan and most importantly, Val Meredith, now Fraser, here in Calgary, these three other MPs and myself have sort of stuck our neck.
00:33:47.180 those articles yeah stuck our neck out and uh and said you know what uh we've been there we worked
00:33:53.360 hard for a number of years in parliament and the system is stacked against us it does not work
00:34:00.060 and i just wish more of the mps uh both former and current uh would speak out because they know
00:34:08.980 the system isn't working well that's it and that's the bottom of it all kind of leave it off at that
00:34:13.260 yeah people realize it's the system so you can tinker with the party all you like but as long as
00:34:17.660 the system's the same your outcome is pretty much going to be the same yeah it's uh insanity right
00:34:23.100 doing the same thing over and over elect conservative mps and get the same result
00:34:28.620 thanks very much cory thank you pleasure yeah it was good seeing you we'll talk again soon
00:34:34.060 all right you guys yeah one more time that is jay hill always great when he comes in be sure
00:34:38.060 to catch his column and he's been writing them regularly as well yeah watch those news stories
00:34:42.540 I saw him and Val Meredith and the rest, all those pictures popping up in my social media scroll.
00:34:46.900 What are they doing in their back blast from the past?
00:34:49.800 But they're also bringing a blast of wisdom and experience to things.
00:34:52.780 So that's what's important in that.
00:34:55.920 And we got to look at things from the West as a multi-front approach.
00:35:01.960 So, I mean, number one, you know, CB Fix is all says it'll never work for Alberta, period.
00:35:05.240 That's the truth.
00:35:06.320 And I think what Jay and I are talking about, I mean, I'm not, by the way, boy, we've got enough on our plate.
00:35:10.980 I'm not talking about starting the process to form a new party right now.
00:35:15.080 And I'm not going to start one.
00:35:16.280 That's not my thing.
00:35:17.420 I have to actually was my thing.
00:35:18.700 I'm not going to do it again.
00:35:20.080 I hope somebody does, but this is the sort of thing that would have to happen after the
00:35:24.080 referendum, whether it's a strong vote for option two or not, we got to get something.
00:35:28.520 But I look at it more like Jay mentioned, like the bloc abecuado.
00:35:31.680 It's not talking about, you know, it's saying we're going to maximize our influence within
00:35:35.920 the system as long as we must, but the goal is still going to be to get out of the bloody
00:35:40.300 system.
00:35:40.700 There's no sense pretending any longer.
00:35:43.720 You know, for those of us old enough, and yeah, it's starting to show how great we're getting, the old Reform Party, it was actually pretty effective. 0.98
00:35:50.800 When Reform ended, when they decided, you know what, we've got to go for the brass ring, we've got to start operating into Ontario and going east, then the party just went to crap, to be honest.
00:36:00.460 Again, there are very many good members and people could say that is the process that eventually led to the election of Stephen Harper, whereas we had a federal government that was less bad to Alberta than one had been for a while, but nothing changed systematically, right?
00:36:15.520 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, and they achieved what change they could while they were in.
00:36:28.040 but eventually Ontario said okay that's enough of you guys and put the liberals back in gave us 10
00:36:32.220 years of Trudeau now gave us Carney and nothing within the system got changed. Why did nothing
00:36:38.640 get changed when you had people like Jay Hill in the federal government? Well it's because you can't
00:36:44.300 change the system. They also knew that the second you try changing the system you're going to get
00:36:49.240 thrown out of office by central Canada. Trudeau or some other liberal would have gotten in even
00:36:54.640 faster even earlier that's the same reason that polyevs government voted you know a bunch of them
00:37:01.180 abstained a bunch of them hid and and some voted in favor on ending rep by pop in quebec when
00:37:07.880 quebec's population didn't warrant they were actually going to lose a seat in the house of
00:37:11.500 commons that was a very telling moment that not a lot of canadians paid attention to it's a few
00:37:14.580 years ago so when rebalancing based on population in the house of commons i mean we get screwed
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. He 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 Polly. 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 got to change things. Had it been a reform party
00:38:09.300 in there, they wouldn't have cared. We're voting against that. Would it have changed anything? No,
00:38:13.180 but at least they would have made a principled stand and also demonstrated again the futility
00:38:17.540 of changing things so we got a lot of things to work on but one of the more immediate ones is
00:38:22.240 definitely the the referenda that we've got to work on let's look at some other news items here's a
00:38:26.880 big one that's been uh in the western standard and everywhere else this was the i think the new
00:38:29.780 york times that reported it or the post of the truth he's just a 33 year old canadian woman
00:38:34.520 real pride to the country i tell you she was on the jersey shore boardwalk and she uh confronted
00:38:40.140 over and over and harassed and then finally assaulted a teenage girl for wearing sweatpants 0.95
00:38:45.220 that said Trump and ice on them. She fled, but you know, well, surveillance footage,
00:38:51.540 talk about those things. The cameras are everywhere, guys, including in people's hands
00:38:55.220 and up on the sides and everything. You don't get away with too many things anymore. She was found
00:38:58.620 and because of that, she turned herself in a few days ago. She was charged with assault,
00:39:04.240 endangering the welfare of a child because he was a minor. She, you know, assaulted and harassment
00:39:09.960 and obstruction. But now she's in ICE custody and her husband has literally been crying. Oh,
00:39:16.320 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 she married an American, obviously ICE doesn't care either. You don't go assaulting minors,
00:39:30.540 you know? Unfortunately, this idiot's going to be sent back to Canada. We don't want her, 1.00
00:39:35.680 but they will put her here but this story when it first came out was on the sob story and oh my lord 0.70
00:39:42.540 see it's not just mexicans and illegals and everything ice has taken custody of this canadian 0.98
00:39:46.820 woman yeah this canadian woman's a psychopath who assaulted a minor on a boardwalk she embarrassed 0.99
00:39:52.720 canada unfortunately we'll have to take her back like the brady child kicked out of a restaurant 1.00
00:39:57.480 or something. Welcome to Canada. She thinks she is. It's ugly, but it's a story that's getting a 1.00
00:40:06.780 lot of attention. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Her husband's pleading. I don't think in
00:40:10.400 the world of Trump that they're going to turn around and say, no, you know, her husband cried
00:40:13.600 enough crocodile tears. We'll allow her to stay because we want this violent woman to stay with 1.00
00:40:18.860 us. Unfortunately, she will be back here. Let's talk about some of the futility of change and bad 1.00
00:40:25.940 policies. It's not just the federal government, though the feds are behind a lot of it. B.C.,
00:40:29.360 look at them for self-destructive economy, screwing themselves, property that they're giving away,
00:40:35.020 you know, race-based access to provincial parks, all the wonderful things. They're killing their
00:40:40.520 forestry industry. That's been happening for a while. So now, unfortunately, a large pulp mill
00:40:46.120 in Prince George is going to be shut down permanently. 300 jobs are going to be lost there.
00:40:50.880 and uh they're not coming back and what's going on that i guess their forestry minister
00:40:56.660 does nothing but tiktok videos over there and things like that but never actually did anything
00:41:00.740 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 a the opposition member said this has been crippled by
00:41:16.660 soaring log costs, excessive regulation, permitting delays, and growing competition
00:41:21.380 from overseas. Well, there's not many things. Competition from overseas is 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,
00:41:37.920 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 of
00:41:45.320 for cooling the meta center won't use any water let me say it one more time it will not use any
00:41:49.640 water you said no one mentions it yeah no one mentions it because it will not use any water
00:41:53.880 why are we in the conspiracy theories with these things guys they're computing centers they aren't
00:41:57.480 surveillance control centers i saw a commenter talking about how meta is going to surveil and
00:42:02.120 watch and keep our data and everything that person commented from a facebook account
00:42:05.400 Think harder. It's here. They're just data centers. The fact that you're watching this digital
00:42:17.320 broadcast rather than having a TV antenna on your roof anymore is because of data centers.
00:42:23.000 They're going to be somewhere. They have to process the data. We send it out. It gets processed. It
00:42:28.440 gets sent back to you. When you type something in to ask advice on how long to boil an egg at the
00:42:33.380 elevation you're at and you get an AI answer back to you, that's because that question was
00:42:37.560 processed in a data center and sent back to you. They're already here. If your issue is surveillance,
00:42:44.440 then we got to talk about legislation. We've got to talk about privacy rights. We've got to talk
00:42:50.660 about keeping government in check. I fully agree with all of those things, but to try and say
00:42:55.460 you're a Luddite who wants to try and stop data processing in your province and thinking that
00:43:01.020 that's gonna have any impact whatsoever
00:43:03.320 on the erosion of those rights.
00:43:04.960 You were very misguided as to where the problem lies.
00:43:09.180 Problem lies in our legislative changers,
00:43:11.480 not in what is essentially just a large bunch of computers
00:43:15.120 gathered in a spot with a generating plant next to it.
00:43:18.720 Which, if you chase out of here,
00:43:20.840 we'll just set up shop on the other side of the border,
00:43:23.280 then you still have all of those risks,
00:43:26.880 but you lose the money.
00:43:28.240 And yes, we gotta pay the bills.
00:43:30.560 So, um, you know, there's a good one from great Kazoo. Good to see you. You know, uh, yeah,
00:43:35.600 AI is the internet 2.0. It can be used for bad stuff for sure. Absolutely. And it probably will
00:43:39.520 be. Uh, so we've got to watch for that. We've got to figure out how to deal with it. We also,
00:43:43.460 this is, but the AI has ability to democratize many things too. Yes. It's something we can't
00:43:48.320 stop it. So let's figure out how we work with it. Yes. Hi for one. Welcome our AI masters. Yeah,
00:43:54.440 I know. I'm going to get it all. Uh, speaking of us, let's see sentence. Let's talk about
00:43:58.900 Charles Adler and how many people heard about him speaking to sellouts lately, uh, in the Senate,
00:44:03.020 you know, supposed conservative, look at that. Talk about the broken system, right? Adler who
00:44:07.960 worked with Sun News Network and was conservative and a radio host and the whole works. And then
00:44:13.540 suddenly flips over, says I'm a liberal and manages to get a Senate seat in the end of it.
00:44:18.920 You know, he spent a couple of years promoting liberal stuff. Um, and he's in the Senate. Now
00:44:23.600 he's been saying things like, if you buy this garbage, this desperate loser is selling you're 1.00
00:44:26.680 an imbecile and other statements like that on social media. Even the Senate ethics code is 1.00
00:44:31.280 finally cracking down on that crazy old man. Maybe we'll get there. Finish out with another 0.53
00:44:34.360 exaggerated, hyperbolic, idiotic posting from somebody's sick world that money is more important 1.00
00:44:38.440 than life. Well, in the modern world, money is essential to maintain life. You will not get 1.00
00:44:43.220 health care without money. You will not get food without money. You will not put a roof over your
00:44:46.960 head without money. You will not get the gas to heat your home in winter without money, nor air
00:44:50.940 condition it in summer. So yes, money is as important as life because in this modern world,
00:44:57.120 we aren't hunters and gatherers and grazers. We need money and we need industries and we've got
00:45:03.860 to generate them, whether you like them or not. If you want to see how it is in the places like
00:45:07.840 that, you can go to the third world and check out some of those spots and see how well it's going
00:45:11.920 for all of them. And Pepe, yes, I am an expert on the subject. And I will leave it at that,
00:45:15.880 you paranoid, crazy people. I do appreciate you tuning in today. The AI centers are coming anyway, 0.94
00:45:20.820 So let's embrace it, make some good money at it and become more prosperous.
00:45:24.640 Thanks for tuning in.
00:45:25.520 I'll get on your case about a different subject next week and be sure to tune into the pipeline
00:45:30.380 tonight.
00:45:30.720 We're going to break down a few more subjects and political items as usual on this show.
00:45:35.720 So thanks for tuning in.
00:45:36.520 See you next week at this time again.
00:45:50.820 We'll be right back.