Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Impossible indigenous consultation requirements will tear Canada to shreds

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

00:00:30.000 we got yet another packed one boy stuff is just going on these days uh plenty to choose from on

00:00:36.520 news items to cover and things to ramble about a little while as well i'm going to have dennis

00:00:41.780 kalma on the show as a guest he's one of the principals of a new group with called alberta

00:00:49.620 transition council it's it's with keith wilson and it's another organization moving promoting and

00:00:55.700 and getting the independence message forward and out there, which is good because the Alberta

00:01:02.340 Prosperity Project's vanished. I don't know what happened to them. They haven't updated their site

00:01:05.680 in four months. There's a campaign going and there's a referendum on the way and they've

00:01:10.520 gone to ground. Maybe Mr. Calum will be able to tell us a little about that as well. So first

00:01:16.720 though, let's get on with some of what's happening out here and what's going to be going. We've got

00:01:22.200 also yes it's the fifth anniversary of the claim that 215 children were buried at the Kamloops

00:01:28.240 residential school site and in five whole years nobody's managed to get a shovel out and confirm

00:01:33.860 or deny whether anything's underground but let's all observe the the biggest hoax in Canadian

00:01:38.420 history and I'll keep calling it that until somebody gets a shovel up and actually says

00:01:43.480 what's going on there but uh oh going further with that it turns out my teleprompter has got

00:01:50.520 last week's monologue in it. So I'm going to read this from my laptop and pardon my

00:01:55.000 looking down as I go. Everything else is off the cuff except for these monologues and I do

00:02:01.940 want to go into that. Good to see you there, Valerie. So yes, the ever-shifting goalposts

00:02:06.600 are what constitutes adequate consultation with Indigenous bands on pretty much any action of the

00:02:12.180 government these days are crippling the nation economically and socially until the actual

00:02:17.140 obligations of the country to Indigenous people are definitively defined. No substantive policy

00:02:23.060 initiatives or infrastructure projects are ever going to come into being in this country.

00:02:28.180 The duty to consult, we hear so much about it, the duty to consult Indigenous people isn't within

00:02:33.080 the Constitution, actually, if you look at it. Section 35, it's a short and straightforward

00:02:37.800 segment of the document. I'm going to read it verbatim. It states,

00:02:42.100 the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby

00:02:46.060 recognized and affirmed okay in this act aboriginal peoples of canada include indian inuit metis

00:02:51.740 peoples of canada good for greater certainty in subsection one treaty rights includes the rights

00:02:58.540 they now that now exist by way of land claims agreements or maybe so acquired yes read the

00:03:03.980 treaties they're pretty straightforward too number four notwithstanding any other provision of this

00:03:08.540 act the aboriginal treaty rights referred to as subsection one are guaranteed equally to male and

00:03:12.860 female persons. That's it. Nowhere does it say consult within that text. It certainly doesn't

00:03:19.420 say consent. The duty to consult we keep hearing about is a judge-made constitutional obligation

00:03:26.060 developed by the Supreme Court of Canada. This is in a ruling regarding the Haida ban in 2004.

00:03:32.060 The Supreme Court said when the Crown, federal or provincial government in other words,

00:03:36.380 contemplates conduct that might adversely affect an established or potential

00:03:41.100 aboriginal or treaty rights it has a duty to consult the affected indigenous groups that's it

00:03:48.540 still judicial activists adding to our constitution the nature nature of canada system

00:03:53.900 though follows the living tree doctrine it's a principle of constitutional interpretation that

00:03:58.060 views canada's constitution is a dynamic evolving document rather than one frozen in time it's a nice

00:04:04.060 ideal but it's empowered activist judges to veritably rewrite the document not in a good way

00:04:10.360 The definition of what may or may not impact treaty rights hasn't been clarified,

00:04:15.180 and it dumps the onus of consultation on pretty much everything. Treaties don't confirm any rights

00:04:20.440 outside of reserves, actually, aside from hunting and fishing access. But as usual, the courts have

00:04:24.980 read in all sorts of implicit rights, which have created a quagmire. Even trying to build a new

00:04:30.560 golf course distance from any reserve lands could become a constitutional nightmare. The principle

00:04:36.100 of consultation is simple on its face. Consult means to seek advice, information, or input

00:04:42.200 from somebody before deciding on something. When looking at that definition, it sounds

00:04:47.820 well-meaning and should be easy to achieve. The problem is that the courts continue to

00:04:53.240 shut down projects and claim there hasn't been enough consultation, though they won't

00:04:58.020 say how much is enough. The attempts by Kinder Morgan to get approval for the Trans Mountain

00:05:02.120 expansion or a prime example of this. They held hundreds of public and private meetings. They

00:05:07.100 invited every Indigenous person in Western Canada to add input. They met with every chief they could

00:05:12.040 find, and they hired countless consultants to try and reach out. Despite this, they were constantly

00:05:16.920 told it just wasn't enough. In the end, they said, well, fine, to hell with you, and they pulled out

00:05:21.180 of Canada. Can you blame them? Activists in courts have blurred the line between consultant consent.

00:05:27.080 even if the bar for consultation was finally defined and met by a person company or government

00:05:33.300 trying to go through the process some indigenous person or another is going to refuse to offer

00:05:37.720 their consent on the deal and it'll get scuttled unanimous consent consent is impossible to reach

00:05:44.040 and no authorities have the courage to finally tell indigenous activists we've done our due

00:05:48.400 diligence and we're going to go ahead now whether you like it or not if we ever want to get things

00:05:52.740 done the response to these opponents really has to start getting this blunt when i was in the oil

00:05:56.400 field, the process of consultation uses a form of extortion by the bands. When I was doing

00:06:02.080 advanced work on seismic projects, we would have to get nearby Indigenous bands to sign off on

00:06:07.900 these consultation process and these forms. Now, while technically we only needed to consult,

00:06:11.680 we couldn't do a thing until we had that signature. Well, in other words, we needed

00:06:16.540 consent. And garnering consent typically meant ensuring the chief was well compensated through

00:06:21.980 hiring his or her preferred contractors and perhaps giving some salaried position to some

00:06:27.080 folks, even if they didn't really actually do anything. Sometimes the compensation was a little

00:06:32.140 more direct. You can understand what I'm saying here. In the end, though, it just led to killing

00:06:36.540 workers. The companies gave up and pulled out of the region. Anybody in the oil field knows about

00:06:40.580 this. Now, a province can't even hold a democratic referendum without the permission of a handful of

00:06:45.020 chiefs representing a portion of a small ethnic minority within the country. Canada has given

00:06:49.720 race-based de facto veto authority to representatives of some of the most socially

00:06:54.540 dysfunctional communities on the continent. It's a recipe for disaster politically and

00:07:00.220 economically, and it's going to come to a head if this issue isn't resolved, and it could end

00:07:04.460 terribly if resolution doesn't come soon. The rule we need to find legally is that consultation

00:07:09.560 does not mean consent, and if the majority continues to stymie the democratic rights of

00:07:14.500 majority the frustration might lead to the majority asserting itself in extrajudicial ways

00:07:20.340 and in such a circumstance everybody loses all right well that's my ranting about consultation

00:07:25.700 and all that good stuff let's check in and see what else is happening with our news editor dave

00:07:28.500 nailer hey teleprompter horror i know not a good way to start the show i don't like to let the

00:07:34.660 world know that i opened that monologue reading a teleprompter i did i thought you'd memorize i do

00:07:39.700 write my own stuff no i know when you read i just you memorize the whole thing well not quite maybe

00:07:45.380 i gotta start if i'm gonna keep giving uh john the wrong files at the start of the day hey welcome

00:07:50.820 back well thanks you've been uh exploring deepest darkest saskatchewan for a week there's a lot of

00:07:55.940 miles on this last few days yes uh regina saskatoon and swift current see anything exciting you go

00:08:02.740 kawaii piney hills for example not really no a lot it's a nice drive it's nice out there this

00:08:09.400 time of year i think i saw one of your tweets you were very impressed with the downtown somewhere

00:08:12.860 yeah that was moose jaw i went i had time before going to support i was talking to john about that

00:08:17.320 too he'd gone out there you know they got the tunnels and everything like the bone tunnels yeah

00:08:20.420 i didn't have time to get into the tunnels but the downtown itself is actually for a prairie town you

00:08:24.500 wouldn't know it driving off the highway loads of old brick buildings and restaurants and galleries

00:08:28.780 I just like that look.

00:08:29.920 It's a cool downtown.

00:08:30.900 So I explored for a bit before my next speaking engagement.

00:08:33.720 There you go.

00:08:34.440 Sell lots of books?

00:08:35.480 A fair amount.

00:08:36.500 I see your number one bestseller now?

00:08:39.320 Number one in a few categories.

00:08:41.140 Yeah.

00:08:41.540 So with the updated Sovereintist's Handbook.

00:08:44.380 Yeah.

00:08:44.880 Nice.

00:08:45.520 Knocked the dust off it and brought some things up and added some pages and reissued it for

00:08:49.920 folks interested in a guidebook.

00:08:51.420 I am in the presence of greatness without a doubt.

00:08:53.660 I like to think so.

00:08:54.360 Bestseller genius.

00:08:56.020 Anyways, happy anniversary.

00:08:58.780 which one the fifth anniversary of the graves oh yes yes it's a certainly one worth celebrating

00:09:04.380 interpreting well yeah we're uh our alex zolton bc reporter is actually on the ground in victoria

00:09:10.540 right now there's a big rally led by our francis widdowson uh commemorating the fifth anniversary

00:09:17.180 so if that goes as they always seem to go she's going to end up getting arrested

00:09:21.660 and a small mob will uh will assemble so that should be good fun uh alex uh alex is out there

00:09:29.020 and the other good story of the day is gilbo yes the biggest thorn in alberta side for a decade

00:09:35.500 is gone he's going he's going going gone uh leaving the liberal caucus and resigning his seat

00:09:41.660 as soon as the summer recess hits which is uh just a couple days away i i love it i looked

00:09:46.700 at mark carney's you know statement on x and everything in the picture you know thank you

00:09:50.620 you for your service we really appreciate your time it's just the political motions they all go

00:09:55.760 through but we know this wasn't a happy parting this is gilbo saying i can't stay with you you

00:10:00.160 guys have drifted too far towards uh and in a way you got to admire him for standing up for his

00:10:04.940 conventions he does do that i mean he's he's not like gladu for example who can flip overnight and

00:10:10.240 turn from one of the most conservative members of parliament to a loving liberal uh yeah you know

00:10:15.920 there's words for people like that yeah um forgot what i was gonna say oh do you where do you think

00:10:21.680 he's gonna go the un or china i don't know or as he said he's he's true to his principles he might

00:10:27.420 take up the local chapter for greenpeace again and start doing protests and stunts again i mean

00:10:32.440 that seems to be where he's happiest yeah premier smith better get slopes on her roof and keep the

00:10:37.780 guy up yeah i mean he's got a parliamentary pension now so i mean he'll have plenty of time

00:10:41.160 to go around and do whatever he pleases yeah exactly i want to talk about another good story

00:10:45.960 we have today courtesy uh franco and the boys at the ctf they've got freedom of information requests

00:10:53.080 back on what carny spends on food on his airplane trips you know it's when he flies it's not like he

00:11:01.400 gets a west jet cracker or a cookie no and to be honest they're pretty good but you know for a

00:11:07.320 three-hour flight you'd need a little bit more so he spent 195 000 on food for his flights

00:11:14.280 uh which would you know feed a canadian family for four for decades uh some of the stuff that

00:11:21.080 he ate was veal escalope i don't even know what that means i don't know veal escalope some sort

00:11:27.240 of calf yeah i don't know what escalope is and if that doesn't uh inspire you there's beef tenderloin

00:11:35.240 in bordelais sauce and see beef tenderloin these days i've only heard about it i haven't eaten

00:11:41.320 that well we can't afford it you need to take a mortgage to get beef tenderloin i can barely get

00:11:45.000 a hamburger no exactly it's it's ridiculous and uh scottish salmon filet is the domestic salmon

00:11:51.880 just aren't well yeah you don't want to you gotta import it from scott you gotta marinate that in a

00:11:57.240 whiskey or something and uh when you're all uh you know filled with that though you got cream brulee

00:12:02.840 for dessert oh well that's important so yeah compare that to a west jet cookie yeah you'll

00:12:07.080 throw some salted peanuts at you if you're having a good flight yeah so 195 grand on three flights

00:12:13.720 spent 93 grand on one trip to rome and just for comparison when trudeau did a similar trip

00:12:20.840 he only spent 43 grand yeah make sure to look cheap that makes yeah true to look like a tight

00:12:26.520 wad carney is out of control well he likes he likes the royal lifestyle yeah he's gonna have

00:12:32.920 it for a while apparently he's still as popular as ever in most of canada yeah who can explain

00:12:36.840 that i don't know not me not me either all right that's it that's all you got well i know there's

00:12:42.600 plenty more you'll be back and working on so i'll let you get back to it i appreciate the updates

00:12:47.080 and uh we'll see you on the pipeline you bet good luck with the uh teleprompter right thanks dave

00:12:52.120 All right. That is our news editor, Dave Naylor. As you can see, he works without a teleprompter. And now you see I am. I'm honestly ad libbing. I've got some notes here, but you're seeing the pure unfiltered me. So I want to talk about something. I usually talk about subscriptions right now, but I want to talk about something new with the Western Standard.

00:13:09.220 we've opened our online store for all sorts of products, good things, proud Albertan wear and

00:13:17.160 gear. And you can get on there. It helps you support independent media by buying some of that

00:13:21.160 swag. And it's some neat stuff to wear. And one of the things that just came on it just in time,

00:13:26.880 you can get your own Stephen Gilboa t-shirt from the Western Standard Store. There he is in his

00:13:33.680 orange jumpsuit. The image barely, you know, you can get a coffee mug, you can get a hoodie,

00:13:37.600 uh barely does him justice when when that picture of him when he was being arrested one of his many

00:13:42.240 times being arrested with those absolute psycho eyes going on on him jumpsuit gilbo and you can

00:13:48.860 get one for yourself and you can save 10 if you use that code cory 10 nice easy one to remember

00:13:53.920 cory 10 you'll save 10 on that or all sorts of other things as i said proud albertan wear good

00:14:00.060 hats um uh also there's a bunch of stuff with the image of ralph klein giving the finger that's

00:14:06.680 available on there i love that that's a classic moment of a leader who really at least you know

00:14:10.860 good or bad certainly didn't hesitate on how to let the world know what he was about so check it

00:14:15.440 out guys westernstandardstore.news see what sort of a neat thing gifts for other people stuff you

00:14:21.200 can wear proud albertan wear and just you know look at the conversation starter of wearing a nice

00:14:26.340 gilbo jumpsuit t-shirt or having that coffee mug wink you up in the morning and remind you why

00:14:31.900 you're getting up to become politically active because guys like him were actually close to

00:14:36.720 the halls of power in Canada for a long time. All right, let's get on to our guest. I see him in

00:14:43.880 the lobby there. Great to have him come in here. Dennis Kalma of the newly formed Alberta Transition

00:14:50.640 Council. And well, I'm busy. So thanks for joining us today, Dennis. I really appreciate you taking

00:14:56.760 some time to talk to us. Thanks for having me on the show. Much appreciated. So, I mean, I guess

00:15:01.220 I'll get right to the point.

00:15:02.700 What is the Alberta Transition Council?

00:15:05.240 What's the intent?

00:15:06.600 So the intent of the Transition Council is to map out a detailed plan

00:15:11.240 that covers a period of time from when we win the referendum

00:15:15.420 until the country is stood up and operates on its own apart from Canada.

00:15:21.580 And by putting in processes in place and functions in place

00:15:25.220 to keep paying the bills, keep sending out the pension checks and so forth

00:15:29.500 until such time as the future legislature of Alberta

00:15:33.400 can essentially replace them with the long-term solutions.

00:15:37.580 So it's not an attempt to set long-term policy.

00:15:40.980 It's purity to give us a means to operate

00:15:43.280 until the long-term policies can be established and put into place.

00:15:48.420 Great. So, I mean, you've got what you're going to be calling a white paper.

00:15:52.660 I guess that'll be a document sort of showing a lot of the details

00:15:56.660 and requirements and things that we would be working towards in an independent west yeah so

00:16:02.220 we've got about 15 subject areas uh which we call domains there are things like immigration

00:16:07.900 banking and monetary um indigenous affairs and so forth and each one of those areas is being

00:16:16.440 examined by a team of experts between three and six people who are going through and saying okay

00:16:23.460 how do we handle immigration over the transition time and they're going to write essentially a

00:16:29.240 small white paper about 20 odd pages that'll actually cover exactly what do we do and how

00:16:34.300 do we do it some will be complex because there's something to replace pick on military

00:16:40.060 and the defense is one that's got more complexity to it others might be much simpler so then that

00:16:46.360 will be combined into a large document that will be sort of the handbook or guide the white paper

00:16:52.360 that essentially sets out the plan by which we run an independent Alberta

00:16:57.860 once we reach Independence Day.

00:17:00.940 What are some of the resources you're using for a source to sort of build this?

00:17:05.660 Are you using any of the material that Quebec did a heck of a lot of this

00:17:09.100 decades ago as they prepared?

00:17:10.900 I'm sure there's a lot of parallels.

00:17:12.480 I mean, there's some differences too.

00:17:14.120 But some of the concepts and ideas from there,

00:17:17.100 have you incorporated some of that into these or are you planning to?

00:17:19.660 So the folks that we're engaging, these are really experts in their field.

00:17:24.580 There are people that have been, in some cases, writing policy in Ottawa, who have been plugged into the Quebec situation, and they're taking that knowledge and expertise and applying it to the Alberta case.

00:17:36.620 So really, me personally, I'm counting on those experts to understand what's been done, what resources to examine, and then what to write down into their respective white paper.

00:17:47.380 And with yourself, you'd done a lot of work already on the value of freedom and other things with the Alberta Prosperity Project prior to this.

00:17:55.600 Is this sort of a similar exercise or this is getting a little more detailed, I guess, into some of the transitional items that would have to be hit later on?

00:18:04.220 Well, I feel, first of all, I'm a geek and a nerd.

00:18:07.300 I'm not the type of guy to go around knocking doors and whatever.

00:18:10.460 But I can think through problems and write up documents that make sense.

00:18:14.880 So I've been on a transition essentially from the initial value of freedom document,

00:18:20.040 which did the fiscal planning, which led naturally enough into the constitution development.

00:18:25.200 And I was the editor for that, yet to be released, I might add.

00:18:28.400 And then as the questioning went on, people said, oh, okay, great.

00:18:31.860 We get the financial picture, got it.

00:18:34.300 We understand the constitution, got it.

00:18:36.820 But how do we get there from here?

00:18:38.760 And that's where the transition plan came in.

00:18:40.560 And when Keith asked me to participate and help him, I said, sure, why not?

00:18:45.800 Yeah, absolutely.

00:18:46.720 And I'm glad you mentioned him.

00:18:47.640 So for folks unfamiliar, Keith Wilson is another one of the principals with this organization and group that's getting going.

00:18:54.000 Now, Keith's been more visible and outspoken in promoting independence lately.

00:18:58.400 He was in the recent debate and things like that.

00:19:01.380 But that's almost a more campaigning sort of role.

00:19:04.400 Is this a campaigning type of organization or is it an educational one or is it both?

00:19:08.560 uh how would you kind of define what this is so this is this is actually more like a think tank

00:19:15.520 it's it's people assessing the problem and saying how do we solve this and we're not going to be

00:19:21.440 campaigning we're not knocking doors what we are going to do at some point is publish the

00:19:26.400 documentation have it reviewed by experts obviously make materials that explain it to

00:19:32.960 the average person who isn't interested in some of these uh details and uh uh do that that's

00:19:39.520 that's where etc really will come to a stopping point and we'll consider what to do after that

00:19:45.840 great um so i mean as i've done a lot of you know uh events speaking at and promoting you know

00:19:51.440 independence and moving towards uh uh hopefully converting people into that concept or idea

00:19:56.960 altogether a lot of the issues are people just have a heck of a lot of questions what about this

00:20:01.600 what about that how would we do this how would we do that uh the time is running fast now as we're

00:20:07.680 looking at one question perhaps hitting albertans this fall i imagine you guys are working as fast

00:20:12.560 as you can but you're going to be prioritizing some of these things like what are some of the

00:20:16.400 main areas that you've already sort of worked on and defined and filled in some of those those

00:20:21.760 voids and questions or what are some of the ones that are going to be coming so we we we're working

00:20:27.040 on all of them right now none of them are completed we're seeing some really good progress in the

00:20:30.880 banking and currency domain. We're also seeing some really good progress in the air navigation

00:20:39.640 and air traffic control domain. And one element that I haven't spoken to but is relevant is the

00:20:46.040 process by which we ratify a constitution. And I would say the thinking on that's basically

00:20:51.800 completed. Has to be put to paper yet, but that's where we're at. The other ones, in some cases,

00:20:56.860 we're still bringing on a few more people on board, the team will be about 50 people by time

00:21:01.520 we're done. So it's not like it's a, it's a small endeavor. Yeah. And that, that process to ratify

00:21:07.320 a constitution, that's a monster and kind of a big one to explain to some people, uh, you know,

00:21:12.400 like, like, let's say walking down the timeline, let's say Alberta had voted and, and, uh, you

00:21:17.540 know, overwhelmingly had supported independence. We're moving towards that. Uh, there would be a

00:21:22.900 constitutional convention and what would that involve like you know because a lot of people

00:21:28.220 never really thought this far along and and you know they aren't political geeks like ourselves

00:21:32.280 to uh kind of have a basis or a concept of that what are you guys envisioning with uh

00:21:37.220 laying out what that means well what we do not want is to have a bunch of people in a closed room

00:21:43.180 deciding on behalf of the people of Alberta so we're anticipating there'll be multiple groups

00:21:49.460 some representations ranging from obviously existing government to groups of citizens who

00:21:55.420 have an interest. There'll be a process by which we have to get maybe not unanimity,

00:22:01.320 but certainly alignment from each of the relevant groups. And then ultimately it'll have to go to

00:22:06.040 the people for visibility and ultimate ratification. So the main thing we want to avoid is this will

00:22:11.880 not be a political party locking themselves in a room and saying, okay, Alberta, here's your

00:22:17.240 Constitution. Hope you like it. It's going to be a public process. It's going to be a transparent

00:22:22.420 process. It'll be a democratic process. Great. And as you said, you're going to be pulling

00:22:27.760 together people with experience and such to contribute to this and build those white papers

00:22:32.580 and things like that so that there's a good blueprint, I guess, going in when it gets to

00:22:36.920 that point of holding a constitutional convention. In the meantime, though, I mean, how do you guys

00:22:42.220 stay visible are there going to be events with this group or or uh is there going to be an online

00:22:48.060 presence discussions things like that like in the that sense of i i know you can't have a thousand

00:22:53.320 people contribute to the super you're going to get a heck of a mess but you still want to have as

00:22:57.460 as much uh input from others as you can too like what's what's the communication strategy so so

00:23:02.420 we'll be doing some communication the main thing to notice is what the timeline is we're not seeing

00:23:07.100 this dragging out for months and months right now our target is roughly the middle of july

00:23:11.220 to have the first solid draft out and that draft of course will go for public uh review and input

00:23:17.520 and feedback um there's a reviewing process prior to that but that's a more limited one with people

00:23:23.080 that are plugged in so that'll go out in the public um it'll be examined at that point and

00:23:28.380 obviously we take feedback all right and as an organization uh you know in that name of

00:23:33.960 transparency and such uh it's a a non-profit society or what's the structure of what this

00:23:39.940 group is well it is not a third party uh advertiser it is a volunteer run organization

00:23:47.320 that has got its purpose to pull together that transition plan all of us are volunteers great

00:23:53.680 and in that you know just to make sure things are clarified because i got a feeling there's

00:23:57.880 going to be a lot of confusion and and things like that as we move towards a referendum i'm

00:24:03.340 seeing groups springing up all over the place uh mostly on the federalist side but there i'm

00:24:07.500 certain there's going to be others something changes when you uh become a third party advertiser

00:24:13.380 right like you guys aren't aspiring to be that but how is it then just to clarify why you were not a

00:24:18.620 third party advertiser well for one thing we're all volunteer we're literally a bunch of guys

00:24:22.880 working together so uh keith has done the legal work on that and and you know we're not we're not

00:24:28.700 spending money we're not collecting money we're not taking donations we're not advertising for a

00:24:33.160 cause we're just saying here's the technical means by which we undertake this uh transition so there

00:24:39.100 will be other groups standing up but i'm aware of several that are being set up to be third-party

00:24:44.080 advertisers that will go through all those controls and reporting to elections alberta and so forth

00:24:49.380 those are the guys that'll be doing you know door knocking and buying advertisements and so on and

00:24:55.420 so forth but uh we're just gonna be a bunch of nerds basically working away and i like that and

00:25:01.000 as you said, it's a think tank role. So just for others who aren't familiar, you know, more like

00:25:05.320 Fraser Institute or, or some of those others that come up with, you know, papers and policies and

00:25:11.380 ideas and notions. And as I said, good geekery, but hopefully translated down to a point where

00:25:15.940 your, your layperson can read it and digest it. But I mean, these things do cost money. You're

00:25:22.380 saying you're not taking contributions. I mean, I would imagine you could still handle some

00:25:27.540 input I mean you know just to keep things rolling. At this point I would say no I mean that could

00:25:33.760 change I mean maybe when it's all done we have to bind a bunch of books together and send them

00:25:39.720 out to the world I mean but that's in the future right now we met for example this week already

00:25:45.340 and had discussions we're all there on our own nickel it's not a problem. Well that's good to

00:25:51.460 know um i guess you know how else would you suggest though that people could uh support

00:25:56.980 aside from money just your endeavor in general you know ways of spreading the word or or offering

00:26:01.660 input to you guys or or you know participating in any ways are there things that the because

00:26:06.140 everybody kind of wants to get a i see a commenter saying you know how do i help with things in

00:26:10.260 general how could people help your group well i i think they can um if there are people that have

00:26:17.440 subject area knowledge like deep knowledge and have you know say hey i think i know how to do

00:26:23.520 a good transition on this certainly they can contact me and uh you know i'm happy to consider

00:26:29.420 them right now we're we're we're looking okay in terms of people but uh the big ask will be

00:26:36.100 once we publish and then we do want people that we haven't talked to at that point and say okay

00:26:43.320 yeah you missed this and what about that that's really the big point of contribution

00:26:47.240 the other folks the third party advertiser groups being stood up that'll be more of a place for

00:26:53.160 a lot of folks to go as well great and then I guess just for how to folks finding you and maybe

00:26:59.460 that's how people can help as well you know social media like share all of that good stuff you've got

00:27:04.560 a website I imagine there's an x presence maybe on Facebook as well where can people find the

00:27:10.700 groups so they can see these items when they start getting published so there's a website coming up

00:27:14.740 it should be released pretty quickly there'll be contact information on that and we're on x and

00:27:20.440 i just heard anything i'll send you the the link actually corey i forget it at the moment

00:27:24.600 because there's various links and that's a path by which people can get to us as well

00:27:28.700 great and just so you know i yeah it is up there albertatransitional uh albertatransitioncouncil.com

00:27:35.980 and it does have a note in the top right saying information you know letting people know that

00:27:40.640 it's on the go, but not fully filled out, but it's great.

00:27:44.680 You know, the, just as we know for the internet and so on, the earlier people

00:27:47.120 are getting on there, getting that traffic, getting your spots.

00:27:49.100 Then when the real content starts filling in, you guys will be reaching that many more.

00:27:52.880 So I appreciate you coming on to share that with us.

00:27:56.100 Is there more you'd like to add before I let you go?

00:27:58.460 Well, I think the main thing that I want to restate is we're not doing

00:28:03.340 anything new to world.

00:28:04.380 every one of the processes we consider has been done is being done today by Canada and many other

00:28:12.080 countries. So this is not rocket science. There is no problem we're seeing now that can't be managed

00:28:18.320 in an effective way. Great. I appreciate and like that attitude. And I'm just glad you guys are

00:28:24.360 filling in those voids. I'll have a resource when I'm doing those public speaking events now for

00:28:28.260 more of those spots because people hit me with all those questions. And as you said, it's not

00:28:31.920 written in stone, but there's still going to be a lot of things that I could say, well, here's a

00:28:35.900 good document or plan on what you were asking about in particular that maybe shed some light

00:28:40.200 on it and make you more confident feeling that we're moving towards something with a plan rather

00:28:43.400 than sort of let's tear it all down and see what we can build afterwards out of the blue. So thank

00:28:49.420 you very much for the work and please keep me updated, you know, as you guys come up with stuff

00:28:53.360 and I'll certainly happily share it when I can. Thanks so much, Corey. Thanks for having us on

00:28:57.880 the show. Great. Good to talk to you. So guys, one more time, that is Dennis Kalma of the Alberta

00:29:03.420 Transition Council. So if you look it up, you'll find the site, you'll find that presence on X and

00:29:08.580 you'll see those updates coming from Dennis and all those others working on it. And it's really

00:29:13.580 important stuff. It's not the flashy, I guess, you know, campaigning things. It's certainly not

00:29:18.580 Thomas Lukastic blasting around in a dated motor home and doing his weird pillow talk things.

00:29:24.800 this is getting more to the nuts and bolts and important things. I'm one of the ones that goes

00:29:30.020 around speaking at these events. Dennis does as well. A great one down in Queensland. But

00:29:35.260 sometimes I've got to often say to people, I don't know, when they ask a question, what would we do

00:29:41.000 in circumstance A or circumstance B? I got to say, well, I don't know. We're kind of working on it.

00:29:45.420 This is what could happen over here. This is what might not happen over here. But having a more

00:29:50.960 structured response in these white papers will be really helpful for those of us making that

00:29:56.060 promotion out there. And just for people in general to understand, we're not asking everybody

00:30:00.680 to jump into a void. We're looking at making a change that will lead to something. Uh, you know,

00:30:08.540 and then I'm seeing, you know, some of the commenters, great to see you guys there. Uh,

00:30:13.280 Valerie saying, this is the groundwork that needs to be done. And it's true. And I appreciate Dennis

00:30:17.620 and and the others and keith stepping up to do it um and uh where did i see it you know tommy

00:30:24.340 saying how can i help independence i mean there's lots and lots of ways uh all the way down from

00:30:29.140 being an individual who's just trying to promote it to sharing i mean that's that that's a great

00:30:34.260 structure of social media where you can share these resources things like that with other people

00:30:39.300 uh wild uh 1957 flowers saying uh show your your best contact would be through the app that's alberta

00:30:46.820 a prosperity project. It's interesting with APP and they've done an incredible amount of ground

00:30:51.320 work and things. But as I was just noting before the show, I'm not sure what's up. I checked out

00:30:56.140 their website. They haven't put an update up in four months. The campaign is sort of going right

00:31:00.680 now. I'd say reach out to them, ask what's up, see what's happening, because they certainly had

00:31:05.200 the organizational structure before. They're the largest independence group in Alberta by far.

00:31:10.320 But as this campaign's unrolling, they've sort of dropped off the map and I'm not sure what's

00:31:14.900 going on with them. I'd suggest you reach out to them and ask because I think at this point people

00:31:20.000 really should be getting organized and together and working on a campaign and we don't have a

00:31:24.900 structure for it yet. LZGP saying door knocking is addictive, lots of fun. I met some wonderful

00:31:30.080 people volunteering in the past. Door knocking, you know, when it comes to campaigning is one of

00:31:35.600 those art forms. Some people really love it and it's great when they do. I have to admit, I always

00:31:40.840 saw it as a necessary evil but a very important one i see the benefit of it and it's one of those

00:31:45.080 things like so many others once you start actually doing it and you get over your discomfort or

00:31:49.840 getting outside of your comfort zone and you meet a few people and realize this actually yeah this

00:31:53.680 isn't so bad that's something you can look forward to once in a while you'll get a door where

00:31:56.580 somebody's just gonna slam it in your face or chew you out but you know what there's one of those

00:32:01.320 things for that typical canadian politeness 99 of people even if they don't agree with you in

00:32:05.720 canada will just politely say i'm not interested and move along and you can keep moving on and

00:32:09.980 meeting, you know, like-minded people and doing things like that. Tommy Tempershow saying,

00:32:16.340 I'm going to put an Alberta flag on my golf cart and drive around Southern Lake. There's one of

00:32:20.520 the things I've talked about with passive campaigning. And I talked about that in

00:32:24.000 Saskatchewan. And I want to mention it, that Alberta identity. I had to write some stuff

00:32:27.540 this morning too, because there was a, I do that Alberta fact check exercise with another

00:32:32.820 organization and I put articles out and they'd like denying that Alberta has a culture. They

00:32:38.660 like denying that Alberta has an identity. They say it's just about money. They say it's just about

00:32:42.300 oil, like Blanchett said. And that's just not true at all. Alberta definitely has a distinct culture

00:32:47.360 and identity. It's not as easily spotted and seen as in Quebec, where you have a language to make

00:32:53.060 it right clear off the bat. Saskatchewan has their own distinct identity. I was just driving through

00:32:57.180 there. They're very similar to Alberta, where there were certainly close siblings, but they're

00:33:01.800 a distinct entity of their own. But you got to set it up and promote it. And I worked all over North

00:33:07.440 America when I was in the oil field, you know, anywhere there was oil and gas, I got there up to

00:33:11.300 Inuvik, down to Louisiana, over through the Marcellus play out in West Virginia and upstate

00:33:17.560 New York. I worked in all those places. One commonality that I saw, one thing that was

00:33:22.280 interesting, you see American flags all over the place in the USA. They're very patriotic down

00:33:26.020 there. People put them in front of their houses all the time. You see state flags on government

00:33:30.760 buildings and in front of some businesses, things like that around parks. But it's only in two

00:33:36.940 places where I see state or provincial flags on private households all the time. And that's

00:33:43.020 Alberta and Texas. You can't go anywhere in Texas. You can't go three blocks without knowing you're

00:33:48.480 in Texas because somebody's house will have that Texan flag out front. And Alberta, not as

00:33:53.700 predominant as Texas, but you do see loads of Alberta flags flying in front of houses, farms,

00:33:59.200 private households, and so on. You see that displayed on their vehicles. You see it displayed

00:34:03.260 it on their wear. There should be, you know, even a Tommy, maybe I'll put it on a golf cart.

00:34:07.940 It's really kind of important and it's indicative. It's something different. It doesn't mean a person

00:34:12.140 necessarily even supports independence, but it shows I identify as an Albertan. I celebrate

00:34:16.940 my identity as an Albertan. I will put that out and display it. And more and more people should.

00:34:24.820 It's not even the same as putting a lawn sign in front of your place saying, vote this way or vote

00:34:28.640 that way, vote this party, vote that party. It's just saying, Hey, I'm Albertan and I want to show

00:34:33.040 that off or a front license plate thing or all those different ways you can do it. And I suggested

00:34:38.700 that when I was speaking at those Saskatchewan meetings, they got a nice flag out there too.

00:34:42.420 You know, they got Rough Riders flags everywhere. Hey, good on you guys. Well, you should have a

00:34:45.800 provincial flag next to that as well. It's a similar showing of pride, but that's another

00:34:51.280 way to campaign. As Tommy was talking about little ways, little ways to start conversations

00:34:55.740 with your neighbors and things like that. Tommy Tipper says, what do you think for the future

00:34:59.960 that Alberta independence should do and office rally structure program in the future. I don't

00:35:06.000 know. There's a lot to unpack and unfold. We've got a lot of frustration, a lot of confusion.

00:35:11.340 The question that it looks like we're going to be facing in October is a terrible one. I've said

00:35:17.560 that in past videos, my own videos. I mean, it's a convoluted word salad that's sort of based on

00:35:23.320 what Lukasik put out and then sort of offering another option to move farther forward in the

00:35:28.180 second half, but it is what we have. And we should push on it as hard as we can. The bottom line is,

00:35:34.540 and Keith Wilson sort of made that clear, is even if it's not ideal, it's an opportunity.

00:35:41.100 And I kind of agree with him too, something I didn't like saying or having to agree with, but

00:35:45.240 I don't, I mean, most polls, even from the Western Standard Rebel, it's not just legacy media,

00:35:50.920 have found that there's not a majority support for independence yet. There isn't. It doesn't

00:35:55.340 mean it can't change or wouldn't change between now and a question being answered. But with a

00:35:59.700 year of a lot of hard work, a lot of groundwork, a lot of petitioning and everything going on,

00:36:03.440 it seems like it solidified the existing 30 some percent very well. But that mushy middle that

00:36:09.900 everybody wanted to get to hasn't budged an inch. It's actually about the same now as it was a year

00:36:14.480 ago. And a recent poll from Angus Reid, the first one done since the new question was out,

00:36:20.740 showed a jump of about five or seven percent support towards the independent side. That's

00:36:26.160 the first jump in that kind of support we've seen. And I think it reflects a bit of what Keith was

00:36:31.360 talking about, saying, you know what, this gives an opportunity to campaign on a softer question.

00:36:36.760 Yeah, it's non-binding and that's frustrating, but it makes it a lot more winnable.

00:36:40.700 It makes it where you can reach out to people, say, this is where you can express yourself,

00:36:43.920 put Ottawa on notice, give them the middle finger and say, we've had it, we're standing up.

00:36:50.740 this question allows you to do that. The other option is to sit on our heels and let the other

00:36:56.680 side take it. And when are we going to get another chance in that case? We should be pushing on this

00:37:02.760 and winning it definitively. Get that next move. I know the road to independence isn't a straight

00:37:07.780 line. It's a bunch of curves. It's a bunch of hurdles. It's a bunch of roadblocks. If anybody

00:37:12.100 ever told you it was going to be easy, they were lying to you. If you thought it was easy, well,

00:37:16.220 you're probably lying to yourself but that's okay we can get beyond that but we should be hitting

00:37:21.700 this referendum with all guns doing everything we can to get as strong a positive vote as we can

00:37:29.600 even if it's not the ideal circumstance that we wanted to have um and and some people are are

00:37:37.160 concerning themselves more with going after the provincial government trying to tear daniel smith

00:37:43.280 out of power, things like that, dedicating energy resources. I understand why people are frustrated

00:37:47.840 with her. I would have rather seen better balanced budgets. I'm wondering where the heck our

00:37:52.060 provincial police force went. Uh, you know, I mean, we've got some sheriffs expanding. That's

00:37:56.980 good. But what about the pension plan? Where the heck is that thing? Come on. We've talked about

00:38:00.120 that for years. We can do this. Uh, and of course her very much federalist almost campaign lately,

00:38:07.800 but she still has offered a lot more mechanisms for being able to get this to the question

00:38:13.960 to Albertans than we've ever seen out of any premier in the past perfect not even close

00:38:18.180 but are we helping the cause of independence by dedicating four months to trying to rip her out

00:38:24.440 of power as some people want to I don't think so I think that's if you got a problem with her fair

00:38:29.820 enough lots of people do save it until October 20th I mean you can still speak up and do things

00:38:34.820 but absolutely and be critical. But you've only got so much energy. You know, LZGP saying exactly

00:38:41.560 focus energy elsewhere is my thought. Like you only have so much. You only have so much time.

00:38:46.060 You only have so many resources and it takes time and resources. People have compared it to when

00:38:50.500 Jason Kenney was brought down years ago. Fair. But remember what happened then. Hundreds of

00:38:56.780 meetings had to be held to organize that push actually to get it done. I don't know how many

00:39:01.240 hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent, whether directly or indirectly, but to build

00:39:05.580 that momentum and campaign and then hold that meeting and all of the emotional energy,

00:39:10.480 the intellectual energy, all of those things, volunteers, people working all to bring down

00:39:15.180 Jason Kenney. If you had to replicate that and do it again by this August, all of that is being

00:39:22.120 directed towards there. And all of that is being directed away from a campaign to get a positive

00:39:26.500 vote on October 19th, which means you're definitely not going to get. Meanwhile,

00:39:32.240 Lukasik is staying focused on having people vote for his question. Stephen Carter has got his little

00:39:38.100 group. He's fired out there now. Another one with Matt Solberg is out there now. These groups are

00:39:43.120 sprouting up like daisies. They're hitting the ground running. They're putting campaign signs

00:39:46.800 out. They're making their case. And we're having an internal discussion on whether or not we should

00:39:51.580 rip the premier out of power. Guess who's going to win on October 19th if this trend continues?

00:39:57.700 So let's focus, guys. Focus. Get on this. Set aside the personal grudges and gripes

00:40:03.420 and see how we can get things done. Lori Dodd saying, I think that instead of focusing on

00:40:09.160 Smith, focus on making the independence movement more time to expose the useless MOU. Absolutely.

00:40:13.980 That's another frustrating thing. It does feel like our premier's just letting herself be strung

00:40:17.920 along on an MOU for a pipeline we know is never going to happen. But guess what? Every time she

00:40:23.400 goes out and fails on one of these, we actually get more independent supporters. You know, people

00:40:27.960 are realizing, wow, this, it really demonstrates the futility of trying to play within the structure

00:40:32.840 and framework that we were given. So let her carry on doing those things. What's the worst that could

00:40:38.680 happen? She actually gets a pipeline in. Okay, I'm fine with that. Guess what? We'll get the pipeline

00:40:42.880 And I'm still supporting independence.

00:40:45.380 But for now, we've got a question ahead of us, a weird one,

00:40:49.960 but it is one where we can express and move things closer towards independence

00:40:52.980 if we can get a good positive vote.

00:40:54.940 It's turned into a de facto vote on independence anyway.

00:40:59.840 The federalists are already framing it as an independence referendum.

00:41:03.660 The media is framing it as an independence referendum.

00:41:07.220 So people are looking at it.

00:41:09.840 The citizens in general are looking at it as such.

00:41:12.880 And if it comes in with 20% support, this movement's dead for a while, guys.

00:41:18.460 We've got to get a strong, and I think we can win this, especially as Keith had pointed out.

00:41:24.020 It's a much easier case to make to people right now when we're still, admittedly, early in the phases of this whole process, this unprecedented process,

00:41:31.860 when we can say to people, you can safely put your vote in now on this and make your expression.

00:41:41.320 And then we'd make the campaign for the big question, the real question, the binding question,

00:41:45.100 the constitutional question. Uh, Blaine, uh, Sitter saying, uh, Carney got his carbon tax

00:41:52.180 pipeline. We'll get discussed later. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. You know, he got his carbon tax

00:41:55.920 though. Uh, what else, you know, uh, uh, another one's shame on Smith is right. Yeah. Well,

00:42:03.500 yeah. These negotiations maybe not been good, but you know, again, you got multiple opportunities.

00:42:07.840 There's an annual general meeting not long after the referendum is going to be held.

00:42:13.160 That's a good time to express yourself to the party.

00:42:18.260 And there'll be an election within a year after that.

00:42:21.160 But right now just isn't the time.

00:42:23.940 But this is interesting stuff.

00:42:25.000 You know, this was something that came up and Sheila was talking about that gun read on her show today.

00:42:29.080 I know that.

00:42:29.700 And there was another thing I was looking at, but there was a hot mic moment.

00:42:31.860 I don't know if people saw it, but Prime Minister Carney was caught saying when he walked away from a conference

00:42:37.460 with Gregor Robertson.

00:42:38.820 He said, what are you doing?

00:42:39.660 This is stupid.

00:42:40.480 You've got an offer.

00:42:41.260 Take it.

00:42:42.200 What he was talking about

00:42:43.620 more than likely by looking at that was

00:42:45.240 he was talking about Daniel Smith.

00:42:47.380 So he won't admit it.

00:42:48.380 He was saying, oh, I just said that to Gregor.

00:42:49.580 Well, it made no sense in that context.

00:42:51.420 No, he was talking about

00:42:52.920 because his conference on housing

00:42:55.600 got turned into a question

00:42:56.660 about the independence issue.

00:42:57.840 That's what I mean.

00:42:58.460 This question is going to referendum

00:43:00.240 and it's making national news already.

00:43:01.680 So let's ride it

00:43:02.600 instead of distracting ourselves from it.

00:43:04.800 But he felt Smith should have just thrown her hands up

00:43:08.700 and taken the off-ramp and said no.

00:43:10.900 Instead, she scheduled a modified question.

00:43:13.440 The true Federalists don't want this to go to the question at all.

00:43:16.860 They're scared of it.

00:43:18.360 We can do this.

00:43:19.120 And others are coming up.

00:43:20.820 Parti Quebecois leader, you know, Plamondon,

00:43:23.140 he was defending the Alberta independence referendum.

00:43:26.520 You see, it's being framed as that already anyways.

00:43:28.820 And criticized Carney's comments.

00:43:30.400 The whole country is watching this.

00:43:32.080 and uh you know here's an interesting one with a different group uh Keith Wilson was speaking

00:43:39.980 uh Fergus Hodgson was holding that there's a video up that's really good of that with

00:43:44.060 and uh one of the statements he says Alberta independence we can't rely solely on grassroots

00:43:50.040 enthusiasm and volunteer activism uh if it's going to succeed uh but he laid out what we have

00:43:57.140 to do and what has to get done and how to move forward he's showing some leadership he's really

00:44:01.540 emerged. He's been planning. He stood up for the debate with Kenny. Eventually we'll see what

00:44:06.260 happens with that debate. I like that Kenny sat out to do it, even though I'm sure it's, you know,

00:44:11.620 he's just going to give more platitudes and fear-mongering and everything when that video

00:44:14.980 gets released, whatever he said at that debate. But it does actually add credibility to the

00:44:19.200 movement. It shows they're taking it seriously. It shows they do realize that this needs to be

00:44:25.160 campaigned about even from their side. That means there's potential on our side, but we've got to

00:44:30.300 stand up and take it. We take hold of it, make it work. Campaign. This won't do it on its own.

00:44:39.540 Mark Carney got up and said 50% plus one wouldn't be good enough for a win in a referendum. Again,

00:44:46.180 see, we are leading the conversation in this whole country. We are. Alberta is. And because

00:44:49.980 of this referendum. And then a couple of weeks ago, one of his members of parliament said

00:44:55.620 repeatedly to a block member that 50% one, 50% plus one is the bar. So his own government doesn't

00:45:02.820 know what they're doing, if they're coming or going, they don't know how to respond to this.

00:45:06.680 But as I said, the question's coming. It's turned into a discussion and a question on independence.

00:45:14.500 Embrace it, quit fighting it, make lemonade from the lemons, all the platitudes and good stuff,

00:45:19.080 guys, because we have a real opportunity here and we can make some change. All right. Thank you very

00:45:23.780 much one more time check out the western standard store guys lots of cool stuff on there it helps

00:45:27.720 support us and you can wear some cool swag and uh you know send pictures of me and then that

00:45:32.480 western standard stuff we'll pop it up on a show showing me uh modeling what we've got on there

00:45:37.100 and uh we'll share that keep spreading that word so thank you very much for tuning in today guys

00:45:41.820 tune into the pipeline tonight uh we'll have a panel discussing a lot more of these issues going

00:45:46.280 on and subscribe to all those western standard channels we got stuff breaking coming out all the

00:45:51.200 time. So thank you for tuning in. We will see you all again next week at this time.

00:46:21.200 Thank you.

Western Standard - May 30, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Impossible indigenous consultation requirements will tear Canada to shreds

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript