CORY MORGAN SHOW： Quit pretending we need indigenous consent!
Episode Stats
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Summary
Corey takes a break from a busy news day to talk about the MOU between Alberta and the federal government on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. He's also joined by Dave Wienick, editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, to discuss why Indigenous people have no veto power over the project.
Transcript
00:00:29.900
It's December. It's winter out there. It sucks. There's snow everywhere. You can't make me like it. I'm never gonna like it. I'm counting down the days to when I hide out down in Arizona. That's one of the news things that's been happening lately, actually. Oh, their publisher, Derek Fildebrand, as you can see, it's a busy news day. He's been pacing and ranting and raving back there in this newsroom behind me. This is where it's nice to hide out in the studio while this sort of stuff going on. Like I said, one of those things going on is that a lot of Canadians, the vacation numbers are up in Canada and they're down in the state.
00:00:59.900
And of course, they're saying that's all due to all the elbows up sort of stuff. Well, maybe a little bit. Most of it's due to our crappy dollar, I'm afraid. But it's not stopping me. I'm gonna hide out down there. Especially, you gotta see, I gotta take a break from that raving madman pacing back and forth behind me talking about news items.
00:01:16.400
I'm gonna have one of our news guys from that newsroom, Dave Wienick. He's gonna come on and talk about a few things going on out there. It's a busy, busy day in politics and in general. And I'll kick things off, starting with, let's talk about that memorandum of understanding, MOU.
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Now, Albertans are rightly skeptical of this MOU signed between Premier Daniel Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney to build a new pipeline to the Pacific Coast.
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That skepticism morphed into hostile cynicism last weekend as Smith found herself booed at her very own AGM in Edmonton at the very mention of the agreement.
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Considering the message from Ottawa on the issue, though, why on earth should Albertans believe for a second that Carney genuinely wants a pipeline developed?
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If Carney truly supports what the MOU proposes, he'll come right out and address the misinformation surrounding the proposed project.
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He has to make it abundantly clear that neither the province of BC nor the Indigenous bands within it have veto authority over the project.
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This isn't a matter of opinion. It's a matter of the Canadian Constitution.
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Interprovincial infrastructure is federal domain.
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B.C. has no more authority to block a pipeline from Alberta than Alberta the authority to block a railway line from B.C.
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David Eby's blustering opposition has no power behind it constitutionally.
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More importantly, though, Indigenous bands have no veto authority over any projects.
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Canada's constitution obligates the nation to consult with Indigenous bands if any projects are proposed that may impact treaty rights.
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A pipeline doesn't even impact treaty rights unless it crosses treaty land.
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But either way, consult the Indigenous folks is still a nice gesture.
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Particularly those who might live near the right-of-way. That's fine.
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After consultation, though, there's no further obligations.
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Whether it's with pipelines or provincial independence, there's been this pervasive myth surrounding the veto abilities of Native bands.
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Native reserves aren't sovereign nations, no matter what they like to call themselves, and their consent's not required to develop land.
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And this has been affirmed by the Supreme Court numerous times.
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Political cowardice has become so entrenched with this issue,
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Liberal government members have been forced to apologize for telling the truth.
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No way, it doesn't happen very often. Apologies are them telling the truth.
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But recently, in a rare demonstration of personal principles,
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Justice Minister Sean Fraser dared to utter the truth that Indigenous people have no veto power over the projects.
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Within 24 hours, Fraser issued a groveling apology for telling the truth.
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Currently, Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation,
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Tlaib Nur-Muhammad has been saying on social media and in a CBC interview that Indigenous consent is required to get a pipeline constructed.
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So far, Tlaib's claims have gone unchallenged by the Prime Minister's office.
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So is he a rogue MP or is he speaking for the party?
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Liberal discipline's usually tight when their members go off message, yet Tlaib's carrying on without hindrance.
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Premier Daniel Smith's taking a lot of heat from her party membership over signing a deal that attaches many conditions upon Alberta's industries,
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and it appears unlikely the pipeline might ever be approved.
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She must demand the Prime Minister clarifies whether he expects consent from Indigenous bands in the province of BC to get the job done.
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No humming and hawing, no weasel words, just a yes or no answer.
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If the answer is that he expects consent from Indigenous bands in the province,
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Smith might as well use the MOU for toilet paper, since that's all the value it has.
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There'll never be consensus, and if the Prime Minister abdicates his role as the central authority on these issues,
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Respectful and meaningful consultation is important.
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Indigenous citizens must have their concerns heard and addressed when reasonably possible.
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Having their participation in projects is great too, and many will.
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Not all of them are going to approve, though, and rest assured,
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environmental activists will elevate them to some fabricated hereditary roles and use them as props for the opposition.
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The federal government must be firm in stating that the project will continue despite some opponents,
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but so far it's been as firm as a piece of overcooked spaghetti on the issue.
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Look, no private investor is going to touch the project without assurances of it being completed.
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No companies are going to expand production in Alberta without expanded ability to get their products to market.
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Then, it's going to be truly time for Albertans to ask what the point is in remaining in Confederation.
00:05:37.400
Really, what's the point? Let's put it to a referendum.
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I mean, the province can't become any more landlocked than it already is, can it?
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I think he may have gone back in his office now soon.
00:05:59.480
The stories of you as the Western Standard Hospitality Suite doorman will become legendary in its time.
00:06:07.200
I took my old bar owner skills and applied them to the Western Standard Hospitality.
00:06:21.560
Yeah, and it was a long day, a long night, and then we had to drive all the way back,
00:06:25.800
and you finally got to sit in your recliner to watch your Steelers lose.
00:06:30.680
Yeah, I didn't need to rush back to watch that garbage.
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They thrashed Minnesota Vikings, making them look like a high school team.
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Yes, well, let your sea chickens have a year, and then.
00:06:47.720
Hey, I hear a funny story that apparently squirrels have eaten all your security cameras.
00:06:56.440
Yes, one of the, as I was mentioning, yes, before, Jane keeps, our house is like Fort Knox.
00:07:01.040
We've got cameras all over the place, in the woods, outside of the house.
00:07:04.380
Nobody sneaks up in that place, and unfortunately, something had chewed through the cable on one
00:07:09.020
of them back in the woods, and I had to replace it.
00:07:12.940
No, I would have seen cracks or something, I think, because we never saw anything on the
00:07:15.980
camera either, so it's fair to come from behind, but we did have a cougar go by a few
00:07:22.840
Anyways, yeah, holy cow, where do we want to start in the news?
00:07:28.040
Major developments in the John Rustad leadership, it's not a scandal, it's a leadership debate.
00:07:36.540
Letter out today, 20 out of 39, so more than half of his caucus have said that he's got
00:07:46.020
When half your caucus says no, more than half your caucus says no, you got to go, right?
00:07:51.260
I mean, you're really impotent in the legislature.
00:07:55.260
It's, you know, it happens so much to these leaders, they become deaf, I guess, because
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you know, we've seen the signs, we've been seeing the troubles, we've been seeing the
00:08:03.220
stuff rising within his party in BC for a while now, and it takes really until the hammer
00:08:07.060
hits them in the head before they realize, you know, you're beyond the point of no return.
00:08:12.760
Disturbing story from the alert police force today, they've charged a 17-year-old Calgary
00:08:19.240
high school student with making AI child porn images of his classmates.
00:08:33.280
A Brooks RCMP officer has been suspended with pay after being charged with assault and assault
00:08:39.240
with choking after an off-duty incident recently.
00:08:45.720
The premier and her medicine hat area writing has been officially now the subject of recall.
00:08:53.340
The petitioners have got the required amount of, well, they're now going to start collecting
00:08:58.760
signatures to see if they can have an official revote call on Daniel Smith.
00:09:05.300
The long talked about, and I'm sure you'll be discussing this with Dave later on, the Calgary
00:09:10.660
to Banff hydrogen rail line now has been officially sort of the plan for it.
00:09:15.520
It has been given to the major projects office.
00:09:26.000
Canadian Border Services says they have a total of 726 foreign criminals now running loose
00:09:38.640
Considering their incompetence, that's not how bad.
00:09:56.320
Well, apparently they're alleging they're deporting 400 every month.
00:09:59.340
But then they're getting 500 new files to deal with every month.
00:10:08.400
The Governor General and her $4 million ice pavilion that she's built.
00:10:15.380
She apparently went to corporations and said, hey, why don't you donate some money and I'll
00:10:24.060
No, I'm a tiny bit mixed on that one when I read it.
00:10:26.600
Because normally the Governor General would just say, give me money.
00:10:28.800
They go straight to the source and spend pure tax dollars on it.
00:10:33.340
At least she went out and kind of got some sponsorship for it.
00:10:35.880
I mean, she still wants her, you know, royal imagery and things.
00:10:40.960
I mean, it's a rink that we probably don't need whatsoever.
00:10:43.420
But by the way they tend to piss away our money, that's one of the lesser ways.
00:10:47.040
Don't they have like an entire river to skate on in Ottawa?
00:10:53.340
I know you were really hit, you were really impacted earlier this year with the, maybe
00:10:58.380
it was last year, the Liberals' luxury tax on yachts and supercars.
00:11:05.740
So Department of Finance officials admitted that they didn't even do a cost-benefit analysis
00:11:16.060
You know, it kind of hurt the boat selling industry in Canada quite a bit.
00:11:20.780
And now the Liberals are repealing it, but there you go.
00:11:24.760
And the JCCF, our good friends, Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, they're launching
00:11:29.360
a Canada-wide campaign to convince provincial governments to bring in legislation similar
00:11:36.960
to what Alberta did last week where they're talking about regulatory bodies.
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Then they've now sort of overstepped their authority and going into free speech of their
00:11:45.520
members and online posts and all that sort of stuff.
00:11:49.660
But JCCF just wants them to deal with their, you know, their industry and their regulations
00:11:59.160
So lots of other stuff I forgot already are still to come.
00:12:05.780
I see you haven't even had time to shave in this last week.
00:12:18.660
I don't think I was very good company for most of that drive.
00:12:22.220
Oh, well, you know, all I do is rant about politics anyways.
00:12:26.880
I remember you getting your McMuffin and then I fell asleep and then I woke up and there
00:12:35.080
Then I would have missed that god-awful Steelers game.
00:12:40.200
You know, as I said, I don't hold high hopes of the Steelers winning that the way they're
00:12:44.020
looking, but you can always count on the beating the 11th hell out of each other when the Steelers
00:12:51.380
Did you see the Giants field goal kicker on Monday night trying to do the field goal?
00:12:56.960
He sort of stubbed his toe about a foot behind the ball.
00:13:00.600
Yeah, sometimes you can feel what you see on the...
00:13:04.480
You know, you talk about suffering as a Steelers fan, but holy cow, it's got to be hard to be a New
00:13:09.440
York City NFL fan with those go-to-one, they're just losers.
00:13:21.740
He seems to be tied up so you can get something done.
00:13:32.400
And I see, yes, using that comment scroll, Jacqueline, and this is my perspective saying hello to
00:13:43.600
Guys, it doesn't cost you any income on and watch this, but we would like you to subscribe
00:13:47.780
to get to the main site of the Western Standard.News.
00:13:49.920
That's how we fund that newsroom and that crazy publisher running back and forth back
00:14:07.580
There's worse things to become addicted to out there, aren't there?
00:14:18.060
You know, Rustad, and he's in deep, deep trouble.
00:14:24.560
But these political leaders, like I said, so many of them don't leave until the foot
00:14:29.620
I guess some of it's just that instinct among them, though.
00:14:34.660
They had to, you know, scramble and claw their way to where they were.
00:14:39.240
They just don't want to stop once they get there.
00:14:48.740
I mean, arguably the most popular premier in Alberta history, certainly historically.
00:14:55.160
But towards the end, he didn't leave until his own members gave him a really lackluster,
00:15:00.820
I think it was 60% or so, support at the leadership.
00:15:04.580
And, you know, Rustad, he's had people leaving, crossing the floor on him, starting a new party.
00:15:12.200
When you've got a tipping point of a majority of your members saying, you know, your MLAs,
00:15:17.880
your elected members saying, we can't support you anymore.
00:15:25.420
And I think what a lot of people are anticipating, though, is somehow the B.C. conservative movement has to become unified again.
00:15:34.220
I mean, the hard thing was there was the blow-up from Falcon and the B.C. liberals that changed their name to B.C. United or some bloody thing
00:15:44.820
And that's what gave Rustad the start, where he came, you know, from bringing that party from next to nothing
00:15:49.960
to within a hair's breadth of winning a majority in the general election.
00:15:54.700
It's quite an accomplishment, but leadership is a tough thing.
00:15:58.040
And then trying to hold it together for the four years until the next election looks like that's not going to happen.
00:16:01.920
So they're going to have some decisions, obviously.
00:16:09.760
I mean, watch for Jared Yeager, you know, our Western Standard guy in B.C.
00:16:13.120
He's on that all the time excellently at westernstandard.news because a lot's going to be breaking.
00:16:18.960
It depends on what they campaign on because they've really got a left-right battle going on in that party, just like we do everywhere.
00:16:25.660
They've got one B.C., you know, with Dallas Brody.
00:16:28.420
She was on this show a little while ago, pushing quite hard on the indigenous issues in some other areas.
00:16:34.140
And meanwhile, you've got parts of the Conservative Party.
00:16:38.740
I guess you'd call them red Tories or whatnot who aren't comfortable with that.
00:16:44.600
Or has somebody as terrible and incompetent as David Eby going to manage to get four more years just because the Conservatives can't get it together?
00:16:56.220
All right, let's check in with Dave Winnick, or David Numero Dos, as I like to say.
00:17:12.200
I don't have to wear a tie, but I've got to wear a jacket.
00:17:20.260
I think the last time I was on here was when Dave was on vacation.
00:17:25.420
You've been covering some pretty good stuff out there.
00:17:28.720
No, the major one today is that the Calgary Airport to Banff Rail, they finally submitted
00:17:33.520
their proposal to the Federal Major Projects Office just yesterday, and they've been doing
00:17:41.120
But apparently now, they've been basically waiting for Daniel Smith to sign that Memorandum
00:17:48.620
And basically, now they said now's the right time to get that added, and they're optimistic
00:17:51.900
that it'll finally get added to the major projects list.
00:17:54.460
There's only 11 major projects on that list so far, but I think this is the very first
00:17:57.940
one that they've had that's Alberta century, shall we say.
00:18:03.460
Well, Adam and Jan Wateros of, I believe it's called Lyricon Capital, are financing most
00:18:12.040
I think it's, if I remember correctly, I think it's $2.6 billion project in dollars in
00:18:16.160
total, and they are going to be funding it and other private investors for about $1.5
00:18:20.200
billion is what the actual original figures are going to be.
00:18:23.520
So with that, does that mean, because there's already a rail line between Calgary and Banff.
00:18:29.060
Actually, it's one of those memories I don't think I've shared on the show, but if anybody
00:18:31.340
rode that passenger train that used to go to Banff, it would run right through town just
00:18:34.740
before noon every day, and us kids who were off school for lunch, would all line up in the
00:18:39.780
woods because we'd play in there during lunchtime and then moon the train as it was going by.
00:18:43.340
So if they remember any little white asses they saw whilst they were taking the train,
00:18:51.720
So this means, at that price, they must be building an entire new line.
00:18:56.860
Well, I think the line, the final stop is at that train station that's the repurposed
00:19:00.940
old train station that's in Banff, but they're going to have ones, I think there's Calgary
00:19:04.680
Airport, downtown, Stoney Trail at the Trans-Canada is going to be a stop.
00:19:08.080
Then they're going to have ones, Cochrane, Morley, Canmore, and then Banff.
00:19:11.520
And I think it was in July or June, if I remember correctly, all of the mayors from each of those
00:19:16.400
towns sent a letter to the prime minister saying that they totally endorsed the project.
00:19:20.620
We're hoping that he would get it on the major projects list.
00:19:22.780
So it looks like that could be very well a possibility in the near future.
00:19:25.800
And apparently the whole line is going to be about roughly, they're estimating 150 kilometers.
00:19:33.820
He's in a retirement home out in the Bow Valley area out there.
00:19:36.000
And I drive that highway regularly and it's jammed.
00:19:38.740
I mean, it's insane, especially in summertime, if it's a weekend, but will this train really
00:19:44.000
Well, that's what's the, well, that's their main sort of goal behind it.
00:19:46.680
Because I mean, apparently I think if I remember correctly, the whole Alberta government, I
00:19:50.220
think by 20, I think it's 2035, want to totally increase tourism to Alberta.
00:19:55.060
So this is kind of playing into that because as you know, I mean, the way the park is now,
00:19:58.760
they're trying to basically discourage people from coming with the old private vehicles,
00:20:04.280
So they're hoping that this will actually play into that and take away from the traffic.
00:20:08.180
And obviously, you know, now with Baffin, that the parking is just ridiculous.
00:20:12.860
So they're hoping that this will alleviate some of that pressure going forward in the
00:20:17.000
Yeah, but I guess as long as it's a private interest, there's just where my ears perk
00:20:21.600
up when the tax dollars start going and then you see boondoggle.
00:20:28.860
Because Premier Smith's always been kind of a trained person, you know, he heard her
00:20:32.780
husband own a restaurant and a train car in High River for years.
00:20:36.240
Trained people are a special breed and I just wouldn't want us diving in.
00:20:40.100
I prefer this over that Baffin to Calgary or Edmonton to Calgary.
00:20:44.240
I think this will definitely have definitely benefits.
00:20:48.080
And she herself, Premier Smith, did say that she wasn't going to prioritize this until that
00:20:52.980
But now that the MOU is signed, obviously they've sent in the project for the approval.
00:20:59.900
It's more like a bite-size new rail expansion to try before trying something like Calgary
00:21:05.520
So if it goes well, we could revisit in a few years.
00:21:08.220
And they have a fairly set price for overall for the whole thing.
00:21:11.220
So I guess we'll see how it goes going forward.
00:21:13.860
And you've also got some stuff on the pipeline and, well, I put pipeline quotes.
00:21:19.720
I mean, I don't know if we're going to live long enough to see this thing, but
00:21:27.160
If you look at the MOU, if you read between the lines, it seems the more and more people
00:21:30.380
have gone into this, the more it just seems like there's little roadblocks that have been
00:21:33.660
set up increasingly to make sure that this doesn't get done.
00:21:36.360
It sounds good on paper, but as I've said before, there's no private sector proponent
00:21:41.480
So until that actually happens, you actually get someone wanting to foot the bill and just
00:21:47.200
Plus there's all the implications of co-indigenous ownership.
00:21:50.720
We don't exactly know which indigenous groups that's going to be at either.
00:21:55.420
I saw the other day that there was, I think it was the Métis tribes of Alberta were talking
00:22:00.220
And the coastal first nations who you were thinking would be the ones that would be
00:22:03.220
involved, want nothing to do with this so far, but who knows what'll happen there.
00:22:10.400
Clean up your own damn mess before worrying about the pipes.
00:22:12.480
Once I see a spotless couch in area, then you can perhaps start being a critic because
00:22:18.460
Trans Mountain's been going since the late 40s through there and pipes are safe.
00:22:23.460
Garbage dumps, on the other hand, are a real problem.
00:22:26.580
So there's other clauses, things that you mentioned in your story, like buy Canadian.
00:22:30.400
I mean, some of the materials and everything, it's going to steal.
00:22:34.460
I mean, you just look what happened here just recently with Algoma just laying off a thousand
00:22:38.060
employees and whatnot, and the whole steel industry at the moment, if I remember right.
00:22:42.300
I think it was Algoma got 500 million in government cash here recently, so now they're laying off
00:22:47.680
And obviously, I mean, Canada historically is kind of a, how would I put it?
00:22:51.320
Basically, we've exported, I think, over half of our output.
00:22:54.380
Usually about 90% of that goes to the Americans.
00:22:57.440
But at this time as well, I think that if I remember, if I'm reading this correctly, I
00:23:01.480
think specialized pipeline steel capacity needs about $6 million to $1 billion in new investment
00:23:06.040
at the exact time that a bunch of Canadian mills like Algoma were shutting down and basically
00:23:11.640
So I don't really know how the whole steel thing by Canadian steel is going to really work
00:23:15.680
because the costs are just going to go up when everything's tightened, supplies tightening.
00:23:18.760
So that's another thing that you kind of have to read in between the lines on this MOU because
00:23:22.500
they do say that they kind of want to promote Canadian steel, but it doesn't specify that
00:23:28.800
I mean, there's opposition across the country and battles going on.
00:23:31.500
And the block leader is blustering, you know, somehow he expects his welfare checks to keep
00:23:36.320
coming, even if we can't, you know, pump oil for him.
00:23:39.240
But I mean, with a hurting steel industry in central Canada, you'd think that, you know,
00:23:45.380
domestic, because it is the trade war going on.
00:23:51.040
But they got to give us a good price for crying out loud.
00:23:54.620
And I mean, as well, I mean, where's a lot of the steel come from?
00:23:57.300
And we obviously know what the whole thing is with coal in Canada.
00:24:00.020
So recently, the Coal Association of Canada actually sent a statement to the government
00:24:04.700
because they want metallurgical coal designated as a critical mineral in Canada, just like
00:24:10.420
So we'll have to see how much red tape needs to be waded through before that actually comes
00:24:20.040
I mean, the metallurgical coal has been a big issue in, you know, the Southern Alberta
00:24:23.540
and whether or not we're going to start mining or not.
00:24:27.640
There might be a referendum on that coming up soon.
00:24:32.040
I see a question from a listener there, Jacqueline, saying, why does a rail line strictly in Alberta
00:24:39.020
But because it would go into a national park, I suspect that.
00:24:43.140
So, yeah, it is going into another province, obviously.
00:24:45.100
Well, the main route that they want to do is out to Prince Rupert and that.
00:24:48.120
So I think, yeah, I think that's the main reason why it would have to go through an actual
00:24:55.540
I was going to throw you for a loop somewhere anyway.
00:24:57.920
So the rail line, you know, but it's going through the major projects office.
00:25:01.140
And I'm guessing, though, again, perhaps the fact that it goes into it.
00:25:05.500
Yeah, it's the building as well under the criteria, I should say, under the Building
00:25:09.080
Canada Act, as well as why it has to go through that.
00:25:11.280
So it has to have federal approval because, as you said, it goes through the national park.
00:25:18.580
Well, they're both big projects potentially going.
00:25:27.500
So what else have you got in the cooker right now?
00:25:30.780
Oh, well, there is something that'll be coming out shortly.
00:25:33.140
I'll just say that it has to deal with the recall Nicolaides campaign, shall we say, that'll
00:25:37.600
be coming out here shortly because there's, as you know, there's a whole bunch.
00:25:40.200
I think now it's up to 14 recall campaigns or whatnot for targeting UCP MLAs across the
00:25:46.980
And now there's one just this morning that was targeting Premier Daniel Smith and her writing
00:25:51.660
Well, in my view, at least with that one, it indicates just how they're using this just
00:25:56.940
I mean, anybody with common sense knows you've got to get, what, 60% of those who voted in
00:26:01.700
the last election to sign saying they want her out.
00:26:07.820
And if it's a yes, then you have a by-election.
00:26:12.740
I mean, you know, you could run a tree stump with the UCP banner hanging off of it and it's
00:26:22.020
I mean, it's people got to realize too, to get a, you know, the reporting on these is if
00:26:27.720
I mean, all a person has to do is fill out a form and put in a deposit and the recalls
00:26:34.040
And I mean, a bunch of them, if you look at some of the recall, the actual petitions,
00:26:36.880
a bunch of them, it's clearly just politically motivated and has nothing to do with the
00:26:40.200
actual MLA in that writing and what they've been doing for the job.
00:26:44.840
Because some of them have been doing a fairly good job for the most part from a bunch of the
00:26:48.740
And as well, it seems as well that some of these, the first recall campaigns seem to
00:26:52.140
be targeting writings where the last race in the last election was fairly close.
00:26:58.180
Well, the Nickel 80s one, which was something I've really seen the first time, was fairly
00:27:07.040
So notwithstanding clause was the big thing, obviously sending the teachers back after the
00:27:12.620
There were some people that you could say, maybe anti-oil and gas activists, shall we
00:27:19.520
That could be one little thing that we might be talking about later.
00:27:26.720
I mean, the intent of this legislation, it was to get, you know, if you've got an MLA
00:27:30.980
who's had some mental health issues, it's how we have before, things like that, or committed
00:27:35.720
a crime, but hasn't been convicted or something really beyond the pale.
00:27:38.960
Or if it turns out, it's like a senator, you know, way back in the day, we had, what was
00:27:46.140
He was hiding in Mexico for his whole time in the Senate.
00:27:50.220
He'd even come to Canada, you know, just to show up and even vote.
00:27:55.680
And yeah, no way to get rid of him as a senator.
00:27:57.280
But those were the things that recall was supposed to be for, you know, when you just can't handle
00:28:01.400
I don't see anybody in the legislature right now that we couldn't survive two years without
00:28:08.460
But no, I just think it's like you said, it's like it's the intentions are well and
00:28:12.160
good, but I think a lot of people will just take advantage of that and use it for their
00:28:16.040
Yeah, which sucks because I mean, what might happen then is the government is going to
00:28:18.820
repeal or dramatically tweak it back to where it was, where it makes it fully impossible
00:28:23.500
And like that old saying goes, you know, this is why we can't have nice things.
00:28:30.360
I hope they don't succeed in getting rid of the legislation.
00:28:32.920
I think they should let it go and let a bunch of them fail.
00:28:36.200
But people don't understand how hard it is to petition.
00:28:43.760
And on recall, technically, everybody working on that campaign has to live in the constituents.
00:28:49.260
That's been another thing that there's been people talking about people being bussed down
00:28:52.400
from Edmonton and Red Deer to certain ridings in Calgary as well.
00:28:55.280
Yeah, which would certainly give the government grounds to say, well, sorry, they fouled the
00:28:59.580
process and this one's no longer fouled and figure out what elections Alberta is going
00:29:04.500
Yeah, well, I haven't been liking what they've been doing lately.
00:29:07.240
How many, do you think any of these will actually succeed?
00:29:10.880
If they allow the outside union, and let's not beat around the bush, they're union people.
00:29:15.760
If they allow it to happen for them to get on the ground and pound the pavement that hard,
00:29:21.600
You know, a couple of them or a few could happen.
00:29:24.740
If it really is as the intent is supposed to be, the people who live in that constituency
00:29:28.460
doing it themselves, volunteering themselves, getting out and getting those signatures,
00:29:32.800
I think it's really unlikely because I don't think any of those MLA's have done anything
00:29:36.540
Maybe one in more urban area, but none of the ones in rural areas like Grand Prairie or something.
00:29:40.340
I find it hard to believe that that would actually go through.
00:29:44.460
Like with this kind of campaign, you know, part of it with Fabio or also known as McCasick
00:29:49.440
and his, you know, let's have a status quo referendum.
00:29:56.080
They could pack people in from all directions to work on it and everything else.
00:30:03.860
Because they set up a lot of farmers markets and sporting events and anywhere you can get
00:30:12.140
You say, even if you could set up at a farmer's market, well, you don't know who's from in
00:30:25.780
I'm not the one sweating it in the government offices, you know, with one or two of these
00:30:31.580
But I don't think you should just let it go and let it fail.
00:30:35.540
As soon as you see that bus full of Union maggots coming in, well, sorry, done, not happening.
00:30:47.360
You know, you've shaken off your hangover from the AGM.
00:30:51.540
I think me and the rest of the staff had a pretty good party there.
00:30:54.400
Yeah, it was fun the second night with sipping my Diet Coke, watching you guys, your conversation
00:31:03.100
Yeah, no, I think it was a fairly successful AGM for the most part.
00:31:05.660
A bit of controversy, obviously, with the whole Alberta independence thing and Jeff Rath
00:31:09.160
causing a bit of a stir with the Alberta Prosperity Project guys and whatnot.
00:31:14.520
And I think by the end of it, after the Premier did her keynote address, I think she had a lot
00:31:20.600
So I think maybe a bit of the independence movement's numbers might be a little out of
00:31:26.200
whack, I think, in terms of people that are 100% for it.
00:31:31.680
Yeah, well, you can't measure public opinion by the views of the people who show up for
00:31:36.900
I mean, it was great to see 4,400 people pay a pretty good fee and have to go to Edmonton
00:31:46.700
These are people dialed in and holding strong views on something or another, but your average
00:31:52.920
person on the ground, that's a different mindset altogether.
00:31:56.440
So that tells us where the party's sitting, but not necessarily where the province is sitting,
00:32:00.640
which is a danger that a leader always has to get, you know, work that balance out between
00:32:04.860
what your party stalwarts want, but what's going to make you electable, which is the goal
00:32:10.780
And I think she's got quite a conundrum going on.
00:32:13.320
Well, I was going to ask you, do you think that that's kind of maybe fractured the party
00:32:17.160
Because it seems like people on the right always have a history of infighting, especially
00:32:24.840
Like, all our history of past premiers, they haven't been taken out by elections.
00:32:29.360
They've been taken out by their own members every time.
00:32:33.400
Kenney, Klein, you know, I guess Getty was getting on the brink.
00:32:38.200
It's pressure from underneath, Stelmac, Redford.
00:32:43.340
Smith's still popular, but it can and does change.
00:32:45.560
I pointed out Klein earlier in the show because he was madly popular in Alberta.
00:32:49.780
But after enough time, he became, you know, not reviled.
00:32:54.880
Thankfully, he went when he did because it would have gotten worse.
00:33:01.800
My thoughts, again, I think she's got to give the Alberta Prosperity Project, those
00:33:05.960
activists, the hardcore independent supporters.
00:33:16.520
I mean, I don't think Smith should get up and say, I support independence.
00:33:23.400
But I think she's got a good case to make and say, well, look, on the left, Lukasik wants
00:33:32.640
It would be remiss, you know, not to say let's have one in late June.
00:33:37.120
I think, just my own speculation for what little it's worth, a lot of those things in
00:33:41.720
the MOU had hard deadlines in them, which is kind of a good point saying, okay, this
00:33:45.700
Like we got to, but she also had nine points that were supposed to happen by Cray Cup that
00:33:49.580
Yeah, and she said the MOU, I think, addressed seven of those nine, something like that,
00:33:53.900
And still, it's all just a piece of paper promising things, but whatever.
00:33:57.480
But if you made the referendum, well, mid-June, because all those deadlines hit in April and
00:34:01.640
June, that there gives her some leverage when you're wanting to cross those things off that
00:34:08.840
As a referendum campaign is going on, if they had a win, you know, some of those things
00:34:14.960
checked off, that could deflate some of the independence movement.
00:34:17.240
And if this thing is spinning its wheels and it looks like Carney's jerking us around,
00:34:23.440
Well, I was just about to ask you, if this MOU leads to nothing and no pipeline, do you
00:34:26.840
think that's going to just skyrocket independence sentiment?
00:34:29.200
I don't know what skyrocket, but it'll definitely solidify it, make it grow.
00:34:32.220
Because again, people have to wonder what the point is anymore.
00:34:34.940
Um, but it would just, you know, politically even just takes that pressure out of her party.
00:34:40.420
The, you've got Jeff Raff, Mitch Sylvester, uh, Dennis Modery, Chris Scott, great guys
00:34:45.060
pushing the independence thing, but they're spinning their wheels.
00:34:49.240
So that's why the pressure is going to the party.
00:34:52.060
That's the only place they can exert pressure for this.
00:34:54.380
And that's why she dealt with a room full of hardcore independence people in a room.
00:34:58.500
If they're all pounding the pavement on a referendum campaign, they're out of her hair.
00:35:06.340
She can work on all these other things in an MOU whilst, uh, the independence guys are
00:35:17.740
Well, I appreciate all those updates and the stories.
00:35:19.840
I'm looking forward to that other one coming up to see you at the possible feet of Mr.
00:35:39.720
It's good to get a chance to chatter with somebody other than Dave on these things.
00:35:49.640
So yeah, reporting on the AGM in general, though.
00:35:58.420
Like, the world has changed politically in Alberta.
00:36:00.820
And I'm going to give credit to somebody who, you know, was a character and so on.
00:36:05.020
But the guy who really did it in changing member-driven type of politics in Alberta
00:36:10.260
was David Barker with the Take Back Alberta movement.
00:36:15.780
His was, you know, almost obsessively focused on getting rid of Jason Kenney.
00:36:25.040
You see, so many other advocacy groups, they go into advertising.
00:36:29.920
They do all sorts of other things to get their way or try to change public opinion.
00:36:34.360
What David Barker did was utilize the party's own structure to remove a leader.
00:36:41.440
He went out and organized constituency by constituency by constituency.
00:36:45.720
He sold memberships within the party by the thousands.
00:36:52.440
It was kind of a magical part of timing as well because COVID had happened.
00:36:56.360
People didn't have much they could do outside of their homes.
00:37:00.500
And they were extremely ticked off with Kenney and with things in general.
00:37:04.760
So people who'd never considered buying a political membership before were buying political
00:37:11.400
And in the end, with a huge hard-fought voting campaign within the party itself, Jason Kenney
00:37:18.220
was dislodged as the leader of the party, a sitting premier.
00:37:20.900
Now, Parker kind of faded off as did the Take Back Alberta movement itself.
00:37:29.200
But thousands and thousands of people renewed their memberships.
00:37:32.620
Thousands and thousands of people are now engaged who weren't engaged before.
00:37:38.080
They're still participating in their constituency associations.
00:37:44.200
That's why last year in Red Deer, their AGM, UCP AGM, was the biggest one ever held in
00:37:51.520
Canadian history, even though there really wasn't anything all that controversial happening.
00:37:56.180
There was a leadership review for Smith, but she came in well over 90% support from the
00:38:01.460
But you have now these thousands of engaged people who want to come out to these things.
00:38:06.380
When the Wildrose Party was heading, you know, they were the official opposition.
00:38:12.440
I remember one in Calgary at the TELUS Convention Center.
00:38:15.380
I think we had maybe 800 people and we were thrilled by how huge this thing was, how big
00:38:21.320
Now, as I said, Edmonton, expensive, bad weather, and still 4,400 people paid the money, drove
00:38:29.880
all the way up there to take part in policy formulation, voting for their, that was something
00:38:36.100
that was, you know, kind of interesting going on in this one.
00:38:37.920
There was a definite slate trying to push with some of the party executive positions.
00:38:41.300
And of course, as I keep mentioning with the others, and Dave mentioned, both Dave's mentioned,
00:38:46.240
The reason, you know, that Dave number one had to sleep all the way back from Edmonton
00:38:53.420
As he said, I only drink diet Coke, so I was fine.
00:38:58.360
And you know, we talk about the hospitality suite.
00:39:04.700
Free drinks, the works, quite a party going on.
00:39:11.900
When you're sitting through a whole day of voting on policy and people fighting over the
00:39:15.740
placement of a comma and a policy document or something like that, and that's kind of
00:39:20.160
To be able to cut loose at the suites and so on and socialize.
00:39:24.100
You're getting together with other people of the same mind.
00:39:31.940
This is, again, the people who do love Smith still at this point, getting together, uniting,
00:39:39.340
having a good time together, sharing what they have in common with things.
00:39:48.220
And if you're an organizer, whether it's an advocacy group or a political party or whatever,
00:40:03.460
You want your, your people are truly what makes that party.
00:40:09.400
You want them to look forward to coming out to these things and not feel it's an obligation.
00:40:13.320
So, again, and I have a lot of differences with Mr. Parker.
00:40:19.240
He engaged his province and it stayed that way.
00:40:21.960
But now we've got to make sure, or at least Premier Smith has to make sure, that she can keep this under control.
00:40:31.080
And I do feel a referendum is the best tool to do that.
00:40:38.940
I don't think she should become full pro-independence.
00:40:44.920
And then you'll never, ever, ever have a referendum vote, or at least not while he's alive or in power.
00:40:50.860
But she's got a very good case to say it's the will of Albertans to hold one.
00:40:59.120
I think at best tomorrow, 30, maybe 35% if a referendum was held.
00:41:04.580
But with six months of campaigning, with the MOU proving itself to be complete junk and garbage and just a dodge, a distraction, a pretty thing to hang over there for Albertans whilst he ignores what we need.
00:41:22.320
We, you know, Brexit, for example, you know, not necessarily the best example of a clean break or anything, but still, people who poo-pooed it when that campaign was getting going over there.
00:41:33.900
It was all the academics, all of the tall foreheads, all of the media, all the usual clowns talking down to people, saying, you know, the masses don't want this.
00:41:44.260
And people actually used that vote to give them the middle finger.
00:41:49.440
So if a referendum campaign is held in Alberta, it won't be important just how much the proponents of independence campaign, but how the rest of the country and the opponents to independence respond to it.
00:42:02.900
Because if they talk down their noses to Albertans, they insult Albertans, and we get a lot of it, right?
00:42:09.480
I saw somebody else saying, oh, it's going to be Texas North.
00:42:12.160
And that's my post online was so, he called that a bad thing.
00:42:16.040
I can think of worse things than being prosperous and free, but don't take a referendum for granted on either side of the issue, because we have an activated galvanized electorate.
00:42:29.380
And the Alberta Prosperity Project, I'm not a member of them, but I've spoken at some of their chapter meetings.
00:42:34.600
They've done quite a job on organizing all around the province.
00:42:39.240
They do have hundreds of thousands of people ready to roll when the referendum comes.
00:42:46.340
They're sitting there, you know, they're, they're like racehorses in the gate.
00:42:50.760
And the gate's not opening and the gate's not opening.
00:42:53.280
And that's why, again, that pressure's turning inwards.
00:43:01.140
But when you were booed at your own AGM, you do have to take that seriously.
00:43:05.980
And I mean, it was what she was saying rather than her herself.
00:43:08.180
And yeah, the elephant in the room is indigenous bands.
00:43:14.780
You've got to stand up to them, you know, and I, even if it's not just the pipeline guys,
00:43:18.700
we've really screwed this country up with this mythology and giving a certain race of people
00:43:22.580
a veto power and authority that they really, it's just dividing us and it's not working.
00:43:28.320
Things are getting worse and worse on reserves.
00:43:34.740
I've been charged by the Siksika band for exposing how bad it is there after they were given
00:43:49.060
The government of BC gave $6 million to three First Nations that claim Vancouver as their
00:43:54.720
ancestral territory ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
00:43:58.560
How the Musqueam, Squamish, and some other unpronounceable First Nations will spend the cash
00:44:07.180
They're just taking more money, taking more money, taking more money.
00:44:11.360
We saw in the case of BC as well, University of Victoria, Francis Whittowson was arrested
00:44:21.700
It was talking about the hoax in Kamloops of the fake burial of 215 children out there.
00:44:28.100
Arrested for trying to discuss this sort of thing.
00:44:32.860
That band was given $12 million, even more than these guys got for doing nothing with
00:44:43.440
They were given $12 million to search for bodies.
00:44:45.800
We're supposedly all in one small field and they didn't dig a hole.
00:44:52.960
And you know, I could live with it if everybody was living the high life and they were doing
00:44:58.080
They're in squalor and there's garbage all over the place.
00:45:09.480
The average male First Nations person in Alberta dies 19 years younger than everybody else.
00:45:15.160
Try to tell me that we're supposed to maintain this system when that's the stat.
00:45:21.780
We'll be breaking down some more issues and going on in those.
00:45:25.900
Poor John's been running like crazy, recording all sorts of interviews and news updates.
00:45:35.160
We'll see you next week at this time again with a whole new raft of issues to go on about.