Western Standard - Cory Morgan Show. The age of ESG has finally ended

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Good day. Welcome to the Corey Morgan Show. This is my weekly rant and rave and guest interview show with the Western Standard. We run live every Wednesday and then it runs on a number of different channels throughout Canada, higher up on the dial there, including the Cowboy Network and Wild TV and some other areas. So thank you for taking some time out in a summer day to check out what's going on. And there is a lot going on today.

00:00:56.440 I got a guest coming on is author Mark Milkey of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. He's going to talk about Justin Trudeau and, you know, quite a difference between Justin Trudeau and his father, Pierre Trudeau, with their views on individual liberty and the importance of it.

00:01:12.140 And of course, Justin's not one for much nuanced political thought or philosophy. So not too shocking. There's quite a difference between the two and with how they approach things as well.

00:01:22.360 Of course, lots of news and other such good stuff.

00:01:26.380 So I'm going to get started with talking about something that kind of surprised me. I guess it shouldn't. And that's with ESG. You know, we hear about ESG a lot in the news and there's been a lot of talk about it.

00:01:38.000 And it sounds like finally it's this, this, it's an investment fad and it's coming to an end. The whole concept of ESG, I mean, it was flawed from the beginning.

00:01:47.340 So ESG, if people aren't familiar with it, stands for environmental, social, and governance. And it's been pushed by extreme woke activists for years. It's some of a catch-all term.

00:01:58.480 And they use it to try and pressure corporations into prioritizing social activism over actually pursuing a profit for shareholders.

00:02:05.960 The term ESG originated from a 2004 United Nations report. Yeah, the UN. Shocking, isn't it?

00:02:10.800 But it was claiming companies should set aside a profit focus. And if they just took on enough environmental and social justice work, it would be beneficial to the public and to the companies themselves.

00:02:21.220 Now, the concept is utter pie-in-the-sky bunk. And despite nearly two decades of effort on this crap, it's finally failed. 0.97

00:02:28.860 I mean, corporations only exist for one thing, and that's to make a return for the shareholders. 0.98

00:02:33.440 They're not charities, nor should they be expected to be.

00:02:35.700 I mean, while good corporate citizenship can aid with a company's public reputation and help build brand loyalty, ESG goes well beyond that with its demands on corporations.

00:02:45.820 Profit is supposed to be considered a secondary goal to ESG.

00:02:49.880 Now, the ESG movement, I mean, is rather insidious and compelling. It's really backdoor socialism.

00:02:54.320 Rather than trying to directly convince companies to embrace woke policies that run counters to the company's own objectives,

00:03:00.000 they would target instead things like large asset management companies and get them to push the ESG.

00:03:06.140 Basically saying, don't invest in it unless they have a high ESG score.

00:03:09.820 Now, BlackRock is a company you've probably heard of now and then, and it was a leader in pushing ESG upon companies.

00:03:16.780 It was kind of thought that even if consumers don't really care about ESG targets,

00:03:19.940 the companies would embrace ESG policies if they were strangled from incoming investment by these management companies.

00:03:27.400 BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the name sort of works, doesn't it, spearheaded such efforts.

00:03:33.440 Now, Fink now is distancing himself from the entire ESG movement.

00:03:36.080 He says, whoa, whoa, okay, okay, no, that's enough of that. We're not going to do this anymore.

00:03:39.500 Yeah, but he did a lot of damage on the way up.

00:03:41.420 Because shareholders will only put up with so much.

00:03:43.800 They want a return on any investments they entrusted to these asset managers,

00:03:47.740 and they couldn't care less if the company has unisex washrooms or sets its emission targets above and beyond those required by legislation.

00:03:54.760 They're demanding investments in profitable companies rather than woke ones. 0.95

00:03:59.980 Most companies can't be both.

00:04:02.300 Retailers, I mean, they can't pay the insane living wages demands being made by woke people 0.93

00:04:07.600 while maintaining competitive pricing, of course, because then they scream about the inflation when the costs go up.

00:04:12.400 And then, of course, adding environmental regulations doesn't win any government love

00:04:16.220 because the governments just keep piling on new regulations on top of the old ones.

00:04:20.480 Appeasing the woke in the name of ESG has only managed to make profits smaller. 0.96

00:04:24.920 Some ESG-inspired idiocy will go down in business history, such as the Budweiser debacle with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney. 0.95

00:04:32.020 Even a first-year marketing student should have seen the consequences coming 0.98

00:04:35.860 when Budweiser decided to take on the flamboyant Mulvaney as a brand ambassador.

00:04:41.240 Budweiser had over a century of carefully cultivated market development under its belt.

00:04:46.280 The brand loyalty for Budweiser was the envy of the very competitive beer industry,

00:04:50.820 and it was shattered by this bizarre choice to go down the trans activist rabbit hole.

00:04:55.880 How could somebody have thought for a moment that a market demographic made up predominantly of cowboys

00:05:00.400 and blue-collar workers would want their favorite beer associated with a colorful trans activist?

00:05:05.220 It's not a question of tolerance. It's just knowing your market.

00:05:08.860 The thing is, the luminary who came up with this idea to bring Mulvaney on as a brand ambassador

00:05:12.840 wasn't thinking of reality.

00:05:13.960 She was wrapped up in the mythical world of ESG.

00:05:17.400 It might take a generation for Budweiser's sales to recover to where they were only last year.

00:05:22.800 Nobody chooses their consumer products based on ESG scores.

00:05:26.740 Investors don't pick investment vehicles based on ESG scores either.

00:05:31.140 The reality is finally coming home to roost, and as the old saying goes,

00:05:35.180 go woke, go broke, and it's proving accurate.

00:05:37.720 Silicon Valley Bank, they went broke, and they went whole hog with ESG.

00:05:41.480 In his 2022 ESG report, yeah, an ESG report, the company said it seeks directors on its board

00:05:47.440 with knowledge of or experience with key risk oversight and risk management functions

00:05:51.480 to help oversee the dynamic risks we face.

00:05:54.280 Yeah, Trudeau-style word salad, ESG garbage, and it led to the collapse of the bank.

00:05:59.760 The list of ESG failures is growing, while ESG language, though, is finally disappearing from corporate boardrooms. 0.96

00:06:05.060 One of the dumbest and most expensive social trends in human history is finally just coming on.

00:06:12.580 Unfortunately, though, as with supporters of communism, the supporters of ESG just think, 0.75

00:06:16.180 it hasn't been done right yet.

00:06:17.460 They will rebrand the concept and try and push it through another way.

00:06:20.880 In the end, though, money talks, and ESG walks.

00:06:25.280 So, let's celebrate at least the end of this incarnation of backdoor socialism, guys.

00:06:30.180 ESG is a thing of the past, and, well, let's see what they turn the next efforts into.

00:06:35.440 All right, that's what got me started today.

00:06:37.540 Let's get on and see what else is happening out there in the news

00:06:39.560 and check in with Dave Naylor in our newsroom there.

00:06:42.020 Hey, Dave, how's it going?

00:06:45.100 It's going great, Corey.

00:06:46.260 How are you?

00:06:47.380 Yeah, pretty good.

00:06:48.060 It's nice out.

00:06:49.500 It is.

00:06:49.940 It's an absolutely beautiful day, and Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for Calgary,

00:06:55.200 so that's all good.

00:06:57.420 So, we were talking earlier.

00:06:59.040 I understand you now have a foolproof plan on protecting your bees from bears.

00:07:07.180 Foolproof.

00:07:08.620 Look, there's that beautiful video.

00:07:12.100 I mean, the inspiration you can find online.

00:07:13.700 For those who don't know, I keep bees, and, yes, a bear wiped out my bees last year.

00:07:20.320 I've been inspired by this guy.

00:07:23.620 You've got to watch that.

00:07:25.200 Look at that.

00:07:29.620 That's a stuff of nightmares.

00:07:31.520 No, I am going to hit Home Depot or one of those stores, maybe Walmart, wherever,

00:07:39.200 get those cheap, motion-activated, weird Halloween decorations,

00:07:42.340 and I am going to surround my beehive with those this fall.

00:07:45.780 And, you know, it should give the bears nightmares,

00:07:48.020 and maybe even any inquisitive neighbors might stay away.

00:07:51.200 That's true, but you think it's going to scare a one-ton grizzly bear, do you?

00:07:53.920 Well, it's worth a try.

00:07:56.860 I'm trying every other way to stop that thing rather than shooting it.

00:07:59.760 That's true.

00:08:01.100 You've got any Canada Day plans, Corey?

00:08:02.920 Are you going to have a barbecue?

00:08:03.680 No, no, I'll be taking it pretty easy for Canada Day, I think.

00:08:08.100 I think I've got to run a stampede, actually.

00:08:09.740 Jane's got some sort of barn quilt thing she's got to put up down there. 1.00

00:08:12.700 That's right.

00:08:13.500 Well, if you were planning on hosting a barbecue, you better – you haven't bought your meat yet.

00:08:17.420 You better get ready to dig deep into your wallet, because beef prices are set to soar.

00:08:23.660 That's our top story on the website at the moment, Corey.

00:08:27.360 Our agriculture energy business expert, Sean Polzer, says the number of cows in Canada

00:08:34.140 is down to levels not seen since the 1990s, and that's why the price of your Canada Day steak

00:08:42.640 is going to send shockwaves through your wallet.

00:08:47.280 Other stuff we've got going on.

00:08:49.220 We've got a story on how the Saskatchewan government hired an advertising agency

00:08:54.140 to encourage people to get vaccinated during COVID, and the agency admits they used fear tactics

00:08:59.920 and scare tactics to try and convince people in Saskatchewan to get jabbed.

00:09:07.160 Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean today announced that last month Alberta oil production increased 4%.

00:09:15.480 It's good for the provincial treasury.

00:09:18.380 It also means, interestingly, that Alberta itself was the fourth biggest oil producer

00:09:23.600 in the entire world last month.

00:09:26.720 We've got a story from Barry Cooper, the esteemed Dr. Barry Cooper,

00:09:31.920 on the looming threat of laws coming in where it will make it illegal

00:09:36.860 to be a residential school denier.

00:09:41.180 And a very disturbing story this morning from Jonathan Bradley, our reporter.

00:09:47.180 The ICE team investigators launched a massive three-month investigation

00:09:52.100 where they arrested eight Calgary men, sorry, seven Calgary men,

00:09:56.920 and one other man from southern Alberta.

00:09:59.040 One million pictures of child porn. 1.00

00:10:03.860 It's just sickening, Corey, just absolutely sickening. 0.98

00:10:07.400 So that's the stuff we've got at the moment.

00:10:10.000 You can read about NASA's plan to start mining on the moon.

00:10:14.500 Apparently, they want more than cheese out of there. 0.91

00:10:17.560 And Norway, even though, you know, everybody, or Canada's backing away from making investments

00:10:26.540 in the oil industry, the government of Norway announced $18 billion in new projects.

00:10:32.780 So Canada's going one way, Norway's going another,

00:10:35.560 and I think I'd rather be on the Norway train, Corey.

00:10:39.400 I hear you there.

00:10:40.040 I mean, they've got a terrible taste in food, but they're at least pragmatic with their energy resources.

00:10:45.100 That's right, and the Heritage Savings Trust Fund that dwarfs ours.

00:10:49.400 Yeah, absolutely.

00:10:50.880 All right.

00:10:51.520 Well, thanks for the update, Dave.

00:10:53.240 Some good news and bad news in that whole mix there. 0.98

00:10:55.660 I guess it's good that they caught those sick monsters with the child porn stuff, 0.87

00:10:59.580 but it's just sad that we've got to keep hearing those reports of it. 0.86

00:11:02.380 Yeah, they come out way too often.

00:11:06.060 It's unbelievable.

00:11:06.880 It's unbelievable.

00:11:07.820 Yeah.

00:11:08.360 All right.

00:11:09.020 Well, thanks, and I'll check in with you after the show, Dave.

00:11:12.340 Thanks, Corey.

00:11:14.220 That is our news editor, Dave Naylor.

00:11:16.700 Yes, he's in there in that newsroom and curating and making sure all those good,

00:11:21.960 interesting, and important stories get up there on the Western Standard site.

00:11:25.660 This is where I nag you to help us pay the bills. 0.99

00:11:27.340 Guys, the reason we can do it is that we have subscribers, $9.99 a month, $100 a year.

00:11:34.440 You can get full unfettered access to all of those stories past the paywall,

00:11:38.040 and it helps fund things like this show, those stories, having reporters all over the place.

00:11:43.240 So, you know, if you haven't subscribed yet, guys, get on there and do it.

00:11:47.280 And if you have already, thank you.

00:11:49.100 I mean, we really do appreciate it.

00:11:50.560 This is how we're going to beat the subsidy wars and stuff's going on out there.

00:11:56.400 So, yeah, let's see what this thing with the drilling on, you know, on the moon.

00:12:04.260 I noticed somebody else asking about a timeline on that, one of the commenters.

00:12:07.700 Yeah, and that's, they're looking, I guess, a rig is going to test the soil on the Artemis mission of 2024,

00:12:13.620 so not too, too far ahead.

00:12:14.680 But, I mean, we'll see how long it is before they get to the point where anything looks financially viable

00:12:20.820 to actually dig way the heck up there.

00:12:23.860 But who knows?

00:12:24.420 It's interesting stuff.

00:12:25.500 It's certainly science fiction sort of thing.

00:12:27.240 We talk about a last frontier for us to get into.

00:12:30.140 What I'm wondering, though, of course, is how long is it going to take before environmentalists lose it

00:12:34.460 and say we have to leave the moon pristine because there aren't an infinite number of them

00:12:39.220 in the rest of the universe out there.

00:12:40.600 So if we don't do that, you know, the world will end.

00:12:42.820 What if we change the climate on the moon?

00:12:44.860 I mean, that would be tragic, wouldn't it?

00:12:46.700 Could you imagine a heat wave on the moon or a cold snap?

00:12:49.360 I mean, all the moon life would be wiped out.

00:12:51.840 Oh, it would be terrible.

00:12:53.240 So don't worry.

00:12:54.080 We can be assured.

00:12:55.200 If somebody's got something in mind that's innovative, interesting, and has potential,

00:13:00.320 somebody's going to oppose it.

00:13:02.440 And chances are somebody in Canada will support that.

00:13:06.500 You know, like Dave was talking about.

00:13:08.440 So Norway, yeah, Norway's been expanding its North Sea work.

00:13:11.680 People keep pointing to them as this great example, as a world citizen and an energy producer

00:13:17.300 and things like that.

00:13:18.300 Well, that's fine. 0.99

00:13:19.820 But Canada, we're punching ourselves in the knackers. 0.74

00:13:22.260 We're shutting in our stuff.

00:13:23.700 It sounds like Alberta increased its oil production, and that's great.

00:13:26.280 But that's despite the efforts of the federal government.

00:13:30.480 It's despite Trudeau trying his hardest to make energy as unviable as possible in Canada.

00:13:37.260 Meanwhile, Norway is smart enough to say, hey, world demand is going up.

00:13:41.760 It's growing.

00:13:42.640 People want oil and gas, whether they like it or not.

00:13:45.480 It's like the ESG thing.

00:13:46.940 You can talk and virtue signal all you want.

00:13:49.240 When it comes to actually hitting the light switch and having the lights come on, that's

00:13:52.600 all that matters in the end.

00:13:54.100 And Norway realizes that.

00:13:55.820 You know, people talk about that massive fund that Norway has.

00:13:58.360 Why didn't Alberta do that? 1.00

00:13:59.340 Well, because Norway doesn't have Quebec.

00:14:01.600 It's a big difference.

00:14:02.400 It's a big anchor hanging around the neck of Alberta.

00:14:05.860 We've had to pay, of course, billions and billions in equalization.

00:14:08.740 Anytime we make money, we get it drained out of us to keep feeding our eastern parasitic 0.90

00:14:16.660 cousins there.

00:14:17.480 So, you know, it's not fair to make a direct comparison between Norway's resource management

00:14:23.260 strategies and Alberta's.

00:14:24.840 They're completely different.

00:14:26.960 And they have different challenges ahead of them.

00:14:28.620 Either way, hopefully, maybe.

00:14:29.760 You know, with the pragmatism, the expansion coming from Norway with expanding their conventional

00:14:34.940 energy exploration might inspire some of our decision makers in Canada to realize, yes,

00:14:39.800 we're getting left behind.

00:14:41.300 We've got to, you know, sure, eventually, eventually, maybe in a century, oil and gas

00:14:46.420 will no longer be used.

00:14:47.400 But that just tells us, well, let's get it out and use it while we can then and while

00:14:50.720 it's viable.

00:14:51.600 So maybe that'll sink in with a few folks.

00:14:54.000 Hard to say, though, because the folks in charge aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

00:14:58.120 So let's get on to talking about the head knife in the drawer in Ottawa.

00:15:03.020 And that's Justin Trudeau.

00:15:04.540 And author Mark Milkey has written a column recently on some of the differences between

00:15:08.780 the junior Trudeau and the senior Trudeau with their attitudes when it comes to individual

00:15:14.340 liberties.

00:15:15.420 So let's bring in Mark.

00:15:16.800 Hey, Mark, how's it going?

00:15:18.400 I'm great, Corey.

00:15:19.460 Thanks for having me on.

00:15:20.360 Happy Almost Canada Day.

00:15:21.980 It's almost there.

00:15:22.920 Yeah, it's kind of a good time to talk about this.

00:15:25.480 And it kind of ties into your last book there, in a sense.

00:15:29.560 I mean, you know, identity and individual rights, things like that.

00:15:33.920 I mean, they aren't mutually exclusive.

00:15:35.800 We can respect the individual while still having a collective identity, right?

00:15:40.140 Well, the collective, it's important to make distinctions.

00:15:43.500 And in the 1867 project, I quote Pierre Trudeau, of all people, on these distinctions.

00:15:48.940 Collective action, you know, I'm an individual guy, you know, rights kind of guy.

00:15:53.080 But obviously, there's a point for the collective, if you mean government, at some point, ostensibly

00:15:58.880 to do things that as individuals or, you know, private businesses can't be done, right?

00:16:03.380 I mean, only hardcore libertarians think, you know, maybe the trans-Canada should be privatized

00:16:08.240 or something in the highway.

00:16:09.600 But most people grasp or get that, you know, there's a need for government.

00:16:13.420 You know, you need government for courts.

00:16:14.660 You need governments for armies, you know, to fight the Nazis in the 1940s, that sort

00:16:19.220 of thing.

00:16:20.240 So, but the point is, the collective exists for that, but they have to treat us all equally.

00:16:27.020 The government has to treat us all equally as individuals.

00:16:29.260 That's the beauty of 500 years of enlightenment thought, and especially in the Anglosphere,

00:16:34.220 where he said the individual is worth something.

00:16:36.340 Treat the individual equally, morally equal, which means what?

00:16:39.440 Which means the state shouldn't be saying to me or you, you're going to be treated differently

00:16:44.080 because of your skin color, your ethnicity, where you were born, your gender.

00:16:47.960 Now, it took a long time to get there, probably until the 1950s and 1960s, really, in parts

00:16:53.440 of the world, or at least in the Western world, rather, especially in the United States.

00:16:57.320 Canada got there before that.

00:16:59.040 But we got there, and it's crystallized in Martin Luther King's famous 1963 speech that

00:17:04.680 he wanted to see a world, in the case of his country, where his children would be judged

00:17:09.300 on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

00:17:12.440 It took a long time to get there.

00:17:14.020 We have reversed, and we shouldn't have.

00:17:17.140 So people are, again, being treated as something other than individuals in law and policy.

00:17:21.660 But that's a long way of saying, yeah, look, the collective exists.

00:17:24.240 That's government, in essence.

00:17:26.140 But it shouldn't be allowed to take a whack at you or me or anyone else based on irrelevant

00:17:31.740 characteristics.

00:17:32.440 Yeah, well, and a totally different philosophy.

00:17:36.700 I mean, aside from the name Trudeau, and I guess the amount of loathing Western Canada

00:17:40.200 has for him, Justin Trudeau is quite different from his father.

00:17:43.980 I mean, Pierre Trudeau, among his many flaws or whatnot, though, he's still a classic liberal

00:17:48.780 in a number of ways, like things such as getting government out of the bedrooms of the nation.

00:17:53.420 That was, I think, some fine work on his part.

00:17:55.360 I mean, to give a little credit where we're doing, I don't give a lot to Trudeau's.

00:17:58.080 But that was important.

00:17:59.360 I was recognized.

00:18:00.040 These are adults.

00:18:00.640 These are individuals.

00:18:01.280 Their rights are paramount, and it's not our place to regulate that.

00:18:05.640 Whereas Justin Trudeau seems to be getting increasingly intrusive into the lives of individuals

00:18:10.900 and telling us how we're supposed to live.

00:18:13.260 Right.

00:18:14.260 Look, Pierre Trudeau was wrong in many things.

00:18:17.280 And, you know, to be fair to the historical record, he probably introduced a little bit

00:18:20.360 of, you know, collective, you know, group rights type thinking, you know, in part of

00:18:25.060 the Constitution because of the affirmative action clause or, you know, the equity clause,

00:18:29.160 as people call it.

00:18:29.780 I call it the racial and, you know, gender discrimination clause.

00:18:34.480 But, you know, Pierre Trudeau at least would argue he was consistent when it came to Quebec

00:18:38.080 and ethnic collective rights, right?

00:18:40.760 That the French could discriminate against the English. 0.56

00:18:43.560 And it's why he was such a fervent opposition, you know, oppositional figure, you know, to Quebec

00:18:49.740 ethno-nationalism.

00:18:51.000 But you're right.

00:18:51.840 Justin Trudeau has almost none of that, as far as I can tell.

00:18:55.500 He really believes that Canada is some sort of weird post-national state where you don't

00:18:59.880 have any core convictions.

00:19:00.800 And also that it's the government's role to discriminate against people based on the

00:19:07.520 fact that, you know, if you measure different groups, they have different outcomes. 0.87

00:19:10.040 But that's silly.

00:19:11.580 You know, the best performing cohorts in Canada are, you know, usually from East Asia.

00:19:16.180 Or if you're, you know, an Indian extraction, your ancestors.

00:19:20.820 And I mean, as in, you know, India in India, not indigenous.

00:19:25.040 And there are reasons for that.

00:19:26.400 Higher education levels, career choices, that sort of thing.

00:19:30.340 You have different outcomes between different groups because different choices, different

00:19:33.980 educational levels, different geography, different histories.

00:19:36.620 Very little of it has to do with racism these days.

00:19:40.000 But Justin Trudeau wants to micromanage outcomes to make us all equal, so to speak. 0.95

00:19:45.300 That's silly.

00:19:46.160 As the famous American economist Thomas Sowell once said, people, the same people in a family, 0.82

00:19:52.760 brothers and sisters who grow up, will have vastly different outcomes, even though they

00:19:56.080 have the same environment.

00:19:57.500 You can't always blame different outcomes on racism.

00:20:00.420 But that's what's driving a lot of this these days.

00:20:02.540 And again, Justin Trudeau, unlike his father, Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau understood that, you

00:20:09.240 know, it's very dangerous to give collectives power.

00:20:12.660 So you give a collective power based on its religion or language or ethnicity to lord it

00:20:17.940 over another collective.

00:20:18.960 Again, the best example in Canada is what French ethno-nationalists do to minorities, 1.00

00:20:23.260 including English.

00:20:24.560 Well, that's dangerous.

00:20:26.820 It's a liberal.

00:20:28.260 But it's also dangerous because people eventually clash over such things.

00:20:32.540 Well, let's say when we talk about, I guess, just, I mean, unity, it's a term we hear a

00:20:37.460 lot all the time.

00:20:38.520 But we seem to be, I think, I see more signs of regionalism and regional division and even

00:20:44.680 division within the regions now that identity politics are really sinking in.

00:20:49.020 The country is actually more fractured than ever, rather than working in a common direction.

00:20:54.960 It is.

00:20:57.640 Maybe provincial divisions have always been there, right?

00:21:00.580 The West, you know, Quebec, Atlanta, Canada.

00:21:03.840 I grew up in British Columbia and the Charlottetown Accord was on that referendum in 1992.

00:21:08.380 I can tell you most British Columbians, even more than Albertans, voted against it because

00:21:12.280 they didn't like the idea of Quebec having special status, which it's got all, you know,

00:21:18.340 it's got all but a name now.

00:21:21.480 So the divisions, I think, have been there, but they've exacerbated.

00:21:24.940 And now the federal government and others have brought in divisions based on color, based

00:21:29.160 on ethnicity, based on gender.

00:21:31.500 This is the wrong direction to go.

00:21:34.520 What's a more positive way to think about Canada on candidate?

00:21:38.080 Or what's a better way to go?

00:21:40.140 Well, it's the old fashioned, what is known as classical liberal, but today might be considered

00:21:44.360 small C conservative ideas that you don't, that you celebrate people based on who they

00:21:49.440 are as an individual.

00:21:50.580 You don't discriminate, discriminate against someone based on irrelevant characteristics.

00:21:55.360 And what that means is you celebrate the good ideas out there.

00:21:59.600 You know, the rights of the individual.

00:22:02.380 I mean, classical liberalism that came from John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft and the

00:22:06.480 rights of women can be, can be adopted by anyone.

00:22:09.520 These days, we see it in Hong Kong.

00:22:10.900 When Hong Kongers protest against Beijing and the crackdowns in Hong Kong over the last

00:22:16.180 several years, you would often see them raising the British flag.

00:22:19.500 Why?

00:22:20.100 They understood that the British inheritance, for example, is about the rights of the

00:22:24.220 individual, about capitalism, about the rule of law.

00:22:26.800 These are ideas and they're good ideas.

00:22:28.480 Anybody can unite around those and we should.

00:22:31.160 There's bad ideas that people can unite around and they have in history.

00:22:34.500 There's bad ways to unite and it's, you know, only my religion or my skin color or what

00:22:39.060 have you, and that's rife throughout history, which is why we shouldn't repeat it.

00:22:42.780 But for sure, Canadians can and should unite around laudable ideas that, you know, various

00:22:49.100 founders had a glimpse of and pushed to some degree.

00:22:53.100 But certainly in the 20th century, starting in the 1950s, Canadians were supposed to be

00:22:57.760 united around the idea of the equality of the individual and other beneficial aspects

00:23:03.200 of modern nation state, capitalism and the rest of it.

00:23:05.880 That's what we should actually unite around these days.

00:23:09.100 Great ideas, not identities.

00:23:11.040 Well, yeah, and we seem to have some, I guess, culture wars going on in Canada.

00:23:16.780 I mean, we've seen some of that just recently in Calgary.

00:23:19.780 City Hall didn't understand why a minor move such as getting rid of fireworks blew up the

00:23:24.260 way it did.

00:23:25.340 But it was because of the reasoning for it.

00:23:27.420 I mean, the bottom line is there are some people who feel that Canada Day is supposed to

00:23:31.100 be a day where we look at our shoes in shame.

00:23:33.720 It's supposed to be when we're supposed to dwell on the negatives that happened historically

00:23:37.060 within Canada.

00:23:37.780 And there certainly have been some negatives rather than taking one day, though, to say,

00:23:42.000 hey, we can still celebrate the positives while acknowledging the negatives.

00:23:46.400 I mean, they treat it as if it's mutually exclusive.

00:23:48.680 And it's I think it's really making Canadians depressed about their own history.

00:23:53.960 Well, that's one of the things we tried to approach in the 1867 project, right?

00:23:57.600 The new book that, you know, I and 19 other people wrote.

00:24:00.280 We tried to give people a sense of Canadian history with nuance, with balance, with informed

00:24:05.780 history, and also to kind of change the way some people view Canadian history.

00:24:10.920 I think the majority of Canadians think we should feel proud of Canada.

00:24:14.760 They may not, you know, and they're not part of the minority of the chattering classes that

00:24:18.940 thinks we should cancel Canada.

00:24:20.320 So I think most Canadians get that we should celebrate or cherish Canada.

00:24:24.380 They may not fully conceptually have worked out why or why the, you know, those who want

00:24:29.040 to cancel Canada are completely in the wrong.

00:24:31.840 And so what we try and do in the 1867 project is make people think about Canada.

00:24:37.700 And the best analogy I can give you, Corey, is Canada and other civilizations are like oak 0.99

00:24:42.740 trees, right?

00:24:43.680 They take time to grow, to build.

00:24:45.720 They're not perfect.

00:24:47.280 In history, you've seen what I would, the analogy would be diseased limbs.

00:24:51.420 Women didn't have the right to vote. 1.00

00:24:52.580 Indigenous folk were denied the right to vote in the late 1800s by parliament, finally given

00:24:57.060 it in 1960 under John Diefenbaker, that parliament.

00:25:01.500 Those were, you know, the bad policies were diseased limbs that were right to be pruned.

00:25:05.360 But that doesn't mean the project was a bad idea, that the oak tree, which shelters people,

00:25:09.700 is a bad idea.

00:25:11.400 Canada, as an oak tree, has sheltered tens of millions of people over the decades.

00:25:15.640 Unlike, say, Chairman Mao's China in 1960 in the Cultural Revolution, while Canada is 0.75

00:25:21.080 giving the vote, rightly, to Indigenous Canadians, Chairman Mao is persecuting his own people 0.99

00:25:26.940 and causing mass starvation and famine because of his ideological Marxist beliefs.

00:25:32.720 So it's not just that no nation is perfect.

00:25:35.600 That's obvious.

00:25:36.240 And no person is perfect.

00:25:37.560 The key question is, are certain united as preferable?

00:25:40.920 When Hong Kongers celebrate the ideas of freedom, the rule of law, capitalism, what they're saying

00:25:45.080 is, we prefer these to what's north of the border in Beijing.

00:25:48.620 And it doesn't matter if those ideas originated with John Stuart Mill and others in the 19th

00:25:52.760 century in London.

00:25:53.900 What matters is that they're a good idea and anybody can adopt them.

00:25:57.520 You don't have to be, you know, a white person to be an Indian and say capitalism is better

00:26:03.460 than socialism.

00:26:05.100 So, you know, you can take some of what the British left behind and leave what you don't 0.95

00:26:09.940 like.

00:26:10.640 And that's part of Canada.

00:26:12.280 And that's why we should celebrate Canada.

00:26:13.860 We got some great ideas.

00:26:14.960 We've had some great ideas for a very long time.

00:26:16.840 We abolished slavery before almost every country on earth.

00:26:20.180 We shouldn't look down to our shoes and be ashamed of that.

00:26:22.740 Slavery was once considered normal.

00:26:24.880 It wasn't.

00:26:25.420 It was evil, but it was considered normal.

00:26:28.080 And Canada got rid of it almost before any other country on the planet.

00:26:32.640 So rather than be ashamed of sort of Canada's past, it's like you have to ask the question,

00:26:37.980 why did we break away from that faulty thinking on slavery?

00:26:42.220 Well, there were reasons for that, which I won't go into now, but they matter.

00:26:45.680 And that's why we should cherish Canada and not cancel it.

00:26:48.500 So that's kind of it, which is the subtitle of the 1867 project.

00:26:51.940 Yeah, well, and so with what we've got going on out of Ottawa, though, and mixed signals

00:26:57.440 almost coming from the prime minister, but some of that is, I mean, is it a matter of

00:27:01.620 it being politically expedient for him to play these politics of division and identity?

00:27:05.340 Or has he really got actually some inherent core feelings, you know, that mold his ideology

00:27:11.460 that way?

00:27:11.920 Because, I mean, the first one perhaps can be changed if it's entrenched in him.

00:27:15.440 He might continue like this for the rest of his term.

00:27:18.920 Well, maybe both.

00:27:20.260 It's part good politics, he thinks, right?

00:27:23.020 If he tells people that, look, you know, privilege is a real thing, white privilege is, that it

00:27:29.780 plays well in certain communities, not all.

00:27:32.100 So it's partly politics.

00:27:33.420 But it's partly probably sincere belief, and I wouldn't rule that out either.

00:27:37.380 But he's mistaken.

00:27:38.500 Again, to quote Thomas Sowell, who I mentioned, I think, in my previous book, but also this

00:27:43.380 one, the 1867 project, Thomas Sowell tells a great story of how, look, if you look in

00:27:48.720 history, the Italians dominate the fishing fleets around the world.

00:27:52.380 The Swiss don't. 1.00

00:27:53.460 Is it because the world was systemically biased against the Swiss?

00:27:56.520 No.

00:27:57.280 The Italians have coastlines.

00:27:58.860 So you would expect over decades and centuries that the Italians to dominate the fishing 1.00

00:28:03.240 industry around the world in their fleets.

00:28:05.720 It's the same with, you know, simplistic looks that say, again, outcomes and incomes today.

00:28:10.600 There's a reason why indigenous Canadians are lower than, say, other Canadians, and why, 1.00

00:28:16.360 you know, those of Japanese, Chinese, or Taiwanese, or Korean ancestry at the top of the income

00:28:21.120 heap, because the latter are more educated.

00:28:24.440 The families are often more together, which matters to stability and other reasons.

00:28:29.440 So indigenous folk often are in rural locations, often on reserves, far from opportunities,

00:28:35.400 career-wise and education-wise.

00:28:37.080 So there's reasons, you know, and I think Trudeau, Justin Trudeau, simplistically looks

00:28:41.940 at differences in outcomes and goes, well, the reason must be due to racism.

00:28:46.100 Why would you be so monocausal, Mr. Prime Minister?

00:28:49.240 Yeah.

00:28:50.020 I mean, there can be, as you said, a number of factors, I guess, before closing out.

00:28:53.780 I mean, it's a very interesting book, The 1867 Project.

00:28:56.340 And you've got a number of our authors contributing towards that.

00:28:59.520 So it's an anthology or a collection of essays, I guess.

00:29:02.880 Before I let you go, then, where can people find your book and get themselves a copy?

00:29:07.700 The 1867 Project is available on Amazon.

00:29:10.860 You can also check out aristotlefoundation.org.

00:29:13.160 We've got some excerpts and videos there.

00:29:15.160 But Amazon will have The 1867 Project.

00:29:18.840 Great.

00:29:19.200 And just with the Aristotle Foundation, so that's a think tank here you're operating.

00:29:25.140 It's a new think tank that I and others have set up, about 30 senior fellows, a great board

00:29:29.360 of directors.

00:29:30.620 And we've already been publishing some material, including the 1867 Project.

00:29:34.600 But we set it up very simply to make people think.

00:29:38.060 Well, we need more people thinking, that's for sure.

00:29:40.580 There's never enough of that going on.

00:29:42.700 Well, thank you very much for joining us again today, Mark.

00:29:45.000 It's good to see you.

00:29:46.080 And I appreciate your work with the book and the foundation.

00:29:48.960 Is there anything you'd like to let the audience know before I let you go there?

00:29:52.000 Sure.

00:29:52.420 I think we need a return to reason, sensible democracy, and an old-fashioned word, civilization.

00:29:57.380 And that's also what the Aristotle Foundation is about.

00:29:59.860 So buy the book.

00:30:01.380 Check out the website.

00:30:02.700 And I think you'll be intrigued by what you see.

00:30:05.520 So thank you.

00:30:07.320 Great.

00:30:07.520 Excellent.

00:30:08.480 So that was Mark Milkey with the, yes, the 1867 Project.

00:30:12.420 He's been the author of a whole number of other books.

00:30:14.220 I still remember going way back to Tax Me, I'm Canadian.

00:30:17.240 I remember rushing out to grab that.

00:30:18.460 I believe it was in the 90s.

00:30:19.640 It was a great book when he was with the Taxpayers Federation.

00:30:23.260 So check it out.

00:30:24.760 There's always a lot of common sense coming from Mr. Milkey.

00:30:27.400 So I'm sure we'll talk again soon, Mark.

00:30:29.540 Thank you.

00:30:30.500 Great.

00:30:30.700 Thanks.

00:30:32.660 So, yes, lots to think about.

00:30:34.580 You know, and as I said, we need more thinkers, more people putting their ideas in.

00:30:38.360 And I like that statement he used, monocausal.

00:30:42.020 You know, when you look at a complicated issue, outcomes, things like that, and then, you know,

00:30:46.500 if Trudeau just simplistically points at one cause, it could be a contributing cause.

00:30:50.540 But there's a lot more to it.

00:30:53.240 So speaking of thinking a little harder, it's something I need to do now and then as well.

00:30:57.500 Something I want to talk about before we go.

00:30:58.760 I mean, I've still got a while before we go here, but just getting on to where I, you

00:31:03.520 know, rant a little bit.

00:31:04.920 It's a lesson I learned that I should know better just a couple of days ago.

00:31:08.580 So I was on Twitter, as I commonly am.

00:31:11.440 Those who know me, I spend a lot of time there.

00:31:13.540 I find things there.

00:31:14.500 You get good breaking news things.

00:31:15.800 There's not a great place for nuanced discourse, though, and things.

00:31:19.680 But you've got to watch it.

00:31:21.320 You've got to watch it on social media, of course.

00:31:24.120 And the way I've said it before a lot of times is we've got more access to information

00:31:27.360 than we've ever had in human history, but we've also got more access to BS than we've

00:31:32.300 ever had before.

00:31:32.920 So I saw a tweet a couple of days ago.

00:31:34.960 It came up.

00:31:35.420 It showed, some of you who were on Twitter might have seen it, this big husky balding

00:31:40.180 man with, he's out there playing rugby with a bunch of women and he's running.

00:31:46.160 And this Twitter story was saying that apparently during a rugby team, this guy's identifying

00:31:52.300 as trans and he joined the woman's team and three women got injured in a rugby match out

00:31:57.540 in Ontario because this great big husky man was among them playing.

00:32:01.520 You know, rugby is a very physical game.

00:32:03.360 This guy would have a great advantage over, of course, people who are, you know, biologically

00:32:07.480 women. 0.81

00:32:08.240 And he was, you know, you can envision them, him slamming them around like so many mannequins 0.75

00:32:12.620 on the field or whatnot.

00:32:13.540 But I was pretty outraged.

00:32:15.880 I mean, this is nuts.

00:32:16.700 This is a, I was actually thinking I'm going to write a column on this because there's so 0.91

00:32:19.420 many lines getting crossed, it's just getting so ridiculous with the trans world with, 1.00

00:32:23.620 with pushing on at least the activist end of things to the point of actually putting 0.72

00:32:28.560 women at risk now.

00:32:29.600 I mean, my thoughts were, this is a guy who is, um, probably somebody just wants to abuse 0.77

00:32:34.820 women. 0.81

00:32:35.140 I mean, he's not even trying.

00:32:36.100 He doesn't even look like he's dressed like a woman or anything like that.

00:32:38.980 Once I started researching, I couldn't, it didn't happen.

00:32:43.300 It didn't happen.

00:32:44.280 It's just a picture out of context with some text.

00:32:47.340 But I, I cannot, if it did happen, it's been scrubbed from history everywhere.

00:32:52.900 There's no rugby league in Ontario saying this happened.

00:32:56.060 There's no team members saying this happened on either team.

00:32:59.100 There's no news reports that this happened.

00:33:01.360 There's no eyewitness accounts saying that this happened.

00:33:04.520 It didn't happen.

00:33:06.220 And I fell for it. 0.92

00:33:07.980 I tweeted a couple of things with my usual rage tweeting, you know, saying how ridiculous 0.98

00:33:11.120 this is and how, you know, this is going to lead to broken necks with women. 1.00

00:33:14.320 And, and, uh, well, it won't because it didn't happen.

00:33:17.840 Now guys, it doesn't matter how outrageous things are getting them.

00:33:21.540 We don't need to go to the juicy, smaller level of making up controversy.

00:33:26.380 There's enough real ones happening already.

00:33:29.180 We discredit ourselves when we put stuff like that out there on social media.

00:33:35.940 And, uh, yeah, Tracy's saying it was on Sky News.

00:33:39.840 Yeah, it's getting around, but I can't find evidence of it.

00:33:43.800 I can't find it anywhere.

00:33:46.260 So if somebody can find real evidence, this is showing, that's what I mean.

00:33:50.080 Sky News, this is going international.

00:33:51.880 I saw some heavy duty Twitter accounts also of, of, of media personalities were sharing

00:33:56.320 this thing, but it's, to my knowledge, it didn't happen.

00:33:59.920 So this hurts things and it hurt.

00:34:05.240 I mean, it's Twitter.

00:34:06.220 I'm not going to heavily research everything I retweet or share or talk about.

00:34:10.060 And the reason I dug deeper was because I was considering writing a column on it.

00:34:13.420 And then of course, when I'm going to write and commit this to print or, you know, digital

00:34:17.340 print through the Western standard or wherever else I might be writing, I want to make sure

00:34:20.580 I've got all the facts done.

00:34:21.800 I want to find out where this happened, who it was, what's the name of the people involved,

00:34:25.240 all of that.

00:34:26.120 None of it's out there, guys.

00:34:27.620 Not a bit of it.

00:34:28.460 And it's not new, you know, stuff, like I said, being spread on social media, it happens

00:34:35.240 all the time.

00:34:36.060 We can all fall for it now and then too, but the responsibility does land on us.

00:34:40.140 See, this is where I get worried too.

00:34:41.540 This is part of the stuff that people like Trudeau used to say, see, see, this is why

00:34:45.060 we have to control conversation.

00:34:47.060 This is why we have to control social media.

00:34:49.100 This is why we have to get in there.

00:34:51.060 No, no, we have to be responsible for ourselves.

00:34:54.900 We have to fact check our own material.

00:34:56.960 We have to look into this stuff.

00:34:59.760 Because if we don't, it invites them to take that on.

00:35:02.980 And we know that they're only going to fact check what's practical for them.

00:35:07.100 So either way, I'm just saying I made a mistake, not in a huge way, at least any more so than

00:35:11.980 a lot of other people.

00:35:12.740 It was just Twitter.

00:35:13.500 I retweeted it, made a couple of statements.

00:35:15.160 I even got rid of the tweets afterwards.

00:35:16.400 There's no sense spreading more rage.

00:35:17.700 We've got enough things to be outraged with. 0.92

00:35:19.800 I mean, part of the reality too is things are so ridiculous and outrageous with the 0.80

00:35:23.680 extreme end of the trans activism that it was believable. 0.72

00:35:28.280 I mean, we see it with that Leah Thomas, this what, six foot two man who's a swimmer who's

00:35:34.400 just blowing women out of the water, you know, pun intended, on the swimming races throughout 0.99

00:35:39.060 the United States.

00:35:39.880 I mean, again, not even trying.

00:35:41.560 This isn't somebody who's presenting as a woman. 0.98

00:35:43.520 He's got all his junk and his parts intact, and he's just out there defeating women in 1.00

00:35:48.500 swimming pools. 0.98

00:35:49.660 But as outrageous as that is, it doesn't put them at physical risk.

00:35:54.480 It's still ridiculous, and the guys shouldn't be in there.

00:35:57.640 But the rugby story was different. 0.79

00:36:00.040 This was a person in a physical sport that theoretically would have really hurt somebody

00:36:05.500 if that was happening.

00:36:06.660 But again, as I said, as far as I can find, it did not happen.

00:36:10.440 But so we need to watch ourselves when we're on social media.

00:36:15.740 That's all, you know, all of us, including me.

00:36:18.300 And I mean, you know, real damage can get done.

00:36:21.080 I have a fair-sized Twitter following, and sharing and tweeting and getting on with those

00:36:25.320 things can spread a lot of mistrust or anger into an area for something that didn't happen,

00:36:30.140 and then it's just not good.

00:36:31.540 So speaking of the massive media in general, let's have a look at that.

00:36:34.560 You know, Rodriguez, our heritage minister, federally.

00:36:37.340 Basically, it's looking like Facebook isn't going to back down, guys.

00:36:41.580 They're going to start blocking news links out there.

00:36:45.200 Google might follow soon, too, based on C18, you know, which is a shakedown.

00:36:48.400 It's basically trying to steal money from social media companies to subsidize preferred

00:36:53.940 media companies by the government.

00:36:55.440 It's a disgusting policy move, and they're not having any of it.

00:36:59.640 And I don't blame them a bit. 0.97

00:37:00.660 You don't have to see some people, oh, screw Meta, to heck with Facebook. 1.00

00:37:03.820 I hate them. 0.99

00:37:04.200 I don't care. 0.93

00:37:05.020 You don't have to like them.

00:37:07.300 You don't have to like Zuckerberg or any of them.

00:37:09.760 But it doesn't mean they deserve to be robbed by the government and have the money given over

00:37:14.300 to other, you know, media outlets.

00:37:19.280 It's not right.

00:37:22.400 Don't like Facebook?

00:37:23.040 Don't go there.

00:37:23.480 Don't like Meta?

00:37:23.980 Whatever.

00:37:24.280 Don't like Google?

00:37:24.740 Don't use it.

00:37:25.100 Use Bing.

00:37:26.860 But this bill is terrible.

00:37:29.540 And so what is the response from Rodriguez?

00:37:33.100 Well, he said, we're going to dip in more, and we will just make sure to keep pouring more

00:37:36.760 money into the media outlets to cover any money lost if Facebook and all those block the links

00:37:41.960 to it.

00:37:42.240 They just won't back down on this battle.

00:37:45.000 This is bad, guys.

00:37:46.200 It's bad for news in general.

00:37:47.240 And yes, it could very much hurt the Western standard.

00:37:49.380 Something I'm going to put out for some self-serving advice.

00:37:53.360 But it's true.

00:37:54.420 Sign up for email access to your favorite media outlet, guys.

00:37:57.820 I know you get spammed.

00:37:58.940 You get all sorts of, you know, emails chronically from news organizations.

00:38:03.220 Once their name got your list, you keep getting them.

00:38:05.840 But it's important because that way they can reach you with news without having to go through

00:38:11.060 those social media platforms.

00:38:12.560 And we can still get the stories to you and still share these things because we don't know

00:38:17.520 where this is going to end.

00:38:18.540 We don't know where it's going to finish.

00:38:19.920 And you just might not be able to find the sites as easily.

00:38:23.040 I mean, they're always going to be there.

00:38:24.040 The site's there.

00:38:25.200 All the social media platforms do is funnel the traffic to them.

00:38:28.820 That's all.

00:38:29.520 They don't carry the content.

00:38:31.060 That's where a lot of people are mistaken.

00:38:32.100 Oh, Facebook's carrying and making money off the content.

00:38:34.020 No, they aren't.

00:38:35.420 No, they aren't.

00:38:36.100 They're just providing a link.

00:38:37.880 Likewise with Google.

00:38:39.800 But it's going to be a lot harder to find them.

00:38:41.960 And it's going to reduce traffic.

00:38:43.260 And if we reduce traffic, we reduce the advertising revenue we can get.

00:38:47.220 That means we can't provide as good a news as we did.

00:38:49.400 Or we don't get as many new subscribers.

00:38:51.580 It's just bad, bad, bad all around.

00:38:55.000 And unfortunately, I think it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

00:38:58.820 We're seeing in the news now that Post Media and the company who owns the Toronto Star,

00:39:03.460 you know, too big the remaining, you know, of the few media giants left in Canada.

00:39:07.860 They're all losing money hand over fist.

00:39:09.740 We're talking about merging now.

00:39:11.320 So then we'll just have one big losing entity.

00:39:14.080 I imagine it'll be easier to get the government welfare checks in.

00:39:16.880 But it won't fix media, unfortunately.

00:39:19.640 It's just a bigger version of the broken model.

00:39:23.340 We need to let legacy media die.

00:39:26.560 We need to let it go or evolve.

00:39:29.060 I'm not celebrating the lost jobs.

00:39:31.280 I'm not celebrating the loss of so many.

00:39:33.540 There are many, many good journalists.

00:39:35.260 I mean, loads of them out there in legacy media outlets, or they were.

00:39:38.680 But it's changed.

00:39:39.780 The whole media, you know, platform, the way it's done is different.

00:39:44.540 And these guys are holding on to outdated, obsolete models.

00:39:47.940 And they either have to adapt and scale down and get better, or they just got to go away.

00:39:54.180 Subsidizing them, pouring tax dollars into them, or stealing money from social media giants and giving it to them.

00:39:59.880 That won't save them.

00:40:01.320 That just puts off the inevitable at best.

00:40:04.720 But it also harms the smaller up-and-coming outlets like us with the Western Standard or True North or Epoch Times, Postmillennial, all those other ones.

00:40:14.020 They get hurt because there's still only so much market.

00:40:16.780 It's a tougher market now.

00:40:18.920 We're in a battle for information.

00:40:21.540 But, like I said, you know, kind of in a long, circular way, we have to make sure we fact-check our own information and get it out there.

00:40:29.800 Because when BS starts spreading, that's one of their favorite ways to make an excuse to get in there and interfere with the sharing of information online.

00:40:37.540 And we've got to check ourselves.

00:40:39.540 So when you see something and you find out that it's baloney going around, call it out.

00:40:45.220 Call it out online.

00:40:46.200 Shut it down.

00:40:47.460 Because, you know, it just gives them more reason to intervene.

00:40:51.600 And we do not want that.

00:40:52.680 Because they won't intervene for the sake of your truth or learning.

00:40:55.700 They'll intervene for their own sake.

00:40:57.020 We know that.

00:40:57.420 The government is self-serving. 1.00

00:41:00.040 Speaking of self-serving jerks, let's look at the Suzuki Foundation. 0.99

00:41:03.180 They're taking to the airwaves, it says, to tell the public that the liquefied natural gas industry is bad. 0.99

00:41:10.060 See, this is why we need independent media.

00:41:13.100 We need to report and counter the baloney that comes out of nutcases like David Suzuki and his gross foundation.

00:41:20.040 You know, the world is burning a lot of fuel, high emission fuel.

00:41:24.680 Most of the world is burning it, whether it's wood or coal or animal dung.

00:41:29.780 A lot of the developing world, they're using whatever they have to. 0.99

00:41:33.720 Liquified natural gas is one of the best developments to help mitigate and reduce the emissions.

00:41:39.160 No, it doesn't eliminate them, but it reduces them.

00:41:42.080 It's far less damaging than the other forms. 0.95

00:41:47.040 But we've got lunatics like the Suzuki Foundations and lunatics like Justin Trudeau who are saying there's no market for liquid natural gas, 0.71

00:41:54.780 even though we've got countries asking, begging almost, for the export of things like liquid natural gas. 0.95

00:42:02.480 The demand is there, but we're not allowing ourselves to fill it.

00:42:06.080 Other countries are filling it.

00:42:07.080 The United States is making a great deal of money exporting liquid natural gas to places like Germany.

00:42:13.520 Canada, on the other hand, has spent decades, still hasn't got a single drop of LNG off the coast yet.

00:42:21.560 Eventually, it looks like the Kitimat project might come into operation, but I'm at a point where I'll believe it when I see it.

00:42:28.440 And in the meantime, while billions are being invested, while years of fighting over the coastal gas link pipeline have gone on,

00:42:36.160 and it's getting close to completion where they can finally get a return on this, where some money will come back,

00:42:41.700 where you can sell some product or you can invest it back into your country. 0.88

00:42:45.660 Clowns like the David Suzuki Foundation are saying we should shut down liquid natural gas. 0.99

00:42:50.340 These extremists, and they are extremists, want us to economically kick ourselves in the balls, 1.00

00:42:57.220 and we can't let them get away with it. 0.98

00:42:59.600 We've got to push back.

00:43:01.100 So again, getting self-serving, as I like to do, that's why independent media is important,

00:43:06.860 because guys like him need to be countered.

00:43:08.880 They need to be called out.

00:43:09.940 We need the facts to get out there.

00:43:12.480 Or guys like Trudeau will hide behind extremists like David Suzuki,

00:43:16.660 and we will shut down viable energy alternatives, and it's harming the entire world.

00:43:24.120 Japan needs LNG.

00:43:25.960 India needs LNG.

00:43:27.940 Germany needs LNG.

00:43:29.200 We have it, and we can't get it out of here.

00:43:34.060 As Anita Salisbury, you know, a commenter saying, yeah, told Germany, you know,

00:43:39.140 Trudeau told Germany there was no business, and then he gives no business for LNG,

00:43:43.520 and he gives 13 billion tax dollars to a Volkswagen plant for batteries.

00:43:49.540 Nobody wanted that.

00:43:51.340 If it was financially viable, you don't need to give them that.

00:43:55.260 It's not that complicated. 0.87

00:43:56.460 But we've got an inept government. 0.96

00:43:59.780 We've got a corrupted government.

00:44:00.940 And as long as they can control information, we're in a lot of trouble, guys.

00:44:06.300 So we've got to stand up for ourselves, make sure our information is accurate,

00:44:10.680 and, yes, support your independent media outlets, guys.

00:44:14.460 Because, I mean, look at that.

00:44:16.200 You know, Toronto Star and Post Media are looking to merge.

00:44:18.720 I mean, just a horrible thought.

00:44:19.700 Just think of the giant, ugly, evil empire of media that'll become for a short time until they go broke, too.

00:44:24.180 But they're going to pull a lot of subsidies and a lot of influence both ways from the government to that media organization, the Toronto Star.

00:44:33.660 I mean, it's known as the Red Star.

00:44:35.080 Come on, guys.

00:44:35.960 And you want that to dominate the media landscape even more than it already does?

00:44:40.580 Scary stuff, actually.

00:44:41.960 Very distressing.

00:44:43.320 So, I mean, we need to make sure we have the alternatives out there, guys, because if we put it all into one basket with these sorts of media outlets like that, we're all going to be in trouble.

00:44:53.500 All right.

00:44:53.920 Well, let's get a report on the agricultural front from Jim Bousicum of Marketplace Commodities and see what's happening out there.

00:45:03.280 Hey, Jim.

00:45:03.840 Good to see you back again this week.

00:45:05.300 How are you doing?

00:45:06.300 Hey, doing great, Corey.

00:45:07.320 How are you doing today?

00:45:08.380 I'm all right.

00:45:09.040 I'm all right.

00:45:09.540 Always lots for me to rant on.

00:45:11.440 There you go.

00:45:12.200 There you go.

00:45:13.320 All right.

00:45:13.760 So I'll start with StatsCan acreage estimates came out this morning.

00:45:19.040 StatsCan collects these estimates going back into roughly the start of April.

00:45:24.940 So there can be some variants if farmers do change their seeding plans.

00:45:29.200 But, you know, really the short of it is on acreage estimates, if you look at the changes year over year, is that the crops that over the last year were really high in price.

00:45:43.300 So if you take Durham wheat, spring wheat, all wheat classes, barley, those acres are up roughly 20% on all wheat, up around 4% on barley.

00:45:54.960 And then some things that may be good prices, but not great prices, but not great prices the last year.

00:46:00.840 Pulse crops such as lentils and peas, relatively flat, not bad pricing, but not as good as maybe what some of the other commodities are.

00:46:11.220 Those acreages are down somewhere in 15% to 20% range.

00:46:15.420 Oats, also a big change year over year, down 35%.

00:46:20.460 And then fun fact, I bet most people listening here don't know it, but farmers actually grow a lot of canary seed of all things.

00:46:28.880 There's roughly 300,000 acres of canary seed on the prairies.

00:46:32.540 And it's not a major commodity by any means, but I thought just fun fact to throw it out there.

00:46:37.900 And it's just really used for feeding birds.

00:46:40.600 That's all it is.

00:46:41.220 So, as far as commodities go for the rest, we're still right in the middle of a weather market.

00:46:51.520 Prices are extremely volatile.

00:46:53.940 We're seeing a lot of price range on a week-to-week basis on whether it rains or doesn't rain.

00:46:59.800 We've seen good parts of Western Canada get rains, howbeit there's still dry areas going along the eastern side, western side of Saskatchewan,

00:47:10.380 eastern side of Alberta, that is.

00:47:12.140 And so we've got a few more hoops to go through before we have another crop in the bin.

00:47:17.260 All right.

00:47:17.840 Yeah, just a note before I let you go.

00:47:20.080 We did, I mean, it was a couple weeks ago when we spoke, and things were looking very, very bleak for the rain, though.

00:47:25.040 And we did, as you said, get some at least in the western end of Alberta.

00:47:27.800 Was it too late, or did it make a difference, at least for some?

00:47:31.520 It wasn't too late.

00:47:32.600 It, it, there's certainly some individuals and some areas that the rain came somewhat too late.

00:47:41.040 It takes away the optimal production, but you can still come out with an average production in western Canada.

00:47:47.380 Howbeit, like, I am aware of it.

00:47:49.020 We talk to farmers all day long.

00:47:50.680 There are areas, in Alberta especially, that are basically close to zero production right now.

00:47:56.900 Likewise, there's some really, really good areas.

00:48:00.340 And I know this is an Alberta show, but down in Montana, they have bumper crops coming up.

00:48:07.420 Montana is only 100 kilometers away from Lethbridge, so a lot of those grains, if they're feed quality, they can work their way up into Alberta.

00:48:15.900 Well, it's the luck of the draw year by year, I guess.

00:48:18.860 Nobody ever said it was an easy industry.

00:48:21.360 There you go.

00:48:22.120 So, all right, well, thanks for the updates, Jim, and, well, let's keep hoping things stay decently strong, and we'll check in with you again soon.

00:48:31.400 All right, thanks a lot.

00:48:32.320 Bye-bye.

00:48:32.920 Thank you.

00:48:33.840 So, that was Jim Buzicum of Marketplace Commodities.

00:48:36.920 Yeah, that whole agricultural market, like I said, Paradox, he's saying that the bird seed, I didn't know that.

00:48:41.160 Yeah, I didn't either.

00:48:41.940 I saw that in the list on the image, you know, canary seed.

00:48:45.240 I thought maybe it was a term for some sort of food crop, you know, and they call it that or something.

00:48:49.520 But, no, I guess it's bird seed.

00:48:51.040 I mean, somebody has got to grow somewhere, right?

00:48:52.780 It makes sense.

00:48:53.800 So, why not diversify your crops, grow something a little different out there.

00:48:58.140 And, yeah, it's small relative to the others, but when you're talking 300,000 acres, it's still a sizable chunk of land out there.

00:49:05.820 So, well, cool.

00:49:07.620 You know, the more you know.

00:49:08.540 There, see, we've got our little educational parts of this show.

00:49:11.300 It's not just me rambling and twisting your ear with my anger and rage on things, though.

00:49:16.980 I mean, we do dominate with a lot of that.

00:49:20.020 Let's see what else we've got going on.

00:49:21.580 Yeah, an interesting story with Canada today approaching.

00:49:25.500 The citizenship, you know, so we put out a thing, the citizenship survey.

00:49:28.320 If you want to become a citizen of Canada, you have to answer a bunch of questions about, you know, the country.

00:49:33.440 And we were asking them around the newsroom a little bit.

00:49:35.380 Dave was asking them.

00:49:36.220 And because this survey found 1,500 Canadians that only 23% would actually pass the citizenship test.

00:49:42.940 These are people already here based on answers to 10 randomly selected questions.

00:49:46.440 And he was asking those questions that I couldn't get them either.

00:49:49.180 I'd fail the citizenship test, I think, if I had to go through it.

00:49:52.840 You know, it's important to have these tests, obviously.

00:49:55.640 And I suspect committed new Canadians are going to read, you know, and study and be very careful.

00:50:01.000 And they'll make sure to pass these tests.

00:50:02.660 But the homegrown Canadians, I guess we're lapsing or lagging on our own history.

00:50:07.300 We aren't as well educated on the nation as the new Canadians coming in are. 1.00

00:50:13.740 So that's a bit of a, I don't know, I can speak to our education or I can speak to our attitudes or speak to a number of things.

00:50:18.720 An interesting thing to come out before Canada, you know, to find that most of us, I mean, at least I'm not alone. 0.97

00:50:22.720 The majority of us wouldn't pass that darn test.

00:50:26.540 Another interesting thing, just seeing it unfold, I'll finish up with two. 0.97

00:50:30.320 I'm really hoping, you know, and I can do, I probably will do whole shows on it down the road.

00:50:35.540 But it's health care.

00:50:36.580 It's just always ongoing.

00:50:37.840 It's always big.

00:50:38.820 I'm really hoping that Premier Smith maintains the courage to get in there and reform it and do some stuff and shake that Alberta Health Services tree.

00:50:46.760 And we're seeing just how ugly it's getting.

00:50:48.760 This whole thing with Dr. Dina Hinshaw.

00:50:51.120 Now, whether she was fairly traded or not fairly, I don't know.

00:50:53.520 She was the person who was, you know, the head of, you know, the public health officer while the pandemic hit.

00:51:00.560 None of them, that's not a good position to be in, I think, for anybody at that point.

00:51:04.460 I'm sure through a lot of it, she wishes she was just back in her office in a cubbyhole somewhere in the legislative buildings

00:51:10.980 and tracking, you know, venereal disease outbreaks at high school dances rather than dealing with COVID.

00:51:15.720 But she got caught in the middle of it and rightly or wrongly, whatever, she got fired eventually once Smith came in.

00:51:24.180 Partly due to some of the actions Hinshaw did or I think partly was just just followed from her doing what she was told to do by the county government.

00:51:30.540 But it doesn't matter.

00:51:31.060 She was gone.

00:51:31.700 But then we find out recently, no, she's back.

00:51:34.420 She's been hired into a different department.

00:51:37.160 And then they said, no, no, no, no, that was fake.

00:51:38.980 It was a fake letterhead and everything else.

00:51:40.580 Well, no, it turns out it really was real.

00:51:42.460 And she got unhired is the way they're putting it because I think she never quite got started.

00:51:45.980 And now a bunch of doctors are having a temper tantrum over it.

00:51:49.840 Talk about politics in our health care provision, guys.

00:51:52.800 You know, the amount of noise and who hired her and how this is going on is just showing what a bureaucratic nightmare the health care administration and system is. 0.97

00:52:03.840 What a mess.

00:52:05.340 What a bloody mess.

00:52:06.520 End to end.

00:52:07.240 And they're all fighting with each other.

00:52:08.740 Doctors fighting.

00:52:09.960 Look, we need to decentralize.

00:52:11.480 And this is in every province.

00:52:12.660 It isn't just Alberta.

00:52:13.740 That's the thing that we have to say.

00:52:14.880 Every opposition party claims that their province is the worst on the planet.

00:52:18.240 Well, no, actually, if you go across the country, every province has the same problem going on.

00:52:22.360 Every one of them.

00:52:23.600 Because none of them will change the system.

00:52:25.720 None of them have the courage to take on their own bureaucrats and unions.

00:52:29.100 I'm hoping Daniel Smith will be the first one to have the courage to take that on.

00:52:31.840 So, yeah, it looks like a bit of a debacle with this in Henshaw, out Henshaw, and 100 doctors whining.

00:52:37.060 And, you know, it's the same 100 doctors who complain.

00:52:39.880 There's Dr. Vipond and others.

00:52:41.540 They're all NDP members and union supporters. 0.99

00:52:44.300 It's just the same old stuff and the legacy media feeding that crap. 0.93

00:52:47.840 But either way, a little bit of chaos, hopefully, is an indication. 0.94

00:52:52.380 Of actual reforms coming.

00:52:53.960 Because they're going to fight Smith tooth and nail.

00:52:56.100 The status quo is going to fight.

00:52:58.020 And so, like I've said in the past, she's got to stand strong.

00:53:00.080 She's got to push back.

00:53:01.000 She's got to reform that system. 1.00

00:53:02.540 Or we're all going to lose.

00:53:04.300 All right.

00:53:04.800 Well, that's enough for today, guys.

00:53:06.180 I've covered quite a bit of ground.

00:53:08.520 I will let you all go back to your summer days.

00:53:11.220 So, thank you very much for joining us today, guys.

00:53:14.220 And we will be back again with another guest.

00:53:16.260 More ranting, more news, and all that good stuff next week at this time.

00:53:20.000 So, I'll see you then.

00:53:20.620 Here's what commodity prices are doing in Lethbridge today.

00:53:26.380 Cash barley is steady at $4.20.

00:53:28.720 Feed wheat is down $5 at $4.15.

00:53:31.660 And corn is down $15 at $4.03 per metric tonne.

00:53:34.900 In the milling wheat markets, July Minneapolis futures dropped $0.27 to $8.06 per bushel,

00:53:40.860 with local hard rate spring bid for July movement at $10.50 per bushel.

00:53:45.600 Looking at canola, nearby futures fell $29.40 at $7.09.90 per tonne,

00:53:51.820 with delivered rise for July movement at $16.32 per bushel.

00:53:55.640 In the pulse markets, nearby red lentil prices are trading at $0.33.5 per pound,

00:54:00.380 and yellow peas are steady at $11.25 per bushel.

00:54:02.940 And in the cattle markets, August live cattle are higher $0.27.5 at $1.79.56 per hundredweight.

00:54:10.880 For more information on pricing or picked up options, give me a call at 403-394-1711.

00:54:17.820 I'm Matt Musicum at Marketplace Commodities.

00:54:20.480 Accurate, real-time marketing information and pricing options.

00:54:23.980 Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

00:54:25.920 Without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long, long ago.

00:54:30.300 These guys are on the front lines, helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation in Canada.

00:54:38.180 And more importantly, educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

00:54:43.480 We've become a member. It's absolutely worth every penny.

00:54:46.260 Thank you.

00:54:47.540 Thank you.

00:55:06.200 Thank you.

00:55:07.980 We'll see you next time.

00:55:11.380 Awesome.

00:55:11.940 Thank you.

Western Standard - June 28, 2023

Cory Morgan Show. The age of ESG has finally ended

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