Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： The Sixties Scoop saved lives

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

00:00:29.500 First one of October.

00:00:31.640 I just can't stand winter, so I just see this as winter moving its way in.

00:00:35.540 But whatever, I guess I should set aside the dread.

00:00:37.460 On the bright side, it's the political season ramping up to lots of stuff going on,

00:00:42.320 lots of stories for weenies and wonks and nerds like me,

00:00:45.600 and I'm sure many of you in the audience, this is the prime time for it.

00:00:48.340 The legislature should be sitting soon.

00:00:49.880 The federal government's already sitting.

00:00:51.700 Got a municipal election happening in Alberta.

00:00:53.740 I'm going to have one of the candidates for mayor on shortly, Sonia Sharp.

00:00:58.320 We're going to talk about her campaign a little bit,

00:01:01.140 and we'll cover a lot more of the other news going on out there.

00:01:04.620 So for those who took part in it or noticed it or whatever,

00:01:07.860 you might have noticed every radio station was unlistenable all day.

00:01:10.880 Yesterday, it was Orange Shirt Day or Truth and Reconciliation Day,

00:01:16.220 the fabricated holiday by Justin Trudeau to try and pacify people over the hoax of bodies

00:01:22.560 having allegedly been found in Kamloops.

00:01:24.940 Either way, I got to listen to a lot of that mythology going on out there and revisionism,

00:01:31.180 and it just inspired me to write about the 60s scoop.

00:01:34.460 Let's talk about the 60s scoop.

00:01:35.760 It refers to a period when the government, through social services agencies,

00:01:38.580 took thousands of indigenous children from households over the period of a couple of decades

00:01:42.980 and put them into foster care.

00:01:45.380 Many of those children ended up permanently adopted.

00:01:47.280 Now, as has been the trend lately, every government action has been retroactively declared to be genocidal,

00:01:53.100 and compensation, of course, has been demanded.

00:01:55.440 Kids taken in the 60s scoop are now referred to as survivors,

00:01:58.660 and those kids are survivors indeed, but not of the government action.

00:02:02.120 They're survivors thanks to the government action.

00:02:04.840 The government just didn't randomly snatch children from a household. 0.66

00:02:07.780 They were only taken from situations where they were in danger.

00:02:10.500 The problem is there are and were thousands of households in dire conditions,

00:02:15.340 and the government had to intervene.

00:02:17.520 Indian reserves are and were socioeconomic disasters across Canada. 1.00

00:02:22.880 Thousands of children live in squalor, neglect, and abuse in these racial enclaves we call reserves. 1.00

00:02:28.380 In the 60s, as with now, addiction and dysfunction overwhelms thousands of families living on these reserves.

00:02:33.900 Children are dying from neglect, abuse, and even house fires as parents are lost and busy with their addictions.

00:02:39.380 The most inhumane action that could have been taken in the 60s

00:02:42.160 would have been to leave the children in the circumstances they were in.

00:02:44.340 The government, of course, then would have been blamed for the harm coming to the kids if it hadn't stepped in.

00:02:49.000 In the spirit of revisionism, the government's been portrayed as some evil institution

00:02:53.200 determined to snatch kids at every opportunity and put them into state care whether they needed it or not.

00:02:58.960 And look, I'm far from a fan of the government, and I often question its motivations,

00:03:02.820 but let's not pretend the government was eager to intervene into the catastrophe occurring on Indian reserves across the nation.

00:03:07.680 There were many other priorities they would have preferred to work on rather than mire themselves in the contentious issue of intervention.

00:03:14.880 They had no choice.

00:03:16.800 Rather than stand up for its options, though, of course, the government's bent over and apologized.

00:03:22.040 Settlements have followed and demands for more funds are going to continue for generations.

00:03:25.680 Even worse than the apology has been the changes to child welfare policies made in response to the issue.

00:03:32.200 Child welfare services have bent over backwards to keep children in Indigenous houses even when it harms the child. 1.00

00:03:38.100 Some of the cases due to this have been horrific.

00:03:40.300 Senator Paula Simons wrote on the tragic case of baby Serenity,

00:03:43.480 who was a toddler taken from her parents and given to other caregivers in the family.

00:03:47.860 Serenity was abused and died a terrible death under the care of these relations.

00:03:51.920 Would she have been worse off in a foster home outside the reserve?

00:03:55.600 That family, by the way, tried to sue Simons for writing about it.

00:03:58.320 Getting more money and covering up the problem tends to be the path activists take rather than seeking solutions,

00:04:02.540 just as the Siksika band has tried charging me for trespassing after I exposed the squalor on their reserve,

00:04:08.220 despite their recently receiving $1.2 billion.

00:04:11.060 More recently, Sonia Pasqua and Michael Sinclair had their child taken from them due to their abuse of it.

00:04:17.240 They lobbied.

00:04:18.580 Had the child returned to them.

00:04:19.800 According to court documents, the couple referred to their child as a paycheck before they scalded the toddler to death.

00:04:26.260 They were only sentenced to a few years, by the way.

00:04:27.940 This was just recently in Alberta, and likely thanks to Gladue principles,

00:04:32.560 they'll be free to breed and murder again.

00:04:36.140 Children have died terrible deaths due to an obsession keeping kids with Indigenous families, 1.00

00:04:40.340 no matter how unfit the families may be.

00:04:43.140 There's a huge blind spot in Canadian policy with Indigenous people.

00:04:46.560 It's an utter refusal to admit the reserve system is a complete catastrophe, no matter how much money is thrown at it.

00:04:52.200 I mean, look at Newfoundland.

00:04:53.060 People were horrified when images of children huffing gasoline and living in terrible conditions were released from Davis Inlet in the 1990s.

00:04:59.220 The town was so run down, the government actually built an entirely new town a few miles away down the coast and moved everybody there.

00:05:06.300 They couldn't even fix the mess that was there.

00:05:08.600 Follow up, a decade or two later, the new town's in shambles,

00:05:11.960 and kids were found left alone in a house huffing gasoline surrounded by loaded shotguns,

00:05:16.720 and they were there for days.

00:05:18.200 Would it be a scoop to remove the children from this situation? 0.63

00:05:21.460 Do we have to wait for more to die?

00:05:23.620 With Davis Inlet, the government dodged the underlying issue,

00:05:26.700 and of course they got the same outcome.

00:05:28.380 Governments do things wrong all the time.

00:05:30.440 The treatment of Indigenous people in Canada is rife with abuse and race-based laws were terrible.

00:05:34.080 The government has one primary role, though,

00:05:36.700 and that's to care for those who are being harmed by others, like stop the harm.

00:05:40.960 The government must step in to take care of those who can't take care of themselves. 1.00

00:05:45.500 Because of the revisionist PAP coming from the 60s scoop, children are dying.

00:05:49.800 We must look at the root of the issue, and that's the utter and complete failure of the reserve system.

00:05:54.140 In the meantime, children are at risk, and they must be removed from dangerous households,

00:05:58.420 no matter which race they happen to be.

00:06:00.500 All right, well, let's see what else is going on in the news out there post-Truth and Reconciliation Day.

00:06:06.940 What's happening, Dave?

00:06:07.700 Good. How was your day? Did you do a land acknowledgement?

00:06:10.760 I didn't do another one today.

00:06:11.960 I know I've got to get into the habit of that chant, you know,

00:06:13.780 reminding everybody that I own my land and it was permanently ceded in Treaty 7.

00:06:17.720 Exactly, exactly.

00:06:19.120 So there you go, very busy morning.

00:06:21.400 Some great Alberta news today.

00:06:23.280 It looks like we're going to be proposing a new pipeline.

00:06:25.720 Premier Smith will be having a press conference at 1.30, but the Globe and Mail has got a leak on it,

00:06:34.140 and they're saying it's going to be an Alberta to B.C. pipeline,

00:06:39.720 and it's all going to be planned out with the help of Enbridge, South Pole Corporation, and Trans Mountain.

00:06:45.760 Trans Mountain has a bit of experience in building pipelines, Corey.

00:06:50.520 So more details coming up, but obviously this is going to be a huge announcement for Alberta and the oil patch.

00:06:58.380 And it's over to you, Mr. Carney, and over to you, Mr. Eby, to see what they have to say about it.

00:07:07.300 In B.C., the Conservative leader, Rustad, our Jared Jagr, got an exclusive interview with him,

00:07:13.220 and he is thrilled and excited and promises that he will do all he can do to get the pipeline going.

00:07:22.820 Several provinces raised their minimum wage today, now leaving Alberta as the lowest minimum wage in the country.

00:07:31.380 And our Chris Oldcorn has got a column on arguing not to raise it because of the economic problems that it will bring,

00:07:38.580 including main layoffs of younger people in those minimum wage jobs.

00:07:44.420 The Alberta Prosperity Project is back from another visit to Washington.

00:07:50.600 Their spokesman, Jeff Rath, while not revealing who he met, said it was pretty senior guys,

00:07:56.300 one degree away from the White House, apparently.

00:07:58.880 And they were very interested in listening to Alberta.

00:08:05.860 And a member of the Lawrence Bishnois, I don't know how to pronounce it, Lawrence Bishnois gang.

00:08:11.800 Anyways, they're a Southeast Asian gang.

00:08:14.740 He's been jailed in Vancouver Island for many years for shooting into a house and setting a car on fire.

00:08:21.620 So one of them was caught, he's been sentenced, and one of them is on the run,

00:08:26.300 and we've got a picture of him on the website.

00:08:28.720 So, and now the biggest problem of the day, Corey, my parents are arriving tomorrow for a visit.

00:08:36.280 I haven't even done my spring cleaning yet.

00:08:38.500 So do you mind coming over after work and giving me a hand?

00:08:41.680 You haven't seen my place, have you?

00:08:43.460 No, I haven't, because you've never invited me.

00:08:45.560 No, there's a reason for that.

00:08:47.020 You know, it's a clean freak.

00:08:49.980 Well, it's not unhealthy, but it's not spick and span over there.

00:08:54.540 We hire people for the suite.

00:08:56.360 Oh, yeah.

00:08:56.800 I was going to say, you don't have an Airbnb to keep clean?

00:08:59.840 Oh, yes.

00:09:00.160 Jane keeps that area immaculate.

00:09:01.620 Okay.

00:09:02.400 So your answer is no.

00:09:03.900 I'm afraid I wouldn't be of much help.

00:09:05.720 But I mean, it's great to see the parents coming out for a visit.

00:09:08.060 Well, yeah, they do.

00:09:08.980 And in their younger days, my mom literally used to bring three vacuums, 1.00

00:09:13.140 and she would get started like 10 minutes after arriving,

00:09:16.240 and how can you live like this type stuff?

00:09:19.820 So, yeah, I guess I'm going to have a late night cleaning that up.

00:09:22.880 Oh, well, you need that motivation to get around to it.

00:09:26.160 Exactly.

00:09:26.740 Spring cleaning in autumn.

00:09:28.000 Yeah.

00:09:28.380 We should have a big party at our place,

00:09:30.620 and then I'll be motivated to do an end-to-end on it.

00:09:32.760 There you go.

00:09:33.820 There you go.

00:09:34.420 I look forward to it.

00:09:35.260 All right.

00:09:35.680 Well, thanks, Dave.

00:09:36.560 And I guess we'll see you on the pipeline a little later.

00:09:38.500 Yes, I'm filling in for Derek, who's gallivanting again somewhere.

00:09:42.240 So, yeah, we'll talk then.

00:09:44.180 Right on.

00:09:45.200 Great.

00:09:45.440 Thank you.

00:09:45.980 Thank you.

00:09:46.480 And as our news editor, Gabe Naylor, lots of stories going on, lots breaking.

00:09:49.640 I know there's some press conferences going on today and things too,

00:09:52.440 so keep an eye on the Western Standard site.

00:09:54.200 There's going to be stuff coming up as that news breaks and as it goes.

00:09:57.900 And this is the time, again, I like to remind everybody this is the way we pay the bills.

00:10:02.360 This is how we can have Dave out there doing that news editing and curating things,

00:10:06.740 having those reporters on the ground, is you guys to subscribe.

00:10:09.440 So check it out, westernstandard.news slash subscription.

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00:10:25.520 And if you haven't subscribed yet, come on, guys, get on with it.

00:10:29.800 It's well worth it.

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00:10:34.040 All right, before I get to the guest, I'll talk a little bit about something else.

00:10:37.860 You've probably seen that going on in the news last night.

00:10:40.220 And that was more the night before last, the final Alberta Next meeting.

00:10:44.780 And boy, it looked like it turned into quite a scene there, didn't it?

00:10:48.700 And Bruce McAllister, who was moderating that event, he messed up.

00:10:54.760 He messed up.

00:10:55.640 But looking at the framing of it, what I strongly suggest people do is check online,

00:10:59.520 look around, look at X.

00:11:01.980 I posted that video on my X account, just a couple minutes of it, to see exactly what happened.

00:11:06.420 Because I was listening to radio coverage.

00:11:08.360 And this is why I want to remind you folks why independent media is important.

00:11:11.360 And the radio coverage went and clipped the audio from what happened there,

00:11:15.740 from the point of where a young fella asked a question, straight to where Bruce unwisely said

00:11:23.440 that the kid should be put over his parent's knee.

00:11:25.580 But what was missed was the minute in between.

00:11:28.440 If you watch the whole video, you kind of see what's going on.

00:11:30.580 Part of the problem was, and maybe part of why I've got more sympathy for this is because

00:11:35.900 I have moderated meetings and I have had to chair things and deal with this.

00:11:40.600 They'd said repeatedly at this meeting, everybody has to stay on topic.

00:11:44.160 It's an Alberta Next meeting.

00:11:45.340 It's not open mic.

00:11:46.300 It's not bring up every pet issue.

00:11:48.520 The kid got up there with a phone in front of his face, reading clearly from a script,

00:11:52.420 the union talking points of the teacher's union.

00:11:54.880 He got a good 30 seconds into it.

00:11:58.000 You're only supposed to get 45 seconds before the mic was cut off.

00:12:01.240 And then you can see with the visual of it, the kid went bananas when the mic was cut off

00:12:05.400 and started screaming and shouting.

00:12:07.760 This is what led, and again, still unwisely, to have Bruce lose his composure

00:12:12.240 and talk about how the kid should be put over his knee. 0.94

00:12:15.020 But you got to remember, these meetings, there's been 10 of them.

00:12:18.260 This is the way the game's played, guys.

00:12:19.740 The union groups get in there.

00:12:20.800 They try to stack it.

00:12:21.660 They stack the mics.

00:12:22.520 They disrupt the meetings.

00:12:23.440 Listen to the crowd in the background and all the people screaming and shouting back there too.

00:12:27.180 Guess who they were?

00:12:28.740 Teacher's union.

00:12:30.380 Go to enough meetings, you see how these games are played, unfortunately.

00:12:33.540 I think, again, McAllister made a terribly unfortunate decision.

00:12:37.560 He, you know, apologized for that shortly afterwards.

00:12:40.360 But people are framing it as if it was some affront to free speech

00:12:43.540 or he never should have cut off the mic.

00:12:45.180 What are you supposed to do at these meetings then?

00:12:47.180 Let everybody just bring up every subject they please.

00:12:49.540 And then the hundreds of people who came out to hear about the five subjects of the,

00:12:53.100 or six or whatever it is, the Alberta next pile, don't hear anything on those subjects

00:12:56.360 because people just took it wherever they pleased.

00:12:58.860 The kid came to abuse the process.

00:13:00.660 And he got his mic cut off as he should have.

00:13:03.940 Unfortunately, they won.

00:13:06.660 There was a person online described it best in that they drew a penalty

00:13:09.340 because in finally getting under the skin of the moderator long enough,

00:13:13.680 everything else that was discussed at the meeting was lost and forgotten in the public realm

00:13:17.580 while everybody went on about how Big Bad Bruce cut off the microphone on a kid

00:13:21.120 and talked about having him being spanked. 0.99

00:13:23.600 Either way, just be more careful out there, Mr. McAllister.

00:13:26.560 And other folks, look at the whole video before freaking too much out about this.

00:13:30.440 This was just a political posturing on both sides and both playing,

00:13:33.580 I think, a bit of an ugly game.

00:13:34.860 All right, let's get to my guest.

00:13:36.200 Got somebody in person in studio.

00:13:37.740 Sonia Sharp, candidate for mayor in Calgary.

00:13:41.140 How's the campaign going?

00:13:42.320 Great.

00:13:42.760 I have 18 days.

00:13:44.120 Yes.

00:13:44.560 It's going fast all of a sudden, isn't it?

00:13:46.220 Yeah, it's great.

00:13:46.640 It's been really good.

00:13:47.460 Great.

00:13:47.720 Well, I appreciate you coming in today.

00:13:49.880 Thanks for having me.

00:13:50.480 I've got lots to cover.

00:13:51.220 It's been an interesting one coming up this time.

00:13:53.640 Normally, to be honest, a campaign with an incumbent mayor tends to be dull

00:13:58.260 because they get reelected with, you know, a massive showing of support.

00:14:01.480 But it's not looking very likely in this particular circumstance.

00:14:05.460 I guess we'll start with, just to get you to start with the clip of why then you should

00:14:10.080 be the person who would replace Mayor Gondek and why she needs to be replaced.

00:14:13.560 I know you want to speak more on the positives of your team.

00:14:15.080 Yeah.

00:14:15.500 But why then is it time now to change out a mayor when she's only been for one term? 1.00

00:14:19.620 I think what's important is certain people are suited for the right positions to lead.

00:14:26.300 And you can see a bit of a lack of leadership the last four years.

00:14:29.500 Calgarians are not happy.

00:14:31.240 I mean, I'm on a council that is the most disliked council ever.

00:14:35.860 And so if there were better options out there, I wouldn't be running for mayor.

00:14:39.980 But there isn't in my mind.

00:14:41.420 And I don't think in Calgarians' mind.

00:14:42.960 So I'm running to, you know, make this a safe and affordable city that works for everyone.

00:14:47.120 And the biggest thing that we've lost over the four years is trust.

00:14:51.180 And so I want to regain that trust back from you and the Calgarians and trusting City Hall

00:14:56.220 and myself.

00:14:57.420 Great.

00:14:57.860 So another dynamic that's new in this election is the party element.

00:15:01.800 This is the first time it's around.

00:15:03.120 I mean, to be honest, I've always wanted to see this sort of thing evolve.

00:15:06.280 I'm watching it evolve now.

00:15:07.460 It looks a little shaky.

00:15:08.620 I think perhaps in the long run, it's going to be a better development.

00:15:11.620 But I want to ask about one of the risks.

00:15:13.180 Like let's say, presumably, and it's a fair question for people with parties, that you

00:15:16.760 became the next mayor and a number of fellow party members were in council with you.

00:15:22.140 How do you maintain the independence of yourself or the council members if you have

00:15:26.580 disparities of views on certain policies and issues when you have as well a party that

00:15:30.980 you're supposed to stay somewhat close to?

00:15:33.660 Yeah.

00:15:34.140 And I think what's interesting about this whole system is the province put forward this

00:15:39.100 bill just to legitimize what was already there four years ago.

00:15:43.140 And so when we're elected, we're elected as individuals.

00:15:45.960 We're elected with the title either independent or communities first under us.

00:15:50.100 And we're a, I call us a team, like this is, we didn't come with any party benefits.

00:15:54.300 We didn't come with money.

00:15:55.440 There's no party whip.

00:15:56.440 We created the name.

00:15:57.340 And so we're like-minded individuals that are pushing, you know, for the same sort of

00:16:01.340 policies, repealing blanket rezoning, you know, adding more police officers.

00:16:04.860 And we'll talk more about that.

00:16:06.440 But really what happens is the day after the election, I think is a conversation with, you

00:16:12.240 know, myself and all the members of communities first that get elected and say, you know, how

00:16:17.180 does this go moving forward?

00:16:18.320 Because there's so much gray to this policy.

00:16:21.360 And so we're, we have committed to seven principles, but there are things that pop

00:16:26.580 up in individual communities that I would say, if you're a counselor to that community

00:16:31.560 and you feel a certain way about something, your colleagues should support you.

00:16:36.440 And that doesn't take a party to do that.

00:16:39.440 That's a, that's a counselor based leadership role.

00:16:42.380 And we should be listening to our constituents in our communities, not, you know, voting on

00:16:47.760 and aspirational things that obviously are never going to come to fruition.

00:16:51.980 So you mentioned policing.

00:16:53.880 I want to get to that.

00:16:54.880 I mean, one of the top issues this time around is most certainly crime disorder, things on

00:16:59.360 the street.

00:16:59.840 It gets frustrating as a person who comes walking downtown when you listen to some people

00:17:03.900 in the administration say, it's a perception problem.

00:17:06.280 No, I walked down the streets.

00:17:07.520 I didn't perceive this going on seven years ago.

00:17:10.280 Something has gone drastically much worse than it used to be.

00:17:13.220 So how can city council deal with that though?

00:17:15.600 I mean, more police is one thing, but it's, it's a big issue.

00:17:18.020 It is a big issue.

00:17:19.140 And people, perception is reality though, right?

00:17:22.660 Like when you're walking down the street and you feel unsafe, you feel unsafe.

00:17:25.960 When you're getting on the train and you know, you're a mom or a woman, even a man,

00:17:30.500 like I hear from some of the dads that I know in, in hockey that they don't feel safe

00:17:34.720 on the train.

00:17:35.160 They wouldn't put their daughters on the train.

00:17:36.620 When we hear our own operators being attacked, how is the safe?

00:17:40.320 How am I going to convince you to take a train or a bus if our own operators are being

00:17:43.780 attacked?

00:17:44.100 So we've talked about, you know, increasing the number of police officers just to get

00:17:48.180 us up to the national standard.

00:17:50.120 And the, the issue is though, is it hasn't been a priority for the last council or the

00:17:54.900 council before to my opponents voted to defund the police.

00:17:58.140 And it's interesting because they'll rebuttal that and say, well, we gave money back at budget

00:18:02.820 time.

00:18:03.180 And, and my, I guess, rebuttal to that is it doesn't matter.

00:18:06.900 You sent a clear signal when you defunded the police during your term that you didn't care

00:18:11.640 about the police and you didn't care about the frontline and those that keep your city

00:18:15.900 safe.

00:18:17.020 So we talked about the police officers.

00:18:19.020 We want to do a 24 hour station downtown.

00:18:22.120 I've talked a lot about the Beltline injection site and how we get that clean and work with

00:18:25.840 the province on what this looks like.

00:18:27.980 We talked a little bit about decentralizing the, some of the programs, the drop-in center.

00:18:32.740 These are things happening outside those buildings that city council doesn't have control

00:18:36.740 over, but we have control over what happens in our streets.

00:18:41.020 Yeah.

00:18:41.360 And, and you're segwaying excellently for me, cause I wanted to ask about that.

00:18:44.540 One of the roles as mayor, I mean, people speak often.

00:18:46.440 It's true.

00:18:46.860 You're just one vote on council, but a mayor also stands out as a representative, as almost

00:18:52.060 an ambassador of the city or, or the, the negotiator when it comes to the other levels

00:18:55.700 of government at least.

00:18:57.200 And the relationship between the city and the provincial government has been pretty

00:19:00.680 acrimonious for quite some time now.

00:19:03.580 Uh, for example, when the sheriffs were deployed to help downtown and it seemed that the city

00:19:08.700 wanted to do nothing more than get them out of here as fast as possible.

00:19:11.620 So you'd be looking at a more cooperative attitude with the provincial government, I would hope.

00:19:16.100 Yeah.

00:19:16.540 I mean, it's really important.

00:19:17.900 The Calgarians always come first, right? 1.00

00:19:19.300 For, for us that sit in these roles, specifically myself with being, running for mayor, but your job

00:19:25.020 is to advocate for your constituents, the provincial government and relationships are key.

00:19:30.100 And we may not always agree on things and that's okay.

00:19:32.620 Cause that's democracy, but the respect you have to have for those in, you know, at the

00:19:36.700 provincial government is really critical.

00:19:38.620 And then together, you know, if the provincial government and the cities are working well,

00:19:42.620 you can be quite, um, I would say successful in getting what you need from the federal

00:19:46.660 government.

00:19:47.100 I mean, we, we have infrastructure dollars we need to unlock obviously from the federal

00:19:50.420 government.

00:19:51.220 And so my, my role as mayor is to work, um, with the provincial government, regardless

00:19:56.800 who's in power and focus on delivering what we need for Calgarians and getting money, right?

00:20:02.440 Like money makes things happen in your cities.

00:20:05.000 And so fighting for that is really important, but there's a respect level there.

00:20:08.800 You can't be having these conversations on social media.

00:20:11.880 You can't be calling each other out.

00:20:14.000 Uh, cause you don't agree on something that has to come to a stop because also is the

00:20:17.680 public looks at that and thinks you're dysfunctional.

00:20:20.440 So you mentioned getting infrastructure dollars on the locked has been a problem

00:20:23.920 as well with multiple levels of government in that, uh, the federal and the province

00:20:28.040 is guilty of it too.

00:20:28.920 They'll say, Hey, we're going to fund this, but we got strings attached to it.

00:20:32.440 And, uh, and of course the city looks terrible if you say no, and the province gets that

00:20:36.120 from the federal government, you know, we don't want to go down that line and say, Oh, well,

00:20:39.080 you're just throwing those dollars away.

00:20:41.480 How would you be able to advocate to make sure then that to continue to get those

00:20:44.400 transfers, but perhaps standing up for the city's autonomy and being able to

00:20:48.560 control its own affairs?

00:20:49.480 I think what's important is a clear business case.

00:20:51.400 When you go to a bank and you need to borrow money, they want to see a business

00:20:54.200 case from you.

00:20:54.720 If you're a business owner, that's how this works and understanding with those

00:20:57.760 federal dollars, when you're going to the province saying, we need this sort

00:21:00.680 of funding for X, Y, Z, they want to understand what does X, Y, Z look like?

00:21:05.160 And do they have a role to play in the success of that?

00:21:08.280 That's really another thing is making sure that everybody understands where is, you know,

00:21:12.800 what's it for me type thing.

00:21:14.200 And that's fine because we all serve the same people, but it's relationships.

00:21:17.880 It's understanding what you're asking for and the return on investment back to your

00:21:21.280 own constituents.

00:21:22.600 If you can't show a proper business case, if I was someone that was lending money, I

00:21:27.040 wouldn't give you any money either.

00:21:28.600 So it's also being able to deliver.

00:21:30.520 And so I'll give you an example.

00:21:31.880 When we talked about, you know, getting the green line back and, you know, having those 0.99

00:21:35.780 conversations, Councillor McLean and I brought the province back to the table, we had a clear

00:21:39.880 direction on how we wanted to do that.

00:21:41.880 And it was relationship building.

00:21:43.460 And here's our business case.

00:21:44.700 And now can we unlock the dollars to move forward?

00:21:47.180 And so we know we're moving forward on projects like that.

00:21:49.700 The event center, same thing.

00:21:51.240 You know, this is what we need support with $330 million, better than the last deal.

00:21:55.180 And they unlock the money for us to deliver on a project that we know we needed.

00:21:59.200 So it's relationship building and it's really being able to justify why you need that money.

00:22:04.980 So another issue that not many, I guess, people don't pay too close attention to with those

00:22:09.840 of us who are weenies enough to watch council meetings is that the dynamic between the mayor

00:22:14.540 and council and city administration, which I'll give my own view on it.

00:22:17.980 I think it got really badly skewed, particularly more prior to your time with the head and inchie.

00:22:21.940 But whereas it seems almost like the mayor and council answer to the administration rather

00:22:27.100 than the council providing oversight to the administration, would you be able to change

00:22:33.360 some of that dynamic?

00:22:34.180 I know you don't want to be fighting with administration.

00:22:35.700 That's the worst thing that could be happening, but it just seems that the relationship's skewed

00:22:40.600 right now.

00:22:41.060 The relationship's the other way around.

00:22:43.400 When I worked at administration, I reported to council and that really did change during

00:22:49.540 this last four years.

00:22:50.440 And one of the pillars of my, you know, I'd say to-do list is getting city back on the

00:22:56.020 right track when it comes to who's in charge.

00:22:58.600 So, you know, administration reports to council or senior administration reports to council

00:23:02.740 and we report to the people.

00:23:04.940 And so we have got to take control of what's happening at city hall.

00:23:09.040 We need to set direction.

00:23:10.240 And when you see all these taxes going up and the budget being inflated, a lot of that

00:23:14.500 comes from things that administration would like to see, not always council direction.

00:23:18.280 And so that needs to change.

00:23:21.340 You know, I'm ready to take things in a different direction and make sure that, you know, everyone

00:23:26.320 understands kind of the governance structure of what council does and how senior administration

00:23:31.180 reports and how administration, like we have great people doing great work on the front

00:23:35.860 line.

00:23:36.400 They are outstanding employees.

00:23:37.620 They're also feeling a little bit, I would say, not valued by their own leaders.

00:23:42.960 And I know that.

00:23:43.780 I see it and we hear it.

00:23:45.520 And so things do need to change.

00:23:47.040 And in order for anything to happen at the city right now, any promise you're hearing from

00:23:51.220 my opponents or myself, if you don't get control of that senior administration to know

00:23:57.600 that council's in charge, nothing is going to change.

00:24:01.740 Well, yes.

00:24:02.360 And that applies with other levels of government too.

00:24:04.500 I talked about that provincially.

00:24:05.440 People could never name who the deputy minister of any ministry is.

00:24:08.260 And if you really want to know who tends to hold the power, that's where it is.

00:24:11.620 And if they foot drag, no elected politicians are getting done.

00:24:14.840 Nope.

00:24:15.400 And it doesn't matter if you've got a team, a slate, anything.

00:24:18.040 And so we've got to, you know, it's, it's not, it's, it's an uncomfortable thing to

00:24:21.520 talk about.

00:24:22.080 Right.

00:24:22.380 And then, and I, and I don't think.

00:24:23.420 And it gets put off.

00:24:24.240 That's why.

00:24:24.500 And I talk about it because I'm running for that reason.

00:24:26.780 I want to set the governance straight.

00:24:29.660 And I, I pledged a little bit about more senior leadership reporting directly to council.

00:24:34.040 Things did change eight years ago and not for the better.

00:24:36.240 And then the last four years, we had really seen a shift in, you know, administration bringing

00:24:41.560 forward things in the budget.

00:24:42.660 And we're looking at tax increases.

00:24:44.180 That all needs to change.

00:24:45.340 It needs to be run lean.

00:24:46.500 It needs to be focused and we need to deliver on the core services Calgaryens are asking for.

00:24:51.260 But a governance, um, kind of overview needs to happen.

00:24:55.260 What about with, with, uh, revenue?

00:24:57.440 Uh, you know, uh, spending is always an issue.

00:24:59.380 I mean, every politician, every government just likes to have more to spend.

00:25:02.660 This is the easier to get things done.

00:25:04.460 Uh, municipalities are very limited in Alberta.

00:25:06.500 It's a fair case where they're kind of locked in with property taxes as a primary area of

00:25:10.460 revenue source.

00:25:11.980 Are you looking at it perhaps diversifying some of the abilities or, uh, that that's something

00:25:16.460 that's gone on.

00:25:16.860 It's never really been, maybe it's been successful with, but they've been trying to find other

00:25:19.780 means of, uh, taxation, I guess.

00:25:21.860 I don't want to see more taxes, but I could support different ways of collecting perhaps.

00:25:25.520 Yeah.

00:25:25.820 I think what's important is you have to focus on what you have right now.

00:25:28.400 So the tax rate and how we reduce that, how we reduce the 22% that was increased over

00:25:32.840 four years, looking for efficiencies on things that wouldn't affect your frontline or your

00:25:37.400 everyday services.

00:25:38.300 And then looking at opportunities to work with the provincial government and changing some

00:25:41.960 of the rules around the municipal government act.

00:25:43.980 Do we look at different subclasses and things like that?

00:25:47.640 But right now, when you walk in and look at the budget, your first, well, one of your

00:25:51.620 most important decisions as a new elected council is to, um, is to, you know, approve

00:25:57.200 the budget for 2026.

00:25:58.620 And right now we're sitting at 5.4%.

00:26:00.640 That is, that's too high.

00:26:02.300 And we've increased taxes for, you know, the last four years.

00:26:05.220 And we have to look at that 5.4% and say, what are we getting out of this? 0.99

00:26:09.260 And what are we delivering?

00:26:10.400 And so that has to happen first.

00:26:12.100 And I've also pledged with my colleagues on communities first to bring back a finance,

00:26:16.020 um, a finance oversight committee where, you know, senior leadership is coming to this

00:26:21.620 committee quarterly and opening up their books publicly.

00:26:24.620 And when you do that publicly, it's, you start to be accountable.

00:26:28.220 And so there needs to be accountable and, and we need to be transparent about where our

00:26:32.520 dollars are going line item by line item in every business unit.

00:26:36.300 Well, and getting some of that and following through, like something I'd like to see investigated.

00:26:41.520 And I think a lot of Calgarians were, you cannot find three blocks stretch in the city

00:26:44.660 where there isn't construction going on.

00:26:46.340 They've ripped up half the city, but it seems like they can't finish anything.

00:26:49.600 Uh, the poor souls in Marta Loop are going bankrupt with an absurdly long construction

00:26:54.600 project going on there.

00:26:56.160 What's going on?

00:26:56.960 Are the city workers dropping the ball or contractors dropping the ball?

00:27:00.360 I mean, it's ridiculous how long it takes to get something done now.

00:27:03.120 Yeah.

00:27:03.480 And I think what's happening is, I would say Cumberland infrastructure that has just caught

00:27:10.440 up with us.

00:27:11.000 We were, we're 10 years behind the unfortunate thing though, the businesses and the residents

00:27:15.040 are now paying the price.

00:27:16.000 And so I've, a week ago, I pledged for the infrastructure planning office out of the mayor's

00:27:21.520 office, which not just has a segment of the, you know, city builders and developers at the

00:27:27.700 table, but also the business community at the table and understanding the impacts to infrastructure

00:27:31.760 in our city.

00:27:32.400 So before a project, during a project and after a project.

00:27:34.980 And if a business or a group of businesses end up suing the city, you have failed as a city.

00:27:42.360 You should never be the reason they cannot operate.

00:27:45.820 And, you know, if you look at 17th Avenue construction that happened years ago, I was

00:27:49.040 the manager of business, local economy at the time I worked with administration.

00:27:52.220 They did a fantastic job.

00:27:53.660 The, the, the team that were kind of part of that 17th Avenue revitalization, it really

00:27:57.920 worked.

00:27:58.360 They did it by phase by phase, but this has the, not just the Martell Loop, but even

00:28:02.140 Stephen Avenue and other, the areas you go down to West Hillhurst, the ball has been

00:28:05.480 dropped.

00:28:05.720 And we can't continue like this because time is money, not only for the industry to deliver.

00:28:12.100 There's a sense of uncertainty, but also the businesses are impacted.

00:28:15.680 There are many businesses in Martell Loop that have closed their doors and residents are feeling

00:28:21.800 like it's just now bleeding into their community.

00:28:24.620 And if you go down, even in Hillhurst now, you can see what's one way in certain directions.

00:28:28.980 We're about to hit winter.

00:28:30.540 So what does that look like?

00:28:32.160 Stephen Avenue is under construction.

00:28:33.540 Uh, you know, they've talked a little bit about mission being next.

00:28:36.800 So there's gotta be better oversight and transparency and allowing certainty to our project and our

00:28:41.440 builders on how to deliver this quickly.

00:28:44.220 We're getting to the end.

00:28:45.120 I should have asked a little earlier, but is the blanket rezoning?

00:28:48.020 Oh, right.

00:28:48.420 Where are we going?

00:28:49.340 Okay.

00:28:49.760 So I am committing to repealing it.

00:28:52.360 It's got to go back to the way it was prior to that public hearing that we all sat through

00:28:57.080 and didn't listen to anybody.

00:28:58.160 I mean, I, my, my colleagues and I did, but majority of council did not, they went forward with

00:29:02.920 it, so it needs to be repealed.

00:29:04.460 We need to go back to the way it was and we can look for efficiency in the planning process

00:29:09.220 to make sure that, you know, builders and developers, um, have some certainty and we're

00:29:13.900 getting shovels in the ground faster, but blanket rezoning itself is not working.

00:29:17.980 So it needs to be repealed.

00:29:19.580 Excellent.

00:29:20.080 Well, thank you very much for coming in today.

00:29:22.140 Before you go, where, where can people find information on your campaign, whether to send

00:29:26.340 you an email and complain or send them email of support or whatever?

00:29:28.980 Yeah, sharpeformayor.ca.

00:29:30.960 And, uh, the most important thing, uh, for everyone to know at this point is a vast poll

00:29:35.800 start on Monday and it runs the 11th and then election day is October 20th, but please get

00:29:39.680 out to vote.

00:29:40.140 It is so important.

00:29:41.100 This is one of the biggest elections Calgary is going to see.

00:29:43.620 And, uh, it's all about the, it's all about you.

00:29:46.540 So if you want to see change, get out to vote and I look forward to hearing from you.

00:29:50.920 Great.

00:29:51.240 Thank you.

00:29:51.720 Thank you.

00:29:52.300 Look forward to the end of the campaign to see what's happening.

00:29:53.720 Thanks so much.

00:29:54.360 Great.

00:29:54.500 So there you go, guys, Sonia Sharp.

00:29:57.720 And yes, we do have a competitive municipal election going on for, uh, the first time

00:30:02.160 in a while.

00:30:02.780 I mean, they're all kind of competitive in their little raises, but this is a big one.

00:30:05.960 This is different than the others.

00:30:07.420 We're looking at a very possible large turnover of our municipal government in Calgary.

00:30:13.080 And that applies to other cities.

00:30:17.060 You know, we overlook our municipal governments.

00:30:18.700 We're terrible for that.

00:30:20.120 Our turnouts are low for this.

00:30:21.600 And these guys spend a heck of a lot of our money.

00:30:24.480 These guys have policies that come very directly into our lives and impact us.

00:30:29.080 Those are the ones that are right outside your front door, literally.

00:30:32.080 And we need to watch these things. 1.00

00:30:35.080 CB fixes all says, quit funding idiotic sculptures and paintings and stupid things. 1.00

00:30:39.320 Yeah, I know. 1.00

00:30:39.660 I mean, I could have talked to Ms. Sharp on a lot more things.

00:30:44.260 And, uh, you know, covered those. 1.00

00:30:45.820 I mean, yes, just stupid spending in general. 0.99

00:30:48.520 We need them to speak up and stop some of those things. 0.99

00:30:51.340 Stan McClain's been pretty good in talking about some of those things, too, and others.

00:30:55.320 But it's always been talk.

00:30:56.540 It's always been talk.

00:30:57.400 I mean, the public art is a good example, even though people keep poo-pooing and dismissing it.

00:31:01.280 Oh, it's only a few million here, a few million there.

00:31:03.460 But it's a symbol.

00:31:05.780 And I guess that's what art's supposed to be for. 0.99

00:31:07.280 When you go into a city and you see something as stupid as a blue ring on an old overpass and find out that German artists, not even local ones, got half a million dollars to make that stupid blue ring on an overpass. 0.98

00:31:19.160 Or other artists put rocks on sticks out in West Calgary. 0.99

00:31:23.880 I can't remember what that one cost.

00:31:25.180 Another half million or more on a side of a road.

00:31:27.680 Most people thought it was construction waste.

00:31:29.460 They really did.

00:31:29.980 That's still what it looks like.

00:31:31.760 But this just keeps going on and on and on and on. 0.99

00:31:35.420 I mean, it's one thing to have one or two stupid art pieces, but everybody gets mad about it, but they never stop. 1.00

00:31:41.060 They keep giving out this abstract, ugly junk. 1.00

00:31:44.400 I mean, public art can look great. 0.98

00:31:46.260 Get downtown to Chicago and have a look.

00:31:48.520 You know, check out some other areas.

00:31:50.420 And it's, you know, worth taking the time to tour these things.

00:31:57.800 We see here, I've got a commenter who says, oh, you're talking about public art, which is the point of the art.

00:32:01.340 Is it?

00:32:02.160 Is it really? 1.00

00:32:02.940 I mean, it should catch the eye and be worth discussing, but is it really the point of it to have everybody discussing it and talk about how frigging stupid it was? 0.99

00:32:10.580 How ripped off we got to have built it? 0.98

00:32:13.940 No, we should be talking about, wow, that was an amazing installation.

00:32:18.200 Wow, that's something I want to tell other people about.

00:32:20.560 And I want to encourage them to go have a look at it if they come to visit my city.

00:32:24.640 You know, this is the sort of thing I want to foster.

00:32:27.020 I really want to celebrate the person who created this piece that gets people thinking and talking about things. 0.98

00:32:32.440 But if the thing is only a talking point because it's stupid, well, then it's wasting our money. 0.99

00:32:40.000 Spend your own bloody money on it then. 0.99

00:32:41.900 Either way, no, they should leave that to public tender. 0.97

00:32:45.860 We're the ones who pay the bill.

00:32:47.220 We're the ones who have to look at it.

00:32:49.160 We should be the ones who actually get the say on what's going to be built out there. 0.93

00:32:52.460 Not a bunch of inbred hipsters who are tied in with city administration who managed to get those grants to build that junk and rip you off. 1.00

00:33:03.580 Because that's what it is. 0.97

00:33:04.680 Guys, it is a racket.

00:33:06.680 I mean, the poet laureate.

00:33:07.940 There's another beauty, right?

00:33:09.840 Is it really the city's role to keep a full-time poet on staff?

00:33:13.340 Apparently.

00:33:13.740 Have you ever heard of the poet laureate, who it is?

00:33:16.900 Read any of their work?

00:33:18.980 No.

00:33:19.680 But you're paying for it.

00:33:22.140 All right, what else we got going?

00:33:23.580 Speaking of entitled people ripping you off, it's the month of the strike, isn't it? 0.96

00:33:28.200 Canada Post workers with the dumbest strike on earth, they're still at it. 0.94

00:33:32.400 You know, it's funny. 0.98

00:33:33.040 This time, they've gone on strike, and it just seems like nobody's really noticed.

00:33:36.240 Because they did it so recently, most people have already moved on, but after the last strike by Christmas, people, finally, the stubborn holdouts moved on to getting electronic payments on things, not being dependent on Canada Post.

00:33:51.540 It's still inconveniencing a few people, but they don't hold people hostage anymore.

00:33:56.180 And why are they striking?

00:33:57.400 They're striking to fight reality.

00:33:59.760 They're losing $10 million a day.

00:34:02.920 Letter mail is not coming back.

00:34:06.940 Ever.

00:34:08.180 Ever.

00:34:09.580 And it's down by, what, two-thirds or 80% over the last 10 years?

00:34:13.640 Like, that was the bread and butter.

00:34:15.680 That was the point.

00:34:16.500 That was, you had to in the past send documents, checks, communications, grandma's birthday gift to you.

00:34:23.600 That would be sent in a letter, and you kind of needed to get those communications every day and send your payments out every day.

00:34:29.040 And five-day-a-week mail was important, and it merited having people walk up and down your block.

00:34:33.480 Those days are gone.

00:34:35.520 Just as gone as the milkman at best.

00:34:39.620 And the federal government finally did the right thing.

00:34:41.900 They really did.

00:34:42.500 They finally just said it like it is.

00:34:43.780 They said, look, we've got to cut it down to a fraction of the delivery.

00:34:47.260 We do not need daily delivery anymore.

00:34:49.880 And, you know, we don't need delivery right to your door anymore.

00:34:55.060 Three-quarters of the country already hasn't had delivery to the door.

00:34:58.340 It's just Trudeau managed to actually promise the union something, so they kept mail monkeys walking up and down the streets delivering flyers to everybody's houses directly for a third of the places.

00:35:07.340 Said, it's got to stop.

00:35:08.800 So what happened?

00:35:10.340 They went on strike.

00:35:11.620 That's fine.

00:35:12.420 Fine.

00:35:13.620 No pity.

00:35:14.880 No pity. 0.99

00:35:15.300 If you're really that dumb, you know, you really should be negotiating on reality, saying, look, how can we ease this transition? 0.99

00:35:21.160 How can we soften the blow for the inevitable layoffs that are going to come? 1.00

00:35:25.160 Instead, they're infuriating the public.

00:35:27.400 They're giving the government all the ammunition that it needs.

00:35:30.100 So people will not be sympathetic when that ax comes down, and it's going to, you guys.

00:35:34.480 It's going to.

00:35:36.280 You guys should have started planning for this when the fax machine came around.

00:35:40.620 You certainly should have started planning for it when email came around.

00:35:43.700 And you're just going to have to adapt. 1.00

00:35:48.120 Walking around with picket lines, you look like idiots. 1.00

00:35:51.440 Start thinking harder. 1.00

00:35:52.720 Speaking of picketing morons, well, I mean, these ones aren't quite as dim, but they're just as entitled. 0.99

00:35:56.700 The teachers are going on strike next week. 1.00

00:35:58.480 It looks like it's almost inevitable.

00:35:59.880 They turned down a deal that would make them the second highest paid in Western Canada, capping out after five years, I believe it is, at getting up to $114,000.

00:36:09.620 Don't forget you get July off, August off, a break in November off, Christmas break off, spring break off, sick days, benefits, an incredible match pension plan, and they're whining.

00:36:20.280 I know it's not an easy job.

00:36:24.620 That's why I wouldn't want to do it.

00:36:26.780 But I also know that they're bloody well paid well enough.

00:36:29.600 Plus, the government promised to give $3,000 more teachers.

00:36:32.020 You can't just pull them out of the air.

00:36:33.600 It's an addition, but it wasn't enough.

00:36:35.440 Why?

00:36:35.920 I don't know.

00:36:36.580 They're just greedy, to be blunt.

00:36:38.260 That's what it is.

00:36:39.040 Let's talk about who a lot of the teachers are.

00:36:42.620 Teaching is a calling.

00:36:44.440 We know that.

00:36:45.120 All of us who went through school know we had teachers who were incredible, some who wholeheartedly embraced what they were doing.

00:36:52.280 They loved what they were doing.

00:36:53.400 They saw it as a role to take on, to make children better functional as they grow, to become adults and live a good life in society.

00:37:04.740 And there were some who were just mailing it in.

00:37:06.500 And more and more and more of them are mailing it in.

00:37:09.700 I tracked this all the way back down to our post-secondary institutions, shoving kids into, all over the place, the liberal arts programs, which, fine, if you want to take them.

00:37:19.180 But eventually, people with liberal arts degrees get tired of making lattes.

00:37:24.340 You know, that philosophy degree just didn't pay off.

00:37:28.100 So then they upgrade to a teaching certificate because they know that they can get all those summer holidays, a good pension, and all the rest.

00:37:33.780 Because it's just short, late to go there and make decent money.

00:37:37.920 The problem, again, though, is they aren't in it because they love it.

00:37:42.080 They're in it because they feel they have to.

00:37:44.000 So then the motivation starts turning into, I just want to get as much out of this as I possibly can while I'm here.

00:37:49.560 That's why they're getting run ragged.

00:37:50.920 And, yeah, when you do a job you can't stand, it gets a lot more tiresome.

00:37:57.000 This system needs to change.

00:37:58.600 The teachers' union is holding parents hostage.

00:38:03.060 And it's interesting.

00:38:05.980 I was listening.

00:38:06.980 I pained myself by listening to, you know, talk radio.

00:38:10.340 I still like to keep up on things before I come in to hear the studio in the office.

00:38:12.860 I listen to the talk scandulously saying, the government had a plan before the strike.

00:38:17.860 They already had a plan in place to give money to parents to help pay for child care to carry them over during the strike.

00:38:24.800 Well, yes, you should have a plan.

00:38:26.680 We've seen this coming down the pipe for months.

00:38:29.520 You know, you guys would have crapped all over the government if they didn't have a plan.

00:38:32.760 But what it is indicating is the government's willing to wait this one out.

00:38:36.480 They're not ready to quickly capitulate.

00:38:38.240 They're making it clear that this sucks, but parents, your kids are going to be home for a while.

00:38:43.120 Their education is going to be stunted because the teacher's got greedy.

00:38:47.080 And they're going to help you a little bit while you wait this out.

00:38:51.240 But I think hopefully, hopefully, it's starting the framework for changing the whole system.

00:38:57.020 One of the things we need to get out of the system is the bloody unions. 0.99

00:38:59.140 Now, the right for organized labor is an important one.

00:39:01.200 We can't get rid of it.

00:39:01.880 I don't believe in illegalizing unions.

00:39:03.440 I do believe in right-to-work legislation, though.

00:39:05.520 Let people choose.

00:39:06.320 I believe in merit pay.

00:39:08.240 And I very much believe in school choice.

00:39:11.960 We should have a true voucher system.

00:39:14.420 And if you're not familiar with what that means is, let's say there's this amount per child, whatever it might be.

00:39:19.980 Call it.

00:39:20.300 I mean, this is just ballpark.

00:39:21.820 Call it $10,000 a year per child.

00:39:23.300 That's what it's worth.

00:39:24.780 And the parent chooses a school, and they can dedicate that voucher, and those dollars will go to that school.

00:39:31.940 Whether it's homeschooling, whether it's a private school, whether it's a public school, whether it's a charter school, whether it's a religious school, it doesn't matter.

00:39:40.200 And people say, oh, private tax dollars will go to private institutions.

00:39:43.040 So what?

00:39:43.580 They always do.

00:39:45.840 Do you think they buy their stationery from a socialist government-owned corporation?

00:39:50.560 We spend tax dollars on private provision of services at times.

00:39:54.200 Yes, that happens in the healthcare system, too, and it needs to happen more.

00:39:58.180 Add a competitive element to these schools.

00:40:00.600 People say, it's unfair.

00:40:01.580 The rich kids go to the private schools.

00:40:02.760 Oh, get over it.

00:40:04.480 Get over it.

00:40:05.180 The politics of envy, you can't raise everybody up with the politics of envy.

00:40:08.860 All you can do is drag everybody down to the same level of misery.

00:40:11.620 It's the crabs in the bucket.

00:40:14.020 You don't like that your neighbor can afford to take their kid to a better school?

00:40:16.380 Then work a second job. 0.80

00:40:17.840 Climb the corporate scrotum pole.

00:40:19.580 Make more money so that you can do that and put your kids in a better spot.

00:40:23.200 If you can't, well, that's the way it goes.

00:40:24.500 But your kid gets the exact same amount of dollars as that kid does.

00:40:30.760 That's true equality.

00:40:32.340 In fact, you, if you were the low-income person complaining, probably paid a heck of a lot

00:40:38.700 less into the system that led to that amount of dollars going into the voucher for your

00:40:43.080 kid than the other person.

00:40:46.500 And then we can get the diversity of schools.

00:40:48.820 I love it when listening to these educators.

00:40:50.880 They don't like being called teachers anymore.

00:40:52.140 They're teachers.

00:40:52.660 Get over it.

00:40:53.940 Talk about, well, we have all the diverse kids, all the diverse needs.

00:40:56.580 They're all different.

00:40:57.140 We have to have different setups.

00:40:58.160 And I agree with that.

00:40:58.760 That's absolutely true.

00:40:59.820 All sorts of kids respond to different teaching environments.

00:41:03.180 But then as soon as you actually propose changing it by having a variety of schools and school

00:41:07.200 choices, suddenly the teachers, you know, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

00:41:09.260 We all have to have them in the same standardized schools.

00:41:11.540 We just want more money.

00:41:12.780 That's the reality of what it always comes down to.

00:41:15.120 We want more money.

00:41:18.020 No, I want more schools.

00:41:19.640 And part of it is the schools aren't responding and balancing to where the students need to

00:41:26.080 be because it's too bloody hard to operate or move or shift or adapt to things in a union

00:41:31.420 controlled environment.

00:41:33.100 Inner city schools in the bigger cities are actually underpopulated.

00:41:37.620 Whereas the ones in the suburbs where everybody's moving are overloaded.

00:41:42.020 Well, let's work on rebalancing that.

00:41:44.620 Let's work on changing it.

00:41:45.940 Let's have new schools springing up in areas where there are need through private investment.

00:41:49.540 If the voucher follows the kid, take some of that pressure off specialized schools.

00:41:54.460 That's the way to go.

00:41:55.280 But that terrifies the unions.

00:41:56.480 Remember the unions, they don't care about the kids, guys.

00:41:59.080 I'm not saying teachers are heartless and hate kids.

00:42:01.060 But when you talk of the union group, guys, they're there for the teachers.

00:42:07.520 There's no other two ways about it.

00:42:09.260 You know, some of those numbers going on, I believe it's about 50 some thousand teachers

00:42:17.340 in Alberta.

00:42:18.240 If you divide it up, there's like a teacher for every 20 students.

00:42:22.320 So they scream about alleged classes with 40 kids in them.

00:42:25.220 But you know what?

00:42:25.640 They've screamed about that since the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and up to now.

00:42:29.320 They've always screamed about that.

00:42:31.580 Some schools, if you look around, because of that imbalance between inner and suburban

00:42:35.820 areas, you will be able to find overcrowded classes.

00:42:38.520 If you look hard enough, you'll find some classes where there's one teacher with 10 kids.

00:42:42.260 So why don't we try to maintain the balance more instead of just tossing more money at

00:42:45.920 them?

00:42:46.100 Well, because that's all they're asking for is more money.

00:42:48.900 They're just pretending it's about the kids.

00:42:51.760 And they're playing the nasty games.

00:42:53.700 This gets back to what I was talking about when they're doing things like stacking the

00:42:56.980 microphones at an Alberta Next panel.

00:42:58.940 Remember, the kid came up talking, teachers' union talking points.

00:43:01.620 These are the tricks they pay.

00:43:03.100 Take a 16-year-old kid, stick him at a microphone with a scripted thing to read.

00:43:06.940 Do you think your average 16-year-old kid happened to know, oh, look, half an hour ago,

00:43:12.400 here's the exact number that voted in the strike vote.

00:43:14.400 Amazing, man, that kid's tuned in, isn't he?

00:43:16.700 Turns out he's a kid who's also organizing a student walkout in support of the teachers'

00:43:21.320 union.

00:43:21.960 And it turns out that kid right afterwards went and did a video interview, sit down with

00:43:26.380 Nahed Ninchy, the head of the NDP.

00:43:28.160 This was just a run-of-the-mill student who was concerned with a question who got shut

00:43:32.140 down at an event.

00:43:32.940 No, he wasn't.

00:43:33.520 He was a kid who was trained and put there as a plant by the teachers' union to try and

00:43:36.680 sidetrack an event into something completely unrelated to it.

00:43:40.600 So, yeah, we've got a big battle coming up, guys.

00:43:43.240 The posties will be the easier one to take on.

00:43:44.980 The teachers are going to be a tougher one.

00:43:46.620 But I think it's time to starve them out a bit. 0.79

00:43:48.240 Make them a little hungry.

00:43:50.220 Give them a month or two off.

00:43:51.720 I know the parents are going to have to suffer, but you know what?

00:43:54.260 When the teachers get a couple of months off, which can add up to $20,000 and more, that's

00:43:59.480 going to cut into their summer vacation, isn't it?

00:44:01.640 Maybe they'll start to see a little more reason, won't they?

00:44:05.500 Start pretending to care about the students and get back to work.

00:44:07.800 Next week, we'll see.

00:44:10.440 I've got tentatively booked Frances Widdowson.

00:44:13.300 You're probably familiar with her.

00:44:15.120 A professor fired so much for tenure for speaking the truth at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

00:44:21.700 She's been doing speaking things in other venues, and she tried one in Winnipeg.

00:44:28.320 You might have seen the videos online.

00:44:29.800 She was assaulted by a bunch of organized thugs.

00:44:33.040 And, you know, it sounds like the university was probably promoting that and pulled them

00:44:38.420 together because the left responds with violence rather than thought.

00:44:42.400 And this is what it's down to.

00:44:44.660 Violence.

00:44:45.760 Maybe it's time for some more jail time, eh?

00:44:47.540 Longer sentences for violence.

00:44:49.300 She's looking like she's pursuing charges. 0.99

00:44:51.680 She should.

00:44:52.980 It's time that we get to discourse.

00:44:55.260 No more violent thuggery. 1.00

00:44:56.500 No more crap from the left with their Marxist crap on attacking, shooting, assaulting voices 1.00

00:45:02.320 they don't like. 1.00

00:45:03.540 The world has moved ahead of that.

00:45:05.980 All right.

00:45:06.880 That's the ranting I got today, guys.

00:45:09.640 Thank you very much for tuning in.

00:45:11.540 Tune in to The Pipeline.

00:45:12.400 It's going to be on tonight at 7.

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00:45:28.780 It helps us broaden our base.

00:45:31.360 Thank you very much for tuning in.

00:45:32.780 We'll do this all again next week.

00:45:48.760 We'll see you next week.

00:45:49.480 Have a great day.

Western Standard - October 03, 2025

CORY MORGAN SHOW： The Sixties Scoop saved lives

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