Western Standard - CORY MORGAN SHOW： Toronto’s nationalized grocery store experiment will be a catastrophe

00:00:00.000 Welcome to the Corey Morrigan Show.

00:00:29.680 going to get right into it. You know, in the mornings I drive, I torture myself with talk

00:00:35.000 radio because the Western Standard hasn't bought a transmitter and a broadcasting license yet. So

00:00:39.480 I still got to listen to the old school talk radio. And here in Calgary, they have what I

00:00:43.760 would call the Alberta morning Yenta hour, where you've got Thomas Lukasik's wife and another

00:00:49.800 former classic rock morning show host babbling about inane things for an hour on your morning

00:00:56.480 drive between the news updates that I actually tuned in to listen to. But they talked about,

00:01:01.160 and I guess they'd actually gotten Jeff Rath to come in for an early morning interview.

00:01:05.120 And they were saying, yeah, we're going to talk about Jeff Rath in the next segment. I thought,

00:01:07.940 well, that'd be kind of interesting. We'll see what's going on. He's part of the independence

00:01:10.360 movement. And then they brought it on and had a one minute clip of Rath. And then they spent 14

00:01:16.740 minutes explaining why the independence movement is complete trash. Okay, that's fine. But also

00:01:22.020 the thing they complained about is said, we keep inviting these guys from the independence movement

00:01:25.540 to come on and they won't come on to our interviews good lord can you blame them either way i want to

00:01:31.360 torture years tune into those hens between nine and ten on mornings on am radio it's getting to

00:01:35.460 be the last days of that sort of broadcast independent media is the way things are going

00:01:39.060 and these sorts of things so thanks for tuning in i'll get on what i meant to go on about now and

00:01:42.660 that's food the food production and distribution system in the western world it's an incredible

00:01:47.420 marvel i mean with modern advancements food production's expanded beyond population growth

00:01:52.100 and it continues to do so, though my teleprompter doesn't. Just give me a moment and I'll catch up

00:01:58.000 with that, hopefully. Oh, there we go. So in 1950, let's just look at some of those numbers. North

00:02:05.020 America averaged 40 bushels of corn per acre. Today, those same fields have yields surpassing

00:02:10.260 180 bushels per acre. Soybean, wheat, canola, other staples, they've had similar rises in yields.

00:02:15.960 Meat, dairy production, those have increased. Specialty crops and meats are also more prevalent

00:02:20.580 than ever. Niche producers of rural retail operations and they supply farmers markets

00:02:25.000 and local selections of grocery retailers throughout the continent. For internationally

00:02:29.300 produced goods, I mean, the selection is higher and more affordable than ever. Even in the depths

00:02:33.100 of winter, frozen cities in Canada can get fresh fruit and vegetables at reasonable prices. And

00:02:37.180 this is due to an incredible and vast distribution network with rail trucks and flights moving

00:02:42.140 refrigerated products. So those overseas goods, frozen transports opened the world as well.

00:02:46.960 It's ironic though that the avocado toast crowd tends to be from the urban living socialist set

00:02:52.580 demanding people buy local. I haven't seen any avocados grown in Alberta, but they can bring

00:02:56.120 them to them year round. And while there's only a small number of major grocery companies,

00:03:00.220 there's still dozens of dozens of options for people to choose from if they want to go to

00:03:03.780 smaller outlets. Prices tend to be a little higher at smaller stores due to economies of scale and

00:03:08.000 reduced distribution ability, but they provide an option. Competition among retailers is high

00:03:12.900 and consumers are well served by the ability to shop around. I mean, for people pressed for time

00:03:17.920 and with money to burn, they got home delivery of groceries. It's become commonplace. All of this

00:03:22.660 affordable convenience is due to the free market evolution of the food industry. And now the

00:03:26.940 morons within Toronto City Hall want to undo it all. I mean, from the 1920s until the 1990s,

00:03:32.440 the Soviet Union, they grew in size as well, but their food production and distribution abilities

00:03:37.520 didn't. Government-managed food systems led to chronic food shortages and hunger.

00:03:42.280 Food distribution was used by the state as a weapon, killing millions of Ukrainians in the 30s.

00:03:46.800 Ukraine was one of the highest grain-producing nations in the bloc,

00:03:50.260 but due to putative quotas mandated by Moscow, starvation became rampant.

00:03:54.800 This was convenient for Stalin, who was trying to quell an independence movement in Ukraine.

00:03:58.360 The world saw the dangers of leaving food production in the hands of the government.

00:04:02.700 Socialists today, though, still haven't learned that lesson.

00:04:05.900 By the 1970s, the Soviets had managed to modernize their systems enough that starvation became uncommon.

00:04:10.560 But shortages still persisted, and this election was terrible.

00:04:14.880 I toured the Soviet Union in the late 80s, and while they were fantastic hosts,

00:04:18.200 it was a few weeks of the worst food I've ever endured.

00:04:21.840 I was presented with a much better layout of food in my hotels than the common Russian was, and it was bad.

00:04:26.860 Today, a generation of spoiled and poorly educated fools gaining power in North America

00:04:31.500 by taking control of municipal governments.

00:04:34.080 They're going after the food distribution.

00:04:35.740 Extremists are being elected by a naive snowflake generation to city halls,

00:04:40.380 and administrative offices, and they're being filled with the same twits.

00:04:43.820 In Calgary, they even had a little room for city staff to cry in

00:04:46.860 and play with toys if the stress of public hearings overwhelms them.

00:04:49.600 The offices of municipal halls are infested with these emotionally inept souls.

00:04:54.360 Now in Toronto, by a vote of 21 to 3,

00:04:57.200 the city council voted to task their bureaucratic team of incompetence

00:05:00.520 with opening four government-run grocery stores.

00:05:03.820 They feel the people who can't efficiently fill a pothole or collect garbage

00:05:07.020 can manage to run a business as complicated with as narrow margins as grocery retailing.

00:05:11.720 Food is different than many of the things the government gets into. For example, unlike with

00:05:15.060 bridge construction, food delivery can't withstand just delays of years while city staff try to work

00:05:19.640 their way through their own bureaucratic mire. It will spoil. Another difference is they're entering

00:05:24.540 an already competitive market. If the city-run grocery stores don't deliver services as efficiently

00:05:28.940 as the private stores do, though, people won't use them. The city won't have that monopoly.

00:05:33.740 So why do these people think they can succeed?

00:05:35.340 Well, to quote from Hayek,

00:05:36.760 if socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialists.

00:05:39.340 They honestly believe that grocery provision is easy

00:05:42.420 and that retailers are secretly hiding massive profit margins.

00:05:45.560 They don't understand the logistics, competition, or staffing.

00:05:48.120 And these grocery stores will fail catastrophically.

00:05:50.820 The only question is how many millions of tax dollars

00:05:52.540 are going to be sunken into these poorly run,

00:05:54.440 union-dominated storefronts,

00:05:56.380 suffering from a lack of selection due to incompetent management

00:05:58.720 before they do finally get shut down.

00:06:00.880 This dip into Soviet-style food distribution in Toronto

00:06:04.040 is going to serve as yet another working example

00:06:06.380 of why governments must stay out of services

00:06:08.600 private enterprise already does well enough.

00:06:10.840 People with common sense will see the lessons here.

00:06:13.520 Socialists, though, never will.

00:06:15.500 So don't forget to vote wisely

00:06:16.500 in your next municipal election, guys,

00:06:17.900 or maybe you'll see grocery stores being run

00:06:20.060 by Gondek's old crew in Calgary soon.

00:06:23.420 All right, well, what else is going on out there, Dave?

00:06:26.600 Hello, comrade.

00:06:27.620 Hey, comrade.

00:06:29.020 Very good.

00:06:30.140 Oh, I'm looking forward to that potato and black bread diet.

00:06:32.440 Oh, it'll be, it'll be wonderful.

00:06:34.400 So April fool's day, did you get caught by anything?

00:06:37.740 I didn't get caught by any of them.

00:06:39.380 No, most of them were, I mean, there's some creative ones out there, but I was on guard

00:06:43.480 for it this year.

00:06:44.200 I've been caught before prior years.

00:06:45.720 Yeah.

00:06:45.960 Ours was pretty good.

00:06:46.760 We got people by the hundreds.

00:06:48.520 That's what Derek was saying.

00:06:50.160 Yeah.

00:06:50.240 The comments are 50, 50 on people who.

00:06:52.840 Who not believed it.

00:06:53.920 Yeah.

00:06:54.140 It was still up on the site.

00:06:55.840 You can go read it if you want.

00:06:56.940 Uh, uh, liberals, uh, liberals thinking about taking God out of all Canada.

00:07:02.140 Well, it wouldn't surprise you.

00:07:03.300 It wouldn't.

00:07:03.880 I mean, that's the world's gone so crazy that it's hard to make something that

00:07:07.300 people would not believe anymore.

00:07:09.660 I know it's crazy.

00:07:11.500 Uh, speaking of unbelievable, the NDP convention on the weekend, that was weird.

00:07:17.760 Oh boy.

00:07:18.700 And I'm looking forward to talking with Alex about that.

00:07:21.020 He's going to come on.

00:07:21.760 He was putting up great clips from it, but oh my Lord, what a collection of lunatics.

00:07:25.820 we are now being mocked around the world because of it uh fox uh greg gun felt last night uh

00:07:32.460 mocked us as did uh uh all the way to australia sky news says we're not a real country anymore

00:07:38.540 uh down in australia and you know what it's hard to argue oh after seeing that really people had

00:07:44.860 to watch that twice i would think i'm wondering is this a pre premature april fool's joke or a

00:07:49.340 portlandia series expansion or something and no these were real serious in their world people

00:07:55.180 yes yes um another reason you'll be happy to be living out near prittis calgary property taxes

00:08:02.780 8.1 that's a bit high for my liking it was only 1.2 and then the province got its filthy hands

00:08:11.020 in there on the education and uh i think it was the largest tax increase in uh for their part in

00:08:17.500 history yeah to be fair on those things you know don't get on the city's case this time it usually

00:08:22.620 is the city but uh no this is this is bad governance on the part of the province be sure

00:08:27.020 to send your emails that way yeah of course you know it's people wanting more schools and teachers

00:08:31.260 and teachers aid it's got to be paid for right oh sure but there's always a room to cut spending

00:08:34.940 so there's always you got the will for it somewhere so uh there was some good news today on

00:08:39.900 maya gabola she's a little girl who was shot in the head in tumler ridge just awful awful injuries

00:08:46.140 she suffered. She's been moved out of ICU for the first time now and into recovery. And there was

00:08:52.960 talk of maybe moving to Los Angeles. Dana White, the head of the UFC, said he'd pay for her care

00:08:59.720 there at a top brain rehabilitation institute. Pierre Polyev has injected some rare common sense

00:09:06.320 into the federal political scene by saying he's going to cancel the $90 billion high-speed rail

00:09:12.460 boondoggle uh if he gets elected and a boondoggle it will be oh it's nice just that the we know

00:09:20.380 every one of these projects around the world never stays within budget and i mean even the

00:09:23.500 budgeted number they're talking about is outrageous yes it is outrageous and 424 this afternoon corey

00:09:30.300 tune in as uh artemis 2 weather permitting set to go to the moon the first time in uh more than

00:09:36.700 half a century that we've had it that way so i mean you probably can't even remember the first

00:09:41.340 time can you well the the first uh moon landing was prior to my birth yes but uh it was right

00:09:47.900 around my birth so i i don't remember much of it but i'll be uh excitedly watching it today yeah

00:09:52.940 so i like this stuff it's it's good that they're expanding that that space race a little again yeah

00:09:57.260 and we've got a canadian on board too which makes it all the more watchable so yeah good luck to

00:10:01.900 them yeah it should be interesting and again i just hope it goes safely i mean one thing i do

00:10:05.740 remember of course was the the disaster in the 80s and uh the end of the shuttle program nobody

00:10:10.780 needs to watch that live tv again nope exactly right so good luck all right well thank you very

00:10:16.380 much oh i've forgotten something oh the most important thing uh just before coming in here

00:10:22.460 i launched a story from our jackson loy an exclusive investigation on how easy it is

00:10:29.020 to get doctor's notes in alberta now they've got these uh dial a doctor uh and he went about to

00:10:36.220 try and get see how easy it was to get two weeks off and it's no problem you just phone up these

00:10:41.020 doctors say that you're a little stressed and they'll say well we can give you two weeks for

00:10:45.420 thirty five dollars or we can give you a three weeks for fifty five dollars and just as simple

00:10:51.020 as uh as can be and uh jackson was even prescribed uh sleeping pills you know over the not over the

00:10:57.900 counter stuff the real heavy addictive stuff uh i mean you know all these circles i'm having

00:11:02.780 trouble sleeping these days and bang prescription oh there's another 55 dollars you owe us yeah

00:11:07.820 uh so it's uh that story's up there now it's a very important issue it's a growing uh growing

00:11:13.020 problem uh not only in alberta but i think across canada yeah i read that actually just before the

00:11:17.580 show got going because it popped up just as i i was waiting and prepping and uh even give volume

00:11:22.860 discounts if you want to yes you know preemptively say i'm going to be sick next week and the week

00:11:27.100 after too so you know uh we'll just uh buy three weeks of sick notes off of you at a volume discount

00:11:32.460 that's insane it is insane uh just in time for me to go away for a few days yeah i have a note for

00:11:37.580 it okay okay well enjoy that trip i'll envy you seeing green grass and i know it's blossoms it's

00:11:44.780 all all good okay well thank you for the update enjoy the time with the grand yeah we'll see you

00:11:50.380 next week see the rest of the updates from your trip maybe you bet right on thanks that is our

00:11:54.940 news editor dave naylor and yes lots going on that was a great piece out of jackson it really was

00:11:59.500 check out the site of course once you're done with the show it'll be right up top there he did

00:12:03.340 that work on it you know doing the dialing and so on and uh the reason we jackson can do that the

00:12:08.220 reason uh dave can afford to take three precious days away from here is because you guys have been

00:12:13.660 subscribing so check it out westernstandard.news subscription 100 for a year speaking of volume

00:12:19.420 discounts 10 for a month it's well worth it get past that paywall help support our independent

00:12:25.900 media and you know a commenter uh cb fixes all says you know so a new phone a dealer this country's

00:12:31.740 going down the toilet fast you know and that's really a concern because i like these initiatives

00:12:37.740 our healthcare system right now though is overwhelmed it's stretched and having some

00:12:42.140 of the things that could be done perhaps you know over the phone or over the internet or ways like

00:12:47.180 that if we could ease some of the pressure whereas people don't feel they have to always go to an

00:12:51.820 an emergency room or to a clinic or a doctor's office. It could really take pressure off the

00:12:56.860 bulk of the system. But when we get these pill pushers abusing it like this quickly, this could

00:13:02.820 kill those sorts of initiatives right out of the gate. And it's terrible. And I mean, the addiction

00:13:09.040 epidemic is huge. It's massive. And Monty Gauche is an addictions doctor. He was quoted in that

00:13:13.800 article too. Jackson spoke with him. Something I saw, I don't know if I talked much about that

00:13:18.920 when I worked out in the Eastern States and I was working out by Ohio and across the river from West

00:13:24.360 Virginia, Steubenville area. Either way, I got a thorn when I was using a chainsaw, drove really

00:13:29.100 deep, a huge long thing into my arm. And you could feel it under there and I was worried about it. So

00:13:33.460 I hit a doctor in West Virginia and this clinic, you know, and I just wanted to get it looked at,

00:13:38.560 maybe get it removed or pulled out or something. And the doctor comes in and the first thing he

00:13:43.340 asked me is what's your pain level on one to 10? I said, I don't know. It's not that bad, two or

00:13:46.920 three. I'm just worried about this thing. And he looks around it and everything's well, you'd need

00:13:49.580 to see an orthopedic surgeon to deal with that. It's beyond what we could do here. What's your

00:13:53.280 pain level? One to 10 again. I said, don't worry, it's fine. And he just left. And then while I was

00:13:57.600 filling out the paperwork, because I had insurance and everything, I was working in the States.

00:14:01.120 I saw people coming and going. And then I realized that they're all coming and they're

00:14:05.360 leaving with a script. This doctor was just writing out oxy prescriptions, hand over fist.

00:14:10.640 He was a pill pusher. This was, you know, 15 years ago, 12 years ago. This was the beginning

00:14:14.820 the addiction epidemic we're enjoying today. And it started with medical professionals. So

00:14:20.820 look, I think there's good ideas on trying to have phone and internet means to access medical

00:14:27.060 information, but we can't let it turn into what happened down there. And unfortunately,

00:14:31.120 it is a very important piece that Jackson exposed. That's what's already happening.

00:14:35.920 Here, unfortunately, there's some opportunistic doctors who are just going to turn this into

00:14:39.820 pill factories. All right, let's get on to something a little lighter and a little darker

00:14:43.020 at the same time. Some of the NDP convention news. Alex Zoltan, our BC fellow out there,

00:14:49.320 just put out brilliant clips of it all weekend. And I mean, it was comedy that wrote itself.

00:14:54.320 Plus, we'll get some updates because BC's, boy, they got some really interesting politics getting

00:14:57.680 rolling there. And Alex has been covering it excellently. So let's bring him in for the first

00:15:01.960 time on my show. Alex Zoltan, our man on the ground in BC. Hey, how's it going?

00:15:06.680 Great. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:15:09.200 Yeah, it's about time to get you on here. So where do we begin? They streamed it. Maybe the NDP will stop streaming conventions in the future. I appreciate your taking it upon yourself to tune in and bring out those show highlights for us. What inspired you to do that?

00:15:30.020 Well, I should give a shout out to my Western Standard colleague, Waleed Tamtam.

00:15:34.440 I believe he's in Brazil.

00:15:35.660 And he messaged me on Saturday and said, are you watching this NDP convention?

00:15:39.740 And I said, no, should I be?

00:15:41.080 And he says, absolutely.

00:15:41.980 This is your bread and butter.

00:15:43.720 So I tuned in and the insanity just was right away.

00:15:48.600 It was quite, quite exceptional.

00:15:50.080 I feel like I need to call one of those doctors in Alberta to get a sick note for two weeks

00:15:54.000 after covering it.

00:15:55.420 There you go.

00:15:56.260 Well, you know, the sick day plan for the standard.

00:15:58.120 So, I mean, you might get the time off, but you're going to have to do some tap dancing on the corner or something to get some money for it.

00:16:03.120 But, I mean, I don't know where to begin with the weirdness.

00:16:07.640 Explain the equity cards.

00:16:09.440 You know, what was this concept?

00:16:12.200 So, the equity card concept, as I understand it, according to the NDP's bylaws and constitution, they identify five equity-seeking groups.

00:16:21.700 So that would be LGBTQ, quote unquote, people, visible minorities, indigenous folks, women who are not differentiated from trans women and predicated on the belief that trans women are women and disabled individuals.

00:16:38.800 So there were color coded cards for each of these different groups.

00:16:42.260 There was a resolution passed on day one that only the gender equity cards would allow people to bump ahead of the line.

00:16:49.440 and this was for points of privilege points of information during the resolution process

00:16:55.400 it was later amended on day three to expand the equity card system because there were so many

00:17:01.160 disagreements about which cards held priority over others so they built their victimhood hierarchy

00:17:08.080 i think there was a point system attached to it as well uh you know and they go into race and

00:17:14.140 disability and and then the the cognitive dissonance is just astounding like do they

00:17:20.460 they obviously don't they don't understand how deeply into discrimination they actually sunk

00:17:25.540 in their pretzel like efforts to try not to discriminate oh absolutely and then there was

00:17:30.960 also an issue of intersectionality if you accept that phrase where if you're a black woman do you

00:17:37.680 get to go ahead of the line as opposed to somebody who is a white woman or if you're a trans

00:17:42.960 identifying woman who is biologically male does that give you priority over a biological female

00:17:48.080 and none of these details were really hammered out very well which i think was one of the reasons

00:17:51.440 for a lot of the conflict well and just watching them again that's what was so comical was how

00:17:56.160 seriously they're taking this with each other how upset they were getting and that a very bizarre

00:18:01.600 chair person uh i mean at one point even choked on using the words straight uh accidentally when

00:18:08.880 talking about a lineup not a sexual orientation but to stand in line and realize i shouldn't even

00:18:13.440 use that word she thought yeah she triggered herself triggered herself oh i could go into

00:18:20.400 a bad line of jokes there uh so what what else was accomplished at this uh gathering aside from

00:18:28.560 selecting avi lewis as their leader were there some policy things or or other issues addressed or

00:18:35.920 Not really. A lot of the resolutions had to do, for instance, they had one resolution where they

00:18:40.880 wanted to expand government funding of media. That's no surprise, given that they're basically

00:18:45.140 the Socialist Party of Canada. There were a few other resolutions, such as increasing the amount

00:18:50.080 of hybrid availability for the next convention, which they expect to be in two years. I don't

00:18:54.400 know if they can afford it, though, because they're not, they no longer have official party

00:18:58.280 status. And based off of the financials of the party, they're in pretty dire straits.

00:19:02.520 um yeah it was a six month leadership race which i found interesting because that's longer than we

00:19:09.060 take to find the prime minister it's longer than our federal elections last so yeah it was a real

00:19:16.060 gauntlet and nobody paid attention to it until the convention i almost feel bad because i feel

00:19:20.140 like i put the ndp back on the map well it it certainly did but i don't know if it was in a

00:19:26.540 good way i mean normally a leadership race a change it would lead to a bit of a bounce a sympathetic

00:19:32.520 portion of support for a little while. But I mean, they've turned themselves into a laughing

00:19:36.840 stock after this. I mean, perhaps Avi will find his feet and then try to find a rational course

00:19:43.300 to build this party, but he's not off to a good start. No, it's not a good start at all. And it

00:19:50.320 definitely is indicative of a very radical leftward shift for the NDP. I feel like Harrison Faulkner

00:19:56.920 asked Pierre Polyev about the convention yesterday, and I think that Pierre Polyev had a bit of a

00:20:00.700 missed opportunity on the question because he basically said yeah they're ridiculous you know

00:20:05.480 I'm paraphrasing of course but what I think might he might have said that would have been beneficial

00:20:09.720 to the Conservative Party of Canada said there's a lot of good working class people at that convention

00:20:14.800 who may feel politically homeless now they should know that they have a home with the Conservative

00:20:19.140 Party of Canada because there were I mean I just mostly showed all the freaks but there were normal

00:20:24.320 people there too and they probably do feel rather politically homeless now because they aren't

00:20:28.200 really a working class party anymore. They're an extreme radical left party.

00:20:32.060 Yeah, I mean, the old lunchbox carrying union members, the trade unions, those ones,

00:20:38.020 that used to be the core of the NDP. And the Conservatives actually took kind of a bite out

00:20:42.180 of that demographic already in the last election. I suspect, as you said, it's a missed opportunity,

00:20:47.560 but they've got a chance to take a much bigger bite of that now, or the Liberals as well,

00:20:52.240 because it's just a little too much for them.

00:20:56.160 Either way, I just have to say,

00:20:58.340 I appreciate you putting those tweets out as the weekend went

00:21:00.700 and grabbing those highlight clips.

00:21:02.680 I imagine there must have been a few lucid moments

00:21:04.740 that just weren't as exciting or funny to put out there for folks.

00:21:09.580 Not that many.

00:21:11.300 So something you've been watching, though, as well,

00:21:14.320 and more importantly and closely, and it's in your realm there, though,

00:21:17.700 is the leadership for the BC Conservative Party right now.

00:21:20.780 and uh i you know nationally is not making big news but it is a big deal this is uh very

00:21:26.780 much of potentially the the government in waiting in british columbia how's that race been developing

00:21:32.460 so far um i would say that it's been developing rather unpredictably so i would say it's a five

00:21:38.100 horse race currently um and angus reed poll just came out today and it showed that the bc

00:21:42.740 conservatives as a party are ranking just above the ndp so whoever wins this race could very likely

00:21:48.160 be the next premier of the province. Yeah. So, uh, but I mean, if they could just get over

00:21:55.060 themselves, there's nothing conservatives love more than turning the guns against themselves.

00:22:00.280 I mean, it was a quite an incredible story to watch the rise and fall of Rusthead, you know,

00:22:05.020 from a battle, a breakaway, uh, assuming the leadership of a party that really was just back

00:22:10.260 in the weeds with single digit support to coming within a hair's breadth of winning an election

00:22:16.060 and an upset to being tossed out by his own membership, essentially only, you know, a little

00:22:21.820 while later. Do you think that this race might lead to a sense of unity? Is there a chance that

00:22:28.500 they'll get it together with a leader? Because when you're talking about a five-horse race,

00:22:31.860 the problem is one horse wins and the other four start new parties. I completely agree. I think

00:22:37.260 that the leadership race is going to be the easy part. The hard part is going to be uniting the

00:22:41.520 caucus and as well the base. 1BC is also a bit of a bit of a interesting potential mix-up to the

00:22:51.040 whole thing. They've recently aligned themselves with Yuri Fulmer, who I frankly consider to be

00:22:56.620 a bit of a fringe candidate from the outset, but that could change things significantly as well.

00:23:02.400 Yeah, so the conservative split or issues could still surface out of this potentially. What is

00:23:09.160 the timeline for their race it's still kind of got a ways to go doesn't it yeah so i believe that

00:23:14.360 the race should be finished may 30th but just today the peter millibar campaign which is ranking

00:23:19.940 number one according to the poll that he commissioned um they asked for an extension

00:23:24.800 because they're not convinced that the current system the membership system is on the up and up

00:23:30.060 so that'll be an interesting thing to watch as well yeah well again that's unfortunate i mean

00:23:34.840 especially if you get a front runner i mean if they're well self-perceived front runner i don't

00:23:38.640 know. But if they're considering cracks within the system, that's when you already see that if

00:23:44.780 a person doesn't win, the complaints are going to come claiming it was rigged and you get the

00:23:47.840 darn split. Like I would say arguably, and that's why, you know, I'm an opinion guy. You're trying

00:23:52.880 to cover things in a balanced way. But I think EB is currently the worst premier in the entire

00:23:57.420 country. He's definitely weak. I mean, there's an opportunity to unseat this man. Again, if the

00:24:03.480 the conservatives could just get their own crap together.

00:24:06.380 I would agree.

00:24:07.920 EB is currently ranking very, very low in the polls.

00:24:10.780 He's the least popular premier in over a decade,

00:24:13.000 according to recent data on the popularity of the B.C. government.

00:24:18.480 The issue that you have in B.C. is that conservatism in B.C.

00:24:22.320 is very complex and unique in the sense that it's a patchwork

00:24:26.680 of different brands of conservatism, especially in northern B.C.

00:24:31.040 and also in the Kootenays and the Okanagan.

00:24:33.060 it's more of a libertarian type conservatism and it it's actually quite progressive and so

00:24:39.140 it's such a complex patchwork in terms of uh in terms of the system and then also the majority

00:24:45.260 of the province for better or worse lives in Vancouver or Vancouver Island where people are

00:24:49.200 very very liberal and so it's going to be an uphill climb for whoever becomes the leader

00:24:53.840 in that sense yeah so lower mainland BC has changed a lot uh since the 90s I mean it's been

00:25:00.080 the same and it's changed i mean i remember it though as being volatile you couldn't take any

00:25:04.780 writing for granted in the past federally i i remember there used to be like a reform party

00:25:09.480 member of parliament to be the most conservative of conservative types and right next door they'd

00:25:12.740 have an ndp member of parliament and then there'd be a a liberal one and they would switch too i

00:25:17.260 mean that that could flip from a reform seat to an ndp seat uh is it more solidly liberal now though

00:25:23.520 are there some swing you know communities left in the lower mainland um absolutely i mean

00:25:29.940 And places like Richmond have become quite conservative.

00:25:33.000 And I think that's in reaction to a lot of the BC NDP's safe supply legislation.

00:25:38.040 A lot of newer immigrants tend to be more conservative, ironically.

00:25:42.580 And so that is also working against the BC NDP.

00:25:45.600 It'll be a very, very interesting election.

00:25:48.920 Yeah, I think a lot of it depends on who the leader of the BC Conservative Party is and whether or not they can unite the base around a common set of ideals and principles.

00:25:58.240 So, Abby, getting back to common sense and principles, I kind of pivot again back to the federal NDP, just since you kind of mentioned that, too.

00:26:06.460 Has David Eby responded to that federal race yet?

00:26:09.560 And, I mean, I know other NDP leaders provincially are running for the doorways to distance themselves from Abby Lewis and his group.

00:26:18.360 Has Eby been doing that? Because, I mean, that could be a handicap for him, too.

00:26:21.960 Oh, absolutely.

00:26:22.560 It puts him between a rock and a hard place because the federal NDP is just so far left that it doesn't even align with the B.C. NDP anymore, who are largely considered the most progressive wackos in the entire country.

00:26:34.240 And so the issue was broached yesterday in the legislature.

00:26:38.060 Aurelia Warbus, who's a conservative B.C. member of the legislature, asked whether or not the B.C. NDP was prepared to denounce Abby Lewis's comments that LNG is fentanyl for the environment.

00:26:49.840 It's just an insane statement.

00:26:51.760 And they were not.

00:26:52.560 So it appears as though the B.C. NDP is not prepared to take a step back from the federal NDP.

00:26:57.740 And I guess that'll be a development that we'll have to follow closely as things progress.

00:27:02.420 Yeah, well, I imagine the conservative leaders there will make sure to keep hammering that tie with them.

00:27:06.880 And that's what's happening in Alberta already.

00:27:08.640 Premier Smith is tying the head and inchie to that federal party and just beating him over the head with it.

00:27:13.300 And there's not much he could do because they're constitutionally tied at the hip.

00:27:17.300 So that'll happen in B.C. as well, I imagine, unless he picks a side.

00:27:22.560 And before, you know, I let you go, there's so much to cover and the time has kind of gone fast. What else are you covering in BC, though? I mean, it's a huge chunk of Western Canada that doesn't get reported on nearly enough. And I'm glad you're out there covering stuff.

00:27:33.320 Yeah, mostly what I'm covering is what's happening in the legislature. It's a very animated place at the moment. There's a lot of fighting, a lot of heckling. One of the conservative members was arrested last week on domestic violence charges. So that's also become a major talking point in the legislature. I'm not really sure why, because it's not really relevant to governing.

00:27:50.800 but that's been an interesting development along with the bc conservative race as we've addressed

00:27:56.480 and there's also some very interesting court cases occurring as well there's the one the drug user

00:28:03.740 liberation front that one will have national implications when the result comes in and that's

00:28:09.080 a charter challenge for two individuals who have been convicted on three charges for trafficking

00:28:14.820 heroin cocaine and crystal meth and they're challenging it under the charter saying that

00:28:21.220 it deprives them of their right to life liberty and the security of person as well as freedom

00:28:25.400 of discrimination on the basis of disability on the notion that extreme substance abuse is actually

00:28:31.300 a disability in canada yeah but they're the facilitators of the guys who were on the abuse

00:28:37.500 you know and you think you could throw that out of court but we know our judges we can't trust

00:28:41.940 Oh, yeah. And that court case is probably costing taxpayers millions. I think it's going to be extended past FIFA, which is another event that we're covering closely at the Western Standard, because I imagine that the Vancouver Police Department and the PCNDP are doing their best to clear the downtown east side of all the homeless people for a couple of weeks, the same way that they did during the Olympics in 2010.

00:29:03.880 Well, and East Hastings, downtown Eastside Vancouver, I mean, that's been a nightmare since the 70s.

00:29:09.240 I don't know where and how they're going to manage to shield that.

00:29:12.840 Maybe they'll detour roads just so people don't pass through that area for a little while.

00:29:17.520 Because that's a whole, well, we could do a whole show segment on that area alone.

00:29:22.080 So when does FIFA start? I mean, that's a huge event. It's going to be something else.

00:29:27.160 I'll be honest, I'm not a soccer fan, so I don't have it put on my calendar, but I'm pretty sure it's in a couple of months.

00:29:32.440 okay during the 2010 olympics it was quite remarkable i was attending ebc at the time

00:29:37.260 and you could walk down downtown east side hasting street and not see a single homeless person

00:29:42.340 which is the only time i've ever seen that in my lifetime i grew up down there you know i've been

00:29:46.680 here for decades and so uh i assume what i've heard through the grapevine is that they just

00:29:51.560 put people on a bus and they send them to celiac for a couple of weeks they maybe give them a hotel

00:29:56.240 or something. Well, as long as they don't send him to Alberta. Just a warning for you. Our news

00:30:03.560 editor, Dave Naylor, is a hardcore soccer football fan. So he'll be expecting you to be watching some

00:30:10.080 of the happenings. I mean, there's more to that event than just the matches themselves anyways.

00:30:15.540 I mean, the international spotlight, the activities, the protests, or things like the city will do to

00:30:19.840 try and put a better light on things. I imagine you'll be watching closely to see what kind of

00:30:23.500 stories emerge from that. Well, yeah, maybe I'll get a media pass and go check it out and pretend

00:30:29.080 I'm a soccer fan for a few days. Why not? I mean, you just got to get drunk and, you know, if

00:30:34.900 somebody taps you too hard, fall down and fake an injury and you've got it down. I'm more than

00:30:40.120 qualified for all those things. Right on. Okay. Well, before I let you go, you know, people will

00:30:48.420 find your stuff on the westernstandard.news, but where else are you online and, you know,

00:30:52.620 where they can find your work and your stuff yep western standard um as you had mentioned uh just

00:30:57.640 before i came on encourage everybody to get a subscription and support them and i'm also on x

00:31:02.920 and i post every day and uh yeah so excellent well a belated welcome to the western standard family i

00:31:11.180 uh loved your work on x and your your writings so far looking forward to seeing more coming out of

00:31:16.340 bc as you cover stuff for us out there alex thank you so much thank you for having me thanks so one

00:31:22.160 more time guys yeah look him up alex zoltan i mean we we really filling that you know bc void

00:31:27.320 and getting that news out there it's a part of the west and it's a an interesting part of the

00:31:32.700 west you know there's a commenter hi alex uh from somebody theo said they met in squamish there we

00:31:37.740 go and it's just some of the most exciting politics in canada tends to come out of bc

00:31:43.200 uh you know the the the lunacy of the ndp convention came that was in winnipeg but don't

00:31:48.980 of many, many, many of those delegates, including that weird chair-it person was out of British

00:31:55.360 Columbia. I mean, they got a lot of sane people in BC too. They got a lot of great people in BC,

00:31:59.640 and that's part of what makes it that interesting combination, you know, not just geographically,

00:32:05.760 as Alex was saying, interior BC, northern BC, they're very, very different than lower mainland

00:32:11.380 BC. But even within lower mainland BC, it's a very mixed demographic and economy and culture,

00:32:18.220 you name it. It's all there. So, uh, yeah, Alex will have his hands full covering everything

00:32:22.800 that's going on there. So I was talking at an event last night about this. I kind of covered

00:32:27.460 this. So my apologies to some of the folks who might be watching who were in attendance. I'm

00:32:31.720 just going to rehash some of that because I did start the speech out by making fun of the NDP

00:32:36.200 gong show. And again, if people haven't seen some of those clips, you really should. It's just,

00:32:40.820 it's hilarious until you realize these people are serious and, uh, how absurd these people are.

00:32:46.160 and it makes for easy low-hanging fruit to poke at.

00:32:49.700 But then I turn it to point to the other reality

00:32:51.720 in that they aren't harmless, okay?

00:32:54.680 That woman who was chairing it,

00:32:59.960 her name is Adrienne Smith,

00:33:01.900 and she's a lawyer out in British Columbia.

00:33:04.000 She worked to defund a rape support center

00:33:08.500 because that rape support center

00:33:11.080 wouldn't let women into it.

00:33:13.180 So women who have been sexually assaulted, abused,

00:33:15.940 needed somewhere to hide, somewhere to feel safe, somewhere to recover, somewhere where they can,

00:33:20.280 you know, again, just deal with what's happened. This nutcase felt that they should have to have

00:33:27.940 a bunk next to them with men, because she's really that nuts. That because the guy said

00:33:38.820 he's a woman, you can put that guy into a rape center. And we've seen this with women's prisons

00:33:45.560 in the States, there was a trans man impregnated a bunch of women in it. There's other cases,

00:33:52.520 again, in shelters where some trans, and not every trans person is a sexual predator,

00:33:58.140 but some are, and they've got the plumbing and they don't belong in a rape shelter. But this

00:34:05.000 woman, this lawyer helped defund that center because they wouldn't allow people with peckers

00:34:10.160 into a woman's sexual assault center. That's how crazy these people are. And they get their

00:34:15.420 way. She's won Human Rights Commission's challenges, $30,000 for a small business

00:34:22.000 because they fired somebody who later claimed they were non-binary and that that was the reason for

00:34:26.420 it. Plus those Froot Loops and lunatics that you saw getting up to the microphone with their equity

00:34:32.240 cards and all of their ridiculousness. Where do you think they get the money to travel as delegates

00:34:38.600 to somewhere like Winnipeg and do these things? Well, guess what? They're in your teacher's

00:34:42.420 lounges, guys. They're teaching your kids. That's one of the main sources of these nutcases.

00:34:48.620 They're working in the civil service. They're working in municipal offices. They're working

00:34:53.380 in federal government offices. That's where these people go. They get their liberal arts degrees.

00:34:58.960 They're crazy. They can barely maintain their jobs as baristas for too long. They finally either get

00:35:04.020 a government job or upgrade to a teaching certificate and move into there. And then they

00:35:08.640 spread that gross, weird ideology everywhere they can, whether it's through a government job

00:35:15.140 or even more concerning as teachers. As I said, the NDP, the federal NDP have lost

00:35:24.700 the union vote. They've lost the trade union vote. They've lost their traditional labor vote,

00:35:30.020 but they still have the purple haired teachers union vote. Those nutcases that are dominating

00:35:36.920 the monopoly, almost paramonopoly system of our education system. So here's a good news story.

00:35:45.220 For people in Alberta, if you've looked at Bill 25, the Premier Smith just dropped,

00:35:50.180 and it's great. It actually takes the battle back at the unions, in the classrooms. And that's a

00:35:58.840 bill in Alberta that is going to regulate and depoliticize and ban these teachers from bringing

00:36:05.660 their ideological crap into the classrooms. It's going to make it so that the only flags allowed

00:36:11.000 to be flown at schools are the Canadian flag, the provincial flag, and I believe there was some

00:36:16.140 exception for a French Albertan flag or something like that. No more rainbow asterisk, whatever,

00:36:24.360 you know, flag of the week it is anymore. No more Palestinian flags. No more of that crap.

00:36:30.420 no more teachers yelling at kids who refuse to go out and take part in a pride thing like we saw in

00:36:36.820 Alberta a little while back a kid a child was a Muslim one which is some of the irony

00:36:41.980 was berated by a teacher in front of the rest of the class and told that you don't belong here

00:36:47.680 can you imagine if it's been anybody else telling a young Muslim kid that they don't belong here

00:36:53.240 and that was recorded but this was a teacher so somehow it was okay because the kid didn't want

00:36:57.520 to march out and take part in the pride thing. I don't have a problem with pride stuff, but I have

00:37:02.420 a problem with our bloody schools imposing it because they go above and beyond and they push

00:37:07.320 that extreme ideology like we saw from the nut bars at the NDP convention. We're not talking

00:37:12.980 about minor stuff on accepting somebody for being who they are and all that fluffy things.

00:37:17.200 These are the crazies. And Smith is cutting them down at the knees and saying that's enough.

00:37:22.940 you stick to the curriculum or you're bloody fired you're out of here and already i was listening

00:37:28.300 again as i said i heard myself and talk radio but oh some of them oh my lord we already have a

00:37:32.700 teacher shortage and they're gonna leave no they aren't no they aren't they're qualified to do

00:37:36.660 anything else it's gonna pay them that well and they're willing to do the work that would pay

00:37:41.440 them that well what are they gonna go to the oil field sorry you don't get three months off a year

00:37:45.760 with pay in the oil field a massive pension like that every long weekend off every second friday

00:37:52.600 off arbor day off you name it you don't get that you guys have got a good gig they're not gonna

00:37:58.680 leave some might and if they do those will be the worst of the loons anyways get the hell out and

00:38:04.360 i'm certain there's some silent teachers in other provinces who are saying you know what i would

00:38:09.000 like to move to alberta and teach there because it's one of the highest paid teaching jurisdictions

00:38:13.080 in canada and i comply my trade that i was drawn to and that very important job and actually teach

00:38:19.480 kids how to learn. Use critical thinking. Math as well. Science. Arts. Not distracting them with

00:38:28.320 their political ideology and garbage. The courage, I can't say enough, of Smith to take this on

00:38:35.160 because we've known about this. Teachers unions have been a problem throughout all of North America

00:38:40.900 from California to Alberta to Ontario. Those unions have slithered in and taken over and

00:38:48.180 they're spreading their crap to kids rather than teaching them anymore. And I know there's

00:38:52.080 thousands of great teachers in there and they're stuck going with the flow. You don't speak up in

00:38:56.200 that union environment or you do get drummed up because they're closed shops. The next thing I

00:38:59.780 want to see is right to work legislation, but they're not going to be able to pull that crap

00:39:05.220 much longer. And Hey guys, welcome to the cell phone world. And I know they've banned cell phones

00:39:09.060 from a lot of classes and things like that, but as we've already seen, you guys are always,

00:39:13.500 always under scrutiny. So you're going to get recorded. Some kids got that phone hidden down

00:39:19.920 below. If that teacher starts on an ideological diatribe, don't worry, it's going to end up on

00:39:24.040 YouTube and you're going to get fired as you should. Stick to your job, you guys. You got a

00:39:30.100 good gig and you got an important gig. And when you do it right, we do value it. We really do.

00:39:34.920 And I know it's not always easy taking care of somebody else's little bastard hellions. Not every

00:39:39.260 kid is good. I put teachers through a lot of misery when I went through school. And some of

00:39:43.640 the stuff I did, I do apologize retroactively to those poor teachers who I gave gray hair

00:39:47.500 as the nasty student I was. They put up with a lot of junk. They put up with a lot of crap from

00:39:52.800 parents. They put up with a lot of crap from people like me. But that's part of why they're

00:39:59.300 well compensated. That's part of why it's a calling rather than a regular job. And enough

00:40:05.880 complaining. Just get back to teaching again. That's all people want. And I think there's a

00:40:10.700 whole lot of teachers again. They're not, they're already in there and they're thankful Bill 25 is

00:40:14.460 coming down. They won't put their hand up and say it because the union crowd around them won't let

00:40:18.800 them, but they're happy to see this. And I'm looking forward to that. I'm so happy because

00:40:24.260 so many politicians just scurry away in terror when it comes to taking on the teachers union.

00:40:28.500 They really do. They just don't want to. They just throw money at it and back off. And that

00:40:33.720 isn't happening this time. Premier Smith's not backing off. In fact, she brought on the attack.

00:40:38.700 She didn't just defend us against the latest crap out of the union. She brought the battle back to

00:40:42.540 them and some of the nutty school boards and other folks involved in these things. So this is a great

00:40:47.560 development. To turn that back around, you know, I've seen some of those discussions. Some of the

00:40:54.500 folks who keep screaming that Premier Smith should take on an independent stance. This ties together

00:40:59.240 in a way. Look, she's got enough on her plate. She's been defending the ability to have a

00:41:05.240 referendum for independence. The independence movement has got enough. That's all they need

00:41:09.200 out of her. Let Premier Smith keep doing what she's doing because she's doing some great stuff

00:41:13.580 over there. Don't let her dive into the mire of the independence movement. That's not her place.

00:41:18.000 That's not her mandate. She doesn't need to. So quit pushing on that and stick to the independence

00:41:23.800 movement itself and let premier smith start making alberta the better place it should be

00:41:30.760 think about that the more moves she does like this that drive out the real fruit loops the

00:41:35.160 real lunatics and makes them leave that handful of teachers who really will pack their bags take

00:41:39.720 their purple hair and get the hell out of here good that's fewer people who are gonna vote yeah

00:41:44.680 no in the upcoming referendum isn't it and maybe some of those teachers who will move to alberta

00:41:49.800 to get into an environment where they can actually teach again rather than being stuck

00:41:52.920 with the ideological crap they've been forced to feed those are the yes voters don't worry

00:41:59.800 premier smith is doing the job she's there to do and she's doing a good one not perfect none of

00:42:07.080 them are and none of them are and god knows she's made mistakes but hey it's awesomeness bill 25 is

00:42:14.040 great and uh well the teachers don't like it sucks to be you uh but yes the independence has reached

00:42:21.400 the signature bar that's been a lot of the discussion lately it's interesting so they

00:42:25.320 needed 178 000 signatures i've listened to some interviews they think there's more signatures

00:42:29.400 that are out and there's some that haven't been counted and there's cases and cases that haven't

00:42:32.120 been cut if there is probably more like perhaps 250 240 000 they should safely be beyond there

00:42:38.600 uh tactically i don't know why they released that i think part of it was pressure it seemed like

00:42:45.240 every few days there was a story from legacy media or dwayne brad or somebody be coming along say

00:42:49.000 look at this. They're on the ropes. They're never going to pass it. I mean, we saw news stories the

00:42:52.700 other day saying, oh my Lord, they're having problems. The rural addresses on driver's licenses

00:42:57.080 are making it difficult and they can't get the petitions done. And I think maybe it frustrated

00:43:01.140 them because they're getting calls from people saying, are we close? Are we getting there?

00:43:04.740 Are we, what's going on? Are we not going to make it? You know, there's still a month to go.

00:43:08.640 So they felt we got to let people know that the bar has been passed. Unfortunately, and I know

00:43:14.940 there's others who are encouraging petitioners to stay out there and keep pushing and keep

00:43:18.820 petitioning, keep showing a presence and a lot will, but a lot won't now. I mean, it's hard work.

00:43:23.640 It's a lot of trouble. It's a lot of time. And they're going to take their foot off the gas for

00:43:27.240 a bit now because they know they've passed the bar. And that's unfortunate because this campaign,

00:43:30.960 if a person is looking to get a good vote or even possibly a winning vote in October means that

00:43:35.320 there's going to have to be campaigning from today until voting day. You can't afford to take your

00:43:39.080 foot off the gas. The petitioning gave a form of campaigning working towards that. But either way,

00:43:44.620 it has been announced. Look, there's going to be a referendum this fall. There's going to be.

00:43:47.600 I had some other people panicking because they're bringing in legislation that's talking about how

00:43:51.460 you won't be able to hold a referendum within a certain period of time from a set election date

00:43:54.880 and stuff like that. Fine, but don't worry. They already said clear as day. These active petitions

00:44:00.000 currently are exempted from that law. They're not going to stop the referendum. So many people keep

00:44:03.720 thinking Smith wants to block the referendum. If she wanted to do so, she could have done it six

00:44:08.080 months ago easily. Is she going to vote yes? I don't know. But she wants this thing to be held

00:44:14.820 then it has to be now. Lukasik got his hundreds of thousands of signatures wanting a question on

00:44:19.600 a ballot. Stay free. Alberta's gotten the hundreds of thousands of signatures. It's time to have it

00:44:24.280 out. You can't leave that question hanging in the air anymore. And everybody knows it. Premier

00:44:27.760 Smith knows it too. It's going to a vote this fall. It's going to be one hell of a political

00:44:31.800 year in Alberta, in Canada. One of the most exciting and interesting ones we've ever seen.

00:44:36.840 We've never had a referendum in the West before. Never. So it's going to be something else. Oh,

00:44:42.340 one more thing before I let you go. Yes, you know, gun grab Gary there is talking about,

00:44:48.740 so yes, the deadline is passed for people to voluntarily let their fire, declare their

00:44:53.680 firearms and so on. And they think they announced 47,000 have been declared across Canada after two

00:44:58.340 months of the program. That represents 2% of all the guns prohibited. And yes, Alberta and

00:45:04.120 Saskatchewan refuse to cooperate. Our police forces won't do it. They're not going to get

00:45:09.380 this done i'm just saying don't cooperate guys don't break laws just if you don't have them you

00:45:15.720 don't have them never give up your firearms or your property in general all right guys that's

00:45:20.400 my time for today tune into the pipeline a little later we're going to break down some more issues

00:45:25.580 again make sure to watch nigel's show some of the stuff leah does and and others subscribe to the

00:45:30.960 standard support independent media hit the like and share and all that good stuff because that's

00:45:35.780 how we can get the word out there and uh keep tuning in this is how we will beat

00:45:40.220 legacy media and their associated unions have a good one guys thanks

00:46:05.780 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - April 06, 2026

CORY MORGAN SHOW： Toronto’s nationalized grocery store experiment will be a catastrophe

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