Western Standard - August 28, 2021


Derek Sloan: "I am the only one who can win this"


Episode Stats

Length

32 minutes

Words per Minute

182.33095

Word Count

5,851

Sentence Count

377

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Derek Sloan is an independent candidate running for the riding of Airdrie-Banff in Alberta s Rocky Mountain House riding. In this special edition of the Western Standard election special, we talk with the former Ontario PC candidate about his campaign and why he decided to run.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 What's up everyone? I'm James Finkbeiner and welcome to another Western Standard election
00:00:11.880 special. Well, what a crazy week it's been. We've seen everything from a Calgary Liberal candidate
00:00:17.240 telling Alberta that they should fit in or fuck off, to the Tories surging ahead in the polls.
00:00:22.200 The Tories now sit at 37% to the Liberals 31% in the latest Main Street poll. And they aren't the
00:00:28.620 only one surging ahead in the polls. Mad Max's PPC now sits at 16% in Alberta. And to add more
00:00:35.400 drama to the contest, we have Derek Sloan, former Ontario CPC MP running in the riding of Airdrie
00:00:41.820 Banff. He sat down with me today to discuss his bid.
00:00:45.860 All right. Well, I am here with Derek Sloan. He is running for an independent MP for Airdrie
00:00:53.140 Banff. And welcome. Welcome to the studio.
00:00:56.140 Glad to be here, James. Thanks for having me. I actually think you are the first in-studio guest
00:01:00.920 we've had with the new studio since the lockdown, since Corona. And yeah, we appreciate it. We really
00:01:08.260 appreciate you coming in. Glad to christen your office.
00:01:10.860 Yeah, thank you. It's quite the studio we have here. It's a great view in here.
00:01:15.860 Yeah. The windows. Derek really hooked me up. I was surprised.
00:01:19.300 Yeah, the last one here. I've got this great view of downtown behind me. So I came out to your
00:01:28.460 announcement. We live streamed it. It was great. Lots of old reform MPs, people that are very well
00:01:36.380 respected in Alberta. Lots of great support. There was no shortage of people there. So is that why you
00:01:44.500 chose that riding is because there's so much support there already? Well, I actually have a lot of
00:01:49.600 support all over Alberta. And of course, I was touring Alberta before we made the announcement to
00:01:54.720 do that. And we were getting crowds like that in all areas that we went in Alberta. We had some, you
00:02:01.780 know, quick decisions to make when the when the writ was dropped. And many people have been asking me
00:02:06.340 to run in Alberta. And of course, I have a heart for Alberta. And I always enjoy when I come out here.
00:02:11.240 And so we made the decision to go into Banff Airdrie. Yes, we do have a lot of support there.
00:02:16.360 But primarily, it's because the whip of the Conservative Party is running there. He's the
00:02:21.400 guy that's been, you know, twisting arms behind the scenes, asking Conservative MPs to, you know,
00:02:26.100 to stand down and to vote in favor of some of this Liberal legislation. So I wanted to make sure that
00:02:30.740 we were targeting someone that deserved to be targeted, and not just choosing a riding based on,
00:02:35.720 you know, the most favorable for myself.
00:02:37.320 Okay, so it is mostly about the the party whip being there then.
00:02:43.940 We do have a lot of support in Banff Airdrie, but there's some ridings where we have even more
00:02:48.020 support. But I wanted to make sure that we were, you know, targeting someone who deserved it.
00:02:52.700 Yeah, that's actually a question that's been asked by a lot of our members is why not choose
00:02:57.160 something like Medicine Hat Cartston Warner? Yes.
00:02:59.820 They have very large Mormon population. They have very religious people in those areas.
00:03:04.880 There's parts of Manitoba as well. And I think around the Steinbeck area, some of the stuff that
00:03:11.760 the Manitoba government has done in those areas has just been appalling. And I mean, of course,
00:03:17.520 we've seen several pastors in Alberta being thrown in jail. And those ridings are also available.
00:03:24.680 So, you know, there's a lot of support there.
00:03:27.100 That's right. Yeah, you know, we looked very closely at a number of ridings. And it's true
00:03:32.200 that there's a lot of support in many different places. But this one seemed to be just right. And
00:03:38.680 many of the people that endorsed me are actually right from this area. And I've had a lot of good
00:03:43.980 experiences in this area and a lot of support here. And we just felt it was the right fit.
00:03:47.760 So what about Max? Max is coming out to the riding. He's going to be there, I believe,
00:03:55.500 the 30th and 31st. He appears not to be going down in that riding without a fight. Nadine
00:04:01.400 Wellwood, she is a correspondent or was a correspondent for the Western Standard for a
00:04:06.120 short period as well. And she has basically come back firing when you said to the Maverick Party and
00:04:13.780 to the PPC to stand down in that riding. And now Max is coming out to the riding. So it doesn't
00:04:19.940 appear that they're going to back down in that riding. What would you have to say to Max? And
00:04:24.480 what about to Jay Hill and the Maverick Party about those ridings?
00:04:28.920 Yeah, well, listen, I understand that everybody wants to have their piece of the pie. And it's
00:04:33.400 clear that other candidates are going to be running. I think that's fine. I mean, to me, in this riding,
00:04:38.840 and I say this, you know, just based on the facts as they are, I have a great shot at taking out Blake
00:04:46.140 Richards. If I'm missing that by a few points, and it's because that vote went to the PPC or the
00:04:52.460 Maverick, that would be a hindrance to all of our different movements, okay, because we have a lot of
00:04:58.340 similarities. And, you know, for me to take out a conservative big gun would show that the
00:05:04.280 Conservative Party is vulnerable in Alberta, it would give encouragement to all alternative
00:05:12.060 parties, whether it be Maverick or PPC. So they're doing what they're doing, what they're doing. It's
00:05:17.200 a shame, frankly. I mean, listen, I said to Max, and, you know, I said this to him personally, I said,
00:05:21.160 listen, I could run right now 80 or 100 candidates, okay? I'm not because why would I do that,
00:05:29.000 right? The election has come on us. We picked two strategic ridings that, frankly, hold symbolic
00:05:36.260 significance for kind of the protest movement. And I said, listen, I'll endorse you. You know,
00:05:42.340 like, I wouldn't run somebody against Maxime Bernays, okay? I wouldn't, you know, at this
00:05:47.560 point, we have an election going, we have a good slate of liberty candidates across the country.
00:05:51.780 Now, I understand that Nadine, you know, was running already and all these kinds of things,
00:05:55.760 and I get that. So I understand that she's fighting and all this. But in the bigger picture,
00:06:00.920 this is about our freedom movement. And frankly, I wish that we would have been able to work together
00:06:05.460 better. And, you know, his response to that is, well, you know, Derek, I invited you to join the
00:06:09.680 party and you should have joined. But you know what? Politics sometimes takes some time. And I would
00:06:14.800 have been more than willing to, you know, kind of endorse them. And I have been when people say,
00:06:19.560 you know, who should I vote for? I say, well, you know, look at the PPC candidates, see if they're a
00:06:23.240 good candidate in your riding. So I would say I'm a bit disappointed on that. And I've had some
00:06:30.280 discussions with Max on that. They're, you know, obviously fighting to win. And that's fine.
00:06:37.240 But it is, it's hard to work together with somebody down the road when they're not willing to make,
00:06:42.660 you know, I mean, you know, he has 337 ridings to go full bore. And I don't think there's any reason
00:06:48.520 to do a couple events here. That being said, it's obviously his choice. But it is, I think,
00:06:53.840 disappointing because we've worked on things together. We did a parliamentary press conference
00:06:59.420 together that is a top 10 most viewed political video of all time. There's been pretenses of
00:07:05.260 working together. But working together basically means join me or see you later. And I think there's
00:07:12.140 more options to work together than just that. So I'm a bit disappointed, but I wish him the best.
00:07:17.820 And I wish that this election unseats Justin Trudeau and get some liberty candidates in there.
00:07:24.660 So is that what it was? Was that it was going to be Max's way or no way? Because you guys have very
00:07:31.160 similar policies. Like you guys both advocate for smaller government at the federal level,
00:07:36.400 more provincial control, more personal responsibility, more individual freedom.
00:07:41.320 a lot of the vast majority of your platforms cross over. So was there just an impasse that the two
00:07:48.320 of you just couldn't get passed to for you to join the PPC as a candidate for them? Or was it something
00:07:57.160 else? Just something that you felt that the PPC is missing that you couldn't buy into?
00:08:02.040 Yeah. Well, listen, I mean, politics sometimes takes time. And of course, we have an election upon us here.
00:08:07.060 And we're, you know, making decisions and working as best we can. Yeah, the basic proposition from
00:08:13.660 the PPC was, you know, join us or if not, you know, best of luck kind of thing. And, you know,
00:08:19.000 for me, I felt that, you know, Canada needs something slightly different. And, you know,
00:08:24.900 something that encompasses sort of the three dimensional conservatism that I ran on. So
00:08:31.260 I believe that for conservatism to win, it has to be, of course, fiscally conservative,
00:08:36.040 but also have strong social conservative policies that promote faith and family in a way that's
00:08:43.120 intelligible in our 21st century. So I don't believe that you can, you know, we obviously have
00:08:48.480 to be fiscal conservatives, we have to be, you know, foreign policy conservatives, we have to be
00:08:52.520 social conservatives, and we have to do it in a way that fits in our culture. But you can't be one
00:08:56.880 and not the other. And I feel that nobody has really honed in that vision. I think we need,
00:09:03.840 you know, if we're going to build for the future, we need to have that vision. And I like a lot of
00:09:07.460 the things that Max is doing, but I felt that he didn't quite have that vision that was needed.
00:09:11.600 Doesn't mean that I don't wish him the best in this election. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't
00:09:15.040 have even endorsed, you know, some of their candidates in this election. But I just felt
00:09:18.380 that the conservative vision needs to be a three dimensional conservative vision that
00:09:22.160 encompasses, you know, all different parts of conservatism, whether it be, you know,
00:09:25.940 kind of your libertarian conservatism, or your fiscal conservatism, or social conservatism,
00:09:30.420 I believe all of those pieces can work together cohesively. And that was the type of platform I
00:09:36.020 ran on in the leadership race in 2020. So let's talk about the leadership race a little bit.
00:09:43.360 There's so many interesting intricacies of that leadership race. You seem to have taken just the
00:09:51.580 brunt of everything that happened. But when it comes to some of the policies that you were
00:09:56.380 advocating for, you and Leslyn Lewis were almost identically on the same page. And I'm from Medicine
00:10:03.240 Hat, I'm from the Prairie. And Leslyn Lewis's platform really resonates with people down there.
00:10:09.880 We can get into the nitty gritty details of it. But essentially, you said this during during your
00:10:16.140 announcement as well, about 80% of Canadians are against gender selective abortion and late term
00:10:21.740 abortion. But for some reason, in Canada, we cannot have any type of intelligent conversation about
00:10:29.080 abortion without it being 100% legal or 100% against the law. Nobody can find a middle ground
00:10:36.940 there. But I found that you and Leslyn were both saying the same thing about it. And you also said
00:10:42.900 conservatives need to confront these tough subjects head on. Why is it that the CPC is not only not
00:10:51.080 willing to have those discussions, but actively pushing out people who want to have those discussions?
00:10:57.980 But also, why are they courting Leslyn Lewis and not you?
00:11:04.300 Well, they know that they need social conservative votes and money to win. And so they don't want to
00:11:10.600 fully ostracize them. But at the same time, they're not willing to take on any causes that are of
00:11:16.060 value to social conservatives. So they believe they're happy to have social conservatives in the
00:11:20.220 party. They just don't want them to have a voice. And frankly, I think that one of the ways to victory
00:11:25.920 is to, I mean, if you take a look at Doug Ford in Ontario or even Stephen Harper before he won his
00:11:31.380 majority, policies like cutting off foreign aid funding for abortion went over well. Or it certainly
00:11:38.140 didn't hurt Harper in, you know, the 905, you know, the Toronto suburb areas. Doug Ford, remember,
00:11:43.840 campaigned against the liberal sex ed curriculum. And there was a lot of, you know, people that
00:11:48.640 wouldn't typically vote conservative that were excited about that. So I think there's ways to
00:11:52.660 broaden our tent by, you know, hitting on issues that are that are socially conservative. Absolutely.
00:11:59.360 One of the other things was this donation. And I have to tell you, I had to Google who he was
00:12:07.740 look up his name and research and find out who he is. I, it is shocking to me that they went that far
00:12:17.440 down the rabbit hole to find something like that. Was there some warning coming up to that, that they
00:12:24.840 had, that they were just looking for absolutely anything grasping at straws just to try to toss you
00:12:30.680 from the party? So on, on Friday, before that Monday that the story came out, I got a call in the evening
00:12:38.720 from the executive director of the party, Janet Friday Dory. And she was telling me that my efforts
00:12:44.740 to recruit members for the convention were against CRTC rules. So she said that we did, we did a phone
00:12:52.220 blast out to my supporters just to remind them to sign up for this convention. So she calls me and she
00:12:57.080 says, you know, we think you're breaking CRTC rules. I said, why? She's like, well, you're not allowed
00:13:02.060 to sell things over the phone unless people consent to it. And I said, well, I mean, my supporters have
00:13:07.320 given me their number, but beyond that, I'm not selling anything. And she's like, well, you are,
00:13:11.620 you're selling tickets to the convention. And I said, well, I'm not selling anything. You guys are
00:13:16.680 collecting the money and I'm just reminding people to sign up. I'm not, you know. So she said, well,
00:13:22.180 in any event, we need to see your list of supporters. And at that point I said, well,
00:13:27.840 who's in trouble? Is it the conservative party or is it me thinking, well, do they need this to help
00:13:32.800 defend themselves? They're like, nope, we're not in trouble. It's you. And I said, well, if I'm in
00:13:36.980 trouble, I'll keep the list to myself. Thank you very much. And I believe what was happening is that
00:13:42.140 they were, they were concerned that I was bringing in basically, you know, real conservatives into the
00:13:49.320 convention because they wanted the convention to come quickly without anybody realizing it.
00:13:53.180 They weren't really advertising it until I started pounding the table on convention in December.
00:13:58.460 And so I think they wanted to know who it was that supported me so that they could do funny business
00:14:03.400 and prevent them from being delegates to the convention because they wanted it to come quickly
00:14:07.020 and quietly without any embarrassment. So on the Monday, so I refused to give them my list. And on the
00:14:13.700 Monday, this story broke. And by Wednesday, I was out of the party. So I believe that this is
00:14:18.380 connected. And I believe that they just didn't know kind of what to do. You know, they wanted an
00:14:23.100 excuse to get me out anyways. And they really, I think, just doubled down on that. So I believe
00:14:28.500 those are connected. And again, you know, I don't know how this newspaper figured this out, because
00:14:35.160 as you've noted, this particular fellow donated in a name that nobody knows him by. So some people
00:14:41.980 have heard of, you know, Paul Fromm. Nobody's heard of Frederick Fromm. I mean, I never heard of this guy.
00:14:46.720 So someone had to do some real digging and piecing things together to figure this out. And I don't
00:14:53.620 know who was doing what behind the scenes, but I absolutely, absolutely believe that my efforts
00:14:57.920 with convention led into me getting kicked out of the party. Yeah. Do you think that the current
00:15:05.800 iteration of the CPC, are they essentially waging a war against social conservatives? And only working
00:15:15.960 with ones that are okay with basically being seen and not necessarily heard. Any sort of social
00:15:24.940 conservative who raises a voice or pushes back, they seem to disappear rather quickly. But ones
00:15:31.480 that are willing to play ball and just say, well, we'll listen and essentially do nothing. They're
00:15:37.380 welcome in the party still. But it seems like from when Stephen Harper was the leader of the party to
00:15:42.940 where we are now, if you hold any sort of social conservative values, you're just pushed back
00:15:48.920 constantly. Yeah. I mean, O'Toole, I believe, is afraid of them. It's clear that their strategy is
00:15:54.260 sort of, you know, be as sort of unassuming as possible, be as safe as possible, be as uncontroversial
00:16:01.320 as possible. So they're not willing to stand up against some of these things. You know, I believe Stephen
00:16:09.000 Harper, at least early on, understood the value of having, you know, like a 360 degree conservatism
00:16:16.380 in the party. And I think he used that to his benefit. Aaron O'Toole doesn't understand that.
00:16:22.720 A lot of people don't understand it. And I don't think we're really going to be able to form
00:16:27.800 government in an enduring way until we do. I mean, you know, the conservatives are doing better in the
00:16:34.640 polls now. And that's a good thing. But really, it's based off of the implosion of the liberals.
00:16:39.920 And if we have to only count on winning when the liberals implode, I mean, that's not a good
00:16:44.100 strategy. We need to have a strategy that can move forward and maintain government regardless of
00:16:48.980 whether the liberals are imploding or not. I mean, they were imploding last time and we lost.
00:16:52.600 They're imploding this time and maybe we'll might eke out something. But we have to have an enduring
00:16:57.500 strategy. And that strategy is a comprehensive 360 degree conservatism that's willing to address
00:17:04.620 all facets of Canadian life. So eventually you see possibly your party, the PPC and the CPC
00:17:12.340 becoming that Big Ten conservative party again. Do you think it's just a matter of having the right
00:17:18.020 leader that's willing to listen to the social cons, the libertarian conservatives and the fiscal
00:17:25.480 conservatives and put them back together? Do you think that it's more of a failure of leadership at
00:17:30.560 the top? Or do you think conservatism is just changing and that there's just no room left
00:17:35.860 in a moderate conservative party to have social conservative views?
00:17:41.020 No, I don't think that at all. I think, in fact, I mean, when you look at the numbers,
00:17:45.920 particularly those who voted, you know, Lesvin and myself first ballot, we make up a large portion
00:17:52.940 of the party. And, you know, I think if you, I think if we really drill down social conservatives
00:17:58.480 or at least people who are somewhat or who are more socially conservative than Aaron O'Toole make
00:18:05.500 up the bulk of the party. I mean, people may not label themselves that way, but most conservatives I
00:18:10.740 know would be against sex selective abortion, for example. I mean, there's many things that nearly all
00:18:16.760 of us can agree on. As for the different parties, I mean, parties are just, you know, paperwork and,
00:18:23.260 you know, branding, but movements are people. And I believe that with the right leader and with,
00:18:30.920 you know, with the right timing, all Canadian conservatives can come together. And I don't
00:18:37.360 know what banner that will be under, but I hope that that will happen soon and that we can have a
00:18:43.480 movement that can have an enduring impact on Canadian society. And then focusing back here
00:18:50.540 to the leaders themselves, Jason Kenney ran a very specific way. When he was uniting the right,
00:18:59.520 the way he campaigned, when he put the parties back together, the way he campaigned for leadership
00:19:05.460 there, and then the way he campaigned for premier has been extremely different from the way he's
00:19:12.060 governed. And I think you could ask any conservative, they would say, who is this?
00:19:18.480 What's happening? Aaron O'Toole has appeared to do the exact same thing. When he was running for the
00:19:23.920 leadership of the party, he campaigned one way. And within weeks, you were gone, we're carbon tax,
00:19:32.700 now we're not defunding the CBC, the flip-flops. I mean, there's more flip-flops right now coming out
00:19:38.240 of Aaron O'Toole than there is at a swimming pool. It's unbelievable. Why is it? Do you think that is
00:19:46.280 what these leaders think they need to do to win? Because what we're actually seeing is we're seeing
00:19:52.140 the parties fracture. The CBC now has split into three different parties, well, four, I mean,
00:19:57.920 if you count the Maverick. And the UCP, the Wild Rose Independence Party, is growing massively,
00:20:04.920 and they're splitting again. And these were the people who were supposed to bring the party back
00:20:09.900 together. Why is that? Why is that happening? Why did they do that?
00:20:16.140 Yeah, you know, what I suspect is happening is when they win, they're kind of in, you know,
00:20:21.060 the limelight of sort of the media and, you know, these high-level sort of consultants. And they forget
00:20:26.560 what it's like at the grassroots. They forget what it's like at the ground level. And they forget who
00:20:30.500 their supporters are. So, you know, I don't believe that. I mean, I've obviously, if I wanted to play
00:20:37.020 the game, I would still be a conservative, right? I mean, I believe that we have to be consistent,
00:20:41.680 that we have to be honest. And, you know, the liberals rarely lose their base, right? I mean,
00:20:47.060 you know, if you've lost your base, you're really up the creek without a paddle. So I think that you
00:20:53.660 always have to remember who your friends are. You have to treat your friends well. And that's why I've
00:20:57.900 been disappointed to see how the conservatives have treated Alberta. Because they, you know,
00:21:02.980 Albertans, almost to a person, voted conservative last election. And now they're actively saying,
00:21:08.080 well, you know, we can afford to lose votes in Alberta. You have to make sure that you're
00:21:11.900 treating your friends well, that you're treating your base well. And it doesn't mean that you don't
00:21:18.200 try and expand your influence. But you can't compromise on principles that you've always
00:21:23.140 said that you support. Okay, so maybe focusing more on the riding now specifically. You're from
00:21:33.340 Ontario. I know that you've spent quite a bit of time this year in Alberta. But what can the voters
00:21:41.060 in Airdrie Banff expect for you from you as their MP? If you win this bid, what did they get? Because
00:21:48.320 we've got, you know, we've got the different conservative parties and the different aspects
00:21:54.620 of what's going on and the splits within the party. What did they get for themselves for voting
00:22:00.160 for you? That's right. Well, the first thing I would say is that, you know, when you look at the
00:22:04.340 polls, I'm, you know, basically the only one that has a shot of winning this, okay, unless something
00:22:09.500 drastically changes. And I think a lot of people want something new. If people look at my track record,
00:22:15.660 I'm a member of parliament, I have a track record of doing things. I've been able to do a lot as an
00:22:20.880 independent when it comes to fighting against, you know, the lockdowns, the vaccine passports,
00:22:26.420 you know, the Paris Agreement, carbon taxes. I have been very vocal on these things. I mentioned
00:22:32.260 a press conference I did with Maxime Bernier. I did another one with whistleblowing doctors on
00:22:38.000 medical censorship that became the most watched political video of all time in two days. You know,
00:22:44.180 these are things that I've been able to do just myself and my team. And an independent who is,
00:22:50.020 you know, unhinged from the establishment can accomplish great things. I have a following across
00:22:55.000 the country. I'm a known quantity. And people can expect more of the same. They can expect me to
00:23:00.600 fight hard for them and to, you know, really be a beacon for liberty here in Alberta that's
00:23:07.340 desperately needed. I'm born and raised in Alberta. And one thing that usually happens in Alberta is
00:23:14.380 when we see the liberal blood in the water like it is right now, we're mad. And we like our third
00:23:21.300 parties. The reform party came from here. That populist movement, it really resonates in Alberta.
00:23:27.140 So it's not surprising to me that the PPC is sitting at 16% in the polls. And there's quite a
00:23:34.020 real possibility of independents and third party candidates such as yourself winning in some of
00:23:39.460 these ridings. But once Albertans smell liberal blood in the water, we have this default to just
00:23:45.420 go back to the CPC, vote for them, get them as many votes as they can, make sure they're there,
00:23:50.880 make sure they win. What would you say to those people? And how would you convince them that in this
00:23:56.180 riding specifically, and maybe some of the other ridings across Alberta, that another conservative
00:24:01.980 voice can still be just as effective as voting for the CPC? Yeah. So in the riding that I'm running
00:24:08.200 in, it is impossible for the liberals or NDP to win. There is no way that they can win based on the
00:24:13.400 numbers. It's basically either Blake Richards or myself. Okay. And so in that scenario, I would say
00:24:19.800 no matter what happens, you're not helping Justin Trudeau. And if it comes down to it, that I'm the last
00:24:24.680 person that's the linchpin between a conservative government or not. Do you want a guy like me
00:24:30.900 who's willing to hold their toes to the fire? Or do you want a guy like Blake Richards who's just
00:24:34.660 going to do whatever they want to do? So this is actually the best alternative for someone who
00:24:39.300 wants, I mean, I'm known as one of the most principled conservative members of parliament in
00:24:43.120 the entire country. And if it does come down that I'm the last person that determines whether the
00:24:48.520 conservatives form government or not, you want a guy like me being the linchpin because as an
00:24:53.020 independent, I can make them honest. I'm sure it's certainly not going to be supporting Justin
00:24:56.240 Trudeau. I can tell you that. But I can make sure that my support comes at the cost of, you know,
00:25:03.460 standing up for Alberta. So it really is a great alternative. In our riding, the liberals can't
00:25:08.360 win at all. In many Alberta ridings, liberals and NDP have no shot of winning. So it's actually
00:25:14.020 worthwhile to hope maybe that another candidate can win and keep the conservatives honest.
00:25:20.120 Yeah, I feel like that message is starting to hit. I've noticed just in the comments on our videos
00:25:27.340 and comments on our articles that people are starting to realize that with the amount of votes,
00:25:34.280 even if you split 50-50 on a conservative vote, there's not enough of the population left to put
00:25:40.880 any of the other candidates past that. And I think some people are starting to realize that we can still
00:25:47.620 have a conservative option, but we can pick that conservative option and it doesn't necessarily
00:25:52.340 have to be the CPC party anymore. And we still get a conservative and on common issues, there's the
00:25:59.760 ability to work together. And I'll just give you an example. In my riding, the vote was 70%
00:26:06.700 conservative last election. The NDP and liberals got about, you know, 10 or 11%. If the conservative vote
00:26:12.860 is cut in half, then I win. If it's not, then he wins. But there's no possible alternative where the
00:26:20.880 liberals or NDP win. So it's a great choice for people to be able to, you know, to vote for an
00:26:26.140 actual conservative without worrying about helping Justin Trudeau. And one of the other things is,
00:26:32.820 is obviously we have the Maverick party. The West is angry. They, we've done the, I remember,
00:26:39.560 the West wants in. I remember all of those bumper stickers years ago. Now it's, it's changed. It's
00:26:45.380 now the West wants out. So you're from Ontario. You're here. What's your vision for either keeping
00:26:52.220 the West in or if it comes down to it, taking the West out? Well, listen, that's a, that's a good
00:26:58.020 question. And there's no doubt that the frustration levels here and the anger levels are higher than
00:27:03.920 they've ever been. I personally believe that there's a, there's a, there's a vision of Canada
00:27:09.740 that is good for everybody. And I don't like, frankly, if Alberta is doing really well economically
00:27:15.820 and socially and in other ways, that's not bad for other provinces. In fact, that's good for the
00:27:21.640 entire country. So what has been happening is that leadership has been pitting different regions of
00:27:27.300 the country against each other, has been pitting different races of people against each other,
00:27:31.760 you know, European versus indigenous, white versus black, West versus East, you know, that's exactly
00:27:37.840 what the liberals like to do. They'd like to divide and conquer. So there's no question that the anger
00:27:43.180 is deserved. When it comes to, you know, actual success on separatist, on the separatist level,
00:27:49.300 all of that's done at a provincial level. I mean, you know, the Maverick is not going to undertake a
00:27:53.960 referendum at a provincial level. They're not going to, you know, change your police force. They're not
00:27:58.080 going to change your pension system and these other things. So there are viable options at the
00:28:03.120 provincial level that have the willpower and the muscle to do these things. So I have many people
00:28:08.340 that come to my rallies that support Wildrose Independence provincially and equally support me
00:28:13.080 federally. They say, listen, this is my best federal option. I'd love to support him. You know,
00:28:17.720 this is my best provincial option. I'd love to support them. So I don't think it's inconsistent.
00:28:21.840 I think that, you know, for an angry Albertan, you need to support someone provincially who's willing
00:28:27.480 to fight for you. And as far as federally is speaking, you need to vote for somebody that's
00:28:32.100 willing to, you know, unite the country and get Alberta working again. And I think, you know,
00:28:37.440 when you look at separatism kind of pre-Harper, really died down during Harper. And that was
00:28:43.260 because people understood, even if, you know, Stephen Harper wasn't perfect, that, you know,
00:28:48.100 he was not trying to divide the country. He was trying to bring them together. So listen,
00:28:51.860 I think that we, personally, I think we'd be better off. And I know that there's,
00:28:55.580 you know, I know there's tons of debt and other things, but overall, I think we would be better
00:29:01.580 off if we were humming on all eight cylinders as a country, you know, coast to coast pipeline
00:29:07.040 infrastructure, energy independence, you know, shipping massive amounts of natural gas and other
00:29:12.600 products to Asia. I mean, this is something that's possible. It's something that should be done.
00:29:18.220 And frankly, that's what I'm aiming for at a federal level. But it doesn't stop you from fighting
00:29:23.040 for what you deserve at the provincial level as well. So I think those things go hand in hand.
00:29:28.040 Do you think as an MP being from Ontario, if elected from Alberta, do you think that maybe
00:29:34.020 your message or Alberta's message would resonate more in your home riding in Ontario
00:29:41.100 if you were elected here? Could you go back and convince them like, hey, this is what's happening
00:29:46.340 out there. This is what's happening to these people. They've done what you guys have done with
00:29:50.100 two years of COVID. They've been going through five years of economic turmoil. They've been doing
00:29:54.280 five years of long-term unemployment. They've seen their resource revenue drive up. The jobs have left
00:29:59.600 the country. They've largely gone to the United States. Do you see that being a bonus and not a
00:30:05.640 detriment from being from Ontario that you could then take the Alberta message back and speak
00:30:09.660 to the Ontarians and convince them that, hey, what's happening out there is serious. It's important.
00:30:15.960 Absolutely. I have a large following in Ontario and I've done, you know, I've had very large rallies
00:30:21.120 in Ontario in as much as I've done them here. Absolutely. I believe that the Alberta message is a very
00:30:27.600 simple one and it just needs to be shared. And we're not having leaders that are doing it properly.
00:30:33.840 And I believe, I mean, I've been against the Paris Agreement and the carbon tax from day one. That was one
00:30:38.060 difference between Lesley and Lewis and I. And I think that these things, you know, getting us out
00:30:43.040 of these agreements, you know, stopping this suicidal attack on our best industries. I think
00:30:50.420 that this is a message that can be sold in other parts of the country. And I'm viewed very credibly
00:30:55.440 by many people in Ontario. And we have other people that are working with us in Quebec as well. So
00:31:02.620 I think that there is, there's a vision for Canada that is best for the country, that's best
00:31:07.920 for everybody. And we should have been, we should have been doing this decades ago, but it's never
00:31:12.720 too late. It's never too late.
00:31:15.380 So for people that are interested, what's coming up for you? What campaign events, where
00:31:20.920 can they find you? How do they catch up with you on the campaign trail?
00:31:24.740 The best thing to do is to go to my website, DerekSloan.ca. You can sign up for my emails
00:31:29.180 there. You can also find me on Facebook. We post all the things that we're doing there. So
00:31:33.400 we will have some events coming up soon. We're doing a lot of door knocking. So if you're in
00:31:37.780 the Banferdry area, you might see me at the door. And if you're not from that area and you have
00:31:43.060 friends and family there, tell them to keep their eyes open. But we're excited to be fighting in
00:31:48.020 this campaign. And I wish everyone all the best. And God bless Canada and God bless Alberta.
00:31:52.660 I'm excited to keep up with your campaign. Thank you very much for coming in today. I really
00:31:57.160 appreciate it. Glad to be here. Thanks a lot. Thank you.
00:32:03.400 Thank you.