Western Standard - Don’t let the government kill direct democracy

00:00:00.000 Good day.

00:00:29.040 welcome to the cory morgan show it had to happen eventually there's snow on the ground well i hope

00:00:34.720 it warms up a little bit by the weekend for the kids going out for halloween i got those memories

00:00:39.520 from my childhood on freezing cold nights with one of those cheap plastic masks on and a rubber band

00:00:45.520 thing on it ripping into my hair and frozen snot gluing it to my face i wouldn't give it up for

00:00:50.560 the world it was worth it to go door to door and get candy but all the same if it could be a little

00:00:53.600 more comfortable for the kids let's hope for the best well leaving you on that good lunchtime note

00:00:58.640 I've got other more palatable stuff coming on.

00:01:01.300 Franco Teresano from the Taxpayers Federation is going to come on in a little while to talk.

00:01:04.740 Yeah, we're coming up on federal budget time.

00:01:07.160 I'm sure that's going to be a doozy and something to look forward to.

00:01:10.380 And we've got a whole lot of issues to cover.

00:01:12.500 I want to go over a bit, though, now on the referendum.

00:01:17.840 And no, the subject's not independence.

00:01:19.300 I think we've all had enough of that for a little while.

00:01:21.200 But still, it's the process itself, direct democracy.

00:01:23.760 And I'm kind of sad about how this came out.

00:01:25.160 I mean, the process for Alberta's fall referenda was a mess from day one, and it only got worse as time passed.

00:01:31.000 The chief electoral officer made no secret that he wasn't thrilled with the entire affair, and confusion reigned for every step of the campaign.

00:01:37.900 Direct democracy, it has merit. It could be a regular part of policymaking in Alberta's future.

00:01:42.780 Unfortunately, the 2026 referenda soured the public appetite for future votes.

00:01:47.360 Rather than let this venture into direct democracy die as a failed experiment, though,

00:01:51.620 The government should be examining what went wrong and to correct things so it could be a tool used to garner public mandates in the future.

00:01:57.460 I mean, governments, especially this one, are inclined to dump an initiative when it's gone awry rather than try to correct it.

00:02:03.580 An example was the Alberta government's terrible handling of the provincial pension plan.

00:02:07.860 The citizen initiative aspect of the Elections Act and the regulations associated have to be cleaned up and clarified.

00:02:14.040 I mean, Luke Kasich talked out of both sides of his mouth while claiming that he wanted to initiate a vote in the legislature sometimes

00:02:18.980 and claiming he wanted a referendum at others.

00:02:20.620 and there was kind of paperwork to justify both.

00:02:23.220 It should be clear from the outset what any petition is for.

00:02:26.520 The bar for initiating a referendum, well, that's been raised financially with a huge deposit,

00:02:30.480 but there's other things that need to be done.

00:02:33.760 Clarity on the identification requirements for people signing petitions

00:02:36.640 and what's going to be done to verify those once they're submitted.

00:02:39.660 A massive number of signatures were declined by Elections Alberta

00:02:42.180 with both the State Free Alberta Petition and Cor Blund's Anti-Coal Mining Petition,

00:02:46.340 and the reasons used felt arbitrary and confusing.

00:02:49.400 The Indigenous consultation requirement, that's got to be fought vigorously in court, and that is ongoing.

00:02:54.240 This creeping trend of giving chiefs a de facto veto over all political initiatives must be halted, and that includes citizen initiatives.

00:03:01.600 But going forward, there's also got to be a limited number of questions put to the ballot and any one exercise.

00:03:06.160 The dog's breakfast of questions put to Albertans on October 19th created confusion and led to campaigns encouraging people to support or oppose entire blocks of questions rather than making decisions on each individual question.

00:03:18.860 The voting numbers indicated that many people actually made their choices question by question,

00:03:23.740 which is a good thing, but it caused longer lines at polling stations and it really made for a messy campaign.

00:03:28.440 The lesson learned from the Quebec's 1995 referendum was apparently lost.

00:03:31.780 I mean, their ill-phrased question put to Quebecers prompted the creation of the Clarity Act.

00:03:36.120 That act only applies to questions on provincial independence,

00:03:39.240 but the principles of it should be applied to all referendum questions.

00:03:42.120 The questions post-Albertans on the 19th were convoluted and weird.

00:03:45.940 And when asking people for a vote yes or no, the question being asked should be straightforward,

00:03:49.900 without much room for interpretation.

00:03:52.060 The roles and abilities of third-party advertisers, those need to be laid out and defined better.

00:03:56.980 Alberta left the campaigning in the hands of third-party advertisers,

00:03:59.560 but then set fundraising limitations on them, barred them from participating as scrutineers in the process.

00:04:04.400 Meanwhile, the political parties could campaign without limits,

00:04:06.940 and only two of them were allowed to appoint scrutineers.

00:04:09.260 The clown show of pretending Forever Canada campaign was an embarrassment for Elections Alberta as well.

00:04:16.240 I mean, you know, pretending it wasn't a campaign when he had a campaign office, it discredited the whole institution.

00:04:21.060 On top of that, the government itself spent $4 million tax dollars to campaign on one side of the first nine questions and the other on the tenth.

00:04:27.800 Is the intention to allow citizens to make the choice or for the government to affirm what it already wants to do?

00:04:32.880 I think we know the answer to that question.

00:04:34.800 If the government wants to make a policy change, just do it.

00:04:37.340 Referenda should remain in the hands of citizens

00:04:39.840 And it should be binding

00:04:40.900 Another mistake was expanding the use of mail-in ballots

00:04:43.820 To be used by anybody for any reason at any time

00:04:46.020 These special ballots have long been available

00:04:48.260 But people had to sign a declaration

00:04:49.680 That they wouldn't be available during regular voting times

00:04:51.940 By removing that requirement

00:04:53.360 The government invited a flood of mail-in ballots

00:04:55.260 Which contributed to overwhelming the count

00:04:57.020 And robbed countless people of the ability

00:04:59.140 To cast a secret ballot

00:05:00.360 The disparity in outcomes with the special ballots

00:05:03.140 Compared to ballots cast in person

00:05:04.740 Have raised some doubts about the integrity of the system

00:05:07.520 Trust is essential in an electoral system, and the recent referendum eroded it.

00:05:12.400 Faith in the system was hit, and it's going to lead to lower participation in general elections, along with skepticism about the results.

00:05:19.060 Most of the mess with the referendum appeared to be due to Elections Alberta being ill-managed and overwhelmed.

00:05:23.720 These can be rectified, but they must be done sooner rather than later.

00:05:27.080 Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the affair has left a good taste in the government's mouth or people in general.

00:05:31.280 I suspect we won't be seeing many more exercises in direct democracy in the near future.

00:05:37.060 And that really is a shame.

00:05:38.100 We're just great in places like Switzerland, but we're not there, are we?

00:05:41.500 Oh, well, how's it going, Dave?

00:05:42.540 Good, we're nowhere near Switzerland.

00:05:44.420 What's that?

00:05:45.120 We're nowhere near Switzerland.

00:05:46.200 Well, not in miles, no.

00:05:48.020 What are you doing with yourself now the referendum's over?

00:05:50.700 Have you had a nice relaxing week?

00:05:52.700 Pretty much.

00:05:53.760 Catching up on a lot of things, picking up a lot of signs,

00:05:56.180 and diversifying my political discourse on to more things rather than just independent stuff all the time.

00:06:01.280 you go terrible drive in today with the snow it was a reality check of our seasonal nature

00:06:07.360 uh but i haven't had too much time to look at the weather today because it's been incredibly busy

00:06:11.840 uh this morning our website is currently leading off with a gentleman in high river

00:06:17.440 high level excuse me who's wanted by the police for uh shooting uh some shots into the floor and

00:06:23.600 pistol whipping a guy and his mug shot is uh something you have to see to believe in the

00:06:29.440 The headline says it all.

00:06:31.020 It's a face, only a mother could love.

00:06:33.340 Yeah, I saw that picture, and I don't even know if his mother is really all that fond of that.

00:06:36.500 No, no.

00:06:38.500 Rob Smith, the president of the UCP party in Alberta, no relation to Danielle Smith,

00:06:44.480 says the premier is safe from a leadership review until after the next election.

00:06:50.240 He says 65 writings have affirmed her support for her,

00:06:56.800 So despite last night, Banff Kananaskis has reportedly voted to hold a leadership review.

00:07:04.580 So that's 65 to 5, I guess, at the moment.

00:07:08.200 It's going to be an interesting AGM.

00:07:09.920 Because there's that small core of the chronically aggrieved who just will not give up.

00:07:13.280 They want a separatist party, but they don't want to form one.

00:07:15.940 So they're going to try and turn the UCB into one.

00:07:18.020 It's unfortunate.

00:07:18.940 I mean, you know where I land.

00:07:19.800 I'm certainly an independent supporter. 1.00

00:07:20.960 I just don't support stupid strategy. 1.00

00:07:23.340 uh we've got a indian gangster who wanted for murder and all sorts of bad stuff in the punjab 1.00

00:07:31.200 uh was arrested by interpol in surrey of all places i guess he could have bled blended in

00:07:39.320 there uh burnaby has seen a rash of hundreds of graveyard vases being stolen uh these i guess are

00:07:47.260 brass or copper which the thieves steal and uh burn it down and sell it and buy their drugs with

00:07:54.620 it i guess but it's hundreds of thousands of dollars i mean robbing graveyards that's getting

00:08:00.140 pretty low well you know what the cops have got to catch up on are who's buying this metal

00:08:06.140 i reported a thing a few years ago i was driving uber i dropped a guy off

00:08:11.100 here was this little bay in a light industrial area and it around the back it just had like a

00:08:16.540 temporary sign painted up on top of it for metals and in the back were all the shopping carts and

00:08:20.620 all these guys with wire and who knows what they've gotten from construction sites is it really that

00:08:24.860 impossible to crack down on the buyers i mean if these junkies can't find somewhere to sell it

00:08:28.860 they might stop stealing exactly who would have thunk that uh we got a cbc contributor in toronto

00:08:34.620 who's in some hot water because uh she told the the loser in the merility race mr bradford

00:08:41.740 to give in to his dark thoughts and basically kill himself yeah so it's disgusting yeah and 0.87

00:08:46.700 then she just shrugged it up oh it's just dark humor no telling somebody to kill himself isn't 0.98

00:08:50.700 dark yeah i don't like the guy he should kill himself and it's disgusting uh dallywall season

00:08:57.740 is approaching uh and the city of calgary has issued a stark warning today that anybody's 0.96

00:09:03.420 shooting off fireworks uh will get a thousand dollar fine it's a huge problem because they

00:09:09.020 in the past they've had to close airport runways and whatnot as grass fires house fires car fires

00:09:15.420 are started because you've got thousands of people all at the same time shooting off fireworks so

00:09:20.300 hundreds of thousands of traumatized dogs exactly exactly quebec is set to end the time changes

00:09:28.300 they're not going to roll their clock back anymore you've got to look at the israeli election which

00:09:33.340 is still confusing but netanyahu in the lead second time in a year a spanish train has

00:09:40.940 hit another one 68 dead this time two canadians aboard the aboard the train were injured

00:09:48.140 speaking of hitting things a west jet plane in toronto we had a catering truck so we got video

00:09:53.500 of that the bank of canada raised its rate today to 2.25 percent and we've just learned of a air

00:10:01.180 canada jet flying from calgary to toronto declaring a mid mid-flight emergency and turning around

00:10:08.460 over uh medicine hat so we'll try and get the story on that up as soon as possible yeah that's

00:10:13.420 not very far out from here uh well i hope it ends safely whatever the heck that is i hate flying i

00:10:19.500 i just figure those things it just makes it that's why my road trip every year is by road i mean for

00:10:24.300 a lot of reasons i just like to be on the ground yeah uh the plane has landed but we're not sure

00:10:28.620 sure what the what the emergency was yet that's what we're going to try and find out all right

00:10:32.380 well i'm certain you'll find out and have it posted on the site soon hopefully right on okay

00:10:36.460 thanks dave see you on the pipeline you bet yes guys lots going on lots breaking lots to come and

00:10:42.560 this is a reminder westernstandard.news slash membership get a subscription it's ten dollars a

00:10:47.600 month hundred dollars for a year you can get past the paywall support us make sure we can

00:10:52.160 keep covering all these stories keep doing these shows and look legacy media isn't giving you a lot

00:10:57.180 this news they won't touch it we will and we'll discuss it here i don't want to go too far into

00:11:03.420 it but i mean it's what a lot of people are talking about that's fine look i love listening

00:11:09.180 to people questioning it cory is controlled opposition yes sneakily 26 years ago i forced

00:11:17.180 i started an independence party with a long-term goal of shoring up the danielle smith government

00:11:22.380 today. You crackpots. Look, I did everything I could in the referendum. And I'm still an 0.96

00:11:30.700 independent supporter and I will still be pushing towards that. But I got a taste of reality in my

00:11:36.500 head, guys. Come on now. Could the results have been better? Absolutely. But we're talking better

00:11:41.700 to what? 30%? Maybe 35? I'd look at things strategically. I look at what we can accomplish.

00:11:48.220 I look at what we can't. And we accomplished a lot. This movement has moved farther ahead

00:11:53.020 than it ever has, and it's going to keep moving forward, as long as it doesn't trip over its own

00:11:57.680 feet. And with these people thinking, let's see, we had three quarters of the province reject the

00:12:03.240 notion in a referendum. Let's try and turn the governing party into an independence party and

00:12:08.260 see how that goes during an election year. It's just math, folks. And it's foolishness. It doesn't

00:12:13.720 mean I have a love affair with Premier Smith. It doesn't mean I've given up on independence.

00:12:19.340 It just means I don't see kicking myself in the Democratic knackers and putting the NDP in for

00:12:24.780 four years. I don't see how that's going to facilitate moving our movement forward.

00:12:29.580 The thing going out, for example, with board members and their declaration, it's unfortunate

00:12:35.640 that that had to come up, but I don't lay that so much on the UCP, which is protecting itself

00:12:40.300 as a party, as the people pushing from the outside, trying to get in and turn it into

00:12:45.620 a separatist party, which would be political suicide. Three quarters of Albertans just

00:12:49.860 rejected it. We have to accept that. Learn from that. Figure out how to build the movement

00:12:54.560 bigger than that. Don't worry, the party will come on board. And this declaration doesn't

00:12:59.260 mean independent supporters can't be a part of that party. It just means that you can't

00:13:02.920 wear that on your sleeve and have that as your goal. That's not what you're going to

00:13:06.400 campaign on. It was just established. You could still be an independent supporter and be inside.

00:13:11.040 I'm not a member anyways, but I'll be at the AGM and I'll be watching. Of course, I'll be sharing

00:13:14.620 my thoughts and I'll continue to on here. But seriously, guys, we've got to think strategically,

00:13:20.600 not emotionally. Isn't that what we always said during the campaign? Was that it's people are

00:13:25.780 letting emotions govern themselves rather than the realities. And that's why they allow sentiment to

00:13:31.240 keep them from picking one side or the other. Well, when you get emotional and have a temper

00:13:35.320 tantrum and try to tear down a government in power when it's only going to make your cause harder

00:13:40.840 you're not taking the right side then either take a breather think about things a little longer

00:13:47.320 and uh see if we can't come up with some good things in the next couple of years

00:13:53.400 something i mean a good thing that came out and i understand this is what the government's trying

00:13:57.080 to do to turn the page they're sick of the independence thing they're sick of the referendum

00:14:00.280 they stepped into but it was a good conference yesterday talking about removing dei requirements

00:14:06.120 from public institutions and oh nahead is quite upset and are the unions and are the people with

00:14:11.240 gender studies degrees that understand they're not going to find a job doing anything else if 0.73

00:14:14.920 there wasn't some dei thing forcing people to hire them and pay good tax dollars into 0.99

00:14:19.560 having them sit in a position we don't need in the first place let's look at that who would put 0.79

00:14:24.920 that in because the people saying oh the premier smith's covers just like the head and she's

00:14:28.520 government really do you think they would bring in something to get rid of dei no they would

00:14:34.040 entrench it deeper let's just look at things a little pragmatically look long term we'll get

00:14:40.040 there all right let's look federally we haven't had them on in a while now we got a federal budget

00:14:45.000 coming up and i'm sure it's going to be brilliant i mean how could it not be we got franco terrazzano

00:14:49.640 from the canadian taxpayers federation coming in to tell us all about it how's it going franco

00:14:54.820 Hey, Corey, I'm doing well, man.

00:14:56.100 Happy to be on your show.

00:14:57.620 I appreciate it.

00:14:58.840 You know, I'll just start the tone right off.

00:15:00.620 I see our local member of parliament, Corey Hogan, said Canada has the lowest net debt in the G7 and the strongest credit rating.

00:15:07.140 And debt servicing costs are going to be well below historical levels.

00:15:10.620 It sounds to me like a man who's getting everybody ready for a giant amount of borrowing.

00:15:15.940 Yeah, that's what I'm thinking as well.

00:15:17.700 I mean, look, first of all, interest charges on the debt are a huge concern.

00:15:20.940 Let's just look at the government's own independent, nonpartisan budget watchdog, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who wrote this in a recent report, okay?

00:15:29.480 Public debt charges are the fastest growing expense.

00:15:34.280 Okay, let that sink in, folks.

00:15:36.480 The government credit card bills are the fastest growing costs in the federal budget.

00:15:42.660 Okay, you look back five years ago to 2021, interest on the debt was about $25 billion.

00:15:48.240 dollars this year five years later it's 59 billion dollars right so in a handful of years the interest

00:15:55.600 charges on the federal debt have more than doubled cory more than doubled the biggest waste in the

00:16:02.400 entire federal government which is saying a lot are these massive interest charges that are only

00:16:06.640 getting bigger well this is brutal i i can't stand that because i just see money spent on interest

00:16:12.720 is just like burned money we're not seeing a service for it we're not seeing any infrastructure

00:16:18.080 for it or capital investments it's just money going into well you know a plethora of bonds and

00:16:22.760 other such things like that but uh so what are the projections going forward what are you looking

00:16:27.940 forward to in this november here well i'm not looking forward to much but what do i think is

00:16:32.860 going to happen uh look tens of billions of dollars in additional borrowing unfortunately

00:16:37.140 right like what we want to happen is just no more borrowing can we just get back to a balanced

00:16:42.080 budget where taxpayers aren't wasting even more money paying interest on more debt that the

00:16:46.740 government accumulates. Or how about this, Corey? And I feel like this is the most pragmatic

00:16:51.020 solution ever. Just stop blowing past your own budget targets, okay? Why is the government

00:16:58.540 spending billions of dollars over their own budget, right? In their November budget last

00:17:03.680 year, they say, hey, we're going to spend $588 billion. Now, it looks like they're going to

00:17:08.640 spend $602 billion, okay? So they're $14 billion over their own budget. So that's what should be

00:17:15.100 happening. Corey, I want to address one other myth here, okay? Because you hear the Prime

00:17:19.980 Minister, you hear some of his MPs say, hey, we're balancing the operating budget. We're

00:17:25.140 balancing the operating budget. But you're not balancing squat when you continue to borrow

00:17:30.600 tens of billions of dollars every year and taxpayers are forced to pay interest on every

00:17:36.100 dollar you borrow. Well, I saw a recent report too. I mean, their revenues have been going up.

00:17:42.020 The high oil prices, I mean, are great for Alberta's bottom line in the government, though they're not that great with spending restraint either.

00:17:49.580 But federally, there's a lot more coming in as well.

00:17:52.220 But I guess they they just increase the spending to make up for that rather than look at it as something that could actually balance a budget.

00:17:59.320 Oh, that's exactly what happened. I mean, billions of dollars came in. Right.

00:18:03.100 So, I mean, billions of dollars fell into their lap. So they should be in a way better position.

00:18:07.320 Well, then what do they do? Well, they just take that bucket of cash and throw it right out the window as fast as the money came in, right? That's what's been going on. And look, I want to go back to a point that you just made about how interest charges are a complete waste of money. Let me just lay down a little bit more of the facts here, okay?

00:18:24.100 The federal government will waste more money paying interest on the debt than what it sends to the provinces in health care transfers this year.

00:18:31.600 Or think about it this way, the next time you're in that checkout line, every dollar you pay in federal sales tax is going to pay interest on the debt.

00:18:39.340 Okay, so let's just let that sink in for a second here and think of what we could do if we weren't wasting all this money servicing the federal debt.

00:18:47.320 We could essentially double health care spending or we could completely eliminate the GST, right?

00:18:53.000 Wouldn't that go a long way?

00:18:54.540 And before you even think that the biggest threat to a government program is ideology, it's not.

00:19:02.320 The biggest threat to a government program are those interest charges.

00:19:06.020 If you don't believe me, just ask the Saskatchewan NDP of the 1990s what happens when interest charges balloon out of control.

00:19:13.520 Of course, that provincial government was forced to close down dozens of hospitals across the province.

00:19:18.940 well we just saw the the bank of canada's just raised the the the prime rate and i mean eventually

00:19:25.160 this trickles into government and so on that's always been the tool that governments use to try

00:19:28.860 and battle inflation as well if we raise interest high enough we'll we'll crank down people's

00:19:34.080 spending basically because they'll be broke and that'll reduce the inflation but that's a really

00:19:38.600 painful way to try and deal with inflation rather than than just having a better economy

00:19:44.380 and look like the problem is is the inflation that was created in the first place right and

00:19:50.300 the inflation really took off during the heart of the pandemic now cory what happened during the

00:19:54.420 heart of the pandemic that was unusual when it comes to government finances well it was the

00:19:59.700 central bank printing hundreds of billions of dollars right out of thin air largely to finance

00:20:04.940 ottawa's deficit and then dropping that newly printed money out of thin air uh into an economy

00:20:09.960 that was going through revolving lockdowns right essentially the central bank and the government

00:20:14.060 creating the perfect storm for inflation which is too many dollars chasing too few goods right

00:20:20.080 and like look uh really no politician in power in ottawa okay no governing politician so to speak

00:20:27.520 has really taken the inflation problems serious right if they were they would balance the budget

00:20:34.200 stop borrowing money uh do everything in their power to cut the taxes and regulations that make

00:20:39.920 it harder to actually build stuff in canada and i don't mean just a couple of projects politicians

00:20:45.040 deem in the national interest well i mean since i got you here i'm sure you got a few answers

00:20:49.900 what are a few of the things they're spending money on that they could stop spending money on

00:20:53.800 well i mean number one uh how about we just stop the pay raises please can we can we just stop the

00:21:00.260 pay raises here these mps from every party right taking pay raises every single year and you know

00:21:05.180 our our national politicians are the only national politicians in any g7 country that have taken 14

00:21:11.100 consecutive pay raises in a row every year okay number one number two let's look at the bureaucracy

00:21:16.460 the cost of bureaucracy up 80 percent in 10 years and the pbo by the way projects the cost of the

00:21:22.540 bureaucracy to increase uh by another what about 10 billion dollars this year so still going up

00:21:28.540 corporate subsidies you're looking at more than 10 billion dollars in corporate welfare

00:21:33.020 every year uh not only are we paying an arm and a leg for the bureaucracy but the cost of the

00:21:37.980 consultants the contractors the outsourcing more than doubled in 10 years time but cbc defund that

00:21:45.500 a billion dollar savings right there uh stop bailing out failing crown corporations like

00:21:50.300 canada post or via rail cory it probably would have been easier for you to ask me well what

00:21:55.260 should they not cut uh given all the fat and all the overspending going on in ottawa well yeah i

00:22:01.260 Yeah, I mean, there's another beauty with a capital expenditure coming up for, what, $90 billion estimated for a high-speed choo-choo train to connect a couple of spots in central Canada.

00:22:11.400 Is that thing a done deal, or are we moving ahead with that?

00:22:14.260 What's going on there?

00:22:16.260 Oh, still uncertainty.

00:22:17.300 I mean, it looks like all the government, it looks like the government wants to move forward with it, right?

00:22:20.940 But, I mean, they don't even know the exact route for their train.

00:22:24.840 And, folks, right, the government says it could cost up to $90 billion.

00:22:27.860 dollars the pbo just put out a recent report saying hey actually it could be like 113 billion

00:22:33.860 dollars right so i mean this might be the biggest taxpayer boondoggle yet which is really saying a 0.98

00:22:39.260 lot and let me talk about that crown corporation alto right the one overseeing this choo-choo

00:22:44.240 train boondoggle this train wreck of taxpayers dollars um look every single one of their 0.95

00:22:49.640 executives took a bonus in the last year even though they don't even know the exact route for

00:22:55.320 the train right not a single shovel has hit the dirt and you already see a huge waste of taxpayers

00:23:00.280 money uh to benefit uh you know government executives well and that's on provincial

00:23:06.120 everywhere with these bureaucracies i just saw the the head of bc ferries got fired and it looks like

00:23:10.600 his golden handshake is going to be 1.1 million dollars man you know i'll be lucky if i get to

00:23:15.160 keep the desk plate if derek fires me and uh i have to leave the western standard uh you know

00:23:20.040 know these bureaucracies are costing a fortune and i know mark carney the prime minister has

00:23:25.680 said the right stuff he's good at saying the right stuff but he doesn't seem to do anything

00:23:29.480 i didn't he reduce the amount of bureaucracy or some of those numbers i saw some data points

00:23:34.380 though they might have been questionable very very small reduction in the number of employees

00:23:40.660 however to like look the trudeau government or the federal government added about a hundred

00:23:45.660 thousand bureaucrats okay in 10 years now we've seen a little bit of a reduction over the last

00:23:50.540 couple of years but taxpayers today are still paying for 86 000 more bureaucrats than what

00:23:55.820 they were back in uh in about 2016 okay and even though you've seen a slight reduction in the

00:24:02.540 number of bureaucrats according to one data set uh look the pbo still projects the overall cost

00:24:08.140 of the bureaucracy to be going up right because of the higher salaries the pay raises the bonuses

00:24:12.860 the more perks that are being paid out with taxpayers money and it's not only that cory like

00:24:17.380 as i mentioned you know uh carney during the the election campaign a couple years ago 2025

00:24:22.400 said he's going to cut the cost of consultants well they doubled between uh 2015 and 2024 and

00:24:29.140 you look at the government's main spending plan from from the spring and it looks like the cost

00:24:33.120 of consultants and contracting is still going up so if there are cuts it's it's almost like a

00:24:39.780 rounding error well let me play a little bit of devil's advocate uh you know we've had an ongoing

00:24:45.340 trade war tariffs things and they're certainly smoking the the industry very hard in central

00:24:50.460 canada uh causing a lot of issues wouldn't now be the appropriate time though to borrow to try and

00:24:56.400 bridge this uh rough period until perhaps a better trade agreement comes for canada in a couple of

00:25:02.380 years no now's the time to cut fat right cut the crazy amount of wasteful spending we've seen over

00:25:08.680 the years and cut taxes right okay if our steel industry is going through a tough time in ontario

00:25:14.480 which obviously it is then why are we imposing industrial carbon taxes on steel companies right

00:25:20.840 why are we imposing industrial carbon taxes on fertilizer plants in manitoba cory why are we

00:25:26.480 imposing industrial carbon taxes on oil and gas companies in alberta right and not to mention just

00:25:31.980 south of the border regardless of who is in the white house they are not imposing national carbon

00:25:36.820 taxes right so we're not even doing anything for the environment because when a government imposes

00:25:42.340 a carbon tax on for example a steel company in ontario you're not cutting emissions if that

00:25:46.980 steel company cuts production in ontario and increases production in ohio right so look you

00:25:52.900 look at tax competitiveness cory we rank 28th dismal on income tax competitiveness at a 38

00:25:59.540 industrialized peers we rank a dismal 17th out of 38 on business taxes on both of those measures

00:26:06.100 we're behind the united states so you know what i do think we have to respond to what's going on

00:26:10.460 around the world and we got to do that by cutting taxes cutting regulations and unleashing the

00:26:15.620 entrepreneurial potential here in canada well i'm with you another budding boondoggle we have

00:26:21.660 unfortunately we're seeing the alberta premier and the prime minister hand in hand talking and

00:26:26.400 celebrating how a nationalized pipeline to the west coast is going to be a great victory for

00:26:31.520 canada which may or may not take 10 years if they ever actually get it going and uh you know and it

00:26:37.220 cost estimate of 30 billion i mean we know there's an appetite for private industry to build

00:26:41.560 infrastructure like this if the government would just get out of its own bloody way we don't have

00:26:46.600 to pay to build that thing they just need to clean up the route hey well said and also think about

00:26:52.380 what's been going on on on this particular project that you're talking about this particular pipeline

00:26:56.440 but also other other projects right think about what's going on and think about how unsustainable

00:27:01.420 it is okay where you have the government throwing up uh roadblocks throwing up barriers to actually

00:27:07.180 private sector investment and and you know people trying to build a major natural resource projects

00:27:11.980 here in canada of course i'm talking about the discriminatory tanker ban on the west coast i'm

00:27:16.940 talking about the no more pipelines law or the impact assessment act you know what the bureaucrats

00:27:21.660 like to call it so they they impose these high taxes they impose these uh just you know these

00:27:27.660 awful regulations these anti-development laws okay it makes it hard for the private sector to build

00:27:33.500 anything and then they turn around and they shovel a whole bunch of taxpayers money at the project

00:27:38.220 completely unsustainable how about you cut the taxes you cut the red tape and you just let the

00:27:44.700 build these major natural resource projects that sure would be a refreshing change it just doesn't

00:27:50.460 seem to be their appetite right now uh i guess you know what you'll be watching you're going to be

00:27:55.100 be very busy in this next couple of weeks i mean you know budget time is sort of like the super

00:27:59.240 bowl for the taxpayers federation to go through things though always a more of a negative dissection

00:28:04.540 rather than something to celebrate but what can we look forward to you guys uh you know writing

00:28:08.940 about and exposing in the future and where can people find your stuff well god it's going to be

00:28:13.120 like full uh full course pretty or full course press here oh uh it's everything's going to be

00:28:18.000 going up against the budget stuff right cory i mean budget is november 5th like you said it's

00:28:22.220 our super bowl so we're going to be watching it like crazy stay tuned folks because you're going

00:28:25.940 to be seeing a lot uh you know going over the government spending going over the government's

00:28:30.460 borrowing how much debt interest charges are going to be costing you again budget uh federally

00:28:34.780 november the 5th uh keep an eye out on taxpayer.com and of course you can follow us on all different

00:28:39.840 types of social media i know the western standard you guys cover a lot of our stuff so always keep

00:28:44.780 an eye out there as well well i really appreciate it like i said you guys break it down so the uh

00:28:49.920 You know, regular reader and listener can see just exactly what's going on down there rather than being snowed over under the stuff you get to dig through.

00:28:56.740 So I appreciate the work you guys do, and I'll let you get back at it, and maybe we'll talk sometime soon after the budget.

00:29:03.440 Hey, that'd be great. Appreciate you, Corey.

00:29:05.320 Right on. Thanks, Eric, Franco.

00:29:07.860 So, yeah, guys, check them out, taxpayer.com.

00:29:10.520 It really is a good resource, and it really does drive home.

00:29:13.260 I mean, part of our problem is apathy.

00:29:14.720 People aren't paying enough attention to what they're doing with your money.

00:29:17.840 you don't understand why you seem to have less and less every month to make your bills,

00:29:21.700 well, do realize the amount that's coming out of your check in taxes.

00:29:25.280 Look at how much is harming your industry or your employer through taxes.

00:29:29.520 These things all have an impact on you.

00:29:32.900 And having it broken down into relatable types of pieces,

00:29:39.200 that's something the specialty the Taxpayer Federation has really had,

00:29:41.900 and I just do like them putting that out there for everybody.

00:29:44.980 So check them out if you don't already.

00:29:47.840 And yeah, some of those frustrations, I saw that in the commenting with Wayne there.

00:29:51.040 Good to see you, Wayne, that Albertans kind of, you know, just voted for the status quo.

00:29:56.220 They did, and it's frustrating.

00:29:57.520 It really is.

00:29:58.140 Like I said, that outcome was not what I wanted to see in that referendum.

00:30:02.520 But as it stands, that's kind of where we're sitting with things.

00:30:05.380 So we've got to basically work with what we've got.

00:30:09.080 You know, we deal with it.

00:30:10.620 We're Albertans.

00:30:11.200 We move ahead, we figure out a better solution, and we go forward.

00:30:14.480 Like I said, not being defeatist, I'm just trying to be realistic.

00:30:16.600 And I know patience is a commodity, and it's a difficult one.

00:30:22.680 I'm not known for mine either.

00:30:24.100 Good to see Paradoxie there, too, saying that, yeah, the government of Quebec is opposing that train as well.

00:30:30.880 So, I mean, but that's the irony of this whole thing, right?

00:30:33.000 That's what Franco was pointing out, this wide-speed train in central Canada.

00:30:37.840 Billions are going to be spent, and not a bit of track is going to go on the ground.

00:30:42.320 But executives are already getting bonuses on it.

00:30:45.800 mean this is a money laundering scheme guys that's what this is and guess who gets stuck with the bill

00:30:51.140 right just brutal just brutal but I mean again where are I know where do we go I mean Chow she's

00:31:00.120 back in power in Toronto again how long what does it take how bad does it have to get in Toronto

00:31:08.240 before they're ready to get rid of Olivia Chow well apparently worse apparently much worse she's there 0.96

00:31:15.320 for another term and it wasn't even close you know it wasn't uh a tight um a tight race and 0.96

00:31:24.280 uh it's just brutal uh rgg saying more than 300 people full-time on that train project

00:31:29.880 uh again you see that you look at the waste and it's not like we haven't seen this before and you

00:31:34.760 know what we've got a premier in alberta who's fixated on a high-speed rail between edmonton

00:31:38.920 and calgary again we're gonna we're gonna take it hard there's a lot of there's the things i want

00:31:45.240 to point out i'm very critical of the provision of government guys i am and i think it might be

00:31:49.840 time to replace the premier i i can agree with that too i just think it might have to be a year

00:31:54.860 from now not in this next six months that's the thing just look at the things but yeah this why 0.96

00:32:00.560 would we want to be so stupid as to get a high-speed rail in alberta we don't need to put 0.88

00:32:04.040 another bloody lane on the highway two i mean think about it for the costs of a high-speed rail 0.99

00:32:10.660 between calgary and edmonton now this thing because everybody will have their demands they

00:32:17.060 were already talking about what they would have with this dreamland rail project forgot it would

00:32:20.680 cost billions in the expropriation because you got to create a whole new line all that prime

00:32:25.120 property along there the government has to buy it all right and then it'll have to make stops

00:32:32.520 i mean some they're all demanding stop everybody wants to stop oh we want to start in downtown

00:32:35.980 calgary and then we want to stop at the airport then we want to stop in airdrie then we want to

00:32:38.780 stop in Red Deer. Then we want to stop in the Edmonton airport. Then we were stopping it.

00:32:42.420 So there's going to be all these stops. So this thing, even as high speed as it is,

00:32:46.540 will probably be, you know, take a couple hours. Well, it's a three hour drive.

00:32:53.320 And at the cost of this thing, now you've got to remember, you'll have to park somewhere.

00:32:57.380 And don't worry, you'll pay a lot for parking at any of those train stations. You got to buy

00:33:00.640 the train ticket, which will cost a fortune. You'll have to get separate transit for whatever

00:33:05.140 you're doing on the other end of it or rent a car and if you've got a family of four and we're

00:33:12.220 talking about something that would probably be a couple hundred dollars a ticket you know what

00:33:16.000 twelve hundred dollars to go to edmonton you're gonna get in the car and you're just gonna drive

00:33:19.800 it's not going to work look at uh uh look at a california and just what's going on down there

00:33:30.480 uh it's been brutal they've been at it for what 15 20 years and they got something like six miles

00:33:37.920 of track laid something unreal and they've spent billions and billions of dollars and their market

00:33:41.700 makes more sense than alberta or eastern canada they got more population density they've got uh

00:33:48.500 much more uh reason between you know if you're getting between san francisco sacramento los

00:33:54.160 angeles and that whole corridor and they can't get it done not even close just set aside these

00:33:59.560 dreams. It's like everything else. If there's a market for it, let the private industry do it.

00:34:05.820 And there isn't. So piss off. Stay out of my wallet. Don't go there. But we'll see. Everybody 0.95

00:34:14.000 wants a vanity project, right? And getting back to the same thing as I was talking with Franco

00:34:18.600 about the pipeline. And again, there's where I'm concerned about where Premier Smith's going to.

00:34:24.040 I mean, it wasn't long ago she was saying that if we have to put tax dollars into it, we've lost.

00:34:28.680 Well, I guess we really lost, didn't we?

00:34:30.760 Yeah, 90% of it is tax-funded directly.

00:34:33.400 And let's face it, that 10% from Pemina Pipelines, that's token.

00:34:37.020 You had to find somebody that you offered a sweetheart deal on this thing to make it look like,

00:34:40.980 see, see, we got a private investor.

00:34:42.380 No, you don't.

00:34:43.580 Look, oil has been sitting around $100 a barrel internationally.

00:34:47.580 They want the product desperately.

00:34:50.460 Private companies would fall over themselves to build that pipeline if they thought they could get it done.

00:34:55.600 but the government is in the way and then a socialized pipeline that's not a victory

00:35:03.560 that's not a victory we should be demanding more and we should be demanding better

00:35:07.000 but again coming full circle can't rip her out this year guys because if you get an itchy in

00:35:13.840 my lord i know people talk about it oh i'm tired of voting for the lesser of the evils i understand

00:35:19.840 that but i don't want to live under the greater of the evils we did not live for four years and 0.95

00:35:24.580 She's smarter than Ninchy.

00:35:26.640 So think about what four years of him would do to us.

00:35:29.080 And that's what we'll get if we are not careful.

00:35:33.180 We just got to be bloody careful.

00:35:36.820 BC, there's a good outcome, right?

00:35:41.480 NDP got tossed out.

00:35:43.540 I mean, sometimes I guess little victories,

00:35:45.220 even if it didn't happen in Alberta,

00:35:46.260 we saw the electorate sit up, take notice,

00:35:49.440 and fire some politicians, finally, and well-deserving.

00:35:53.660 I mean, David Eby's gross calling of an early election just for the sake, because the conservatives were in disarray and people were so sickened by that crass move of him that even though the conservatives had an interim leader and they came into it in a rush and everything else, they won a solid majority too.

00:36:15.140 Not just a majority, a solid majority.

00:36:17.460 And if you want a good article and a good laugh, go to the westernstandard.news.

00:36:20.660 dot news and there's a summary of all the leftist meltdowns over the election results oh they've

00:36:26.100 gone crazy or good old rachel gilmore you know i know if you want something vacuous but at least

00:36:31.620 it's comically so she's oh the poor orcas are going to be killed that's really the rhetoric 0.89

00:36:37.700 out of the left yes the orcas are going to die because there's a conservative government in bc

00:36:43.220 sharp one that girl but uh you know for some light reading i guess in a sense

00:36:47.460 and uh of of good comedy uh something as well mark carney certainly uh hit uh some heavy

00:36:56.700 embarrassment today didn't he the eu countries you know he's been trying for this associate

00:37:01.700 membership he's been trying to get canada to join the eu he wanted us to be a part of the fires that

00:37:07.040 are burning through paris and the rest of france along with italy spain even brussels had some

00:37:12.620 riots discontented students apparently bbc even did the mostly peaceful thing while the flames 0.99

00:37:21.560 are burning i thought they would have learned from cnn's idiocy when it came to that but no

00:37:25.320 so they're trying to underscore it and you know it's one of the things the reasons i'll do the 0.96

00:37:28.280 self-serving plug why to subscribe to things like the western standard we'll cover that the legacy

00:37:32.660 media look how little they covered the riots that are racking europe and they're racking it why are

00:37:39.140 we not hearing about this? This should make world news. The developed world is being burned down

00:37:44.280 out there. Why are we not hearing about it? Well, for one, because the prime minister who subsidizes

00:37:48.740 them all wants us to join them. Don't really want to join a group when we notice that everybody's

00:37:54.900 burning down their country. And the other part they don't want to talk about is who is burning

00:37:58.900 down those countries. They aren't woe-be-tieden students, guys. They're illegal migrants.

00:38:03.920 they're migrants immigrants whatever you want to call them and guess what let's just say the quiet 0.99

00:38:09.960 part out loud they're all muslims we got a cultural issue a cultural issue and they are not settling 1.00

00:38:16.900 in well this is began way back with the syrian refugees coming in and it's continued and you 1.00

00:38:22.900 got to remember part of being with the eu is this open border thing so you guys get to share all of

00:38:27.320 that joy among all of your countries as you open the doors and let these folks pour in look how

00:38:32.380 Well, that worked for Spain when they crossed the border a little while ago and got onto the Spanish side from Morocco.

00:38:38.060 What did they do? They burned everything. 1.00

00:38:41.360 Huh. Think about that.

00:38:44.600 But here's some of the embarrassing thing for Mark Carney, because he's been pushing for this associate member status with the European Union.

00:38:54.400 He wanted us to join them. No Canadians have really been asking to join them, but apparently Mark Carney wanted to join them.

00:38:59.800 He's over there all the time kissing European butt. 0.87

00:39:02.380 considering french hygiene habits it's not a good uh thing to get into but whatever turns 0.96

00:39:07.340 you on mr carney but the problem is the eu doesn't want us they've dropped the idea of offering

00:39:13.180 canada an associate member status that just came out today and they got a big meeting coming up i

00:39:17.580 think in montreal with all these leaders that carney was going to host with a big ass grin

00:39:22.780 and talk about how we're tightening our relationship and we're basically going to be a

00:39:26.060 part of the european union and we're going to have this associate member status and then the

00:39:30.220 the European Union themselves said, yeah, we don't want Canada in us. Wow. We don't get to

00:39:37.620 join their club. That's, I got to thank them for that. I mean, Mark Carney doesn't seem to be

00:39:44.360 smart enough to realize that we want no part of that, but the European Union, smart enough,

00:39:48.780 or at least what is it that we're bringing that's so bad that they wouldn't want us to be a part of

00:39:55.260 them that says a lot doesn't it i mean jeez brutal brutal and uh yeah this is he's got to be

00:40:05.340 just sobbing today i mean how it's going to be one of those tense awkward moments now with all

00:40:09.580 these eu members gathering in uh montreal when he basically has just gotten the cold shoulder from

00:40:19.080 them getting back to bc speaking of hysterics and things so we got i guess that the native wars are

00:40:27.400 going to be beginning drippa that's the declaration on the rights of indigenous

00:40:32.680 people or something like that i don't know what the a is anymore uh

00:40:37.960 that was the bc version and that was kind of the beginning of the end of the ndp 0.97

00:40:41.880 of undrip which is the united nations indigenous blah blah blah bunch of bs woke crap 0.53

00:40:48.600 But the BC modeled a whole policy on all of this indulgence for the Indigenous bands. 0.95

00:40:52.460 This is the sort of thing that led to land title being lost in Richmond and confusion over all these things.

00:40:59.260 And it sounds like the Conservatives under Dirksen are going to repeal DRIPA, finally.

00:41:04.340 This is brilliant. I mean, serious. It's just common sense. Get rid of it. It's stupid.

00:41:08.860 There's no reason you should be bound by this. 1.00

00:41:10.960 And British Columbian voters have certainly said quite clearly they're willing to go down that route.

00:41:15.660 And guess what?

00:41:16.420 The chiefs are lighting their headdresses on fire.

00:41:19.340 We've got Mr. Alan, the rent-a-chief.

00:41:23.460 He's speaking, and he's in Alberta.

00:41:25.420 But he's hand-in-hand with one of the wet-sweating hereditary chiefs.

00:41:28.960 Let's talk about all these politics going on in B.C.,

00:41:31.740 these fake politics, because they are fake.

00:41:33.580 These hereditary chiefs.

00:41:34.780 You know what that means?

00:41:35.420 It means fake chief.

00:41:36.700 It means self-declared chief.

00:41:38.800 It means I'm a chief because I said I was a chief,

00:41:40.300 or my cousin said I was a chief,

00:41:41.480 or my grandma said I'm a chief,

00:41:42.500 and I'm going to be a chief.

00:41:43.260 They got no authority.

00:41:44.040 They weren't elected by anybody, yet we give them alleged authority.

00:41:47.780 And he's sitting hand-in-hand with Mr. Allen, who's a chief from northeast Alberta.

00:41:53.760 Not even close to down there.

00:41:56.340 And he's saying, they're going to go to war.

00:41:58.180 Not Allen, but the other fellow he was sitting with.

00:42:00.080 We're going to go to war over Drippa if they try to repeal it.

00:42:03.380 What is Allen doing down there?

00:42:04.600 But you've got to remember, Chief Allen from Alberta is known as the rent-a-chief.

00:42:08.900 Because he took $50,000 to oppose oil developments.

00:42:12.820 That was proven.

00:42:13.560 That was reported on.

00:42:15.220 Enough indulging this sham.

00:42:18.020 These guys don't speak for the native communities.

00:42:21.340 They speak for themselves. 1.00

00:42:23.060 It's a racket.

00:42:24.380 They do very, very well.

00:42:25.600 Want to find out who the chief is on a reserve?

00:42:27.900 Drive by all the dilapidated houses until you find the gated one with escalades on the driveway.

00:42:32.600 You'll have found the chief or a council member, I can assure you.

00:42:35.660 It's corrupted to the core. 1.00

00:42:37.380 And something that's interesting, too, is the howling and yelling from this Wet'suwet'en hereditary chief out there 1.00

00:42:45.660 was talking about how it's unceded, unsurrendered land, blah, blah, blah, all that crap, and untreaty, no treaty. 0.95

00:42:52.100 Well, if there's no treaty, then what the hell do we owe them? 0.92

00:42:56.160 Why are we indulging them? There's no treaty.

00:42:58.260 You're just some guy out there. You're just another Canadian citizen. I don't care.

00:43:01.520 There's no treaty. Get over it. You lost.

00:43:04.760 Maybe it's time for some frank talk with these guys.

00:43:07.940 Perhaps? No, because the government's too cowardly when it comes to it. 0.88

00:43:10.920 But they're declaring war. Wow. Let's see it. 0.97

00:43:14.620 Let's see it. You know, as I said on X, this war will be over in a few days.

00:43:19.900 All you have to do is stop giving them money.

00:43:21.860 It's not like they're earning it.

00:43:23.560 Where do they get their money? Oh, yes, you and me.

00:43:25.800 Tax dollars. They don't get it from the people they allegedly represent.

00:43:28.740 They don't tax the reserve and get the money from their band members.

00:43:31.980 No, we pay for it. Well, get your own money.

00:43:34.380 Lobby for yourself. We have to.

00:43:36.720 Why not?

00:43:37.520 And we've seen recently now, with another demand showing personal responsibility,

00:43:40.880 the Cowichan Band, which is the one that won the Richmond thing,

00:43:45.500 their giant garbage dump, remember that from a couple of years ago,

00:43:48.140 that's leeching into the water because they were taking money

00:43:51.060 to allow construction companies to illegally dump junk on their land

00:43:54.440 and it turned into a giant garbage dump?

00:43:55.980 Well, they haven't done anything to clean it up.

00:43:58.400 And a Conservative member of Parliament is demanding the federal government get it cleaned up.

00:44:01.860 No! No, you know what?

00:44:03.160 Build a fence around it and make these guys clean up their own damn mess for a change. 0.98

00:44:06.380 How about some personal responsibility for the first friggin' time? 0.98

00:44:09.500 They charge me for trespassing because they say it's their nation land for me to go onto a public highway

00:44:14.580 and shoot video on the Siksika Reserve because they say it's their nation.

00:44:17.920 Well, guess what? You're responsible for the trash on your nation. Live in it. 1.00

00:44:22.060 Live in it. Clean up your own damn mess. 1.00

00:44:24.980 I really hope, and I know he'll be more diplomatic than I, 0.99

00:44:30.080 But I really hope the new B.C. premier, because he seems to be speaking some of the language,

00:44:34.220 is saying it's time.

00:44:35.500 It's time to change this relationship.

00:44:37.180 It's time to stop this endless indulgence. 1.00

00:44:39.140 It's time to stop this idiocy, this race-based policy, this divisive crap that's serving nobody 1.00

00:44:43.720 while Indian reserves, and I call it that because it's in the Indian Act, guys, 1.00

00:44:48.500 are garbage dumps, literally, literally garbage dumps. 1.00

00:44:54.500 Let's change some stuff. 0.90

00:44:56.320 And repealing DRIPA is a heck of a good start.

00:44:59.480 all right well that's what i got me today guys last rando there was so much news i couldn't

00:45:04.260 cover it all today there's a lot going on be sure to subscribe share do all of those good things

00:45:09.540 subscribe to the western standard watch tonight we're going to be on with the pipeline breaking

00:45:14.240 down a few more issues and things that are going on and uh hey guys it's alberta keep it strong

00:45:19.940 and free i'll see you next week at this time

00:45:29.480 Transcription by CastingWords

Western Standard - October 28, 2026

Don’t let the government kill direct democracy

Episode Stats

Transcript