Western Standard - HANNAFORD： Ex-Alberta emergency chief says Ottawa destroying national security agencies - as a ma...

00:00:00.000 Good evening Western Standard viewers and welcome to Hannaford, a weekly politics show of the

00:00:21.440 Western Standard. It is Thursday, April the 2nd. We live in uncertain times. A lot of people are

00:00:28.720 living hand to mouth. A third of us Canadians are apparently buying groceries on credit

00:00:32.920 and our gas prices are all over the place, driving inflation largely thanks to the situation

00:00:38.500 in the Middle East. How concerned should we be? What should the prudent citizen be doing on his

00:00:45.740 own behalf? With us tonight is Colonel Dave Redmond, formerly in charge of emergency management

00:00:52.140 in Alberta. Welcome Colonel Redmond. Good evening. Thank you for having me. You are very welcome

00:00:59.240 here. You may recall Colonel Redmond as the author of the excellent pandemic plan that the

00:01:04.560 government of Alberta simply ignored in their COVID panic. And we'll come back to that in a

00:01:09.640 few minutes. But first, is there anything in the international situation that people should be

00:01:16.540 alarmed about time to stock up on essentials maybe so from my point of view one of the things that

00:01:25.180 people do every day in their lives is manage risk and it's very important that as citizens of canada

00:01:31.180 we get back to understanding that risk is ours to manage and not the government's and so when we look

00:01:37.180 at the things that are happening in the world right now we simply have to restock on a daily

00:01:42.940 basis what is the risks to us in emergency management we always broke risks into two major

00:01:50.060 categories first of all natural hazards like geological biological and and environmental

00:01:57.340 but we also look at human induced hazards both intentional and unintentional and in times like

00:02:03.100 this we may be interested in looking at the intentional hazards a little more but in my

00:02:08.460 opinion at this point in time Albertans should carry on with their lives with confidence that

00:02:14.460 they can manage the risks in their lives and that there's orders of government to help them

00:02:19.660 so maybe if we refine that just a little bit in emergency management we always have stated

00:02:26.460 very clearly that it's up to an individual if they're not directly impacted by a hazard so

00:02:32.780 let's use a flood as an example. A flood is going through a town and it floods some homes but it

00:02:38.540 doesn't flood other homes but it might take the power out. So if your home is flooded you're

00:02:43.740 directly impacted by the hazard but if you lose your power you're indirectly. So what you should

00:02:50.380 be prepared to do as a citizen of Alberta or any province or territory in Canada is to manage the

00:02:57.100 first 72 hours of the hazard on your own and allow the response agencies to look after those who are

00:03:05.820 being directly impacted so 72 hours one of my colleagues used to joke that in canada all

00:03:12.700 citizens were always prepared for 72 days because we always prepared for winter somehow now it's down

00:03:19.500 to 72 hours so albertans need to take that seriously now there's lots of tools to help them

00:03:25.340 prepare for that 72 hours and if you go to the government of alberta website to the alberta

00:03:31.260 emergency management agency there is in fact both the documents to help you make a plan for your

00:03:38.140 family and yourself and what type of supplies you may wish to have to prepare yourself for that 72

00:03:46.300 hours what i'm not encouraging is hardy what i'm not encouraging is panic buying we should do the

00:03:53.580 opposite to make sure everyone has access to what they need but you should pre-stock the essentials

00:03:59.180 like water and food etc to get yourself through that 72 hours now if you are directly impacted

00:04:06.140 the way emergency management work is it goes up in steps so the next step is first responders and

00:04:11.980 first responders are also watching the situation that's developing in the world and preparing to

00:04:16.860 respond should something happen in alberta and so those first responders fire police ems are there

00:04:23.100 to help those who are directly impacted but next in Alberta and in most provinces and territories

00:04:29.660 in Canada the next order of government is the municipal order of government emergencies are

00:04:35.260 always local and the municipal order of government in Alberta is charged by legislation to have a

00:04:41.580 municipal emergency plan and to test those plans regularly so whatever community you live in in

00:04:48.620 alberta there's 314 covered by the act and they all have a municipal emergency plan and so you

00:04:54.700 should as a citizen understand how you fit into that plan contact your municipal government

00:05:00.860 understand what that plan looks like and be prepared to do your part to help in that emergency

00:05:05.980 plan if that's required now if i could just cut in there for a second what i'm hearing you say

00:05:12.460 is that other than maybe prudently keeping your gas tank topped up there is nothing that's happening

00:05:20.380 in iran in the straits of hormuz or anywhere else that is an emergency for people living here

00:05:29.260 in alberta this is not likely to touch us in any way not directly at this point in time so as well

00:05:39.340 one of the things the government of alberta runs is the alberta emergency alert system

00:05:44.300 and if you haven't got that on your phone you should it's an easy app to install and the

00:05:49.420 government can keep you apprised when situations change and it's very geographical based on where

00:05:55.100 you actually live so if you've got your 72 hour preparedness kit for you and your family

00:06:01.100 if you are connected to your community and understand how your community responds in

00:06:06.940 emergencies you're as prepared as you can be for now in order to be looking at what's happening

00:06:12.940 in the world well given that there's a huge onus on the provincial government the municipal

00:06:18.220 government and ultimately ottoma itself to be prepared for whatever people need after 72 hours

00:06:27.820 if you were still advising the government of alberta and they call you in and said talk to

00:06:34.220 us about the situation what's going on out there that you know we need to be factoring in as we

00:06:39.580 make our decisions what would you tell them well first of all we need to be looking at the provincial

00:06:46.140 order of government at all of the hazards that could impact alberta clearly alberta is an oil

00:06:51.660 producing um organization for the world not just for albertans not just for canadians but we have

00:06:58.460 a massive impact in terms of our production of oil and natural gas to the world and can we actually

00:07:03.980 refine enough for our own daily needs we have enough refineries we have four refineries in

00:07:09.740 alberta and we could meet western canada's needs and continue to do so on a daily basis if we were

00:07:16.300 talking about another jurisdiction in canada that may not be the case but certainly here in alberta

00:07:21.500 we have the ability for self-sufficiency good so is there anything else that that the provincial

00:07:29.580 government would need to be thinking about today the provincial government should be looking at

00:07:35.020 all of the critical infrastructure not just oil and gas but in particular oil and gas

00:07:39.820 and dusting off what is the critical infrastructure protection plan which is

00:07:44.380 and has been built for our province to look at all the different ways that impacts could be felt and

00:07:50.540 not just from human induced intentional but across all of the different types of hazards and so that

00:07:56.620 plan exists. It should be being reviewed right now in detail.

00:07:59.980 Paul Jay Okay. Well, we were talking earlier about the number of IRGC,

00:08:06.540 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, about 8,000 members of this organization. I mean,

00:08:13.420 it's a terrorist organization that's designated as such. But somehow they're here in Canada,

00:08:19.020 and what they're doing and what they're preparing for, we don't know.

00:08:25.100 But how concerned are you that we have this cadre of people who are no friends of ours

00:08:33.560 who might try to upset our apple cart during this situation?

00:08:38.520 Or do you think they'd maybe be trying to work their way down into the States

00:08:42.020 and commit some outrage there?

00:08:44.220 I'm very concerned.

00:08:45.840 i've always been concerned in particular for the past 11 years as i watched every element

00:08:51.360 of our national security being devolved i think is the nicest way to put it so maybe maybe if i

00:08:57.540 can just sort of step back and look at national security there's 10 elements to national security

00:09:05.080 which in my opinion over the past 11 years have been intentionally destroyed or completely reduced

00:09:11.320 in capability the first is the study of geopolitics and geopolitics says canada lives next door to a

00:09:19.720 superpower who has been and continues to be our largest ally and trading partner i believe it's

00:09:27.160 important for canada to strengthen that relationship not chip away at it or try to destroy it

00:09:33.640 so geopolitics defines that we have the comfort of a superpower to ourselves but we also have

00:09:40.200 the hazards and risks that come with that and we need to recognize that the united states is our

00:09:45.480 friend and ally and we need to be working more closely in troubled times with them not stepping

00:09:51.720 back from them in particular though that means the people that are threats to canada number one 0.92

00:09:58.760 china who is funding all of the activities worldwide including the islamic republican guard 0.78

00:10:05.160 which is operating in canada and has been for some time we need to ensure that we look at all 0.97

00:10:11.000 the hazards and risks so the next step in in national security is our intelligence services

00:10:16.280 which have been ignored and and displaced as we know we're not even part of the five eyes

00:10:23.480 significantly anymore next is border services we should have been strengthening our borders 1.00

00:10:29.720 and our border services to make sure that we don't have people like the rgc coming to canada

00:10:36.200 and operating in canada next is our our immigration services and the immigration policy in this

00:10:42.920 country has been completely disrupted intentionally in my opinion in particular for the past five

00:10:49.240 years and we're seeing people who have no desire to be canadians coming to canada for none no other 0.97

00:10:55.320 reason than to disrupt our country. We see the protests in all our major cities screaming

00:11:00.700 death to all Jews, death to all Christians, death to all Canadians, with no reaction from the next 0.99

00:11:07.980 step in our national security, which is our policing services, which we should be strengthening 0.99

00:11:13.320 and upgrading at this point in time as we watch world events. Well, let me ask you this. You have

00:11:19.440 said several times dave that this is intentional that these organizations and these services have

00:11:25.760 been not merely allowed to uh to fail out of negligence that was intended that they should

00:11:35.520 fail do i understand you correctly in my opinion you understand me perfectly this has been an

00:11:42.160 intentional erosion and when we see things like the foreign interference inquiry not being even

00:11:48.720 started for five years and then when it is started to be placed on a back burner that's an intentional

00:11:55.280 act to go from calling china the largest strategic threat to canada one year ago and now calling it

00:12:03.280 a very significant strategic partner is a completely intentional act you can't say it's not 0.87

00:12:10.000 and so from my point of view each of the steps and the degradation of the 10 elements of national

00:12:14.880 security have been thought through and are intentional.

00:12:18.800 That implies, I mean, for nine years, the Prime Minister was Justin Trudeau, and I think

00:12:26.400 many of us have interpreted the decline of the effectiveness of these services as something

00:12:32.960 that happened not exactly by accident, but he didn't care, and he did care about other things,

00:12:39.520 and so that's where the priorities went, and this was an unfortunate accident.

00:12:44.000 What you're saying now is that for nine years, it was actually intentional to bring about

00:12:51.600 a certain purpose. So what is the purpose? And do you actually feel that Mr. Trudeau had the

00:13:00.960 competence to do it, or that he merely watched other people do it?

00:13:04.560 No, I believe it was intentional. You and I are both old enough to have lived through his father,

00:13:10.400 pierre elliott to doha joined the army in 1972 and watched him try to destroy our national security

00:13:17.920 if you believe that china is your partner and the united states is not you are taking intentional

00:13:24.800 acts to change the form of government when trudeau jr stated that we were a post-national state that

00:13:32.240 was a clear definition that canada as a nation didn't exist nationhood the national interests

00:13:38.960 of our country were subservient to world interests of a post-national state i strongly believe that

00:13:46.720 canada is a nation has a defined culture that we should be fighting for our unity that we should

00:13:52.640 be fighting for our national security because a country is defined in simplest terms when a group

00:13:58.160 of people who share common interests and values bond together in a defined geographical region

00:14:04.000 which they are prepared to defend so unity and national security are the top two of the six

00:14:09.520 national interests that define a country and when you take away or attack the unity of a country

00:14:17.120 by bringing in people who do not share your common interests and values it's an intentional act in

00:14:23.120 order to break the unity and to reduce the ability of a nation to stand by itself i may have to

00:14:32.320 reassess my opinion of Mr. Trudeau as an effective politician.

00:14:38.160 I'd like to take you back to earlier times in Alberta. You had, as the provincial government's

00:14:49.200 emergency planner, written a complete plan, not just to cover pandemics, but to cover all

00:14:58.560 eventualities then came code we had a plan but we didn't use it i'm sure it would have been better

00:15:10.160 if we had for those of us for those um watchers who were younger and maybe didn't live through

00:15:18.400 this or weren't particularly paying attention to it what just happened here so maybe a quick

00:15:27.360 look back at COVID back in 2005 the Deputy Minister of Health who was charged with the

00:15:33.520 pandemic influenza plan came to me and asked if we would co-chair the rewrite of the pandemic

00:15:38.880 influenza plan and the reason she did that at that time was the World Health Organization had just

00:15:45.120 published a document which defined the 15 non-pharmaceutical interventions which we now

00:15:51.840 call lockdowns. So maybe just a quick, the 15 of them included things like school closures,

00:15:57.740 business closures, closing of borders, washing of hands, everything down that list that we saw

00:16:03.380 implemented. And what that document, and it was updated three times, said was do not use these.

00:16:11.400 They are only valuable as a very last resort and in some cases simply never to be used

00:16:18.720 because they do far more harm than good.

00:16:21.260 So we rewrote the Pandemic Influenza Plan across all of government,

00:16:25.740 involving all the departments like transportation, like infrastructure, like water supply,

00:16:30.580 to make sure we built a plan that was not based on the use of NPIs, we now call lockdowns.

00:16:37.840 That plan was updated in 2014.

00:16:40.240 It's still on the government of Alberta's website,

00:16:42.380 and it was completely ignored and disregarded starting in March of 2020.

00:16:49.100 We did exactly the opposite of what should have happened.

00:16:53.580 Things aren't ignored on their own.

00:16:55.640 Somebody chose to ignore it.

00:16:58.120 What happened?

00:16:59.420 Elected officials, in my opinion, across our whole country,

00:17:03.760 ignored all of the science and went for the fear.

00:17:07.700 And so we saw it happen, and it tumbled across our country,

00:17:10.600 and it got worse as it came across and then it swept back imposing stricter and stricter and 0.87

00:17:15.560 stricter lockdown measures the use of the mpis and so they gave into fear but i put it to you

00:17:21.400 that there was no need to do that the country of sweden never used any of the mpis and came out

00:17:27.480 far better than any of the countries in europe and in north america some leaders were strong enough

00:17:33.320 and brave enough like ron de santis in florida after the first wave stepped back and said something

00:17:39.560 doesn't feel right. He got Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors of the

00:17:44.360 Great Barrington Declaration to come, and he stopped and stated very clearly in

00:17:48.860 May of 2020, we will never use NPIs and lockdowns again in Florida, and they

00:17:53.900 didn't and came up far better than California who had massive restrictions.

00:17:58.640 This was a choice by elected officials in cooperation with the medical officers

00:18:04.460 of health and done completely incorrectly and we're still paying the price the the increase in

00:18:12.380 suicides mental health issues the destruction of three years of our children's education which

00:18:18.140 they have never going to be able to make up studies show that the loss of one year of education

00:18:24.380 in child reduces their life span by three to five years and reduces their economic capacity by five

00:18:31.260 to 10 percent. We have done catastrophic damage which is still showing in our society and unless

00:18:39.100 we do a detailed recovery to recover from those use of MPIs, those dangers and consequences will

00:18:47.100 continue. Did you at any point have an opportunity, I don't think you were still the emergency planner

00:18:53.020 when this happened in 2020 but did you at any point have the opportunity to confront an elected

00:19:01.740 official and say why are we doing this we should be doing something different i was fully retired

00:19:07.900 in 2020 and what i did is i tried to contact i did contact every premier's office in canada

00:19:15.740 all 10 provinces and three territories and i did it monthly begging them just to phone and talk to

00:19:21.900 me here in alberta i got responses saying basically uh no we're going to do it differently and thank

00:19:28.620 you very much don't call again so at the end of a year of constantly trying to contact premier

00:19:34.620 offices i wrote uh what i called canada's deadly response uh to covet 19 in the hopes that one day

00:19:43.180 elected officials and moh will be held accountable and it's published on the frontier center for

00:19:48.060 public policy. It's an astonishing story. Do you believe that if similar circumstances arose today,

00:19:58.840 the politicians would react in the same way? Could they perhaps have learned something from

00:20:04.100 what happened five years ago? Unfortunately, I believe that until an elected official is held

00:20:10.280 accountable for gross negligence and medical officer health similarly, that we will do exactly

00:20:15.940 the same thing again the world health organization has put out a protocol which removes the powers

00:20:22.980 of elected officials in countries and gives that power to the world health organization and canada

00:20:29.380 signed that document so i believe we will not only do it worse we will do it immediately and longer

00:20:36.580 Well, given that pandemics come around with depressing regularity, I suppose we'd better

00:20:48.680 return to the emergency plan side of this.

00:20:52.720 Next time there is a medical emergency, we're going to have to be individually prepared

00:21:00.320 for longer than three days, I think.

00:21:02.580 What do you think?

00:21:03.580 i believe that if individuals do their part and demand that elected officials become more

00:21:10.700 accountable and that they become involved in their local politics we still can change this in time

00:21:19.180 so you're right pandemics do happen there's been five in my lifetime uh and and they will happen

00:21:24.700 again but we need to far more than just the health emergencies what's happening right now is we see

00:21:31.180 a more and more authoritarian approach to our government at the federal level now here in

00:21:36.140 alberta thank goodness we have some uh protections against that and and a government that doesn't

00:21:41.820 believe in that but that's not true across our country and so i believe that it's time for us

00:21:47.660 to hold accountable elected officials for what i would call gross negligence and that is chargeable

00:21:53.740 in the courts and so we need to have citizens re-engage so when we talk about emergency

00:21:59.340 preparedness the individual needs to take responsibility for themselves and their

00:22:03.980 families far more i i always uh in in these type of discussions talk about helicopter parenting for

00:22:10.780 20 20 years and bulldozer parenting for the next 20 years and what's that done in my opinion is

00:22:17.260 it got citizens to think that risk wasn't theirs it belonged to government to manage that's not

00:22:24.300 true and we need to make sure that we are building resilient citizens starting in kindergarten

00:22:30.380 starting from birth but in the home and then all the way through their education process to say

00:22:36.460 take back responsibility for the risk in your lives then you can see things like having children

00:22:42.140 talking with their parents about a 72-hour preparedness kit and what their parents do

00:22:46.780 and instead of saying things like when a when a forest fire happens everyone flee and evacuate

00:22:52.700 all able-bodied personnel are built into a municipal response, pre-trained, and help fight

00:22:58.380 the forest fire instead of running away and allowing just the SRD firefighters and the

00:23:04.540 military to be called in to save their homes. It's time for communities to stand up and protect their

00:23:11.580 communities in a trained and proper way, as is detailed in the Alberta Emergency Act.

00:23:18.380 you know dave what you're talking about is the pioneer settler mentality that

00:23:23.820 didn't look to government just got it done themselves we've got a long way to go to get that

00:23:28.780 back thank you for coming on the show it's been great having you and for the western standard i'm

00:23:35.820 I'm Nigel Hannaford.

Western Standard - April 06, 2026

HANNAFORD： Ex-Alberta emergency chief says Ottawa destroying national security agencies - as a ma...

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