Western Standard - November 04, 2023


‘How to not lose the UCP leadership’


Episode Stats


Length

7 minutes

Words per minute

140.83488

Word count

1,038

Sentence count

71

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Former Member of Parliament Art Hanger speaks at the Alberta Conservative Party's convention. Art talks about his career in politics and what it means to be a conservative in the 21st century. He also talks about the upcoming leadership convention.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 With me now, Art Hanger, who many of us remember very well as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Northeast.
00:00:09.560 How many years did you represent that riding, Art?
00:00:12.580 Fifteen years, and certainly, I'm not going to look at myself as a politician, but as a reformer.
00:00:19.200 I went down as one, and I wanted to remain as one.
00:00:22.900 And I certainly realized that the party morphed off into another Conservative sort of establishment party.
00:00:31.320 But my roots are reformed.
00:00:34.500 Those were the days when Conservatives had to be kamikazes to want to be a Member of Parliament in Ottawa. 0.97
00:00:41.660 Let's change the subject here to the speech that we just heard this afternoon and this convention.
00:00:48.000 How do you think this party is doing? Do you think they have their priorities right?
00:00:51.120 Well, I was absolutely amazed at the number of people that joined this party to have their voices expressed in policy.
00:01:05.320 We just finished the policy session, and there were some pretty right-wing policies that I consider very positive for the province,
00:01:14.800 for the individual, and protection for families, which really the family was under threat, I believe, in this province.
00:01:22.620 And it's from all these woke, left-leaning ideals.
00:01:27.740 And I can only hope and trust and pray that these are going to be followed by the political machinery now that the people have spoke.
00:01:39.000 You know, we've got thousands of people here.
00:01:42.660 It's unusual to see that many at a convention.
00:01:45.700 It truly is unusual.
00:01:47.720 Why do you think people care so much right now?
00:01:49.820 Because you're absolutely right.
00:01:51.080 It is unusual.
00:01:52.700 I don't know.
00:01:53.640 I can't think of a bigger convention than I've ever attended.
00:01:56.720 Why do you think people care so much right now, Art?
00:01:59.400 Well, here are grassroots people.
00:02:02.900 When the premier spoke about families, they stood.
00:02:07.360 She got a standing ovation on her position to protect that family and their rights and their children.
00:02:14.740 Now, to me, that says a lot because there's the building block of our society right there.
00:02:20.080 And they've established, at least in their mind now, Smith has said it, they've established a benchmark.
00:02:29.300 She's going to look after our family unit. 1.00
00:02:33.300 And I trust that she will do that.
00:02:37.400 If she doesn't, you're going to see a huge backlash because this kind of response out of Alberta,
00:02:43.060 you know, to have the largest political gathering convention in our history, I mean, that says a lot.
00:02:49.880 That says a lot.
00:02:51.020 And I think that, you know, for every person that's here, there are dozens and dozens more that think just like them.
00:03:00.120 I remember 20 years ago when she was on the editorial board and you were still a member of parliament,
00:03:05.760 that she spoke very well of you at that time and, you know, I was quite proud of the stance that you were taking in Ottawa.
00:03:16.400 And I hear you now saying that there is something that she needs to do to keep faith with the people here.
00:03:25.360 Surely you don't think that there's any way she would ever go back on that?
00:03:30.940 Well, I think her biggest hurdle is the bureaucracy. 1.00
00:03:35.760 You know, they have been so established in some of these principles of the past,
00:03:42.840 the old guard and the principles of the past, wokeism, the influence of the UN.
00:03:49.040 And it filters all the way down into the municipalities.
00:03:53.060 You know, so you have political figures expressing what bureaucrats want them to say.
00:04:00.680 You know, so far she's beginning to break that mold.
00:04:04.460 You know, so she's got a fight on her hands, but she needs the support of all of these people here.
00:04:09.700 She needs that, desperately.
00:04:11.940 She does indeed.
00:04:13.200 Look, this is great to see you here, Art.
00:04:16.680 It's great to see you out doing politics.
00:04:19.740 Are you still involved in the conservative movement?
00:04:22.540 You've been retired since, what, 2008 as a member of parliament?
00:04:25.300 Are you still active?
00:04:27.280 I'm active.
00:04:29.080 I'm active up to a point.
00:04:31.340 Prior to COVID, I was sitting back in my rocking chair thinking time for retirement.
00:04:37.820 I was about 77 then.
00:04:42.040 And then COVID hit.
00:04:43.160 And I looked at the circumstance and the people that were being marginalized by these policies.
00:04:50.140 And I said, how can I sit around and just do nothing?
00:04:53.600 You know, so I got involved.
00:04:56.100 I established, with the aid of others, to set up networks to support people that have been marginalized by these policies.
00:05:03.900 And I cannot see just sitting back and letting all this nonsense go on and on and on.
00:05:12.560 Because I've got a family and grandkids to consider, too, as do so many others in Alberta here that worked hard to establish themselves in this province.
00:05:22.220 And all of that comes under threat when you saw the influence of federal government and even some of the provincial government's policies that hurt people.
00:05:30.920 So, no, I have purpose now to re-engage in every step I can.
00:05:39.060 You know, as limited as I am with my age, I'm going to do what I can.
00:05:44.320 Well, God bless you for that.
00:05:46.100 There are so many people who will be so glad when they hear you say that, that you are still out there and ready to fight.
00:05:53.140 Because, as I think you once said, as long as you're still fighting, you aren't actually defeated.
00:05:59.740 Exactly.
00:06:00.180 And I also believe that, you know, the foundations of this land and this province are all based on God's word.
00:06:09.420 And what do you see now?
00:06:11.440 You know, you see that violation time and time and time again.
00:06:15.020 And without that moral compass, we've got problems.
00:06:18.100 So, I suggest that those that have engaged in a political future that they want to participate in, that they bring the Lord back into play.
00:06:33.240 Because there are no other powers in heaven or on earth that can change what we have.
00:06:41.060 We've got a lot of problems.
00:06:42.520 And they have to be dealt with on a spiritual level.
00:06:45.300 Art Hanger, ladies and gentlemen, one of the great MPs of the reform era.
00:06:51.200 Thank you so much for joining us.
00:06:53.140 Drop in by.
00:06:54.000 Thanks, Art.
00:06:54.720 You're very welcome.
00:06:55.420 Thank you.
00:06:56.400 Thank you.