Western Standard - Independent MLA Drew Barnes on Canada politics & Alberta Sovereignty Act.

00:00:00.000 Lots of political events, lots of hobnobbing going on. It's been something. Part of what I'm

00:00:07.920 looking at, maybe for some of your observations, I mean, you're independent right now, but it gives

00:00:11.800 you kind of a different lens to look at things. We've got two different races going on between 0.91

00:00:16.380 conservative parties, in a sense. How do things look for Albertans as we watch this sort of stuff

00:00:21.480 going on? Well, you know, there is some silver lining in what have been some great clouds. And

00:00:27.820 let's start with Ottawa, first of all. You know, the fact that $25 billion a year goes out of Alberta,

00:00:34.900 the fact that in exchange for that, they deny us resource movement and deny us fairness.

00:00:41.540 But having said that, when I look at, you know, all five of the Conservative Party of Canada

00:00:47.960 leadership candidates, and, you know, and Pierre Polyev in the last little while, and even John

00:00:54.060 Charest with his Alberta Accord, Rick Bell's article yesterday, Pierre has some strong

00:01:01.600 pro-Alberta statements in there, which I thought he'd been neglecting to say, but talking about

00:01:07.460 fairness and ending equalization and making things happen. So, yeah, so, I mean, Alberta is more on the

00:01:15.100 radar in the Conservative Party of Canada than ever before. Will it make any difference? You know,

00:01:21.520 all I'll say to the Ottawa, Corey, is it had better. Separation, independence, desire for change has

00:01:29.780 risen dramatically in Alberta. And at some point in time, Ottawa is going to have to do something to

00:01:35.620 give us equality and fairness, give us resource movement, or it's going to get much worse.

00:01:41.340 When I look at the Alberta race, I'm disappointed that it's underachieved so far.

00:01:47.200 And, Corey, though, I am so not surprised. Jason Kenney, when he didn't go away, when he didn't allow

00:01:53.620 an intern leader to be appointed, he's still got his thumbs on the scales of this leadership race.

00:01:59.400 And, of course, there's, you know, there's some discussion about whether Danielle Smith is going

00:02:03.480 to be allowed to fully enter it. The $175,000 was, you know, I got into politics with you and the Wild

00:02:10.200 Rose in 2011 to keep big money out of politics. $175,000 that, you know, I believe you can self-fund it

00:02:17.620 and then raise it later, is putting big money into politics. It's not the, and, of course, our candidates

00:02:24.700 now, the vast majority of them have been spending time focused on that rather than out shaking hands,

00:02:30.420 kissing babies, and talking ideas with Albertans. So, again, I just see the UCP, you know, shoot themselves

00:02:37.480 in the foot all the time. And so far, this race is the same way. 1.00

00:02:41.060 Yeah, I mean, it just smacks of a bit of elitism. I mean, I understand the purpose of a bar.

00:02:45.140 Absolutely. I understand the purpose of an elections committee to say to some people, perhaps, you know,

00:02:49.260 you're not appropriate to run. When I ran for an NDP nomination to sort of poke fun at them,

00:02:54.880 I wasn't shocked that they told me to get stuffed when I put in my paperwork, but they have the right to

00:02:59.580 do that. But then when it gets arbitrary, when it gets, and when you're using a fiscal bar, I mean,

00:03:05.220 there's no doubt about it. I mean, if it was even, say, $50,000, you're going to be pretty serious

00:03:09.860 before you lay out that kind of money to run for a leadership. But when you're getting all the way

00:03:14.220 up to $175,000, that's their way of saying, we don't want the commoners in this race. 1.00

00:03:18.720 Yeah, yeah, exactly. And hey, let's talk to Bill Rock, the one gentleman that had to,

00:03:22.860 you know, drop out. Amisk, Alberta is not anywhere near my constituency, but nobody has called me more

00:03:30.800 over the last five years with ideas and concerns about rural crime more than Mayor Bill. And his

00:03:37.060 voice would have been good in there. He has some great ideas. He knows firsthand a lot of the real

00:03:42.040 pressure points. And as you were talking about, Tamara Leach, who is from Medicine Hat, you know,

00:03:47.560 you know, what is she now? 40 days in jail for mischief when the rest of our legal system is all 1.00

00:03:53.080 about catch and release. I mean, it's so sad to see the internet and Twitter flooded with stories of

00:03:59.240 people that have committed serious crimes and are right back out. And Tamara's for mischief is in

00:04:05.900 her 40th day. And who knows when that next bail trial, bail hearing will happen. But anyway, so Bill

00:04:13.120 had a good voice. Bill's ideas would have made Alberta stronger. And yeah, you know, you have to

00:04:19.140 have a bar somewhere, but $175,000 is ridiculous. And potentially we'll see more drop out. But again, I think

00:04:25.240 what it's meant so far is the first three weeks has been all about raising money, you know, rather

00:04:30.180 than discussing ideas. So to me, the UCP leadership race has been very underachieving so far.

00:04:37.760 That is too bad. I had a couple of commenters and I don't, you know, expect you to dive in on the

00:04:43.020 individual candidates so much, but it's an interesting concept that got thrown out. And you started that

00:04:46.900 like alienation, the Western issues are finally in the focus, even on the federal front and definitely on

00:04:51.460 the provincial front. And a couple of commenters are wondering, though, what you think of the

00:04:55.060 proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act, or just, I guess, we could expand more than somebody else's

00:04:59.780 specific policy, but just the proposed policies on how to deal with Alberta standing up for itself

00:05:05.240 against Eastern incursions, you know, which route might work best within a provincial scope?

00:05:10.240 Well, well, thank you, Corey. Yeah, I quite like the initiative itself. Here's one of the

00:05:17.600 leadership candidates with a good chance of success, bringing this idea forward.

00:05:24.880 Bringing this idea forward to cause a constitutional crisis, to open up the constitution

00:05:29.620 and force our Canadian partners to either give us fairness or maybe let us out someday. And really,

00:05:37.820 what it's all about is whatever Quebec has, Alberta should have as well. So that is hard to disagree

00:05:43.320 with. Why shouldn't all 10 be treated equal? But, you know, whether it comes to the Sovereignty Act

00:05:48.920 or shutting off the taps, all these things are going to cause some unintended hardship,

00:05:54.680 and they're doing some things that are out of our control. So when I came up with my dissenting

00:05:59.380 opinion when I was on the Fair Deal panel, and again, I'm so grateful that thousands of Albertans

00:06:03.800 reached out to us and me with their ideas, I think I came up with some things that are all within

00:06:09.060 Alberta's control. We need to have our own pension. It's $3 billion that would make it so seniors could 0.99

00:06:15.300 afford their utilities here. We need to collect our own taxes. You know, what we pay to Ottawa in

00:06:21.320 interest and penalties alone would cover the cost of collecting the taxes, and we'd have more say.

00:06:27.620 We need control over immigration. We need our own policing. We need to put in the infrastructure 0.99

00:06:33.400 closer to the grassroots, closer to local decision making, and where Alberta has control. But,

00:06:40.300 Corey, the main thing I said then was three years from now, we should have an independence referendum.

00:06:46.140 We should tell Ottawa today, yes, we want to be part of Canada, but only if we get a fair deal,

00:06:53.060 and only if we get resource movement and free trade. You guys have three years to figure it out,

00:06:57.960 three years to open up the constitution, three years to put in the corridors and get the pipeline

00:07:02.860 access and do what you need to do. And three years from now, we're going to have, give Albertans

00:07:07.120 the chance to hold you accountable. We're going to have an independence referendum,

00:07:11.040 and Albertans can decide if it's time to, you know, turn up the heat, if it's time to go,

00:07:16.840 or if we're happy enough with the deal that was proposed. Like, unlike turning off the taps,

00:07:22.240 which certainly has elements of unconstitutionality, unlike, you know, Danielle and the Freedom Alberta's

00:07:29.740 group on the, on the Sovereignty Act. I mean, that has a lot of, a lot of issues that dance around,

00:07:35.380 around legalities. To me, I thought this was cleaner and more direct. We, you know,

00:07:40.720 we're going to give you three years to give us a fair deal. So anyway, I'm just hope that once we get

00:07:46.720 past this, this leadership race, that these things can be discussed fully. And I'm grateful in my 10

00:07:52.400 years that, you know, we can put Alberta first.

00:07:54.660 Yeah, well, there's no doubt that the status quo isn't cutting it. And, and maybe, uh, uh, perhaps a

00:08:00.200 referendum, I, you know, I, I think maybe we have to wait a little longer. We'll see. I mean,

00:08:03.520 that's certainly a tool, as you're saying, like, we need to, we need to poke the hornet's nest of

00:08:08.000 this province isn't working. You know, this is Confederation isn't working out well, like,

00:08:11.620 like an interesting poll recently found that 21% of Ontarians responded saying that they felt their

00:08:17.860 province would be better off outside of Canada. Well, if even Ontario has one in five people saying it,

00:08:24.040 we should be reevaluating the entire package and, and, uh, it will take nothing less than a

00:08:28.640 constitutional crisis. I think for the powers that to be, to realize that they have to do this.

00:08:33.740 Yeah. Yeah. More of a European union style where the provinces have, have a lot more control and

00:08:38.900 independence and, and yeah, we can still have our trade agreements if they'll cooperate. Um, you know,

00:08:44.680 Corey, what hurts me is the hardship, you know, Alberta, Canada, we have the third biggest oil

00:08:49.820 reserve in the world. I understand we're only the number five producer in the world. So in spite of

00:08:54.980 all the things we've talked about ad nauseum, our great environmental record, our great social record,

00:09:00.420 we're not meeting our potential. We have the third biggest, and we're producing at number five.

00:09:05.180 Um, I'm at a stampede breakfast a couple of days ago, and I'm talking to some oil and gas workers

00:09:09.500 who take risk and work as hard as anybody who are having a little trouble still getting, you know,

00:09:15.740 getting their equipment out, getting their jobs out, getting their skills out. And it's because

00:09:19.840 we're not at full capacity. And, uh, and we all know the pipeline situation, uh, you know,

00:09:26.280 Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is virtually stalled. Energy East is non-existent. It goes on

00:09:30.960 and on. And, and let's get our people back to work. And, and, you know, and then we, when you look

00:09:36.140 at the Canadian situation, how anti-competitive we are, of course, we saw the Rogers, uh, you know,

00:09:43.020 burnout the other day and all the problems that that caused, uh, you look at all the money that

00:09:47.820 the Canadian government is borrowing and what that has done to our, our interest rates now,

00:09:52.380 plus the money they printed, let's get a government that cares about, about balancing their, their 0.68

00:09:57.660 budgets. So banks will be more in tune with giving a small business, uh, more competitive advantages.

00:10:04.220 Um, you know, the, the, just so many things in Canada that, uh, that could be better and don't

00:10:09.900 match our values. Uh, again, Alberta values of hard work, risk-taking and, and sharing the benefits.

00:10:15.900 Um, you know, we're, we're living in this high tax world, uh, in, and most of it to, to Ottawa,

00:10:21.580 where we don't get value.

00:10:22.540 It just seems like we're almost bent bent on economic, uh, self-destruction. It's so frustrating

00:10:28.540 and maddening to see, uh, you're in a rural constituency. It's a bit dry out in medicine hat,

00:10:34.060 but there's a lot of ranching and some agriculture and that, uh, an issue that's been coming up.

00:10:37.740 We're seeing around the world, of course, in, in, uh, the Netherlands or Sri Lanka,

00:10:41.500 uh, the latest environmental push. I mean, they haven't stopped now with oil and gas,

00:10:45.020 they're going after fertilizers and that's really, uh, causing it well,

00:10:48.380 pressure on consumers and the agricultural community. Uh, are there any concerns about

00:10:52.700 those? Because there's a proposed fertilizer reduction in Canada coming down the lines too. 0.84

00:10:56.140 Or have you been hearing about that on, uh, your ground level?

00:10:59.020 Oh yeah. People, people here are, here are very concerned. Uh, we're fortunate to have

00:11:04.220 irrigation, uh, west of town and, uh, you know, those, those crops are, those acreages are very

00:11:10.700 productive. Yeah. There, there's huge concern, but, but, you know, but look what, look what happens

00:11:15.500 here, Corey, you know, the, the environmentalists go after the oil and gas business. Jason Kenney's

00:11:20.460 war room has been a disaster in trying to protect us for that. That should be eliminated. Uh, and then

00:11:27.100 soon as a, you know, now we're producing number five in the world, even though we're the third biggest,

00:11:31.420 and what do they do? They, they turn to, to GMO nitrogen and now cattle. Uh, they're, they're

00:11:37.340 hard after, after what we produce. Um, seems like, um, the environmentalists and those that, uh, benefit

00:11:44.940 from a different status quo or globalization and what the world economic forum offers, which is not,

00:11:51.340 not in sync with what, uh, Medicine Hat and Cypress Medicine Hat needs. Um, yeah, we, we, we have to

00:11:57.180 continue to push back. We have to get as effective as possible and, uh, and more than anything, we,

00:12:03.260 we, we, we have to speak the truth, but, you know, Corey, we, we need some democratic reform.

00:12:08.300 You know, Jason Kenney disappointed in so many ways, but maybe one of the biggest ways was in not

00:12:13.980 putting in meaningful recall and meaningful citizen initiated, uh, legislation laws. Yeah. He put things

00:12:20.540 in that are, are maybe just being proclaimed now, but, but the signatures that are required to put

00:12:25.500 things on the ballot, unlike Switzerland, where the Swiss people can actually overturn a federal law

00:12:31.260 or, um, or put in a law with a, with a referendum and a petition. Uh, he didn't do that. He made the

00:12:37.900 bar way, way too high. So, so we need to, to fix that democratic reform, Corey. We need to put in a

00:12:43.820 system where if our politicians won't do it for us, the people need to be able to get rid of them

00:12:49.580 or through initiate citizen initiated referendums, do it themselves.

00:12:52.940 I'm with you. I mean, I was very disappointed in that. I mean, we worked, as you said,

00:12:57.020 when we were in the wild roast together, uh, on things such as citizens initiative and recall,

00:13:01.980 and there was a lot of policy discussions and we knew same sort of thing. You have to set a bar.

00:13:05.500 You don't want to recall held every time somebody is elected and, and you don't want a referendum

00:13:10.540 every time somebody is fighting over a property line with a neighbor, but you have to make it

00:13:13.740 achievable and they purposely put it way out of reach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Way out of reach in the

00:13:18.860 number of signatures. And if I remember right in the citizen initiative, he even put in a kind of

00:13:23.580 a poison pill. If somebody starts a ballot, a citizen initiative, uh, referendum question,

00:13:29.980 and it doesn't achieve the bar, it isn't successful. Nobody else can do it for five years.

00:13:35.900 Uh, and I mean, so, so can somebody start one just with the aim to sabotage and, and the bar so high

00:13:42.700 anyway, it's, uh, it's, it's next to impossible. Um, but, but let's say, you know, I understand

00:13:48.140 Switzerland, 8.4 million people, 50,000 people can sign a petition forcing a, a referendum to

00:13:55.420 overturn any new federal government law. The main benefit I, I hear Corey is it, it forces the

00:14:01.420 politicians to really, really consult before they put in any laws, uh, who, you know, cause,

00:14:06.380 of course they don't want laws overturned either. Uh, you know, why don't we put in these, these,

00:14:10.860 you know, important, uh, gatekeepers and these important things to stop at these, these benchmarks.

00:14:18.780 And, uh, instead, you know, we, we, you know, again, like it's, it's, uh, when I think of how

00:14:24.460 much change our system needs, the fact that 2011, 2012, you and me were running around saying all

00:14:30.140 these things and here we are 2022 and, and we've, we're still talking about it. Uh, hopefully the

00:14:36.620 next two or three years will be more successful. Yeah. Well, on the bright side, we haven't given up

00:14:40.540 yet. We're stubborn if nothing else. Uh, so before I, I let you go and like I said, I appreciate

00:14:45.820 that. And I like being able to talk to you because at least there's, there's disadvantages of course,

00:14:49.580 being stuck in an independent role, but there's advantage in, in being unrestrained of course,

00:14:54.060 and you can just speak to, to what you want to feel or, you know, you're not worried about a party

00:14:57.740 at this point. Uh, so just where can people find information on what you're up to and where you're

00:15:02.220 communicating and, uh, you know, just your, your constituency in general. Yeah. Thank you,

00:15:06.380 Corey. Yeah, please. Cypress Medicine Hat, uh, Drew Barnes, uh, on Facebook and Twitter and, and, and,

00:15:12.540 and the website under Drew Barnes at Cypress Medicine Hat. And Corey, what we're really

00:15:16.780 fighting for hard the next little while is Alberta first economic freedom and individual opportunity.

00:15:23.100 Um, you know, the fact that, you know, taxes are so high in Canada taxes are so high, high in Alberta.

00:15:29.900 Um, it's time to get, get back to where people have the opportunity to work hard, take risk, and then

00:15:35.820 share, share, share their results. Um, this, this, this is, this is a little bit of a, of a detour,

00:15:42.940 but Johnny Goudreau signed with, uh, Columbus yesterday. Uh, taxes, state tax in Columbus is 3.9%

00:15:51.660 uh, in, in Ohio. There's a small, I think 2% tax in a column in Columbus. Alberta and Canadian taxes

00:15:57.820 are as high as 48%. So was it a factor in his decision? You know, I don't know. Uh, how,

00:16:04.140 how many businesses don't we get? Because there's nine American states with no, no income tax, uh,

00:16:10.940 taxes are lower in many, many places around the world. Nevermind our gatekeepers and our regulation.

00:16:16.300 So Corey, please join me in a fight for economic freedom, individual opportunity and Alberta families.

00:16:22.860 All right. Thanks, Drew. I'll keep fighting the good fight. And I hope your medicine hat,

00:16:27.180 that rodeo goes excellently. And, uh, I hope we can talk again soon.

00:16:31.180 We will. Corey, thank you. Have a good one.

Western Standard - July 15, 2022

Independent MLA Drew Barnes on Canada politics & Alberta Sovereignty Act.

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