Independent MLA Drew Barnes on Canada politics & Alberta Sovereignty Act.
Episode Stats
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Summary
On this week's show, the guys talk about the Alberta leadership race, the lack of support for Jason Kenney in the UCP primary, and the ongoing case against Tamara Kuchta. They also discuss the release of Tamara's bail hearing date and what it means for the rest of her case.
Transcript
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Lots of political events, lots of hobnobbing going on. It's been something. Part of what I'm
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looking at, maybe for some of your observations, I mean, you're independent right now, but it gives
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you kind of a different lens to look at things. We've got two different races going on between
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conservative parties, in a sense. How do things look for Albertans as we watch this sort of stuff
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going on? Well, you know, there is some silver lining in what have been some great clouds. And
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let's start with Ottawa, first of all. You know, the fact that $25 billion a year goes out of Alberta,
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the fact that in exchange for that, they deny us resource movement and deny us fairness.
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But having said that, when I look at, you know, all five of the Conservative Party of Canada
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leadership candidates, and, you know, and Pierre Polyev in the last little while, and even John
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Charest with his Alberta Accord, Rick Bell's article yesterday, Pierre has some strong
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pro-Alberta statements in there, which I thought he'd been neglecting to say, but talking about
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fairness and ending equalization and making things happen. So, yeah, so, I mean, Alberta is more on the
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radar in the Conservative Party of Canada than ever before. Will it make any difference? You know,
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all I'll say to the Ottawa, Corey, is it had better. Separation, independence, desire for change has
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risen dramatically in Alberta. And at some point in time, Ottawa is going to have to do something to
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give us equality and fairness, give us resource movement, or it's going to get much worse.
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When I look at the Alberta race, I'm disappointed that it's underachieved so far.
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And, Corey, though, I am so not surprised. Jason Kenney, when he didn't go away, when he didn't allow
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an intern leader to be appointed, he's still got his thumbs on the scales of this leadership race.
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And, of course, there's, you know, there's some discussion about whether Danielle Smith is going
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to be allowed to fully enter it. The $175,000 was, you know, I got into politics with you and the Wild
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Rose in 2011 to keep big money out of politics. $175,000 that, you know, I believe you can self-fund it
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and then raise it later, is putting big money into politics. It's not the, and, of course, our candidates
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now, the vast majority of them have been spending time focused on that rather than out shaking hands,
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kissing babies, and talking ideas with Albertans. So, again, I just see the UCP, you know, shoot themselves
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in the foot all the time. And so far, this race is the same way.
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Yeah, I mean, it just smacks of a bit of elitism. I mean, I understand the purpose of a bar.
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Absolutely. I understand the purpose of an elections committee to say to some people, perhaps, you know,
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you're not appropriate to run. When I ran for an NDP nomination to sort of poke fun at them,
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I wasn't shocked that they told me to get stuffed when I put in my paperwork, but they have the right to
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do that. But then when it gets arbitrary, when it gets, and when you're using a fiscal bar, I mean,
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there's no doubt about it. I mean, if it was even, say, $50,000, you're going to be pretty serious
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before you lay out that kind of money to run for a leadership. But when you're getting all the way
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up to $175,000, that's their way of saying, we don't want the commoners in this race.
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Yeah, yeah, exactly. And hey, let's talk to Bill Rock, the one gentleman that had to,
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you know, drop out. Amisk, Alberta is not anywhere near my constituency, but nobody has called me more
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over the last five years with ideas and concerns about rural crime more than Mayor Bill. And his
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voice would have been good in there. He has some great ideas. He knows firsthand a lot of the real
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pressure points. And as you were talking about, Tamara Leach, who is from Medicine Hat, you know,
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you know, what is she now? 40 days in jail for mischief when the rest of our legal system is all
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about catch and release. I mean, it's so sad to see the internet and Twitter flooded with stories of
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people that have committed serious crimes and are right back out. And Tamara's for mischief is in
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her 40th day. And who knows when that next bail trial, bail hearing will happen. But anyway, so Bill
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had a good voice. Bill's ideas would have made Alberta stronger. And yeah, you know, you have to
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have a bar somewhere, but $175,000 is ridiculous. And potentially we'll see more drop out. But again, I think
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what it's meant so far is the first three weeks has been all about raising money, you know, rather
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than discussing ideas. So to me, the UCP leadership race has been very underachieving so far.
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That is too bad. I had a couple of commenters and I don't, you know, expect you to dive in on the
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individual candidates so much, but it's an interesting concept that got thrown out. And you started that
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like alienation, the Western issues are finally in the focus, even on the federal front and definitely on
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the provincial front. And a couple of commenters are wondering, though, what you think of the
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proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act, or just, I guess, we could expand more than somebody else's
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specific policy, but just the proposed policies on how to deal with Alberta standing up for itself
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against Eastern incursions, you know, which route might work best within a provincial scope?
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Well, well, thank you, Corey. Yeah, I quite like the initiative itself. Here's one of the
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leadership candidates with a good chance of success, bringing this idea forward.
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Bringing this idea forward to cause a constitutional crisis, to open up the constitution
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and force our Canadian partners to either give us fairness or maybe let us out someday. And really,
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what it's all about is whatever Quebec has, Alberta should have as well. So that is hard to disagree
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with. Why shouldn't all 10 be treated equal? But, you know, whether it comes to the Sovereignty Act
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or shutting off the taps, all these things are going to cause some unintended hardship,
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and they're doing some things that are out of our control. So when I came up with my dissenting
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opinion when I was on the Fair Deal panel, and again, I'm so grateful that thousands of Albertans
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reached out to us and me with their ideas, I think I came up with some things that are all within
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Alberta's control. We need to have our own pension. It's $3 billion that would make it so seniors could
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afford their utilities here. We need to collect our own taxes. You know, what we pay to Ottawa in
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interest and penalties alone would cover the cost of collecting the taxes, and we'd have more say.
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We need control over immigration. We need our own policing. We need to put in the infrastructure
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closer to the grassroots, closer to local decision making, and where Alberta has control. But,
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Corey, the main thing I said then was three years from now, we should have an independence referendum.
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We should tell Ottawa today, yes, we want to be part of Canada, but only if we get a fair deal,
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and only if we get resource movement and free trade. You guys have three years to figure it out,
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three years to open up the constitution, three years to put in the corridors and get the pipeline
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access and do what you need to do. And three years from now, we're going to have, give Albertans
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the chance to hold you accountable. We're going to have an independence referendum,
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and Albertans can decide if it's time to, you know, turn up the heat, if it's time to go,
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or if we're happy enough with the deal that was proposed. Like, unlike turning off the taps,
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which certainly has elements of unconstitutionality, unlike, you know, Danielle and the Freedom Alberta's
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group on the, on the Sovereignty Act. I mean, that has a lot of, a lot of issues that dance around,
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around legalities. To me, I thought this was cleaner and more direct. We, you know,
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we're going to give you three years to give us a fair deal. So anyway, I'm just hope that once we get
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past this, this leadership race, that these things can be discussed fully. And I'm grateful in my 10
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years that, you know, we can put Alberta first.
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Yeah, well, there's no doubt that the status quo isn't cutting it. And, and maybe, uh, uh, perhaps a
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referendum, I, you know, I, I think maybe we have to wait a little longer. We'll see. I mean,
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that's certainly a tool, as you're saying, like, we need to, we need to poke the hornet's nest of
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this province isn't working. You know, this is Confederation isn't working out well, like,
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like an interesting poll recently found that 21% of Ontarians responded saying that they felt their
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province would be better off outside of Canada. Well, if even Ontario has one in five people saying it,
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we should be reevaluating the entire package and, and, uh, it will take nothing less than a
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constitutional crisis. I think for the powers that to be, to realize that they have to do this.
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Yeah. Yeah. More of a European union style where the provinces have, have a lot more control and
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independence and, and yeah, we can still have our trade agreements if they'll cooperate. Um, you know,
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Corey, what hurts me is the hardship, you know, Alberta, Canada, we have the third biggest oil
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reserve in the world. I understand we're only the number five producer in the world. So in spite of
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all the things we've talked about ad nauseum, our great environmental record, our great social record,
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we're not meeting our potential. We have the third biggest, and we're producing at number five.
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Um, I'm at a stampede breakfast a couple of days ago, and I'm talking to some oil and gas workers
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who take risk and work as hard as anybody who are having a little trouble still getting, you know,
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getting their equipment out, getting their jobs out, getting their skills out. And it's because
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we're not at full capacity. And, uh, and we all know the pipeline situation, uh, you know,
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Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is virtually stalled. Energy East is non-existent. It goes on
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and on. And, and let's get our people back to work. And, and, you know, and then we, when you look
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at the Canadian situation, how anti-competitive we are, of course, we saw the Rogers, uh, you know,
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burnout the other day and all the problems that that caused, uh, you look at all the money that
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the Canadian government is borrowing and what that has done to our, our interest rates now,
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plus the money they printed, let's get a government that cares about, about balancing their, their
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budgets. So banks will be more in tune with giving a small business, uh, more competitive advantages.
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Um, you know, the, the, just so many things in Canada that, uh, that could be better and don't
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match our values. Uh, again, Alberta values of hard work, risk-taking and, and sharing the benefits.
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Um, you know, we're, we're living in this high tax world, uh, in, and most of it to, to Ottawa,
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It just seems like we're almost bent bent on economic, uh, self-destruction. It's so frustrating
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and maddening to see, uh, you're in a rural constituency. It's a bit dry out in medicine hat,
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but there's a lot of ranching and some agriculture and that, uh, an issue that's been coming up.
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We're seeing around the world, of course, in, in, uh, the Netherlands or Sri Lanka,
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uh, the latest environmental push. I mean, they haven't stopped now with oil and gas,
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they're going after fertilizers and that's really, uh, causing it well,
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pressure on consumers and the agricultural community. Uh, are there any concerns about
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those? Because there's a proposed fertilizer reduction in Canada coming down the lines too.
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Or have you been hearing about that on, uh, your ground level?
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Oh yeah. People, people here are, here are very concerned. Uh, we're fortunate to have
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irrigation, uh, west of town and, uh, you know, those, those crops are, those acreages are very
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productive. Yeah. There, there's huge concern, but, but, you know, but look what, look what happens
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here, Corey, you know, the, the environmentalists go after the oil and gas business. Jason Kenney's
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war room has been a disaster in trying to protect us for that. That should be eliminated. Uh, and then
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soon as a, you know, now we're producing number five in the world, even though we're the third biggest,
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and what do they do? They, they turn to, to GMO nitrogen and now cattle. Uh, they're, they're
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hard after, after what we produce. Um, seems like, um, the environmentalists and those that, uh, benefit
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from a different status quo or globalization and what the world economic forum offers, which is not,
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not in sync with what, uh, Medicine Hat and Cypress Medicine Hat needs. Um, yeah, we, we, we have to
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continue to push back. We have to get as effective as possible and, uh, and more than anything, we,
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we, we, we have to speak the truth, but, you know, Corey, we, we need some democratic reform.
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You know, Jason Kenney disappointed in so many ways, but maybe one of the biggest ways was in not
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putting in meaningful recall and meaningful citizen initiated, uh, legislation laws. Yeah. He put things
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in that are, are maybe just being proclaimed now, but, but the signatures that are required to put
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things on the ballot, unlike Switzerland, where the Swiss people can actually overturn a federal law
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or, um, or put in a law with a, with a referendum and a petition. Uh, he didn't do that. He made the
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bar way, way too high. So, so we need to, to fix that democratic reform, Corey. We need to put in a
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system where if our politicians won't do it for us, the people need to be able to get rid of them
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or through initiate citizen initiated referendums, do it themselves.
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I'm with you. I mean, I was very disappointed in that. I mean, we worked, as you said,
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when we were in the wild roast together, uh, on things such as citizens initiative and recall,
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and there was a lot of policy discussions and we knew same sort of thing. You have to set a bar.
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You don't want to recall held every time somebody is elected and, and you don't want a referendum
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every time somebody is fighting over a property line with a neighbor, but you have to make it
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achievable and they purposely put it way out of reach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Way out of reach in the
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number of signatures. And if I remember right in the citizen initiative, he even put in a kind of
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a poison pill. If somebody starts a ballot, a citizen initiative, uh, referendum question,
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and it doesn't achieve the bar, it isn't successful. Nobody else can do it for five years.
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Uh, and I mean, so, so can somebody start one just with the aim to sabotage and, and the bar so high
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anyway, it's, uh, it's, it's next to impossible. Um, but, but let's say, you know, I understand
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Switzerland, 8.4 million people, 50,000 people can sign a petition forcing a, a referendum to
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overturn any new federal government law. The main benefit I, I hear Corey is it, it forces the
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politicians to really, really consult before they put in any laws, uh, who, you know, cause,
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of course they don't want laws overturned either. Uh, you know, why don't we put in these, these,
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you know, important, uh, gatekeepers and these important things to stop at these, these benchmarks.
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And, uh, instead, you know, we, we, you know, again, like it's, it's, uh, when I think of how
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much change our system needs, the fact that 2011, 2012, you and me were running around saying all
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these things and here we are 2022 and, and we've, we're still talking about it. Uh, hopefully the
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next two or three years will be more successful. Yeah. Well, on the bright side, we haven't given up
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yet. We're stubborn if nothing else. Uh, so before I, I let you go and like I said, I appreciate
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that. And I like being able to talk to you because at least there's, there's disadvantages of course,
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being stuck in an independent role, but there's advantage in, in being unrestrained of course,
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and you can just speak to, to what you want to feel or, you know, you're not worried about a party
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at this point. Uh, so just where can people find information on what you're up to and where you're
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communicating and, uh, you know, just your, your constituency in general. Yeah. Thank you,
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Corey. Yeah, please. Cypress Medicine Hat, uh, Drew Barnes, uh, on Facebook and Twitter and, and, and,
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and the website under Drew Barnes at Cypress Medicine Hat. And Corey, what we're really
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fighting for hard the next little while is Alberta first economic freedom and individual opportunity.
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Um, you know, the fact that, you know, taxes are so high in Canada taxes are so high, high in Alberta.
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Um, it's time to get, get back to where people have the opportunity to work hard, take risk, and then
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share, share, share their results. Um, this, this, this is, this is a little bit of a, of a detour,
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but Johnny Goudreau signed with, uh, Columbus yesterday. Uh, taxes, state tax in Columbus is 3.9%
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uh, in, in Ohio. There's a small, I think 2% tax in a column in Columbus. Alberta and Canadian taxes
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are as high as 48%. So was it a factor in his decision? You know, I don't know. Uh, how,
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how many businesses don't we get? Because there's nine American states with no, no income tax, uh,
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taxes are lower in many, many places around the world. Nevermind our gatekeepers and our regulation.
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So Corey, please join me in a fight for economic freedom, individual opportunity and Alberta families.
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All right. Thanks, Drew. I'll keep fighting the good fight. And I hope your medicine hat,
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that rodeo goes excellently. And, uh, I hope we can talk again soon.