Western Standard - May 15, 2025


Indigenous citizens have the most to gain from provincial independence


Episode Stats


Length

46 minutes

Words per minute

182.29277

Word count

8,555

Sentence count

451

Harmful content

Misogyny

17

sentences flagged

Toxicity

29

sentences flagged

Hate speech

20

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode of the Cory Morgan Show, the host talks with Jason Clemens of the Fraser Institute about the recent surge in support for western independence and the need for Indigenous people to have a say in the process.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good day.
00:00:29.160 welcome to the cory morgan show yes for those watching live this is a special episode i guess
00:00:35.260 you could say we're coming on an hour earlier than usual i know some of you folks will be jumping on
00:00:39.660 12 wonder what the heck it's a recorded copy now yeah sorry there's uh something unusual came up
00:00:44.240 we'll explain a little bit of that in a few minutes here but uh thank you for joining at
00:00:49.320 this time and thank you for joining later if you're catching the recorded version use that
00:00:54.480 comment stream. Those of you who have found us with the live broadcast early today, I see Sean
00:00:58.940 Avizan checking in there. Send me questions, notes, ideas. I appreciate them all. Just try to
00:01:04.540 keep things somewhat civil. If you want to swear at me and everything, go to X. That's where it
00:01:08.040 belongs. And we have a lot of fun there. All right. So I got a good one coming out. I got Jason
00:01:11.420 Clemens of the Fraser Institute is going to come on in a little while. They wrote a piece on the
00:01:15.320 America 51 thing, just to add a little rationality to this. We had Prime Minister Carney meeting
00:01:22.080 with Trump and his elbows up went down, but still that weird America 51 thing still comes
00:01:29.020 up. So, you know, just a little bit of a rational talk about the realism of what that's all
00:01:33.540 about. And as well, there'll be lots of other news and things to cover. So let's talk about,
00:01:40.600 well, one of the things that's been a big subject lately in independence, Western independence,
00:01:44.440 and another facet of it. So if there's any identifiable group in Canada that'd be well
00:01:50.260 served with the changes brought about through Western independence, it's our Indigenous
00:01:53.800 citizens. I mean, it's undeniable the status quo is serving Indigenous communities terribly, 1.00
00:01:58.600 and nothing short of some sort of radical action is going to change that. Neither Western
00:02:02.700 independence nor a referendum held for independence violates treaty rights, by the way,
00:02:07.680 though some people who are financially married to the current system love to spread that
00:02:11.440 misconception. Consultation with Indigenous citizens, though, is constitutionally required 0.95
00:02:17.000 to make major changes in Canada, and it should be, but consent isn't required. We've got to remember
00:02:21.280 that. But what better means of consultation can there be, and then consent anyways, than holding
00:02:26.940 a general referendum? Western independent supporters must reach out to the Indigenous
00:02:31.340 communities and foster independent support among them. I mean, the conditions on Western reserves
00:02:35.920 are abhorrent. Thousands of citizens are living in abject poverty and horrific socioeconomic
00:02:40.420 conditions. While there's some chiefs, bureaucrats, and lawyers, they find themselves very comfortably
00:02:44.440 served under the current system, most of the common citizens on reserves are living trapped
00:02:48.800 in a cycle of dependency and misery. One of the best and unexpected developments with the current
00:02:53.560 surge of support for Western independence is that it brought treaties into the sphere of public
00:02:57.400 discussion. Advocates for the status quo have always liked trying to quell discussion of
00:03:02.240 systematic reforms by howling that any attempt to change things would violate the treaties.
00:03:06.720 Since most people both on and off reserves never actually read a treaty, these activists have
00:03:11.120 gotten away with pulling the wool over people's eyes for a long time. When opponents to independence
00:03:15.400 tried to claim independence was impossible due to the treaties, it drove people into actually
00:03:19.320 going online and looking at those treaties for themselves. They're available and they're
00:03:23.020 surprisingly simple documents. Most of the text in the treaties is dedicated to defining the
00:03:27.380 extents of the reserves. The treaties are all very clear in establishing that Indigenous bands are
00:03:32.160 actually forever ceding all claims to the territories outside of those reserves. Unless
00:03:37.140 a referendum is proposing to change reserve boundaries, it's not in conflict with the
00:03:41.180 treaties. The treaties establish some other rights, such as offering small annual stipends to chiefs
00:03:46.440 and council leaders and providing resources for agricultural development, whetstones, a certain
00:03:51.240 amount of horses and such. The payment figures are clearly out of date, as are the aspirations of
00:03:56.840 creating an agriculturally focused culture from Indigenous people. All the same, there aren't 1.00
00:04:01.020 actually that many direct obligations placed on governments from within those treaties. No tax
00:04:06.380 exemptions or housing obligations or funding for advocacy groups like the assembly of first nations
00:04:11.180 one ironic obligation and transfer than treaties was that the government was to provide education
00:04:15.840 for indigenous children that clause was supported by the government and indigenous leaders alike
00:04:20.220 as it was hoped at the time it would help the next generation of indigenous kids to
00:04:23.420 integrate productively with the modern world well guess what that got them that led to the creation
00:04:28.140 of the residential school system which ended poorly to say the least today indigenous reserves 1.00
00:04:32.880 are rife with crime and poverty, corruptions rampant among Indigenous leadership groups,
00:04:37.140 while decades of massive spending increases and payouts only appears to make things worse.
00:04:42.060 The average Indigenous man in Alberta dies 19 years younger than the average non-Indigenous
00:04:46.000 person. How bad does it have to get before serious changes are made? While the treaties
00:04:51.320 can't be changed, most of the regulations managing the government of the reserve system can.
00:04:55.880 They're from the outdated and racist Indian Act. Acts are just legislation and they can be changed
00:05:00.520 at any time if politicians find the political will. Unfortunately, political cowardice is much
00:05:05.400 more common than proactive political will. Independence could be the catalyst that finally
00:05:09.960 breaks Indigenous people away from the Indian Act, which is killing them figuratively and literally.
00:05:14.700 A new deal and new legislation could and would be created in an independent West. The deal 0.91
00:05:19.260 must be made, though, with the participation of Indigenous citizens. They don't need another 0.99
00:05:23.440 top-down patronizing approach, and they aren't going to be receptive to it. We must reach out
00:05:28.700 to Indigenous citizens as equals and partners on the road to independence. They'll embrace the
00:05:32.640 change if they can be convinced they can break them from the cycle of dependency and dejection
00:05:36.700 they're in right now. To do this, we have to bypass the Indigenous leadership. They act as 0.96
00:05:41.640 gatekeepers to the citizens on reserves and want to hide the terrible conditions. Indeed, I'm in
00:05:45.880 the midst of a court challenge against the Six of First Nations right now as they're trying to
00:05:49.280 charge me of trespassing for filming the conditions of their reserve from a public highway. Many in
00:05:54.500 leadership positions in the Indigenous system are making a lot of money and keeping things just as
00:05:58.160 they are. The Siksika were given 1.2 billion dollars by Trudeau only a few years ago, yet the
00:06:03.020 citizens are living in squalor. It's a little wonder the leadership doesn't want people seeing
00:06:06.600 what's happening out there. The independence movement has many things to do and many priorities
00:06:10.380 to sort out. One of those priorities, though, must be to bring Indigenous citizens into the 1.00
00:06:14.780 independence fold. Independence offers them a bright future, but they have to be convinced of
00:06:18.540 it. They've been fed bad bills of goods many times before. Indigenous citizens aren't adversaries of
00:06:24.240 independence they will be allies when the right case is made to them all right well that's what
00:06:29.680 uh got me started up let's check in brother news how's it going it's going well i see you survived
00:06:34.640 the big quilt show on the weekend any like horror stories no parties drunken orgies all that happened
00:06:43.440 it was while jane was staying right here at the hotel i just show up for the setup you know and
00:06:47.120 then and then come back to tear down all the uh uh you should be there selling your book
00:06:53.680 i don't know if jane's quote business needs something as divisive as my uh political rhetoric
00:06:58.800 on her table so supportive she's supportive i guess yes long-suffering as well that's right
00:07:04.560 the long-suffering gene another busy day on the the news world uh aren't they always these days
00:07:11.360 our story right now our story our site is leading off with the the arrest of a teacher in saanich
00:07:17.360 a female teacher and she's been apparently allegedly uh having sex with all sorts of 1.00
00:07:22.560 students uh out there in the rcmp think there's there's more victims and uh they'd like them uh
00:07:28.560 them to uh to come forward um you haven't had your lunch yet have you
00:07:35.360 okay so try and hold on to it but uh christia freeland says she's bringing sexy back oh boy 1.00
00:07:44.080 a gal who was picking her toes and cutting her toenails in parliament and pulling her 1.00
00:07:49.200 underwear out of her ass yes she says uh she's obviously still the minister of internal trade 0.99
00:07:56.080 and she says internal trade is sexy and she's going to bring the sexy back oh good we've got 1.00
00:08:01.680 so much to look forward to oh yes repainted liberal organization exactly uh we've got a
00:08:08.160 good story on west jet uh they've been ordered to pay a former uh employee uh 65 grand a year's
00:08:14.720 salary. They fired her when she wouldn't take the COVID vaccine shot. She claimed a religious 0.72
00:08:22.320 exemption and the company then dismissed her. So that could open the gates for a lot of people who
00:08:28.000 were fired for not getting their vaccine. And so just be the first. A couple of months ago,
00:08:35.920 there was a $10 million bounty from the U.S. on the head of an al-Qaeda rebel fighter in Syria.
00:08:42.400 Well, that fighter won the war and expelled Assad and is now the leader of Syria.
00:08:47.700 And he met with Trump, the guy whose government put a $10 million bounty on his head.
00:08:52.700 Met him in Saudi Arabia today.
00:08:55.540 And Trump's going to drop all the sanctions against Syria, which have been in place for 14 years,
00:09:01.140 and give them a chance to try and build their rubble back up. 0.99
00:09:05.120 Well, and build a nice, new, theocratic, miserable place to slaughter everybody who doesn't follow their path of Islam. 1.00
00:09:10.980 about something to look forward to. Something to look forward to. Our Jen Hodgson, just over your 1.00
00:09:15.460 left shoulder there. I'm not sure she's in the shot. She's working on a story. Mark Carney,
00:09:20.180 first cabinet meeting today, says he's willing to make changes to the laws to get energy projects
00:09:26.580 moving quickly. So says the right things, and we'll see what he says coming out of cabinet.
00:09:32.140 The new energy minister, Hodgson, says he's going to make a quick trip out west to test the waters.
00:09:38.660 uh so let's say what do you think of the carny cabinet it's well the cabinet i mean it is just
00:09:45.560 the same thing rebranded so there's not much new it's a this isn't a new cabinet it's a cabinet
00:09:49.600 shuffle i think most of us out here kind of like with the energy you know you can talk in the tone
00:09:53.420 it's just more well we'll believe it when we see it sort of exactly saying the right things i guess 0.98
00:09:57.020 it's yep give them the chance um i don't know about our idiot friend gilbo being charged of 1.00
00:10:03.000 Canadian heritage. He could screw that up big time. It sounds like a minor ministry, but I 1.00
00:10:09.740 remember when Sheila Copps was in charge of heritage and she messed with national parks and
00:10:13.660 everything. And if you put an imbecile or a lunatic in charge of any of those ministries, 1.00
00:10:16.900 oh, they can do damage. There's nowhere you can stick them where they aren't going to cause 1.00
00:10:20.220 problems. Yeah, no kidding. And I guess the reason your show is being preempted is Derek
00:10:26.720 Fildebrandt, our fearless leader, does an exclusive interview with Premier Danielle Smith
00:10:31.360 coming up around over the lunch hour and he's got a list of hard-hitting questions that will
00:10:37.440 be put to the uh to the premiere and we'll get that out on our all our channels as soon as uh
00:10:43.380 our wonder producer john gets it uh all fixed up so look for that this afternoon excellent yeah i
00:10:48.340 understand being kicked aside if it's a matter of the premiere coming on though i mean boy you know
00:10:52.620 she should really schedule herself around my event exactly you would think so i think so wouldn't 1.00
00:10:57.220 Speaking of which, you're going to abandon us for a little while.
00:10:59.560 I'm leaving, yeah.
00:11:00.440 We'll go and leave it on a jet plane on Friday.
00:11:02.380 Going to go over to Israel, do some poking around, see what's going on over there.
00:11:06.720 And we're looking forward to it.
00:11:08.900 It should be a very interesting week in Israel.
00:11:12.460 Yeah, amazing place.
00:11:14.760 Envy you that.
00:11:15.600 Just try not to get blown up.
00:11:16.900 I will do my best.
00:11:17.760 I've downloaded an app which goes off with sirens every time a rocket is launched towards Israel.
00:11:24.440 So it went off yesterday in the middle of the news.
00:11:26.380 and I've never heard the sound before.
00:11:28.260 And I went, what the?
00:11:29.260 And finally figured it out.
00:11:30.920 Yeah, the wacky Houthis had launched a missile from Yemen into Israel, 0.74
00:11:35.520 but it was shot down by Iron Dome.
00:11:37.880 Okay, well, be sure to bring spare shorts, I guess,
00:11:40.780 in that case, in case you get a coat brown.
00:11:42.720 I've got a few packed.
00:11:43.900 All right, thanks, Dave.
00:11:45.680 Thank you, Corey.
00:11:46.320 We will see you on the show when you get back.
00:11:48.060 Thank you.
00:11:48.540 Right on.
00:11:49.400 All right, that is our news editor, Dave Naylor.
00:11:52.280 Lots on the go.
00:11:53.140 like we said, and yes, he is traveling to the holy land to get a first-hand account on just that part
00:11:58.160 of the world that's just got so much, so much terrible stuff going on. And of course, we're
00:12:02.820 writing and covering stuff, as you said, with Jen and others domestically as well. We are a news
00:12:08.800 organization. Those stories are coming out fast, hard, and heavy. And the reason we can is because
00:12:13.080 you guys have subscribed. So just that reminder, thank you very much to those who have subscribed
00:12:18.340 already. And if you haven't yet, 10 bucks a month, guys, $100 for a year, just like an old
00:12:23.240 newspaper subscription gets you past the paywall funds, things like this newsroom, this show,
00:12:28.760 and our reporters all across the country. So we can cover these things. It's going to be
00:12:32.200 interesting listening to Derek speaking to Premier Smith. I really don't know what the
00:12:36.640 questions are going to be on that one. But you know, a good one on one with the Premier for a
00:12:43.380 little while. That's the thing with independent media. We'll ask questions that the legacy media
00:12:49.500 won't. We aren't as constrained as them. And that's what's important about what we do.
00:12:55.480 So I see some of the comments. Cindy saying, save the ostriches. They're scheduled for a
00:13:02.200 cull in the next four days. Yeah, I don't know if you've seen that. The Western Standard has
00:13:04.700 had a story on that and been covering it. There's an ostrich farm in BC. It's run out of appeals.
00:13:10.900 There's fears of, I think it's the bird flu or something like that.
00:13:14.580 And they're going to kill 400 of these ostriches on there, even though they are healthy. 1.00
00:13:20.440 The over-management of our agricultural area, you know, it's just one of so many areas where Canada just unfortunately doesn't serve consumers or businesses very well at all.
00:13:34.520 I mean, going farther, you know, some of these discussions, if we're going to be efficient, if we're going to do better for ourselves, I'm hoping, I'm hoping.
00:13:44.000 I mean, I don't hold high hopes with the Liberal government.
00:13:48.420 You still hope for the best.
00:13:50.160 And one of the areas that they've talked about through the election but didn't have the courage to outright say, but when they talked about removing interprovincial boundaries to trade, you know, cabinet members and Carney himself are saying that still right now.
00:14:02.720 Well, one of the big ones, and when it comes to agriculture, which is huge, is Canada's supply management system. Are we finally going to get to the point where we can get rid of that Soviet style management of our dairy and poultry and egg industries?
00:14:18.640 We had that in Alberta too. There was a man who's been charged, I guess, for selling eggs,
00:14:22.900 the crime of selling eggs. You know, we got so many other issues that are so important,
00:14:28.080 but they actually sent a number of RCMP officers to this man's farm because he, in Canada, it is
00:14:33.980 in Alberta, illegal to have more than 300 chickens and to try to sell eggs. Apparently he had access
00:14:40.100 to a thousand of them. What a monster. Could you imagine if people were just able to sell eggs and
00:14:45.920 raise chickens whenever they pleased. Oh, the chaos and disorder. I'm glad we have the state
00:14:50.200 here to protect us from ourselves. Well, by the way, it's a bizarre world. Let's just talk a bit
00:14:56.260 about then we're going to bring in my guest and talk about trying to bring some rationality into
00:15:00.240 a strange and irrational thing. And that's the US 51 thing. We've got Jason Clemens from the
00:15:05.120 Fraser Institute to talk to us. I read a recent piece on the America 51 thing and I just unplugged
00:15:11.040 my earpiece. Pardon me, Jason. I got you again. So thank you very much for joining us today.
00:15:18.780 My pleasure.
00:15:20.260 So we recently saw one of the first things Prime Minister Carney did was went down and met with
00:15:25.760 President Trump. I think a challenging task for anybody to try and do. It doesn't matter who you
00:15:30.260 are. You don't know what you're dealing with. And the America 51 thing, I mean, it didn't dominate
00:15:36.060 the talk but trump couldn't help but talk a little more about it and what i appreciate is you guys
00:15:41.660 you wrote at least just to give uh a rational breakdown on what this this whole concept means
00:15:47.740 and how realistic it is could you kind of lay out what you guys wrote on that sure sure so we really
00:15:53.980 tried to take two angles um there's probably 40 angles of what's wrong with president trump's
00:16:01.340 comments but we tried to attack two of them so the first one is just the crass politics which is
00:16:09.500 the republican party of which president trump is the leader would never ever allow canada to become
00:16:16.380 the 51st state because it would provide a distinct advantage to the democratic party
00:16:23.500 so what we mean by that is if you look at the congressional seats that canada would get or the
00:16:29.260 two senate seats or the electoral votes that we would get in the presidential election
00:16:35.820 in all three of those cases it would hand the democrats an advantage over the republican party
00:16:41.420 and so just in kind of basic terms you'd have to divide canada into at least four states
00:16:50.460 to gerrymander a system where it would be a wash in other words where the republicans
00:16:57.100 and the democrats would look at canada joining the united states as a political wash not
00:17:03.980 advantaging one party over the other so just in that kind of crass basic political vein the the
00:17:11.660 president excuse my phrasing he's just out to lunch that his own party would never allow this
00:17:18.780 the second thing we try to do is actually look at some policy areas where the president keeps
00:17:24.780 saying that the u.s has an advantage over canada and he on every one of those fronts he's just
00:17:31.740 fundamentally wrong so one of the areas we looked at in the piece was federal taxation
00:17:39.260 the president is wholly misunderstanding that the united states's tax advantage over canada
00:17:47.260 is largely at the state versus provincial level if you look at a number of taxes canada
00:17:54.780 versus United States at the federal level, we are actually fairly competitive. It's at the
00:18:00.160 provincial level where we're just not competitive with the US states. Now, part of that is because
00:18:05.560 their federal government is much larger than our federal government and our provinces are
00:18:09.400 generally larger than their states. But the idea that Canada joining the US and getting their
00:18:16.760 federal tax rates and keeping our provincial tax rates, we would actually be less tax competitive
00:18:22.680 than we are right now. So again, the president is just mistaken. And then there's about three
00:18:28.300 or four other areas where Canada does have a distinct advantage right now. And joining the
00:18:34.140 states would not be advantageous. Now, there are some other areas where there would be advantages.
00:18:38.880 And so having a discussion about a customs union or freer trade between the two countries, I think
00:18:44.100 those are definitely avenues to pursue and discuss. But the president's continued disrespecting of
00:18:53.220 Canada as a sovereign nation doesn't help have those conversations or set us up for a fulsome
00:18:59.080 discussion of how to improve free trade between the two countries. And again, going back to our
00:19:04.160 first point, his own party would never allow Canada as the 51st state. And well, I guess,
00:19:10.280 as you said in the crass political end of it i mean the democrats would see an advantage then
00:19:15.740 if there was a bunch but i couldn't see an appetite on the democrat party if they had a
00:19:20.440 president coming in that they would want to jump in and try and annex canada or have canada join
00:19:24.880 uh so i mean this really is a non-starter of a discussion in a way no absolutely in fact if if
00:19:31.620 if it was a democratic president with control of the house and the senate i can guarantee you that
00:19:37.900 the republicans in the senate would filibuster to hold up canada becoming the 51st state because
00:19:44.980 again it would hand a decisive electoral advantage to the democratic party particularly when it comes
00:19:51.800 to the house of representatives and then the presidential race because canada as one state
00:19:58.180 would be the second largest state behind only california so it would get a reasonable amount
00:20:04.780 of congressional seats and a fairly large electoral college vote for the president, both of which
00:20:11.520 would favor the Democratic Party, which again, just in terms of crass politics, the Republicans
00:20:16.500 would never allow. So I'm going to ask you the impossible question I have to. What do you think
00:20:22.520 the motivation of President Trump is in constantly picking at this? I mean, he's a bizarre man, but
00:20:29.400 he's not completely foolish necessarily i think there's some sort of tactic behind this uh i am 0.92
00:20:37.160 not nearly smart enough to psychoanalyze uh president trump uh i i think that there's a
00:20:43.840 wonderful book by hr mcmaster uh who's now down at the stanford's hoover institution
00:20:48.780 he was president trump's national security advisor in the first term um and he really does
00:20:55.440 lay out the chaotic nature of the White House and President Trump. I think the generous way
00:21:04.420 to explain it is that he's not disciplined. The president is just not disciplined in his
00:21:08.840 communication, which oftentimes leads to chaos. I mean, one only needs to look at how the tariff
00:21:16.660 regime has been rolled out, paused, rolled out, paused, reversed, rolled out. I mean,
00:21:23.680 And the word chaos, I think, is quite reflective of the way the president has approached this, the issue of tariffs.
00:21:31.620 So, again, I think, one, that the president oftentimes makes general comments.
00:21:39.640 And when you dig into the specifics, he's actually quite wrong.
00:21:43.520 So I think you have this combination of an undisciplined communicator, perhaps an undisciplined thinker.
00:21:49.860 He's certainly smart and accomplished.
00:21:51.500 There's no doubt about that.
00:21:52.560 But that doesn't mean that he's disciplined in the way that he thinks and the way that he works through decisions.
00:21:58.860 And I think maybe the third thing is he has a fairly brash personality.
00:22:03.960 And I don't think he has reflected, in fact, I'm convinced that he has not reflected on the fact that the way that he has treated Canada breaks more than 100 years of tradition in terms of the close, very unique relationship of Canada and the United States.
00:22:23.360 We did a piece documenting presidential speeches about Canada. And what you see consistently is the Americans referring to us as special partners with the United States that were more than neighbors, the uniqueness of that relationship.
00:22:41.760 And, you know, in less than three months, President Trump has has really historically undermined that that very special relationship.
00:22:51.500 So I think his brashness in this case has has amplified the problems.
00:22:57.180 But beyond that, we're I think we're getting into some psychoanalysis where I don't have comparative advantage to use the to use the economic term.
00:23:06.820 No, I understand. When you're talking about somebody is difficult to analyze, no matter how you look at it. I mean, wherever somebody sits, though, I would hope, I guess, the election's over, whatever you may think of, Carney or Trump. I mean, just for the sake of pragmatism, Trump has, I guess, maybe political Tourette's syndrome. He just opens his mouth and whatever's going to come out is going to come out. But he does seem, maybe I'm reading into it, but a little more subdued, maybe a little more receptive.
00:23:33.600 I mean, as you said, it's a very important relationship for both countries.
00:23:36.860 I'm sure people have quietly been trying to get President Trump to understand this.
00:23:41.140 Do you think there's a chance that a good dialogue can return between the two nations?
00:23:47.380 All I can convey, I think, is what's being reported in places like the Wall Street Journal and others,
00:23:53.280 where there seems to be a real contest of ideas within the White House between one camp,
00:23:59.860 which would be largely headed by the Treasury Secretary, Mr. Bessent, who, I mean, if you're
00:24:07.600 following the news, I mean, he has been at the lead of trying to ratchet down the tension with
00:24:12.900 China. He's at the lead of getting the tariffs lowered and suspended with China. He is certainly
00:24:19.060 at the, he was certainly, pardon me, at the forefront of the 90-day pause. There's a second
00:24:24.360 camp, though, with people like Peter Navarro, who's an advisor to the president, who
00:24:28.660 has some very bizarre frankly bizarre views of trade um the commerce secretary is in that camp
00:24:36.460 where they really do think about trade as someone has to win and someone has to lose which
00:24:41.860 just done scratching the surface is not about i mean trade is about two parties winning that
00:24:48.160 you're both made better off because you've traded something so um i think for most of us we're
00:24:53.420 we're cheering quietly for the the the secretary of the treasury percent um for him to be victorious
00:25:01.100 which it looks like he is gaining more and more momentum and and influence within the
00:25:05.740 white house and certainly it looks like they're backing down um i think the rally in both the
00:25:11.180 bond market and the equity market is saying there's an expectation that that's the direction
00:25:15.580 the u.s is going to move uh in terms of ratcheting down the tariffs and moving towards more free
00:25:21.740 trade agreements. Now, I think the one hiccup here, and it was interesting, President Trump's
00:25:26.720 reaction to the agreement with the UK. There is no agreement. It's a framework to get to an
00:25:32.660 agreement. And these things take months at best, if not years. And so, you know, President Trump's
00:25:40.100 idea that we're going to get a great trade deal in the next six to eight weeks. I think the best
00:25:45.200 we can hope for is we get a good trade framework. And we get some recognition, I think, particularly
00:25:51.720 in sectors like the auto sector, where there's such a high level of integration that the idea
00:25:57.100 of 25% tariffs just makes no sense. And then secondly, the United States needs our natural
00:26:03.700 resources. The idea that, and what he said to, to Prime Minister Carney, that they don't need
00:26:08.520 our natural resources. Again, it's, it just, it was added to a very long list of mistakes the
00:26:14.380 president has made. Well, and I would think, I mean, as this kind of trickles down and hits the
00:26:19.640 pocketbooks of President Trump's supporters. I mean, the realities of agricultural producers
00:26:25.100 dependent on potash trade coming down to the United States or the energy products that we
00:26:30.680 trade back and forth. I mean, people's minds change, you know, your ideology gets set aside
00:26:36.400 when you suddenly realize you have less money than you had to begin with. So I guess we just
00:26:40.380 hope that President Trump could react positively to that and realize that, boy, okay, we can,
00:26:45.680 you know, he can claim that he's doing it for the right reasons or whatever he likes,
00:26:49.040 as long as he starts getting rational hopefully on the trade agreements no i think it's a great
00:26:53.680 insight i mean part of this if if we think about the lag between when you change policy and when
00:26:59.840 it actually shows up in the economy um depending on the nature of the policy it's anywhere between
00:27:05.200 six to 12 months roughly um and so if if we think about that the president is facing a midterm
00:27:13.040 election uh next november um he really does not have all that much time uh particularly you know
00:27:21.520 you look at some of the data coming out of the united states that their economy clearly is
00:27:24.800 slowing the global economy is slowing uh the president's party will be in trouble if they're
00:27:30.480 in a recession come the beginning of next year and so getting trade resolved getting certainty
00:27:37.680 improved in other words reducing uncertainty so that businesses and entrepreneurs can make
00:27:43.600 decisions about investment and expanding their business or starting a new business
00:27:47.760 getting those that uncertainty down by resolving the tariff situation needs to be done expeditiously
00:27:54.640 otherwise this is going to drag the economic consequences of the uncertainty and the policy
00:28:00.160 mistakes is going to drag well into 2026 which then again will influence the midterm elections
00:28:06.400 And President Trump will be in a very different position in terms of his presidency and what he can do if his party, the Republican Party, loses the Senate and or the House of Representatives and the Congress.
00:28:19.600 Well, I appreciate you guys, you know, just bring it up just to add a voice of reason to kind of a weird, unreasonable time.
00:28:25.440 And the Fraser Institute's had a long and fantastic history of providing us with a lot of great information on issues and things.
00:28:31.720 So before I let you go, where can people find your work and how can they support the Fraser Institute?
00:28:38.040 It's FraserInstitute.org.
00:28:40.120 And we're always looking for donations and supporters to help us do the work that we do independently.
00:28:46.700 So I appreciate the plug.
00:28:48.660 The website's the best place to get our work.
00:28:51.160 And there's a link on there if you want to donate and help us out.
00:28:54.280 Thank you.
00:28:55.120 Oh, thank you.
00:28:55.720 I had to give you a plug at least. 0.88
00:28:57.140 I use you as a resource for my columns all the time.
00:29:00.100 You guys are fantastic.
00:29:01.340 All right. Well, thank you very much again for joining me today, Jason. And I hope we get to
00:29:05.180 talk again sometime soon. Thank you. Appreciate it. Great. Thanks. So that was again, Jason
00:29:10.100 Clemens with the Fraser Institute. And again, a good voice of reason, voice, and they've long
00:29:15.740 been one voice of free markets, trade, healthcare. We've got such a bombastic period. I mean,
00:29:23.260 whether you like Trump, you don't like Trump. His nature is just the bull in the China shop,
00:29:28.480 and it's not going to change, but hopefully we can just try to add reason to it whenever and
00:29:33.420 however we can. As I said, I'm not terribly optimistic about Carney, but I hope for the
00:29:40.100 best, at least for the short term. I mean, independence is the direction I tend to point,
00:29:44.360 but in the meantime, it could be years and years away yet. And I just want as good a policy as we
00:29:50.280 can have for the West and for Canada. I don't have a problem with Canada. I just want to change the
00:29:55.000 agreement in the borders. That's all simple, right? Well, not so simple, but I have those
00:30:00.720 discussions. I thought the tone was different between Carney and Trump in that meeting.
00:30:06.140 A lot of people pointed out it sure was a more subdued Carney. I mean, he did his all campaign
00:30:11.340 on the big bizarre elbows up weirdness where they were doing the chicken dance and lineups.
00:30:15.080 They seemed to work for them though. One of the best things you can always campaign on politically,
00:30:20.140 we're going to talk about crass politics again, is an external threat. So Carney and his campaign
00:30:27.200 strategists, they recognized and identified what they felt was an external threat and something
00:30:33.420 that felt like a threat to Canadians and they capitalized on it. Then they framed themselves
00:30:37.680 as the defenders against that. And people lost concern over a lot of the domestic issues or
00:30:43.740 forgot at least what was going on because they were too worried about what was going on there.
00:30:48.380 I see a Kenzie Kraken, a commenter, saying, you know, Canadians took it far too seriously.
00:30:52.560 Well, you see, there's what I'm talking about, the consequences, though.
00:30:54.520 When you've got the leader of your largest ally, largest trade partner, you know, typically close, close friend, integrated countries, being so belittling, even when I know it was Trudeau, I didn't like him either, but refusing to offer the degree of respect that there's a leader of a sovereign nation next door.
00:31:16.460 and then into the election when you do that 51st state talk, and as we discussed, it's just not
00:31:21.020 going to happen. So it's not there. It shook up the populace and it got people upset. It got people
00:31:28.000 who were indifferent to things suddenly putting, linking this elbows up idea. So as much as people
00:31:34.340 took it too seriously or not, they did take it seriously and it had an impact on our election
00:31:38.040 very directly. Now we've got the whole same gang of clowns back in overspending, saying it's deeper 0.85
00:31:44.400 into debt. They might even actually turn this into a majority. As J.R. Michael saying a commenter, 0.94
00:31:49.100 you know, create a crisis. And it's true. We've seen that historically. I mean, thankfully, I
00:31:53.520 guess, you know, some of the past crisis with bigger countries, the way they save their butts
00:31:56.820 is to start a war, you know, a literal war. We haven't gotten into that, thankfully, because our
00:32:02.680 military is not up to snuff. You know, it's another one of those discussions. There's something
00:32:09.660 I don't get out of Kearney. With Canada in general, if you don't like Trump, you don't
00:32:16.300 like him making points. Well, let's get some of the ones where he's right, because he is right
00:32:19.340 on some things. As I was saying before, we brought Jason on. Supply management. Canada's policies are
00:32:25.000 a terrible, terrible policy, and they are an affront to trade. And they're a problem with us
00:32:31.020 getting trade deals with countries all over the world, not just the United States. And the other
00:32:34.100 one is our military contribution. I mean, if we're going to be a part of NATO, I mean, people say we
00:32:40.360 shouldn't be a part, fine, but either way, we don't spend enough. We committed, we said we're
00:32:45.380 going to spend 2% of our GDP on a military to be a part of that organization. We're at like something
00:32:50.560 like 1.3, and it's terrible. We've got outdated, outmoded equipment. We've got a military overload
00:32:56.880 with DEI clowns, a very dysfunctional military, maybe some good people within it, but they're
00:33:03.060 struggling and we're certainly not holding up our end on things. And Trump is right when he says
00:33:07.280 that they are the ones serving as the military for Canada, because they have been. It's not Canada's 0.73
00:33:12.400 military that keeps us from being invaded by Russia or China or Guatemala, for crying out loud.
00:33:18.520 There's no country we can defend ourselves against, not with our military, not with our antiquated
00:33:23.180 mess. So why can't? I mean, Carney can increase spending all over the place, masses of increased
00:33:29.180 spending but won't commit to reaching two percent on defense until 2030 with a stroke of a pen he'll
00:33:37.420 spend billions on every other bunch of crap but not on the military that's you wonder why it 0.90
00:33:43.740 what's threatening the sovereignty of this country it's not trump and his babbling it's the liberals 0.98
00:33:48.940 and driving this nation to the ground that's why again i don't think we can save canada but we can
00:33:53.500 save the west side of it let's look at some of those things right honda this has been the big
00:33:58.140 news thing because billions and billions of dollars they're supposed to be building electric
00:34:03.260 vehicles here in ontario oh ford's upset you can tell he jiggles a certain way yes premier ford
00:34:10.780 all mad because they went and promised billions in subsidies him arm in arm with trudeau holding
00:34:15.980 hands saying honda please take the tax dollars of the west and we'll give them to you so you can
00:34:20.860 build electric vehicles and they did and they took it and then they said you know we're not
00:34:24.220 not going to do that. It looks like Volkswagen's doing the same. Why? Because EV vehicles are
00:34:29.600 crap. People don't want them. It's not, they've been telling us there's a market for these things 0.99
00:34:35.720 for over 10 years. It hasn't developed. The closest thing we've got to a market for them,
00:34:40.380 ironically, are Teslas. And you go out in the streets and you see there's still,
00:34:45.320 what, 4% of the vehicles, 5% are electric. It's not there. It might come one day,
00:34:50.460 but it's not there yet. And this shows some of the train wreck that we're heading towards with
00:34:57.420 the current government because they haven't backed down on illegalizing the sale of regular vehicles
00:35:03.920 by 2035. They're going to make it illegal to go out and buy a brand new car. You know how much
00:35:09.460 that's screwing up our whole manufacturing and supply chain setup? And why? Because, oh, magically,
00:35:16.700 we're all going to be driving electric vehicles by then. Here we are with battery plant after
00:35:21.380 EV plant after electric bus plant failing. Here we are with energy projects being bunged up in
00:35:28.600 regulation and consultation and environmental crap. So we can't get those done. We're getting
00:35:35.720 into a terrible, impossible situation. Even if somehow, somehow they came up with a magical
00:35:42.940 electrical vehicle uh manufacturer and they switched us all into those evs and then they
00:35:49.340 spent 20 000 a house among tens and tens of millions of people to upgrade their charging
00:35:54.300 systems in their houses so they could charge those vehicles our power grid would collapse 0.89
00:36:00.460 we don't have nearly the generating capacity to keep up with the pipe dreams of these electric
00:36:05.500 vehicles it is so unrealistic on so many fronts but they won't back down on it and you want to
00:36:10.620 to know why wild rose just hit it in the comments there kickbacks and backroom deals it's the only 1.00
00:36:15.460 thing that makes sense anymore when you're one of the ones who's tied in with one of the suppliers
00:36:19.660 when you're one of the ones who sits in the middle and grabs your pound of flesh as that subsidy goes 0.98
00:36:23.540 from your pocket to some other clown's pocket on one of these plants we're getting screwed people 0.94
00:36:29.780 and uh it's not going to get any better until you know we're going to change the system it's 0.92
00:36:37.020 the system that's broken. That's the problem. But either way, I mean, look at the things we've got
00:36:43.940 to look forward to. Here's another one, cricket farms, right? That's a beauty. Yeah, millions of
00:36:48.760 dollars. Again, we're talking about subsidies. Went into, Trudeau gave that out to a cricket
00:36:54.140 farm in Ontario for human consumption. Yes, because that's going to be the future world.
00:36:58.840 We were all going to eat crickets. We're going to eat bugs. That's the future. So let's take
00:37:04.440 millions of dollars from productive people, from productive industries, from productive businesses,
00:37:08.960 and stick it in a cricket farm. Guess what? They went broke. Why? Because nobody wants to eat the 0.80
00:37:13.380 frigging crickets. But somebody took millions of dollars, didn't they? It's a racket. We're 0.79
00:37:18.300 getting badly treated out of this whole thing. So now there's that. Now let's go on to the other
00:37:23.720 areas that are messing with us. We're looking into another year of this strike. Speaking of
00:37:27.980 entitlement and stupidity, Canada postal workers are saying they're going to go on strike again. 1.00
00:37:32.460 they held us all hostage just last winter as we were approaching Christmas, went on strike for 1.00
00:37:39.920 over a month. And what they're fighting against was automation, fighting against ending of home
00:37:44.760 delivery. This, what we've got is a government version of blockbuster video holding us hostage.
00:37:51.300 Guys, they're obsolete. And they're going on strike again. This has got to be the dumbest
00:37:57.200 union on the planet. After these idiots went on their last strike. I mean, you got to think about 1.00
00:38:01.540 if you're a postal worker, you're doing pretty good. You're doing the job of a flyer delivery
00:38:05.240 kid. You're making a middle-class income with full benefits, a good pension, good vacation time.
00:38:11.440 And yes, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel is going black because they're working
00:38:15.620 in an obsolete industry. They should be trying to transition themselves to get realistic about it,
00:38:19.540 but instead they want to grab more money and go on strike and somehow think we can maintain
00:38:23.920 this obsolete industry. You don't mail letters anymore. We don't get bills in the mail anymore.
00:38:28.520 we get flyers and junk. The growing area, our packages in the private market is eating that
00:38:33.400 because Canada Post screwed it up. After their last strike, the government had to bail them out
00:38:38.200 over a billion frigging dollars, and they're still losing billions on top of that. So the government
00:38:42.600 will keep bailing them out because they like to claim, oh, look at the mandate of Canada Post.
00:38:45.720 It's an independent crown corporation. It's self-funding. It's not. It's losing billions.
00:38:49.560 And we as taxpayers end up having to bail it out. And now they're threatening to strike again.
00:38:55.080 Those idiots. They're idiots. But I guess, again, if they were brilliant, they wouldn't be postal 1.00
00:38:59.340 monkeys, would they? It's time this time, guys. If they go on strike, cut this down. One day a week
00:39:06.320 delivery. No more home delivery. Lay off 80% of these clowns. They're ripping us off. I'm sorry,
00:39:12.840 guys. You had a good gig. You ran it as long as you could. And then when the end came close,
00:39:18.060 you got too greedy. Now you're just going to end up out of a job. And it's your fault.
00:39:23.880 and the union's fault. Because you listen to those hammerheads who are heading the unions
00:39:29.240 pushing and pushing and pushing for you to go after what isn't reasonable.
00:39:34.760 Likewise, we got the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. They just had a big strike vote.
00:39:39.260 Yeah, civil service. Here we are with the economy slowing down. You want to know what they want?
00:39:43.860 They've already been offered 11%. They want 24% raises. 24% for these civil service workers
00:39:52.840 in Alberta. Who's getting a 24% raise? But they're going to go on strike and you know what? They'll
00:39:58.300 get it because they hold us hostage. We've made ourselves, this is the problem when we make
00:40:03.620 ourselves dependent on government to provide services because then you give a monopoly to
00:40:09.640 these civil service unions and then they gouge us and charge us far, far more than what they're worth
00:40:14.660 and they get away with it. In Alberta as well, the teachers are talking about going on strike again
00:40:19.520 too. Oh, those poor dears. Oh, darlings. Let's see, teacher. What are they capping out now?
00:40:25.100 $115,000 a year, plus a few months off, plus full benefits. Fantastic pension.
00:40:33.320 And you're looking to go on strike again. Talk about spoiled. I mean, you got to remember a lot
00:40:39.360 of teachers, they didn't go into it because they love teaching. They went into it because they got
00:40:43.460 a degree in gender studies or African poetry or something stupid and unmarketable. And eventually 0.99
00:40:49.640 they got tired of making happy faces and lattes at Starbucks, upgraded, got a teacher certificate
00:40:54.660 because they wanted a good pension and a job, but it didn't mean they loved the children and loved
00:40:57.740 the job. And it's not an easy job. It's a difficult job. And it's a very, very important job.
00:41:03.820 Some of the teachers out there are probably worth 200,000 a year, but a whole lot of them are just
00:41:08.540 mailing it in to get a good pension and have their summers off. And now they're striking too.
00:41:12.900 They're holding your kids hostage. We got to break these monopolies. The unions are raping us,
00:41:20.100 guys. They are bleeding you dry. And the only way, like anything else, to solve this, because 1.00
00:41:26.420 organized labor is a right, and it should be, but there's got to be competition. Giving monopoly 0.97
00:41:32.020 services, then you're always going to get it, whether it's a private monopoly or a government
00:41:35.480 monopoly. So yes, we're looking now at postal workers, provincial civil servants, and teachers
00:41:42.280 are all talking about striking too. Last year it was the federal civil servants because we needed
00:41:46.760 more CRA people to get on the phone and talk in unintelligible English to tell you why they've 0.99
00:41:52.680 screwed up your tax return for the 15th time. We got a bleak, bleak thing to look ahead to.
00:42:01.960 Somebody's saying, can a sovereign country of Alberta outlaw unions asking for a friend? Well,
00:42:05.320 I hope not. As I said, organized laborers are right. I don't want to see the unions outlawed,
00:42:09.640 but they have to be held in check. Banning replacement workers, for example, that's what
00:42:13.320 empowers them. That's one of the reasons we've had all these federal strikes, because Justin Trudeau
00:42:17.080 tried to buy union love and NDP love, which kind of works, I guess, the NDP supported the liberals
00:42:21.880 in this election, but by bringing legislation banning replacement workers in federally regulated
00:42:26.280 industries. So you gave all the power to the unions, all of it, and left the companies,
00:42:31.960 even these are private companies, but they're in federally regulated industries, but they're
00:42:37.880 they're defenseless. The union can hold them completely hostage. As long as they got enough
00:42:42.360 savings, they can shut the business down, make it illegal for that business to operate until
00:42:45.620 the business caves to whatever the union maggots are asking for. Chances are the business will
00:42:49.520 just close and go broke. Good deal. But you know, we've got a lot to look forward to. I mean,
00:42:58.420 WestJet, there's that other one. That's an interesting one. Dave mentioned that in the
00:43:01.400 news update. So a Calgary employee got fired for refusing the COVID vaccine. See, again,
00:43:06.500 I'm not on any vaccination, but I am pro-choice. Forcing somebody to take a medication is wrong
00:43:13.200 under any circumstance. And the judges are starting to agree. We can see a lot of lawsuits
00:43:17.880 now coming. So this person got fired. This was a person who got 65,000. I mean, this is years
00:43:24.320 later. I'm sure that's not worth it. They'd rather have just stayed employed. And this is an
00:43:27.940 accountant and she was working from home. Why were you forcing vaccination on somebody who's working 0.89
00:43:33.620 from home anyway. This is a matter of control. This is a matter of overreaching HR and government
00:43:40.960 policies, just trying to control every aspect of your life to force somebody to take a medication
00:43:44.860 they didn't want to take when they're absolutely not putting anybody at risk by not having that
00:43:49.780 vaccination. And now the courts are starting to turn around. We can see quite a flood of this
00:43:55.140 because there were a lot of military members who lost their positions. There were all sorts of
00:43:59.560 government workers and private market workers who lost their jobs because they didn't want to get
00:44:03.460 vaccinated make the case against them but it's their bloody choice especially when it came to 1.00
00:44:08.200 COVID because it didn't prevent transmission so it didn't make a difference you couldn't make that
00:44:12.940 case you're putting me more at risk because you didn't get vaccinated no it's not like measles
00:44:15.520 or polio or some of the others the COVID jab didn't stop transmission so you didn't have that
00:44:21.200 case to make but we got to keep working on these things folks finally that last one which is kind
00:44:27.260 of bizarre and we kind of people kind of laugh at it but you know but it's not funny Dave was
00:44:31.660 talking about that teacher it sounds like in bc who was sleeping with a whole pile of the male
00:44:34.940 students and you look at the picture she's not a bad looking woman and i gotta you know every guy 0.97
00:44:38.820 remembers being 15 16 years old and you're a hormone overloading lunatic and if any decent 0.69
00:44:44.640 looking woman allows you to at that point you're more than happy to jump on but you know you give 1.00
00:44:50.600 the nod and the wink to the boys and and then you would scream bloody murder if it was a male teacher
00:44:54.900 with girls look guys it's wrong both times and if you want to create a bunch of confused 1.00
00:45:01.120 dysfunctional young men you know we allow that sort of thing where a person in a position of
00:45:07.220 power and authority which is a teacher to bed them even if they felt they were willing or that
00:45:12.460 it was a good idea at the time so I hope if indeed that's what was going on over there that she faces
00:45:16.660 some very very serious charges because they this is a serious incident and we got to watch when we
00:45:21.820 nod and wink at some things that sound like you know it's funny but in reality it's causing very
00:45:26.880 real damage. We entrust teachers, you know, we entrust them with our kids and they shouldn't
00:45:32.340 be doing anything like that with them. All right. So as was said earlier, yes, in a little bit,
00:45:38.040 Derek is going to be interviewing Premier Smith. I don't know what they're going to talk about.
00:45:42.600 It's going to be an interesting interview nonetheless, I'm certain. And it will be posted
00:45:47.060 online as soon as the editing and such can be done. So I don't know, within the next couple
00:45:51.060 or a few hours, I believe. So thank you all for tuning in today, guys. I'll be back on Friday at
00:45:55.820 11 a.m. Tonight the pipeline will be on and of course watch all our channels for that exclusive
00:46:00.240 interview with Premier Danielle Smith here at the Western Standard. Thanks again and we will
00:46:05.440 see you on the next one.
00:46:25.820 We'll be right back.