Western Standard - It’s time the West stepped up and helped guide Quebec out the confederation door

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 good day welcome to the cory morgan show spring it's almost here it's almost here

00:00:59.200 I start these with just the weather small talk while you guys get on board and get ready for a bunch of ranting, raving guests and all that good stuff.

00:01:07.580 And yeah, Calgary's covered in snow again.

00:01:09.240 I almost froze to death in yesterday's global warming, but it's supposed to get nice in another week.

00:01:13.020 And we'll have another snowstorm for at least a long weekend to look forward to.

00:01:16.520 Eventually, though, we're going to be out of winter.

00:01:18.320 I've just never learned to like winter.

00:01:20.280 All right, let's get on to some more stuff.

00:01:21.900 Yes, this is my weekly rant show, and it's live for those who are on live.

00:01:26.140 Anyways, use that comment scroll.

00:01:27.360 I see Doug Jordan, ShaunaVision, all saying hello, checking in.

00:01:31.300 Use that.

00:01:31.740 Get those comments in there.

00:01:32.820 Send things my way.

00:01:34.060 I appreciate it.

00:01:35.100 It lets me know you're there, gives me ideas, keeps things flowing.

00:01:37.840 I don't necessarily read them all out.

00:01:39.580 Just stay civil with each other if you're going to have some discourse between each other.

00:01:44.080 I got later in a bit here, going to have retired paramedic Don Sharp on the show.

00:01:48.040 He's been on before, and he's been like a dog with a bone on health care reform, particularly

00:01:52.540 when it comes to the paramedical services in Alberta.

00:01:55.340 And it's interesting.

00:01:55.900 He's watching the bureaucracy fighting so hard against Premier Smith and against people like Don to avoid and just stop any productive change from coming.

00:02:05.400 It's a real micro version of what the bigger monster is with health care reform that we need to do.

00:02:12.120 And Don's always great to talk to on those subjects.

00:02:14.260 He gets out on the ground and just gets on their case.

00:02:17.280 So let me talk about something that's a little less divisive right now.

00:02:21.300 Let's talk about Quebec separatism.

00:02:22.700 Yes, it's coming up again.

00:02:24.600 it's been in the news. And the independence movement in Quebec, I mean, it's never been gone.

00:02:29.640 It's only been slumbering. And the secessionists within the Bloc Québécois and Parti Québécois,

00:02:34.800 they've just been biding their time and working to create the conditions for a successful

00:02:38.440 independence referendum since 1995. And you look at the other parties within Quebec, whether they're

00:02:43.760 liberal or whatever they might be, ADQ, soft separatists within other parties in Quebec have

00:02:47.900 been doing the same thing. They've been building the conditions for a successful referendum.

00:02:51.600 them. The separatist movement in Quebec, it's real. And the supporters of it truly want to go.

00:02:56.040 And I know I've talked to lots of people, many in the West, to dismiss the movement saying

00:02:59.540 Quebecers don't really want to go. They think Quebec separatists just want to use the threat

00:03:03.780 of secession to squeeze more concessions from Canada. And I'm sure a few are of that sort.

00:03:08.900 And while politicians in Quebec certainly shamelessly use the threat of secession for

00:03:13.080 Quebec's benefit, you're making a really grave error if you think that threat isn't real.

00:03:17.780 I mean, I had the opportunity to meet with some Bloc Québécois members back in the late 90s

00:03:21.620 when I was leading the Alberta Independence Party at that time,

00:03:24.000 and it didn't take long talking to them to realize,

00:03:26.360 no, they really want a fully independent French-speaking nation, and nothing less.

00:03:30.560 They don't care about the fiscal costs or the challenges in leaving the federation they just want out.

00:03:36.100 Now, the Parti Québécois is poised to win a majority in the next provincial election in Quebec.

00:03:40.740 The third-place party in the polls is Quebec Solidaires, which is also a separatist party.

00:03:45.560 So, I mean, more than half of Quebecers support one separatist party or another.

00:03:51.040 Parti-Quebec law leader Paul St-Pierre Plamendon has now promised another referendum on independence will be held if his party takes power.

00:03:58.780 If there's one thing that the separatists of Quebec learned in 1995 is that they can't pull the trigger on another referendum until they're confident they're going to win it.

00:04:06.480 A referendum loss sets back independence efforts by decades, even if it's on a narrow loss like last time.

00:04:11.880 Some Western independent supporters pushing for a referendum in the West would be well-served to keep that in mind, too.

00:04:17.120 So, if Plamondon is promising a referendum, it means he's confident that the independent side will win it.

00:04:23.040 After decades of chasing non-French speakers from Quebec through oppressive policies,

00:04:27.040 coupled with antagonizing the rest of Canada to disrupt national unity,

00:04:31.700 Quebec could finally have the winning conditions it sought for an independence referendum.

00:04:35.800 I remember watching the Quebec referendum from afar, of course, as a young Albertan in 1995.

00:04:41.320 Politicians, personalities, and legacy media all worked overtime in begging Quebec not to leave.

00:04:46.040 Delegations crossed the country to wave flags in Quebec and at rallies and let Quebecers know,

00:04:51.420 we didn't want them to go. We love you, Quebec. Stay with us.

00:04:53.900 It was an almost humiliating sort of groveling at the feet of Quebecers. 1.00

00:04:57.800 It was successful, though, as Quebecers chose to stay within Canada with a meager 1% margin.

00:05:03.620 Now, as another Quebec referendum is looming, Canada's in a different place.

00:05:07.940 Legacy media, they don't have that stranglehold on information anymore,

00:05:10.580 and Western provinces aren't as solidly federalist as they used to be.

00:05:14.020 The reaction to another referendum in Quebec can, and should, be much different.

00:05:17.820 The West shouldn't beg Quebec to stay. 0.97

00:05:20.040 We should loudly come out and encourage them to leave.

00:05:23.040 We can't hold a referendum to kick Quebec out of a confederation,

00:05:26.080 but we can certainly show enthusiasm for their departure.

00:05:29.580 Canada's broken. It has been for a long time.

00:05:32.480 The federation's slanted in favor of the Laurentian provinces,

00:05:35.380 and even then, Quebec still wants to leave.

00:05:37.360 The Charlatan and Meech Lake Accords from 30 years ago, they failed to change the Constitution.

00:05:41.720 The only way we can change this system is to tear a province free from it.

00:05:45.540 And Quebec is right now the best poised to do so.

00:05:48.140 If a referendum on independence was to be held in Alberta or Saskatchewan today,

00:05:52.020 the independent side would be lucky to garner 25% support.

00:05:55.100 If the same referendum was held six months after Quebec voted to go, though,

00:05:58.940 I think western provinces would be out the door.

00:06:01.240 Once one province separates, the deal's done.

00:06:03.540 There's little sense in staying within a federation that is no longer figuratively broken, but has become literally broken.

00:06:09.940 Provinces will work to break free and seek their own deals and destinies.

00:06:13.260 This can be a positive evolution for Canada, Quebec, all the West, all of us.

00:06:17.120 It needs to be framed as such.

00:06:18.980 So let's not decry Quebec's efforts at independence.

00:06:21.580 Let's celebrate and support them.

00:06:23.280 Quebec is the linchpin.

00:06:24.760 And once it's pulled, Western independence will be soon to follow. 0.57

00:06:28.020 So yeah, I'm probably going to mispronounce it, but viva le Quebec libre. 0.99

00:06:31.780 Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, guys. 0.98

00:06:34.060 That's what I got to say about Quebec and their independence efforts. 0.99

00:06:38.400 Go for it, guys.

00:06:39.400 I am behind you this time.

00:06:41.080 Actually, I was kind of behind you last time, too.

00:06:42.980 All right, let's see what else is going on out there.

00:06:44.940 We've got Jen Hodgson checking in from the newsroom,

00:06:47.580 telling us what's dominating the stories today.

00:06:49.600 Hey, Jen, how's it going?

00:06:50.700 Hey, Corey, doing pretty good.

00:06:52.040 How are you doing?

00:06:52.860 I'm all right.

00:06:53.660 I'm all right.

00:06:53.980 I smell pizza out there.

00:06:54.960 You guys bring the food in once my show starts.

00:06:56.720 It's kind of cruel.

00:06:57.820 Oh, yeah, I'll try and save you some for when we finish up here.

00:07:00.440 Right.

00:07:01.020 So what do we got dominating the new scroll right now?

00:07:05.960 All right. Well, our top story is the budget that the federal government just introduced yesterday.

00:07:13.100 So Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister, her midterm spending deficits are up 95% with the total spending to be $498 billion.

00:07:25.740 And so there's a number of introductions to this budget, including capital gains taxes are increased to 66.3% for over $250,000. So we see a lot of money being filtered in there.

00:07:42.740 there. We also see taxes on tobacco as well as money going towards immigration. So that means

00:07:51.060 sorry, hospital care for asylum seekers, for asylum holding places, as well as lodging. So

00:07:59.200 we have a lot of money going into sustaining asylum seekers and refugees. And only about

00:08:06.580 $8 million is going towards managing smuggling of goods that are coming through our borders.

00:08:15.620 So a lot going on with the budget. We're still going through some of it.

00:08:19.780 And another one that's hot this week is what's going on with the Canadian

00:08:27.060 Security and Intelligence Services. So we have the CSIS director testifying that China

00:08:34.180 is actually an ongoing problem and CSIS is working relentlessly to deal with Chinese Communist Party

00:08:41.740 infiltration in Canadian institutions. So we saw this through the China inquiry, the Commission

00:08:48.900 on Foreign Interference, where CSIS Director Vigneault testifies that actually he told Prime

00:08:56.180 Minister Justin Trudeau about these warnings and they had documented evidence that this was going

00:09:04.040 on in the elections from 2021 and 2019. However, the prime minister denied that he was ever told

00:09:13.340 this to such an extent that the commission called the CSIS director back to the stand after the

00:09:20.980 commission was supposed to be over, who reaffirmed that he did tell Trudeau this. And actually a lot

00:09:27.700 of this information came out in a late night dump Sunday evening. I think it was the 7th of April

00:09:33.560 after the CSIS director had already testified so we've got a lot of murky water going on there

00:09:39.700 and that's not the only scandal that the Trudeau government is embedded in with CSIS

00:09:46.920 investigating we also have the Winnipeg lab scandal so this is this comment about relentlessly

00:09:56.980 trying to get in the way of Chinese infiltration and Canadian politics is something that the

00:10:04.780 CSIS director is focusing on. And this came out in the wake of the two Chinese spies that were

00:10:11.320 working for the Winnipeg lab. And they have since been fired about a year. They're fired about a

00:10:19.400 year after it was revealed that they were compromised, actually. So we've got a lot going

00:10:25.460 on with our intelligence agency and our federal government. I'm sure our listeners are familiar

00:10:30.860 with the online harms bill that was proposed in recent months. So we have our Governor General,

00:10:38.220 Mary Simon. She hosted a private symposium for people that are in support of this online harms

00:10:46.400 bill. And it's worth noting that the Governor General of Canada is actually expected to be

00:10:53.840 non-partisan, and she calls herself apolitical. We have a comment from Riddle Hall insisting that

00:11:00.460 this is the case, even despite the event that she held over the weekend.

00:11:08.800 We also have our federal environment minister, Stephen Guilbeault. He told the House of Commons

00:11:15.380 this week that he's met many farmers from Alberta to Nova Scotia and everywhere in between, Quebec,

00:11:23.220 and farmers are allegedly more worried about climate change than they are about this carbon

00:11:28.980 tax according to the environment minister who claimed this in the house of commons the other day

00:11:36.020 and to top it all off we have some more information on the great gold heist

00:11:43.540 that went down at the toronto international airport so it turns out that air canada employees have

00:11:49.700 actually been found to be involved in this. We have two present and a former Air Canada employee

00:11:57.280 that has been snagged in relation to this $20 million worth of gold bars, $2.4 million in cash

00:12:05.720 and about a half mil worth in jewelry. That's a good haul if you can get it. So I mean that this

00:12:12.920 budget, I mean they've been saying it's supposed to be fair for all generations. You know Trudeau's

00:12:18.140 borrowing so you don't have to. So you're of kind of a, you know, a younger vintage than I am. Do

00:12:24.740 you feel confident that this budget is going to serve your future? Not confident at all. As far

00:12:30.580 as I can see, it's tax upon tax and debt upon debt. So the government is just trying desperately

00:12:38.820 to fill in the holes that it's made with the gross spending and borrowing more specifically

00:12:46.480 over the last several years and trying to patchwork it in by making up for it in tax.

00:12:54.260 So no, not confident about that. Looking forward to seeing some changes in our federal government

00:12:59.480 very soon. Well, I guess in the meantime, we can count on you to keep shoring things up. We're

00:13:05.120 going to put things on your credit card, you know, my generation will, and leave you guys to cover

00:13:10.420 it. I mean, we just kicked that can down the road. So get ready for those cuts, I guess, when

00:13:16.080 it's time for them to hit. You know, I think CSIS has been going a little wrong with things as well

00:13:21.680 when it comes to Prime Minister Trudeau. I mean, as you said, your stories keep pointing out and

00:13:25.940 you rate them great. Just has been told over and over and over again about all these things. If

00:13:30.960 he denies it, maybe he really doesn't remember. But he said before too, he doesn't read all these

00:13:35.580 things. He doesn't read it. That's right. They've got to treat it right. Bring him a pop-up book,

00:13:39.380 a coloring book. Prime Minister isn't like other ones. You know, you've got to get into a song.

00:13:44.880 on his level show the winnipeg lab and a pop-up book that has a big virus popping out of it

00:13:50.400 maybe even then just maybe then you would understand the significance of it yeah he

00:13:55.300 seems he seems quite laissez-faire about these issues cory and that's highly concerning i think

00:14:01.340 to a lot of canadians just the lack of um really interest or any kind of investment into these

00:14:08.720 issues he's very cavalier about it as if someone else can do the reading and just gives the

00:14:14.860 give the Cole notes version. Well, we know what happens to those students in high school that

00:14:19.280 just reads the Cole's notes versions of the books, right? Well, we'll do what we can anyways. We can't

00:14:25.540 educate the prime minister, but we can educate the public. So thanks for checking in with us today.

00:14:31.680 And I know you've got plenty more to write out there. So we'll talk to you after the show.

00:14:37.020 Yes, it definitely keeps me busy. All right. See you later, Corey.

00:14:41.100 All right. And that's a reporter, Jen Hodgson. That's that time. I like to remind you, as you

00:14:45.420 can see, yes, she, she writes a lot, a lot of great stories out there all the time. The reason

00:14:49.440 we can do that guys is because you've subscribed. This is where I nag. This is where I try to 0.50

00:14:53.060 fill the coffers up, but it's important. This is how we stay independent. This is why we are

00:14:57.020 not tax funded. It's through subscribers. So if you haven't subscribed yet, guys, it's $9.99 a

00:15:03.320 month, a hundred bucks a year. Come on. Well worth it. Just like a newspaper subscription.

00:15:07.680 And if you're subscribed already, I really appreciate it.

00:15:10.380 You know, it's how we keep these things going, how to keep the truth out there.

00:15:14.240 Westernstandard.news slash subscription.

00:15:16.120 You can see it at the bottom of the screen.

00:15:17.720 All right.

00:15:18.720 Getting on to our next guest here.

00:15:19.920 We've got in studio Don Sharp.

00:15:21.940 I said he was going to be coming in.

00:15:24.520 Welcome back, Don.

00:15:25.760 Good to see you again, Corey.

00:15:27.160 Yeah.

00:15:27.600 So, I mean, the subject, I appreciate it because, I mean, it's one facet of health care.

00:15:32.780 Unfortunately, it's a monstrous animal, a huge bureaucracy,

00:15:35.660 see a lot of areas that need to be fixed up. But one that I think a lot of people can relate with

00:15:39.720 EMS. I mean, it's such an important part of the healthcare services in an emergency situation.

00:15:45.780 It's integrated with the whole system. And if we can't fix that, how on earth are we going to fix

00:15:51.640 the giant monster? Right. Well, I'm glad to come in and help keep track of progress or lack thereof,

00:15:58.800 or what's actually happening in this one small area of healthcare. You would think that EMS by

00:16:03.580 itself would be easy to fix but it's so intertwined with the rest of health care now not the way it

00:16:10.960 used to be so we have some real struggles right now that we're dealing with yeah well so we've

00:16:17.400 been talking for a while we have a more receptive premier than we've had for quite some time even

00:16:21.000 premier canning was a bit receptive on some of this like that's our say with the ems there's

00:16:24.460 some good common sense solutions that you know you've been pointing out others have been pointing

00:16:28.020 out we're using a lot of ambulances to transport patients that just don't need to be

00:16:33.300 used in that sense when it should be an emergency use, or they've been draining from

00:16:37.260 rural populations, you know, taking the rural ambulances into the cities and leaving other

00:16:43.080 areas under covered, or again, hallway medical care, you know, paramedics have been used to

00:16:47.780 maintain patients. So we know the simple solutions that a lay person can see, yeah,

00:16:51.860 that doesn't make sense, that's not very good, yet it's like pulling teeth, getting Alberta

00:16:56.340 Health Services to cooperate with changing some of these. And I think you've hit the nail on the

00:17:00.640 head. Daniel Smith, I think, understands very well. Our premier understands very well exactly

00:17:05.980 what's wrong with EMS. She came to one of our town hall meetings in Airdrie before she was elected 0.98

00:17:10.400 when we were speaking about EMS to the community. And Alberta Health Services has certainly dragged

00:17:16.500 its feet on this transfer issue. It's been more than a year since they put out that RFP looking

00:17:22.820 for contractors. And I'm not quite sure why it took so long. You know, in northern Alberta,

00:17:28.120 north of Red Deer, 90% of patients inter-hospitally, and many of them by air, are moved by private

00:17:34.240 contracted services. This is not a new phenomenon. And there are private contractors here in southern

00:17:40.540 Alberta. There's Aaron Paramedical, Genesis MediShuttle, MedSource. It does a lot of oil

00:17:45.740 field work. I think it's called Lifelink Ambulance. They do a lot of rodeos and standbys. I mean,

00:17:52.360 all of these qualified private operators that use registered paramedics on their ambulances

00:17:58.180 are willing to step up. And in fact, Aaron, paramedical is moving patients almost weekly

00:18:03.620 still with a phone call. Yeah. Yeah. They didn't get a, they didn't get a shot at the RFP.

00:18:09.860 Yeah. They, they, they brought, put out the RFP, but then they put a whole bunch of roadblocks

00:18:14.040 and, and the usual bureaucratic crap to make it. It was all done in secret. Yes. That was part of

00:18:18.960 frustration i think us for us dealing with alberta health services and and ems now it's it's not just

00:18:25.600 the fact that they've they've failed to fulfill their primary mandate which is the emergency care

00:18:30.560 and transportation of sick and injured people in the community they've integrated us into health

00:18:35.200 care a lot including putting us in the hallway right and you just can't survive an ambulance

00:18:39.680 ambulance service can't survive when half your fleet's in the hallway so i think we know what

00:18:44.320 the problems are and let's talk about this latest contract debacle. Yes, well, expand on it. I mean,

00:18:52.960 as you said, I mean, the things like even talking to the counties, they've been putting things in

00:18:56.000 camera or trying to get the counties to hold meetings in secret. You've been a thorn in their

00:19:00.800 side because you're attending and you're just exposing what's been said and pressuring.

00:19:04.720 You know, we've been, and again, we've done this before on the show, talking about the number of

00:19:08.560 transfers, non-urgent transfers that are being done from the rural communities

00:19:12.640 using the emergency ambulances, taking an emergency ambulance out of the community for a long time.

00:19:17.360 So this new contract provider in Calgary and Edmonton was supposed to solve those problems,

00:19:23.360 but they're only going to reach 50 kilometers outside of the cities.

00:19:26.220 So if you're in a community outside that radius, this new transfer protocol is not going to help you at all.

00:19:31.860 So what are they doing to satisfy the rural?

00:19:34.980 Well, they've got this new EMS standing committee, which I wasn't qualified to be on,

00:19:39.400 and frankly wouldn't sign an NDA to join either.

00:19:41.760 but it'll be another year they'll meet and then they'll come up with an idea and then it'll take

00:19:46.520 another year to implement it. Meanwhile, today and tomorrow and the next day, non-urgent patients

00:19:51.300 need to be moved for tests and treatment. So you mentioned AHS doing in-camera closed

00:19:58.400 confidential sessions with municipalities. We caught them last week and kudos to the Foothills

00:20:04.220 County Council who, when AHS showed up and said, we want to hold our meeting with you in camera,

00:20:09.680 in confidence foothills county council said no we have a group of citizens outside who deserve some

00:20:16.080 transparency they've asked that this be a public meeting and we think they deserve it so ahs was

00:20:22.000 forced it and they've held a number of these closed sessions in claire's home and nanton and

00:20:27.680 so we're very concerned with what they're actually talking about and why they want to keep this

00:20:31.440 information from the public yeah well and so these non-immersion you know transfers i mean

00:20:36.560 I mean, and it's going to be more acute when you get to more rural areas because you have smaller hospitals with limited amounts of specialists.

00:20:42.420 You might have a, again, see a senior who's in mobility challenge, you know, needs, can't just hop in a car and drive to the city hospital.

00:20:51.620 But at the same time, doesn't need a fully staffed ambulance as well.

00:20:56.180 It's like taking a limousine to the grocery store. 0.87

00:20:58.160 If you're a non-urgent patient who needs to go for a cast change to get orthotics, to get an MRI because you've got a back problem and you just need a stretcher to lay on, taking the only emergency ambulance for 1,200 square kilometers is foolish.

00:21:13.300 Let's put these reputable, capable, registered paramedics in these private contractors to work.

00:21:20.240 They do a great job.

00:21:21.160 They do it every single day.

00:21:22.260 It's not odd or different or bad to hear some of the people that object to private enterprise being involved in health care.

00:21:31.280 It's shocking how little these people know. 0.99

00:21:34.120 They're really quite ignorant. 1.00

00:21:35.480 Well, that's it. 0.99

00:21:36.060 I wanted to get a bit onto the why.

00:21:37.640 And I mean, the why when it comes to the public a little bit, I think, is because we've had that Canadian training.

00:21:41.300 Just anything private in health care, even though they don't realize how much private is already there.

00:21:45.020 But anything private in health care is inherently bad.

00:21:47.320 We absolutely must not go down that road.

00:21:49.080 We cannot do that.

00:21:50.300 and they oppose it just on principle, immediately.

00:21:53.280 I remember actually a town hall meeting you held down in Okotoks a couple of years ago

00:21:55.820 and there was a lady going off about that.

00:21:58.020 Oh, we can't have this.

00:21:59.780 I don't care.

00:22:00.700 I just want outcomes.

00:22:01.860 I don't care.

00:22:02.560 Well, and we want safety and we want quality.

00:22:05.340 And I think these private contractors in instances like this can give us that.

00:22:11.620 And certainly, again, north of Red Deer, most of the patients are, especially by air,

00:22:17.000 you know how different EMS is in northern Alberta.

00:22:18.920 most patients, if they're going farther than 250 kilometers, they go by air. And we haven't had any

00:22:24.920 concerns or complaints just because they're private. It's a red herring. And it's a red

00:22:29.940 herring that people who want to keep the government involved and in control for reasons that I don't

00:22:37.160 think are responsible, can't defend. So getting on to that why then, the why is AHS resisting this so

00:22:43.540 much? I mean, they're all evil people. I mean, some of them have got to think, I want to see 0.84

00:22:47.220 better services getting. Well, let me give you a good example. The Calgary zone for HSEMS now has

00:22:54.140 70 managers. That means that between Didsbury and Claresholm and Lake Louise and Strathmore,

00:22:59.760 there are 70 people employed by HSEMS who are executive directors or managers or supervisors

00:23:06.200 or assistants. That's outrageous. And it's my belief, having worked there for a long time,

00:23:12.160 that probably half of them spend their whole day trying to fix problems they themselves created.

00:23:17.220 by micromanaging and implementing policies and procedures to mitigate problems like hallway

00:23:25.180 weights, like short staffing, like lack of training. Most of the problems in EMS these

00:23:32.440 days were created by the people that run it. And there's no transparency and there's no

00:23:37.780 accountability. And that's the frustrating part. Yeah. And as I said, I mean, it is all tied

00:23:42.640 together and it is part of that big, though Premier Smith is working on breaking up that

00:23:46.440 bureaucracy, which is fantastic. But I mean, it's an example of what's going to happen with

00:23:51.600 attempted reforms in pretty much every other department within that giant bureaucracy. I

00:23:56.360 mean, these people shuffling a piece of paper from one desk to another desk and making six figures

00:24:00.760 are not going to welcome change. So if we start the domino falling in one area, though, I think

00:24:06.560 that's important. And maybe they see that too, though. You know, EMS seems to be the one that

00:24:10.520 would be easiest to fix. Because if you can just separate them from the hospitals, I really believe

00:24:16.200 that if you don't fix hallway weights, you're not going to fix anything else in EMS. We have to get

00:24:19.660 our trucks out of the hospitals and back on the road. And we're not the answer to hospital wait

00:24:24.620 times. That's a hospital problem. It needs to be managed and fixed by them. So once you separate

00:24:30.000 EMS, fixing it should be pretty straightforward. Focus on the core business of emergency care,

00:24:36.720 add in the community care. I mean, paramedics are very, we can do a lot. Let us go. We'll do a lot.

00:24:42.720 community care is something we can do but stop asking us to solve hospital problems that's not

00:24:48.340 our we're not good at it um and we're not able to do different specialty i mean it's just as

00:24:53.700 absurd as saying we should then perhaps take the nurses and doctors out to an accident scene

00:24:57.780 to treat them on the spot that's not their profession either i mean they could certainly

00:25:02.520 help and they've got some training but they don't know how to quickly bundle somebody up stabilize

00:25:05.860 them and get into the hospital and it's not appropriate so sometimes paramedics in the

00:25:09.080 hallway will hear from hospital staff, you know, we're all on the same team. And I go, well, I only

00:25:14.420 ever hear that in the hospital. I never see it at three in the morning at 40 below on the side of

00:25:18.500 the highway at an overturned car. I don't see anybody from the hospital on my team there.

00:25:23.300 Let us do our job. They're different professions. Yeah. But they're using it as an overlap within

00:25:28.420 the hospitals to make up for other problems. And so when AHS gets broken up, though, is that going

00:25:34.140 to ease some of that? Like EMS is going to kind of fall into a different one of the four.

00:25:38.580 I think the goal, and I'm not speaking for the UCP or the Premier, I have no axe to grind.

00:25:46.880 I have no interest in being part of that.

00:25:49.680 But I think what is going to happen is if you separate them, you can make them more accountable easier.

00:25:55.360 Right now, AHS is a big machine.

00:25:57.180 It's hard to find any.

00:25:58.180 I mean, you talked to some of these managers last week or the week before about who was getting the contract.

00:26:04.020 They'd all say, oh, we don't know.

00:26:05.360 well, how can you be a senior or an executive director for EMS and really not know what's

00:26:10.580 happening in a week? Like it's shocking. And the secrecy, the lack of accountability,

00:26:16.160 very frustrating. And that's why we started the Where's My Ambulance campaign.

00:26:19.700 Yeah. And I'm going to get to that for the final part in chatting with you because you're getting

00:26:23.280 active. I mean, you're not just putting out the problems, you're putting pressure on in areas,

00:26:27.660 bringing awareness to this so that they can push for solutions. And, you know, if you can't get

00:26:32.260 it through the bureaucracy of AHS, the municipalities, I mean, they're upset and getting them engaged,

00:26:39.200 getting them pressuring or getting the people living in them realizing just how badly served

00:26:42.980 they are. Maybe that'll bring some things about. Well, I'm not a big fan of raising awareness. I

00:26:47.120 don't like the term. I like getting things done and fixing problems. That's what paramedics are

00:26:51.120 good at. Municipalities, as we talked before, that's where you start. Your municipal elected

00:26:57.820 officials are there to protect you a lot from other levels of government, especially now.

00:27:04.320 So again, kudos to Foothills County, who said no to AHS, having a confidential closed session.

00:27:12.560 And again, there's always conversations that these organizations perhaps need to have,

00:27:18.180 short ones, but to have your whole presentation, your PowerPoint on response times,

00:27:22.480 number of out-of-service ambulances, and especially the Q&A from counselors,

00:27:27.820 You know, we have a group of us, retired paramedics and some other knowledgeable citizens who have offered now to spend some time with counsellors who have questions about how the ambulance service runs.

00:27:40.780 Because when these people show up in their uniforms, with their slick presentation, they talk fast, they use a lot of medical jargon.

00:27:49.260 And I think in a lot of cases, counsellors aren't sure exactly what questions to ask.

00:27:53.780 And even when we give them questions, they're not sure how to follow up.

00:27:56.600 So if you're a counselor in a municipality in southern Alberta and you want to have a conversation about what the ambulance service is really doing, feel free to call us.

00:28:06.920 Well, then, for people on the ground, I see you've got your sign here.

00:28:09.300 Oh, my goodness.

00:28:09.680 Again, I'm just talking of the raising awareness thing.

00:28:11.860 Yep.

00:28:13.140 This is something in a website you've got on the go there.

00:28:16.460 I don't know if we can get that on the camera.

00:28:18.020 Yeah, where's my ambulance and that whereismyambulance.com.

00:28:21.580 Yep.

00:28:22.020 It's nice and simple and to the point because where the hell is my ambulance?

00:28:25.180 It's a simple question.

00:28:26.660 And again, we go out now to town council meetings and we show up and we ask questions and we encourage citizens in these communities to ask questions.

00:28:34.300 And we showed up again down in High River last week and we had a group of us stand out front.

00:28:40.980 And we, a lot of people who stopped, it was funny because they'd look at the sign and they'd go, are you guys here because there's no ambulance in town?

00:28:47.380 People are getting it.

00:28:48.440 Well, that's what I was talking about with awareness too, though, because a lot of people, I mean, they aren't necessarily paying attention.

00:28:53.500 I live in Prittis. As we said, our ambulance is getting sniped all the time. It's there. It's

00:28:59.200 rarely there. I mean, it's the default is our ambulance isn't in the bay servicing our area,

00:29:04.100 but your average citizen doesn't know that until they try to call one.

00:29:07.060 The medics have a special name for the Prittis ambulance, and it's not very polite

00:29:11.080 because it's never there. And it's a tough truck to staff.

00:29:15.300 Well, yeah, because you don't feel like, you know, you joined or you got employed there to

00:29:19.920 work that area and you find yourself in an urban environment all the time that's not what you signed

00:29:23.380 up for you know and it's heartbreaking for some of these medics who work in communities like

00:29:26.820 Okotoks and High River as when they get sent to the city or when they get given a non-urgent

00:29:31.220 transfer and as they leave town they see on the map that somebody in their community is having a

00:29:36.300 critical medical emergency and they're leaving town yeah and that's heartbreaking for these for

00:29:41.840 these medics to work in an organization that that seems to not care about the people where they live 0.75

00:29:46.840 in their rural communities. It's frustrating.

00:29:48.900 And the more populated areas where I live

00:29:51.200 in Prentiss area, Hawks Landing, Prentiss

00:29:53.080 Greens, throughout that area, all within

00:29:55.120 about five minutes of

00:29:56.680 the fire station where the ambulance

00:29:58.900 is supposed to be sitting. So I mean, their

00:30:01.020 question of where's my ambulance comes, when

00:30:03.040 they phone and 911 says, yeah, it'll be there in

00:30:05.000 30 minutes. Well, wait a minute. All the way up to Bragg Creek.

00:30:07.340 It's right there.

00:30:08.780 No, sorry, that one's in Calgary. I'm not going to say as much.

00:30:11.480 But you, so that's why

00:30:12.940 they should be asking now.

00:30:14.780 Not when you're bleeding or when your spouse has had a heart attack or when the issue is going on.

00:30:20.920 We should be asking now because people don't realize it.

00:30:24.020 They might not know it.

00:30:25.400 Yeah, your ambulance should be in your community most of the time.

00:30:28.420 The only reason it should be leaving is to take somebody to the hospital who needs to go.

00:30:32.720 And it's pretty simple, you know.

00:30:35.960 It should be.

00:30:36.660 It should be.

00:30:37.780 That's our goal is to make it simple again.

00:30:39.580 Well, like I said, I appreciate your work.

00:30:41.700 I mean, your work prior as a paramedic, but now just shining a light on this because it's one of the areas of health care that, as I said, a lay person can kind of understand.

00:30:48.000 I mean, they can't take part in it, but they know, OK, there's an urgent situation.

00:30:51.140 We need to stabilize somebody and get them to care as fast as we can.

00:30:54.080 It's really as basic as that.

00:30:56.420 And yet we can't connect those dots without having to fight a giant bureaucracy.

00:31:00.520 So it's frustrating. You get it.

00:31:02.040 Yeah. So I appreciate you coming in to share a bit of that with us today.

00:31:05.060 And again, you get the site, where's my ambulance dot com.

00:31:07.540 Is there other areas where people can see what's going on?

00:31:10.280 You know, Facebook has been a real help.

00:31:13.420 We did a number of town halls in these small communities a couple of years ago.

00:31:16.760 We've started some EMS citizen action groups in these various small towns.

00:31:20.780 Cochran's has been very successful.

00:31:22.480 They hosted a first responder appreciation day on the weekend, and we had over 300 people.

00:31:27.540 I mean, it was just nice to recognize the group.

00:31:29.320 So that group of citizens is doing a great job.

00:31:31.280 If anybody has questions about how to start a citizen action group or become more active in this, you know,

00:31:37.680 we have a lot of service clubs now that are curious to lions and rotary that

00:31:40.700 want to get involved. So give us a call. Where's my ambulance.com.

00:31:44.080 Leave us a note and we're, we'll be happy to respond.

00:31:46.780 Perfect. Nice and easy to remember. So yes,

00:31:48.340 if you've got questions or you want to get things going in your neighborhood,

00:31:51.040 guys, where's my ambulance.com Don will fix you up. All right. Well,

00:31:54.340 thanks again. Good to see you.

00:31:57.120 Looking forward to seeing more progress on this.

00:31:58.900 Right on. I'll give you an update anytime.

00:32:00.500 Great. Thanks.

00:32:01.020 Okay. All right. So again, where's my ambulance.com and yes,

00:32:04.280 it's Don Sharp. He's been in before and yeah, he's,

00:32:06.960 he's fun on Twitter and all those social media areas and that as well. I mean, it's just the

00:32:11.760 healthcare monster. And there's areas that I don't understand. You know, I'm going to, I'm going to

00:32:15.420 make the call out right now. Somebody, please send somebody in. I've had a family member who's been,

00:32:19.540 you know, ailing. I've spent time at the hospital lately, visiting things like that.

00:32:23.220 And I don't understand it. Now I do understand that the nurses and doctors are harried and

00:32:27.600 they're working very hard and everything. But I also noticed that 90% of their time they're

00:32:31.100 sitting in front of a computer. So what is going on? I honestly don't understand. I don't know.

00:32:35.500 So if somebody can explain to me why it's so integral to deal with the paperwork, with the computer, there's literally every, you know, stand, there's computers all the way through the hallways, there's these stands, we've got dozens and dozens of patients, you've got a few people moving around, dealing with them, doing what they can, moving them, checking on them, you know, bringing medication, but I see them most of the time staring at a screen.

00:32:58.840 Why?

00:33:00.020 How much?

00:33:01.680 I mean, I understand you have to have a degree of administration and paperwork to deal with a large system in a hospital and things like that.

00:33:09.560 But when they are spending, these trained professionals who are supposed to be trained for the care one-on-one with patients,

00:33:16.900 and it looks like they're spending 80% of their time staring at a screen, something isn't working.

00:33:23.180 I mean, going farther back to, I remember Paul Hinman used to bring that up in his speeches all the time when we were the Alberta Alliance.

00:33:32.140 But, you know, to show some of the bureaucratic problems, the hospitals, things like that.

00:33:35.540 And it's true if you go to them.

00:33:37.040 Go to a hospital Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and try to park.

00:33:42.020 It's just jammed.

00:33:42.900 You know, I don't want to even start on how much you have to pay for parking.

00:33:45.020 But it's full.

00:33:45.620 It's packed.

00:33:46.220 It's loaded with you.

00:33:47.080 You can't get in there.

00:33:47.880 The staff parking's full.

00:33:49.440 Asian parking's full.

00:33:50.980 Go there in the evening.

00:33:52.080 Go there on a weekend. It's empty. Aside from a few folks visiting. Why? People don't stop being

00:33:59.240 sick on the weekends and evenings. Well, it's because the parking was jammed with bureaucrats.

00:34:06.120 I mean, they still have to be cared for. The ones working the ground, working the wards,

00:34:09.760 they're there, all those other shifts. But all the rest disappeared. We've got a load of paper

00:34:14.500 pushers. And when you're having a heart attack, a form isn't going to save you. Somebody typing

00:34:20.200 on a computer isn't going to save you. You need somebody physically with you. You need a doctor

00:34:25.580 later who's going to find out why your ticker is going off on you and hopefully treat that later.

00:34:31.460 But it's hard to do when they're constantly mired in administration. That gets back to, again,

00:34:36.660 this is the nature of government-run businesses, of bureaucracies. Private isn't a solution to

00:34:43.180 everything. We need a mixed system. But I tell you, if there was competition, if there really was,

00:34:49.020 even if it's universal. I'm going to say the blasphemy. Yes, we need private care. We need

00:34:55.260 more of it. I want to see private hospitals. I do. I want to see private emergency centers.

00:34:59.700 I want to see them advertising, trying to get you to choose them as the place to go to,

00:35:04.720 even if you're not paying out of pocket. You know, there's ways we can deal with this.

00:35:08.420 I tell you what, it'll get better a lot faster. Down in the States, when I was working down there,

00:35:13.900 I remember in Hobbs, New Mexico, driving on the highway, there was a billboard for a hospital and

00:35:17.720 had a digital readout actually showing what the emergency wait times were. They would say,

00:35:22.500 come to our hospital if you need to, because they're competing. And the emergency wait times

00:35:27.600 are on average, and it tended to be 10 minutes. I think the longest I ever saw was 40 minutes.

00:35:33.960 Now, we're in Canada. How are we doing? It's free to die on a gurney, because you're waiting 23,

00:35:40.360 48 hours. I mean, the numbers are obscene what you have to wait for emergency service now in

00:35:46.120 Canadian hospitals. So set aside that instinctive opposition to the private involvement. Let's look

00:35:53.200 at outcomes, guys, we've got to make it better. And if you were running a private facility,

00:35:58.480 and you're walking up and down, and your professionals are mostly sitting in front

00:36:02.640 of computers all the time, you're not going to get patients coming back because they realize

00:36:06.960 they're not getting the best service they can. And as an operator, you're going to change things.

00:36:11.180 Is it the person sitting in front of the computer is not doing a good job? Or is it your management

00:36:14.900 that's putting too many administrative tasks on the professionals who should be working on the

00:36:19.420 ground. I don't know. These sorts of things can be solved. But when you're in a giant monolithic

00:36:24.660 bureaucratic system, there's only one system. There's no incentive to fix that. There's no

00:36:32.280 motivation to change it. And again, it keeps coming down to throwing more money at it. We've

00:36:36.320 been throwing money at it. Canada is one of the highest spending countries in the world when it

00:36:39.620 comes to healthcare spending. And it's not getting us better outcomes. I mean, it's just not cutting

00:36:47.800 it, guys. I mean, one of the areas too, some of the blasphemy. Guess what, guys? Nurses aren't

00:36:52.320 saints. I get sick of that. I get sick of the nurses union, not the nurses themselves, but 0.96

00:36:56.620 their bloody union. And they support that union though, a lot of them. And look up, if you want 0.96

00:37:02.160 to look up a story, look in Alberta, and I'm sure it's the same in every province. The sunshine list

00:37:08.280 is it what they call it or whatever the ones who get over a hundred thousand a year and there are

00:37:13.280 a lot there was one in alberta i believe that nurse got over four hundred thousand dollars 0.88

00:37:18.780 because they play an interesting game most of them are part-time part-time but they work full-time

00:37:25.380 hours you see the way it works is they automatically get overtime the second they work a shift that

00:37:33.200 wasn't scheduled for them. And they play a really neat game. So you put yourself down as part-time,

00:37:39.280 but then you sign up for all the other shifts that come along. Even though you're only working

00:37:43.020 40 hours a week, you can end up having half of your hours being overtime. And nurses overtime 1.00

00:37:46.480 isn't like our overtime with its time and a half. They get two and a half times. And then if you

00:37:51.020 work on a holiday, oh, they can get up to quadruple time. And you work in the evenings, you get an

00:37:54.920 evening premium. And you work in the weekends, you get a weekend premium. And you can work as a

00:37:58.300 part-time nurse and end up pulling in well into over a hundred thousand a year. It's ridiculous. 0.86

00:38:04.880 If you're going to work over 40 hours a week, every week, change it, make them full-time,

00:38:08.940 make them like real people in the real world. If you're working overtime, you're getting overtime

00:38:12.300 fine after 44 hours, like the rest of us, or even 40. But no, no, they game the system.

00:38:20.680 And I tell you, the unions get worked up every time that's brought up. That's one of their

00:38:23.300 little secrets they love going on about. You know, they're gaming the system. Look, nurses are 1.00

00:38:28.420 professionals. They work very bloody hard. I understand that. But if they're screwing us,

00:38:34.480 I can only support so far. Competition. A private operator is not going to put up with that crap. 0.63

00:38:39.720 They will pay a high price for good professionals in their institution, but they're not going to put 0.99

00:38:45.060 up with them gaming them on it, are they? Yes, we need to change this. Either way, you know,

00:38:49.260 So one of the first steps, which I think was great, is, yes, Premier Smith is breaking up the AHS, the Alberta Health Services for people who are outside of Alberta, in a separate unit.

00:38:59.660 So there's going to be three or four, I believe.

00:39:02.220 That way it's not such a giant monster.

00:39:04.160 You know, she's biting it apart a little to fix it up. 1.00

00:39:06.960 And as Dawn was talking about, we can look at little areas of it, such as EMS. 0.54

00:39:12.220 We can fix that and we can show that there can be improvements on some of these things because it's ridiculous right now.

00:39:19.260 Speaking of ridiculous, this is one of the things that Jen mentioned earlier.

00:39:22.200 So, you know, let's just go into some federal stuff. 0.77

00:39:24.920 The governor general, yeah, she's had online harm symposium.

00:39:29.240 She's hosting, and this was for Bill C-63.

00:39:32.460 She basically came out in favor of a liberal government bill. 0.89

00:39:37.620 Now, people who aren't political wieners like myself might not really understand just how egregious this is, just how bad this is.

00:39:44.500 This is the king's representative taking a stance on political policy, becoming political, becoming partisan.

00:39:54.020 She's supposed to be nothing more than a rubber stamp. 1.00

00:39:56.360 I know people talk about the office of it and it should be respected.

00:39:58.800 No, they don't garner my respect anymore.

00:40:01.660 They're a remnant of the feudal system.

00:40:03.860 At least just be the ribbon cutter you are, the celebrity you are, the patronage appointment you are, the token you are. 0.70

00:40:11.900 Because that's what she is.

00:40:13.020 and just do what you're told.

00:40:15.480 Take your six-figure income,

00:40:16.740 take your servants, 0.98

00:40:17.460 take your flights.

00:40:19.420 Don't dip into the policy realm.

00:40:22.200 And she did that.

00:40:23.440 That's a huge line crossed.

00:40:25.500 Huge.

00:40:26.720 That would be the same

00:40:27.540 as King Charles getting in

00:40:29.880 or Queen Elizabeth in the past

00:40:31.120 and actually starting to take part

00:40:34.080 in the policies happening in Parliament.

00:40:36.640 You do not do that.

00:40:37.780 Queen Elizabeth never did that. 1.00

00:40:39.440 She knew better.

00:40:40.380 And King Charles doesn't seem like

00:40:41.860 the sharpest knife in the drawer

00:40:42.920 but he's been well enough trained. He knows better too. Doesn't mean they can never speak

00:40:46.100 to a policy, but you don't get right in on bills and talk about how you should support one or not

00:40:52.040 another. This was a big line crossed. We've had nothing but crappy governor generals for a while

00:40:56.740 now. Trudeau's really picking winners. And this line, you know, it's not making enough news. It's 0.69

00:41:01.640 gotten overshadowed, unfortunately, by the budget. But she's a terrible governor general. Terrible.

00:41:11.880 But she checks off the boxes that Justin wanted, and that's why she's in there.

00:41:15.840 I'm going to say it as it is, because that's the case, and it's going to stop.

00:41:20.480 And that budget, that budget is a brute.

00:41:22.920 So how are they going to pay for all of this spending, this massive spending, right?

00:41:28.740 Capital gains taxes.

00:41:30.360 Capital gains taxes are economic killers, guys, economic killers.

00:41:36.100 you want to drive investment and innovation and enterprise out of your nation, there's no better

00:41:41.760 way than a capital gains tax. And increasing it is only going to make it worse. They think,

00:41:47.300 they think they're going to screw a $20 billion over the next few years out of people by raising

00:41:52.680 that capital gains tax. It's not going to work because people move their money, capital moves,

00:41:57.000 they will take it elsewhere. They won't get the money they think they're going to get. Plus,

00:42:00.980 they're going to harm the economy because when these investments, these enterprises pull out

00:42:04.480 Canada, they lay people off. We have less services. We have fewer people working. And the cycle just

00:42:10.800 continues. Oh, it's just taxing the rich. No, it's not. No, it's not. Oh, the corporations will pay.

00:42:17.920 Yeah, think about that. Think about that a minute. Corporations. Oh, corporations. They're all evil.

00:42:22.680 They're all nasty, right? My bar was a corporation when I owned it. Pub. Not a billion dollar 0.97

00:42:30.180 enterprise, but it was incorporated. It technically was a corporation. If it had gained over a certain

00:42:34.440 amount of value over the years of slaving and toiling and working and building the business

00:42:38.480 and if I'd sold it for a certain amount over what I bought it for, I'll be punished for that? Yes,

00:42:44.560 actually, that's what a capital gains tax is. And it's not all big business, guys. Your local doctor

00:42:49.300 is probably incorporated with his clinic. He's going to be thinking, maybe I'll just move my

00:42:55.820 clinic south of the border or I'll go to Europe or I'll go to Vietnam. Why do I want to sit here

00:43:00.360 get punished for success, because that's what capital gains taxes do. They punish the successful.

00:43:05.720 So they keep talking about, oh, it's just on this ultra rich. No, it's not guys. It's on every

00:43:12.100 corporation account. And then the big corporations anyways, corporate profit, people spit that out

00:43:17.080 profit, how evil. Dingbats who don't understand how pensions work. Talk about how bad corporate

00:43:24.260 profit is. If you don't want your pension to grow, okay, then maybe you are opposed to corporate

00:43:30.240 profit. Do you think it grows like a freaking daisy just on its own? No, that pension fund is

00:43:35.840 invested. And guess what it's invested in? Corporations. And if that corporation doesn't

00:43:42.160 profit, your pension doesn't grow. You are a corporate shareholder, even if you don't realize

00:43:48.500 it. You are a beneficiary of those profits. And those profits get taxed. So don't go down the

00:43:57.420 idiotic, liberal, now NDP, socialist rabbit hole of constantly demonizing corporations, businesses, 0.99

00:44:06.920 people who are productive, people who are building an asset, because it hurts all of you, even if you 1.00

00:44:13.420 don't realize it. It does, because that's the game the liberals are playing. They segregate who 1.00

00:44:18.360 they're going to hit with the extra taxes, and people think, oh, it doesn't matter. It doesn't

00:44:21.940 hitting me. It is hitting you, even if you don't receive the path of how it does. Our economy is

00:44:28.200 in serious, serious trouble. People's eyes glaze over when we talk about it, but it's important.

00:44:34.360 I keep bringing it up. Look at it. The debt, or I mean, not the debt, the GDP to per capita

00:44:42.760 ratio. In the United States, GDP per capita is over $70,000 American. Canada is $54,000 American.

00:44:53.780 Think about that. Look at the size of that gap. Almost $20,000 American dollars. You have less

00:45:00.740 of the pie. That's how much less you have than our Americans south of the border. And they have 0.97

00:45:08.300 cheaper food, they have cheaper housing, their cost of cheaper gasoline, everything's cheaper

00:45:14.360 down there, and they have more money. Guys, we're up the creek. And why is it like that down there?

00:45:19.520 Because their economy is doing great. Meanwhile, we're kicking our economy in the balls. 0.95

00:45:25.680 Trudeau is going after business owners. He's going after the corporations. He's going after 0.79

00:45:31.980 the productive people. That's just going to cycle our per capita GDP share even lower, guys,

00:45:39.420 while he digs us deeper and deeper in debt. And that dingbat is going to be on a tropical island

00:45:44.940 someplace, retired with his trust fund, while the next generation pays the frigging bill. 0.99

00:45:51.840 And it's just odious and it's repugnant. And while he sits up there prancing around as he did 0.99

00:45:56.260 yesterday. Oh, this is fairness for all generations. No, it's not. No, it's not.

00:46:02.340 It's screwing the current generation and is robbing the next one.

00:46:06.740 And this budget will pass. You know, Jagmeet Singh, biggest pussy in parliament. He's doing 1.00

00:46:12.220 his tough talk. Oh, I don't know if we're going to support them. Of course, you're going to support

00:46:15.260 the budget, you clown. You're Trudeau's little puppy dog. God, it's going to be embarrassing 1.00

00:46:19.240 being an NDP member these days. It really does. When your leader is such a dishrag. Seriously.

00:46:25.080 Leslie, just don't pretend, Jagmeet.

00:46:28.080 You're going to support the budget.

00:46:29.240 Of course you are.

00:46:30.360 You don't have the money or the brains to fight another election.

00:46:32.980 You know, this is as close to power as you're ever going to get.

00:46:36.700 So no, it's not going to happen.

00:46:38.480 Yeah, so I see the commenter, Bruce Leslie, saying it's amazing how few people understand

00:46:42.600 how the pension plan is invested.

00:46:43.880 I know.

00:46:44.380 It's sad and it's frightening.

00:46:45.900 And if people think they're doing the world a favor when they attack businesses, they

00:46:50.560 aren't, guys.

00:46:51.320 You're dependent on them.

00:46:52.560 They're important to you, even if you don't realize it.

00:46:55.080 Either way, that's all the time I got for today.

00:46:57.920 We're going to have a lot to talk about on the pipeline a little later,

00:47:00.320 so be sure to tune in for that, guys.

00:47:02.200 And, again, take out a subscription if you haven't already.

00:47:04.820 There's lots on the go, lots to cover, lots to talk about.

00:47:09.160 So, yeah, tune in to the pipeline tonight.

00:47:11.360 Get to the westernstandard.news to catch all of this stuff directly, guys.

00:47:15.720 And we will see you all again next week.

00:47:18.420 At this time, I'll have a whole bunch of new stuff to complain about.

00:47:25.080 Transcription by CastingWords

Western Standard - April 18, 2024

It’s time the West stepped up and helped guide Quebec out the confederation door

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