Join Cory as he talks to Mike Baker, former president of the Calgary Police Association and a 24-year veteran of the force, about his views on the current state of policing in Alberta. He also talks about the federal leadership race and a new candidate in the race to become the next Prime Minister of Canada.
00:06:46.080I mean, the day might come when electrical vehicles do become affordable enough and practical for consumers to switch en masse towards them.
00:06:53.720That day, though, is nowhere close to reality today, and the government needs to face that reality.
00:06:59.540What they are doing right now is the equivalent of having banned horses and wagons in the year 1900,
00:07:05.680despite efficient combustion engines still being a couple of decades away.
00:07:09.500Horses and wagons faded from general use because automobiles became more affordable,
00:07:13.320and the fueling infrastructure was built over decades.
00:07:17.500The mad rush to electrical vehicles is nothing less than that.
00:08:46.700Anyways, we have some major breaking news on the go at the moment.
00:08:49.980The head of Alberta Health Services, Dr. Verna Yu, has been ousted from her position and a very well-paid position, more than $700,000, I might add.
00:09:01.280She was ousted a year before her contract was set to expire.
00:09:06.140She's been sort of mired in controversy over the last 18 months because it was on AHS orders that places like the Whistle Stop Cafe in Mirror, Alberta, run by Chris Scott, was shut down and raided.
00:09:21.140It was because of her there were fences built around churches.
00:09:25.880And because of AHS orders, there were pastors arrested and thrown into jail.
00:09:30.500So not a very good Monday for Dr. Yu, but I'm sure some of her foes are not displeased to see her go.
00:09:41.060Other stories we've got at the moment, our friends over at Narwhal have been nominated for a Canadian Journalism Foundation Award for Best Story of the Year on the Wet'suwet'en blockade.
00:09:53.660This is despite the fact that the story has been basically debunked and stuff that has been written in there was wrong about journalists being arrested and whatnot.
00:10:05.220So the Norwell stands by their story, but apparently not commenting to us.
00:10:12.060We've got another sort of waste of taxpayers' money story from Blacklock's reporter.
00:10:17.780This is $100 million lost on the face masks through the PHAC, Public Health Agency of Canada.
00:10:28.480Things involving, you know, bad contracts and thefts, all sorts of money lost.
00:10:33.700Of course, nobody cares because it's Ottawa and it's really not their money.
00:10:39.240We've got a Mike Thomas column up, circle April 13th on your calendar.
00:10:44.920that's the date when bank of canada is going to likely increase the cost of borrowing by another
00:10:50.680up to half percent so mortgages credit card payments they're all going to go up so those
00:10:57.320are the the big stories we've got at the moment corey our rachel emmanuel is in place in edmonton
00:11:03.240now having got there from from ottawa on the weekend she's attending an ndp press conference
00:11:08.840as we speak on the doctor you firing we're also going to get lots of reaction from from the
00:11:16.120government people like brian gene who who were campaigning on aggressive changes at the alberta
00:11:21.960health services uh and speaking of health uh our reed small will have a story in the next few
00:11:27.800minutes on bc premier john horgan has had another health setback you remember he was battling throat
00:11:34.680cancer and has now come down with covid uh so he's not having a good uh good time of it and
00:11:42.040a conservative uh leadership candidate leslin lewis in moose job today uh our lee harding uh
00:11:49.080will uh we'll have a story on that uh later on this afternoon so lots of good stuff up lots of
00:11:54.680good stuff to look forward to corey great well uh thanks for that update david it's gonna be
00:11:59.240interesting watching that uh you know the ahs story develop i mean there must have been more
00:12:03.560to it it's not a minor thing i mean among the the civil servants i believe her salary was0.99
00:12:08.280six hundred and seventy seven thousand a year when she finished up like that that's the top1.00
00:12:12.760of the bunch there it's not a minor thing when you when you fire one of those no and uh with bonuses
00:12:18.200i guess it pushed it well over uh well over seven hundred thousand so she's one of the biggest uh
00:12:25.480salary earners under under the government there's no doubt about that and it'd be interesting to
00:12:30.280see what kind of severance she's going to get. Obviously, another year's pay at least, I would
00:12:36.200think. The Alberta government has tended to be very, I'm not sure what the right word is, generous
00:12:44.760in their severance packages to various employees over the years. So we're trying to find out what
00:12:50.520the dollar figure is there. All right. Well, thanks for the updates, Dave. And we'll talk
00:12:56.760to you after the show thanks gory great that's our news editor dave naylor and as you can hear yes
00:13:02.520we got a lot constantly going up on the western standard site so this is a good time to pay our
00:13:07.000bills and remind everybody get on there and take out a subscription that's how we can do this i
00:13:11.720mean look at that ridiculous story he was talking about i'll talk a little more about that later
00:13:15.000with this association of journalists giving an award to a bunch of activists who are pretending
00:13:19.880to be journalists and they and it's award-worthy it's ridiculous that's where the state of legacy
00:13:25.080media is these days unfortunately we're not like them guys we are independent we rely on subscriptions
00:13:31.720on you guys and on sponsors and that's how we can report on what needs to be reported on not on say
00:13:37.960what the government tells us to report on because that's what we're about we need you guys to
00:13:43.300subscribe we've been doing fantastic we've got thousands of subscribers it's been growing and
00:13:47.480that's how we've been spreading people in saskatchewan ontario bc all over the place
00:13:52.400reporting for us, all those stories. Get on there. If you haven't taken out a subscription already,
00:13:56.960use that coupon code TRIGGERED. You'll get another $10 a year off that. And hey, with these gas
00:14:01.460prices right now, everybody needs to save a few bucks. And for $10 a month, well worth it. You
00:14:07.960know, better than you used to get from a newspaper subscription and you don't have a bunch of old
00:14:11.360newspapers to get rid of after you're done. So thank you, those who have subscribed. And if you
00:14:15.260haven't already, guys, get on there, take out a subscription, use that coupon code TRIGGERED,
00:14:19.020and you'll save yourself some bucks. As well, I might as well mention one of our sponsors too,
00:14:24.360and that is Bitcoin Well. These guys have been sponsoring us for a while. I want to talk a
00:14:29.360little bit about that federal leadership race to a couple of guests from now. I do want to talk
00:14:33.560about that digital currency thing. It's really starting to turn into an issue. I never would
00:14:36.820have thought that we would see digital currencies coming up in a federal election race as an issue
00:14:42.000in a plank. And this is where we're at. I mean, this is new. It's growing. Whether people like
00:14:45.940digital currencies, don't like them. They are a real part of the world now. And you don't know
00:14:49.600which one to get involved with. You don't know how to get into it. I mean, this is new. This is
00:14:53.600your money. This is what you worked hard for. People a little gray around the muzzle like0.99
00:14:57.660myself don't necessarily understand what it's all about. And Bitcoin Well, they're an Alberta
00:15:02.420company. They're there for people like me. And I think a lot of people like you who might want to
00:15:07.720get involved in it, but you're just not sure what's said about it. Well, they give one-on-one
00:15:11.600direct service with real people, real Albertans face-to-face. So you can get set up, set up your
00:15:18.080Bitcoin wallet, save a little money on the side, do things, practical uses, you know, pay your
00:15:22.740utility bills, things like that. And they have ATMs all throughout the West. Check them out,
00:15:28.340bitcoinwell.com. I'll probably talk a little more about them a bit later as well. They've
00:15:32.280been a fantastic sponsor. So before we get on to our next guest, I just want to talk a bit about
00:15:38.580that firing at Alberta Health Services is interesting. I mean, this, as some of the
00:15:42.600commenters are saying, you know, no great loss. This was a person appointed by Notley. It'll be
00:15:47.800a big severance package, but sometimes it's worth spending, I guess. I think the severance package
00:15:52.960of the standard here, if I manage to get myself fired, I'll be able to grab whatever's left in
00:15:57.340the shared refrigerator in the hallway on my way home. None of that six-figure stuff like those
00:16:01.760government workers get on their way out the door. We'll see. I don't think I'm that close to getting
00:16:05.860fired yet. But I hope it's a move towards positive change, like something I've ranted about a lot and
00:16:11.460over and over again on this show, and then I'll continue. It's with this pandemic, with all this
00:16:16.400stuff going on, not enough people are talking about the system. Not enough people are talking
00:16:20.720about how that's what's got to be changed. You know, the Alberta Health Services, lots of people
00:16:24.920keep talking. It's a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy. It doesn't serve people's health0.95
00:16:30.180needs well, it costs a fortune, but nobody's willing to really get in there and start gutting
00:16:36.160that thing, start working to fix it. It just keeps growing and growing and patient care keeps getting
00:16:41.320worse and worse. I mean, we've got fantastic health professionals in the hospitals, on the
00:16:45.440front lines, paramedics, all sorts, but when they're constantly losing budget to that giant
00:16:50.380bureaucracy, when you can't pivot and change to properly serve people and patients because of
00:16:55.920that bureaucracy, you've got a big problem. And when we, you know, the justifications for the
00:17:00.340lockdowns, the restrictions, they keep falling on to saying it's because the health system's
00:17:04.360getting overwhelmed. Well, we've been spending more and more and more on the health system,
00:17:08.100and it's still getting overwhelmed. Then we got to start looking at the system. And that starts
00:17:12.520at the top. And that starts with the head of the system, you know, maybe firing her is the best0.99
00:17:17.500way to start towards it. Or maybe they're just going to appoint a government flack, and we're
00:17:22.480going to have more of the same. I don't know. I mean, I'm hoping for the best and hoping this is
00:17:26.480a move in the right direction of seeing some real systematic change in our health setup because we
00:17:32.200really need it. But we will see as those details come out. And as we said, Rachel Emanuel, she's
00:17:38.320moved out here. She's up in Edmonton now and she's going to be covering the press conference from the
00:17:42.340NDP and she'll be wandering around the legislature. And I'm sure she'll find more details on that
00:17:46.820story and other things out of Edmonton as she goes up there and just see what the motivation of that
00:17:52.000was and what's going on with it. And of course, where the government wants to go next. I mean,
00:17:55.680I don't know how fast before they'll fill that role and who they'll put in there, but
00:17:58.740that's really going to indicate what they're planning on doing and why this firing might
00:18:03.680have happened as well. So I see my next guest in the lobby there, and it's Mike Baker. I've
00:18:08.220been looking forward to that all weekend. I was ranting about the police forces, the treatment
00:18:13.440of them in Calgary and a number of things last week. And it's good to speak to somebody who's
00:18:18.640actually had to deal with all this mike baker is the former vice president of the calgary police
00:18:22.880association and the alberta federation of police associations and he is uh a veteran i believe of
00:18:29.96024 years on the force so let's bring him in and have a talk uh i'm going to start about of course
00:18:34.560that thin blue line patch that's got everybody so upset right now so hey mike how's it going
00:18:39.600hey cory how you doing today thanks for having me oh it's good to see uh as you mentioned before in
00:18:44.300that small world sort of thing when we used to have a little hockey group about I don't know
00:18:48.84010 years ago or so it's when I started trying to learn to skate in my late 30s early 40s it was a
00:18:54.480pretty sad affair but you guys humor me quite well on the ice out there so I still appreciate that
00:18:59.080now good times my friend good times yeah so I mean getting to that contemporary thing you know
00:19:05.000that that hornet's nest you've been active on twitter and speaking up maybe just to start with
00:19:09.980people what is the blue the thin blue line patch about i mean there's a lot of people making their
00:19:15.340own interpretations about what this is but what does it stand for as far as police officers are
00:19:19.980concerned for sure corey well the thin blue line what it means to us is really three things it's
00:19:25.180a opportunity for us to recognize our um fallen officers um recently we've had uh within the last
00:19:33.740year we had one of our members killed in the line of duty um that really is important to us we pay
00:19:39.500respect. And that's how we memorialize our fallen members. Secondly, it's a way for us to pay
00:19:47.160tribute to one another and show our solidarity. The career is very difficult. You know, it takes
00:19:53.560its toll on members, both physically, mentally, our relationships. So it's a way for police
00:20:01.580families to show solidarity and support for one another. And lastly, and probably one of the more
00:20:08.580common meanings is it's the line between uh us and chaos or or the society falling into anarchy
00:20:17.380those that would prey on on the the civilians and uh take advantage of our communities
00:20:24.980yeah and so that's been kind of a voluntarily worn patch by a number of officers for a number
00:20:30.020of years on different forces for for quite some time now right um i can tell you corey like i've
00:20:35.780been on the police service for 24 years um it's been here the entire time uh it is something that
00:20:42.100we take great pride in um it's been there uh um yeah but i can't give you the exact date but i
00:20:49.940know it goes back into the mid-1900s well and then going that far back i guess that's where
00:20:56.740uh some of the people i mean are reading in interpretations into it uh i mean the worst of
00:21:02.420it i saw and that that was from a senior communications bureaucrat in the city of calgary
00:21:07.700saying outright that a number of officers held white supremacist views and wanted to see a white
00:21:13.700supremacist eurocentric state it was just absurd and bizarre and and to use that patch as a reason
00:21:20.900to say that's what it represented i i was just infuriated when i saw that and how must it feel
00:21:25.540for police officers wearing it well certainly i know it's an attack on officers and i think we've
00:21:31.060seen that uh over the last few years for sure um those types of rhetorics i mean i don't know how
00:21:37.460much uh uh juice the public can actually give to stuff like that but uh i i think what we've seen
00:21:43.220certainly at the calgary municipal level is there's been a lot of activism um you know being
00:21:50.500played out in the political arena um it doesn't mean any of those things and i think the chief
00:21:56.260uh chief newfeld did an excellent job last week when he stood up and said he can confidently say
00:22:01.620that there is not one member of our service that wears these symbols as a as a show of
00:22:08.100white supremacy or any kind of that foolishness oh and it's just i mean a lot of people are i
00:22:14.100think upset in general uh the police kind of land in the middle and and uh when people are ticked
00:22:21.060off when they're protesting in particular. They'll always be, you know, get pretty grumpy when the
00:22:26.600police intervene and move in. And it doesn't seem to matter what happens. If the police let the
00:22:30.440protest go, people scream at them. And if the police intervene in a protest, other people are
00:22:34.580screaming at them. And that's some of what's kind of going on right now. Well, very difficult
00:22:40.020position for the police to be in at any time. I mean, we're there really to protect people's
00:22:44.520charter rights, to make sure that the peace is kept and represent everybody's interest. When
00:22:49.900you're in the middle when you're sandwiched between two groups of people i mean it's a very
00:22:53.400delicate line a very delicate line to walk um so i mean i i had one person you know pointing out
00:23:00.800just as a commenter and fair enough from mike connelly but just saying like with the recent
00:23:04.800things we saw on the weekend some people getting ticketed for honking their horns uh you know
00:23:08.580because that's now under an injunction as being illegal but how does that apply does the officer
00:23:13.680what kind of discretion because i mean if you're honking after a flames game outside it's probably
00:23:17.020out a problem but if you're honking at a protest suddenly you're going to get an 83 ticket uh how
00:23:21.740much of that responsibility lands with the officer you know corey i want to be careful in in weighing
00:23:26.780in on that because i don't have the knowledge uh i wasn't part of the uh enforcement on any
00:23:31.100of these protests i haven't been down there so i just want to be careful but you know when it
00:23:35.340comes to officer discretion certainly uh i believe that no officer wants to give anybody a ticket
00:23:40.940you know what we start with education we go out there and uh advise people as to you know what
00:23:46.140the standard uh should be and uh sometimes uh people can get upset and maybe talk their way
00:23:52.140into tickets or or push the the gambit but i think in the most part officers don't want to give
00:23:58.060tickets to the public no and i mean i there was a an episode uh for example uh when i did a protest
00:24:05.340down in olympic plaza and i parked my truck there in the middle of a bunch of occupy protesters i
00:24:09.660don't know if you recall that but uh it took uh before i got my stack of tickets and i got a good
00:24:15.180good stack of them out of that stunt but I knew what I was getting into but I mean I was given
00:24:19.700probably half a dozen warnings and opportunities to leave if I wanted to I could have left there
00:24:24.620without being fined and ticketed I didn't see anybody eager to come down and crack down on
00:24:30.160me at that point they just wanted to get me out of the way and not have any trouble caused
00:24:33.460definitely I can believe that I mean let's be honest the police are in a tough position all
00:24:40.240the time trying to to balance everybody's rights and uh everybody's uh interests but in most
00:24:47.000situations the police do not want to crack down on people they just want people to go ahead do
00:24:52.260what they are doing and uh respect you know the community and and what's been laid out so in this
00:24:57.820situation on the weekend you know i'm sure it was unfortunate and a couple i'm not sure how many
00:25:02.200people got a ticket but uh you know what i'm sure maybe they had the opportunity to avoid getting
00:25:07.400that ticket. So getting into the broader thing, I mean, what I'm starting to worry about too is
00:25:13.320general morale. I mean, it's the constant degradation, the beaking out. I mean, I've
00:25:18.360got a real rude commenter who keeps going on and he's going to get blocked pretty soon if he keeps
00:25:21.780it up. I understand people can have different points of view and be upset with the policing
00:25:26.000and so on, but just the constant barrage that comes from left and right, it seems it's not
00:25:30.800even a partisan issue so much. We know we need the police, but we just can't seem to be happy
00:25:36.420with what they're doing and i personally i mean as i said in a recent uh column of mine i i think
00:25:42.260that's part of what could lead to more police misconduct i mean if morale is low uh if an
00:25:46.580officer is suffering from from other issues this is how you can hit the breaking points and things
00:25:50.820can turn out poorly well uh i kind of see it like you cory but uh you know nobody wants to see a
00:25:59.140police misconduct especially the police i mean we're the we're the first people that stop that
00:26:03.780we're the first people that call out our our co-workers should we see that i can say in 24
00:26:08.740years i've seen it less than the number you know less than the number of fingers on one hand
00:26:13.380um and it's been addressed but that being said where i see things can go wrong is uh the constant
00:26:20.260barrage of negative attention on the police it affects things like recruiting um we can't fill
00:26:25.300our classes um when you can't fill your classes i mean we have a responsibility and an obligation
00:26:30.980to protect the community things are going wrong in this city at a horrible rate and some of that
00:26:36.340has to do with the number of bodies out there on the street we can't keep up bodies employed and
00:26:41.300we can't hire bodies to come in there so as we have those pressures to fill the positions more
00:26:48.100and more leeways are taken in order to bring bodies into the service and that's where i think
00:26:54.260you can see challenges coming when when you bring somebody in that might not be to the standard that
00:27:00.420we used to have you know 10 15 years ago so something that's gone on for quite a while now
00:27:06.340though it has been the uh the defunding movement uh you know that one i always find quite absurd
00:27:13.060too i mean at the same time i've talked about we spend too much in health we need to fix our
00:27:17.060systems things like that but it's just that that's the one and only area where anybody
00:27:21.140seems to talk about the feeling that if we defund it it's going to make the service better and it
00:27:24.900just seems counterintuitive and again i i'd imagine it's going to be a bit demoralizing
00:27:28.980You've got, and it's not just, you know, crackpots on Twitter and other such things.
00:27:33.720These are senior political officials supporting this and calling for this sort of.
00:27:52.040Some of that has to do with the politicians at City Hall that are calling out and calling
00:27:58.160for these defunding movements um really i mean if we look at our city right now and things like the
00:28:04.560um lrt's the problems in the downtown core um our city is not safe anymore we've had i mean all one
00:28:12.800has to do is turn the tv on or look at the news and see how many shootings have happened uh how
00:28:17.280much violence is happening we had a a young lady murdered last week i'm i'm sad that these
00:28:25.040politicians are politicizing um in order to gain votes but really who's suffering it's their
00:28:30.960constituents and uh that's not how it should be no that's it and i've been highlighting that a
00:28:37.680lot too as i've been working downtown this last couple of years i mean i come down and i'm watching
00:28:41.440it degrade anybody down here sees this anybody going to lrt platforms see is it i mean it's
00:28:46.560and we're not calling for police to come in and start cracking heads but we've got
00:28:50.160safety issues i don't necessarily feel comfortable when i'm walking on those platforms and i'm a
00:28:53.760a full-grown middle-aged man how's it got to feel for seniors or some of the you know ladies and
00:28:58.460such I mean we need a police presence in a preventative sense to feel safer but again
00:29:02.720people want both ways right they want to feel safer but at the same time want to as little
00:29:07.260police as possible I guess it's finding that balance is difficult yeah and you know what and
00:29:13.420I mean I have to look at the politicians and and uh you know we have certain ones that are doing
00:29:19.140this and i think it's fairly transparent to see why they're doing it they're they're looking to
00:29:24.060capture um certain audiences and that translates to votes and that translates to power in their
00:29:30.040situations but ultimately i mean who suffers it's the constituents if we look at uh two of the louder
00:29:35.820activists on council and on the commission for that matter you know all one has to do is look
00:29:41.000at their words and look at uh you know the crime that's happening now there the victimization
00:29:45.040that's happening down there instead of defunding they should be calling for more funding and more
00:29:48.940action well that's it and i mean there is room for improvement i mean things do happen officers
00:29:55.500do step out of line at times there's been abuses but assuming say the same funding or more funding
00:30:01.500what can be done then for you know to address those issues i mean if we do have uh cases with
00:30:06.380wellness checks that have gone badly things such as that which moves should we do to try and avoid
00:30:12.220these these these circumstances because that's it is a problem ultimately corey i think though that
00:30:17.420comes down to education um calgary police they've had uh teams that have consisted between police
00:30:24.300officers and uh social workers that have been in place for years and years this is not a new idea
00:30:30.060this is something that's been happening for a long time um but they're only able to be utilized in
00:30:36.140certain circumstances when there's violence when there's a threat of bodily injury we cannot put
00:30:41.980those people into those situations uh you know a knife goes into a social worker is as easily as0.99
00:30:47.580it does into a police officer and uh we just can't put people into those situations so you're going
00:30:52.060to get a lot of public outcry when the police are put into positions they utilize all the the
00:30:58.220de-escalation tactics and it doesn't work out and uh you know it's tragic however these things
00:31:03.660happen and it doesn't just happen in calgary no no it's it's not alone here by any means so
00:31:09.980uh with this symbol right now you know with the thin blue line some officers are defying it uh
00:31:16.300the the association is uh recommending you know that the ones that choose to can defy it how long
00:31:22.300do you think that standoff will go though we got some very harsh language coming from a certain
00:31:25.900member of council who's saying it's going to lead to consequences and and uh potential dismissals
00:31:30.940uh where can this end well corey i mean you know what it's a it's definitely a standoff i think
00:31:37.500it's uh it's uh was implemented poorly if uh if uh the commission was really so concerned in
00:31:44.700relation to this um you know their own findings their own citizen um polling uh the polling that
00:31:52.060the police service did the polling that the police association did um you know upwards around 80
00:31:58.540of calgarians find it either neutral or support that that symbol and don't find it offensive so
00:32:03.980So once again, we're kowtowing to a fringe minority in order to address some, whether they be falsities or very loose connections of what that symbol actually means.
00:32:17.240I think another thing we have to look at is the engagement.
00:32:21.740There was zero engagement from the commission with the police associations.
00:32:28.760The chief was very solid in his stance that this means a lot to my people, and this is a hill they're going to die on, and it's probably not something you folks want to pick a fight with them in relation to because the men and women, their friends, our colleagues, have fallen in the line of duty, and that's a pretty big sacrifice.
00:33:25.460how many families have lost family members,
00:33:27.540how many families have suffered consequences of this career yeah it means a lot and you know what
00:33:33.420engagement that happens uh in the beginning of the process not once uh uh things have fallen
00:33:39.520apart the commission could have uh taken an approach but instead they they they played
00:33:44.520activism and came in with a heavy hand and both the police association and the senior officers
00:33:49.200association said sorry we're not going to adhere to this and we're going to stand tall and stand
00:33:54.760fast and out of the 2250 members that leaves the senior executive which is only five members so
00:34:01.480i mean i think you're going to see a huge solidarity piece and uh yeah it's easy to
00:34:05.640say you know we're going to come in and there's going to be consequences that is in the chief's
00:34:09.320hands and that's one thing they can't take away from and how the chief deals with that that's up
00:34:13.240to him now they can hold the chief accountable there and however they choose to do so but
00:34:18.360that's not going to fix anything if uh if there's going to be a standoff here you have to engage
00:34:23.800you have to show some leadership and uh that's something that the commission failed to do in the
00:34:27.880first place yeah well the commission unfortunately i mean it has its ups and downs it's it's a group
00:34:33.160with a lot of appointed individuals and again there's some some activists among that group
00:34:37.640and such uh i'm not sure if that's the best i don't know that comes to whole systemic reform
00:34:42.760but how would we best guide our police forces because i mean we don't want and it's true one
00:34:47.480thing i'll say is you know city hall can't or shouldn't directly guide policing that's not
00:34:51.720their role i mean theirs is broader than that and if you start getting politicians directly uh
00:34:57.480moving into policing that's a line being crossed that's not going to serve any of us any better
00:35:01.560well and we're really skirting that line corey um i had opportunity after the police commission's
00:35:06.840employee satisfaction survey was released to uh be in a meeting with the ex or the uh mayor's ex
00:35:12.840chief of staff and uh the thin blue line then was a point of contention and the push on that
00:35:19.080and uh the mayor and her staff's uh um dislike of that you know what um again city hall has
00:35:27.800their own role the commission has a governance role and everybody needs to stay in their lane
00:35:32.200you know what the chief was hired to run the police service and uh you know let him do that
00:35:37.400if he needs a little uh guidance here and there the commission can do that but again i think some
00:35:42.440boundaries have been overstepped and uh there's some problems uh rearing their heads now yeah
00:35:48.040Well, we'll see how this all irons out. It's interesting to see as it's a bit of a standoff going on. I appreciate you coming on to explain a bit more and just talk from the perspective of an officer. And where can we see more? I know you're active on Twitter and some other areas. Where can people follow you and keep track of what you're doing, Mike?
00:36:04.080You know what, Corey, I try not to get too involved.
00:36:07.980I am on Twitter, but you know what, you can follow the CPA president.
00:36:12.600He's certainly always putting some knowledge and pieces out there.
00:36:18.540We have our federal Canadian Police Association.
00:36:23.480They're always putting in good quality information out there.
00:36:27.420But yeah, you know what, Twitter, some of the social media, Corey, that's probably where you're going to find us.
00:45:04.600So if we want to talk about inefficiency of government, and Mr. Diot's seen a lot of that in his time when he was in there, municipally and federally, I'm sure.
00:45:13.220See, the mask mistakes worth $106 million from the federal public health agency, including, you know, theft and contracting issues and things.
00:45:24.600Records are showing, you know, with this COVID scramble, taking our money and putting it towards things that are supposedly going to make us safer.
00:45:32.400With this hindsight, when this whole pandemic thing is behind us, I don't know how many more years it's going to really take it all to get behind us.
00:45:40.300But when we see stuff like this, man, we're going to be turning over a lot of rocks and
00:46:02.740I mean, the inflation, but nobody, of course, can misappropriate money more efficiently
00:46:09.520than bureaucracy, and it seems the higher the level you get, the worse they are, so the federal
00:46:13.800government can manage to mess up $105 million worth of mask supplies. Just staggering. I can't,
00:46:22.580don't know where to begin, but I see Kerry waiting in the lobby. I'll bring him in a few
00:46:26.020minutes early if he's ready to roll. He's nodding, so let's bring Kerry Diodd in, and Kerry's got a
00:46:33.280long history let's pop them in here um politically and journalistically you were writing for a long
00:46:40.240time you were on the civic politics i believe in edmonton and then federal as a member of
00:46:45.200parliament and uh now here you are today how's it going gary it's going great i'm glad that
00:46:50.320you're talking about misappropriating money because i think we know who will handle that
00:46:56.960very well when he is prime minister that's uh one of my main jobs right now is trying to get pierre
00:47:02.400Polyev elected as leader of the Conservatives and ultimately Prime Minister and things are going
00:47:08.960really well. Well and Mr. Polyev is certainly a leading and popular choice. He was the first one
00:47:16.120we interviewed. I've had a number of candidates on the show actually over the last couple weeks.
00:47:21.300I'm hoping to get every one of them on. I mean I don't remember the last time we've had quite
00:47:25.680this many declared candidates for a federal race though. What do we got? We're at 10 now I believe?
00:47:30.180yeah that's true um my suspicion is that when they realize what the price of pay of of uh playing
00:47:38.980poker is which is essentially three hundred thousand dollars just to get off the ground
00:47:43.980i think many will probably come up short because that's just kind of that's the entry fee and
00:47:50.000that's the sort of the good manners fee that the party is is putting in and then on top of that
00:47:56.880you've got to talk about travel, you've got to talk about all the other expenses that go with
00:48:01.620the campaign. So I think it'll be whittled down. And again, I think that it's pretty clear right
00:48:07.620now that Pierre Polyev is the guy to beat, and he can probably start straightening out that
00:48:12.660misappropriated money that you were talking about earlier. I think that his message of
00:48:19.520freedom is really resonating with people. Yeah, well, and he's always been a very effective
00:48:25.440member in the house of commons and calling the government out and bad actions and things for
00:48:29.540years uh one thing a lot of people i think if nothing else are looking forward to if uh you
00:48:35.720know presuming uh mr poly have won the leadership would be watching him go to toe-to-toe with uh
00:48:41.000prime minister trudeau in a debate it would probably be a quite a spectacle to say the least
00:48:46.260yeah and i think he's he's certainly shown that already you know what i really like about pierre
00:48:51.120though he's bringing new people into the conservative movement he really is um i'm sure
00:48:57.440you've had this conversation with people who don't follow politics very much where they'll say yeah
00:49:02.560you know i i don't know much about you know politics and all that but there's that that that
00:49:07.840pierre pierre paulia yeah that guy i like that guy um and i i think he's really reaching out and and
00:49:15.440getting people because you know what for once we've got somebody who is a leader who already
00:49:22.160has a following we're not having to pitch and say okay so and so he's probably the best bet for the
00:49:28.800party like take my word for it look i i know him well and he's smart he's done this he's done that
00:49:35.280pierre's already got in got that built-in following and that's what's really exciting to me
00:49:40.000he's uh he's crushing it across the country with the events that he's been holding getting you know
00:49:47.440a thousand people at times for for these meet and greets these these pop-up rallies and people are
00:49:54.720excited for once for once they're excited with a conservative leader and we're not having to settle
00:50:00.540for um you know we're not having to basically sell people on the leadership he's already shown
00:50:08.160that he's a leader yeah well and he's been certainly catching a lot of attention those
00:50:13.000rallies have been large of course the the knives have been coming out i'm seeing some of the usual
00:50:17.000columnists and attack dogs pointing out well that looks just like bernier when he was doing his or
00:50:22.320even worse of course they'll start using the t word and saying well remember the rallies he brought
00:50:27.040across this is a dangerous trend and uh but i mean i i don't know that tells me that the establishment
00:50:32.460is getting a little scared and i'm not sure if that's a bad thing i think it's a great thing
00:50:35.940Whenever I see the Toronto Star or some of these other outlets, CBC commentators, where they're saying negative things about Pierre, I think that's great.
00:50:45.920Because you know what? I wouldn't want a leader who the Toronto Star loves because virtually everything the Toronto Star loves is left-wing, liberal, NDP, coalition BS.
00:50:58.540and if they don't like him I like him even more because we don't need the we don't need the
00:51:05.820Toronto Star to tell us who's a good conservative and who's who's going to be the best prime
00:51:10.520minister they've always gotten it wrong they're they're in Trudeau's pocket solidly and it's
00:51:17.520it's laughable it really is. Yeah well the Red Star has always been a sad institution of0.99
00:51:24.000journalism journalism in general though unfortunately you know even there was more
00:51:28.400principle in it within the past i mean the the star has always been a left-leaning paper but
00:51:33.36020 years ago it wasn't as directly beholden to the government like it is now like this trend of
00:51:38.160subsidizing media outlets and having them beholden to uh federal handouts and such i mean we're
00:51:43.520seeing that happening now i i think who is it the fellow from canadaland uh brown and he's a
00:51:49.200a left leaning individual, but he's been really calling that out today. I mean, it's good to see
00:51:54.240alternative media. I'm patting our own back a little, but still like left and right, we're
00:51:59.520going to do better if we get out of those ugly old institutions like the Toronto Star, because
00:52:03.100they've prostituted themselves to be blunt. I mean, they can't speak unrestrained any longer
00:52:10.900because they are fully dependent on government money. Well, Corey, as you mentioned in the lead
00:52:15.640i was a journalist for 30 years myself i was very active with an organization called the
00:52:21.080canadian association of journalists i was a national director and i am just appalled at the
00:52:26.440mainstream legacy media these days i've got to tip my hat to you guys because it's we we need
00:52:33.320independent media more than ever as you say when when you're when you're beholden by um government
00:52:39.640handouts that way you can't be trusted it's it's it's just it's just a non-starter when you know
00:52:46.580that the media is taking direct handouts from the government you're no better than the cbc
00:52:51.860uh broadcasting corporation then which is fully funded and uh and i think people that's exactly
00:52:58.980why people are turning off in hordes and they're turning to to folks like you and and other
00:53:04.580independent media because they know that the uh the mainstream legacy media is is they're liars
00:53:11.860and and i'm i'm sad to say that having been a journalist 30 years myself the uh the the
00:53:18.580independent media are the the people that people are turning to and the legacy mainstream media
00:53:25.300is being turned off in record numbers yeah well and i'm hoping that whoever because a trend has
00:53:31.780come out and there was a good story on that the other day from somebody in the mainstream,
00:53:34.660there's still some good columnists and that out there, but talking about the almost obsession
00:53:38.620that the Trudeau Liberals have with regulating the internet and of course what they're targeting
00:53:43.560are organizations like the Western Standard or Canada Land. I mean, Canada Land, again, I just
00:53:49.360like to give kudos to left-wing groups at times because they broke the We Foundation stuff. You
00:53:53.760know, the Globe didn't do it, the CBC didn't do it, the Star or the National Post, it was Canada
00:53:59.140land and the standard breaks things out here and the government hates that. They can't stand that.
00:54:04.500They want to get these alternative media outlets out and it's making this election very important.
00:54:09.540We can't take many more years of Liberals because they're going to keep controlling our information0.80
00:54:13.540and that makes it very hard to change the foundation of anything. Yeah, it's actually
00:54:17.060terrifying what the Liberals are trying to do at every turn, but particularly when it comes
00:54:24.020to free speech because you know when they talk about we're trying to protect you,
00:54:29.140that that's code for they're trying to protect themselves and anybody who starts talking about
00:54:36.180hate speech and trying to you know improve the internet or do it do it to to help the
00:54:42.820canadian public i take that with a large grain of salt i don't want the government to regulate what
00:54:48.980i am saying on on media period we already have laws that cover that we have distinct and and
00:54:56.180very clear laws in our criminal code against hate speech and we don't need the the liberals to start
00:55:03.220being arbiters of free speech no no and in the commissions they choose uh i mean it's bad enough
00:55:09.620that we've seen over the decades with uh some of the human rights commissions have managed to uh
00:55:13.700do and to see uh again the liberal government getting so directly involved with i mean activists
00:55:18.900like gilbo and that speaking on these things it's it's it's quite distressing i do believe mr
00:55:22.900You're probably a good talk about defunding the CBC.
00:55:24.860So people are, I mean, we've heard that before,
00:55:26.920but we are, you know, this is a new race.
00:55:48.860that I that I'm a subscriber to or a participant with and people can do the same it's it's free
00:55:59.720will and I know one thing is that if you look at CBC's numbers they're certainly not very high but
00:56:05.580they are dangerous because they're omnipresent and they keep spouting some of these these stories
00:56:13.400their coverage of the the freedom rally in in ottawa was a was a case in point it was it was
00:56:20.400abysmal i don't think they talked to more than a half dozen truckers if that they had their
00:56:26.600narrative and they were spinning and that's very very dangerous and i i think as a as a conservative
00:56:31.920we've got to stand up and complain when we see that kind of coverage i do and you know what if
00:56:38.220everybody did that, that would, that would hopefully smarten them up. They have things
00:56:43.680like ombudsman and ways to complain. We should all complain because it's abysmal. Some of the
00:56:50.300coverage that I've seen. Well, yeah. And just some direct accountability. I, you know, again,
00:56:55.200it's self-serving, but I was saying earlier, we rely on subscribers and hey, if we abused our
00:57:00.080subscribers with bad coverage, with bad stories, they're going to make it clear. I mean, first,
00:57:04.060they might send emails telling us, Hey, cut it out, you guys. And if we ignore them, well,
00:57:07.040they're going to unsubscribe. They're going to leave. That makes us accountable. And I can't
00:57:11.960think of a better way for that. Just get the government out. The better outlets will thrive.0.97
00:57:17.040And that's, again, getting back to the leadership race. I think that's what's resonating with
00:57:20.920people. The freedom notion that Pierre is talking about resonates in many ways,
00:57:29.140as far as the media goes, as far as financial freedom, as far as freedom of choice. You talked
00:57:36.700earlier about the uh the liberals mishandling the whole long gun issue that's that's another
00:57:43.280huge issue canadians just want to be left alone by government we want to keep many of our hard
00:57:51.000earned dollars and not have to give it out to um redistribution of wealth i mean the liberals have
00:57:58.320gone so far left and that's why i think for once um we have we have the right tact on this there
00:58:06.080There have been many people in previous campaigns saying, look, if the conservatives are ever to win, we've got to, you know, kind of soften our message and try to be a little bit more liberal light.
00:58:20.980Well, it didn't work. It did not work in the last election and it will not work in the next election.
00:58:26.060And I think that's why Pierre's message is resonating.
00:58:29.280And he's bringing in followers from all different realms because he, as mentioned, he has his fans.
00:58:38.040He's got his built-in audience right, left, and center.
00:58:40.960Here is a guy who can bring in and create a big tent.
01:07:21.320If you look that up, I did a rant that went quite viral there on, you know, talking about what that for, you know, the WEF is and what a sick organization they are.
01:07:30.900But again, I think there's some people who seem to tie it to anybody and everybody they don't like.
01:07:34.420And guys, they're thankfully not nearly as entrenched into all our politicians as they would like to be, as a lot of people think they are.
01:07:43.440Uh, just cause Schwab says he wants to control everything doesn't mean he can, he has, or
01:07:48.220he is, but either way we do ask those questions.
01:14:37.740Of course, they spent $4.5 million at the Privy Council office polling to find these things out, it looks like.
01:14:44.340So, you know, again, leave it to government to spend that kind of much money to find out that people these days, yeah, we probably don't need mail five days a week.
01:20:23.360I'm getting a little older. I'm not so good at the new tech. They set me up with what's called
01:20:26.840a cold wallet. It's a, it's a ledger. They called it, you know, and it's a separate piece of
01:20:31.560hardware. It stores my Bitcoin safely out of the reach of anybody. And there's a corporate plan.
01:20:37.960The Western standard has a percentage of my salary every month goes into that. And the
01:20:42.160Western standard matches that every month. It's just a little savings thing off to the side.
01:20:46.540And that way I've invested in a little bit of Bitcoin and I've got that little hedge there for
01:20:50.280whatever I want to do with it later. These guys help walk companies through it and help walk
01:20:53.920individuals through it. You want to do that with your own company or get your company to do it for
01:20:58.640you. Check them out. Bitcoinwell.com. These guys are on the cutting edge with these sorts of things
01:21:05.460and they will help you safely get involved in the digital currency world. Okay. So I'll just finish
01:21:12.800out with this other survey and, you know, talk about government spending money to report on the
01:21:17.300obvious. There's a survey suggests that Canadians are becoming more divided with some saying issues
01:21:22.080have led to them to reduce contact with friends and family. So this was a phone survey by the
01:21:27.360Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan. They asked a thousand
01:21:32.080people about the issues that divided most. Three out of four said they believe society's become
01:21:36.920more polarized. I don't think that's a real shocker. You know, that was like asking people
01:21:40.160if the sky's blue. I mean, look how bad it is these years. And, you know, 72% said the COVID
01:21:46.620pandemic and the federal election, the two most divisive issues of the last year, I guess, to get
01:21:52.400that measure. So three quarters of people are paying attention to the world around them. The
01:21:55.820other third or quarter there, how would you not think things have been divisive lately? But this
01:22:01.840is sad. I mean, this is sad. 40% of those surveyed said they reduced contact with friends or family
01:22:07.540over an argument about the pandemic or politics. And I can think of a couple of people who have
01:22:11.960done that in family circles of me and around them. Just about everybody can. This is a bad,
01:22:17.240bad place for us to be, guys. We can get upset with politics. We always have. That's as old as
01:22:21.500I'm sure 200 years ago, people would fight over the table and not talk for a couple of weeks or
01:22:25.160something. But now, I mean, over vaccination status or lockdowns or the federal election,
01:22:32.640like we're losing touch with each other. We're dividing, we're splitting. Friends and family,
01:22:37.180guys, I'll tell you some things. You can get, take politics is a saying I've always had.
01:22:40.740Take politics seriously. Don't take it personally. Your family is more important than any policy out there, any dispute out there. If you can't get along on what you think with the pandemic or who's in charge or who's the prime minister, just don't talk about those things. Avoid them. I know it's easier said than done, but don't. It's not worth losing relationships over. Brothers, sisters, not talking, families. It's wrong, guys. It's wrong. We're all suffering from that.
01:23:10.200Learn to get along with each other, even if you're differing.
01:23:13.240These numbers are scary, and we all see people doing it.
01:23:15.360And I know it always seems like it's the other person's fault.