In this episode, we talk to Wildrose Party Leader Paul Hinman, Calgary Councillor Dan Mclean, and Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Kevin Lacey. We also talk about the debt clock and what it means for Alberta.
00:12:55.120Mel is digging up a story because many are saying that mandates are being lifted, so why are people still protesting?
00:13:04.440But we have it coming out later today, exactly why people are still protesting, how many people are being affected by this, and what restrictions are still in place.
00:13:14.960um on the topic of protesting the police commission has a meeting that will be
00:13:21.560broadcasted later tonight at 3 30 so we'll be covering that after um mel's on that one too
00:13:27.680um and i'm just looking through what else we have coming up certainly and yeah and i'll just talk a
00:13:38.820bit you know on the things protesting i see a commenter pointing out that uh ardor paulowski
00:13:42.800is still uh imprisoned right now whether people like garter or don't like him or his style uh
00:13:48.640when people are saying there's nothing to be protested no there are a number of items still
00:13:52.500going on and again you might not agree with what they're protesting for but uh that's again where
00:13:57.660that dialogue has to come you don't have to agree with what somebody's protesting for to understand
00:14:00.940that they do feel upset with something and that's why they're out there yeah and like you were saying
00:14:06.200the counter protesters are growing every week i was there three weeks ago it was only a couple
00:14:12.320people and then two weeks ago maybe 10 and then last weekend was a little bit larger so it'll be
00:14:17.740interesting what what's going to happen this weekend especially when the police are saying
00:14:21.620um this has to stop and the mayor is saying this has to stop but not actually listening to what
00:14:27.920the protesters are saying the large groups of freedom so yeah yeah respect for go a long ways
00:14:33.800in calming things down so yeah that's all we got from the newsroom today thanks cory for checking
00:14:39.400Oh, you've got? Okay. Well, and I know, I'll just let everybody know you're escaping skiing this weekend. So we'll get a report on any potential injuries or trees that you've hit over the course of it.
00:14:49.580I'll let you know. Hopefully I can stay strapped on to the snowboard or hopefully I don't go flying off anywhere.
00:14:56.480I'm certain you'll be fine. Well, have some fun down there and we'll talk to you on Monday.
00:19:34.300This is pretty scary stuff in a government, you know, in this world when you can have your assets frozen for supporting the wrong cause.
00:19:40.760And then we better investigate and make sure this never happens again.
00:19:43.400And when you see those sorts of statements, that pure BS, the head of the Canadian Bankers Association basically feeding us the government line,
00:19:51.220I'm glad that somebody came out and countered them, shows that, again, how Canada is broken on so many levels.
00:19:58.340So I'm going to get to my guest right away.
00:19:59.860He's somebody who most often agrees that Canada is pretty broken.
00:20:03.920And that's Paul Hinman with the leader of the Wildrose Independence Party.
00:26:34.940But more important, when people are mad at you and they go to collect the signatures and they find out, oh, these other people aren't mad,
00:26:42.200then the animosity and the anger in them actually resides.
00:26:45.120They realize, well, no, maybe actually it's not that bad.
00:26:47.680So it's actually a calming effect and it's just very helpful.
00:26:52.120yeah and i mean some people again they say oh it'd be then we'd have endless recall elections going
00:26:57.640on well that's that's only if the the members are really that bad i know some are but i think
00:27:02.120as you said if they had that hanging they probably behave themselves a little better
00:27:05.480and a lot of people don't understand what's involved with real petitioning like not an
00:27:09.480internet petition not something like that go door to door get a physical signature from a
00:27:13.880person with their address and their phone number because that's what you got to do
00:27:17.240setting that getting a few thousand of those in a timeline it has to be pretty serious before
00:27:21.400people will take part in that i mean as we can see we can absolutely we can only get a quarter
00:27:25.160of them out to vote in a by-election unfortunately so yeah so getting i i guess to cynicism though
00:27:31.480and dish issues and i i said that a bit in the email i talked to you know we as conservatives
00:27:36.200and particularly independence-minded ones uh we're a bunch of rabbit squirrels often and we're always
00:27:41.320fighting with ourselves and we're certainly seeing it with the ucp and we see it with other parties
00:27:45.640i i know there's there's been some grumbling happening with the the wilders independence
00:27:49.400party perhaps about strategic choices on your part and such uh how can you address those right
00:27:54.600now well it's interesting the comments that were put out um they're ridiculous that that our job
00:28:01.320is to give people choice we we absolutely we enter a race we want to win but this is an educational
00:28:07.560process and what we need to do in the next year and this will hopefully um i want to say motivate
00:28:13.080more people who want to be running for the wild rose to get out and start door knocking now there's
00:28:18.200there's two options that you have an election an emotional election where people go out on an
00:28:22.840emotion or an actual one that where there's you know there's some some thought into it and some
00:28:28.760resolve and say yeah this is what i believe in this is what i want and voting for a cause i mean you
00:28:34.440and i both know more governments get voted out than get voted in and and to address the concerns
00:28:39.640but yes there's been some crazy comments but the fact of the matter is is the fire my majority of
00:28:45.480people were thrilled. We got into double digits. We established that we're absolutely the third
00:28:50.460party. The other ones didn't even come close and all the rhetoric I get, you know, that, oh, we
00:28:55.280got to do this. We got to do that. They got 0.4% of the vote, these other parties. We were at 10.8%.
00:29:02.880I mean, there's a mile between us. We're competitive. People actually see us as an
00:29:07.420alternative. But the ballot question was, is, hey, we want to get rid of Jason Kenney.
00:29:11.840we would have loved to do better and again um i don't know it's just exciting to get out there
00:29:17.880and be in double digits on on your first election ever uh for the wild rose independence party i
00:29:23.180think that's pretty awesome yeah and i mean some people do need to understand as we know again
00:29:28.500from building alternative parties it's a lot of work it's a big climb i mean from back when it
00:29:32.540was alberta alliance to wild rose alliance we went to a lot of elections with with single digit
00:29:37.800showings uh eventually though that did you know built into uh forming official opposition and
00:29:43.440really actually threatening uh government you know it's a long convoluted story on what happened
00:29:47.380with it but those those modest beginnings we would have been thrilled with an 11 support number in
00:29:53.780some of those early elections and uh when you compare that i mean when i talk about a solid
00:29:57.900third place that's very solid the next one going back was 1.4 i believe or something like that with
00:30:04.260liberals and and the others couldn't break uh one percent so uh it's good placement on a growing
00:30:10.020party i mean what what you guys decided to make with it we'll see from here but uh you know you
00:30:14.260can't call it a complete loss that's for sure oh no it it was incredible but you know i i always
00:30:20.180say you know some of the attitudes of some of our people are is that when you didn't win you didn't
00:30:24.020get gold okay so we're never going to go to the olympics again we can't try to climb mount everest
00:30:29.060again like um hillary never would have made it the the british expedition would have never gone up
00:30:33.460Mount Everest if oh we failed on our first one no we got this far we learned lots we've got to come
00:30:38.500back this is what we need to do you know we got to get out the vote you know you start from election
00:30:43.460day back and are you prepared and and we we definitely did not have the power to get out
00:30:49.220our supporters and get out the vote and we got to focus on that more in the next elections one of
00:30:54.100the biggest things that we learned or knew where we had a deficit was that team for getting out
00:30:59.060the vote on election day. Yeah, well, and if ever I was lacking a crystal ball as to what we're
00:31:04.920going to see in the next year, it's right now. I mean, we don't know what's going to happen after
00:31:08.640April 9th. There's probably 12 different pathways and scenarios we can see coming up with the UCP
00:31:16.160right there. I mean, and again, that variable, I mean, a lot of people voted against Jason Kenney
00:31:21.940as opposed to for Brian Jean in this by-election, and that's an unusual distinguishment, but it
00:31:26.720makes it difficult to campaign and stick to your messaging and policies and things like that when
00:31:30.680you've got a more personal battle going on and that'll be our challenge why i say this next year
00:31:36.100of door knocking is where we actually engage voters and they actually that they're going to be
00:31:39.940instead of that anger of voting something out as i said more governments get voted out and more
00:31:46.280people get voted out than get voted in and brian gene certainly didn't get voted in that was a vote
00:31:51.000in confidence against jason kenney which is going to be very interesting to watch on the knife on
00:31:55.640how that turns out. And then more interesting to see who comes out as the new leader, if in fact
00:32:00.120they're able to dethrone him. Well, and I guess one thing that perhaps could be put to rest in
00:32:05.040these election results in at least that constituency for sure, the threat of a vote
00:32:11.100split leading to an NDP win was not even close. It was not a consideration because people like
00:32:16.160using that to stop alternative movements and say, well, boy, if you get out there and we vote for
00:32:20.420you, we're going to put the NDP in. And I know in some urban writings, that might be more of a
00:32:24.040consideration but still uh it was nowhere even close in fact the NDP lost ground which kind of
00:32:30.000surprised me in this yeah and and that was the the surprising thing of all of this is that I thought
00:32:35.180the NDP would hold solid they have a solid base they don't and people realize that they're not
00:32:40.040the answer um I can tell you the two two things that I hit the door the most was I'm not voting
00:32:45.240for Brian Jean and I'm not voting for the NDP they ruined us and those were very prevalent but yet
00:32:51.020okay what did they vote for well they voted to get rid of jason kenny and you know like i say
00:32:57.500my elections are finicky but it's just exciting after spending three and a half months talking
00:33:02.120to people at the door to realize that we have an opportunity to get our message out there
00:33:06.800is the next election the ballot question is it is who's making the decisions is it going to be
00:33:11.800ottawa or is it going to be alberta is it going to be justin trudeau and the liberal policy is
00:33:17.340going to be Paul Hinman and the Wild Rose candidates that are putting Albertans first
00:33:21.340that that know that we need to protect our future and and that'll be goal one and value one and I
00:33:27.180think Albertans are going to be excited to realize that there is a a leader in myself and the party
00:33:32.860in the Wild Rose that is focusing on saving Alberta from Ottawa's destructive policies
00:33:37.980we've got to protect ourselves or we're going down with this sinking ship and Canada is a sinking
00:33:44.620great so what plans uh are there events or anything coming up with the party going forward
00:33:49.900now have you got an AGM or anything like that on the horizon or yeah we'll have an AGM the date
00:33:54.860hasn't been set i imagine the next 30 days that that will probably set the date it'll be here
00:34:00.700the next few months and we're looking forward to that for members coming and again my leadership
00:34:05.580will be on the line there unlike the UCP every AGM the leadership will get his vote on whether
00:34:12.860the members want me to carry on or whether they says nope we need somebody new so uh join up
00:34:18.380become part of wild girls nation and you can participate in our agm here in the next couple
00:34:22.780of months great and actually something else kind of a well i like bringing questions forward from
00:34:28.060the listeners and viewers and this one i i have to admit i'm not terribly familiar with it but
00:34:31.980the alberta prosperity project is wondering and perhaps with that or with other groups so they're
00:34:36.060going to be alliances or working with other things because there seems to be a lot of disparate
00:34:39.260organizations, whether it's parties or lobby groups, you know, pushing for similar goals,
00:34:44.260but not necessarily altogether. You know, the Judean People's Front Syndrome is kind of going
00:34:48.600on a bit. Well, it's always interesting, all these groups that are saying they're unity this
00:34:53.040or unity that, they approached me. Some even slagged me saying I didn't come down for a unity
00:34:57.580minute. I said, you know, if you guys really want unity, if you understand how important our
00:35:01.800independence is, come up and work with us on the by-election. And they had no desire to do that.
00:35:07.800again, it's a facade. They talk a lot. And again, there's a lot of different groups I'm talking
00:35:13.420about not being specific, but I reached out to most of them and all of them said that they were
00:35:19.120too busy to come up here to work in the by-election and to try to get the people to realize
00:35:23.940the importance of independence. The Wild Rose is the party of choice. We're out there with a
00:35:29.820double-digit lead and those people who want to join and fight and protect Alberta and become
00:35:35.620you know an independent sovereign nation come join the wild rose nation and be part of our
00:35:41.380efforts here in this next year great just in closing i'll throw one more from a viewer richard
00:35:46.840who's just asking and his broader question would take a whole new segment which i'm sure we can do
00:35:51.240down the road with any luck but it's one aspect he's asked about the challenges that exist if
00:35:55.180there was a referendum to separate uh you know and pursue independence uh but the big question
00:36:00.500is including uh first nations land ownership i mean that's a big hang up people put that up maybe
00:36:04.700If I could just get you to address that one question, because it's a big one, and I know we could talk for an hour about answering all the rest of the independent questions.
00:36:11.220And I love the fact that your show says, well, if we need to talk a little longer, we can.
00:36:15.320Not like the legacy parties or media where, oh, time's up.
00:36:22.700Well, first of all, what this next election will be about is giving Paul Hinman and the Wildrose candidates a mandate to exercise our full autonomy from Ottawa.
00:36:32.140And in an election and forming government, we will have it laid out very specifically on the autonomy and the things that we're going to be exercising.
00:36:41.660And the people, if they vote for that, will have that mandate.
00:36:44.940We respect individual rights and we certainly respect the group and tribal rights.
00:36:51.620And they're part of the deal with the First Nations and the Indigenous is with Ottawa and the Crown.
00:36:57.100and again it will be up to them to look at that and analyze and I mean it's down
00:37:03.940the road and they can watch us for a couple of years and see how it looks and
00:37:07.280what it would be like to be in a sovereign Alberta where they're equal
00:37:10.980where they own property rights where they actually have opportunities to get
00:37:13.920ahead and not have a father figure that tells them you know we're taking your
00:37:17.900royalties we're put into trust and all will tell you what you can do and they
00:37:21.380can't manage their own affairs in their property and so when you actually sit
00:37:25.060down and look at the opportunities they'll have as an equal Albertan and to own their property and
00:37:29.280to be able to exercise their rights and have the advantages of using that to get ahead, I think
00:37:35.780that they'll be excited to be part of us. Yeah, well, independence can be framed to benefit
00:37:40.700everybody. It's just going to take a lot of communication, in my view, along with a lot of
00:37:44.680other things. So thanks for addressing that one. Again, I'll keep you on for a full hour to try and
00:37:48.660cover all the other questions when it comes to independence. Where can we find more information
00:37:53.560about contacting you and the party if people have more questions or concerns and such go to our
00:37:57.900website wildrosenation.com wildrosenation.com and then sign up for our newsletter sign up become a
00:38:05.080member um the numbers 1-888-262-1-888 give us a call um and we're happy to reach out and again
00:38:14.440go to our website i'm not sure how long mine will be up but it was choose wildrose.com for the
00:38:20.140by-election but wildrosenation.com is the best place and again on twitter paul him and whippa
00:38:26.640it's just uh great to reach out and to spread our message and our our message of hope and an
00:38:32.840opportunity going forward because boy the legacy parties like the legacy media is failing us and
00:38:38.760we need to have a new alternative wild rose is here for you uh we're here for albertans and0.89
00:38:44.000you can count on us and you can trust us great well thanks for joining me again today paul it's
00:38:49.240always good talking to you and uh again good luck with all those signs and uh getting a bit of a
00:38:53.280breather and working moving forward thanks cory take care and keep up the good work great thanks
00:38:58.200so yes paul hinman of the wilders independence party who as we said just finished a uh yeah a
00:39:03.900hard-fought by-election and it does say something to the ground game i've worked with paul on by
00:39:07.760elections before and things like that's that difference that made the third place finish
00:39:12.040though as opposed to those other parties that were there but they were also rands they didn't hit the
00:39:16.640ground hard. They didn't bang on all those doors. They didn't spend months at it. And that's why,
00:39:20.960you know, the Alberta party, always a lot of talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And where did they
00:39:24.420get less than a percent? Because they weren't out there actually doing. That's the thing. You do
00:39:29.020have to work on the ground. I did see some comments, you know, some people, somebody saying,
00:39:32.360you know, I'll prove to me that the elections aren't rigged. Okay. I can't say that for every
00:39:36.620election, but I'll talk about something. Some people haven't been involved in a lot of elections
00:39:39.520before, and it's a good part of our system. That's why I never want to move away from paper ballots,
00:39:43.860by the way i don't is to be a scrutineer you have that opportunity on elections in every level and
00:39:50.740if you're with a party or if it's municipal or whatever you can register yourself you go to the
00:39:54.420elections office and every party will do it and it's a good check and balance they'll have
00:39:58.500scrutineers who go out on polling day or even in the advanced polls and they can visibly observe
00:40:05.060every step of it if you're there early if you want a long boring day go for it i mean they will even
00:40:09.460show you the empty cardboard boxes at the start of the, you know, before the poll opens to make
00:40:13.680sure you see there's no ballots stuffed in there. There's nothing inside it. Seal it up in front of
00:40:17.900you. You can watch the voting all day. Make sure. And then at counting time, even you watch those
00:40:23.240boxes get opened up. You see those ballots out there and you see them counted. And this is done
00:40:28.140in all of those elections. I know there's Dominion counting machine questions and things like that.
00:40:32.960That's an American thing. We haven't had that going on in the by-election and other stuff like that.
00:40:36.640and I'm not saying it never happens where there's been malfeasance in elections and things like that
00:40:43.180but our system with the paper ballots and with scrutineers taking part is actually pretty good.
00:40:48.060We don't necessarily like the outcomes, we don't like some of the tactics that were done by parties
00:40:51.500in campaigning and so on but I assure you if there was really anything rigged there's too many
00:40:56.240independent eyes on the process. The thing we got to watch for is anybody trying to get us away from
00:41:01.320paper ballots. That is where we can get a problem. If we start casting digital ballots or, you know,
00:41:06.820even using machines to cast it, then I'm going to get really, really worried. Stick to what we have
00:41:11.720right now. It's not perfect, but there are a lot of checks and balances and it works really well.
00:41:16.940And scrutineering is a really boring job for campaign volunteers. The best you get out of it
00:41:21.640usually is a Subway sandwich and a coffee while you sit there and make sure everything's staying
00:41:26.200on the up and up, but it's really important. And you can do that and you can talk to other people.
00:41:29.740uh laurie you're saying it's rigged well the proof is on you then laurie to say that it is
00:41:33.600because i've been to these i've scrutinied at them again i didn't like the tactics but i've seen
00:41:38.280absolutely no indication of rigging and i don't know how they would do it if they did not saying
00:41:42.720it's impossible not saying it's never happened but i haven't seen how it's done and i haven't
00:41:48.620seen it done so uh but again we do have to watch there's people who would love to rig it if they
00:41:53.700could uh mail-in ballots are always a thing of concern we saw that in calgary many years ago
00:41:58.360with a municipal candidate who ordered like thousands or something like that of mail-in ballots
00:42:03.080and then they were gonna it was the spouse of the candidate and it was really clumsily done
00:42:06.940and uh it ended up falling apart that's what i'm talking about is there's ways you could try to
00:42:11.420rig the system and there's people willing uh to try and rig the system but it's not as easy as
00:42:16.240some people think but we just always going to make sure we have those good old classic get in there
00:42:20.760and vote in person put an x on a piece of paper and you have that record and you have scrutineers
00:42:26.300and that right to be scrutineers to be there and watch the process from start to end and it'll make
00:42:30.980it really hard for those people who would like to rig elections uh get away with it um so getting
00:42:37.020back to misinformation and things being rigged uh let's talk about some new stuff before we get up
00:42:41.320to our next guest here in a bit uh some of the rumors uh speaking of mainstream media and the
00:42:47.360government talking about you know who bankrolled the freedom convoy that that was a big one
00:42:52.400Apparently, it was going to be big foreign millionaires.
00:43:40.360So much for that baloney that's going out there.
00:43:44.400Transparency, you know, I mean, getting back to,
00:43:46.000I guess, the elections and getting to things
00:43:47.800in general media, I tie it all together.
00:43:49.480as long as we maintain it, it does come out in the wash eventually. And the government is looking
00:43:53.820really, really bad as we follow up, as we do these investigations, as we see what's happened. So
00:43:58.520we see that the government did lie to people. We see that the government did rig things in a sense
00:44:02.340that they created that false narrative of there being a foreign conspiracy funding these convoys
00:44:10.060in order to bring in the Emergencies Act, which blew up in their own faces and is unforgivable.
00:44:15.800It really is. It was a form of martial law. We can never forget it. We should be following up and obliterating the people electorally who are in office right now. And the lies are starting to come out. So yeah, they determined that 88% of the donations originated in Canada. 86% of the donors were Canadian. And this was based on checks of banks accounts and credit card records.
00:44:40.120so uh no it was it was a it was a lie and the media happily fed that lie and they happily do
00:44:45.860uh what do we got here oh yeah let's like i got a treat for you i see cheryl saying uh0.98
00:44:52.440where is is brown and charie running for the leadership of the conservative party yeah well
00:44:57.940everybody can run and uh as i said a treat that's coming i'm going to be talking to uh candidate
00:45:02.200jean charie on monday morning on the show uh i'm going to actually be recording that prior uh you
00:45:09.280availabilities with these candidates, as when I had Pierre Polyev on as well.
00:45:14.040It's tough to get them in live. I'd like to try to. I'm going to keep trying to get them live,
00:45:17.500but either way, I'm going to have them for about 15 minutes on Monday morning.
00:45:20.720So if you've got some questions you want to put forward, I'll try and get as many as I can. As I
00:45:24.680said, those minutes pass fast, and those guys can really talk up a storm. So I want to make sure to
00:45:29.320get a few good pointed ones into them. I'm certainly going to ask them about the firearm
00:45:32.280stance. I'll save you sending that email if you're going to ask. It's definitely on the list.
00:45:37.300Send me, though, at cmorgan at westernstandardonline.com.
00:45:42.260Questions, suggestions, other things, too, in general.
00:45:45.660And I'll see if I can't get those questions forward to Sheree.
00:45:50.700Sheree has COVID, yes, so it's going to be a remote interview.
00:45:54.680Curly Maycube, here is World Economic Forum.
00:46:36.320That's the great thing with that World Economic Forum thing is it is actually fairly transparent.
00:46:41.700Their wishes with the Great Reset and the people who have attended their functions and how much they attended, whether they were just a viewer in the audience or whether they were a participant, it is all public record.
00:47:57.580So he's willing to address our listeners
00:48:01.700and viewers out here and in what's basically hostile territory and i appreciate that you know
00:48:06.980uh if he doesn't give the answers that that members want to hear he's he's not going to
00:48:11.520gain the votes but at least he's he's gonna speak to us about it and and answer what questions he
00:48:18.760will so i do respect that and we're trying to get the rest of the leadership candidates on you know
00:48:22.840as this carries on and as it keeps going so um maybe i'll take a moment to speak about another
00:48:28.300one of our sponsors here actually while i'm at it then and that's the uh canadian shooting sports
00:48:34.100association we've talked about them a lot and as i said i'm going to talk to sheree about his
00:48:38.660thoughts on uh policies with regards to firearms and some of the ones that have been miscategorized
00:48:43.940hunting rifles and such that are now banned uh the canadian shooting sports association well
00:48:48.340these are a group of guys they're a fantastic sponsor for us and uh their name says it all
00:48:54.860they're an association like any other kind you'd have. You know, it's where you can interact and
00:48:59.420share resources with other people with the same interests. And in this case, it's firearm and
00:49:04.020shooting sports, which could be target shooting, collecting, hunting, any of those things. And they
00:49:08.380have all kinds of resources, whether it's videos showing you safe firearm use and things like that,
00:49:12.900as most of us safely do so, or even links to trade shows and things like that. But the other
00:49:17.980thing they do have is legal challenges, a number of legal challenges against the liberal policies
00:49:23.200that have been taking away your rights, disarming Canadians, taking their property,0.96
00:49:29.760recategorizing firearms. They have multiple legal challenges against that out there on your behalf,
00:49:34.620and they need your help to do that. So check them out because you can take out a membership with
00:49:38.640them, and it's really important. As a firearms owner, you really should be a member. Go to the
00:49:42.540Canadian Shooting Sports Association, cssa-cila.org. Take out a membership, and they can help keep
00:49:50.180pushing back because those rights are going to be taken uh if we let them and uh it's up to us
00:49:56.420in that you know getting back to that apathy uh that paul was talking about uh we do want to make
00:50:02.180sure that uh uh wait a second okay sorry i just got a message from uh dan mcclain or he's might
00:50:11.940be a couple minutes late he's rushing back to city hall from a meeting but uh uh either way
00:50:18.980he might be a couple minutes late, but that's okay. I'll just keep babbling at you. So we got
00:50:23.080more news to talk about. Speaking of government mistrust and frustration and things such as that,
00:50:28.020we got the Manitoba Premier, Heather Stephenson. You know, you don't hear a heck of a lot about
00:50:31.780her. I believe she's progressive conservative and terribly low support numbers. She makes1.00
00:50:36.640almost as bad as Kenny or maybe even worse, but you can see some of why. And this is the stuff
00:50:42.580that sours people on politics. This is part of what keeps people from wanting to come out and
00:50:46.700people say that they're all the same. And we see that in every level of government. Trudeau does
00:50:50.120it all the time. His ministers do it well. Manitoba Premier did it. She was asked in question period
00:50:54.980about a woman who died in Manitoba, a valid question on a health issue. And she spent the
00:51:01.360whole answer talking about her son's hockey team instead of answering the question. It's not even
00:51:05.820just dodging, but it's being insulting in her refusal to address a direct question. And we see
00:51:11.560that so much in government. We see it so much in politics, and it gets tiresome, and that's what
00:51:16.980makes people stay home from voting, and we need to see less of it. We need more direct, frank answers
00:51:22.000from people. So when Heather Stephenson is dodging like that, that was similar to the question and
00:51:28.000answer we saw with Pierre Polyev asking about house prices in Ottawa, and that minister just
00:51:32.640kept coming up and talking about non-related things over and over again, not only to not answer the
00:51:36.860question, but to insult the questioners every time. It's got to stop. You know, that's the stuff that
00:51:40.900keeps people home. And the more people stay home, it's not going to make your political
00:51:45.200representatives better. I promise you. I know it seems frustrating when you come out and you vote
00:51:49.280and it just doesn't seem like it's working, but the worst alternative is not voting at all.
00:51:54.020All right. So I'm going to bring another elected representative in to speak with us here. We've
00:51:58.540got him in the lobby there and that's Councillor Dan McLean. He's with Ward 13 in that hornet's
00:52:03.980nest of Calgary's council. And I've been looking forward to talking to Dan for quite some time now.
00:52:10.020so let's pop them in there hey dan how's it going i'm doing well cory how are you good thanks now
00:52:16.660glad we could get you on as i was saying to the viewers earlier i saw your message but i'm on
00:52:20.340live so it's hard for me to respond back oh okay you're just gonna be delayed a bit it happens
00:52:24.580it's all right busy morning met with the fire spider union and then with my local mla for some
00:52:30.580ring road issues today later on we've got the calgary police commission so fridays are supposed
00:52:35.620to be easy, but this is the highlight of my day, Corey, to be honest with you.
00:52:40.660Well, I appreciate that. I won't be as hard on you as many of those other things,
00:52:44.740particularly the police commission and some of the other stuff. Before I guess we get on to the
00:52:49.140more immediate pressing issues, I'll just talk some quick general things like this has been a
00:52:55.220tumultuous city council, I guess you could say, a very new one, including yourself. This is your
00:52:58.740first term with them. Are you starting to settle in, I guess, into a bit of a, I mean, the first
00:53:04.020two months this and holy cow this is everybody's already missing the days of of ninchy's leadership
00:53:08.900when they would only scream for half the sessions uh is it starting to stabilize a little kind of
00:53:14.020people finding their roles or a little towards productivity or yeah i would i yeah it has i
00:53:20.020guess a short answer uh maybe not fast enough you're right it started off like uh they always
00:53:25.700talk about drinking through a fire hose but you had a bunch of new counselors a lot with uh1.00
00:53:30.900a little business experience or political experience and so uh yeah there's some growing
00:53:37.500pains where they throw a lot at you real quick um and i think what's frustrating for some people
00:53:43.300as they're feeling their way along there's a lot of a lot of talking a lot of questions and
00:53:47.780things are maybe done it being done as fast as they they could be but there is um i think i was
00:53:55.000talking to some of my fellow fellow councilmates yesterday and they said it's only been a few
00:53:58.800months but it feels like a year uh so um and we've already we've got three and a half years to go but
00:54:05.260it's getting better court yeah there is a not as fast as i would like it to be done it seems like
00:54:10.520you know politics moves like molasses in the first place but uh in a perfect world we'd maybe
00:54:16.040do less debating and getting more action done and uh and hopefully we can get there yeah so i'll get
00:54:21.800to one of the more divisive things that's happening right now uh and uh calgary seems to be now
00:54:26.400turning kind of into the hub of the remnants of the larger protests against COVID mandates and
00:54:33.720things. I mean, I don't want to discuss so much what the motivation of protesters is or whatnot,
00:54:37.980but it's clearly there's a lot of people who still feel that they need to get out and gather
00:54:42.380in the thousands and march every weekend in Calgary. It is frustrating some citizens and
00:54:47.000residents down there. But at the same time, we're getting some pretty heated rhetoric coming from
00:54:53.700some members of city council, which to be honest, in my view, I found frankly very insulting to some
00:54:58.140people who are just genuinely concerned down there. We might be coming to a head this weekend
00:55:02.420and it's getting really concerning on what may happen. I mean, I think nobody rational wants to
00:55:08.900see a conflict, but it seems almost like we're heading towards one. Sadly, sadly, that looks like
00:55:14.840what's going to happen. We will see on Saturday. I'm very, very upset about this, Corey. I mean,
00:55:20.520the protesting is one thing i mean we all support legal protests and these have been peaceful
00:55:25.520and legal again in my opinion they've gone on for i think their voices have been heard i mean a lot
00:55:32.840of people wanted myself included to have restrictions and mandates and all these things
00:55:36.700be repealed as you know i did a pretty fought really hard to have our mascot by law repealed
00:55:41.700so we've listened we've heard the cities got there the provinces got there federally i understand i
00:55:48.620I mean, hey, I would all like to see the federal leader, Trudeau, be gone as well.
00:55:54.280But protesting until that happens is untenable.
00:55:57.660Now, what's happened here that makes me upset is that I think they were winding down to a logical conclusion.
00:56:05.100But some councillors or this city councillors and the mayor have, I think, maybe inflamed the situation by calling for counter-protests or even showing up and fighting this battle on Twitter.
00:56:16.860As you know, council cannot instruct the police or the police commission on what to do.
00:56:22.080And indirectly or directly, this seems to kind of have been happening.
00:56:26.240And so now we've just we've seen this issue in flame where we've and hopefully this weekend we'll see it could be much worse now.
00:56:33.600So I would have preferred city council maybe just to zip it and maybe stay out of this and let the police do their jobs and handle it in their own fashion.
00:56:44.400And I mean, I'd gone to a couple of these, you know, not as a participant, but to observe, especially when it was peaking, you know, during the truckers convoy in Ottawa.
00:57:02.080But I could see why the people who took part were really offended by some of the nature of people calling them racists, calling them extremists, whatever they might be.
00:57:11.420But there is no evidence that this is a race-based thing.
00:57:13.920And we're getting that from some senior elected officials, which really, I could see that saying, you know what, I'm getting off my couch and I'm going back down there now.
00:57:20.720Because now I'm, you know, I was okay with the mandates dropping, but I'm ticked off now at being labeled like this.
00:57:26.380I wish we could just get some more, you know, rational discussion going on.
00:57:31.060Well, you know, again, I could be critical and cynical because, again, you know, the race, the race card is just getting, it's overused and getting well worn.
00:57:40.780And as you said, there's a lot of people and a lot of them contact me directly and are very upset at being called racist or white supremacist.
00:57:52.320If you go down there, I have not myself, but I've seen the images and it's people from all stripes and colors and backgrounds.
00:57:59.540So you can't say it's a white supremacist movement.
00:58:02.620So for some certain councillors, I'm not going to name any names.
00:58:05.920No, I'm not looking to get you to get into it.
00:58:07.600yeah well of course i have i i will be critical on social media of uh the mayor and some counselors
00:58:14.000policies now that's one thing to be critical of policies now going after a person's character now
00:58:18.880that's a whole uh different issue or uh maybe um some of this could be political where you're
00:58:25.600putting out uh again this shouldn't be litigated on social media in the first place but calls for
00:58:30.640action to maybe get more clicks or maybe to get your base more support from your base the outcomes
00:58:37.040now that we've got a situation that's totally inflamed and and people have been uh insulted
00:58:42.480their characters so and and unfairly characterized again having said that i think that we're all
00:58:48.480you know like i sympathize with the residents in the belt line or either down to coots or down in
00:58:54.240ottawa i mean when businesses get disrupted or uh your afternoon but again calling them names and
00:59:00.480calling them white supremacists that that that's uh that's not that's not fair that's not right
00:59:04.400no and so as we're heading towards this tense weekend there's only so much can be done in short
00:59:09.080order and there's a lot of questions over jurisdiction or who can do what we you know
00:59:12.980the city council's role isn't to push the police commission around or or to push the chief around
00:59:17.020but what do you think at this point can be done hopefully to to uh alleviate pressure this weekend
00:59:22.040or avoid conflict well three third excuse me uh we're getting two briefings today from calgary
00:59:29.320police commission at 3 30 some will be in public and some will be behind closed doors there has
00:59:35.080been some letters written back and forth you know strongly word of letters and again you talked
00:59:40.680earlier about this council maybe not getting things done in a timely fashion i've always said
00:59:47.000words are one thing actions another so i'd like to see less talk and more action something that
00:59:53.160and so i guess corey what i'm saying is we will hear from calgary police commission today
00:59:58.120um what they are going to propose because again it's my job as a city councillor is not to direct
01:00:02.920them and say here write more parking tickets or you could put up some barriers or close the park
01:00:07.400down and uh put up fencing there's been a lot of talk about maybe some by-law enforcement
01:00:13.320saying you know their parking's only there for two hours and start writing tickets um i will see what
01:00:19.720they have to say but again the best thing that i can do or my council fellow my colleagues should
01:00:25.640be doing is again not having any calls for action and saying hey let's all get out there and you know
01:00:31.160get uh you know more people on both sides of it and make this even bigger with the potential of
01:00:36.840this to get violent because it's so far it's been very peaceful so again i don't have the answers
01:00:42.840i will see if the police commission or the calgary police service have some answers and
01:00:47.160i'll know more by the end of today yeah well a good first step is yeah just stop pouring fuel
01:00:52.200on it that would be a refreshing beginning so hopefully we see some of that coming out
01:00:57.160uh so maybe we'll you know i've got a few more minutes with you turning along then it's your
01:01:01.240your first term in council what are your priorities going forward uh now that you know aside from the
01:01:06.120immediate pressing issues uh goals and things that you are hoping to accomplish in this this uh
01:01:11.160city council oh huge goal is just selling calgary as the best place in the world to not only live
01:01:18.920but bring your businesses here move here let's make it a business friendly city again not just
01:01:24.520words and actions and flowery mission statements we need to make sure that we encourage affordable
01:01:31.160housing this is a big thing i'm a child i live in the suburbs i'm a small town farm boy to begin
01:01:37.000with so and a lot of people do not maybe not necessarily want to live downtown you know sure
01:01:41.960we want to make a vibrant beautiful downtown with lots of options and maybe a nice entertainment
01:01:46.520district uh getting the event center back on track that's key to me corey um so i am on that
01:01:52.360committee and understand people so i'll be working very hard over in the next uh coming weeks and
01:01:57.320months to uh i think that's the integral part that any uh world-class city should have a world-class
01:02:03.160event center and a world-class hockey team which we certainly have and so that's key to me and then
01:02:09.560on top of that then it's just for my ward of war 13 there's a lot of growth and instead of having
01:02:15.000people move to Airdrie, Cochrane, Strathmore, Okotoks, let's live here in Calgary and so
01:02:21.240we can't have this anti-urban sprawl message that some on council or maybe it's a that's
01:02:27.320a messaging that I disagree with where we want to we need to build more homes because they're the
01:02:32.920prices are going up there's bidding war so more affordable housing more amenities in the suburbs
01:02:37.960so it's not always just about downtown Cory so I'd like to see that happen so revitalize the
01:02:43.960downtown there's lots of good issues and good things happening with the arts commons vmo
01:02:48.760expansion get the event center back on track uh those things for downtown bring businesses let's
01:02:55.560make sure that we're tax friendly and easy to do business let's not stack a whole bunch of bylaws
01:03:00.120and uh and regulations and uh red tape to prevent people from doing business here get get approvals
01:03:07.560development permits done faster so and then the other big huge key thing key thing for me is the
01:03:14.920is our is our homelessness population population we have a real problem with mental health and
01:03:20.040drug addiction and on our sea trains and our downtown core and so there's a lot of safety
01:03:25.400issues and then if so we've really got to work hard with the province minister mike ellis and
01:03:31.160if our federal counterparts to see what we can do to get to the core root of these issues and try
01:03:36.120to clean up uh and help in that situation so those are just some of the things but there's lots to do
01:03:42.520yeah well and something that does cross you know the the downtown urban and the the suburban uh
01:03:47.880issues is uh you know calling it social disorder the bottom line is as you sort of addressed a lot
01:03:53.080of it has to do with mental health issues and addiction issues i mean you live in the suburbs
01:03:57.080you're getting your catalytic converters stolen and if you're living downtown we i mean we're down
01:04:00.680here working i see the syringes i see the people on the streets it's very distressing you went on
01:04:05.880a police ride along the other day uh did you get some good insight out of uh that i mean we've had
01:04:10.440a lot of people sort of been rough on the police lately and again there's i think there's no better
01:04:14.680way to get their point of view than get out there and spend some time with them so that was good to
01:04:18.280see yeah and uh like i said met with the the fire department this morning and with transit i've done
01:04:23.960some ride-alongs and talked with peace officers on our sea trains so uh and again in that situation
01:04:29.560we just can't just kind of shelf push the you know move clean out the one c train station and then
01:04:34.920they hop on and then they go to the next ward and then that's another person's department's problems
01:04:39.560so again we have to get to the root of the problem maybe again we've got some treatment
01:04:43.960centers where we just don't say here's a here's a safe injection site here's some more drugs and
01:04:49.400move along and you can we have to we have to help these people to do that some secure maybe one
01:04:56.120would say uh um some rehabilitation that is uh that's that's necessary again we have to
01:05:03.720get there's a larger problem here we need to um there's a word i'm looking for i can't find but
01:05:09.880supports and and uh yeah i mean uh it's big i mean it's uh complicated that's why it's hard to put it
01:05:17.880into a few words but uh just hopefully seeing people address it rather kind of avoid it i guess
01:05:23.080is a good first step to start with and then i'm just glad to see you out there meeting the people
01:05:26.680on the ground you know in city hall or people elected officials whether it's the legislature
01:05:30.360or ottawa and they get dome disease or uh auto washed i think was sort of the term if you don't
01:05:34.840get out enough you don't get to see what's really happening so i i hope you know you keep visiting
01:05:38.680the police officers and the others who have to deal with it firsthand it can keep that perspective
01:05:42.920for you and see if you can find solutions well and they're having our staffing shortages and so
01:05:47.960you've got to support the people on the front lines or our frontline services and they've got
01:05:52.360a tough and difficult job and it's increasingly dangerous and stressful uh and there's a lot of
01:05:57.880burnout so again we have to support these people uh and work with them well great so well thanks
01:06:03.880for coming in to check in like i said it's been a while and coming i was trying to get you during
01:06:06.920the election campaign but it was uh too tight in time so uh thanks for coming in to talk to us
01:06:12.680today and uh hope we can check in with you again sometime soon and that this weekend isn't uh isn't
01:06:18.200to haywire yeah well we'll uh we'll give you an update and we'll do this again great where can
01:06:23.480people uh contact you if they need to constituents things such as that the best ways is just dan.
01:06:29.160mcclain calgary.ca okay well thank you very much council mcclain and besides that or something
01:06:36.200simpler just ward 13 at calgary.ca there we go okay well thanks again for coming in on
01:06:42.200such a busy day and uh we'll talk to you again soon okay thanks cory take care thanks
01:06:48.440so and it's as i was saying anyways with councillor mclean you know when we come to policing
01:06:53.160uh as he pointed out they're having staffing shortages you know we're having here's some
01:06:57.080of the irony and how messed up our our world is and our system is that uh a lot of people
01:07:03.480are short of jobs and having a hard time making the bills at the same time we've got professions
01:07:06.680such as police that are experiencing staffing shortages some of that comes down to morale
01:07:10.840right those police officers i mean they're constantly getting nothing but but crapped on
01:07:15.320we're seeing a lot of that from from some members in city council and a bit of that atmosphere from
01:07:19.720the mayor and i mean does it really make you want to go take on that job i mean that's a miserable
01:07:24.440tough job and no matter what you do you end up in no-win situations you know uh you get somebody
01:07:30.520in your face and getting too rough and and uh if you overreact and suddenly you're uh the next
01:07:36.040YouTube video of the week and you're getting pilloried. At the same time, if you ignore
01:07:40.560somebody committing a crime and they go further or ignore somebody who's showing signs of it and
01:07:44.160they go further and hurt somebody, you'll get it for that. And it's a difficult, difficult role to
01:07:50.300be in. And I think that leads to some of the issues when police act out and do some inappropriate
01:07:56.120actions. It's because when your morale is low, that's when you're going to be tense, you're
01:08:00.160stressed and you might not properly respond to a circumstance or situation when you could have
01:08:06.300because the police are wrong at some point so let's look further why why are there anger issues
01:08:11.760with police why do they go to physical force so quickly sometimes when perhaps there could have
01:08:15.560been other ways of getting out of it and we gotta look broader but I mean and I've talked about that
01:08:20.440before I can't think of a more ridiculous way to deal with that though than to defund them
01:08:24.940We could change some of the areas of training, change some of the ways that they're supported
01:08:31.660when they're out in the field, when they're working.
01:08:33.500But I can't think of any worse way to address the problem than to actually directly cut
01:09:16.560going on. You know, getting on their case further, I think almost some humiliating behavior being
01:09:22.980demonstrated towards them. I mean, ridiculous reactive things, as I talked about the other day,
01:09:27.720because they were wearing a pin, because some people misinterpreted that as some malicious
01:09:32.320support. It was ridiculous. And you know, okay, fine, the Twitter trolls and the twits and the
01:09:37.500morons out there going on about a symbol on a police pin, that's not to be too unexpected.
01:09:43.320There's a lot of stupid people online, and they love to share it with us. But they should have
01:09:47.760been called out very quickly by some people in authority. Where was the response saying,
01:09:52.360hey you guys cut it out your twits that's not what that is whatsoever but the police were kind
01:09:56.860of left hanging with this false rumor about them taking part in militias and crap uh without any
01:10:03.180uh counterpoint being made and and and again no wonder the police feel uh you know they have
01:10:10.080morale issues they they aren't feeling uh very good when they're going out to work and uh you
01:10:15.300know speaking again of mental health issues and challenges that happens on the police end of
01:10:18.880things too. They've got a tough, tough job. The stuff they deal with, some of the stress, them,
01:10:25.300paramedics, that symbol you can see there, it's that that's a pin. It's worn for people to take
01:10:29.140special crowd control training. And I don't know how they deal with a lot of that stress. I see
01:10:34.460that downtown. They deal, they respond to emergency situations and paramedics do. I wrote a column
01:10:39.060last fall on an incident I encountered on the way into the office. I ran across an overdose of a
01:10:45.400young man. I don't think he made it. I still don't know. And it shook me up. It still shakes me up
01:10:51.060now. I'm just a wreck over it. I was at that time. And it still disturbs me now, very much so.
01:10:58.060These guys are on the ground. They're dealing with that every bloody day. They're seeing this.
01:11:02.520They're seeing people killing themselves with these drugs. They're seeing people in dire
01:11:06.760situations. They're seeing domestic abuse situations, you name it. And then they get
01:11:13.380crapped on by their bosses. They get crapped on by the, by the public in general. So again,
01:11:18.020I'm not saying they're perfect, but boy, we've got to really, uh, you know, try to look at this
01:11:24.080in a broader picture rather than lashing out. Somebody saying, change the training. It shouldn't
01:11:28.000take six officers to take down one person. I, yeah, I, I'm no expert in those things. Uh, you
01:11:33.120know, if there were six people in mushy, nasty, uh, middle-aged shape like me, it probably would
01:11:36.700take six of me to do it. Um, but, um, it depends on how you look at it. Right. I mean, I would
01:11:42.660think if you have more hands-on, I mean, this is just uneducated talk coming from me. I'm prone
01:11:47.860to that, I guess. Maybe you could do it more gently, potentially, because, you know, you don't
01:11:52.400need to go and get as rough to restrain somebody if it was just two people. I don't know. That's
01:11:57.540an area of expertise for physical confrontation that I don't want to get into because I'll
01:12:01.420probably give you guys bad information on it. But the bottom line is there's room for better
01:12:04.980training. Absolutely. There's room for better training. The goal is to avoid conflict. And
01:12:10.280just to show some of the bad attitude they get to there on social media and the next guest i'm
01:12:15.420going to get too quickly here there was some discussion somebody showed a picture of the
01:12:18.500police with the vehicle in front of the march there to say look at that there if they want
01:12:22.080to stop this they should stop sanctioning the march you know they shouldn't be in there leading
01:12:25.020the parade hey guys they weren't leading the parade what it is is trained control they're
01:12:29.940making sure that there aren't traffic issues they're making sure that there aren't safety
01:12:33.680issues and they're riding in front of it for that reason they're clearing the path to avoid
01:12:37.940conflict. That's their job. Their job's to avoid the conflict in the first place. They were doing
01:12:42.800their job right, yet they're still hammerheads on social media giving them crap for it. As I said
01:12:48.060in response, and I only said it tongue-in-cheek, the police should just take the whole weekend off
01:12:52.060and really give these guys a taste of what would happen if they weren't there at all. But that
01:12:57.460would end up very badly. So again, that was tongue-in-cheek suggestion. Not that they're
01:13:02.500going to listen to me and take the weekend off anyways, but it would be too painful a lesson
01:13:06.180to throw out on what's very delicate situation and I'm really actually quite worried about what's
01:13:11.400going to happen this weekend. So let's get on and bring in on to some broader budget issues. Let's
01:13:16.200talk some dollars and cents and bring in Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation,
01:13:21.140Kevin Lacey, to chat for us for a little bit here on some financial issues and the debt clock and
01:13:27.940all that good stuff. Hey there, how's it going? How are you, Corey? Good. Good to see you.
01:13:36.180it's great to join you great so uh you know there's always a lot of things to cover we're
01:13:41.860in some interesting financial times right now maybe i'll start off with something we've seen
01:13:45.220a lot of uh the newly branded debt clock is on the roll for you guys the canadian taxpayers
01:13:50.260federation you had to get a new one because you actually ran out of digits on the last one that's
01:13:54.900that's astounding that's a true story so the debt clock started in 1990 when the debt was going up
01:14:01.620under Brian Mulrooney and so the Taxpayers Federation of the day and its members decided
01:14:07.140to start the National Debt Clock which was literally what it sounds it was a just a pickup
01:14:12.180truck and somebody had an old trailer and they slapped some numbers on it and off we went across
01:14:17.780the country to talk about how much the debt was going up and to try to do something to bring it
01:14:24.020down and the and the other thing that was going on at the time was there was a debate over the GST
01:14:28.420and so you had this new tax and this high debt and we were trying to do something trying to change
01:14:34.840change the country so it's funny like our organization started with that and we started
01:14:41.040kind of on a failure but we're still going today and one of the and the debt today is over a
01:14:47.440trillion dollars which is why we had to have a new debt clock just to put that in perspective
01:14:52.420that's about 400 million dollars every single day that the debt will go up and just in
01:14:59.260Corey the amount of time that we're going to talk today that debt will go up almost two million
01:15:04.920dollars so this is a big number that Canadians need to be aware of and it's so big that we find
01:15:11.260that the only way to really convince average Canadians of the challenges that we're in
01:15:16.340is to show it to them and that's what the debt clock is all about. Yeah and I always liked that
01:15:20.520even back in the 90s when it came out i loved it because it give people an option because you'd see
01:15:24.040those numbers just spinning on that thing on a digital thing just to give people an idea of how
01:15:28.440fast this thing is climbing it's it it and you need that uh to to make a mental grasp just how
01:15:36.320much dollars are going into the hole on your behalf right now well and that's right and uh
01:15:41.900if anyone uh wants to see what the deck clock would look like kind of in in real time you can
01:15:48.000go to deckclock.ca which is our website that essentially runs the deck clock both on the web
01:15:54.860and also with the truck but we're going to be traveling across Alberta we just finished a tour
01:15:59.360in British Columbia looking forward to being in Lethbridge on Tuesday morning and going to
01:16:06.020Medicine Hat and Calgary and Red Deer and Edmonton and Lloydminster to really bring this message home
01:16:13.300that uh justin trudeau and the liberals are spending far too much of our money we're going
01:16:18.260far too deep in debt too fast and something needs to happen uh to change it and uh so we're going to
01:16:25.140be going the tour and uh you can check out our website if anybody wants to see it uh in real
01:16:29.940time please come out it's uh they're public and we look forward to seeing as many supporters on
01:16:34.900the road as we can possibly meet our national director franco terrazzano has been on the show
01:16:39.460many times uh we'll be traveling as well and we're looking forward to seeing as many albertans and
01:16:44.980bringing the message home yeah and i see nico's brought it up there so we can see that clock
01:16:49.300spinning away there with those numbers and and uh boy it's well into you know you didn't just go a
01:16:54.180little bit past that trillion mark it's already well into that and and as i was talking a bit
01:16:59.300about the the optics like something i've always tried to use you know because people can't envision
01:17:04.180at us normal people and how much money that is if you took uh an analogy i use a stack of
01:17:09.860thousand dollar bills that made a million dollars and it was six inches tall that's a lot of money
01:17:14.100a million bucks is still a lot of money to most of us anyways you know unless you're a cabinet
01:17:17.380minister or something yeah manning used to often have the joke that uh you know how do you know
01:17:22.580that a baby's okay when it comes out of the womb it's crying because she's fat he's found out that
01:17:27.780he's over thirty thousand dollars in debt which is exactly what's going on
01:17:30.900exactly yeah and you know and that million dollars is six inches tall if it was a billion dollars
01:17:37.300that would be 500 feet tall like that's how much a billion is you know because you got to drive home
01:17:41.540to people how much a billion is now think about a trillion that's a thousand times that and that's
01:17:47.860what we're in the hole right now that's that's disturbing but another you know we can't relate
01:17:52.660to that we think of our you know 500 car payments or a two thousand dollar mortgage payment it's
01:17:57.700just the scope of those numbers uh gets too uh almost surreal to us so it's great that you guys
01:18:03.300get out there and give such a visual uh you know uh demonstration to see what they're all about
01:18:07.700yeah thanks and you know uh we're gonna be april the first week of april is supposed to be the
01:18:12.500federal budget so it's got a timely there's a reason why it's now as well is because we want
01:18:18.500to be able to go into that federal budget and have an actual debate about some of the spending
01:18:24.260that is going on um whether or not the liberals are spending their money responsibly um because
01:18:29.860they liberal the liberal government loves to talk about the spending and what you're going to get
01:18:35.060for it and there's a cost and it's the cost that is often missed uh in the whole debate yeah well
01:18:42.020and uh april 1st uh there's also going to be another event that you guys have been reminding
01:18:46.900us all about quite regularly and i appreciate you reminding it and the the carbon tax is going up
01:18:51.540yet again yeah look we're going to be facing some pretty big obstacles come april 1st
01:18:56.900and the the crazy thing about the federal uh carbon tax is it's going to go up in april 1st
01:19:01.860we're going to pay here in alberta about 11 cents uh of carbon tax on that on each liter of gasoline
01:19:09.220um but it is legislated to go up until 2030 so it will continue to go up uh as time goes on and
01:19:16.900uh you know when the government brought this piece of legislation they thought oh no one's
01:19:20.340going to care you know a few cents here and there but given the price of gas um this is a massive
01:19:26.100hit on canadians um and the kenny government has gone forward and eliminated the provincial gas
01:19:32.580tax which will save us about 15 cents uh but premier kenny is right he went out and said look
01:19:38.180like we're doing our part what's the federal government doing on theirs and at the same time
01:19:44.420one will come off one will go up and there's only one taxpayer which means we're going to get hammered
01:19:49.460uh anyway and that's why i think the carbon tax is an important debate i think the second element
01:19:55.460of the debate is what is the carbon tax supposed to be doing like you know i think often lost in
01:20:02.260this we talk about the costs and the and the benefits and all this but where like what is
01:20:07.540this money going towards because um certainly some of the the things such as the paris climate
01:20:14.100agreement all this kind of stuff i mean it's having virtually no impact on that um so even
01:20:20.500the rationale for the carbon tax doesn't seem to make any sense so we have higher costs no rationale
01:20:25.940um and at a time when canadians and albertans are really struggling and maybe just to finish
01:20:31.220off on this point court like we're an energy province here in alberta like the oil is here
01:20:36.660like it's it's beneath our feet yeah we're paying these high prices um because the government won't
01:20:43.300let us get at it it's it's a crazy situation it's one thing for in central canada they want to talk
01:20:49.780about energy and all that but we have it it's right here um and yet it's being uh it's being
01:20:54.900kept from us we're paying these high costs as a result yeah no it's ridiculous and bizarre and
01:20:59.540there just hasn't even been much discussion of trying to bring more into market i mean aside
01:21:03.380from locally uh which is just terribly unusual in the world's in an energy crisis so i appreciate
01:21:08.900you coming on and talking to us today about that we're looking forward to watching that tour and
01:21:12.660as you said it's timely uh they'll get to ottawa just at the right time where can people find more
01:21:17.300information about what you're doing here in alberta and nationally sure you can find it at
01:21:21.140taxpayer.ca um and that'll have all the information about the deck clock and as well uh other things
01:21:27.780that we're working on um and if you just want to show the deck clock and even if you want to
01:21:32.020show your friends and neighbors and communities that we're unable not we're unable we can't get
01:21:36.740to um then please pass along the debt clock and show people exactly how much money we're spending
01:21:43.860and how deep the debt is that's the way we're going to create change is by educating and changing
01:21:48.660minds great well thank you very much for coming in to check in with us today kevin and uh keep up
01:21:53.940the good work and i'm certain we'll be talking again soon great thanks again appreciate you
01:21:57.540having me great thanks kevin so yes that's uh kevin lacy the alberta director of the canadian
01:22:03.940and Taxpayers Federation. Yeah, if nothing else, those guys always have lots to talk about because
01:22:08.680we're always getting more and more tax abuse. So let's talk about some other news items. Let's
01:22:14.700talk about a little bit of sports for a moment. I see an item here. Leah Thomas took control in1.00
01:22:19.220the final 100 yards of a 500-yard freestyle and made history Thursday as the first
01:22:24.500known transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship. That's nice.0.93
01:22:29.120You know, I would have thought, because I looked it up, and I guess she's started some hormone treatment and everything, but nothing else has been done.
01:22:37.860I just would have thought that having those nuts dragging behind the suit would have caused drag and actually put her at a disadvantage, but apparently not.1.00
01:22:44.000She's still leading the pack, but we've actually seen some protests.
01:22:48.840You know, this is a matter of delusion we're getting into.
01:22:53.080I mean, we want to be accepting, of course, and, you know, we've come a long ways.
01:22:58.180It used to be terrible. I mean, it was actually illegal for people to be gay not that long ago in a relative sort of sense.
01:23:04.540But we've come to this point of trying to deny biological realities now in sports.
01:23:13.060I mean, it's clear. It's clear as we're seeing transgender women coming out and dominating a large number of events.
01:23:20.560And it is so unfair, you know, for the other women who have been working so hard and trying to come up and they're at a disadvantage because these people were physiologically put at an advantage by birth.
01:23:32.600I mean, let's just keep it fair, guys.