00:03:33.900The only person in the province who apparently believes
00:03:36.380Lukasik's group isn't campaigning is the chief electoral officer.
00:03:40.140Despite what must be thousands of complaints in their email now and on their phone lines,
00:03:44.320he doggedly keeps claiming Forever Canadian isn't campaigning in the referendum.
00:03:48.440He may as well be claiming the sky isn't blue.
00:03:51.020The questions Albertans are now asking themselves is whether the chief electoral officer is hopelessly incompetent or hopelessly biased.
00:03:58.320In both cases, it paints an ugly scenario for Alberta's democratic system.
00:04:01.800The legitimacy of elections in Alberta rests on the perception of a total lack of bias and even-handedness in the application of electoral regulations.
00:04:10.480Once that perception cracks, we can get a few harms.
00:07:12.000And they've set up a $938 million fund for housing for Alberta.
00:07:19.300So that'll help a few families get housing.
00:07:23.720Some absolutely horrific, disgusting photos today of Justin Trudeau holidaying in the south of France and rubbing suntan lotion all over Katy Perry.
00:07:35.040I've had the good fortune of not seeing those yet.
00:07:37.780I suggest you don't, because they're nausea-inducing.
00:07:41.900You know, I kind of blame myself, but I don't know why we're still covering this guy.
00:07:46.500It's morbid fascination at this point.
00:07:48.960People have just such an utter hatred for him.
00:07:51.420They don't like to see him enjoying himself in his retirement.
00:07:56.640Your colleague, Mitch Sylvester, has been talking about Elections Alberta.
00:08:00.380He's issued a letter today calling for the legislature to review how Elections Alberta reviews petitions and how they eliminate a name and how they accept a name and all sorts of good stuff like that.
00:08:15.380COVID is back in the news today on two fronts.
00:08:19.320Dr. Anthony Fauci, you'll remember him.
00:08:22.880He was called to testify for his actions in front of the Senate today.
00:08:27.460And 111 times he invoked the Fifth Amendment and says,
00:08:32.940on the advice of my attorney, I'm not going to answer that question.
00:08:36.600So he's got the Republicans boiling in anger.
00:19:40.680But, of course, they have their, you know, there's a bit of a reluctance, I think, at times to get too far down the rabbit hole because there's a lot of unresolved issues even amongst friends.
00:20:02.160Something I guess that the UCP is taking on, it's kind of taking a backseat because the whole independence referendum is eating up all of the airwaves lately.
00:20:08.920But there's been health services changes, looking at allowing people to get MRIs without a referral or having doctors now be able to potentially do procedures outside of the public system.
00:20:23.240How has things been going on that front?
00:20:25.420well certainly i think we see that there's been some advancements of policies that will impact in
00:20:30.780a positive way albertans i mean i think healthcare is a really good example where we see now you can
00:20:35.980go out and you can get an mri you can get services you can pay for them directly and if people find
00:20:41.340that or the or the doctor finds that that is in fact a condition there's some availability for
00:20:45.980reimbursement but most most important i think people have to ask themselves about the system
00:20:51.020is who is the client uh we have a giant health care system it takes up a lot of our money but
00:20:56.860really the only client is the government because the client is he who pays and so there is no
00:21:02.380competition there there's no real incentive for the system to actually service individuals other
00:21:08.860than uh what people are directed to do i mean if if the hospital system system was a business and
00:21:15.820there was a competition i think that people would go elsewhere and but i don't mean competition for
00:21:20.060the money the government can still be that be the the payer of that but the determiner of where that
00:21:25.340your money goes if it was in the hands of albertans i think that you would see drastic improvements
00:21:31.260in service because it's the front line people no doubt in the healthcare system when you get there
00:21:36.060they want to do everything they can for you but something is something is wrong internally and
00:21:42.060it's a very big organization and there's a lot of moving parts there but why doesn't the system want
00:21:47.900to give the best service for the best value to albertans i mean that's the big question that's
00:21:53.980the third question you know everyone says health care is a problem yes uh we should change health
00:21:58.860care yes uh let's split it in in four sections so that there can be more oversight yes but let's
00:22:05.420remember who is the client what are they there for and what who is reluctant to get inside and
00:22:11.260make the changes or who's inside that's reluctant to make changes for the betterment of of the
00:22:15.820customer. Well, part of the challenge we've had is healthcare in Canada, you know, the system has
00:22:21.000been made into a sacred cow. Any premier, and it's not just in Alberta, that dares to do anything
00:22:25.460more than just throwing money at it, is going to be in for a battle with the protectors of the
00:22:31.320status quo, the unions, some of those other medical associations and things. Going into an election
00:22:37.340year, uh, with what's already a pretty divisive year, uh, with perhaps if the independence
00:22:45.260thing is resolved for a little while, healthcare is probably going to be a top issue going into
00:22:49.000that next 365 days. Is it really, uh, what the UCP wants front and center when they go into that?
00:22:54.320Because Nietzsche hasn't been able to get much of a toehold anywhere, but he might be able to
00:22:59.180find some ground on the health front. Well, health is something that everyone feels impacted by. And
00:23:05.020of course, old people feel impacted by health like myself, young people feel impacted with
00:23:10.700having children and taking care of children. I think the emerging issue is going to actually
00:23:16.040be property rights. I think when we see what's going on in British Columbia and how that's
00:23:21.820impacting actual people being able to get mortgages, I think that in Alberta, everyone,
00:23:26.740not conservatives, not NDP, I think Albertans themselves should be the most concerned about
00:23:32.140your property rights and the second thing i think you should be the most concerned about is censorship
00:23:37.340and ability to actually have uh lively conversations good or bad about various
00:23:42.700topics those are the two things that albertans should really be looking for health health care
00:23:47.420if if we're not committed as a society as users as people inside to deliver the best service it
00:23:54.060will be exactly what it is um but i think these other things are going to be a scope creep into
00:23:59.500people's daily lives like if you can't go get a mortgage for your house because the bank doesn't
00:24:04.220know if you actually have title to your property that's going to be a problem and that's actually
00:24:08.540happening in british columbia right now so that particular infection is going to spread across the
00:24:14.140the country and i think you start to see it over and over again yeah that's really kind of coming
00:24:19.980again considering the seriousness of it under the radar it bc wasn't resolved it was a matter of
00:24:26.060actually, the provincial government just said, well, don't worry, we'll backstop your mortgages
00:24:29.660since the banks won't touch them with a 10-foot pole. Well, if they can't backstop the trillions
00:24:35.540of dollars that all of BC's real estate must be worth, and there's pretty much claims on all of it.
00:24:39.980And if people in Alberta think they're immune from these claims, I think they might be sadly
00:24:43.040mistaken. Our courts are going after everything. Yeah, you see an interpretation that is certainly
00:24:48.640favorable against those who have property, those who actually generate revenue, those who actually
00:24:55.960add value i mean you only have to look at the gdp of the entire country to see that it's failing
00:25:00.600that has been filling it's been covered up for years 10 years maybe more by uh destructive
00:25:07.240immigration across the country and you know as soon as the immigration number dips you see the
00:25:12.040gdp dip and when it dips you understand uh that it isn't really uh the creation of value it's
00:25:18.680government spending that has been propping up the gdp and that actually isn't what gdp supposed to
00:25:24.520to do. It's supposed to measure those things that create value in your society that's not
00:25:30.400government spending. But of course, the definition has been modified and changed in order to pad
00:25:35.660what people see as a very easy to observe KPI or keep right performance indicator.
00:25:43.400So the issue though with property rights and free speech, things like that, we're strong
00:25:49.480defenders of those things within Alberta, but the protection of them in the end tends to land in
00:25:54.000ottawa and that kind of comes full circle back to a lot of the battle that might be coming
00:25:58.000this october what can the provincial government do about it because i think if the provincial
00:26:02.800government proves impotent in being able to protect us from those things a lot more people
00:26:07.520are going to start considering that option of maybe just leaving the federation altogether
00:26:12.240well i mean you only have to look at the reduction in media in the last two weeks if you look at
00:26:17.600what's happened uh we've had radio stations go under uh we've had tele local news basically be
00:26:23.760wiped off the map uh at various providers uh that sense of control of messaging is is very much in
00:26:31.440toronto maybe it always has been or it's grown to be but now now it's very obvious uh that it's
00:26:38.160central so can uh can albertans control the message that they receive and information so
00:26:44.480that they can make sound decisions i think that that's been at risk for quite a long time i think
00:26:49.280that's been the rise of uh what we would call alternative media although i almost think that
00:26:54.400somewhere like the western standard your show other podcasts across i mean i mean those have
00:26:59.680become the norm because people uh really can't uh find uh news to weigh out and make a special
00:27:07.040opinion i mean i just found a brand new uh site the other day called 1867x.com and you can have
00:27:14.800like a hundred different feeds of podcasters and information of variety of positions talking and
00:27:21.280allow yourself to to uh understand what's going on so i think that people have to be engaged not
00:27:27.760just in politics in politics but they have to be engaged in the everyday what's going on around
00:27:33.360them and also stand up for something i mean if you stand for nothing then you're going to get
00:27:38.800exactly what we were seeing but the real resistance uh to the fall of what i think is a fall of
00:27:46.240morality in our country comes because people they get tired they get overwhelmed uh they say well
00:27:52.320what can one person do and what i can say to people all over the place is you can do a lot
00:27:57.040you can be involved and you can just say no i mean um your consent is important for a lot of
00:28:04.640the problems that are happening and you need to start to say no well and beyond just voting uh
00:28:11.360participation in general actually you know an engagement in some ways we've been seeing it
00:28:16.320in unprecedented levels within alberta uh getting back to you know the united conservative party
00:28:21.440AGMs with 6,000 people, 4,000 people, one coming in Calgary this fall, I have a feeling is going1.00
00:28:29.680to be a shaker like we've never seen before. I hope it's a productive shaker that's coming,1.00
00:28:34.660but that's where people can actually get their feet on the ground and see what's happening.1.00
00:28:39.520You know, what do you think we're in for this year? I mean, it's just such a wild year.
00:28:45.280Well, I think, you know, you're exactly right. That's going to be a very big event. I think
00:28:49.840just the very early bird ticket sales were like 3,600. If you compare that to other years,
00:28:56.200the most was in Red Deer. It was 1,800. That's when we had almost over 6,000 people at our AGM.
00:29:03.100I mean, we're tracking probably right now in the 8,000 to 10,000 range of people who
00:29:08.280are very much involved. Remember, we're in between election years, right? So that's very unusual.
00:29:13.620And that started, I think, four years ago. We saw the rise of people and people wanting to
00:29:19.820say, hey, I want to be involved. And that actual participation has caused a lot of confusion
00:29:24.980and a lot of conflict for government and for political parties in general, because
00:29:30.740people aren't just going away and being told this is what's going to happen. And people ask,
00:29:36.360like I say, the third question, and there's no answer as often to the third question that talks
00:29:41.200about common sense. So we're coming up to a, it's going to be fiery. I think there's going to be a
00:29:47.020lot of, I know a lot of the policies that are going to be put forward. We talk about accountability
00:29:51.220of MLAs. They talk about how can Alberta in and of itself protect itself from Canada? How do we
00:29:58.280protect ourselves from the growing debt? How do we get involved to say, hey, look, we know the RCMP
00:30:02.940contract runs out in 2032. They have no intention of running police services in Alberta. So let's
00:30:08.100just stop the facade that we don't need our own provincial police force. We need our own
00:30:13.420provincial police force because there will be no service provider so the a lot of the story that
00:30:18.420gets told gets couched in these things that there will be an outcome regardless and that's one of
00:30:24.100those things that that is regardless I also think you know we have this whole argument over MOUs
00:30:29.160right so you get this at the last AGM the premier announced the MOU for the pipeline well MOUs are
00:30:37.220don't mean anything. We see that all the time. They're just outlines. And if it's not written
00:30:44.660in an agreement, if there's not a shovel in the ground, it doesn't really mean much. So
00:30:47.960people are smart. And I think that's the engagement that we're seeing. You're talking
00:30:52.720about the growth of attendance at UCP conventions, but you see that growth happening involvement at
00:30:59.200CA level as well. And because of that, it does make the party stronger. There's no doubt about
00:31:03.760it uh but it does mean that the party apparatus needs to um reconstruct itself uh into an
00:31:11.840environment that says that the grassroots has a lot to say and they have a expectation a very
00:31:17.680high expectation because don't forget those six or eight thousand people at the convention are
00:31:21.920the six or eight thousand people knocking on doors those are the people that are going to take the
00:31:25.920ucp over the finish line for the next election yeah well there's that interesting balance now
00:31:30.720Now that we're getting such a populist, you know, well attended.
00:34:40.540But, you know, there's a real reluctance to do the right thing.
00:34:44.720I remember at the AGM, we had the Alberta Bill of Rights.
00:34:48.000I mean, as conservatives, we should be collecting freedoms and rights like hockey cards, because
00:34:53.260you don't really know when that hockey card or when that right's going to be super valuable.
00:34:57.920And that's something that the government showed that they were reluctant to do again.
00:35:01.360So I'm not exactly sure where that puts the government itself, separate from the party.
00:35:06.520the party is really the people that helped get the members elected and the government in and of
00:35:11.640itself is really a cabinet not caucus but cabinet and so uh there should be pressure on cabinet to
00:35:19.320do the right thing and i think that there should be more pressure on cabinet to do the right thing
00:35:24.120and that's what the party in and of itself should be able to do i remember when the ndp got elected
00:35:29.800the first 44 things that they they ran through the legislature i cringed at just about every
00:35:34.280one of them but they didn't seem to care what the conservatives thought they were just going to do
00:35:37.720what they're going to do and our our government at times doesn't do um everything that they should
00:35:43.640do to advocate and advance conservative values well it's going to be a a fascinating few months
00:35:50.680and a fascinating gathering i mean a lot of how the tone is going to be at that agm is going to
00:35:57.320depend on how people vote on october 19th not just on that question number 10 but on the one to nine
00:36:02.680going prior to it as well. And the debates are going to be interesting, if nothing else. Just
00:36:11.080the question is whether or not they'll be productive. As you said, like before I let you
00:36:16.020go, the other part, I mean, it's going to feel like you're a tiny cog in a giant wheel if you're
00:36:20.560at an AGM with eight or 10,000 people, which is still be a lifetime experience. I suggest everybody
00:36:25.380get out to do. But if you really want to have a part on it and really want to exert yourself,
00:36:30.700I mean, getting involved in your local constituency association is where you can really have an impact.
00:36:35.340And I know that's where you've done a lot of work and holding your local representatives accountable to things and, you know, hopefully celebrating them.
00:37:53.700So where can people find more information on what you're up to?
00:37:57.300And I really would like to hear a bit more about that fantastic place for food and fresh and local stuff down in South Calgary, because it really is a brilliant spot.
00:38:07.620Yeah, well, the Fresh and Local Marketing Kitchens is in Avenida Village.