Western Standard - Nationalizing oil pipelines isn’t a victory for any but socialists

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00:00:27.660 Good day. Welcome to the Cory Morgan Show. I'm coming live today from the Sonalta Community Hub

00:00:35.920 down in Calgary's Beltline, just south of downtown. As you can tell by my awkwardly worn cosplay

00:00:43.340 costume, it is Stampede Week and we're holding our Western Standard barbecue down here. There's

00:00:49.400 going to be burgers and weenies and water balloons and you can hit a weenie with water balloons and

00:00:54.880 all sorts of things are going to be happening. That all begins at one o'clock, not too long

00:00:58.760 from now. And it will be a good time. If you can make it down, get down there, look up the

00:01:03.360 Sunalta Community Center in Calgary and take part, have a burger. You don't get much out of Derek too

00:01:09.700 often. If you can get a bite of something, you're doing well, man. All right. So yes, some of that

00:01:14.820 noise in the background of the staff, busily scurrying and getting this all up and rolling.

00:01:20.480 It should be a really good time.

00:01:22.260 All right, well, let's get on with me and what I'm going to be pissing and moaning about today.

00:01:26.560 And it is the pipeline announcement from Premier Smith, not the second one with her and Doug Ford holding hands.

00:01:33.680 This is the first one that came out.

00:01:35.880 So, I mean, in 2018, let's get a little history here.

00:01:39.140 When the Trudeau government painted itself into a corner leading to the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline by taxpayers,

00:01:45.320 Daniel Smith's commentary on the issue was critical and uncompromising.

00:01:49.360 In an article she wrote for Global News, she said,

00:01:51.860 I hope I'm wrong, but we may be witnessing the biggest boondoggle in Canadian history.

00:01:57.380 And at that time, the estimate for the expansion of that pipeline

00:02:00.000 was that it would cost $7.4 billion on top of the $4.5 billion

00:02:04.060 spent to purchase the existing pipeline.

00:02:07.420 Smith estimated that the government delays and general ineptitude

00:02:10.680 would lead to the pipeline costing it maybe as much as $20 billion.

00:02:15.340 Well, the future premier might have thought she was being cruel in her pessimism,

00:02:19.860 but it turns out her prognostication was incorrect.

00:02:22.960 The final tally for the pipeline was $34 billion to tax dollars.

00:02:27.240 It came in years late.

00:02:28.780 Smith was right. It was a boondoggle.

00:02:31.160 Now, some things have changed in years since Daniel Smith wrote that article.

00:02:34.080 She's now Alberta's premier rather than a radio host,

00:02:37.360 and she has different obligations and has learned more about how the gears of government turn from the inside.

00:02:43.620 It's understandable how reviews might have been tempered a bit more by pragmatism,

00:02:48.400 but to embrace an even larger nationalization of a pipeline today, though, isn't a pragmatic

00:02:53.640 shift in ideals. It's a full betrayal of conservatism and fiscal responsibility.

00:02:59.240 Smith's role may have changed, but the logistics of getting a pipeline built in Canada haven't.

00:03:04.100 The mountains are in the same places. The streams haven't shifted. The residents living near the

00:03:08.320 proposed new pipeline are still there with the same concerns. The only additional cost to building

00:03:13.160 a pipeline should be due to inflation. If anything, with modern technology, it's easier to safely and

00:03:18.460 efficiently build pipelines than ever before. To handicap the pipeline, the handicap the pipeline

00:03:24.200 construction was and has remains governments at all levels. Municipal governments attach layer

00:03:30.820 after layer of redundant and pointless licensing requirements to all aspects of construction. In

00:03:36.660 BC, the provincial government has made itself a hindrance in every way possible for political

00:03:40.540 reasons. On the federal level, callow leadership has led to policies

00:03:44.600 of permissiveness and indulgence with

00:03:47.740 anti-pipeline activists, rather than working to use constitutional authority to get the

00:03:52.700 job done. Even if it means offering a reality check to indigenous

00:03:56.540 activists and reminding them they don't have veto authority.

00:04:01.320 The true experts in the field are in the energy sector, and they never

00:04:04.140 made any bones about why they refused to invest in new pipelines. It has nothing to do with the

00:04:08.380 world market or demand for oil and gas. They know the world wants Canada's oil. It has nothing to

00:04:14.020 do with the mountains or risks of leaks or accidents in constructing a pipeline. They built

00:04:17.440 a major line through the Rocky Mountains over 70 years ago, and it's been operating safely ever

00:04:22.160 since. They know how to get the job done. And it's not for lack of capital. The oil and gas sector

00:04:26.920 has funds from existing operations within and outside of Canada that can be invested in a new

00:04:31.040 infrastructure. In fact, they're doing it all over the world, except in Canada. Energy companies

00:04:35.700 have been screwed by Canada too many times now. They aren't willing to spend billions more only

00:04:40.780 to have the government pull the rug out from under them, as happened with the Northern Gateway

00:04:43.880 Project, or to have pipelines regulated to death, as happened with Energy East and the McKenzie

00:04:48.040 Valley Pipeline Project. A head of Synovus made it clear last month when he said Canadian pipelines

00:04:53.580 are unfinanceable, and he laid the blame squarely at the feet of the government where it belongs.

00:04:59.280 Courageous government leaders would work to strip away these self-imposed roadblocks,

00:05:03.140 even though it might be tough.

00:05:04.780 Cowardly government leaders toss tax dollars at the issue and hope it solves itself.

00:05:09.240 It's the same approach with health care, and we see how that's turning out.

00:05:12.760 Smith and Kearney took the chicken-hearted path, and we're all going to dearly pay for it.

00:05:17.820 If the governments don't have the guts to strip some current regulations,

00:05:20.740 will they have the courage to stand up to the inevitable protesters and activists

00:05:24.500 who are going to try and delay the construction of a new line?

00:05:26.380 Will they tell the regulators who are going to add layer after layer of regulations for more licenses and more studies that there's been enough? 0.95

00:05:33.080 Will they lay down the law with Indigenous activists who have an insatiable appetite for consultation? 0.99

00:05:37.820 Of course they won't. 0.99

00:05:39.240 Smith predicted the biggest boondoggle in Canadian history nearly 10 years ago, and now is a key participant in what's surely to be even a bigger boondoggle.

00:05:47.000 Instead of making demands of the federal government, she offered concessions.

00:05:49.900 She rolled over and showed her underbelly. 0.60

00:05:52.080 The token involvement of Pemina pipelines who have a 10% stake with a clear escape clause is an insult to common sense.

00:05:59.260 Just dump them and admit the entire project is going to be nationalized.

00:06:02.860 Smith said in a past interview it would be considered a failure if public dollars had to fund pipelines.

00:06:08.940 She's managed to be right in her interviews and dead wrong interactions.

00:06:12.180 What she may feel is the easiest path to getting a pipeline done is simply charting a path to nowhere.

00:06:16.400 If the only way to get things done in Canada is to nationalize them, then Canada truly is broken.

00:06:22.780 There's only one place where that path ends.

00:06:25.560 That's my thoughts on the great and trumpeted pipeline recently.

00:06:30.360 Terribly disappointed.

00:06:31.680 Well, lots of other things going on in the news.

00:06:33.580 Let's check in with Mr. Naylor, our news editor, who's hiding out in the newsroom and doesn't get to play down here at the barbecue.

00:06:38.880 How's it going, Dave?

00:06:39.820 Hey, I'm coming to the barbecue right after this.

00:06:42.500 Oh, are you? Right on.

00:06:43.640 You bet. 1.00

00:06:44.040 Who do you think looks stupider in a cowboy hat, me or you? 1.00

00:06:48.360 Probably me. 0.99

00:06:49.200 I am not a cowboy hat person, as can be seen.

00:06:52.300 But, you know, I got to follow tradition.

00:06:54.080 I'll throw it on my bean for a week.

00:06:56.760 Yeah.

00:06:57.320 The Environment Canada has just issued a severe thunderstorm watch.

00:07:02.580 So Mother Nature must have known that we were having a barbecue.

00:07:08.760 Well, there's a little bit of room inside.

00:07:10.700 And it doesn't look too bad outside yet.

00:07:12.500 No, it looks okay right now.

00:07:13.880 But keep our fingers crossed.

00:07:15.840 So we've got a lot of busy news morning.

00:07:18.740 We've got a follow-up to you.

00:07:20.220 You probably remember a month or so ago,

00:07:22.700 our Leah Mushett had an exclusive from the town of Rockyford,

00:07:26.820 northeast of Calgary, that the town council had sold the school

00:07:32.100 to a group of Sikhs, and the Sikhs were going to be opening up

00:07:36.980 a cultural centre.

00:07:38.480 Now, the town of Rockyford has exactly zero Sikhs living in it.

00:07:43.120 It's only a town of about 500.

00:07:45.420 And Leah's got a follow-up today.

00:07:47.380 It turns out they really didn't even consult anybody in town.

00:07:51.020 We've got some angry residents who are trying to find answers

00:07:54.540 and are being stonewalled at every opportunity.

00:07:59.220 So that's a good story.

00:08:02.180 The Western Standard's best friend, Gil McGowan,

00:08:05.220 of the Alberta Federation of Labour,

00:08:07.600 was filmed ambushing Danielle Smith at her premier's breakfast

00:08:12.660 on monday just down the road from here so we've got a story on that the uh government uh british

00:08:19.860 columbia has released their reports on uh made in 2024 saying there were thousands of errors

00:08:26.900 out of uh i think there was like 5 000 some made cases and uh thousands of errors they found so

00:08:33.780 so that's not a good sign uh got a story out of the calgary police service where a

00:08:39.780 eight-year-old boy was involved in a family uh distraction theft the uh the family went into a

00:08:47.380 jewelers at market mall they got the uh the cashiers uh for the sale per salesperson's

00:08:54.020 attendant or attention and then the eight-year-old and a 16-year-old sister stole a whole bunch of

00:09:00.180 jewelry so they were arrested shortly afterwards and it's pretty disturbing to see eight-year-olds

00:09:07.220 involved. Shocking video out of Halifax today, Corey, where a man became enraged at the number

00:09:16.180 of migrants that were in the Halifax Costco, and he let loose and told them what they think,

00:09:22.980 and then he ended up assaulting one of the people that was filming him. So Halifax police are on

00:09:29.860 the lookout for him, and it looks like we're basically back to war with Iran. Trump has

00:09:35.860 realized finally that he's being played for by as a fool and uh it's called the leadership of iran's 1.00

00:09:42.260 scum and uh it's uh it's gonna heat up over there very quickly uh bombing starts tonight i guess 1.00

00:09:49.460 everybody better fill up their cars and trucks right now you know what's going to happen with 0.97

00:09:52.180 the oil prices now that the war is back on yeah it was down to 70 bucks yesterday so uh i'm sure

00:09:57.940 the uh the coffers of alberta would appreciate a little bit of the bomb well some bright side i

00:10:03.940 I guess. And I imagine the orange man wants a little something before the midterms come up in

00:10:07.500 a couple of months. So maybe a little wartime stuff will help him out. Yeah. A little war is

00:10:12.200 always good for a politician's numbers. That's for sure. Sadly so. All right. Well, I'll leave

00:10:17.780 you back to the ruined newsroom and I look forward to you coming down here. Are you going to be

00:10:21.380 taking up a water balloon or two to send some love to our publisher? I don't know about that.

00:10:26.860 uh uh derek can't hold grudges uh so we'll see i'm bringing the the entire team down from uh

00:10:34.540 from the the uh the calgary newsroom we've even got will down from edmonton for the uh for the big

00:10:40.540 show so we'll all be down there barbecuing and uh so yeah stop by and say hi right on okay well

00:10:46.860 thanks dave and we'll uh see you in a little while you bet take care so that is our news editor dave

00:10:53.020 nailer busy down there lots of stories happening lots of stories breaking and yeah we even brought

00:10:57.080 will down from edmonton right on it'd be good to see him and uh this is where i like to remind

00:11:01.520 everybody the reason we can pay folks like dave or whatever amount i get and other things and such

00:11:08.200 and hold barbecues is because you guys have subscribed so get on there guys western standard

00:11:12.980 news slash subscription ten dollars a month hundred dollars a year it's a great deal and

00:11:19.100 And then there's the, some editor's thing.

00:11:21.480 What's that called?

00:11:22.280 It's called the Editor's Circle.

00:11:23.520 The Editor's Circle.

00:11:24.480 You can buy like premium access and really get into the inside stuff and help support us.

00:11:30.820 It's an investment in your education and well-being, guys.

00:11:33.840 Check them out, westernstandard.news slash subscription.

00:11:36.920 And as soon as you do that, get down here to the barbecue.

00:11:40.440 So I might as well get to my guest who's already sitting next to me here, Mr. Josh Andrus from the office, coordinating all of this affair.

00:11:48.580 How's it going?

00:11:49.100 it's good uh i'd like to take care of the coordination but uh i gotta give credit to

00:11:53.820 our administrative manager uh just on three who has done all of the ordering organizing

00:12:01.020 and uh we were joking about it in the car because i was trying to take credit for it but

00:12:05.340 i don't think i get any credit for this um but yeah no it's uh it's gonna be a fantastic event

00:12:10.220 today uh down here to explain why it's not working okay well for those who are hearing

00:12:16.460 him faintly talking we'll just pass this along and let uh josh start again and discuss that on

00:12:21.980 this microphone here we go yeah so uh we're down here at the uh at the western standard

00:12:27.900 cavalry stampede barbecue we're getting started here at one o'clock so uh come on down uh we are

00:12:33.420 it's going to be a fantastic event i'd like to take credit for organizing it but uh that was all

00:12:38.140 our administrative manager jessica uh my uh our social media and digital manager digital marketing

00:12:44.620 manager will uh did a lot as well so you know it's it's it's it would be poor of me to take

00:12:50.620 credit for this it's going to be an exciting event though uh we've got uh lots of hot dogs for people

00:12:55.640 we've got pops waters uh it's going to be a lot of fun and then the kicker is obviously the fact

00:13:01.360 that we are going to be throwing water balloons at the publisher president and ceo derrick

00:13:06.180 phildebrandt uh those will be on sale so come on down and uh yeah but we don't want to take up too

00:13:11.720 much time talking about the uh the barbecue because you got a big show today we got lots

00:13:16.620 we got a debate coming up we got a debate coming up uh tomorrow i mean we got a live show we should

00:13:21.360 be plugging all these western standard things i got you here you're again in charge of all these

00:13:26.200 extra news sort of items and things like that uh what's going on tomorrow night so tomorrow night

00:13:32.280 doors open at 5 30 at the glenmore inn and conference center in uh well southeast calgary

00:13:39.420 I think, just off of Deerfoot there. So lots of parking. We have sold quite a few tickets. We're

00:13:45.700 not quite sold out. So if you want to go to our Twitter account or check us out online, you can

00:13:51.540 find links to that. Yeah, it'll be a good event. Again, Derek Fildebrandt will be debating Mount

00:13:58.940 Royal University political science professor Dwayne Bratt. It should be a good event. It's

00:14:04.800 being moderated by national post columnist former alberta cabinet minister donna kennedy glans who

00:14:09.940 also sat on the fair deal panel so she she i think is going to bring a fantastic perspective to this

00:14:16.080 uh in terms of keeping things fair which is what we want we want a fair debate we don't want

00:14:20.720 it to be one-sided and we want to have you know a good conversation so that's tomorrow night 5 30

00:14:26.960 uh go to our website it's click on one of the ads it'll take you right to the uh the the link so

00:14:32.820 we look forward to seeing you there and

00:14:35.120 no it should be good obviously independence

00:14:36.980 is one of the biggest topics going

00:14:39.240 on right now I heard you kind of going on

00:14:41.120 about you know how difficult it is

00:14:43.160 for us to get a single pipeline and we have to

00:14:45.180 have a memorandum of understanding

00:14:47.480 in which we have to have multiple

00:14:49.360 little agreements

00:14:50.480 in order to get one

00:14:53.300 so if this is kind of how

00:14:55.160 the Premier is trying to convince us

00:14:57.100 that Canada is working

00:14:58.140 we'll see tomorrow night will be a good

00:15:00.960 good feel from the crowd as to how this MOU is going over.

00:15:07.900 Well, among your other initiatives, aside from getting people wet,

00:15:13.180 Rachel Gilmore referenced as well.

00:15:15.700 She did quite a little appearance online.

00:15:19.280 I don't know if you saw that, you know, all drenched from the rainstorm,

00:15:21.780 had to do her picture and said it was caused by climate change.

00:15:24.840 And meanwhile, the premier is discussing pipelines.

00:15:28.260 Either way, the wetness you're spreading

00:15:30.300 will be a little different than hers, I imagine. 1.00

00:15:32.180 Water balloons.

00:15:32.960 Water balloons, okay.

00:15:34.140 Yeah, let's be clear about that.

00:15:35.660 Of course, I'm always nothing if not clear.

00:15:38.960 I mean, you know, but I mean,

00:15:40.020 making the world a wetter place

00:15:41.260 can be a benefit at times.

00:15:42.880 But beyond that, let's talk about another initiative

00:15:45.320 and that's merch.

00:15:46.160 I see we got Mr. Gilbo over my shoulder

00:15:48.280 with a, you can't quite see his head in the shot,

00:15:50.140 but we can see a beautiful t-shirt.

00:15:52.160 What else have you guys got on the go?

00:15:54.300 Didn't realize we cut his head off in the shot.

00:15:56.300 I don't think anybody's complaining at home.

00:15:58.900 But we have, yeah, we just launched WesternStandardStore.news.

00:16:02.780 You can check that out.

00:16:03.940 It's a fantastic little store.

00:16:05.900 We obviously have our Stephen Guibault mugshot.

00:16:08.900 We threw that on a T-shirt.

00:16:10.340 And one of the hottest items, we sold out of them in store,

00:16:13.580 but we have put his mugshot on a coffee mug.

00:16:17.180 It's a great gift for, you know, that family member

00:16:19.940 that particularly didn't like Stephen Guibault as Environment Minister.

00:16:24.060 So, yeah, that's good.

00:16:25.220 we've got some ralph klein merchandise uh you know with the uh it's it's a misattributed quote 0.98

00:16:30.860 but it's often attributed to them that's you know let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark so

00:16:36.340 that's a good one and no it's going to be a uh we we've got lots of merchandise in there it's a 0.96

00:16:42.580 great store uh one of my favorite i just got a new hoodie out of it it's just got the alberta crest

00:16:47.480 it's a rugged alberta collection fantastic look it's it's one of my favorite uh items i have now

00:16:53.400 So, yeah, no, we've got a lot of good initiatives that we're working on.

00:16:56.920 The store is a big one.

00:16:57.940 So, yeah, no, this is just, these are just a few things we've been doing.

00:17:01.160 I am getting to the point now where I'm starting to wonder what we're going to do next.

00:17:04.400 So, if anybody has any ideas, drop it in the comments.

00:17:08.700 Right on.

00:17:09.340 Well, I know you've got a lot of setup to do and a lot of things to cover.

00:17:12.160 Is there more you wanted to add before I let you go there?

00:17:14.820 I think we've got enough volunteers.

00:17:16.760 Oh, you're just looking for an excuse not to be up there any longer.

00:17:20.100 No comment.

00:17:20.800 okay well we might have a second microphone in a moment we'll see i know john is busily working on

00:17:28.120 it see if people ever wonder if these are really live or not it most definitely is and you can tell

00:17:32.600 that we're downtown because the ambulances have been going back and forth i was also greeted by

00:17:37.020 a couple of fine crackheads over on the corner having a great discussion

00:17:41.140 there you go folks get down fast you might get them soon okay

00:17:47.260 my mic still doesn't work okay um yeah so uh it's it is a downtown event uh but no it's

00:17:58.060 you know what it's a really great area like sun alta the train station's right there so if you

00:18:02.420 want to take the train down uh we got a nice little green space outside um yeah it's it's

00:18:07.940 going to be a great event um yeah what do you want to talk about i heard uh you want to talk

00:18:12.060 about the mou what do you want to sure what are your thoughts on that pipeline well i mean i said

00:18:16.820 it already i think that you know it's ridiculous that we have to jump through so many hoops to get

00:18:22.180 a single pipeline built not to mention the fact that the very it was either the same day or the

00:18:27.960 day after uh the premier and the prime minister announced the mou uh bc premier david eby and

00:18:35.520 and mark carney announced the tanker ban in northern british columbia was still going to

00:18:39.920 be in effect which is one of the quote-unquote nine bad laws that premier smith demanded be

00:18:46.440 removed so it is incredibly disappointing to see the government uh give up so much ground for a

00:18:53.000 single pipeline um and then they had the uh the deal that them and uh was it saskatchewan premier

00:18:59.700 scott moff uh struck a deal for a pipeline out to sarnia from the energy elbert i think it's fort

00:19:05.760 out to sarnia or something like that and uh manitoba's not on board with that so you know

00:19:11.940 again it's it's one of those things where you have a fractious public debate going on in this

00:19:17.720 province in a in a premier that seems to be desperately trying to prove to everybody

00:19:22.140 that this country is fixable but every time she does an announcement on the mou the situation

00:19:27.420 continues to deteriorate it's almost i don't think it's a winnable position for her i i do

00:19:33.440 think it's causing her damage in the uh in in the eyes of the general public and and i think uh

00:19:40.200 you know i think you were talking about it earlier like i i've noticed a lot more liberals around

00:19:44.860 at the corporate stampede functions i've been at so it does beg a question about what decisions

00:19:52.900 the leadership uh whether that be in cabinet obviously uh minister of energy brian gene has

00:19:58.280 been one of the most foremost proponents of the memorandum of understanding so again i don't know

00:20:04.420 if this is a cabinet type of a decision or if this is the the premier's office making these calls but

00:20:09.480 at some point they're going to have to realize that you know this isn't working and they're

00:20:13.980 losing credibility at a very very fast pace well i think albertans are tired of announcements i

00:20:19.700 mean carney has done announcements how many announcements have he done become since becoming

00:20:22.660 prime minister but he really hasn't done a damn thing actually kuzma's done uh you know uh there's

00:20:27.880 been no major projects going. They started the office. They just keep talking. They keep

00:20:30.980 announcing. Nothing seems to happen. I think, I mean, part of why we're seeing liberals,

00:20:35.160 it's interesting. We're seeing though that the independence movement being taken, I think quite

00:20:38.240 seriously with what's going on with the upcoming referenda. A lot of people wanting to come up and

00:20:42.180 at least make their case as to why Alberta should vote, you know, with Lukasik's little question

00:20:47.160 about saying we should stay or be happy with things as they are. There's no pending referendum

00:20:52.520 to bring us to the point of actually leaving, but there is a big question facing us. Do you think

00:20:57.040 that's had an impact though on them trying to show that they're making some sort of progress

00:21:00.260 putting that rock up a hill with with pipeline uh construction well i think the issue that they

00:21:05.820 have is is a lack of passion amongst their supporters i mean yeah i see a lot of people

00:21:11.160 walking around with signs but you try and get them on camera to talk about you know why they

00:21:15.900 think canada is such a great country they they in a lot of ways they decline and and so i think

00:21:22.380 if you look at like the fundraising numbers out of uh i think let you get uh what's your group

00:21:28.080 again pathway to independence and then uh let alberta decide with keith wilson i think jason

00:21:33.840 levine's got one too like their fundraising numbers have you know widely outstripped the

00:21:39.160 fundraising numbers of the the uh the the federalist side and i think the federalist side

00:21:46.500 i think that they're dealing with a lack of complacency and and yeah the announcement after

00:21:51.100 announcement after announcement like i mean i think they have another major investment in alberta

00:21:57.080 coming and you're going to see that but when you have this the proponents for remaining in the

00:22:02.840 country constantly attacking the provincial government on having the referendum in the first

00:22:07.200 place on the guise of economic disaster if you even put this on the table every single one of

00:22:13.400 these announcements takes a little bit of wind out of their sails because now i mean everybody knows

00:22:18.900 that if you're an economic prognosticator and you're constantly wrong,

00:22:22.140 like the Calgary Chamber of Commerce is, you know,

00:22:24.580 people just start kind of ignoring what you have to say.

00:22:27.840 So I think the lack of passion on the stay in Canada side is going to,

00:22:34.580 like the momentum appears to be at the backs of, you know,

00:22:39.280 Pathway to Independence and Let Alberta Decide and these other organizations.

00:22:43.480 And it does, in my opinion, draw a lot of parallels to Brexit

00:22:47.400 where a lot of people like as you get closer to the vote oh hey you know like we're voting on this

00:22:53.680 and and economic activity in Alberta is at an all-time high meanwhile the rest of the country

00:22:58.300 is mired in a recession I think that it's going to be what it's going to be difficult for them

00:23:03.240 and I've gone you know about six months ago I didn't think this was a winnable referendum for

00:23:08.740 the leave side I've changed my my tone on that I think it's very winnable I think uh this this

00:23:15.140 feels like brexit all over again this you know where you have politicians the the political

00:23:20.660 elites that don't have answers for the structural issues like equalization um senate like even a

00:23:28.740 lack of representation in parliament where they're just kind of dodging questions and that goes for

00:23:32.560 pierre that goes for the premier that goes for uh jason kenny even and and and these organizations

00:23:39.460 you have structural issues people are frustrated about you have a referendum coming up and and i

00:23:44.360 I think that the pathway is there to win this one.

00:23:50.500 And I do think the question, the way it's worded,

00:23:52.740 where it's a vote to have a vote,

00:23:54.160 kind of removes a lot of pressure from,

00:23:56.060 so like, for example,

00:23:57.440 if you're maybe not 100% convinced on independence,

00:24:01.500 but you're mad about the status quo,

00:24:03.720 you might just go vote to send a message, right?

00:24:06.060 You might go vote to say,

00:24:07.440 hey, let's start the process and see.

00:24:09.120 Because I think in terms of getting a fair deal

00:24:11.420 for even the fair deal supporters,

00:24:12.880 You need as much leverage as you can get.

00:24:15.080 So I think it's one of those things where, yeah, there is a pathway here.

00:24:20.900 The storm, like the thunderclouds seem to be over the stay in Canada side.

00:24:26.520 And this MOU is absolute dog's breakfast.

00:24:29.700 Every time the premier talks about it, every time Brian Jean talks about it, I want to throw, well, you know, it doesn't make water balloons.

00:24:36.180 I want to throw water balloons at them, which their security would never allow.

00:24:39.900 And they're honestly, I don't think the premier would let us throw water balloons at her.

00:24:44.660 Jeremy Farkas might, but I don't think the premier will.

00:24:48.420 So I think there's just it's it's it's all these vanity projects that I think are going to be detrimental to running the government from Edmonton moving forward.

00:25:01.320 Farkas and Premier Smith and a lot of political science professors and federal leaders and former politicians.

00:25:06.980 Part of what's going on is, as you said, it's like Brexit.

00:25:09.860 The old establishment is all talking about don't do, don't do this.

00:25:13.760 But they really are overlooking the people on the ground.

00:25:16.040 I mean, we see the legacy media too.

00:25:17.440 They make the accusations, oh, the independent side is foreign funded.

00:25:20.380 You know, well, no, we disclose all our numbers.

00:25:22.820 It's been interesting actually because, yeah, my group has raised over $100,000 now.

00:25:28.180 People are saying, well, the site online only shows $80,000.

00:25:31.320 Yeah, that's because anything under $50, we still report it as a whole to Elections Alberta, but it doesn't go up.

00:25:35.980 these are hundreds and hundreds of small donors who are funding this. These are people on the

00:25:39.860 ground. I look at the few federalist groups who are even reporting, and Fabio's

00:25:43.960 isn't for some reason, but that's a separate issue. Those are often 5,000

00:25:48.000 from this union, 5,000 from that group, 5,000. They're maxed out a few, but they're not getting

00:25:51.980 grass roots. I think that early indication is that they might be

00:25:55.800 underestimating a groundswell getting going here.

00:25:59.180 100%. Absolutely. The groundswell, we can feel it.

00:26:03.800 i mean every time like you talk about the mou or a politician talks about the mou you go into the

00:26:10.980 comments and and you can see there's this like if this is how canada works where we in order to get

00:26:18.160 a single pipeline we have to jump through 50 000 hoops to get there i i just i don't think that's

00:26:23.560 a sales pitch that people are going to buy and another point that i want to make is uh the

00:26:27.820 alberta government's 400 billion dollar price tag on independence they're counting and the biggest

00:26:33.260 portion of that 400 billion is the 150 billion they're saying that's our share of the federal

00:26:38.500 debt like if you're making that argument as a reason to stay i would probably point at the

00:26:44.500 federal government's most recent budget where they're running another massive if not record

00:26:49.380 breaking deficit so yeah it's it's 150 billion today if we wait 10 years it could be 600 billion

00:26:56.700 700 billion just for the debt share so i mean it almost makes sense to cut your losses and go so

00:27:03.080 yeah no i but it does feel like a groundswell and i think the establishment is also dealing

00:27:08.440 with the fact that you have most of the most rat like i don't want to call them radical elements

00:27:13.520 but we'll we'll just for the the strongest uh most patriotic canadians most of them are liberals

00:27:22.120 and so it kind of begs the question of of in terms of internal party dynamics for the

00:27:28.580 Alberta MPs and the Federal Conservative Party, as well as the provincial UCP, how are they going

00:27:36.100 to combat the groundswell? I mean, we know it's there. Are they going to be recruiting liberals?

00:27:42.420 Which I think is really their only option. Like if you're outnumbered in your own membership base,

00:27:47.580 you know, whether it be 55-45 or 75-25, the only way you can combat that is to literally sell

00:27:55.120 memberships to liberals so i think the entire exercise is going to end up effectively coding

00:27:59.660 canada as a left-wing country which i think if you're in the premier's office and you're making

00:28:05.580 the the full-throated defense of national unity is a huge barrier for you moving forward and

00:28:13.780 i've said it before i think they need to rip up the mou and start you know standing up to

00:28:21.000 the federal government the tanker ban is an absolute slight i'm offended when i saw that i

00:28:26.680 mean like yeah what are we calling it now the eight bad laws like i'd like to see what the

00:28:31.320 premier's communication office does with that but it is incredibly frustrating to watch then again

00:28:37.820 as a former staffer this all you know makes sense to me if that makes sense well it's funny when

00:28:44.280 you talk about you know the liberals and so on like i i dating myself you know you'll be uh too

00:28:49.980 young for that to remember it but the last time the federal conservatives tried to out liberal

00:28:53.620 the liberals the reform party got created the last time the provincial conservatives tried to

00:28:57.740 out liberal the liberals the wild rose split the vote we ended up with uh unfortunately uh premier

00:29:04.980 notley but the bottom line is conservatives have got to stay true to themselves or they're going

00:29:09.120 to get blown out of the water we've seen that over and over again but they're trying to get in bed

00:29:13.320 with liberals and man they've lost sight of recent history i think well and the the one person that

00:29:20.220 should know better than anybody about that is danielle smith you know i mean we saw this 11

00:29:25.580 years ago in in december 2014 she packed up i think it was nine wild rose mlas and crossed the

00:29:32.960 four to the progressive conservatives so we we've seen her you know sacrifice uh her philosophical

00:29:40.020 uh positions in order to seek more power and i think the issue that they have yeah is the fact

00:29:51.080 that they are cavorting with liberals and and for the federal mps you know as well the ones

00:29:56.840 from alberta like what happens if let's say hypothetically um pierre polyev is no longer

00:30:04.020 the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada,

00:30:07.360 who now represents Battle River Crowfoot,

00:30:10.220 one of the strongest Conservative ridings in the province,

00:30:13.160 in the country even, if he's out, who replaces him?

00:30:17.040 And I think that really becomes the conversation of,

00:30:20.160 do you end up with an Eastern Canadian leader

00:30:23.600 that doesn't understand the nature of Alberta?

00:30:29.820 And I think a lot of the federal staff don't either.

00:30:32.700 I think that's a part of the problem in Ottawa, whether it be conservative or liberal, is they're trying to find ways to win nationally.

00:30:40.140 If you're doing that and you're coming at it from a, you know, we'll call it a Laurentian viewpoint, I think it creates incredible challenges for the Conservative Party MPs.

00:30:52.160 And it could lead to a revolt party like an Alberta party federally that is there to stand up for Alberta, would still vote with the Conservatives on 90 percent of the issues.

00:31:02.480 But I think that just all of these ingredients in the cauldron of Confederation are all potential explosives that could, like Pierre, if Pierre doesn't make it till October, I can imagine a groundswell of support for independence from there.

00:31:22.440 So it'll be interesting.

00:31:24.420 There's a lot of different things that are going on right now.

00:31:28.220 But at the Western Standard, we're keeping an eye on all of it,

00:31:31.540 and we will report all of these potential events to you as they happen.

00:31:37.220 Right on.

00:31:37.760 Well, yeah, we're definitely in a turning point year.

00:31:39.760 It's going to be something else this next four or five months to see what happens

00:31:42.480 and then the months following that.

00:31:44.300 So, yeah, we'll be covering it all.

00:31:45.860 I saw a reflection in the window behind me, some guy in a leather vest pacing weirdly, 1.00

00:31:50.440 and I thought, oh boy, we got another one of those refugees 1.00

00:31:52.320 from the Sheldon Tumor Center, but no, it's our publisher 1.00

00:31:54.400 Derek getting ready for

00:31:56.400 his water balloon. I don't

00:31:58.440 think he was on camera, but I could see him in those glass windows

00:32:00.540 over there. Like I said, in the reflection, it was faint, but

00:32:02.360 I saw somebody pacing, but it was

00:32:04.380 him talking on the phone. So maybe I'll let

00:32:06.480 you get on to your duties around here, and

00:32:08.360 I'll wrap up the show. So thanks for your time, Josh,

00:32:10.460 and we'll talk again later. Always happy

00:32:12.340 to do this, and yeah, again,

00:32:14.200 www.westernstandardstore.news

00:32:16.520 and you can get a coffee

00:32:18.540 mug or a t-shirt with his name on it.

00:32:20.440 please order because we ordered too many so we are uh yeah we're we're looking to sell them so

00:32:25.300 thank you right on that is josh anderson adding his thoughts on the issues and yeah get that

00:32:32.240 merch out of there because i know they're just going to take over my desk because i'm like the

00:32:34.880 once a week guy so everything just lands on my desk and i get pushed aside but yeah this really

00:32:40.300 is live as you can tell from some of the stuff that's going back and forth over there um you

00:32:46.900 know rubicon saying i'm not sure i'd vote conservative federally anymore they're not

00:32:49.800 tainted with the federal liberals. I don't know. I mean, I mean, there's some good MPs. We know

00:32:53.660 that there always are, but the problem is always that temptation of, well, we just have to move

00:32:58.580 into their territory to win this. And it doesn't seem to work. Old reformers remember that, but it

00:33:03.620 seems some people are ready to repeat that lesson. Speaking of lessons, let's talk about one. I got

00:33:08.120 to cover this today because I had to take a year of humiliation over this. There's another beekeeper 1.00

00:33:13.340 in alberta name of mike he goes with the freedom honey beekeeping and we've had a competition going

00:33:20.940 for a while last summer in what i still think was a questionable outcome with a taste test with a

00:33:25.560 number of judges they did find three to nothing that his honey was better than mine that was in

00:33:31.080 the summer of 2025 but we had a rematch in mirror on albertans day on july 1st and with a unanimous

00:33:38.880 decision three to nothing the prettiest gold from my beehives talking to my bees paid off

00:33:45.440 we are the better honey in alberta it's one one we'll have to rectify this next year

00:33:49.960 but i'm going to remind the second place man mr freedom honey regularly you're not number one

00:33:58.400 anymore we got better honey than you all right let's get into a little more politics and some

00:34:03.200 things, talking about local, you know, I just wanted to bring up this analogy for people,

00:34:08.140 if you're familiar with Southern Alberta, kind of where I grew up into politics. Funny,

00:34:12.700 there's a bunch of people from this class of 71 of politics who were born in 71 and are involved

00:34:17.320 in things now, including Daniel Smith, actually, and Justin Trudeau, and yes, myself. And we got

00:34:24.500 into the 90s and we saw the tail end of really what was some bad policies from the provincial

00:34:29.580 progressive conservative government. And one of which that came out through the Getty years and

00:34:34.340 a bit of law heed was them thinking the government should get into business, thinking the government

00:34:39.500 should subsidize and buy into businesses. There was a company named Novotel that manufactured

00:34:45.380 cellular phones. They put, I don't know what it was, a billion into it, which in the start of the

00:34:50.360 nineties, that's a lot of money. Somehow manufacturing cell phones in the nineties and

00:34:55.080 the company went broke. How could that happen? It's the biggest boom coming in the world at the

00:34:59.180 time because it was government government can't run businesses we know that another big one

00:35:06.540 at that time and there was gainers and there were a few other things going on was a company called

00:35:11.380 mag can and it was supposed to do some sort of products with magnesium or something they built

00:35:17.600 a large specialized plant for it just north of high river and i think it's a really ironic place

00:35:23.680 to have it so anybody who's driven south of calgary on highway 2 and you've ever looked to

00:35:27.900 the right and you see this big giant orange brick building just north of high river it's just sitting

00:35:32.720 there it's been sitting there for 30 some years because mag can went broke just months after

00:35:39.400 opening up because it was a garbage concept it wasn't based on business reality it was government

00:35:44.700 subsidized and alberton got robbed on it and because it was such a specialized building they 0.70

00:35:49.000 haven't been able to do a damn thing with it ever since we've spent money having security around that

00:35:52.920 building to sit there for decades and decades and decades i think it might have been used for a movie

00:35:56.160 set or something once or twice now they've surrounded it with solar panels premier smith

00:36:02.000 lives in high river she's driven by that building hundreds and hundreds of times it's a trophy to

00:36:10.320 the failure of government going into business now premier smith went through the same political

00:36:16.000 education i did in alberta in the early 90s seeing the failure of government investments

00:36:20.560 into business. Premier Smith lives just south of Calgary like I do and sees that big ugly red

00:36:26.960 building sitting there slowly falling apart as a reminder of how foolish it is for governments to 0.74

00:36:32.620 try and pick and choose winners going into business. And what did she do? She's sinking

00:36:37.040 tens of billions of dollars into nationalized pipelines. She's talking about doing the same 0.88

00:36:41.280 thing with Doug Ford. Is that where it's going to go next? What if the oil sands, if they actually

00:36:46.200 do manage to soak pat taxpayers and put us more hundreds of billions into debt and they actually 1.00

00:36:51.320 get these pipelines built in 20 30 years whatever it'll take with these idiots well now we got to 1.00

00:36:55.800 fill it well no oil companies are expanding the oil sands right now why because the same stinking 1.00

00:37:00.440 regulations are there are they going to pursue the same solution and say well we'll just nationalize

00:37:05.640 that too worked out brilliant for venezuela didn't it guys this is wrong and that's where i'm still

00:37:11.640 so floored of all people premier smith like what are you doing i i understand as a premier you want

00:37:18.740 to try you've got to try and negotiate you got to try and get the deal you don't sit down with

00:37:22.380 the prime minister and give him the finger immediately you try to find a proper balanced

00:37:27.180 middle ground something profitable out of it but to roll over on this is just brutal but uh it looks 0.52

00:37:34.620 like i got a guest popping in out of the blue unexpectedly and it is our publisher the maniac

00:37:39.460 I saw pacing outside Derek Fildebrand so I'll give him the mic and see what the hell he wants

00:37:43.440 to say as he interrupts my show so rudely. Thanks Corey. I've been told Josh came in and kind of

00:37:49.320 hinted at some things but it's confirmed we're gonna have Calgary Mayor Jeremy Farkas here

00:37:54.100 at the barbecue in addition to buying water balloons to throw at me you're gonna be able

00:38:00.220 to buy water balloons to throw at Calgary Mayor Jeremy Farkas five dollars a shot or actually we

00:38:05.780 got better deals if you buy multiple balloons and uh those water balloon sales will go to charity

00:38:11.020 so uh i've you know we've known jeremy a long time whatever you think of his politics he's a

00:38:16.500 good sport he's a good sport he's coming down actually i thought this is a great way how much

00:38:21.180 would you pay for a water balloon to throw with this guy oh god he was really you'd fund his

00:38:25.340 campaign it's brilliant campaign fundraising i think you could fund a whole campaign if you're

00:38:30.620 I hate it enough by your opposition.

00:38:32.460 But yeah, Calgary Mayor Jerry Mouifarkas is going to be down here today at the Western Standard Barbecue.

00:38:37.840 The barbecue is free.

00:38:39.760 We got the meats already on the grill right now, but you can come down.

00:38:45.940 I was actually a big fan of this because I think it means I'm going to get less water balloons.

00:38:49.520 I think the staff are going to want to get me more than anyone else, but anyone can buy water balloons to throw at me.

00:38:54.060 But you can also buy water balloons to go to charity to throw at the mayor.

00:38:58.960 I think it's going to be a good time.

00:38:59.980 right on all right i'm gonna go eat some barbecue before anyone gets here all right well better get

00:39:06.040 fed up and get ready for getting pelted with all those water balloons it was good to see that

00:39:09.640 confirmed we'd heard about that and as derek said you know uh and yeah i've been questioning a lot

00:39:14.740 of the judgment of mayor farkas these days too with some of the things he's taking in policy

00:39:18.400 stances but he is a good guy i see some water balloons are already flying outside jeremy is a

00:39:24.480 good guy and he is a good sport and hey that takes you know coming on down taking some water

00:39:29.960 balloons and raising some money for charity this way so come on down guys senalta community center

00:39:35.560 in beltline calgary i gotta admit that parking's a little rough around here but if you drive around

00:39:38.920 enough you'll find a spot and it's not that far to walk the weather's been good and you can pelt

00:39:43.560 derek fildebrandt and mayor jeremy farkas with some water balloons you gotta like it when somebody

00:39:50.520 at least has that kind of courage to go on uh oh sandy was talking about derek taking on duane

00:39:54.760 bratt just a reminder yes tomorrow night will be the debate there won't be water balloons for that

00:39:58.920 But, you know, it'll be an interesting thing.

00:40:02.020 We got a lot of events going on.

00:40:03.280 The Western Standard is really expanding into more things like events like this and not just news copy and coverage, which we've done, I think, really, really well for quite some time.

00:40:13.700 All right, let's see what else is going on out there.

00:40:16.300 I just wanted to point out, it is, you know, it's not too bad, but yeah, we saw a little of the same.

00:40:20.160 Everybody sees it.

00:40:21.020 It's not just downtown anymore.

00:40:22.420 It's in every part of the city.

00:40:23.320 But the Sheldon Schumer Center did shut down in Calgary a little while ago.

00:40:26.700 Now, for those unfamiliar, that is where the safe consumption, if you want to call it that, of drugs was done.

00:40:32.880 That's where the center was.

00:40:34.520 And it's formally done, I guess, we've heard all the predictions of gloom and doom. 0.99

00:40:39.820 You know, that this is going to lead to mass overdoses and everything else, which is a load of crap. 0.95

00:40:44.100 You know, the overdoses are due to the addiction epidemic with incredibly powerful fentanyl just eating these poor people alive. 0.99

00:40:50.100 And it's awful.

00:40:51.140 And there is no safe consumption of these things.

00:40:53.140 What these centers do end up doing, though, is creating hubs and hangouts for the addicted, and it just terrorizes and makes a horrible mess of neighborhoods.

00:41:03.200 So, yeah, I think, I guess a side effect we'll also see is the groups of addicts will kind of spread out and disperse a little more, which isn't a solution, isn't necessarily a better thing.

00:41:11.540 But we'll kind of see how that develops through the Beltline over the next year and some.

00:41:15.280 uh premium smith has carried on one of the things that jason kenny did that was very well

00:41:19.300 we're very critical of kenny quite often but it's expanding treatment options expanding treatment

00:41:25.340 facilities i'll give credit credit we're due it's not just a matter of shutting down the safe

00:41:29.000 consumption centers we do need to get the people who are addicted so that they can get into

00:41:33.120 treatment as fast as possible when they're ready for it i had a family member who needed treatment

00:41:37.340 a while back the fastest we could get that person into a center the fastest was yeah 30 days person's

00:41:43.020 ready to go now yep we'll have you there in 30 days well that's a long time for an addict to

00:41:47.100 try and stay clean to get to the end of they need to go in the second they're ready so that's one

00:41:53.080 area where things i think are moving in the right direction we just can't necessarily build those

00:41:56.100 centers fast enough to keep up with the demand uh let's see looking uh federally we want to see how

00:42:04.120 corrupt and broken canada is there's a great example recently with that condo bailout you

00:42:08.180 know, a bunch of condominium construction buildings made. Uh, they went, they couldn't

00:42:13.660 sell them. They were million dollar condos, apartments. So the federal government stepped

00:42:17.280 in and bailed them out. But now the real stink starts coming in. And this is from Gabriel Hardy.

00:42:21.160 He's a conservative member of parliament from Quebec. He said, concert properties, this just

00:42:25.420 before they shut down the committee, by the way, the liberals shut down the committee on the

00:42:27.840 discussion of this because they didn't want to hear more about it. Concert properties who created

00:42:30.900 a partnership with Brookfield. Go figure. 15 days before the announcement where the developers got

00:42:37.420 the bailout from our tax dollars will be among the developers whom the government will be purchasing

00:42:41.420 these condos from. These are just facts. They're not presumptions. They're not accusations. We

00:42:45.480 want to know whether or not they will be among those who will see their condos bought. Coincidence.

00:42:49.720 And shortly after that, the committee was shut down by the liberal majority on it. But I mean,

00:42:57.520 come on guys. So yes, some insiders connected with, I mean, all roads just keep seeming to

00:43:02.660 lead to Brookfield, happen to coincidentally get in on this 15 days before the government buyout.

00:43:10.040 You know, that would be insider trading that would get somebody into jail any other time.

00:43:14.300 But when government does it, apparently it's all right. 0.93

00:43:17.420 Another thing to watch on the Western Standard site, if you want to see pathetic and you want

00:43:21.000 to see attention seeking, old Gil McGowan, you know, he had his terrible failed day of action.

00:43:26.520 He was going to bring Alberta to a standstill with his big general strike a month ago.

00:43:31.760 nobody noticed because it didn't really go anywhere he also was part of the spearhead of

00:43:35.600 all of the recalls they were going to recall all the uh conservative you know united conservative

00:43:40.340 party mlas that failed absolutely brutally then none of them even came vaguely close all the

00:43:46.160 unions horses all the unions men couldn't do a thing well his next big trick was waiting in line

00:43:51.740 for a long long time at the premier's pancake breakfast to try and ambush her and uh question

00:43:58.080 her about the chamber of commerce and how they claim that independence is bad for business it

00:44:03.180 was just bizarre and weird to be honest and it flopped terribly and just made old gill look

00:44:08.280 all the more pathetic but you know the video is available at western standard online you can see

00:44:13.680 it just turned into one long awkward moment not a gotcha moment whatever gill might have thought 0.94

00:44:18.560 and wanted he's going to get out of it um let's see uh j smoke saying i'm sure cbc and msn will

00:44:25.260 report on that i don't know if you're talking about that committee thing with brookfield and

00:44:28.440 the rest yeah you know they'll be dead silent on all of that um it's it's going to uh not go

00:44:34.220 anywhere we're getting robbed guys the bottom line is we're getting robbed and uh i don't know

00:44:39.740 how the heck we are gonna get out of it uh one other thing with the independence movement and

00:44:44.600 everything else the vandalism and so on sad that it's getting to this but it's another story on

00:44:49.000 the western standard the safeway outlets you know they've always had they've had this for over a

00:44:53.160 year. This turned into an issue a year ago. It's happening again. They had Alberta flags

00:44:57.360 decorating areas where there's Alberta products. It's a bi-local thing. That's been happening

00:45:01.040 forever. Co-ops used to do it, everything else. Well, now Thomas Lukasik's little forever Canadian

00:45:06.440 purring people are complaining and demanding safely remove those Alberta flags from their

00:45:11.340 displays. They're attacking our flag. That's how pathetic they are. Hey, attack me. I'm an

00:45:16.520 independence leader. That's fine. Attack my, well, don't physically attack them, but complain about

00:45:21.960 my independent signs fine you have that right but don't go after our flag you guys are pathetic 0.99

00:45:27.420 you're sad you're fearful you're angry and you're gonna lose all right guys that's it for me today 0.99

00:45:33.420 get down here to senalta if you can throw a water balloon at derek eat a weenie have a good time

00:45:38.820 stampede's going for a few more days and uh this sunday i'll be flipping pancakes at ranchman's

00:45:44.600 at a stampede breakfast i believe uh yeah sunday at nine in the morning i think i'll double check

00:45:49.920 that so thanks for tuning in today guys for this live run even with a few of the the bugs that's

00:45:54.920 just part of the fun of being live and we will catch you all on the next show at this time next

00:45:58.620 week

00:46:19.920 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - July 08, 2026

Nationalizing oil pipelines isn’t a victory for any but socialists

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