Western Standard - NDP faces financial apocalypse

00:00:00.000 Today, today is July 16th, 2025.

00:00:29.320 I'm Derek Fildebrand, publisher of the Western Standard

00:00:32.180 And you're watching The Pipeline

00:00:33.920 I'm joined by our usual posse

00:00:37.080 Western Standard Opinion Editor, Nigel Hannaford

00:00:39.960 Good to be here, Art

00:00:40.980 And Western Standard Senior Alberta Columnist, Corey Morgan

00:00:44.260 Good afternoon, evening

00:00:45.720 We've dropped the cosplay cowboy garbs

00:00:49.860 Back to our regular office suits here

00:00:52.060 You guys had a good stampede?

00:00:54.820 The best, is that right?

00:00:56.180 Yeah

00:00:56.340 I think I'm finally old

00:00:58.860 i took it slow this year i just um yeah first year i wasn't like free beer i was like oh no

00:01:07.480 more free beer shit a lot of events yeah yeah okay no it's a great time you know everybody's 0.56

00:01:14.900 happy it's good mood about the place it is all right i'm 100 stampede yeah right um all right

00:01:22.340 Well, the NDP, the federal NDP, is facing total and complete financial apocalypse following its defeat in the spring federal election.

00:01:36.180 There's all sorts of reasons now why that party faces bankruptcy.

00:01:41.160 Could it be the actual end of the federal NDP?

00:01:44.660 It's not as crazy as an idea as you might think.

00:01:47.520 uh alberta concern uh this is a scoop in the western standard alberta ucp members uh at the

00:01:56.980 constituency level have put forward a ton of policy resolutions to be debated at the party's

00:02:03.080 next convention coming in november to uh make the ucp officially a supporting uh make the ucp

00:02:11.560 officially support Alberta independence.

00:02:14.600 That would be a pretty radical change for a nominally federalist party to be making.

00:02:21.680 So we're going to be talking about what's happening there and what that's going to mean

00:02:24.920 within the conservative party, the conservative movement in Alberta, and the independence

00:02:29.380 movement as the Venn diagram shrinks ever closer over top, as they become closer, at

00:02:36.040 least to one and the same.

00:02:37.920 We're going to start first with Danielle Smith's roadshow.

00:02:41.020 I think those things will dovetail nicely into each other.

00:02:44.600 Nigel, Danielle Smith hit the road last night, I think, in a red deer.

00:02:49.720 In a red deer it was, with 450 people attending.

00:02:52.980 Very well populated.

00:02:55.660 So last month, the Premier announced a province-wide consultation

00:02:59.880 to gather public input, as she put it,

00:03:02.500 on how to strengthen Alberta's autonomy

00:03:05.260 and redefine its role in Canada.

00:03:08.160 Now, I say as she put it

00:03:09.600 because although she's seeking public input,

00:03:14.460 she is also delivering a message.

00:03:17.100 And she is inviting people, I think,

00:03:21.780 to tell her how much they agree with her

00:03:23.840 when it comes to things like the Alberta pension plan,

00:03:29.400 immigration, the provincial police force.

00:03:32.500 And frankly, this is what I've got a special heart for, is whether Alberta should collect income taxes and send what is due to Ottawa or continue with the same process where Ottawa collects it and gives us what we think we should have.

00:03:49.240 um quebec collects its own income taxes this is an idea worth pursuing because it just once more

00:03:58.560 demonstrates the uh you know the uniqueness of the in quebec's case of quebec and it could be

00:04:05.420 for alberta anyway the meeting quickly turned to independence alberta independence and i don't

00:04:16.440 imagine the premium was disappointed by that

00:04:18.480 but building the case for a strong

00:04:20.260 Alberta, including independents

00:04:22.620 if necessary, to strengthen her hand

00:04:24.460 when she comes to deal with the

00:04:26.600 federal government

00:04:27.980 as she must in due course because the six

00:04:30.420 months that she gave Mr. Kearney

00:04:32.440 is starting to get

00:04:34.560 a little bit close.

00:04:36.200 That was last night

00:04:38.460 in Red Deer. Tonight, as we speak,

00:04:40.520 it's in Edmonton.

00:04:42.320 You're not going to go through that whole list, are you?

00:04:43.880 No. How do you know? I mean, the people in

00:04:46.240 Fort McMurray probably care, but they're taking a hiatus for about a month.

00:04:51.980 Edmonton, Scarbury, Lloyd-Bennister, that's the August show,

00:04:56.520 Medicine Ad, Lethbridge and Airdrie in September, Grand Prairie too,

00:05:00.000 back to Calvary for later in September.

00:05:03.040 So, look, these are actually quite important meetings,

00:05:05.980 and I would urge people to pay attention to what's being said,

00:05:10.180 and maybe go to one if you can.

00:05:11.340 uh cory a lot of people have i think fairly compared this to jason kenney's fair deal panel

00:05:19.840 um you know that came right after i think it was 2019 uh federal early shortly after his

00:05:27.640 general election yeah it was 2019 no uh provisional election no it was 2019 provisional

00:05:32.660 then there was federal right after i think oh i came right after a minute the federal 21 was

00:05:37.080 a federal election okay yeah well there was a 2019 as well so yeah it's okay right after a federal

00:05:42.680 election where uh independence under the name wexit at that time it flared up it became a big

00:05:49.080 problem for him within the ucp as a huge number of ucp members are sympathetic if not outright

00:05:55.040 supportive of independence um you know kenny being an un he's an declared himself an unconditional

00:06:01.380 federalist there is no circumstance under which he ever supports independence okay that's fine

00:06:05.940 but he realized he needed some kind of

00:06:09.200 release valve

00:06:10.900 because there was all this

00:06:13.320 steam pent up and

00:06:15.200 if he didn't find a way for people to blow it off

00:06:17.560 it would have blown up his party

00:06:19.480 and it still nearly did

00:06:20.920 but

00:06:23.200 not much

00:06:25.320 came out of that, we got the referendum on equalization

00:06:27.240 that had already been an election promise anyway

00:06:29.460 that was just kind of rehashed again

00:06:31.000 in the report

00:06:31.920 this time though

00:06:35.520 Kenny, the Premier herself, is chairing it. That one, Preston Manning, chair it. It was ostensibly at least arm's length. He was not writing the report. He wasn't sitting on the panels. Smith is directly chairing this panel, so these panels are actually fairly large.

00:06:51.920 How is it, in what ways do you think this could be substantially different in any way from the Kenny Fear Deal panels that didn't really leap much?

00:07:01.060 Yeah, well, I mean, I think most realize that Kenny's efforts were just a deferral, an event, but he had no intention of really following through with any of those.

00:07:09.220 Let's just make them feel like they've been listened to and we'll move on with government how we will.

00:07:13.420 Or to be a little fair, maybe he had bigger plans.

00:07:15.920 COVID did hit and government priorities kind of changed all over the place.

00:07:19.760 But either way, the panel went nowhere to speak of.

00:07:24.080 I think with Premier Smith chairing it herself, that was a purposeful effort.

00:07:27.860 It's very rare when a sitting premier will commit to a whole bunch of public

00:07:31.520 readings. Yeah. I was saying rare in that, uh, I'd have to research,

00:07:35.340 I wouldn't say never, but it's certainly not common. And I think she,

00:07:40.080 she realizes that she's owning this. If nothing comes to this,

00:07:43.780 it's going to be on her lap. Like, why did you do this?

00:07:46.600 Why did you waste our time yet again?

00:07:48.760 So I think she's serious with where she wants to go on this kind of,

00:07:52.360 as you said in the opening too, though, it's kind of like they're,

00:07:54.940 they just want to get answers to the questions or answers.

00:07:56.860 The answers they reiterated they already have.

00:08:00.580 Something's interesting is she's talking about what they conclude will likely be going to a referendum next year.

00:08:06.880 So there's probably a number of questions they already have in mind.

00:08:09.760 So this is kind of the warm-up.

00:08:11.480 This is moving towards it.

00:08:13.400 And it's going to be put to a general question sometime within a year, I think,

00:08:16.680 which is radically different than what the fair deal panels were.

00:08:21.520 uh nigel smith has already talked about putting a series of other sovereignty related not

00:08:29.400 independence but sovereignty related questions on the ballot that would probably go in conjunction

00:08:35.380 with the expected independence referendum uh yeah the independence referendum that being one that

00:08:40.340 is likely to come from citizens initiative uh petitions to get that on the ballot

00:08:44.980 uh this might appear at the same time is there any grand strategy in that that

00:08:52.280 and maybe she doesn't think independence will succeed but then you know i've seen critics of

00:08:57.160 hers uh on the left say well she's gonna use you know these things would never pass on their own

00:09:02.480 like a pension plan and police uh taxes that kind of thing they wouldn't pass on their own

00:09:07.280 what if independence is on the ballot at the same time they'll seem more moderate and then has a

00:09:12.360 chance of passing. And then there's the

00:09:14.320 other side that I'm a bit more partial to,

00:09:16.300 and I think having those things on the

00:09:18.360 ballot makes it less likely that independence

00:09:20.080 succeeds, because then people can, they can check

00:09:22.360 a number of these sovereignty

00:09:24.160 within Canada options

00:09:25.680 without going the whole hawk.

00:09:28.480 How do you see it?

00:09:29.880 I'm pretty sure that this is a backup plan.

00:09:33.700 She

00:09:34.140 wants to,

00:09:36.600 what she doesn't want is to go

00:09:38.360 into a meeting with her federal opposite 0.57

00:09:40.420 numbers,

00:09:40.900 and they are able to turn to her and say i don't know why you're here the people you're

00:09:46.960 representing don't want this that's what she wants to avoid so she needs a good showing in these uh 0.74

00:09:53.940 in these meetings she needs to have plenty of public support for the positions that she's 1.00

00:10:00.660 adopted and the relationship between the the referendum question and these other things

00:10:07.340 is probably not

00:10:09.540 the one that you're

00:10:11.640 hoping for, but it is

00:10:13.420 if the one doesn't go, well, at least

00:10:15.660 the others might.

00:10:17.560 From a political point of view,

00:10:19.960 that's a win for the Premier.

00:10:22.200 Not the big win,

00:10:23.660 but enough of a win that you didn't

00:10:25.600 lose.

00:10:27.020 She's also talking in

00:10:29.420 this Alberta Next panel, The Roadshow,

00:10:32.380 about a suite

00:10:33.540 of constitutional amendments

00:10:35.360 uh you know to the federal constitution uh we talked about that last week uh i'm still unsure

00:10:43.220 what the strategy is there because you know she's a smart lady she knows that there's virtually no 1.00

00:10:48.760 chance that the rest of the country primarily in the east eastern central canada that they're

00:10:55.140 ever going to agree to any substantive constitutional changes one because they'd be

00:10:59.440 giving up tons of power uh pei is not going to give up having essentially more representation

00:11:04.260 and Harlem and almost then Alberta

00:11:05.640 with the population

00:11:08.400 of like Erdry.

00:11:10.520 They're not going to give that up.

00:11:11.980 Nova Scotia, Brunswick

00:11:13.560 and then Quebec is

00:11:16.320 you know, if we're talking

00:11:18.200 constitution, Quebec, they're going to open

00:11:20.360 up their crazy grab bag of ideas

00:11:22.260 and say, okay, we want some French

00:11:24.080 supremacist stuff.

00:11:25.960 People in Lethbridge can only speak French.

00:11:29.840 You know, they're going to come to their crazy ideas that

00:11:32.120 there's a 0% chance that English Canada, especially in the West, could accept.

00:11:36.460 Where are you going with that stuff?

00:11:38.060 Well, I think...

00:11:38.900 There's no chance.

00:11:39.400 I'm really guessing, but I think they're being quite strategic and tactical with this.

00:11:43.060 So this will finish, I believe, towards the end of September.

00:11:45.680 There'll be the hearings.

00:11:46.680 Give them a month to chew on it.

00:11:48.000 And as we said, this is probably predetermined.

00:11:49.500 They'll have the report that comes out.

00:11:51.180 And part of it will say, oh, well, look at that.

00:11:52.620 At our hearings, we found that most people support these proposed constitutional ideas.

00:11:56.840 So we'll wrap it up in a pretty little bow and submit it to Ottawa and the provinces

00:12:00.360 and say, look, this is what we're asking for in Alberta.

00:12:02.660 Well, by Christmas time, most of the provinces and whatnot

00:12:04.900 will at best have ignored it.

00:12:07.200 At worst, some will just say, roll it up and stick it back up

00:12:09.420 wherever you pulled it from.

00:12:10.760 And that's where she's well positioned to say, look, see,

00:12:14.140 that's where we're going to get trying on the constitutional front.

00:12:17.700 Now we've got a referendum coming next year with this, this, this, this,

00:12:21.680 and this on it that don't require constitutional changes.

00:12:24.920 This is the path Alberta must go.

00:12:26.760 So I think they're setting it up knowing it's going to fail.

00:12:29.580 but at least to demonstrate to Albertans that if you want to keep firing these guns at a target

00:12:35.740 that's invulnerable we're wasting our time so it's just one more way to show and she'll have 1.00

00:12:40.360 a mandate say well we we offered this is what we got now we have to try something else.

00:12:45.400 Nigel do you share that? I mean I'm thinking that she's setting up she's let them say

00:12:51.500 screw you to us so that to strengthen her case to get these other facts. Absolutely I mean she knows

00:12:57.760 that the the amending formula for the canadian constitution is seven provinces with two-thirds

00:13:04.720 of the population and you're never going to get that kind of buy-in they couldn't get it back in

00:13:11.280 when we were they were negotiating the charlatan or the beach lake accords um it's actually held

00:13:19.120 up on the indigenous one indigenous vote there so now we got more i she knows exactly and i and

00:13:27.360 Corey's nailed it precisely there, that once it is very clear,

00:13:32.680 there's this visible reminder to a new generation of Albertans

00:13:35.900 that you can't get constitutional change in Canada,

00:13:41.700 then she's free to go on to plan B.

00:13:46.220 She's tried.

00:13:47.100 Gave it a good shot.

00:13:48.900 Okay, well, that segues nicely into what's happening within the UCP

00:13:54.700 on the independence question.

00:13:56.420 So this was a story our reporter, Tula Mazulam, broke last week, that there have been something in the neighborhood of 50-odd resolutions from individuals and constituency associations.

00:14:15.360 um the way the way the policy conferences uh for the ucp in alberta work is uh individual members

00:14:23.940 and constituency associations can all submit policies and then before they go to be voted on

00:14:29.280 at the convention the different constituency associations sit down and they rank how much

00:14:33.940 they like each one so that essentially the ones with the most agreement go to the front of the

00:14:37.700 lineup and then theoretically you know if if the convention spent 10 seconds on each then you'd go

00:14:43.520 well, if they're all 300 resolutions or something to get there,

00:14:45.940 more likely they get to 30, 35, something like that,

00:14:49.900 ranked in order of what's got the most interest.

00:14:52.840 There is, I think, a certainty that independence is going to get ranked high enough.

00:14:57.800 It could be damn near the first question that will come up.

00:15:01.460 Now, I guess the question that the UCP is wrestling with right now is,

00:15:06.440 I don't think they're looking at not allowing it there.

00:15:10.260 I think that would create a revolt in the UCP.

00:15:12.320 you'd probably get a special general meeting called essentially

00:15:14.280 to recall the board

00:15:15.980 of that party. But they're either going to have it

00:15:18.380 at the convention or what they're doing

00:15:20.380 is giving consideration to right now

00:15:22.140 having

00:15:25.540 essentially a party plebiscite

00:15:28.260 on the policy as a standalone

00:15:30.460 rather than having it at the convention itself.

00:15:35.000 This,

00:15:36.280 I mean, I think

00:15:37.780 I'd argue probably would be a big step forward

00:15:40.460 for, I mean,

00:15:41.120 But separate from the partisan interests of the UCP, of which this would be very divisive, I mean, it would be an earthquake success for the independence movement to essentially capture the governing party of Alberta at a convention.

00:15:55.600 so the again it's creating the sense of occasion i mean you could put these you could put these

00:16:05.140 resolutions at the front of the regular party meeting and anybody who's ever been to one of

00:16:11.080 those meetings knows this would be about the only interesting one for 10 years so it's uh

00:16:15.800 you can drink a lot of warm water while you're waiting for those things to develop but this

00:16:21.180 would capture the attention but even more would it capture the attention if

00:16:25.200 it became its own separate convention because then again when you're facing

00:16:32.920 the federal government's representatives they're saying this is so important to

00:16:37.620 all burdens that we know that this 5,000 person convention came together to

00:16:45.060 discuss it and you're going to find I think I'd be very surprised if the

00:16:49.360 independence movement isn't the majority in the ucp membership this is about i think it's about

00:16:55.700 124 000 people isn't it it's high i don't know lately renewals after past campaigns it's higher

00:17:03.860 during leadership races and when there's nominations going on so it's probably a little

00:17:07.380 lower than that right now but yeah strong i mean it's a six-figure number i'm sure yeah um well

00:17:13.100 actually know what they're not talking about i think having a separate convention it'd be

00:17:16.100 technically a special general meeting that's separate

00:17:18.000 but that'd be like when the PC

00:17:20.120 and Wild Rose members voted technically

00:17:22.340 in a special general meeting but it was a remote one

00:17:24.440 so you could vote on the phone, you could vote

00:17:26.240 online, you could vote in mail, that kind of thing.

00:17:28.840 So I think it's talking about being more of a

00:17:30.340 referendum. There'll probably be a physical location

00:17:32.200 somewhere where people

00:17:34.160 gather but mostly voting

00:17:35.820 everyone could vote at home so

00:17:37.860 it wouldn't be 5,000 people voting

00:17:40.120 actually wasn't the last convention something like

00:17:41.860 8,000 or something crazy? It was a massive

00:17:44.060 amount. It was the biggest political intervention

00:17:45.800 of Canadian history, and this was just

00:17:47.660 for a provincial party

00:17:49.660 in the fourth largest province.

00:17:51.100 You still managed to get a quarter of them drunk in the hospitalities.

00:17:53.680 Yeah.

00:17:56.240 The red gates of hell,

00:17:57.940 I remember it well.

00:17:59.720 Corey, if polls are to be

00:18:01.700 believed, and they're pretty consistent on this point,

00:18:04.460 two-thirds of UCP voters

00:18:06.080 support independence.

00:18:08.540 It's not a majority of Albertans,

00:18:09.880 but it's two-thirds of UCP voters.

00:18:12.200 And traditionally, members of a party

00:18:13.600 tend to be more strided,

00:18:15.640 more ideological uh more right wing than the than the public at large i if this goes to a vote of

00:18:23.640 ucp members i i have a hard time seeing how this is anything but a pretty resounding yes well it's

00:18:30.600 a delicate balance i for them to say you can't have it on at policy especially with so many

00:18:36.360 having been submitted already as as was scooped uh would just be if you want to see somebody

00:18:41.320 grinning your ear to ear it'll be cam davies because you'll finally have the grouse and say

00:18:45.000 look you see that's the only way for independence they won't even allow you to discuss it easy so

00:18:48.760 you have to that's why you see you has to allow it personally i think they should allow the

00:18:52.920 discussion and just speaking my own point of view i think the members should reject entrenching it

00:18:57.800 into party but that's where that discussion can come and then people will read in different things

00:19:02.120 with it why do you like you support independence what why do you think the members should not make

00:19:06.120 that party policy because you make that party policy and you got to remember three two-thirds

00:19:11.480 of the UCP voters support independence, but this is a very polarizing issue. It's not one where

00:19:16.340 there's much fuzziness with people. It's a deal breaker for a lot of them. And when you've got

00:19:20.480 0% of the supporters, the NDP who support independence, you cut away a potential 20%

00:19:25.140 of your base. And you look at the electoral math and that next general election can look really,

00:19:30.680 really bad when you have actually carrying independence in your policy set. Again, I think

00:19:35.480 that's where the tactic of being able to say, we're putting it in the hands of Albertans if

00:19:40.220 they initiate a referendum, they can have that vote.

00:19:42.660 They can make that decision.

00:19:44.840 That's where it belongs and not within the party.

00:19:47.760 Cause then you can rip your own party very dangerously, or at least your base of

00:19:51.800 support in a general election.

00:19:53.900 So, I mean, that's just my view on it.

00:19:56.240 Not every UCP MLA is necessarily pro-independence.

00:20:00.900 So, no, I mean, even if I'm just saying the Lord do if that party makes it policy.

00:20:05.180 Yeah.

00:20:05.440 And we know MLAs are bound by party policy as a longer discussion of things,

00:20:09.140 But, uh, I would hope there'd be a spirited discussion and

00:20:13.520 maybe along those lines of, again, I mean, this is as pro

00:20:15.980 independence as we've ever seen from a governing party in this

00:20:18.980 province and, and there's still room to push it further.

00:20:22.100 Uh, I was VP policy for the Wildrose for a number of, of terms.

00:20:26.060 It's a thankless, miserable job.

00:20:27.920 And, uh, well, but you do, there's, there's no doubt there's

00:20:31.100 mechanisms to try and get policies to go the way you want them and the

00:20:34.500 way you don't without, you know, directly interfering or being bad.

00:20:37.980 So with the order you set them in, I don't think they could put that question at the top of the agenda.

00:20:41.460 You're going to put it down a ways where you'll reach it.

00:20:43.360 No, it's actually, but it's determined by how they get ranked.

00:20:47.520 The party itself does not get determined what order they're in.

00:20:50.600 Because given the ability, I mean, I would have said maybe question 10, but maybe put a three concession questions before it.

00:20:57.040 That'll make the independence people feel a little happier.

00:20:59.180 We're going to take on a provincial police.

00:21:01.180 We're going to entrench a pension plan.

00:21:02.920 Those sorts of things.

00:21:03.680 But I think it's determined more by rankings.

00:21:07.040 Well, and it might be.

00:21:07.700 I'm just speaking from how it was before, but how you try to adjust policy discussions so that maybe by then there's been a lot of debate on it and members in the room are starting to think on things a little further that maybe we could put this to referendum rather than entrenching in party policy.

00:21:22.320 But, I mean, they can't ignore the question, but I do think it would be very dangerous if they actually put it into party policy.

00:21:31.280 It really could bode poorly in a general election.

00:21:34.420 I do agree it's politically dangerous.

00:21:36.320 I mean, if that becomes the defining issue

00:21:38.560 it actually gives the NDP a better shot of winning

00:21:40.540 because their voters are

00:21:42.720 unified. 95% of NDP voters

00:21:44.880 are federalists. Only 5%

00:21:46.940 support independents

00:21:48.940 as New Democrats

00:21:50.320 whereas with UCP voters, it's a bigger pool

00:21:52.900 of voters, you know, the more

00:21:54.900 popular, but it's two

00:21:56.900 thirds in sport of independents, one third of

00:21:58.800 votes. And that is not a marginal

00:22:00.940 question. It's not like what the tax rate should be or what's

00:22:02.980 in the curriculum. It's an existential

00:22:04.820 Yeah. And as an independent supporter, I mean, I want to see a referendum and I want to see as strong as showing as humanly possible. And I still think unless things change pretty dramatically, which is possible in this next eight months, it's still going to be hard to get over 50% in the referendum. So it better be pretty darn good. But if you come in at 40% and then the NDP get in, is it going to be a decade before we get another vote on it? Because, you know, the next chance you get, you're not going to get a chance at all with the NDP.

00:22:32.240 I'm just saying, will the members think that strategically?

00:22:35.260 I don't know.

00:22:36.180 But that's the way I kind of look at it.

00:22:38.080 I don't know.

00:22:39.000 The thing is, you're going to have huge political machines on the Federalist side in this referendum.

00:22:47.480 You're going to have the Alberta NDP.

00:22:49.520 You're going to have whatever small machines are for the Federal NDP and the Liberals, which in a few pockets there's something, but nothing big.

00:22:58.900 But the Conservative Party of Canada is going to do everything it can.

00:23:02.240 they have the most to lose politically

00:23:04.840 with independency.

00:23:06.240 And that's why I'm so committed to it

00:23:09.020 being a grassroots individuals

00:23:10.400 or groups and movements rather

00:23:12.240 but trying to get into the party.

00:23:13.860 And they will under any circumstance.

00:23:17.720 And you'll have the Alberta NDP opposing it.

00:23:21.000 I don't see any chance of winning

00:23:22.640 unless you've got at least one major political machine

00:23:24.840 on your side.

00:23:25.540 And that means the only one in town

00:23:27.200 is the UCP.

00:23:28.700 Or the machine has to be something that isn't a party.

00:23:30.700 sure the parties have infrastructure they they have hierarchy absolutely organization and the

00:23:37.820 independence movement i mean i'm pretty impressed with what some of the folks have done so far

00:23:41.440 but they pale in comparison to a well-oiled political machine like the ucp or the ndp

00:23:46.660 you'd be bringing a bb gun to an artillery fight if if you're going against a conservative party

00:23:53.540 of canada the ndp the federal liberals the federal ndp and then the ucp just sits on the sidelines

00:23:59.560 They cannot win under those circumstances.

00:24:02.000 They need the UCP.

00:24:02.740 Tough hill to climb.

00:24:03.660 I mean, I don't know about that.

00:24:04.980 Again, we're talking about Venn diagrams.

00:24:06.140 You're going to have 80% of the UCP members, operatives.

00:24:09.880 I mean, some of it is allowing perhaps the freedom of MLAs to come out in support or against.

00:24:15.420 I mean, let it be that debate.

00:24:17.980 But I just feel nervous with the party entrenching that outright in the policy book.

00:24:23.800 That turns you into a single-issue party.

00:24:26.980 And I tell you, you better win that next referendum then because you aren't winning the next election.

00:24:32.960 So I'm just fearful of it.

00:24:35.160 I know what you're saying.

00:24:35.880 I mean, there's no doubt.

00:24:36.880 I mean, having the ability, those 87 constituencies that are organized, campaign managers, volunteer lists, donors, essential.

00:24:45.300 And it's a huge disadvantage without that.

00:24:47.660 But I'm just really fearful of the consequences of the party taking on an independence stance itself.

00:24:53.740 It's give us the means and don't jump into the fray.

00:24:56.980 But it could be unavoidable. I don't know.

00:24:59.180 I do agree that it would be, I mean, it gives the NDP a better fighting chance of the next election if the UCP is officially wedded to independence.

00:25:08.980 But by the time we go through that referendum, I feel like it's already going to be kind of baked into the cost that the UCP will be widely perceived as pretty much an independence party.

00:25:20.140 They're going to be labeled anyway.

00:25:20.880 They're going to be labeled no matter what.

00:25:22.680 They have already amended the legislation

00:25:25.020 to make citizens' initiative

00:25:26.280 referenda on any issue, but

00:25:28.540 this is obviously the issue people want it for.

00:25:32.080 They

00:25:32.600 will have amended the legislation to make it possible.

00:25:35.780 Smith

00:25:36.120 certainly never condemns them.

00:25:39.780 She

00:25:39.880 invites them to be a part of her

00:25:43.000 party.

00:25:44.780 Wouldn't it be baked into the political math

00:25:47.020 anyway? By the time we get to the next election, we've been

00:25:49.020 through a referendum.

00:25:50.980 Win, lose, or draw. Whatever

00:25:52.140 happens in that referendum,

00:25:54.700 the UCP... I mean, like I said, we win.

00:25:56.800 I mean, no one's going to then trust the NDP to

00:25:58.340 take over. I mean, it'd be like putting

00:26:00.380 Labour in charge right after Brexit. They're not

00:26:02.420 going to do it. So, let's

00:26:04.480 say there's a referendum loss.

00:26:06.340 The math doesn't favour independence right now

00:26:08.360 very well, but

00:26:09.660 if there's a referendum loss

00:26:12.080 and then we're going into an election with

00:26:14.480 UCP versus NDP and that's,

00:26:16.360 you know, say a year out from there,

00:26:18.600 isn't it already kind of just baked

00:26:20.260 into the math? Oh, hello, she said.

00:26:22.140 The UCP comes out,

00:26:24.300 Peter Smith comes out and says,

00:26:26.320 well, we had the referendum.

00:26:27.520 It lost.

00:26:29.440 You know, that's what happens

00:26:30.500 when you have a referendum.

00:26:31.780 You ask people what they think.

00:26:32.880 They tell you what you think.

00:26:34.120 Now we move on.

00:26:36.040 However, let Ottawa be under

00:26:38.440 no misapprehensions about the strength

00:26:40.820 and depth of feeling in Alberta

00:26:43.540 about how relations between Ottawa

00:26:49.160 and Alberta have gone.

00:26:51.440 Meanwhile, we still have the same set of demands, and we're continuing to press them because clearly we do have a constituency for it.

00:27:00.420 My question, though, is about in an election.

00:27:03.480 So, you know, we go through a referendum.

00:27:05.640 Let's say the referendum was not successful.

00:27:07.960 And then a year out from there, we're in an Alberta general election versus the UCP versus the EP.

00:27:14.360 You know, Corey raises the point, I think, fairly that, well, the UCP, if it officially adopts independence, it's then going to split off voters.

00:27:24.540 But even if it doesn't officially support independence as a policy, I think voters will still, from both sides, will still say you're the independent party and the NDP are the unconditional federalist party.

00:27:37.980 I'm actually not sure it actually changes the electoral math that much once you're a year out from that referendum.

00:27:44.840 the ucp would be regarded as a home and a haven for traitors and people who would hold down the 0.98

00:27:54.200 canadian flag yes of course they would and that's because they would be wouldn't they if i if the

00:28:01.960 majority of the ucp membership actually does favor independence of some kind well it doesn't matter

00:28:09.240 whether it becomes party policy doesn't matter whether it becomes a bit of the

00:28:14.480 referendum passes the UCP has defined itself on that issue and that is

00:28:21.300 probably the issue that most people care about so change the channel to something

00:28:26.400 else so what do you think Cory you know there's a referendum it's not

00:28:30.100 successful a year from there does it actually matter with voters at that

00:28:33.900 point if the UCP officially supported independence or not because I think I

00:28:38.480 I think everyone's going to perceive it anyway. A couple of things will depend on, I guess,

00:28:41.360 how well the referendum fared. If you were looking at it was 46, 47%, there's some safe 0.94

00:28:48.000 ground that they can still cultivate as an independence party and still sit on. If it

00:28:52.000 came in at 25, but they've got it entrenched in their policies and independence party,

00:29:01.200 they're caught in a rock in a hard place. I mean, you don't want to remove policy that members have

00:29:04.960 of entrenched, but at the same time, if you're coming towards an election, you want to change

00:29:08.720 the channel. You'll want the next election to be on something else besides the independence. I guess

00:29:13.040 as Nigel said, well, there, we did put it to the citizens of Alberta, and that trumps the members

00:29:18.300 choices in this. You know, the party favors this, the members favor this, but at this time, that's

00:29:23.560 not where Alberta is, and we're going to continue to govern and stand up and all the rest of the 0.62

00:29:28.380 things, but they'll have to carefully distance themselves from that 26% or whatever, while not

00:29:34.500 alienating them. But as you said, they're going to wear it anyway. I mean, they already are.

00:29:39.120 It doesn't matter what. So shouldn't they then just own the policy? Get on and ride that aura?

00:29:45.740 Well, no, because it's not 100% of them. So it's not fair for them wearing it. And you shouldn't

00:29:49.640 wear it. I know as frustrating as it may be, just because you're being labeled with it doesn't mean

00:29:55.380 you have to accept it. Yeah, well, I mean, put yourself in a position of a UCP MLA who actually

00:30:01.040 does not support independence i don't know how many people there are like that

00:30:05.020 but if you say okay that's it this is our policy this is what we're going

00:30:08.640 through in the next election a person who does not support

00:30:12.340 independence is going to think well do i actually want to run for this party

00:30:16.200 and even before the uh before the election is called

00:30:20.760 they may be asking themselves do i even want to support it

00:30:24.600 while i am a sitting mla sorry i'm gonna sit on the sidelines i'm not

00:30:30.260 resigning my seat because i need the money but i am not going to be identified as a separatist

00:30:40.140 because that's not who i am and that's not what my family wants it's not what my voters want

00:30:45.700 and it's not what i want so now you've got a situation where the ndp could conceivably

00:30:51.460 contrive a situation that splits the um splits those people away the government falls you go

00:30:57.300 a snap election. I think making it official and owning the policy and putting your MLAs who are

00:31:05.220 either Federalists or sitting on the sidelines and uncomfortable and making them make a choice

00:31:09.780 could be a bad policy. I'm coming from a position of a man who I want independence. I want to see

00:31:16.020 Alberta leave the Federation. They have no ifs, ands, or buts. I've written quite clearly on that

00:31:20.260 and that's where I stand. But I also just always want to remain realistic of what might be our best

00:31:25.620 path to actually get there. And there's a whole lot of different branches and pitfalls we can hit

00:31:30.900 on the way. We're kind of on the best track we've been since 1982. We're, you know, as close as we've

00:31:38.500 seen in a generation. So, I mean, you also don't want to lose this opportunity for fear of failure

00:31:45.360 because it's sitting back and being overly cautious. But I'm just also want to make sure

00:31:49.680 that we always think of things strategically

00:31:51.040 so we can win.

00:31:52.760 I agree.

00:31:54.200 But I see being timid

00:32:00.080 and just the UCP being totally neutral

00:32:03.160 as an institution during a referendum.

00:32:06.700 It's betting on it losing.

00:32:09.120 And there's a...

00:32:10.280 I give it a one in three shot of succeeding.

00:32:13.100 Maybe it's one in four.

00:32:14.660 It's not the good money.

00:32:16.700 But I think...

00:32:17.180 But it's in the realm of possibility.

00:32:18.300 I think it can win.

00:32:20.820 It's just not the good money.

00:32:23.500 But without the UCP throwing its full institutional weight into the fight,

00:32:29.020 the chance of winning goes down to near zero.

00:32:31.600 Because you're just going to have every other major political machine in Alberta all against you.

00:32:37.180 And you're not going to defeat the combined forces of the Conservative Party of Canada,

00:32:41.160 the Liberal Party of Canada, the federal NDP, the Alberta NDP,

00:32:44.520 much of the business establishment the union establishment all of them are going to be against

00:32:51.200 you we'll see i mean it's a different kind of campaign too you gotta keep in mind this is a

00:32:55.080 campaign of yes and no a general election is a campaign of 87 candidates and a thousand different

00:33:01.620 policies this one can let focus sit i mean i again i know if you had the ucp actively campaigning

00:33:09.980 putting all those resources would definitely be an advantage but it's not quite the same

00:33:13.660 disadvantages face we're going to dive into a general election with a whole bunch of independent

00:33:17.760 candidates because then you're just killing yourselves as i was saying that was kind of

00:33:21.200 actually slightly talking myself out of my position because the charlatan accord the federal pcs

00:33:27.680 in support was the federal pcs the federal liberals the federal ndp every single provincial

00:33:33.500 government and every single provincial opposition the entire business establishment the entire

00:33:39.860 labor establishment, anyone who was, anyone

00:33:43.240 was in support of the Charlottetown Accord, and then there was, like, the

00:33:47.720 Reform Party, which had one seat in Parliament, and

00:33:51.060 they won. They were on the side of the right. Now, Brexit,

00:33:55.160 you know. Yeah, Brexit was similar. The establishment was certainly opposed,

00:33:59.940 but the citizens felt otherwise. You've got to remember, if the establishment overplays,

00:34:04.360 that's the sort of thing that makes an Albertan feel like, boy, I've got to lash back.

00:34:08.440 You know, it can be dangerous if it seems like you've got the world against you.

00:34:12.720 And, hey, you know what?

00:34:13.600 My pen can actually send them a middle finger.

00:34:15.880 No, I wouldn't recommend to the Premier that she make it party policy.

00:34:21.100 She's absolutely sure that she's got the majority of voting Albertans on her side.

00:34:27.500 Well, I don't think she does right now.

00:34:28.680 I think to get that majority, though, you're going to need the UCP.

00:34:31.000 It's a difficult chicken and egg thing going on, I guess you could say.

00:34:35.000 Okay.

00:34:37.620 Well, we'll switch gears back to Ottawa a bit here.

00:34:44.280 So Fred DeLore is a former executive director of the Federal Consumers Party during the Aaron O'Toole era.

00:34:51.500 He's got an interesting substack page, and it's a few, it's like a week or two old now.

00:34:58.340 But Corey, I think you were right to put this on as one of our topics today was his story.

00:35:03.780 um kind of just give us the background on that with the pretty perilous financial situation the

00:35:10.900 NDP finds itself sure I mean because it kind of slides under the radar for people because it's a

00:35:14.380 bit wonky I mean people don't necessarily understand how the funding works for federal

00:35:17.800 political parties and there's been a they get their campaign expenses reimbursed and they don't

00:35:24.060 like talking in the open about that a whole heck of a lot because Canadians don't quite realize how

00:35:27.520 much they're shelling out of pocket to give to these parties you know provincially there's nothing

00:35:31.120 like that. You have to rely on donors. So the NDP has become very dependent upon that. And,

00:35:36.900 you know, they had enough support numbers that they could count on. If you got over 10% in a

00:35:41.240 constituency, you'll get your campaign expenses reimbursed. So they borrowed under the assumption

00:35:46.880 that they would get at least 10% in a whole number of constituencies. Instead, they got completely

00:35:53.020 obliterated in the federal election with, there has to be a couple of hundred writings they didn't

00:35:59.160 get over 10%.

00:36:01.080 A pretty small minority, they got 10% or more.

00:36:03.220 So now they've found themselves with no party status, no leader, seven members of

00:36:08.960 parliament, millions of dollars into debt.

00:36:12.920 And due to our laws, there's a time clock ticking now because if three years pass, that

00:36:20.720 means the bank loan will now be considered a contribution, which is a really bizarre

00:36:24.900 thing because that's illegal for a bank to contribute to a political party. 0.96

00:36:28.720 Only individuals are allowed to legally donate.

00:36:30.580 Yeah, so it's uncharted in a sense.

00:36:33.920 I mean, how do you punish the bank for loaning?

00:36:36.860 I mean, if they thought it was a loan, it's not really a contribution,

00:36:39.520 but if it loses that status as a loan, it's odd.

00:36:42.920 But it highlights just how much the NDP are in trouble.

00:36:47.160 That federal party, it doesn't matter who they get for a leader at this point or what goes on,

00:36:51.800 how on earth are they going to get rid of that debt before the next election?

00:36:56.580 Do we know how legally in debt they are?

00:36:58.020 No, it's a few million.

00:36:58.780 I don't think it's been reported.

00:36:59.500 It hasn't been reported yet at all.

00:37:00.660 I'm not sure.

00:37:01.980 They said they ran a fully funded campaign.

00:37:04.080 Yeah.

00:37:04.280 And that is, I think, 35 million you're allowed to spend, something like that.

00:37:08.920 Presumably, they would have had some contributions and some return.

00:37:11.460 But let's say it's 10 million.

00:37:12.820 I mean, for a party on the ropes like they are, who's giving them that money in the next few years?

00:37:16.800 It was 10.

00:37:17.340 Because they had no war chest going on that election.

00:37:19.600 That's true.

00:37:20.240 They just paid off their last work.

00:37:22.280 They had nothing in the bank, effectively.

00:37:24.200 So, I mean, it's just that most people aren't paying much attention to them.

00:37:28.340 Eyes are on Carney, eyes are on Polly Ave.

00:37:30.340 But that third party of Jack Layton is actually, I think, at a very high risk of being wiped out.

00:37:38.040 Essentially, they may have to declare bankruptcy and reform.

00:37:41.760 So, Nigel, the closest comparison I can think of is the Federal Progressive Conservative Party in 1992 went from a majority government to two seats.

00:37:50.980 it actually holds the world record for the worst electoral defeat of a political party in the

00:37:56.640 history of democracy uh i don't know the returns on athens here but uh as far as we know it's the

00:38:02.660 worst a governing party has ever been defeated in the history of the world of democracy uh they

00:38:08.360 actually never did come back uh they you know sort of hobbled on in a much much diminished form for

00:38:14.740 you know a decade and a half before merging with the alliance become the modern conservative party

00:38:18.300 But there was different rules. They had a huge number of senators at that time, and they kicked part of their salaries into the party to try and keep it afloat. I don't think they had the same kind of debts here. But, you know, they faced a similar existential issue.

00:38:34.880 too. It is entirely possible here that the NDP will not financially recover. There's just nowhere

00:38:48.540 for the money to come from. Other than the PCs back then could rely on corporate donations. You

00:38:51.620 could go to a business and be like, guys, we've got to save the PC party. Get a couple guys running

00:38:55.560 some big checks. That's not allowed legally, federally. The limit's like 4,000 something

00:39:00.620 and only individuals.

00:39:03.380 If the NDP cannot pay it back,

00:39:07.400 then the party and its official agents,

00:39:10.700 a bunch of people, get massive fines.

00:39:12.940 They could get millions of dollars.

00:39:15.220 And at that point,

00:39:16.180 are political parties allowed to declare bankruptcy?

00:39:18.520 I don't.

00:39:19.360 That's actually a...

00:39:20.080 I've never actually heard of them doing so.

00:39:21.740 I mean, that would be a hell of a bad look

00:39:24.060 to declare bankruptcy as a party.

00:39:25.820 Before they rent back,

00:39:27.320 they'd have to give up their signature headquarters,

00:39:30.260 the Jack Leighton building that is their assets

00:39:32.480 that would be a part of bankruptcy

00:39:33.660 you give everything

00:39:36.420 I don't know and I mean I know

00:39:38.440 there used to be some pretty hard limitations

00:39:40.300 on the ability for a party to borrow

00:39:42.420 money you would have to secure it some way

00:39:44.560 or another

00:39:45.120 well so it's secured against

00:39:48.120 the building and I think in some way

00:39:50.520 I'm not sure if it was technically secured

00:39:52.480 this way or just depended on this way

00:39:54.080 those refunds that they were not

00:39:56.680 eligible for I don't think a bank should accept

00:39:58.420 variable as a security on

00:40:00.540 something. It's like, you know, yeah, if the six

00:40:02.540 horse comes in, I can pay back my loan.

00:40:04.820 You know, that's a pretty dangerous

00:40:06.740 way to finance something, but the building itself

00:40:08.840 or some hard assets,

00:40:10.200 some security behind it somewhere

00:40:12.600 because, I mean,

00:40:14.160 it's a whole complicated mire on every level

00:40:16.520 of politics, but I know they do try to

00:40:18.360 discourage candidates and parties

00:40:20.460 from borrowing money because then you can't

00:40:22.260 attribute it to a particular donor.

00:40:24.660 That's why the bank

00:40:26.560 would be found to be the donor because you basically have to break that all up into a

00:40:30.020 bunch of different names as it got paid back. And that's how it technically now becomes a whole

00:40:34.780 bunch of donations instead of just one lump sum of money. Sort of like a certain Alberta party

00:40:38.940 that somehow got $120,000 and then a whole number of people showed up out of the woodworks and

00:40:43.960 donated $5,000 each that covered it. Amazing. But that's the way it works. You have to attribute

00:40:50.580 those donations to people. And if they run out of time in three years to dilute that bank loan

00:40:55.540 into actual donations.

00:40:57.540 Yeah, they're really up the creek.

00:40:58.820 Would you like to be the bank manager who actually said,

00:41:01.400 yeah, okay, we can work with you on this.

00:41:03.220 He's probably already in the Bahamas by now.

00:41:05.400 You know, if you lend money to the socialists,

00:41:07.980 you've got to come.

00:41:10.600 It's really weird.

00:41:12.460 I think they're, maybe I'm wrong,

00:41:15.180 but it looks to me like their best case plausible scenario,

00:41:18.820 plausible best case scenario,

00:41:20.400 is that they sell the Jack Layton building,

00:41:22.620 their big asset, I'm not sure how much that's worth,

00:41:24.780 they sell that off

00:41:26.360 and then they limp along

00:41:29.260 they're refinancing

00:41:31.840 debts on top of debts

00:41:33.020 and they make it to the next federal election

00:41:34.780 probably four years from now

00:41:36.220 still pretty heavily in debt

00:41:37.640 but they've been able to refinance

00:41:40.900 so they're not technically illegal contributions

00:41:43.120 no one's gone to jail

00:41:44.420 the party's not been fined

00:41:46.240 and they haven't declared bankruptcy

00:41:47.560 but then they've lost their building

00:41:48.780 that seems to me

00:41:50.260 probably their best plausible case

00:41:53.940 scenario. Maybe it works out. I don't

00:41:56.040 know. In regular cases, whether it's a

00:41:58.080 business or individuals, even a bank might still say

00:42:00.180 we'll settle. We'll

00:42:02.000 accept the loss, we'll eat that, and then

00:42:03.940 we'll... You can't do that in this case.

00:42:05.860 That would be a contribution for sure.

00:42:07.820 So then the other two worst

00:42:09.840 case scenarios are

00:42:11.900 I think...

00:42:13.360 Let's take a note of this.

00:42:15.380 Let's do kind of an analysis

00:42:17.820 piece, kind of following in Delores there.

00:42:20.020 Can a political party declare bankruptcy?

00:42:22.040 Because they have a bank account. They are

00:42:23.920 a legal corporate entity,

00:42:25.940 they're a not-for-profit society,

00:42:28.280 can

00:42:29.940 they declare bankruptcy? And how

00:42:31.960 does that then affect the

00:42:33.840 election law, which is a separate body of law?

00:42:36.460 Can they do that? So, possibly

00:42:38.140 they declare bankruptcy? I mean,

00:42:39.980 that's a really bad look, but that might actually

00:42:41.980 be their best way out of this.

00:42:43.820 If selling the building, at least

00:42:46.100 then you've got a clean slate financially, those are to lend them money.

00:42:49.600 Their

00:42:50.000 only real asset, to be honest, is their

00:42:52.020 name and if they can

00:42:54.040 but that's not an asset anymore

00:42:55.760 in the long run

00:42:57.460 that's the third scenario

00:43:01.420 is

00:43:02.080 they just shut the party down

00:43:05.260 it's a disaster

00:43:07.880 no one's going to want to take it over

00:43:09.500 because it's not all that debt

00:43:10.620 so they just kind of

00:43:13.500 vote themselves out of existence

00:43:15.020 essentially declare bankruptcy but then

00:43:17.120 start another political party

00:43:19.300 and it's like

00:43:20.840 you know, kind of how

00:43:21.800 in Saskatchewan, the Liberals and

00:43:24.320 PCs, they just more or less

00:43:26.720 shut down their parties and then all joined a new

00:43:28.640 one. It was a coordinated effort. It wasn't really a floor

00:43:30.500 cross. I mean, they just kind of switched labels.

00:43:33.320 So do they

00:43:34.400 literally just shut the doors on the

00:43:36.480 NDP and just

00:43:37.540 have the DDP? Or the

00:43:40.460 new, new Democratic Party. Yeah, you've got

00:43:42.180 a financial collapse there,

00:43:44.240 a financial bankruptcy, but they've actually

00:43:46.340 had a policy bankruptcy ever since

00:43:48.440 Jack Layton

00:43:50.040 took over the leadership and took it away from the classic social democracy into this kind of

00:43:57.560 politicized wokeism that that the ndp is has had going for it ever since

00:44:04.920 they don't have any ideas that people are ready to vote for and support i mean the evidence is

00:44:11.240 right there in the last in the results of the last election nobody cares i i disagree i think

00:44:18.280 I thought you would, but that's...

00:44:20.320 There's... Jack Layton

00:44:22.360 got them their best results by far

00:44:24.480 in their history.

00:44:25.980 And they took things in a different direction.

00:44:28.740 Well, his successors did. His last

00:44:30.440 election was his best electorate, where they formed official opposition.

00:44:33.760 Now,

00:44:34.500 do I think their ideas are bankrupt? Sure.

00:44:36.600 But they're not trying to get my vote. They're not trying

00:44:38.440 to get, like, a rural, white,

00:44:40.420 gun-owning Albertan to vote for them.

00:44:42.320 I'm not their demographic.

00:44:45.140 Apparently, they don't have one anymore.

00:44:47.120 No. But

00:44:48.200 But people voted for a largely NDP agenda under Justin Trudeau for a long time, taking their votes away.

00:44:55.620 And then the left kind of coalesced around the Liberals this time to stop Polyev. 0.52

00:45:01.320 I think that was just the utter uselessness of Jagmeet Singh as a leader.

00:45:06.940 I think Jagmeet Singh was just a terrible leader, but I think there's still a huge market for a pretty hard left party in Canada.

00:45:15.320 There's a market for it.

00:45:16.460 So, I mean, even if the NDP shut its doors, they sold the Jack Layton building, declared bankruptcy, and then they created the new New Democratic Party.

00:45:26.340 There's a market for it in Canada.

00:45:28.140 I mean, there's enough crazy people.

00:45:30.180 It's not a big market, though.

00:45:31.480 I mean, look where the Labour vote went in this last election.

00:45:35.800 Sure, but under better leadership, they formed official opposition in 2015.

00:45:40.880 Sorry, no, in 2011.

00:45:42.420 That was then.

00:45:43.100 they've lost a lot of credibility

00:45:46.120 and a lot of it is

00:45:47.420 seeing its fault, no question

00:45:49.340 but

00:45:50.380 can you imagine how

00:45:52.960 can you actually imagine the

00:45:55.000 sequence of events that would bring them back

00:45:57.580 to public acceptability

00:45:59.080 best if I can

00:46:00.120 that's why you have to have the new new Democratic Party

00:46:02.880 New Coke

00:46:04.400 sure

00:46:05.440 okay, well we're out of time on the main

00:46:08.860 part of our show, so we'll go to

00:46:11.500 Um, Corey's parting shot. Sure. I'll just be quick with it. Just another example of our

00:46:15.760 immigration issues. I mean, we were going to reform immigration. We can't even get rid of 1.00

00:46:20.500 the worst. Uh, a gentleman, uh, a cash come our cunt was found trying to solicit a 15 year old 0.99

00:46:27.820 girl for sex in Mississauga and the job to pay her for sex. Yeah. Yeah. Solicit pay. Yeah. But 0.95

00:46:33.920 either way, the, the charge was discharged by the judge because it would interfere in his attempts

00:46:37.660 to gain citizenship and citizenship in canada if we can't even get rid of a man who's trying to 1.00

00:46:43.180 hire sexual services of children who on earth can we filter out of our immigration system 1.00

00:46:49.100 excellent question canada's already circled the brain here i think

00:46:53.900 nigel so yes um i think we will gather around the television and the newsroom there this morning

00:46:59.500 listening to mr carney talking about the steel workers in hell i got i got all kinds of uh

00:47:05.900 empathy for steel workers who fear they're going to lose their jobs because of a tariff from the

00:47:12.380 united states but what bicarney actually said was that we have the potential to become our own best

00:47:19.660 customer for steel well how about sir you canada becomes its own best customer for oil out of

00:47:30.060 Alberta and then maybe you put some of those uh steel workers to the to work making pipe and then 1.00

00:47:37.020 string it along somewhere to get it to where it's wanted in eastern Canada into horizontal

00:47:42.940 integration right now we're we're importing 600 000 barrels of oil to eastern Canada

00:47:49.660 western Canada could fill that demand all right uh we're real short on time so i'll keep it super

00:47:55.740 short uh i was listening to an episode of canada land uh yesterday uh and they were talking about

00:48:02.160 the uh grassy mountain coal mine uh and they said just no one the one thing albertans agree on

00:48:09.660 is that we're all against coal mining uh in the rockies i didn't isn't that odd uh because the

00:48:17.080 community where they're proposing to do this the crow's nest pass had a plebiscite on this and 70

00:48:22.660 odd percent voted to mine coal you know mine baby mine uh you know so it just it it's just

00:48:32.800 maddening when you see you know there's a like just a couple of dipshits living in downtown

00:48:37.180 edmonton downtown calgary uh and then they'll go out to a town hall somewhere in rural alberta

00:48:42.960 uh and kind of you know maybe they'll put on their boots like they're like they're at stampede or

00:48:47.620 something uh try to blend in with the locals uh no the people in downtown edmonton downtown calgary

00:48:56.360 uh your voice does not get to trump uh that of the people who actually live in areas where these

00:49:03.520 resources are being extracted where people need jobs and opportunity the crow's nest pass is one

00:49:08.380 of those gorgeous places on the planet um and so yeah if they're gonna mine it it should be done

00:49:13.080 very responsibly and should be done

00:49:15.220 with proper recovery when it's done.

00:49:17.020 But guess what? The people there need jobs.

00:49:19.480 They don't live in Banff with a huge tourism

00:49:21.140 industry. It's too far off the beaten path

00:49:23.340 to be able to rely on it the same way, even

00:49:25.180 though it's equally as gorgeous.

00:49:28.320 So

00:49:28.760 just another example of

00:49:31.280 just kind of a coalition of the hippies

00:49:33.500 and the yuppies working together

00:49:35.280 to take jobs away from people

00:49:37.060 who want to live where they grew up.

00:49:40.300 Amen.

00:49:40.580 in. All right, that's it for today. Thank you for joining us. Remember, if you're not a member of

00:49:46.280 the Western Standard yet, you need to be. Stop freeloading. Go to westernstandard.news right now.

00:49:50.940 Click on subscribe. It's $10 a month or $100 a year for unlimited access to all Western Standard

00:49:56.740 content, and you'll be supporting the work of the great journalists you can see in the newsroom

00:50:01.000 behind me here. Thank you very much for joining us today, and God bless.

00:50:10.580 We'll see you next time.

Western Standard - July 17, 2025

NDP faces financial apocalypse

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