Western Standard - May 19, 2023


Notley answers questions from WS, again


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

189.40536

Word Count

963

Sentence Count

53


Summary

In this episode, former premier Danielle Smith and her challenger, current Opposition Leader Jason Kenney, discuss the ethics report released by the Alberta Ethics Commission, and whether or not it should be a reason for her to resign as premier.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 All right, so it was an exciting debate. I was pleased to be able to attend and put some of our ideas out to Albertans.
00:00:09.420 And, you know, I think the most important issue for me, as I've often said, is I'm deeply concerned that based on her many, many, many years of advocating for privately funded health care, making folks pay for their health care, that that is something that's on the ballot.
00:00:26.180 And I was pleased to be able to put some of those issues to Ms. Mitch, didn't answer all of them, and also to put forward our costed plan to get Albertans access to a family doctor.
00:00:37.820 So that was one of the key points in the debate to me, but I'm certainly happy to take any questions that folks might have.
00:00:43.800 One of the issues tonight you raised, as well as some of the questions, was about the ethics commissioners report.
00:00:48.180 Do you think Albertans are getting sort of tired? I've been told by some of the UCP, you think that's all being baked in now to people's assessment of Smith.
00:00:57.220 This story came out months ago, and they're kind of ignoring what happens now.
00:01:01.360 Well, I mean, I can't speak to that theory by UCPers.
00:01:06.740 What I can say is that as a lawyer, as someone who has always been raised to follow the rules and respect the law, I find it unprecedented and shocking that we would have a premier who was found to have broken the law.
00:01:20.820 And not only to have broken the law, but to have broken the law in service of arguing the case of someone who had been charged with activities designed to incite violence against police officers.
00:01:36.860 To me, that is not how you run a province. That is not what our province should look like, and I don't think it is what our province is like.
00:01:44.860 Danielle Smith herself, when writing about similar occasions with the Prime Minister, suggested that it should be a reason for resignation.
00:01:54.460 So I'm not quite sure why she would argue that now it's something that no one should care about.
00:01:59.460 Ms. Nolio, the biggest issue that was brought against you here was the fact that you were premier for four years, and that not many Albertans were happy with your record.
00:02:08.280 Not a lot of people get second chances. Why should Albertans perhaps give you a second chance?
00:02:13.480 Well, you know, I've learned from my time, both losing office and being in opposition, and, you know, I'm dedicated to serving this province.
00:02:23.220 And, you know, I think there are mistakes that I made that I can improve on.
00:02:26.920 You know, we were going through a very difficult time, and, of course, one of the things that Ms. Smith didn't really want to give any deference to is that Alberta's economy is deeply tied to the price of oil,
00:02:37.840 and we know that during our time in office the price of oil was considerably lower on average throughout that four years.
00:02:45.260 And at that time, I think the issue really is, how do you help Albertans weather the economic storms?
00:02:54.040 But in the course of doing that, you know, there are lessons learned.
00:02:57.280 And I look forward to listening more to Albertans, and if I get the opportunity to be premier again,
00:03:02.840 I look forward to taking some of those lessons learned and doing everything I can to represent all of us.
00:03:08.620 Are you claiming victory in this?
00:03:10.820 Are you proud of your record as premier?
00:03:14.380 Not everything, but most of it.
00:03:16.340 I worked very, very hard.
00:03:17.880 It was always in the best interest of Albertans.
00:03:21.720 But did I always get it right?
00:03:23.140 No.
00:03:24.280 But I worked very hard, and our caucus worked very hard.
00:03:29.860 A lot of them didn't even necessarily expect to get elected back in the time.
00:03:33.420 And they all rolled up their sleeves, and they dedicated themselves to serving the people of Alberta.
00:03:38.660 And we achieved some things.
00:03:41.680 We cut child poverty in half during the worst recession the province had seen in decades.
00:03:47.900 And I'll always be very proud of that.
00:03:49.700 How do you think you don't even know?
00:03:50.800 That's not going to catch you throughout the night, like, at all, I don't think even once.
00:03:54.000 What do you think that means?
00:03:56.320 Yeah, you know, I'm not entirely sure, really.
00:03:59.400 I guess you'd have to ask her.
00:04:00.820 We will.
00:04:01.100 But do you think that, you know, she's just, like, dismissing you and not seeing you as a threat?
00:04:05.640 Well, I certainly would not attribute that to it.
00:04:09.260 I think it would be more likely nervousness.
00:04:11.180 But I honestly think Ms. Smith is the one that should answer those questions.
00:04:14.640 How do you think you did in the debate?
00:04:16.080 Are you claiming victory?
00:04:17.920 You know what?
00:04:18.600 I am going to let Albertans decide who did best in the debate and who said the things that they cared more about.
00:04:25.540 I think that's what these debates are for.
00:04:27.660 What's left for the campaign?
00:04:28.540 Number one, from here.
00:04:29.960 Pardon me?
00:04:30.300 What's left for the rest of the campaign?
00:04:31.500 Well, you know, we have got so many exciting campaigns going on all across the province.
00:04:36.720 I suspect I'm going to be driving around to many of them, talking to our candidates, talking to their supporters, out on the doorstep, engaging with Albertans and communities all over the place.
00:04:49.060 And I suspect it's going to be pretty exciting as the momentum continues to build.
00:04:53.360 And I will say on our campaign, we have nothing but evidence that the momentum is always building.
00:04:59.120 And so I look forward to engaging with that over the next, whatever it is, 11 days.
00:05:03.760 Thanks, everyone.
00:05:04.500 Thank you.