Western Standard - Pandemics, Kings and Queens - The Pipeline, Episode 13

00:00:00.000 you

00:00:10.500 You're listening to the pipeline the Western standards national affairs program recording this Sunday April 5th

00:00:18.320 2020 each week except for the last few

00:00:22.160 Can you break down the issues discuss them in depth and examine some of the broader implications for Western Canada and beyond?

00:00:30.100 Featuring from Calgary the Western standards publisher Derek Bilderbrandt Derek. How are you today?

00:00:36.420 Alive and quarantined

00:00:39.540 Excellent and featuring also Deirdre Mitchell McClain from Strathmore a senior reporter with the Western Standard. How are you Deirdre?

00:00:48.420 Really wishing for some sunshine. Yep

00:00:51.780 Well, you can have all of ours because I'm not going outside anyway

00:00:54.740 And finally featuring Dave Naylor from Calgary the Western standards news editor Dave

00:01:01.920 How are you this fine day?

00:01:03.920 Paul I'm feeling inspired at the moment. Just finished watching Her Majesty the Queen's message to the world and

00:01:10.680 And and you really what a what a message what a woman what a leader she has been for so many years now

00:01:18.620 Outstanding and we will begin with that topic

00:01:21.440 The other topics we're going to talk about today are pandemic pop culture

00:01:25.020 Something about Trump and 3m and masks and 1.00

00:01:30.600 And and a little bit about government overreach and whether or not this

00:01:36.600 Governments are taking too much advantage of the current situation and what that could mean for the future

00:01:41.660 We'll leave that for last because that's going to be a lengthy and contentious discussion. I'm sure but

00:01:48.500 Dave, why don't you tell us your story about the Queen?

00:01:51.780 Well, first of all, I'm I was born in Britain. So the Queen is a huge part of my life

00:01:58.280 Back in 19 must have been around 1995 the Queen did a royal tour through Canada and stopped in Calgary and

00:02:05.300 I was in charge of the Calgary Sun's royal tour coverage at the time and

00:02:09.980 I got a

00:02:11.980 cardboard gold embossed

00:02:14.380 Invitation her majesty commands you didn't invite me she commanded me to come down to a cocktail reception at the

00:02:23.400 Crystal ballroom in the palace or

00:02:25.640 So we go down there and stand in line and you get up to the door and a doorman says screams out

00:02:32.440 Your majesty Dave Naylor and she's there standing

00:02:35.760 By herself in the middle of the room and you walk over and you shake her hand and she's really tiny like really really tiny

00:02:43.000 so then once everybody's introduced she

00:02:45.820 Mingles around and talks to small people one-on-one

00:02:49.240 so there was a group of

00:02:51.640 three of us

00:02:53.140 myself one of my reporters and

00:02:55.520 the opposition from the Calgary Herald and

00:02:57.920 And just as she approached our group they came by with hors d'oeuvres which the Calgary Herald reporter took and was still chewing as the Queen arrived

00:03:07.600 So as we made our introductions again, the Herald reporter actually spit a piece of food

00:03:14.460 onto the Queen's shoulder

00:03:16.460 We watched it go

00:03:18.460 gracefully through the air all the three of us just watching in horror as it landed on the Queen's shoulder so

00:03:25.120 You can imagine the sharp intake of breath

00:03:28.400 amongst the group and we were all worried we're gonna end up in the Tower of Calgary or whatever the closest

00:03:34.040 penal institution was but

00:03:36.040 Certainly one of my top memories of my life being able to have a gin and tonic with the Queen and and some really good

00:03:41.480 You know one-on-one time for five or six minutes. How gracious was she about the food landing on her?

00:03:47.660 You know what in her career, I'm assuming that's not the worst thing that's ever happened

00:03:52.080 She did not bat an eye and continued as though nothing could happen. Wow

00:03:58.880 Wow incredible

00:04:00.880 What did you think about the

00:04:02.880 We'll go around the circle here, but Dave maybe start with you. What did you think about her address to I guess to the world today?

00:04:11.900 Well, it's it's the only the fifth time she's done it and she

00:04:16.220 She brought up earlier addresses that she made with the Princess Margaret during the war and whatnot

00:04:23.340 I thought she hit on all the high points, you know, she 1.00

00:04:27.580 Commended the National Health Service workers in England the emergency workers people staying at home

00:04:32.700 She does what she always does. She's a pillar pillar of strength in a time of need. So

00:04:37.420 You know England's being very hard hit now hundreds and hundreds of deaths a day

00:04:43.500 So hopefully everybody over there can take some take some strength out of it. Mm-hmm

00:04:47.900 Deirdre, did you watch the Queen's address today? I did I was able to catch it. It was quick

00:04:54.700 so that

00:04:56.140 helped I

00:04:58.140 mean, I

00:05:00.140 I

00:05:01.660 Was almost really hoping for a stern

00:05:07.980 Reminder to people to please follow public health orders

00:05:12.460 um, you know, she went in a different direction and

00:05:17.420 How did she put it? I hope that I hope that everyone can look back on

00:05:23.340 Basically how they behaved during this pandemic and be proud of their actions, right?

00:05:30.060 So, you know a little more encouraging than than what I was I was hoping for a

00:05:36.140 Stay the f home

00:05:38.060 I I know I I know I wasn't going to get that but I was kind of hoping for a

00:05:42.060 A slight version, right? Yeah. Yeah, fair enough. Uh, Derek

00:05:46.700 Did you get a chance to listen to the Queen's address?

00:05:49.580 No, I wasn't aware of it until we were about to say

00:05:51.980 I have nothing to say on this matter

00:05:54.620 It's uh, I you know, it's it's interesting. I'm not a monarchist. Um, I imagine

00:05:59.500 Dave and Dave you you certainly are

00:06:01.980 Um, I I've never been a I've never been a huge

00:06:06.220 Um, I don't feel any particular connection to the Queen, but um, I've never been a huge republican either

00:06:12.060 I don't think we need to necessarily ditch the system

00:06:15.100 We have because there's pros and cons of every system, but uh, but it's it's uh, there's no question

00:06:21.500 uh, the Queen and in her lifetime has just

00:06:25.020 Really done some incredible things. Um, and not you can't say that about every monarch in history

00:06:30.620 There's been a lot of terrible ones

00:06:33.260 Uh, and so it's hard not to respect, um, an incredible woman who has just seen so much and

00:06:39.660 um, you know managed to keep a stiff upper lip

00:06:42.460 As the british are so well known for throughout so many uh crises

00:06:46.460 So so that's encouraging

00:06:49.340 um

00:06:50.540 Great note to start on

00:06:52.700 Now we're gonna go to a bit of a lighter note. Um, but not not too light still kind of kind of weird

00:06:58.700 Um, reflecting upon the pop culture of the day, uh, it's amazing how when suddenly we go from

00:07:06.460 Uh, you know nor quote normal to the situation

00:07:10.140 We're in right now where more than half the world is, you know, staying at home and probably increasing in those numbers every day

00:07:18.540 Um, we get the likes of tiger king

00:07:22.380 Happening on netflix, which you know might have in an ordinary time just been a passing thing

00:07:28.220 But because it was promoted by netflix

00:07:31.020 And everybody's staying at home with nothing better to do than watch netflix. It's become this massive pop culture

00:07:37.580 Hit and derek. I understand you are a big fan of the tiger king

00:07:44.860 No spoilers though, but you can you can tell us how maybe this has changed your life

00:07:48.780 Uh, I don't watch anything like the tiger king normally. It's not it's not my cup of tea

00:07:57.020 uh, that kind of thing normally, but it it hit this exact moment where we're all

00:08:01.900 sitting sort of as a captive audience and um

00:08:05.820 it's become almost

00:08:08.140 You know, the decade is young

00:08:10.140 But in this bizarre short decade we've had so far we've narrowly avoided a massive

00:08:15.580 War across the middle east. Um, we've had the daily circus of the white house 0.55

00:08:21.180 Um, and then we've had the tiger king and the tiger king joe exotic is

00:08:25.260 I think so far in the short decade we've had so far. He is the symbol of the decade. He he's this

00:08:31.660 He's this huge phenomenon that everybody's looking to uh, almost as a source of comfort and lightheartedness. I think in

00:08:39.900 um,

00:08:40.940 You know in the otherwise very dark and dreary time everyone's locked down the economy is in the absolute toilet across the world

00:08:47.740 Uh, particularly in alberta because we're we're hit with the double whammy of uh oil prices. Uh, western canadian selects slipping below five bucks

00:08:55.420 So now it's cheaper to buy a pint of beer in alberta than a uh, than a barrel of oil

00:09:00.300 but um

00:09:02.140 I don't know. It's it's it's just this wild thing that you must watch. Uh, almost no one's watched it. I think

00:09:10.220 I suppose some of the few people who haven't are are on the show

00:09:15.580 But it blows my mind. It is it is the craziest thing

00:09:18.860 I mean it

00:09:19.740 It has changed things the way the simpsons has in a very short period of time

00:09:23.340 Like you can't have a con an extensive conversation in the english language in north america without understanding

00:09:29.100 The simpsons references that you would use without even meaning to they're almost like shakespeare. They're just kind of embedded into the language

00:09:35.580 and now

00:09:37.580 I mean, it's uh, there's all these tiger king references now that have already started to creep into our language

00:09:43.660 uh, as just pop culture references and it's happened in such a short period of time

00:09:48.300 uh, I don't know how enduring it's going to be or not

00:09:51.820 but uh, you know, when you joke about feeding your husband to the tigers, there's a very specific meaning

00:09:57.660 About it now. And so so deirdre has a confused look on her face

00:10:01.020 So that's because she doesn't understand

00:10:03.020 Uh, where culture has changed in the last few weeks. She needs to watch the tiger king

00:10:07.740 Deirdre, do you need to watch the tiger king?

00:10:11.420 Deirdre is trying to calm her stomach because

00:10:15.500 The idea of sitting and watching the tiger king just makes me kind of ill. Um

00:10:22.700 There's other things that can make you ill right now

00:10:25.820 There there is there is um

00:10:27.820 Um, yes, and and the whole the whole idea of the captive audience. Um, I

00:10:34.700 Would literally have to be tied up I think to be that captive

00:10:40.860 Like like a tiger in a cage almost. Yes. Yes, I'd have to be a tiger in a cage

00:10:45.900 And you know, this is this is probably size wise my office is probably close

00:10:52.300 uh, but

00:10:54.300 Still have other options

00:10:56.300 You know, I I think what's interesting about it and I grew up in the 80s mostly

00:11:02.620 In my formative years, I was born in the 70s, but um, you know, I remember a time

00:11:08.540 Derek, you wouldn't remember this certainly and probably not deirdre

00:11:12.540 Um, but I remember a time when there was 13 channels on the television

00:11:17.100 And we only really watched five of them and one of them was not cbc

00:11:22.380 Um, actually two of them were cbc, but nobody actually watched them except maybe for the news

00:11:26.940 Um, but there was there were there was a pop culture when there was a popular show

00:11:32.620 Everybody watched that popular show. You talked about the simpsons before

00:11:36.300 Um as as an example of that and in the media landscape where like I have a kid who doesn't even watch netflix

00:11:43.260 Certainly has never watched cable in his life. Um, you know, he watches youtube and we see occasionally

00:11:49.180 We see youtube pop culture arise to the top and be oh, you know, so and so who's like the big youtuber and it's like who

00:11:56.380 Right, and so there's there's a massive disconnect in our society when it comes to anything close to pop culture

00:12:03.100 And so when something like this comes along on netflix and everybody watches it because it's the featured program

00:12:10.860 um, it it's it's almost to me

00:12:12.940 it's almost a little bit nostalgic in the sense that

00:12:15.660 um, even though it's silly and it's a distraction and and everything else which is maybe a good thing right now, um, I do

00:12:22.700 Uh, sort of think that it's a it's an interesting cultural phenomenon to have anything close to the same level of popular culture is what I grew up with

00:12:32.860 um, so it's a bit different dave you're uh, you're muted there, but

00:12:37.660 If you grew up with 12 channels consider yourself lucky

00:12:41.980 I grew up with three so

00:12:44.700 I asked how many of those were the cbc?

00:12:47.260 Uh, just one I think

00:12:49.260 Remember we got hockey night in canada and the beachcombers

00:12:52.700 I asked a very uh, very uh

00:12:55.100 Intelligent friend of mine who had watched the tiger king and I hadn't at the time to explain it to me

00:12:59.740 And he says dave I can't I really can't you just have to watch it

00:13:03.820 So I started watching it and my jaw got lower and lower

00:13:09.580 And then by the end of the first episode it was on the ground

00:13:13.340 Literally every character that is introduced in this documentary. It's it's true story. It's not

00:13:18.540 Every one of them can have their own show

00:13:21.820 Every single person on a tiger king can have their own show

00:13:25.740 One of them would be a huge hit and I

00:13:29.180 Binge watched it. I must admit. I think I watched it over two nights

00:13:31.820 And now I've got my own joe exotic shirt going on

00:13:36.380 Commemorative 2020 joe exotic shirt

00:13:40.220 Really it really is it's an eye-opener because there's a subculture going on in the states

00:13:45.980 Really nobody knew about and it's in this trade of exotic animals

00:13:50.460 And this is shedding a light on it. So there may be some good coming out of it

00:13:54.460 But it really is a jaw dropper. It really is

00:13:57.340 You know, uh speaking of dropping you dropped a hint of a cbc show that some of us might

00:14:05.820 Admit to having watched the beachcombers. Did you watch the littlest hobo as well? Oh, yeah

00:14:12.780 I didn't do I didn't do that one. No. Oh, really?

00:14:15.820 I I thought the littlest hobo was like the greatest hero on television. I got to admit

00:14:20.940 It always made me cry at the end though. I know well because he left because he left he left I mean come on, you know

00:14:27.260 Like you found this great family and they love you and you saved their billy from the well and then

00:14:32.940 My german shepherds are going to be dressed up as tigers for halloween

00:14:37.660 And my toddler

00:14:40.540 Why don't you dress dress your you could you can borrow dave's shirt for your toddler

00:14:45.100 Well, we haven't decided to find the tiger king the meth boyfriend or carol's dead husband 0.84

00:14:50.060 I'm thinking of going

00:14:52.060 All right, so

00:14:54.700 So there you know, so there's a lot of tiger king memes. We've seen a lot of memes

00:14:59.420 Uh of 2020. I saw one that was it was actually on a shirt and it showed a

00:15:05.100 uh, a

00:15:06.300 Dumpster with fire coming out of the top and emblazoned on the dumpster was 2020

00:15:11.260 And I really thought that that was an appropriate

00:15:13.260 Um meme for the moment anything else, uh stand out to you fine folks, um, you know, it's nice to see

00:15:21.740 A little bit of humor in the middle of what's obviously a bit of it, you know

00:15:25.660 Obviously for a lot of people a very personal tragedy, uh, and for all of us a very trying time, but

00:15:32.620 You know, I guess it's nice that we can all

00:15:35.660 Take a moment and and laugh. I suppose

00:15:37.820 I suppose any anything else, uh, deirdre dave

00:15:42.700 uh, one of

00:15:44.060 One of the best ones that i've seen is I would like to return my subscription for 2020

00:15:50.460 I've tried it for three months and i'm done. Yep

00:15:54.540 You're here

00:15:56.940 Lots of time machine references. I saw one the other day where, uh, kirk and spock went into the time portal

00:16:03.580 And they said we got to go to 2020 and on the way out. We're like, let's never do that again

00:16:07.820 Also, yep, I think that's fair enough. We're not that far into 2020 either

00:16:17.100 Yeah, we got another well, and you know, it's what's interesting is we had all this happen and then on the west coast

00:16:23.100 There was a earthquake. I think it was in russia and then there was a tsunami warning

00:16:28.860 So we got to see that we got a tsunami. This was a few weeks ago now, but we got a tsunami warning

00:16:33.340 Apparently, there's also locusts in um, in various places

00:16:39.020 Biblical very biblical. So so I tweeted out saying that when the rivers run with blood

00:16:45.500 Please let me know and sure enough

00:16:48.700 Literally that day

00:16:50.700 Ontario there was an ink spill in ontario

00:16:54.300 And it and it actually turned the the I don't know if it's a river or a creek or what it was

00:16:59.100 It was in the dam. Is it in the dam? Yeah, and it literally turned the water red. Yeah, and I thought okay

00:17:07.660 Just flipping through revelation at this point and waiting waiting for the seventh seal to open

00:17:13.340 Um, yeah, very, uh, very very different times certainly than the last time we even met as a group. So

00:17:20.540 Um, yeah, any anything else on pop culture before we move along to the 3m

00:17:30.140 Well, you know actually I won't I don't know if i'd say that it's pop culture, but

00:17:35.660 We are living in

00:17:38.380 What will become a historical

00:17:41.020 A historically significant event. Yeah, and uh, I also did see

00:17:46.620 Again, somebody else I think they're I think it was just uh, just a tweet

00:17:53.740 But they were saying that living, you know, living in times that are making history is exhausting and

00:18:01.900 You know, we're we're getting for the first time for a lot of us. We're getting an idea of exactly how exhausting that is. Yeah

00:18:09.900 Yeah, they and and actually the interesting

00:18:12.380 part of this is

00:18:14.940 You know families and people being stuck together

00:18:17.820 Obviously, if you like the people you're stuck with it's a little bit better

00:18:21.180 but you know you you can imagine people who are stuck with people they do not get along with and

00:18:27.260 um, you know

00:18:28.940 terrible potential outcomes there my wife and I

00:18:32.300 Yeah, sorry. I was gonna say I think we're gonna have a simultaneous

00:18:35.740 um

00:18:36.700 Baby boom in nine months and divorce boom and divorce boom. Yeah, yeah, possibly hopefully from different

00:18:42.140 families

00:18:44.380 Maybe this in 1996, uh,

00:18:47.500 Victoria, uh, where i'm from had a giant snow blast which was probably like any ordinary winter in calgary

00:18:55.180 but was

00:18:56.700 unheard of

00:18:57.980 for victoria and

00:18:59.820 Shut down the entire city for a week. We couldn't actually even leave our apartment for about a week

00:19:04.300 and my

00:19:05.340 girlfriend at the time now my wife

00:19:07.340 uh, was stuck with me for a week and

00:19:09.820 uh, we always look back at how crazy that time was, you know, being stuck together for a week

00:19:14.060 Couldn't leave couldn't come couldn't go. It's terrible. And now we're on week four

00:19:17.820 Back in 1996, Victoria got a snowstorm and the world stood still

00:19:24.620 Oh, no, no, we it's it's legend in victoria. It's called the blizzard of 96 and uh, yeah,

00:19:31.660 you know, it was probably an average calgary winter, but uh,

00:19:35.660 But you know, we don't have machines to blow that snow out of the way and scrape it and whatever winter tires

00:19:41.740 No, or well winter tires weren't even

00:19:44.780 Weren't even useful at that point because cars were entirely covered anyway

00:19:49.100 With no roads to drive them on even if you did dig them out. So

00:19:52.780 It it literally shut down the town, but um, obviously move on to they've seen it now

00:19:58.540 It shut down the world. Um, yeah, let's talk. Why don't you go first, eric? Tell me about

00:20:04.220 Donald trump's directive about the 3m masks

00:20:08.380 Well, yeah, most people know 3m makes a lot of

00:20:11.420 Kind of random supplies and whatnot and it's uh, it's a large american corporation. It's integrated throughout north america. It's got some plants in ontario

00:20:21.420 Um, you know, it gets many of its uh, resources, uh, for its manufacturing from places in canada

00:20:28.860 uh, donald trump, uh, because they're they're one of the largest, uh

00:20:33.100 Protective face mask manufacturers right now and donald trump

00:20:37.660 Um, i'm not sure if we could say ordered. I'm not sure he has the authority to order a private corporation to do that because it's not government

00:20:44.380 But, uh, essentially told them to stop shipping, uh, to other countries until america america's needs were met

00:20:52.220 um

00:20:53.420 It's probably not the nicest thing to do with allies, but I don't think anyone should be surprised that the american

00:20:59.740 president should be looking out for americans first

00:21:03.180 But it wasn't entirely well thought out, uh, because I know as deirdre will surely point out if I don't get the jump on it first

00:21:09.900 um

00:21:11.340 3m requires much of its raw materials from canada. So if

00:21:15.500 Canada was being

00:21:17.020 uh

00:21:17.740 Unduly harmed by this canada could then stop shipping. Um

00:21:22.780 Much of the raw materials that it needs for the manufacturer of these things

00:21:26.300 So this is sort of one of the problems when politicians get involved in trying to direct private corporations private entities that are not government

00:21:33.020 And to doing their bidding, um

00:21:36.220 Canadian politicians those

00:21:38.140 Hyperventilated a fair bit about this of course

00:21:41.020 Most canadian politicians wanted when they want they want an opportunity to take a shot at trump. Um

00:21:46.780 Can you use some particularly strange language you compared this to?

00:21:50.540 America not fighting the nazis for the first three years of the second world war

00:21:55.340 Trying to invoke canada being there at the beginning with britain alone. It was a very strange comparison to make

00:22:01.740 uh, I

00:22:03.580 I think there's a very good argument that it's it's being a bad ally pandemics don't really recognize borders

00:22:09.900 You can lock down borders to a degree

00:22:11.420 But if there's

00:22:12.380 Possible probably the most difficult border to lock down on the planet would be the canada u.s border

00:22:16.540 And so the united states has very much an interest in making sure that we have a handle on covet 19

00:22:22.620 As much as they do, um, they need us to have it under control. Otherwise, uh

00:22:27.900 Anything they do is going to be useless. So it was a very it was it was probably a poor move. Although I

00:22:33.820 I think people should spare the outrage about the american president being america first

00:22:38.780 That's what he was elected to do

00:22:40.780 But it was not the most well thought out move and it's certainly opened them up to uh shots from politicians

00:22:47.020 around the world and in canada

00:22:49.180 Well, his shoot from the hip style certainly uh serves him in some cases and um doesn't serve him so well in other cases

00:22:57.340 deirdre, uh, i'm chalked a

00:23:00.860 Trump policy that wasn't well thought out derrick. That's incredible, isn't it?

00:23:05.020 He never just thinks that policy is on the top of his mind. Sure

00:23:07.740 The other premier that uh took him to task was rather was ford in ontario, right?

00:23:14.780 And

00:23:15.820 I just wanted to mention his handling of the crisis as a whole has been exemplary

00:23:21.340 and it's been interesting to see the

00:23:24.060 the left-wing critics of ford slowly coming around and and

00:23:29.340 Admitting yeah, okay, he's doing all right. And I did. I never thought i'd say that but

00:23:33.500 uh, ford is doing okay. That's not happening in alberta yet. Uh, none of jason kenny's

00:23:40.780 uh, opposition are giving him credit at all. I personally think kenny's done all right

00:23:45.900 I think he's done okay, uh, but he's certainly not getting any uh, any credit from the left wing. Well, let's circle back to that

00:23:53.020 Because I think I want to hear what deirdre has to say on the 3m mass

00:23:56.220 But let's talk about the the various politicians after deirdre. Sorry. Go ahead

00:24:02.300 Okay, so

00:24:04.300 Yes, obviously that was a big part of a big part of what

00:24:09.020 um, you know

00:24:11.420 Trump's statement about 3m was absolutely hey everybody, you know, keep these for us 1.00

00:24:18.780 Uh, yeah, america first. No one was shocked

00:24:21.180 Again, that little known fact about how

00:24:25.500 It's the pulp from canada that actually makes those masks possible. So

00:24:31.900 Again, little known fact that

00:24:34.140 uh, you know, america first doesn't really

00:24:37.740 Look too much to when they're not actually first. So

00:24:42.780 uh, when that came out, but

00:24:45.660 The thing is that donald trump did

00:24:48.700 Invoke the defense protection act, which he has dubbed the p act

00:24:54.540 um

00:24:57.020 Or the defense production act so that is

00:25:00.220 Basically for him to be able to

00:25:02.780 Force companies to create certain products

00:25:06.380 Just as a

00:25:08.060 An interesting comparison

00:25:10.620 Jason kenney, there's a shout out ish, uh, but also

00:25:15.420 At the federal level they are asking

00:25:19.100 Companies

00:25:20.380 What can you do? How can you contribute to this? They're not

00:25:25.180 Forcing anyone to do anything at this time, but they're saying how can you be retooled? How can how can you help?

00:25:31.180 So yet again, you know, just a little different way of doing things

00:25:35.020 Sometimes if you ask because a lot of companies want to keep working, they want to keep producing they want to keep selling

00:25:42.380 They may need to retool

00:25:45.020 So making ventilators instead of cars apparently is is another thing and interestingly

00:25:50.620 a lot

00:25:51.340 apparently it's a

00:25:52.860 Vancouver island pulp mill that produces most of that most of that

00:25:57.340 Yeah, most of that paper for just north of where I am. So

00:26:00.380 um, hooray for us making uh making the raw materials of the masks that uh that our health care workers need

00:26:08.140 um

00:26:08.700 Every so often you're losing your arm. I

00:26:11.980 I'm using the we're using the zoom app and we have actually for before it became trendy

00:26:17.260 um, and uh, it does these virtual backgrounds for anybody listening

00:26:21.180 um, so I one of the things I wanted to point out on the political side before we kind of just scooch back into

00:26:27.420 Various political things. I've noticed in alberta. Um, the ndp's still playing politics a fair bit with this

00:26:34.860 You guys would know more than me. What I found really fascinating here in british columbia

00:26:39.100 Even though we have a ndp minority government that's only just sort of barely propped up by the greens

00:26:45.660 um, the bc liberals and and andrew wilkinson

00:26:49.740 Neither of whom i'm a particularly big fan of

00:26:52.780 Um, but they are the primary opposition here as a result of the coalition

00:26:56.860 Um, they came right out at the very beginning and said, you know what? This is really serious

00:27:01.260 We're not playing politics with this

00:27:03.020 We're going to if if we see an opportunity to make suggestions to help the government to make better decisions, uh, we're going to do so

00:27:10.860 Uh, but we're not, you know, we're not going to be political right now

00:27:13.660 And it's been it was shocking to see honestly, um, and how you know people can lay down their weapons

00:27:21.500 Um, and you know not have to demonize

00:27:24.620 um, you know the their opponents during a time of crisis

00:27:27.980 And uh, it gives me a little bit of hope for humanity that we can see that from our politicians. Maybe, uh, maybe we can see that for you

00:27:35.740 Yeah, well, and I as I understand that's not exactly how things are going down in alberta

00:27:40.940 um, so

00:27:41.980 Why don't we go around the go around the horn here and just jump in if you're uh, if you want to sort of talk

00:27:47.020 I don't know if you guys want to talk about the situation in alberta. Yeah. Well, I I think it's very important to touch on

00:27:52.460 Um, across I haven't studied every single province in depth, but i've been watching bc

00:27:58.220 Saskatchewan and ontario in particular the those three outside of alberta and of course federally and for the most part

00:28:06.140 Uh, it's been as you described from the bc situation. You can apply that across most of the country

00:28:11.260 Um, I can tell you from my experience being in opposition during a crisis when we had the the fort mcmurray fires

00:28:18.300 Oppositions don't really know what to do with themselves. They

00:28:22.780 You know the only way they ever get printed in the media

00:28:26.300 Is when they take a hard shot at the government if they're not taking hard shots

00:28:30.860 They get ignored people ask. Well, why don't the oppositions get along with the government?

00:28:34.460 It's because if they don't if they get along with government

00:28:36.220 They get ignored and so they have to attack and they don't really know what to do with themselves during a crisis

00:28:41.740 but during the fort mcmurray fires the wild rose we um

00:28:46.220 You know, we had actually we're right in the middle when that happened

00:28:48.540 We were in the middle of the budget debates in a budget where the ndp had actually significantly cut the forest firefighting

00:28:54.220 budget

00:28:55.340 But we holstered our guns we made sure that it was about helpful

00:28:59.100 Constructive ideas during a crisis

00:29:01.500 There's enough going on for the government and it's frustrating for oppositions because governments

00:29:07.260 It's really the bureaucrats in charge the politicians are just more or less they're making a few decisions

00:29:11.740 But they're more or less just doing what the bureaucrats tell them to do there. They're just as

00:29:15.900 Spokes people of the government while the bureaucrats enact the plans that have been in place before that

00:29:20.700 And uh, so it's actually pretty easy for politicians to look good

00:29:25.260 Government politicians not opposition politicians but for government politicians to look good during a crisis

00:29:30.540 Of course, they can mess that up

00:29:32.540 But the default is that they're going to look good because there's actually smart people running these things in the background of bureaucracy

00:29:38.460 and um

00:29:43.180 Across the country

00:29:44.620 Opposition politicians have understood people don't want to see politics for this but alberta has really been a huge exception the ndp have

00:29:53.340 Not taken their foot off the gas and going after the government

00:29:57.180 uh

00:29:57.980 And and that's fine like they are the opposition, but they have really

00:30:02.780 Tried to politicize this as much as possible

00:30:05.660 uh to score points and uh

00:30:08.460 At the government's expense on this and I understand the temptation that's what oppositions want to do

00:30:13.900 But the ndp and alberta have never reconciled themselves to the fact that they lost

00:30:19.100 um

00:30:20.140 That you know

00:30:21.500 They are not the natural governing party of alberta. They are a socialist party in a very non-socialist province

00:30:27.420 And they never really brought themselves around to understand

00:30:31.660 that they lost and

00:30:33.820 it's

00:30:35.100 It's just been very difficult for them to accept this and

00:30:38.860 Uh, you know, not lee was in charge during the fort mcmurray fires by most

00:30:42.860 uh

00:30:43.820 Most observers would say she did a good job and she's now sitting on the sidelines people don't really care what they have to say

00:30:49.660 and so they've been, uh

00:30:52.540 I I think not comporting themselves very well as an official opposition during a crisis year

00:30:58.380 Thoughts deirdre

00:31:00.540 I saw your eyes go wide during some of that

00:31:03.100 Um, okay, so that's definitely one perspective derrick, uh

00:31:11.500 It's the correct one 0.71

00:31:13.500 Yes, i'm sure

00:31:14.780 uh, I would I would have to say that

00:31:18.620 That you can't I mean looking at the situation that we have now

00:31:23.420 Without taking into account some of the context

00:31:27.580 Remember that a lot of things have been done since the ndp lost and whether they are the

00:31:35.020 natural governing party or not

00:31:37.820 um

00:31:39.820 They you know, the ucp has spent a lot of time taking apart a lot of the things that the ndp did

00:31:47.340 Uh, they're you know as far as education goes doctors

00:31:51.660 These are things that were leading up to

00:31:54.940 This crisis

00:31:56.380 So the I mean the doctor pay thing just went through

00:32:00.860 uh, doctors are still saying that they are not being paid for certain

00:32:06.460 Uh, things the thing that I was reading about today was the good faith clause

00:32:10.540 uh, where

00:32:13.100 There's a lot of room to criticize government. Oh, there is

00:32:16.300 And and and and oppositions should not be giving blank checks to governments here

00:32:20.700 They shouldn't be ranking them unreasonable powers and they shouldn't be uncritical of government

00:32:25.740 But they shouldn't be trying to take whatever issues are there at that moment

00:32:30.060 To try and undermine the government in the middle of a crisis. That's just not a responsible opposition

00:32:35.100 When the fort mcbury fires were happening

00:32:37.500 They were cutting the forest fire budget was literally before the legislature

00:32:41.820 And did that did that come up at all?

00:32:44.140 Do you remember it did but we uh, we very much we were criticizing it before the fires

00:32:49.580 But then we waited till the immediate crisis had passed now. It's a much that was a shorter term crisis because the fire

00:32:55.180 Burns out a bit faster than a pandemic

00:32:57.500 Once that crisis passed then we left them then we went back for the jugular

00:33:02.140 But during the actual middle of that crisis while fires were burning

00:33:06.860 We holstered our guns on those things because we thought it was the responsible thing to do as an opposition, right?

00:33:11.740 Do you do you remember hearing that?

00:33:13.660 Uh sundry doctors have said that they will not be going into hospitals to deliver babies because they are no longer getting paid for it

00:33:21.260 Yeah, that was like that was like two days ago

00:33:25.740 There are very fair issues to deal with here and the ndp is under no obligation to not be critical of the government

00:33:31.340 They shouldn't be that's their job. It's their job to make life difficult

00:33:34.780 But if you're keeping up with the daily, uh barrage of news releases from these guys, uh, which i'm not

00:33:40.940 Yeah, they are trying very much to try and score points at every available opportunity

00:33:45.500 Some of which are fair some of which are not right and there is there is too much going on right now for them

00:33:51.260 Um, like question period is a complete waste of time

00:33:55.100 The the gotcha moments that that they're going for is 0.90

00:33:59.580 Ridiculous to me at this point 0.94

00:34:02.380 um 0.97

00:34:03.500 They're still conducting themselves in a way

00:34:06.380 That as if we're not in the middle of a pandemic

00:34:09.180 And that is bothersome

00:34:12.940 But they also don't we like we don't really seem to have a government

00:34:17.420 That is interested in working with their opposition

00:34:21.820 So, I don't remember the last government that was willing to work with opposition with the brief exception of jim prentis trying to eat it

00:34:28.140 Well, I

00:34:30.060 Governments don't work with official oppositions in any province or federally. They hate each other because they are

00:34:35.820 Because no, it's it's a zero-sum game in other provinces

00:34:39.180 Oh, you know sure well, they're getting along they're choosing to get along I think

00:34:42.940 That's right. It's a choice in other provinces. There's been a level of detente

00:34:47.260 um, yeah, you know, i i'm no uh, apologist for jason kenney here, but I think he's tried to be

00:34:52.540 reasonably

00:34:53.740 Non-partisan in dealing with the opposition during this crisis at least and that's very rare

00:34:58.300 He tends to not like working with other parties. That's the nature of our system

00:35:02.300 But the ndp here have made themselves intractable on this

00:35:05.660 They've they've uh, and I think it's just because they've never accepted that they lost the election

00:35:11.020 I lost the election. I accepted it. I moved on to the ndp

00:35:14.300 They just can't bring themselves

00:35:16.300 But they've also got this weird view that jason kenney is practically a fascist. So for them, uh

00:35:22.300 It's it's a life or death situation when things have not actually changed that much

00:35:26.380 By the way, alberta is this huge exception here where around the rest of the country the daily

00:35:33.340 Petty back and forth of politics that is par for the course has been mostly shelved

00:35:38.700 But not in alberta where it's been, um,

00:35:42.300 Virtually like nothing's changed and and we won't talk about how petty politics continues down south. Dave your thoughts on

00:35:49.260 Alberta uh, to be brief i'm on team derrick team derrick uh, the only he was the premier right now, right?

00:35:57.980 Yeah, the the ndp is

00:36:00.860 Relevant in alberta at the moment what they think is irrelevant

00:36:05.260 What they want to do is irrelevant and they just can't handle that and

00:36:13.020 For lack of a better word, but uh, yeah team derrick all the way. It's an it's an interesting I accept

00:36:19.340 It's an interesting thing to watch and you know, I before we kind of move on to the next topic which ties in nicely

00:36:24.620 I I gotta tell you something

00:36:27.020 I remember when there were the fires in fort mcmurray

00:36:30.140 Vividly we actually had a big conference in victoria. I was I was at and uh, was running and um

00:36:38.460 We all stopped and

00:36:41.180 Put a slide up for the donation to the

00:36:44.140 Victims and everybody in the room, you know from all over canada

00:36:48.460 Was an agreement that this was a national uh, crisis and we all needed to step up

00:36:53.340 Fort mcmurray was an interesting experience in that sense because everybody knew somebody there because so many people who worked there

00:37:01.580 Came from other places across canada and uh, and so

00:37:06.220 You know if and for anybody who's listening who is an alberta or western separatist

00:37:11.180 um, I gotta say the fort mcmurray experience was

00:37:14.940 For me anyway a moment of national pride when I was able to see canadians from all over including quebec and including

00:37:22.460 Maritimes and all over come together for a common cause and uh, i'd like to see that again during this circumstance

00:37:29.980 I'd have I make no mistake in thinking that this is going to be normal anymore

00:37:34.220 That people are just all gonna agree and we're all gonna hold hands and sing kumbaya and that shouldn't be the case

00:37:39.900 but um, but it's nice to see when people can come together during a crisis and let's hope, uh, alberta

00:37:46.780 Does that as well?

00:37:47.980 Um, that being said we're gonna flip the script a little bit. We're gonna talk about

00:37:52.300 um

00:37:53.580 never letting a good crisis go to waste and obviously there's a lot of concern

00:37:57.660 Right now for the impact on the economy. A lot of people are saying is the is the um, uh, is the treatment?

00:38:04.860 um going to hurt more people

00:38:07.180 Uh, than the than the disease right in terms of economic impact. I think it's a legitimate question to ask

00:38:13.340 I

00:38:14.140 I have my personal opinions about that, but um, I think it's a it's a legitimate question to ask

00:38:18.780 And then of course the other question is, um, the erosion of liberties

00:38:22.300 If people are being forced to stay home or being forced, you know, uh, to do things that you know, that they wouldn't or government wouldn't ordinarily demand of us

00:38:31.020 Um, is that going to be a new normal or is that a temporary thing?

00:38:34.940 And we can expect to go back to normal and return our liberties once once this happens

00:38:40.060 And um, I think there's a lot to open up there. I don't know if who wants to jump in first, but um, Dave, uh, maybe you have some some thoughts in general

00:38:48.140 Well

00:38:51.100 My first thought is is that this is not going to be over quickly. I think we're going to be in this sort of situation

00:38:58.540 I i'm thinking until at least the end of summer. Uh, I may be wrong. I hope i'm wrong

00:39:03.900 Uh

00:39:05.420 Right now all of canada was a big debt to the handful of conservative politicians who stopped prime minister trudeau's

00:39:13.660 Huge spending grab that he was trying to put through last week

00:39:16.300 That would have freed up the government to spend and tax whatever the hell they wanted

00:39:20.780 As much as they wanted all the way until the end of 2021

00:39:25.020 Uh, so that's the type of thing while we're in quarantine and not being able to do much

00:39:30.300 That's what we have to keep an eye out for

00:39:32.620 And uh, as journalists, uh, you know, those are the stories that we should be chasing just to keep the uh, the liberals in check

00:39:40.940 From what they want to do what to keep their power

00:39:43.020 In in hand so to speak

00:39:47.660 Uh, deirdre your thoughts

00:39:51.100 um

00:39:54.220 I

00:39:55.020 Don't see this ending

00:39:57.500 Uh before the summer, uh, there's uh, there's a larger concern that

00:40:04.140 That once we start to really, uh, get rid of some of the restrictions that we have on

00:40:13.420 Our daily lives that, uh, the virus will come back because we won't be able to completely eradicate it until we have a vaccine

00:40:23.500 So, uh, I mean, I think that we're looking at a much different

00:40:28.220 normal between now and the time that we get that vaccine

00:40:34.540 Derek your thoughts

00:40:36.540 Um, I want to touch on what dave was uh was into, um

00:40:42.620 You know federally, uh, the different parties seem to have holstered their guns as they have in most of the provinces across the country

00:40:49.340 Uh, but the liberals took it uniquely and I haven't seen this in any other province

00:40:53.420 The liberals took it as a unique opportunity for a wild power grab to essentially suspend parliament and hand all

00:41:00.380 Lawmaking powers over budgets the ability to raise taxes and spend money the whole reason we created parliaments in the 1200s

00:41:07.900 And chopped off king's heads over

00:41:10.300 So that the executive had to have legislative approval for

00:41:14.380 Taxes and spending was just to be handed over unilaterally to the liberals until the end of 2021

00:41:20.220 That would have made the minority liberal government more powerful than the majority liberal majority liberal government that came before

00:41:26.700 It was a wild power grab

00:41:28.860 That would have kept them in office without any parliamentary oversight

00:41:32.060 It wouldn't have had to call parliament until the end of 2021 and they could govern as if they uh more than if they had a majority government

00:41:38.780 And uh, the bloc have a qual rolled over on it. Uh, the federal ndp didn't like it

00:41:43.260 They opposed it, but not very hard and the conservatives grew a bit of a spine on this one

00:41:47.500 But the conservatives rolled over on a lot of stuff

00:41:50.220 they, um

00:41:51.820 They rolled over on a lot of the uh, the spending that was actually in the end passed by the liberal government

00:41:57.820 The conservatives agreed to a vast majority of it. They made they made some

00:42:02.700 Suggestions for changes some of which were actually implemented

00:42:06.300 But the conservatives rolled over on quite a bit

00:42:09.260 I think understanding that the public sentiment is that they don't want parties playing hardball

00:42:13.660 But they did dig in over the emergency powers grab that that the liberals intended

00:42:19.340 Uh, but it's not just in canada. You see this, um,

00:42:22.700 Hungary, uh, they actually didn't succeed in

00:42:25.260 Doing away with parliament for an extended period of time here or temporarily where victor orban is now going to govern by decree

00:42:32.780 um

00:42:34.060 Right, I posted the problem is so many people are willing to trust governments with extraordinary extreme powers

00:42:40.940 If they like the politicians in charge not not suspicious of the nature of government itself

00:42:45.340 I mean, I I shared that victor orban in hungary had succeeded in doing this and he's a right-wing anti-european union kind of guy

00:42:52.940 You know, I think a lot of our readers would be sympathetic with with some at least some of what he stands for

00:42:58.780 And um, but a lot of our readers are saying well, it doesn't matter that he did it

00:43:02.300 But trudeau tried to do it because he's good. Yeah, well sure

00:43:05.260 But trudeau's fans trust him and the point is that we should never trust government with these extraordinary powers

00:43:11.100 We never had we didn't hand over all legislative powers to the cabinet during two world wars

00:43:16.540 Now those governments did invoke the war measures act now renamed the emergencies act

00:43:20.700 And they did extreme assume an extraordinary amount of power

00:43:23.740 And most of that power is never handed back when governments go into crises

00:43:27.500 They assume new powers in wars in these kinds of disasters

00:43:31.100 And when the when the crisis passes they hand back some of those powers, but never all of them

00:43:35.820 And that's why in the united states donald trump has the authority to order companies to start producing things and that is a hangover from the first world war

00:43:43.820 uh

00:43:44.540 income taxes are our hangover from world wars for god's sakes these things never go away

00:43:49.660 And uh, you've got a lot of politicians out there right now including uh, catherine mckenna senior liberal cabinet minister

00:43:55.820 Uh, who's very openly stating that

00:43:57.820 uh, the growth in the size of government during this crisis should be put to use after it has passed

00:44:02.860 To fight global warming and what that does by politicizing it like this by by adding a very clear

00:44:07.660 ideological dimension to this is it can break down the consensus that's been tried

00:44:12.140 People are trying to achieve across the political spectrum

00:44:15.180 To have a consensus on how to deal with this, uh

00:44:18.220 With the crisis at hand, but why should we trust governments with these greater powers?

00:44:22.540 If so many of their leading members are stating that once this crisis is passed they want to use these new powers for other

00:44:30.860 ideological ends

00:44:33.420 Yeah, it's it's interesting. I've and I've seen we've seen this in the states a lot

00:44:37.020 But also in canada is this concentration of powers at the executive level

00:44:41.740 um, you know a number of uh, when obama was popular and everybody loved obama and he

00:44:47.900 Uh, he was handed several powers. Nobody questioned his the executive privilege

00:44:52.540 Uh, that he that he that he he took to put in to basically pass edicts if you will

00:44:59.180 um, you know in in america and uh, um, and then as soon as, um, a president comes in this

00:45:08.220 You know that those the same people that might have handed those powers to obama, uh, didn't like

00:45:13.900 Um, suddenly those powers are no good, right?

00:45:16.540 And so this is the nature, uh, the pro-constitution party is always the party out of power 0.57

00:45:20.860 Exactly. President obama was in power republicans lost their mind about executive overreach and the and the need of congress to constrain

00:45:27.980 the executive

00:45:29.500 As soon as trump wins they they forget all of that and they think the president should have total power

00:45:34.780 And then the democrats who had no concern about it when obama's in power all of a sudden they start banging away about the constitution

00:45:40.540 The same thing happens in canada

00:45:42.860 The opposition parties are always talking about the rights of parliament to hold the government to account

00:45:47.100 And then as soon as they get elected, they don't care anymore. It's it's the same thing and unfortunately this

00:45:52.220 That's just I think the nature of politics is that you only care about restricting power of government

00:45:57.820 When you're not the government totally

00:45:59.580 Yeah, and and the power of precedent can be incredible in in um, in practice

00:46:05.100 You know you when you when you bestow power upon an office

00:46:09.260 Don't be surprised when somebody who you don't like

00:46:12.940 Takes that office and turns that power into something horrible. It's essentially what happened with the rise of of of the nazis in in germany

00:46:20.460 Well, I well that's a bit further than I was gonna go a little different, but no

00:46:24.860 Not to say that is the outcome

00:46:27.420 The tories invoke closure to shut down debate on bills. Well, I was there

00:46:31.260 They did it every damn day that they felt like it as soon as they got any pushback that was taking too long 0.95

00:46:35.980 They would invoke closure then they lose power the tories come in and the tories can say hey, we're just doing what you did 0.96

00:46:42.060 and so when it when it comes to

00:46:44.460 parties fighting against governments abusing powers

00:46:47.260 Sometimes it's principled for the but for the most part

00:46:49.260 They're just complaining that they're not able to abuse the power themselves

00:46:52.060 Exactly. Yeah, and and and that's that's exactly my point and obviously you're not gonna take it to the extreme

00:46:57.980 but but the process of

00:47:00.140 Of concentrating power rarely leads to uh great outcomes or certainly consensus building outcomes

00:47:09.180 Um, you're uh, you're any any final thoughts, uh, deirdre or dave on uh, the state of the world today

00:47:16.700 Yeah, I I just think we should have a office pool amongst all western standard readers or listeners to try and pick the date

00:47:24.620 Justin trudeau is going to come out of his cottage

00:47:27.500 And actually become a leader a world leader because I don't know if if he realizes the the you know

00:47:34.380 The internet joke that he's become by hiding in his cottage every day and not going to work

00:47:39.260 Uh, you know, maybe he thinks if he sees his shadow, we're gonna get two more months of winter or something, but uh

00:47:45.100 He's got to get out of that cottage

00:47:47.100 Uh, I think that I think something that we all appreciate

00:48:04.060 When we are being told to stay at home and work from home is that our leaders do it as well

00:48:10.460 Uh, jason kenney tyler shandro shandro doing his uh, his

00:48:17.340 hospital rounds and shaking hands with

00:48:20.140 Hospital employees during this did not go over well and it shouldn't have gone over well

00:48:25.180 This is this is precisely the sort of behavior. We're asking everyone else to not do

00:48:31.020 And they're out there doing them

00:48:33.340 um

00:48:34.460 So I guess I would I guess that I would say

00:48:38.540 You know, watch watch what you are, uh, uh, watch what you're complaining about

00:48:43.980 Right. What are what are what are you like? What are what are you asking other people to do?

00:48:49.580 Practice it yourself be a good example

00:48:52.060 Prime minister deirdre he's the prime minister. He's the leader of the country

00:48:55.660 Yes, and we also don't want him to get sick and die. Well, yeah, most of us

00:49:01.340 But yeah, i'm even i'm even willing to protect the op opposition

00:49:07.020 I'm willing to protect the other people too

00:49:09.500 Just stop doing stop the photo ops, especially in hospitals. Like come on. That's just gross

00:49:15.180 I have no time for people who wish this disease upon their opponents. That's that's just crass 0.85

00:49:21.020 And if you're listening and you do that stop it, that's uh, you know, not only is it not only is it crass and you know

00:49:29.100 Just demonstrates poor judgment on your part

00:49:31.820 But you know, this is a communicable disease

00:49:34.460 You wish it upon the people that you don't like and that's just going to spread it around to more people that you do

00:49:39.580 So just just keep it to yourself, you know, dave

00:49:42.220 I do think we have a fantastic global leader in canada. Her name is christia freeland

00:49:48.140 Our actual prime minister

00:49:54.220 I like to hear the unsubscribed folks

00:49:59.580 Derek your final thoughts

00:50:03.180 um

00:50:05.340 It's

00:50:08.300 It's just it's hard to find a voice. It's hard for anyone to find their voices right now who aren't just supporting authority

00:50:14.620 And uh oppositions media's

00:50:17.580 Um, you know

00:50:20.700 Cooks like me who just are paranoid of whatever the government's doing. It's it's a difficult time

00:50:25.340 Uh, when there's this very much a rally around the flag rally around the leader mentality

00:50:30.940 uh

00:50:31.980 Anywhere in the world right now when you're facing anything where anyone anytime anyone feels society feels besieged

00:50:38.380 We become more deferential to authority to the state to government to leaders

00:50:43.020 and

00:50:45.660 And and I it's a natural human reaction because we were looking for something that's comforting

00:50:50.460 We're looking for this paternal figure and people are doing it around the world and

00:50:55.500 Oppositions are frustrated because they have a hard time finding their voice in this

00:51:00.540 Um, but they shouldn't disappear. They should be not critical. Um,

00:51:05.660 Um, you know, there there's a place for the ndp in alberta was with a voice

00:51:10.860 Uh, it's probably just not doing what they're doing. But at the same time, uh, i'm i'm afraid of, uh,

00:51:16.780 Oppositions becoming too uncritical of uh media becoming too uncritical

00:51:21.980 and uh

00:51:23.580 Us because we're in this kind of siege mentality everyone is so eager to grant

00:51:28.460 Extraordinary powers to governments and not just about telling people to stay in their houses temporarily

00:51:32.860 But that the the overall massive expansion of the state into other areas of the economy and our social lives that we might not get back and

00:51:41.180 um

00:51:42.300 It's good. It's important right now that we have a critical media and we have critical uh

00:51:47.260 Critical opposition politicians who are not going to be granting blank checks, uh, because I think not just in canada but around the world

00:51:54.540 Uh governments are growing much more powerful and they're not going to be handing much of this back in the near future

00:52:03.420 You're muted

00:52:05.420 Thank you so much, uh, derek

00:52:07.580 Um, on that note, we will wrap it up. Uh, just wanted to say before we go, uh, if you're still gainfully employed

00:52:16.140 Um, and you would like to support independent media, please, uh, go to the westernstandardonline.com and become a member today

00:52:24.780 We, uh, are very grateful for all of our members and, um, I know it's difficult time for everybody, but, uh,

00:52:31.660 Uh, if you think this is important, then we will continue to off to bring this to you

00:52:37.580 On behalf of everybody at the western standard, but especially, uh, derek deirdre and dave

00:52:43.660 uh, we hope everybody stays healthy and well

00:52:47.260 And um, we will come to you each weekend, uh, for the foreseeable future

00:52:53.340 Um, and uh, hope

00:52:56.460 Everybody including our leaders in this country, um, get through this crisis

00:53:02.140 All the best

00:53:03.180 Cheers

Western Standard - April 06, 2020

Pandemics, Kings and Queens - The Pipeline, Episode 13

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript