00:01:25.180It is a discussion is about what I'm going to start talking about in just a moment.
00:01:29.900And yes, it is related to Premier Daniel Smith getting up and saying that becoming independent would cost $400 billion.
00:01:37.180So, I mean, Premier Daniel Smith, she's been maintaining something of a delicate balancing act
00:01:41.440between satisfying the provincial sovereigntist element within her party base
00:01:45.640and most Albertans at large who lean towards the Federalist side.
00:01:49.460Of late, though, the Premier's decided to fall solidly onto one side of the debate,
00:01:53.020may lead to some pretty dire consequences for the UCP in the future.
00:01:57.000And it can be understood why the premier is maintaining a stance on the federalist side of the debate.
00:02:01.660She never claimed to be a supporter of Alberta independence,
00:02:04.480and she didn't campaign on a platform supporting it.
00:02:07.360She certainly has the right to express where she stands on the issue, too.0.99
00:02:11.000But when she went into a tirade with hyperbolic economic assumptions,
00:02:14.920claiming that the transitional cost of independence would be over $400 billion,
00:02:18.880she sounded much like former Premier Jason Kenney has lately,
00:02:22.400since he donned the cloak of being Captain Canada.
00:02:25.280Premier Smith would be well served to remember why the word former is used
00:02:28.360when speaking of Jason Kenney's premiership.
00:02:30.680While some of the leading figures in the independence movement
00:02:33.480have always had that chip on their shoulders with the premier,
00:02:36.300they were tempered by the majority of independent supporters
00:02:38.480who accepted her federalism as long as they could get a referendum out of the deal.
00:02:42.460With the courts blocking the ability for citizens to initiate a referendum on sovereignty,
00:02:46.800independent supporters became a little more upset with the status quo,
00:02:49.620but many still grudgingly accepted the watered-down word salad of a referendum question the Premier added to the ballot for this fall.
00:02:56.600They took the Premier at her word that this was the only option available for people to express themselves on a referendum right now.
00:03:03.120With the Premier now in an open campaign, though, against the option number two on the question,
00:03:08.040independent supporters are going to be sorely tempted to give up on the referendum and direct their resources and energy into unseating the Premier.
00:03:15.060And this is not a threat to be dismissed.
00:03:17.380No conservative premier has managed to remain in power beyond a single term since Ralph Klein,
00:03:21.760and it's tended to be party members who take them down, not the electorate.
00:03:25.660In needlessly provoking a segment to the UCP member base who number in the thousands,
00:03:30.000Smith could start a chain of events leading to her political career,0.88
00:03:33.560meaning the same nasty ending her predecessors enjoyed.
00:03:37.300Rather than going to war against the independent supporters,
00:03:39.440the premier should be focusing on accomplishments that may undercut the strength of the independence campaign.
00:03:44.480Where did that plan for a provincial pension plan go?
00:03:46.820When are we going to formally announce an end to the RCMP contract plan with a full police, you know, provincial police force?
00:03:53.140How about bringing home the collection of provincial taxes and keeping energy royalties within provincial institutions rather than using eastern-based banks?
00:04:00.400With three years in office, Premier Smith has talked a really good game when it comes to provincial sovereignty initiatives, but her delivery has been terrible.
00:04:07.340If the intention is to make Alberta more sovereign within Canada, it would be refreshing to see a tangible indication of it.
00:04:13.000Smith's ongoing negotiations with Mark Carney appear to have involved a lot of capitulations from Alberta on carbon taxes
00:04:18.080and questionable carbon tax initiatives, with no concrete commitments from the government to approve projects.
00:04:24.640She's set multiple deadlines with the Prime Minister since he was elected,
00:04:27.680only to do nothing when the deadlines were ignored.
00:04:29.720Remember that Grey Cup deadline? Yeah, that was a long time ago since the Grey Cup.
00:04:33.400The Premier is appearing weak on Ottawa and harsh against Alberta regionalists.0.99
00:04:38.280This is creating an ugly formula which will lead to a populist uprising against her0.99
00:04:42.560and no amount of threats that it's going to lead to another term of the NDP might cool that.
00:04:46.580A referendum is on the horizon that presents independent supporters with half a loaf to be satisfied with.
00:04:52.060Premier Smith should stay clear of the campaign and let citizens deal with it from here on in.
00:04:56.320She made her federalist inclination clear and doesn't need to keep pressing it.
00:04:59.740It's changing the sentiment among independent supporters from frustration with the Premier to rage.
00:05:05.000The 7,000 people who sat through blizzards and endured abuse from Federalists last winter
00:05:09.460to get the referendum signatures are dedicated, hardworking Albertans.
00:05:13.460The Premier really doesn't want to have them dedicate their hard work towards removing her from power.
00:05:18.600Nobody expects the Premier to adopt a pro-independence stance.
00:05:21.600She doesn't need to go on a campaign against independent supporters either.
00:05:26.020Like you see, media and any Eastern elites are going to label her as separatist anyways.0.55
00:05:29.240We've been seeing that. It doesn't matter what she does.1.00
00:05:30.820what Smith must do is show some victories for Alberta within the Federation and she's running
00:05:36.060out of time to do that that's what's got me going these days all right hey Dave welcome to the new
00:05:42.020studio well isn't this cozy yeah it's not so bad it's not so bad looks nice explain to me how we're
00:05:48.640going to get uh us two and Nigel and Derek all around this little table that's a good segue for
00:05:53.340you know viewers just to watch we will see something interesting as this the pipeline our
00:05:57.640next show that we do uh does put four or five of us in a row uh we'll see how that works uh john
00:06:02.940was gonna have to get creative yeah it's not our responsibility maybe it'll be maybe there's
00:06:06.540something coming like a celebrity squares where we'll be uh you know stacked on top of each other
00:06:10.880there you go so i'm seeing your name on all sorts of billboards across alberta these days what's
00:06:16.100going on yeah well i got i got kind of frustrated waiting for some of the uh you know independence
00:06:21.040groups to get things moving and everything the petitioning period ended weeks ago and uh stay
00:06:26.120Free Alberta and the Alberta Prosperity Project seem to have vanished. So in a fit of foolishness
00:06:30.880and insanity, I started a third-party advertising group and thought we'd raise a few dollars and
00:06:37.680yeah, it exploded and we raised well over $30,000 and now have billboards out and signs going on
00:06:43.220people's lawns with my name attached just because that's the website that's going on. I'm not
00:06:46.420promoting me. I'm just being cheap and using the court. Why don't you just announce you're
00:06:50.540going to run for leader and no way no i'm nuts but i'm not that nuts the movement deserves better
00:06:56.860than that well i know they deserve something but either i have no comments on that i'm not going
00:07:03.180there but yeah it's been it's been an interesting five days already and i'm sure jane again as
00:07:07.400usual wondering oh what kind of nutcase have i married uh you know when am i going to get some
00:07:11.340rest exactly so have you been following the henry noak case in england that's awful it is it is just0.89
00:07:17.860horrible. It's being described as Britain's George Floyd moment. This was an 18-year-old
00:07:24.400university student walking home, came across a Sikh guy who was wearing his kirpan, ceremonial
00:07:32.880knife, and there was a dispute and the kid got stabbed four or five times, slashed in the face
00:10:54.020molested kids is going to move on to it. Let's just put him away for, you know,
00:10:58.140we'll be fair, a century. Yeah, exactly. Guess what though? He's out on bail. Oh, of course.
00:11:03.260Of course. Mr. Trump went a bit crazy again last night and put 10% tariffs on about 60 countries,
00:11:11.780including Canada, who import goods made by slave labor. So that'll be fun and games.1.00
00:11:20.640And the Liberals have removed the recent CRTC decision to have Canadian broadcasters contribute more money to a Canadian fund to produce Canadian stuff.
00:11:33.720So they're going to repeal that, but they're going to give them $600 million to help to hurt.
00:11:39.000Yeah, I saw that. I mean, I read the first part of it. Oh, they did something right. They did something good.
00:11:42.500And then they get down to the second paragraph. Oh, but we're going to sell taxpayers for $600 million and toss it out to them.
00:37:31.360You know, part of what got me worked up, and I do things for AlbertaFactCheck.com too, if you check it out, when Premier Smith got up and said it's going to cost $400 billion, you know, in transitional expenses for Alberta to become independent.