Western Standard - November 12, 2026


Premier Smith must get rolling with her immigration mandate

Harper, Trump and the Problem With Political Legacies

Episode Stats


Length

45 minutes

Words per minute

188.41

Word count

8,659

Sentence count

518

Harmful content

Misogyny

7

sentences flagged

Toxicity

20

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00 today welcome to the cory morgan show
00:00:29 So we're on something of a holiday.
00:00:32 It is Remembrance Day.
00:00:33 I do want to start with that, with a couple of things.
00:00:35 One, I like to remind people, because I've been asked about that.
00:00:38 I'm an independent supporter.
00:00:39 I always have been and things like that.
00:00:40 But please don't mistake that for a second of not valuing and appreciating always what
00:00:47 veterans have done for me, done for Canada, done for my family, my kids, the people all
00:00:52 the way from the beginning of the Federation to the more recent ones in Afghanistan and
00:00:56 the sacrifice they've done.
00:00:57 I will always appreciate that and the freedoms that they stood up for.
00:01:01 So I can be an independent supporter and we can use democratic means to make change and to peacefully do that.
00:01:08 So I just want to express that right off the bat.
00:01:10 Plus, remind people, this Remembrance Day is a little bit different, especially when we're talking about contemporary service members.
00:01:17 The accident in Wainwright, we can't forget what happened over the tragedy in Wainwright.
00:01:21 Not just the four who were killed, but there are still, I believe, and I don't have notes for this actually,
00:01:26 19 who are still in hospital right now, a number of whom are critical and are on respirators right
00:01:32 now. They're burn injuries and they're of the most horrific sort. So, you know, there's online
00:01:37 things, always check carefully, but there's a lot of support their families could use and things
00:01:42 like that. We can't forget the veterans that serve, put themselves at risk, not just when they're
00:01:46 overseas or doing actions, but even just in the training and some awful things can happen. So
00:01:51 keep them in mind this Remembrance Day, guys, and see if you can't help and support them.
00:01:55 All right, I'll get on with the regular show now.
00:01:57 And I got Willie Tam Tam coming on in a little while.
00:01:59 We're going to talk about the federal budget.
00:02:01 There should be some good juicy stuff to talk about in there.
00:02:04 And, of course, lots of other news issues.
00:02:06 So I want to talk about a sponsor for this show, though, Alberta Certified.
00:02:09 It's a new verification system.
00:02:11 It checks who really owns and operates a business and lists them in an online directory.
00:02:16 So qualifying companies, you should apply.
00:02:18 Being certified builds trust, gets you found, and wins you work.
00:02:21 So the Western Standard is proudly Alberta Certified,
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00:02:27 Activate your competitive advantage
00:02:29 and get your verification at albertacertified.ca.
00:02:32 Check them out, guys.
00:02:34 And yeah, they're a good sponsor.
00:02:36 All right, let's talk a bit about the budget
00:02:38 because something else packed in there.
00:02:39 Last week, it tabled its budget
00:02:40 and included an immigration plan
00:02:42 that would grant permanent residency
00:02:43 to almost 660,000 people next year.
00:02:46 Let that sit for a second.
00:02:48 660,000.
00:02:49 I mean, the regular target's 380,000
00:02:51 permanent residents per year.
00:02:53 On top of that, Ottawa is going to convert 200,000 temporary residents to permanent status in 2027.
00:02:59 And it's finishing another one-time program that adds almost 80,000 more.
00:03:03 Add in temporary residents at CBC.
00:03:06 Says that's more than a million people granted residency in a year.
00:03:09 Residency, that means a lot of things.
00:03:11 Carney calls it sustainable.
00:03:13 He says Ottawa is taking back control.
00:03:15 Here's the thing, Canadians didn't ask for this.
00:03:18 Environics has asked the same question for decades and it found the share of Canadians who say there's too much immigration is more than doubled between 2022 and 2024 to 58%.
00:03:28 Ottawa lightly tapped the brakes on the influx and support for some immigration has climbed again.
00:03:34 But that doesn't mean they should press the pedal to the floor again, but that's what they've done.
00:03:38 Ottawa loosened the temporary foreign worker program.
00:03:41 Low wage work permits can now last two years instead of one. 0.86
00:03:44 How many more Tim Hortons workers do we really need?
00:03:47 Do this in an economy where youth unemployment across Canada just hit 13.7%.
00:03:51 Alberta lost 24,000 jobs in October, and our unemployment rate in general has jumped to 7.3%.
00:03:57 That's the highest in a year.
00:03:58 What do you think happens to this 17-year-old looking for a first job at a coffee shop
00:04:02 when the employer can bring in more low-wage workers instead?
00:04:05 On October 19th, Albertans voted more than 2 million ballots on each question,
00:04:08 and the turnout was over 67%.
00:04:10 That's well over the last provincial election.
00:04:12 And all five immigration questions passed.
00:04:15 55% said yes to Alberta taking more control over immigration to bring it down to sustainable levels.
00:04:20 53% backed a 12-month residency rule before temporary residents get provincial social supports.
00:04:25 52% backed limiting provincial programs to citizens, permanent residents, and people with Alberta-approved status.
00:04:32 And on changing temporary residents, charging a fee for health care and education, it was 52% as well.
00:04:38 Just barely.
00:04:40 I'm not going to pretend it was a landslide. It wasn't.
00:04:42 Calgary and Edmonton voted no on most of it and the margins were thin.
00:04:45 Even the Premier admitted on a radio show,
00:04:47 I had an idea that Albertans would give us a mandate, but let's look at what she did with it.
00:04:52 Two days after the vote, she said there was nothing imminent in the fall session.
00:04:55 Details could wait until spring.
00:04:56 A few days later on a radio show, she said Albertans want her to proceed with caution.
00:05:01 Caution. On millions where more than a million Albertans voted, yes.
00:05:05 Folks, a win at 52% is still a win.
00:05:07 Nobody tells a government that won an election with 52% to sit on its hands until it feels more popular.
00:05:13 We just spent about $84 million running this referendum.
00:05:16 If the result goes into a drawer until spring, and spring becomes after the election, which we could really see,
00:05:22 what was that $84 million for?
00:05:25 And make no mistake, this is urgent.
00:05:26 Ottawa isn't waiting until spring.
00:05:28 The levels plan is set.
00:05:30 The new foreign worker rules took effect last Friday.
00:05:33 Alberta has nearly 280,000 non-permanent residents right now.
00:05:37 Roughly one in six Albertans still can't get a family doctor, according to the AMA.
00:05:42 And the ER triage doctors promised back in January are only now working in six emergency rooms, months behind schedule.
00:05:49 I mean, there's some good news, but it's a warning as well.
00:05:51 Calgary rents have come down about 9.5% in two years.
00:05:54 But that relief came when Ottawa was finally cutting the temporary numbers.
00:05:58 Carney was bragging that student numbers are down 71% and temporary foreign workers are down 57%.
00:06:03 If cutting volume was a good policy last year, why is ramping it up a good policy now?
00:06:07 Let me be clear about something, because the other side is going to twist this.
00:06:10 None of this is about the people who came here.
00:06:12 The nurse from Manila, the welder from Ukraine, the family that played by the rules.
00:06:17 They're not the villains.
00:06:18 They did exactly what our governments invited them to do.
00:06:21 The problem is the volume and planning.
00:06:24 It keeps setting numbers our housing, hospital, and job markets can't keep up with.
00:06:29 And then calls anybody who notices it a bigot.
00:06:32 Premier Smith said she wants to move, in her words, quite quickly on economic migration.
00:06:37 and she's chasing a Quebec-style deal with Ottawa.
00:06:39 Good. Do it. 0.94
00:06:41 Table the proposal before the premiers meet in December, not after.
00:06:44 And on the rest, the 12-month residency rule and the fees,
00:06:47 she suggested grandfathering people who are already here.
00:06:49 Fine. That's a reasonable way to show caution.
00:06:52 Now write the bill. 1.00
00:06:53 Grandfather current residents, apply the new rules to new arrivals
00:06:56 and put it on the order paper.
00:06:57 Caution's one thing. Waiting forever is another.
00:06:59 When Smith wants to move on something, she tends to do it quickly. 1.00
00:07:02 What she's doing right now is ragging the puck. 1.00
00:07:04 and a short deferral can turn into a permanent shelving of policies. 1.00
00:07:07 Remember when we were going to get a pension plan?
00:07:09 Albertans gave the premier a mandate.
00:07:11 Even if it's a narrow one, it's a mandate.
00:07:13 Use it.
00:07:14 All right, that's what I got on that.
00:07:16 Use it.
00:07:17 Use it.
00:07:17 Get on with it, Premier Smith.
00:07:20 Nice words on veterans.
00:07:22 Well, they're just how I felt.
00:07:24 Reading that recent story, just those horrible burn wounds of those poor fellows.
00:07:28 We forget about our current ones, even when we talk about the past ones.
00:07:31 Can I say ditto?
00:07:32 Sure.
00:07:33 All right, I'll steal your work.
00:07:34 All right.
00:07:36 Fair amount in the news going on.
00:07:38 The Calgarians were handed a lump of coal today, pre-Christmas,
00:07:42 with a Jeremy Farkas-led budget of a 15% property tax hike.
00:07:47 That's probably the biggest in about 30 years, I think.
00:07:51 Yeah, well, you can see what...
00:07:53 What happened to the Jeremy of old?
00:07:54 Well, he seems to have borrowed Ninchy's notebook and he's working with it.
00:07:58 But you know what's going to happen, and they do this every time.
00:08:01 I'm sure Mike Thomas will talk about that.
00:08:02 He wrote a great article on the standard about that.
00:08:04 Just to remind people, you know, if you want your municipal coverage, he's got it.
00:08:07 But they always start at 15 or something like that.
00:08:09 And then they'll whittle it down to like eight.
00:08:11 And then they'll say, see, applaud us, praise us.
00:08:13 We only gave you an 8% tax increase this year.
00:08:17 That's my prediction on what's going to happen.
00:08:18 But you're still going to get it.
00:08:21 Yep.
00:08:22 One way or the other.
00:08:23 Stellantis, still big in the news.
00:08:26 Pierre Polyev has called for the firing of industry minister Melanie Jolie.
00:08:31 Prime Minister Mark Carney says no she's doing a good job and Stellantis is bad and don't worry
00:08:39 taxpayers we'll figure it out so she's very good at ingratiating herself with Prime Minister's
00:08:43 offices that yeah the Prime Minister is off next week to his headquarters in China we note as he
00:08:50 leaves that crude exports to China is up 159 percent in the last quarter so they must be
00:08:57 getting some tanker traffic out of Vancouver. Got a ridiculous story from
00:09:04 earlier on BC Labs. That's what it says, it's a laboratory, so you take your 0.83
00:09:11 medical tests there. So they've been ordered by the BC Human Rights Tribunal
00:09:15 to pay, I think, three transgender people $32,000 because they did not have
00:09:23 a transgender box. 0.84
00:09:26 Yeah, they wouldn't let them say they were non-binary or that bowl. 0.68
00:09:30 It's kind of important for medical tests, right?
00:09:32 You don't want to be doing a test for prostate cancer and find somebody with ovaries.
00:09:37 No, you wouldn't.
00:09:38 But now they're not allowed.
00:09:39 That really is what they're saying.
00:09:40 They're saying, you guys have got to pretend and you've got to waste this test or even
00:09:44 perhaps miss a critical medical condition because you're testing the wrong sex.
00:09:49 And then they'll get sued for mistesting afterwards. 0.59
00:09:52 Exactly.
00:09:53 Gun grab is in the Supreme Court this week, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario challenging it.
00:10:00 So we'll see what the Supreme Court has to say about that.
00:10:02 And some good work by Calgary police.
00:10:04 In 2026, there was a terribly violent attack and rape that happened in Forest Lawn.
00:10:11 A woman in a park was sexually assaulted and stabbed repeatedly.
00:10:16 They took DNA at the time and didn't come back back then, but it recently came back.
00:10:22 and they've made an arrest of a 14-year-old at the time who did it.
00:10:27 And you'll never guess where they arrested him.
00:10:30 In jail.
00:10:31 Oh, of course.
00:10:32 So, you know, but because he was a young offender at the time,
00:10:36 we can't identify him.
00:10:38 So he may be the biggest sex attacker going.
00:10:41 Yeah, you said 2026, you meant 2016. 0.86
00:10:43 No, I meant 2006.
00:10:44 2006, so 20 years ago.
00:10:46 20-year case.
00:10:48 Yeah, my apologies for that.
00:10:50 Well, I'm sure they'll get him the therapy he needs.
00:10:52 Yes.
00:10:52 I'm sure they will.
00:10:53 It was good work on their part.
00:10:54 Better late than never.
00:10:55 Better late than never.
00:10:56 So that's what I got for you.
00:10:58 Okay.
00:10:59 Well, I'm sure there's lots more on the cooker.
00:11:01 I know it's busy in the newsroom, so appreciate the updates.
00:11:06 You bet.
00:11:06 Happy remembrance, Dan.
00:11:07 Yeah.
00:11:07 And to you.
00:11:08 Thank you.
00:11:09 All right, guys.
00:11:10 That is a number of stories from, yes, the Western Standard, our news editor, Dave Naylor,
00:11:14 who curates and manages all those reporters in that newsroom to make sure you're getting good, accurate content.
00:11:22 And that's where I'd like to remind you one more time, the reason we've got people like Dave, people like John, people like Waleed all working here at the Western Standard is because you guys have been subscribing.
00:11:31 So I'd just like to remind you, it's $10 a month, $100 for a year, a very good deal, well worth it.
00:11:37 Get one. Hey, Christmas season's coming up. Get a subscription for someone else.
00:11:40 As I like to always remind people, get a subscription for your crazy liberal uncle. 0.88
00:11:44 It'll drive him crazy, but maybe it'll actually, you know, a little common sense sink through with him.
00:11:49 And if you've already subscribed, guys, thank you very much.
00:11:52 We really, really do appreciate it here.
00:11:54 It's how we keep the lights on and keep these things going.
00:11:57 I just want to go a little more on that laboratory thing.
00:12:02 It is so absurd and dangerous and asking people to just neglect reality.
00:12:09 This is a science-based thing.
00:12:11 This isn't even somebody who has to stand at a door when a man presents with a beard
00:12:17 who's thrown a dress on and saying, I'm a woman today,
00:12:19 and you're supposed to say she heard of me today. 0.78
00:12:21 whatever that is minor annoying crap from uh disturbed people this is medicine this is science
00:12:31 this is laboratory work as dave said there's some things that are very distinct between genders 0.60
00:12:36 there's different lab levels different hormone levels things that are to be expected and things
00:12:41 you're looking for that you don't look for in others as i said you're not you know what i don't
00:12:47 have to be a doctor i don't have to be a scientist and no i have zero risk of ovarian cancer it will
00:12:55 not happen to me why because i don't have ovaries i could go through all the other stuff chop off 0.72
00:13:02 my bits and pieces take a bunch of hormone therapy scream and yell throw on that dress 1.00
00:13:07 shave a little more closely remove my adam's apple and you know what i still won't have ovaries
00:13:11 and nobody who was born a woman has a prostate so a PSA test on them is pointless pointless why
00:13:22 would you scour and check the fluids and hormones and blood levels for prostate issues on somebody
00:13:28 but this is what is being asked by law now these labs are being fined for not acting as if these
00:13:36 these people who want to change their genders have actually changed. We're facing a true
00:13:42 up isn't up anymore. It's down. Like this is insane. We got to get rid of these human rights
00:13:49 commissions. We really do. They're nuts. They're nuts. And it's just getting beyond the pale.
00:13:55 Holy cow. Now we're putting people at risk. We really are. As I said to Dave, when they go and
00:14:00 misdiagnose somebody because they didn't check that trans person for prostate issues, it turns 0.63
00:14:05 out he or she or whatever it is by the hour has prostate cancer they'll come back and sue the lab 0.99
00:14:10 because they didn't check for it it's just stupid all right well let's get on to the land of common 0.99
00:14:15 sense and and good policy you know ottawa parliament hill nothing ever goes wrong up there 0.99
00:14:20 they do everything right and they just passed the budget and it's a whopper and we have waleed up
00:14:26 there to tell us all about it and see what he's seen it how's it going waleed pretty good how
00:14:32 about yourself oh i think uh might be muted there just a moment we'll have you uh a little more
00:14:39 clearly right away here and uh let's try again can you hear me now ah you're coming in great
00:14:48 thank you just a little bit of a technical hiccup so uh how are things going out east
00:14:52 well budget week was last week and obviously as you know with budgets their political documents
00:14:58 geared around the focus of the government in the upcoming fiscal year. And I have to say,
00:15:04 my biggest impression has been a change in signaling and messaging. Once again, a budget
00:15:09 without any faces or diverse faces on the cover. And of course, 547 pages later, a lot of spending
00:15:15 items to talk about. Well, that's it. I mean, the spending is massive within there. What are
00:15:22 some of the top areas that they're increasing spending in? What are these critical needs that
00:15:26 we must just pour those new oil revenues into? Well, to be frank with you, there is a large
00:15:33 number of items as well. But I think what's most concerning is your allocation for debt reduction
00:15:39 spending, or essentially the portion of each dollar of revenue is around 11 cents that is
00:15:45 going specifically to interest payments. And we're still seeing that deficit number for this year at
00:15:52 62.5 and then the following fiscal year at 65.2 so in terms of spending it's consistently high
00:16:00 there's a number of issues on on the table for spending but before we even get onto the number
00:16:05 of discrepancy I just want to inform viewers that the deficit numbers are relatively conservative
00:16:11 to what the real debt figures may end up becoming based on the return on capital spending so as you
00:16:18 know with the budget we were separating the two accounts the capital spending in one area and the
00:16:23 operating budget the operating budget as annual services and simple any specific cost of running
00:16:30 government and government projects but on the project side there are some items like for example
00:16:35 infrastructure projects and expansions that can be written off as a capital investment because of
00:16:41 course there could be a return on that investment I find it to be quite misleading because our
00:16:46 fiscal picture on debt. First of all, we're looking at a five-year chronic deficit with
00:16:52 minimal decreases year over year. I think in 2031, we could still be looking at a 50-plus
00:16:57 billion dollar deficit according to the government's estimates. Remember, this is what the
00:17:01 government is estimating. This can change as early as next spring when the spring economic
00:17:07 update comes up. But there are big items. Some that caught my eye, Corey, were a lot of
00:17:13 investment measures and there's the mega deduction trying to spur up economic productivity that's
00:17:19 probably the single biggest items there we're going to talk about immigration later as well
00:17:23 that's including temporary foreign workers a very controversial thing out there in alberta for sure
00:17:28 and i think 155 million was earmarked for the temporary for worker programs reforms over five
00:17:35 years i'm not exactly sure entirely what those reforms will be but what i do know much more is
00:17:41 there will be a four-year funding program that is a separate item that's worth about 300 million
00:17:46 dollars that will help fund the temporary to premier residency transition measure which is
00:17:52 part of the immigration measure as you know you mentioned the 660 000 figure and that figure is
00:17:57 adding on 200 000 people tacked on to the 380 000 people annual mark of mark carney for for
00:18:03 permanent residence admissions so that transition process itself is also a pretty significant cost
00:18:09 of almost half a billion dollars well and then that travels down into the recipient provinces
00:18:15 and municipalities that deal with the additional people and have to figure out how to accommodate
00:18:20 and adapt i mean this but we were talking about that earlier actually it was on the
00:18:25 a different recording but you know immigration is often and the trudeau government was notorious
00:18:31 for using it as a means though to juice the economy and if you bring in a lot of new people
00:18:35 It helps the economy in the shorter term, it adds to it, but the GDP per capita tends to shrink because you're bringing more people into a smaller structure.
00:18:45 Do you think that's still some of the motivation?
00:18:47 Like he just doesn't feel inclined to cut the budget, get it in order, so he's just using, again, the immigration tool as a means to juice it and avoid going into recession, but it's kind of kicking the can down the road.
00:18:58 Well, to be fair, first of all, I have to say the growth of economy vis-a-vis immigration is sometimes a little bit misleading.
00:19:05 I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing from an economic perspective to have labor shortages in certain industries and areas.
00:19:11 That might just conform the public sector and more importantly, the private sector rather.
00:19:16 The public sector already has a lot of juice, a lot of energy, a lot of people wanting to work in there,
00:19:21 especially here in Ottawa, where the public sector dominates even proportional to the size of the population in the city.
00:19:26 I think we passed one million a few years ago, and yet most of the jobs that are really juicing the local economy are on the public dollar.
00:19:32 But on the matter of immigration relative to the temporary foreign worker program, that we've been seeing a lot of these low skilled workers come in.
00:19:41 That's the fast food industry, retail, all kinds of jobs for the minimum wage, the minimum wage plus one, two dollar category.
00:19:48 You know, that's a high school entry level job. That's people beginning to start to build income and start to pay taxes.
00:19:53 It's a very important entry level in life. I wasn't so far away from that at 24 years old today.
00:19:58 I remember myself 16 years old working at Staples and that was kind of my entrance point there.
00:20:02 I think we're delaying that entrance point for a number of people that are having a hard time finding those jobs in big metropolitan areas
00:20:09 when we have high populations of temporary fund workers who are taking up some of those jobs and playing more competition in that marketplace.
00:20:15 In terms of just increasing the amount of people who are paying taxes and, of course, who are also part of the workforce
00:20:24 and increasing the potential of small businesses to, because ultimately small businesses do need, you know,
00:20:30 fast tour lovers and you need to have people that can work at the more competitive rates
00:20:33 again like you said yourself it's a very temporary effect the long-term effects are when these people
00:20:39 begin having these long-term expenses and long-term needs like health care and housing i think canada
00:20:46 the challenge versus perhaps united states that can also take in a higher portion of people even
00:20:52 as a percentage of population is that the cost per person of living in canada is significantly
00:20:58 higher in terms of the social and public fund service spending on a single individual, given
00:21:04 them health care, which, you know, we guarantee the provincial level. But for the most part, it's
00:21:10 relatively fair across the country. It's a significant cost, right? And of course, we're
00:21:16 also looking at the fact that we have a number of other public services beyond just health care
00:21:21 that also increase that cost. So I think if we're bringing in lower skilled people that are
00:21:27 ultimately at the bottom tax bracket, it's probably a bad fiscal move. And this is why
00:21:32 the government's heading in that different direction. Of course, again, this still brings
00:21:36 up a demographic challenge on the economy and housing market choke points. But you heard about
00:21:40 this a few weeks back when the Minister of Immigration mentioned the new change to open up
00:21:47 high-skill, high-income temporary foreign worker or temporary residence permits. That right there
00:21:54 is perhaps somewhere in the capitulation area between cutting down these admissions or just
00:22:00 changing the criterium to try to match the economy in a better way but again that's a short-term
00:22:04 measure because we don't know the fate of those people and we don't exactly know perfectly just
00:22:09 yet how productive those people will be in the economy depending on what the actual admissions
00:22:13 are for now they have earmarked a number but we don't know exactly what kinds of incomes we're
00:22:19 looking at, I think perhaps 80,000 plus, but still with the cost of living today, I don't know if
00:22:24 that's going to be as fruitful as advertised. Yeah, I guess we'll see. I mean, it's hard because
00:22:29 the debate just gets so polarized. I think most people when they, you know, rational and they
00:22:34 look at it and they realize immigration is typically a net benefit. It's good for the 0.60
00:22:37 country. It's good for the economy. It brings people in new skills, a lot of things. But the
00:22:43 problem is when it comes to controlling it though, doing it in a managed manner and making sure that
00:22:49 you are bringing in a sustainable number, which was the term Carney used on this, but I don't
00:22:52 know if this is sustainable. And that discussion just doesn't seem to be on the table.
00:22:58 Well, Corey, what I have to mention is I know, you know, at the Western Standard,
00:23:02 we've covered the immigration file a lot. We looked at a lot of critical views. And of course,
00:23:06 the Century Initiative comes to head when you're looking at the Carney government and the Carney
00:23:09 space. That Century Initiative of getting Canada's population 100 million. Yeah, of course, that is
00:23:14 a significant eye-watering figure. But if we're looking at it more rationally, developing and
00:23:20 mid-sized developing nations and developed nations do increase the population over time in the last
00:23:26 century. We've seen that growth ourselves in the last 100 years of confederation. But the
00:23:33 immigration growth is the dilemma here. How are you growing a population? The Century Initiative
00:23:39 says immigration has to be the number one volume driving of population growth. And the problem
00:23:45 with that is when you don't have a very sustainable, cost-effective, kind of, you know,
00:23:52 inviting system where people want to grow families locally, organically, you know, couples, two,
00:23:59 three kids entering into the four kids, you know, we're a country that most people drive SUVs. So
00:24:05 it's not a big ask to see families, you know, have three kids and ultimately that becoming a more
00:24:11 normal standard. We're so far off that mark. And so if that's the case that we're taking the
00:24:16 Century Initiative, Mark Wiseman approach the population growth, trying to make Canada a more
00:24:21 relevant geopolitical force, a stronger and larger economy overall. A larger economy is not a better
00:24:27 economy. That's also another point I have to make. There are a number of countries that we outrank
00:24:31 in GDP, we have almost the same GDP as Brazil, right? I think we're at $1.5 trillion, give or
00:24:39 take. That's almost the same GDP that the country of Brazil with 210 million people have. Quality
00:24:46 of life, income per person, GDP per capita, public service quality. They guarantee the same public
00:24:52 services as well. They also have a universal single taxpayer healthcare system, but at the
00:24:57 same time, it's such a different quality of life experience. So this idea of just growth overall,
00:25:04 it's, you have to put in the question, and as a journalist, when I say, when I hear the words
00:25:07 growth or even development, I have to ask, growth and development for who, for whom, right? Is it
00:25:12 the employing class or the employee class? And I think oftentimes, you know, whether you're Avi
00:25:17 Lewis or Pierre Polyev, a lot of the fingers are pointing towards that investment summit,
00:25:21 social circle of elites and corporations that perhaps are guiding the way of interest on some
00:25:27 of these budget items, including the immigration file. Yeah. So, so getting back to the budget and
00:25:32 spending and, and Pierre Polyev, this is where, you know, I often have the Taxpayers Federation
00:25:37 on. This is the tougher question. What's Polyev been pushing though that needs cutting? It's easy
00:25:41 to say we're spending too much. I mean, I think, I think most might agree, but then you, you better
00:25:45 be able to get out the pencil and say exactly, well, what will you cut? Like, where's he trying
00:25:49 to come from in this then to direct as an official opposition member where is he telling the
00:25:54 government to make cuts or has he gotten to that point in his opposition yet? Well I think he will
00:25:59 get item to item in the future where we start seeing where these spending measures are more
00:26:05 effective or less effective but I think obviously for Conservative Party given their platform in
00:26:10 April of last year the civil service cuts Mark Carney has to his credit cut the civil service
00:26:16 around 10% and also other areas of spending. The Ottawa bureaucracy and the federal government
00:26:22 bureaucracy overall is something that Pierre Polyev would more than likely cut at a higher rate than
00:26:26 that. Again, that would be a significant saving measure. Very controversial Ottawa because as
00:26:32 you remember, he used to be an Ottawa area MP. He also lost his seat last time. So I don't think
00:26:36 that will be a concern for him locally anymore as it once was. So perhaps you could adopt an even
00:26:42 more aggressive stance or push for something more aggressive. You know, foreign aid spending is
00:26:47 always an easy idea for conservatives to go after. I think if they're looking for cuts to immigration,
00:26:51 because that's my biggest question. And of course, you know, a publisher, Derek Fildegrand,
00:26:54 interviewed conservative immigration critic, Michelle Wimper-Gauder, asking about the
00:26:58 conservative stance on immigration. And of course, a lot of cloudy answers in terms of what exactly
00:27:02 they were aiming for in terms of numbers. Their definition seems to be heading towards the cost
00:27:07 of living slash inflation slash housing needs and capacities to actually accommodate people,
00:27:11 which is we don't even have a figure for ourselves so that's a very ambiguous area but if you're
00:27:16 looking at cutting into immigration and specifically on the temporary photo worker profile you could
00:27:20 definitely look to different social service spending cuts as well because you're looking
00:27:25 at a smaller population small population growth and of course the earmarked items regarding
00:27:29 immigration could also be cut as a result of these populations and admission targets being reduced
00:27:34 eliminated or reformed entirely so those are the first ones come to my mind the one that I think
00:27:39 be most interesting because i went to the canadian defense industry conference that happened in may
00:27:45 of this year at the conference i spoke to erin o'toole peter mckay i spoke to people in the
00:27:52 industry i've spoke to even you know deeply consider the backbenchers uh from the conservative
00:27:57 party who you know gave a lot of credit to mark harney for increasing national defense it's a very
00:28:01 very critical important area of course there will be debates arguments in terms of where our
00:28:05 procurement should be if we're really going to diversify from the us which is an industry leader
00:28:09 and aerial, you know, aerospace technology, no one else, you know, barring a few exceptions in
00:28:15 Europe, I think most of our weapons have the highest quality and caliber who should and could
00:28:21 come from the United States. But given the elbows up approach on diversification, which could also
00:28:25 make sense from a, you know, strategic cost procurement strategy, if you are maybe closer
00:28:30 to Europe. But the national defense is what I want to actually speak to more consumers and hear from
00:28:36 them in terms of what their actual approach would be would they be even more aggressive than karnia
00:28:40 which is a very hard thing to do fiscally because his military spending has has increased
00:28:44 substantially so i wonder if they feel the same approach or if the water in the consular vials
00:28:50 are a little bit different typically consularers do tend to be pro-military but of course harper
00:28:54 you know as a fiscal consular had a hard time sending significant increases in the military
00:28:59 in his last mandate when he had a majority government so i wonder if consularers would
00:29:03 actually have a more alternative or slower approach than the liberals uh because that
00:29:08 nationalist energy that exists in the liberal party is exactly the political formula that they
00:29:11 need and you have to remember that military families come from across the country but a lot
00:29:15 of them also come from the nation's capital come from big urban areas and uh you know could actually
00:29:20 technically be a popular liberal platform idea so i think especially for a heritage liberal from the
00:29:25 last 10-15 years going back to the cretion martin era i definitely think it makes a lot of sense for
00:29:31 required to be due when he's due on the military, but that's a big, big, big spend item as well.
00:29:35 So it's a hard thing to swallow fiscally as well. It absolutely is. And then military spending,
00:29:40 yeah, it's been kind of withering for decades, really. It was conservatives and liberals who
00:29:44 were sort of letting it atrophy for quite some time. And Carney has turned that around and it
00:29:48 makes it hard for a conservative proponent to call for cuts there. So lots to cover. I mean,
00:29:54 lots going on, lots for you to watch. You see, you had a 500 and some page document to have to
00:29:58 sift through and work on uh you know before i let you go though you're still covering things in
00:30:02 ottawa what can we look forward to out of you know from your coverage and and uh what do you
00:30:07 expect to see in the house of commons in this next few weeks as we move towards the christmas break
00:30:12 oh there's a few things i'm thinking of myself first of all the auto sector is featuring canada
00:30:17 and specifically in ontario you know obviously we all drive cars i i'm a big car nerd myself
00:30:22 and i'm looking at the industry i really do think that the industry is witnessing and of course our
00:30:27 editor Dave Mailer mentioned the slanted story coming from today, and an industry minister,
00:30:33 Melanie Lill-Jolie, receiving calls from Polyev onto Carney to fire her. That's not going to
00:30:37 happen. I don't think so. I don't think Polyev's calls to get any minister of the liberal government
00:30:42 fired really happens. I think the way Polyev has influence is vis-a-vis the committees, vis-a-vis
00:30:47 the scrutinies, vis-a-vis the scandals. Back to the Bill Mono age of the finance ministry with
00:30:52 the charity scandal. But I don't think there was anything scandalous with Melanie Lill-Jolie,
00:30:56 besides the performance on the auto sector and, of course, trade areas that affect those industries.
00:31:03 I think right now, the good news coming out is that Honda's going to be expanding their CRV hybrid model manufacturing
00:31:11 in their already existing plant in Alliston, Ontario.
00:31:16 Woodstock Ontario has also seen an expansion for the RAV4.
00:31:19 But the bad news, the double-edged sword negative element here is that if you know vehicles,
00:31:24 you know that those are the single two most popular suvs and they're coming from the hybrid
00:31:29 line so they're extra popular here in canada where there's the environmental economic and gas
00:31:33 mileage focused on the consumer angle if the only expansion is happening at the single most popular
00:31:40 most purchased vehicles in our local and north american market that means that the mid-tier table
00:31:47 is going to see a strength stelantis your dodge caravans i mean the caravan was moved up to
00:31:52 the more premium Chrysler side of Stellantis's products. Now, the Caravan is essentially
00:31:58 grandfather's vehicle from old models. But the production in that sector, if that collapses,
00:32:05 you're going to deal with a much smaller auto sector in Canada in terms of the manufacturing.
00:32:10 A lot of those companies are indeed American. So there is that tariff pressure, that national
00:32:14 pressure, the American subsidy offer that could play leverage. But if the only thing you can do
00:32:19 is manufactured, the most popular Japanese vehicles in North America, I think, they'll be 0.90
00:32:23 a protected kind of decade to decade shrink in the auto sector. What once used to be a leading
00:32:31 auto sector of the world, frankly, couldn't become something much smaller. I'm looking at COP30. So
00:32:38 actually, COP31, my apologies. In my last job, I was at COP30 in Brazil covering the climate change
00:32:44 event by the UN and Canada's spending figures. I believe Canada put about $392 million in sending
00:32:50 money to developing countries to fight and tackle climate change. Now COP31 is happening in Turkey
00:32:57 and it's already underway. Minister De Bruzen will be heading there, but you know who else will be
00:33:02 there? Diana Fox Carney will be there leading the delegation. So I'm very curious to know what the
00:33:07 costs and the platform measures that will be offered. That's another spending item as well.
00:33:13 very controversial given that last COP30 didn't even have anything in the letter the same letter
00:33:20 of the event didn't even have anything to do with fossil fuels which the environmentalists
00:33:24 were upset about and the pragmatic environmentalists were a little bit more happy and satisfied with
00:33:29 so I wonder if what the message of COP31 comes out from and what message that will channel back
00:33:34 to Canada vis-a-vis our natural resource industry and sector if that message stays consistent and
00:33:40 And I think it would be a positive sign for Alberta, because that would mean the, you know, the international community is still in that consensus that we need oil.
00:33:49 And that's always a good and rational message.
00:33:52 And of course, you know, just the immigration file, it's always going to be one of the most prolific issues right now, given where our economy is.
00:34:00 Changes could happen.
00:34:01 And like I said, between now and April, we will see what the messages of the government will be.
00:34:07 There will more than likely be a spring economic update.
00:34:09 And I'm very confident that we might see some updates to those figures, kind of in a conservative angle, potentially, especially as the European Union discussions continue fueling anxieties on the right in Canada on the immigration file.
00:34:26 I wonder that the government might start thinking twice about its current targets.
00:34:32 Great. Well, lots to cover and lots happening over there.
00:34:35 And I'm glad you brought up, Kopp.
00:34:36 That's something that's been kind of overlooked lately.
00:34:37 So I'm looking forward to you keeping an eye on that and your coverage for it.
00:34:41 And I appreciate you coming on today to talk to us and break down that budget a little bit, because it's a brute.
00:34:46 And, well, we're looking forward to seeing what you write about it and having you on again in the future to talk about it.
00:34:52 Thank you so much, Corey.
00:34:53 Great, thanks.
00:34:54 So one more time, guys, that's Willie Tam Tam.
00:34:56 And, yeah, get on The Standard.
00:34:57 Check it out.
00:34:58 His coverage out there in Ottawa has been fantastic.
00:35:00 And we need to watch those things.
00:35:03 They impact you.
00:35:04 They impact your bottom line.
00:35:05 And it's, I think they tend to try and snow people with numbers, overwhelm citizens with numbers.
00:35:12 That's why, you know, you get a budget of 500 and some pages.
00:35:15 And it's so hard for somebody to dig through and encapsulate that into a readable thing for people to see and understand what's going on.
00:35:23 I'm really glad Willie began with talking about the interest servicing costs, because that's something that drives home to a lot of people.
00:35:30 If you want to see money going down the tubes, we don't relate to billions in our world.
00:35:36 Those of us in the real world, you know, billions, trillions, they don't mean much.
00:35:40 But we understand interest.
00:35:42 You know, we understand when you look at paying down a mortgage and you're putting up these huge payments,
00:35:46 yet the principal just takes so long to get smaller because you're paying so much in interest.
00:35:50 Or your credit cards, when you're getting into double-digit interest and what you're paying on that.
00:35:54 Because it feels like wasted money.
00:35:56 I mean, it's a reason, it's a fee for having borrowed funds.
00:35:58 we understand that, but it's money that you're not seeing a material item for. Now we're talking
00:36:04 at the point of, I think he said $61 billion in interest, just interest. You know, you could
00:36:11 build a, that's what, 61 hospitals a year that we could build, but instead we're flushing it on
00:36:16 interest. It's going on the tubes. Something else that's been happening is the Bank of Canada has
00:36:21 been raising the prime interest rates, which comes all the way down the line and impacts things as
00:36:25 well. And that impacts the budget, that impacts the interest costs. Those things can very well
00:36:30 grow a lot. One of our writers, Colin McLeod, talked about by 2031, if we follow this budget,
00:36:35 and they don't tend to follow their budgets, that's part of it too. They put the budget out,
00:36:38 but they tend to blow it by the time six months pass. But they're expecting 86 billion a year by
00:36:44 2031, just on servicing the debt. That's just agonizing. That's just money going down the
00:36:52 tubes. Uh, how do we break this though? You know, politically it's easier just to spend your way
00:36:57 out of problems than to take and make the tough decisions. And Carney has been very effective
00:37:03 with it. The support just seems to be as high for, as, as ever for the man. I don't know what it
00:37:08 takes. I don't know how hard it's got to get, but, uh, we got to get there somewhere. We got to get
00:37:14 there somewhere. Speaking of weird things, this is from, uh, minister champagne, the finance
00:37:20 minister he put a tweet out yesterday saying canadians will now start being able to send and
00:37:26 receive money in seconds any hour any day all year round these are his words as announced in budget
00:37:31 2026 canada's real-time rail starts rolling out today financial institutions and payment
00:37:37 providers across the country will come on board reaching more than nine and ten canadians faster
00:37:41 safer payments blah blah blah he's talking about e-transfers what the hell is new in there you can
00:37:47 transfer funds within seconds, any time, any hour. We've been able to do that for 10 years.
00:37:54 Governments are pretty terrible for announcing things that have already happened to try and
00:37:57 take credit for, but dude, you're a decade behind on this one. What on earth are you going about?
00:38:01 But it sounds like, of course, there's a side company that they're starting or something else
00:38:05 that's going to be involved in that. Man, this government, you know, people don't pay attention
00:38:09 to it. And then this is what we get. Vapid, shallow, terrible announcements like that.
00:38:16 You know, are there not some bigger things we should be talking about rather than that?
00:38:21 But apparently not, I guess.
00:38:22 I mean, I'm talking about it, but I'm talking about it in a mocking manner.
00:38:27 And then getting back to, yeah, as Dave was talking about with the budget in Calgary,
00:38:34 this is every level of government, right?
00:38:35 And this is the frustrating thing with Mayor Farkas, you know, who was a fiscal hawk when he was on council,
00:38:45 was cutting spending.
00:38:48 And you're going to see that in a column of mine coming out in a while.
00:38:50 Actually, no, it's out.
00:38:53 Because I pulled a bunch of his quotes on what he talked about with the budget,
00:38:57 what he talked about with spending,
00:38:59 and how he was critical of Mayor Ninchy back when he was a councillor eight years ago.
00:39:05 And a total 180 flip-flop defending high spending, defending tax increases.
00:39:11 He sounds just like Ninchy.
00:39:13 Not as, as Dave said, a different discussion, 0.97
00:39:16 not as arrogant or annoying as an inchy or condescending,
00:39:20 but they're ushering in a massive budget.
00:39:25 Fiscal responsibility has gone by the wayside, apparently.
00:39:28 No room to cut anything.
00:39:30 I know it's a political trick.
00:39:32 As I said to Dave, too, this is what they do.
00:39:35 They come in and they say, oh, this is just the draft.
00:39:36 They see 15%, 16%, 14%, and they'll fight back and forth and everything else.
00:39:41 And they said they'll knock it down to 8% and then try to present them as heroes.
00:39:44 Look at that.
00:39:44 We saved you so much money.
00:39:45 No, you still increase taxes by 8% on top of doubling water bills on top of that.
00:39:54 Don't forget that.
00:39:54 A lot of that money on the water bills, that's a separate bill that's going up.
00:39:59 I don't know if it's doubled or it's a massive increase to the water bill.
00:40:03 They need cuts.
00:40:05 City Hall is bloated.
00:40:06 It's inefficient.
00:40:07 They piss away money on things they don't need to. 0.96
00:40:10 But cowardly, weak politicians are afraid to take on what needs to be taken on. 0.95
00:40:16 They're afraid of the bureaucracy. 0.85
00:40:19 I was really hoping with Jeremy that the tone was going to change.
00:40:24 One of the big things, and I'm not talking about specific dollars and cents spent,
00:40:27 but a big problem that's always been in Calgary City Hall
00:40:30 is that the council of mayor end up being deferential to the administration
00:40:34 when it should be the other way around.
00:40:37 The city manager, the transportation head, all of them should be answering to our elected officials.
00:40:44 Now, I know there's a balancing act.
00:40:45 I don't want the mayor and council micromanaging what those departments do.
00:40:51 That'll turn into a different disaster.
00:40:53 It's understood.
00:40:54 But these department heads are paid very, very large amounts of money to head those departments
00:41:00 and supposedly head them efficiently.
00:41:02 The oversight is supposed to come from the council members and mayor,
00:41:05 and they're supposed to put them to the question when they bring them into city council and on the
00:41:08 floor. Supposed to make them answer for what they're spending, what they're doing. Instead,
00:41:15 the city council and mayor ask them, what shall we do? What shall we put forward? What shall our
00:41:20 policies be? No, you're supposed to be telling them, this is what I want you guys to do. This
00:41:24 is what the voters told me to pass on to you. This is what we expect of you. And if you can't do it,
00:41:29 get the hell out. We'll hire somebody who can. You can do it more respectfully than that. I
00:41:33 understand that, but they need to change that relationship. Nenshi used to scream at councillors. 0.81
00:41:41 And I mean scream. His buggy eyes would bug out. As a mayor, I remember in exchange with
00:41:45 Sean Chu, who got him going once, because Sean Chu questioned the stats on bike lanes to one of
00:41:52 the senior bureaucrats, because they were giving BS statistics. We know that. You can go outside.
00:41:56 Nobody's writing those stupid things. This was going on 10 years ago. And Sean Chu dared to 1.00
00:42:01 question her numbers. And then she just lost it on Chu. How dare you question her? That's his bloody
00:42:06 job. Not to take those numbers at face value, to question it, to check on it. No, Farkas looks just 0.60
00:42:15 the same as every prior mayor. I don't know what happened. As others have said, you know, his long
00:42:20 hike in the wilderness and he hit his head on a rocker. What happened? But the city of Calgary is
00:42:25 now looking at massive tax increases yet again. And what do you got to do, right? More than half
00:42:34 of the council was turned over in the last election and the mayor was turned over. So if
00:42:38 you fire the bulk of them and then you still get the same crap coming in again that you just got 0.93
00:42:42 rid of, I can see why people give up on voting. I can see why they get cynical. And that's sad. 0.98
00:42:46 We don't want that to happen. But how the hell do you change anything? All I'll say is fire them,
00:42:51 fire them again and if the next bunch doesn't uh do what they're told fire them too i know it's a 0.96
00:42:58 long-term game i know it means voter activism i mean i know it means staying in there but you
00:43:02 you've got to keep firing them at the pot at the booth maybe one of them eventually is gonna say
00:43:07 you know what i might want this job more than four years maybe i should try listening to the voters
00:43:11 but unfortunately apathy often wins the day and uh well then we get these spending increases don't
00:43:19 we speaking of you know that's why i was on my uh monologue getting on smith's case move it you got
00:43:25 a mandate move it just get on with it no more pissing around show some courage show some
00:43:28 leadership move on it uh bruce party wrote a column which was really good for the western
00:43:32 standard and pushing with bc and pointing out that uh the chiefs in bc saying they're going to 0.99
00:43:39 start a war and all this crap because of a new government get rid of drippa it's garbage it's 1.00
00:43:44 crap they got a new premier there don't hesitate don't drag your butt don't negotiate get rid of 1.00
00:43:48 and anything to do with the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights, too. 1.00
00:43:52 Don't hesitate. Cut it. Get it out of there. Gut it.
00:43:55 Because if you don't act fast, you'll never do it.
00:43:58 You were brought in to change something. Do it for a change.
00:44:02 Let's look at some of this stuff.
00:44:03 One gem from the budget, federally.
00:44:06 And I know it sounds like it's a drop in a swimming pool
00:44:08 when you look at the size of the whole budget.
00:44:10 But $70 million, $70 million, that's a big chunk of money for me,
00:44:13 that's for sure, for most normal people.
00:44:16 You know what that line item is for?
00:44:18 Menstrual products.
00:44:20 Yes, $70 million worth of tampons and maxi pads.
00:44:23 Your tax dollars are gone too.
00:44:25 I understand they're in need and very important for women,
00:44:28 but is it really the role of the government to provide these to the tune of $70 million?
00:44:33 And how efficiently are they getting them out?
00:44:38 The woke-ism of Trudeau's era is not gone, guys.
00:44:42 Garnie's just as bad.
00:44:44 He just presents it a little better than Justin did.
00:44:47 we're in some deep, deep trouble.
00:44:49 And unfortunately, Alberta lost its leverage
00:44:50 with the referendum having passed.
00:44:53 It's done.
00:44:54 The threat of secession is just not there,
00:44:56 not for the time being.
00:44:57 It's not to say it's not going to go away.
00:44:59 That movement's going to continue.
00:45:00 But for the immediate term, that leverage isn't there.
00:45:03 So we're in for a rough year.
00:45:05 And all we can do is keep bringing up the news,
00:45:07 pressuring our politicians,
00:45:08 and hoping we can guide them
00:45:09 in the least harmful way possible for ourselves.
00:45:12 Either way, that's all I've got for today, guys.
00:45:15 Be sure to, you know, as I said,
00:45:16 Support your veterans, support your legions, and see if you can't help maybe those poor, suffering people with the service who got harmed in Wainwright.
00:45:25 It's still just so terrible.
00:45:26 So thanks for joining us today, guys, and we will see you next week at this time and talk about it all again.
00:45:46 We'll see you next time.