Western Standard - September 15, 2022


Rob Anderson discusses Danielle Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act


Episode Stats


Length

21 minutes

Words per minute

181.2741

Word count

3,887

Sentence count

219

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Rob and Corey talk about the sovereignty debate in the Alberta legislature, and why they think it's a good idea. They also discuss the Free Alberta Strategy's challenge to the sovereignty act, and what it means for the future of the party.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey there, Rob, good to see you.
00:00:01.340 How you doing, Corey? Good to see you.
00:00:03.180 Yeah, really good, really good.
00:00:04.640 So we got one conservative leadership race out of the way,
00:00:08.480 but we're in the midst of another one.
00:00:10.940 And boy, you know, I mean, I've never seen anything
00:00:13.220 like a bunch of candidates all allying themselves
00:00:16.220 to, you know, all jump on the policy
00:00:19.460 of one of their competing candidates like that.
00:00:22.200 And, you know, the main sticking point, I guess,
00:00:24.620 is the Sovereignty Act.
00:00:25.500 Yeah, yeah, it's a little bit, it's interesting,
00:00:30.480 to say the least.
00:00:33.360 You know, I think it's important to note that,
00:00:38.240 you know, the vast majority of conservative supporters
00:00:41.260 and conservative members support the Sovereignty Act,
00:00:44.580 which is no small thing.
00:00:45.600 I mean, this was a relatively unknown policy proposal.
00:00:50.300 Just, you know, frankly, it was completely unknown
00:00:53.040 a year and a half ago.
00:00:54.100 And even, you know, three months ago,
00:00:56.420 you know, I'd say, you know,
00:00:57.440 a couple percent might have heard about it.
00:00:59.160 So to get that level of buy-in from Albertans,
00:01:02.860 not just the members of the party,
00:01:04.300 but also conservative supporters,
00:01:05.740 and to see so many other Albertans saying,
00:01:09.100 look, I'd like to see what this is
00:01:10.460 and learn a little bit more
00:01:11.420 and see how it's used in the legislature
00:01:13.820 and so forth, it's actually quite remarkable.
00:01:17.540 It surprised, it surprised even me,
00:01:20.100 probably the only one it didn't surprise was Danielle.
00:01:22.120 But it's been amazing.
00:01:25.860 And the problem the other campaigns have,
00:01:28.340 or the challenge,
00:01:29.600 is that they're essentially campaigning
00:01:33.080 against a policy that their own supporters
00:01:36.100 and members really like.
00:01:38.640 And that puts them in a pretty awkward spot,
00:01:40.900 to say the least.
00:01:41.940 So anyway, we'll see how it goes.
00:01:43.280 And ultimately, members will decide
00:01:44.700 and they'll make the decision
00:01:46.700 of whether we move forward with this.
00:01:48.420 Yeah.
00:01:48.900 So, I mean, and you're not speaking for Danielle Smith.
00:01:50.880 You're with the Free Alberta Strategy.
00:01:52.480 I wanted to just note on that.
00:01:54.140 I am actually taking a leave of absence.
00:01:56.880 I took a leave of absence
00:01:57.880 at the beginning of the campaign
00:01:59.080 from the Free Alberta Strategy Group
00:02:01.320 to serve as Danielle's campaign chair. 1.00
00:02:03.840 Okay.
00:02:04.120 Well, that's fine too,
00:02:04.960 because I still want to just,
00:02:05.940 I mean, it's the same subject matter anyway.
00:02:07.780 So I just want to always be clear
00:02:09.000 on who's speaking in which ways.
00:02:11.200 Anyway, so that Sovereignty Act,
00:02:13.860 I mean, one of the main arguments
00:02:16.640 we hear against it
00:02:17.380 from the usual poli-sci professors,
00:02:19.220 from other politicians,
00:02:20.100 is that it's constitutionally impossible,
00:02:22.900 that it's just throwing something out
00:02:24.380 that won't work or can't work.
00:02:26.680 Why do they feel that way?
00:02:29.740 You know what?
00:02:30.480 I think sometimes,
00:02:32.700 first of all,
00:02:33.480 some of them are just against the concept
00:02:35.060 of Alberta asserting its jurisdictional rights.
00:02:38.600 They're just essentially,
00:02:39.920 they're anti-Albertan.
00:02:41.080 A lot of them, I would say, out East.
00:02:43.160 But that's not the case in Alberta.
00:02:44.440 There's a lot of pro-Alberta people
00:02:45.860 that obviously there are some
00:02:48.660 that aren't in favor of it.
00:02:49.920 But I think what it really is,
00:02:51.700 is that there is sometimes
00:02:54.200 a knee-jerk reaction to something
00:02:57.220 when you first hear it in the media
00:02:59.260 and it's spun in a certain way.
00:03:02.320 And I think that as people take a look
00:03:03.780 at the Sovereignty Act,
00:03:04.680 I think we've seen this through the campaign
00:03:06.020 and I think you'll see it
00:03:06.920 further down the line
00:03:08.460 with the general population as well,
00:03:09.940 is that there's nothing all that
00:03:11.920 controversial about the Sovereignty Act.
00:03:14.300 It basically is just going to say,
00:03:16.280 look, when Ottawa clearly violates
00:03:20.080 our constitutional jurisdictions
00:03:21.480 as a province
00:03:22.540 or is clearly violating
00:03:23.780 the rights of Albertans,
00:03:25.320 their charter rights and freedoms,
00:03:27.300 that the legislature
00:03:28.200 is going to be able to gather.
00:03:29.760 And if they so choose,
00:03:30.840 under authority of the Sovereignty Act,
00:03:32.140 they're going to say, look,
00:03:32.920 we're not going to allow
00:03:34.740 that particular policy
00:03:36.820 to be enforced here in Alberta
00:03:38.840 because we believe it's constitutional.
00:03:41.020 And that, or sorry,
00:03:41.920 we believe it's unconstitutional
00:03:43.200 what they're doing,
00:03:43.800 what the feds are doing.
00:03:44.960 And then, of course,
00:03:46.700 if the feds disagree with that,
00:03:48.340 well, then they can challenge us in court
00:03:49.800 and they can take us to court
00:03:51.800 and we can wrangle there.
00:03:54.760 But right now it's reversed.
00:03:56.020 The feds are constantly
00:03:57.840 doing unconstitutional things
00:04:00.640 and forcing us to do things
00:04:01.900 in the province
00:04:02.360 that we don't want to do.
00:04:03.800 But instead of,
00:04:06.180 we say, okay,
00:04:07.340 well, we're going to write letters
00:04:08.320 and we're going to,
00:04:09.220 the response to that is letters
00:04:10.320 and it's court challenges
00:04:12.380 that take years.
00:04:13.260 And sometimes by the time
00:04:14.300 the court rules on it,
00:04:15.740 it's already, you know,
00:04:16.880 it's already down the creek
00:04:18.500 and there's nothing
00:04:18.960 we can do about it.
00:04:19.980 Why don't we flip that around
00:04:21.040 a little bit and say, look,
00:04:22.400 it's clearly unconstitutional.
00:04:23.760 For example, you know,
00:04:26.600 well, there's a whole bunch of examples,
00:04:27.880 but freezing bank accounts
00:04:30.660 and the Emergencies Act,
00:04:31.720 for example,
00:04:32.740 of peaceful protesters.
00:04:35.020 Why would we enforce that
00:04:36.120 among our own people?
00:04:37.180 Why would we do that?
00:04:38.360 It makes no sense to me.
00:04:39.400 Why would we allow
00:04:41.680 illegal gun seizures
00:04:44.980 in our province?
00:04:46.600 Property rights are the purview
00:04:47.780 of the province.
00:04:48.900 They're not the purview
00:04:49.540 of the federal government.
00:04:50.900 And you can go down the line.
00:04:52.160 C-69,
00:04:52.760 the Court of Appeal of Alberta
00:04:54.740 has already said
00:04:55.640 that that's unconstitutional.
00:04:56.800 That's that new
00:04:57.260 environmental assessment agency,
00:04:59.060 essentially,
00:04:59.540 that gives the yes and no
00:05:01.740 to all different projects
00:05:04.320 that, you know,
00:05:05.560 across the country.
00:05:08.060 Well, if we want to build highways here
00:05:09.760 that are more than 75 kilometers long,
00:05:13.980 or we want to build a gravel pit here,
00:05:15.580 or somebody wants to build a,
00:05:16.880 you know,
00:05:18.220 a different oil and gas development,
00:05:20.640 we don't need the feds
00:05:22.700 to okay that.
00:05:23.400 That is the development
00:05:24.240 of natural resources.
00:05:25.220 That is provincial jurisdiction.
00:05:27.100 The feds can butt out.
00:05:28.520 And if they have a problem with that,
00:05:29.620 they can sue us in court.
00:05:30.620 But we don't need to,
00:05:31.640 especially when it's wholly
00:05:32.420 within Alberta
00:05:33.160 and not crossing provincial lines.
00:05:35.980 We need to defend
00:05:37.160 our jurisdiction
00:05:37.900 and our sovereignty.
00:05:38.660 And that's what the Sovereignty Act
00:05:39.680 is meant to do.
00:05:41.140 Yeah, well,
00:05:41.700 that's a lot of what I found
00:05:43.260 and what I like about the,
00:05:44.200 I guess,
00:05:44.500 the approach
00:05:45.260 is it's taking the fight to them.
00:05:46.640 We've always been playing defensive.
00:05:47.920 We wait until they do something to us
00:05:50.300 and then we complain by then
00:05:51.420 it's already done
00:05:52.180 and we're looking in hindsight.
00:05:54.700 And I got a feeling that,
00:05:56.060 I guess,
00:05:56.320 some of the establishment people
00:05:57.420 within the party
00:05:58.000 and even Premier Kenney himself
00:05:59.220 still doesn't seem to understand
00:06:01.040 that it was all of the big talk
00:06:03.420 and small action
00:06:04.500 when it came to Ottawa
00:06:05.440 over the last few years
00:06:06.240 that are a lot of what led to his,
00:06:08.460 losing his leadership
00:06:09.300 in the first place.
00:06:10.180 Like the members want to see
00:06:11.360 something substantial
00:06:12.660 and they're not going to put up
00:06:13.900 with more letters to Ottawa.
00:06:15.500 No,
00:06:15.720 the time for that has passed.
00:06:17.780 I mean,
00:06:17.900 we've been doing that same thing
00:06:19.060 for decades,
00:06:20.780 actually,
00:06:21.160 not just years,
00:06:21.880 but decades
00:06:22.480 under an NDP government,
00:06:24.780 under PC governments,
00:06:26.740 UCP.
00:06:27.380 It's all the same.
00:06:28.900 It's all the same.
00:06:29.720 It results,
00:06:30.480 the result is the same
00:06:31.420 and that is
00:06:31.960 that the feds
00:06:33.100 don't take us seriously.
00:06:34.500 They think that we're just gonna,
00:06:36.380 that we're,
00:06:36.760 that we're pushovers
00:06:37.580 and Albertans are reasonable people
00:06:39.720 and we want to be
00:06:40.760 contributing members
00:06:41.840 of this country
00:06:43.180 in confederation.
00:06:44.900 We want to be
00:06:45.580 positive in that
00:06:46.820 and I understand that.
00:06:48.920 I understand that.
00:06:50.160 I really do
00:06:50.640 and I think that we can be
00:06:51.640 a positive influence
00:06:52.480 and unity in this country
00:06:53.840 but I don't think
00:06:55.480 you can really have
00:06:56.220 a functional relationship,
00:06:57.860 whether that's
00:06:58.180 a personal relationship,
00:06:59.800 whether that's
00:07:00.600 a relationship
00:07:01.220 in business
00:07:02.040 or whether it's
00:07:03.820 a political relationship
00:07:04.800 where there's not
00:07:05.920 healthy respect
00:07:07.100 and we have been
00:07:09.280 completely disrespected
00:07:10.520 by Ottawa for decades
00:07:11.800 because we won't
00:07:12.780 stand up for ourselves.
00:07:13.840 Quebec gets respect
00:07:15.200 because they stand up
00:07:16.360 for themselves.
00:07:17.560 We don't
00:07:18.040 and if we start doing that,
00:07:20.220 we're gonna get results.
00:07:21.220 It's not gonna happen
00:07:21.840 all at once.
00:07:22.640 Not gonna use the Sovereignty Act
00:07:24.020 on every single federal piece
00:07:25.380 of legislation you don't like
00:07:26.480 but if we draw a line
00:07:28.200 in the sand
00:07:28.700 on some of these
00:07:29.240 very egregious examples
00:07:30.400 of federal intrusion
00:07:31.340 into provincial jurisdiction,
00:07:33.100 over the next year or two,
00:07:35.120 it'll just become evident
00:07:36.480 to Ottawa
00:07:37.100 that they better stay
00:07:38.680 in their own lane
00:07:39.220 because if they don't,
00:07:40.020 they're gonna have a big fight
00:07:40.940 on their hands.
00:07:41.400 Yeah, well,
00:07:42.980 and some people
00:07:43.480 have described it
00:07:44.260 as something
00:07:44.620 that would bring about
00:07:45.400 secessionism
00:07:46.460 or break things up
00:07:47.880 and I mean,
00:07:48.200 speaking for myself
00:07:48.900 as a guy
00:07:49.280 who's been pretty involved
00:07:50.400 in pushing for full independence
00:07:51.940 for a long time,
00:07:53.800 things like this,
00:07:54.800 if the Sovereignty Act works,
00:07:56.080 it would actually
00:07:56.860 reduce secessionism.
00:07:58.580 It would say,
00:07:59.160 look,
00:07:59.360 we can fix things
00:08:00.180 without having to separate
00:08:01.700 from the country.
00:08:02.620 We can stand up
00:08:03.820 for ourselves
00:08:04.380 and address these issues.
00:08:05.820 I mean,
00:08:06.300 it's sort of disingenuous
00:08:08.460 to claim that this
00:08:09.220 is a secessionist sort of move.
00:08:10.960 No, it's absurd.
00:08:12.420 It's just the opposite of that.
00:08:13.840 It's,
00:08:14.460 we just have to,
00:08:15.920 we do have to use
00:08:16.700 the language sovereignty
00:08:17.560 because that's what
00:08:18.520 really we're talking about here.
00:08:19.940 We're talking about
00:08:20.460 the provinces
00:08:21.040 have sovereign authority
00:08:22.740 over certain areas
00:08:24.440 in the Constitution
00:08:25.360 and those sovereign areas
00:08:27.200 of jurisdiction
00:08:27.700 need to be respected
00:08:29.040 for this country to work.
00:08:31.100 And I actually think,
00:08:32.120 and I know,
00:08:32.740 you know,
00:08:33.180 I think Daniel's spoken
00:08:34.820 extensively about this,
00:08:36.500 that the actual,
00:08:37.960 the way to unify this country
00:08:39.520 is for not just Alberta
00:08:42.620 to be asserting
00:08:43.620 their sovereign authorities,
00:08:45.420 not just Quebec
00:08:46.000 to assert their sovereign authorities,
00:08:47.820 which is what they do
00:08:48.640 and we're just essentially
00:08:49.360 following their lead on it.
00:08:50.620 It's for every province
00:08:52.460 in this country to say,
00:08:53.460 look,
00:08:54.280 the federal government
00:08:55.000 needs to get out of these areas.
00:08:56.340 They're not doing a good job.
00:08:58.300 They're violating
00:08:59.140 our constitutional jurisdictions
00:09:01.180 and they're trying to impose
00:09:02.260 one-size-fits-all approaches
00:09:03.880 on every province
00:09:05.060 across the country
00:09:05.820 and it's been an abject failure
00:09:07.220 from healthcare
00:09:08.240 to daycare
00:09:09.320 to everything
00:09:09.980 that they get their tentacles into,
00:09:11.600 frankly,
00:09:11.980 that's provincial in nature.
00:09:13.700 That's a provincial jurisdiction
00:09:14.600 under the Constitution.
00:09:16.040 So this idea
00:09:16.840 that, you know,
00:09:17.460 Pierre Polyev
00:09:18.140 has been talking about
00:09:19.260 and I would say
00:09:20.180 Maxine Bernier
00:09:21.960 has been talking about
00:09:22.820 this idea
00:09:23.680 of decentralization
00:09:25.840 of government,
00:09:26.760 of having the federal role
00:09:28.540 decreased,
00:09:29.640 having the tax pool
00:09:32.840 of the federal government
00:09:33.740 decreased
00:09:34.380 and then a corresponding
00:09:35.260 increase
00:09:36.140 by the provinces
00:09:37.380 to make sure
00:09:38.020 that they're handling
00:09:38.860 their own money
00:09:39.880 and their own systems
00:09:40.720 in the way they see fit.
00:09:42.040 That is,
00:09:42.840 in my view,
00:09:43.800 and I know
00:09:44.460 in Danielle's view 1.00
00:09:45.640 is the way
00:09:45.920 to actually unify
00:09:46.780 this country
00:09:47.420 because the way
00:09:48.660 we're doing it
00:09:49.180 right now,
00:09:50.620 you know,
00:09:50.900 we're on a path
00:09:51.880 to break up,
00:09:54.340 I think,
00:09:54.880 in this country
00:09:55.340 if we don't
00:09:56.260 start respecting
00:09:57.100 the rights
00:09:58.080 of our provinces
00:09:59.660 under the Constitution.
00:10:01.340 Yeah,
00:10:01.800 so going further
00:10:02.800 and as it kind of
00:10:03.640 shows on the website
00:10:04.660 kind of in the past too,
00:10:05.800 I mean,
00:10:05.940 it's one thing to say
00:10:06.820 that you have an act
00:10:07.560 saying you won't enforce
00:10:08.440 on constitutional things,
00:10:10.160 but some things
00:10:10.540 have to be changed
00:10:11.180 in order to
00:10:12.080 refuse that enforcement
00:10:13.560 such as
00:10:14.320 an Alberta Provincial Police Force
00:10:15.920 which wouldn't take part
00:10:17.120 in, say,
00:10:17.460 gun seizures
00:10:17.940 or I see,
00:10:19.220 you know,
00:10:19.420 the Independent Banking Act
00:10:20.540 which could save
00:10:21.340 people's accounts
00:10:22.000 from being seized
00:10:22.620 by a government
00:10:23.200 as we've seen
00:10:23.880 and the judicial independence.
00:10:25.780 But those are all
00:10:26.280 separate acts
00:10:26.760 that would be
00:10:27.100 almost kind of
00:10:27.620 little separate battles
00:10:28.260 on their own as well.
00:10:29.700 That's right
00:10:30.320 and to be clear,
00:10:31.540 like some of the things
00:10:32.740 proposed by the
00:10:33.680 Free Alberta Strategy,
00:10:35.380 certainly some of those
00:10:36.760 ideas have been adopted
00:10:37.740 by several candidates
00:10:39.500 on the campaign,
00:10:40.920 leadership candidates,
00:10:42.420 particularly Danielle,
00:10:43.400 obviously,
00:10:44.300 which is why I chose
00:10:45.100 to support her.
00:10:46.760 But several things have not
00:10:47.860 and that's the thing.
00:10:49.440 I mean,
00:10:49.580 the Free Alberta Initiative
00:10:50.940 is a think tank
00:10:52.020 and we came up
00:10:53.320 with some ideas
00:10:53.900 that we think
00:10:54.340 that would work.
00:10:55.380 But to your point,
00:10:56.040 Corey,
00:10:56.720 yes,
00:10:57.140 there are other pieces
00:10:58.260 and some of the pieces
00:10:59.660 that Danielle's talked
00:11:00.580 about are
00:11:01.800 and other candidates
00:11:02.820 as well
00:11:03.280 are the need
00:11:04.540 for a provincial police force,
00:11:06.260 particularly for rural
00:11:07.880 enforcement.
00:11:08.680 They wouldn't affect
00:11:09.420 the Calgary City Police
00:11:10.460 or the Edmonton City Police
00:11:11.580 or any of the city police.
00:11:12.480 Those are provincially
00:11:13.900 overseen anyway.
00:11:15.680 But the RCMP is not
00:11:17.540 and we have our own
00:11:18.460 priorities here in Alberta,
00:11:19.880 in rural Alberta
00:11:20.460 in particular.
00:11:20.880 We need our own
00:11:21.700 provincial police force.
00:11:22.980 She's talked about
00:11:23.700 the need to collect
00:11:24.340 our own taxes provincially.
00:11:26.680 We've got to put
00:11:27.240 that infrastructure in place.
00:11:28.500 That's important
00:11:29.120 to asserting our sovereignty.
00:11:31.800 And then,
00:11:32.600 of course,
00:11:33.440 a pension plan.
00:11:34.200 I mean,
00:11:34.400 that just makes
00:11:34.940 good financial sense.
00:11:35.980 We're sending 0.86
00:11:36.340 billions and billions
00:11:37.340 of dollars more
00:11:38.460 into that plan
00:11:39.160 that we're getting back
00:11:39.780 for our seniors.
00:11:41.040 So not only is that
00:11:41.800 asserting sovereignty,
00:11:42.580 that just makes
00:11:43.160 a ton of sense
00:11:44.180 on a dollar and cents basis.
00:11:45.220 So those three things
00:11:46.760 in particular
00:11:47.280 have been kind of adopted
00:11:49.340 by several of the
00:11:50.520 leadership candidates,
00:11:51.320 particularly Danielle.
00:11:53.420 And then that combined
00:11:55.420 with the Sovereignty Act,
00:11:57.340 in my view,
00:11:58.180 is why so many Albertans
00:11:59.720 are looking at that
00:12:00.420 and saying,
00:12:00.760 you know what?
00:12:01.460 That's a strategy
00:12:02.220 that could work
00:12:02.840 and I think that's
00:12:03.640 why she's having success.
00:12:05.580 Well, yeah.
00:12:05.840 And I mean,
00:12:06.220 if this could inspire
00:12:07.620 other provinces as well,
00:12:09.320 I mean,
00:12:09.620 people don't seem
00:12:11.080 to realize that,
00:12:12.060 you know,
00:12:12.860 decentralizing power
00:12:14.160 in an ironic way
00:12:15.660 can bring us closer together
00:12:16.780 because then we aren't
00:12:17.360 at each other's throats
00:12:18.340 with other things.
00:12:19.180 I love using Switzerland
00:12:20.680 as an example.
00:12:22.000 You've got four
00:12:22.440 official languages,
00:12:23.400 you've got 26 cantons,
00:12:25.540 you know,
00:12:25.740 very decentralized government,
00:12:27.560 a great deal of change.
00:12:28.980 You can travel 50 kilometers
00:12:30.340 and you're into a totally
00:12:31.380 different governing zone
00:12:32.420 and you don't hear
00:12:33.820 about independence movements
00:12:35.660 in Switzerland.
00:12:36.200 They're all happy
00:12:37.040 in one large diverse group.
00:12:38.900 And the way to do that
00:12:39.740 is to get the central
00:12:40.820 federal government
00:12:41.480 out of the hair
00:12:42.080 of the smaller groups.
00:12:44.220 Isn't it ironic too
00:12:45.460 that you're absolutely right
00:12:47.200 and it's ironic
00:12:47.840 because liberals
00:12:50.100 and the woke,
00:12:50.960 I would say
00:12:51.960 the woke left establishment,
00:12:53.480 they all talk
00:12:54.720 about diversity.
00:12:55.660 That's their favorite word.
00:12:56.700 Diversity,
00:12:57.260 diversity,
00:12:57.700 diversity.
00:12:58.120 And that's all fine and good.
00:12:58.980 They're talking,
00:12:59.500 you know,
00:12:59.660 we're a diverse country,
00:13:01.060 multicultural.
00:13:01.940 That's great.
00:13:03.340 And then they kind of
00:13:04.140 hypocritically turn around
00:13:05.160 and say,
00:13:05.480 but when it comes
00:13:06.000 to control of the country,
00:13:07.420 we can't have diversity.
00:13:09.080 We can't possibly
00:13:10.200 let Quebec,
00:13:10.960 Alberta,
00:13:11.420 BC and Saskatchewan
00:13:12.540 run their child care systems
00:13:14.700 differently
00:13:15.060 or their health care
00:13:15.800 systems differently.
00:13:16.760 We need a Canada Health Act
00:13:18.180 or we need a,
00:13:19.120 you know,
00:13:19.700 a new federal daycare program
00:13:21.880 that puts conditions
00:13:23.800 on how we run
00:13:24.840 our system here.
00:13:26.660 It's just one thing
00:13:27.600 after the other.
00:13:28.460 Education grants,
00:13:29.460 social grants,
00:13:30.140 everything.
00:13:30.720 They have to get
00:13:31.500 their tentacles 0.95
00:13:32.060 into everything.
00:13:33.000 So they're actually
00:13:33.800 very much against diversity
00:13:35.160 when it comes to
00:13:36.760 how people run their lives.
00:13:39.000 And that's,
00:13:39.880 when you're talking
00:13:40.440 about diversity,
00:13:41.060 that's just as important.
00:13:42.560 I mean,
00:13:42.720 we need to respect
00:13:44.000 Alberta is not
00:13:45.460 Prince Edward Island.
00:13:47.160 Quebec is not BC.
00:13:48.820 Like we're very different
00:13:49.960 peoples,
00:13:50.420 different cultures
00:13:50.980 and that's what makes
00:13:51.960 us a great nation.
00:13:53.280 And I think
00:13:53.780 if you really look at,
00:13:55.220 you know,
00:13:55.880 the one,
00:13:56.460 you know,
00:13:56.620 the 25 to 30,
00:13:58.080 35% of people
00:13:59.140 that in Alberta
00:14:01.660 and also in other provinces
00:14:03.020 that want to have
00:14:04.540 their own independent
00:14:05.260 nation,
00:14:06.300 so to speak,
00:14:07.140 I would say
00:14:08.200 that the thing
00:14:09.520 that drives them
00:14:10.540 to that the most
00:14:11.960 is how fed up
00:14:13.260 they are
00:14:13.640 with how Ottawa
00:14:14.640 deals with
00:14:15.860 their particular province.
00:14:17.740 Isn't that interesting?
00:14:18.780 Because it's not
00:14:20.040 that they have anything
00:14:20.700 against their fellow Canadians.
00:14:22.220 It's not that they
00:14:22.820 don't think BC's
00:14:23.800 not beautiful,
00:14:24.760 the maritime's
00:14:25.340 not beautiful
00:14:25.880 and the people there
00:14:26.580 are great when you sit
00:14:27.280 down and have a beer
00:14:27.840 with them.
00:14:28.720 It's none of that.
00:14:29.400 It's always Ottawa.
00:14:30.820 Ottawa is the number
00:14:31.800 one driver
00:14:32.640 of political instability
00:14:35.980 between the provinces
00:14:37.740 and the most,
00:14:39.000 I would say,
00:14:39.760 the biggest driver
00:14:40.500 of disunity
00:14:41.120 in our country.
00:14:42.320 And so I think
00:14:43.580 that Alberta
00:14:44.220 can lead the way
00:14:44.880 with Quebec,
00:14:45.600 frankly,
00:14:46.480 in making sure
00:14:48.020 that we understand
00:14:48.580 that we are different.
00:14:49.560 Let's embrace
00:14:49.980 those differences
00:14:50.560 and let's let the provinces 0.94
00:14:51.900 govern themselves
00:14:52.540 as much as possible.
00:14:54.220 Yeah, well,
00:14:54.520 and most of what's being asked
00:14:55.760 are things that other provinces
00:14:57.060 are already doing.
00:14:58.020 I mean,
00:14:58.280 it just frustrates me
00:14:59.500 when Alberta
00:15:00.820 tries to assert
00:15:02.160 these sorts of things
00:15:02.760 we get called extreme.
00:15:04.260 When Quebec does it, 0.62
00:15:05.800 then they get indulged.
00:15:06.700 I mean,
00:15:06.860 come on, guys,
00:15:07.520 let's move on
00:15:08.780 from this double standard.
00:15:10.080 Yeah, that's what it is.
00:15:11.140 It's a double standard
00:15:12.040 and it's hypocritical
00:15:13.560 in the extreme.
00:15:14.420 And I am always amazed,
00:15:16.700 especially by the individuals
00:15:19.580 that choose to fear monger 0.53
00:15:21.280 on this
00:15:21.680 and choose to say,
00:15:22.560 oh, this is a pathway
00:15:23.800 to separation.
00:15:25.140 No, I'm sorry.
00:15:26.260 Asserting your constitutional rights
00:15:28.440 as a province,
00:15:30.280 that's just called leadership
00:15:33.960 and standing up
00:15:35.120 for your people.
00:15:36.100 It's putting Albertans first,
00:15:37.360 as Daniel is always saying.
00:15:39.120 To try to equate that
00:15:41.080 with trying to break up
00:15:41.920 the country
00:15:42.500 and that these proposals
00:15:44.360 are looney tunes,
00:15:45.880 what it shows is
00:15:47.320 is that there's a lot of people
00:15:48.340 in the media
00:15:48.840 and on the left
00:15:49.520 that make knee-jerk decisions
00:15:50.760 to things,
00:15:51.900 probably because
00:15:53.100 when they were sipping
00:15:53.680 their latte
00:15:54.160 with their buddy
00:15:54.760 down at the coffee shop
00:15:56.280 or looking at their Twitter feed,
00:15:59.080 they decided
00:15:59.580 that this was a bad idea
00:16:01.620 without even taking
00:16:02.760 a substantial look at it.
00:16:04.000 And I think that Albertans,
00:16:05.660 generally entrepreneurial people,
00:16:07.480 business-friendly people,
00:16:08.780 they're taking a look at this
00:16:09.800 and they've taken a look
00:16:10.560 at it over the last three months
00:16:11.880 and more are going to take a look
00:16:13.260 over the next three months.
00:16:14.680 And I think they're going to
00:16:15.540 quite soon come to the realization
00:16:17.600 that this is actually
00:16:18.300 a really good step
00:16:19.820 in redefining our relationship
00:16:22.000 into a healthy one
00:16:22.860 with Ottawa.
00:16:24.240 Great.
00:16:24.800 And now,
00:16:25.300 since you are formally now
00:16:26.800 with Daniel Smith's campaign,
00:16:29.300 I want to turn a little bit
00:16:30.180 before I let you go.
00:16:31.320 One of the commenters question,
00:16:32.420 because this is where
00:16:32.940 the campaign's kind of changed
00:16:34.040 and I'm really interested
00:16:34.720 in that actually,
00:16:35.500 is Kara Byrne-Clark said,
00:16:36.960 you know,
00:16:37.140 what about dismantling AHS?
00:16:38.500 And I'm not sure
00:16:38.900 if that's what the campaign point was,
00:16:40.660 but was Daniel's taking on
00:16:42.780 at least AHS,
00:16:43.720 which is a huge area.
00:16:45.260 And again,
00:16:45.640 you know it's really going
00:16:46.420 to stir the hornet's nest,
00:16:47.620 but it really needs to be done.
00:16:50.340 Where's the campaign
00:16:51.040 coming from on that?
00:16:51.760 Well, AHS,
00:16:54.160 I think your viewers
00:16:56.180 likely talking about
00:16:57.580 the release that was sent out
00:16:58.600 yesterday on AHS reform
00:17:00.340 and what Daniel's policy
00:17:02.580 on that is just,
00:17:03.960 well, let's back up.
00:17:05.380 AHS completely failed us
00:17:07.040 during the COVID situation
00:17:09.660 and management that occurred.
00:17:12.900 We needed more ICU capacity.
00:17:15.900 They gave us less.
00:17:17.600 They gave us a bunch of,
00:17:18.760 you know,
00:17:18.980 while they were bonusing,
00:17:20.500 their executives,
00:17:22.420 we were having trouble
00:17:23.260 recruiting people to help
00:17:24.700 on the front line
00:17:25.300 and actually losing people
00:17:26.240 because of their insane policy
00:17:28.500 of firing healthcare workers
00:17:31.160 that didn't agree with them
00:17:32.020 on getting a vaccine
00:17:32.840 and then taking those individuals
00:17:34.460 and firing them
00:17:35.920 during a healthcare,
00:17:38.220 during a pandemic
00:17:39.500 pandemic and during a situation
00:17:41.780 where we needed to make sure
00:17:44.520 that we had additional health support
00:17:46.380 and health workers there.
00:17:47.580 It was an absolute,
00:17:49.280 it was just,
00:17:50.160 it was crazy.
00:17:51.140 That's the way to say it.
00:17:52.200 Their management was
00:17:53.000 completely dysfunctional.
00:17:54.280 So the first thing
00:17:55.820 that needs to happen is
00:17:56.820 that Daniel has proposed
00:17:58.580 is, look,
00:17:59.040 we need a new AHS CEO.
00:18:00.860 The other one's been let go.
00:18:01.860 Let's make sure
00:18:02.900 we bring someone in
00:18:04.680 with executive experience
00:18:06.660 who's a healthcare reformer,
00:18:08.320 who is going to get
00:18:09.280 to the bottom
00:18:09.780 of some of the problems
00:18:10.880 in EMS response times
00:18:13.140 and obviously
00:18:13.740 on the acute care shortage
00:18:14.880 and these types of issues
00:18:16.720 that we've been having.
00:18:18.040 Let's,
00:18:18.740 the board needs to be replaced
00:18:20.680 with that,
00:18:21.160 with an interim commissioner
00:18:22.800 that works with the CEO.
00:18:24.680 That interim commissioner
00:18:25.480 would report directly
00:18:27.660 to the Minister of Health
00:18:28.440 and the Premier
00:18:28.880 and we want a 30-day action plan
00:18:31.680 to give us immediate steps
00:18:34.000 that we can take
00:18:34.580 to staff up
00:18:36.360 and beef up our ICU
00:18:39.220 and hospital bed capacity
00:18:40.540 so we don't have people
00:18:41.340 on the ground
00:18:42.440 sleeping and being treated
00:18:44.160 on hospital floors
00:18:45.220 as we flow into
00:18:47.480 acute respiratory season
00:18:48.720 here in the fall
00:18:49.400 and then a 90-day plan
00:18:50.800 on how we're going
00:18:51.540 to permanently
00:18:53.400 decentralize healthcare
00:18:55.600 to the local level,
00:18:57.020 get local professionals
00:18:58.180 and local decision makers
00:18:59.720 involved in the process
00:19:01.180 at the local level,
00:19:02.540 get rid of this ridiculous level
00:19:04.260 of middle management
00:19:05.100 that is just afraid
00:19:06.580 to make good decisions
00:19:07.580 and is butt covering 0.53
00:19:08.680 and communications
00:19:09.600 and PR consultants
00:19:10.620 and like,
00:19:11.540 that's just garbage.
00:19:12.380 Let's return healthcare
00:19:13.660 to the local level.
00:19:14.640 Let's do it in a,
00:19:15.620 you know,
00:19:15.900 in a thoughtful,
00:19:17.540 business-like fashion
00:19:18.600 so you don't,
00:19:19.680 you don't just rip apart
00:19:20.540 something overnight
00:19:22.220 but we do need,
00:19:24.560 it does need substantial reform
00:19:26.140 and there are some things
00:19:26.940 that do make sense
00:19:28.020 for the province
00:19:28.640 to handle as a province
00:19:30.860 but most healthcare delivery,
00:19:32.440 that should be
00:19:33.320 at the very local level
00:19:35.520 and not by some big bureaucracy
00:19:37.320 because it has failed,
00:19:38.980 it has utterly failed,
00:19:39.780 it needs to be changed
00:19:40.580 and reformed.
00:19:41.800 Well, I'm glad to see
00:19:42.940 the discussion opened up
00:19:43.980 and well,
00:19:44.680 the campaign's getting
00:19:45.380 into its final legs,
00:19:46.300 probably what,
00:19:46.840 about half of the members
00:19:47.640 have cast their ballot by now
00:19:49.020 who are eligible.
00:19:50.160 Not too many undecideds
00:19:52.260 left out there
00:19:52.880 but still,
00:19:53.440 I mean,
00:19:53.640 you work right to the very end
00:19:55.820 so thank you very much
00:19:57.340 for coming on to talk
00:19:58.460 and break that down
00:19:59.320 a little more for us today
00:20:00.360 because, you know,
00:20:00.860 there's just so much
00:20:01.760 different discussion
00:20:02.380 and interpretation
00:20:02.920 on a policy
00:20:03.560 that hasn't even actually
00:20:05.080 been drafted
00:20:05.680 into legislation yet
00:20:06.980 so it'll be interesting
00:20:09.580 to see how that develops.
00:20:10.540 Yes,
00:20:11.420 thank you, Corey
00:20:12.320 and, you know,
00:20:13.240 I've noted that
00:20:15.280 we've heard of all kinds
00:20:16.460 of great ideas.
00:20:17.960 A campaign should be
00:20:18.620 about ideas.
00:20:19.700 I've never heard of anyone
00:20:20.640 ever requesting
00:20:22.200 that Justin Trudeau
00:20:24.260 or Pierre Polyev
00:20:25.120 or any of the other candidates
00:20:26.400 running in this race
00:20:28.160 draft their legislation
00:20:30.280 in advance.
00:20:31.680 Of course,
00:20:32.060 that's silly.
00:20:32.700 We'll make sure,
00:20:33.860 Daniel's said time and again,
00:20:35.640 it'll be constitutional,
00:20:36.860 it'll be thoughtful
00:20:37.480 and it'll be used
00:20:38.760 as a tool strategically
00:20:40.440 to take on Ottawa
00:20:41.460 when they egregiously
00:20:42.860 violate our constitutional
00:20:44.060 position or constitutional rights
00:20:45.960 and I'm looking forward to it,
00:20:47.620 looking forward to seeing
00:20:48.320 how that rolls out.
00:20:49.760 Right on.
00:20:50.300 Okay, well,
00:20:50.920 we'll talk again soon,
00:20:52.480 I'm sure.
00:20:52.880 I'll let you get back to work.
00:20:54.140 You guys have got a lot
00:20:54.720 to do before the end of this.
00:20:57.040 Thanks, Corey.
00:20:57.580 Take care.
00:20:57.840 Take care.
00:20:57.880 Take care.
00:20:58.840 Take care.
00:21:00.660 Take care.
00:21:02.100 Bye-bye.
00:21:02.940 Bye.
00:21:02.980 Bye-bye.
00:21:03.400 Bye-bye.
00:21:03.620 Bye-bye.
00:21:04.020 Bye-bye.
00:21:04.060 Bye-bye.
00:21:14.700 Bye-bye.
00:21:15.000 Bye-bye.
00:21:15.740 Bye-bye.
00:21:15.760 Bye-bye.
00:21:16.240 Bye-bye.
00:21:16.980 Bye-bye.
00:21:18.240 Bye-bye.
00:21:18.400 Bye-bye.
00:21:18.880 Bye-bye.
00:21:20.300 Bye-bye.
00:21:21.060 Bye-bye.
00:21:22.200 Bye-bye.
00:21:22.940 Bye-bye.
00:21:23.140 Bye-bye.
00:21:23.580 Bye-bye.
00:21:24.060 Bye-bye.
00:21:24.220 Bye-bye.
00:21:25.000 Bye-bye.
00:21:25.440 Bye-bye.
00:21:26.180 Bye-bye.