Western Standard - Rob Anderson discusses Danielle Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act

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.

Western Standard - September 15, 2022

Rob Anderson discusses Danielle Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act

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