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

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

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

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.
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
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
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
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
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,
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
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
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.