Western Standard - Smith’s leadership dealing with imminent tariff war

00:00:00.000 Good evening, Western Standard viewers, and welcome to Hannaford, a weekly politics show.

00:00:27.080 I, of course, am not Nigel Hannaford. I am Jen Hodson, filling in for Nigel while he's

00:00:33.100 away for the next couple of weeks. It's Thursday, January 30th, 2025, and my guest today is Alberta

00:00:40.420 Senator-elect Erica Berrutis. But first, a word from our sponsors. This episode of The Hannaford

00:00:48.440 Show is sponsored by New World Precious Metals, based right here in Alberta. Years of inflationary

00:00:54.640 money printing and rising debt have decimated the average Canadian savings. Gold and silver

00:01:00.260 are the only currencies that have held their value for thousands of years, and last year

00:01:05.480 saw 30% gains. And WPM offers unique platforms to help protect and grow your hard-earned wealth

00:01:13.160 with gold and silver. Check out newworldpm.com. Erica Baroudis is the department head of the

00:01:22.260 Applied Politics and Public Affairs Specialist Program at Macamie College. She formally served

00:01:28.600 as the Principal Secretary to Premier Danielle Smith and the Alberta Government Director of

00:01:34.200 Issues Management and Campaign Operations. Erica is also the founding president of the United

00:01:40.920 Conservative Party of Alberta, and she co-hosts the Discourse podcast. Erica, welcome to the show.

00:01:48.200 Hi, great to have you or to be here. I was gonna say to have you hosting instead of Nigel while

00:01:54.020 he's away. It's a fresh face. It's a different face. I'm a far cry from Nigel Hannaford

00:01:59.100 in many different ways. So first, tell us about the Applied Politics program at Macamie College.

00:02:06.880 Yeah, so as you mentioned, I have a long history in politics and Macamie actually approached me

00:02:13.320 while I was still in Premier's office. I'd always said that I was there for the Premier to win the

00:02:18.060 election and which is why I left to help with the campaign. I'm sitting in my office right now. I

00:02:23.320 don't know if it's in reverse of the screen, but these are all the classes we offer and that we're

00:02:28.580 currently developing. So the concept came because an individual from ACME had an idea that they

00:02:35.300 were like, how do you teach what you know? And I'm like, good question. And then they said, well,

00:02:40.560 what training do you have? And I went to the University of Calgary, took political science,

00:02:45.540 but nothing that I really learned there applies to the real world of politics. I didn't learn how

00:02:52.320 to do older relations, how to write briefing notes, how to talk to a minister, create key

00:02:57.700 messages. And so I was like, you know, this is the program I wish I had taken because I got into

00:03:04.540 politics when I was 18 years old. And that there was a kind of a guide. Secondly to that, I've

00:03:10.300 worked in many roles in government, political offices, campaigns, and elections. And it was

00:03:16.720 like, well, what other tools? How to write lit pieces, how to write campaign materials, how to

00:03:22.960 doorknock. And so I took all the collective 20 years experience that I have, along with bringing

00:03:29.340 some other experts in this field in to create these programs with me on what I wish I knew

00:03:36.600 when I went into what I wish I got out of my political science degree and what I wish I knew

00:03:41.360 getting into politics. Wow. So what they're teaching in political science, different various

00:03:49.160 programs at university, it's not really the hands-on approach that you're describing at

00:03:53.680 Macamie College, as I understand. Yeah, it's a lot of the theory. I learned a lot about Plato and

00:03:58.720 Aristotle, besides maybe an air table conversation, don't really use that in today's, you know,

00:04:05.020 political arena. So it is that applied, you know, the applied is underlined, applied politics and

00:04:10.100 public affairs. What do you do when you work for a firm, you know, in a public relations or public

00:04:17.680 affairs or government relations type area? If you're working for not-for-profit, how do you

00:04:22.480 do advocacy and stakeholder relations, fundraising, campaigns and elections? So whether you're

00:04:28.340 thinking about running, you have a little bit of experience in politics, but you really want to

00:04:33.820 formalize it you want to work for government political parties or again that not-for-profit

00:04:39.700 or private sector this will give you those tools to make you kind of a superstar in my opinion

00:04:45.080 sounds like it and as far as i understand this is the only program of its kind in canada

00:04:51.240 it is yes so we kind of modeled um some of the the products that the manning center had once upon a

00:04:58.940 time created on those campaigns, elections, fundraising, the how-tos, as well as Carleton

00:05:05.200 University. Now, Carleton University in the post-secondary is probably the closest, but it is

00:05:10.420 a master's program. So it differs from our program because it is a diploma and the credentials are

00:05:18.440 high school or high school equivalent. So you could do this right out of there. And we've been

00:05:24.700 working closely actually with homeschoolers as well to create the policies for them to get involved.

00:05:28.940 oh cool so you're seeing a lot of homeschools and more like ambitious young individuals that

00:05:35.540 are just wanting to get going in their political career well we're two classes in um of our pilot

00:05:41.200 program we officially launched yeah thank you oh my gosh it's been it's been great we have an

00:05:46.700 individual that wants to run for city council in edmonton um and so she's sharing her journey we

00:05:51.940 have individuals that are newcomers that are very um want to be patriotic for canada and understand

00:05:57.660 the government system we have individuals that just want to learn more or want to work in political

00:06:01.420 parties so i still think we're trying to figure out who our student demographic is but we didn't

00:06:06.300 want to limit it by saying you have to go have a degree to get this this program or these skills

00:06:11.660 because frankly if i was still working in government or politics um this program a two-year

00:06:18.060 program would be far more appealing from the tangible skills for to hire someone than someone

00:06:24.300 that spent four years uh you know getting all those general studies you know having to do some

00:06:29.420 anthropology and geology courses not applying any of it to how the world of politics really works

00:06:36.300 sure this seems like a very acute focus program contrasted with first year university or even

00:06:43.260 throughout a four-year degree the different survey cases that excuse me survey classes

00:06:48.140 that students have to take so this it looks like it prepares them to just jump on the ground running

00:06:53.820 whenever they finish their diploma is there an opportunity for internship or co-op yes that's

00:06:59.020 a great so we actually um similar to a co-op and an internship we actually have three practicums

00:07:05.340 and the purpose of that is when i took co-op at the university of calgary i think i learned more

00:07:10.140 of like what i didn't want to do than what i wanted to do and so i had certain like yeah i

00:07:15.020 did some research at the ufc and i was like this is not for me no no thank you um but what i did

00:07:20.460 learn through that is like you just need a little bit of a taste of it so we have two um one in our

00:07:25.260 first year pretty close to the end of your first year and you'll take a practicum for the individuals

00:07:30.300 in january this will fall um around kind of right before stampede late june or early july and

00:07:36.700 they'll be able to um get involved kind of shadow individuals or within different uh areas within

00:07:43.820 this industry and then yeah and so then in their second year they get a little bit more because

00:07:48.700 they'll have more skills and we found some really great practicum partners but call out if anyone is

00:07:55.180 interested we're looking for a good breadth of experience that our students could have

00:08:00.780 and then the last piece is a 360 hour the first two are only 80 so about two weeks 360 which would

00:08:08.220 be truly an internship and they will have gone through the whole program where they'll end

00:08:13.900 building an advocacy campaign from start to finish we also will teach them how to build

00:08:19.660 a local campaign from start to finish and everything in between so they could come out

00:08:25.020 and help you organize your stampede event or they can help you organize a fundraising event or they

00:08:31.180 can help you with client relations on you know doing an analysis of what a government announcement

00:08:36.460 or policy introduction was and what it means for their client that sounds awesome it's great to

00:08:42.380 hear that there's opportunities for young people to get so involved right away and get that first

00:08:49.020 hand experience doing these different campaigns and political advocacy. So I have to ask, there

00:08:56.220 has been some apparent controversy over whether Macamie College is a private or publicly funded

00:09:01.340 institution. Can you clear that up for us? I absolutely can because this has been my life.

00:09:06.380 In addition to this, I do all of our external relations. So I've been working through this

00:09:10.860 process they were a private career college um in march 30th of 2023 so right before the general

00:09:18.860 election there was an order in council signed designated them as an independent academic

00:09:23.900 institute that falls within the post-secondary or the psla act um as a collective so when i

00:09:31.100 explain it traditionally the independent academic institutes for your faith-based schools it's not

00:09:35.900 really the case jason kenny kind of changed some of that purview but it's concordia king's

00:09:40.940 university saint mary's ambrose uh burman university and so we've been added to that

00:09:47.500 where we went through a process we started it goodness gracious it's a it's a whole nother

00:09:52.620 conversation of 18 months of work to be able to move from the private vocational training act

00:09:57.820 to the post-secondary learning act we've worked with the government seamlessly through that

00:10:02.460 with a few hiccups, but we've collectively worked through to get us to a place where in addition to

00:10:08.240 that, we actually also transitioned to being a not-for-profit. So most private career colleges

00:10:15.760 are for profit, makes sense, but that was a big hurdle and our final hurdle that we've finally

00:10:20.600 done. You might see that as an announcement soon, but it is part of our process. We've been

00:10:26.480 trying to you know explain that to as many folks as possible um and so what the iais uh receive

00:10:33.900 from government supports and we'll see in budget uh the next budget we haven't received any

00:10:39.340 government funding yet um especially because we weren't a we were still for profit and i can

00:10:44.740 completely understand why the government that could be concerns but we did you know we meet now

00:10:49.040 all of the credentials and so but the difference within the independent academic institute is they

00:10:53.780 don't qualify for capital grants. Maintenance slash operational is what they qualify for. So

00:11:00.500 anything towards students, teachers, instruction, but not building or, you know, having too much

00:11:05.600 money and putting a statue on your property to spend taxpayer dollars. But that's also another

00:11:10.540 conversation of use of capital grants. So it's been a journey. Trust me. It's like, it's so happy

00:11:18.360 that we're finally across that finish line yes i can imagine that it would be so any revenue that

00:11:24.060 comes into the college from student tuition that would then go back into the college itself and

00:11:30.080 typically that's how they've ran a very lean operation as a private career college um one of

00:11:35.220 the reasons i chose macamie as a place was i got a tour and uh we offer free tutoring we offer

00:11:42.320 free academic supports like we help them navigate the the lens and the scope of that we have

00:11:48.960 tutoring and counseling for also family members because our student demographic sometimes has

00:11:54.340 more needs than maybe your more traditional post-secondary institution we felt that the

00:11:59.360 wraparound services and helping them navigate food security housing etc was a big barrier for

00:12:06.900 many of them and so from when it was created 21 years ago as a college that's been very much the

00:12:13.220 foundation of of who we are and what we do right so now we can just do more that must be a good

00:12:21.160 feeling and it's good to see this kind of more innovative thoughtful approach to how young

00:12:26.480 people can move forward in a career without going through all of these survey courses as we mentioned

00:12:32.200 about going through getting the four-year diploma degree and then deciding what to do and oftentimes

00:12:37.880 that will more tell us what we don't want to do yeah and the interesting thing i think at

00:12:43.000 McAbee College and you'll see that at other colleges across Alberta as well is that you get

00:12:47.640 a more mature learner as well so we get people that want to change careers we get people and

00:12:53.560 i suspect these are kind of the student demographics people are like i love politics i'm involved with

00:12:58.360 the debate club i am part of a like myself part of a campus club or um as a youth rep on a board

00:13:06.360 at a very young age or my parents took me to conventions or things like that that if you know

00:13:10.680 that's where you want to end up why go through all of the bells and whistles and hoops to get there

00:13:15.880 when you have this program that can teach you exactly what you need to know to find that career

00:13:20.280 of your dreams or if you're unhappy in your your role um or you want to add to your skill set

00:13:27.640 these courses are built for people that also work full-time and so they'll have the abilities our

00:13:34.120 next pilot so it's a reduced tuition fee of a 50 but we're still you know working out some of the

00:13:41.240 kinks we'll launch that in may and we're actually launching it online and so it'll be two evenings

00:13:46.840 a week for about three to a half hours maximum on each of those nights and you'll be able to

00:13:53.720 do breakout work collaborative work in the same way you would in the classroom but we'll open it

00:13:58.280 up so that it's not a barrier for people that don't live in edmonton and calgary where we have

00:14:02.680 our campuses so we're hoping that this will be a more broader appeal to all albertans that maybe

00:14:08.280 are doing some grassroot politics right now or or some grassroot advocacy and just want to learn

00:14:13.880 those skills and tools that that we're teaching through our program absolutely that sounds really

00:14:19.560 good. So let's turn now to the leadership of Premier Daniel Smith. So we'll start off by

00:14:26.360 speaking about this upcoming tariff war that, you know, is potentially coming between Canada and the

00:14:33.560 U.S. So Premier Smith went against the grain from the beginning of her Canadian counterparts. So 0.93

00:14:40.440 including premiers, including the federal government, and she went and pursued relationships

00:14:46.040 with her American counterparts herself, even visiting Mar-a-Lago to meet with President Trump.

00:14:52.860 So the federal government and other premiers, meanwhile, have taken a more aggressive approach,

00:14:59.420 threatening tit-for-tat tariffs on the Americans. And Trump himself has indicated that if it weren't

00:15:06.040 actually for Smith's influence, the tariffs might already be in place. And so now we're expecting

00:15:11.820 them to go into effect February 1st, this coming Saturday. How do you think the premier has done

00:15:17.000 in her approach to Trump's administration? And what do you see happening on Saturday?

00:15:22.140 Well, I think the fact that the premier, or the prime minister, goodness gracious,

00:15:26.460 I'm getting my titles wrong. I don't do that in class, I promise. But the president of the

00:15:30.360 United States is commending her efforts and saying that there was national benefit, I think says it

00:15:36.400 all but one of the things and when i worked for premier smith um when she just came into office

00:15:42.240 is the things i love about her is she'll go against the grain for what she believes to

00:15:46.000 be the right thing and i think albertans were very proud regardless of what side of the aisle you

00:15:51.440 you um you know identify with was that she was championing championing alberta and alberta first

00:15:59.200 as well as canada she was the only one pounding pavement having those conversations you know

00:16:04.880 taking the risk to go down first mar-a-lago and then um to the inauguration i think strategically

00:16:12.000 one of the best uh parts of that mission was actually that she went a few days before the

00:16:16.880 inauguration and that is because there was a lot of social settings there's a lot of you know galas

00:16:22.000 and and informal settings where she was able to have to build those relationships rub elbows with

00:16:27.840 a lot of the influential people in a non you know boardroom way and really be able to have

00:16:33.360 fulsome conversations, off the record conversations about the critical importance of our energy

00:16:41.000 sector being exported and really share the story. Because I think that if you listen to President

00:16:46.760 Trump talk about the tariff deficit, he's quite inaccurate on the level of it. We're more of

00:16:53.640 partners than we are takers of their resources. And so then when it comes to, I mean, we have a

00:17:01.080 lame duck uh prime minister he was ragging a puck doing nothing so at very least i think everyone

00:17:07.420 could be like well someone stepped up for our national interest and and ultimately oil and gas

00:17:12.300 is a national interest because i mean again we could get into equalization payments we could

00:17:17.080 talk about how the supports of the energy sector help all of canada um and so you know as he's

00:17:23.940 sitting there thinking about his last two weeks as you know an irrelevant prime minister that's

00:17:29.260 gonna go down in history is possibly the worst um and he's on his way out watching his leadership

00:17:34.420 um race take place he he doesn't have street cred he doesn't have a mandate to go down there

00:17:43.160 and so at least he had enough um common sense to remove himself uh but kind of let some other we

00:17:51.140 saw premier doug ford step up as well in a more aggressive way didn't get the same positive

00:17:56.580 reception that premier smith did and then instead of so i think canada was saying there's a lack of

00:18:02.420 a united canada approach and to premier smith's credit she did focus on both canada but alberta's

00:18:08.340 interest in the skin in the game so yeah they're all going to complain because they sat on their

00:18:14.420 hands doing nothing and then when they do come up with what they called a team canada approach

00:18:20.340 it was like oh well you're the only collateral we're putting up so i'm very proud that the

00:18:26.500 premier did not sign the communique um saying that we're going to put everything on the table

00:18:32.100 because if it truly was a united front we would have put up on the manufacturing industry we

00:18:38.100 would have put it up the automotive industry um and we didn't see that happen from all the other

00:18:44.660 premiers so all in all i think she's doing a great job i think she is pivoting now to say

00:18:50.980 you know we're playing nice but um and so we'll see what happens come saturday versus after the

00:18:58.740 fact i believe that the tariffs are still coming in um we heard recently her call for the border

00:19:04.580 czar don't love that name but a border czar and i think if you ever look at what uh the president

00:19:12.340 trump does is he like argues for things it's not really what he wants i think he really wanted

00:19:17.220 canada to smarten up and get strong border control and saying the tariffs are are the

00:19:23.780 the the punishment if you don't and so he can always walk it back he can always make exceptions

00:19:30.420 um but i think we're actually heading as a nation and as a province in the right direction on how to

00:19:35.780 navigate when you have a challenger that is president trump and tariffs are on the table

00:19:41.940 but we'll we'll see how the rest of the the premiers and and our lame duck prime minister

00:19:47.700 step up um but i think if we're going to put everything on the table we've got to put

00:19:51.460 everything on the table and not just uh sell sell alberta short yes and not just these talking

00:19:58.260 points too that we see of attempting to strong arm president trump's administration so as you

00:20:04.900 mentioned he has been really clear about the weak borders and that this is a real issue and he's

00:20:11.220 taking it very seriously uh just yesterday in the u.s senate uh we heard testimony that americans

00:20:18.740 were dying because of this canadian uh drug plant that they've discovered here and so we we see this

00:20:26.900 going on and on and the americans are really taking it seriously and the federal government

00:20:31.860 as you say we have a lame duck prime minister he announced his intent to resign at the beginning

00:20:37.780 of january several weeks ago now yet he's still acting as though he is the prime the man in

00:20:45.300 charge let's say he just went to ukraine and signed that deal with the ukrainian president

00:20:51.220 so oh excuse me poland he just went to poland and and signed that agreement so we really see

00:20:57.700 him attempting to act as prime minister though as you mentioned to quote you he's lost his street

00:21:03.420 cred he doesn't have he doesn't have the mandate and he doesn't have the support and we really see

00:21:08.240 the federal government wandering our safety minister this morning is in washington uh trying

00:21:15.000 to strike up an 11th hour bid to get these tariffs quashed but we keep going and pleading like i say

00:21:22.460 we what I mean is the feds Ottawa keep going and pleading just like Trump or Trudeau did when he

00:21:28.820 went down to Mar-a-Lago back in November when this even first became a possibility and we see

00:21:36.340 Melanie Jolie trying to take this team Canada approach too and we don't really have anyone that

00:21:41.960 seems to be capable in our federal government they're scrambling with this leadership race

00:21:47.460 and refusing to recall parliament, which might actually make a difference.

00:21:52.740 So to see Premier Smith rising above all of this

00:21:56.540 and just foregoing protocol as dictated by Ottawa,

00:22:03.480 she's really going and making a stand, as you say, for Team Alberta and Team Canada.

00:22:08.660 Trump put this off, put these tariffs off and has said as much

00:22:13.280 because of her efforts to build those relationships. 0.98

00:22:16.580 And you're absolutely right. It's not just about sitting down at committee and making agreements. It's about that connection. There are people too. So going and telling stories and having a laugh, breaking bread, all of these things are going to lead to much more constructive discussions between our two nations. And we just don't see that from Ottawa.

00:22:40.100 So I'm also really thankful that we have a premier here in Alberta that is willing to take that stand and make those strides for a better Canada.

00:22:51.740 Yeah, and I just want to jump in there, Jen.

00:22:53.500 I think something that you said was important is like there has been effort by the federal government to go down.

00:22:59.560 But you have to remember that Trump is first an entrepreneur.

00:23:03.140 and if you show up being like, please don't do this, sir, without a business plan or a case or

00:23:09.360 proof and facts that of what you are willing to do or what you have done, I think that's the

00:23:15.580 difference because Premier Smith has said like, this is the importance of export. This is what

00:23:19.780 we get it from. This is what you get. This is the, you know, the business case for why you should

00:23:24.620 because come, you know, Monday of like February 3rd or whatever it'll be, prices of gas are going

00:23:31.540 to go up for you guys. This is going to change and people, it's not going to have the impact

00:23:35.620 immediately that I think you're going to have. It's going to hurt your administration. And so

00:23:39.900 building that business case for him, I think will resonate more than if you're just like

00:23:44.080 asking for handouts. Like if anyone, the safe, you know, if they came down with a true border plan

00:23:50.740 and said, this is what we're going to put in place. And here's the KPIs. Here's the metrics.

00:23:55.720 Here's the timelines. Here's the investment. Like you would in any business meeting.

00:24:00.200 um i think it could go a long way but they're just amateurs and they just don't understand

00:24:05.580 how to navigate such a powerful opponent yeah please don't do it sir isn't really going to

00:24:12.180 you're right now we just have a minute or two left but i before i let you go erica i'm interested

00:24:18.820 to hear your response to um the alberta government releasing the covid19 response task force review

00:24:25.520 report last Friday. So yeah, we can jump right on in. So I did cover this in my, uh, in the,

00:24:33.620 the podcast that I'm a co-host of the discourse. So I obviously represent the right side of things

00:24:39.400 and everything. Um, and my opponent used to work for Rachel Notley. So I think we can all agree

00:24:43.440 that society, um, has a lot of, you know, head, head butting on a lot of issues. I think COVID

00:24:48.880 is a prime example and our episode does get a little heated. Um, but we, what we try to do is

00:24:53.400 to have the discourse, to have the conversation about why the government does this, what the

00:24:57.560 challenges are, what the other side would say in a constructive manner. Now, this one was a little

00:25:02.240 spicier than normal about the COVID report, as well as on coal. But I think my biggest takeaway

00:25:09.840 is what the intent was. And I'm happy that I was in the Premier's office when she was developing

00:25:17.180 this task force. And it was important because she traveled the province and she heard of the

00:25:22.080 hardships and the challenges and the alienation that many people faced during COVID-19 and alter

00:25:28.960 like you know let's look at everything let's put everything on the table alternative medicines

00:25:32.960 the whole point of science is to challenge science and I think that that was the intent

00:25:38.640 of this report now I know many people on the report and I have a lot of respect for them

00:25:43.280 I do think though that the report didn't really hit the mark of what a you know a government

00:25:50.320 commissioned report typically looks like and what i mean by that is there's 45 recommendations

00:25:56.240 but a lot of them are vague and hard to implement and a lot of them transparency yes oh i was gonna

00:26:02.800 say i said that in the podcast i'm like if i have to hear transfer someone give them a synonym for

00:26:06.560 this um but it and i do think transparency was a big piece um that was a that caused difficultness

00:26:13.760 I think secrecy, I think, you know, what's in the best interest of all. Again, like, I think lessons learned was a huge piece. Like, yeah, we shouldn't have taken kids out of the classroom. Look at the long term effect it had on their learning, their social skills there, especially those in grade one, two, and three during that time. And I have a stepdaughter in that we noticed a significant challenge and how much the teachers did or didn't do. We had one fabulous teacher with one stepdaughter and not so much.

00:26:40.880 So it really, I think, impacted the next generation. Same with what we've seen with sports. And that's not maybe as important to me as the academic side. Also about like some of the mandates and the rules and regulations really alienating populations and punishing business owners.

00:26:59.120 I think those are some of the key things that came out in the report that we should make sure that the next time you have that perspective and lens.

00:27:06.080 I just feel like the report itself wasn't written in a critical compare and contrast way.

00:27:13.820 It felt like it was very wordy in a biased sense.

00:27:17.700 And I think that's why we saw the government not come out as typically you see on a lot of reports being like, out of the 45 recommendations, we are looking at implementing X, Y, and Z, which is very typical standard process.

00:27:31.480 Now, on our podcast, we talk about, well, why was it put out if it was anti-science or whatever it is?

00:27:38.440 Reports through the government, if they are commissioned, I think we can all agree, you have an accountability to taxpayers, whether you think it's a bang up job of a report or not.

00:27:46.240 you have to release it and also show respect for the people that put hours and time into it

00:27:51.120 um they they do mention that they didn't get to cover their full scope or that there's more work

00:27:55.300 to be done in certain areas but all in all i think it was unfortunate maybe how some of it

00:27:59.820 was written because i think that you can get the sentiment but the tactics and recommendations are

00:28:05.060 very hard to well woven in woven yeah you know as though it was just all you know part of the

00:28:12.800 narrative that was presented in this report it didn't seem like there were concrete firm

00:28:18.080 recommendations but once the chief recommendation that stood out for me was about okay so if there's

00:28:24.480 a potential pandemic coming again we're going to return to the pre-2020 pandemic guidance when

00:28:31.040 normal society functioned as normal there was no disruption in the community there weren't these

00:28:37.280 lockdowns and masking requirements, like the mandated masking. But most importantly,

00:28:44.880 the report states to avoid coerced vaccination of any population. And so I'd like to know

00:28:54.000 what you think, how or how you think the Alberta government, Premier Smith's administration

00:28:59.120 might actually approach this moving forward if we do encounter something like this again?

00:29:04.640 Yes. And so, I mean, first of all, returning to 2020 after we've all lived it is near impossible.

00:29:12.860 You can try your best, but that's kind of rainbows and sunshine perspective, I think,

00:29:16.960 to be able to revert back to that because we know what we know. When it comes to, you know,

00:29:22.060 not forced mandate vaccinations and no mandates, the premier actually did campaign on that. She's 0.99

00:29:27.400 talked about it. We, as we do with our education, with our religion, all of that, we believe in

00:29:33.040 freedom of choice in this province. And so those that love freedom and, you know, their individual

00:29:39.000 and human rights, she did address a lot of those things through the Human Rights Act that they 0.57

00:29:44.140 reviewed. She has said that it's not mandated to get vaccines, but they're also not, which I think

00:29:49.840 is fair, limiting it and removing it for those who want it. It's just as important for those that

00:29:55.020 want it than those that maybe don't want it. And it's not freedom to have you have the ability to

00:30:00.220 tell someone what they can and cannot do. So I think what they've actually put in place is really

00:30:05.440 hitting, like you said, Jen, that high overarching umbrella item of this report, which is individual

00:30:12.580 choice. Should we revisit it? I think some of those more tactical, like at what threshold would

00:30:18.140 we close things down and really realize who are those vulnerable populations and what can we put

00:30:23.460 place to protect them while allowing other people to um socialize that are not going to be you know

00:30:30.820 big spreaders or something like that because i think that there is a better balance than what

00:30:34.980 we all witnessed um but i think that uh it's always going to be difficult it's always going

00:30:41.140 to upset people but i i believe and the reason i love that i'm a conservative is it's that freedom

00:30:46.820 piece where don't tell me what to do get out of my house in this case they did come into your houses

00:30:51.700 And so I think it's just the government has already done a lot of the high level things and the commitment that she made to the people when she was campaigning.

00:31:00.840 So I think the report is just, again, to close that chapter, hopefully provide recommendations.

00:31:06.160 But again, that 45 probably could have been taken to 10 and been more concise on that deliverable or the execution of those recommendations.

00:31:15.420 Yeah, I would definitely agree with that.

00:31:17.100 And also, just in addition to that, before we wrap up, is the full disclosure of their potential risk. So that was also explicitly stated in the report. And I thought that was really important, too, so that Albertans can really make their own informed decision, not just going along with these biases that are put out from AHS and the other, you know, acronym organizations.

00:31:39.840 Yeah, I have a lot of apprehension towards things that are issued by those organizations, including the Alberta Medical Association.

00:31:51.260 The reason I say that is that we know sometimes organizations don't speak for all their members.

00:31:55.680 It's also a case where if one of those physicians doesn't agree, they can be fired, right?

00:32:02.820 So there's a huge risk for people to stand up or stand against what their association is saying.

00:32:08.860 And I know a lot of physicians, including some on the panels that, you know, were at threat of

00:32:13.640 loosening their license or were fired or removed. And I think that that's a big thing to challenge

00:32:19.200 is that there's not these experts. The only people that are true experts are like me on what is in my

00:32:25.680 best interest and experts that specialize in pandemics. It's like me asking my family physician

00:32:32.800 to do surgery on you know my appendix they like that doesn't happen right there's or read that

00:32:38.940 like there's radiologists and specialists for a reason so I think that sometimes those

00:32:43.620 associations come out with a lot of vibrato where they actually don't have the credibility to do so

00:32:49.320 wow yeah and so we'll wrap it up there thank you so much for giving insight into all these

00:32:55.020 matters and talking to us about the program at Macamie College this is Erica Barutis the

00:33:00.320 department head of applied politics and public affairs specialist program at

00:33:04.320 Macamie College. Thank you Erica. Thanks so much and I'm gonna tell Nigel you

00:33:09.760 know to be on shows more. I love it. Yeah this has been really fun. Okay, take care.

00:33:15.260 Okay, bye-bye. Thank you Western Standard viewers and good evening.

00:33:30.320 Thank you.

Western Standard - January 31, 2025

Smith’s leadership dealing with imminent tariff war

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