Western Standard - March 12, 2021


Special with Marc Patrone: Has Jason Kenney abandoned conservatives?


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 25 minutes

Words per minute

178.53801

Word count

15,326

Sentence count

688

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

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

A couple of days ago, we had a rather spirited discussion about whether or not the Conservative Party of Canada, specifically under the leadership of Erin O'Toole, had abandoned conservatives. And let's just say we had some divergent views on that count, although many of those who commented thought that Erin OToole is certainly not the true blue conservative that a lot of people thought they were getting. And as a result, there's a bit of political turmoil in the Tory leadership race.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 .
00:00:30.000 Thank you.
00:01:00.000 Thank you.
00:01:30.000 And welcome to the Thursday night edition of Western Standard Online.
00:01:34.800 We're so very glad that you could join us from across the Fruited Plains in this wonderful country of ours.
00:01:39.600 I am Mark Petroni, host of Saga 960's The Mark Petroni Radio Program.
00:01:44.240 You can check that out anytime to find out what we talk about on that show.
00:01:49.080 Oftentimes it's politics, it's crazy, and we talk a lot about Alberta.
00:01:52.600 Now, a couple of days ago, we had a rather spirited, you could call it that anyway,
00:01:57.160 certainly based on any of the comments that we saw, a spirited discussion around whether or not the
00:02:03.080 Conservative Party of Canada, specifically under the leadership of Erin O'Toole, had abandoned
00:02:09.160 conservatives. And let's just say we had pretty divergent views on that count, although many of
00:02:15.160 those who commented thought that, in fact, that Erin O'Toole is certainly not the true blue
00:02:20.600 conservative that a lot of people thought they were getting. And as a result, Erin O'Toole is 0.71
00:02:24.840 in a lot of political trouble these days but today we're going to talk a little bit about
00:02:29.000 what's going on in alberta specifically jason kenny the premier of the province a guy who
00:02:34.600 swept to power a couple years ago 2019 having united uh the old wild rose party and the lpc
00:02:41.880 party of alberta everybody had incredible expectations about this guy had come from
00:02:47.000 the federal scene had been a very successful federal cabinet minister he'd been uh on the
00:02:52.360 the short list of people that many expected would one day be prime minister of canada but he came
00:02:57.080 back to alberta came back home and took over the reins of the united party swept to power defeated
00:03:03.060 the hated ndp next thing you know he is premier of the province expectations were high now the
00:03:09.440 question is have those expectations been met well i would suggest that there is a resounding no
00:03:14.880 uh right across the province i don't know what to disappoint i know maybe when you have really
00:03:19.320 high expectations like that? Well, it's hard to meet those expectations. But even given that,
00:03:26.160 some people think that Jason Kenney, frankly, has crapped the bed. But so we're going to ask
00:03:31.360 that question this evening. Has Jason Kenney failed? Can his political woes basically be
00:03:38.940 healed? Can he turn things around in time for the next election? Or is he done? So my guests today
00:03:46.380 include Dave Naylor, a guy that I worked with at the Calgary Sun when I was with the late, great
00:03:53.540 Sun News Network, and Corey Morgan, of course, who did a great job a couple of days ago
00:03:58.920 manning that what some people thought was a bit of a dumpster fire. I personally thought
00:04:03.580 it went pretty well. Also, we're going to hear from Paul Hinman a little later on in the show.
00:04:08.840 He is the leader of, well, I guess you could call it the resurrected Wild Rose Party. The world
00:04:13.680 Wild Rose is in the name of the party, the Wild Rose Independence Party, so obviously
00:04:18.480 Paul has some strong views about the future of Alberta in Canada. So guys, welcome to the show.
00:04:24.800 Hey Paul, sorry Mark, good to be with you again. Good start.
00:04:29.520 All right, so let's start the discussion here. First off, I guess the big question is what
00:04:35.440 happened? All right, so Corey, I mean all these expectations were high that Kenny was going to be
00:04:41.360 the man that he was going to be loved and beloved by albertans and it really hasn't worked that way
00:04:46.640 has it no it's been a letdown you know and i was really um excited enthusiastic about it i mean
00:04:54.480 there was a lot of debate leading up to even when jason kenney took the leadership of the united
00:04:58.880 conservative party uh that meant a merger of the the wild rose party and the old progressive
00:05:05.040 conservatives there were a lot of people with their heels dug in on on both sides within those
00:05:09.600 parties i i'd been involved with the wild rose party for since its inception um i had come out
00:05:15.280 in support of merging i said jason kenney's the guy this is the way we got to go we've got to
00:05:21.360 swallow our pride because the ndp is just such a terrible uh circumstance to be stuck under as a
00:05:26.800 provincial government and we we got all the way to the point where we have premier jason kenny now
00:05:32.320 which great okay we we hit the end goal and i mean you know jason kenny you can't underestimate him
00:05:37.120 I mean, he works hard. He got that merger through. He won that election.
00:05:42.580 Who would have thought, Dave Naylor, that Brian Jean would have been the Nostradamus?
00:05:50.000 He's the guy who had every opportunity to join this government.
00:05:53.180 He's the one who lost the race, obviously, for the leadership of the United Party.
00:05:57.140 But rather than joining the team, he kind of went his own way.
00:06:01.220 He had serious reservations about Jason Kenney.
00:06:04.100 People thought he was crazy at the time.
00:06:05.740 But in retrospect, maybe he knew something that the rest of us didn't.
00:06:09.600 What do you think?
00:06:10.840 You know what?
00:06:11.600 He may have been right.
00:06:12.640 He's certainly doing something in the background of this situation.
00:06:18.360 He's got his own website that he occasionally puts out, you know,
00:06:22.640 some pretty good messages on what Kenny should be doing.
00:06:26.840 But everything Kenny has touched in the last six, seven months has become a disaster.
00:06:32.980 Example.
00:06:33.660 Give us some details.
00:06:35.340 Well, I'll give you several details.
00:06:38.340 I knew you would, Dave.
00:06:41.380 The UCP snowboard scandal, where like every, you know, it seemed like half his caucus flew to Hawaii or Arizona while the province was in a lockdown.
00:06:52.260 And we couldn't see our families at Christmas.
00:06:54.800 And, you know, we couldn't hold Christmas gatherings.
00:06:56.920 But that didn't matter to UCP folk.
00:07:00.700 You know, they flew out.
00:07:01.920 And everybody agrees, I think, that Kenny's handling of that crisis was a disaster.
00:07:10.560 Then he lost a billion or so bucks in the Keystone XL when President Biden put a stop to it.
00:07:19.540 And Kenny invested that money with $6 billion in loan guarantees to TC Energy,
00:07:25.860 even after Biden, the candidate, said he was going to stop it.
00:07:30.760 so that was questionable his government's coal mining policy in the rockies received absolutely
00:07:37.400 massive objections from the public and he had to backtrack on that um you know and and the
00:07:48.680 covid restrictions are now what is is the huge problem in alberta he has promised certain things
00:07:57.160 at certain times if we can reach certain benchmarks things will reopen and uh earlier this month we
00:08:05.240 had reached those benchmarks and even exceeded them and things did not reopen uh only libraries
00:08:11.480 reopened and some gyms were able to have some some some minor programs but the the broader openings
00:08:18.920 were not promised. At that point, six UCP caucus members came out publicly, a good chunk of his
00:08:28.100 caucus came out publicly and said, Mr. Premier, you're wrong. A few days later, the policy was
00:08:34.680 changed, and we're now basically fully into step two. So when you've got these open rebellions
00:08:46.320 against him i think currently he's in big trouble especially now he's polling in uh allison redford
00:08:53.040 numbers in the 20s and uh rachel notley would be premier notley again if an election was held uh
00:09:00.960 today so you know we're now we're now closer to his next election than we were to his
00:09:08.720 when he was elected so he's the time is now growing short uh for him to be able to turn
00:09:14.240 this around. And there's a lot of questions, a lot of questions whether he can or not, Mark.
00:09:19.680 Well, that's a pretty scary thought. Premier Notley part two, Corey. You know, I can't imagine
00:09:25.280 that Albertans would make that same mistake twice. I was there the day that she won and it was a
00:09:30.320 shocker. I think it said shock waves right across the country. Nobody anticipated that Rachel Notley
00:09:35.280 would be premier, but sure enough, thanks to, I guess, a not so good campaign that was run at the
00:09:41.920 time by Jim Prentice, bless his heart. But it was a failure on the part of the PCs. People have had
00:09:47.740 enough, and they made a big change. But I think when Kenny came in, I thought, I was among many
00:09:53.960 who thought, okay, well, that's it for the NDP. I mean, if they were one and done, it would always
00:09:57.460 be that way. But here it is. They are surging, again, thanks to a lot of disgruntled people
00:10:02.900 who are, frankly, not very happy with the performance of Jason Kenny. But there's a lot
00:10:07.660 to unpack on what Dave just said, Corey, and not the least of which includes his criticisms of
00:10:13.840 Kenny's resource policy. Yeah, a lot of money, provincial money did go in, but a lot of federal
00:10:18.980 money went into it as well. I mean, who could have anticipated, I guess, that Biden would have
00:10:24.060 won the way he did and then changed the policies on the first day on the job, Corey? That hurt a
00:10:32.160 lot, canceling Keystone. You know, you really have to blame Kenny for that. I mean, should he bear
00:10:39.280 the entire brunt of that? Or was he doing what he thought was best? Well, just because somebody was
00:10:45.000 doing something they thought was best doesn't mean it was the right thing to do. And Jason
00:10:49.320 Kenny had established himself as the first head of the Canadian Tax Federation. I remember him
00:10:54.180 getting on Ralph Klein's case in the 90s about MagCan and Swan Hills and Gainers because we had
00:11:00.900 all of these areas where the government went into business and lost our money every time,
00:11:05.660 Novotel. It's just of all premiers who would dip into the business game with taxpayers dollars,
00:11:12.740 Kenny would have been, I thought, the last one to do it, or at least a lot more carefully. I mean,
00:11:17.320 Biden had made it clear a year ago that if he was going to win, he was going to shut that pipeline
00:11:21.760 down. I mean, we were kind of hoping that maybe it was just posturing and that he'd kind of kick
00:11:27.000 it down the road. But when he said on day one that this thing's down, that means he's not backing
00:11:30.720 down on that that's a that's a whole presidential plank so i mean you know you can't uh lay it on
00:11:37.500 kenny to not be able to predict the future with what an american election is going to lead to but
00:11:41.660 he should have known better than to put canadian and burton all tax dollars into a private investment
00:11:46.160 that's just not what we're about he should have been fighting to make sure that we can just have
00:11:50.280 these private enterprises keep getting their infrastructure through in the first place that's
00:11:53.500 what a conservative is supposed to do okay so he rolled the dice and he rolled snake eyes dave i
00:11:58.780 guess that's what happened here and Albertans are ticked off about it. I mean, it was a tremendous
00:12:02.800 amount of tax money. I mean, the deficit, what's the deficit in Alberta right now? I mean, the
00:12:07.600 finances are, you're a long way of balancing the budget, correct? Well, it was only a few years ago
00:12:13.620 that we had pictures of Premier Ralph Klein holding up a big sign saying paid in full because
00:12:19.900 Alberta was debt-free. Now, I think we're talking about a figure of $120 billion.
00:12:25.180 dollars. It's just crazy. I think the majority of people in Alberta that voted for Jason Kenney
00:12:35.820 have been disappointed in his performance. They elected a guy who vowed to stand up for Alberta
00:12:44.300 to the Feds, to the Liberals. They wanted to pick up truck Jason Kenney, but it seems like what
00:12:52.100 they've got is a suit and tie Jason Kenney. I was talking to a good friend of mine today, Mark,
00:12:58.920 give you an example. And he supported Jason Kenney in the last election and voted for him. And he
00:13:06.100 says he's just so disappointed, so disappointed in the actions of the premier and his failure to
00:13:13.480 take meaningful action. And now he says he won't vote for him in the next election. He can't bring
00:13:20.020 himself to vote for Rachel Notley again. But he says he's going to stay home and not vote for
00:13:30.820 Kenny. So I think a lot of his supporters are feeling that way at the moment. Well, a lot of
00:13:37.740 comments, actually. I'm going to read a couple of them. This is Rob Chapman. Whoops, I think it was
00:13:42.500 okay here he is lots of controversy about how kenny won the leadership race for the ucp
00:13:50.740 and and where did kenny get the money for keystone um so really we're still there i mean there are
00:13:58.900 still debates and controversies around the way he won i mean at the time it seemed that kenny was
00:14:05.860 a foregone conclusion a winner i mean i didn't think there was any great controversy around
00:14:10.340 on that. But I guess what people are concerned about backers, people who supported Kenny and
00:14:14.760 whether or not he's a puppet of somebody. Is that the deal here, Corey?
00:14:19.720 Well, there's actually some criminal investigations going on from the last leadership race. Those are
00:14:24.220 still active. That's kind of a bigger picture, something Notley brought in with government
00:14:29.540 controlling leadership races now, which led to a lot of pitfalls with how you can fund your race
00:14:35.520 And so on, almost like it was an election. And one of the contenders, Jeff Calloway, ran afoul of a lot of the funding rules and such.
00:14:44.720 And people felt that he might have been a dark horse candidate there to support Kenny.
00:14:50.060 So it just stunk. And then there was a lot of questions about pins because it was a mail-in ballot and the conspiracy theories start.
00:14:56.760 And now he never did seem to consolidate his support among the constituencies, among non-supporters since becoming the leader.
00:15:05.520 and they still don't trust him and we're still seeing active revolution under his feet we're
00:15:10.700 seeing constituency associations pushing for a leadership review it can get dangerous you know
00:15:15.500 because if his caucus members start fearing for their seats we saw what happened with Redford
00:15:20.080 with Stelmac with Stefan Dion I mean when your own caucus turns on you you're toast so he's really
00:15:25.360 got to turn this around fast yeah absolutely I mean Alberta Alberta has a long history of
00:15:30.920 turning on its leaders once it seems that, you know, the poll numbers start to slip and they're
00:15:36.480 showing signs of potentially losing seats. But you know what, Dave, I'm going to push back a
00:15:41.480 little bit on the perception of Kenny as being pickup truck guy. I never, I saw Kenny in Ottawa,
00:15:48.520 I'd say maybe 10 years ago, and he never struck me as the kind of guy who was a quote unquote
00:15:53.820 populist, a pickup truck guy. I mean, this is a guy who had aspirations of becoming prime minister
00:15:59.180 one day. I think he sees himself as a cut above everybody else. And maybe that's one of the things
00:16:04.540 that kind of works against him. There's a sense that he's not really one of them, is it? One of
00:16:09.880 us in terms of we, the Albertan people, that he somehow thinks he's slumming it as Premier of
00:16:16.500 Alberta on the way to something better. And do you get the sense that that has undermined support
00:16:21.960 or Kenny amongst the average voter in Alberta, Dave?
00:16:28.020 There's some who think that, Mark.
00:16:31.080 I mean, remember, he drove the entire length and breadth of the province
00:16:35.460 in a big blue pickup truck wearing, you know, blue jeans and a cowboy shirt.
00:16:41.960 How much of that was phony?
00:16:43.200 How much of that was phony in retrospect right now?
00:16:46.080 Well, looking in retrospect and what he's done since, a good chunk of it.
00:16:50.560 You know, he used to be the guy that ate dinner at the Blackfoot Diner, close to where he lives.
00:16:59.240 And that's, you know, a lot of people are saying that, yeah, you know, he's still that Ottawa politician and not an Albertan.
00:17:09.820 One of the problems, Mark, was that a lot of the UCP political staff that they brought in were from Toronto.
00:17:17.060 And they had never lived in Alberta and they'd never, you know, seen what Albertans have gone through and that sort of thing.
00:17:25.740 So their style of messaging and the way they did it and their responses sometimes didn't go down overly well.
00:17:34.540 And, you know, the public didn't like the way it was handled.
00:17:38.180 And there was some pushback in the strategy and, you know, basically saying, you know, you guys don't understand the way we think out here.
00:17:48.520 So there has been some of that.
00:17:50.280 I'll agree with you.
00:17:51.040 But the persona that he put forth in the campaigns was pick up truck Jason because he went everywhere in that thing, but on tens of thousands of kilometers.
00:18:03.020 Yeah, I mean, Prentice did the same thing, too.
00:18:06.380 But I tell you, there seems to be the kind of Aaron O'Toole syndrome here working against Kenny.
00:18:12.540 I mean, a lot of people thought that O'Toole was going to be Mr. True Blue Conservative.
00:18:17.780 That's the way he touted himself.
00:18:19.360 He used that as a relentless weapon against Peter McKay, whom he dubbed as, you know, a liberal-like kind of deal.
00:18:27.440 And so in the same breath, now he's in there, and a lot of people think that that was phony.
00:18:32.540 And so in the same way, I think it heightens and brings out, Corey, this cautionary tale that if you're going to put yourself out there as one thing, and then once you get in, you're something different, it's going to alienate the people who got you there.
00:18:47.160 And maybe that's the lesson here.
00:18:48.420 What do you think?
00:18:49.560 Well, yeah, Albertans are crabby.
00:18:50.860 I mean, we've had 10 years of turning over parties and kicking some out and bringing some in.
00:18:56.540 Like, we want somebody to come in and fit what we're looking to do.
00:18:59.800 I mean, you know, to be fair, I don't think it was totally disingenuous or fake when Kenny was going around in the truck.
00:19:05.540 He did know that that's what Albertans will respond to.
00:19:08.140 I did sit down with him a couple of times over the campaign or even spoke with him last fall in that interview.
00:19:13.660 And I think he was genuine, but I think he just doesn't, he can't seem to figure out how to lead the group he actually managed to win the leadership of.
00:19:21.660 He can't herd these cats because he isn't perhaps as in tune with what grassroots Alberta politics are like anymore.
00:19:28.360 He's long forgotten what the old reform days were like.
00:19:31.380 And that's a lot more what the Wildrose element and those type of people in the party are.
00:19:35.720 And he just can't seem to manage it.
00:19:37.880 And then, yeah, turning back to Toronto style politics, those are not received out here.
00:19:42.100 Yeah, I mean, to Dave's point, I mean, bringing in people from outside Alberta and then being shocked that they're not really in touch with how Albertans feel.
00:19:51.940 I mean, that should be that's a no brainer.
00:19:53.960 I mean, obviously, you have to use people who are aware of the sentiments of Albertans.
00:19:58.440 But I think when this guy got in, when Kenny got in, he almost wanted to change the province somehow.
00:20:03.020 He wanted to change the perception of the province.
00:20:05.320 And so by bringing people in from outside, he was maybe trying to put a fresh coat of paint on the way that the province is portrayed.
00:20:14.960 Unfortunately, it may have backfired.
00:20:17.120 Now, how much damage has that done to Kenny's brand?
00:20:20.800 And can he recover from that, Dave?
00:20:23.140 Well, let's look at something called the fair deal panel, Mark. This was a panel that traveled all around the province and came up with a list of ideas to get Alberta back into the confederation game.
00:20:38.460 everything from its own provincial police force to its own income taxes and because that's what
00:20:46.680 Alberta wanted and really Kenny has not done anything in response to that fair deal panel
00:20:55.240 he has basically set up other panels to study what the panelist said you know this is the only
00:21:02.640 job creation plan that that seems to be working is you know to become a member of one of these
00:21:08.480 fair deal panels uh he has taken extremely tiny steps forward he's formed uh the alberta parole
00:21:16.320 board uh but in in terms of the major deals absolutely no steps his uh his thought process
00:21:25.920 is still you got to play nice with uh with justin trudeau and uh you know and see how that uh that
00:21:32.960 turns out which i don't think is what albertans wanted to see when they elected them they wanted
00:21:38.800 somebody who was was stronger and and to stand up to trudeau and he's promised a referendum on
00:21:46.240 equalization in in the next at the time of the next fact or the time of the next provincial
00:21:52.320 election and of course that's going to be overwhelmingly against neutralization in
00:21:57.280 alberta of course it will be so we all know that so why hasn't he taken further steps now instead of
00:22:03.760 you know this sort of stuff down the road um you know as the next guest coming on paul hidman
00:22:11.520 he and i have talked before and he says every time trudeau opens his mouth now he gets more
00:22:18.240 members signed up because Albertans don't seem to be happy with what Kenny's been doing so far, Mark.
00:22:28.240 Yeah, I want to read you a couple of these comments because some of them are pretty hard
00:22:31.680 hitting. This is Kyle D. Wickenstrom. I hope I pronounced that correctly. I'm so sick of these
00:22:38.080 eastern charlatans coming in and duping Albertans into electing them. So he's saying that Kenny is 0.96
00:22:48.000 if i understand this correctly that kenny is an eastern charlatan i mean he is a he is an albertan
00:22:56.400 cory i mean but maybe he's not the same kind of albertan that a lot of people well they they call
00:23:03.920 it uh yeah they call it ottawa syndrome or dome disease or a number of those things i mean he is
00:23:10.080 an albertan who spent a heck of a lot of time in ottawa uh he was a cabinet minister you know when
00:23:15.200 in government, so it wasn't even like being a backbencher opposition MP that's going to spend
00:23:19.980 a lot of time at home in the constituency. He's in Ottawa at that office and working,
00:23:24.440 which you can't fault him for exactly, but you can see how that would make him lose touch with
00:23:28.240 Albertans, you know, and something that he's worked with bureaucrats, he's worked with that
00:23:32.440 giant Ottawa machine, perhaps that's part of it. I think it was Cheryl, I missed the name that came
00:23:36.160 through in the comments, but she made a good point, like, what can he do? And it's towards
00:23:41.520 what dave said too though can he keep striking panels he keeps talking about doing things but we
00:23:46.180 again we're grumpy albertans we want to see some action no more panels no more commissions no more
00:23:51.500 talk do something you know strike back at ottawa find a way um form that police force we've had
00:23:58.340 10 commissions on it over the last 20 years you know you were there when harper penned the firewall
00:24:02.760 letter like let's see some action because talk we've seen enough talk well how much of this is
00:24:08.080 about the fact that the economy has not done well, Dave. I mean, this was always the argument that
00:24:13.380 was given to me when I was in Alberta and learning about the province and growing to love the
00:24:18.620 province. People said, well, you know, yeah, people at the time didn't like Alice at Redford
00:24:24.040 and they had issues around the falling price of oil after that. But they always said that once
00:24:29.220 the price of oil gets back up, people are going to start working again. They're going to start
00:24:33.160 making money again. They're going to forget all about politics and the Tories will sweep
00:24:37.940 to power. And now we've got oil at, what, 65 bucks for West Texas Intermediate. I mean,
00:24:43.380 are people starting to feel a little bit better about the price of oil? And as a result, could
00:24:48.900 Kenny's fortunes be tied to a rebounding economy in Alberta? What do you think about that, Dave?
00:24:54.580 Well, I think it would certainly help. But look, Rachel Notley was not handed a gift when oil
00:25:01.300 prices went in the toilet jason kenny was not handed a gift when the covert pandemic uh you
00:25:08.500 know hit hit the country devastated the economy but mark you you remember downtown calgary when
00:25:15.060 you lived here it was it was a bustling little place now it's a ghost town literally is a ghost
00:25:21.540 time you know middle of the day and there's nobody on the stephen avenue mall not a soul to be seen
00:25:27.220 so yeah i mean i think oil prices are above 70 now so there is that glimmer of hope but we are
00:25:38.080 in such a deep hole but it's going to take a long time to try and and dig out of and the job losses
00:25:44.700 were absolutely incredible uh and it's going to take time to to regain those jobs uh you know
00:25:53.980 And the question is, you know, the companies that laid off workers by the thousands and thousands, are they going to recall them?
00:26:00.800 Probably not.
00:26:03.740 So there's no doubt a better economy will certainly help.
00:26:08.280 But I don't think the average Albertan sees that coming anytime soon.
00:26:12.720 In fact, we had a story on our Western Standard Online website yesterday with the Bank of Canada governor saying, you know, the economy is not coming back in 2023.
00:26:23.980 So, it's a long way away, I'm afraid.
00:26:27.300 Yeah, and in the midst of all that, you've got Albertans who feel that the rest of the
00:26:31.620 country doesn't care.
00:26:33.080 So here it is, Albertans in trouble.
00:26:35.080 Alberta, of course, has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the national economy.
00:26:41.500 So we've been able to pay for schools and hospitals across the country thanks to the
00:26:46.620 resource wealth of alberta which it has shared uh more or less happily uh with the rest of the of
00:26:53.900 the country knowing full well that everybody was going to benefit because it was part of the
00:26:58.620 the canadian family and now of course it's alberta that's in trouble and so i can well understand
00:27:04.140 why albertans would look at the rest of the country and say well you know how about helping
00:27:08.940 us now you know we're in the dumps we need help and you're not you're not there for us what is
00:27:13.900 going on and then on top of all that getting back corey to uh to kenny you've got a guy instead of
00:27:20.860 fighting for alberta seems to be uh sort of working more with trudeau the liberals i mean maybe that's
00:27:27.260 his way of trying to get help for alberta i guess that's his style but it's not working i mean this
00:27:32.540 guy is no ralph klein is he no and and i guess maybe he does recognize trudeau is one of our
00:27:38.540 biggest problems because the oil prices are coming back but if you talk to actually guys in the
00:27:43.180 capital business who are trying to raise funds to get things going. Alberta is a pariah because
00:27:47.900 they're not going to put money into a province when we have a hostile federal government that's
00:27:51.420 saying they're going to shut in the oil field. A government that regulated Energy East out of
00:27:55.900 existence that shut down Northern Gateway and has made a catastrophe out of the Trans Mountain.
00:28:01.180 So until we see some better signals from Ottawa about our resource industry out here,
00:28:06.380 investors aren't going to touch it and you can't really blame them. So there's something more than
00:28:10.460 the price of oil involved here as well we need investor confidence and and that's shot in alberta
00:28:15.660 right now and and kenny how to gain that fighting with uh while he's trying to do it perhaps with
00:28:20.300 the nice way with trudeau maybe it's time to start fighting with them so uh just since you got me i'm
00:28:24.860 gonna back out here though because paul's ready to roll and all right thank you corey appreciate that
00:28:30.300 all righty yeah i look there's so much there to talk about paul hinman joining us okay he's
00:28:36.140 There he is. Hi, Paul. Welcome to the show. We really appreciate that.
00:28:40.100 Well, thanks, Mark. Thanks. Hello, Dave.
00:28:42.520 All right. Now, earlier I said that you were the leader of the resurrected Wild Rose Party, but that's not entirely true, is it?
00:28:48.720 I mean, tell us about it. I mean, it's not the same Wild Rose Party that it was under Danielle Smith.
00:28:54.740 I mean, that party had a lot of success, as you well know.
00:28:58.020 It didn't quite get the brass ring.
00:29:00.700 And then, of course, there was that notorious crossing of the floor over to join Jim Prentice.
00:29:06.140 shocking many in Alberta who really felt that the Wild Rose Party had a serious shot at becoming
00:29:11.700 the next government. But it didn't happen. There was a uniting of the two. And then things didn't
00:29:18.200 work out so well. And a lot of Albertans became very disgruntled. And that's where your party
00:29:23.620 comes in. Please pick up the ball from there. Well, thanks, Mark. It's a pleasure being here.
00:29:30.300 It's interesting listening to your discussion up till now. And again, your question was,
00:29:34.300 is, you know, is Jason a conservative? And I want to start off by saying, you know, if he went out
00:29:39.440 on the football field with the basketball and says, hey, let's play ball here, it doesn't make
00:29:45.200 the basketball a football. And Jason is certainly no conservative in what he's been doing. But the
00:29:50.840 Wildrose Independence Party is actually a merger from Wexit, which got started when Trudeau got
00:29:56.060 elected in 2019 um and then the freedom conservative party and you know good good conservative policies
00:30:04.940 and government that they keep you know they're always being recycled and brought back and so you
00:30:09.980 know if you go back to the alberta alliance you go back to the wild rose all of those policies
00:30:15.580 are coming forward but what's been missing in all of those is the i guess the the the realization
00:30:22.860 that that alberta is never going to get a fair deal in this confederation our constitution is
00:30:27.580 flawed and that the seven wolves literally get to vote to take the lambs from the five sheep
00:30:32.620 year after year and there's nothing we can do about it's constitutionally okay equalization
00:30:37.980 you know has been implemented into the 60s and 70s and yes we can vote on it this fall but boy
00:30:45.260 jason has been pretty pathetic in showing that his promise of jobs pipelines and standing up to
00:30:50.380 ottawa i mean this is three strikes and he's out yeah absolutely but it is what a disappointment
00:30:57.580 i mean a lot of people outside alberta like i lived in albert for a couple of years and loved
00:31:02.460 the province um we had to move east once the economy tanked and my employer at the time
00:31:09.260 basically went under it was the sun news network i was based in calgary and i i could have i would
00:31:14.540 I would have been happy to stay out there.
00:31:16.780 But a lot of us wonder what is taking Alberta so long
00:31:20.540 to get to the point of even having a referendum?
00:31:22.780 I mean, it's painfully clear
00:31:23.920 that you're basically being abused.
00:31:26.900 I mean, Alberta has been abused for years.
00:31:29.420 And I always wondered,
00:31:30.540 why didn't Albertans have a referendum earlier?
00:31:34.340 Just to put pressure, I mean, let's not forget.
00:31:35.940 And I understand when I was out there,
00:31:37.360 I put forward and I asked that question to many people
00:31:39.600 and they said, well, you know,
00:31:40.920 we don't quite have the support, you know, 30%,
00:31:43.340 maybe 35%, what's the point of having a referendum
00:31:47.580 if you're not gonna win?
00:31:48.740 Well, Quebec had two of them,
00:31:51.280 and I think that Quebec gets a lot of what it wants
00:31:53.900 these days, has been for decades.
00:31:56.240 So maybe Albertans, just by creating a crap storm
00:31:59.920 and by pushing this agenda forward,
00:32:02.240 and by the way, the federal government is sensitive
00:32:05.920 to the perception of Canada outside.
00:32:08.280 And so if it starts becoming apparent
00:32:10.500 a province like Alberta is looking seriously at some kind of separation or independence agreement,
00:32:17.700 then it's going to be one of those things that undermines the image of the entire country. I
00:32:22.660 mean, that's one of the things that maybe Albertans should consider as they look forward.
00:32:26.500 What's it going to take for Albertans to move forward with a referendum? I'll pose that to Dave.
00:32:33.060 That's a good question. I think Paul might have been the better one to-
00:32:37.220 Let's pump it back to Paul. Sorry. I mean, I thought maybe give Paul a chance to get a breather here since he finished talking. All right. Let's hear from you, Paul.
00:32:47.220 You and I have been talking for 30 minutes now. It's Paul's turn.
00:32:50.260 Okay, Paul, what's it going to take for Albertans to get to the point of where they think, okay, you know what?
00:32:56.240 It's time, first of all, to spend some money, provincial money, and do a serious report.
00:33:02.840 Look at the pros and cons of independence from the provincial point of view and say, okay, let's spend half a million dollars and get a really good report on the pluses and minuses of independence.
00:33:15.260 and then work from that report, have the town halls, and then eventually put the question out
00:33:21.060 to Albertans. What's wrong with that strategy? Well, it's fair enough to bring that up, Mark,
00:33:25.600 but the fact of the matter is, is that when we've been in a broken and a dysfunctional relationship
00:33:30.120 that's turned toxic now, where the prime minister, the cabinet, they clearly said that they want to
00:33:39.980 shut down our major industry here our secondary industry beef it's right on you know number two
00:33:46.200 on their target and and they have animosity towards us i mean we can go back to the 70s
00:33:51.320 and and the national energy program that you know hit in there in the late 70s the 80s
00:33:56.120 this has always been uh we can't allow these people to succeed we need to suppress them
00:34:02.840 oppress them we need to stop them in their tracks but we've always been able to but but now we're
00:34:08.140 getting to that that point in our relationship where more and more albertans realize that wow
00:34:13.180 um this is this is a no-win situation we we need a divorce we need to be a sovereign nation
00:34:19.820 and for many albertans there's no question that that we're better off to be on our own especially
00:34:25.880 if you just talk the economics you know you talked about the 600 billion dollars that's left alberta
00:34:31.960 to help the rest of canada the equalization payments it's just the process that it oh
00:34:37.380 it lags two years what kind of a program is that other than the ones directed at when you're
00:34:44.400 hurting we're not going to respond for two years because we want to you know it's not good enough
00:34:49.600 that you're down we want to keep kicking you for a couple years that there's no no love lost from
00:34:55.000 ottawa to to alberta and albertans are realizing that and again covid has been another kick to us
00:35:02.020 that we have a premier who wants to follow lockstep and barrel with the federal government
00:35:08.280 and the federal health minister and continue to shut down and hurt us. It's an incredible amount
00:35:15.020 of pain that Albertans are taking on. And they've come to the realization that this is a broken,
00:35:19.900 dysfunctional relationship. And the Wildrose Independence Party is here to give people hope
00:35:25.300 and an option and a different choice. Well, let's see if they take it seriously. I mean,
00:35:30.700 That's the real question here, isn't it?
00:35:32.500 Whether Albertans are going to look at your party, Paul, and say, you know, this is a viable option for us, that independence is something that we should look seriously at.
00:35:39.620 But in order for that to happen, I think you need the government to step forward and say, you know what, let's give this a serious look.
00:35:46.820 Let's put together a report.
00:35:49.560 And, you know, you're sound you're sounding like a Kenny fan to do another report.
00:35:55.560 He's done so many reports.
00:35:57.140 i think he works for the university or the laurentian elites or something that no we don't
00:36:01.860 need more reports we we need the firewall plus implemented and he's failed to do that and again
00:36:08.020 with this referendum what's he going to do after we already know it's going to be overwhelmingly
00:36:14.180 um popular for albertans to say equalization is wrong you got to take it out you know the one
00:36:19.460 question is is should section 36 be pulled out of the constitution albertans are going to vote yes
00:36:25.380 but do you think you we know nothing's going to change so what what's premier kenny going to do
00:36:30.660 then say oh well next year we're going to send a registered letter um and and we're going to tell
00:36:35.780 him he has to respond but the response is going to be easy it's just like the you know the dad
00:36:41.460 when the teenager wants the keys to the car and he hasn't done what he's supposed to do
00:36:45.460 and they just shrug their shoulders and say nope sorry not getting it yeah i mean sure go ahead
00:36:51.460 The report you're talking about is already being done, the Alberta Fair Deal panel.
00:36:58.540 That's not a report about independence, though, is it specifically?
00:37:02.500 It's a report about what Alberta needs to get back in the Confederation game.
00:37:07.560 And that was handed to Kenny a long time ago.
00:37:11.980 And where Albertans are frustrated is that no steps, no concrete steps, have been taken.
00:37:18.260 As I mentioned, the slight step of the Alberta Parole Board was one, but Albertans expected more of Jason Kenney.
00:37:27.260 And, you know, Paul and I have talked before for stories.
00:37:32.200 Every time Jason Kenney refuses to lift his lockdowns on benchmarks we've already reached, I'm sure the membership of Paul's party goes up.
00:37:43.000 Every time that Prime Minister Trudeau opens his mouth and says something, the phone in Paul's office rings, people looking for memberships.
00:37:54.240 The Western Standard had an exclusive poll a short time ago saying, you know, the thoughts of separation have never been higher in Alberta.
00:38:04.440 That said, I think if the vote was held today, I don't think it would pass.
00:38:09.640 But every month it gets, I think it gets closer and closer.
00:38:14.220 So, you know, unless Kenny takes concrete steps to get that fair deal, I only see it as increasing.
00:38:23.220 There's not going to be a fair deal.
00:38:24.520 The federal government has no incentive to give Alberta anything because Ottawa doesn't think that Alberta is serious about independence.
00:38:32.300 I mean, they think you're gutless.
00:38:35.400 They think Alberta is gutless that you won't do a thing, Corey.
00:38:37.940 That's that's the reality. And Jason Kenney is like every other politician from the West.
00:38:43.460 They want to go out east. They want to be successful. And it's been very clear who Jason's
00:38:48.240 working for. It's for the federal politicians and for Ottawa. He hasn't stood up or did any of the
00:38:53.840 things that he promised. But it's not about a fair deal. It's about the firewall. It's time that we
00:39:00.000 take back all of the powers that we're supposed to be taking care of, whether that's health care,
00:39:05.660 you know whether it's our own police force immigration we should have our own pension plan
00:39:10.320 we should have our own employment insurance policy but it's what i call the firewall plus
00:39:14.800 no more are we going to have ottawa elitist hypocrites and viral hypocrites who say that
00:39:20.520 we're not looking after our environment and shutting down our oil and gas industry which is
00:39:25.000 the gold standard around the world for environmental friendliness for labor laws you know
00:39:30.160 it just it's up there it's a beacon to the world and they want to shut that one down and and it's
00:39:36.720 not good enough and so we need to have our own environmental act but the big thing is and where
00:39:41.660 where jason can come in and do something is is we actually need to collect all the taxes people
00:39:47.220 will say you can't do it but we'll we'll try and stop us we need to collect all the taxes and we'll
00:39:52.780 start looking at the federal programs we'll say which ones that you know yeah we'll support the
00:39:56.940 military. Yes, we'll support intelligence. Yes, we'll support border security. But all of the
00:40:02.640 political slush funds that our money is going so that Ottawa can buy votes, it's got to stop. And
00:40:08.280 the only way you do that is to create the Alberta Revenue Agency. Every tax dollar is collected here
00:40:14.300 and then we'll sit down and bargain with Ottawa. But the most important thing about doing all those
00:40:19.180 things is Albertans will then realize that, wow, we have our own bank account. We have our own
00:40:24.360 business we have our own house why on earth are we paying 20 billion dollars a year for membership
00:40:30.280 in a club that hates us and wants to shut down our industry yeah i mean yeah the federal government
00:40:36.360 hates you the liberals hate alberta the rest of the rest of the country does not hate alberta
00:40:40.840 the problem is i think you're right jason kenny cannot be trusted to push that agenda because
00:40:46.680 he's got his eye on ottawa and i think also i think he thinks he's too good for alberta i mean
00:40:52.440 I mean, that's at the core of it.
00:40:53.940 I mean, in my opinion, he went back to Alberta, you know, as a stepping stone to get to do something else.
00:41:00.000 He's not there.
00:41:00.980 He's not a Ralph Klein, a guy who spent all his time fighting for Alberta.
00:41:06.240 And that's why people loved Ralph Klein.
00:41:07.940 They don't love Jason Kenney and they never will.
00:41:09.880 It was interesting hearing Paul talk about the National Energy Board.
00:41:13.640 There's this great story in Black Locks Reporter.
00:41:16.520 Get this.
00:41:17.200 Cabinet given scant minutes.
00:41:18.720 And we're going back to 1980 here.
00:41:20.720 So we're going back a while.
00:41:21.620 the cabinet at the time under Pierre Trudeau was given minutes to read the tax plan. Then
00:41:27.960 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave his own cabinet a few minutes to hurriedly review
00:41:33.080 the national energy program the very day it was introduced to Parliament.
00:41:39.560 Boy, that's an eye-opener. It's not like cabinet spent a whole lot of time,
00:41:44.060 Paul, pouring over this document. He basically said, here it is, you know,
00:41:48.500 you're voting in favor of it. End of story. And I dare say that Justin hasn't fallen far from that
00:41:57.540 trick. Who wants to take that one? Yeah, that story's on our website. And it
00:42:03.220 really is an incredible look at what happened back then. Days after the policy was announced,
00:42:10.260 and the outrage from Alberta was incredible, the cabinet ministers were warned they should not go
00:42:16.660 Calgary. You know, they were told not to show their faces here because of the fear
00:42:23.440 of protest. And yeah, this was a deal cooked up with Pierre Elliott and Marc
00:42:32.660 Lalonde and they sprung it on cabinet and it's a great piece by Blacklock's
00:42:37.600 reporter who have been trying to get these papers for five years now to
00:42:42.340 access to information and have been snibied, stymied every way. And a couple of incredible
00:42:48.200 stories. Trudeau wanted to set up his own national lottery. A Liberal Party lottery.
00:42:54.220 A Liberal Party lottery, believe it or not. And, you know, the proceeds would go to support them.
00:43:00.500 So I encourage people to go to the website and read them because they're extremely well
00:43:05.360 researched and well done. But yeah, and that's, you know, that's where all the hatred starts,
00:43:11.500 right from the moment that Trudeau introduced the NEP.
00:43:15.900 And that's the environment that Justin Trudeau grew up in, right? You look at the disdain with
00:43:22.940 which Pierre Trudeau held for his own cabinet. We all knew that he thought they were a bunch of
00:43:27.820 nobodies, right? He called them that. Yeah, we're the ugly, dirty step-son,
00:43:33.980 step-daughter that everybody's embarrassed about on what we do. They don't even realize that all
00:43:38.620 the work that we're doing is helping them out but probably the most frustrating thing for for myself
00:43:44.300 and many albertans that i talked to is that you know we we had a prime minister prime minister
00:43:48.860 harper from the west from calgary and yet what what did he do when it came time to realize and
00:43:55.020 again if you're actually in the interest of the country alberta's economy was growing that they
00:44:00.620 they could have kept using that but instead they stymied it he never got through northern gateway
00:44:05.500 He was hesitant on it. Why? Because he wanted to stay elected and be incremental. And we've never
00:44:11.520 had a premier or a prime minister that's actually thought of even the country and the benefit that
00:44:17.380 Alberta would be. It's always, no, we got to oppress these people. We got to hold them back.
00:44:21.860 They can't be successful. We can't make them strong. And that attack has been constant since
00:44:26.740 the 80s. And they're doubling down on it now. And the fact of the matter is, is that to talk
00:44:32.000 about keystone xl are you kidding me obama 2008 slammed that shut and i thought wow what a gift
00:44:39.920 for prime minister he can now say it's in our national interest we're building pipelines to
00:44:44.800 the coast and get it done and instead they continue fighting down south why not because
00:44:50.220 they love alberta not because they want prosperity here that there's another reason behind their
00:44:55.220 minds, and they've been, again, charlatans. And while we're shouting down, whoa, what is that?
00:45:04.380 That sounds awful. Have you heard, do you hear that? No. All right. I guess it's in my ear.
00:45:09.400 Sounds like Satan telling me to say something. Mark, I hear it. It sounds like Corey's being
00:45:16.840 eaten by a dinosaur. Thank you. I thought I was hearing voices there for a second. I mean,
00:45:22.840 And all the time, even as we're talking about destroying the resource sector, and in fact, exactly, I mean, Trudeau and Harper utterly failed.
00:45:31.300 And Trudeau came in and made matters even worse.
00:45:34.140 No Northern Gateway, no Energy East.
00:45:36.400 And yet we're continuing to import oil from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, you know, some of these terribly repressive countries.
00:45:45.180 And I had this conversation with the leader of the Green Party.
00:45:47.900 I said, why is it that you are in favor of stopping the pipelines while you don't favor 0.97
00:45:54.220 ending imports from these countries, these reprobate regimes, which treat their own people
00:46:00.500 like garbage, are basically racist, they throw gay people off buildings, they treat women like
00:46:07.740 second-class citizens. Why is it that you favor bringing in oil from these regimes, but you are
00:46:15.320 are hell-bent against the rolling out of pipelines.
00:46:18.640 And I think you raise an excellent point here, Paul.
00:46:20.500 I think Ottawa has always been reticent
00:46:22.560 about strengthening the West.
00:46:24.660 They've been afraid of the West.
00:46:26.380 They are afraid that Alberta will continue to grow,
00:46:29.080 that Saskatchewan will continue to grow,
00:46:30.680 that BC will continue to grow,
00:46:32.440 and that influence, eventually political influence,
00:46:35.360 will be sucked from the East to the West
00:46:38.740 as people gravitate towards the jobs
00:46:40.460 and the economic opportunities.
00:46:42.180 I think this is a reprehensible policy by a successive group of politicians in Ottawa who are hell-bent against the idea of Alberta growing its economy and becoming more of a force in Canada.
00:46:57.140 I think it's an absolutely destructive policy.
00:47:00.620 Yeah, there's nothing worse.
00:47:02.400 This is like your star player, and I'm sorry, I'm old, but this is like telling Gretzky, you're doing too good.
00:47:07.320 We've got to take time off, or we've got to give you a shorter stick.
00:47:10.620 or you know like are you kidding in in hollywood they they love their superstars on the sports
00:47:16.700 field we love our superstars but yet when the most important thing for your economy and the
00:47:20.780 well-being of your country that they despise they they have animosity towards it there's just
00:47:26.620 again that this little attitude that that you know i i don't know i call it the crab-like mentality
00:47:32.700 you're not going to let the other person climb out ahead of you even realizing that that's the
00:47:36.540 the person that's going to lift us up and help us be successful no no they can't be successful and
00:47:42.280 they'll they'll cut off their their nose in spite of their face to see that and it's a zero-sum
00:47:47.880 game with these people yep right it's a zero-sum game so if alberta gains that that means that
00:47:52.860 ottawa loses or that quebec loses you know they don't see well if alberta wins we all win you
00:47:57.940 know that's a great thing but they don't even they don't even acknowledge the 600 billion dollars
00:48:03.120 that they've gotten said wow we need more they've benefited so much distributing that around and
00:48:08.400 creating the socialist programs that they have and the dependency of so many provinces on ottawa's
00:48:14.640 gifts to get the votes but yet they want to cut that golden goose that they want to cut the head
00:48:19.200 off and then how are they going to be successful yeah absolutely where's where's quebec going to
00:48:24.240 get all that uh money the 13 billion dollars a year in transfer payments from where where is
00:48:30.240 that going to come from once alberta and its economy goes downhill to the point where they
00:48:34.480 don't have the kind of money that's going to be spreading out across the country at that point
00:48:38.720 quebec might say well look there's nothing in it for us you know we if we're not going to be able
00:48:43.040 to suck money from the west then there's no point in staying in canada i mean where's the mentality
00:48:48.400 there i mean it's like these people are so short-sighted so full of hate for the west with
00:48:53.440 these attitudes that they have that they would rather just hurt alberta you know keep it down
00:48:58.480 Keep Alberta down.
00:49:00.000 But what I want to know is whenever Albertans are going to wake up, because this didn't
00:49:03.800 just start yesterday, Corey.
00:49:05.560 I mean, this has been going on for decades.
00:49:07.880 2023 is when Albertans are going to show their true colors and realize that, no, let's vote
00:49:14.640 for Alberta.
00:49:15.740 Let's vote for our firewall plus.
00:49:18.600 And then once we've got our house in order, I mean, I love the analogy of Julia Roberts
00:49:23.280 and sleeping with the enemy.
00:49:25.120 We're sleeping with the enemy.
00:49:26.740 that the enemy wants to hurt us. They want to control us. They want to stop us. And we've got
00:49:32.120 two years to get out there, talk to Albertans. And then once we form government, we'll be able
00:49:36.400 to put our house in order and show Albertans that, look, we're going to be very successful
00:49:40.940 as a sovereign nation. And when Albertans are at that 75% in the polls, realizing that, you know
00:49:47.320 what, we don't have anything to fear except for Eastern Canada and the Laurentian elites,
00:49:52.160 let's do it. And again, Northern BC, perhaps all of BC, Saskatchewan, they're all looking for us
00:50:00.100 for leadership, in my opinion, to how are we going to get out of this mess? How are we going to get
00:50:04.560 off this Titanic that's going to, well, to me, we've already hit the iceberg. Everybody says
00:50:10.120 that the economy is unsinkable, trillion dollars worth of debt. Why would we as Albertans want to
00:50:14.920 be part of that? We've already got $115 billion debt we got to take care of. We can't look after
00:50:20.760 ours and ottawa and we got to say you know sorry it's been good but it's over yeah thank you paul
00:50:27.720 i thought uh i thought cory was still around we lost cory but what do you think about that
00:50:32.280 you want to pick the pick up the ball from what paul just said yeah yeah i think cory's in the
00:50:37.960 background being eaten by the dinosaurs or uh or i just want to say our edmonton reporter alex
00:50:45.400 Dollywold just noticed where he's saying that Darth Vader is taking over the show.
00:50:51.020 I think there's one interesting thing I'd maybe like to ask Paul about.
00:50:56.240 And going back to our poll, it showed his party doing very well in the province.
00:51:02.740 And the pollster said, if it keeps going that way, they could get some seats, which I think
00:51:08.900 would be an incredible achievement for such a young party.
00:51:13.240 But on the federal scene, the Maverick Party still is not getting anything.
00:51:18.180 They're polling at like 2% or 3%.
00:51:21.020 Maybe it's just because people don't like the name or because they're not doing much publicity.
00:51:31.100 But their stated goal was to become like the Bloc Quebecois in the House of Commons and represent Alberta that way.
00:51:40.540 So I'm just wondering, Paul, why are you doing so well provincially, but the Mavericks aren't doing well federally?
00:51:47.120 Well, that's an excellent question, Dave.
00:51:48.920 And I think there's two points on that, that you do that.
00:51:51.900 Number one, even if we send out all of our MPs, I don't know, what is it, 66?
00:51:59.480 We've got out of 300 and something.
00:52:01.960 Like all that really is is a protest vote to say, you know what, Conservative Party of Canada, you're not going to represent us.
00:52:08.940 So we're not going to vote your people in there, but it's not going to change the dynamics.
00:52:12.880 It's not going to help Alberta in any way.
00:52:15.200 It's just sending a message to say, hey, we really are ticked off and we're not going
00:52:19.100 to help the conservative form government because they've never done anything for us.
00:52:22.960 But, you know, when you when you look at Maxime Bernier and the People's Party of Canada,
00:52:27.720 it's principled.
00:52:28.780 I mean, he was at the Freedom Talk conference this weekend and he talked about radically
00:52:32.780 decentralizing the federal government.
00:52:35.660 And he wants, you know, provinces to be independent and self-sufficient and his policies are such.
00:52:42.300 But when you go to the Maverick Party, like I say, what can they really do for us except for stop the conservatives and say, you know what, you guys don't deserve our vote.
00:52:52.240 So we're going to give it to the Maverick Party because they're not going to support you in pillaging Alberta because that's what the conservatives have done.
00:53:00.220 It's what the liberals, you know, promise to do, that the conservatives continue to pillage that.
00:53:06.000 But the individual talked about 34 Alberta seats, but there's 34, I think, in B.C. and I don't know, 20 in Saskatchewan that, you know, they're trying to run in three provinces and part of Manitoba, I believe, as well.
00:53:19.100 But human nature is that we don't like to do things that we know are for no purpose.
00:53:25.700 And again, I don't think that Albertans have seen a purpose yet other than a protest vote for the Maverick Party.
00:53:33.060 And again, we need to send that protest down there, in my opinion.
00:53:37.440 But boy, we want to vote for something that we believe in and it's going to accomplish something.
00:53:43.280 And that's what the Wild Rose Independence Party is about.
00:53:46.100 That firewall plus becoming independent and then letting Albertans in a real referendum that's going to mean something to vote for sovereignty.
00:53:53.960 Well, until Albertans get serious and elect a party like yours, Paul, the rest of the country is just going to yawn, just saying it's just more whining from Alberta.
00:54:04.260 We've heard it all before. We know they're not going anywhere.
00:54:07.060 That's why it was such a terrible idea to ever take independence off the table, because once you do that, you know, that's your that's your big bargaining chip.
00:54:13.920 That's why Quebec has never taken it off. They're too smart for that.
00:54:17.360 So you'll never hear Quebec say, well, we would never, ever, ever go our own way.
00:54:22.460 independence is completely off the table. They know that as soon as they do that, that's a huge
00:54:26.260 bargaining chip that they no longer have. So they always want to keep it there. And that's why they
00:54:30.420 elect people on the block. That's why there's a provincial party that's dedicated towards
00:54:34.920 separation. It's always there in the backdrop. And Justin Trudeau being from there, of course,
00:54:39.200 favoring Quebec anyway. I mean, Quebec always has the whip hand. And until Alberta learns a few
00:54:45.340 things from the way Quebec has conducted its business, I know that's going to sound terrible
00:54:49.820 to some people in alberta but the fact is alberta could learn a lot from the way that quebec has
00:54:54.860 managed finagle it's you know to get the lion's share in many cases of the money from the rest of
00:55:00.060 the pro of the country i i'm i'm going to argue back on that a little bit in the fact that we're
00:55:05.260 very different um alberta we have the industry we have the vehicle we have the keys to the vehicle
00:55:11.180 and and we have the revenue coming in for the work that we do but we send it all out to ottawa
00:55:15.660 for them to use and then we ask the bullies you know hey we need some lunch money back and they
00:55:20.460 laugh as is oh sorry it's all spent quebec has been the the teenager in the basement of the house
00:55:26.940 demanding the credit card demanding the car demanding gas and going out and having a great
00:55:32.860 time alberta is not in that situation we we actually have the industry we have the people
00:55:38.220 the resources the land i mean when you look around the world where would you find the amount of
00:55:42.780 universities that we have here in alberta on a per capita basis you look at the resources you
00:55:47.820 look at the land the agriculture the timber we we we are i want to say second to none around the
00:55:55.020 world that the opportunity is here what's causing our problem it's an overbearing federal government
00:56:01.980 that doesn't want us to succeed and they're doing a darn good job at oppressing us yeah but you've
00:56:07.900 got to do something about that. You're allowing Ottawa to do this to you. Alberta is allowing
00:56:19.580 Ottawa to kick it in the head every chance it gets. Treat it like an abused person. 0.82
00:56:24.860 But again, we only have federal politicians that are charlatans. They say they're standing
00:56:29.020 up for Alberta, but they fail. They fail time and time again. That's why Alberta,
00:56:33.740 it's about independence movement it's about standing up for ourselves and again you got
00:56:38.380 to realize that there really hasn't been a movement since the 1980s at the nep but but
00:56:43.260 things are so much worse now with all the environmental rules and regulations and the
00:56:48.620 the federal policies you think of the 1980s and the social programs and the spending that
00:56:53.340 ottawa was doing then and compare that to 2020 this is a new world albertans are going to have
00:56:59.180 an opportunity in 2023 and there's going to be many wild rose independence members they're going
00:57:03.900 to work hard boots on the ground talk to their friends get out the message go to wildrose.party
00:57:09.360 look at our policies because there finally is an option where we want to be conservatives you know
00:57:15.500 small government uh free market let let people go out there and be the entrepreneurs the brilliance
00:57:21.880 that they are let the capital money come in low taxation we've got an awesome opportunity it's
00:57:28.060 just that we're down we're beaten down and we're low but we'll spring back yeah and I'm sure you
00:57:33.300 I'm sure you will but at some point Albertans have to for lack of a better word say yeah it's
00:57:40.700 time you know we've waited long enough Ottawa will never give us our due because they don't have to
00:57:46.140 there's no incentive for them to make anything I mentioned this you know earlier on in the
00:57:50.680 discussion and as long as they think that Albertans are never going to seriously look at
00:57:55.460 independence they don't have to give you a thing they can hog all the wealth they can boot alberta
00:58:00.980 in the backside time and time again because it refuses to vote liberal and so nothing is going
00:58:06.340 to change until alberta finally says it's over we're done we're out of here goodbye canada i
00:58:13.860 don't know what do you think dave you know what you you may be right uh you know i think one of
00:58:21.300 One of the big problems Jason Kenney is going to have to overcome right now is what you
00:58:24.980 touched on before.
00:58:26.980 If you're an oil company and you've got a billion dollars to spend, there's no way you
00:58:31.500 would spend it in Alberta at the moment because it's going to get you 10 years to get the
00:58:35.580 project approved, if it's approved at all, so why would you bother?
00:58:41.380 Go somewhere else.
00:58:45.480 You know, Kenny needs the economy to improve if he's going to, you know, be able to help matters.
00:58:53.260 But like I said earlier, it's going to be a long time.
00:58:56.940 And, you know, Paul's party is striking a chord, I think, with Albertans at the moment because they're not seeing any progress in talks with Ottawa.
00:59:09.360 There's been none, really.
00:59:10.520 So, you know, Dave, I got a comment because one of the things that Jason did was he brought Kelvin Helen on that I don't know if you're familiar with the Eagle Spirit Energy Pipeline or Eagle Spirit Energy Corridor, but these are First Nations individuals that Jason brought on during his campaigning, promised to work with them.
00:59:30.360 But if he was serious about Alberta, he would be working with Calvin.
00:59:34.260 But as soon as he got elected, he dropped him like a hot potato.
00:59:37.140 He has no desire any more than any of the other charlatans out east for a pipeline to the world market.
00:59:45.340 And again, he's dropped it.
00:59:46.660 I mean, again, I'm sure you're familiar with the Nova Gas expansion line that was supposed to.
00:59:53.160 Well, it got the Canadian energy regulator gave it the go ahead a year ago, February 19th.
00:59:58.600 And then it got hijacked by Bill 69 into cabinet.
01:00:02.300 And instead of the 90-day time period, which was Jason should have just been going ballistic,
01:00:07.120 it was a $1.5 billion project here in Alberta.
01:00:10.580 He promised jobs, 5,000 jobs, and he never said peep about it.
01:00:15.620 And it wasn't until the 19th of October, 240 days later,
01:00:20.280 that Justin's cabinet rolls out all these new extra conditions that the Canadian energy regulator says,
01:00:25.740 no, those aren't reasonable.
01:00:26.900 No, we don't expect those.
01:00:28.400 Jason said nothing.
01:00:29.740 He doesn't care about jobs.
01:00:31.080 He doesn't care about our pipelines.
01:00:32.860 And he certainly isn't going to stand up to Ottawa when that's where he wants to go.
01:00:36.640 And he doesn't want to offend any Canadian.
01:00:38.800 We need a new premier.
01:00:39.840 We need someone who will stand up for Alberta, put our house in order, and then let Albertans vote.
01:00:44.780 Let's talk about the upcoming federal election because it looks like they're getting ready to go.
01:00:49.280 You've got a leader of the Conservative Party who has, frankly, flip-flopped,
01:00:53.900 even shown indicators, indications that he's moving in favor of some kind of carbon tax,
01:00:58.640 although you hear different things.
01:01:01.060 O'Toole himself has said, no, we're not going to do that.
01:01:03.580 But on the other hand, nobody's really convinced.
01:01:06.940 You know, he doesn't do it with any great vigor.
01:01:08.800 So you always think that he's going to pitch something like cap-and-trade
01:01:13.380 in order to try and get votes from the GTA and other urban areas
01:01:17.940 where you're going to find, where frankly, you know, the Tories do need seats.
01:01:22.660 If it turns out, and Paul suggested it's possible that the Liberals end up winning
01:01:27.000 in majority government, what would that do to the sentiment about concerning independence
01:01:32.700 in Alberta, do you think? Dave, or Paul?
01:01:38.060 As I've said before, and I'll quickly throw it to Paul, but every time Trudeau says something,
01:01:43.060 his phone rings off the hook. And if Trudeau gets reelected again, holy cow,
01:01:47.780 stand back right Paul oh like he said it you know he wants to shut down the oil and gas industry
01:01:54.740 look at look at the policy look at bill c12 c12 will decimate that that will be the nail in our
01:02:00.980 coffin and Albertans are we're going to fight you know when you can be you know passive and not
01:02:08.500 not do anything but but when you're getting in the chokehold and you're losing your breath
01:02:12.100 your instincts go back to fight. And so Trudeau, he's actually going to be the blessing that will
01:02:18.920 ignite that fight in Albertans to say, wow, this guy really is trying to kill us. He wants to
01:02:25.140 destroy our industry. He wants to destroy our entrepreneurship, our independence, our values
01:02:31.060 of working hard and providing for our families and letting our kids have a future. He wants to
01:02:36.740 destroy all of that. And again, he said, you know, oh, this is a great opportunity for the global
01:02:41.380 reset. And what do they say? You will own nothing and you will be happy. And there isn't a place in
01:02:47.180 the world where you own nothing and you're happy that I'm aware of. Yeah. You're starting to see a
01:02:52.940 little bit of panic in the ranks of the Conservative Party of Canada as they see support for their
01:02:57.760 party now sink to around 40, 41 percent. That's kind of low for them. I mean, the liberals could
01:03:03.900 actually win a seat or two. It's quite possible if the splits go their way in certain areas of
01:03:09.740 Edmonton or Calgary, you know, they could walk away with two or three seats. It wouldn't shock
01:03:15.240 anybody if that were to happen. And I think the Conservative Party now realizes that Aaron O'Toole
01:03:19.880 has gone too far the other direction. He is now alienating Albertans, as well as many people in
01:03:25.120 the western part of the country. And so I think that they're going to look seriously to get rid
01:03:28.800 of this guy, maybe even before the next federal election. A lot of Conservatives would not lament
01:03:34.440 the departure of Aaron O'Toole. Well, he's a turncoat, and then it comes to fruition,
01:03:41.960 both with O'Toole and Jason have said, oh, we've got to look and do better at meeting the Paris
01:03:48.520 Accord. The Paris Accord is about shutting down Alberta. And I'm always amazed, why is it they
01:03:54.360 want to attack us, but yet they never say anything about all those rogue nations and just the
01:04:00.200 you know the atrocities that go on in those countries and and yet they want to point us why
01:04:06.600 because they want to destroy the economy that they can't governments can oppress people two
01:04:12.520 ways either intellectually and that they don't understand or else economically and and Alberta
01:04:18.260 it has to be an economic oppression and that's all guns are blazing to destroy the economy and
01:04:24.380 COVID has been a great opportunity and Jason has played into Justin's hands he could be like
01:04:29.440 Florida. He could be like South Dakota where you have an opportunity here. He could have created
01:04:33.880 a robust healthcare system. We've had a year to do it. He's done nothing except for play along
01:04:39.680 with that COVID hand to hurt our economy even more. Yeah. I mean, if the federal government
01:04:44.500 hates oil, let them ban imports from Saudi Arabia or Qatar or the United Arab Emirates or Nigeria
01:04:52.700 or all these other countries, Venezuela, all these horrifically vile regimes that are selling us
01:04:58.440 their oil at the world price. And we could be buying it from our own province.
01:05:03.280 Well, for every economy, what do they say? Buy local, buy local. It's the best thing that we
01:05:10.800 could do for Canada is to buy that oil and gas, that energy. And yet they don't. And it just goes
01:05:17.000 to show their spite and their animosity towards us. And they're such frauds. You know, they talk
01:05:22.340 about the environmental concerns about Alberta oil,
01:05:25.700 but they would rather import oil via a tanker, you know,
01:05:30.040 across the ocean where anything can go wrong.
01:05:33.740 It's an absolute fraudulent argument.
01:05:36.400 I posed that to the leader of the Green Party.
01:05:39.220 She didn't know what to say.
01:05:40.060 She needed help from her EA to bail out of that.
01:05:43.220 There's no excuse.
01:05:44.320 I said to her, look, so when you take over,
01:05:46.220 are you going to ban oil imports?
01:05:48.320 You hate oil, so you're going to ban oil imports
01:05:50.580 from all those other countries?
01:05:51.780 And she said, all I got was a, she drew a blank.
01:05:55.520 And I said, so you would rather buy oil from them than buy oil.
01:05:59.040 And your own brother is in the oil patch.
01:06:01.160 You know, why not put a couple of bucks in his pocket?
01:06:03.360 It was, it's an absolutely fraudulent argument.
01:06:05.800 And that's why Albertans need to fight back on this point.
01:06:09.360 I wanted to ask you as well, the geopolitical circumstances across the continent, because
01:06:16.000 now you're seeing things beginning to fracture.
01:06:18.220 And I'm talking about U.S. states like, you know, you look at Texas all the way up through Alaska.
01:06:26.100 I mean, you know, that huge, long corridor that includes a good chunk of the of the far north of Atlantic, of Canada, right down Alberta, Saskatchewan.
01:06:36.600 And we talk about Montana, Idaho, all these deep red states, Wyoming, Oklahoma, right down to the Gulf of Mexico.
01:06:44.840 I mean, is it possible that with all the upset being caused by Biden now, I mean, the United States isn't even energy independent anymore to Biden, you know, a couple of months to destroy that, you know, people get mad enough that they'll fight back and say, you know, look seriously at secession the way you are, Paul.
01:07:05.220 I mean, let's call it what it is. It's secession from the rest of Canada. Is it possible that there might be some kind of new country formed with like-minded U.S. states like Alaska, like Montana? You know, do you see some kind of union between Alberta, Saskatchewan and those U.S. states?
01:07:28.160 I think that, you know, if you'd have asked me this four months ago and, you know, all conservatives were convinced that Trump was going to win again, not a problem.
01:07:37.700 But the world's in turmoil around the world and conservatism and the free market is just being viciously attacked by these environmentalists and these globalists that they want to shut that down.
01:07:50.960 They want to rule the world. They want to rule our lives. But there is many, I want to say, freedom fighters, patriots that understand that the whole movement forward of humanity and the prosperity has always been based on a good government that protects the individuals.
01:08:09.840 But yet when you have these socialist, communist groups that want to take away ownership, it doesn't work. And so, yeah, I wouldn't say that it's out of the realm when we see what's happening.
01:08:20.960 You know, Texas is moving hard, and there's just a lot of those states.
01:08:25.200 Missouri, a lot of them are moving, and it's certainly possible.
01:08:28.660 But I see sovereignty of individual nations and then having agreements much easier than trying to form a new massive country.
01:08:37.960 I can see, you know, we had east and west Germany.
01:08:40.580 I see western Canada very easy being formed.
01:08:44.600 Once Alberta declares sovereignty, other people are going to say, hey, we don't want to be part of that sinking ship.
01:08:50.280 If we see a future here in Western Canada, let's join ranks and we can be strong and
01:08:56.720 free like we're supposed to be.
01:08:58.720 Yeah, I've made the case on my radio show a number of occasions that there's really
01:09:04.420 only two political forces at work these days.
01:09:07.820 It's not so much about parties.
01:09:09.800 It's more about whether you believe in freedom or whether you believe in fascism.
01:09:13.020 And so if Albertans believe in freedom and other parts of Canada move in favor of a super
01:09:19.360 state uh this kind of uh all-encompassing government that runs all aspects of your life
01:09:25.680 you're going to see a massive new about west by people who don't want it a communist style
01:09:30.320 government or the prime minister himself spoke about his admiration for chinese
01:09:37.520 joke it's not a conspiracy theory we've heard it straight from his mouth this guy is a wannabe
01:09:42.160 dictator cory i mean if things were to fracture along the lines of freedom versus totalitarianism
01:09:48.560 i don't know alberta would be primed i think cory for a move uh for real solid growth for people
01:09:54.640 who do not want that kind of i know i would be headed west in a heartbeat if it ever came down
01:09:59.440 to that yeah well and you know this isn't unprecedented it's just new for us out here
01:10:05.840 so we start getting down the road to think of what a post secession might look like but look
01:10:10.640 to sweden and norway they were all one country once they split with a referendum and they're
01:10:15.040 very close it doesn't mean you don't have to be civil afterwards as well slovakia and the czech
01:10:20.080 republic same thing bloodless they separated but they're still very close nations you know they're
01:10:25.600 not having big border skirmishes or anything like that you still visit family on the other side
01:10:30.720 but they're maintaining those things that were they felt were important enough to them that they
01:10:34.240 had to separate from being one larger group and i think it's very well possible in canada
01:10:39.520 we're getting increasingly dysfunctional i mean as paul was saying we have these ebbs and flows
01:10:44.720 of secessionism in the west but every time it leaves behind some dedicated hardcore people have
01:10:50.640 had enough and there's more every time and this next election might be the tipping point or maybe
01:10:55.420 it'll be one more after that but we're getting really close because nothing is changing all
01:10:59.920 right so you buy that dave i mean we've heard this story before you've been at this game a long time
01:11:05.340 and we've heard albertans being disgruntled unhappy with the state of affairs and let's face it nothing
01:11:11.460 really happened nothing really changed why do you think this if you in fact you do think so
01:11:17.380 will things be different this time well i think core just hit the nail on the head more every time
01:11:23.060 something happens there's a you know another stepping stone that is left behind and uh you
01:11:30.420 know every stepping stone brings you close to being able to peer over the top of the wall so
01:11:35.860 So, you know what, as a journalist, it's going to be an interesting few years to cover politics
01:11:42.080 out well, so that's for sure.
01:11:44.080 Yeah, absolutely.
01:11:45.080 I mean, there's been a number of comments.
01:11:47.960 Let's see, somebody mentioned, don't forget the blue one, not sure what they're referring
01:11:53.720 to there.
01:11:54.720 It needs to be your new political party in Ontario, Mark.
01:11:59.180 Oh, yes, that's right, blue Ontario, I forgot about this.
01:12:03.500 lot of disappointment in Ontario. It's very reminiscent of what you're going through
01:12:09.020 in Alberta, where we thought we were getting this rock-ribbed conservative in the form of Doug Ford,
01:12:13.820 and we ended up getting somebody who's, frankly, sounding and looking a lot more liberal every day,
01:12:20.460 but his poll numbers have stayed strong, but I think that there's a real undercurrent of
01:12:25.740 unhappiness over COVID and the lockdowns. Why don't we pivot over to that discussion,
01:12:30.540 because we haven't really gone too deeply down that road yet. How much unhappiness is there
01:12:35.980 in Alberta right now amongst those who feel that Jason Kenney has not moved quickly enough from
01:12:43.820 step two? Are you in step two right now as we're moving towards step three?
01:12:47.900 We just reopened phase two, but this came after we had well exceeded benchmarks
01:12:56.460 that the premier had said uh we were well underneath icu uh target levels and hospital
01:13:03.100 admission levels and daily case levels and uh albertans expected you know what we did the hard
01:13:09.660 work it's it's time to for us to get back into the game and the the anger that came about when
01:13:15.500 people realized uh that it wasn't going to happen was quite palpable and uh the wild rose independence
01:13:22.860 party since the very beginning. Paul has put out very strong statements about his party's
01:13:31.260 opposition to it, and I think that's also hit a tone, hasn't it, Cory?
01:13:35.660 Okay, Cory, you want to weigh in on this?
01:13:39.740 Yeah, no, I mean, that's been a terrible frustration. I mean, those benchmarks were
01:13:43.660 clear. We had a restaurant revolution starting. That's part of why they kind of rushed to give a
01:13:47.500 light at the end of the tunnel. They said, okay, okay, here's... because they saw no reopening
01:13:52.300 plan. They saw no path to reopening. These are people going bankrupt. So they were saying,
01:13:57.760 you know what, we're going to open anyways. Broke is broke. What's your fines mean? I'm
01:14:00.460 going to lose my house anyhow. So they started opening and there was that one weekend, I think
01:14:04.560 up to a dozen. And Kenny did a quick Monday conference and said, okay, this is it. This
01:14:09.740 is the plan. A week from now, we're going to do this. And these are the benchmarks for further
01:14:14.060 ones. So people were kind of calmed down. So, okay, if we behave, if the infections stay low
01:14:19.320 and we stay under, the bar was 450 hospitalizations.
01:14:23.260 That was the big bar for step two.
01:14:25.520 And we do that and here's all these things we're going to do.
01:14:27.720 Well, we came in at 250.
01:14:29.780 Like, wow, we didn't just meet the bar.
01:14:31.980 We blew it out of the water.
01:14:34.040 And they went and erased the chalkboard.
01:14:35.740 They moved the goalposts.
01:14:37.420 They said, oh, we're going to allow 15% capacity in libraries,
01:14:40.740 which wasn't even part of step two.
01:14:42.700 And you could do Pilates.
01:14:44.340 Like, it was ridiculous.
01:14:45.360 And they did a big press conference for this.
01:14:47.100 it really reduces confidence in believing what they're saying when they're telling us things
01:14:53.140 and wondering if they even know what the hell they're doing.
01:14:55.760 Paul, I mean, governments at some point, they decided to attack us. They're not on our side.
01:15:01.900 Government, I go on the show on a daily basis, the government is not your friend anymore.
01:15:06.480 Government has decided to turn on its people. Government has decided it wants a war against us.
01:15:11.780 And I say it's time to give it to them. I don't know. What do you think?
01:15:14.080 Oh, absolutely. I mean, the worst thing that we can do, and you talk about Albertans, 1.00
01:15:19.580 but, you know, they haven't done anything. Well, this COVID is a bigger problem. And again,
01:15:24.640 it brings tears to your eyes. But I met a lady this weekend that her son committed suicide last
01:15:31.280 September when he didn't go back to school, 16 years old. The number of stories that we're
01:15:36.320 hearing. And again, I know three people now with gyms that they finally closed the doors and
01:15:42.460 they're done I mean why would he attack our health clubs if you want to call them that gyms
01:15:47.460 and and and not allow them and even with this release in there but no their their their response
01:15:53.980 to COVID and this again they announced today they're going to spend you know they're going to
01:15:58.200 do a million quick tests to try and help things out their goals as Corey said that they're never
01:16:06.620 static but they're always moving and and it's quite evident to me that that's because they
01:16:12.040 want to keep us shut down they want us to hurt they want to stop us and they just keep you know
01:16:16.700 letting enough air each time that oh we'll stop the the uprising but i i was excited you know
01:16:22.100 started to go to these restaurants that were going against the the the will of the the premier
01:16:28.480 and henshaw but but they are hurting people and they're hurting them bad emotionally physically
01:16:34.760 And again, taking the life of too many Albertans.
01:16:39.320 I mean, abuse is up.
01:16:41.520 Abuse of substances are up.
01:16:44.060 Everything is up, but they deny it.
01:16:46.120 And again, today, I only listened to part of the announcement.
01:16:48.880 But the big thing was, you know, 1,900 Albertans have died of this.
01:16:53.160 Five of them are health care workers.
01:16:55.120 Well, what about the other 18,000 that died?
01:16:58.140 Why does nobody else count except for COVID?
01:17:01.540 And this, I don't know, this is a pointed attack on Albertans that it shouldn't be.
01:17:07.560 And again, it just gives us wind in our sail because it's wrong.
01:17:13.500 Again, government's job for me is, and again, we're talking about a conservative government.
01:17:18.340 They should be out looking for the best information and informing us and then letting Albertans make the risk decisions.
01:17:25.800 if you want to open your business, if I want to go to the gym, if I want to go swimming with my
01:17:30.880 kids, let us make those decisions. We don't need, and this is the problem with central government
01:17:37.260 too. There are hotspots. I don't deny that, but to shut down medicine hat, to shut down lots of
01:17:44.140 rural communities, I'm sorry, this is categorically wrong. Those communities are safe. There's not a
01:17:50.840 problem there and one size fits all central government it destroys people their livelihood
01:17:56.760 and their hope for the future yeah it sounds like it sounds like jason kenny is all in on the great
01:18:02.740 reset this is a great reset that uh that pier that justin trudeau is in on the destruction of the
01:18:08.860 economy in order to bring in something new in which you'll have nothing you know that you'll
01:18:13.600 all be reliant on government you know you'll get your shots every six months go home live in your
01:18:18.660 little cubby hole get uh you know a few crumbs from government and that's your life and learning
01:18:23.380 well the hell with that and alberms need to be a place where they fight back and go back to the
01:18:28.600 way they were because these scumbag politicians cannot be trusted they need to go they need to
01:18:33.880 be run off on a rail these people have blood on their hands i've used strong language on my show
01:18:38.420 and i'm using it again tonight these people are a fraud they're bloody criminals i mean i've
01:18:43.800 actually suggested that we start charging some of these people when you look at the number of people
01:18:48.900 who have died as a result of drug abuse the opiate abuse that has exploded the number of suicides
01:18:54.960 all the missed surgeries and other medical procedures that have forced people to stay home
01:19:00.540 so they haven't gotten the treatments that they need for cancer and diseases like that people end
01:19:04.740 up dying because of this thing all for what for covid give me a break this is a lie it's a fraud
01:19:11.880 and we need to fight back as Canadians right across this country.
01:19:15.600 I want to wrap things up a little bit.
01:19:17.380 I'm going to give a final word to each one of you on this subject.
01:19:20.400 And I realize we've bounced all over the place.
01:19:22.020 We started off with this question around whether Jason Kenney, what went wrong?
01:19:27.280 Is he still a conservative?
01:19:28.420 Can he turn things around?
01:19:29.680 I think we've moved on from there, frankly.
01:19:32.220 You know, Albertans don't want to turn things around with this guy.
01:19:35.240 They just want him gone.
01:19:36.340 Am I wrong here, Dave?
01:19:37.860 buddy i'm kind of worried about your blood pressure at the moment i feel great i mean no
01:19:45.140 seriously i feel good you know what i'm going to tell you when you're up against a bully you know
01:19:50.540 he's going to keep taking your lunch money until you fight back you know he's going to he's going
01:19:55.180 to take your lunch money one day he's going to take your shoes the next your jacket the day after 0.94
01:19:58.500 that until you punch him in the face it's time to pump to punch these bastards in the face i'm sorry
01:20:04.020 if I sound nasty.
01:20:07.000 But I've had it with these people.
01:20:08.460 I'm done with them.
01:20:10.320 Anyway, that's my take.
01:20:12.220 And you know what?
01:20:13.200 You're not alone in that feeling at all.
01:20:15.040 I think there's, as a last word, I think there's a huge letdown in Alberta at the moment.
01:20:22.540 I think people are very, very disappointed in Jason Kenney's leadership to this date.
01:20:31.520 the NDP is killing him in the polls, the WIP is doing well in the polls, and he's got a
01:20:40.640 short time to turn it around.
01:20:42.000 I mean, I'm not advocating violence, by the way.
01:20:45.360 No.
01:20:46.360 I don't want anybody literally punched in the face.
01:20:48.800 I'm using the term figuratively speaking, and using nice language and saying, well,
01:20:54.880 you know, maybe we're disappointed.
01:20:57.860 These people are just going to push the envelope.
01:20:59.940 I mean, until, what did it take at the end of the day, Corey?
01:21:03.120 I mean, it took restaurant owners to say, screw you, we're opening.
01:21:06.460 And then that's the only time you got any action out of Kenny
01:21:09.480 because they felt it slipping away.
01:21:11.060 They said, well, you know, it's slipping away.
01:21:12.900 So, okay, well, wait a minute.
01:21:14.740 You know, we'll just do this and we'll do that.
01:21:17.280 We'll screw that.
01:21:17.980 Maybe it's time to open up the economy.
01:21:19.980 And if the government wants to start shutting people down, let them do it.
01:21:23.840 I don't know.
01:21:24.160 What do you think?
01:21:25.660 No, that's the absolute truth.
01:21:26.860 And I thought it was heartening, actually, to see, because the Canadian politeness is a nice thing, but it's a handicap. 0.96
01:21:32.700 It makes us dish mats. 0.90
01:21:34.380 And we've got to get up and push back at times.
01:21:36.840 And that was an example of it.
01:21:38.220 And it showed how bloody fast that government backpedaled when they saw the signs of a revolution, when they saw those restaurants go from two to four to a dozen.
01:21:48.500 It's amazing how fast that press conference and plan came together.
01:21:51.460 Well, then do it again.
01:21:53.440 Why are they doing it?
01:21:54.940 Why do they back off then?
01:21:56.860 I mean, they were winning.
01:21:58.280 Why stop there?
01:21:59.660 Well, we're still too damn passive, but hopefully we start learning from this
01:22:04.080 and realizing, like, this government will back off.
01:22:07.060 They will listen to us, but we've got to speak the hell out.
01:22:09.480 You have to push the – just like Ottawa, you know, Paul,
01:22:12.860 I think if you really wanted to push Ottawa to the table, you know,
01:22:17.980 have a referendum, and then all of a sudden somebody over there in Ottawa
01:22:20.900 will wake up and go, oh, wait a minute, what, we're losing the country now?
01:22:24.020 I mean, BC is way out in left field, so they're going to be cut off.
01:22:28.260 These guys are serious.
01:22:29.680 Then you get the kind of discussion that you need.
01:22:32.000 But by that point, I don't know if Albertans even want to have a discussion.
01:22:34.580 They just want to go.
01:22:35.860 Last word to you.
01:22:37.320 Yeah, it's not about a discussion.
01:22:38.920 It's about the firewall plus, putting our house in order, looking after our future,
01:22:44.140 and then letting Albertans vote for sovereignty.
01:22:47.060 This is a broken, dysfunctional relationship.
01:22:50.320 We don't need more government.
01:22:51.720 We don't need more spending.
01:22:52.900 We don't need more COVID restrictions.
01:22:55.460 We don't need more taxes going up.
01:22:58.040 All of those things are against everything that we need here.
01:23:01.180 What we need is more pipelines.
01:23:02.940 We need more oil going.
01:23:04.580 We need more freedoms.
01:23:06.160 We need less government.
01:23:07.620 We need to just cut back, be conservative, and let the free market do what the free market does,
01:23:14.200 let the entrepreneurs move in.
01:23:16.220 But, no, we've got to take hold of our future, and the only way we do that
01:23:21.180 is by the Firewall Plus and say no to Ottawa.
01:23:25.060 And they can come back knocking on our door.
01:23:27.080 But in my opinion, it's way too late.
01:23:30.020 Well, independence is the biggest card.
01:23:32.560 You've got to play it.
01:23:33.640 So don't take that off the table.
01:23:35.460 You know, make sure that you're feeding into the flames.
01:23:38.440 Keep throwing kerosene on that fire, Paul,
01:23:42.000 because it's the only thing that's going to get people out my way to listen.
01:23:46.280 This is all about Wild Rose Nation.
01:23:48.260 You know, you talk about Wild Rose Nation.
01:23:50.340 All right.
01:23:51.180 This is Wild Rose Nation and that's where our future is and it's about sovereignty and we're
01:23:57.440 going to do it this time because 2023 is our last chance. This is kind of like coming up the third
01:24:01.980 time before you drown. 2023, I really believe that Albertans given the opportunity are going
01:24:09.260 to say yes to freedom, yes to accountable government. We need people that you can
01:24:14.340 actually recall and fire. We need Citizens Initiative referendum on issues that the
01:24:18.800 politicians won't touch. There's so many things that we can and provide for Albertans for good
01:24:23.760 government. And yet, Jason Kenney is failing on all accounts, and it's very frustrating for
01:24:29.360 Albertans. Get rid of this guy. Gone. Out of there. All right. Thank you, Paul Hinman,
01:24:35.320 Corey Morgan, Dave Naylor. Guys, we've got a great discussion. Really appreciate the opportunity.
01:24:40.840 It's been a real honor to talk to people right across the country, including, of course, Alberta,
01:24:45.400 a wonderful province. I mean, I hope that Alberta stays in Canada forever. I wish there was a way
01:24:52.280 to accommodate Albertans, but sadly, it may come down to exactly the kinds of things that
01:24:57.140 Paul is pushing in order to make, to get a real fair deal for his people. So I don't hold that
01:25:03.220 against anybody pushing independence in Alberta, considering the way that province has been
01:25:07.520 treated. I want to thank you all out there for tuning in tonight. Once again, this has been a
01:25:12.280 transmission of the Western Standard online. Check it out. Check all of Dave's story. There's a bunch
01:25:18.580 of great content on that website. And Derek Fildebrand, of course, publisher, has done a
01:25:23.600 terrific job as well. And these broadcasts have been a lot of fun as well. As for me, you can
01:25:28.460 listen to my radio show on Saga 960. If you're outside the GTA, you can hear us online on
01:25:36.760 saga960am.ca. All right. Thank you very much. Have a great rest of the evening wherever you
01:25:43.360 happen to be. Bye-bye for now. We'll see you next time. Thank you. Thank you.