Western Standard - (Suddenly) on Guard for Thee

00:00:00.000 G'day, I'm Derek Filderbrand,

00:00:29.100 publisher of the western standard and you're watching the pipeline today on february 12th

00:00:33.980 2025 i'm joined as usual by western standard senior columnist cory morgan always a pleasure

00:00:42.380 and uh western standard senior editor dave nailer good to be here darry nagel is the way

00:00:48.380 on some well-deserved rnr so we're happy happy fill in in our reoriented studio uh we've decided

00:00:56.140 to move away a bit from the green screen that you guys have been used to. We just literally

00:01:00.420 turned the studio in 90 degrees, so we've got the newsroom in the background, which

00:01:04.120 is actually what we built this thing for to begin with. So, you know, we're going to see

00:01:10.900 how it goes. The best part, a producer, come to camera one for me for a second, something

00:01:15.560 I want to do. I just want you to know that there's Jen in the background right in there. 1.00

00:01:19.740 She's trying to hide behind me. I just want you to know that she's there. She might be

00:01:23.640 picking her nose or eating a sandwich or something so you guys might see

00:01:28.260 something in the background at some point you know we saw Elon Musk's kid

00:01:33.420 picking his nose while in the office let's be realistic even grown-ups pick

00:01:40.080 their nose so you might see something in the background but just don't hold it

00:01:44.100 against us we're humans and it's just people going about doing their job in

00:01:47.640 the background there but let us know what you see let us know what you see

00:01:51.880 Yeah, there's Jen. 1.00

00:01:52.880 Okay, she's covered behind me on this camera angle.

00:01:54.680 Oh, there we go.

00:01:55.740 Yeah, there she is. 1.00

00:01:56.340 There she is.

00:01:57.280 Okay.

00:01:59.940 We've got a good show today.

00:02:03.360 You know, there's a lot of people who have been rigging Canada through the mud,

00:02:07.900 saying this is an imperialistic, genocidal, blood-soaked nation built on stolen land.

00:02:15.740 The Canadian flag is a symbol of shame.

00:02:17.680 we should lower it for six months, sit in sackcloth and ashes, wear a hair shirt,

00:02:23.240 and all of a sudden, demanding we man the ramparts, build a hundred thousand man army to resist the orange tyrant. 0.74

00:02:32.680 No, they're not talking about Nahidenshi. They're talking about Donald Trump.

00:02:38.180 You know, demanding that we wave the Canadian flag, that we be proud of this country.

00:02:43.560 Well, you know, many of us actually didn't.

00:02:47.680 hate Canada for the last 10 years, and so it's a bit jarring to see now.

00:02:55.180 So we're going to be talking about the sudden demand for patriotism from those who have

00:03:01.300 had so little of it for so long.

00:03:05.180 Very interesting polling.

00:03:07.520 There's been some trends, different degrees of it we're seeing, but we're seeing a definite

00:03:11.600 recovery from the

00:03:13.640 federal liberal party in the polls

00:03:15.340 as people

00:03:17.620 just begin to assume that it's going to be Mark Carney.

00:03:19.640 I still don't think most Canadians know who Mark Carney

00:03:21.760 is, but smart

00:03:23.640 talking heads on television tell them he's

00:03:25.640 so very smart, he's so very

00:03:27.880 Toronto, so very

00:03:29.580 international that

00:03:31.120 he's best for us. And so

00:03:33.260 I guess, at least especially

00:03:35.800 in eastern Canada and some pockets

00:03:37.720 in the lower mainland of BC,

00:03:40.060 People are buying it.

00:03:41.400 So we're going to talk about the shift in the polls,

00:03:43.380 recovery for the Liberals so far.

00:03:45.560 And we're going to talk about a growing maybe scandal,

00:03:49.620 not yet known, taking place here in Alberta.

00:03:53.000 Allegations that came from the Globe and Mail,

00:03:56.280 Carrie Tate at the Globe and Mail,

00:03:57.860 the last week of potential impropriety

00:04:02.160 with contracts for surgeries and whatnot

00:04:08.020 taking place in alberta health services it's a fairly layered and complicated issue i'm not sure

00:04:15.620 we can call it a scandal yet but maybe it will become one maybe not but we're going to unpack

00:04:20.020 that a bit before we get going though i want to thank our our wonderful sponsor uh this episode

00:04:25.140 of the pipeline is brought to you by new world precious metals based right here in alberta years

00:04:32.820 of inflationary money printing and rising debt have decimated the average canadian's savings

00:04:38.020 gold and silver are the only currencies that have held their value for thousands of years

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00:04:49.140 and grow your hard-earned wealth with gold and silver so check them out at newworldpm.com again

00:04:55.940 you can find new world precious metals at newworldpm.com okay so um you know for the last

00:05:06.260 decade but very fashionable uh for our left city councils to cancel canada day celebrations no

00:05:14.420 fireworks to celebrate this colonial genocidal state uh it's been fashionable uh to lower the

00:05:21.780 canadian flag at half mast um in a natural ritualistic shaming of the nation this blood 0.88

00:05:30.420 stone uh soaked flag needs to be lowered for six months it only went back up i think um

00:05:36.260 When it came to Remembrance Day, and they're like, well, this would be awkward to bring it down to half-mast to honor the veterans of Canada.

00:05:42.620 It's going to have to be the top first.

00:05:44.120 And so I guess we're going to put it back up just so we can bring it back down.

00:05:48.740 You know, a Liberal and NDP bill, which thankfully killed in prorogation here, but a Liberal and NDP private members bill in Parliament that sought to criminalize questioning if Canada is a genocidal state.

00:06:06.260 Um, toppling of statues of Queen Victoria, the monarch at Canada's founding, toppling

00:06:12.640 of statues of Sir John and Macdonald, Canada's founding prime minister, toppling of statues

00:06:17.760 of, uh, all sorts of important figures in Canadian history.

00:06:23.180 Do you like them or not?

00:06:24.980 But I mean, it's none of them were, uh, none of them rose to the level of Saddam Hussein

00:06:30.920 or, or Joseph Stalin, uh, I think deserving having a, uh, a statue toppled.

00:06:36.260 But it's been very fashionable in certain fashionable circles to denigrate Canada for quite some time now.

00:06:45.940 And this predates Justin Trudeau.

00:06:47.800 Justin Trudeau's prime minister made it official federal government policy to do so.

00:06:51.680 But this has a cultural loop that's been going on for much longer.

00:06:55.320 All of a sudden, the bad orange man putting on some tariffs, threatening other tariffs,

00:07:01.820 and uh and and demanding slash strongly recommending and arm twisting that canada join the united

00:07:11.060 states and uh all of a sudden these people are uh demanding that we raise the flag

00:07:18.640 raise the flag and stand on guard for the uh show pride in canada talk about how great canada is

00:07:27.320 by Canadian. When they talk about by Canadian, they don't seem to really mean Canadian oil and

00:07:32.580 gas. I think they mean Canadian widgets manufactured in Ontario and Quebec, but

00:07:36.840 that seems to really apply to products coming from the prairies very much.

00:07:41.880 But a real chest thumping here. As someone who's not the most guilty, but probably a little guilty

00:07:49.460 of this, would be Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid. I mean, he's an interesting read. Some

00:07:55.100 days you're like yeah you're nodding Wong yeah he really hit it to me on the head the next day

00:07:58.580 you're like the guy's out to lunch but uh yeah Don Braid was saying that Canada should raise a

00:08:03.380 100,000 man uh army uh in terms of actual battlefield capable troops we have right now

00:08:10.960 I would doubt we could probably put together a brigade of 5,000 at this point so that's a

00:08:16.940 significant increase 5,000 to 100,000 if we're talking actual battlefield ready troops uh that

00:08:22.760 We should raise it as the Grand Army of Canada to resist the potential American invasion.

00:08:29.100 I mean, if the Americans wanted to come this way, we could raise a million-man army.

00:08:33.360 I don't think we could do anything. 0.51

00:08:36.700 Just ridiculousness.

00:08:38.680 But here, we're going to put this tweet up on the screen.

00:08:41.280 This is some guy here.

00:08:43.580 Of course, he has pronouns in his bio.

00:08:46.740 And a certain multicolored flag and the Ukrainian flag.

00:08:49.760 So it's exactly what you expect.

00:08:51.720 but uh let's see um i think he is uh he's tweeting in uh uh this is just uh two two and a half years

00:08:59.840 ago on this candidate i can't help but think perhaps we need a new flag or refer or refreshed

00:09:06.640 flag because canada and arguably our flag was tarnished long before the convoy with centuries

00:09:12.860 of blood and genocide genocidal murder of indigenous nations we need to reset a new

00:09:18.580 simple now just to point out for the sake of uh the historical record here uh the canine flag has

00:09:25.200 not been around for centuries it's been around since the 1960s uh before that we had the red

00:09:29.680 ensign which served us quite well before that just the union jack uh and then yesterday mr mike

00:09:36.720 gerald gibbs uh he him in case you didn't know mike uh no it's not big mike this is mike gibbs

00:09:44.460 He nally tweets

00:09:46.420 There is nothing better than a brand new

00:09:48.980 Canadian flag

00:09:50.320 Just got it from Canadian Tire 0.68

00:09:52.580 Hashtag F-U-C-K 0.97

00:09:54.980 Trump, hashtag F-U-C-K 0.99

00:09:56.840 Mega 0.99

00:09:57.140 Wow

00:09:58.040 This man is standing on guard for thee right now

00:10:01.560 He seems to have

00:10:02.400 Gotten the ice

00:10:04.680 The Canadian ice in his bones

00:10:06.480 Um

00:10:07.560 Corey, what's brought on

00:10:11.000 This sudden wave of patriotism

00:10:13.180 And why have you not been keeping on?

00:10:15.420 Yeah, I see they've gotten left behind in the wash.

00:10:19.000 I mean, hypocrisy is just striking out of them.

00:10:21.320 I mean, a person's allowed to change their mind.

00:10:23.460 But the extent with which these guys denigrated any form of patriotism in Canada,

00:10:29.440 as you said, showing that earlier tweet,

00:10:31.600 I mean, every event we go to, we listen to a land acknowledgement.

00:10:34.760 We're expected to look at our shoes.

00:10:36.580 One of the things I asked online recently, you know, well, apparently I'm a settler,

00:10:40.800 so why should i care about canada's sovereignty i'm just another rider on this this genocidal

00:10:45.600 train anyways uh they've done quite the about face but it's because i i think

00:10:51.600 some of them are realizing the foolishness of what they've built here i mean we've also had

00:10:55.840 a country that's you know getting more beyond the patriotism but it is stunting our ability

00:11:00.160 to stand up to a hostile nation whether it's a lack of military a lack of broadened trade

00:11:06.320 ability due to the lack of pipelines or even good ports and these guys they're embracing jingoism

00:11:12.480 which it just rings shallow though if it's suddenly overnight this isn't some deep abiding

00:11:17.200 love of canada it's at best it's just a large hate of the united states and that's not the right

00:11:23.120 reason to get on board but i i think it's great uh you know we've always been very uh weirded out by

00:11:30.720 the patriotism in the united states and and how they seem to go way over the top and oh we would

00:11:36.640 never do that we would never do that in canada oh well why not there's nothing wrong with proudly

00:11:41.440 singing your national anthem there's nothing wrong with flying the canadian flag uh there's nothing

00:11:47.040 wrong with you know singing god saved the king before before class and that you know that's the

00:11:52.560 type of stuff we need to get back to instead of you know as derek has uh summarized there's 10

00:11:59.360 years of naval gazing and land acknowledgements before every press conference reminding you what

00:12:05.440 you've done to the you know the how you genocided the uh indigenous population so i like it um and 0.97

00:12:13.680 it's all obviously to do with the big orange man uh but uh you know and obviously the military

00:12:19.200 stuff is ludicrous you know this is a government that wants to take away our guns and then we're

00:12:24.960 expected to fight we've got we've got 55 tanks the canadian armed forces has 55 tanks the united

00:12:32.720 states has 5 500. uh if they wanted to they could overtake the entire country in a weekend 0.79

00:12:39.600 uh you know and what are you going to do you see a platoon of marines coming your way in prittis

00:12:44.000 you're going to take your little gun and head for the hills and form your resistance no there's

00:12:49.520 nothing we could do about it so so yeah let's be proud about canada because you know what once we 0.87

00:12:55.200 get our stuff figured out we're going to be a damn good place to live again you know there's a quote

00:12:59.920 that comes to mind here uh from samuel johnson uh patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel

00:13:06.080 and that is you know that that the quote has been misconstrued misconstrued sometimes to say

00:13:11.120 patriotism is a bad thing no but it's patriotism is abused by governments on left and right and

00:13:19.200 And throughout all of history, it's been abused and weaponized sometimes to cover up its own failings.

00:13:25.520 When all else has failed, you know, you want to have an external enemy or something.

00:13:30.900 And that's what's happening here.

00:13:31.800 Now, I don't think Prudhoe created the external enemy of Trump.

00:13:34.820 Trump is just Trump and he's going to Trump is going to do Trump.

00:13:39.680 But they are using it as the last refuge of the scoundrel here.

00:13:44.460 it's just so

00:13:46.360 it's so obvious to me

00:13:48.280 but I don't think it's so obvious to many in Canada

00:13:50.240 Patriots of convenience

00:13:51.380 yeah, of political convenience

00:13:54.140 yes

00:13:54.460 I'm just going to kind of read Twitter thread

00:13:58.000 that I posted

00:13:59.500 I think it was a day or two

00:14:01.580 ago here

00:14:02.720 this was in

00:14:04.580 response to all this

00:14:06.860 I think what really set me off was the brag column

00:14:09.640 that we should raise this great army

00:14:11.380 like who's going to fight in this army

00:14:14.020 right now you know they'd have to bring back conscription you would never get it you would

00:14:18.280 never get 100 000 no no um yeah there was a time probably when we could have 100 000 man army

00:14:24.080 without conscription i grew up in army and air force towns it had always been my dream to be a

00:14:29.160 submarine boat captain uh until it dawned on me that canada didn't have functional submarines we

00:14:35.180 still don't so thank god i did not go into a naval career in canada because i'd i'd be uh the captain

00:14:41.880 of a stone frigate i'd you know i think i'd have the title of a captain or something but no actual

00:14:46.260 ship to sail um and as it was in hindsight perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to use the war measures

00:14:52.560 or emergencies act against the kind of people you would need to fight for a country's independence

00:14:57.340 perhaps demonizing poor young rural white men as inherently racist privileged yokels wasn't such a

00:15:04.340 great idea when you need them to fill the ranks of your suddenly patriotic army maybe replacing

00:15:10.120 merit and martial culture with DEI hires in the military wasn't such a bright idea when you wake

00:15:15.460 up one day and realize that a functional military requires merit and martial culture. It may have

00:15:20.780 been ill-advised to propagandize patriotic young Canadians that their country is an evil,

00:15:26.600 illegitimate, genocidal state on stolen land when you all of a sudden ask them to sign off and

00:15:32.180 spill their blood to defend said state and land. If you want Canadians to sacrifice it with a flag, 0.66

00:15:38.300 consider not lowering it to half-mast for six months

00:15:40.980 in ritual shame. If you want Westerners 1.00

00:15:43.220 to stand shoulder to shoulder with Easterners

00:15:44.960 consider treating us as equals.

00:15:46.980 If you want Canada to be an independent country

00:15:49.180 start acting like you believe it

00:15:51.000 yourself before the

00:15:52.860 bad orange man come out.

00:15:56.040 You know, I'm not

00:15:57.240 going to name names, but I've got

00:15:58.180 a member of my family who

00:16:01.120 served, I think

00:16:03.120 just a little over a decade in the Canadian

00:16:05.060 Army.

00:16:05.320 um he is yeah rural white patriotic kind of people who used to fill out most of the canadian armed

00:16:16.460 forces uh but the kind of person who found himself being told he's evil just for who he is where he's

00:16:23.860 born how he's born um and that they're more important things than um the ability to defend

00:16:31.700 to canada with military might and that was diversity equity and inclusion and he just got

00:16:36.500 sick of it and quit and i know a lot of people who uh you know i came through i live in military

00:16:43.100 towns i know tons of people who serve uh some who served in combat in afghanistan they're done with

00:16:48.700 it they just don't want anything to do with this we i don't think this can be rebuilt in just a few

00:16:54.240 years with a new conservative polyev government martial culture takes generations to build it

00:17:00.740 can be destroyed very quickly, but it takes generations to build. I don't think this is

00:17:04.800 going to be turned around with a bi-Canadian campaign and demanding we fly the flag without 0.89

00:17:11.660 shame for once here. It takes generations to fix this kind of cultural rot. Well, and they're on

00:17:16.900 the cusp of a good idea, though. One of the points, again, Trump was correct about, and again,

00:17:21.700 I mean, I get into enough battles with my own followers online, I'm not a big Trump fan, but

00:17:25.660 he's correct about some things, he's wrong about others, is Canada has been riding on the coattails

00:17:29.800 of the American military system for a long, long time, and it's allowed Canada to under-invest

00:17:35.100 in its military. We should be investing in it. We should be expanding it. Don't worry about tampons 0.98

00:17:40.040 in the men's room. Equip them properly. Spend the money on it, but not with some ludicrous notion

00:17:45.340 that you're going to defend yourself against the United States, but just to reach that 2% bar we

00:17:49.740 committed to decades ago and never met, and just participating as an international citizen

00:17:54.460 with a reasonable defense force.

00:17:57.860 So, I mean, they're half right.

00:17:59.240 We should be looking at it.

00:18:00.600 But I'm sorry, Don Braid, and I really do.

00:18:02.800 I think very highly of Braid.

00:18:04.020 I think he maybe just had a bad day or something

00:18:06.020 because he writes some brilliant stuff.

00:18:07.600 But this idea that we can raise a defensive force

00:18:10.460 against the United States is just misdirected.

00:18:13.400 What we have to do is what Trump has done in the States.

00:18:15.980 We have to clean house with the military. 0.99

00:18:18.340 We have to put a warrior in charge as the chief of defense staff. 0.99

00:18:22.560 We need to take tampon machines out of the bathrooms. 1.00

00:18:28.720 We need to do what Trump has done.

00:18:30.660 Men's bathrooms.

00:18:31.100 Men's bathrooms, yes. 0.69

00:18:32.320 They can stay in the women's bathrooms, obviously. 1.00

00:18:35.800 And get rid of all the DEI culture in the military.

00:18:40.180 And, you know, Derek's right.

00:18:41.460 It's not going to be done overnight.

00:18:43.420 But you look at the, in December, January, the United States military had their best recruiting month in years.

00:18:51.760 And that was because people want to protect the United States.

00:18:56.100 They're like what Trump was saying.

00:18:57.400 So they wanted to sign up and serve.

00:18:59.380 If we can get somebody who's, you know, that sort of charismatic, you know, running the military, you'll get people to sign up.

00:19:06.640 And you'll get the DEI people that are going to get shuffled out.

00:19:12.120 Yeah, I don't disagree.

00:19:13.100 I mean, I think it's wild seeing also the self-righteousness of these suddenly patriotic people.

00:19:23.040 You know, it's not just that they're, you know, they haven't apologized or acknowledged the damage that they've been doing.

00:19:31.120 Again, this goes back more than a decade.

00:19:32.680 It's only the last decade that it was the federal government itself actively participating in this.

00:19:36.640 But, you know, but as a cultural progressivist movement, they haven't acknowledged that maybe, maybe we went a little far, maybe we did real damage to the social fabric and cohesion of Canada with what we've done. They haven't acknowledged that. And then it's accusatory. It's everyone else who doesn't stand with your version of suddenly patriarchal.

00:20:01.280 you're a traitor now yeah you're a traitor now um okay well who was the traitor i don't know 0.96

00:20:08.400 six months ago when you were saying canada was a genocidal state without a shred of evidence 0.99

00:20:13.440 these people have not acknowledged it and they're accusatory they've got a almost um you know uh

00:20:22.560 mccarthyist uh oh it's it's got viable online and some of the others too again who are usually a

00:20:28.640 a little more contained, but it's the Trump derangement syndrome. It really is in some of

00:20:32.700 those things. Warren Kinsella runs a little poll on X, you know, but he's got quite a following

00:20:37.980 on there, and he's been an established strategist and columnist for a long time,

00:20:42.740 saying, would you be willing to take up arms and fight against, you know, defend Canada against

00:20:48.840 this? Warren, you were Chrétien's advisor when you were trying to register and steal our firearms

00:20:55.000 in the 90s you were calling us traitors for wanting to hang on to those you were calling us

00:20:59.240 traitors for being regional and trying to defend our property rights out here and now you're

00:21:04.440 telling us we should be willing to take up these arms that you didn't manage to steal back then 0.90

00:21:08.680 and defend the nation that stepped on us kiss my butt warren where's this this complete but is he 0.99

00:21:14.480 not listening to himself he's not a stupid man but it's bizarre it was just mere months ago that 0.99

00:21:20.880 justin trudeau and the liberal uh government was saying they're going to steal the guns of 0.99

00:21:26.320 otherwise law-bying canadians to give them to ukraine well oh yo well maybe all of a sudden

00:21:32.960 we could use no matter what i mean my hunting rifle is not going to do much if the united states

00:21:38.560 uh marine corps or army started decides to roll through calgary it's not going to be of any use

00:21:44.000 whatsoever but i mean this is pretty fast if you wanted to measure it's a real way to it's

00:21:50.400 suicide by army yeah uh could you see trudeau going to zelinski uh please sir can we have our 0.99

00:21:55.440 guns back be sure we never unwrap them you idiot they were 22s yeah uh i mean hey 1.00

00:22:04.400 it just boggles the mind it it boggles the mind that so many canadians are willing to bring this 0.99

00:22:10.960 stuff enough that's all right uh well speaking of well that's a good segue you thought you were

00:22:21.360 going purposely into that yes yes that was an intentional so anyway um a lot of people a lot

00:22:28.320 of canadians uh particularly in the east probably a few out here but mostly in the east are buying it

00:22:34.640 they're drinking it um i mean the idea of a carbon tax election that's does seem to be out

00:22:40.480 the window there are bigger issues now uh i mean somewhat bigger because the liberals have at least

00:22:46.480 the leading candidates for the liberal leadership have all said they're going to get rid of the

00:22:49.120 carbon tax which is not true they're going to get rid of one third of the carbon tax the consumer

00:22:54.640 portion they're going to leave in place two-thirds the industrial portion which is actually what

00:22:58.560 makes us economically uncompetitive especially as the united states ribs up the paris climate

00:23:02.880 accord and things like that uh but they're going to replace it with other uh other measures on

00:23:07.600 climate stuff that are going to be even more

00:23:09.640 expensive than a carbon tax. But, you know,

00:23:12.020 okay, so there's not going to be a carbon tax election.

00:23:15.860 Trump, I mean,

00:23:17.940 his 51st state stuff

00:23:19.920 is...

00:23:21.980 I get to come to you.

00:23:24.280 You said I was absolutely mad.

00:23:25.880 You and Nigel both thought I was

00:23:27.160 barking mad, carpet-biting

00:23:29.740 mad for saying, I don't...

00:23:31.820 I eventually said, I don't think Trump is entirely

00:23:33.780 joking anymore.

00:23:34.560 it's pretty clear at this point he's not it's if you actually think it's going to happen or not

00:23:39.960 is a different question but this is not just trolling this this is something now um and i

00:23:46.360 think it's um i think it's been a political boon to the liberals who have seen a rally in the polls

00:23:52.780 that does not mean they're going to win or be spared the just desserts of what they've got

00:23:58.100 coming maybe. Recall that even in the first week of the 1993 election, remember the election

00:24:04.800 where the progressive conservatives went from a majority government to two seats. They got

00:24:08.720 utterly annihilated. The biggest defeat in the history of the democratic world ever.

00:24:14.180 The first week of that campaign, they were tied with the liberals at like 37%.

00:24:17.240 So this could just be a blip and then yeah, Canadians see Mark Carney and they're like,

00:24:22.220 Now, Liberals are still the Liberals.

00:24:23.940 Maybe it goes back.

00:24:25.240 But for now, at least, a lot of Canadians are going right back to the mothership.

00:24:31.980 They are.

00:24:33.440 A poll out yesterday showing with Carney as the leader, the Liberals are actually tied with the Conservatives.

00:24:39.340 It was 37%.

00:24:41.560 And it wasn't more than a month ago that the Tories had the 20-point lead.

00:24:46.740 So it's a considerable increase for Carney, obviously, in Ontario.

00:24:54.140 Liberals are now leading in Ontario.

00:24:57.280 So my message to Ontarians is, where have you been the last four years?

00:25:03.420 He's got a long way to go.

00:25:05.340 He still doesn't have much of a public profile.

00:25:09.620 He's not taking tough questions.

00:25:11.760 He's getting spoon-fed by the mainstream media, especially CBC, who will show an entire Carney event and then cut Polyev off after a few minutes.

00:25:24.380 Their bias is certainly showing.

00:25:28.040 So, you know, I would like to think when it gets down to a battle, if it does and it's looking likely between Carney and Polyev,

00:25:36.120 And Carney will come across as the sort of dull dude that he is.

00:25:42.840 I think so.

00:25:43.820 I mean, what we're seeing, too, for those, you know, it's not even that long ago, Ignatie of Part II.

00:25:49.420 I mean, this was the intellectual, the fixer, the person who's going to come in, who's going to, you know, revitalize the Liberal Party.

00:25:59.140 And he had some degree of support going in.

00:26:01.880 They really thought that's what was going to happen.

00:26:03.400 But as people actually got to know him, you know, he was more of the same.

00:26:06.920 I mean, you know, the campaign against him, you're only visiting.

00:26:09.940 I mean, Carney, as people get to know him, oh, wait a minute, this man's barely been in Canada.

00:26:14.540 Definitely have a postal address in Canada.

00:26:16.660 Yeah, and when you're talking on an election run on jingoism, that's not a good sign.

00:26:22.040 You know, how's your New York penthouse doing as you're trying to say you're going to defend us from the evil Americans? 0.99

00:26:28.740 There's going to be some very easy areas.

00:26:30.300 And I think the only reason the Conservatives haven't taken those shots at him yet is they're keeping their powder dry for the election.

00:26:35.920 The thing I'm more worried about is when are we going to bloody get it?

00:26:39.460 And the photo this week of Carney playing net, you know, he looked like a complete dweeb in his $2,000 footwear.

00:26:50.160 You know, he's not even got a catcher's mitt on, you know, to catch the ball.

00:26:55.400 I'm sure there wasn't a hockey ball anywhere near that ball.

00:26:58.280 There was ice.

00:26:59.600 Yeah.

00:26:59.880 it was ice which further defies explanation of why he's wearing his two thousand dollar loafers

00:27:05.000 instead of uh skates but he looked uncomfortable yeah right it was don't try to be what you want

00:27:11.720 it just comes off as fake like you know i actually think within canada there is a very significant

00:27:18.520 political market for an elitist the philosopher king um an ignatiev type figure maybe it's one

00:27:25.880 on a little more politically, better

00:27:27.820 political tropes, but

00:27:28.720 Indians like elites. 1.00

00:27:31.980 They do. They like

00:27:33.600 Trudeau. But they

00:27:37.800 have to be themselves.

00:27:40.260 You know, so if Mark

00:27:41.640 Carney, I think actually Mark Carney

00:27:43.680 would have a chance if he ran as Mark Carney.

00:27:47.000 Yeah. You know

00:27:47.740 what? Do I think I'm smarter than you guys?

00:27:49.540 Yeah, I do. You know why? Because I am smarter.

00:27:52.960 It's actually a

00:27:53.460 best approach.

00:27:54.160 don't you want a leader who is smarter than you who does know better trust me uh i mean to an

00:28:01.380 extent trump does that and he embraces it he's like i'm better at business than you guys i'm 0.99

00:28:06.440 better at money trust me to do it i've got the personality i've got the skills you're losers 0.54

00:28:12.260 what and and he and he does brash and open about it i think carney would at least have a better

00:28:18.540 chance if he just ran ask cardi instead he's like gotta hold us try to close every lot like

00:28:24.460 can he's like hello hello blue collar workers this is like gets off you're a highly accomplished man

00:28:32.460 you're a highly accomplished man embrace it uh and and run on that i i think that's i'm still

00:28:38.780 not voting for him because i disagree with his ideology but as a personality running i think

00:28:43.020 that's a much more compelling figure than this phony guy and don't see or estimate how devastating

00:28:48.620 awkward optics can be going all the way back behind that stanfield with the football football

00:28:51.980 i was going to mention that the devastation campaign just one simple option and those are

00:28:57.020 the days before internet these are days before things could really go viral or a little later

00:29:01.020 the howard dean scream this was a man on the way up one awkward weird scream during a a rally and

00:29:09.660 And I mean, there was probably, he probably wasn't going to get there.

00:29:12.060 Who knows?

00:29:12.420 But that thing was kind of the final straw.

00:29:14.980 But it's when you're trying to be what you aren't.

00:29:17.960 When you're comfortable just being yourself, doing what you are, you reduce the chances of getting into that awkward, unusual situation that was outside of your own element.

00:29:27.220 So the Kearney campaign had better be careful.

00:29:29.300 That hockey thing could have gone wrong.

00:29:30.620 Maybe there was a kid in the back with a puck.

00:29:31.960 I mean, if he got nailed in the knackers without a can on, then we'd see just how fake that went.

00:29:36.460 It went wrong with the finished result. 0.99

00:29:38.700 that picture look make him look stupid yes as you would have been better with 1.00

00:29:42.420 nothing yeah so somebody in that campaign Justin Trudeau holding a hammer 1.00

00:29:45.480 backwards don't pretend to be a contractor Justin being cosplay

00:29:51.540 contractor yeah no one expects that you do that there's no expectation do it

00:29:56.460 every time he puts on a hard hat to tour a factory he's mocked yeah and then

00:30:00.780 there was you know Gretchen had that military helmet on backwards that one 1.00

00:30:04.200 gentlemen again that was just an honest mistake we'll step on the hairnets just just be careful

00:30:10.220 guys but whatever i mean you know polio could screw up as well but yeah but uh yeah you can't

00:30:16.180 pick curry as an everyman he won't fit that way he's not you don't have to run i think it's i think

00:30:21.960 we are we are we're in a populist moment but it's still popped you know the liberals can get elected

00:30:27.680 with 32 of the vote with the minority government here the liberals can get 32 that that is doable

00:30:33.880 to do uh but they're just intent on not running carny as carny they're afraid um you know you

00:30:42.600 remember michael ignatiev and he was just like uh remember that bizarre speech he gave towards the

00:30:47.640 end of the campaign it was uh rise up rise up he was trying to like he was he was doing like

00:30:54.520 a grave heart impression rise up and it was just it was a bizarre and awkward and off-putting

00:31:00.920 it could have just been like

00:31:02.600 I'm a smart professor

00:31:04.920 kind of the smart country

00:31:07.020 if you're smart you'll vote for me

00:31:08.460 it would have been a better pitch than

00:31:10.100 oh Braveheart

00:31:12.140 it's been a weird year

00:31:15.480 we're in for a lot more weird

00:31:16.460 I mean part of it too I think

00:31:19.440 is this blip in the polls

00:31:21.420 I think is a blip and they know it

00:31:22.720 it's not solid

00:31:23.460 I mean this is riding the tide

00:31:25.920 I mean you can't beat having an external 0.91

00:31:28.560 enemy to rally against

00:31:30.140 to get people together under existing leadership, no matter who it might be.

00:31:33.980 But when the question comes up, OK, now is the coin toss.

00:31:37.180 Now is the election.

00:31:38.480 Now is when you're really looking at who's going to lead after this.

00:31:42.080 I suspect a lot of Canadians are going to reevaluate

00:31:44.480 as compared to what they're putting on.

00:31:45.580 Yeah.

00:31:46.820 Keep in mind, the pollsters are liberal favorites anyways, right?

00:31:50.160 Especially ECOS and France.

00:31:52.160 Well, ECOS, for sure.

00:31:55.460 The other is not as much.

00:31:56.500 you're seeing the like frank graves i don't have access to the guy's uh medical records or anything

00:32:03.700 but he's clearly not well he's he's challenged like he he's uh about as stable as kanye

00:32:11.220 they need to lock him and andrew queen up in the room and get them medicated

00:32:15.700 other bolsters are showing it now frank graves is showing it the hardest uh you know i think

00:32:21.380 Colletto with abacus isn't showing this.

00:32:23.660 He's shown some movement, but it's a small movement, but it's still way back.

00:32:28.000 And something interesting with the big one that showed them tied, if you break that one

00:32:31.240 down in their regionals, they also said Alberta would come out of that election with three

00:32:34.480 Liberal seats, which we know our local turf well enough to know that Randy, Randy, Randy

00:32:40.240 killed that constituency in Edmonton.

00:32:42.560 The porch pirate in Northeast Calgary, very unlikely to get reelected.

00:32:45.720 And where's this third Liberal going to come out?

00:32:47.060 Okay, okay.

00:32:47.600 But maybe one Randy loses a seat, but the other one keeps it.

00:32:50.700 well it could be you know you've got to defeat a lot of randy's to get that seat but i mean it just

00:32:55.180 shows though that there's some regional disparity in what they're trying to claim i mean those of

00:32:59.260 us with a political ear on the ground know that a lot of things change and we're in a wild world

00:33:03.100 but the world where alberta would actually increase a liberal presence right now in this climate yeah

00:33:07.660 come on you there's something wrong with that hole and at least one of the randy's is going to be in

00:33:11.740 trouble because they came out and supported freeland today so he's already going to be in

00:33:15.900 carney's bad books oh she'll lock up the the focahontas folk yes well we got to give some 1.00

00:33:21.900 credit here uh andrew shea the former conservative federal conservative leader and he's a house

00:33:26.060 leader for polio now uh he he had a pretty great quip on this uh when he's you know replying to

00:33:33.340 christia freeland when uh randy plazano endorsed uh hurry says well that's two votes i mean uh i

00:33:39.020 think you heard me i just spilled my coffee and guffawed from my office i love uh i love the

00:33:45.180 the headline sheer devastation that's uh courtesy james snow good good okay uh well let's bring a

00:33:55.760 little closer to home here um so last week uh carrie tate reporter at the globe mail

00:34:01.340 um put out a story that's been making some waves uh it's there's a lot of layers and i i don't want

00:34:12.080 spend the rest of the show just trying to

00:34:14.060 unwrap the onion of this. I'll just try to

00:34:16.180 give a high level here.

00:34:18.820 Alberta Health Services

00:34:19.640 being ripped up. Its monopoly

00:34:22.080 on health care is being ended.

00:34:24.160 The government still has monopoly on health

00:34:26.120 care-ish,

00:34:27.320 but it's being chopped up into

00:34:29.680 different pieces, and

00:34:31.980 the province

00:34:33.940 is

00:34:34.700 trying to contract

00:34:37.840 out certain

00:34:39.240 services.

00:34:42.080 and there was a turnover as, uh, the head of, uh,

00:34:47.220 Auburn Health Services and things like that. Uh, this woman, 1.00

00:34:50.220 I can't pronounce her name. Can you pronounce her name? No. Okay.

00:34:53.980 A woman, let's call her the head, the head, former head, former, former head. 1.00

00:34:58.320 Uh, well, her head was chopped off. Uh, 0.99

00:35:01.780 and she claims to the golden mail that she was to meet with the auditor

00:35:06.940 general three days before she was let go, where she was going to bring to light,

00:35:10.900 uh problematic or bad not sure how you want to describe it but questionable contracts uh given

00:35:19.980 to uh private medical companies with connections to the conservative government uh is that i think

00:35:29.500 that's a fair summary yeah um i mean okay there's smoke it's worth looking at i think something

00:35:37.900 like this there's uh there's smoke doesn't mean there's fire maybe there is um but it's i mean

00:35:45.400 she was not the first to be canned they've canned a lot of heads with the chest lately possible she 1.00

00:35:50.960 was just getting canned anyway and that's when it was uh you know we've all fired people before

00:35:57.020 and they normally have things to do before you let them go but doesn't it's not a good look so

00:36:03.460 which i think this has to be looked into um you know uh so was she being let go because of that 0.99

00:36:10.320 that's one question two was uh was there anything problematic with these contracts

00:36:15.960 we don't know maybe there was uh were these contracts given because they were just connected

00:36:20.960 to the government again we should find out so uh smith has put this to the auditor general

00:36:26.760 So, I don't know, Dave, is it too early to use the term scandal yet?

00:36:34.000 Well, not if you're Nahid Menchie.

00:36:36.680 You know, he's been screaming for a week now and continued again this morning in Edmonton,

00:36:42.160 saying Daniel Smith has to step aside.

00:36:44.740 Well, no, Nahid, she doesn't.

00:36:47.400 She's called for an investigation.

00:36:49.760 Interestingly, she has said that she knew nothing about it,

00:36:53.680 and any claims to the contrary are defamatory.

00:36:56.760 So she's already put out that potential lawsuit. 0.70

00:37:00.980 He doesn't have privileges.

00:37:01.960 He doesn't have a seat.

00:37:02.720 So it's not like he can make the accusation in the legislature yet.

00:37:05.720 Exactly.

00:37:06.560 But she campaigned on the promise that she was going to dismantle the AHS, and that's what she's doing. 0.96

00:37:12.260 So this will be the first in many, many leaks from disgruntled AHS workers who are going to get canned to the media about how terrible things are.

00:37:24.060 Well, yeah, things are terrible within Alberta Health, and that's what the Premier is trying to do, is to fix them.

00:37:31.740 Too early to call it a scandal, though.

00:37:34.160 I mean, yes, sorry, yes.

00:37:36.140 But as you say, Derek, worth investigating, and Premier Smith has asked for an expedited investigation, so it'll be quick.

00:37:45.700 So just to what you said, Dave, on Nenshi, you know, Nenshi is saying Daniel Smith and the House Minister, LaGrange,

00:37:52.640 need to step aside while the investigation takes place.

00:37:55.720 Now, Nenshi has been a politician for going on.

00:38:02.580 15 years.

00:38:03.380 It really is.

00:38:04.020 Forever.

00:38:04.560 15 plus years.

00:38:05.400 He's been a politician for a while.

00:38:06.400 He's been a politician longer than Justin Trudeau has been Prime Minister.

00:38:09.800 I don't.

00:38:11.640 Let me just check.

00:38:12.700 lingo so how many times did uh nahi benchi say that justin trudeau needs to step down as prime

00:38:18.620 minister whenever there's an investigation into this guy uh zero none none ever including uh god

00:38:26.700 knows how many times where he was found to have violated the conflict of interest act he's never

00:38:30.780 said that uh but i mean it's opposition politics that's you know take it for what it is um

00:38:37.180 Um, let's look at, yes, Smith did say she's going to dismantle AHS.

00:38:43.960 She's going to overhaul the whole system. 1.00

00:38:45.480 I actually don't think there's any way to fix health care in Canada, unless you get rid of the Canada Health Act,

00:38:50.840 unless you just do away with the Canada Health Act and allow a private parallel system.

00:38:55.180 You can fiddle with the system all you want.

00:38:56.680 It's just never getting fixed.

00:38:57.780 You can put the smartest people in charge.

00:38:59.600 You can put all the money in the world in there.

00:39:01.160 You can reorganize here and there.

00:39:02.900 It's not getting fixed.

00:39:04.760 But she's going to give it the college try.

00:39:06.560 so fine um she said she was going to do that but and that might be what's angering and motivating

00:39:13.880 some bureaucrats in here but the allegation is at least strongly implied that that this person was

00:39:21.800 fired to stop wrongdoing from being exposed it's not that contract things are being contracted out

00:39:29.400 i think that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do question is is it being contracted out

00:39:33.660 to friends of government without reasonable competition.

00:39:38.880 Not everything can be put out to competition, but most things can.

00:39:44.540 That's the allegation.

00:39:46.240 How serious is the court?

00:39:47.820 Well, the allegation is serious, but again, we need an investigation.

00:39:51.180 I mean, also what Premier Smith's taking on is a behemoth of an entrenched bunch

00:39:56.100 of entitled bureaucrats who are going to throw every wrench into every effort

00:40:00.460 she makes to change that system. 1.00

00:40:02.980 I mean, of course, the media trotted out the usual friends of Medicare.

00:40:06.460 They should put that quote underneath Union Group.

00:40:09.200 I mean, you know, these are self-interested people.

00:40:12.780 I fired a server from the coffee shop we own in Prittis one time,

00:40:16.820 and lo and behold, she put up a bunch of reviews on Google saying we had mice in the kitchen and serve people moldy sandwiches. 0.90

00:40:23.420 Well, you've just sold them all the sandwiches.

00:40:25.660 I discounted them.

00:40:27.660 But, you know, I'm saying when a person's nose is out of joint after being canned, you have to take that with a grain of salt.

00:40:33.600 There might be truth.

00:40:34.480 I don't know.

00:40:36.280 But, I mean, Nietzsche, and I understand, he smells blood in the water and by all means pounce.

00:40:41.120 But he's overplaying his hand.

00:40:42.680 And he's getting to the point of absurdity when he's immediately demanding the premier resign over this.

00:40:47.920 All we're at right now is a letter from a person who just got fired.

00:40:52.100 We need a little more meat on the bone before we start talking about having a premier resign.

00:40:57.480 And if this turns out to be a nothing burger, then she's going to look less credible when he actually had a really good opportunity to make reasonable hay out of this thing.

00:41:05.800 So we'll see.

00:41:06.680 And I mean, hey, if it turns out that Marshall Smith really did have some arm twisting going on and they have evidence of it and that was Smith Daniels, his chief of staff, our relations, just for people listening, then we got something serious because we don't want to see that in government.

00:41:20.280 We want to make sure we're getting the best person for the job, not the best connected person.

00:41:23.480 So we'll see.

00:41:24.600 But the overreaction is not helping the credibility of Alberta's opposition right now.

00:41:29.640 Okay.

00:41:30.520 All right.

00:41:31.160 Well, we're going to wrap our show up with our parting shots.

00:41:35.060 Start with you, Corey.

00:41:36.060 Sure.

00:41:36.460 Well, again, you know, I give the good and I give the bad with President Trump.

00:41:39.600 But he has changed the world map more ways since Magellan.

00:41:44.840 The Gulf of America has been created.

00:41:47.380 If you go on Google Maps, it's now listed as Gulf of America.

00:41:51.900 It used to be Gulf of Mexico. 1.00

00:41:53.380 Even Apple Maps, which, you know, kind of dug your heels in, is a bit of a woke company.

00:41:56.900 They bent.

00:41:58.500 It is Gulf of America as far as the maps are concerned.

00:42:02.240 I'm sure it's not that as far as the Mexicans are concerned.

00:42:05.120 But this is not a minor thing.

00:42:06.740 He's changing the definitions of what some international pieces of territory are called.

00:42:12.160 Don't deadname it.

00:42:13.180 Don't deadname it and call it the Gulf of Mexico.

00:42:15.060 The Associated Press White House reporter refused admittance to the Oval Office yesterday because his company's style guide has not changed.

00:42:24.460 Yeah, he's not just, you know, making a statement.

00:42:27.420 He's actually really putting the push on with it.

00:42:29.680 I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing.

00:42:31.340 I don't agree with that.

00:42:32.600 It's an editorial decision and they don't have to follow the dictates of a government.

00:42:37.640 That's Stalin-esque.

00:42:38.900 Either way.

00:42:39.860 Oh, no, that's just Trump's bizarreness.

00:42:42.440 But owning the libs, that's fine.

00:42:44.240 But I don't like that.

00:42:46.540 That's getting into press freedom.

00:42:48.200 Either way, he's made his mark on the world already.

00:42:50.840 Gabe, your party shot.

00:42:52.620 Best news story of the year yesterday was Elon Musk screaming up to the sidewalk,

00:42:57.880 jumping out in a tuxedo and saying the name's Balls, Harry Balls.

00:43:05.660 And changing his Twitter handle to that name.

00:43:10.140 And watching the faces of the female CNN journalists.

00:43:14.240 uh anchor women saying uh elon musk who is now identifying as harry balls

00:43:20.960 is truly an unforgettable historical moment america might be screwing with us right now

00:43:28.560 but i'm kind of jealous of being in america like the americans are just having fun right

00:43:32.960 now it's a fun time in america what they're doing with canada it's not cool it's not so fun

00:43:38.400 but for those who are invited to the party it's a pretty good time right now

00:43:43.040 um speaking of invited to the party so uh and elon musk and doge um so they're going after

00:43:52.500 doge is going after usaid exposing all sorts of hilariously contemptible uh programs that

00:44:01.280 they're spending american taxpayers money on uh just wild stuff and that really quickly got a

00:44:08.040 bunch of people in Canada's ears to pop up saying, well, what's our equivalent doing at Global

00:44:13.100 Affairs Canada? What are they spending money on for foreign aid? People look at the big numbers,

00:44:19.160 like how much are we spending on foreign aid? But we don't tend to really look into what are

00:44:22.920 we spending it on? Are we, you know, doing, are we funding sex change operations for iguanas in 0.82

00:44:30.660 Ecuador? That's the kind of thing they're finding, you know, jokingly speaking, but it's wacky stuff

00:44:36.900 like that. Really quickly, as soon as this started to become a huge issue in the United

00:44:41.340 States with USAID getting ripped apart by Doge, Global Affairs Canada's foreign aid

00:44:46.720 website, well, it just went dark. It went down. Now, they didn't claim it was some kind

00:44:52.940 of technical issue or maintenance. No way. No. Now, it became a news story that it was

00:45:02.180 down, so it was actually more damaging than any information that would actually get found

00:45:04.820 there so they put it back up and uh we've had some reporters crawl through it dave yeah jen did a 0.95

00:45:09.820 good job uh all sorts of weird stuff that just makes as you say oh let's go do it too angry

00:45:14.380 yeah he's in that safe there she is hi jen

00:45:23.420 um yeah so yeah be sure to check out what's what's the name of the headline on that story

00:45:30.920 Oh, goodness.

00:45:31.820 Sorry if I should have a spot.

00:45:32.840 Yeah, I can't remember.

00:45:33.700 Okay.

00:45:34.140 Well, hey, we've got it up on the standard there.

00:45:36.140 We can check it out.

00:45:37.160 But I thought it was just quite convenient timing that it just disappears off the Government of Canada's website

00:45:45.260 in time for Canadian taxpayers to not be able to go and see what kind of iguana sex change operations in Ecuador were funding or something like that. 0.75

00:45:55.440 Okay, gentlemen, thank you very much for today.

00:45:58.480 Been a slice.

00:45:58.980 I like the new setup

00:46:01.640 I think it's better than just the tacky green screen

00:46:03.800 I like having this

00:46:04.840 We want your feedback, let us know in the comments section

00:46:07.680 If you like the new setup

00:46:10.240 We switched our mics

00:46:11.760 Hopefully the sound's better, hopefully the picture's better

00:46:13.980 I don't change studios

00:46:15.780 We just literally turned it 90 degrees

00:46:17.500 So that the newsrooms are in the background here

00:46:19.540 We want to hear from you

00:46:20.400 Also if you've got any news tips, let us know in the comments

00:46:23.760 Or email Dave

00:46:25.680 News at westernstandard.news

00:46:27.760 And very importantly, remember, the Western Standard is not funded by USAID or Global Affairs Canada or by the big media bailout subsidy from the federal government or funded by a little bit of advertising and from subscriptions and memberships from people like you.

00:46:46.700 Yes, we're funded by you.

00:46:48.840 Hopefully you, because if it's not you, you're a cheapskate and you're just watching this stuff and reading this stuff for free.

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00:46:54.820 Sign up. Go to westernstandard.news right now. Click on subscribe. It's only $10 a month or $100 a year, and you'll get unlimited access to all Western Standard content past that pesky paywall, and you'll be doing your part to help one of the very, very last independent, non-federal government-funded media outlets left in Canada.

00:47:16.300 Thank you very much for joining us today, and God bless.

00:47:24.820 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - February 13, 2025

(Suddenly) on Guard for Thee

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