In this episode of The Cory Morgan Show, we have two guests, Darcey Giroux of the Western Standard and Fergus Hodgson of Econ Americas join us to talk about the current state of our economy and what it means for our liberty and freedom.
00:07:20.820He came out with a carbon tax. You know, he just won the leadership less than a year ago.
00:07:28.200Somebody asking the rodeo dates. Sorry, I just do want to cover that quickly in case you didn't
00:07:32.520see that with the pull up. That is on Saturday, May 1st at 1 p.m. and Sunday, May 2nd. And it's
00:07:38.780sanctioned by the World of Rodeo Canada. Now, back to our conservative, not so conservative
00:07:44.220leader and his carbon tax. You know, I've taken, for those who can't see it, I will describe it,
00:07:51.760a screen snap of a tweet from Franco Teresano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He's going to
00:07:56.460be on with me at the end of next week, by the way, to talk about the federal budget.
00:08:00.340And he's quoting, and here's a picture of Aaron O'Toole standing in front of the no carbon tax
00:08:05.080pledge, smiling, you know, with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Here's the quote,
00:08:10.080I, Aaron O'Toole, promise that if elected Prime Minister of Canada, I will immediately repeal the Trudeau carbon tax and reject any future national carbon tax or cap and trade scheme.
00:22:54.460And even in even then, the Charter of Rights goes to limit it further where, you know, despite public opinion, Canadians are still guaranteed a, you know, protections of certain rights, which, yeah, I mean, they are they're stomping on this thing.
00:23:11.700They're tearing it to shreds right now.
00:23:13.420I mean, with, you know, religious freedoms, freedom of assembly, you know, all kinds of things that are, you know, really the foundational documents of, you know, of our country.
00:23:30.700You know, as much as I'm not a big, you know, I think there's a lot of flaws in our Constitution.
00:23:35.360But I think as a bare minimum, these things should be followed.
00:23:38.400but yeah i don't even know i sometimes i wonder if uh these legislators have even read read this
00:23:47.180thing well yeah and again i think it's the legislators and it's the citizens that are
00:23:53.900really kind of backwards on this i mean when you look at things like free expression uh free
00:23:58.920mobility uh you know the the ability to gather uh and organize like these were all rights modeled
00:24:06.260to protect you from government, not from your neighbor down the road, not from a virus.
00:24:13.160There's a reason that the Freedom Association is so important. I mean, when organized labor
00:24:18.560was getting going or when the revolutions come, the first thing the state does is make say you
00:24:23.640can't have more than three people on a street corner and things such as that. So they enshrined
00:24:28.460those rights. That's one of the ones we shoved out the window. Sorry, you can't have strangers
00:24:32.360to your house you can't meet in person you can't go out um you know among many others like again
00:24:39.400people forget what the purpose of that document really was i think and they're just so docile in
00:24:48.440accepting these infringements upon it yeah absolutely i mean the the document itself
00:24:54.360really um like you say it enshrines rights that that already exist for us you know we have uh
00:25:01.240you know, freedom of expression. I mean, those are, in my mind, inalienable rights,
00:25:06.640things that, you know, can't be taken away from us. Same with assembly, you know, peaceful assembly.
00:25:14.980And yeah, I mean, that is, that's the first, you know, that is the first step on the road to
00:25:20.740tyranny. Well, not the first one. I think it's, you know, I mean, now at this point,
00:25:24.660And I think we're many steps down, but it's, it is,
00:25:29.700it's scary that the precedent that it sets that and the lack or the amount of
00:25:35.060apathy people have towards these things happening right now. I mean,
00:25:45.080they don't have, they don't have the, it's, it's hard to explain the,
00:25:50.920the uh you know the government yeah should be you know they have to be held accountable
00:26:01.560some way i mean and and yeah it's just it's disappointing
00:26:06.720yeah well we've gotten to be honest and blunt in my view spoiled i mean that's the bottom line
00:26:13.660and there's a lot of selfish attitude i think that that frustrates me and we see that and it's
00:26:19.120always been around you know when it comes to firearm ownership property rights people say well
00:26:23.740I don't have a gun so I don't care if you take that guy's gun away well no no that's not the way
00:26:27.780you've got to look at this as I've said before I am not a religious man at all I don't go to
00:26:34.740services it doesn't matter to me if churches are going or not going personally but I understand
00:26:40.840the vital importance of free religion I understand that that again has been another area that states
00:26:47.460If they're authoritarians, they want to crush. That's an area where people gather, where they organize, where they socialize, whether for spiritual intent or for anything else. And that's, again, why those rights were entrenched like that. And those optics showing Alberta of all places with, you know, Art Pawlowski having to shout and chase AHS officials. And that's something that really gets me.
00:27:11.820This isn't, well, there's a lot of areas I don't recognize a lot of authority, but these weren't even police. The head of that person was a bureaucrat, an AHS bureaucrat, a pointy headed, paper shuffling, chip on the shoulder, hall monitor bureaucrat. You don't tell me what to frigging do. And I do not, I'm not big on the way Art Pawlowski does things in general, but as Derek said before too, he did it just right with them. He didn't negotiate. He didn't talk. He just said, get out.
00:27:41.720get out of my place get out right now come back with a warrant but he didn't get a lot of sympathy
00:27:47.960from non-religious people because they say well it's just a church and that's where the problem
00:27:51.880we have is i mean that didn't impact me but i understand how important that is but how do we
00:27:56.920get that through to people you've got to stand up for your neighbors because in the long run
00:28:00.440it's better for yourself oh absolutely you know yeah and it's been like dealing again with uh
00:28:09.000you know charter rights or something i mean it's written again right in there the
00:28:13.400you know the freedom of religion and the freedom of assembly are right in section two of the
00:28:18.840fundamental freedoms and they do they do go hand in hand i mean a place of worship um i mean i
00:28:26.280you know i'm a i consider myself a christian you know i'm not i'm not as active as a lot of people
00:28:31.880but um uh yeah i mean it's it's an important part and even as a as being a part of a political
00:28:38.280document i mean it you know when you define a separation between uh church and state you know
00:28:45.480the the state has to uh you know and this is this is all in historical context of course but you have
00:28:51.160to uh you know you do you protect that that freedom of of worship right and again yeah i think it is a
00:28:59.400very fundamental freedom for people i mean that's their that's their faith i mean those are their
00:29:04.680those are their beliefs i mean their whole belief structure is based around around this stuff um and
00:29:11.000and not only that i mean what churches do for communities what they do for charity and uh you
00:29:17.160know helping homeless people and uh you know most you know they haven't been able to have aa meetings
00:29:24.200in a lot of these places because uh they can't gather in the churches right i mean and where
00:29:31.400you know a lot of AA meetings take place so I think things like that they there's huge contributions
00:29:37.480to the community that are being trampled on um and yeah I think the churches a lot of them are
00:29:43.960taking the brunt of it uh it's incredibly unfair incredibly unethical um immoral so yeah I and I
00:29:54.840don't know what the answers are I mean I don't know what it takes for people to um
00:30:01.400stand up and and turn this thing around and and for popular opinion to swing to a point where
00:30:09.400uh you know they realize that we're losing something you know very important very special
00:30:15.400right that a lot of well you know we take it for granted and maybe that's part of the problem a lot
00:30:19.640of countries don't have uh rights like these enshrined into their into their constitution
00:30:26.520right no and then we enshrined those or did uh because we saw the importance on why that needs
00:30:33.640to be taken care of and we really seem to have forgotten it you know as i said we're a lucky
00:30:38.440generation we didn't have to live through a world war uh you know i mean this is the biggest
00:30:42.920challenge of our generation going on with this pandemic and it's not as as visible and clear
00:30:47.560cut as a as a something like a war i guess is when to make people understand the importance of these
00:30:53.240freedoms and these abilities you know and other things for churches they are their social hubs
00:30:57.720their community centers and and uh yeah the vast majority of church time i've spent in my life
00:31:04.120aside from uh for other people's weddings or funerals has been aa meetings and uh they you
00:31:10.200know when i worked in the states and i traveled i needed a place to go because that's you know where
00:31:15.000i'm gonna want to get out and get a drink so almost always it's the church providing it it's
00:31:20.200a local service it's a safe space it's non-judgmental again i'm not going in there to worship they're
00:31:25.720just providing that space because they know there's a healthy activity for the community
00:31:28.920that's going on in here and uh you know they're going to provide it these things are being
00:31:34.840suspended right now or or speaking again in my place in prittis i live my neighbors are a church
00:31:39.960it's a little church here it's an awesome one actually a cute looking little thing it's over
00:31:43.080100 years old uh i don't attend it but they're great neighbors and another thing that i see is
00:31:49.320is you know the people who show up there every week i mean you know they're dressed up they're
00:31:53.800seeing their neighbors they're seeing their friends that is more than just the religious
00:31:57.800aspect that's a social and they're often seniors highlighted their week this is a big part of their
00:32:03.400their lives and it's gone right now you can't do that in a zoom meeting it's not the same it doesn't
00:32:09.080work oh yeah absolutely well i mean that's you know at least now i guess there's some
00:32:15.080Some, you know, I mean, these are things, me and you talked about this this time last
00:32:20.480year even, some of the, you know, damning effects of the lockdowns, problems with depression
00:32:26.620and whatnot, alcoholism, suicide, you know, at least now some of the, you know, legacy
00:32:34.580media stuff is, you know, they're talking about it now, but it's taken a year, you know,
00:32:39.320I mean, where it was pretty obvious that a lot of this, those things would happen, right?
00:32:44.760of the, you know, the deaths of despair and the, you know, unintended consequences of
00:35:53.480I mean, there is I'm not aware of a mechanism to other than, you know, legislators to to stand up to these bureaucrats and and, you know, voting them out is a tricky thing.
00:36:07.020I mean, people had high hopes for, you know, Jason Kenney to to, you know, be a staunch defender of Alberta and, you know, Canadian rights and freedoms.
00:36:18.700And, you know, he is a huge disappointment.
00:36:21.180You know, I think it's been – it's two years now since he won.
00:37:15.360But, I mean, a lot of these gatherings have gone to have been dominated by people who are, just to put it the most polite way, they're not going to draw the mainstream person to join them.
00:37:28.460They perhaps have some different theories and views that I don't want to get into debating whether they're accurate or not, but they often aren't even related to the pandemic.
00:37:37.660But, I mean, I think a state does fear it.
00:37:39.900If they see their citizens really coming out en masse, they do note that.
00:37:44.100I mean, you know, large-scale peaceful protests can change the course of the state, but we just don't bloody well do that here.
00:37:53.880Yeah, well, it is difficult when, I mean, I've been to some of the protests, and I, yeah, same thing.
00:38:02.280I can't relate closely to some of the messaging in it, so I'd rather not be seen there sometimes.
00:38:09.060But, yeah, I mean, you do need people to stand up.
00:39:03.760It's not like you get raised into these protests or moved.
00:39:06.500it's just not in you if you hear about it or you see it on tv um more creative means of pushing
00:39:12.220you know that's part of why again i for those who joined a little later in here i mentioned it
00:39:16.360earlier but uh ty northcott is holding rodeo at the end of the month on uh may 1st and 2nd i
00:39:22.080believe it is it's it's if you look up northcott rodeos on facebook or an event right you can buy
00:39:26.360tickets that's up by bowdoin that's only you know uh what an hour out of calgary close to red deer
00:39:32.140nice central spot and we can there's there's nothing different there's something people can
00:39:37.980come out to you're not marching on the streets you're not rallying you're not at the legislature
00:39:42.140come on out go to a rodeo because ahs has already warned him they're already in his face so this is
00:39:47.820your way to give a middle finger back without being perhaps at the other rallies that people
00:39:52.540are less comfortable with let's make it an event let's have some fun with it spread that have a
00:39:57.420a good time it's certainly distinctively western and alberton but to get further with things
00:40:02.240there will probably be charges late i got a feeling this is my prediction hopefully a lot
00:40:06.980of albertans come out have a great time for two days the police will kind of stand around the
00:40:11.060outsides but they're not going to interfere because it would just turn into a gong show i
00:40:15.060mean imagine that the optics is you think a church was bad try to break up a rodeo guys this is not
00:40:20.860going to go well uh but they'll end up charging ty and some others after the fact but then will
00:40:28.800they go to court they seem to be scared to go to court when it comes down to it in the end right
00:40:32.520like i think the judges may have a nuanced view on the charter rights if we could just get in front
00:40:38.660of them but they did that they dragged along uh the pastor coats there for a long time and then
00:40:43.280finally if push came to shove you couldn't drag it out any longer okay we're gonna let you out
00:40:46.900give you a $1,500 fine. The same thing with AHS and the restaurant in Mirror with Whistle Stop
00:40:54.540Cafe. In the end, they tended to drop most of it because he was willing to march into that court.
00:40:59.480And that's where they're going to have to say, this is how we're justifying crushing these
00:41:03.420businesses. They are going to have to say to a judge, this is so dire. Where are we at now?
00:41:08.540The dread third wave, this horrible third wave where we're having three or four people out of
00:41:14.1604.4 million people dying a day, and usually, again, they are elderly or with preexisting
00:41:21.200conditions. A judge might say, you know what? That's not enough. That's not enough to suspend
00:41:25.980charter rights. Well, yeah, it seems to me like even a judge might... What it comes down to is
00:41:35.580there's still a process to do it. I mean, if they wanted to suspend all these charter rights,
00:41:42.620they can still invoke the the notwithstanding clause as far as i know that they they haven't
00:41:49.660even debated that in any of these legislatures um you know the the bulk of the debate we see is you
00:41:56.700know uh you'll see the odd conservative uh you know saying we need to we need a plan for reopening
00:42:04.700and that's that's the strongest message we're getting from any of them right now is we need a
00:42:09.740plan for reopening um it's and that and that's not enough i mean you know they could they could
00:42:17.420have gone through the steps i don't think the evidence was ever there uh that they could have
00:42:22.940they could have you know done this done this legally you know so um
00:42:32.940yeah i i don't know it's it's it's scary i get you know it really is that uh you know that we
00:42:40.620that we just let this happen so yeah well i think hindsight's gonna paint a really ugly picture on
00:42:47.660what the government did and you know in a number of countries at a number of levels uh when we
00:42:52.860finally have the chance to look back on on this mess um getting to another fundamental right that's
00:42:57.660really been threatening it and again you see that they're using this emergency as a means to
00:43:02.540infringe upon it and uh as jacob pointed out he said that he said that sunday rally had actually
00:43:07.500had excellent coverage from CTV and presented their message fairly well, which is good.
00:43:12.540And somebody else saying, it's the first time ever they did their jobs last Sunday at 1130.
00:43:17.020But I mean, the mainstream media, I think most agree, especially those who are going to tune0.99
00:43:19.980into this, has gone to crap. I mean, it's fear-mongering garbage. You turn it on.1.00
00:43:26.620I've never seen a story showing the business owner in tears, locking their doors for the
00:43:32.700last time as they walk away from something they put their whole heart and soul into.
00:43:36.780I'm not seeing them interviewing the families of some of the people who overdosed
00:43:40.460because they just sunk into too bad a rut and depression from this mess.
00:43:44.540You know, we're not seeing them cover that.
00:43:46.860They're seeing them just every possible stat.
00:43:49.340I mean, one thing that got me a while back, of course,
00:43:51.580Texas is embarrassing the hell out of the lockdown fiends.
00:43:54.620And because they opened up, everybody predicted doom and gloom.
00:43:58.220Oh my God, the Texans are going to be stacked up like cordwood.
00:44:00.460They're going to be dead all over the place.
00:44:01.740It's going to be like the stand because Stephen King even jumped in on that.
00:44:04.620it's how irresponsible they are nothing happened their infections are going down down down down
00:44:10.300quit using the vaccination excuse by the way people there were less texans vaccinated when
00:44:14.700they opened up than albertans are vaccinated now so that wasn't the key factor but what i saw in
00:44:21.020that was a media report saying uh you know kind of quietly uh yeah so uh infections are down in texas
00:44:27.100and all around but oh here's a district in dallas where they're spiking like they said they just
00:44:31.340refused to to report on something positive to say it's down all around they had to pick out and find
00:44:37.020a little chunk at least and part of it i i don't know is part of it so i think is it bleeds it
00:44:43.100leads but the other part we're going to problem with in canada is that the government's gotten
00:44:47.340directly involved in funding media uh and now we have a heritage minister which is just a vile
00:44:54.460ministry i mean it's not the place of the government to protect our heritage it's us
00:44:58.540but telling us that they're going to be trying their very hardest to regulate the internet and
00:45:03.740media this is another giant loss i mean free press is a huge rate around the world that not
00:45:09.260enough people realize the importance of and we're letting it go right now oh yeah well absolutely
00:45:15.900you know um yeah i mean i can only imagine how many of these uh you know so-called journalists
00:45:23.900are uh you know what they're scared to write because they are going to they're going to lose
00:45:28.860their funding if you know if if they go against the grain on some of this stuff right so it's good
00:45:35.100you know that's why i'm happy to uh support the western standard you know i think uh i think you
00:45:41.260guys have been doing a great job and and uh yeah we need more of that right we need more people just
00:45:47.980out there telling those real stories you know telling the you know like because there are there's
00:45:53.100There's places, there's restaurants that are boarded up near my house, you know, and places I used to like going to, you know, gyms, you know, again, a place that's, you know, for a lot of people, that's a big part of their life.
00:46:09.280And these places are closed down yoga studios, you know, and yeah, those those are all businesses that, you know, it's hard to it's hard to be successful at even when times are good.
00:46:24.880It takes something. And when they're put in these positions, you have people are, you know, they're losing their, you know, potentially everything.
00:46:48.500People, you know, before lockdowns happened, you know, myself and my wife, we were very conscious of, you know, the potential for this virus to be really dangerous.
00:47:01.940You know, there's people in our lives that we were worried about,
00:47:05.140and we hunkered down, you know, laid low, you know,
00:47:10.760before any of these lockdowns even happened.
00:47:12.960And people have the right to do that, and they should do that, you know,
00:47:18.240But, you know, I think there's too much evidence now on the table for, you know,
00:47:23.560for them to continue any of this in good faith.
00:47:27.800And, you know, people have to, you know, have to realize that, that this is the most part of these lockdowns have been ineffective.
00:47:38.700What the governments have done, you know, in my opinion, it seems it seems illegal, you know, and and yeah, I don't think the history books are going to be very kind to anybody that's pulling the strings of this stuff.
00:47:52.660yeah well if you control the media you control a lot and we're not seeing as you said that the
00:48:00.740cost benefit your average person staying in their house going to work or a lot of people can work
00:48:05.260from home or you know have guaranteed incomes aren't seeing very directly what's happening to
00:48:11.720others and it allows them to kind of dismiss it from their minds they aren't seeing that that
00:48:15.780ugly truth or the real impact I had a panel on last week of three individuals because it was
00:48:21.780different. It was something you don't see on the news. One was a fellow who had a heart attack
00:48:25.720recently and he survived, but he had a lot of therapy he was going to have to go through and
00:48:31.100recovery and things to do it. And it's been deferred because of all the lockdowns. He can't
00:48:35.540get out there. He can't do those things. He can't go walking in cold weather. This is putting him
00:48:39.820in very serious danger. You know, so that has to be weighed. And it's not saying the virus has no
00:48:46.300threat. You know, I'm not getting into that. I'm just saying you have to weigh the different
00:48:49.440dangerous i mean some people are getting killed by restrictions as well so let's look at both
00:48:54.400uh i also spoke to a mother who's been laid off for her third time because she's in the
00:48:59.280hospitality industry this is causing incredible tension at home uh you know tough time with the
00:49:05.280family a tough time with the kids the stress but nobody again the mainstream aren't talking about
00:49:10.400a woman who runs a doggy hotel you know again a small important local little business and they're
00:49:15.600getting crushed but the media doesn't touch that and we need media to dig into that and i i'm scared
00:49:22.240because right now they're sliding it under the radar we're coming in on election year and they're
00:49:25.920talking very strongly about taking a much tighter control of our media of our information and then
00:49:32.880i've used this analogy before just because it was a big impression on my life i went to the soviet
00:49:37.760union at the end of the 80s i toured around a bit i hit a few spots and the big thing with them when
00:49:42.000I crossed the border and I know some of you here have already heard this story but still it was a
00:49:45.040big one was you know I traveled a fair amount I expected to search for drugs or odd uh you know
00:49:50.720things they were searching for books and cassettes that's what they wanted that's what they wanted
00:49:55.600to make sure I was not bringing into Russia they did not want information getting in that wasn't
00:50:00.880Pravda that was their concern an authoritarian dictatorship wants to control information and
00:50:08.320look where Trudeau's liberals are right now, sliding under the radar, under the guise of
00:50:13.240fake news and, you know, pandemic or health risks. They are coming after our free information,
00:50:17.480and we're going to pay a terrible price if they get full control of this.
00:50:22.340Oh, yeah. You know, it's, yeah, it's hard to believe, actually, that, you know, we're going
00:50:32.760down that road. The problem is, you know, in a liberal society, you know, we believe
00:50:56.500even free speech because or free expression or freedom of the media because you understand
00:51:03.960that people are able to gauge things for themselves and that the, you know, good, real information
00:51:11.220will rise to the top. Good quality journalism. And it works the same in everything. It works
00:51:17.520same in art it works the same in music or movies the actual you know reliable good stuff you know
00:51:28.320is the is where people turn to so um you know i again i don't think that we've elected
00:51:38.480smart enough people that are you know maybe educated in those types of classical liberal
00:51:43.680values, and they rely on, yeah, these socialist, protectionist type methods, they, I believe
00:51:53.280a lot of them, you know, actually believe that they are doing the right thing, fighting
00:51:57.740some sort of imaginary threat to media, but there's always been bad tabloid journalism,
00:52:07.440there's always, I mean, there was, you know, the whatever it used to be called, you know,
00:52:11.780there was aliens and bigfoot cover all the time and um there's always been that stuff right weekly
00:52:18.100world news or whatever yeah yeah exactly yeah the weekly world news yeah and you know and you know
00:52:24.740and i like that stuff because i think it's entertaining but uh um yeah there's the the
00:52:31.380right way to approach these things is to let everybody have their say and have you know have
00:52:37.300these have these conversations out in the open and and people are able to dismiss things for
00:52:44.980themselves i mean you don't need one you don't need you know this heritage minister like you're
00:52:50.500talking about you don't need uh you know you don't need government controlling and the other thing
00:52:58.260not only they you know you know they're subsidizing these these businesses that are
00:53:03.380that are failing you know like that there's no reason why taxpayers should be on the hook for
00:53:10.340media that people don't want right i mean you know the cbc is the classic one but now
00:53:16.180now all of them are getting money and and with that there's uh you know there's strings attached
00:53:21.700you know they need to cover things a certain way or they're going to lose their funding
00:53:25.780that's all there is to it so yeah it's it's terrible i i again i'm i'm so often at a loss
00:53:34.020for words that uh that people are able to sit back and and watch this happen um yeah well
00:53:42.180we're in a period where we have more information at our fingertips than any time in human history
00:53:48.580you know to like the access to information the stuff that's out there that we can find out
00:53:53.140i mean i remember fights over drinking in the early 90s where they'd have to wait for two days
00:53:57.220because one of us would have to go to the library and look it up to sell it that was reality but it
00:54:03.300puts the onus on you but the other thing is we have more access yeah to than we ever had in
00:54:07.300our lives too i mean you go around the internet oh there's no shortage of it but as you said when
00:54:11.780you stood in the supermarket you saw the weekly world news too and you knew that sasquatch and
00:54:16.420alien probably were not actually mating in bill clinton's backyard but it was entertaining stuff
00:54:22.660on the site the thing is i think it comes down to is a an attitude of personal responsibility though
00:54:27.540you see what it comes down to us then you've got to dig through it you've got to determine for
00:54:31.940yourself which is the bs which is the good stuff and a lot of people are just uh seem quite happy
00:54:38.100to say i'll just let the government take care of it for me you know the buzzword of fake news and
00:54:42.100they'll tell me what's right and wrong and protecting your precious years from uh misinformation but
00:54:47.540it's wrong we need more just throw it out there throw it on mass and as you said the proper stuff
00:54:53.460will rise to the top if we can allow it to oh absolutely yeah for sure um yeah i don't know i
00:55:02.980mean it's that you know it's it is a double-edged sword too like because there is you know anybody
00:55:11.380anybody has the ability now to start a uh news outlet media outlet of any kind it's easier to
00:55:19.700get you know your journalism out there than ever you know it's easier to get your artwork out your
00:55:26.340your music you know anybody you know the type of you know the type of if you want to make a short
00:55:33.060film it's it's easier to do that and everybody you know has the has the ability to do that um
00:55:40.020And so, yeah, you know, it's a battle I think the state will lose because there's no, you know, it's just too, the technology's way too far ahead for them to shut down all the alternative media, all the alternative news.
00:55:59.420I know it doesn't look it doesn't look good sometimes because of, again, you elect these people to to make decisions and they're they're making decisions that are, you know, you know, in their own interest for the most part.
00:56:19.640Right. They're looking to protect their their jobs or their reputation by controlling the media.
00:56:27.060And and but I in the long run, I just don't I don't think they'll it's a battle they'll be able to win.
00:56:34.420I mean, in the short term, we're going to lose some money and, you know, mainstream legacy media stuff isn't going to it's not going to get any better.
00:56:45.560In fact, fewer and fewer people are going to turn to it, especially as the more the state gets involved,
00:56:52.880because the government gets involved in any of that stuff, and it just loses quality, right?
00:56:57.400So in the long run, I'm fairly optimistic that things like the Western Standard will be around for a long time.
00:57:08.300And I encourage other people, everybody, to take up that mantle, start a blog, be active with that sort of thing.
00:57:21.100Or even if it's not media, like art, movies, music, all that stuff, it's easier now than ever to get that stuff out there.
00:57:30.080I mean, a person can put their paintings, the songs they've written, their poetry, anything they want, they can share it in ways we didn't have 30 years ago.
00:57:38.300you know go and rent a photocopier and then pin it up on on street corners and actually some
00:57:42.460people kind of literally did those things back then we've got some magnificent tools at our
00:57:46.780fingertips i'm happy to see some optimism yes because i i think what they're trying to do is
00:57:50.460almost like trying to plug a strainer you know they can keep plugging those holes but it's going
00:57:54.060to keep leaking and eventually they'll lose but it's still going to be a battle and and i worry
00:57:58.460about our our lack of will to push back on it you know and to speak a bit about with the western
00:58:04.460standard i know some people got a little you know irksome upset when we moved on to a paywall model
00:58:11.660for a lot of the stories and articles and and i mean it'd be great if we advertising alone would
00:58:16.380pay for it but i mean the media world has changed and this isn't even the government it's just that
00:58:20.140there is so much competing media out there that's part of where the mainstream is running into
00:58:24.220trouble too there are not advertising dollars out there like there used to be it just there's not
00:58:30.540enough to sustain things and we can get those blogs out there we can get you know our own art
00:58:35.340pieces out and so on but for an actual news organization to get professionals like dave
00:58:39.900nailer and alexander dollywell and uh mike more like these are news guys and they're getting
00:58:45.180news content out there you know principled good well-written stuff but it comes at a cost and
00:58:52.700uh the advertising just won't quite cover it you know and then that stuff sort of is our core but
00:58:57.180and then you can get our editorials outside of it. So I just like to explain to some people,
00:59:00.220you know, we never thought twice about spending, you know, 15, 20 bucks a month for a newspaper
00:59:04.540subscription in the past and to get one delivered to your house every day. This is in that price
00:59:08.780range, you know? Yep. Well, I mean, and that's part of the problem with, again, with the,
00:59:14.460you know, the government, you know, subsidizing these, these failing media companies,
00:59:20.620you know, they're reallocating resources, they're, they're taking money from people
00:59:24.700and reallocating it to something they don't want, where if, you know, people still have
00:59:30.860that money in their pockets, you know, companies might be able to be advertising with the places
00:59:38.140they believe in, or people would be buying those subscriptions that they believe in.
00:59:45.020I mean, these are, you know, it's the typical socialist model.
00:59:48.760And again, I think that's, you know, that's why it will fail, because they are, you know, they're taking resources from one place, putting it into something that people ultimately don't want, you know, and it's, you know, these things just don't work.
01:00:08.860I mean, you were in the Soviet Union in the 80s, like you said, and, you know, before that, people, you know, people were scared that communism was going to take over.
01:00:23.020The problem is communism doesn't work.
01:00:27.420And, you know, I think a lot of these programs, I mean, I'm a believer in free markets and capitalism.
01:00:35.040And that's, you know, so I'm confident that these, ultimately, these things will just kill themselves, these, you know, these government handouts and these subsidies and this corporate welfare, because it doesn't work.
01:00:50.680I mean, at the end of the day, it's all just going to fall apart, and there will be, you know, places like the Western Standard and other people that'll just be there to keep going after everything else is in ashes.
01:01:07.880Yeah, a lot of it tends to come in cycles, I think, you know, we'll do well, and then we'll get complacent, and we'll let it go bad, and eventually it crumbles, but I mean, historically in the world, the end of the cycle is usually actually a violent revolution.
01:01:20.680And I really hope that we don't end up at that point.
01:01:24.880And again, we are so soft and comfortable.
01:01:27.680I can't quite see it happening, so I don't know how bad it would have to get.
01:01:33.080But I just the statists, you know, this term libertarians like throwing out to make
01:03:23.540The UCP is, you know, divided on so many fronts.
01:03:28.520And I think, yeah, I think there is an opportunity for something different, you know.
01:03:36.780And, yeah, the statists or the authoritarians, they always, I mean, unfortunately, it's inherent in the political system.
01:03:46.380They, you know, we elect them to have that power to work on our behalf, to put our, you know,
01:03:56.820You vote for the people who you think are going to protect your interests the most, right?
01:04:00.880And, yeah, it's, you know, again, that's why, you know, maybe again, getting back to the charter, I mean, maybe the answer is in, you know, reestablishing something to do around the charter rights where it's not easy for them to, you know, do these things that they've done.
01:04:22.620I really don't know. I mean, I'm not. But yeah, you know, other than that, I mean, massive, a massive swing in culture, you know, in the way in the way we view authority and the way we view responsibility. Those are the types of things that will make a difference.
01:04:42.940yeah well you know we keep pecking at it i mean it it's uh funny liberty-minded people or
01:04:51.840libertarians when it comes to the party and we tend to kill ourselves i still can't forget down
01:04:55.960in the states with that uh gentleman i think it was at a convention showed up on the stage stark
01:05:00.040naked uh to give his speech and you know it fell into that just because you can doesn't mean you
01:05:05.340should sort of category of things i understand the point you're kind of trying to make i think
01:05:10.100similar to what i'm talking about with the protests too if you're going to let the fringe
01:05:13.060dominate the front speaking zones you're not going to get the broader public on board with you no
01:05:18.260matter what you you try to do we get moving into a bit more of a partisan front as we move you know
01:05:23.220towards the end here today um jason kenny does have a revolution going on in his hands i mean
01:05:29.140things that is there things could work within the system we're seeing something uh well we've seen
01:05:33.940it you know in parties often before he's got a caucus revolution going on it started with 15
01:05:39.940It ended up with 17 elected members signing a letter in complete, clear, broad defiance of his movements, policies and health orders.
01:05:48.580Where do you think things are going to go with this?
01:05:57.020I mean, I you know, it seems to me and I'm not I'm not involved in any of the provincial or federal parties at this point.
01:06:04.080But it seems to me like you will, it seems to me we're heading to a major split in the UCP, something back towards, you know, where the lines were drawn between the PCs and the Wild Rose before.
01:06:19.680Now, I don't I don't really know how that's going to play out in the next election, you know, because I think the NDP is still a, you know, pretty dominant force that could have a big surge in the next election also.
01:06:36.240um but yeah i mean i i it seems to me like under jason kenney i i can't see i can't see the ucp
01:06:46.280uh remaining unfractured right so yeah well i mean some of my disappointment i mean i was
01:06:55.360supportive of kenny i i was supportive of when he ran for the leadership of the pcs i thought it was
01:06:59.860time to get things together and get one party because this was back when the ndp were still
01:07:03.920in government and i i had really high hopes i mean you know he was a political figure since
01:07:08.960my younger days as well when he's at the taxpayers federation and he was a
01:07:12.960fantastic cabinet minister in a number of roles in government and of course he was a
01:07:17.040pitbull and a reform opposition member so you know this is the guy who was voted over and over again
01:07:21.760by the media it's the hardest working mp i mean this is you know he's no fool he's not lazy but
01:07:28.960it seems to me maybe it you know the skill set of leadership is just somebody that person really
01:07:34.320either has or they don't you know to be able to hold it together i mean ralph klein didn't have
01:07:38.560a big history of partisan involvement and everything but he just seemed to have whatever
01:07:41.840that that magic combination of traits was to hold it together and really bring things behind him
01:07:47.840uh whereas jason kenny just can't seem to find that within the party or outside of it i mean people
01:07:53.040are not gathering around to follow him i think maybe it's a whole different animal you know
01:07:57.360running a ministry is a big difference from running a political party or convincing an
01:08:03.760entire province that what you're doing is correct um i don't i don't think he can recover from this
01:08:08.880i don't know though yeah well i don't i don't i don't i mean i think he could i think he could
01:08:14.480recover he's he's smart and savvy but i don't as far as recovery i mean he could he there's a lot
01:10:02.680um we talk about the libertarian party of the tim moan i i can't imagine that man's patience0.98
01:10:08.360i don't know how he does it there's there's nothing worse than a bunch of bloody libertarians
01:10:11.600to try and try and keep going but you know as danielle pointed out and it's so refreshing to
01:10:18.340hear somebody because she's as aware that she made some mistakes as anybody uh but talking about the
01:10:23.600thing that brings these leaders down it's not when the public gets upset it's not when the press0.97
01:10:27.760gets upset but when your caucus turns on you you're screwed uh they are gonna pull you down
01:10:33.840i mean they're worried for their own jobs they're not worried about what your future is gonna be0.76
01:10:38.420if you can't get it together that they will yank you out of there and there's uh two years left
01:10:44.500you know for for an ambitious person i think to pull the leader and try and get him replaced and
01:10:48.900make a go of things in the party uh with two years to go isn't beyond uh believability i think
01:10:54.440oh yeah not at all not at all i mean i i i don't i have a hard you know i i think the the party is
01:11:05.000is split along pretty specific lines i i don't see what we call the ucp uh replacing kenny if
01:11:14.240he doesn't if he doesn't want to go um so again like i say i don't know how that turns out in
01:11:20.020And in an election cycle, you know, if there's another party that forms or, you know, one of the other smaller parties scoops up some of these, you know, renegade MLAs who are speaking out against Kenny at this point.
01:11:41.020But who knows? It'll make for good television, that's for sure.
01:11:47.520It is that. I mean, it really surprised me when I saw the Speaker Cooper come out and some people have gotten on him. And to be honest, I like Nathan Cooper a lot. And he's been actually a very good speaker and good at explaining things. I thought he's been quite balanced. But him of all guys should have known you were the one and only MLA who shouldn't have signed that letter.
01:12:09.320You know, as a speaker, I mean, you could resign speaker first and then do it,
01:12:12.980but you cannot take a distinctive political stance as a speaker.
01:12:17.080It was a surprising error on the part of Cooper, I think, you know.
01:12:22.920Well, it's a political error, but, you know, morally, yeah, he should stand up and say that, right?
01:12:32.660I mean, if he, you know, and at some of the points in some of these guys' careers,
01:12:37.740I, you know, I don't know him personally or where he's at with things, but, but there does come a time when, yeah, you do have to, these, that's what we need more of is these people, these legislators standing up and saying, no, we're not going along with this, you know, autocratic rule.
01:12:54.700I'm letting you know, letting everybody know what I think of it, you know, there's definitely not a lot, enough of that, you know, and same, you know, there's, oh, what was it?
01:13:05.500like uh the two barnes and uh i forget her name who you know left the you know they formed that
01:13:14.220lit the so-called liberty caucus and uh some others randy hillier in ontario and yeah exactly
01:13:23.180so and uh you know when our alberta mlas walked away from that because uh you know randy is you
01:13:31.660You know, an insensitive tweet using Nazi imagery, right?
01:13:37.040And you know, that is in poor taste, in my opinion.
01:13:42.560But at the same time, you know, there's what's in worse taste is, you know, these authoritarian
01:17:50.520Well, I'll let you go, and we can look forward to seeing more columns from you.
01:17:54.100I'm sure we'll have a conversation sometime again.
01:17:56.260as you said earlier too if we could find a patio open somewhere or whatever we could sit down
01:18:00.160have a good uh beer and a chat some other time well you can have a beer and all vicariously
01:18:05.480enjoy it for you let's uh let's find uh let's find some place that's uh oh that's illegally
01:18:11.820open i'd prefer that i'm all for it we'll talk later darcy okay thanks thanks bye
01:18:20.000okay so yeah you know as i said thanks again to darcy and uh some of the commenters have thanked
01:18:27.600him as well so uh we've had a lot of talk about yeah the challenges to liberties from the the
01:18:32.480pandemic and the lockdowns and the actions of the state in response to it something we're not
01:18:38.720hearing nearly enough about i think is it is the long-term economic consequences i mean i'm getting
01:18:43.840really really nervous about what we're looking forward to here when we got so many levels of
01:18:48.320debt so much expenditure so much dependence on government for subsidies now whether it's
01:18:54.240individuals whether it's businesses or whatnot so i've got fergus hodgson coming on here he's from
01:19:00.000econ americas he likes talking those money issues precious metals all that uh funky uh trade sort
01:19:06.720of stuff but i mean it's all tied together the bigger picture you know the the let's look at
01:19:10.800these macroeconomics and and uh i just want to find out get an idea what the heck is is happening
01:19:16.160out there so uh i cannot hear you mate i assume you can't hear me i can't hear you uh yeah uh
01:19:27.920let me try different headphones because
01:19:35.120okay um there's a so fergus is having some technical issues here
01:19:40.640I don't know if he can see it, but I have a private chat area, and I'm going to try and send him some instructions on what he's got to do, because I suspect I know what it is.
01:24:09.360But at the same time, it just feels hard to believe
01:24:10.980that we're getting much more productive
01:24:12.400in many ways i mean we've seen uh supply chain interruptions we've seen uh larger actually you
01:24:18.240know production sort of uh uh industries being shut down or slowed down dramatically uh energy
01:24:24.720sector manufacturing so uh it still managed to be enough to balance things let let me yeah let me
01:24:31.120back up a bit i do not believe we're getting more productive in the last year so actually i agree
01:24:35.440with you on that the point was about i mean you remember corey during the global financial crisis
01:24:42.240when there were all these insane bailouts going on many people including prominent economists
01:24:46.800were projecting inflationary pressure which just did not arrive many people were actually at that
01:24:51.680time because the bailouts seemed so unprecedented in magnitude i i still remember being in those
01:24:58.240days it was one of my first jobs out of college being an economic researcher in massachusetts
01:25:03.440and many people were even thinking some kind of hyperinflation could come from the united states
01:25:07.840at that time because i think the ballot was 600 billion dollars number everyone just thought this
01:25:11.520is insane what is going on of course everything has been dwarfed by that lately but no so i agree
01:25:17.840with you that of late the main dampening of inflationary pressure has just been people not
01:25:24.320engaging in such excess spending this there's been less demand for credit people have been
01:25:30.320less inclined to borrow even with such low interest rates however there are also problems
01:25:37.600with the way we measure inflation and i wrote an article for the epoch times which you're also
01:25:43.840writing for which is great about maybe six months ago saying that four reasons why inflation already
01:25:50.160has arrived right depending on how you look at it so one already precious metals prices have
01:25:56.480increased substantially right so they got over two thousand dollars last year they're around
01:26:02.8801800 now but basically precious metals prices increased year over year by something like 40
01:26:09.120and so that is basically saying that the currencies are you know that the price their value is 40
01:26:16.880weaker relative to the gold now so also the federal reserve at the time admitted that it was going to
01:26:25.120be softening its own inflation targets so around two percent is what they target they were going to
01:26:30.640be moving away from that in terms of the way they said they were going to move to i think a
01:26:35.360some kind of moving average which was which would allow it to go higher on occasion
01:26:41.040the other was others were that there are now private measures of inflation that do not follow
01:26:47.360uh i guess the the the strict uh consumer basket of goods and they were finding much higher levels
01:26:55.120at least in american cities and i'm almost certain it'd be the same in canadian cities
01:26:58.960one of the problems is that the consumer we we often look at the consumer price index which is
01:27:03.840just day-to-day household items and we forget that you know the actual price of real estate
01:27:09.840for example has gone up enormously and at the same time the stock market has risen during this time
01:27:17.440of lockdowns now there are other there's another piece of the puzzle which i think many people
01:27:24.720overlook and which has been brought to my attention in recent times the way that if we consider just
01:27:31.360sticker prices that's just one side it's just one dimension of of inflation or diminishing value of
01:27:39.200the dollar or looney or the dollar one interesting aspect of inflation is that in this low interest
01:27:49.280world our that the productive value of the returns we get on our savings is so much lower
01:27:56.320so let's say in the past you could buy government bonds and literally get 15 or 10 return
01:28:03.920almost risk-free now you'll be getting half a percent or one percent so in some ways you're
01:28:11.280being cheated out of the returns on your assets and i see that as a consequence of inflation of
01:28:18.480easy monetary policy now i'm trying to think of a way to bring that back back around so
01:28:25.680yes we're not seeing consumer price index increases just yet the canadian level inflation
01:28:31.200i think is still between one and two percent reported however there are other ways we are
01:28:35.920seeing inflation arising or uh you know coming coming to be and my own my personal view is that
01:28:42.640in the coming couple of years we're going to see much heavier inflation because i just don't think
01:28:47.920governments are going to be willing to put interest rates up to stifle um demand for credit
01:28:54.400yeah well we've seen you know a lot of historical cycles like in the late 80s early 90s when i
01:28:59.760entered the working world uh inflation was a demon that the the state was just in
01:29:05.440obsessed with with stomping out so interest rates back then were horrific i mean
01:29:10.480uh as you said i mean if you had bonds or even savings accounts you could get eight percent on
01:29:15.440your savings in the bank but at the same time if you were a homeowner or trying to get into the
01:29:20.400housing market you were you were out of luck and at any sign of inflation the central bank would
01:29:25.200raise interest rates we've been riding on these low interest rates and it's terrifying to think
01:29:30.160and that's part of what i fear with inflation though the bank is you know the bank of canada
01:29:34.720tends to deal with it they'll raise the prime rate if they feel inflation is getting a little
01:29:37.840out of control we've got a lot of people who are sitting in a really marginal position right now
01:29:42.320and they're taking out the one area of inflation we do have as you said is real estate houses are
01:29:46.480going like bananas but if they suddenly see a two percent rate in the interest hike there could be
01:29:52.560a lot of people in a great deal of trouble yeah so look there's so much to say about this and
01:29:57.280one topic which we should address i'm not sure how long we have to chat uh corey but is the
01:30:02.320fact that philosophically we're also entering a period or ideologically where this uh modern
01:30:08.560monetary theory or mmt has taken on a new lease of life or a new level of popularity but so in terms
01:30:16.720of interest rates the fact is that theoretically speaking in terms of the basic basic economic
01:30:23.280conventions when there is inflationary pressure when a central bank sees too much demand for
01:30:31.360credit too much optimism you might say they're supposed to raise interest rates to stifle that
01:30:37.920right to follow that follow uh the demand of supply for credit now the problem is that as
01:30:46.320governments both federal uh provincial state in the u.s municipal as they become
01:30:54.800so indebted they just purely cannot afford higher rates they cannot pay it and
01:31:02.800And even Alberta right now, which was once the darling of, I guess, zero debt until the global financial crisis, is facing, I think, maybe, is it one-sixth or 20%?
01:31:15.800A substantial portion of the budget is now going to debt servicing.
01:31:19.900So if you were to take, let's say, wholesale rates from 1% to 3%, I mean, that would just take apart the provincial budget.
01:31:29.920and i just think the political pressure is too great it would it will resist higher interest
01:31:37.360rates so that mean that's why i am my my assessment is that you will actually see sticker prices going
01:31:43.640up and there's the think tanks in canada have been actually on top of this i'm really impressed
01:31:50.540with the work i've been looking over mcdonald laurier institute cd how institute and phrase
01:31:55.960institute they've all been covering this problem of monetary economics in canada
01:32:01.640and they they are fearful these are very uh careful writers i mean i'm much more inclined
01:32:08.120to just speak forthrightly they will be much more measured or keep their cards close to their chest
01:32:13.480and even these very conservative think tanks are saying that there is a grave risk of basically
01:32:21.640an unstable monetary regime in Canada's future.
01:32:48.200precious metals and silver, gold, so on.
01:32:50.520But now we've got cryptocurrencies out there, which has given a new area for some people to ask whether it's a good idea or not to get into that sort of thing.
01:32:59.840I'm still a little bit confused on the entire concept of how those bloody things work.
01:33:03.820But how much of a factor in our entire economics are there?
01:33:06.800Are they just still a novelty on the side or are they really actually having an impact on things?
01:33:10.820I do think they're having an impact, Corey.
01:33:13.200And not only do I think that, but central bankers think that.
01:33:16.720right so the bank of canada maybe three years ago now entered put out a paper on the prospect of
01:33:24.400their you know a central bank digital currency the fed coin is becoming a you know a topic of
01:33:30.800discussion among central bankers so first central banks realize they're under competitive pressure
01:33:37.120always central banks under competitive pressure anyway from just other central banks right so
01:33:42.000So if the Canadian dollar were to go into some sort of very, very severe inflationary process, people would immediately just start using U.S. dollars, right?