00:18:30.340So maybe I'll just kind of start and get back to Franco quickly, just to kind of lay out,
00:18:35.800perhaps, Franco, what this book is, what it's going into and who's behind it. And then we'll
00:18:40.180just kind of move along through folks and see what you guys have put forward here.
00:18:43.800Well, Corey, first, thanks so much for having us on. We really appreciate the ability to kind of get this important message out. So the ebook, it's free, and it's available on our websites. Taxpayer.com is the Canadian Taxpayers Federation one. So it's called Life After COVID. And really, the focus is how can governments tackle some of these huge obstacles that we're facing after COVID-19, right?
00:19:04.760So many of the big problems are our government finances are absolutely in the dumps.
00:19:09.680We've had so many people who have lost their jobs, so many businesses whose life savings have just evaporated before their very eyes.
00:19:17.620So many Canadians are also rightly concerned about our health care system and obviously all of the legal issues that are at play here.
00:19:24.700So we decided, our groups, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Montreal Economic Institute, the JCCF, we have the Canadian Constitution Foundation, SecondStreet.org, and also post-media columnist Anthony Fury.
00:19:38.020We all got together and we figured out, well, how can we address some of these huge issues moving forward without calling for more government spending, without calling for more government debt and government borrowing?
00:19:48.800so this book is kind of a collaboration we all come together to solve some of the big issues
00:19:53.360but really in a taxpayer friendly way great well i'll start moving around here one area that
00:20:01.280we haven't heard nearly enough about and is from our health care system i think something that's
00:20:04.960really been exposed is just how vulnerable we are in our current system as it's laid out i mean
00:20:09.520a lot of people are asking well if these these icu numbers and these hospitalization numbers is
00:20:13.760a relative part of our population are so low, why does it sound like we're always on the brink of
00:20:19.200being overwhelmed? I mean, how bad was our system to begin with? So Crystal, you've written a large
00:20:24.880portion of the book on what we need to do with our health system in light of all of this. Can
00:20:29.280you expand a bit on that? Absolutely. So for years we've been underperforming. This isn't new. This
00:20:37.360is something that has existed. What COVID-19 has really done has magnified some of these
00:20:43.360insufficiencies in the current system what we've dealt with has been massive capacity issues so
00:20:49.520wait times for medically necessary surgeries we've been dealing with those for years those are huge
00:20:54.160problems hospitals are constantly overcrowded this is not a new issue this is this is something that
00:20:59.760we've been dealing with and throwing more money at and so through the years governments have been
00:21:06.800dumping money into these systems um both canada-wide as a percent of gdp and provincial
00:21:13.280governments as a percentage of provincial budgets and so we have to come to the point where we ask
00:21:19.200okay well why do we still have these massive capacity issues with all of this extra funding
00:21:25.120people are starting to wake up to this uh we commissioned a poll through ipsos back in november
00:21:31.120where 53% of Canadians had said that over the past decade, the money that's been injected
00:21:36.720into the system, they don't see it having any impact or they feel that the system is actually
00:21:41.360worse. So people are starting to wise up to this. And what COVID did was, like I said,
00:21:46.160it really just magnified some of these issues. Yeah, absolutely. So getting onto the solution
00:21:54.160end though, which gets much more sticky because I mean, Canada, we've really turned our whole
00:21:57.920health institutions into a sacred cow. I mean, the only politically acceptable solution to any
00:22:02.880problems is to throw more money at. As you said, we've been doing that at a great pace for some
00:22:07.640years now, and it doesn't seem to be improving things. So what do we need to do with our system
00:22:12.580going forward once this pandemic starts to ease off? Well, moving forward, there are a few reform
00:22:19.480options that would really inject some of that capacity without having to call on additional
00:22:24.920funds from taxpayers or from governments and so one of the ways to do this is currently hospitals
00:22:32.360are budgeted on global budgets which means they're funded based on previous years volume of patients
00:22:39.400and services so there's really no incentive there to innovate or do things better because it's not
00:22:45.400based on current numbers or current trends switching to something like activity-based
00:22:49.800funding where they are funded based on the actual number of patients and services being rendered
00:22:55.560would tie things a little closer to the actual patient as well as you know open up the door for
00:23:02.280a little bit more efficiency to be injected into the way things are being done additionally we see0.98
00:23:08.280that restrictive licensing of nurses and physicians for example or sorry nurses and pharmacists they
00:23:16.040are highly educated they are highly trained in a lot of countries they actually have a broader
00:23:22.280scope of practice where they're able to diagnose and prescribe for minor ailments and so we can see
00:23:28.680in our current vaccination campaign just how useful this would be to be able to mobilize these
00:23:34.440personnel um another reform option would be to allow entrepreneurs to begin to provide some of
00:23:42.920the publicly funded services so this would just unlock a whole bunch of resources overnight
00:23:49.640from the private sector um what we see with this is that also canadians are getting more
00:23:55.480aligned with this way of thinking in that same poll 63 percent of canadians had said
00:24:01.480that if the services were still funded under our universal medicare system they're open to
00:24:07.080the idea of entrepreneurs being involved so the thought of of not offloading some of this
00:24:13.400onto entrepreneurs who are willing to pick up that slack is ludicrous really these options
00:24:19.000exist and they're they're very easily mobilized great well i'm glad to see people starting to
00:24:25.160think outside the box a little and and getting so i'll kind of pivot back to franco for a moment then
00:24:30.760because we got the financial aspect no matter what we do and getting more efficiencies in
00:24:34.120health is fantastic but we still have to pay for it and we are still very low on money so
00:24:40.360uh from the fiscal end where you guys were uh writing and digging in as well as i think calling
00:24:45.720craig uh what uh proposals have you got going ahead here for post-covid well corey uh first i
00:24:52.520just want to add that crystal's chapter on on health care reform i mean it really made something
00:24:57.000completely obvious to to me and that was that more tax dollars isn't the answer here right
00:25:01.720And, you know, this is something that we're all we know all too well here in Alberta, where we are one of the biggest per person spenders in all of Canada when it comes to health care.
00:25:11.820So clearly more taxpayers at this government health care system isn't the answer.
00:25:16.220We should be looking to more entrepreneurs to be helping in the health care system.
00:25:19.980We saw that done in Saskatchewan, right, where you had publicly funded, but you had private clinics deliver some of the the day operations and it's significantly reduced costs.
00:25:30.380And that is what the government is trying to do here, little by little.
00:25:34.700You know, one of the big issues in Alberta is over who should be pouring the coffee, who should be doing the laundry in in in hospitals.
00:25:42.620And certainly we don't need government government employees to be doing that.
00:25:46.260Of course, the private sector could help share the burden there.
00:25:50.100Another thing I just want to point out in health care is that, well, we've seen all over the world where there's industrialized countries who allow their entrepreneurs and businesses to play a bigger part in delivering health care services.
00:26:03.640Now, when we look at the bigger picture of government debt, it's one thing is clear is that we have so many governments across the country who are up in their eyeballs in debt.
00:26:12.520The federal government just released its budget and within a few short years, it is going to be doubling, doubling the pre-pandemic debt.
00:26:21.400And the first, before we can really provide solutions, it's important to understand why we're in this big mess.
00:26:28.560And I think, Corey, to you and to most of your viewers here, it's going to come as no surprise that a big reason we're in this huge debt problem is because of the overspending.
00:26:36.720the overspending that is occurring now and the overspending that has occurred for years and
00:26:40.880years across governments in canada okay well so where i know this is a big question for you where
00:26:49.760do we start cutting uh we've covered this in some other chats that's the hardest part though that's
00:26:54.000where you know that the usual suspects are gonna light their hair on fire uh where do we go to get
00:26:58.560that spending under control okay yeah i mean fantastic question i mean first we we have to
00:27:03.360understand that there is areas to actually find savings and there was a significant areas before
00:27:08.320COVID-19 right so even just talking about non-COVID-19 budget items well we were running
00:27:14.640massive deficits before 2019 and that's when the federal government was spending at all-time highs
00:27:21.040so clearly there's a room for cuts now specifics well you got to start at the top right you have
00:27:26.720to start with politicians you've got to start with our members of parliament who by the way
00:27:30.720have received not one but two pay raises during COVID-19 while so many people have taken huge
00:27:36.480cuts while so many and I should say private sector people have taken huge cuts while so many people
00:27:41.600have lost their job and while so many businesses have have shut down we've still seen our members
00:27:46.240of parliament take pay raises now the big area excuse me for governments is the bureaucrats
00:27:52.880right in Alberta more than half of the Alberta government's operating budget goes to bureaucrats
00:27:58.160And we've talked about this before, but thousands of provincial government bureaucrats saw pay raises.
00:28:04.320At the federal level, they have no records of their unionized employees ever taking a pay cut.
00:28:10.100So clearly, we need our government bureaucrats to share in the burden.
00:28:13.840And a third option is you got to cut the corporate welfare.
00:28:16.800One, it's a bad way to grow the economy.
00:28:18.800We don't need politicians picking winners and losers, right?
00:28:21.520When you let politicians pick which businesses should succeed, you might as well just send them to the casino because they have absolutely no incentive to get it right.0.88
00:28:31.500So the corporate welfare needs to be cut.
00:28:34.040And instead of using that to grow the economy or try to grow the economy, politicians should just be lowering taxes and letting us keep more of our own money in our own pockets.
00:28:43.320Yeah, that would be a refreshing change.
00:28:45.220I think we do know how to manage our own money.
00:28:46.680And with times like today, we've been forced to most of us outside of the public sector have really had to learn how to manage our finances more carefully than ever.
00:28:55.640I'll come over now to getting to managing our rights, which is another tremendous and difficult area.
00:29:03.660So, Jay, you wrote the portion on circumventing our democratic institutions.
00:29:08.140Like we've stepped on so many different types of rights and abilities over the course of this pandemic and using it to justify.
00:29:17.260But we do know that when the state takes control, they don't care to relinquish it very easily.
00:29:22.560And I think a lot of us don't feel terribly confident that they're going to let go on a lot of these things, even once the pandemic passes, or at least it sets a precedent where they can step on these very quickly and very easily with little justification.
00:29:34.260So can you explain a little on what you wrote on there?
00:29:37.120Sure. So Canada is supposed to be a free and democratic society. And right now, Canada is neither free, nor is it democratic. And so really, there has been a coup to overthrow the Constitution. You have power delegated to health officials and cabinet ministers, and no democratic accountability.
00:29:58.260So the reason you have democracy is so that you have representative government, you have the representatives of people deciding and debating and amending the laws that govern those people.
00:30:10.900And right now that's not happening at all. When was the last time you heard a legislature debate the health orders? It hasn't happened.
00:30:18.080The reason it hasn't happened is because power has been delegated to health dictators, which is what they have become, and they are not democratically accountable.
00:30:28.600They are not required to provide the science to the legislature.
00:30:31.440There is no requirement for them to provide any reviews of the data or developing information out there in the medical and scientific community.
00:30:40.940And there's no requirement for the legislatures to debate and review that material.
00:32:55.180And so, of course, when anything unpopular happens, it's easy to point the finger at
00:32:59.240the doctor and tell the public, well, it's not my fault.
00:33:01.920doctor said we have to shut your your uh your churches down and close your businesses and
00:33:06.640prevent you from working out and you know by the way have as much liquor as you want because that's
00:33:11.440all that's open um you know it's the doctor that did that it's not me right don't hold me accountable
00:33:16.960and that's what i mean that's what people like jason kenny are doing yeah it's been frustrating
00:33:22.560to watch kenny and others so we'll get back to health care um on that so i mean we've got such
00:33:29.520a large and difficult institution to work with uh something franco had pointed out too is you know
00:33:34.800we're fighting over who's providing laundry and such and i mean in looking at other models um
00:33:40.560you know european models things such as that we have a great deal more private provision of care
00:33:45.760even under universal systems but one of the big uh things holding it back tends to be uh public
00:33:52.240service unions uh how can we deal with organized labor and make people feel comfortable with health
00:33:58.400reforms uh you know without getting into a giant general strike i guess you know that's a really
00:34:07.120really great question and i don't think i have the answer for it um i think that we we need the public
00:34:15.200to really understand and and i mean as i mentioned we're starting to get there where people are
00:34:19.760starting to not equate private with america which is the big problem you hear any sort of private
00:34:25.280provision and people immediately think of you know people dying in hallways in the states and that's
00:34:30.560not at all what we're talking about here and like you had just mentioned um tons of countries
00:34:36.640OECD countries in Europe are providing a mix of public and private care under their universal
00:34:42.800systems and so getting people aligned in this thinking and realizing that okay this isn't
00:34:48.080America can start to help you know with that public discourse but as for the unions themselves
00:34:54.240I don't have an answer for that. And I'm hoping that with more public involvement and more public
00:35:00.000acceptance of some of these ideas of reform, especially when they see the massive savings
00:35:04.160that can result and the increased efficiency in the system and better levels of care,
00:35:09.360that they'll get on board and then the unions will have to follow suit on some level,
00:35:14.000is what I'm hoping for. Sure, yeah, I threw a bit of an organized labor curveball at you there,
00:35:19.680but you know just it's a given that they will be the the most vocal uh in in trying to avoid
00:35:25.680change uh and as you you rightly said though i mean if if enough of the public are on board with
00:35:30.800the changes uh the labor will follow uh if only grudgingly um and yeah that that frustration
00:35:38.080that people act as if again the defenders of our current system as if there's only two systems on
00:35:41.520the planet the canadian one and the american one and ours is perfect and theirs is hell on earth
00:35:46.080And, you know, I guess in helping educate public that universal care doesn't mean it has to be
00:35:53.360universally provided by, you know, the state. I mean, there's many provision options out there.
00:35:59.920Absolutely. And what we see in Europe is great efficiency when there comes a mix of the two.
00:36:06.080So in France, for example, there are some hospitals that are privately managed,
00:36:12.240but they are still publicly funded hospitals they tend to do better they compete better we forget
00:36:18.080that healthcare is in itself a sort of business where if you're doing better and you are better
00:36:25.040quality you will increase your your customer base so for a hospital you want to provide the best
00:36:31.600care that you can and if you're then associated with budgets that reward you reward in the sense
00:36:37.680of you know based on your activity rather than previous years funding it just makes sense they
00:36:44.720just kind of go hand in hand and we see this in all over europe um also in some of those systems
00:36:51.360are the ability for doctors to practice in both the public and a private sphere whereas in canada
00:36:58.720especially here in alberta this is prohibited um and so it really makes them have to decide
00:37:05.360one way or the other. Whereas in Europe, there's a little bit more flexibility and these systems
00:37:09.680tend to do better. They have better outcomes, lower wait times, they cost less and they also
00:37:16.560have more medical equipment and innovations. So like you said, there's more than two systems.
00:37:23.680Yeah. Well, in capacity has been an issue and as well, I think diversity of care.
00:37:27.840One of the things that people forget is that mental health is a part of health care and
00:37:32.320And, you know, pharmaceuticals are a large part of our health care, and neither of those are covered in our universal system.
00:37:36.780So we may get some of the best care on earth once we get through the waiting line into our facilities,
00:37:42.080but find out that we can't afford the medications they've prescribed or perhaps the therapy that one might need if they've got other challenges.
00:37:49.860We're certainly seeing a lot of mental health stresses and challenges throughout the course of this pandemic right now.
00:37:55.340Absolutely. And they're only expected to increase along with a bunch of other conditions.
00:38:00.020I mean, we've seen with lung, renal, cardiac and neurologic conditions that are complications of COVID, we're expecting to see massive, massive costs associated with that down the line, just related to the virus itself.
00:38:15.280in addition to these extra costs that are coming on with COVID-19.
00:38:20.100So we're piling that on top of our already backlogged systems.
00:38:25.160We have to make up for over 350,000 postponed surgeries
00:38:29.640that have come up over the course of COVID
00:38:31.740or been slogged off over the course of COVID rather.
00:38:35.380And so where is this going to come from?
00:38:37.400You know, people are always screaming about
00:38:40.360there needs to be more and better, but where is it coming from?
00:38:44.180it doesn't materialize out of thin air, which is why we need to do something different and do
00:38:47.880something better. Absolutely. Well, and we've got a lot of, you know, smart, motivated individuals
00:38:53.820out there who, you know, and ambitious, if just given the opportunity, they will do things for
00:38:59.480the betterment of us. But, you know, individuals are people that apparently are not valued in
00:39:04.620society these days, particularly if they differ from the conventional wisdom on lockdowns and
00:39:10.500rules and regulations and where we're sitting just getting back to that rule of law uh jay you know
00:39:16.260like so we were talking about movement innovation business uh right now everything is so strangled
00:39:22.260like how can we open ourselves up i mean health care business just in general like we were in
00:39:27.940such a quagmire right now where do we begin to dig ourselves out here well there's a couple things
00:39:34.260that have to happen number one politicians need to start having some integrity and recognizing
00:39:39.220that their power is not unlimited and that they are constrained by the constitution and the checks
00:39:43.960and balances on their use of power. The constitution establishes two lawmaking central
00:39:51.920bodies by which laws are made, parliament and the legislatures, and they're both democratic
00:39:56.460institutions. And so in order for things to return to proper functionality, things need to be debated
00:40:04.660and reviewed in the legislatures and politicians who are at the top of the totem pole need to stop
00:40:11.180hogging the power and trying to centralize power within their cabinet, which is a very tempting
00:40:15.980thing to do, but it's not constitutional. The other thing that has to happen is that
00:40:21.320you have to have accountability in the courts because governments are out of line. They're
00:40:27.460not just a little bit out of line, they're way out of line. And they are exercising arbitrary power
00:40:33.960in the textbook definition of what an autocratic or an authoritarian society looks like.
00:40:42.280And when judges see that, they have to have the courage to push back on the government and say,
00:40:49.760this is as far as you're coming, and this over here, that's too far.
00:40:54.200And one of the reasons why Canada is so far behind the reopenings of so many other countries
00:41:02.840is because judges thus far in Canada have allowed government to get away with far too much.
00:41:08.660And I do believe that the accountability is coming.
00:41:11.940But, you know, there's nobody to protect the Constitution except for the judiciary.
00:41:17.020You have a combination of lawmaking power and the executive centralized in some of these governments right now.
00:41:23.560And so it must be the judiciary who steps up and says, this is illegal.
01:02:05.400You know, as we kind of do the final round of chat here, somebody had asked in one of the questions in the comments, too, though, it sounded like you had some optimism or things are going to be coming ahead in court that hopefully will be positive or at least a good examination you're looking forward to.
01:02:19.040Yeah, I mean, the Justice Center exists to sue the government and represent civil liberties for Canadians, and we're not going to stop.
01:02:29.620We're not going to stop with the lawsuits that we have.
01:11:15.360All right, I made it. Thanks for hanging in there, guys. I love my morning coffees. They
01:11:25.620are fantastic, but it makes it hard for a one to two hour show to make it all the way
01:11:31.720through. So yeah, and again, just to frame it up quickly, I see he's getting into the
01:11:40.340queue there. So it's just great. Pretty much everybody's heard about it. It sounds like
01:11:46.740Quebec has declared that they can change the constitution for their own benefit,
01:11:53.060which again, wasn't that surprising. If there's anything to be admired out of Quebec,
01:11:56.580they stand up for themselves. You know what? They don't care what the rest of us think.
01:11:59.540And I think it's time we start taking on a little of that attitude ourself,
01:12:03.460past time for that actually. But the thing was a little more surprising though, I guess it shouldn't
01:12:07.540be too much but justin trudeau said yeah well if that's what you want to do we're all right with it
01:12:13.460wow okay but then an erin o'toole who has just been a giant deep well of disappointment
01:12:18.500jumped in and pretty much said the same thing too so this appears to be unavoidable in the usual0.55
01:12:24.900kissing of quebec but we will allow them to do whatever they like with impunity and not a single
01:12:30.420federal leader is going to do a damn thing about it but can a province do things like that i'm not
01:12:36.660Sure. So I've brought in another lawyer to talk about things. Two lawyers in one day. This is Derek Fromm. He's been on before, and I'm sure if you're a Twitter sort of people and such, you've seen Derek out there or on Facebook. Thanks a lot for joining me to talk a bit about this today, Derek.
01:12:56.720Right. So maybe if you could break down what exactly happened here, like there's a constitutional amending formula. I had to live through watching them try to utilize it in Meech Lake in Charlottetown and it failed. It's a difficult formula to accomplish. I mean, the Constitution is something that shouldn't be easily changed. I mean, it should be beautiful, but not necessarily, you know, easily changed. It makes sense. But does it turn out there's a way to completely bypass the formula and just do it in your own?
01:13:25.960i didn't realize that existed well it's it's actually kind of interesting to geeks like
01:13:31.320myself who like this type of stuff but if you go back to 1867 when we really received our first
01:13:37.800constitutional document from the imperial parliament that was just an ordinary statute
01:13:42.920from the imperial parliament imperial parliament in london and it could be amended at any time
01:13:49.320by that parliament and so our local government did not have the power to do it so it was
01:13:55.560entrenched in a way right now the conventions developed about how that could be changed
01:14:01.320but what really happened is in 1931 there was a statute from the imperial parliament
01:14:07.400that gave canadian governments the ability to either repeal or amend uk law which was
01:14:14.520governing us at the time but it explicitly excluded the british north america act which
01:14:21.000is our constitution act 1867 so that at that moment became still or persisted as kind of an
01:14:29.000untouchable document and it was only in 1982 with um senior trudeau's constitution act 1982
01:14:38.440that that was patriated into canada and now canadian governments are permitted to amend that
01:14:46.120constitution under certain circumstances and so there's actually five amending formulas
01:14:53.160in the constitution and the one that everyone's most familiar with requires a resolution from
01:14:59.320the house of parliament or a house of commons and the senate and then i believe it's two-thirds
01:15:04.920majority in the provinces and there's a referendum standard but that's that's not the one we're
01:15:09.880talking about that's what everyone's familiar with um there's two others that are kind of
01:15:14.360at play here with what's going on in quebec the first one is section 45 which says that a province
01:15:22.680can amend its own its own constitution unilaterally and section 43 which allows
01:15:32.680a province that is uniquely affected or solely affected to go through a special procedure
01:15:39.720that is less onerous than the general amending procedure and i believe that as long as the
01:15:46.920province and the federal government agree there may be a referendum required in that as well i
01:15:51.560can't remember off the top of my head um but a province is able to bring an amendment forward
01:15:57.000long as it doesn't affect other provinces that way it directly affect them then then an amendment
01:16:03.800can be made that is particular to that province so for instance something that might be might fall
01:16:08.600underneath that is um the alberta act the alberta act 1905 brought alberta into confederation
01:16:17.080i believe there's provisions in there about separate schools and so separate schools in
01:16:23.560this province enjoy constitutional protection and so you can see that in the alberta act the
01:16:30.280separate schools are particular to this province so that section 43 amending procedure would
01:16:37.560probably be the one that gets applied to a future alberta where perhaps that alberta act is amended
01:16:43.320so that separate school the the constitutional protection changes but section 45 is the one
01:16:52.200that quebec is trying to use and this is puzzling to me because section 45 permits
01:17:01.000provinces to amend their own constitutions now that might sound strange to people because in
01:17:08.840canada we really don't have many provincial constitutions there are some but i should say
01:17:14.720we don't have many written provincial constitutions british columbia actually does have a written
01:17:20.800constitution and it does not contain a bill of rights so it might be a little bit different than
01:17:26.860what people expect the constitution to be but alberta doesn't does not have a written constitution
01:17:34.060and quebec arguably does or does not i'm not sure how they would consider their quebec charter
01:17:42.540that it could be a constitutional document and this is the reason i think there may be some
01:17:47.100ambiguity is because traditionally in the westminster system it is not permitted
01:17:56.860to bind future parliaments, and that's exactly what a constitution does.
01:18:02.000So if you try to entrench a statute and say there's a very onerous amending procedure
01:18:10.380for this ordinary statute and try to elevate it to the level of a constitution, under the
01:18:15.920traditional rules of the Westminster system, that's not permitted.
01:18:19.860so our constitution is kind of a unique thing in canada because uh we weren't able to amend it and
01:18:29.700in 1982 then once we became able to amend it there are very onerous rules and i'm not sure i've ever
01:18:37.060heard a really good explanation for how that was allowed at the time but it was and it's it is the
01:18:42.580law uh so i'm not sure how a provincial constitution would be in that in that sense how how it could be
01:18:51.620uh enacted or enforced or amended but there is a procedure from the 1982 constitution act that
01:18:58.340says provinces can do this but we do have unwritten constitutions as well and uh alberta for example
01:19:06.020has been asked um what's the unwritten constitution so things like the uh uh i think the the alberta
01:19:13.780bill of rights might be included in there some of the um the independent officers of the government
01:19:21.220uh their acts were included there like the auditor general other such thing so we do have some sort
01:19:26.900of quasi constitution in this province but we do not have a bill of rights and when i hear people
01:19:32.020ask for a constitution it is perfectly permitted for alberta to enact its own constitution including
01:19:37.620the bill of rights but it has to you know the interplay between it and the federal government
01:19:42.100will be important now back to quebec so what quebec has done here is they brought two amendments
01:19:48.980forward and under their power in the constitution act 1982 to amend their own constitution but
01:19:59.220using that power they're trying to slip new provisions into the canadian constitution
01:20:06.260which is kind of a an interesting sleight of hand they're using the power in section 45
01:20:12.100apparently to add sections 90 and let me look at it here because it's a very strange
01:20:19.300singular 90 q1 and 90 q2 to the constitution act 1867 now that's just in front of the provisions
01:20:29.940that divvy up power between the feds and the provinces that's sections 91 and 92. so just
01:20:36.020before that quebec is trying to slip in uh quebeckers form a nation i'm not sure what nation
01:20:44.500is that that's interesting well i mean imagine if we put that in there that's going to open a whole0.94
01:20:50.500giant can of worms on yeah i think it will yeah agreed and the second one is quebec shall be the
01:20:58.420only or sorry uh french shall be the only official language of quebec and then it goes on from there
01:21:05.460but slipping those two things in just before section 91 92 in a federal constitutional document
01:21:12.820is fascinating to me because as you pointed out nation i'm not sure how we're supposed to
01:21:18.500understand that word it it seems vague ambiguous but what i think it means is that quebec's trying
01:21:26.980to claw some power to itself arrogate power to itself that it doesn't otherwise have currently
01:21:34.900and to me that seems very strange that they'd be using an amending formula
01:21:41.140where they're amending their own constitution which they are not they're amending the federal
01:21:46.580constitution and then changing it in a way that recognizes them somehow is unique before the
01:21:53.300divisions of power which to me very clearly signals that they want to be treated differently
01:22:00.980within the, you know, amongst the other provincial governments.
01:34:41.140And maybe Quebec's found a way to change that for province by province.
01:34:45.160It might be a piecemeal, ugly way, but if we keep inserting different things, distinct things within our province by province within the constitution, it'll make a big bloated constitution.
01:34:55.260but we'll get that provincial autonomy that we need, and it'd be better for the whole country.
01:35:01.220I've gone on about that before. The country, the model I love so much is Switzerland. It's an
01:35:06.620ancient democracy, and it's so decentralized. Such a small country, multiple official languages,
01:35:12.26026 different little states they call cantons, a lot of direct democracy. I mean, they're not
01:35:17.460perfect, but they're doing a hell of a lot better than we are. Could you imagine us trying with 26
01:35:22.140provinces and we got all this space but they're pulling it off and the reason is is because they
01:35:26.940devolve so much authority to those local governments they're not trying to run it all
01:35:33.500out of a central government and that's why we're chiefing in canada i mean how absurd is it to think
01:35:39.660that one law can apply and be effective and and proper for the people of newfoundland that you
01:35:45.980know as with bc as with the yukon territories as with saskatchewan as with ontario i mean every one
01:35:51.660of these provinces are distinct, very different. I mean, culturally, economically, mindset. I mean,
01:35:57.460the only thing that really stands out with Quebec is they got language to really make such a
01:36:00.940distinction. But aside from that, we're very different. People have traveled across this
01:36:04.680country. No, we're different. We have different resources. We have different interests, different
01:36:08.580goals. We're bound together. We're considered a nation of Canada. That's fine. But we've got to
01:36:15.060have a system that can account for the differences regionally. And we don't. I mean, there's some
01:36:19.920degree of it. As Derek said, the provinces have a great deal of authority, but it seems over the
01:36:23.780years, we've given up on pushing for it, for our own autonomy, for doing it, aside from Quebec.
01:36:30.040And you know, I used to curse about Quebec a lot, and I still do now and then. But you know what?
01:36:36.040You got to admire them. They're not taking the crap. They stand up for themselves. Why are we
01:36:40.380constantly whining about them? We got to do the same bloody thing. I mean, they're winning if
01:36:46.100it's something to be won or lost. So yeah, let's examine what can Alberta put into that? What can
01:36:52.700Saskatchewan put into that? Maybe even BC, but it's going to be something very interesting to
01:36:57.820watch. And, you know, the thing to keep in mind is, is look how quickly the federal leadership
01:37:03.840bent over to accommodate Quebec with this move or demand or whatever way you want to make it out to
01:37:09.220be. Again, O'Toole, man, he's something else. You know, and it was Michelle Ripple, I mean,
01:37:16.340countered quite well in talking about, well, can Alberta put something in to get out of0.99
01:37:19.640equalization? You know, I'm in that part of the constitution. That was her question. But that0.64
01:37:23.580got pretty quickly undercut when O'Toole came bumbling on in there to say, yeah, yeah, I'm with
01:37:28.580Justin. Quebec should be able to do this and it's great and they're a nation. But again, as I said
01:37:35.020at the end, it's not like O'Toole was saying that because he thinks every province should do it.
01:37:38.580it's just him hoping he can manage to win some seats out there. It's not doing us any favors in
01:37:43.520the West. And if provinces won't stand up for themselves, I mean, we look at that. We look at
01:37:47.900the transfer payments to Quebec. Look at the preferential treatment to Quebec on every level.
01:37:52.640It's because they're willing to stand up for themselves. And if we don't, they will keep
01:37:55.960milking us to feed Quebec. But don't blame Quebec. Blame ourselves. We've got to put our foot down
01:38:03.160and say, no, we're not taking anymore. You're not getting anymore. We're out or we're moving
01:38:08.960towards being out or we'll throw our constitutional amendments and changes in there to stand up for
01:38:13.340ourselves because the system is not working and it won't. The system either needs to change or
01:38:19.600we need to get out of the system. Those are the only two options we've got left. The only question
01:38:23.580is how long are we going to let go before we hit that point? It seems interminable, but
01:38:30.220we will eventually get there. And, you know, support, polling, you know, things for independence
01:38:38.240is flying along and it's growing. So, yeah, I'm not sure about this one. Sorry about that.
01:38:50.040So, yeah, we've got a few past the independence. Maybe Quebec's provided another one to look at
01:38:54.740and examine. I talked about that before, you know, we're moving towards the equalization
01:38:58.800referendum this fall maybe that'll have a little more teeth actually it just struck me you know
01:39:02.920people say you're just pissing in the wind with this referendum there's nothing you can do well
01:39:06.200maybe there's a much stronger justification if 80 of Albertans said you know what we've had it
01:39:10.900with this crap no more equalization they vote that way in the referendum that's when we put forth our
01:39:16.240provincial modification to the constitution there see we're distinct we did a referendum on it
01:39:21.980We showed we as a whole want no part of this.
01:44:06.240They're suing the federal government on behalf of gun owners right now.
01:44:10.180And if you could become a member or donate to their legal fund, go to firearmrights.ca and click Y Join.
01:44:18.160Like they're pushing back and we have to.
01:44:20.200That's another thing the central government, what was it? C-51, I believe, under Ellen Rock back in the 90s. I'm dating myself. I'm a little older. But back then, it was a big battle with the Long Gun Registry, which we discovered in High River. That's fodder for another show. The registry was never deleted. It just stopped updating. But they're not done with this. They're still coming after our firearms.
01:44:42.460they still don't support our individual rights of property or defense or things such as that.
01:44:47.840This group, the Canadian Coalition of Firearms Rights, CCFR, they're standing up for it. They're
01:44:53.400pushing, they're taking the government to court. They're making sure that you can keep and use
01:44:57.960both, keep and use your firearms. You know, the government finds those little roundabout ways to
01:45:02.620say, well, you can have it, but it's illegal to use anywhere. Or you can have it, but you can't
01:45:08.660pass it on, you know, when you're finished with it. Like they're phasing it out. It's still a
01:45:13.660gross violation of property rights and individual rights. And the main part is they're afraid
01:45:19.860of people being empowered. I mean, firearms in Canada, realistically, they aren't harming many
01:45:27.100people. We don't need to have things not harm many people before we legislate to try and stop them.
01:45:31.440We see that with the pandemic. Armed robberies, things like that, the murders that are happening
01:45:35.980with firearms are predominantly far and above illegal handguns that came in from out of the
01:45:41.940country. Not anybody who was out hunting, not anybody who kept something around their households,
01:45:47.160you know, not a target shooter, not people, a hobbyist or a collector. These are gangsters and
01:45:53.200thugs who get illegal firearms. And guess what? No matter how many laws you put in there,
01:45:58.640those gangsters and thugs are going to keep getting them. And we're just going to have
01:46:01.420less ways to defend ourselves. So there are groups pushing for that. There were a bunch in
01:46:06.340the past. They remember a law abiding and registered firearms and owners association and
01:46:10.400a whole number of things. But now, you know, it's, it's gone into this bunch because I believe if
01:46:16.760Trudeau gets a majority and he very well probably might this fall, he's coming after your guns.
01:46:21.720So be sure to support our sponsor there, the CCFR, go to firearmrights.ca, click on there,
01:46:30.500help these guys out uh as well with us thank you all for tuning in uh you know keep an eye on our
01:46:36.820youtube channel subscribe to it if you haven't already uh nadine has been putting in a fantastic
01:46:42.340interviews and stories and editorials uh and go to the westernstandardonline.com you can get our
01:46:48.500stories in full things like derek from was talking about he'll be putting it up there we keep good
01:46:53.180original content on stories that nobody else is covering we're speaking for the west we are uh
01:46:59.460more transparent uh you know uh reporters on the ucp caucus than the ucp leadership actually is
01:47:05.380so you can get that information there but we need to subscribe so we can keep that up there's a
01:47:09.800number of people need to be paid there's bills need to be paid things like that we can only do
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01:47:22.880support other businesses and it goes both ways uh so get in there like us on facebook do those
01:47:29.040things, spread the word, independent media is the way to go. You know, the CBC and the rest of that
01:47:33.160garbage talk radio, it's gone to crap. We're here, we're building an alternative and without a single
01:47:38.780nickel of federal tax or any tax dollars. And that's a big distinction. People do have to
01:47:43.860understand that is the second you start taking money from government, you become beholden to
01:47:48.740them. And then you can't freely report on things. You can't truly represent citizens because you
01:47:55.600worry about rattling the tree that funds you. You'll be worried that the government will pull
01:48:01.720your funding away if you poke too hard on them. And Derek's made it very clear that's not going
01:48:07.760to happen. The Western Standard is never going to be taking tax dollars, but we do rely on then our
01:48:12.160readers and our users. And of course, we appreciate feedback. Tell us how we can do it better, how we
01:48:16.680can better serve. By all means, send me tips on people to interview, people to talk to, and we'll
01:48:23.160keep the freedom going. So thanks for all for joining me. I will see you all on Monday for a
01:48:29.620Monday morning show. It might be a little shorter because it's a long weekend. We'll see, but there's
01:48:33.060always more stuff to talk about. So thanks and viva la Western independence.