The Cory Morgan Show： Meet the People's Senate
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Summary
After the federal election, we move on from the $600 million stalemate and onto Alberta politics. Jason Kenney's leadership is in trouble, and the province is a hornet's nest of chaos. Cory and I discuss what this means for the future of the party and the country.
Transcript
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This week after the federal election, the $600 million stalemate, you know, spending
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a month stressing out the nation, spending money.
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I mean, the $600 million was just the tax dollars expended, donors and time and energy
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We're all poured into this and we're all right back where we started.
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But we've been discussing that election a whole lot.
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I'm going to move on from that federal election.
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And we certainly, we had a great show on Monday night covering it live from the Western Standard
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Some fantastic viewership numbers and interactions and great guests.
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And we got to move on to the rest of the politics that are still developing.
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This is turning into like the political fall of a lifetime for people like me who thrive
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It's a nightmare, but you got to live with it either way.
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Some people who are living with what we're doing too are our Western Standard members.
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Such loyal subscribers, people who've been following us.
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They're not offering us any and we're not asking for any.
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That's really what helps us make these productions reach out there.
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Get those guests that the mainstream media won't cover.
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Cover those issues that the mainstream media won't cover.
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So if you haven't subscribed already, make sure to go to thewesternstandardonline.com
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You know, this costs you less than an old newspaper subscription you used to when you
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You'll find it well worth your while and you're going to maintain that membership after that
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It's like a hundred bucks if you take out a whole year.
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And to those who haven't, honestly, you know, try it out.
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I think you're going to like what you get for your dollars on that and it helps support
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And that brings in our other sponsors as well and such.
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One of the things that has been forgotten in this whole federal election thing, well,
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we've got the provincial politics that are a hornet's nest.
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Jason Kenney is, as we're recording this, fighting for his political life behind closed
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You know, the only really thing now at this point is when is Jason Kenney finally going
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How many more pieces can they, you know, can they cut off of him?
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But he's also a very stubborn man and he's put a lot into this.
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You know, there's almost, I guess, perhaps that feeling of ownership.
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I mean, he was the guy who came back from his federal position.
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He managed to bring the new merged party into the election and unseat Rachel Notley.
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But the reality is he's lost general support and I just can't see how he can hang on much
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So sometime within this next couple of weeks, I mean, we're just going to see this hornet's
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Caucus members like Lila here out and calling for Jason Kenney's resignation out in the open.
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There's been a number of other caucus members who have been antsy over time and I just can't
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see them holding their tongues much longer, especially when they're at risk of losing their
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On top of all of that, we have, and nobody's talking about it because we've almost forgotten
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All of Alberta is going to be electing their mayors, their reeves, their councillors, their
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Plus, we've got a number of referendum questions, one of which, the more boring of which, but
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I really hope goes through, is the time change.
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We're going to stick to one bloody time for an entire year at a time.
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Really shouldn't even have to go to a referendum in my view, but whatever.
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Maybe, you know, that's one of the problems of the equalization referenda that's been going
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on, is people saying, well, they're going to use that as a referenda on Kenney.
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Well, I think there's a pretty good chance that Premier Kenney might not be in that role
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So we can make our statement on the equalization.
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We can vote to tell Ottawa to stuff their equalization.
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Probably won't achieve anything, but we'll feel better about it.
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And we'll certainly express ourselves and show us where we're going with that.
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You're going there anyways, cast that ballot, do that.
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The other thing that's happening, one of these Alberta traditions is a Senate election.
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We are going to actually put forth a bunch of names, give Albertans the chance to vote
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Unfortunately, it's only federal parties that are allowed to run and a couple of independents.
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Again, a sign of, in my view, this is part of, you know, I'll tie this together.
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There, where Jason Kenney started to lose that grassroots support, where he dangled direct
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democracy carrots in front of us and democratic reform carrots in front of us, and then turned
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I mean, the, the, the citizens initiated referenda legislation.
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He set that bar so impossibly high, he knew damn well, it's never actually going to be
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That's just an insult to people who actually support that kind of legislation.
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It wasn't something that he wanted to be achievable.
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And yeah, that ticks me off as a former supporter, because I believed him when it was coming along.
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And now the Senate race, you know, which we've held a number of times.
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Some senators have been appointed, you know, Burt Brown and, and like elected senators,
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It's something we owed in Alberta to show that say, we want this system reformed.
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Well, the UCP sets the stage though, as the provincial government for the Senate requirements.
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And what they did for the first time is made it that you had to be aligned with a federal
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Well, or at least you, you couldn't do it through a provincial party.
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You can run as an independent too, which just means that you can't raise funds and gain
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So he stacked the deck and again, made a sham out of a democratic process that we've been
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trying to at least force along through within Canada.
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And that way, of course, it looked like there was going to be a slate of nothing but
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Conservative Party candidate, Canada candidates running in it.
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And it looks like there's a couple of good ones.
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And I still like the exercise, but come on, we need a race.
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Well, to their credit, Maxime Bernier and the People's Party of Canada
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are fielding three candidates in this Senate election.
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So we have a chance to make a statement, I think, to say that we want to send somebody
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These guys, this time it's different than the federal race.
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There's no vote splitting to think about, not even to worry about, because the Liberals
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and the NDP don't even put candidates into these races.
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For those of us exhausted with politics, well, I know it'll be frustrating, but it's another
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And it'll be an important one, even if it's just one of principle.
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Something that'll be really fun is if a PPC candidate becomes one of the elected senators
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and two years from now, say, we managed to get a Conservative Party of Canada government
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in, oh, won't it be fun watching that Conservative Prime Minister squirm and try and make their
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excuses as to why they won't appoint a PPC winner of an Alberta Senate election?
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Either way, the three candidates for the PPC who are running in the Senate election have
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come on and I had a great chat with them on how their campaign is kicking off and how
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I'm joined today with two out of three of the PPC candidates who have jumped right out
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of a federal campaign for the general election.
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And now they put their names forward in the Senate campaign that's going to be held on
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October 20th in Alberta in conjunction with the municipal elections.
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We've got a long tradition of holding Senate elections, a short tradition of them actually
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Most of it tends to be, though, a fight on a point of principle.
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But these guys apparently are pretty tireless and ready to take that fight out to another
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So maybe, you know, I'll mention Anne McCormack is running up in Fort McMurray.
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She had an impressive showing with the PPC up there in the federal run.
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And it's good to see the regional spread because senators are supposed to be covering
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He's running in Red Deer, which, you know, rates smack in the centre of Alberta, at least
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So we've got a good variety of people covering Alberta in this Senate race.
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You know, the big, broad question, what are you looking to accomplish in this run?
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Well, you know, Albertans express themselves very, very clearly with the Fair Deal panels
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with Jason Kenney that were spread out through Alberta.
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And really, it's about bringing a voice to the Senate for the people of Alberta and standing
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up for Albertans and what their interests are and helping that move forward.
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So the platform, I imagine, is going to be a little bit different.
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It's still the same issues to a degree, but what are you going to be focusing on?
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What are you going to be reaching out to Albertans within this race?
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Like, what's differentiating you versus the Conservative candidates you'll be competing
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I don't think that there's a whole lot of difference with the campaign right now.
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What we'll be focusing on, again, is what's important to Albertans.
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And that includes, you know, the mandatory vaccinations.
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That includes the vaccine passports, pipelines, getting Alberta's industry, oil and gas to
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All of these issues that we need to bring forward and start addressing and holding the Trudeau
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Yeah, well, those issues don't go away, you know, and they certainly do cross from the
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Say you and another compatriot got into the Senate.
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What are you going to be pushing for first thing after your appointment?
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I think the important thing here is that Alberta has a voice.
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And one of the key things for me when I ran in this election is so many Albertans asked
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We didn't know whether or not we would win our seats.
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So for me, this is my way of assuring Albertans that the People's Party of Canada and myself
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And we're going to continue to stand for the principles that we've promoted and stand
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So, you know, when I get in to Senate, if that were to happen, nothing really changes.
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I'm going to be the one fighting for provincial autonomy and making sure that the province
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has the jurisdiction and the tools and the resources it needs to do what Albertans want.
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That is supporting smaller government, more fiscal responsibility.
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And I think that whether it was a position as a member of parliament or as a position of Senate,
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Well, and I'm glad you guys have made this a race because something that was done this time
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around with the Senate election was that they made it a federal party only thing, which really
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shut out a lot of what would have been other contenders.
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And I think, in my view, they were trying to set up just a cakewalk for the federal conservative
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party to come in and take those, which isn't a selection at all.
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So you've got to have some competition or it's a farce.
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Getting to the nuts and bolts, though, Kelly, with your campaign then.
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You've spent, you know, months campaigning in a local riding.
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Now you guys are looking at a province-wide thing.
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I mean, you're in different regions, but it's a ballot with a number of names.
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And you're going to want people all over this province to be putting their mark next to
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your name and hopefully Anne's name and Nadine's name.
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So what are your campaign plans in the next coming weeks here?
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Well, ideally, Nadine and I have talked about this briefly.
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We're going to talk with our team here in Alberta.
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We're going to connect with our team in Ottawa.
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And we're going to come up with a plan that will allow us to hopefully travel through the
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province and help each other get that message out and work with each other within those regions
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And quite honestly, I look forward to doing that with both Nadine and Anne.
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And we've heard that your leader, Maxime Bernier, is going to be coming back out to Alberta.
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Are you going to be touring a bit with him, Nadine, you know, doing those sorts of public
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Because it's going to be challenging as the restrictions are really cracking down in Alberta
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And it's going to be tough to gather people in one spot without having the authorities
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Well, as we saw in the federal election, you know, we can handle an outdoor rally and we
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And, you know, Maxime coming back again is his commitment to Albertans to make sure that
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Albertans in particular, you know, their voices are heard.
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And Max has always propped up his candidates here in Alberta and across the country.
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And, you know, his support for me in particular in this race, you know, we had some higher profile
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candidates, you know, parachute their way into Alberta.
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Again, it's his way of saying, look, you know, you've got good people here in Alberta and
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he's going to stand behind us and back us in the promotion of the message and the message
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So, yeah, I think we can rally just as much support with or without restrictions, because
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I think the reality is people understand what's on the line and that we're not done.
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I got a really great comment this morning from a YouTube who watched one of my videos
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and he says, Nadine, keep the stick on the ice.
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Yeah, well, it answered a question that a lot of people have been asking.
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We've been asking in our coverage, you know, the PPC made a mark, but there's no seat.
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This has given a rallying point for this, at least this next month to continue campaigning,
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continue promoting what your vision is as a party and as candidates.
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So it's kind of a, in my view, a bit of a lucky opportunity to show continuity from where
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And Kelly and I have worked together since 2019.
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And, you know, if there's been one person, candidate in particular, who's, you know,
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been my support and my pillar, it's been Kelly.
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And, you know, I think I've always been there for him too.
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So, you know, it's exciting to be able to do this together this time, truly go across
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I mean, it's two names on the ballot and that's for Albertans to decide which one that they
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But the message is there's a lot of similarities.
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Kelly has different strengths and people will have some choice.
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But the People's Party of Canada, I mean, this is how we work together.
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I think we have one of the best teams and the best team spirit of any party, you know,
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Yeah, well, and something with Senate is you're selling the individual a lot more than the
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But again, due to our crazed system, we appoint our senators for life.
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So, you know, you really want to scrutinize the individual who's going in there carefully.
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So, you know, people are going to want to get to know Nadine Wellwood and Kelly Lorenz
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and in order to know, you know, is this person selecting somebody I'm going to want to be
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So you're going to have to change a little bit of your campaign approach and be a little
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more self-centered rather than party-centered, I guess you could say.
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But that's exactly what is so great about the People's Party of Canada.
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I mean, individual freedom, personal responsibility, fairness and respect, those are things that
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are the four pillars of the People's Party of Canada.
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And I believe that those are values that Albertans share and they want to move that forward.
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Right now, what's interesting about this race is that it has nothing to do with boat splitting.
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It has nothing to do with, you know, trying to get Trudeau out or whatever the excuses might be.
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Now this is about, you know, the representation.
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Who's going to represent you best and do their values meet up with yours?
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And I believe Albertans will speak loud and clear when it comes to this vote.
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Yeah, and I'm glad you brought that up because, of course, and I don't want to delve too far
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into that whole vote splitting discussion and what's going on.
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And the bottom line is it's not a consideration in this race.
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So people can fully vote with their conscience on what they feel better,
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whether it's the federal conservative view or the PPC or anybody else who might enter this Senate race
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So where, I guess, with each of you, I'll start with, Kelly.
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Can we find more information about your campaign, keep track of what you're doing,
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Yeah, right now, the website that we're using is kellylorenz2021.ca.
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We'll be changing that to kelly4alberta.com coming up here, but they will link to each other.
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And definitely watch for reports coming out of our headquarters, coming out of my website,
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We'll be getting out as much information as to where we're at and how to come and meet us
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And I encourage everybody to come out and share in this process.
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Great, and Nadine, where can everybody find you?
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You're usually pretty easy to find out there, but all the same, there'll be a few new viewers
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Yeah, so I'm going to keep things consistent with the election campaign, nadinewellwood.ca.
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And obviously, we'll amend that for the Senate race.
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But, I mean, as you pointed out, Corey, this one is a little bit more about who we are as
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And I think with my YouTube channel, my social media, I think that really is the best way
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for people to get to know who I am, what I stand for, what I believe.
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And, you know, that's the one curse and blessing with social media.
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So, you know, I've got two, three years of history on social media, Twitter, Facebook,
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And I want to leave all of it there for people to see so that they can make their own decisions.
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It's not just, you know, me saying something that, you know, today, that it's been consistent
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And, you know, go back, look, listen, and ask your questions.
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You know, one thing that for me has been really important this election is every person who's
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asked a question, whether they agreed with me or not, I've always responded.
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We'll update some of the information here over the next few days.
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But that'll take you to every other social media platform that I have available as well.
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And I imagine Anne has a website for her campaign as well, and people will be able to go to the
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People's Party of Canada website to just kind of find all three of you and track the campaign
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Well, thank you very much for joining me, guys.
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We'll be watching with very great interest as this campaign unfolds during these crazy
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And I'm certain we'll all be talking again soon.