Western Standard

00:00:00.000 Good evening, welcome to the Pipeline.

00:00:28.520 Hi, I'm a Western Standard Alberta columnist, Corey Morgan.

00:00:32.600 This is our weekly panel show where we break down and dissect some of the most pressing issues of the week.

00:00:39.180 This week, we got a treat.

00:00:40.720 We're joined by Erica Barutti, Department Head of Applied Politics at Macamie College.

00:00:47.240 How's it going, Erica?

00:00:48.500 Good, I'm glad to be back.

00:00:50.140 It was a little bit of a hiatus, so.

00:00:51.680 Yeah, well, I thought just once we'd spill out that whole title you've got.

00:00:55.420 You're also Senate-elect, Senator-elect and podcaster.

00:01:01.280 What else you got on your shingle these days?

00:01:04.820 Well, I still get introduced a lot of the time as the founding president of the UCP

00:01:08.400 because there's so much Alberta talk about, like, the party and things like that.

00:01:12.680 So, it's a long list.

00:01:15.000 Right, not.

00:01:15.880 Okay, well, I got one part listed today anyways.

00:01:19.680 We'll try and add to all that resume on the future episodes.

00:01:22.600 It's better than Derek has ever done in producing my program.

00:01:27.520 It was a low bar.

00:01:28.940 All right.

00:01:29.900 And, of course, we're also joined by opinion editor and birthday boy, Nigel Hannaford.

00:01:34.280 How do you do it?

00:01:35.140 You have to tell everybody it's my birthday.

00:01:37.000 Well, you know, it's not every day you turn 50.

00:01:39.360 Yeah, really.

00:01:40.900 And over and over and over again.

00:01:42.860 Yeah, well, thanks very much, Corey.

00:01:44.140 Great to be here.

00:01:45.040 Got a good lineup of subjects.

00:01:46.680 And we'll have fun.

00:01:48.520 That we do.

00:01:49.520 Lots to chew into today, as always.

00:01:51.960 You know, nothing controversial, of course.

00:01:54.220 Well, Derek's not here.

00:01:55.560 So, where is Derek?

00:01:57.680 I don't know.

00:01:58.220 Nobody told me either.

00:01:59.200 No, he's farming.

00:02:00.720 Yeah, I do believe he's farming.

00:02:02.120 Farming.

00:02:02.960 Yeah.

00:02:03.480 Okay.

00:02:04.200 Is he growing weed now or something?

00:02:06.120 Also, it's not harvest.

00:02:07.480 You have to check with him.

00:02:08.020 So, it's been raining.

00:02:10.500 I've noted, I mean, our newsroom is just jam-packed full of people, reporters, interns working,

00:02:15.260 yet it was so quiet today.

00:02:16.520 Yeah, but you notice that they all sort of fanned out into the background and get out

00:02:19.460 of the line of the camera.

00:02:20.620 Anyway, what have we got, Corey?

00:02:22.360 What have we got?

00:02:22.840 Well, we're going to start.

00:02:23.560 Erica, maybe you can introduce that.

00:02:25.300 We're looking at a provincial mention and approach with the odious old supply management

00:02:30.540 system.

00:02:30.940 What's going on there?

00:02:32.180 Yeah.

00:02:32.520 So, if this is news to you, I'm going to break it down and possibly put in as many puns

00:02:38.140 as humanly possible.

00:02:39.580 So, as you mentioned, Alberta's premier has been churning up headlines by hinting at pulling

00:02:45.000 I know you'd like that, pulling the province out of Canada's longstanding dairy supply management

00:02:52.060 system.

00:02:52.920 This comes with the looming U.S. tariffs.

00:02:56.640 They've turned up the heat and Alberta often feeling shortchanged on the dairy quotas that

00:03:01.340 compared to Ontario and Quebec.

00:03:04.440 And that's usually where we hear all of the supply management conversations coming from.

00:03:09.380 And this idea is like going, having Alberta go out on its own and leaving the kitchen table

00:03:17.160 to talk serious dinner debate.

00:03:19.240 So, while it's technically possible for Alberta to do this and set their own rules, and we've

00:03:23.620 seen that in various different provinces on different files over the past century, it

00:03:30.140 would face federal import controls and some frosty stares from other provinces.

00:03:36.220 If Alberta pours its own glass of milk, brace the legal, economic, and political ripples

00:03:42.040 that will spill far beyond our borders.

00:03:45.580 I hope you guys like that one.

00:03:46.760 I put some effort into it.

00:03:47.940 I just think you're milked.

00:03:49.180 I thought you milked it to death, actually.

00:03:51.440 Yeah, well, now that you've buttered up the issue, Nigel.

00:03:54.240 Oh my gosh, love it.

00:03:55.940 This is, I mean, this is one that kind of came out of the blue.

00:03:58.780 I mean, I've been on about supply management for a long time, but to be honest, I never really

00:04:02.640 thought of taking the, because it's more of a federal authority sort of thing, but having

00:04:07.920 a province push back on it, that's a change of pace.

00:04:11.300 Well, I mean, I think as far as the Alberta push back on it is concerned, obviously, the

00:04:17.460 situation being what it is between Alberta and Ottawa, anything that we've got, we're

00:04:24.120 likely to bring forward.

00:04:25.140 I mean, I, first of all, let me say quite clearly and unequivocally, I am not a found 0.92

00:04:31.420 supply management.

00:04:32.680 There is no excuse for making people may pay more for dairy products, and if the government

00:04:39.400 of Canada has to levy tariffs on American producers of 235%, which is a figure I found

00:04:45.980 on the government's own website, 235% tariffs in order to keep Canadian product competitive

00:04:53.040 with American imports, I got to tell you, we're paying too much for milk, butter, eggs, and

00:04:58.840 dairy products generally.

00:05:01.720 Now, having said that, there is a time and a place, and I believe the time was 50 years

00:05:08.740 ago when the place was New Zealand, where it was very helpful to have some kind of a mechanism

00:05:14.720 that would bring stability to a dairy industry that was falling apart.

00:05:23.040 So, with supply management, the idea was that you had a ticket, you could produce so much,

00:05:31.420 they knew what they were going to get, they knew what they needed, they set the price, and

00:05:35.980 then they maintained it, and the family farm was safe.

00:05:39.380 However, what people have forgotten is that in Quebec, which is really where this is centered,

00:05:45.460 and there's Ontario as well, and a bit in Alberta, but in Quebec, it's not the family

00:05:51.440 farm anymore.

00:05:52.340 We're talking about gigantic corporations who are running dairies and have basically an easy

00:06:02.220 time of it.

00:06:02.880 Now, the farmer, the dairyman, he's not the guy who has the easy time.

00:06:09.400 He's the fellow who gets up at five o'clock to go and milk the cows and get the product

00:06:13.320 on the way.

00:06:14.780 They have stability, but it is a large industry that is being supported, and that's why it

00:06:23.080 has become so very difficult to do anything about it, because these guys have got money,

00:06:26.960 they've got political clout, they're very well organized, pick the best representatives in

00:06:32.580 the public relations world, and here we are.

00:06:35.660 We just had a month ago an act in Parliament saying that whatever else we're going to sacrifice

00:06:41.740 when we talk trade with the Americans, supply management is safe.

00:06:47.020 I don't think it should be, and I hope that the Premier acts on her talk.

00:06:51.960 Yeah, well, as far as effective lobbyists go, I mean, the Americans have the NRA, Canada

00:06:56.720 has the dairy cartels.

00:06:58.000 I mean, they are fantastic at lobbying, if nothing else.

00:07:00.660 They're very effective, and they know how to twist the arms of every federal politician.

00:07:05.320 Now, the tariffs are federal turf.

00:07:06.780 There's not a heck of a lot the province could do about that, but the quota system and some

00:07:11.800 of those other aspects, is there room Erica there where then the provincial government

00:07:15.900 could intervene and open up the market, perhaps?

00:07:17.840 Yeah, and you know what?

00:07:19.460 This is going to be me nerding out a little bit, because it is, as I mentioned, possible

00:07:23.080 for the province to do this.

00:07:24.420 I learned while looking at some new case studies how provinces have made agreements with federal

00:07:30.180 governments to change some of their policies.

00:07:32.040 I learned that Manitoba had their own immigration and refugee settlement service agreement until

00:07:37.400 2012.

00:07:38.920 And so it has been done.

00:07:40.480 It could be done.

00:07:41.380 The problem that Alberta is going to face on the political side is they have been riving

00:07:46.220 this narrative for the last decade of get out of our lane that happened under Premier

00:07:50.000 Kenney and under Premier Smith.

00:07:51.820 And this is something that is federal jurisdiction.

00:07:55.460 And so the hypocritical side of Alberta standing up for farmers, which to Nigel's point, I agree

00:08:02.340 that it got out of hand with supply management.

00:08:04.660 It is dairy cartel as opposed to the local farmer.

00:08:07.200 I think Alberta should actually start with looking at an agreement with the feds to give 1.00

00:08:11.880 the feds the cop-out of not having to piss off Ontario and mostly Quebec and give Alberta

00:08:20.040 maybe its own agreement. 0.81

00:08:21.160 But I think them kind of going rogue is going to be very hypocritical of this government

00:08:25.920 for them telling the feds to get out of their lane.

00:08:28.460 So yes, it's possible.

00:08:29.980 Yes, there is precedence for it on our national stage.

00:08:33.280 But they've also got a balance.

00:08:34.700 Like this is the first time in years that we've seen all of the premiers and the prime

00:08:40.640 minister actually collectively working.

00:08:43.140 Is that Alberta throwing a wrench in this? 1.00

00:08:45.420 And I know we have another topic we're going to talk about that could impact that on pipelines

00:08:50.120 and Indigenous negotiations.

00:08:53.340 But like, is Alberta stirring the pot for the right reason right now?

00:08:58.440 And is it also talking from two sides of their mouth?

00:09:01.540 It's a political dance they're going to have to be very conscious of.

00:09:05.440 Yeah, well, I mean, I'm more inclined, though, that's my nature, of the Alberta to Ottawa

00:09:08.880 elbows up approach.

00:09:09.980 And to hell would they think?

00:09:10.900 And, you know, let's do some unilateral things.

00:09:13.380 I mean, some of the aspects of all people, Andrew Cohen wrote a fantastic piece on it today.

00:09:17.460 Well, he's written many fantastic pieces.

00:09:19.160 It's just sometimes his attitude drives me nuts.

00:09:21.420 But what he also pointed out, those quotas, I mean, they've created a commodity out of

00:09:25.780 the quotas.

00:09:26.720 For one cow, a quota now in Quebec is worth $25,000.

00:09:31.240 In Western Canada, it's worth twice that.

00:09:34.020 It's yet another area where there's a lot of inequity when it comes to the treatment across

00:09:38.840 the country.

00:09:40.760 You know, maybe shaking that tree can make them address that at least.

00:09:43.840 I think, actually, you need to put that on your Facebook page and then forward it to

00:09:48.540 Andrew Cohen and, you know, see if he thanks you or whether he kind of says, well, Corey

00:09:54.160 Morgan, who's it?

00:09:55.320 Well, you know, he rarely addresses me once in a while on X.

00:09:59.880 We have the odd exchange, but it rarely ends pleasantly.

00:10:03.060 Do you know, to Erica's point there, I do.

00:10:05.220 Sorry, Erica, go ahead.

00:10:06.040 No, no, you go, you go.

00:10:07.140 You go.

00:10:07.360 All right.

00:10:07.620 You're talking about me anyway.

00:10:08.460 I addressed your point there that you say it's possibly a bad form, and you're right, 0.99

00:10:15.300 but then we're dealing in a negotiation which is bad form from the very beginning.

00:10:21.840 Like, the first bad form didn't come out of Alberta.

00:10:25.500 It came out of the federal government with Bill C-69 and with the no tanker ban, with

00:10:33.840 the ragging to death of the Energy East pipeline, cancellation of Northern Gateway, goes on

00:10:40.080 and on.

00:10:41.420 None of those things were legal.

00:10:43.000 None of them were honest.

00:10:45.120 None of them were well-intentioned.

00:10:46.920 You could, like, there's no excuse.

00:10:48.400 That was an attack on Alberta.

00:10:50.460 So I think when you've been attacked, there's nothing wrong with you putting a few markers

00:10:54.400 of your own out there and saying, yeah, sure, maybe this isn't the most reasonable thing

00:10:57.820 in the world, but you drop your unreasonable one and I'll drop my unreasonable one.

00:11:01.500 Basic union negotiations.

00:11:04.460 Well, I'm going to sound like my dad when I say two wrongs don't make a right, and I

00:11:08.840 think that that's one of the political balances that this province is going to have to take

00:11:14.140 on.

00:11:14.640 Like I said, you could actually work out your own agreement with the federal government

00:11:18.960 and have one-offs like the case study I mentioned about Manitoba.

00:11:23.720 BC also did it with immigration, sort of refugee settlement.

00:11:27.640 Things like that, that I think that politically could give the CPC an out on, you know, having

00:11:34.460 to have a say in it, the liberal government a say in it.

00:11:39.140 They might take some hits from the relationship between Quebec and Alberta.

00:11:45.600 But to your point, I mean, it's a screwed up system.

00:11:47.980 I don't love how it's played out.

00:11:50.220 It's now dealing with cartels as opposed to the family farm, which I think is different

00:11:53.720 in Alberta.

00:11:54.700 And so it is kind of what Quebec is fighting for is apples to Alberta's oranges.

00:12:00.840 So I do think, though, that there's a diplomatic way to go about this without making this, you

00:12:07.160 know, a public relations strategy, which ultimately is, I think, going to hurt Smith down the road

00:12:14.960 because she's been criticized for, or criticized the federal government for not staying in

00:12:20.420 their lane, I think you have to practice what you preach to, or at least to some extent.

00:12:25.260 So, you know, Erica, I've got to ask you this.

00:12:28.500 I often get, I often get a phone call around about four o'clock saying, can you stop into

00:12:33.560 the grocery store and pick up milk?

00:12:35.680 Can you, can you go?

00:12:36.560 So I, so that's my excuse for knowing these prices.

00:12:40.340 It's not because I'm a diligent researcher or anything like that, but butter seems to

00:12:44.780 be around about 650 a pound.

00:12:47.300 Sometimes you get it on special 595, Costco a little less than that.

00:12:52.260 That's Calgary prices.

00:12:53.500 What are you paying up in Edmonton?

00:12:55.460 It's pretty similar.

00:12:56.920 I do agree.

00:12:57.880 Like these are, the surge of prices is not accessible.

00:13:02.900 Now I grew up buying everything from Hutterite, so I, you know, still try and do that local

00:13:08.520 connection and like, okay to pay more, but you're right, like going from supermarket and

00:13:13.180 those are where the, they have to, as a retailer, not decide on price because they need to make

00:13:18.560 margins as well.

00:13:19.400 So it's being set.

00:13:20.260 You're right at the federal level.

00:13:21.500 And that is a challenge.

00:13:22.620 It's hurting our industry.

00:13:23.860 So again, I think that the affordability piece is a political position that the premier

00:13:29.120 can take again, how she negotiates that with Ottawa.

00:13:32.900 I caution on the one side, I'm not saying it's not the fight to pick.

00:13:36.100 I'm not saying that it, that Alberta should have its own deal, just like we saw every

00:13:40.580 province do with daycare to fit what, what works best.

00:13:44.640 This is a problem with the federal government, but I think that Alberta just has to be conscious

00:13:49.640 of how they navigate this and take it more behind closed doors and work out their own

00:13:54.560 deal.

00:13:54.900 Because you're right.

00:13:55.680 Like the prices are noticeable by families.

00:13:58.580 I mean, if you have kids in your life that drink a copious amount of milk and, you know,

00:14:03.780 you're making big breakfasts on the weekends, using the products that you're talking about,

00:14:09.020 you do notice it.

00:14:10.280 I mean, I can't remember the last time I didn't order one of those giant cartons from Costco

00:14:15.660 or buy those for eggs because it's the only thing that makes somewhat sense.

00:14:19.180 Um, so yeah, I, I think it's that not the, what is the issue, but the, how Alberta navigates

00:14:25.920 it that, um, I would caution as political concern.

00:14:29.740 Yeah.

00:14:30.440 You know, I remember that guy doing it down in, was it a medicine hat or Lethbridge for

00:14:34.340 the chickens?

00:14:35.000 Yes.

00:14:35.300 And we'll get arrested for selling eggs because you're not allowed to have more than 300 chickens.

00:14:39.120 Yeah.

00:14:39.480 And they actually sent the RCMP.

00:14:41.140 That, that'll segue well into something we're talking about later about the, the degree of

00:14:44.400 where the government wants to crack down with justice and where they don't.

00:14:47.180 But, but I mean, just in, in closing out, I mean, it's a frustrating system.

00:14:50.600 I guess the discussion is what Smith or if Smith should do anything, but just, uh, I'll

00:14:54.420 leave off with that final thing to let people know about this system.

00:14:57.280 We had 140,000 dairy farms when supply management came in.

00:15:00.780 Now we have 9,000 and most of them are in Quebec, Ontario.

00:15:04.600 So if the intent was to protect the family farm, it failed terribly.

00:15:08.500 All right.

00:15:09.120 Can I ask?

00:15:10.000 Because I, I know that Nigel said that he's researched this.

00:15:13.340 Like where is this?

00:15:13.800 No, I said I hadn't.

00:15:14.820 But my own private search was just being asked to pick up stuff at the grocery store.

00:15:18.200 Oh, right.

00:15:18.660 Okay.

00:15:18.940 So, so grassroots research, but like, have we seen where the CPC sits on this?

00:15:23.540 Cause I know they haven't like politically, they don't want to pick a fight with Quebec,

00:15:26.640 but I mean, this is something that Maxime Bernier has been talking about for a long time.

00:15:31.340 And is that, do we see this strategy being elevated at the conservative level federally

00:15:36.660 to be able to correct this?

00:15:38.620 Or do you think they're just going to stay out of the lane?

00:15:40.900 Oh, they're going to stay out of this for all their work.

00:15:43.380 I had probably have on the show and I had to, cause it's been a burn myself for years

00:15:47.400 and years.

00:15:47.760 Well, he's running in Alberta though.

00:15:49.340 His by-elections next month.

00:15:50.980 Yeah.

00:15:51.180 And he clearly didn't even want to talk about it, but I'll give him credit for his honesty.

00:15:54.200 He basically said to me that the system is bad, but it would cost us too much to get

00:15:59.580 out of it.

00:15:59.860 But that's a whole separate discussion on buying up quotas and things like that.

00:16:02.740 But other than that, that was the shortest answer I got out of him in the whole interview.

00:16:05.920 Let's get on to something else.

00:16:07.160 I don't want to touch supply management.

00:16:08.680 You might have to answer that in an upcoming debate.

00:16:11.340 Yeah.

00:16:11.760 Well, just a warning.

00:16:12.800 I'll still keep picking at him on that one because it bugs me.

00:16:15.700 All right.

00:16:16.580 Well, let's get on to other things that are bugging folks.

00:16:18.900 Nigel, we had a concert scheduled, a performance out in Halifax.

00:16:24.200 And I guess they'll get into national jurisdiction again, federal property, and it's been canceled.

00:16:29.540 What's going on?

00:16:30.500 Well, okay.

00:16:31.220 So what happened, for those who haven't been keeping up with the news, there's an American

00:16:35.620 Christian evangelist.

00:16:37.940 He's very conservative in his views, spoke well of Trump, which of course is anathema to

00:16:44.540 the refined sensibilities in Canadian government circles, perhaps for good reason at the moment.

00:16:50.760 But by and large, you know, he doesn't go for critical theory.

00:16:58.320 He's against the idea of the LGBT sexual minorities having special privileges.

00:17:04.320 But he's a singer, and he wanted to come up to Canada, and he has come up to Canada, in fact, and has got a two-week tour.

00:17:16.120 He'll be in your town, Erica, in about a week's time.

00:17:19.980 Anyway, name is Sean Foyt.

00:17:22.640 It's not F-E-U-C-H-T, Sean Foyt.

00:17:26.200 And his opening was going to be at a Parks Canada site in Halifax.

00:17:31.460 And what happened was that people objected, say, not to the fact that he was a Christian evangelist, per se, but that his views did not reflect the core values of Parks Canada, of inclusion and a safe place, and so forth.

00:17:51.860 Now, for me, the issue is this.

00:17:56.120 Parks Canada is public property.

00:17:58.940 Some people obviously don't agree with what Mr. Foyt is all about.

00:18:04.540 On the other hand, I have a suspicion that a lot of people do.

00:18:07.320 And so, is Parks Canada only for the people who see things the government's way, or is it for whoever comes along who's got the money and, in good faith, puts it down, and then they go and do their event?

00:18:24.940 Now, for those following the case, I believe that Mr. Foyt has found an alternative location.

00:18:28.640 But you can now see the stories starting to pop up where the city of Charlottetown, where he is to do as if it's any of their business, say, well, you know, we're not supportive of this.

00:18:40.840 And that's typical of the kind of response because he's an American conservative, you know.

00:18:46.000 So, we have a thing with the Americans at the moment, but actually, it's at the government level, at our level.

00:18:53.160 If you're a Christian and you like that kind of music, then you should be able to go to it.

00:18:57.800 And it's kind of irritating that the government is taking these sides in this way.

00:19:04.060 Well, yeah, and, I mean, it's a public space, kind of by view, but I understand you don't want to host a Klan march, or I suspect if it was an anti-Israel march, they probably wouldn't say a thing.

00:19:14.160 They had an LBGT event there at this very site last week, apparently, so clearly they favor certain points of view and not others.

00:19:22.600 It's difficult.

00:19:23.400 I mean, you either have all or nothing.

00:19:24.820 I mean, you can't pretend it's not politicized.

00:19:26.600 I'm sure if you had good old Jan Arden up there pissing and moaning, she'd be up and making her political views on the stage, and nobody would say a peep. 1.00

00:19:34.320 You know, it's, do we have public venues or not?

00:19:38.500 I mean, I'm not a big fan of, you know, Christian Rock, those sorts of things.

00:19:41.820 So, you know what, I would just choose not to go.

00:19:43.540 I don't find it that complicated.

00:19:44.780 But our cancelers seem to always find a way through it.

00:19:48.360 Like, Erica, what do you think the obligations should be then on public?

00:19:52.500 I mean, I understand they do have to have a degree of vetting of who they have in those spaces, but it does seem to be kind of an unfair tilt.

00:20:00.880 Oh, 100%.

00:20:03.600 Like, I'm just, who in Parks Canada has nothing to do that they're serving where a religious group is playing concerts?

00:20:13.340 Like, obviously, you could be doing more things like reviewing forestry and wildfire management instead of looking at who's performing where.

00:20:22.720 So, yeah, I think you guys are saying the exact same thing I am, that, okay, like, either make it for everyone or not.

00:20:30.700 Listen, I just Googled it when you guys are saying, like, Jan Arden is actually performing at the Badlands Amphitheater in Drumheller, which is part of the Alberta Badlands.

00:20:39.140 So, if that's okay, why, which I believe is provincial, but either way, like, the province of Alberta is not saying, oh, we don't like your values and beliefs.

00:20:47.640 Also, who the hell knows what the values and beliefs and brand of the national parks is and how does it not relate to a organization that is very community and collaborative focused to bring entertainment?

00:21:03.520 Like, to me, I'm like, where do they not align?

00:21:06.340 And so, I think it's just a bunch of BS.

00:21:08.360 I think it's picking a fight that doesn't need to be picked.

00:21:11.220 I think it is totally, to your point, politicizing something that is actually just, like, you don't have to be Christian to like Christian rock.

00:21:19.540 You could just, like, you know, you don't have to be from the country to like country music.

00:21:23.020 I think it's absolutely an infringement on freedom of expression, freedom of choice, freedom of all of those things, which I think would probably be on brand for a national park. 0.97

00:21:34.860 I think this is, like, a bureaucrat or a department that doesn't know their damn job. 0.54

00:21:39.720 And so, it's really unfortunate. 0.98

00:21:41.740 I'm glad that they were able to find a new venue.

00:21:43.900 And I hope when they come to Alberta, they are very welcome here.

00:21:49.560 We'll buy a ticket for you, Erica, so you can go and see them in there and put it on expenses.

00:21:54.740 I like that you don't think I need friends.

00:21:57.340 Like, you know, you can maybe throw it to you.

00:21:59.060 I'm not making any judgments on you.

00:22:01.400 But I'll tell you what, I want to go back to what you said early on right at the start of that rant.

00:22:06.900 And you say, well, has Parks Canada got nothing better to do?

00:22:10.200 You know, are these people, where do they get their ideas from?

00:22:13.920 Well, in a thoughtful opinion piece written by, well, I admit it, I wrote it myself.

00:22:22.240 I stayed up late last night to do it.

00:22:23.700 I looked at what the federal government has been doing under the Trudeau administration and subsequently continuing under Mr. Carney and how they are actually using government ministries to try and change the way that Canadians think.

00:22:42.760 I mean, you know, the high school civics, of course, says, well, everybody thinks what they think and they choose the politicians they like best and then the politicians go and govern.

00:22:51.660 That's sort of the grade 11 idea of what politics is about.

00:22:57.960 And I think, broadly speaking, that described things until Trudeau Jr. came on the scene in 2015.

00:23:04.680 But since that time, there has been a very deliberate attempt and intentional, they even talk about it, to actually make Canadians into a better, kinder, gentler, woker, more accepting, more everything.

00:23:18.500 You know, all the words that they use, people, and that's not what they were elected to do, but they quietly do it.

00:23:24.780 And the way they do it, there's a lot of ways.

00:23:28.180 Parks Canada, for example, has been given a mandate to tell Canadian history in a certain way, not the way you were taught.

00:23:36.040 So that's why you see the placards around the statues changing, if in fact the statues even stay.

00:23:42.820 The CRTC has been empowered to take over the internet in Canada.

00:23:51.680 There were three landmark bills in the last couple of years to facilitate that.

00:23:57.940 One of them, the Online Harms Act, didn't get passed.

00:24:01.160 That died on the order paper.

00:24:02.820 But that was actually the one that would have said, look, folks, if you see something you don't like, complain.

00:24:08.100 We'll pay the costs.

00:24:09.760 You sue the person.

00:24:10.800 If you win, you get money.

00:24:13.320 And we'll, you know, we'll vanquish people with bad ideas.

00:24:19.140 What else was there?

00:24:20.680 CRTC, the, well, the Privy Council Office, there's a number of these things.

00:24:27.340 But here's the one that really grabbed me.

00:24:29.140 Just last week it emerged, thanks to Black Locks, that the Privy Council Office has a section that is specifically tasked to change the way people think, to change opinions.

00:24:43.480 That's the top of the food chain in the federal government.

00:24:48.120 The Privy Council Office is the, you know, geographically it's, you exit the Langevin block back door and you walk into the PCO.

00:24:56.660 They're like that.

00:24:57.340 And so this government is actually doing something else they'd like to do, which is to try and change Canadians.

00:25:05.760 So that's what I, that's kind of this thing in Nova Scotia.

00:25:11.740 And this came out today.

00:25:13.000 I didn't know that, folks.

00:25:14.280 I'm not queuing up Nigel's, right?

00:25:17.340 But this was published today and it does cover all of those, Nigel?

00:25:20.540 It was published last night.

00:25:22.240 Oh, perfect.

00:25:23.360 You will receive your own personal copy by email after the show.

00:25:27.440 Perfect.

00:25:27.720 I do, I do get the newsletters though.

00:25:29.820 So, but I would love it right after the show.

00:25:32.160 You know, just remind people, it's the time to, if you want to catch those columns, those news, everything else, you got to make the plug for this show.

00:25:38.240 Get on there.

00:25:39.380 Westernstandard.news.

00:25:40.340 We're subscriber based.

00:25:41.600 We aren't taking tax dollars.

00:25:42.960 So if you want to get past that pesky paywall and see those columns and news and rants and raves, get on there, take out a subscription.

00:25:49.540 It's 10 bucks a month, a hundred bucks a year.

00:25:51.400 Yep.

00:25:51.740 Not bad.

00:25:51.980 That a hundred bucks a year is great.

00:25:54.140 I encourage everyone to do that.

00:25:55.980 Oh yeah.

00:25:56.320 We never used to think twice about a newspaper subscription and getting it dropped on your doorstep.

00:25:59.880 No, you don't even have to get rid of that old news.

00:26:01.280 Man, you can't even get a movie ticket for 10 bucks.

00:26:03.240 No, no, it's a heck of a deal.

00:26:05.520 Well, I can.

00:26:07.900 Okay, I guess.

00:26:09.260 Oh yes, you hit that birthday just past 65 or something.

00:26:11.620 50.

00:26:11.700 Oh, I thought he was 50.

00:26:14.120 Well, there was something like that.

00:26:16.140 Yeah.

00:26:16.400 You know, the makeup artist is pretty, pretty competent.

00:26:18.860 It's the double digits.

00:26:20.500 All right.

00:26:21.080 Well, we'll see what happens with it.

00:26:22.700 But I mean, it's just that role of federal places.

00:26:24.540 I grew up in Banff.

00:26:25.540 I know very well about Parks Canada.

00:26:27.900 And this, as I was saying in the office, started a long time ago with Sheila Copps when she was the heritage minister meddling in things.

00:26:34.460 Oh, what did she do?

00:26:35.220 She shut down a cadet camp that had been operating north of Banff for like 40 years.

00:26:39.760 Every year they would come out, they'd do rock climbing and things like that because it's a good environment for it.

00:26:43.740 And of course, being typical tequila Sheila, it was mostly beaking on about how the militarization and such shouldn't be encouraged and other things.

00:26:52.340 So it wasn't just a matter of an inappropriate venue.

00:26:54.340 She just felt that the political messaging was incorrect.

00:26:57.420 Thus, she shut it down.

00:26:58.680 You know, it tells you something about the general caliber of liberal representation is that after she retired from politics, even conservatives who were trying to interact with the federal government might seek her out.

00:27:13.380 And you get a little anecdote saying, well, actually, she was one of the better ones.

00:27:16.100 But everything you said is true.

00:27:17.660 And the one that I hold her against her with, my wife and I really like the gardens out at Lake Louise by the hotel there.

00:27:29.320 Absolutely beautiful.

00:27:30.400 People would book them to have their wedding photographs taken.

00:27:33.080 And it was just a nice, nice lawn, beautiful flowers.

00:27:36.080 Everything was well kept up.

00:27:37.200 Mrs. Copps decided that that was much too sophisticated and ordered it to be returned to the natural state with native plants, such as the Icelandic poppy.

00:27:51.940 And now what you see when you go out there is the weed bed infested by gophers and ravens pecking at them.

00:28:00.220 It's really sad how that was destroyed.

00:28:02.780 That's on Mrs. Copps's account.

00:28:04.960 Well, they've micromanaged the parks in some terrible ways with personal agendas, and it hasn't stopped, unfortunately.

00:28:11.120 Well, let's get on with personal agendas, vendettas.

00:28:13.660 The longest mischief trial in Canadian history has reached its final phase now with sentencing.

00:28:22.000 I think nobody was shocked that they found Tamera Leach and Chris Barber guilty.

00:28:26.120 But now we're at what would be the conclusion of this, I guess, with a sentence.

00:28:30.300 Well, you know, this is sort of over tight with what we were speaking about just a moment ago about how the government is trying to manage people rather than govern.

00:28:39.760 Yeah, the sentencing hearing for Tamera Leach and Chris Barber got started earlier today.

00:28:43.840 And I'm going to say that how their case turns out is going to be one of those situations where, in the rearview mirror, everything you need to know about who runs Canada and how it is run will be there to see.

00:28:57.900 So, quick rundown.

00:28:59.620 Let's just look back.

00:29:00.660 A few months ago, Leach and Barber were found guilty of mischief on charges arising from their activities at the time of the convoy in 2022.

00:29:09.120 And the Crown is seeking a prison sentence of seven years for Leach and eight years for Barber.

00:29:14.620 Now, this is for mischief.

00:29:16.360 You know, mischief is kicking over outhouses and causing a ruckus in the back alley at midnight.

00:29:21.720 But they charge them for mischief.

00:29:25.400 And I guess the law permits sentences of this size.

00:29:30.040 And Barber was also convicted of counseling others to disobey a court order, which is why they're looking for higher sentences from him.

00:29:38.340 This, of course, is a little outrageous when you actually know and feel the issue.

00:29:43.940 When people get half, people don't get seven years for killing each other.

00:29:47.680 You know, you had a story just in the last week about somebody who attacked his girlfriend, stabbed her three times, hit her over the head with a lead pipe in three years.

00:29:57.880 You know, I mean, if the government likes your point of view, you can cause all the mischief you like and you won't get charged.

00:30:05.440 So, really, what happened here was that the convoy and all those activities exposed the intellectual nudity of the Trudeau regime.

00:30:14.880 And governments hate to be exposed like that.

00:30:17.060 So, they cracked down hard.

00:30:20.400 And you'll remember how the bank accounts were attached and how they were listening in on the cell phones.

00:30:26.560 And there was some fairly vigorous suppression of public gatherings there.

00:30:32.080 People getting charged with horses and so forth and so on.

00:30:35.760 But, you know, the provincial premiers were – this was all about control.

00:30:42.560 The provincial premiers were told that they wouldn't get federal money unless they cooperated with what was often a nonsensical plan.

00:30:50.640 I mean, we're seeing now that the vaccines were not universally safe and not universally effective.

00:30:57.740 But we were told at the time, we've got to do this.

00:30:59.700 And this, of course, was where this started.

00:31:03.160 It came when truckers – very solitary occupation, being a trucker.

00:31:07.520 You're in the cab.

00:31:08.460 You don't have too much company.

00:31:11.120 And they were advised cross-border truckers very late in the pandemic.

00:31:14.180 But suddenly, they had to be vaccinated.

00:31:18.180 Well, they knew that there was no difference between a virus on the American side of the border and on the virus on the Canadian side.

00:31:26.200 And they knew what we all suspected, that the vaccine didn't do anything for you.

00:31:31.400 So, in short, the truckers knew that the Trudeau government's vaccine mandate for them had nothing to do with science and everything to do with politics.

00:31:41.160 And so they said enough.

00:31:42.900 And we all know what happened.

00:31:45.140 And there won't be any apologies coming from the government either.

00:31:47.960 So, look, that's the – these two people are in a very awkward spot.

00:31:54.380 And my guess is, if you want to guess, is that they'll be – they're already found guilty.

00:32:00.380 They'll be given a stiff sentence.

00:32:02.320 And then as a generous act of condescension, they will be suspended or not – they won't actually go to jail.

00:32:09.800 But the messages out there, don't mess with us.

00:32:12.440 We're in charge.

00:32:13.600 Yeah, I hope you're correct in that sense.

00:32:15.620 And I suspect the sentence will be similar in that – I mean, they've been found guilty.

00:32:18.660 That portion's done.

00:32:20.160 The hearings were held.

00:32:21.400 Maybe there'll be an appeal.

00:32:22.280 Who knows?

00:32:22.900 But now it's what will be the appropriate punishment.

00:32:25.700 Both of them did, again, an excessive amount of time pre-court, you know, without bail for a mischief charge.

00:32:34.880 And that tends to be considered triple time served.

00:32:38.460 I think a judge could come in and say, you know, don't do it again.

00:32:40.740 There's your time.

00:32:41.440 This is your suspended sentence.

00:32:42.680 But it's what the Crown is asking for is still outrageous.

00:32:46.460 Just as I was driving in this morning, I was listening about a horrific case just today in Calgary.

00:32:51.860 The Crown has submitted on a case where two parents tortured their 18-month-old to death.

00:32:58.140 And they've been convicted.

00:32:59.640 The Crown is asking for eight years.

00:33:01.260 So the Crown considers that sort of crime to be on par with what Leach and Barber did.

00:33:07.860 I mean, I understand the Crown can ask for whatever they like.

00:33:10.080 It's up to the judge in the end.

00:33:11.620 But that says a lot about how they're viewing this particular offense versus, you know, some of the stuff I think that is almost universally people could say is horrible and deserves the full extent of the law.

00:33:25.360 So the other part is, is this, they want to make an example, but what a harsher sentence be preventative.

00:33:33.000 Does it look like Barber or Leach are going to start another convoy?

00:33:35.860 Does it look like they're at risk of putting the public at risk any longer?

00:33:38.740 I haven't seen any indication of that.

00:33:41.580 Erica, I would think the judge would take those things into account.

00:33:44.500 But again, I mean, he's found them guilty, but I don't think he'll be inspired to give them an excessive incarceration or anything.

00:33:52.420 Well, I would hope not.

00:33:53.660 I think the challenge we're facing right now is that this is political and this is, you know, I haven't been tracking, unfortunately, but the appointment of the judges is federal.

00:34:05.240 And so we've seen a big surgence of the judicial being influenced by appointments by the federal government over the last decade, even the Supreme Court, because Harper hadn't filled many of those vacancies.

00:34:17.520 And so we're in a situation where the judicial system, I think, is trying to set an example by these individuals.

00:34:22.800 But I mean, if you're comparing and contrasting their crime, which they've already been found guilty of, especially on the mischief file, it's like, well, what happened to all those people that ruined statues and violated public property and decided to light churches on fire?

00:34:39.780 Like things like that.

00:34:41.320 What is their punishment?

00:34:42.860 And if it's not equal to what we're seeing from Barber and Lynch, like, why is that the case?

00:34:49.820 And how are the values and beliefs being penetrated to our judicial system?

00:34:53.780 So that's my first concern.

00:34:55.620 The second part is kind of coming back to what I was talking about with Parks Canada.

00:35:00.640 It's like, does the judicial system not realize the huge impact we have on human trafficking right now or domestic abuse?

00:35:08.580 I mean, every day, even on LinkedIn, I'm seeing stories of women across Canada being killed because of the fact that we don't have harsh punishment for those dealing with domestic violence.

00:35:21.500 And we don't have the right services to protect those women and children and men in some cases or even elder abuse.

00:35:28.140 Right. Like, I think that this is one where it's just so political that my job will not drop if this sentence is higher than we think it should be.

00:35:37.060 But that is completely inappropriate and completely, you know, unfounded that it's comparing these to cases that are far like the one you use that are far more consequential to society.

00:35:52.200 Like, I don't think they're going to get out and be the first thing they're going to do is go start another protester convoy.

00:35:57.880 Like, I think they've learned their lesson.

00:35:59.620 They've served copious amounts of time and hopefully that gets taken into consideration.

00:36:04.420 But I wouldn't be surprised if this was to politicize and make an example out of these individuals.

00:36:12.080 So we'll see what happens.

00:36:13.760 I unfortunately don't have confidence in the judicial process, given the the penetration by the government and political values being jammed down their throats.

00:36:24.400 So hopefully this judge has a better conscience than the liberal government.

00:36:28.860 You know, you've brought that to the right point in the discussion, Erica.

00:36:36.040 You're talking about the politicization of the judiciary.

00:36:38.960 I had the papers put in my hands a few years ago about people who wanted to be judges.

00:36:45.900 I always thought that, you know, to be a judge, somebody tapped you on the shoulder and said, you know, you fit.

00:36:52.460 But no, you just put an application in if you're qualified at all.

00:36:57.260 And so what's on the qualification form?

00:37:00.780 Very interesting.

00:37:01.440 It's it's it's a it's a very woke agenda that they are.

00:37:06.380 So they're looking for a certain type of person who thinks a certain type of way.

00:37:11.200 And neither Corey nor I would qualify.

00:37:13.280 And it wouldn't purely be on our lack of.

00:37:16.320 I might from the gender I check. 0.94

00:37:19.320 But then you do a background check on me and they probably I don't.

00:37:22.860 They're inclusive narrative.

00:37:25.460 Erica, you're negative.

00:37:26.760 That's your next stop on your regimen.

00:37:28.340 Point B.

00:37:30.360 It's probably similar to the Senate application.

00:37:32.840 You just need a different prime minister, I think.

00:37:35.900 But anyway, so that's so the system is stacked.

00:37:38.900 But it harks back to what we were talking about a little earlier about the way that the government is trying to influence Canadians, who they are, what they think, what they can do.

00:37:49.060 And the convoy was a challenge to that whole way of thinking.

00:37:54.640 So they are absolutely going to focus their hatred.

00:38:01.960 Well, let's let's let's not beat around the bush.

00:38:05.060 They don't like Leach and Barber.

00:38:07.660 They're going to focus that.

00:38:09.120 On those two individuals, as a warning to everybody else, and you know what the proof of this is going to be.

00:38:15.980 One of our columnists pointed this out yesterday.

00:38:18.820 He said, in the West, Leach and Barber will be heroes.

00:38:22.720 In the East, they will be widely and universally disparaged.

00:38:26.960 And that our democracy might not be a democracy, but a dictatorship.

00:38:32.820 Maybe that might be an undertone.

00:38:35.020 Well, and just to look from, you know, to close it off, like from political motive, if that's indeed the thing.

00:38:39.820 I would think politically, the liberals, especially with a new prime minister, just want to put this one to bed.

00:38:44.120 It's been years.

00:38:45.500 You know, give them a suspended sentence.

00:38:47.300 Get it off the docket and stop people from hearing about it.

00:38:50.560 But if they give them time in federal prison, they're going to reignite this and they're going to martyr them.

00:38:56.720 And it's not going to have the effect of calming the protests.

00:38:59.260 It might spawn a whole new one. 0.90

00:39:01.540 And I just think if the judge is looking from that perspective, too, everybody's just kind of better off by getting this thing finished and into the history books rather than a current problem.

00:39:11.540 But we'll see.

00:39:12.500 Nothing surprises in this country anymore.

00:39:14.360 I wouldn't bet money on any of the outcomes.

00:39:16.160 No, I think that that is a really good point, Corey, though, on the Balance Act that Carney's administration now has to look at because he doesn't wear any of those things.

00:39:25.080 The Emergency Act and the usage upon that has been criticized.

00:39:29.280 And so, yeah, I would almost think it would be in the prime minister's best interest, not obviously calling the judge, but in the fact that this sets a tone that he's going to have to carry this forward.

00:39:41.740 And like you said, it might spark up additional protests, which would be I think he'd handled maybe very differently than Trudeau.

00:39:50.180 And so, yeah, it's probably a dumpster fire he doesn't want to deal with.

00:39:53.120 So the best tactic for everyone would just to be, you know, recognize what happened.

00:39:58.460 They are already guilty.

00:39:59.500 Give them a minimal sentence and move on because we can't afford in this time of desire for unity to have more divisive things, especially between the West and the East.

00:40:09.820 You know, Erica, it's interesting what you the way you put that, that there will never be a phone call between a politician and a judge on this matter, not because that would be illegal, but because there is no necessity.

00:40:27.260 The everybody around government understands what is necessary.

00:40:32.580 If they didn't understand, they wouldn't have been hired.

00:40:37.020 So it's any so-called arm's length agency that you care to think of, that's the way it goes.

00:40:45.700 So between that and the thoughtful editorial in the Globe and Mail or something, they get the word around to each other what's needed.

00:40:55.980 So we had a few big issues to hit today, so we're really running the clock.

00:41:00.300 So we have to hit her quick here with this.

00:41:02.660 The First Nations, unsurprisingly, in B.C. are opposed to a pipeline coming through.

00:41:08.620 Is there anything they ever support?

00:41:10.400 Well, yeah, more land ceded to them for their exclusive administration.

00:41:17.720 But the story we're talking about here, Erica, is one that came out yesterday where the Coastal First Nations in British Columbia sent a strongly worded open letter to Mark Carney, prime minister, asking him to reject the new pipeline proposal that is being advanced by Premier Smith.

00:41:37.820 It's the northern route, and it's the one that David Eby said, well, she doesn't have a sponsor, and she doesn't have a bid.

00:41:46.660 There's no project.

00:41:47.580 So, well, the Indians think that there's a project, and they've asked Mr. Carney to deep-sex it. 1.00

00:41:53.820 Now, I would personally, because I'm old and cynical, interpret that as just the sort of first move in the negotiations to see where this thing is going to land and who gets paid what for doing it.

00:42:07.000 But that's the story.

00:42:08.380 So, Erica, you know about pipelines.

00:42:13.920 Well, I know how much the federal government and the Indigenous groups can get in the way of one. 1.00

00:42:20.400 I think that, you know, there was a lot of people that have looked to Carney and his Building Canada Act as a symbol of unity,

00:42:29.240 and looking at actually making Canada an economic and energy superpower.

00:42:37.760 The key, and I think you've talked about this on the show, I know I've talked about with you folks before,

00:42:42.900 the biggest thing is the stakeholder of the Indigenous pathways.

00:42:45.780 Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but there is already corridors set up for a pipeline like this,

00:42:51.340 and it wouldn't actually be completely unfeasible to run another pipeline along the transportation corridor

00:43:00.520 and other pipelines that exist for an LNG pipeline.

00:43:04.460 So, to me, it's kind of a weak argument by this Indigenous group on the why, because it's already a pathway there.

00:43:12.720 But this is going to be a big symbol of Carney's leadership.

00:43:16.460 And if he's serious about this, because it's always been identified that the hardest stakeholder

00:43:20.860 and hardest hurdle on this Building Canada Act is the Indigenous groups and those types of consultations.

00:43:27.740 So, I don't know if they're asking for a full stop, if they're asking for more funds, guaranteed income, or employment.

00:43:35.460 Like, these are the types of negotiations I think would come from Indigenous partners

00:43:40.360 that actually want to inject revenue and sustainability into their communities, especially in this case.

00:43:48.700 So, again, we'll see how Carney navigates this, but this is going to be a hurdle that we see

00:43:54.240 on every one of those pipeline projects that are coming down the road.

00:43:57.720 Well, until a federal leader has the courage to define the difference between consent and consulting,

00:44:03.560 we're not going to get anything done.

00:44:05.500 So, I mean, that's just the reality.

00:44:06.980 If somebody's got to put a foot down eventually, because they're, you know, implying that we

00:44:11.600 need consent, and technically we don't.

00:44:13.700 The Supreme Court's ruled on that many times, actually.

00:44:16.020 Yeah.

00:44:16.540 But no politician wants it.

00:44:19.000 So, I was going to say, like, I don't know, you know, the appetite in BC.

00:44:24.740 I suspect there's a more appetite in Alberta to push back on this consent versus consultation.

00:44:32.820 Do you think that this is, like, the DOA of these projects, Corey or Nigel?

00:44:41.480 Like?

00:44:42.200 If somebody doesn't make a stand on that portion, and they've got the Supreme Court behind them.

00:44:47.180 I did, I wrote a recent column on that, breaking it down.

00:44:49.100 There's been multiple rulings, but no politician dares to say it.

00:44:52.160 If they won't, nothing will get done.

00:44:54.540 Right.

00:44:55.100 Because you'll never get full consent.

00:44:56.060 To Erica's point, I think you put it very well this morning, and you say, well, 3% of

00:44:59.460 the population get to determine what the other 97% get to do.

00:45:03.420 Yeah.

00:45:03.680 That can't go on.

00:45:05.060 It's sensitive, I know.

00:45:06.300 And I wouldn't want to be the politician to have to step into that mire, but eventually

00:45:09.320 somebody's going to have to.

00:45:11.020 All right.

00:45:11.500 Well, we're on to the parting shots.

00:45:14.060 The parting shots.

00:45:14.860 Yes.

00:45:15.280 Oh, gosh.

00:45:16.220 We're as disappointed as I was with the first minister's meeting in Muskoka there.

00:45:21.740 You know, the big report this morning was Doug Ford coming out and saying what a nice,

00:45:25.960 humble man Mr. Carney was, you know, all sorts of that sort of stuff.

00:45:29.960 And what I was actually hoping for from it was some idea of what our leaders are going

00:45:33.440 to do about electric vehicles, about crime, immigration, overtaxation, getting some infrastructure

00:45:40.020 built.

00:45:40.640 We've just been talking about that.

00:45:41.880 You know, the whole list.

00:45:42.700 It's getting right with the U.S. 0.98

00:45:44.780 Cozying up to Europe isn't going to help, but none of this was talked about.

00:45:48.360 These gatherings could be useful, but for Canadians, the day after is no better than

00:45:54.000 the day before.

00:45:55.000 They meet, they eat, nothing changes.

00:45:58.000 They eat well, typically, but...

00:46:00.240 Oh, Muskoka's lovely.

00:46:01.360 They really look after you.

00:46:02.760 All right.

00:46:03.180 So what have we got for us, Erica?

00:46:05.000 Yeah, mine is a little bit more close to home.

00:46:07.660 It's at the Alberta NDP and this make-believe Better Together campaign that they're running.

00:46:13.780 And the reason, regardless of how you feel about the Alberta Next panel, and the jury's

00:46:18.380 still out for me on what it's going to provide as a pathway for Albertans, but it doesn't

00:46:23.520 matter to me.

00:46:24.120 If you're going to be hypocritical about the government using tax dollars to do this type

00:46:30.900 of panel, then don't be the pot calling the kettle black and create your exact same Better

00:46:36.380 Together campaign to contrast it and using tax dollars.

00:46:40.480 This is exactly what the Alberta NDP did with the Canadian pension plan conversation.

00:46:47.460 And so it's like, if you don't like it, take a different strategy as opposed to doing the

00:46:52.320 exact same thing that you're criticizing.

00:46:54.280 I just think it's another example of this NDP government, especially under Nenshi, really

00:47:00.320 not even understanding how anything works in government or how to get the attention of

00:47:05.240 Albertans.

00:47:06.040 It's a pot calling kettle black mentality.

00:47:08.800 And I just think hopefully Albertans see through all of it.

00:47:13.020 And I'll just be quick with mine, just with those knobs running that long ballot protest.

00:47:18.800 It's just an abuse of the system.

00:47:20.900 I'm already sick of them.

00:47:22.020 It's what, a hundred and some people on the ballot now.

00:47:24.640 It's huge.

00:47:25.140 I figure maybe one of the things is if you want to start a long ballot process, you should

00:47:29.260 be willing to have that long ballot rolled up and stuffed somewhere most uncomfortable.

00:47:32.960 And maybe that would inspire them not to do it.

00:47:35.840 But we need to amend the Elections Act, obviously, to make some different signature requirements

00:47:39.900 or official agencies.

00:47:40.820 Do you want to draft the language on that?

00:47:42.260 Well, I'd be willing to.

00:47:43.560 I might stay out of the rectal abuse, but all the same.

00:47:48.340 It's just something, you know, again, our tolerance gets too far.

00:47:51.020 And then we allow people to just pointlessly abuse things.

00:47:53.660 If there was a purpose to their protest, maybe I could see it, but they're just doing it

00:47:57.260 for the sake of doing it.

00:47:58.220 And it's tiresome.

00:47:58.740 Well, it pisses off voters.

00:48:00.300 And that's like the exact anti-democratic point that I think that they pretend to be

00:48:05.520 making.

00:48:06.320 Exactly.

00:48:07.220 Federal government, stop doing things that don't matter to people.

00:48:10.100 Get the hell out of parks, concerts, and focus on domestic abuse, human trafficking, and dealing

00:48:18.900 with the Indigenous consultations.

00:48:20.700 Like, this is another one that, what a waste of tax dollars.

00:48:25.500 Amen.

00:48:26.180 Preach it, sister.

00:48:27.100 All right.

00:48:27.480 Well, Erica, Nigel, thank you very much.

00:48:30.740 It was a great chat.

00:48:31.660 It went by too quickly this time.

00:48:33.580 Yeah, it was great, though.

00:48:35.140 We're a card, so I appreciate it.

00:48:36.860 Look forward to the next time we're together in this kind of lineup, perhaps.

00:48:40.240 And we'll catch up next week.

00:48:42.720 Come in as soon as next week.

00:48:43.660 Right on.

00:48:44.440 And hopefully Derek's scaring, sir.

00:48:46.880 We'll see.

00:48:47.620 See ya.

00:48:47.960 All right.

00:48:49.320 So thank you all for tuning in.

00:48:50.840 Guys, make sure to tune in to the other shows.

00:48:52.600 Nigel has a fantastic interview with Premier Smith that's up there.

00:48:56.000 I've got my show Wednesdays at noon.

00:48:58.240 And subscribe to the Western Standard.

00:49:00.160 And hey, check out Macamie College, you know, an applied politics course.

00:49:04.040 Well worth it if you really want to get into depth of things.

00:49:06.540 So thank you very much for joining us this week, and we'll see you next time.

00:49:17.960 We'll see you next time.

THE PIPELINE： Could Alberta pull out of dairy supply management？

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