Western Standard - The Pipeline： Could Russia go nuclear？

00:00:00.000 Good evening, I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard, and you're watching

00:00:23.420 the pipeline today is march 2nd 2022 i'm joined as usual by western standard opinion and news

00:00:33.040 editor cory morgan how you feeling cory very good it's d2 un-gagged it's been very comfortable

00:00:39.100 i i haven't worn the gag for since july at least yeah i still have when i've gone into grocery

00:00:47.620 stores and things you know being the conformist i am some some lefties lost their mind when i

00:00:52.380 said on twitter uh that i went down for a coffee and it was like yesterday or the day before i said

00:00:56.560 uh i just put down as no mask as usual and some guy looked at me and he was like oh yeah

00:01:01.880 and he took off the mask and then a couple other people took off their masks i was just like it

00:01:05.680 was a nice little moment people are just like i don't i don't believe that i'm like you know not

00:01:09.220 everybody loves masks as much as you guys right yeah someone who loves being uh masked i was

00:01:16.240 gonna say gag that that sounds really bad uh somebody who loves being uh masked uh subbing

00:01:21.820 in for our news editor dave naylor today uh our intrepid reporter melanie resident how you doing

00:01:28.500 good but i don't love being masked no no no no we couldn't gag you if we tried no you couldn't

00:01:35.040 no uh all right well we've got a great uh show today we're going to be talking about uh the

00:01:41.800 situation in ukraine i know everyone's talking about ukraine we wanted to talk about

00:01:45.920 something we that i think is getting really missed by a lot of the not entirely ignored but

00:01:52.840 largely overlooked in the mainstream media uh the neocons are out there pounding the war drums

00:01:58.380 it's one thing to be supportive of ukraine and want to help them here but i think there's

00:02:02.160 uh there is an appetite in some quarters for war um i want to talk we're going to talk today about

00:02:09.500 the potential of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalating.

00:02:15.880 The ultimate end being nuclear, not necessarily going that far, but, you know,

00:02:21.880 conflicts in Eastern Europe have a way of escalating to something that we didn't bargain for.

00:02:27.360 So we're going to talk about the potential escalation of the conflict, the evasion of Ukraine.

00:02:32.400 We're going to be talking about some good news for once from the provincial government.

00:02:36.120 And Alberta projecting a balanced budget, not this year, but the next fiscal year.

00:02:40.740 Things really turning around from oil prices, some of the economy coming back.

00:02:47.320 We've seen a really big turnaround there.

00:02:49.100 So we're going to dive into the Alberta budget.

00:02:52.040 And while Albertans are now breathing the free air, at least for those of us who choose to breathe the free air, breathing the free air,

00:03:00.340 the governments of British Columbia and in Ottawa are dragging their feet.

00:03:03.620 They are refusing to budge on mandates.

00:03:06.120 on masks, on all sorts of restrictions, we're going to talk about why those two governments

00:03:10.560 in particular are really holding out, you know, govern me harder daddy stuff.

00:03:16.760 So before we get into it, though, we're going to just have a quick message from our sponsor

00:03:22.620 of today's show, Algadex.

00:03:26.600 Algadex is owned by Algonata.

00:03:28.460 This is great new technology just coming online now in the digital currency world.

00:03:33.940 Algodex is a great way for you to use the digital currency Algorand in your day-to-day

00:03:40.740 transactions. Can you imagine a world where you don't have to buy a cup of coffee using the federal

00:03:46.140 dollar and you don't even have to use the American federal dollar? You don't have to use the euro

00:03:50.340 or the pound sterling. You can use real money digital currencies that are not at the beck and

00:03:56.400 call of governments and inflation. Algodex is making digital currencies usable in a day-to-day

00:04:03.040 basis.

00:04:06.560 Well, I don't know about you guys.

00:04:07.860 I'm afraid of keeping my money in the banks right now.

00:04:10.280 The banks are happy to cooperate with the federal government and seizing your money

00:04:13.200 at any time when they say so.

00:04:15.360 Also, we want to thank all of our Western Standard members for your continued support.

00:04:19.160 Wow, what a month we had in February with Western Standard membership signups.

00:04:23.740 A huge record month.

00:04:26.020 Huge.

00:04:26.460 We had just piles of new memberships coming in.

00:04:29.540 And to show our gratitude for you guys, we have hired a ton of new reporters who are going to be starting in the next few weeks.

00:04:39.920 We have hired several reporters in Ottawa.

00:04:43.560 It's time we're not just looking at Ottawa from afar here and throwing stuff.

00:04:48.280 We're going to send our reporters into the belly of the beast.

00:04:51.480 And we're going to be giving you good kind of coverage we do in Alberta here and some of the other Western provinces.

00:04:58.760 We're going to be sending you reporters straight to Parliament Hill.

00:05:01.840 We've hired a reporter full-time to cover the legislature in Regina.

00:05:06.160 So we're going to have way more Saskatchewan coverage.

00:05:08.940 And we've already, as you probably noticed,

00:05:10.780 noticed a big increase in our Saskatchewan coverage with Reid Small,

00:05:14.340 who's come on full-time with us in the last few weeks.

00:05:16.960 Just an absolute frenzy of new hiring of reporters around here.

00:05:20.300 And we've actually beefed up our Calgary headquarters as well.

00:05:23.780 New reporters here.

00:05:25.360 We're investing in a big new studio.

00:05:27.260 so uh cory's head doesn't look so shiny on the show in the morning there's only so much you can

00:05:31.700 do yeah uh well i'll look that for it but uh we are investing that explosion in new memberships

00:05:36.640 that we've had right back into giving you good quality content um just putting it right back to

00:05:42.280 what i know you guys want it uh spent on not a not a new mercedes for me uh actually i'm working

00:05:47.780 on the first one don't have one okay uh situation in you know russia's invasion of ukraine

00:05:56.360 is dominating all the headlines.

00:05:59.200 I know Justin Trudeau, he's probably not happy

00:06:01.240 about the invasion of Ukraine, but from a political

00:06:03.120 perspective, he is happy for a channel

00:06:04.940 changer. People aren't talking

00:06:06.980 about draconian emergency

00:06:08.880 act measures anymore.

00:06:10.940 They're not talking about

00:06:12.200 people fighting back

00:06:14.840 against the government overreach.

00:06:16.780 Now we can point to

00:06:18.260 a different kind of government overreach elsewhere.

00:06:21.260 War being the ultimate example 0.99

00:06:22.800 of government overreach.

00:06:26.360 We're not going to get into the nitty-gritty there. The rest of the media are covering that ad nauseum. We don't need to get into that. What we're going to get into is a discussion around the potential for escalation around this conflict.

00:06:38.300 um we've had two world wars begin uh over places that were probably not on everyone's

00:06:48.440 front of anyone's mind and those those small conflicts quickly escalated into

00:06:53.160 uh wars to claim the lives of tens of millions of people um and a million i guess this is more

00:06:59.600 of a discussion than a news point but um i don't know what are um from what we're seeing right now

00:07:06.460 what do you think are the points of escalation for this to get out of control beyond a localized

00:07:11.020 conflict right now in Ukraine? Well, I mean, there's been the deploying of extra personnel

00:07:16.600 to the nuclear forces. That's been discussed. It's also been discussed that Monday they've

00:07:23.340 moved to ready Moscow's nuclear arsenal. So, you know, I mean, when we're talking, you know,

00:07:32.080 something in the world coming to that brink I mean it's going to impact everybody in the world

00:07:37.900 right it's not just a Russia Ukraine problem it's it's it becomes a global scale and you know I

00:07:47.020 the sanctions that Canadians are bringing to the table you know we have we have said that we're

00:07:52.880 not going to be we're not going to be importing any of the Russian crude anymore you know heavy

00:07:58.160 sanctions coming from other parts of the world, including the US. I don't know if it's going to

00:08:05.940 be enough. You know you've dropped the ball when you get the Swiss to drop neutrality, you get the

00:08:10.420 Germans to rearm, and you get Venezuela and Cuba to vote against Russia at the UN. When you've lost

00:08:16.960 Venezuela and Cuba, you're pretty isolated diplomatically. I think it's very fair to say 1.00

00:08:25.300 It's been a diplomatic disaster for Russia.

00:08:27.440 They have lost the propaganda war.

00:08:29.500 And there is propaganda on both sides.

00:08:31.140 If there is a war, there is always propaganda.

00:08:33.700 Newsflash, the good guys do propaganda too.

00:08:36.800 But in this one, regardless of who you think the good guy or bad guy is,

00:08:40.780 Russia is losing that propaganda war heavily.

00:08:45.660 Do you think there's a sense of desperation setting into Russia?

00:08:49.240 Because my expectation, I think most people's expectation,

00:08:53.440 was that they're just going to roll in.

00:08:54.620 They're going to pancake them. 0.98

00:08:55.740 They're a small country.

00:08:56.580 Russia's a big country.

00:08:59.040 But Russia's not a...

00:09:00.500 I should say Ukraine's a small country.

00:09:02.580 It's a...

00:09:02.960 It's big.

00:09:04.000 It's a medium country.

00:09:05.080 I mean, it's...

00:09:06.380 After Russia, including Russia and Europe, 0.96

00:09:08.620 Ukraine is the next biggest by landmass.

00:09:10.920 Yeah.

00:09:11.960 There's a fair number of people there.

00:09:14.280 And a lot of people don't know there was an insurgency in Ukraine

00:09:17.580 against the communists.

00:09:20.060 So the Ukrainian insurgency army fought both the Nazis and the Soviets.

00:09:23.560 And that insurgency wasn't put down until 1952. Twice as many Soviets died fighting that insurgency as they died fighting in Afghanistan, which was a bloodbath.

00:09:32.720 This is not turning into the rollover. They're ultimately going to probably lose in a conventional military sense.

00:09:37.360 There is just no way that Ukraine can't hold out. But it's quickly devolving into what could be a guerrilla quagmire.

00:09:44.240 The sanctions are much stronger than I expected against them.

00:09:49.000 They've gotten the Germans to stop playing footsie with the Russians now. 0.69

00:09:55.860 The Germans were really what was keeping big sanctions from biting. 0.69

00:09:59.520 They had Nord Stream 2.

00:10:02.120 They've completely flipped.

00:10:04.520 Do you think there's real risk that Russia panics and escalates this?

00:10:09.840 Well, I mean, I think something's becoming clear a lot.

00:10:11.860 This is Putin, not even so much Russia as a whole, but Putin.

00:10:15.040 I mean, when you've got an autocratic type of system like that,

00:10:20.340 one man holds an incredible amount of power.

00:10:22.800 So, I mean, he's pushing this, and he's got –

00:10:24.800 I mean, it looks like we're seeing rumblings of resistance within Russia.

00:10:28.680 He's lost international support, but we can't forget he's got China at his back. 0.67

00:10:31.900 And that's a big ally to have if you're talking world games.

00:10:37.680 It's all of concern.

00:10:39.760 When they start saber-rattling about nuclear weapons,

00:10:42.320 okay, when North Korea does it, 0.65

00:10:43.620 we know that they typically couldn't assemble anything.

00:10:45.820 Chances are they'd blow themselves up

00:10:47.300 if they really actually tried.

00:10:49.000 Russia, on the other hand, has very real nuclear capability,

00:10:52.760 very well-trained, very long range.

00:10:55.580 It's a question of how insane could Putin get.

00:10:58.000 I mean, one thing, thankfully, 0.97

00:10:59.480 he does seem to be conniving and nasty in many ways,

00:11:04.400 but he doesn't seem out of control.

00:11:06.320 He's a rational actor.

00:11:07.700 He's not some nuclear ayatollah here.

00:11:11.020 Putin might, maybe he's a bad guy, but he's not insane.

00:11:15.080 No, so thankfully, hopefully that reason stays because things change fast.

00:11:19.140 I mean, you know, if you're looking at World War I history,

00:11:20.860 it started with one assassination, what was it, Ferdinand,

00:11:23.060 and then it plunged the entire Europe into war for the better part of a decade.

00:11:30.300 This could still snowball into a heck of a lot more.

00:11:32.800 There's a lot to worry about.

00:11:34.060 And when he's even talking about the nuclear button, it does get concerning.

00:11:36.980 I mean, this isn't the guy who's, yeah, just got one or two.

00:11:39.340 He really has the ability.

00:11:41.000 So how much of this is, I think it's just saber-rattling.

00:11:44.640 I mean, you're putting your guys on alert, arming some things.

00:11:48.640 I don't like it.

00:11:49.480 I mean, it's scary, scary stuff.

00:11:51.180 But I think it's just saber-rattling.

00:11:53.780 But I think Escalation is kind of in our court right now.

00:11:59.780 I think what we're doing right now is we're kind of replaying the Cold War textbook.

00:12:03.220 look. United States and the Soviets, very smartly, never went to war against each other directly.

00:12:09.320 What they do is they fight proxy wars. Okay, America wants to clean the communists out of

00:12:13.340 Vietnam. Well, the communists elsewhere are going to pour supplies and weapons, munitions into

00:12:20.320 Vietnam, and they made it a quagmire to the point where it's just not worth it for America anymore. 0.81

00:12:24.600 And the West did the same thing against the Soviets in Afghanistan and bled the Soviets 0.86

00:12:29.140 white in men and materiel. Looks like we're trying to do the same thing in Ukraine. We're

00:12:33.020 We're now pumping guns in, we're pumping supplies in, and the sanctions are, remember, the Soviets were not as connected to the world economy as the modern Russian Federation is.

00:12:43.080 Like, this is, this is biting.

00:12:44.460 There's a run on the ruble right now.

00:12:45.680 People are trying to buy digital currency, stuff like Bitcoin or, you know, things like that.

00:12:55.440 Melanie, do you think they're going to, is this going to be a, I don't know how to put this.

00:13:02.280 is this going to, I think, incentivize the Russians to go crazier? We're going to see 0.97

00:13:06.780 crazy Ivan here. Or do you think this is going to maybe make them think twice? They'll call it a

00:13:12.800 tactical victory. Hey, we've successfully denazified Ukraine. That's what they're saying, 0.98

00:13:18.740 their excuses. We've successfully denazified them. They try to save face and leave. How do

00:13:23.200 you think they react? Well, I think that's probably the million dollar question. I guess

00:13:30.820 when it comes to the response what what else would you do like you know you can't back down

00:13:36.780 and just sort of allow that steamroll right so there's i think you know you're kind of between

00:13:42.860 a rock and a hard place with how you're going to deal with it as you know nato allies how you're

00:13:48.960 going to deal with with russia's push into ukraine what else do you do there i don't you know i don't

00:13:55.680 i don't see there being too many other options how much of a rational actor do you think putin

00:14:00.820 is going to be in this they think he's going to be willing to raise this if it looks like

00:14:05.860 he can't win and you know some in the west are talking about a no-fly zone if we put in place

00:14:10.500 a no-fly zone that we've sitting we could do a no-fly zone for uh saddam hussein's iraq or

00:14:15.160 assad's syria because what are they going to do they don't have nukes they don't have big

00:14:19.460 conventional forces they could take on our guys so we could do it and if they break the no-fly 0.83

00:14:24.280 We shoot them now, no problem.

00:14:25.620 But if we put a no-fly zone over Ukraine, the Russians are not going to respect that. 0.98

00:14:31.700 They're going to keep flying their Air Force.

00:14:32.900 That would force us to shoot it down.

00:14:35.040 Then we're probably in a hot war.

00:14:36.360 Yeah, I don't think it'll get to that point again.

00:14:38.940 It's talking.

00:14:39.560 I mean, I believe we've got at least a number of rational diplomats on this, too.

00:14:43.260 Hopefully the main thing is, as you were kind of alluding to, make sure he's got an escape hatch somewhere where he can say, I've done it.

00:14:49.740 I've denuncified it.

00:14:50.540 We're going to take the part down here by the Crimea because these guys want to be Russians. 0.98

00:14:54.280 uh, you know, we're going to set that border, but now we're going to back off, like give them an 0.94

00:14:57.860 event to maintain a little bit of pride and get out of there. If you corner them completely,

00:15:03.020 you know, treat them like Saddam Hussein saying, we're going to hunt you down back to the Kremlin 0.91

00:15:06.840 and try you. That's the sort of way you take the guy to say, well, you know what? I'm not turning

00:15:11.980 the last light out when I go on pushing the button. And, uh, you know, Putin, as we know,

00:15:16.800 in nations like that, he's got a lot of currency squirreled away. Who knows where and how he can

00:15:20.960 or retire into the sunset when he feels things are too hot for him.

00:15:24.220 But you've got to give him that escape hatch.

00:15:25.880 And I think he's probably, I would hope, as I said,

00:15:27.940 he's a rational player, maybe starting to think about it.

00:15:30.260 This started to burn more than he anticipated.

00:15:32.600 How do I get out, save some face?

00:15:34.360 That is the key ingredient I think we're missing right now

00:15:37.220 in our strategy in the West is we have to have an escape hatch for him.

00:15:41.880 There has to be a way to save face.

00:15:43.760 This isn't Saddam Hussein where the endgame is we're going to storm 0.56

00:15:46.920 the presidential palace and find him hiding in some little hole

00:15:49.900 in the ground somewhere it's not going to be like that you have we have to allow him to save face

00:15:54.980 and pull back we have to make it unprofitable for him to be there we have to turn uh ukraine and

00:16:01.220 ukrainians have to turn ukraine into a quagmire for him so it's not worth it and the sanctions 1.00

00:16:05.440 are biting too much there's got to be away from the back out okay let's talk about happier news

00:16:10.660 balanced budgets we haven't had one of those in a very long time in alberta uh technically there

00:16:16.580 was a surplus of like 50 million dollars or something in 20 no no there was one technically

00:16:24.260 um 2015 14 or 15 um like a five it was like don't call it a balanced budget they they got close to

00:16:34.320 one but we've been running deficits essentially since 2009 in alberta uh stelmac redford

00:16:40.820 henson for include him prentice notley and all of kenny's so far as until now uh

00:16:49.420 melanie tell us how we got there what's happening well they tabled the budget on thursday and they

00:16:55.520 are projecting a balanced budget for the first time since you uh mentioned since 2008 and a lot

00:17:01.880 of it is likely hinged on how oil is performing right now uh the west texas west texas intermediate

00:17:09.620 it was up to $111 today. That's, you know, I mean, I mean, I remember, you know, it wasn't that long

00:17:16.500 ago when oil was under $50 a barrel, right? It's, you know, it's been steadily climbing, but,

00:17:21.340 but when, when things really tanked, it really tanked. So, you know, I think that that's going

00:17:27.660 to, they're talking about a surplus of over 500 million projected for 2022 to 23. And that's

00:17:36.160 compared to the forecasted deficit for this time around of $3.2 billion from 2021 to 2022.

00:17:45.840 Well, Corey, how much credit do you think the politicians deserve for this one?

00:17:50.020 Well, the thing I will give credit for is their projections are modest still, actually.

00:17:54.900 You know, we've got a hundred and some dollar oil, but they're projecting their budget based

00:17:58.020 on $60, $70 oil. So they weren't shooting for the moon because it is a projection.

00:18:01.940 They normally do that. They normally overestimate oil.

00:18:05.480 which is wise political planning too because if you're looking at an election a year from now

00:18:09.620 and if the oil does stay in the hundred dollar range they're gonna have a massive surplus come

00:18:13.920 election time and then we're gonna see an election budget which means that's when we

00:18:16.840 see the irresponsible government that's when we see these guys spending like lunatics right back

00:18:20.360 to redford's stomach they want to buy our love and and uh and get us in and they might stay within

00:18:24.860 budget that time but once you set that bar cutting is a heck of a lot harder later and

00:18:28.760 it's melanie said it wasn't that long ago when oil actually it was less than two years ago when

00:18:31.940 We're all getting to that zero level we've seen before.

00:18:35.020 So, I mean, they definitely balanced it on the back of increased resource revenues.

00:18:38.720 Nobody can deny that.

00:18:40.320 You know, I did talk in that interview with the finance minister about it.

00:18:43.980 I did point to areas where they've shown some restraint and a little bit of clipping here and there.

00:18:47.940 But the reality is they got a windfall with this.

00:18:50.940 It's how they manage it is what we got to look forward to seeing if they're going to be responsible.

00:18:54.480 So they reserve some credit for restrained spending.

00:18:58.480 um you know i they were wise they wisely showed some of the math that uh you know based on the

00:19:06.120 current the trajectory of spending that the ndp had it on we'd be running a six to eight billion

00:19:10.600 dollar deficit still today um the ucp did not cut spending as much as the ndp likes to say they did

00:19:17.160 they did not cut spending they have slowed down the increase in spending uh except for covid

00:19:22.260 related stuff which has been which has been incredible i think that's been kind of left

00:19:25.700 the budget story is all the COVID spending. As per the deficit, I'm sure $3.2 billion.

00:19:32.160 Yeah. So I think they deserve some credit. They would still be in the deficit if they

00:19:36.980 hadn't slowed down spending. But the Alberta government is still spending wildly more than

00:19:40.980 we need to be. Is there a downside here, Corey, that by having a surplus, it takes away the

00:19:50.340 political uh the political uh necessity of actually cutting spending because we've never

00:19:55.640 had a government in alberta cut spending since ralph klein early ralph klein yeah i mean it

00:20:00.060 takes away some of it we also some of the news that kind of slid up was the central bank just

00:20:03.740 raised interest rates a little bit though and they might want to start looking at debt retirement

00:20:07.120 because if we start seeing interest rates rising fast that's going to eat their surplus really

00:20:11.500 quickly well you asked the minister about that didn't you debt retirement yeah and he said

00:20:15.700 they're going to look at that into 2022 uh but one of the things he did talk about was they're

00:20:20.000 going to put more money back into the heritage trust fund which i was happy to kind of hear but

00:20:24.700 i worry about it being responsibly used as we've seen in the past i mean it turned into something

00:20:28.020 to be rated over and over again and again the minister i asked him about that and he said oh

00:20:32.260 no we won't do it this time but they always will uh they're saying the right words and i i would

00:20:37.620 hope that we see i would rather see more towards debt retirement especially if interest rates are

00:20:41.700 going up rather than than mad spending depends on public appetite you know they're always going

00:20:45.740 to follow that i mean ralph klein knew that the public wanted that debt retired i mean we had

00:20:49.480 double-digit interest going on. I mean, our interest servicing costs were almost outpacing

00:20:53.820 our healthcare expenditures, so they had to move. At this point, they can afford to carry some debt,

00:20:58.840 and I worry that that's going to tempt them to hang on to it. Okay. Well, before we move on to

00:21:04.200 our next segment, we got to thank my other favorite sponsor, the Canadian Shooting Sports

00:21:08.480 Association. Canadian Shooting Sports Association is just doing yeoman's work in Ottawa, fighting

00:21:16.020 against over-regulation, over-legislation of your right to own, safely use, and purchase firearms

00:21:23.860 in Canada. I've been a member of this organization for over a decade. These guys, they're lobbying

00:21:30.240 for gun owners on Parliament Hill. They're running public advocacy campaigns trying to

00:21:34.880 educate the public on reasonable firearms legislation in this country. If it wasn't for

00:21:40.320 the CSSA, I think we'd have a lot less legal guns in Canada, a lot more illegal guns.

00:21:46.020 Uh, so I'd encourage, uh, everyone watching right now to go to, uh, what's the URL?

00:21:51.920 C-S-S-A dash C-I-L-A dot org.

00:21:55.360 And I'm sure that C-I-L-A is some viewer perhaps can send me an email.

00:21:58.420 It's some sort of French translation, I'm sure for the same thing, but, uh,

00:22:01.700 Just, uh, note to Nico, next time I want, uh, like the lyrics at the bottom of the screen with a bouncing ball.

00:22:07.940 Uh, so say it again, sing it out.

00:22:09.960 C-S-S-A dash C-I-L-A dot org.

00:22:13.940 There we go.

00:22:14.360 i want the bouncing ball only tone deaf melanie's the singer oh yeah you're gonna say it for us 0.96

00:22:18.980 and no no okay you probably see it just google it if you're like me and can't remember that

00:22:23.460 okay uh well kind of come in the opposite way of what's happening in alberta saskatchewan

00:22:29.700 even ontario a bit slower in ontario but it's happening across the country it's happening

00:22:34.660 way behind most of the world actually opening up right now uh ottawa and british columbia though

00:22:39.900 not budging on mandates. Melanie, send it up. Yeah, so BC has come out with the news that they

00:22:47.940 will not be dropping the passports anytime soon for those 12 and up. They are looking at a tentative

00:22:55.400 expiry of June 30th, but they are holding steady that that is going to be very dependent on

00:23:02.560 whether they see fit to lift the mandate. And BC's chief doctor, Bonnie Henry, has also

00:23:10.160 made the statement that they're going to keep it in their back pocket to use whenever they

00:23:15.680 need to. Whenever they need to re-implement it, they will make sure that they have it

00:23:20.580 sort of at the ready. So this is something that they just seem to be really hardlining on at this

00:23:27.320 point. And they're also saying in BC that more restrictions may come ahead of spring break and

00:23:34.620 as well as heading into the fall. And what about Ottawa? Well, Ottawa, that's, you know, we're

00:23:42.240 looking at federally regulated industry with mandates still, vaccine passports. We're looking

00:23:49.220 at travel is still affected by that international domestic uh by plane by boat by you know sea by

00:23:58.720 trucker uh the mandates don't seem to be going anywhere where the feds are concerned i'm gonna

00:24:04.700 have a great intersection of a few of an earlier topic and this topic in a bit don't get ahead of

00:24:09.440 me think you know what i think you know what it is um but yeah you still can't travel domestically

00:24:14.120 in Canada if you're unvaccinated at all on a plane or by ferry. Train? Yeah. There is no sign

00:24:23.660 of any of that changing, right? Not that we've seen signaled. I mean, you know, I know when we

00:24:30.520 were talking about the Emergencies Act and in there, you know, I'm certain that Trudeau was

00:24:36.500 making mention that we are, you know, planning to look at things. We are planning to act accordingly

00:24:43.820 you know there's been sort of talk like that but nothing very specific as to any kind of targets

00:24:50.480 or or anything along those lines we know all these mandates you know conservative governments

00:24:56.980 NDP governments liberal governments they've all been pretty politically driven do you think the

00:25:02.180 reason Corey that Ottawa is not signaling any even intention in the future of course at some point

00:25:09.600 they'll drop this stuff but do you think the reason they're not signaling any intention to

00:25:14.000 drop this stuff even a timeline to announce a timeline is because it would look like trudeau

00:25:19.140 giving in to the truckers i think there's some pride factor in it absolutely and i at some point

00:25:24.480 i mean when they've got enough buffer you can uh you can look that way i mean even in online

00:25:28.780 discussions with the liberal supporters or whatnot you know when i said like look if we

00:25:32.240 want to mitigate some of this just start backing off in some of the restrictions some of the

00:25:36.200 and say, well, we can't look like we're getting into the terrorists.

00:25:37.980 Well, fine.

00:25:40.200 Make another excuse.

00:25:41.600 Say that the science said you did it or whatever.

00:25:44.020 I don't care, but just do it.

00:25:45.980 Show me on the doll where the science did it.

00:25:47.500 Yeah, yeah.

00:25:48.840 And I think it'll come to that point because, I mean, they are detrimental.

00:25:52.560 There's got to be industry heads.

00:25:53.980 There's got to be, you know, people from the trucking industry,

00:25:56.900 from airlines saying, look, this is really harming us.

00:25:59.660 We've got to back off on this stuff.

00:26:01.020 It's just not doing any good anymore.

00:26:03.040 But when.

00:26:06.200 You know, an interesting question.

00:26:07.920 I got a question for you to put to the Alberta government tomorrow, Melanie.

00:26:11.000 Okay.

00:26:11.420 Or maybe Amber, but make note of this.

00:26:13.860 I want to know if the Alberta government will commit to destroying the vaccine passport data

00:26:18.740 so that it can't be used by the Alberta government if they want to bring back a vaccine passport

00:26:23.920 or, even more worrisome, handed to the federal government for some sort of integration with the digital ID

00:26:30.940 and vaccine passports there.

00:26:32.840 I want to know what's happening to this data.

00:26:36.200 So make note of that.

00:26:37.640 We'll talk about our morning news meeting.

00:26:41.420 And we'll either have you on it or our Alberta legislative reporter, Amber Gosling, up in Edmonton on it.

00:26:48.600 I'd like to know that.

00:26:50.480 I know the wheels turning now.

00:26:53.380 Okay, let's talk about a really interesting intersection of all this.

00:26:56.600 uh of a sudic one of our reporters today uh she broke the story that um refugees fleeing

00:27:05.280 uh the ukraine war zone um if they if they want to be refugees to canada and they're unvaccinated

00:27:13.420 uh they have to be tested before they can leave and board a plane to canada they have to

00:27:19.620 quarantine for 14 days in their new destination of freedom and they got to get of course more

00:27:24.620 testing uh more testing on this end uh just tell me more about this story it's just a wonderful

00:27:30.720 story well i think that's basically it i mean it's you know they're they're kind of sticking

00:27:36.920 with the policy that they have in place for any newcomer coming to the uh coming to the country

00:27:41.980 and uh again it's just a position of not budging uh cory this is obviously terrible and sad but

00:27:51.280 there's just a dark part of me that thinks this is bloody hilarious this is i i i was working out

00:27:56.360 um like i don't work out much i'm just starting so this is not ripped me i'm not this is not

00:28:03.260 peak there um but i i was just you know trying to get a new routine of work i was early in the

00:28:08.280 morning i think yesterday and uh and my brain was pretty foggy because it was really early

00:28:13.220 like 5 30 and i just had this funny idea in my hand i was like wouldn't it be funny if they were 0.97

00:28:18.300 that i'm gonna say it that big assholes to say uh you gotta be vaccinated to come to canada 0.96

00:28:24.040 and so you know we're just gonna put it to the newsroom thought we'd see what we find out um 0.98

00:28:29.800 what do you think the reasoning is cory what is the actual reasoning behind requiring unvaccinated

00:28:36.520 the ukrainian refugees to be quarantined for two weeks when they land in their new country i think

00:28:42.280 it's just tone-deaf bureaucratic hammerheads the same old thing they're intractable you know the

00:28:47.140 types. They've got their list of rules, and they won't budge for it. They don't make exceptions.

00:28:51.880 This is my rule book, darn it, and I'm a pointy-headed bureaucrat. We're going to make 0.98

00:28:56.000 sure people follow it. They don't see nuance. They don't see room for common sense. So unless

00:29:01.420 they're directed otherwise to move in the other direction, they apply it everywhere. So even if

00:29:06.500 it's, look at this, we've got an unusual emergency situation. We've got people coming from a war-torn

00:29:11.360 country that just need refuge. They just need to settle in. They need to get safe, and we're going

00:29:15.560 to stick them in a quarantine facility for their first two weeks. Oh, a great way to build trust

00:29:19.560 with them. But that doesn't register in the mind of a senior bureaucrat. That's all they want to

00:29:23.720 make sure is everybody complies with their bloody rules. Well, and I think with the narrative that

00:29:28.040 came out of, you know, the protests and the convoys and the blockades and whatnot, I think

00:29:34.240 there will be a lot of pushback from people witnessing what they would say is, you know,

00:29:40.760 sort of hypocrisy or you know a double standard or you know if canadian citizens are are being

00:29:47.180 held to this this you know and i agree i mean it would be ridiculous that canadians require a

00:29:52.740 vaccine passport but i was don't i was quarantined for for two weeks uh you were definitely not here

00:29:58.800 appearing on appearing live on podcast the entire time oh no it was movie magic uh but as i came

00:30:05.720 across it was just appearing remotely folks he was not actually in the studio i'm not one of those

00:30:09.840 two wrongs make a right person so if you know we had to go through a bunch of crap and rigmarole

00:30:14.360 it wasn't and we are vaccinated but i didn't have a timely enough test so i had to go through as a

00:30:19.520 canadian citizen and then to see somebody come from somebody somewhere else and not have to go

00:30:23.340 but i would rather just drop it that's okay drop it for them and i endured it i could live with

00:30:26.680 that i don't i'm not a misery loves company kind of guy like just just get rid of it but they can't 0.93

00:30:31.300 it's it blows my mind we live in a country that could be governed this dumbly 1.00

00:30:37.460 We are a stupid people. 1.00

00:30:38.680 Look at her prime minister. 1.00

00:30:41.220 Well, that's racist. 0.90

00:30:43.260 Well, I know he's Canada's first black prime minister,

00:30:45.700 but it doesn't mean he's the best one we've had by any means.

00:30:49.020 We need a new one.

00:30:50.820 Yes. 0.69

00:30:51.140 New black prime minister.

00:30:52.000 Yeah.

00:30:53.240 Lesley Lewis.

00:30:53.920 Lesley Lewis could be our second black prime minister. 0.94

00:30:56.240 Yes.

00:30:57.260 And the first competent one.

00:30:58.940 Yeah.

00:30:59.840 You know what?

00:31:00.420 When she was running for the Conservative Party leadership,

00:31:03.620 she should have said, like,

00:31:04.760 I'm running to be Canada's second Black Friday. 0.83

00:31:07.280 Like, that would have just brought down the house.

00:31:09.160 Just for the U.S.

00:31:10.020 Just for the U.S.

00:31:10.040 Yeah.

00:31:10.300 Just for the U.S.

00:31:10.340 Yeah.

00:31:11.400 Oh, love it.

00:31:12.800 Either way, yes. 0.53

00:31:13.640 It's just a clown show we've had in our while. 0.96

00:31:15.620 What an embarrassing state. 0.78

00:31:16.680 I mean, I said it earlier on Twitter.

00:31:18.180 We're in such a time between the pandemic,

00:31:19.840 between the war and everything else.

00:31:20.980 And let's face it, whatever Trudeau might be,

00:31:23.160 he's not a cerebral, respectable sort of leader

00:31:26.420 at a time like this.

00:31:27.500 You know, I would have rather had Fred Chan back,

00:31:29.140 at least, I mean, just to speak to things.

00:31:31.780 But look where we're stuck.

00:31:32.480 Well, we're going to wrap it up there.

00:31:34.160 Again, I want to thank all of our Western Standard members for your support.

00:31:36.600 You've just been absolutely wonderful to us.

00:31:39.500 I know a lot of you who have not already been members have been signing up

00:31:42.240 throughout March.

00:31:43.500 It was just a record month, and we're reinvesting it all back into growing

00:31:46.960 our news team, our opinion team, building a new studio.

00:31:50.920 We're just expanding like Matt around here.

00:31:53.040 So thank you very much.

00:31:53.840 If you're not yet a member, please go to westernstandardonline.com

00:31:56.920 slash membership.

00:31:58.140 Sign up.

00:31:58.860 You can try it free for 15 days.

00:32:00.380 It's only $10 a month or $99 a year, and you can quit at any time if you don't like it.

00:32:07.540 And you can just try it free for 15 days.

00:32:09.280 If you don't like it, take off.

00:32:11.660 All right.

00:32:12.680 Thank you very much, Corey.

00:32:14.480 Thank you.

00:32:14.980 Melanie.

00:32:16.040 And I'll thank you all for joining us today.

00:32:18.500 God bless.

00:32:30.380 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - March 03, 2022

The Pipeline： Could Russia go nuclear？

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