Western Standard - The Pipeline： Creative destruction at Alberta Health Services

00:00:00.000 good evening i'm cory morgan welcome to the western standards the pipeline this is the weekly

00:00:17.820 panel show where we hit on the top news issues and dissect them with a few of our personalities

00:00:25.000 from the Western Standard Newsroom, and we've got a few good ones to cover tonight. I'm going to

00:00:30.740 start, though, by getting the important things out of the way as well and talk about one of our

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00:01:21.820 well worth taking out a membership and investing in yourself okay before we get into the subjects

00:01:26.220 i'll introduce who i'm sitting with tonight i'll start on the far end actually since he's

00:01:30.700 not always here as a one of our panelists our news editor mr dave naylor how's it going dave

00:01:36.300 good backed by popular demand i hope yes i mean we were just overwhelmed with that family mail

00:01:41.500 with your absence last week and uh our opinion editor mr nigel henneford full of opinions as

00:01:47.420 usual i'd best be it pretty dull if we wouldn't put those forth but they're always well received

00:01:57.740 you know shuffle through the responses the emails and yeah we have always pick which we like which

00:02:03.420 we don't we got some stuff to share some opinions on tonight though uh big one i mean this is uh

00:02:09.420 gonna obviously gonna be a large part of premier smith's you know entire tenure in office she's 0.53

00:02:15.260 taking on the big one she's taken on healthcare this is something that i think makes most premieres

00:02:19.820 you know break out in a cold sweat at the prospect of uh dealing with i mean it's canada's sacred cow 0.99

00:02:25.820 that that healthcare system that nobody's allowed to do anything with aside from injecting more

00:02:30.860 money into it and uh perhaps you know further entrenching the inability to change anything with

00:02:37.900 so she came out with a large release today as the title says a creative destruction at alberta

00:02:42.940 health services so she's she's not uh taking a minor approach to things she's she's diving right

00:02:47.980 in uh maybe dave i'll start with kind of the news end though uh what did you gather from

00:02:52.220 the conference today no she promised to do it and uh said she would and she did today i can't take

00:02:58.540 my glasses off dramatically like nigel does because i wouldn't be able to see my notes but

00:03:03.420 basically ahs doesn't exist anymore it's it's probably better known as alberta hospital

00:03:10.700 services, as opposed to Alberta health services. Under the restructuring, AHS is only going to be

00:03:17.020 responsible for hospitals and acute care. And they've set up a whole bunch of different other

00:03:23.440 cylinders. They've got one on continuing care, and they're basically going to be looking at

00:03:29.180 seniors' homes, and they're going to be solely in care of them. They're going to be a primary care

00:03:35.500 network, which is basically going to, their goal is to link every Albertan with a family

00:03:40.380 doctor. And there's going to be a separate mental health addiction silo. And they're going to be

00:03:47.680 focused on what they call recovery-oriented care. Now, the entire Alberta Health Services

00:03:56.820 board was fired earlier. They named a new head today, Lyle Oberg, who was a former

00:04:03.640 education minister back in the day. And back in the day, Nigel, you'll remember,

00:04:09.060 it was oberg who fired daniel smith as a calgary school board trustee so uh i guess it's one thing

00:04:16.760 that shows it shows smith doesn't hold a grudge certainly does so yeah so a massive reorganization

00:04:22.620 today and uh you know this is what the uh the daniel smith government will be judged on in

00:04:28.580 in four years time when they go back to the polls or in three and a half years time

00:04:33.240 She campaigned on it.

00:04:34.700 She delivered.

00:04:36.460 Didn't take long for the NDP to say the world is ending.

00:04:42.820 And the NDP was joined by the likes of Gil McGowan, who also predicted the end of civilization as we know it because of this.

00:04:52.320 And the AUPE doctors, you know, they said, as long as we're getting consulted and have a big say in what's going on, you know, they'd be okay with it.

00:05:05.540 But as usual, it's the usual suspects complaining and the usual proponents proponing, if that's the word.

00:05:13.860 Great. Well, so, Nigel, I mean, speaking of political capital, I mean, this is a big investment.

00:05:18.820 I mean, there's no going back once you're ready to try and take on that behemoth of health care.

00:05:24.900 Premier Smith doesn't appear to be afraid to dive right in. 0.67

00:05:27.640 I mean, I imagine this is going to be the first step of a lot of work she's going to do in the next few years.

00:05:31.600 I would say, well, it's, you know, after the energy security thing, this is the biggest thing on her plate, no question about it.

00:05:38.940 And just sort of going back 20 years when I was on the editorial board of the Calvary Herald with her,

00:05:45.000 she was very aware of all that anyway.

00:05:48.800 Like this is something that she's wanted to address

00:05:52.220 because Alberta Health has always been this massive,

00:05:56.640 it's like the oil tanker that takes like 10 miles to turn around.

00:06:02.000 It's huge, it's monstrous,

00:06:04.480 it doesn't respond very well to the touch of the wheel.

00:06:07.920 And, you know, like bureaucracy is everywhere.

00:06:10.620 If you ever watch that show, Yes Minister,

00:06:13.820 You know, it's one of those where sometimes they do some good work, but basically it responds to the priorities and the interests of the people at the top of the pyramid.

00:06:30.280 And that, of course, is one reason why she got rid of the board last year.

00:06:35.800 It wasn't working efficiently in her judgment.

00:06:38.460 I think she was probably right.

00:06:39.700 But you're still left with this oil tanker, you know, and now she has one captain in the person of Dr. Cowell instead of a committee trying to steer it.

00:06:55.220 Well, that was helpful.

00:06:57.140 But in the end, it's just too big to focus and get the job done.

00:07:04.640 So she's breaking it up into four in the way that Dave described.

00:07:08.340 But, you know, the problem for anybody, whether it was Danielle Smith or whether it had been somebody else who wants to reform that agency, is that the unions have it by the throat.

00:07:24.320 And you'll notice that the AUPE spokesman who came out shortly afterwards and, you know, the world is ending, AUPE President Guy Smith responding right afterwards, is that the Alberta government, here's the solution from the unions.

00:07:44.360 The Alberta government should implement wage increases.

00:07:47.620 Ah.

00:07:48.300 Okay.

00:07:49.080 Focus on greater job security.

00:07:51.140 So if people aren't performing very well, you can't get rid of them.

00:07:55.080 And improve staffing levels.

00:07:57.420 Well, thanks.

00:07:58.340 That was helpful.

00:07:59.400 You know, these are the very reasons. 0.82

00:08:01.660 We've got to find a way to do more with less.

00:08:05.240 And probably is going to mean a lot of, it should mean, it ought to mean,

00:08:11.740 that a lot of administrative jobs would get kicked out

00:08:16.080 and the money reallocated to people

00:08:18.440 who can actually put a sticking plaster on a wound.

00:08:22.020 Frontline workers.

00:08:23.200 Well, that's something that's been said a long, long time.

00:08:25.700 I mean, it's always been the buzzword.

00:08:27.160 You know, they always couch it with Jesus.

00:08:28.520 Premier Kenney used to always say that too.

00:08:30.220 It's the frontline workers.

00:08:31.160 It's the frontline workers.

00:08:32.460 But they're always afraid to actually take on the behemoth

00:08:34.960 that was the administration.

00:08:37.600 And this is different.

00:08:38.960 I mean, you know, it used to be regional boards.

00:08:41.740 So when I heard, you know, the plan was to break it up, I kind of thought maybe she's going back to that, which I thought it's mixed.

00:08:46.880 I mean, we've already been there, but no, this is different.

00:08:48.960 Breaking it into different specialties, which I think leaves a lot more room to give your rationale to say, OK, you don't fit into the current model.

00:08:58.520 You've got to go away. You don't fit.

00:09:00.200 And I know I'm not celebrating the loss of jobs of people.

00:09:02.760 We know there's been a lot of inefficiency and we could probably do without a heck of a lot of those people who are in that bureaucracy.

00:09:08.940 this is perhaps a bit of a I mean the premier premier stress today that there

00:09:14.760 would probably be no frontline job losses but yeah I mean how many vice

00:09:18.600 presidents did the AHF like 27 28 something like that that's not higher

00:09:24.000 ironically I had a I had a visit this morning with my family doctor did

00:09:30.100 unspeakable things to me Nigel I just won't speak no more no I'm not gonna 0.99

00:09:33.940 speak a little bit anymore I'm still I'm still traumatized because there's still a little white

00:09:39.080 no no I don't and no cavities by the way I'll say that for my British British teeth but I find that

00:09:48.520 once you're once you're once you get into the system there's no better system in the world

00:09:53.540 you know once you get an appointment with your specialist or whatnot but you getting into the

00:09:59.420 system is too difficult for a lot of Albertans. And I think that's what some of these changes are

00:10:05.620 aimed at doing. So AHS, as they were, doesn't have to deal with the mental crisis. They just

00:10:12.340 have to deal with, you know, delivering acute health care. And as long as they can focus on

00:10:16.680 that, it can't help but improve, surely. You know, I'm not sure I 100% agree with you about there is

00:10:21.820 no better system once you get into it. First of all, you are correct that getting into it is

00:10:26.260 difficult well you're into it once you see your general practitioner who says yes you've got

00:10:31.820 something i need to refer you to a specialist oh when would that be next week oh no no it's

00:10:39.440 down the road no doubt it's going to be a long time and once you get to the specialist who's

00:10:43.900 you know taking appointments for six months out and i don't and please don't do this ladies and

00:10:49.860 gentlemen i know there are some of you who will be saying six months what are you talking about

00:10:54.240 it was nine months from gp it was a year from gp to specialize we know i was trying to be generous

00:11:00.720 but you know um once you get to the specialist well then you're looking at another lengthy

00:11:06.880 period of time so there should be i noticed that there are other countries where this is not the

00:11:12.880 case and they're not all the sort of the socialist utopias that that you might expect some of them

00:11:19.760 are pretty hard-nosed countries where they found a way to get it done and that's what we need to do

00:11:28.080 in alberta is to find a way to to get it done yeah and it's it's certainly the it's the province's

00:11:34.560 biggest expense and we're not getting we're not getting any better outcomes than other jurisdictions

00:11:41.120 i know corey's talked about it on his show that you know you look over there are other ways of

00:11:45.920 of doing it that seem to produce better outcomes.

00:11:49.900 Steve Winick- Well, there certainly are.

00:11:50.900 And you know, the one that struck me as the most likely

00:11:54.740 to be effective was the one that Ralph Klein,

00:11:57.740 God rest his soul, Ralph Klein did a lot of good things,

00:12:00.420 but he brought in Bell 11.

00:12:02.040 Steve Winick- Third wave.

00:12:03.140 Steve Winick- Yeah, you know, and that meant

00:12:06.720 that you couldn't start a private hospital in Alberta.

00:12:10.540 We should have opened the gates to private healthcare,

00:12:15.540 brought them in, and then had a bidding war to get the procedures done that needed to be done.

00:12:22.760 You know, I was traveling some years ago, ended up in Jordan, of all places,

00:12:27.720 and driving down the street, I couldn't help noticing the hospital, hospital, clinic, clinic.

00:12:33.660 That little country has built itself up an enviable reputation as the place to go to get treated quickly.

00:12:42.700 Jordan, you wouldn't think so, would you?

00:12:44.660 But there it was, and they drew their trade from all over the Middle East and Europe,

00:12:50.000 and they've done exactly what we should have done in Alberta.

00:12:53.320 They have attracted the medical profession to come and set up right there.

00:12:59.200 And now, of course, it's...

00:13:00.160 Same thing's happened in Mexico with dental work.

00:13:03.200 Algodones.

00:13:04.000 Yes, right?

00:13:05.100 I mean, you're just across the border, and you see nothing but dental clinics,

00:13:08.160 and you see nothing but Canadians lined up in front of them. 0.89

00:13:10.900 Well, that's right. 1.00

00:13:11.820 And I'd say, and it's not that our dental service is so bad.

00:13:14.700 I mean, you make an appointment, you go in, you get done,

00:13:16.960 but it's just that it costs you about three times what it costs you.

00:13:19.900 And you can have a holiday for what you save on the trip to Mexico, so they tell me.

00:13:24.460 One other thing, though, Dave.

00:13:25.600 Sorry, what were you going to say?

00:13:26.540 I was just going to say, we've started the process, but it's like drip, drip, drip.

00:13:31.300 Where, okay, now you can go to a private clinic and get your eyes done

00:13:35.320 or your knees done or your hips done.

00:13:38.680 And it all gets billed back to Alberta Healthcare Services.

00:13:41.820 And in theory, that should shorten the wait list for everybody else.

00:13:45.460 It doesn't seem to have cut it tremendously, but you're right.

00:13:49.080 You know, if we'd have done what, you know, instead of Bill 11, done the opposite

00:13:53.900 and attracted private hospitals, we would have been in a lot better position than we are now.

00:13:58.480 One thing, though, and, Corey, I mean, I guess we all remember Lyle Oberg from his...

00:14:04.380 That's a good man.

00:14:05.320 like I have some confidence in this knowing that he is the the point of the spear on this now

00:14:13.320 and I remember one thing about it while it I mean it it shouldn't matter but somehow it does

00:14:19.480 this was the guy he was an MLA at the time driving to Edmonton comes across a road accident

00:14:25.160 gets out somebody's you know in serious condition as a consequence he's a doctor

00:14:31.500 get so he does what doctors do fixes the guy actually he did what first aid people do but

00:14:38.260 got the the fellow stabilized and into an ambulance and all the way to where he could

00:14:42.600 be properly looked after and there's something about that ability to be hands-on if you have to

00:14:48.360 be that to me gives there's a certain amount of confidence in and having somebody who can do that

00:14:56.060 and respond quickly to an emergency sitting at the point of the spear on on alberta health yeah

00:15:02.700 and the twitter reaction today is noted that he's a proponent of private health

00:15:07.180 so yeah i mean i believe it was a vietnamese clinic he was involved in at some time in the

00:15:11.820 past or something like that i could stand to be corrected on that but he'd done other work once

00:15:15.420 he'd left government on things like that because people i mean that's part of the reality of

00:15:19.740 what's happening it's not just the rich seeking care outside of the borders it's the desperate

00:15:25.500 it's people you know so we say oh you need this heart procedure within four months or there's a

00:15:29.820 50 chance you'll die we'll schedule you in for six months from now well person in that circumstance

00:15:35.180 they're going to refinance their house they're going to borrow from friends and family they're

00:15:39.420 going to sell the household dog whatever they have to do and they'll go somewhere else don't 0.98

00:15:43.180 sell the dog well yeah it depends on the dog i got one as a real jerk i'm not the wonder dog 0.92

00:15:49.180 not to no but either way you know people are are leaving and the dollars are fleeing i mean there's 0.81

00:15:55.180 some of the things that I think the purists with our public system need to understand. The two

00:15:59.980 tiers are already there. Why not keep the dollars here? Why not keep the specialists here? But can

00:16:08.120 we get to that with the drip, drip, drip, as Dave said, or does Daniel Smith need to get in there

00:16:13.200 and rip that bandaid off and let's have this fight? Because it's going to be a fight. They're

00:16:17.980 going to battle every possible private inclusion of anything provision-wise on every front. 0.63

00:16:23.640 well it's interesting when you look at the proposed timing of this she's doing some things

00:16:27.080 as soon as this spring and then it's in the fall and then it's 2024. so what's ripping off the

00:16:35.560 band-aid terrible pun given the nature of the discussion uh cory but you used plaster earlier

00:16:41.640 i wasn't sure if all of our viewers would understand that but you know this is going

00:16:45.000 to be tough and she's getting it done early in her mandate and hopefully i mean hopefully for her

00:16:50.680 but hopefully for all of us she can make this thing work the way it's supposed to work yeah

00:16:55.400 and then it's not going to be an election issue in 2027 exactly and then in 2027 if she wants to 1.00

00:17:01.000 campaign on ripping that band-aid off that would be something that she considered and she can look

00:17:06.680 back and say these are the successes that we've had hopefully and we're seeing some political

00:17:11.560 tactics another name that she added to her list of people i saw stelmac coming up in there as well

00:17:16.200 Well, former Premier Stelmack.

00:17:18.380 So, I mean, it's showing that she's willing to bring in a coalition of people that she differed quite strongly with before.

00:17:24.220 Yes, Oberyn fired her and Pollock and the rest from the dysfunctional school board.

00:17:27.760 It was Premier Stelmack who brought in the super board, who got rid of the regionalized health care authorities.

00:17:35.340 And he was asked today, you know, you set up this big thing.

00:17:39.180 And he basically said, yeah, it's just grown too big.

00:17:41.240 It was a good idea at the time in 2008, but it's grown into a monolith now that is like your proverbial oil tanker.

00:17:50.740 You know, it's just got to be split up.

00:17:52.820 And that might calm some of the red Tory element, I guess you could say.

00:17:57.540 And we'll tie that in when we talk in our next subject pretty quickly as well,

00:18:00.360 because you've got a party that still has some that are clinging to the progressive conservative notion of things

00:18:05.440 and some who still self-identify perhaps as Wildrose, Premier Stomach was most certainly

00:18:12.320 of the progressive conservative past. I mean, so having him on board is keeping those members

00:18:18.080 realizing she's getting input from, you know, more and more. Well, to that end, it's sort of

00:18:24.080 interesting that she reached out to Jim Denning on the Alberta pension plan. It's like everybody

00:18:29.760 who ever did an editorial board with the Calgary Herald has now been put to work in the Alberta

00:18:33.680 government it's just uh it's uh well they're gonna be lining up trying to get in for what's left of

00:18:39.280 the editorial board of the herald well yeah you know what i'm saying yes i don't think they have

00:18:43.600 an editorial board no no but she's relying on uh people that she's known in the past

00:18:50.240 and they're mostly people who are pretty uh high profile in their time

00:18:54.960 so it's it's kind of nice to see and see how that's coming along yeah they're experienced

00:18:58.960 connections i mean it's not a case of nepotism you know it's her second cousin from over here

00:19:02.480 or somebody who helped on a campaign over there these are these are well established uh you know

00:19:07.760 figures within alberta with some experience under there and as mentioned oberg fighter

00:19:13.680 got over things yeah so let's turn and uh go to where we spent last weekend which was at the uh

00:19:20.080 united conservative party agm the first one since uh daniel smith got elected as premier in the

00:19:26.800 the general election. Huge, huge. 3,700 and change attendees. And I think from my perspective

00:19:35.740 on the ground, for that many people, it went off quite well.

00:19:39.380 Biggest Canadian political convention in history. 3,700 people. It was incredible.

00:19:45.380 You know, all the women coming up to Corey.

00:19:47.600 It was magnificent.

00:19:48.360 Oh, it was unbelievable. It was that deodorant I was wearing. It's irresistible.

00:19:52.760 yeah uh she gave a uh the keynote speech on saturday where alberta will be the shining

00:20:01.400 light on the hill uh sitting on the hill yeah and uh biggest applause that she got a thunderous

00:20:07.880 standing ovation was when she said that she would be standing up for parents for parent rights and

00:20:13.560 the uh one of the proposals of 30 on the weekend was that that uh parents have the right to know

00:20:21.160 before teachers start changing genders on kids at school and i think that passed utterly unanimously

00:20:29.000 and uh it was certainly uh the rest of the uh the rest of the uh resolutions were were about giving

00:20:35.640 more power to individuals and and to parents and i think everything every single one of them except

00:20:41.640 school vouchers passed uh so it uh you know david parker take back alberta he's certainly taking

00:20:48.680 the credit for it uh he got his person elected as uh party party chairman or party president

00:20:55.080 whatever the whatever the position is and beat rick orman quite handily uh so yeah i think it

00:21:01.160 was a hugely successful weekend uh both for take back alberta and for danielle smith and the ucp

00:21:08.840 well i 100 agree with you on that it was a tremendous success for her

00:21:13.720 but now she actually has to act on that thunderous applause

00:21:19.400 that you described.

00:21:21.180 And it was kind of, you know, we went up to the presser afterwards

00:21:25.420 and she wasn't asked about that.

00:21:28.220 And she kind of got a little bit, from my point of view anyway,

00:21:32.360 she got a little bit, watering her wine a bit.

00:21:35.940 But when she said, well, yes, but we, you know,

00:21:38.640 obviously that's what we think, but we have to balance other interests.

00:21:42.260 And, you know, our columnist, John Hilton O'Brien, jumped right on it and said, look, when you're talking about parental rights, who are the other stakeholders that you have to balance the interests with?

00:21:53.000 Surely not the teachers and surely not the advocates for things that you don't agree with.

00:22:00.760 Now, you're right, she did get massive, thunderous applause.

00:22:05.460 those same people will turn on her if she does not deliver what they thought she was delivering

00:22:16.740 at that very moment. To be clear, none of these resolutions are binding on the government. They're

00:22:21.240 sort of guiding principles. That is true. And she, at that press conference, she was asked if she

00:22:26.880 would bring in legislation similar to what Saskatchewan has done protecting parents' rights.

00:22:31.420 And you're right. She does not want to get involved in this because it's such a political hot potato with the activists on the left. So she didn't commit to bringing in legislation. And as she said, she's got to be premier for the entire province, not just the 3,700 UCP members.

00:22:50.560 I can get why she just wouldn't want to touch it at all.

00:22:52.800 I mean, it's just a hot button, but it's perilous.

00:22:55.540 And as Nigel was kind of hinting at, and of course, Mr. Parker is always happy to point out,

00:23:00.540 he'll rip her down just as quickly and fast if she doesn't move ahead with the agenda

00:23:03.960 as he has taken part and at least contributed towards with Premier Kenney in the past

00:23:09.920 or members of the board.

00:23:12.040 It's a threat that sits there.

00:23:14.720 I mean, to define the balance, you can't let yourself be wagged by TBA.

00:23:18.660 But at the same time, when the members have been so clear on at least one subject, she should throw that red meat to them.

00:23:24.080 I mean, that's one of the ones that's been pulled quite often.

00:23:25.780 That seems to be where the activists in the unions overstepped.

00:23:28.100 When this is going to public polls, even left-leaning people tend to say, my relationship between my children is between me and my child, not the teacher and my child, not the principal and my child, not that activist and my child, myself.

00:23:40.380 And that's where they're trying to shoehorn themselves.

00:23:43.320 I mean, we saw that Toronto Star piece.

00:23:45.060 It was just odious.

00:23:45.740 It was basically saying parents don't have the right to raise their children.

00:23:49.980 And people, you know, they're saying, who's ever questioning your right to raise your children?

00:23:52.560 Lots of people are. They're doing it every day, actually.

00:23:54.800 And the teachers unions are behind that push.

00:23:57.480 It wouldn't surprise me to see Premier Scott Moe call an early election specifically on this issue

00:24:03.340 because he is getting a lot of pushback from the from the lefts and the unions.

00:24:08.300 And despite the fact that all the polls show it's overwhelmingly supported by Canadians.

00:24:14.060 So here's my prediction.

00:24:15.580 Look for a scout model to call an early election on it.

00:24:18.060 It'd be a good one to dig up the archives of this one if that happens,

00:24:21.040 because that's quite a prediction.

00:24:23.140 Don't tell Derek.

00:24:24.040 There'll be another pool on the glass wall.

00:24:28.820 When will he call the election?

00:24:31.780 Look, to be fair to Danielle Smith, 0.93

00:24:38.020 But I think that she actually does have very genuine libertarian tendencies, and you would

00:24:44.700 understand.

00:24:45.700 Oh, yes.

00:24:46.700 That's very much where we're on very similar pages politically.

00:24:48.960 So she would take the view that, look, you have to let people be what they are.

00:24:55.200 But what the parents were applauding and what the parents are absolutely sure they don't

00:24:59.560 want is somebody else trying to tell the kids what they should be.

00:25:07.060 And anecdotal evidence is always dangerous, as we know.

00:25:13.160 But in the context of this discussion, I was just relating,

00:25:18.460 a parent told me that there was the class that their grandchildren were in.

00:25:26.720 Everybody was happy at the beginning of the year.

00:25:29.300 At the end of the year, half of them were confused.

00:25:31.300 so what something is going on because you know we all remember what it was like in school we

00:25:38.320 were confused about a lot of things but never about this it was usually algebra it's usually

00:25:42.980 algebra yeah exactly so uh so anyway look she's um the premier is on is definitely riding a tiger

00:25:50.640 on this one in my view and we'll have to see how she deals with it but um if she decides to

00:25:56.880 follow the line of Scott Moe, she's not going to make any mistakes.

00:26:01.240 Yeah, and we've heard stories about how kids in mass in certain classes are all of a sudden

00:26:07.680 deciding they're not the gender that they were born.

00:26:10.500 So we have to accept that activism is alive and well in the Canadian school system.

00:26:16.800 And it's only going to be through legislation that stops it, in my opinion.

00:26:21.360 Well, and I think it can be read both ways.

00:26:23.280 and i do believe moderate rational people some that still wouldn't vote ucp for example still

00:26:27.840 as parents wouldn't like it if in the classroom that their child was taught by a very socially

00:26:33.040 conservative teacher and perhaps the child confided to the teacher saying i'm you know i think i might

00:26:37.920 be gay i'm having feelings towards uh you know people of the same gender as myself and that 0.99

00:26:43.600 teacher cracked down and said absolutely not you're wrong you're gonna burn in hell you know 0.98

00:26:47.040 taking that stance with the child that's another violation getting between the parent and the child 0.92

00:26:51.840 on something that's very personal.

00:26:55.060 And, you know, I'm just saying that this can cut both ways.

00:26:57.260 I think most people can support just parental authority,

00:27:01.220 even though some parents will screw it up at times, it's still paramount.

00:27:04.760 I mean, it shouldn't be that complicated.

00:27:06.780 But, you know, Corey, let's say that a parent does screw it up.

00:27:11.480 There is a way of dealing with it.

00:27:13.780 If you have a child complains to their teacher that mom and dad are against them in this area, okay, there are authorities who you can go to and the investigation can be launched and see who said what unto whom.

00:27:34.700 And under certain circumstances, you can have a criminal prosecution.

00:27:41.920 Depends what we're investigating.

00:27:44.540 What you shouldn't have is a little quiet pipeline that doesn't involve the parents at all.

00:27:51.640 They never get a chance to answer for what they're being charged with.

00:27:56.620 And it just takes the child away in a totally different direction and nobody even knows.

00:28:01.140 And they're impressionable.

00:28:02.020 I mean, it's a turning point for kids, particularly when you get 12 to 16, you're pissed off at the world.

00:28:07.580 Often your parents, you're finding yourself, you're rebelling against, you're not even sure what yet, but you're ticked off at it.

00:28:15.120 And yes, you can be led in strange directions.

00:28:17.980 I think right now it's a fad.

00:28:19.380 It's, I want to stand out. 0.70

00:28:20.680 I want to look different.

00:28:21.420 It used to be a kid dyeing his hair purple or putting a clothespin through his ear. 0.82

00:28:25.600 You know, now it's, oh, I'm going to change my gender.

00:28:29.300 But I mean, it'd be interesting to see.

00:28:32.020 How many of the ones identifying right now, once they hit 18, 19, are still identifying as trans or perhaps have settled back into what they're doing?

00:28:42.580 Well, that will be interesting, Corey, but the problem is that if there aren't some breaks on all of this, some of them may have done things that are going to...

00:28:49.880 Well, that's the biggest concern is the irreversible things such as transitioning puberty blockers or even surgical intervention.

00:28:58.620 That's why we need to stop this activism. And I think the pendulum is now starting to swing backwards, slowly but surely.

00:29:06.740 They overshot, I think. That's what I mean. It's people, I think, instinctively, again, even if you're a far left person, it's you and your children. You've taken on that role. Most people take that very seriously, and they want to instill what they feel are their morals and values and hopefully good concepts among the children.

00:29:25.380 we can differ on what the parents feel is appropriate or not, but very few of them want

00:29:30.440 another authority to get between them and their kids, as strongly as they might feel about unions

00:29:34.080 or activists. Wait a minute, that's me and the child, not you guys getting in there. So if it

00:29:40.140 turns into a storm, it probably will, whether she likes it or not. Premier Smith's very smart. She

00:29:46.180 should be able to navigate these waters. I think she'd be less clumsy, perhaps, than Premier Moe 1.00

00:29:49.600 with the whole thing, and he's been faring quite well with this. And there was a big protest outside

00:29:54.560 the ucp convention i think 10 11 people you think 12 okay i i couldn't take my shoes off the count

00:30:03.600 so uh because i failed algebra i'm not very good at math so yeah it's it's a vocal vocal minority

00:30:10.560 but a minority they are yeah i think the other thing about that uh convention was that um she

00:30:17.920 felt free to to talk the language of margaret thatcher and ronald reagan i mean you were you

00:30:24.000 You were talking about the city on the hill.

00:30:26.300 That's actually a Ronald Reagan quote.

00:30:28.080 And I don't think it was original to him,

00:30:30.180 but the point was that he brought it forward again.

00:30:33.620 And that was his vision of America.

00:30:36.660 And Danielle Smith has a vision of Alberta

00:30:39.520 as being an extremely attractive place for people to come to.

00:30:42.980 She's talking about massive population growth.

00:30:45.400 But she uses words like freedom.

00:30:46.980 When did you last hear a politician talking about freedom in the sense of personal uplifting freedom as opposed to freedom to be a victim?

00:31:01.320 You know, she's really elevating the tone of the conversation.

00:31:08.200 And it was a short, but somewhat punchy speech.

00:31:12.260 It was only 20 minutes.

00:31:13.280 You know, sometimes those could, I think Premier Smith here, I mean, Kenny used to go for a good 40, 45 often.

00:31:17.860 I'd be getting to sort back by the time it was going. 0.82

00:31:19.900 But, I mean, she was unapologetically conservative, which was refreshing.

00:31:23.760 I mean, she came out of the gates calling out socialists unions and then putting out, you know, kind of a little bit of a poke at them.

00:31:31.240 We won.

00:31:31.860 Yes.

00:31:33.220 So do you think we have another Maggie or Ron on our hands in the making?

00:31:36.520 Well, Tom will tell.

00:31:37.460 we'll see when the battle begins i mean it's one thing to start the fight it's winning is when

00:31:42.820 you'll see whether yeah you've got somebody ready to take on the air traffic controllers or the uh

00:31:46.900 other strikers because that's what that's where the battle is it's the unions it's there's no

00:31:51.860 getting around it that's that's the bastion that's where the strength of

00:31:55.460 rachel notley has been and somebody needs to take them on rather than catering to them all the time

00:32:01.140 no no this is as in health so in education these are the two like big areas where they've become

00:32:07.220 totally dug in. Which is interesting because I mean one of the most effective ways perhaps to

00:32:11.220 defuse the unions might have been a full out voucher system and that's the only policy that

00:32:14.840 failed. Yeah I was surprised by that actually. I thought that might pass but it failed. It wasn't

00:32:20.540 it was a close vote. I think it was the only one that they actually had to count by hand because

00:32:24.600 all the other ones were so overwhelmingly for the affirmative side. But yeah I was surprised

00:32:30.440 they got voted down. But as you said before whichever way the vote goes it doesn't bind

00:32:36.180 the government no exactly they can still bring it in if they want smith wants uh wants a voucher

00:32:40.660 system she can bring that in yeah and they're doing it sort of different everybody knows what

00:32:43.700 a voucher system is yeah well yeah your average person probably doesn't dig much in so i mean

00:32:48.740 very briefly the the government is going to spend a certain amount of money on your

00:32:54.660 on your child's education so you just go to the nearest school well another method of saying okay

00:33:00.260 okay, your education is going to be worth this much. 0.59

00:33:04.400 Take this chit, go to the school you like, 0.79

00:33:06.940 give it to them, send your kid there, 0.84

00:33:09.420 and the school will turn the chit in to get paid.

00:33:11.960 There are some schools who would do very well on that,

00:33:15.020 and there are some that would be deeply and sorely embarrassed.

00:33:18.740 And I think it's because of the danger of sore embarrassment

00:33:21.900 that the education system, which hates to be measured anyway,

00:33:25.480 is very, very against this.

00:33:26.880 But there are certainly some schools that, if they're doing a good job, why not put a little force behind them?

00:33:34.240 And I think there was a suggestion that maybe take a look at starting it with daycares and send the money for daycare to the, you know, follow the child, so to speak.

00:33:45.020 See how that works and then maybe expand it into the school system.

00:33:49.040 Some competition, I mean, letting parents vote with their voucher would, yeah, certainly, but that's what I mean, is in a way to take on the units.

00:33:55.460 Because one of the problems with the heavily unionized environment is you'll get some teachers.

00:34:02.380 I mean, some are probably worth twice what they're being compensated.

00:34:05.160 I mean, it's a tough, important job.

00:34:06.960 It's an art, but I can greatly admire those that can do it well.

00:34:10.840 But we know there's always some who are just mailing it in as well for a good pension.

00:34:14.920 And if a school's been overrun by the second bunch, they're not going to get many students.

00:34:20.080 And the unions know that and they fear that.

00:34:23.080 Likewise with standardized testing.

00:34:24.380 that's always one of the biggest things they love to fight. Don't you dare test those kids because

00:34:27.360 we might actually start to see which educators are effective and which aren't. But that's saying

00:34:32.840 that we should stop weighing kids because then we'll find out which are obese and which aren't.

00:34:36.400 I mean, you can't treat the problem until you test. You know, Corey, we got a great column

00:34:40.820 running on Friday. I think it's Friday. Murray Lytle, anyway, writes for us down then. And he's

00:34:48.240 an engineer. He was actually a commissioner on the National Energy Board. But he went through a patch

00:34:53.160 he was looking for a job and he decided well maybe i should take my engineering credentials and

00:34:58.040 go be a teacher and um you know would you like would you like your kids taught by somebody who

00:35:04.760 was a professional who had the kahunas to get a professional engineer and become that and to

00:35:10.360 and to know how to put a pipeline together like that kind of expertise and knowledge

00:35:14.520 what happened and he describes it in the article that like i say i think is coming out on friday

00:35:19.240 they wanted him to take a two-year course to become a teacher and this of course is the two-year

00:35:25.740 course where the teachers get indoctrinated into the union mentality and the union set of priorities

00:35:33.500 and the way that they the woke way that they want to teach the kids and it would be

00:35:40.160 it would be one of the better things that the education system could do in my view is to make

00:35:47.900 it easier for accomplished professionals who had something to offer to engage in the education

00:35:54.520 system, whether it was for a one-year sabbatical or whether it was for, you know, a career midlife

00:36:01.140 crisis, whatever it was, you know, let people who have real knowledge of the hard world in which we

00:36:09.320 live come in and educate kids if they have a wish to do so. Check it out. Looking forward to reading

00:36:16.340 that one yes morning light alone friday absolutely okay well and things that broke yesterday i saw

00:36:21.300 that uh pop up i didn't expect it i didn't know it was coming it sounds like we've got quite a

00:36:25.620 celebrity appearance coming dave and and our premier is going to be sitting down with it we

00:36:29.540 did uh it wasn't a surprise to us but we were able to keep the secret um yeah uh tucker carlson

00:36:35.380 coming to town uh is it next january or february the 24th january 24th arguably the biggest media

00:36:41.860 star in the world today. As you know, he got fired from Fox, and that's going to cost him

00:36:48.240 hundreds of millions of dollars, I'm sure. And he set up shop on Twitter, where his shows get

00:36:54.580 tens of millions of viewers every single time. It's ratings that Corey can only dream of, Nigel.

00:37:01.880 Got a ways to go, yeah.

00:37:03.080 Got a ways to go. Yeah, he's going to be coming to Calgary for a thing at the convention center.

00:37:09.100 He's going to be a moderator, Brett Wilson, Calgary businessman and philanthropist and guest on Corey's show regularly.

00:37:18.100 And, yeah, he's going to be sitting down and chatting with Premier Daniel Smith.

00:37:22.600 So, yeah, the ink had not dried on my enter button when I published the story that left-wing heads were exploding all over the country, led by our friend Gil McGowan again.

00:37:35.480 The world is ending, Gil, followed quickly by Rachel Motley, or it might have been vice

00:37:42.100 versa, Rachel Motley saying that the world was ending.

00:37:45.460 But it was the left-wing media, too, that were jumping all over it, led by the Globe

00:37:50.260 and Mail's Kelly Kreiderman and Andrew Coyne, who called out Premier Smith for daring to

00:37:58.440 sit down with this right-wing individual who holds controversial comments, and what is

00:38:03.640 Daniel Smith thinking?

00:38:04.580 So, just typical, Nigel, typical.

00:38:09.420 Yeah, of course.

00:38:10.420 Well, I mean, first of all, that event is going to be sold out by the end of the week.

00:38:19.640 It's not until January.

00:38:22.060 But that is going to go so fast that if you are thinking of getting a ticket, by the way, we are a sponsor.

00:38:28.900 Are we not?

00:38:30.040 And we are offering a VIP package to members.

00:38:33.580 And we are offering a VIP package to our members, so let's not forget that.

00:38:39.340 But if you have any, I would say that if anybody had any wish to go to that,

00:38:46.000 they'd better get their name in right away or else get re-typed with somebody who's bought a table already.

00:38:52.660 Or enter or draw and become a member.

00:38:54.480 Or enter or draw.

00:38:55.760 And, well, they're already winners if they are.

00:38:57.480 They are that.

00:38:58.060 But now there's a benefit beyond being instilled

00:39:03.060 with direct access to all our fine writings.

00:39:06.000 You know, for a person like Danielle Smith,

00:39:09.000 the opportunity to sit down with Jordan Peterson, as she did,

00:39:13.340 to be on, what is it, this hour has 22 minutes yesterday,

00:39:17.680 chat things over, hang out with Tucker Carlson.

00:39:21.780 Boy, I would say that alone would justify all the effort

00:39:24.640 that she won't be becoming Premier of the province.

00:39:28.160 Just on her personal enjoyment,

00:39:30.600 I guess, if she's a fan of Mr. Carlson,

00:39:33.620 I mean, Premier Smith's not afraid

00:39:34.980 of sitting down with much of anybody.

00:39:36.540 I mean, people can complain about a lot of things,

00:39:38.180 but she's been extremely accessible.

00:39:40.160 I mean, she sat down with the Pemba Day Institute.

00:39:42.600 If I was the Premier of Alberta, 0.93

00:39:43.780 you wouldn't be able to drag me into your rotten room,

00:39:46.540 you guys. 0.98

00:39:47.380 And if she answers questions from the rebel

00:39:49.700 and True North and counter-signal,

00:39:53.620 I mean, those guys aren't even allowed inside Jody Gondek's press conference.

00:39:57.360 But they're at the top of the line to ask questions on Saturday at her press conference.

00:40:02.560 And she answered them all.

00:40:04.640 And, you know, she's not afraid of anybody.

00:40:07.360 And she's not going to be starstruck by Tucker Carlson.

00:40:09.980 She may enjoy meeting him.

00:40:12.100 Oh, no, if there's any given and getting, she's going to get as good as she gets.

00:40:16.640 Exactly.

00:40:17.120 And I'm sure it'll be an entertaining afternoon.

00:40:18.820 Get away with anything.

00:40:20.160 But talk about what is his four things?

00:40:23.120 What is it, the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink?

00:40:30.020 Well, if it's pomposity and smugness, then I can see why Andrew Coyne doesn't like him instinctively.

00:40:35.220 Am I?

00:40:36.060 Because that's personified two of the four things that Mr. Carl stands against.

00:40:41.480 But he's a polarizing figure.

00:40:42.780 I mean, even among conservatives, there's some love-hate going on with Tucker Carlson.

00:40:49.560 Is it a bit of a gamble, though, for Premier Smith sitting down with him?

00:40:52.660 Is there much to be gained?

00:40:53.700 And I mean, I know she'll enjoy it, but, you know, she's always now in her role has to weigh the bigger picture of some of the stuff she does.

00:41:02.100 I'll bet you that if you had been in a position to take a poll of that 38, 3,900 people, it was actually more than 3,700.

00:41:09.820 They published the final figure.

00:41:11.340 I think it was 3,972.

00:41:13.140 Anyway, if you could have taken a poll of that room, that it's just a bet.

00:41:18.580 but i reckon that tucker carlson would have been um you know media favorite for just about all of 0.99

00:41:25.060 them and a few who weren't but uh in that room it's not a risk to her base her base is going

00:41:32.580 to love the fact that she sits down with carlson as much as uh the squirrels will be out there

00:41:36.660 protesting outside of the center probably and they'll be screaming bloody murder your average

00:41:41.540 uberton voter will have long forgotten it within four or five weeks of the event anyways that's

00:41:46.660 That's the other thing.

00:41:47.140 If you're thinking of going for dinner afterwards, make your reservation now.

00:41:51.940 I'll be out of the country for it.

00:41:53.320 I was kind of bummed when I saw the date.

00:41:55.120 I don't know.

00:41:55.640 Where are you going?

00:41:56.340 I've been out in Arizona for a few weeks.

00:41:58.600 Change your plans.

00:41:59.520 Hey, did you know you're guest hosting the show for three weeks?

00:42:03.340 By the way.

00:42:05.600 This is how some have greatness.

00:42:07.820 Some are born to it and some haven't thrust upon it.

00:42:09.980 Is that how it goes?

00:42:11.700 Okay.

00:42:12.280 We'll work on that contingency as the time nears.

00:42:15.360 Yeah, but it's the usual negative Nellies, you know, instantly condemning something.

00:42:22.700 And it's the negative Nellies and the left-wing media instantly condemning something.

00:42:28.480 Yeah, I don't see...

00:42:29.440 What else are they going to say?

00:42:30.680 You know, exactly.

00:42:31.880 I mean, every time the premier speaks publicly, there's a risk.

00:42:35.660 It doesn't matter who it's to. 1.00

00:42:37.660 If she slips up and says something stupid, she's going to get crucified for it. 1.00

00:42:42.300 And if she slips up and says something stupid with Tucker Carlson, I can promise you we'll crucify her. 1.00

00:42:49.000 But the left-wing media will be doing it much happier than we are. 0.99

00:42:55.000 Well, some of it, I mean, I think part of what Carlson symbolizes or signifies for our legacy media members

00:43:01.900 and why The Globe and Ms. Kreiderman got so upset, he broke away from legacy.

00:43:08.380 He had his show. He was on Fox. He had his millions of viewers on there. Yeah, he didn't break away willingly. He was fired. But he resurfaced and is doing better than he's ever done before. I mean, the viewership is off the charts now. He's made an example showing, you know what? We don't need those old dinosaurs. We don't need those institutions. We can actually go to modern means of communicating to people now and get the messaging out. And I think that scares a lot in the establishment. I mean, it frightens them.

00:43:34.600 They're in an industry, as you guys would know,

00:43:37.120 you were in it before as well,

00:43:38.560 that's just not going back to where it was.

00:43:40.920 David Plylariou You know, when you talk

00:43:41.920 about old dinosaurs, I was just thinking

00:43:44.320 about that press conference, and I was just thinking,

00:43:46.580 I said, my words, I'm 75, and I'm still there.

00:43:49.480 And then up walks Don Braid, and he's 80,

00:43:52.060 and Stuart from the Edmonton Journal, you know.

00:43:55.600 And then if you look around the room,

00:44:00.120 who's standing behind Daniel Smith?

00:44:03.280 but some people of our demographic and our age.

00:44:07.160 You know, we were speaking about Dr. Cowell earlier.

00:44:09.600 We were speaking to Dr. Denning, of Jim Denning,

00:44:12.960 and Lyle Wilbert, you know, it's a.

00:44:14.680 John Haskell- They can't put us out to rest to theirs.

00:44:16.780 John Haskell- No, no.

00:44:18.080 But there's both, and guiding as well.

00:44:19.680 I mean, we had young Jonathan Bradley in line

00:44:21.800 who put his questions forward to the Premier Smith.

00:44:26.800 And that was one more thing, actually, kind of going back

00:44:29.300 to the convention.

00:44:30.400 I saw, you know, and I've been doing a lot of them,

00:44:32.520 that's something we always decry as conservatives, not enough youth. There was a fair amount actually

00:44:36.540 of younger people evident at that AGM. I was quite happily surprised to see it.

00:44:42.180 And that would probably have been their first political experience. They probably joined up

00:44:46.560 just to come to the AGM. Yeah, well, I mean, that's great. It's great that they're in the

00:44:51.520 room for the plenary sessions, but then you can't get near the bar afterwards.

00:44:54.720 No, that is a problem. They've got very much younger ones, yeah. I'm speaking even people,

00:44:59.520 Well, I mean, in conservative meetings, sometimes you're lucky to have the average sitting below 60, you know, or the old reform meetings.

00:45:04.980 That was kind of the reality.

00:45:06.020 I know I was a young reformer.

00:45:07.380 It was fairly outrageous that they only offered Anheuser-Busch products, except for maybe one local craft brewery.

00:45:16.100 That was really good, by the way.

00:45:18.380 You know, for obvious reasons, that's what I chose.

00:45:20.580 And it turned out to be, you know, you find out something good just by accident.

00:45:24.000 Do you know what the name of it was?

00:45:25.620 No, I don't know.

00:45:26.420 You, Corey wasn't there on Friday. 0.64

00:45:28.440 You had to play the role of Corey buying women, you know,

00:45:31.220 pretty women glasses of wine and, you know.

00:45:34.500 It was a thing of beauty to watch. 0.99

00:45:36.360 You just don't get us to do it with our significant others.

00:45:38.960 I mean, our own Jen Hodgson, why would you not?

00:45:42.100 Yeah, exactly.

00:45:43.880 And by the way, I would buy one for Kelly Crowderman, too.

00:45:47.080 I know we've used her name in vain a couple of times here,

00:45:49.900 but she was a tremendous colleague with the Calvary.

00:45:51.700 She's written some great stuff.

00:45:52.960 She is a good reporter. 0.96

00:45:54.220 She's a lovely lady and a good reporter.

00:45:55.560 good reporter so i still like swiping at the legacy media when i can if she wants to re-establish 0.95

00:46:00.760 you know there's some great independent outlets she could uh land within perhaps if she was

00:46:06.200 moving along the only other critique i had there was a lack of coffee and i appreciate you going

00:46:09.800 out to find some because those of us that need that regular caffeine that was i heard that from

00:46:15.320 a number of people where can i get a coffee yeah well you know how far i had to i had to actually

00:46:19.800 break into the craft show up the corridor and i explained the situation and they said well all

00:46:26.600 right you can you can go to where we're selling coffee it's way down there but you're not to look

00:46:31.160 at any of the booths eyes front get some crafted blinders on you all right oh well it was still

00:46:41.160 thanks also to christine cusinelli who came on and helped me carry the whole back you guys drink a

00:46:45.560 a lot of coffee. Actually, I don't. I'll close out with one thumbs up to that poor beleaguered

00:46:55.020 pair of security guys who kept trying to stop people from entering through the exit doors,

00:46:59.480 watching him doggedly trying to keep those conservative, stubborn folks in order.

00:47:05.560 And I'm not sure how we're doing on time, but this is our last show before Remembrance Day.

00:47:09.440 yes so i think we would be remiss without uh saying god bless all the veterans and uh and

00:47:15.360 let's uh remember the fallen on saturday at the 11th hour of the 11th day and you know we're only

00:47:22.080 able to do these type of shows because of the sacrifice they made so god bless them all the

00:47:27.680 cost a perfect way to close out the show we're wrapping up right now so yes to those veterans

00:47:33.280 still out there thank you for your service and uh you'll have nothing but my appreciation for

00:47:37.760 those who have already passed so thank you all for tuning in today guys uh well we covered a lot

00:47:43.760 today we'll cover a lot more next week so be sure to tune in then and uh get out there to one of

00:47:48.480 those remember state services thanks Canadian shooting sports association without the cssa

00:47:53.680 our gun rights would have been taken long long ago these guys are on the front lines helping to draft

00:47:59.920 smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation in canada and more importantly

00:48:05.760 educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people to become a member

00:48:10.800 it's absolutely worth every penny you can become a western standard member for just ten dollars a

00:48:17.700 month or ninety nine dollars a year

Western Standard - November 09, 2023

The Pipeline： Creative destruction at Alberta Health Services

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