Western Standard - The Pipeline： Kenney's Approval Plunges, Resistance to the Vaxports, Alberta Free Strategy Launches

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00:03:00.000 Thank you.

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00:04:00.000 Good day, I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Westridge Standard, and you are watching

00:04:19.880 The Pipeline today on September 29th, 2021.

00:04:26.300 we're going to be discussing a new poll out from ECOS showing Jason Kenney's approval of handling

00:04:34.940 the COVID pandemic is not just the lowest in the country, but it is the lowest by many orders of

00:04:41.240 magnitude. We're going to be discussing the growing resistance to vaccine passports. We've

00:04:47.180 been covering many stories of individuals being told they can't go to their schools, people being

00:04:51.740 removed from their jobs. We're going to talk about what that means with a real human face

00:04:56.120 on it today. As well, we're going to talk about the launch of the Alberta Free Strategy

00:05:00.340 Group, a new organization dedicated to Alberta seizing its sovereignty unilaterally while

00:05:06.340 remaining within Canada. A lot of interesting politics around that. So joining me today

00:05:11.960 is Western Standard News Editor Dave Naylor, who we now just have to call News Dave because

00:05:17.160 there's too many Daves in the office. Too many Daves, no more hiring of Daves.

00:05:20.020 We've got 99 Daves and UA1.

00:05:25.780 And also joined by Western Standard political columnist and host of the Cory Morgan Show,

00:05:30.840 Cory Morgan.

00:05:31.840 Good afternoon.

00:05:32.840 So before we get started, I want to thank all of our Western Standard members for your

00:05:36.860 continued generous support.

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00:05:51.880 The Western Standard refuses to accept the federal government's media bailout money.

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00:06:08.100 focused on the issues that we think are of interest to you.

00:06:12.480 So let's get started today.

00:06:14.520 Dave, poll out from ECOS, not good news for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

00:06:19.360 Well, if he hasn't hit rock bottom, he's getting awfully close to it.

00:06:23.280 Only 11% of Albertans agree with his handling of the COVID crisis.

00:06:29.180 In the last couple of weeks, we've been seeing daily staggering death tolls,

00:06:34.400 hospitals filled to overflowing, ICU units completely full.

00:06:40.320 And this new poll shows by far, Kenny's leadership is considered terrible by 80, 89% of Albertans.

00:06:52.540 Just to give you an example, the next lowest guy is Ontario Premier Doug Ford at, I think he was 28%.

00:07:02.360 Frank Graves from ECO says he's never seen anything like it.

00:07:06.640 He's never seen a poll rating that low, the 11% figure, and he tweeted out a reminder that it was only a year ago, and he had 80% support.

00:07:16.620 So it is a terrible, terrible plunge for he and his party over the last year, Derek.

00:07:24.920 I can't, what is it, 80, what is it, 89? 89, yeah. 89% disapprove.

00:07:31.300 I can't think of 89% of Albertans agreeing on anything, but 89% of Albertans disapproving of the Premier's handling of COVID.

00:07:42.620 Corey, I mean, the legacy media generally say that that's all because they strongly imply or at least skirt over the fact that there's very different reasons for people to disapprove of why this is.

00:07:54.280 There is kind of the leftist political parties, the NDP, and the media's perspective that he just hasn't done enough.

00:08:02.480 Then there's a completely other side of it that the polling we've commissioned in the past on this is pretty much evenly split with that side,

00:08:09.680 which is the side that believes that Kenny has gone too far in restrictions, too far in doing things that damage fundamental liberties.

00:08:18.880 That side has been nearly equal, normally within two, three points of the pro-lockdown side.

00:08:25.880 And this anti-lockdown side, they're coming overwhelmingly from people who cast votes for Jason Kenney in the last election.

00:08:33.880 This one seems to be a bit different. The hospitals are facing a capacity crisis.

00:08:39.880 But I think it's fair to criticize that even if you're on the anti-lockdown side, the anti-vaccine passport side,

00:08:46.880 I think it's, there's still a lot of critics of how the hospitals are overflowing right now.

00:08:54.720 Alberta's, our ICU capacity is strangely low for a province our size, for a province that has the

00:09:03.600 most expensive healthcare system on the continent. I'm not sure about the planet, but certainly the

00:09:07.520 most expensive on the continent. Yet we can't handle a surge of a couple hundred patients when

00:09:13.920 when we're 18, 19 months into this

00:09:16.480 and have put untold dollars into expanding this.

00:09:22.780 Do you think there, is there a road out of this for Kenny?

00:09:24.820 No, resign.

00:09:26.980 Seriously, this is enough.

00:09:28.640 The bottom line is he looks out of control.

00:09:32.420 Whether you're for lockdowns and restrictions

00:09:35.060 or whether you're against them,

00:09:36.500 he's constantly been reactive or hiding

00:09:40.080 and just nobody is confident in what he's gonna do

00:09:43.340 where he's going. And that's what people are looking for. I think even some pro-restriction

00:09:49.740 people, if they could feel confidence in his appearances and coming out, they would still

00:09:53.620 be okay hanging off a little longer. Or the anti-restriction ones, if he could present

00:09:57.180 himself saying, look, this is a plan, this is solid, this is where we're going, they

00:10:00.800 could get on. This is an approval rating with him and his handling of it. And people just

00:10:05.980 do not feel confidence whatsoever that he's managing this well at all. Not to mention

00:10:10.340 whether it's COVID-related or not, but his own party is a complete hornet's nest right now.

00:10:15.340 He's getting his legs cut out from his own provincial board, from his own MLAs,

00:10:19.720 and people right now, when we do have a crisis going on,

00:10:23.240 whatever they feel the best solution to it might be, need to see leadership,

00:10:27.220 and they are not seeing it, and they feel scared and underconfident.

00:10:32.620 So I don't see him pulling out of this at all.

00:10:34.600 I think a lot of it, Corey, goes back to when he went missing for those two to three weeks.

00:10:39.400 He won't address rumors that he was in Europe, saying what he does on his private time is just that, private.

00:10:47.540 But there was like a sense of fiddling while Rome burned.

00:10:52.340 You can see this crisis coming from a mile away, and there was radio silence from the Alberta government.

00:11:00.120 Even last week, Kenny disappeared for five days, and nothing was heard from him,

00:11:05.040 Even though we were getting death tolls in the 20s and daily death tolls and the hospitals were being overrun.

00:11:13.080 I think the average Albertan just gets a sense that things are out of control and there's no one at the helm.

00:11:19.260 I'm sure there's a lot of sympathy for Jason Kinney's assertion that his private time is his unless you happen to be unvaccinated.

00:11:28.120 Then the government gets to tell you what you get to do with your private time in Alberta now.

00:11:31.860 Yeah, there's just no, you know, you can pick at him from every direction he comes at with it.

00:11:36.720 And in vanishing for three weeks, I mean, those of us who are in the political know exactly what was up.

00:11:41.020 They wanted to keep him in hiding for the federal election for the sake of O'Toole.

00:11:44.040 We're in the middle of a crisis, a real problem in Alberta, and they're playing political games,

00:11:48.100 which, again, is another portion of that slice of people who have lost confidence.

00:11:53.020 Plus, there's no second in command. He doesn't delegate to anybody.

00:11:56.200 Was there another person who would come forth in and fill the void while he was gone for three weeks?

00:12:00.600 No, apparently he can't trust anybody to do that.

00:12:03.060 So we were just kind of stuck in an information void for weeks.

00:12:06.040 It's just been, and again, as I wrote regretfully, I mean, I like Jason Kenney.

00:12:10.800 I really wanted him to do well, but it's just fell apart.

00:12:15.380 It's gotten away from him.

00:12:16.920 Well, speaking of trying to help out O'Toole, I think it was yesterday that Jason Kenney

00:12:23.940 threw his support behind O'Toole staying as Tory leader.

00:12:27.500 Yeah, my mom says it's the kiss of death for O'Toole.

00:12:30.100 the way Kenny's luck has been going lately.

00:12:33.920 Flashback to when O'Toole was running for the leadership.

00:12:36.940 Jason Kenney was one of his most prominent supporters

00:12:40.160 when he came out and endorsed him.

00:12:42.420 So probably really no great surprise that last night during a press conference

00:12:46.560 he urged conservatives to stick behind O'Toole.

00:12:53.420 He says parties lose credibility if they have a revolving door policy of leaders

00:12:58.840 and reminded everybody that, you know, Stephen Harper was defeated in an election

00:13:03.600 and went on to be a fairly stable prime minister for a decade.

00:13:08.140 So O'Toole is still in, still has Kenny in his corner.

00:13:13.100 Surely there's no self-serving argument about the need to project stability

00:13:18.720 and not change your leaders, that changing leaders is a bad thing in general for conservatives.

00:13:24.040 Surely that's not the case.

00:13:25.280 There might be a little bit of a common interest in fostering that attitude among people.

00:13:32.520 I think it's fair to say, it's impossible to measure, but Kenny's endorsement of O'Toole

00:13:37.820 was a significant moment in helping O'Toole grasp the true blue, I'm the right wing conservative

00:13:43.760 mantle in when he was running for conservative leader a year ago, a little over a year ago.

00:13:51.380 O'Toole's jettisoned all of those major policies running.

00:13:55.700 I think O'Toole essentially ran a 2015 Trudeau campaign.

00:13:58.500 He's just, you know, just one election cycle behind the liberals at this point.

00:14:03.280 But, you know, I think it's fair to say Kenny's endorsement of O'Toole helped in the leadership

00:14:08.380 when he was running last time.

00:14:10.900 Do you think Kenny's endorsement of O'Toole remaining has got any benefit whatsoever at this point?

00:14:16.800 Not right now.

00:14:17.680 I mean, again, you know, Premier Kenny's brand is toxic.

00:14:21.040 I don't think O'Toole necessarily needs or wants him coming out.

00:14:25.480 But as you said, there might be an interest in just trying to build an atmosphere of stability for leaders at this point.

00:14:30.980 I don't think O'Toole's position, as Dave was saying, is nearly as tenuous as Jason Kenney's, though.

00:14:35.560 I mean, if he can get through this, perhaps, you know, it can be like with Stephen Harper.

00:14:40.640 Eventually, he'll get over the hump.

00:14:42.340 But Kenney, he's got enough problems going on.

00:14:44.240 He shouldn't even be talking about federal politics right now.

00:14:46.600 Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there that this actually had nothing to do

00:14:52.060 with O'Toole saying he supports O'Toole.

00:14:54.160 This was just in general trying to calm down conservatives who smell blood in the water

00:14:59.420 and want some change at the top right now.

00:15:03.120 And I think he's just trying to portray that the need for everybody should just keep their

00:15:07.440 jobs right now.

00:15:09.100 It's almost like he's trying to unionize conservative leaders right now.

00:15:13.680 all keeping our jobs and that's that. Well let's turn our attention to some of the stories

00:15:19.960 that we've been breaking here and Dave's been leading on the news division. I'll let you

00:15:26.160 pick which ones you want to get into but we've had some, a lot of people reach out to us

00:15:31.500 with their individual stories about what vaccine passports are doing to them, students being

00:15:39.840 forced to drop out of school or are just not allowed to go around the campus, they have

00:15:43.680 to sit and watch everything on a computer where other people get to go to campus.

00:15:48.140 People in their jobs, losing them.

00:15:52.340 Maybe we'll start with two in the healthcare system.

00:15:56.140 We had stories on both a paramedic and a doctor.

00:15:58.780 Yeah, it's certainly a growing question for various different sectors.

00:16:06.480 We had a story on 3,500 health care workers, from doctors to paramedics to nurses, sending

00:16:13.100 AHS a letter saying, you know, what's going on with this COVID mandatory vaccines?

00:16:19.040 They're all going to lose their jobs if they don't get vaccinated by October 31st.

00:16:24.240 So you've got the health care workers who are upset.

00:16:27.560 City workers, hundreds of them penned a letter to the city manager, David Duckworth, this

00:16:32.240 week.

00:16:32.560 Firefighters, EMS paramedics, police officers, other frontline city workers, they're worried about it too.

00:16:41.560 Thousands of students, university students, are working with a constitutional lawyer in Calgary and they're set to sue.

00:16:51.560 The JCCF says they're going to back Dr. Eric Payne who...

00:16:57.560 Who is the JCCF for people who don't study Western standard acronyms?

00:17:01.560 Oh, I'm sorry, the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms.

00:17:05.020 That's right.

00:17:05.600 They vow to protect any doctor or stand up for any doctor who loses their job because they refuse to get vaccinated.

00:17:14.640 Just today, the RCMP union said they would back officers who choose not to get vaccinated.

00:17:23.360 Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau talked again about the importance of getting all federal employees vaccinated

00:17:30.260 and getting vaccine passports for train and air travel.

00:17:35.900 But he didn't mention a firm date on when all this has to be done by.

00:17:43.200 So you've got all sorts of different groups, students, doctors, firefighters,

00:17:48.180 all getting together saying, you know, stop.

00:17:51.420 This is unconstitutional.

00:17:53.580 This is against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, what you're doing.

00:17:57.040 the only one going to get out of this anything is lawyers, because they're going to get rich

00:18:04.120 for years fighting all these COVID lawsuits when they get to court.

00:18:09.260 Corey, resistance from unions and students. Are we talking about an NDP movement here?

00:18:16.120 These are not traditionally right-wing libertarian after the government groups.

00:18:22.040 We're talking about union members themselves now disproportionately seems to be more the, you know, the firefighters and police officers tend not always to be the socialists, don't often share the socialist views of other unions, you know, the, you know, the more NDP affiliated ones.

00:18:46.020 But we're seeing unions, students in very significant numbers on this.

00:18:53.920 Is this a problem for governments that, because right now it's, until now it's been, the unvaccinated are a faceless nobody. 1.00

00:19:05.820 They're not people, they're a statistic.

00:19:08.540 And there's not really been a human face on it.

00:19:11.140 Now with a lot of the stories that we're doing right now, there's a human face on it.

00:19:15.880 These are individual people. These are not some yahoos.

00:19:19.980 These are just people who made an individual choice and they're now having their lives destroyed for it.

00:19:27.660 Do you think this is going to have really any effect on the law going forward?

00:19:31.520 Yes, they get a real problem. I was wondering when organized labor was going to catch up with this.

00:19:36.740 We had this happen actually a few years ago, I believe a couple of years ago in Ontario.

00:19:39.780 The teachers union fought against vaccinations mandatory for nurses back then.

00:19:43.240 Now, that wasn't in the midst of a pandemic at that time, but they won.

00:19:46.400 You can't force medication upon employees.

00:19:49.760 And unions, as much as they were on board at first and all saying, we've got to force this down, when they start looking at the reality, and the reality is there's perhaps, let's just throw another 10% of people feel that these vaccines are going to hurt them.

00:20:01.280 And I don't want to get into the debate of whether they will or not.

00:20:03.420 These 10%, though, are confident of that.

00:20:05.300 And when you feel that an injection is going to make you sick or kill you or harm you or damage you,

00:20:11.220 nothing on earth is going to make you take that.

00:20:13.480 So you will quit your job before you will do that.

00:20:15.940 What job would somebody keep if they thought they were going to be paralyzed or killed or something by a medication?

00:20:21.400 Now, you think of a union and how haywire they'll go if you even propose a public sector union a 3% wage cut.

00:20:27.220 They're willing to go and take everybody out on strike.

00:20:29.440 Well, we're talking possibly 10% of their workforce losing their jobs.

00:20:33.340 And if a union doesn't stand up for that 10%,

00:20:35.300 they are worth their salt as a union.

00:20:37.020 I mean, what are they there for then?

00:20:38.360 So this is a big problem, a very big problem.

00:20:40.920 And I'm not sure how they're going to deal with it

00:20:42.280 because that's tens, you know, say 10%, even 5%.

00:20:45.960 That's thousands of essential workers.

00:20:49.380 These are in the healthcare system.

00:20:50.580 These are firefighters.

00:20:51.440 These are emergency services.

00:20:52.500 When they say, oh, who cares about a few people

00:20:54.300 in the hospitality industry or some cab drivers

00:20:56.700 or private sector people, which still is a crisis,

00:21:00.680 they've got a much bigger one

00:21:01.900 And when we start losing in an already a wage or a labor crisis, start losing these people because of this vaccine standoff, they're going to have to do something about this.

00:21:10.760 Corey, I got a letter today from an elderly gentleman who had read my exclusive on a University of Alberta public health professor who was saying that it's the vaccinated that are currently leading the crisis.

00:21:25.000 And they're getting infected more than the unvaccinated with this Delta variant.

00:21:31.900 And he basically said he's confused.

00:21:33.900 He doesn't know what to do.

00:21:35.840 He says he's had a heart attack, and he is convinced if he gets vaccinated, he's going to get blood clot, and it will kill him.

00:21:43.180 He asked me what he should do, and I said, sir, I'm not a doctor.

00:21:46.260 I'm not going to give you medical advice.

00:21:48.360 I can only suggest you go and have a long talk with your family doctor and get his input on it.

00:21:54.480 But, you know, this is the choice that people are being given.

00:21:58.840 you can either be segregated from society, but if we're taking something that might harm you or,

00:22:04.440 or, you know, go and get vaccinated, it's going to be a tough call for a lot of people.

00:22:08.920 Yeah. You know, I think some of our readers have been, our readers are pretty much unanimous against

00:22:15.400 vaccine passports. I think that's fair to say. Where people stand on vaccines themselves,

00:22:20.120 I think our readers are a bit more divided. And, you know, the Western standard is not,

00:22:24.200 we're not a medical journal. I don't know anything about medicine, so I talked to my doctor,

00:22:29.880 and unless my doctor sounds insane, I generally do what he tells me to do as long as it doesn't

00:22:33.480 involve too much sacrifice on my part. So, you know, we've published from doctors and governments

00:22:42.120 that are pro-vaccine, you know, the piece that you ran on the University of Alberta,

00:22:49.240 public health professor. Many people in his field seem to disagree with that, but we felt it was

00:22:57.420 important. He's not just Karen learning on YouTube videos. This is a credible, serious

00:23:06.420 individual. And we made a decision that the Western Standard is here to facilitate credible

00:23:12.860 debate on the issue. We're not going to publish medical advice on really any topic from Joe Blow

00:23:20.780 who can watch YouTube. I encourage everyone to do their own research, but in terms of what we're

00:23:24.780 publishing, we're going to publish credible arguments from both sides of this and we'll

00:23:30.700 let the medical professionals debate it out. And then at the end of the day, people need to make

00:23:34.940 up their own mind, make their own decisions based on what they think is the best argument.

00:23:39.580 Absolutely.

00:23:40.580 Well, let's turn to something a little more fun.

00:23:45.520 An organization calling itself the Alberta Free Strategy Group launched yesterday.

00:23:51.080 It's making making some waves.

00:23:52.700 Why don't you tell us about it, Dave?

00:23:54.200 Sure.

00:23:55.200 First of all, I hate the name because I can never pronounce strategy.

00:23:57.960 Just say A-B-Free. 0.93

00:23:59.460 A-B-Free. 0.81

00:24:00.460 It's like Massachusetts.

00:24:01.460 I can never pronounce that.

00:24:02.460 Massachusetts.

00:24:03.460 It's a tough word.

00:24:06.180 Anyways, this group was launched yesterday.

00:24:08.140 It's fronted by three people, Rob Anderson, former Airdrie MLA, UFC political scientist,

00:24:16.680 Barry Cooper, and constitutional lawyer, David Frum.

00:24:20.320 Derek Frum.

00:24:21.320 Derek Frum, I'm sorry.

00:24:22.320 I saw in your notes you had that wrong, but I didn't know how I was going to change that

00:24:25.280 for you.

00:24:26.280 I've got David on the mind. 0.99

00:24:28.640 Too many damned. 0.99

00:24:29.640 I got 99 Daves. 0.99

00:24:30.640 I know.

00:24:31.640 I know.

00:24:32.640 These are the Daves I know.

00:24:33.640 These are the Daves I know.

00:24:35.640 Yeah.

00:24:36.640 The group basically wants what the Fair Deal panel suggested all that long time ago.

00:24:44.840 They want Alberta to get sovereignty over decision making, much like Quebec has.

00:24:54.480 Anderson told me yesterday in an interview, yeah, we just want what Quebec already has.

00:24:59.980 So he's talking about a provincial police force, a pension plan, and an end to equalization

00:25:10.020 which will sound good to many people.

00:25:15.220 Alberta having the power to appoint its own justices in court, so it's basically a continuation

00:25:23.640 of what the Fair Deal panel wanted.

00:25:25.880 going to go across Alberta and hold town hall meetings to encourage debate, but Anderson

00:25:32.260 stressed yesterday that it's not about separatism at the moment. He says it's too early to be

00:25:37.480 talking about separatism, but we can't take it off the table. He was very clear. It has

00:25:41.840 to be part of all negotiations with Canada. He says right now the government is basically

00:25:48.160 actively trying to screw over Alberta, so it's time for Alberta to stand up for itself.

00:25:54.700 So yeah, sort of a new political movement in the province started yesterday.

00:26:00.700 So I think your summary was pretty good, but I think where they really part way with the

00:26:07.080 Fair Deal panel or even the previous firewall letter 20 years ago is essentially what they're

00:26:13.740 proposing is nullification.

00:26:16.220 And nullification was a part of the early United States Constitution.

00:26:22.400 The Supreme Court in the United States essentially killed it in the post-Civil War era.

00:26:26.360 But nullification is the right of the states to essentially cancel the enforcement of federal laws within their state.

00:26:34.220 And that was a prominent and important part of the American federal system for the Civil War.

00:26:43.220 An example, a positive example of it was federal laws requiring free states in the North.

00:26:52.400 to return slaves back to the owners of the south northern states would invoke

00:26:58.880 nullification and just simply not enforce a federal law within um within their state

00:27:05.760 and what the alberta free strategy group is proposing is essentially that alberta should

00:27:10.720 just start doing that that alberta would pass that the legislature would pass an alberta

00:27:15.680 sovereignty act giving the legislature and the government the right to essentially strike down

00:27:20.240 federal law in Alberta, essentially just not to enforce federal law here.

00:27:27.820 That is a bold strategy.

00:27:31.180 I mean, I'm going to have to dive a bit deeper into this.

00:27:34.820 I'm probably going to want to talk to guys like Barry Cooper.

00:27:38.700 Barry Cooper might be very much on the right and Alberta sovereignty side of things, but

00:27:43.160 he's not a kook who just kind of cooks this stuff up. 0.87

00:27:46.960 So we're going to have to dive a bit deeper, I think, into how that would work.

00:27:51.420 Because arguably it's an act of revolution to just simply say, we're not enforcing federal law.

00:27:56.960 That's period.

00:27:58.820 Some extent that's already been done in Canada.

00:28:00.840 For a long time, British Columbia did not enforce the federal prohibition against marijuana.

00:28:05.060 They just, it could be illegal federally and BC just said, yeah, we don't care.

00:28:09.440 No one's going to jail.

00:28:09.980 We've ordered the police and the attorney general has ordered prosecutors not to prosecute people for small possession of marijuana.

00:28:17.760 There is some smaller precedence of this.

00:28:21.180 But they're also talking about applying it in the fiscal arena, that Alberta will collect its own taxes.

00:28:27.580 And that somehow they're going to take back, I'm not sure how this would work.

00:28:32.240 Maybe you know, Corey, but somehow they're going to use the concept of an Alberta revenue agency collecting our own revenue

00:28:37.800 to take back federal money that's being put towards things like equalization, other transfers.

00:28:44.500 I don't know.

00:28:45.020 How feasible is that to do without, you know, leaving Canada?

00:28:49.560 Yeah, I'm not sure about that one.

00:28:50.860 I'll try and ask, you know, I'm going to talk to Derek Crum about that a little later too

00:28:53.960 and see about the logistics of that.

00:28:55.740 Because I know people have talked a lot about, like, the Quebec system

00:28:57.680 where they collect the provincial tax separately from the federal,

00:29:00.500 but people do get confused.

00:29:01.740 They aren't collecting everything.

00:29:03.080 They just collect their provincial portion on their own

00:29:04.800 You're just filling out two forms and sending out two checks, basically.

00:29:08.220 It gives you a piece of, you know, distances yourself from that federal, you know, lump sum, I guess you could say.

00:29:15.640 But it doesn't really accomplish a heck of a lot.

00:29:17.960 If they're talking about intercepting the Alberta dollars before they even get to Ottawa, hey, I'm all for it.

00:29:23.440 I'm just not sure how they can pull it off.

00:29:25.000 I have this image of like, you know, sending cowboys to rob the federal stagecoach, which has got a big, you know, a big treasury box of equalization dollars just riding east through Saskatchewan all the way to Ottawa.

00:29:38.500 And we're just sending cowboys out to rob it because it's already our money, but we're taking it back.

00:29:45.000 I don't know how they plan to make that work.

00:29:46.900 I think that's going to be an interesting piece for your interview with Derek Fromm.

00:29:50.140 We should see if we can get Barry Cooper in as well if it's not too late.

00:29:53.020 But I don't know how they're going to make that work because I know a lot of the people

00:29:58.320 involved in this, I think they're kind of on the independence train, but they understand

00:30:03.700 that a majority of Albertans are not yet there.

00:30:05.980 A very significant minority of Albertans have consistently in polls in the last two years

00:30:11.520 shown a support for independence, but it's significant as that minority is, it's still

00:30:17.040 a minority.

00:30:18.040 I think what they're trying to do is plot a strategy that's got a bit more broad political buy-in

00:30:23.840 that gives us independence without declaring independence.

00:30:28.020 The Maple Leaf could still fly over a government building, but nothing's inside.

00:30:31.660 With some of the aspects, at least they're being more bold and just outright saying,

00:30:34.360 let's do it, instead of Kenny, who's been pissing around for two years

00:30:36.820 and this Fair Deal panel still hasn't done a bloody thing,

00:30:39.040 which is another area that's annoyed a lot of Albertans.

00:30:42.240 He's saying, let's do it. Pension plan. We can do it. Quebec's doing it.

00:30:46.180 it's not out of bounds, let's just get on with it.

00:30:49.060 Same with the provincial police force, you know,

00:30:50.940 no more talk, no more studies, no more committees,

00:30:53.320 let's do it.

00:30:54.700 That attitude I like coming out of them.

00:30:56.700 As you said, that fiscal collection one

00:30:58.540 seems a little more complicated,

00:30:59.960 but there's a lot of this ground is well-trodden already.

00:31:02.640 I believe, was Cooper one of the signatories

00:31:04.360 of the original Alberta agenda?

00:31:06.020 I know there was Kronach and a few other

00:31:07.900 political scientists back then, but either way,

00:31:11.400 you know, most of those aspects have been studied

00:31:14.260 to death, as far as I'm concerned. They're 20 years old now. We can do it. We just need

00:31:18.740 the will to do it. And maybe these guys will prod a little bit of that will out of the

00:31:22.960 provincial government that really talks big and cowers when it comes to standing up to

00:31:27.380 Ottawa. I just want to say Rob Anderson wrote as an exclusive column. It's on the website

00:31:33.020 outlining his plans and reasons for what he's doing. So I encourage everyone to go online

00:31:40.420 at WesternStandardOnline.com than Reid Anderson for himself.

00:31:45.040 It's, I mean, I think it's a plan that would probably have a reasonable degree of broad

00:31:51.140 bind in Alberta, but there's a lot of talk now that the equalization referendum scheduled

00:31:57.320 for October 18th is actually in jeopardy of losing now because many Albertans are so

00:32:06.560 white-hot angry with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, that they're going to take the referendum

00:32:11.400 as their opportunity to shove it in his face and vote against him.

00:32:16.300 I think it would be somewhat akin, although to a lesser extent, with the Olympic referendum

00:32:23.020 in Calgary.

00:32:26.060 That was narrowly, but it was defeated by a fair mantra, but it was still fairly close.

00:32:32.080 Roughly 55-45 in that neighborhood.

00:32:35.520 gut tells me that was actually would have passed, except Nenshi made himself the face

00:32:39.320 of that campaign, and it became a way for people to voice their displeasure with Nenshi.

00:32:45.800 And I think there is a very real risk that this referendum now, at the very least, it's

00:32:50.000 not going to get a straight up or down yes or no, depending on how people feel about

00:32:53.900 equalization that it would have, say, a year or two years ago.

00:32:58.500 At best, it'll probably now pass, you know, slimly.

00:33:02.740 But it could even be outright defeated at this point.

00:33:06.740 So I think it goes without saying that there's a 0% chance, even if Kenny believed in the

00:33:11.900 Alberta free strategy, which I don't think he does, but even if he did believe it, there's

00:33:16.880 no way in hell he could do it right now.

00:33:18.460 He has no political capital left to do anything.

00:33:21.860 He is 100% COVID all the time and he is failing at that even.

00:33:25.920 So he certainly can't take on any grand political schemes like this.

00:33:31.460 I think a year ago it would have been 99% against equalization.

00:33:36.280 Now I think you're right.

00:33:37.240 It's going to be a lot closer just because of hatred for Kenny.

00:33:40.140 Well, some of this timing couldn't be worse. 0.99

00:33:42.000 Again, Kenny's bloody luck with everything he touched turning to crap. 0.98

00:33:45.160 But when we're in a state where we're actually talking about how Trudeau is happily standing up there 0.98

00:33:50.140 saying how he's going to extend that hand and help out Albertans.

00:33:52.700 And Kenny's talking about how he might be utilizing American hospital facilities

00:33:57.040 for the overflow that's happening over here.

00:33:58.860 It's not the best atmosphere for a bunch of people to say this is when we want to become introverted and stop participating in a broader economy with other parts of the country.

00:34:08.780 It just couldn't possibly be any worse.

00:34:11.360 If it looks like this is going to lose, and I am positive the Tories have pulled on this, but if it looks like the Tories are going to lose,

00:34:19.880 is there a chance Kenny could actually pull this referendum?

00:34:24.040 Because it's a separate ballot.

00:34:26.040 You don't have to throw away all the other ballots for municipal elections, Senate election.

00:34:29.040 It looks like he's going to lose.

00:34:31.040 Do you think, I'm going to ask the same question, I think, to both of you.

00:34:35.040 Do you think there's a chance he pulls this?

00:34:37.040 Because if it is a defeat, or even if it's frankly not a significantly large margin of victory,

00:34:45.040 that is a, first, it is a political disaster for Jason Kenney.

00:34:49.040 And second of all, it is a political disaster for Alberta.

00:34:52.040 I mean, if Albertans have voted against changing equalization for whatever reason, you know,

00:34:57.980 those who support equalization of which there is a minority, and people who just were angry

00:35:01.760 at Kenny, this will massively weaken Alberta's hand within Canada. 0.99

00:35:07.280 Anytime we're not happy with money leaving Alberta, going to Ottawa, going to Quebec,

00:35:11.080 going to the Atlantic, they can turn around, throw it back in our face and say, well, you

00:35:14.660 guys had a vote on this, kicked up a big fuss, and guess what?

00:35:17.780 You voted to keep it. 0.99

00:35:18.780 Shut up. 0.95

00:35:19.780 Do you think there's a chance Kenny ends up pulling this if it looks like it's not going to go well? 0.98

00:35:23.960 I can't see it.

00:35:25.200 We're only three weeks away from the vote.

00:35:29.120 What excuse would he have to pull it?

00:35:32.260 I still think it'll probably, more people are against equalization than for it.

00:35:38.420 But I agree with you, Derek, that it's going to be closer than it should have been.

00:35:43.680 Corey?

00:35:44.140 I don't put anything beyond them.

00:35:45.600 The world's gone so bloody upside down this last year.

00:35:48.080 But I mean, it would completely undercut the entire purpose of having a referendum if the government doesn't like the way it's going and then yanks it out before we get to that date.

00:35:55.740 And as, I guess, as poor as Jason Kenney's political instincts have been, I don't think he'd be foolish enough to pull something like that when it's that close to the date.

00:36:05.820 If he was to, and I lean that way that it would just look too god-awful to do.

00:36:12.080 But if he did it, I think his excuse will go something like this.

00:36:16.140 I'm focused on COVID.

00:36:18.080 and that is the only priority of this government right now.

00:36:21.340 Reforming equalization and getting a fair deal is still important to me

00:36:24.080 and I'm going to still fight for it.

00:36:25.940 But right now is not the time to pick a fight with the rest of the country.

00:36:28.900 We need to be focused on COVID.

00:36:30.720 So we're going to postpone this vote

00:36:33.920 until you vote for me again or re-elect me to power.

00:36:37.040 That would mean you'd have to pull the daylight savings time on too, right?

00:36:41.080 And the fluoride maybe from the city or push for that.

00:36:43.660 Well, that's a municipal referendum.

00:36:44.480 Paul Hinman, on the other hand, would be doing cartwheels

00:36:46.560 because everybody who's regionally upset right now would say,

00:36:49.360 okay, that's the final straw.

00:36:50.660 I'm done with the UCP and off to the Wilder's Independence Party.

00:36:54.600 Yeah.

00:36:55.660 Okay, well, we're going to wrap it up there today.

00:36:58.840 Once again, I want to thank all of our Western Standard members

00:37:01.240 for your generous continued support.

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00:37:29.660 Thank you very much, Dave.

00:37:31.740 Thank you.

00:37:32.640 Dave number eight

00:37:33.460 and Corey number one.

00:37:35.360 No, no, no, no.

00:37:36.320 I'm always Dave number one.

00:37:37.620 You were Dave.

00:37:38.300 I was Dave number one.

00:37:39.520 You were Dave number one.

00:37:40.280 Yes, thank you.

00:37:41.000 I suppose.

00:37:41.820 You joined us in the first week

00:37:43.000 that the Western Standard was around.

00:37:44.240 Yep.

00:37:45.240 So.

00:37:46.240 Okay.

00:37:47.240 Thank you very much.

00:37:48.240 The reason I know that actually is because I'm writing kind of a two-year history.

00:37:51.240 We're coming up on our second anniversary.

00:37:53.240 Oh, second anniversary.

00:37:54.240 What do you get somebody on the second anniversary?

00:37:56.240 I'll probably buy the staff a beer.

00:37:58.240 Oh, sweet.

00:37:59.240 Yeah.

00:38:00.240 There is a first time for everything.

00:38:02.240 You know that's a lie.

00:38:03.240 You know I bought you a beer.

00:38:05.240 Okay, no beer for you.

00:38:07.240 If I don't get, I can't get no respect.

00:38:09.240 If I don't get any respect for the beers I bought you, then no more beers.

00:38:12.240 You heard it here, Western Standard is closing just in advance of our two year anniversary.

00:38:19.560 Thank you very much for joining us folks, have a good day and God bless.

Western Standard - September 30, 2021

The Pipeline： Kenney's Approval Plunges, Resistance to the Vaxports, Alberta Free Strategy Launches

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