Western Standard - The Pipeline： Kenney's long goodbye.

00:00:00.000 Good evening. Today is May 25th, 2022. I'm Derek Fildebrandt and you're watching The Pipeline.

00:00:25.360 Thank you all for joining us. I'm joined, as usual, by the always dapper Dave Naylor, Western Standard News Editor. How are you, Dave?

00:00:34.280 I'm doing well, thank you.

00:00:35.400 I like these chairs. You know who doesn't like these chairs is Western Standard Opinion and Broadcast Editor Corey Morgan.

00:00:41.640 He has to sit up straight now on his daily show, don't you?

00:00:43.740 Yes, it ruins my slouch, but it helps me get that crabbiness up that I help to share with everybody daily.

00:00:49.380 He's extra pissed off that he has to sit up straight now.

00:00:51.700 So, well, we've got an interesting show.

00:00:56.120 Jason Kenney's long goodbye.

00:00:57.820 Jason Kenney is gone, as you know.

00:01:00.360 A week ago today, Jason Kenney resigned, or announced he will resign.

00:01:06.840 And, well, it's going on a lot longer than was expected.

00:01:09.820 We're going to talk about what led to his resignation, obviously,

00:01:13.400 in that leadership review and the long, drawn-out process

00:01:17.200 that now seems to be coming for his long goodbye.

00:01:21.700 But now that Kenny is gone, who comes next?

00:01:23.960 The leadership race for the United Conservative Party of Alberta is already heating up.

00:01:28.240 In fact, it began about it.

00:01:31.300 Actually, I don't know if it ever ended with Brian Jean.

00:01:33.540 I think just the 2017 campaign just continued on through.

00:01:38.240 But the race is heating up with candidates, several candidates having already launched campaigns and other campaigns in the works.

00:01:46.180 And we've got a lot of the scuttlebutt on that.

00:01:48.740 And Tamara Leach, Freedom Convoy organizer, she is out of jail, staying out of jail for 0.82

00:01:56.300 now.

00:01:56.760 The Crown's not very happy about that.

00:01:58.260 Government's very upset.

00:02:00.320 We're going to talk about the case that was just settled on that around bail and keeping

00:02:06.740 her out of jail.

00:02:08.320 Before we dive in, though, I want to thank all of our Western Standard members for your

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00:03:14.980 It's unfortunate they're out there. Okay.

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00:03:44.360 Okay, let's get into it.

00:03:47.040 uh kenny's long goodbye week ago we sat in this room and um watched as uh the vote came in 51.4

00:03:58.000 roughly or so um clearly not enough for any leader to stay on leading a political party jason kenny

00:04:04.160 resigns that's what we thought but but hasn't really happened everything before the butt is 0.97

00:04:12.320 Everything for the butt. Well, I mean, yeah, it was exactly one week ago tonight. We all thought he was going to stay on because he'd repeatedly said, including to our Rachel Emanuel and an exclusive interview the day before the vote, that he was going to stay. Anything above 50% plus one. We all said it was going to be disastrous and tear the party apart. But he repeatedly said he was going to stay. So when he did, when he came on and announced he was resigning, it was quite a shock. He certainly had to scramble that night.

00:04:41.800 But everybody thought, okay, that was it.

00:04:43.860 Maybe he'll go to the Ledge MacDougall Center, clean out his desks.

00:04:46.940 And the common sense seemed to be appoint an acting premier,

00:04:53.400 much like they did with Dave Hancock when he was appointed.

00:04:57.120 Yeah, that's the one new follow-between Alice at Redford.

00:04:59.580 Yes.

00:05:02.160 I'm pretty sure almost no one knows who that is.

00:05:04.600 Dave Hancock?

00:05:05.060 Yeah, even though he was premier.

00:05:07.080 But he's got a big portrait in the premier's gallery.

00:05:09.440 He's on the wall, but I don't think, I'll bet you a beer that if, when we go out and watch the game, no one is going to be able to tell us who Dave Hancock is.

00:05:21.320 All right. Sad, really. But rumbling started right away that Kenny was not going to leave immediately, and he confirmed it at the caucus meeting the next day at McDougal Center, Thursday morning, that he was going to stay on as Premier until his successor is Pitt.

00:05:39.440 And that would be up to the UCP party to decide when and where.

00:05:44.100 So he could be premier for several more months.

00:05:48.640 I've got a personal opinion on it.

00:05:50.420 I told Corey about it earlier this week.

00:05:55.040 He was raised in a Jesuit school, a very religious man.

00:05:59.880 I think he wants to be the premier when the pope touches down in Edmonton in July.

00:06:06.480 He wants to be the first one in line on the tarmac when the Pope descends from his El Italia jet and kisses the ground.

00:06:15.460 When he gets up, I think Jason Kenney wants to be that first guy.

00:06:18.740 So I think that's the reason he's staying.

00:06:20.920 I hadn't considered that angle.

00:06:23.040 Maybe that, I think at the least, that probably plays into it at least a bit.

00:06:27.400 I think the reason he wants to stick around primarily is to try and shape his legacy.

00:06:32.540 If you leave right away, well, you're kind of Alison Redforded at the door.

00:06:37.000 Your story is over, and that's how it ends.

00:06:40.880 Having a few more months as Premier, I think, allows him to do a couple of popular things

00:06:46.780 and try to rewrite history a bit so that, you know, with the benefit of hindsight,

00:06:51.560 you know, he hopes that we'll look back and say, ah, it wasn't so bad.

00:06:54.540 He did these things.

00:06:56.320 um cory why do you think it is kenny what do you think kenny wants to hang on why didn't he just

00:07:03.140 say screw you guys i'm going home um oh no first they said oh my god they killed kenny and then 0.82

00:07:10.100 screw you guys i'm going home why didn't he just uh pack up and leave if the party needs to move on 0.98

00:07:16.360 i think it's part of what you both said actually you know i mean they tie together sort of i mean 0.92

00:07:20.060 that's one more positive thing to end on you know there's the imagery of meeting the pope which is a

00:07:24.880 you know, a big deal to a person who's an observant Catholic and it stands out and it's

00:07:29.180 a part of the legacy. I mean, a papal visit to Alberta is pretty rare a thing to be a part of,

00:07:35.020 you know, so he's not cutting the ribbon at a Commonwealth Games again or something,

00:07:38.400 but there was something unique that he was in for and perhaps a couple of policy initiatives

00:07:42.860 to come in because he obviously didn't want to go. So let's hang on and see if we can't build a

00:07:47.960 little bit of a legacy on the way out. And a few things, as you said, people can look back on and

00:07:51.600 say, well, this happened during his term, rather than the very final action and everything

00:07:55.620 remembers was him being picked out by his own party.

00:07:59.860 The downside to it is it gives the NDP several more months of shooting A at him and B a leaderless

00:08:05.820 UCP.

00:08:07.040 It's hard.

00:08:07.760 I mean, it's not unprecedented for a leader to stay on until the replacement is selected

00:08:12.560 either.

00:08:12.920 It's actually a more common way.

00:08:15.120 But in the case when it was an unwilling ejection almost, it is a little more unusual to stay

00:08:20.760 in, but it's not out of the unexpected either. I mean, we just didn't expect that this, we never

00:08:26.680 really thought of it. We thought he's either going to be in or out, not this kind of in-between.

00:08:30.400 Well, he's in a lame, he's kind of in this lame duck phase now, but arguably,

00:08:34.660 you know, like lame duck presidents in between, you know, losing an election or being replaced,

00:08:39.200 if they're termed out, and the new guy coming in, they don't have a lot of political capital,

00:08:44.160 but at the same time, they sometimes do get interesting things done because

00:08:47.060 what's anyone going to do about it? You've got nothing to lose. Maybe you'll do some of the

00:08:51.240 more controversial and interesting things. You know, like there was talk

00:08:55.400 that Donald Trump would pardon like Edward Snowden or something.

00:08:59.420 Obviously he didn't do that. But, you know, really controversial things

00:09:03.220 on the way out.

00:09:07.000 What do you guys, we'll begin with you, Dave, then I'll go to you, Corey. What do you expect

00:09:11.120 from him? Other than kissing the Pope's ring, what do you

00:09:15.100 expect from a Premier Kenney for the remaining, you know, probably three, four months he's got?

00:09:21.420 I think it'll just be the economy. Just, you know, he'll be crowing about how well Alberta's

00:09:27.440 getting investments into it. Companies are coming here. And I think he'll spend the next three or

00:09:33.620 four months just trying to firm up more deals and work on pipelines. You know, we've got the

00:09:41.060 lingering energy crisis now. I'm sure he's going to work on that and try and get some pipeline

00:09:45.620 action into the states. So I think he's going to try and leave Alberta in a better state than

00:09:53.600 he found it maybe in terms of finances anyways and business. I think he's upset. He's hurt,

00:10:00.420 I guess you could say, but I don't think he's going to be embittered. I mean, the other fear

00:10:03.860 is a scorched earth thing, like, well, you know what? I'm just going to lay some poison pills or

00:10:08.640 leave a grumpy in the premier's desk for whoever the next person is coming in there you would think

00:10:13.180 of that that's very amber herdish of you well i mean some people do things when relationships split

00:10:18.200 but i mean he's he's uh it's the end of a long political career i think he might come up with

00:10:24.200 something like that we're not thinking of i mean you want something that you can point out like

00:10:27.240 that was mine you know not just a city park or uh a small item there may be some sort of legacy

00:10:33.600 but it's gonna be hard because the legislature is closing up it looks like in the next week too so

00:10:37.640 So I mean, outright legislation, it'd be difficult to pass.

00:10:42.220 Well, let's talk about what this means for the party.

00:10:46.260 UCP members, at least half of them officially here, said it's time to go.

00:10:51.280 In the name of God, go.

00:10:54.200 The other half, I don't think, relatively unenthusiastically said you can stay.

00:10:58.980 But I think the message is pretty clear.

00:11:00.580 It's time for new leadership.

00:11:03.460 Jason Kenney, in his departure speech, said that it's time to put the past behind us.

00:11:07.480 it's time to move on. He was saying the whole thing in the lead up to the vote, hoping people

00:11:11.360 would forget about his actions over the last two years. But now it's time to move on from the

00:11:16.560 divisiveness of Jason Kenney here. But he's still there. And at least two of the candidates who are

00:11:22.060 running already, Brian Jean and Danielle Smith, both of them are fairly critical, I think it's

00:11:29.800 fair to say, of Jason Kenney and how he's governed and his policies. You know, Brian Jean more

00:11:36.060 critical of kenny's style and daniel smith probably more critical of jason kenny's policies

00:11:41.500 um it's gonna probably be a bit awkward having a guy that you're essentially running against

00:11:48.700 still leading the party that you're hoping to lead it's it's gonna make for an awkward uh

00:11:54.780 i mean it's it's gonna kind of stick up the room um how difficult do you think this is

00:12:00.220 going to be or how awkward do you think it's going to be for the party to be able to move

00:12:04.060 on quickly and uh choose new leadership while while kenny's still there well i think kenny's

00:12:09.820 made it extremely difficult i think what people want to see now is somebody who's going to come

00:12:14.700 forward and say okay i'm going to do things differently just associate themselves with

00:12:19.420 with jason kenny and his policies but how are people like say okay jason nixon say he's going

00:12:25.020 to run how how can he then say sit there while the premier is still the premier and say i disagree

00:12:30.620 completely with what you've done. I'm going to do things differently. Well, he was a member of

00:12:35.100 the inner circle too, right? So he's got that going for him. Well, that's the issue we're going

00:12:38.720 to see with Travis Taves. So what we're seeing right now, and we're going to have some reporting

00:12:43.320 on this, is Travis Taves is very quickly becoming the Kenny candidate. The people around the

00:12:49.900 premier's office, a lot of people in the cabinet, the Kenny establishment of that party, they're

00:12:56.340 very quickly rallying around Travis Taves as the kind of continuation.

00:13:01.800 He'll probably have a few token breaks from the past,

00:13:05.200 but there is going to be at least one Kenny torchbearer of Kenny's legacy in this race.

00:13:10.780 But is that something Travis would want?

00:13:13.540 I mean, I would think the average UCB member wants Kenny and his entire office gone.

00:13:18.600 Half the party voted for him.

00:13:20.080 Now, I suspect that half were much less enthusiastic about keeping him

00:13:25.200 then the other side were about getting rid of them. But half that party voted for Jason Kenney.

00:13:30.560 And how much do you need to win? 50% plus one. And so I think there is a path to victory for

00:13:36.760 a candidate who, at the very least, is uncritical of the last three years and the legacy of Kenney

00:13:43.220 as premier. There is, but I would argue that we're less than a year away from an election now.

00:13:47.880 They don't have time to reinvent themselves as Kenney Light. They need to be something as

00:13:53.140 kenny different uh and travis daves if he if he i would think his best bet is to distance himself

00:14:00.720 from kenny uh because then there's 51 percent of people who say it's just gonna be another kenny

00:14:06.600 same 51 percent of people who voted to to oust him um so again he's he's he's hobbled candidates by

00:14:16.320 staying around um because like it or not there is a stink to jason kenny right now

00:14:21.680 And I think he should have removed himself quickly and cleared the decks and let the party just, you know, fight it out and have a good open contest.

00:14:32.900 Corey, what do you think this means for the ability of the party to be able to move on to a new leader and kind of a new era in this party's history while he's sticking around?

00:14:43.760 Is this going to be a big problem?

00:14:46.000 And how much do you think this is going to affect the dynamics of the leadership race as we're just talking about here?

00:14:51.160 I don't think it's going to handicap it as much as some might think. As I said, the session's

00:14:54.540 ending, so Kenny is now going to be a lame duck fingerhead traveling around, still technically

00:14:58.660 the premier, but not really, aside from orders and counsel and some other things, doing much.

00:15:04.580 But at the same time, too, even if you're, you'll have to be careful. There's no sense shooting at

00:15:08.620 the lame duck. You know he's on the way out. He's been rejected. And as was pointed out,

00:15:12.400 nearly half of the party, at least in that vote, whether lukewarm or not, supported him. So you

00:15:16.180 don't, they're not necessarily going to enjoy more attacks on him. I mean, the first task was done,

00:15:20.980 at least by the Brian Jeans and the ones who just wanted him out at all costs. Now they got to say,

00:15:25.500 well, okay, why am I the better replacement? I think they'd be wiser to focus their campaigns on,

00:15:30.440 yes, distinguishing themselves from the past administration. Why would I be fresh? Why would

00:15:33.860 I bring in something new? But there probably won't be much sense in even bringing up Kenny at that

00:15:37.720 point. You know, I would think like it's, he's done. So there's no sense on that. Now, why am I

00:15:43.380 the one? And I think that's where Brian Jeans is going to have a much harder time. He's modeled

00:15:46.680 his whole being and just being the anti-Kenny. Okay, we got that done, Brian. Now, what are

00:15:51.480 you representing? And they have to pivot to do that. Well, this is the perfect pivot to the

00:15:57.660 second part of what we're talking about is now that Kenny's gone, who comes next? And I suppose

00:16:01.620 I wrecked my own rules and attempting to schedule. Keep our comments segmented here and kind of

00:16:07.520 getting into Travis Taves. But we're going to talk now about what comes next, this leadership

00:16:12.180 race. So maybe we'll come back to Travis Taves in a few minutes, but let's, I divide it up

00:16:18.960 into four categories. You got Gene, you got Smith, you got Taves, and others. I think there'll be

00:16:29.520 some smaller candidates, some people who run just to get their name out. There'll be some smaller

00:16:32.960 ones on the right pushing particular issues and whatnot. But we'll kind of deal with the three

00:16:37.860 big ones and then kind of a free-for-all round for the smaller other maybes. Let's begin with

00:16:43.460 Brian Jean. He has, he played at least a significant role in pushing out Kenny. I think

00:16:51.920 not as big as, I think a lot of the mainstream media, because they don't understand internal

00:16:57.080 conservative party dynamics, conservative movement dynamics, I don't think they really get what

00:17:01.340 proportions are correct or not. But he did play a significant role in pushing Kenny out.

00:17:04.860 um Corey what is the game plan for Gene now if you're advising Brian Gene what are you telling

00:17:12.380 him he needs to do between now and you know let's hypothetically say the vote is October uh October

00:17:17.720 1st uh between now and October 1st if we're going to pick a date um what does he need to do coming

00:17:23.340 out of the out of the gate here to brand himself as more than just uh the guy the candidate uh

00:17:32.360 designed to just get rid of Kenny, because Kenny's gone.

00:17:34.980 He's got to reintroduce himself to Albertans.

00:17:37.260 I mean, the next role now is also to convince the members,

00:17:40.340 I'm going to not just vote for me, but vote for me because I'm the one who can beat Notley next year.

00:17:45.720 And Gene, again, everybody remembers that disastrous debate between Gene and Notley,

00:17:51.400 and there were other factors as to why that performance was as it was or whatnot.

00:17:56.760 So he has to convince people, well, that's not the performance I would bring about in another election.

00:18:01.500 When I get one more kick at the cat, I'm going to present something different.

00:18:04.400 I'm going to strengthen this party.

00:18:05.820 I can actually win and keep the UCP in power.

00:18:09.520 And that's a different thing than a negative thing.

00:18:11.580 He's got to now campaign about himself and being positive.

00:18:14.340 And what is he going to bring then?

00:18:15.840 How can he beat Notley?

00:18:17.440 A lot of it now, if you're turning the guns, you've got to turn him at Notley.

00:18:20.620 So he's got to rebrand himself.

00:18:22.460 And Burton still don't really know him all that well necessarily.

00:18:25.080 And this will be his opportunity where he's going to have to do that.

00:18:28.580 I'd say out of the three candidates, Gene is probably the most well-known, followed very closely by Danielle Smith.

00:18:35.580 I don't think many people know who Travis Taves is outside of 100 yards of the legislature.

00:18:41.060 But if, you know, you quit the Western Standard today and tomorrow you're in Brian Gene headquarters, what are you telling Brian he needs to do on his campaign?

00:18:49.500 Get policies out there and explain to people he's not going to quit.

00:18:54.180 You know, every job he's had, he's ended up quitting early.

00:18:57.860 So he's got that reputation.

00:18:59.780 I think people just want to hear policies and ideas.

00:19:03.260 You know, that's what any leadership race is about.

00:19:06.540 And as Corey says, how am I going to, how is he going to beat Knottley?

00:19:10.340 Because that's the big fear conservatives now have, less than a year away from the convention.

00:19:15.140 What distinct policies can you put up that will stop people voting NDP?

00:19:20.840 I don't know.

00:19:21.140 I think a lot of people, party members in a leadership race are looking for policy, but

00:19:25.380 I think a lot of them are looking for winnability. That's a huge one. There's a lot of intangibles

00:19:32.700 they're looking for. And remember, parties are tribes and conservative parties, particularly

00:19:37.800 Alberta conservative parties are tribes of tribes, and there are clear tribes within the United

00:19:42.900 Conservative Party. And it is fascinating that we're going to have two leaders, two former leaders

00:19:50.440 of one of those tribes facing off here.

00:19:54.280 Danielle Smith, you know, at least early on in her career, 1.00

00:19:58.980 was a very capable leader of the Wild Rose.

00:20:00.980 Obviously, it ended pretty disastrously.

00:20:03.740 She's back.

00:20:05.520 She had a very short run here at the Western Standard.

00:20:07.640 Very short.

00:20:08.080 But I think she needs to continue her apology to her.

00:20:13.680 You know, when she announced her candidacy,

00:20:16.840 you know, one of the first things she did was admit she was wrong.

00:20:19.400 crossing the floor.

00:20:21.960 You know, you remember your anger as an MLA at the time.

00:20:25.420 No, no, I wasn't an MLA.

00:20:26.480 It's what made me quit my job and become an MLA.

00:20:30.080 But, I mean, there was a lot of anger.

00:20:32.620 I know it was on Corey's side, too.

00:20:34.980 But she has manned up, so to speak,

00:20:37.380 and has apologized and says she's learned from it.

00:20:39.800 So now she's got to convince Albertans of that.

00:20:43.140 So we're going to get to Travis Taves in a second,

00:20:45.480 but just for the sake of this argument,

00:20:46.820 so Travis Taves is in and he's more or less running at least as not the anti-Kenny candidate

00:20:53.500 he's quietly essentially the candy candidate he probably won't go around doing photo ops with

00:20:59.300 Kenny that probably would be a bit too far but let's say for the sake of argument he's running

00:21:04.020 more or less as the Kenny legacy candidate you've got Gene on the other side who brands himself as

00:21:09.260 the anti-Kenny. Do you think Smith is smart to also go as hard anti-Kenny or try to position as

00:21:17.780 maybe a bit of a bridge between the two camps so that when you get to a final ballot, if she's on

00:21:23.460 that final ballot, if it's her versus Jean, well, the Kenny guys, they're not going to vote for

00:21:30.880 Jean, so they have to vote for her. Or if it's her versus Tabes, well, the anti-Kenny guys

00:21:35.200 aren't going to vote for Caves.

00:21:37.360 You think that's where she's trying to position herself?

00:21:39.940 Well, I think that's where she already had, kind of. 1.00

00:21:41.600 She was straddling.

00:21:42.620 You know, if Kenny had won the leadership,

00:21:45.080 Danielle had said clearly, even when I'd asked her,

00:21:47.060 you know, well, if she hadn't,

00:21:50.120 like if Kenny had stayed in,

00:21:51.460 would you stay on as an MLA?

00:21:53.140 And I do believe her that she would have stayed

00:21:54.860 and bowed at her time, perhaps work towards cabinet.

00:21:57.200 I don't think Kenny would have let her run as an MLA,

00:21:59.460 but that's a different question.

00:22:00.280 Well, that's no separate, but it's all speculative.

00:22:02.020 But I do believe she was genuine with that.

00:22:05.200 whereas the longevity of St. Brian Jean in that circumstance wasn't going to happen if Kenny was

00:22:10.000 going to remain. But I mean, she was trying to not be anti-Kenny while still vying for his job.

00:22:18.200 It was a balancing act. I think she kind of pulled it off. But she'll have to distinguish

00:22:21.980 herself in this. And as Dave said, too, it's trust. There's that other, you know, word. It's

00:22:26.540 not policy, but it's important. Like, you've got to feel like you can trust her. She's owned her

00:22:31.140 mistakes. There's no doubt about that. She does all the time. I mean, the comments whenever she

00:22:34.460 gives up my show, people still keep bringing it up and they will. She has to convince people

00:22:39.560 that she won't have another lapse in judgment. I mean, just because you owned it, that's fine.

00:22:43.340 And that's a good sign. But also have, will there not be another one in the future? And if she

00:22:47.900 can convince people of that, I think she can be winnable for sure. So let's talk about Travis

00:22:53.120 Taves. He is a very low profile finance minister. I think his, his personal, I don't know the guy,

00:23:01.020 out of the three, he's the only one I don't really know. But his persona is very much that of the

00:23:05.100 dour accountant. You know, he's not a lot of flash. You kind of just picture him sitting in a dark

00:23:11.820 room at the legislature late at night, you know, punching an old, old calculator like it's, that's

00:23:18.140 kind of, you know, a very almost bureaucratic or technocratic leader. People I've spoken to in the

00:23:24.760 party say, oh, he's really conservative. And maybe he is, but just a lot of that doesn't really

00:23:29.780 come through because he's not he's not a particularly charismatic character um but what

00:23:34.820 we're seeing right now is just folks around the premier in his office in the caucus in the cabinet

00:23:39.860 they're coming around travis tapes so that is instant even though he's not well known he's

00:23:45.160 going to be well known very soon uh that machine is going to put him up front if you saw a question

00:23:50.820 period today uh rachel emmanuel our alberta legislative reporter she says that um guess

00:23:56.900 was taking all the questions today it was travis tapes already the premier's office is putting him

00:24:01.700 up front trying to get some more spotlight on him trying to show him as a leader not just to the

00:24:06.100 public but also to the caucus so the caucus sees him as maybe an anointed successor they could see

00:24:11.220 himself in the premier's shoes um how dangerous is it for for travis tapes uh to run more or less

00:24:20.900 on the kenny legacy perhaps without calling it that but to more or less run on the kenny mantle

00:24:26.900 he hasn't been tainted in the lockdown scandals as much as other cabinet ministers uh he's going

00:24:34.340 to if if he runs he keeps the same low profile scandal free and he just watches that oil money

00:24:40.100 come in and come in and come in hundred dollars a barrel treasury bills bills bills and early next

00:24:47.060 year he will bring in a budget that albertans will have never seen in their history and the

00:24:51.700 the handouts will be incredible. And the building and the, you know, investments and everything,

00:24:57.600 and maybe even Travis Bucks, you know, who knows, he's going to have so much money to spend,

00:25:02.200 he won't know what to do with it. And it's going to be his call as treasurer. So he could come out

00:25:08.040 of that budget wildly popular. Well, the point I was making earlier was that I'm not sure it's

00:25:16.200 terribly dangerous for him to run as the county candidate. I think it is for the general election,

00:25:20.120 But within the party, half the party voted back.

00:25:23.200 Kenny, now, in a leadership race, it's not uncommon to win with 51%.

00:25:28.460 In a race, in reviews, leaders that succeed normally are in the high 80s into the 90s.

00:25:34.280 Richard Notley got something like 98 or 99 numbers that Kim Jong-un would be grateful for.

00:25:41.820 But he got 50%.

00:25:43.140 I don't know if that 50% means that those 50% would still vote for him if it was just a race overall again.

00:25:49.300 I'm doubtful of that, but there is still a significant Kenny contingent to that party.

00:25:56.260 And running as, like a better term, a Kenny candidate, it comes with a lot of automatic support.

00:26:01.600 People around the premier, that is instant support that didn't have to be painstakingly built up over years.

00:26:08.380 Do you think Travis Taves running as, you know, the more, let's say, less hostile successor to Kenny is going to be an asset or a net negative?

00:26:18.760 I think it'll be an asset.

00:26:19.920 I think potentially he's very well placed, actually.

00:26:23.300 Among Kenny's inner circle, kind of as Dave was saying,

00:26:25.740 I mean, we have Jason Nixon, we have Tyler Shandro.

00:26:27.640 They're going down with Kenny.

00:26:29.400 I mean, they were seen at the Sky Palace.

00:26:32.320 So was Travis Taves.

00:26:33.340 He was on the roof.

00:26:34.100 But nobody will remember that.

00:26:34.840 No one remembers him there.

00:26:36.020 Like, he is the stealth bomber candidate.

00:26:38.780 And he's in there.

00:26:39.600 And, I mean, so, I mean, every one of them has got to deal with baggage in a sense

00:26:43.140 when we talk about Danielle and Brian Jean.

00:26:45.440 But his is indirect baggage.

00:26:47.140 I mean, he's the unknown, but he's been solid. And also, if Gene and Danielle want to go at it

00:26:53.140 tooth and nail with each other, Taze can sit in the middle as the quiet, steady hand saying,

00:26:58.500 well, you know, he's got the Kenny vote. And plus, we know how these races work. If it's very

00:27:03.620 personal between Gene and Danielle, say, for example, well, everybody will pick the other

00:27:07.720 Taze for their second vote. And that could be the best place you could possibly be sometimes. So

00:27:12.480 he's not one to be underestimated. And you know what? The appetite of the electorate might not

00:27:16.780 be for flash and glitz. They want a steady

00:27:18.920 hand. They want some stability. They want

00:27:20.800 somebody who's level-headed. I had him on

00:27:22.860 the show before, and it was kind of as described.

00:27:24.780 He was solid. He was somewhat

00:27:26.720 personable as far as that goes, but it was like talking

00:27:28.780 to a personable accountant.

00:27:30.620 But maybe that's a little what people want right now.

00:27:32.600 And he can claim he balanced the budget.

00:27:34.860 Right? Well, you can claim that. I'd say

00:27:36.580 Oil did that, but I mean,

00:27:38.300 he played some role in that, for sure.

00:27:40.780 Spending is higher now than when they took over from the

00:27:42.680 NDP, but they did curb the increase

00:27:44.940 in spending relative to what the NDP planned to spend, but he was hardly, you know, some great

00:27:50.780 slash and burner of budgets. Yeah, I think you're onto something there, Corey.

00:27:59.200 You know, we saw that kind of with Ed Stalmack. Now, I think that Travis Tavis, most indications

00:28:05.060 are Travis Tavis is probably a bit more politically astute than Ed Stalmack, but he seemed to have a

00:28:09.120 Similar kind of persona, slightly folksy, but quiet.

00:28:14.140 Maybe not, maybe Dower was the wrong term for me to use, but.

00:28:17.200 He was steady Eddie at first.

00:28:18.600 Steady Eddie.

00:28:19.040 Until he got in, then he became special ed.

00:28:21.220 But all the same, it held some appeal for the stability and steady aspect.

00:28:26.780 And we have had nothing but political turmoil in this province for almost 20 years.

00:28:32.580 I mean, when you had the leadership review with Ralph Klein getting 55%, he says, okay, time to pack it in.

00:28:39.120 that's the starting gun on what became two decades of chaos in Alberta.

00:28:45.380 You got Ed Stelmak, and everything looked fine.

00:28:47.420 But then, you know, you're into Stelmak, you got the royalty review,

00:28:51.840 and then, boom, Wildrose begins becoming a thing.

00:28:54.540 Hinman wins that by-election.

00:28:56.340 All hell breaks loose.

00:28:57.300 Stelmak's gone.

00:28:58.600 Redford, Prentice.

00:29:00.660 Yeah, Redford, Prentice.

00:29:03.040 Let's see, I forgot Hancock.

00:29:04.520 See?

00:29:05.340 Don't one remembers Hancock.

00:29:06.880 And that's why he has to write a big signature.

00:29:10.840 Then, you know, then Notley.

00:29:12.520 And then, like, it has just been a constant, constant rollercoaster in politics.

00:29:17.540 Maybe there is an appetite for let's just try being boring.

00:29:21.420 Ontario is having an election right now, and they make less political news than Alberta.

00:29:25.580 And we're a year away.

00:29:27.420 Tep and Travis, Tep and Travis.

00:29:29.500 We're going to need.

00:29:31.140 I mean, a leadership race is where we're going to see if he comes out and into his being or not.

00:29:35.440 I mean, we'll see, because he's going to have to come out of the cabinet shadows then and present himself.

00:29:39.380 So we'll see how that, assuming he even runs.

00:29:41.140 I mean, he hasn't declared yet.

00:29:42.440 I think among a lot of centrist voters, there might be an appetite for that kind of quiet, managerial, almost technocratic feel to government.

00:29:51.880 But I think among conservative voters and especially conservative members right now, it's quite the opposite.

00:29:56.860 You know, we're seeing Pierre Poliver running the most radical federal campaign since Bernier, possibly even more so than Bernier in some respects, at least.

00:30:05.440 You know, leaders getting toppled all over people are an angry, pissed off. Maybe they want an angry, pissed off leader.

00:30:12.360 Well, then maybe Drew Barnes will be there. I mean, there's other names that can come out of the woodwork, too. Leadership, racism, volatile things.

00:30:19.240 Yeah. And we won't even get any others right now. There is a long list.

00:30:24.200 You know, Todd Lohan.

00:30:27.540 Yeah. Well, and those two, Todd Lohan and Drew Barnes, there's very good chance they're going to end up back in the UCP caucus now.

00:30:32.440 boy, they're going to love strutting back into there in front of Jason Kenneheimer. I did a

00:30:37.380 similar strut in front of Brian Jean once. Okay. Well, before we move on to speaking of Freedom

00:30:43.720 Convoy and stuff like that, we're going to move on to Tamara Litch and what's happening with her.

00:30:46.700 But before we do that, Corey's going to tell you about, well, you should be a member of the

00:30:51.260 Canadian Shooting Sports Association. Because for responsible law-abiding firearm owners,

00:30:56.500 which is what the vast majority of everybody is, I mean, again, with firearms, you know,

00:31:00.820 I should talk about it. It's a controversial thing with the American activities. And we got to

00:31:05.320 distinguish between those of us who responsibly enjoy firearms, who are law abiding people and

00:31:09.880 never want to hurt anybody. You have to protect your right to do that. You associate with other

00:31:14.380 law abiding firearm owners. And that's what they're about. It's an association of fellow

00:31:18.340 firearm owners with all sorts of resources from target shooting, trap shooting, hunting, collecting,

00:31:24.380 whatever it may be. They're getting together, sharing those resources, videos, trade shows,

00:31:30.080 things such as that, plus keeping you up on the news for things and lobbying to make sure you

00:31:34.400 maintain that right, which is really important. They stand up for you as a firearm owner,

00:31:38.160 pushing back against the Liberal government that's trying to arbitrarily take away your property,

00:31:42.160 firearms. So it's important to stand up for yourself and be together and work, I guess,

00:31:46.000 with a sort of solidarity and you've got to be a member in order to do that. It's well worth it.

00:31:50.560 And their website?

00:31:51.680 CSSA-CILA.org

00:31:55.400 Tamara Lich, probably the most prominent leader of the Freedom Convoy in Albertan. 0.60

00:32:00.440 She's from Medicine Hat. 0.95

00:32:03.980 She made some enemies in Ottawa.

00:32:06.960 She decided to take a little trip down to Ottawa, and it's been quite a saga.

00:32:12.040 The government's been trying to keep her in jail the entire time.

00:32:16.260 It's quite bizarre.

00:32:19.000 But there's some news on that front today, Dave.

00:32:21.240 Why don't you fill us in?

00:32:21.920 She served, what, three weeks, two weeks in jail when she was first arrested? 0.53

00:32:25.600 18 days.

00:32:26.760 So since then, the judge kicked her out of Ontario. 0.99

00:32:29.200 You can knock off a liquor store and you get less than that in Canada.

00:32:31.480 You can murder somebody and get less than that.

00:32:33.360 So the judge kicked her out of the province and said, never return.

00:32:38.100 And she said, yeah, I'll follow those bail conditions.

00:32:41.360 Then, lo and behold, the JCCF, Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms,

00:32:46.100 decides to award her with the George Jonas Award,

00:32:50.560 a sort of freedom fighter of the year.

00:32:52.640 And she says, yes, I'll be glad, Twix.

00:32:54.860 I'll be glad.

00:32:55.640 Thank you very much.

00:32:56.960 And some Crown prosecutor in Ottawa,

00:32:59.700 who has completely lost his mind, obviously,

00:33:02.020 decided that was a breach of her bail conditions.

00:33:05.060 And he demanded that she be thrown in jail.

00:33:08.220 So last week, the Crown made his case.

00:33:11.980 He was very argumentative.

00:33:13.420 The judge kind of slapped him down,

00:33:15.820 several times, but man, did he want Tamara Leach back in jail for saying that she was going to

00:33:20.780 accept this award that was going to be handed to her in Ottawa. She told us, Toronto, I'm sorry,

00:33:28.060 she told the Western Standard that, you know, she would accept it via video, but she wasn't going to

00:33:32.760 break her bail conditions, but I wasn't good enough for this Ottawa crown. So that was last

00:33:37.860 week. The judge came out with his ruling Wednesday morning. Finally, a judge with some common sense

00:33:43.460 who basically said look we're not the thought police here uh justice justice system cannot 0.98

00:33:49.440 operate like the thought police and not only said she's not going back to jail but he removed the

00:33:55.600 conditions um not being allowed into uh ontario so i'm not sure when the date of the dinner is but

00:34:02.300 i assume tamara leach will be down there accepting it in person she can if she chooses to anyways 0.84

00:34:07.940 It's a funny thing, we've got to watch, that's dicey, and they want to pounce on her if she violates a bail condition. 1.00

00:34:14.500 So she could go, she could accept it, but she can't promote the convoy.

00:34:19.540 She's got to be really careful there.

00:34:21.220 So if she didn't accept the speech.

00:34:22.200 Is that condition now gone too, that she's not allowed to speak positively? 0.73

00:34:24.680 No, no, she's still banned from social media and all those things.

00:34:28.520 So if she says thank you very much and leaves, it should be a problem. 0.89

00:34:32.680 But if she came out and then started anything that seemed to be promotional of more protests or the convoy, she could get into the suit.

00:34:40.180 But all the same, it was a huge victory. 0.99

00:34:42.300 And it was just ridiculous that they put her on the carpet for something stupid as just responding with an affirmative. 1.00

00:34:46.900 This is absolutely third world ten-pot shit. 1.00

00:34:50.220 That we have government orders saying you're not allowed to speak positively about a protest. 0.99

00:34:56.220 You're not allowed to be on social media.

00:34:57.820 that the crown would go so far as to say

00:35:00.820 you're not allowed to accept an award

00:35:02.640 through a video conference.

00:35:04.600 I mean, this is crazy.

00:35:06.980 She embarrassed Trudeau.

00:35:08.240 It's personal.

00:35:09.340 These guys are embarrassing themselves further 0.99

00:35:11.460 in these ridiculous efforts. 0.99

00:35:13.400 They are. 1.00

00:35:13.580 And Canadians were so smug 1.00

00:35:16.180 about how superior our justice system is to America. 0.83

00:35:19.140 America's got this politicized justice system.

00:35:21.560 Our judges, our crown,

00:35:24.000 they're all above reproach.

00:35:25.780 Now, in this case,

00:35:26.220 The judge did make, I think, the appropriate decision, but you still had the crown pursuing a clearly political, even partisan agenda against a woman who was considered no great threat, people paid no attention to until, you know, she got upset with the way things were going in this country and decided to go to her nation's capital.

00:35:46.480 And don't forget about the previous liberal appointed judge who put the bail conditions on her, right? So it's been political since the day she was arrested, without a doubt.

00:35:56.220 It was just absurd. And you know what? I'm glad to see the government increasingly absurd. Maybe

00:36:01.840 some people will wake up. I mean, if she'd been doing something ridiculous, even the social media 0.78

00:36:06.060 ban, which is questionable, but fine, she stayed within it. If she'd been flagrantly disregarding

00:36:10.520 it, putting up Facebook posts, you know, pictures from the convoy or saying, or she'd been saying,

00:36:14.700 let's get ready to roll again. Let's get going. Well, then you're looking to reoffend. If indeed

00:36:18.880 there was an offense, then perhaps it's time to push in. But she did nothing of the sort,

00:36:23.220 not even close. She tried very carefully to remain within what were ridiculously restrictive

00:36:28.380 conditions as it was. So look out Gene Smith and Taves Tamara Lich for UCP. 0.99

00:36:34.980 Oh, never thought of that. Yeah, there's no condition against running for the leadership

00:36:38.800 of the UCP. Now would they stop her from speaking on the campaign? No, no questions about the 0.99

00:36:44.220 freedom convoy. Bernier has been arrested for speaking at rallies. So not about not about the

00:36:49.660 content of a speech show. Just for speaking. Just speaking publicly

00:36:53.680 at a COVID ban. Yeah, yeah. Maybe it's

00:36:57.720 an interesting get-out-of-jail-free card. If he runs, good

00:37:01.680 luck arresting someone. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe we'll be in monkeypox locked down by

00:37:05.660 then anyways. Oh, good God. Okay, well,

00:37:09.540 speaking of more portents of doom, the Battle of

00:37:13.640 Alberta ends

00:37:16.660 I should say it ends tomorrow

00:37:19.380 it could end tomorrow

00:37:21.060 you know

00:37:22.940 you know what

00:37:25.760 on Sunday they played absolutely horribly

00:37:28.520 for two periods

00:37:30.780 Tuesday night they played

00:37:32.480 absolutely horribly

00:37:33.380 they got a very lucky 132

00:37:36.680 foot slap shot behind Mike

00:37:38.600 Smith and they tied the game up

00:37:40.620 and then fell again

00:37:41.660 I think the series is done

00:37:43.580 I think Sutter's been outcoached

00:37:45.780 and they've certainly not been able to stop the world's greatest player.

00:37:51.080 So your playoff beard comes off tomorrow?

00:37:53.140 So this magnificent thing I've been growing about a month now.

00:37:56.880 Isn't it magnificent?

00:37:58.280 It's something to behold.

00:37:59.860 It's something to behold.

00:38:00.640 I fear Friday morning I may have to shave it off.

00:38:03.900 You young guys, I can grow that in an afternoon.

00:38:08.600 Look at some of those hockey players.

00:38:10.080 They can grow them in an afternoon too.

00:38:11.380 I have to start shaving my armpits again.

00:38:12.720 Corey, are you going to be able to get on the Edmonton bandwagon

00:38:15.160 if things go poorly tomorrow?

00:38:17.400 No, I don't think so.

00:38:18.320 I mean, I've never presented myself as being the hardcore hockey fan.

00:38:22.880 I'm the true fair weather one.

00:38:24.540 Hey, I live in the Calgary area.

00:38:26.100 I hope for Calgary.

00:38:27.080 I watch them at the playoff time.

00:38:29.100 Root for them somewhat if they don't make it.

00:38:31.700 You know, I'll be disappointed, but it's not the end of the world.

00:38:34.020 But then again, then my season's done as far as hockey is concerned for me.

00:38:38.020 I hope for the best for them.

00:38:39.260 But from watching last night's game and even as a not a hardcore fanatical hockey kind of person, I could tell when a team is being terribly dominated and they are they're going to have to play dramatically differently if they're going to pull this out of the amount of social media aggravation I've got from some Edmonton fans means I'll be cheering for Colorado.

00:38:57.000 uh yeah i i don't pretend to be a hardcore hockey fan as well i'm a football guy stamps are on i

00:39:05.020 got i'll have season tickets i'll be there but i'm once the playoff start and our team is in

00:39:09.600 i'm in but um i'm i'm a i'm big enough as a man to support the alberta team that goes on i i i know

00:39:18.600 i know and that that that is an indication i'm probably not a really a good flames fan is that

00:39:23.040 I have, I have, there's any circumstance under which I can cheer for Edmonton,

00:39:26.680 but it's an Alberta team. Uh, I just will never,

00:39:29.080 it's just Toronto and Montreal that are off, uh, off the table for me at all

00:39:32.560 times. So I don't know if, um, if Edmonton goes, I can do it.

00:39:38.800 Just, um, boy,

00:39:40.560 it's got to piss people in Toronto off that the only two teams in Canada left

00:39:44.260 in it are both from wild Rose country. And that feels good.

00:39:47.780 And they have to stay up till late or 10 30 at night to watch it.

00:39:51.000 terribly late.

00:39:51.480 Great hockey.

00:39:52.540 If Edmonton wins,

00:39:53.880 can I go cover

00:39:54.580 the final series?

00:39:57.520 We'll talk about it.

00:39:59.040 Edmonton,

00:39:59.620 Tampa Bay probably.

00:40:01.100 You know,

00:40:01.600 we have a reporter

00:40:02.280 in Edmonton.

00:40:03.220 Yeah.

00:40:03.900 She knows nothing about hockey.

00:40:04.620 We don't have one

00:40:05.000 in Tampa though.

00:40:05.680 She's an Oilers fan.

00:40:06.600 She knows nothing

00:40:07.300 about hockey.

00:40:09.280 All right.

00:40:09.820 She can cover the games

00:40:10.700 in Edmonton.

00:40:11.220 I'll go to Tampa Bay.

00:40:12.740 Hopefully she doesn't 0.64

00:40:13.640 watch this show.

00:40:15.380 Okay.

00:40:16.320 All right.

00:40:17.600 Well,

00:40:18.040 that's it for today.

00:40:19.680 Guys,

00:40:20.160 thank you very much

00:40:20.760 for joining us and thank all of you who have been with us today. Thank you all for your continued

00:40:25.680 support. If you're not yet a member of Western Standard, go to westernstandard.news, click on

00:40:29.540 membership. You've become a Western Standard member and get unlimited access to all our

00:40:34.140 independent bailout free content for only $10 a month or $99 a year. That's it. That's all.

00:40:41.480 Go Flames Go. Thank you very much and God bless.

00:40:50.760 Thank you.

Western Standard - May 26, 2022

The Pipeline： Kenney's long goodbye.

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