Western Standard - The Pipeline： NDP candidate marched in Communist parade

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

00:00:16.880 The Pipeline. Today is May 10th, 2023, and we've got another special edition of The Pipeline

00:00:26.380 focusing on the Alberta election campaign underway right now. I'm joined as usual by the Western

00:00:31.320 Standards opinion editor, Nigel Hanford, how are you? Pretty good, good afternoon. Thank you, and the

00:00:36.620 Western Standards senior Alberta columnist, Corey Morgan. Thrilled to be here as always. You got almost

00:00:41.500 crazy scientists there today, eh? I'm due for a cut. Calling me on it. We're also going to be joined by

00:00:46.780 the Western Standard reporter in Edmonton, Arthur Green, and Western Standard reporters in Calgary,

00:00:54.700 both Jonathan Bradley and Sean Polzer. We're going to be dealing with, there's actually quite a bit. We

00:01:02.780 weren't sure what we were going to talk about this morning, but boy, the day filled up for what we're

00:01:06.500 talking about today. NDP candidate in Edmonton, Rod Loyola, been known for dabbling with communism in

00:01:17.200 the past. Photos have emerged exclusively to the Western Standard of Rod Loyola marching in a

00:01:22.880 communist party parade in Edmonton. Yeah. Okay, for communism. So not a good look for the NDP campaign

00:01:33.500 today. But the NDP is also, they've promised tax credits. If your kids do stuff, if they go to,

00:01:40.220 you know, they play sports or go and dance or something like that, 500 bucks.

00:01:44.540 The UCP is alleging, sorry, not, yeah, the UCP is alleging a conflict of interest and breaking of

00:01:55.640 elections, Alberta finance rules between the Alberta NDP and several of the big unions, the Alberta

00:02:01.160 Federation of Labour and the Alberta Teachers Association, claiming that there is potentially

00:02:05.960 illegal campaign finance taking place and funding some of their ads. Breaking story from our own

00:02:14.980 Arthur Green at the Alberta Legislature, an alleged gunman arrested at the legislature. Details are

00:02:21.360 still a bit murky there, but we're going to talk to Arthur Green about that. And the Alberta NDP are

00:02:27.260 claiming, pointing to an old video from Smith, saying that Smith plans to sell off Alberta's hospitals.

00:02:34.300 Okay, well, before we get into that, just want to thank my favorite sponsor, the Canadian Shooting

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00:03:03.240 every penny for gun owners standing together to defend your rights to legally buy, own and use

00:03:10.100 guns safely in Canada. Okay, so we're going to jump into it. We're going to begin bringing in the

00:03:16.640 Western, one of the Western Standards Calgary reporters, Jonathan Bradley. Jonathan, exclusive

00:03:22.860 story from you this morning, NDP candidate and a sitting MLA from Edmonton, Rod Loyola. You've obtained

00:03:32.300 exclusive photographs of him marching in a Communist Party parade. Tell us about this, comrade.

00:03:39.660 So, so I obtained from a source a photo of Rod Loyola marching in a Communist Party of Canada

00:03:48.920 delegation. It was part of their Edmonton club. There's no set specific date or time when this

00:03:55.760 happened. In the photo, Loyola is in the front of the delegation. He's wearing a black hat, black jacket,

00:04:02.820 and black track pants. And he's facing forward. And there's about a few other people behind him

00:04:08.820 looking to the side. There's one lady strumming a ukulele. And you can clearly see the banner

00:04:14.460 showing that it is a Communist Party delegation. Are we confirmed this is Rod Loyola?

00:04:20.080 Yes, it is. According to my source, they obtained it through research. And Loyola himself,

00:04:27.620 even though I did contact him, he didn't get back to us. Yeah. Okay. So this is not Mr. Loyola's first

00:04:37.080 dabbling with the Reds. It came out either right before or right after the 2015 election. A video of

00:04:47.920 him, it was taken just after Hugo Chavez died, the Communist dictator of Venezuela, where he was holding a

00:04:57.400 strange kind of pseudo-religious ceremony for him, almost offering prayers of a weird secular Marxist

00:05:06.860 kind, praying for Hugo Chavez and the great things he's done for the Workers' Revolution and things like

00:05:14.920 that. But now, just right, I suppose some lefties say, well, he's not really a communist.

00:05:25.020 Well, he was a communist, but I suppose I could try and dismiss it. But here he is with a communist

00:05:31.280 party of Canada banner mere feet away from him. He appears to be leading at least the delegation part

00:05:38.600 of that parade. It's not a good look, Nigel, but let's, I just, how much of a problem is this for

00:05:49.060 the NDP to have one of their candidates, a two-term MLA, caught, no pun, red-handed with the red banner?

00:05:56.860 Red-handed? My word. You know, of course it's a problem. You don't want people bringing up an

00:06:02.660 unsavory past. And let's face it, communism is unsavory. It's killed. That's a controversial view.

00:06:09.900 How many million people have died in the name of communism? So, you know, that's not a word that

00:06:16.740 anybody who wants to get elected really wants associated with. Yeah, we all have the sort of

00:06:21.680 the peccadilloes of youth and do silly things and so forth and so on. But I haven't heard that he's

00:06:26.660 recanted of this. And I find it somewhat alarming that when he decided to go into Syria's politics,

00:06:32.700 the closest thing that he could find to a communist party was Rachel Motley's NDP. So,

00:06:39.880 not a good look for the NDP. Corey, the NDP ran a communist, an open communist in the last election,

00:06:47.640 Anne McGrath. She was a senior NDP strategist for the NDP for some time, both federally and in Alberta.

00:06:52.440 She ran as a communist party, can't end the date herself, actually, but in the 80s.

00:06:59.720 Anybody never really addressed it then, but just try to dismiss it. It was the 80s. You know,

00:07:04.880 Ronald Reagan and cocaine. It was a long time ago. But this is not a long time ago. And this is a

00:07:12.620 sitting current MLA. I've just got to wonder, I think it's pretty fair to make an equivalency between

00:07:22.060 national socialism and international socialism, between communists and national socialists.

00:07:29.340 I just got to wonder, like, what would be the equivalent reaction if there was a two-term

00:07:35.460 UCP MLA running for re-election, and a photo emerged with them marching beside a swastika and a banner,

00:07:45.820 clearly associating with it saying, Nazi Party of Canada or National Socialist Party of Canada?

00:07:51.800 It would be immediate cancellation, apologies, damage control done by the party. It would make

00:07:56.740 national news and probably kill the election for the party that had that person walking with them.

00:08:01.680 Unfortunately, for whatever reason, communism, that Nigel was looking for that number, I looked at the

00:08:06.380 most recent, or one estimate as strong was 96 million people in the last century killed by that

00:08:11.540 vile ideology. And it should be looked down upon just as harshly when somebody is openly flirting

00:08:18.260 with that sick ideology as with Nazism. But they seem to get a pass with it. I don't think the NDP

00:08:23.940 want this association. They're not thrilled to see that popping up there. But it won't devastate them

00:08:28.500 nearly as much as it should.

00:08:31.700 Jonathan, you reached out to Mr. Loyola for comment and the NDP, but no response. Have they issued at least

00:08:38.560 any, even if not to you, have, as far as you've seen, have they issued any kind of public statement,

00:08:43.760 apologizing for Mr. Loyola's affiliations with the Communist Party, and previous,

00:08:52.240 I'm assuming they would say previous support for communism. I have not yet to date seen him

00:08:57.200 repudiate communism in any way, just not openly talk about communism. Has there been any kind of

00:09:04.800 statement whatsoever from the NDP disavowing or distancing themselves from this not very distant

00:09:14.400 picture of him supporting the Communist Party?

00:09:16.800 Nothing. I mean, when I reached out to Rod Loyola for comment, he didn't get back to me,

00:09:21.040 like majority of the NDP people who I've interacted with. But I do find it kind of, I don't find it

00:09:27.120 surprising because Mr. Loyola has a history of communism. You mentioned the event that he held with Hugo

00:09:34.000 Chavez, but in 2007, he used to perform as a rapper where he sang songs while he rapped about pro-communist,

00:09:41.600 like communist leaders like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro and how much he admired them and how he

00:09:46.800 wanted revolution. So to see this go along with it, isn't that surprising?

00:09:51.360 It just blows my mind that this doesn't even ripple with the legacy media in Alberta as a scandal.

00:10:03.760 Now, I suppose the story is just broken. Let's maybe give them a little more time.

00:10:10.080 Like, I think it's going to be controversial, but I think you're right, Corey, that for some reason,

00:10:14.400 the left does not acknowledge communism as an at least equivalent evil as National Socialism or

00:10:22.720 Fascism. I mean, as high as Fascism and National Socialism's death toll is, Communism's is significantly

00:10:30.720 higher, albeit they had a longer time and bigger populations with which to experiment their ideologies

00:10:36.640 on than the fascism did. But there's just a total lack of acknowledgement generally on the left of an

00:10:43.520 equivalency. And and I think a failure by at least the majority of those, not all, but a majority in

00:10:49.680 the legacy media to to see any kind of equivalency. Nigel, do you think it's just that, you know, maybe a

00:10:58.000 lot of people in the media and the chattering classes just see communism. There's like how everyone was a

00:11:03.200 communist in university. It's a passing phase and no one should really have to apologize for it. It's

00:11:08.160 like, you know, you know, if a picture came out of Corey doing a keg standing university, it's just an

00:11:14.480 equivalent of that. We all go through the phase communism is just a phase we all go through.

00:11:18.400 Well, I don't think we do all go through that phase. And I actually don't think that's what they

00:11:22.160 think. I think they just plain don't treat communism seriously. They're just it for some reason, they've

00:11:28.320 been so busy focusing on the other side that this just seems like kids having fun. And, you know,

00:11:36.720 for this for the sake of the viewers, this is the equivalency between Nazism and communism and a

00:11:42.800 number of other isms too. They all want to make a perfect society. But before they do, they have to

00:11:48.480 just get rid of everybody who isn't going to be on site. So the bourgeoisie or the Jews, you know,

00:11:54.560 whatever it is, that's the equivalency. It is very much a secular religion of death, both of them.

00:12:01.120 There's nothing funny about it. A secular religion of death. I think it's particularly

00:12:04.480 pertinent with Mr. Loyola, who was uttering prayer-like words for Hugo Chavez after he died,

00:12:12.400 calling blessings upon him and things of that sort. Okay, well, I'd say a little, we're going to turn,

00:12:19.040 we're going to keep Jonathan here for a moment, but a little less heavy than an NDP candidate

00:12:26.480 affiliating himself with an ideology that's killed roughly 100 million people in the last century.

00:12:32.640 The NDP latest campaign promise is if you've got a kid in Alberta, you get a $500 tax credit for

00:12:42.720 activities that can go towards, you know, playing sports or dance or things like that. Jonathan,

00:12:48.640 just flesh out a bit more for us the NDP's children activity tax credit.

00:12:54.160 So Rachel Notley announced on Tuesday, she would be enacting a children's activity tax credit

00:13:01.360 if she becomes premier. And the children activities tax credit will provide each family with $500 per

00:13:07.280 child to cover extracurricular activities. So soccer, soccer, hockey, science camp,

00:13:17.280 things like that. And parents don't need to do any extra work to obtain it. They'll just receive

00:13:22.320 a money back when they file their taxes. They don't have to submit receipts that their kids

00:13:27.040 actually did anything? Notley didn't say anything about that. But she did mention that this is to

00:13:32.080 deal with the cost of living crisis because she said many families are making difficult choices right

00:13:36.720 now about whether or not to put their kids, choosing between activities for their kids or maybe even not

00:13:41.360 putting them in activities at all due to unaffordability.

00:13:46.000 Not as bad as just handing cash. I mean, tax credits are, I suppose, less terrible than just

00:13:52.400 direct subsidies, but it is still a form of subsidy. But, you know, you and I were chatting about

00:13:57.680 this morning. It sure sounds very Harper-esque. You know, we remember I was a Canadian Taxpayers

00:14:03.440 Federation during most of Stephen Harper's time in government. And I was so frustrated that he just

00:14:09.760 wouldn't generally cut taxes on a broad basis. It was always these boutique tax cuts. So that was

00:14:15.280 a term that came into the Canadian parlance during Harper. You know, he had, I think, a children's

00:14:20.000 activity or sports tax credit. You know, we joke when I was at CTF that, you know, Harper was going

00:14:25.280 to bring in a tax credit for kids between ages seven and eight who have green eyes and are left-handed.

00:14:32.560 But it was these hyper micro-targeted tax cuts. The only, the point of which was not actually to

00:14:38.400 improve anything, but to target specific demographics of voters. And this seems to be the

00:14:43.200 same kind of voter that Rachel Notley's going after. Soccer moms, soccer dads, kids with young, people

00:14:49.120 with young kids, middle class. That makes up a huge proportion of Calgary. And that's people who have

00:14:57.280 generally leaned voting conservative in Calgary, but conceivably could vote NDP. Smart politics or?

00:15:05.840 Well, I think in the Harper days, that was very much the new fascination with aggregating data. We've

00:15:13.040 never been able to do that before. So the people who knew how things were done said, you know, we can,

00:15:19.120 we can tell you down to the street level exactly where our supporters are, and we can target them. And

00:15:24.560 they could to some degree. And so the whole business, all of these little boutique tax credits came out in that

00:15:31.840 spirit. I think a lot of us who were a bit more doctrinaire didn't like it. But anyway, it was done.

00:15:38.240 And I guess the proof of the pudding, if there is one, was in the 2011 election. So maybe, maybe that

00:15:43.280 worked for Harper. But I do think that when you are doing those kinds of, of programs, you have to be, you have to make

00:15:53.120 sure that it is actually people who could vote for you, might vote for you, who you're targeting. And

00:15:59.760 I'm not sure that in, like in, in Ontario, there are a lot of people who are leading conservative. And

00:16:05.120 that was just one more reason to vote conservative. Here in Alberta, and especially here in battleground

00:16:11.760 Calgary, I'm not sure that that's actually what is going to tip the scales for the NDP at all. It's

00:16:21.520 seems to me that that's still kind of a conservative thing. Well, I'd argue that it's the conservative

00:16:28.240 thing. It's targeting perhaps conservative voters, but it's certainly not a conservative policy. If

00:16:32.880 Harper does it, it's not conservative voters who are likely to respond to that. But Corey, I'm not,

00:16:41.680 I'm not so sure. It is targeting a key swing voter demographic. Young families with kids, middle

00:16:50.400 class. I, I certainly would agree with Nigel that very few people in Alberta are going to make their

00:16:56.240 decision going to the ballot box and saying, I want the children's activity tax credit, that's not

00:16:59.760 going to be it. People make decisions on a whole aggregate of issues. But it is a shiny little one

00:17:07.360 it's pretty tangible. As far as NDP policies go, it's not half bad. You know, young families

00:17:11.600 are having a hard time. We've come through COVID where kids have been locked in their houses and in

00:17:15.120 the habit of playing video games. I mean, things to help induce and get them out doing some sports and

00:17:19.120 dance aren't necessarily that bad. And, and to be honest, I, it is still a subsidy, but if there's

00:17:25.200 going to be one, I prefer to see tax credits over a blank check being handed out. I'm going to presume

00:17:29.440 being tax credits means they expect some receipts or something. I mean, there's always room for

00:17:33.360 abuse with these programs, but it's kind of a relatively pragmatic sort of policy move

00:17:38.560 by the NDP. And certainly, yeah, looking to get those traditional, maybe just to get another toe

00:17:43.120 hold in on that support. I think parents are just going to spend it on beer and popcorn.

00:17:46.400 Well, yeah, I've heard that before. You know, we used to play street hockey and soccer,

00:17:50.960 soccer on the grass. I don't know, giving people a tax credit to go out. When we were young,

00:17:56.480 we weren't competing with phones that had a plethora of games or porn or God knows what else that keeps

00:18:00.960 kids locked in their houses these days. So that's for sure. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for joining us,

00:18:05.280 Jonathan. We're going to switch up to Arthur Green in Edmonton. Arthur, you're one of the few lonely

00:18:14.320 reporters still sitting around the legislature right now. And you had, well, quite a morning,

00:18:22.880 an arrest of an alleged gunman at the legislature. I know details are fairly hazy, but fill us in best

00:18:30.160 you can about what's happened. Details aren't hazy now, Derek, because I just got an email from EPS

00:18:37.520 that very second. So I am told at approximately 1140 AM today, ESP or EPS downtown branch patrol

00:18:47.200 members responded to a call for assistance from the Alberta sheriffs for a weapon complaint, a weapons

00:18:53.760 complaint here at the Alberta legislature. It was reported to police that a male was spray painting a

00:18:59.600 message on one of the columns on the north steps of the legislature when he was confronted by

00:19:06.080 construction workers in the area. The male is alleged to have picked up a firearm from the steps and

00:19:12.960 pointed it at the workers, warning them to leave him alone. The workers quickly fled the area and

00:19:21.280 Alberta sheriffs were notified. Sheriffs subsequently confronted the suspect on the front steps of the

00:19:29.040 legislature, instructing him to lie down on the ground. The suspect then complied and was taken into

00:19:36.000 custody by the Alberta sheriffs. Police then arrived on the scene and took custody of the male suspect.

00:19:44.160 Two firearms, one of which was loaded, were found in his possession of the suspect. And the 59-year-old

00:19:51.520 male is facing various firearm-related charges. And it was quite scary, Derry.

00:20:00.080 But you were there as he was being hauled away, right? You got some video of it.

00:20:05.840 That's correct. I had just exited the Cory Morgan show and I noticed police cars and an employee said

00:20:13.440 there's a man in the building with a gun. I quickly headed outside. When I went outside,

00:20:21.520 police were actually arresting the man and putting him into a cop car. The man apparently had no shoes

00:20:28.640 on, Derek, which is quite astounding. But I mean, the police presence was here for about a half hour

00:20:35.520 after he was arrested. And now it's all quiet on the Western Frontier and here in Edmonton.

00:20:41.760 No shoes, no shooting, no service. That's quite something. Make sure, when we're done here,

00:20:49.200 make sure you go up to the legislature, see if you can figure out what he was trying to spray paint.

00:20:54.160 I suppose we probably don't know anything about his motivations yet at this time, right?

00:20:57.920 No motivations. EPS didn't say any reason why he was here. Now, I did contact the government of

00:21:06.720 Alberta that they're upstairs for me. So I sent a quick text to the press secretary and

00:21:14.720 government of Alberta declined comment. Yeah. Well, let's do what we can, at least with the police,

00:21:19.760 to try and figure out what his motives were. We might get some hint of that from his spray painting.

00:21:24.880 I mean, spray painting something onto the columns of the legislature and with a gun.

00:21:34.080 I presume it's some kind of political situation. I couldn't tell you what side he's on, if any,

00:21:40.160 or what he is. It sounds probably like a rather disturbed person, though.

00:21:45.680 I guess there's not much to go on yet. We don't know what side this guy thinks he was on.

00:21:54.880 Honestly, I'd just be happy. I mean, that had potential to be really, really bad, though. I mean,

00:21:58.000 if this guy had loaded firearms, that could have turned a level a lot uglier than it did.

00:22:01.440 Well, he had one loaded firearm. The other one was unloaded.

00:22:03.840 Certainly enough to really harm somebody. So whatever it's worth, at least this has ended.

00:22:07.760 I mean, I don't know if his intention was to shoot anyone at the legislature. He certainly

00:22:12.640 brought them to potentially shoot. But if his intention was to shoot at the legislature,

00:22:17.200 this is the worst possible time to do so, because every single politician at the legislature

00:22:23.280 is out campaigning. In fact, they're not even technically MLAs during an election period.

00:22:26.960 All their campaign, all the political staff, they're out campaigning.

00:22:30.160 The legislature right now is like cleaning staff and Arthur and the sheriffs. I mean, yeah, there's

00:22:39.920 no one there. I don't know. Some people, you know, say they take politics seriously. Some people,

00:22:49.760 some people don't. This guy is obviously not even aware. I'm guessing it's not even aware there's an

00:22:55.200 election model. Otherwise, why would you go to the ledge?

00:22:59.120 Well, then he knows there's an election. He just thinks they would be there. I mean,

00:23:03.680 and then most of the year, there's a chance someone would be there. Okay.

00:23:10.320 That's fascinating. Okay, Arthur, we're gonna switch gears here. Today, the UCP released a second

00:23:17.360 letter to Elections Alberta alleging that the NDP and certain union bosses are potentially violating

00:23:25.600 campaign finance law. Fill us in on what the allegations are, what this controversy is.

00:23:35.840 So basically, the UCP is calling for an investigation into the Alberta NDP's

00:23:42.720 dealings with provincial union bosses. So a letter was sent on Wednesday regarding possible violations

00:23:49.600 of election finances and contributions disclosures act. The letter basically questions Rachel Notley

00:23:56.480 and the NDP relationship with the union bosses and its ongoing election activity. Now, the executive

00:24:04.560 director of the UCP said the law is clear affiliated with third parties are prohibited from undertaking

00:24:11.600 advertising to benefit the NDP or any other party. But evidence actually shows this is happening right

00:24:18.560 now here in Alberta. Okay, and I suppose some of this hinges on like we know that these unions are

00:24:25.520 advertising. We know they're very clearly pro-NDP. They, in fact, some of them at least like the Alberta

00:24:30.640 Federation of Labor have automatic seats on the NDP's executive council across the province. But some of

00:24:36.720 those hinges on where the money comes from. Correct me if I'm wrong here, Arthur, that it's they're not

00:24:44.880 allowed to use existing funds in the union that it has to be it can't be just the money that comes from

00:24:50.720 the dues paid by union members and other revenues. But it has to be from donations from individuals to

00:24:56.640 the union specifically for advertising during a campaign. And so tell me, Arthur, is it is the UCP is saying

00:25:05.600 that they believe the NDP is not using just donations for advertising, but that they're they're using

00:25:11.120 so existing funds from union members dues? Is that what they're alleging or just that they're worried

00:25:17.600 it might be happening? That's what I understand. That's what they're alleging. I mean, they said the

00:25:24.160 election period has commenced and it's imperative that Elections Alberta take immediate action to

00:25:30.080 to investigate this because, again, those attack ads that are being ran against Smith by the by the unions,

00:25:40.240 they're claiming are being paid by these funds. So, you know, in the letter, they asked for some

00:25:47.680 requested actions. One being that, you know, they want Elections Alberta to confirm the advertising expenses

00:25:56.720 incurred by these NDP affiliated organizations will count towards the NDP's expense limit for the

00:26:04.320 election period. We know that there's a certain amount of money that you're allowed to spend during

00:26:08.720 an election period. And apparently the UCP says that with these provincial unions and the cost of these

00:26:16.320 ads that that is violating those expenses. Corey, I mean, it is no secret of any kind that the NDP

00:26:25.840 is directly plugged in with the union bosses in Alberta. You know, AFL has seats directly on EP's

00:26:32.160 executive and there's certain connections within the NDP's constitution that gives some of these

00:26:36.480 unions special privileges within the NDP. It's a holdover from the 1930s and the Canadian Commonwealth

00:26:42.320 Federation and these kinds of things. The current boss of the Alberta Federation of Labor, Gil McGowan,

00:26:49.360 an open Marxist. He has made no secret of his support for Richard Notley and the NDP. He even ran for the

00:26:56.720 federal NDP once unsuccessfully. But it's not a crime for them to be supportive of the NDP.

00:27:05.760 Actually, I suppose none of this is technically criminal, but it's provincial statute. So it's not

00:27:08.720 against the law to be for them. But what is the risk for the NDP here? Because these kinds of

00:27:16.080 investigations move very, very slowly. I highly doubt that Elections Alberta is going to come

00:27:20.320 out and spank them in the middle of a campaign. No, they're not going to sanction them at this

00:27:23.600 point. And as I kind of said before the show, I launched a similar complaint four years ago over

00:27:27.840 the similar problem and Elections Alberta looked into it and they got back to me, I believe,

00:27:31.600 two or three months after the election to tell me that they hadn't found any problems with it.

00:27:35.920 So I think the UCP knows that as well. I mean, it does stink and it's just kind of reminding

00:27:40.240 Albertans how closely tied these groups are together. But I don't think they realistically

00:27:45.040 expect anything to actually happen in the next 10, 12 days.

00:27:47.520 I don't know why you would have filed a complaint. You were seeking an NDP nomination

00:27:50.400 four years ago. I was still annoyed. They declined me.

00:27:52.560 We're going to bring in another one of our Calgary reporters, Sean Polzer now. Sean,

00:27:59.600 the NDP held a press conference today where they did the big unveil of the latest Danielle Smith

00:28:04.480 controversy video. I think in short, the NDP are taking from this video that Danielle Smith

00:28:10.880 says she is going to sell Alberta's hospitals. Tell us about it.

00:28:16.480 Well, it was another one of those WTF moments when they actually spun the video because that's

00:28:23.520 not exactly what she said. She was talking on a speech and from 2021 and it was basically a proposal

00:28:32.080 to give Alberta Health Insurance Corporation, it's a government funded, publicly funded body that

00:28:42.800 oversees the Alberta Health Plan, basically a mandate to manage hospitals. And so what she was proposing

00:28:50.560 was Alberta Health Care Quality Council be set up as kind of an auditor to see if these hospitals and the

00:29:00.560 were mentioned were Calgary Law Heat, Calgary Foothills were being managed properly. And if they weren't,

00:29:07.120 to give Alberta Health Insurance the right to issue requests for proposals to interested parties that

00:29:13.200 would be interested in running them, which she noted is perfectly within the bounds of the Canada Health

00:29:19.840 Act, which of course the NDP disputed. So how did the NDP get from that, that she plans to sell the hospitals?

00:29:26.880 That's a really good question. And that was kind of confusing because, in fact, there are privately

00:29:33.440 run hospitals in Canada, and not just in Alberta, but across Canada, there's probably about 50 of them. And one of

00:29:39.840 them up in the Edmonton area is Covenant Health, which runs the Grey Nuns, the Misericordia, they run the hospital in

00:29:47.440 They run the hospital in Gregorville, they actually run the hospital in Banff, and they employ 18,000 people.

00:29:54.000 Even though it was set up in 2008 under Ed Stalmac, the routes actually go back to the St. Albert Mission

00:30:01.040 and smallpox outbreak in 1870, which is where the Grey Nuns Hospital actually originated. So this is a group

00:30:08.000 that's been part of Alberta's heritage for well over 100 years, way before the province was ever even born.

00:30:13.440 So you were at the the press conference where the NDP did their big unveiling here on this.

00:30:20.320 Did the other media, other reporters that were there, did any of them, did they seem to be buying this?

00:30:28.880 Oh, well, I was the only reporter that was in the room. But the ones that were on the phone. And of course, we weren't

00:30:34.880 allowed to ask questions. You're telling me that at the end of the global press conference, the only reporter

00:30:40.480 that shows up is the Western Standard. And the only reporter there is not allowed to ask a question. Are you

00:30:46.400 telling me that's what actually happened? Well, no, though, it was a question that was put forth over the phone. I

00:30:52.880 can't recall the publication, but she was the one that brought up the Covenant Health Group and they

00:30:59.440 actually run a supplementary hospital near the University of Alberta Faculty St. John. They run the

00:31:07.760 old folks home in St. Albert, the Uville, which is another one that goes way back with the history of

00:31:13.760 the St. Albert Mission. And so when I got back to the office, I thought, well, you know, I'll do a little

00:31:19.280 bit of digging. And that's what I found out that there's three classes of hospitals in Canada. One

00:31:25.200 is a public, one is a public general. And then one is are these privately run facilities. They can be

00:31:32.400 sports clinics, they can be the eye surgery things, which are technically considered hospitals. But most

00:31:38.320 of them are actually run by religious groups. And the oldest one in Canada was founded in 1632, I believe,

00:31:44.640 in Quebec City, from the Miss Accordia sisters, sisters of the media, I'm, I'm not clear on the

00:31:51.840 order, but it is still in operation today. It is the oldest longest continuously operating hospital in

00:31:57.120 Canada. Oh, let's start with you, Corey. I'm getting over the fact that Western Center is the only

00:32:04.160 reporter to actually show up to an NDP press conference. So they take zero questions from the press.

00:32:08.400 I don't know, I think the NDP, you know, they got some mileage out of the Smith video released,

00:32:17.600 I think yesterday, saying, you know, where Smith was talking about how to make a dictator,

00:32:25.360 Netflix series, talk about people's compliance with dictators, and obviously Hitler. And they managed to,

00:32:32.400 I think it was an unfair contortion. But they have at least some threads to grasp onto trying to say that,

00:32:37.920 well, Smith is saying that unvaccinated people are like followers of Hitler. I think that's an extreme

00:32:42.800 stretch. It's not what she said. But I can at least see how they, they can make the case for it.

00:32:49.200 This one seems to be a bit. This is outright BS. As soon as I saw it on social media, and of course,

00:32:55.600 I was like, Oh, what have you done this time? I thought I'm gonna listen to it. She'll have said some

00:33:00.720 sort of, you know, blue sky and then talking about we could sell it and buy something else.

00:33:04.320 And I listened to it twice. And she never once uttered anything of the sort. It was a gross

00:33:10.000 interpretation of talking about potentially bringing private management of a hospital in

00:33:14.480 no hospital sold anywhere. And as you said, there should be more press following them and calling

00:33:18.480 them out on that because they're playing their games of gotcha. And Lord knows, Premier Smith likes

00:33:23.760 to give them lots of ammunition to work with. But to have to go above and beyond and outright fabricate

00:33:28.320 stuff that she said now, they should be harshly criticized for that.

00:33:31.360 Yeah. Well, Nigel, now you've got a column on what I was just talking about. The

00:33:38.560 the NDP kind of moved it together. Again, at least there were threads they could connect. I don't

00:33:44.400 think it was a very fair connection. But I mean, all is fair and love war and politics. But I think

00:33:50.800 the error there was that Smith apologized for it. I think she just wanted to get it over with and move

00:33:55.600 on. But when you apologize for something. Yeah, you might make the story move on. But then you

00:34:01.600 kind of make it an established fact that yes, you did do that thing, even if she didn't do that thing.

00:34:06.960 Do you think it was a smart move for Smith to apologize for it just to get over with it and move

00:34:11.680 on? Or do you think she should have fought that one, but risked obviously making it a larger, longer

00:34:17.280 lasting story? Well, I think she you know, I think more people would have understood what she was

00:34:22.320 what that whole discussion was about. More people said, Well, that's obviously just an NDP

00:34:28.240 fabrication. It's a distortion. It's a distraction. She might have gone away with that. And when I say

00:34:34.480 get away with that sounds like there's something wrong. Well, actually, no, she was making a

00:34:40.000 in my view, a perfectly legitimate point about how if you have governments that like to control people,

00:34:46.240 there's a way that they go about it. And the idea of frightening people and then making them turn to

00:34:54.560 the government for everything is absolutely according to the way it's done. There's lots of studies on

00:35:00.480 that. With this one here, I mean, all the talk is, again, it's a distraction. All the talk is about

00:35:06.720 who owns the buildings. No, the issue with health care in Alberta in Canada is not who owns the

00:35:13.040 building is who pays the bills for what goes on in the building. And so that's, it's sort of a

00:35:22.640 the word smear gets overused, but it's just sort of throwing something against the wall and hoping

00:35:28.000 something will stick. She has not said that she is going to allow private health care. I wish an Alberta

00:35:35.680 government would do that, but I'm not running for office. She is and she has not made that

00:35:40.560 commitment. And she is highly unlikely to do so, I would think. So this is really just another,

00:35:47.360 what are we going to say nasty about Daniel story today?

00:35:51.120 Okay. Thank you for joining us, Sean. We'll switch it up a bit. Obviously, wildfires are a big issue

00:36:00.160 right now. You know, the press tend to like whoever is in office during disasters. Nenshi during the

00:36:09.600 flood, everyone patting him on the back, Rachel Notley during the wildfires, Daniel Smith during the

00:36:15.840 wildfires. The press seem to like it. And I have a hard time buying it because the politicians,

00:36:26.000 they're following a script. There are plans written decades before they come to office about what to do

00:36:32.640 that are updated from time to time by emergency management bureaucrats and consultants. The politicians

00:36:38.560 aren't actually generally doing that much. They might be called upon to make a call on should we

00:36:44.720 declare a state of emergency or not, but they're going to be generally acting on the advice anyway of

00:36:50.000 the senior bureaucrats around them managing an emergency. They'll always put on a windbreaker.

00:36:55.920 They always put on a windbreaker and they show up and they tour and there's pictures and it's

00:37:02.880 generally going to be the same. I mean, there's the odd exception, you know, during the Fort McMurray

00:37:07.360 wildfires, Brian Jean, I remember in the legislature when this happened, Brian Jean just like ran off

00:37:12.640 through the door and drove up. And that was particularly unique because that was his home,

00:37:17.040 him and Tanya when they're up there camping out and helping on the ground. That was a bit different

00:37:22.000 and not following a script. But politicians generally seem to look good during disasters.

00:37:28.400 Smith is doing the same thing with Notley during this fire as Notley did with Brian Jean,

00:37:33.520 keeping it in the loop. So let's just talk about the politics of disasters in Alberta here.

00:37:42.560 My gut feeling is it's not really a net win. I mean, the only way to lose, I think,

00:37:48.640 the politics of a disaster is to try and politicize it. You try to, Alison Redford with the floods in 2013

00:37:55.520 cut Daniel Smith out of the loop. Funny enough, you know, we're talking premiers and leaders of the

00:37:59.280 opposition. High River, which Daniel Smith represented that time, was being ravaged and

00:38:03.840 just she was kept totally out of the loop. And the premier looked bad for that. I think really,

00:38:08.480 I want your feedback, Nigel, it's really the only way to win politically during a disaster to

00:38:14.400 authentically never politicize it. Oh, totally. Totally. We've got a very interesting point of view

00:38:22.400 on this from one of our columnists, Lee Harding. I'm not saying I agree with him, but

00:38:26.080 he is making the argument that this is actually a distraction from campaigning for Smith, which of

00:38:33.040 course it is, obviously, because he has to stop. But there's no way that she could campaign during

00:38:38.080 a disaster. No. But where he really, I thought, well, wait a minute, this is interesting. As he said,

00:38:44.400 it's easy to look good when you are the embattled leader standing in the middle of the rubble. I'm

00:38:52.480 thinking of 9-11. It's all done. There's nothing, there's nothing you, there's no decisions that

00:38:57.520 you have to make that can undo what has already been done. You are now in charge of picking up the

00:39:03.280 pieces. Not hard to look good in that situation. Yeah, not hard to look bad. I say, yeah, that big

00:39:09.440 important. Yes, of course. Not hard to, at any rate, you, it's easy to look good in that situation.

00:39:14.720 Let's put it in the positive. However, you know, you can be standing there in the middle of what is

00:39:21.360 apparently an extinguished forest fire. And you think of this as a metaphor, all of a sudden,

00:39:28.080 a hotspot pops up behind you and, oh, maybe it's not extinguished after all. It's a moving target.

00:39:33.600 When do you know that you've actually done it? So that's, that's Lee Harding's point of view. I would

00:39:38.320 refer the listeners to that. Interesting point of view. But no, there's, there's no way that

00:39:47.040 the, the premier, the mayor, the prime minister can actually lose in a disaster situation unless they

00:39:56.560 politicize it and try and keep campaigning in the case of an election.

00:40:00.480 Uh, Corey, both Smith and Notley have been very careful not to politicize this and be even

00:40:07.440 had the faintest appearance of trying to score points. But there is a small exception to that.

00:40:12.560 And that was the NDB candidate in Lethbridge East. He was retweeting someone, uh, said something along

00:40:17.200 the lines of, uh, it's not a joke. It's all very serious, but, uh, this is a metaphor for the UCP

00:40:23.120 burning down Alberta over the last four years. Um, I mean, he's not laughing about people losing homes and

00:40:31.520 forests and habitat and property being destroyed and people having their lives threatened, but

00:40:35.600 definitely trying to make a political point on the back of this. Uh, but as far as I've seen,

00:40:41.840 there has been no retraction, no apology whatsoever from the candidate or the NDP here.

00:40:47.680 In fact, outside the Western standard, I haven't at least seen a single news story about it.

00:40:53.120 Well, the legacy won't touch it. So, I mean, this should burn them. Uh, I mean, not that I would,

00:40:58.000 I would, uh, oh God, I didn't mean that. He says, and there's no room for jokes with something this

00:41:02.960 serious, particularly while it's, uh, unfolding. And, and, uh, she, he should have been correctly

00:41:09.040 chastened or, or something, or just a statement to say, I just wasn't thinking whatever. But again,

00:41:14.880 they're not being held to account like other politicians will. But if he did apologize,

00:41:19.280 then the media would take notice. And, and so far, inexplicably, the media have paid no attention to

00:41:26.640 this. Uh, I, I, I don't want to be too tinfoil hattie here, but I gotta think if a UCP MLA made a

00:41:35.920 similar kind of comment about the NDP. They'd be camped outside of his house.

00:41:38.560 He would, he'd be tarred and feathered, drawn and cornered.

00:41:42.400 Yeah. There's a double standard at play, but as you said, this seems to be the way it's going

00:41:46.480 to have to go. So, uh, the, the NDP are allowed to make some mistakes during this disaster, but

00:41:52.400 Premier Smith has not got any room to, and she's doing, I mean, their, their chart,

00:41:56.800 their path is charted pretty well in a disaster anyways, just communicate clearly, show leadership,

00:42:01.760 show confidence, show empathy. And that's the main, they communicate a lot that that's where

00:42:06.400 in the head, then she really established himself. I mean, he can't get out and fill sandbags or really

00:42:10.640 be of any use on the ground. And he's not an emergency planner, but constantly get out there

00:42:14.800 and just help let everybody know what's happening, what's to be done and, and, and how to be safe.

00:42:20.080 And, and, and Premier Smith's been doing that well so far.

00:42:24.240 Okay. Well, I think we're, uh, we're going to wrap it up there. Uh, Corey, Nigel, thank you for

00:42:28.880 joining today. Thank you. Thank all of you for joining today. Uh, this edition of the pipeline and

00:42:33.440 Alberta report. If you're not yet a member of the Western standard, you absolutely need to be,

00:42:37.600 go to westernstandard.news, click on membership. It's only $10 a month or a hundred dollars a year

00:42:42.320 to get unlimited access to all Western standard content. Thank you very much for joining us and

00:42:46.960 make sure you tune in tomorrow for the Alberta report where our daily campaign updates on what's

00:42:52.400 happening in the Alberta election here. Thank you very much. And God bless.

00:42:56.080 Well, there's some thunderclouds behind me that were pictured from yesterday. And thanks to

00:43:01.360 Leighton Coke for that picture. And we've got about three-tenths of an inch of rain in Lethbridge

00:43:06.800 here, according to the rain gauge out front. Let me know what, uh, what you guys got as well.

00:43:11.920 Hopefully these prices today are not following too much of this cloud cover that we have as well.

00:43:18.400 And we can get a bit of a direction again. Markets, uh, a little bit of all over the place at the

00:43:23.360 moment. And we've got cash barley down $2 a ton to $4.07. Uh, feed wheat's holding steady at $4.06.

00:43:29.520 And corn is unchanged at $3.95. And in the milling wheat markets, we got July Minneapolis futures

00:43:35.840 rising three and a half cents to $8.51 per bushel with local hard red spring bid for May movement

00:43:42.160 at $10.40 per bushel delivered. Uh, taking a look at the oilseed markets, canola futures slipped $2.20

00:43:49.280 to $740.30 per ton with delivered values for May movement at $16.25 per bushel.

00:43:55.760 In the pulse markets, red lentils are trading at $0.35 a pound and yellow peas are holding at $11.50

00:44:01.760 per bushel. Finishing up with the cattle markets, June live cattle slipped $0.22 to $1.63.70 per

00:44:08.240 hundredweight. For more information on pricing or just to tell me how much the Leafs hopefully win

00:44:14.080 tonight and don't get swept, give me a call at 403-394-1711. I'm Mike Van Dyke of Marketplace

00:44:21.360 commodities, accurate real-time marketing information and pricing options. Canadian

00:44:25.360 Shooting Sports Association, without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long,

00:44:30.720 long ago. These guys are on the front lines, helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms,

00:44:36.640 regulations and legislation in Canada. And more importantly, educating the public about how we

00:44:42.240 keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. To become a member, it's absolutely worth every penny.

00:44:49.680 You can become a Western Standard member for just $10 a month or $99 a year for unlimited access.

Western Standard - May 11, 2023

The Pipeline： NDP candidate marched in Communist parade

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