Western Standard - March 07, 2024


The Pipeline: Smith calls Guilbeault a ‘lunatic’


Episode Stats

Length

46 minutes

Words per Minute

168.10538

Word Count

7,887

Sentence Count

451

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

9


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Western Standard's news editor Dave Naylor and editor-in-chief Corey Morgan discuss the latest in the war of words between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Scott Moe over the carbon tax. They also discuss the recent arrest of a man who climbed the CN Tower and attempted to climb onto the roof of Ralph Klein's house.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good evening, I'm Corey Morgan and welcome to The Pipeline.
00:00:27.280 This is the Western Standards weekly panel show where we go into the top issues of the week, and there's always lots of them, and analyze, break them down, take all the thinking out of it so you don't have to, or at least give our thoughts on those things.
00:00:41.260 I'm joined today, I'll start on the end here with our news editor, Dave Naylor. Hey, Dave, how's it going?
00:00:47.300 It's going good, Corey. Wealth of topics to talk about today, for sure.
00:00:50.360 Yes, glad we could pull you out of the Winkan Hour long enough to address those.
00:00:53.560 Best wings in the city.
00:00:54.560 Yes, that's right.
00:00:54.900 I do, Angela, as she's listening.
00:00:56.260 that's what i've been hearing is they're good down there one of the commenters said that following
00:00:59.940 after the show too and our opinion editor nigel hannaford good to be here again cory i heard you
00:01:07.060 ranting this morning and i i thought got to get in there join him yeah there's always lots to
00:01:12.820 rant about i think there's a productive end to it you got to get it out and then we work on the
00:01:16.900 solution part all right well before we get on to our ranting and our subjects i should speak to
00:01:22.100 our sponsor actually and that's how we remain independent not only through your subscriptions
00:01:26.580 which we really appreciate of course you've all subscribed right and as well as from advertisers
00:01:31.760 and the Canadian Shooting Sports Association has been a fantastic sponsor of the this show
00:01:36.340 and the western standard for a long time you own firearms you're a hunter you're a target shooter
00:01:40.760 you're a collector it doesn't really matter it's nobody else's business either but you need to hang 0.88
00:01:44.540 on to those protect your rights that's what these guys are about the Canadian Shooting Sports
00:01:47.840 Association lobbies on your behalf they will keep you up to date on what's going on in Ottawa
00:01:51.960 with a government that's trying to take away your property and your right and ability to use
00:01:55.920 firearms. As well, like any other association, they offer all kinds of resources, let's say
00:02:00.020 firearm use or upcoming shows and events. So check them out, guys, and take out a membership with
00:02:05.140 them too. It's well worth it. Canadian Shooting Sports Association, their website is cssa-cila.org
00:02:12.000 or just Google them. It's always the easiest way. All right, well, let's get on. We got a bunch of
00:02:16.280 stuff to cover today. A good rant-worthy start. It sounds like our premier went on something of
00:02:21.760 rant, actually, Dave, the Alberta
00:02:23.800 Premier of it.
00:02:25.500 It's gone after
00:02:26.960 Mr. Gilbeau again. Yeah, like shooting
00:02:29.660 ducks in a barrel, I think, here.
00:02:31.300 You remember that meme? I think it's Michael Jackson
00:02:33.720 sitting there and he's just munching popcorn
00:02:35.960 and getting excited for the show.
00:02:37.640 That's what I'm like with these two.
00:02:39.460 They're just at each other's throats.
00:02:41.820 I started out with the week with
00:02:43.360 Stephen Gilbeau calling
00:02:44.920 Saskatchewan Premier Scott
00:02:47.360 immoral for not collecting
00:02:49.500 the carbon tax.
00:02:51.060 So we, of course, ran a picture of Mr. Gilbo in his prison outfit.
00:02:55.540 This is him, I think, after he climbed the CN Tower and, you know, caused all sorts of chaos there.
00:03:01.440 And he also climbed onto the roof of Ralph Klein's house while his wife, Colleen, was there by herself, scaring the hell out of her.
00:03:09.160 So if anybody's calling anybody immoral, you better make sure that you've got a clean record yourself.
00:03:14.400 Fast forward to the next day, Premier Smith puts out a statement saying that Alberta strongly stands with Premier Scott Moe and his fight with the government.
00:03:25.880 But later on, at a speech to the Calgary Rotary Club, where our Scott Poulser was the only media in attendance, believe it or not, she came right out and basically called Gilboa a lunatic.
00:03:37.940 So, I mean, the war of words between these two and Scott Mono, I guess, is really quite incredible to see.
00:03:47.040 You don't normally see this kind of discourse on a federal, provincial level.
00:03:53.800 Smith has called for him to be removed from Cabinet.
00:03:56.340 We're not working with him anymore, Smith says.
00:04:00.040 Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau does nothing.
00:04:04.120 Did she actually say that he was a lunatic or had lunatic ideas?
00:04:08.240 Lunatic policies, I think, was good to me that he's a lunatic.
00:04:12.500 If you contrive policies that are a lunatic, you're a lunatic.
00:04:16.600 Oh, yes, you would be.
00:04:18.200 If you wrote crazy editorials, you'd be crazy.
00:04:21.520 Well, and Gilbo really represents, though, the ideological wing of the Liberal Party.
00:04:26.580 I mean, the corner, the eco-extreme.
00:04:29.540 I mean, I think it was telling, though, that he uses the term immoral.
00:04:32.860 That shows in his mind this isn't a matter of policy or, you know, technically what's better or worse for the country.
00:04:38.980 It's a morality thing, and it's almost a religious-like thing, which should be called out.
00:04:43.880 I think the whole climate change thing has been religious from the beginning,
00:04:49.380 with the clear definition of what is morally right and what is morally wrong.
00:04:54.580 And people like David Suzuki and I guess Mr. Yusubo himself now as prophets of the,
00:04:59.280 I mean I don't know who the Messiah is in this story
00:05:02.700 but at any rate there are
00:05:04.640 I thought it was Greta Thunberg
00:05:06.300 well no there's room for
00:05:08.600 a female prophetess as well
00:05:10.460 so you know it's got a
00:05:11.860 it's all part of the great story
00:05:13.960 so I don't know where that ends
00:05:16.180 but with regards to
00:05:18.560 the
00:05:19.440 I would have to think that Mr. Jebo
00:05:22.520 does what he does with
00:05:24.340 full blessing and approval
00:05:25.840 of the Prime Minister
00:05:27.200 because it's been going on for a while now, whether it was preemptively putting out provocative
00:05:34.200 policy statements as he did at COP28 a few months ago, blindsiding the government of Alberta
00:05:41.460 completely, or some of the other remarks that he has made, it's got to the point where I would
00:05:48.380 expect that a normally functioning government would say, you know, you need to tone it down,
00:05:55.700 keep it down there may even be a cabinet to shuffle in this for you with you on the way out
00:06:04.420 that has not happened it has not even been hinted at so even with their poll numbers which we're
00:06:11.900 going to get to which we're going to get to they still haven't done it so i i'm i'm wondering what
00:06:16.820 the purpose behind allowing him to continue like this is because it is past the point which you
00:06:23.340 say well he's just a junior minister no he's not uh well he's just shooting his mouth off everybody
00:06:29.820 makes mistakes you know one a week is a bit much uh so there clearly is some thing at the end of
00:06:38.060 this and i know i don't want to be poor on the subject but i know on previous pipeline shows i've
00:06:43.340 suggested it it is part of two things really one is that everything gets heaped on mr jubot so if
00:06:51.180 this finally looks like a loser dump him and mr trudeau says well you know we did the best we
00:06:57.500 could with him you know but more to the point i think that the more that uh alberta saskatchewan
00:07:04.380 stick up for each other and for themselves they have the they're giving mr trudeau the narrative
00:07:10.620 that we've got problems out in the west and i need you boys to rally around me boys and girls
00:07:16.060 that's not to say that smith and mo are doing anything other than what they should be doing by
00:07:21.180 asserting their constitutional position, but it is a cynical play in Ottawa that actually allows
00:07:29.800 Mr. Joubault to do lunatic things. Oh, and don't forget one of his lunatic things just last week
00:07:35.060 was, I'm not going to build any more roads in Canada. You know, I mean, that, you know, and again,
00:07:41.320 that just, you know, kind of backtracked a little bit the next day, but he did say it.
00:07:44.900 that back. He walked that back on an unpaven stretch of gravel. But, you know, he just doesn't
00:07:51.900 stop. It's just week after week after week. It's the same. And it's just, you know, like I said,
00:07:57.140 you just you can just set your watch by. As Nigel said, perhaps it is a bit tactical. I mean,
00:08:01.740 the thing that is striking out of Trudeau with this is his silence. He's not applauding or
00:08:05.860 condemning Gilbo. He just kind of winds him up and lets him go. But if it's providing him that
00:08:10.820 distraction and that foil because I mean the federal government's well served to have a fight
00:08:15.880 with the West but it doesn't necessarily look good if the Prime Minister is picking it. If you can
00:08:20.080 have this guy keep the hornet's nest all worked up and perhaps I mean it doesn't seem to be working
00:08:25.200 we'll get on to that but there might be I guess a strategic underlying rationale to that. It looks
00:08:32.300 that way to me. Now what then is the appropriate response from the Alberta and Saskatchewan
00:08:40.720 and manitoba i would like to say bc but i don't see any sign of it what would be the appropriate
00:08:47.280 response response i don't know i think you've got to stand stand your ground and don't forget
00:08:52.160 they've also been the liberals have also been losing in court you know that they've lost two
00:08:56.800 constitutional challenges now in the in recent uh weeks uh so you know it's not just mo and smith
00:09:03.120 standing up to them it's courts of the land for saying what you're doing is illegal it's not only
00:09:08.480 illegal but it is highly cynical doesn't even begin to to to describe it first you put out
00:09:15.360 your law you these people have all the information they need from the privy council legal they know
00:09:22.560 when they put these bills out there that they are unconstitutional but they put it out there
00:09:27.920 voted into power, act upon the powers that they have now illegally taken unto themselves,
00:09:38.440 destroy trust, crucify investment,
00:09:43.880 and then when somebody says it's actually illegal,
00:09:49.100 oh, well, I guess we'll appeal that.
00:09:52.860 Meanwhile, the damage is done.
00:09:54.420 This is the bully tactics that this government is using, and it continues.
00:09:58.400 I mean, the single-use plastic ban was shot down, but it's still in place.
00:10:02.920 I still have to get one of those rotten paper straws if I go to a fast food outlet
00:10:08.220 or carry some filthy reusable bag if I want to get my groceries.
00:10:12.980 So when and how does the court ever actually get to the point of telling a government,
00:10:18.460 you can't do this anymore?
00:10:20.080 They have, and the liberals will appeal.
00:10:22.200 Or how can they enforce it?
00:10:23.320 So we still have to leave it in place until the appeal is done.
00:10:26.100 Yeah, so you've still got the appeal to the Supreme Court, and they'll change it, and it'll still be illegal, I would think.
00:10:32.380 And eventually, the Supreme Court will say, no, this is unconstitutional.
00:10:36.560 And by then, they'll be hopefully out of office.
00:10:38.960 Well, and that's getting on to the next subject.
00:10:40.940 Yeah, I mean, as agonizing as it might be, and technically, it could be as long as almost three years,
00:10:48.060 if they want to repeal their own fixed election date law, that they could cling to power in there.
00:10:53.320 And eventually, the Liberals are going to have to face an election. And Dave, it's not looking very good.
00:10:59.980 No, it's a 20-point lead now for the Conservatives under Pierre Polyev, 43% to 23%. Liberals now barely ahead of the NDP, which I think if the NDP surpasses them, Jagmeet may want to question why he's staying in a coalition with them.
00:11:21.640 And seat totals, again, massive landslide victories for the Tories.
00:11:28.300 And the Liberals losing is, you know, the last one I saw was they were only four seats ahead of the NDP in the seat pulling.
00:11:36.960 So it's, you know, if an election was held today, obviously it would be a crushing defeat.
00:11:43.980 But it's not, as you said, it could be a while away.
00:11:47.200 And I was reading a column today by CTV commentator Don Martin, who I remember here from his days of the Calgary Herald.
00:11:55.100 He brought up an interesting point.
00:11:57.160 Are the Tories peaking too soon?
00:12:00.420 You know, they keep getting these gifts handed to them of Trudeau scandals, but are they too soon?
00:12:07.960 Should they be peaking closer to the election?
00:12:10.220 I don't know when you can choose to peak or not.
00:12:12.760 I'm not sure that you can.
00:12:14.040 I mean, the scandals have the effect that they do.
00:12:18.460 People just throw their hands up and walk away.
00:12:22.040 And if that's to the advantage of the conservatives, I guess you can't say no thanks, can you?
00:12:29.960 It would be nice if this was like two weeks before the election instead of 20 months away.
00:12:36.300 But they'll peak when they peak.
00:12:39.020 but right now what the interesting thing that i see in this is this i mean theoretically
00:12:45.980 if you add the ndp vote and the liberal vote together you get a couple percent more than
00:12:51.500 the conservatives had so could the thing roll along a little longer no because then i think
00:12:56.940 we get the issue of vote efficiency coming in just looking at the at the projections here
00:13:02.940 well always we're always going to get those massive majorities in alberta and saskatchewan
00:13:07.100 But right now, they're showing the Conservatives taking 85 seats in Ontario.
00:13:13.360 What have we got there at the moment?
00:13:15.360 What have they got?
00:13:16.760 25, something like that.
00:13:19.320 So there's, but they're going to hold those seats by 100 votes here and 500 votes there 0.53
00:13:26.760 and 1,700 votes there.
00:13:28.820 It's going to be a lot of narrowly held seats that actually make the difference.
00:13:33.780 It's actually always this way.
00:13:35.640 in 2011, in that famous election which gave Harper the strong, stable national conservative
00:13:42.640 majority, it was actually a majority of 16.
00:13:48.640 And if you add it up, 16 conservatively held seats, which had the smallest majorities,
00:13:56.960 I don't think he made 10,000.
00:13:58.960 So it can be that narrow, but at the moment it's looking like it would go that way.
00:14:03.400 So, I mean, that can be one scandal away from a turnaround in an election.
00:14:08.320 I mean, yeah, you certainly can't take it to the bank yet.
00:14:10.500 No, no.
00:14:11.380 And you've got the mainstream media attacking Paul Yevon on a daily basis.
00:14:18.720 You've hidden the map for me now.
00:14:20.620 Oh, sorry.
00:14:20.800 You know, I find the B.C. thing interesting.
00:14:25.760 The liberals are almost going to be wiped out in B.C., including Vancouver,
00:14:30.840 where there's some very strong conservative voting at the moment. And the Maritimes seem to be strong
00:14:39.000 for the conservatives. So it's, you know, it's only Quebec that they're not leading in.
00:14:44.440 Quebec, I mean, there's another factor. Canada's got such a
00:14:48.040 crazed, well, the American electoral system is crazier than ours, I still contend. But
00:14:52.520 I mean, you look at the amount of balls that come into play, we think of the last really
00:14:57.880 large conservative majorities and those were under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney but he had a lot of
00:15:03.720 seats in Quebec and we're not seeing really big gains in Quebec but something that came around
00:15:09.080 since Mulroney's time was the block which all came from Mulroney but that's eating liberal seats
00:15:15.320 as well so I mean they're another because the PQ is on the rise right now you know secessionism is
00:15:21.560 on the rise in Quebec for the first time more than we've seen since the late 90s
00:15:25.840 We've got a lot going on in our electoral stew right now.
00:15:29.440 It's not boding well for Trudeau at this point.
00:15:32.720 No, and, you know, again, it goes back to what we were just talking about with Gilbo.
00:15:40.060 No matter what they do, seems to implode on them,
00:15:43.780 and they don't seem to be showing any sort of desire to divert from the course that they're on.
00:15:50.700 That is obviously not resonating with voters.
00:15:52.240 One of the things that has happened to the Liberal Party is that they were never particularly competent in the first place.
00:16:01.960 But they have now got such a reputation for incompetence that it's almost as if they could never do anything right anyway.
00:16:09.620 We're going to be talking about the cover-up of the Winnipeg lab scandal there.
00:16:17.420 But then there's also the fact that, again, the Department of Finance, the deficit is 16% higher than it was expected to be.
00:16:29.920 There was a time when stories like that would have caught everybody's attention.
00:16:35.020 They don't now, really.
00:16:36.960 It's just expected.
00:16:38.380 And people, if you challenge somebody, you're always in the bar.
00:16:42.740 Try this.
00:16:44.980 I'm not always in the bar.
00:16:46.760 I just don't have chicken wing nights.
00:16:48.680 They have good wings.
00:16:50.440 So, but here's the thing.
00:16:53.020 Do you think the liberals are competent?
00:16:54.660 No, they couldn't run a party in a brewery.
00:16:58.080 They mean three things that they've done wrong.
00:17:00.980 People think about it, and they get the first one,
00:17:03.080 and the second one, and scratch for the third.
00:17:05.000 There's actually about 50 things they could choose from
00:17:07.860 over the past eight years.
00:17:09.740 People read it, and then they forget the details,
00:17:14.280 but they don't forget that there was something.
00:17:16.760 And so the last couple of bad examples just get piled in on the other 50 that went before that they don't remember.
00:17:26.940 The Liberals have built themselves a reputation for incompetence.
00:17:32.120 And that, as much as anything, is what's going to bring them down.
00:17:36.320 And hopefully that's what the Tories with their massive election war chest will be pointing out in advertising.
00:17:42.620 Hey, you know, you may have forgotten this two years ago.
00:17:45.160 This is what they did on this, this, this, and this.
00:17:47.540 They just aren't getting a break with any good news.
00:17:49.760 They're not getting anything to counter it.
00:17:51.140 They're not getting anything to pop up and say,
00:17:53.360 hey, look, our policy reduced crime over here,
00:17:56.480 or our policy made housing more available over there,
00:17:59.740 or they don't have any successes to point out.
00:18:02.960 I mean, you can be overwhelmed by failures,
00:18:05.000 but at least you should have a few bright lights in there.
00:18:07.060 No, the country's in a bit of a tailspin.
00:18:08.780 There's no doubt about it.
00:18:10.760 The other question, though, is how long?
00:18:14.240 and they keep surprising me. I don't obviously understand the liberal party interior caucus
00:18:19.180 culture. How long before some of these guys start jumping ship? I mean, you know, they've got to be
00:18:26.340 terrified for their own seats, whether it's backbench liberal MPs or even some cabinet ministers
00:18:31.060 realizing they're riding into electoral oblivion if they don't do something to change course pretty
00:18:36.560 soon. Well, thinking back to the Canadian Alliance days, there was a mechanism which was used, and
00:18:42.980 And that was that they set up an alternative caucus.
00:18:46.620 You may remember.
00:18:48.700 Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance.
00:18:50.460 Something like that.
00:18:51.380 The Crap Party, yeah. 0.97
00:18:52.720 And then every week, somebody would bail out of the Canadian Alliance
00:18:55.960 and go and join the rebels.
00:18:58.360 And so, first of all, the rebels got stronger.
00:19:01.940 And every time they got stronger, it weakened the leader.
00:19:06.000 Stuck all day.
00:19:06.480 Stuck all day in that time.
00:19:08.940 But it also kept the story alive.
00:19:11.140 slow drip yeah drip and and so in the end it created a now why doesn't that happen with the
00:19:20.660 liberal party well i don't think there's a couple of possible reasons one is certainly
00:19:25.180 that behind the behind the facade of the elected representatives there is actually a party structure
00:19:32.740 and some core supporters who actually have influence beyond the their ability to fund
00:19:39.820 anymore uh who maintained some sort of discipline and would say now is not the time maybe it's not
00:19:46.940 something we want to do at all but if we do we need a credible person to be the for other people
00:19:53.820 to gather around and i i'm not sure at the moment who they could put forward and say well mr trudeau
00:20:02.060 has failed us but this person could be our champion and we are therefore going to
00:20:09.020 move over to to these people who takes over christian freeland well i mean i don't think
00:20:16.300 that's going to help no no it won't help them they don't they don't have anybody a superstar
00:20:20.460 waiting in the wings there's no immediate heir apparent sitting no i think mark carney is smart
00:20:24.940 enough to say hey i want nothing to do with this at the moment that's right because i could become
00:20:28.780 a leader and then two months later forced to resign when i get wiped out exactly that's that's the
00:20:35.660 the model right there.
00:20:36.940 Brilliant man, very likable,
00:20:39.260 not effective as an opposition leader.
00:20:42.600 So they're kind of stuck with them at the moment.
00:20:49.640 So I just hope it's stressing some of them
00:20:51.540 as much as it stresses me then,
00:20:53.280 because they're keeping them in there
00:20:54.340 and it's getting exhausting.
00:20:57.500 They are behaving as though they know they're going to lose.
00:21:01.520 They'll hang on as long as they can.
00:21:04.100 And in the meantime, they're just going to throw everything that they can at the things they don't like, which is the West, the energy industry.
00:21:13.700 And that's troubling. I mean, that's one of the problems I've had with, say, term limits.
00:21:17.680 Term limits, there's a good and bad to them. I mean, you know, leaders wear out their welcome.
00:21:21.660 That happens all the time. This stops that from happening.
00:21:24.040 But as well, of course, a leader with a term limit will always turn lame duck.
00:21:27.340 That final year, they don't care what happens any longer.
00:21:30.600 They're just going to get done what they feel needs to be done, whether right or wrong.
00:21:34.220 Let the record show that when this matter was broached, I think it's the Western Standard,
00:21:38.820 which is the first to float the possibility that the fixed election date could be repealed.
00:21:44.660 It would be tremendously cynical and recognized as such.
00:21:48.400 But if they know they're going to lose anyway, that might be the better option.
00:21:52.240 It's just legislation.
00:21:53.160 Give them an extra year.
00:21:54.420 Yes, it could happen.
00:21:55.780 We haven't even started with the patronage appointments yet, have we?
00:21:58.760 We've got all that to come.
00:22:00.100 So, I mean, you know what, it's, as a news editor, you know, it keeps me busy.
00:22:06.640 And holy cow, we're there.
00:22:07.860 As a news editor, I'm eligible.
00:22:09.540 Well, you know, I suppose I could be.
00:22:12.100 Paula Simon's got appointed to the Senate.
00:22:14.300 I was going to say, Senator Mayer.
00:22:15.740 Yeah, there you go.
00:22:17.540 But no shortage of stories for us to write.
00:22:20.500 And holy cow. 1.00
00:22:21.480 I mean, that's what sinks the next leader as well.
00:22:23.740 I mean, we're going to play, you know, the historical caps on the geeks.
00:22:26.400 That's kind of what destroyed Turner.
00:22:28.140 Yeah, you had a choice.
00:22:29.340 to all of his friends before he headed out the door and then, okay, John, you can take care of
00:22:35.560 the fallout. And he certainly wore it. Because again, he was another great, likable guy, but he
00:22:40.240 was holding onto a party that just didn't have a chance. Well, speaking more bad news for Trudeau
00:22:46.420 then, I mean, getting back to his policy. I mean, part of his issues, one of Trudeau's weakest
00:22:50.260 points is just his weakness itself. I mean, on divisive issues, he likes to try and straddle it.
00:22:55.980 He, you know, he's wishy-washy, he panders to both sides, and this whole Israel-Hamas conflict is going for a long time. 0.56
00:23:05.660 And now, you know, it's not gaining him any love on either side.
00:23:09.000 And we saw, Dave, just the other night, he tried to hold a gathering with the Italian prime minister, and it didn't go well.
00:23:16.900 It didn't go well at all.
00:23:18.200 It was a national embarrassment.
00:23:20.260 Keep in mind at a recent, I think it was a G7 meeting, the relationship between Canada and Italy wasn't very good because Trudeau tried to lecture them on gender issues and the female prime minister of Italy told them to get lost.
00:23:39.160 So when Maloney came to Canada on a state visit, I think Trudeau realized it was important and it was important to show her well and it went terribly.
00:23:55.060 There was a largest crowd, 200 people or so, pro-Palestinian supporters, pro-Hamas supporters,
00:24:05.500 trying to block the entranceway to a major event that was going to be happening with Trudeau and Maloney.
00:24:12.440 And Trudeau's security made the decision to cancel it.
00:24:18.560 A black eye, a major embarrassment.
00:24:20.620 You know, we're not talking about hosting a, you know, a country, you know, a visit from the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan or something like that.
00:24:28.820 This is from a G7 trading partner.
00:24:31.560 And our stock on the world is already low enough without something like this.
00:24:36.620 We're not invited to military stuff.
00:24:38.600 We're not invited to the secret stuff between the U.S. and Australia now and Great Britain.
00:24:45.460 Just another black eye.
00:24:46.520 You know, we cannot move 200 people out of the way to get a prime minister and a foreign dignitary.
00:24:54.060 A true disgrace.
00:24:55.480 According to the reports the day following, the Ontario police were ready to do the job.
00:25:03.280 It was the prime minister's office itself that said, let's not bother.
00:25:07.600 So, you know, we actually do have some, we do have the capability to handle these things.
00:25:17.120 And I recall how they were handled in 2010 when there was a G20 meeting in Toronto,
00:25:25.660 and there was a lot of protest then, but it got done.
00:25:31.720 This was, I think it was maybe a little more than 200 people.
00:25:34.720 But when you looked at the pictures that were taken there
00:25:38.000 outside the Museum of the Ontario Art Gallery,
00:25:43.160 there was a very heavy police presence.
00:25:46.460 They had the horses out there.
00:25:48.420 They had the guys with the riot shields.
00:25:51.580 They could have done that.
00:25:53.940 I am now trying to put myself in Mr. Trudeau's head
00:25:59.660 to imagine what his thought process might have been.
00:26:02.480 Painful endeavor.
00:26:03.320 painful endeavor and possibly incorrect but i have a feeling that he didn't want the images
00:26:10.360 of pro-palestine people being shoved pushed moved out of the way they actually did close that
00:26:18.280 building down for a while there was a point when the guests were inside and couldn't get out
00:26:23.340 and other guests were outside and couldn't get in i mean it's ridiculous because there's always a
00:26:29.160 back way into these places.
00:26:31.040 They don't usually come through the front door
00:26:33.720 unless there's a reason to.
00:26:35.880 Then they go in through the back entrance,
00:26:38.920 walk through a lot of kitchens in six years
00:26:40.940 with the Prime Minister Harper.
00:26:42.940 That's how they typically bring secure people
00:26:46.100 into the hall and then they emerge on the stage
00:26:49.360 when they're supposed to keep.
00:26:51.940 And it's not because of hostile crowds,
00:26:53.840 it's because they just don't want press
00:26:55.440 calling out questions to them as they walk in.
00:26:58.620 So that thing could easily have been done, but they chose not to do it and handed the other side a little card that says we are weak, try again next week.
00:27:09.840 And sure enough, we've now got, I believe, a suit against the federal government from a Palestinian group that includes somebody who's here as a refugee claimant.
00:27:21.620 I don't understand how a refugee claimant gets to sue the government of the country that he's claiming refuge in, 0.97
00:27:27.140 But that is where we have landed.
00:27:29.580 No kidding.
00:27:30.260 Well, anybody can sue anybody.
00:27:31.960 But it's been going on too long now since October 7th.
00:27:36.020 We've had these pro-Palestinian demonstrations, disrupted shopping malls, infrastructure across the country.
00:27:44.220 So it just wasn't this one night, this one night with the Italian government.
00:27:50.740 It's been going on daily since October 7th.
00:27:54.580 and the police across this country have done nothing nothing you know they had no problem
00:27:59.700 trampling uh trucker supporters uh with police horses uh you know they had no problem moving
00:28:06.580 those people back and out why can't they do the same thing with these they're not huge crowds
00:28:12.900 right if it was joe biden i could see there there would be thousands of people there but it's not
00:28:17.860 even then they would have found a way maybe or should have should have found a way but that's
00:28:22.260 That's why you set up the perimeters before these people get in there.
00:28:28.380 I don't mean to sound like Don Cherry when I say these people.
00:28:31.580 The pro-Palestinian groups put up the barriers before they get there and enforce them.
00:28:37.780 You know, the police in, I was reading something today that the average, the police officers in Toronto,
00:28:43.440 they're just, they're so upset that they've been ordered, observe, observe, observe.
00:28:48.240 They're emasculated.
00:28:48.920 Don't enforce, exactly.
00:28:50.620 The policing since October 7th in this country, again, an embarrassment.
00:28:54.460 But he's not getting love from these pro-Hamas people for his weakness in this.
00:29:00.180 Just the other night, following that, these nutcases came out and blocked a liberal fundraiser and got physical with people. 0.99
00:29:07.240 And again, the police allowed, you know, liberal guests who were supposed to go out to that to be turned away by these protesters.
00:29:17.300 They're still given free reign.
00:29:18.460 The government is not learning from this, and it's just emboldening the extremists more.
00:29:22.640 It's not pacifying.
00:29:24.300 To the point where they accosted them on a ski hill yesterday.
00:29:28.380 I don't know where you ski, near Ontario, probably somewhere in Ottawa, sorry.
00:29:34.280 But a little small group of them accosted them on a ski hill.
00:29:38.400 Again, where's the security?
00:29:40.440 How can they get so close to them?
00:29:45.440 You know what?
00:29:46.400 I'll give them this.
00:29:47.100 the pro-Palestinians, they're in control of the message at the moment. They're the ones that are 0.96
00:29:53.880 doing it. You're right, they control the streets. And it's an embarrassment. I mean, diplomatically,
00:29:58.520 just add that to the list of incompetence by this government, because this should not be happening.
00:30:04.660 Yeah, well, I saw somebody with a headline. I was trying to find it. It might be the post. I'll probably
00:30:08.440 miss credit, but it was a columnist who said Canada's becoming a minnow on the world scene,
00:30:13.800 like a diplomatic minnow you know within it's true and we're not respected and when we have
00:30:19.800 a visiting world leader the least you can expect diplomatically even if you don't like the leader
00:30:26.360 whatever is you keep them safe and contained when they visit there's always going to be protesters
00:30:32.120 even without the war in israel there would have been protesters and as we said this wasn't a large
00:30:36.440 protest in the scheme of all things you don't have to go in with water cannons and tear gas
00:30:41.160 and truncheans if you just put some barricades back and actually charged a few of these guys for
00:30:45.080 a change actually deport a few if they've committed crimes here i suspect they'll behave themselves
00:30:50.760 pretty quickly but we've got the pass so they just realize well we can do whatever we want you know
00:30:55.480 i'm just thinking since the start of the show how many times have we used the word embarrassment yeah
00:31:01.240 but i mean who wants to send their their leader to this country to potentially get caught up in a
00:31:06.520 brass like that you know we'll take a pass thanks we're not gonna use it that's not good we'll catch
00:31:12.680 you on the margins of the next devils yeah so when you're standing on the outside peeking in at us
00:31:19.400 showing off your socks no and then certainly wouldn't have helped the uh the personal record
00:31:24.040 the personal uh relationship between trudeau and maloney which was already on the rocks to begin
00:31:29.240 with so getting on to uh federal security for cabinet ministers though it sounds like if you're
00:31:34.680 a reporter with the wrong group boy they will lay hands on you pretty darn fast uh we're hearing
00:31:41.560 about the the incident with freeland and david menzies again we are a few weeks ago he approached
00:31:48.200 her with a cameraman on the street as she was she was walking and asked tried to ask a question and
00:31:53.880 he was intercepted by a burly rcmp officer and and kind of manhandled in a way and was prevented from
00:32:02.760 from doing his job. You know, it was obvious. You know, I'm sure Ezra's eyes lit up at the
00:32:10.920 first sight of this. And this week they filed a lawsuit, which they're so confident in.
00:32:18.020 I think it's the first time Ezra hasn't actually asked people to fund, to pay for the lawyers
00:32:23.320 to fund the lawsuit. So, I mean, holy cow, it's going to be...
00:32:27.080 How much are they going for, Dave?
00:32:28.020 I don't think it's said, but...
00:32:29.700 I thought it was a million dollars.
00:32:30.680 Was it a million dollars?
00:32:31.520 Yeah.
00:32:31.660 Well, either way, it's ka-ching. 0.96
00:32:34.200 Of course, there'll be taxpayers' money that covers it,
00:32:38.140 but it was an outrageous abuse of power.
00:32:42.560 No matter what you think about Menzies, he was trying to do a job of a journalist,
00:32:46.420 and he was prevented from doing it, and it's going to cost the government lots of money.
00:32:50.700 Well, you know, they disqualified Rebel News from participation in the same bailout scheme
00:32:56.940 that the mainstream media gets and that we qualify for but don't receive.
00:33:02.220 Rebel News didn't even qualify.
00:33:04.160 So if they get any money out of this, good luck to them.
00:33:08.040 Well, that's one way to get subsidized, I guess.
00:33:11.040 I mean, I don't begrudge security around senior ministers and the prime minister.
00:33:15.760 I mean, it's important that they aren't intimidated when they're going about it.
00:33:19.460 But, I mean, it's a matter of judgment.
00:33:22.760 You know, I mean, you can kind of, we've seen it.
00:33:25.600 You know, you can gently move people away from the minister or discourage them.
00:33:30.700 I mean, they knew who Menzies was.
00:33:32.220 Let's not pretend that, you know, they thought he was a random nutcase coming out of the woodworks to assail the minister.
00:33:38.120 The only thing he was going to assail her with was questions, and his worst weapon is usually bad taste.
00:33:43.140 Yeah, and he had a cameraman follow how, I mean, the Mountie obviously knew what he was doing,
00:33:49.780 and, you know, should be reprimanded for it, and, you know.
00:33:54.680 Well, it probably has been, but now comes the court case.
00:33:57.120 Now comes the court case.
00:33:58.340 Hopefully Ezra invites us to the celebratory party.
00:34:01.780 When the check arrives.
00:34:05.960 Rebel is not a quiet organization when it comes to their victories.
00:34:09.120 And to their credit, I mean, when it came to Gilbeau, you know, with blocking reporters on Twitter,
00:34:15.620 they actually had a court ruling and won against Minister Gilbeau because Gilbeau blocked Rebel.
00:34:21.340 And the Canadian taxpayers paid that legal morass off.
00:34:25.980 Which, ironically, I don't even necessarily agree with.
00:34:27.920 I think politicians should have the right to block people on Twitter,
00:34:30.280 but the courts feel otherwise.
00:34:32.160 This government's arrogance just keeps...
00:34:34.620 I guess part of the problem is it doesn't bite them on the butt.
00:34:36.580 It bites us as taxpayers.
00:34:37.780 They don't feel that...
00:34:39.340 And in the days after that,
00:34:40.740 you had certainly had a lot of politicians unblocking reporters across the country.
00:34:46.260 Jodi Gondek even unblocked me.
00:34:47.980 Wow.
00:34:48.540 Yeah, she still hasn't said anything, but she unblocked me.
00:34:51.740 Time to test us.
00:34:52.920 Will you get an Easter card?
00:34:54.120 which if you think about it would be quite an exceptional circumstance or passover yeah
00:34:59.760 because uh yeah jody hasn't shown much love for the jewish community in calgary if she wants to
00:35:06.060 make some amends i won't hold my breath but it's uh interesting to watch anyways i mean that's
00:35:13.100 part of the thing with rebel though they are kind of they're media but they're activists they like
00:35:16.200 to sure but sometimes they're making positive change give credit where it's due yep you know
00:35:20.760 Getting, I guess, more serious, the lab investigation, the Winnipeg, the Chinese 1.00
00:35:28.500 interferences, speaking of federal government weak spots, boy, that weak spot when it comes
00:35:32.480 to the Communist Party of China is something else. And this story, again, as Nigel was talking,
00:35:36.980 this should be hitting much bigger headline news. This should be a massive scandal. We're
00:35:40.460 not hearing a lot. No, we're absolutely not hearing anything. And I'm going to use that
00:35:45.840 word embarrassment again. What we know is there is a high secure biolab, Canada's most important
00:35:54.720 biolab in Winnipeg. In fact, we know a Chinese couple worked there and had high security clearance.
00:36:02.640 Turns out they were spies. They were spying for the Chinese Communist Party and probably passing
00:36:08.240 on secrets. And the woman also was involved in the lab in Wuhan. I'll let your conspiracy
00:36:16.460 theories go wild there. This is a major scandal, Corey. Questions need to be asked. How did this
00:36:23.500 happen? What was the security? What was the vetting? What secrets did they lose? What did
00:36:29.020 China gain out of this? Conservatives, quite rightly, wanted to hold hearings, parliamentary 0.93
00:36:36.080 hearings into this. And not surprisingly, the NDP and the Liberals said no. So right now,
00:36:44.820 it's all buried under, you know, and this is a government that went to try and keep the court
00:36:50.200 papers in this case secret. So we know there's something there. We know that it's something
00:36:57.260 very, very damaging to the government and to the security of this country. And the Liberals are
00:37:03.340 doing their best to cover it up. And it's a scandal. It absolutely is. I mean, they transferred
00:37:10.460 dangerous pathogens and intellectual property that have been worked out in Winnipeg and sent
00:37:16.860 it back to China. But actually transferring, you know, these chemicals, I don't know what else to
00:37:23.000 call them. It's not my area of expertise, but something tangible left Winnipeg, ended up in
00:37:29.400 Wuhan.
00:37:32.300 It's quite outrageous
00:37:33.760 and I think the reason
00:37:35.900 that it doesn't get more
00:37:37.140 played, Dave, is that
00:37:38.980 people fundamentally don't really understand
00:37:41.520 what happened here.
00:37:43.140 No, because they don't have all the facts yet.
00:37:45.120 Well, they don't have all the facts, but
00:37:46.360 the reason for that is that
00:37:49.060 Mr. Trudeau has defied about four orders
00:37:51.280 of Parliament to come clean.
00:37:53.900 They even took the Speaker to
00:37:55.080 court, you may recall.
00:37:57.100 This was before Christmas.
00:37:58.040 to keep the Winnipeg lag documents out of sight.
00:38:04.160 And now, here they are with their NDP bodies
00:38:07.240 obstructing a parliamentary committee
00:38:09.700 who wants to get to the bottom of it.
00:38:14.660 Reduced to its simplest terms,
00:38:19.240 Chinese spies took information from Canada,
00:38:24.240 shipped it back to China,
00:38:25.460 were caught, expelled,
00:38:28.040 and now the government that's actually responsible for all of this in the you know at the top of the
00:38:35.160 at the top of the organizational chart doesn't want anybody to know any more than that
00:38:42.360 so this is a fit with electoral interference we know there was some but they don't want
00:38:50.600 anybody to know any more than that. And they're looking into it and will never report because
00:38:57.800 what we need is just like the electoral interference stuff, we need a CSIS agent
00:39:03.960 slipping brown envelopes under reporters' doors. It might come to it. I mean, it's this big
00:39:10.160 glaring blind spot with China that's been dogging them since day one. I mean, there's that video, 0.98
00:39:16.120 I'll invite others to Google it. Taiwan actually made it of Trudeau during his second year in power,
00:39:21.320 I believe. It was a digitized thing showing Trudeau dancing for Chinese leaders as they threw money
00:39:27.720 at him and dragged tea bags on him. Either way, but it shows that... Was he in costume? He was in
00:39:35.000 tassels. I was joking. But either way, it's just showing that it's been recognized that Justin
00:39:45.080 Trudeau has been tight with the Chinese Communist Party government since day one, to his detriment.
00:39:52.100 They're a dictatorship he admires, quote unquote. And it comes down to this. But then that's Trudeau.
00:39:59.880 Okay, we've lowered our expectations pretty much as low as we can with him. But how weak is Jagmeet
00:40:05.500 Singh willing to let himself get to cling to this? He's showing absolutely no principles,
00:40:11.200 as even an opposition leader to say, hey, we need to have another look at this.
00:40:15.640 It was, no, we're going to circle the wagons with Justin and cover this up.
00:40:19.320 I mean, he's looking pathetic in this as well.
00:40:21.580 Yeah, Trudeau must have offered him something, you would think,
00:40:24.560 unless he's just, you know, he's got no moral fiber left, which may be the case.
00:40:31.080 A bit of both, I think.
00:40:31.740 A bit of both.
00:40:32.420 But this is a national scandal.
00:40:35.680 You know, there are going to be investigative reporters digging through as much as they can.
00:40:41.200 we will get more information whether we'll find out the whole story or not remains to be seen but
00:40:48.880 it's again i'll go back to the word embarrassment national embarrassment
00:40:54.240 you know yeah it was worth noting that when it came to the arrive can scandal we had a story
00:41:03.440 this morning highlighting how nervous civil servants are about assisting in any kind of
00:41:11.360 investigation and i understand that it's uh they're not actually responsible they are
00:41:20.400 they are instruments of the organization and an elected official is actually the responsible one
00:41:28.800 but trying to find out from somebody who works on the shop floor so to speak what really went on
00:41:38.000 is hard and it will be hard here because they really that we say we have whistleblower protection
00:41:44.400 here they are not well protected you have some sympathy for them dude the the accountant that
00:41:49.760 was testifying for the story today says you know no one wants to commit career suicide
00:41:54.160 But you can understand that in a way, you know, but hopefully somebody will muster some courage.
00:42:02.260 Well, you have to muster a lot, Dave, because, you know, once you get on full time with the Federal Civil Service, the rewards are rich.
00:42:09.080 Again, pension, benefits and everything else.
00:42:11.280 You never need to worry about it again.
00:42:14.200 For the long game.
00:42:15.300 Well, for our last few minutes to close up, maybe we'll just get a quick couple of comments out of each of you with the Alberta budget came down.
00:42:21.660 This is the first full budget since Premier Smith, you know, fully elected as the premier.
00:42:28.100 This is the rebellious type premier, conservative, unapologetic libertarian.
00:42:34.540 We expected or hoped or would have thought there'd be some flash or some cuts or some, but it seems to be kind of a follow the course.
00:42:44.200 It's kind of a blob budget to promise tax cuts did not come and they won't be coming for a couple of years.
00:42:51.660 A little. There was increased spending, obviously, but certainly not enough to meet the 25% wage increases that unions are demanding.
00:43:02.820 Premier Smith basically said, you know, we've all got to share a bit of pain now.
00:43:07.380 There was a $300 and some million projected surplus, but that's one disaster, one flood, one big forest fire away from being eliminated, and we're back into running a deficit.
00:43:20.960 So there was no shocking items there, and, you know, the premier's warning, okay, you know, we're going to have to do a little bit of belt tightening, and we're all in this together.
00:43:31.680 Which is more or less what Ralph Klein said 20 years ago.
00:43:34.540 The difference was the belt actually did get tightened, and wages were frozen at a certain level for some years in teaching and in the health ministries.
00:43:44.440 But it was a different kind of Albertans in those days.
00:43:46.600 I mean, back in the Klein days, I think the sort of the center of gravity of opinion actually leaned towards some of the public good.
00:43:58.840 We need to do this.
00:43:59.820 I'm not sure that exists anymore, or at least not enough to make it an easy sell for the prime minister, for the premier.
00:44:08.620 You know, there was one good thing, one thing I spotted, that they have put money into the Heritage Fund.
00:44:16.100 I'm a strong believer in that.
00:44:18.260 I want to see more of it.
00:44:20.720 But the point of the Heritage Fund is it's a way of preserving resource revenues.
00:44:25.520 Well, if resource revenues are down, you're not actually preserving resource revenues, are you?
00:44:31.080 So it's when resource revenues are up that that's really going to have to be the key consideration.
00:44:36.960 Yeah, if oil prices go in the tank, this budget is in serious trouble.
00:44:42.280 So if oil prices increase, then they'll obviously increase the surplus.
00:44:48.260 So there is a heck of a lot riding on world oil prices in the next year.
00:44:52.760 Well, and I guess all the way on the way up is, you know, when we worked together at the Wildrose Party and she was an opposition leader or when she was a radio host.
00:45:01.460 Daniel Smith would always say, well, the reason to the way to avoid that vulnerability is to cut the spending now.
00:45:07.140 So you're not so dependent later. But things change once you get in office.
00:45:11.120 It's unfortunate. This is the first year in a new term.
00:45:14.340 This is usually when you want to take the tough decisions now.
00:45:16.800 So the closer you get to the election, the less likely you're going to be there.
00:45:19.580 As she said, this is our last chance.
00:45:23.500 There'll only be one more boom if we're in a boom. 0.77
00:45:27.660 If oil prices go up, this is our last chance.
00:45:29.920 And if we want to save some money for the future, it has to be done now or never.
00:45:34.560 Well, let's hope for the best, I guess.
00:45:37.360 She's still in her first year.
00:45:38.880 And I'm sure there's a lot of fireworks to go yet with Premier Smith and this first turn.
00:45:43.540 Oh, it's just getting started.
00:45:44.760 Oh, yes.
00:45:45.340 And we'll see whenever there's a new opposition leader to see what comes there.
00:45:49.280 But that's discussion for a future show.
00:45:52.460 We've kind of covered it.
00:45:53.720 Quickly, Nahed Nenshi will announce one way or the other next week.
00:45:57.240 Yes.
00:45:57.800 Looking forward to attacking him vigorously for that.
00:46:02.160 Has he unblocked you?
00:46:03.540 Oh, he follows me.
00:46:04.380 Oh, he follows you.
00:46:04.680 He's different from Gondek that way.
00:46:06.040 He's one of those, he can't stand what I'm saying, but he's still got to see what I'm saying.
00:46:10.240 All right.
00:46:10.880 Well, thanks, Dave, Nigel.
00:46:12.520 Thank you.
00:46:13.000 Good fun.
00:46:13.520 All of you guys.
00:46:14.560 Good to be here.
00:46:15.000 Again, be sure to get on there, westernstandard.news slash membership.
00:46:18.640 Get a subscription, guys.
00:46:19.940 It keeps us rolling, keeps us independent, keeps those stories coming.
00:46:23.020 And we'll see you all again next week.
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