Western Standard - The Pipeline： Suzuki comments 'blow up,' UCP convention fallout, Smith drops the gauntlet

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00:03:00.000 Thank you.

00:03:30.000 Thank you.

00:04:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:30.000 Hi, I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of The Western Standard.

00:04:35.460 Today is November 24th, 2021, and you're watching The Pipeline.

00:04:41.860 Today we're going to be discussing David Suzuki's comments blowing up in his face.

00:04:47.040 Hey-oh! 1.00

00:04:47.900 And fallout of the Alberta United Conservative Party's convention over the weekend,

00:04:54.080 where we had some extensive coverage.

00:04:56.320 And, of course, as a part of that, the exclusive story coming from the Western Standard, Danielle Smith,

00:05:02.220 saying, nice job you got there, Jason Kenney.

00:05:05.600 Be a shame if that job was open.

00:05:07.400 I might just, you know, have to take it if it was open.

00:05:13.020 Joining me today, as always, is Western Standard News Editor Dave Naylor.

00:05:18.320 Derek, how are you doing?

00:05:20.340 You know, not too bad.

00:05:21.680 Not too bad?

00:05:22.080 Not too bad.

00:05:22.700 and always

00:05:24.540 Western Standard Alberta political columnist

00:05:27.120 and host of the Cory Morgan show

00:05:28.740 Cory Morgan

00:05:29.800 it's always kind of a weird lead up

00:05:32.340 host of the

00:05:33.480 Cory Morgan show

00:05:35.420 Dave Naylor

00:05:37.180 that'd be kind of fun

00:05:39.620 I think you should perhaps leave the comedy

00:05:42.800 to the professionals

00:05:43.740 can we get a sound effect in the background

00:05:46.500 do we actually have that

00:05:51.000 Oh, see how high-tech we are now? We actually have that.

00:05:55.240 Okay. Well, I want to begin by thanking all of our Western Standard members for your continued support.

00:06:02.820 Without your help, we couldn't do the work we do.

00:06:06.440 We're very grateful for it, and we're constantly expanding our operations on the editorial side,

00:06:12.280 our operational side, to give you high-quality, independent Western media.

00:06:16.760 Now, if you're not yet a member of the Western Standard, go right now to WesternStandardOnline.com.

00:06:22.460 Click on membership and try it free for 15 days.

00:06:26.320 15-day free trial.

00:06:27.500 It's only $100 a year or $10 a month.

00:06:30.920 I think it's a good deal.

00:06:32.260 I don't know, but Dave, do you think?

00:06:33.340 I think it's a great deal.

00:06:34.260 Yeah, Corey?

00:06:35.540 Absolutely.

00:06:36.200 Again, as I like to keep phrasing, it's way cheaper than the old paper news paper subscriptions used to be, and you get better content. 1.00

00:06:41.460 You play the role of the contrary, and you're supposed to say, this is shit. 0.96

00:06:44.780 you haven't taken me off enough yet today okay all right we'll see working on it we'll see how it 0.98

00:06:49.660 goes uh all right uh well we're gonna begin by david suzuki's explosive comments uh dave set it

00:06:57.420 up bit of a nut bar job here uh derek uh david suzuki was taking part in an extinction rebellion

00:07:05.580 protest in victoria on saturday afternoon and and told local tv stations that if things aren't

00:07:12.620 done immediately to take concrete action against climate change pipelines are going to get blown up

00:07:19.660 which caused immediate outrage across the country alberta premier jason kenny went on an absolute

00:07:26.380 tirade yesterday at the legislature during a press conference about suzuki and i think the cbc was

00:07:34.700 questioning him why he would he would go after it so took a few shots at our friends at the cbc too

00:07:40.860 in fact if you go to western standard online you can read kenny's uh uh tirade in his own words

00:07:47.980 we've got that up on our on our site today but uh jason kenny alberta's environment minister

00:07:54.380 has introduced a motion nixon there's a lot of jason there's a lot of jasons in government easy

00:07:59.180 to get them mixed up uh jason nixon has introduced a motion calling on uh everybody in the in the

00:08:06.300 legislature to condemn suzuki uh even the ndps coming on board to to join them which is

00:08:12.940 interesting seeing as though they've had some of their members at uh at extinction rebellion protests

00:08:19.020 uh and there's just been general outrage across the country uh notably silent of course the prime

00:08:24.140 minister uh ndp leader jagmeet singh uh even conservative leader uh erin o'toole has has

00:08:32.140 criticized him uh but uh you know as as jason kenney points out if this was anybody else who

00:08:39.420 said this stuff they would be cancelled in quote in a new york minute and he brought up the case

00:08:44.380 of don cherry and how the cancel culture got him but for some reason guys the cancel culture is

00:08:51.340 has deemed david suzuki untouchable well you people don't know what you're talking about

00:08:55.260 What do you mean, you people?

00:08:58.460 I don't know.

00:08:59.240 What do you mean?

00:08:59.980 I don't know.

00:09:01.640 So, Corey, David Suzuki and his friends are saying, oh, this is taken out of context.

00:09:08.200 David Suzuki didn't say he is going to blow up pipelines or that people should blow up pipelines.

00:09:13.620 He just said, hey, if you don't do what we tell you to do on, you know, global warming stuff, somebody could blow up a pipeline.

00:09:27.120 I mean, this stuff is going to happen.

00:09:28.860 So, you know, to the kids watching at home, you better take this seriously.

00:09:34.500 I'm not going to blow up a pipeline.

00:09:36.020 I don't know. These other guys who I'm speaking to an Extinction Rebellion rally at, I mean, he was not saying this to, you know, he wasn't like showing up at like a conservative convention saying, conservatives, I really recommend you do this because there's some crazy guys over here and they're going to blow up pipelines if you don't do something.

00:09:55.260 He was speaking to the crazy people. 0.60

00:09:57.000 Yes. This was at an extinction rebellion rally that is specifically who he is speaking to. And, you know, I don't know, unfairly taken out of context, not even in the slightest. And, you know, it's a matter of who's saying it, where they're saying it, why they're saying it. I mean, there's a lot of nuance to this. And, you know, I've watched some social media discussion. People like pointing out, oh, well, Donald Trump incited on January 6th. You know what? He did. 0.53

00:10:23.000 I was sitting up here that day.

00:10:24.880 I remember when it was breaking.

00:10:25.860 We were in the office, and we were saying, 0.89

00:10:26.900 holy crap, look what's going on over there. 0.98

00:10:28.520 Everybody's waiting for Trump to speak, 0.99

00:10:29.740 and then he comes out,

00:10:31.220 and you're thinking he's going to calm things down,

00:10:32.540 and no, he poured a bunch of gasoline on the fire.

00:10:34.480 Now, he never said, go out and riot.

00:10:36.480 He never said, go out and try and break into the Capitol building.

00:10:39.460 And he never even, he didn't even indirectly say,

00:10:42.280 some people might storm Congress. 0.94

00:10:44.300 Like, if you guys don't...

00:10:46.080 But he definitely helped feed that and infuriate further.

00:10:49.940 He certainly fanned the flame.

00:10:51.180 And as you said, this is a man who was at that time still the president of the United States.

00:10:55.520 David Suzuki is a Canadian icon.

00:10:57.560 He was respected.

00:10:59.180 I grew up watching the nature of things.

00:11:00.660 I loved it as a kid. 1.00

00:11:01.760 Now it's clear he's just crazier than a shithouse rat. 0.99

00:11:04.200 He's trying to find relevance in his ancient age. 0.96

00:11:06.860 And he's speaking to these younger groups who are taking on the activism he doesn't have the energy and gumption to do any longer.

00:11:12.380 And he's just hoping to stir things up on his way out from his mortal coil.

00:11:16.620 And I do think, though, he's being canceled, even if informally.

00:11:19.180 You know, we don't swarm like the left does quite as much, you know, and demand he be gone.

00:11:25.260 But this has cost him what little credibility he had left.

00:11:27.980 I mean, the Suzuki Foundation already kind of said, yeah, he's not really with us.

00:11:31.140 I know we're called that, but no, no.

00:11:33.160 They're distancing themselves from him.

00:11:35.240 He stepped in it deeply.

00:11:36.320 But it's dangerous, irresponsible talk.

00:11:38.820 I mean, that's Extinction Rebellion.

00:11:40.140 We're not even talking Greenpeace, who are a bit kooky at the best of times.

00:11:42.840 This is the most extreme of the environmental elements.

00:11:46.160 And he was fanning the flames.

00:11:47.760 Don't forget guys, we have had pipeline bombings in the past and can of pipelines in, I think the mid to early 2000s, up by Beaver Lodge, like 97, again, in like the mid, late nineties, up in the early 2000s.

00:12:02.000 Weebo Ludwig, you know, he was never charged with them, but he was certainly arrested and questioned about them before, before he died.

00:12:10.960 So it has happened before.

00:12:13.360 So yeah, I think it's dangerous.

00:12:16.120 So this is, as you said, Dave, this is coming before the Alberta, or has come before the Alberta legislature.

00:12:22.960 There's, they're going to vote on, it's a non-binding resolution.

00:12:26.680 You know, the legislature does this every once in a while.

00:12:29.120 We're angry about something, or we're happy about something, let's vote on it.

00:12:32.800 And in particular, I mean, governments like to put this forward to try and put an opposition in a funny, awkward position.

00:12:39.380 That's the politics of it.

00:12:40.660 And I can see why they're doing it, because, I mean, the NDP are trying to appear reasonable and moderate to Albertans.

00:12:47.260 They have a wickedly huge lead in the polls right now.

00:12:51.060 But there are, at the very least, some very clear elements of the NDP, including their own caucus,

00:12:57.680 that have been cozy, let's say, with Extinction Rebellion in the past.

00:13:02.640 Janice Irwin, for example, you know, she defended Extinction Rebellion being allowed to,

00:13:09.380 have things in the publicly funded classroom.

00:13:15.320 On to break down just a bit,

00:13:17.220 how's this going in the legislature?

00:13:19.520 What are we expecting of the NDP?

00:13:22.060 What's the NDP saying?

00:13:23.540 Well, the NDP really is not saying much at the moment.

00:13:26.720 They haven't said anything in the ledge

00:13:28.200 as far as I'm aware.

00:13:30.540 And the motion, I believe,

00:13:32.060 may go to a vote this afternoon.

00:13:34.900 But a couple of things about Extinction Rebellion.

00:13:37.640 And this is actually a story I'm working on right now.

00:13:41.180 Headline is, Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Extinction Rebellion.

00:13:46.420 These are guys who took over the high-level bridge in Edmonton on Monday,

00:13:49.620 and they brought out a propane heater to keep themselves warm in the chilly autumn evenings.

00:13:57.400 They weren't using solar panels?

00:13:58.780 They weren't using solar panels.

00:14:00.680 Last night in Calgary, about 80 of the protesters repeatedly stopped the green-friendly LRT,

00:14:07.540 match transportation system. And they had all these cars parked nowhere idling with just the

00:14:14.080 just the drivers swearing at them. So in England, they sit in, they do sit-ins on major highways,

00:14:24.240 major motorways. And they're just, they're really getting out of control in England.

00:14:29.720 And it seems like they're stepping up their fight here.

00:14:32.320 Well, in England, at least they're, I mean, crazy, is there?

00:14:36.340 At least you could see some congruity between, okay, well, cars emit emissions, so let's stop people from driving.

00:14:43.000 Here, it's, well, let's stop people from using the electric green-friendly LRT.

00:14:48.080 And to keep ourselves warm, let's burn some good Fort McMurray oil sands propane.

00:14:52.920 That'll learn them well, eh?

00:14:55.320 Well, you know, these radicals, actually, I think they are feeling some pressure

00:14:58.420 because they're understanding that their own little case is getting undercut right now.

00:15:02.840 I suspect there's more support in lower mainland BC for pipelines right now than there has been

00:15:07.840 in 20 years. Because now that they've got rationed gasoline, they're facing a winter

00:15:12.260 with infrastructure problems. They got that wake up call to say, holy crap, this thing did provide 0.95

00:15:16.860 something for us. It really does actually help our standard of living. Meanwhile, in the United 0.93

00:15:22.100 States, old Joe Biden has suddenly realized, geez, if you shut down a major pipeline, the price of

00:15:26.660 oil goes up. And he's getting beaten on by the Republicans over that right now. He's dipping

00:15:31.680 into the emergency reserves. These environmentalists have made that false case that there is some

00:15:37.220 alternative out there, a rational, realistic alternative to our current hydrocarbon setup.

00:15:43.260 And there isn't. And now that we're seeing that get shut down in a few spots, the public at large,

00:15:47.200 and that's what these environmentalists fear, are realizing, holy crap, we can't go without 0.83

00:15:50.760 this stuff right now. And the radicals are going to be pushed to more extremes to push their case. 0.87

00:15:55.600 And, again, that's what makes it all the more dangerous when people like Extinction Rebellion are getting inflamed.

00:16:00.360 Biden can sniff the propane.

00:16:03.200 That's just his diaper.

00:16:06.020 Wow.

00:16:08.120 Thank you.

00:16:09.240 Was that bleeped?

00:16:10.980 It's all about poop here today, isn't it?

00:16:13.200 I got a fecal thing.

00:16:14.460 You know, just production, we're going to put this program on a 10-second delay like Don Cherry.

00:16:22.940 We'll call it the Cory delay.

00:16:24.180 the Corey delay. We need, this is, I don't know. Are we family friendly? We're mostly family

00:16:32.480 friendly, as long as you don't listen to Corey. So parents watching at home, if you've got your

00:16:36.820 kids nearby and it's not like on your earphones, just whenever Corey's talking, mute. When you see

00:16:43.360 Dave and I are back, it's normally. Kind of like his wife does with him. Oh, oh, oh. Mute, mute.

00:16:49.380 Well, speaking of ignoring, let's talk about the United Conservative Party's annual general meeting or convention this weekend.

00:16:59.140 Western Standard had extensive coverage there.

00:17:02.920 I think we had five between staff and freelancers.

00:17:07.100 We had five on the scene there covering it all weekend.

00:17:12.960 Dave, what were some of the highlights?

00:17:15.180 Lots to digest from the weekend, Derek.

00:17:17.880 1,600 UCP members at the Gray Eagle Casino on Sutton Island, just west of the city, from all over the province, started flooding in Friday night.

00:17:29.240 Friday night, the big news was a resolution on the floor to increase the number of ridings needed to force a leadership review from 22 to 29.

00:17:39.700 It was just announced on last Monday that that threshold had been met and 22 ridings had signed on.

00:17:47.880 The motion to increase it passed, but it needed 75% to be enacted, and Kenney's forces were only able to rally 58%.

00:17:58.600 Even though there were allegations of third-party PACs basically paying for delegate convention fees to stuff the ballots on Kenney's side.

00:18:11.980 Well, not to stop the ballots, but stack the number of delegates, because it costs like

00:18:16.520 350 bucks to register, plus your hotel, plus your travel.

00:18:19.960 This is not like showing up on election day to vote, you know, your library around the

00:18:24.100 corner.

00:18:24.500 This is a fair bit more expensive to get into.

00:18:28.780 Saturday was taken up with members voting on 29 separate proposals, everything from

00:18:35.280 nuclear power to the debt and deficit and things like that.

00:18:40.500 Interestingly, one motion to defend Alberta against the cancel culture got canceled.

00:18:46.620 It was just announced.

00:18:47.400 They didn't even debate it.

00:18:49.980 They just said the measure was withdrawn.

00:18:53.140 So I found that interesting.

00:18:55.740 Saturday was also the keynote address from Premier Kenney.

00:18:59.560 He took the stage to a mostly standing ovation.

00:19:03.460 There were some people that did not.

00:19:05.280 and he gave

00:19:07.580 for him a very fiery speech

00:19:09.800 emotional speech that was

00:19:11.720 greeted with 10 I think

00:19:13.760 I counted standing ovations

00:19:15.500 again not everybody but

00:19:17.600 a good deal of it

00:19:19.800 and

00:19:21.320 there was not as Kenny

00:19:23.800 said the expected bun fight that

00:19:25.800 the media had predicted or

00:19:27.420 anticipated. Brian

00:19:29.820 Jean was prowling the hallways 0.96

00:19:31.840 he's the

00:19:33.320 former Wild Rose leader who was

00:19:35.760 seeking the UCP nomination

00:19:37.240 up in Fort McMurray. He was

00:19:39.580 certainly, you know, he was glad

00:19:41.720 handing in the hallway and a lot of people coming up

00:19:43.740 to talk to him, but

00:19:45.100 there was certainly no open rebellion

00:19:47.840 whatsoever. On Saturday,

00:19:51.560 Kenny had

00:19:51.920 a press conference? Sunday. Sunday,

00:19:53.840 sorry. He was as

00:19:55.660 gleeful as a pig in the 0.99

00:19:57.320 proverbial doo-doo. I'm not 0.99

00:19:59.220 going to say what Corey would say,

00:20:01.800 but he was gleeful.

00:20:03.320 Um, uh, you know, he, he said he hasn't been this confident in his leadership, uh, uh,

00:20:09.640 for, for this long.

00:20:10.760 And there was, uh, as noted, almost a spring in his step when he, uh, when he bounced in

00:20:16.020 there.

00:20:16.220 So, uh, we'll leave the big, uh, the big, uh, development of the weekend, uh, for later,

00:20:21.600 but, uh, I don't think the convention could have gone any better for Kenny.

00:20:27.420 Well, other than that 29.

00:20:29.920 Yeah, I'd say, you know, that was a, and I'd see that was as a proxy vote on his leadership. I think very much became proxy vote. I mean, some people are going to vote on principle one way or another. You know, do you think that threshold should be raised? Do you think it should not be raised? But I think most people were voting. If you support Jason Kenney, vote to change the threshold. If you oppose him, you vote to keep the threshold.

00:20:49.780 I'd see that as a general

00:20:54.420 proxy vote, but I mean

00:20:55.960 in politics, people

00:20:58.320 say one thing behind closed doors, and a very

00:21:00.180 another thing on the convention floor 0.99

00:21:01.420 it's also like social media, people are real assholes to each other 0.97

00:21:04.360 on Twitter, because you don't even know who the people are 0.99

00:21:06.120 people are semi-assholes

00:21:08.320 to each other on Facebook, because you might know who 0.86

00:21:10.260 the person is, because they have a real person's

00:21:12.300 profile, but in person, most 0.98

00:21:14.240 Albertans, they're not assholes 0.98

00:21:16.300 so even if... I'm just as much an 0.99

00:21:18.280 asshole in person. Yeah. You are consistently an asshole everywhere. Um, I only play one. 1.00

00:21:23.840 I think we're now PG 18. Yeah. Uh, I only play one on TV. So, uh, I try. So I think that,

00:21:33.480 um, well, there were standing ovations where, you know, some people sat on their hands,

00:21:37.840 minor hackling, not very much. Uh, most people are doing the standing ovation thing. I mean,

00:21:43.680 political conventions, forget Jason Kennedy, just all political conventions. When the leader speaks,

00:21:47.720 It's kind of like Stalin speaking.

00:21:49.520 Everyone keeps clapping.

00:21:50.740 You don't want to be the last person, the first person to stop clapping.

00:21:53.740 Everyone's there to show support. 0.99

00:21:56.000 You bugger off into the evening. 0.98

00:21:57.560 People go to these hospitality suites for free booze out of bathtubs. 0.98

00:22:01.080 And, well, things could be a bit different.

00:22:04.220 Corey, do you think this, you know, for judging by this,

00:22:08.220 what do you think is the better judge of that room?

00:22:10.840 The standing ovation numbers or the proxy vote on raising the thresholds for CAs

00:22:17.140 demanding a leadership recall. Well, the proxy vote for sure, because it's a secret ballot and

00:22:21.080 people can express themselves. They're saying, Oh, it wasn't secret actually. Well, that's right.

00:22:25.580 You're right. Yes. And every one of those actually constitutional motions was rejected by the room.

00:22:31.040 Like they couldn't make a bylaw change to reach that three quarter bar. I think the members weren't

00:22:36.040 too thrilled with the political maneuvering. I mean, they might not be at least those gathered

00:22:39.740 ready to throw their leader under the bus completely, but they're getting crotchety.

00:22:45.920 And, you know, we got to see an exercise of a lot of, like I said, political maneuverings

00:22:49.560 and things going on because that motion got put out on a Friday night, which is extremely

00:22:53.680 rare in a political convention to deal with things like that on a Friday.

00:22:57.860 And ironically, I think that might have been a bit what backfired because the other move

00:23:02.240 that was done was basically to stack the executive committee.

00:23:04.820 And there was over a thousand votes cast for that on the Saturday, you know, and the Sunday

00:23:10.180 or at one point when they lit up to that.

00:23:12.520 But there's only about 600 people voting on the Friday night because not everybody had made it down to the AGM yet.

00:23:18.160 Not everybody wants to sit there voting on bylaw amendments.

00:23:20.660 Yeah, but if he'd have put those bylaws onto the Saturday when most of his most loyal delegates were there,

00:23:27.020 maybe he would have passed it because he certainly got the executive committee that he wanted.

00:23:32.680 I think what we found out in the convention is what Jason Kenney is going to be doing going forward.

00:23:38.060 He repeatedly said Alberta is back.

00:23:40.520 Alberta is on the rise.

00:23:42.020 And he pointed to a $7 billion week the province had last week with new investment announcements.

00:23:51.440 So that's his plan going forward.

00:23:53.140 Alberta is now an economic lion.

00:23:55.500 Alberta is going to lead the country in economic growth.

00:23:58.200 We are back, baby.

00:23:59.600 So that's what he's going to be campaigning.

00:24:01.740 Well, he made the case that, look, I might be unpopular.

00:24:04.460 He didn't say he's unpopular, but he kind of gave a hint that not all is well in Tory land.

00:24:08.900 So essentially said, look, I might be unpopular, but I shouldn't be unpopular, because here's the great things I'm doing. And the only reason I'm unpopular is because the NDP have a political party, the NDP have taken political advantage of this political situation. Shocker that the NDP would try to get popular and chip away at the government support.

00:24:28.580 I mean, it's a very old Tory land view of politics that the opposition should just be the opposition.

00:24:36.340 They should. Why are they trying to be the government? 0.98

00:24:39.680 Why are they trying to get popular and take power?

00:24:42.680 We're the government, for God's sakes, and we'll always be the government.

00:24:45.320 We've almost always been the government.

00:24:47.820 And he also said, look, there's going to be a leadership vote at some point.

00:24:51.900 But in the meantime, you should all STF.

00:24:57.020 You should all shut the something up. 0.98

00:25:00.320 Be quiet. 0.98

00:25:01.180 Sheethe your swords.

00:25:02.160 You're going to get to vote.

00:25:03.260 But keep your squabbling behind closed doors.

00:25:05.300 Stop leaking to the media.

00:25:06.380 Stop talking to the media.

00:25:07.380 Stop having these public fights.

00:25:09.500 Be quiet.

00:25:10.560 Sheethe your swords in the meantime.

00:25:11.740 You're going to get your vote.

00:25:13.680 I'm actually not sure they're really going to get the vote they think they're going to get.

00:25:17.020 Because we were talking about this constituency association threshold.

00:25:21.220 they tried to raise the threshold to stop the special resolution that failed.

00:25:27.460 So on paper right now, what Kenny wanted was, fine, if there's going to be a leadership review vote,

00:25:33.000 it's going to be at an annual general meeting where you're going to pay $400 or $500 to register, hotel, travel, all of these things.

00:25:39.480 And that plays to Kenny's incredible strengths as a political operative, an organizer,

00:25:44.960 where you can get these third-party political action committees

00:25:48.540 to sponsor delegate fees and travel fees and stuff like that,

00:25:51.780 stack the room, and win it that way.

00:25:55.080 The special resolution, the thing with these constituency associations

00:25:58.740 we're talking about, it's demanding an open vote of the whole membership.

00:26:03.020 Every United Conservative Party member would get to vote,

00:26:05.800 and it only costs your $10 membership if you're not already a member.

00:26:09.400 And those are two very different votes.

00:26:11.200 One, Kenny will win.

00:26:12.820 If it's voted an annual general meeting, Kenny's going to win.

00:26:15.960 I don't think as strongly as he thinks he would win, but I think he'll win.

00:26:19.720 If it's a special meeting, if every member can vote, period,

00:26:24.140 and you can vote on your computer with a pin or something,

00:26:27.060 I think there'd be a very real chance he could actually lose that.

00:26:32.040 But he now controls the board, undisputedly right now, from this convention.

00:26:35.980 And I got a nagging feeling that this board is just not going to approve the special resolution, even though the bylaws require it.

00:26:44.580 It is legally required.

00:26:46.340 These are bylaws under the Society's Act in Alberta.

00:26:50.940 Corey, do you think the board of that party is going to accept that resolution?

00:26:56.920 Are they going to find a comma that's off somewhere?

00:26:58.640 Exactly.

00:26:59.100 They're going to find a T that wasn't crossed, or they'll find a member of a constituency who said they didn't get a letter within the divine notice for their meeting.

00:27:05.620 to put the motion forward. You can always nitpick and find excuses. And realistically,

00:27:11.540 it's inside baseball. A bunch of people will get loud and upset when this SGM doesn't happen,

00:27:16.040 but the public at large really won't notice. Kenny bought himself.

00:27:18.720 You don't think that would be the end of any grassroots supports he might have?

00:27:22.380 Oh, I don't think he has much left anyway. And it would certainly infuriate the members on the

00:27:26.840 ground at these constituency associations, but he hasn't shown much indication of respect for them.

00:27:31.860 I mean, it's a lost cause as far as he's concerned, if he can just maintain this leadership.

00:27:36.620 So, I mean, I suspect the Wilder's Independence Party will suddenly gain a whole pile of constituency organizers

00:27:41.540 because they'll throw their hands up in frustration.

00:27:44.540 But then, you know, we just go on to the political battles.

00:27:48.000 Kenny remains his leader.

00:27:48.880 This is my predictions.

00:27:49.760 Anyways, you know, going into an April review that he can stack and say, look at this, I got 85% support.

00:27:54.760 Let's carry on into next year's election.

00:27:57.120 I fear you're probably correct in your predictions.

00:28:01.860 Well, speaking of leadership machinations and fun news, so we were sitting and we had our press table there.

00:28:14.420 We're sitting along, and we had our uncensored panel up.

00:28:18.300 That's Danielle Smith, Bruce McAllister, Rob Anderson, and they were sitting on the floor of the convention.

00:28:23.020 Their backs were to the stage just facing our press table, and this was going on.

00:28:27.960 I was trying to write my column.

00:28:29.780 It was very noisy.

00:28:30.520 See, I actually couldn't really hear what they were saying.

00:28:32.880 But then I forget who it was.

00:28:35.060 It may have been James or Corey.

00:28:37.060 One of you tapped me on the shoulder and said, 0.99

00:28:40.600 holy shit, Derek, Daniel Smith said she's going to run. 1.00

00:28:44.320 What? 1.00

00:28:45.180 Huh?

00:28:46.520 So, James, why don't you let's just play that clip from Daniel Smith

00:28:52.820 on the floor of the convention on her Western-centered uncensored panel

00:28:56.860 and throw that to our viewers.

00:28:59.440 You know, I would feel like if the position was open that I'd have to run, just because I believe in unity.

00:29:05.040 And this is the real issue, is that let's throw some names on the table because there are some good cabinet ministers.

00:29:10.500 I believe Jason Nixon has demonstrated that he's got leadership potential.

00:29:15.080 Doug Schweitzer has demonstrated leadership potential.

00:29:17.960 Leila Ahir is clearly interested. Rajan Zani is clearly interested.

00:29:22.300 Casey Maddu, the justice minister, would be a good candidate.

00:29:25.780 And then on the outside, those who were involved in World Coast politics, Rob Anderson, Bruce McAllister, maybe me, Brian Jean.

00:29:32.260 They're talking about federal names, Michelle Rumpel-Garner, Ronna Ambrose.

00:29:35.720 Here's the point. If you had 10 strong leadership candidates, each selling 20,000 members to win, now you have a party of 200,000 people going into the next election.

00:29:47.440 That is a force that can turn things around.

00:29:49.680 And that's the kind of rejuvenation that happens with the party leadership.

00:29:52.700 But if we continue on this path, I think you're going to see struggle in motivation, not only the fundraising numbers, but the membership numbers, the willingness of people to come out or not.

00:30:05.860 And that's what lends itself to the NDP winning.

00:30:08.460 You know, I would feel like it was.

00:30:11.460 All right.

00:30:12.600 Well, that was Daniel Smith on the floor of the Alberta United Conservative Party's convention on the Western Centre Uncensored panel.

00:30:20.400 uh as i said i didn't hear it live but as soon as someone tapped my shoulder i i went over tapped

00:30:25.280 your shoulder and said dave we got a story to write we did and uh once our story was published

00:30:31.980 you could see it almost going across the convention floor as the uh you know everybody's typing into

00:30:37.420 they're looking at the story on their uh on their iphone iphones uh yeah significant development

00:30:43.640 daniel smith saying uh if the job becomes open she feels like she has to run for it

00:30:48.480 She, of course, has history as former leader of the Wild Rose and will go down in political history as crossing the floor over to the Tory side, which some people smarter than me think may have cost them the election and put the NDP in power.

00:31:07.320 So there's a lot of people groaning about her announcement.

00:31:11.140 There's a lot of people clapping about the announcement.

00:31:14.680 But other than Brian Jean, she's the first one to publicly come out and say she'll go after the job.

00:31:20.920 Corey, she didn't say she is running, but she said if the job was open, she'd have to run.

00:31:29.320 I guess, do you think two wild rows enter, one conservative leave?

00:31:34.120 I mean, it'd be quite a double belt title match for Brian Jean versus Daniel Smith head to head.

00:31:41.160 Which one do you think would win?

00:31:42.980 Well, you know, I was playing around with some Twitter polling, which is notoriously unreliable.

00:31:46.980 But I think in the case of measuring them, because most of my following tends to be conservative minded, it's not like throwing it out there in general.

00:31:54.480 It gets a bit of a measure.

00:31:55.740 And I threw some wishlist names out there and had a few thousand voters on my polls.

00:32:00.100 And when it came between Daniel Smith and Brian Jean,

00:32:02.660 Smith soundly trounced Jean as far as the preference.

00:32:06.620 But I had a whole lot of comments, of course,

00:32:09.160 saying they wanted absolutely nothing to do with either of them.

00:32:10.740 I mean, it's getting very speculative.

00:32:12.980 But I mean, a lot of it was very noteworthy.

00:32:14.660 And Daniel made it clear, too.

00:32:16.300 She's a little different than Jean.

00:32:17.600 And she's not saying, I want Kenny out

00:32:19.860 or I want to cause him to leave the leadership.

00:32:23.180 She's just saying, if it opened, I threw my hat in it,

00:32:25.880 which is still very noteworthy because people always wonder,

00:32:28.100 Is she ever going to get back into politics again? 1.00

00:32:29.920 She's made it very clear, obviously, she's very interested in getting back into the ring, whether it's that route or through another one.

00:32:37.640 And Danielle's no fool. 0.99

00:32:38.820 She knows what she's saying and how it's going to be reacted.

00:32:41.560 I think that was throwing it out there to chum the water, to get a feel for it, to see what the response was going to be.

00:32:48.000 And how she's interpreted that response at this point, I'm certain she got a heck of a lot of feedback from a number of people, both positive and negative, you know, will impact where she might do down the road.

00:32:57.740 It was very interesting to see her come out and say that.

00:32:59.760 Yeah, it certainly was chum in the water.

00:33:01.640 I think that's a good analogy because, as Dave said, you know, about 30 seconds after this went out,

00:33:06.720 you could just see some kind of commotion.

00:33:09.540 And everyone started looking down at their phones.

00:33:13.960 It definitely was something thrown into the water, Dave.

00:33:19.400 What's the impression you got about how well that was received at the convention?

00:33:23.620 Well, again, I think it was 50-50.

00:33:26.040 A lot of people were secretly clapping and a lot of people were kind of rolling their eyes. 0.99

00:33:33.280 As Corrie says, she's not a dumb woman. 1.00

00:33:36.280 She knew this would be sort of like throwing the proverbial grenade into the middle of it. 0.91

00:33:44.000 And she wanted to see what the reaction would be.

00:33:46.960 And there was certainly a ton of it.

00:33:49.400 I've never, I think Jason Kinney was with the room at the time.

00:33:52.540 I'm not positive.

00:33:53.360 of, I've never seen someone announce their leadership intentions while the guy currently

00:33:58.680 in the job is in the same room. I mean, points for balls. Corey, do you think, I mean, 0.95

00:34:09.820 there's, I guess, a debate out there in terms of, you know, is Brian Jean's current role right now

00:34:15.680 explicitly gunning for Kenny's job openly and publicly? Some actually think that actually

00:34:21.100 might strengthen Kenny's position because it's not Kenny versus a ideal, you know, generic new

00:34:28.060 leader. You know, it's like in the States, Joe Biden versus generic Republican. Generic Republican

00:34:33.160 always wins. Or Donald Trump versus generic Democrat. Generic Democrat almost always wins.

00:34:38.720 The generic candidates always seem to do better than real people because real people have faults

00:34:42.320 and some people like them, some people don't. Do you think having Smith and Gene, their names

00:34:49.300 clearly put up in the window.

00:34:51.460 I mean, Smith not to the same extent as Gene, clearly,

00:34:53.520 but do you think their names being so prominently in the window now,

00:34:57.800 is that going to hurt the case?

00:34:59.900 Does that strengthen Kenny's hand that he now has very specific opponents

00:35:03.000 that he's contrasted to?

00:35:04.760 Or does this help the case for getting rid of Kenny that, hey, guys,

00:35:08.240 if Kenny's gone, this is not a vacuum.

00:35:10.600 There's clearly these two people.

00:35:12.120 And then, you know, Daniel Smith listed off a long list of people,

00:35:15.700 some of them I think better than others.

00:35:16.800 But do you think Smith entering here and Gene's presence going after Kenny weakens Kenny or helps him?

00:35:25.560 Weakens him in a couple of ways. 0.91

00:35:27.720 One of which, and it's something I kind of wrote about at the time, one of the things that's kind of saving Kenny's butt.

00:35:31.980 And I was talking to people on the floor saying, you know, well, what do you think?

00:35:34.440 And they say, well, who's going to replace him?

00:35:36.080 You know, there is a void and people don't want to get rid of one if they see a void.

00:35:39.600 And not only did Danielle, as you said, mention herself, she listed off a whole bunch of other people.

00:35:43.960 Like that void starts getting filled. People start thinking a little more, well, how would the future look if such and such, even if it's not Daniel or Gene was in that role? And that starts making them question whether they want to keep Kenny in there, you know, as that deadline essentially comes to replace a leader starts to come in. And the other hazard now, though, again, with Gene being there, he probably will win that by-election if he gets into it.

00:36:07.900 If you can't get Kenny out through the membership,

00:36:10.900 you might get him out through the caucus.

00:36:12.340 And now you've got this thorn in caucus

00:36:14.800 who's not even trying to hide his intention

00:36:17.380 to knock Kenny off that seat.

00:36:19.500 He's trying to get in caucus.

00:36:20.660 Yes.

00:36:21.220 He's not going to get in that caucus.

00:36:22.640 Well, there we disagree.

00:36:23.760 I think he's going to make it.

00:36:24.800 You could get into the legislature,

00:36:25.980 but Brian Jean will not sit in Kenny's UCP caucus.

00:36:30.820 Which we bet.

00:36:31.860 I've been wrong, but...

00:36:33.260 That was what I get paid.

00:36:34.420 Five bucks is about the limit.

00:36:35.760 I think it was Rob Anderson pointed out in the uncensored panel that if Gene gets in there,

00:36:45.320 he may be able to break the bottleneck of, you know, we seem to have some MLAs openly complaining,

00:36:51.220 but not enough for a full revolt, which we're always hearing about.

00:36:55.760 And if Gene does get elected, he could.

00:36:58.200 Which is why Kenny is not going to let him in.

00:37:00.200 There's no way Jason Kenney lets him in.

00:37:02.400 And I mean, if he's okay, what if he wins the UCP nomination, then he sits as an independent,

00:37:06.900 he is not going to sit in the UCP caucus. I mean, as an independent is a big problem.

00:37:11.780 Okay, so I guess we're gonna talk to Gene thing now. It's not on the agenda, but we got to talk

00:37:15.200 it. We got to talk to some because this is this is a real wild card playing out right now.

00:37:21.080 Gene wants to get in, he wants to be the UCP candidate in Fort McMurray-Lac-La-Biche,

00:37:26.060 get he wants to win the nomination, win the by-election, gets into the UCP caucus.

00:37:30.220 caucus, that is not going to, I'm not going to say 0%, but I think it's damn close. I hope I might

00:37:38.720 have to eat my words, but I really don't think I will. He's not going to get in because Kenny knows

00:37:41.980 that that is a, look, he's got a bunch of grenades in the caucus. Gene's a nuke. It's over if Gene

00:37:48.380 gets in there. It's just not happening. You've got a rival leader openly in the caucus who's

00:37:53.440 probably got more friends in that caucus right now than Kenny does. Not going to happen. Kenny is

00:37:58.200 either just not going to let him run for the nomination, or, Kenny, the party's candidate

00:38:04.760 nomination committee, which is completely independent of the leader, is going to find

00:38:09.540 a reason not to let him run, or they're going to let him run, and then they're going to,

00:38:14.660 it'll be the most corrupt nomination race. These things are all notoriously corrupt when the

00:38:19.620 leader's got a preference. Don't tell me the leader's not got a preference. The leader almost

00:38:24.080 always has a preference. And in this one, he has a real presence. So they'll have to still stuff

00:38:28.840 ballot boxes or do whatever they have to do. It'll be a wickedly corrupt nomination. 0.99

00:38:33.740 And if Gene somehow still got through, Kenny would probably rather throw it to the NDP if he could.

00:38:40.600 Because from Kenny's perspective, it's not a huge deal if the NDP actually won that.

00:38:44.660 Like, it's not an NDP seat. But I mean, if, you know, Kenny would not put a dime into the

00:38:49.020 by-election, he's not going to have anybody up there campaigning. He'll probably do what he can

00:38:53.100 to split his own vote. Kenny would probably rather the Wild Rose show a little bit of strength, 0.67

00:38:57.280 not win, but show a little bit of strength than the NDP win. Because if the NDP wins,

00:39:01.500 well, whatever, it doesn't change the balance of power. It's just another NDP seat. It's a bad

00:39:05.420 news story for a day, a couple of days, you move on. But if Gene's there, I mean, his leadership's

00:39:10.400 over. It's not happening. Well, I think that the UCP is worried about it. On the weekend,

00:39:16.840 last weekend, they played

00:39:18.840 the race card. A senior

00:39:20.900 member of Kenny's office tweeted

00:39:22.720 that Brian Jean was 0.98

00:39:24.680 basically disgusting. And 0.97

00:39:26.580 Jean stupidly referred to his opponent 1.00

00:39:28.800 as black. 1.00

00:39:31.240 Nigerian economist.

00:39:32.520 Nigerian economist. It was a bit odd 1.00

00:39:34.480 to point out. It was a stupid tweet. 1.00

00:39:36.620 Yeah. 1.00

00:39:39.600 You know, but

00:39:40.560 playing the race card shows, I think, that

00:39:42.640 they're worried about it. Even though

00:39:44.740 So even though Gene lobbed it up as a softball, they're still worried, I think.

00:39:51.120 And I'm not as certain as you are.

00:39:54.220 I mean, you know more about the inner amacinations, but if he wins the nomination, does he then have to be selected to be the candidate?

00:40:03.040 No, the nomination makes you the candidate.

00:40:04.360 Okay.

00:40:04.960 So if he wins the nomination, and I'm like Corey, I think he may do.

00:40:08.420 So he goes on the ballot as a UCP candidate.

00:40:10.960 Then he wins.

00:40:12.160 Then he wins.

00:40:12.860 But he's not going to be on the ballot as a UCP candidate.

00:40:14.580 So, okay. But if he wins the UCP nomination, they're not going to let him. So you think

00:40:20.260 they'll stack the meeting? Yes. If they even let the meeting take place to have a vote,

00:40:25.080 which is not a sure thing. If they allow him to be on the ballot and the party's internal nomination,

00:40:29.760 they're going to have to stack it. There's no way. He can't be the UCP candidate. Jason Kennedy

00:40:34.820 cannot let him be the UCP candidate. More likely is the disqualify him. Don't let him run at all.

00:40:39.500 or they stack the meeting and defeat them that way.

00:40:42.740 And then Gene runs as an independent.

00:40:44.660 That's the question because he could still end up in the legislature.

00:40:47.660 Independents do not get elected in Alberta.

00:40:50.540 All of you watching at home think you're popular and wonderful enough

00:40:54.140 to get elected as an independent.

00:40:56.280 You're not.

00:40:57.960 You're absolutely not.

00:40:59.620 The last independent elected in Alberta was in 1982.

00:41:02.380 It was Ray Speaker, and he had been the Social Credit Minister of Finance

00:41:05.460 and Deputy Premier for like 20, 30 years and forever.

00:41:08.180 and they didn't even have televised leadership debates

00:41:11.300 for the premier's job at the time.

00:41:14.120 People actually elected.

00:41:15.420 You all see your local candidate.

00:41:17.200 You don't.

00:41:18.140 The facts are there.

00:41:18.860 You don't elect your local candidate.

00:41:20.240 5% of you at most do.

00:41:23.620 But, I mean, Gene has been a longtime representative up there.

00:41:26.560 He's very well known.

00:41:27.620 Kenny is wickedly unpopular.

00:41:29.820 I think in his rare circumstance,

00:41:32.880 it's possible he actually could eke it out as an independent.

00:41:36.380 What do you think the chances are of that?

00:41:37.400 I think, again, when you're talking about those rare exceptions of an independent winning, I think of Nunziata, for example, in Toronto when he broke from the Liberals.

00:41:44.960 If they've established already as an elected representative in the area and their circumstances were, you know, where they were odiously blocked or in a fight with the party, the electors can stand up and put them in.

00:41:53.800 Gene could be one of those in that position.

00:41:55.300 I mean, he was a member of parliament for a time.

00:41:57.340 He was the MLA for a period of time.

00:42:00.420 He's involved in the community.

00:42:02.340 So I fully agree with what you're saying.

00:42:04.580 if it's somebody from out from nowhere, you're never going to win as an independent. But this

00:42:07.680 isn't somebody from nowhere. This is somebody well-recognized up there. And as you said,

00:42:10.820 with a very unpopular premier right now. Yeah. And if he does get elected as an independent,

00:42:16.000 I mean, then he's in the legislature. And then, I mean, that does put a ton more pressure on Kenny.

00:42:21.980 But honestly, I think Kenny's best case scenario here is actually NDP wins the seat. I mean,

00:42:26.960 if it is that much of a no-win situation that his best case scenario is probably the NDP

00:42:31.140 wins that by-election.

00:42:33.220 Gotta love democracy.

00:42:34.680 Gotta love Alberta politics. It's never dull.

00:42:38.100 Well,

00:42:39.420 speaking of never dull, if you want to

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00:43:22.140 Western Standard. Corey, Dave, thank you very much, and thank you all for joining us today.

00:43:28.840 God bless

00:43:30.060 and if you're out

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Western Standard - November 25, 2021

The Pipeline： Suzuki comments 'blow up,' UCP convention fallout, Smith drops the gauntlet

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