Western Standard - THE PIPELINE： Time to SMASH the Alberta teachers’ strike

00:00:00.000 Good day! Today is October 8th, 2025.

00:00:29.140 I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard, and you're watching The Pipeline.

00:00:33.660 I've got our usual crew of malcontents on today.

00:00:38.380 Former Western Standard opinion editor, Nigel Hannaford.

00:00:41.720 Good evening.

00:00:43.000 Western Standard senior Alberta columnist, Corey Morgan.

00:00:45.880 Always a pleasure.

00:00:47.180 And Western Standard British Columbia columnist, Elise Mills.

00:00:51.760 Thank you very much. It's a pleasure.

00:00:54.140 Yes.

00:00:54.460 Yeah. All right. Well, we got a week where we didn't have any trouble figuring out what to talk about today.

00:01:04.060 Hasn't made a lot of news other than on our pages, but Canadian comedian Ben Bankus, who's actually kind of made it semi-big time.

00:01:14.600 He's been gotten all over the states, but not. He's doing a Canadian tour coming through.

00:01:18.520 I had booked some tickets, I think eight tickets, for Western Standard Calgary staff to go and see him when he came and would perform at the Grey Eagle Casino.

00:01:29.820 And he got cancelled!

00:01:30.580 For a joke, he posted on Instagram and Twitter to X on National Shame Day, which Western Standard employees do not get off, unless they're caught surfing.

00:01:45.040 But, yeah. A comedy show cancelled for being offensive.

00:01:50.700 We're going to be talking about that.

00:01:51.660 Alberta Premier Daniel Smith making a very interesting power play.

00:02:00.480 Kind of Colin, Mark Carney's maybe bluff.

00:02:03.440 Probably bluff, but we're going to find out if it's a bluff.

00:02:06.900 So, Colin, a bluff is maybe a bit presumptive, but that's my guess.

00:02:10.340 Well, he's been trying to have it both ways on pipelines.

00:02:13.140 He's for him, he's against him.

00:02:14.440 Everyone can vote for Carney.

00:02:15.780 He's a Rorschach test of how up your elbows are.

00:02:22.920 And her plan is getting him off the fence.

00:02:26.600 And it's getting a lot of the right people very angry about this.

00:02:30.960 Tamara Leach and Barber have been sentenced.

00:02:35.740 I'm sure you've all seen the news.

00:02:36.780 And they have gotten very stiff sentences, stiffer than some pretty damn serious criminals, including rapists, thieves, robbers, people who commit very serious assaults.

00:02:52.140 Well, we know what's really important, what the government takes seriously in Canada. 0.95

00:02:56.180 You can give people fentanyl on the streets that you know will kill them and kill them, which I think should be classified as murder.

00:03:03.980 And you're going to get, in many cases, a lighter sentence than organizing a peaceful protest with bouncy castles to demand your freedom back.

00:03:13.220 But we're going to start something a bit closer to home here in Alberta.

00:03:17.040 Alberta, the teachers for the public schools are on strike.

00:03:23.360 Lucky me, I don't send my children to a government Alberta Teachers Association-run school.

00:03:30.680 I sent my kid to a charter school.

00:03:32.960 So my kid is still going to school.

00:03:35.520 That should be all you Alberta parents watching who don't yet send your kids to a charter school.

00:03:40.380 You should.

00:03:40.720 Charter schools, they're kind of like a private school, except there's no tuition.

00:03:45.360 They're like a not-for-profit school.

00:03:47.040 And it's fully funded.

00:03:48.040 I don't pay any tuition for my kids to go.

00:03:51.100 And there's all sorts of benefits, like my kids not having propaganda shoved down their throats every hour of the school day.

00:04:01.040 What's the waiting list to get into the school that your kid goes to?

00:04:04.160 I'm not sure how it is right now, but they keep on expanding spaces.

00:04:06.960 They open up a second campus because demand is so great.

00:04:09.760 It's a growing business.

00:04:11.160 It's a booming industry.

00:04:14.400 And it's just a fantastic program.

00:04:16.360 And our teachers don't seem to strike.

00:04:21.160 I think we're only, I guess the school's on its fourth year, I think.

00:04:25.660 We haven't had a strike yet.

00:04:26.820 And the teachers are very invested.

00:04:28.260 It's really great.

00:04:28.820 So if you're not yet sending your kid to a charter school, you should be checking them out wherever you are.

00:04:33.620 If you're in Calgary, look at Calgary Classical Academy.

00:04:36.020 There's other options.

00:04:37.560 I think they're even looking at studying at Edmonton Classical Academy because they're so successful.

00:04:41.500 But the teachers are on strike.

00:04:45.480 Now, I'm actually kind of angry at the UCP here for making such a generous offer to the Alberta Teachers Association.

00:04:55.480 12% raise over, is it three or four years?

00:04:57.720 Four years.

00:04:58.260 Yeah.

00:04:58.640 12% raise over four years.

00:05:00.900 That's more than most people are going to get.

00:05:02.840 And that's just increasing all the grids. 0.93

00:05:04.980 You might, you know, with how long you've been there, you might move into a higher grid.

00:05:08.880 So you might get more.

00:05:10.140 There's a good chance you're going to get more than 12% over four years.

00:05:12.700 But the whole grid moves up 12% over four years.

00:05:15.020 All sorts of other things.

00:05:16.300 They negotiated more teachers, more teaching assistants, giving them all this stuff.

00:05:21.720 And, of course, um...

00:05:24.580 And the union recommended the deal to the membership, didn't they?

00:05:27.320 Yeah.

00:05:27.680 You know, to be fair to the union bosses, they actually recommended the deal.

00:05:31.280 And the teachers voted overwhelmingly to reject it.

00:05:37.500 Normally, I'm not very sympathetic to the union bosses, but in this case, they recommended the deal.

00:05:41.960 I'm actually upset with the UCP for putting forward such a generous deal,

00:05:47.160 considering how little in the school year teachers have to work. 0.98

00:05:50.500 And teachers, you know, during the school year, you know, they work hard and they deal with a lot of crap. 0.78

00:05:55.280 I mean, there's kids like me that are difficult to deal with. 0.79

00:06:00.260 I understand it.

00:06:01.880 But they get more time off than anybody in virtually any job that's gainfully employed,

00:06:07.080 and they reject this deal.

00:06:09.620 So, uh, I've got an idea for ending the teacher strike.

00:06:14.860 Uh, I don't really have a very good analogy.

00:06:17.260 Corey told me I shouldn't use this analogy, but I'm gonna...

00:06:20.060 I don't think I said anything that you shouldn't use.

00:06:23.340 That's not my...

00:06:23.900 Oh, no, no.

00:06:24.940 Maybe it was someone else I was talking about today.

00:06:26.620 Someone else...

00:06:27.360 Okay, someone else in the office thought I said I shouldn't use this analogy because it's bad.

00:06:30.380 But I really don't know how else to demonstrate the point.

00:06:32.700 This is a hostage negotiation.

00:06:34.800 The teachers are holding our kids hostage.

00:06:37.080 Uh, we're holding their contract hostage.

00:06:40.460 And here's what I think we should do. 0.94

00:06:41.540 We gotta figuratively, purely figuratively, start shooting some hostages to let them know that we are serious.

00:06:47.900 Because every single day that the strike goes on, the Alberta government should convert a government ATA public school into a charter school.

00:06:58.900 So, okay, it's Monday.

00:07:00.660 If you won't have a deal by the end of today, that's one school.

00:07:04.180 Tuesday, we're doing another school.

00:07:06.040 You do that throughout the first week.

00:07:07.060 Every single day, we're shooting a figurative hostage.

00:07:10.180 We're turning a government ATA school into a charter school.

00:07:14.980 And if you get to the second week, fine, we're gonna do two a day.

00:07:17.940 And this is a threat I think the teachers would have to know that they're serious about. 0.99

00:07:22.260 You gotta know that you're crazy. 1.00

00:07:23.320 You're gonna shoot the hostages. 1.00

00:07:24.860 Again, terrible analogy.

00:07:26.220 But this is the only way I could really think of them, or get my point across here, that charter schools are better for kids.

00:07:34.380 They're better for everyone besides the power of the unions.

00:07:38.060 And the unions are not there to look out for the interests of the kids.

00:07:41.280 They are there, legally mandated, to look out for the interests of the teachers.

00:07:45.160 Fine.

00:07:45.640 But that's not what's important to me.

00:07:47.300 What's important to me is my kids getting a good quality education and being able to be good, productive, free citizens in the world when they come out of it.

00:07:54.280 So that's what I think we should do.

00:07:56.760 The Alberta government, I'm already angry at you for offering them such a generous deal. 1.00

00:08:02.040 These guys are just too stupid to realize it. 1.00

00:08:05.060 And they waited until kids were back in class. 1.00

00:08:08.460 They didn't struggle for the summer when they could have.

00:08:10.640 They waited until kids were back in class before doing this, holding our kids hostage.

00:08:14.300 But charter schools massively outperform the ATA government schools.

00:08:19.060 This is how you do it.

00:08:19.980 And frankly, it becomes then a good thing every day that the teachers drag their heels and refuse to sign on to a very generous deal.

00:08:27.740 We get more charter schools out of it in the end.

00:08:29.960 I think if you start doing this, the teachers are going to come to the table pretty damn soon.

00:08:35.240 But I hope not too soon because I want more charter schools for kids in Alberta.

00:08:38.160 You do.

00:08:40.900 I do too.

00:08:42.840 You know, we're already getting our wish because that whole area of education that is outside the public system has grown substantially in the last five years.

00:08:54.420 You know, it varies around the province, but I'm told that in Calvary, certainly in the kind of the western end of Calvary, there's something like 30 percent of kids are being educated outside the public system.

00:09:09.260 And it would be in schools such as you were referring to, the classical academy, but also Christian schools.

00:09:16.480 Some people just homeschool their children and find it works out better for them that way.

00:09:21.980 The thing that I am, I have a sort of a horrible theory about, but this is more than about the money.

00:09:30.040 The education industry, for that is what it is, and by that I'm talking about not only the civil servants who work in education in the ministry, but also the teachers themselves, the ATA.

00:09:45.680 There is a critical mass within that, and John Hilton, O'Brien calls it the blob, whatever you call it.

00:09:52.700 It's an industry, and it's not just the money.

00:09:56.840 They actually want control.

00:09:58.280 They don't like the idea that parents elect NLAs, NLAs find themselves an education minister, and they set the curriculum because these people have got ideas of their own.

00:10:10.500 Yeah, the ATA wants to be set that.

00:10:11.960 Yeah, and so this is one of the things that's driving this, and I hope the government toughs it out.

00:10:22.760 Well, it's sounding like it.

00:10:24.120 I mean, that's interesting, Chris Sims from the Taxpayers Federation also wrote a piece and was saying it, look, you know, she's saying, get winter boots, teachers, because it looks like Smith's settling in for the long haul with this one.

00:10:34.280 The attitude from the government so far is, okay, you know what, we're going to help parents with a few bucks so that they can get alternative care for their children during the strike.

00:10:41.380 They're saying, we're going to help you weather the storm, like we aren't rolling over for this demands right now.

00:10:46.720 So, that's a different take than governments who often capitulate pretty darn quick when it comes to something like this.

00:10:52.120 So, I think this one's just warming up.

00:10:54.000 Yeah.

00:10:54.480 At least, I know maybe it's a bit insider Alberta here for you coming from BC, but we had, Corey alluded to this, the government is taking the revenue that's essentially being saved by not paying these teachers while they're on strike.

00:11:07.760 And it's using it to, at least partially offset the cost of the parents who have to put them in childcare or do extra driving around.

00:11:16.720 They're giving it to kids.

00:11:19.580 Incredibly to me, you know, Nahid Nenshi, the NDP leader, incredibly came out against that.

00:11:27.680 Like, I mean, he was supposed to be the moderate.

00:11:33.000 He's not supposed to be from the old government union, old school NDP.

00:11:38.080 You know, he's purple.

00:11:38.860 He's not red.

00:11:39.360 He's not blue.

00:11:40.160 Not orange.

00:11:42.620 But I'm trying to figure out his politics on this move where, you know, he just says, I don't know, is he proposing to continue to pay them?

00:11:51.580 Are we just going to pay the teachers while they strike?

00:11:54.520 I mean, they'll then strike for all time.

00:11:56.340 I'm not really sure where he's coming at this from.

00:12:00.100 I've been trying to figure out where the ATA is coming from.

00:12:04.100 I know I talked to some kids who live in the area near me and they've been given the propaganda.

00:12:10.140 I remember I first became politically active in the fifth grade as a kid growing up in small town Ontario.

00:12:15.580 There was a teacher strike when Mike Harris was the premier.

00:12:18.580 And it politically activated me because the teachers were pushing a bunch of propaganda on us.

00:12:23.520 And it was the first time I had authority figures that I thought were not being truthful with me. 0.99

00:12:30.160 I was like, this, this, this seems like bullshit. 0.98

00:12:33.740 And they were telling us to, you know, come out and give them hot chocolate and sandwiches on the picket lines. 0.99

00:12:39.160 I actually, I had little glass vial stink bombs and I'd walk in and pretend to tie my shoes and I'd drop stink bombs on the picket line.

00:12:46.620 Not because I really care about politics, but because I didn't like my teacher for lying to me.

00:12:50.460 But that was my first act of terrorism.

00:12:54.060 So, um, anyway, I just, I, I, the politics of this are bizarre.

00:12:59.360 I think it's, it's somewhat, uh, what Corey's saying is the ATA is used to having a lot more control.

00:13:04.880 They were given a huge amount of control, uh, over things under Alison Redford.

00:13:08.920 And that persisted on it, doubled down a bit more, uh, with Rachel Notley.

00:13:13.060 Uh, but it really began with, uh, yeah, in earnest with, with, uh, with Alison Redford as premier, who owed her job as premier into PC leadership to the Teachers Association here.

00:13:22.960 Um, but also I just think of this, the ATA is just kind of spoiling for a political fight.

00:13:27.780 I think they just want to fight the UCP and they, they've kind of boxed themselves in now where, you know, the, the, the UCP can't give them anymore.

00:13:36.620 The government's running a deficit.

00:13:37.860 It has not controlled its spending.

00:13:39.020 That's on the UCP, but part of controlling its spending is dealing with maniacs like the ATA.

00:13:43.460 Uh, I, I'm not really sure what their game is here.

00:13:45.900 They seem to have boxed themselves in.

00:13:48.300 Well, let's just start with, you've mentioned two politicians manufactured and, uh, by Stephen Carter.

00:13:54.860 So then she is a, is the made up politician and Redford, uh, as we know, uh, was involved with Stephen Carter.

00:14:02.220 So well done.

00:14:03.220 Um, that's the contribution to Alberta by Mr. Carter.

00:14:06.120 Um, you're talking to a, he's very, he picks up really well.

00:14:13.040 Yeah.

00:14:13.760 I, yeah, we, we, one day we'll, we'll have to get into the mistakes of political consultants and how it's determined Alberta state.

00:14:22.820 Um, and the millions they make along the way of, on the pathway of our tears.

00:14:27.540 Um, you're talking to somebody that my earliest memory of school, uh, was my teacher striking in grade one.

00:14:36.720 And my parents and other parents getting involved and saying, listen, we're going to teach these classes.

00:14:42.540 So back in the eighties, that's something parents could do in garbage Columbia, but obviously things have changed out here, uh, in BC.

00:14:50.580 We're watching you with smart, with a smirk, because as you know, we've had rolling teacher strikes.

00:14:57.140 There were some terrible years there.

00:14:59.000 Um, and I, and it was a collection of about six years where my child was going through elementary school.

00:15:03.940 Um, and she didn't have a year that wasn't interrupted at least once.

00:15:08.780 Um, I really regret not sending her to a charter or private school.

00:15:13.100 Um, and this is, you know, I, I felt guilty about pulling her out away from her friends.

00:15:18.580 Um, I would suggest every parent just goes through the fire, just move them out to a private or charter school.

00:15:26.120 This is, as we learned in BC, because what you've done in providing some sort of, I think, stipend, I guess, to parents, um, uh, or voucher, um, to help them a long way.

00:15:37.900 It's something we have done in BC, everything that is, uh, on the stage in, in Alberta, with this art, with this fight, with the ATA is really reflective of every choice and decision that my former colleagues and my former bosses made in British Columbia.

00:15:54.680 We tried every trick in the book.

00:15:56.880 Um, we have held firm.

00:15:58.620 We had a very long strike.

00:16:00.800 Um, and when we realized that this was no longer about money, but was about our effort to take control back.

00:16:07.760 of the teacher's college, things started to change.

00:16:11.760 Um, and my suggestion as sort of looking at this, and I am surprised that your teachers did not vote with the recommendations with the offer that was recommended, uh, by the union, uh, bosses.

00:16:23.660 Uh, that's something I haven't seen in British Columbia before, but I think this is revenge tactics, revenge politics.

00:16:30.560 It's over an ideology.

00:16:32.120 Um, and, um, Nigel, you wrote a great piece about this today and referred back to a, um, interview, uh, that you had, I think, roughly a year ago now, um, where you spoke to, uh, a young woman who was talking about charter schools.

00:16:48.120 And this would be kind of floated.

00:16:50.980 Yes.

00:16:51.580 Thank you.

00:16:52.220 I remembered her last name and unfortunately I couldn't remember her first name.

00:16:55.480 Um, but I found that to be intriguing because that's what we found out.

00:17:00.480 Um, and you know, I came from a coalition party, blue liberals, red Tories, fiscal conservatives, and, um, my ministers of education were predominantly liberals.

00:17:12.580 And they turned out to be the hardest on these unions, but I will say it is about revenge politics.

00:17:19.120 It is not about the money that you're offering.

00:17:21.940 It's about also capping class sizes.

00:17:24.920 The problem that Daniel Smith's going to have is most parents in Alberta do not want to be sending their kids to a classroom that's heaving at 37, 38, or 40 students per class.

00:17:36.200 Nobody does, and not every parent, um, especially as we're looking at the economy today, can afford, even Alberta, even in prosperous Alberta, can afford to look at a charter or private school.

00:17:48.580 Actually, charter schools in Alberta have no tuition.

00:17:52.660 There's no tuition in charter schools in Alberta.

00:17:54.640 The only question is, do we have enough charter schools?

00:17:56.700 Which is why I think we should start converting public schools into charter schools.

00:18:01.280 All we need is really the buildings for it.

00:18:03.560 There's the demand for it.

00:18:04.760 Everyone wants to send their kids to there, and there's no tuition.

00:18:08.380 You're missing 1,200 spots in charter schools right now, and you might as well just double that by the time, because by summer, that's probably going to double as well.

00:18:16.380 So you're right to look at that, and I think that's a fantastic thing.

00:18:18.980 I wish that was something that was offered in British Columbia.

00:18:21.580 But I would say that I think if you can look at the cap, I think easing the cap without giving them control is some pretty, it would be some amazing political judo.

00:18:33.600 But what they're looking for is control, control over what they're teaching, what they're talking about.

00:18:39.340 They refuse, all teachers in this country and their unions and or federations refuse to get back to traditional teachings.

00:18:48.120 Okay.

00:18:48.640 Like, what about financial literacy, of course?

00:18:51.720 Just a real quick point, Elise.

00:18:54.820 When we talk about the teachers wanting control, let's distinguish between the teachers' organizations and some of the great teachers that we all know personally who really aren't into this.

00:19:06.440 They're not the ones who want to put the dirty books in the school library.

00:19:10.240 That comes from up the scale.

00:19:13.700 So those are the people that we're fighting with.

00:19:16.640 So Tamara Leach and Barber, we already knew some time ago they were found guilty in the biggest mischief trial in the history of the world.

00:19:27.280 They were sentenced just the other day.

00:19:29.240 Well, Derek, I think our editorial had it about right.

00:19:35.500 Yeah.

00:19:35.960 You know, Leach and Barber got hammered worse than people who do truly horrible things.

00:19:41.660 And why?

00:19:42.220 Because they challenged the legitimacy of what the liberal government was doing with COVID regulations in 2022.

00:19:49.960 Governments just hate that.

00:19:51.060 So this was a political prosecution and the government wanted to deter other people.

00:19:57.340 I mean, Tamara Leach and Chris Barber were handed conditional sentences for leading one of the most peaceful, heartfelt protests that this country has ever seen.

00:20:07.920 Their only crime was refusing to stay silent when government power ran roughshod over ordinary Canadians.

00:20:16.060 I mean, we quoted Alan Borowoy, the late Alan Borowoy, great defender of civil liberty.

00:20:26.620 And he was once asked, he actually stated this.

00:20:31.180 He said, what else do people have than peaceful protests when government power runs roughshod over them and they don't listen?

00:20:41.440 And that's the question that's at the very heart of this moment.

00:20:44.740 Tamara and Chris stood for freedom, our freedom.

00:20:49.000 And for that, they were vilified.

00:20:50.860 They had the bank accounts frozen.

00:20:52.480 They had their trucks confiscated.

00:20:54.660 Years of their lives stolen by endless, you know, three-week protests and three years in the legal process.

00:21:00.680 Yet they never called for violence.

00:21:02.400 Never broke faith with Canada's democratic ideals.

00:21:06.400 And, you know, peaceful dissent is not a crime.

00:21:09.840 It's the lifeblood of a free nation.

00:21:12.020 Well, I beg to differ.

00:21:13.160 It is a crime here.

00:21:14.660 Well, it is because of crime.

00:21:16.240 No question.

00:21:17.760 You know, did they break some laws?

00:21:19.420 Well, yeah.

00:21:20.320 You're not allowed to just set up in a street for a prolonged period of time.

00:21:24.120 But people have been doing this for quite some time in Canada without ever getting charged.

00:21:29.500 Let's remember the so-called Idle No More, very weirdly titled, but Idle No More, when Harper was in power.

00:21:37.140 A conservative government in power.

00:21:38.320 And these guys were blocking rail lines, highways.

00:21:41.580 They set up encampments.

00:21:43.420 And they were, they had a much, they did not have bouncy castles.

00:21:46.340 They had the distinct vibe of violence in the air that if you came to break them up, they would violently resist.

00:21:55.100 Here, there was no violent resistance even when they sent mounted troops in to break these guys up.

00:22:00.180 Riding over Granny, oh, we remember that video.

00:22:03.440 So, did they break the law and commit mischief?

00:22:06.560 Yeah.

00:22:07.240 I think they did.

00:22:08.500 But they did much less than many, many other protests that have taken place over the last 10 to 15 years where there were no prosecutions at all.

00:22:18.900 And then they've now been sentenced.

00:22:21.260 And they've, you know, we note this in our editorial.

00:22:23.880 We cite quite a few examples, Corey, where, or sorry, I'll go to Elise.

00:22:30.380 They cite quite a few examples, Elise, where rapists, people who have attempted murder, people who have committed major acts of physical violence, have received significantly less severe sentences than Leach and Barber.

00:22:51.860 And it's such a sacred cow in Canada, you're not allowed to question the objectivity and fairness of the justice system.

00:22:59.600 If you question it, you're questioning the constitutional foundation of Canada.

00:23:03.760 You're somehow beyond the pale to question it.

00:23:06.800 I think at this point, we're not, we don't even have to question it. 1.00

00:23:10.020 We know it's bullshit. 1.00

00:23:12.660 Bingo. 1.00

00:23:13.180 So a good example would be the story, I think, that we once, we discussed, while it was still warm and sunny outside, was the gentleman that went before court.

00:23:23.220 He had paid to, for child rape.

00:23:26.140 He was a permanent resident in the process of his application to be a full-fledged Canadian citizen. 0.97

00:23:34.120 And there were several, he was arrested for the paid rape or the attempt to rape school-age girls. 0.88

00:23:40.820 And I mean, elementary school-age girls.

00:23:43.620 And the judge intervened and said, I don't want to give you a long sentence.

00:23:47.880 I want to be careful because I think it's going to hurt your citizenship. 1.00

00:23:50.940 I'm sure you all remember this.

00:23:52.600 It wasn't that long ago.

00:23:54.140 He ended up with a lesser sentence and less conditions than both Tamara and Chris.

00:24:00.040 Another good example would be over the weekend where a, where Samajun, a terrorist entity,

00:24:07.840 a designated terrorist entity, held a massive event outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

00:24:15.480 The Vancouver police, the RCMP, and the city of Vancouver didn't even stand by.

00:24:20.640 They didn't even show up.

00:24:22.300 They were allowed to propagate hate, anti-Semitic slogans, and encourage violence.

00:24:29.360 This country is broken.

00:24:31.940 It's not just the repeat bail offenders.

00:24:34.200 My issue with all of this is that the Ottawa police, who are a capital city, are not used

00:24:43.640 to being challenged, are not used to large events.

00:24:46.960 It's shocking to me as somebody from Vancouver, and I think it would be shocking to somebody

00:24:51.580 from Toronto as well, where we're in constant protest mode.

00:24:55.360 The city is made up of decision makers in high-profile places.

00:25:00.920 I also think some of this, well, not some of it, but a lot of it had to do with the crawlback

00:25:07.420 from the illegal use of the emergency fact.

00:25:10.880 I believe it was illegal.

00:25:12.260 I do not believe there was a justification for that.

00:25:14.980 And when you look at that massive Hamas rally that was on Capitol, or it was on Parliament Hill, 0.63

00:25:22.120 sorry, not Capitol Hill, Parliament Hill, last year, last fall, where ISIS flags were being

00:25:28.480 flown, and streets were being shut down, and threats of violence were going back and forth,

00:25:33.040 and the cops were dragging people out, nobody was arrested, and nobody was charged, and nobody's

00:25:40.320 gone through the criminal courts in Ottawa based upon that event.

00:25:43.840 So we have two tiers, or maybe even three tiers of justice in this country.

00:25:48.920 The third tier would be for First Nations people, and we know what the second and first 0.89

00:25:53.440 tier is in Canada.

00:25:54.420 Yeah.

00:25:54.900 Yeah.

00:25:56.540 Corey, I'm going to skip you on this one, because we're short on time.

00:26:00.160 Sorry, Corey.

00:26:01.500 Yeah, it's okay.

00:26:02.540 Oh, Elise is going to get double here. 1.00

00:26:05.160 She's going to come to you.

00:26:06.780 Because we're going to talk pipelines here.

00:26:09.560 I'm so lucky.

00:26:10.900 Whenever there's a problem, it's always you two, BC and Quebec.

00:26:15.200 It's always you two.

00:26:16.840 Whenever there's an issue, we know it's you two.

00:26:19.200 Um, so, uh, we have the National Priorities Office put, uh, created by Kearney.

00:26:27.880 This is supposed to cut through the red tape, get big things moving, get Canada building

00:26:32.360 again.

00:26:33.060 Very noble, good idea.

00:26:35.060 At least in theory, you know, is it just another layer of bureaucracy?

00:26:37.880 Maybe.

00:26:38.200 Or maybe it does help cut through it.

00:26:40.200 But, okay, this is what we got, so let's try it.

00:26:42.700 Um, and, uh, no surprise when the initial list, uh, uh, for the National Priorities came

00:26:48.400 out, it did not include any pipelines, because no one in their right mind right now wants

00:26:52.580 to build a pipeline, um, when you have the No More Pipelines Act, the Impact Assessment

00:26:58.660 Act, uh, and you certainly don't want to build it to BC's North Coast, because there's a Tanger

00:27:04.200 Band.

00:27:04.560 So you can, you've got a pipeline there, well, it's not allowed to go anywhere.

00:27:08.220 You, you just put it in barrels and buried underground, essentially.

00:27:11.820 So, um, you know, Kearney was able to say, ah, I can't say yes or no to a pipeline because

00:27:17.060 there's, there's no, there's no proponent.

00:27:20.340 So the Alberta government says, all right, I want to see your cards.

00:27:24.400 And they put some money on the table.

00:27:25.800 The Alberta government is going forward as the proponent to get this ball rolling, to

00:27:30.980 see if it gets approved through the National Priorities Office here.

00:27:34.300 And if so, then it's going to seek, uh, someone in the private sector to pick it up.

00:27:39.800 I, I think it's, uh, it was a good way, I guess, uh, at least, in my view, to, to force

00:27:47.380 Kearney to put his cards on the table, show us his cards.

00:27:51.200 I'm sure that Daniel Smith, and kudos to Daniel Smith, because she has managed to do something

00:27:55.480 that very few politicians in the last almost three decades have been able to do, which

00:27:59.500 is called the federal government's bluff.

00:28:01.200 But I'm very confused.

00:28:03.160 So we have this office, which by the way, is the second incarnation of this office.

00:28:07.180 Uh, people forget, but there was, uh, Mr. Harper, um, had a infrastructure office.

00:28:13.340 Um, and that didn't work either because things got voted down.

00:28:18.620 The other thing is, so you're, you, you have that infrastructure office or that national products

00:28:23.240 office, but then you also have bill C5, which is sort of like the fast track to approve a lot

00:28:28.640 of different things.

00:28:29.460 Um, and then, but you're holding on to specific legislation that impedes not just oil tankers,

00:28:37.580 uh, off the coast, uh, off of the West Coast, but actually impedes a lot of other economic

00:28:43.000 activity, uh, that we desperately need.

00:28:46.480 Um, British Columbia is a great example of, of a jurisdiction that might as well just be

00:28:53.680 allergic to prosperity.

00:28:55.140 It has done everything in its power to put a closed for business sign on its doors.

00:29:01.640 Um, we don't have really any energy companies left.

00:29:05.620 And, um, those guys left a long time ago.

00:29:09.160 Uh, we're also facing down one of the nastiest, uh, recessions, uh, about to hit our shores.

00:29:15.820 Uh, so I'm not sure what's going on in David Eadie's mind, uh, but kudos to Ms. Smith for,

00:29:22.240 for pushing, um, to recalling Carney's bluff.

00:29:25.680 Um, but Carney, I, I, I'm very unclear as to what Carney's doing.

00:29:31.180 Uh, I'm completely confused because he's also now put Keystone XL back on the table with

00:29:36.500 Trump as a way to toss those tariffs off the table.

00:29:39.360 So, you know, uh, I know we're short on time.

00:29:42.140 I could go on, but you know, apologies from British Columbia. 0.97

00:29:45.380 Not all of us are as ridiculous as David Eadie. 0.87

00:29:48.040 And by the way, can we just note that his voice was cracking yesterday? 0.99

00:29:51.060 He looked, he was about to start crying because Daniel Smith called him un-Canadian and Moe

00:29:56.560 and Scott Moe piled on.

00:29:58.120 I mean, how embarrassing for me.

00:30:00.520 Uh, so, okay, Corey, so we have an official apology from British Columbia now.

00:30:04.580 Um, uh, uh, that apology is not accepted, not accepted.

00:30:13.400 Um, uh, so Corey, uh, but then we saw, uh, yesterday Carney meets with, uh, Trump at the

00:30:21.380 White House.

00:30:22.760 Wasn't a lot of elbows up.

00:30:23.940 It was actually very chummy.

00:30:25.080 It was actually probably the way if you're being smart with a guy like Trump, you know,

00:30:29.520 oh, you're, you're just fantastic.

00:30:31.620 You're transformative.

00:30:32.520 He used the word transformative a lot.

00:30:34.640 Uh, and Trump was very nice back.

00:30:36.580 You know, if you're willing to blow some smoke up Trump, it seems to go a long way.

00:30:40.440 He likes that.

00:30:41.540 And, uh, it was actually pretty cheery.

00:30:44.340 Uh, at least the public part of the media was very cheery and nice.

00:30:46.500 We don't know about high and closed doors, but it seemed to go well.

00:30:49.600 Um, didn't come back with a trade deal, but, uh, the CBC reported at least that, uh, Carney

00:30:55.620 put Keystone on the table.

00:30:57.280 So, that might be, okay, so Smith has, uh, you know, she, she's called, I'm gonna, I'm

00:31:07.000 gonna beleaguer this analogy, but she's, she's called. 0.81

00:31:10.040 Carney has to put, show his cards now on a pipeline, but maybe this is his way of not

00:31:17.580 completely melting down the whole thing, that he'll say no for British Columbia, because

00:31:22.780 there's voters he needs in British Columbia, but he's not gonna lose terribly many votes,

00:31:29.180 probably, if he allows Keystone to go, because where is it passing through?

00:31:32.160 Eastern and Southern Alberta, which is about the least liberal places on the surface of

00:31:37.740 the earth.

00:31:38.900 Um, and then, you know, so he's, all he has to do is sign off on the international side.

00:31:43.800 So Alberta gets a pipeline, um, but it's gonna go south instead of west.

00:31:49.800 Although it's argued, I think, pretty strongly that the west pipeline is more important,

00:31:53.640 because that takes us to international markets, because we're, by being so captive to the American

00:31:57.200 market, we're continuing to sell at such a discount.

00:31:59.720 So that's why we're actually probably better off getting into Asian markets on the west 0.99

00:32:02.780 coast.

00:32:03.800 Um, do you think that's it that, you know, he, he's maybe setting it up for Keystone as

00:32:11.180 a way to soften the blow for saying no to a west coast pipeline?

00:32:14.040 Well, he sure shows himself as weak then.

00:32:16.060 I mean, everybody came to that conclusion.

00:32:17.940 Canada, for the first time in recent history, where the whole country polled, was in support

00:32:22.400 of a pipeline to the coast for the sole reason of realizing we're hyper dependent on the

00:32:26.720 United States for this industry and it has us over a barrel when we get a trade dispute.

00:32:31.040 So it means currently he's completely given up on the, the only way to ease that is to

00:32:35.360 broaden your customer market.

00:32:36.840 The only way to do that is to get a pipe to the coast.

00:32:39.040 So he's given up on that.

00:32:40.680 And then when we start, start that discussion about lacking a proponent, nobody's raising

00:32:44.900 their hand to have Lucy pull the football away again, heading down Keystone. 0.94

00:32:49.160 TC Energy said to hell with you. 0.66

00:32:50.600 I mean, they took the Canada out of it. 0.54

00:32:52.660 They're basically, uh, well, to be fair, their, their final pullout was when Biden killed it

00:32:57.660 on the first day of Keyboard.

00:32:58.920 But they're still tired of losing, you know, there's no companies eager to lay it on the

00:33:03.760 line anymore.

00:33:04.880 So that would have to be some talks.

00:33:06.560 I mean, yeah, Biden killed it.

00:33:08.160 Trump would have to make it quite clear.

00:33:09.600 And then there's the whole battles of everything through Nebraska and everything else that went,

00:33:12.920 has that expired?

00:33:14.280 Are they starting again with it?

00:33:16.500 They're pipeline shy. 0.96

00:33:17.440 So, uh, yeah, Kearney might be going that route, but boy, what a pathetically weak route 0.96

00:33:21.600 to go then.

00:33:22.700 You know, the thing that I haven't heard is whether he wants Keystone to carry decarbonized

00:33:28.240 oil.

00:33:29.260 You know, this idea that you bury an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide to the oil that you're,

00:33:34.960 uh, that you're carrying through the pipeline.

00:33:36.880 And that's the trouble with Kearney.

00:33:38.520 You never really know what he's put on the table and what he hasn't.

00:33:42.240 And Keystone, you know, gets my vote, but what, what exactly is the deal going to look

00:33:48.020 like?

00:33:48.640 Is there something you can make money?

00:33:50.000 I don't think, I, I, I know lots of Republicans and I know lots of people, you know, a few

00:33:54.820 feet from Trump's office.

00:33:57.120 And I spoke to them this morning because my, I mean, my mouth was agape.

00:34:01.240 Obviously I felt it was, um, you know, a shell game that was going on.

00:34:05.480 It was just, it was to test to see if he could wiggle out, uh, some of those tariffs and my

00:34:10.640 call it, former colleagues down there felt the same way.

00:34:13.340 Um, you know, my understanding of how this really went was Mr. Carney acquiesced often

00:34:18.420 as we've seen before.

00:34:20.420 Uh, but I, there is something that's going to get done, but the auto sector is a no go

00:34:26.940 for Trump so far.

00:34:28.320 So Carney's got to deal with that.

00:34:30.100 And he has this deadline in November coming up with, you know, Danielle Smith, uh, where

00:34:35.160 we will really understand what that, how big that bluff is.

00:34:39.320 Um, but he stone is, uh, Corey points out the expired licenses through Nebraska, uh, lack

00:34:46.960 of social license.

00:34:47.820 But I do think some of that sentiment has changed since Trump has come back into office.

00:34:52.540 And I think Trump thinks he might be able to win it.

00:34:55.200 Problem is he's, he is, and I will say the best guy to talk to the energy.

00:35:00.100 Uh, he's the best guy to say, come on, I need you guys to build something.

00:35:04.720 I need you guys to build a keystone, but that's not going to be, uh, enough for, for

00:35:10.380 Daniel Smith.

00:35:11.140 And it is so far down the track, no pun intended.

00:35:14.300 Uh, but we have a, we already have a beautiful project called Northern gateway.

00:35:19.540 We just need to take it to Prince Rupert versus Kitimat.

00:35:22.780 So when David Eby says, oh, this is just some sort of pie in the sky.

00:35:26.260 Um, it's a government project and Hey, where's British Columbia's money?

00:35:30.640 Cause that guy's is part of Evie's ranch, his hysterical tantrum yesterday.

00:35:36.100 He's like, I want some money.

00:35:37.540 If they're going to get this, he literally says, if they get this, I want a project too.

00:35:42.540 Yeah.

00:35:43.180 I, and so, yeah, it's, I, it's all become so nonsensical and quite frankly, embarrassing.

00:35:48.720 So yeah.

00:35:50.280 Okay.

00:35:51.280 Uh, speaking of nonsensical, we're going to segue to our last segment here and we've got

00:35:55.460 to keep a tiny bit of time for parting shots.

00:35:58.000 Uh, so, uh, I think he's from Toronto or Toronto area originally.

00:36:03.760 Ben Bankus, uh, you know, you, you scroll through Instagram or Twitter.

00:36:08.720 You, there's a good chance you've seen him.

00:36:10.520 Uh, he does, uh, some racy comedy.

00:36:14.000 He, uh, he does, uh, some would say racist.

00:36:16.880 Others would say racist and hilarious, uh, impressions of Olivia Chow. 0.65

00:36:21.660 Um, you know, he, he, he's controversial.

00:36:24.740 He, he, he is, you know, not afraid of what people call him.

00:36:29.500 Uh, he's, he's very funny.

00:36:31.380 Uh, some would say inappropriate.

00:36:34.060 That's fine.

00:36:35.040 But guess what?

00:36:35.900 It's, that's free to, that's free speech and it's comedy and you can't.

00:36:40.520 Uh, one without the other.

00:36:42.460 Um, so, uh, I decided, you know, this guy's pretty, uh, outside the ordinary lineup of,

00:36:51.420 uh, comedians.

00:36:52.140 So I decided to buy, uh, eight tickets for the Western Standards Calgary, uh, at least

00:36:56.640 some of the Western Standards Calgary staff to go down and see him as the Gray Eagle Casino.

00:37:00.800 Gray Eagle Casino's got a good, great venue.

00:37:02.780 I've gone to concerts there and shows.

00:37:04.520 Uh, there's even been political conventions there.

00:37:06.740 It's a great place, but it is on a reserve.

00:37:10.520 Uh, and Ben Bankus, um, uh, Curry made, uh, uh, he, I, he posted, I, I don't think it

00:37:19.040 was shot that day, but he posted a video on, uh, I guess it's called Truth and Reconciliation

00:37:23.380 Day, uh, National Surfing Day.

00:37:25.140 Uh, uh, uh, making a joke that involved residential schools and whatnot.

00:37:31.400 Uh, that, you know, I watched it, I was like, ooh, spicy.

00:37:35.160 But I, you know, certainly didn't think, uh, he was not advocating hurting anyone, killing

00:37:40.280 anyone, harming anyone.

00:37:41.400 Uh, but it was definitely spicy.

00:37:43.400 And then, uh, I guess, uh, he says there were two complaints to Gray Eagle.

00:37:48.000 Gray Eagle pulled it and he's now rebooked.

00:37:50.560 Well, yeah.

00:37:51.360 So I'm kind of mixed on this.

00:37:52.880 Comedy is the front line of free speech.

00:37:54.360 So I, I'm a big George Carlin fan.

00:37:56.820 He made it pretty clear.

00:37:57.940 You can joke about anything.

00:37:59.600 And then he's that routine.

00:38:01.100 He goes into a joke about rape.

00:38:02.540 Some people might be a vested, uh, offended in the works, but that's his point making.

00:38:06.800 It's a joke.

00:38:08.100 You don't like it.

00:38:08.940 Don't come to my show.

00:38:10.560 And he fought, he got charged.

00:38:12.260 You know, this was a big battle and, and Bankus is sort of trying to do the same thing.

00:38:16.420 And I think he was being purposely provocative though.

00:38:18.320 Oh yeah.

00:38:18.820 Uh, when you put out that particular joke on there on Truth and Reconciliation Day, knowing

00:38:23.260 you're going to do a show at a casino that's on reserve land.

00:38:27.980 Uh, one of the complaints might've come from him for all I know.

00:38:30.100 Uh, I mean, you know, publicity stunts aren't new from Paul, uh, from, uh, uh, comedians

00:38:36.080 as well.

00:38:37.300 It is a private place.

00:38:38.660 They do have the right to say no to whoever's going to perform when they're not.

00:38:42.120 It'll be interesting to see though, cause he stirred things up.

00:38:44.420 He's got in the scroll.

00:38:45.660 It's when we start to see human rights charges, things like that, where they say, you can't

00:38:50.880 say that joke, no matter what venue you're in.

00:38:53.060 And I got a feeling he's looking to try those waters and he'll probably find them pretty

00:38:56.900 soon with the nature of some of his jokes.

00:38:58.780 Yeah.

00:38:59.140 Uh, Nigel, um, I, I'd agree.

00:39:02.520 It's a private venue.

00:39:03.320 They have a right to not have him, but it's not a good, like I, I generally like the suit

00:39:09.020 Tina, uh, like they're relatively well run. 0.80

00:39:11.900 Uh, you know, the, their band members tend to be better off than a lot of other band members

00:39:18.200 in Canada.

00:39:18.940 Uh, you know, they're, you don't get everything right, but they relative to some others,

00:39:23.140 they're getting some things right.

00:39:24.280 Uh, but this just, I think it shows a thin skin, especially right now, you know, they've 0.98

00:39:28.780 already banned media from going around there kind of conveniently after the chief was charged

00:39:33.580 with rape, uh, not yet convicted, not tested in court, but he's been charged with rape.

00:39:38.120 But then some other thing happened and then they all of a sudden ban the media from being

00:39:41.900 there.

00:39:42.040 This is a reserve you said was reasonably well run.

00:39:44.200 Uh, yeah, I, I, I said relatively relatively, uh, it's, it's less medieval than some others.

00:39:51.580 Um, uh, but yeah, I, I, you know, I've generally had a lot of respect, you know, for where they

00:39:56.600 do things.

00:39:56.980 Hey Jeff, anyway, it looks thin skinned. 1.00

00:39:59.420 Um, and I think all it did is raise his profile.

00:40:03.220 Well, you mean that's so, so it did, but, you know, I think I'm with Corey on this one.

00:40:07.720 There's no obligation.

00:40:08.900 If you think that somebody is going to insult you, that you have to run them your, uh, your

00:40:12.820 church hall to do it.

00:40:13.720 And so he went to yuck yucks and there they go.

00:40:16.400 You know, um, he's sold out several nights in a row now.

00:40:19.780 Yeah, no, I mean, uh, if this was just a way to publicize his show, then it certainly

00:40:26.140 worked very well.

00:40:27.020 Well, he already had a show at a big venue, he was gonna be able to do one show and one

00:40:30.800 big show on one day.

00:40:31.820 Now he has to do a couple of small.

00:40:33.500 Now see where, where I, where I start to get anxious is when publicly owned places start

00:40:39.700 to ban people because it was like, you've had short foot going through the Canada in

00:40:44.360 the summer, anytime he.

00:40:45.520 Great Eagle is semi publicly owned.

00:40:47.780 It's owned by a reserve, which is a, a quasi order of government.

00:40:51.680 So, but, you know, but it's, it's a great area.

00:40:55.640 I can make the distinction for them to their benefit.

00:40:58.160 But, uh, you know, when you get parks, Canada getting into the act and say, well, you can't

00:41:02.120 be on your show here, then, uh, I mean, maybe that's what he should have done.

00:41:06.020 Look, the parks, Canada, uh, spot in.

00:41:08.240 Oh, that'd be great.

00:41:09.760 Wouldn't that have been a story?

00:41:10.760 Send him a note.

00:41:11.760 Yeah.

00:41:12.760 It's not too late.

00:41:13.760 When is the show?

00:41:14.760 Uh, I think it's in November or is it October?

00:41:18.760 Oh, it's pretty soon.

00:41:19.760 It's, it's, it's coming up.

00:41:20.760 Send him a note.

00:41:21.760 Tell him the book parks, Canada.

00:41:22.760 Anyway, that's it.

00:41:23.760 Well, anyway, and he's got a lot of tour dates.

00:41:25.760 Uh, we're going to go to parting shots now, but he's got it for everyone watching.

00:41:29.600 Uh, look, look up his clips.

00:41:31.720 Uh, you will probably be offended.

00:41:34.080 Uh, but that's okay.

00:41:36.760 Uh, you might, but if, if you laugh while you're being offended, that's a good time.

00:41:40.580 Uh, that, that's, that's a great time.

00:41:42.660 Uh, all of them.

00:41:44.160 We call that Dave Chappelle.

00:41:45.200 We call that Dave Chappelle.

00:41:46.780 Uh, yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:41:49.220 Uh, all my, my favorite people are both funny and offensive at the same time.

00:41:54.220 They, they, they go really, really well together.

00:41:56.260 Uh, look them up.

00:41:57.300 Uh, if you like it, you should look them up.

00:41:59.100 He's got a lot of, he's got a bunch of tour dates.

00:42:00.940 He's got obviously Calgary.

00:42:01.960 He's probably got Edmonton, uh, a number of others.

00:42:05.140 Uh, you'd be surprised if he didn't have a Saskatchewan and BC stuff as well.

00:42:08.980 Uh, yeah, you should check it out.

00:42:11.140 It's, it's, it's a lot spicier than anything you're going to see on CBC. 1.00

00:42:15.180 Okay.

00:42:16.160 Um, we'll go our parting shots.

00:42:18.400 We'll start with you, Elise.

00:42:19.620 So my parting shot is to bring your EB and the embarrassment, uh, the embarrassing presser

00:42:27.900 that he held yesterday.

00:42:29.020 I would like to remind Mr.

00:42:32.020 EB that he's part of Confederation and part of that agreement is our mutual contribution

00:42:38.020 to the success of Canada.

00:42:40.080 I would prefer him to stop crying at these press conferences, uh, floundering through

00:42:47.140 them, stop spreading misinformation, uh, stop intention of twisting what the concept, what

00:42:52.540 Confederation is and what the individual rights of each province is.

00:42:56.860 I would like him to sit down with both Premier Mo and Premier Scott and have an adult conversation.

00:43:03.900 I would like him to recognize that his political future is, the end is very near and it will

00:43:09.700 have nothing to do with the pipelines.

00:43:12.140 It will have everything to do with the lost, his, his lost offices, uh, not only within

00:43:18.200 his caucus per se, but within his party.

00:43:20.980 But Canada, Canadians have woken up. 0.94

00:43:23.160 There is a political revolution, uh, happening in this country where they have realized the,

00:43:28.880 that this type of incompetence, uh, ideology, ideology over confidence has cost us billions

00:43:35.700 and billions in investment and therefore good paying jobs that have a future.

00:43:41.260 And I would remind Mr.

00:43:42.300 EB and anyone of his ilk that your days are numbered.

00:43:45.940 All right.

00:43:46.860 Uh, Corey, I'll go quickly.

00:43:48.620 Uh, Francis Widdowson was assaulted in Winnipeg by a violent protest last week, not a nonviolent

00:43:53.760 one.

00:43:53.980 She's posted the videos online.

00:43:55.620 She's trying to get police action. 1.00

00:43:57.000 There's, there's obviously the charges, right?

00:43:59.040 Not yet.

00:43:59.520 So, uh, maybe view those videos and perhaps send a note to the Winnipeg police saying you

00:44:03.900 don't want to tolerate seeing women assaulted for trying to speak in public places.

00:44:06.900 Yeah.

00:44:07.100 We've got the story up at the Western standard.

00:44:08.620 Share that story, folks.

00:44:09.940 Get that story in the Western standard, share it and tag the Winnipeg police.

00:44:14.200 Let's see if, uh, people committing assault against her, uh, get, uh, half the sentence that, 0.64

00:44:19.880 uh, Tamara Leach and, uh, Chris Barber got.

00:44:22.460 Uh, Nigel.

00:44:23.300 Which brings me to my parting shot.

00:44:24.820 There are two people who should be on a conservative ticket somewhere in the country.

00:44:29.760 That's the kind of people we want in parliament, not in jail.

00:44:33.860 All right.

00:44:35.320 Uh, mine is for the illustrious Alberta Senator Chris Wells.

00:44:40.900 This is the creepy dude who Trudeau appointed to the Senate, uh, very well known in some circles

00:44:48.120 for, uh, leads, uh, I don't know, some LGTBQ alphabet soup, uh, department. 0.72

00:44:54.320 Uh, I think at the University of Alberta, where he just talked about gay stuff all day.

00:44:59.400 Uh, I, I really don't know any other way to describe it.

00:45:02.040 He just talked about how awesome it is and how persecuted he is when he's very much not,

00:45:08.300 uh, not going to get into it, but dude's got serious, serious, creepy vibes.

00:45:14.180 Uh, and I, I guess, you know, maybe they were paying him a quarter million dollars a year

00:45:19.860 or something at the University of Alberta.

00:45:21.380 I don't know, because he's complaining about how hard done by he is, make it $180,000 a year

00:45:27.480 as a senator for life, plus benefits, plus pension, plus travel.

00:45:34.240 Um, yeah, look, being a politician has got, got some downsides.

00:45:38.480 Uh, I had to drive all the way up the road to Edmonton every week.

00:45:42.880 That sucked.

00:45:43.620 I had to drive all over creation.

00:45:44.780 But it comes with a job.

00:45:45.900 You don't like it?

00:45:47.200 Resign.

00:45:47.940 Someone else will do it.

00:45:49.360 It's a job for life.

00:45:50.560 It's the greatest gig in politics in the democratic world, because it's not democratic.

00:45:55.760 It's awesome.

00:45:56.660 Uh, it'd be great to be appointed for life to a position of power and never have to face

00:46:02.380 election again.

00:46:02.920 That is awesome.

00:46:04.400 And, uh, the guy's complaining about $180,000.

00:46:06.740 So, that's that.

00:46:09.180 Well, if he gives it up, maybe, uh, you know, if they're looking for a liberal appointment,

00:46:14.580 maybe it's time for Corey tonight to, to finally get what he's been looking for.

00:46:18.340 Oh, that's a parting shot.

00:46:20.360 There we go.

00:46:20.800 Shots fired.

00:46:22.080 Okay.

00:46:22.980 Corey, Nigel, Elise, thank you very much.

00:46:26.620 And, uh, thank you, uh, John, for producing today's show and all of you for joining us

00:46:31.280 today.

00:46:32.160 Remember, the Western Standard relies on people becoming members, paying for the independent

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00:46:48.340 And that gets you unlimited access to all Western Standard content.

00:46:52.020 You're going to love it.

00:46:53.140 It's just the best.

00:46:54.560 Thank you very much for joining us today, and God bless.

00:47:18.340 We'll be right back.

00:47:22.560 We'll be right back.

00:47:23.200 OK, folks.

00:47:23.880 We'll be right back.

00:47:24.860 And we'll be right back.

00:47:25.420 Yeah.

00:47:25.680 We'll be right back.

00:47:26.260 We'll be right back.

00:47:26.340 We'll be right back.

00:47:27.300 We'll be right back.

00:47:28.620 We'll be right back.

00:47:29.400 We'll be right back.

00:47:29.900 We'll be right back.

00:47:31.200 We'll be right back to всё.

00:47:32.260 You're right.

00:47:33.420 We'll be right back.

00:47:34.060 We'll be right back.

00:47:34.720 We'll be right back.

00:47:35.620 We'll be right back.

00:47:37.120 We'll be right back.

00:47:38.160 We'll be right back.

00:47:39.440 We'll be right back.

00:47:39.880 We'll be right back.

00:47:40.160 We'll be right back.

00:47:40.480 We'll be right back.

00:47:41.400 We'll be right back.

00:47:42.520 We'll be right back, we'll be right back.

Western Standard - October 16, 2025

THE PIPELINE： Time to SMASH the Alberta teachers’ strike

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