Western Standard - The Pipeline： Trudeau⧸Smith meeting... was this just about carbon tax？

00:00:00.000 Good evening, welcome to The Pipeline.

00:00:26.240 This is the Western Standards weekly panel show where we'll dissect and break down the most important issues that have been breaking in the news throughout the course of the week.

00:00:36.740 I'm Corey Morgan, one of the columnists at the Western Standard, and I'm joined by a couple other panelists who I'll get to quickly.

00:00:42.120 But first, let me speak about our sponsors. It's important to pay the bills as well.

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00:01:20.140 All right. Tonight, I'm joined. I'll start nearest to me here with our opinion editor, Nigel Hannaford.

00:01:27.100 Hi, Nigel. How's it going?

00:01:28.080 It's going very well. I was really surprised to see you lock eyes with Mr. Trudeau through the television there.

00:01:34.160 You were totally into what he was saying over there. It's safe, weren't you?

00:01:37.800 I was trying to find some wax I could put into my ears or something to stop that.

00:01:42.620 Borrow some from Dave.

00:01:43.560 Cutting voice of his, but yeah, he has a special place in my heart, that's for sure.

00:01:49.920 All right. Well, we'll talk about him soon as well.

00:01:52.740 We've got our news editor, Dave Naylor. How's it going?

00:01:54.920 Good, Corey. Looking forward to bloviating with you.

00:01:57.540 Bloviating, yes.

00:01:58.120 Is that the right use of the word?

00:01:59.300 Bloviating. That would be it. We will go on and turn.

00:02:02.000 You okay, though? You seem a little tight around the collar this morning.

00:02:05.520 I'm struggling with this. Darn collar extender did break on me. 0.98

00:02:08.860 So, yes, folks, I'm turning a little purple. That's what it's about. I have a thick neck to support that swollen head of mine. 0.98

00:02:15.560 And, well, my button's a little tight tonight. So, that's fine. We'll get through. But if I pass out, that's all it's about.

00:02:22.780 First world problems.

00:02:23.760 Yes. All right. So, well, we were honoured in Calgary today. We had a meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau came in and gave an audience to our Premier, Dave. What's the story here?

00:02:37.060 Yeah. So, if you remember the last time, it was a month or so ago, he came here and Daniel Smith did not have a meeting and she was a bit perturbed.

00:02:44.900 So, she heard Trudeau was coming to town and she asked for a meeting and did, in fact, get one on Wednesday morning down in the Eau Claire area.

00:02:53.100 She laid her cards on the table, said she wanted to tell Trudeau face to face, said he should fire Environment Minister Stephen Gilbeau, talked about projects that needed to go ahead, talked about the carbon tax and how seven premiers are now against it, come out united against it.

00:03:11.940 Trudeau left the meeting, went up to SAIT, where he had a press conference mainly on the dental programs, but of course, the media didn't want to talk about that.

00:03:23.020 They wanted to talk about the carbon tax and Trudeau went on an impassioned plea about climate change and trying to change the world and was not going to budge, was not going to fire Stephen Gilbeau.

00:03:37.260 If Daniel Smith can't get along with him, she's going to have to change the way she acts. 0.97

00:03:43.220 Our own Sean Polzer was able to ask the Prime Minister, does he still intend on throwing Scott Moe in jail for Saskatchewan's refusal to collect the carbon tax?

00:03:53.860 And he just says he expects every Canadian to obey the law.

00:03:58.660 And then the Prime Minister was off to a senior citizen's home to bother people during their lunch hour this afternoon.

00:04:05.940 So Daniel Smith zoomed back to Edmonton, had a press conference, basically said the same thing, that, you know, she made her case.

00:04:15.280 The Prime Minister made his case, but it was good that she was able to have some face time.

00:04:20.660 I mean, where do?

00:04:22.960 You know, last time he was criticized for not having sat down with the Premier.

00:04:27.260 He gave her time this time.

00:04:28.720 And, you know, as we expect, I don't think much productive came out of it.

00:04:31.500 But they did chat.

00:04:33.780 I mean, it's quite the line in the sand or, you know, the hill to die on.

00:04:37.280 I mean, they're not going to back off on this carbon tax.

00:04:42.260 Possibly.

00:04:42.900 I don't know.

00:04:43.680 Seven premiers against it and most of the public against it as well.

00:04:49.060 I wouldn't be surprised if they, I wouldn't be totally surprised if they backed away from it or said it would be delayed three months or something like that.

00:04:57.100 But it would be a concession to make if they wanted to make one.

00:05:03.820 But I must admit, I'm a little puzzled about why this meeting happened.

00:05:09.960 He says that 1.3 million senior citizens in Canada are signed up for this dental program.

00:05:18.600 So this is obviously not a new initiative.

00:05:21.640 So why would you come to Calgary to recycle something that is already out there unless it was for a different reason?

00:05:33.240 And the different reason would be perhaps to demonstrate resolve in the face of Western intransigence.

00:05:41.300 Maybe it's something like that or to remove the stigma of having turned down a meeting with the Premier of Alberta a month ago.

00:05:50.580 I mean, who knows?

00:05:51.680 But there didn't seem to be a lot of reason for him to come here to do what he did.

00:05:56.380 So what's really going on?

00:05:58.800 Yeah, well, I mean, it feels almost, it's been this way for a while, as if they're doing campaign-style stops.

00:06:04.780 I mean, they're kind of crossing the country and making announcements in different areas.

00:06:07.840 Usually it's been housing.

00:06:09.340 This time, as you said, they wanted to regurgitate the senior's dental plan that was going on.

00:06:13.920 But it's certainly not worthy of a stop on its own, you would think.

00:06:18.780 But, I mean, I doubt it indicates an election's coming soon.

00:06:22.820 I don't look, by the way, at what they have on their website about the dental plan.

00:06:27.820 It's very hard to tell what it would pay for and whether you'd be better off with the government's dental plan if you've already got one through your retirement, union, whatever.

00:06:40.320 Hard to say.

00:06:43.380 There are no details.

00:06:45.800 It's not coming in until November of this year.

00:06:49.580 And I guess we'll have to wait and see.

00:06:53.400 Yeah, he picked friendly territory today.

00:06:56.220 He's with Calgary Liberal MP George Shahal in Northeast Calgary.

00:07:01.140 And he was effusive with his praise for MP Shahal.

00:07:05.420 But I'm just taking a little step back.

00:07:07.520 I'm kind of agreeing with Nigel.

00:07:09.240 Remember last week the Liberals cut their alcohol tax that was going up.

00:07:15.580 They cut it in half because of the outcry.

00:07:18.520 So it would not surprise me to see some sort of reduction in the carbon tax.

00:07:22.800 As you say, seven premiers, including Liberal ones, have all come out against it.

00:07:28.680 A united front, massive, you know, that's huge.

00:07:31.540 So Doug Ford yesterday said Trudeau will get annihilated at the polls because of this carbon tax. 1.00

00:07:38.920 So, you know, we always say he's not a stupid man. 0.95

00:07:41.880 So maybe he'll do some sort of concession where he'll still bring it in April 1st, but instead of this level, it will be at a level. 0.98

00:07:48.700 And maybe he's a little bit stupid expecting people to believe that the carbon tax rebate checks that they receive are actually more than what they're paying for the carbon tax. 0.99

00:08:00.640 Well, he's counting on us to be stupid anyways. 0.99

00:08:04.240 Yeah, you know, I don't know whether you've done the exercise of going through your bills and just, you know, batting it all up. 0.99

00:08:12.340 I mean, you're down in Prittis Creek.

00:08:14.460 You're cold there.

00:08:15.280 Your power bills must be through the roof.

00:08:17.560 So...

00:08:17.860 An old log place.

00:08:18.980 It's not the cheapest spot to heat or drive to.

00:08:20.720 So there you go.

00:08:21.560 I know that in our household, it's not quite a wrap.

00:08:27.980 We pay more.

00:08:29.100 But what he does not ever mention or concede is that the effects of the carbon tax are felt through the entire economy because everything you buy, everything you own, comes by a truck.

00:08:44.560 And when you are paying those fees on things that do eight miles to the gallon, diesel fuel percentage, right, that's a lot of money.

00:08:56.740 And so he talks about how they want to fight inflation.

00:09:00.840 Well, the inflation he wants to fight is a consequence of two things.

00:09:05.340 One, his own reckless spending and borrowing to finance it. 0.98

00:09:09.940 And the second thing is his damned carbon tax, which is not a tax on pollution. 0.99

00:09:16.420 It is a tax on plant food. 0.99

00:09:19.060 So, I mean, if they did decide to try and make some sort of concession on this, I mean, they have to be careful with it.

00:09:24.400 When he did his clumsy effort to make a cut for the Atlantic provinces, you know, because his support was dwindling down there when the tax started applying to them.

00:09:34.240 I mean, the rest of the provinces smelled the blood and the water.

00:09:36.480 That's really what brought the rush to push this.

00:09:39.320 So, I mean, if they're going to back down there, they're going to have to.

00:09:42.120 Well, his answer to that was, well, this applies to the whole country.

00:09:46.420 But I don't know.

00:09:47.200 How many people do you think are still heating their homes in oil in Alberta?

00:09:50.480 Yeah, I think the count was like less than a couple of dozen.

00:09:53.660 A couple of cottages in Pigeon Lake or something like that.

00:09:56.420 But as Nigel says, this carbon tax is one of the root causes of inflation.

00:10:01.060 It goes from the farmer to the supplier to the restaurant.

00:10:05.000 They're all charging more because of that carbon tax.

00:10:09.040 And the Bank of Canada has said, well, don't lower the interest rates while inflation is so high.

00:10:14.580 And now we, because I mean, that's going to crush a lot of Canadians who will lose their homes because of their increased mortgage payments.

00:10:20.820 There's no doubt about it.

00:10:21.620 They will lose their homes.

00:10:23.340 And why he can't see that the carbon tax is an inflationary thing is beyond me.

00:10:28.900 Well, I guess he doesn't worry about fiscal.

00:10:30.560 Probably not.

00:10:31.160 He says he doesn't have a monetary policy.

00:10:33.340 My wife, Judy, says to me, we're going shopping on Thursday night.

00:10:38.660 This thing hits on April 1st.

00:10:40.960 Prices will go up.

00:10:42.520 We're laying in supplies.

00:10:45.280 Good idea.

00:10:46.160 Not a bad idea if you can afford it.

00:10:48.280 Always fill up your car on March 31st.

00:10:50.380 Yeah, well, and I had Franco Teresano from the Taxpayers Federation on the show last week.

00:10:55.240 And you talked about that.

00:10:55.920 You know, they really plug all those tax hikes into April 1st.

00:10:58.940 It's just that kind of spring, you know, you open the door and enjoy the spring weather and hopefully forget what they're about to do to your pocket.

00:11:05.560 And guess who's getting raises April 1st?

00:11:07.920 Yes.

00:11:08.740 MPs, Canadian MPs.

00:11:10.320 And Justin himself and the Governor General.

00:11:13.880 Don't call it April Fool's Day for nothing, do they?

00:11:15.640 No.

00:11:16.160 I wonder if we're getting raises April 1st.

00:11:18.240 Gee, maybe that's why Derek Bale today.

00:11:20.640 And here you are.

00:11:21.360 Yes, we're going to bring up the raise.

00:11:23.900 Won't hold my breath. 0.99

00:11:24.860 I'll try with this damn time. 0.99

00:11:26.300 All right. 0.99

00:11:27.460 Well, let's move on.

00:11:28.480 Speaking of bloviators, and one of the kings of them is Nhead Nenshi. 0.69

00:11:34.760 You knew he couldn't stay in the sidelines forever.

00:11:37.140 Dave, he's back.

00:11:38.640 He is back and running for the leadership of the NDP.

00:11:42.860 Very, very interesting.

00:11:44.200 He's never been a party politician before.

00:11:46.420 We've always suspected he's left wing, but, you know, we never came out and supported a party, even though he was a good fan of Trudeau.

00:11:56.500 And I think, probably hoped to be appointed to the Senate by Trudeau, but that hasn't happened.

00:12:00.900 So his ego now says, okay, I'm going to become the Premier of Alberta.

00:12:06.060 And I start by becoming the leader of the NDP.

00:12:09.200 And I think, as you tweeted this week, you know, it's going to be good fun now with Nenshi.

00:12:17.180 And he started out by calling Daniel Smith immoral and dangerous and, you know, every name in the book that he can think of.

00:12:27.540 And the Premier didn't rise to the debate.

00:12:32.920 And she said, you know, whoever the NDP pick, I'll be happy to debate the left on their policies versus my policies.

00:12:41.960 On their policies, you know.

00:12:43.180 Also on their personalities and characteristics.

00:12:45.580 Exactly.

00:12:45.880 Mr. Nenshi's always had the problem of, he thinks he's the smartest person in the room.

00:12:52.900 And he's never been able to play well with people.

00:12:56.160 If you remember, the Calgary Council had to call in a psychiatrist to get them all together and see how they could work.

00:13:03.860 So how he operates under a party tent is going to be very interesting.

00:13:08.980 Well, and I think that is going to be interesting.

00:13:12.360 It is going to be a bit difficult because you have in this contest for the leadership, a number of people have conspicuously paid their dues.

00:13:22.080 I mean, I don't think any of us around this table have much use for NDP policies, but you can respect the fact that somebody like Kathleen Ganley or Sarah Hoffman, Gil McGowan, they have been in the party for decades.

00:13:39.280 They have worked hard.

00:13:40.740 They've done what it takes.

00:13:42.500 They've got elected in the case of Ganley and Hoffman, held ministerial positions.

00:13:47.360 And then suddenly there is this idler on the sidelines who shows up.

00:13:52.860 I've got a new columnist, a young Connor Hall.

00:13:56.760 He had a column on this this morning, and I'm pumping it a little bit.

00:14:00.400 He makes the point, all of a sudden you've got this person from the sidelines who says, oh, I think I'd like to be the leader of the NDP.

00:14:09.540 Well, just a minute, sir, are you a member?

00:14:11.300 Well, I joined yesterday.

00:14:14.340 Well, welcome to the NDP.

00:14:17.360 I don't know that that's going to go well.

00:14:20.320 And the personality type that Dave has described is just going to make it that much more difficult if he ends up winning the big prize.

00:14:28.420 But I'm not sure that he will.

00:14:30.360 NDPers, one good thing about them is they're quite loyal.

00:14:34.120 Well, it is going to be interesting to watch.

00:14:35.800 I mean, if there was going to be an outside interloper to come in and take things over, you would think it would have to be a bridge builder then.

00:14:41.700 You know, a conciliatory type of person, a team member, and that's anything but what Nahed Nenshi is.

00:14:49.000 Nahed Nenshi is about Nahed Nenshi.

00:14:51.220 And he's going to have to learn how to temper his attitude.

00:14:56.420 You should never underestimate Nahed Nenshi.

00:14:59.680 No.

00:15:00.540 He has won three elections as mayor of Calgary.

00:15:04.060 The first one was shocking.

00:15:05.800 The next two, not so shocking.

00:15:09.100 But then he stepped down.

00:15:10.220 His popularity was on the way down.

00:15:13.440 He loves the Olympics.

00:15:15.980 I think he goes to most of the games personally and tried to get them back in Calgary.

00:15:20.360 And that was a pose and citywide referendum clearly shot it down.

00:15:25.640 So he was not overly highly thought of when he left office in Calgary.

00:15:30.380 He left a record of increased taxes for businesses and homeowners.

00:15:35.060 So, but he has an organization.

00:15:38.800 You, some video of him in a room last night that was just full of people waiting to sign up as volunteers for him.

00:15:45.960 Really?

00:15:45.980 So, he's got the ground game, certainly.

00:15:49.980 And you don't underestimate.

00:15:53.520 He could win this leadership race.

00:15:55.560 I mean, it's a one member, one vote system they have now.

00:15:59.520 And I'm certain he's got that ground game, selling those memberships like crazy.

00:16:03.740 It's the day after the leadership that might be interesting if he won it.

00:16:07.820 Because then again, now you've got some seriously ruffled feathers.

00:16:11.180 You've got, you know, a divided party, which is very possible in this.

00:16:18.100 You think of Gil McGowan.

00:16:19.200 He's one of the ones to be running against him.

00:16:21.720 Gil's got a guaranteed seat at the board level with the NDP.

00:16:26.060 It's built in with the Alberta Federation of Labor.

00:16:28.840 And if those two are clashing, and Nitschie's the leader and Gil's on the board,

00:16:33.440 that that party's going to have some...

00:16:35.540 Isn't that what the UCP has been going through?

00:16:38.020 Well, yeah, kind of, exactly.

00:16:40.380 So who's going to be the David Parker of the left?

00:16:42.880 Yes, good point.

00:16:44.500 Take back the NDP.

00:16:46.720 The question I would have to him is, okay, Naheed, you're going to take a run at it.

00:16:52.600 You finish a close second.

00:16:54.220 Are you going to run for the NDP in the next provincial election?

00:16:58.580 Are you going to try and seek a seat?

00:17:01.240 Be interesting to see what he says, if he's willing to stick around and play the long game.

00:17:04.960 That would be a good way to corner him.

00:17:06.700 I mean, yeah, and whether he would answer, honestly, I'd find it very hard to believe

00:17:12.140 that Naheed and Nitschie would stay with that party in any role other than the leader.

00:17:17.160 No.

00:17:17.520 And he's got an easy escape for that question.

00:17:19.720 You could just say, well, I'm only focused on the leadership right now.

00:17:22.960 Well, you know, whatever comes, will come.

00:17:25.600 So, I mean, you've covered too many press conferences, Dave.

00:17:30.620 A few.

00:17:31.540 You've known the answers before the question is asked.

00:17:33.640 Yeah.

00:17:33.860 Well, the other part was not underestimating him as well.

00:17:36.160 I mean, Calgary is the battleground.

00:17:38.680 And the number of seats that, you know, really only had to turn over a handful to change the

00:17:44.340 outcome of this election, people's memories are short.

00:17:47.180 They might forget just how much they retired and Nitschie before, by the time the next election

00:17:51.840 rolls around.

00:17:52.820 He could be the one that could turn over.

00:17:53.900 It's your job to remind them, sir.

00:17:55.580 Oh, I will.

00:17:56.820 You know that.

00:17:57.800 And you're right.

00:17:58.980 I mean, he would have no chance in the rural areas.

00:18:02.700 I couldn't see Nitschie showing up on a ranch in his purple cowboy boots, or I guess orange 0.99

00:18:07.660 now, cowboy boots.

00:18:09.840 So, you know, NDP will probably hang on to Edmonton because they're a government town,

00:18:14.080 union town.

00:18:15.100 So, yes, we'll all come back down to Calgary and whether people have long memories.

00:18:19.120 There's one thing.

00:18:20.860 The municipal elections are the turn of his low.

00:18:25.400 Now, the provincial elections, more people care.

00:18:31.160 Do you think that that would work in his favor or would be a problem for him?

00:18:37.420 My question.

00:18:38.120 It would be a problem.

00:18:39.600 Good question.

00:18:40.220 It could be.

00:18:40.860 I mean, it's apathy that keeps those municipal leaders in. 0.61

00:18:43.300 Even when their public support goes down, they keep getting reelected because, well,

00:18:47.600 they're lazy.

00:18:48.320 I mean, oh, yeah, I can't stand them.

00:18:49.580 So what I'll do is stay home, watch TV rather than vote against them.

00:18:52.320 But you can't count on that on a provincial level.

00:18:54.700 People will get up and mark their ballot.

00:18:57.560 Yeah, and the Premier's office is reportedly salivating at the thought of Naheed winning.

00:19:05.440 You know, they've got a couple more years, certainly, to prove what they say is working.

00:19:11.320 And if things are going well at the end of Smith's mandate, it doesn't really matter who's leading the NDP.

00:19:18.780 Smith will get reelected.

00:19:20.980 Well, you know, just the final thing.

00:19:23.040 Boy, has he ever come out of the gates swinging?

00:19:25.440 I mean, he's always held back.

00:19:29.020 He's had a sharp tongue, I guess you could say.

00:19:30.940 But people have often complained that it's gotten so negative, so polarized.

00:19:36.400 I just would have thought with his political instincts, maybe he would try to come out in being a little more...

00:19:42.360 Didn't work for Notley in the last campaign, did it?

00:19:44.740 Well, she wasn't exactly positive in that campaign.

00:19:46.860 Yeah, I mean, she ran a negative campaign, right? 0.98

00:19:48.860 Yeah, and Nenshi, the last two days, holy cow, as you said, he's been calling Premier Smith everything in the book already.

00:19:54.360 The difference is that Notley was already in the secure place.

00:19:59.300 He needs his entry into the race to be noticed, and you do that by being a bit over the top.

00:20:06.180 Well, as well, I guess when he's got a party that could turn their support against him, he doesn't want to campaign against the other candidates so much as he wants to campaign against Premier Smith.

00:20:16.620 Because if he starts shooting at Gill or Ganley or any of them, that's not going to be well received by a lot of the party loyal.

00:20:22.900 All of a sudden, with Nenshi and McGowan, I'm looking forward to the NDP debates.

00:20:27.740 Oh, I really am.

00:20:28.220 I mean, it was going to be... I wasn't even going to bother before, but hey, I'll tune in now.

00:20:31.980 Well, at least it's good for the NDP. They're getting some good publicity out of it anyways.

00:20:38.480 Well, they're getting that, and as I said, with the debates, just the first time Nenshi will do is patented eyes closed and up in the air and talking down to Gill and sort of patting him on the head across the room.

00:20:47.200 We might see a blow up like he had with Arthur Green, our former reporter.

00:20:51.600 Yes, I'm sure Nico could pull up that photo if he wanted to.

00:20:54.820 If there's one thing Mr. McGowan has, it's a very short fuse.

00:20:58.020 And a very long middle finger.

00:20:59.240 Yes. Okay, well, we'll be watching. It'll be giving us lots of fodder to chew on for quite some time because that race isn't done until June. 1.00

00:21:08.580 So off we go.

00:21:09.700 Good fun for months.

00:21:11.380 So getting into the bigger, a little more broader, Jordan Peterson in the news, warning us of AI and big government.

00:21:20.240 Yeah, he was down in Washington speaking to Congress.

00:21:24.520 Some pretty scary stuff, big brother type stuff, and warned that it's, you know, state surveillance is going to become a thing.

00:21:33.160 You know, I think our columnist Linda Slobodian pointed out there's 700 million CCTV cameras in China, and they're basically watching everybody.

00:21:44.120 And all of these moves towards digital economy, digital money, digital this, digital passports, digital that.

00:21:51.220 It's becoming a lot easier for the governments to spy on it.

00:21:54.640 And Peterson sounded the warning.

00:22:00.200 I'm glad he did it.

00:22:01.460 I'm glad he said what he said.

00:22:03.100 And I'm glad he made the warning.

00:22:05.060 But we have actually been watching this mushroom grow at our feet for more than 20 years.

00:22:11.120 This idea of a digital ID, which it all really hinges on, like, we know where you are, what you watch.

00:22:19.600 We've got your driver's license number, your health care number, your firearms number, every other.

00:22:24.420 We're already carrying it.

00:22:25.820 Yeah.

00:22:26.400 Your bank account number.

00:22:27.900 But this started in B.C. back in about 2002.

00:22:32.260 And their objective, which was just step one of a much grander plan, was to put all the government information on one card, which has now, of course, evolved into one, if you want to carry it on your phone, one scan that just tells you everything about you.

00:22:56.660 But it wasn't supposed to stop there.

00:22:58.840 And it didn't.

00:22:59.500 Now, the next thing was Alberta became integrated, and the two provinces are now integrated with the federal government.

00:23:08.480 Your Alberta card, if you have one, will give you access to your federal accounts, EI, tax, whatever you need to deal with the federal government about.

00:23:21.860 So you've now got two provinces and one federal government with access through one card.

00:23:30.840 And this whole thing is being put together by one of those organizations that you're never, ever going to do a story about, because the name itself is like a long drink of warm water.

00:23:51.280 There are something about the Canadian Bankers Association is in on it, and if you really like the World Economic Forum, well, they're in on it, too.

00:24:03.740 But you can never find these things quickly when you have, when you're too well prepared, can you?

00:24:11.120 But anyway, suffice it to say that there is, and here we are, it's called the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada.

00:24:23.660 And that brings together the BMO, Canada Post, CIBC, Desjardins, Forge Rock, Government of Canada, Interact, Manulife, Provinces of British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Secure Key, Toronto Dominion, TELUS.

00:24:40.680 That was two years ago when I wrote that.

00:24:43.700 Now there are probably more.

00:24:44.940 And when you have got your banks and your governments and some of the service companies working together to get all of your digital identification on one chip, I say that trusting that system is asking too much of people.

00:25:05.180 And Peterson nailed it.

00:25:06.620 He said they're coming together and there's only one loser in this game.

00:25:10.920 Well, it's frightening, but I also see the inevitability of it.

00:25:16.560 I can see how we're giving away our identity and freedom for the convenience.

00:25:21.560 I mean, it's nice to be able to just go in and tap your card.

00:25:25.860 And that is the, that's the appealing thing about it.

00:25:28.400 I mean, you can make the case, gosh, I've got a great thick, you know, used to be somebody had a wallet like that.

00:25:33.640 It was full of used non-sequential 20s.

00:25:35.380 Not anymore.

00:25:35.940 It's full of pieces of plastic.

00:25:37.320 Why don't we just sort of have one?

00:25:38.840 And that's the, that's the selling point.

00:25:40.880 And then, of course, from the point of view of governments, they can easily tell you, well, we, you know, we, we, we deal in 50 million transactions every year between driver license renewals, EI claims, whatever, you know.

00:25:53.520 There's a, there's 40 million Canadians and they've all got business with the government.

00:25:57.820 Wouldn't it be easier?

00:25:59.220 Wouldn't it be cheaper?

00:26:00.780 Probably not, but it's easier.

00:26:03.540 Maybe cheaper, definitely not.

00:26:04.900 Maybe, but at any rate, these are the positive things, but the people at the top have complete control.

00:26:13.280 Yeah.

00:26:13.500 And you're assuming the benevolence of government, you're fine, but I don't assume that.

00:26:17.580 Well, tell us again, what did they do during COVID?

00:26:20.340 My memory is shocked.

00:26:22.200 Yeah.

00:26:22.380 But there's something about bank accounts, wasn't it?

00:26:24.780 Bank accounts, plus vaccine passports, actually.

00:26:26.640 If you wanted your movement restricted, whether it was travel, whether it was going to a restaurant, even you had to show your phone after you'd done an online registration of yourself to show your medical status.

00:26:37.240 But we're still continuing to give it away.

00:26:39.340 And the inconveniences of government, you know, I, my Alberta healthcare card.

00:26:45.040 I mean, I had to go in for a driver's license physical because I got a class four and I have to pay for that out of pocket.

00:26:49.980 So I go to a clinic, but my card had gone through the dryer.

00:26:53.540 They wouldn't do it because I didn't have my Alberta healthcare card.

00:26:56.060 Well, what do you care?

00:26:56.660 It's printed on a piece of toilet paper for crying out loud.

00:26:58.840 I could go home and make another one if you like.

00:27:00.480 It'll look just like it.

00:27:02.240 But you see these annoyances.

00:27:04.700 You get people to say, well, you know, we'll just pack it all into one little card.

00:27:09.240 Let me just play the devil's advocate.

00:27:10.540 I'm not saying I agree with this because I don't.

00:27:12.180 But if you're not, if you're a law-abiding citizen and you don't do anything illegal or anything wrong and just go about your life, what is there to, what's wrong?

00:27:22.560 What's wrong with that?

00:27:24.080 What's wrong there is that you may be subject to laws that you never contemplated.

00:27:30.280 You know, five years ago, would you have thought you would have had to show your phone to, you know, a young lady who meets you at the door of the restaurant?

00:27:43.120 No.

00:27:43.680 But then it became the law and then you had to.

00:27:45.760 How did you feel about that?

00:27:46.940 I happen to know how you felt about that.

00:27:48.600 I felt the same way.

00:27:50.740 So what it means is that you sign up for one thing and you end up getting given another.

00:27:56.280 And by the way, even if that wasn't the case, why does your liberty have to be predicated on the assumption that you're always going to agree with the government?

00:28:11.780 You know, just because you're not doing anything wrong doesn't mean that you should be silent about when people want to know exactly what you're doing.

00:28:18.500 The bottom line is they've got most of the information anyways, right?

00:28:21.080 From bank accounts to health care cards to, I mean, they've already got it.

00:28:25.320 It makes it just that much more convenient.

00:28:27.340 Part of wondering if it's not, you know, is the horse already bolted?

00:28:31.720 Exactly.

00:28:32.120 Like, can we put this toothpaste back into the tube?

00:28:34.880 I mean, it gets astounding with what we see with AI, whether it's image generation or you take a picture of yourself and put it in the reverse image search on Google.

00:28:43.080 And it will find, well, if you've got lots of pictures online, like I do, suddenly you'll have a whole line of other pictures of you because it recognized your face and pulled up all the other shots of you.

00:28:53.060 It's already there.

00:28:54.220 Yeah.

00:28:54.360 And I think that's the one thing we haven't talked about yet is AI and where that new technology is going to take us because that is kind of scary.

00:29:01.440 Well, it might be the savior of us from the government.

00:29:03.380 The AI might be smarter than our, I bow down to our authorities.

00:29:08.100 No doubt about that.

00:29:09.760 Artificial intelligence government now.

00:29:13.960 Yeah, might do better.

00:29:15.560 Can't do worse.

00:29:16.140 But I mean, it is scary stuff.

00:29:18.220 And I'm glad Dr. Peterson brought it up.

00:29:19.960 But anyway, I think he's kind of almost bringing it up after the fact.

00:29:22.480 What can we do?

00:29:23.660 How do we avoid this?

00:29:25.300 Well, it's a fair question because this actually is a worldwide phenomenon.

00:29:28.760 It's not like this is happening in Canada and nowhere else in the world, which, of course, is why Peterson was down there talking to Congress about it.

00:29:36.040 It's happening in the United States, happening in South Africa, Estonia, and China, we mentioned.

00:29:41.560 This is something that has the blessing of the United Nations.

00:29:45.120 I'm not going to fuss through the papers again, but if you challenge me to it, I could find the point where there was a UN resolution that said this is what we all need to do.

00:29:54.140 And there again, the rationale was not something that you could just dismiss.

00:29:59.600 They were saying there are a billion people in the world, and this was 10 years ago, a billion people in the world who do not have an identity.

00:30:07.660 I mean, they may have a name, but they've got no way of proving who they are.

00:30:11.060 They don't have a birth certificate.

00:30:12.080 So this was going to be something for a lot of people.

00:30:16.520 This is a handy thing for somebody in an impoverished country who's born under unfortunate circumstances and does not have an identity.

00:30:25.000 And let's face it, everybody deserves one.

00:30:27.160 It doesn't mean that it's therefore acceptable to bring this in as a method of social control in this country or any other developed country.

00:30:35.700 You asked the question of what to do about it.

00:30:39.200 I was interested to see that two years ago, at least, as Alberta and British Columbia were moving ahead on this, the government of Saskatchewan said, well, take a pass.

00:30:49.880 Now, I haven't checked to see what they've done since.

00:30:51.620 But you're not going to turn the whole world back.

00:30:56.160 Well, they're interesting times.

00:30:58.100 I think at best at this point, we just have to be on guard.

00:31:00.920 I mean, I'm not sure what else can turn this back.

00:31:05.120 I mean, we're slaves to the convenience of it and the assumption of good intentions, which often is where these things always start.

00:31:13.820 Five years from now, you're not going to be able to travel without a digital ID.

00:31:17.480 No, I can't see it.

00:31:18.740 Like trying to check in today into a hotel without a credit card.

00:31:22.580 That's not the way we do things, sir.

00:31:24.240 Well, and it's a whole new world.

00:31:26.380 I mean, you know, just for futurists and people to discuss and think about.

00:31:29.300 But it's coming so fast.

00:31:31.140 You think of every authoritarian regime or war-torn area.

00:31:34.940 I mean, it's papers, papers.

00:31:36.520 Everywhere you go, you've got to present your papers.

00:31:38.620 I remember in Guatemala in the late 80s, traveling there in the Civil War and checkpoints.

00:31:42.520 It's papers, papers.

00:31:44.320 But now, your phone can transmit where you are at all times and it's not that hard to legislate to say you shouldn't be without your phone.

00:31:52.340 What was the thought?

00:31:53.880 You know, you're making the point about artificial intelligence and I think it's worth just reminding people who may have heard the discussion last week

00:32:03.660 about where the Canadian online harms bill fits into all of this.

00:32:08.420 You take all of this information and the ability of the artificial intelligence to know everything that you've ever said online,

00:32:20.260 put that together with legislation that allows somebody to go to a magistrate and say,

00:32:26.960 I believe that that person is going to make a hateful statement based on what they've done in the past.

00:32:37.420 And suddenly you find yourself under arrest, confined to your house with an ankle bracelet.

00:32:42.360 If you're lucky, otherwise you're in jail.

00:32:44.260 And you have not actually done anything.

00:32:48.500 This is the World Minority Report. 0.61

00:32:51.580 Thing is, you won't be able to do anything because with digital ID, if you decide to say, screw this, I'm off.

00:32:58.060 I'm gone.

00:32:59.480 Well, they know who you are.

00:33:00.540 And when you try to buy a bus ticket or an airplane ticket, they know what you're doing, where you're going, and they'll meet you when you get there.

00:33:06.700 You know, like the whole thing is, it's so easy to paint this bleak, bleak picture of the kind of thing that science fiction films were made of 50 years ago.

00:33:19.400 But it's here.

00:33:20.880 It's not a stretch of the imagination anymore.

00:33:22.800 It's all, we're totally dependent upon the goodwill of the governments we elect.

00:33:26.500 But, well, we better start paying attention to the governments we elect.

00:33:31.040 Or start electing liberals?

00:33:32.580 Oh, that's a big hit.

00:33:34.740 Well, let's move on to another frightening aspect of government, I guess, and a little dreary again.

00:33:39.820 But medical assistance and dying.

00:33:42.120 And it just keeps expanding and getting worse.

00:33:46.800 This was an awful case in Calgary this week that our Sean Poles are covered.

00:33:51.520 It's about a 27-year-old woman who is autistic and ADHD and in constant pain, she says.

00:34:00.220 So she wanted to commit suicide.

00:34:02.460 She wanted to have MAID. 0.93

00:34:04.040 And she got an Alberta Health Services doctor to sign off and say, yes, okay.

00:34:09.080 Her father is now seeking a court injunction or an extension of an injunction to have the procedure stopped and to prevent his daughter from killing herself.

00:34:23.200 The judge called it one of the most complex cases he's ever seen and says no doubt it'll end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

00:34:31.940 But a really tragic case, and unbelievably, the father and daughter still live under the same roof.

00:34:39.900 But, you know, this is a woman who's fed up with life, does have some mental issues, there's no doubt about that, is in constant pain and cannot get a job. 1.00

00:34:49.780 And the judge himself said he's uncomfortable with overruling the decision of doctors.

00:34:58.420 But this is where we're at.

00:34:59.640 This is the whole argument today, Nigel, of MAID and especially with, you know, mental health coming in.

00:35:06.420 Well, being a freedom advocate, I do have an initial difficulty with removing the agency of any person.

00:35:16.240 This woman says she wants to do a certain thing. 1.00

00:35:18.280 And if she's of age, she should be able to, as long as it's legal, do what she wants.

00:35:27.560 But who among us, having children, will stand back and watch them destroy themselves when it is in our power to do something about it?

00:35:43.600 And this man, you're right, it's a complicated case, all right.

00:35:49.880 But this man is doing what I hope any parent would want to do if their child was putting themselves in risk of their life.

00:36:00.800 Whether it was taking medical assistance in dying, whether it was trying to hold them back from the brink of addiction.

00:36:09.280 People, just because somebody has passed the age of 18, may give them rights, but it doesn't remove the caring affection and the sense of responsibility that goes with being a parent.

00:36:27.120 And frankly, wherever it's a matter of preserving life, as opposed to ending life, the law should find a way to support the people who are trying to preserve life.

00:36:41.820 Well, and that's well said and covers a lot.

00:36:46.180 And something that's happened with this maid, as people refer to it, it's gone so much farther beyond what the original advocates envisioned.

00:36:54.620 It was Mike DeMoore who put me in touch with a gentleman who was a lawyer for Sue Rodriguez, if we remember that case back in the 90s, in Sven Robinson.

00:37:01.660 But she had a physiological debilitating condition. 0.82

00:37:06.420 It was a death sentence.

00:37:07.780 She was going to pass away anyways, and presumably without a very good quality of life for that period. 0.95

00:37:14.680 I think most people at that point thought, okay, she's of sound mind and has an unfortunate, terrible disease, and she wants to choose how it's going to end.

00:37:22.460 Perhaps that's what her ability should be able to do.

00:37:26.100 And I spoke with that lawyer and said, did you envision this being applied now to people with mental health issues?

00:37:31.020 And she said, no, no, of course not.

00:37:33.360 And his name escapes me now.

00:37:34.520 But, you know, that wasn't what they had in mind at all.

00:37:37.400 That's a whole different ball of wax.

00:37:39.680 I mean, you were talking about terminal people they were speaking of before, not somebody who's just, well, I shouldn't say just.

00:37:45.900 I mean, mental health issues are very serious and debilitating, but that wasn't what they had in mind.

00:37:51.700 And now when it's gone beyond into this, it adds a lot more question into whether it's a sound decision being made by the person.

00:37:58.320 You know, I want to just take us back 18 months to some work that was done by our friend and colleague, Linda Slobodian.

00:38:06.400 There we had, she was made aware of a young man, 23 years old, who had diabetes and was not happy with life.

00:38:17.840 And he found some quack in Toronto who was prepared to put him down.

00:38:25.400 Only when Linda's story was published here and picked up by numerous other media voices did it get uncomfortable to be that doctor and he withdrew from the case.

00:38:47.540 We haven't kept up with this young man, but we do know that three months after he was supposed to have received medical assistance in dying,

00:39:00.240 he was living in much happier circumstances with his grandparents, was busy about something and had a girlfriend

00:39:09.940 and wasn't interested in medical assistance in dying anymore.

00:39:14.820 Now, I don't know what the circumstances or the possibilities are for the young woman that we're talking about in this case.

00:39:21.660 We would hope that she too would find some fulfillment somewhere that would just take the whole matter off the table.

00:39:30.460 But while there is life, there is hope.

00:39:33.660 The MAID statistics in Canada are quite staggering.

00:39:36.680 We're leading the world and killing people.

00:39:38.600 And not just by a little bit, the growth is exponential.

00:39:44.160 Thousands and thousands of people in Quebec alone.

00:39:46.640 I think it was 15,600 or so last year.

00:39:50.820 And sorry, from 2022, we don't have the three numbers yet.

00:39:54.060 And that was, it was 10,000 the year before.

00:39:56.400 It had been 5,000 the year before that.

00:39:58.460 So yes, an exponential growth.

00:39:59.660 There's funeral homes in Quebec City that are setting up shop.

00:40:03.440 You know, come to us. 0.65

00:40:04.440 Well, you can die here and be basically in your coffin already. 0.99

00:40:08.640 I mean, it really is.

00:40:10.000 It is frightening.

00:40:11.080 And I think you're right.

00:40:12.520 I mean, we're all fathers here.

00:40:14.940 We'd do anything for our children, anything to keep them alive.

00:40:18.540 And, you know, what is the right?

00:40:22.020 What is the right of an adult?

00:40:23.000 When can an adult not make proper decisions?

00:40:30.820 And I don't know if that's really up to a maid doctor or something. 0.98

00:40:35.020 I'm not sure who makes that decision.

00:40:36.480 As you said, I mean, as the judge said, is it complicated and difficult?

00:40:40.780 There will never be an easy answer to that one.

00:40:44.180 He says he wants to make a ruling quickly.

00:40:46.720 This woman was scheduled to die April 1st. 0.99

00:40:49.360 April 1st.

00:40:50.480 And he says, look, there's no point in appealing this.

00:40:52.820 So, you know, over years, because by that point, this woman will be dead. 0.82

00:40:58.100 She will have got her an assisted suicide and appeals become meaningless. 1.00

00:41:02.160 So, yeah, it's going to go through the court system quite rapidly, I think.

00:41:06.280 Yeah.

00:41:07.020 And it's tragic.

00:41:08.860 You know, this is something that's kind of always been there.

00:41:11.660 But in the background, I mean, we've always kind of known the terminal cancer patient.

00:41:16.640 His caregiver might leave the room and say, there's your morphine button.

00:41:19.980 And, you know, if you push it once, it'll make you comfortable.

00:41:22.820 Be careful not to push it four times or it would give you an overdose.

00:41:26.200 I mean, that did happen.

00:41:29.560 It's more formalized kind of now.

00:41:31.820 You know, I think the fact that the three of us are trying to have this highly emotive situation talked about in a dispassionate way, it's very hard.

00:41:47.000 And I think we need to say that very, very sympathetic to the individuals involved and the pain that they feel.

00:41:58.240 So, being in a mental frame where death looks like a good option, there's something that we need to feel enormous sympathy for.

00:42:12.260 The father in the case have great empathy for somebody like that.

00:42:20.820 But, you know, they do say that hard cases make bad law.

00:42:26.560 And in the end, preserving life has got to be the priority.

00:42:33.560 Because you can get a second chance to litigate this, but you, if somebody lives through the first court hearing, but you don't get a second chance if it's all over.

00:42:45.060 And the precedent that this could set could be horrible.

00:42:50.640 Absolutely.

00:42:51.400 Well, we'll watch and see in this year.

00:42:53.980 We should err on the side of life when it comes to these things, in my view.

00:42:56.860 Just to be highly provocative, look at all the kids who are coming up with, they're getting their sex change. 0.85

00:43:03.060 They wait five years and suddenly find that this is terrible.

00:43:07.120 There are already high suicide rates amongst people who have had sex change operations.

00:43:11.560 I thought we were going to go an entire show without talking about gender.

00:43:15.500 Sorry, Dave.

00:43:16.380 I'm sorry.

00:43:17.040 Well, let's wrap it up just with a quick shot.

00:43:21.400 Our deputy prime minister certainly went and started a prairie fire, I guess.

00:43:26.040 She did.

00:43:26.540 Prairie fire is very good.

00:43:27.700 She was in Victoria unveiling some low-income housing.

00:43:32.500 I think the cheapest rent was like $2,100 a month.

00:43:35.340 So how anybody can afford that is beyond me.

00:43:37.960 But she says, when she was in Victoria, she says, everybody on the prairie dreams of retiring to British Columbia.

00:43:46.420 That would be their slice of heaven.

00:43:49.260 Well, I got a lot of prairie people a bit upset with Miss Freeland, including Tamara Leach, our Freedom Convoy leader, who said, you know, my slice of heaven would be you being unemployed. 1.00

00:44:00.580 So, yes, she did anger a lot of prairie folks with that. 0.99

00:44:06.940 But you know what?

00:44:08.200 There are a lot of BC people now fleeing BC to come to Alberta.

00:44:12.400 But you know what?

00:44:14.560 Alberta doesn't have the lakes like the Okanagan does.

00:44:18.180 Well, you know, I spent 25 years in BC.

00:44:23.900 But the best years that I spent in BC were up in the northeast, where you feel like you're in Alberta.

00:44:29.840 Anyway, Port St. John, Port Nelson, all those places.

00:44:33.080 Yeah, and I'm sure Miss Freeland was just making a little joke, and it's a silly joke, and it doesn't stand critical analysis.

00:44:45.580 But I must say that by the time that I left British Columbia, I felt very, very differently after dealing with the mentality on Vancouver Island.

00:44:54.700 And I remember driving up to come to the Calgary Herald in that old Chrysler that I had, and I got to the place by the highway with a big sign that says, welcome to Alberta.

00:45:11.260 And I pulled over, switched the engine off, got out of the car, and I knelt down, and I kissed the ground.

00:45:19.920 Your papal arrival.

00:45:21.320 No. You know, I mean, my parents were, lived and worked in Calgary for 40 years, and they retired to BC for one reason, one word only, winter.

00:45:32.220 Well, I mean, either way, every region of Canada has fantastic things about it, and downsides to that.

00:45:38.000 A lot of people take regional pride in where they're from.

00:45:41.020 It was just foolish on the part of Freeland to try and make a quip, because you do insult people. 0.96

00:45:46.160 Quick Dick with Dick, took a good rip at her as well, of course. 1.00

00:45:49.140 And Freeland's Alberta-born, let's not forget. 0.93

00:45:51.820 Yeah, peace remember.

00:45:52.940 Gosh, it was like 14 known.

00:45:56.140 Either way, it was ill-phrased, but she should have known better, but we say that a lot about her.

00:46:01.880 Anything to turn around those dismal pools in BC for the levels.

00:46:05.680 Yeah, well, it certainly didn't help them any in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Alberta, but I guess they've got nothing else. 0.82

00:46:10.340 No, you know, we've got bigger fish to fry with Miss Freeland than that, but it was a dumb thing to say.

00:46:15.360 Yeah, we'll take a poke at it while we can, anyways.

00:46:18.260 If you love the prairies, you love the coast, whatever.

00:46:22.040 Just don't start splitting up when you're a politician.

00:46:24.460 It's not a good idea.

00:46:25.360 All right, well, that's all the time we've got for today, guys, so thank you very much.

00:46:31.560 We covered a lot of ground.

00:46:32.720 With some good bovolating?

00:46:34.280 Is that what it is?

00:46:34.520 No, bloviating.

00:46:35.060 Bloviating, some good bloviating.

00:46:36.840 Yes, we did plenty.

00:46:37.900 I thought you were the chief bloviator tonight.

00:46:39.920 Well, that's what it says on the business, God.

00:46:42.020 Excellent.

00:46:42.920 All right.

00:46:43.740 Pinion editor.

00:46:45.000 Well, thank you guys, and thank all of you guys out there viewing and putting up with our bloviating.

00:46:50.980 Be sure to pass it along to your friends and neighbors, and take out a subscription with the Western Standard.

00:46:56.020 That's how we stay independent.

00:46:57.840 Again, for those who have subscribed, thank you very much.

00:47:00.080 We really appreciate it.

00:47:01.020 If you haven't yet, go on out there and get it.

00:47:03.200 It's full of fantastic content and well worth it.

00:47:06.360 We will see you all again at this time next week.

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Western Standard - March 14, 2024

The Pipeline： Trudeau⧸Smith meeting... was this just about carbon tax？

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