Western Standard - The trade war exposes Alberta’s biggest problem with Canada

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Marty Up North.

00:00:30.000 i'm not marty my name is josh anderson i have commandeered marty's show while he is off today

00:00:36.720 and we have quite the show lined up let's start off by getting into the top story of the day so

00:00:42.640 far american president donald trump has signed an executive order earlier today renaming lake

00:00:48.480 ontario lake america for official u.s federal use following through on a threat made as the trade war 0.99

00:00:56.240 with canada escalates and that's what today's show will come down to trade the elbows up idiots are 0.99

00:01:03.840 going to kill our economy the liberals spent the last 10 years pile driving it into the ground 1.00

00:01:08.880 they drove up taxes they buried businesses in red tape they ran chronic deficits they made housing

00:01:14.960 unaffordable they weakened investment they chased capital out of the country they turned canada

00:01:20.240 into a place where it is increasingly difficult to build anything produce anything or make a profit

00:01:24.880 doing it and then after spending a decade making canada less competitive they decided the answer

00:01:30.960 was to pick a fight with our largest trading partner because this is not just a government

00:01:35.360 that has been hostile to business it's been hostile to the industries that actually produce

00:01:39.360 wealth the liberals spent years attacking canadian energy they imposed a carbon tax that raises the

00:01:44.960 cost of transportation heating manufacturing and virtually everything else they brought in an oil

00:01:50.560 tanker ban that has made it harder for canadian energy to reach international markets they imposed

00:01:55.760 a federal impact assessment regime that created uncertainty and delay for major projects they

00:02:00.800 introduced legislation designed to restrict offshore energy development they killed northern

00:02:05.280 gateway they stalled energy east they watched as the trans mountain expansion was delayed over

00:02:10.560 budget and ultimately purchased by the federal government after they chased away all the private

00:02:15.040 interests. They treated pipelines as if they were moral failures instead of infrastructure.

00:02:21.140 They treated Canadian oil and gas workers as an embarrassment instead of an economic asset.

00:02:26.660 And now, after years of making Canada poorer, less productive, and less competitive,

00:02:31.920 the Liberals appear determined to lead us into a trade war with the United States.

00:02:36.260 Determined, I mean, it's already happening. And that would be concerning enough. What makes it

00:02:41.340 insane is that they want to lead us into a trade war with donald trump donald trump is not some

00:02:46.380 playground bully canada needs to stand up to so we can prove that we have self-esteem he's the

00:02:51.100 toughest guy in the league he's the president of the largest economy on earth he controls access

00:02:56.860 to the market that buys more canadian goods than the rest of the world combined he has spent a

00:03:01.100 decade telling everybody exactly how he thinks about trade leverage tariffs market access winning

00:03:07.740 and losing. You don't have to like it. You don't have to like him. But you have to understand the

00:03:13.000 man that you're negotiating with. And apparently, our strategy is to walk up to the biggest guy in

00:03:18.060 the league, slap him across the mouth, puff out our chest and announce that Canada will not be

00:03:23.660 intimidated. Okay, then what? Because here's the part nobody in Ottawa seems particularly

00:03:29.140 interested in discussing. What happens if he hits back? The United States imposed 50% tariffs on

00:03:35.160 roughly 20 billion dollars worth of Canadian goods after negotiations collapsed. In response,

00:03:42.260 Carney announced retaliatory Canadian tariffs that begin on September the 8th. This is escalation.

00:03:48.520 Escalation only makes sense when you have some reasonable theory of how you win.

00:03:52.920 So what is the Canadian theory of victory? Are we going to economically exhaust the United States?

00:03:58.900 Are we going to make Americans more dependent on the Canadian market than Canadians are on theirs?

00:04:04.040 Are we going to replace the American customer in six months?

00:04:08.140 A year? Two years?

00:04:10.520 Because in 2025, even after Canadian trade diversified somewhat,

00:04:15.900 71.7% of all Canadian merchandise exports still went to the United States.

00:04:21.460 71.7%.

00:04:24.020 That isn't a trading partner.

00:04:26.140 That's the gravitational center of the Canadian economy.

00:04:29.180 and Carney wants Canadians to believe that retaliating against that market demonstrates strength.

00:04:35.380 No. Strength is understanding leverage.

00:04:38.160 Strength is knowing the difference between what you want

00:04:40.660 and what you can actually compel another country to give you.

00:04:44.140 Strength is refusing to confuse national pride with economic strategy.

00:04:48.560 Donald Trump can hurt Canada far more easily than Canada can hurt Donald Trump.

00:04:53.580 That's not anti-Canadian. That's math.

00:04:56.580 The United States has more people.

00:04:59.180 more capital, more domestic demand, more industrial capacity, more military power,

00:05:05.760 and more bargaining leverage. Canada's great economic advantage has never been our ability

00:05:12.600 to overpower the United States. It has been privileged access to the United States.

00:05:18.560 And if your government strategy is to jeopardize that advantage because you think Canadians will

00:05:22.980 applaud you for standing up to Trump, you had better have one hell of a plan B.

00:05:27.800 And then there's Doug Ford.

00:05:29.220 He gets angry.

00:05:30.460 He starts yelling.

00:05:31.580 He says something outrageous.

00:05:33.460 Everybody cheers.

00:05:34.620 The cameras show up.

00:05:36.100 Doug Ford becomes Captain Canada for another afternoon.

00:05:39.560 Great television.

00:05:40.960 Terrible economics.

00:05:42.080 Because this week, Doug Ford has decided that apparently the trade war isn't escalating quickly enough.

00:05:48.120 Ford says that Canada can put, quote-unquote, massive pain on the United States.

00:05:53.260 He says Donald Trump is making a mistake by underestimating Canadians.

00:05:57.000 He says everything is on the table. Electricity, critical minerals, oil, uranium, potash, fuel.

00:06:03.820 He says the premier should get together and throw everything and the kitchen sink at the Americans.

00:06:09.360 And that brings us to perhaps my favorite line. 1.00

00:06:12.760 Donald Trump can kiss Ford's ass. That's the premier of Ontario. 1.00

00:06:17.540 The province with the largest manufacturing sector in Canada.

00:06:20.880 The center of the Canadian automotive industry.

00:06:23.680 The province whose economic fortunes are perhaps more closely connected to the American economy than anywhere else in the country.

00:06:31.780 And Doug Ford is standing there essentially saying, economic war? Bring it on.

00:06:36.360 What could possibly go wrong?

00:06:39.040 Well, Doug, quite a lot.

00:06:41.060 Because there is something deeply unserious about a politician talking about inflicting massive pain on your largest customer as though international trade were a bar fight.

00:06:51.560 This isn't roadhouse. You don't win because you're louder. You don't win because you swear more. You don't win because you wear a hat that says, buy Canadian. You win because you have leverage. And once again, apparently nobody wants to discuss the leverage.

00:07:07.780 Doug Ford says Donald Trump is underestimating Canada.

00:07:11.620 No, Doug Ford is dramatically overestimating Canada.

00:07:15.640 Those are two very different things.

00:07:17.500 Canada matters to the United States.

00:07:19.840 Absolutely.

00:07:20.960 We sell them oil, uranium, potash, electricity, aluminum, steel, and auto parts.

00:07:25.080 We have deeply integrated supply chains that would be extremely expensive and disruptive for the United States to replace.

00:07:32.120 Doug Ford apparently wants to take every strategic economic relationship Canada has with the United States

00:07:37.020 pile them onto the middle of the floor, pour gasoline over them, and stand there holding a match.

00:07:43.120 That's not negotiating. That's mutually assured stupidity. 1.00

00:07:47.620 Take electricity. Ford says Ontario could cut off electricity exports to the United States. 1.00

00:07:53.140 Sounds tough until you ask the obvious question.

00:07:57.260 Then what?

00:07:58.360 Canada exported about $3.3 billion worth of electricity to the United States last year.

00:08:02.840 More than 20 states import some Canadian electricity, and New York and Michigan are the major customers for Ontario Power.

00:08:10.360 So yes, Ontario can hurt them. Of course it can.

00:08:13.200 Prices would increase in some markets. Utilities would have to adjust. 0.91

00:08:16.560 Alternative generation would have to come online.

00:08:19.100 There would be disruption.

00:08:21.020 But they're not going to turn Manhattan off.

00:08:22.900 They're not going to shut Detroit down.

00:08:24.820 The United States produces vastly more electricity than the Canada exports to it.

00:08:29.440 The Americans adjust. Eventually, they replace what we sell them.

00:08:33.140 And then congratulations, Premier Ford, you have transformed a reliable Canadian export market into an American national security vulnerability.

00:08:41.360 What do you think Washington does next?

00:08:43.780 Do you think they say, boy, those Canadians sure showed us we'd better become even more dependent on Ontario electricity?

00:08:52.580 Of course not. They build around us.

00:08:54.560 They develop alternatives.

00:08:55.740 They change regulations.

00:08:56.960 They increase domestic production.

00:08:58.360 They build generation. They build transmission. They find another supplier wherever possible.

00:09:06.460 And the temporary leverage you had becomes permanently less valuable.

00:09:10.680 That's the danger of weaponizing trade. Once you demonstrate that you are willing to shut the tap off,

00:09:15.540 the customer has an enormous incentive to make sure you can never threaten them with that tap again.

00:09:20.280 The same applies to critical minerals, uranium, and it certainly applies to oil.

00:09:26.120 There are certain strategic advantages.

00:09:29.360 They should be used to create long-term commercial relationships that make Canada indispensable.

00:09:35.040 Instead, our political class increasingly talks about them like they are artillery shells.

00:09:40.940 Fire this one. Fire that one.

00:09:42.940 Maybe we'll shut off electricity. 0.93

00:09:44.840 Maybe we'll restrict oil.

00:09:46.580 Maybe we'll withhold minerals.

00:09:48.280 Maybe we'll tax exports.

00:09:49.540 And after we've fired every weapon we have, what then?

00:09:52.820 The American domestic market is considerably larger than ours, and that means that there is a fundamental problem with the entire elbows-up mentality.

00:10:03.700 It treats economic pain as evidence of patriotism.

00:10:07.720 Ford actually told the Associated Press that Canadians understand that they're going to have to sacrifice.

00:10:13.560 Think about that sentence.

00:10:15.840 They're going to have to sacrifice.

00:10:18.140 Who's they?

00:10:18.660 Doug Ford, Mark Carney, the people standing behind the podiums? No. A guy working at an auto plant in

00:10:26.220 Windsor, a woman running a small manufacturer in Kitchener, a trucking company, a farmer,

00:10:31.780 a steelworker, a parts supplier, a family whose grocery bill goes up because somebody in Ottawa

00:10:36.800 decided tariffs demonstrated national resolve. Those are the people who sacrifice. Politicians

00:10:43.440 declare economic wars. Ordinary people fight them. And I am getting extremely tired of wealthy

00:10:49.840 politicians talking about the sacrifices we need to make so those politicians can demonstrate how

00:10:54.740 tough they are. Doug Ford wants an economic war? Okay. What's the victory condition? I asked this

00:11:00.700 about Mark Carney, and I'll ask it again about Doug Ford. What does winning look like? Donald

00:11:05.420 Trump capitulates? The United States removes every tariff? Americans decide they're more afraid of

00:11:10.880 losing canadian electricity than canadians are of losing access to the u.s market what's the theory

00:11:17.580 because we'll hurt them too is not a strategy it's an emotion suppose somebody punches you in

00:11:25.760 the face you can punch him back maybe he deserves it but if he's six foot seven 280 pounds and

00:11:32.000 standing there asking if you'd like another round you might want a little bit more of a sophisticated 0.98

00:11:36.780 plan than I'm Canadian and I've got elbows. This is what drives me nuts about Doug Ford.

00:11:43.720 He should understand this better than anybody. Ontario's automotive industry exists because of

00:11:50.040 continental economic integration. Cars aren't really Canadian or American products anymore.

00:11:56.560 Parts cross that border over and over again. Engines, transmissions, electronics, steel,

00:12:01.860 components finished vehicles a north american automobile can cross the canada u.s border

00:12:08.200 multiple times during production that system was built over generations canadian built vehicles

00:12:14.480 represented roughly six percent of u.s vehicle sales last year and ford gm stelantis toyota

00:12:21.400 and honda all have major exposure to canadian production the latest tariff escalation is

00:12:27.440 already thrown future investment decisions into uncertainty. At some point, somebody needs to be

00:12:32.840 in the adult in the room. Somebody needs to say, our objective is not to prove that Canada can

00:12:38.000 damage the United States. Of course, we can damage the United States. But that damage comes at a

00:12:43.760 deeper cost to ourselves than to them. It's shooting ourselves in the foot to make a political

00:12:48.760 point. Canada's strategic objective should be painfully obvious. Preserve access to the American

00:12:55.400 market. Negotiate down tariffs. Use diplomacy and make the case directly to American businesses,

00:13:02.560 governors, members of Congress, consumers who benefit from Canadian trade. At the same time,

00:13:08.680 diversify aggressively. Build pipelines. Build LNG terminals. Build ports. Build mines. Build

00:13:15.140 transmission. Build processing facilities. Knock down interprovincial barriers. Make Canada the

00:13:20.680 Easiest place in the G7 to invest.

00:13:23.300 Get our products to Europe.

00:13:24.660 Get them to Asia.

00:13:25.620 Get them to India.

00:13:26.740 Get them anywhere someone wants to buy them. 0.78

00:13:30.000 For years, politicians in central Canada have treated energy as some dirty Alberta obsession.

00:13:35.880 Now suddenly they're discovering that depending overwhelmingly on one foreign market might be dangerous. 1.00

00:13:41.620 Economic independence isn't saying kiss my ass. 0.97

00:13:45.240 Economic independence is having somewhere else to sell your stuff after you say it. 0.99

00:13:50.020 And that's the part Doug Ford seems to be missing.

00:13:52.860 Because there is also something dangerous happening psychologically in Canada right now.

00:13:57.840 We have been confusing anger with patriotism.

00:14:02.260 The angrier you are at Trump, the more Canadian, apparently, you become.

00:14:06.240 Elbows up.

00:14:08.040 Where does that end?

00:14:09.300 Because economic nationalism has a habit of sounding wonderful right up until the unemployment numbers come out.

00:14:15.780 Patriotism means wanting your country to succeed.

00:14:18.040 it does not mean demanding that your country undertake economically self-destructive policies

00:14:22.840 because they make you feel good for 15 minutes well but then there's danielle smith because

00:14:29.540 while doug ford is running around talking about throwing everything in the kitchen sink at the

00:14:33.460 american danielle smith is asking an apparently revolutionary question what happens after we

00:14:39.560 throw it smith came out yesterday and rejected calls to tax or restrict alberta oil exports to

00:14:45.260 the United States. She was unequivocal. She said she could not imagine a more disastrous policy

00:14:51.400 decision than cutting off or taxing Alberta oil. And she's completely right. That's exactly the

00:14:57.600 distinction I'm talking about. There's a difference between having leverage and setting your leverage

00:15:02.000 on fire. Alberta's oil is leverage. It's enormous leverage. Roughly 4 million barrels of Canadian 0.76

00:15:08.740 crude moves south into the United States every day. Canadian crude accounts for nearly one-fifth

00:15:14.140 of american petroleum consumption that matters american refineries particularly in the midwest

00:15:20.560 have been physically designed around processing heavy canadian crude that's important these are

00:15:26.020 jobs refineries pipelines communities and entire regional economies on both sides of the border

00:15:31.520 that depend on that relationship that matters so naturally the elbows up crowd looks at one of

00:15:37.620 alberta's most valuable strategic assets and says you know what we should do tax it restrict it

00:15:43.400 Maybe shut it off.

00:15:45.820 Brilliant.

00:15:47.500 This is the economic equivalent of noticing that you have a really good hand in poker

00:15:51.360 and immediately throwing your cards into the fireplace.

00:15:54.600 Danielle Smith understands that's something that apparently Doug Ford does not.

00:15:59.360 When you weaponize a commercial relationship, you change the nature of that relationship.

00:16:04.060 Smith put it very simply.

00:16:05.440 If Canada takes an action against American energy supplies,

00:16:09.280 we should expect an equal and probably more forceful reaction.

00:16:14.420 Suppose Canada slaps a massive export tax on Alberta oil.

00:16:18.620 Americans retaliate. Fine.

00:16:20.820 Who gets hurt? Alberta does.

00:16:23.060 But it obviously doesn't stop at Alberta.

00:16:25.280 Eastern Canada imports refined petroleum products from the United States.

00:16:29.440 Gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel.

00:16:32.000 Ontario and Quebec are connected to the American refinery infrastructure too.

00:16:35.740 So now, Canada has deliberately turned a deeply integrated continental energy system into a weapon, and we are betting that the Americans blink first.

00:16:45.660 And what is exactly the basis for that confidence?

00:16:49.100 Smith warned that an escalating energy fight could cost hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs and push American refiners towards alternative heavy crude supplies, including Venezuela.

00:16:58.580 This is the strategic insanity of using energy exports as a political weapon.

00:17:02.800 You get one shot. One.

00:17:05.220 And after you fire it, the customer spends the next 10 years making sure the gun is never pointed at him again.

00:17:10.960 That's why Smith's position is actually more hard-headed than the people screaming about retaliation.

00:17:16.160 She isn't saying Alberta oil is unimportant.

00:17:18.620 She's saying the opposite.

00:17:20.460 It is too important to squander.

00:17:22.440 And look at the numbers.

00:17:24.040 Alberta exported nearly $111 billion worth of oil to the United States in 2025.

00:17:29.980 $111 billion.

00:17:30.980 And someone wants to explain to me that the patriotic thing to do is deliberately disrupt that trade.

00:17:38.060 Who's petroleum? The workers? The drillers? The welders? The engineers? The small-town business owners? The provincial treasuries?

00:17:44.920 Because once again, the people proposing these grand dressers are usually not the people whose livelihoods are being put on the negotiating table.

00:17:52.460 Jason Kenney has now joined calls to consider using energy exports as leverage

00:17:57.220 on the very same day, essentially the same day that he announces a new partnership

00:18:02.420 with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce,

00:18:04.740 taming up with former NDP Premier Rachel Notley to defend staying in Canada.

00:18:10.960 And the entire provincial NDP is moving in that direction.

00:18:16.040 Doug Ford wants everything on the table.

00:18:18.440 Danielle Smith is saying, no, oil stays flowing.

00:18:21.820 So there's something deeply ironic about Alberta having to explain free trade to the rest of Canada.

00:18:29.180 For years, we begged for pipelines.

00:18:31.160 We begged for market access.

00:18:32.720 We begged for export capacity.

00:18:34.520 We begged Ottawa to understand that selling energy into one market was a strategic vulnerability.

00:18:41.460 Build west.

00:18:42.320 Build east.

00:18:43.000 Get to Tidewater.

00:18:43.940 Sell LNG.

00:18:44.860 Sell oil. 1.00

00:18:45.660 Find Asian customers. 1.00

00:18:46.800 Find European customers. 0.99

00:18:48.220 Diversify.

00:18:48.780 And for years, Central Canada has treated that argument as if it was some pericule Alberta complaint.

00:18:56.400 Now suddenly, everyone has discovered the danger of depending on the United States.

00:19:01.380 Great! Welcome to reality.

00:19:04.040 If Alberta has one dominant customer, America has the leverage.

00:19:08.160 If Alberta has five serious customers competing for its energy, Alberta has leverage.

00:19:12.380 Canada has leverage. It's that simple.

00:19:14.980 And yet Canadian governments have spent decades making that harder.

00:19:18.780 Even today, Trump is publicly talking about Keystone XL.

00:19:22.500 Well, another project, the Smith's West Coast Pipeline, is being explored as a way to move more Alberta crude.

00:19:32.020 And this brings us to the question that I think is becoming much more important than anybody in Alberta wants to admit.

00:19:40.720 What happens on October the 20th?

00:19:43.060 Because on October the 19th, Alberta is voting on whether we should remain a province of Canada or whether the provincial government should begin the legal process required to hold a future binding referendum on independence.

00:19:56.060 Now, Smith has been unclear about when this will happen.

00:19:58.720 Says maybe in the spring.

00:20:00.420 I think she says probably not in the spring because there's laws that, well, you wrote.

00:20:05.520 So, yeah, I don't know if we'll get into that.

00:20:08.400 But if option two wins, Danielle Smith has said she intends to move fairly quickly towards that binding vote.

00:20:15.700 Fine. We know what happens if option two wins.

00:20:19.400 If Canada enters one of the most consequential constitutional debates in its history, Alberta has to respond.

00:20:26.300 Alberta has to define what independence actually means.

00:20:29.760 There are negotiations. There are questions about debt, pension, pensions, borders, citizenships, treaties, currency, trade, assets, resources, federal lands, military facilities, everything.

00:20:41.520 It's an enormous undertaking.

00:20:44.420 But I want to ask the opposite question.

00:20:47.720 What happens if option two loses?

00:20:50.980 What happens on October the 20th?

00:20:53.080 Because I don't think anybody has really thought through that possibility.

00:20:56.300 do all of the people who support alberta independence just disappear do they wake up

00:21:02.980 the next morning and say well we tried canada forever problem solved of course not of course

00:21:09.640 not the referendum can settle a ballot question but it cannot automatically settle the political

00:21:15.540 conditions that produce the question those conditions did not appear six months ago

00:21:20.840 because somebody created a facebook page they've been building for decades equalization fiscal

00:21:26.040 transfers energy policy pipelines federal environmental regulations senate representation

00:21:31.720 federal provincial federal intrusion into provincial jurisdiction western alienation

00:21:36.760 a sense justified or not that alberta has expected to provide enormous economic benefit

00:21:42.600 to the federation while accepting political decisions made elsewhere those issues still

00:21:47.480 exist on october the 20th now add something else look at the language that's entered into this

00:21:53.240 debate treason think about that word it's not misguided they don't use wrong they don't call

00:22:02.720 it economically reckless or constitutionally difficult they're calling it treason the

00:22:08.920 assembly of treaty chiefs went so far as to ask the rcmp to investigate whether smith and members

00:22:14.440 of her government had potentially committed treason in connection to the referendum smith

00:22:19.600 called the accusation disgraceful and said that that kind of language had no place in democratic

00:22:25.180 debate whatever you think about the underlying treaty dispute she was right about that because

00:22:31.260 treason is one of the most serious words available in political language it means betrayal of your

00:22:35.820 country historically it means betrayal so profound that it becomes a crime against the state and now

00:22:42.000 we're throwing that language around about people who want to vote people who want to put a

00:22:46.080 constitutional question to the electorate that's dangerous not because alberta independence must

00:22:52.200 win it may lose it may lose badly that's just democracy but if you spend an entire campaign

00:22:59.160 telling one side that their political beliefs amount to treason what exactly do you expect

00:23:04.620 those people to find feel when the campaign is finished will they feel welcomed back into

00:23:10.620 confederation do they feel heard do they feel reassured or do they conclude that the federation

00:23:17.460 they were questioning never had much interest in understanding them in the first place

00:23:21.480 referendums have consequences even when they fail sometimes especially when they fail

00:23:28.160 if ref if option two receives 20 of the vote that's one political reality if it receives 35

00:23:35.400 percent that's another if it receives 45 percent and narrowly loses that's something else entirely

00:23:41.000 if it wins it wins i think uh most of our viewers want that to happen but imagine that suppose 45

00:23:49.560 percent of albertans vote to begin the process towards independence then what are they all

00:23:55.800 traitors are we going to spend october 20th celebrating the fact canada defeated them

00:24:01.480 Is Ottawa going to declare the matter closed?

00:24:05.200 Is the national media going to announce that separatism has been crushed?

00:24:10.540 Because that would be an extraordinary mistake.

00:24:13.800 45% doesn't disappear because 55% won.

00:24:18.280 Those people still live here.

00:24:19.600 They still vote.

00:24:20.540 They still pay taxes.

00:24:21.740 They still work in the oil patch.

00:24:23.100 They still own businesses.

00:24:24.200 They still raise family.

00:24:25.480 They are still Albertans.

00:24:27.100 And if you want Alberta to remain in Canada over the long term, these are precisely the people you need to persuade that Canada works for them.

00:24:35.560 Not humiliate, not criminalize, not demonize. Persuade. That's how a federation is supposed to function.

00:24:43.400 And this is where Danielle Smith's comments about oil become much bigger than the argument about export taxes.

00:24:49.520 Because listen to what is happening.

00:24:51.580 The rest of the country is openly discussing using Alberta's greatest economic asset as a weapon in a national trade dispute.

00:24:59.800 Tax the oil, restrict the oil, use the oil as leverage, make Alberta energy part of Canada's retaliation against Donald Trump.

00:25:08.580 And then some of those same voices turn around and wonder why Albertans wonder whether they have sufficient control over their own economic future.

00:25:17.000 You can't have it both ways. You can't say that Alberta's resources are a national weapon when Ottawa needs leverage and then say that Alberta has no legitimate when Albertans ask who should control those resources.

00:25:29.660 That contradiction is going to matter enormously over the next two months.

00:25:34.820 Section 92A of the Constitution did not appear by accident.

00:25:39.040 Provincial jurisdiction over natural resources is not some technical footnote.

00:25:42.800 It is a fundamental bargain of Canadian federalism, a bargain that appears to be coming a part of the scene.

00:25:49.460 Alberta controls Alberta's natural resources.

00:25:52.460 And right now, Smith is saying something very simple.

00:25:55.700 We're not going to destroy our own industry so Ottawa can look tough in a trade war.

00:26:01.340 Good.

00:26:02.560 But the independence movement is going to ask the next question.

00:26:06.220 What if Ottawa eventually decides otherwise?

00:26:10.160 What if federal political pressure becomes overwhelming?

00:26:14.300 What if another federal government decides Alberta's resources must once again be subordinated to some national objective?

00:26:22.160 What mechanism does Alberta possess to stop it?

00:26:25.340 That's where this debate goes.

00:26:27.740 And saying treason does not answer that question.

00:26:31.060 Calling independent supporters disloyal does not answer that question.

00:26:34.660 Waving the Canadian flag does not answer that question.

00:26:38.420 You have to answer the argument.

00:26:40.440 Why is Alberta better off inside Canada?

00:26:43.040 What does Confederation offer Alberta?

00:26:45.660 What constitutional protections will actually be respected?

00:26:49.080 How will federalism work differently?

00:26:51.180 What happens when Ottawa and Alberta fundamentally disagree?

00:26:54.520 These are legitimate questions and federalists should want to answer them, but they won't.

00:26:59.960 Because they don't have the answers.

00:27:02.120 If Canada cannot make a compelling case for itself without demonizing the people asking questions, Canada has a much bigger problem than one referendum.

00:27:12.580 Danielle Smith now says herself that she is voting to remain in Canada.

00:27:17.160 She has defended holding the referendum anyways, arguing that hundreds of thousands of Albertans demanded a resolution and the province needs clarity about what Albertans actually want.

00:27:26.820 I think that's important.

00:27:28.700 But the problem already exists.

00:27:31.040 the referendum reveals it and doing what the NDP and and some of the federalists want by

00:27:37.880 canceling the referendum won't make the problem disappear it doesn't postponing it doesn't make

00:27:44.180 equalization disappear calling it divisive doesn't resolve constitutional grievances calling the

00:27:50.240 people behind it traitors certainly doesn't solve anything at some point democratic societies have

00:27:56.300 to be willing to ask difficult questions and sometimes yeah the answer is no maybe albertans

00:28:02.340 vote overwhelmingly to remain in canada maybe they look at independence and decide the risks

00:28:06.620 are too great maybe they decide reforming confederation is preferable it's perfectly

00:28:10.840 legitimate result but then october the 20th becomes incredibly important because the responsibility

00:28:17.580 shifts if alberta is saying we're saying then canada has to decide what staying means does it

00:28:24.460 mean going back to the status quo does it mean ottawa pats alberta on the head says well glad

00:28:30.660 that's over and carries on does it mean that the next federal governments go straight back to

00:28:36.060 fighting alberta over energy emissions resource development and provincial jurisdiction because

00:28:40.740 if that's what happens congratulations you haven't defeated alberta independence you've scheduled the

00:28:45.820 next referendum that's what people need to understand a no vote cannot simply be interpreted

00:28:52.140 as an endorsement of the status quo there will be people voting option one because they love canada

00:28:57.980 there will be people voting option one because independence frightens them there will be people

00:29:02.300 voting option one because they don't think the economic case has been made there will be people

00:29:06.640 voting option one because they think the constitutional options are too great who are

00:29:11.200 people who are furious with ottawa just not prepared to leave like that those things are

00:29:16.080 not the same. And if Ottawa interprets every option one vote as everything is fine, then nothing

00:29:22.340 has been learned. Which brings me back to the trade war. Right now, Alberta is being presented

00:29:29.300 with a fascinating demonstration of its place inside Confederation. Our industries are suddenly

00:29:34.880 indispensable. When Canada needs leverage against the United States, our resources suddenly become

00:29:41.080 national strategic assets it's funny how that works the industry canada spent years constraining

00:29:47.300 suddenly becomes a thing everyone wants to put on the negotiating table and danielle smith is

00:29:52.580 saying no so i'm kind of a little like it's frustrating so i guess uh now i can move into

00:30:01.400 the calls do we have any nothing okay join the conversation uh call us at 866-479-9378

00:30:10.820 i guess i can kind of go a little bit uh let's talk about the canadian chamber of commerce's

00:30:15.260 recent announcement to put jason kenny and rachel notley on stage together um i i don't uh i don't

00:30:21.860 think this is going to go the way that kenny and or notley sorry kenny and notley uh oh there's

00:30:28.700 questions in the chat oh let me pull that up good call all right let's let's go through the chats

00:30:36.640 here this is a good one new york times oh here's a good one i don't i didn't get to uh canadian

00:30:48.300 officials confirm that carney has his jack boot on the neck of albertans for leverage keystone xl

00:30:54.900 is blockaded by ottawa and carney is trying to trade for benefits to subsidize laurentian

00:31:00.160 industries and yeah like i i didn't even get a chance to talk about supply management uh and

00:31:05.800 some of these these areas like every time i see doug ford standing in front of a protect ontario

00:31:11.200 sign i think i'm i'm done with this country everything we do is geared towards helping

00:31:17.020 the east if if keystone was really on the table and not being used as a bargaining chip to protect

00:31:23.440 um oh uh to protect supply management like we'd have a a different conversation we do have a call

00:31:32.900 on the line um hello can you hear me uh good morning yes i can uh can you make that louder john

00:31:45.860 hello hello yeah you're on the air hello good hi there yeah my question was i just wanted to ask

00:31:54.100 In regards to if the referendum should fail, is there anything where we could start some sort of, maybe what you will, independent provincial political party?

00:32:08.160 I think there's a lot of ways this will go, and it really depends on that, the number.

00:32:13.700 Like, if it's an 80-20 split, which I don't think it will be, I think it's going to be much higher.

00:32:20.520 um i think uh creating a new party there's going to need to be conflicts within the existing ones

00:32:29.280 um and and leadership races are a great way as we've we're seeing in bc right now the fallout to

00:32:35.740 the uh the leadership race where peter millibar supporters are leaving the bc

00:32:40.500 conservatives that if there's a a vacancy at the top uh it has a tendency to create more friction

00:32:47.120 within it. And, and at a federal level, I think, uh, I'm watching the, uh, state of Pierre Polyev's,

00:32:53.800 uh, uh, his leadership very closely. Uh, Pierre, I like Pierre. I, I wish I had an answer for him

00:33:02.200 to help, uh, with the polls. I think, uh, I think again, just the elbows up the, the anti-Trump

00:33:07.840 patriotism is kind of working against him, but let's say Doug Ford, Corey Tanek, those guys,

00:33:14.320 they get rid of them they manage to either by getting enough MPs or or through a leadership

00:33:20.500 review process uh in the conservative party constitution they they turf them and there's

00:33:26.600 a leadership race to replace them and we get some Laurentian establishment figure I don't know

00:33:31.840 Carolyn Mulrooney for example I don't think the party will stay together and and I don't know how

00:33:39.600 it'll play provincially uh we can get into that in a second but if that's the case then i do think

00:33:48.140 that there will be an impetus for a new western base party or perhaps a alberta block a block

00:33:54.880 alberta um you've obviously changed the name but um i think that that anger has to go somewhere

00:34:04.060 um and and honestly there's i had uh former cabinet ministers uh alberta cabinet ministers

00:34:11.740 i've had conversations with them that there's always a latent independence movement in alberta

00:34:16.500 like i'd say there's when times are fantastic uh when we have conservative part uh conservatives

00:34:24.340 in power in ottawa and we have uh you know republicans in the u.s and things are going

00:34:30.780 good and our western alberta's economy is booming ottawa is not imposing uh draconian measures on

00:34:39.780 our industries that even then there's a latent 20 support but what you have uh in the federal

00:34:48.480 party are distinct regions that don't always align and we're seeing that right now we're

00:34:54.580 seeing that with the ontario conservatives uh that are very much it's this is about protecting

00:34:59.820 their industries above above the nation they're they're much more paternalistic in the way that

00:35:05.100 they approach governing uh doug ford uh wears the conservative logo but a lot of people out west

00:35:10.900 would you know it's one of those things like i worked at the uh alberta legislature before coming

00:35:15.940 back here and i always said if it's coming out of queen's park which is the ontario legislature

00:35:19.320 i don't want it i don't want to see it uh so i think that kind of creates tension within the

00:35:25.680 federal party um provincially it's a different story i think a lot of the anger is already

00:35:32.100 internalized i think the uh ucp membership is strongly in support of at least taking a stronger

00:35:41.760 stance on ottawa i think in terms of independence that we'll see where the vote lines up but

00:35:46.680 obviously the the large portion of independent supporters are already embedded within the ucp i

00:35:52.780 have heard rumors out of Edmonton rumors not fact that Smith is planning on pivoting away from the

00:36:00.420 this pro Ottawa stance sometime in the fall I think now is probably the time to move on that

00:36:07.900 like especially if Keystone was being used as a bargaining chip and it's not just in the

00:36:16.300 conversation and Carney's pulling it off the table like that to me is like an absolute red

00:36:21.400 flagged it. You can't trust this MOU. You can't trust the federal government to follow through

00:36:27.040 on this. So provincially, I think within Alberta, there's less of a chance of a split. I think

00:36:34.860 Smith does have an opportunity or at least will be given an opportunity to reverse course. But

00:36:41.260 I mean, I don't know if it's too little too late. I mean, I think that was one of the issues with

00:36:46.540 her trying to reestablish herself after crossing the floor to the pcs i mean the pc party

00:36:51.460 rejected her at her own riding level because they didn't trust her so it's one of those things where

00:36:58.440 there is a tremendous amount of anger towards the premier on this particular topic and whether she

00:37:06.400 can find her groove again and and this is one where i was going to come on the air a couple

00:37:13.020 weeks ago um and basically declare rob anderson's free alberta strategy dead um i'm not gonna i'm

00:37:20.540 not there right now um obviously i had to deal with some personnel stuff in the office so i had

00:37:25.600 to can the episode but i think uh their approach to trade has been an area that the free alberta

00:37:33.240 strategy shines um it's the concept that alberta should have uh its own negotiation strategy it

00:37:40.320 should be representing its interests on the international stage because we can't trust the

00:37:46.880 federal government to negotiate for us and based on what we're seeing now with keystone being used

00:37:52.240 as a as a chip i mean i i think that proves that point but the rest of it uh you know like i'd like

00:37:59.060 to see the sovereignty act used more i think we're going to need to you know oh actually that was

00:38:04.520 working for a second there's a lot that we have to do so um yeah i i think uh internally to the

00:38:12.380 ucp she's gonna have to pivot otherwise there's going to be a revolt i don't think uh it's gonna

00:38:20.400 happen immediately but she's losing me pretty quickly here uh do we have any other callers

00:38:26.820 no i can go through the comments uh oh i'm still here yes uh howdy from parkland county oh is he

00:38:36.240 still on the line can you go ahead yeah i don't hear him okay carney doesn't understand uh david

00:38:49.720 w carlson says carney doesn't understand how important trump's national security strategy

00:38:54.700 or Monroe Doctrine is to the safety and security of the Western Hemisphere.

00:38:59.140 That's a great point.

00:39:00.340 I think Mark Carney's next public appearance, I'm guessing,

00:39:04.120 will be at the European Parliament.

00:39:06.000 Coming up, there's an important speech that somebody's giving.

00:39:08.780 I don't pay attention to the European Parliament.

00:39:11.060 But you also have Carney's position on China.

00:39:17.240 And Stockwell Day was just, if I could find the article here,

00:39:20.460 he was just talking about this the other day.

00:39:24.700 the whole thing annoys me about the liberals and how close they are with the federal government

00:39:33.960 or with the chinese government uh china is not a democracy um we've seen justin trudeau talking

00:39:41.380 about it is it you know like the the language that he uses is rather you know kind to the chinese and 0.57

00:39:48.960 And Trump's right in the sense that you can't trust the Chinese.

00:39:53.400 So what we could have in terms of North American trade is a trade agreement in which Carney tries to push some new world order on us. 0.88

00:40:08.580 One that, you know, gets us closer with China and Europe.

00:40:12.820 and it just ignores the fact that you know the united states like historically and currently is

00:40:18.960 the economy that drives the world economy i mean when the u.s economy collapses you get a situation

00:40:25.940 where the rest of the world follows suit fairly quickly 2008 started in the united states uh 1929

00:40:33.620 started in the united states like since probably the 1900s the united states is the most powerful

00:40:42.040 economy in the world our growth our economic like if you even look at where we situate ourselves in

00:40:47.920 this country i mean something like 95 of the population lives within two hours of the border

00:40:53.460 i mean we are in the position we're in as a country because of our proximity to the united

00:40:59.500 states it's not because of you know innovations within our economy the greatest of innovation in

00:41:06.780 And what's the, in the last 50 years, since penicillin,

00:41:10.800 what's the greatest invention that a Canadian has contributed

00:41:13.960 that has become its own industry? 0.99

00:41:17.920 There isn't one.

00:41:19.340 Like, AI is not Canadian.

00:41:22.080 Computers, like, Microsoft, Apple, that's American.

00:41:27.160 Like, we aren't in a place where we can say, like,

00:41:30.400 look at how great we are as a country.

00:41:32.880 Like, elbows up.

00:41:34.040 Like, we are.

00:41:35.420 It makes me laugh.

00:41:36.620 it literally makes me laugh that this is where we are um but yeah no it is a hundred percent like

00:41:43.040 we need to be concerned about our economy and if we move away from the united states i think

00:41:51.700 that's going to lead to economic issues down the road so yes thank you for pointing out the

00:41:56.660 Yeah, Manoa Doctrine, National Security.

00:42:05.940 Rucking Hound says,

00:42:07.800 what do you think about Peter Navarro and his comments on the trade deal?

00:42:11.100 I haven't seen them.

00:42:14.160 I am taking questions from the comments until somebody calls in.

00:42:18.040 So there's the 1-800 number at the bottom of your screen.

00:42:21.640 What Doug Ford wants, according to Jacob Snyder,

00:42:25.280 What Doug Ford wants is a permanent export tariff on oil and gas

00:42:28.940 so they can get subsidized like prior to 1931.

00:42:33.500 Yeah, potentially.

00:42:34.860 I mean, I can't speak for Doug Ford in that fact,

00:42:37.180 but I do think that one of the issues with losing,

00:42:40.400 with option two losing in October is you got to think,

00:42:45.700 like, what can we lose here?

00:42:47.380 I mean, we lose our leverage.

00:42:51.820 We just voted to stay in the country.

00:42:54.580 And the loudest advocates for federalism are the ones that have provided none of the solutions.

00:43:01.220 Like, we're going to stay, and then what?

00:43:06.040 What does Carney do?

00:43:07.340 Do we get a national energy strategy?

00:43:09.720 We know the budgets have been atrocious.

00:43:12.260 We're running massive deficits.

00:43:14.160 They're desperate for money.

00:43:16.160 Where are they going to get it?

00:43:17.180 How are they going to get it?

00:43:18.560 There's only one way to get it, fast.

00:43:21.460 And that's to come after Alberta.

00:43:23.000 That's to come after our resources.

00:43:24.580 That's to tax the crap out of us to pay for services that aren't paid here.

00:43:29.600 Albertans, as of right now, as of I think the last time I did this was 2024, 25 numbers, but we pay about 15 percent of all federal taxes, like all the money that goes into the federal coffers.

00:43:41.180 Fifteen percent of it comes from Alberta.

00:43:43.320 And there's about 11 percent of the people of the Canadian population that lives here.

00:43:47.040 So every time that there's a federal transfer, a fiscal transfer, it's 11%, 11.6 or whatever.

00:43:55.560 So there's a discrepancy of, well, if you think about every dollar in federal tax, 4 over 15, that's 25%, 20% of every federal tax dollar that Albertans pay just goes to everyone else and we don't see it back here.

00:44:13.340 That could get worse.

00:44:14.540 like i think that's kind of the issue um kenny and notley say we should stay in canada that's

00:44:24.740 even more of a reason to be independent and that again yeah like i i thought about doing a poll

00:44:30.000 uh asking people to rate the last five prime ministers to see you know what people thought

00:44:35.940 of kenny and notley relative to the situation but it's you have two former premiers that

00:44:42.580 we're virtually tossed from office one toss the other one out and to me it's almost like a perfect

00:44:50.600 political transformation that jason kenney goes from being a you know true blue driving his blue

00:44:57.200 dodge round ram around the province acting like he's some savior of conservative politics in this

00:45:03.820 country that is now sharing stages with liberal mp cory hogan and by the way he's a liberal mp

00:45:10.940 there is a conservative candidate in that writing i can't remember who it is but you have like he is 0.97

00:45:17.380 i he's a traitor he's a traitor he's a traitor to this province like he all he cares about 0.97

00:45:23.120 is how many tweets he can do he is like just so dismissive like it's his demeanor 0.99

00:45:29.640 personally i think every time he opens his mouth at least five people that read his tweet decide

00:45:35.180 I'm voting I'm voting to leave it's the and then he cherry picks the worst examples he can find

00:45:44.220 and then props them up like it is literally straw man I I had a lot of respect for him in 2017

00:45:50.900 I have no time for him and plus we have actually reached out to him and I'm going to say it on the

00:45:57.660 air we have we have challenged Jason Kenney to a debate with Derek Fildemar twice he has not

00:46:02.660 answered us. He won't get on a stage with Derek Vildebrandt. Why would he do that? He's got

00:46:08.080 nothing. Moving on. Oh, we got, uh, hi, Blitz DC 20. Hi, I'm from Brazil and sending a hug to

00:46:22.840 everyone in Alberta. Well, thank you. Uh, what else do we got here?

00:46:32.660 they want a 25 tax on oil and gas and they want to force us to shut down all our power plants and

00:46:45.440 pay huge transmission costs from new nuclear plants in ontario yeah i think that's kind of

00:46:51.760 worst case um but again we gotta be concerned about what happens on october the 20th and

00:46:58.860 And I think that's why, for a lot of people,

00:47:01.740 I'm very much in the camp that option two needs to win.

00:47:05.480 And it's not because I want to leave the country tomorrow.

00:47:10.880 It's because I want all the leverage.

00:47:13.640 If we lose that referendum, what are we going to do to stop Carney?

00:47:19.800 We know what he really is, or at least what he's written he is over the years.

00:47:24.780 We know how he ran the Bank of England into the ground.

00:47:27.140 We know how big of a role he played in the Remain side of the Brexit vote

00:47:32.380 and how that went for him.

00:47:35.000 I mean, he wasn't exactly a brilliant Bank of Canada governor.

00:47:39.480 I think he was good as the Bank of England governor.

00:47:44.120 I think he was better as the Bank of Canada governor,

00:47:46.320 but I think that was mainly because Stephen Harper was the prime minister.

00:47:49.860 I mean, if Carney had his own way, I think things would have gone differently.

00:47:53.700 Oh, we got one person, Bobber.

00:47:56.520 Carney is the only one who can stand up to Trump.

00:47:59.500 Yeah, okay.

00:48:02.700 Take the questions in the chat.

00:48:04.860 Carney's a conservative.

00:48:06.080 Wow, they are coming in fast.

00:48:08.540 Yes, I mentioned off the top,

00:48:10.740 Lori Dodd says Trump just renamed Lake Ontario

00:48:13.080 to Lake America Executive Order Effect live immediately.

00:48:23.120 I mean, it's a bit childish,

00:48:24.900 but Doug Ford hasn't exactly made the situation any better.

00:48:29.140 I mean, his comments have been equally as irascible.

00:48:36.320 It's one of those things where, like, I don't want this trade.

00:48:40.160 I'd like a deal.

00:48:41.140 I'd like a deal.

00:48:41.920 I'd like a deal that protects the energy industry.

00:48:45.940 I mean, the energy industry is the industry that powers every other industry.

00:48:48.840 You can't have affordable anything without affordable energy. 0.99

00:48:52.120 um yeah kiss my ass he says it's you're asking for it at this point like you're literally 0.99

00:49:01.140 asking for it like as far as i'm concerned trump does or ford deserves it like this is 1.00

00:49:08.840 you who are asking to get punched in the face by the most powerful man in the world

00:49:14.580 like yeah and and again it's not like we've had we've been we it's not like we've matched them

00:49:23.360 in economic growth over the last 10 years it's not like we've matched them in investment it's

00:49:27.740 not like we've matched them anywhere else like we are very much a middle power i mean we finished

00:49:34.860 what ninth at the winter olympics like we're the like ninth we didn't even win golden hockey

00:49:41.660 um what else we got we've got some debates in the comments go check out the comments if you

00:49:52.200 want to see something interesting can you just start throwing them up on the screen so i'm not

00:49:56.460 scrolling for option two loses canada will immediately have a snap election win his

00:50:03.200 super majority and then he will implement a tax on alberta oil exports to the usa and our economy

00:50:09.560 will crater yeah that's a possibility i mean nothing's off the table it's it's one of those

00:50:15.860 things where like yeah they're using fear to kind of try to drive this pro canada stance but i think

00:50:21.980 like for albertans we need to be afraid of what happens if this referendum goes the other way

00:50:26.220 like if like we're that's what goes back to my earlier comments like you've got a situation where

00:50:33.040 the the rhetoric and the voices that are coming out of the federal government or out of the

00:50:38.060 stay in canada side is is is framing things as if for proposing the concept of independence

00:50:44.440 you're a traitor like you're the worst person and and if that's the feeling you get and if that's

00:50:51.080 what the polls are reading in ontario if that's what the polls are reading in quebec if that's 0.98

00:50:55.520 what the polls are reading in anywhere the reaction of the federal government is going to be that much

00:51:01.100 harder they're going to be harder on us they're going to be they're going to have all the

00:51:05.360 flexibility to do this and they're going to have

00:51:07.480 they're going to say these guys just 0.68

00:51:09.160 traitors, traitors, get them 0.97

00:51:10.920 so yeah

00:51:13.140 no, I'm worried about what happens after, that is my

00:51:15.440 main thrust right now

00:51:16.680 why is it only, William Campbell says

00:51:19.420 why is it only Team Canada

00:51:21.140 when the rest of the country

00:51:23.420 wants Alberta to do something

00:51:25.440 but when Alberta wants something

00:51:27.280 we get told no, I think

00:51:29.320 this time Alberta needs to tell 1.00

00:51:31.400 Canada to kiss my ass 1.00

00:51:32.940 I agree, Mark Carney 1.00

00:51:35.180 can kiss my ass is that good enough for you the canadian federal government is captured by the 0.99

00:51:43.580 ccp alberta independence is the only way to save a piece of canada and i i actually think that's a 0.99

00:51:49.740 good point and i haven't read the article recently but our publisher derek phildebrandt wrote

00:51:53.500 a very very thoughtful column where he taught where he reminisced about what canada meant to

00:51:58.460 him about what you know he he was an army brat grew up you know all over the country and and

00:52:04.860 there is a certain way that this country has gone in the last 10 years where it it's almost

00:52:12.680 recognizable not only on an economic level but on a cultural level i i it's it's hard to explain i

00:52:21.140 think you get it but it's we have seen a loss in certain values values like hard work entrepreneurship

00:52:32.660 innovation like why would you create something if you're going to get taxed to sell it like at the

00:52:39.220 rate that we're getting taxed on it's it's brutal cp cb fixes all 9202 says her only move is to

00:52:48.520 Implement the firewall letter immediately to push for Alberta sovereignty.

00:52:54.500 Yeah, actually, I think there's quite a few things that she can do.

00:53:00.200 Let's start with, is it still up?

00:53:12.280 Let me find it here.

00:53:18.520 yeah like and i think the frustrating part is that

00:53:24.500 the anti-alberta independent sentiment the canadian pride at all costs is permeated

00:53:34.440 not just not just through the public sphere in the rest of the country i think that it

00:53:44.140 has firmly entrenched itself in the Alberta legislature building I think the concept of

00:53:48.420 standing up for Alberta against federal intrusion which is in my opinion the absolute baseline of

00:53:55.740 what a new deal should look like is off the table as long as we have this attitude it's it's amongst

00:54:03.300 the cabinet ministers it's amongst the staffers it's amongst maybe not the backbenchers but

00:54:10.180 But that's kind of what I see is a situation where Smith is being pulled one way by forces within her party and then the professional conservatives, as I like to call them, now that they've burned Pierre Polyev's chances at prime ministership to the ground are now being hired in senior government positions after four months of experience in a losing cause.

00:54:34.000 Like, I mean, if they won, we'd be having a different conversation entirely, but they lost.

00:54:38.120 So we have this. It's it's it's the culture, the culture in the legislature does not adhere to standing up for our province, even the bare minimum, like the firewall letter, which we haven't seen any of them implemented.

00:54:53.380 We've seen certain aspects, you know, looked at, but at the end of the day, like pension plan, for example, we released a report, fumbled it, and then moved forward.

00:55:10.300 We got a call on the line.

00:55:11.260 Let's go to the air.

00:55:14.180 Hi there.

00:55:15.220 Hello.

00:55:16.260 How's it going?

00:55:17.100 Hi, this is Bridget.

00:55:18.840 I'm good.

00:55:19.620 How are you?

00:55:20.240 Good.

00:55:21.740 Okay.

00:55:22.540 All right. 1.00

00:55:22.920 I'm just wondering what you think that Danielle could have done differently when she got elected. 1.00

00:55:29.300 Like, I worked for her campaign. 0.98

00:55:31.680 I really believed in her. 0.94

00:55:33.700 And now I'm just, like, incredibly disappointed with, I don't know, she seems like she got body snatched.

00:55:39.060 Like, she was so against a nationalized energy program, but now she wants the taxpayer to foot 90% of the bill, you know, which is pretty much just nationalizing your energy.

00:55:52.920 And I think, well, this is an opinion more than a question, I guess.

00:55:57.980 Sorry. 0.96

00:55:59.200 I think that she really, she made some major mistakes when she got elected. 0.72

00:56:05.040 And she kept so many bureaucrats that have been entrenched in Edmonton for so long.

00:56:10.780 And I think that happens to all of our politicians that we elect.

00:56:13.780 I don't know.

00:56:14.120 What do you think about that?

00:56:14.800 Yeah, that was what I experienced when I was up there.

00:56:17.360 I mean, the people that I brought with the most were the ones that were there for the longest.

00:56:21.740 and and they're it's hard to get rid of them because of the unions but it's what i was told

00:56:29.700 it's what i was told that's what i was told but uh i think that's the issue is like you have

00:56:35.800 certain departments especially more social departments they're bureaucrats they're

00:56:42.520 they are more uh supportive of ndp policies than they are of ucp policies that work for the ucp

00:56:51.620 yeah and then you get like cabinet staff caucus staff that are younger they're easier to you know

00:56:58.340 push push around the feedback that gets to the minister is skewed in that direction and then that

00:57:05.100 creates issues at the cabinet table when it comes to decision making but you asked what uh what she

00:57:10.400 should be doing differently and and i don't think it was anything there yes there needed to be more 1.00

00:57:16.900 of a clean clean house um i think that's part of the issue um but i i do think that uh what she's

00:57:24.800 done um or what she did what she was elected to do which was the alberta sovereignty act the

00:57:31.720 provincial priorities act which was designed at least to look at every single agreement we have

00:57:36.980 with the federal government and determine which ones were good and which ones were bad

00:57:39.880 90 of them if you're following the formulaic you know like did we get all of our tax dollars back

00:57:46.520 those those that that's not the case like i'd say there's a lot of them that are just like you know

00:57:51.920 it's a grant for fireworks for municipalities or whatever like i'd say i think that's like 90

00:57:56.960 of the agreements we have with auto but the big ones and i'd like to see her be hard like there

00:58:02.580 was a moment a couple weeks ago where we were talking about um private health care like uh

00:58:10.040 not necessarily privatizing health care but creating an avenue for individuals to

00:58:14.460 making a hybrid yeah the hybrid model and uh you have federal ministers federal ministers saying

00:58:21.220 you can't do that according to the confederate to the canada health act and smith saying it's

00:58:25.020 our jurisdiction and that's an area where yeah she said it but like yeah push like i honestly like

00:58:32.820 yeah i don't know i i'm sure the bureaucrats will laugh at me for saying this but why don't we

00:58:37.840 challenge the canada health act in federal court like i mean i get it it's an agreement that we

00:58:42.220 signed to you but healthcare is provincial jurisdiction and the canada health transfer

00:58:46.900 is another ripoff we again we pay 15 of all federal taxes collected they transfer us back

00:58:52.940 10.6 11 based on our percentage of the population and this is our area of jurisdiction

00:59:00.540 i think that's probably even worse than taking on the milk cartel

00:59:04.400 like there's probably so many lobbyists for the medical industry for the cousins that have been

00:59:11.360 hired by the liberal federalists for that bureau and that bureau i bet you that's even well and

00:59:18.280 the lobbyists too right like there's i mean there's like the lobbyists they all have even

00:59:25.420 the most conservative lobby organizations have former ndp mlas or mps on senior positions like

00:59:34.060 this is these are the people that get to the officials that make the decisions like you don't

00:59:39.140 get to them they just think you know oh yeah we got a constituent email we hire the people that we

00:59:47.620 think are going to fight those people and then they get into the system and they're just got so

00:59:52.500 many little nitpicking nd peers in their ears saying that's not really what people want yeah

01:00:00.180 no you are a minority in alberta and then essentially our conservative premier starts

01:00:06.660 talking like a little and it only takes yeah if i can jump in too i was in washington yeah i was in

01:00:17.860 washington a little bit uh like in july and i had a former uh senior level official with uh i think

01:00:25.300 it was the newt gingrich uh when he was a speaker of the was he the he was the speaker of the house

01:00:31.540 i think um he said the one the people that you need to be the most concerned about are the

01:00:36.820 professionals the professional conservatives because what they'll do is they'll come in

01:00:41.340 they will consult they will bleed you dry and they will leave you dead on the side of the road

01:00:46.980 because everything they suggested was a terrible idea and i think that's the big issue that smith

01:00:52.460 has right now is the professionals are in the legislature they are the ones who

01:00:57.820 err on the side of caution i don't want to read um yeah like yeah they like they're the ones that

01:01:07.440 are advising the premier and her her team to do what they want and they're the they're the ones

01:01:13.800 that like yeah they've they've been in and out of the federal conservative party over the last

01:01:18.460 10 years again no election victories um they were part of they were the ones that drove jason kenny

01:01:25.180 in the ground during covid it's the same people like they and so they'll go to the lobby firms

01:01:29.640 and then they'll go back into the legislature and then they'll go back to the lobby groups

01:01:32.780 then the lobby groups will get in and they'll you know they're working on behalf of a company we

01:01:38.700 want to do an announcement and then the press secretary all he cares about is getting the

01:01:43.280 podium and being able to do the announcement so you can get the press coverage and i think that's

01:01:49.660 one of the most challenging things to deal with, uh,

01:01:52.740 in dealing with this government. So, um, yeah.

01:01:56.140 Yeah. Yeah. Well,

01:01:58.860 if there's one thing I have faith in it's Albertans for sure.

01:02:02.460 I think they do not like being played.

01:02:05.860 Yeah. It's, it can be frustrating.

01:02:08.720 I like what you guys are doing on your show though. It's very good.

01:02:10.820 I appreciate that. Thank you.

01:02:14.380 Okay.

01:02:15.200 I'll let you continue your show.

01:02:17.660 Sounds good. Thank you very much.

01:02:19.660 my peace all right i saw have a good day thank you and uh david wim uh here says alberta will

01:02:26.440 make a free trade deal with the u.s independent now now that that caller's offline you can call

01:02:32.000 in um alberta will make a free trade deal with the u.s independent of eastern canada thank you

01:02:37.760 very much and yeah that is very much uh why the free alberta strategy should be playing a bigger

01:02:42.900 role in the way that this premier is governing uh the free alberta strategy is very clearly

01:02:49.060 outlines that the province in order to best represent itself on the international stage

01:02:54.480 should engage in negotiations independent of those of the federal government because we can't trust

01:03:00.420 ottawa to take us seriously straight up we just can't like they only use us for leverage when they 0.98

01:03:07.380 need to as is happening right now and the fact that it's it's just a never-ending cycle of crap

01:03:15.740 so yeah um what else have we got here alberta needs to pull out of supply management yeah

01:03:24.300 i agree i think supply management is the biggest

01:03:27.420 i hate paying six bucks for a jug of milk i hate paying 12 for a block of cheese

01:03:37.340 knowing that i mean i go drive through rural alberta and you see a dairy farm it's like whoa

01:03:43.420 look at that that is like fancy stuff it is a it's class warfare in ag is what it is and it's

01:03:53.100 government controlled the government controls the amount of milk and dairy products that are

01:03:59.400 produced they do so so that they can control how much the producers make it has nothing to do with

01:04:06.080 the cost of the product for the consumer the consumer they don't care about the consumer this

01:04:11.580 is all about protecting interest polyev in fact came out in support of supply management saying

01:04:18.540 that it should absolutely never be on the table um carney's pretty much said the same thing and

01:04:24.800 and i'll give jason credit kenny credit where credit is due no more no more than what is due

01:04:30.000 i will assure you but he's even come out and said that it needs to be eliminated i mean now

01:04:37.700 10 years later but

01:04:39.800 I mean it's one of those

01:04:42.180 things and then he turned around and blamed Stephen

01:04:44.000 Harper for the fact that it's still in effect so

01:04:46.080 yeah that's an old one out of

01:04:48.140 the liberal playbook there Jason

01:04:49.780 Western Canada has been

01:04:52.160 played since 1905 says

01:04:54.060 Waniska 5324

01:04:56.560 what else have we

01:05:02.200 got

01:05:02.820 i'm an albertan and absolutely disgusted with 12 years of trudeau carney liberals

01:05:17.380 ndp wef puppets selling out alberta canadians and canada it's not trump's fault it's trudeau

01:05:25.800 Carney, liberal, NDP. Yeah. And, and I think the reaction to the feds, uh, like it's

01:05:34.720 nationalism is now almost linked with Trump derangement syndrome. Like if you say that,

01:05:45.580 yeah, like if I was an American, like if I lived in Texas, I don't, I'd be all for this.

01:05:50.960 i'd be a hundred percent yeah rename it lake of ontario like lake erie can be renamed uh to

01:05:57.880 something else like i mean i'd be all for it but because we're canadian and because our mainstream

01:06:04.360 media is so adamantly in line with the liberals um you don't get that and and and i will say

01:06:16.760 one thing um before we go because we are actually past clock but um one thing that i do think that

01:06:26.020 this referendum is going to have uh an impact in terms of the public discourse is long run

01:06:33.900 it will code canada as a left-wing country there aren't enough conservatives that are standing up

01:06:41.680 for canada in the way that people are uh you know uh feeling good about um and in alberta i think

01:06:55.300 there was a decision recently made to revisit the flag policy uh in schools and obviously

01:07:01.640 bird a proud dad he was on cory morgan yesterday he talked about that um and i think that decision

01:07:07.220 from what i heard was made because cabinet didn't want the inflammation of the situation

01:07:14.500 they didn't want to deal with the backlash i think a bunch of teachers flying pride canadian flags

01:07:23.780 would be more benefit to the alberta government and to the well maybe not to the government uh 0.97

01:07:31.380 maybe not the press secretaries probably hate that i don't give a shit about the press secretaries 0.93

01:07:35.340 So, uh, sorry. Um, but in terms of just positioning, I think it would definitely code Canada on left and right. And that I think is where the divide is. It is very much that Canada is not a conservative country.

01:07:55.760 it is the growing disbelief that it ever will be again if an if a free enterprise conservative like

01:08:02.780 Pierre Polyev gets brushed aside at the mere mention of Donald Trump then maybe this thing's

01:08:07.820 over maybe we're just waiting for somebody to to vote to leave maybe that's Alberta maybe that's

01:08:14.640 Quebec I don't know their election's coming up we'll see but it's I see that there's an American

01:08:20.600 in there what does that say william roble i'm an american and live in texas and i support alberta

01:08:26.520 independence see i knew we had one thanks william that's exactly it like there's a certain degree

01:08:33.480 of and there's another one canada's inferiority complex will sink it

01:08:38.040 like that's exactly the point we are an inferior country we are not great we are a middle power

01:08:49.840 We've got prime ministers that are bragging about being a middle power.

01:08:53.780 There's no ambition to become great.

01:08:57.800 I mean, we got participation medals from the hockey,

01:09:02.740 the gold medal games at the Olympics,

01:09:05.020 so that was something we can be proud of, I guess.

01:09:07.880 I mean, we're not even the best at what we're supposed to be the best at anymore.

01:09:14.380 We're not a great country.

01:09:17.160 We need to stop acting like we can do the damage that we think we can do.

01:09:22.840 Doug Ford's out of his mind.

01:09:25.940 Like, you're poking him now.

01:09:29.200 Like, you think Trump's just going to be like, oh, yeah, yeah, oh, USA.

01:09:34.100 Or sorry, ooh, Canada's, oh, my goodness.

01:09:36.860 No, they're way bigger than us. 0.62

01:09:39.040 They're better than us. 1.00

01:09:40.600 We suck as a country. 1.00

01:09:43.800 Okay, I think that's pretty much it. 0.96

01:09:45.540 unless we got a caller on the line right now i am going to wrap up the show so first off uh thank

01:09:51.540 you to our callers thank you to our viewers uh we've gone a little bit over time but uh i always

01:09:58.840 enjoy being on the air apologies to anybody that i may have offended just kidding and uh yeah marty

01:10:07.620 will be back on next thursday at 12 o'clock so check that out and be sure to subscribe go to

01:10:13.580 www.westernstandard.news

01:10:15.900 slash subscription.

01:10:17.500 It's $10 per month.

01:10:19.860 $100 for the year. You can try it

01:10:21.600 free for a 15-day trial.

01:10:23.700 Or, and I don't know if we've got

01:10:25.520 the pop-up for the

01:10:27.360 Editor's Circle. We are, I know

01:10:29.400 there's probably a few viewers on there that we're planning

01:10:31.540 on being on tonight's meeting. We are going to move that

01:10:33.500 to next week. Derek Fildebrandt will

01:10:35.460 be back. Our full editorial team

01:10:37.540 will be on that one. So

01:10:39.240 you can avoid seeing my

01:10:41.540 face on there again today. So we're going to be moving that. So expect an email on that. But for

01:10:47.340 Editor's Circle, it comes with additional features. So a regular subscription is $10 a month. That's

01:10:52.740 full digital access. But for Editor's Circle, which comes with extra features, like a monthly

01:10:58.860 call with our editors, where we actually bring people on the call. And we do it similar to this,

01:11:04.500 That is $20 a month or $200 for the year.

01:11:08.960 And then also just sign up if you're not in a financial position to buy a membership.

01:11:15.460 Be sure to go to our website and subscribe to our newsletter.

01:11:18.020 We do send breaking updates in your daily news feed so you get an idea of what the headlines are.

01:11:23.200 So there's a few ways to join.

01:11:24.900 But thank you very much for being here today.

01:11:27.720 And we look forward to seeing you next week.

01:11:30.100 This has been Marty Up North.

01:11:34.500 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - August 27, 2026

The trade war exposes Alberta’s biggest problem with Canada

Episode Stats

Transcript