00:02:49.520It takes that from that mental thing of trying to wrap your mind around what is a cryptocurrency into that practical use, just like any other currency out there.
00:09:05.040Yeah, we are working on a few stories.
00:09:07.420First of all, I was going to point out a story that, speaking of transit, we put out a story over the weekend, just in case anyone missed it.
00:09:13.660Transit systems could also be affected by the fact that the government subsidies that were put in place for transit over the pandemic are actually expiring.
00:09:25.660They had put about 2.3 billion into transit services across the country to help offset the fact that the ridership has just dropped substantially.
00:09:38.660So they have updated or so they had been contributing to updating the payroll for transit drivers.
00:09:48.920And it looks like that is coming to an end here fairly quickly.
00:09:52.600So I think they're hoping that the feds are going to be planning to subsidize it a little bit further while ridership is still quite low comparatively.
00:10:04.740So that could also affect things with transit.
00:10:08.660we also had some stories over the weekend too if anyone wants to head to the website and check them
00:10:12.500out in case they miss them there was an update on the the bread pricing scheme that was happening
00:10:19.220or the bread price fixing scheme that was happening and some update there on how there
00:10:25.620were quite a few large bread makers colluding to creep the bread prices up and up and up i believe
00:10:33.060They were increased over the last couple of years, 18 to 20 times or something to that effect.
00:22:25.480I mean, we write a lot of long columns here
00:22:27.900and academic pieces, and those are all important.
00:22:30.460But at times, just sometimes a short message
00:22:32.180getting out there can have an impact on people and change perceptions it's incredible so so my
00:22:38.700background i was a reporter i'm a journalist by trade and uh in my heart i think i i'll always
00:22:43.440i'll always relate to that but you know we've seen media change so much and we are showing
00:22:48.160albertans and we're showing canadians hey you know you don't have to rely on mainstream
00:22:53.000news as much anymore look to alternative publications look to online publications
00:22:58.220and you know like the western standard i mean i think you guys are just doing a really great job
00:23:01.900about standing up for Alberta and telling our stories in a way that's unfortunately not getting
00:23:07.180covered by the mainstream media so and as you know I was I was working in weekly newspapers
00:23:14.060you know before the internet kind of took over and and we've watched this transition and you see
00:23:19.840that you have to get the message across to people really poignantly really funny and and and memes
00:23:25.700have become a great way to actually tell a story you can put a lot right there and tell a story
00:23:29.920We also share really thought provoking content and editorials and op-eds and
00:23:35.600you just kind of got to hit people from all angles and we're really finding that now.
00:23:39.520Yeah. And then getting it out and about there. And I mean, part of it, cutting through the
00:23:44.800mainstream media, I mean, they're still there and there's still some good stuff, but they've
00:23:48.160really gone downhill. I'm thinking of, especially when it comes to a pride issue, CBC commissioned
00:23:53.440that ridiculous poll a little while back talking about who would be comfortable moving to Alberta.
00:23:59.920from across the country and everything and they found that something like 54 percent of people
00:24:02.880said they'd rather not so they reported on that look at that you know most upper most canadians
00:24:07.280wouldn't want to live in alberta and they got a lot of backlash so you know what a divisive
00:24:10.800ridiculous pull to even hold i mean you know a lot of people just want to stay home it doesn't
00:24:14.080mean they have a problem with alberta or things like that so they thought they'd hold another one
00:24:18.160and they did and they cut and they added all the regions it turned out only 24 of canadians
00:24:21.840wanted to move to quebec so that one they're a little more quiet on when they got the results
00:24:26.480of it. But it shows that agenda that we like kind of always poking and backhanding and slapping
00:24:33.600Alberta. And it's time we stood up for ourselves. Absolutely. And really, that's what we're here
00:24:38.980for. And we're encouraging people, reach out to us, send us funny meme ideas, send us links to
00:24:44.320great editorials written by your favorite reporters, your favorite columnists, your favorite
00:24:50.880experts. Just connect with us, share stuff with us. We want to tell your stories.
00:24:54.800Yeah. And we'll hit that at the end again, too. But I mean, just that reminder. So I mean,
00:24:58.980your main area is Facebook. You got a massive following there. Not everybody's on Facebook,
00:25:03.640though. Where else can they interact with Alberta Proud and, you know, share stuff with you or find
00:25:07.900stuff that you're sharing? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can always reach out to us through
00:25:10.820social media or through email or through our website, which is albertaproud.org. And you can
00:25:17.700sign up for our email newsletter. We send that stuff out. And so, I mean, really email,
00:25:24.260website. We kind of hit everything through the internet. So yeah. And the newsletters are good.
00:25:28.600I mean, people complain about getting some every day, but you know, if you don't want it, it's not
00:25:31.220that hard to delete it. Absolutely. And it's a great alternative for people who aren't on social
00:25:34.800media and don't want to be bothered. Yeah. And then you can just get the morning email and get
00:25:38.160those highlights and see what you're on about and hopefully some good things. So energy has been a
00:25:42.080lot of your focus, but with a positive bent. I mean, we understand the world changes. There's
00:25:47.220differences in demand and our energy sector has been adapting. It's been changing. It's been,
00:25:52.560producing differently and looking into that. And you guys are talking to that because we're not
00:25:57.160getting any credit anywhere else for what our energy sector has been doing. Absolutely. And
00:26:00.680we shouldn't put up with that. So pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and they're safer
00:26:05.760than rail cars. And our pipelines, our big producers, they do a lot to give back to
00:26:11.980communities, to give back to the environment and to compensate when accidents do happen as well.
00:26:16.900So we just feel like the media is always ready to go after pipelines, always ready to go after
00:26:22.380Alberta energy and you know this is the safest cleanest way to produce it and and to grow our
00:26:28.020economy and to create jobs and it's just a no-brainer and and we're just we're sending a
00:26:33.300strong message that we're not going to put up with it anymore and we're not going to put up with
00:26:36.520the abuse quite frankly from the from the federal liberal government and constantly punishing us
00:26:41.280and punishing Alberta and you know one of the one of the biggest campaigns that we came out with was
00:26:46.720last fall during the federal election, of course, was we pushed really strongly for the equalization.
00:26:53.220We want Alberta to have more autonomy. We want Alberta to get a better deal.
00:26:57.720And, you know, hopefully we'll start seeing some successes on that.
00:27:00.960Yeah. And that equalization referendum, I mean, it was, it got sidetracked a bit,
00:27:05.520but it was still definitive that most Albertans, at least it was, it was a poll that you could
00:27:08.760say it wasn't an internet poll. It wasn't a Twitter poll. It wasn't something like that.
00:27:11.140This really was Albertans getting up, casting a ballot. I was surprised it was actually as high
00:27:15.380it was for Albertans still saying as much as some might have been ticked off with the provincial
00:27:18.660government or using it for other messaging still the majority said no this is not a good program
00:27:23.940I think it helps empower at least politicians when they're going to Ottawa it doesn't change
00:27:27.380anything immediately but gives them the basis say look it's not sustainable our population
00:27:32.260is upset with this we've got to change it I know it's frustrating we all want things fixed yesterday
00:27:37.940but it's a step in the right direction yeah I think so I think it sent a message you know another
00:27:42.180campaign that we recently took on as we pushed for the university of alberta to revoke david
00:27:46.660suzuki's honorary degree and you probably saw that floating around that got tremendous impact
00:27:51.140we have i think we're close to six thousand signatures on our petition um and you can find
00:27:55.380that through alberta albertaprag.org and uh we're calling on them to hey like why are we why are we
00:28:00.980giving an honorary doctorate from somebody who's who made the comments that he made back in late
00:28:04.820november saying you know to basically to get attention we're gonna have to what's it gonna
00:28:08.900take to start blowing up pipelines. Like when we're letting these, these so-called leaders
00:28:13.700and environmental activists advocate violence to get attention. I mean, it's just the extreme
00:28:20.100left going way too far. No, it was, it was beyond the pale. And that's
00:28:24.180some of the stuff we have to do is call it out because everything's about shaping public perception.
00:28:29.620And, uh, you know, Suzuki had been made almost a sacred Canadian icon. Oh, he's the,
00:28:34.340and I gotta admit, I grew up, you know, as a kid and I watched the nature of things,
00:28:37.220i thought it was a cool show and things like that but i mean once i grew older i realized that he's
00:28:41.220a raving lunatic um walking hypocrisy yes so we need to bring up and we know the state broadcaster
00:28:48.660isn't going to expose zizuki for who he is and what he's about so yeah bringing it to light to
00:28:53.300people this guy was inciting people to blow up pipelines there's no getting around that that's
00:28:59.620you know the double speak on it was too much with people trying to defend it too so it was good to
00:29:03.700to see an organization reaching out so much and say, no, we're not sitting and letting you talk
00:29:08.200like that without some sort of pushback. Yeah, I think we have to stop, you know, we have to stop
00:29:12.860being so afraid of being politically correct. We have to just, sometimes you just got to do what's
00:29:17.840right. And I think if you, if you just stay consistent, people, people will get it. They'll
00:29:22.840get the message. Yeah. Well, political correctness hasn't been a big mainstay for me over the years,
00:29:27.260typically on social media. I mean, that's where social media provides good and bad opportunities.
00:29:31.880I mean, we can reach so many more people.
00:29:34.480We can bypass the mainstream, the gatekeepers of information.
00:29:37.400I mean, we're in a wonderful age where, yeah, a group like this can immediately reach out to a couple hundred thousand followers on Facebook alone.
00:29:44.220Or I can get on Twitter and in 180 characters piss off as many as 20,000 people in 30 seconds, which sometimes is productive, sometimes it isn't.
00:29:54.060But, I mean, it's new and we can turn it into something really good.
00:37:57.300I might as well get the comments really stirring up fast.
00:37:59.660For those who follow me on Twitter, Corey B. Morgan, I get into things on there a lot.
00:38:06.560Now, something that happened recently was protesters went outside of Jody Gondek's house over the weekend, 30 or 40 of them.
00:38:15.380I'm just going to throw a guess out there, and it's Art Pawlowski's gang.
00:38:19.800Stop it. Cut it out. It's idiocy. It's bloody idiocy.
00:38:25.260Okay, guys? You are not doing the cause any favors. Not whatsoever.
00:38:31.280I mean, people on Facebook or Twitter, oh, there's nothing else we can do. There's bullshit.
00:38:34.640shit. There's stuff that can be done and you can do it without intimidating people at their
00:38:39.240personal households. As I was talking about, when I'm talking about politicians being swayed,
00:38:43.720when I'm talking about being pushed, and as frustrating as it is, what you've got to do
00:38:48.220is move the needle of public opinion and the politicians will follow. When you make Alberta's
00:38:55.100health minister or Calgary's mayor objects of pity, you don't do your cause a favor. When you
00:39:01.640look like a bunch of goons, you don't do your cause any favors. Sylvia is saying it had nothing
00:39:08.000to do with art. I'm willing to stand corrected on that. I was just speculating. So fair enough,
00:39:12.500whoever it may have been, it was only 30 or 40 people. And people said, it's the only way we're
00:39:17.480going to convince them. Well, you know what? You won't with 30 or 40 people. You will with thousands
00:39:23.140of people. And you don't have to go to their houses to do it. You've got to go on the streets.
00:39:27.440I had somebody else talking. It was another Twitter person coming at me. And this is
00:39:31.480something I've gone on over and over again, and I'm going to keep going on. I got assigned over
00:39:35.980last summer and in the fall, and I went to a number of protests. I went to them over and over
00:39:40.160again, hoping to see them grow. I want to see people pushing back against restrictions. I want
00:39:45.460to see the public showing that, yes, we've had enough, cut it out, lay off, let us get on with
00:39:50.480our lives. But when I go to these, it's always the same people leading those protests. And I guess
00:39:55.240hats off, they're getting out and doing, trying, but most of them are crazy. Most of them are
00:40:00.980talking about chemtrails and mind control and lizard people. And I know you get upset when I
00:40:05.740mentioned that, but I literally heard all of those things at these protests, not from everybody,
00:40:10.500but from enough of them that your average person going to one of these things is not going to come
00:40:15.760back. They're going to realize that this isn't rational. This is insane. I don't belong here.
00:40:20.980And if though you can start building that, if you get these things going where people show up who
00:40:28.060haven't shown up to these before and they nod their heads when the speakers go and they feel
00:40:32.240comfortable around the other people and they understand that this is a movement that's building
00:40:35.820this is a pushback that's building they're going to come back to other protests those protests
00:40:39.660will get bigger then you're going to see decision makers paying attention then they're going to get
00:40:44.800worried then they're going to change policy trying to up the crazy which is what's happening when you
00:40:51.260go to people's personal households is not going to improve it i remember somebody else talked
00:40:56.900about before. Think about it. If it was you, if you got somebody screaming, you got to remember,
00:41:00.160you got perhaps your wife and kids in the house, you got neighbors, and you got these people out
00:41:03.680on your sidewalk protesting, intimidating you at your household. Are you going to feel more
00:41:09.040inclined to cooperate with these people, to bend to their will, to do what they want you to do?
00:41:17.080If it was me, I'd dig my feet in and say, there's even less chance I'm going to have anything to do
00:41:21.940with these clowns. I am now ticked off at them, and I'm actually going to go out of my way to
00:41:26.340antagonize them. We're starting to see the needle move. I think we are, and we can do it through
00:41:32.340reason. It's slow and it's frustrating and people are being put out of work and people are being
00:41:36.200shut up from visiting families and we're having our rights infringed upon. We have a federal
00:41:40.560minister, the health minister saying we need to get mandatory vaccinations. Yeah, that's outrageous.
00:41:48.000We have to push back on that. We absolutely do, but we have to be rational about it.
00:41:52.620You know, when you do stuff like that, when you intimidate people at your homes, what you do is you empower the state to say, you see, we have to actually crack down on protests.
00:42:00.160We have to hinder it because these people are becoming dangerous, whether that's right or wrong or fair or not.
00:42:18.620all those guys. I mean, I love feeding people their own words at times. I mean, hey, we make
00:42:23.320mistakes and that's fine, but they're not standing up today and say, well, we were wrong. That's,
00:42:27.220that's what I want to hear out of them. They got to say, we were wrong. We made a mistake.
00:42:31.000We thought the vaccinations would stop the spread. It obviously didn't do so nearly as much as we
00:42:35.800hoped it would. So, and this is our new narrative, but no, they're kind of starting to say, well,
00:42:42.820no, we never claimed that. We, we, we said it was just to reduce negative outcomes in healthcare.
00:42:47.940well no there's your words there's all those clips there's rachel maddow there's president
00:42:51.300biden they're all these uh influential people they were all telling us that this was going to
00:42:55.780stop the spread they were wrong so now that we know that that's wrong what we need to do is
00:43:01.300change our policies i mean our policy so many of them the main one i think i think something we can
00:43:07.860push back against right now is the vaccine passport we don't need it if the vaccination
00:43:16.100doesn't stop the spread, what's the point of the passport? You know, I mean, if it doesn't make a
00:43:21.080difference with people going into a restaurant together, whether they're vaccinated or not,
00:43:24.220it doesn't change the likelihood of one or another getting infected. Why are we dealing with this
00:43:29.820passport? Why are we forcing restaurants, bars, other places to have to scan everybody when they
00:43:35.580come in, to annoy them, to put their front end staff through the stress and abuse that some of
00:43:39.680them have been taking through this? This is a target I think we can rationally go after.
00:43:44.700we can start saying to our provincial government, get rid of that legislation because the basis of
00:43:49.100it was flawed. I like to think you guys believed it was a good idea. I like to think you really
00:43:54.680thought vaccinations would stop the spread. So if we could just only keep vaccinating people,
00:43:59.500you know, that way it would slow it down. But obviously that's not the case. So what's the
00:44:03.360point of the passport? So target that. And yes, people say, well, what are you going to do? Well,
00:44:10.120do everything you can. Speak on social media, phone your elected official, sign those petitions,
00:44:15.820attend rational protests, go out to them, take part in one, organize one, speak at one. I don't
00:44:20.800care. Just don't go harassing people at their houses. It won't help. It's not going to bring
00:44:26.020them on board, but we can start climbing our way out of this wretched situation we're in.
00:44:31.140Other stuff we talked about with Melanie too, we're starting to see some of the BS. And I think
00:44:34.500the public's losing trust with those who were cracking down on us. And I think that's a good
00:44:38.060thing. I mean, it's sad that our institutions have given up our trust, but it's good to see
00:44:45.000the public starting to question things. So as I said, when I see Patrick Brown actually shooting
00:44:50.880at his own health minister and saying, hey, give me that information. Where is it? That's a good
00:44:57.300thing. Because if we're not filling the hospitals up, if we aren't filling the ICUs up, it's time
00:45:04.260to say this is endemic, but everybody's lighting their hair on fire over cases, cases, cases,
00:45:08.520cases. You know, it's one of those buzzwords of it's true, case-demic, you know. This is looking
00:45:14.580more like a coldest, and people are saying, I think Delta is still floating around. We've still,
00:45:17.700the last time I checked in Alberta, we're 64 people in ICU, and these were, when it hits the
00:45:22.460ICU point, it is due to COVID, not with COVID, as a lot of those other hospitalization cases are.
00:45:28.780It's still serious, and it can still harm some people. Let's not pretend it's not there,
00:45:32.460But it's at a manageable level, which means we can let us get on with our lives and try and protect the vulnerable as much as humanly possible, while allowing the freedoms of association, travel, commerce, all of those things that we've been getting stepped on for two years now.
00:45:51.940And nothing much has changed. How different do we look today than we did two years ago? We have this much more knowledge, but our policies don't seem to have changed. We can't hide from this thing.
00:46:01.380So let's adjust the policies, but it's going to take discourse.
00:46:04.860And again, it's going to take a rational approach.
00:46:27.220So pull it out of your toolbox and find a new one.
00:46:30.380You know, what else are we supposed to do? Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about things we can do. I'm just telling you one thing not to do. And I assure you, it's not a good idea to do it. It's not working. It's not swaying public opinion. It's not going to get those policies changed. That's what we want. And it doesn't always have to be, you know, rational appearing. You can have fun. You can be a little strange with protests. I mean, I'm certainly not innocent of that.
00:46:57.440I mean, people who know me, I mean, I parked my car in the middle of the Occupy protests, my truck, safely, by the way.
00:47:03.420So people say, oh, he drove through a bunch of protesters.
00:52:48.860So having that clarity with 1998 makes things better for the movement now that we know what exactly we're trying to achieve if we want Alberta to become independent.
00:52:56.380So those two books, the recent one is available on Amazon.ca.
00:53:00.820and the other one is available on a website called merchantship.ca that's a local Alberta
00:53:07.260business a small business a family business operated out of Didsbury so merchantship.ca
00:53:11.800it actually sells both those books but the first one is only available there so those are the two
00:53:16.920books and so I have been you know on top of these issues for many years and it's very important to
00:53:22.880me personally so that's why I've written those books because I do believe in this movement yeah
00:53:27.960Well, in explaining the Clarity Act and things like that, the mechanisms for how we would get there when we get there is important.
00:53:34.620A lot of people misunderstand what it's about.
00:53:36.340I mean, I think it was unintentional on the part of Chrétien, but what he did do was create us the roadmap when he thought he was fighting Quebec secessionism by implementing that legislation.
00:53:45.580But it's told us the steps that we have to achieve now, really.
00:53:51.580Have a clear majority in a referendum with a clear question on independence.
00:53:55.140Now, getting to that tipping point of support and having that held and everything, we've still got a heck of a lot of work to go, but we know what we have to do.
00:54:05.540Exactly. Yes. And like you say, I mean, this was done, the decision was for Quebec.
00:54:10.160I mean, if it had been a decision for reference to Alberta, who knows how they would have decided.
00:54:13.860But because they had to keep Quebec happy, you know, they had to decide a certain way.
00:54:17.820But in making an avenue open for Quebec, they made an avenue open for every province, including Alberta.
00:54:23.040Yeah, well, for some of our younger viewers, I mean, when the referendum went on in Quebec, there was a bit of a valid point that they kind of tried to play both sides.
00:58:07.260I mean, I think especially in the earlier days when the movement was just getting going in the 80s, I think there was a lot more of that kind of use it as a tactic approach.
00:58:16.460You know, let's threaten this and see what they do.
00:58:18.540But I mean, if it's not serious, they're not going to take it seriously anyway.
00:58:21.760Like the only way we would ever get any benefit from the federal government is if they thought we were serious.
01:03:52.880He had an impact on this province, and he really helped to define the Albertan culture.
01:03:59.300Yeah, Ted became quite the Alberta patriot once he was here.
01:04:02.520And this is actually relevant historically because, you know, from the late 1970s and 1980s,
01:04:08.920Ted Byfield's Alberta Report was the single strongest media voice for Alberta by far.
01:04:14.240Like no other media outlet, whether it was a newspaper or television station, advocated and articulated the Alberta perspective the way Ted Byfield did.
01:04:22.220And that was very much a conscious choice on his part.
01:04:24.840He said he wrote specifically, you know, we are Alberta's independent media voice and we are going to represent Alberta and Alberta's position, you know, in defending Alberta against Pierre Trudeau.
01:04:33.660And so Alberta report was a very important part of the movement, you know, in the late 70s and early 80s to defend Alberta against Pierre Trudeau and to, you know, help to generate the kind of thinking that would lead to the independence movement and to the strengthening of the independence movement.
01:04:52.220So Ted Byfield played a very important role in kind of developing this Alberta mentality that we have to, you know, defend ourselves against the federal government when there's federal government encroachments on our jurisdiction and on our energy.
01:05:04.660Yeah, it was such an important publication.
01:05:06.700And I mean, that's what's inspired and it was kind of part of the chain of events that led to what the Western Standard is today.
01:05:12.080Even our color scheme, you know, is still matching the old Alberta report of those days.
01:05:16.540And one of the things I look forward to is leading the Alberta Independence Party is if I had an Alberta Report interview, because at least I knew they'd be fair with me.
01:05:24.640They'd still cut into me and they'd be critical.
01:05:27.420But I mean, when I go on with the Globe and Mail or the CBC, I mean, they would just, you know, wail on me as, again, a 29, 30-year-old party leader didn't really know what the heck he was doing.
01:05:37.240I had a safe space with Alberta Report to actually talk about the issues.
01:05:41.660Yeah, Alberta Report was very important when I wrote that first book, Alberta Separatism.
01:05:46.280then and now because um it covered the entire period of the independence movement and it did
01:05:51.940so from a sympathetic perspective like you said it wasn't uncritical i mean the by fields never
01:05:55.980were uncritical about any person or any movement they were always you know looking at it with a
01:06:00.340critical eye but they did have you know a strong pro-alberta pro-conservative position and so they
01:06:05.280covered the independence movement from a sympathetic perspective and they covered it thoroughly so i
01:06:10.360was able to use alberta port as my main source for most of that book because of the you know
01:06:15.220So because they looked at it objectively and sympathetically, whereas much of the media, most of the media was very critical to the point of, you know, trying to highlight every little, every little, you know, miscue or something that they could to make it look like a terrible movement.
01:06:30.440Whereas Ted Byfield and Alberta Report, they really understood the movement.
01:06:33.800They understood the motivation and why Albertans were feeling the way they were.
01:06:37.560And so they had a much better analysis of the movement and a better understanding of it.
01:06:41.920And so that comes across very clearly in my book because I use them, use Albert Report so much for so much of the period that's written that the book covers.
01:06:50.980Yeah. And as Jerry Clausen's a commenter saying, wasn't Byfield instrumental in publishing the History of Alberta series books?
01:06:57.180And yes, he put some great ones out there, actually.
01:07:00.040Yeah, that's a 12-volume History of Alberta, and it's a great series.
01:07:05.120And this is quite a quite a unique thing in Canada, because, you know, who would think, you know, 12 hardcover volumes in Alberta history would be successful financially in Canada.
01:07:13.820Most publishing is subsidized by the federal government, and this was not subsidized at all.
01:07:18.820And yet it was quite successful because many Albertans were very interested in their own history.
01:07:23.220And, you know, of course, they did that with it was a journalistic perspective and they had lots of pictures and maps and things.
01:07:28.940But it's perfect for children who want to learn about the history of Alberta.
01:07:31.700it's very interesting you know and there's lots to keep your interest there in terms of the pictures
01:07:35.720and the maps and the diagrams and stuff so and yeah so that's a very fantastic 12 volume history
01:07:40.360of Alberta and it can help itself to help Albertans understand how they're distinctive
01:07:45.560from others yeah well we're starting to push over time a bit which I do would be a very real hazard
01:07:50.440when we go into this subject with somebody of like mind with me but that's fine I'm certain
01:07:55.080and I hope we can get you back on again to talk about it further I do want to finish I keep
01:07:58.660touching upon that column you recently put out so part of it is though we maybe just we'll lay out
01:08:03.400in closing Alberta is in a place where we need self-defense we are threatened right now even if
01:08:08.120we don't see it or feel it directly we've got to watch we we're vulnerable and uh independence is
01:08:13.420one of the the as far as I'm concerned the tool the only tool that's really going to stop further
01:08:17.860incursions from us yeah I mean Justin Trudeau has made it very clear that he wants to phase out
01:08:23.860Alberta's oil industry and that's our main industry and as he does that that's a threat
01:08:27.800to the prosperity of every Albertan, not just those who work in the oil industry, because
01:08:31.360there's so many spinoffs throughout Alberta's economy that result from the development of
01:08:36.380energy resources. And if the federal government continues to shut down, it shuts them down by
01:08:41.100preventing pipeline development and preventing not granting permissions for different kinds of
01:08:46.580projects to go ahead. And Trudeau has indicated that's the direction he wants to go. So as he
01:08:52.060does that, it's going to put the squeeze on Alberta and it's going to hurt everybody.
01:08:54.720The only way we can fight against that and get control of our own economic development is by being independent.
01:11:31.820People think an independence party is the way to go.
01:11:33.820I'm starting to think along the lines that it's not, though, I mean, it's certainly debatable.
01:11:37.440And, hey, I'm a guy who started one, but where did it go?
01:11:40.420I mean, there's a number of reasons why that fell apart, not the least of which my own inexperience at the time.
01:11:44.920But these things have a difficulty holding it together.
01:11:47.620There's different interests, there's infighting, there's leadership contests.
01:11:51.420We need a movement, and that's more it can withstand.
01:11:55.940And we need to pressure the existing politicians to put the mechanism into the hands of the citizens.
01:11:59.940You see, Premier Kenney gave us this legislation for referenda, but he set the bar in such a ridiculous way that we're never going to actually meet it.
01:14:40.380And again, that's getting back to being rational about things.
01:14:43.800One of the other things we're talking about was shortcuts.
01:14:45.680I've had people send me stuff over the years so many times saying, oh, the Constitution was never appropriately signed or Alberta isn't really a part of Canada or Confederation isn't real or things like that.
01:14:55.860I don't know. I don't want to fight over that nitpicking and hair splitting on whether, you know, these theories on whether or not the confederation is real. It's a way of trying to sneak out of things without going through a referendum and so on. And it's not going to wash with Albertans. This is one of the areas where perception is reality. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the vast majority, and they do, the vast majority of Albertans feel that Alberta is a part of Canada and Canada is a legitimate country, though they may want out of it. In fact, I want them to want out of it later.
01:15:23.580We can't try and sell something and say, well, despite what you think, the country's not real,
01:15:28.180we're separate as of yesterday. It's not going to work. It's not going to fly. And it's not
01:15:33.640realistic. So realism, you know, one of those important, important things. So let me see,
01:15:39.900I'm going to go through the news a little bit as we work towards the end of the show here.
01:15:43.580A top story that we've had again, though, and that came up a bit. It's at westernstandardonline.com.
01:15:49.720And I got to talk quickly about the standard anyways, you know, I've got to make our plugs
01:15:52.920for ourself, as well as, you know, for our sponsors and such. We don't get tax funding,
01:15:59.540as was covered earlier. We rely on sponsors, people who take out membership subscriptions.
01:16:04.280If you haven't subscribed already, I mean, like I said, you can see it from Melanie,
01:16:07.720you can see it from Michael, we get some great columns, we get some unique content,
01:16:11.280we speak unapologetically for the West and for Alberta. Take out a membership, it's 10 bucks a
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01:16:22.420It's less than an old newspaper subscription used to be. You know, we're used to seemingly
01:16:25.580getting everything for free all the time. But what do you get for free? You know, quote unquote
01:16:28.600free CBC. Is that worth it? Globe and Mail is behind a paywall. And you know, a lot of the
01:16:34.440other mainstream media is garbage for 10 bucks a month. You help us and it works. Plus with shows
01:16:39.960like this, I mean, we need your help to share it, you know, share that YouTube link, share the
01:16:44.820Facebook link. We're streaming on that. Share the Rumble one again. I'm sorry for not seeing
01:16:48.660your comments, guys. We're going to get that set up too, so we can all discuss those things.
01:16:53.140We can bypass the mainstream media. We don't need them, but we do need you to help us to keep doing
01:16:59.420it. And so that talked, actually quickly, Peter LaFontaine is asking, will Jason Kenney join your
01:17:04.960show to have this conversation? Premier Kenney, he gave me a half hour interview on a podcast
01:17:10.620year and change ago, just before Christmas
01:18:05.700But it's been the number one trending story if you go to westernstandardonline.com, talking about how mandatory vaccines are the point of no return in our descent into authoritarianism.
01:18:16.900I mean, I can't think of anything more odious than forcing a medical procedure on somebody.
01:20:51.840That's how we get a larger movement between people who are vaccinated and non-vaccinated.
01:20:56.580There's part of what needs to happen is you need the vaccinated people to say they've got to stand up on behalf of those who choose not to get vaccinated.
01:21:03.560They've got to be the ones also getting up and saying, that's it.
01:21:09.620And screaming haywire protests outside of the homes of politicians and talking about chemtrails and lizard people is not going to bring those people on board.
01:21:17.360But talking about individual rights can.
01:21:19.200You know, talking about those concepts that we all share, or at least most of us do, and, you know, making people understand just how horrific that is.
01:21:49.200Well, this is what we're speaking to. So yeah, independent media, online organizing and organizing on the streets. It's not a lost cause. It's not a lost battle. I think some of these mandates, some of these pushes, some of these efforts are falling apart. I think they're fraying at the seams. People in general are getting tired. They've had enough. They want to get back to normal. We need to give them that path to get there.
01:22:11.920And if we put out a rational path for people to get there, I think even some of the politicians want out of this.
01:22:18.400They don't all necessarily want to live in this control freak world.
01:22:21.380They want to get on with things and put this behind us and have it going into history.