Western Standard - Triggered： Are we heading for a federal election this fall？

00:00:00.000 Transcription by CastingWords

00:00:30.000 Good morning. It's July 19th, 2022. Welcome to Triggered. I'm Corey Morgan. And let's see,

00:00:42.300 we got Jet Gorgon already coming in from New Westminster on the left coast. My condolences,

00:00:47.680 beautiful area, crazy people. But that can be said about a lot of places. And ah, well,

00:00:52.200 we've got no monopoly on sanity out here in Alberta or Saskatchewan or some of those areas

00:00:57.300 away from the lower mainland as well. We'll keep working, spreading the word, get a cult following

00:01:02.020 for this show and we'll correct all those wrongs in people's minds over time, right? We'll keep

00:01:06.780 working at it. All right. So yes, this is the Western Standards daily live show for those of

00:01:12.840 you who are coming on for the first time. We do this Monday to Friday from about 1130 a.m. Mountain

00:01:17.600 Standard Time till around one o'clock. Usually have a couple of guests. We talk about the breaking

00:01:22.180 news issues. I rant and get things off my chest and we have some interaction with each other.

00:01:27.840 I like to start the day out while everybody's signing on with the daily observances. There's

00:01:32.380 always something out there, something important to somebody somewhere that we've got to

00:01:36.540 observe and look at. So it is National Flitch Day. This one's a new one to me. So this dates back 0.84

00:01:44.940 to an ancient custom that saw married couples earning a flitch of bacon by proving the strength

00:01:49.640 of their union after a year. I guess the couple would stand a public trial a year and a day after

00:01:54.320 their marriage, and if successful, they were given a flitch of bacon as a reward. I don't know what

00:01:59.440 that public trial would be. Maybe in the small town, everybody looking around, okay, we need

00:02:03.000 everybody to raise their hands. Have they actually been loyal and good or not? You know, in a small

00:02:06.760 community, you can only get away with so much. But it is National Flitch Day. This is the day it was

00:02:12.400 supposed to happen. So a flitch of bacon, I had to look it up. I guess that's like half a pig.

00:02:17.660 So that was pretty good eats if you could make it, you know, one good year of marriage.

00:02:21.600 I'm coming right up on my 15th anniversary here.

00:02:25.820 I think I should be qualifying for like a whole steer or something, right?

00:02:28.920 I'm not sure.

00:02:29.800 I'll keep looking into that.

00:02:31.160 Some of those old traditions have gone by the wayside. 0.98

00:02:33.380 But yes, so if you've gone through a year, try and nag your relatives, follow tradition 0.98

00:02:38.600 and see if you can't get half a pig for yourself. 0.82

00:02:40.960 If you're not into the pork and the flitch or whatnot, it's also National Raspberry

00:02:46.040 Cake Day.

00:02:46.760 so there's something a little on the sweeter side and uh you know offset that i mean maybe you didn't

00:02:52.120 make it a year in your marriage or whatnot you can console yourself by eating some raspberry cake

00:02:57.080 i've been trying to grow raspberries at home for years they're finally starting to spring up but

00:03:00.580 i still haven't gotten a single berry out of the freaking things so uh yeah i found my marriage

00:03:04.400 easier to last for 15 years than to manage to get some raspberries growing in my garden

00:03:07.880 but there's always next year all right who else we got out there uh expat canuck down in california

00:03:14.140 Well, you are out in the left coast down there. I hope if you're in Frisco, you wear good boots so you don't step in too much of the human waste on the streets.

00:03:21.100 Though again, beautiful areas, crazy people. We started that theme already.

00:03:25.420 So let's see. I'll talk about a couple of the people I'm going to have on today.

00:03:29.400 They must be a little bit crazy. They're running for the UCP leadership, both of them.

00:03:33.180 The first one's going to be Dr. Raj Sherman. Folks might remember him.

00:03:37.420 He was a progressive conservative MLA. Then he was a liberal MLA.

00:03:42.540 then he was the leader of the Liberal Party, and now he's putting his name in, trying to get in

00:03:46.460 to run for the UCP leadership. So that should be an interesting conversation.

00:03:50.540 After that, I'm going to talk to John Horsman. He was from the Alberta Treasury branch initially.

00:03:55.320 He's been a name around, but he's not been in conventional politics or running for anything

00:03:59.340 that I know of, and he's in there for the race as well. I think he already got an endorsement

00:04:04.620 from one of the candidates, Mr. Rock, who backed out of it. So we'll talk to him as well.

00:04:08.620 So I'm going to stick to a good political theme today and start off,

00:04:12.280 because we're hearing a lot of federal rumors going right now.

00:04:14.340 So let's dive into the rumor mill world.

00:04:16.520 Right now, the rumors are flying of a possible election being called this fall, and I mean federally.

00:04:21.220 One of the prime groups, though, perpetuating that rumor is the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:04:24.920 Spreading the rumor of a pending election is always a good fundraising tool for a party.

00:04:29.000 Donors can be tight during the doldrums between elections,

00:04:31.880 but they'll open their wallets when they feel the opportunity to change the government might be coming around.

00:04:35.880 So the party's happy to keep that rumor going, whether it's got basis or not.

00:04:40.200 But there are reasons why these rumors are taking a bit of root this time, right now.

00:04:44.660 Justin Trudeau's been popping up unexpectedly in random locations across the country as of late,

00:04:49.800 with no real clear reasons for doing so.

00:04:52.240 I mean, he's always been the king of photo ops,

00:04:54.000 but his staged appearances have had a strong scent of campaigning within them.

00:04:58.720 This last week, his staged love-in at the Calgary Stampede made news across the country.

00:05:03.820 And a couple days later, he was in a Quebec park reading stories to children.

00:05:07.500 I'm sure they helped him with the bigger words.

00:05:09.700 And the next day, he unexpectedly appeared at a church service in Ontario.

00:05:14.140 Yeah, you know, apparently he suddenly has found the Lord.

00:05:18.080 And he'd never really been known to be going to church much before.

00:05:21.420 And then yesterday, he was out picking cherries in an orchard in BC.

00:05:24.700 And he went to another children's day camp.

00:05:26.640 I guess he likes being able to sit down with people who can talk on his level,

00:05:29.540 though they probably go beyond him pretty fast.

00:05:31.960 That's a lot of careful scheduling, though, and a lot of miles to cover over just a few days.

00:05:37.020 Brian Lilly also speculated in Sunpeace that whenever Trudeau changes his appearance,

00:05:41.040 he's heading for another election.

00:05:42.860 Trudeau's facial hair disappeared last year as he began a pre-election summer tour across the country.

00:05:48.220 Now Trudeau's rather odd new haircut is making news, but not in the greatest of ways.

00:05:53.920 Does this all really mean an election's coming?

00:05:56.180 Maybe. That's the best word you can give it.

00:05:57.980 that's one of the most maddening frustrations of Canada's system, the instability of Parliament.

00:06:03.440 Even when governments hold a majority, they can and often do call snap elections for their own

00:06:07.380 benefit. Contenders for the throne were always forced to be on guard for a possible sudden

00:06:12.440 election. I mean, Ralph Klein, I remember this, he used to love playing coy with election dates.

00:06:16.400 His government would leak rumors of a snap election and then sit back and watch all the

00:06:19.960 opposition parties scrambling to get their campaigns together. Then they wouldn't call

00:06:23.440 one, or at least they'd wait a few months before they did. I doubt that the Liberals have any solid

00:06:28.660 plans to force an election this fall, but they're making sure they're ready to roll if the opportunity

00:06:32.540 presents itself. I mean, Trudeau's had two minority governments in a row. The only way he could

00:06:37.100 possibly extend his tenure beyond the next election is to win a majority. If he comes out with another

00:06:41.700 minority, he's finished. While Trudeau inked a deal with the NDP to stay in power for the next

00:06:46.660 three years, we know the deal isn't really worth this figurative paper it was written on. I mean,

00:06:51.400 if the Liberals smell an advantage, they're not going to hesitate to throw Jagmeet Singh

00:06:54.700 into the wind and hit the polls. They don't want to stay in that partnership. Trudeau's been

00:06:59.220 wearing his welcome out for Canadians for some time now, but it's not just his citizens in general,

00:07:04.080 it's even within Liberal circles. I mean, ambitious MPs without his own party,

00:07:08.300 they want to take their kick at the can, and party supporters aren't so thrilled with the

00:07:12.580 prospect of endless minority governments. So if Trudeau tries to hold on for three more years,

00:07:16.520 he might find the rug pulled out from under his feet by his own party. The election of a new

00:07:21.020 leader, the CPC might present Trudeau with an opportunity to make one last grab for a majority

00:07:25.820 government. Governments often have called snap elections shortly after their challengers select

00:07:29.940 new leaders. It's tough to come out of a leadership race, go straight into a general election. I mean,

00:07:34.440 donors and volunteers are tired and the new leader won't have established themselves.

00:07:39.020 It would be a long shot, but Trudeau might see it as his only shot. I mean, Trudeau is a self-centered

00:07:43.800 narcissist. It's very conceivable that he could put his entire party in peril as he makes a last

00:07:49.180 grab for power in a snap election. If such an election is called, we can rest assured it'll

00:07:53.940 be among the most divisive and vitriolic we've ever seen as well. I mean, Trudeau's thrived on

00:07:58.760 division, both regionally and ideologically for years. This time his tactics are going to be

00:08:03.700 spurred on by personal desperation. He'll go scorched earth in order to, hopefully for him,

00:08:09.300 gain a majority. If Trudeau, I mean, he's got no solid legacy to leave behind. He's caught in his

00:08:14.520 father's shadow and he wants to achieve something lasting during his tenure. He can't do that

00:08:19.000 with the minority government.

00:08:20.460 His personal vanity is more important to him,

00:08:22.440 of course, than the needs of Canadians.

00:08:24.260 So will there be a fall election?

00:08:25.980 Right now, I'm going to lay my odds

00:08:27.400 of that being about four to one.

00:08:29.300 Much more unlikely than likely,

00:08:31.080 but not impossible.

00:08:32.560 The behavior of Trudeau indicates

00:08:34.020 lately he's seriously considering it.

00:08:36.720 The only thing we can count in Canada these days

00:08:38.540 is political instability.

00:08:40.460 Either way, always be at the ready, guys.

00:08:44.020 Okay, well, that's what I'm observing

00:08:45.940 in politics today. 1.00

00:08:47.640 Let's see what else is going on and check into the newsroom with Melanie Riston.

00:08:51.620 Hey, Mel, how's it going?

00:08:52.840 Good.

00:08:53.500 I feel like we just had an election last year.

00:08:57.400 It feels that way, doesn't it?

00:08:58.780 We did.

00:08:59.960 Yeah, we've got a few things that we're working on.

00:09:03.160 Brian Jean is lending a hand in getting signings of nominations for fellow candidates.

00:09:10.260 Party leadership candidates can work together, he says.

00:09:14.620 There is a support the Dutch Freedom Convoy being planned in Alberta for this coming weekend.

00:09:21.200 Looks like it's going to be leaving from Calgary Saturday morning.

00:09:25.000 We've got information on that on the website.

00:09:27.460 It's in support of farmers protesting their right to continue to farm in the Netherlands.

00:09:33.300 In Saskatchewan, looks like there was a bomb threat at the University of Saskatchewan.

00:09:38.720 and also two arrests with people with guns in Regina after a standoff with police.

00:09:48.260 I believe that happened last night.

00:09:51.020 It looks like the UK is battling some heavy heat waves,

00:09:55.380 apparently temperatures over 40 degrees, which, you know, we see here once in a while,

00:10:00.900 but they don't see that very often.

00:10:03.280 And so in a lot of cases, they are having a very difficult time dealing with that heat.

00:10:09.760 We also have a think tank that says Ottawa emissions cap on oil and gas sector is targeting one quarter of emissions.

00:10:17.700 So just a small amount there. Public hearing for the Freedom Convoy inquiry will actually be live streamed on the Internet.

00:10:27.080 I suspect there will be quite a few people interested in watching that.

00:10:30.840 And it looks like there is a report that says billions of dollars spent on a program that

00:10:37.700 was launched about five years ago from the Liberal government.

00:10:40.300 It was called the Innovation Supercluster Initiative, and it was set to sort of garner

00:10:47.220 50,000 jobs.

00:10:49.200 Looks like that came nowhere near creating that many jobs, perhaps maybe 11,000.

00:10:55.320 And I'm working on a story, a couple of stories, actually, that will be out shortly.

00:10:59.520 One is reaction to AHS lifting all of its remaining vaccine mandates.

00:11:07.180 I know AHS announced a few months ago that it was allowing its medical workers to come back.

00:11:14.420 But any new hires or students that were looking to be placed for their learning,

00:11:21.180 you know, for their placements with their programs were going to have to show proof of vaccination.

00:11:26.780 Well, all of that was lifted yesterday from AHS.

00:11:30.260 And so I'm going to be speaking with quite a few of the medical professionals that were heavily affected by this,

00:11:37.740 plus some of the lawyers that were supporting both medical professionals and students.

00:11:43.160 So we'll have that coming up.

00:11:45.340 I'm also dealing with a story on the Freedom Convoy book that was written and launched by Andrew Lawton.

00:11:54.320 He is a journalist with True North, and apparently Indigo says they will not put it on their store shelves.

00:12:01.380 So that's something I'm digging into, looking to get some comment on that one.

00:12:06.200 And then our reporter, Eva, is working on a story about the Arrive Can app horrors.

00:12:13.520 I'm sure that will be interesting. There's stuff circulating all over social media with that.

00:12:18.660 And our reporter Amanda is working on a story where the LGBTQ community is kind of slamming anthropologists for labeling the remains that are found any sex.

00:12:33.820 Apparently they shouldn't do that because the remains could have belonged to somebody who didn't identify as that gender.

00:12:43.860 So, yeah, that will be up on the website fairly soon here.

00:12:48.660 Well, I mean, you know, you think of these archaeologists, anthropologists, I mean, you know, couldn't they find indications, you know, feather boas, things of drag queens, such and that, and then they can identify how that skeletal remains might have identified.

00:13:00.700 Right. I think really only skeletal remains remain after thousands of years. So really no other identifying features would be available to help identify the gender of those remains. So I guess we'll see some changes to the labeling process for those.

00:13:22.900 soon. Well, I would hate to be an archaeologist who had some ghostly transgender haunting me 1.00

00:13:27.440 because they were furious that I took a picture and captioned it as the wrong gender based on 1.00

00:13:32.820 going on nothing but bloody science, right? Yeah, agreed. Yeah, we wouldn't want to do that. 1.00

00:13:37.840 Okay, well, there's always plenty to raise the eyebrows going on in the news. I appreciate the

00:13:44.120 check-in. Oh, and I was also going to mention Trudeau's haircut. What do you think of Trudeau's

00:13:49.960 our cut. Well, you know, as you can see, I'm not exactly one with a well manicured coif myself,

00:13:56.240 so I can't get on too high a horse. I mean, I'm not a person who built such a reputation on those

00:14:02.180 beautiful flowing locks to begin with. I think, you know, as I kind of said, it was one of the

00:14:06.880 only real assets he had. What was he thinking by clipping it off like that? But yeah, I have to

00:14:11.640 agree with you. I think, you know, a lot of women in the beginning before sort of Trudeau really

00:14:17.060 kind of was making his platform a lot of women just found him to be quite attractive and yes

00:14:24.440 very often mentioned his his flowing locks but yeah I agree not not looking as dapper anymore

00:14:33.400 with that haircut that yeah it's very comparative to Jim Carrey from Dumb and Dumber yeah though Jim

00:14:41.540 was a hell of a lot more endearing in my view,

00:14:44.060 but I hold quite a bias.

00:14:46.140 So we'll see what he comes up with next.

00:14:48.180 Maybe before the election,

00:14:49.060 he'll knock a chip out of his tooth.

00:14:50.660 Yeah, maybe.

00:14:52.380 All right.

00:14:52.940 Well, thanks, Mel.

00:14:53.820 I appreciate it.

00:14:54.720 And we will check in with you after the show.

00:14:56.880 Sounds good.

00:14:58.160 All right.

00:14:58.920 That is our Melanie Rizdin.

00:15:00.500 And again, check our video channels

00:15:03.040 because boy, she's had some stuff

00:15:04.360 that's just been knocked out of the park lately

00:15:05.860 that's out there. 0.98

00:15:07.100 And she does some great interviews 1.00

00:15:09.500 and gets some folks.

00:15:10.320 And I mean, some of it you got to watch

00:15:11.460 If you watch on YouTube, we haven't been posting some of that on there because if we talk about certain subjects, we get kicked off there.

00:15:16.940 And all it's translated to, though, is Melanie gets lots and lots of views on the stuff she's been doing on our Facebook and Rumble channels.

00:15:25.520 It's funny when we talk about Andrew Lawton, I guess Indigo won't put his book up.

00:15:28.820 I mean, all he did, I had him, I interviewed, he was on this show about that book.

00:15:32.400 And he's written on his experiences at the convoy.

00:15:36.460 But things are changing and it's great because, you know, if you want to look up Andrew Lawton, look up his book,

00:15:40.660 you can get it from Amazon, you can get it directly, you can get it all over the place.

00:15:44.620 These heavyweight book dealers don't carry the power and ability to censor like they used to.

00:15:51.020 So to hell with Indigo, find it somewhere else. In fact, it gives more reason to bring attention

00:15:55.140 to what's going on and what he's got in that book. It's only serving him. Likewise, when we got

00:16:00.700 punted from YouTube a little while ago for the daring to talk to one of our reporters about

00:16:05.600 something he'd been working on with Matthew Horwood, we took that interview and just reminded

00:16:09.440 people that put it on Facebook, and I believe it got over 100,000 views. Our interviews with

00:16:13.740 our own reporters usually don't draw quite that traffic. So these efforts to censor are only

00:16:18.960 backfiring. We're just finding other ways to get it out there. So keep up the good work, guys.

00:16:23.300 You're not stopping us. You're just making us find new ways. We're going to reach out. We're

00:16:27.220 going to talk about the stories, whether you like it or not. And this is where I'd like to remind

00:16:30.260 everybody the reason we've got people like Matthew out in Ontario, David Crayton was on the other

00:16:34.740 day or we got Jonathan who's moved out here into the Calgary office and we got mail people all over

00:16:41.040 the place. We're growing. It's because you guys have been taking out memberships. We don't take

00:16:44.560 a nickel of tax funding. We never will. It's a point of pride with us. It's, hey, we wouldn't

00:16:48.860 be worth a crap if we did. You can't trust something that takes tax dollars. You can't 0.57

00:16:53.140 because then you're beholden to the government. You're always going to, even if subconsciously

00:16:56.460 say we're not going to be that critical as we don't want to lose that money. We don't. We rely

00:17:00.540 on you guys. So thousands of you have subscribed and I thank you for it. I really appreciate it.

00:17:06.040 That's why we're growing. There's obviously a void that needs to be filled and we've been doing it.

00:17:10.120 We always appreciate feedback and how we can better do it. And if you haven't subscribed

00:17:14.240 already, guys, get on there. It's 10 bucks a month, $99 for a year. You can get past the paywall,

00:17:19.300 get straight in there. There's so much content. I saw somebody the other day, it was a commenter

00:17:24.080 saying, boy, there's so many articles. I can't keep up because they're referencing one and we

00:17:27.080 get confused with another. Lots of content, easily worth a paltry $10 a month or less,

00:17:33.380 like a newspaper subscription. So take one out, guys, help us along, keep independent media going

00:17:37.720 so we can't be censored or shut down. Let's see some of the stuff from the comments here.

00:17:44.840 Yeah, Wendy pointing out with Trudeau. Jesus, you know, again, he's got the environmental hang up,

00:17:48.800 but as Wendy Rizuski is pointing out, he can't be that concerned if he's going to jet set all

00:17:53.260 over. I mean, like I was saying, yeah, he was in Ontario one day, Quebec the next, BC the next. I

00:17:58.840 mean, he's not going around on a bicycle or even a car. He's flying and he's got an entourage.

00:18:05.620 But again, you know, the commoners like us, well, we're supposed to tighten our belts and

00:18:10.700 stay close to home, I guess, and use a hemp pup tent in the backyard for vacationing so as not

00:18:16.160 to hurt the environment. Paradoxy saying, does anybody know what happens if an election is

00:18:21.920 called before the conservative leadership race is finished? And can they? Yes, they can call it

00:18:27.320 whenever they want, or at least if the government falls one way or another, or if it's a majority

00:18:32.700 government going to the governor general. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what another

00:18:36.340 party's race might be going on at the time or not. I think politically it would backfire terribly.

00:18:43.060 I mean, it would just be so grossly opportunistic. I don't think it would resonate well with the

00:18:49.140 electors. I mean, it's still opportunistic to call an election, say, a week after they've selected a

00:18:54.140 leader, but it would be a little more acceptable. But if you did it to them in the middle of a race,

00:18:57.480 and it's not beyond, I don't put anything beyond them. We've had senators appointed. I think it

00:19:02.820 was Chrétien who did that. We were in the middle of electing our senators, and Chrétien made a

00:19:06.720 point of appointing a couple senators. His way of giving us the middle finger and saying,

00:19:10.640 you do whatever the hell you want. I'm not going to listen to your elections.

00:19:13.560 So I don't put it beyond them.

00:19:15.980 I doubt they would do it, though.

00:19:18.020 But there's nothing stopping them if they wanted to.

00:19:21.580 Cliff saying Gene is hoping they will back him

00:19:23.680 when they're off the ballot.

00:19:26.720 You know, and not so altruistic.

00:19:28.680 I don't know.

00:19:29.080 There's a bit of cynicism.

00:19:30.140 It's an interesting strategy, though,

00:19:31.560 and we're getting a lot of divisive races going on.

00:19:34.340 And, you know, we've got Danielle and Taze

00:19:37.740 sniping at each other pretty hard,

00:19:39.980 and the tone is getting a little rough.

00:19:41.580 And to see Gene coming across in more of a congenial approach makes him stand out in a different way there.

00:19:48.680 And maybe that's some ground to carve out because people get sick of all the fighting and battling and sniping sometimes.

00:19:54.140 So we'll see how that works out for him in his campaign.

00:19:57.440 There's a lot of candidates for these guys right now.

00:19:59.840 And it's hard to see, you know, hard to stand out.

00:20:05.100 And, yeah, there could be some strategy to it.

00:20:07.380 I mean, when you get many, many candidates and person doesn't win in the first ballot,

00:20:11.100 there's a lot of strategy and tactics that go behind seeing how to place well for the next

00:20:16.580 and subsequent ballots then anyways. So yeah, we'll see that. Jet Singh, you call in to go

00:20:22.360 and complain. Yeah, why not? You know, let them know. Let them know that they're making a bad

00:20:26.700 decision. Let them know. I mean, it might not make a difference, but it won't hurt because

00:20:30.940 they got shareholders. I imagine they got some people or was it just owned by the Reitmans or

00:20:35.960 something like that. I can't remember now, but either way, uh, you know, let them know that

00:20:40.180 you're, you're just, uh, not caring for them censoring books. I mean, you should have all of

00:20:43.500 them. You don't have to agree with everything they put on the shelves. I don't want a bookstore like

00:20:47.420 that. Uh, Trudeau's nose is growing bigger. Ah, lots of the comments of all kinds. And, uh, uh,

00:20:56.440 let's see, Eric Fortin. I'm sorry, Eric, my, uh, my French is terrible, but, uh, some, something

00:21:04.420 about infanticide and genocide.

00:21:07.700 Boy, well, if you want to come back

00:21:08.920 with that in English,

00:21:09.480 it sounds like some serious stuff

00:21:10.480 you're talking about in the comment scroll,

00:21:11.740 but I, oh, here we go.

00:21:12.920 A little farther.

00:21:14.580 Just excuse me while you're singing.

00:21:15.400 I'm not a liberal.

00:21:16.040 I'm Pierre Polyev and Eric Duhim,

00:21:17.700 conservative in Canada, Quebec.

00:21:18.820 Okay, but I'm sorry, Eric.

00:21:19.960 I don't know the first part.

00:21:21.300 I'm sure we've got some good French speakers

00:21:22.660 among the others.

00:21:24.040 I like watching these comments going, though.

00:21:25.940 It's, you know, important to be interactive

00:21:28.760 and just try to stay polite with each other.

00:21:30.680 I had one of our commenters

00:21:32.060 have something of a hissy fit

00:21:33.580 because I mentioned him yesterday.

00:21:35.900 He's probably watching with his blood pressure

00:21:38.120 all wound up up in the background there anyways.

00:21:40.580 But hey, if you're going to come out at me, 0.98

00:21:44.040 I'm going to slap back.

00:21:45.300 I mean, who do you think you're getting on the case of?

00:21:47.360 Come on, this is what I do.

00:21:48.820 I'm not here to be a sweetheart.

00:21:51.440 And if you have a problem with me, that's fine.

00:21:55.180 But when you send me private messages too

00:21:56.720 that get high strong and so on,

00:21:59.400 you can ask a number of references.

00:22:01.140 Your odds of being told by me to go F yourself.

00:22:03.580 get very, very high. And I stayed within character and consistently and did so. Maybe that's what

00:22:08.280 you wanted in the first place. But yeah, you come in to somebody and give a push. Don't be shocked

00:22:14.500 when they pushed back. All right, let's see what else is going on in the news here while we wait

00:22:19.220 for our next guest there, Mr. Sherman. He should be in fairly soon. Let's see. Yeah, that thing

00:22:25.520 Melanie mentioned in the news check-in with job claims being inflated. But you know, there's not

00:22:33.140 a shocker. It reminds me of things like Calgary Economic Development and these things. They like

00:22:37.960 giving the nice names, you know, super clusters and stuff like that. They spent hundreds of

00:22:42.080 millions of dollars. In this case, the federal government spent a billion dollars and only

00:22:46.240 created 11,000 jobs, if that. And that's temporary things. I mean, with a billion dollars spent,

00:22:52.420 think about that. That's a thousand million dollars or 10,000 people. You could just give

00:22:58.020 a hundred grand each. So for what? And out of all of that, they created supposedly 11,000 jobs.

00:23:07.260 And, uh, you know, that'll be hard to believe. Just get out of it. Cut the taxes, get out of

00:23:12.080 the way, let the economy pick up and people will get the jobs. We got a labor shortage right now.

00:23:16.260 Anyways, it's not lack of jobs, but part of the problem too, is we've got such a screwed up

00:23:20.820 economy that's bouncing around all over the place. And again, thanks to a lot of government policy,

00:23:24.420 regulation, and meddling around that industries are having a hard time getting going. Their margins

00:23:32.220 are narrow, they can only do so much. I mean, people talk about the energy sector, you know,

00:23:36.780 well, why aren't they booming more? Well, how can you get anything done? Why would you do a capital

00:23:41.320 investment in an area where the government is talking about shutting down your industry?

00:23:48.040 You know, the health and safety regulations in the energy sector, they're insane. So guys,

00:23:52.380 yeah, when we get government coming in, they're going to create jobs. The best way they can create

00:23:56.220 is just to get out of the damn way. When they get these, these, these subsidy pits, like we're 0.98

00:24:00.340 hearing, you know, here, and we're talking about, we don't see a good outcome. So yeah, five years,

00:24:05.700 a billion dollars, and they barely started anything. But they, they came up with that

00:24:08.840 beautiful buzzword supercluster, which we don't even know really what it is. And I think it was

00:24:13.200 supposed to be some tech space, like again, Calgary economic development. I love getting

00:24:16.580 on their case because some people think they're like a chamber of commerce or a business

00:24:19.720 organization. They aren't. They're a slush fund managed by the city of Calgary from a distance.

00:24:26.000 They made it a separate organization. That way you can't fork them. We can't even find out what

00:24:31.000 they're doing with the money exactly anyways. And give them $100 million and said, bring business

00:24:37.400 into Calgary. Well, they've been doing a bang up job. They pissed away millions trying to bring

00:24:41.360 the Olympics in. That failed and ticked everybody off. The head of them, Mary Moran, was a

00:24:46.140 catastrophic failure. She suddenly resigned out of the blue. We never did find out exactly why.

00:24:52.180 We found a lot of Ninchy's very good fart catchers through campaigns and elections found really good

00:24:57.840 jobs with Calgary economic development while they were there. And yeah, $100 million they've

00:25:03.780 been given and Calgary has a record 33 and some percent downtown vacancy. So these slush funds,

00:25:11.340 these subsidy pits, these areas where we're tossing tax dollars saying we're going to build

00:25:15.720 jobs, build the economy. They don't work. You want to bring people downtown? Get police down

00:25:23.120 there to clean the junkies off the street and make parking free. Then you'll get people downtown.

00:25:27.960 Then you'll get business. Then you got people saying, I might want to relocate my head office

00:25:31.060 down there because my staff won't be afraid to come down there and go to work. They won't be

00:25:36.060 paying $400 a month to park in a downtown that's 30% vacant. But no, they feel they can subsidize

00:25:43.720 their way through. There was one they called Rocket Space. I can't remember what that was

00:25:46.580 about. The Calgary Economic Development was patting themselves on the back. We've drawn this great

00:25:50.720 thing in. Oh, we're giving them, sure, we gave them some millions of dollars, but don't worry.

00:25:54.120 I think after a couple of years, they finally went, oh, well, it kind of fell apart, you know,

00:25:57.140 so we just basically flushed some money down the toilet. But yes, here's another one of them. So

00:26:04.100 I'm not sure where Mr. Sherman is. Hopefully he pops in fairly soon. Let's see. Canadians rate

00:26:10.980 foreign demand. This is one of my favorites, actually. Our fresh water is one of the biggest 0.88

00:26:15.720 threats to sovereignty. And this is from Department of National Defense Research. Okay,

00:26:19.860 and that's fine. You know, the DND, the research, and Canadians rate that as a threat. But guys,

00:26:25.580 it's not. It's no threat to our sovereignty whatsoever. This is one of the myths. This is

00:26:31.220 the crap that the Council of Canadians and Maude Barlow and a bunch of unions and a bunch of people 0.99

00:26:35.260 put out in the late 80s and early 90s when they were fighting NAFTA. Because what they were doing 0.98

00:26:40.080 was they built this myth around the big bad Americans.

00:26:43.000 If we have NAFTA, they're going to steal our water.

00:26:45.120 They're going to come up and take all of our fresh water.

00:26:47.520 And they would show pictures of the California desert

00:26:49.800 and say, look at that, they're dry down there.

00:26:51.260 They really want our water.

00:26:52.600 And they'll show Mead Lake and it really is going down.

00:26:55.560 It's darn near dry this year.

00:26:57.260 Just because they would love to have our water

00:27:00.060 from up here down there doesn't mean they can get it.

00:27:04.120 How the hell are they going to get it?

00:27:05.540 Look at the logistics.

00:27:06.960 Look at it.

00:27:08.060 Are we going to pipeline it?

00:27:10.080 right through the Columbia River Valley, right across the, you know, 10 different river valleys

00:27:14.620 just to get it down to the south on the west side of the country? Or we're going to bring it across

00:27:18.540 the Mississippi? Guys, it's not going to happen. The Great Lakes are already shared by the Americans

00:27:23.440 and the Canadians, and they're not pumping them dry. They can't. Water isn't actually very easy

00:27:29.160 to move, not economically. I mean, you can put it in pipes. Cities do that, but it's a relatively

00:27:36.460 small volume. You've got to think it's heavy. It doesn't compress. You've got to push it through

00:27:41.100 those lines. You've got to build that pressure. And in order to do so, I mean, the costs are huge.

00:27:46.400 You think of a pipe that's even five feet tall and pushing water, the amount of resources it

00:27:50.540 would take to move that much water through a pipe, say across North America. And do you know

00:27:56.440 how much water that is? A small creek. But we keep that fear going. And that's what our armed

00:28:02.380 forces now saying we got a threat to our sovereignty. Come on, expand a little more.

00:28:06.780 How? How? I've heard some crazy stuff, especially when Crazy Mod Barlow was putting that out there

00:28:11.660 and her organization always sucks a lot of tax dollars as well. They're just a union bunch. 1.00

00:28:15.660 I haven't heard much about them lately, but they made their big thing with the, again,

00:28:18.660 anti-free trade thing. There was things like, oh, they're going to take, I heard of them snapping

00:28:23.780 off icebergs from the Arctic and floating them down. I've heard them taking tankers full of water

00:28:28.240 and moving it down. Guys, none of that is economically viable. If a private company

00:28:32.900 wants to come up and buy our water and take it, go for it. Let's sell it. Holy cow. Absolutely.

00:28:39.840 How much does the Fraser River just dump into the ocean every second? How much does the St. 0.58

00:28:45.460 Lawrence dump into the other one of the McKenzie to the north? Guys, the water just goes into the

00:28:50.200 ocean. If some clown wants to pay us for us, why are we stopping them? It's not going to run out. 0.94

00:28:54.500 we hear that too. A lot of people get all upset. I mean, they loved using Nestle as the poster

00:28:59.100 child. Oh, Nestle's stealing our water for next to nothing. Okay. And a couple of things. No,

00:29:02.500 they aren't. I mean, that's almost the same as giving a company crap. If they have a factory 0.99

00:29:06.420 that pulls oxygen in and compresses it and use it within the factory. Because people say they're

00:29:11.800 getting that water and they're barely paying for it. They're paying a small royalty. But what

00:29:16.200 they're also doing is employing thousands, paying billions in taxes, whether it's income,

00:29:21.900 corporate, local fees, all sorts of things. And they're turning that water. Yeah, people say

00:29:28.420 water is a human right. Sure. But once you bottle it and clean it and purify it, then it becomes a

00:29:32.020 commodity. So they sell it. You don't like it. Don't buy it. They say, oh, my God, they're pumping

00:29:38.040 their area dry. No, they aren't. The amount of bottled water that actually gets consumed by

00:29:42.140 people, even if it says, oh, my God, millions of bottles. Yeah. What's that? Two minutes of the

00:29:46.000 Fraser flow, if that, for years and years worth of one factory of bottled water on the edge of

00:29:52.140 the Fraser River Valley. Guys, it's a non-issue. It's not real. But we're still talking about it.

00:29:57.680 We're still talking about it. And they use it to keep up fear. And I don't want to knock the

00:30:02.640 armed forces. I'm going to guess, though, the reason that National Defence did this research

00:30:06.060 and wanted to get that going, though, is on the same sense with, you know, the Council of Canadians.

00:30:14.600 I mean, if you want to get more funding for defense, well, you got to keep people scared

00:30:17.520 for our sovereignty as well. So if you can kind of pump up that sort of fear, there's

00:30:22.040 more public support. Maybe they can get some more government transfers because they do

00:30:25.100 have some areas of defense that are starving. But this just is a non-issue, guys. It's a

00:30:28.540 non-starter. And yeah, Tiggy says, yeah, Nestle is in Hope, BC, right on the Fraser Valley

00:30:35.720 and there's plenty of water. And there's jobs in an area where there's not a hell of a

00:30:39.720 lot of them. And that Dallin guy pointing out, this was something I went on a rant about

00:30:43.020 a little while back. Ocean desalination plants should be much more cost effective than moving

00:30:49.720 icebergs. And they are. And they're very expensive still too, but they're coming along. I mean, in

00:30:54.560 Israel, the Middle East, out there, Northern Africa, desalinization is huge and it's vital 1.00

00:30:59.320 and it's working very well. In California though, I went on a rant about that because here we are 1.00

00:31:06.880 where you have these plants. There was a proposed one, a huge one for down there and it got shut

00:31:12.800 down. They couldn't get the approvals because the eco loonies shut it down. This is a province,

00:31:16.980 a province, a state that is parched dry. That again, if you go down there though, if you can

00:31:22.020 irrigate, if you can bring water in, very lush, grows excellently. And you've got a literal entire

00:31:28.760 ocean next to you. If all of humanity went to work pumping the ocean, they still wouldn't be able to

00:31:35.240 bring it down more than six inches. This is not an environmental threat whatsoever. This was absurd.

00:31:41.000 It was ridiculous, and they shut it down. 1.00

00:31:44.840 These environmentalists are insane. 1.00

00:31:47.000 I said that yesterday. 0.89

00:31:48.020 Now they're saying that they're going to ban lithium in Europe.

00:31:50.960 What?

00:31:52.260 I mean, you want us to all go to batteries, but now you're banning the lithium.

00:31:55.640 You wanted us to reduce emissions.

00:31:57.420 We shut off coal, but now natural gas is bad.

00:31:59.680 We've got to shut that off.

00:32:00.740 There's no end to these nutcases.

00:32:02.980 Can we do hydroelectric?

00:32:03.960 No, that's bad. 0.69

00:32:04.600 You'll dam a river.

00:32:05.700 Nuclear?

00:32:06.220 No, we're shutting those down.

00:32:08.180 What the hell are we left with?

00:32:09.640 California is bone dry

00:32:12.100 they got an ocean next to them

00:32:13.620 and we've got the technology

00:32:14.900 to convert that and use it

00:32:17.800 and they've shut it down

00:32:19.900 counterintuitive madness

00:32:22.320 but a lot of it is this mythology too

00:32:25.220 stuff like that

00:32:25.880 we listen to these environmentalists

00:32:27.620 I mean that was part of the case they made in California too

00:32:29.920 it wasn't just that

00:32:30.640 we don't want to turn water into a commodity

00:32:33.480 we don't want people charging for it

00:32:35.460 it's a need

00:32:36.100 oh so you'd rather have everybody just not have it

00:32:39.560 than have people actually pay for it.

00:32:42.620 We pay for it anyways.

00:32:43.660 You always pay for something.

00:32:45.320 That's that other myth.

00:32:46.360 Hey, things from the government are free.

00:32:48.440 Have you ever looked at a check?

00:32:49.300 I think a lot of the people who do believe

00:32:52.960 that everything from the government is free, of course,

00:32:54.900 are people who don't actually get paychecks.

00:32:56.700 They get, you know, some sort of welfare.

00:33:00.220 You pay.

00:33:00.880 You pay for everything you get.

00:33:02.200 There's no free health care.

00:33:03.120 There's no free water.

00:33:04.060 There's no free electricity.

00:33:04.960 There's no free rides, guys.

00:33:06.680 Everything comes at a cost.

00:33:07.740 Somebody had to work and get those resources to you somehow, somewhere.

00:33:13.480 You know, we've got water issues.

00:33:16.700 There's real ones.

00:33:17.600 Polluted water is a big issue.

00:33:20.080 And I mean, I tell you, that's sickening.

00:33:21.900 If there's a corporate pollution going into water or even individuals, it should be cracked down.

00:33:27.240 That's areas where I'm disgusted.

00:33:29.160 I hate seeing garbage in rivers.

00:33:30.900 I hate thinking of grandfathered manufacturing facilities

00:33:34.380 that can dump their laden waste into a fresh water body

00:33:38.900 and things like that.

00:33:39.520 That's a real issue.

00:33:41.680 But somebody coming up and stealing it,

00:33:43.600 guys, it's not going to happen.

00:33:45.640 It's not going to happen.

00:33:46.740 Just because it's a need, just because we want it,

00:33:48.920 doesn't mean somebody's going to come get it.

00:33:53.000 I say open it up.

00:33:54.080 Say, come on up.

00:33:54.920 Whoever wants to pay this much a liter,

00:33:56.780 come help yourself to Albert and Water.

00:33:58.240 It's always been a commodity.

00:33:59.320 If you're a farmer getting irrigation, you have to pay the irrigation district for a certain amount of water use.

00:34:04.200 It's always been a commodity.

00:34:05.540 And they had to use the expense of building canals, duct work, things like that to get it to you.

00:34:10.580 Fair enough.

00:34:11.800 Likewise, if you're getting it into your household or even way back when I was surveying for seismic jobs,

00:34:16.540 you'd have to pay the MD or areas where you're going to pump the water to put into your shot holes when you're drilling instead of the dynamite.

00:34:22.820 Selling water is nothing new.

00:34:24.460 Get over it.

00:34:25.220 It's a commodity.

00:34:25.840 um yeah you know why it's saying something likes to get over pumped because uh every other local

00:34:32.700 with a water source acts like the water is made of diamonds and too precious to let people sell

00:34:35.940 it yeah you know i mean again if you've got a commodity you you uh you're going to preserve it 0.97

00:34:42.020 if you want to keep selling it there was a bunch of uh hipsters went bananas because of a rapid

00:34:46.900 ascent it's a little brewery up in north calgary they make some great beers and uh they tried a

00:34:52.440 different thing, though, that they got some water from a creek that's up by a fortress, the old ski

00:34:56.220 area in the mountains west of Calgary. And they were canning some of that and selling it as

00:35:00.420 mountain. Oh, my God, you're stealing the water from the mountains. Oh, what else? It's going to

00:35:05.480 run all the way down into the Elbow River and get to Calgary anyways. They just grabbed it a little

00:35:09.160 earlier. And we're talking about the volume, the volume, two minutes of flow total a year. I don't

00:35:16.260 know, but not a lot. But these environmentalists are insane. They're crazy. And they act as well 0.99

00:35:21.800 and we've got to preserve water.

00:35:23.180 Well, do you think when we use water, it vanishes?

00:35:25.480 It disappears from the ecosystem?

00:35:28.260 Hey, when I drink it, it comes out the other end of me.

00:35:30.940 Some's going to sweat as well.

00:35:32.360 But it goes back into the system now.

00:35:33.940 It's going to need some processing and cleaning.

00:35:35.440 It's not advisable to drink it again,

00:35:37.420 unless you're, what is that, Bear Gryllis or something?

00:35:39.820 That's his fetish, not mine.

00:35:41.600 But all the same, eventually it'll go through the system.

00:35:43.980 The water molecules are still there, and they'll get there.

00:35:46.160 In Calgary, go down to the area where you're seeing that water treated,

00:35:49.860 going back into the river.

00:35:51.800 down there by the bridge. I mean, you can fish. There's huge trout down there. I used to call

00:35:55.440 them turd snappers. I don't think I'd eat the fish down from that, no matter what they claim

00:35:58.840 on that. But all the same, the water goes back into the system, guys. It doesn't vaporize. It

00:36:02.620 doesn't vanish. You spray it on your lawn, it evaporates. It goes back into the system.

00:36:07.180 You don't want to be wasteful with it, particularly treated water. But it's not something we're

00:36:11.820 really that low on. Let's see what else we got. Oh yeah, paper water box things. Yes, yeah,

00:36:18.740 Justin did his part to, to save us from that. Uh, where I'm just going through the comments.

00:36:25.600 This is what I ended up doing when guests, uh, no show on me. And Mr. Sherman seems to have done

00:36:29.780 that, which is always a frustration, but, uh, well, whatever it's his campaign. Um, not so

00:36:36.260 concerned about floor crossings from Chris. Uh, oh, you're talking about then, um, yeah, about

00:36:42.680 stuff with Daniel at the Wildrose. I don't know. I'm not going to go into that as much. Um, seeing

00:36:47.260 hoping to ask her about tomorrow. I guess she's doing something tomorrow. They're all campaigning

00:36:50.680 like crazy. So that's fine. I won't dig too deeply into specific areas. Let's see. There's

00:36:58.760 a valid argument to assigning a cost to a resource actually helps people value and preserve a

00:37:03.560 resource. That's from that Dalen guy. Yes. Yes. I've seen stuff on that before too, when it comes

00:37:08.500 to logging. That's another one. Like some of the private woodlots in the States, if you want to

00:37:12.760 see well-managed woodlots. Look at the private ones, because they've got an interest in replanting

00:37:18.220 those things and make sure there's, just like any farmer, you want to make sure your crop is

00:37:21.580 ongoing. The worst forestry management, and some of it's gotten better due to regulation and some

00:37:26.520 things, I'm not wholly against regulation, I just want to see a minimum of it, was that a lot of

00:37:31.720 areas where they got actually, you know, permits to cut on crown land or down there would be, you

00:37:36.040 know, state forests and such, because then they would just cut like mad. It's not theirs, right?

00:37:40.400 you don't have that interest. So then you will cut closer to riparian areas or you are going to be

00:37:44.080 less inclined for erosion control. You really are going to need that gun to your head to replant.

00:37:47.980 If it's your own, you want to make sure that it's a functional, accessible, healthy forest

00:37:54.400 that's reproducing and growing. And you know, if you've got a good, healthy forest, it's good for

00:37:59.640 everything else around it, all the fuzzy bunnies and all the rest of the stuff that comes with that.

00:38:04.320 So yeah, you know, don't assume anything run by the government is always going to be better.

00:38:10.920 Let's see what else we got on the go.

00:38:13.160 Okay, see, so we've got to be some other stories

00:38:15.060 that can rant about water.

00:38:17.480 Oh, yeah, the AHS.

00:38:20.440 There's another one.

00:38:21.040 So they backed off,

00:38:22.420 backed off on the mandates for vaccination for staff.

00:38:28.640 You know, finally, finally.

00:38:30.800 Here's where we start getting painful.

00:38:32.300 The government's admitting then,

00:38:33.540 obviously, that keeping people vaccinated

00:38:35.120 is not keeping people around them any safer.

00:38:37.920 There was that mythology

00:38:38.820 that they happily like to put out was as if vaccination will stop or hinder the spread.

00:38:43.400 And that's been very proven, very wrong. I mean, I still am feeling, you know, well, we'll see.

00:38:49.920 I think it's vaccinations have reduced adverse outcomes for people. I'm not against all

00:38:54.740 regulations as well. I for, you know, I won't go into it, but I had to pop by the emergency room

00:38:59.480 a little while back. And on the way into there, I had to, you know, sanitize my hands and put on a

00:39:05.580 mask. And it wasn't for me, it was for somebody else. But either way, okay, because I'm going

00:39:09.900 into a building, a hospital with a lot of vulnerable people, a lot of immunocompromised

00:39:13.940 people, a lot of sick people, for the sake of my own protection to a degree, and maybe theirs,

00:39:18.020 I will mask up and do those things. If I go into a senior center, somewhere like that,

00:39:21.220 where people are more vulnerable, and if there is something going around, I'm okay with masking or

00:39:25.180 again, sanitizing. Or again, I like to think, you know, some common sense, even pre-COVID. I mean,

00:39:30.400 hey, if you've got a bad cold or flu, you shouldn't go to a hospital or a senior center

00:39:37.360 anyways. I mean, these are people that can be taken out by what's a relatively minor sickness 0.83

00:39:41.780 for a younger, healthy person. Either way, we've got a huge crisis in healthcare, staffing-wise,

00:39:48.000 resource-wise, and it's been ridiculous going this long in not allowing unvaccinated people 1.00

00:39:55.680 to work there. We'll see how many actually come back. I mean, when you've kicked a bunch of 1.00

00:39:59.100 unceremoniously out of their jobs like that. They're not necessarily all that eager to come

00:40:03.540 back. But I know here's the NDP. There we go. The communists, sorry, socialists call the decision

00:40:11.100 absurd. Yes, we'd rather have our starved healthcare system where people are dying on

00:40:16.340 waiting lists than get rid of a vaccine mandate that's not making anybody safer. NDP is driven

00:40:22.280 by ideology, not reality. That's what we got to worry about. We got to look at, you know,

00:40:27.180 as we're getting into this UCP leadership race is that we can beat Rachel Notley. That's the

00:40:36.960 number one thing. Every single candidate in this UCP race, every one of them would be a superior

00:40:42.620 premier to Rachel Notley. So let's not self-destruct in this race. Let's not have that

00:40:49.660 party tear itself to shreds. I'm not going to say who's best or worst to go on into it. I'm just

00:40:54.260 going to keep interviewing and looking. I mean, I've got my views, but I'm not a member, so it

00:40:57.300 doesn't matter. My biggest fear is giving the NDP four more years to really screw this province.

00:41:03.800 We've got to be careful, folks. We've got to be very, very careful. And yes,

00:41:10.720 Chris Gibson saying, do I know about the trade treaty Trudeau signed with the Netherlands? No,

00:41:14.940 I don't actually. Oh, I did read a little bit about that because yeah, he was bragging something

00:41:20.740 on Twitter about it a little while back, but I didn't see fully what that was about, Chris,

00:41:23.820 i'm afraid i can't speak much to it the netherlands have been interesting though i mean i've done

00:41:27.280 pieces on that and i've uh again that's where i did that rant in a tiktok video and the boy the

00:41:33.120 media does not like talking about that one but the farmers i mean that that rebellion has been

00:41:37.100 fantastic um it's unfortunately that they got pushed to the into a corner like that and they

00:41:42.260 feel compelled to have to push back like that but we're seeing people finally saying that enough is

00:41:48.860 enough. And what's this? Let's see, are you ready to take away the majority of people's rights? No,

00:41:56.640 for the people who are immune compromised, let them look after themselves, let the rest of the

00:41:59.080 world move on. Well, Shannon, that's the commenter. I'm not talking about taking away the majority of

00:42:05.320 people's rights when I was speaking. Don't misinterpret. You know, I get some people get

00:42:08.600 so worked up. I got one lunatic who kept emailing me, you're pro vaccine mandates. No, I'm not. Yes,

00:42:13.200 you are. No, I'm not. Show me anywhere where I've ever said I'm pro-vaccine passport or mandate.

00:42:19.400 Ever. It shouldn't be hard to find. Google my name. God, there's hundreds of articles from me

00:42:23.760 out there. I never said it. I did get vaccinated. Willingly. A couple of times. Well, that's why.

00:42:31.780 That's why. You support it just in the sake of you got vaccinated. No, I didn't. I support choice.

00:42:37.160 It's a big difference. I chose to get vaccinated. There was coercion. I oppose that. I've always

00:42:42.980 been consistent that way, guys. And then for me to say that I think it's okay to make people wear

00:42:48.180 a mask in a hospital, yes, I do. You can choose not to go to the hospital, I guess. I want to see

00:42:52.680 more private hospitals and options anyways. You can choose a hospital where masking is not allowed,

00:42:56.720 I guess, if we had more variety in the health system. But to have a requirement for somebody

00:43:00.160 coming into a hospital to wear a mask and sanitize their hands, I don't think is unreasonable.

00:43:04.020 Likewise, with a seniors community. And hey, there's room in seniors communities if there's,

00:43:09.560 you know, if you want to open a private one, it says, hey, free for all, come on in here with a

00:43:13.100 bad flu and sneeze on the patrons. That's their business if they want to choose that one. But for

00:43:18.020 me, to say, yeah, there's immune compromised people. And I'm not saying shut the world down.

00:43:23.340 That's why I'm saying I'm talking about the mask mandates in schools or on buses or in public or 0.95

00:43:26.860 in workplaces or all that crap. But in the areas where we do have the vulnerable people all together,

00:43:31.740 it only makes sense to make a little more protection for them. It's just common sense.

00:43:36.580 You know, we apply it where we should.

00:43:38.180 The problem is with the government, they apply it everywhere

00:43:40.260 because that's the only way they can deal with anything.

00:43:42.020 They got to put their gun to everybody's head

00:43:43.500 and it doesn't help anybody.

00:43:47.260 Let's see.

00:43:52.480 Akira Anderson saying,

00:43:53.540 Roz Sherman can't run in the UCP leadership race.

00:43:55.560 Why am I interviewing him?

00:43:58.280 Well, he's not given up yet.

00:44:00.240 That's why.

00:44:00.980 I mean, the committee has rejected his application,

00:44:04.000 but he's still campaigning anyways.

00:44:05.320 He's still getting the signatures.

00:44:06.180 he's still spending a whole pile of money, and I'm interested. I find it interesting. He feels,

00:44:10.640 rightly or wrongly, that the leadership committee is going to relent and change their mind and find

00:44:15.160 out that he's serious and then let him in. I don't know if that's going to happen. Probably not.

00:44:20.120 But it's an interesting subject, that's all. And I mean, I talked to interesting people,

00:44:24.200 and he was a figure who, you know, was an elected official for quite some time, and

00:44:28.820 he's got some character, and he's making a push. He's got an interesting case. I don't think he's

00:44:33.360 brought it up that much, but Michelle Rempel didn't have a leadership as well. And then,

00:44:37.800 you know, the leadership committee said, okay, well, we've listened to you and we'll make an

00:44:41.400 exemption for you. You can run for the leadership race. And then she turned around and kicked them

00:44:45.380 in the balls and said, this party's not worth running for and went back to parliament. 0.98

00:44:49.140 So, you know, if they can make an exemption for Rempel, maybe they can make an exemption for 0.94

00:44:54.340 Mr. Sherman. But I mean, I talked to, my hand is out to everybody who's declared as a candidate

00:45:00.240 for the UCP. Only a handful are fully approved yet. All of them, and I'm not even, I can't say

00:45:06.320 for sure, Mr. Horsman hasn't fully been brought into the race yet. It doesn't mean I won't talk

00:45:11.100 to him. It doesn't mean he won't get into the race later. And, you know, like I said, the show's

00:45:15.360 open to speak to all of them. And I've spoken to most of them now, Rajan Sani and others. They've

00:45:21.860 been on this show. So, I mean, my job is to kind of just give as many, you know, candidates as

00:45:28.940 much time as I can. So you viewers, listeners can, can make your decisions with, you know,

00:45:33.440 as informed as possible. So I won't say yes or, you know, I won't say no to any particular

00:45:38.760 candidates at all. It's important to get them on. Let's see here. What else we got in the comments

00:45:44.340 and get near time. I'll get on to Mr. Horsman though and bring them on.

00:45:48.500 Kenny Benson saying, masking didn't work for COVID. You're stirring the Kool-Aid.

00:45:51.880 Kenny, masking does work for a whole lot of things. That's why it's been done in medical

00:45:55.540 practices for the last 100 years. I'm not talking about masking mandates. So please, people,

00:46:01.880 think a little harder. I'm not talking about mask mandates. I'm not talking about public masking.

00:46:05.280 I'm not talking about school masking. I'm not talking about masking on the bus or the airplane.

00:46:08.600 In a hospital full of sick people, yes. And they've been doing it for a century for a reason.

00:46:13.480 And likewise in senior centers. Differentiate between mask mandates and areas where it is

00:46:19.900 important. I mean, there's some rooms where a person is extremely sick and they just do not

00:46:23.980 let anybody visit them. It's not an infringement on the rights of other people not being able to

00:46:28.260 get into that room and visit them. It's protecting that person who's very, very sick.

00:46:32.780 Right now, the sickness we have is we brought in mandates that force everybody at all times to do

00:46:37.440 things. That's not what I'm talking about. And that's not what I support. But it's not saying

00:46:42.080 because people have got this, this polarized view and say that every mask is useless now,

00:46:48.540 or it never helps for anything or the guys and that's not quite the case. It's not foolproof

00:46:52.580 barf by any means. But there's a reason typically, I mean, I remember with newborn children, they'd

00:46:57.380 get you to wear a mask, you know, initially when you're first holding them, it doesn't hold

00:47:00.200 everything back from you getting them onto that newborn child. But it reduces rate when they're

00:47:04.680 fresh out of the oven, their chances of perhaps picking up something when they're still basically

00:47:09.720 hardening up and learning how to breathe. There's a reason those were used, but we're not going to

00:47:14.060 make everybody across the whole country wear a mask because there's some vulnerable children in

00:47:18.780 in health facilities. So, um, all right, so let's bring in, uh, uh, our, our guest, uh, John

00:47:26.580 Horsman. Uh, and, uh, I, I see, yeah, I, I see Raj showing up in the scroll there now, but I'm

00:47:34.700 afraid I'm onto the next segment. I could talk briefly if he wants to hang in there for, uh,

00:47:38.620 when I'm finished with Mr. Horsman, but, uh, you know, I stick to the schedule there. I'm not sure

00:47:42.400 why Mr. Sherman was delayed, but I do want to talk about, uh, the UCP race and speak to as many

00:47:47.740 people as possible. So I hope Mr. Sherman has some time so we can speak to him quickly at the end

00:47:51.320 here. But first, I'll stick to the ones who are on schedule with Mr. Horsman. So how are you doing

00:47:57.100 and welcome to the show. Thank you, Corey. And thank you for the Western Standard for giving me

00:48:03.080 a voice and for doing what you do. It's important. Yeah, well, thanks. I appreciate that. You know,

00:48:08.240 and we just need to, it's such a wide spectrum of candidates out there now. This is a race with so

00:48:13.880 many people putting their names forward. And it's important one. I mean, whoever wins this race

00:48:18.220 is going to become our premier, at least until the next general election. And, you know, people

00:48:24.000 should be making as informed a decision as possible for that. So I just want to make sure

00:48:28.740 that our listeners can get to know as many as possible. And you're not to start out with. And

00:48:33.040 that's kind of how I mentioned earlier, you're not somebody who's been running in those frontline

00:48:36.660 political circles like most of the other candidates are. Yeah, absolutely. My role in

00:48:42.960 Alberta for the last couple of years has been really one of a banker. I started with ATB

00:48:48.200 Financial almost 20 years ago and kind of worked my way up from the bottom to running most of the

00:48:54.660 businesses, the business services. And I've learned a lot about Alberta. I probably have

00:49:00.700 an unparalleled knowledge of how Alberta works and what makes it successful. And when I watched 0.97

00:49:06.480 when I watched how, you know, the leadership review of Jason Kenney went, and I saw what was

00:49:12.960 coming out of the other side, I thought, you know, this is my turn to step up and start giving back

00:49:17.940 to a province that has given me so much, which is really why I'm running. Okay, so I guess just to

00:49:24.840 start with, aside from not being a career politician, which is refreshing already in itself,

00:49:31.080 but what do you really bring to the table that's going to stand out from those other

00:49:35.920 politicians. You got some financial experience, which is appreciated. We've certainly seen some

00:49:39.500 terrible financial management happening. We're going to say, for example, the issues of Western

00:49:44.560 alienation, which has kind of dominated a lot of the race lately. Yeah, I think, yeah, I actually

00:49:49.740 just published an op-ed on that same, on that very, that very same topic. I mean, I mean, I came to

00:49:55.800 Alberta because I chose to be here. I lived in the States, I lived in other parts of Canada,

00:50:00.440 and there is nothing more special than what we, you know, what we do and what we have. I call

00:50:05.160 Alberta, really the land of opportunity. But we're in a weird place in Canada where we don't

00:50:12.040 have the votes. We don't have the Senate seats. We don't have regional participation. And so we're

00:50:16.940 feeling somewhat outside. But what we do have and what Canada really needs from us is they need our

00:50:24.500 money. They need our financial contribution. And I truly believe that for us to move forward and for

00:50:29.940 us to help Canada get out of some of the problems that they have, I think we have to start wielding

00:50:35.920 our economic might. And we need to use the financial resources and our financial contribution

00:50:40.580 to Canada to help them get out of their own way in many ways. And obviously, the mechanism for

00:50:48.180 that is collection of our own taxes, kind of controlling the funds flow in the same way that

00:50:52.520 Quebec does, the administration of our own pension assets to ensure that there's capital available

00:50:59.200 for the, you know, the core industries that make for Alberta's prosperity, agriculture, energy,

00:51:05.120 innovation. These are important. Great. So getting more domestic, I mean, one of the top issues we

00:51:13.000 always have, and I've been talking, every candidate I've had on, I ask, just like at the federal one,

00:51:17.140 I get my pet issues with things. Healthcare is always a top issue in provincial politics,

00:51:21.800 always. That's consistent. And it's our biggest expenditure. So it's of concern. But one aspect

00:51:26.560 of it, and it's been hitting the news again, actually from the NDP, was EMS services. We've

00:51:31.740 got a terrific problem going on. We've got people dying, waiting for responses. We've got ambulances

00:51:37.560 all tied up at hospitals. I'm looking forward to speaking to Dr. Sherman on this as well, because

00:51:41.300 people are worried. I mean, that's a pretty essential service, and we just can't seem to

00:51:45.220 find a solution. The UCP, the last time somebody died waiting, said we're going to study it for

00:51:49.700 four months. Yeah, it's a perennial problem with our healthcare system, and I think COVID really

00:51:56.260 uncovered that where many in many cases are nurses and doctors are heroes and they're trying they're

00:52:02.120 keeping a system together but the system itself is is failing I mean I mean we shut down our

00:52:07.560 entire society and our entire economy because we didn't we didn't have enough beds available in

00:52:13.560 ICU for COVID and so there's there is a systems problem here there is a structural problem here

00:52:19.240 that needs to get dealt with and and and fixed my history you know I'm at the you know I'm the

00:52:24.660 I'm the guy that people always sent in to fix big, you know, big, gnarly, difficult problems.

00:52:29.540 I'm the guy that went in to, you know, put systems and structures in place to sort of drive solutions that we need.

00:52:36.520 And the EMS problems, the ambulance problems are all a function of just a system that's not really built for the kind of scale that we're dealing with today.

00:52:46.500 And I think COVID really uncovered, you know, the, you know, a wave of volume that's going to go through our health system that we're going to have to be prepared for.

00:52:57.100 And so we're going to have to fix it.

00:52:59.200 And it's not the nurses and the doctors.

00:53:01.360 They're doing a credible job.

00:53:03.060 It's the system and the structures.

00:53:05.140 Yeah, well, that's something we consistently hear.

00:53:06.880 I mean, when people get in for treatment, you know, Canada has some of the best professionals in the world and great facilities.

00:53:11.960 But, boy, you could be waiting a terribly long time.

00:53:14.520 And with something like a health issue, the wait is everything sometimes.

00:53:18.260 Yeah, no, that's right.

00:53:19.140 That's right.

00:53:19.660 And so that needs to be dealt with.

00:53:21.620 But that's also why a lot of Albertans have called on me to come forward and, you know, offer fresh ideas, fresh perspectives, frankly, a business perspective in terms of how to get things done.

00:53:32.460 And, you know, for me to move forward, you know, it's really important that I get more Albertans, you know, behind me to support me and to, you know, get these new ideas.

00:53:41.840 out there. We've got a lot of politicians, you know, sort of running in this race. And, you know,

00:53:48.260 many ways they're going around and around on the same issues without really effective solutions.

00:53:52.380 I think this is Alberta's chance to get a new voice and a new perspective. 0.86

00:53:57.520 Yeah, so the second biggest issue, as we'll get to that, that's typically on the plate is education,

00:54:02.240 and it's a big expenditure. We've had a lot of discussions. I mean, there's a battle that

00:54:08.540 happens with every new leader, every new government over curriculum. Do you think the

00:54:13.000 curriculum is on the right course right now or does this need more tweaking or should it be left

00:54:16.600 alone? I think one thing everybody would agree with is the process that drove the curriculum is

00:54:22.700 not on the right course. And so we do need a relevant curriculum. We need to honor freedom

00:54:30.260 of choice to all the people and the parents in Alberta. I personally have four kids and it's

00:54:35.800 important to me that my kids are being taught the things that they need for their life to move

00:54:40.960 forward and the enduring values that are important for Albertans. We need to re-look at the process

00:54:46.740 that drove the curriculum that's on the table today, and we need to get the buy-in from the

00:54:52.040 teachers, the parents, and the school administrators in order to know that we're moving

00:54:57.260 forward with the right curriculum and the right education for our kids. Okay, now with the party

00:55:05.060 itself? I mean, there's unity on a federal level. There's unity within the party. It's something we

00:55:10.960 conservatives do to ourselves all the time. There's been a lot of dispute over the nominations,

00:55:16.760 over who's allowed into the leadership. How could you take on some things to, you know,

00:55:22.000 try to gather those squirrels together and keep them all from fighting all the time? And I know

00:55:26.460 it from past parties. It's hardly unique to the UCP. Yeah, I mean, I have, so I came out of,

00:55:31.980 some of the highest and most aggressive industry really on the planet, which would be investment

00:55:39.860 banking. So I'm used to big egos. I'm used to a lot of conflicting interests. I'm used to folks

00:55:45.600 really challenging each other in really neat and interesting ways. But I got a history of

00:55:51.400 building coalitions. I got a history of getting those interests that aren't aligned at the first

00:55:57.240 round aligned on, you know, by the second round and the third round. So we can all reach an

00:56:01.360 agreement and move forward. Up to now, I haven't seen anything in politics that, you know, gets me

00:56:06.600 too worried that I'm not going to be able to use those some of those same skills. One thing business

00:56:10.660 does that I think is helpful is they spend a lot of time on developing leadership on, you know,

00:56:16.140 creating the systems and the structures to build trust, build alignment, you know, align around a

00:56:22.600 vision and a strategy and all move forward together. And I think, I think, frankly, that's

00:56:26.300 of the critical ingredients that i bring to this race and actually i can bring to you know alberta

00:56:30.140 to move ourselves all forward so uh likewise i mean uh as i said earlier you know some things

00:56:35.420 are getting a little heated and divisive you you haven't dove into that uh would hope to have i

00:56:41.100 would imagine a unified party some other of the candidates in in a cabinet and such a presuming

00:56:46.060 you became the leader yeah absolutely and and this leadership race is really about um really

00:56:53.420 about forging the leader that Alberta needs these these races you know it's not we could just draw

00:56:57.660 from a hat if there wasn't you know some value in the process itself this is about setting a vision

00:57:02.700 for what you know what Alberta needs to move forward and frankly this is about the UCP re-earning

00:57:07.660 the trust of Albertans that has been sort of lost through the process and so in many ways you know

00:57:14.540 I applaud my fellow leadership candidates we've got a lot of ideas on the table there's a lot of

00:57:19.420 of discussion moving forward. There's a lot of clarification, I would say, that's occurring

00:57:24.460 currently within the campaigns. And I think that's all helpful and constructive. I think we've got a

00:57:30.980 good plan and path forward. And then for myself, it's really, you know, bringing a third option

00:57:37.820 on the table in terms of, you know, the established UCB candidates versus the, you know, the new

00:57:44.360 entrance or the Wild Rose candidates that we would have had in the past versus, you know, can we be

00:57:48.660 something more than the parties that we entered this? Can we be something, can Alberta be something

00:57:52.820 more? And I truly believe it can be. I think this province is truly blessed. We have the things that

00:57:59.680 the world needs and we have the things that the world values. Agriculture in a world that's going

00:58:04.240 to be facing starvation. Our crops, I was just out in Hannah recently and the crops are just

00:58:12.540 absolutely unbelievable this year. And this is a time when the world needs our food and they need

00:58:16.940 our food security, energy. I mean, look at the world falling apart just on this, on energy

00:58:21.880 dimension alone. Alberta has what the world needs. And I think as we think about what we need for 0.78

00:58:27.720 the future, it's making sure that we preserve that and we harness that and we're able to deliver that.

00:58:33.280 Okay. And I'll finish up a bit with a pandemic response. I mean, that's a big one. A lot of

00:58:38.500 which I think, you know, is part of what, which led to the demise of Kenny's leadership in a sense

00:58:43.900 was uh whether well-meaning or not he declared it the the best summer ever and that we would

00:58:48.540 never go back and then circumstances forced restrictions to return that fall and he sort of

00:58:53.980 kind of i think lost support on both sides the people who didn't want restrictions were furious

00:58:57.760 and the people who wanted him initially were furious and and he just ended up by the wayside

00:59:02.460 we're hearing more talk though about returning to some restrictions in the fall or some people

00:59:07.340 calling for it uh you know it may or may not may not become an issue but what sort of plan have you

00:59:12.420 got in mind if we start getting acute pandemic issues again? Yeah, we'll have to face those

00:59:18.400 facts, you know, as they come. I think one thing that I know for sure is Albertans love their

00:59:24.960 freedom and they will always fight for it. And I respect that. I actually, and I respect the fact

00:59:32.120 that they're not going to give their freedom to people that want it. They only give it to people

00:59:36.620 that don't want it because the only chance that they have to sort of give it up. But Albertans

00:59:41.120 are respectful as well. They understand that they can't force horrendous experiences on the

00:59:48.380 healthcare system. They can't force, you were talking earlier about just the respect of putting

00:59:53.940 a mask on when you go into a hospital facility or senior care facility just because of the

00:59:58.700 vulnerability that sits in those facilities. I think Albertans know what the right path forward

01:00:04.020 is and we've learned a lot. I mean, we've had lots of different roles. We've had lots of different

01:00:09.140 you know, ways under which to, you know, to kind of try and comply with the COVID restrictions.

01:00:15.220 We'll use those best practices and we'll use what worked to move forward. But I can't predict what

01:00:20.820 the next wave could look like. And I can't predict how resilient our healthcare system will be in the

01:00:26.100 face of that, to be able to say we're going to go one way or the other. Great. So, I mean,

01:00:31.140 what else would you like to say, you know, that issues I might not have covered that are in your

01:00:34.340 platform to let our viewers know, you know, why they should consider selecting you as the leader

01:00:38.420 for the ucp yeah well i hope everybody would have seen my uh the alberta prosperity plan which is

01:00:43.540 really a plan for the the resource revenues that uh we're going to be experiencing just you know as

01:00:48.740 early as you know the next fiscal you know the fiscal year you know alberta has put i would say

01:00:54.020 50 to 75 years of diligence into build you know our oil sands and build uh build our resource

01:01:00.180 revenue up to the place with sort of where we are today and now we're we're faced with the surplus

01:01:05.780 and the big thing on the table is you know do we do we let the government come up with a good plan

01:01:10.260 to spend our money i say no i say no no no not at all i think we put a a structured plan together

01:01:16.340 where you know 25 goes to debt repayment 25 goes to savings 25 goes into you know increasing the

01:01:23.620 capacity that we need in alberta today and then 25 go to the people of alberta because in these times

01:01:29.220 of uh challenged affordability are also times when we generally have high resource revenue and i think

01:01:35.540 people of Alberta know what, you know, what to do with their own money better than the government

01:01:39.300 ever can. And so I'm the candidate that's proposing that. Great. Well, and I imagine you'll be

01:01:44.300 campaigning hard in the weeks to come. You're getting up on some deadlines. Where can people

01:01:47.940 find more information about your campaign, where upcoming events are, all that good stuff in case

01:01:53.340 they want to participate or donate or just write you to yell at you? Yeah. Thanks, Corey. Yeah.

01:01:59.520 at johnhorstman.ca is where i can be found and uh we are yeah we're actively uh soliciting uh

01:02:06.240 donations actively soliciting uh signatures and nominations and selling memberships and so

01:02:11.680 if you believe that alberta needs a fresh voice and a new face and some new ideas

01:02:16.000 uh please check out johnhorstman.ca j-o-n-h-o-r-s-m-a-n.ca and uh i'd be honored to uh

01:02:25.280 represents you in Alberta. Great. Well, I really appreciate you coming on to talk to us today,

01:02:31.360 Mr. Horsman, and I hope we can check in with you further down as the campaign develops.

01:02:35.760 Great. Thank you. Great. Thanks. So I said that it was John Horsman. He's entered the race and

01:02:41.840 something that, as I said, right off the bat stands out, at least he's not one of the recently

01:02:46.400 former MLAs or tied in tightly with the party activities. So it is a bit of a different

01:02:51.840 perspective. I'm just going to respond before I get to Dr. Sherman. Some of the comments too,

01:02:56.280 some people are asking, you know, why didn't I hit harder on some of this or that? I'm kind of

01:03:00.400 trying to, this is my first round with all the leadership candidates and there's a lot of them

01:03:04.000 and I've gone through most. I'm sticking to a lot of the basic questions to start unless they want

01:03:08.020 to initiate new subjects, of course. But I want to kind of give all of them the same bunch of

01:03:13.560 questions. So we've got a baseline to start with going into this campaign and then we'll get a

01:03:18.940 more specific as the campaign develops, especially when we get to the part where the official

01:03:24.060 candidates are in or not in the race. So just before I get to Mr. Sherman, Dr. Sherman, I'm

01:03:31.020 going to get to the sponsor. My schedule is a little off here. So just to remind everybody

01:03:36.360 about the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, they've been a good sponsor for us for a long

01:03:40.360 time now. And their name sort of says what they are all about. If you own firearms, you're a

01:03:45.960 hunter, you're a target shooter, you're a collector, any of those things. It's your business,

01:03:49.480 a law-abiding citizen. We've got a government that wants to take away your ability to do that.

01:03:54.300 And it's important for you to stand up for yourself. And the best way to do that

01:03:57.280 is to work together, gather in an association. And this association has been around for a long

01:04:03.120 time. They are the association. Canadian Shooting Sports Association. They got all sorts of

01:04:07.600 resources like anything else too, not just lobbying and pushing for your firearm rights,

01:04:10.880 but just links to events and you know different ways of using firearms safe ways of using firearms

01:04:17.680 other aspects hobbies trade shows check them out they're the Canadian Shooting Sports Association

01:04:22.860 if you want to keep your right and ability to own and transfer firearms you got to be a member of

01:04:27.820 these guys it's not that much money stand up for yourself join up their website is cssa-cila.org

01:04:35.500 the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. Okay, let's bring Dr. Sherman in and talk about his

01:04:41.500 campaign. We're having a full UCP day here. And yes, this is a face, Dr. Sherman, I haven't seen

01:04:48.200 you publicly that much in some years now, though you were quite prolific. You've masochistically

01:04:53.400 decided to jump back into the political ring. Corey, first of all, I apologize for being late.

01:05:00.320 i was stuck in traffic and um so please forgive me um you know my family and my children said dad

01:05:08.880 my kids said dad you got to get back in we have some major problems that we face after two years

01:05:14.000 of covet um you know health care the homelessness the drug crisis we're 100 billion dollars in debt

01:05:21.760 alberta has really struggled recently the economy is rebounding nicely but uh we need to build a

01:05:27.680 strong economy and a strong society so i'm glad to throw my name back into the hat my main issue

01:05:33.440 actually is to unify not only a political party but also our province we as the people are divided

01:05:40.240 covered uh divided families divided best friends and rural and urban the reality is we're in this

01:05:46.400 together when it's a war against the virus and uh i i do sincerely believe premier kenny and

01:05:53.280 And all the leaders across the country sincerely tried.

01:05:56.540 And I don't know if anyone got it right.

01:05:58.500 We've never been faced with this, but we've had troubles on both sides of the ledger here with healthcare system collapsing.

01:06:04.700 But then, you know, the isolations have hurt the economy, the mental health issues out there.

01:06:09.220 Because you couldn't see a doctor for two years, we've got two years worth of delayed care.

01:06:13.840 And that's actually the ability to not see a doctor for two years has caused major problems in the system as well.

01:06:19.760 So I'm here to back out of private life, having had served seven years in the legislature, in the government side as a junior minister, through two ministers, three deputies, and five CEOs, when we sort of didn't do a good job of creating AHS and serving as an independent where I worked with every political party on an issue-by-issue basis.

01:06:40.320 And as a leader of the opposition party, I learned a lot of stuff from the opposition about what didn't work in government and taught them what didn't work.

01:06:46.560 So let's just be pragmatic about our politics.

01:06:49.760 Well, you certainly sat in all roles during your time in the legislature, I guess.

01:06:54.120 You know, it makes for a broad level of experience to look at things.

01:06:58.220 Your campaign is kind of unique right now, too.

01:07:00.300 And I wanted to ask about that.

01:07:01.600 It's sort of so the committee has initially rejected your application to run for leadership,

01:07:06.300 but you're going ahead with the campaign anyways, and you feel they're going to change their mind?

01:07:12.300 Well, Corey, rules are rules.

01:07:13.880 You have to be a party member six months, and I respect that.

01:07:16.860 And I haven't challenged the committee's refusal.

01:07:19.760 i was in the college of physicians surgeons of alberta for a year and a half serving the medical

01:07:25.680 profession under the health professions act working for the minister of health now you can

01:07:30.400 have a political membership but somebody with my credentials who was the junior minister of health

01:07:34.960 with the pcs and former like blue liberal leader i really didn't want to have any political

01:07:41.840 membership in any political party so last week of may i said uh healthcare is in crisis i need to

01:07:48.160 get political so i resigned my position and uh i'm hoping to show up with my minimum thousand

01:07:53.760 signatures and i got 125 000 burning a hole in my pocket that i'm going to present tomorrow morning

01:07:59.840 to the ucp party i'm a conservative i've always been a social socially progressive and fiscally

01:08:06.720 conservative those values have never left me i've always maintained my moral compass on those values

01:08:12.800 and i took them to the liberal party and moved them to far to the right literally changed their

01:08:17.040 color to blue and red and these are the values i bring to the ucp party okay well so uh you know

01:08:24.640 presuming that uh they say yeah you know go for it i mean i i believe i i understand as you said

01:08:30.480 that the reasoning for a membership limitation but also the reasoning why you give a committee

01:08:34.800 the ability to make an exception or an exemption if somebody seems to be legitimate and dedicated

01:08:39.200 and they're not trying to mock the process or or not clicking with the values of the party so

01:08:44.320 I don't, I mean, I'm just saying, I don't think your case is, is beyond reason by any means. So

01:08:48.840 we'll see what happens. Uh, assuming you're in the race then, I mean, you started with healthcare.

01:08:53.280 That's kind of an area of specialty, of course, for yourself as, as your profession. Uh, and as

01:08:58.520 I talked with, with, uh, the previous guests with Mr. Horsman and every other leadership candidate,

01:09:02.700 I really have a thing with the, the MS, uh, you know, the ambulance is tied up at hospitals,

01:09:08.100 ambulance getting pulled away from rural areas and, and, uh, stuck in urban areas. People are

01:09:12.860 left without service, a lot of red alerts. How can we address that? Because the party just seems

01:09:17.280 to be spinning its wheels on that. You know, EMS, the emergency departments, all of the healthcare

01:09:22.780 is in crisis across the country. And this is a time not to blame anyone, but bring in solutions.

01:09:28.040 One, we need to expand our capacity. We need more healthcare staff. So first thing we need to do is

01:09:32.840 admit that it's in crisis and we have a problem. Second thing we need to do is we need to sign the

01:09:38.100 contracts for everybody who works in healthcare. Healthcare workers literally put their lives on the

01:09:43.820 line with this deadly virus. I got this in November 2020 pre-vaccine and I was, oh gosh, I was so sick

01:09:49.760 for three to four weeks. So let's sign the contract with the doctors, with all the unions and all the

01:09:55.260 associations, HSAA, AUPE. I think the United Nurses have a contract. So we can't, we're actually

01:10:03.040 losing staff. So in order to attract staff and stop losing staff, let's sign the contracts.

01:10:08.580 And thirdly, the system's in crisis.

01:10:11.300 The people who are the experts are the frontline staff.

01:10:13.740 Let's engage and involve them in the solutions.

01:10:16.780 And, you know, if we get 15, 20% of the hospital beds are plucked up by people who shouldn't be there

01:10:21.800 because we don't have enough support for our seniors in the community, like home care or long-term care,

01:10:27.540 or, you know, just simply basically grandma and grandpa daycare, eight hours a day.

01:10:31.500 If we got the seniors out of hospital, we can do this tomorrow.

01:10:34.960 we can rent a bunch of hotels around the province and get the seniors at a hospital and get the

01:10:39.840 right staff caring for them in those hotels while we uh organize home care the hospital can now

01:10:46.560 function we can get admitted people that stuck that are stuck in the department for one or two

01:10:51.520 in two days where they shouldn't be with the wrong doctor wrong nurse and wrong bed we can get them

01:10:56.160 upstairs now the ambulance their patients off in the bed and they can back on the streets

01:11:00.960 on health care um you know i've spent my lifetime doing a phd on health care policy

01:11:07.920 uh cory i'd like to talk about other stuff beyond health care oh yeah i'm just starting on that

01:11:13.520 because that's the always the biggest issue in provincial elections and and uh i mean i guess

01:11:17.760 part of it would be going into the finances itself as you said there's a lot of solutions

01:11:21.400 but they'll take contracts signing it's going to take some money everything takes money that's a

01:11:25.420 reality uh right now the you know the budget's looking pretty good because we have high energy

01:11:29.580 prices but we know also that those don't always last forever so so what sort of fiscal approach

01:11:34.140 in general would you take with the government well the fiscal approach is simple you know

01:11:38.940 my mother is a strong hard right-wing social and fiscal conservative she's a farm girl from india

01:11:44.140 and i was raised on my grandfather's farm my dad was the democrat union leader actually

01:11:49.420 when he worked in the mill um you know fiscally um we got to be prudent with our

01:11:54.300 money. Healthcare is the number one expenditure. I've always said, if you don't understand

01:12:00.480 healthcare, you're not experienced in it, and you can't manage it, you really can't govern.

01:12:05.040 It's a number one spending issue. On the income side of the ledger, we are doing very well at

01:12:09.680 this point in time. I would believe, you know, when you bring in a new leader, a new government,

01:12:14.360 I believe in zero-based budgeting. Let's go through every line item of every ministry and

01:12:19.540 say all the band-aids that we put on for political crises in the past do we really need them let's

01:12:24.660 rip them off let's reassess every dollar that we are spending in government i don't know what the

01:12:29.860 budget is maybe 50 billion dollars and then some secondly the most important thing is let's look

01:12:36.020 at our economy we need to diversify our economy a raj sherman government is going to build an oil

01:12:41.380 refinery and we're going to start manufacturing plastic using pd printers i'm going to get

01:12:47.300 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies uh setting up in alberta and you know even vaccine

01:12:52.180 manufacturing companies so we never are last in line for vaccines let's start moving to cloud

01:12:57.700 computing you need colder weather northern alberta is the ideal place to move all the cloud computers

01:13:02.980 from across the world this is the type of economy we need to move to and to do that we need investment

01:13:08.900 in our education system yes let's involve the parents and the teachers and the students and 1.00

01:13:14.340 world experts you know i'd like to transform our education system to do what the germans have done 0.72

01:13:19.220 let's get our kids doing trades whether it's nursing or boiler making or nutrition my brother's

01:13:23.940 an electrician why wait till grade 12 to do that let's start that in grade 10 or 11. let's make

01:13:29.300 sure every young person finishes high school and finishes two years later with a ticket and if we

01:13:34.660 actually did that for nursing instead of finishing a high school degree high school diploma then a

01:13:39.940 four-year degree you we would have an RN two years out of high school we could immediately gain lots

01:13:45.140 of staff in the system and investing in post-secondary education and k-12 and early head start

01:13:51.700 programs and in fact lifelong learning for every canadian increasing including new canadians let's

01:13:56.740 get them up to our standards get them working this is an economic enabler a good education system

01:14:01.940 and the healthcare system that enables our citizens to get fixed up and back to work

01:14:05.860 It's actually a good economic enabler.

01:14:07.860 If you don't work for six months, you're in disability for life.

01:14:11.860 And industry is paying for it, and families are paying for it.

01:14:14.860 And it's costing us money.

01:14:17.860 So from a commenter, Pat Andrusiak, saying, you know, as well with refineries, as you've mentioned, you need pipelines for refineries.

01:14:24.860 And I guess not just the local thing, but I mean, it's a point to bring up one of our big challenges.

01:14:28.860 And it's been a big issue in this race is our relations with Ottawa.

01:14:31.860 We're having difficulty developing our infrastructure for energy.

01:14:34.860 for energy uh we have some ideological differences with the federal government how can we address the

01:14:40.380 alienation and clashes we're having with ottawa right now cory i believe in uh being rich respectful

01:14:47.260 you get more bees with honey than you do with vinegar you know uh we're in this together as

01:14:52.060 a country and really we do need leadership at the federal level and i'm not seeing the leadership

01:14:56.380 that's required to bring your country together you know our country is politically divided you

01:15:00.780 You know, as soon as you cross Ontario, the federal election is over and our federal leaders need to, especially the liberal leaders need to understand that Western Canada, we're an integral part of this country where we generate lots of jobs.

01:15:14.660 You know, I'd always say when I was the leader of the liberals, Bob Ray and Trudeau and I would always be butting heads every time they came to town and called for a tanker ban on the West Coast and a pipeline ban and said, come on, guys, you got tankers leaving the West Coast and you're getting two million barrels a day from the social media.

01:15:30.780 in Venezuela on the East Coast. So what we would do under, in fact, what we should do, whether I'm

01:15:36.960 elected as the leader of the party or not, good ideas to be shared with everyone. Let's talk to

01:15:43.220 Saskatchewan and Manitoba and British Columbia. Let's ask Western Canadians to a transportation 1.00

01:15:50.020 and utility corridor across our provinces, straight to Hudson Bay, where the Churchill

01:15:55.140 grain port is let's buy hydroelectric power from british columbia and vanitoba late at night when

01:16:01.580 it's cheap to get down the cost of our energy and reduce our greenhouse foot our carbon dioxide

01:16:07.400 footprint and let's run a gas with all the gas lines to that port double hull tanker the oil

01:16:13.020 over the irving refineries that way we don't have to send our tankers down through the panama canal

01:16:18.560 or sell our oil to the chinese or the americans it's 60 cents on the dollar that just doesn't

01:16:22.960 make sense. We also need to get a pipeline to Prince Rupert. I grew up in British Columbia

01:16:27.500 in Squamish, BC. We can't go through environmentally sensitive areas. Let's go to Prince Rupert and

01:16:34.520 take our pipeline up north through Alaska. Let's go straight north through the Northwest Territories. 0.54

01:16:39.060 While we do this, let's send really good negotiators to Quebec saying, look, we'll give

01:16:43.780 you a few cents of the dollar now, but let's create competition for pipelines. But once we get those

01:16:48.200 other pipelines, they ain't getting anything. And you know what? Let's also get that Keystone

01:16:52.380 pipeline down to the U.S. Yeah I mean I guess negotiating directly with the Americans that's

01:16:58.560 kind of the point we've hit at where Premier Kenney has had to go to Washington I'd say

01:17:02.260 ostensibly it's ironically just after or just before he got kicked out of the leadership but

01:17:06.260 he did a really good job representing Alberta down there it should be the role of a federal

01:17:10.400 government to do that but we know that when it comes to standing up for a policy we'd have to

01:17:14.560 so I can presume you you would like to maintain a direct provincial American relations.

01:17:20.060 Corey, when I was a Liberal leader, I never spoke of it, and I paid my own way.

01:17:24.440 I was on a way to a family wedding in Boston, and I asked my assistant to call President Obama's office,

01:17:29.880 said I want to meet the President, I want a meeting in the State Department,

01:17:32.980 I'd like to meet the Energy Environment Committee.

01:17:35.340 While I didn't meet President Obama, I met Raul Alvalar, the head person running the DNC.

01:17:39.700 I got a meeting in the State Department, and I got a meeting in the Energy Committee

01:17:44.600 that was run by Baba Gesser and Senator Manchin and Mary Landrieu in the Energy Committee.

01:17:49.280 I met the Environment Committee, which was Senator Barbara Boxer, Sheldon Whitehouse, and in-walk Bernie Sanders, and we got into a disagreement, a heated disagreement, both the oil industry and the pipelines, and we just had to respectfully agree to disagree.

01:18:02.580 I can walk in dishwashing tomorrow. On my roll index on my cell phone is the numbers of all the head Democrats. The reality is you have to be respectful.

01:18:11.180 you can't chuck errors at the president's office from alberta and at ottawa for your partisan

01:18:16.840 politics back here and then expect to be treated and greeted with and showered with you know

01:18:22.920 welcomes the reality is senator manchin is probably the most most disliked democrat in the united

01:18:28.480 states right now by the democrats um if you want to get this thing done you got to deal with the

01:18:33.360 rest of the moderate democrats and as a lead if i'm given the privilege to be leader and even if

01:18:39.040 I'm not. I would say, guys, we have to change our discourse, how we talk to our federal

01:18:43.920 and international partners. Let's be respectful. You don't run business this way by being

01:18:49.160 disrespectful of people. Great. Well, before I let you go, what other policy areas and

01:18:55.480 topics would you like to cover for our viewers? You know, Corey, when, in fact, a friend of

01:19:01.760 mine, a conservative friend said, you being liberal leaders, actually an asset, because

01:19:06.200 i had to learn 20 different ministries and as an older wiser guy who's been there seven years who

01:19:11.560 lived a lifetime in politics i understand how government works i would ask everyone please go

01:19:17.480 to electraj.ca i don't have a lot of stuff up on there yet because i was the last person to enter

01:19:23.640 but right now phase one is sign up and help every person running for the leadership go to their

01:19:30.600 websites and sign up and help them get nominated. The deadline is tomorrow 5pm. It's a team game.

01:19:37.620 We're a team. We're not competing against one another. We're all helping to build the

01:19:42.800 conservative movement. I'm on the moderate end of it. I'm the only candidate from Edmonton.

01:19:48.420 And yes, I have been known and called Mr. Healthcare in the past, but that's not my

01:19:52.820 only issue that I'm running on. I think it would be dangerous for our province if we had a

01:19:59.600 socialistic, majority government with $100 oil.

01:20:03.780 So we have to work together as a team,

01:20:05.580 put our differences aside,

01:20:06.620 and focus on what we have in common.

01:20:08.640 I think it's time for Alberta to build a strong economy

01:20:11.140 and a strong society.

01:20:13.120 We have to deal with the homelessness,

01:20:15.020 the poverty, the addictions,

01:20:17.140 the mental health issues,

01:20:18.660 the opioid crisis that plagues our communities.

01:20:20.960 We must invest heavily in education.

01:20:24.060 And, you know, our seniors deserve our respect.

01:20:26.520 They've done their part.

01:20:27.820 They need to live out their lives with dignity and respect.

01:20:31.460 And simply, I think it's an opportunity for us to refresh the party and improve the reputation of our province.

01:20:37.200 A Raj Sherman conservative government will take this province to levels never seen before,

01:20:42.300 will give you world test services, and will get you great value for money from the union.

01:20:47.280 We're honored and humbled to be a part of this race with these amazing people that are running.

01:20:51.920 And you know what? Please look at all of them and all of their platforms.

01:20:56.660 but right now the immediate urgent need for all of us is our nomination people

01:21:01.820 who are chronically robbing his business and as a former business owner who got

01:21:04.860 robbed a number of times I can relate with this man so that's going to be a

01:21:07.900 very good conversation so tune in again tomorrow guys at 1130 a.m. sharp and I'm

01:21:12.320 looking forward to seeing you there

Western Standard - July 20, 2022

Triggered： Are we heading for a federal election this fall？

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