Western Standard - Triggered： Defund the Governor General!

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Good morning. It's June 17th, 2022. Friday, end of the week, finally. Welcome to Triggered.

00:00:39.000 I'm Corey Morgan. This is the Western Standards daily live show. We run Monday to Friday,

00:00:44.300 1130 a.m. Mountain Standard until about one o'clock. And we always have lots to cover.

00:00:50.120 I like seeing everybody jumping in there. Ian, Claudette, Pamela, all you guys in the

00:00:54.480 comment scroll. Take advantage of the comment scroll. Have some conversation, interactivity.

00:00:59.440 It's appreciated.

00:01:00.580 It reminds me that there really are people on the other end of that camera out there watching this.

00:01:04.820 It helps keep the show fluid and lively.

00:01:07.280 You know, I throw those questions out there, those comments, discuss things with each other even.

00:01:11.760 Again, as always, though, try to keep it fairly civil with each other.

00:01:15.260 We don't have to get on each other's cases too badly, even if we're taking these things very seriously.

00:01:20.620 I've got a good show coming up today.

00:01:22.120 We've got Franco Teresano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:01:25.260 He's been on a number of times, but he's always got a lot of good common sense to share with us.

00:01:29.700 And we'll discuss a few things, including, well, the Governor General blowing some money I'm going to go on about shortly in my rant.

00:01:37.680 And as well on Chrystia Freeland's plan on spending us all into prosperity somehow.

00:01:42.880 As well, I will have Jay Hill. He's going to come on the show.

00:01:45.540 He's a former Member of Parliament. He was there for 17 years.

00:01:48.460 And he was a party whip.

00:01:49.420 And he's just got a lot of background and knowledge and things to talk about with, you know, the inside part of politics, the party part of politics.

00:01:59.240 He's got a lot of experience to land because we've got two big leadership races going on right now.

00:02:03.680 And people who don't play within party circles don't necessarily keep good track of that or understand how some of the mechanics work.

00:02:10.400 And Evan Jay going to join us is going to be good and informative on that.

00:02:15.040 All right, let's talk about some of the daily observances before I get to my rant.

00:02:17.940 I like to get everybody to tune in, you know, and get settled in.

00:02:21.720 And this is a good thing to discuss before we get to the hardcore stuff.

00:02:25.500 So we've got the ugliest dog day. 0.57

00:02:28.580 Yes, today is the day where we celebrate the ugliest dogs.

00:02:31.840 Oh, we got a pug there.

00:02:32.960 I'm a bulldog owner.

00:02:34.160 You know, my ugly dogs, ugly to most, to me, I think they look beautiful.

00:02:38.820 But it's certainly a matter of perspective. 0.98

00:02:40.980 And there's a lot more ugly people than ugly dogs out there, in my view. 0.71

00:02:44.480 but all the same today is the day you celebrate those ugly dogs and uh give them the love they 0.99

00:02:50.620 deserve guys even if they're sort of hideous to behold it's also global garbage man day 0.98

00:02:55.940 you know similar to the the janitor day the other day that's the other trade or you know work that 0.98

00:03:03.140 gets uh demonized a lot actually people say oh you better do this or you'll end up being a garbage

00:03:06.820 man hey i don't know where you know how it is everywhere but uh i tell you people trash collectors

00:03:12.400 in that in the city of Calgary make some pretty darn good money and have a good pension and get

00:03:16.620 by. There is nothing wrong with getting out there and putting in a solid day's work and dealing with

00:03:21.260 people's trash. So today's the day to recognize that garbage man or woman or whomever else. 0.72

00:03:27.880 Give them a thumbs up. They're out doing what they can. It keeps your front steps from stinking,

00:03:32.580 keeps the flies down, and they got a tough job. All right, let's get on with what's got me worked

00:03:37.440 up today. And yes, it's time to defund the Governor General. How long do we have to keep

00:03:43.520 spending millions to enable a series of pompous appointed ribbon cutters to shamelessly waste 1.00

00:03:49.180 our tax dollars on frivolous luxuries? When are we going to put our foot down and defund the 0.86

00:03:54.080 outdated and almost insulting institution of the Governor General in Canada? Governor General

00:03:59.140 Julie Payette, for example, resigned in disgrace just a little over a year ago after a tumultuous

00:04:04.780 three and a half years as governor general. Her term was marked by entitlement, extravagant waste, 0.59

00:04:10.660 staff abuse, and I would say even laziness. Payette caused issues early in her role when she 1.00

00:04:15.780 whined about having to move her schedule in June of 2018 in order to sign a bill into law. 0.88

00:04:21.400 Signing bills into law is literally her most important role, but she didn't like troubling 0.85

00:04:25.460 herself with it. Payette liked the attention she garnered as governor general, but chafed under the 0.79

00:04:30.100 actual tasks and obligations, and she was engaged in constant battles with the government as she

00:04:34.720 tried to reduce her workload in that first year. I did dive into design and renovations as a hobby

00:04:40.740 though, as her small palace at Rideau Hall was, she pissed away 140,000 tax dollars to study 0.93

00:04:49.920 having a new staircase built. And why did she need this new private staircase? Well, because 0.53

00:04:53.900 she wanted to be able to navigate through that hall without actually coming into contact with

00:04:58.320 any of the unwashed who sometimes pass through the building on tours and visitors. Yeah. The final

00:05:03.520 straw came when Payette was, when it was exposed, how she'd been chronically abusive with her staff 0.97

00:05:08.960 and that working on her entourage was proving to be one of the most toxic jobs to be had

00:05:13.340 in Ottawa. She was just a nasty, nasty person. The history of taxpayer waste by governor generals 1.00

00:05:19.540 though is long and storied. Think of a former CBC personality, Adrienne Clarkson. She was notorious

00:05:25.020 with her high spending in the role. On one single tour to Arctic nations, Clarkson blew five million

00:05:30.920 tax dollars. Not a huge dent in her nearly $20 million annual budget at the time, though.

00:05:37.040 Clarkson billed, and still bills, $100,000 a year for office expenses. Yeah, still now. And she's

00:05:44.460 soaked taxpayers for office expenses for over a million dollars since she retired. This is on top 0.99

00:05:49.760 of the massive pension she gets, of course. You see, a lot of people don't know this, but every

00:05:53.440 governor general gets an expense account on the taxpayers for the rest of their life. And it's not

00:05:58.880 that they should need it. They're paid nearly $300,000 a year. And while they're in office,

00:06:03.380 they have every expense from housing to clothing to travel, all paid for by the taxpayers. Their

00:06:08.360 salary pretty much just goes right into the bank. Now, Justin Trudeau appointed Mary Simon to the

00:06:13.600 role of Governor General almost a year ago, and it appears she's embraced the role of largesse,

00:06:18.180 waste, and entitlement quickly. On a trip to the Middle East last March, Simon and her entourage

00:06:22.600 managed to rack up a 93,000 bill, $93,000, just for catering on the military jet she used for the

00:06:30.840 trip. While I can understand the Governor General needn't suffer through a long flight with little

00:06:35.520 more than a tiny bag of roasted peanuts to sustain herself, as the commoners do, I would think she 1.00

00:06:40.800 could have fed her entourage at less than $3,000 a head. Now, technically, the Governor General is 0.98

00:06:48.000 Canada's head of state, the most powerful person in the country. No legislation can actually pass

00:06:52.440 without the approval of the Queen's representative.

00:06:55.260 In reality, though, the roles evolved into nothing beyond a ceremonial one.

00:06:59.620 If a governor general actually refused to sign a bill into law,

00:07:02.160 it would be the day we'd start working towards becoming a republic

00:07:04.920 rather than a constitutional monarchy.

00:07:07.180 Perhaps that wouldn't be a bad move, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

00:07:10.540 We currently have a woke federal government that panders to extreme activists

00:07:14.340 who refer to Canadians as settlers and demand decolonization, whatever that means.

00:07:18.880 Ironically, though, the greatest symbol we have of colonialism and settlement is the office of the Governor General.

00:07:24.680 It indicates we're still beholden and subservient to a foreign power.

00:07:28.720 It would take a complete constitutional revamping to get rid of the office of the Governor General, and I don't see that happening.

00:07:34.380 We can cut the budget to the bone, though.

00:07:37.000 Would it be impossible to find a person to sit in the role of handshakes and ceremonies for a salary of $200,000?

00:07:42.800 I suspect we'd still find many applicants.

00:07:45.540 Do we really need to give them a budget of over $20 million a year in order to travel the world?

00:07:50.040 I don't think the world really cares who our governor general is, and they'll be okay if they don't see them.

00:07:53.800 Do they need a veritable army of staff and attendants?

00:07:56.900 We can maintain the role respectfully while cutting it down to a shadow of what it's become.

00:08:01.500 A governor general with a modest budget and attention might be able to remain humble

00:08:05.500 rather than declaring themselves as some form of Canadian royalty.

00:08:09.480 It's a slap in the face for Canadians struggling to pay the bills to watch a member of appointed royalty

00:08:14.020 globetrotting while feeding their friends $3,000 meals on the plane. If we want to indulge the

00:08:19.840 defund movement, let's start at the top, defund the governor general. All right, that's what's

00:08:25.200 got me going today. Let's check in with our news editor, Dave Naylor, and see what's happening in

00:08:31.140 other news. Hey, Dave, how's it going? It's going very well, Corey. As Baldrick used to say in the

00:08:37.180 old Blackadder series, I have a cunning plan. Ah. So you know I'm being tormented by this

00:08:43.720 chickadee, right? Yes. You've just got a delivery of 10,000 bees. So why don't you put your bees

00:08:50.600 back in their travel box, come bring them over to my place, unleash them underneath my tree 1.00

00:08:56.660 to send the chickadees away. And because they're homing bees, they'll just fly right back to your 0.99

00:09:02.740 hive in Prittis, won't they? I don't know if it's that simple, but you know, as we've established,

00:09:07.780 I am still a coward and I'm terrified of bees. It took a lot for me just to get those things

00:09:11.320 into their hive. I don't know if I could make it all the way out there. You might have to come pick

00:09:14.600 some up. Well, okay. Maybe we can do that. But I would, you know, but you don't have any beekeeping

00:09:21.080 gloves anymore because Duke the Wonder Dog ate them. I think it was Volstagg, the other one we're

00:09:25.840 fostering, but it's hard to say. Both of them are prime suspects in the crime. So yes, my beekeeping

00:09:31.320 gloves now have no baby finger. So yeah, with that Dr. Evil baby finger, it might be all swollen and

00:09:36.680 bloated on Monday if I get stung there before getting new gloves. Those dogs are driving us 1.00

00:09:41.220 nuts okay well the obvious question cory is like after they eat your sandwiches after they eat

00:09:46.020 your homework why did you leave your gloves in an area where they could get them oh there's only so

00:09:50.740 much house i can hide them in well i got some good news already on the website and more to come uh

00:09:57.140 cory we've got uh the first poll in the ucp leadership race out today via angus reed showing

00:10:03.300 its uh neck and neck race at the moment between brian gene and danielle smith uh smith with 24

00:10:09.940 percent of the voters support gene with 23 percent and the only other one above 10 is

00:10:17.140 travis taves and i think he's coming in at 13 so early days yet corey but it looks like a

00:10:23.700 a two-horse race at the moment significant development in europe today where the european

00:10:30.340 union has given approval for the ukraine to join them if certain conditions are met and of course

00:10:38.340 Crazy Vlad not happy with that. Our Eva Sudwick has the story on his reaction. Our Arthur Green

00:10:47.780 has got a great story actually on a Prince Rupert gentleman who's a huge collector of Marvel comics

00:10:55.460 and paraphernalia memorabilia. He was a victim of a home invasion robbery this week in which he was

00:11:02.820 hit on the head with a hammer uh and was stabbed and really in a fight for his life and

00:11:09.140 his wonder dog baloo rottweiler chased the bad guys away and uh and even bit uh bit one of them

00:11:17.540 so that's uh that's good fun so we got uh what else do we got oh we got uh uh air cadet captain

00:11:24.580 down in ottawa charged with uh sexual offenses against children and our linda slobodian manitoba

00:11:30.980 political columnist is working on charges laid after a multi-year investigation into a residential

00:11:38.020 school out there a 92 year old priest has been charged with sexual offenses against a 10 year

00:11:44.740 old girl at the time so that'll be coming up uh shortly and uh lots of other good stuff i can't

00:11:50.420 tip you off to at the moment great well lots on the go lots leading into the weekend so uh well

00:11:56.580 Well, we'll look forward to it as it comes out.

00:11:58.820 And well, may the next rainstorm 0.95

00:12:01.120 knock your chickadee population down. 0.99

00:12:04.100 I'm not hopeful, Corey. 1.00

00:12:05.580 I need something.

00:12:07.720 All right.

00:12:08.060 Thanks, Dave.

00:12:08.600 I'll talk to you later.

00:12:09.780 Have a good weekend, Corey.

00:12:11.040 All right.

00:12:12.020 So yes, lots on the go.

00:12:13.160 And this is what I'd like to remind everybody.

00:12:14.640 I posted a picture earlier, actually, on Twitter.

00:12:17.560 If people follow me on there, Corey B. Morgan,

00:12:19.660 if you really want to get the fights going with me,

00:12:21.300 that's the place where I like to have it out.

00:12:22.840 But it was a picture of all the gear laid out.

00:12:25.640 Nico's been hard at work.

00:12:26.660 We have a bunch of camera gear, microphones, all that sort of stuff.

00:12:29.160 We're expanding across the country for our reporters,

00:12:32.360 giving them better media packages so they can really get that unique content

00:12:36.220 out there and get it to you guys.

00:12:38.040 And the reason we're expanding, the reason we've got so many reporters

00:12:40.320 is because you guys have been subscribing.

00:12:43.420 So thank you to the thousands of people who have subscribed.

00:12:45.800 And if you haven't subscribed already, guys, get on board.

00:12:49.020 $99 a year, $10 a month if you're just going month by month.

00:12:53.660 and this is how we stay as independent media.

00:12:55.860 This is how we can keep getting those reporters,

00:12:58.520 keep getting that unique content,

00:12:59.960 keep getting those columnists.

00:13:00.940 There's that picture.

00:13:01.840 It looks a little strange there with all those big bags,

00:13:03.940 but yeah, it's got cameras, tripods, microphones,

00:13:06.240 data cards, all of that stuff.

00:13:07.860 So we will be bringing more and more to you

00:13:09.760 and you don't have to rely on that wretched legacy media

00:13:14.100 such as the CBC or CTV or any of those ones

00:13:16.940 who are basically beholden to the government.

00:13:19.440 So again, thank you to those who subscribed

00:13:22.100 And if you haven't already, get on board, guys.

00:13:24.400 And if you're looking to advertise, that's the other way.

00:13:26.820 I'll go into ads later, but reach out to me.

00:13:29.680 Get your brand or product on the show or get it on the website.

00:13:32.620 We're capitalists.

00:13:33.440 This is how we can keep these things rolling.

00:13:35.760 As Marilyn mentioned in the comments, yes.

00:13:38.680 So it looks like the debate is back on.

00:13:40.640 It's a scaled down version.

00:13:41.680 So the Western Standard was going to host a debate.

00:13:43.760 It was going to be a very large affair.

00:13:45.620 We were going to have the works of them out here.

00:13:48.080 One of the candidates pulled out.

00:13:49.600 it led to some problems and we had to defer or basically cancel it. Now there's a new one

00:13:53.900 scheduled and it will be held without that candidate at the Petroleum Club on July 8th.

00:14:00.280 So it'll be in the afternoon. It's a Friday afternoon during Stampede Week. And right now

00:14:04.780 it's $25 a ticket. You can get there. And plus there'll be a cocktail period afterwards where

00:14:09.320 you could rub shoulders with and meet some of those candidates perhaps and chat and listen to

00:14:14.560 them where it's going to be a Western focused debate. Of course, it's the Western standard.

00:14:17.320 So we're going to talk about a lot of those local issues, things that are important to us.

00:14:21.960 So, sorry, I let those comments distract me.

00:14:26.780 I'll respond to you in a minute, Jet.

00:14:29.020 So yes, the debate's on.

00:14:30.660 Have a look on the website there, the Western Standard.

00:14:32.880 You can buy your tickets.

00:14:33.660 I guess half of them are already sold out.

00:14:36.180 So, you know, for $25, it's a good afternoon at the Petroleum Club.

00:14:39.600 You can have a look around in that storied establishment in downtown Calgary.

00:14:44.180 Anyways, it's kind of a cool club.

00:14:45.780 So, okay, yeah.

00:14:46.960 so uh jet yeah you're pointing out that picture looks like a drug bust yeah you know all those

00:14:50.800 those brown bags uh for for holding all the media gear and everything but you want to be

00:14:54.640 nondescript when you're going out to on location and spots like that so uh bright branded things

00:15:00.120 can can get dirty or they can attract negative attention from people or a lot of things but

00:15:04.860 all the same it was just a picture showing a large amount of gear as we're we are indeed

00:15:09.840 expanding uh claudette's asking if we'll be live streaming and so sylvia yes we will stream that

00:15:15.920 debate from up there. We're still setting up all those details and everything now. It comes pretty

00:15:20.340 fast, you know, sneaking up on you when you're planning on things and we'll be running it. If

00:15:25.280 you can't get there in person, it'll be live streamed. So let me see here. I will run into

00:15:31.720 a quick ad break before we get to our first guest. He'll be coming in a little while. And that's

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00:15:51.820 I mean, I can't speak to, you know, the values of digital currencies and where they go up

00:15:55.200 and down, things like that, or stocks.

00:15:57.020 But the thing is, it's like they're the broker.

00:15:59.280 They're the ones to help move you through.

00:16:01.620 I think broker is a term you're not supposed to use with it.

00:16:04.440 Bitcoin Well, if you're looking to get involved with it, check them out, guys.

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00:16:12.000 set up with it and safely participate in the digital currency world. Check them out,

00:16:16.640 bitcoinwell.com. And as they say, take control of your money. So let me see what else do we got

00:16:23.600 here. Here's a story I might as well start on. The government is hiring private censors at $39

00:16:31.820 million, or they already hired them. So agencies in the last two years spent $39 million to hire

00:16:38.620 private contractors to censor documents. That's how much they're hiding from us.

00:16:44.080 They got to spend almost $40 million to get a small army of people

00:16:49.200 to censor documents, to redact and sift through and shred and make sure we in the public never

00:16:58.160 actually know what they're doing for us or with our money. And that's, yeah, censoring the

00:17:06.220 documents sought by Canadians under the Access to Information Act. You know, access to information,

00:17:10.260 it should be a principle. As far as I'm concerned, every government document should be automatically

00:17:16.040 public unless they can come up with a reason otherwise. I mean, there's some things, private

00:17:20.400 payroll things, some confidential things if you're doing some business, certainly some military or

00:17:26.040 intelligence things. Okay. But for the most part, no, it's our data. It's our information. We should

00:17:33.160 know, it should be wide open. We shouldn't have to come bigging and groveling, putting in access

00:17:38.020 to information requests, pushing, prodding, try and get these things. And this is their excuses

00:17:44.780 too. You know, each file is different based on the complexity and volume of pages. Oh, spare me.

00:17:50.120 Look at how things are now, you know, digitally. I mean, you can search out anything online in

00:17:57.280 nearly no time. It's not like the old days if you were looking for legislative or parliamentary

00:18:01.140 records where somebody would have to go into some deep archives and dig out physical pieces of

00:18:08.360 equipment or data or anything like that. It's very easy. You don't even need paper anymore.

00:18:13.680 They don't have to mail it to you anymore. They don't have to make copies of it anymore.

00:18:17.280 All those excuses for why they're making freedom of information so difficult to get at and so

00:18:22.840 expensive to get at. There's no excuses anymore, you guys. It should all be there. It should be

00:18:27.400 wide open. Yet they're spending $39 million to basically work on hiding this stuff from us.

00:18:37.100 It's ridiculous. It's just ridiculous. And that's where our money is going. I mean, 0.98

00:18:42.000 good work if you can get it. I guess the consultants were hired to reduce the backlog.

00:18:45.580 I mean, see, you got to remember, this is on top of all of the staff already dedicated to this on

00:18:51.120 your dime, the full-time permanent civil servants and employees who are in there. It's above and

00:18:56.700 beyond that. So, uh, the other thing you got to wonder about, so yeah, these, there's a bunch of

00:19:00.880 firms. I mean, one firm got a $16 million almost for this. I wonder how much, uh, you know,

00:19:06.740 connections we have and who knows who to get those contracts. It's pretty good work if you can get

00:19:10.280 it. All right. Let's see here. Uh, yeah. Jet Gorgon saying his city hall said 10,000 for a

00:19:19.320 freedom of information, a request, uh, to get an expense info for council. And I know there was

00:19:23.980 one, I can't remember what it was, the Western Standard did one and they offered us a bill of

00:19:27.520 like 15,000. It was just absurd. That's their way of saying, we're not going to share it with you.

00:19:32.000 We're not going to. And even if we were crazy enough or had that money laying around, which

00:19:35.440 we might be a little crazy, but we don't have that kind of money laying around and did push

00:19:40.180 and get those sort of documents out of them when they're that hesitant, you know what'll happen.

00:19:43.460 They'll send you something out that is so heavily redacted that you would get none of the information

00:19:49.920 you really wanted to in the first place.

00:19:51.940 So transparency, that's just a buzzword.

00:19:55.260 These guys just have no respect for us as taxpayers

00:20:01.940 and the people who actually should be telling them what to do.

00:20:04.980 All right, let's get somebody who's trying to tell them what to do on,

00:20:07.640 though, and that's our guest, Franco Tarrazeno

00:20:09.320 with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:20:11.480 He's got a good head of steam up this week.

00:20:13.580 There's been lots of stuff to talk about and expose.

00:20:16.520 They always give no shortage of material to work with,

00:20:18.940 I'm afraid, at the government.

00:20:19.920 How's it going Franco? Hey Corey I'm doing pretty good man you know I'm not $80,000 on in-flight

00:20:26.640 catering good but I'm doing pretty good. Yeah I saw that's right actually I should have corrected

00:20:32.060 that they brought it down they claim now that it was only $80,000 for the catering on the flight

00:20:37.340 rather than $93,000 right? Well Corey this is ridiculous I mean the government is off by $13,000

00:20:43.420 so first let's just start with the tab I mean now they're saying it's $80,000 on in-flight

00:20:49.620 catering. I mean, that is a huge tap in and of itself, but hold on a second here. Originally,

00:20:55.280 they said 93,000. Now they're saying 80,000. Corey, I'm saying, I don't trust you. Show us

00:21:02.540 the receipts. Let's see exactly what the receipts say. Let's see exactly what was spent because

00:21:07.800 Corey, how in the world is the governor general and her fellow passengers even managing to spend

00:21:14.000 $80,000 on in-flight catering. And if they're spending that much on in-flight catering,

00:21:19.580 how much are they actually spending once they get to the destinations on things like food,

00:21:24.440 hotel, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah. And this was only just to clarify for people to 29 people

00:21:30.860 on this flight. We're not talking to a big 747 that probably was a big plane, but it didn't have

00:21:36.180 400, 500 people on there. Man, you've got to work pretty hard to consume that much on a flight or

00:21:43.760 couple of flights you know we broke down the numbers you want to know what uh what you could

00:21:47.440 buy for eighty thousand dollars 22 pounds of beluga caviar or 1100 orders of uh filet mignon

00:21:57.920 and lobster tail from the steak or get this one cory this one might uh reminisce a little bit

00:22:02.640 more with you 6800 big mac meals from mcdonald's so you could buy a ton with 80 000 uh really this

00:22:12.160 this is why we need to see the receipts.

00:22:14.260 What did you actually spend the money on?

00:22:16.560 We need to see a full detailed list of the receipts.

00:22:19.320 And as I said earlier, Corey,

00:22:20.700 it's not just about the in-flight catering anymore.

00:22:23.380 I think $80,000 warrants a full shining of the light

00:22:27.280 to see what the total bill for this trip costs.

00:22:30.780 Well, absolutely.

00:22:31.760 Yeah, that's just the one portion of it.

00:22:33.560 I mean, what was it?

00:22:34.440 This was something in my earlier rant

00:22:35.960 I brought up with Adrienne Clarkson

00:22:37.320 and her $5 million tour of Arctic countries

00:22:40.220 20 years ago or 15 years ago or so they got everybody worked up but it seems we just forget

00:22:44.560 about these things with these governors general and uh as Claudette one of our commenters pointing

00:22:49.700 you know is that the amount with alcohol well we don't know because they haven't broken it down yet

00:22:52.960 but I imagine there's so there's some nice single malt scotches mixed among there and some things

00:22:57.560 Corey you think it you think there was uh more stuff spent on than just pretzels

00:23:01.940 how could that be true right um but unfortunately I think you're really hitting the nail on the head

00:23:08.260 this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to governor general waste, right? We know that

00:23:14.300 there's this expense program that all former governors general are entitled to that allows

00:23:19.520 them to expense taxpayers for more than $200,000 every single year for the rest of their life.

00:23:26.060 And up to six months after their death, their estate can still continue to bill taxpayers.

00:23:32.340 Again, this is for former governor general. So after they retire, they're still able to

00:23:36.480 expense taxpayers. And perhaps what is so frustrating about this is that Trudeau knows

00:23:41.880 that this program exists. He spent $20,000 reviewing this program. The review was done in

00:23:48.780 2019. And since then, he's just sat on his hands. He hasn't done anything about it.

00:23:54.120 Well, I mean, that's a good one to point out. I mean, just how insane this is. They can reach

00:23:59.640 out from the grave and posthumously screw the taxpayers. Or even six months after they stop

00:24:04.660 drawing breath, they still managed to hoop us for as much as $100,000. Yeah, and I got another one

00:24:13.020 for you. The expense account is bad. This one could be even worse. I don't know. Maybe we'll

00:24:19.340 have to arm wrestle about it, but it's the pensions that these governors general get. We call it the

00:24:25.340 Julie Payette pension problem because a governor general is eligible for the full taxpayer pension

00:24:32.180 regardless of how long they serve. So you have the example of former Governor General Julie

00:24:37.900 Payette, who served for a little bit more than three years, but she is still eligible to collect

00:24:43.320 an estimated $4 million through the pension if she continues to collect it to the age of 90.

00:24:49.440 So served for a few years, and she could still be eligible to collect millions and millions of

00:24:54.160 dollars through her pension. Corey, there are five former Governors General that are still living.

00:24:59.400 if they all continue to collect the pension to age 90 for five of them, it'll cost taxpayers over

00:25:04.960 $18 million. Well, I guess maybe in some ways they'll save us some money if they're eating a

00:25:11.120 lot of really, you know, butter filled high fat food and drinking a lot of that high end scotch

00:25:15.560 and champagne on the flights. And they won't live as long due to the unhealthy living and won't

00:25:19.920 cost us as much. I mean, I know I'm joking, but it's just in here going there for what's getting

00:25:25.200 paid for ceremonial positions by people. And Justin Trudeau so recently having, I mean,

00:25:30.280 basically embarrassed himself with the Payette catastrophe. I mean, as a governor general,

00:25:34.540 she went out in scandal. You'd think he'd be more careful or the next governor general would be more

00:25:40.160 careful to try and avoid this sort of thing. And she hasn't even made it a year yet. And then here

00:25:44.500 we go. Yeah, that was a really good point right there that you ended on, right? We just had a

00:25:49.740 very turbulent relationship with the last governor general. We're hoping for maybe perhaps a new

00:25:55.960 relationship with this governor general, but she's off to a bad start when it comes to disrespecting 1.00

00:26:00.580 taxpayers' hard-earned money. There's a few more points that I think we have to talk about

00:26:05.120 specifically with the $80,000 on in-flight catering. Number one, that happened in March

00:26:11.740 of this year. That happened while Canadians were experiencing a three-decade high inflation.

00:26:18.820 So you have Canadians at home who are having a difficult time fueling up their cars on the way to work, who are having a difficult time trying to afford to put ground beef in the grocery carts, all while our apparent head of state, the Governor General and her entourage are racking up $80,000 in in-flight catering.

00:26:36.260 But here's a second thing that we have to remember, Corey, you know, I travel a lot with work and it is reasonable that when you're on the road that you can expense your employer for reasonable types of meals, right? If you're on the road, you should be able to expense your employer for a reasonable meal, but not $80,000 on in-flight catering for yourself, your entourage, and whoever might be on the flight.

00:27:03.300 I mean, we have to remember, too, is that the governor general, she is making more than $300,000 in her annual salary.

00:27:12.420 So if she wants to have a fancy meal, by all means, she should be able to pay for it out of pocket.

00:27:17.900 Yeah, they're not starving.

00:27:19.360 And I mean, I said that kind of earlier in my rant.

00:27:20.900 I understand, OK, they don't necessarily have to endure just going through a whole flight with a pack of peanuts and a water bottle.

00:27:26.480 But I mean, that's just beyond the pale when it's getting to those levels.

00:27:30.440 I don't know what it'll take to fix it, but I'm glad you guys keep exposing it.

00:27:34.920 Getting on to maybe pivoting a bit, though, another big issue this week, and I'm sure

00:27:38.400 you guys have been on, is the inflation effort that Chrystia Freeland is doing.

00:27:44.980 It's just, wow, they don't even know basic economic theory, do they?

00:27:49.780 Or do they just not care?

00:27:51.460 Well, that is the $1 trillion question, isn't it, Corey?

00:27:55.360 Now, before I get into the inflation announcement, I just want to just talk about the irony

00:27:59.880 listening to the finance minister talking about so-called fiscal restraint from the government

00:28:05.360 when the governor general is under a scandal for expensing $80,000 on in-flight catering.

00:28:12.040 Do you see the irony there where you have the finance minister talking about fiscal restraint

00:28:15.920 and then the governor general and her entourage milking taxpayers on in-flight catering?

00:28:21.400 But Corey, let's talk about the substance. $8.9 billion is this so-called plan to help

00:28:28.560 improve the cost of living. Well, you have free land who's talking about affordability, but

00:28:35.000 Canadians are having a tough time fueling up their cars, filling up their grocery carts because this

00:28:40.780 government has been spending like crazy for years and raising taxes. And what is this government

00:28:45.700 doing lately? Well, it just raises carbon tax for the third time during COVID-19. It just raised

00:28:51.480 alcohol taxes for the third time during the pandemic. It's raising payroll taxes again this

00:28:56.840 year and now we are seeing more and more spending so what is causing this inflation the government

00:29:02.980 is just doubling down on so cory it's it's almost like freeland is trying to put out this inflation

00:29:07.600 fire by dumping gasoline all over it yeah and again as i said you know i mean not everybody

00:29:13.420 reads up on economics it's a bit dry but some of the most basic principles i mean it applies to

00:29:17.920 currencies even in supply and demand if you borrow it means you've got to increase the supply if

00:29:23.180 government does i mean they've got to crank out the currency flood the market with it it becomes

00:29:27.780 worth less and then you get inflation i mean this is just the basics of uh economics a finance

00:29:34.740 minister should be well aware of this yeah well the more the more dollars the government's bank

00:29:40.240 of canada prints the less that your dollars in your bank account or your savings account will buy

00:29:45.540 and the bank of canada has had its printing press on overdrive during the pandemic it printed more

00:29:51.480 than $300 billion, Corey, right out of thin air. And what do you think happens when you print $300

00:29:57.020 new billion out of thin air and drop it right into the economy when you have the government

00:30:01.380 locking people down and paying people not to work? What happens is that you create the perfect storm

00:30:07.100 for inflation where you have too many dollars chasing too few goods. That is exactly what the

00:30:12.200 government of Canada has done, creating the perfect storm for inflation. And now Freeland is really

00:30:18.180 adding more fuel to the inflation fire with more spending, with more debt. Well, how are we going

00:30:23.860 to finance all of this spending? How are we going to pay down all this debt? What we need to see the

00:30:28.840 government do is to stop what it has been doing, which is creating this inflation, right? Rain in

00:30:34.340 the years of overspending, chip away at the $1 trillion debt, and for heaven's sake, give

00:30:39.460 taxpayers some much needed relief. Well, that's it. I mean, it's fighting inflation by borrowing

00:30:45.460 almost nine billion dollars it's like fighting weight gain by doubling the amount of ice cream 1.00

00:30:49.700 you eat every month you know it's just not gonna work your strategy is rather uh stupid to be 0.99

00:30:56.740 but that seems to be all they know how to do well you're right it seems like this government's only 0.99

00:31:04.100 plan is just to spend buckets of taxpayers cash when times are tough they spend a ton of money

00:31:09.540 when times are are good before the pandemic they spend a ton of money when the economy

00:31:14.660 is inflating, what do they do? You guessed it, they spend a ton of money. This is the only so-called

00:31:19.900 plan that we have heard from this Trudeau government. But let's just look at the history

00:31:23.960 here, right? We saw Trudeau back in, I think, 2014, the budget would balance itself. Well, I mean,

00:31:30.640 still waiting on that, just checking my watch. We heard in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

00:31:37.000 said he would balance the budget by 2019. He missed that target by a country a mile before

00:31:41.520 the pandemic now the books say that we wouldn't get a balanced budget until 2070 under the current

00:31:47.360 trajectory so this spend spend spend deficit deficit deficit it's not working it's one of

00:31:53.780 the reasons that we're seeing this three decades high inflation um and we really need to see this

00:31:58.880 government reverse its course or canadians are going to continue to get gouged in in just the

00:32:03.840 cost of living going up yeah well with that latest plan let's see so if i manage to make it to the

00:32:09.000 age of 99 i might actually see a balanced budget in canada assuming they hold the course where

00:32:14.240 they are right now yeah and assuming you don't double down on those uh those ice creams too

00:32:19.520 cory so there's just been no discussion whatsoever of cutting anything though has there i mean

00:32:25.460 you know they talk about everybody else tightening their belts they talk about how it's tough times

00:32:29.400 but there's nowhere where they've trimmed is there oh no what we've seen from this government

00:32:34.500 is essentially spend more money on everything forever. Now, you know, we hear a lot of people

00:32:39.280 say, well, we just had a pandemic. Didn't the government have to increase spending the way it

00:32:44.220 did? Well, I think we can all arm wrestle on the specifics, but let's take a high level view here.

00:32:49.320 When you have a family, when you have a business that is going through tough times,

00:32:53.940 families and businesses understand that, okay, redirect resources, maybe spend more money on

00:32:59.100 one area of the budget, but cut back on other areas of the budget. That is the approach that

00:33:03.820 federal government should have taken that is not what the federal government did we didn't see any

00:33:08.620 prioritization we just saw more and more and more spending now fast forward to today the government

00:33:15.260 wants to spend about 450 billion dollars this year that's 90 billion dollars more than it was

00:33:22.300 spending pre-pandemic and here's why that matters before the pandemic the trudeau government was

00:33:28.620 spending all-time highs meaning in 2018 the trudeau government spent more money than any

00:33:33.900 than the federal government did during any single year during world war ii even after accounting for

00:33:38.540 inflation and population differences so before the pandemic you had the government spending all-time

00:33:43.260 highs now the government wants to spend 90 billion dollars more than that and the finance minister

00:33:49.500 somehow has the audacity to tell canadians that the government is bringing in fiscal restraint

00:33:54.860 what fiscal restraint by all measures we have not seen any fiscal restraint from this government yet

00:34:02.300 well all we can do is keep uh pushing on them hopefully some of the wiser minds quiet hiding

00:34:07.580 in the background of the liberal party start speaking up maybe and and change some things

00:34:11.420 and i guess keep the pressure on so uh you know before we close uh uh where can people find more

00:34:15.820 information on what you guys are up to and what you're doing i mean maybe you'll finally get the

00:34:19.100 breakdown of what happened on that flight and share it somewhere oh we we definitely we're

00:34:23.660 We're going to keep snooping around for that.

00:34:25.300 We've already filed in the ATIPS,

00:34:26.680 the Freedom of Information request

00:34:28.000 to get the actual breakdown.

00:34:29.540 But please head over to Taxpayer.com.

00:34:31.700 Check out our newsroom tab

00:34:33.260 where you can find all of our articles.

00:34:34.860 We've got a bunch of great petitions

00:34:36.160 that you can sign there.

00:34:37.120 Of course, follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

00:34:40.400 Just search Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:34:43.380 Great. 1.00

00:34:43.980 Well, always good to have you on, Franco.

00:34:46.200 I appreciate the work and sharing that with us.

00:34:48.700 And I'm sure we'll talk again soon.

00:34:50.660 Corey, it was my pleasure.

00:34:51.640 Thank you so much.

00:34:52.320 right on. That was Franco Teresano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. As I said,

00:34:57.600 if nothing else, the Trudeau government just gives them nothing. But I think the hardest part

00:35:01.200 working over there must be which horrific incidents do you have the time to share and

00:35:06.940 put up top because you've got so many to choose from. It's just so insulting, so insulting and

00:35:13.240 tough times to see these elitists. And that's what they are, pointing it out. And I don't like

00:35:20.280 playing the politics of envy, and that's not what it is. Elitists, I mean, these are people who feel

00:35:24.660 they're entitled by whatever basis, you know, whether God-given or who knows what. If a person

00:35:31.140 earns their money, makes piles of it, and lives excessively and conspicuously consuming things,

00:35:37.600 good for them. Good for them. I'm fine with that. I don't care. That's their business.

00:35:41.280 But when they're taking my money and telling me to tighten my belt, particularly such an

00:35:47.620 authoritarian government and just wasting it like that, just wasting it. I can't wait to find out

00:35:52.460 how that breaks down. As we said, so, okay, now apparently it's 80,000. It's kind of hard to

00:35:56.700 believe anything out of these guys. Even then, okay, 80,000 among 29 people for catering on a

00:36:03.220 flight. What do you have to buy? I mean, as Franco was pointing out, you know, pounds and pounds and

00:36:07.580 pounds of beluga caviar or things like that. I want to find out because there's either just gross

00:36:14.360 efforts to overspend on what they were doing,

00:36:17.300 like just an orgy of consumption of our money,

00:36:19.880 or there's fraud.

00:36:22.200 And in either case,

00:36:23.420 I think this is cause already

00:36:25.400 to fire this latest governor general.

00:36:27.700 But again, I mean, even if you've won the lotto

00:36:31.860 and you're spending money

00:36:32.620 and you want to treat a bunch of 29 family members

00:36:34.740 to an overseas trip on a private plane,

00:36:36.320 you're going to pay for catering.

00:36:37.060 Okay, how much do you need to spend?

00:36:40.380 80,000?

00:36:41.480 I mean, like I said,

00:36:42.700 I used to like scotch back when I could drink.

00:36:44.920 A good scotch, you can get a good single malt,

00:36:47.220 a very, well, you can get a passable one

00:36:49.240 for $40 or $50 bottle.

00:36:50.920 You can get a really good one for $80 or $90, $100.

00:36:53.440 But I mean, there is no ceiling on scotches.

00:36:55.900 So you can go way up and you could be spending

00:36:58.180 thousands of bottles if you want.

00:37:01.300 Is that what she did?

00:37:02.700 Is that what they had? 0.99

00:37:03.340 You know, same thing with wine.

00:37:04.520 You can get a very good bottle of wine for $20.

00:37:07.000 You can get an exceptional bottle of wine for $60.

00:37:09.340 It's not always, the price doesn't even dictate

00:37:11.620 necessarily whether it's the best one, but you know, there's, there's some very modestly priced

00:37:15.200 wines that are very good or beers. So how the hell are they spending that much? Were they seeking out

00:37:20.500 again, food wise, you know, likewise, he said, you know, you could have like a thousand

00:37:24.200 filet mignons or something for what they were talking about. Like what did these guys do with

00:37:31.460 our money? And that's just the catering. What else did they spend on? What was their budget

00:37:36.700 for accommodations? How much fuel did they burn on this trip? Did they even need to do this trip?

00:37:41.620 and that's just one drop in a giant bucket of ongoing constant waste abuse you know the the

00:37:50.880 the disrespect for us they really hold us in contempt they do they don't care they don't

00:37:57.360 care what we think they don't care how hard we work for what we have they they don't care about

00:38:02.420 our individual rights we saw that with the emergencies act there's just this this core

00:38:07.080 of elitists that feel entitled to what you've worked for and they won't hesitate to waste it

00:38:14.240 they're shameless and uh it's just infuriating you know how many years how many times do we

00:38:20.360 have to see this story over and over and over again with this person and uh as i said in my

00:38:26.380 rant you know the irony the of uh just the way they put these things to oh we're gonna pander

00:38:33.200 to this decolonial movement and all that.

00:38:35.720 What do you think a governor general is? 1.00

00:38:37.880 She's the last actual paid remnant of colonialism. 1.00

00:38:41.080 We blame her, not we, but the woke like blaming

00:38:44.460 anything and everything on colonialism and this and that. 0.72

00:38:47.600 Yet they shut up when it comes to the bloody governor general

00:38:50.000 for some reason. 1.00

00:38:50.560 That's exactly what she is.

00:38:52.640 We're the colony of Canada and she's the one

00:38:55.140 who signs off on behalf of the queen. 0.95

00:38:58.240 And apparently she can't fly with 29 friends 1.00

00:39:01.620 without blowing $80,000 to $93,000 just on the catering.

00:39:05.980 Doesn't it make it feel good when you're sweating

00:39:07.480 on how you're going to pay your rent or the mortgage or the car

00:39:10.200 or try to save some money for your own retirement?

00:39:12.540 When, yeah, as Franco pointed out,

00:39:15.340 not only do they rob us their whole time while they're in office,

00:39:21.120 and then they get a massive pension after they leave the office,

00:39:25.040 as Payette did, even three and a half years in,

00:39:27.440 she gets this pension that's going to be worth millions

00:39:29.500 if she lives a long time. 0.95

00:39:31.620 and then they can expense, as Adrienne Clarkson did. 0.63

00:39:34.940 How on earth does a governor general need expenses

00:39:37.540 if they're 10 years out of the job, office expenses? 1.00

00:39:40.660 But she did over 100,000 a year. 1.00

00:39:42.680 She was soaking us well out of the job. 1.00

00:39:45.320 She soaked us for over a million expenses 1.00

00:39:46.720 after leaving the office.

00:39:48.920 And then Franco pointing out that they can still do it

00:39:50.900 six years after they're dead.

00:39:52.300 What position on the planet do you get to actually rob

00:39:55.700 taxpayers from the grave?

00:39:57.160 Even when you're dead, they're still screwing us. 0.98

00:39:59.880 We can't escape these guys even when they take their dirt nap. 1.00

00:40:03.400 Man, this country is screwed up and broken. 0.98

00:40:05.520 At least it gives me lots to work on. 0.96

00:40:07.480 All right, I'm going to speak quickly on a sponsor,

00:40:10.440 and then we'll bring in our guest.

00:40:11.940 I'm sure he can have some horror stories on waste and things too

00:40:15.100 from his time in Ottawa and in Parliament,

00:40:17.260 but we'll talk about more functional things, I guess,

00:40:20.700 when we get Jay on here.

00:40:22.200 But I do want to talk about the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

00:40:26.020 They've been a very good sponsor for us for quite some time now,

00:40:29.520 I mean, again, their name says exactly what they're about. If you like firearms, you enjoy

00:40:34.300 them, whether you collect them or target shoot or hunt, any of the uses that millions of Canadians

00:40:39.980 legally do, safely do, harmlessly do with firearms, this is the group to join. You know,

00:40:44.920 this is the place to go as a responsible firearm owner. I mean, they have all sorts of resources,

00:40:49.660 videos, things on how you can safely enjoy firearms, target shooting competitions,

00:40:53.820 black powder things. There's no end to it. It's a great hobby. This is where you associate with

00:40:58.860 other firearm owners. It's an association. Get to know them, chat with them, share resources.

00:41:04.060 Check it out. You got to do that. Plus, of course, they're lobbying on your behalf because we have a

00:41:07.460 government that is trying to take away your right and ability to use these firearms. And they're

00:41:12.700 not going to stop unless we push back. I mean, the only way you can guarantee a loss is not to try.

00:41:18.640 And these guys have been working very hard to protect your rights, but they need you

00:41:21.560 to take part too. So get on there, check them out. Canadian Shooting Sports Association,

00:41:26.060 take out a membership. It's not much. It's a good service for yourself. And it's how you can protect

00:41:30.400 your right and ability to keep enjoying firearms. CSSA-CILA.org. All right. Let's see enough fuming

00:41:38.660 on taxpayers and firearms. Let's talk to, we've got in studio, Mr. Jay Hill. Though admittedly,

00:41:45.200 we did pay your salary for a long time in Ottawa as well. But you were critical at least of the

00:41:51.220 spending while you were there as a reformer and all the way up to a recent retirement. So welcome

00:41:56.860 back to the studio. Good to see you. Good to see you, Corey. Thanks for inviting me back.

00:42:01.120 Oh, it's always good. And we got so much going on, you know, and I just, as I said, I appreciate

00:42:05.900 having your voice of experience to lend to things. I don't want to, you know, make too many comments

00:42:10.900 about age necessarily. Experience. That's very kind of you. I caught the tail end of your rant

00:42:17.340 And I thought you're right on the money.

00:42:18.980 I think that the average Canadian and Albertan,

00:42:22.160 since we're mainly speaking to Albertans here,

00:42:24.440 is just appalled at this latest example of government waste

00:42:29.900 on the part of the Governor-General.

00:42:32.140 Yeah, and it just never stops.

00:42:33.480 I mean, one of the commenters, Richard Blackburn,

00:42:35.780 saying, you know, one Governor-General after Governor-General,

00:42:38.080 yet we just keep doing it.

00:42:39.160 Like, we get mad every few years, we forget about it,

00:42:41.740 we just put another one in and keep repeating, you know,

00:42:43.460 rinse, wash, repeat, whatever.

00:42:44.660 Well, and I think that increasingly, certainly those people in Western Canada that pay attention to what's going on in Ottawa have to question why there's no criteria and, you know, that you can measure people against when the prime minister appoints the governor general or senators.

00:43:01.920 You know, clearly there should be something as a job description and something that we can sort of judge them by.

00:43:07.920 Well, I mean, as a senator, even that there's some potential roles or things that they could be doing in power.

00:43:14.080 But I mean, realistically, a governor general now is a figurehead.

00:43:17.520 I mean, it's an important one, technically a very powerful person.

00:43:20.640 But I said kind of in an earlier rant at the start of the show, I bet we could find somebody for half of that salary who could do it very well.

00:43:26.720 A good public speaker, a presenter who could represent and give out the medals and cut the ribbons because that's really what they do.

00:43:33.480 Yeah.

00:43:34.840 I'm sure there's lots of highly qualified people. 0.97

00:43:37.340 I think the worst recent example, and you mentioned her on your show, is Payette.

00:43:44.080 You know, obviously, I don't know what screening took place before the Prime Minister Trudeau appointed her, but obviously it was inadequate.

00:43:52.900 Oh, yeah. And I was ranting earlier about that.

00:43:54.680 I mean, because even in her first year, she was complaining about her job.

00:43:57.260 I mean, that's what really got me worked up.

00:43:58.640 I was researching for my rant, and I found one of my old blog posts from a few years ago, me going after her then.

00:44:04.720 Because, wow, you're making $300,000 a year with all your expenses, everything else.

00:44:08.300 And you're saying, quit making me come in to sign these bills.

00:44:10.900 It's tiring. I don't want to have to do all this.

00:44:13.220 Oh, you poor darling. Oh, well, I'll get on some other stuff. I've been ranting on that for a while. We've got perhaps some opportunities for change. I kind of want to talk about it. We've got two conservative parties in leadership races right now. I mean, they're going to make a, they're going to obviously be very important for the parties, hopefully very important for the country and the province, depending on who wins it.

00:44:34.560 uh the federal race is kind of dragging it's going to be a long one you know i mean it's

00:44:39.520 already been going for quite a while and it's going into september uh they're all positioning

00:44:44.180 themselves the memberships have closed now how do you think that's looking like where is that

00:44:48.320 going right now well i think that there's general concern certainly in western canada uh whether

00:44:54.660 pierre polyev can actually win uh he's certainly got a strong uh you know base of support here in

00:45:00.760 the West. It's ironic, I guess, that at least at this point, he hasn't accepted the invitation from

00:45:07.280 Western Standard to participate in the debate that the paper has organized. And so we'll see

00:45:15.920 where that goes. I mean, all the other, what is it, five? Yeah, five of the candidates have all

00:45:21.340 accepted the invitation to participate. Well, four now. We're working on it. And there's part

00:45:27.620 are the problems I think that happens in politics a bit of a strategic we see that a lot uh as often

00:45:32.980 with a front runner or a uh incumbent you know we know that from town hall meetings or election

00:45:38.260 forums uh when it comes they often will decline on those because they realize well we don't feel

00:45:43.120 there's a lot that could be gained but if we get in there and screw up there's a lot we can lose

00:45:46.720 exactly so that's sort of the traditional position of the front runner and obviously Pierre uh and

00:45:52.800 his supporters consider him to be the front runner. So, as you say, they have to weigh that balance

00:45:57.780 about, you know, the risk, you know, whether you can gain sufficient to take that risk is really

00:46:04.300 what it comes down to. And as front runner, they often will decline these invitations because of

00:46:08.700 that. So, I mean, we'll have to see how this develops. It's an interesting race, I guess,

00:46:14.760 as a Conservative. I mean, lifelong reformer slash Canadian Alliance slash Conservative Member

00:46:21.900 of Parliament. Obviously, I have an interest in seeing how that develops. But I guess we could

00:46:28.560 talk about what comes next. That's what you and I were discussing previously on your program,

00:46:34.460 is for most Albertans and Canadians, I think you have to look beyond the existing race. Okay, 0.92

00:46:42.060 so it's fine to win the race and become the leader of that party, whether it's the

00:46:46.340 the Conservative Party of Canada, the CPC nationally, or the United Conservative Party,

00:46:52.680 the UCP provincially. It's fine to win the race, but what comes next? How well positioned are they

00:46:58.260 to take that next big, hopefully victory as a Conservative, I'd say hopefully victory,

00:47:04.540 and win either as Premier or as Prime Minister? Yeah, I mean, it's a big task, and it's a different

00:47:12.120 type of task. It's a different strategy. I mean, winning among ostensibly conservative members,

00:47:17.240 you can say a lot of the good conservative language to get in there. Next, if you're

00:47:22.020 trying for the general populace, well, if we're going to follow our ideals, you would stick to

00:47:25.720 your conservative message and you'll sell it well enough to enough Canadians that they will embrace

00:47:29.760 it. What often happens though is they get in and then they say, well, the only way I can win now

00:47:34.080 is to expand the base by going more liberal. But I mean, that's failed for two candidates in a row.

00:47:39.220 Well, hopefully whoever wins doesn't go that route. As you say, they try to sell a Conservative message to Toronto, Montreal and Points East, as opposed to trying to change the party. And of course, that was the big problem that many Westerners in particular had with Mr. O'Toole, is he no sooner won the leadership of the Conservative Party as he started to say, well, Conservatives have to change.

00:48:04.320 It's not that people down east had to change to a more conservative philosophy, if you will.

00:48:10.980 It was that the party and the membership was expected to change.

00:48:14.560 And that didn't sit very well with a lot of conservatives, particularly here in the West.

00:48:18.880 No, and it does seem to be the cycle of battle, though, right?

00:48:22.600 And then the conservative members, we are the most notorious for ripping out our own leaders.

00:48:26.460 I mean, we're unforgiving when they take us off.

00:48:28.540 Yeah.

00:48:29.100 And that's happened to the last two leaders in a row.

00:48:32.100 They were pulled down from their own.

00:48:33.200 same with premier kenny yeah uh so i mean they they have to manage to as you said the big what

00:48:39.040 if after they win okay they got a couple of big tasks not only do they have to turn win election

00:48:42.960 they still got to keep those members happy too while they're at it whether it's caucus or at a

00:48:47.760 ground level and it's quite a juggling act i have given this a considerable thought in the last

00:48:52.480 while as i suspect a lot of canadians are when we look at the national party the cpc's leadership

00:48:57.680 race, because people are saying, well, you know, at the moment, Pierre Polyev has a very strong

00:49:05.220 conservative base. When I say conservative, fiscal conservatism, even in many respects,

00:49:11.260 social conservatism, I mean, he seems to be appealing, as Mr. O'Toole did, to that hardcore

00:49:17.180 base. And so then people have been saying to me, you know, based upon my experience, say,

00:49:23.420 well, you know, how would he morph, as you're suggesting, Corey, how would he morph to actually

00:49:28.880 be in a position to win the prime ministership? And I've been saying, well, there's a number of

00:49:35.340 factors that might work in his favor. Were he to win? You know, is he actually the front runner,

00:49:40.680 first of all? And then secondly, under this goofy system, they have the equality of all

00:49:44.880 ridings, regardless of the size of the membership. Can he actually win? And, you know, that remains

00:49:50.840 to be seen on September 10th. But my point is, is that you and I, because we do have some gray

00:49:57.580 hair, we know that in most cases, governments are defeated, they're not elected. And by that,

00:50:03.300 I mean, that they all have a lifespan, if you will. And at some point, the electorate gets

00:50:10.480 tired of them. And that'll happen, believe it or not, even with Justin Trudeau, I think is and

00:50:15.980 we're starting to see that a little bit in some of the criticism coming out of the mainstream

00:50:20.280 media in the last while. They've been so silent as far as criticizing him. But in the last while,

00:50:26.480 that's starting to change. So is that a sign that Central and Eastern Canada might be becoming a bit

00:50:33.980 more critical of Justin Trudeau and his government? We would hope so. Us in the West would hope so.

00:50:40.000 So timing is everything. Perhaps whether it's Pierre or Mr. Charest or whoever becomes the

00:50:46.760 next conservative leader, timing might be right. And they might be able to sell a conservative

00:50:52.720 message, not really because people are embracing that message, but because they're tired of the

00:50:58.340 liberals and they feel they've had their chance. They're ready for somebody else. The opportunity

00:51:02.140 is there. Yeah. And we are seeing that. I mean, I'll name a couple. Yeah. Don Martin came up with

00:51:05.540 just a scathing tear into Justin Trudeau. And Selly was another one, I believe that, again,

00:51:14.080 very critical and saying maybe as the veneer is coming off the members are getting tired the

00:51:18.240 liberal members are getting tired uh so i mean it provides opportunity well we saw with we saw

00:51:24.080 the mandate issue right uh all of the opposition to these travel mandates uh that has been building

00:51:31.200 and building and building and and yet it appears to be that it took the the insiders i'll call them

00:51:38.240 the liberal members of parliament themselves where they finally said enough enough this is 0.93

00:51:43.280 ridiculous. We're the only country left on the planet, basically, that still has these travel

00:51:47.800 mandates in place. And it took that kind of pressure, internal pressure, before Trudeau

00:51:53.820 eventually said, okay, I'll lift the mandates. Well, we'll be watching with interest. They've

00:51:59.260 got a lot to work with. But again, you know, as I said, there's two races they got to do, 0.57

00:52:02.180 win the leadership and win the election. Exactly. Even more immediately pressing,

00:52:06.360 I'll move into the provincial one. So we got quite one developing. I believe now there's

00:52:10.340 nine candidates announced for this one. We'll see. I'll kind of start though on that bar they set.

00:52:16.560 What's the party signaling when they're saying you have to come up with $175,000 in two months

00:52:22.200 just to run? Yeah. That bugs me. I got to admit, I mean, I understand the need for a bar, but

00:52:27.820 setting it that purposely high, I don't think it shows respect for the grassroots.

00:52:33.060 No, not at all. I would agree a hundred percent with you. The last time I was on your program,

00:52:37.240 And we discussed that because we didn't know what the threshold would be at that point.

00:52:41.420 And we also discussed, as I recall, Corey, the challenge that whoever runs and whoever wins and becomes our next premier by default is, you know, at least for a few months, they'll be premier and hopefully longer.

00:52:57.360 You know, the challenges that they have.

00:52:59.840 And one of those challenges, I believe, is to try to convince people that they're not elitist, that they're not insiders.

00:53:06.560 And they will not govern like Jason Kenney did, or he allegedly did, which is that, you know, it was his way or the highway. He only consulted, apparently, with a very small number of people. It's sort of his core group of two or three advisors. He didn't even listen to his own cabinet or his caucus.

00:53:26.060 You know, and I think that was really what would eventually inflamed the rank and file membership of the United Conservative Party against Mr. Kenny was this, whether it's right or not, the perception and in politics, perception is reality, the perception that he wasn't listening to anybody but a few insiders.

00:53:49.380 And so the challenge will be for all of these candidates, especially the cabinet ministers, especially former leaders like Brian Jean and Danielle Smith, to convince Albertans at large, not just the UCP membership, convince Albertans at large that they can broaden their base, that they will listen to the people as opposed to a few key insiders.

00:54:15.200 So, yeah. And I mean, that's something we used to pride ourselves as reformers way back in the time.

00:54:20.140 The fundraising numbers were always great because it showed it was ten dollars here.

00:54:23.620 It was fifty dollars there. It was a KFC bucket passed at a town hall meeting or a cowboy hat.

00:54:29.720 Yeah. And it was still it added up to a lot of money.

00:54:32.340 People really reached deeply and funded that party in that movement as it went and thousands and thousands of people did. 0.74

00:54:38.040 But with this bar set and the timeline, it means no matter who gets into this race,

00:54:42.740 It means they had a few very heavy duty donors in order to pull it off.

00:54:47.660 They just don't have the time to build that network of grassroots support.

00:54:51.800 But then you really, it's hard to sell yourself.

00:54:53.440 And when clearly you're at least a little beholden to five or six heavy duty donors or action groups or something of the sort in order to get in it.

00:55:00.780 It's just an unfortunate way they went.

00:55:03.240 I couldn't agree more.

00:55:04.800 And, you know, there again, the last time I was on your program a couple of weeks back, we were talking about that.

00:55:10.380 We're talking about the advantage for the party and certainly for the individual to have somebody that's widely viewed as an outsider, a bridge builder, we used to call them in the Reform Party. 0.52

00:55:20.560 Somebody that could appeal to all, like urban and rural, was as comfortable in a boardroom talking to businessmen in Calgary or Edmonton as he or she would be, you know, standing with some crap on their boots in a farmyard.

00:55:35.840 you know and someone that could appeal to all age groups you know which would by necessity probably

00:55:42.680 mean uh not myself not a gray-haired fella uh we need somebody that can appeal to the next

00:55:49.100 generation because it's them that's facing a lot of the challenges today yeah and i don't fault the

00:55:53.340 candidates they weren't a part of the committee so those who were entering those who managed to

00:55:56.360 make it they did what they have to do to get in uh richard blackburn say yeah he agrees it's high

00:56:00.500 but you know you have to have something in place you know to ensure there aren't 40 candidates and

00:56:03.860 I agree, but we've always said there should be a bar,

00:56:05.560 but I've always said like 50 grand.

00:56:07.640 That's a pretty good chunk,

00:56:08.620 even at another 20 for a deposit on top of that.

00:56:11.460 So we're talking 70.

00:56:12.640 That's pretty sizable.

00:56:13.680 A person isn't casually just gonna,

00:56:15.380 especially if they don't think they're gonna win it,

00:56:16.640 just throw that out there and jump in.

00:56:19.680 That's still gonna keep it down to a number,

00:56:21.840 but it's too late now.

00:56:22.620 I guess it's the way it is.

00:56:23.540 That's the way it's set.

00:56:25.500 So a little on where they're going though.

00:56:27.020 So they've been talking things

00:56:27.760 that more of UNI's language

00:56:29.540 and a lot of regionalism is really coming up right now.

00:56:32.900 Danielle was on the show and she was talking about her sovereignty act she's proposing.

00:56:37.940 Brian Jean is talking about Alberta autonomy right on front and centre on his campaign.

00:56:42.500 Michelle Rimpel's looking to dip her toe in the water, perhaps.

00:56:44.980 And she was again talking about standing up to Ottawa.

00:56:48.540 So we're seeing a much more regionalist flavour from the candidates so far.

00:56:54.080 You think that's going to set as a theme throughout the campaign?

00:56:56.380 Or maybe they're getting that out early so they can get to policy later?

00:56:59.640 Well, I hope it is.

00:57:00.740 And I said that right from the beginning as soon as Mr. Kenney announced that he was going to be stepping down.

00:57:08.020 And, you know, basically that was the start of the replacement race at that time.

00:57:15.600 And I said right away, I said, I hope that every single candidate that eventually runs not only commits to greater autonomy for Alberta and curbing the Ottawa overreach and the infringement on the provinces, really the basis of our economy.

00:57:36.300 And when we look in particular, of course, the oil and gas industry and what's happened to that because of the, I would almost call it, it seems like a personal vendetta on the part of the prime minister to destroy our industry.

00:57:48.900 And yet it's the cash cow, it's the golden goose, if you will, that's funding the country.

00:57:55.880 You know, it makes no sense.

00:57:57.220 But then so much of what Justin Trudeau does makes no sense.

00:58:00.980 Yeah, well, we're talking with a federal ideologically driven government.

00:58:04.260 They don't listen to common sense.

00:58:05.340 I was talking to Franco Tarazano from the Taxpayers Federation earlier in the show, and again, we're just stumped.

00:58:11.820 I mean, Chrystia Freeland, okay, we don't expect much of the Liberal government, but still, I mean, just the most basic thing, you know, is you can't keep spending or you're going to cause inflation.

00:58:22.500 If we're going to stand up and say, we're going to spend $9 billion more to fight inflation, it makes no sense.

00:58:27.760 So this is not a government we can expect rational behavior from.

00:58:30.600 So even though they're as reliant on oil for their revenues as anybody else is, they're still trying to attack it.

00:58:36.620 They're still trying to knock it down.

00:58:38.120 It's just like Joe Biden saying, oh, it's not my fault that the prices are high throughout North America.

00:58:42.060 Now hold my hat while I go snivel for oil over in Saudi Arabia and I don't want any more Canadian stuff.

00:58:47.300 It just defies sense.

00:58:48.860 Exactly.

00:58:49.220 And I think increasingly, hopefully, I say this, increasingly Canadians, in particular Western Canadians, are getting fed up with this hypocrisy on the part of leadership.

00:59:00.600 whether it's in in the states or here in canada and increasingly people are calling them out on

00:59:06.200 it and well they should i know the one thing that prompted me a couple of years ago you and i have

00:59:11.160 talked about this to come out of my retirement at the time and start that new political party

00:59:15.800 the maverick party uh was this sense that um that i was just fed up with the hypocrisy where our

00:59:23.880 political leadership, say, you and I, as sort of average Canadians, should do such, you know,

00:59:31.340 such and such. But then they turn around and don't apply those same rules to themselves.

00:59:37.840 And I hope that the apathy that we've seen on the part of a lot of Canadians as they struggle,

00:59:44.400 as you said earlier in the program, to meet their mortgage payments, to put food on the table,

00:59:49.140 fuel in the car in order to go to work. As they struggle under those, that the apathy that we see

00:59:56.840 towards politics will end. And there'll be more people involved in things like the Freedom Convoy

01:00:04.100 that say enough, enough, we're fed up. The apathy tends to go in when you finally get kicked in the

01:00:10.760 butt. You know, talking about green things, climate emergencies, plans like that, that's all 0.99

01:00:14.560 beautiful so you can't pay the rent yeah you know so you can't you can't feed your kids well enough

01:00:19.420 for choosing between you know keeping them well dressed for school or or buying a decent food

01:00:23.740 so I think people will be ready for change if again if the right person approaches them so I

01:00:29.420 mean I think part of this regionalist approach too is I mean we're seeing that too from from

01:00:34.080 establishment candidates uh Taze and others they're trying to carefully distance themselves

01:00:37.540 from Kenny while not being insulting at the same time but they do every candidate has to explain

01:00:42.260 why am I different than Kenny?

01:00:43.160 Because he was rejected by the members.

01:00:45.280 I mean, there was no getting around that.

01:00:46.840 And a large part of that was the Fair Deal panel.

01:00:48.560 That was one of the things that really soured me.

01:00:50.500 Like, I was optimistic.

01:00:51.460 Hey, you're going to strike this panel.

01:00:52.500 You're going to go out.

01:00:53.200 The panel comes back with 25 recommendations,

01:00:55.580 all of which I like.

01:00:56.860 And you know what he did?

01:00:57.760 Nothing. 0.92

01:00:58.380 Not a damn thing. 0.78

01:00:59.740 So, I mean, it looks like he's... 0.96

01:01:00.940 Well, in fairness, he held a referendum.

01:01:03.180 Yes.

01:01:03.560 But then what happened after that?

01:01:05.360 After, you know, 60-some percent, 63%, I think it was,

01:01:08.900 of Albertans, you know, said,

01:01:10.760 yeah, there's something wrong here.

01:01:11.880 we're voting against equalization as it's presently constituted in Canada. And I think

01:01:17.700 with good reason, you know, that Albertans, especially when you get down to the family

01:01:23.380 unit, are struggling. They were struggling hard then. They're still struggling under the weight

01:01:28.200 of taxes and increasing costs, inflation. You mentioned earlier the idiocy of our federal 0.99

01:01:35.820 government where they spent hundreds of billions of dollars, you know, over the life of this 0.98

01:01:42.220 COVID epidemic, what we believed was a COVID epidemic. And, you know, they couldn't make

01:01:48.940 the connection that you spend that kind of money, you push that amount of money into society,

01:01:54.620 you're going to fuel inflation. I mean, I think that the average person, whether they're, you

01:02:00.620 know, a truck driver, a waitress, a farmer, whatever. Just the average Canadian out there

01:02:06.340 would say, that makes no sense. I mean, you're going to spend that kind of money. You are going

01:02:11.460 to fuel inflation. It's just basic economics. I've been just, you know, when I get bored,

01:02:15.660 I searched through some of my old tweets from a year or two ago, just to remind people and retweet

01:02:18.820 myself. It's what I said a year and a half ago, guys. We can't keep pretending we didn't see it

01:02:23.140 coming. Everybody kept saying, keep spending like this, we're going to get inflation. And lo and

01:02:27.440 behold, here it is. I love it when I can say, I told you so. It's a lot easier when I say,

01:02:30.940 no, shit, I blew it, which I get to say now and then as well. 1.00

01:02:34.500 Yeah. But as you point out, Corey, that even having the advantage of saying I told you so, 1.00

01:02:41.800 it doesn't help us in our present situation that a lot of people, not just you and I,

01:02:47.060 but a lot of people can look back at what they wrote as a guest column in my case,

01:02:51.620 or journalism in yours

01:02:53.860 or statements that you've made in the past

01:02:55.840 that doesn't help

01:02:57.560 today. Well, what it does help

01:02:59.860 today is we still have time to stop.

01:03:02.080 You didn't listen a year ago, but we're

01:03:03.780 still spending now, so the

01:03:05.100 advice still applies. It can get worse.

01:03:09.120 Anyway, back to

01:03:09.840 the UCP leadership.

01:03:12.460 I think the big challenge

01:03:13.880 for some of these candidates is going to

01:03:15.820 do exactly what you just mentioned a minute ago,

01:03:17.780 is to distance themselves from the

01:03:19.820 previous administration.

01:03:21.700 And the cabinet ministers, and in particular, Travis Taves, that is a huge hill for him to climb, to be able to say to, first of all, the UCP membership, and then provided he was successful, and to Albertans, oh, well, that was Jason Kenney.

01:03:37.860 That wasn't me.

01:03:38.600 I won't operate that way.

01:03:40.360 Well, you know, as some people, I think it was Lowen said recently, well, why didn't he speak out then?

01:03:45.800 Well, it was obvious why he didn't speak out, because the minute you do.

01:03:48.660 You've been joining Lowen on the other end of the cup.

01:03:50.360 Exactly.

01:03:50.900 He certainly wouldn't have been in cabinet, and it's only a short step after that to not even be in caucus.

01:03:55.680 So, you know, there are constraints there.

01:03:58.820 Nobody knows it better than a former whip.

01:04:01.280 The control that the party and the leader has over his caucus.

01:04:06.740 So, I mean, this, like the other one, is going to be a two-phase race.

01:04:10.600 It's going to be who wins.

01:04:11.300 I think that the regionalism is really planned strategically to reach out to those members who were really alienated by the lack of action or feeling of lack of action on Kenny's part.

01:04:20.040 if it works, one of them is going to win, they get in. Now they've got six months,

01:04:24.720 you know, maybe what a short session in the legislature. I think they're going to have

01:04:28.480 to hit the ground running with some action if they're going to, but careful action,

01:04:32.760 if they're going to win the next election in spring, that's going to take some pretty good

01:04:35.960 political acumen. Yeah. And I would say, you know, that hopefully whoever it is,

01:04:41.280 is going to learn a bit from history. One is that you have to have a united team. So the first thing

01:04:46.080 is to try to, you know, heal the wounds that are going to develop during the leadership race.

01:04:51.940 We've seen that time and time again, no more so than currently happening with the CPC race,

01:04:57.780 you know, where they're just sniping at each other constantly and dragging each other down.

01:05:02.380 Hopefully we don't see that level in the provincial race. So the first task obviously

01:05:08.520 will be to heal the internal divisions within the UCP. The worst case scenario is that, you know,

01:05:15.500 if somebody wins that like a Travis Tavis,

01:05:18.360 it's viewed as sort of a conservative and the wild rose folks say, well,

01:05:22.600 the hell of that. That wasn't my guy that won. So I'm leaving.

01:05:25.800 And that was part of the problem.

01:05:27.420 I think all along where you saw people like Brian Jean that were highly

01:05:32.480 divisive right from the get go after Jason Kenny won the leadership.

01:05:36.900 And so you've got that constant pressure and criticism,

01:05:40.520 no matter what you do.

01:05:42.140 We got a lot of, all the candidates, well, aside from a couple that you don't hear of, but the ones that we know of have some baggage that they're carrying in that sort of way.

01:05:50.740 I mean, Danielle Smith, of course, made a catastrophic decision when she was leading the Wild Rose Party.

01:05:55.040 That's definitely her biggest hurdle to try and overcome as she's coming in.

01:05:59.700 I mean, she's said it a hundred times, and I think she's convinced some people, but some are still hesitant that she's learned and realizes it was an error and it's made her better for it.

01:06:08.000 But a lot won't necessarily believe that.

01:06:09.560 But Brian Jean has been very divisive as well.

01:06:13.300 I mean, he kind of stomped out the door once the leadership was over.

01:06:16.900 And would he be more cooperative getting in?

01:06:19.080 Michelle Rempel is now talking.

01:06:21.560 Likewise with this federal race, with some of her poking on behalf of the Brown team,

01:06:25.920 it's been pretty nasty from within.

01:06:27.840 So they've really got their work cut out from them.

01:06:30.600 I mean, sometimes the candidates you haven't heard of might have an advantage for some

01:06:33.260 sour participants.

01:06:34.680 Yeah, the challenge, though, as you've already pointed out, Corey, and I can't agree more

01:06:38.660 with you is that that for an outsider to raise that kind of money and meet those hurdles that

01:06:45.500 they've put in place uh you know it's just what a couple months away a month and a half six weeks

01:06:51.240 away where they got to write those big checks uh to the party is going to be a real challenge i

01:06:57.220 mean i don't think that many of these people that are well-known names for good or bad as you point

01:07:02.480 out. They have their baggage, but they also have the advantage of being a household name,

01:07:07.920 have a better chance of raising that kind of money in a short period of time. So we'll have

01:07:13.100 to see where that goes. But there's no question that these people are going to have to distance

01:07:17.800 themselves from their own past. What we need to look for with all leadership races and all

01:07:23.980 potential leaders is two key things. And you and I touched on it before. A leader has to have

01:07:29.620 courage to withstand the pressure that undoubtedly will come. And they have to have judgment. Well,

01:07:35.600 you just mentioned Danielle Smith. I think the big question still in a lot of Albertans' minds

01:07:40.140 is, does she have the judgment to be our next premier? And that'll be the hurdle for her, I

01:07:47.520 think. Yeah, it's going to be a tough one. I mean, she's gathering some steam. She was well-received

01:07:51.260 on the show. But again, a lot of critique, a lot of questioning. Everybody makes mistakes, yes,

01:07:56.380 but some mistakes are bigger than others and so directly applied.

01:08:01.160 Yes.

01:08:01.860 So, I mean, and again, one of the things Daniel always talked about,

01:08:05.400 I mean, another aspect you mentioned, though, is managing caucus,

01:08:08.420 keeping them together then in United, whether it's Taves.

01:08:11.080 I mean, he's definitely a contender for this.

01:08:13.000 He's well-established.

01:08:14.000 He's got the baggage of being within the government,

01:08:16.060 but he's personally never done anything untoward.

01:08:19.080 If he comes in, though, he's going to have to reach out then to the alienated ones.

01:08:22.460 He's going to have to reach out to Drew Barnes, Todd Lowen,

01:08:24.640 And even, you know, Leela here, I mean, the list is fairly long of some outspoken caucus members that you can't afford to just say, ah, well, you're out now and we're done with you.

01:08:34.480 No, you've got to pull these people in convincingly or you are going to go into the next election with a hornet's nest fighting within your caucus.

01:08:41.240 And I think that most of us recognize that, you know, as I said previously, sort of the non-socialists, which I hope are still the majority of Albertans that don't believe in socialism of the type that's being peddled by the NDP, both provincially and federally.

01:08:59.120 the non-socialist Albertans have got to feel that this is, regardless of who wins, that this is a

01:09:07.400 team they can get behind, that this is a team that's united, that as you say, there's room for

01:09:13.340 everybody inside the tent, keep everybody pulling in the traces together, and we'll see where that

01:09:19.240 goes. But if they don't do that, if they can't, you know, there's an age-old thing that I'm often

01:09:24.680 reminded about when it comes to political parties. And that is if they're divisive and they're seen

01:09:31.280 as that, that they can't, it's like, if you can't govern yourself, what would lead you to believe

01:09:38.480 that you should ask, in this case, Albertans, to give you the chance to govern them? And that's

01:09:45.040 the challenge for all of them. And their timeline is tight. Well, I'm going to be, before I let you

01:09:50.000 go, I will be interviewing all of them, I'm sure, over the course of this. I got three more of the

01:09:53.580 leadership candidates come up just next week alone. And I had Danielle yesterday. So what would you 0.85

01:09:57.560 think I should ask them as a prime question? Well, I think for me at least, and obviously

01:10:04.080 as the founder of the Maverick Party, the big issue, and you got back to it with your mention

01:10:10.340 of the fair deal panel recommendations, is that why is it that nobody has taken a look at the five

01:10:19.300 constitutional amendments that I put forward as part of the Maverick platform. And actually to

01:10:25.720 draw attention, it's not like we'll ever accomplish them, but draw attention to the inequities and the

01:10:31.340 unfairness that Ottawa heaps on Western Canada. Nobody has mentioned that type of thing and said,

01:10:38.140 okay, well, it's unlikely that that's ever going to be accomplished, but that's what needs to be

01:10:43.140 accomplished if Albertans are ever going to be treated fairly. And the Fair Deal panel, another

01:10:48.320 one. It's not enough that these people, and I questioned Danielle Smith in the sense of

01:10:53.000 calling it a sovereignty act, because my belief is that as soon as you talk about sovereignty

01:10:57.660 or separatism, you're going to lose people, right? If you talk about autonomy or some form of

01:11:04.240 independence, and that's what I was trying to do with Maverick, was talk about the need for greater

01:11:09.060 independence. And where we stop along the spectrum is up to Albertans and up to Westerners.

01:11:16.240 You know, so you can have independence at various levels and enacting various things along the way from the fair deal panel, as an example.

01:11:25.860 Yeah.

01:11:26.180 But if I was asking them questions, I'd be saying, okay, what's your timeline?

01:11:32.040 How have you prioritized what you're going to do?

01:11:35.020 Like whether it's a pension plan, whether it's control of taxation, whether it's, you know, that you're going, as she has mentioned, there's certain federal laws.

01:11:43.300 she's going to say, you know, they, they shouldn't apply to Alberta. That's fine.

01:11:46.760 How are you going to do that? And what is your timeline?

01:11:49.700 Because one of the lessons with Mr. Kenny, as you say,

01:11:53.680 was the disappointment that he didn't walk the talk.

01:11:58.420 You do have to follow through. Well,

01:11:59.800 there'll be lots to talk about and lots to watch.

01:12:02.500 So thanks for coming in to talk with us today.

01:12:05.140 I'm sure we'll talk again further soon as things develop.

01:12:07.300 Well, I hope so. Yeah. I always enjoy our conversations. Thanks so much, Corey.

01:12:10.780 Good to see you, Jay. I'll talk to you later.

01:12:12.520 All right. Thanks. Thank you. Yes, that was Jay Hill. And we talked all things political because,

01:12:19.040 well, Jay's a very, I guess I said, seasoned political veteran. We can see that there's

01:12:25.380 all sorts of terms we can use for it. But and as a caucus whip, that was a tough balance. I'll

01:12:30.300 corner Jay on that another time. But the reform party, you know, being as devolved and bottom up

01:12:35.980 as it is, well, how do you even have a whip? And what are you supposed to do without

01:12:39.200 ticking off the supporters while realizing that the party whip position still needs to be held

01:12:44.060 and utilized correctly. So yes, always good to have JN and cover a lot of that. And the questions

01:12:51.880 seem to come faster than the answers when it comes to these races. This one, as we said, 0.99

01:12:55.700 is just developing and just getting rolling with the provincial one. I don't know how many of these

01:13:02.900 candidates are actually going to make the bar and, and manage to win this race. It's, it's a

01:13:10.300 tough one to go in. So I suspect that not all of those nine that we have at this point, if Michelle

01:13:15.720 jumps in, are going to manage to get into there. But if they do, they got a whole lot of work to

01:13:22.660 do. And that really cuts into the campaign as well. When you've got, you've spent that much

01:13:30.100 money just to get in. You've only got so much to spend. How many mail outs can you do? How much

01:13:33.600 advertising can you do? How much travel can you do? This could be a pretty subdued campaign, but

01:13:38.520 we'll see. Let's see where else we go. There's a lot of cynicism out there on what's going to

01:13:47.800 happen. You know, it's hard in politics. I get cynical enough and tired as well. It just feels

01:13:52.920 like you're running in circles. But as I've said, you got to keep trying. You're going to lose if

01:13:57.160 you don't. I use my analogy, regular listeners have heard it enough times. It's like a video

01:14:01.580 game though, you know, except that there's no end. There's no princess at the castle. You don't win

01:14:06.540 and it's finished. You win and you just go into the next battle. It just keeps going and going

01:14:10.560 and you try to just mitigate and do as well as you can. But there's no assurances that you're

01:14:18.000 going to win. There's one year you win, another year you lose. But getting totally cynical and

01:14:22.860 quitting, that is the guarantee of a loss. You're just not going to get there. And it's

01:14:28.640 a real problem. Jet thinks Duke should run. Well, Duke, my dog, the wonder dog there,

01:14:37.400 he'd probably do a better job than some of them. But, you know, we'd have to replace all the

01:14:43.320 upholstery in the legislature after he tears it all to shreds. And now there'd be some other

01:14:48.100 challenges that come with that. All right, I'm going to speak, before I get on to some more

01:14:51.340 new stuff to wrap up this week. Let's talk about our sponsor again. And just a reminder,

01:14:56.260 because that's how we pay our bills. It's how we stay independent. That's why we sit there and get

01:15:00.200 on our high horse all the time and say, we do not take tax dollars. We don't take subsidies and we

01:15:04.380 won't, definitely won't. And that's through sponsors like Bitcoin Well, a good Alberta

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01:15:23.860 what's going on. These guys are bricks and mortar on the ground. They got ATMs all throughout the

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01:15:34.280 sit down with them and see if Bitcoin's right for you and how you would get involved with it and how

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01:15:43.720 guys, bitcoinwell.com and take control of your money. All right, let's see. Let's look at a

01:15:50.420 little more of these stories and talk about a bit of, you know, I've been ranting about the

01:15:55.160 accountability, the spending, the waste, the indifference, and that's what we've got going on.

01:16:01.940 Marilyn's saying, happy Father's Day to all you dads, by the way. Yes, it doesn't matter whether

01:16:05.880 we're allowed to say it or not allowed to say it anymore. The ridiculousness going on, I'm sure 0.73

01:16:10.140 some places calling it happy women who fill the role of Father Day or who knows what. It is Father's

01:16:17.520 Day. It is this weekend. Say hi and, you know, talk to your dad if you can. And yes, getting back

01:16:27.300 to the other stuff. Let's see here. COVID science remains a secret. This is one of the ones the

01:16:31.380 government caucus members on the transport committee blocked disclosure of this scientific

01:16:38.020 data justifying the travel restrictions. Like they're hiding it. Why? Because they don't have

01:16:44.120 it. You know, a government that's told us this long, we're doing it for the science. Clearly not.

01:16:49.180 They're not. If they did, they would love to stick it in our face. If they could say,

01:16:54.420 here's the studies that prove that showed that these travel restrictions and mandates made

01:16:58.540 people safer, they'd be trumpeting it from the rooftops. They'd be spending your tax dollars

01:17:02.900 for advertising campaigns. They'd send a mail out to every person in Canada. See, we were right.

01:17:08.020 What are they doing? They blocked the disclosure of it. It means they don't have it. They lied.

01:17:13.480 Not that most of us here are terribly shocked, but they're lying. And this was an NDP motion.

01:17:22.140 You know, again, Trudeau says he's cooked up his deal with Jagmeet Singh, you know, where they're

01:17:27.680 going to hold a government together until 2025. It's not going to last that long, guys. There's

01:17:30.980 no way it's going to last that long. But, I mean, it's still going to last agonizingly long,

01:17:35.920 no matter how it goes, but the NDP and members within it, not every one of those members are

01:17:40.280 happy at being in bed with Trudeau's government. Uh, they're not thrilled with this either. They

01:17:44.380 don't feel like being wagged around by a liberal party. If they wanted that, they would have joined

01:17:47.360 the liberals in the first place, but either way, so they, they put a motion for it. They wanted

01:17:51.480 the NDP. So they want to see all the relevant documents containing the public health advice

01:17:55.720 and the modeling that supposedly the minister of transport, another one of Trudeau's real geniuses

01:18:01.280 and cabinet. You know, so on those regulations, like quarantining, masking, testing, all those

01:18:07.760 things, the mandatory vaccination for travelers. Well, where's the science? Where's it at? Show us.

01:18:14.100 Even the NDP is saying, show us. And they said, no, they blocked it. Not only were they not sure,

01:18:18.520 they went out of their way to block it. The government is lying. They've been lying to you.

01:18:24.540 They've infringed on our rights. They've kicking and screaming, lifted these mandates, one of the

01:18:28.820 last place is on earth. And obviously they don't have the silence. There's the silence, science

01:18:34.280 to justify what they did. So it's going to fall apart. You know, I've talked about that before,

01:18:42.080 that there's a judicial inquiry. It's going to take a year. But, you know, I hope, because we're

01:18:47.960 seeing, as I said, we see liberal appointed senators have been speaking up because they've

01:18:51.260 had enough. And some liberal MPs have said they've had enough. And just because a judge was appointed

01:18:55.460 by the liberals doesn't always mean they're going to be beholden to them. So the justice who was

01:18:59.840 appointed to head the judicial inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act, I hope, I really

01:19:06.320 hope he does an honest inquiry because it's going to rip the liberal government to pieces. Their case

01:19:12.920 is crap. It's crap. It's not working. And we need that exposed. He can get more information than 1.00

01:19:21.020 parliamentary members can, or at least to a degree. And if they keep blocking and blocking

01:19:24.560 running interference, it'll look just about as bad. Let's see here. Just a long comment from

01:19:32.340 Laird on how they limited who could run for UCP leader. It'd be virtually impossible for the

01:19:36.360 average person and not just cash wise. And that there are reputable, desirable, qualified people

01:19:41.620 and they've been blocked. Yeah, it's unfortunate. And I'm not happy with it. As I said, it reflects

01:19:47.600 that change in the party. It's changed back so quickly to the progressive conservatives, to that

01:19:53.720 elitism to saying, we just want a small circle of tightly connected people in order to manage

01:20:00.380 these things. We don't want to let the unwashed in there. And we don't want to be like the liberal

01:20:04.640 party. Let's see, Alberta liberals. Yeah, I'm surprised. They're asking 6,000 for people to

01:20:08.580 run for the provincial liberal leadership right now in Alberta. Khan, who was their last leader,

01:20:13.620 managed to actually crush them down to a 1% support. Pretty sad end for the first party

01:20:18.340 that ever actually governed Alberta. They just destroyed it. But they're asking like $6,000 to

01:20:23.300 run for the leadership there. And I don't know if they're going to get anybody at that price.

01:20:27.460 But my own view, I think 50 plus a 20 deposit, 70 can. I think that's reasonable. Other people

01:20:34.080 might differ. It doesn't matter. You know, that horse is out the gate. But I think a person has

01:20:38.620 to be pretty serious to manage to raise 50 and go. And well, I guess just keep putting the

01:20:45.100 questions to the candidates then. See if they feel like they're going to remain true to the

01:20:48.340 grassroots. I'm not blaming the candidates. They've got to work with the rules they were given.

01:20:52.880 But I think most of those candidates would rather it was lower

01:20:55.280 because then they could use some of those dollars to campaign with

01:20:58.320 and other things.

01:20:58.900 They got better things they could do with it.

01:21:01.060 Some of it, too, shows that some people are saying

01:21:02.840 it's a bit of desperation on the party.

01:21:04.160 Leadership races aren't supposed to be fundraising races,

01:21:05.960 at least not their fees.

01:21:07.940 So the party, though, is another reflection of how badly

01:21:11.060 Kenny has alienated the grassroots.

01:21:12.580 I mean, their donations have been terrible the last few years

01:21:15.020 in comparison to the NDP.

01:21:16.600 And that's pretty sad, basically, for a government that's in power.

01:21:23.720 Usually they can still draw donations just for the second.

01:21:26.060 People want to keep them happy.

01:21:29.800 Let's see.

01:21:30.940 Yeah, more excuses on air refunds.

01:21:32.940 So Transport Minister, again, Omar Al-Gabra, Al-Hagra.

01:21:36.680 I have trouble with this.

01:21:38.140 He's writing, rewriting regulations to give airlines more leeway in denying refunds for flight delays.

01:21:44.580 I mean, the government's made an unholy mess of travel across the country, and they are now, they've infuriated the airlines, but they're trying to, it seems they're more content to screw the passengers than the airlines, so they're finding ways to tell the airlines they can deny you a refund if they've screwed you on your flight.

01:22:01.240 It's just horrible, this government, what they're doing.

01:22:06.900 That's, again, the committees are putting the government on the spot with these things.

01:22:10.660 Let's see, we've got some other news to run through.

01:22:12.980 Oh, yeah, here's another beauty. Speaking of entitlement, seeking to waste. So, yeah, there's a $12,000 yearly bonus, basically automatic to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation employees, pretty much every one of them.

01:22:28.240 How many of you get your $12,000 Christmas bonus?

01:22:32.280 You know?

01:22:33.380 Well, if you work for the CMHC on top of your massive government salary,

01:22:38.180 on top of the massive bonuses, on top of the extended vacations,

01:22:42.580 you get another $12,000.

01:22:44.700 And bonuses during these days, when everybody else is tight in their belt,

01:22:47.640 they get $12,000 bonuses.

01:22:50.100 And what are they doing?

01:22:51.220 This is the group that's constantly trying to find ways to tax the equity on your house.

01:22:55.660 These are the ones that keep putting out those studies on behalf of the government

01:22:58.100 saying that we need to steal,

01:23:04.400 and that's what it is, taxation is theft.

01:23:06.960 They want to steal the equity in your home,

01:23:10.700 your primary place of residence.

01:23:12.060 And the CMHC is constantly poking into that,

01:23:14.740 as I said, on behalf of the government,

01:23:15.980 that's who runs them, that's who puts them in there. 0.98

01:23:18.680 And these clowns, I was going to say something worse, 0.96

01:23:22.900 they get $12,000 bonuses on average, 0.97

01:23:25.980 on average, in almost every employee. 0.98

01:23:27.660 Now, the CEO of that, let's see, what's her name, Romy Bowers, her salary is $459,000. 0.99

01:23:36.680 She didn't disclose how much her bonus is on top of that. 0.94

01:23:40.500 People, we're getting screwed. 0.98

01:23:42.740 Yeah, these bureaucrats to put out these crappy studies and come and try and steal your equity 0.97

01:23:46.680 are also getting a salary of $459,000 plus bonuses. 0.90

01:23:51.880 Wonder why the country's screwed.

01:23:53.400 and yes it was the Canadian Taxpayers Federation who dug that one out as well

01:23:58.160 so that from the outbreak of the pandemic they paid bonuses almost 50 million dollars 94% of

01:24:05.500 the employees apparently were qualified for those bonuses a bonus should be when you do above and

01:24:09.920 beyond in your job when you're exceptional I hate to say it I've worked in enough workplaces there's

01:24:14.380 none where 94% of them are exceptional and when you're looking in the government civil service

01:24:18.580 well usually 94% of them are incompetent if they were competent they'd be in the private sector

01:24:23.240 somewhere. Well, actually they might be competent in, uh, scooping money out of, uh, innocent

01:24:27.680 taxpayers, but it doesn't mean they're any good at their job and they certainly don't have ambition

01:24:31.200 to work for. Uh, here's a privacy bill. Oh yeah. So the cabinet reintroduced a bill that exempts

01:24:37.820 itself. So you see the, the, the government came in with a, a way to, um, uh, protect people from

01:24:46.660 data mining on their phones and things like that to a degree, which is kind of failed actually

01:24:50.640 on a lot of levels, but they try.

01:24:51.760 They build a protector of privacy,

01:24:53.180 but they exempted themselves.

01:24:54.620 They made sure the government though

01:24:55.540 can still get into that data.

01:24:57.060 We saw it used in the Emergencies Act.

01:24:58.760 It'll snoop on you.

01:24:59.940 Well, they're putting another bill forward

01:25:01.380 to make sure they remain exempt.

01:25:02.560 So they still got plans to keep

01:25:03.720 mining your private information on your phones.

01:25:06.600 Just keep that in mind.

01:25:07.720 It's another one of those bills,

01:25:08.680 this flood of bills, that's C27.

01:25:10.980 Every bill this government has done

01:25:13.120 in the last six months

01:25:13.940 has been modeled on taking away rights.

01:25:17.320 This is an authoritarian regime.

01:25:19.380 It really is.

01:25:20.100 All they do is always, whether it's trying to regulate the internet, regulating the media, taking away your firearms, now going after your privacy, as well as a bill in the Senate that was looking to go after, you know, giving customs agencies the ability to read through your personal email, phones, and information.

01:25:36.960 this country needs a change in a big way and i mean i know the conservatives alone won't be able

01:25:43.360 to do it even if we get a conservative prime minister whoever wins that race there's still

01:25:47.640 the changes too big for that but it would be less damaging than the current government this

01:25:50.680 government needs to be flushed out of there mitigate the damage got to all right uh it's

01:25:57.620 enough renting out of me so let's say that reminder again go to the western standard online

01:26:00.980 we got the debate on again it's going to be in july 8th at the petroleum club and uh you can

01:26:06.300 get there in person. It's only 300 seats. So that means, you know, it's a pretty intimate setting

01:26:11.140 and there'll be a cocktail period afterwards where you could, you know, meet and greet with

01:26:15.800 some of those candidates after the debate and chat with them yourself. And yeah, just for 25 bucks.

01:26:21.120 Like I said, you can get in and see the Pete Club. It's on a Friday, you know, so you can,

01:26:25.620 if you get out of work an hour early, you can catch that. It starts, I think it's going to start

01:26:29.580 three. And as well, so Monday, I'll be back. I'm going to have guests, former cabinet minister,

01:26:36.600 Rebecca Schultz. She's running for the leadership of the UCP. She's going to come on and talk about

01:26:41.440 her platform. And Chris Oldcorn, our Saskatchewan writer and columnist is going to come on. We'll

01:26:47.220 just talk some more Saskatchewan updates and news. And I got a lot of guests lined up for the rest

01:26:51.760 of the week as well. So you all have a good weekend and I will see you all Monday morning at 1130.

01:26:59.580 Transcription by CastingWords

01:27:29.580 You

Western Standard - June 18, 2022

Triggered： Defund the Governor General!

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