00:15:25.440duke the wonder dog stole your lunch yesterday but cory you can't blame duke right if you're
00:15:30.620silly enough to leave it out where this young dog can get it it's your fault man it's your fault0.88
00:15:36.080it's not duke's fault if you can see the counters i've got with that giant long beast and how far
00:15:41.460he got back to get that sandwich i mean okay if he does it to me again it's my fault but i nobody's
00:15:46.660seen would have thought a dog could get where he got isn't this isn't the first sandwich he's taken
00:15:51.060though, Corey. No, no, it's not. So it's your fault, man. Just a minute. Man up. Yes, it is.
00:15:57.380Oh, well, he's happy for it. He needs his treats. There you go. Right on. Thanks, Dave. I'll talk
00:16:03.080to you a little later. Take care. Right on. That's our news editor, Dave Naylor. Lots on the go,
00:16:09.020as we said. And yeah, Joan saying, yeah, COVID detecting dogs for a flu. Well, as Dave pointed
00:16:16.440out, I got a dog that's sandwich detecting and he has a propensity for stealing my lunches. So
00:16:20.700you wonder part of why I get crabby on this show at times. It's hangriness because the dogs are
00:16:25.240stealing my food. Though I do have excess meat on me, I can get by. It's probably not put too much
00:16:30.820harm. So all of those news stories, all of those columns, all that opinion stuff, it's all thanks
00:16:36.700to you guys because you've been taking out subscriptions and you've been members. So
00:16:40.380this is where I remind everybody, you know, get on there, check it out, westernstandard.news.
00:16:45.000that's that new website, not that great big long URL anymore, slash membership. And look at all
00:16:50.840those different deals you can do there. You create an account for free, get that unlimited digital
00:16:55.300access. I mean, there's a number of incentives and deals. If you use the coupon code TRIGGERED,
00:16:59.520you get 10 bucks off. It's, you know, over the course of a year, $99 for a year.
00:17:05.360Less than $10 a month, you get full access to our columnists, our news copy, all of that sort of
00:17:10.160thing. And again, it helps support us so we can keep bringing you independent news without being
00:17:15.580told what to say, what to do, or any of that by the government. And I'll move on as well to our
00:17:21.040sponsor while I'm at it. And that one of them is it's Bitcoin Well, because we are capitalists.
00:17:26.660We sell products, goods, services, and promote things. And hey, if you want to get your product
00:17:31.020or service on the show, send me an email. Let's talk. We can see if we can promote things for you
00:17:35.560or on the site in general. Either way, Bitcoin, well, they're an Alberta company, guys. And of
00:17:40.280course their name sort of says what it's about. They're about digital currencies, in particular
00:17:44.240Bitcoin. If you're looking to get into digital currencies, you're interested in it, you're not
00:17:48.120100% sure what's involved with it, how to dip your toe in those waters. These are the guys for you
00:17:53.060because the main part is keeping your money safe. That's what's important. That's what we all worry
00:17:56.500about. We work hard for it. It's devaluing fast enough as it is. These guys give personalized
00:18:01.520one-on-one service. They'll sit down with you. You can have a chat with them and see what they've
00:18:07.240got to offer for getting you involved in digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin.
00:18:11.720And maybe it's not for you. Maybe it is. The main thing is you go to their site and they will show
00:18:15.540you what it's all about because it's new to pretty much all of us. You know, it's different,
00:18:19.540but we're interested and it's certainly making a lot of news. So check them out,
00:18:22.560bitcoinwell.com and take control of your money. Okay. So let's see. Where else are we at?
00:18:31.520before we get to our guest spot again just that reminder guys tonight yes we've got a lot of
00:18:37.080specials going on the coverage will start at 3 45 we're going to be going on live and as dave said
00:18:43.840so what the ucp has told us is we're going to get the results of the review sometime between
00:18:48.140four o'clock and six o'clock and as dave said nine times out of ten premier kenny is always
00:18:53.360late with things but hopefully today will be the exception but tune in we've got a whole bunch of
00:18:58.260guests we will be discussing for a long time prior to the release of the results, of course, and
00:19:03.620after the release. So, I mean, the better part will be afterwards because we'll know what we're
00:19:08.200talking about. For the first part, we'll be bloviating at length, you know, the usual wind
00:19:12.260bags that we are, but all the same, we can lay things out. And as I said, there's a number of
00:19:17.580guests to cover things and talk about because it's an unprecedented event in Alberta. I mean,
00:19:21.900when have we had such an odd leadership review a year before a general election like this?
00:19:28.260can't help but be interesting, at least for political weenies like us. Plus, with the Flames
00:19:31.400and Oilers playing tonight, we will want to get that all out of the way before the game starts,
00:19:35.680but we'll see. It is out of our hands. One thing that is in our hands, though, is bringing our
00:19:39.840guests in, and I've been looking forward to this. So this, as I said, this is Canadian author Lydia
00:19:44.560Perovic. I hope I'm not ruining her name. She recently wrote Lost in Canada, An Immigrant's
00:19:50.240Second Thoughts, and I read the copy just recently, and it's an interesting read. So let's bring
00:19:55.520lead you in and uh have a conversation hey how are you doing out there hello not too badly
00:20:02.340great well i appreciate you coming on to talk about this it's uh uh it was an interesting book
00:20:08.900something different i mean i i read a lot of you know of course just do the nature of the show
00:20:12.520political things or fantasy novels but this was a different and and it was um i i guess it was
00:20:19.060very personal uh a book on your part very first person relating a lot of your um experiences as
00:20:25.120as an immigrant to Canada. I believe it was in 1999. And I guess your vision of what you thought
00:20:31.100Canada would be has sort of changed over the years, or perhaps Canada has changed over the years. Can
00:20:35.160you kind of expand a bit on that? Yes, I'm finding out that Canadians are losing interest in their
00:20:41.420own country. And I'll explain what I mean. There's no thinking about the future. I think we've become
00:20:47.840very inward looking. And we've become obsessed with the past. We are not entirely sure we are
00:20:54.380one country and one nation. As I mentioned in the book, I use the Ernest Renan definition of the
00:21:01.540nation as this great solidarity of all of us in the past, people who will live in the future and
00:21:08.020ourselves across all our differences. And our differences have become so acute and some argue
00:21:15.480irreconcilable. And this is new for me. I grew up in the Balkans and I know about balkanization.
00:21:22.920I know what happens when differences become sub-fundamental, essential, non-negotiable.
00:21:29.940I know what happens when people say we are not a we.
00:21:33.060We are all these different kind of groups that cannot see eye to eye.
00:21:37.560And I know that there have been historical injustices.
00:21:41.000That's in every nation, in every region of the world.
00:21:44.360But the idea is, can we have a conversation and then perhaps look to the future and find a way to become a we again?
00:21:52.260So that's been preoccupying me lately.
00:21:55.500Yeah, well, and the perspective you bring is fantastic for that.
00:21:58.300As you said, I mean, the whole term balkanization came from where you came out of, you know, you refer to it as Montenegro.
00:22:04.680It was all considered the one whole area of Yugoslavia at one time.
00:22:08.860It shattered with what people, what we thought in the West actually was we thought it was a relatively unified area.
00:22:15.100But we didn't understand the subtleties and differences and things that were going on.
00:22:18.540and when they become too acute, the breakup can end up violent in the worst sort of ways between
00:22:24.220people who are compatriots not too long before that. Yes, and the dangerous thing is when you
00:22:30.220start questioning the laws and start deciding, oh, for this kind of event, people like us
00:22:38.620are not going to obey the law, and that's going to last, let's say, for three weeks,
00:22:43.420or for this kind of historical injustice we'd have to be breaking the law
00:22:49.020somewhere in this particular region so that these issues could be redressed and there's more and
00:22:53.900more of that now of course we've we've we've imported a lot of the american culture war stuff
00:23:00.060and for the last couple of years and longer a lot of people in the u.s have been questioning
00:23:05.260that they are one polity that a lot of a lot of groups have been saying no we don't this is not
00:23:10.940our country this is these are not our laws both on on both sides of the spectrum both left a lot
00:23:16.300on the left and and a lot on the right as well so uh that's that's a very strange strange point to
00:23:23.500find yourself in when you're questioning you're questioning the laws you're like we're all live
00:23:29.420now in some unseated territories we're all permanently reconciling in the u.s there's a
00:23:35.740there's a similar argument that you should be redressing and repaying the debts to the formerly
00:23:45.100enslaved population. So it's conversations that are ripping apart to the point of almost
00:23:52.700no reconciliation. So it's getting a bit strange. Maybe I'm exaggerating. Maybe
00:23:58.220because I did grow up in the Balkans, I get a little too sensitive when it comes to these things.
00:24:03.260Well, I mean, the trend, and it has definitely changed. I mean, recognizing that we have a history, recognizing that things were done wrong and done incorrectly is fine. But as you put it, it's become obsessive. And one of the things you called out that is a risky territory to even question or talk about, but a lot of people, you got a bit, they quietly talk about it. They say, boy, these land acknowledgements. I mean, everywhere I go, I've got to constantly sort of bow my head in shame over what happened here a hundred years ago.
00:28:37.340You write at length about that, but you haven't quite bonded necessarily within Canada and feeling comfortable here.
00:28:44.300And that's supposed to be what our whole intent is, as a nation drawing people in, is to have people come in and make a home and feel happy with their decision.
00:28:52.120And unfortunately, you're sort of second thinking here.
00:32:56.460some of the stuff you covered, and it's interesting to me as well. So you made a living,
00:33:01.280you bounced around quite a bit, as you said, with a lot of writing and a lot of involvement in the
00:33:06.180arts, whether from volunteering or to being employed in different spots. But some of the
00:33:11.440fate of changing media. So this is quite a bit different from what you started with, but you
00:33:14.520wrote on it because it is something we're interested in as an alternative media outlet.
00:33:18.640You know, we cover particularly news and politics, but the arts, with new media not making money like
00:33:24.440it used to they can't dedicate to have somebody write things as you do like with an opera review
00:33:28.740or uh you know local galleries or arts writing uh how do you think is media going to adjust and
00:33:35.880adapt so those sectors can still be represented and get out there or or how do you address that
00:33:41.140crisis i so hope i so hope this is going to adjust because the only daily paper in canada that's
00:33:47.580still covering arts to a certain degree not significant degree but there is something
00:33:52.760happening is the globe everybody else has given up um i think the post has a film critic the star
00:34:00.680doesn't have anything they they just take from wire and this is what i'm this is one illustration
00:34:07.560of how we're not really interested in our own culture we really should have conversations
00:34:11.880about what's going on i mean we we produce some incredible stuff incredible stuff internationally
00:34:17.880recognized we train some of the best opera singers in the world we have incredible choreographers
00:34:23.880robert lepage's world world renowned quebec cinema world renowned uh and a lot of people don't know
00:34:31.560about that and especially now they won't know about it because the media is are not covering
00:34:37.320so i do hope this changes i mean globe the globe is bra is bragging they have 200 000 subscribers
00:34:43.320well then they can afford to hire some more arts writers and and critics i mean you look at you
00:34:49.000look at the bb look at the british media for example they've increased arts coverage over the
00:34:54.120last however years 10 years since the internet has been rumbling the journalism uh not to mention
00:35:01.320france i mean the new york times is covering the arts all around the globe they want to be the hub
00:35:07.000of arts coverage among other kind of coverage for arts in many countries in and there have been
00:35:13.400years when the new york new york new york times has covered more opera in canada than our canadian
00:35:18.840paper so some absurd things i think it's something we should really i mean i don't know who decides
00:35:24.520this i guess the media honchos the the owners of the company the the upstairs people in the media
00:35:30.920what and what to say about the cbc i mean compare the cbc compare the cbc with the bbc for example
00:35:39.240and i know i know the money is much lower in the cbc but it's not all about the money it's
00:35:44.440a lot about the programming it's a lot about what managers decide to show and and there's a lot of
00:35:50.760american culture on c on the cbc right now and there's no need why are you chasing clicks you
00:35:56.920are cbs you don't need the clicks but it's there's all these weird things that i i only i only managed
00:36:02.600to address a fraction in that little chapter well it's just an interesting evolution and we're
00:36:07.880seeing things go by the wayside like it's changing we can't turn back the clock there's not money in
00:36:12.440in newspapers like there used to be you don't have a whole bunch of classified ads and obituaries to
00:36:16.120pay the bills so you could keep a a writer on arts or even sports just having the same challenge as
00:36:21.480well niche areas uh i i like to think human creativity if we leave it alone we'll come up
00:36:26.600with things you know maybe arts coverage could be syndicated and somebody could get it out into a
00:36:31.080number of publications like we couldn't afford to keep an arts writer but if there was a number of
00:36:35.080publications that would share on syndicated pieces perhaps that coverage could still get out there
00:36:39.880and and in an affordable manner for the writer but we aren't there yet yes yes and then local stuff
00:36:45.480i mean you would have let's say you have in the post media you have a book review or a film review
00:36:51.080that'll appear in all the journals around the edmonton journal and this journal and this and
00:36:55.720that and it's just that one person in toronto for example so if again that's another another
00:37:02.360issue is becoming centralized so there'll be only coverage for really the biggest players like the
00:37:07.400coc or the toronto film festival and there's maybe a handful of other companies that suck up all the
00:37:13.080all the uh arts coverage and the rest but it's all this uh smaller to medium ecosystem that's
00:37:20.040kind of r d sector of arts where you get small projects really enthusiastic people doing
00:37:25.640interesting things uh with not million dollar budgets this is this is where the big things
00:37:31.240start that's that's that's really r d of of the arts sector yeah well and then just you know kind
00:37:36.840of pivoting back to where you were talking about if you're talking about national identity or unity
00:37:41.400nothing stands out more than the artistic creations of an area as their local culture and things that
00:37:46.520are coming up and it changes over time it changes with different contributors or different
00:37:51.240environments but uh you know we don't want to lose these things there's more importance to the arts
00:37:56.280than some people recognize sometimes absolutely absolutely and the kids growing up when there's
00:38:01.880lots of coverage in the media it's it it becomes obvious it's a viable way of life it's a viable
00:38:07.960profession you can live your compatriots are interested in what you're doing as an artist
00:38:12.920i mean i think we can learn a lot from quebec who have a different clearly have a different
00:38:18.280attitude to their own culture and for example in the last two years when the performing arts
00:38:22.760completely shut down with some minor breaks in ontario uh quebec theater scene insisted
00:38:28.760that they go on and they fought and fought and fought they want to be seen as a serious essential
00:38:34.520sector and they whereas in ontario we had film industry interestingly a lobbying somebody
00:38:40.600successful in the forward government and getting the designation of an essential industry so they
00:38:45.800continued working through the pandemic the film industry and the performing arts no we weren't
00:38:51.240even they weren't even allowed to rehearse no i i understand i have a daughter is in theater with
00:38:56.200her post-secondary and the pandemic of course of the worst possible time i mean there's some stuff
00:39:00.280you can learn through youtube lectures uh theater is not one of them you need that interaction you
00:39:06.440need that stage time you need all of those things absolutely um and developing our local talent
00:39:11.720well yeah i appreciate you coming on to talk about these there's lots more things packed into that
00:39:15.640book and i just like to remind everybody there's a paper copy and i believe you have an online
00:39:19.480version as well out there uh speaking of the arts i mean we're supporting our local authors you know
00:39:24.440old i i'm still old-fashioned i love books i love getting them on the shelf i love reading in bed
00:39:30.040not from a pad but from a paper coffee but it's falling by the wayside we're getting all of our
00:39:35.560information little bites right now and and on twitter and and little things so i appreciate
00:39:40.760people getting out there and writing and and uh it's not an easy route to uh to making money or
00:39:46.040getting a message out but it's it's still uh happening so it's it's wonderful that you're
00:39:50.200taking interest in books that's just wonderful great well thank you for coming on to talk about
00:39:54.520that today and your experiences and and for putting it into a book where can people find
00:39:57.640more information about yourself and and uh this book and past books that you've written
00:40:01.480uh just uh google my name and uh things will pop up i as of recently i have a wikipedia page as
00:40:07.660well which was uh which was great news so that's things will pop up just just put my uh name in
00:40:13.480the search engine great and i'll just kind of spell that out then because some people uh listen
00:40:17.260just to the audio sometimes on the podcast version so it's lydia perovic l-y-d-i-a-p-e-r-o-v-i-c
00:40:25.220and great well thank you very much and i hope the book sells well and uh you we can find a way to
00:40:31.960make yourself and others feeling more comfortable with settling out here in this country oh thank
00:40:36.540you so much i am one of i am one of us yes of course thank you bye-bye
00:40:42.420so yes guys that was lydia perovic as i said with the recent book and it's a bit different you know
00:40:49.760and a bit different than the types i type to tend to read so it was refreshing and you read things
00:40:54.460like that, it helps you look at things a little differently, think of things. That's what I like
00:40:58.380first person writing, you know, listening to somebody else who's had a different experience,
00:41:02.100a different perspective. I mean, I was born, raised Alberta, never had to move in my adult
00:41:07.300life more than 100 kilometers from where I lived. You know, I didn't have to experience those
00:41:12.320things. I was fortunate here as it is. And you can't get a broad view. I mean, I traveled a lot
00:41:18.580and I was fortunate for that. And that's helped me a lot over the years. But immigration and things
00:41:23.900I've never had to do. And it's important. A tremendous amount of our Canadians are,
00:41:27.620you know, came from somewhere else. And of course, their parents did and things like that. We've got
00:41:31.720serious problems. What I was interested in as well, as I said, with Lydia, she's not, you know,0.75
00:41:36.620of our usual hard right wingers out here. This is a person who's taking part in the arts community
00:41:41.920and things like that. But she's starting to question and some of those questions need to
00:41:46.420be asked some of the orthodoxy it's almost become with things like land acknowledgements, you know,
00:41:51.300this, as she said, it was almost like an opening prayer or something to start off events or
00:41:57.200anything going. It's not good for us. It's not healthy. I mean, we're dividing ourselves with
00:42:03.640every action we do. We're constantly, you know, identity politics. It's a term we didn't go into,
00:42:08.380but that's what it's all about. And we're always breaking each other up. We can retain cultural
00:42:14.740history without having to split away from each other all over the place. It seems to be that,
00:42:23.140you know, this and that. We're doing the opposite of what it used to be. I remember a while back,
00:42:28.340and that was some years ago, that there was a big celebration because there was a charter school or
00:42:32.940something of the sort that opened in Toronto, and it was all black. It was black for black students
00:42:40.740only. Well, finally, I understand that the black community is, you know, a lot of challenges and
00:42:46.500integration and different cultural needs and things. But, well, this is the opposite of what1.00
00:42:52.820American black people had to fight for for decades. This is when the water cannons were
00:42:57.660hitting them on the streets. This is what Martin Luther King was fighting for, was the ability to
00:43:02.820go in and have everybody being educated together and socialized together and work together.
00:43:08.180And now we're celebrating separating each other again. I can't help but think he was rolling over in his grave, Martin Luther King, at the thought that we've come full circle and we're actually trying to break up schools by race again. It's not good for us. It's not healthy. But anybody who calls it out, ironically, gets sidelined as being racist or intolerant. Well, hang on, we can do both.
00:43:35.800And I don't like when, you know, speaking of before,
00:43:38.080when I'm talking about the government getting involved in the economy, for example,
00:44:00.660The Chinese are a fantastic example.1.00
00:44:02.540Look at the horrific abuse they had to endure in the early days of Canada when they were brought in as Chinese immigrants were brought in as cheap labor.
00:44:11.300They were put into horrific conditions when the railroads were done and we didn't find need for them, that some were packed back onto boats and shipped back across the ocean.
00:44:20.020It was horrible. Or later on with the Japanese, they were interred, you know, in camps because of World War Two and they had their property stolen.
00:44:28.400they were stuck out in strange areas, but they endured and they maintained their culture. Go to
00:44:35.180a Chinatown. And it's great. I mean, you get a little snapshot and there's Chinatowns all over
00:44:40.660North America. Every large city will have one. And you get a little taste of China. A lot of people
00:44:47.600there practicing local cultures and traditions, things like that, practices, foods, you name it,
00:44:54.280arts. It didn't need government help to do that. Unfortunately, I, I, this isn't the way I'd want
00:44:59.180to go. I think part of the reason that happened as well is because they had to deal with so much
00:45:02.840government abuse. So they naturally gathered together and that would lead to maintaining
00:45:06.780more culture. But what I'm saying is that we're not sacrificing everything. You can do both.
00:45:12.640You can take full part in North American culture and activities and arts and interact with everybody
00:45:18.260else and still value and enjoy your heritage on your parental side, whatever that might be,
00:45:24.700you know, whatever past countries, practices, dances, clothing, I mean, all those things,
00:45:29.140it never ends. And it's fantastic. It's great. I mean, I love seeing even if it's second or
00:45:34.140third generation people celebrating their heritage, you know, seeing kids out at a
00:45:39.460Ukrainian event doing their dancing or Irish or the Chinese festivals or Indian. I mean,
00:45:46.080I remember living in Northeast Calgary when I was younger. Some of the cultural practices with
00:45:51.240kids, again, born in Canada and everything, but they're still taking part in those events and
00:45:55.520those foods and all those great things. Just leave the government out. We'll take the good
00:46:00.900parts from every culture and we'll learn to get rid of the other ones because once government gets1.00
00:46:04.780in, chances are we aren't going to be getting a better outcome. Okay. Let me talk about another0.99
00:46:11.400thing with government getting into your face and that's your firearms. And I got to talk about one
00:46:14.460of our sponsors, and that's the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. These guys, again, have a
00:46:20.760sponsor for us for a long time. You know, they've been warning everybody. Everybody's been warning
00:46:24.760everybody. The government is coming for your firearms, guys. They always are. They've started
00:46:28.720a backdoor registry. They want to know where your long guns are because their intention later is to
00:46:35.000take them away from you. They want to steal your property, and I'll call it stealing. I call it
00:46:40.020that every time. If they're taking it away from you without your permission, even if they compensate
00:46:44.260state you for it. It's still theft. Now, so the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, they lobby,
00:46:49.780they stand out, they report on those sorts of news and put it out there so that you as a firearm
00:46:56.120owner can see what's happening. And they stand up for you, as I said, protecting against these
00:46:59.900incursions. And also like any other association, they have all sorts of other resources for you
00:47:04.660there, whether it's, as you can see, Ladies' Day at the shooting range or trap shooting or target
00:47:09.540shooting, any of those things. It's an association to share those resources with you. But again,
00:47:14.260like everything else, they're not get tax funded. This is something where you've got to help
00:47:19.180yourself. You got to help them stand up for you. Just like with us with independent media,
00:47:23.300you got to go there, take out a membership so they can keep helping you as a firearm owner,
00:47:28.560even a prospective firearm owner. So check them out. Canadian Shooting Sports Association,
00:47:34.880cssa-cila.org. All right. Well, let's talk about a few other things while we go. So Mr. McLean,
00:47:42.360like I said, I'm looking forward to talking to him. He's been on the show before. I should say
00:47:45.920Councillor McLean. But he's going to be on a little later because he's busy with City Hall
00:47:50.500business. So you're stuck with just you and me for a little while. How about a few things? Let's
00:47:54.420talk about the big news that's going to be happening today. And that is the, as I said,
00:47:59.160we're going to be doing a special at 345 and running kind of as long as we have to live with
00:48:03.180a panel and a number of guests. But let's see some predictions in the comment scrolls, guys.
00:48:07.620Jason Kenney's got his leadership review going on right now. People voted by mail. They changed
00:48:11.880the rules partway through. There's a lot of discontent going on in the party. I'd heard
00:48:17.200different numbers, but it sounds like of the 60,000 eligible to vote, there was perhaps 30,000,
00:48:21.30035,000 came in. What do you think the outcome is going to be? Where do you think the numbers are,
00:48:26.660guys? Like, is he going to win by a landslide and come in with a strong mandate of 80, 85% and
00:48:32.100move ahead into the next election, you know, and then whip people in his line? Will he win in a
00:48:36.340squeaker with 52% or is he going to lose with, you know, 49.9 or, or 45%. What are we going to be
00:48:45.080looking forward to? Jamie Dickey saying, and I talked about that the other day too, saying Kenny
00:48:49.480did well in Washington and it's true. And then, you know, that's unfortunate. Like it's just
00:48:54.660unfortunately his brand is in such trouble right now. I don't know if the good deeds now are
00:48:59.840going to make up for the past internal turmoil going on with that party. It's difficult. John
00:49:09.180Williams thinks he's going to win with 65%. And of course, Calvin Bill A. Jones, I mean,
00:49:13.960bringing up another aspect that we're going to hear from people a lot, no matter what the outcome
00:49:17.580is, is that people don't trust the vote legitimacy. And Calvin thinks Kenny's going to take it at 65%
00:49:26.560to 35%. And see, if people don't trust the legitimacy, it won't matter what it is. They're
00:49:32.600not going to accept it. The unity is going to be a problem. Premier Kenney has a lot of issues
00:49:40.660going on. I can only speculate. I've talked to a lot of his caucus members on this show,
00:49:45.140off the show, I've known some politicians. There's the big difference. I've always respected
00:49:49.940Jason Kenney. I thought he was good in federal politics. I thought he was great in the Reform
00:49:53.980party all the way up until he got into cabinet and in immigration. He was great there. But there's
00:50:00.720a big, big difference. And this happens a lot in politics between being very effective at their job
00:50:06.380on the way up. But once they get to leadership, that's a whole different art form. It's a whole
00:50:11.760different thing. Now you've got to still look at all the policies and the issues and the things
00:50:16.680like that. But you've also got to lead a whole bunch of other people underneath you who are
00:50:24.940a bunch more type A personalities, a bunch more ambitious politicians, and you've got to keep
00:50:30.260them settled. And of course, you've got to keep the public settled because if you don't get a
00:50:33.880reelected, you're out. And I don't think Kenny has that royal jelly. It's a very rare person
00:50:40.220who actually has all of those things who can pull it off. Premier Klein was one of those.
00:50:45.500He had all sorts of opposition and things, but not too much from within his party.
00:50:49.700And then, of course, the unions of the left went ballistic on him, but he knew how to win the public.
00:50:54.740I mean, half of it, it goes both ways, too.
00:50:56.500If you want support within your caucus, you have to make them confident that they're going to win the next election under your leadership.
00:51:06.240And the sagging general support numbers for the UCP are terrible.
00:51:10.120there are a lot of UCP MLAs, or even ones who might want to run for office, particularly in
00:51:15.720urban areas, that understand that if something doesn't change dramatically, there is no way
00:51:21.100they're going to win the next election. They're not going to win their seat. Maybe the UCP will
00:51:25.140win, but they won't win their seat. So where do these MLAs sit? Some are going to vote on things
00:51:33.460or support or not support based on principle. Some are just even, I'm just looking at the
00:51:37.200self-serving aspect. If you want to keep your job for another four years, it's not looking really
00:51:42.420good to do it under Kenny. But we'll see. I mean, after the review, he's got a year to work on it.
00:51:47.440I do think that, yeah, as Laurie Carter's saying, so tired of their circus show. And we're seeing
00:51:54.640that everywhere too. This is a thing we do as conservatives. That's not unique to Kenny.
00:51:59.360You know, a new party formed in Saskatchewan. Here we go again, right? We've got another
00:52:04.940political party out there. Ontario's got a new conservative party out there. Uh, BC, it seems
00:52:10.480might be splitting because the, the BC liberals, which are different than other liberals, they're
00:52:14.160kind of their conservatives, uh, really shut out particular candidates like Aaron Gunn. And there
00:52:18.800might be a more splits going on there. We don't sit together really well, but, uh, as Pamela Jones
00:52:26.360Kennedy saying, if he wins, he'd be well-advised to reconcile with those in his cabinet. Yeah.
00:52:30.440Cause it, cause people are tired of looking at it from outside and seeing the infighting that,
00:52:33.820there's few things that would reduce your confidence in a group or a party or a government
00:52:38.680more than seeing them fight with each other. How well are they going to manage everything else if
00:52:43.100they can't even manage themselves? And as I said, Kenny can't seem to figure out how to manage
00:52:47.080the people below him in his own party, whether it's cabinet or the MLA level. And if he hasn't
00:52:52.960figured it out by now, I'm not very confident that he will. Now, even if he wins narrowly,
00:52:59.220let's say 55 percent uh boy as far as a leadership review goes that's 55 percent of the members not
00:53:07.840the public in general that's not good leadership reviews with popular leaders internal party
00:53:13.780reviews they're usually anywhere between 70 and 90 percent so that's pretty weak though he has
00:53:20.840said that'll be enough for him to carry on but will it is then i see party members saying no i'm
00:53:26.380out. I'm gone. And they're going to cross the floor. There's going to be some MLAs, I suspect,
00:53:30.940who are going to take off. Though some other people are going to pull together as well. They're
00:53:35.720going to say, okay, that's it. We don't have time for any more shenanigans. The general election is
00:53:39.440a year from now. We've got to just bite back our criticism. That's definitely what the approach
00:53:46.260is going to be, assuming he's in anyways, saying, okay, that's it. We don't have time for any more
00:53:49.880internal looks, reviews, dissension. You got to prepare to make sure Rachel Notley doesn't win1.00
00:53:57.160a year from now, we get four more years of NDP. That's where they're going to push. They're going0.95
00:54:00.700to say, pull it together, get together, let's make this work. And it might work for some. I mean,
00:54:06.120the fear of four more years of Notley is a serious fear. A lot of us would be pretty afraid of that.
00:54:10.520We don't want to see that again. But will it be enough to choke back the frustration with the
00:54:16.660party right now, the frustration with the leadership. I know a while back, there's a
00:54:22.120senior cabinet member that I know, and I spoke, and I was told he hadn't spoken to Kenny in weeks.
00:54:31.040Well, like your own cabinet, you should, these are people you should be in touch with. I understand
00:54:36.340that you can't make a phone call to every caucus member every day, or even every cabinet member,
00:54:40.940but there should be a lot of direct one-on-one interaction. But instead, there's an inner circle,
00:54:44.680an inner circle of staffers and a handful of cabinet members. And that's this government.
00:54:49.420And it's leaving others feeling that they're on the outside and it's breaking apart because of it.
00:54:53.620So we're going to see tonight what's going on. As Dave said, Rachel Emanuel, that should be up soon,
00:55:00.140had an exclusive interview with Premier Kenney for a little while in Washington there. And she
00:55:04.280is now over in, she's going to be, I guess, directly attending the Kenney event. There's
00:55:12.140going to be something going on down south where they're going to watch the results coming in and
00:55:16.340there'll be some sort of little speech perhaps or something. It's not a public event, but she'll be
00:55:20.940dialing into us and giving us updates. Of course, as soon as it comes in, we should be able to stream
00:55:24.940that coverage. And well, we'll just stay tuned tonight for that stuff. Again, hopefully before
00:55:34.420the game, because I know if the game comes on, as Dave said, it depends. I mean, some people don't
00:55:39.200care about sports, but for the most part, I think our viewers are going to drop off and worry about
00:55:44.360seeing what happened to Kenny later, because we've got Edmonton versus Calgary going on up in the
00:55:48.080North. I'll list a bit of the people we're going to have coming on here too. Just so you know,
00:55:54.080there are we, here we go. So yeah, Andrew Lawton is going to come on for a bit from True North
00:55:58.180Centre. You know, these are alternative media sources. We bring others on. I got Janet Brown
00:56:02.520coming in, or she's going to be coming on the show anyway. She does opinion research and polling and0.99
00:56:07.640things like that in politics. Daniel Smith's going to chat with us for a bit. I got Paul
00:56:11.340Hinman, MLA Peter Guthrie from up in Cochrane, Josh Andrus from the Alberta Institute, Drew
00:56:17.780Barnes, of course, he's going to come on for a bit and talk with us. He's out in Cypress
00:56:22.260Medicine Hat, the MLA out there, independent one. David Parker from Take Back Alberta and
00:56:28.620perhaps some more. So it's going to be quite the production today at 345. All right, let's
00:56:35.740move on and have a look at a little more new stuff while we get ready for our next guest.
00:56:40.500Something Dave mentioned. Yeah. So Receiver General, you know, again, getting back to
00:56:44.820government, right? Getting back to the lost cause of it. Paid $24 million to the dead.
00:56:53.280Yeah. You know, pension payments and payments to dormant bank accounts, things like that.
00:56:59.820$23.6 million over six years with write-offs as high as 20%. Of course, you're going to write
00:57:04.540off a lot of it. They're dead. You might be able to collect from some widows or if it's an account
00:57:10.260that was untouched because the person left nobody behind. But can this government do anything right
00:57:15.580now? And people say, oh, it's $24 million out of billions. Well, it's $24 million. You got to look
00:57:19.820at every bit of it. If it's private industry, there's no company that's going to throw $24
00:57:24.980million here, or very few of them anyways, or $24 million even over a few years without accounting
00:57:31.960and figure out what the hell's going on with it.
00:57:33.540They're not going to be in business long.
00:57:35.180The difference with the government you see
01:11:24.320and he was trying to buy his way out of tough situations like so many politicians do rather
01:11:29.520than fight. The term he used on his own was fire in the belly. He said you had to have the fire in
01:11:34.520the belly. And, you know, these guys, they don't want to give up. They rarely do. And I understand
01:11:39.040that's your life goal. You've hit the apex. Sometimes they got to go with a foot on their
01:11:42.460butt. That happens with so many of them. It happened through the 90s with Chrétien as well.
01:11:48.800He didn't want to go. But his own party finally said, you know, they pressured him out. With
01:11:52.940Klein, he got, what was it? 55% in the leadership review or 52? And that's where he said, okay,
01:11:57.800I got to go. And he left. He didn't want to, but he left. And the reason though he left is because
01:12:02.460he also though, why was he losing popularity? He'd lost track of why he was there. The fire
01:12:08.260wasn't in the belly anymore. He was spending like mad. And see Ashley saying, and he said to the
01:12:15.720Easterners, go home bums and scums. Okay. I'll clarify a bit of what happened there. Cause there's
01:12:20.560a couple of things, myths from the 80s and 90s. That's from a statement, actually, when Klein was
01:12:26.120mayor of Calgary, and he referred to Easterners as creeps and bums. Back in the 80s, there was
01:12:32.840quite an influx of people coming from the East, and some of them were less than savory. I was a1.00
01:12:38.900kid in Banff at the time, and they would come out there, live under the bridge, and there was a lot
01:12:43.040of regionalism. People weren't too happy. The National Energy Program had screwed us pretty
01:12:46.740deeply very recently. So yeah, that's what he said. And everybody got upset. But of course,
01:12:50.680all it did was make people love him all the more. The other one is let the Eastern bastards freeze1.00
01:12:55.700in the dark. That was not Klein. A lot of people attribute that to him. But it wasn't actually,0.98
01:13:00.800that was just a bumper sticker that was very popular. And that kind of came about more before
01:13:06.140before Klein's time as a premier and more when he was mayor. I think that was during the Lougheed
01:13:12.340years and more of the big fights. That's when, uh, Doug Christie had the, uh, uh, Western Canada
01:13:18.560concept on the go. Either way, getting all the way back, you know, it's been a long time since
01:13:22.980we can look at a leader who seemed to have really galvanized people and got stuff done and did that
01:13:27.380well. You know, the series that followed, we had Ed Stelmack and then we had Alison Redford
01:13:32.340and Prentice and, uh, and Rachel. Now we've got Kenny and, uh, I don't know how many we've got
01:13:41.560to go through to get a leader who can really bring Albertans together like that again.
01:13:47.080But hopefully we get that soon. And we are at some sort of turning point tonight, you know,
01:13:52.840as I was kind of leading in on that. I don't know what that turning point is going to be,
01:13:56.600and I don't know what's going to happen. But well, there are going to be some interesting
01:14:02.140results to come in on this review. I suspect most leaders would have left after this much
01:14:07.620opposition from his own caucus. We're going to talk to Danielle tonight. That's interesting.
01:14:10.920I can't believe she's still, you know, I've talked to her since, but she does her show here regularly that she wants to get back into politics again.
01:14:18.780You know, I mean, when she did the floor crossing, I mean, I wouldn't talk to her for years, as did a lot of us Wild Rosers, but whatever, you get over things.
01:14:25.880I didn't think she'd ever get back in. We'll see what happens. See what happens.
01:14:29.500But one of the things she always said on her radio show as well was that it's when your caucus turns against you that you're done.