Western Standard - Triggered： Trucker convoy is rattling the establishment.

00:00:00.000 Transcription by CastingWords

00:00:30.000 Good morning. It's January 25th, 2022. Welcome to Triggered. I'm Corey Morgan. I'm going to be

00:00:40.200 hosting this show every day, Monday to Friday at 1130 AM. It is live. You know, we need those

00:00:46.480 live options out there. The old ones of talk radio and those old standbys have gone by the

00:00:51.520 wayside, but we still need live interactive sort of shows going on. And that's what we're doing

00:00:56.360 here with the Western Standard. So thanks for those who are joining. And we're looking forward

00:01:00.140 to building this audience as this show goes along. And I got a great one today. Comments are welcome.

00:01:04.500 Of course, one of the good things about being a live show, again, like talk radio or the old

00:01:08.200 school, you can send them in. I read them all. I don't necessarily read them out, but you know,

00:01:12.640 and I appreciate good discourse between the other viewers, actually, as long as you're being civil,

00:01:16.820 you know, we got to, we can get crabby with each other, but we got to be polite to a degree. So

00:01:21.480 Today I've got a number of guests on, actually. I'm going to have a medicine hat Cyprus MLA, 0.97

00:01:28.020 Drew Barnes. He's an independent MLA to come on and talk about a number of things with the

00:01:32.160 Jason Kenney government. And I'm going to have Chris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:01:37.200 She's the BC director of them. She's going to come on and talk about some tax things. And she's got

00:01:41.660 a new hat she wants to show off. And at the end, I'll have a short chat with Peace River UCP MLA,

00:01:47.660 Dan Williams, he's been, him with another MLA, have called on the Kennedy government to intervene

00:01:54.040 perhaps and get post-secondary students back into classes, even if they aren't vaccinated.

00:01:59.540 So some interesting things are rolling. And of course, we have a whole bunch on the trucker

00:02:04.620 convoy, which I'm going to talk about shortly. But before I get to that, I am going to talk about

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00:03:02.120 you. Now we'll start with what's got me triggered today. And there's always something got me

00:03:06.860 trigger. This one's a positive one. I'm wound up, I'm worked up, but in a good way. Now, I've been

00:03:12.080 waiting a long time for a rational protest against government pandemic mandates to emerge. I mean,

00:03:17.860 with the Freedom Convoy sweeping towards Ottawa and growing like a prairie fire, I finally have

00:03:22.480 one. And since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been sporadically attending anti-restriction

00:03:26.240 protests in hopes of seeing the basis for a groundswell of public opposition to these

00:03:30.900 government mandates. And I wanted to see one emerging. And I've invariably left these events

00:03:36.040 disappointed. To be blunt, the lunatic fringe has been dominating anti-restriction protests since

00:03:41.340 day one, and it's kept common Canadians from taking part in them. I mean, I know there's a

00:03:44.780 lot of genuine people who've been going to those protests, but they're getting overwhelmed by some

00:03:48.740 of the less than rational ones. I mean, one protest I went to last year was in front of

00:03:54.080 Calgary City Hall. The turnout was okay, perhaps a few hundred people in attendance. I had Dave

00:03:57.740 Naylor with me, actually. I went to another one with another one of our members. I went to a

00:04:02.360 number of them. And once the speakers took the stage, though, things went off the rails fast.

00:04:05.820 members of the Proud Boys were flanking the stage's security, while the speakers harangued the crowd

00:04:10.680 about government conspiracies and long disproven rumors about vaccines, such as the one claiming

00:04:15.220 they cause autism. Meanwhile, another table was set up in the back where loud music was blaring,

00:04:19.580 and a fellow occasionally took up a megaphone to add his two cents while others were speaking. He

00:04:23.240 had a related but different cause, I guess. While this was happening, protesters approached and

00:04:27.720 verbally harassed drivers on the streets who were waiting for the light to change and happened to

00:04:31.180 be wearing masks. I mean, I know it looks goofy when a person's sitting alone in a car with a

00:04:34.460 mask, but coming up and banging on their windows and yelling at them isn't a good way to deal with

00:04:39.000 it. And that's what they were doing. And slowly but surely, attendees on the periphery drifted

00:04:42.560 away. You can see the frustration and disappointment on their faces. They'd hoped to take part in a

00:04:46.700 rational demonstration against government mandates and restrictions, but they wanted no part of this

00:04:51.320 circus they encountered. And I observed this happening in protest after protest for the last

00:04:55.520 two years. And despite the public growing weary and stressed over what happens, what appears to

00:05:00.020 be interminable government restrictions upon their lives, the numbers of anti-restriction

00:05:04.260 protests never really grew. They remained small, strange, and ineffective. Now with the emergence

00:05:09.140 of the truckers' convoy for freedom, that's changed it all. Canadians have now found a protest

00:05:15.480 against government restrictions they can comfortably support, and they're doing so by the tens of

00:05:19.420 thousands. It's been amazing how something that began as a small group of truckers pushing back

00:05:23.600 against cross-border vaccine mandates has turned into a massive, well-funded, and huge movement

00:05:28.480 across the country in less than two weeks. And clearly the citizens were eager to find a mechanism

00:05:32.800 to express their discontent with government pandemic restrictions.

00:05:35.860 And now they have one.

00:05:37.280 Thousands of trucks are converging on Ottawa,

00:05:39.180 while tens of thousands of citizens line the streets

00:05:41.220 and cheer the convoys as they pass through their towns and cities.

00:05:43.960 Nearly 60,000 people have donated to the cause on one fundraising site,

00:05:47.980 and the total is nearing $5 million in donations so far.

00:05:51.200 More than half a million members have joined their Facebook group to date.

00:05:54.600 We've never seen a protest rocket into such broad public support so quickly.

00:05:58.980 I mean, during the first week of the convoy organization,

00:06:01.540 The legacy media, of course, ignored them.

00:06:03.760 I mean, through alternative and social media, the movement expanded despite the lack of mainstream attention,

00:06:08.780 which was great to see.

00:06:10.600 Once the mainstream media was forced to take notice, their coverage was dismissive and critical.

00:06:14.040 I mean, the bias was just clear and evident.

00:06:15.940 I mean, if you really want to get your blood pressure up, watch the CTV coverage, some of these things.

00:06:20.800 And now, the opposition of the convoy is becoming hysteric and even panicked.

00:06:24.900 Power brokers such as Justin Trudeau's close friend and advisor, Gerald Butz,

00:06:28.300 He took to Twitter to try and label the convoy as being a secessionist movement.

00:06:31.980 He sounded very deranged, and he tried his hardest to foster mistrust within the convoy.

00:06:36.660 Swarms of all these newly created social media accounts and bots are appearing

00:06:40.060 and spreading unfounded rumors about the convoy.

00:06:42.380 They're accusing it of being a terrorist movement, even,

00:06:44.380 and falsely claiming the GoFundMe site has declined to release the funds raised.

00:06:48.360 If you go to WesternStandardOnline.com, you'll find, no, that is baloney,

00:06:51.300 and GoFundMe has been releasing funds for this convoy.

00:06:54.560 They're still welcoming contributions, by the way.

00:06:57.140 So while annoying and almost offensive, the opposition to the convoy has been utterly ineffective.

00:07:01.860 If anything, it's galvanizing supporters even further.

00:07:05.280 Authoritarians recognize and realize the threat the convoy presents to their world of government control.

00:07:11.020 They've been able to tighten the leash upon Canadians for nearly two years with virtually no well-organized opposition.

00:07:16.000 The convoys changed all that, and the establishment doesn't know what to do.

00:07:18.860 The protest began with truckers protesting against vaccine requirements,

00:07:22.860 and it's quickly evolved into a general protest against government pandemic restrictions.

00:07:26.560 The nation's finally seeing a tangible and huge pushback against government pandemic restrictions and mandates, which are increasingly absurd and appear to have no end.

00:07:35.580 This is it. This is the movement I've been waiting for.

00:07:38.360 Ottawa had best get ready, because I don't think they fully understand what's about to hit them.

00:07:42.360 But it's about time.

00:07:44.180 So that's what's got me triggered today, and like I said, it's triggered in a good way.

00:07:48.140 Now, we've got a lot of news going on, and we've been covering this constantly as things develop, as it moves along.

00:07:53.800 and I'm going to check in with our newsroom.

00:07:56.480 This is what we do every day.

00:07:57.360 Dave Naylor is on standby

00:07:58.760 and let's see what the Western Standard

00:08:01.080 has been covering today and what is coming up.

00:08:03.460 Hey, Dave, how's it going?

00:08:04.880 Good, Corey. 1.00

00:08:05.980 I've got to say that new Mexican haircut of yours 0.99

00:08:08.200 really suits you. 1.00

00:08:09.840 Oh, gracias.

00:08:11.100 Yes, you know, Jane went down,

00:08:13.460 had some dental work.

00:08:14.860 I will talk about that in a future show,

00:08:16.440 you know, with some stuff.

00:08:17.120 I mean, the capitalism down there is amazing

00:08:19.480 and yes, I got this fine Mexican haircut for $5

00:08:22.120 and I mean, yeah, it was just criminal. 1.00

00:08:23.800 I had to give them 10.

00:08:24.900 I mean, you know, it was such a quick and good job.

00:08:27.120 But, yeah, it was a good savings.

00:08:28.780 I appreciate that you noticed.

00:08:30.940 Hey, yep, somebody's got to.

00:08:32.780 Yeah, lots of news already today on the westernstandardonline.com.

00:08:38.680 Just recently, Calgary's famous porch pirate, Liberal MP George Shahal,

00:08:44.900 admitted he was fined $500 by Elections Canada for swiping the pamphlets

00:08:50.140 off a constituent's door.

00:08:54.700 He didn't disguise himself very well when he was doing this.

00:08:57.600 He was wearing a George Hall Stampeders jersey,

00:09:00.720 and the homeowner's camera picked him out pretty quick.

00:09:06.260 We've got a good exclusive from our reporter, Mel Rizdin,

00:09:09.800 Alberta Tory MP Arnold Vearson.

00:09:13.380 He represents, where is it here, Peace River Westlock.

00:09:18.640 He has come out and said he would oppose any carbon tax brought in by Aaron O'Toole, his own party leader.

00:09:26.920 You'll remember, Corey, that Aaron O'Toole flip-flopped in the election and said his party would bring in their own carbon tax, which many experts said was even going to be worse than the Trudeau one.

00:09:39.680 So that's a good exclusive from Mel.

00:09:42.460 things get worse for O'Toole. We've got a story on the writing of Foothills, which is home to the

00:09:51.000 MP John Barlow. His Electoral District Association on Sunday night voted for a motion to demand

00:09:58.980 an early review of O'Toole's leadership. They want it all done by June because they seem to

00:10:07.340 think we're going to be in another electoral period pretty quick. And who knows, they may be

00:10:12.260 right. As you mentioned, we've got lots of good stuff on the truckers. We've got a good story.

00:10:19.180 You remember back in 2019, Corey, when the Unite We Rule movement came into Wadawala and held a

00:10:29.020 protest there. Well, we've got internal documents from the Privy Council, which shows just how

00:10:34.900 how basically afraid the Trudeau Liberals were.

00:10:38.320 They were preparing for anarchy with their over-the-top security arrangements.

00:10:42.760 And, of course, everything went off peacefully.

00:10:47.000 We've got a story on a former chief analyst from Statscan who says,

00:10:51.840 hey, if you think inflation is only 4.8%, you're kidding yourself.

00:10:56.600 He says the consumer price index does not take in a lot of things that it should.

00:11:01.700 And he thinks the actual inflation rate could be what it is in the United States, which is a whopping 10%.

00:11:10.240 Our military affairs columnist Dave Makachuk has got an interesting piece today on the defection of a top-ranking Chinese missile technician, missile developer.

00:11:22.960 There was lots of hubbub earlier when the Chinese tested a hypersonic missile that was capable of flying around the world and defeating any defenses.

00:11:35.340 So this Chinese scientist decided to fact, and there was a big cloak and dagger operation to get him out of Hong Kong with the CIA and MI6 of Britain.

00:11:47.020 And just a really, really interesting read from Dave Makachuk.

00:11:53.700 And you talked about the truck convoy again, Corey.

00:11:59.060 Eva, our reporter, has got a story up on GoFundMe.

00:12:03.300 There had been mainstream media reports that had been frozen this morning.

00:12:08.540 We've talked to the organizer in one of the lead trucks who says, no, no, we're all still good to go.

00:12:15.520 and she's disbursing the funds.

00:12:18.520 So a lot already on the site, Corey,

00:12:20.740 and you know the news gods.

00:12:22.600 There could be a lot more to come this afternoon.

00:12:25.260 Great, yeah.

00:12:26.020 I'll be talking to Makachev tomorrow.

00:12:28.060 He'll be coming on the show, and he can expand it.

00:12:29.960 He also wrote a great column.

00:12:31.100 Of course, we've got that building and crazy situation

00:12:34.320 between Ukraine and Russia.

00:12:36.680 There's just so much news going on.

00:12:38.400 I mean, that's one thing for a news organization.

00:12:39.920 We're never short of stuff to write about,

00:12:41.520 but we're getting just overwhelmed these days

00:12:43.840 with developments around the world.

00:12:45.080 it's a crazy period to be alive. Yeah, U.S. troops were put on alert as well, 85,000 or 8,500 U.S.

00:12:53.720 troops. Not sure what they're going to do, except maybe stand at the border and watch, but yeah,

00:12:59.140 that is going to be a hot international story, and with the Olympics coming up, who knows where

00:13:05.680 that's going to lead. Great, well, thanks for keeping us up to date, Dave. I'll let you get

00:13:10.440 back to work on writing those up. And as Nico has pulled up on the bottom to show, you know,

00:13:14.860 go to westernstandardonline.com to get the full stories on what Dave's talking about. These

00:13:19.860 columnists, these reporters, we're covering it. It's breaking all the time. And I'll quickly get

00:13:24.940 in. You know, if you don't have a membership already, get in there and take one out. It's a

00:13:28.740 free trial, 10 bucks a month, better than an old newspaper subscription cost. And you don't have

00:13:33.840 to get rid of all the old newspapers afterwards. And you'll have full access. You can do a trial

00:13:37.260 period for a couple of weeks. And our retention rate, I know talking to James has been fantastic.

00:13:41.020 People try it out. They stick with it. Once that trial runs out, they continue because the

00:13:45.160 subscription is well worth it. And that's what helps fund us to keep covering these stories.

00:13:49.140 Because as Dave pointed out, the mainstream media isn't reporting terribly accurately on some of

00:13:53.260 these things. And we need these alternatives out there to make sure you guys are well informed. So

00:13:56.960 thanks again, Dave. And we'll talk a little later.

00:14:01.780 So yeah, as Dave said, you know, we got a lot boiling out there.

00:14:05.440 these are crazy times. Let's see, you know, somebody's saying that the Convoy has made

00:14:11.020 the Guinness Book of World Records. It wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sure which record, though,

00:14:14.080 what, the number of trucks or the number of fundraising? I mean, it's just been striking,

00:14:18.040 though, you know, how this has just rolled. I mean, I'll look. I've got that page open

00:14:21.700 on my computer here just to get the latest updates. So right now, I think I looked at it

00:14:26.480 about 10 minutes ago. It was $4,512,000 raised. I'm going to refresh it. Now it's $4,535,000

00:14:34.840 raised. I see the most recent donation was $9, because again, some people have been saying,

00:14:39.760 oh, it's all just a few rich people funding this thing. No, it is almost 60,000 people have gone

00:14:45.000 on there and made donations that average about $75, but some are as low as $9. And yeah,

00:14:49.600 summer has hit high as 10,000, but the bulk, this is grassroots. Despite what people are trying to

00:14:53.940 say, there's no hidden agenda. There's no secret group behind this. It's in the open. And I've

00:15:02.440 spoken to Tamara, who's running that group. I've known her for a while. She's quite genuine. It's

00:15:07.100 no scam. And that's why, you know, tens of thousands of people are getting behind this.

00:15:12.920 And yes, you know, as Cheryl's saying, she's hoping Trudeau doesn't sabotage this amazing

00:15:17.200 initiative. And, you know, like Dave was saying, the rally for resources, which was a tiny fraction

00:15:23.000 of this thing, had the federal government shaking at the knees. They were terrified. I can't imagine

00:15:29.300 how they feel now that we've got thousands and thousands of trucks converging. I think the

00:15:34.680 Western Standard is also posting that they found a video of some coming from North Carolina, I

00:15:38.720 believe. I could be corrected on that one. And of course, they're picking up steam through every

00:15:42.660 town they go through. People are lining the streets, waving at them. We're seeing the general

00:15:47.940 protest. The upset Canadians have found a way to take part, and they want to. They want to push

00:15:54.000 back. They want to say, we've had enough. And yeah, I see some critique of O'Toole, you know,

00:16:00.600 from Stephen Folger saying he's useless. Well, yeah, it's questionable, you know. I mean, what 0.91

00:16:05.460 is it? He's just constantly on the mushy middle, you know, when it came to this convoy, and now

00:16:10.060 it's the carbon tax things. And now we've seen Foothills. I'm not on the board, you know. Again,

00:16:15.040 I have my views and everything, but I don't have a membership with any political party any longer.

00:16:20.500 Foothills is actually where I live.

00:16:21.900 John Barlow is my member of parliament,

00:16:24.000 but people have had enough of O'Toole.

00:16:26.860 Conservatives, we can't seem to find a leader

00:16:28.540 we're happy with these days,

00:16:29.940 but he's not doing himself any favors

00:16:31.620 hiding from this.

00:16:33.120 You know, he'd just take a stand on something, O'Toole.

00:16:35.780 Do something.

00:16:36.840 Quit being mushy middle. 1.00

00:16:37.820 We already have a jerk like that. 1.00

00:16:39.260 He's called Trudeau. 1.00

00:16:40.540 We don't want another balder,

00:16:42.980 chubbier version of Trudeau.

00:16:44.120 We want an alternative.

00:16:46.160 Don't follow up always taking a stand

00:16:48.120 and then bending and being like Trudeau

00:16:49.640 a week later. People don't like it. It's not working. That's why we went into an election

00:16:53.540 and absolutely nothing changed. Why? Because, yeah, you flip-flopped on the carbon tax,

00:16:58.120 you flipped off, flopped on the firearm control, and now you're just being weak-kneed when it

00:17:03.900 comes to this convoy. I mean, I understand you don't have to be standing on the hood of a truck

00:17:08.240 and waving a flag with them, but you can speak to it. You can talk to the frustrations that are

00:17:13.500 driving Canadians to support this thing. Look at that. They're raising more funds than your

00:17:17.640 bloody party is, aren't they? They're doing quite well. And they don't even get those generous tax 0.96

00:17:22.380 receipts that you guys offer in political land if you give money to a political party. So pay

00:17:26.920 attention. Look at this. We don't see something like this every day. This is outstanding. And

00:17:32.480 O'Toole's letting this convoy roll right by him. A shining light has been, of course, Pierre

00:17:37.840 Polyev. He's back there. And again, as a lot of people like to keep expressing, they really wish

00:17:42.920 that Pierre had taken the leadership of the party

00:17:46.480 back when he ran and then backed out.

00:17:48.780 Maybe when the next opportunity for leadership rates come,

00:17:51.700 Pierre will get in there because, yeah,

00:17:53.980 Pierre is the best member of parliament

00:17:57.560 that Alberta never had.

00:17:58.940 And he does have some Alberta roots,

00:18:00.960 but Paulyev is just refreshing.

00:18:02.640 He's speaking out.

00:18:03.720 He's not afraid of anybody.

00:18:06.420 He's actually bound to the wishes of his constituents

00:18:09.420 and to what he feels is the right thing

00:18:11.680 as opposed to feeling bound to servitude towards the party that he's involved in.

00:18:16.760 And again, that's what tires people, is this blind faith in their party.

00:18:20.860 I mean, you don't want to be in there just constantly causing havoc,

00:18:24.540 but if it's always about the party and nothing else,

00:18:27.340 then you've lost sight of why you got elected in the first place.

00:18:32.040 So seeing Pierre speaking up like that is great and refreshing to see.

00:18:36.740 Another person who spoke up about his party and was critical of it

00:18:39.940 was Cypress Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes,

00:18:44.380 who's going to be coming on with us pretty quickly here.

00:18:46.740 And he ended up on the outs

00:18:48.100 and then removed for the party for it,

00:18:49.560 but he's still speaking up and serving his constituents.

00:18:51.560 So we're going to have a conversation with him right away.

00:18:54.260 Before we get to him though,

00:18:55.420 I will get to one of our sponsors.

00:18:57.160 We got to cover that.

00:18:58.000 That's how we pay those bills. 0.56

00:18:59.100 We're not getting those tax dollars to keep rolling

00:19:01.300 like some of the other media outlets.

00:19:03.680 We rely on you guys to subscribe and get on board.

00:19:06.700 And you've been great.

00:19:07.340 We got a lot of subscribers

00:19:08.280 and we rely on these sponsors.

00:19:09.780 We've got the Canada Shooting Sports Association.

00:19:13.040 These guys are great.

00:19:14.840 They're at the cssa-cila.org.

00:19:18.880 And, you know, if you enjoy firearms, if you're considering getting into firearms,

00:19:22.980 this is the site to go to.

00:19:24.160 Check them out, Canada Shooting Sports Association.

00:19:27.500 And they will, there's so many resources there on whether you're a collector

00:19:31.220 or you want to get into target shooting or you want to go hunting.

00:19:34.080 They show you the way they organize.

00:19:36.560 They have listings of firearm shows, things such as that.

00:19:39.400 Plus, they have legal challenges out there on behalf of firearm owners because, of course, the federal liberal government is trying to take them away.

00:19:45.900 They want to take away your right to own and enjoy firearms.

00:19:49.680 The Canada Shooting Sports Association is helping you push back.

00:19:52.940 Just like with the truckers, we've got to stand up for ourselves.

00:19:55.380 Nobody else is doing it for us.

00:19:56.620 So get over there, check out their website, take out a membership, and help those guys help you.

00:20:01.740 Okay, let's bring Drew in to talk.

00:20:04.860 I haven't had him on for a while, and it's always a good conversation.

00:20:09.460 There you are.

00:20:10.280 How are you doing, Drew?

00:20:11.900 Corey, good morning.

00:20:13.100 Nice to see you.

00:20:14.640 Yeah, yeah.

00:20:15.640 You see, I've already got a good head of steam up and going as usual, so people are certainly

00:20:20.000 getting tired of my ranting and looking forward to some more reasoned discussion with you

00:20:23.680 now.

00:20:24.540 Okay, let's do it.

00:20:26.880 Great.

00:20:28.100 You know, so, I mean, recently you'd put out a release talking about actually about a culture

00:20:32.560 of cronyism.

00:20:33.320 We'll start there with the United Conservative Party and some of the issues.

00:20:37.780 I guess that was sort of sparked over the whole Casey Maddow affair, I guess you could say, to put it lightly.

00:20:44.420 What prompted you to write that and what point were you trying to make, Drew?

00:20:48.540 Well, thank you for that, Corey.

00:20:50.140 Yeah, let's start with that specific example.

00:20:53.840 You know, I was ejected from caucus for speaking out on behalf of my constituents when the Premier and the UCP was on the right track.

00:21:02.060 I would say so.

00:21:03.320 when they were on the wrong track, I would say so.

00:21:05.940 And here we had Minister Casey Madhu

00:21:09.600 violate what is a standard Westminster legislative practice.

00:21:16.600 You know, you don't dare get involved

00:21:18.140 in a constituent's legal matter, nevermind your own.

00:21:21.460 And, you know, the fact that it got to this point

00:21:24.500 and the fact that, you know, here we are

00:21:26.940 where the minister wasn't immediately relieved

00:21:30.700 of his duties is such a surprise.

00:21:33.080 And, you know, Corey, you know, I've been such a fighter for economic freedom, individual opportunity and smaller government from the start.

00:21:40.580 I mean, when I look at, you know, what's happened in Alberta the last little while, you know, let's look at the corporate losses where governments picked winners and losers.

00:21:51.000 You know, not only did Premier Kennedy lose $1.3 billion on the Keystone, when you look at oil movement by rail, I just shake my head.

00:22:00.600 And I think of all the empathy for the hardworking taxpayer out there, working hard, raising a family.

00:22:08.460 You know, Rachel Notley invested about $2.1 billion in setting up the oil by rail.

00:22:13.520 Then Premier Kenney comes along and divests not even all of it for about $2.1 billion.

00:22:18.740 The poor taxpayer, there's so much needed accountability and value for tax dollars and lower taxes that it's time to do this.

00:22:28.960 Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, to be able to speak, you know, we were wild rosers together in the past.

00:22:33.780 And I mean, we're good small C conservatives typically, and we believe in capitalism.

00:22:38.120 But crony capitalism is an abomination of capitalism.

00:22:42.260 I mean, it's not real capitalism. That's people working inside and cutting their own deals.

00:22:46.780 It's not somebody working their way up and creating a product or service that people want to purchase.

00:22:51.700 And it almost invariably fails. I mean, we do need somebody holding the government to account on that.

00:22:56.720 I mean, the NDP do what they will, but we know that, well, due to their ideology, they would probably be even more involved in affairs with things.

00:23:03.400 We need conservative voices of conscience going on in there.

00:23:06.320 But anybody speaking up in caucus will perhaps find themselves sitting with you and Todd Lowen in the side seats.

00:23:12.860 One more or many more would be would be welcome.

00:23:16.800 But yeah, absolutely. Government shouldn't be in the business of business.

00:23:20.500 I mean, Ralph Klein said that well, and look what he did by getting our taxes down and putting $35 billion in saving.

00:23:27.820 You know, as this government grows and grows and grows, it makes you wonder about the level of the fairness in contracts handed out.

00:23:36.280 Hey, you know, Corey, I'd like to start.

00:23:38.140 Let's look at the big emitters' carbon tax that they pay and how that money all gets rerouted and re-entended to solar and wind and those kind of renewables.

00:23:49.480 I'm told that Alberta is the only jurisdiction in North America that pays for that anymore

00:23:54.320 and we ever see a full accounting on where that money goes I don't and you know like like so so

00:24:01.840 let's look at also what Premier Kenny and the UCP did with the recall legislation and the citizen

00:24:07.980 initiated referendum at the end of last session I believe they're still not proclaimed but

00:24:14.560 regardless of that, he set the bar so high on both citizen-initiated referendum and recalling

00:24:20.420 your MLA or your premier or your local elected representative that it's almost impossible to

00:24:26.400 achieve. And, you know, let's look at some of the values of, you know, direct democracy to hold

00:24:32.560 politicians accountable to make sure we get value for our tax dollars. And I think of Switzerland.

00:24:37.560 In Switzerland, 50,000 Swiss can sign a petition after any federal law and they can negate or uphold that law.

00:24:47.080 Switzerland today doesn't have a carbon tax because after the Parliament of Switzerland attempted to put it in, 50,000 Switzerland people signed a petition and they had a referendum and they ended the carbon tax.

00:24:59.800 And my God, you look at how unfair the carbon taxes hit rural Alberta and Alberta in general with our carbon intensive industries.

00:25:07.560 have provided so much opportunity for families and communities. Corey, politicians need more

00:25:13.160 accountable. And as you said, in the wild rose, we talked about this lots 10 and 15 years ago.

00:25:19.960 Oh, yeah, it's frustrating. And I mean, recall, you know, I get tired and frustrated being baited

00:25:25.960 and switched. You know, I mean, that was a campaign promise. I thought it was a good one.

00:25:29.400 I understand you don't want to make it too easy. We don't want to go the day after the election and

00:25:33.080 have some sort of low bar and we're constantly trying to recall people and pull them out. But

00:25:37.960 when a person gets too frustrated, they have to have or should have a mechanism to change it. And

00:25:42.480 we have none until the next election, though we were promised it. And not only, as you said,

00:25:46.860 they made a cooked legislation. We know the bar is set ridiculously high. Even if they ever actually

00:25:51.600 give it full assent, nobody will probably ever be able to reach it. But even then, they're afraid

00:25:56.520 to bring it in. They've never actually brought that bill that they haven't done the final step

00:25:59.720 on it. You know, the time is going to expire before the next election, before they impose it.

00:26:03.460 And that tells me the government is actually quite afraid that somebody is going to successfully

00:26:06.820 utilize that against them. Yeah, exactly. They, you know, just proclaim it, make it law and let

00:26:12.300 the next government make that law effective, make it so it really has some teeth. You know,

00:26:17.840 but Corey, that's an interesting point. I mean, you know, I've heard for months now about how

00:26:22.540 Premier Kenney and the UCP hasn't met expectations, how he was given the solid mandate for economic

00:26:28.580 freedom, fiscal conservatism, individual opportunity, how he was supposed to pick this

00:26:33.840 real fight with Ottawa, and he hasn't done it. And now I'm hearing more and more, it's about

00:26:39.400 his broken promises, his saying one thing and flip-flopping. And, you know, we're in a situation

00:26:46.880 where, you know, we're going to have to show Albertans that we will give accountability,

00:26:51.260 we will give economic freedom and individual opportunity. And, you know, it's time for change.

00:26:58.580 Yeah, well, and you were, I believe, on that Fair Deal panel, weren't you traveling a bit, or you took part in some of those meetings, I mean, that was addressing a bunch of issues that Albertans have been very concerned about for decades. And again, none of those recommendations seem to be in process. They talk, they strike another committee, they start another study. Speaking of chrominism, you know, you get your hands on one of those study contracts, boy, you can do really well for yourself. Just ask how it went with the looking at energy issues there with the panel there, too.

00:27:26.340 Yeah, Corey, another good point. Like we've got 87 MLAs. You know, I've got a couple of good assistants. I've got lots of resources and I've got lots of desire to serve on those committees. We're already paid by your tax dollars. Use us way more.

00:27:41.440 And the fair deal panel was a perfect example. 80% Albertans to the mic and said in one form or another, they want a fair deal with Ottawa, whether it's opening the Constitution and Senate and Supreme Court change, or whether it's, you know, more resource movement and pipelines or more free trade.

00:28:02.640 80% of Albertans went and strongly spoke about it. And here we are two years later and nothing's

00:28:09.240 been done. Maybe some side of, I think it was $8 million for a report to study the RCMP. And I

00:28:16.860 don't know who got that contract, but yeah, the Albertans went to the mic and spoke up. And again,

00:28:25.420 Premier Kenney's not doing something about the size and cost of government, not doing something

00:28:30.500 about how high our taxes are, not doing something to enhance resource movement and pick a, you know,

00:28:37.680 get us a fair deal with Ottawa, including if that means pick a full fight, has left the UCP

00:28:44.500 government in trouble. And back to those wild rose, you know, values and policies that we stood

00:28:50.840 on 10 years ago, you know, a lot of them are ringing more true today than ever.

00:28:55.400 Yeah, and it gets frustrating. I mean, it's not even just not doing it, but the fact that they

00:28:58.720 know we want it. That's why they held the panel. That's why they sold it to us during the election.

00:29:03.160 That's why it was a campaign plank. And now they're not doing it, which I feel deceived.

00:29:06.820 And that gets me upset. But I mean, another point, though, I mean, there are a lot of good MLAs in

00:29:11.720 that government. I mean, there were good, dedicated, genuine people. We don't hear from

00:29:15.740 them. It's a very top-down controlled caucus. But we've seen a lot of cracks going on in there,

00:29:20.900 too. I mean, is there perhaps a chance for change? And we've got this leadership thing coming up. I

00:29:25.140 I know Premier Kenney's doing everything he can to run the process in his favour,

00:29:29.620 but we might see things change pretty quickly here.

00:29:33.400 Yeah, you know, you're absolutely right.

00:29:35.060 It's a weakness of leadership.

00:29:36.140 There's a lot of good people in there that need more of an opportunity to speak up on behalf of their constituents

00:29:42.660 and behalf of economic freedom, conservative values.

00:29:47.500 You know, I don't know what's going to happen at the leadership review.

00:29:50.840 I'm not a UCP member anymore.

00:29:52.940 Of course, I'd be voting for a review.

00:29:55.140 But, you know, if they just, when you look at all the games that the Premier and the leadership team have played, you know, going on CEA meetings, you know, putting in the gates and the structure to protect his leadership, if instead, if they'd have just governed with a strong conservative mandate that 56% of Albertans gave him, you know, that would be way, way better for our kids, our families and our communities.

00:30:20.680 And that's a shame. And I think that's where the lost opportunity, that's where Albertan's frustration comes from. I just had a solid conservative rancher call me and say that he absolutely, you know, will never support the UCP again because they've done more damage than the Notley government, which is hard to hear.

00:30:41.780 And, you know, people are looking for those economic freedom, individual opportunity values, and we're not getting it.

00:30:52.260 Yeah, and it's frustrating.

00:30:53.980 I mean, it shows in the numbers.

00:30:55.420 As you said, you know, more than half of Albertans only a few years ago selected that government.

00:30:59.620 I mean, he had the support.

00:31:00.680 It was his to lose, and he's been losing it.

00:31:02.960 We're down to a record low number for a government in power, and we could be in for a terrible mess in a couple of years if we don't sort that out.

00:31:11.780 but they don't seem to be paying attention.

00:31:13.260 As you said, it's those games.

00:31:14.260 Albertans don't want to see it.

00:31:15.920 Political weenies like us,

00:31:17.040 perhaps like playing the constituency games a bit

00:31:19.060 and doing that sort of thing.

00:31:20.080 But I mean, the reality is

00:31:21.400 it's the majority who's important 0.88

00:31:22.640 and who is in charge when voting day comes

00:31:24.500 and they're going to reject this party

00:31:26.040 if something doesn't change radically and soon.

00:31:29.080 Yeah, yeah.

00:31:29.720 Well, coupled with not firing Minister Casey Maddu

00:31:34.240 was the release that we basically can't easily appeal

00:31:39.820 are traffic infractions now.

00:31:43.300 Albertans are appalled that more liberties are being taken away,

00:31:47.400 more opportunities for freedom are being taken away.

00:31:49.820 And again, from a supposed conservative government.

00:31:54.280 But, you know, there is the next election,

00:31:57.020 unless the Premier decides to call it sooner,

00:31:59.080 and of course there is a fixed election law,

00:32:01.800 is the last Monday in May 2023.

00:32:05.560 I have Albertans every day drop in or phone and make suggestions and ideas.

00:32:09.300 And I'm grateful for that. And there's going to be a lot of talk in the next little while about the direction to go. We'll see if the UCP leadership review triggers anything. Time will tell. But again, Corey, you know, Albertans are telling me time and time again that they expect Alberta exceptionalism to have the chance to come through.

00:32:31.960 You know, we're the best risk takers in all Canada. We're the best at developing agriculture, oil and gas and forestry. And we have a government taxation is too high. Spending is too high. Regulation is through the roof. And the talk is the opposite of getting it done. And they're wanting change quick.

00:32:50.120 yeah well and as we're getting to the end here i know um things are still so fluid in the next

00:32:56.180 year and change but you're sounding like i guess in one form or another who knows how it'll be but

00:32:59.520 you're still planning to represent uh cypress medicine hat as their as their member of the

00:33:04.220 legislature uh in the next election then yeah i'm i yeah i'm i still believe i have the ability and

00:33:11.380 the energy to serve cory i'm so grateful for the chance to represent cypress medicine hat for 10

00:33:16.300 years. And, you know, just yesterday at the trucker rally here in Medicine Hat, thousands

00:33:21.980 of people out in support, hundreds of trucks on their way to Ottawa. You know, the fact that

00:33:27.020 these people have raised, I think it's over $4 million now, and it's like $75 at a time.

00:33:33.700 They've set up a great committee and a structure to make sure the money goes to where it needs to

00:33:39.040 go. You know, these are everyday, hardworking, risk-taking Albertans that I'm grateful they

00:33:45.640 come to me and tell me their ideas and their opinions and their needs. And that's rewarding.

00:33:50.820 And at this point in time, I'm very much enjoying it and very much believing that I have the energy

00:33:57.360 and the ability to serve. So let's see what the future brings. Great. Well, thank you very much

00:34:03.280 for coming in and talking to me today. Before you go, where can people, I mean, I know we can't find

00:34:07.680 out what you're up to through the UCP site. So where can they see what you're doing and keep in

00:34:12.100 touch with you, Drew. Yeah, I appreciate that, Corey. Please, you can call me at 403-528-2191

00:34:18.980 or better yet, just email me at drew.barnes at assembly.ab.ca or Drew Barnes, Cypress Medicine

00:34:26.800 Hat MLA. I would appreciate hearing from each and all of you, your good ideas, your needs,

00:34:32.220 and your thoughts. Thank you very much. Great. Thanks, Drew, for being the conservative voice

00:34:36.140 of conscience out there in that big, lonely legislature. I'm sure we'll talk again soon.

00:34:40.500 All the best, Corey.

00:34:41.220 Appreciate it.

00:34:42.420 Thanks.

00:34:44.280 Great.

00:34:44.700 Yeah, it's always good talking to Drew.

00:34:45.980 As I said, there's some common sense coming out of him.

00:34:47.840 And common sense, well, I'm afraid got him punted out of there.

00:34:50.800 I see, yeah, if you want to interact with me, one of my favorite playgrounds is at Corey B. Morgan on Twitter.

00:34:55.420 If you're into Twitter, it's a great place for good exchanges.

00:34:59.540 You know, not long form debate and things like that, but it's fun.

00:35:02.080 And if you want to see stories breaking, go there.

00:35:05.080 WS Online, I believe, is the Western Standard Twitter account, things like that.

00:35:08.380 and you see those stories as soon as they come out.

00:35:10.280 And of course, if you're a subscriber,

00:35:11.540 you'll see those things popping up.

00:35:13.160 Go to our Facebook page.

00:35:14.700 Everything gets posted there

00:35:15.800 on the Western Standard Facebook page and share it.

00:35:18.980 You know, this is part of how we can

00:35:20.080 create the alternative media,

00:35:22.440 bypass the mainstream

00:35:23.360 who are keeping information away from you.

00:35:26.940 Share the Facebook page.

00:35:28.540 You know, follow us on Twitter.

00:35:29.880 Do those things. 1.00

00:35:30.840 This is how, again, that truckers movement

00:35:32.340 is just taking over everything.

00:35:34.100 And they did it despite the mainstream media.

00:35:36.500 You know, the media tried ignoring them.

00:35:37.600 What happened?

00:35:38.040 Well, the word got spread through Facebook. It got spread through Twitter. It got spread through rumble videos or all of these alternative forms. And if we as citizens keep those active, we don't have to be reliant on that sick old institution of mainstream media to feed us the information.

00:35:53.780 Yeah, the Casey Madhu thing, you know, it's difficult. I noticed Cheryl had also mentioned, you know, she likes him and I liked him. I mean, he was good. He was standing up to municipal politicians when he was in that role. He doesn't back down. Unfortunately, just one of those political, terrible missteps. And when you're in the role, though, of a justice minister, you have some very serious and different obligations on you.

00:36:17.240 I mean, you just have to really watch for every possible form, you know, to make sure it never seems like you're interfering with the justice system in the slightest way for on your own behalf.

00:36:27.100 I mean, it's important to have that separation.

00:36:28.860 And I was very disappointed that Mr. Maddu seemed to have lost his common sense there when he made that phone call and he's paid a price for it and the county government's paying a price for it.

00:36:41.480 And it's just not a good scenario altogether.

00:36:43.680 a very otherwise effective member of the legislature

00:36:47.640 and one of the lone ones at Edmonton is now a sideline.

00:36:50.660 Again, it's his own fault, but I don't like seeing it.

00:36:53.380 It was a terrible shame.

00:36:55.700 I'm going to speak again back to one of our sponsors.

00:36:58.380 You know, we got our guest coming up in a little while,

00:36:59.800 but I got some news time to talk on other things.

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00:37:21.980 Bitcoin Well actually has in-person white glove service.

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00:37:42.480 You know, buy Bitcoin in person,

00:37:43.900 take control of your wealth.

00:37:44.940 And they've got ATMs all through the West

00:37:47.360 that are selling Bitcoin.

00:37:50.660 You can find it at bitcoinwell.com online.

00:37:54.820 Boy, I'm stuttering today.

00:37:56.260 Check them out though,

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00:38:02.080 in the cryptocurrency world in a safe way.

00:38:04.320 You know, that's what people are worried about.

00:38:05.300 It's your money.

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00:38:06.640 It's bad enough.

00:38:07.040 The government's stealing it all over the place.

00:38:08.360 You don't want to get caught up in some cryptocurrency scam or something like that.

00:38:11.460 Well, Bitcoin, well, these guys are legit.

00:38:13.700 They'll help you through the process and explain that often complicated world of cryptocurrencies.

00:38:19.960 So yeah, pretty soon I'm going to have Chris Sims.

00:38:22.500 She's the BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. 0.78

00:38:26.260 Much abused lately.

00:38:27.320 I've bounced around her appointment times all over the place.

00:38:30.080 She put on a splendid new hat to come on yesterday and we couldn't show it off.

00:38:33.520 So she's gracefully agreed to appear a little later to quite quickly here today to talk to us because she has lots to talk about.

00:38:41.200 So I appreciate her patience with us and your patience.

00:38:44.040 I see all the viewers and listeners are back.

00:38:46.420 Yeah, we had a bit of a hiccup yesterday, but it's all going great today.

00:38:49.480 It's ironed out live.

00:38:51.200 Oh, boy, you know, I love this live stuff.

00:38:53.120 I love the interaction.

00:38:54.100 But at the same time, if something goes on with you during a live show, it can make the vein in your head pulse and get near breaking.

00:39:01.780 and makes it hard to recover.

00:39:03.940 So we're doing great.

00:39:05.140 Thanks for tuning in.

00:39:06.380 I see Chris sitting in there already.

00:39:07.760 Maybe it's a little early,

00:39:08.660 but I'll pull her into the show 0.96

00:39:09.780 if she's ready to roll.

00:39:11.180 Looks like she's nodding.

00:39:12.060 Hey, Chris, how are you doing?

00:39:13.480 Hey, great.

00:39:14.260 Great to be here.

00:39:15.100 Thanks for having us.

00:39:16.180 Good.

00:39:16.560 Yes, you're looking much more clear

00:39:18.280 and, you know,

00:39:18.920 we should have you on a show today

00:39:20.740 when we got her going right 1.00

00:39:21.640 to do full justice to your appearance.

00:39:24.380 Thank you.

00:39:25.220 Yes, and you've got the hat back on

00:39:27.140 from the Taxpayers Federation.

00:39:28.740 Do they sell those at the taxpayer site,

00:39:30.460 I take it?

00:39:30.860 They sure do.

00:39:31.780 We've got fun t-shirts, bumper stickers, all the swag you could ever want to tell Trudeau to back

00:39:37.300 off. So go check that out. Yes. And we certainly need to tell Trudeau to back off every way

00:39:42.020 humanly possible. So always lots of tax issues to talk about. You know, the days have ticked by,

00:39:48.080 but it's still valid. One thing that came from the Federation though, was the exposure of how

00:39:52.100 many civil servants have been doing quite well throughout the pandemic with job security and

00:39:56.520 even raises over that period of time. Yeah, for sure. It's something that our team in Ottawa put

00:40:01.540 together there along with my friend and colleague, Federal Director Franco Terrazzano. And it's

00:40:06.020 basically to send the message, yeah, wakey, wakey, we're not all in this together. While a lot of us

00:40:12.280 were getting, you know, pay cuts or losing our jobs, or we had business owners that were losing

00:40:17.460 their entire livelihood. Yeah, government employees were typically getting raises, and they weren't

00:40:23.740 losing their jobs, by and large. So it's a huge divide. And one of the main reasons why we put

00:40:29.500 out that report is so that next time there's a bureaucrat or a politician standing at a lectern

00:40:34.780 telling you we're all in this together. No, we're not. That politician or bureaucrat probably has

00:40:41.060 not missed a paycheck this entire mess. Whereas you compare that to the private sector and those

00:40:47.060 folks I just mentioned, that's not the reality for them at all. I'm sure you're in the same boat,

00:40:52.560 Cory but I've lost track of the number of waitresses and bellhops and fitness instructors

00:40:59.600 and flight attendants who have reached out and spoken with us who are barely hanging in there.

00:41:06.160 I mean financially but also personally. The past two years have been awful and we need to send

00:41:12.880 that message that hey we're not all in the same boat. We might be in the same storm. Some folks

00:41:19.040 are on big frigates and the rest of us are in dinghies. Yeah, well, something I've said in the

00:41:24.600 past, nobody is ever, you know, in whatever position of power, whether an elected official

00:41:29.020 or a senior bureaucrat, voted to push for increased restrictions and lockdowns when they didn't have

00:41:35.220 a guaranteed income for themselves. You know, I always figured maybe we should have a committee

00:41:38.440 of a bunch of people who say, okay, this committee is going to decide on the lockdowns, but we're

00:41:41.780 going to have a number of people who will lose their jobs, will shut down their businesses,

00:41:44.940 so at least they can put that input to say, yeah, because they're the ones making the sacrifice

00:41:48.960 not these bureaucrats not these politicians they're the ones who suddenly can't make their

00:41:53.680 rent or mortgage or car payment or or clothes for the kids to go back to school you name it

00:41:59.040 you know let's get some of these bureaucrats living on two thousand a month like they said

00:42:02.360 serve to saving everybody i got a feeling restrictions would suddenly lighten up a great

00:42:06.500 deal uh it would be an epiphany for many people and we need to remind folks uh that the bureaucrats

00:42:12.680 and politicians typically make six-figure salaries i mean the base salary for a member

00:42:18.060 of Parliament is more than $180,000 per year. Now let's start adding on the fact that most of their

00:42:24.780 housing is paid for, their food through per diems while they're in Ottawa is paid for, much of their

00:42:30.680 transportation is covered, and then you layer on the gold-plated benefits. And then, hey, if they

00:42:35.180 have any sort of a role in the House of Commons, if they're a whip or a critic or anything like that,

00:42:40.120 it just starts adding up with those bonuses. And so, yeah, they're not hurting, but the folks who

00:42:45.640 are getting locked down and who are getting taxed to death, they're certainly hurting. And so it's

00:42:50.440 really good to see this report come out from the CTF. You know, doing the quick math, even here in

00:42:55.820 BC, around 30,000 government employees got a pay hike during the pandemic. It costs more than $60

00:43:03.760 million thereabouts for BC taxpayers. So that's just provincially. Federally speaking, it's way

00:43:09.980 bigger, obviously. And we need to also remember that it's not just the bureaucrats, the politicians

00:43:14.920 themselves, the MPs, took two pay increases during COVID and had the audacity to say something to

00:43:21.860 the effect of, oh, well, it's already automatically baked in. It's in the legislation. What are we to

00:43:25.820 do? Well, I don't know. You're sitting in the legislature. You're the lawmaker. Maybe reverse

00:43:31.440 those pay hikes. And they also dipped into the emergency wage benefit. So that pot of money that 0.64

00:43:37.740 was supposed to be for those hairdressers, for those waitresses, for those small businesses to 1.00

00:43:42.340 keep the lights on. Every single political party other than the Bloc Quebecois dug their hands in

00:43:48.120 there and gave it to some of their staff. Their staff who can work from a laptop anywhere.

00:43:55.000 Well, in the Bloc Quebecois of all parties to make a point of principle and good on them. Hey,

00:43:59.320 at least you did that. It's just enraging. I mean, when we're suffering like we are and we just got

00:44:04.880 to remind people there is a whole different world. I mean, those of us in the public sector can't

00:44:08.280 even imagine those kinds of benefits to security. I mean, we're not talking about stripping it from

00:44:12.240 them. We're just saying, bear us in mind when you're coming down on us with these restrictions.

00:44:17.060 Yes. And maybe don't take the pay hike. You know, just stay in. Just keep us in mind when

00:44:22.520 you're locking us down and don't give yourself pay raises while everybody's on the outs.

00:44:27.500 Yeah. It's the same all over the games they play. You know, Calgary City Council,

00:44:30.680 you know, they're a little out of your reach, but it's the same. They set up a whole committee in

00:44:34.240 the last council, oh, this is a citizens committee that's going to deal with whether or not we're

00:44:38.300 going to raise or lower pay. And when they came forward and said, okay, we don't need any pay

00:44:42.640 increases for you guys, the city council all gathered together and said, well, we're going

00:44:46.080 to reject that finding and give ourselves a raise. And they were furious on this committee.

00:44:50.680 And now they're back into it. They took another raise and they said, well, yeah, but the committee

00:44:53.980 wasn't working right again. Like enough games, you guys, you know, tighten the bell a little

00:44:58.680 with the rest of us. And that's to the point where you're just speaking with them there.

00:45:02.700 this is why we need recall at City Hall. We absolutely do. We have recall provincially here

00:45:08.140 in BC. And while it almost worked once, it does serve as a deterrent. By and large, now they're

00:45:14.520 not angels, don't get me wrong, and I don't want to give them lead way. But by and large, you don't

00:45:19.480 see nearly as many shenanigans at the BC legislature in Victoria. And I think one of the reasons for

00:45:25.680 that is we have recall. So if they really screw up royally, we can have a by-election and we can

00:45:31.420 turf them in between elections. We need that kind of tool, that kind of power at city halls here in

00:45:36.760 BC. So it's good to see that it's at least somewhat kind of maybe sort of happening in Alberta,

00:45:42.740 that you can drag the municipal politicians out to the curb if they screw up that much.

00:45:46.820 And we need that because people who aren't part of government, we need a voice. We need to have

00:45:52.860 agency. We have to be heard by these people because we're the ones paying the bills. Same

00:45:58.340 sort of thing. It's one of the reasons why I think this trucker convoy has picked up so much steam

00:46:03.340 because people have felt that they haven't been listened to over the past several years. And just,

00:46:08.900 you know, us here at the CTF, we've been fighting the carbon taxes since it started. To give you an

00:46:13.400 idea of what diesel costs these guys here in BC, we've got two carbon taxes. Okay. And the two

00:46:19.040 carbon taxes combined are about 30 cents a liter. Start doing the math on a hundred gallon tank.

00:46:25.340 you're well over $200 to fill up both of those tanks on one of those rigs every time just in

00:46:31.900 the carbon taxes. So yeah, we need a reckoning for sure. Yeah. And that cuts into their bottom

00:46:36.780 line. And the recall, you know, again, you got to have at least that little bit of threat to say

00:46:40.440 you can be fired between terms. We had a very singular situation in Calgary with Sean Chu as

00:46:46.880 a councillor and there was a lot of scandal and things like that. That's a subject matter for a

00:46:50.620 whole different show. But I think the only reasonable way it could have been dealt with,

00:46:55.040 if it was really beyond the pale and his electors really wanted to remove him from there,

00:46:59.960 they could have had that ability. Those people who are so upset with him right now

00:47:03.480 could be working on that process and truly give it back to the voters as it is.

00:47:08.400 They're frustrated and there's been a lot of political games. The mayor has shut him out of

00:47:11.800 every other possible committee and form of work he can do in there, which again,

00:47:16.700 is not serving his constituents well.

00:47:19.780 You know, let the man do his job

00:47:20.980 until you can legitimately remove him,

00:47:23.260 if you can.

00:47:24.400 But we don't have it.

00:47:25.740 Jason Kenney campaigned on it.

00:47:27.520 He made one,

00:47:28.300 I don't know if you caught that part

00:47:29.160 where I was talking to MLA Drew Barnes,

00:47:30.860 and he made it in such a way

00:47:32.500 that you have to have,

00:47:33.660 I think it's somebody over 50%

00:47:34.920 of the eligible electors,

00:47:38.680 not even those who came out,

00:47:40.020 but those who are eligible,

00:47:41.080 which is often fewer than even

00:47:42.240 who came out to vote in the first place.

00:47:43.680 You're not going to get it.

00:47:44.600 We know that.

00:47:45.540 Anybody who's gone out petition

00:47:46.600 questioning. I mean, it's just ridiculous. But, you know, it would give these politicians a note 0.89

00:47:51.180 if they would just genuinely do it. It takes it out of their hands. When an MLA or a councilor

00:47:56.640 or somebody really does something beyond the pale, say, well, you know what? I leave it to

00:48:01.060 the voters. Here you go. Here's your chance. Let us know if we should get this person out of the

00:48:05.280 position of power or not. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't necessarily have to end with their firing.

00:48:10.500 It could give them a new mandate and a new lease on life. We've seen several examples in the United

00:48:15.620 States, for example, where they've tried to have big recall campaigns and it looks like it's going

00:48:20.300 one way, but turns out people came out and said, you know what, we're going to give them a pass.

00:48:24.540 We're going to give them another chance. And then they can go ahead with more of a clear conscience

00:48:29.360 and more of a clear mandate and they can keep on doing their job. So it does work both ways.

00:48:34.820 It's a very good tool. It's check and balance. And we absolutely need that here in BC. It's a

00:48:41.760 bureaucrat you know it's not a politician but the politicians were so surprised for example that

00:48:47.080 had been going on for years that they could definitely face recall over it in Kamloops

00:48:51.600 we had one of the heads of the Thompson Nicola regional district through an amazing amount of

00:48:56.720 work at this tiny little newspaper called Kamloops this week I mean like freedom of information

00:49:01.200 requests hundreds of them and they spent months and months tabulating the expenses we're talking

00:49:07.180 like thousands of dollars spent on a champagne room in Whistler, thousands of dollars handed out

00:49:13.060 to buy jewelry and gifts for staff, all on taxpayers' dime. Just completely not cool.

00:49:20.040 Like any taxpayer of any side of the spectrum would not be okay with that. And here we had

00:49:25.680 some of the elected politicians in the Kamloops area saying, oh, I didn't know that was against

00:49:29.900 the rules. Really? Really? You didn't know that buying liquor store gift cards and handing them

00:49:35.160 out to staff and your friends was not okay. Well, here's a good wake up call and a reminder showing

00:49:40.980 you that it's not okay, but we don't have it. We don't have that city hall recall. And it's one of

00:49:45.620 the reasons why we need it. Yeah. And I'm glad you pointed out the other example. I think probably

00:49:49.700 what you were mentioning was like Gavin Newsom in California, and he's stronger now than ever

00:49:55.160 because they tried to take him down. They failed by a large margin. And now he can say there,

00:50:00.100 see the, and it's unfortunate because I think he's a terrible governor, but that was up to

00:50:04.600 the voters to deal with. And if you whimsically try to recall somebody, it's going to backfire

00:50:10.240 on you. So, I mean, it's got its own check and balance built in. For sure. You can say that

00:50:14.300 people have spoken and you know what, luckily there's going to be another election around next

00:50:18.600 time. And if your side didn't win during that fight, work harder for next time, get out the

00:50:23.700 vote, do more door knocking, get more volunteers on side, send more emails, get more letters,

00:50:28.740 get more signatures. There's ways of doing this, but having a petition, having recall legislation

00:50:33.920 at the city hall level, and frankly, we'd love to see it at the federal level too,

00:50:38.460 that would really help some of these folks be more listened to. Because right now, as we can see,

00:50:44.300 it just feels like you're sitting on the other end of the phone line. Back in the day when it

00:50:47.460 was a rotary phone, you could just take it right off the receiver. We're not hearing anything back.

00:50:54.060 No, well, and unfortunately, you know, the attention of the electorate can be a little

00:50:57.580 myopic. So if they've done something really bad in year one, they know if they just keep their head

00:51:01.320 low for three more years, chances are they'll get reelected anyways. The recall won't allow

00:51:05.000 them to get away with that tactic, perhaps. Back to, I guess, you know, that you are in

00:51:09.060 the mecca of carbon taxes in Canada, and you've got a couple of them on the go, and energy

00:51:13.380 costs are hitting everybody terribly right now. I'm just wondering, how much have emissions

00:51:17.540 gone down, though? I mean, you guys must be one of the lowest emission provinces in the

00:51:20.540 whole country, right?

00:51:21.460 You're cute, aren't you? Yeah. No, it's not going down. Emissions are going up. You're

00:51:27.760 absolutely right. We have two carbon taxes. We have the highest carbon taxes in North America

00:51:32.620 and emissions are going up, not down. They've gone up around 11 or 10% in the past three years

00:51:39.220 and they've gone up in five of the last seven years. And I need to stress again, the two carbon

00:51:45.040 taxes combined on diesel here, it's like 30 cents a liter on gasoline combined. I think it's around

00:51:51.280 25, 26 cents a liter. So you figure that when you're filling up a minivan, that's 75 liter

00:51:57.640 minivan you're really paying through the nose with carbon taxes here but emissions keep going up

00:52:03.000 and i need to remind folks that back in 2008 when the bc liberals hatched the carbon tax they told

00:52:09.080 us lots of stuff they said it was going to stop at 30 a ton they said that it was going to be

00:52:14.120 revenue neutral they said that the carbon taxes would somehow create a whole bunch of affordable

00:52:20.440 alternative energies and they said emissions would go down today none of that is true okay

00:52:27.640 we're at you know well over 30 a ton we're now locked into prime minister justin trudeau's

00:52:33.280 170 a ton plan within the next eight years and our emissions keep on going up so all it does

00:52:40.100 is make you poorer it takes money out of your wallet and does nothing for emissions and that's

00:52:47.620 the point that I appreciate. And you know, and yeah, that's why I led you into it because you

00:52:50.340 guys are the only ones pointing that out. I mean, if, if you're going to justify that tax at all,

00:52:55.200 and I don't think most of us would like to see it in any form, at least if it worked, if it actually

00:52:59.760 did what you claimed it would have, if, if we looked at BC and emissions were 10% lower than

00:53:04.040 the rest of the country, then people who are concerned about emissions can say, yes, every

00:53:07.500 province should be doing the same. But all it is, as you said, is making people poorer. And it makes

00:53:12.680 the move. I mean, you vote with your wallet. As I've been tweeting, I've been on vacation. I was

00:53:18.500 in the States for the last 10 days and state by state, you see those prices. And I was right in

00:53:23.040 Yuma and the California border is only a few miles away. You make sure and you see the Yuma gas 0.77

00:53:27.500 stations are packed because as soon as you cross into California, it goes up by more than a dollar

00:53:32.320 a gallon. So what happens? California residents come over and fill up on the other side of the

00:53:37.680 border. I mean, that is costing the business people in California as well. It's just, you

00:53:42.100 just don't win with these stupid taxes. Oh, for sure. Well, before the COVID hell broke loose on 1.00

00:53:46.840 our shores, it was just standard operating procedure for a lot of people in what they

00:53:51.640 call the Metro Vancouver area or, you know, the lower mainland. So basically the region between

00:53:56.520 say Hope and North Vancouver, it was standard for a lot of folks just to cross the border.

00:54:01.660 Like you could literally see the gas station as you're driving on highway one, you can see the

00:54:05.500 American gas station right over there. It's like two clicks away. And so it was standard for folks

00:54:09.980 across the border because it took no time at all. There was no hassle. And you'd typically be saving

00:54:14.760 more than 20 bucks just filling up your minivan every single time. You combine that with a little

00:54:20.260 bit of strategic grocery shopping, and you do that as a mom every two weeks, you're saving your

00:54:24.360 money, your family serious money every single month. And that's because of the tax difference. 0.99

00:54:30.460 You know, right now here, I'm in the, you know, the eastern end of the Fraser Valley. So just past

00:54:35.060 Chilliwack. I think last I checked last night, the gas price is $1.67 a litre for regular.

00:54:41.820 Yeah. And it's like, I think about 35 here, you know, and it, and that's a significant difference.

00:54:47.540 And similarly, I'm going back a few years, but from Grand Prairie to Dawson Creek up in Northern

00:54:53.580 BC there, or yeah, Dawson Creek. I get Dawson Creek, Dawson City mixed up. I've been to both,

00:54:58.140 but BC is the Dawson Creek one. And if you drive that, there's a fast gas right on the BC border,

00:55:03.200 just on the Alberta side, middle of nowhere. Aside from that, there's a reason he built it right

00:55:07.100 there. Cause everybody going home to BC, make sure to top that tank up as much as they can

00:55:11.280 before they head back to Fort St. John or Dawson or wherever they're going.

00:55:15.060 See you later. Enjoy the cash and cash savings. Yeah, I know. It's wild. If you combine all the

00:55:21.220 taxes here, it's about 72 cents a liter in taxes. So in Metro Vancouver, so that's the two carbon

00:55:28.440 taxes. That's their ridiculous transit tax. That's the excise tax. It's sales tax. It's around 72

00:55:34.780 cents a litre. I remember when gasoline was less than 72 cents a litre, like as the whole price.

00:55:42.520 Now the taxes are about 72 cents a litre. I'm a bit older. I don't want to admit how low it was

00:55:47.080 when I started driving. But speaking of stupid taxes, and there's a lot of them out there, 1.00

00:55:51.880 something that's popped up and I want to hit upon is the home equity tax that keeps getting 0.99

00:55:56.280 floated and keeps getting denied. I see the Canadian housing and mortgage corporations trying

00:56:00.620 to deny that they ever even funded a study on it. Yet it's right there. That's so weird. You know,

00:56:06.600 if you have a conviction that you think a new tax on homes and home sales is going to magically

00:56:14.600 reduce the cost of homes, own it, man. Just own it. Accept that in yourself and then go forth

00:56:22.340 and sashay into the future and write your studies and do all your data. That's fine. But then don't

00:56:29.220 like write a study. Don't administer a study. Don't fund a study and then say, oh my goodness,

00:56:36.260 look at this study. We did this by accident. We didn't know. It's one of the sillier things I've

00:56:41.160 actually seen at the federal government level. And that's saying a lot. So we actually have emails 0.59

00:56:46.420 back and forth between the head of the CMHC and the head of this study, like openly saying with

00:56:53.140 their fingertips and I would imagine faces if they're mumbling out loud about home taxes and

00:56:59.020 equity in your homes and a time for a change and taxes, taxes, taxes. So it's super weird to see

00:57:05.780 them saying, oh, we didn't mean to. I mean, I don't mean to stub my toe or like accidentally

00:57:11.480 dropped my coffee cup or something that's an accident how do you accidentally spend a quarter

00:57:16.200 million dollars and have like a month of exchange over emails on the study about home taxes

00:57:22.120 and multiple times i mean this happened a year and someone goes well everybody somebody

00:57:26.920 it's like they're putting their finger out to touch an element because they really feel like

00:57:29.480 how to touch it then they get burned they pull it back and then they still keep putting that finger

00:57:33.320 back they want to tax they want it they desperately want they just don't know how to get away with it

00:57:38.280 yet that's why they're studying they're trying to figure out how they can package this and sell it

00:57:43.080 and give it to us and what i can't think of more taxes more frightening than coming after the very

00:57:47.480 equity we're working our butts off to try and build up we don't get to live in in government

00:57:52.280 funded housing while our trust fund pays for side homes for us we have to work for it and they want

00:57:57.080 to take a chunk of it that's just odious it's a huge chunk and i would recommend that your viewers

00:58:02.840 take a look at our home our home equity tax calculator it's on our website taxpayer.com

00:58:08.360 and we've got three different versions in there so you just need to enter in your income sorry

00:58:12.120 but that's how the tax is based and what you bought your house for and then what you think

00:58:16.200 you're gonna sell your house for and well there's three different options of what the tax would look

00:58:20.920 like and in some cases it's tens of thousands of dollars and we've got to be clear the average home

00:58:27.400 i'm not talking a mansion with like miami vice jacuzzi tubs and stuff the average detached home

00:58:33.880 in vancouver is already more than a million dollars same thing in toronto so if you just

00:58:40.040 want to see your average rancher your split level if you've got it detached from other homes boy

00:58:44.920 that's already over a million dollars and if you think that they'll just stop there and only tax

00:58:50.680 the people who are stuck in vancouver and toronto like i got a bridge to sell you um so yeah the

00:58:55.960 the home equity tax is a very serious thing. They've been sniffing around this now for years.

00:59:00.580 We've been on them like a dog on a bone, and we've been blowing the whistle on this now for years.

00:59:06.000 And so I encourage everybody to go take a look, see how much a future home equity tax could cost

00:59:10.840 you, and make sure you phone your MP and you say, hey, man, don't you become casing around my house?

00:59:17.220 Because there's two ends of the spectrum here, right? There's the older folks who have put all 0.98

00:59:22.320 their time and effort into their home equity and they'll eventually downsize and they'll use that

00:59:27.440 money to live on like for the rest of their lives because they don't have you know two gold plated

00:59:32.000 pensions coming their way and they sometimes give some of that money that home sale money to their

00:59:37.440 gen x kids or their millennial grandkids so that they can use that money for a down payment for

00:59:42.640 their own house at the other side of the spectrum if you've got say a young couple that's just

00:59:47.520 starting out in you know the housing ladder they often squeeze their way into a condo and they save

00:59:52.640 every nickel and then they have children and they want to use every nickel from that sale

00:59:57.920 to put into a down payment for their next home maybe with a backyard for their kids and their

01:00:03.120 dog but trudeau wants to take some of that money why why so he can blow it even if they put through

01:00:10.960 this home equity tax as they've imagined in this study through cmhc and ubc the trudeau government

01:00:17.440 would blow through that in about five days yeah so we know it would keep rising and some of the

01:00:23.880 language from those studies and the people that put it out was really i i found offensive and as

01:00:28.340 as per the title of the show i get triggered off and that triggered me because they talk about it

01:00:31.980 being a windfall and act as if people fell into that home equity like i didn't buy my first house

01:00:36.920 until i was 40 uh you know i didn't get to that point where we had the down payment or i had other

01:00:43.700 priorities. But when, when Jane and I did that, we had to scrape and save, convert our RSPs. And

01:00:49.240 we weren't rich. We didn't have some handout. There was no windfall. We bought the place and

01:00:53.800 we've maintained it and worked on it. And then hopefully we're building some equity in it.

01:00:58.220 To have you guys act as if I won a lottery, just my ass. 0.99

01:01:02.020 And it's not just that language, the lottery language. They actually said, 1.00

01:01:05.500 building equity and raising money while you're sleeping and watching TV.

01:01:09.480 Yes. I wish I could.

01:01:13.080 As if, man. And yeah, the language is offensive. If you read the whole study, actually,

01:01:18.360 you'll smell a very distinct disdain for private property ownership. That's really the bee in their

01:01:27.100 bonnet. That's where you get to the underlying issue. And that's much deeper matter for an

01:01:33.360 entire other column and show, but into the whole ideology. Just practically speaking,

01:01:37.640 Let's separate the idea that they don't like the idea of private property ownership and they want

01:01:42.460 you to own nothing and be happy and all that stuff. Scrape all that away. Let's just take it

01:01:46.620 on the math face value. If you're in Metro Vancouver and you know that you're going to

01:01:52.880 have to pay a home equity tax when you sell your house of, say, 10 grand, 15 grand, 20 grand,

01:01:59.760 what do you think you'll do with that price tag? You'll stick it on the listing price,

01:02:04.740 right? So that will make the cost of houses go up because that is a price increase. Or you might

01:02:11.560 sit on it. You might decide to not sell. You know what? I'm going to park it right here and I'm not

01:02:17.300 going to sell. That reduces the supply of houses. So even if we scraped away everything else, if

01:02:24.640 they put this through, it would very likely make the listing price cost more and reduce the supply

01:02:30.340 of homes. How on earth is that going to make housing more affordable? That's absurd and we

01:02:37.240 have to keep exposing it and talking about it and I appreciate that's what the CTF does. Like I said

01:02:41.520 that's why I like getting you guys on because you're one of the few people talking about the

01:02:44.880 government taking less money. Just about everybody else is talking about one cause or another it's

01:02:48.680 going to cost me more somehow. So where can we find more information on what you're up to Chris

01:02:53.320 and the Taxpayers Federation in general? Hey and likewise you know the Western Standard is one of

01:02:58.380 the only media outlets that is talking about this stuff consistently. So good on you. Folks want to

01:03:03.900 check out our website. It's taxpayer.com. We've got so many different petitions there, no matter

01:03:09.080 what your thing is. If it's home equity taxes, if it's guns, if it's carbon taxes, we've got

01:03:14.380 something there for you. And the way we're doing that is not only do we deliver those petitions to

01:03:18.980 the House of Commons, it's the way that we build our army and keep you folks informed. So the next

01:03:24.600 time, it's time to push back on a specific MP or a party or something like that. We can call it out.

01:03:30.820 We can say, hey, everybody, email right now, right? Or make a phone call right now. So it'd be

01:03:35.240 appreciated if you headed over to the website, taxpayer.com. Great. Well, thanks, Chris. Thanks

01:03:40.280 for your patience with me. And yeah, like I said, if you make it to Calgary after all this scheduling

01:03:44.980 rigmarole, we'll buy a beer or something for your troubles. I really appreciate it. I want a steak,

01:03:49.000 man. Well, so we'll check the Western standard budget here. All right. Thanks again. I'm sure

01:03:55.300 we'll talk again soon. Keep up the good work. So yes, that was Chris Sims. Go to taxpayer.com

01:04:01.300 to see more of what she's up to. As you can see, she's just loaded with common sense and knows

01:04:06.340 those issues. And they're out there digging into this stuff and pointing it out so we can see it.

01:04:11.620 I mean, they want it to slide under the radar. Those who want these taxes, those who are in

01:04:15.740 government. And the Taxpayers Federation doesn't let that happen. They dig into those boring

01:04:20.120 studies and papers. Blacklock's reporter, I give them credit too. They find a lot of these things

01:04:25.200 and it gets amplified. We need to do it for ourselves because no one is going to do it

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01:06:04.340 comfortable because again, we work really hard for our money. Nobody ever of course wants to

01:06:08.160 be ripped off, and these guys will make sure you don't. You can safely participate in that market.

01:06:14.240 Okay, so coming up, yes, we got a show full of common sense today. We've got, he's going to be

01:06:19.420 on in a few minutes. He's the Peace River MLA Dan Williams, and he has been speaking up on behalf of

01:06:26.060 post-secondary students in Alberta who still, I believe at this point, can't go back to school if

01:06:30.940 they haven't been vaccinated. Meanwhile, as I believe he pointed out, Alberta Health Services

01:06:35.520 workers have had that exemption, you know, an exemption or had that lifted because we just,

01:06:38.480 we need them. And now we're seeing these students losing out on education. These are short windows.

01:06:42.860 I mean, it's important and we've got to get them back in there. And he wrote a letter with a

01:06:47.120 Cartston, a Siksika MLA, Joseph Shaw as well, I believe on that. So I'm going to have them come

01:06:53.820 on in a minute or two here to expand a bit on that, because it's good to see the MLA speaking

01:06:57.920 up for constituents. We're in this time where we do feel frustrated and at times as if nobody is

01:07:04.760 speaking for us. Some MLAs really are actually. They're out there. They're questioning policies

01:07:10.660 and they're doing things for us. So I know we're on the case of the UCP quite often.

01:07:17.220 But as I was talking to Drew earlier, there's some good members in that caucus. There are,

01:07:22.100 even if we might be a little frustrated with how the whole party's going at times. And

01:07:25.280 Dan's been making a really good point there. So I don't know if he's ready to go in the

01:07:30.080 background there. I see him in the lobby. Maybe there's a thumbs up. Let's pull Dan in and

01:07:34.740 chat with him about what he's been up to. Hey, Dan, how you doing? I'm good. I'm good, Corey.

01:07:38.500 How are you doing? Very good. Very good. Now, I'm coming from Lacrete and I'm still working

01:07:45.540 on getting some high-speed internet up here. So if I slow down, I might turn off the camera,

01:07:49.620 but I'm here with you. Yeah, no, and I understand I live in Prittis,

01:07:53.700 just outside of Calgary, yet we're barely above dial-up levels. Maybe I'll bring some MLA on and

01:07:59.860 nag about how we're supposed to get that rural high-speed rural in at some point or another too, 0.94

01:08:03.220 too, but I won't sidetrack you on that. So I appreciate you coming on to talk to us today,

01:08:06.780 though. And as I said, it was just good to see, you know, a government member speaking up on

01:08:12.880 on issues, you know, that perhaps others might not want to talk about. But we're concerned for

01:08:16.940 our post-secondary students, the unvaccinated ones who are missing out on that, well, that the

01:08:21.180 once in a lifetime opportunity of education. So can you explain that that letter that you and

01:08:25.220 Joseph put out? Yeah, Joe really was the one who instigated it at first. It's something that I

01:08:30.180 heard a lot in my constituency so he suggested we write the letter um and i was on board 110

01:08:35.380 percent i just spoken to the minister about this a few days before um and so we directed our letter

01:08:40.660 to the to the presidents of major institutions in the province these post-secondaries that are

01:08:44.980 publicly funded um and really are the gateway for my constituents for your family for everyone

01:08:51.380 to get uh that secondary education that they're going to need to become pipe fitters uh to be

01:08:56.500 building the province as carpenters and tradesmen and women but also lawyers nurses i mean we want

01:09:03.380 more of those uh doctors uh teachers like my wife um it really is the gateway so these institutions

01:09:10.980 decided at some point last year they had the option to allow testing some of them many of them

01:09:16.100 did have testing so that uh these young kids could have some flexibility and make the personal choice

01:09:21.700 that made sense for them uh when they talked to their family talked with their physician

01:09:26.820 but it seemed they almost completely um cold turkey left that and corporately went over

01:09:32.900 to a man the mandated vaccine only to be on campus and even right now these institutions

01:09:38.580 are doing distance learning virtually not even on campus and you must be vaccinated

01:09:43.540 when you're doing it virtually so it's a huge frustration um for these kids because it's a

01:09:48.820 a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity my dad was the first one in his family to give university education

01:09:53.220 he was in business for a long time went back when he was in his 30s got a degree that was a big deal

01:09:58.100 for us in my family i mean eventually for me when i came around it was really a big deal everyone was

01:10:05.140 proud to see their family member get university degree a kid who made good from rural alberta

01:10:10.100 so i i don't know if these post-secondary education institutions understand that really

01:10:15.940 is rural Albertans predominantly that they're targeting here because constituencies like mine

01:10:20.460 have a lower rate of vaccination than those like, you know, downtown Calgary or Edmonton.

01:10:25.840 So they're going to have less opportunities. And so our brightest and our young aren't going to be

01:10:30.540 able to build their own future with their family and build Alberta's future.

01:10:34.580 Yeah, well, and possibly some of these mandates may have made sense when we didn't know as much

01:10:38.200 about how the vaccinations were going to work. If we thought, and we genuinely did think a

01:10:42.980 Vaccinating could stop the transmission.

01:10:44.980 So if we could, you know, halt this pandemic in its tracks for the vaccination, great.

01:10:50.260 And then we're protecting.

01:10:51.160 But now we're seeing, well, no, clearly the Omicron cuts through vaccinations like a hot knife through butter.

01:10:55.960 So at least that justification for forcing vaccination upon students really doesn't hold water anymore at this point. 0.92

01:11:03.000 As you said, for distance learning, I mean, that's ridiculous.

01:11:05.180 You can't catch COVID through a computer or a camera.

01:11:09.860 But why are they, do you feel they're being, and actually just to throw in while I'm at it, George Kaposki, I think it is, was asking about faculty and staff.

01:11:18.500 Are they under the same restrictions and are you concerned about that?

01:11:21.620 And again, why do you think they're being so digging their heels in on keeping these restrictions going?

01:11:31.220 Might have had a bit of that internet freeze.

01:11:33.560 Oh, there we go.

01:11:34.420 So I think those two are actually connected.

01:11:36.260 i think the faculty and staff would be a large factor in motivating these universities

01:11:41.460 i think that most average common sense people would say surely if hs when you do

01:11:54.340 deal with acute care settings emergency if if hs i'll just continue corey hopefully it sorts itself

01:12:01.140 out if hs in these acute care settings and dealing with vulnerable populations when it

01:12:05.460 it comes to covid if they can find a way to allow flexibility for their staff to continue working

01:12:10.500 then surely so can universities right so can somebody who's doing you know uh

01:12:20.580 yeah we're getting those uh internet gremlins going on up there from up in lacrete but the

01:12:25.220 the point that dan was making and that was in the letter i believe in some other communications on

01:12:29.540 his facebook page was yeah if we can make those accommodations for nurses uh ahs employees people

01:12:35.380 in hospitals understanding the importance of them being in their jobs or participating why can't we

01:12:42.180 apply that to post-secondary students i mean it only makes sense you know we can keep people safe

01:12:47.620 we can move ahead if we can do for ahs why not for students and faculty uh yet they're still

01:12:52.420 got their heels uh you're looking a little more clear there dan how's it going well we'll give

01:12:55.700 it a go i'm sorry about this we got to get minister service alberta getting some high speed up

01:13:00.660 i'll get on that nag yeah yeah no i think you're exactly right the point you were finishing there

01:13:05.380 uh or summarizing for me if hs can do it so can universities i think that sometimes the faculty

01:13:11.220 uh and and the administration might be wound up um my fear is that there's going to be a section

01:13:16.820 of alberta's population that um coming out of this omicron where we have every sign to say that we're

01:13:22.260 in a very good spot um we have to learn to live with this uh and we can't just keep blocking

01:13:27.700 things down and putting restrictions in um it looks as though we're in a spot now where what

01:13:33.140 What might hold us back are people who have been wound up by the media, people who and I hope it's not the faculty of these post-secondary institutions that are motivating this, who aren't going to want to go to a normal way of life again when it is safe and where there are opportunities to be flexible and provide education for these kids.

01:13:49.840 So my plea to these presidents that I wrote with Joe Scow is be common sense about this.

01:13:55.820 Take an approach where you can say, take the politics out.

01:13:58.560 These are just young kids looking to get a career.

01:14:00.940 They're looking to try and provide for their families.

01:14:02.800 they want to get ahead. They want to be that next generation, maybe the first generation

01:14:06.140 in their family to get post-secondary education. Let's not deprive them of that. Let's not deprive

01:14:11.780 Alberta of the workforce and the talent that we need to build this economy because the biggest

01:14:16.680 problem that we have right now is labor shortage in our province. That's a good problem. Our

01:14:20.400 economy is red hot. It's been red hot for the last year. COVID just has blinded so many of us to not

01:14:25.360 be able to see it with our frustration, but it's piping up. So let's not put ourselves in a worse

01:14:30.600 spot. And so these presidents and these institutions have an obligation. They have an

01:14:34.860 obligation, a societal obligation to try and fit in as much flexibility as possible for these kids

01:14:40.400 and to do it in as common sense a way as possible. I mean, these are public institutions. We pay for

01:14:45.800 these with our tax dollars, right? They're largely subsidized. And I think that they

01:14:49.600 should be considering how to serve all Albertans with that.

01:14:54.080 Absolutely. And I do appreciate that. I mean, as a more middle-aged guy myself,

01:14:58.440 okay a couple of years in a it's been horrible at the restrictions and job pressures and things

01:15:02.360 like that but it is just a couple of years at this point in my life uh it doesn't have the

01:15:06.200 impact like somebody who's in their late teens early 20s you only get that once and uh you you

01:15:11.320 miss out on these years of university and there's much work or college or trade schools all sorts of

01:15:15.480 things and it isn't just the educational part there's a social aspect there's networking there's

01:15:20.920 being there in person that's a lot of the benefits you gain from those educational years that these

01:15:25.080 guys are missing out on them they can't get them back absolutely i think that government in any

01:15:29.800 form shouldn't be trying to pick winners and losers but god forbid we definitely don't want

01:15:34.120 post-secondary institutions now looks like kind of ah there we go okay well maybe uh we've gotten uh

01:15:48.280 your points in the one i really appreciate your coming on i i like i said i feel your pain very

01:15:52.840 much we have a similar service where we are uh i'll start dragging other uh mlas on to talk

01:15:57.400 about that rural internet service i'm not self-interested happy to come back i'll i'll

01:16:01.880 try and make sure i'm in better reception next time um and uh real grateful that you guys are

01:16:06.200 speaking out on this because there's a lot of common sense albertans out there average folks

01:16:10.680 that are concerned with this you can be pro-vax anti-vax you could not care about any of the

01:16:15.080 politics you could be apolitical and just have a kid who wants to be able to go to university

01:16:19.560 or get their degree. And I think in the end, that's got to be part of my job is talking for

01:16:24.840 them. Absolutely. I mean, it's just got to keep the interest of the students in mind paramount

01:16:30.160 over the parties, the politics or, you know, ideological views on medication. So I really

01:16:35.000 appreciate you coming on to join me. Where can people, I noticed you were active on Facebook

01:16:38.860 and some other areas, where can they keep up with what you're doing then? Yeah, follow me on

01:16:42.640 facebook um uh search of dan williams uh you'll find me at mla peace country and uh yeah real

01:16:49.840 happy to have folks follow along i'm going to continue being as thoughtful but let's be honest

01:16:54.220 speaking truth to power and reasonable as possible when it comes to this i i see a lot of movement

01:16:58.360 in our direction um as reasonable conservatives talking about um the path forward here uh so i

01:17:04.860 think i think folks should be ready for um a good spring and good years to come i sure hope so we're

01:17:10.000 all tired of everything else. So I'll let you get back to things up there in La Crete, Mr. Williams,

01:17:14.880 and hopefully talk again soon. Thanks. Appreciate you having me. Great. So yes, that was Dan

01:17:21.940 Williams. And I mean, I do like to remind people because, you know, we're pretty prickly with the

01:17:26.440 UCP at times, but you know, we've got to remind there are some members back there, they're speaking

01:17:29.820 up, they're doing their jobs. And it was good to see, you know, I mean, these guys have got to

01:17:34.760 speak up for these students, as I said, and as Dan said, you only get one opportunity for these

01:17:40.620 What's that Cheryl saying?

01:17:41.940 An Alberta dental student won his case against mandates at the university.

01:17:45.120 I'm not sure on that one.

01:17:46.360 I'll look into it, but I hope so.

01:17:47.960 I mean, there's definitely going to be some individual challenges, especially when you're

01:17:51.060 getting to the higher levels as a dental student.

01:17:52.960 How many years did you already put in and you're potentially losing out on your education

01:17:57.660 now?

01:17:58.440 I mean, this is not a minor thing.

01:18:01.040 And we're seeing the pandemic winding down.

01:18:04.200 Let's get some rational talk.

01:18:05.660 Let's, I mean, safety was paramount.

01:18:08.020 Absolutely.

01:18:08.580 Okay.

01:18:08.780 We can understand that.

01:18:09.900 but we're seeing that the students aren't terribly at risk and we have means of mitigating risk you

01:18:14.620 know we can get them into those classes there's something that's constantly uh going on is it's

01:18:21.660 virtual classes i mean yeah we can do a bit of things that way but it's just not the same and

01:18:26.300 and as i said at these schools you you do a heck of a lot more i mean this is where you network

01:18:31.260 with other students those are the business relationships you have later or personal

01:18:35.100 relationships you have later. Um, you learn a heck of a lot more than just what's in those

01:18:40.460 textbooks. And you're going to learn that staring at a computer, though. I appreciate you guys

01:18:44.460 staring at this computer to learn from me right now. Uh, once things get easier, we'll bring in

01:18:47.940 more in-person guests. So I don't know if we're going to get to a point of a live in-studio

01:18:51.400 audiences. We'll need a bit of an expansion for that. But I mean, you know, there's this world

01:18:55.600 we're developing where we're not in person anymore and we're substituting and we've got

01:18:59.740 the technology to kind of do it, but it's wrong. You know, we're social creatures. I was, you know,

01:19:07.980 I torture myself with the news at night. I have to keep up on the issues. And they were talking

01:19:12.240 about some sort of festival, I believe is going to come in downtown Calgary, a music thing. They're

01:19:16.180 going to have Chantal Kraviasik, I think, and a few others. I believe it's an outdoor venue. It's

01:19:20.480 like a spring thing or something they're doing. And then they start talking, but it's going to be

01:19:23.800 50% capacity and there's going to be no food or drink served and everybody's going to be masked

01:19:27.460 and everybody's going to be socially just, it's, ah, screw it.

01:19:29.700 I'm not going out to that.

01:19:30.720 Why the hell would I want to go out to that?

01:19:31.780 I could watch it on TV.

01:19:33.260 Why do live concerts still draw tens of thousands of people?

01:19:37.940 Why do live football games still draw tens of thousands of people?

01:19:42.100 It's because we want to be together.

01:19:44.240 It's the experience.

01:19:45.300 There's more to it.

01:19:46.000 I mean, let's face it.

01:19:46.800 When you're watching a football game, you get a better eye on what's going on in the

01:19:50.060 game, watching it on TV than when you're sitting up in the stands.

01:19:53.400 But it's that experience of being there.

01:19:55.680 It's being with others.

01:19:56.780 It's the whole package that's important, and that's why these things still go.

01:20:00.820 You can't substitute for it.

01:20:02.480 I mean, we can to a degree.

01:20:03.700 And when it comes to education, we can't substitute for that experience with virtual means.

01:20:09.000 We don't have the ability.

01:20:10.060 We've got a half-assed substitute, and hey, it's better than nothing, but for the amount

01:20:14.540 that post-secondary institutions cost, and that's another issue altogether, too, because

01:20:19.980 I had some questions on how you guys managed to charge so much.

01:20:23.220 We always talk about student loans and people graduating and worried about paying off that

01:20:27.780 giant debt. Fair enough. But why isn't anybody talking about why it puts a person tens of

01:20:33.960 thousands into debt to get the education in the first place? Man, you're at a university lecture

01:20:38.160 hall with 200 students in it, attending for an hour of class. Where is all that money going?

01:20:44.000 I mean, we got a lot of questions we can ask. So, you know, I'm starting onto a side ramble,

01:20:48.620 but I got a lot of concerns with our post-secondary system altogether. And as

01:20:52.120 Emily Williams was talking about though, we are in the midst of a labor crisis. We do need

01:20:57.620 graduates, again, whether it's trade schools, university, you know, whatever, this is for all

01:21:04.060 of us. This is going to help fill those jobs. It's not going to be going away. I mean, assuming

01:21:08.200 Trudeau doesn't shut us down, our energy sector is starting to go white hot again, and we need

01:21:13.820 people getting out to work in it. And yeah, you don't necessarily need a degree to work in the

01:21:18.840 energy sector, but there's a lot of actually positions, whether it's production accounting

01:21:23.220 or engineering, we need those people in there as well. And we won't be able to fully take advantage

01:21:28.180 of that boom if we don't have the employees to do it. So let's keep our post-secondary education

01:21:33.200 going or another discussion. And there's something I wasn't going to bother Williams with it. I'd

01:21:37.680 love to get Premier Kenney again, or the health minister to ask, because we've had two years,

01:21:42.440 why is our ICU capacity still teetering on the brink of collapse all the time,

01:21:46.680 every time we get nearly a hundred people in it. I had somebody on Twitter coming after me,

01:21:50.000 well, it takes years to train nurses. Okay. We've had two years now. I mean, I know it's four years

01:21:54.900 to train a nurse, but you upgrade them for the specialized training for an ICU. I understand

01:21:58.560 that too. We've had two years and we haven't seemed to have increased that capacity a bit.

01:22:05.640 Why? I mean, some people have pointed out, yes, we can, we can bring in more hospital beds. I mean,

01:22:10.540 it is wrong almost to always keep talking about beds. Beds are just beds. The hard part is getting

01:22:15.240 the skilled trained people to manage the patients, the nurses, the doctors, the support staff on

01:22:20.320 every sort of level, pharmacists even, they've got to come out of those schools. We need to

01:22:24.680 train new ones. We need to upgrade new ones. What are we doing right now? We're shutting down

01:22:27.280 schools. We're locking down schools. We're slowing the graduates. We're just compounding our problems

01:22:32.000 and it's not serving any of us very well at all. So let's discuss these things. One of which is

01:22:40.060 getting these kids back to school without having these restrictions, hammering them down. We've

01:22:46.580 got to get them there in person. So I'm going to get on to talking about, well, just reminding you

01:22:51.780 again, if you haven't subscribed to the Western Standard already, please do get on there, check

01:22:56.860 it out, westernstandardonline.com slash membership. Take out a membership, $10 a month. That's how we

01:23:02.200 keep these reporters going. This is how we fund the columnists, fund Nico in here to work on the

01:23:07.120 production. We can keep doing this content that other media outlets don't

01:23:11.100 give you, but we rely on you for it. And of course, the more subscribers we've got, the more

01:23:15.180 of a good case we have to make to our advertisers to kick in and keep

01:23:18.980 funding these things. So take out a membership, follow us on Facebook, follow me on Twitter,

01:23:23.220 follow the Western Standard on Twitter, all those social media majors. If you don't like those big ones, go to

01:23:26.980 Rumble, spots like that. I'm going to do another check-in

01:23:31.060 before we finish. Speaking of fundraising, that Freedom Convoy 22,

01:23:34.540 to, again, which was falsely reported as having the funds held. That's wrong. It's not true. And

01:23:39.900 Tamara's a fantastic person. Nobody is misappropriating any funds. Anybody spreading

01:23:44.060 that rumor, tell them right where to go. So let's see, my last check was $4,535,000. And there had

01:23:50.820 been 58.9 thousand donors. I'm going to give it a refresh. $4,610,000 and 59.7 thousand donors.

01:24:01.340 guys we have a steamroller going on out there of support for this freedom convoy and it's just

01:24:08.340 magnificent to watch it's beautiful i love seeing this go on great work tamara great work all you

01:24:12.880 hundreds of organizers supporters getting out on the road look these guys up somebody to ask

01:24:17.000 otherwise on how to you know they don't go on facebook they don't go on youtube i'm not 100

01:24:20.060 sure it's kind of a decentralized thing but the best site for it is the facebook site if you look

01:24:25.600 up that freedom convoy join that and you can get updates and things like that of course we're going

01:24:29.080 to report on it all the way through. We're seeing something happening in Canada right now that we've

01:24:34.140 never seen before. We've never seen a protest or a groundswell like this. So support it, watch it.

01:24:39.660 Let's shake up the majority. Let's shake up the establishment. Scare these guys. I'm not talking

01:24:45.460 in a threatening way. I'm just talking about scaring them off of their entitled perches

01:24:49.040 of controlling us and letting them know we're going to fire them pretty soon. And maybe they

01:24:54.100 can go out and try and live on $2,000 a month like they've been telling others to when they

01:24:57.740 shut down their businesses and their ability to make an income for themselves. So tomorrow I am

01:25:03.960 going to have a columnist, Dave Makachuk on. Dave Naylor, our news editor mentioned him earlier

01:25:10.440 because he has been writing on international issues. He'd written on a recent thing with China

01:25:14.880 and he'd also written a great column on the Russia-Ukraine situation, which is just looming

01:25:19.080 out there in the background and really could turn into a massive world issue. It's kind of scary

01:25:25.420 watching how the troops are massing and the posturing going on.

01:25:28.780 So Dave can help break down a bit of what's happening there.

01:25:31.900 And I'm going to have Donna Kennedy-Glans coming on to talk.

01:25:35.500 And it's going to be a bit more.

01:25:36.280 She was a progressive conservative MLA years ago,

01:25:39.980 and it was involved in a number of things.

01:25:41.840 And now she's spreading columns and talking and speaking out.

01:25:44.920 And she'll talk a bit on crony capitalism

01:25:46.860 and some of those problems with a large bloated entrenched government too. 0.99

01:25:50.540 So be sure to tune in.

01:25:51.780 It's going to be another good show tomorrow.

01:25:52.900 We'll keep updating on how that trucking convoy is going.

01:25:56.200 And of course, lots of interesting guests.

01:25:58.000 You got guests, ideas, feedback, send them to me.

01:26:00.780 CMorgan at westernstandardonline.com.

01:26:05.120 And yeah, keep tuning in and I'll keep talking at you.

01:26:10.060 So you all have a good day and I will see you tomorrow.

01:26:22.900 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - January 26, 2022

Triggered： Trucker convoy is rattling the establishment.

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