00:08:28.200Yeah, my chickadee friend, who I've named Satan, started at 538 this morning.
00:08:34.040So I was up bright and early with that, plotting all sorts of ways to kill him, basically, and try and get some sleep again.
00:08:42.020And then I leave for work, and it's an hour and a half to get to work because some idiot with the city of Calgary has figured it's okay to shut down three, not one, not two, but three separate roadways into the downtown so people can film.
00:08:57.140It's probably that HBO series that's been around here.
00:09:00.160But it was traffic gridlock, traffic chaos this morning.
00:09:03.820Not a single staff member was able to get to work on time.
00:19:03.400Like it's much better ordered now for people.
00:19:05.120So people in Saskatchewan aren't worried about hearing about things that are happening in, say, City Hall and Calgary or people, Calgary readers don't have to worry about a downtown BC, you know, Vancouver issue that Reid might have written about in there.
00:37:23.400Yes, Tarek's been on before, Tarek El Naga, and yeah, he ran for the party in the past. He's been a good voice for just Western autonomy and speaking up for rights out here. And they do have a race going on. It's hard to get attention. It's hard to stand out, you know, in times like this. There's so much going on, but they're working hard at it.
00:37:45.040you know, the time that people will turn to this party will be the time when the conservatives
00:37:49.220turn on the West. And guys, it happens every time. It happens every time. We get taken for granted.
00:37:53.940We get left behind. I find it's not so much when the liberals screw the West, when you see more
00:37:58.840regionalism building up, because we expected of them. It's when conservatives screw the West that
00:38:03.560we lose it. It was when Mulroney hooped the West. You know, it was the CF-18 deal in Winnipeg,
00:38:09.680things like that. That's when the Reform Party got formed. And unfortunately, you know, well,
00:38:15.280it depends how you want to look at it. But if you look at the Alberta history,
00:38:18.520the National Energy Program, of course, just milked the West. It traumatized us. There was a large
00:38:23.920independence movement on the go. I mean, they'd won a seat in Alberta with Kessler and Doug Christie
00:38:30.540was running the Western Canada concept. Reform actually kind of sucked the oxygen out of them
00:38:36.300Because if the reform hadn't been formed, I think there would have been a much stronger independence movement in the West at that time.
00:38:42.500But it gave hope for a triple E Senate and all those things.
00:38:44.820And the reasoning for that, too, though, was that the Mulroney Conservatives did not do the West any favors, even though the West overwhelmingly elected them.
00:38:54.100Mulroney had the largest majority in Canadian history at that time.
00:38:57.760He handed it off to Kim Campbell, and they got slaughtered down to two seats.
00:47:47.260CSSA-CILA.org or just, again, Google them, Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
00:47:54.040And actually, I'm going to have one of their representatives on this Friday,
00:47:56.480Tony Bernardo. Boy, that's tomorrow. This week's going fast. So Tony's going to be on with me
00:48:00.040tomorrow. We'll talk about some of those things. So check them out. All right. What else we got
00:48:04.100in the news? It's going to piss me off. Well, this is not got me too wound up, but this is
00:48:10.480still ongoing. This has been a big issue. And we, let's see, side discussions going on. So it's
00:48:19.560good. I like seeing the commentary going. So the UCP, getting into some Alberta stuff and partisan
00:48:23.580and stuff. They released a 14-point plan detailing how Deloitte Canada is going to conduct the audit
00:48:29.240of Premier Kennedy's leadership review vote. We got that craziness going on. It's coming near
00:48:34.500its end. It's going to be on the 18th that we'll get the results, I think. I don't know. These
00:48:39.240things are always late. It's just so bizarre and so crazy. Brian Jean did respond to it. He was on
00:48:45.340the show the other day, and he's also said that much of what he saw in it is good, but he has
00:48:49.580concerns. Apparently, they're going to be required to conduct a random audit of no fewer than 50
00:48:54.840party members of the list for March 19th to confirm the membership application details and
00:49:00.860the payment of the fee. That's 50 out of 58,600. Now, yeah, I guess if you pick 50 out of a random
00:49:08.460pile, I mean, I don't want to be too negative about this necessarily. If you pick 50 out and
00:49:14.440all 50 were confirmable and good, still, even though there's still a remaining large pile that
00:49:18.960weren't checked, it's probably a good indication that the integrity is pretty good. It is a small
00:49:24.080sample though. That number does sound very, very small and it says a minimum of 50. So I think
00:49:29.340maybe if they pulled out 50 and they found four that they couldn't confirm and there was a problem
00:49:35.420with these, then they're going to dig in deeper. They're going to pull out a lot more than 50. I'm
00:49:38.780just guessing this, but I do think that the company that's been hired is going to stick to
00:49:43.120their rules, you know, but the problem with this whole thing, the whole UCP thing, I don't think
00:49:50.560anybody's going to trust the results. They just won't. The party has played so many games and so
00:49:56.500much messing around and all of this stuff. I don't think many people are going to feel very confident
00:50:02.500about it. And then as was said too, I mean, I think it was a Rick Bell article. I, you know,
00:50:07.500I love reading the dinger stuff. I don't like pushing people away from the standard, but he's
00:50:11.340well worth reading, you know, get on there and read rich stuff. But he was, cause he, he cuts
00:50:15.220wherever he needs to. And, uh, he, he had, um, I've lost my thoughts out there. Oh, he was just
00:50:24.220talking about how 50% plus one, you know, it's, it's a number that the premier kind of keeps saying,
00:50:28.080but will the rest of the party accept that? That's the bigger question is, I mean, technically
00:50:33.000that's enough to maintain your spot, but, uh, uh, morally and going forward, or even is it
00:50:39.380sustainable because that means you've got 49% of your own party upset with you. And that's a
00:50:43.980pretty tough wound to heal. So we'll see what happens. I don't even want to roll the dice and
00:50:49.660guess what's going to happen in a couple of weeks. We just got to watch with interest and see what
00:50:52.880happens. So I see my guest in the lobby there. I won't keep her on hold any longer than I have to.
00:50:57.940I've wanted to get her on for a while there. Hey, Melissa, how are you doing? I'm good. How are you?
00:51:02.800Very good. Thanks. Well, I was ranting and raving, but that's what's good in my world.
00:51:07.540So just to remind everybody, if they've just recently tuned in too, that's Melissa Embarkey,
00:51:13.240and she's with the McDonnell Laurier Institute. And you're also a good Westerner and very involved
00:51:18.200in the energy sector and indigenous issues. So you just offer a very good, unique voice that
00:51:24.520we really appreciate. I'm glad we could get you on again today. Oh, you're welcome. Glad to be here.
00:51:29.680So, you know, we'll just get into the familiar turf. We see your debates and your discussions,
00:51:34.520Some of the frustration, I guess, you have on social media with the First Nations communities, in my view, are being used as a bit of a ping pong ball, kind of by both sides when it comes to development in areas, particularly in British Columbia, whether it's energy or even some other things.
00:51:52.540And people keep, I guess, saying that they're speaking on behalf of citizens out that way on either side.
00:51:59.600like the first there's not every First Nations person feels the same on the issue as every other
00:52:03.460one. And they've got to kind of cut that out. Yeah, we definitely have diversified voices. I
00:52:09.640mean, we're not a monolith. And I think we really have to get out of that mindset that we all have
00:52:14.500the same opinion, that we all agree on the same thing. We have to start changing that narrative
00:52:19.200for our communities because there's different voices out there. And a lot of the times the
00:52:25.120louder ones are the only ones that you're hearing. And that's not very fair to an entire community.
00:52:32.100No, and it's going to be becoming more acute, I imagine, in days to come right away. I mean,
00:52:36.560the energy prices just continue to climb and climb and climb. The need for energy products
00:52:41.040and getting stuff to port is becoming more acute. But it seems that activists are more inclined than
00:52:47.800ever to try and shut down, I mean, not just proposed projects, but some that are underway
00:52:52.640right now and that's going to put a lot of stress and harm among communities living along those
00:52:57.440areas that we're counting counting on those things for their local economy exactly once the community
00:53:03.040benefit agreements are signed a lot of the leaders you know they start thinking about what they can
00:53:09.280bring to their communities in terms of education in terms of elder resources youth resources that
00:53:14.720money is essentially already allocated to the services that they need so when projects don't
00:53:20.080go through they're backtracking you know and they're letting down their community members who
00:53:25.840not only wanted jobs and employment but who also wanted these programs and services that they so
00:53:31.360desperately need so we have to think of the long-term impacts not just for Canadians but
00:53:36.480for Indigenous people as well in these communities because you know we have to start looking at
00:53:41.440what's being taken away from them you know just when they thought they had an opportunity of
00:53:45.680economic development that's all squashed because of an activist because protesters don't agree
00:53:52.000with it and that essentially is wrong on so many levels well yeah and the activists who try to
00:53:58.800shut these you know industries down and things such as that and development in areas again are
00:54:04.160often from outside of those areas in the first place and they don't offer the alternative then
00:54:08.560well if this is shut down how are local people expected to pay the bills and pay for local
00:54:13.120infrastructure and, you know, pay for education and things that everybody else wants to. I mean,
00:54:17.240these are isolated areas with limited resources. They don't offer that alternative aside from
00:54:22.280saying, well, we should do more, perhaps just transfers of funds, but that doesn't help
00:54:25.400build a community. No, it definitely doesn't. I mean, if it did help, we would have seen
00:54:30.180communities prosper in the last few decades. You know, I left my community 17 years ago and I go
00:54:37.120back today and it looks exactly the same. So we can no longer depend on government handouts. We
00:54:43.480have to start figuring out ways to look after ourselves. And we have to ensure that communities
00:54:47.720are heard. And we also have to ensure that outsiders aren't speaking for us. You know,0.99
00:54:52.000there might be a few who are disgruntled, but that's not the voice of the community. And if
00:54:56.720people wanted to know the truth of what's happening in these communities, go and meet with them. Like
00:55:02.000meet with a diversified group of people. You know, look at the ones who are saying yes and look at
00:55:07.100the ones who are saying no, and draw your opinion from that. Don't just listen to the loudest voice.
00:55:13.620That's it. I used to work in the energy sector for a couple of decades and getting into,
00:55:18.500in Northern Alberta communities, the local First Nations communities and reserves were often
00:55:23.520actually had a lot of great contractors and were very integrated in well servicing, exploration,
00:55:28.660maintenance, and it was good for the entire community. It kept people working. It was
00:55:31.960successful businesses. It just seems to be BC where it's hung up, where they seem to feel that
00:55:36.140they don't need these things or can't see the benefit of it. And it just, again, it frustrates
00:55:41.700to watch. I mean, the CGL pipeline in particular has been the flashpoint, but I can't see how
00:55:46.120that's going to be stopped. It's been built this far. What is it going to take to get that thing
00:55:50.840complete though? I mean, it's going to take, you know, going back for CGL, for example,
00:55:57.440the Witsuten community need to go back and, you know, come together as a community again.
00:56:02.460You know, this whole being, you know, separated and divisive about issues that has to that has to end, because if they're fighting about land issues and land claims, land rights, you know, they're doing that as a community, you know, for hereditary chiefs don't speak for an entire community, you know, they have to go through their membership and they have to make sure that they're including them.
00:56:25.420so you know it's either they go back to the drawing board and you know figure out new terms
00:56:31.580or you know they start listening to their community members who are in support of this
00:56:35.480pipeline who do have jobs because of this pipeline who do have you know small businesses because of
00:56:41.380it you know I just you know it's so divided that I don't I wouldn't even know where to begin for
00:56:46.940them and the BC government has been paying them you know to go back and you know resolve issues
00:56:53.280within their membership and seven million dollars would resolve any you know conflict in my community
00:57:00.560and they just seem to be at a standstill and it's very frustrating to watch yeah well nobody wants
00:57:08.160to see i mean these are tight communities the social structure and seeing neighbors fighting
00:57:11.680with neighbors over an issue that i mean it's not healthy for for the community as well i mean they
00:57:16.800can have different points of view within the community but when we see them playing against
00:57:20.240each other. I mean, it's just, it's sad to see, unfortunately. It is very sad. And I do hope
00:57:26.440they come together again. And I do hope they resolve their issues and just, you know, take
00:57:31.040the economic benefit that this pipeline is going to bring. And, you know, think of your people,
00:57:35.620think of everyone, not just the four hereditary leaders that are the loudest out there.
00:57:41.260Yeah. So to pivot to something on a bit of a broader issue, since one of our commenters,
00:57:45.600Cheryl Dawn brought it up and you've spoken on that on Twitter quite a bit. And a lot of people
00:57:48.920have. And that's what the clean drinking water, it's something we take for granted just about
00:57:52.700everywhere. We can turn on our tap and what comes out is safe. We can wash our clothes with it. We
00:57:56.780can drink it straight out of the tap. But countless First Nation communities can't do that. They can't
00:58:01.580seem to resolve this clean water issue. I mean, government after government has promised to do
00:58:06.060something about it. It never seems to get solved. But what Cheryl's asking, like, what is prohibiting
00:58:11.880it though? I mean, they keep saying they're going to address it. I believe some money is spent, but
00:58:15.240just never seems to work are there regulatory problems or what's happening with this uh what's
00:58:20.520ha what i've seen happening in my own community is that there's a lot of government red tape so
00:58:27.080we were on a boil water advisory you know 17 20 years ago and our issue was a simple filtration
00:58:35.800change essentially um what ended up happening was we spent about seven years going back and
00:58:41.240forth with the government you know not having a proper hydrologist come in and assess the
00:58:45.880situation and diagnose it you know it just kind of went on negotiations you know we had people
00:58:51.240coming out nothing was done and that's exactly what is going on in most communities you know
00:58:56.360they they don't hire directly um you know like an environmental company or like a drilling company
00:59:02.280they don't hire them directly to go into first nations communities and diagnose the issue they
00:59:08.120use their own internal staff to do that and they can drag this on for years which they have and
00:59:13.320each visit that they make you know they get paid for it you know they're not in no rush to fix our
00:59:18.360water issues and by the time money is allocated for these you know for these to fix the issues
00:59:24.360it's already gone through their federal department and probably only a third less than half of that
00:59:29.800money is is spent so that's where we are you know you you start the project you stop it because you
00:59:37.080have no money then you have to go back to the drawing board there's just too much red tape and
00:59:41.960i think we need to start eliminating these middle people and we need to start working with reserves
00:59:47.720directly and with water companies directly and have those two talk and maybe we would get a lot
00:59:53.720further and we'd get a lot more money for we get a lot more progress with the money that's allocated
01:00:00.920yeah well nobody can make something more efficient than a pack of bureaucrats unfortunately i mean if
01:00:05.160If you want to slow something down, those are the best people to bring it about.
01:00:09.220And yeah, it costs a fortune after study after study, and then we'll pass it to this desk and back.
01:00:13.380And meanwhile, you guys are still boiling water.
01:00:15.800Is there structural change, though, that perhaps could streamline that?
01:00:19.220Part of the problem is these First Nation communities are very tightly tied with the federal government.
01:00:26.320Would increasing more municipal style authority so that a community can directly source water experts to come in
01:00:34.320and set up a facility and show how to maintain one things like that like can we do that without
01:00:38.560changing the indian act we can definitely do that like we don't need consultant after consultant in
01:00:44.960the middle the when i knew there was an issue with with not just the water but with the bureaucrats
01:00:52.400was when i actually worked with the county you know and drilled a thousand plus wells for people
01:00:58.080and businesses they did this in four years and i i had to give my head a shake after that because
01:01:05.360i'm like why is this not working in first nations communities if it took you know four years to drill
01:01:10.960and pipe you know a thousand plus two thousand plus people why can't they do it for a hundred
01:01:17.120like my community is a hundred people um you know why couldn't they do that within a year not seven
01:01:23.040years it is just it's just mind-blowing i think there has to be a direct contact between first
01:01:29.520nations communities and outside water experts you know i i think we can cut out the federal
01:01:35.680government in that case but then that means that there's jobs on their end that are going to be
01:01:40.800lost because of it so i don't know i wouldn't even know where to begin but we just need to
01:01:46.240start coming up with solutions yeah and it's frustrating i mean it's i said i've been on
01:01:51.520on jobs where we'd move into temporary camp, they would drill a water well for the camp,
01:01:55.060have a filtration shack set up and everything in a pump shack. And within a week, we've got a,
01:02:00.300you know, 50 oil field guys in a small camp with clean locally sourced water right on the spot.
01:02:05.780How on earth is this so impossible? And it's across the country. It's in Ontario, it's in
01:02:10.040Labrador, it's in BC areas with lots of good water. It just needs systems. And it's just
01:02:16.640ridiculous that this is still an issue. Yes, I mean, it's still an issue now. You know,
01:02:22.360I think they're rationing water in my community because the well is drying up. So who knows how
01:02:27.680long it's going to take them to drill a well now? Like we just got over the filtration issue. Now
01:02:31.900we have no well. I mean, it's just very frustrating and it's an issue that could easily be solved
01:02:38.680if a First Nation Reserve worked like an oil and gas company and how they, you know, drill wells,0.95
01:02:45.240you know, they get these projects done within months. So why are we having this issue? It just
01:02:51.020boggles my mind. It is a frustration. Maybe before I let you go, I know it's a, boy, it's a huge
01:02:59.100sensitive issue and a difficult one, but you know, the residential schools, the recent discoveries,
01:03:05.860the grave sites, where do we go from here? There's a huge question to throw at you. I'm just looking
01:03:12.200for, I guess, a smaller, concise thing, because there were still, there's a lot of questions
01:03:15.900up in the air. There's a lot of people, some people being insensitive, but at the same
01:03:20.800time, there's other people being, I think, a little bit too inflammatory on this issue.
01:03:25.380How can we take it seriously and get a productive outcome out of this, what's been at least
01:22:40.400I guess tomorrow, I got a fellow named Gar Gar on. He's been actually an activist in the forest lawn and things trying to, because we're talking, we got urban crime issues. We got gang issues. We got a lot of challenges going on and young people, you know, addiction issues, things like that. And Gar has actually been working on the ground a lot. You know, I like seeing proactive things. And he's trying to work with youth and people like that to avoid them getting on that bad path. You know, we got the government saying we can ban guns and stop gang crime and things like that.
01:23:10.040It obviously doesn't work, but trying to get youth before they get in trouble.