00:02:10.740to be the independent voice of the new West.
00:02:13.040This is why we need to receive the receipts.
00:02:15.080What did you actually spend the money on?
00:02:17.560We got some major news breaking at the moment for you.
00:02:21.060We're making a big difference and giving Westerners a homegrown alternative to the big government owned and government funded mainstream media.
00:09:33.420Please, God, give us one more oil boom, I promise not to piss it all away this time, social programs, and a just Alberta.
00:09:42.260Specific questions will be put to the candidates who will have one minute to respond.
00:09:47.380The other two candidates have been selected in advance for a one-minute automatic rebuttal to the first candidate's answer.
00:09:53.600When a candidate specifically criticizes another candidate by name or strong implication, the moderator, that's me, may at my own discretion allow the criticized candidate a one minute ad hoc rebuttal. Closing statements of one minute per candidate will be made.
00:10:09.760Candidates are required to answer the questions directly. Failure to do so may result in me pressing the candidate to respond appropriately.
00:10:18.760Candidates are required to keep their statements, answers and rebuttals within the allotted time.
00:10:22.760If they do not, it may result in me saying something mean to them or muting their microphone if they keep doing it.
00:10:29.760The questions tonight are going to be tough. If I do my job correctly, I believe all three will think I have it out for them.
00:10:38.760them candidates are invited to make themselves available at the conclusion of the debate for a
00:10:45.400friendly scrum with the local calgary media who are with us tonight so with that let me invite
00:10:51.800the contestants up to the stage up first the former minister of finance and the mla for
00:10:58.920Grand Prairie Wapiti, Mr. Travis Tabes, the former leader of the Wild Rose opposition,
00:11:14.120you still don't know which one I'm calling yet, do you? And the MLA for Fort McMurray,
00:12:19.720This first section, I think we got a little feedback. The first section is Alberta Strong. The first question is for Mrs. Danielle Smith.
00:12:30.720Your proposal of an Alberta Sovereignty Act has been one of the clear main topics of this leadership campaign.
00:12:36.720is it attracted the scorn of varying degrees from all of your opponents save mr todd lowen
00:12:42.880and much of the media you say that the act will keep many federal attacks on alberta from
00:12:47.760enforcement here but your critics say that it will undermine the rule of law and investor confidence
00:12:53.280how would you ensure that the sovereignty act does not undermine the rule of law and investor
00:12:57.280confidence do i get two minutes because you said we were going to have a two minutes for
00:13:00.960an opening statement or is this just a one minute answer i was not following my own rules so now you
00:13:05.280know now you know what uh what it is okay so uh two minutes uh beginning with mr brian gene
00:13:16.160well thank you thank you very much and uh thank you to derek and the western standard for putting
00:13:21.360on this event and for everyone watching tonight and for being here i'm i'm a father i'm a
00:13:25.680grandfather i'm a businessman a former litigation lawyer a former member of parliament i've also
00:13:31.840mop floors, done a few odd jobs, driven tractors, run a printing press, and run a cash register.
00:13:38.140I'm running because I truly love Alberta like everybody up here, and I know that it's possible
00:13:42.300for Albertans to be the healthiest, the happiest, the most free and most prosperous people in Canada
00:13:47.800and the world under my leadership. I commit to ensuring that you have more autonomy in your
00:13:53.060lives, that you have more control of your life, more personal freedoms, personal autonomy,
00:13:58.080financial autonomy, professional autonomy, autonomy for communities, and of course more
00:14:03.620provincial autonomy for Albertans within Canada. I believe you should have the biggest say
00:14:08.120in how you live your life. This means medical autonomy, choice in education, decentralizing
00:14:13.160government decisions as much as possible. It means reducing everyday costs for Albertans
00:14:18.200working with our experts in agriculture, in energy, healthcare, and technology sectors
00:14:23.740to develop policies that will help them thrive, and it means going to head-to-head with Ottawa
00:14:28.300to ensure Albertans get autonomy over our resources, as is guaranteed in the Constitution
00:14:32.520under Section 92, and get more autonomy with our Constitution.
00:14:36.280I am someone who means what they say and does that.
00:14:38.920I will not lie to you just to tell you what you want to hear.
00:14:42.320I have a proven track record of bringing positive results for the people of Alberta
00:14:46.140through listening, consulting, negotiating, and caring.
00:14:49.460I want to lead the UCP in a way that truly connects with people and works with Albertans across the province that actually finds solutions that work for you.
00:14:58.180Only by working together will we have the success and prosperity for many years to come.
00:15:03.880Vote for me, and I will make Albertans the happiest, the healthiest, the most free and most prosperous people in Canada and the world.
00:20:12.520One minute. Candidates have one minute to answer, and then each of the other two candidates will have a one-minute rebuttal.
00:20:19.900The Sovereignty Act has been extremely controversial. It's been a major topic in the campaign.
00:20:25.700But your critics have said that it undermines the rule of law and investor confidence.
00:20:29.660How would you ensure that the Sovereignty Act does not undermine the rule of law and investor confidence in Alberta?
00:20:34.460I think we have to realize that Ottawa has created economic chaos.
00:20:39.500The reason why we have had about $150 billion worth of projects cancelled, including Energy East, the tech frontier mine, even Keystone XL, is because these businesses couldn't see a way through to the finish line on getting approvals because of the chaos Ottawa has created in interfering in our jurisdiction.
00:20:58.220We have constitutional rights to develop our resources in our own way.
00:21:02.360And Ottawa keeps on creeping and creeping and creeping into our jurisdiction.
00:21:06.100So all the Sovereignty Act would do is it would put them on notice that we're drawing a line.
00:21:10.540That we are not going to enforce any federal rules, laws, or regulations that violate the Constitution and our sovereign rights under sections 92 through 95 in the Constitution.
00:21:22.440Or violate the rights of our citizens under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
00:21:26.600It's letting them know that we are going to stop being a junior player in Confederation and we're going to start being a senior partner.
00:23:50.220The next question is from Mr. Brian Jean.
00:23:52.160In 2016, you were the first Alberta political leader to propose a referendum on equalization coming from the recommendations of the Wild Roses Equalization Fairness Panel.
00:24:02.460That idea was subsequently taken up by outgoing Premier Jason Kenney, and a referendum was held in October of last year, where Albertans overwhelmingly voted to remove equalization from the Constitution.
00:24:13.420Following this referendum, the Alberta government, however, was silent, and no demand was made to Ottawa and the other provinces to open negotiations.
00:24:21.860You have committed to taking this back up if you become the UCP leader and premier.
00:24:26.520What would you do differently to see concrete changes to abolish or change equalization that the current premier has not?
00:24:33.820Well, the first thing you have to understand is equalization was simply brought about because it's a tool to get the changes we need.
00:26:02.160And so we need to put forward a position paper that would put forward ideas for how we would eliminate equalization in alignment with what Albertans have told us.
00:26:10.760Number one, Quebec's hydroelectric power has to be marked up to market.
00:26:14.740that would eliminate the lion's share of the of the amount going to quebec we also have to adjust
00:26:19.700for cost of living in the different parts of the of the country because it doesn't cost as much to
00:26:24.740deliver services and we also have to make sure that it doesn't grow with the growth in the economy
00:26:29.700if we're going to see a decrease in the disparity between provinces we shouldn't be increasing
00:26:34.820equalization that would eliminate the lion's share of equalization and make sure that alberta is
00:26:40.500treated fairly mr tapes you were at the cabinet table when the equalization
00:26:51.060referendum was passed but not not much from the government seems to have been
00:26:55.380done to act upon the results of it you say you will take up the cause of
00:26:59.060equalization reform or of abolition if you are elected ucp leader or premier
00:27:04.260what would you do differently from the current premier to see changes to
00:27:07.560equalization? I will make sure we're prepared in 2024 when we have an opportunity to renegotiate
00:27:14.100equalization. I will get support from other like-minded provinces to fix the inconsistency
00:27:20.060in Quebec hydro treatment versus Alberta non-renewable resource revenue. I will work to
00:27:25.020eliminate that GDP growth accelerator which distorts the equalization program. Those changes
00:27:31.420along with the cost of living adjustment, takes a $22 billion program down to $11 billion.
00:27:37.400We have to approach this strategically.
00:27:39.680We have to take a page out of Quebec's playbook.
00:27:41.880Every time a Liberal government is in Ottawa, Quebec leverages their political power.
00:27:47.760What did we do when we had a Harper government in Ottawa?
00:27:50.460What change did we make to our federal fiscal transfer programs?
00:27:56.480We have to ensure that we make the changes we can in 2024
00:27:59.380and finish it off when we have a Conservative government in Ottawa.
00:28:09.920Mr. Taves, in 2020, the Fair Deal panel reported back recommending an Alberta police force,
00:28:16.160an Alberta pension, an Alberta chief firearms officer, and pressing forward with the equalization
00:28:21.060referendum, and recommended status quo in the Constitution. When the report was released,
00:28:26.760However, Premier Jason Kenney said failure to secure a fair deal is not an option.
00:28:32.160But more than two years later, the only concrete implementation of the fair deal panel has been to appoint an Alberta chief firearms officer.
00:28:39.400Why has so little of the fair deal panel's recommendations been implemented?
00:28:43.280And what would you do with the points that have not yet been implemented?
00:28:46.320So you've heard my plan on equalization.
00:30:52.100I was in High River during the High River gun grab.
00:30:56.320And I can tell you, trying to hold the RCMP to account for who was responsible after that was nearly impossible.
00:31:02.220And now we have an RCMP commissioner who is running interference for the federal government to try to get the make and model of the firearms used in the Nova Scotia shooting so she could use that as a pretext to bring in a new firearms confiscation for 1,500 firearms.
00:31:17.040this is the reason why in the fall we need to act on bringing forward an alberta provincial police
00:31:22.560because when we say we are not going to enforce federal laws that violate our provincial
00:31:27.040jurisdiction property and civil rights are our jurisdiction and we will not enforce that we will
00:31:32.720also make sure we'll also make sure that we repatriate all of the firearms act licensing
00:31:41.520i've talked with terry bryant who is the firearms officer she said we can take over all of the
00:31:45.520licensing. Most important thing is to implement an income tax, get the ball rolling so that we
00:31:50.800can start collecting our own income tax just like Quebec. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Quebec does not collect
00:31:55.920their own income tax. They don't. I'm sorry, I'm going to allow specific rebuttals if someone
00:32:04.160names another candidate or strongly implies something after them, but there's no interjections
00:32:10.880of that kind please uh pardon i imply daniel smith can i now quebec does not collect their
00:32:19.040own federal income taxes they do not they have two tax returns you want to do two tax returns
00:32:23.120mr gene the next section is alberta free the first question is for mr travis tapes
00:32:29.840mr tapes you sat in the inner circle of uh the kenny government's cabinet since the ucp1
00:32:35.200in 2019 this government and governments around the world were faced with the unexpected covet 19
00:32:40.320pandemic. During that time, the cabinet imposed many on-again, off-again lockdowns, on-again,
00:32:46.540off-again mandatory masking orders, and a vaccine passport that the premier and then finance
00:32:51.380minister promised just weeks before would never see the light of day in Alberta. Churches were
00:32:57.080raided by police, pastors arrested and thrown in jail, and small business owners shut down for
00:33:01.660staying open. One teenager in Calgary was attacked by police for playing hockey on an outdoor pond
00:33:06.880in defiance of provincial restrictions for many freedom-oriented albertans these measures were
00:33:12.240an overreacting unscientific and authoritarian violation of their liberties what was your role
00:33:18.640in the government's covid policies and what would you have done differently if you had been the
00:33:24.160premier at the time yeah i i was the finance minister not the health minister but i certainly
00:33:30.160served on that covid committee look those were the hardest hours and days of my life i'm a rancher
00:33:36.160from real alberta my faith is incredibly important to me and believe me those were the hardest days
00:33:42.640i believe that my presence around that table made a difference my perspective bringing the
00:33:48.720perspective of real albertans bringing the perspective that i hold dear the deep commitment
00:33:55.680and foundational principle of individual freedom liberty and limited government bringing that
00:34:00.640perspective to the table made a difference and I believed I best served Albertans and my
00:34:06.400constituents by staying around the table. One thing I can say, going forward lockdowns are not
00:34:12.640the answer, full stop. Mandating vaccines are not the answer, full stop. You have my commitment on
00:34:19.680that. Mr. Jean, you recommended that future lockdowns and mandates should require a vote in
00:34:30.400the legislature which they currently do not rather than just the cabinet but in march of this year
00:34:35.760you said that ndp leader rachel notley i quote should be brought into the cabinet table and that
00:34:42.080she should have been brought into decision making do you still believe that that would have led to
00:34:46.800better outcomes during covid and what would you have done differently than the current premier
00:34:51.440well first of all i never would have put rachel notley in charge of anything let's be clear she
00:34:55.040She would not have been making any decisions, but what I did recognize clearly was that I have seen politics kill people, and in COVID it did.
00:35:05.000Decisions were made, we know, by the federal government that did not follow the experts.
00:35:08.740We've heard the expert testimony saying that, so we know politics played a role.
00:35:12.660I would never jail pastors. I would never allow that to happen.
00:35:15.780I would never shut down or lock down people in that way.
00:35:17.980But what I did suggest, when the fire happened in Fort McMurray, I saw it firsthand how you can take politics out of emergency situations.
00:35:25.340What happened is Rachel Notley brought me in and my team in to all of the information in relation to the fire and my citizens because I was busy serving my citizens in the fire.
00:35:35.500She made sure that I was privy to everything and my team was privy to everything so that I couldn't play politics because it was too important that people's lives were at risk and their property was at risk, just like COVID.
00:35:46.840that I suggested to bring her in, not to the decision-making,
00:35:50.140but so she could see and hear the information
00:35:52.160and not play politics and cost our lives.
00:36:15.060I would say that sometimes experts are wrong, and it requires political discernment to know when you're getting bad advice.
00:36:23.040Like when health experts tell you to shut down businesses, and institute vaccine mandates, and demonize unvaccinated people, and jail pastors.
00:36:31.540At some point, you have to stand up as a politician and say, no, Todd Lowen stood up. He paid a big price. He got kicked out of caucus for standing up.
00:48:24.720You know, number one for unity around the caucus table is to ensure that every government MLA has a voice.
00:48:32.640Absolutely critical. It's fundamentally important. And I would ensure that occurs.
00:48:38.560But, you know, I talked about the importance of good judgment in providing leadership.
00:48:43.020I got involved in politics because this province elected an NDP government.
00:48:47.460And I want to point to Daniel Smith right now because the floor crossing in 2014, I believe, led not only to the end of her immediate political career and that of Jim Prentice, but it led to a setback for this province and for all Albertans in decades, in tens of billions of dollars.
00:49:09.080Friends, that's not leadership. That is not good judgment. That does not unify a movement.
00:49:14.320uh i will allow a rebuttal if you'd like miss smith look guys no politician is perfect but i
00:49:22.240think we all respect politicians who recognize mistakes who own up to them and who apologize
00:49:27.840in fact i think that's part of the reason we're in the problem that we're in right now
00:49:31.360is that we've had precious little apologizing for a lot of the errors that have made it been
00:49:36.000made in the last two years now i i have humbly apologized to you for my role in splitting the
00:49:46.080conservative movement i'd ask mr taves to apologize to you for the role he played in
00:49:50.880locking us down the last two years i'm going to allow a rebuttal to mr taves although i'm going
00:50:05.120I'm going to try to make sure this doesn't become a volleyball game at this point here.
00:50:58.680all right well i can't control the motorcycle but uh i appreciate everyone's passion but i want to
00:51:13.240keep this moving along i'm having a lot of fun uh but let's try to keep it try to keep it tame
00:51:18.600and not hug each other too much uh we're going to talk about nominations miss smith nominations uh
00:51:24.360party nominations are a quiet yet critical part of modern democracy. In so-called safe seats,
00:51:30.520the nomination of a candidate determines who the MLA is much more than the general election.
00:51:35.320Every party has controversies and nominations, but the UCP has had several highly questionable
00:51:40.520disqualifications that resulted in protecting certain incumbent MLAs and ministers fairly
00:51:46.680recently. If you are a party leader, will you reopen nominations in constituencies where
00:51:51.560candidates were disqualified on questionable grounds? I've told the party executive that I
00:51:56.500recognize this is a joint responsibility for us to ensure fair nominations and so I'll kind of
00:52:02.040reserve judgment until October the 7th if I win. I'd like to have that conversation with them
00:52:07.080because there may be some things behind the scenes that I don't know but what I would say
00:52:11.600is that our party allows for the leader to appoint in four ridings and I think if the
00:52:17.420The leader wanted to protect a couple of candidates, they should have just been forthright about that.
00:52:22.460And done the appointment, said that these two individuals, House Leader and Deputy House Leader, were necessary for the legislative agenda.
00:52:30.680Because we can't go around destroying people's reputations unnecessarily.
00:52:34.400We have a fiduciary responsibility as well.
00:52:36.680And if we start doing cancel culture the same way that the left does cancel culture, we are not going to get good people to run for us.
00:52:43.580So I think we have to look at some of the rules around disqualification and maybe be a little bit more forgiving about what somebody might have put on their Facebook page 12 years ago.
01:03:27.000Let's put it out there that we want to have a sovereign wealth fund
01:03:30.040that's $500 billion, generating $25 billion a year
01:03:34.660so we can eliminate income tax and eliminate corporate income tax.
01:03:38.320And let's be telling our bills now to make that happen.
01:03:46.980Ms. Smith, in the last election, the UCP ran on a platform
01:03:50.540of abolishing the NDP's consumer carbon tax
01:03:53.440but quietly left in place the NDP's carbon tax on the oil and gas industry.
01:03:58.580This carbon tax operates under the name Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Program.
01:04:04.840The Alberta government even obtained approval from the federal liberal government for its industrial carbon tax.
01:04:10.860This energy industry carbon tax has the support of some big producers,
01:04:16.880but is opposed by most of the small and medium-sized firms.
01:04:20.480The UCP government took the federal government to court on the consumer carbon tax,
01:04:23.880but ultimately lost in the Supreme Court of Canada.
01:04:26.620As UCP leader and premier, would you repeal or maintain Alberta's own industrial carbon tax?
01:04:33.620And what, if anything, would you do to resume the fight over the federal carbon tax
01:04:38.400following the defeat in the Supreme Court?
01:04:40.640I think that the consumer carbon tax is unfair to Albertans,
01:04:44.160especially when you look at our accelerating natural gas bills and home heating in the winter.
01:04:50.880It harms our seniors, our electricity bills, because 90% of our power grid is based on fossil fuels.
01:04:56.580If you look at the rising cost of gasoline and diesel,
01:04:59.580I think that Brian's come up with some great ideas about how to bring gasoline and diesel prices down.
01:05:04.340I know that Travis and others have proposed ways to bring down our electricity prices.
01:05:08.000So we have to continue the fight on the consumer carbon tax.
01:05:10.980But I must tell you, 90% of our oil sands company, 90% of our companies have committed to aggressive emissions targets reduction.
01:05:20.240And part of the reason is that they are looking at ways in which they can reduce emissions through technology.
01:05:25.220If we end up increasing our LNG exports by double or triple or quadruple, we can reduce global emissions and get credit for that.
01:05:32.740If we start counting all of the sequestration that we currently do in our forests and soils and grasslands, I would bet we're already net negative.
01:07:39.440What's the problem is that the pricing of the carbon is accelerating at rates that are untenable.
01:07:46.460And if we outpace other economies, competing energy producers on trying to get to net zero, like my leadership hopeful to the left has suggested, we will actually put the energy industry out of business in this province.
01:08:01.040We can't outpace competing economies and competing energy producers.
01:08:05.240We have to make sure that price of carbon is not too high or we simply will not compete.
01:08:10.500i'm not sure if the jab was about karma tax or saying that she was to your left but i will
01:08:18.520allow a rebuttal well i think i think perhaps travis may misunderstand what is happening
01:08:23.680already in the in the space i mean if you are exporting lng that's actually increasing the
01:08:29.320ability of us to uh to um continue to invest and also generate revenues and we get offsets that's
01:08:35.200how the paris accord is is working i'm not sure why we wouldn't take advantage of that we've also
01:08:39.800got a huge investment strategy in hydrogen. We've become expert at capturing CO2 and burying it
01:08:45.320underground. I'm not sure why we would oppose that. Our bitumen, the best use for it is asphalt.
01:08:50.540And even if you drive an electric car, you're going to need roads to drive them on. So I see
01:08:53.900an acceleration in our export of asphalt, even if we're not using it for combustion purposes.
01:08:59.040It may not be well known, but there's 6,000 different products that come out of a barrel of
01:09:04.060oil. Only 30% of them are combustion, 70% aren't. The idea that we're going to phase out this
01:09:10.160industry is ridiculous. It'd be like talking about phasing out steel or phasing out cement.
01:09:14.780I think we have so much upside and I'm so excited that the industry is investing in all of these
01:09:19.900technologies to make it happen. Mr. Jean, right now gasoline runs about $1.48 in most of Calgary.
01:09:34.060The UCP government removed the provincial portion of the tax on gasoline, which saw prices fall relative to other provinces that maintain their taxes.
01:09:42.820At times, however, the Alberta prices have come up to match or even exceed a few other provinces, even though they had lower taxes.
01:09:51.360But they have come back down again, however.
01:09:54.620You have said that you believe Alberta drivers are being ripped off.
01:09:57.600On July 21st, you said that you will, quote, end price gouging and that the abuse must stop.
01:10:02.860You said, I quote, increasing regulation is not something I would normally consider, but that you would introduce legislation that would allow the government to set retailer margin caps when there is abuse.
01:10:15.280Alberta Premier Jason Kenney asked the Competition Bureau to look into gasoline price fixing, but none has been found as of yet.
01:10:22.080Do you still believe that gasoline prices are being fixed in Alberta and that a government-approved profit cap is the best way to fix that?
01:10:30.920Well, I think competition is the best way to fix the market.
01:11:38.200Mr. Taves, do you believe gasoline prices are being fixed in Alberta?
01:11:42.580And would a government under your leadership consider making the abolition of the gas tax, provincial gas tax, permanent?
01:11:50.060You know, as finance minister, I always stated during times of inflation, the best thing governments can do is spend less, borrow less and tax less.
01:11:58.620I was very, very privileged to bring the fuel tax suspension program into place.
01:12:02.920I would make that permanent, by the way, if I served Albertans as premier.
01:12:06.540No, I would not bring in regulation to limit margin.
01:12:10.220I believe that that's a slippery slope.
01:12:11.820When governments start to regulate profitability, what we need to do is ensure that there are fewer barriers to entry.
01:12:19.580so that we have a competitive marketplace.
01:12:49.580I'll just compliment both Travis and Brian on this, because Travis is right.
01:12:55.480In fact, by eliminating the fuel tax, we have pretty much eliminated the effect of the carbon tax at the federal level.
01:13:02.580They're still taking our money, so it's still worth the fight to figure out how we can make that stop.
01:13:06.840But I think that that was a good policy.
01:13:08.980And to Brian's credit, he was on this issue right from the beginning.
01:13:12.800He's been watching Dan McTeague and Dan McTeague pointed out that the wholesale price had really dropped and our prices here hadn't.
01:13:19.700I think that's what prompted Jason Kenney to look into it.
01:13:22.660And they responded pretty quickly as soon as the premier said he was looking into it.
01:13:26.900So I think that we have a good resource in Dan McTeague.
01:13:30.120I was very pleased that Brian put forward his policy because in every oil rich jurisdiction, they do have a local pricing policy for their consumers.
01:13:37.760And so if we can figure out a way to make his royalty break permanent, I think that's an idea we should all support.
01:13:49.300I have to get you guys fighting again.
01:13:52.700Mr. Taves, credit unions are a major part of the financial industry in Alberta, especially in rural communities, focusing on small businesses and agriculture.
01:14:01.320In many communities, they're the only bank in town.
01:14:03.420The Credit Union Act is thought by many in the industry to be out of date and tying the hands of Alberta credit unions, putting them at a disadvantage with big federally backed eastern banks.
01:14:15.700As finance minister, you oversaw the credit union sector in Alberta, and in your campaign, you've talked about strengthening Alberta's hand against eastern interests.
01:14:24.100What would a government under your leadership do to help Alberta-based credit unions compete and innovate against the federally backed eastern banks?
01:14:30.980Well, a couple of things. As finance minister, I brought in a lot of red tape reduction, regulatory modernization to the Credit Union Act. I worked to broaden the powers of the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation, and I've really moved that.
01:15:17.540but they also need to be unfettered with additional red tape reduction, regulatory modernization as we move forward.
01:15:30.400Ms. Smith, what would a government under your leadership do to help strengthen Alberta credit unions vis-a-vis most of the eastern-based central banks,
01:15:42.520I think everybody should get an account at a credit union because if the federal government comes through with an Emergencies Act again and wants to start seizing and freezing bank accounts, we can say move your money to the credit unions and because they are under our regulatory jurisdiction, we will not enforce that.
01:15:58.760I wish we had done that the first time, but I can tell you, I have talked to heads of credit unions, and that money is flowing in to credit unions.
01:16:09.360The federal government has done a lot to reduce the confidence that we have in the banking system, and I think that was part of the reason why we had the reversal in the policy as quickly as we did.
01:16:20.060So I think that the credit unions are going to play a very important role in future.
01:16:23.920I'm looking at ways in which we can use the credit union
01:16:26.280to maybe have our own insurance on CMHC type of insurance
01:16:29.880so that as we get into this period of higher interest rates,
01:16:32.900we can make sure that those original homeowners
01:16:36.100don't end up finding themselves in a position
01:16:38.580where they're upside down on a mortgage.
01:16:40.580That is going to be the next big crisis that we have to face
01:16:43.080is making sure that we have affordable housing.
01:22:59.280We inherited a fiscal train wreck, and we had to take a number of decisions, difficult decisions, to ensure that we could bring this province to balance.
01:23:07.520One of those was simply pausing indexation on a number of programs, including indexation in our personal tax system.
01:23:15.420At the time I committed to Albertans, as soon as we had fiscal daylight, as soon as we had brought the province to balance, to fiscal responsibility, I would re-index both the programs and the personal tax system.
01:23:26.580I committed to do that and would follow through with that.
01:23:29.160But really what we did is actually reduce taxes, not raise them.
01:23:32.360We reduced our corporate tax rate by 4%.
01:23:34.520percent that's by by one third very very significant here's here's the good news friends
01:23:40.680we're going to collect uh more in corporate tax revenue at an eight percent rate than the
01:23:45.640ndp did at 12 that shows the benefit of economic growth and expanded fiscal capacity
01:23:56.280uh i'll allow each of the other two to jump in on on the concerning uh income tax indexation
01:24:03.160uh mr gene well certainly i think one thing we've learned right now is that vulnerable albertans
01:24:08.760right across the province are suffering because of inflation and and lack of the indexing by the
01:24:14.200government and making sure we state of the times is not something i would ever do i think we need
01:24:18.360to make sure that we keep pace with inflation we keep pace year to year with wages and we have a
01:24:25.240great opportunity here in front of us and maybe a lot of people haven't seen it but there is a reset
01:24:29.560right now and not the reset that they're talking about at the waf i reject that but the reset
01:24:33.800is in wages in alberta and people's income versus what we're paying out inflation is killing us we
01:24:40.040need to bring people's wages up we need to bring the public service up but we can do it without
01:24:45.080spending more money as i mentioned right now nurses are 120 of what they get is in overtime
01:24:51.960we just need to do things smarter we need somebody to reorganize it and fix it and make sure it
01:24:55.880is directed in the right path and that's me thank you
01:25:03.240bracket creep was something that we were that i think again canadian taxpayers federation ended
01:25:07.960years ago and something we were really proud of doing and i think we have to have a return
01:25:12.040especially for the low income programs for aish and seniors benefit and others it has to it has
01:25:17.320to come back look guys i told you what my plan would be for increasing revenues it's got to be
01:25:21.960on something that is sustainable saving our money so that we can put it aside so that we can earn
01:25:26.280income in an investment in investment income and i think we have to remember that ralph klein
01:25:30.680protected citizens by making sure that no one could bring in a sales tax without it going to a
01:25:35.880vote of the people so if there was ever a sales tax that was brought in it would be because
01:25:40.360you wanted it and i'm not hearing uh any calls for an increase in taxes especially in the situation
01:25:45.720we find ourselves in now but i am hearing that we've got to make sure we get off this revenue
01:25:50.120We have done a good job of getting to this point and I
01:25:53.160commend the government on the corporate income tax
01:30:27.120Mr. Taves, replacing the NDP's K-12 curriculum has been met with fierce opposition from the main teachers union, the ATA, and not unexpectedly, the NDP.
01:30:44.600The process itself has been gummed up with school boards refusing to pilot it and at least one candidate of the UCP opposing it.
01:30:51.560Do you believe that your government got the curriculum wrong?
01:30:54.060You know, I believe the direction that we've set in curriculum reform is absolutely essential.
01:31:00.600I believe that to focus on the core competencies, core disciplines of numeracy, literacy, fact-based education
01:31:07.400will ensure that the next generation is well prepared for further education or to pursue a career.
01:31:13.760I also deeply believe that parents are fundamentally responsible for their children's education,
01:31:52.720All of the feedback I get from parents comes down to what are my kids learning in school?
01:31:57.340Almost every parent has a story where their kids come home and they're saying that's not consistent with my values or it's not consistent with if it's the energy sector, with what the reality is in the energy sector.
01:32:08.440And I think the teachers have to be held accountable for that.
01:32:11.700What I want to see is if we can have more parental control and direction at the school level so that parents feel like they have some control over giving that sort of feedback.
01:32:21.860I think the curriculum, the way they've done the pause, I've been hearing that the literacy and math components of the K-3 education is exactly what we need right now.
01:32:31.880I'm really worried that our kids have fallen behind in school from the last two years.
01:32:38.240We've got mental health issues that we've got to deal with.
01:32:40.860So I think the pause in the curriculum was a good decision.
01:32:44.340But now let's test our kids, make sure they're performing at grade level.
01:32:48.080And if they're not performing at grade level, we've got to put the money in now to make sure that we bring them up so that they can read and write and do math and don't end up falling behind.
01:33:01.940Mr. Gene, did the government get it wrong on the curriculum?
01:33:07.080I will tell you, first of all, as a father of a three and a half year old child right now, a little girl, I would not put her in the current public school system because of what's going on.
01:33:14.140I've raised kids I have a 38 year old as well and I've seen them go through the
01:33:19.000school system what I would do immediately and what I've told the ATA is
01:33:22.380that I would slow it down I would make sure we treat it as a pilot project so
01:33:25.880that teachers who are very important to our communities so teachers can see it
01:33:29.960over the next year and use it if they want to as they go through it because
01:33:32.680it's gonna take some time to learn remember we changed everything all of a
01:33:35.920sudden all the core curriculum courses that's the other thing we need to do
01:33:39.140let's do once a one curriculum course a year so that we can see predictable
01:33:43.900changes to our curriculum over time, and teachers know that. Wouldn't that be a surprise? Parents
01:33:48.640know that. Wouldn't that be a surprise? They have the opportunity. Parents need to always be in
01:33:52.720charge of their kids' education. That's why we need to make sure we always have choice in education
01:33:57.360so parents can find the model that fits for them. Also, mental health has to be a component from
01:34:02.300grades 6 to 12, and I want to talk more about that. Thank you.
01:34:04.680you're known as a libertarian and well it's pretty common for libertarians to support the
01:34:16.880decriminalization of narcotics instead focus on treatment and organized crime googling around i
01:34:24.200came across a rick bell column from 2013 titled wild rose boss talks decriminalization and yes
01:34:30.460she smoked once. You said that you supported the decriminalization of cannabis and it was in fact
01:34:37.260legalized just a few years later but decriminalizing cannabis is different than decriminalizing
01:34:42.540harder drugs. I'm not putting words in your mouth I'm speaking generally about libertarian
01:34:47.680suites of issues. The BC government has recently signed an agreement with Ottawa to allow for the
01:34:52.760effective decriminalization of many drugs including hardcore narcotics such as crack,
01:34:57.580heroin and methamphetamines, would you as premier consider a similar arrangement to effectively
01:35:03.040decriminalize other narcotics in Alberta and refocus efforts towards treatment and organized
01:35:11.240crime? I remember being asked in that interview, I had to call my mom and come clean because I'd
01:35:18.200never told her that I smoked pot once. I'm glad I can actually admit it now publicly. Part of the
01:35:24.440reason I supported it is there's a lot of young people who use cannabis recreationally and don't
01:35:29.720drink and that's just one of their pastimes so I had supported a legalization of cannabis but I
01:35:35.380don't support it for hard drugs because once you've gotten addicted to hard drugs there is a hard path
01:35:40.460ahead of you for that and a lot of kids and I've been involved with the Alberta Adolescent Recovery
01:35:45.100Center in trying to get some of those kids clean and not all of them make it but I would far rather
01:35:50.000see an approach that once we find somebody who is addicted to hard drugs that we find a way to give
01:35:55.040them access to that kind of long-term inpatient care treatment it takes about nine months for
01:36:01.280somebody to get clean from an addiction like that and then we have to have wraparound services at
01:36:06.880the end so when they get out of treatment they have the ability to go on to a normal life i would
01:36:11.600far rather focused on treatment than on permissiveness on the hard drugs
01:36:20.320puff puff pass brian gene well i actually uh don't want to focus on the treatment what i want
01:36:26.160to do is focus on the prevention and you know what folks folks we have to we have to look at
01:36:33.760what's happening three overdoses a day three or four suicides a day from our children people on
01:36:39.840the streets living in conditions that are not acceptable for anybody in our current situation
01:36:46.320our country our province is amazingly rich and we should be taking care of those people
01:36:50.720how do we do that if i'm premier i'm immediately going to mandatory 30 minutes a week for grades
01:36:56.5606 through 12 on mental health and how people reach into a box and grab mental health tools
01:37:02.320teachers can be trained on these things it's basic mental health skills and each child would
01:37:07.280have the opportunity to know how to deal with things like depression and suicide death divorces
01:37:13.120we're we as a society don't take mental health seriously enough i am going to take it very
01:37:18.560seriously let's focus on prevention not the problem thank you mr tames
01:37:30.560all right i i would absolutely not be in favor of legalizing hard drugs i wasn't in favor of
01:37:36.160legalizing marijuana. Marijuana is an entry-level drug and often leads to further
01:37:41.700drug addiction. And even right now, there's more and more research that shows as marijuana is
01:37:47.440consumed by our youth, it leads to very serious mental health challenges and physical challenges
01:37:54.580down the road. My whole effort and approach would be protecting the youth from the use of drugs,
01:38:00.800the harmful effect of drugs, full stop, that includes marijuana use, but that especially
01:38:05.800includes hard drugs. We absolutely have to protect our youth. And yes, treatment's important
01:38:11.220because we do have an addictions issue in this province. We need to ensure that we have enough
01:38:16.560treatment spaces. We promised Albertans 4,000 treatment spaces. We're now delivering 8,000
01:38:22.980treatment spaces. Friends, we have to bring those that are caught in the cycle of addiction up out
01:41:56.820I didn't tell you that they also closed my detachment down at 10 o'clock at night.
01:42:00.120So when Raj and Bob have their store shop lifted, it takes a neighbor to sit on the chest of somebody until the Okotoks detachment sends somebody in.
01:42:08.400We are not getting good service in rural Alberta.
01:42:41.720I recall back in the day when Mr. Maurice was basically cleared of any criminal activity.
01:42:51.200That was a good day for Albertans, but Eddie shouldn't have had to have gone through all of that.
01:42:56.160He shouldn't have had to have gone through all of that to defend his property.
01:43:00.040Right now in Alberta, rural crime is an issue, and it's a complicated issue, but it's an issue.
01:43:05.140And that's why I believe it does intersect with an Alberta police service.
01:43:08.800I'm on record as supporting an Alberta Police Service for the very reasons that the RCMP, I believe, have a culture of risk aversion that undermines enforcement in rural Alberta.
01:43:19.320There's also a shroud of bureaucracy within the RCMP that undermines enforcement in rural Alberta.
01:43:25.500I believe in Alberta Police Service, a service that answers to Albertans, will be more effective at reducing rural crime.
01:43:31.940well i promised you were going to talk about police now we're going to talk about police
01:43:41.960um mr tapes in 20 the 2020 fair deal panel recommended that alberta should replace
01:43:49.900the rcmp with its own police force the government said that it would study the idea but no action
01:43:54.960has been taken beyond that study during the campaign you've said and you literally just
01:43:59.740said again you support uh the move uh but the cabinet in which you're you were in has not acted
01:44:05.820as premier when would the studies end and the transition to an alberta police force start
01:44:11.360yeah i i would commit to immediately work with municipalities to bring them along because you
01:44:16.600know municipalities are partners in in enforcement right across rural alberta and i believe there's
01:44:22.080a great business case and a great case from an enforcement standpoint from a rural crime
01:44:27.180reduction standpoint to be made. I would start that process immediately because an Alberta Police
01:44:33.140Service, I believe, could again operate more effectively, efficiently and without that culture
01:44:38.120of bureaucracy that creates a glacial response for RCMP members and without that deep culture
01:44:45.200of risk aversion that I believe undermines enforcement. Look, our ranch was robbed about
01:44:50.160six weeks ago. A couple of side-by-sides, a quad, a shop full of tools right in the middle of calving
01:44:55.720season rural crime is an issue we need to take real action and alberta police service is part
01:45:00.920of the remedy miss smith you've said just now and before that uh well there we speak of the devil
01:45:14.760every time she wants to talk you've uh and response times are better in downtown calgary
01:45:20.920um you've said you support an alberta police force replacing the rcmp
01:45:25.080well let's talk details yeah when would that transition begin when would you give notice
01:45:30.600to ottawa that you're ending the contract with the rcmp and when would we expect to start seeing
01:45:36.520an alberta police force in rural alberta well i took a look at our ucp policy book and i believe
01:45:42.920our we get our direction from our members and our members have told us that they want an alberta
01:45:47.240provincial police to either augment or replace our rcmp so why don't we start with augmentation
01:45:54.200and start right away and i can tell you where i would start stationing uh our alberta provincial
01:45:59.080police number one is that if you've ever been to hardesty i know that travis was there earlier
01:46:05.000today this is a place where 110 billion dollars worth of value goes through our tank farms they've
01:46:10.840shut down their school they've shut down their hospital and they don't have an rcmp detachment
01:46:14.520any closer than 45 minutes away can you imagine i have to wonder how many other communities in
01:46:19.400in rural Alberta are underserviced that way.
01:46:22.020That would be the place that I would begin.
01:47:06.260My theme of my campaign is autonomy, autonomy for Albertans.
01:47:09.460Freedom of choice means why don't we let the rural municipalities decide if they want a premium service that costs them $250,000 a officer?
01:48:13.440i'm pretty sure i know what you're all gonna say it's federal jurisdiction i promise not to touch
01:48:22.120it province can't do anything anyhow okay we've got that out of the way so let's talk about what
01:48:28.080does fall directly under alberta's jurisdiction before the last election the ndp passed a so-called
01:48:34.440abortion bubble zone law that banned any kind of protest within 150 meters of an abortion clinic
01:48:41.020even though harassment of that kind that they cited was clearly already illegal.
01:48:46.380At the time, the UCP caucus refused to vote on the bill.
01:48:50.240In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade,
01:48:52.280the NDP have called for the building of many more abortion clinics across Alberta.
01:48:57.440On the other side, pro-life groups have said that the Alberta government
01:49:00.680should not be spending taxpayers' money on elective abortions.
01:49:05.420Ms. Smith, as Premier, would you maintain the NDP's no-protest legislation,
01:49:12.820and would you remove taxpayer funding of elective abortions?
01:49:17.860Look, guys, I know that this is a very heated issue,
01:49:20.560and I don't think that we find a solution where we can find some common ground
01:49:27.140by having these points of conflict like this.
01:49:30.080I have spent my whole career trying to find ways that libertarians and social conservatives can find areas that they agree on.
01:49:38.620So I would hope that we would not have to revisit that issue because I think that that creates an environment of conflict which can escalate because you're dealing with a very sensitive issue of life.
01:49:50.400My view is that we need to be focused on what was the original promise was that abortion would be safe, legal and rare.
01:49:58.160and I would like to see us spend more time and effort in supporting women to
01:50:03.560make a different choice with adoption I think that's the way that you I think
01:50:09.260that's the way that you unite there's a lot of families I know one in southern
01:50:13.340Alberta who has spent fifty thousand dollars doing a private adoption if we
01:50:17.780can make sure that women know that there's that option available I think
01:50:21.600that that's the way that we can invite it unite our choice movement and our life
01:50:24.800movement. Okay. Mr. Tabes, would you repeal the no protesting legislation and would you ever
01:50:36.440consider removing taxpayer funding of the elective abortions? What I would, well, what I'll say right
01:50:42.880off the bat, and I'm happy to say this every time I'm asked, my personal position on abortion,
01:50:49.560my personal view would put me in the pro-life camp. And I'm happy to legitimize that position
01:50:54.320every time I'm asked. But I recognize it's a complicated issue and there's passionate positions
01:50:59.020held by really good people right across the spectrum. So I would do a number of things. I
01:51:04.520would focus on expanding conscience rights for health care providers so that health care
01:51:10.120providers don't have to ultimately undertake services and activities that breach their
01:51:15.960conscience. I would also further support expectant mothers, especially mothers who might find
01:51:21.160themselves with an unintended pregnancy and i would look to make abortion or pardon me i would
01:51:26.420look to make adoption far more streamlined so that children who need a good home can find a
01:51:32.720good home with loving parents that would be my approach
01:51:35.300last softball question to you mr gene would you as premier repeal the no protest legislation and
01:51:46.720would you ever consider removing the taxpayer funding of elective abortions?
01:51:51.640The number one priority of government is to keep the public safe.
01:51:54.900And public policy would be, in this particular case,
01:51:57.920to not have conflict between two groups that have conflict on a constant basis.
01:52:01.480And I think removing that would see constant problems,
01:54:31.520But there is also a time when we need to fight.
01:54:33.900And now is a time that we need to fight.
01:54:35.420We have Ottawa who has imposed economic sanctions on us. In November of 2015, they're the ones who started a constitutional crisis. Every single time we have tried to battle it, whether it's been through writing letters or trying to be diplomatic or sending a delegation or going through court, we have been given the door. It's been slammed in our face.
01:54:56.820The latest one with the equalization referendum, they gave us Stephen Gilboa, probably the most anti-oil and gas and anti-fertilizer environment minister we could ever possibly imagine.
01:55:07.360We need someone who's going to be tough with Ottawa.