The United Conservative Party has seven candidates in the running to become the next Prime Minister of Alberta. They are: Leela Ahir, Dan Smith, Daniel Smith, Travis Taves, Rajan Sani, Rebecca Schultz, Brian Jean, and Todd Lohan.
00:10:42.620So, audience, I'm going to ask you to just hold your applause until the end, but allow me to introduce Leela Ahir, Daniel Smith, Travis Taves, Rajan Sani, Rebecca Schultz, Brian Jean, and Todd Lohan.
00:10:53.740Go ahead, give them a round of applause, everyone.
00:11:08.460All right, go ahead and get comfortable there.
00:11:10.340I mean, I know you're all ready for a photo, but we'll do that after.
00:11:17.940First of all, I want to say to all the candidates here, thank you.
00:11:20.640You know, I can tell you as a recovering politician, it's not easy being in the hot seat.
00:11:24.440And it's certainly not easy circling the province day after day.
00:11:28.580And I want to let you know, I think you've all worked incredibly hard and earned the right to be here tonight on stage to speak to your fellow Albertans.
00:11:34.640And although only one of you will be selected as our next premier, on behalf of UCP supporters
00:11:41.140and all Albertans, I want to thank each and every one of you for putting your name forward
00:11:55.740So tonight's debate is about ideas, and it's about presenting a vision for Alberta's future.
00:12:01.180So it's only right that tonight's debate is about putting the candidates in the driver's seat.
00:12:05.640With seven candidates seeking leadership of this party, it's about giving each of them an opportunity to detail their plans to you, the members.
00:12:13.280So let's cover the process we're going to go through here tonight a little quickly.
00:12:16.560First, I'm going to invite the candidates to each give a one-minute opening statement.
00:12:20.100After opening statements, each candidate will be given one of seven questions with two minutes to respond.
00:12:26.120Following the completion of their two minutes, I'll put one more question to each of them and
00:12:29.720that question will be the same for all of you. That question is who would you like to debate
00:12:33.880on this topic? I'll then invite fellow candidates chosen to provide a one and a half minute answer
00:12:39.320to the question I asked, which will position us for a head-to-head debate between those two
00:12:43.720candidates. Then open debate will go for three minutes before we move on to the next question
00:12:49.320and the next candidate and I'll remind all the candidates that the audience is looking for plans
00:12:53.320and solutions not just a bunch of yelling at one another over top of each other that works in
00:12:57.480ottawa it doesn't work here we're going to do this seven times in total once for every candidate
00:13:02.920and there's no limit to how many times a candidate may be chosen in one-on-one debate so to keep
00:13:07.880things a little more interesting each candidate is also given five 45 second rebuttals that they
00:13:13.160can use over the course of the debate so a head-to-head debate could look like it's head to
00:13:17.480head to head or head to head to head well you get the point but that's how this could look
00:13:22.520my only rule for the rebuttals is that candidates cannot use them all at once
00:13:26.920so to keep things fair if a candidate by the way is named in any debate that they're not
00:13:31.000an active participant in i will bring them in and allow them some time to respond and
00:13:35.480just a reminder to all of the candidates we've got a lot to get through tonight and
00:13:39.000we will be keeping a sharp eye on the clock i think we learned that lesson last time right
00:13:43.640so if you go over time i will ask you to stop talking but if you choose to keep talking we'll
00:13:48.200just cut your microphone off and as i've said many times that's much more embarrassing for
00:13:51.640you than it is for me at the end of all of this i'll ask each candidate in order of random draw
00:13:56.760remember folks this is all random drawn how we're approaching the questions to give a two minute
00:14:00.680closing statement which is their final pitch of the night to you the ucp members across alberta
00:14:06.440last request all right members of the audience this one is for you i asked one thing from you
00:14:11.720and that is that you refrain from reacting to answers from the candidates please no clapping
00:14:16.120or cheering or booing let's all be respectful we're all on the same team time is tight and we
00:14:20.440and we will not be stopping the clock.
00:28:57.640Unless board members, directors, and department heads within the bureaucracy are completely and totally aligned with government's mandate, we will fail to deliver on that mandate.
00:29:11.060The government made errors in not ensuring, not requiring that there was full alignment within department heads, within directors of agencies, boards, and commissions, including AHS, in the first month that we took office.
00:29:27.100There were mistakes made, and we can never make those mistakes again, because we have a responsibility as elected members to deliver on the mandate that we promised Albertans during the campaign, and that means full alignment with senior bureaucrats.
00:29:41.060in here well and i would say it does require full alignment of senior leadership within the
00:29:45.300bureaucracy i was lucky to transform every area of our ministry not because i had all the best
00:29:50.180ideas because i had some exceptional leadership that was absolutely on board with transformational
00:29:55.220change and looking at how we do things differently i don't think we always saw that in government
00:29:59.940and and the other question i would ask is there was something you know i get asked quite often
00:30:05.140is are you in this for the long haul what happens if you don't win are you going to stay are you
00:30:11.700going to continue to fight for our party i know that the answer for me is you know what i hope
00:30:16.340to win this race i do because i do believe that albertans deserve a fresh type of leadership a
00:30:21.940different approach humility creative thinking i have a question for miss schultz she's asking
00:30:28.580a lot of extremely important questions one is a question of unity what's going to happen after we
00:30:33.940win the election i can tell you this and i believe this for every member up here that i will remain
00:30:38.900committed to this movement full stop a question for miss schultz you know she talks about making
00:30:44.340progress in her department and she negotiated certainly some more favorable things in the
00:30:49.540child care agreement with ottawa but she didn't fully negotiate an ideal outcome for child care
00:30:54.740providers i would ask miss schultz what she would do different next all right let's give her the last1.00
00:30:58.820few seconds yeah i would say it was unfortunate that that negotiation is still happening until
00:31:02.820the end of November but I felt like I had something to offer in this leadership race and I sure hope
00:31:07.380that the minister who's doing that now is going to carry that final negotiation all right that's
00:31:11.860debate all right thank you folks I know three minutes it goes by tight right okay so now we
00:31:16.500offer 45 seconds worth of rebuttals I have Mr. Jean first then I have Miss Honey is there anybody
00:31:21.380else is it here and Miss Smith all right Jean go ahead unity is received by how you treat people
00:31:31.700by treating them with respect, by treating them to make sure that they actually have a voice around the table.
00:31:37.960I have almost 15 years of experience in politics, leading federal teams and provincial teams.
00:31:43.780I have led a caucus, and I would remind people that during that period of time,
00:31:47.580I never had anybody actually quit my caucus.
00:31:49.620We never actually had to kick anybody out of caucus.
00:31:52.080That's what unity is about, because we listen to the grassroots,
00:31:54.460and we make sure that caucus and the grassroots are in charge of that.
00:31:57.480I have a track record of listening and consulting with people,
00:32:59.440And I just wanted to say to what Rajan was saying, being able to listen to your caucus is one of the most important things you can ever do.
00:33:06.220These are people who have given up their lives, their families, birthdays, anniversaries to be there to be able to advocate for their constituents.
00:33:13.160They are the gem of our caucus because they know what's going on in their communities.
00:33:17.980When things started to fall apart, Todd Lowen was kicked out of our caucus.
00:33:23.720I was one of the few people in that caucus who stood up for him to try and bring him back.
00:33:29.440Leadership is standing up against bad bills like Bill 81 against the best interest of what's happening at that moment for the people of Alberta, not the caucus.
00:33:40.640I just want to point out, I think what Rebecca was trying to get out of Travis is that he's not going, he hasn't committed that he'll run in the next election if he doesn't win.
00:33:48.580He may support the movement, but I think people want to know whether or not you'll commit to running.
00:33:51.920I would say that leadership is important because two long conservatives have been leading and
00:33:59.000governing by opinion poll. Leadership by fellowship is not leadership. As you've seen during this
00:34:06.020campaign, I've taken some bold positions. I've taken a position on the Sovereignty Act. I've
00:34:09.660taken a position on lockdowns. I've taken a position on health reform. And you'll see
00:34:13.100that every other candidate on the stage has followed my lead. That's what leadership looks
00:34:16.780like. You take a bold position, you bring people around, you consult, you get feedback,
00:34:21.300you modify, and then you allow people to disagree. That's the kind of leadership style
00:34:25.860that I have. All right, 45 seconds. Mr. Taves, you were called out a few times there on whether
00:34:29.720or not you're going to stick around. Maybe you want to 30 seconds to answer. Well, absolutely.
00:34:35.380Number one, I'm absolutely committed to this movement, regardless of who wins this leadership
00:34:40.220race. Unity in this movement and the success of the Conservative Party in the spring of 23 is
00:34:46.180essential. In terms of my decision to run again, I would reserve the right. I will not be
00:34:51.240disingenuous with Albertans. I would reserve that right after the leadership, but I will be
00:34:56.520supportive of this movement going forward. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. That wraps up
00:35:02.200question one. Let's move on to question two. Just a second here. Sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I
00:35:07.240had you on the list and I'm not doing my job here. Please go ahead. No problem. Thank you very much.
00:35:11.080Obviously, unity is really about trust.
00:35:13.860It's about uniting around principles that we all share as conservatives.
00:40:52.620Danielle, the Sovereignty Act will upend crime and policing in Alberta.
00:40:57.720If you become premier, will you commit to holding off on passing the Sovereignty Act
00:41:02.740until you get a mandate from the people of Alberta in a general election?
00:41:07.420I believe that we have a mandate from the people of Alberta
00:41:10.980to make sure that we get tough with Ottawa.
00:41:13.280we've been looking for different ways to do that we've got a mandate through the equalization
00:41:16.560referendum and i believe that uh having a bill which would simply state we have rights under
00:41:22.560the constitution that are provincial sovereign rights to legislate we're going to enforce that
00:41:26.800we've got as a signatory to the charter of rights and freedoms we're going to protect the rights of
00:41:30.400our citizens we're going to enforce that there's nothing really unusual about that quebec already0.80
00:41:35.040does it saskatchewan and quebec have both declared themselves nations within a nation so i believe
00:41:40.160that we do have a mandate from the people to do that by virtue of the fair deal panel and by
00:41:45.040virtue as well of the equalization referendum i would i would completely disagree such a
00:41:49.760consequential piece of legislation does require a mandate of all albertans in a general election
00:41:56.240and equating the equalization referendum to a mandate for the sovereignty act is ludicrous
00:42:02.240and uh just going back to what was being said about um crime and policing when alberta
00:42:07.600municipalities in rural municipalities resoundly reject the idea of an alberta provincial police
00:42:14.640force we have to listen that's been the whole criticism of government that we have not been
00:42:19.520listening danielle you are not listening when you are enforcing the idea of an alberta provincial
00:42:24.400police force without effectively engaging with those who are saying no i think rajan you've just
00:42:29.680said that you don't accept the wisdom of our ucp members because our ucp members have voted on this
00:42:34.960and given us direction and i would just uh borrow from uh from brian gene when brian gene talked
00:42:39.600about the equalization referendum that was initially his idea and part of the reason he
00:42:43.680talked about putting that forward in the first place was to initiate a process that would open
00:42:47.600up the constitution so that we could have a conversation about all the things we need to
00:42:51.840fix in our relationship with ottawa so that's why i would draw a connection that absolutely i think
00:42:56.480we do have a mandate to make those changes yeah i would and we also all right let's let miss
00:43:00.720I would completely disagree and let's get back to you know putting this legislation to Albertans so that they can actually reflect on it and which part which sovereignty act are we talking about the unconstitutional one or the constitutional one because when I'm out there talking to Albertans all across the province there is much confusion about this particular issue so I would like to ask you once again why is it that you won't consider bringing this to Albertans in a general election
00:43:30.720So Albertans can weigh in on this consequential piece of legislation that will cause chaos.
00:43:35.960All it really does is put Ottawa on notice that we will be defending our rights as defined by sections 92, 93, 94, 95, and 92A of the Constitution,
00:43:45.840as well as defending the charter rights and freedoms of our citizens.
00:43:48.820That is establishing a new relationship with Ottawa because we haven't done that in the last 30 years.
00:43:54.000Okay. So we're going to move on. All right.
00:44:00.720dial it back a minute all right so we've got we've got more on this question so mr taves i have you
00:44:06.500for a rebuttal mr loan have you got yours up anybody else ms schultz uh is it here okay all
00:44:14.400right mr taves 45 seconds is yours all right i a couple of comments um on on the rcmp and
00:44:22.040enforcement and provincial policing as i've traveled around the province i've been deeply
00:44:26.260troubled by the stories of crime rural crime for sure but what's going on in chinatown here in
00:44:32.100edmonton is absolutely tragic we have to take action as a government to ensure that our streets
00:44:38.420are safe that's absolutely critical i believe an alberta police service could be part of that
00:44:43.380solution i believe the rcmp have been hampered by a culture of deep culture of risk aversion
00:44:49.620and heavy bureaucracy from ottawa that's why i believe in alberta police service could well be
00:44:54.580part of that solution, I would commit to working with municipalities to bring them along to
00:45:01.860All right, thank you. Mr. Lowen, 45 seconds.
00:45:04.660Yes, thank you. In rural Alberta, we definitely have a problem with rural crime.
00:45:09.460With the pandemic, it's increased the use of drugs and, of course, drug-related crime.
00:45:14.660We have to stop the catch and release in the court system right now. The police work hard,
00:45:19.220they catch people, and then they're back out on the streets before they know it.
00:45:22.900And so as far as what we'll do, what we need to do is we need to have our property rights, for instance, enshrined in our own provincial constitution.
00:45:31.760We need to make sure that we have something that Ottawa doesn't have in the constitution and that is the property rights.
00:45:36.980And as far as the provincial police, we need to work with municipalities, make sure they know that they're not going to be responsible for paying for the provincial police.
00:45:43.280And we need to have that provincial police to set that a little bit more of a barrier between us and Ottawa.
00:45:47.480And then we have a police force to respond to Albertans' needs.
00:45:50.200All right. Thank you, Mr. Lowen. Ms. Schultz.
00:45:51.860Yeah, and my thoughts on the provincial police are that, much like Rajen, what is the problem that we're trying to solve?
00:45:57.360Are we trying to address rural crime, where rural crime response times is a top concern?
00:46:02.300As is catch and release, as Todd has raised, those are the two biggest concerns.
00:46:06.380Downtown Edmonton, Chinatown, I hear about the impact on investment attraction that the downtown has.
00:46:12.380Employers concerned about their employees' safeties when they're walking through the downtown.
00:46:15.920So what's the problem we're trying to solve?
00:46:18.080We have the vast majority of municipalities against a police force.
00:46:21.040I know that our municipalities are one of our biggest partners in addressing many of the challenges that we are trying to address right now.
00:46:28.120So I think we have to look at investing those dollars maybe instead of changing the stripe on the side of the pants or the sticker on the side of the car to put additional boots on the ground and have the right conversations at the right time about the right problems to try to solve.
00:46:40.460Thank you. I know it's tough. 45 seconds is fast.
00:46:44.160Every single conservative knows that job number one is ensuring public safety.
00:46:49.920And changing the name is not going to change the systemic and structural issues that we have in policing at this time.
00:46:57.620Speaking with municipalities is one piece of it.
00:46:59.980But there's an entire consultation across this province that has to happen.
00:47:03.620Nobody speaks about cultural sensitivities, the engagement with people, domestic violence, sexual assault.
00:47:08.980The fact that women who are being sexually assaulted, or anybody for that matter, in a rural area has to travel three hours in order to have the system be able to input her data after the assault has happened.
00:47:22.960We have bigger issues to deal with here, and those systemic issues can be dealt with as long as we work on this together.
00:47:29.300All right. Thank you. Mr. Jean, wrap us up on this. 45 seconds, Steve.
00:47:32.380I agree with the idea of a provincial police force over the long, long run.
00:47:37.620But anything that will see fewer police officers on the street is an unstarter for me.
00:47:42.680With over 70 communities, rural communities in Alberta, say, no, don't take the RCMP away from us.
00:47:48.280We're talking about bringing them along.
00:47:50.160Why don't we talk about giving them more choices?
00:53:55.060Yeah, when it comes to grazing leases, there's a lot of contention with grazing leases with public land, private land, and that relationship with the public.
00:54:02.680And there's a lot of work that needs to be done there.
00:54:04.880But I think when it comes, you know, I guess I kind of want to go back to the fertilizer issue.
00:54:09.140And I actually think that if we used Justin Trudeau's BS, we could probably fertilize the crops with that.
00:54:23.840Maybe the world couldn't handle the crops with all that fertilizer, but I think we have a long ways to go in our relationship with Ottawa and being able to defend against the incursions on our rights here in Alberta.
00:54:38.540And again, we see it over and over again.
00:54:40.080We've seen a federal government that's not just tried to destroy our oil and gas industry.
00:54:46.320They're actually destroying it right now.
00:54:48.680And now, of course, they're going for agriculture.
01:00:41.320And that's affecting the cost of everything right here.
01:00:43.660So we need to take the surpluses that we have.
01:00:46.280We need to pay down that debt as soon as possible.
01:00:48.300We all look at Ralph Klein's days when he held the sign paid in full up and how proud we were to actually pay off our debt and get our province back under control.
01:09:34.100And I would continue to suspend the fuel tax and take advice from some of my colleagues like Brian on some of his plans for looking at how we can make utilities more affordable for families as well.
01:09:44.340I was also happy to see the government re-index personal income taxes.
01:09:48.180I also put forward as bill number one being a plan to get us off of that energy roller coaster that we can invest in our future.
01:09:55.120We can put 35% of the surplus away to save, 30% to invest in things like affordability measures, and 35% to paying down the debt.
01:10:03.460All right. Mr. Jean, last 45 seconds. Over to you.
01:10:06.440I'd like to thank the hardworking men and women in our agricultural sector and our oil and gas sector because they actually balanced the books.
01:10:12.220They gave us the surplus, and they should be thanked for that.
01:10:15.760Inflation is the biggest issue we have to deal with over the next few years, and that's why I suggested one of the first things I did was say,
01:10:22.820you own the oil and gas here in Alberta. Why would you pay royalties on oil that you own?
01:10:27.440So anything you consume as an Albertan, the 380,000 barrels a day that we consume as Albertans would be royalty-free.
01:10:33.000That would save us 15 cents or so a litre.
01:10:35.860That would give us some of the cheapest, most inexpensive gas, fuel, all across Canada.
01:11:27.240are a cornerstone of conservative politics.
01:11:29.920post-secondary education is the natural next step in the 21st century economy.
01:11:35.280Share with us your specific thoughts on education and feel free to talk about the entire continuum
01:11:40.760or pick a specific area you think needs attention, but please give us solutions to what you see
01:11:46.360are challenges within education today. Thank you very much and thank you for the question.
01:11:51.480All of us in this room, and all of us actually on this stage, are a product of teachers.
01:11:57.700And anyone who has grown up in Alberta, raised your kids here, and have gone through the public system like I did, understand the importance of our teachers and understand the importance of our system and our educators.
01:12:11.080I absolutely believe in school choice.
01:12:13.860And I also am a huge believer in our public system.
01:12:18.080This is about strong education systems, and especially whether you were born here or whether you are an immigrant and you just arrived yesterday.
01:12:25.280we just need to make sure that there's an even playing field for everyone so some of the things
01:12:30.160that we hear about pretty regularly is about letting our teachers teach right now as you can
01:12:35.040imagine in our education system there are multiple issues that are going on we have extreme complexity
01:12:40.720in the classrooms between new people that are coming in with english as a second language
01:12:46.080children like my own that are neurodiverse to the inclusion within classrooms and especially
01:20:26.180They seem to like what you had to say, but, you know, we got to move on.
01:20:28.740Well, the thing about K-12 education is it may be the only area that Ottawa hasn't interfered in to try to tell us how to run things.
01:20:36.600That's how every single one of our social programs should be run.
01:20:39.760And that is the reason why we have an Alberta Sovereignty Act, is to push them back into their lane so that we're able to deliver our programs the way we want to deliver them.
01:20:48.520Where I'm worried the most about in the fall session is that we've seen in Western University,
01:20:53.160that university make the decision that they're going to force their post-secondary students to
01:20:58.440be vaccinated to attend classes if i'm elected we will not do that not in post-secondary not in k-12
01:21:05.320no more masks no more lockdowns no more taking kids out of their activities and we have to
01:21:11.160be sure that we test every child and give them the tutoring support to bring them up to grade
01:21:15.640level and the learning loss they've had all right we got to catch you there mr g
01:21:18.840well 45 seconds is not very long um but i just don't understand and one of the questions i had
01:21:26.200for the cabinet ministers is why did the relationship get so bad with our teachers
01:21:29.640and administrators it just doesn't make sense to me so talking about what we need to solve we need
01:21:33.400to solve the relationship and that means it's all about communication it's all about meeting with
01:21:37.160them i couldn't believe that ministers wouldn't meet with the ata to have discussions it's about
01:21:42.360looking for outcomes looking for opportunities to find common ground to bring people together
01:21:46.680To be less divisive in our education system, I think that's pretty easy to do,
01:21:50.420especially if we take politics out of the education system.
01:22:09.580Yeah, and I would agree that parents know what is best for their kids.
01:22:12.340That's why I am a supporter of parent choice,
01:22:14.740And I think when we talk about opposition to parent choice, the question is actually usually about funding.
01:22:19.720So what I hear in my constituency, what I hear across Alberta is teachers saying, you know, I have a number of complex kids in my classroom.
01:22:26.520Parents saying my kid is in that classroom and they need support.
01:22:29.920Meanwhile, government is saying school divisions make the decision.
01:22:32.620School divisions saying government's not giving them enough money.
01:22:34.960We have that conversation instead of actually trying to solve the problem that we've got, which is class size and complexity.
01:22:40.580and making sure that tax dollars are, in fact, going to kids and teachers in the classroom.
01:22:45.680I do believe in the importance of mental health, supporting mental health and true wraparound supports in schools.
01:22:57.340I'm being told by the people in my ear, Mr. Taves, we did reset the clock quick,
01:23:00.540so you have 15 seconds if you want to say anything last minute on education.
01:23:03.780I do. We held education funding flat for three years,
01:23:07.080but we honoured our commitment and we didn't cut education funding that's an ata fallacy all right
01:23:12.840okay there we go all right give them a round of applause and you know
01:23:21.560okay before we get into question six just to remind all the candidates missa here you only
01:23:26.680have one rebuttal left uh as does mr gene okay we've got two questions to go the first question
01:23:31.880here question six is on arts and culture and it's for mr tapes all right tonight we find ourselves
01:23:38.600at the citadel theater in an excellent example of arts and culture thriving in alberta festivals
01:23:44.920cultural heritage events and even movie production is enriching all of our lives across the province
01:23:51.240conservatives are often criticized for not doing enough for the arts yet the ucp government for
01:23:56.520instance has done more to advance film and television production in alberta than any
01:24:01.000other government in our province's history resulting in a soon-to-be billion dollar a year
01:24:05.880business whether it's live festival performances or the value created by creative industries
01:24:12.200help us understand your vision and perspective on the future of arts and culture in alberta
01:24:17.160you have two minutes all right i mean firstly i find it ironic that an individual who's an
01:24:21.960accountant a rancher and a previous finance minister gets the arts and culture question
01:24:26.280You know, when it comes to culture, I often think agriculture right off the bat, but seriously, seriously, I recognize the importance of a strong arts and culture sector.
01:24:38.520I know that tens of thousands of Albertans absolutely thrive on a strong sector, thrive going to theater, pursuing disciplines in the arts, and it is critically important.
01:24:52.220You know, at a time when we're looking to attract other people from Canada and around the world into the province of Alberta, it's critical that we have a very robust arts and culture scene, and I recognize its importance.
01:25:05.680And, you know, arts and culture are quite broad.
01:25:09.640Arts and culture include going to the opera at the Jubilee.
01:25:13.180It also includes protecting our history and ensuring that we can protect our heritage at our museums, such as the Glenbow or even the Sam Center at the Calgary Stampede.
01:25:24.240But it also includes ensuring that our youth have an opportunity to take dance lessons, play an instrument, learn an instrument, and even pursue a love of theater.
01:25:34.400We've done much for the film and television industry.
01:25:37.220We brought in a renewed reinvigorated tax credit that has worked.
01:25:41.780We've taken a film and television industry that was about $100 million a year
01:25:45.960and moved it to an industry that is getting closer to a billion dollars a year.
01:25:51.720Friends, if you are passionate about theater, drama, and the arts,
01:25:55.920right now is a great time to pursue a career in Alberta.
01:26:01.060Look, the best thing we can do for a thriving arts and culture sector is ensure that we have a robust economy.
01:26:08.400So Albertans with high-paying jobs can go out and pursue their passions, go to the entertainment they want to, and support the arts and culture scene.
01:26:16.280Businesses and individuals also support capital projects when we have a strong economy.
01:26:21.080All right. Okay. So who would you like to debate on arts and culture?
01:26:24.620You know, I'm going to go to a previous culture minister, Lila here.
01:26:31.060All right, Miss Ahiri, you have a minute and a half, whether it's live festival performances
01:26:35.800or the value created by creative industries.
01:26:38.400Help us understand your vision and perspective on the future of arts and culture in Alberta.
01:27:10.800It has grown immensely, especially post-COVID.
01:27:14.480Just to give you an idea as well, too, in our province, for the 4.3 million people we have,
01:27:20.8401.3 million of them are volunteers and many of them are in that sector because, as Mr.
01:27:26.460Taves was saying, people are driving to ballet and to hockey and all of those parents and everybody
01:27:31.640who contributes, thousands of ours, I'm sure many of you have, contribute to that economy. I'd also
01:27:36.880like to bring up that when arts and culture thrive in our province, Alberta thrives. And not only are
01:27:44.320we seeing that homegrown talent here, and I wanted to talk a little bit, just for a few seconds,
01:27:48.820about the film tax credit. I remember, and you know, Mr. Taves, you can probably talk about this
01:27:54.900little bit when we first came to you to talk about that tax credit and that tax credit was turned
01:27:59.160away because they didn't believe in a tax credit they didn't believe that for every dollar that we
01:28:03.580put into the film industry that five would be created i'm really glad that the tone has changed
01:28:08.160and that that came around but boy oh boy was it ever hard to convince a conservative finance
01:28:13.660minister to invest in film we're gonna we're gonna stop there before we get into open debate here
01:28:19.320miss smith i should have reminded you you have one rebuttal left as well should you choose to
01:28:22.660it for this question all right open debate mr davis kick us off you know i i won't apologize
01:28:28.420for having to see the value proposition on a filament and television tax credit because i
01:28:34.180believe handling alberton's taxpayer dollars needs to be done very responsibly and carefully
01:28:40.100but there was a value proposition and when that was adequately demonstrated we went forth and
01:28:45.460approved the funding in the budget and it proved to be the right decision because right now we're
01:28:49.940We're seeing, again, not only hundreds of millions pushing almost a billion dollars of film and television productions in Alberta annually,
01:28:58.420but we're seeing permanent studios and infrastructure built, investment coming back to Alberta.
01:29:03.860So it's interesting that we're having this conversation because when we were having the discussions originally with the sector,
01:29:09.560when they came here, when the sector is moving, imagine that all over the world, everybody is competing for these dollars right now, everyone.
01:29:16.500And there are things that are changing in the United States right now where they're changing their tax laws and everything.
01:29:21.680In fact, even rolling back human rights in certain states in the United States.
01:29:26.620People are leveraging that and coming to Alberta.
01:33:22.960You know, I agree that this is absolutely an important aspect that brings people here to Alberta, quality of life.
01:33:29.620People come for opportunity and jobs and that hope and optimism, that promise of Alberta that if you're willing to work hard, you can be who and whatever you want to be.
01:33:37.800But it's great to know that we have a thriving theatre and music and dance and cultural sector.
01:33:44.420That helps not only keep people here, but attract people here as well.
01:33:48.060So, yes, the film and television tax credit, it really did change the game for us.
01:33:51.900And I was grateful for those on this stage, but also those like Minister Schweitzer, the Premier, who supported those changes.
01:33:58.100It put us back on the map, whether we're talking about Ghostbusters, The Last of Us, Fargo.
01:34:02.420But it's also about fishing, hiking, museums, history.
01:39:35.040Every conversation morphed there, and I didn't do it.
01:39:38.020The sad part was on my way home, I stopped and met with bond rating agencies, even some bank leaders in Toronto, a completely different conversation.
01:39:47.820It's like they hadn't read the news. It was ridiculous.
01:39:50.560Friends, we have to lead on energy. There's ways we can do it.
01:39:54.020It's about bringing a Senator Joe Manchin to Alberta to demonstrate the value of this province and this industry on North American energy security.
01:40:01.720I agree with resource corridors, absolutely critical, but we can't wave a magic wand and get rid of federal law.
01:40:18.400I'm always surprised when I raise this issue because Travis has criticized my Alberta Sovereignty Act in almost every forum I've been with him.
01:40:24.960But he doesn't promote the idea that he's advancing, which is to violate the Constitution, Section 121.
01:40:31.180and impose tariffs on other companies and other jurisdictions
01:40:36.080to punish them in retaliation for the decisions Ottawa makes.
01:40:40.760Now, I would love for him to explain that policy, honestly,
01:40:43.280because if you think that that's a better policy,
01:40:45.260then you at least know that there are two people who have different ideas.
01:41:27.160I would ask Danielle, what Sovereignty Act are you talking about today?
01:41:31.800The one that chases tens of billions of dollars out of this province or the one that's completely benign, over-promising and under-delivering?
01:41:39.020Because that matters. That truly matters.
01:41:40.980All right, Ms. Smith, let's see what you have to say on that.
01:41:42.420I think the only one who created chaos was the ministers who were involved in the Priorities and Planning Committee that shut down businesses arbitrarily, that shut down our economy arbitrarily.
01:41:53.760Don't cut into time, folks. Don't cut into time.
01:55:18.580Alberta is on the edge of being a world leader in every sense, but we're not there just yet.
01:55:23.920And we absolutely can't risk losing that momentum.
01:55:27.980Alberta needs a Conservative government to be an economic powerhouse that also strives to have the best health care, education, and supports for the most vulnerable in the country.
01:55:37.900Because this leadership race, it's not about me.
01:55:40.620it's not even about anyone on the stage it is about you it is about Kyle and
01:55:45.220two hills who's probably not even watching this debate right now because
01:55:48.140he's on his combine feeding Alberta and the rest of the world it's about
01:55:52.560teachers like Robert and sundry who are doing their best to get ready to get
01:55:56.160kids back in the classroom this week it's about the entrepreneurs and the
01:56:00.120innovators the risk takers it's also about the parents tonight sitting in an
01:56:05.460emergency room with their kids wanting peace of mind that their kids will have
01:56:09.600quality health care and be able to see a doctor and it's about doctors like suri paramedics like
01:56:15.520stew nurses like rosa who have the ideas on how we're going to fix this health care system1.00
01:56:21.440together i am in this for you for albertans and for you i will represent the values of
01:56:27.600all of us in this big tent party with humility and with common sense so in this leadership race
01:56:34.640vote for a leader who has a vision of hope and optimism for our future vote for a leader that
01:56:41.520all albertans can get behind vote for a leader that you can be proud of please join me vote for
01:56:48.720me all right thank you thank you michelle mr tapes are you ready 90 seconds to you when you're ready
01:56:58.480go ahead and give your closing remarks to all alberts all right um firstly i would like to
01:57:05.280appreciate all the candidates on the stage tonight i appreciate their commitment to this movement and
01:57:11.780thereby their commitment to the province and i've appreciated the many ideas that have come out of
01:57:16.860this leadership race all of that is of value but tonight i want to go back to the ballot question
01:57:22.760What I believe is the most important question, and that is, who, which leader can unite this party and movement and go on to win the election in 2023?
01:57:32.680Leadership matters, and leadership track record matters.
01:57:37.100We've made great progress as a province in the last three years.
02:03:16.440Now, Jeff is a volunteer who I think I might have voluntold to do the first debate in Medicine Hat
02:03:23.480and through your interest and support of his the job he did there he came back to help us
02:03:30.200out tonight so let's give staff a round of applause thank you thank you
02:03:38.200and then to the candidates um i i don't know about you but i'm very proud to sitting in
02:03:43.720the audience tonight listening to these these conversations this has been an incredible
02:03:48.760experience for our party i think this has contributed greatly to unity so i want to thank
02:03:53.480them for for the job they've done now what i have to tell you is not quite as exciting but we are
02:04:03.960moving on to the ballot phase of this uh this exercise and so as i said earlier um ballots
02:04:12.280will officially begin um going out in the mail on friday to all 123 915 eligible united conservative
02:04:22.760party members i love that number um your ballot must be returned so that it is received by the
02:04:31.800independent accounting firm overseeing the leadership vote by monday october 3rd at 5 pm
02:04:38.920and those of you who participated in the leadership review will remember we are very strict with
02:04:43.240deadlines 5 p.m on monday october 3rd now their address will be on the return envelope enclosed
02:04:50.280with your voting package so you don't have to worry about the return address more information
02:04:56.520will be provided shortly about the locations and times of the in-person voting option
02:05:01.480And because we're giving you two options to vote, we want you to be confident that our system ensures that only one vote is counted per eligible voting member.
02:05:13.940Now, for those of you who haven't participated in a preferential ballot before, let's talk about the count.
02:05:21.540In order to be elected leader of the United Conservative Party, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the valid votes cast.
02:05:31.600Our rules state that we use a preferential ballot.
02:05:36.720That means you will receive a ballot with all seven names on it,
02:05:41.360and you will be asked to rank the candidates in the order of your preference.
02:05:46.720You may rank as many or as few as you like.
02:05:51.040On October 6th, volunteers will count the first choices on every ballot.
02:05:57.280if no candidate receives more than 50 percent the person receiving the least number of first
02:06:03.440place votes will be dropped from the race their second choices will be counted and so on this
02:06:11.200process is repeated until a candidate gets over 50 percent you will receive detailed instructions
02:06:18.800so don't worry if that doesn't make sense to you you'll have deep detailed instructions in your
02:06:23.760ballot package and they can also be found on the ucp website on october 6th we will announce the
02:06:31.280results and present our new leader and premier to the people of alberta at an event being planned
02:06:37.840at the bmo center in calgary please join us if you can in person or the show will be accessible
02:06:45.840to all albertans on our website as this event tonight was as well in addition we encourage
02:06:52.800you to register for our 2022 ucp agm at river cree resort in enoch or here in edmonton
02:07:01.120being held on october 21st through 23rd where the new leader will have the opportunity to make their
02:07:08.720first major address to party members and kick off our 2023 election campaign you won't want to miss
02:07:16.720that. Now, thank you all of you for being here tonight. This has been an historic process.
02:07:25.120Good night, and we'll see you again on October 6th.