Western Standard - Uncensored： What's going on in Conservative Country？

00:00:00.000 .

00:00:30.000 Thank you.

00:01:00.000 Thank you.

00:01:30.000 Good evening and welcome to Uncensored.

00:01:52.860 I'm your host, Bruce McAllister, here on the Western Standard.

00:01:56.440 And boy, do we have a jam-packed show for you this evening.

00:01:59.280 we have a lot to discuss big news in alberta politics brian gene former wild rose leader

00:02:05.440 wins the ucp nomination in fort mcmurray lacklavish and he wins with a mandate to take out

00:02:11.920 a sitting premier that's his goal we'll discuss that uh we'll also talk about um paul hindman

00:02:18.000 and uh paul's resurgence in fort mcmurray planning to run against uh against brian gene some other

00:02:23.680 developments on the political front maybe save some time for covid and bill 81 as well first

00:02:28.720 let's meet our panelists tonight as usual with us danielle smith and rob anderson danielle we

00:02:33.520 say hello first to the uh the president of the alberta enterprise group former wild rose leader

00:02:37.920 as well and well-known conservative commentator good evening danielle hello bruce and rob anderson

00:02:43.440 litigator in airdrie two-term mla author of the free alberta strategy good to see you my friend

00:02:49.760 hello rob good to see you okay guys let's get right to it uh the vote was wasn't even close

00:02:56.160 Brian Jean, I think it was, what was it, 579 to 250?

00:03:00.540 Danielle, were you surprised at the numbers?

00:03:03.140 I think the Premier's team would have been surprised at the numbers.

00:03:06.540 My understanding is that there was a great effort that went into organizing behind their preferred candidate.

00:03:13.360 And there were a lot more memberships sold than that.

00:03:16.120 So a lot of people did not show up.

00:03:17.840 But quite clearly, Brian Jean either has a better organizational team on the ground,

00:03:22.540 or that's just really a recognition of how much appetite there is for them to get someone like

00:03:28.880 Brian Jean in there on the mandate that he ran on. I mean, basically said he's going there to try to

00:03:33.980 get the premier to resign and to rally the members of caucus around a leadership that he would run

00:03:40.180 for. So I think that if anyone was surprised, it would have been the leaders team, the premier's

00:03:46.140 team. And I think the media was a bit surprised too, because there has been a bit of a mythology

00:03:50.420 that is built up around Jason Kenney, that he's a formidable campaigner and he's never lost an

00:03:56.500 election. And to be beaten two to one, I think that shows that maybe there's a little bit more

00:04:01.920 mythology around that than actuality, especially right now. Rob, did you see this coming in Fort

00:04:07.300 Mack? Yeah, to be honest, you're not going to, it's very difficult to unseat an incumbent. I

00:04:16.560 mean, he's not an incumbent, but he kind of is. He's been there before. He's well liked in the

00:04:20.240 community. He's kind of a favorite son up there. I thought it was a major mistake by the Premier

00:04:29.500 to make such a big deal of it, to go up there and actively send his people up there to campaign

00:04:36.420 against Brian. That's his home turf. You're asking for trouble. And a lot of stock was put

00:04:44.240 into the result of that election, and the premier, rightly or wrongly, is seen to be

00:04:52.100 the loser of it.

00:04:52.960 So, yeah, that was not an effective strategy, and Brian Jean won on his home ice.

00:04:59.580 So we've got the United Conservative Party.

00:05:03.120 It strikes me that it's anything but.

00:05:07.260 It's unprecedented, isn't it, to have somebody to announce that they intend to run in the

00:05:12.200 by-election to take out the sitting premier, the leader of the party. Danielle, I can't recall

00:05:17.760 hearing anything like this before. And, you know, do you think Brian Dean will be successful at it?

00:05:23.340 Well, I can't recall seeing anything like this before either. And the premier's already set the

00:05:28.880 precedent by kicking out Todd Lowen and Drew Barnes. Although Drew Barnes is a strange one

00:05:34.320 to have kicked out because he never called for the premier's resignation. He made it clear he was

00:05:37.840 unhappy that the premier did not act on a lot of the Alberta agenda items that Drew spent the time

00:05:44.720 traveling the province over the last year or so trying to get buy-in on. But I guess that's the

00:05:52.040 question is having kicked out someone like Todd Lowen, does that mean that the premier is going

00:05:57.300 to kick out Brian Jean? The interesting part though of how that all went down is that it was

00:06:01.820 a motion from another MLA who put it forward that they felt that Drew Barnes and Todd Lowen were

00:06:08.600 impacting the integrity of the team. And so it came from caucus, the caucus motion and the

00:06:15.220 caucus vote. So maybe that's what's going to happen this time is that disqualifying Brian

00:06:19.940 Jean might happen indirectly. I've heard that perhaps the new party president Cynthia Moore

00:06:24.540 will be called upon to say, nope, no can do. You're not going to be the candidate if you don't

00:06:28.860 support the leader. Maybe he will allow him to go through and win, and then it'll be another vote of

00:06:34.360 the caucus in the same way that the other two got kicked out. But he did create a bit of a problem

00:06:39.280 by allowing him, his nomination to be accepted and for him to run and win, because now he's got,

00:06:45.000 now he's got to, he's going to have somebody in his caucus that is clearly going to be antagonizing

00:06:50.480 and trying to pull it apart, or he's got to make the unpopular decision to say, no can do,

00:06:55.000 we're not going to respect the decision of the grassroots of the party.

00:06:57.420 Rob pick up on that but I would suggest that he was sort of damned if he did and damned if he

00:07:01.680 didn't wasn't he like if he wouldn't have let him uh run who knows the backlash he might have faced

00:07:07.060 I mean what what are your thoughts I mean it's a tough situation but uh you know my view of it is 0.52

00:07:14.560 is that it doesn't make a lot of sense it's one thing to be able to speak out against a sitting

00:07:21.920 premier and so forth. But I mean, remember, he's going to be campaigning in a by-election

00:07:27.120 virtually right up until the leadership vote on the 9th. So let's play this out. What if he

00:07:35.920 is campaigning against the premier the entire election, the by-election? He wins, which he

00:07:43.980 likely will, I would say. And then a couple of weeks later, the leadership vote is held.

00:07:50.080 what if he's not successful at that point does he still continue on to to fight against the

00:07:55.800 premier like i mean it's just it's it's going to cause complete chaos so i wouldn't be surprised

00:08:00.980 at all if the premier just says you know what this is it's one thing to speak out uh against

00:08:07.160 me but it's another thing to be actively campaigning for my demise in front of everyone

00:08:11.740 to see that i don't something's going to give either he's not going to have his nomination

00:08:17.240 paper signed, or they're going to dispatch them after the leadership vote if the premier is

00:08:22.340 successful. Agreed, Dean? Well, I think it's probably, you're right. I mean, it is a difficult

00:08:29.500 position that the premier finds himself in. But I think that Brian Jean obviously has mapped this

00:08:35.880 out himself. So I don't know that it's, I think it's a no-lose situation for Brian Jean. If he

00:08:40.020 gets elected under the UCP banner, and he's able to be in caucus, then he's able to rally support

00:08:45.300 from within caucus. If he gets elected under the UCP banner and gets kicked out, then he creates

00:08:50.220 his own independent UCP caucus and probably takes a few more along with him. If the premier is

00:08:56.620 successful in defending his leadership, then Brian Jean already has a position to not only have a

00:09:02.120 caucus party that he can parlay into a province-wide party, but then he'll have the platform

00:09:08.000 to be able to build it and run 87 candidates. So I think that when you look at how this is stacking

00:09:13.340 up the other side i suppose is if you if he runs as an independent and if he gets kicked out

00:09:18.360 beforehand i think he'll probably still end up winning as an independent he's got that name

00:09:22.220 recognition so um i think it's kind of no lose for brian gene it's interesting though isn't it

00:09:27.900 like uh these two have already had their big fight and um and uh their big contest and and

00:09:33.400 the premier won handily and now brian's rising up again and saying well i'm going to take another

00:09:38.500 run at him effectively. Give Jason Kenney some credit, Premier Kenney some credit. He's a master

00:09:45.520 at these tactical games. And so when it comes to his leadership vote, you know, I can't help but

00:09:52.200 wonder if he'll be successful regardless of what Brian Jean does. I mean, is that a naive thought

00:09:57.320 on my part? What do you think? Nope. I think it's, I would be surprised if he does not win

00:10:05.540 the leadership vote uh the leadership review i should say uh he is a good organizer he will stack

00:10:12.180 the convention even even though it's 80 bucks or 75 bucks or whatever it is to get in

00:10:18.160 that's still going to favor uh the premier and and i have also noticed that the polls are starting to

00:10:25.280 um as is could be expected are starting to stabilize a little bit for the ucp as people

00:10:30.960 start to think about the alternative being an ndp government and my guess is if we get to april and

00:10:37.360 he's within you know 10 points or thereabouts five to ten points of the ndp he'll stack the vote and

00:10:44.960 and he'll be successful so um the question i still believe at the end of the day will fall upon the

00:10:51.280 existing mlas in the caucus whether led by brian gene or not led by brian gene to make the decision

00:10:58.720 of whether they are going to get rid of this premier or not because i don't think it's going

00:11:02.240 to happen through the leadership review danielle on that on that subject well i don't want to use

00:11:08.480 parliamentary unparliamentary language and get called out for it but i think there is a criminal

00:11:14.800 investigation into allegations of cheating that the premier was the beneficiary of i don't know

00:11:21.600 mr speaker if that would have passed muster in me putting it that way but but uh as many as 8 000

00:11:28.800 votes came in uh through um through means that were not entirely legal at the time now the question

00:11:35.360 is are they legal now because there was a bill that went forward in the legislature very last

00:11:40.000 bill voted on at the very last moment where you can now legally bulk buy up to 400 memberships

00:11:47.280 without even telling the person that you're buying memberships on their behalf. So I don't know if

00:11:51.840 that is setting the table for any future skullduggery or if it's just trying to paper over

00:11:57.960 some of the past skullduggery. But I don't think it's a very good look on the UCP that there's

00:12:03.000 this impression that cheating is rampant and that it's facilitated by new legislation coming

00:12:08.920 through. I don't think that that builds the party stature regardless of who is leader. I think it

00:12:14.940 just embeds in people's minds the idea that this UCP party sadly suffers from some of the same

00:12:22.220 ethical challenges as the old PC party, which was part of the reason for the Wild Rose in the first

00:12:26.380 place. Let's stay with this for a second then, Rob. Again, having a lawyer on the panel is always

00:12:32.180 a good thing. Bill 81 is, well, first of all, maybe some context for people that aren't really

00:12:37.020 overly familiar with it and political nerds like some of the rest of us. Effectively, as Daniel

00:12:42.380 said, passes a law that enables you to apply bulk memberships for people without them knowing

00:12:48.060 about it. What are your thoughts about on that? And have you heard much, much blowback in your

00:12:54.120 circles? Well, I don't think it's a huge issue for voters, to be honest. I disagree with it

00:13:01.180 on a very fundamental level. I think it makes Alberta look like a banana republic. It's brutal. 0.97

00:13:08.600 but you know people are more concerned about their Christmas plans and you know getting out

00:13:15.920 from under this COVID mess that we're in right now and then of course you're here you know this

00:13:21.680 yeah don't we all and and I think also they're they're worried about the economy and and a part

00:13:27.240 of that of course is the Alberta sovereignty issue and the attacks from Ottawa and so forth I just

00:13:32.120 think those are the the main issues and so I don't you know I think it's very untoward it's a very

00:13:38.120 unseemly. It promotes, as Danielle correctly said, skullduggery. And I want to thank her for

00:13:45.420 using that word so effectively so many times in that last segment. That was awesome. But I do

00:13:52.220 think there's other issues at play here. And I think until we see, you know, I just don't see

00:13:59.960 this being an issue that's going to move voters on or off the UCP. But what it will do is it'll

00:14:06.540 ensure that the Premier is well positioned to win the leadership review. So again, the only way this

00:14:12.440 is going to change, the only way Premier Kenney has shown the Dover for the 2023 election, which

00:14:18.620 that bill, by the way, also enshrined, it's going to be, I believe, in April of 2023, the next

00:14:24.000 election. If the Premier is going to leave before then, it's going to be at the hands of his caucus

00:14:28.380 and very unlikely to be at the hand of the members. Okay, so nobody's walking the plank

00:14:34.100 quite yet, but it could be in the near future to stay with our pirate theme.

00:14:39.720 Hey, let's mention something else that's going on in Fort McMurray. I'm sure you guys are aware

00:14:44.240 that Paul Hinman has announced with the Wildrose Independence Party his plan to run in Fort McMurray.

00:14:49.980 And I know Twitter isn't a great source of news, but Paul has been posting and seems to be getting

00:14:56.440 a lot of love in Fort McMurray. He's posting blocks of Paul Hinman signs, Wildrose Independent

00:15:01.880 signs. I mean, what do you make of it? Is it possible for Brian Jean to be upset there?

00:15:09.400 I suppose it will depend on whether he has to run as an independent or whether he wears the UCP

00:15:14.860 brand, whether the challenger to him, Joseph Gogo, I believe is his name, also puts his name

00:15:21.620 in the race. If you've got a multi-party split there and you also have the potential for the

00:15:27.720 NDP to run a strong candidate as well. You've got a multi-party split between three or four

00:15:33.660 conservative parties. There's always the potential that the NDP might win. I don't know how strong

00:15:39.660 that riding would go NDP, but there is also a chance that it could be an upset for Brian Jean.

00:15:45.920 I think Brian Jean would have the edge over either of those two candidates, though, having beat

00:15:51.360 his challenger in the UCP nomination, and then also with Paul Hinman not having the same

00:15:56.800 level of name recognition up in Fort McMurray as he would in Southern Alberta.

00:16:01.840 But the fact that he's, I went onto Twitter and looked at the latest video, it's seven signs in

00:16:07.640 a single cul-de-sac. So he obviously is touching a nerve up there. I don't know if it's the old

00:16:12.060 wild rose name that is drawing people to him, or if it's the independence in the name of his party

00:16:17.780 that's drawing people to him. But he might be worth an interview for you, Bruce. I think so.

00:16:22.160 i think it might be a couple of things um but rob first uh first your comments your thoughts

00:16:27.440 well paul hinman is no stranger to winning uh coming out of nowhere and winning by elections

00:16:33.840 so uh we know that firsthand from his experience in calgary glenmore um which uh i remember uh

00:16:43.200 very well and i'm sure that does too um but uh i wouldn't put it past him i i think it's an uphill

00:16:51.680 climb uh because i do think that they're again you've got a favorite son uh in fort mcmurray

00:16:58.560 it's going to be difficult to uh to you know to make a win there but i think i don't think

00:17:04.160 that's necessary for paul and the wild rose i think if they show well if they um you know get

00:17:10.080 20 of the vote 25 of the vote or higher uh that's going to show that perhaps they have

00:17:16.240 um some staying power some uh penetration into the electorate and um and into the consciousness

00:17:23.280 of people because that's the problem right now is people they've you know they're probably a

00:17:28.240 lot like the people here they've been through the civil war of wild rose and and and the pc or the

00:17:34.240 ucp and they a lot of people just don't want to go through that again they want conservatives to

00:17:38.880 stay together there that was not a great experience so if he can do well there then maybe

00:17:45.680 people's minds are changing and and are and and some of that base is actually ready for another

00:17:50.800 fight with the mainstream conservative part party in alberta let me pose this question to you guys

00:17:55.680 both then stay with paul handman for a second if he's going to the doors and he's he's just saying

00:18:01.440 to people and i think he'd be the only one saying it we're done with coat no more passports no more

00:18:08.720 vaccine mandates it's time to move on and do what mr desantis is doing in florida and move this

00:18:15.760 province forward if he just does that and i think that's what he's saying and i don't think brian

00:18:21.040 gene believes those things he's not saying much about it is he um so i think he probably agrees

00:18:27.120 with with the stance of our current premier so if he just does that then does he have a chance to

00:18:31.920 win up that well it's such a good a good point i remember in the glenmore campaign you know that

00:18:37.200 was the when he got that breakthrough again the wild rose had been locked out of the legislature

00:18:41.600 in the general election but his message at the door was send ed a message because ed stelmack

00:18:46.960 who was the premier at the time and the big issue at that time was the the royalty review um so i

00:18:52.240 think that there is some some benefit to having a nice simple message that would differentiate him

00:18:58.400 from the other candidates and you're quite right i mean brian gene i think i've heard him say and

00:19:02.000 seen interviews that he just believes that the premiers communicated poorly throughout the course

00:19:06.960 of COVID, but I don't think that he has any real disagreement on some of the measures that have

00:19:12.060 been taken. So that's a real point of departure for Paul Hinman, if that's what he's campaigning

00:19:17.100 on instead. Because look at what happened at the early part of this week. The premier announced

00:19:22.840 that he was going to ease up some of the restrictions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

00:19:26.260 held an emergency meeting of all the premiers. There was a big showdown that happened there.

00:19:31.500 and ultimately it sounds like the premier said people are not on board they've done the right

00:19:37.280 thing they've gone out and we have massive amounts of vaccination people are double backs many are

00:19:41.220 triple backs and you're telling them that we're going back to where we were last year it's not 0.96

00:19:45.100 going to fly so I think the premier is becoming more pragmatic and and if he can poke at that

00:19:49.420 in in Fort McMurray it could be the key for him to to get the breakthrough. Rob? Yeah I agree with

00:19:58.020 what danielle just said i think and what you what you've said bruce i think that those are key

00:20:02.720 issues that he that pinman can play into and the wild rose but i'll also note too that i believe

00:20:08.840 that this is the biggest weakness of brian gene and a lot of the reason why i don't know the

00:20:14.100 support is going to be there it might be one of those things where it's broad but very thin

00:20:19.340 because he has some name recognition but once people start looking into his policies they're

00:20:24.420 going to notice the similarity between his policies and the other two previous federal

00:20:29.720 politicians that came in to save Alberta, being Jim Frentis and Jason Kenney. And their position

00:20:38.140 on the sovereignty file, Alberta independence file, and the COVID issue hasn't been good.

00:20:46.200 Of course, I'm talking about Jason Kenney here. So if Gene doesn't differentiate himself from

00:20:52.080 Jason Kenney other than the trying to get the I hate Jason Kenney vote because he's a bad

00:20:57.860 communicator or something. I don't think that's going to get him far with the public and frankly

00:21:03.880 with the caucus. And that's the one thing I'm noticing here. I'm not sure how much support

00:21:08.580 Brian Jean has in the UCP caucus. There'll be some support there for sure. But again, I'm not

00:21:15.880 sure it's a lot. And I'm wondering how he plans to differentiate himself. If people think he's just

00:21:21.640 a kind of a left of center UCP member, how far is he going to get with regards to his leadership

00:21:29.920 aspirations? Well, I think for a lot of people, they're starting to get to the point with COVID

00:21:35.080 and it could become, it could become a one issue election for people. Like, can we just move past

00:21:43.720 all of this? We're watching on our TV screens. I wish we could probably in the future, future,

00:21:50.620 we're going to be able to pull up some video. We're working on some things technically. I should

00:21:53.280 mention that to you at home to try and bring some video to you as we discuss these things.

00:21:58.120 But we're seeing protests in the streets of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people around the

00:22:03.000 world over COVID. And even in Calgary, the protests are growing. The mainstream media

00:22:08.500 isn't touching it, to my point, to what I've seen. So maybe I'm beating a dead horse on the

00:22:16.500 point. But I'm just suggesting that, Danielle, that he could gain a lot of traction for him and

00:22:21.340 could if he took that if he took that. You know, I'm torn on that because I think I to this up until

00:22:27.740 this week, I'd agreed with you that it didn't seem like the mainstream media was was going to

00:22:32.540 give an alternative viewpoint. But I've seen editorial in Post Media, an editorial in the

00:22:37.580 Toronto Sun, Anthony Fury in the Toronto Sun. So central Canada newspapers all saying no way,

00:22:43.400 it's not going to fly if you think that you're going to lock people down over omicron it was

00:22:47.280 very interesting too the west jet fired employees for being on facts did a christmas ad advertisement

00:22:54.680 i think western i don't know if western standard has played that but it it it it showed as well i

00:23:01.020 think a play on because west jet always used to do these heartfelt ads at christmas time it was it

00:23:06.560 was pretty tough but then i saw that west jet today basically came out and said justin trudeau

00:23:10.480 no way should we be having travel restrictions. We did everything you asked us to. So I'm beginning

00:23:15.020 to see surprising level of pushback from some corners that had been very supportive of

00:23:20.920 restrictions in the past. So there may be, we may be at a point now where opinion is turning and

00:23:27.260 the premier is on the cutting edge of that because the premier seemed to be the guy who didn't do

00:23:32.460 enough and tried to balance lives and livelihoods too much. And he's being irresponsible by allowing

00:23:37.720 unvaccinated people to see their loved ones at Christmas time. I have a bit of sarcasm in my 0.75

00:23:42.520 voice as well, because I don't agree. I think he's finally making some moves in the right direction.

00:23:47.920 And so it may have be enough to turn the election on different issues. One more thing I'd say is

00:23:53.520 that I know that there's been some major advocacy, some self-organizing groups, a lot of parents who

00:23:58.700 are concerned about not wanting to vaccinate their young children. And they had a coordinated effort

00:24:03.720 on Monday at 10 a.m. to send emails to the premier and all of the decision makers on the

00:24:09.120 COVID advisory committee to make sure that they do not extend the state of emergency. I think I

00:24:14.200 heard 10,000 emails went in that day. So there is a bunch of advocacy that is happening. And it could

00:24:20.400 be that the premier is listening to that and realizing that his leadership is coming up in

00:24:24.340 a few months time. And if he continues to follow the same track that Doug Ford and others are,

00:24:28.580 it's not going to win him the election. Okay. To your point, Rob, as I throw it over to you,

00:24:33.720 I didn't hear anything about that in the mainstream media, about those 10,000 emails and those groups.

00:24:40.980 And I've yet to see, you know, and I'd be happy to admit I'm wrong with videos out there,

00:24:46.880 but these protests that we're talking about around the world, Austria in particular,

00:24:51.280 where there's, I don't know how many tens of thousands of people in the streets.

00:24:54.240 So we're not seeing as much of that as we might be.

00:24:58.180 Anyway, comment on that and I guess what Danielle has just said.

00:25:01.340 Well, I do think actually there is a turning of the tide here, and I think it's been done through grassroots organizations primarily.

00:25:11.100 I don't think it's been through the media, but I do see, like Daniela, I have noticed there's been a bit of a change in the tone.

00:25:17.900 I actually think the turning point may have been the push for the third vaccine.

00:25:22.620 um people are start the ruse is up i mean people following this know you know that natural immunity

00:25:30.400 is is far superior to vaccinations they know you know we know that um uh obviously uh if you're

00:25:38.160 vaccinated you can still very readily transmit uh the disease i mean just ask the calgary flames

00:25:44.660 like I mean it's it's it's unbelievable but people were were lied to for a long time

00:25:51.380 on purpose or told misinformation from I would say quote-unquote experts that perhaps didn't

00:25:59.200 maybe spoke too soon and so when they start seeing these things like all of a sudden

00:26:03.620 you know the the untruth that people can't spread this thing if they're vaccinated which of course

00:26:09.760 is completely untrue they're virtually uh spreading it like crazy right now and that this

00:26:15.040 was a crisis of the unvaccinated and of course that's not true because only 10 percent of the

00:26:19.440 population isn't vaccinated now um they're just fed up with it and and i think what you're going

00:26:25.260 to see is um a move now uh in this coming year towards um a post-pandemic world where people

00:26:33.580 are encouraged to stay home with their sick probably more of an emphasis on testing and

00:26:39.740 far less of an emphasis on mandatory vaccinations and lockdowns and so forth and the other piece too

00:26:47.020 is that these legal cases are now going through the courts you're seeing it in the united states

00:26:51.300 biden is losing decision after decision after decision regarding to his mandatory covet

00:26:58.240 pieces of legislation, not legislation pronouncements. But the same thing's happening

00:27:05.180 here. A lot of the cases that were started over the last six months, they're starting to hit the

00:27:09.920 courts now. And you're going to see, in my view, you're going to see employers and governments

00:27:16.200 start to back off here because there was overreach and it's clear and it's just a matter

00:27:20.840 they're going to try to backtrack so they don't have egg on their face. A lot of nodding there,

00:27:25.300 so i'll i'll give you some time i mean is there anything you want to you want to add

00:27:29.200 uh just that i think i think it'll be interesting to see whether the premier is going to end up

00:27:35.960 wearing some negativity associated with the reversals that the courts are going to advance

00:27:41.180 or if he's going to be seen to be at the cutting edge as the guy who kept on trying to fight against

00:27:45.740 some of the insanity that we've seen because that i think could could turn things for him

00:27:50.280 depending on how he navigates i mean the the tough part is that we we know we've got a respiratory

00:27:55.100 virus season that takes place around this time between December and March or April, there will

00:28:00.480 be a surge of cases. And we've already seen Rachel Notley with the opposition screaming that

00:28:06.120 unvaccinated people are allowed to be in social gatherings and the usual suspects saying that

00:28:13.620 the premier's being outrageous with some of the relaxation that he's doing. So there's going to

00:28:18.620 be the constant call from people to go harsher on lockdowns and how he navigates that I think is

00:28:23.680 going to determine what what happens when he puts his leadership to the vote in april i've heard it

00:28:28.720 said uh that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets boots on and uh i think what

00:28:36.080 i'm hearing from the two of you is that uh the boots may be coming on and um and maybe the

00:28:41.280 narrative is shifting that wouldn't be a bad thing um okay well we've got a a few minutes left um

00:28:47.520 robin i'm just going to put you on the spot listen you you authored a report the free alberta strategy

00:28:53.120 And I know you've been meeting with Albertans on that, trying to find a path forward to take some of our sovereignty back from Ottawa, some of the decision-making capabilities.

00:29:04.460 Tell us a little bit about how that's going and what your main message is with that and how it's being received.

00:29:10.060 It's been fantastic. And I know both of you are going to be on a town hall here in the near future.

00:29:16.520 So I'm really excited for that on this.

00:29:19.000 But we've been meeting with hundreds and hundreds of Albertans on these Zoom town halls.

00:29:24.720 It's a really effective way to get out to see a lot of people.

00:29:27.500 Danielle knows this well.

00:29:28.560 I see her on a few of those, too.

00:29:30.660 And, you know, I actually do believe that outside of COVID, this is the primary issue in Alberta right now.

00:29:38.500 And frankly, that the path to the premier's chair for for any current or prospective leadership candidate or leader is going to have to come to grips with the Alberta sovereignty issue.

00:29:53.380 And basically, the Free Alberta Strategy just advocates that Alberta declare itself a sovereign jurisdiction within the country of Canada, obviously within our country, and that it refused to enforce laws that are direct attacks on the people of Alberta and our provincial jurisdictional rights.

00:30:11.760 so that we will not use provincial powers, provincial agencies to enforce, for example, 0.91

00:30:17.060 the carbon tax or an idiotic legislation like it that attacks our province. 0.99

00:30:21.580 So, so far, so good. 1.00

00:30:23.080 It's going great.

00:30:23.800 We just started in September, but there is clear appetite for something that is not separation,

00:30:31.140 but is not the status quo.

00:30:33.420 And I think this threads the needle and so far, so good.

00:30:36.760 Good.

00:30:37.320 Staying with the subject, Danielle, we had the referendum.

00:30:39.360 what becomes of the result of the referendum on equalization?

00:30:44.700 Albertans clearly said, look, we feel as if we're getting the shaft

00:30:47.700 and we want it to change.

00:30:48.900 What does the Premier do with that from here?

00:30:51.900 I'm surprised that he hasn't followed the path of Scott Moe.

00:30:55.060 When Francois Legault announced that Quebec was a nation within a nation

00:30:58.120 and everyone said, yeah, sure, no problem,

00:31:00.360 falling all over themselves to agree, Scott Moe did the same.

00:31:03.420 And Saskatchewan said, you know what, we're a nation within a nation too.

00:31:06.180 Why wouldn't the Premier use the equalization referendum

00:31:08.760 to announce the same thing and be walking in lockstep with scott moe and in partnership and

00:31:13.080 trying to figure out a way to counterbalance the west with the east if you look at what's really

00:31:17.720 interesting yeah and to rob's point that when you when you get past covet the premier still has

00:31:23.080 substantial problems and he's exactly right it is around this issue we have faced assault after

00:31:28.520 assault after assault from ottawa the the fact that we have an openly antagonistic environment

00:31:34.600 Minister in Stephen Gilbeau, who scaled the CN Tower to oppose fossil fuel development, who came

00:31:41.200 into Calgary a couple of weeks ago and told people, hey, you know, I'm an activist, live with it. This

00:31:45.980 is just the way I am, knowing that he wants to completely shut down our fossil fuel industry.

00:31:51.220 And why haven't we declared, no, sorry, we're not going to put our oil sands development in your

00:31:56.040 jurisdiction or our SAGD development in your jurisdiction or a pathway forward to try to get

00:32:00.820 to net zero in your jurisdiction. This is all within our purview. So I think the reason why

00:32:05.360 Scott Moe continues to enjoy a high level of popular support, even though his COVID decisions

00:32:10.820 haven't really been all that much different than the premiers, is because he's really captured

00:32:15.140 that Saskatchewanians care a lot about them. And he's responded to them in a clear way,

00:32:20.700 in a way that unfortunately the premier has not. Okay. We're tight on time. So let's finish with

00:32:27.020 this. Let's finish where we started, frankly. All right. Brian Jean is the candidate for the UCP

00:32:34.280 in Fort McMurray-Laklavish. We know Paul Hinman's up there. We've got a leadership

00:32:39.080 vote coming up for the Premier in April. Rob, we'll start with you. What do you think we can

00:32:46.000 expect ahead here in the next year in Alberta politics? Where do you see it going?

00:32:49.440 Oh, I'm sure it's going to be really boring, right? No, I mean, it's going to be

00:32:55.320 another unprecedented

00:32:57.040 year. Alberta, actually, it's funny

00:32:59.920 because we have these periods of

00:33:01.820 uninterrupted governance, but

00:33:03.400 boy, there's sure a lot of fireworks even

00:33:05.640 with a lot of intrigue within those

00:33:07.920 long periods. So

00:33:09.620 I expect you're going to see a lot

00:33:11.960 of controversy. I think the Premier's

00:33:13.840 going to survive April 9th,

00:33:15.820 but will he survive

00:33:17.520 his caucus? That's very much up

00:33:19.720 in the air. I think the Premier

00:33:21.460 has a decision to make

00:33:23.140 on COVID.

00:33:25.320 And whether he's going to take the DeSantis approach or whether he's going to go back to this left of center, government knows best lockdown approach or and also on the sovereignty file.

00:33:42.220 If he, for example, the Free Alberta strategy, he needs to get on top of this file.

00:33:49.020 He said he doesn't want to separate.

00:33:50.740 OK, if that's your position, great.

00:33:53.380 Here is a strategy.

00:33:54.460 here's a way to make Alberta sovereign within Canada like Scott Moe has declared Saskatchewan

00:34:00.980 to be and I think it will give him an opportunity to reconnect of his base if he doesn't reconnect

00:34:07.500 with his base on the COVID file and the sovereignty file we're going to have an NDP government one way

00:34:14.480 or the other in 2023 and that's that's a problem unless there's a leadership or vote and leadership

00:34:20.380 or a new leadership vote, and the new leader is able to reconnect with the base that way.

00:34:28.000 Okay. Closing thoughts, Danielle?

00:34:29.860 Well, I really do think that this is a year where the conservative movement could just

00:34:35.520 shatter apart in a multitude of pieces, and then the UCP brand is dead. I mean, how do you,

00:34:41.500 if you end up losing the election and you've got multiple parties on the right,

00:34:44.780 how do you call yourself the United Conservative Party anymore? And so this really is not just

00:34:49.960 you know, a challenge for the premiers, an existential challenge for the conservative

00:34:54.120 movement, because the three of us have done quite a bit of work on trying to build a party from

00:34:59.780 the outside in. And it's really hard to do, because when you have all of those pieces shattered,

00:35:05.000 then you can get branded in a certain way that makes it really difficult to win over support

00:35:09.840 in the two major cities in Calgary and Edmonton. And so that's what I see as the potential for this

00:35:14.480 to unfold, is that if you end up with a Brian Jean-led 87-members strong alternative, or you

00:35:21.900 also have Paul Hinman at the same time running the Wild Rose as an alternative, and you've got

00:35:25.780 Drew Barnes running 41 candidates as an alternative, that's a scenario that Rachel

00:35:31.400 Nutley wins under. So unless the Premier can turn things around, become the obvious choice to

00:35:36.200 consolidate that Conservative vote, it's not going to look good in 2023. We have covered a lot of

00:35:41.600 ground this evening. Danielle, Rob, thank you. Great discussion. Appreciate your time. Always

00:35:46.280 good to see you. Yep. Good to see you too, Bruce. Rob, see you. All right. Danielle Smith and Rob

00:35:51.200 Anderson joining us on the panel uncensored here on the Western Standard. We are likely to take a

00:35:57.280 little break off for Christmas and be back here in the new year. We look forward to seeing you

00:36:01.300 then. Thank you for being with us tonight.

00:36:11.600 You

Western Standard - December 17, 2021

Uncensored： What's going on in Conservative Country？

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