Western Standard - Unchecked federalism is sinking Nenshi’s NDP

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Good day, welcome to the Cory Morgan Show.

00:00:32.260 I've got a new backdrop for today.

00:00:34.740 Unfortunately, not as scenic as I wanted it to be.

00:00:37.480 I'm still down in the States.

00:00:38.940 I'm actually in southern Arizona, right near the Mexican border.

00:00:42.540 And this washed-out whiteness behind me was showing a beautiful desert scene

00:00:47.100 from outside of my fifth wheel.

00:00:48.680 I was going to be camped outside for this show,

00:00:50.900 but the wind is just blowing like all get-out out there.

00:00:54.960 So I figure you guys want to be able to hear me while the show is going on.

00:00:59.700 so i'm doing it from inside the comfort of the fifth wheel and uh it won't impact the rest of

00:01:04.660 our content for the day we still got a lot to cover and a good time to be had uh so in a little

00:01:09.800 while i'm gonna have uh chris scott on he's the owner of the whistle stop campaign cafe in mirror

00:01:15.940 and he uh spoke at a meeting for the british columbia prosperity project yes the independence

00:01:22.360 movement is spreading out to bc now that's going to be a good conversation think about that i'll

00:01:27.100 talk about making federalists sweat multiple provinces are getting independence movements

00:01:31.300 going now and uh well the opponents to it don't really know what to do about and that kind of

00:01:36.380 brings me into what i want to talk about to kind of kick things off today so the the ucp under

00:01:41.300 premier daniel smith i mean they've offered up a lot of errors that an adept opposition party

00:01:47.020 could have taken advantage of i mean the alberta health services procurement scandal should have

00:01:51.600 been gold for the ndp who oppose any form of health care reform or private contracting yet

00:01:56.620 couldn't get the issue to grow legs internal caucus discontent led two ucp mlas to finding

00:02:01.980 themselves sitting as independent members but the ndp couldn't manage to widen those cracks of

00:02:06.220 division on the budgetary front the ucps posted deficits which could have given the opposition

00:02:12.140 space to campaign upon fiscal responsibility but they failed to do so i mean also we've had legacy

00:02:18.540 media left-leaning pundits carrying as much water for ninchy's ndp as they could they accused smith

00:02:24.300 of banning books when pornography was removed from children's libraries and they claimed the

00:02:29.180 children's lives would be put at risk if boys were prevented from participating in girls sports

00:02:34.060 they pumped the tires for disgraced former mla lukasic's forever canadian petition stunt

00:02:39.660 and lent false credibility to the union-inspired blurry of recall initiatives filed against over 20

00:02:45.580 mlas lukasic's petitions all but forgotten and the recall efforts are failing dismally

00:02:51.620 Nahed Nenshi has led the NDP now since June of 2024.

00:02:55.400 He's held a seat in the legislature since June of 2025,

00:02:58.760 and he sat as the leader of the opposition for a full fall session now.

00:03:02.580 This should be the honeymoon phase for a fresh new opposition leader.

00:03:06.620 If there's any time for the NDP to gain ground,

00:03:08.900 it would be during Nenshi's first couple of years in office,

00:03:12.300 and the results are in.

00:03:14.060 It's looking pretty dismal for Nenshi and the Democratic Socialists of the NDP.

00:03:18.960 A Leger poll conducted between January 23rd and 26th found the UCP just climbing in the polls

00:03:23.900 while the NDP are sinking. The Smith government commands 50% of support compared to 37% for

00:03:29.680 Ninchy's struggling party, and seat projections based on the latest numbers indicate the NDP

00:03:33.420 would lose several urban seats if an election were held today. People are voting with their

00:03:37.940 wallets too. The UCP raised $9.3 million in 2025, while the NDP garnered $6.3 million. I mean,

00:03:44.740 And it's not peanuts, but it's well below the UCP.

00:03:48.220 Union rage over the back-to-work order for teachers didn't translate into party donations.

00:03:53.060 I guess a 12% raise wasn't enough to encourage Alberta's woe-begotten educators to open their wallets and fund the NDP.

00:04:00.880 So the NDP being granted so much opportunity, what's holding them back aside from Nenshi's lack of charm?

00:04:06.900 Well, the answer is federalism.

00:04:09.000 Not so much that the NDP should be embracing secessionism, but that they don't appear to be a party willing to stand up to Ottawa and Alberta's behalf.

00:04:17.780 I mean, unity has been a top issue since the last federal election when the Liberals were kept in power.

00:04:23.360 The Alberta independence movement has blossomed.

00:04:25.500 And while there might not be a majority support for provincial independence, it's all but assured a referendum on the issue is going to be held this fall.

00:04:32.180 But not Albertans want to vote for independence.

00:04:34.080 They do see Ottawa and the Liberal government as the greatest threat to Alberta's well-being right now.

00:04:39.200 They want to feel confidence that the Premier of Alberta will put Alberta first.

00:04:43.720 And Nenshi just can't provide that confidence.

00:04:46.440 The NDP under Rachel Notley's premiership was tight with former Prime Minister Trudeau.

00:04:50.860 In fact, Notley even appeared a little besotted with him during public appearances together.

00:04:55.420 Nenshi was only a little less doe-eyed while attending events with Trudeau, while he was Calgary's mayor.

00:05:00.940 While Trudeau is thankfully ridden off into the sunset to pursue pop stars,

00:05:05.200 the hangover from his tenure remains in Alberta,

00:05:07.960 and those closely associated with him are not well received by Alberta voters.

00:05:13.340 Carney might be brighter than Trudeau,

00:05:15.020 but he's still perceived by Albertans to be somebody to be guarded against,

00:05:18.680 and the NDP just doesn't inspire confidence on that front.

00:05:22.540 Alberta's NDP is also still subservient to the federal party,

00:05:26.500 despite their decoupling of memberships between branches of the party.

00:05:29.100 When push comes to shove,

00:05:30.320 Nancy still has to answer to the federal leader of the NDP, according to their party constitution.

00:05:35.340 Singh's complete capitulation to Trudeau in Parliament showed where the federal NDP stand on that front.

00:05:40.340 Premier Smith has masterfully played both sides, actually, when it comes to the independence movement in Alberta.

00:05:45.200 She constantly reiterates she wants Alberta to remain within Canada,

00:05:49.400 but has provided and supported the mechanism for triggering an independence referendum.

00:05:53.480 Now, Smith can make demands of the federal government and point to the growth and the support for independence

00:05:58.440 when the feds shoot those demands down. 0.71

00:06:00.180 She hasn't put herself into the sovereignist camp, but has successfully placed herself in the role as a key defender of Alberta.

00:06:06.960 Nietzsche is never going to gain ground, and unless he can convince Albertans, he'll put the interest of Alberta before the federal government.

00:06:14.300 And that's a tall order for a man who tied himself that tightly to the Trudeau regime.

00:06:17.720 He's going to have to find a way to distance himself from his staunch federalism while not appearing a sympathetic course to the independence movement, and that's probably impossible for him to do.

00:06:26.340 Unless Ninchy can figure it out, though, the UCP is going to continue to gain support no matter how many political gifts they offer to the NDP.

00:06:33.640 So that's kind of a bright news story to kick off things today.

00:06:36.060 Let's see what else is going on in the news out there.

00:06:37.980 Check in with our news editor, Dave Naylor, who's in the confines of the newsroom there.

00:06:43.520 Hey, how's it going, Dave?

00:06:44.540 Good, Corey, even though you are a great disappointment to me.

00:06:48.540 How am I disappointed this time?

00:06:50.100 you promised me a table with you on it with open desert you sitting there in a tinfoil hat

00:06:57.140 for this show no and you wanted to deliver you're now sitting in the the bathroom of your uh your

00:07:05.040 fifth wheel i mean this is the living room but yes i have disappointed on that front on the bright

00:07:10.680 side i got you a fridge magnet yesterday oh did you from where yes uh from uh organ pipe uh national

00:07:17.080 monument down by the mexican border oh very cool thank you very much and it makes up a little for

00:07:22.500 the table yeah when you're uh when you're coming back through uh through the border next week

00:07:27.620 you know think of me at the duty-free shop because i know you don't know afraid not it's wasted on

00:07:33.000 me these days yeah getting excited for the olympics start on friday well you know i like watching the

00:07:39.340 ski jumping we had a few things but i can't you know it's not like the olympics used to be you

00:07:43.380 Don't just set aside that time and expect to watch it all anymore.

00:07:47.080 I don't know.

00:07:47.760 I do.

00:07:48.060 I love it.

00:07:48.620 I love it.

00:07:49.160 I can't get enough of it.

00:07:50.800 How close did you come to qualifying for the Olympic ski jumping team?

00:07:54.820 Oh, not even vaguely close.

00:07:56.660 The nice part of being a ski jumper in the 80s, though, is there's still only so many ski jumpers.

00:08:01.600 And with all that hype, with the Olympics coming to Calgary back in 88, we all kind of got overpromoted and overfunded for a little while.

00:08:08.800 So I was in the right place at the right time.

00:08:10.340 But to be frank, with my own talent as a ski jumper, I was only kind of middling at best.

00:08:15.800 Yeah, well, you got to see a bit of the world for free anyways, right?

00:08:18.540 Oh, yeah.

00:08:20.240 Anyways, extremely busy news day today here.

00:08:23.540 Corey, I'll just give you a brief rundown.

00:08:26.080 We've got breaking news.

00:08:27.280 It looks like the federal government is going to back down on their EV mandate.

00:08:32.080 That's up there from our business whiz, Dave Winnick.

00:08:36.920 We've got a story on Paul's, a very popular Airdrie pizza joint.

00:08:43.420 They have made their location available to sign the independence petition.

00:08:48.260 And that has caused a stir, both pro and con.

00:08:53.220 So you can read about that one there.

00:08:55.580 We've got your favorite guy, Nahid Nenshi, telling Daniel Smith to stop her word salad and to pick a side in the referendum.

00:09:06.260 And we've got Trudeau, or sorry, not Trudeau, I can't get him out of my mind. Carney has abolished the offices of the Islamophobia czar and the anti-Semitism czar, and he's going to mix them all and put them all under one big tent.

00:09:23.780 So that would be a fun place to work.

00:09:28.620 Calgarian Tate McRae, singing superstar, is creating some controversy

00:09:35.100 because she appeared in an ad for the American Olympic team. 0.98

00:09:39.480 So there's some people questioning why she would do that.

00:09:44.180 There was a bloodbath today, Corey, at the Washington Post.

00:09:47.240 They laid off a third of their staff, a ton of overseas people,

00:09:52.200 all their photojournalists, so it wasn't a good day to be working there.

00:09:58.380 The Epstein files appear close to toppling the Prime Minister, believe it or not.

00:10:02.760 The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in hot water over the fact he appointed a gentleman called Peter Mandelson

00:10:10.700 to become U.S. Ambassador, even though Starmer knew about the deep connections Mandelson had with Epstein.

00:10:19.680 and one you'll probably be all too familiar with, Corey, stray dogs on Indian reserves.

00:10:27.220 The Blood Nation in southern Alberta has had to declare a state of emergency

00:10:31.540 because of roaming packs of feral dogs attacking people.

00:10:36.660 So not a good situation down there.

00:10:38.800 So all that and more, Corey, on our website this lunch hour.

00:10:44.520 Right on.

00:10:45.180 Well, you're not struggling to find content, as you said.

00:10:47.820 And I guess it's just a matter of picking what stands out most.

00:10:51.800 I imagine you're pumped for the game this Sunday?

00:10:55.820 Yes.

00:10:56.540 Yes, I am.

00:10:57.420 I could say I'm quietly confident.

00:11:00.700 I think our defense is better.

00:11:03.740 I think our quarterback is better.

00:11:06.160 And we've got the best receiver in football.

00:11:08.500 So I think it should be a comfortable 14-point victory.

00:11:12.900 We'll see.

00:11:14.360 I've got to admit, I prefer the Seahawks over the Patriots.

00:11:17.060 I'm trying to pull a little bit of optimism for my beleaguered Steelers right now,

00:11:22.300 though both of those teams that are in the playoffs now did so after getting new coaches.

00:11:27.880 So maybe that's what will help the Steelers along next year.

00:11:31.540 Yeah, but they hired good winning coaches, not a Dallas Cowboy coach.

00:11:35.960 Well, no, they took that fellow from the Titans there, what's his name again,

00:11:39.120 and brought him to the Patriots.

00:11:41.980 Like I said, I'm grasping, but I've got to look forward to next year.

00:11:47.060 Yeah, before that, Corey, we've got a Battle of Alberta at the Saddle Dome tonight, so that will keep us excited.

00:11:54.420 All right. Well, I'll let you get back to it, Dave.

00:11:56.780 Thank you for the update, and I will endeavor to be at a more scenic location for you next week.

00:12:01.440 There you go. Looking forward to it.

00:12:03.360 Right on. Thanks.

00:12:04.520 So that is our news editor, Dave Naylor, and yeah, the stories are popping up.

00:12:08.180 Everything from the international to the local to the national.

00:12:12.740 And just where I got to remind everybody, the reason we can do that is because you've subscribed.

00:12:17.780 This is a user-supported media outlet.

00:12:20.880 This keeps us accountable to you.

00:12:22.420 If you haven't subscribed yet, guys, take one out.

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00:12:27.600 Take advantage of that volume discount, right?

00:12:29.780 And it gets you past the paywall, supports Dave, the other Dave, all the folks we got in the newsroom there, Leah, and our folks across the country.

00:12:38.200 We've got somebody in Toronto now.

00:12:40.300 we've got some you know we've had jared working hard out in bc that's because you guys have

00:12:44.240 subscribed so thank you very much for subscribing and if you haven't yet get on there western

00:12:47.720 standard dot news slash subscription take one out or buy one as a gift for someone else who

00:12:52.460 could use a little enlightenment uh another reminder i'm going to say they remind you at

00:12:56.440 the end of the show too but i want to mention it now we're going to have the ability to have live

00:13:01.120 callers coming in on the show starting two weeks from now we'll put the number out and we'll

00:13:05.160 advertise that a little later but you'll be able to call in live and we'll be able to chat a bit

00:13:09.960 on this show a little more like talk radio style of the past we'll see how that goes i'm looking

00:13:13.960 forward to it'll be fun engaging you guys i know there's the comment section which by the way i i

00:13:18.440 can't see as well with my setup right now as i typically do but there'll still be comments and

00:13:23.040 you'll be able to call in and take part in the show directly uh so let's see i got a couple

00:13:28.800 minutes before my next guest so you know i i want to mention it's interesting to hear about paul's

00:13:32.360 pizza and the name of the owner that is kind of escaping me but he's a very non-woke person and

00:13:37.560 he got into a lot of uh you know the usual blowback and everything for being a little too

00:13:44.360 candid with his thoughts on instagram and facebook i think in the past so of course the the hordes

00:13:49.960 came out and screamed and called for boycotts of his business and everything else and i'm not lying

00:13:54.200 by the way i've gone to the paul's pizza and there's a few of them his main one's kind of

00:13:57.080 an area i think uh or north calgary but there's one in the south it is really good pizza but it's

00:14:02.920 really a gamble when you do mix your politics with your business uh in general it's just it's

00:14:11.080 up to the owner you know power to them if they want to go that route i'm not sure if it's always

00:14:17.800 the best idea but it's certainly up to him but you know it can be uh it can really cut into your

00:14:22.680 sales it can really make for headaches and uh my guest who's going to be coming on in a moment

00:14:27.320 chris scott did the same sort of thing of course with his whistle stop cafe and mirror in fact he

00:14:33.080 made a very huge principled stand uh i don't know how well it worked out for his business but it

00:14:37.880 certainly made him a nationally known person who stands on his principles and stood up against

00:14:43.000 being shut down you know they've illegalized his ability to serve people food during the pandemic

00:14:48.840 uh but he wasn't afraid i guess to mix the business with the politics it's always a gamble

00:14:53.080 so uh if chris in the lobby we'll bring him in and he'll have a chat though because we're talking about

00:14:57.320 the BC Prosperity Project, who have held a founding meeting in Campbell River on Vancouver

00:15:06.720 Island. And Chris was the guest speaker there. I can't see the lobby with this set up right now,

00:15:13.540 so I'm not sure if Chris is there. Hopefully he is. And if he isn't, well, he'll be pulled into

00:15:18.300 the show. Ah, there he goes. Okay, right on. So how's it going, Chris? Good. How are you, Corey?

00:15:24.320 Oh, excellent.

00:15:25.720 As I was saying, I was thrilled to hear, you know,

00:15:29.100 just not only that they're organizing,

00:15:31.160 but that you took the time to go out and speak to this,

00:15:34.740 I guess you could say founding group

00:15:36.380 for the British Columbia Prosperity Project

00:15:38.440 out in Campbell River.

00:15:39.680 How did that go?

00:15:41.340 It was awesome.

00:15:42.200 And just so you know,

00:15:43.120 it wasn't just that that got me out here.

00:15:44.640 My grandparents, they still live in Campbell River.

00:15:46.820 They're 93 and 94.

00:15:48.280 And I'm always trying to find a reason

00:15:49.480 to get away from my busy life to visit.

00:15:50.900 so when i saw that the founding meeting for the british columbia prosperity project was in the

00:15:56.340 city i was born in camel river uh where my family still is it was uh hey we're leaving in two days

00:16:02.100 going to the island and and here we are oh perfect so you're in the right place at the right time

00:16:06.820 i remember uh going fishing uh painter through painters lodge with guided salmon fishing out

00:16:11.220 there man it's some of the best in the world uh i can't afford that thing anymore but

00:16:15.460 But well, that's excellent.

00:16:17.580 So, I mean, it's just something people don't think of, but they forget that, you know, aside from lower mainland B.C., British Columbians are Western Canadians and they aren't all as thrilled with Ottawa as some people might imagine.

00:16:30.640 Well, you know, the rationale for independence in Alberta is the same as rationale for independence in British Columbia.

00:16:37.800 It's all about self-determination.

00:16:38.480 determination. We're subject to the same constitutional, you know, systemic issues that

00:16:44.120 put us in a position where our voices just don't really carry much weight in Ottawa.

00:16:49.580 And, you know, even the lower mainland, look what's happened in the lower mainland in the last 30,

00:16:53.420 40 years. The government has allowed speculative investment to drive up real estate prices in the

00:16:59.840 lower mainland so far that, you know, nobody can afford it anymore. It's absolutely insane. So

00:17:04.780 there is a the self-determination um that we're all lacking in western canada is a common denominator

00:17:10.860 yeah well i like to regularly remind people who you know might not be political weenies like me

00:17:16.340 or as old as me is to remember in the late 80s and the early 90s lower mainland bc actually had

00:17:22.440 a lot of conservative strength there were a lot of reform party members who were just a western

00:17:27.520 canadian party at that time and they were holding seats out in the vancouver area and down in that

00:17:33.900 part of the world. Like, it's just a matter, I think, of organization. I mean, when people are

00:17:37.820 hurting, as you said, with housing prices and everything else going on, you know, we shouldn't

00:17:41.720 write off the potential for support down there, lower mainland BC. Right. And even going back a

00:17:47.680 little further, you know who Elmer Knutson is, Corey. Elmer Knutson had pretty successful

00:17:53.860 meetings in Vancouver, on Vancouver Island, and in other places in British Columbia in the early

00:17:58.920 80s prior to the repatriation of the constitution and that was because you know British Columbia

00:18:04.440 just like Alberta has has largely felt um you know unheard by Ottawa and it's frustrating to be

00:18:12.000 taken taken along for the ride and not have any real input as to where you're where you're going

00:18:19.440 um you know so it's not it's not even a new conversation it's just renewed because of the

00:18:24.580 success Alberta's having in pursuing their self-determination. Yeah, well, and Saskatchewan's

00:18:29.700 been taken off excellently with the Saskatchewan Prosperity Project. I like how these are

00:18:33.480 independent, you know, units forming in different provinces, and the Parti Quebecois is resurging a

00:18:39.380 bit, and they're doing it on an unabashedly independence platform. They're campaigning

00:18:45.460 on holding a referendum this fall. Do you think the Federation is finally perhaps reaching its

00:18:50.480 its end days like it just can't seem to hold it together we got cracks forming all over from from

00:18:55.640 east to west now you know it may be um canada has been referred to as an experiment by by many people

00:19:03.280 including federalists and if you look at the outcome of the experiment which is canada it was

00:19:10.080 supposed to be the idea was supposed to be that we could unify under a common banner and prosper

00:19:15.840 together um but as we've as we found out specifically as western canadians you know

00:19:21.760 our values aren't all the same we don't particularly want to go to the same place i mean alberta most

00:19:26.640 british columbia saskatchewan probably manitoba they don't particularly want to usher in the new

00:19:30.960 world order it's just not who we are as people so you know when when your values diverge in ways

00:19:38.320 as they have across canada uh it only makes sense that your governance has to follow like

00:19:45.600 who we can't be governed under the same rules as those that we have a different

00:19:51.760 destination than us it's just a recipe for a disaster and that's the outcome we're seeing

00:19:55.680 now with the uh canadian experiment well that's it and i mean nothing less i at least i've said

00:20:01.280 the massive constitutional reform is going to change and undo this and we saw with beach lake

00:20:06.240 charlatan we can't even get relatively minor constitutional reform done so this isn't going

00:20:11.200 going to happen i mean the only capitalist i could see for constitutional reform is a province having

00:20:15.820 a positive referendum vote right and that's that's where i was uh even just a maybe a year and a half

00:20:22.620 ago cory i was a hey we need the leverage to amend the constitution and fix these things so that

00:20:27.640 the canadian tattoo tattooed or flag tattooed on my back makes sense but i've come to realize you

00:20:33.560 know uh our voices aren't effective enough even if we did get a constitutional convention even if

00:20:38.540 we did open it and do some amendments um i fear that right now with a prime minister like mark

00:20:43.460 carney who who wrote in his book values how um you know the the ordinary person has to give up

00:20:49.840 rights and freedoms in order for us to survive you know a guy who hates capitalism and and hates

00:20:55.100 energy use if we opened and tried to amend the constitution right now and people that have those

00:21:00.340 type of types of values have a stronger voice than us what would we end up with i doubt it would be

00:21:05.620 anything better or more equitable. I think on the contrary, it would be, it would be worse.

00:21:11.400 So getting back to the British Columbia meeting, I think I saw reports, you know, that's not

00:21:17.080 that unexpected. There were a few hecklers in attendance or protesters outside or something

00:21:21.660 of the sort. Yeah, they're, you know, they're perfectly nice people. I, on my way in, I,

00:21:27.100 I stopped and kind of interjected in a few conversations and it was the same kind of

00:21:32.480 things that we hear um all across the board the very first thing i heard was oh alberta oh a bunch

00:21:39.180 of hillbilly whatever they said and i turned to him i said listen you know that's exactly why

00:21:43.920 we're leaving is because of things like this we're completely disrespected within confederation

00:21:49.040 uh alberta stands up to to do something on their own and immediately they're just name called and

00:21:54.320 stuff and so that was my first my first thing the second one was i asked the question you know why

00:22:00.080 is it that you want to be part of canada why is it that you want to stay under these rules and i got

00:22:04.560 the same things like oh canada is the best on the world stage we have the largest uh we have we have

00:22:09.280 great gdp uh we're a safe haven for lgbtq people and and the list went on and on with some more

00:22:16.080 ideological things we even got into some conversations about the tanker ban and uh you

00:22:21.360 know the protesters were saying well you well you don't care about uh the the hundreds of first

00:22:26.480 nations groups on the coast that will be destroyed and i'm like what do you mean will be destroyed

00:22:30.560 you know there's there's no evidence to support what you're saying so what i found was the the

00:22:35.360 20 maybe 25 people out there there's quite a few and kudos to them it was raining and they still

00:22:39.260 came out their arguments against the idea of independence or self-governance are all at least

00:22:45.600 in my opinion seem to be quite emotionally driven and less factual and that's what we're finding in

00:22:50.740 alberta too yeah no and it's an emotional thing i've talked about that in past things or even

00:22:56.660 wrote about it you know that we can't dismiss the emotional attachment to the federation either

00:23:01.420 emotions or what drive people to vote yes or no or this way or that way so we we have to approach

00:23:07.100 them with reason even if they if they get us a little grumpy sometimes um getting aside from

00:23:13.180 them though uh how about with the the local people who did come out so that this is starting the

00:23:19.140 core like was there a good group uh organized volunteers signed up so this could spread and

00:23:23.860 and turn into the kind of movement the app has yeah so it's uh it's grassroots completely new

00:23:31.320 in its infancy that's my grandpa he's uh almost 100 he's 94 years old this year can you believe

00:23:36.820 that right on um it's uh it's a it's a group of concerned british colombians and there was

00:23:43.580 actually some people from Alberta in the room that was pretty neat who are understand that the

00:23:49.680 the patriotism and the emotional feelings that keep us attached to Canada are quickly being

00:23:55.020 overcome with the reality that even British Columbia needs to do something different so we

00:23:59.700 have a voice uh it was uh it reminded me about the the infancy of the Alberta prosperity project

00:24:07.240 you know back in 2021 when we met in a shop in uh in Nisku under cover of darkness for fear of

00:24:13.200 being arrested. Very similar to that. So I would think that over the next few months, we're going

00:24:18.340 to see a lot of people volunteer. As the movement grows, people will be emboldened so that they

00:24:24.000 feel free to share their opinions unabashedly about British Columbia independence. And we're

00:24:29.400 going to see that. And I think the independence movements across Western Canada, they're going

00:24:36.340 to embolden each other. When Alberta has, we get our numbers and we get our referendum, that's going 0.96

00:24:42.460 to get people talking to british columbia and saskatchewan so the the ideas are becoming

00:24:46.580 commonplace and mainstream uh the the stigma of you know in of of separation is being reduced

00:24:54.980 and the conversations are are changing and that i think that's really important

00:24:58.760 yeah so they've got kind of a a lot of organization ahead of them like i said it's great to see the

00:25:03.900 beginning so i imagine that their plan is to spread out get more regional chapters kind of

00:25:09.160 get a more of a central organization things like that going and they'll have to and it seems pretty

00:25:14.160 unlikely with the eb government but try to determine a path where they can get citizens

00:25:18.820 initiated referendum legislation uh from their provincial government like it it's things will

00:25:25.540 have to change somewhat dramatically but i mean the time to start organizing for that is right now

00:25:28.840 yeah that's true and you know one thing that uh it actually surprised me when our premier in

00:25:34.840 Alberta, Danielle Smith, she said, well, you know, if you can't do a referendum through the government,

00:25:39.420 you can do it through the people. It doesn't have to be through government. Governments are

00:25:43.040 secondary to the will of the people. Governments are supposed to serve the will of the people.

00:25:47.020 And our premier in Alberta, she believes in that strongly. So she said, if you want to do something

00:25:52.160 like this and government's not cooperating, what do you do? You mobilize, get the numbers,

00:25:56.160 you build the movement, you get the signatures in a petition drive, and then you have it audited by

00:26:00.680 an accounting firm presented to government. That's a legitimate path as well. In Alberta,

00:26:05.440 we have the benefit of the Citizen Initiative Act, which allows us to compel government to do it. But

00:26:10.580 you know, uncooperative government should never be able to override the will of the people.

00:26:17.660 No, and in the end, when people get upset enough, things change. I can see a potential

00:26:23.300 time bomb in the United States, lower mainland, or in the United States, in British Columbia,

00:26:28.500 in the lower mainland bc and throughout with uh david eby's drippa you know which is the thing

00:26:34.260 from the united nations uh declaration of rights for indigenous people and how it applied to

00:26:39.740 property rights and now it sounds like some people's fee simple held property may be actually

00:26:47.260 at risk uh due to some pretty well in my view absurd claims but when you've lost the land

00:26:53.520 doesn't matter how absurd it is if we start seeing a situation where people are actually

00:26:57.820 losing their homes and businesses over this i got a feeling the temperature in british columbia is

00:27:02.560 going to change very dramatically very fast yeah that's true but there's another side of that as

00:27:07.940 well and it's very concerning there's a large group of people in british columbia and across

00:27:13.340 canada that have been made to believe that their own existence is shameful and they carry so much

00:27:19.760 guilt that they should allow these things and that all came out of the uh you know the 215 hoax out

00:27:24.200 of Kamloops, which is rapidly unraveling, but the damage was done. It actually convinced people

00:27:29.360 that they needed to sacrifice their future and their children's future. And, you know, just

00:27:34.580 ignore the idea of personal property or anything like that in order to satisfy some debt that was

00:27:41.120 incurred, you know, hundreds of years ago by people they have nothing to do with. And that's,

00:27:48.720 you know, that's something else. And we're not talking just of people that don't have anything

00:27:53.140 that believe in this like we we see that in the left wing activism lots people that don't

00:27:57.500 necessarily work they live on entitlements have lots of time and they want everyone else's money

00:28:02.740 that was a conversation actually at that meeting with the protesters they want to they want a wealth

00:28:06.900 tax i said what makes you think that you deserve to or have a right to someone else's money but my

00:28:11.080 point is um there's like in british columbia there's there's judges and lawyers and politicians

00:28:17.020 who actually believe that it's okay

00:28:19.540 that their children's futures are sacrificed

00:28:22.480 because of some supposed sin that occurred in the past.

00:28:26.580 So that is something we have to work on as well.

00:28:28.480 Thank God there's people doing it.

00:28:30.100 Corey, I think you've interviewed Dallas Brody

00:28:32.300 and some of the others that are uncovering that.

00:28:34.500 But all of these things go together.

00:28:35.940 You know, the legislation with DRIPA,

00:28:39.300 the UNDRIP UN convention stuff,

00:28:42.880 the Supreme Court rulings recently in Canada

00:28:44.860 that are affirming verbal oaths in the past,

00:28:48.340 they're all culminating in the potential

00:28:52.060 to destroy what Canadians built together, 0.90

00:28:56.480 regardless of where they're from

00:28:57.640 or what their ancestry is.

00:28:59.560 Yeah, it's ironic that the biggest threat

00:29:01.420 to actual unity and what Canada is,

00:29:03.160 is coming from this misguided land back movement

00:29:07.260 from extreme leftists that's become

00:29:09.580 into the hands of judges and politicians

00:29:11.880 who can actually bring something about in it.

00:29:13.840 And seeing Francis Whitteson and Dallas Brody out there, the backlash against them and how hysteric and out of control and vitriolic it's been only tells me that they're over the target.

00:29:27.580 The people who are benefiting from the system, who are the minority of a minority, are feeling threatened, which I think is a good sign, actually. 1.00

00:29:35.580 Yeah, when you see those hysterics and those antics and actually outright violence, like what we saw at UBC and at Thompson Rivers University.

00:29:44.000 I grew up in Kamloops, by the way.

00:29:45.660 So this stuff is all heading closer to home for me than to many others.

00:29:49.900 But when you start seeing that, you realize that that's because the debate isn't winnable for the opposition.

00:29:57.240 the only thing they really have is emotional outbursts and outright attacks threats of physical

00:30:02.760 violence and physical physical violence to shut down the conversation on the other side so

00:30:07.340 absolutely right when that those things happen as uncomfortable as it is you know you're over

00:30:12.060 the target because your opponent has no uh they have no debate well we're in for interesting times

00:30:18.620 in a year like we've never seen before in the in the west uh you know before i let you go uh what

00:30:24.120 What are you going to be up to in the upcoming months and, you know, business-wise, activity-wise and all the rest?

00:30:31.360 Well, I have a really busy summer planned with the Wustlestop Cafe, of course, my restaurant.

00:30:37.580 We have a food truck now, so we have three medieval fairs to do this year.

00:30:40.240 We have a couple of weddings to cater, one of which is going to be absolutely awesome.

00:30:45.160 Good friend of mine in the media.

00:30:46.080 and uh just recently i've decided to launch my own more uh more q a focused what late and great

00:30:54.800 called it socreatic events where we're talking to people about alberta independence listening

00:31:00.620 to their opposition points or their uh you know their fears of independence and talking through

00:31:05.100 it that the first event is in rimby on february 18th that's going to be fantastic and we're even

00:31:10.980 going to serve a little food there too so it'll be fun but that's that's going to be my year you

00:31:14.220 know, trying to manage the cafe, all our extra stuff we have with that, really advocating for

00:31:20.820 Alberta independence, because this is the most important thing we can do in our lifetime,

00:31:25.600 probably. And Corey, I'm really looking forward to having you at some of those events with us as

00:31:29.760 well, because you're, you know, you're a wealth of knowledge and information about Alberta

00:31:33.720 independence. And even my grandpa here, he remembers from the early 90s, when the independence

00:31:39.060 movement was talked about in Alberta, and he remembers your work. So it has an impact.

00:31:44.220 right on i'm glad some folks can still remember those early efforts i like to think i've learned

00:31:49.660 a lot since well i'm sure i'll see you at one of those events without doubt we're going to cross

00:31:53.980 paths as you said it's going to be a crazy busy summer so thanks for taking the time to talk to

00:31:58.120 us today and taking the time to talk to those folks out in camel river i'm really looking forward

00:32:01.420 to things taking off for them out there and uh well we'll talk again soon sounds good my pleasure

00:32:06.620 thanks cory right on thanks so one more time folks that is chris scott from the whistle stop

00:32:12.040 camp cafe that's out in mirror alberta it's got a central alberta a little uh east and north hair

00:32:18.020 from red deer and i honestly i i go out on my way the odd time jane sent me to edmonton to get stuff

00:32:22.580 and everything i pop off the highway if i got time to grab a bite and i like it just like i said with

00:32:27.020 paul's pizza it is good food i don't have to try and bs to help a friend or fellow advocate in fact

00:32:33.240 i would just say nothing if the food wasn't any good and i'd just say go support him because of

00:32:36.300 activism you won't be disappointed grabbing a lunch uh in mirror at that place and as i was

00:32:42.380 talking about earlier you know it's boy it's a gamble to mix your your business with your uh

00:32:48.380 you know your your political activism i guess you could say i i owned a pub and cafe for years

00:32:53.420 it was a tough tough go and i gotta admit i didn't have the courage they did i didn't uh

00:32:59.820 hold political activities i was always political and doing all my things elsewhere and everything

00:33:03.500 but i didn't do anything within my pub just because i didn't want to deal with the nuts

00:33:07.500 and we would still get people you know attacking us on the google reviews and crap like that 0.53

00:33:11.740 again pretty sad case that what they have to do is make up false food reviews either way lots of

00:33:17.020 people showing courage all over the place uh so you know let's talk about uh some of the things

00:33:23.420 that this is one of the biggest hang-ups people keep pushing against with the independence movement

00:33:27.660 chris was talking about it and others and this is one of the biggest threats to canada is the

00:33:31.900 catastrophic state the first nations are in it's a mess and we're pretending it's a viable mess

00:33:39.100 we're pretending there's a future that's good for anybody under the current system and mess

00:33:46.140 the only ones getting served are lawyers who do lawsuits on behalf of first nations bureaucrats

00:33:51.820 who work in departments that serve first nations and some of the leadership within first nations

00:33:55.900 otherwise everybody else in first nations is losing and we're perpetuating a myth

00:34:02.620 that these first nations have a veto over everything else that everybody else in canada

00:34:07.180 does this this five percent of the country has a veto authority over the rest of the nation and

00:34:13.980 they don't and nor should they for a couple of reasons for one we shouldn't give race-based

00:34:18.940 authority to anybody that was the wrong that allegedly should be you know undone by current

00:34:24.060 contemporary policy yes first nations people were treated as second-class citizens well up into the

00:34:29.020 60s and that was wrong but you can't change that by bringing in more race-based policy 0.90

00:34:35.420 the other part where it's wrong is look at the state of their affairs and do you you really want

00:34:40.620 to ask yourself do you want to hand over the reins of governance to the principles of these reserves

00:34:47.020 as dave mentioned they've declared a state of emergency on the blood reserve there's a video

00:34:51.420 on my personal channel i gave a tour of the blood reserve if you want to check it out search cory

00:34:54.620 morgan on youtube i went out there and actually toured on the ground to show the conditions of

00:34:57.980 that reserve along with the six okay reserve every reserve they're a mess they got wild dogs running

00:35:03.260 loose attacking people and if you want to research and google that wild dogs have killed children on

00:35:09.980 reserves multiple times over the years everywhere from new brunswick back out west this is a chronic

00:35:18.140 problem on every reserve why we don't have feral dogs happening anywhere else even the smallest of

00:35:23.980 the most underfunded rural towns can manage to maintain a dog catcher and their population 0.97

00:35:31.900 spays and neuters their pets because that's what's happening why is it happening well like

00:35:38.540 anyone else you know first nation citizens want to have house pets and that's fine of course it's

00:35:42.140 great but this is the outcome and it's symbolic and it's real of decades of infantilization of

00:35:51.080 the people on reserves most of which involves telling them all anything and everything that

00:35:57.740 goes wrong in your life is somebody else's fault there's a complete lack of sense of personal

00:36:04.060 responsibility for anything it's people living for the moment not looking ahead for next month

00:36:11.180 next week next year and just not taking responsibility that's why the housing is in

00:36:16.940 some of the condition it's in and it's just not even a consideration to even spay and neuter the

00:36:21.680 pets so of course they breed like crazy well they're not going to take care of the puppies

00:36:24.960 so those run loose they become feral and you have wild dog populations the only places with feral

00:36:31.200 dog populations going on in the whole country are in on native reserves and it's on all of them 0.92

00:36:36.300 really lets you know just how messed up things are there unfortunately so again people saying

00:36:42.540 we can't allow independence we can't allow change for the sake of the indigenous people really

00:36:46.280 really get out there on the reserve then if you don't want to watch my videos it's fine go out

00:36:50.960 and see for yourself and try to convince yourself that the status quo is actually serving the people

00:36:56.720 living on those reserves in houses that are falling apart they don't know how to maintain

00:37:02.260 their own water wells and septic systems. That's another issue. Why is there no clean water on

00:37:06.320 reserves? Clean water on reserves? Well, whose responsibility is that? Every other municipality

00:37:11.220 in the country is responsible for its own water. The First Nations reserves get billions and billions

00:37:17.560 and billions of dollars. Yet somehow, it's still allegedly everybody else's responsibility that

00:37:24.660 they get clean water. It's led to them being incapable of maintaining the things for the

00:37:29.620 clean water unfortunately even when you try even when they're giving money expressly for that

00:37:33.940 unfortunately again we've taken away accountability we aren't allowed to audit them anymore so we don't

00:37:38.520 even know if the money goes to giving clean water so guess what happens corruption look at the

00:37:45.820 Cowichan Reserve one of the biggest unchecked garbage dumps in Canada look at the footage of

00:37:51.400 what happened there it's going to cost tens of millions maybe hundreds of millions to clean up

00:37:56.680 It's that mess of them charging people a discounted rate to dump garbage on their land, which they did, commercial massive amounts of dumped trash until it finally got exposed right next to a river.

00:38:11.080 That mess is going to be leeching into the water, these stewards of the environment.

00:38:17.160 And guess what they said?

00:38:19.060 Taxpayers have to come out and pay for this cleanup because it's their fault. 0.98

00:38:23.660 Why? I don't know, because they didn't stop us.

00:38:26.120 This is how bad it's gotten. 0.97

00:38:28.380 I'm not trying to say it to be a jerk to First Nations people. 0.96

00:38:31.160 Anybody of any race growing up living in that environment, 0.94

00:38:34.720 being told all of these things their whole life, 1.00

00:38:36.380 and listening to these idiotic land acknowledgments and all that other garbage, 1.00

00:38:39.680 will feel a sense of personal irresponsibility and entitlement just like them. 1.00

00:38:43.820 It's not a race thing. It's a situational thing.

00:38:46.540 It's the situation we've put a race into.

00:38:49.160 Why can't we realize how backwards this whole idea is?

00:38:53.720 In South Africa, they called it apartheid.

00:38:56.180 In Canada, we call it a right.

00:38:58.620 We should never be separating people based on race, yet here we are.

00:39:02.080 And here's the irony of it.

00:39:03.540 When you question the segregation of people based on race, you get called a racist.

00:39:08.620 If I really hated First Nations people, as some of the defenders of the status quo like to claim,

00:39:14.160 I really despised them.

00:39:15.220 If I really wanted them to suffer, you know the worst thing I could wish on them?

00:39:18.900 That nothing changes.

00:39:20.760 I could wish that they're still stuck in that god-awful situation forever,

00:39:25.880 because that's the worst punishment you could possibly give them,

00:39:27.780 because you're also condemning their future generations to more misery

00:39:30.900 as it gets worse and worse on those reserves,

00:39:34.960 until finally some people are going to admit that it's a failure.

00:39:39.780 Google something else.

00:39:40.720 Again, I keep saying that because everybody, oh, source this, source that.

00:39:43.300 Well, I'm giving you, just look for yourself.

00:39:45.900 The average life expectancy of a First Nations man in Alberta

00:39:49.040 versus non-first nations 19 years younger they're done 19 years a quarter of an average lifespan

00:39:57.440 cut off from them and we're supposed to pretend that system's working

00:40:01.600 who's the delusional one around when people say independence movement's delusional really

00:40:05.520 are you delusional if you think this system is ever going to work or serve people or that we

00:40:09.920 should kowtow to it any further with some of the entitlement some of the news that's in the western

00:40:14.960 standard uh their favorite rent-a-chief uh adam allen he's from up uh fort chippewan i think

00:40:21.920 northern alberta you gotta remember google him have a look his long police history but also his

00:40:28.080 history of getting 55 000 from an american lobby group to take their side on an issue and he's

00:40:35.680 demanding premier smith's resignation and guess who he was standing hand in hand on you know arms

00:40:41.920 around each other cuddling talking whispering sweet nothings thomas lukasic yes that disgraced

00:40:47.600 former mla the forever canada guy was standing with chief adam allen saying we must make smith

00:40:54.880 resign and end the independence movement well then look at who your opponents are when you

00:40:58.960 wonder if you're on the side of right or wrong a corrupted rented chief uh disgraced redford era

00:41:07.920 politician that's who uh your opponents are guys so yeah i think i think you're on the right side

00:41:15.360 let's see the washington post dave mentioned that just a side note a third of them i mean

00:41:20.480 you know that's an institution of a media outlet but boy really illustrates the path of contemporary

00:41:27.440 media they can't survive in this they have to change they have to change dramatically

00:41:33.280 and uh you know i know the washington post isn't exactly a conservative outlet but i mean they

00:41:38.380 broke of course some incredible things over the decades they were a very important publication

00:41:42.860 and now they're they're getting cut to shreds we're seeing that in canada local newspapers are

00:41:47.200 dying all i can say is accept that these old dinosaurs are gone they're going away

00:41:55.180 and support independent media i know it's also self-serving because i'm in independent media but

00:41:59.880 Hey, the Western Standard is the future, guys.

00:42:01.820 We're growing.

00:42:02.580 Every year we're getting more reach.

00:42:04.440 We're hiring more reporters, more columnists, and covering more ground.

00:42:08.720 Same with the other ones.

00:42:10.340 You know, True North, Rebel, all of those ones, Epoch Times.

00:42:15.220 That's the future, and it's a good future.

00:42:18.260 It's going to be a hiccup as the communication transition changes,

00:42:21.840 but it is a good development.

00:42:23.420 But in the meantime, there's going to be a bit of a void.

00:42:25.060 It's going to be hard getting coverage or things.

00:42:27.700 So seek them out now.

00:42:28.620 Support them now.

00:42:29.320 helped us evolve into the new media that we're all going to need uh let's see a little note on

00:42:36.260 direct democracy i talked about that in a column in a rant the other day uh the recalls again you

00:42:41.180 know laughing about that i really am uh angela pitt in airdrie it was another one that was kind

00:42:46.060 came due for a recall again you know doing perhaps some of the others oh boy that this could cause

00:42:50.820 the the end of the smith uh government you know or uh one of the cabinet ministers said she's

00:42:57.700 going to resign. And the headlines at CTV said, in light of a recall petition. Guys, these recalls

00:43:03.300 were never coming close. So Angela Pitt in Airdrie, you know, and MLA has been there a while.

00:43:09.660 Not the most outstanding in profile, but you know, not on terrible condition. Well, they only

00:43:15.180 got 16% of the required signatures in the months they had to get it. Not even vaguely close. So

00:43:20.460 they got about 20 more of these to fail. And I'll keep gleefully reporting on those as those

00:43:25.760 continue to happen uh let's see uh smith's demanding that uh ottawa reforms the judicial

00:43:33.680 uh appointment process saying alberta needs a stronger voice in selecting judges uh yeah okay

00:43:39.200 uh well keep throwing things against the wall keep failing that's fine you got to try uh but

00:43:44.640 obviously uh it's not going anywhere they'll tell her to get stuffed and uh the independence

00:43:50.960 movement will grow which gets accused of foreign interference well let's talk about foreign 0.94

00:43:56.320 interference quickly federal election monitors yesterday said conservative candidate joe tain

00:44:00.080 needed private security to guard against threats by the chinese communist party agents in the 2025

00:44:05.840 campaign wow but that's not big news no no no uh some clown going down talking to uh unnamed

00:44:15.680 united states people over something benign that's apparently the biggest problem in the world but

00:44:20.320 But not this. Not Chinese Communist

00:44:22.420 Party people intimidating politicians

00:44:24.260 in Canada. Okay.

00:44:26.060 Okay. We got our priorities

00:44:28.220 wrong in Canada. Well, and as I've said before, and I'll say

00:44:30.300 it again, Canada's broken. Well, we can fix it or at least

00:44:32.320 fix part of it. And you know what? Once we fix this part

00:44:34.300 of it, some of the fix will apply to the

00:44:36.300 rest of it. Tough love for their own

00:44:38.220 good. Alright, everyone, the

00:44:40.200 time up. One more reminder, guys.

00:44:42.180 If you've got ideas, opinions, thoughts,

00:44:44.720 we will have a phone number for you

00:44:46.140 soon. You'll be able to call in to future shows, two

00:44:48.140 shows from now. And, uh,

00:44:50.320 we'll have some fun with those exchanges be sure to tune in to the pipeline it's going to be on

00:44:55.180 tonight at seven o'clock are you guys watching things on the cowboy network and some of those

00:44:59.520 other tv channels this gets run on watch those broadcasts they're going to be coming out nigel 1.00

00:45:03.640 hannaford's show leah dave all sorts of people have been putting content out there on the western

00:45:08.060 standard channel so like share all that good stuff they tell you on these things that's how we keep

00:45:12.840 growing and reaching more people thank you very much for tuning in today hopefully the wind will

00:45:17.560 allowed me to provide one more decent scenic backdrop on the next show a week from now.

00:45:47.560 You

Western Standard - February 05, 2026

Unchecked federalism is sinking Nenshi’s NDP

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