Alberta Independence petition smashes threshold

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:24]Good day. Today is May 6, 2026. I'm Derek Fullerbrand, publisher of the Western Standard, and you're watching the pipeline. I've got our usual lineup today. Former Western Standard opinion editor, Nigel Hannerford.

[00:00:36]>> Glad to be here, Derek.

[00:00:38]>> Senior Alberta.

[00:00:39]>> It is senior Alberta columnist, Cory Morgan.

[00:00:42]>> Good day.

[00:00:43]>> And our news editor, Dave Naylor.

[00:00:45]>> Hello, everybody.

[00:00:46]>> All right. Well, we're going to be talking about uh the appointment of Canada's next Governor General. I guess she's not the governor general quite yet, but uh she will be soon. Um the uh the usual suspects in the uh Laurentian media are hailing her as as perfect. This is exactly what we need.

[00:01:06]My god, she speaks French. That's a you know that's not a knock against her, but uh just saying she is absolutely pristine. Uh wall-to-wall perfect coverage. I've never seen someone uh so hailed as perfect person for the job since they hailed Mark Carney for the job. Uh we'll talk about her. We're going to talk about Listgate.

[00:01:28]Uh I couldn't come up with a better name for the scandal. So when you know when we're in the newsroom, Dave, and we just there's there's a controversy, some kind of scandal, and we just can't think of a creative name.

[00:01:39]>> Stick a gate on it.

[00:01:40]>> Just you just stick a gate on it.

[00:01:41]Extremely lazy, extremely uncreative, but that's what we're going with for now. List gate. uh the alleged uh leaking of the Alberta uh list of electors uh through the Republican Party of Alberta to a group called the Centurion Project and that uh the Centurion Project posted this made it available online a huge data breach. Uh we'll talk a bit about the substance of it but also what are the political consequences of it. Uh the uh the opponents of Alberta Independence have certainly seized upon this to try to discredit uh the independence movement. They've tried to uh affiliate the entire movement with those who are alleged to have uh been behind the data breach. Um is this going to potentially derail uh the pending Alberta independence referendum that supposedly is supposed to come this fall? Uh but I guess the good news for the independence uh movement before that Corey uh just uh was it Monday? Monday Monday um the uh Stfree Alberta the registered uh organization that was collecting the signatures to for a citizens initiative referendum on Alberta independence. They officially handed in um uh they had a truck and they unloaded all the boxes up in Edmonton at the headquarters of Elections Alberta. Uh far surpassing uh the the requirement of rough it was 150 170 odd,000 it was required. They ended up uh somewhere a little south of 400,000. Right.

[00:03:26]>> Uh well it was 301,000 and change but it was still was well beyond 178,000 required. Yeah. I was kind of explaining that in my earlier show with these petitions and things that elections Alberta when they if it gets to the point of them going through them scrutinizing I guess that depends on the courts but uh they tend to look in and find an error rate you know bad addresses duplicate names things like that even those of us who ran for office when you get that little petition to hand in as your nomination that often they'll cut out you know 10% of your names Lucassics petition about 13% got cut out this one I think it'll be a much smaller number because they were so meticulous on this. They demanded ID of every individual who signed. It was an accomplishment. I know people are trying to, you know, well, opponents always will. They're trying to understate what this is, but 300 and some thousand signatures garnered with such precision and care with the addresses and the works over the winter months is not to be dismissed. It's a that was an incredible effort and uh they should be very, >> you know, that's one of the things that makes it a little bitter that you've got this other issue to deal with.

[00:04:28]>> That's later. We'll get we'll get to that.

[00:04:30]>> Yeah. And it is an unfortunate cloud hanging over it. But I mean, so we we'll get into that because we've all got a lot to say about that. But we should, you know, just give that credit where it's due. History's been made. The bar for invoking a referendum under as far as the current legislation goes is clearly been surpassed by this group. It it it should be triggered if one believes that legislation is valid.

[00:04:53]>> And uh yeah, it was just a piece of history kind of being made. They really made a mark that day.

[00:04:59]>> Yeah. And this was done uh over the winter months. I I know I don't want to take away from even though I'm not on their side. I don't want to take away from the uh Forever Canada ones who who did theirs. Uh they collected uh an even larger number, but not to take away from it, but they did it during nice summer months. I remember I'd be driving home.

[00:05:15]It' be a beautiful day. I'd be >> go to festivals were large groups that people were >> Yeah. these uh but the stay free Alberta petition pro-independence. Uh they did this through the most bitter cold months of uh of the year. They did it with constant attacks from elections Alberta, ones that I do not think were justified.

[00:05:32]They did it with uh court injunctions against it like, "Hey, am I am I standing out here freezing my nuts off for nothing? Is this not going to be allowed?" Uh and and so despite all of that, they more I think roughly nearly double uh the number of signatures required. Um but Dave, it still is not yet a a sure thing this is going to happen in uh on October 19th when there's some certain referenda already scheduled to take place. Uh I mean this has still got some strange core challenges from some indigenous groups in Alberta uh that are claiming that they have a veto on this to not just stop independence but to even stop the question from being asked.

[00:06:16]>> Yeah. And that's that's the next key step in this whole process. The uh the justice who uh who put in the interim block I believe said she was going to rule in May. So it should be in the next couple weeks that we'll we'll have a decision. Uh from what I can gather in the courtroom uh the judge wasn't overly impressed with some of the uh the indigenous arguments. So, I would think that the she'll put she'll throw out her injunction and uh and both petitions will uh will go forward and be ratified and then at that point Smith has no uh no choice but to call for the uh referendum in October.

[00:06:55]>> Guess just whose question will they ask?

[00:06:58]>> Well, and they are different questions.

[00:07:00]Um I the Thomas Lucas question uh the pro-federalist side, Nigel, it's bizarre. Uh we've talked about this before, but he he uses the citizens initiative process and then says, "Oh, but we don't want a referendum. We did this to block a referendum."

[00:07:18]I mean, Thomas Lucas is not uh my cup of tea. Um but I I I don't know how you start a citizens initiative or referendum process to stop a referendum from taking place. Uh but if if the courts refuse to allow the independence one to take place, the Thomas Lucasfac one is redundant because even if Canadians voted, Albertans voted negative to it. So kind of pro-independence, but you know, we don't support staying in Canada, I I'm not a judge, but I'm pretty sure that does not constitute a clear question on independence. Uh because it's asking it in the negative. um you know, should Alberta remain a province of Canada?

[00:08:01]Well, does that and if people voted no to that, does that mean well, they want statehood or something like that, which is not really in any kind of mainstream consideration? Uh that would be a total waste of everyone's time. I think I think it's Let's just get on with the independence question. If you pose it, you pose it. It's fine. There's plenty of reasonable people who don't support independence. Uh but uh voting to not stay a part of Canada does not doesn't trigger the Clarity Act necessary. Uh it would just it would be divisive without accomplishing anything one way or another regardless of what the result is. You have to put the Stay Free Alberta question on which does meet the uh requirements to declare the act.

[00:08:42]>> Well, that's that's right, Derek. I mean, it's like sort of if you want yes, vote no. It's uh it's that kind of a people are going to be you I mean you've explained it pretty well there anybody who's paying attention can get it but at the same time how many people are really going to be paying that much attention especially when they have voices from the other side saying oh no no you need you need to do this I would be I would be uh frankly a little surprised if uh if it was that one was allowed to go forward if it's got to be just one of the other the the uh clarity act requires is clarity and the Kazix motion doesn't provide that whereas the the other one does. So I it maybe you know just maybe Mr. Lucas motion will go forward and then I guess >> but he bizarrely says he doesn't want his motion to go forward.

[00:09:34]>> I mean maybe it will and then to that uh but by totally confusing the issue and ending up with a with a stay in Canada vote he'll claim victory. The whole thing is >> unless something >> will change based on the question asked, it's just a poll.

[00:09:50]>> You know, it doesn't matter what the results are. It could be 80% one side or 80% the other. Nothing changes whatsoever based on his question, which makes it utterly pointless. Uh so >> it was like the daylight savings question we had back in like 20 uh 23 or 22 or whatever.

[00:10:07]>> Even then, if people had taken one side definitively, something would have changed. But with his is saying, "Okay, do you want to vote? Everybody let's just keep things the same. Okay, if the yes side wins that, everything stays the same. If the no side wins it, everything stays the same because it's still not a constitutionally valid question through that process on it." So, uh, you know, as we said, no matter what side of it you're on, that won't settle it, that won't have this issue out.

[00:10:32]>> This needs to be, I think, if we really want to put this to bed one way or another, it has to be the valid question with constitutional teeth. Well, even even if the courts do uh disallow the citizens initiative uh question from state for Alberta, the one asking Alberta should be an independent country. Um and but Thomas Lucas is for some reason allowed to go ahead even though it's ostensibly kind of the same thing but not. Um the way the legislation is set up is it then can be the question is reviewed by the legislature and the cabinet and they have the opportunity to amend it. Now it's important that that power should not be abused. Um but I mean you know say someone put for a citizen initiative uh question here but the question was not fair or neutral.

[00:11:16]It's important I that is one of the draws on direct democracy is you can have loaded questions. You know do you support the government's uh policy of rainbows and puppies? That's obviously not a very fair neutral question. So, so even if Lucas's question is the only one allowed to go forward, the the legislature and the cabinet can then amend it into something that is fair and neutral and ask and actually I don't even think it should be yes and no. It should be something like um rem the option should be remain a province of Canada or become an independent country.

[00:11:48]Not yes and no because you there's a presumption that perhaps the positive the yes >> I'd see a clarity challenge as soon as we hit that. It has to be yes or no to keep it simple. I Well, no, but if instead of yes and no, it's remain a province of Canada or become an independent country. That is still >> and then the debate becomes about what an independent country means. I know, I know it sounds foolish and pedantic, but this really has to be sovereignty, association, all that. There it's a debate, but here no one's talking about sovereignty, association, or any word games like that. Here it's like >> Alberta independent or remain a province. I I think it's pretty clear in the Alberta context. Perhaps not in Quebec.

[00:12:24]>> Yeah.

[00:12:25]>> As David gets on. Well, Lucas is now saying he just really wants a vote in the legislature.

[00:12:32]So, is it possible that both petitions could go forward? Lucas gets his vote and there's a sovereignty referendum.

[00:12:40]>> Technically, his could get a vote in the legislature and then the state free Alberta pro-independence one then goes to a referendum. not diving in both of them >> or or even something that could possibly happen and I don't expect this because this would really muddy the waters but his is a policy question and the other one's a constitutional one. Uh if both could run one predicted each other so that's just what I'm saying is it's going to have to be clarified one way or another. Part of the legislation actually though does require that the uh the the the legislature and the cabinet are supposed to make sure we don't have redundant questions. You know like imagine if uh you know everyone was really hopped up on say daylight savings time and you had like >> you know different versions of the question kind of more somewhat asking the same thing and then you would daylight savings time was kind of a confusing thing to me. I actually don't think it should have been put to a referendum. There there was I I was like no experts make a decision let me know.

[00:13:39]>> Yeah. Um but you know if you had the contradictory questions no the leg the legislation says that the legislature and the cabinet are supposed to sort it out so that we don't have a bunch of redundant or contradictory questions.

[00:13:52]>> We'll see what happens Smith now. You know, the thing is we have this needs to be settled so that we can get on with other things and it may maybe the other thing that needs to be get on with is Alberta independence. But the just to continue to have this out there dividing people is not helpful to anybody, not even the people who want to stay in Canada who still have uncomfortable feeling that the guy across the street may not be with them on this. It has to get sorted out. So the question to ask is the one that at least gives a clear lead and everybody needs to know that whatever the result on this doesn't if it is a pro-independence voice >> there's a whole new cycle of process that begins.

[00:14:37]>> So this is just the start. Uh >> I I you know I was driving up to Red Dear on Monday and past a must have been about a mile and a half cavalcade of vehicles with the Alberta flags at the back. I don't know whether you saw them but at any rate quite impressive. They just there the lights flashing and the and the flags up and people were honking as they go on. There's a lot there's a lot of uh there's a lot of juice in this movement. It needs to be needs to be decided.

[00:15:08]>> All right. Uh well, flowing very neatly from this is our very lazily titled next segment, listgate. Um you know, I I really do.

[00:15:22]We're a part of the problem. We're part of the problem, guys. Uh when the media is too lazy or uncreative to come up with a scandal name, we add gate to the end. Uh but in this case, we really didn't have much time, I guess.

[00:15:36]Uh so you know what is alleged to have happened uh I think you know most people watching will have read or heard at least some of it is you know elections Alberta provides total lists of all the electors in Alberta. I think it's roughly 2.8 million around there right now. These lists are provided to all the political parties and on a local level they could be provided to local candidates running. Uh but there's strict rules around uh how uh you know they're not allowed to share them. Uh now there is some stuff around third party vendors who can do work for them. There is some stuff like that but they're they're strictly confidential.

[00:16:16]Um what's alleged to have happened here is that the Republican Party of Alberta, which is a independent supporting political party, uh led by Cam Davies, that's someone that uh at least Cory and I we, you know, dealt with in the past and our time with Wild Rose and the United Conservative Party and things like this.

[00:16:36]Um, it's alleged that they had provided the list of electors to something called the Centurion Project, which is led by David Parker, also someone who we've known and worked with in previous political lives here. Um, and that the Centurion Project, which is I I guess kind of jumped into the independence movement going on here, they had an app and the app had the full list of electors in it. And I guess it was not built very safely as I'm understanding this. And that it was possible for someone to go into that app and then obtain the entire list of electors of Alberta, including their personal information, you know, their address, all of this. And you know, it's some people have tried to play this down. It's not a big deal. In one sense, I get that uh been around politics.

[00:17:32]These lists do get around. They're not as confidential as you think. But generally, people who are playing around this these lists don't post it online for the world to see. And and that's really where they they appear to have lost the plot here. Um I I guess we'll talk about the political fallout of this for the independence movement uh in a moment, but Corey, first uh you know, your thoughts on the credibility of the accusations um you know, and how serious an issue is this?

[00:18:05]>> Sure. And I think yeah, Nigel's going to break down a little more about the legislation on the act and so on. Uh just to point out one thing I like with people wondering though if it's you know questionable evidence or things like that and everything and I know we can't fully condemn until things have been investigated but I just want to quickly explain salted lists because non-pol political people don't I don't think most people get that what that is. So when they give those lists out to different parties and individuals they will throw a few identifiers in there usually false names people that don't exist whatever and it'll be unique to each list that's given out. So that way two things can happen >> with fake phone numbers and fake emails.

[00:18:38]>> Yeah. So if those names pop anywhere, they're unique. You know where it came from. The second thing is if they pop anywhere, whoever has it, even if it wasn't from the original source, you know that this source has accessed an electoral list. So it's pretty cut and dry by the looks of things with what they presented to get the injunction.

[00:18:59]Elections Alberta went in and checked it. They concluded it's an electoral list that's in the Centurion Project, which there's two problems there. One, they shouldn't have even have it in the first place. Two, they sure as heck shouldn't have it so that others can access it. So, we got two problems there. And they did conclude it came from the Republican party. Now, there's a whole lot of explaining to do, I guess, on the part of Davies and Parker as to how this all happened. That'll be the part of the investigation, but it's looking pretty darn clear that this happened. The problem now, the political problem is people don't in at large don't see the six or seven different independence groups and actions and things that are moving around out there.

[00:19:39]They just see an independence movement >> and they're seeing that this breach came from this movement may have endangered people. Legacy media is jumping all over it. the the the best example I saw already, they were reporting on apparently a a woman who was afraid of a an ex who was a spousal abuser who tried to keep her um location discreet now fears so badly that her ex maybe had accessed the list through that and got her address that she has to move.

[00:20:08]>> I don't know if it's anecdotal or whatever, but it does actually still illustrate the gravity of sharing people's personal information and how badly it can go.

[00:20:16]>> Yeah. Um, so the Centurion project here was not a part of Stay Free Alberta. Uh, they, as far as I know, I I think they were trying to assist with people getting signatures, but it was not affiliated with it because, you know, the four of us could get together and we just, we call it the Thursday club and every Thursday we go sit at this corner and we collect signatures. That doesn't make us necessarily affiliated with it, but that's some, you know, groups can come on and jump into it. Um, you know, people not actively involved in the independence movement don't understand how wildly decentralized this thing is.

[00:20:51]Even people in the same groups fight like cats and dogs. It's it's it's wild.

[00:20:56]Let alone the different groups themselves. And then there's different political parties, different third parties. There's third party advertisers, educational groups. There's all these different things. But as Corey said, Nigel, uh, people just see the independence guys. They they don't understand who's who and what's what.

[00:21:16]And I I we can't reasonably expect them to. Um, how much damage do you think this has done? And again, these are allegations at this point, but as Corey explained with the salted lists, you know, when someone at Elections Alberta gets an email saying uh, you know, to uh and the recipient is uh, you know, Mcloven from Grand Prairie, well, they know that, okay, well, Mcloven was on this the list we gave to this political party. It this stuff is not rocket science. How much damage do you think there's been significant damage done to to the independence movement by this kuruffle? Yeah, I actually do. You know, it it's a climate show. I went on the I went on their website, the Centurion Project, and they state that what they're trying to do is get people organized so that they were effective uh campaigners in the fight for Alberta independence and come to our come to our meetings, come to our classes.

[00:22:15]typ it's uh that you can you can see but then you find that they have they are alleged to have done something underhanded and everybody who is sort of on the on the edge not not the dieards the dieards on either side are not affected by this but people are making up their minds what do I feel about I sure don't like Ottawa I don't like the values that they are pushing on us through their legislation. I don't like their way they interfere with our economy. Maybe it is time to look at this. Oh, wait a minute. If it's going to be people like this and they're not even charged and and convicted yet, but it just seems like a bit of a Groucho Marx show. And what would it does do damage now there this is being examined.

[00:23:08]Uh there may be charges. I mean, my if I had to have an office bet, I'd say there will be charges. Uh, and then we'll see what the courts make of what has happened here. But if we first of all have this ridiculous uh breach and then on top of that, somebody gets put in jail for a year for a year and ends up with a $100,000 fine, which is what the legislation provides for, it's going to be a black mark for the whole independent. Well, by the time there actually would go to a court, I imagine that would be well after a referendum actually takes place.

[00:23:42]>> Maybe, Derek, but then after the referendum takes place, >> if I shot you right now, I'm still not in court for a year.

[00:23:49]>> No. No.

[00:23:49]>> Yeah, but don't don't forget the RCMP is leading the investigation. And if they wanted to lay charges, say October 1st, yes, they will do that. So, >> not be surprised to see charges, but there's no way you would have a completed trial in that time. Nothing in the Canadian justice system could anywhere else.

[00:24:08]>> Yeah. So, it would muddy the water. It would muddy the water and they'd say, "Hey, these guys are being charged."

[00:24:13]>> That's what they want to do.

[00:24:14]>> Yeah. So, you don't even need the the court the court case completed in this.

[00:24:19]Um, one guy grinning like a treeshire or cat right now is Jason Kenny. um you know uh some will recall uh David Parker uh was an organizer in the move ousting Jason Kenny from the leadership of the UCP and therefore as premier so obviously there's some hurt feelings uh I think there it's probably a fair assumption to make and I guess um someone uh joined one of these Centurion group um I it's a Zoom call something like one of these video calls and they were explaining different things and they were going through the database and It's alleged that they uh they pulled up as an example of how you can search for a voter's information. They pulled up Jason Kenny's information. It was displayed on the screen there. Um Jason Kenny is uh lawyering up to I guess file a civil suit against Parker and the Centurion Group uh for breaching his data. In this particular case, I think it's a bit rich. Uh, considering JC Kenny is responsible for the single biggest data breach in Alberta's history by requiring people to disclose their personal medical information.

[00:25:24]>> I don't care if he was a murderer. It still doesn't justify breaching his blood.

[00:25:28]>> Absolutely. That defense of you are comparing apples and oranges, Eric. And you are so wrong.

[00:25:34]>> No, what I'm saying is it's wrong. What I'm saying it's rich for Jason Kenny to be complaining about a data breach because he's imposed data breaches on every single person in Alberta. It still doesn't make them accessing his personal information, right? And he's probably going to have a pretty reasonable case to fairly decent case to make in a civil claims court here because his data his his data was breached. What I'm saying is it's a bit rich for him after he expects people uh required people by law to give out their personal medical information when they go to a restaurant to buy a cup of coffee.

[00:26:09]>> Don't buy it. Sorry. It's just when you >> Jason Kenny leaked everyone's >> No, I'm I'm I I I don't like the comparison. You know, Jason Kenny was not putting people's home addresses up for uh other people to see, other people to search through, right? There's dangerous lunatics out there who now know where Jason Kenny lives. And uh you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see a police car parked out there for a while.

[00:26:36]Well, I mean, Kenny put that out. And and again, whether you like it or don't, you've really armed him. He's he's a political master. There's no getting around that. And there goes Art Powski with the a good dose of crazy jumping in there. Yeah.

[00:26:49]>> And putting a thing up saying Jason Kenny's going to burn in hell and a whole bunch of stuff and everything else. And Kenny quote tweeted him and said, "This is the kind of lunatic my dad just got exposed to." And he has and he has So what's happened is people have handed Kenny a cudgel. Yeah. To beat this with because >> he's not wrong there. He's not wrong. It this kind of thing is dangerous. I don't there's a lot of I get death threats not irregularly. I think you you get them too. Uh and I don't want these people knowing where I live.

[00:27:18]>> Uh people shouldn't know where he lives and they've handed him a political >> cudel. The problem is some of the conversation though. I think that's what Dave and I are kind of objecting to when people say though, well, what was wrong done to Kenny was wrong, but well, there doesn't need to be a butt in this conversation, right? That that that's just kind of almost >> trying to undersell the the problem, >> but it's not just Kenny's that it was it was leaked. It was yours, mine, Dave, Nigel's, everyone watching here who sent us threats might have been logged into Centurion and and found our home addresses. It's a real concern.

[00:27:47]>> Yeah. And the other thing, if it hands Jason Kenny a cult, it also hands him a loud speaker. He's >> Oh, yeah. going off to Ryerson University to what do they call now?

[00:27:56]Toronto Metropol or something. Anyway, uh big big event there about disinformation.

[00:28:02]This isn't disinformation, but he can certainly talk about it there to a national audience. You know, we've got people in Alberta. This is the kind of thing they do. And uh he he will make himself a a national hero. I suspect that uh that might I mean he couldn't have orchestrated this but he's certainly going to use it because my opinion is to Mr. Kenny would like to return to politics and if he does so is going to have to be elsewhere than in Alberta and so on the national stage this just fits the plot.

[00:28:35]>> He's it was a good day for him.

[00:28:36]>> Yeah, I'm sure he says it's a bad one.

[00:28:38]>> Perhaps a bit nerve-wracked. I mean you still wonder about who may show up or what not but he recognizes a political gift when it was handed to him. And you can't blame him for taking advantage of it. Of course, he's going to take >> and and people with the independence movement are getting upset with me calling this out and everything, but most of what I'm at least telling them, guys, don't give your opponents ammunition. I mean, you gave Kenny a nuclear bomb. I mean, I know the average independent supporter did not do that.

[00:29:01]This was the actions of a small group, but when you try to look like you're defending the actions of that small group, you were only helping him. So, be careful. I I think part of the problem or the one of the overall problems is this is the independence is still a group lacking a leader, >> right? And you've got this clown show as as Nigel Appley described it operating on on the sidelines, but they're all part of the movement, right? Somebody has to step forward and say enough.

[00:29:31]>> David Parker, Cam Davies, you're out. We want nothing to do with you. Anything you say from now on is not associated with the independence movement. uh you know but who's going to do that?

[00:29:43]>> I'm not sure anyone has the the moral authority to >> the closest might be Mitch Sylvester at this time just as the most dominant figure of the largest group uh that represents it but then that group itself has multiple people who kind of speak publicly for it and they're giving different messages.

[00:29:56]>> Yeah.

[00:29:57]>> So that makes it difficult as well. I mean, if somebody's going to take that role, I I've said it kind of on my show, Mitch, because I think for the most part, you've great and you've been respectable and good and haven't said anything crazy, but you got to kind of lay down the law and say, you know what, I'm now the one who speaks for this group. I'm the one who goes to CBC as opposed to somebody else who recently did. I'm the one who does the large media quotes because >> is that that corpulent guy you were talking about?

[00:30:20]>> Yes. You know, good luck.

[00:30:23]>> Yeah, I know. He's hurting cats and uh the same kits who hurted Mr. Kenny out of office.

[00:30:29]>> Yeah, but it was aimed at Danielle if they had the chance.

[00:30:32]>> But if they want to try and mitigate things because we got five and a half months to go and there's going to be more issues. Hopefully nothing as big as this, but there's going to be more.

[00:30:38]Somebody has to, you know, as I put online too, if you don't take control of the messaging, your opponents will.

[00:30:44]>> So, and and the other side is going to be more or less united. I I think what's shaping up is you're going to have broadly speaking, maybe even it's one organization, but you're going to have two main spokesman or two and a half spokesman on the federalist side. You're going to have Jason Kenny who's trying to appeal to uh conservatives who are flirting with the idea, you know, soft sovereigntists as he would call them or separatist curious, whatever term you want to use. People who are not happy with the status quo um but but are not on the left. And then you're gonna have Neni SL Thomas Lucas or something speaking to the left to try and you know they're they're pretty united on their side but trying to at least pump up their numbers get them out to vote in big numbers. So the other the federalist side is going to be pretty united because they have they have definitely two different messages because they're appealing to people who do not vote the same way in elections. Uh the independent side pro-independent side is more politically homogeneous. It's almost entirely of the right in some form or another.

[00:31:46]Uh, but I don't know. There's probably two dozen people who uh either lay claim or would like to lay claim to the leadership and it's a mess.

[00:31:57]>> We'll see what happens. I I we'll see how it evolves. Part of the problem, too, is this is uncharted. This is unprecedented. We haven't had an organic kind of decentralized movement like this do something like this before. So, where do you find the rule book on how to pull it together now that you're getting into a campaign mode for a referendum?

[00:32:13]There's an area actually I don't have an answer for loudmouth that I >> normally you could you think you maybe point to Quebec which has had two referendums but there it's different they were not citizens initiative referendums you had a you had an an independence or sovereigntist party whatever you want to call it uh you know the PQ and then you had a federalist party in the Liberals and so it was clear okay the premier of the governing party that called the election is the head of the yes side and the leader of the opposition the liberal party in Quebec's case is the head of the no died and it's set now in 95 they kind of swapped in Lucian Bousard leader of block to to come in uh but he was not he was not still technically the leader of the he was made chief negotiator so >> head spokesman essentially we don't have that clear model here uh because this is this is citizens initiative >> yeah see what happens I I don't know >> normally it would be the premier >> uh but this is this is just totally different okay Scott's talking to something a bit more cheerful. Our new governor general. Uh Dave, I know you're a proud monarchist.

[00:33:20]Uh >> uh Louie Arbour. Um uh selected. Uh I >> uh it pro she couldn't be worse, I guess, that than some of the other more recent ones. She's a probably at least a bit smarter. Actually, Julie Payet was not unsmart. She was an astronaut. They don't make dummies astronauts. But uh uh anyway uh I guess your thoughts on who's representing the crown.

[00:33:51]>> Uh well it was a strange choice. I mean you cannot can't argue with her credentials. She's had a a long and stellar career. Uh she is the oldest uh governor general appointee. Uh she's 79 years old and as governor general she also leads the Canadian armed forces. uh in a uh symbolic role. If you take a look bit take a bit of a deeper dive into her career, uh she's said a lot of stuff that should be concerning to us all. Uh she is a uh spoken out on uh migration and is all for uh mass migration uh into the country. She's spoken out against uh the military, which she now supposedly has. says the armed forces are just a bunch of white guys who like to shoot off guns.

[00:34:42]>> I I agree with her. I just think that's a good thing.

[00:34:45]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:34:46]>> I just didn't know what porative >> and the Jewish Jewish groups aren't happy because she's she's made a lot of anti-Israeli comments. Uh so I mean that's just in a small dive in 24 hours.

[00:34:58]So there's there's lots lots of stuff to be concerned about. Uh but hey, she does speak French and isn't all isn't that all that matters?

[00:35:07]Yeah, I don't think it is. You know, I did a little bit of looking it up as well. Um, I mean, she is the governor general. She is not governing, but she is advising. When you look at some of the positions that she's taking, you know, this is not a person who should be advising prime minister of Canada. I mean, here's just just a couple just to amuse you.

[00:35:29]Uh, back around the turn of the century, there was a right to welfare case in Quebec, the Gossel case. It got turned down. there was no right to welfare, but she was one of the minority who thought that there was a right to welfare. Um, you know, she uh, you mentioned the refugees. Uh, this this one might cheer you up a little bit. She participated in a monk debate. Monk is a is a, you know, monk. Uh, anyway, this was back in 2016 concerning what was being called a global refugee crisis at the time. You know, you remember people getting washed up on the Mediterranean islands. So it was a valid thing and and she said then that western nations have a moral imperative to accept a large influx of refugees. Well ended up we did anyway but in this debate she began the evening with 77% of those in the room uh in in favor of her liberalist position and she went up against Mark Stein and Nigel Farage and at the end of uh at the end of the night only 22% of the audience were still with her. So, you know, maybe there's a little hope.

[00:36:36]>> She began with 77 and ended with 22.

[00:36:38]>> That's right.

[00:36:39]>> Well, I'm not sure we should be too worried about her convincing anyone of anything then as governor general.

[00:36:44]>> Well, and you see, Mr. Con will be one of the 22%. So, uh, >> and he does get he carries the the whole thing with the International Criminal Court. I could go on like I got about a dozen things on the rap sheet here. None of it we like. So, bad choice. Um, I I will say when it comes to the governor general, there's not a lot of jobs I think you probably should speak fr at least need to speak French for. Look, the Supreme Court, no, because otherwise that it disqualifies uh Westerners even even most Ontarians. The Governor General is a ceremonial rule and that includes in Quebec, you know.

[00:37:23]So I I I'm okay. You know, French probably should be something for the governor general. But also, you know, one of the arguments uh against it was if you require that they speak English and French, that does virtually disqualify nearly all indigenous Canadians because they might speak uh you know, I I don't know how many people growing up on Six Sicker Reserve are going to be learning uh a French.

[00:37:47]>> Didn't disqualify Mary Simon, >> but she got a lot.

[00:37:50]>> Exactly. and she got a ton of why it was it's such a big deal now. So it's like okay for required they speak French and English >> uh I would chance to guess that that would probably put future indigenous candidates uh for the job of governor general probably I'm just going to guess and say it's it's less than 1% of indigenous people would be even eligible for it. Um, I don't know. Uh, it's what I was blown away by though was the and I shouldn't be. I got to stop picking up Charlie Brown's football here, but was the virtually unanimous and an and unqualified endorsement of uh, Louis Arbor by the Legacy Media. Uh, I'm maybe we'll pull up some pieces from this Golden Mill article here, but uh, paraphrasing it said she is essentially perfect. There's nothing wrong. This is it. Uh, IT >> OH MY GOD, THE FIRE ALARM.

[00:38:48]>> NO, THE EMERGENCY ALARM.

[00:38:49]>> Emergency alarm.

[00:38:50]>> And that bypasses mute buttons, I'm afraid.

[00:38:53]>> It's just a test. They they announced that was coming a while ago.

[00:38:59]>> I shouldn't do that.

[00:39:00]>> Okay, so everybody out there, yes.

[00:39:01]>> Where's our fire warden?

[00:39:04]>> Come on in the studio. BRING IN THE WESTERN CENTER FIRE WARDEN.

[00:39:08]>> Bring him in.

[00:39:09]>> Boy, he was on the ball. Yeah. So, ladies and gentlemen, uh I want to introduce the Dwight Shrewd of the Western Senator's Calgary office.

[00:39:18]Come on over here.

[00:39:20]>> Uh this is the Western Senator's new fire office fire warden, uh Josh Andress, part-time. He is the uh >> Well, you failed. You look Look how long it took you to get here.

[00:39:32]>> He's outfitted safe and official to me.

[00:39:35]>> Yeah, >> I would follow him down a fire escape and then maybe strangle him, but Well, don't make jokes about that, are you?

[00:39:43]>> You're on slide.

[00:39:44]>> Yes.

[00:39:45]>> Yeah.

[00:39:48]>> Well, >> this makes for today already.

[00:39:53]>> We're calling other people clowns.

[00:39:55]>> Yeah. Yeah. We're we're accusing everyone else of being, you know, a Yeah. circus. Uh well, there we are.

[00:40:00]>> Very honestly, folks, that was not rehearsed. We didn't ignore it.

[00:40:05]>> All right. Uh okay. Anyway, just the gold mail saying uh in partic they highlighted uh how great and supportive she is of the military unless it's white guys with guns which I don't know made up uh you know there would have been some non I guess white people there would have definitely certainly been indigenous Canadians but like not overwhelmingly all our veterans who fought in both world wars and in Korea.

[00:40:34]Uh I I guess they're just not up for her. I don't know. Uh but for them to even highlight how great and supportive she is of the military with, you know, with those kinds of comments. Um it's like the Globin Mail's endorsement of her was written in the Prime Minister's office. It was just so over the top. No one's perfect for a job. Uh I I'm perfect for Governor General and they would never find anything on me.

[00:41:01]But uh I I don't know. It was just so over the top.

[00:41:04]>> And it wasn't just them. The CBC coverage was over the top, too. It went on for hours and hours. We're sitting in your office wall to wall. It was I mean, they probably wondering why.

[00:41:17]>> I haven't seen wall to wall coverage like that since 9/11.

[00:41:19]>> I know. It was crazy. Last best Governor General Canada's had, David Johnson.

[00:41:25]>> And unfortunately, he soured it later after the fact by associating with prime minister farther down.

[00:41:31]>> He did muck that up a bit, but in his time as governor general.

[00:41:33]>> As governor general.

[00:41:34]>> Oh, yeah. He was fine there and because of part of what he did like I just quickly I I had a guest on recently and his name escapes me as embarrassing as it is. He wrote a book though on governor's general if you look it up it was a good book he was a man who met most of them very avowed monarchists which I'm not but he talked about the role of it and he ripped into payet and ripped into how she was selected as others with by a prime minister who wasn't terribly bright and we paid the consequences for that. It really is a role where if you just stick to the ceremonial role, be dignified, don't get in the middle of messes, cut the ribbons, hand out the awards, you can get through it, and have respect ability within the job. So, all I'm saying is let's just hope the next one does no damage and uh sits from there.

[00:42:17]>> Cut cut back a bit on your in-flight food.

[00:42:19]>> Yes.

[00:42:20]>> And you know, things will go well.

[00:42:22]>> All right, we're going to have to put a plug. We're we're a little short on time because uh the fire that broke out in the in our office here. Uh so let's put a plug in it there. Go to our parting shots. I am going to break tradition and take first parting shot cuz I think it flows well cuz Cory said you know he's you're not you're not a monarchist but because you know you support Alberta independence. It's kind of assumed that Alberta if it's independent would be a republic. I just want to put out maybe a little food for thought of an alternative. it would be easier to maintain our constitutional structure moving uh to independence if we kept in place our constitutional structure which meant an independent Alberta could remain a constitutional monarchy and it could remain uh with the house of Windsor by just throwing it out there if we want to do our own thing which we could bring back any old royal house uh you know of I don't know sort of >> Hoen Hoen I'm a little partial to the Hoen but I I don't know what Vlad the Impalers uh family was uh are they still >> or something?

[00:43:22]>> I don't know. But you know, Vlad the like let's let's find some cool uh oh Napoleon. I just rewatched Napoleon was walking Phoenix last night and you know him on Seal Land at the end. It just I'm not a Frenchman but it makes you it tugs at your heart like h >> 205 years ago today he died.

[00:43:41]>> H >> 205 years ago today >> today >> he died.

[00:43:45]>> It's fate. We're bringing back the house of Napoleon. Alberta, >> not an empire, not a commonwealth. So, not a king, not a not a not a republic, not a commonwealth, the empire of Alberta.

[00:43:58]>> The independence movement wasn't enough.

[00:44:00]>> If we didn't make it crazy enough, here we go.

[00:44:02]>> Napoleon for Emperor of Alberta.

[00:44:04]>> So, you're going to learn French and go for the job of governor general, are you? Alberta. Here we go.

[00:44:10]>> I don't know, Derek. Listen, you're too young. And I just was looking it up while you were talking there that uh you realize that no less than uh six of sorry five of the last governor's general are still alive. Like this is crazy having five ex kings ex queens floating around.

[00:44:27]>> That's why we should just have our own monarch.

[00:44:29]>> Well, >> and they all get $200,000 a year on expenses, >> permanent expenses.

[00:44:34]>> You know, Julie, I mean for people who don't believe me, just uh Mary Simon, Julie Payet, David Johnson, Michaela Jean, Adrien Clarkson. So, you know, uh >> Romeo Leblon is not >> died died a few years ago. Yeah. Uh one of the things about um and I don't mean this unkindly, but I'm sure it was in the back of somebody's mind. She is already 79.

[00:44:58]There won't be one more in all likelihood. Or if there is, there won't be for very long. What's one two three four five? Yeah.

[00:45:07]>> All right. We we're we're we got to move. That's good. Oh, we're short on time because of the fire alarm. Cory, >> I'll just be quick. The major projects office to fasttrack projects is almost a year old now. Hasn't approved a single one. I think we can call it a failure.

[00:45:22]>> Uh Honda sounds like they're pulling out of a $15 billion plant down in uh Ontario. Uh just wonder how much the Liberals have sunk of taxpayers money into the whole fail failing EV industry.

[00:45:36]It's got to be tens and tens of billions of dollars. Well, let Doug Ford off the hook for this stuff, too. He has been all over it.

[00:45:42]>> He's been all over.

[00:45:43]>> Uh, I don't know. I I could have I would have never predicted that Canadians don't want to drive electric vehicles in uh one of the coldest countries on the planet.

[00:45:52]>> Okay, >> Cory, Nigel, Dave, >> and Jon of Production, and all of you for joining us here today. Thank you for putting up with the uh national emergency that broke up during uh the show. Thank you for watching and all of your support. Please go to westernstandard.news, news. Click on subscribe. It's $10 a month or $100 a year for unlimited access to all Western Standard content. Also announcing a new feature, the creation of the editor's circle. The editor circle. Uh it's $20 a year. Sorry, $20 a month or or $200 a year. Uh but it's going to come with a lot of added benefits. Uh you'll be a part of our our monthly uh editors Zoom call. you'll get to come on with uh my beautiful face, but also uh Dave, our opinion editor, Chris Oldorn, broadcast editor, uh John G. Um and pitch us stories that you think we should be paying more attention to or you've got some leads for us. You can question us about the stories that we are covering and uh and give your input into the way we're doing things. You'll get special briefings from the editor's desk. Uh I don't know what else. We had a we had a bunch of things.

[00:46:57]>> Free admission to uh >> free admission to our events. We're we're planning some events uh in Alberta at least uh this summer uh that you're not going to want to miss as we enter the uh Independence campaign. Uh people in the editor circle get free admission and a bunch of other stuff. I'm going to I'm going to make sure I got a list in front of me before I try to sell this again here. But uh it's worth it. So you can go and upgrade your membership from your uh your standard subscription to the uh editor circle. Uh and uh you get to join us at the very least. Give us your thoughts on what we should be doing more of every month. Thank you very much for joining us today and God bless.