This Canadian Thinks
This Canadian Thinks is a political and news commentary opinion editorial podcast with a focus on matters of concern to Canadians.
This Canadian Thinks
Exposing The NDP's Deceptive Tactics And The Rising Power of Progressivism
How deep does the NDP's manipulation and misinformation go? Discover the shocking tactics they employ to deceive voters, including twisted audio clips and broken election laws. Hear about their Just Transition Program's devastating impact on jobs, and the dishonest way they present themselves as centrist rather than progressive.
We also take a critical look at the power of progressivism in politics and how it has shaped the world under Justin Trudeau's leadership. Listen to our thought-provoking discussion on the system's favoritism toward progressivism, and the hefty price we pay in taxes to cover their expensive policies. Plus, don't miss our analysis of the UCP's proposed tax rate changes and how they're seen as contributing to underfunded services.
Lastly, explore the NDP's harmful approach to growth and expression, focusing on their top-heavy administration and the detrimental effects on frontline staff. Learn about the NDP candidates' open admiration for socialist and communist leaders, and join us as we question what the pandemic would have looked like if they held power. Don't miss this eye-opening conversation that will have you questioning the reality of Alberta politics!
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Whether we agree or agree to disagree, everybody's got an opinion, and I'm about to give you mine. So sit back, relax, buckle up and try not to get offended. Welcome to This Canadian Thinks. The Alberta NDP is outright lying and manipulating audio clips to present positions that are not held by the United Conservative Party as being positions that they actually do. They are breaking election laws and allowing unions to represent them using fraudulent information. You can hear it on the radio every day. Commercials about the UCP wanting you to pay for health care, and so on. Audio snippets are included that appear to have Danielle Smith talking about privatizing health care or selling hospitals, throwing away pensions and a litany of other seemingly heinous ideas.
Speaker 2:A regular checkup to your doctor. Does that really have to be something that is covered 100% by government, or should that be paid for out of your health spending account?
Speaker 1:These clips are from radio shows, podcasts or interviews given of which Smith was a host or appeared as a guest and where she discusses subjects such as health care and possible solutions to fixing the obviously broken system faced by Albertans. They are taken out of context and may possibly represent the views of the individual, and they may also just as easily be a position taken for the purpose of exploratory dialogue and nothing else. Without context, we are left with the NDP alone to decipher the actual intent. Even if it's the personal opinion of Smith that we should actually endorse the ideas discussed, it does not necessarily translate to party policy. Do you actually believe that every politician believes everything that their party policy might say? It's highly unlikely. Let's be fair.
Speaker 1:During the pandemic, there were plenty of politicians at a step with the official message. Guys like Drew Barnes wouldn't get in line and they ended up as independents. As a result, they were kicked out of caucus because they couldn't set their own personal views aside and come into line with the rest of the party. It actually happens all the time. I understand that Smith is the leader and, as such, can somewhat guide the party in a certain direction, but we've seen how ineffective that's been so far. The amnesty for COVID convictions fell flat, for example, once it became clear that there was no legal avenue for the government to take on that file, it ground to a rather quick halt.
Speaker 3:In a series of interviews and media appearances since mid-December, Alberta's Premier said she spoke to prosecutors about whether criminal cases related to COVID restrictions should proceed. Comments that set off a firestorm of criticism.
Speaker 1:Granted the optics of Smith speaking to Artur Pawlowski may have presented a field day for the NDP, but it really only went to prove that Notley would limit access to government officials to anyone she didn't agree with. How does that work? I mean, I understand that someone in jail gives up their rights to vote and in some way the officials elected as a result, but, Pawlowski wasn't wasn't in jail and at the time was a nominee for the leadership of a rival political party. Had Smith not spoken to him and had his message been in line with the NDP, Notley would have pitched a fit over Smith not having done so. Additionally, do the human rights proponents not rally their government officials to make conditions more favourable and institutions of incarceration? Do the wrongfully convicted not seek clemency? At what point do you put someone completely outside of the purview of any government agency whatsoever? The death penalty, perhaps? That's something we don't entertain in Canada anymore, nor have done for quite some time, unless you count medical assistance in dying.
Speaker 1:It's the misdirect and misinformation game that Notley and her cohorts are so very well versed in on display once again. The party of tolerance and inclusion, showing just how intolerant and divisive they really are. It's the root issue with most progressive politicians these days, the NDP and Liberal parties being the true architects. They speak their myths, truths and condescending non-sequiturs in response to any question, in such a manner as to befuddle, bewildering the voter base into absolute automatons. The more outrageous and unbelievable the message, the more people swallow it. It's absolutely unbelievable to me actually.
Speaker 2:I mean, this is just like the NDP on all financial matters Let's shoot now and talk about it and plan later, and that's not the way to run a government.
Speaker 1:How did we get here? Well, it likely started when the political class voted that they didn't have to answer questions in question period. Then it manifested from there into what we see now, where you could literally ask a politician if Canadians like poutine and receive some sort of blather about the middle class and those working hard to join it instead. It's inconceivable, really.
Speaker 4:The Leader of the Liberal Party has an opportunity to respect the fact that heating your home in January and February in Canada is not a luxury And it does not make those Canadians polluters, they're just trying to survive. This from a prime minister who burned more jet fuel in one month than 20 average Canadians burned in an entire year. So will the prime minister ground the jet park the hypocrisy and axe the tax hikes?
Speaker 5:The right Honorable prime minister.
Speaker 6:On this side of the house, we're going to continue to stay focused on direct and real help for Canadians, Responding to the challenges they're facing with meaningful measures that are going to help millions of Canadians in the middle class and those working hard to join it.
Speaker 1:Keep in mind, these are the same parties most likely to censor the internet or work to stop the spread of unacceptable viewpoints. The progressive parties are far more likely to limit expression, rally against misinformation and restrict access to government officials. They say we hate the things and others that we dislike about ourselves. Well, it should be pretty clear by now what the Liberal and NDP parties stand for and what they most dislike about themselves.
Speaker 3:So how do you decide what's misinformation and when to use these words, since the word can encompass different ideas amongst Canadians?
Speaker 6:Thank you, Unlike all of you in this room, or most of you in this room, I never studied political science. I studied English literature. So words really matter to me and you may call me old fashioned but I tend to defer to the actual definitions of words when I use them. And misinformation and disinformation, which you used a little interchangeably, are actually very different things. Disinformation is when things that are false, things that are untrue, are spread by people who don't know any better. Misinformation is a deliberate choice to spread and share falsehoods for a particular purpose, whether it's a personal purpose or a political purpose or a creating chaos purpose. Now, what can start as misinformation can quickly end up being amplified as disinformation. But the entire discourse has to ground itself in something, because you're absolutely right.
Speaker 6:Who decides what is misinformation and disinformation?
Speaker 6:Well, if someone looks outside and says it's a beautiful, blue sky, sunny day today, we would know that's wrong, because our experience here in Ottawa, our experience looking out the window, tells us otherwise.
Speaker 6:But if someone says the earth is flat, you can see extensive YouTube pages devoted by people who've decided and this is a recent phenomenon over the past decade or so that the earth is flat because their experience as they look out to the horizon is boy, the earth sure looks flat. So it can't just be about perception. You look on the weather channel. Oh, it's raining in Ottawa. Okay, so it's not a blue sky sunny day. We have to agree that we're going to agree with the weather channel on this, or with the scientists from Environment Canada who are saying that it is sunny today in Ottawa or it is rainy here today in Ottawa. There has to be an acceptance that there are experts out there that create a basis of fact that was built up on in generations to tell us that water is wet and it freezes at zero degrees Celsius, and there are scientific realities that have been proven and accepted. And the challenge that we have now is that increasingly, misinformation and disinformation is carrying people to believe things that are untrue. Vaccinations is a perfect example of it.
Speaker 1:But Notley is different, "he represents Albertans and isn't beholden to the federal NDP. You might say That is untrue. The NDP is actually the only party where the provincial body doesn't have autonomy from the federal party. This is why we got the Just Transition Program under the Alberta NDP when they were in power, which cost countless jobs. It wasn't in the best interest of Alberta to implement that program and Nautli must have known that from the get-go. Instead, although she was able to adopt a stance on a wide range of inconsequential provincial matters, just Transition went through without delay, championed by those whose incomes depend on the very thing they were trying to strangle.
Speaker 1:Talk about cutting your nose off despite your face. So here we are Political ads comprised of whole lies being broadcast by the very people who caution you about broadcasted lies. You need to really listen to these people. When they tell you they're worried about election interference, it means they're likely going to interfere with the election. When they tell you there's a rise in misinformation, it means they're releasing more and more misinformation every day. It's about the only thing you can actually believe anymore, because nothing else makes sense.
Speaker 7:You should watch. You should listen.
Speaker 1:I'm certainly not trying to say that the UCP are saints and aren't engaged in some dishonest practices of their own. It would seem that it's in a politician's portfolio to behave in such a way anymore. It's just that the NDP is being so blatant about it. Not only they're broadcasting outright lies, but they double down on them with abandon every chance they get.
Speaker 7:It's not enough for us to just be not those guys. Albertans want to know who we are.
Speaker 1:Most of what not least team are peddling are rehashed and reworded versions of proposals or plans already established by the UCP. If the UCP's ideas are so great, then why do we need the NDP to deliver on them? The fact of the matter is the NDP won't. The things they're saying are untrue, and they're only saying them to woo UCP voters who may be unhappy with Smith, based mostly on the lies perpetuated by the NDP. Should the Alberta NDP get elected, they'll start right back where they left off in 2019. Which, from where I'm sitting, looks like the further erosion of Alberta from a position of strength into the subservient, federal government-dependent utopia of progressivism imagined by the leftist hardliners. Rachel Notley is positioning her dialogue in an appearance of being closer oriented to the right and thus far more centrist than progressive, but it's a sham, a blatantly preposterous one at that. For those out of the know, it sounds wonderful, but we've seen it play out in the past, ignorance of which has drastic consequences. We watched it spiral downward over the NDP's short time in power not so very long ago. The promises they do keep are always the most costly, and the promises we need them to make good on are never fully realized. That's the problem with socialists and communists, both of which the NDP identify quite strongly with, they lie. You surely must have asked yourself at some point, "ow did they get all those people to go along with that? There's a long list of examples Hitler, saudi Arabia, atrocious moments in human history where we witness a huge number of people bend to the will of an authoritarian power Outside of outright military intervention. This has most often, undoubtedly been due in no small part to someone having first-told lies. That's what they do. Politicians in general are famous for it, but progressive politicians are the ilk in the most grandiose tales, of which only history can serve to teach us. We never learned, though. Seven years and over 185 days to date, under the contemptuous glare of Justin Trudeau, is proof positive of that. The sheer disdain held by those who went and got vaccinated towards those who did not is another good example.
Speaker 1:How could you get society to turn against one another or concede to a nefarious plan? Indeed, it wasn't hard. Unfortunately, it was far too easily accomplished for my liking. It was as if the world lost its collective common sense. Could you just imagine the control over the people a global progressive government would have? I can. I've been watching them roll it out in real time. It's like witnessing the car crash of humanity. You don't want to see it, but you look anyway. There's nothing you can do to prevent it, but you feel guilty about it all the same. You still look, but now you feel as bad about yourself as you did for them, except now you're both boarding a train car and cars are illegal in order to prevent loss of human life.
Speaker 1:In reality, though, there's simply no escaping the constant drift towards the left in Canadian politics. The way the system is set up is, by design, advantageous to progressivism. If you have a right-leaning party in power and the official opposition is decidedly left-wing, then every time the government decides to do something, they have to add or do things that appease the opposition, even if they aren't directly related to what they're trying to pass, lest they receive a vote of no confidence in the House, which basically means that an election is called. These votes of confidence are tied to things like the budget, where they need the support of the House to pass it as legislation. If there were two conservative-leaning governments acting in both capacities government and official opposition then, and only then, could the legislation be moved right.
Speaker 1:It seldom happens. It happens in Alberta occasionally, which is one of the reasons that things have not drifted as far into progressive territory in this province as in most others. When the progressives are in charge, they appease the more conservative opposition by watering down their agenda enough to enjoy the same will of the House, but they're already starting from a progressive standpoint. Spend a little less, move a little slower, and the progressives can still very much move in the same direction as they originally attended.
Speaker 6:Progressive parties need people to vote for, and it's always easy to come up with the right jingle or the right soundbite that destabilizes and gets people angry. As progressives know that we can't do the many things around equality of opportunity and true progress and shared prosperity unless we have the growth that gives us the capacity to do that and leads to that.
Speaker 1:So keep in mind, outside of the PPC there is no other real federal Conservative party. Even the so-called conservatives are progressive. The name of the party is the oxymoronic Progressive Conservative Party, after all. Once you drag the conversation, and thereby the legislation of a place towards the left of centre spectrum, it is near impossible to undo. The problem therein lies in the fact that the things that progressive governments seek to implement tend to cost us astronomically and they expect us to pay substantially more to cover them. How do we do that? Through paying more and more taxes.
Speaker 1:I'm actually really surprised to hear many talk radio hosts and political pundits accusing the UCP of spending money because they're proposing a change to taxation rates, including tax cuts, that will benefit the vulnerable among us the most. It would seem the perfect proposal for the more progressive minded, but instead it's viewed as nothing more than contributing to more underfunded services, services that ballooned to mammoth proportions and became so tough, heavy and union beneficial that they were completely unsustainable and effective due to the complete disaster propped up by the Alberta NDP. Guys like Shay Gannum carry on about the UCP offering a tax break. He repeatedly asks where does the money come from? Due to the dependence on the money from taxation. There is no concept of bloated governments, only governments that are not yet big enough.
Speaker 1:When the NDP was in power, the government's tax income increased substantially. They raised taxes on all sorts of things to cover their increasingly costly agenda. Now, in order to bring the cost of government down, and with it the need for even more tax dollars, taxes must come down and certain areas need to be trimmed to become more sustainable, just like Alberta Health Services, where, once again, a top-heavy, administration-rich union environment can only benefit those at the very top and at the expense of frontline staff. When your administrators are making a quarter of a million dollars and your nurses are making five-figure salaries at best you could have a lot more nurses than administrators and keep costs down at the same time. Instead, they have six levels of management all telling the handful of actual staff what to do. It's ludicrous. This is the real-world NDP. This is the NDP they are desperately trying to avoid having. You see, right now.
Speaker 8:Hello Peter, what's happening? We have sort of a problem here. Yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS reports. Oh yeah, i'm sorry about that, i forgot. Yeah, you see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out. Did you see the memo about this? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, i have the memo right here, i just forgot. But it's not shipping out till tomorrow, so there's no problem. Yeah, if you could just go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that would be great, and I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo, okay.
Speaker 5:Yeah no, I have the memo.
Speaker 8:I've got it. It's right here, Hello Bill. What's happening?
Speaker 1:That's why progressives want to censor any opposing dialogue, so that the only thing you hear is their position. It's hard to remember what happened before if you have no one to remind you. That's one of the core tenets of these socialist and communist-enthralled progressive ideologies. They all have a tendency to limit and control rather than nurture any sort of actual growth or expression, even contrary to that which they might say, just like the Alberta NDP are doing right now. It's simply lip service designed to keep the sewer rats under control and right where they should be doing exactly as the government says.
Speaker 1:The sort of government knows best approach that should be resisted at all costs. They literally think that you are so stupid that you will believe absolutely anything they tell you. Judging by the exponential growth in NDP signs and rural areas since the last election, they might be right. It's mind-numbing to me that they have been able to adequately dupe so many with their basic communist manifestos. Just a quick peruse of the party's policies should be a quick reminder of how out of step their words are from their core belief.
Speaker 1:It's an obvious display from tweets about Mao, to participation in pro-communist and communist party marches, right down to Rachel Notley sporting a hip tribute to Shea Guevara in the form of a wristwatch at one point. Of course, the moment anyone draws attention to it, they delete the posts almost instantaneously and make much ado about minimizing. Such was the case with NDP candidates Gerynder Brar, Ray Loyola, Diana Batten just recently. The love and admiration broadcast for socialist and communist despots by these NDP hopefuls remains truly startling.
Speaker 5:The state tells us it wants to prevent a panic. Listen. Well, it's true, when the people see the police, they will be afraid, but it is my experience that when the people ask questions that are not in their own best interest, they should simply be told to keep their minds on their labor and leave matters of the state to the state. We seal off the city no one leaves and cut the phone lines, contain the spread of misinformation. That is how we keep the people from undermining the fruits of their own labor. Yes, comrades, we will all be rewarded for what we do here tonight. This is our moment to shine.
Speaker 1:What would these people say to those who came to Canada to escape the drudgery of communism? if they were to stand before them today, what possible apology would suffice to excuse their complete detachment from the reality of the situation? These people talk about the rest of us checking our privilege, but it would seem to be that they should spend a bit of time mirror-gazing themselves. Maybe, if they were to do so, they might see the folly in their ways. It's not likely, though. These are the same people who would require a zero-tolerance mandatory vaccination expectation, should they have been the ones making the choice at the time. Thankfully they weren't.
Speaker 1:I'd hate to see what the recent pandemic would have been like if they had been. The rights and freedoms well-earned by the blood and sweat of our forefathers would have been even more quickly vanished into the annals of history, to be no more. Even if you disagree with the actions taken by the government during the pandemic, you have to admit it would have been far more onerous and strict had the NDP been in power at the time. The reason Alberta had most of the mandates and restrictions that we did was in no small part due to clamoring from the NDP in their base over the UCP needing to do more than they already were, which further proves the idea that progressives always drag the conversation left.
Speaker 2:The community that faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year were those who made a choice not to be vaccinated.
Speaker 1:Make no mistake, though the Alberta NDP party is indeed lying. They desperately need you to believe the huck they are peddling. They want nothing more for you to forget the four years they were in power and how many businesses fled the province and took their high paying jobs with them, how expensive things become, how the taxes increased, how the public expense exploded, how the unions and administration staff profited from the general desperation of absolutely everything, all while the efficacy of care slid downward in an avalanche of mismanagement and unsustainability. It was the perfect storm for an Alberta on the precipice of a global pandemic.
Speaker 7:Due to circumstances well beyond our control. Our economy is volatile one, and we may be struggling a bit.
Speaker 11:Companies are cutting back on hiring and investment, and the plummeting price of oil means the government's energy royalties are tumbling too.
Speaker 1:In yet another example of their disconnect, livingstone McLeod NDP candidate Kevin Van Teegam was also found to impart some thoughtful opinions about Alberta's energy sector, while comparing it to slavery and a dumb pursuit in place of college enrollment, in his book Wild Roses Are Worth It. His revulsion of the people involved in Alberta's energy sector simply cannot be denied, but the NDP simply replies when pressed about it with the Alberta, ndp supports the future of oil and gas and we have a robust energy plan to build a resilient economy and better future for the province.
Speaker 10:Federal memo about the just transition is a fresh source of tension on this already difficult issue. The 81-page document is predicting significant labour market disruptions, particularly in energy, as Canada transitions to cleaner options. Employees in Alberta point to the document as evidence of the policy's destructive intent. I want to start with some politicians and workers, particularly in Alberta. They're extremely distressed by this document. What do you say to them?
Speaker 12:Let me say this to Alberta workers and to Canadians across the country The Sustainable Jobs Program is all about creating and adding high quality, long-term, sustainable jobs to the economy. It's about making sure that we have long-term, high-paying, sustainable jobs in the oil and gas sector for decades into the future, way past our 2050 net zero targets, and making sure that we embrace new technologies like hydrogen, lng, wind, solar, and making sure that, when we embrace nuclear technology as well, that we've got the best and brightest workers able to do what they do best, which is build up Alberta and build up Canada.
Speaker 1:What the hell does that even mean? The Alberta NDP eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs and energy sector businesses with the disastrous support and implementation of the federal Liberals Just Transition Program. How is that supporting the future of oil and gas? Perhaps they mean that they support the future, but it just happens to be void of oil and gas. The oil and gas sector is an embarrassment to the NDP. They constantly feel the need to apologize for it every chance they get. It's their arch-nemesis, the joker to their Batman, the equivalent to Alberta's own Sodom or Gomorrah. How do they support the oil and gas industry? They don't. They support the oil and gas industry and its employees' votes, but that's it and that's all.
Speaker 1:And once they get them, it'll be business as usual for the Alberta NDP and their federal coalition with Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party. Guaranteeing that absolutely no regard will be given again to the actual concerns of Albertans until the next voting cycle, when they will no doubt lie to you all over again. They'll say they created jobs, that the Just Transition Program benefitted those in the oil and gas industry. They'll say they made life easier for Albertans, that they were the only party to achieve a pipeline to coastal tide water. How they represent hard hats and those who work hard. The only hard hats they represent are the white ones that belong to the Union inspectors and the ones working hard to realize the NDP's utopian fantasies. But the embarrassing cousins and the sewer rats don't fit into the program when the NDP are dictating what goes. So if you want to ensure your Union rep gets a raise and a hefty bonus, by all means vote for the Alberta NDP. They'll find a way to squeeze a few extra bucks out of you that you never even knew you didn't need to pay for it, no problem. They'll also take credit where no credit is offered, like the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a pipeline that existed since 1953, when Ernest Manning was Premier and leader of the Social Credit Party. The Alberta NDP did absolutely nothing to build that pipeline. The twinning project was completed while the NDP were in power, sure, but the project was well underway, with or without their interference, or lack thereof in this particular case.
Speaker 1:Politicians need to stop overpromising things we can't afford. It's easy for them to do because they aren't the ones paying for it. We are. If they grow short on funds, they'll just hike taxes or borrow more money from globalist bankers to pay for whatever it might be, never mind if they can barely service the interest on the debt. Just keep spending and spending until any cuts are deemed to be an expense by the population. All the while crying that services are underfunding and that the current terrible state is a direct result of too little money and not in any way because of too much government or their rich and illustrious promises. That's the progressive way.
Speaker 1:but the government has a way of making you think exploding governments are a good thing. Take, for example, the way they announce jobs. Most people just hear the total number of jobs created in the last X amount of days. They don't understand what it means when the newscaster says 120,000 jobs were created last month, 110,000 which were public sector jobs and 10,000 private sector jobs comprised the remainder. It sounds great, except that it isn't. The 110,000 jobs are public sector. That means your taxes pay their wage and your tax burden increases every time a position is created. The only job numbers that matter are the private sector jobs, and it's only ever good if it's the other way around and there are far more private sector jobs than public sector jobs. This allows for the creation of actual jobs that contribute to the taxes necessary to fund the public sector. You need more of those to break even in terms of public versus private sector job numbers. Everything else is a deficit.
Speaker 1:The Alberta NDP love to announce job numbers, even if they're low, because they know most people don't know how the numbers work. They hear a big number and they think it must mean the politicians are doing the right things in keeping Albertans employed. You couldn't be farther from the truth, especially if we can't afford it. The more public sector jobs, the less we take home in our own pockets and the more costly the government is overall. It's far more important to have a robust economy creating a large number of private sector jobs than it is to have a large amount of public sector jobs during a downturn like we are currently facing. It's astounding to me that the Alberta NDP would say we can't afford the UCP. The truth is, if we can't afford the UCP, then there is absolutely no way at all that we can afford to elect the NDP.
Speaker 12:We want you to forget how our NDP drove us into massive debt and lost 183,000 jobs. Rachel Notley and the NDP can we really afford them again?
Speaker 1:The sheer expense of just four short years. One single term with the Alberta NDP in office was astronomical, posting the largest deficit in Alberta history at the time. The United Conservative Party, meanwhile, balanced the books recently, after three years of COVID-related spending spending, it might be added that the NDP championed as necessary and obligatory. This is a far cry from where Alberta was during the tenure of Ralph Klein. Ralph Klein committed to cutting government spending by 30% almost overnight and brought about a surplus when oil revenues were in the tank. Rather than whine and complain about our dependence on oil and gas, Klein acted as though we didn't depend on it at all. For a short time it seemed he was right. The royalty revenue went to Albertans' pockets directly. Almost as quickly we were posting more surpluses.
Speaker 9:I've been a reporter for 11 years in this city and I've traveled with bikers and I've traveled with whores and I've traveled with gamblers and I've traveled with people from the east end of town to the west end of town and I've been in all kinds of trouble with the police.
Speaker 13:I started with $300 in my pocket and that's how I started this campaign and I had a sense of commitment and I drew the greatest bunch of vagabonds, misfits and beautiful people to my campaign who never once said to me I have to work for this son of a bitch because I owe him something.
Speaker 1:Ralph did some other things that were supposed to protect us from spend-happy governments in the future. Legislation that was supposed to make it illegal for a government to operate at a deficit in Alberta ever again, for example. This was, of course, unwritten and thrown aside when Stelmach and then, worse yet, Redford needed more money. Alison Redford bought teachers union votes by promising something like $300 million to them if they voted for her. Three months after the election, Redford still hadn't paid and the unions went public. Redford wrote legislation allowing her access to the Alberta Heritage Fund in order to pay them off. Then Prentice pointed his finger at us and told us we, the taxpayers, were the problem with Alberta, and it's no wonder the conservative vote became fractured and split. It was the perfect time for the Alberta NDP to slip into power quietly and unexpectedly.
Speaker 11:The NDP is talking about dismantling the Alberta Heritage that has made. You know there's 100,000 people a year come to this province, right, and they come here because it's the free enterprise engine of the country and because people come here to invest. They come here to get jobs, they come here to create jobs. We're like the envy of North America. What the NDP proposes is to walk away from that. You know. Start with a royalty review. Is there anything worse you could do in Alberta in the circumstances we're in right now, than launch a royalty review? The last time we did this, it was a disaster and there's parts of the energy industry that still never recovered from what happened at that time. And so you know their policies start from that. We'll undermine investor confidence. You know people have invested billions of dollars in this province. We're going to now get into a royalty review when oil prices are like 50 bucks a barrel. It's the worst thing you could do.
Speaker 11:On top of that, they want to, you know, increase corporate income taxes to the same level as Quebec. You know, and I know like I get it. It's easy to say we should increase corporate taxes. It's a. You know, in some people's mind it's a solution. It's not a solution because it will just cost us investment and jobs. We know that One of the things that's driving the Alberta economy is we have the lowest corporate income taxes in the country, so people come here to invest and create jobs and create wealth and create opportunity, you know. So, again, it's the worst thing we could do. When they're proposing that the corporate income taxes be higher than Quebec, like you know, since when is that part of the Alberta advantage to have higher corporate taxes than the province of Quebec? let alone what they're going to do to, you know, to personal taxes? Now, on top of that, you know we hear that, you know they want to have refineries here, but they want pipelines Like this is preposterous.
Speaker 1:What followed was spending and progressive legislation at a rate and pace never seen by Albertans prior. It was alarming and immediate. It was the exact opposite of the Ralph Klein years. Royalties were government absolutes and entitlements. In fact. The government wasn't being paid enough, so we'd have to undergo a royalty review to make sure they were getting their due. Can't have the government missing out on any additional revenue. After all, How else can they pay for all these wonderful things they've decided you must have? That's what happened when they snuck in the back door, nary saying a word. The look on Naughty's face when they announced she'd won the provincial election was of shock and awe. Up till that very moment, there was next to zero chance of the NDP or Liberals taking power in Alberta.
Speaker 8:It's an outrage, it's a tragedy, it's like why are we even doing it?
Speaker 6:And like why and like don't?
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, that's no longer the case. This time they're coming in loud and full of vigor, equipped with lies and platitudes, and stand as good a chance of winning as their competitors. Can you just for a moment take the time to consider what will happen if the Alberta NDP wins under this circumstance? They won't hold anything back like they did the first time, when their position was tenuous and they were, as though, an accidental government. This time they will be bolstered by what they view as an acceptance of their progressivism. The Albertans agree in the course they will chart and, more importantly, accept it. The following sequel would be far worse than the first,
Speaker 11:The polls across the province have been pretty steady for the last few months and they show a tie, a neck and neck race between the United Conservatives and the New Democrats.
Speaker 2:Polls have both parties basically in a coin flip position, and that's very unusual for a province that has leaned clearly conservative for almost as long as it has existed.
Speaker 1:You might notice the words sales tax get bounced around a lot more comfortably these days as well. It's almost as though it's impossible to conceive how Alberta made it this long without one. The fear of cutting services, even if they're out of proportion, means it's easier to convince people that it's acceptable that the government find additional sources of revenue. The trouble is, as witnessed during Notley's term, almost every single source of additional revenue was through taxation not investment or innovation, but by raising and collecting more taxes, taxes that are paid by Albertans and far eclipsed the revenue to be generated through collecting a provincial sales tax.
Speaker 1:During this election, smith has offered to lower taxes. Notley proposes to keep all taxes the same for the next four years. Then what? Triple them? Quadruple? No answer. That's the part they leave out on purpose, all but guaranteeing their quiet consideration of things like a provincial sales tax. The fact that the government taxes your money when you make it and that they also find ways to tax it every time you spend it is inconscionable enough, but it's already proven to be exacerbated under an NDP government.
Speaker 2:I had seen a number of your tweets over the weekend and then comments today, calling for increased restrictions because of the increase in cases, as well as the variance of concern. The Premier did just that today, moving the province back effectively into stage one. Is that what you were looking for?
Speaker 7:Well, finally, yes, i mean you know Jason Kenney is continuing a pattern of acting last and acting least. to be clear, when they first moved to reopen restaurants in mid-February, we at the time said it was too early and that we raise. We ran the risk of allowing cases to get away from us again. And in this particular case, of course, this announcement is coming after a four-day long Easter weekend which everybody could see that this was coming And we are going to be paying the price for the last four days for some time to come, I'm afraid.
Speaker 1:That's why it's so very important to make sure that people understand that a vote for the Alberta NDP in the next election is one supporting heavy taxation, misinformation, censorship and centralized government control over your day-to-day affairs. It's a vote to support vaccine mandates in the future. It's supporting socialism and communist ideologies. The words they speak and the way they speak them is as though a condescending parent. The Alberta NDP hates the province of Alberta. It is their intention to change Alberta to better reflect their own progressive global viewpoints and, by doing so, change Albertans.
Speaker 1:A recent poll said that more people trust Notley than Smith, which is laughable. really, like Smith or not, she's been delivering the straight goods since she was elected, regardless of what you may have said during her time in the entertainment realm. However, some may still harbor ill will towards her from when she crossed the floor from the Wildr ose Party to join Prentice's Conservative Party. I know I certainly do. It was a terrible blow to Alberta. For the first time in a while, we were in one of those rare moments where conservatives were holding conservatives accountable. The Conservative Party was in power and the Wildr ose was the official opposition. The Wild Rose didn't have the punch and muster it once did after that. Not until Kenny breathed new life into Alberta conservatism with the unification of the two parties during Notley's term.
Speaker 6:You remember Jason Kenny? He was banging around Ottawa for decades. Well, now he's back. Jason made a name for himself nationally as a loud, proud activist.
Speaker 1:I was always taught to give people a second chance. When Smith got elected leader of the UCP, I decided that's what I would do. Give her a chance to see if the mistakes she'd made in the past would come home to roost again. So far they haven't. The bits that Notley's NDP have managed to pull to shore haven't been anything more than the statements of someone who is being paid to be entertaining during a time when she was an entertainer and not a politician. In the meantime, you can barely tell the difference between what the two leaders are proposing in terms of promises, except that one has been saying the same things all along, and one has changed her tune in order to garner votes and is no longer saying the same things that she once was. In other words, one of them is lying, and at least this time it's not Danielle Smith.
Speaker 1:The things Smith is saying are the same things the UCP have been doing since her election, which appears to have the best interest of Albertans at heart. At least she isn't asking you to change to be an Albertan or to be embarrassed by where you come from, but Rachel Notley certainly has many, many times. The Alberta NDP are like wolves in sheep's clothing. They'll tell you any litany of things to convince you they aren't, but make no mistake, at the end of the day they will use their long, sharp fangs to sink their teeth into your lunch and their long, sharp claws to hold you down in submission, forcing you to succumb to their plan. Their fairy tales are but fables designed to confuse and befuddle, but they are not true. The Alberta NDP is lying to you.
Speaker 2:There is only one party who is listening to Albertans standing up to Ottawa and fighting to move our province forward, both to stand up to the Liberal NDP coalition of Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and Rachel Notley.
