August 7, 2023 • 53 mins
Ready to extinguish the misinformation and ignite your understanding of Canadian politics? Ever wondered how you can make a real impact on the political landscape around you? Strap in for an enlightening discourse with David Parker, the dynamic leader of Take Back Alberta, as we navigate the labyrinth of the Canadian political system and spark your political engagement.
This episode unravels the political thread, from the Queen of England's legal standing in Canada to the game-changing power of a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. We also shine a spotlight on the recent political upheavals in Alberta, shedding light on the wave of discontent triggered by Jason Kenney's pandemic performance, and the rising tide of apathy in Canadian politics. We'll also navigate the recent Strathcona County land-use bylaws controversy, highlighting the urgent need for citizen involvement to curb such unilateral decisions.
Channeling his wealth of experience from over 40 election campaigns, David Parker shares his incredible journey from rural Alberta to leading Take Back Alberta. As we journey through the intricate workings of Canada's political system, we'll debunk some common misconceptions, address the need for community-building through town hall approaches, and underline the imperative of active political participation. Whether you're a seasoned political enthusiast or a novice dipping your toe into the world of politics, this episode promises to challenge your thinking and inspire your actions. Don't just voice your opinions, make them count! Tune in, engage, take responsibility and let your voice be the change you wish to see in Canadian politics.
Guest: David Parker (Take Back Alberta)
Politically discordant, counter culture clothing for the discerning civil disobedient.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Host (00:00):
Whether we agree or agree to disagree, everybody's got an
opinion, and I'm about to giveyou mine.
So sit back, relax, buckle upand try not to get offended.
Welcome to this Canadian Thinks.
Canadians really don't know howtheir government works.
They don't know how to engageor interact with the political
(00:22):
system correctly, and they'rerather gullible.
As a result, politicians canenact all sorts of legislation
while the population is busychasing their tails in
distraction.
It is this awareness on behalfof the government that drives
the absence of political processin the education curriculums,
the lack of easily obtainedinformation regarding political
(00:42):
involvement and the apparentshroud of secrecy in terms of
parliamentary procedure.
People actually still believethat previously the Queen and
now the King of England arepersonally responsible for
rubber stamping any legislationthat receives royal assent.
While it may have been at onetime true, our matters have not
been tabled in England sinceApril 17, 1982, when Queen
(01:04):
Elizabeth II declared Canada'sindependence from the British
Parliament after the CanadianHouse of Commons approved
Trudeau Sr's constitutionalreform resolution.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hear ye, hear ye, what's for breakfast?
Toast.
I don't understand ye Marge.
Ye ol toast.
Host (01:25):
When you are uninformed, you are easily misdirected
towards folly-filled fantasiesof little to no consequence,
allowing the government theability to describe groups of
people as radical or misinformed.
Your cause, no matter how justor correct, loses weight under
the slanderous contentions ofgovernment slack jaws and
virtue-signaling politiciansonce labels like uneducated or
(01:46):
bigoted begin to be applied.
If you aren't informed andarmed with knowledge on how to
press the system to give aparticular concern merit, then
you will be ineffective in yourattempt and risk ridicule as a
result.
Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha.
Are you serious?
(02:07):
Take, for instance, during theFreedom Convoy, when memes were
circulating in regards toGovernor-General Mary Simon,
people were encouraged to callor email Simon voicing their
displeasure of Prime MinisterTrudeau.
If she were to receive acertain amount of complaints
within a length of time, shewould proceed to remove him from
office under the guise ofnon-confidence, which would be
wonderful, but it's simply notthe way it works.
(02:30):
The Governor-General hasabsolutely nothing to do with
the removal or appointment ofelected officials.
Only a vote of no confidence inthe House can trigger an
election or force a resignation.
Those deemed to be confidencevotes can be hugely
consequential for all involved.
However, there's no writtenconvention or definition of what
constitutes a confidence voteaccording to Wikipedia, and
(02:51):
definitions vary withcircumstance.
Nor can the Speaker of theHouse be asked to rule on what
is and what isn't a confidencevote.
The government itself canexplicitly declare matters it
puts to a vote to be questionsof confidence.
They might do so in conjunctionwith their new throne speech,
for example, which they may begiven following prorogation.
Those regarding spending aremostly always considered votes
(03:14):
on confidence.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
The opposition parties have a choice.
Do they want to make parliamentwork and work for Canadians, or
do they want to votenon-confidence and trigger an
election?
The choice, Mr Speaker, istheirs.
Host (03:27):
If the government loses a vote of confidence, two things
can happen A new election iscalled, or another party or
coalition is given a chance toform the government.
On the federal level, it's upto the Governor-General to make
this decision.
On the provincial level, it'sup to the Lieutenant-Governor.
In 2017, that's what happenedin British Columbia the
provincial NDP and Green Partytabled an amendment to the
(03:48):
throne speech that declared thelegislature did not have
confidence in the government.
Then-premier Christy Clarkasked Lieutenant-Governor Judith
Gushan to dissolve the Houseand call an election.
Instead, gushan invited JohnHorgan to form a government.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I am very excited about the prospects of
delivering for the people ofBritish Columbia change and we
are going to be able to givethat change as a result of the
agreement reached between the BCGreen Caucus and the BC NDP
Caucus.
I'm very excited about theprospect of stable government
and demonstrating to BritishColumbians that we can do great
things when we work together.
We can do great things acrossparty lines when we have a
(04:26):
government in place that'sanxious to do that.
I'm very excited about theprospects.
Andrew and I have worked veryclosely over the past number of
weeks.
We brought forward the issuesthat bring us together and we've
highlighted those issues thatseparate us, and we've come to a
conclusion that a governmentrun by the BC NDP, with the
support on issues around supplyand budgeting, can in fact
(04:48):
deliver for British Columbians agovernment that's focused on
people.
We're not looking to have anelection anytime soon.
We're looking to show toBritish Columbians that minority
governments can work.
And what better way to showthat proportional representation
could work by showing that aminority government can and will
work In the best interest ofpeople throughout its session.
Host (05:07):
This could not have happened had the amendment not
been tabled.
The Lieutenant Governor cannotjust unilaterally decide of
their own accord to displace anelected leader, nor can the
Governor-General, regardless howmany people contact them to
complain.
When people do, however,they'll complain to most anyone
(05:34):
about the current state ofCanadian politics, except for
those to which it might actuallybe of benefit.
They'll throw their hands up inapathetic inequity and complain
about how the system is riggedor broken.
The system isn't broken.
It's functioning exactly as itwas designed.
The only way to enable realchange is to know how it works,
to effectively engage with it,and then to do so.
(05:54):
Join the local constituencyassociation, for example, and
add your voice to the dialogue.
There is so much you mightactually accomplish if only you
were to educate yourself on howthe system actually operates.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And you said recently quote when you give, they do
whatever the hell you want themto do.
You better believe it.
So what specifically did theydo?
If I ask them, if I need themyou know most of the people on
this stage I've given to, justso you understand a lot of money
I will tell you that our systemis broken.
I give to many people.
(06:27):
Before this, before two monthsago, I was a businessman.
I give to everybody.
When they call, I give.
And you know what, when I needsomething from them two years
later, three years later, I callthem, they are there for me.
So what did you get?
And that's a broken system.
So what did you get fromHillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi
?
Well, I'll tell you what.
With Hillary Clinton, I said beat my wedding.
And she came to my wedding.
You know why?
(06:47):
She had no choice because Igave.
Host (06:50):
It can be a bit of a double-edged sword occasionally.
Sometimes, when people do getactively involved in the
political process so they canhave their concerns addressed,
they are often met withresistance, not from their
fellow constituents, but fromtheir elected officials instead.
Take, for example, whathappened in the Elkwater
district not too long ago, whenthe local municipal council held
up a building permit for acommunity center despite the
(07:12):
very vocal opposition of thelocal residents.
In the end, the electedofficials decided to allow the
project to go ahead, becausethey couldn't allow people to
just cause a ruckus and make abunch of noise in order to have
their voices heard above others,because that would set a bad
precedent.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You can't be serious man, you cannot be serious.
Host (07:32):
A bad precedent.
Are you kidding me?
Seriously, the bad precedent isin allowing the local elected
municipality to go against thewill of the local constituents,
which is a direct result oftheir tendency to close the
council doors and proceed tohave a discussion in what is
known as in-camera.
This is because certaininformation is deemed to be
confidential in nature, meaningthey simply don't want you to
(07:53):
hear it.
There is entirely too much thatcan go wrong in terms of
transparency when you take awaypublic accountability.
Who knows what kind ofincentives or kickbacks were
offered to the local politicianson behalf of the developer?
We'll never know, because theylocked the doors and redacted
the transcripts you have to getrid of this ignorant and
meddlesome majority.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Control them, make sure they do the right things.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Offer their own good, incidentally Good journalism
today has the state in itscrosshairs and you never want to
punch down, you always want topunch up.
Speaker 8 (08:24):
I'm amused at people who claim that the governments
don't like.
Really, you know human beingsthat never lie.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Of course they lie.
Host (08:33):
A similar situation happened to take back Alberta.
They were highly successful inteaching people how to get
involved in their localconstituency associations and
support candidates aligned withtheir views.
Political pundits were aghast.
How dare they get activelyengaged in their democracy?
Many of them even clamored forlegislation to prevent groups
from doing such things in thefuture, as though they were
subverting democracy instead ofengaging with it, as is their
(08:56):
right.
Speaker 9 (08:57):
Take back.
Alberta is a little bit hard todefine.
I describe it as a vibe.
It's not necessarily like aclub, like you're a member of a
club.
It's more of like anassociation.
It's a network.
It's people who believe in anindividualistic understanding of
rights and freedoms.
Its roots are definitely inbeing upset over COVID rules,
(09:21):
restrictions, mandates, all ofthat.
A lot of its messages arecommunicated over values and
winks.
It definitely is on the rightside of the conservative
movement.
Some people even go as far tosay it's the far right side, but
it definitely represents thesocial conservative side with
(09:43):
religious undertones.
Host (09:45):
Groups like Take Back Alberta are a threat to the
status quo.
The government would far preferthat you're not only
disorganized but alsoincompetent.
When groups begin to alignlike-minded people together in
an organized fashion and teachthem how the political process
works, the governing class getsits dander up.
When you are ignorant of things, you are more easily persuaded
to believe or accept that thereisn't really anything of
(10:06):
consequence that you can do tochange it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You've been saying two different messages.
Down east, you've been tellingpeople that you want to kill the
single biggest employer in ourprovince.
You're in Alberta right now,sir.
You're not in Ottawa Yet whenyou come to Calgary, you tell
people you're sorry.
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm a little confused.
There is one of two things, mrPrime Minister you are either a
(10:29):
liar or you're confused, and I'mbeginning to think it's both I
have said repeatedly in manysituations Okay, the truth is,
though, you can change it, andyou should.
Host (10:43):
Apathy will get us nowhere .
To say there is nothing you cando is to profess your lack of
understanding of the corefundamentals of democracy.
There is plenty you can do onceyou learn how the system
actually works, which is whatmakes organizations like Take
Back Alberta important in termsof capacity for understanding
the system as it is.
To say Take Back Alberta hasbeen successful is an
(11:03):
understatement at best.
Many of the candidates thatthey supported have been elected
, while many others that theydid not support weren't so lucky
or they're in the process ofresigning.
Now, entire constituencyassociation boards have been
staffed with Take Back Albertamembers displacing those who's
happy for them organized,knowledgeable and thus effective
.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
Take Back.
Alberta is a third party group,a political action committee as
it were, that is heavilyinvolved in conservative
politics in Alberta.
They were involved inorganizing the anti-Kennie vote
in his leadership review.
They then mobilized in supportof Daniel Smith during her
(11:43):
leadership race.
They now occupy half of the UCPboard.
They took that over at the AGM.
Half the seats go in every yearand they put a slate together
and they won every seat.
They have taken over ridingassociation boards and their
(12:05):
endorsed candidates are nowwinning nomination races right
across the province.
This is a very significantpolitical force.
I think the novel feature ofwhat they're doing is Alberta
has a tendency of creating newparties, particularly on the
right.
They get unhappy with theleft-board drift of every party
(12:27):
and they go inform their ownparty.
This time they haven't donethat.
Instead they've decided to takeover an existing party, which I
think is a really interestingstrategy.
I don't think the averageAlbertan understands what is
going on here.
They have a very radical agendabut they're very good at
organizing.
(12:47):
It doesn't take a lot of peoplein a particular constituency
association to control theirboard or to control the
nomination or to have acandidate win.
It's much tougher in a generalelection, which is why third
parties or new parties have realchallenges.
They figured that out and Ithink Albertans need to know who
(13:13):
this party has become.
Host (13:15):
As support for Jason Kinney was waning after he so
poorly acted in reflection ofthe interests of the majority of
Albertans during the pandemic,take back.
Alberta applied adequatepressure to displace him,
despite his efforts to preventthem from doing so.
He knew that, even though hesaid prior to the leadership
review that he considered 51%sufficient to remain leader,
that it would be too tight of amargin to actually stay on in a
(13:36):
leadership role.
An unprecedented number ofAlbertans had shown an interest
in his dismissal just by showingup, which is the part most
people fail to realize.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
With a vote coming soon on his own leadership.
Kinney says the UCP is undersiege by extremist elements
seeking a hostile takeover.
Jason Kinney says the last fewmonths have led to some personal
reflection.
After a turbulent stretch, thePremier even considered stepping
down, but ultimately, he sayshe made a choice.
We need to maintain unity andresponsible mainstream
(14:09):
leadership.
But it's not yet guaranteedKinney will even be part of the
next election.
Some within his party havecalled for his resignation, and
a new leaked recording maydivide the caucus even further.
In the audio file, kinneyreportedly goes after factions
within the UCP, saying thelunatics are trying to take over
the asylum.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
These marginal voices do not represent Albertans.
They certainly do not representthe United Conservative Party.
Speaker 9 (14:37):
Far right or far left , everybody can agree that they
hate Kinney.
Speaker 10 (14:41):
He's been trying to buy us recently with some
handouts, but I think mostpeople will realize that it's
just not worth it.
Host (14:48):
It's complete apathy that is the underlying current in
Canadian politics.
While it's true that the peoplemaking the decisions comprise a
small group of people, it isn'tthe way you might actually
think.
It's made up of a small groupof people, because no one else
shows up to have their voicesheard.
It's easier to stay home andwax poetic about the system
being rigged.
Now, in many people's defense,the actual constituency
(15:10):
associations themselves aren'tthat easily discovered, which is
done on purpose, likely.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
That point in fingers say you ain't where you want to
be because of him or her oranybody.
Cowards do that and that ain'tyou.
You're better than that.
Host (15:23):
In my local riding last year, progressive Conservative
Member of Parliament, damienCurric, was hosting a town hall
at the Town Council Chambers.
Given that the pandemic wasstill a concern to the political
class, and given the confinednature of the chamber, it was
decided that the presentationwould be done without access to
the general public.
As incensed as everyone was tohave restrictions and mandates
(15:43):
ended post-freedom convoy, therewas much ado regarding this
decision, so much so that Curricwas forced to move the town
hall to the grandstand at therodeo grounds.
Despite technical difficulties,cold weather and falling snow,
curric spoke of the currentgoings on and answered questions
from those in attendance.
Now there is far less interest.
The momentum has petered out tothe extent that this year's
(16:06):
town hall meeting will onceagain be hosted in council
chambers.
While it was fashionable to bepolitically active, many were.
Now that time is worn on andthe issues brought forth by the
pandemic are increasingly behindus, it's not so fashionable
anymore.
Life is beginning to takecenter stage for many.
The apathy is beginning tocreep in again.
It's easier, and we've beenprogrammed to prefer its comfort
(16:27):
and irresponsible nature.
David Parker (16:29):
I just don't think I can continue to live in a
place that embraces and nurturesapathy as if it was a virtue.
You know different.
You know better.
I didn't say I was different orbetter.
I'm not Hell.
I sympathize.
I sympathize completely.
Apathy is a solution.
I mean it's easier to loseyourself in drugs than it is to
(16:51):
cope with life.
It's easier to steal what youwant than it is to earn it.
It's easier to beat a childthan it is to raise it Healthy.
Love costs.
Host (17:00):
It takes effort and work Outside of major events that
affect large swaths of thepopulation.
It's difficult to keep peopleactively involved in the
political process.
If it doesn't affect themdirectly, they prefer not to get
involved at all.
Once their individual concernhas been placated, they're
content to move on and leaveothers to attend the board
meetings and local municipalfunctions.
They stop showing up entirely.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
How come I called you a couple of times?
You know we got back to that Iwas busy.
Speaker 12 (17:24):
You know, I got busy you got busy.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, you got busy.
Speaker 10 (17:27):
What do you do?
I'm so busy.
Host (17:29):
Governments know this.
They're more than happy to seean upswing and involvement, but
they already understand that itwill very likely be short-lived
at best.
The outrage or anger willeventually pass and things will
once again go back to the waythey were before.
After all, meetings are boringand being involved takes time
out of your otherwise busy life.
At some point, most people willfind their way clear of their
(17:49):
involvement eventually.
The more confusing it is, theless you understand it, the
easier it is to becomedisinterested, which is why they
no longer teach anythingregarding civics in high school
anymore.
C.
D F F.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
F.
Three weeks we've been talkingabout the Platt Amendment.
What are you people on dope?
Host (18:17):
It's increasingly important to remain active in
our local writings,constituencies and
municipalities in order toensure transparency regarding
the action of our electedrepresentatives.
Given this, any help we can getto make the process easier
should be welcomed.
The increased capacity andunderstanding that is created by
organizations like Take BackAlberta, alberta Prosperity and
(18:39):
many others provide aneducational background on
matters that would seem to beclosely guarded secrets of the
political class, even thoughthey should be common knowledge.
By exposing them to be thesimple truths that they are, we
can begin to have a hand inshaping the political discourse
and direction in a morepalatable way.
We can take control of the pathour country is on and guide
(18:59):
legislation in a matter morefitting to our shared values and
with a reasonable expectationof our governments to represent
their constituents moreeffectively.
Speaker 12 (19:08):
We stood up for what was right.
We fought for moral reasons.
We passed laws, struck downlaws.
For moral reasons, we wagedwars on poverty, not poor people
.
We sacrificed, we cared aboutour neighbors, we put our money
where our mouths were and wenever beat our chest.
We built great big things, madeungodly technological advances,
(19:29):
explored the universe, cureddiseases.
We cultivated the world'sgreatest artists and the world's
greatest economy.
We reached for the stars, actedlike men.
We aspired to intelligence.
We didn't belittle it.
It didn't make us feel inferior, we didn't identify ourselves
(19:51):
by who we voted for in the lastelection and we didn't scare so
easy.
We were able to be all thesethings and do all these things
because we were informed bygreat men, men who were revered.
First step in solving anyproblem is recognizing there is
(20:14):
one.
Host (20:15):
It's not enough to rely on the people involved in the
aforementioned groups to see toit that you're effectively
governed either.
However, Without the effect ofinvolvement of the citizenry,
democracy grinds to a halt whenthe decisions for the population
entire begin to be made withoutregard for the true interests
of the population itself.
We are in dangerouslyprogressive territory, indeed,
which is what we must alwaysendeavor to avoid if we want to
(20:38):
see democracy continue to thrivein the future.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
Once you begin a great movement, there's no
telling where it'll end.
We, the people, tell thegovernment what to do.
It doesn't tell us.
Host (20:51):
Just as a mechanic might receive additional training as
technology changes in theworkplace, it is incumbent that
the population of a placecontinue to learn how their
political system works, how theycan effectively promote change
and engage with it in a matterwhich helps to better reflect
their concerns within the systemon matters which are personally
relevant.
While it may seem daunting atfirst, once you know more and
(21:11):
begin to be comfortable with theprocedures and principles of it
all, it isn't really thatdifficult, despite their efforts
to make it appear otherwise.
So before you set aboutcomplaining about the current
political situation, askyourself have you done
everything you can to engage inthe process?
Have you actually tried toengage with the system, or is it
simply that it's easier tocomplain than it is to actually
(21:31):
do anything about it?
Likely you'll find it's thelatter, the very example of
apathy.
The thing is, Bob, it's notthat I'm lazy, it's that I just
don't care.
Listen, watch, learn, gainunderstanding, then motivate
yourself to get activelyinvolved and maybe, even more
importantly, locally interested.
(21:51):
You don't necessarily need tobe hyper-vigilant on every
miniscule matter at a nationallevel, but if you pay attention
to the things that are happeningat the council level of your
own local municipality, you'llfind plenty to keep you busy.
When good local decisions aremade, those decisions work their
way up to the top, and when baddecisions are contemplated and
there is effective oppositionagainst them, that too also
(22:14):
rises.
After all, plenty of times,smaller jurisdictions are the
testing ground for largerlegislation.
First look at Strathcona County, where they first implemented
the new era land-use bylaws thatare slowly edging their way
into more and moremunicipalities here in Alberta.
There was enough support inStrathcona that other
jurisdictions have jumped onboard, even though the local
population are against it.
(22:34):
The issue being, even thoughthe citizens were against the
proposed changes, they wereineffective to stop it because
they don't have the faintestidea how to do so.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
From 18th Precinct.
The Marlborough Sacking Houseis 27th Street and 7th Avenue.
We have no force to send.
All the stores are closing on8th Avenue from fear of the mob.
Speaker 10 (22:54):
In 17th Street, from 4th the rioters are attacking
colored boarding houses, robbingthem and setting them on fire
From 21st.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
the mob have just broken open gun store on 3rd
Avenue and are arming.
Host (23:05):
We are programmed to believe that only protests and
letters will change politicaloutcomes, that outside of that
we have no power.
Power doesn't come from protest.
Power comes from action andactive participation in the
system which grants it.
The way to ensure your voice isheard is not screaming in the
streets.
After all, that may beliberating, exciting and fun.
No, it's having a role in theprocess.
(23:25):
It's boring meetings and voteson ideas and people.
It's the sacrifice of time andenergy, the perseverance of
simply showing up every timewhen others would rather not.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Mr Poiliovre might choose to undermine our
democracy by amplifyingconspiracy theories.
He might decide to run awayfrom journalists when they ask
him tough questions.
That's how he brands himself.
That's his choice.
But when he says that Canada isbroken, that's where we draw
(23:58):
the line.
Host (24:00):
Stop complaining and get involved.
Take action and have your voiceheard by engaging in the
process.
The system isn't broken, it'ssimply missing one of its most
integral parts.
Thank you.
This episode we're going to bespeaking with David Parker, the
leader of Take Back Alberta.
(24:20):
I've known David for a couple ofyears now and, to be honest,
the first time I saw him speakwe didn't exactly see eye to eye
.
However, once we got past therallying pitch for Take Back
Alberta, much of what he wasproposing started to make a lot
of sense.
For example, did you know thatin one riding the constituency
association was comprised of twopeople?
They couldn't get anyone elsein the riding interest than them
being involved?
(24:40):
The CAs are responsible fordeciding who the candidate you
will vote for will be.
If you don't like the candidatebeing offered and you aren't
willing to join the CAA to picka better candidate, then you
can't really get upset that youdon't like the one they picked.
David expressed the importanceof educating people how the
system works so they couldactively engage with it more
effectively.
One of my favorite mantras iseducation, not legislation.
(25:01):
I firmly believe that it's moreimportant to educate people
than it is to make lawsforbidding certain actions.
Without the understanding ofthe reasoning behind why it may
be inappropriate to do something, even the most staunch law will
remain ineffective.
So when David began speakingabout teaching people how to be
better constituents in order tohold our elected officials
accountable, I have to admit hewas preaching to the choir.
(25:21):
Nothing is quite so apatheticas the apathy of Canadian voters
, after all, which is somethingboth David and I can agree on.
That and the requirement thatwe overcome that apathy.
We're going to ensure the bestpossible outcome for the future
of our province and the nationbeyond.
Parker is our first ever callingguest and I'll admit that I was
a bit more prepared for thisguest than when our first guest
appeared.
However, in my defense with LeeBates, I wanted to offer a
(25:44):
glimpse into the cadence of ourregular casual conversations and
, given the nature of ourfriendship, in terms of my
conversation with David Parker,I knew he'd not only be
incredibly busy, but he wasmaking time for us, so there
needed to be a bit of priordirection to keep things within
a workable time frame.
As it was, Parker was speakingto us while on the road between
scheduled engagements.
Check it out.
Welcome to the This CanadianThinks, David, it's a pleasure
(26:09):
to speak with you again and Iwant to thank you for taking
time out of your schedule to behere.
I know you're very busy and Isincerely appreciate you making
time for us today.
Speaker 10 (26:17):
No worries, glad to be here.
Host (26:19):
First off, tell us a little bit about yourself.
How did you first get involvedin politics and what led you to
where you are today?
Speaker 10 (26:25):
Well, basically I was a 14 year old kid from rural
Alberta and I just showed up atthe meeting and they were so
excited to see a kid there thatthey voted me on to the board of
the local electoral districtassociation.
It's a name for a federal localconstituency, so, like an MP all
represents a geographic areacalled a constituency and
(26:47):
there's a little board.
There's boards for all thoseconstituents, for every party
that's out there, and so Ijoined the local one for the
Conservative Party of Canada andI kind of began my journey and
I've worked for a lot ofpoliticians Stephen Harper,
Shelley Glover, Ed Fast, evenShannon Stubbs.
I've worked on over 40 electioncampaigns.
(27:08):
It kind of became my passionand the thing that I did and
over the years I feel like I'vekind of figured out how politics
works, at least on thetechnical level of how
constituency associations work,how parties work, how leadership
races work, and I became what alot of people refer to as an
organizer, just someone who goesout and does campaigns, and I
(27:31):
did that for a living for awhile.
Then, when COVID happened, Istarted a group called Take Back
Alberta and the purpose of thatgroup was to hold Jason Kenny
accountable for what hadhappened over COVID, and we were
successful at that and sincethen I've been running this kind
of educational society calledTake Back Alberta, teaching
(27:52):
people how their system worksand how they can get involved
and become active, engagedcitizens in their democracy.
Host (27:59):
For a while, post pandemic and, even more specifically,
post freedom convoy there werequite a few different groups
traveling around the provincewith a vision for the future of
Alberta.
Still are, for that matter, andnot just in Alberta either.
I saw you speak a couple oftimes personally and while I
wasn't necessarily sold on theTake Back Alberta idea initially
, the more we spoke the more Ifelt that you were onto
something.
Talk to me a little bit aboutyour town hall approach to
(28:22):
growing awareness about TakeBack Alberta and how you were
able to cut through the din ofall the different groups that
seemed to proliferate at thattime to get people to hear your
message.
Speaker 10 (28:30):
Well, I actually really do think it was more the
message than the messenger,because you know, I've got all
kinds of enemies and flaws andpeople have a lot of opinions
about me.
But really the message waspretty simple.
It was actually you know, ourdemocracy isn't broken.
I think a lot of people thoughtthat it was, but now they're
beginning to see, at least herein Alberta, we can get involved
(28:52):
and make a difference, and wehave with Take Back Alberta.
A lot of people have gotteninvolved and made a difference
and they're starting to get youknow, they're starting to take
on roles, they're starting tosit on boards and they're
starting to realize how thesystem actually works and that
they can have an impact on it.
Like that's what democracy isall about.
So I'm pretty excited to haveseen that happen.
(29:14):
But the town hall method is justsimply because I'm a big
believer in people and thereality of people and people in
person, communities, human,social, animal stuff.
Like I believe that we arefundamentally social creatures
and it's not good for us to justbe staring at a screen or
reading even even reading a bookLike I love reading and we need
(29:36):
one another, we need communityand I think COVID showed a lot
of people that it was prettylonely for a lot of people.
Yeah, I think I believe thetown halls are a way of
combating that loneliness andbuilding community, human
community.
Host (29:48):
How would you reply to people who say that the
political system is broken, andwhat would you say to people who
contend that we're powerless todo anything about the current
state of affairs?
Speaker 10 (29:56):
Well, I would say that they haven't tried, because
I think everyone that I knowwho's tried has begun to see
that really there is a lot thatcan be done still and we're not
completely broken, and there's alot of good people in this
country that want to make thecountry better, and it takes us
all getting together and doingsomething about it instead of
these lunatics take over theasylum, as Jason Kennelly
funnily enough said about me.
(30:17):
But if you look at the way oursociety is going, it's going mad
and I think we need some commonsense people to step out of
your ship to put it back oncourse, just so that we have
freedom of ideas again.
The censorship has to end.
It's anti-Western, it's antieverything that has made these
countries great and made peoplewant to come to them.
Host (30:39):
The large part.
I think the problem is thatCanadians don't know how their
government actually functions.
One of the things I foundrefreshing about Take Back
Alberta is the approach tobuilding capacity in that regard
.
For example, most people don'tknow what a constituency
association is or the role theyplay in selecting the candidate
that you vote for in your area,much less how to join one.
Can you speak to?
How Take Back Alberta buildscapacity and understanding of
(31:00):
the political process and whatsuccesses Take Back Alberta may
have seen as a result?
Speaker 10 (31:04):
Well, I think ultimately, what it comes down
to is just saying hey, people,how do you learn how to do
something?
People are often like, oh, andI just say you do it.
If you want to know how yourgovernment works, you have to
get involved in your government.
One of the easiest ways to dothat is to join your local party
constituency association.
Most people have never even saton a board before of anything
(31:26):
and they just have not beenengaged in their society.
I'm just encouraging them toget started, even if you're in
your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s.
I know guys who are juststepping up in their late 70s
are starting to re-engage.
They have never been involvedin politics before at all.
It's never too late to be agood civic citizen, because it
(31:48):
doesn't take the same toll tosay some people are like, oh
well, you can't really become aprofessional football player
when you're in their 40s,whatever, but you can become a
professional volunteer.
You can learn to shape yoursociety, build your community.
You can give back.
Those are things that peoplecan do, and we're seeing people
do that all over the place.
(32:09):
It's not always perfect.
Some people they don't exactlyknow how to play well with
others, but they learn.
And always what we end upseeing is these people realize
they can make a difference.
I'll give an example, even ofsome people who maybe felt a
little bit discouraged.
What I was very encouraged bywas the people in Rimby, rocky
Mountain House, sundry.
(32:29):
One of them said well, wewanted to reopen our nomination
because we felt that Tim Hovenwas unjustly disqualified and we
were unable to do that and wefailed.
And I say I don't think it wasa failure at all.
It brought to light somethingthat was happening that was
wrong in the party.
I think it will bring aboutchange in the future.
But even more than that, lookat all the people across the
province that it inspired to getinvolved and go sit on their
(32:52):
local CAs hundreds, maybe eventhousands.
It's inspired people to getinvolved and I think that is
going to have a greater impacton society that people can
possibly comprehend.
Host (33:04):
Well, it's hard to miss the influence that Take Back
Alberta has had overall.
In fact, just a few months ago,professor Dwayne Bratt from
Mount Royal University was veryvocal about Take Back Alberta.
He made quite a few appearanceson radio and television,
including an op-ed where hedecried that Take Back Alberta
is being dangerous to democracy,simply because, to me at least,
it would appear that Take BackAlberta was able to organize and
(33:24):
motivate the silent majorityinto getting actively involved
in their democratic system inorder to achieve a common goal.
What would you say to suchindividuals who claim that Take
Back Alberta subverts thepolitical process?
Speaker 10 (33:35):
I would say we are literally taking part in the
political process.
Anybody can show up at any vote.
Why don't people just getinvolved?
What it ends up being is thatnot a lot of people want to make
the sacrifice that it takes tobe involved.
I've always found that the moreyou sacrifice, the greater your
(33:59):
reward.
You end up actually building acommunity.
I know a lot of people who havegiven a lot to to just of their
time as volunteers, but thoseare some of the most treasured
memories they have the joys ofcommunity, and it's funny.
I think this narcissisticselfishness that it pervades our
(34:20):
modern culture is it's just alack of community.
So I don't know if peoplereally think that I'm that bad
and that horrible and I'msubverting democracy.
All they have to do is go andget more people and organize
them and show up at meetings thething is it's actually a lot
more work and a lot of thesepeople are quite lazy.
Host (34:39):
How is take back Alberta different from organizations
like the Alberta ProsperityProject, for example?
Are they aligned in any way, orat least capable of existing
together without conflictingagendas, or what sets take back
Alberta apart?
Speaker 10 (34:50):
Well, I just I love the people at the Alberta
Prosperity Project.
A lot of them are members ofTake Back Alberta.
I think a lot of them are arecommitted to the idea of more
sovereignty for Alberta.
Well, why can't we makedecisions like Quebec makes for
itself or Ontario makes foritself?
Ontario has a police force,quebec has a police force.
(35:12):
I don't see why we can't evenhave the discussion about having
our own police force.
Like we're a grown-up province.
Hey, we decide we don't wantone, but but anyway they're.
They're very focused on thosethings and sovereignty, whereas
take back Alberta's not verylike quote-unquote partisan in
this way.
Right, we're.
We're literally just trying toget people engaged and involved
(35:34):
and, of course, I personallyhave a perspective when it comes
to public policy and I and Ithink I feel I have every right
to convey that but we don'talways agree at Take Back
Alberta.
It's not just a monolith likethis.
There's lots of people thathave been involved, that have
gone into positions that are nowmaking decisions, and it's not
Take Back Alberta's position totell them what they have to do.
(35:55):
It's we just want more peopleto be involved.
Host (35:58):
That's what it comes down to we just came out of a
provincial election not too longago here in Alberta, as you're
more than Well aware.
It was a tense time where andthere's a distinct possibility
we could very well see Rachel,not Lee, return to the Premier's
chair.
Thankfully, we saw the UCP maintank power, no doubt in large
part to Organizations like takeback Alberta, given that we were
once again managed to hold theNDP at bay for a time.
(36:19):
What would you say is thebiggest issue faced by Albertans
right now, and how do you keepthe pre-election momentum that
take back Alberta had goingforward now that there's no
Perceived threat of an NDPvictory, in facing that issue or
issues?
Speaker 10 (36:32):
Oh, I think the biggest threat that we face is
Is this kind of voter apathythat has allowed our government
institutions to atrophy to thepoint where still we have such
low turnout.
It's horrible.
People are just not showing up,they're not engaged, they don't
care.
People aren't showing up attheir own you know
parent-teacher conferences.
If people aren't engaging intheir society, then then we're
(36:55):
doomed.
I were just.
We are doomed, and so I thinkthis gives us the opportunity to
to teach even more people aboutthings like school boards and
library boards andMunicipalities and show them
that there are places we can goand make decisions, and those
decisions have consequences forthe future of our, of our
(37:16):
families and our societies.
And so I actually I found thatwe're getting more and more
momentum.
I think, like a lot of peopleare very concerned about what's
happening with their childrenand and the educational system.
I think they want to know whatthey can do about it.
There's lots you can do aboutit in a democracy, turns out,
and I hope that they do dosomething about it.
(37:36):
And then there's people who areconcerned about what's
happening on the federalgovernment level with with
vitamins and natural healthproducts.
Well, really a lot of concernaround that and there's concern
around just what's happening interms of, like, the crime on our
streets and the economic ruinthat a lot of people are
experiencing with this Inflation.
(37:57):
I think actually there'sthere's more people involved to
take back Alberta than ever, andI'm not worried about the
momentum at all because I think,as as things get worse, people
are going to realize just howimportant politics actually is
and they're going to get moreinvolved.
Host (38:11):
But what kind of understanding of the Canadian
political system Do you thinkthe average Canadian has, and do
you think it's much differentProvincially?
Speaker 10 (38:18):
oh no, I think most people have no idea politics
works at all.
They're completely ignorant, Iwould say.
I would say there's probably a10 to 15 percent of the
population as even an elementaryunderstanding of our political
system.
Host (38:35):
What would you identify as the most common misconception
or misconceptions that Canadianshave regarding the Canadian
political system, and what stepsare necessary to address those?
Speaker 10 (38:45):
Well, the biggest one is obviously that the
government can solve all yourproblems.
I Think that everyone justseems to think, oh well, I guess
the government needs to fixthat.
But the problem is, governmentis a is is a limited resource
because it's taking, it's notcreating a Government.
Government spends money.
It doesn't make money.
(39:06):
It takes money from you and soit's naturally destructive of
capital and, and it usually endsup in very, you know,
bureaucratic results where lotsof money is just sloshing around
in the system but we're notseeing the results that we would
like to see and that and thatyou would have to see in in a
(39:27):
private sector company, in acompetitive environment, but
monopolies are being created.
There's, there's, there's tonsof problems, I think.
I think a lot of people thinkthat they can't make a
difference in the politicalsystem.
I think that that they thinkthat, you know, I think they
think elections are wherepolitics is decided.
Politics is decided in themillion decisions in between
(39:48):
elections, right in the smallboards, and the people need a
longer, a longer view of time,and I think, for the biggest
conception is that leaders arethe most important people on
teams.
They're not.
Leaders are avatars of thepeople that support them.
Right, there's, there's alwaysa huge team behind any great
(40:09):
leader, and that's the case forfor any leader you can think of.
I think most people think thatthe leaders are just like these
exceptional human beings who andthey are Exceptional, don't get
me wrong they because they canbear a lot more stress and
burden than most people, butthey need a whole team of people
to make that happen.
I think people just don't knowabout all those people behind
(40:29):
the scenes that that keeps overthe ship running, keep keeps a
magical eye, if you know what Imean.
Most people think, oh, it'sjust a politician doing that.
No, no, it's.
It's a lot of people workingtogether to make something like
that happen.
Host (40:40):
Do you think Canadians confederation still offers any
benefit to the individualprovinces or if so, what would
they be?
If not, why not?
Speaker 10 (40:47):
you know, I haven't really thought about that
question as much as I probablyshould have.
So that's a very good question.
I would say that I think thereare definitely provinces that
would that greatly benefit fromConfederation, like the
Maritimes and Quebec, and thenthere are provinces that don't
so much benefit from Federation,and I would put Alberta and
Saskatchewan in that category.
So I think it's a.
(41:07):
The question is a is a prettybroad one and there's different
answers depending on where youlive.
But I Think that Alberta needsto grow up as a province that
established itself as At leastthe same level of as go back in
Ontario, or a growing upprovince.
Now we almost have five millionpeople were for the richest
province per capita by far, andI think we need to.
(41:31):
We need to step up to the tableand say we want to have our say
in the direction of thiscountry or we're out and we want
.
We want to be able to keep moreof what we make where we are
and not be like treat like acolony.
So I don't know how that, howthat plays out.
I hope we have leaders emergethat can really push that agenda
(41:51):
, but I Don't know thatAlbertans already.
I don't think Albertans wantthat right now, and so I.
Maybe Albertans aren't ready togrow up, maybe that's the
answer, but I hope they are.
I hope they are one day,because it would be a lot better
for us if we came to the tableas adults instead of being
treated like little kids.
Host (42:11):
What could the federal government do, if anything, to
better the relationship betweenCanada and the individual
provinces?
Speaker 10 (42:16):
Well, I think like, but out of our stuff, like I
mean, people say that the reasonthat Albertans loved Harper was
because when he was PrimeMinister, the beating stopped
right.
It wasn't that, it wasn't somuch that he just sat there
doing things for Alberta, it wasthat our government stopped
attacking Alberta.
I think right now, the federalgovernment is attacking Alberta
(42:37):
a lot more, and so like the veryfirst thing they could do is
stop beating us up right, stopstop hurting us, and I think
that would go a long ways.
Let us develop our resources.
Canada is not the problem whenit comes to global warming.
We're just not.
Even if climate change is realand there's lots of debate about
that but even if it is, thebest thing Canada can do for
(43:01):
climate change is to produce asmuch natural gas as possible and
get it to Japan and get themoff coal and other means and
other dirtier means of andthat's the best thing we can do.
Even if we all shut off all ourlights and all our power and we
went hand in hand and doextinction in the dark, canada
would have no impact on climatechange zero.
So I think the best thing theycan do is let us help use the
(43:26):
innovations that we have ofnatural gas to reduce emissions
around the world, if that's whatthey really care about.
They're not doing that, evenright, they're just wild.
Host (43:35):
Currently, there seems to be a distinct difference of
ideologies surfacing not just inCanada but globally, between
the left and right sides of thepolitical spectrum.
Personally, I feel there'shardly any conservative
representation whatsoever at thefederal level, that progressive
conservatives and liberals seemto rush to eat each other's
lunch.
On a provincial level, thingsare a bit more even, especially
here in Alberta.
Regardless, the discord isevident that there's very little
(43:57):
middle ground in terms ofdiscussion surrounding a large
number of topics.
How do we bridge that gap tofind the common ground necessary
to bring about national unity,if that's even possible?
Speaker 10 (44:07):
Well, I think we need to stop thinking about
things in terms of we need tostart not what we're against,
but what we're for.
We need to start buildingsomething.
I think that's actually thebiggest problem.
I've said this for a long time.
I don't know if anyone willlisten or if it'll ever change,
but if we really wanted to comeback together as a nation, I
think we'd need a vision of whatis Canada trying to become.
(44:28):
Also, I think this is theproblem with leadership in
general all over the globe, andespecially, I would say, in
Canada right now is we don'treally know what we are.
We don't have any kind ofidentity or thesis on what it
means to be an Albertan or aCanadian or a human even.
(44:49):
I think we need to come up withsome kind of agreed upon.
These are the things that areimportant.
I think one of those things,frank with you, needs to be that
we're pro-human.
Some of these environmentalistsare just anti-humanity itself,
and that's not cool in my books.
Host (45:08):
I'm a firm advocate of Alberta independence as well as
you Indeed the idea that allprovinces should seek at the
very least the same sort ofunique autonomy that is held
currently only by Quebec, asovereign nation within Canadian
Confederation, which is theoriginal plan behind the country
of Canada anyway.
Would you see Alberta asleading the charge for the
remaining provinces to seek toobtain the same objective, or do
(45:29):
you think, take back Alberta asa product of its regional
identity alone?
Speaker 10 (45:34):
Oh no.
I think the answer to theproblems that we face as a
society is just more autonomyfor everybody.
We need more localdecision-making.
We need more people stepping upand taking roles of leadership.
There's a principle called theprinciple of subsidiarity.
(45:58):
The idea is that that's thebest way to build a society is
to have small decision-makingunits that when they have
conflicts, they have to elevate.
They do to the next level abovethem, and it just keeps going
up and they just keep trying tosolve it until it gets to the
top, and then a decision justhas to be made.
The way that you could think ofit is that's kind of how we set
(46:19):
up our court systems before theykind of got captured by
ideology.
I think that that's what weneed to do.
The more independence we caneven get on a local, municipal
level.
The more you depend on thingsoutside of yourself, the more
responsibility you take uponyour shoulders, the better your
(46:40):
life is going to be.
The municipalities with thepeople who take the most
personal responsibility are thecleanest, richest, safest.
We need more people taking onmore responsibility, and I don't
know where we lost that idea.
I don't know where we lost theidea that people need to be the
ones that are making sure thattheir communities are safe.
(47:01):
We need town, we need crimewatches, we need what we should
just rely on the government tofix our problems.
We should be innovating andbuilding, and Alberta is a land
of entrepreneurs, and I thinkthat's the spirit that we need.
We need to export that to therest of the country.
We need more people be moreentrepreneurial, more innovative
(47:22):
and creating a better world.
Now that's what we need.
Host (47:26):
Canada and the world needs more Alberta.
Speaker 10 (47:29):
I believe that.
Yeah, I do.
It sounds cheesy, but I do.
Host (47:33):
What steps does Take Back Alberta take to educate people
about how the political systemworks?
Do you have classes or seminars, for example?
And how do people get involvedwith Take Back Alberta if
they're inclined to do so?
Speaker 10 (47:43):
We do weekly meetings in every region.
So monthly sorry, monthly,they're weekly for me because
there's five regions but they'remonthly meetings across the
province where we bring inspeakers to talk about what's
going on in our society, andthen we usually have action
items because we believe,actually, what's best for Take
Back Alberta is to do You've gotto do things in order to learn
(48:06):
how they work.
So we have phases and we justsay this is our mission for this
phase and this is what we needto do.
And then we go and do it andpeople begin to see oh, this is
how politics works and they canget more involved themselves.
Host (48:19):
What are the plans for Take Back Alberta's future?
Where do you see theorganization and say like the
next five years, and whatobjectives would you like to see
accomplished in that timeframe,if any?
Speaker 10 (48:28):
Well, I think we would like to take on the big
project of educating Albertansabout schoolboards and how they
work and how parents need to beinvolved in the education of
their children.
That's the most important thingis that parents need to start
taking responsibility for theirchildren and for those
(48:48):
children's education, and a bigway you could do that is be
involved in your school board.
So over the next two years, twoand a half years, we're going
to be working on that, and then,on top of that, we've got some
very important work we're doingwith the United Conservative
Party to help strengthen it, getit ready for the next election
(49:10):
by encouraging people to getinvolved.
That's really all it comes downto.
And then I think, finally, ourbiggest project of all will be
trying to take on the media,trying to build voices across
the province, much like your own.
I love what you're doing withthis podcast.
Build voices all over theprovince of people who are
(49:32):
speaking the truth and hopefullyhave enough people hear the
truth and enough people getinvolved that we can stop, as
madness, this decline.
I think everyone kind of feelslike, for the first time in many
, many generations, things aregetting worse globally.
Host (49:53):
Kind of seems like we've peaked as a species.
Speaker 10 (49:55):
It feels that way and I think we need to take, we
need to change that, we need tochange that perspective.
That's what I think.
Host (50:02):
I completely agree.
I know you're really busy and Iappreciate you taking the time
to appear on this.
Canadian thanks.
Is there anything that wehaven't touched on that you'd
like to discuss or say directlyto our listeners today?
Speaker 10 (50:12):
Well, I would just encourage people to get involved
.
Like, at the end of the day,what does that mean?
People say, get involved.
And I actually kind of hate itwhen people say that because
it's come to not mean anything.
What does it mean to getinvolved?
It means you got to get offyour couch, you got to go to a
meeting, you got to learn howsomething works.
Maybe you got to do the boringwork of understanding how
(50:35):
politics works before you canunderstand how important
politics is.
And, at the end of the day, whatwe're really facing is do you
care about your values enough tostand up and do something?
Because if you think thatthings are not going well, if
you don't like the directionsociety is going, there's
something you can do about it.
You can get involved, and thatmeans getting out there and
(51:00):
doing something.
I tell a lot of people you gotto run for something.
Even if you lose, you'll learnsomething.
And maybe if you run for thingsa couple of times or a number
of times over a period of time,maybe eventually you'll come to
the realization that you canhave a difference.
But it's not going to beovernight.
It's like anything.
It takes work.
It's a habit that you have tobuild.
Host (51:21):
I couldn't agree more.
I want to thank you again fortaking the time to be with this
Canadian Thinx today.
I really appreciate you beingon the program and with any luck
, perhaps we'll be able to findthe time to be able to get you
to come back in the future andwe'll talk about something else,
I'm sure.
Speaker 10 (51:34):
Love it.
Love it, okay.
Thanks for having me.
Host (51:36):
No problem at all.
Thank you again and keep up thegood work.
Speaker 10 (51:39):
Thanks, talk later, talk later.
Host (51:44):
Thanks.
Hopefully you enjoyed ourconversation with David Parker
today.
I find Parker to be wellinformed and have pertinent
information to share.
He's not wrong in many regards.
Even if you don't believeeverything as he does, the
fundamentals are the same Showpeople how their system works so
they can effectively make thesystem work for them.
Right now, the direction andinitiatives of our elected
(52:04):
representatives are dictated bythose who are involved that have
an agenda that may very wellrun counter to the values and
beliefs that you have, simplybecause they show up and
actively participate.
Meanwhile, the coffee shops andsocial houses echo with
complaints about the terriblyflawed design of a horribly
broken system, a system that nomore represents them than they
actively participate in it.
(52:26):
I'd like to take this moment tothank you for listening to this
Canadian Thinks.
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(53:10):
We hope you'll be back for manymore episodes to come.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and don't forget to think.
Speaker 7 (53:34):
We'll see you next time.
Whether we agree or agree to disagree, everybody's got an
opinion, and I'm about to giveyou mine.
So sit back, relax, buckle upand try not to get offended.
Welcome to this Canadian Thinks.
Canadians really don't know howtheir government works.
They don't know how to engageor interact with the political
(00:22):
system correctly, and they'rerather gullible.
As a result, politicians canenact all sorts of legislation
while the population is busychasing their tails in
distraction.
It is this awareness on behalfof the government that drives
the absence of political processin the education curriculums,
the lack of easily obtainedinformation regarding political
(00:42):
involvement and the apparentshroud of secrecy in terms of
parliamentary procedure.
People actually still believethat previously the Queen and
now the King of England arepersonally responsible for
rubber stamping any legislationthat receives royal assent.
While it may have been at onetime true, our matters have not
been tabled in England sinceApril 17, 1982, when Queen
(01:04):
Elizabeth II declared Canada'sindependence from the British
Parliament after the CanadianHouse of Commons approved
Trudeau Sr's constitutionalreform resolution.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hear ye, hear ye, what's for breakfast?
Toast.
I don't understand ye Marge.
Ye ol toast.
Host (01:25):
When you are uninformed, you are easily misdirected
towards folly-filled fantasiesof little to no consequence,
allowing the government theability to describe groups of
people as radical or misinformed.
Your cause, no matter how justor correct, loses weight under
the slanderous contentions ofgovernment slack jaws and
virtue-signaling politiciansonce labels like uneducated or
(01:46):
bigoted begin to be applied.
If you aren't informed andarmed with knowledge on how to
press the system to give aparticular concern merit, then
you will be ineffective in yourattempt and risk ridicule as a
result.
Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha.
Are you serious?
(02:07):
Take, for instance, during theFreedom Convoy, when memes were
circulating in regards toGovernor-General Mary Simon,
people were encouraged to callor email Simon voicing their
displeasure of Prime MinisterTrudeau.
If she were to receive acertain amount of complaints
within a length of time, shewould proceed to remove him from
office under the guise ofnon-confidence, which would be
wonderful, but it's simply notthe way it works.
(02:30):
The Governor-General hasabsolutely nothing to do with
the removal or appointment ofelected officials.
Only a vote of no confidence inthe House can trigger an
election or force a resignation.
Those deemed to be confidencevotes can be hugely
consequential for all involved.
However, there's no writtenconvention or definition of what
constitutes a confidence voteaccording to Wikipedia, and
(02:51):
definitions vary withcircumstance.
Nor can the Speaker of theHouse be asked to rule on what
is and what isn't a confidencevote.
The government itself canexplicitly declare matters it
puts to a vote to be questionsof confidence.
They might do so in conjunctionwith their new throne speech,
for example, which they may begiven following prorogation.
Those regarding spending aremostly always considered votes
(03:14):
on confidence.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
The opposition parties have a choice.
Do they want to make parliamentwork and work for Canadians, or
do they want to votenon-confidence and trigger an
election?
The choice, Mr Speaker, istheirs.
Host (03:27):
If the government loses a vote of confidence, two things
can happen A new election iscalled, or another party or
coalition is given a chance toform the government.
On the federal level, it's upto the Governor-General to make
this decision.
On the provincial level, it'sup to the Lieutenant-Governor.
In 2017, that's what happenedin British Columbia the
provincial NDP and Green Partytabled an amendment to the
(03:48):
throne speech that declared thelegislature did not have
confidence in the government.
Then-premier Christy Clarkasked Lieutenant-Governor Judith
Gushan to dissolve the Houseand call an election.
Instead, gushan invited JohnHorgan to form a government.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I am very excited about the prospects of
delivering for the people ofBritish Columbia change and we
are going to be able to givethat change as a result of the
agreement reached between the BCGreen Caucus and the BC NDP
Caucus.
I'm very excited about theprospect of stable government
and demonstrating to BritishColumbians that we can do great
things when we work together.
We can do great things acrossparty lines when we have a
(04:26):
government in place that'sanxious to do that.
I'm very excited about theprospects.
Andrew and I have worked veryclosely over the past number of
weeks.
We brought forward the issuesthat bring us together and we've
highlighted those issues thatseparate us, and we've come to a
conclusion that a governmentrun by the BC NDP, with the
support on issues around supplyand budgeting, can in fact
(04:48):
deliver for British Columbians agovernment that's focused on
people.
We're not looking to have anelection anytime soon.
We're looking to show toBritish Columbians that minority
governments can work.
And what better way to showthat proportional representation
could work by showing that aminority government can and will
work In the best interest ofpeople throughout its session.
Host (05:07):
This could not have happened had the amendment not
been tabled.
The Lieutenant Governor cannotjust unilaterally decide of
their own accord to displace anelected leader, nor can the
Governor-General, regardless howmany people contact them to
complain.
When people do, however,they'll complain to most anyone
(05:34):
about the current state ofCanadian politics, except for
those to which it might actuallybe of benefit.
They'll throw their hands up inapathetic inequity and complain
about how the system is riggedor broken.
The system isn't broken.
It's functioning exactly as itwas designed.
The only way to enable realchange is to know how it works,
to effectively engage with it,and then to do so.
(05:54):
Join the local constituencyassociation, for example, and
add your voice to the dialogue.
There is so much you mightactually accomplish if only you
were to educate yourself on howthe system actually operates.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And you said recently quote when you give, they do
whatever the hell you want themto do.
You better believe it.
So what specifically did theydo?
If I ask them, if I need themyou know most of the people on
this stage I've given to, justso you understand a lot of money
I will tell you that our systemis broken.
I give to many people.
(06:27):
Before this, before two monthsago, I was a businessman.
I give to everybody.
When they call, I give.
And you know what, when I needsomething from them two years
later, three years later, I callthem, they are there for me.
So what did you get?
And that's a broken system.
So what did you get fromHillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi
?
Well, I'll tell you what.
With Hillary Clinton, I said beat my wedding.
And she came to my wedding.
You know why?
(06:47):
She had no choice because Igave.
Host (06:50):
It can be a bit of a double-edged sword occasionally.
Sometimes, when people do getactively involved in the
political process so they canhave their concerns addressed,
they are often met withresistance, not from their
fellow constituents, but fromtheir elected officials instead.
Take, for example, whathappened in the Elkwater
district not too long ago, whenthe local municipal council held
up a building permit for acommunity center despite the
(07:12):
very vocal opposition of thelocal residents.
In the end, the electedofficials decided to allow the
project to go ahead, becausethey couldn't allow people to
just cause a ruckus and make abunch of noise in order to have
their voices heard above others,because that would set a bad
precedent.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You can't be serious man, you cannot be serious.
Host (07:32):
A bad precedent.
Are you kidding me?
Seriously, the bad precedent isin allowing the local elected
municipality to go against thewill of the local constituents,
which is a direct result oftheir tendency to close the
council doors and proceed tohave a discussion in what is
known as in-camera.
This is because certaininformation is deemed to be
confidential in nature, meaningthey simply don't want you to
(07:53):
hear it.
There is entirely too much thatcan go wrong in terms of
transparency when you take awaypublic accountability.
Who knows what kind ofincentives or kickbacks were
offered to the local politicianson behalf of the developer?
We'll never know, because theylocked the doors and redacted
the transcripts you have to getrid of this ignorant and
meddlesome majority.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Control them, make sure they do the right things.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Offer their own good, incidentally Good journalism
today has the state in itscrosshairs and you never want to
punch down, you always want topunch up.
Speaker 8 (08:24):
I'm amused at people who claim that the governments
don't like.
Really, you know human beingsthat never lie.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Of course they lie.
Host (08:33):
A similar situation happened to take back Alberta.
They were highly successful inteaching people how to get
involved in their localconstituency associations and
support candidates aligned withtheir views.
Political pundits were aghast.
How dare they get activelyengaged in their democracy?
Many of them even clamored forlegislation to prevent groups
from doing such things in thefuture, as though they were
subverting democracy instead ofengaging with it, as is their
(08:56):
right.
Speaker 9 (08:57):
Take back.
Alberta is a little bit hard todefine.
I describe it as a vibe.
It's not necessarily like aclub, like you're a member of a
club.
It's more of like anassociation.
It's a network.
It's people who believe in anindividualistic understanding of
rights and freedoms.
Its roots are definitely inbeing upset over COVID rules,
(09:21):
restrictions, mandates, all ofthat.
A lot of its messages arecommunicated over values and
winks.
It definitely is on the rightside of the conservative
movement.
Some people even go as far tosay it's the far right side, but
it definitely represents thesocial conservative side with
(09:43):
religious undertones.
Host (09:45):
Groups like Take Back Alberta are a threat to the
status quo.
The government would far preferthat you're not only
disorganized but alsoincompetent.
When groups begin to alignlike-minded people together in
an organized fashion and teachthem how the political process
works, the governing class getsits dander up.
When you are ignorant of things, you are more easily persuaded
to believe or accept that thereisn't really anything of
(10:06):
consequence that you can do tochange it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You've been saying two different messages.
Down east, you've been tellingpeople that you want to kill the
single biggest employer in ourprovince.
You're in Alberta right now,sir.
You're not in Ottawa Yet whenyou come to Calgary, you tell
people you're sorry.
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm a little confused.
There is one of two things, mrPrime Minister you are either a
(10:29):
liar or you're confused, and I'mbeginning to think it's both I
have said repeatedly in manysituations Okay, the truth is,
though, you can change it, andyou should.
Host (10:43):
Apathy will get us nowhere .
To say there is nothing you cando is to profess your lack of
understanding of the corefundamentals of democracy.
There is plenty you can do onceyou learn how the system
actually works, which is whatmakes organizations like Take
Back Alberta important in termsof capacity for understanding
the system as it is.
To say Take Back Alberta hasbeen successful is an
(11:03):
understatement at best.
Many of the candidates thatthey supported have been elected
, while many others that theydid not support weren't so lucky
or they're in the process ofresigning.
Now, entire constituencyassociation boards have been
staffed with Take Back Albertamembers displacing those who's
happy for them organized,knowledgeable and thus effective
.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
Take Back.
Alberta is a third party group,a political action committee as
it were, that is heavilyinvolved in conservative
politics in Alberta.
They were involved inorganizing the anti-Kennie vote
in his leadership review.
They then mobilized in supportof Daniel Smith during her
(11:43):
leadership race.
They now occupy half of the UCPboard.
They took that over at the AGM.
Half the seats go in every yearand they put a slate together
and they won every seat.
They have taken over ridingassociation boards and their
(12:05):
endorsed candidates are nowwinning nomination races right
across the province.
This is a very significantpolitical force.
I think the novel feature ofwhat they're doing is Alberta
has a tendency of creating newparties, particularly on the
right.
They get unhappy with theleft-board drift of every party
(12:27):
and they go inform their ownparty.
This time they haven't donethat.
Instead they've decided to takeover an existing party, which I
think is a really interestingstrategy.
I don't think the averageAlbertan understands what is
going on here.
They have a very radical agendabut they're very good at
organizing.
(12:47):
It doesn't take a lot of peoplein a particular constituency
association to control theirboard or to control the
nomination or to have acandidate win.
It's much tougher in a generalelection, which is why third
parties or new parties have realchallenges.
They figured that out and Ithink Albertans need to know who
(13:13):
this party has become.
Host (13:15):
As support for Jason Kinney was waning after he so
poorly acted in reflection ofthe interests of the majority of
Albertans during the pandemic,take back.
Alberta applied adequatepressure to displace him,
despite his efforts to preventthem from doing so.
He knew that, even though hesaid prior to the leadership
review that he considered 51%sufficient to remain leader,
that it would be too tight of amargin to actually stay on in a
(13:36):
leadership role.
An unprecedented number ofAlbertans had shown an interest
in his dismissal just by showingup, which is the part most
people fail to realize.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
With a vote coming soon on his own leadership.
Kinney says the UCP is undersiege by extremist elements
seeking a hostile takeover.
Jason Kinney says the last fewmonths have led to some personal
reflection.
After a turbulent stretch, thePremier even considered stepping
down, but ultimately, he sayshe made a choice.
We need to maintain unity andresponsible mainstream
(14:09):
leadership.
But it's not yet guaranteedKinney will even be part of the
next election.
Some within his party havecalled for his resignation, and
a new leaked recording maydivide the caucus even further.
In the audio file, kinneyreportedly goes after factions
within the UCP, saying thelunatics are trying to take over
the asylum.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
These marginal voices do not represent Albertans.
They certainly do not representthe United Conservative Party.
Speaker 9 (14:37):
Far right or far left , everybody can agree that they
hate Kinney.
Speaker 10 (14:41):
He's been trying to buy us recently with some
handouts, but I think mostpeople will realize that it's
just not worth it.
Host (14:48):
It's complete apathy that is the underlying current in
Canadian politics.
While it's true that the peoplemaking the decisions comprise a
small group of people, it isn'tthe way you might actually
think.
It's made up of a small groupof people, because no one else
shows up to have their voicesheard.
It's easier to stay home andwax poetic about the system
being rigged.
Now, in many people's defense,the actual constituency
(15:10):
associations themselves aren'tthat easily discovered, which is
done on purpose, likely.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
That point in fingers say you ain't where you want to
be because of him or her oranybody.
Cowards do that and that ain'tyou.
You're better than that.
Host (15:23):
In my local riding last year, progressive Conservative
Member of Parliament, damienCurric, was hosting a town hall
at the Town Council Chambers.
Given that the pandemic wasstill a concern to the political
class, and given the confinednature of the chamber, it was
decided that the presentationwould be done without access to
the general public.
As incensed as everyone was tohave restrictions and mandates
(15:43):
ended post-freedom convoy, therewas much ado regarding this
decision, so much so that Curricwas forced to move the town
hall to the grandstand at therodeo grounds.
Despite technical difficulties,cold weather and falling snow,
curric spoke of the currentgoings on and answered questions
from those in attendance.
Now there is far less interest.
The momentum has petered out tothe extent that this year's
(16:06):
town hall meeting will onceagain be hosted in council
chambers.
While it was fashionable to bepolitically active, many were.
Now that time is worn on andthe issues brought forth by the
pandemic are increasingly behindus, it's not so fashionable
anymore.
Life is beginning to takecenter stage for many.
The apathy is beginning tocreep in again.
It's easier, and we've beenprogrammed to prefer its comfort
(16:27):
and irresponsible nature.
David Parker (16:29):
I just don't think I can continue to live in a
place that embraces and nurturesapathy as if it was a virtue.
You know different.
You know better.
I didn't say I was different orbetter.
I'm not Hell.
I sympathize.
I sympathize completely.
Apathy is a solution.
I mean it's easier to loseyourself in drugs than it is to
(16:51):
cope with life.
It's easier to steal what youwant than it is to earn it.
It's easier to beat a childthan it is to raise it Healthy.
Love costs.
Host (17:00):
It takes effort and work Outside of major events that
affect large swaths of thepopulation.
It's difficult to keep peopleactively involved in the
political process.
If it doesn't affect themdirectly, they prefer not to get
involved at all.
Once their individual concernhas been placated, they're
content to move on and leaveothers to attend the board
meetings and local municipalfunctions.
They stop showing up entirely.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
How come I called you a couple of times?
You know we got back to that Iwas busy.
Speaker 12 (17:24):
You know, I got busy you got busy.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, you got busy.
Speaker 10 (17:27):
What do you do?
I'm so busy.
Host (17:29):
Governments know this.
They're more than happy to seean upswing and involvement, but
they already understand that itwill very likely be short-lived
at best.
The outrage or anger willeventually pass and things will
once again go back to the waythey were before.
After all, meetings are boringand being involved takes time
out of your otherwise busy life.
At some point, most people willfind their way clear of their
(17:49):
involvement eventually.
The more confusing it is, theless you understand it, the
easier it is to becomedisinterested, which is why they
no longer teach anythingregarding civics in high school
anymore.
C.
D F F.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
F.
Three weeks we've been talkingabout the Platt Amendment.
What are you people on dope?
Host (18:17):
It's increasingly important to remain active in
our local writings,constituencies and
municipalities in order toensure transparency regarding
the action of our electedrepresentatives.
Given this, any help we can getto make the process easier
should be welcomed.
The increased capacity andunderstanding that is created by
organizations like Take BackAlberta, alberta Prosperity and
(18:39):
many others provide aneducational background on
matters that would seem to beclosely guarded secrets of the
political class, even thoughthey should be common knowledge.
By exposing them to be thesimple truths that they are, we
can begin to have a hand inshaping the political discourse
and direction in a morepalatable way.
We can take control of the pathour country is on and guide
(18:59):
legislation in a matter morefitting to our shared values and
with a reasonable expectationof our governments to represent
their constituents moreeffectively.
Speaker 12 (19:08):
We stood up for what was right.
We fought for moral reasons.
We passed laws, struck downlaws.
For moral reasons, we wagedwars on poverty, not poor people
.
We sacrificed, we cared aboutour neighbors, we put our money
where our mouths were and wenever beat our chest.
We built great big things, madeungodly technological advances,
(19:29):
explored the universe, cureddiseases.
We cultivated the world'sgreatest artists and the world's
greatest economy.
We reached for the stars, actedlike men.
We aspired to intelligence.
We didn't belittle it.
It didn't make us feel inferior, we didn't identify ourselves
(19:51):
by who we voted for in the lastelection and we didn't scare so
easy.
We were able to be all thesethings and do all these things
because we were informed bygreat men, men who were revered.
First step in solving anyproblem is recognizing there is
(20:14):
one.
Host (20:15):
It's not enough to rely on the people involved in the
aforementioned groups to see toit that you're effectively
governed either.
However, Without the effect ofinvolvement of the citizenry,
democracy grinds to a halt whenthe decisions for the population
entire begin to be made withoutregard for the true interests
of the population itself.
We are in dangerouslyprogressive territory, indeed,
which is what we must alwaysendeavor to avoid if we want to
(20:38):
see democracy continue to thrivein the future.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
Once you begin a great movement, there's no
telling where it'll end.
We, the people, tell thegovernment what to do.
It doesn't tell us.
Host (20:51):
Just as a mechanic might receive additional training as
technology changes in theworkplace, it is incumbent that
the population of a placecontinue to learn how their
political system works, how theycan effectively promote change
and engage with it in a matterwhich helps to better reflect
their concerns within the systemon matters which are personally
relevant.
While it may seem daunting atfirst, once you know more and
(21:11):
begin to be comfortable with theprocedures and principles of it
all, it isn't really thatdifficult, despite their efforts
to make it appear otherwise.
So before you set aboutcomplaining about the current
political situation, askyourself have you done
everything you can to engage inthe process?
Have you actually tried toengage with the system, or is it
simply that it's easier tocomplain than it is to actually
(21:31):
do anything about it?
Likely you'll find it's thelatter, the very example of
apathy.
The thing is, Bob, it's notthat I'm lazy, it's that I just
don't care.
Listen, watch, learn, gainunderstanding, then motivate
yourself to get activelyinvolved and maybe, even more
importantly, locally interested.
(21:51):
You don't necessarily need tobe hyper-vigilant on every
miniscule matter at a nationallevel, but if you pay attention
to the things that are happeningat the council level of your
own local municipality, you'llfind plenty to keep you busy.
When good local decisions aremade, those decisions work their
way up to the top, and when baddecisions are contemplated and
there is effective oppositionagainst them, that too also
(22:14):
rises.
After all, plenty of times,smaller jurisdictions are the
testing ground for largerlegislation.
First look at Strathcona County, where they first implemented
the new era land-use bylaws thatare slowly edging their way
into more and moremunicipalities here in Alberta.
There was enough support inStrathcona that other
jurisdictions have jumped onboard, even though the local
population are against it.
(22:34):
The issue being, even thoughthe citizens were against the
proposed changes, they wereineffective to stop it because
they don't have the faintestidea how to do so.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
From 18th Precinct.
The Marlborough Sacking Houseis 27th Street and 7th Avenue.
We have no force to send.
All the stores are closing on8th Avenue from fear of the mob.
Speaker 10 (22:54):
In 17th Street, from 4th the rioters are attacking
colored boarding houses, robbingthem and setting them on fire
From 21st.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
the mob have just broken open gun store on 3rd
Avenue and are arming.
Host (23:05):
We are programmed to believe that only protests and
letters will change politicaloutcomes, that outside of that
we have no power.
Power doesn't come from protest.
Power comes from action andactive participation in the
system which grants it.
The way to ensure your voice isheard is not screaming in the
streets.
After all, that may beliberating, exciting and fun.
No, it's having a role in theprocess.
(23:25):
It's boring meetings and voteson ideas and people.
It's the sacrifice of time andenergy, the perseverance of
simply showing up every timewhen others would rather not.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Mr Poiliovre might choose to undermine our
democracy by amplifyingconspiracy theories.
He might decide to run awayfrom journalists when they ask
him tough questions.
That's how he brands himself.
That's his choice.
But when he says that Canada isbroken, that's where we draw
(23:58):
the line.
Host (24:00):
Stop complaining and get involved.
Take action and have your voiceheard by engaging in the
process.
The system isn't broken, it'ssimply missing one of its most
integral parts.
Thank you.
This episode we're going to bespeaking with David Parker, the
leader of Take Back Alberta.
(24:20):
I've known David for a couple ofyears now and, to be honest,
the first time I saw him speakwe didn't exactly see eye to eye
.
However, once we got past therallying pitch for Take Back
Alberta, much of what he wasproposing started to make a lot
of sense.
For example, did you know thatin one riding the constituency
association was comprised of twopeople?
They couldn't get anyone elsein the riding interest than them
being involved?
(24:40):
The CAs are responsible fordeciding who the candidate you
will vote for will be.
If you don't like the candidatebeing offered and you aren't
willing to join the CAA to picka better candidate, then you
can't really get upset that youdon't like the one they picked.
David expressed the importanceof educating people how the
system works so they couldactively engage with it more
effectively.
One of my favorite mantras iseducation, not legislation.
(25:01):
I firmly believe that it's moreimportant to educate people
than it is to make lawsforbidding certain actions.
Without the understanding ofthe reasoning behind why it may
be inappropriate to do something, even the most staunch law will
remain ineffective.
So when David began speakingabout teaching people how to be
better constituents in order tohold our elected officials
accountable, I have to admit hewas preaching to the choir.
(25:21):
Nothing is quite so apatheticas the apathy of Canadian voters
, after all, which is somethingboth David and I can agree on.
That and the requirement thatwe overcome that apathy.
We're going to ensure the bestpossible outcome for the future
of our province and the nationbeyond.
Parker is our first ever callingguest and I'll admit that I was
a bit more prepared for thisguest than when our first guest
appeared.
However, in my defense with LeeBates, I wanted to offer a
(25:44):
glimpse into the cadence of ourregular casual conversations and
, given the nature of ourfriendship, in terms of my
conversation with David Parker,I knew he'd not only be
incredibly busy, but he wasmaking time for us, so there
needed to be a bit of priordirection to keep things within
a workable time frame.
As it was, Parker was speakingto us while on the road between
scheduled engagements.
Check it out.
Welcome to the This CanadianThinks, David, it's a pleasure
(26:09):
to speak with you again and Iwant to thank you for taking
time out of your schedule to behere.
I know you're very busy and Isincerely appreciate you making
time for us today.
Speaker 10 (26:17):
No worries, glad to be here.
Host (26:19):
First off, tell us a little bit about yourself.
How did you first get involvedin politics and what led you to
where you are today?
Speaker 10 (26:25):
Well, basically I was a 14 year old kid from rural
Alberta and I just showed up atthe meeting and they were so
excited to see a kid there thatthey voted me on to the board of
the local electoral districtassociation.
It's a name for a federal localconstituency, so, like an MP all
represents a geographic areacalled a constituency and
(26:47):
there's a little board.
There's boards for all thoseconstituents, for every party
that's out there, and so Ijoined the local one for the
Conservative Party of Canada andI kind of began my journey and
I've worked for a lot ofpoliticians Stephen Harper,
Shelley Glover, Ed Fast, evenShannon Stubbs.
I've worked on over 40 electioncampaigns.
(27:08):
It kind of became my passionand the thing that I did and
over the years I feel like I'vekind of figured out how politics
works, at least on thetechnical level of how
constituency associations work,how parties work, how leadership
races work, and I became what alot of people refer to as an
organizer, just someone who goesout and does campaigns, and I
(27:31):
did that for a living for awhile.
Then, when COVID happened, Istarted a group called Take Back
Alberta and the purpose of thatgroup was to hold Jason Kenny
accountable for what hadhappened over COVID, and we were
successful at that and sincethen I've been running this kind
of educational society calledTake Back Alberta, teaching
(27:52):
people how their system worksand how they can get involved
and become active, engagedcitizens in their democracy.
Host (27:59):
For a while, post pandemic and, even more specifically,
post freedom convoy there werequite a few different groups
traveling around the provincewith a vision for the future of
Alberta.
Still are, for that matter, andnot just in Alberta either.
I saw you speak a couple oftimes personally and while I
wasn't necessarily sold on theTake Back Alberta idea initially
, the more we spoke the more Ifelt that you were onto
something.
Talk to me a little bit aboutyour town hall approach to
(28:22):
growing awareness about TakeBack Alberta and how you were
able to cut through the din ofall the different groups that
seemed to proliferate at thattime to get people to hear your
message.
Speaker 10 (28:30):
Well, I actually really do think it was more the
message than the messenger,because you know, I've got all
kinds of enemies and flaws andpeople have a lot of opinions
about me.
But really the message waspretty simple.
It was actually you know, ourdemocracy isn't broken.
I think a lot of people thoughtthat it was, but now they're
beginning to see, at least herein Alberta, we can get involved
(28:52):
and make a difference, and wehave with Take Back Alberta.
A lot of people have gotteninvolved and made a difference
and they're starting to get youknow, they're starting to take
on roles, they're starting tosit on boards and they're
starting to realize how thesystem actually works and that
they can have an impact on it.
Like that's what democracy isall about.
So I'm pretty excited to haveseen that happen.
(29:14):
But the town hall method is justsimply because I'm a big
believer in people and thereality of people and people in
person, communities, human,social, animal stuff.
Like I believe that we arefundamentally social creatures
and it's not good for us to justbe staring at a screen or
reading even even reading a bookLike I love reading and we need
(29:36):
one another, we need communityand I think COVID showed a lot
of people that it was prettylonely for a lot of people.
Yeah, I think I believe thetown halls are a way of
combating that loneliness andbuilding community, human
community.
Host (29:48):
How would you reply to people who say that the
political system is broken, andwhat would you say to people who
contend that we're powerless todo anything about the current
state of affairs?
Speaker 10 (29:56):
Well, I would say that they haven't tried, because
I think everyone that I knowwho's tried has begun to see
that really there is a lot thatcan be done still and we're not
completely broken, and there's alot of good people in this
country that want to make thecountry better, and it takes us
all getting together and doingsomething about it instead of
these lunatics take over theasylum, as Jason Kennelly
funnily enough said about me.
(30:17):
But if you look at the way oursociety is going, it's going mad
and I think we need some commonsense people to step out of
your ship to put it back oncourse, just so that we have
freedom of ideas again.
The censorship has to end.
It's anti-Western, it's antieverything that has made these
countries great and made peoplewant to come to them.
Host (30:39):
The large part.
I think the problem is thatCanadians don't know how their
government actually functions.
One of the things I foundrefreshing about Take Back
Alberta is the approach tobuilding capacity in that regard
.
For example, most people don'tknow what a constituency
association is or the role theyplay in selecting the candidate
that you vote for in your area,much less how to join one.
Can you speak to?
How Take Back Alberta buildscapacity and understanding of
(31:00):
the political process and whatsuccesses Take Back Alberta may
have seen as a result?
Speaker 10 (31:04):
Well, I think ultimately, what it comes down
to is just saying hey, people,how do you learn how to do
something?
People are often like, oh, andI just say you do it.
If you want to know how yourgovernment works, you have to
get involved in your government.
One of the easiest ways to dothat is to join your local party
constituency association.
Most people have never even saton a board before of anything
(31:26):
and they just have not beenengaged in their society.
I'm just encouraging them toget started, even if you're in
your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s.
I know guys who are juststepping up in their late 70s
are starting to re-engage.
They have never been involvedin politics before at all.
It's never too late to be agood civic citizen, because it
(31:48):
doesn't take the same toll tosay some people are like, oh
well, you can't really become aprofessional football player
when you're in their 40s,whatever, but you can become a
professional volunteer.
You can learn to shape yoursociety, build your community.
You can give back.
Those are things that peoplecan do, and we're seeing people
do that all over the place.
(32:09):
It's not always perfect.
Some people they don't exactlyknow how to play well with
others, but they learn.
And always what we end upseeing is these people realize
they can make a difference.
I'll give an example, even ofsome people who maybe felt a
little bit discouraged.
What I was very encouraged bywas the people in Rimby, rocky
Mountain House, sundry.
(32:29):
One of them said well, wewanted to reopen our nomination
because we felt that Tim Hovenwas unjustly disqualified and we
were unable to do that and wefailed.
And I say I don't think it wasa failure at all.
It brought to light somethingthat was happening that was
wrong in the party.
I think it will bring aboutchange in the future.
But even more than that, lookat all the people across the
province that it inspired to getinvolved and go sit on their
(32:52):
local CAs hundreds, maybe eventhousands.
It's inspired people to getinvolved and I think that is
going to have a greater impacton society that people can
possibly comprehend.
Host (33:04):
Well, it's hard to miss the influence that Take Back
Alberta has had overall.
In fact, just a few months ago,professor Dwayne Bratt from
Mount Royal University was veryvocal about Take Back Alberta.
He made quite a few appearanceson radio and television,
including an op-ed where hedecried that Take Back Alberta
is being dangerous to democracy,simply because, to me at least,
it would appear that Take BackAlberta was able to organize and
(33:24):
motivate the silent majorityinto getting actively involved
in their democratic system inorder to achieve a common goal.
What would you say to suchindividuals who claim that Take
Back Alberta subverts thepolitical process?
Speaker 10 (33:35):
I would say we are literally taking part in the
political process.
Anybody can show up at any vote.
Why don't people just getinvolved?
What it ends up being is thatnot a lot of people want to make
the sacrifice that it takes tobe involved.
I've always found that the moreyou sacrifice, the greater your
(33:59):
reward.
You end up actually building acommunity.
I know a lot of people who havegiven a lot to to just of their
time as volunteers, but thoseare some of the most treasured
memories they have the joys ofcommunity, and it's funny.
I think this narcissisticselfishness that it pervades our
(34:20):
modern culture is it's just alack of community.
So I don't know if peoplereally think that I'm that bad
and that horrible and I'msubverting democracy.
All they have to do is go andget more people and organize
them and show up at meetings thething is it's actually a lot
more work and a lot of thesepeople are quite lazy.
Host (34:39):
How is take back Alberta different from organizations
like the Alberta ProsperityProject, for example?
Are they aligned in any way, orat least capable of existing
together without conflictingagendas, or what sets take back
Alberta apart?
Speaker 10 (34:50):
Well, I just I love the people at the Alberta
Prosperity Project.
A lot of them are members ofTake Back Alberta.
I think a lot of them are arecommitted to the idea of more
sovereignty for Alberta.
Well, why can't we makedecisions like Quebec makes for
itself or Ontario makes foritself?
Ontario has a police force,quebec has a police force.
(35:12):
I don't see why we can't evenhave the discussion about having
our own police force.
Like we're a grown-up province.
Hey, we decide we don't wantone, but but anyway they're.
They're very focused on thosethings and sovereignty, whereas
take back Alberta's not verylike quote-unquote partisan in
this way.
Right, we're.
We're literally just trying toget people engaged and involved
(35:34):
and, of course, I personallyhave a perspective when it comes
to public policy and I and Ithink I feel I have every right
to convey that but we don'talways agree at Take Back
Alberta.
It's not just a monolith likethis.
There's lots of people thathave been involved, that have
gone into positions that are nowmaking decisions, and it's not
Take Back Alberta's position totell them what they have to do.
(35:55):
It's we just want more peopleto be involved.
Host (35:58):
That's what it comes down to we just came out of a
provincial election not too longago here in Alberta, as you're
more than Well aware.
It was a tense time where andthere's a distinct possibility
we could very well see Rachel,not Lee, return to the Premier's
chair.
Thankfully, we saw the UCP maintank power, no doubt in large
part to Organizations like takeback Alberta, given that we were
once again managed to hold theNDP at bay for a time.
(36:19):
What would you say is thebiggest issue faced by Albertans
right now, and how do you keepthe pre-election momentum that
take back Alberta had goingforward now that there's no
Perceived threat of an NDPvictory, in facing that issue or
issues?
Speaker 10 (36:32):
Oh, I think the biggest threat that we face is
Is this kind of voter apathythat has allowed our government
institutions to atrophy to thepoint where still we have such
low turnout.
It's horrible.
People are just not showing up,they're not engaged, they don't
care.
People aren't showing up attheir own you know
parent-teacher conferences.
If people aren't engaging intheir society, then then we're
(36:55):
doomed.
I were just.
We are doomed, and so I thinkthis gives us the opportunity to
to teach even more people aboutthings like school boards and
library boards andMunicipalities and show them
that there are places we can goand make decisions, and those
decisions have consequences forthe future of our, of our
(37:16):
families and our societies.
And so I actually I found thatwe're getting more and more
momentum.
I think, like a lot of peopleare very concerned about what's
happening with their childrenand and the educational system.
I think they want to know whatthey can do about it.
There's lots you can do aboutit in a democracy, turns out,
and I hope that they do dosomething about it.
(37:36):
And then there's people who areconcerned about what's
happening on the federalgovernment level with with
vitamins and natural healthproducts.
Well, really a lot of concernaround that and there's concern
around just what's happening interms of, like, the crime on our
streets and the economic ruinthat a lot of people are
experiencing with this Inflation.
(37:57):
I think actually there'sthere's more people involved to
take back Alberta than ever, andI'm not worried about the
momentum at all because I think,as as things get worse, people
are going to realize just howimportant politics actually is
and they're going to get moreinvolved.
Host (38:11):
But what kind of understanding of the Canadian
political system Do you thinkthe average Canadian has, and do
you think it's much differentProvincially?
Speaker 10 (38:18):
oh no, I think most people have no idea politics
works at all.
They're completely ignorant, Iwould say.
I would say there's probably a10 to 15 percent of the
population as even an elementaryunderstanding of our political
system.
Host (38:35):
What would you identify as the most common misconception
or misconceptions that Canadianshave regarding the Canadian
political system, and what stepsare necessary to address those?
Speaker 10 (38:45):
Well, the biggest one is obviously that the
government can solve all yourproblems.
I Think that everyone justseems to think, oh well, I guess
the government needs to fixthat.
But the problem is, governmentis a is is a limited resource
because it's taking, it's notcreating a Government.
Government spends money.
It doesn't make money.
(39:06):
It takes money from you and soit's naturally destructive of
capital and, and it usually endsup in very, you know,
bureaucratic results where lotsof money is just sloshing around
in the system but we're notseeing the results that we would
like to see and that and thatyou would have to see in in a
(39:27):
private sector company, in acompetitive environment, but
monopolies are being created.
There's, there's, there's tonsof problems, I think.
I think a lot of people thinkthat they can't make a
difference in the politicalsystem.
I think that that they thinkthat, you know, I think they
think elections are wherepolitics is decided.
Politics is decided in themillion decisions in between
(39:48):
elections, right in the smallboards, and the people need a
longer, a longer view of time,and I think, for the biggest
conception is that leaders arethe most important people on
teams.
They're not.
Leaders are avatars of thepeople that support them.
Right, there's, there's alwaysa huge team behind any great
(40:09):
leader, and that's the case forfor any leader you can think of.
I think most people think thatthe leaders are just like these
exceptional human beings who andthey are Exceptional, don't get
me wrong they because they canbear a lot more stress and
burden than most people, butthey need a whole team of people
to make that happen.
I think people just don't knowabout all those people behind
(40:29):
the scenes that that keeps overthe ship running, keep keeps a
magical eye, if you know what Imean.
Most people think, oh, it'sjust a politician doing that.
No, no, it's.
It's a lot of people workingtogether to make something like
that happen.
Host (40:40):
Do you think Canadians confederation still offers any
benefit to the individualprovinces or if so, what would
they be?
If not, why not?
Speaker 10 (40:47):
you know, I haven't really thought about that
question as much as I probablyshould have.
So that's a very good question.
I would say that I think thereare definitely provinces that
would that greatly benefit fromConfederation, like the
Maritimes and Quebec, and thenthere are provinces that don't
so much benefit from Federation,and I would put Alberta and
Saskatchewan in that category.
So I think it's a.
(41:07):
The question is a is a prettybroad one and there's different
answers depending on where youlive.
But I Think that Alberta needsto grow up as a province that
established itself as At leastthe same level of as go back in
Ontario, or a growing upprovince.
Now we almost have five millionpeople were for the richest
province per capita by far, andI think we need to.
(41:31):
We need to step up to the tableand say we want to have our say
in the direction of thiscountry or we're out and we want
.
We want to be able to keep moreof what we make where we are
and not be like treat like acolony.
So I don't know how that, howthat plays out.
I hope we have leaders emergethat can really push that agenda
(41:51):
, but I Don't know thatAlbertans already.
I don't think Albertans wantthat right now, and so I.
Maybe Albertans aren't ready togrow up, maybe that's the
answer, but I hope they are.
I hope they are one day,because it would be a lot better
for us if we came to the tableas adults instead of being
treated like little kids.
Host (42:11):
What could the federal government do, if anything, to
better the relationship betweenCanada and the individual
provinces?
Speaker 10 (42:16):
Well, I think like, but out of our stuff, like I
mean, people say that the reasonthat Albertans loved Harper was
because when he was PrimeMinister, the beating stopped
right.
It wasn't that, it wasn't somuch that he just sat there
doing things for Alberta, it wasthat our government stopped
attacking Alberta.
I think right now, the federalgovernment is attacking Alberta
(42:37):
a lot more, and so like the veryfirst thing they could do is
stop beating us up right, stopstop hurting us, and I think
that would go a long ways.
Let us develop our resources.
Canada is not the problem whenit comes to global warming.
We're just not.
Even if climate change is realand there's lots of debate about
that but even if it is, thebest thing Canada can do for
(43:01):
climate change is to produce asmuch natural gas as possible and
get it to Japan and get themoff coal and other means and
other dirtier means of andthat's the best thing we can do.
Even if we all shut off all ourlights and all our power and we
went hand in hand and doextinction in the dark, canada
would have no impact on climatechange zero.
So I think the best thing theycan do is let us help use the
(43:26):
innovations that we have ofnatural gas to reduce emissions
around the world, if that's whatthey really care about.
They're not doing that, evenright, they're just wild.
Host (43:35):
Currently, there seems to be a distinct difference of
ideologies surfacing not just inCanada but globally, between
the left and right sides of thepolitical spectrum.
Personally, I feel there'shardly any conservative
representation whatsoever at thefederal level, that progressive
conservatives and liberals seemto rush to eat each other's
lunch.
On a provincial level, thingsare a bit more even, especially
here in Alberta.
Regardless, the discord isevident that there's very little
(43:57):
middle ground in terms ofdiscussion surrounding a large
number of topics.
How do we bridge that gap tofind the common ground necessary
to bring about national unity,if that's even possible?
Speaker 10 (44:07):
Well, I think we need to stop thinking about
things in terms of we need tostart not what we're against,
but what we're for.
We need to start buildingsomething.
I think that's actually thebiggest problem.
I've said this for a long time.
I don't know if anyone willlisten or if it'll ever change,
but if we really wanted to comeback together as a nation, I
think we'd need a vision of whatis Canada trying to become.
(44:28):
Also, I think this is theproblem with leadership in
general all over the globe, andespecially, I would say, in
Canada right now is we don'treally know what we are.
We don't have any kind ofidentity or thesis on what it
means to be an Albertan or aCanadian or a human even.
(44:49):
I think we need to come up withsome kind of agreed upon.
These are the things that areimportant.
I think one of those things,frank with you, needs to be that
we're pro-human.
Some of these environmentalistsare just anti-humanity itself,
and that's not cool in my books.
Host (45:08):
I'm a firm advocate of Alberta independence as well as
you Indeed the idea that allprovinces should seek at the
very least the same sort ofunique autonomy that is held
currently only by Quebec, asovereign nation within Canadian
Confederation, which is theoriginal plan behind the country
of Canada anyway.
Would you see Alberta asleading the charge for the
remaining provinces to seek toobtain the same objective, or do
(45:29):
you think, take back Alberta asa product of its regional
identity alone?
Speaker 10 (45:34):
Oh no.
I think the answer to theproblems that we face as a
society is just more autonomyfor everybody.
We need more localdecision-making.
We need more people stepping upand taking roles of leadership.
There's a principle called theprinciple of subsidiarity.
(45:58):
The idea is that that's thebest way to build a society is
to have small decision-makingunits that when they have
conflicts, they have to elevate.
They do to the next level abovethem, and it just keeps going
up and they just keep trying tosolve it until it gets to the
top, and then a decision justhas to be made.
The way that you could think ofit is that's kind of how we set
(46:19):
up our court systems before theykind of got captured by
ideology.
I think that that's what weneed to do.
The more independence we caneven get on a local, municipal
level.
The more you depend on thingsoutside of yourself, the more
responsibility you take uponyour shoulders, the better your
(46:40):
life is going to be.
The municipalities with thepeople who take the most
personal responsibility are thecleanest, richest, safest.
We need more people taking onmore responsibility, and I don't
know where we lost that idea.
I don't know where we lost theidea that people need to be the
ones that are making sure thattheir communities are safe.
(47:01):
We need town, we need crimewatches, we need what we should
just rely on the government tofix our problems.
We should be innovating andbuilding, and Alberta is a land
of entrepreneurs, and I thinkthat's the spirit that we need.
We need to export that to therest of the country.
We need more people be moreentrepreneurial, more innovative
(47:22):
and creating a better world.
Now that's what we need.
Host (47:26):
Canada and the world needs more Alberta.
Speaker 10 (47:29):
I believe that.
Yeah, I do.
It sounds cheesy, but I do.
Host (47:33):
What steps does Take Back Alberta take to educate people
about how the political systemworks?
Do you have classes or seminars, for example?
And how do people get involvedwith Take Back Alberta if
they're inclined to do so?
Speaker 10 (47:43):
We do weekly meetings in every region.
So monthly sorry, monthly,they're weekly for me because
there's five regions but they'remonthly meetings across the
province where we bring inspeakers to talk about what's
going on in our society, andthen we usually have action
items because we believe,actually, what's best for Take
Back Alberta is to do You've gotto do things in order to learn
(48:06):
how they work.
So we have phases and we justsay this is our mission for this
phase and this is what we needto do.
And then we go and do it andpeople begin to see oh, this is
how politics works and they canget more involved themselves.
Host (48:19):
What are the plans for Take Back Alberta's future?
Where do you see theorganization and say like the
next five years, and whatobjectives would you like to see
accomplished in that timeframe,if any?
Speaker 10 (48:28):
Well, I think we would like to take on the big
project of educating Albertansabout schoolboards and how they
work and how parents need to beinvolved in the education of
their children.
That's the most important thingis that parents need to start
taking responsibility for theirchildren and for those
(48:48):
children's education, and a bigway you could do that is be
involved in your school board.
So over the next two years, twoand a half years, we're going
to be working on that, and then,on top of that, we've got some
very important work we're doingwith the United Conservative
Party to help strengthen it, getit ready for the next election
(49:10):
by encouraging people to getinvolved.
That's really all it comes downto.
And then I think, finally, ourbiggest project of all will be
trying to take on the media,trying to build voices across
the province, much like your own.
I love what you're doing withthis podcast.
Build voices all over theprovince of people who are
(49:32):
speaking the truth and hopefullyhave enough people hear the
truth and enough people getinvolved that we can stop, as
madness, this decline.
I think everyone kind of feelslike, for the first time in many
, many generations, things aregetting worse globally.
Host (49:53):
Kind of seems like we've peaked as a species.
Speaker 10 (49:55):
It feels that way and I think we need to take, we
need to change that, we need tochange that perspective.
That's what I think.
Host (50:02):
I completely agree.
I know you're really busy and Iappreciate you taking the time
to appear on this.
Canadian thanks.
Is there anything that wehaven't touched on that you'd
like to discuss or say directlyto our listeners today?
Speaker 10 (50:12):
Well, I would just encourage people to get involved
.
Like, at the end of the day,what does that mean?
People say, get involved.
And I actually kind of hate itwhen people say that because
it's come to not mean anything.
What does it mean to getinvolved?
It means you got to get offyour couch, you got to go to a
meeting, you got to learn howsomething works.
Maybe you got to do the boringwork of understanding how
(50:35):
politics works before you canunderstand how important
politics is.
And, at the end of the day, whatwe're really facing is do you
care about your values enough tostand up and do something?
Because if you think thatthings are not going well, if
you don't like the directionsociety is going, there's
something you can do about it.
You can get involved, and thatmeans getting out there and
(51:00):
doing something.
I tell a lot of people you gotto run for something.
Even if you lose, you'll learnsomething.
And maybe if you run for thingsa couple of times or a number
of times over a period of time,maybe eventually you'll come to
the realization that you canhave a difference.
But it's not going to beovernight.
It's like anything.
It takes work.
It's a habit that you have tobuild.
Host (51:21):
I couldn't agree more.
I want to thank you again fortaking the time to be with this
Canadian Thinx today.
I really appreciate you beingon the program and with any luck
, perhaps we'll be able to findthe time to be able to get you
to come back in the future andwe'll talk about something else,
I'm sure.
Speaker 10 (51:34):
Love it.
Love it, okay.
Thanks for having me.
Host (51:36):
No problem at all.
Thank you again and keep up thegood work.
Speaker 10 (51:39):
Thanks, talk later, talk later.
Host (51:44):
Thanks.
Hopefully you enjoyed ourconversation with David Parker
today.
I find Parker to be wellinformed and have pertinent
information to share.
He's not wrong in many regards.
Even if you don't believeeverything as he does, the
fundamentals are the same Showpeople how their system works so
they can effectively make thesystem work for them.
Right now, the direction andinitiatives of our elected
(52:04):
representatives are dictated bythose who are involved that have
an agenda that may very wellrun counter to the values and
beliefs that you have, simplybecause they show up and
actively participate.
Meanwhile, the coffee shops andsocial houses echo with
complaints about the terriblyflawed design of a horribly
broken system, a system that nomore represents them than they
actively participate in it.
(52:26):
I'd like to take this moment tothank you for listening to this
Canadian Thinks.
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about us too.
If you have any topics you'dlike this Canadian Thinks to
cover or ideas for guests thatmight be interested in appearing
in future episodes, be sure tolet us know.
We're also actively seekingsponsors and advertisers who
might be a good fit with ourprogram.
If you'd like to partner withus, we'd be happy to hear from
you as well.
Thanks so much once again forlistening to this podcast.
(53:10):
We hope you'll be back for manymore episodes to come.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and don't forget to think.
Speaker 7 (53:34):
We'll see you next time.
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