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Canada & Alberta Won the Referndum, Secessionists Lost · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Time for Litke's Got a Take. Good morning, John.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, so Alberta, 75% of the folks said no to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a referendum to separate. Now, is this a total shutdown
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of the separatist movement, or can Premier Daniela Smith still
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: claim some kind of a victory?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I think it's a shutdown. I mean, let's do the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: math here, right? These guys wanted to break away, form
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: a sovereign nation, and build a global economic empire. And
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I understand this was just the starting process to get
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: to the point of the actual vote that would have come.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: But they couldn't even muster as many votes as the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: combined populations of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Welland. I mean,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: they got outperformed by three mid-sized Ontario municipalities. And out
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: of all of the electoral ridings across Alberta, I think
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: they only managed to lead in one single rural riding.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Edmonton wiped them out. Calgary rejected them. That's not a
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: political movement. That's a loud table at the keg on
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: a Friday night.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. They don't allow electronic tabulations in Alberta, even though
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: we're living in the age of artificial intelligence. So they
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: had to hand count millions of ballots. So from a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: governance standpoint, was this a win for voter trust or
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: or just an expensive, outdated nightmare.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the fact that they ban the electronic tabulators for
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the votes, yeah, it's an expensive 19th century nightmare. Banning
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: these tabulators to appease, let's be honest, conspiracy theorists who think, what,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: there's a space laser that's secretly controlled by Italy or
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: George Soros or some other Trumpian ruse that we've heard.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: So they forced electoral workers and if there's volunteers to
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: hand count millions of paper responses through the night like
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: they're monks copying the Bible in silence. And polling stations,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you know, there were problems that were reported. The results
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: took a long time to come in. But it turns out,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: as we know, that democracy isn't cheap. But burning millions
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: of taxpayer dollars to cater to local paranoia, that's just
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: plain administrative cowardice.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, Smith says winning the remaining nine questions on
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: things like immigration and provincial rights gives her major leverage
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: when dealing with the prime minister. Now, did she really
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: gain leverage, or is it completely gone now?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: What leverage? I mean, she claimed that she was going
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: to have a massive mandate to bully Ottawa to succumb
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: to what she wants, and her flagship constitutional push, the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Question 8, where she asked to opt out of federal
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: programs while keeping the federal cash, that's currently losing right now.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, her judges' question is tied, the Senate question
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: barely scraping by, her own separatist base... They're already openly
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: plotting to oust her at the UCP convention next month
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: on social media. And I've heard through some traditional media chatter.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: So she went to Ottawa to play hardball, essentially, and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: walked away with a deflated volleyball. I don't see leverage
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: that exists here. And frankly, I don't see a long-term
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: political future either.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: The Prime Minister last night, this morning, is hailing this
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: as a decisive win for Canadian unity. Did the separatists
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: accomplish anything or just embarrass themselves?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Canada won, Alberta won, the secessionists lost, period. I mean,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you don't get blown out 76 to 24 and claim
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: that you're dominating a conversation. That's what a hockey team
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: says when they lose 8-1. Again, they didn't win a
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: single major city. Calgary rejected them, Edmonton humiliated them, even
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Lethbridge and Red Deer told them to take a hike.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: But they spent months making noise, threatening the economy, claiming
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: they were a silent majority. And it turns out they
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: were just a very loud, very small minority. They proved
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: that this isn't a serious movement that is groundswell. And
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I think these people should be embarrassed at this outcome.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So with the remainder of the questions that they're still counting,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: numbers one through nine, should Ottawa just ignore the rest
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: of the referendum and move on now and just say,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you know, you had your chance, you blew it?
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: You know, I think Carney did the statesman thing. He
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: put out the nice, polished statement about unity and nation-building,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and great. The only question on that ballot that actually
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: mattered was, you know, the secession one. The rest of
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: it is just administrative noise to keep Smith's base busy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: But we just spent months nationally flirting with an economic
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: potential self-sabotage while we know foreign money was stoking the flames.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So Carney should take the win, sure, but we should
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: all memory hole this entire expensive stunt and pretend that
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: this embarrassing chapter never happened and then get serious about
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: securing our elections.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned dark money. There was the suggestion that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: there was foreign interference from the United States. So given that,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: what changes does Canada need to make to safeguard our
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: elections and our confederation moving forward? I mean, we've got
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to do something to protect ourselves.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we definitely do. We need to secure
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: our elections in Canada full stop. So we need to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: shut down the dark money pipelines. We need to plug
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: that ridiculous loophole that let educational third parties dump unlimited,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: untracked cash. But honestly, Gene, we need to stop letting
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: provinces hold votes on leaving the country altogether. I mean,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Alberta didn't invent itself. Canada created Alberta. I mean, you
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: don't get to break up the house just because you
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: don't like the landlord. We're a confederation. We're all in
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: this together. And if you don't like living in Canada, then,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: you know, my opinion, move.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Great take this morning, as always. Thank you, John.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Gene.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: All right. That's John Litke with Litke's Got a Take.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Love that guy.