Transcript
Carter
0:01
It's the world-famous Annalise and Carter Show, featuring
SPEAKER_00
0:05
featuring Annalise Klingbeil and Stephen Carter!
Annalise
0:14
Welcome to the world-famous Stephen Carter and Annalise Klingbeil Show. Is that what we're calling this, Stephen Carter? I'll tell
Carter
0:22
tell you, before it was the Annalise Klingbeil and Stephen Carter Show, but you just changed it around, just like that. I've put
Carter
0:29
You put me in the first billing and yourself in the second billing. It's
Annalise
0:33
It's just the two of us tonight, Carter. What's going on?
Carter
0:36
Well, as you know, Corey got elected. Zane
Carter
0:40
Yeah, Corey got elected and Zane's very ill. Oh,
Carter
0:44
ill. Deathbed is what I'm told.
Annalise
0:48
And Corey's in Rome, coming home from Rome? He's
Carter
0:51
He's home from Rome, as they say. and uh he yeah he flew in today and uh he had wi-fi on the uh porter air flight so so did you talk the whole time we texted we texted back and forth i was cleaning the basement looking for looking for distraction and he provided it it's pretty great
Annalise
1:10
you had a good weekend then you didn't go outside we could just do carter we could do an hour on going outside right going
Carter
1:16
going outside we don't have zane
Annalise
1:17
zane and cory to hold us
Carter
1:19
us back no we could talk about biking
Annalise
1:22
biking we could talk Talk about hiking.
Carter
1:25
Oh, I know, but you went camping this weekend. I
Annalise
1:27
I did go camping this weekend. It was rainy, but that's what normally happens on May Long Weekend. It
Carter
1:32
It is. It's the rainiest weekend of the year.
Carter
1:34
you bike this weekend? No, because it was raining.
Carter
1:38
So we were supposed to go to Blairmore and do some riding down in Blairmore. They've got a couple of new downhill tracks that are spectacular, but we weren't able to get out there. How
Annalise
1:47
How do you choose which one of your 12 bikes you take when you go biking? taking
Carter
1:52
the e-bikes now that makes it a lot easier you're getting old yeah yeah because last year we had to cut the average distance of our of our travels uh by about uh 25 percent so
Carter
2:07
problem we're getting old
Carter
2:07
old we're getting old so
Annalise
2:09
so when we when we go again this year you taking the e-bike or what are you taking well
Carter
2:13
well i thought i'd give you the e-bike and i would do I'd do the analog.
Annalise
2:18
Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. You've
Annalise
2:20
got some big plans. I've
Carter
2:22
I've got big plans for you. I'm going to take you to some really great spots. You're going to be loving it.
Carter
2:27
Because last time we did a really easy trail.
Carter
2:31
And this time we're going to do another pretty
Carter
2:32
pretty easy trail, but it's going to be longer. We
Annalise
2:35
We did an easy trail, and I would not say I enjoyed it, but I'm willing to give it a second try. You
Carter
2:40
You know what? You pretend like you didn't enjoy it, but I think you did. I
Annalise
2:43
I like the uphills.
Annalise
2:44
To be honest, I like the uphills. i did not love the downhills well
Carter
2:47
well the we'll go up and then we'll go up further perfect
Carter
2:50
perfect so you'll love that my
Annalise
2:52
biking okay do you want to talk about politics or are we just going to talk about outdoor things well
Carter
2:56
well i was good with just outdoors but if you want to bring in some politics i mean it is a political show it uh it right it's running on the strategist airwaves we should uh probably at least you know pay homage to the uh to the strategists we
Carter
3:11
talk about Corey's probably
Annalise
3:11
probably going to listen and get mad if we do not talk about politics. Listen,
Carter
3:16
Listen, he's just going to be happy we recorded. He will
Annalise
3:18
will be. He was doubtful that this would happen. Yeah,
Carter
3:23
violence against me if I didn't record. That's
Annalise
3:25
he said. Oh, that's why. That's why we're doing this. That's
Carter
3:28
That's why we're doing this. That's why. It was
Annalise
3:30
was physical violence. He knew. Corey knew he would get elected and then things would fall apart because Corey was the glue that held the strategists together. other i
Carter
3:39
i always thought i was the glue but uh but i think we all know who the wink link the weak link who paid the bills
Annalise
3:44
bills who bought the domains who posted episodes who
Annalise
3:48
who did the technology who's you're gonna be in charge of the books i
Carter
3:53
i i apparently am going to be in charge of the books this is very disconcerting to me not my strength
Carter
4:00
but it's gonna be fine it'll
Carter
4:01
it'll be fine really
Annalise
4:02
really well well okay i
Carter
4:03
been paid since the new year since i don't think i've been paid since last
Annalise
4:07
last year since 2024
Carter
4:09
i think we still owe you money from 24 don't we i
Annalise
4:11
i think you do yeah
Annalise
4:13
this is but we've got money for benches and um and websites yeah
Carter
4:18
yeah absolutely so you know what yeah and i'm told we have a lot of money in the account so perfect i'm gonna i'm gonna start dishing it out you're You're going to be like, she's rolling in it. Bonus.
Annalise
4:32
Stephen Carter, let's talk about some politics. I want to talk about Alberta. You and I, we don't have Zane and Corey
Annalise
4:41
Corey here. And there's a lot going on in Alberta right now. You've been in Alberta a long time. So I want to pick your brain about some things. I'm going to start by reading you some headlines from the past couple
Carter
4:52
Headlines. We used to
Annalise
4:53
to do headlines. Headlines. We used to
Carter
4:54
to do segments called headlines. headlines. You did? Oh yeah. How
Annalise
4:57
How did it work?
Annalise
4:57
work? What did you do?
Carter
4:59
Well, we just read headlines.
Annalise
5:01
That was the segment?
Carter
5:06
I don't remember, to
Carter
5:07
to be honest. I just knew we did a segment called headlines.
Carter
5:10
Let's do a segment called headlines. Yeah, the segment's
Annalise
5:12
segment's called headlines. So I'm going to read you some headlines. This is just the past couple of weeks. This is what's going on in Alberta. And then we're going to dig into it.
Annalise
5:21
So Alberta Premier Premier Daniel Smith defends breaking up health minister role into four portfolios. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith defends promise of a potential referendum on separation. Premier Daniel Smith demands for Ottawa has Canadians divided. Report.
Annalise
5:35
Daniel Smith fumes over Mark Carney's cabinet choices. Quote, innuendo and slander. Alberta legislature erupts after questions about Premier Smith's husband.
Annalise
5:47
Quote, playing with fire. Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney weighs in on Separation Talk.
Annalise
5:53
Here's one that was just published this evening. Former Chief of Staff to Alberta Premier lived in home owned by Sam Morash's sister. A lot going on in Alberta. Carter, how do you, like, you live here. How do you explain everything that is happening in our province for those that don't have the capacity to keep up or maybe don't live here or maybe don't know where to start caring? What is happening in Alberta these days?
Carter
6:23
Well, everything's on fire. Everything's on fire. And, you know, you have some normal fires, fires that you could predict. That would be the health care fire, right? The health care file has been a shit show under Danielle Smith. You know, doctors are saying that the system is coming apart at the seams. And I will tell you that the system is very big and very difficult to manage. It's not designed to succeed, really. It's designed to fail on many levels. But the doctors and nurses and other staff that work at the hospitals and in the health care system hold it together.
Carter
7:03
But now that they've got four ministers, I'm not sure how they're going to continue to hold it together. other. But that's a relatively normal state of affairs for Alberta. Ralph Klein tried to do it with his infamous Bill 13. You know, we tried to reinvent healthcare in 2011, 2012.
Carter
7:21
We being the Allison Redford government, Ed Stelmack struggled with healthcare. You know, even Jason Kenney, who suffered through the pandemic, was struggling with healthcare. So healthcare is a normal problem. But
Carter
7:38
But then we have two abnormal... What
Annalise
7:40
What is not a normal problem?
Carter
7:42
Well, we have two abnormal problems. The first one is corruption. People would say that the PCs were corrupt, but you could never prove that the PCs were corrupt. You never had, for example, a chief of staff living in a $1.5 million home owned by someone that was getting billions of dollars in contracts from the government that
Carter
8:04
wouldn't have happened uh because we're too smart for that uh too smart to get caught uh doing something that fucking stupid um you know and i don't know i mean i mean charges haven't been laid there's been no uh there's been no official word i mean and uh you know um smith is marshall smith has offered has threatened lawsuits against Against those who have defamed him. I think there is a lawsuit.
Carter
8:31
Yeah. So I think there is a lawsuit against the Globe and Mail. CB
Annalise
8:34
CB against E-Globe. Yeah. Yeah.
Carter
8:37
you know, I certainly don't want to be the next person to get a lawsuit. So let me just say. And Corey's
Annalise
8:42
Corey's not here to keep me
Carter
8:42
me on track. Corey's not here to stop me from being. Yeah. Yeah.
Carter
8:45
But I will say this. Don't get a suit, Connor.
Carter
8:47
The corruption kickback scheme that has been outlined in the Globe and Mail over the last couple of months is not a normal problem. problem it is a problem that is is is created by hubris and uh this kind of sense that well they were corrupt so we can be corrupt too i think that uh you know we have a lot more to find out as to the reality of this situation who else was involved how much did they know um you know everybody what i have said from the beginning is that everybody who showed up in one of those private boxes is going to be as guilty as the people who took any any like marshall smith allegedly taking this um this home to live in uh that is a spectacularly stupid thing to do um and i think that they will you know everybody who is uh everybody's going to be painted with the same brush uh with the most corrupt person whoever that may be and i don't think it's premier smith for the record for the record i think it was not you know i don't think it's danielle who was corrupt um i i think though that this corruption uh goes deep and it then ties into you know whereas was daniel smith's husband um setting up meetings for rail transport you know
Carter
10:05
that was shouted down in the house in the in the legislature i'd love to see what happens of that as we as we move forward um and then there's the the the headlines that are self-imposed that are self-created the the the nightmare that was created by smith deciding that she was going to make it easier to hold a separation referendum uh we had just passed uh the referendum legislation in her first term
Carter
10:29
term if you will um
Carter
10:31
um that referendum legislation made it challenging to get a a referendum up off the ground it's not not challenging now it's still challenging to get I think
Carter
10:42
think it's 177,000 signatures, Annalise. Correct me if I'm wrong. They're
Annalise
10:46
They're going to get 600,000, Carter. No
Carter
10:49
Yeah, well, they won't.
Annalise
10:51
they're going to get way more.
Carter
10:54
Yeah, well, anybody who can get 188,000 signatures is organized enough to win the next election. So
Carter
11:00
So I think that people need to understand what's at stake. The organization levels required to get that many people to put their signature on a piece of paper. let's go back to uh the recall gondek movement where they got well ultimately every single signature was thrown out how
Annalise
11:16
how many signatures did they get though well
Carter
11:18
well technically zero but i think it was in the 60 000 range um
Carter
11:22
um so obviously that's just one city so one could make the you know the extrapolation that if you can get 60 000 signatures in calgary 60 000 signatures in edmonton and then 60,000 signatures rural uh our one-third one-third one-third kind of province that we are um then you can make 180,000 but it's
Carter
11:44
it's just not that easy it's just not that easy so
Annalise
11:49
i just want to
Annalise
11:50
several different things here right we've got the separation we've got the health care stuff we've got um the cabinet shuffle that just happened on friday lots lots going on in terms of the scandal Scandal.
Annalise
12:01
I don't know if some people, different names for it, but in terms of scandal, I just want to read you a Jared Wesley. I think this is a blue sky that was sent to me. Him trying to condense that into like a sentence where people understand because there's a lot going on. This
Annalise
12:16
This has been several months. So he says, Premier
Annalise
12:18
Premier Smith's former chief of staff allegedly pressured health officials to cut half a billion dollars in contracts to a businessman whose sister was his landlord and who bought them all luxury NHL tickets, and they fired the person ready to reveal it.
Annalise
12:31
Do you think it's, like, is that, in terms of the communications on this and getting people to care when there's so much going on, is that as simple as it is?
Carter
12:43
That's as simple as it is. I mean, I think that we've quoted Wesley before when we've been talking about how to actually communicate about this scandal. And he's made it so much simpler than anyone has. The simplicity is what we need. And, you
Carter
13:06
you know, I was talking to some friends in the NDP this weekend, and I think that's what the NDP needs to do is make it simple.
Carter
13:12
They've made it, you
Carter
13:14
you know, corrupt care. They've made it about
Carter
13:15
about the care element instead of the corruption element. Do they need a
Annalise
13:20
a flow chart? Do they need like something visual, like a flow chart that shows who is linked to who and what's going on? A little
Carter
13:27
little infographic would be fantastic, right? Basically saying here's the person who got the money, number
Carter
13:34
number one. So here's the person who got the money. Number two, here are the people who are with that person in the boxes. Here's the guy who was renting the house or staying in the house. I'm not sure what the rental agreement was. But now that you're starting to see this, a really simple infographic, because it really is that simple. We gave this guy hundreds of
Carter
13:59
of millions of dollars or whatever the number was. And this is also the guy behind the Tylenol scandal, right? The children's Tylenol scandal where he got $75 million. We used to talk
Annalise
14:09
talk about that Tylenol all the time. I know,
Carter
14:12
because you were furious, furious,
Carter
14:13
furious, I tell you.
Annalise
14:15
Yeah, because it just never ended. It was like every week or two, there was some new bad thing about that Tylenol, including the fact that you couldn't even give it to children during a Tylenol shortage.
Carter
14:28
Yeah, it was pretty
Carter
14:30
Miles and miles. But we have the same guy, right? Right. The same guy has is involved in the same in a totally different set of scandals. So
Annalise
14:39
So what like you talk, talk to me about this, because you've been part of governments that have fallen from the scandal. Like is is the bar of what is a scandal just different nowadays? Like why? There's so many different pieces of this.
Annalise
14:56
Why are we still just getting stories and these people are still in in their roles?
Carter
15:01
It's infinitely more difficult to survive a $30,000 scandal than it is to survive a $300 million scandal. Because
Carter
15:11
They don't understand the scope of the money and the money itself. They've never been involved in a deal like that. They don't understand how it would even relate to their lives. We can try and make it relate to their lives, but they're not paying enough attention. But when something's $30,000, like the no meat committee that we dealt with in 2011. Tell us about that. The
Carter
15:30
The no-meet committee was essentially, back in the day, you got compensated for attending committee meetings as part of your MLA salary. So when you would sit on a number of different committees, those committees were part of your pay. and
Carter
15:46
and one of the committees was uh i think it was on electoral reform or something along those those lines election readiness something like that and it didn't meet it didn't meet for 18 months 24 months and everybody who was on the committee still got paid so everybody got a thousand dollars extra a month some people wound up with 20 25 30 thousand dollars in ill-gotten gains. Um, so we had, you know, we
Carter
16:14
we had to get everybody to refund the money and it still didn't matter. Even though people gave the money back, the,
Carter
16:21
the, the fact that you were getting money for some, for nothing, $30
Carter
16:25
$30,000, $15,000, $25,000, whatever the amount was, you were getting money for nothing. So what, what
Carter
16:36
Well, ultimately, uh, you know, MLA like arno dirksen lost his job uh we lost a lot of seats in the election we it was part of why we almost lost in 2012 uh we went from a high of almost 80 you know anticipating up to 80 seats in the legislature to uh dropping down to almost losing uh and danielle smith had she not brought the lake of fire forward for us uh would have won that election um so so you think you think the
Annalise
17:02
figure is like a key piece of what makes it resonate time
Carter
17:06
time and again if you make something like if
Carter
17:09
if you were given a free house to to live in with your two colleagues um that
Carter
17:15
that would be something that would that could be career-ending let's also look at at um allison redford right a thirty six thousand dollar um plane ride was ultimately her undoing um
Carter
17:27
um people understand how much money thirty six thousand dollars is they
Carter
17:30
they they see it they can feel it was
Annalise
17:33
was that also I mean, that was the last thing, but was there other, like the Sky Palace and the other things leading up to it?
Carter
17:39
Yeah, I mean, taking care of someone's lodging is extremely difficult. When Alison was even staying at the Fairmont McDonald, the Hotel McDonald, that was very difficult to manage because people can't stay at the Fairmont McDonald. Hell, we even did a retreat at the Jasper Park Lodge in the shoulder season. It cost us no more than being at any other hotel
Carter
18:05
hotel with a conference room, but
Carter
18:08
but because it was seen to be a luxury, you know,
Carter
18:13
know, destination. I don't know if you've ever been to the Jasper Park Lodge in the shoulder season. Tell me about it, Carter. There's nothing there. There's nothing to do. There's no one staying at the hotel, and it cost us, I think it was 90 bucks or 100 bucks a night. But people knew that it was a luxury location and there was
Carter
18:34
was a little mini uprising. So
Carter
18:36
So do you think
Annalise
18:36
think the housing in this case, there's Global Mail, Carrie Tate, who's had scoop after scoop on stuff in Alberta, I think worth shouting out to Carrie Tate. But do you think her latest tonight about the lodging, about the housing, is that going to be different than any of the recent scoops that she's had?
Carter
18:56
think so. I think it's easy to understand. Unfortunately, it's happened, or fortunately, for the Daniel Smith government. It's to a chief of staff who's no longer with the government.
Carter
19:07
So if the chief of staff was still in the office, there'd be calls for resignation, there'd be calls for him being fired. but because he's already left it's uh it's difficult to put you know a real political value on this um i do think that it's going to be make it it's going to make it harder because there's no fucking way that danielle smith didn't know what her chief of staff's living arrangements were um i think it's just impossible to imagine it's
Annalise
19:35
is that because you've been in that role and you're just so intertwined i mean
Carter
19:40
practically living Living together. You know, you're constantly, constantly working together, taking telephone calls, doing video conferences from home. These things are all happening all at once. And it's not like she's going to not notice where her chief of staff is living. So
Annalise
19:57
if she says, if when asked the next time she faces me, she says, oh, I didn't know you're saying that. That
Carter
20:04
That would be a blatant lie. That would be a blatant lie. One that would be relatively easy to disprove, I would suspect. I would suspect more than one time, um, you know, Marshall was in the car when he got dropped off at his house. Um, and, and so at that point, uh, you know, the, the premier would go, wow, that's a nice house. What
Carter
20:26
What are you doing in that house? Right.
Carter
20:27
Right. Plus you, you know, yeah,
Carter
20:31
yeah, I mean, uh, chances are if there was a rental agreement, um, the province would be paying for it.
Annalise
20:42
you think you think it's you think it's going to be different this time you think
Carter
20:45
i do i think this is going to resonate i think this was big i
Carter
20:48
think uh you know even cory put it in the text and was like oh this is big this is big and i was like cory stop teasing me stop teasing me if you're gonna take political stances get on the fucking podcast you're
Carter
21:02
you're all this but but this is big. So, you know, just a tease out there for everybody that Corey is still following the news and could still be on this podcast if he fucking wanted to.
Annalise
21:12
That's a good tease. Hopefully, if he's listening right now, what's your message to him, Carter?
Carter
21:17
There's a new show. We did the Cling, Beal, and Carter first time. There's a new show, Ministry of Podcasts, that we are looking to do with Corey Ogun. People
Annalise
21:30
People want Corey back. It's been like, what, two weeks? And they miss him already?
Annalise
21:36
in the Discord more
Carter
21:37
more than ever right now. He
Annalise
21:39
He is. That's a plug for people to give the, what is it, $6 a month? $6
Carter
21:44
$6 a month to be on Patreon. And then you get the Discord. People on Discord say they don't even pay for the podcast anymore. They're paying for the Discord. The
Annalise
21:52
The community. This is what
Annalise
21:53
group chats are all about right now.
Carter
21:54
now. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy.
Annalise
21:57
Okay, so you think it's going to be different. At the same time. Do you
Carter
22:02
you think it's going to be different?
Annalise
22:04
I don't. Oh my God.
Annalise
22:07
I don't think so because there's been so many pieces and so many things and it's just not resonating. And I think the media market in Alberta is horrendous right now. And it's like scoop after scoop from Carrie Tate, but it's not getting the follow that it would have 15 years ago. Like think about 10 years ago. Think about when you were dealing with Redford. Oh my God. It wasn't just one headline in a national newspaper. It was like... You
Carter
22:32
You just listed off 15 headlines.
Annalise
22:36
Yeah, but there's so much information. And it's not, so the scoop that the Globe has, the Herald and the CBC and CTV and the others don't, and maybe they follow it because some of the stuff they've been following, but it's a totally different media market than it was a decade ago when you were with Redford. How long ago was that, 15 years ago?
Carter
22:55
Yeah, it's coming up on, well, it's 14 right now, yeah. yeah yeah
Annalise
23:00
yeah i don't do you
Annalise
23:01
you not like think about how many reporters were covering the ledge 15 years ago well
Carter
23:06
well and even then we were down right
Carter
23:08
right even then we were down the number of reporters that we would would
Carter
23:12
would have seen but yeah we had i
Carter
23:14
i think we had a good 12
Carter
23:16
12 or 14 that were covering the ledge which
Annalise
23:19
which is which is insane like it's it's nothing you had like when i was at i started at the the Herald in 2008, and
Annalise
23:26
and then left for the final time in
Annalise
23:28
in 2018. I was there on and off, kind of internship when I was in school. Couldn't
Carter
23:33
Couldn't keep a job, that's what I heard. And then when
Annalise
23:36
when I finally left.
Annalise
23:37
But even then, in that decade, how much it just shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. The Herald doesn't even have a ledge reporter now, right? They have one in Edmonton and CP. So I just think that you don't have the bodies. We, in our media training, we show the, who
Annalise
23:54
who is the health minister who is eating the cookie? Stephen Duckett, was that his name? Yeah,
Carter
23:58
Yeah, he was the deputy minister of health. Right,
Carter
24:01
was head of AHS,
Annalise
24:02
sorry, not minister, head of AHS. But his, like, media is scrumming him and he's going, I'm eating a cookie, I'm eating a cookie, I'm eating a cookie.
Annalise
24:11
There's lots of media following him. That doesn't, that wouldn't happen nowadays. days you wouldn't have that many people and they wouldn't have the capacity to wait for him for his meeting to finish to follow him to the next building like it's just wildly different so is
Carter
24:25
is that the age
Annalise
24:25
age of scandal is over you can get away with murder well i'm i'm asking you you're
Carter
24:30
you're no no i'm asking you because i already answered i think this is big what i'm asking you what i'm asking you is is the age of scandal over in your mind i
Annalise
24:39
think the age of scandal has changed you see it in ontario too with a lot of the doug ford stuff like just things that i think if you if you had the same level of scandal and the same media that you did 10 15 years ago it would be night and day difference well
Carter
24:55
well it's it's uh no question it would be night and day different do
Annalise
25:00
do you disagree with me no i
Carter
25:02
i think that it would be totally different but
Carter
25:05
but i just want you know it is it is uh it
Carter
25:10
just don't believe that the age of scandal is over.
Annalise
25:13
I don't think it's over. I think it's changed.
Carter
25:16
we're going to find out, aren't we?
Annalise
25:17
we? Don't put words in my mouth, Stephen Carter.
Annalise
25:20
But I just did.
Annalise
25:22
Okay. Separation. Well, all this is going on. We're also talking about gathering signatures so that Alberta can separate. The separation stuff, granted, in this media market that is small, the separation stuff is getting a lot of oxygen. Has that, has that surprised you? Like people are making the point that separation has always been this
Annalise
25:44
this fringe, um, in, in the back of people's minds, things saying in Alberta, but it's out in the mainstream right now.
Carter
25:52
Is it though? Is it because when I talk to regular human beings, no one's to, no one wants to actually do it, right? No, no one wants to do it,
Annalise
25:59
it, but people are talking about it. Yeah. They're absolutely talking
Carter
26:02
talking about it. They're talking about it as though these fucking crazy fuckers aren't going to let this happen. Are they?
Carter
26:07
And this is actually another giant problem for Daniel Smith, but this one's all self-imposed. She has created this problem because she thinks it's an opportunity to win something over from Mark Kearney.
Annalise
26:21
Do you think she thinks it's an opportunity or do you think she's trying to keep her party from separating?
Carter
26:27
i mean they're i saw the republican party of alberta has listed uh i think 18 of the mlas um that are serving the ucp that are pro separation i don't know where they got that information i hope that someone follows up and asks these 18 mlas if they are actually pro separation or if words have been put in their mouth by a party that uh you know barely even exists. And I don't know who's behind it, you know, but there's, but this Republican Party of Alberta is, you know, we've had the Western Canada Concept Party. We've had these talks of Alberta separation before. I think we elected one person in 82, is my recollection, who proposed that separation actually be followed. I don't think that when we've, when we've brought in a million and a half people from eastern canada we're going to actually see that number go up in the recent in the in the coming days i think that it's gotten a lot of attention but i think it's got a lot of attention in the in a negative sense of can you believe how fucking stupid these people are
Annalise
27:36
you you did say what a week ago when did we record last a while ago that you were quite you were quite worried about this are you still
Carter
27:43
still worried still very worried i'm worried about the the economy. I'm worried about the negative consequences long term. I'm told that there are conventions that are trying to book space in Calgary that are saying, no, we're not going to do it because we're not sure you're going to be part of Canada in four or five years. Because that's how long the window is for conventions, right? I don't believe that we're going to separate, but I do believe that we're going to have economic consequences and other political consequences that could reverberate for decades from even just entertaining the construct.
Annalise
28:22
So strategy-wise, what needs to happen? You think someone within the UCP needs to grow a backbone and stand up and speak out against it? Or what needs to happen?
Carter
28:34
Yeah, I mean, so what are there, 40-some-odd MLAs in the UCP caucus? It fluctuates depending on who's being kicked in and who's kicked out or who's not. I think that those that aren't in the 18 that want to separate need to say, I'm pro-Canada. I'm staying in Canada. This is going to be a referendum question. And if it comes down to it, I'm going to campaign for Alberta to stay as part of Canada. I want to see cabinet ministers do that. I want to see backbenchers do that. I want to see people who are affiliated
Carter
29:10
affiliated with these governments, who, you know, the political operatives who have worked with them, I want them to say that they want Alberta to stay as part of Canada. Because right now, Danielle Smith is owning the microphone. And you know who else I want to say Alberta should stay a part of Canada? Every single fucking person who sees Danielle Smith at an event this year at Stampede needs to walk up to her and say, what the fuck are you doing with separation?
Annalise
29:35
But who's doing that right now? Jason Kenney's doing it, but
Carter
29:38
but is anyone else doing it i'm gonna do it you're gonna do it right you're you're not afraid you're gonna do it yeah you're
Carter
29:44
you're gonna yeah but
Annalise
29:45
but but but in in terms of like in these conservative circles who who other i mean they don't
Carter
29:51
don't want these soul birds talking about putting together a no committee uh thomas put forward a a question to be considered for for referendum uh that that alberta should stay say, a part of Canada, you
Carter
30:08
you know, I think that there's a lot of people, past and present, in conservative circles that are not going to let this stand.
Annalise
30:18
So the Alberta, what's it called, Alberta Prosperity Project is what it's called. So they, like this as an example, released their referendum question. They're looking for support from 600,000 Albertans before they go ahead with the Citizen an initiative petition the
Annalise
30:34
the wording of the question is do
Annalise
30:36
do you agree that the province shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of canada that
Annalise
30:41
that got like mainstream coverage should it's a mainstream
Carter
30:45
mainstream question it's a mainstream question anytime quebec has threatened to separate and and taken it to referendum and and it almost has passed um this is is a uh
Carter
30:59
you know i don't think it's going to pass but i think that the the separation threat is just as real from
Carter
31:05
from these people it's not like these people are are are political pawns they are in some cases you know useful idiots for the for danielle smith but they're not inconsequential
Carter
31:17
inconsequential in the overall scheme of things but
Annalise
31:19
but they they also show up like there was the they gathered they had one of their whatever they want to call it meeting conference whatever in calgary on a a Monday night, a thousand people in that room. Like, you know,
Annalise
31:29
you've done events, you do political events. How hard is it to get a thousand people in a room in Calgary on a Monday night?
Carter
31:35
It's pretty hard. And it really depends on who the audience is. And if the audience is, I mean, it depends about your give a fuck factor. Let's be honest. There is a large group of people who have a significant give a fuck factor who want to see Alberta torn apart.
Carter
31:50
And they think that they're They're saving us. They're actually destroying us.
Annalise
31:54
What do you think of that? There's talk of with the three upcoming by-elections and the fact that there's a by-election in what's it called? Old Stidsbury Three Hills, whatever the
Annalise
32:02
order of that is, where
Annalise
32:04
where the speaker's seat was.
Annalise
32:10
And that is the one place in all of Alberta that
Annalise
32:12
that has had someone from a separatist party representing them before. It was like in 1982 or something. thing do you think in these by-elections that are coming up provincial by-elections we're
Annalise
32:22
we're going to start to see organization and a push from the party from the separatist movement if
Carter
32:28
if daniel smith has a brain in her head she will call that by-election at the exact same time as she calls uh ellerslie and um strathcona and edmonton um all three of those by-elections need to be called as soon as humanly possible ideally in the next seven days because you do do not want to give additional time for the separatists to organize because they could win the
Carter
32:51
Three Hills Old Stidsbury.
Carter
32:53
Talk to me about that.
Annalise
32:54
that. So you do think that's possible that they can win? I
Carter
32:56
I think that in a by-election we're going to have lower turnout anyways. I think that is the capital of separation in Alberta. It's rural. My father's from there so, you know, I have connection to it. I think that it very easily could go separatist with only 10,000-15,000 people voting. That to me seems entirely probable.
Carter
33:23
I'm not sure how many people voted in Old Three Hills
Carter
33:29
Didsbury in the last election, but I'm going to bet that it was below what we would have seen in any Calgary riding.
Annalise
33:37
Are you looking it up right now?
Carter
33:38
I'm looking it up right now. I think it's going
Annalise
33:40
going to take you minutes, not
Carter
33:47
In the last by-election. In the last election. Oh, last election. In the by-election, one could anticipate that being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 14.
Annalise
33:56
So you think possible?
Carter
33:59
Well, I mean, if you're running a strong NDP candidate, if you're running a UCP candidate, and you're running a Republican candidate, the threshold for victory could be 35%.
Carter
34:14
35% of 14,000 voters is only, what, 4,800 voters or something like that?
Annalise
34:20
Making me nervous, Carter. So strategy-wise, you're the NDP. Let's say the by-elections are going to be called. They have to call Edmonton Strathcona quite soon, do they not? Yeah,
Carter
34:32
Yeah, they do. And I think it's by the end of May that they have to do it. And I think that Nathan Cooper officially resigns his seat this week.
Annalise
34:41
So if you're the NDP, what is your strategy going into these by-elections? Run
Carter
34:45
Run the best possible candidates that I can in Edmonton, honestly, and Edmonton, Strathcona. One would be, of course, Nahed Nenji. And the other one would be whoever the other candidate is. I think that they're named a candidate. I just can't remember who it is. those two candidates need to run and win but I wouldn't even necessarily run the strongest campaign I could in Old Three Hills, Didsbury I would kind of fall back and allow the UCP to dominate.
Annalise
35:17
And just focus on the other two Yep.
Carter
35:20
You're not going to win Old Three Hills, Didsbury even if 35% is all you need. The NDP got got exactly 18% in the last election, 4,500 votes. You'd need every single person to come back out and vote for you again if you think you're going to win the by-election.
Annalise
35:39
Speaking of by-elections, what about the federal one in Battle River, Crowfoot, where Pierre Polyev is running? Do you think that the fact that he's running in an Alberta riding, the
Annalise
35:53
the separation talk is going to become even more of a national issue than it already is in terms of it feels like the national headlines
Annalise
36:01
headlines on it are kind of like look at kooky alberta well
Carter
36:04
well i mean not only that there's there's an overlap right there's an overlap in some of the spaces uh of the of the ridings yeah
Carter
36:13
yeah so you know there's not a huge overlap it's not like they They are the same riding by any stretch of the imagination. But there is some overlap. And I would think
Carter
36:24
think that this is an opportunity for Pierre Pauliev to fight for Canada, stand for Canada. If he wants to say that there are some legitimate grievances, that's fine. But the way to solve it is not to threaten to leave. That's the way he should be tackling it. Do you think
Carter
36:42
I don't know. I'm not even sure that we're going to see him in Battle River.
Carter
36:46
know I don't think that he's
Carter
36:48
he's he needs to show up so if you don't need to show up you you know what's the point he's going to win that one by a gajillion points um you
Carter
36:58
you know it's it's going to be it's going to be fairly significant I think so
Annalise
37:03
so what are your I know you love to do predictions what are your predictions of what happens with this um the what happens with what's going on in Alberta in in the coming months we're going into summer and then we're going to and municipal elections?
Annalise
37:15
What's, I think, people's capacity for caring in summer drops? As we all know, like, what's your predictions of what the next few months look like? If
Carter
37:25
If the premier's smart, she'll hold this by elections before the end of June.
Carter
37:32
So by June, let's say...
Carter
37:38
Let me pick a day here. Oh, you're really predicting. I'm going to pick a day. that she's going to have the elections, it's going to be 1, 2, 3, 4. It's going to be June the 2nd.
Carter
37:55
that can't be right. No. I miscalculated. I did that wrong. I counted it incorrectly. 1, 2, 3, 4, June the 16th.
Annalise
38:04
June the 16th. Okay. Yeah. The
Carter
38:06
The day after Father's Day, by election in all three writings. Okay.
Annalise
38:09
Okay. And then what's
Carter
38:10
what's your next prediction?
Annalise
38:11
prediction? You're really getting detailed here, very specific. I
Carter
38:14
I think that Ellerslie and Strathcona
Carter
38:16
Strathcona will go to the NDP. I think that there's a better than zero chance that the Separatists win in Old Sinsbury Three Hills. Then what? Then I think that everybody loses their shit. And anybody associated with Danielle Smith is going to have a really hard time.
Carter
38:41
getting you think so
Carter
38:44
so she's the one who invited them in and uh they're going to take the opportunity to sign petitions i think that the referendum petitions will be signed sealed and delivered uh before the end of 2025 and
Annalise
38:56
and then and then keep you you're on a roll carter keep that's
Annalise
39:01
that's all i got are
Carter
39:05
we see i know you want it's gonna be it's It's going to be a big night for Stephen Carter, I'll tell you that.
Carter
39:11
Stephen Carter's going to be standing up and going, oh,
Annalise
39:17
What's your track record on predictions?
Annalise
39:20
I do pretty good. Poorly, right?
Carter
39:21
right? As long as I don't predict federal elections in the United States. Very poorly. I do very well.
Carter
39:29
There's a misunderstanding about my predictions. Right.
Annalise
39:32
What is it? Clear the record right now. Corey,
Carter
39:34
Corey, I'm not here to interrupt you. Every fucking time I make a prediction. some asshole drops into the the uh the recording of me making the jeb bush prediction and that prediction needs
Annalise
39:47
bush needs to survive this primary and compete in a general
Annalise
39:50
general jeb bush is not surviving this primary he's
Carter
39:52
he's totally surviving this primary rock it down on your calendar okay stephen carter so hold on
SPEAKER_00
39:57
on jeb bush is the guy yeah
Carter
39:59
yeah that prediction turned out to be false that was all your
Carter
40:03
other all my other predictions i've never heard a A negative prediction, except for that one, ever played after my predictions.
Annalise
40:12
You're wild. Okay, so you think Separation Party wins and then things are going to get nasty. Do
Annalise
40:20
think snap election? Lots
Carter
40:20
Lots of people are talking about a soon
Carter
40:25
I think that they're looking at that in the fall of 2026 instead of the fall of 2027. Okay.
Carter
40:31
I don't think a snap election. I mean, keep in mind that with the munis happening in October of 2025, there's not a lot of land left to actually host and have an election. So 2026 makes the most sense to me, spring or fall.
Annalise
40:45
So you mentioned Stampede Circuit earlier and telling people they should go up to Daniel Smith. Do you have any other kind of advice or strategy for what is like a very important time in Calgary for networking and for politics? Well,
Carter
41:01
I think that there's a case to be made for launching another referendum that is not related to the separation question. I think that there's a really strong case for that. Like what type of question?
Carter
41:16
I don't know. Let's say... Like just an
Annalise
41:21
an issue that gets people out? yeah
Carter
41:23
yeah reinvestment in health care or something along those lines and
Carter
41:26
and you run and you try and get your 180 000 signatures on that it has to be something big though um so i don't know if anything's big enough except for separation to get the signatures and
Annalise
41:39
and what what's your thinking behind why you just want to because
Carter
41:42
because then you you're gonna have to get both groups of people out yeah and
Carter
41:46
and you really have to instill a sense of purpose for them plus
Carter
41:50
plus you could fuck the government and fucking your buddies a lot of fun yeah
Annalise
41:55
so stampede do you want people to be talking i
Carter
41:57
i want people in stampede to walk right up to the premier and say what the hell are you doing okay all right why are you playing with this fire i wanted i was thinking of uh because last year we did a big round set of rounds well with brian teason uh and uh i did all you know a million stampede events a million and every one of them i think i saw daniel smith and
Carter
42:20
except the ndp breakfast. But the truth
Carter
42:25
truth of the matter is that no one confronted her. No one asked her the hard question. I think that some people need to stand up to her and say, what are you doing with separation? What are you doing?
Carter
42:37
if you're going to let her into your event, then you've got to at least ask the question.
Annalise
42:42
At what point do you think we get to that point where, I mean, She's the premier. At what point do you get to where your
Annalise
42:50
your chambers of commerce or your people who have these big breakfasts and stuff are like, no, we don't want her here?
Carter
42:59
I don't think that she's going to be persona non grata. I think that that's a step too far. But I do think that people will stand up to her. I mean, you'll stand up to her, right? You'll go up to her and say, what the hell are you doing?
Annalise
43:10
Yeah, you will too, right?
Annalise
43:12
see her at those one million events. I will,
Carter
43:14
will, for sure. But everybody expects it of me. Well, they expect it of you.
Carter
43:21
don't sound that enthused. To
Annalise
43:23
To be honest, I don't go to a lot of Stampede events, Carter. I get invited to them, and I try not to go.
Carter
43:30
Well, traditionally, the second weekend is my weekend off. We go bike riding. Traditionally.
Carter
43:38
But not this year, because you've got some municipal things
Carter
43:43
might be there the whole time yeah that's a long run in
Annalise
43:47
in your cowboy hat for 14 days i used to when when i was um a journalist we had to we could not book off time during stampede it was like a you had to be there and
Annalise
43:58
and then when i was in government obviously had to be there and now that
Annalise
44:01
that i don't have those jobs i
Annalise
44:03
i can do things like go camping during stampede and it's wonderful wonderful it
Carter
44:09
is wonderful to go camping
Carter
44:10
you're this is this is a great little start and uh you know book ending on talking about the outdoors yeah it's really
Carter
44:18
well done annalise you you crushed it totally
Annalise
44:20
totally did that on purpose because we're already at 43 minutes we said we were going to do a tight 45 yeah
Annalise
44:26
so do you do you have we're not going to do a lightning round because this isn't the strategist this is the uh what did we call it carter and annalise show yeah
Annalise
44:33
yeah is there Is there anything else you want to put on the table before we call it the end? I
Carter
44:38
I liked calling it the Annalise and Carter Show, but you've really, you know, renamed it, and I appreciate that. Yeah,
Annalise
44:44
Yeah, Carter and Annalise Show.
Carter
44:47
It was pretty good, I think. I think it was great, actually. Perfect.
Carter
44:50
I think it was great.
Annalise
44:51
That's a wrap. To
Carter
44:52
To hell with seeing it. We're going to end it there. Oh,
Annalise
44:54
we still going? How do we end it?
Annalise
44:57
It's our first episode. I did the intro, you do the outro. trail thanks
Carter
45:01
thanks for joining us on the annalise and carter show uh tune in next week to see if zane velgey returns