Alberta Separation Referendum Compared to Brexit by Mark Carney | Brian Lilley

We're still hearing lots of grumbling coming from across Canada about the upcoming referendum question on Alberta separation.We'll talk about the Liberal gun buyback program as well and more.We're joined by Brian Lilly today, political commentator with the Toronto Sun, of course.Brian, good to have you with us.Let's start with a vote in the House of Commons that was calling on the government to put property rights first.Go figure.

In light of the Cowichan decision in British Columbia.Now that's the court ruling, of course, that makes it pretty difficult and challenging for homeowners to renew their mortgages now.So why on earth did this vote not go through?

That's puzzling for me.So when this first happened, I thought, okay, well, maybe the motion had a poison pill in it.Maybe the conservatives used over the top language, because sometimes parties will do that, right?They want to claim, well, those guys didn't support what I put forward.And so therefore, you know, they're wrong.They're awful.

That wasn't the case here.They actually put forward a very straightforward motion.on this.And the liberals, the bloc, and the NDP all said, no, we're not going to do this.So I'm not sure why.The Cowichan decision said there's about 800 acres in Richmond, British Columbia, the Vancouver area, the B .

C.lower mainland, that the Cowichan tribe now has right and title to.That leaves homeowners saying, well, wait a minute, do I own my home?Do I own my land?The Kearney government keeps saying, oh, there's nothing to worry about here.The conservatives are fear mongering.

And yet.The mayor out there, the premier, David Eby, who's a new Democrat, they've put forward funds to help homeowners, they are holding meetings to talk about this, and they're trying to get some clarity.The court decision, and I've talked to constitutional experts about this, really leaves peoplewondering what is going on.So should property rights be front and center?Yes.

Liberals in Canada, though, haven't tended to like property rights.Pierre Trudeau refused to put them in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.They are not there.They have resisted attempts to codify property rights.I'm not sure what drives that, but they just don't like the idea.And yet it is central to how we operate as a society.

If you don't own your own home, who does?you know, you think you own it, you know, if you're not renting, you own, but now suddenly you're being told, well, you can't get a mortgage because the title is unclear.The government should have been much more clear about this.The conservatives keep pointing out to something called Directive 14 in the civil litigation directives for their federal lawyers, saying you can't put property rights in anything relating to indigenous issues.And that was part of the motion saying you've got to get rid of that.The Kearney government just talks past it.

They don't even address the issue.

Yeah, this is a very real issue if you're living in that area of Vancouver.I mean, wow.

You know, so it can spread.There are cases also in New Brunswick that relate to this.Cases in Quebec hasn't spread to, you know, Alberta or Ontario yet.But depending on how these cases go, it could spread.

And when it does, it'll be an election issue.And that may come back to haunt the Liberals.We'll see.Now, speaking of votes, it seems like everyone in central Canada has an opinion on Alberta having a vote on separation.Prime Minister Mark Carney actually compared it to Brexit, a move that he says was a mistake.So the question you're asking is why does Carney think that was necessarily a mistake?

It's a good question.

Look, my view of Brexit is it was the right move.And telling people that Brexit was a mistakeis going to drive people in the opposite direction.Brexit has been good for the British economy.It has been good for wages.It has been good for national sovereignty.

Mark Carney was always against Brexit.He wanted Britain to be more deeply integrated with the European Union.He wants Canada to be more deeply integrated with the European Union.I find this idea crazy.Liberals are loving it right now.Let's have Canada join the EU.

Oh, you think that we're trying to defend our national sovereignty from the United States right now?If we join the EU, we're giving up everything from setting our own interest rates and monetary policy to setting our own defense or foreign affairs policy, setting our weights and measurements.regulations on what you can buy and how you can buy them.All of that would be decided by Brussels, not by Ottawa, not by Edmonton, not by the folks at Queen's Park.We would surrender everything, including who we do trade agreements with, to bureaucrats in Brussels.But that's what Mark Carney wants.

I think that if he keeps pushing this, one, it's a negative reason for people to stay in Canada.But also, he's on the wrong side of history on Brexit.Brexit worked.It's good.You know, it's almost as if he's saying, hey, this was really bad, meaning it worked.You know, it'd be horrible if Alberta did it.

Are you trying to encourage people?I know some of your audience are going to be people that think Alberta should separate.I think Alberta should stay in Canada and we should fix Canada and make it work for all of us.But Mark Carney telling people this is like Brexit is like telling them, go vote for it, in my view.

Well, he's very much a globalist, so I guess that fits into his world view.I'm just amazed at how many other premiers and of course the Prime Minister are really getting on Premier Daniel Smith's case.I mean she's made it abundantly clear she wants Alberta to stay.They have plebiscite legislation here in Alberta like they do in BC and Saskatchewan.They're just following the law and you know what if Albertans don't want it they'll just vote against it and everything will be fine and life goes on so let's just...

I've known Premier Smith for about 15 years Paul and she is devoted to Canada.She is proud Albertan, but a proud Canadian as well.I know Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, well, I'd never put this question to my people.Ontario separating isn't ever going to come up.It's just not going to happen.So it's a bit of a false equivalency.

Easy, easy for him to say.Hey, the deadline for Canada to review the Kuzma trade deal with the U .S.is not very far away.And you're saying a decision by the CRTC could actually derail the whole thing.So what's going on there?

So last week the CRTC, Canada's broadcast and telecom regulator, now the regulator of all things internet as well, came out with a decision that said American streamers need to hand over 15 % of their revenues.not their profits, their revenues in Canada to fund Canadian content.Now, broadcasters, you know, whether it's BCN or cable companies, satellite companies, they've had to give between 30 and 45 percent of their revenues for the same thing for some time.But of course, the entire industry is hurting.The entire industry is not making as much money as they used to.So as part of this same decision, they said, well, your number comes down to 25%.

But you streamers over here that have never had to pay into this, because while you're completely different than traditional broadcasters that use public airwaves to get your message out, you now have to give 15 % of your revenues and we'll decide how we spend this.This is something that the Americans have been warning about going back to 2023.halfway through the Biden administration.This issue is going to unite Democrats and Republicans against Canadian policy.The Carney government should have stood up right away and said, look, this is our regulator saying this, but we're putting this on pause.We're not going to go forward with it until we discuss it in the trade talks.

They didn't do that.And this has the potential to shut everything down and not just with Republicans, as I said, with Democrats as well.This is a bipartisan issue in the U .S.This is not a good idea.This is poking the bear in the eye and then wondering why the bear is getting mad.

Yeah, it just seems nonsensical, really.I mean, again, when you talk about revenue, so somebody could have X amount of revenues, but they could actually be losing money.And they're still required to give 15 % of that to Canadians?

Like, really?Well, there's a Canadian company.This is hurting Canadian broadcasters as well.I think that they should scrap the entire thing.And if you want to give a direct subsidy, give a direct subsidy.That's not my preferred way of doing things, but it would be cleaner than what they're doing now.

There's a company called Chorus Entertainment.They own Global News.They own a bunch of specialty channels.They're on the brink of collapse.They are constantly trying to find ways to stay alive.And the CRTC is still saying, give us a huge chunk of your revenues so that we can decide what to make Canadian content with.

Yeah, big picture, how is that going to help our Canadian broadcasting system?Not so much, right?And it's not just the CRTC.You mentioned that big American tech firms are pushing back on Bill C -22.Now that has potential to hurt trade talks as well, right?

Yeah, this is the Lawful Access Act, and this is the Liberal's second attempt at it.The first one got shut down.Of course, that was before Mark Carney got his majority.So they took it, that was part of Bill C -2.They put that on pause.Then they said, okay, let us separate a couple things out.

And there were some good things in Bill C -2 around protecting children, protecting vulnerable people, but they had all this online harm stuff in there.So they brought back, they brought in Bill C -22.And this is the part where the tech company is saying, look, part one, of giving police easier access to subscriber information is okay, but part two, you go too far in terms of the amount of data that we've got to build or collect.The fact that we have to build systems within our own systems to service the government, that's a big cost on us, but also it becomes a vulnerability.They're saying that this would make the firms vulnerable to hacking that would expose our data.And of course, both terrorist groups, organized crime, they're going to want access to that data.

And if it's legislated that it's there, that's a problem.There are secret ministerial orders that are part of this.So your data could be getting leaked on a grand scale.to the government, and the company's forbidden from telling you that it's happening.There are so many problems with this.And all the biggest tech companies in the world are lined up and saying, this is a problem.

And on the other side, you've got Minister Gary Anderson saying, oh, I don't think you understand the law.Who are you going to believe in that scenario?

Well, yeah, I mean, this is a huge problem, which could affect trade talks.Americans don't like that sort of thing, and a lot of us Canadians don't either.And speaking of You know, Gary, gun grab Gary.I understand Alberta, Saskatchewan and now Ontario as well.They're putting a lawsuit together here that's headed to the Supreme Court to try to have the liberal gun buyback program declared unconstitutional.Hey, I mean, a lot of my neighbors here in southern Alberta still swearing they'll never surrender their guns to the government.

So when is this case going to be heard?What can you tell us about it?

Premier Doug Ford,week standing next to Melanie Jolie, the industry minister in Mark Carney's government at a news conference about something else just said, gun owners, don't surrender your guns ever.It's funny to watch her face go off on that.Doug Ford has decided that he's joining this because like Premier Smith in Alberta, like Premier Moe in Saskatchewan, believes that it's unconstitutional.So this is the lawsuit launched by the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights.They're trying to get this shut down, the gun buyback.

Government never owned them.They can't buy back what they never owned, but that's what they're calling it.So this is a case that everyone has to have their paperwork in by the end of September.Hopefully by the end of the year, or early in the new year, I would hope by the end of the year.But if not, you know, January, perhaps of next year, the case will be heard.And then the the Supreme Court will render their decision.

It's a bit surprising that they decided to hear this case, considering it had a mixed reaction from the lower courts, but they agreed to hear it.They'll go forward with it.We'll see what they say.In the meantime, the amnesty on people who own guns that are part of the ban ends at the end of October.So will the government extend that while the court case is heard?That's something that the CCFR is asking for.

And given the fact that most police forces in the country are not participating, and now the Ontario government is saying, hey, we're not going to do it.Well, their chief firearms officer has said they would apply the law after October 30th.That may have to change now that the government that oversees that police force says it's unconstitutional.So this is going to change a lot of things going forward.We're going to have to keep a close eye on this one, Paul.

Yeah, OK.There's hope for gun owners.Alright.Hey, there's a rumour kicking around that MP Stephen Gibeau, Mr. Green, may quit the Liberal caucus over the whole Alberta oil and gas deal.Any truth to those rumours, you think?

I don't know.I mean, I haven't heard them directly.So I'm seeing the reporting on this.Previously, I'd been told that provincial governments had convinced Justin Trudeau to kick Steven Guilbeau out of the environment file several years ago, because he was such a pain in the butt, and he stuck around.So you never know with Guilbeau.He is a committed environmentalist.

That is what comes first and foremost, nothing else.So he may leave the deal.We know that 14 MPs I believe all of them from Quebec and British Columbia wrote to the Prime Minister, all liberals, BC and Quebec, saying, your deal with Alberta stinks.You shouldn't go forward with it.You know, and Carney, to his credit, has pushed back a bit.It'll be interesting to see.

It won't affect his majority.He will still have a majority.And unless Guilbault resigns his seat as well, he's most likely going to vote with the government on most things.So this doesn't change the fact that Mark Carney has a majority government.

Right.Unless maybe there'll be some reaping and sowing going on.Maybe he'll cross the floor to the NDP.You never know.

And maybe he'll take some of those...He joins the NDP and others follow?Who knows?There's a bunch of far -left MPs in the Liberals now that might be more at home with Avi Lewis and the government -run grocery store NDP.

Wouldn't that be something?That would be fascinating to watch.Oh man, I'm out of time.Thanks so much for chatting with us again today, Brian.Thanks for having me.