Shaun Newman Podcast - #292 - Travis Toews

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

Current MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti & Minister of Finance for the Alberta Government. He is one of the candidates vying to become the next Premiere of Alberta.  Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500  Support here:⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ShaunNewmanPodcast⁠

This is Brian Pekford. This is Julie Penessi. This is Zubi. Hi, it's James Scha. This is Cabe Richards. Hey, everybody. This is Paul Brand, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Friday to all you find folks out there wherever you're at. Hopefully you're spent some time with family friends, getting to the lake, maybe the golf course. I don't know. Maybe you're just sitting on the back deck. Maybe that's your happy spot, wherever it is. Hopefully on this weekend, the sun's shining and you're getting to enjoy it. Before we get to today's episode, let's get on to today's episode sponsors. First, the team over at Upstream Data, led by Stephen Barber, of course, he was on the podcast back in episode 163.

They've been pioneering creative solutions for vented and flared natural gas at upstream oil and gas facilities, you know, taking that waste of gas and helping, well, and then turning it into Bitcoin, right, Bitcoin miners? Now you're, you might be thinking, well, I don't have an oil field company. Well, okay. Well, there's tons of different ways that you can integrate their technology, whether you have those problems. Or maybe you have an oil field company, but you don't have those problems. They still have different ways using engines and that type of thing where they can power these Bitcoin miners to do it that way. Or maybe you've got a barn or a home. They've got tons of different ways to put it into something into your life.

Anyways, if you stop into Upstream Data or take a look maybe at their website, upstreamdata.ca, you can find out a heck of a lot more. They're pioneering a whole bunch of different new technology that is super cool. And like I say, I got a tour of it firsthand, got to help build one of the black boxes. I'll be it under the watchful eye of a couple of them. I tell you what, it is way more precise than I would have in my brain. thought and it's pretty slick how they put them together anyways that's a side note upstreamdata dot cae for more information if the if you're interested they are based right out of lloydminster

and man they can they can do some super cool stuff and of course the shipping not just the area of lloydminster are all over the world now so if you want more information upstream data dot c rec tech for over 20 years i mean wherever you're at this sunny summer uh weekend rectech powerp products, they can help you out. They've committed to excellence in the power sports industry. They offer a full lineup of Canams, skis, spider, mercury, avenue, Mahendra, Rocks, or, uh, we certainly know the weekend is, is a ton of fun, but all of a sudden, you, you hop on, uh, a little ATV, or what have you, where you're, you know, pick your poison, and all of a sudden the weekend can go a lot better. And then what happens once you have one of those sucks, or suckers,

sucks. Uh, then you need, uh, well, you're, one or two ends of it, you're going to be like, I want to upgrade this little sucker. Or you're like me and you break things and you need the maintenance department. Either way, they're open Monday through Saturday, and they can get you hooked up with whatever you need. Just go to rectech power products.com or give them the call today, 78087054-64 HSI Group. They're the local oil field burners and combustion experts

that can help make sure you have a compliance system working for you. The team also offers security, surveillance, and automation products for residential, commercial livestock, and agricultural applications. They use their technology to give you PC. of mind so you can focus on the things that truly matter. Stop in a day, 39.252.50 trade or get Brody or Kim a call at 306-8-635, and they can get you all hooked up, all right? Gardner Management, they're Lloydminster-based. Companies specializing in rental properties, whether you're looking for a small office like myself or you've got multiple employees.

Wade can get you hooked up. Give them a call, 780808, 5025. Now let's get on that tail of tape, brought to you by Hancock Petroleum. For the past 80 years, they've been an industry leader in bulk fuels, lubricants, methanol, and chemicals, delivering to your farm, commercial or oil-filled locations. For more information, visit them at Hancock, Petroleum.com. Originally from Beaver Lodge, Alberta. He was elected in 2019 to the Alberta government representing the UCP. He was appointed the Minister of Finance and has now put his name forward as a candidate to become the next Premier of Alberta. I'm talking about Travis Taves.

So buckle up, here we go. I'm Travis Taves. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Okay, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Mr. Travis Taves. So first off, sir, it's been a little bit of a process, but we finally are here sitting. I'm excited to have you. So thanks for hopping on. It's great to be on, Sean. Now, I got to meet you about a month ago and listened to you speak to a group of people. But to the average listener, especially out my neck of the woods, maybe they know exactly who you are. Maybe they don't. I thought maybe we'd start there with just a bit of your back. background. I don't know. Who is Travis? Sure. Sure, Sean. Great, great question. Here, Cole's notes version, been in the private sector, all of my lifelong Alberta. My wife and I are from the northwest. So we've a cattle ranching operation west of Grand Prairie, just east of the BC border in the southwest corner of the peace country. I'm a CPA by profession, spent over a dozen

years in public accounting practice. But in 2002, the entrepreneurial poll was great, and I joined her family businesses. And at that point, managed and grew up, again, a family cavern ranching operation, as well as an oil-filled environmental company, along with some other business interests. We have three children, and all whom have chosen Alberta as their home, which we're really thankful for. And we have 11 grandchildren. And my goal, my hope is that Alberta will be their best.

option. That's really what drew me into politics because, you know, I was like, you know, I was a typical conservative mind at Albertan. My best day was the day I didn't notice government, you know, whether it was in our businesses or for sure, whether it was between me and my family. And that's why, you know, I never got involved politically until all of a sudden, 2015, 16, when our province made a sharp left turn. And I sat up and took note, I was concerned that the prosperity, the opportunity, even the freedoms, that we. had enjoyed here in this great province of Alberta may not be there for the next generation. And so I got involved in the unity movement as thousands of Albertans did. I was not alone in

that, which we found out, which was so encouraging. There was a grassroots movement that really swept across the province. Grassroots movement of unity, which I think is also significant for today's discussion. And that resulted in taking two conservative parties, merging them into a one big tent diverse party, which has its challenges, Sean, as you know. But I believe it's also what makes us really fit to govern with all with, you know, with a number of voices, real diversity in the movement and yet adherence to fundamental conservative values, which are fiscal responsibility, a commitment to a market-based economy, limited government, as well as, of course, individual freedom of liberty.

all of that to say in 2018 both my wife and I felt we had a decision to make you know we we were at the point you know probably like many albertans our age we had done just well enough in business we had a bit of flexibility we could get out of some of the cold in the winter we loved what we were doing and that was door A it was a good door but there was this door B and door B felt meaningful and that was running for political office to give back to this problem And we chose that door in 2018. Ran for the nomination. I was successful.

We won the election, as you know, and 11 days after that, I was tapped to be the Minister of Finance, which I have to say, Sean, was a bit of a surprise to me being a brand new MLA and really brand new to politics as well. And it was a straight up learning curve. As we inherited a fiscal train wreck, as you know, and worked to get this province back on a sustainable fiscal trajectory, one where we're not robbing from the next generation. And I look back on these last three years as challenging as they've been, it's been an incredible privilege to serve Alberts as their Minister of Finance.

And we've made great progress, ultimately culminating in a balanced budget. Well, let's start here. As I just heard that, you were an accountant who pretty much hit the dream by going back into farming cattle. Why on earth, you know, you talk about entering back into politics because it was kind of doorbeat. But for many, the dream is right there. You're living it.

You're, you know, if anyone's ever been on a farm and been successful at it, I would say they would never leave that for anything. Yeah. Well, Sean, the ranch continues. But I spend, I've spent, you know, 80% of my time in Edmonton and around the province and that's been a privilege to travel around and meet with alberdens. And again, a door B was what my wife Kim and I believed would be a meaningful door. Again, this province has been so good to us. And we hold the conservative ideals of, again, individual freedom and

liberty, ensuring we have opportunity for the next generation, ensuring that the next generation ultimately can have the prosperity that we've enjoyed. Those ideas, ideals, which are wrapped up, again, in a commitment to a market-based economics and fiscal responsibility, all of that, I believe, is worth defending and fighting for. That's what drew us into politics in 2018. Again, I had no illusion that Door B would be the easy door. But you know what? So often, the most meaningful things in life are not easy.

And we chose Door B, and as hard as it's been at times over the last three years, as you can imagine. I do not regret that decision. Well, I tell you what, I don't think if you, if you could have peeked through Door B and saw what the future held in the next couple of years, I don't know if you would have, I don't know how many people would have willingly volunteered to go through that door. Because Door B, as you would call it, has certainly, I don't even know if challenges is the right word. The last couple of years has been an absolute furnace of sticking your feet in the fire, so to speak. One of the things that stuck out to me when I listened to you talk. You mentioned it multiple times.

Is picking fights wisely, being strategic? There's, you have a short little window here, you know, let's say you get elected in October. Then May comes very fast, right? And then after May you get, you know, you get your next term. And I mean, I'm jumping the hypothetical train here. But you talk about being strategic, um, not riding the roller coaster, so to speak, trying to be level. Could you talk maybe a little bit about your thoughts on that? Sure. No, that's a great question.

Look, there's going to be an important sequencing here. When we get past October 6th, as a party as a movement, and we have a new leader in place. Certainly, if I have the privilege of leading this movement and the province, we need to be immediately preparing for the election in May. Absolutely. At the same time, governing well, between now and then. That will also be very, very critical. Now we've made, you know, again,

we've made great progress in the economy for sure and fiscally in this province. I want to see us continue to, you know, govern responsibly in those areas right until May. In fact, I, you know what, again, I'm new to politics, but I have this simplistic view that if governments ultimately do the right thing, make the, make the right decisions that ultimately improve the condition of constituents, that constituents will reelect them. That's, a bit of a simplistic view politically, it's the one I adhere to. And ultimately, between now and next May, as a government, we need to govern responsibly and wisely. But we also really need to position for that election.

And so as you would expect, as I develop positions for this leadership race, I'm also building out those positions that will be part of our platform heading into May of 23, which is going to be absolutely essential. So clearly, platform development will be much broader. I'll be consulting all government and MLAs and current cabinet ministers to ensure that we collectively have an ability to put our stamp on the platform. I will be referring to the United Conservative Party's policy handbook as we develop the platform. We have incredibly talented members who've come up with excellent policy over the years.

We need to refer to that policy when we develop platform and things. positions going into the next election. That's going to be absolutely critical. But to get to your question, you know, when we when we deal with all of the challenges ahead of us, and let's consider our approach with the federal government. We have a federal government in Ottawa right now that is simply not providing competent leadership. In fact, very often working at cross purposes to Alberta's vital economic interest. So how do we manage that? One approach I would, will not bring is an approach that I believe has not delivered well for Albertans. And that's been an approach of a lot of political bluster and rhetoric that results in over-promising

and under-delivering. An approach that I think sometimes unnecessarily results in picking fights and creating conflict. Again, that's not my style. I believe we win if we're strategic. And, you know, I'll provide an example of that. I've put out a five-point plan on strengthening Alberta a week ago Monday. You know, Albertans can go to my website or my Facebook page and get all the details of that plan.

But included in that plan is a plan to win on our federal fiscal transfer programs because, you know, ultimately we need, as you know, major adjustments in those programs for those programs to be fair for Albertans. In 2024, we have an opportunity once again to renegotiate. Eccalization in the terms. It comes up for renewal. There will be some opportunity, especially considering the fact that Alberta is overwhelmingly supported changes in equalization. We need to prepare for that date.

We need to work with like-minded provinces. Alberta pays approximately $3 billion in equalization annually. Right now, Ontario is paying $9 billion. Saskatchewan's a net contributor, and BC is as well. We need to work with like-minded provinces. certainly Saskatchewan for sure. And I think we can also work constructively with Ontario on a number of issues to fix the formula. One egregious element of that formula is the fact that Quebec hydro income is treated differently

than Western Canadian non-renewable resource income. That is simply unacceptable. And I believe it's defensible and it's very rational to look to affect change in the calculation. Another egregious part of that formula is this. There's an escalation, an escalator in the equalization formula mechanism, where equalization grows, along with national GDP growth, even as income disparity narrows across the country. That results in some have-not provinces being, quote-unquote, over-equalized.

That, again, it's ridiculous. You know, if we made those two adjustments, as well as insured the formula recognized that delivering fundamental baseline services in have not provinces is cheaper than in half provinces. That would take a $22 billion equalization program down to $11 billion. There is an example of changes we need to make. We need to start to position ourselves in 2024, make all the mileage we can. But lastly, Sean, on this topic, what we need to do is take

a page out of Quebec's handbook. And I'm not talking about the threat of separation. I don't think that achieved Quebec anything, but except to turn their economy into an economic backwater for decades. What Quebec has done very well is to recognize whenever there's a liberal government in Ottawa, and there's been one far too often, that that liberal government needs Quebec politically,

and they've made incremental changes to their position in confederation. As Albertans, we've not done that effectively. Look, we had what I think is one of the best federal governments in modern history under Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. I think they governed the nation very, very well. During that time, Alberta never made one material improvement to our federal fiscal transfer programs. What were we doing?

We had a number of renegotiation dates that we squandered. We never made a move on an Alberta pension plan, a lever that would vastly improve our fiscal condition and strengthen our position within Confederation. That's about being strategic. Again, I'm not about political rhetoric and bluster. I'm about being strategic and tactic methodology and especially timing. You know, when you bring up Harper, he was in from 2006 to 2015, what, how do you think, Travis Taves can get done what others couldn't because I have a hard time believing the premiers of

Alberta. I mean, Harper was one of the guys who helped pen or sign the firewall letter. I mean, basically trying to pull back a lot of autonomy to Alberta. And then when he was prime minister, I mean, this is what the public has a big, you know, problem with. How do you think you can enact some of that when others couldn't? Here's my view of those years. I think generally, Albertans believed we were, you know, reasonably well governed federally during those years. That was certainly my belief.

And we never stopped to work, again, to be strategic at making key changes to our federal fiscal transfer programs. Look, I mean, changes are achievable. Even during this term with having the Trudeau Liberals in office federally, which has been, again, egregious leadership, in my opinion. Even during that time, we've worked, I worked as the Minister of Finance with all other provincial finance ministers, and we got agreement from all provinces to support Alberta's position of removing the cap on our fiscal stabilization program. Now, the Feds didn't remove it, but they raised it from $60 per person to $170. That meant a $500 million, almost, well, over a half a billion dollar improvement to Alberta's ultimately lot in Confederation, every time that fiscal stabilization program is triggered.

We made mileage by being strategic and intentional, even with the federal liberal government. Why didn't we do more when we had a government that needs Alberta politically during the Harper years? So you look at it. I'm trying to paraphrase here with strategically in little moves and little moves. And those can be really big wins for Albertans. And as the horizon looks at maybe the liberal government not so favorable, favorably right now, I think. You know, in the rise of conservatives on the other side, you know, you look at a guy like Pierre Poliev, you look into the future and go in the near

future, which is a long time in a person's short life, but overall, you know, in a couple of years' time, maybe less, you could have a conservative government working with a conservative province and make some of those strategic changes that could actually really benefit Alberta. Is that what I'm here? That's what you're hearing, Sean. that we wait, not that we sit on our hands until we get, you know, maybe a federal conservative government. And that day is coming again. That day is coming again in the future. We will continue to, again, to do everything we can between now and then to advance and improve Alberta's lot

in Confederation. But when we do get a favorable government in Ottawa, and when I say favorable, I mean a government that needs Alberta politically. As the conservatives do in Canada, we know that, like the federal liberals need Quebec, we need to make intentional improvements to Alberta's position in Confederation. And again, I can talk about an Alberta pension plan, which holds great promise for Albertans, both working Albertans today, both for Alberta employers, but also for Alberta seniors receiving a pension. We need to also make progress on the whole issue of eroding the federal government's really tax power and moving to tax points. You know something. that, again, it's very egregious, is not only do we have an equalization program that isn't

fair to Alberta. On top of that, the federal government, of course, taxes Albertans like they tax the rest of the nation. And because of our outsized fiscal contribution, our outsized economic contribution, we pay a lot more tax to Ottawa as Albertans. And then they turn around and send us back a health care transfer and transfers for social services also now transfers for child care. That's done on a per capita basis. That duplicates equalization. I would work with provinces like Quebec and I think other provinces that would be

favorable. Ontario, Saskatchewan almost most certainly, maybe even BC on looking to take on more ownership provincially of raising taxes, revenue in our provinces and actually paying for programs instead of receiving federal transfers where there's always strings attached. There's another issue where we can make progress and position Alberta for strength in the future. No, I mentioned this to Todd Lowen, and I hope I do it justice again here. You mentioned political bluster. When you do that, I know we're talking about Daniel Smith's Alberta subject, and like tomorrow we're going to snap a finger and we're going to pull a bunch of stuff back.

And when I listen to you, I hear basically you're not that far apart. in what you want just on how you go about it. So you're saying over time we pull these things back, but it's going to take time. It's not going to be a snap of the finger and all of a sudden all these things come back. Am I hearing that correctly? You're right, Sean. If we think we can do it with a snap of a finger, we're delusional. That will ultimately, again, over-promise and under-deliver.

And leave Albertans, conservative-minded Albertans, disillusioned with the whole process. I will not over promise and underdelivered. We can make gains, material gains, but we'll only do that if we're strategic and if we're very intentional and assertive. That would be my approach. I want to rewind the clock last year. Once again, I bring up Todd Lowen. There was 18 MLAs who signed a letter to Jason Kenney at the time.

At that time, did you have thoughts of signing said letter? and for people going back, it was denouncing another round of COVID-19 health measures. Did you have thoughts assigning it? Or could you talk about that time and period? It's one of the, you know, I lean on the candidates I've had before you.

And one wasn't in the conservative party. One was and wrote a letter and is an impendent. And yourself wasn't on the letter. And so it's just I see a mindset different, a changing mindset between the three candidates. So I'm just curious about it, I guess. Yeah, Sean, great question. And I appreciate it.

I served on emergency cabinet committee. As you know, I have to say those were the hardest hours and days of my life. You can imagine the perspective I brought to that table. I'm a rancher from rural Alberta, for goodness sake. There was only two rural cabinet ministers on that committee. And, you know, my option was not signing a letter or not. I mean, that, I was in cabinet. There are board governance principles that must be followed or an organization implodes.

My option was this to resign. That was my option. And believe me, those were incredibly difficult days. And that question crossed my mind more than once. I have to say, as I considered, how do I go forward here? Because look, again, there were, as you would expect, and I will not break cabinet confidence, but as you would expect, there were many divergent views brought to that table. And there was incredible debate on how to go forward.

And again, I'm a rancher from rural Alberta. You can imagine the perspective I brought. One thing I can say, one thing I can say is in the absence of the two rural voices around that table, we would have had a very different outcome in Alberta. I'm confident of that. In spite of the fact that, you know, the COVID pandemic was handled very imperfectly. without rural voices around that table, it would have been a very different outcome yet.

That's why I chose to stay. And again, my option was not signing a letter and staying in cabinet contributing. My option was standing up and resigning. I considered that option, but believed I was better off contributing around that table. You know, I'm reading a book right now about Churchill,

and I don't mean to draw comparisons, because, I mean, we'll just leave that to the side. I just, in your lifetime, I assume those are some of the darkest hours and stressful. And you mentioned constituents come from rural Alberta. I mean, geez, if there's one thing that, whether you're in, you know, one party or another, the one big difference we all have is certainly the rural urban divide. Do you think there is a way to unite specifically coming out of the last two years, but as we continue to steamroll into, you know, this coming fall into 2023, et cetera,

those two groups of people, you know, like urban rural is is a giant divide. And, you know, I brought it up multiple times on this podcast for several years now. It's like, you know, if you go back to the 30s, Travis, it was almost 50-50. Actually, in Saskatchewan, rural, slightly outnumbered urban. now it's like 82% live in what is deemed urban setting cities right cities over the you know 20, 000 mark or what have you. Do you see that as something that can be, you know, that you can actually possibly attain a unity of of such diverse thought processes? Because I mean, you come from ranch country up north and then working in Emmettent. I mean, the stark differences must be just very

evident. Yeah, Sean, great question. And you're right to point out the rural urban divide. It does exist. I mean, there's division that can be cut a number of ways, but certainly there's a rural urban divide within our conservative movement. And firstly, I'll say this, we must come together. It's absolutely imperative that we come together. We don't have to agree on everything, but we have to come together and again, unite around those core conservative values. Look, I think that I'm uniquely positioned to bring urban and rural Alberta together within this conservative movement. Here's why I'm given my professional background and my responsibilities as Minister of Finance over the last three years. Understandably, I've been very involved in downtown Edmonton and Calgary, the corporate world in this province, as I should be as the Minister of Finance.

I'm comfortable in downtown New York, for that matter, again, given my professional back. background and responsibilities, less so in Toronto, I have to say. But certainly Edmonton, Calgary, for sure. But my roots, Sean, are planted deep in rural Alberta. I'm ultimately a rancher from rural Alberta. I get rural Albertans. They're my family. They're my neighbors. They're my close friends. That's who I am. And I believe I'm uniquely positioned to bridge that divide because it's imperative that we bridge that divide. Again, we won't agree on everything and we don't have to. But what we have to agree to is to come together and stay united in this united conservative party and win the election in 2023. That's essential. Yeah. I, uh, the unity part of this,

you know, bringing people together, I think has been no more evident than now, right? We're divided. And part of that, or maybe even a majority of that, comes from politicians. No offense. But, I mean, you go to Justin Trudeau, you go to Kenny, you go to, Mo, you go to some of the leaders, that's exactly what they did over the course of a year and a half. Now, Trudeau on an extreme end, but I mean, I watched as Jason Kenney, for instance, talked about a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Now, you know, you fast forward and different things have come to light that have really

started to put that in light. But that was putting, pitting, sorry, a population of us versus them. I talk a lot with Mike Kuzmiscus. He's the CEO of Icar Labs. I mean him, you know, throwback ideas all the time. And one of the things I'm hoping to see out of a change in leadership is this dropping of fear, you know, this fear mongering. It's it's tiring as a population. It's just, it's just tiring to watch.

It's so stressful. You talked about politics. You didn't notice it or your government. You didn't notice it in younger years of your life. And now it's so evident. It's so evident right now. he he wrote to me and said as a political man i'm going to use mike now as a political middle i find more and more that no party or individual either in parliament or legislature represents me

uh how do you become leader and remove the fear and start to represent the people again instead of pitting two groups against each other yeah sean um great question and uh very valid observations. Look, the conditions were right for division the last two years, almost regardless of what policy governments chose. I'll say that. I mean, and again, I'm not suggesting for a minute that I agree with every position the government took, because that's simply not true. And the government navigated this very imperfectly, but the conditions for division were there, almost regardless of which lever you pulled. And that's tragic because we see division, you know, right through our communities and society right now.

Look, I know that many, there's a segment, a group of conservative-minded Albertans who feel labeled, mischaracterized, pushed out of the movement. I've worked hard everywhere I've gone to call them home, to call them back to this movement. They matter to this movement. They're a key part of the movement. Many of them were a key part of the unity effort. I know that because I certainly have a close friends in that camp. And I've worked to call them back home. And at the same time, you talk about the fear, and you're right.

There was, you know, there's a big, well, you know what, I tire of talking about the pandemic, but maybe I'll make my last comment here. There was a great big, long political or spectrum around COVID. you know, the hysterically fearful on one side, fearful of everything related to COVID. And yes, some of the government communication fanned that fear, guaranteed, egregiously. And then there was on the far side of the other end of the spectrum, were those that were incredibly fearful of everything but COVID. And there were flames that were fanned there by others and other groups.

And all of us found ourselves somewhere on that spectrum during the, last two years. And we tended to operate in a siloed way. Look, we all tightened our circles up. And when I do that, I tend to get together with people that are really like-minded, that tend to think the same way I do. That's, I think, the natural human, that's the human condition. And so we started to live in silos as Albertans. And you know what? Our news feeds tended to feed us what we wanted to hear. And that has also added to the division. Right now, it fears the enemy. I would suggest fear on both sides of that spectrum.

Fears the enemy. What we need to do is understand where we erred as a government, where the decisions were responsible, the decisions that the government took so that we can be better informed going forward and look lastly. The principle that I adhere to most closely, the principle that informs,

my decisions in government, and as I view policy is this, the principle of individual freedom and liberty and limited government. That is the overarching principle that informs my decisions, and that's one I use. I'm careful to not take definitive positions because I know what that did in the summer of 21. If you want to create massive distrust with an electorate, break trust that's ultimately irreconcilable, take a definitive decision and go back on that. I'm careful to do that. But Albertans need to know the principle that most governs and informs my decision making.

Well, one of the biggest hurdles you have, any leader has at this point, not just you, not whoever gets elected. If that is you, not specifically to Alberta, we're talking worldwide right now, is trying to build back trust. Yeah. Because it doesn't matter, like you said, it doesn't matter what group you were in. It doesn't matter what camp, what circle. Everybody looks at what's being said now and they're not so sure of anything anymore. And that'll be, you know, but once again, I've read a lot about history. This isn't the first time that trust has been lost on a population and we've found different ways to build it back.

So it'll be an interesting challenge for whoever to try and remedy. Now, with time closing in, I want to make sure that I get to. I get to some of the listeners questions because there is a ton. So if you bear with me here, I'll try and read through, let you respond, and I'll have you out of here on time, I promise. First question is from Ashley. He said some people are saying that you're Kenny 2.0. How are you different from Jason Kenney? Yeah, that's a great question.

Ashley, appreciate that question. Firstly, we have, you know what? Number one, we have extremely different leadership styles. I have a different approach, tone and style of leadership, and I'll talk a bit more about that. But I will say this. You know what? The Premier and I share a real commitment to deep conservative values, and that's what allowed us to work well together to bring this province to fiscal responsibility and ultimately take an economy that was flatlined and position it for investment attraction and growth. So, you know, I share that commitment to those principles with the Premier.

but we're very different people. Look, I've been in the private sector all my life. I'm a rancher from rural Alberta. That's, you know, the Premier's background is completely the opposite of that. We have very different backgrounds and experience. And we're very different individuals as a result of that. And look, there's, you know, there's a time for probably a variety of leadership styles. I will bring a very different style and tone than Premier Kenny Brock.

Look, I talked about my approach in Confederation with other provinces and even our federal government. My approach will not be one of political bluster over promising and under-delivery. I believe that ultimately begins to erode trust with constituents. That's not my approach. I will bring a different tone. I'll bring a different approach. Look, Sean, I was able to successfully negotiate, collective bargaining agreements with our major unions, including health care unions.

I did that during a time of a pandemic. I had two goals. One was fiscal, as you would expect. As the Minister of Finance, I had a fiscal objective that had to be met. Number two, I wanted to ensure that the outcomes were fair to our public sector workers and viewed as fair in the eyes of Albertans. We accomplished all of the agreements with ratification. by union members. There's only one outstanding, and that is with Health Sciences Association of Alberta. That one, I believe, will be concluded quite soon. But we got a deal last fall

with the Alberta Public Service, ratified by over 90%. We got a deal with the United Nurses of Alberta in January. A deal that were Heather Smith, the United Nurses of Alberta President, had such conciliatory words. I quoted her in my budget speech. Again, we met our fiscal objectives and we got a deal without one day of work stoppage without disruption to our healthcare system, which we could ill afford at that time and without a lot of combative rhetoric in the media. That's my style of leadership. And I believe that style, tone, and approach is important right now. Look, when I go into a meeting, whether that's in cabinet or our caucus, I know this. I often don't have the best idea. I depend on the views of others to like.

on the best decisions. That's my leadership style. That's how I led the Canadian Cattlemen's Association as president during some very emotionally charged years following BSE and amongst provincial members who are very desperate and wanting to pull apart. I commit to all Albertans that government MLAs will have a voice in caucus. Not only will I accept divergent views, I'll welcome them. Because MLAs have a fiduciary duty. duty to bring the views of their constituents to the caucus table, advocate for them, pound the table. They need to be heard. Their views need to be considered, even if they don't win the date. That's the type of leadership I will bring. I have a very different background than Jason

Kenny. I have a very different leadership style. Following along with Jason Kenny for one more question, Tim had asked, and it goes back to when they were having the leadership review. They They were supposed to have it in person, and then they moved to mail and ballots. A lot of people screamed at the top of lungs that it was corruption, that it was going to be unethical, that type of thing. He's wondering your thoughts on that, and if you believe there was any type of corruption, what would you do to enforce tough penalties or just ensure that it doesn't happen, I guess, in the future? Yeah, well, I mean, number one, for the sake of the movement, we can have no smell of corruption in this movement in any way, shape, or form, full stop. I mean, that's just the reality shown. And that's in every member's best interest, guaranteed.

You know, that decision was a party, a board decision. It was not a decision of cabinet. It was a decision of the party board. and I know they had logistical obstacles and hurdles when there was so much interest in coming to Red Deer, and so I'm not going to relitigate it. But on the question of anything that smacks or smells of corruption, that has to be weeded out. And look, that requires the engagement of all United Conservative Party members. We have an opportunity, each one of us, an equal voice and vote to elect a board.

We need to be active in that process. We also need to be very active. in approving policy, which is very important to me, and also ensuring that this party's bylaws ultimately result in good, sound, defensible governance. A few mother bears had listened to a couple different things. The first one from Courtney, she asked, this coming fall, you know, there's lots of talk about waves.

You know, they're reintroducing random testing on flights coming into Canada. Canada, et cetera. She asked, how will you handle this coming fall when COVID waves are sure to continue? You know, well, that's a great question, an informed question, because, you know, every conversation that I have with a biologist or those in the scientific community, certainly everything I read would indicate that COVID's going to be with us. We have to live with it. We have to live with it in a way that's not disruptive in our everyday lives, especially in the lives of our children and youth who have been so materially affected these last two years. That would be my approach.

One thing again, I'll go back to my earlier comment. One thing we know is that our health care system is wholly inadequate in certain areas of capacity. We need to look to remedy that. And we are, as the Minister of Finance, I allocated an additional $1.8 billion. Again, in the context of a balanced budget for additional health care capacity, in key areas, including ICU capacity. Right now, we also invested in additional seats in our post-secondary institutions

because right now we don't have enough frontline healthcare workers, particularly nursing staff. One thing, Sean, I will also do to ensure that we have adequate healthcare capacity to deal with bumps that will be coming, inevitably coming in future months and even years. I will immediately, initiate a review of the healthcare credentialing bodies criterion.

We have thousands of foreign-trained healthcare workers in this province today that simply can't work in their area of expertise because I believe in part some protectionism and at a minimum a great deal of risk aversion in the criterion that's used by these credentialing bodies. I will immediately order a review of that because look, I'll go back to my hometown of Beaver Lodge. I would sooner, much sooner have a foreign trained nurse to care for me or my family if I need to be at the hospital, then no nurse. And in rural Alberta, that's our option in many cases right now. So I would do that immediately.

Look, we're in healthcare crisis in rural Alberta. We need to take very definitive concrete steps, ASAP. I'd like you bring up health care. Because me and I've had this conversation. multiple different times and Heather's the one that brought it up in a question, that we weren't being essentially on the offense when it comes to ideas surrounding health care. And then I had Mike Kuzmiskis on about a week ago, two weeks ago now, and he talked about essentially testing, screening for, what he was talking about was screening for cancer, right?

That you can take tests. And if you identify it, you can actually do preventative things. that would take some of the burden, and it's not going to take all the burden, off of the health care system. Because I mean, that's, the burden is, is we're, looks like we're not doing enough things that are aggressive to identify things before they get progressively worse. Your thoughts on maybe privatizing parts of preventative treatment or screenings, you know, that type of thing to help try and do exactly, you know, identify. of the problems we have is we're putting a burden on health care. Are there things that we can do

to step in beforehand so it doesn't get there instead of just more staff and more beds? Yeah, and more money. Look, I would suggest that the last two years, the pressures on our health healthcare system, not only in Alberta, but nationally, have ultimately taken what was a healthcare system with deep cracks and turned those cracks into caverns. Right now, the health care system, I would say in Canada is failing right now. And as Canadian, certainly as Albertans, we need to be asking the question. How do we go forward with an acceptable first world health care system, one that empowers our incredible frontline physicians, surgeons, nurses,

healthcare workers, instead of disengaging them? I have a number of ideas there. And yet, don't pretend to have all the solutions at this point. There will be others that will have the whole package. But this has been my observation to date, Sean. Right now in Alberta, we have, you know, basically one main service provider, that's Alberta Health Services. And they have a highly centralized decision-making structure.

I talked about this with, you know, in the past at my town halls with respect to EMS delivery, for instance. But this highly centralized decision-making structure has disengaged our frontline healthcare workers. I can't even tell you the number of companies. conversations I've had with with physicians, surgeons, and nurses, many in my constituency, but around the province, that tell me this, you know, I look to affect change in our hospital or in our region. There was some very obvious things we could do to improve service. So I joined

an HS committee. We worked for three years. We could not make one meaningful change. So they do this. And this is tragic. They throw their hands up. So I gave up. I'm now going to just put my head down, work my eight hours a day and not care so much. That is tragic. We see healthcare workers leaving the sector in droves right now. They've been disengaged. We need complete structural reform at AHS and generally in health care delivery in Alberta. That includes encouraging other health care options. Now again, you know, our party is committed to a publicly funded universal health care system, but within that system, we can have many privately delivered services to a universal publicly funded system. I believe in competition. Look, here's another example.

I can talk about the egregious results of a highly centralized decision-making model, disengaging frontline healthcare workers, which has to change, by the way. But here's an example. We've got Covenant Health, a very competent healthcare delivery agent in Alberta. They don't report on an equal basis with AHS. In fact, they report to AHS. I see that as problematic. They should report right up to the Minister of Health, maybe to a health care secretariat in the Department of Health on an equal basis.

We need others that report directly to the ministry. And then we can measure efficiency. We can measure delivery metrics and ultimately improve and expand the scope of those that are delivering well and ensure that we're moving best practices to raise the water level of all health care delivering the province. These are some observations that I've made included in that reform will be encouraging additional private health care options, again, within the context of a universal publicly funded system.

With time quickly closing in, Mel asked, where do you, you know, last year for a lot of people, well, actually the population. In order to use a restaurant, a movie theater, you get the point. The QR code came in. Lots of people, you know, vehemently opposing that. Where do you stand on the QR system? Look, firstly, number one, governments should never mandate a vaccine. Number one, that cannot happen directly or indirectly, in my view.

I was very, very supportive of pulling that ability out of the Public Health Act here in the province. That provision existed. I believe since around 1920, that was removed. Governments can never do that. Albertans need to have choice. Going forward, we need to do everything to ensure that Albertans can lead lives without disruption. We need to defend the freedom and liberty of Albertans. And we can do that by ensuring we have health care capacity in this province.

That is going to be a fundamental focus for me if I have the privilege of serving as leader. I know that it's been extremely divisive. You know, and unfortunately, the whole issue of vaccination has become extremely divisive. Again, there are those that have chosen not to be vaccinated. That's their choice. And they are entitled to their choice. There are many Alberts who've chosen to be vaccinated. That's their choice.

and they need to feel empowered in that choice as well. Again, I believe it's government's role to provide modern healthcare options in this province to provide the information and to recommend that Albertans seek additional personal medical advice from their physician. Danny wants to know about net zero, whether Alberta can get there and will you push for it? You know, here's my view on reducing carbon emissions. Firstly, we've made great progress. When we take a look at, for instance, the energy industry in Alberta, that sector has made great progress at reducing the intensity of emissions in this industry.

And we need to continue to make good progress. We have a tier program in Alberta, which provides, ultimately, implements a levy on heavy emitters, a carbon emitters in this province. That program has worked well and it reinvest any funds collected back into the industry to improve technology because technology will be the long-term solution. Here's what we cannot do. We cannot view Canada as a climate dome. We live in a global environment.

and what Canada does ultimately is not isolated. We need to take a global view. Again, be responsible. Continue to position the province for responsible choices, reducing emissions intensity. That's the direction we're going. I'm very much in favor of it, but not do it in a way that completely undermines our competitiveness in our key sectors, whether that's energy or agriculture.

Look, I came from New York a few months ago. every conversation I had focused on energy security, North American energy security, and North American food security. Again, if we abdicate the space of energy production or agriculture production, you know who steps into it? It's going to be regimes like Putin's Russia, Middle Eastern regimes that are certainly anything but democratic. We cannot abdicate that room. We have to own it. At this point, we need to increase production, not decrease it, both in agriculture and energy, and do it responsibly, but not do it in a way that undermines our global competitiveness.

Look, Sean, the best thing Canada could do to reduce global emissions is get another five LNG plants going and displace coal-fired electricity production in Asia right now. Again, that's something we could do tangibly. That means more production, not less. that means being sure to not bring overly burdensome costs and regulations on our industry that put us out of step with our competitors and ultimately undermine our production. We need to go forward in a thoughtful, responsible way that also doesn't undermine the future prosperity of Albertans down the road. As we bump up against time, I hope you'll give me two quick ones, hopefully quick ones. One is, as you nod your head, I think you're nodding your head.

One is Lisa asked which modern day, and this comes from a previous ones, which modern day leadership figure do you look up to? Is there one man, woman that you see what they're doing and go, I really appreciate how they operate? Look, I was a real fan of Stephen Harper's leadership here in the nation for almost 10 years. But, you know, maybe one other name I'll put forward, and that is Mitch McConnell in the, U.S. You know, there's a leader, a senator who has led principally, principally throughout his term in my observation, and yet pragmatically at the same time, I believe he's offered, you know, incredibly responsible leadership for Americans.

And so, again, those two figures, a great fan of Stephen Harper's leadership here in the nation. And again, I have to look at Mitch McConnell. Finally, crewed master Heath McDonald's, they're sponsors of the podcast. We always finish with this. He says, if you're going to stand behind a cause that you think is right, then stand behind it. Absolutely. What's one thing Travis stands behind?

Look, again, I'll go back to my principal, cork and conservative value of individual freedom, liberty, and limited government. I believe right now what we can do that will really position Alberta well for future generations is to instill once again the whole concept of additional self-responsibility and resourcefulness with Albertans and less dependency on government. You know, I take a look at how this province grew. My parents moved to Alberta from Manitoba in 1961. They came with nothing, but a great big work ethic, a dream, and a lot of resourcefulness. They didn't depend on government. They made their way. That's how this province was built. Again, we need to ensure that we're not looking to government for solutions where government is not the best vehicle to deliver those solutions.

We need to ensure that Albertans, again, grab hold of that deep sense of self-responsibility. And that's to work within their communities, maybe their faith communities, and work together with their neighbors on delivering solutions and community. That means, again, ensuring that we have individual freedom and liberty and limited government. That's a principle that I adhere to and cling to. Well, thanks, Travis. I want to thank you again for being a little generous with your time as I slightly go over what we talked about. But I appreciate you giving me some of your time and look forward to seeing, you know,

what the next couple months brings for you and the other candidates as this thing speeds up, definitely not slows down. Yeah, thanks, Sean. Appreciate it.