Shaun Newman Podcast - #300 - Brian Jean, Danielle Smith, Travis Toews, Todd Loewen & Rebecca Schulz

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Monday August 8th at Vermilion Regional Center I was the facilitator of a Candidate Roundtable discussion which saw 5 UCP candidates vying to become the next Premier of Alberta. This is the recording from that night.  November 5th SNP Presents: QDM & 2's. Get your tickets here: snp.ticketleap.com/snp-presents-qdm--222-minutes/ Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

This is Jordan Tutu. This is Grant Fuhr. This is Glenn Healy. This is Mark Letestu. Hi, this is Scott Oak. Hi, this is Braden Holby. This is Tim McAuliffe of Sportsnet. Hi, everybody.

This is Darren Dregor. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Wednesday, man. It has been a roller coaster week. Obviously, Monday night. We had the candidates roundtable in Vermillion. This is going to be the full episode here of,

or today's episode is, exactly what it went on on stage Monday night in case you missed it and that way you can hear from all the different candidates and the conversation we had there. So it's been a wild one there. And then of course, as I record this, I'm sitting in the Western Standard Studio in Calgary. I'm heading to their debate tonight and got to sit with a couple guys and do a couple different interviews while I'm here. And so it's been a little whirlwind a couple first days to the week. So hopefully your week is cruising along as well. I'm going to get to today's episode sponsors and then on to the show.

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make sure you let them know you heard about it from the podcast, right? Now on the tail of the 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 field locations. For more information, visit them at Hancockpetroleum.com.ca.com. Today's recording is from Monday, August 8th, the Vermilion Regional Center, where we saw five candidates on stage, all vying to become the next Premier of Alberta. I'm talking about Todd Lowen, Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, Rebecca Schultz, and Travis Taves.

So buckle up, here we go. First off, thanks to everybody making the drive-out to Vermillion from wherever you came. I think this is pretty cool. I, you know, when they talk about time, if you follow me at anything, as I've got to sit with all five of these people before today. I'm not a big stickler on time. I like to hear a thought out, and if there's a counterpoint to be made,

I want to hear that too. So in that being said, the first portion, there is no time. I'm going to do my best to make sure all five get to say their peace so we can hear them out because I think that's what we want. I certainly that's what I want. I come from a hockey background to keep it short. When you try out for a team, there's cuts, but once you're on the team, you're on the team.

They're all conservatives. And after that, when you're electing a captain of your team, you don't take pot shots. It's the best rises to the top. And so tonight's theme of this roundtable is going to be different subjects where they all get their say. I'm not against, you know, I come from a family of five. We have our arguments. That's fine. But I want to be respectable.

I want to hear out each person's thought. And then we'll try and get everybody involved and see where it goes from there. All right? That being said, this is new, and I haven't seen anyone do it quite like this, so let's have a little fun, shall we? We're going to start here with Rebecca first, and we'll work our way down for the start of any new question, just so everybody has the format. If you want to hop in, I assume body language, raise a mic, and I'll keep an eye, and feel free if she stops to raise your mic and start speaking. Hopefully that is clear enough for everybody. that being said, I'm on a timer, and when the timer goes off, I got to get off the stage two.

So we got 57 minutes, and we're going to start it right. Now, so the first question directed at Rebecca Schultz is, if elected, what would your government policy be for giving COVID-19 vaccines to kids, masking in schools, and as a requirement to play in sports? Yeah, and I would say this. I am a parent. My kids are seven and four, and I think we've learned a lot over the last couple of years. It should absolutely not be government making the decision as to whether or not you vaccinate your children. I hear this from parents every day right across the province. That is a choice parents need to make.

My son just finished grade one. I think masking again, if that's what people want to do, they should be able to do that. I know that he needed to be able to sit with his teacher and read their lips as he learned how to read. That is common sense. I think that those decisions have to lie in the hands of parents. Danielle, here on the far side, would you care to add any light or do we all agree? That has been my position from the beginning. I think that the government was doing a reasonably good job of managing this balance until we got into September of 2021.

And then they mandated the vaccines, mandated passports, and they started firing people who didn't get vaccinated, including up until only about a couple of weeks ago, new hires at Alberta Health Services still had to be vaccinated. So I think we've got some legacy problems that we're going to have to deal with, and we certainly will have some mental health problems that we have to deal with. So our young ones, I think, are suffering from what I've been told by doctors is perhaps a generational mental health crisis. And it was foreseeable going into this.

I talked to Dr. Ari Jaffe, who said that we should always have paid attention to the harms that would be caused by lockdowns, family breakdown, suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, the fact that we've got undiagnosed cancers and undiagnosed other ailments. If you talk to emergency docs, they're showing up. Patients are showing up in hospital emergency rooms, much sicker because they haven't seen doctors in two years. So I'm pleased that I think we've got consensus that we shouldn't do this again, but we've got a lot of legacy problems we're going to have to deal with over the next few years. Would any of Travis or Todd care to jump in?

Just curious, you know, two men who were in the government at the time had very different sides of it. Any thoughts to add further to this as we move along? Well, certainly from my part, I would agree with Rebecca. That needs to be a parental decision entirely around their children. And, you know, vaccine should be made available for those parents who choose to get their children vaccinated but you know vaccinations should always be a personal decision full stop sure Todd yeah thank you very much I spoke against vaccine mandates right from the start that was something that I disagreed with as a not only for children but for the general population I

think it's absolutely abhorrent that we had people losing their jobs because of vaccine mandates and I think what we've what we'll see from schools as we'll see again like Daniel mentioned mental health issues with students, with masking, and then of course the vaccination for children is, you know, there's no necessity for that. I don't believe that's a necessity. Though I believe, yes, if parents want to vaccinate their children, they sure can. But I'm against the mandating of vaccines. Again, I've spoke against that right from the start, and that should have never been a policy of this government.

Yes, and thank you very much for the question. As most of you, I hope, know by now if social media is doing its job, Personal autonomy is a very focal point of my campaign. My campaign is about autonomy for Albertans, and personal autonomy means my body, my choice. Medical autonomy is also part of that, which means medical autonomy is my choice as well. I am the only person here at the stage

that has actually suggested that we should protect it after we're gone as premiers, and I would just say this, that we need to say, I think most of us agree here, that mandates should never be used, or if they are used, it should be absolutely at the last possible situation, And if that happens, future legacies of premiers have to leave behind them something that restricts the ability of governments to do it in the future.

And what I'm suggesting is that all of the legislative changes that need to be done to make sure that if people's lives are intruded by the government, that there is, first of all, cabinet, no confidence. In other words, no cabinet documents are kept secret as they are right now, and that the higher the restriction on our rights, the higher the review and all the way up to a public inquiry. so that we hold the people responsible for doing this not just as we're premier or as the last premier did or didn't do But in the future so that these laws are in place so that we can't allow governments to take away our rights ever again Thank you I'm just curious and this is where the podcaster and me comes out. I apologize Do you all agree with that that that if mandates are put in to lock down people again ever that they're like that's your

should be a red flag immediately. I mean, three of you work through this, and I think a lot of us can sympathize with the amount of stress that went into the last two years. There's a lot of things to be pulled out of that, good and bad, but do you agree that we need to, with Brian, like you really need to, like, this cannot happen again,

and if putting laws in place to ensure it doesn't happen again? Well, and I would say this, that, you know what, we've learned a lot over the last two years, that early days of COVID, none of us expected or knew what was coming next. It's easy to sit on the sidelines or look back

with 2020 hindsight and pinpoint all of the decisions that we made wrong. And as a government, there were a lot of things that we absolutely did not get right during COVID, but it's easier to say that now that we've been through it. We've learned a lot. Absolutely, we cannot lock down the public.

We have to prioritize mental health and well-being, not just for kids in schools, but for the general public. And so I think that's going to be really important as we move forward. It's something that, I mean, I traveled to province last year talking to parents about the mental health and well-being of their kids and the impact that health measures had on kids. And we heard about families and the impacts on seniors. We heard it all. And so we can't, we can't do that again.

Sir, Travis. Sure. There's been an incredible cost the last two years with respect to COVID and particularly the COVID response. There's no doubt about that. I see that in my community, in my neighborhood, and my family, quite frankly.

And going forward with COVID, we cannot lock down. That is not an option with COVID to do that again. And there's no scientific justification for it. We simply have to learn to manage our way through this. One thing that became very self-evident was the fact that we simply don't have enough health care capacity. We just had very little runway.

That we have to work at improving. We need more critical health care capacity, particularly in areas like ICU's and acute care, absolutely essential. But one thing we cannot do is lock down again for COVID. We have to learn to manage and live with this new challenge. True, yeah. Yes, so it's interesting here now to hear some of the cabinet ministers that were around the table and the decisions were being made now speaking against mandates, when they had a choice at the time to say no to mandates right then.

I said no to mandates from the start. It isn't 2020 hindsight. It's actually having foresight to be able to see what's right and what's wrong and standing with principles. And I think that's interesting. So no, we can't have mandates anymore. We know that was wrong. And some of us spoke against them from the start

and some supported it from the start. Again, no mandates if I'm premier again. And I agree with Danielle. I mean, we saw a ton of situations in every community across Alberta and Canada and, frankly, the world where mental health is just frankly in shambles. We are in a crisis and we need to do something about it. And even further than that, what happened with COVID? That was religious persecution. I'm sorry, that's the only way that you can describe it.

It's just unacceptable. And the ramifications of those lockdowns went far beyond. just a medical lockdown. People have lost faith in government. They have lost faith in all of us. And we need to restore that faith by putting you in charge. And if you elect me as your Premier, I will. You know, I guess everyone had a line during COVID.

I think the cabinet ministers didn't have the same line that Todd and I did. Todd gave up his job in the caucus because he spoke out. I gave up my job on radio because I was talking about. told I had to bring my coverage in alignment with the narrative. And I remember I stood up to the Premier when he had jailed Pastor James Coates and asked him why he would dare to do that. We've actually had three pastors who've jailed. Every other jurisdiction seemed to manage to get through COVID without jailing pastors except Alberta.

Why is that? And why didn't the ministers stand up? That was a pretty hard line for me. Another hard line for me was the persecution of doctors. We have a legislation that says doctors should be permitted to treat their patient. if Health Canada has approved drugs, and yet we didn't allow them. We didn't allow them to deliver religious exemptions. We didn't allow them to deliver medical exemptions.

We have doctors who have been driven out of practice, who've been hauled up before their College of Physicians and Surgeons, and I must tell you, I mean, for me, the line was when I saw Dr. Pierre Corey give testimony in the U.S. Senate, and Dr. Peter McCullough give testimony in the Texas Senate, saying we could have saved 85% of those lives if we had just allowed doctors to treat. So everybody's got a different sensitivity, but I have to tell you this is what leadership's about.

It's not just sitting back passively and taking the advice of your bureaucrats is actually going out and looking at what's happening in the world, seeing what they're doing in Texas, seeing what they're doing in Florida, seeing what they're doing in South Dakota and Sweden, and saying maybe we should be charting a different course. And you have to be able to do that while the decisions are being made, as opposed to apologizing about it after you've already done the harm. You know, I do have to say this, that in behind closed doors, there was an incredible opportunity to speak one's voice, one's mind, bring the perspective of constituents to the table. And listen, there was many days where I considered, do I stand up and resign, or do I stay around this table advocating for my constituents or my view? The fundamental principle that I believe the most important conservative principle is individual freedom, liberty, and limited government. And that's the principle that informs my decisions and did during that time.

And I can tell you this, had there been a couple of less voices around that table, we would have had a very different outcome than we did, a much more stringent outcome than we did. I chose to stay instead of abdicate, and I chose to fight for my constituents and for the rural perspective. I'm a rancher from rural Alberta. I would echo some of what Travis said, and I mean, I'm from, I say, super south Calgary, but my constituents were divided, and a lot of them didn't want to see health restrictions, and I brought those voices forward. I would also say this, and I've said it tonight, for those of you who have a healthy skepticism of government, that is a good thing, because your questions, your feedback, your ideas,

is the information that you wanted to know, the questions that you wanted to have answered, gave us what we needed to ask the right questions and ultimately make the right decisions. Did we make them all the time? Like I said, no, but we sure learned a lot. And obviously, that is directing our government as we make decisions moving forward. It's definitely what I will stand up for is hearing those views of people right across the province in every single corner of Alberta. Todd, would you like one last word on it? Yeah, I think so.

I guess I'm a little confused here when I listen to my colleagues on the right here. You know, they said they represented their constituents behind closed doors, but I was caucus chair for two years and never heard those voices at the caucus table. And I think that's truly sad. I think we were elected by our constituents to represent them, and that's our job as MLAs to be able to do that. And to suggest that it would have been worse had they not been there, how would you be supporting somebody that would want to do so much worse than if left of their own device?

So I believe that as elected people, we need to represent our constituents. We need to be able to stand up and stand out and represent them. And if we're not doing that, then we're not doing our job. No, I guess for me, COVID was a long two years. I don't know about everybody else in the room. So I'm giving it a little extra time just because I'd more. want to hear. Honestly, it took over all of our lives. I do want to move on to other points, but Brian, you did raise your mic. If you want to have one final thing, sure. I think Travis

and Rebecca are both right about something. When you're in a pressure situation and you're elected by the people, it's tough to make the right decision. And when you make those decisions for people, whether it's prosecuting pastors or closing people down, those ramifications. are real and serious. And what you need to do when you elect your Premier is to make sure that person makes the best decisions, not just the best talker, but somebody that has the ability to make decisions

like different people in our cabinet do and make those right decisions because your life, your security, and your liberty depend on those right decisions. When you elect politicians, you expect them to stick with the party and do what you ask them to do. And I think that's a very, very important thing to understand is political decisions are very important.

So pick the right people to make them for you. Thank you. Okay. We got a feel for how this is going to go, okay? Question two goes to you, Travis. And then, of course, everyone can hop in as they're starting to feel this out. Whipping votes is a common practice.

I'm talking about leadership. One of you is going to be a leader of a province. So whipping votes is a common practice. Should you become Premier and want to pass legislation you've promised during your campaign, how would you pass legislation without whipping votes or silencing caucus? Well, you know, good governance and strong leadership is critically important in the event an organization is going to actually deliver on its mandate. Look, if there was an actual government policy that we had been very transparent with Albertans

during the campaign had indicated that we were going to implement that policy and Albertans elected us on that basis. I believe we have an obligation as a government to deliver on that campaign commitment. So I would take that very seriously, and I would expect and hope that caucus would take it very seriously. Now, when it comes to ensuring that caucus members have a voice, I think that's perhaps the most critical and important thing a Premier can do. because government MLAs have the fiduciary duty to represent their constituents' views.

That's their fiduciary duty. And if they're unable to do that, their constituents aren't heard. And in fact, aberrant behavior occurs, and that's understandable. The place to do that is around the caucus table. There's a number of things that I would do to ensure that MLAs have a voice. Number one, at the beginning of every term and even every session, every government MLAs, in a caucus retreat would jointly, with cabinet ministers and the Premier, identify priorities and initiatives for the government for that term.

Shoulder to shoulder, everyone gets in on the ground floor, not top down. Number two, when ministers go off to develop policy, a caucus members, government MLAs with specific competence and interest will have a mechanism for them to join cabinet ministers in that policy development. That's critical. Number three, there will be adequate. time and opportunity for every MLA to bring the views of their constituents to that caucus table, pound the table, advocate for those views. Divergent views will not only be tolerated,

they'll be welcome because MLAs have that responsibility to bring those views to the table. They may not win the day, but they will have been heard, and their constituents will have been heard. Now, we also need to ensure that we operate as a competent government. a house divided cannot stand. So after all of that, we will ensure that government MLAs determine a code of conduct based on sound governance principle.

Again, every MLA gets to be heard. Every MLA gets to bring the views of their constituents. Debate it. But then, as a government caucus, if we're going to lead and go forward, we're going to have to support the decision. That's the way board governance works. And if we are a house divided,

we will fail. When I was president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, there were times I had to bring a policy that was not my personal choice and advocate that policy to the federal government. I could not leave the room, go to the media, and snipe against my board. That's a house divided. That does not work. Every MLA gets an opportunity to bring their views forward, the views of their constituents, debate them fully, and then we follow good governance principle. I can see Rebecca giving me the eyes, okay. Well, I was going to say, I think you've read my letter to caucus because I think you've picked up a lot of great ideas from that letter. But I say that in jest, but, you know, I really think that we have an opportunity as MLAs. It is our most important job, which is to take the views, the diverse views from Albertans right across this province and advocate for our constituents. I often say we've got to go back to not letting the bureaucrats or the process run the

show. We can't continue to manage like that. We have to make sure that MLAs have a voice, that the caucus table where all of our MLAs sit is the main decision-making table. I often say if premiers like Ralph Klein could do it here, Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, I'm originally from Saskatchewan,

that was my first job in politics, was working for Premier Wall. If they can have caucus be the main table where these ideas are debated, we can do that too. We can do that here in Alberta. It doesn't mean we're all going to agree, and that's the thing. We are the party, of diverse views. We respect different opinions. We want vigorous debate. We want to uphold freedom of speech.

We've got to have that at that table and then show Albertans that we can come out and govern and earn the respect of the public. We come out as a united team. It also means that we as caucus have to get out of Calgary and Edmonton. We have to spend more time in rural Alberta. We have to listen to everyday hard-working Albertans in southern, central, northern Alberta. We should have our caucus meetings right out here in communities like this, our day at Coffee Road. That was my first job in a town of 200, serving coffee and hearing the opinions of everyday people. I think that's where we need to get back to listening to Albertans, taking their views, making decisions. And yeah, there's times where a cabinet has to make decisions and a leader has to lead and not everybody's going to agree. But it matters

that we take the time to listen, debate. And I actually think we get way better policy that resonates in every area of the province if we do that. I'm kind of curious, Danielle, I'm to switch over to the far side of the room. You know, you weren't in government the last little bit. If you're elected leader, how are you going to manage a diverse group of people that are very strong opinioned? I'm loving the conversation that everybody gets a voice. I think that's wonderful. But you've got a short one runway here, if you become premier, how are you going to show the province that you're united and can move forward? Well, you may have seen that I've had a couple of endorsement in the last few days, and part of the reason for that is I spend time with caucus members.

I'm not, I was no member of caucus, and so I've made an effort to call every one of them, and I said, what are your ideas for government? And Nathan Newdorf has a wonderful idea for an Alberta Constitution, and I've been talking about that. Nathan Gloubish, who's our Minister of Digital Transformation, under Service Alberta. He had a fantastic idea for a digital media production tax credit along the lines of the film tax credit.

And so what I've observed is that we've got a caucus that has been desperately trying to get good ideas heard and nobody has spent the time to hear them and elevate them. So I believe that personal relationships and a relationship with the leader and caucus members are very important. That's been a number one priority for me. I also think the caucus needs to be trained

in how a caucus should work. I see Dr. Steve West is here. He was one of my heroes when I was on campus at the University of Calgary as the campus club president for the PCs. We used to say, oh, give Steve West a portfolio and he'll privatize it. And he told me about a few others that he had privatized. He's the reason why we don't have long waits at registries. And he's the reasons why we've got such a diversity of choice in our liquor store.

So thank you for that, Dr. West. You did an amazing job. But bring in people like Dr. West and Lauren Taylor, who I've spoken with recently, and Lyle Oberg and Gary Marr and Ron Hyrath who's come to a couple of my events, and get them to teach caucus how things used to work when things worked really, really well for us

back in the days of Ralph Klein. I think that there's been an offer of that over the years, and I would certainly take them up on it because I think that's when it worked best. So when there was collaboration among the caucus members and also... Would you offer that tax credit? You talked about that tax credit.

It's an interesting idea. Would you offer that tax credit if you were a premier? I did. I actually announced that if I was premier that we would that because we have a much stronger, it's for video games. You probably would know a little bit, a few people in that industry there. So if I can, I would like to take a different approach on this. And what I've learned in my life has made me who I am today, good or bad. And I will tell you as the leader of the Wild Rose for two years plus, I learned that it's not

me that's in charge of policy. It's not these people on the stage or the MLAs. With respect, it's you. If you're a member of the party, you're in charge of policy, not me. And it shouldn't be me because we've seen what bad decisions by politicians happen when they ignore the grassroots. So that's the first thing I want to say that policy must be developed by the grassroots. And that means that, please, if you don't have a membership, buy a membership, get involved, make changes to the policy of this party so that we can make the changes to our province. That's the best way to do it. And make sure that you have a leader that listens to you and will not turn their back on you,

especially in times of need. I have the philosophy of that because for 10 years I was an MP with Stephen Harper and I saw how it worked there. It's totally different in Alberta and I want to make some serious legislative reforms on how we do policy here because we shouldn't just have a government or a premier

or a cabinet that decides what we pass as a law. We need to have policies come from the grassroots and then refined at the committee table in a public setting so that MLAs can ask experts in agriculture in cow calf production. How do we make sure our barley crop doesn't disappear because of these silly rules by Justin Trudeau?

How we do different things to make it better for you? So the policy is developed by the people, and then it's refined by the people in public doing the people's business. That refined what I am today, same as a litigator, a lawyer practicing law for 10 years in Fort McMurray. I understand both the federal perspective

and the provincial perspective. It's not an easy thing to understand, but if you don't listen to your caucus as the leader, and if you don't listen to the party members as a caucus, you are doomed to failure. And that's why we're here today. That's why we have to, all of us here together, that work so hard to build this party and unite the two parties,

that's why we have to now renew the party. And I know some of you are not satisfied with what's happened over the last year or the last three years. I'm not either but folks I'm here for the same reason all of these people are here today and you are all here for

we want to defeat the NDP in the next election and if we don't do that my town my city of Fort McMurray the reason why I'm back here today will be closed down by the NDP and Justin Trudeau I'm sure of it Brian I'm going to let Todd hop in here as we close off leadership okay thank you very much

yeah when it comes to leadership and how to pass votes in the legislature the number one thing that can be done is listening to caucus. Caucus again is voted in by the people, by you folks, to represent you in the legislature. It seems like that's been turned around so that MLAs are asked to represent government, pardon me, to the people, and that's backwards.

In order to pass votes in the legislature, you need to get support from caucus, and in order to get support from caucus, you need to bring things forward, and caucus needs to be able to be able to, openly discussed them and support them. If we look back at what Ralph Klein would do, he'd like to have about two-thirds support of caucus

before he moved forward with anything. I think that's important. As Premier, I would welcome a performance review from my MLAs so that they can have their say in an anonymous way on my performance. And I think that would be important too. In the past, what we've seen here is an inner circle making decisions.

And that's not the way that's best to get the best decisions. It's not the way to build unity. It's not the best way to get things done in the legislature. And another thing that's probably not the best to do is probably not the best to kick out caucus members. That's not a way to build unity either. And when they're representing their constituents, and especially after everyone here agrees and admits that nobody was being listened to in caucus. So I think it's pretty evident that we've had a breakdown of leadership in the past. And, And we don't need to continue that same kind of leadership. We need to have a change of direction

so that the people of Alberta will feel like they're represented properly. Thank you. I would just say I agree, actually, with both Brian and Todd on this one. Really, when it comes to, it's a combination of both. MLAs have a very important job of representing constituents, but one of my first campaign commitments before even having a platform in this race, and I think we might have talked about it on the podcast, was I committed to doork in 87 constituencies between now and the election,

and meet with every single constituency association board president and the boards. And I know people are like, what? Like, that's a lot of work. You're going to go doork in 87 ridings across Alberta? Yeah, because we can't take our grassroots party members for granted. And I feel we did that. When I first got involved in politics, I walked into my first UCP AGM, constituency associate AGM, and I was asked if I was lost.

Who are you? Showing up with a baby at a UCP AGM? I'm like, I love politics. I think we need to do more. to engage our grassroots party members and bring more people into the fold. And so your voice matters. And that's why I do want to also just say a shout out

to the constituency association for pulling this event together tonight. I think this is important, but it's both. We need our grassroots party members. We need to fix our policy process. We need to listen to our MLAs, and then we move forward. Todd, I want to start with the next question. With the recent attack on farmers,

there's been a lot of talk about total emissions and fertilizers and you get where I'm going with us. What will you do and ensure Albertans have food security in response to Ottawa, putting things in place that are going to really impact our farmers, our communities?

Yes, thank you. Yeah, obviously the first thing that we need to do is we need to say no to Ottawa. When they say 30% reduction in fertilizer, we need to say no. We're not going to do that. We have to stand up to Ottawa. We've heard a lot of talk about standing up to Ottawa, but we've seen actually nothing.

When I look back to 2001 with a firewall letter that was written, and you could Google that firewall letter up right now, and you can look at that letter and you'd think it was written last week. Not one thing has been accomplished, not one thing has changed in 21 years, and that's because politicians haven't had the guts to do anything to stand up to Ottawa and really send a message. So as Premier, I commit that we will immediately start with Alberta Pension Plan. something that'll save Albertans $3 to $4 billion a year. That should have been done a long time ago. We campaigned on things like this in 2019 and accomplished absolutely none of them.

And another thing I would like to do is start an Alberta constitution, start to work on that, have that consulted on broadly across Alberta so that we can have a constitution that can help put a wall between us and Ottawa when they try to infringe on our rights. There's lots of things that we can be doing when dealing with Ottawa, but we've done none of them. and I think we need to start by action instead of asking, instead of begging, instead of sending stronger word of letters, we need to start acting and truly send a message to Ottawa so that we can start dealing from a position of strength instead of weakness like we have been. Everybody went quiet. Everybody agree? We're going to stand up to Ottawa and tell them how it is?

I think what we have to do, if I can be frank, is we have to open up the Constitution. We hear a lot of different things about stand up and do this and do that, but folks, the only way we do this is through the constitutional reform, and we've been too afraid to go to the constitutional table because of what's happened before, and we can't be, because we're not treated fairly, whether it's the unemployment insurance system, the CPP system, we're paying double what we should be for what we get. And, you know, if you're in PEI, Newfoundland, or Alberta, it's different if you're on unemployment insurance. In fact, you can get it far easier and faster out in eastern Canada in many of the provinces than you can't hear. That's why I'm suggesting autonomy for Albertans, because it's not just about autonomy,

you know, personal autonomy or business autonomy, financial autonomy. It's about autonomy, more autonomy for Albertans, not Alberta, but more autonomy for Albertans in Canada. How we do that is we make sure we open up the Constitution under Section 46 of the Constitution, we give notice. And it was so nice of the people of Quebec to set out the situation and the track that we need to take in the reference case that they had in the yes-no vote in Quebec. You see, under paragraph 69 of that decision, they laid out how we send notice, what we do, and what has to happen as a result of that notice.

And if enough people, by the way, 62% in my opinion is enough, 62% in a referendum give notice to the premiers and the prime minister, then they are forced to open up the Constitution. And if they don't open up the Constitution, then the Supreme Court of Canada, because the Premier is in charge of that, can send a reference to them, asking them to do so and force the federal government and the other premiers to the table. It's not just about equalization, folks.

Yes, equalization was what I started way back in 2015 because that's the tool, the crowbar, to open up the Constitution, because until we open up the Constitution, none of this is solved. Sorry to get excited, folks. This has been a long time in coming for me. We need to open up the Constitution

because the Senate is not properly represented by Alberta. We can't stop things like the tanker ban, which should have been stopped, and we need to appeal that immediately. to the Supreme Court of Canada because it is prejudicing only two provinces. There are so many other things we need to do in order to receive fairness here, and we need to get to the table. And right now, the other provinces are ready to do so

because there is a huge disparity in what the federal government provides for financing for health care and what the provinces are obligated to do. There's a lot of other things. And folks, there was a constitutional change this year in the Constitution of Canada. Saskatchewan did it. They changed it, so C.P. Real would actually actually. have to pay taxes in Saskatchewan now. We can do the same thing here in Alberta tomorrow. And we can open up the Constitution and have really good discussions about all of those things that are dividing us.

Because we have to stop being divided. We have to bring ourselves together, not just as a party, not just as a caucus, not just as a cabinet, but as a people. Because the challenges in front of us are great. And if we don't do that, we will fail. We need to unify and we need to find those things that bring us together not tear us apart. Sure, Daniel. Eventually I agree with Brian. We'll have to open the Constitution because we can't continue to see our province grow and we will.

We're going to double our population by about 2050. We'll be about 9 million people. We'll be bigger than Quebec. And we can't continue to operate under rules where they get 24 Senate seats and we get six. Or they get a guaranteed number of House of Common seats larger than ours. Where they get to appoint three of our nine justices to the Supreme Court and we don't get right to approve any. So I agree with Brian. Ultimately, we will have to open up the Constitution.

But I think we also have to read the Constitution as it stands right now. I would just direct you to Section 92, 98, 93, 94, 95. And if you didn't hear the great interview that Scott Moe gave on Roy Green, go look it up. He sounded like he was going to pass the Saskatchewan Sovereignty Act, because he said, we will not enforce any federal regulation that violates our areas of constitutional jurisdiction, Section 95, gives us the first right to make decisions on agriculture and on immigration. And it says the federal government may from time to time pass legislation in that area. I think we've abdicated too much.

I think this is what the Sovereignty Act is all about. It's about giving Ottawa notice that we are going to reassert every constitutional power that we were given by our founders. The way our country constitution was written is that the federal government has sovereign areas of power. and the provincial governments have sovereign areas of power. Maybe we just got lazy, maybe we got complacent. Maybe we figured because they were dribbling back a few dollars to us

that we could allow them to dictate to us how we ran our programs. But when we say no more, it's going to change our relationship with the rest of the country. We're going to end up moving in the same direction as Quebec. Let's get the same powers that Quebec has. Let's do the same thing Quebec does. Let's start acting like a senior partner in Confederation and force the government to treat us like that. Just to show a hands here, how many people think we need to stand up to federal government infringing on Alberta?

Just leaders here. Everybody, okay. I'm curious, because Todd brought it up. The firewall letter was in 2001. Simple math says we're 21 years later. What makes you think you're the person to do that? Because obviously, for 21 years, after the letter's gone, it hasn't done anything. So I'm curious, everybody's talking about standing up to Ottawa, standing up, standing up, standing up, and that's great.

What makes you different than everyone that's come before you? And sure, Todd, yeah, we can come right back. We can go around the horn here. Okay, yeah, thank you very much. I think the difference between myself and everyone else is that I did stand up. I stood up from my constituents, and I did it at a cost. I resigned as caucus chair and I paid a price for it.

There's some on the stage here that we're plenty happy to see me go and plenty happy to hope that I disappeared. But I stood up, I represented my constituents, and I'll do the same for Albertans. I'll stand up to Ottawa and we can do things. We can actually make things happen. Danielle mentioned about Quebec. I would love to have everything Quebec has

and once we get that, then I want more. I want to keep on going. And again, I want to be committed to make sure that things actually happen. Again, I brought up the firewall letter 21 years later. You'd read that letter. You'd think it was written last week because nothing has changed. And things have to change. And I've stood up and I'll stand up for all burdens.

Travis, you raised your mic first. Sure. Yeah. What makes you different than not only the people sitting on the stage, but I mean, we're not talking just the five of you. We're talking your predecessors who've come before. Yeah. Well, and you raise a good.

point Sean this has been going on for quite some time it's been going on too long look I'm I was a teenager when Prime Minister Trudeau senior brought in the National Energy Program I watched what that did of this province and the economy do we need a better deal in Alberta absolutely we do and so how do we get there how do we in fact make meaningful change because just simply saying you're not going to write strongly worded letters you're going to stand up well what are you really going to do so if you just announced with a mic in Vermilion that you're going to stand up, does that really move the meter in Ottawa? I would suggest no. I would suggest, in fact, not at all.

This is what we need to do. We need to take a page out of Quebec's playbook, not the page on separation, because threatening to separate them got them one thing, an economic backwater for decades in the province of Quebec. You couldn't rent a moving van in Montreal for two years, for the amount of head offices that moved from Montreal to Bay Street. That's what made Bay Street. So the Sovereignty Act approach will create chaos, will create uncertainty, and a lack of predictability in our business environment, and that will send billions of dollars out of this province. That's not how we win. How we win is taking a page out of Quebec's playbook. They're strategic. Every time there is a federal government in Ottawa that needs them politically, and there is far too often in the federal liberal party. Quebec works that political leverage for all their worth. What is Alberta done? in the last 10 years. You know what, in the last 20 years, when we had a conservative government in Ottawa, a government that needs Alberta politically, like the federal liberals need Quebec, I can't think of one thing that we did on our federal fiscal transfer programs, equalization or fiscal stabilization.

Heck, in the last three years, with an obstructionist government in Ottawa, we got consensus. I got consensus from all the finance ministers across the country to make a change on fiscal stabilization. It wasn't enough, but it improved our bottom line by half a billion dollars when we're in a claim year. That was more than Albertans did when we had a government in Ottawa that needs Alberta politically. That's about being strategic. Strategic we win. The other thing, on the Alberta pension plan, I've done the work. Friends, this is the biggest lever we have in writing the ship fiscally across the country. But I also know this. If we walked into the office and pull that lever immediately, we're likely to lose it for future generations. We have to be

strategic in methodology, tactic, and timing, and I'm unwilling for my political gain to give up on that program for my children and grandchildren. It's about being strategic. Danielle, he brought up sovereignty. We all know in the audience what that meant to you. One of the reasons I've had some recent endorsements is the mischaracterization of my position. No one on this stage is a separatist, and I'll explain my Sovereignty Act proposal again for those who don't seem to understand it. All it would say is that we have constitutional rights under Section 92, 92A, 93, 94, 95, and we have a charter of rights and freedoms. Therefore, we will not enforce any federal legislation that violates our constitutional powers

or the rights and freedoms of our citizens. That's all it is. It's actually putting some strength around the bluster that we've seen over the last number of years. We have our constitutional jurisdiction under Section 92A not only to develop, but also to conserve our resources. And what happens with Ottawa is they are the ones creating chaos. We have chaos here because of Ottawa. Because Ottawa launched us into a constitutional crisis by declaring an economic war on us, because they have economic sanctions on us.

Because they didn't stand up for us when Keystone XL was cancelled, because they created such a convoluted approval process, Energy East and Tech Frontier Mine couldn't say a way through to the approval process and a yes at the end of it, because they canceled Northern Gateway. We are in the middle of chaos right now. And what a Sovereignty Act would do is it would say, we're taking the lead on this. It is our responsibility to develop our resources.

We will develop economic corridors. We will assert our right, and we'll turn the tables on Ottawa. Let them take us to court for a change, and I can argue in court all day long that we have the constitutional jurisdiction to proceed on that. I just want to clarify this.

The reason I allowed sovereignty is because it was brought up, but I'm still curious why you all believe you can get this done. Why are you different than your predecessors? Well, I would like to answer that if I could because I'm going to focus on the answer. The first thing is that all of the things

and I know it sounds great, the Sovereignty Act, but all of those things are already in a piece of legislation called the Constitution and the Charter. And I can't see anything being supreme to that, since it is supreme. But why do I want to be and why do I think I'm the best person to do this is because I've been thinking about this for a long time and I have passion of purpose. I wrote a very long thesis in 1993 about how to, frankly, negotiate a settlement between the Queueblo and the rest of Canada. I couldn't finish it. I got to two-thirds of the way through and I couldn't find enough words to fill the rest, but I've been interested in it. What I'm trying to tell you is that

why should I be the person? Well, I spent 10 years in Ottawa as an MP. I understand how it works from that side of the table. I work with Pierre Pahliav. If he wins, I work with them for 10 years. I'd love to have an opportunity for him and I'd work together and change some things in this country and this province. I was a litigator for 10 years, a constitutional litigator. I understand the constitution, I'm the only one on the stage that actually could litigate that. Folks, I'm also a business person. I'm from Fort McMurray my entire life. And we are a big, beautiful province that relies on each other.

And these people up in the stage are fantastic people. They really are. All of the contestants in this race are good people that have good ideas and good opportunities. And I think they'd be in a great cabinet. But somebody has to lead the show that makes good decisions. I make those good decisions because I have a huge variety of pass that gives me the opportunity to come forward. and serve Albertans.

I lost my son to health care. I want to fix health care. I've seen the justice system, and if you don't have money, you're not in it. And most of all, I've seen what Ottawa is doing to us. And I want to fix it, and I believe that's the only way to keep our country together.

I'm the one that do it, with all of your help. Rebecca, I've skipped over here a time or two, so I really want to bring it back to you. Why you? I would say, and I mean, I like a lot of what Danielle has said, and I said this at the first debate in Medicine Hat. It sounds great.

I know her heart is in the right place. I know the idea is right, but it's not really the what for me, it's the how. So I would suggest, instead of an act that opens us up to ridicule from the rest of the country and creates more chaos and division and drives investment, jobs, and people out of our province, which I think is a very real risk right now. It's a risk for people I meet right across Alberta. I don't think that that's the path. I think that gets us an NDP government,

and I think that would be very, very harmful for Alberta right now. That's not what we want. So it is the how we do this, not as much as the what we do. And I think, you know, a couple of people mentioned what Scott Moe was doing on fertilizer. This is exactly how I would approach this. I worked for Premier Wall in Saskatchewan when he just said no to the federal government, a conservative federal government, when BHP was looking to takeover potash corps.

Why? Because the resource belonged to the people of the province. When we are talking about fertilizer caps, emissions caps, those resources belong to the people of Alberta. All of you in this room, that matters. So yeah, we stand up and say, no, we agree on where we're headed. The question for me is how. And I mean, two people on this stage just raised the fact that Scott Moe is doing an effective job,

not through an act or a one silver bullet piece of legislation that's going to fix those problems. But by just saying no. And then leading the charge, leading the campaign across the country, let's join with other like-minded provinces. And so I think there's a couple of things. One is, yes, we need to say no. We need to fight, especially when the federal government is looking to infringe

on areas of our provincial jurisdiction. That makes sense. There's also things that, yeah, we can negotiate. On child care, housing, I hear that across the province. We don't want to leave housing dollars on the table. Why? Because municipalities have some very real struggles right now, and they need us to work with them to address.

them. Yes, we need to partner with like-minded provinces, not just Saskatchewan. I mean, BC, if we're talking about LNG, Ontario on different issues, and then yes, we need to position Alberta for better leverage in this country. And sure, pension plan, tax credits. I mean, there are some costs, especially when we look at reforming the tax system. We need to make sure Albertans know what that's going to cost, what it's going to look like, what it's going to take, get them on board, and then move forward in those areas. We also need Senate reform, no question. I don't think anybody would probably disagree with that in this room. But it's really how we do that.

And the other thing that made me unique is what I've heard from Albertans when I ask why. Because people are angry everywhere I go, and I think we've all agreed to that. Why are you angry? Because I have heard this all before. We've been promised all these things, the over-promised, the under-deliver. And so I came out with a timeline. Our team came out with a timeline. We listened to Albertans, and so in 10 days, here's what Albertans.

can expect from me. We will have a person and a team dedicated to making sure this falls off nobody's desks. And if I haven't done what I said I'm going to do in the first 10 days, you come find me. Same thing with 30 days, same thing with 100, so that you all in this room know exactly where we stand, exactly what's moving forward when, by when, so that there's some accountability in this. Todd, before we switch subjects, I'll give you a quick 30 seconds just to finish it off. We are now up against the clock. This is the one thing that podcaster hates. But so be it. There's more to the night. And I know all of you, lovely folks, want to get a little more time grilling these fine people who've given me some of their time.

So Todd, 30 seconds, and then we'll move on to the final question. Okay. Yeah, thank you very much. I guess I get frustrated when I hear the words leverage and strategy because there's nothing, leverage doesn't mean anything if they know you're not going to use it. And that's what we've proven in the last three years and the last decades is that we weren't Alberta was not prepared to do anything. And that's very sad. And then when it comes to strategy, we've had panels across Alberta,

we've had reports written, we've even had a referendum. And what have we done in the last three years? Absolutely nothing. We haven't done nothing to stand up to Ottawa. We're sitting here in the same position we were three years ago, same position we were 21 years ago. And that's what needs to happen.

Myself, I've stood up for my constituents, for Albertans, and I'll continue to do so. Thank you. Sean, I've just got to respond to that because we've not made nearly enough mileage. I agree with Todd on that, but we've made some wins that we didn't make even when we had a favorable government in Ottawa. And I, again, point to fiscal stabilization. We made a win there half a billion dollars, and that was by taking a strategic approach.

I want to add one more thing, because, you know, the talk is, what would we do? Where could we find teeth? This is what I proposed in my strengthening Alberta strategy, and that is this. By legislation, I would enable the Alberta government when Alberta's vital economic interests are attacked, and we can do nothing to move the meter. I would bring in legislation that would allow the Alberta government to implement a levy tariff or duty on goods or services from another region in Canada, so we could tangibly push back when our vital economic interests are attacked. That's a page that I would take out of our pushback on country of origin labeling for the U.

cattlemen in the room. That's how we won in the U.S. It was that strategy. I would do the same for Alberta. It would matter. It would have teeth. Sure. So I think it's mine, Todd.

I'm not sure. Sean? Yeah, Brian. Sorry, Brian. So I'm just going to make it very, very simple. Only the premier of a province can give notice under Section 46 of the Constitution. On day one, I will give Section 46 notice, which means that we want to, to open up the Constitution, and I will give that notice to the other premiers and the Prime

Minister, because it's time to sit down at the table and try to get a deal, because there's so many provinces that are not happy right now, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we can't let the wrong person be in charge, because if they are, they'll ruin it for us. Well, I've been an opposition leader before, so some of you have seen me in action when I get tough, I can get real tough, and that's one of the reasons if you ask the question of who's the best person to make sure we stand up to Ottawa, and we get to... some results, that would be one. The other is that I've spent six years talking to Albertans every day, 35 topics a week, call in segments, texts, emails going out into forums

like this. I don't think that there's a single person in Alberta with a good idea that I haven't talked to, and that's one of the things that will allow us to tap into the talent so that we can move some of these things forward. I think the problem is that if you've been in office and you get all of your advice from bureaucrats, bureaucrats will tell you, you you, we've got to be strategic, we've got to do an in-depth study, we've got to take a couple years to look at this, and then pretty soon the minister has moved on or the government has changed. That's what you call a slow roll, and it's what we've been getting every single time. We do a consultation and we get a report. We still haven't seen the pension plan report

released. I've heard that it's a pretty good news report, and people would be pretty shocked by it, but I'm sure that there's some bureaucrat who's recommended that we not release it yet. I don't know why that is. But that's what happens. when you allow for the bureaucracy to lead the effort. And I'm afraid that that's what we've seen over the last number of years. I think we've got to take the lead. We have got to make sure that we're leveraging the best talent and best minds in this province. And we've got to get tough this time.

I've been advocating for the firewall letter ever since it was first written. I've been in the media. I've been in business advocacy. And so I can't wait to get in there and start actually moving on the things that we promised all of these years. You know, Brian's just throw. frustrated with me, but one of the things you have no idea until you start doing this, right? Because it's a novel in my idea out of my mind. I love podcasting. I love hearing something out, but time always is a factor. I said, I have to respond. I have to respond. Absolutely you do, Brian.

All I was going to say was I gave eight minutes and I have to chuckle up myself because I let Todd have 30 seconds and 30 seconds as what politicians do well. You turned it into about six minutes. So, Brian, with time slowly closing in, I'll make it as quick as I can. And, you know, times do get tough for people. I lost a son. I went into the Wild Rose campaign. I had a fire and a flood burned down my house and flood it. I had my mom and my sister die, and I had to end up doing three probate estates,

so I left politics for a while. But you know what? When things are tough, you have to make proper decisions. You walked across the floor for a cabinet position, you and your campaign manager, when things were tough with Jim Prentice. I'm sorry, but Danielle, that's a tough,

That's when things get tough. That's when the 330,000 people in Alberta voted for you in your caucus were there for you. And I have to say, I came and cleaned up your mess. And it was very difficult keeping that caucus together for over two years. Drew Barnes and Derek Filderan, I never had to kick them out. They never quit. You want to unify caucus? You want to get people together?

I think Daniel Smith is one of the best storytellers I've ever met. She's a brilliant person, and she's talked to a lot of Albertans. But I'm nervous about the decisions. I make good decisions. I've always made good decisions. And I hope that you give me the opportunity to make good decisions for this province. I would include Daniel in my cabinet, as I would all the candidates that have stepped forward. But let's be clear, folks, the decisions a Premier makes to lock you down and close your churches and arrest pastors,

those are decisions that have to be made by somebody that understands the ramifications of them. And I understand what it's like to be tough. To talk tough, to live tough. I understand what it is to get up in the morning and deal with that kind of thing. Brian, we now have to let Danielle respond before time closes out. Daniel certainly respond. Well, I think many of you know, I got involved in politics very early. Jim Prentiss was my very first campaign manager that I worked for in 92.

I had great respect for him. I knew that he hadn't created the problems and mess that we had here, and he wanted to come here and clean them up. So I made an error in judgment. We both got punished for it. I lost my nomination and he lost the election and we ended up with Rachel Notley for four years. But we were an early adopter of unity. We went about it the wrong way. I've been very upfront about that. I think that when you make mistakes, you have to admit them and we all believe in redemption. That's the human story.

We believe that when you make mistakes, you learn from them and you come back. And I'll tell you what I have learned coming back. I started seeing the exact same divisions in rural Alberta that was driving our movement apart. And when we disrespect rural rural Alberta, we know what happens. They go and start their own parties. And when we start our own parties in rural Alberta, that ends up leading to the kind of division that would lead to a Rachel Notley government. I didn't want that. I was cheering Brian Jean and Jason Kenney along as they brought the party together.

And I came back in because the United Conservative Party is the right vehicle. It is the right movement. It's worth investing in. The policies and principles of the party are very much along the lines of Wild Rose. Heck, we've got three people from the Wild Rose tradition on the state. here right now. So don't give up on the Unity Project. I sure, you bet, I went about it the wrong way, but I'm very pleased to be back here because I think it's really important that we stay together. We have to be united. We have to be able to beat Rachel Notley in the next election, and we will

not do that if we're divided. I'm going to give Rebecca, Travis, and Todd one last chance. Just to say a few final remarks here, we are, as they're tapping me on the shoulder. We're of time. So please keep it brief. I know in your current occupation, that's a little difficult, but hey, let's give it a shot. Rebecca, we're going to start with you. Yeah, I mean, I would say, first of all, I am grateful for the opportunity to be here tonight in rural Alberta, and some of what Danielle has said is right. Like, we do have to spend more time outside of Calgary and Edmonton. When I travel the province, people say they forget, or they feel that government has forgotten who sent them to Edmonton in the first place. And that's why it matters that we spend time here.

why I think what we need most is common sense. I would agree we don't need government by panel review and committee. And I think some of my colleagues would know from my work. I joke that three years working in the public service gave me my superpower, which is cutting through bureaucracy, which doesn't sound that exciting, and it's really hard in a province where people value limited government, and they don't have it.

We don't have it. We need common sense, and that comes from listening to people like you in this room, and that's why I'm grateful to have the opportunity to be here and I think you know when it comes to making the right decisions we do have to bring albertans along with the decisions that we make with the platforms that we put forward the ideas that we put forward in this leadership race because as many have said if we don't run platforms that the vast majority of albertans can get

behind and I can tell you the vast majority of albertans absolutely want a leader who will stand up and defend alberta when it comes to the federal government no question and it's not just in rural Alberta it's right across the province We need to do that with a clear plan. We need to stand up for Albertans. That's what Albertans want to see, but we need to focus on our vision for the future, not what divides us,

because that won't get us reelected in 2023. Travis, final, some remarks. Yeah, good. Thanks, Sean. And I mean, I have to agree with Brian Jean. Brian stepped in to clean up a mess in this province that was left when the leader of the opposition walked the floor and be known as to her members. Look, I was a typical conservative.

My best day was the day I didn't notice government. I had no aspirations for political life until this province made a sharp left turn and elected an NDP government. All of a sudden I sat up and tens of thousands of Albertans sat up and said, what happened? Two things happened.

We had disunity in the conservative movement. That was a problem. And just in 2014, just before the election, we had a leader of the opposition walked the floor. And that left the movement, in disarray. Look, right now, leadership matters, management matters, good judgment matters. We need to elect a leader that can demonstrate proven principled, stable leadership.

If we fail to do that, we'll fail to win in 23. I believe that's the essential question. Todd, you'll have the final remark. Thank you very much. I'm running because I love Alberta. I love Albertans. I love our industries here in Alberta. But I'm also running to give this province back to the people. We've seen a wide swath of Albertans who have felt like they weren't listened to, and rightly so because they weren't. We've had a government that hasn't listened to Albertans and hasn't given, listen to their voice, even the voice of their MLA that they've elected. I'm running to say no to Justin Trudeau. And I'm also running to make sure that

we don't have another NDP government. It's time for government to work for the people instead of being run by bureaucrats. Some people want us to apologize for Alberta. Apologize for our industries. I will not apologize for Alberta. We're the best in the world. We produce the best products around the world in the safest, most environmental way possible.

The rest of the world needs to catch up to us. And I think the next election will be fought on trust. Who do the people trust? And we need to make sure that we have a leader that the people of Alberta can trust. And so if chosen, I promise that this will be your Alberta, and I'm willing to do it your way. Thank you. That concludes the first portion.

I really, my hats off to these five people to come up and get grilled and, you know, and have an open where you get to, you know, there's a little bit of tense moments. But I always, you know, my kids always say, mom and dad, you're arguing. And I'm like, well, you can have a conversation and it can get heated and you still enjoy the person's company, right? And I think for a lot of us, seeing you folks up here be open and talk a little bit more. I hope I did my job in facilitating some of that. Regardless, I'm going to hand it over to the MCs. There's another portion where they're going to interact with all of you fine folks in the building,

a little more one-on-one, and we'll move towards that. But thank you. Please give them a round applause again for sitting up here.