Shaun Newman Podcast - #868- Eric Bouchard

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Eric Bouchard is a Canadian politician and member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Lougheed in the 2023 Alberta general election. A small business owner for most of his career, he owned and operated restaurants in downtown Calgary, including Sonoma on 9th and Sonoma Market Café, for 15 years, and worked in hospitality roles such as food and beverage manager at Sirocco Golf Club. We discuss the upcoming Courage to Listen townhall on June 25th. Tickets for June 25th:https://thecouragetolisten.ca/To watch the Full Cornerstone Forum: https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcastGet your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionWebsite: www.BowValleycu.comEmail: [e-mail] Use the code “SNP” on all ordersProphet River Links:Website: store.prophetriver.com/Email: [e-mail]

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If you're listening or watching on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Brumble, X, make sure to subscribe. Make sure to leave a review. And make sure to share it with a friend. Folks, let's get on to that tale of the tape. Today's guest is a Canadian politician and member of the United Conservative Party. He was elected as the MLA for Calgary Law Heid in the 2023 Alberta general election. I'm talking about Eric Bouchard.

So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm sitting with Eric Bouchard. Sir, thanks for hopping on. Thanks for having me, Sean. Yeah, anytime. Appreciate it.

Well, you know, I was just saying you before we started. Like, you've hopped on a couple times, but it's, it's been pretty quick. little spots and for the audience, you know, like they probably know a little bit about you, Eric, but, you know, in fairness, I wouldn't mind just getting a little bit of your backstory. What drew you into politics? And I don't know, just tell us a little bit about yourself before we get into, you know, the courage to listen and a few other things going on in Alberta politics. Perfect.

No, thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah, my name is Eric Bouchard. I'm the MLA for Calgary-Laheed. I was elected just over two years ago, May 29th. Prior to that, I had a business downtown Calgary. We started in 2004, my wife and I. My wife, Roxanne, we've been married for 26 years.

We've got four kids, 25, 23, 18, and 16 years old, two boys, two girls. And was always interested in politics, but never, other than voting and being interested, you know, reading lots about the political scene, was never involved directly until it really, really mattered to me. And, you know, we lost, we were forced to close our business in 2020 due to government mandates. And then we were, we had a business and we just opened up a brand new business in January 2020 in the downtown core of Calgary. We had 10 weeks where business was great until forced to close. Specifically with our business being in the downtown core when we were allowed to reopen.

there was no one in the core. Everyone was working from home. So, you know, a couple years of ups and downs and hanging on hoping for things to turn around, which they never really did. And, you know, much of the downtown Calgary, particularly the West End where we were located is still really, really quiet. So we didn't have the opportunity to bounce back. So I was extremely frustrated, you know, went through some really low. times and I reached out to some other business owners that you know not really

knowing exactly what I was looking for but we kind of we became our own self-help group I guess and trying to try to make sense of a world that didn't make sense anymore and got involved we started we got together one week there was seven of us the following week there was 16 and that's a group that is evolved and grown into much more and they About three years ago, or two and a half years ago, I guess, they asked if I'd consider running and Jason Kenney's vacancy, which is I'm sitting in his old office down in Calgary, Lougheed right now. And my first reaction was, it was F no or hard no. And then I said, I'm not a politician.

You know, I appreciate the ask, but that's not for me. and, you know, they said, well, that's exactly why you should. And so I talked with my wife, talked with my kids. This was a couple weeks before Christmas, so I said, I'll get back to you guys at the end of the Christmas holidays. And I was firmly expecting my wife and kids to say, that's ridiculous that. That's the dumbest thing ever. And they all supported me. So knowing that they had my back, I decided to put my name forward.

I ran in the nomination for the UCP in Calgary, Laude, kicked off our campaign in early January. There was five of us running, hard-fought nomination process, but I had the time and ability to doorknock pretty much every home in Calgary, Lohed, and made lots of connections, sold some memberships. won the nomination, I think March 13th, and then a few months later, won the UCP seat in Calgary Lockheed. So that's pretty much it in a nutshell. You know, one of the things I really respect about your story is that, you know, like, I've been asked from time to time. I don't think I'd make a great politician whatsoever,

but I've been asked, you know, you're ever going to run politics? And my answer's always been, you know, the day my wife says, to run in politics is the day I'll think about it. Because until that point, you know, with young family and everything else, I think it's, it's more detrimental to, to be away from one's family and everything else. And the fact that your story leads to your family being now, like being very supportive of it, I think that's, well, I respect that. Because if you, you know, done it a different way, you just don't know what the outcomes are

of family. And that's really, really important, at least on this side of things. And I would argue for a lot more people. Oh, for sure. And I mean, if it wasn't for my family support and they, you know, the years leading up to, I think it'd be a different story if I went from the business world, you know, from having my business to jumping into politics without that gap of, you know, two plus years of trying to figure out our life in this new world. and, you know, they witnessed the ups and more so the downs of those two years. And I think that certainly emboldened me. And I think my family as well. And, you know, there's still times where they're a little weirded out because, you know,

they'll see their dad's name in the paper or on TV and, you know, particularly my youngest who's in just finishing up grade 11 when they talk politics. my name comes up every once in a while. But no, I couldn't have, couldn't have done it with them. And they're my biggest champions. And it's, it's been, it's been an amazing process. Well, and in fairness to you, you didn't get into politics and sit idly by, I would argue, you know, with the, you know, when, when I first got asked to come down and host your first

injection of truth, the thing that drew me to it was the fact that it was government putting it on, right? You know, there's lots of town halls that have happened all across Alberta. I don't need to tell the audience that. Half the audience is the ones putting it on. But the thing about Calgary-Laheed is they have been a place where they've pushed the conversation for it, which I really respect. And, you know, you did this first two injection of truths.

And I assume, you know, when you started, that wasn't the plan, but you've certainly taken the lead on it for the Alberta government because I don't maybe I'm wrong maybe there's other constituencies doing the same thing but yours certainly is the ones I've heard about is there others doing what you've done and then how has that been being the constituency doing that the MLA being at the forefront of it I think there's there are other constituency associations and other MLAs who are interested and involved and very supportive but I think similar to myself. So when I won the nomination,

the entire constituency board of Calgary, Laheed resigned the following day. And at first I thought, oh no, what am I going to do? Like here I am, you know, this neophyte in the political world not really understanding anything. And then now all of a sudden I don't have a board. But that turns out, I think that was probably one of the best things because we put together a board and the board is is motivated they we don't know what we don't know

so we're going to continue on and you know we've we've had our ups and downs and you know some some pushback from from different people and but I think you know what we're we're always looking to and we have a saying in Calgary-Laheed that we win conversations or we win people over one conversation at a time. And that's, you know, how I approached my, my business background, how through door knocking, through meeting people and our constituency association is, is no different. You know, we're seeking truth. We're seeking dialogue. We don't always have the answers. We're always going to, if we don't have the answers, though, we're going to ask questions. And unfortunately, sometimes it means going into the corners and having, having difficult conversations or

trying to have a conversation when we don't understand something. When you say your entire board resigns, they resigned because you were elected, I assume specifically you were elected. So what you stood for, they just disagreed so much with, they were like, I'm not doing this. And it wasn't one person. It was the entire board. It was the entire board.

And I don't, I didn't want to go into it. I didn't want to ask those questions because I was trying to figure out my role, even just as, as the UCP. candidate now. And so I didn't, I didn't ask the questions as to why. There was just an email. And there weren't too many people left on the board. I don't, so it wasn't, I think the maximum you're allowed to have is 30 board members. But they certainly didn't have a full board. But I was, the president of the board sent an email saying that, yeah, we, we resign. So I, I didn't want to delve any further into it because I was, I just wanted to move forward. You know, in the NHL or in hockey when a new GM gets appointed, right?

They usually clean house and they cleaned house for you. So you got to, I mean, on the positive side of it, you got to have people come in that I assume believe in Eric Bouchard and believe in maybe changing the direction of the way Calgary-Laheed maybe was operating or maybe in maybe a little larger scope the way Alberta was operating. Sure. And I, at the time didn't really, like I was trying not to dwell on the personal side. And, you know, I think it's for sure been an incredible, they gifted us an incredible opportunity to put together this team of, you know, our board is fantastic.

You know, from our leadership from, you know, Darryl, Darryl Combeck, their president, our, our CFO, David Coutts and Trenna Irman, who's, who does everything behind the scenes. And she keeps, keeps the trains rolling in on time. And then, you know, our other 27 board members, it's a powerful board and it's fun to move, you know, not always in lockstep, but we seem to, we, we come to consensus and we move forward together. And that's, I think one of the beauties is that none of us really knew the intricacies of how politics really worked. So we're figuring it out as we go and continue to ask questions and we're going to misstep every once in a while. but no, it's, I'm glad we, we all share, you know, seeking, seeking truth and having dialogue with people. Well, you're, you have another event coming up. I brought up, I think, the courage to listen coming up here June 25th in Calgary Lawheed again.

And I guess before we get into the event, what was the conversation on your side like to have another event? you know, I've been fortunate enough to emcee both the first two and see some of the speakers you've been able to bring in. And my hat's off to your entire group because they have been nothing short of exceptional. Although we, I think we can all agree, as soon as you're bringing in some of those names, it's like, well, you're about to go through a media cycle of being slammed as, you know, talking to, I, you know, I could stick a bunch of words there, but just, you know, the tinfoil hat crew unless you come and sit and listen to what they're talking about.

And then you're like, holy man, this is, this is something. What, you know, like after the first two did it, it help like kind of like toughen you up of like, no, we're going to keep doing this. And then what was the thought process leading into this courage to listen, you know, idea around, and I'm going to pull it up here, the building a framework for a sovereign Alberta. You know, obviously that's been all the conversation from the election, but maybe just the first two and what did that, you know, did it build the character of the group to keep pushing forward? And what was the thought process in on this June 25th event coming up? Well, no, no simple

thought process other than, you know, Daryl and I having having a cold one together and just having, you know, just discussing future town halls. And this was, there was no great plan for it, but it kind of came together about three and a half, four months ago. You know, the popularity and success and information of the injection of truth town halls, you know, kind of has led us to, okay, well, let's explore some other things. What do we want to talk about? And we've brought up quite a few different ideas. And this was one that was, we discussed it even months before the federal election.

And then obviously the federal election came to be. And just from myself, you know, the day after the federal election, talking to small business owners in my constituency, there's certainly a lot of people who are looking for exploring. No one really knows what the answers are going to be. So we decided, well, this is months before the election as well. Like let's pose some questions and let's bring some people in who may have answers. and you know with with completely different views and you know I reached out one of one of the groups that I had been talking to as of a couple months ago was the monarchist league of Canada and you know I spoke to with one gentleman there and he was very interested and then over the

last month pretty much since the the federal election he has ghosted me essentially hasn't responded to emails or voicemails that I've left them because we did want to present and we still do. So if you know anyone who wants to speak from a monarchist side or from a federalist side, like we're open. We want the best people to communicate their ideas because at the end of the day, I don't know the answers. I don't know the pathway forward for Albertans, what it looks like, but I know from an economics perspective, like we need status quo hasn't worked in it wasn't working in the past and you know this new this new liberal government sure are saying some of the the right things but until we see you know a concrete action we really it's it's a lot of the same people

yeah well yes it's a lot of the same people and actions speak a heck of a lot louder than words at this point and and certainly knowing the years that you're talking about and and the subsequent years after that, there's been a lot of attack on Alberta specifically, the West. And so this conversation, there's a reason why, you know, the Alberta Prosperity Project continues to fill town halls everywhere across Alberta, right? Like, I mean, people are hungry to find out if there's a better way forward. And one of the things about, you know, I'll rattle off. You got Brian Jean coming, Minister of Energy and Minerals.

You got Ben Trudeau, Matthew Eric, Chris Sims, Bruce Part. Dr. Michael Wagner, Peter McCaffrey, Mitch Sylvester. And to the audience here, none of those are shockers. They've all been on the show at some point, some more than others. Brian hasn't been on since he ran for the UCP leadership. But I assume that is going to be one heck of a night with some people who are in, well, a man who's in government, the CEO of probably the loudest voice in the independence movement and then everything in between you know Bruce party coming out from

Ontario has been a vocal advocate which is interesting from an Ontario perspective for Alberta leaving what do you hope to maybe find from all these people you know asking the question what do you hope to just just to get the conversation and continue it to roll or is there something specific you're looking for well I think Nothing specific because as I mentioned, like I don't know what the answer is. And it's, you know, I'll default to the Premier and let the people decide, you know, let Albertans decide. They know better.

They, you know, we're just posing, posing questions and putting it out there. Like I, to be honest, I look at it from a pure economic, you know, with my, my background and now is a member of the, uh, Albertans. to legislature, like let's look at the economics. You know, equalization has been very one-sided for many years. You know, our system, confederation, in my opinion, needs to be ratified or rejigged, whatever the terminology is. I think, you know, more than anything, we're just putting it up, putting out information there for all Albertans to, yes, we're going to have disagreements. But at the end of the day. Like I don't, I don't represent the rest of Canada. I represent the constituents of Calgary

Lawheed. And I was elected as a small business, you know, with a small business background. And I've got a, my next meeting after this is with a couple of small business owners in the community that genuinely have concerns. You know, we want to have, we're, we're looking for, you know, fairness, a fair seat at the table within Confederation. Sorry. Just, just, uh, it's, It was just glitching ever so slightly on my end. You brought up the NDP before we started. How have they reacted to this conversation being held by Calgary-Laheed? The Nenshi Democratic Party don't really have any love for Calgary-Laheed, unfortunately.

So much of this, like it reminds me of a few years back, you know, when the convoy rolled out. There's so many parallels I see. You know, can you imagine how things would be, what world, how different we would be in, what's, what's the best way to say this? Sorry, I'm kind of rambling here. Had Trudeau reached out and spoken to the convoy leaders and just had a conversation, you know, let's talk about things. We can agree to disagree, but let's sit down and let's break.

it. The NDP seemed to want to quash any conversation. They're certainly not not comfortable. They've, you know, branded us as a group of separatists. And I'm not. I grew up in, in Quebec. I was, I went through the 1980 referendum, lost some of my best friends. Their families moved to Ontario. And then I actually, I was living out here in 90, I moved out here in 92. in 95, I went back to Quebec to vote in the referendum again. But no, they're not, they don't want to encourage debate or conversation, particularly around this topic once again. And, you know, I go back to, I represent Albertans.

I represent the constituents of Calgary-Lawheed. So, you know, when my constituents have concerns, well, I'd like to bring their voice to the table. Well, and the thing is the polls, you know, if you go on the high side or the low side, it isn't 10 Albertans that are talking about this. This is thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands, I might say, that are talking about this. This has been the conversation around the water cooler. It's been the conversation in the hockey dressing room. It's been the conversation around the ball field.

You know, I'm certain there's some farmers that are having it out in the field. And so if you don't talk about it, right, you don't bring in some people to discuss this. You don't know where it can go there. At least here, there's an opportunity to bring incredible voices to discuss the possibilities that lay ahead, whether that is in Canada or separated from Canada or, you know, one of the other options out there. The conversation is the conversation of the day. Like that's one of the things that I think is timely about this is that it is being talked about. It's being talked about an awful lot.

The NDP can hide from that or they can try and shout it down, but it's no different than when the convoy went. It was the only conversation I was having everywhere I went was, how are we getting out of this? And certainly I can see the resemblance to that time. Here in Alberta, people are talking about it. And you can shout it down all you want, but they're talking about it. about it. Agreed. Yeah. And it seems like that's their, the same playbook. And they, they go about, you know, it's once again, a small fringe minority. You know, and we've seen where, where that ended up. You know, these fringe minorities are, are not fringe minorities. They're

people with genuine questions. They're people who've been, you know, impacted for a variety of reasons. And, you know, the results of the last federal election just seemed to have alienated not just Albertans, but many Western Canadians. You know, there's something inherently wrong with how thing with the way Confederation, the way Western Canada has been treated. And, you know, if you look at how Quebec, you know, they advocate for their people, you know. I think there's 24 members of parliament that are known separatists, you know, that sit in the House of Commons on a daily basis. They are elected members of parliament in, within, you know, in Canada and do not want Canada. They're advocating for separatism in Quebec. And I'm not saying that's the direction Alberta would or should go, but I'm saying like, why I represent.

Albertans. I represent Calgary-Laheed. So I think we need to stand up and say enough is enough. We need to have an equal seat at the table. When I find it interesting, there's a ton of people from Ontario that have moved to Alberta and they're all for this conversation. They're coming here and going, no, we need to stay in this country or we shouldn't try and find a better way to position Alberta to have an equal seat to, you know, to stay within Canada. They're all for it, which is, which is interesting to me, right? It isn't like a whole group of Ontarians came here and are like, no, we want no part of this conversation. At times, they're pushing as hard as any Albertans who's been here their entire life, which is, should raise some eyebrows to the people

that don't want to entertain the conversation. Sure. And it's fascinating. I remember a little while ago looking at the numbers of net migration within Canada like interprovincial migration over the years and I think it was the four years of NDB government where where we saw and I think the government itself was said yeah there's no jobs here you know why don't you move to BC and since 2020 our net migration people are moving from every other province because they they want to be here and I you know it's Alberta's the place to be Elb for for me it's given me, like I said, I moved here in 92, it's given myself and my family everything and more I could have ever asked for. And I think, you know, we, we are the light. People, people see that

and want to be part of something that's, that's really cool. And something, you know, moving forward, I think we, we have the opportunity to set some new, you know, it's, it's going to be a fun process. Before I let you out, I, you go back to the courage, to listen.ca. That's where people can get tickets. Building a framework for Sovereign Alberta is the conversation for that night. Anything you want to, you know, trying to encourage people to attend, anything like that, Eric, that you'd want to give out to the listener on being in the building that night or, you know, having some viewing parties, that type of thing have been very popular if they can't make Calgary. Just some thoughts to the people for June

25th. Yeah, well, this is going to be another, another great event. Our last town hall, I think as of now, you know, we had over 500 people in attendance, sold out room, 26,000 people viewing it online. I think it's been shared over three and a half million times. So I would encourage anyone who's interested, who may have questions, you know, reach out or get your tickets soon because we're going to be selling out relatively quickly. Organize a viewing party, get together, talk, you know, bring some friends, bring some family, bring some colleagues. This is such an important conversation for the future of Alberta. And I'm happy, happy to be part of it. Once again, folks, the courage to listen.ca is where you can go for tickets. I can toss it

in the show notes so people can just scroll down. One final question for you, because to my knowledge, I think you were the only MLA in attendance at the Cornerstone Forum. What did you think of it? You were sitting up top, perched up top. I got to bump India briefly. I'm sure I looked like I'd been hit by a train that day. But what did you think of the Cornerstone Forum? And would you, you know, encourage other MLAs to attend next year?

Absolutely. It was amazing. And I was on the floor for most of it. I went, I was down there at the beginning, had lunch, and then had a couple calls. So when I bumped into you up top, it was just nice to stretch my legs out. But I thought it was incredible. And once again, you know, bringing speakers in who have, you know, whether it's economic, whether you just, you know, you had a variety of different panels, I thought it was fantastic.

I would encourage all MLAs regardless of what team you play for, what color you wear, to show up, to engage, to speak with constituents, to speak with other Albertans. And it's, you know, it's okay to disagree, you know, sometimes agree to disagree. But without dialogue, without, you know, bringing people together, we're lost. And I thank you for putting that on. I'll be there next year for sure. Yeah, I'd encourage all MLAs and I will, I'll continue to hopefully advocate. and bring more people out.

Well, I tell you what, maybe what I got to do next year is I just got to invite the MLAs, right? Try and get in front of it so that they know they're welcome to be in attendance. Because there's a lot of different conversations that happen at events like that or yours coming up, the courage to listen, that if you're in person and get to talk with the constituents, the different people from across Alberta, you know, it goes a long way to see an MLA there and to have conversations one-on-one and, you know, I didn't think I did anything too extreme, but at the same time, I can just imagine the NDP looking at it from the outside and seeing some of the speakers. But to actually sit and listen and hear some different perspectives and then to have from just a voting person here in Alberta to see you there means a lot.

I'm like, oh, Eric's here. That's pretty sweet. All right. Like, you know, and once again, when I host an event, it's hard to have a real in-depth conversation with people just because of how busy and time-orientated, those events are. But I think for others to see MLAs in attendance and know they're hearing the same conversations is really important. Oh, no, I completely agree. And I, you know, if I've learned anything over the last couple of years is that, you know, when you do speak to someone that you do disagree with, or you know, we, we always seem to to listen to the loudest voice and, you know, people telling you, oh, you can't, you shouldn't listen to this person. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't go to this event. And I would, my pushback is always, well, why not? Like, what's,

what is the harm? You know, why? And when you actually talk to someone from in my position from across the aisle or, you know, someone who when I, you know, we door, we still, every second Saturday head out in my constituency door knock for a couple hours. Just to get the, the pulse. And I still find it's the best way to with people. But it is, it's truly, you know, I like listening to that different perspective and having, you know, because it opens my eyes. I learn things. And then also what, you know, sometimes how I've been portrayed as being possibly, you know, putting on some events that might be deemed a little too controversial. And when I talk to people and the takeaway is, oh, it was great speaking with you. You're nothing like I expected. And I like that, I guess,

The takeaway is talk to people you don't agree with. Talk to people you don't know. It's okay to have disagreements. And then you do find out that most people are more aligned, but seem to be this, there's this polarization that if you don't agree with someone, you know, then you shouldn't talk to them. And I, like, let's, I'm going to continue and I encourage people to try and break down those barriers and just, just talk to people.

Appreciate it, Eric. I appreciate what you're doing. And once again, June 25th, folks, The Courage to Listen, Building a Framework for a Sovereign, Alberta. You can get tickets at The Courage to Listen.ca. As a guy who will be there on stage, handing the baton, as I like to call it,

just bouncing between speakers and making sure the night goes as smooth as possible. I look forward to the evening. I hope others will buy tickets and be there or the viewing parties. Either way, Eric, appreciate you giving me some time this morning. And any final thoughts for the audience, tuning in today.

Get your tickets soon, June 25th, The Courage to Listen.com. It's going to be another packed house, and I look forward to seeing you there, Sean. And if you can't make it, organize a viewing party or watch by yourself. Thanks very much. Awesome.

Thanks, Eric, for hopping on. Of course. Thank you, Sean.