‘THAT’S RIDICULOUS’ | Danielle Smith SLAMS Alberta Separatists Over US Resource Deal | Canada, Trump

Jean-Emmanuel Fortier, Radio-Canada. Hello Jean-Emmanuel, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. We'll have more to say about that in due course. We're talking about significant... Obviously, obviously, Edmonton is on the short list. It's an important location. This is something that the operational experts within the Canadian Armed Forces are examining. The commander of the army, Mike Wright, has been out here several times. I know he's met with the new commander here of this particular new division. All this is being worked out in detail. We'll have more to say about the details of the announcement. But the good news is we're actually purchasing refuelers for the first time. And we'll be able to deploy these, not only for Canadian purposes, Arctic purposes, but also NORAD purposes. So we'll be acquitting ourselves of our responsibilities domestically and continentally, and internationally as well, under the rubric of NATO missions. This is not a follow-up. In French, please. Why not announce Edmonton, Edmonton Airport, as a base... The question of final choice of location is to come. Obviously, the details are being discussed, led by the head of the Canadian Armed Forces, who has been here several times. We are happy that we have already ordered the planes. The planes will obviously serve us domestically, also at the continental level, and obviously with NATO for missions abroad and internationally. My follow-up is for the Premier, if I may. Premier, a slightly, well, very off-topic question, my apologies. Gas prices. A lot of people have noticed gas prices at the pump have been going up since last week, since the cancelling of the suspension of the fuel taxes. Is your government looking into it? Has there been complaints? What's going on out there? Well, look, what I tell people is take the GasBuddy app and download it on your phone and shop around, because we do have a free enterprise system. Some of the timing of deliveries that happen sometimes delays some of those price adjustments until the tanks are empty, those busy gas stations that are able to turn their inventory over faster, sometimes they're able to move faster. But the only way to know for sure that you're getting the best price is to look at all of the gas prices that are in the area and to shop for the best one. What I would encourage people to do as they're on GasBuddy is take a look at the gas prices in Vancouver, take a look at the gas prices in St. John's. You'll see that they're anywhere from 50 to 60 cents per litre higher than here, and sometimes there are increases as a result of the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, and until we get some stability in the supply, we are going to have that kind of variation. As part of the reason we took 13 cents off in the first place, is we knew that because of this disruption we were seeing higher prices, and we want to give people relief right at the pumps. Thank you. Go ahead. Sheila Hanskoski with CTV News Edmonton. My question for both the Premier and the Federal Minister. I want to ask about the timing of today's announcement. How much does this injection of cash have to do with bolstering Alberta's role in Canada's defence plan, and how much of it is about the two of you standing here in Edmonton in front of everyone talking about how close of a relationship Alberta and Canada have less than two weeks before Albertans vote on the issue of separating from Canada? Well, I think it's both. Obviously, we want to demonstrate that there's a new day in the relationship between Canada and Alberta. I think that the announcement that I made last week with the Prime Minister announcing a new pipeline, the Pacific Link, to the West Coast, as well as announcements we've made on affordable housing, as well as announcements that we've made on infrastructure, those are all a demonstration that things have changed. And we want Albertans to understand that even though they might have been hurt by how we were treated by the previous administration, there seems to be a real recognition on the part of the federal government to identify the issues that have caused concerns to Albertans and to address them in a meaningful way. But the second part is we've been working on this defence issue for some time. Minister McGuinty reminded me that we met a year ago today where I asked him how Alberta would be able to leverage the assets we have here in Cold Lake, Wainwright, Suffield, and Edmonton in order to meet the national target of 5% NATO spending. And I think that this is the first of what I hope will be many exciting announcements. We've got to get the infrastructure in place. But we also know that there's going to be a huge amount of private sector development that comes from this, and we're pleased to see all of the different industries that are developing adjacent to the military bases in every community that I had mentioned. I'll turn it over to the Minister. Thank you, Premier. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, this is my fifth visit to Alberta in 14 months. We've been working on a plan to execute on investments in Alberta to reformulate our structure and our army, which we've done. We've modernized our army locations, roles, responsibilities, new officers. We've secured the 2% spend in the last budget and indicated $81 billion of expenditures over the next five years. This isn't random. This is the execution of a plan that we've been devising and working on for some time. I would only say this with respect to the situation that we're facing in the country today. You know, I was flying out here last night thinking I grew up in a family of 10 siblings, and we are 10 provinces and a few territories. And I do recall my mother saying to all of us on a regular basis that we had a choice to make. She would say that if you pulled apart, you will feel like you're five, but if you pull together, you'll feel like you're 20. I think today demonstrates on the defense front how pulling together makes us 20. It contributes to the importance of reinvesting, rearming, strengthening our Canadian Armed Forces. The world is a rough and tumble place right now. I've just come back from Iceland meeting with 10 Nordic countries, including the Baltic states, who are extremely worried about the situation in Ukraine. Our geography no longer protects us. It's a question right now of making sure we harness the capabilities across the country. Alberta has always been there. That's what this meeting is about. Thank you. And my follow-up is unrelated. Apologies. And it's for the premier. I wanted to get your reaction to the federal government's announcement earlier this morning on May that they'll not be expanding medical assistance in dying from mental illness. However, the door will be left open for provinces to allow for advanced directives for people to provide consent before losing capacity. Wanting to get your thoughts on that decision and what direction Alberta will take on the issue of advanced. Well, first let me say that we believe people with mental illness should be given treatment, not an offer to take their own life. And so we're grateful that the federal government sees it the same way. And we already passed legislation with that in mind. When it comes to advanced directives, part of our legislation replicated what we saw in federal legislation. And we clearly have to do more consultation on that to see if there's an appetite to make any changes. I still think advanced directives end up having some serious moral difficulties. Because someone has got to make a choice about when a loved one's life is no longer worth living, if that person is not able to make that decision themselves. And that's a pretty difficult position to put loved ones and family in. And so I think people need to have a good conversation about it. I've heard that there's an appetite to have this conversation. And I'll be looking to hear from Albertans about what they think about it. Hello, question for Mr. McGinty, Lauren Boothby, City News. Also, Premier, if you could respond. So Alberta has the referendum vote coming up shortly. Is it a good idea to beef up military spending here if Alberta votes to separate? Or is that maybe like a strategic location for your warfighting division if Alberta does end up wanting to go that way? We're moving forward. We have a plan and we're executing on the plan. The plan involved, first of all, securing 2 percent of GDP funding for our defense expenditures five full years in advance of the originally indicated date. The plan was to work with our provincial partners, as we are bilaterally with Alberta, and we are with Nova Scotia and Quebec and British Columbia and every other province and territory in this country. There's an urgency to making these investments. There's an urgency to obtaining the military equipment that we require. There's an urgency to rebuilding our 33 bases. There's an urgency to making sure that our 2,200 soldiers on the front line in Latvia get the equipment they need. We're moving forward. This is about making sure this country remains secure and sovereign. That is what we're seized with and that is the plan we're executing, and that's why we're here today. But you're not concerned at all? You know, you made the plan five years ago. Things are different now, though. Albertans maybe are going to vote to separate. You're not concerned at all about having all of that power base here? I had the same question put to me about the Quebec election some months ago, and my answer was the same. We're investing heavily in Vagueville to make sure that our F-35 and other fighter aircraft have the infrastructure they require to do their jobs. We're making sure that we're investing properly in Valcartier's water and wastewater systems to make sure the system is appropriate for the women and men who serve. We're moving forward with our defence investments. This is a very important next step for Canada. Canadians, I think, recognize this, and we're not being distracted. We're moving forward with the incredible help of the women and men of the armed forces. Premier Smith, do you have a response? I would say that it's announcements like this that give confidence to Albertans that Canada can work and that Alberta and Canada can work together collaboratively. The most recent poll I saw suggested 72% of Albertans were going to vote to remain and 22% were going to vote to start the process towards a binding vote on separation. The number is still too high for my liking, but I think it's announcements like these that demonstrate that there's a spirit of cooperative federalism that we're now seeing in the country that is a bit different than what we had about 18 months ago. I think, hopefully, these kinds of announcements will give people more and more confidence to vote to remain on October 19th. Thanks. Alex Cosh, The Maple. This question is for Minister McGuinty. Minister, you've been telling us for months that the F-35 purchase is under review. Does the $4 billion you've announced today for Cold Lake signal another step towards purchasing the full fleet? Well, as you know, we've committed to purchasing 16. As you know, we began laying track to receive those 16 some time ago. The infrastructure that's required is being built. It's a highly, highly sophisticated aircraft that requires highly sophisticated storage and sustainment. The question of where we're going next is under review. This is something that we've been very clear about. We're going to take the time we need to make sure that this has gotten right. We've just gone through a similar process with respect to the acquisition of submarines. We're taking more time to look at this question. The Prime Minister is seized with this issue. And when the decision is made, we'll make the announcement. We're going to take the time we need to get this right. In July, you said there is really little daylight between Canada and the United States on military and intelligence affairs. Since then, President Trump has kept up his annexation threats. And his State Department has reportedly held meetings with Alberta separatists. Do you stand by your statements? And do you regard the United States as posing any kind of military risk to Canada? I try to draw a distinction between the performative nature of politics and the military-to-military relationships between Canada and the United States, expressed, for example, through NORAD, the only binational command in the world, which has served this continent extremely well, kept us safe, works well, cooperating. I'm in regular touch with different folks in the United States. We are cooperating on many different areas. We meet, we cooperate in NATO, structures inside NATO. That continues. That will continue. So I have confidence in that relationship on the military-to-military side. We're moving forward. We are supporting all of our NATO partners. Canada stepped up and taken on much more responsibility at NATO, made easier, frankly, by the funding decisions. So at this time and place, I will repeat what I said then, that intelligence, security, and defense issues remain aligned between Canada and the United States. Hi there. A question for Premier Smith, please. It's Michelle Belfontaine from CBC in Edmonton. Premier, I wanted to get your reaction to the Globe and Mail story on the weekend, Elephant in the Room. What do you think about Alberta separatist leaders reportedly offering up fresh water and resource royalties, among other things, to the U.S. for help with independence? Well, I think it's ridiculous. Certainly would not be supported by Albertans. Talking about being more autonomous within Canada means that we're going to have the development over our own resources and to make sure that we can get them to market. So I think it's absurd that anybody would offer something like that up. It's not theirs to offer. It's a decision that Albertans would make, and I don't think Albertans would support it. And as a follow-up, does the U.S. interest and involvement in the separatist movement ring alarm bells for you? I mean, what do you say to those who say that you've encouraged this involvement by allowing a question about moving ahead with a binding referendum on Alberta's future in Canada on October 19th? Well, there's no greater critic of me than the same separatist leaders you're talking about because I've been making it very clear that my position is to vote to remain. And I also made my position very clear when these allocations first serviced months and months ago, is that we expect that the American administration will deal with the duly elected governments. That includes mine, but it also includes the government of Canada. Thank you. We have time for a few more questions. We'll take one more from the mic, then we'll go to the phones and try and come back to the room. Go ahead. Hi, Premier. Will Vassar with the Western Standard. A reaction to the PQ winning Monday's election in Quebec. Do you intend to work closely with them on issues like immigration? And on top of that, do you feel like this helps or hurts your chances of the four constitutional questions? I'm getting those approved. Well, I want to congratulate my longtime friend, Eric Duhame, for having an historic victory for the Conservative Party within Quebec. First time in 100 years that Conservatives have been represented in the legislature. And many of the ideas that he brought up are ones that we have actively been talking about and implementing here in Alberta. The fact that he holds the balance of power in the legislature, I think, gives us an opportunity to work constructively with him as one of the opposition parties. When it comes to the Premier, Premier Poulamanda, I congratulated him on his election victory. And my intention is to work through the constructive tables that we have, the Council of the Federation and the First Minister's table, in order to find areas of common ground that we can make Canada stronger. And we'll watch how that unfolds. I think we've got a Council of the Federation meeting coming up later this year in December. And then another one off topic, but the Alberta NDP yesterday started a court challenge, challenging your guys' decision to restrict access to the electoral list for the rest of this year. Kind of your reaction to that? They were asking us to limit the access to the electoral list because the Republican Party illegally gave it to a third party. They were asking for that, if you remember, all through the legislative session. And that's what we've done. We have said that no one is going to get access to the detailed, private information of Albertans until we have a chance to legislate some guardrails around this in the fall. That includes the Republican Party, that includes the NDP, and it includes our party as well. So this is what the NDP had been asking us to do. This is what Elections Alberta had been asking us to do. It's temporary. It'll be in place only until the end of the year, until we can work on legislation in the fall. And I hope that the official opposition will support us in that, because this is exactly what they've been asking us to do for months. All right, we'll go to the phones. Operator, can you put through our first caller, please? Rick Bell with Post Media, please go ahead. Hi, good afternoon. We got some bad coverage there, bad sound. Want to try that again? My father was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 27 years, so I grew up in a lot of PMQs over my youth. This is a bit different, Premier, than some of the other announcements, because, yes, this involves jobs, this involves the economy, this involves money coming into Alberta. But as the minister has pointed out, there's also an appeal to patriotism. We're talking now about the defense of Canada, the defense of the nation, the historical ties that Alberta has had to the rest of Canada through wars and in wartime and in peace. Do you think, when it finally comes down to the vote on this independence referendum, and both of you could answer, please, do you think that the issue of patriotism will play a part for some people when they vote? Could that be a possibility? Not just that it's good for the economy and we're getting all these deals, pipelines and things going, but what about the issue of patriotism, which has come out in this announcement today? I certainly hope so. I think that one thing that's going to stick with me for some time is Minister McGinty's comment that a young province, only nine years old, managed to muster a force of over 40,000 people to fight in World War I. And that's what we do. That's what Albertans do. We always punch above our weight. We always rise to the call. And it's part of the reason, I think, why there's four successful bases here in Alberta. I know that we have been able to work collaboratively with PPCLI as well when it comes to firefighting, so they've been able to help us in defence when we've had the terrible forest firefighting seasons. But I think that this also shows that there's a role for the federal government and a role for the provincial government under our constitution. The role of the federal government under the constitution is the defence of the realm. It's national defence. It's the kind of announcements that Minister McGinty gave today. Our job as a provincial order of government is to make sure that the quality of life that Canadian Armed Forces personnel have here is second to none. Having affordable housing and great schools and access to health care and access to recreation facilities and good roads and good air access. And so this is one of those things where I think that we can allow for our Canadian Armed Forces to be more effective when we focus on the areas that we have the expertise in. And then, of course, all of the great opportunities that we have for the private sector to be able to support the development of the industry. I mean, this really is, I think, as I mentioned before, an example of how the bilateral federalism that we've seen over the last 18 months is really working for Alberta and it's working for Canada. Did you want Minister McGinty to comment as well? Yes, please. Patriotism is good. We hope to see patriotism around the country. I think there's a new wind blowing in Canada. People are concerned. We want to make sure we remain secure and sovereign. That's why we have to make these investments. We get to stand on the shoulders of the women and men who serve. Those are strong shoulders. We're lucky to have these members. Many of them have been with us for some time and they've been making due. We're trying something new now. We're investing collectively to make sure we have what we need to keep our people safe and secure and sovereign. So I'm with the Premier on this. I hope patriotism plays a role in these conversations. I hope the Canadians remain patriotic. I think a lot of young Canadians tell me they're worried, but they also say they believe in something called Canada. They believe that successive generations have built the country, have sacrificed, have worked hard, have come from other places. We hope to see a lot of that going forward. Do you have a follow-up, Rick? A follow-up, which is to the Premier. What do you say to those people in the independence movement that are increasingly disappointed that you've decided to actively, very actively campaign for the one side, and they keep insisting that you should have stated your position and then basically gone silent and been neutral for the entire period up to the referendum? So what do you say to those people? Again, some of them are members of your party who don't want you campaigning so actively, and they're disappointed by that and they think you shouldn't be doing that. Well, I have an opinion, just like anyone else, and when somebody asks my opinion, I will give it very clearly, that I believe that Alberta should remain in Canada. I have always said that we should be pursuing greater autonomy for Alberta within a united Canada and focusing on our areas of jurisdiction. And so I think this is a prime example of the division of powers that we have in the way Canada works, and part of the reason why the School of Public Policy talked about how complicated it is to try to set up these kinds of federal institutions from scratch. I think that the areas that Minister McGuinty focused on today, about how the long, long history that Canada has in operating these bases here, the role that they play, not only in North American security, but international security, I think that that's extraordinary and something to celebrate. And so these are the kind of institutions that I think people need to understand are worth saving, and they're worth us working together to make sure that we have a relationship with Canada that is going to be better than it has been in the past. And that's, I think, what my obligation as Premier is to do, is to show Albertans that we can identify issues and we can work on them together and we can solve problems. And I think that's what this announcement is about today. Thank you. And we'll have time for just one more question, but I know the federal minister and MP have to run offstage quickly for a quick vote. So if you see them running, they're not running away from here, but we'll go to the mic here in the room for our last question, if it's directed to the Premier or the provincial minister. Go ahead. Thanks. Eric Bay, Global News. Premier Edmonton's public school board is reviewing sort of the barriers that are in place for immigrant children to ensure that they would be able to attend school. Just given the referendum questions coming up, what sort of jurisdictional leeway or support are you giving to school boards when it comes to these students? I'm sorry, which students? Are they worried about having barriers? Immigrant children. Well, there isn't any barriers to those who have permanent resident status. Those who are permanent residents have the same access to programs as anyone else. Because their parents have made a long-term commitment to be a taxpayer in Alberta. Temporary students and temporary workers, historically, didn't bring family and children to Alberta until they got that permanent resident status. That changed. And so that's the question that we have to ask, is should those who are here on a temporary basis as a guest worker or a guest student, should they be entitled to the same programs as somebody who's made a permanent commitment to being a Canadian and Alberta taxpayer? And that's what we're asking Albertans to decide for us. And then on the referendum ballots, Elections Alberta says about 3,000 have been returned or have an option to fix them because they're ineligible. Given some people have already called into question the results of the vote here coming up, I guess how confident are you, given these ballots being returned, that this matter, no matter which way it goes, will be put to bed when this vote happens on the 19th? Well, I think that's a sign the system works. Because if you fill out your ballots and you forget to put the ballots in the envelope, that's one thing that's being rejected. If you fill out your ballots and forget to put your ID in, so you can't be verified to be an Alberta resident, that's another reason why they're being rejected. So I would say that the fact that there's actually a relatively small number and that Elections Alberta is giving an avenue for people to correct it on time so that they can be counted and they can get the correct ID in, I think that that's a positive sign that Elections Alberta is managing it as we would expect. There may be issues that we will have to deal with after the vote is over. I'm sure that Elections Alberta will have its own report on how things went to see if there's any modifications that need to be made to the process. But I would point out that Quebec, which has double our population, they have a paper ballot count. They managed to get the results counted, and by 8.45, 45 minutes after the polls closed, people knew who their government was going to be, and all the speeches were wrapped up by 11.45. So I'm just putting that out there, that there are other jurisdictions that have been able to do paper counts with a larger population and efficiently get the results out to their populations, and I have every confidence that Elections Alberta is going to be able to do the same. Thank you. That's all the time we have for questions today, and that will conclude today's press conference. Thank you, everyone, for joining.