Publisher Derek Fildebrandt, news editor Dave Naylor and podcast editor Cory Morgan participate in a live broadcast to discuss the week’s top stories. 

In this episode, the pending caucus vote on the fate of MP Derek Sloan is discussed. How will the caucus vote? How bad will the rift be? What was Erin O’Toole thinking? 

Joe Biden is officially sworn in as President of the United States. What does that mean for Western Canada? Is the Keystone XL pipeline truly dead? How will Premier Kenney deal with the potential and massive loss of taxpayer investment in the pipeline? 

Manitoba gets on the bandwagon of governments saying “Do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to pandemic lockdown policy. 

Cory Morgan interviews Frenco Terrazzano from the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation on the numbers discovered in a recent freedom of information request b the CTF. 

More than 7,300 Alberta bureaucrats received pay raises in 2020, according to exclusive documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The Alberta government gave 7,384 bureaucrats pay increases in 2020, costing taxpayers $18.7 million, according to records the CTF obtained through freedom of information requests.

Pay raises for provincial bureaucrats have cost taxpayers more than $245 million since 2015, when the economic downturn in Alberta began.

Morgan and Terrazzano also discussed how recall legislation could hold politicians accountable between elections and speculated on whether the UCP will follow through on their promise for it. 

Publisher Derek Fildebrandt, news editor Dave Naylor, podcast editor Cory Morgan and special guest Quito Maggi from Mainstreet Public research discuss a the conclusions of a number of polls commissioned exclusively by the Western Standard.

Albertans want firings for the MLAs who vacationed while we are locked down and many want Premier Kenney’s resignation as well.

Independence is considered an option by a number of Albertans, particularly when it means all four of the Western provinces as opposed to Alberta going it alone. This is reflected in the growth in support for the still new, Wildrose Independence Party.

A majority of Albertans still support lockdowns but that support is fading.

While support for independence is on the rise, the federal Maverick Party is yet to capture it.