Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney on the fight for Canada

Frequency Podcast Network. Stories that matter. Podcasts that resonate. Two long-time political opponents putting patriotism ahead of partisanship. Former Alberta premiers Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney once rivals across the legislative aisle, now standing shoulder to shoulder as co-chairs of a Canadian Chamber of Commerce campaign to convince Albertans

to stay in Canada. With less than a month to go before the October 19th referendum, where Alberta's separation is on the ballot, both premiers agree a yes vote would be bad for business and create massive investor uncertainty in a landlocked province. But there are concerns the separatists could still pull out a win with low turnout and

as a growing middle considers voting for leverage against Ottawa. I'm Karen Seolin and today on The Big Story, I'm joined by former premiers Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney to discuss the economic case against separation, the challenges for federalists and the consequences for what comes next, even with a Remain vote.

Well, thank you both so much for making time for The Big Story today. Really appreciate it and looking forward to this conversation. Good to be here. Miss Notley, I'll start with you.

I think the question on everyone's mind is what has it been like to team up with a former political rival? Has it been strange to work together with Mr. Kenny on this? You know, you'd think I'd be better at answering this question by now, right?

One starts with it. Listen, I mean, what I know about Jason is that we share a commitment to our country And to the principles and the rules that frame the democracy that drives our nation. And so, we have broad levels of areas of disagreement, but we respect the forums within which we

disagree and we have a shared desire for Canadians and Canada and Alberta within that and Albertans within that to do well. So we're talking about that frame right now. We're talking about first principles.

And so in fact, there's a considerable amount of agreement between us. And it's a very important issue. This is a critically important time for our province and for our country. And we'll certainly get into the meat and potatoes of this partnership.

But Mr. Kenny, I do wonder how you might characterize this relationship. Are you guys grabbing coffee now? Is this a personal relationship or is it strictly still just business? We're in two different cities.

Although you know, I was going to see Jason, I did run by your house last week. I almost stopped by, but I thought that would be... You didn't stop by? That's unbelievable.

Well, I just thought it might've been a bit, a bit, you know, it's maybe one call in advance. So you're not, you're not there yet. You're not there at the knock on the door showing up. Rachel is in Edmonton.

I'm in Calgary. And I'll be honest with you. never spent much time together personally, because when we were in two big jobs, opposition leader, premier and vice versa, we, you know, you're, you know, it just doesn't happen that

way. But I must say, like, I don't have any, people ask this question, like, it's astonishing that we should work together, which I think is a reflection more on what's happened with political polarization than either Rachel or I personally.

Like I'll tell you, I was the first elected out of the House of Commons in 97. And some of my best friends were in the NDP and had friends in all parties. And I always used to say, my experience there and since was that there are nice, normal people in every party who realize that despite their differences, they're all motivated

by public service and love of country. And then there are jerks in every party as well who don't allow for any personal relations across party lines. And I think that's sad.

So tell me a little bit about who does what in this partnership. How does it work and who are you each, I guess, who is each of your target audience? Well, I was going to start by saying what happens is I talk and then also Jason talks and then Jason talks.

Oh, excuse me. I'm pretty sure if we if we analyze the interviews we've done, you take more time. Oh, I don't know. I don't know.

No, I think that that's a really good question, Karen. I think, and we've talked about this before, I think in any campaign, there's the element of persuasion and there's the element of mobilizing your vote and turnout. And so I suppose that to some degree, if we are doing any kind of persuasion, probably Jason is doing a little bit more of that in terms of trying

to talk to those folks who mostly are somewhat compelled by the send them a message argument, but otherwise tend to be more conservative sympathizers. And so those folks are more likely to be inspired by Jason's opinion than mine, quite honestly. But on the flip side, there's also So a huge number of people that want to stay in Canada, and we need to make sure that

they get out to vote. And so that's a thing that I think both of us can do in terms of just turning up the volume, understand, making sure people understand the stakes and the negative consequences if this goes the wrong way, and doing everything we can to get them to do the things.

Order their special ballot. September 25th is the deadline. You can do it really quickly. good reminder. I should do that. Oh my lord. Yes. Get your special ballot. What is wrong

with you? And then of course show up on the voting date, South October 19th, if you haven't voted for. And I would say, Karen, that just to put a little more sharper focus on what Rachel's saying, the only persuadable people in advance of October 19th in Alberta are what I call frustrated federalists, some other call them soft, separate, I think that's the

wrong appalachian, but they're basically lifetime conservative voters, center right, or right of center, people who are proud Canadians, no separatism is nutty, but want to send a message and they think voting for separation gets the province more leverage in dealing with Ottawa.

And that's probably something like 10, 15% of the Alberta electorate.