(0:00 - 0:04) Hello, everybody. I am Madison Holmes. And I am Maycee Holmes. (0:04 - 0:12) And you're watching Holmes Squared. And for this episode, we have a very special guest. I feel like I say that every episode. (0:12 - 0:17) You do say that. But we do have a very special guest. We are honoured to have Samantha Steinke on today. (0:17 - 0:29) And she is actually on our provincial party board. She is on the United Conservative Party board. And she has served as VP of Communication for the last two terms. (0:29 - 0:41) Now, what exactly is a term? How many years? Yeah, so hello, and thank you for having me on. I'm so excited. So thank you, girls, for welcoming me. (0:41 - 0:48) I've been looking forward to doing this with you. So a term is a two year term. But I've only been in this role for three years. (0:48 - 1:06) So the person who was in this role had left a year early, had some other commitments and had to step away. And so I was elected for a one year term to kind of fill that gap. Then ran a second time, was reelected, have now served out this two year term. (1:06 - 1:27) And then I'm running again in this year. So hopefully, I will be successful this weekend in my bid to reelection. Okay, so three years that me and Maycee were wondering, three years on a party board, I mean, to me sounds like a very long time, especially on something as big as the provincial board. (1:27 - 1:38) I get it's not prime minister, but me and Maycee don't exactly favour federal politics in the least. We don't think it's attainable. We don't think we have any influence naturally being Albertans. (1:38 - 2:15) So but looking still at a provincial level, one of the things that me and Maycee were curious to talk to you about was, what's that like? Have you always been a aspiring politician? Or was this something that you decided to do because of something personal that happened in your life? Yeah, kind of like explain to us a bit of your story leading up to you even wanting to be in a position. Yeah, this is not a typical path that most people take. So what's your story leading up to this? And now also wanting to continue via getting reelected? Yeah, no, definitely, definitely a great question. (2:15 - 2:33) So I was not at your age, even thinking about politics, for the record. And now, I don't know if I'm ageing myself, or if you're ageing me, but I still continue to say that I'm the young one on the board at the present time. So I get to hold that torch and wear that crown proudly. (2:35 - 2:46) So yeah, your age, I wasn't even involved. I didn't get involved until later in life. And it was actually my husband was the one who was more involved. (2:46 - 3:04) And then, yeah. So we had come up to Valley View in 2015 to run a local campaign election for Todd Loewen, who's now the Minister of Forestry and Parks. We worked on that together. (3:04 - 3:14) We had lived in Edmonton prior to that, and done some door knocking for a couple MLAs. He kind of dragged me out too. And I said, okay, well, I guess I can go and walk. (3:14 - 3:27) Ah, that's not gonna harm me. Right. So always kind of felt similar to you guys, honestly, that, you know, why do I want to get involved in stuff like this? I'm not gonna change anything. (3:27 - 3:38) I'm not gonna make a difference. What does it matter? I was not a public speaker. I didn't like being in front of large crowds, or talking, or I wanted no attention at all. (3:39 - 3:57) And honestly, still makes me uncomfortable, where I'm like, I don't want to talk about myself. Yeah, so then in 2018, we moved back up to Valley View from Edmonton. We had lived in Edmonton for 10 years. (3:58 - 4:22) My youngest child was born, and my husband said, we're gonna have to make a change. I don't think city life is for us anymore with four kids. So moved back to Valley View in 2018, and then got active in kind of our local CA, because, again, helping Todd in his campaigns, he was like, hey, you guys should get on the board, help me out, you know. (4:22 - 4:44) So did that, actually became the president of that CA. And then the world kind of shifted. As many people know, during COVID, living in rural Alberta, we had some big opinions about that, kind of the way that we were being trampled on. (4:45 - 5:03) And I became part of kind of a smaller group of presidents across the province. Myself, Vicky Kozmak, my friends from Northern Alberta as well, Rob Smith, Patrick Malkin, Jack Redekop. So some familiar names to you, I'm sure, as people who are currently on the board. (5:04 - 5:26) And I remember my first large speaking event was in April of 2021 at the Alberta legislature. And there were 4,000 people there. And when I pulled into the parking lot, I said, oh, I think we should just turn around and drive home. (5:27 - 5:47) I'm not so sure that this is for me. So I got up there. And that's kind of where the movement of the 22 constituency associations came from to hold a special general meeting to remove, at the time, our leader of the party, Jason Kenney. (5:49 - 6:06) That was kind of the mandate that my MLA and many other MLAs across the province were being brought by their constituents. So as a president, I knew what my role was and I knew what I had to do. So I got to work and we had that leadership review. (6:07 - 6:21) And then ultimately went into a leadership race. I ran Todd Loewen's leadership campaign. Danielle was running at the same time, of course, had a great relationship with her throughout the campaign. (6:22 - 6:34) You know, we spent time together. There were a lot of people who were attacking her, but we didn't feel that that was necessary. We didn't feel that that was our role in the leadership election. (6:35 - 6:49) Todd was committing to going all the way and just getting it done. So that's what we did. And then I ran for the board that very year that she was elected and was put into the position of VP Communications. (6:49 - 7:12) And like I said, then ran for another term and now running again. And honestly, it has gotten better each year that I've done it. And I tell people over the three years, the best thing that I've done, the highlight of what I've done has definitely been the youth tour and the youth debates and the youth events. (7:14 - 7:29) It's something that we knew as a party that we hadn't quite captured yet. But now I feel like we are so on the way to greatness with, like I said, people like you girls who have started a podcast. And I mean, it's pretty incredible. (7:29 - 7:38) We don't have a lot of conservative youth who are out there spreading our message. So kudos to you guys. And I really appreciate what you're doing. (7:38 - 7:58) But I certainly did not have this political ambition when I was your age. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely not something that a lot... I mean, me and Maddie say all the time that we don't really like the idea of the labels. Like, so it's like, we'll be called conservative. (8:00 - 8:21) And we never identified at that because it was kind of like, like you, we were like, well, I mean, maybe, I don't know, right? And then afterwards, we kind of came into it. And it was like, I just want to participate and try and make things better. And it just so happened that we thought the avenue and the gateway to try and do that was through the conservative party. (8:21 - 8:42) Because we were like, well, I don't think we're going to be able to get any sort of negotiation through like the NDP or anything like that. And so it was kind of just like a, how do we as a grassroots type of family and people try and figure out how to navigate going and influencing our leaders that way. Yeah, so that's kind of like how we started. (8:42 - 9:02) But so on your website for Maddie, if you wanted to pull it up right now, since I'm literally talking about it. On this website, what is this officially called? I think it's like vote4sam.ca, guys. It's a very simple website link. (9:03 - 9:13) On it, you said that one of your goals is to keep like the United Conservative Party principled. And something that I thought was curious, like it says right here. Yeah. (9:14 - 9:46) So our party stays connected, disciplined and principled. And the part I wanted to ask you is, what about the UCP's principles resonate with you? And what kind of principles do you want to see embodied and demonstrated as being one of the leaders in on our provincial board? Like, what is it that you kind of wish that you would see more of being on that board and for the UCP as a whole? Yeah, because it's interesting. You said that your husband kind of brought you in. (9:46 - 9:54) We just met a young lady who's 22 in Okotoks. And we absolutely adore her. But she had the same story. (9:54 - 10:10) She said, I was wondering, why do people hate Trudeau so much? Is it because he has nice hair? She had no idea, no interest. She didn't want to be involved until after graduation schooling. She's like, oh, I have to pay for my own gas. (10:10 - 10:29) Why is gas so expensive? Oh, I have to pay for my own living expenses. Why is that so expensive? And it was actually her current fiance that said, have you looked into any politics or have you done any research that explains why we are where we are? And she went, uh, no. So that's, I'm with Maycee. (10:29 - 10:41) It's a curious question, because clearly it was something that your husband had saw and then you saw value in afterwards. And now you identify with the principles to get you this far. Yeah, no. (10:41 - 10:51) So, I mean, I should say that when I say I wasn't involved, I wasn't on boards. I wasn't, but I was very aware. I did a lot of research. (10:51 - 11:09) I knew about politics. I just felt that anything I did was really not going to make a difference. Like how was little mom here from rural Alberta going to make a difference in a big bad world of provincial politics? I guess I'll call it. (11:10 - 11:25) That was what I meant in not really being involved. I always researched it and I knew what was going on. And trust me, I hold very strong opinions, like I'm sure both we do about our federal government and the people who claim to be running our country. (11:28 - 11:50) So, yeah, I mean, for me, being a conservative has always meant things like believing in faith and family and freedom and charity and just having that kind of servant heart. And that's what I believe the role of the provincial board is. As a provincial board member, I'm there to serve our membership. (11:50 - 12:04) I'm there to serve our members. I'm there to do your will, not to be on there to do what I think needs to happen. Certainly, I'll always have opinions and I'm pretty vocal about them. (12:05 - 12:15) Most people who know me, know me. I'm not, I don't hold back and I let you know exactly how I feel. But ultimately, the members are the ones who created this party. (12:16 - 12:43) And without the members, we wouldn't, there would be no need for a board. What would our purpose be? I guess winning the elections is also part of our purpose. But what really draws me to this role and to wanting to keep serve is that I get to meet so many people like me who they were like, oh, my opinion isn't going to make a difference. (12:43 - 12:57) It's not going to change anything. And to be able to go to them and say, I want to make sure that your opinion does count, that it does matter, that you can change things. I want to put you into a position where you can contribute and you can make a difference. (12:57 - 13:20) So I think that as a conservative is one of the things that kind of connects all of us because I do think that conservatives are more prone to having that servant heart, that ability to give of their time to connect with people in those ways. And I think that that's something that I bring to the table. And that's something that I offer our membership. (13:22 - 13:45) No, is that, I can see that being why then you emphasise CA boards. I mean, you yourself starting on a CA board. And then when we heard you at the town hall that the Laheed board put on, and even on your website that Maycee was alluding to, you mentioned CAs and doing retreats for CA presidents. (13:46 - 14:13) That's something you've done here. And I know Maycee wanted to get some context as to why that approach? What is it about the CAs? I mean, it does definitely state your grassroots values rather than just expecting the party board to do everything. It's actually trying to get the CAs on board, which I'm curious how difficult that has been too as the VP of comms, because even now me and Maycee are VP of youth on our Fish Creek CA board. (14:14 - 14:22) And there's still talk of CAs that they aren't full. They don't know how to get the funding. They don't know how to put on fundraisers. (14:22 - 14:41) And they're still struggling to play the role that CAs are supposed to play, which is frankly what you're saying the party board is supposed to do for its members. CAs are also supposed to connect with their constituents and supposed to connect them. They're not for the MLA, they're for the people living in the CA. (14:41 - 15:03) It's supposed to tell the MLA what they want. But some people still don't have that message. So how difficult has it been seeing as that's your value to get the CAs on board and VP of comms? Because if that's your job, how has your approach been? And how difficult has it been in order to do those things? Maycee. Yeah. (15:04 - 15:20) I mean, there's always going to be CAs and just people generally, not just CAs, that remember how it used to be. And now again, you girls are quite young. Your parents might have a little more experience in this area. (15:20 - 15:34) But before politics was kind of just like you showed up every four years, you casted your vote, you went home, you gave money. And then that was really it. You never really talked to your like, that was kind of what you were for. (15:35 - 16:00) I think in the last five years, that political climate has changed a lot. People are showing up, people are demanding to be a part of what's happening in our province, in our country. They're finding ways to get involved, which for me, I think is fantastic, because there's strength in numbers, is the way I look at it. (16:00 - 16:07) And so when we hold these retreats, we do different things. We do, you know, we'll have one room. We had a training for secretaries. (16:07 - 16:13) We had another room with the CFOs. We had another room with presidents. And we kind of do these breakout sessions. (16:16 - 16:53) So I think just bringing all of the people together and just having them learn from each other, especially when it comes to like rural and urban CAs as well, for example, right? People say, oh, there's such this drastic difference between urban Alberta and rural Alberta. But at our last retreat, we did an exercise that I led where I asked people from cities, what makes you a conservative? And I asked people from rural Alberta, what makes you a conservative? We wrote it up on the wall on two big sheets of paper and then brought them together at the end. They were almost virtually the same. (16:54 - 17:13) So the things that actually bring us together are the same across the board. Like our message in rural Alberta and urban Alberta is quite similar. Now, of course, there are hot button topics that maybe rural Alberta is more passionate about than urban Alberta or vice versa. (17:15 - 17:37) And we can't be afraid to talk about those things. We have to be able to have those discussions. Because the second you try and stifle conversation or you try and push one side of the group out or the other side of the group out, then we find ourselves in a position where we aren't really united or aren't really together. (17:37 - 17:48) And really all it would have taken is a conversation. So definitely like a firm believer that having those conversations with CAs is important. And then you're absolutely right. (17:48 - 17:55) A CA is there to serve the members of their party. I'm only one person on a provincial board. I'm not from Calgary Fish Creek. (17:55 - 18:08) I'm not from Calgary Edgemont. I'm not from Edmonton Manning or Edmonton Southwest. Like those people that are on those boards are going to know their area way better than I will. (18:09 - 18:18) So it's about the CA. It's about the people on those boards then being able to come to us and say, hey, this is what we need. This is how you can help us. (18:18 - 18:37) We're really there to just kind of help with what they need and getting them in to advance our conservative message. But CA boards are very important. Definitely some struggles with some because they're less active than others. (18:38 - 18:45) Again, I'm sure you see it in Calgary. There are some CAs that are holding events all the time. And then maybe some others that aren't necessarily holding as many events. (18:45 - 19:16) And so it's just, I think, giving them the tools because I think some people are so used to the old way that they don't quite understand how to do it, maybe the new way, I guess I'll call it, or the more engaging way. So I really look at that as kind of my role is just equipping them with the things that they need so that they can get more people involved because ultimately that's how we're going to grow our conservative movement, right? You want to bring people together. You want to bring more people. (19:16 - 19:23) You want to sell memberships. And in talking about that, it's really, that is what the board is for. We all work together. (19:24 - 19:39) Communications, membership, fundraising. These three roles especially are very closely tied together for the success of our party. Yeah, something I'm curious about is like, so our CA, Fish Creek, is pretty active and Lougheed's pretty active. (19:39 - 20:00) And there's a couple that are pretty active in the sense where they are trying to hold up fundraising events. So like we'll do like Pints and Politics for us, for example, or we'll do like Danielle Smith at Fish Creek Ranch. I forgot what it's called, but a ranch out in Fish Creek, right? And Lougheed will put on like educational town halls. (20:01 - 20:26) And the thing that I'm curious about is for the ones that are not as active, or maybe just not actually as full, right? But maybe there's some people that are trying to figure out how to come on. Again, because they're so new to this, like what you said, the old ways, and they just have no idea what they're doing. When it comes to trying to get that information out there, I'm assuming there would be sort of like, you mentioned guidelines. (20:27 - 20:45) So I'm assuming there would be guidelines in terms of events hosted or on the UCP website, for example. You mentioned something called UCP Hub, which I'm also curious about. But also there was something mentioned on your website called a 12-week, where is it? Yeah, so 12-week conservative value social media campaign. (20:45 - 21:41) I'm also wondering in linkage with all of those different, I guess, activities and programmes that you've been kind of implementing and trying to see foster, does the social media realm help with these CAs in order to help them figure out how to get started? Does them going on the website help? What have you found has been the best kind of feedback that actually is producing physical results that you're seeing with these CAs that are struggling the most? Yeah, honestly, I think that the biggest thing that helps these CAs who maybe are not as confident or not as comfortable to go out there and do these things, actually sitting down with them. Like there's nothing better than personal connection. Being able to go and sit across the table from someone and have those conversations and be able to explain just how to do it or what the concerns are. (21:41 - 21:49) I find that's definitely the best way. I will say that our UCP hub has been great. I've gotten phenomenal feedback on it. (21:49 - 22:01) So it's, again, it's a larger toolkit. Presidents, CA presidents get access to it, which they're free to share with their board. There are training videos on there. (22:01 - 22:26) There's a 12-week conservative values campaign. So that is kind of a smaller toolkit within this larger toolkit. It has social media graphics and social media content for either a post a week or a post a month or however your CA kind of wants to structure it about just conservative values and what makes the UCP a great choice. (22:27 - 23:00) So definitely talk to your CA president, get access to that hub and take a look around in there at all the cool things that are in there because we're pretty proud of it. Yeah, that's good to know because me and Maycee hadn't heard of the UCP hub. We were like, well, what is that? Where are these tools? And then we were curious what this 12-week conservative value social media campaign, is that something that you did or is it in the process of being done? Is that something CA's do or? So it's all done. (23:01 - 23:11) It's in the toolkit. It's ready to use. And that's kind of what the toolkit is for because there are a lot of people who are like, oh, I'm not really comfortable with social media. (23:11 - 23:24) I don't know how to post. What do I post? Where do I get things to post? So this is ready-made. You go in, you grab the graphic, you save it, you copy the text if that's what you need to do. (23:25 - 23:38) And then just, yeah, get it out on social media, put it there, it's available. So that one is complete, usable, ready to go. And then I'm actually in the process of making another one right now. (23:38 - 23:54) Hopefully I'll have it done this week by Thursday. And that one is actually a holiday themed. And so any holiday you can imagine is in that toolkit branded with our conservative message. (23:54 - 24:08) Same thing as the conservative values campaign. There'll be a couple options for a graphic and then kind of just a tagline to post with it. So hopefully I'll have that one up and running by Thursday. (24:08 - 24:30) And is it just the presidents that have access to these resources? So like if you become a president, then you like, how do they get access to it? Yeah, so it is password. There is a password for it. But because you're on a CA board and you've signed an NDA, there's no problem with the president then giving you access to the hub. (24:30 - 24:40) It's for constituency association boards generally. So yeah, no, absolutely. You're free to access that and use whatever's in there. (24:40 - 25:09) And then on your... Oh Maddie, sorry, you look like you wanted to talk. It's a bit of a facetious joke, but I really got to know for your holiday edition, is it every holiday, even the made up holidays, or is it the standard holiday? It's every holiday, some made up holidays. And then most of them are not made up, I will say that. (25:09 - 25:29) Most of them are very traditional holidays. I mean, of course we want to have like the Valentine's Day and the things like that, the more fun ones as well. Um, because we don't just want to look like stuffy old conservatives, right? We also like to have fun, guys. (25:29 - 25:41) Yeah, yeah. So on your website, I saw something that said that you did, sorry, I know I keep pulling it up, but I'm just, I'm curious. I honestly want to know about the initiatives that have done. (25:41 - 26:00) And so, yeah, that's one of them, Maddie, but hold on, it says six listening tours stops across Alberta. What were these listening tours and what did they entail exactly? Yeah, so the provincial board, we travelled the province this summer and we hosted town halls open to our membership. People were free to come. (26:01 - 26:19) Essentially what happened was we sat at the, we sat at the front of a room at a table and we just let the audience have graphs with questions and concerns. And we wrote them all up on the wall again on these big sheets of paper. We're big believers in kind of documenting and people being able to look back at what was said. (26:20 - 26:49) We then compiled all of that information that then was given to the premier. And this weekend coming up at the AGM, we will have our president and our premier up on the stage talking about the things that we learned on that listening tour, as well as some of the things that the premier heard or that the leader heard on her Alberta Next panel tours. And so that was kind of what that entailed. (26:49 - 26:52) So we did Lethbridge. We did Red Deer. We did Calgary. (26:52 - 26:57) We did Edmonton. We did Bonneyville. And then we hosted an online town hall as well. (26:58 - 27:23) Okay, I mean like I know this next question might go a little bit longer, but in terms of this listening tours, what you were, I'm assuming, attending these tours. So how did you find them? Like what is it that the members that, the people that showed up, what was the primary concerns? And also just the things that you felt like were pretty important when you were listening to what it is that the members had to say. Yeah, you know, it ranged. (27:23 - 27:39) It ranged from topics on government to strictly party things. There was a lot of discussion at the time in Calgary and Edmonton around AISH. That one was kind of more near the top for the cities. (27:39 - 27:53) Around what? AISH. What's AISH? I don't even know what that is. Yeah, so it's a social programme that the government offers to people severely handicapped. (27:55 - 28:18) And there was maybe some controversy around federal government subsidy that the provincial government had been said to turn down. So a lot of people wanted to talk about that. And then, yeah, there was some discussion around just what the board could do to help members. (28:19 - 28:38) So that really was helpful for us because that was kind of where the 12 Week Conservative Values campaign came from. There was a lot of discussion about, you know, I don't know how to use social media that well, but I want to. And if there were just easier things for me to find or to use, then I would be able to share our message better. (28:38 - 29:00) So that's where that really started. So definitely some valuable, valuable things came out of those sessions, for sure. That's something that me and Maycee talk about quite often, because we've been to lots of town halls, including Lougheed's town halls, because they did the Injection of Truth one, too. (29:00 - 29:26) They did the Courage to Listen. And those are really, they're meant to be educational town halls, because that's what, even when me and Maycee talk to people that don't identify as conservative, they're always asking about the education. They don't know where to get some of the knowledge or some of the stuff, but that me and Maycee, because me and Maycee listen to podcasts and information on a regular basis, because we do podcasting, so we share information to people that don't have time to do it. (29:27 - 29:49) And so one of the things that me and Maycee were talking about was that very educational aspect, that there are a lot of key issues that matter to certain people. And I know the United Conservative Party, we get our, the weekly and the monthly updates, but some people don't. News you can use. (29:50 - 30:20) Yeah, the news you can use, but those aren't the same. I know that they prioritised when they were doing the big switch for Alberta Health Structure, AHS, you know, you could see on the side of buses, you know, there's so much advertising to tell people you can go to walk-in clinics, you don't always need to go to the emergency room. And I think me and Maycee have heard from a lot of our non-conservative friends that some of the stuff they're missing is that very educational aspect. (30:20 - 31:39) So if there's even somebody, we have friends that I identify as more liberal, or maybe they're just straight in the middle, and there are issues that the Conservative Party has addressed, but they don't know that because the education is not out there. And like in terms of even if it was fluoridation, the transgender policies, there are so many issues that get talked about and we hear because we're looking for it. But that's something that as the VP of comms, Maycee and I were wondering, for those educational campaigns, is that something that you guys have talked about doing or doing town halls like kind of Low Heat has done regarding specific issues? Because there's one thing to ask your membership, kind of like the Alberta Next Town Halls and the ones you just described, there's one thing to go, what do you guys want? What can we help you with? What are you looking for? And then there are the specific issues that are already being talked about in the mass populace and then addressing them in the solutions that either are in the midst or maybe need more refining and then tackling that specifically, which is kind of what Lougheed has done with both the injection True Town Halls and then the one on the Courage to Listen. (31:39 - 32:13) They were trying to get both sides of one issue, which is a big topic. So even the transgender issue, maybe if people, because I know some MLAs were getting some big... Pushback? Yeah, pushback, which is even why the Notwithstanding Clause kind of came out. But even a UCP town hall addressing this issue specifically would, to me, be valuable because I think the educational portion is what me and Maycee here is lacking the most, is that there's just this big communication gap of what the UCP is doing. (32:14 - 32:47) Do you find the same thing? Is this something you're hearing for the first time or you were playing with how to solve this? Is that something in your zeitgeist? Yeah, yeah, for sure. So we've heard this many times and of course, as the VP of Communications, it's kind of my top priority to ensure that people are getting the information. So the way that it kind of is set up right now, structure-wise, me as the VP of Communications, I'm just responsible for communicating to our members. (32:48 - 33:34) So our kind of outreach communication to the public is done by our Executive Director and our Director of Communications, who works for the party as well. So there's a bit of a separation there that I'm hoping to kind of close because I think that's important. And so at the Lougheed Town Hall, I talked about my new terms of reference, which would then allow the VP of Communications to have kind of much more input and work more closely with the Executive Director and the Director of Communications kind of on some of that messaging because we hear all the time that, well, the conservative message maybe isn't as strong as the other side's message. (33:35 - 34:15) That, of course, comes from various things like the CBC and Global News and all those mainstream media outlets who will never share our message. So another thing that I looked at doing as well is myself and the President every once a month doing a podcast like this where we can talk about some of those more prominent issues that are just happening even around the province, not necessarily party-wise, to ensure that our messaging is what's getting out there and not just what they're seeing in those mainstream media sources. Because certainly we know that it's important. (34:16 - 34:50) And then just having our Provincial Board just kind of more present in community events and showing up at universities and booths at trade shows and things like that, I think is going to be really important also to get our messaging out there. And so something that I've asked our Executive Director and Board to look into is how do we make sure that we're capitalising on kind of these big exhibition shows where there's going to be a lot of people? Because that is a fantastic way to get our message out there. We can get volunteers. (34:51 - 35:10) We can collect all this data, which is going to help us in the next election. And we can also make sure that we're sending people out into the community then to say, hey, no, I talked to somebody and this is actually what's happening. Because it's one thing for me to share a message over and over and over again. (35:10 - 35:30) But if you get hundreds of people across the province that you make connections with out there with the information that you've provided them telling that message, it's going to spread farther than I could spread it on my own. So certainly some of the things that I'm looking at there in that regard. That's good to know. (35:30 - 36:06) That's what I was actually very happy to see. So if people go to the official United Conservative website under the section AGM, you can find, because at every AGM, you vote for the board members. And this year, Sean Newman, our own Alberta podcaster from the Sean Newman podcast had interviewed every single candidate and that's lovely to see because the one thing that I do really like about podcasts, and that's we're, even me and Maycee, we're not exclusively, as she said in the beginning, we're not exclusively a conservative podcast. (36:06 - 36:24) Me and Maycee have tonnes of liberal NDP friends, people that identify as communist. And yet we share, like you said, we share so many values, that stupid rural city divide. It's the same thing with conservative NDP because we have so many friends where they value the same things we do. (36:24 - 36:41) It's just they didn't know which label to put on it because labels can be really confusing because they're very broad. But the thing about podcasts is because they're nonpartisan, you can, that's how you reach other people. There are tonnes, Shaun Newman's podcast isn't a conservative podcast, it's an educational podcast. (36:42 - 37:17) And because of that, you do reach outside of the membership, which is even as VP of Youth, me and Maycee, we, it's easy to talk to fellow conservative youth, but what we really love to do is to talk to youth, period. Because that's how you build a movement or build the culture and the mindset of the next generation is you cross those borders because there's really, like, humanity is a lot more in common than they seem to think. So reminding people of that is always something that I love with podcasts, which is why we're also very grateful to have you on today. (37:19 - 37:46) No, and yeah, when we kind of had the idea brought to us for Shaun to do these interviews, of course, the board was like, oh, this is, yeah, this is a great idea to use, you know, someone local. And I know that other people like yourselves, like Bonnie and Max have been doing interviews as well with candidates. And so I've been on with them too this week. (37:46 - 38:45) And so just the more people I think that we can have funnelling this kind of information out there, the better. Because like you said, it reaches more people than just our membership. And in order to, you know, capture those people and to get our message out there, we need outlets like this that do cross the border into, you know, people who, whether they're liberal or NDP, or as you said, you know, some communist people, just trying to kind of bring those people to our values or what we believe is going to be important in shaping the way that the future goes, right? I mean, just meeting conservative youth for me across the province, and even my own son, who's going to be 13 here right away, him getting involved and things like that. (38:46 - 38:55) People are kind of thirsty right now for something they want. I find they're like, I want more knowledge. I want to know about more things I want. (38:55 - 39:42) And so we need to ensure that we're kind of capitalising on that and really making sure that our message is what resonates with them. I had a question in the sense of like for the UCP overall, because I think that we mentioned the Lougheed's Town Hall and specifically the Courage to Listen one, and the Alberta Next Panel, the biggest controversy so far in Alberta has been the idea of whether or not it's like stay within Canada, independence and separate, or do what Quebec is doing, or 51st for some reason is on that list, and all of these little intricate things. And Danielle, the UCP overall as a whole, we already know it was never really necessarily signed up to be an independence party. (39:43 - 40:00) That was not what it was originally for in the case was. And as you said, like every member on the UCP board of directors can have their own opinions of what it is that they feel is like their conviction while even still being on the UCP party itself. But I guess that would kind of be one of my questions as well. (40:00 - 40:41) Like even Premier Danielle Smith was like, OK, I think that like for me, where I stand is I'm trying to build a united Alberta, like sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. And I was just wondering like, is that Danielle's perspective? And therefore, she's trying to implement that on her own conviction. Or is that like something that the whole party kind of has to make sure that they get behind and back? Like that's that's kind of something that I was curious about, because Maddie and I, before we also press her court, as we were curious of when it comes to the party in general, what has been your experience in that sense of trying to navigate what it is that can and cannot be done or said or etc. (40:41 - 41:19) Because that's kind of one of the things of being a part of a party is the potential, even people that are just getting started, that were afraid to even join, is because they were afraid of things like the party whip or they were afraid of, you know, any sort of like, oh, well, if I say something like there's no way I could get in politics, because if I said this thing, they'd kick me off. You know what I mean? So it's just what has been that experience and especially with topics that are as controversial and as important, though, as the one that's been discussed with Alberta Independence as well. Yeah, that's a good insight because even me and Maycee have interviewed other candidates and municipal candidates, too, and all of them say you guys should run for something, run for something. (41:20 - 41:44) And one of the things that discourages me and Maycee is also because we look at politicians and how often do they get corrupted. I mean, we've talked to tonnes of MLAs who are like the legislature is a big monster pit and it's just full of vipers. And that being the case, me and Maycee are like, well, we don't want to compromise our soul for any reason, let alone politics, which is super, super important. (41:44 - 42:25) So that it was one of the things as young people trying to be involved in politics personally, and I've heard this from other youth, is that that's a very scary arena to enter because of just how complicated from the outside it looks to manage like all of these different personalities. And does your soul just rot within the first year of being in? You've been in for three, you know? You hear what we're saying? Yeah, well, my last little comment before you answer the question is like for additional context is like because the UCP overall as an entity, it's like it's meant for the people. It's a provincial party, right? And there's going to be a lot of different members with a lot of different views. (42:26 - 42:56) And there's principles that help you kind of navigate to what it is that we'd like to go towards while we're trying to figure out what success and prosperity looks like for Alberta, right? That's the whole point of the party is the goal is Alberta prospers in what way? That's where you're allowed to decide if you want to join, right? Because in what way this is what it would look like, right? Here's how we're thinking of doing it. And we were just talking about education, right? Where it's like the Alberta Next panel. I liked the idea of it because it was like, oh, here's like some information of what it could look like. (42:56 - 43:11) And now we got to get some feedback going. And I really appreciated that. So I was just wondering like, yeah, again, like how being that as it may and knowing that that's kind of what it is and that the whole point is still trying to encourage education. (43:11 - 43:37) It's like, how do you navigate through that entity? Yeah, so I mean, there's a there's a couple of things I guess I'll touch on in kind of in that in that vein. So as a party, you're right. We we don't have anything in our policy or in our governance manual or in our founding documents that says we're an independence party because we're not one. (43:37 - 43:51) We're the United Conservative Party. That is what we are. But what I'll say about our party is that I truly believe that our party is the most grassroots party, probably in the country. (43:52 - 44:08) If I'm being honest, we have the the ability to submit policy resolutions. We have the ability to, you know, change what we do within our party that comes from our membership. Those are they go out to our membership. (44:08 - 44:13) They get ranked. They make it to the floor of the AGM. Sometimes we have robust discussion about them. (44:13 - 44:33) And yeah, I mean, the separation issue certainly seems to be the the hot topic of this year, of this AGM. And and I think that just comes from, you know, back to federal government. People are just frustrated and they're feeling fed up and are tired of how we've been taken advantage of. (44:33 - 44:45) And and they want to do something about that. My own personal belief is that I do believe that Alberta is strong enough to stand on its own. Of course, I don't get to make that decision. (44:45 - 45:04) I get one vote, just like everyone else. If it comes to a referendum and that referendum passes, then absolutely I will be 100 percent supportive of what the people of Alberta choose. For for Alberta, I think that that's important. (45:06 - 45:31) And then just going back to kind of. What you said about, you know, am I allowed to say this or am I allowed to say that? Or is your soul rotten after you've been there for for a year? I have the opportunity to work at the legislature as well. And so when you say I talk to Emily, as you say, this place is full of vipers and it's scary. (45:31 - 45:43) And I get what what they mean, because there is part of you that always feels like, oh, no, I don't want to step outside of the team. I don't write. I don't want to cause a problem. (45:43 - 46:00) But I think people who are strong in their. In their convictions, people who know what they believe, people who have strong values and strong morals, they they're good at navigating that. Right is what I would say. (46:00 - 46:10) They they know what comes first for them. And I think it's it's not always that way or it does. It doesn't have to be that way. (46:10 - 46:21) You don't have to lose your soul. And and I often I had this conversation with my husband as well and in the past, kind of about this very thing. And I said, you know. (46:22 - 46:50) As as someone who doesn't always win in my arguments, I still feel like there's value in me arguing that side, because I think that's what that's what brings us closer. Like we don't have we don't have to agree. But if we want to be this big tent party, like we have signed up to be, like we claim to be, we have to be willing to accept those views. (46:50 - 47:13) We have to be willing to have those discussions and, you know, be accepting of the fact that there are going to be people who are are strong in their values and they're not going to waver. And that doesn't mean they're not on your team or they're not, you know, supporting you. On the provincial board, we don't always agree with each other, but we're still a team. (47:13 - 47:29) We still support each other. And sometimes information gets confused as criticism. And I think that that is where we face a lot of of trials as well, is that when someone brings information forward, it's not necessarily criticism. (47:29 - 47:35) It's just it's just information. We're just sharing this with you because we feel it's valuable. Right. (47:35 - 48:01) And so I do think that people who are strong in their convictions, who have, you know, I'm a believer in the Lord and I believe that he has his hand on me at all times. And I know that my values and what I believe are the most important to me. And as long as I'm doing that work, then I have to be proud of what I'm doing. (48:02 - 48:21) And I think that most people within our within our movement feel that way. I know sometimes it's easy to get sucked in, right? You'll talk to people who say, oh, my goodness, what's it like to talk to a Korean? Or what's it like to talk to an AI? I said, yeah, it's just like I'm talking to you, a person. Right. (48:22 - 48:35) And so I think the mystique or the mystery of these people who become our elected officials sometimes blows up to more than what it is. They're just people. They're there. (48:35 - 48:45) They're trying to do their best job that they can do. And I think that barrier kind of needs to be broken down a little bit. They're just people. (48:45 - 48:46) They're just like us. Amen. Yeah. (48:47 - 49:04) When you called some of the MLAs that come to mind that are, as you've described, you know, these people, you know, they're grassroots because their principles are easy to define and they have no problem standing. I think of, you know, Jennifer Johnson. I think of even Eric Bouchard. (49:06 - 49:34) So and those people, you know, and even your convictions, I can see why three years in you haven't lost your souls because if you're that principled and you can define them as simply as you have just here and now, then we need more people like that, I think, in politics. I think it's people like that. I'm surprised that you're on the board because it's people like that that get turned away the most because they're so busy trying to do their everyday job or take care of their families. (49:35 - 49:50) You know, the 9-5 especially as times get harder and harder. But I feel like it's as these times get harder and harder, it's more crucial for people like that to get in. Because who better than the people that know why they're here, what they're doing, and they can explain it to you. (49:50 - 50:10) But Maycee, go ahead. Well, I was going to say that you mentioned like the people who hold kind of like the strongest convictions and figure out how to navigate it. And I like what you said in the sense where it's like you have an argument to make and you have a point that you want to see through and you don't necessarily win the argument, but you know that it added value. (50:10 - 50:33) You're like, yeah, but at least I had, I put it out there in the world and just in the ethos. So that way, now seeds could be planted, right? I might have not planted the tree that sprouted right there in front of me, but like there's a seed that's going to come out of this, I feel like. And that's cool because even on the, you mentioned the youth debates and also on your website, it mentions youth committees. (50:34 - 50:47) And luckily this will be coming out after the AGM. So I was just going to ask in the sense because you said you were working on these youth debates. And I know because me and Madison signed up for the regional one. (50:47 - 51:15) And then later on, I'll ask you a little bit of what the youth committee looks like as well and what that's been entailing and how you find that that's been successful as well and its vision. But before we get into that with the youth debates in general, another question that I kind of had was like, so that was something I want to know. Was it just your vision? Was it multiple people's vision? And then when it came into flourishing of like, hey, we're actually going to do this thing. (51:16 - 51:33) Like that's I like the idea of debating, like, you know, crucial topics because then it gets people thinking, right? Like I when I decided to sign up and Maddie and I, when we decided to sign up, it's not because I actually care about being a politician. Like that's not where my heart is. I just wanted to discuss important ideas. (51:33 - 51:59) That's as simple as that, right? And try and get other different perspectives and maybe even convince myself of something I didn't even know I could be convinced of, right? Because that's what you have to do. You're forced to think of a different side and something that you might have not even considered. But so with that idea of how you even went from the idea in your own head to seeing it come about and having the power to even have that come about as VP of comms and working together with, I'm assuming other board of directors. (52:00 - 52:30) Is there another way as well? Because this is kind of an expansion question. Is there another way as well where you can hold some sort of like informational debates on certain topics, let alone if it's just a couple, like just youth as well. Like, can there actually be sort of like long-form debate topics as well that you and your team being able to do it for youth, right? Are you able to do it for other demographic ages? Demographics doesn't matter in the sense of trying to explore these important and crucial topics. (52:30 - 52:50) Because I feel like the thing that's cool about being a part of it is like you are talking about the policies that'll come through at the AGM, right? And you're talking about these are topics that Albertans members have said this is important to us. This is what we want to talk about. This is what we want our government to focus on, right? I feel privileged as a young person being able to just talk about these and have a stage to do so. (52:51 - 53:13) And I'm just wondering, is there other, have you guys thought about actually just also doing straight up debates in general on these topics for more people and more members to get the education so that way, culturally, we are thinking about these more important topics? Right, because at the AGM, it's really cool seeing the yes and no mics. Like you get a baby debate, but it's like, OK, you have 30 seconds. That's not a real debate. (53:15 - 53:30) Yeah, so we haven't talked about it so much. Honestly, this year, so as you girls know, of course, last year, they were kind of put on by some Calgary CAs. They were done just at the AGM. (53:31 - 53:44) Yep, we were. Yep, there you are. And so when I brought it up this year, you know, there was municipal elections and everything going on and people just seemed really busy. (53:44 - 53:49) Yes. And I said, you know, this is something that I think people really enjoyed last year. I think it's really important. (53:49 - 53:56) I think it's a great way to showcase our youth at the AGM. And it's something that I'm really passionate about. I really want it to happen. (53:57 - 54:05) Irma Roberts was also very passionate about it. And she was like, this has to happen. I don't know how we're going to do this, but it's got to go. (54:05 - 54:33) And and so I talked to the board and I said, look, I know that we don't with the kind of the timing of everything, there's no way we we can have these in-person pre-debates. So they're going to have to be by Zoom, which I hope to change if I'm reelected. I hope to change that for next year and kind of group it with our summer tour and do some kind of pre-debating before the AGM to follow into the AGM. (54:33 - 55:01) And then, yeah, I mean, I love the idea of even at those pre-debates, just using, you know, maybe kind of hot topics that are occurring in each of the regions. Like, you know, what's bubbling up in Calgary? What do people want to talk about? And yeah, maybe not maybe not just having youth debates, but just conservative debates in general is, yeah, I do like that idea. Cool. (55:02 - 55:08) No, I know. Yeah, we've been talking for 55 minutes. Can you believe it? I know I feel bad. (55:08 - 55:13) You said the 6.30 was your cap and we have you. We've had you for 6.45. It's 42. That's OK. (55:14 - 55:21) That's OK. I'm just after this, I'm going to run out. I do our local youth group here and in Valley View. (55:22 - 55:32) So we have that on Tuesday evenings. So my children are getting ready right now and my husband is taking on the torch of getting them ready. We're on therapy girls. (55:32 - 55:56) It's a nice break for me. Yes, keep the home fires burning. OK, well, I mean, is there anything else that you would like to touch on before we end it off? And I mean, like, unfortunately, again, I wish that this could have come out before the AGM, so that way we could have promoted you and said, like, guys, we encourage, you know, Samantha Steinke and you guys vote for her at the AGM. (55:56 - 56:08) But hopefully you'll definitely, you know, already be reelected by the time this comes out. So is there anything else? One can hope. But no, you know, I think this was a great conversation. (56:08 - 56:22) You guys had some awesome questions, probably some of the tougher questions, actually, that that I've had on the podcast. So after that, great job. And yeah, just thank you for what you do. (56:22 - 56:36) Not only, you know, not only for the conservative movement, but as you said, like reaching across the aisle and trying to share that information the best you can. I know that's really important. And so I just want to thank you guys for your work. (56:36 - 56:54) And I want to thank your parents for obviously raising two wonderful young women. And yeah, I know that there are going to be many youth that are inspired by what you're doing. And so I just want to encourage you to keep going. (56:55 - 57:10) And I know that just from the conversations that we've had, I can see that both of you are very passionate and you both hold your values very close to you. So I encourage you to do that. And you will not lose your soul. (57:10 - 57:15) I promise. Oh, well, thank you. Thank you very much. (57:16 - 57:26) OK, well, thank you. We appreciate all of those kind words. And again, we really hope all the best in your pursuits coming up to this AGM and that it ends up going well for you. (57:27 - 57:56) And then we will be there for those of you listening when Samantha gets reelected. And once you watch this video, remember, if you're trying to get involved on your CA, then she's the lady to contact if you're not sure how to get yourself navigated. And again, she just listed so many resources that are available for those who want to try and figure out how to best communicate and get CAs going and trying to, you know, pursue your own route of education and elevation for yourself and for others. (57:56 - 58:02) So there you go. And then, yeah, I think that make sure you guys follow her Facebook page. Maddie's got it. (58:02 - 58:11) I had it pulled up like two seconds ago. So please follow her to keep up to date with Samantha as well. And yes, though, thank you so much for for coming on. (58:12 - 58:18) You bet. Thank you so much, girls. Well, everybody, this has been Holmes Squared.