Holding politicians to account for the working men and women of “Ruffneck Nation” (Guest： Bernard Hancock)
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Summary
The pro-pipeline convoys have spread to Regina and I'm talking to someone today who was on the ground to see it all firsthand. Joining me today is Rebel fan favourite Bernard Hancock and he is firing on all cylinders.
Transcript
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The pro-pipeline convoys have spread to Regina and I'm talking to someone today who was on the ground
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to see it all firsthand. Joining me today is Rebel fan favorite Bernard Hancock and he is
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firing on all cylinders. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
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As you know over Christmas break and leading up to the Christmas break I was covering the pro-pipeline
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truckers convoys across Alberta and I was also covering the yellow vest protests that popped up
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in support of those convoys. I spoke to truckers, I spoke to protesters, I froze in the cold but more
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importantly I was there to tell the other side of the story and yesterday one of these convoys
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converged on the legislature in Regina and then I saw that a familiar face was going to be there.
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Now you might know him as Bernard the Roughneck from some viral rebel videos but his real name is
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Bernard Hancock. He famously took apart the anti-oil and gas rhetoric at a protest in Vancouver a few
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years ago and then he hand-delivered nearly 35,000 signatures in support of oil and gas exploration
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and pipelines in the form of an e-petition to the House of Commons and he did it all in his coveralls.
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When I saw Bernard was going to be at that protest in Regina I wanted to hear how it went from him
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and I wanted to pick Bernard's brain about a thousand other things that are happening in the
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news right now with regard to politics, with regard to oil and gas, to protests, to convoys. Bernard's
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got a lot to say and I'm giving him a place to say it. So joining me tonight in an interview
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we recorded yesterday from somewhere on the road between Regina and Kindersley is Bernard Hancock.
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So joining me now is somebody that I think we are all big big fans of. You might know him as Bernard
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the Roughneck. He's joining me on the road from Saskatchewan. Bernard how are you doing and what
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were you up to today? We were at the Saskatchewan legislature. We had a rally in support of
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pipelines and it was attended actually by quite a few Saskatchewan politicians and I heard it was
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going down and I just had to be there. I had never been to the legislature in Regina so we had a good
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rally. Yeah, happened this morning. You know I'm really excited to hear that our two provinces are
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fighting the federal government's pipeline prohibition together. Over the Christmas break I was
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at a pipeline convoy in Lloydminster and it was purposeful. They started it in Saskatchewan,
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they drove it over to Alberta and they drove it back and it was to symbolize that despite what
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Alberta's government has to say about fighting the feds, the people are fighting against the federal
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government and for pipelines and I thought that was really great. Why don't you tell us a little bit
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about what went down at the rally today? Well, no, I think what you just made a mention of that's a
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really important point because the problems we're dealing with getting our resources to market are
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political problems but it's not politics that's going to solve the problem. I think it's working
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people like you, me and all the people watching right now at home getting involved in these things
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but yeah, it was an eventful rally to say the least. Unfortunately, I wasn't even able to say what I
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wanted to say because there was one protester there and she got really ugly and she was just
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screaming in people's faces and but I like that guy Scott Moe. It was almost like he'd put some
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imaginary earplugs in and he just totally ignored her and gave an excellent speech but me, Sheila,
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I can't walk and chew gum at the same time and if someone's screaming into my ear, it's very difficult
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to organize my thoughts to speak to the people but it was a good rally and you know something that
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really warmed my heart was I seen both the Ironworkers Union and the United Steelworkers
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Union. They showed up and that's something amazing because it's not just riggers that are showing up
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you know in support of these things, it's not just oil field trucking, it's all Canadians. Like
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right now I'm driving, we just drove past Lumsden, Saskatchewan and outside of Regina is the
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Everaz plant where the United Steelworkers have a lot of guys working. That's where all the pipe
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for Trans Mountain is going to be manufactured, right? These guys have an interest in it too.
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There were many people there and it was 30 below so all those cosplay anarchist hippie dorks,
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they're all home in their mom's basement. They didn't have time to show up today because it's too
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cold. There was one person that showed up but she was extremely loud and extremely rude and
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unfortunately I think the media is probably going to make her the center of the story.
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You know you raise a very interesting point. The United Steelworkers were there in force
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because I think the union leadership very seldom represents the blue-collar guys who are actually
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working in the factories to build that pipe. The union leadership often supports anti-resource
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development attitudes and parties whereas the guys on the ground that flies directly in the face of
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what they're trying to do. So like you it warms my heart to see those guys there. When I was in
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Nisku at the truck convoy I also saw a pretty heavy union contingent there supporting the truckers so
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you know it's great to see these guys turn out. Definitely and I mean like that's why guys got to go to
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CLAC, the SCAB union because if they go to their legitimate union there just isn't the work on the
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board you know and then when they see someone like say Gil McGowan who goes before the National Energy
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Board submitting things in opposition to pipelines but of course now that Ms. Knott leaves in support of
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pipelines that guy changes his tune man. They're not fooling anyone but the workers on the ground
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they're feeling it just like everyone else. Pipe fitters, steam fitters, electricians,
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boiler makers, clatters, millwrights, plumbers, all these guys they want to work same as us and oil and
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gas is what runs Canada and in particular western Canada. So yeah I was really impressed that such a
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strong union contingent showed out and that's going to be key for working-class people to retake our spot
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and make sure that politicians are working for us and not the other way around like it currently
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stands. You know it's funny now that you're talking about the union guys showing up it sort of reminds
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me of what we saw with the election of Donald Trump where those union heavy states the blue collar union
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heavy states where Hillary Clinton didn't campaign because she thought that she had those votes in
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the bag they shifted over to Trump because blue collar people vote for jobs doesn't matter what union they
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belong to. Now I wanted to ask you about this one random screamer and yeller that you you're telling us
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about at the rally. She was basically trying to de-platform people by being obnoxious is that right?
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Yeah it was I don't know it was just it's so rude and I said and it was funny because I said like
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all this I just looked at her and I was like you're like school on a Sunday no class and I just like
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shook my that's actually I said that during the speech and Trent Weatherspoon from the NDP was like
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hey come on hey and he's he actually stood up for this lady and interrupted me when I was trying to
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talk and I wasn't able to speak because I was so mad she flustered me and like I said I can't speak
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when someone's screaming in my ear and the other thing is the reason why she's so mad is Premier Moe
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I guess is signing agreements with the chief of her band to for the potash industry to open up
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development where she is and I guess that was her big concern but if it wasn't potash if it wasn't
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pipelines it would be something else. These are people who want to tear things down and break stuff
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and complain they don't build things because it's a lot easier to bitch and complain about something
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than it is to come up with a better idea or offer a better path for us to pursue or actually even enter
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into a discussion where both sides could come to some sort of a compromise so I think the best way to
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deal with those people is just to ignore them and do whatever measures you can take to prevent them
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from trying to hijack it like they did today but it wasn't hijacked because like I think a lot of people
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were able to get off good things. Denise Batters was there. I love her. Senator Denise. Oh yeah she's a
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beauty. She was talking. You know it was really good. I was proud that people are willing to come
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out when it's 30 below out and stand there in the cold. Brandt. Man you know the guys who make who have
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all the heavy equipment? Brandt. They were there. They showed out. Yeah it was really good. I got to meet
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some good people. I love flatlanders. You know me. I worked a little bit in Saskatchewan you know where
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the cows are fatter and the land is flatter but I like coming out to Saskatchewan and it's been so
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long since I've been here. So yeah I'm really happy I came even though it was kind of a gong show
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and yeah it's just about building momentum at this point for the convoy going to Ottawa.
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The pipeline convoy going to Ottawa next month. Now I wanted to ask you a little bit about that.
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Do you think that bringing that pipeline to Ottawa is going to change anything or does that matter?
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I mean even if Justin Trudeau for me even if Justin Trudeau doesn't change his mind about this sort of
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stuff and take action at least we stood up and tried to do something. Well I think the bigger issue
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is because you know all those rallies that happened Nisku, Grand Prairie, Lloyd, Lethbridge,
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Red Deer, Calgary, Edmonton, Cold Lake, Bonneville, Slave Lake last Sunday. They don't care out east.
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Maybe like the biggest one on Nisku maybe makes like 10 to 15 seconds in the Toronto news.
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Yeah. But if you come to Toronto and you shut down the 401 you'll get five minutes of national airtime.
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If you go to Ottawa and you stand a rig on Parliament Hill that will make national news.
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And I think it's really important because I think I mean not saying that they're bought and paid off
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but at the same time you know like you have to bring it right to their doorstep and make it
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so they have to report on you. And Trudeau he doesn't care about oil and the oil and gas industry
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and really nothing's going to make him change his mind other than the prospect of losing an election.
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And for us the key is to go to all Canadians because we're all Canadian.
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We all believe that people have the right to dignity of a job to go to that pays them a decent wage.
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Everyone wants to work hard and you know improve their lives.
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So I think people in like you say in Ontario, in Manitoba and in Quebec and in the Maritimes
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need to see that this is a crisis and it actually it's an existential issue for this country
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and for Confederation. So I I just it will make a difference.
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I think it'll turn people against Mr. Trudeau and I hope they can see how callous and I think
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what a mendacious thought he is because it's just unacceptable.
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When his father said he was going to do something he did it.
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And his father didn't hide his feelings for Western Canada.
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You remember the Salmon Arm Salute giving the middle finger to people in Salmon Arm BC.
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At least Pierre had the guts to give us a middle finger whereas Justin comes out and smiles in our face
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But I want to tell everyone when we go out to Ottawa we also have to remember that Ottawa is in Alberta
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and we have to represent ourselves in a very legitimate manner and be respectful
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and be well-spoken and kind of mitigate the people in the fringes that could hijack this
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I care about you know our relationship with the UN.
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And we have to get people who might even be liberal.
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Who might even be union guys who normally vote NDP who are waking up.
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Who are going to vote conservative parties or parties that give them a job to go to.
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But if we bring and we represent ourselves as a bunch of kooks or a bunch of rednecks
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So we really need to be careful when we go out there and represent ourselves right.
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You know I do agree that there does need to be a unified message.
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I'm just always cognizant of doing the mainstream media and the liberals work for them
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And I know there are a lot of good people who are both in the yellow vest movement
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and of course with Canada Action and Rally for Resources.
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And I do think they need to be one message when they show up on Ottawa's doorstep.
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I really, I just reject that as much as I possibly can.
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This isn't about the people in Quebec or the people in Ontario or the people in the East.
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They, like you pointed out, they know the dignity of a job.
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And what the people in Alberta are really being robbed of by federal government in action.
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It's really a stone wall that's coming out of Ottawa.
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And I think that dividing us from our friends in the rest of the country really serves no purpose whatsoever.
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It actually plays right into the liberal hands.
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No, but Sheila, I mean you're speaking to the Rebels audience, right?
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But like we're talking about an audience of people who believe the mainstream media.
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The other thing is like, why don't we wear coveralls instead of a yellow vest?
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And I just wish they would come up with a better symbol.
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They wouldn't just steal the symbol from the gilet jaune and totally misrepresent what that's about.
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Because if people from France came here and seen the type of people wearing yellow vests, they wouldn't be down with that.
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And there's always people who want to piggyback on something people like myself have worked very hard for.
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The issues yellow vests are bringing up are important, but the most important issue is the pipeline.
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And we can't risk that by talking about Soros or talking about treason or talking about the UN.
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But these people, they're just so singular minded and they won't listen.
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But it'd be a lot more cool if you come up with your own original symbol, like a hard hat or like, you know, a pair of coveralls.
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I'm saying they're people who are, in terms politically, they're green.
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And they're going to be the foil that Justin Trudeau needs to justify himself.
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Whereas if we don't allow our movement to be tainted by people who are going to say offensive things or, like, represent themselves in extreme ways to turn off Canadians, then Justin Trudeau has, because he says he supports the pipelines, right?
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But I don't care about what's fair, because my buddy, Brad the Roughneck, he only has worked six days in the last seven weeks.
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We need pipelines, and we need people to turn against Justin Trudeau and elect a competent government.
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And so, I'm sorry I've got to be a dick, but, like, I don't want yellow vest stuff.
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This is the work that we've done for two or three years now.
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You know, we just, I normally wade into these protests to talk to the yellow vest people just to see what they have to say.
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And I think it's really important for you to be saying these things, because I think people need to see the balance.
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And that's what we try to do here at The Rebel is take, you know, if you want to talk to us and tell us your point of view, we're more than happy to listen.
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And I'd gladly give a platform to anybody who's willing to articulately express exactly what they want to say.
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Now, I just heard that you moved to Grand Prairie.
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Like, I work on service rigs, and, you know, that's probably the type of industry that's been hit the hardest.
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Because oil companies, they don't want to spend money to bring big iron out there.
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They'd rather get a swab rig or a coil tubing rig or a rod rig or something smaller that's cheaper with less guys.
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And then if the scope of the job changes, get something else.
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And it's even worse than it was in 2016, because what seemed to have happened in Grand Prairie, 2016 was bad.
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So, everyone left Alberta, went home wherever they came from.
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Then we had a labor shortage when things picked up a little bit in 2017.
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But the oil companies and CAODC wouldn't raise our rates.
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So, I was making, like, you know, $6, $7 less than I was making in 2014.
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So, they couldn't find enough people to come back.
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Finally, they raised the rates, guys start coming back, and then all this stuff with the differential and the political issues and Trans Mountain basically being a dog's breakfast, that happened.
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And now all these guys have come back, and the work's gone.
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And Grand Prairie, we need political representation that's going to stick up, first and foremost, for people who are working-class people in the field.
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Not the guys, you know, who are, like, in the office, in the boardroom, the people who are getting dividends off their shares.
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We need people, number one, putting guys in the field, you know, the forgotten man, guys like me.
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We need people, we need representatives who stand up for those people, first and foremost.
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You know, and Grand Prairie's getting it coming and going, because not only, you know, do they serve as a service hub for oil and gas in Alberta,
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but they also provide services to northern BC, and they are having such a battle right now to get their LNG off the ground there.
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It's really, outside of, you know, the office towers in Calgary, I think these small towns and service hubs all across the prairies are really getting forgotten about.
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And this is, like, you know, why it's so galling when I see Miss Notley on Twitter bragging about how she's made however many jobs, you know, like.
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Sure, you can have a statistic that says you made these jobs, but if last month 10 frackers lost their jobs, guys who make $100,000 a year,
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and this month you gave 10 new jobs to new Canadians at Walmart, you're still on balance way better off, or pardon me, way worse off.
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You know, just because one job replaces another, well, what type of job was it?
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How much tax revenue is that contributing to the Treasury?
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You know, like, are these good jobs that are career jobs?
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Are these, you know, jobs that people move on for, say, young people, seniors, part-time work?
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Like, and just politicians in general, even the ones that are fighting for us, those guys still make six figures,
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and those guys still get a fat check every two weeks and full benefits, and it's just, like, I don't know.
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It's extremely frustrating because, like, like I said earlier, like, the problem is politics, but the solution is not politics.
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And politicians, I even think they're using this issue in a way to get votes.
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They're really hurting, and especially in the small towns, and we don't have the media to cover it.
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So that's why I like coming on and talking to you guys, and like you said before, you talk to anyone, I'll talk to anyone.
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And say if I got some great job, I'm not going to say, oh, I'm embarrassed to come on the Rebel now.
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You know, I used you guys when I needed you to get people behind me, but now that I'm, like, running in the general election,
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I don't want to talk to you, like, man, come on.
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I wanted to ask you, what's Roughneck Nation, and how do I become a citizen?
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The real spelling was already taken, but R-U-F-F, Roughneck Nation.
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And I got the idea, kind of, from Rob Ford, who's probably the man I hold in the highest esteem of any sort of politician I've ever known.
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Because this is a guy who's a populist, and this is a guy, his strongest voter demographic is low-income people in social housing in inner-city Toronto.
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These are people who normally vote NDP liberal.
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Why did they vote for Rob Ford, who you would classify as populist, centre-right conservative?
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Because he gave a damn about them, because he returned their calls, because he fought for the issues, like, cleaning up drug dealers in the neighbourhood,
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Like, and so that's why I want to, I want to take kind of that non-partisan, like, yes, it's conservative at its base,
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but I want, I also want something for people who, because guys on the rigs, man, they don't care, but they get home from work.
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If their kids are still up, they want to play with their kids.
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They want to kiss their wife and sit down and talk with their wife about how their day went, you know?
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Like, they don't want to get on the internet or on Twitter, like, political nerds like you and me.
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So you have to give them a reason to buy in and want to get politically involved.
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And if you can create a massive movement of people where they can be directed to either vote for or against certain issues and advocate for things,
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Because if I say a conservative nation, well, immediately you've lost 60% of the people you could possibly appeal to.
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Like, I take an issue like in Grand Prairie, photo radar.
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And I remember Angela Pitt, who's the MLA for Airdrie, when she was shadow justice critic there,
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they wanted to table legislation that amended how Alberta regulated photo radar in municipalities, right?
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I want to see if she still wants to table that when, you know, the UCP forms government in a few months.
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But it's not fair to gouge people when you say, oh, it's about safety.
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If you have a political network of people that can really push politicians and put pressure on them,
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But if you just trust what a politician's going to tell you when they're appealing to their base,
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not when they're actually in power or when they need to win the general election,
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So that's what I want to do with Roughneck Nation.
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I'm going to get, I'm right building a website right now.
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I just sent my order off for my hard hat stickers.
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We're going to have pictures from the rigs that people can share and from the oil patch
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so people can show what they're proud of, what they do crazy stuff when they're working on the rigs.
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You know, like, I want people, it's like, I go home to my family in Vancouver and I say, hey,
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like, yeah, someone's like, hey, what do you do at work?
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Have you ever tried explaining what a service rig does to someone in Vancouver?
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Like, I'd like to, like, get some respect because people who are working on the oil
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and gas industry, we're the 21st century cowboys.
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We're hard as nails and we're the salt of the earth.
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And yet no one pays attention to us and we get soaked by the government.
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So I want to create a movement where, you know what?
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We're going to vote for someone else and we're going to kick you out of office.
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That's the only way politicians change is when they're worried about losing their job
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And I'll tell you something, me, if I ever do get into politics, one day they'll make
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lots of accusations about me and some of them might even be true.
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But the one thing they'll never be able to say about me is I'm corrupt or that I need
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I just have things that I want and things that I think would make our society a better
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place with limited government, low taxes, responsive public service, good health care,
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But man, it's like if you vote NDP, it's big unions.
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And if you vote UCP, it's big corporate boardrooms.
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It institutes production cuts during a really bad recession.
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And again, it's guys in the patch that take it and get Rochambeau.
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It's like that's coming to an end because working class people in this country, something's
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And that's why I just thought, like, I want something nonpartisan.
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And I don't care if you're NDP, if you're UCP, Alberta Party, you know, like even a federal
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So let's stop these labels and let's talk about what we're for rather than being like
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that irate protester screaming what you're against.
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And I think I've also probably taken up enough of your time on the road and I'm probably going
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to nail you with a whopping phone bill for being on Skype.
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As soon as I had that 10 gig deal come out for like 70 bucks, I was all over like all
00:26:30.460
We're just coming into Chamberlain, Saskatchewan.
00:26:33.980
I'm on my way back to on my way back to Medicine Hat and Brooks and then we're going back up
00:26:39.980
through Edmonton and I'll be back in Grand Prairie at the end of the week.
00:26:45.020
And I know you'll be there to help us out to get.
00:26:47.100
But I mean, Sheila, I'll talk to the I've talked to the National Observer.
00:26:51.020
I've talked to BBC Canada, Global CTV, even like small bloggers.
00:26:55.920
I'll talk to anyone because this problem right now is so bad.
00:27:00.860
A hundred percent of the Rebels audience is pro oil.
00:27:03.880
And so I don't care if what people are going to say about me.
00:27:11.720
And yeah, keep your faith because I think things are going to get better.
00:27:17.800
They've just let a genie out of a bottle and they're not going to be able to get it back in.
00:27:21.640
You know, that is a fantastic spot to leave the interview.
00:27:25.660
But Bernard, promise me the second your YouTube page is up, I want to be the first subscriber.
00:27:31.440
The second you have T-shirts available, I want the first T-shirt.
00:27:35.480
The second you have hard hat stickers, I want a hundred of them.
00:27:52.020
And I'm going to check in with you periodically because I feel like you have found your passion.
00:27:57.540
And everybody here at the Rebel, and I know our viewers at home, we're just cheering for you.
00:28:07.280
Hey, dad, how's it going down there in South Surrey?
00:28:13.040
You have a great rest of your day and safe travels home.
00:28:18.160
You know, it's always such a pleasure to talk to Bernard.
00:28:33.940
He's so scrappy and honest and authentic, and he isn't afraid to tell it exactly the way he sees it.
00:28:41.800
His passion is real, and he's taken a lot of punches and attacks from the left and the mainstream media to advocate for Canada's oil and gas sector.
00:28:50.620
Now, I'm one of those people who thinks that the yellow vest protesters should be able to take their concerns to Ottawa whenever they feel like it's a free country, at least for now.
00:29:02.060
And the way the yellow vests were able to fundraise so much money so fast only speaks to how much their issues are resonating with a large portion of Canadians, despite what the mainstream media is trying to say.
00:29:15.300
And let me be clear, if death threats against the prime minister are showing up on yellow vest Facebook pages, that's terrible, but it's only an indictment of the person who wrote it, and not the other thousands of people involved in their movement.
00:29:32.000
And political violence, of course, is a form of tyranny.
00:29:38.740
Now, I see both sides of this dueling convoy issue, and I'm willing to give both sides of the debate fair treatment.
00:29:50.240
I'll talk to anybody who's willing to talk to me.
00:29:53.260
And I think normal people have a lot in common once they actually start talking to each other.
00:29:59.220
Now, I love what Bernard is trying to do, to advocate for the forgotten man, and to make conservatism, like he says, a little more pedestrian and main street.
00:30:09.660
All politics are local, as the saying goes, and sometimes our side of the aisle doesn't do a very good job of articulating that.
00:30:18.580
We're not great at talking about public policy in a real and tangible way.
00:30:24.320
Are your taxes going up, but your potholes aren't being fixed?
00:30:28.860
Did your mayor give himself a big fat raise, but your garbage isn't being picked up on time?
00:30:35.240
And are these politicians really talking about your issues or theirs?
00:30:40.580
Now, I'm rooting for Bernard as he tries to shape the conversation around real-world problems and dinner table issues all of our families face.
00:30:50.220
And I'm one of Bernard's biggest fans and a proud member of Roughneck Nation.
00:30:59.480
I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.
00:31:03.140
And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.
00:31:07.220
And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.