Rebel News Podcast - February 07, 2019


NEW poll： 60% of Albertans would consider voting for a separatist party — and so would 53% of Saskatchewanians


Episode Stats

Length

53 minutes

Words per Minute

168.70572

Word Count

9,000

Sentence Count

748

Misogynist Sentences

5

Hate Speech Sentences

16


Summary

A new poll shows that 60% of Albertans would consider voting for a Western separatist party, and 53% of Saskatchewanians would too. What would happen if such a party were to emerge in Western Canada? And what would it mean for the rest of Canada?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Well, hello, Rebels. You're listening to my free audio only recording my show, The Ezra LeVant Show.
00:00:04.980 Today, we talk about an amazing poll by Angus Reid that shows that 60%, 6-0%, a majority,
00:00:12.260 obviously, of Albertans would support a separatist party. I go into details with the poll,
00:00:19.100 and I remind people that you don't have to want actual separatism to support a separatist party.
00:00:24.200 Maybe you just like to negotiate a little tougher. That's what Quebec's been doing for a generation.
00:00:28.160 Anyways, you got to tune in, and I have a good talk with Manny Montenegrino about the trade war
00:00:33.420 that Donald Trump has launched against the world called Buy American. I hope you tune in for that.
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00:01:33.980 Tonight, a new poll shows that 60% of Albertans would consider voting for a separatist party,
00:01:39.060 and 53% of Saskatchewanians would too. It's February 6th, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:44.900 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:01:50.820 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:01:54.880 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
00:02:05.960 I'm not surprised 60% of Albertans would favor a Western separatist movement.
00:02:11.900 That's the result of a new opinion poll by Angus Reid.
00:02:14.900 Here's their headline.
00:02:16.880 Decades after reforms rise, voters opened to a new Western Canada party.
00:02:21.980 And by that, they actually meant a new federal party to run in Canadian elections for the Canadian Parliament,
00:02:28.140 like the old Reform Party did, to promote a Western point of view within Canada.
00:02:32.980 I'll get to the separatism in a moment, but here's their chart about the headline.
00:02:36.080 All across the West, such a Western Canada party within Canada would immediately jump into first place.
00:02:44.800 With 35% of the vote, this is in Western Canada, the Conservatives would immediately fall to second at 29%.
00:02:51.060 The Liberals and the ADP would be in the teens.
00:02:55.280 Now, this hypothetical scenario is examined at some length by Angus Reid, including a province-by-province breakdown.
00:03:00.520 It's called Vote Intention, if a Western Canada party were an option.
00:03:06.160 In this chart, you can see that such a party would theoretically be in the lead in each of the four Western provinces.
00:03:12.200 It's the light blue bar in these charts.
00:03:14.660 Conservatives are the dark blue bar.
00:03:16.420 More interestingly, in second place in each of these, three-way tie in Manitoba.
00:03:22.560 I wonder if that suggests that, for example, in British Columbia,
00:03:26.180 that a Western rights party would draw support away from the Liberals as much as from the Conservatives.
00:03:32.700 Even draw votes from the NDP.
00:03:34.160 Now, that would not surprise me.
00:03:35.500 I was involved with the Reform Party 25 years ago.
00:03:37.960 And I remember the interesting coalition that Preston Manning put together.
00:03:41.200 In Alberta, it was very much burrowing right into the core of the disgraced Progressive Conservatives.
00:03:49.460 That's what Alberta was.
00:03:50.760 Old Progressive Conservatives, either upset with Brian Mulroney or just absolutely repulsed by Kim Campbell.
00:03:56.820 So that was Alberta, where I'm from.
00:03:58.420 But in British Columbia, it's a different kind of reformer.
00:04:02.780 A lot of them were New Democrats.
00:04:05.200 Not necessarily socialists, but people who wanted the party to stand up for the little guy,
00:04:09.660 against the elites, against the establishment.
00:04:12.700 I remember the words Preston Manning used to use that resonated.
00:04:16.540 Represent the West to Ottawa, not Ottawa to the West, not the other way around.
00:04:21.120 That the existing parties had become auto-washed.
00:04:24.260 He used that phrase a lot.
00:04:25.440 He used to say, the common sense of the common man.
00:04:28.340 That sort of thing.
00:04:29.580 That would appeal to a lot of New Democrats.
00:04:31.300 It's very different, by the way, than the latest version of Preston Manning, who, by the way, is absolutely auto-washed.
00:04:38.900 To the point where he's writing op-eds.
00:04:40.940 Remember this one a few years back in a Toronto newspaper about how the liberals could sell a carbon tax policy to Westerners.
00:04:47.560 Just by avoid calling it a carbon tax.
00:04:50.220 Call it carbon pricing or other tricks.
00:04:53.640 How embarrassing.
00:04:54.440 I really wish he had retired before he started undoing his great legacy.
00:04:59.180 But my point is, the original Preston Manning, my favorite Preston Manning, he understood populism.
00:05:04.800 He loved it.
00:05:05.840 He loved direct democracy.
00:05:07.120 He loved Senate reform.
00:05:08.120 He loved talking about politics from the bottom up, not the top down.
00:05:11.540 He talked about participatory democracy.
00:05:13.820 Remember that?
00:05:14.260 The ability to fire your MP through something called recall, referendums, petitions, things like that.
00:05:22.420 That's what's called populism.
00:05:23.740 Preston used the word grassroots a lot.
00:05:26.580 It's still very much alive.
00:05:27.860 In fact, I would say it's stronger than ever and around the world.
00:05:31.320 What was Brexit?
00:05:32.700 What was Trump's presidential victory other than Reform Party-style rejection of the snobby, disconnected elites?
00:05:39.460 I remember back then, Jean Chrétien and the national media called the newborn Reform Party, they called it racist too, when of course it wasn't.
00:05:50.060 I remember Sheila Copst, the deputy prime minister under Chrétien, calling Preston Manning, who is probably the least racist person I've ever met.
00:05:58.360 She called him the David Duke of the North.
00:06:01.420 Now, she knew it wasn't true, but she had a job to do, to smash her opponents.
00:06:05.760 And the media were only too happy to help by demonizing the Reform Party, and indeed all Westerners, as racist.
00:06:12.780 The reaction of the Reform Party actually made the discontent worse.
00:06:17.020 That was before the new accusation.
00:06:18.780 In 2019, they wouldn't say David Duke of the North.
00:06:21.220 They would accuse you of Islamophobia, or maybe homophobia.
00:06:25.340 Back then, that wasn't that a common insult to tell people.
00:06:29.620 Now they call their enemies alt-right, or whatever.
00:06:32.140 That's another borrowing from the U.S. left.
00:06:35.520 You might remember, I sure do,
00:06:38.560 that in the 1990s, CSIS sent an undercover officer named Grant Bristow, an undercover agent.
00:06:45.160 I don't think he was actually formally trained as a cop.
00:06:47.620 And he founded a racist group called the Heritage Front.
00:06:51.540 Let me say that again for younger viewers who might not remember.
00:06:54.840 The Canadian government used tax dollars and a CSIS agent to create a racist group, to co-found it.
00:07:05.500 It was called the Heritage Front.
00:07:06.720 And its purpose was to give a bad name to all conservatives.
00:07:09.520 They deliberately tried to infiltrate and discredit the newborn Reform Party.
00:07:15.400 Can you believe that?
00:07:16.200 CSIS did that.
00:07:16.860 It's not a conspiracy theory.
00:07:18.480 I just showed you the article there in the Toronto Star.
00:07:20.420 You can find it anywhere.
00:07:21.820 I'm just trying to remind you of those tactics that are surely being used by the same agencies today
00:07:26.660 to undermine any conservative groups, whether it's Andrew Scheer, Jason Kenney, Maxine Bernier,
00:07:31.600 or more amorphous groups like the Yellow Vests or carbon tax protesters.
00:07:35.860 My point is, half the racists in Canada are undercover cops, or hoaxes always have been.
00:07:41.060 Look at this old Toronto Star photo of the anti-racists who were there to confront the racist heritage front.
00:07:50.440 Of course, both sides were controlled by the same people.
00:07:55.120 It was a play fight.
00:07:55.880 Anyway, sorry for the tangent.
00:07:58.340 My point is that we have police and political meddling with conservative politics in Canada going back decades.
00:08:04.140 I'm sure they did this to Quebec separatists, too.
00:08:06.340 In fact, I know they did.
00:08:07.680 Half the racist incidents in this country, I truly believe, or at least the ones ascribed to the right wing,
00:08:14.340 are simply government agents like Grant Bristow.
00:08:16.980 Well, I'm not going to get into the insane story from the 1960s when the Canadian Jewish Congress actually funded the Canadian Nazi Party.
00:08:25.340 I'll tell you about that another day.
00:08:26.960 I read about it in McLean's.
00:08:28.520 It's a crazy story.
00:08:30.400 I believe most Islamophobia hoaxes these days are hoaxes, like the fake hijab hoax.
00:08:37.680 I believe they're either created by human rights activists or police agents, or in this case, you remember the schoolgirl who claimed that she was attacked on the street?
00:08:46.880 She said an Asian man.
00:08:48.640 I truly think she was coached by someone to say a Caucasian man, but 11-year-olds simply don't know what the word Caucasian was.
00:08:55.820 She probably heard the word Asian, so she blamed someone Chinese, and the whole narrative fell apart.
00:09:00.660 She's supposed to blame a white guy.
00:09:02.740 Anyways, that's not the news today.
00:09:04.560 That's just a reminder of how the establishment reacts to populist conservatives, and has for my whole life, and before I was born even,
00:09:12.880 insult the right, discredit, undermine, defame, infiltrate, dirty tricks.
00:09:16.380 Expect to see a whole lot more of that in the months and years ahead, especially as we get into the election.
00:09:21.300 But back to today's news, the poll by Angus Reid.
00:09:24.040 He says a new pro-Western party would immediately be in first place across the West, and would literally get 40% of the vote in Alberta.
00:09:32.100 Now, it could be, of course.
00:09:34.860 It would depend a lot on who the leader would be, of course.
00:09:37.500 I think a lot of Westerners are disappointed in the weak sauce of Andrew Scheer.
00:09:40.700 If the leader of a new Western movement was charismatic, it could do quite well.
00:09:45.040 The utter weakness of Jagmeet Singh and his weird dalliance with extremists is also a disappointment of Prairie voters who have had a historic tie to the NDP.
00:09:53.740 Remember, it used to be called the CCF.
00:09:56.120 What a change from the Farmers and Industrial Workers Coalition that Tommy Douglas put together.
00:10:01.960 Now the NDP is just radical activists, racial grievance groups, environmentalists, extremists.
00:10:06.820 So yeah, the NDP would give up votes to a new pro-Western party, too, as they did in the 1990s to the Reform Party.
00:10:12.900 There's a lesson here, namely that Maxime Bernier, who calls himself the Albertan from Beauce, Quebec, I think he actually has more of a chance than other people might think.
00:10:23.600 I don't know if he's going to punch through in any given riding and actually win seats.
00:10:27.200 He might just get 5% or 10% in a lot of places.
00:10:29.360 But this poll by Angus Reid about this hypothetical new Western party, it tells me, weirdly, what do you think of this theory?
00:10:37.340 That a Quebecer like Bernier, who clearly loves the West and says so, and isn't afraid of championing the West,
00:10:46.180 he might actually pick up votes from an Andrew Scheer who takes Westerners for granted.
00:10:49.940 I'm not sure if you saw this video the other day.
00:10:52.160 I want to show you about a minute from a video, en français, in French, in Quebec, where he was asked about pipelines.
00:11:04.080 And he gave the strongest answer I've ever seen.
00:11:06.960 He said he absolutely would push through a pipeline through Quebec over the objections of even the provincial government.
00:11:14.580 Watch this.
00:11:15.380 It's just one minute long.
00:11:17.040 And you tell me, I'm not going to show you the whole thing.
00:11:19.380 It's just a minute.
00:11:19.780 You tell me, have you ever seen Andrew Scheer say something like this?
00:11:23.060 Watch the clip.
00:11:23.640 It's in French.
00:11:24.520 But look at the bottom.
00:11:25.940 There's a translation of what he's saying in the bottom.
00:11:27.780 Take a look.
00:11:28.700 C'est important que je vous comprenne et qu'on vous comprenne parfaitement, M. Bernier,
00:11:31.980 parce que l'enjeu risque d'être majeur pour le Québec.
00:11:34.760 Quand vous dites que c'est un projet fédéral parce que c'est interprovincial,
00:11:37.540 le pétrole partirait d'Alberta pour se rendre au Nouveau-Brunswick.
00:11:40.440 Donc, qu'est-ce que vous dites?
00:11:42.340 Si le Québec s'y oppose, vous feriez quoi si vous êtes premier ministre?
00:11:44.820 Vous, qu'est-ce que le premier ministre du Canada devrait faire?
00:11:46.500 Bien, premièrement, il faut voir si le privé veut.
00:11:50.560 Le privé a mis de côté ce projet-là.
00:11:52.520 Mais mettons que le privé acceptait, là.
00:11:54.640 Oui, mettons que le privé acceptait.
00:11:55.980 Il faut y aller avec ce projet-là.
00:11:57.480 Le fédéral a tous les instruments législatifs pour le faire.
00:12:00.480 On l'impose au Québec, donc?
00:12:01.680 On l'impose?
00:12:03.280 Oui, on peut imposer en utilisant la clause dans la Constitution qui fait en sorte que ça serait un projet d'intérêt national.
00:12:08.440 Et en faisant des consultations nécessaires, mais en bout de ligne, il faut que ces pipelines-là puissent être construits au Canada.
00:12:14.500 M. Bernier, là, vous vous faites des amis en Alberta, mais peut-être pas beaucoup au Québec.
00:12:19.020 Vous vous rendez compte de ce que ça va déclencher?
00:12:21.060 Non, si vous sondez la population du Québec, là, il y a des politiciens qui parlent, mais ils ne représentent pas l'ensemble de la population.
00:12:26.540 Il y a une partie de la population au Québec qui savent que c'est plus sécuritaire de transporter ça par pipeline
00:12:30.960 et qui savent aussi que ça va créer des emplois à Montréal, qui savent aussi que ça va aider l'économie canadienne
00:12:36.260 puisqu'on va avoir un meilleur prix pour notre pétrole.
00:12:38.360 Là, on dépend seulement d'un marché, le marché américain.
00:12:40.320 Put aside whether or not you think Maxime Bernier leaving the Conservatives was a good idea.
00:12:46.800 Put that aside.
00:12:47.840 I just want to ask you a question.
00:12:49.960 Have you ever seen an interview like that before?
00:12:52.840 And it went on a lot longer, by the way.
00:12:54.780 You should find the whole thing on YouTube.
00:12:56.240 I have never seen an Albertan fight so hard for Alberta in Quebec.
00:13:03.980 This monologue is not a campaign ad for Bernier, but rather just an observation.
00:13:07.340 Angus Reid tells us there is a big appetite for a pro-Western party in Canada.
00:13:14.780 Wouldn't it be paradoxical if that pro-Western party was led by a Quebecer?
00:13:20.120 I'm just saying.
00:13:21.320 I'm just saying.
00:13:22.960 Oh, hey, being a forceful advocate for Alberta and oil and industry and pipelines is a great idea.
00:13:28.140 Andrew Scheer, why don't you steal that idea?
00:13:30.600 But back to the Angus Reid poll.
00:13:32.420 It talks about this Western party that would run within the Canadian system.
00:13:36.140 And I remember being involved in Preston Manning's Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance Party that succeeded it.
00:13:41.580 And it was great.
00:13:42.440 And it was passionate.
00:13:43.300 And I loved it.
00:13:44.160 And I grew up in it.
00:13:45.040 And made a lot of friends in it.
00:13:46.320 Really, I even briefly ran as a candidate for it for about five weeks before stepping aside in Calgary Southwest for Stephen Harper.
00:13:52.840 I don't know if you remember that story.
00:13:53.760 But I do know, I do know that despite the thrill of it, the Reform Party carved off enough votes and the Bloc Québécois carved off enough votes that Jean Chrétien came up the middle and he won three majority governments in a row with only around 40% of the vote or even less.
00:14:10.580 I think one of his elections he had like 35.5% of the vote.
00:14:12.940 It wasn't until Stephen Harper stitched the Reform Party back together with the rump of those old progressive conservatives that he was able to win a government.
00:14:21.240 And even that was a minority government for years.
00:14:23.000 So what would a new Western party do within Canada other than perhaps guarantee Trudeau a liberal majority?
00:14:29.880 I mean, we're going to have another split?
00:14:30.840 Well, unless it had a coalition, an alliance with a similar party in Quebec.
00:14:36.980 That happened before in Canadian history.
00:14:39.040 Look, way back to the creditists as they were called.
00:14:42.080 Conrad Black is a leading historic in on all that.
00:14:44.740 But what about the other option?
00:14:47.200 What about the other question in this poll?
00:14:48.540 Because, look, we've seen this movie before several times.
00:14:52.360 In the early 1980s, Pierre Trudeau brought in the national energy program that wrung out tens of billions of dollars a year from Alberta, killed the industry.
00:14:59.120 Massive reception, massive job losses, destroyed national harmony.
00:15:02.980 He hated the West like his son, Justin, does.
00:15:05.700 And something called the Western Canada Concept Party was born.
00:15:09.240 Full-blown separatists.
00:15:10.660 And, you know, it actually elected a provincial MLA in Alberta.
00:15:13.760 I don't know if you know that.
00:15:14.760 Here's an old UPI story from their archives from 1982 about Gordon Kessler.
00:15:21.360 In the depths of the national energy program, they won a seat.
00:15:25.940 And the Western Canada Cops actually said that they thought he's just had for that moment that maybe they could even form the provincial government.
00:15:33.860 I mean, why not?
00:15:35.140 Separatists were forming governments in Quebec.
00:15:38.840 And maybe they could have done so.
00:15:40.320 Peter Lougheed took it as a wake-up call, got tougher with Trudeau.
00:15:43.680 Preston Manning went to work creating the Reform Party with his essential motto, the West wants in.
00:15:49.100 If I recall, I didn't look it up, I just tried to remember it.
00:15:52.960 He had a preliminary convention in 1986.
00:15:56.240 I think it was in Winnipeg.
00:15:57.680 I think it was co-hosted by Ted Byfield of the Western Report, as it was called.
00:16:02.220 And that led to the formal birth of the party next year, 1987.
00:16:05.380 So this was all happening in the mid-'80s.
00:16:07.400 Preston Manning basically said,
00:16:09.000 Take all of your energy and all your anger and all your sorrow and help me fix things.
00:16:15.660 The West wants in.
00:16:16.600 Let's fix it.
00:16:17.240 Let's reform it.
00:16:18.280 That's what the name meant.
00:16:20.700 So he took all the momentum out of the separatist movement.
00:16:22.940 In a way, Preston Manning probably saved Canada in that he just let all the air out of the balloon of the Western separatism movement.
00:16:32.340 The opposite of the path Quebec chose, am I right?
00:16:36.700 But in the end, I don't think it worked, did it?
00:16:38.300 I mean, I suppose Jean-Claude Chen didn't particularly abuse the West.
00:16:43.940 He did approve the development and growth of the oil sands.
00:16:47.640 He did.
00:16:48.000 He didn't try and kill it.
00:16:49.720 He actually balanced the budget, which was sort of a reformish thing.
00:16:53.640 Sure, he signed the Kyoto Protocol, but he didn't mean it.
00:16:56.020 He didn't do anything.
00:16:57.720 Yeah, he was arrogant and insulting and un-Western, but he wasn't an ideological hater.
00:17:02.340 He didn't go around picking fights.
00:17:03.700 He liked to put out fires, not start fires.
00:17:06.520 He was very different from Trudeau, wasn't he?
00:17:09.680 Now, the election in 2006 of Stephen Harper obviously marked, I suppose, the real success of the Reform Party 20 years later.
00:17:17.620 Harper himself was a co-founder of the Reform Party with Manning 20 years earlier.
00:17:22.100 Its first policy boss, Harper was, an early candidate, early MP.
00:17:25.320 And Harper ran the country well.
00:17:27.300 He didn't favor the West in any particular way.
00:17:29.660 In fact, he still wrung out the rest to appease Quebec tax-wise.
00:17:33.780 Quebec never really returned the affection.
00:17:36.400 But it was symbolically nice to have a Westerner in power.
00:17:39.840 At least the West knew that he wouldn't try anything.
00:17:41.900 But that's gone, and so now what?
00:17:45.380 We now have a new national energy program called the Carbon Tax, and its proponents, especially the irritating Catherine McKenna, are even more cult-like.
00:17:53.100 The government is infested by former environmental lobbyists, the chief of staff to Catherine McKenna is in Marlo Reynolds.
00:18:00.800 He used to be the boss of the anti-oil science lobby group called the Pembina Institute, the principal secretary to Justin Trudeau himself.
00:18:07.220 You know this, he used to run the anti-oil science lobby group called the World Wildlife Fund.
00:18:11.800 I'm talking, of course, about this guy.
00:18:14.500 We think that the oil sands have been expanded too rapidly without a serious plan for environmental remediation in the first place.
00:18:22.920 So that's why we don't think it's up to us to decide whether there should be another route for a pipeline.
00:18:29.020 Because the real alternative is not an alternative route, it's an alternative economy.
00:18:34.820 I don't think Chrétien let haters like that, let extreme ideologues like that, have any power.
00:18:41.160 I think he let them maybe mouth off a bit, but I think he kept them on a leash.
00:18:45.760 So what's our solution today? Andrew Scheer?
00:18:48.160 Yeah, could be.
00:18:50.680 I've got to tell you, though, I don't know a lot of conservatives who seriously believe that.
00:18:54.920 There's a difference between you hope Andrew Scheer is going to win and you think Andrew Scheer is going to win.
00:18:59.820 And by the way, we haven't even seen the massive campaign that is about to be unleashed on Andrew Scheer,
00:19:08.940 not just by the Liberal Party itself and their U.S. Democrat Party advisors,
00:19:15.500 but obviously by the bailed out media, their allies there,
00:19:20.560 and their censors at Facebook and YouTube and Google,
00:19:23.120 and a hundred third-party campaign groups, many using foreign money as they did last time.
00:19:30.640 Yeah, I'm not saying Justin Trudeau is going to win another majority,
00:19:34.580 but I'm pretty sure he's still going to be prime minister after the next election,
00:19:38.040 even if it's a minority.
00:19:40.940 That obviously isn't just my view, because look at the real question in the Angus Reid survey.
00:19:46.940 Would you be in favor or opposed to your own province joining such a Western separatist movement?
00:19:56.020 And as you can see, this chart is by Province BC on the left, Manitoba on the right.
00:20:00.680 They have strong national affections for Canada as it exists.
00:20:03.940 43% of BCers and 45% of Manitobans are strongly opposed to the idea of separatism,
00:20:09.540 although it should be noted that 35% of BCers are open to the idea,
00:20:12.800 and 36% are open to it in Manitoba, before such a party is even formed,
00:20:18.140 even articulates its idea, even makes its case.
00:20:20.580 And of course, remember, simply having a Western separatist party doesn't necessarily mean you have to separate.
00:20:25.520 It might just mean you want to negotiate a bit more firmly than rolling over every time.
00:20:29.840 Quebecers have said twice in two referendums that they actually don't really want to leave Canada.
00:20:35.240 Why would they?
00:20:36.680 Hey, their separatist parties, with the mere threat of separating,
00:20:40.920 have wrung out hundreds of billions of dollars in financial concessions,
00:20:45.220 in moral and symbolic concessions,
00:20:47.760 everything from national bilingualism to guaranteed one-third of the seats on the Supreme Court.
00:20:53.280 So yeah, do you doubt that a viable Western separatist party
00:20:56.160 would pretty quickly have Ottawa politicians, say, approving pipelines?
00:21:00.020 You don't have to separate for a separatist party to be a success, or put it another way.
00:21:04.440 But I'm not sure what use the United States of America would have for an independent Quebec.
00:21:10.660 I don't think they'd like it.
00:21:11.900 It'd probably be like a little Venezuela, a little radical, a little socialist.
00:21:15.060 They speak French.
00:21:16.620 They're pretty socialist, whatever.
00:21:18.100 But I am pretty sure that Donald J. Trump would know what to do with an independent Alberta,
00:21:24.740 with 173 billion barrels of oil,
00:21:29.160 and plenty of natural gas, and a generally can-do workforce.
00:21:33.360 Yeah, I think Ottawa would suddenly have to make its case to Alberta,
00:21:37.160 as opposed to vice versa, because Alberta would have an option.
00:21:41.080 And Albertans, I think, know this.
00:21:44.500 Look at those numbers again.
00:21:46.020 Again, without even trying, without even advocating,
00:21:48.300 60%, if you look at Alberta,
00:21:51.600 between those strongly in favor and moderately favored,
00:21:54.840 31 plus 29 is 60% of Albertans,
00:21:57.660 would immediately support such a project.
00:21:59.480 And half of those reporters are strong supporters.
00:22:02.480 Still, 25% are strongly opposed.
00:22:04.160 Yeah, I get that.
00:22:05.160 But the math right now would be 60% want out, 40% want in.
00:22:09.800 That's a landslide, folks.
00:22:12.840 Saskatchewan has similar numbers, a bit more modest.
00:22:15.420 They never had a strong separatist movement like Alberta did almost 40 years ago.
00:22:19.480 They didn't feel as targeted as Alberta did 40 years ago.
00:22:22.960 But look at how punitive Trudeau has been towards Saskatchewan.
00:22:25.920 Remember, it was the first province to oppose the carbon tax.
00:22:27.940 McKenna and Trudeau have been particularly abusive to it.
00:22:31.660 And they know that, and they're ready to go by a slight margin.
00:22:37.380 What's sad about Saskatchewan is it's where Andrew Scheer is from.
00:22:40.900 I mentioned how Preston Manning from Alberta took all the separatist energy away
00:22:45.100 and transmogrified it into fixing the system.
00:22:50.560 He turned lemons into lemonade, didn't he?
00:22:53.340 It doesn't appear that voters in Saskatchewan think Andrew Scheer can do the same.
00:23:00.520 So what does this all mean?
00:23:01.600 Well, I'll tell you what I think.
00:23:02.580 I think it means that all of the existing political entities have failed the West.
00:23:06.520 Obviously, the Liberal Party, they hate the West, especially under Trudeau.
00:23:10.260 Critchin hid it, sort of.
00:23:12.520 Trudeau revels in it.
00:23:13.480 Remember this?
00:23:13.920 I've said time and time again, and you're all tired of hearing me say it,
00:23:18.680 you can't make a choice between what's good for the environment and what's good for the economy.
00:23:23.360 We can't shut down the oil sands tomorrow.
00:23:26.800 We need to phase them out.
00:23:28.920 We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels.
00:23:32.480 He's a trust fund kid, son of a trust fund kid.
00:23:36.860 The last Trudeau who worked for a living was 100 years ago,
00:23:39.580 but he'll tell you your job has to be phased out.
00:23:41.920 Yeah, he's so calm about that, isn't he?
00:23:43.700 It's so obvious we've got to phase out those jobs.
00:23:45.660 It's just obvious, like this.
00:23:48.160 Quebecers are better than the rest of Canada because, you know, we're Quebecers.
00:23:55.300 That's the real Trudeau.
00:23:57.000 Yeah, we know the Liberals hate the West.
00:23:59.160 But the NDP doesn't much like the West either.
00:24:00.800 Even though the West gave birth to the NDP in the form of the CCF, remember that,
00:24:04.400 and the Conservative Party, well, the stats speak for themselves.
00:24:07.600 People prefer another party to it.
00:24:09.220 That was the first question that Angus re-asked.
00:24:11.480 They prefer separatism to it.
00:24:12.940 That is sad.
00:24:15.660 Of course, other institutions have failed too.
00:24:17.560 The mainstream media, in many ways, is the worst.
00:24:20.520 But so are the courts.
00:24:21.660 The courts are the primary means that the left uses to attack oil patch pipelines.
00:24:27.480 I think people are fed up with it.
00:24:28.840 But think back to the tangent I took you on in the beginning.
00:24:33.240 Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien.
00:24:35.300 They didn't really fix the problem of Western alienation.
00:24:38.260 Rather, they set about to slander Westerners, to defame them.
00:24:44.280 Obviously, with the cooperation of the media.
00:24:45.680 And as the Grant Bristow infiltration and the Heritage Front shows, CESIS literally paying
00:24:51.920 an agent to create a racist front group, and then mark that as a conservative thing, and
00:24:57.500 paid him to infiltrate the newborn Reform Party.
00:25:00.320 Expect the same moves today.
00:25:02.880 Hoaxes, false flags, smears, wild accusations, undermining.
00:25:07.780 They called press demanding a bigot for standing up for the West.
00:25:12.920 Thirty years later, that playbook still seems to work.
00:25:17.060 Get ready for it again.
00:25:19.860 Stay with us for more.
00:25:20.800 Okay, let's go.
00:25:36.560 Does anybody want this panel?
00:25:38.620 Can I have one?
00:25:39.580 Thank you very much.
00:25:42.080 Thank you all for being here.
00:25:43.080 Appreciate it.
00:25:43.800 Okay, here you go.
00:25:57.080 Thank you.
00:26:02.080 That is U.S. President Donald Trump at a signing ceremony for an executive order last Thursday
00:26:09.220 at the White House.
00:26:10.580 As you can see, there were men and women there wearing hard hats.
00:26:14.060 Those are industrial workers who have been lobbying Donald Trump to bring in protectionist
00:26:18.440 measures, and so we did.
00:26:20.220 That executive order called for a Buy American Scheme, whereby the U.S. government, through
00:26:28.000 its contracts and finances, would favor American manufacturers over all foreigners, including
00:26:34.540 Canadians.
00:26:35.000 Let me quote just a little bit from the order.
00:26:37.560 Remember, infrastructure projects include public or private physical assets that are designed
00:26:43.460 to provide or support services, including surface transportation, railways, bridges, transit,
00:26:49.860 aviation ports, including navigational channels, water resources, energy production, generation
00:26:56.600 storage, fossil fuels, just about anything you could possibly imagine, from broadband, internet
00:27:03.460 to pipelines, and everything in between, every single thing the U.S. government buys.
00:27:09.700 It will now be biased against foreigners, biased towards Americans.
00:27:15.420 This is a trade war.
00:27:17.180 At least that's my view.
00:27:18.940 But joining us now to give us his view is our old friend Manny Montenegrino, who has a great
00:27:26.280 experience in both legal matters and political matters.
00:27:29.900 He used to be the lawyer for the Conservative Party, including for Stephen Harper, and he
00:27:34.880 is a strategist in Ottawa.
00:27:36.800 Manny, great to see you again.
00:27:38.240 Welcome back.
00:27:38.800 We really enjoyed your comments through the renegotiation of NAFTA.
00:27:43.080 What do you think about this executive order?
00:27:45.140 I think it's like a trade war.
00:27:46.880 Am I overreacting?
00:27:48.800 You are yes and no.
00:27:50.980 First of all, it's great that you've brought it up.
00:27:53.860 I haven't seen it anywhere in the media.
00:27:55.880 And it isn't necessarily a trade war.
00:27:59.540 It's a continuation of what Donald Trump has been saying since 2015 campaigning.
00:28:06.680 And that is basically make America great, get manufacturing, get steel back into America.
00:28:13.600 And this is just one of the steps.
00:28:15.240 And Ezra, when you look at that, I've looked at that executive order, and it deals with
00:28:21.800 basically roughly infrastructure projects by the American government only.
00:28:28.160 Now, when I say only, what does that mean?
00:28:31.280 Trump has been saying, President Trump has been saying that he wants to build the infrastructure
00:28:35.440 of America.
00:28:36.540 He talks about the airports and the road structures and how superior they are in China, airports
00:28:43.920 and around the world.
00:28:44.720 So that number could be huge.
00:28:46.400 My estimate, it could be in the trillions of dollars over a long period of time.
00:28:51.180 And that means it is a sizable amount that the world would want to bid on.
00:28:56.680 And Canada, being the closest neighbor and probably the biggest supplier, certainly has to pay attention.
00:29:05.160 Now, Ezra, that executive order does have a general position, Section 6.
00:29:10.700 If you read it, it says, and I went to it because I'm saying, well, how could this make sense?
00:29:15.280 How could you do a new USMCA deal and now sign this executive order?
00:29:21.700 And I look at the executive order and it says, nothing in this order shall be construed to impair
00:29:27.300 or otherwise affect sub-III, existing rights and obligations under international agreements.
00:29:34.820 So I felt good.
00:29:35.780 I said, well, that's good.
00:29:36.960 This order will not affect the USMCA deal because it's exempted from this order.
00:29:43.940 But Ezra, if you look at the deal that we signed, here's what the deal says.
00:29:49.140 The deal, the new deal, and you might recall this, and hopefully your viewers do recall this,
00:29:55.800 it was negotiated for a year and a half.
00:29:58.440 Canada was kicked to the curb by both Mexico and the United States in the negotiations
00:30:04.000 because they were being juvenile.
00:30:06.820 They were asking for silly causes dealing with gender.
00:30:12.280 So they were out of the negotiations.
00:30:14.260 And Mexico negotiated with United States alone.
00:30:18.900 And they signed the deal.
00:30:20.880 And then we, at the last minute, signed the deal, the Mexican deal.
00:30:25.840 I'm not even going to call it the American deal, the Mexican negotiated deal.
00:30:29.580 And if you look very carefully in that deal, it says that it exempts Mexico from government
00:30:38.400 procurement.
00:30:38.960 So basically, any procurement between governments of Mexico and governments of the United States
00:30:45.740 are exempted.
00:30:47.280 So that means you can bid.
00:30:49.420 They can bid on them.
00:30:51.440 But Canada is...
00:30:52.960 Can I just...
00:30:53.820 Yeah, sure, sure.
00:30:54.660 I'm really glad you went back to the USMCA.
00:30:57.180 That's the new name for the renegotiated NAFTA.
00:31:02.480 Right.
00:31:02.760 When you say that US government procurement is exempted, does that mean it's exempted from
00:31:08.280 having to follow free trade rules?
00:31:11.500 So if the US government is exempted in its own purchases, doesn't that mean that the
00:31:18.220 USMCA allows by American?
00:31:24.000 But it only allows as between the...
00:31:28.660 The agreement only allows as between Mexico and the USA.
00:31:32.680 I didn't quite mean exempted.
00:31:34.080 I'm saying exempted from the order.
00:31:36.560 So maybe I'm going a little bit ahead of myself.
00:31:41.180 But basically, what it's saying is that the new USMCA deals with government procurement,
00:31:48.960 but only as it relates to Mexico and US, and Canada is not part of it.
00:31:53.340 Canada signed the Mexican deal.
00:31:55.640 So what that means, if you were giving advice to a manufacturer, that would mean try to find
00:32:01.540 a subcontractor from Mexico to get in through the USMCA to get around the executive order.
00:32:10.880 So are you saying that Mexico has certain privileges that Canada doesn't?
00:32:15.480 Yes.
00:32:16.000 Are you serious?
00:32:16.680 Yes.
00:32:16.860 Mexico has a better deal than we do?
00:32:19.240 Yes.
00:32:19.600 Are you serious?
00:32:20.160 Yes.
00:32:21.500 I mean, now, Ezra, this is as far as I got going through it because...
00:32:26.280 It's very complicated.
00:32:26.940 Very complicated.
00:32:27.840 Very complicated.
00:32:28.800 Yeah.
00:32:29.500 But I'm going to tell you, Ezra, no one has written on this.
00:32:32.420 Holy cow.
00:32:33.360 I didn't know that, Manny, until you just said that.
00:32:35.260 Yeah, so what happens now is that you default into, Canada defaults into the World Trade Organization
00:32:45.480 deal.
00:32:46.600 That's where they will find the relief.
00:32:48.580 So if they want to complain about US action, and we'll say this executive order, they'll
00:32:54.840 have to go under the WTO.
00:32:56.380 They can't go under the USMCA.
00:32:59.140 Hey, Mexico can go under the USMCA deal because it's a modern deal, it's a new deal, and it's
00:33:08.040 the most current deal.
00:33:09.220 So we are now forced as Canada, not having negotiated the deal and taken the Mexican deal,
00:33:16.540 we now have to find legal relief from the WTO agreement, not from the new agreement, whereas
00:33:24.840 Mexico can run to the new agreement and say, here's what we signed, this executive order
00:33:29.500 shouldn't apply to us, and they'll probably win.
00:33:33.040 Manny, you know, I watched the press conference, and then I read the transcript, and the White
00:33:37.080 House really was, they were being as noisy about this as they could, because in their
00:33:41.240 mind, this was Donald Trump keeping a promise to the American industrial heartland, which
00:33:46.760 it was.
00:33:47.800 He said the word China, I counted, he said it 28 times in his 38 minute press conference.
00:33:56.640 He didn't say the word Canada once, so it's, and it makes sense, because he's in this big
00:34:01.060 negotiation with President Xi, and of course, he's been mad about China for decades, and he's
00:34:06.980 mad about China because of Korea, so China's on his mind.
00:34:09.480 I think we were collateral damage.
00:34:13.480 I don't really think Trump dislikes Canada.
00:34:16.360 He's got a couple of hotels here, I think.
00:34:19.920 I don't think that Trump thinks about Justin Trudeau as much as the reverse is true.
00:34:24.720 So I think we were an accidental casualty.
00:34:28.360 Go ahead.
00:34:29.640 Yeah, I wouldn't put that that way.
00:34:32.000 Here's what Trump, Trump is a superior strategist.
00:34:35.540 And I'm going to tell you something, he's the most transparent person you could negotiate
00:34:40.660 with.
00:34:41.220 He's been very clear what he wants.
00:34:42.980 He just wants it.
00:34:44.220 We're ignoring what he wants.
00:34:45.820 And what exactly does he want?
00:34:47.040 What exactly does he want?
00:34:48.640 On this day, well, he wants manufacturing back to the Rust Belt.
00:34:52.700 He wants to make America great.
00:34:54.600 He wants jobs.
00:34:55.680 These are things.
00:34:56.740 Now, Ezra, why is he doing this on January 31st, executive order?
00:35:01.580 Two reasons, in my opinion.
00:35:02.840 Number one, there is no deal with China.
00:35:06.280 Therefore, they don't get the exemption under 6II, i.e., there are no obligations or international
00:35:13.920 agreements.
00:35:14.600 So he's saying to China, I've just signed an executive order.
00:35:18.240 You're out of America forever unless you sign the deal.
00:35:21.360 If there's an international deal, this doesn't bite you.
00:35:24.920 That's why China...
00:35:26.280 So it's actually about, it really is about China.
00:35:28.800 Well, let me...
00:35:29.180 Yeah, now hold on.
00:35:30.100 Let me add one more thing.
00:35:31.080 As you know, as you know, the USMCA has not received, it has not gone through Congress.
00:35:39.540 This is also saying to the Democrats who control Congress, I've got a good deal with Canada.
00:35:45.340 If you don't sign, they will be totally outside of it.
00:35:51.980 So it's also a small message to Canada.
00:35:54.840 And so that's...
00:35:56.660 He's a complete strategist.
00:35:58.260 It's brilliant what he's doing.
00:36:00.440 He's threatening China.
00:36:01.820 And China, you're absolutely right.
00:36:03.020 China is the main goal.
00:36:04.220 If you don't sign a deal with us, you are out.
00:36:07.180 And that's...
00:36:08.160 So this document does two things.
00:36:10.400 It kind of tells the Democrats, wake up.
00:36:13.740 It tells Canada, you're out.
00:36:15.860 You've got to go to the old WTO.
00:36:17.560 And by the way, the steel industry is growing in America.
00:36:22.040 And Ezra, let me add, as you know, there have been tariffs put on the Canadian steel.
00:36:27.300 From what I've read, the US is...
00:36:30.260 That tariff equals $7.5 billion.
00:36:33.020 So Canadian steel going into America is added with $7.5 billion.
00:36:38.500 And I say steel.
00:36:39.300 I mean aluminum as well and all the other products.
00:36:41.860 But $7.5 billion.
00:36:43.440 That makes purchasers in America say, let's keep our steel industry going.
00:36:48.580 We'll buy locally.
00:36:49.760 And that's happened.
00:36:51.120 Now, in Canada, we did a tit-for-tat trade, a tit-for-tat tariffs.
00:36:56.180 But it wasn't focused.
00:36:57.820 It wasn't on anything.
00:36:58.860 It was a revenue generator.
00:37:00.740 We got it on whiskey.
00:37:02.240 We got it on mustard.
00:37:03.700 And all things that really doesn't matter.
00:37:05.660 So let me conclude by saying this.
00:37:08.220 The tariff that Trump put on was specific to grow the industry in America, the steel industry.
00:37:14.980 And it's very successful.
00:37:16.320 Steel jobs are coming back.
00:37:18.040 The tariffs in Canada was to give the government, the liberal government, Justin Trudeau, $7.5 billion more to spend foolishly.
00:37:28.240 And that's why the tariffs both exist.
00:37:31.060 That's why neither party is getting rid of the tariffs.
00:37:33.440 Trump loves it because it forces manufacturing into America.
00:37:39.080 Trudeau loves it because Canadians are paying $7.5 billion more in taxes.
00:37:44.220 And he gets to spend it, which wasn't in his budget a year ago.
00:37:47.840 You know, it's interesting you say that.
00:37:50.100 I think you're right.
00:37:50.920 Trump is transparent.
00:37:51.800 I think he really is a blue-collar-minded billionaire, even though that's like an oxymoron.
00:37:57.740 I think he likes working people.
00:37:59.920 He likes the trades.
00:38:01.240 He likes photographs with guys with hard hats, whereas our guy talks about phasing out the oil sands.
00:38:06.960 Our guy bans pipelines.
00:38:09.300 Right.
00:38:09.800 In fact, come to think of it, Trudeau really doesn't do a lot of photo ops with working-class people.
00:38:16.020 Well, it's not cool enough for him.
00:38:18.620 But let me ask you this, because I was reminded of when Barack Obama brought in Bi-American,
00:38:24.400 because it's a bipartisan thing.
00:38:25.860 Yes.
00:38:26.540 And Stephen Harper was tenacious.
00:38:29.200 And I think he worked for Stephen Harper at the time.
00:38:31.560 I don't know if you're at liberty to share us any of the behind the scenes.
00:38:34.780 But from what I can tell on the outside, it looked like Stephen Harper said this is almost
00:38:40.140 an economically existential threat to Canada, given our trade.
00:38:44.580 So he, it was his top file.
00:38:46.660 He was always down in Washington.
00:38:48.440 He had his cabinet meet with Obama's cabinet.
00:38:51.180 He got U.S. companies to agree to lobby for exemptions.
00:38:55.960 And in fact, Obama, I showed a clip on Monday, Obama said, all right, enough, enough.
00:39:00.200 He was almost wearing down Obama, but not rudely.
00:39:03.260 He wasn't rude.
00:39:04.460 He hired a new Democrat as an ambassador, which I thought was brilliant, Gary Doerr,
00:39:09.340 just to make Obama comfy.
00:39:12.080 It would be like Trudeau hiring, you know, a right-wing developer as an ambassador just
00:39:17.280 to make Trump feel good.
00:39:18.740 And that's part of the, I guess what I'm asking, sorry for the long preamble, has Trudeau
00:39:24.560 in your detection done anything to mitigate the damages to our economy the way Harper did
00:39:31.560 ten years ago?
00:39:33.020 Absolutely not.
00:39:33.800 Now, I can tell you, Stephen Harper is probably the most brilliant strategist that I know.
00:39:40.500 He plays the long game and understands each and every element of it.
00:39:45.040 That's why he was successful with Obama, to stand down and give a Canadian exemption on
00:39:50.240 the America-only clause that he put in ten years ago.
00:39:53.580 Barack Obama was more interested in kind of the optics of everything, whereas Harper understood
00:40:03.580 the consequences.
00:40:04.880 Now we reversed it.
00:40:06.540 Now we have Trump who understands clearly it's a plan.
00:40:10.940 I have seen this from 2015.
00:40:13.520 I mean, if only somebody was paying attention.
00:40:16.400 Everything that Trump was done was signaled and easy.
00:40:19.440 And he's on it.
00:40:20.460 He's like the person building a business.
00:40:23.040 And I see our prime minister like a guy filling in on the shift for one day.
00:40:28.180 And that's his commitment.
00:40:29.540 He gets the photo up, the shift.
00:40:31.580 He was at work.
00:40:32.580 Everybody's happy.
00:40:33.320 And this guy, Trump, is grinding.
00:40:35.600 And he is getting steel and manufacturing.
00:40:38.020 If you saw the State of the Union address, he has manufacturing jobs are back in America.
00:40:43.340 Steel jobs are back in America.
00:40:44.740 That was an impossibility.
00:40:46.760 And how did it happen?
00:40:47.740 He strategizes.
00:40:49.400 And our prime minister doesn't.
00:40:51.160 I mean, to think of it, Canada signed a trade agreement, our biggest trade agreement, USMCA,
00:40:58.640 that Mexico negotiated completely with US and we signed on on the last minute.
00:41:05.580 That tells you everything.
00:41:07.840 Yeah.
00:41:08.360 Manny, I want to ask you a question.
00:41:09.680 And maybe I'm asking you to be a mind reader.
00:41:11.560 But I mean, you have a lot of experience in Ottawa with the media, with politics.
00:41:16.380 So you're the best guy to read minds if anyone can.
00:41:21.420 The Canadian media really followed the NAFTA or the USMCA negotiations closely, partly because
00:41:27.420 they really like Chrystia Freeland.
00:41:30.400 And although she's not an experienced negotiator, she really was hands on there.
00:41:34.180 I think she was taken for a ride.
00:41:37.620 I think Trump just really got everything he wanted and more.
00:41:41.620 So the media, I mean, I remember the CBC went down there.
00:41:44.060 They camped out outside.
00:41:45.060 They were very dramatic about it.
00:41:46.840 They covered every jot and tittle, as they say.
00:41:51.520 Why hasn't there been any coverage?
00:41:54.460 I haven't seen any coverage, let alone huge coverage, of what I think is a big setback for
00:41:59.020 trade.
00:41:59.660 I haven't seen it in our state broadcaster.
00:42:01.640 I haven't seen it in the private sector media.
00:42:03.260 I haven't even seen it really in the business pages.
00:42:07.180 And I'm sort of thinking, Manny, am I crazy for thinking this is a big story?
00:42:12.060 Are they crazy?
00:42:13.580 I think this is a big story.
00:42:15.100 I think this is part of the bigger story.
00:42:18.660 And the bigger story is that Trump has a plan and he's going to continue it.
00:42:24.240 If he gets another four years and he continues with this plan, each one of his implementations
00:42:30.260 is going to hurt Canada because he is going to make America great.
00:42:34.900 And he has.
00:42:35.840 So you're not wrong.
00:42:37.140 I think the answer to your question is, and I'm telling you, it's pretty simple.
00:42:43.440 Most people don't like really hardworking guys.
00:42:48.800 And they like the peripheral of a person because most people aren't.
00:42:54.580 When I managed a big law firm, I knew who were the hardworking lawyers and who weren't.
00:43:00.140 And so it's easier to be part of that whole group that does it.
00:43:04.100 This is very difficult stuff to understand.
00:43:06.500 I read through it all and it's hard for me to understand.
00:43:09.900 How do you dissect that as a media and put it to your viewers?
00:43:13.860 It's better to talk about a T-shirt that the minister wore.
00:43:18.420 It's better to talk about how, you know, you know, the prime minister wears a certain garb
00:43:23.860 and how he's how he and this is what we've gone to a country where the prime minister
00:43:29.400 with all the terrible things that are happening, detainees in China, trade wars with with with
00:43:36.740 with countries.
00:43:37.720 We go to town halls because everyone understands the simplicity.
00:43:42.420 I mean, what is the prime minister doing in town halls, receiving questions and not ask
00:43:48.500 answering questions?
00:43:49.720 But everyone feels happy.
00:43:51.260 This is hard stuff, Ezra, very important stuff.
00:43:54.400 And it's going to cost Canadians a lot over the future.
00:43:57.200 Prime Minister Harper understood it.
00:43:58.700 He was there in the corners and nobody understood what he did.
00:44:02.160 Nobody understood the bullets that we met with that that we dodged.
00:44:06.240 So it's hard.
00:44:07.280 And I think most of the media to explain this.
00:44:09.840 I mean, why do that when you can take a clip and show something somebody, you know, Christopher
00:44:14.740 Freeland at a grade school talking to grade school children?
00:44:18.260 That's easier.
00:44:19.240 Yeah, I just I mean, I don't want to be obsessed with the journalist aspect.
00:44:24.260 But here.
00:44:24.800 Yeah.
00:44:25.220 Let me add another point, Ezra.
00:44:26.940 Another point is it makes Donald Trump look good.
00:44:30.840 And you know when Freeland looked like they didn't have the great success that they said
00:44:34.880 Right now, right now, I can prove almost without a doubt that the narrative in Canada is if
00:44:42.380 you make Trump look terrible, by comparison, are really not so good, probably mostly in
00:44:51.400 that prime minister, it looks good.
00:44:53.080 That's the narrative.
00:44:54.100 And when that's the narrative, you can't get off that narrative.
00:44:56.900 You can't say Trump did spectacular things.
00:44:59.480 You can't report on what he did because then we say, hey, how come we don't have somebody
00:45:04.280 as good as that?
00:45:05.140 So that so there's there's two elements.
00:45:07.280 Number one, it's complicated to talk about.
00:45:09.460 It's complicated for people to understand.
00:45:11.340 And people are now it's easier to give them what I'll call, you know, that type of media
00:45:16.760 that the inquire type media that people are used to.
00:45:20.900 But also it makes Trump look good.
00:45:22.740 Trump is working his butt off to get America.
00:45:26.740 I mean, the numbers coming out of America, it is amazing.
00:45:30.380 I mean, I'll just give you some quick ones.
00:45:32.540 You know, wages are up in America.
00:45:34.660 Wages are down in Canada.
00:45:36.820 Our GDP is one point some percent and they keep changing it lower.
00:45:40.940 There's a 3.5.
00:45:42.380 I mean, America, it has America also has there's a there's a stat that people don't look at.
00:45:49.680 And it's and it's called the participation rate.
00:45:53.500 How many people in your economy are working?
00:45:55.280 America's is going up.
00:45:56.660 Ours is going down.
00:45:57.820 You know, we talk about our employment rate.
00:45:59.420 It really means nothing.
00:46:00.540 Our participation rate is going down.
00:46:02.380 So on every measure.
00:46:03.740 But we don't get to see this because it makes Trump look good.
00:46:06.940 Yeah.
00:46:07.340 And we don't want that.
00:46:08.400 Yeah.
00:46:08.860 You know, permit me a 60 second.
00:46:11.700 Yeah.
00:46:11.900 Sure.
00:46:12.180 Sure.
00:46:12.960 Yeah.
00:46:14.000 I was at a party once and I met a Coptic Christian from Egypt who served in their
00:46:19.480 army and he was telling me what it was like in the in the Egyptian army.
00:46:23.400 And he said that it wasn't until he came to Canada that he learned that Egypt and the
00:46:30.260 other Arab countries lost the six day war in 1967.
00:46:34.060 It was one of the most lopsided military victories in in history.
00:46:37.020 But he said in Egypt, they were all taught it was a great victory from for Egypt and so
00:46:44.300 proud.
00:46:44.920 And I just sort of laughed.
00:46:46.300 I thought, oh, my God, you lived in an alternative universe.
00:46:48.900 And you just made me think that I think in Canada, our political media industrial complex
00:46:55.000 wants, craves, needs the narrative that Justin Trudeau and Christia Freeland totally won the
00:47:03.240 trade war with Donald Trump and totally got a great deal in the USMCA.
00:47:07.320 And I think that's why this news of this by American and the other things you're pointing
00:47:12.660 out, they just like like the Egyptian army.
00:47:15.500 No, no, no, no.
00:47:16.280 It was a great victory.
00:47:17.520 It's like Baghdad, Bob.
00:47:18.660 We've got them on the run now.
00:47:19.980 Yeah, exactly.
00:47:20.280 And I just I think it's self-delusion.
00:47:22.160 But for unemployed Canadians, it's not going to help them pay the bills.
00:47:25.400 Last word to you, Manny.
00:47:26.280 Yeah, no, and the problem with it is everything that the media wants to look at has to be an
00:47:33.280 immediate effect.
00:47:34.240 Therefore, they can understand it.
00:47:36.160 And so this will take years.
00:47:39.320 If America does a one trillion, two trillion infrastructure over 10 years, these are jobs
00:47:45.560 over 10 years that really doesn't affect this election cycle.
00:47:49.100 What affects this election cycle is how can we make I mean, I mean, there's no question
00:47:53.600 that the that the prime minister is failing on almost every file.
00:47:58.060 And so how do you save him?
00:47:59.820 You got to keep the Trump is terrible narrative going or he's got nothing.
00:48:04.160 That's what it is.
00:48:05.960 Well, another great conversation, Manny.
00:48:07.520 Thank you so much for doing that research.
00:48:09.900 I am going to check the text of the USMCA because I was not aware of that session.
00:48:14.260 Very interesting.
00:48:15.580 Great to have you.
00:48:16.080 Thanks for being so generous with your time.
00:48:18.660 No problem.
00:48:19.160 Take care.
00:48:19.540 All right.
00:48:19.900 There you have it.
00:48:20.340 Manny Montenegrino.
00:48:21.240 He's the boss of Think Sharp Consultants in Ottawa, a former national partner at a national
00:48:28.220 law firm and used to be Stephen Harper's lawyer.
00:48:31.740 Stay with us.
00:48:32.480 More ahead on The Rebel.
00:48:44.580 Hey, welcome back to my monologue yesterday about three news stories regarding Trudeau's
00:48:48.260 immigration policy.
00:48:48.980 Reed writes, do we not have police in Canada or are they just bellhops now?
00:48:54.840 Well, you know, a bellhop, it's it's like a journalist.
00:48:59.440 People can say you are a journalist or aren't a journalist, but it's really the activity of
00:49:03.560 journalism decides if you are right.
00:49:05.420 It's not like a doctor, a doctor that's a professional standard.
00:49:08.760 So what is a bellhop?
00:49:10.360 What is a bellhop?
00:49:11.500 A bellhop is someone who brings luggage, carries luggage for you, usually at a hotel.
00:49:18.240 Well, when the RCMP is specifically instructed to carry the luggage of illegal immigrants across
00:49:28.120 an illegal border entry, I know they may call themselves police and I know their badge says
00:49:33.900 police, but you are what you do.
00:49:36.160 And you are a bellhop.
00:49:39.860 I don't think they want to be bellhops.
00:49:41.700 I'm just saying that's what they are.
00:49:43.580 I'm not insulting them.
00:49:44.760 It's what they're doing that's insulting to them.
00:49:48.760 Bruce writes, we sure do need a Canadian leader who will put Canada first.
00:49:52.260 The trouble is that Andrew Scheer is about as firm as foam rubber.
00:49:54.820 Yeah, listen, we've said this before.
00:49:58.520 He spent a decade as the Speaker of the House of Commons, which means he was, by definition,
00:50:04.280 nonpartisan.
00:50:04.940 He had to be nonpartisan.
00:50:06.660 If there was a conflict, he had to smooth it over.
00:50:08.900 Now, now, they're there.
00:50:10.160 Let's compromise.
00:50:10.940 He ran something called the Board of Internal Economy, which is basically the private group
00:50:15.880 of MPs from all the parties that would meet together and run the parliament itself.
00:50:20.520 So some of it was just, you know, logistical, who gets what office.
00:50:24.000 But some of it was, oh, this MP from the Liberal Party was sued for sexual harassment.
00:50:29.660 We'll cover his legal expense if we cover the conservative's legal.
00:50:33.320 I mean, so it's a lot of log rolling and deal making.
00:50:36.120 For 10 years, that's what he did.
00:50:37.600 His formative years in life.
00:50:38.960 He was not a real businessman beforehand.
00:50:40.940 He wasn't in the army beforehand.
00:50:42.520 He didn't have a profession beforehand.
00:50:45.620 Andrew Scheer's profession is being a schmoozer, paperer, overer, log roller.
00:50:50.300 So are you surprised that he's not a killer instinct guy now?
00:50:54.360 I'm not.
00:50:56.540 On my interview with Dr. Daniel Pipes about Venezuela, Paul writes,
00:51:00.820 China doesn't want Venezuela to change governments.
00:51:03.120 They like to lend all sorts of money to countries.
00:51:04.880 And then when they default, they move in and take over their resource industry.
00:51:08.220 Russia's happy to have a major energy competitor out of the way.
00:51:11.300 Iran views them as their foothold to South America.
00:51:14.660 Turkey has become anti-West and anti-America.
00:51:17.420 But I really don't see why they're still in NATO.
00:51:21.480 Yeah, it's so weird.
00:51:22.540 It's such a weird thing going on.
00:51:25.420 It's about the same size as Canada, population-wise.
00:51:27.460 What I said before, I mean, listen, we have this little compilation page.
00:51:32.460 We had a friend, an acquaintance of ours, Dan in Caracas.
00:51:36.240 She did some videos at rebelvenezuela.com.
00:51:38.840 They're just short videos.
00:51:40.100 So you can see that.
00:51:40.900 I'm really interested in Venezuela.
00:51:43.880 I get the feeling that not all our viewers are.
00:51:45.980 But here's my point.
00:51:48.380 How much blood and treasure has the West spent in unredeemable places like Afghanistan?
00:51:54.480 Yeah, it is absolutely unredeemable.
00:51:57.240 Afghanistan has always been that way, and it will always be that way.
00:52:00.940 When we are living on moon colonies, when we are living in space stations,
00:52:06.160 Afghanistan will still be the wretched place it is.
00:52:09.860 Why do we think we could master it when the Soviet Union couldn't?
00:52:14.100 Why do we think we could master Sudan when the British Empire couldn't?
00:52:20.020 Yeah, there's some places in the world that are absolutely wretched,
00:52:23.280 and the best thing for us to do is seal them off, maybe.
00:52:27.260 Why do we think we can reform them?
00:52:28.760 Whereas Venezuela was once the fourth richest place in the world,
00:52:33.120 a prosperous Western Christian country, educated, industrialized.
00:52:38.400 Surely we should lift a finger to free those people and redeem that country.
00:52:43.100 I'm not saying send troops there.
00:52:45.640 But neither should we send troops to Mali.
00:52:48.380 What the hell are we doing there?
00:52:50.180 Oh, my God.
00:52:52.260 On that despondent note, I'll end today's show.
00:52:56.300 I thank you for watching.
00:52:57.600 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters,
00:53:00.800 to you at home, good night.
00:53:02.160 Keep fighting for freedom.
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