Rebel News Podcast - May 15, 2019


REVEALED： Calgary Mayor Nenshi is “taking favours and funding from the Rockefeller Foundation” (Guest host： Sheila Gunn Reid)


Episode Stats

Length

41 minutes

Words per Minute

163.48708

Word Count

6,710

Sentence Count

334

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

The City of Medicine Hat, Alberta is boycotting a conference in Quebec, and Calgary s Mayor Nahid Nenshi doesn t like it one bit. Although, is it really any wonder that a mayor who s cozied up to the Rockefeller Foundation is now looking down his smug nose at another city that s making a stand for Alberta s oil and gas jobs?


Transcript

00:00:00.440 You're listening to a Rebel Media Podcast.
00:00:03.860 Tonight, the City of Medicine Hat Alberta is boycotting a conference in Quebec.
00:00:09.260 And Calgary's Mayor Nahid Nenshi, well, he doesn't like it one bit.
00:00:13.460 Although, is it really any wonder that a mayor who's cozied up to the Rockefeller Foundation
00:00:17.680 is now looking down his smug nose at another city that's making a stand for Alberta's oil and gas jobs?
00:00:24.900 It's May 14th, 2019. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Ezra Levant Show.
00:00:33.320 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:00:37.160 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:00:41.220 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
00:00:47.080 Medicine Hat Alberta is a city of about 65,000 people located about three hours southwest of Calgary,
00:00:59.680 but it's also located directly inside my heart this week.
00:01:03.820 Medicine Hat City Council has voted unanimously to boycott the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference
00:01:10.680 in Quebec City to be held later on in the month, on the 30th of May.
00:01:15.980 Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston told Post Media, and I quote,
00:01:20.240 In Medicine Hat, we just didn't feel like we could spend our taxpayers' money in a province that didn't welcome us.
00:01:28.300 We're cutting and cutting and cutting and telling our employees that they take 0% wage increases.
00:01:35.500 We're cutting how often we water the parks.
00:01:37.880 And then, all of a sudden, for our citizens to see seven of us are flying to Quebec,
00:01:44.280 well, the optics of that perhaps aren't the best either.
00:01:48.640 Now, this defense of the oil and gas industry by Medicine Hat
00:01:52.520 should not be shocking to anyone paying attention to history or the last 150 years.
00:01:58.900 Oil and gas have been a part of Medicine Hat since before Alberta was even Alberta in 1883
00:02:04.380 when railroad crews were drilling for water near Medicine Hat.
00:02:07.160 They discovered shallow pools of natural gas just sitting barely below the surface of the soil.
00:02:13.400 When British journalist and author Rudyard Kipling, you know, the author of The Jungle Book,
00:02:18.660 visited Medicine Hat, he noted that in some places it seemed like natural gas was just leaking out of the ground.
00:02:26.060 And he remarked,
00:02:27.560 This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat.
00:02:35.240 Now, that's a fun little bit of history.
00:02:37.720 But in modern times, Medicine Hat actually owns a company called Natural Gas and Petroleum Resources,
00:02:44.360 which operates over 4,000 active wells.
00:02:47.720 They manage another 1,500 wells, has 18 active compressor stations and four active oil batteries.
00:02:54.820 And those are both in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:02:57.540 And that's just the short list, folks.
00:03:00.120 The city also partners in other gas projects.
00:03:02.920 These assets and business partnerships have resulted in a half a billion dollars in benefit
00:03:08.420 to the city and people of Medicine Hat over the last 15 years.
00:03:12.600 If I were in Medicine Hat, I would be taking every single attack on the resource sector as an attack on my town.
00:03:20.300 But the first mayor to scold Medicine Hat for not going to this conference,
00:03:25.920 even faster than the mayor of Quebec City, was the mayor of Calgary, Nahid Nenshi.
00:03:33.360 Nenshi said, and I quote,
00:03:35.320 I always think a dialogue is better than taking your puck and going home.
00:03:40.640 Mayor Nenshi should really be embarrassed that a much smaller city like Medicine Hat
00:03:46.240 is taking a much bolder stand for Alberta against Quebec than Calgary ever has.
00:03:52.380 One third of the retail space in Calgary's downtown core is vacant due to the downturn in oil and gas.
00:03:58.940 The carbon tax exacerbated man-made recession,
00:04:01.800 made even worse by the landlocking of Alberta oil and gas by our so-called partners in Confederation,
00:04:08.980 those governments in British Columbia and Quebec.
00:04:12.280 But Calgary's mayor, well, he has a bit of a habit of talking down to those who are standing up for the oil and gas sector.
00:04:19.760 It's a very weird habit for a mayor of a city like Calgary,
00:04:23.340 but once you hear what I'm about to tell you, it'll all make a bunch of sense.
00:04:28.800 While trying to show off how progressive Calgary is to the rest of Canada under his enlightened leadership,
00:04:36.220 Nenshi managed to attack blue-collar people for their vehicle choices.
00:04:40.480 Just watch.
00:04:42.280 You know, yeah, people can talk about cruise ships, people can talk about water treatment plants.
00:04:45.720 You know, look, everybody's got skeletons in their closet.
00:04:48.080 I'm not interested in having that discussion.
00:04:50.140 What I am interested in is just helping everyone in Canada understand
00:04:54.100 that we here in Alberta are not a bunch of, you know, F-350 driving cavemen.
00:04:59.660 And Nenshi has been quoted by the Calgary Sun as saying that the anger and resentment in Alberta
00:05:06.660 are actually making it much harder to get companies to invest here.
00:05:12.560 Hold on a second.
00:05:14.320 Nenshi thinks that our unpleasant attitudes from being mistreated by the Trudeau government
00:05:19.860 and the Notley government for the past four years
00:05:23.120 and then treated as the whipping boy within Confederation are not only unjustified,
00:05:28.780 but it's a bit of a bad look and we should just be a little bit more dignified
00:05:33.060 in our desperation and unemployment.
00:05:35.920 You know what I think?
00:05:38.120 If people aren't investing in Calgary, it might have something to do with the near constant
00:05:43.980 property tax hikes and a mayor that takes funding and favours from the Rockefeller Foundation.
00:05:51.180 If I were an oil company, that would be enough to scare me away for good.
00:05:55.300 Yeah, I know, it might be hard to believe that the mayor of Canada's oil and gas capital
00:06:01.040 is taking favours and funding from the Rockefeller Foundation,
00:06:05.060 whose Tar Stands campaign has played a major part in the downturn in oil and gas here in Alberta
00:06:11.580 and the landlocking of Canada's resources, but Nenshi is.
00:06:16.060 Now at The Rebel, we know through Freedom of Information requests that we filed into the city of Calgary
00:06:22.280 that the Rockefeller Foundation is providing direct funding to the city of Calgary,
00:06:27.940 or at least they were for two years beginning in 2016 to fund a resiliency officer,
00:06:34.280 whatever that is, as part of Calgary joining the Resilient Cities program
00:06:38.780 organized and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
00:06:42.320 So we do know that the Rockefeller Foundation is funding someone to administer
00:06:46.860 Rockefeller Foundation programming and ideas within the city of Calgary.
00:06:53.200 Here it is on page 28.
00:06:54.960 It's what Calgary has to do for the Rockefellers,
00:06:58.760 including that Rockefeller gets a say in who Calgary will hire for their chief resiliency officer
00:07:05.000 with the money Rockefeller is giving them.
00:07:07.860 They must commit to hiring a CRO, a resiliency officer, at a senior level within municipal government
00:07:14.200 and collaborate with the IORC, that's Rockefeller's Resilient Cities program,
00:07:20.680 around the selection of a candidate, placement within the government, and reporting structures.
00:07:26.200 Then in May 2018, it was announced that Nenshi was going to Italy
00:07:33.160 to be part of the Rockefeller Foundation's City X Change Summit at the Rockefeller's Bellagio Center.
00:07:41.500 It's a 50-acre property on Lake Como, just up the road from George Clooney, Madonna,
00:07:46.880 Donatella Versace, and Richard Branson.
00:07:49.800 And according to our friends at Safe Calgary, Calgary's taxpayer watchdog organization,
00:07:54.020 Nenshi admitted that the Rockefeller Foundation paid for his luxury trip to Europe.
00:08:01.100 And speaking of Rockefeller funding, in 2013, the City of Calgary contracted the Pembina Institute.
00:08:08.200 Now, that's another organization that is cited in the Rockefeller Foundation's Tar Sands campaign.
00:08:14.520 Pembina was paid $340,000 from taxpayer coffers for professional fees for communications
00:08:21.140 and, quote-unquote, preparing reports.
00:08:25.020 So knowing all of that, does that put into a little better perspective
00:08:29.100 of just why Nenshi was so peeved at Medicine Hat for doing the right thing for Alberta jobs?
00:08:35.540 You know, I'm starting to think the only Albertan Mayor Nenshi actually likes is himself.
00:08:41.900 Stay with us.
00:08:43.020 My guest joins me up next after the break.
00:08:45.580 You know, it's my opinion that, like Alison Redford to some extent before him
00:09:07.360 and definitely Rachel Notley,
00:09:09.880 I think Mayor Nenshi is happy to be in charge of Calgary,
00:09:13.760 but I don't think he particularly likes the ethos of Calgary.
00:09:18.260 And I think Calgary is one of those great, rare places
00:09:21.620 where there really is no snobbery among people over the work that they do.
00:09:28.600 I think in Calgary, people understand that, you know,
00:09:31.240 whether you drive a welding truck or work in an office tower,
00:09:34.460 your work is no more better than the next person's.
00:09:37.520 And for a great deal of Albertans, blue-collar work earns them that upper-middle-class lifestyle.
00:09:46.100 To talk more about what's going on with Nenshi,
00:09:49.940 I mean, and there's just so much,
00:09:53.220 is my friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary
00:09:55.820 and also from Canadians for Democracy and Prosperity.
00:09:59.420 Hey, William, thanks for joining me.
00:10:01.840 Oh, well, thanks for having me again, Sheila.
00:10:03.260 I wanted to talk to you first about, you know,
00:10:07.320 I don't know about you,
00:10:09.180 but I think recycling is one of the most expensive virtue-signaling projects
00:10:14.760 that I think people don't even realize just how bad it is.
00:10:19.800 And Calgary is no better.
00:10:21.180 I mean, Edmonton, they famously bought a recycling plant that then went bankrupt.
00:10:25.920 And Calgary really is no better.
00:10:29.620 I mean, from what I understand,
00:10:31.780 Calgary is paying a lot of money to keep garbage safe and warm right now.
00:10:36.980 You're absolutely right, Sheila.
00:10:38.620 It's amazing.
00:10:39.640 We pay $300,000 a year,
00:10:42.300 and that price is going up every month
00:10:44.600 in order to keep plastic safe and warm
00:10:47.200 because we can't recycle it.
00:10:49.240 And yet, we keep insisting that not only do people not just throw it out,
00:10:54.900 but they put it in their blue bins.
00:10:57.400 And then instead of the city putting it in a landfill and disposing of it,
00:11:02.060 we're just keeping it in perpetuity,
00:11:04.460 paying a monthly rent for it so that we can, I don't know,
00:11:07.880 avoid having to deal with the problem once and for all
00:11:11.680 and also to feel better about ourselves.
00:11:13.360 And that's the reason why I think a lot of city council does what it does.
00:11:16.400 It makes me feel good about itself,
00:11:17.860 even if it isn't actually achieving anything.
00:11:20.900 Yeah, I mean, Calgary likes to pride itself.
00:11:25.540 And like every municipality, I'm not singling out Calgary here,
00:11:28.840 but Calgary likes to pride itself on this, you know,
00:11:30.880 being a green, progressive city.
00:11:33.200 But, I mean, when people are paying to recycle stuff
00:11:36.480 and it's not getting recycled,
00:11:37.560 it's just stored like regular garbage
00:11:39.920 and not even dealt with like regular garbage.
00:11:42.820 Other garbage, you know, it gets dealt with.
00:11:45.240 It gets put somewhere, it gets handled.
00:11:46.860 But this is actually just stored away somewhere like,
00:11:50.360 you know, old furniture.
00:11:51.800 It's very strange.
00:11:53.420 Well, you think about it.
00:11:54.900 You pay your monthly recycling fee,
00:11:58.380 which comes to more than $100 a year
00:12:00.620 for the average Calgary household.
00:12:04.180 And then you pay through your tax dollars,
00:12:05.720 again, to not recycle the same garbage.
00:12:09.520 So you think to yourself, first of all,
00:12:11.680 in many cities, garbage and recycling
00:12:14.400 are core city responsibilities.
00:12:17.060 It's why we pay property taxes.
00:12:19.340 And in Calgary, boy, do we like to pay property taxes.
00:12:22.020 They're going up again by more than 3% this year.
00:12:25.380 And so you're paying your property taxes.
00:12:27.860 On top of that, you pay your special garbage pickup fees.
00:12:31.480 And there's multiple ones
00:12:32.860 because we have a black bin.
00:12:34.120 We have a green bin.
00:12:35.320 We have a blue bin.
00:12:36.580 They're picked up on different days,
00:12:38.180 sometimes weekly, sometimes every other week.
00:12:40.300 And if you happen to get a bit wrong,
00:12:42.220 you put the wrong piece of garbage in the wrong bin,
00:12:44.820 the city gives you a little no-no note
00:12:46.820 that says you've done this wrong
00:12:48.560 and refuses to pick it up.
00:12:50.200 And so after finally picking up your garbage
00:12:53.140 and you've paid for it,
00:12:54.360 they then take it to be stored
00:12:56.060 in more than 100 trailer trucks
00:12:58.020 to keep it safe and warm and not recycle it
00:13:00.740 because they don't know how to recycle this plastic.
00:13:04.580 And to me, what's really offensive
00:13:06.540 is we couldn't help the people
00:13:09.160 of the Midfield Mobile Home Park keep their homes,
00:13:12.900 but we can provide safe, affordable,
00:13:15.580 taxpayer-funded homes for plastic garbage.
00:13:17.640 You know, it's offensive, really,
00:13:21.920 to the sensibilities of Calgarians
00:13:23.640 when they're paying money, like you say,
00:13:25.400 to deal with this issue.
00:13:27.080 Now, I was reading today
00:13:28.060 that Nenshi's really robbing Peter to pay Paul.
00:13:32.180 He's clearing out the Rainy Day Fund
00:13:33.760 to pay for major projects.
00:13:35.220 So even as Calgary taxes are going up in Calgary,
00:13:40.160 he's also sort of moving money from here to there
00:13:43.880 to make it look like they're coming close
00:13:46.960 to on budget for some of these major projects,
00:13:49.580 but really he's just basically clearing out
00:13:51.840 what we would call at the provincial level,
00:13:53.400 the contingency fund.
00:13:55.720 You're absolutely right.
00:13:56.840 And I think there's so many issues about this
00:13:58.920 that are bothersome, I think, to taxpayers.
00:14:01.380 The first one is we actually have no idea
00:14:04.380 how much money Calgary has saved up.
00:14:07.160 The city publicly admits to having a few billion dollars
00:14:12.420 in savings across various funds and contingencies,
00:14:16.320 but since it's really never been audited before,
00:14:19.000 and since there's no independent
00:14:20.840 outside financial look at it,
00:14:23.100 we really don't have any idea
00:14:25.400 how much money Calgary has socked away
00:14:28.220 in different funds.
00:14:29.980 Second of all, we asked,
00:14:32.200 Save Calgary asked,
00:14:32.940 about the possibility of reducing city employees' salaries,
00:14:37.360 wages, benefits, and pensions.
00:14:39.560 And we're told, point blank,
00:14:41.560 in fact, one of our city councillors asked the admin,
00:14:43.680 and the response back from the administration was,
00:14:46.040 it would be virtually impossible
00:14:47.300 to do any of that
00:14:48.320 without the provincial government's approval.
00:14:50.400 And yet the city of Calgary
00:14:51.160 has never asked the provincial government
00:14:52.460 for permission for the ability to cut salaries.
00:14:56.040 And for anybody who's been paying attention to Calgary,
00:14:59.200 it's been really tough in this city.
00:15:01.480 We've seen scores of layoffs,
00:15:03.940 and people all across the board took salary cuts.
00:15:07.380 I myself took a salary cut before being laid off.
00:15:11.220 And the reason you do that, of course,
00:15:12.560 is so that you can try and keep the company going.
00:15:14.920 You have to make some tough decisions.
00:15:16.480 But why are we exempting municipal employees
00:15:19.480 who get incredibly generous benefits and pensions
00:15:23.760 from the same economic pain
00:15:25.900 that the rest of us have had to shoulder?
00:15:27.820 So there's something else
00:15:29.020 that the city hasn't taken seriously.
00:15:31.140 The idea that we're spending too much money
00:15:33.660 on our municipal government.
00:15:35.780 And I hope it's something
00:15:36.460 that the new Kenney government
00:15:37.860 and the United Conservative Party
00:15:39.240 take a good, hard look at
00:15:40.740 the next time Calgary comes banging on their door,
00:15:43.680 asking for yet another batch of taxpayer dollars.
00:15:47.300 You know, and you mentioned the salary
00:15:49.380 and pension issue.
00:15:52.220 I mean, when the couple,
00:15:55.940 Conservative councillors,
00:15:57.340 Sean Chu and Jeremy Farkas,
00:15:58.640 try to bring this issue up,
00:15:59.880 they're basically accused of showboating
00:16:02.080 when they're saying this is a serious issue
00:16:04.880 that is really crippling the taxpayer
00:16:08.160 because there really is one taxpayer.
00:16:10.540 And then she just looks down his nose at them
00:16:13.240 when they're advocating for their constituents.
00:16:15.620 Oh, the response from the mayor on this
00:16:20.000 was truly objectionable.
00:16:23.020 I mean, first of all,
00:16:24.380 Calgary city councillors
00:16:26.180 get the most generous pension
00:16:28.740 for any city council in the country.
00:16:32.180 In fact, the cost of pension payout
00:16:34.360 just for city of Calgary retired councillors
00:16:37.920 is more than the cost to Vancouver,
00:16:40.800 Edmonton and Ottawa combined
00:16:42.800 for their city council.
00:16:44.620 No, it's a ludicrous amount of money.
00:16:47.360 And so when someone says,
00:16:49.300 maybe this is too generous,
00:16:51.260 maybe in these tough times,
00:16:52.900 giving politicians
00:16:53.900 these platinum pension packages
00:16:55.800 is too generous.
00:16:57.380 The mayor has the nerve
00:16:59.340 to say that this isn't something
00:17:01.240 that council should talk about.
00:17:02.360 And he cites that there's
00:17:03.220 an independent committee,
00:17:04.680 a citizen committee
00:17:05.740 that looks at city council compensation.
00:17:08.800 Well, this would be
00:17:09.380 the very same citizen committee
00:17:11.220 whose chair bitterly complained
00:17:13.860 about the mayor
00:17:15.060 not listening to what
00:17:16.500 they were recommending
00:17:17.220 for substituting their own judgment
00:17:19.340 for that of this
00:17:20.600 volunteer citizen committee
00:17:21.840 and for even insulting them
00:17:23.500 publicly on several occasions.
00:17:24.960 So which way is it, Mayor Nenshi?
00:17:26.900 Is this committee worth listening to
00:17:28.660 or are they worth insulting?
00:17:30.500 Because you seem to want
00:17:31.300 to have it both ways.
00:17:32.460 And I think people are starting to see
00:17:34.460 that the mayor himself
00:17:36.360 doesn't like to talk about pensions
00:17:38.380 because, of course,
00:17:39.120 he doesn't get just
00:17:39.900 one taxpayer-funded pension.
00:17:42.820 We in Calgary have decided
00:17:43.820 to give him two
00:17:44.820 taxpayer-funded pensions.
00:17:47.060 So, you know,
00:17:48.160 how many taxpayer-funded pensions
00:17:49.740 does one mayor, you know,
00:17:51.140 need or deserve?
00:17:52.460 And I think it's, you know,
00:17:54.060 at least one too many,
00:17:55.800 if not two too many
00:17:56.900 in this case.
00:17:58.240 You know, it's so disconnected
00:17:59.440 from the reality in Calgary.
00:18:01.760 I mean, I think the numbers are
00:18:03.680 that one-third of the office towers
00:18:05.640 are empty,
00:18:06.500 like one in three office spaces
00:18:08.120 are empty in Calgary.
00:18:10.400 And that takes a lot
00:18:11.580 from boots on the ground,
00:18:13.600 guys on a drilling rig
00:18:14.740 to trickle up
00:18:15.940 to the people in the office.
00:18:17.680 So that just speaks
00:18:19.040 to what's happening
00:18:20.020 in the greater Calgary area.
00:18:22.080 But Nenshi's going out of his way
00:18:23.900 with taxpayer dollars
00:18:25.540 to insulate himself,
00:18:28.500 councillors,
00:18:29.300 and government bureaucrats
00:18:30.640 from the reality
00:18:31.580 everybody else in Calgary is facing.
00:18:33.680 Their employers,
00:18:34.760 the reality their employers
00:18:36.360 are facing every single day.
00:18:38.280 I think it's atrocious
00:18:39.300 and unaccountable.
00:18:41.520 And what a good segue,
00:18:43.500 because speaking of unaccountable,
00:18:45.700 the Olympic report
00:18:47.480 is delayed until June.
00:18:51.140 So we still have no idea
00:18:52.920 what the city of Calgary
00:18:56.260 spent on Nenshi's
00:18:57.700 very nearly multi-billion dollar
00:19:00.800 vanity project.
00:19:02.080 Boy, that's a bullet.
00:19:03.420 But I'm glad
00:19:04.140 that taxpayers dodged.
00:19:07.640 Well, no, you're correct
00:19:08.780 that they have delayed it
00:19:09.880 once again by several months.
00:19:11.380 But it wasn't just
00:19:12.100 Calgary taxpayers
00:19:12.920 who had to pay
00:19:13.740 for this Olympic big.
00:19:15.260 You, as an Albertan,
00:19:16.780 put in money towards it.
00:19:18.400 And you, as a Canadian,
00:19:19.820 put in money towards this as well.
00:19:21.920 And then, of course,
00:19:23.520 Mayor Nenshi
00:19:24.720 and his cronies
00:19:26.120 said that
00:19:26.700 they didn't want to give
00:19:27.980 any of the excess money back.
00:19:29.280 that if there was anything left over,
00:19:31.060 that that should just go back
00:19:32.700 to Calgarians.
00:19:33.460 And again,
00:19:34.940 despite her unenviable record,
00:19:37.240 I credit our former NDP premier
00:19:39.660 with being the only person
00:19:41.740 who had any modicum of common sense
00:19:43.260 when it came to keeping a lid
00:19:44.580 on costs for this Olympic.
00:19:46.440 Because if it was up to the mayor,
00:19:48.500 we would have blown the bank,
00:19:50.120 absolutely blown the bank on it.
00:19:51.560 And even without the Olympics,
00:19:52.960 we're still paying
00:19:53.800 more than a 3% increase
00:19:56.060 in property taxes.
00:19:56.820 You can only imagine
00:19:57.800 what that increase would have been
00:19:59.080 without,
00:20:00.480 if we had to pay
00:20:01.280 for an Olympics as well.
00:20:02.680 But why they don't want
00:20:04.140 to tell Calgarians
00:20:05.180 how the money was spent
00:20:06.820 to us is just an,
00:20:09.640 it sums up the Olympics process
00:20:11.700 perfectly.
00:20:12.900 Because we used to joke
00:20:14.180 that when it came to BigCo,
00:20:16.200 the company that we created
00:20:17.420 to bid for the Olympics,
00:20:18.720 their slogan was,
00:20:19.780 well, that's just none
00:20:20.560 of your business.
00:20:21.560 When we would ask them questions,
00:20:23.160 they didn't think we should know.
00:20:25.340 And we not being Save Calgary,
00:20:27.080 we being taxpayers,
00:20:28.500 the people who would end up
00:20:29.400 putting the bill,
00:20:30.340 they didn't think
00:20:31.100 that we really should know
00:20:32.260 how the money was being spent,
00:20:33.800 what it was being spent on.
00:20:35.660 And these are important questions
00:20:37.040 because when you're dealing
00:20:38.180 with the International
00:20:39.180 Olympic Committee,
00:20:40.900 a body who I will never be asked
00:20:42.740 to serve on
00:20:43.400 subsequent to these,
00:20:44.740 to these Olympics bids,
00:20:46.700 these are not people
00:20:47.720 who have a great track record
00:20:49.220 for fiscal responsibility
00:20:50.800 and using taxpayer dollars wisely.
00:20:53.840 These are people who say,
00:20:55.580 I don't want to stay
00:20:56.380 in the four-star hotel,
00:20:57.680 I want to stay
00:20:58.400 in the five-star hotel.
00:20:59.780 If you don't have
00:21:00.400 a five-star hotel,
00:21:01.360 well, could you please build one
00:21:02.680 before the Olympics happen?
00:21:04.520 Or when I'm greeted
00:21:05.840 at the private terminal
00:21:07.340 at Calgary Airport,
00:21:09.140 everybody I run into
00:21:10.380 on my way to the hotel
00:21:11.620 has to smile at me.
00:21:13.460 That's actually one of the rules
00:21:14.700 that the IOC had.
00:21:16.040 So to me,
00:21:17.280 I'd like to know
00:21:18.280 what exactly we spent
00:21:19.920 on things like gifts
00:21:21.900 for IOC members,
00:21:23.760 hospitality for various bigwigs,
00:21:26.420 how many parties were held
00:21:28.060 using taxpayer dollars,
00:21:29.520 how much alcohol and food
00:21:31.380 did we end up buying
00:21:32.860 for these bigwigs?
00:21:34.780 I mean, Sheila,
00:21:35.560 we've talked about this before,
00:21:36.960 but one of the reasons
00:21:38.320 why so many elites
00:21:40.300 were upset about the Olympics
00:21:42.480 was because it was really
00:21:43.860 a party for them.
00:21:45.300 It was, you know,
00:21:46.680 caviar and champagne
00:21:48.680 for the elites
00:21:50.120 and the rest of us
00:21:51.020 picked up the tab.
00:21:52.520 So to me,
00:21:53.520 that's what I want to see
00:21:54.880 is how much did we spend
00:21:56.680 on this, you know,
00:21:57.820 vanity exercise for the mayor
00:21:59.300 and how much of it went to,
00:22:01.380 you know,
00:22:01.880 lining the pockets
00:22:02.680 or buying the perks
00:22:03.980 for IOC members.
00:22:06.200 I'm also curious to see
00:22:08.840 just how outspent
00:22:11.240 what the no side was
00:22:13.420 and just how effective
00:22:15.100 the no side was
00:22:16.960 with what little bit of money
00:22:18.480 that the no side had
00:22:19.840 because not only
00:22:21.280 on the yes side
00:22:22.140 did you have the city,
00:22:23.580 but you also had
00:22:24.800 major people
00:22:26.260 who were lined up
00:22:27.240 with their hands out
00:22:28.060 for government contracts
00:22:29.220 from the Chamber of Commerce.
00:22:30.960 And I'm normally
00:22:32.100 very, very pro-business
00:22:33.880 and I like to say
00:22:34.640 that I still am,
00:22:35.640 but I am against
00:22:37.280 crony capitalism,
00:22:38.780 especially when it's
00:22:39.540 on the backs of taxpayers
00:22:40.800 during one of the worst
00:22:42.220 recessions we've seen
00:22:43.460 in recent history
00:22:44.460 in Calgary.
00:22:45.700 And yet a lot
00:22:46.880 of these construction firms
00:22:48.340 and business associations,
00:22:50.080 they were cheering
00:22:50.980 for Calgary
00:22:51.760 to go ahead
00:22:52.500 with the Olympics
00:22:53.420 because money
00:22:54.820 would come directly
00:22:55.760 from the taxpayer
00:22:56.600 into their struggling businesses
00:22:58.900 to basically put
00:23:00.980 on the Olympics.
00:23:01.680 So I would like to see,
00:23:03.100 I bet you,
00:23:04.500 the no side
00:23:05.420 was outspent
00:23:06.480 at least five
00:23:08.020 over six to one.
00:23:10.700 You know,
00:23:11.440 it's interesting.
00:23:12.420 We may never know
00:23:13.600 exactly how much money
00:23:15.340 ended up being spent
00:23:16.380 in support
00:23:17.120 of the Olympic bid.
00:23:18.700 We'll find out
00:23:19.580 what, you know,
00:23:20.160 eventually,
00:23:20.880 whenever they deem
00:23:22.120 it appropriate
00:23:23.660 for us to read the report,
00:23:25.340 what the official
00:23:27.200 big code spend was
00:23:29.140 because, of course,
00:23:29.940 the same people
00:23:30.720 who were giving us,
00:23:32.320 you know,
00:23:32.580 the choice
00:23:33.100 of whether or not
00:23:33.620 to have an Olympics
00:23:34.160 were officially for it
00:23:35.360 and were campaigning
00:23:37.160 aggressively for it.
00:23:38.300 And then there was
00:23:38.800 the yes committee,
00:23:40.100 which had deep pockets
00:23:41.520 funded by all sorts
00:23:43.600 of organizations
00:23:44.300 and companies
00:23:44.980 and wealthy people.
00:23:46.320 But we'll never know
00:23:47.500 what the spend
00:23:48.380 by them was.
00:23:49.380 That's not ever
00:23:50.360 going to be released.
00:23:51.320 I can tell you
00:23:52.220 on behalf of the no side,
00:23:54.100 our spending
00:23:55.280 was measured
00:23:56.580 in the thousands
00:23:58.560 of dollars,
00:23:59.380 not in the millions
00:24:00.720 of dollars.
00:24:01.680 So I five to six to one,
00:24:04.760 maybe 50 to 60 to one.
00:24:07.620 But, you know,
00:24:08.820 I think they actually
00:24:10.080 deserve a little bit
00:24:11.480 of credit
00:24:12.140 for having spent
00:24:13.900 so much
00:24:14.480 to achieve so little
00:24:15.600 in their campaign.
00:24:17.480 You know,
00:24:17.640 despite outspending
00:24:18.600 the little no side
00:24:19.960 by an unbelievable margin,
00:24:22.560 they really couldn't
00:24:23.740 convince Calgarians
00:24:24.480 there was any merit
00:24:25.460 to holding these Olympics.
00:24:27.220 And I actually think
00:24:28.460 it reflects really quite well
00:24:29.940 that Calgarians
00:24:31.020 weren't fooled
00:24:32.200 by the massive
00:24:33.880 high spending tactics
00:24:35.400 of either the big committee
00:24:36.940 or the yes campaign
00:24:37.960 because they clearly
00:24:39.580 saw the dangers
00:24:41.040 associated with
00:24:41.940 hosting these games.
00:24:43.900 Do you think
00:24:45.540 the failure
00:24:46.560 of the Olympics
00:24:47.480 has hurt
00:24:49.000 Nenshi's popularity
00:24:50.020 in Calgary?
00:24:50.680 I mean,
00:24:51.320 outsider looking in,
00:24:53.920 I don't understand
00:24:55.760 how Nenshi
00:24:56.400 keeps getting elected
00:24:57.260 in Calgary.
00:24:58.420 I understand
00:24:59.080 how Mayor Don Iverson
00:25:00.340 keeps getting elected
00:25:01.320 in Edmonton.
00:25:02.140 Edmonton is a
00:25:03.200 progressive government city.
00:25:04.960 It's full of unions
00:25:05.880 and people
00:25:07.140 who make a living
00:25:08.260 up to the government trough.
00:25:09.860 But I don't get
00:25:10.740 how Nenshi stays
00:25:12.280 relatively popular
00:25:13.700 in Calgary.
00:25:15.500 Is it that he's,
00:25:17.160 is it that
00:25:17.680 the conservative side
00:25:18.760 isn't fielding
00:25:19.660 great people
00:25:21.760 or they don't have
00:25:22.400 like a well-known
00:25:23.400 person up against him?
00:25:24.780 What happened last time?
00:25:25.840 Well,
00:25:28.560 I definitely think
00:25:29.800 some of the shine
00:25:30.740 has come off
00:25:31.700 of our mayor.
00:25:32.900 If you think back
00:25:34.020 to when Calgary
00:25:35.380 had those devastating
00:25:36.100 floods in 2013,
00:25:38.260 the mayor's approval
00:25:39.400 rating was
00:25:40.500 above 90%.
00:25:41.840 People,
00:25:42.580 people in this city
00:25:43.580 adored him.
00:25:44.480 He was a rock star.
00:25:45.640 I don't think
00:25:46.460 that's the case anymore.
00:25:47.780 I think there are
00:25:48.860 people who have now
00:25:49.620 seen Mayor Nenshi
00:25:50.840 for who he really is.
00:25:52.080 And that's someone
00:25:52.960 who is,
00:25:54.360 you know,
00:25:54.860 there is no smarter
00:25:55.900 person in his mind
00:25:57.120 than himself.
00:25:59.160 And,
00:25:59.580 you know,
00:26:01.040 he isn't particularly
00:26:02.320 concerned about
00:26:03.900 the opinions of other
00:26:04.820 people or of
00:26:05.780 working together.
00:26:06.980 He just likes to tell
00:26:08.040 you how smart he is
00:26:08.880 or to insult you
00:26:10.560 if you,
00:26:11.160 if you disagree
00:26:11.720 with them.
00:26:12.120 I think the mistake
00:26:13.560 that,
00:26:14.080 that happened last
00:26:15.380 time was
00:26:16.200 the conservatives
00:26:18.000 haven't taken
00:26:18.860 municipal politics
00:26:19.980 as seriously
00:26:21.340 as they should.
00:26:23.320 I think they focus
00:26:24.100 a lot on
00:26:24.960 federal politics
00:26:25.840 and I think they focus
00:26:26.740 on,
00:26:27.200 on provincial politics,
00:26:28.820 but oftentimes
00:26:29.600 they've,
00:26:30.460 they've ignored
00:26:31.240 municipal politics.
00:26:32.360 They've ignored
00:26:32.900 school board elections
00:26:34.020 and things like that
00:26:35.000 to their detriment
00:26:36.000 because of course
00:26:36.620 this is where
00:26:37.160 the left,
00:26:38.140 the Democrats
00:26:38.540 and others,
00:26:39.200 this is their
00:26:39.620 training ground
00:26:40.300 for people
00:26:40.880 they then bring up
00:26:41.920 into the majors
00:26:42.840 to contest
00:26:43.760 provincial and
00:26:44.820 federal elections.
00:26:46.120 Look at Sohi.
00:26:47.260 Sohi walked
00:26:48.000 straight off
00:26:48.720 Edmonton City Council
00:26:49.800 and into a cabinet
00:26:51.080 minister position
00:26:52.020 in Trudeau's government.
00:26:53.480 It is really
00:26:54.100 the farm team
00:26:54.960 for the progressive
00:26:55.880 movement where
00:26:56.840 they cut their teeth.
00:26:58.160 Sarah Hoffman,
00:26:59.300 likewise,
00:27:00.000 she was on the school
00:27:00.740 board,
00:27:01.020 I think,
00:27:01.320 school board trustee,
00:27:02.120 does that sound right?
00:27:02.700 She was.
00:27:03.120 Anyway,
00:27:03.540 yeah,
00:27:04.380 I mean,
00:27:05.100 so sorry to interrupt
00:27:06.320 you while you were
00:27:06.940 trying to make a very
00:27:07.540 poignant point there,
00:27:08.800 but yeah,
00:27:09.460 you are absolutely
00:27:10.520 100% right
00:27:12.000 that we're not
00:27:13.100 paying close enough
00:27:13.780 attention to what
00:27:14.420 happens at the
00:27:15.000 municipal level.
00:27:16.820 And so I think
00:27:17.740 there's a few
00:27:18.120 things we can do.
00:27:18.720 One of them is
00:27:19.660 to really take
00:27:20.980 seriously municipal
00:27:21.960 politics as
00:27:22.660 something that
00:27:23.100 conservatives should
00:27:23.740 care about.
00:27:24.580 Why should
00:27:24.960 conservatives care
00:27:25.640 about it?
00:27:26.080 Well,
00:27:26.580 because a lot
00:27:27.860 of the other
00:27:28.220 orders of government
00:27:28.940 have decided
00:27:29.980 they can't raise
00:27:30.800 taxes anymore,
00:27:31.620 that they have
00:27:32.060 to look for
00:27:32.740 opportunities to
00:27:34.100 reduce spending
00:27:34.720 or to spend
00:27:35.780 more wisely.
00:27:37.140 So we've had
00:27:38.380 some success
00:27:39.240 in holding the line
00:27:40.700 on tax increases
00:27:41.520 at the provincial
00:27:42.460 and federal levels.
00:27:43.820 And I have
00:27:45.040 absolute confidence
00:27:45.940 that under
00:27:47.100 the leadership
00:27:48.520 of Premier
00:27:49.080 Jason Kenney,
00:27:50.260 Alberta will
00:27:51.100 start to get
00:27:51.680 its fiscal house
00:27:52.420 back in order.
00:27:53.160 So that's good news.
00:27:54.400 Secondly,
00:27:54.960 it looks like
00:27:55.480 Andrew Scheer
00:27:56.340 has a decent
00:27:56.980 chance at unseating
00:27:58.000 the less than
00:28:00.300 beloved Justin
00:28:01.840 Trudeau
00:28:02.320 in this fall.
00:28:03.760 But where
00:28:04.260 taxes are still
00:28:04.960 going up year
00:28:05.660 after year,
00:28:06.300 it's at the
00:28:06.900 city level.
00:28:07.620 You are paying
00:28:08.160 more every
00:28:09.320 single year
00:28:09.920 for municipal
00:28:10.760 taxes.
00:28:11.080 You get
00:28:11.540 terrible
00:28:12.160 municipal service
00:28:13.100 in return.
00:28:14.880 And you're
00:28:15.520 paying a
00:28:16.380 ridiculous amount
00:28:17.300 of money for
00:28:17.960 pensions and
00:28:18.660 for benefits and
00:28:19.420 for salaries for
00:28:21.100 city employees.
00:28:21.900 So step one,
00:28:23.160 conservatives have
00:28:23.740 to take it
00:28:24.100 seriously.
00:28:24.500 I think step
00:28:24.940 two is we
00:28:26.040 have to find
00:28:26.960 a team of
00:28:28.440 great candidates
00:28:29.380 who will start
00:28:30.580 campaigning not
00:28:31.620 two months
00:28:32.500 before the
00:28:33.020 election, but
00:28:33.980 two years
00:28:34.640 before the
00:28:35.140 election in
00:28:36.160 order to show
00:28:37.020 Calgarians that
00:28:37.900 they really do
00:28:38.440 have a choice,
00:28:39.200 that there is
00:28:39.960 an alternative
00:28:40.560 to Mayor
00:28:42.020 Nengshi and
00:28:43.060 to his
00:28:43.380 bullying and
00:28:44.240 his arrogance,
00:28:45.100 that there is
00:28:45.580 an alternative
00:28:46.160 to people like
00:28:48.000 Councillor Drew
00:28:48.740 Farrell or
00:28:49.480 Councillor Giancarlo
00:28:50.480 Carra, people
00:28:51.120 who have never
00:28:52.060 seen a tax
00:28:53.020 increase they
00:28:53.580 haven't liked
00:28:54.080 and who believe
00:28:55.700 that more
00:28:56.560 government is
00:28:57.180 always better.
00:28:58.100 These are
00:28:58.660 people who I
00:28:59.420 think can be
00:28:59.980 defeated, who
00:29:00.520 win with less
00:29:01.180 than 30% of
00:29:01.920 the vote, but
00:29:02.980 we just haven't
00:29:03.800 gotten ourselves
00:29:04.320 organized.
00:29:05.000 So I do think
00:29:05.700 that that's what
00:29:06.700 it's going to
00:29:07.160 take to see
00:29:07.720 some real change
00:29:08.660 at the municipal
00:29:09.680 level is getting
00:29:10.880 organized early
00:29:12.120 for municipal
00:29:12.940 politics.
00:29:15.080 Now, William,
00:29:16.640 I think you
00:29:17.660 guys at
00:29:18.100 Save Calgary
00:29:18.660 and Canadians
00:29:19.240 for Democracy
00:29:20.200 and Prosperity
00:29:21.260 do great work
00:29:22.340 in that you,
00:29:23.560 especially Save
00:29:24.440 Calgary, you
00:29:24.920 guys focus
00:29:25.520 exclusively on
00:29:26.780 municipal issues
00:29:27.840 with a laser
00:29:28.900 beam-like focus
00:29:29.980 and through the
00:29:31.580 lens of
00:29:32.020 conservatives,
00:29:32.640 there are always
00:29:33.220 better ways to
00:29:34.100 spend money,
00:29:35.160 there's always
00:29:35.800 some other
00:29:36.560 answer other
00:29:37.300 than a tax
00:29:38.100 hike.
00:29:38.460 And I think
00:29:40.420 that's really
00:29:40.820 lacking across
00:29:41.840 the country.
00:29:42.600 To be honest
00:29:43.040 with you,
00:29:43.320 there's really
00:29:44.000 nothing like
00:29:44.760 Save Calgary
00:29:45.320 that exists
00:29:46.160 in Edmonton
00:29:47.060 and the
00:29:48.960 battlefield is
00:29:49.880 ripe for
00:29:50.940 just somebody.
00:29:51.820 I mean, it
00:29:52.180 doesn't even
00:29:52.520 have to be
00:29:52.900 from a
00:29:53.200 conservative
00:29:53.540 perspective,
00:29:54.060 just quit
00:29:54.540 wasting our
00:29:55.100 money on
00:29:55.960 recycling plants
00:29:57.420 that go
00:29:58.200 broke.
00:29:59.240 But there's
00:30:00.400 really nothing
00:30:01.220 like that.
00:30:02.080 And I think
00:30:02.960 with the success
00:30:04.200 of the
00:30:04.780 Olympics or
00:30:06.320 rather the
00:30:07.400 success of
00:30:08.780 the no side
00:30:09.720 during the
00:30:11.020 Olympic bit,
00:30:11.740 I really do
00:30:12.360 hope that it
00:30:13.000 inspires these
00:30:14.000 other pop-up
00:30:15.780 groups all
00:30:16.380 across the
00:30:16.860 country to
00:30:17.360 realize you
00:30:17.800 don't need
00:30:18.800 money, you
00:30:20.080 just need
00:30:20.860 really political
00:30:22.800 will and
00:30:23.600 grassroots
00:30:24.100 activism to
00:30:25.360 make some
00:30:25.860 change and
00:30:26.440 to bring.
00:30:27.640 What you guys
00:30:28.500 faced at the
00:30:29.120 Olympic level,
00:30:30.160 millions and
00:30:31.240 millions and
00:30:31.820 millions of
00:30:32.420 dollars, and
00:30:33.480 you basically
00:30:34.160 overcame that
00:30:35.180 by telling
00:30:35.920 taxpayers the
00:30:36.940 truth.
00:30:38.280 So I guess
00:30:39.360 after that long
00:30:40.160 soliloquy, patting
00:30:41.140 you on the
00:30:41.500 back, how do
00:30:42.440 people help
00:30:43.740 you bring a
00:30:45.700 little bit of
00:30:46.120 accountability back
00:30:47.080 to City Hall?
00:30:48.960 Well, I would
00:30:50.200 love to see a
00:30:51.260 Save Edmonton
00:30:52.160 and a Save
00:30:53.020 Vancouver and a
00:30:54.280 Save Toronto,
00:30:55.420 all of these
00:30:56.180 groups, because
00:30:56.820 if you look at
00:30:58.260 how much money
00:30:59.060 is getting
00:30:59.620 raised and
00:31:00.340 spent, you
00:31:01.600 know, it's
00:31:02.240 it's in the
00:31:03.480 tens of
00:31:04.020 billions of
00:31:04.480 dollars that
00:31:04.980 we spend on
00:31:06.180 municipal
00:31:06.560 government, and
00:31:08.000 it doesn't get
00:31:08.660 the kind of
00:31:10.400 attention and
00:31:10.980 oversight that
00:31:11.580 other levels of
00:31:12.720 government do.
00:31:13.660 So if you
00:31:14.580 believe that
00:31:15.000 taxpayers are
00:31:15.480 being poorly
00:31:15.920 represented at
00:31:16.860 the municipal
00:31:17.360 level, and
00:31:17.860 if you think
00:31:18.320 maybe wouldn't
00:31:19.280 it be nice to
00:31:19.920 not have your
00:31:20.500 property taxes go
00:31:21.340 up every single
00:31:22.360 year, then
00:31:23.380 supporting a
00:31:23.900 group like
00:31:24.240 Save Calgary or
00:31:25.100 even, you
00:31:25.580 know, getting
00:31:25.900 active in your
00:31:26.700 local community
00:31:27.600 and caring about
00:31:29.700 who's being
00:31:30.180 elected to
00:31:30.600 City Council,
00:31:31.180 who's being
00:31:31.500 elected to
00:31:31.880 your school
00:31:32.200 board, these
00:31:32.980 are all really
00:31:33.480 great things.
00:31:34.300 I mean, Canadians
00:31:34.900 for Democracy and
00:31:35.720 Prosperity was
00:31:36.800 started because
00:31:37.800 we believe that
00:31:39.600 the two things
00:31:40.280 that are best
00:31:41.440 for every
00:31:42.100 government, every
00:31:42.760 order of
00:31:43.220 government, municipal,
00:31:44.280 provincial, and
00:31:44.720 federal, is
00:31:45.740 democracy.
00:31:47.540 So, you know,
00:31:48.100 choices, hard-fought
00:31:49.560 elections, understanding
00:31:50.680 that there are
00:31:51.700 always two sides to
00:31:53.380 look at on any
00:31:54.180 issue, that, you
00:31:55.200 know, the
00:31:55.880 alternative to
00:31:56.500 spending more is
00:31:57.340 spending less, and
00:31:58.340 that the alternative
00:31:59.040 to raising taxes is
00:32:01.200 to cutting taxes.
00:32:02.060 And then, what do
00:32:02.640 we think that
00:32:03.060 leads to?
00:32:03.480 We think better
00:32:04.080 choices lead to
00:32:04.840 prosperity.
00:32:05.820 More jobs, more
00:32:07.220 money in your
00:32:07.760 pocket, less
00:32:08.940 expensive, less
00:32:09.880 intrusive government,
00:32:10.900 all of these things
00:32:11.800 that I think if you
00:32:12.880 ask everyday Canadians,
00:32:14.060 they really would
00:32:14.800 support.
00:32:15.400 So, for Save
00:32:16.280 Calgary, you can
00:32:17.300 sign up to our
00:32:18.420 weekly email
00:32:19.360 newsletter, you
00:32:20.100 can, you know,
00:32:21.320 give us a follow
00:32:22.140 on Facebook, you
00:32:23.060 can follow us on
00:32:23.820 Twitter, our
00:32:24.960 website,
00:32:25.420 safecalgary.com.
00:32:26.260 For Democracy and
00:32:27.040 Prosperity, again,
00:32:27.940 we're online,
00:32:28.940 democracyandprosperity.ca,
00:32:30.560 and then through our
00:32:31.840 Facebook and Twitter
00:32:32.740 accounts.
00:32:33.300 But I think simply
00:32:35.340 even talking to your
00:32:36.280 friends, your
00:32:36.940 families, your
00:32:37.600 neighbors about
00:32:38.680 municipal issues is a
00:32:39.840 great beginning.
00:32:40.820 And I hope more
00:32:41.980 people who believe in
00:32:43.180 common sense and
00:32:44.420 fiscal responsibility
00:32:45.260 choose to take the
00:32:46.520 plunge to run for
00:32:47.500 municipal office.
00:32:48.880 You know, lots of
00:32:49.840 people want to be
00:32:50.340 MLAs, and lots of
00:32:51.360 people want to be
00:32:52.060 MPs, but a lot of
00:32:53.980 the heavy lifting has
00:32:54.780 to be done right here
00:32:55.480 in our cities.
00:32:56.140 So I would really
00:32:57.300 encourage everyone
00:32:58.040 who's ever thought
00:32:58.660 about running for
00:32:59.160 office to look
00:33:00.020 seriously at running
00:33:01.480 for municipal office.
00:33:02.340 And of course, the
00:33:03.180 daily commute is a
00:33:03.960 lot easier than
00:33:04.820 having to go to a
00:33:06.460 difficult city in
00:33:07.220 either, you know,
00:33:08.040 Evans, or Ottawa,
00:33:09.000 if you're looking to
00:33:10.020 run for council,
00:33:10.700 you know, right in
00:33:11.500 your backyard.
00:33:12.860 William, I want to
00:33:13.600 thank you so much for
00:33:14.340 being so generous with
00:33:16.000 your time, as always,
00:33:17.360 and I want to thank
00:33:18.080 you for fighting for
00:33:19.600 taxpayers, because I
00:33:22.500 don't think a lot of
00:33:23.280 people really know the
00:33:24.480 good work that save
00:33:25.400 Calgary is doing
00:33:26.140 behind the scenes to
00:33:27.540 hold the government
00:33:28.260 to account.
00:33:29.700 Well, thank you so
00:33:30.620 much for having us on.
00:33:31.500 I know that we've had
00:33:32.720 a couple of
00:33:33.220 councillors say how
00:33:34.200 much less fun it's
00:33:35.180 been, you know, being
00:33:36.900 a city councillor,
00:33:37.700 because they can't see
00:33:39.200 the kind of councillors
00:33:40.120 they once were, which
00:33:41.300 I think is probably a
00:33:42.840 good thing if we've
00:33:43.640 made it a little bit
00:33:44.420 harder to just spend
00:33:45.620 taxpayer money on pet
00:33:46.580 projects without any
00:33:47.920 accountability at all.
00:33:49.180 So thank you very much,
00:33:49.920 and thank you for
00:33:50.300 giving us, you know,
00:33:51.080 the attention that
00:33:52.380 municipal politics
00:33:52.960 deserves on your show,
00:33:53.940 Sheila.
00:33:54.060 Great.
00:33:55.140 Thanks, William.
00:33:56.520 Sure, thanks.
00:33:58.160 Stay with us more up
00:33:59.580 next after the break.
00:34:00.840 Hey, welcome back,
00:34:13.580 everyone.
00:34:14.100 Now, normally, this is
00:34:14.980 the part of the show
00:34:15.740 where Ezra reads
00:34:16.800 viewer feedback,
00:34:18.080 comments, congratulations,
00:34:19.540 suggestions, and even
00:34:21.040 his hate mail.
00:34:22.160 But since I'm running
00:34:22.840 the show tonight, I think
00:34:23.600 we should maybe do
00:34:24.220 something just a little
00:34:25.880 different.
00:34:26.360 You see, I'm running
00:34:27.240 the show because Ezra
00:34:28.640 is over in the UK where
00:34:30.840 Tommy Robinson is being
00:34:32.220 retried for contempt of
00:34:34.220 court for the dangerous
00:34:35.840 crime of doing journalism.
00:34:38.000 It's something Tommy was
00:34:39.220 already wrongfully
00:34:40.480 imprisoned for.
00:34:41.960 Ezra is in the UK right
00:34:43.080 now with several other
00:34:44.520 journalists that Ezra took
00:34:46.360 with him because, as you
00:34:47.800 know, you just can't trust
00:34:49.260 the UK media to tell us
00:34:50.900 the straight truth.
00:34:52.060 So I thought we would have
00:34:53.360 Ezra give our viewers
00:34:54.460 tonight an update from on
00:34:56.500 the ground at the
00:34:57.660 courthouse here.
00:34:59.020 For the Rebel.media,
00:34:59.980 I'm Ezra Levant.
00:35:00.720 I am standing amidst a
00:35:01.960 boisterous crowd outside
00:35:03.660 the Old Bailey Central
00:35:04.940 Criminal Courts in
00:35:06.020 Central London.
00:35:07.660 I'd say there's about
00:35:08.740 500 people on the
00:35:10.540 pro-Tommy side.
00:35:11.860 And looking up the
00:35:12.940 street, I see about two
00:35:14.540 dozen Antifa and
00:35:17.200 Jeremy Corbyn labor rights
00:35:19.160 all with their prefab
00:35:20.620 signs.
00:35:21.300 On this side, a much more
00:35:22.860 organic grassroots
00:35:24.200 protest.
00:35:24.760 Those are the professional
00:35:26.140 protesters.
00:35:27.160 But of course, the real
00:35:27.940 problem is not the banter
00:35:29.540 or the debate on the
00:35:30.880 streets.
00:35:31.560 I don't think it's going
00:35:32.320 to get violent, although
00:35:33.320 it has in the past.
00:35:34.940 Antifa's tactics is
00:35:36.680 de-platforming and
00:35:37.800 violence where possible.
00:35:39.520 There's a lot of police.
00:35:40.560 You can see the police in
00:35:41.540 the yellow vest here.
00:35:43.060 I think there'll be
00:35:44.100 excellent order.
00:35:45.180 You don't want to riot
00:35:46.040 outside the central
00:35:47.000 criminal courts.
00:35:47.920 I think the main problem
00:35:49.180 is inside the courts
00:35:50.980 itself.
00:35:52.260 Because why are we here
00:35:53.660 today?
00:35:55.100 We're here because
00:35:55.840 Theresa May's attorney
00:35:57.120 general has chosen to
00:35:59.280 re-prosecute Tommy
00:36:01.220 Robinson again for the
00:36:03.420 same incident for which
00:36:04.580 he was held in contempt a
00:36:06.600 year ago outside the
00:36:08.620 county court in Leeds, UK.
00:36:10.820 Just a quick reminder,
00:36:12.300 Tommy was live streaming
00:36:13.460 from his phone on
00:36:15.300 Facebook about a rape
00:36:17.200 gang trial of more than
00:36:18.420 two dozen men.
00:36:19.960 The jury had finished
00:36:21.120 their deliberations.
00:36:22.040 It was judgment day.
00:36:23.600 Tommy was outside the
00:36:24.720 court, didn't talk about
00:36:25.580 any details inside the
00:36:27.200 court.
00:36:27.420 All he did was read the
00:36:28.300 names of the accused and
00:36:29.860 he read them from the BBC
00:36:31.180 state broadcaster website.
00:36:32.880 But for that offense or
00:36:34.220 some other offense, we're
00:36:35.000 not quite sure, a squad of
00:36:36.880 police swooped him.
00:36:37.980 You've seen the footage.
00:36:39.160 Grabbed him, put him in the
00:36:40.100 back of the truck, took him
00:36:41.460 to a police station, took him
00:36:42.600 to court in a less than 10
00:36:44.300 minute trial in which Tommy
00:36:45.820 himself didn't have a word to
00:36:47.300 speak.
00:36:48.060 He was sentenced to 13 months
00:36:49.520 in prison, packed off to prison
00:36:51.460 that day, and was shortly
00:36:52.940 thereafter transferred to a
00:36:54.440 high-risk prison dominated by
00:36:57.200 Muslim gangs itself.
00:36:59.360 Tommy had to be put in
00:37:00.520 solitary confinement for his
00:37:02.400 own safety, said the warden
00:37:04.180 of the prison, where he was
00:37:05.580 starved because, of course,
00:37:06.920 the Muslim gangs also ran the
00:37:08.740 kitchens.
00:37:10.240 As you know, Rebel viewers
00:37:11.500 crowdfunded the legal appeal.
00:37:13.860 The court of appeal led by no
00:37:15.940 one less than the Lord Chief
00:37:16.900 Justice of England and Wales
00:37:18.600 himself issued a scathing
00:37:20.660 rebuke of that decision to
00:37:22.660 imprison Tommy, and he was
00:37:24.360 freed thanks to Rebel viewers.
00:37:26.500 You would think that that
00:37:28.640 would be enough.
00:37:29.380 You would think that that
00:37:30.100 would have humiliated the
00:37:32.160 establishment enough to have
00:37:33.640 been exposed as be so abusive,
00:37:35.560 but no.
00:37:36.400 Jeffrey Cox, Theresa Mays,
00:37:37.860 new Attorney General, has
00:37:39.020 made the positive decision to
00:37:40.960 re-prosecute Tommy for that
00:37:43.620 original offense.
00:37:44.500 Now, my American friends must be
00:37:46.100 saying, what are you talking
00:37:46.860 about?
00:37:47.060 That's called Double Jeopardy.
00:37:48.300 Well, welcome to the United
00:37:49.300 Kingdom in 2019.
00:37:51.140 It should be called 1984, I
00:37:53.140 think.
00:37:54.240 So we'll be going inside the
00:37:56.120 court to give you a report.
00:37:58.120 Now, of course, I can't take
00:37:58.980 my cameras inside the court,
00:38:00.600 so I'll be live tweeting, if
00:38:02.200 you know what I mean by that.
00:38:03.520 If you go to twitter.com slash
00:38:05.320 Ezra Levant, you can get my
00:38:06.960 minute-by-minute updates inside
00:38:08.680 there, and then when the court
00:38:10.140 is on break, we'll come out
00:38:11.400 here.
00:38:11.940 There's another thing I should
00:38:12.980 point out.
00:38:13.460 You can't really see it here
00:38:14.480 because it's off, but there's a
00:38:15.980 billboard truck behind me.
00:38:17.360 That's from Tommy's campaign.
00:38:19.020 He's running to be a member of
00:38:20.400 the European Parliament.
00:38:21.940 Of course, the United Kingdom
00:38:22.720 was not supposed to be in the
00:38:24.040 EU anymore.
00:38:25.100 It was supposed to have left
00:38:25.920 after the Brexit referendum was
00:38:28.060 supposed to kick in on March
00:38:29.060 29th.
00:38:29.740 That was also scuppered by the
00:38:31.680 same Theresa May.
00:38:32.680 So there's an enemy.
00:38:34.160 There's a restlessness here that
00:38:36.380 is higher than anything I think
00:38:37.840 we know in Canada or the United
00:38:39.560 States.
00:38:39.880 It's imagine a referendum, the
00:38:41.920 largest voter turnout in history.
00:38:44.080 17.4 million Brits say, let's get
00:38:46.200 out of here.
00:38:47.560 And Theresa May says, yeah, we're
00:38:48.960 just going to ignore that.
00:38:50.480 Add that to all the problems in
00:38:52.000 this country, and you get a
00:38:53.080 feeling for the sense of betrayal
00:38:55.120 here.
00:38:55.820 I think the prosecution in the
00:38:57.140 court is just a piece of that.
00:38:58.600 Anyway, Tommy is running to be a
00:39:00.320 member of the European Parliament in
00:39:01.660 Northwest England, and given the
00:39:03.420 unique vote counting system, he
00:39:05.760 could win one of the eight seats
00:39:07.400 there with as few as 10 percent of
00:39:09.860 the votes.
00:39:10.740 So that's coming up on May 23rd.
00:39:12.820 Today, May 14th, is Tommy's
00:39:14.960 trial.
00:39:15.720 It's a mess over here, but I'm
00:39:17.220 delighted to represent the
00:39:18.960 rebel.
00:39:19.320 We have a student journalist with
00:39:20.500 us, Jessica, and we've helped
00:39:21.880 crowdfund other journalists to be
00:39:23.700 here today.
00:39:24.880 Avi Amini from Melbourne,
00:39:26.100 Australia, Andrew Lawton from
00:39:27.860 London, Ontario, Canada, Cassandra
00:39:29.820 Fairbanks and Pardes Saler from
00:39:31.820 Washington, D.C.
00:39:33.760 Jordan James, we brought him down
00:39:36.440 from Manchester, two cameramen, so
00:39:39.580 we have a total of nine real
00:39:41.460 reporters, and the reason I call
00:39:43.080 them real reporters is because
00:39:44.540 unlike the British media, they
00:39:45.720 don't, they're not Tommy haters.
00:39:47.600 I find the media in this country
00:39:49.180 to be appalling.
00:39:51.080 That's why we had to bring in
00:39:52.280 foreigners like myself.
00:39:53.480 You can hear a Tommy chant in the
00:39:54.700 background.
00:39:55.400 On that note, I'll bid you adieu for
00:39:56.940 now.
00:39:57.520 I'll have more reports from after
00:39:59.020 the court's hearings.
00:40:00.260 Until then, on behalf of all of us
00:40:02.020 here at The Rebel, we'll keep you
00:40:03.740 updated at realreporters.uk.
00:40:05.520 Now, to see all of Ezra's reports,
00:40:07.720 go to realreporters.uk.
00:40:10.320 And if you are so inclined, if you
00:40:11.640 feel like Ezra and his hand-selected
00:40:13.420 team of real journalists who are
00:40:15.600 neither censored nor self-censored
00:40:17.560 are doing valuable work, you can
00:40:19.960 help cover the cost to send them to
00:40:22.460 the UK at realreporters.uk.
00:40:26.140 Well, everybody, that's the show
00:40:27.600 tonight.
00:40:28.180 Thank you so much for tuning in as I
00:40:30.340 hold down the fort here in Alberta
00:40:32.040 while our team produces the show in
00:40:34.960 Toronto, while Ezra is reporting from
00:40:37.500 the UK.
00:40:38.220 Yes, The Rebel is really a transcontinental
00:40:41.540 operation tonight.
00:40:43.460 Now, remember, don't let the government
00:40:45.480 tell you that you've had too much to
00:40:47.460 think.
00:40:47.800 Well, let's go back.
00:41:00.400 .
00:41:01.580 Amen.