Bill C-372 would ban all fossil fuel advertising in Canada, making it illegal to falsely promote the burning of fossil fuels as a benefit to the public. It s like the Big Tobacco moment that finally took down Big Tobacco.
00:00:00.000Canada's socialist NDP wants to criminalize oil and gas advocacy.
00:00:20.460I guess I'll have to start a prison band with my guest tonight.
00:00:23.660I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.
00:00:30.000Many of you already know this story. It broke about two weeks ago.
00:00:47.040But to let you know, I have been traveling on our documentary project on Canada's culture of death.
00:00:55.880It's about our medical assistance in dying program. Really, it's medical killing.
00:01:01.040The documentary is called Made, The Dark Side of Canadian Compassion.
00:01:05.260You can learn more about what we're doing and support the project at maidedocumentary.com.
00:01:10.540So that is a long explanation about why you may have been wondering why I haven't talked about this topic, considering it would affect me quite directly.
00:01:21.740So I'm going to show you this clip from the NDP Brain Trust, Charlie Angus, two-decade MP of the NDP, on his new big idea.
00:01:38.280Big oil has always relied on the big tobacco playbook of delay and disinformation.
00:01:43.880And so to tackle this immense threat to human health, we need to use many of the strategies that finally took down big tobacco.
00:01:52.500In 1997, the Canadian Parliament banned advertising from big tobacco because of the clear threat to human health.
00:02:00.020This is why I'm so proud to stand here today with representatives of Canada's medical community to state that the time has come to ban all oil and gas advertising.
00:02:11.680The big tobacco moment has finally arrived for big oil.
00:02:17.320Bill C-372 will, quote, provide a legislative response to a national public health and environmental problem of substantial and pressing concerns.
00:02:26.940The bill will make it illegal for big oil and gas lobby and the gas lobby or their front groups or paid influencers to falsely promote the burning of fossil fuels as a benefit to the public.
00:02:38.260The legislation will make it illegal to falsely claim that the use of one fossil fuel product is somehow better than another fossil fuel product in improving the environment.
00:02:50.520To claim that there are clean fossil fuels is like saying there are safe cigarettes.
00:02:57.540Morgan Stanley points out that the damage from climate crisis for the North American economy in just three years has been a staggering $415 billion.
00:03:08.180And this legislation will target advertising that falsely claims that oil and gas are having a positive impact on the global economy.
00:03:17.000And we recently learned that toxic contamination from Canada's oil and gas industry is 6,000 times higher than officially reported.
00:03:27.260This legislation will make it illegal for Canada's oil and gas giants to falsely identify themselves with the health and positive lifestyles of Canadians
00:03:36.580or with reconciliation of Indigenous people on whose lands the toxic contamination is highest.
00:03:43.340The big tobacco moment has arrived for companies like Suncor, Imperial, and the oil and gas giants of Canada.
00:03:52.140So that's Charlie Angus, NDP MP of 20 years, considered actually, if there is such a thing, one of the grown-ups of the NDP party, a more moderate NDPer.
00:04:10.280And he's introducing Bill 372, C-372, otherwise known as an Act Respecting Fossil Fuel Advertising.
00:04:19.180And it would treat fossil fuel advertising or just the normalization of fossil fuel use as a criminal offense.
00:04:29.340He wants to treat oil and gas, life-affirming oil and gas, as an inherent poison to humans, which is crazy.
00:04:41.340It's the reason I survived minus 53 this past winter here in Alberta.
00:04:47.320I mean, it's ludicrous, but leave it to the NDP to get everything wrong.
00:04:52.120And then I started thinking that act would criminalize the gun show because so much of the focus of the show is counter to the apocalyptic end times cult of global warming, climate change, pay your tithe to the church of Greta Thunberg so the weather will get more gooder.
00:05:22.120So then I thought, how many of my friends besides me would end up in prison if Charlie Angus had his way?
00:07:27.580You work in oil field advocacy and fossil fuel advocacy.
00:07:31.440William Diaz, tell us what you've been up here since you came up from Alberta.
00:07:35.880Yeah, well, thanks for inviting me on your show, Sheila.
00:07:37.840I do public relations in the oil and gas and energy sector.
00:07:41.820So I just advocate for Canadian energy because I believe, as many other young people do, that Canadian energy is the best energy in the world, the most sustainable, the best for the environment, creates jobs, creates revenue for government, for social programs.
00:07:55.960So I think it's important that we, first of all, learn all the benefits of the industry, that we're informed of the benefits and that we advocate for survival and sustainability in the future.
00:08:07.560Well, you haven't been in Alberta long, but, boy, you sound like one of us.
00:08:12.180I want to ask you, just out of curiosity, I always wonder what it's like for people who move to Alberta from other parts of the country.
00:08:22.780Because I get culture shock when I travel to other parts of the country because it's different.
00:08:27.900We really are different here in Alberta, but it's normal for me.
00:08:31.460As a young person who was living in Ottawa, of all places, and now you're in beautiful Calgary, what's it been like?
00:08:39.380Yeah, well, I see Alberta as a land of opportunity.
00:08:42.660As long as you're entrepreneurial, you're willing to work hard and do good for the province and for the country, you'll be able to do it too and to get whatever you want.
00:08:52.200So I really see Alberta as a good, strong place, and I think the province has a lot to offer in the future.
00:08:58.360Do you notice the people are a little different?
00:09:24.200They're people that are actually connected with what's running our country, which is the energy sector.
00:09:28.480They have a lot of people who are just grateful for what we do here in the province, and I think that's what makes this province great.
00:09:35.600Now, the reason I wanted to have you on the show is because, well, first of all, I ran into you the other day at a documentary screening in Calgary, and then I realized, you know what?
00:09:44.740Charlie Angus, lifer NDP MP, would love to put a young man like you in jail because the NDP have proposed a new law that would, it's called Bill C-372, an act respecting fossil fuel advertising.
00:10:06.420But basically, they want to treat fossil fuel advertising in the same manner as the scary teeth that they put on cigarettes, and actually, you can't even see a cigarette package when you go into the store.
00:10:18.840They have to be sort of blocked off and hidden, and you have to ask for it, and then they give you the cigarette package, and then you're like, oh, the scary mouth is on there.
00:10:26.540They want us to treat fossil fuels that way, as though they are a harm to our health instead of the reason we're able to live in such a forbidding climate.
00:10:40.960Give us a brief rundown of what Charlie Angus would like to do to you.
00:10:44.740Yeah, so essentially, Bill C-372 would make it illegal to advertise the benefits of Canadian oil and gas, which in my mind, it just blows my mind.
00:10:52.040And that includes the fact that it brings significant revenue to Indigenous communities nationwide.
00:10:58.260It includes that Canadian oil and gas is among the cleanest in the world.
00:11:01.840So if you mention either of those two things, you could either face up to two years in prison or have to pay $1.5 million in fine, which is insane.
00:11:11.860And you also can't highlight the fact that it creates jobs and significant revenue for the government.
00:11:17.520Revenue, by the way, that goes towards hospitals, schools, parks, arenas, universities, etc.
00:11:23.500I was just in Grand Prairie this past weekend, where the Alberta Winter Games were hosted.
00:11:27.880The Alberta Winter Games were sponsored by multiple oil and gas companies.
00:11:31.640The opening ceremony was held at the Bonitz Energy Center.
00:11:34.800So just oil and gas refunds communities across the country, and this bill would make it illegal to say that.
00:11:39.400The bill also targets the phrases such as, as long as the world needs oil and gas, shouldn't it be Canadian?
00:12:02.980Like, you can get in trouble for advocating for Canadian oil and gas while we import conflict oil constantly to the east of the country.
00:12:14.180Like, you can't say, wouldn't it be great if the people in the east were on Alberta oil as opposed to Algerian, Nigerian, Iraq?
00:12:25.220You can't, under this law, this vaguely worded law, you couldn't say that or you could face up to two years in jail or multi-million dollars in fines.
00:12:45.380And I'm so glad you pointed out, which I don't think people in the rest of the country realize,
00:12:51.160but it is completely normal on the prairies for your local hockey rink or your local sports team or your local rec center to be sponsored by an oil and gas company.
00:13:02.340Like, all of Bonneville, Alberta, Cold Lake, Alberta, it's completely sponsored by an oil and gas company.
00:13:08.300Almost all the infrastructure is built in partnership with oil and gas money.
00:13:13.480In a lot of places, it's what keeps these small towns alive.
00:13:17.540And leave it to somebody from the east, no offense, like Charlie Angus, to not know that.
00:13:24.660So you can even thank Synovus for subsidizing your hockey rink under this law.
00:13:30.900Yeah, or any of the other oil and gas companies.
00:13:34.260And it's important to point out between 2022 and 2023, our oil and gas sector generated $112 billion in government money through royalties and taxes.
00:14:39.860They all spoke out against the bill because oil and gas, the oil and gas sector brings important revenue to indigenous communities across the nation, especially remote indigenous communities.
00:14:49.400I believe the IRN stated that the average salary of an indigenous person employed in the oil and gas sector is about $150,000 per year.
00:14:58.120The average salary of an indigenous person employed in any other sector is $50,000 per year.
00:15:03.300That's $100,000, $100,000 more, an average per person employed in the oil and gas sector for indigenous communities.
00:15:11.680So it brings significant revenue, it brings prosperity, indigenous ownership in energy sector brings revenue to those communities and makes them thrive.
00:15:22.340And the oil and gas sector, if I had to pick a sector that I would describe as indigenous, I would pick the oil and gas sector because many of these projects are where indigenous people live.
00:15:34.460Fort McMurray, for example, places in Saskatchewan, these are places close to indigenous communities where indigenous young people can get a job in their own community.
00:15:47.440They don't have to leave their community and their culture to make a good living.
00:15:51.380And I was looking at some numbers the other day and indigenous people are employed in the oil and gas sector at a rate that outpaces their rate of the Canadian population in that.
00:16:07.720So they are overrepresented in the oil and gas sector just for the reasons I stated.
00:16:14.500And again, Charlie Angus is like, no, put them in handcuffs, take them to jail.
00:16:17.940Well, it helps them break away from government dependency.
00:16:21.440It helps them become more independent and actually look for their own community's prosperity.
00:16:26.960So that's the reason why there are so many strong indigenous voices that spoke out against the bill and that say, no, we're not going to stand by that.
00:16:33.540We're not going to say nothing about it.
00:16:35.260We're going to speak out about it because it brings prosperity to our communities.
00:16:38.840Now, this is an NDP bill, so I'm not sure it will pass the House.
00:16:43.040But, you know, you never know with how crazy the Liberals have been.
00:16:48.160I mean, we just heard the environment minister say no more roads.
00:16:54.000You never really know because the Liberals are just as radical as the NDP on these issues, at least in their legislation, but not in their behavior.
00:17:10.080But I think just as Canadians, we should be proud of our oil and gas sector.
00:17:14.700We should be proud of our energy sector.
00:17:16.700The oil and gas sector alone contributes to 7% of our GDP for the country.
00:17:21.460It creates jobs for half a million Canadians, and that's not including the families that are supported by those half a million Canadians and creates opportunities for indigenous communities and young Canadians as well for the futures and funds schools.
00:17:35.200I'm just thinking that Alberta is currently in a leadership race in the NDP.
00:17:39.800And since we know the provincial NDP is just a tiny little part of the NDP brain trust, if people are watching right now and you have an NDP leadership town hall in your area, make sure you ask those candidates whether or not they agree with Charlie Angus on criminalizing oil and gas advocacy and putting my friend William in jail.
00:18:06.060Now, William, I want to ask you a couple of other things that if we talk nicely about, we'll probably get thrown in jail if Charlie Angus has his way.
00:18:13.520But the inflation rate is down in Saskatchewan, outpacing the drop in the inflation rate across the country.
00:18:23.800And the reason for that is because Saskatchewan quit collecting the carbon tax on their electricity, which goes to show just how these anti-fossil fuel policies of the Liberal government are really hurting the bottom line of everyday Canadians in ways that I think people don't really grasp just how deep it is.
00:18:52.920That one thing that the Saskatchewan government did, not collecting carbon tax on the electricity produced by the provincial electricity producer, not collecting that has driven the inflation rate down in Saskatchewan.
00:19:11.420Wouldn't you know, it's up in Alberta.
00:19:28.220Whereas in Alberta, we leave it to private companies to produce the oil and gas that we consume.
00:19:32.980So that's the reason Alberta won't be able to stop collecting carbon taxes just like Saskatchewan is.
00:19:38.300But I think the carbon tax is definitely something that needs to go as soon as possible.
00:19:41.880Now, you work in oil and gas advocacy, so I want to ask you, you know, when you see these anti-oil policies like the carbon tax, I mean, it's an anti-fossil fuel policy.
00:19:55.620That sends a bit of an investment chill when you see just this escalating carbon tax where the consumer is being hammered, but the investment in oil and gas projects, it can get parked somewhere else.
00:20:12.900Saskatchewan shares an oil field with North Dakota, and North Dakota doesn't have a carbon tax, and it has a stable, energy-friendly government.
00:20:24.980And these bad policies of Justin Trudeau chase away well-paying, as you point out, Canadian jobs.
00:20:31.160Well, I think most of the people that are advocating against Canada's oil and gas sector are just misinformed and poorly educated on the topic.
00:20:40.440When I was living in Quebec, I saw something that we speak about a lot.
00:20:43.660In the East, they don't have the same awareness of how important Canada's oil and gas sector is.
00:20:48.320So that's where my job comes in, and I try to show people that, well, you know, it's not as bad as you think it is.
00:21:04.520It's about all the people that depend on the sector, all our social programs that depend on the sector, and really the prosperity of Canada.
00:21:11.080So I'd say those that are against the oil and gas sector is not just about being anti-Canadian energy.
00:21:36.200So you are going places where there have been historical objections, I think misinformed objections, to Canada's oil and gas sector.
00:21:46.640So if you were to give tips, as I think a newfound expert in this, to people who are watching this who want to help get the message out, spread the word, what are some of the myths that we should be debunking that you are hearing in your travels?
00:22:06.460Well, the best examples were when I went to the University of British Columbia last summer.
00:22:10.780I went there for a weekend and spoke to many students on campus about our energy sector.
00:22:17.260So I think approaching it from a place of, you know, let's talk about it instead of demonizing the other side.
00:22:23.360Because once again, a lot of the people who oppose our energy sector are the people who don't know a lot about it and who are poorly educated on the topic because it's not something that's being talked about a lot in universities or in Eastern Canada.
00:22:36.760So I think just coming up with facts, appealing to the emotions and showing, look, this is concretely how a thriving energy sector is going to make our country better.
00:22:47.260And I think just showing that to people helps them understand a lot better.
00:22:51.420So what are they getting wrong about this?
00:22:54.000Well, I think a lot of people just think that the CEOs of the companies are greedy.
00:22:57.740I think a lot of people don't understand the ESG initiatives that our oil and gas companies across the country are actually taking part of.
00:23:05.460All of the investments that are made by companies such as Birchcliffe or Tourmaline into funding hospitals, into funding schools.
00:23:12.820A lot of that just isn't shared around and isn't common knowledge for most people who aren't involved in the sector like ourselves.
00:23:19.560So just showing that to people, showing the numbers, showing the facts helps them understand a lot better.
00:23:25.620Do you think they understand the role of reclamation in the oil and gas sector?
00:23:34.480Because, you know, they, I think for a lot of people who object to the oil and gas sector, they just see the strip mining, the open pit mining of Fort McMurray, but they don't know this teeny tiny footprint of conventional oil and gas shrinking all the time.
00:23:50.720The teeny tiny footprint of fracking, because a lot of times it's directional, they don't even have to be where the gas is.
00:23:58.240The teeny tiny footprint of SAG-D, which is the majority of how you extract oil sands, it's not mining, it's SAG-D, it's steam.
00:24:10.720Do you think they, for me, when I'm talking to people who think oil and gas is dirty, all they have in their mind is a big open pit in Fort McMurray.
00:24:21.420They don't understand that that mine is going to be filled in, reclaimed, we're going to graze buffalo on it, we're going to build a park on top.
00:24:29.440I think they think it's all like that, and then just left that way.
00:24:33.640Yeah, so it's funny that you mention it, because when I went to the University of British Columbia, I actually did a little video of me showing students four images of clean, beautiful sites, and asking them which of these is an image of a reclaimed oil site.
00:24:47.160And most of the students had no idea which one was right, because they all seemed so clean.
00:24:52.680And a lot of them were super surprised when they actually learned which one was the correct one, because it just was so clean.
00:24:58.800So I think, once again, that just comes from poor education on the topic of oil and gas, and not knowing what's actually going on after the site has been exploited.
00:25:08.160Amongst the following images, which of the following do you think used to be an oil drilling site in the past?
00:26:11.840And I think, though, and I know that you're going to be diplomatic in this more than you used to be, but I think it also goes to the way the mainstream media talks about oil and gas.
00:26:32.480They are the reason that those university students only see the open mining and never the reclamation or the other methods of extraction.
00:26:45.860Like, that's where they're getting their information is from social media, from activists, and the mainstream media who never show the life cycle of an oil and gas project.
00:26:56.980They only show the beginning as a construction.
00:26:59.780Like, when you think about oil and gas as a construction project, it's never pretty when you're building your garage, but then your garage is done, and the supplies are off the yard, and you're like, oh, this is beautiful.
00:27:09.820It's the same thing with oil and gas, but I think the mainstream media doesn't do a great job of telling that story, so I guess you have job security because of that, and so do I.
00:27:20.620I think that's a great analogy, and when you mention activists, it's often activists that claim to speak on behalf of indigenous communities or environmentalists that claim to speak on behalf of indigenous communities.
00:27:29.780of indigenous communities, and indigenous leaders are fed up with it, and they've made multiple articles about that.
00:27:36.360But just to go back to your main point, yeah, I think that's the reason our organization exists.
00:27:40.380We're here to show the other side of the story because we're here to have a balanced conversation on the topic of Canada's energy sector because oftentimes in universities, as you said, we only see one side of the story.
00:27:51.740We only see the negative side of the story portrayed by scholars and so-called activists, so that's why we're here, and it's great to see students have open minds and change their minds on the topic by seeing the other side of the story and by seeing that Canada's oil and gas sector should not be as demonized as it is right now.
00:28:11.380You know, I think you're the right guy for this job because we trained you in telling the other side of the story, you're doing that, you're also a young person from the eastern part of this country, so you know where the gaps in information are because you were exposed to those gaps in information, but you came into your working knowledge of the oil and gas sector with an open mind, so I think that's wonderful.
00:28:35.380Tell us how people can find some of the work that you're doing.
00:28:40.380Some people can go to, honestly, if you go to ycresources.ca, we have a website there.
00:29:21.380We think about it differently than the other side of this argument, and really, as you point out, sometimes there isn't another side to this argument.
00:29:32.380It's just people who don't have all the facts, and I think you're doing a good job of outreach.
00:30:32.380We'll never take a penny from Justin Trudeau, and how could we ever hold him to account if we did?
00:30:37.380So we have to rely on your willing support.
00:30:42.380And I think it's the least we can do if we're asking for your support is to listen to what you have to say to us on the stories that we're doing.
00:30:52.380It's why we never close the comment section, and it's why I give up my email address right now.
00:31:37.380Maybe about 30, 40% of my comments that I read on air come from over there.
00:31:42.380So don't let this show sitting behind a paywall be a bar for entry.
00:31:48.380All that is to say, I've got a letter.
00:31:51.380It came to the email inbox, and it came very recently, but on a show that I did a couple of weeks ago when Kian Simone, our chief documentary filmmaker, and I were in, I think we were in Ottawa at the time.
00:32:07.380We were running around the country taking some early morning flights and some very late morning flights on some very, very affordable airlines.
00:32:18.380To make a documentary on medical assistance in dying, MAID as they call it, which is the sterilized form of what it really is in its medical killing.
00:32:27.380Our documentary is called MAID, The Dark Side of Canadian Compassion.
00:32:31.380You can learn more about it at maidedocumentary.com.
00:32:35.380You can also chip in to support our work there.
00:32:38.380As I said, we're taking some very inconvenient but affordable flights to save money.
00:32:46.380And because I have other work to do with this company, besides making a documentary, you know, I've got to bring you a show every week on Wednesdays.
00:32:59.380So we filmed a gun show from our Airbnb in Ottawa, and we talked about, you know, sort of Kian's experience about changing his mind on medical assistance and dying from someone who was, yeah, you know what?
00:33:16.380Your body, your choice, you do what you want, to this is a great evil.
00:33:21.380And we never should have opened the door to any of this.
00:33:25.380That's sort of where he's come around on the topic.
00:33:28.380You can watch the show. It's a couple weeks back.
00:33:31.380There's a free version and a paywalled version.
00:33:33.380So you can see what I'm talking about.
00:33:35.380But I thought it was an interesting conversion story, a Saul to Paul moment for Kian.
00:33:44.380And he came to that conclusion after speaking to the families and the people who have unique experiences with medical assistance and dying.
00:33:57.380And that letter, the letter I got came to me from somebody named Lori.
00:34:06.380And she says, Dear Sheila, I love the fact that you're doing a documentary on Made.
00:34:53.380And because my email inbox is split 50-50, that's exactly why we need to do this documentary.
00:35:02.380Because we can use the horror stories of the reality to inform the other people who think it's not that bad, who think I'm exaggerating, who think it couldn't possibly be that bad.
00:35:13.380It's that bad and worse, as we're finding out.
00:35:19.380Thank you for your sit down with Kian and his honesty in the matter.
00:35:23.380How knowing about the truth, hearing people's stories and understanding about what is really going on has dramatically changed his mind on Made.
00:35:30.380The death culture in Canada has stripped us of compassion and I'm afraid of where this will continue to go.
00:35:36.380The can of worms, Pandora's box, if you will, has been opened.
00:35:40.380At what point, where do we draw the line?
00:35:43.380I'm a mother of a handicapped girl, now 38 years old.
00:35:46.380I can't help but wonder, at what point do we see fit to help those who are not as capable as some out of their misery?
00:37:43.380I look back on the last 23 years, and although nothing is ever easy for every minute of every day, I am ever so thankful that I chose life.
00:37:51.380My experience has helped others as I listen to women who are suffering with postpartum depression.
00:37:56.380Not one experience is ever lost if you choose to grow from them and use them to help others.
00:38:07.380I hope we're able to bring this documentary when it's finished to Powell River, somewhere close to you, although it will be available online when it is done.
00:38:16.380But I've never met anybody, and I'm sure Lori, you are the same, somebody who has ever attempted suicide or seriously contemplated suicide and who has come out the other side.
00:38:28.380I've never met a single person who wishes that they had been successful in their attempts or in their ideation.
00:38:37.380Sometimes it's just time, even beyond treatment, sometimes it's just time.
00:38:44.380Time to get through that intense moment of despair.
00:38:49.380And I will tell you, the statistics show that it is not physical suffering.
00:38:53.380It is not imminent death that people are choosing medical assistance and dying for.