On this episode of The Gunn Show, my friend Robbie Picard joins me from his home in Fort McMurray, Alberta to talk about the results of the U.S. election and what that means for the Canadian oil patch.
00:08:32.280And honestly, when it comes to defending oil and gas, I mean, President Trump has done a far better job for Canada than our Prime Minister Trudeau.
00:08:43.400So, we'll see how it plays out in the next couple hours.
00:09:24.060And it's, I guess, it touches on the ethical nature of Canadian oil and gas.
00:09:30.520You said that you suspect that under a Biden administration, God help us, that there would be further demonization of the Canadian industry.
00:09:40.340But Biden will do something else that I think will also harm the Canadian industry.
00:09:47.820And that is he will likely lift sanctions on Iran, which will free up their energy industry to export again.
00:09:57.820And again, that will gobble up a market share that should belong to Canadian ethical oil and gas.
00:10:02.600You know, I really wish the, I wish to criticize Donald Trump on one thing.
00:10:12.340I know a lot of people that really want Trump to win.
00:10:15.680I also am shocked with people that work in the oil and gas industry that did not want Trump to win at all.
00:10:21.820And these are people who their entire lives have made money off of oil and gas.
00:10:25.860If I was to criticize Trump for one thing, humility is something that I think if you got to know him, you'd realize he's a really nice guy who's quite simple.
00:10:37.100But he didn't come across as overly humble.
00:10:40.920So now you're in a situation where the mass says, if Iran opens their taps, we're in trouble.
00:10:49.380And our biggest trading partner with the largest unprotected border in the world and all that, we should have each other's backs.
00:10:56.160I mean, realistically, you know, we should really consider having a stronger relationship with the states than we do the UK, because that's more prevalent to our existence.
00:11:04.540If the United States sneezes, we catch a cold.
00:12:09.980But I mean, Biden, respectfully, and I'm not a person, you know me, I don't make fun of age or, you know, if someone's a woman or a man or whatever.
00:12:17.860But Biden reminds me of some seniors I know that, you know, we're at the dinner table and they were sharp and they would catch something.
00:12:25.180And then all of a sudden they kind of slipped.
00:12:27.040He's kind of on the cusp of going and we all know it.
00:12:30.600And so it won't be when when Nancy Pelosi was talking about that thing about Trump, you know, when he had COVID.
00:12:36.300But I think that'll come more to Biden and you'll see Kamala, she might be president.
00:12:43.200And that's a terrifying that's a terrifying thing for the world right now.
00:12:49.500Well, and the other thing, too, is I think that I mean, oh, OK, so if I was to if I was like to Trump needs the Republicans need to kind of get in the cities a little bit more and and the Democrats, they need to realize that, like, Trump is loved as much as people like for his groffness or whatever.
00:13:14.720He's very loved. And his supporters, like, I mean, there is something to that.
00:13:20.740There's something to those people that go out for hours and hours and wait.
00:13:24.020And they didn't quite say uneducated white voter this time like they did four years ago, where they constantly insulted a good portion of the people being voted, the voters.
00:13:34.840But overall, I think there's just this disconnect between what people think, what think the reality of what people are dealing with is and what it truly is.
00:13:48.140And I think we all have different realities.
00:13:49.660And I think if one thing we need to stop accepting the fact that just because, you know, I I'm a different skin color, I'm a different, you know, if I'm Latino or black or, you know, gay or straight, it means that I automatically line up with the Democrats or the Republicans.
00:14:07.260Yeah, I think it boils down to what how does the political people being voted for affect my personal life?
00:14:13.760That's a great point to make, because we saw in Florida was the Cuban community there that helped deliver the state for Donald Trump and Texas.
00:14:25.280Texas went Republican. I think that was always a safe Republican state.
00:14:29.040But there are some border counties that were largely Democrat last time that made massive shifts towards Republican.
00:14:40.240And I think the general consensus was in the past, well, you can't build a border wall right there because you're going to make the Hispanic community angry.
00:14:51.120Well, as it turns out, the legal Hispanic community doesn't mind a border wall and and cares about the same things as everybody else, that the immigration rules are followed in their state and that their counties aren't turned into just an illegal walkthrough for people to try to enter into the United States.
00:15:11.280I think that if you look at socialism, OK, and there's this notion that like with, you know, universal income and all that is somehow equals it's an equalizer.
00:15:31.740It kind of starts off like that at first. But for all this talk about during COVID-19, the people that were the most hurt were small businesses, small restaurants, pop shops, the little piece of the Canadian or American dream that, you know what, I could open a little gas station.
00:15:53.580And I could become a mini millionaire and I could, you know, take a few trips and provide college for my kids.
00:15:59.000That's all slowly dying. I'm actually doing a campaign here in Fort McMurray, trying to get people to support local.
00:16:05.840And I counted over 30 restaurants have closed in the last the last three years. Various reasons. I can't say like, you know, like whatever.
00:16:12.680And what has benefited under this is Walmart and Amazon. So socialism, in my opinion, makes it so the very, very rich stay at the top.
00:16:25.320And then you'll have this sort of level like the Green New Deal comes in and you'll have these political people and then they get paid and they're all make, you know, it'll protect their little bubble.
00:16:34.000So I think the Cuban Americans understand that, I'm not saying there's some benefits, like there's always pros and cons to everything.
00:16:43.600But the ones that have gone over to Florida who've escaped, you know, Castro, you know, they don't feel good about socialism.
00:16:50.960They want their opportunity to work hard and get ahead and not have to feel constantly like they're owned by the state.
00:16:57.300And one of the critiques I have is like, I mean, our bureaucracy is endless.
00:17:02.480I mean, it's endless, endless, endless. I am leaning more towards a libertarian stance because like, why should I have, like, I work hard.
00:17:11.100I want to choose my own destiny and you have to pay for everyone else.
00:17:14.220So I think that this fantasy of socialism is misguided.
00:17:17.460But I also think that, you know, with like Black Lives Matters, the most people that actually supported it were white people that had, you know, thought this sense of guilt.
00:17:28.040But if you talk to a lot of black people, they didn't support Black Lives Matters because, and this is what I'm saying, it's like, it's deeper than we realize.
00:17:36.140And the color of your skin is, I would argue the world slowly but surely is getting more equal and more quality all the time.
00:17:45.140And I'm not saying racism doesn't exist or microaggressions, but at the end of the day, I think people want what's best for them and themselves and their families and others, pets or whatever.
00:17:57.620And it's pretty, it's pretty scary, how fragile it is.
00:18:06.320Now, I'm not sure, like, what will happen.
00:18:08.780I mean, I'm sure Michigan will, like, I mean, I imagine this will end up in the Supreme Court.
00:18:13.620But at the end of the day, I mean, it was, I mean, the pollsters were wrong.
00:18:20.680You know, here's the other thing, too, is like these, I don't know, these sort of like, what I've learned in the past couple years, because someone has a university degree, it doesn't necessarily make them overly intelligent.
00:18:33.420And I think there's a level of street smarts and life experience that kind of balances it out.
00:18:38.640And if you're, if the media, if the media is supposed to be fair and balanced and tell a story, well, they sure miss that story of what's going on in America with the people.
00:18:51.960At no point, they just hate Trump so much.
00:18:54.120Like, why does Trump have these supporters?
00:18:59.340I also think that this early voting, I mean, I don't know if I agree with it, because I think that it does a bit of a disservice to people, because I don't think you know the whole story.
00:19:08.640You can vote six months before, your opinion might change five or six times.
00:19:13.880Like, I mean, personally, I always vote the day of, because I, you know, and I voted on all sides, if you know what I mean.
00:19:22.120Like, I'm not, I've never once, sometimes it depends on the situation.
00:19:27.580I might like the candidate better or whatever.
00:19:30.900But for me personally, I think you should vote closer to, like, it's just a little bit, it's a bit up in the air.
00:19:37.260I'm not for sure Trump was going to win Michigan last night, and now I'm not sure.
00:19:41.440Yeah, I mean, it is, a lot of those early voters missed all the Hunter Biden laptop stuff.
00:19:49.240And how many of those votes would be changed right now due to buyer's remorse,
00:19:55.260because they cast a vote for another Democrat who is apparently just as crooked as Hillary Clinton was.
00:20:03.880Now, I wanted to ask you, now that we've, you know, spent, well, almost 20 minutes talking about the American election,
00:20:11.060I wanted to ask you a little about something closer to home.
00:20:14.460And I know that you were a little bit of personally involved in this.
00:20:18.800The inquiry into the enemies of oil and gas, that's Jason Kenney's investigation,
00:20:26.600his government's investigation into the foreign funded meddling, into the landlocking of Canadian oil and gas.
00:20:34.800That report is once again delayed until next year.
00:20:38.660So a couple months now, again, at least until 2020.
00:21:53.700We need to really start, uh, we have to change.
00:21:57.580I mean, like we've, I mean, I don't know.
00:21:59.840Like, I mean, I, I can only do so much as a lonely advocate in Fort McMurray.
00:22:04.460Um, it's, uh, you know, like, and I'm proud of the few accomplishments I've had, like with Jane Fonda and, you know, when, um, even the, when I, when I started the entire I Love Oil Sends campaign, uh, those things I think are wins.
00:22:19.560But as Albertans, like, you know, we, we need to have some patriotism and we need to really be like, this is unacceptable, this attack on our industry.
00:22:31.840And I mean, I, I, I don't know why it's taking so long, but I hope it speeds up.
00:22:37.580Well, yeah, and, uh, and again, I appreciate the investigation.
00:22:43.120I'm glad that someone is finally looking into this in, in a really official capacity instead of independent researchers looking into it.
00:22:52.020But at the end of the day, if Justin Trudeau refuses to decertify these fake environmental charities, it's really all for nothing, isn't it?
00:23:04.060Um, yes, except at least then we have, at least we're more aware of what we're up against.
00:23:11.380And once it's official, it doesn't enable us to fight back a little harder and call them out on their nonsense.
00:23:16.720We know that it was a foreign funded attack against us to suppress our resources.
00:23:19.700We've known that for years, right from the Rockefeller report.
00:23:22.180The fact that that was even done, um, the question is now is, you know, what are we willing to do about it?
00:23:26.980And I think we're, uh, I think we're very complacent, even in Fort McMurray.
00:23:33.060We, we, we just think that it's never going to, people want to live their lives.
00:23:37.040Like, I mean, even myself, I just want to go look for weird antiques on the weekends.
00:23:40.940I don't want to, I don't want to stress all the time, but I think we need to start stressing.
00:23:44.780We need to start showing a little bit more teeth and we need to say, you know, like there is no such thing as green energy.
00:23:52.820They're, they're talking about solar panels failing now and they're going to be at the dump.
00:23:56.980The, the toxic tailings ponds that they have for rare earth minerals, those poor little kids in China and all these mines in Africa that are, have horrible working conditions.
00:24:06.800And we sat back here where we have the greatest energy resource in the world and we can barely get a pipeline built.
00:24:12.080We spent all this time with this weird guilt.
00:24:17.940We should, and I don't know, I don't have the solution, but I just think that it's, it's pretty sad that when, when an American election,
00:24:26.480could determine so much, like, I don't think people realize this, like this, this little effects is exactly the city I'm sitting in right now.
00:24:51.980You know, I'm pretty confident they'll, they could put a stop to that fairly quick, you know, and we're in a position like, what are we doing differently?
00:25:01.320We need to do, like, we need to do a few things.
00:25:03.360So for me personally, you know, I'm helping the tourism industry in Fort McMurray.
00:25:07.240I'm trying to get a secondary economy going here.
00:25:09.620I did a lot of videos promoting tourism.
00:25:12.420I'm trying to get my advocacy up a level.
00:25:15.620I'm trying to get Olsen strong on the next level, but I'm one dude, you know what I mean?
00:25:31.460So, I mean, and I know a lot of people that did not, like, this was not, like, I mean, I know a lot, well, secretly people say, yeah, I want Trump to win.