Rebel News Podcast - Calgary’s “out of touch” politicians turn pro-pipeline rally-goers against them (Guest： William McBeath)

00:00:00.000 After three terms in office, is the bloom finally coming off the rose of Calgary's progressive and secretive Mayor Nahid Nenshi?

00:00:09.940 Tonight, my guest and I discuss that and all the latest comings and goings down at Calgary City Hall.

00:00:16.560 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:00:30.000 Calgary held yet another massive lunchtime rally where well over 2,000 people showed up at Calgary's municipal plaza to show their support for Canada's battered and beleaguered oil and gas industry.

00:00:50.980 The speakers at the rally included Calgary municipal politicians, which should not have been unusual, nor should it have been controversial, except for the fact that those speakers made themselves seem unusual and controversial.

00:01:06.400 I want to show you a couple of clips from the rally.

00:01:09.760 In these clips, you're going to see the crowd booing two municipal politicians.

00:01:14.960 The first politician being booed is Mayor Nenshi.

00:01:18.200 The second is Calgary City Councilor Peter Dijon.

00:01:22.680 Just watch.

00:01:23.720 I've been asked by the organizers, because it's important that this message carry across the whole country,

00:01:29.560 so I've been asked by the organizers to say a few words in French, so I will do that now.

00:01:34.160 Je vais dire quelques mots en français.

00:01:37.300 Let me give you a little bit of advice.

00:01:39.340 If you want someone to listen to you, you have to speak their language. 1.00

00:01:46.200 We should be talking about supporting Ontario.

00:01:50.580 Wow!

00:01:51.540 Really?

00:01:52.760 Can you guys call yourselves Canadians?

00:01:55.620 Wow!

00:01:57.200 No, not putt!

00:01:58.560 No, not putt!

00:02:00.020 Now, we can argue the merits of them being booed for their remarks all day.

00:02:05.620 Did they deserve it?

00:02:06.600 Did they not deserve it?

00:02:07.740 I think you know where I probably stand on this.

00:02:10.860 I certainly don't think a pro-pipeline rally comprised of devastated and desperate Calgarians

00:02:17.000 is the right place to lecture people on supporting Quebec's dairy industry

00:02:21.820 and the value of fighting climate change.

00:02:25.160 But what's really telling is the response from those two politicians to being criticized by the public.

00:02:33.240 The politicians instantly became petty and condescending.

00:02:37.440 They couldn't handle the criticism and they revealed themselves to be completely tone-deaf

00:02:42.840 and out of touch with the issues that really matter.

00:02:45.960 But is it the sort of response that one might expect from Calgary's most well-paid yet secretive mayor and council?

00:02:53.820 I think so.

00:02:55.100 And that rally and the booing, well, that was really just the start of Calgary City Council's very bad week.

00:03:01.820 Tonight, my guest and I discuss how the rally went sideways for Calgary's Purple Prince

00:03:07.140 and City Council's latest attempts to keep a lid on one renegade city councillor

00:03:12.500 who's trying to shine a light on what goes on behind closed doors at Calgary City Hall.

00:03:18.480 We even talk about the failings of Calgary City Council's new safe injection site.

00:03:24.300 Joining me tonight from Calgary via Skype is my friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary.

00:03:31.820 So joining me now from Save Calgary is my friend and good friend of the show, William Macbeth.

00:03:52.460 William, it is a crazy week in Calgary municipal politics already

00:03:58.760 and we are recording this at just afternoon on Tuesday.

00:04:04.160 Where do we start? Where do you want to start?

00:04:06.880 It's hard to imagine how the week could get any crazier except that it seems to be hour by hour.

00:04:12.040 So Eva, yes, you say we're recording this right now on Tuesday afternoon.

00:04:15.520 By the time it goes out, who knows what else will have happened.

00:04:18.620 But, I mean, I think we can talk about what's been happening in Calgary over the last while

00:04:22.980 and the series of rallies that have been held showing, I think, the scale of the anger

00:04:28.920 that Albertans and Calgarians are feeling about the fact that the federal government

00:04:33.160 has refused to do anything to get pipelines built.

00:04:37.340 And that's costing us hundreds, you know, 100,000 jobs in this province and in this city.

00:04:42.600 So I think that's been the major story.

00:04:44.980 We had that rally yesterday.

00:04:48.280 Politicians expecting sympathy or empathy from Calgarians and Albertans for Quebecers

00:04:55.220 seriously misread the political mood of that crowd.

00:04:59.300 Yeah, that was really something that, you know, Nenshi, to his credit, he faced the crowd

00:05:06.500 and that's good.

00:05:07.240 He should be the face of what's happening in Calgary.

00:05:11.000 And really, he's been noticeably absent as far as that goes.

00:05:14.980 But, and, you know, he did make a debatable mistake.

00:05:20.820 He tried to communicate to the crowd in French because, I don't know, for some reason, people

00:05:27.680 think the problem with not getting pipelines done and sold to the people of Quebec is a

00:05:32.920 translation error.

00:05:34.100 I don't know.

00:05:35.160 But, I mean, he faced some backlash from the crowd.

00:05:39.340 And that whole issue is debatable.

00:05:43.020 What I have a real problem with is how he condescended to the people in the crowd afterwards instead

00:05:49.280 of realizing these people are out of work.

00:05:51.880 They're on the verge of losing everything.

00:05:54.440 And a lot of them, quite frankly, do blame opposition in Quebec.

00:05:58.240 And it's rightfully placed.

00:06:00.000 I think you're absolutely right.

00:06:02.660 I mean, we saw the fact that Quebecers continue to receive the lion's share of equalization

00:06:10.060 payments.

00:06:10.800 And those payments primarily come from Alberta.

00:06:13.960 And while it's not the case that Alberta writes a check to the government of Quebec, Alberta

00:06:21.260 pays a lot in taxes and has done so gladly over the years because we have always seen

00:06:27.200 ourselves as a part of the Canadian Federation.

00:06:29.940 And in exchange for paying equalization payments, we believe that the rest of the country would

00:06:37.220 in turn support Alberta's most important industry and the industry that is funding those

00:06:43.180 equalization payments.

00:06:44.280 So when you see one part of the country really kicking another part of the country that's down,

00:06:50.380 it makes you start to question whether or not Alberta, by being such a good part of the

00:06:56.660 Federation over the years, is getting a fair shake in return.

00:06:59.660 And it's leading many to start to question if it's not time for a conversation about the

00:07:05.760 relationship between Alberta and the Canadian Federation.

00:07:08.240 And certainly, I think that's what we saw at the rallies over the past few weeks.

00:07:11.560 You know, I think so, too.

00:07:12.760 And I think, you know, it was just so tone deaf for Nenshi to take that opportunity to

00:07:18.740 lecture that crowd on climate change.

00:07:21.660 What a terrible, terrible time to be talking down to these people, to be calling them,

00:07:27.500 quote unquote, climate change deniers.

00:07:29.760 They're there rallying for their jobs and, you know, and a future for their kids.

00:07:34.720 It's not a time to lecture us, Catherine McKenna style, about the virtues of fighting climate

00:07:41.240 change.

00:07:41.960 I mean, the tone deafness of the remark, too, when you think about it, Nenshi is Canada's

00:07:47.300 highest paid mayor.

00:07:48.640 He earns more than any other municipal politician in this country.

00:07:54.060 And for him to be talking about climate change and several other of our city council, you

00:07:59.400 know, Councillor Farrell, who, while I agreed and appreciate her support against the Olympics

00:08:05.480 when that was happening, don't agree with her on a lot of other issues.

00:08:08.720 And when council was passing its, we support Alberta energy motion, Councillor Farrell said

00:08:17.480 she would not support any initiative which would stop her unfettered support for climate

00:08:22.700 activism.

00:08:23.900 So to me, you think, where are your priorities?

00:08:27.120 Are they in Ottawa, in with Catherine McKenna, who travels internationally, talking about the

00:08:33.200 importance of climate change?

00:08:34.280 Or, as a city of Calgary politician, are your priorities here, the 100,000 Calgarians who

00:08:39.880 are looking for jobs, who are struggling to pay their bills, to pay their mortgages?

00:08:44.040 And she seemed to think that it was more important to talk about her climate activism than it was

00:08:48.700 to talk about the very real problem facing Calgarians right now.

00:08:52.280 You know, and Nenshi wasn't alone in his tone deafness at that rally.

00:08:57.640 You had Councillor DeMong say that it's not time to be talking about boycotts and trade

00:09:04.820 embargoes.

00:09:05.480 We want to encourage trade, not restrict it.

00:09:09.440 And then he, then, wait, wait, sorry to cut you off.

00:09:12.200 But he said we need to be spreading the word about how this industry is a world leader in

00:09:16.280 gender equality. 0.78

00:09:18.020 We should be talking about how to support Quebec's dairy industry by buying Canadian cheese.

00:09:24.880 And then he said we should be talking about supporting Ontario.

00:09:28.340 And then he was cut off by the booze.

00:09:30.940 And then his response, again, just like Nenshi's, saying, wow, really?

00:09:36.020 And you guys call yourselves Canadians?

00:09:38.880 Wow.

00:09:40.360 Yeah, it was, it was, you have to wonder if that was pre-planned, his approach, or if it

00:09:46.980 was just extemporaneous remarks that went badly wrong in the moment.

00:09:51.180 Um, I hope it's, I hope it's just spontaneous remarks that he now regrets having made, because

00:09:57.520 on some other issues, Councillor DeMong is usually pretty sensible.

00:10:01.280 But in this case, uh, way out to lunch and, and not only way out to lunch, but, um, when

00:10:08.300 you, when you're having a difficult time, sort of the relationship with Alberta and the rest

00:10:13.540 of Canada, it is not the time to talk down to Albertans about how great other parts of

00:10:20.540 this country are and how we need to be supporting them.

00:10:23.340 The conversation has to be, what is the Canadian Federation doing to support us?

00:10:28.140 What are they doing to support Calgary?

00:10:30.020 What are they doing to support the critical lifeblood of the Canadian economy, our energy

00:10:35.660 sector?

00:10:36.040 And for Councillor DeMong to say, let's buy more Quebec guac cheese.

00:10:40.480 I mean, I have to say, I, I have, I have started to read labels more carefully now, just to

00:10:45.880 wonder if something's made in Quebec, because frankly, being kind of pissed at them, I don't

00:10:51.080 really want to support them right now.

00:10:52.760 And to, and to say to a bunch of out of work, struggling Calgarians otherwise, I think

00:10:56.480 is just, uh, politically not the best move he's ever made.

00:10:59.400 Well, especially when like you literally can't afford cheese in Canada and they're telling

00:11:06.260 you, no, we're going to save the Confederation by buying cheese.

00:11:10.580 Like, I don't know, I don't know if, like you said, I hope, I hope that he didn't pre-prepare 0.98

00:11:17.400 those remarks because those are some of the dumbest I've ever heard. 0.96

00:11:20.820 Yeah. 0.99

00:11:21.180 And, and then, you know, sort of that whole, wow.

00:11:23.220 And you call yourselves Canadians.

00:11:24.760 And the answer is yes, we do call ourselves Canadians, but we're Canadians frustrated with

00:11:31.720 how Canada happens to be working right now.

00:11:34.060 We're frustrated that British Columbia is popping, blocking our pipeline to the West.

00:11:38.680 And we're frustrated that Quebec is blocking our pipeline to the East.

00:11:42.680 And we're frustrated that the federal government hasn't done more to help our pipelines go south.

00:11:47.860 So these are legitimate questions Albertans have about how Canada operates as a Confederation.

00:11:53.260 And it doesn't mean we're not proud to be Canadian, but it means we're also not going

00:11:58.580 to ignore all of these problems because apparently questioning how the federation works somehow

00:12:03.520 makes you a traitor. 0.71

00:12:04.860 Being a doormat makes you a good Canadian as far as these people are concerned. 1.00

00:12:09.860 Shut up and pay the bill seems to be the attitude from a lot of people. 0.94

00:12:12.980 Now, I want to talk to you a little bit more about the tone deafness happening down at City 0.96

00:12:18.180 Hall.

00:12:18.480 I guess we can start with Councillor Jeremy Farkas and what unfolded with him early this

00:12:24.160 week.

00:12:25.560 Jeremy has definitely had a bumpy week on City Council.

00:12:29.220 In fact, I haven't looked to see what's happening right now.

00:12:33.220 He may not even still be allowed to be back on City Council yet.

00:12:37.400 That's a conversation I think that's still happening.

00:12:40.600 Jeremy wanted, you know, in this tough economic times, which you and I have talked about here

00:12:45.080 in Calgary, we've got one out of four office towers vacant, a huge hole in the taxes that

00:12:50.240 we used to collect from those office towers and how we were going to make up the difference.

00:12:56.320 And Jeremy said, look, council has to lead by example.

00:12:59.600 I think we should take a 5% pay cut as city councillors.

00:13:03.800 So many in the private sector have had to take pay cuts.

00:13:05.720 The least council can do is follow suit and send the message that we're serious about

00:13:11.040 looking for ways to restore Calgary's economic stability.

00:13:15.300 He couldn't even get a seconder on his motion to cut by 5%.

00:13:19.700 So that didn't go anywhere.

00:13:22.120 He then brought in a motion that said, well, then let's freeze council pay. 0.92

00:13:25.720 And before he could, Councillor Sutherland actually got that motion moved, another city councillor,

00:13:30.820 and it went for debate.

00:13:33.260 Now, it looks like, based on the hard information we have until November, the council was only

00:13:39.240 lying for a 2 point something percent pay increase.

00:13:43.940 A bureaucrat, a city bureaucrat, in attendance of the meeting said, well, we haven't finished

00:13:48.300 crunching the numbers, but it now looks like there might be a very small pay decrease,

00:13:54.140 because Calgary City Council pay is based on how the economy is growing or contracting overall.

00:13:58.840 And that led to a bunch of councillors voting against, including Councillor Sutherland,

00:14:05.100 voting against his own motion.

00:14:06.820 Jeremy put out the hard information we had.

00:14:09.540 He said, this is what we know.

00:14:11.540 And because he did that and didn't report the unofficial information, city council decided

00:14:18.220 he had to go and take a walk, and they kicked him off council.

00:14:22.780 You know, that's astounding.

00:14:24.000 They tried to censor him, because didn't this all happen behind closed doors, again, because

00:14:29.620 it's Calgary City Council, nothing happens in the open.

00:14:33.080 But what he tried to do was try to tell the people, this is what's happening behind closed

00:14:37.520 doors.

00:14:37.840 While you're outside rallying, because you don't have a job, city council is voting itself

00:14:42.920 to have a raise.

00:14:44.220 No, you're absolutely right.

00:14:45.860 And it did happen behind closed doors, because that's how we govern here in Calgary.

00:14:50.080 We don't like people to know what's happening.

00:14:54.460 But I think why, I think this, if you look at what Jeremy said, he said, here is the hard

00:15:01.680 information we have from the city administration.

00:15:04.900 We know until November, up until now, it says pay increase.

00:15:08.480 Possibly it's going to change, and we'll come in with a decrease.

00:15:12.780 I think Jeremy would have been very happy to have a motion that said, if it's a salary

00:15:17.600 increase, we're not going to take it, we're going to freeze pay.

00:15:21.020 And if it's a decrease, we're going to take the decrease.

00:15:23.760 To me, that would have been a perfectly reasonable thing.

00:15:28.520 But this really wasn't about what Jeremy had posted on Facebook.

00:15:32.540 This was all of city council deciding that they had had enough of being embarrassed by

00:15:38.000 a councillor who is trying to make this city council more accountable and more fiscally

00:15:43.540 responsible.

00:15:44.040 So they took him out to the woodshed, and they punished him for that.

00:15:48.020 You know, it's astounding, too, like how one councillor who just is advocating for transparency

00:15:55.640 is really shaking things up at City Hall.

00:15:58.900 Like, I've never seen this sort of discontent and discord and controversy happening at Calgary

00:16:06.380 City Hall, which leads me to believe that for years, for decades, there have been just

00:16:12.040 councillors going along to get along, to get their paycheck.

00:16:15.980 And they really didn't seem to care about what the people who are paying the bills should

00:16:21.440 know.

00:16:22.720 I think you're right.

00:16:24.000 I mean, if you ask some of these councillors, they say things like, city council used to

00:16:28.780 be a lot more collegial, would be one of their words.

00:16:32.080 But I think Clubby would be a better one, because what it was, was a bunch of political

00:16:38.040 insiders who nobody was really paying that much attention to on a day-to-day basis, were

00:16:43.740 funding the projects that were important to them, that were raising taxes year after year

00:16:48.960 after year without, you know, without really having anybody stand up and fight for fiscal

00:16:53.860 responsibility.

00:16:54.460 And now, suddenly for the first time, they can't get away with it anymore.

00:16:58.680 It's no more, I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine, and let's just put the bill

00:17:03.380 onto taxpayers.

00:17:04.640 Jeremy is making that impossible for them, or at least a lot more difficult.

00:17:08.520 And for a lot of them, I think they're really upset that their, you know, chummy insider 1.00

00:17:13.260 world has been so badly shaken.

00:17:16.180 You know, I think that's great.

00:17:17.900 I wanted to talk to you about something that I just read in the news today.

00:17:22.080 I see that Calgary is moving towards a social procurement strategy.

00:17:28.140 Did you hear about this?

00:17:29.680 I've only glanced at it.

00:17:31.760 I have to tell you, on the surface, it doesn't sound like something I would particularly like.

00:17:37.620 I don't like the word social.

00:17:39.820 I think you add the word social when it means you're not going for value for money as the

00:17:46.520 primary driver for how the city is going to pay for things and buy for things.

00:17:50.880 Right.

00:17:52.000 See, that's the part that really bothers me about all these sorts of things.

00:17:55.580 It's the same as the federal liberals' gender lens that they're running pipelines through 1.00

00:18:00.300 right now.

00:18:01.760 The bottom line should always be the best value for the taxpayer and the best person for the

00:18:07.000 job.

00:18:07.880 This just all seems very expensive to me to be examining the social impacts of procurement

00:18:13.260 as opposed to the fiscal impacts of procurement.

00:18:17.820 And this is not extra dollars that the city council really has.

00:18:23.560 No.

00:18:24.140 Look, maybe if times were really good, we could afford the luxury of all of these other, you

00:18:33.260 know, sort of modern programs and modern and in vogue practices that the left so much love

00:18:42.060 on these sorts of things.

00:18:43.660 But it's tough times here in Calgary.

00:18:45.920 We should be looking at who can get the job done the most effectively.

00:18:49.820 How can we build this and get the best value for money?

00:18:52.560 You know, how can we how can we build a community and do so in a way that's going to meet the

00:18:59.220 needs of the maximum number of Calgarians?

00:19:01.800 That should be how we look at things.

00:19:03.700 And if we start going down, I mean, I have to laugh at the gender based or the gender lens 1.00

00:19:09.240 on the budget, the federal minister of status of women, when she introduced it, gave such an

00:19:15.480 incomprehensible explanation for what it actually meant.

00:19:19.140 And I read it over and over again, still have no idea what she was actually talking about in

00:19:24.700 that particular thing.

00:19:25.580 So for me, rather than dwelling on on all of the invoke PC culture type things, we should be

00:19:34.000 looking at how to get value for Calgary taxpayers because we need it now more than ever.

00:19:37.120 There's something else I wanted to talk to you about, again, something I read in the

00:19:41.400 news today, that the safe injection site at the Beltline, police now this is not anecdotal

00:19:48.120 reporting.

00:19:48.840 These are police statistics.

00:19:50.200 They say that they are seeing a rise in violence and drug dealing around the safe injection site.

00:19:57.280 Who could have figured that a safe injection site would attract drug dealers?

00:20:03.420 You know, I think it's it was surprising.

00:20:07.760 We talked a little bit about it in the election, but a lot of people just sort of glossed.

00:20:12.840 There was so much other thing, many other things to talk about the election that it didn't get the kind

00:20:16.420 of attention that perhaps it deserved.

00:20:18.160 But you're absolutely right.

00:20:19.320 Drug dealers go where drug buyers and drug consumers are.

00:20:24.540 And that is now the safe injection site.

00:20:26.960 So we've now got in the heart of Beltline, a community that has really started to invest and

00:20:34.260 improve and make itself a community where people want to live, you know, into the close to the

00:20:40.400 urban core.

00:20:41.260 But now we filled it with drug dealers and we filled it with discarded syringes and we filled

00:20:46.500 it with people who are high out of their minds.

00:20:49.420 And to me, it is exactly opposite to what Beltline as a community was trying to achieve, which

00:20:54.660 was to, you know, shake off that image of being dangerous, of being, you know, sort of decaying

00:21:02.320 inner city, all sorts of things.

00:21:03.880 So but yeah, who would have thought that the drug dealers would go where the drug buyers

00:21:08.180 are?

00:21:08.560 That apparently never occurred to our city council.

00:21:10.940 Well, no.

00:21:11.320 And, you know, the one thing about the opioid crisis is that it hits the suburbs just as

00:21:18.520 hard as the inner city.

00:21:20.260 It hits the affluent and the children of the affluent just as hard as it does those struggling

00:21:25.760 in the inner city.

00:21:27.700 But these safe injection sites always end up in low income areas where people are, young 1.00

00:21:35.620 families can actually afford housing in these, you know, recovering areas.

00:21:41.040 But then they have to compete with the fact that the city is actively corralling criminality

00:21:46.240 into their neighborhoods.

00:21:47.280 I thought that journalist Tristan Hopper, who lives in Edmonton, and he he lives in an inner

00:21:54.760 city neighborhood, too, very much like Beltline would be here in Calgary.

00:21:58.480 And he talked about how having moved his family there, his children are now playing in playgrounds

00:22:04.100 and walking down streets where there are discarded used syringes.

00:22:06.840 And after he made that that statement online, the level of leftist viciousness that was unleashed upon him was truly amazing to be.

00:22:19.440 You would have thought he had called for, you know, the invasion of another country, the level of outrage that we saw from the left on that.

00:22:27.840 They seem to have a failure to understand the concerns that homeowners and parents have about having drug dealers and drug consumers in their neighborhoods.

00:22:38.620 And it doesn't make any sense to me about how they they just they won't accept and they think people who have those concerns are wrong and that they're hateful.

00:22:47.960 And I think that just shows the intolerance of the left when it comes to this issue.

00:22:52.840 Well, yeah, I mean, they look at you when you say, yeah, I sort of kind of expect for my child to be able to play on the community playground infrastructure that my taxes pay for without catching hepatitis. 0.92

00:23:06.100 And they look at you like you are, you know, a horrible person.

00:23:10.100 And they'll say, well, these drug addicts need to go somewhere.

00:23:13.180 Yeah, treatment.

00:23:14.260 I have absolutely I have absolutely a lot of sympathy for people who are struggling with addictions and their families.

00:23:21.280 And I don't think there's really a place for the government to be enabling all of it and shuffling it out of sight into inner city neighborhoods.

00:23:29.800 No, I concur exactly.

00:23:31.760 And the argument being used is harm reduction.

00:23:34.620 The idea that if they're consuming drugs in a supervised environment and using clean syringes, it is making it is less harmful to to drug users.

00:23:44.720 The only problem is it's that it's not actually reducing harm, the real harm, which is the consumption of illegal drugs in the first place.

00:23:53.160 And to me, if you put up a safe injection site, you're actually solving the wrong problem.

00:23:58.940 You're you're solving the symptom, not the cause.

00:24:01.260 And you're never going to make tangible progress on this if you don't start addressing the real cause.

00:24:07.000 And, you know, the same people who are so pro safe injection site are also dead, you know, deep against tougher penalties and tougher laws on drug dealers and resellers.

00:24:20.220 So to me, that's an absolute disconnect.

00:24:22.380 If you're going to put the money somewhere, it should be into reducing the supply of illegal drugs, not into making those illegal drugs safer to consume.

00:24:31.500 You know, what a fantastic point.

00:24:33.660 You know, there are people who are bringing these poisons into our neighborhoods and it's it's really doing nobody any favors, especially people who espouse sympathy for those suffering with drug addiction.

00:24:48.860 It's doing them no favors to create a revolving door justice system for the dealer. 1.00

00:24:56.040 Absolutely. 1.00

00:24:57.000 The dealers are parasites. 1.00

00:24:59.280 They are making money off of marginalized people and destroying neighborhoods in the process. 0.99

00:25:06.800 Why on earth we wouldn't have the toughest possible laws and punishments for these people?

00:25:13.600 It boggles my mind.

00:25:15.100 Well, and, you know, we're spending a lot of time on this, but, you know, like this all came out of Vancouver, Insight, and then it's been rolled out across the country.

00:25:25.400 But Insight is not seeing any success.

00:25:28.100 Really, that neighborhood is still awful.

00:25:30.720 People are still drug addicted.

00:25:32.420 People are still dying.

00:25:33.660 There's still prostitution. 0.91

00:25:34.840 There's still gangs.

00:25:35.800 There's still sex trafficking.

00:25:37.040 It hasn't really made an impact or the impact that they said it would on the social circumstances of the downtown east side in Vancouver.

00:25:45.660 No, and I don't think any community looks to downtown east Vancouver as the model for what it wants for its own city.

00:25:53.260 You know, that's from your lips to God's ears.

00:25:56.940 Now, I wanted – this is the year sort of end, wrap-up, or at least my time with you.

00:26:05.140 I'll probably be speaking to you quite a bit in the new year.

00:26:07.500 But I wanted to ask you what is on the horizon for Save Calgary coming up in the new year.

00:26:12.960 Well, I mean, we're really very proud of what we were able to achieve this past year from everything from, you know, starting to actually remind and let voters know how their city councillors were voting on things,

00:26:25.240 which, you know, surprisingly, council doesn't make all that easy to figure out who's voting for higher taxes, who's voting for more secret meetings, things like that,

00:26:34.080 to, you know, our success at working with a coalition of people to stop Calgary's Olympic insanity, which was a great moment, I think, for Common Sense Calgarians and, frankly, Common Sense Albertans and Common Sense Canadians,

00:26:47.580 who are also going to be on the hook for these games.

00:26:50.600 In the new year, we're looking at what we're going to be able to do.

00:26:54.560 But I will say that part of it's going to be about if we have the resources in order to be able to keep pursuing this kind of work.

00:27:02.540 We operate, as I think you know, Sheila, on a pretty small budget.

00:27:07.380 We are primarily driven by people who are passionate about Calgary and want to see Calgary be, you know, a truly great city.

00:27:16.640 And we don't take money from the city.

00:27:19.320 You know, we found out this week the Pembina Institute got $340,000 to attack Calgary's energy sector.

00:27:28.580 We don't get any money from the city of Calgary.

00:27:30.680 We're reliant on the donations and the support of everyday Calgarians.

00:27:35.680 So for us, we're really going to be looking to them to help us financially so we can keep up this work in 2019.

00:27:43.580 You know, I think that you have done some incredible work, like you just pointed out,

00:27:48.760 with your shoestring budget and your skeleton crew at Save Calgary.

00:27:53.760 I mean, you effectively led the no charge in the Olympics and defeated the deep pockets of the yes side,

00:28:04.260 which had the Chamber of Commerce and the city of Calgary funding their campaign.

00:28:09.160 They put out an advertising blitz in the last week.

00:28:14.000 And somehow still, you at Save Calgary were able to overcome that.

00:28:17.700 I think you have a very big job, but you've been able to do a lot with a little.

00:28:22.260 And I would love to find out what you can do with even a little bit more.

00:28:27.340 You know, we're starting to look now.

00:28:29.540 I think next year is the year we're going to start looking towards the 2021 Calgary municipal election.

00:28:36.380 You cannot wait till six months before an election, because otherwise, if you do, you're not going to win.

00:28:42.320 So for us, next year will be the year where we start to get ready for 2021.

00:28:47.960 And that could be including trying to find some municipal candidates, to find people to run for city council,

00:28:54.400 to find someone to run for mayor, to get them the team they need, the training they need,

00:29:00.780 the support they need to be really successful.

00:29:04.160 But that is all going to rely on the financial support of Calgarians.

00:29:08.420 So I guess my question to Calgarians who are seeing this, and it doesn't have to be Calgarians.

00:29:13.600 It could be anybody who thinks a strong Calgary is good, is your investment, your $20, your $50.

00:29:22.600 If you give that to us, we're going to use it in the best way we possibly can in order to try and create the Calgary

00:29:30.760 that's going to be good for everyday Calgarians or for taxpayers.

00:29:33.460 So I hope that enough of them are going to be able to look at what we've done

00:29:38.120 and think it's worthwhile to make a contribution so that we can keep doing the job we have been doing

00:29:43.500 right through until the next campaign.

00:29:45.500 So I guess my final question to you is, what's the best way for people to find out what Save Calgary is up to

00:29:52.480 and also the best way for them to throw you a few bucks throughout the year?

00:29:56.660 The best way to stay on top of what we're doing, there's three things.

00:30:00.180 One, go to our website, savecalgary.com.

00:30:03.220 You can also certainly make a donation there online through our website.

00:30:06.960 That's great.

00:30:08.020 Go visit us on Facebook, facebook.com slash savecalgary.

00:30:12.420 We post a lot of content through our Facebook channel and we like to try and keep you up to date

00:30:18.560 and informed on what's happening on City Council.

00:30:20.820 And the third way is when you're on our website, sign up to our mailing list.

00:30:24.860 We put out a newsletter every single week on an issue of concern to Calgary voters

00:30:30.480 and that's the best way to stay on top of what we're working on and what's happening down at City Hall.

00:30:37.120 So those three things, we would really encourage you and it would mean a lot to us and our success if you were to do that.

00:30:43.080 Well, and those, I got to tell you, those emails are incredibly well written and I think you're the author.

00:30:51.020 They're clever.

00:30:52.260 You know, you get a lot of political fundraising emails and press releases in a day,

00:30:57.500 but I actually look forward to reading the ones from Save Calgary.

00:31:01.620 William, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and I want to wish you a very successful 2019

00:31:07.620 and I want to thank you for being so generous with your time with me this year

00:31:11.960 and I hope that that continues into 2019.

00:31:14.700 Well, thanks, Sheila, and a very Merry Christmas to you and to yours

00:31:18.080 and thank you also for giving our group the coverage that you have

00:31:22.400 and talking about the issues that so many others in the mainstream media aren't talking about

00:31:27.400 and that's a real shame.

00:31:28.240 So we really appreciate it too over here at Save Calgary.

00:31:30.460 It's a Christmas love-in.

00:31:32.440 Okay, William, thank you so much for coming on the show.

00:31:36.320 We'll talk to you in the new year.

00:31:37.600 Thanks, Sheila.

00:31:38.400 Thanks.

00:31:52.380 There really are just a handful of voices fighting for transparency for the Calgary city taxpayers.

00:31:59.760 Councillors, Sean Chu and Jeremy Farkas, are two on council who are doing it from inside the machine of government.

00:32:07.700 And Save Calgary really is the loudest and yet the most underfunded voice holding city council accountable from the outside.

00:32:16.080 But they are just so effective.

00:32:18.180 I mean, they helped stop the Olympics juggernaut despite having all the odds stacked against them.

00:32:24.500 It was a David and Goliath story.

00:32:27.060 But you heard it here tonight.

00:32:28.820 Their job is far from done.

00:32:31.360 Well, everybody, thanks for watching the show tonight.

00:32:34.200 Thank you so much for tuning in.

00:32:35.780 I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.

00:32:40.360 Merry Christmas.

00:32:41.240 And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:32:45.880 Merry Christmas.

Rebel News Podcast - December 20, 2018

Calgary’s “out of touch” politicians turn pro-pipeline rally-goers against them (Guest： William McBeath)

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