Rebel News Podcast - June 04, 2025


EZRA LEVANT ｜ Carney says he'll support oil — but only if it’s ‘decarbonized’


Episode Stats

Length

50 minutes

Words per Minute

174.81647

Word Count

8,747

Sentence Count

652

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

Today on the Ezra Levant Show, Ezra talks about the new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, declaring war on Saskatchewan, and his new cabinet pick, David Lamedi. Plus, Ezra takes a trip down memory lane to the early days of Canada s oil and gas industry.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Feel like Ottawa's got its boot on Alberta's neck? Well, it's time to push back. Join us for Rebel News Live, Saturday, June 14th at the Red Deer Curling Centre.
00:00:10.240 Spend the day with Ezra Levant, me, Sheila Gunn-Reed, and a powerhouse lineup of freedom fighters, political thinkers, and grassroots leaders.
00:00:18.540 We're talking energy, free speech, and especially independence, and how the West can finally stop getting screwed.
00:00:25.180 This isn't just a conference, it's a rallying cry. Tickets are going fast. Get yours now at donegettingscrewed.com.
00:00:33.600 Stand up, speak out, be there.
00:00:35.700 Tonight, Mark Carney declares war on Saskatchewan. It's June 3rd, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
00:00:57.900 You're fighting for freedom. Shame on you, you censorious wubug.
00:01:13.240 Oh, hi, everybody. Another day, another airport today. I'm in Regina, the Queen City, the capital of Saskatchewan,
00:01:20.460 a province that joined Confederation on the same day as Alberta back in 1905.
00:01:24.980 Yesterday, there was a meeting in Saskatoon of the First Ministers, Mark Carney, meeting with the Premiers.
00:01:33.380 And Carney said something really bizarre. He said, oh, sure, he'll support oil as long as it's decarbonized, decarbonized.
00:01:42.720 Look at that really weird clip.
00:01:44.780 Now, within the broader context of national interest, the interest is in, as mentioned in the press release, decarbonized barrels.
00:01:52.780 So working alongside forms of decarbonization for those barrels, that is absolutely in our interest.
00:01:58.060 It provides diversification of trade partners. It provides the development of new industries.
00:02:04.180 It provides economic activity across the West and into the North.
00:02:10.060 So, yes, there's real potential there.
00:02:12.560 We took up a good deal of our time and discussions and potential to move forward on that.
00:02:18.360 And if further developed, the federal government will look to advance it.
00:02:22.520 You know that carbon is what makes oil, oil, right?
00:02:26.440 It's an element in the periodic table.
00:02:28.660 You can't take carbon out of oil.
00:02:31.300 It's just part of it.
00:02:32.920 That would be like taking hydrogen out of water.
00:02:36.780 It's not water anymore.
00:02:38.820 I think he's a BS-er.
00:02:40.240 I think he's trying to square the circle for the last decade of his public life.
00:02:44.720 He's been against oil and gas.
00:02:46.480 He's talked about transition off oil and gas.
00:02:50.160 But he just lacks the courage to tell Alberta and Saskatchewan, NBC, and the other energy-producing provinces that, no,
00:02:56.900 he actually is going to carry through on the liberal tradition of blocking oil and gas.
00:03:02.040 There's no such thing as decarbonized oil, and anyone who tells you that is selling you something.
00:03:08.060 That was going on in Saskatoon, while last night we had a large meeting in Regina, about 500 people there,
00:03:16.740 talking about the possibility of independence.
00:03:19.880 Because if Alberta has a referendum on independence next year, which looks almost like a certainty,
00:03:25.920 I think Saskatchewan would pay very close attention because, like I say, it was born on the same day as Alberta.
00:03:32.500 The two provinces are twins.
00:03:34.220 In fact, I don't know if you know this, but the original plan was for Alberta and Saskatchewan to join Confederation together
00:03:40.380 as one big province called Buffalo, which is sort of cool when you think about it.
00:03:45.840 I want to tell you one more thing about Mark Carney before I show you some footage from last night's events with 500 folks.
00:03:52.980 Carney also announced his principal secretary, which is sort of like his right-hand man, his senior advisor and confidant.
00:04:00.640 For Justin Trudeau, that person was Gerald Butts until he left in disgrace.
00:04:05.380 He left, but it was always in the background.
00:04:07.620 And he found a soft landing at a company, a lobby group in New York City called the Eurasia Group, run by Ian Bremmer,
00:04:13.920 that gets a lot of money from the Canadian government.
00:04:16.140 It's sort of like liberals in exile work there.
00:04:18.680 Well, wouldn't you know it, Evan Solomon went there after he was sort of exiled from the CBC.
00:04:24.800 Now he's an MP and he was just elevated to AI, Artificial Intelligence Cabinet Minister for Carney.
00:04:33.280 And you know who else works there is Carney's wife.
00:04:36.560 It's quite a little place.
00:04:38.120 Ian Bremmer has a lot of influence in Canadian politics, and it's for sale, by the way.
00:04:42.740 What's sort of interesting is during the campaign, he made a tweet that said,
00:04:47.080 oh, don't pay attention to what Mark Carney says attacking Donald Trump.
00:04:52.080 He doesn't mean it.
00:04:53.040 After the election, he'll calm down and be compliant.
00:04:56.460 That was his advice to his clients and his followers.
00:04:59.440 Turns out that's exactly what Mark Carney did.
00:05:02.460 Anyways, back to the principal secretary appointment.
00:05:04.540 Mark Carney has appointed David Lamedi to be his personal secretary's cabinet, his right-hand man.
00:05:13.960 You'll know David Lamedi as the disgraced justice minister who quit and sort of sneaked out of parliament.
00:05:21.400 He was the one, there's a lot of scandal around David Lamedi.
00:05:24.580 First of all, he was brought in after Jody Wilson-Raybould quit or was fired, actually.
00:05:30.320 Jody Wilson-Raybould was perhaps the most principal justice minister in Canadian history.
00:05:35.120 She wouldn't go along with Justin Trudeau's schemes to stop a prosecution against his buddies at a corrupt firm called SNC-Lavalin.
00:05:43.740 And Gerald Butts was the main proponent of that.
00:05:47.140 So, anyhow, she was drummed out of government, but kept her honour and her ethics.
00:05:54.220 David Lamedi was brought in by Justin Trudeau to do the opposite.
00:05:57.940 However clean Jody Wilson-Raybould was, David Lamedi's job was to be dirty.
00:06:02.840 He was to be the one who said yes to anything Trudeau wanted.
00:06:06.160 And, in fact, it came to pass that when the Emergencies Act was proposed, clearly illegal, clearly inappropriate, clearly unconstitutional as a way to deal with the peaceful truckers, David Lamedi rubber-stamped it.
00:06:19.780 I really, to this day, believe that Jody Wilson-Raybould would not have rubber-stamped that, but Lamedi did, and the court struck it down as illegal.
00:06:28.940 Shortly after that is when Lamedi left.
00:06:31.380 And you might remember, when he left, he deleted his Twitter account, which, not his personal one, his government Twitter account, which meant the destruction of all sorts of public records, including his private messages.
00:06:42.940 Rebel News ran to court very quickly, and no one less than the Chief Justice of the Federal Court himself heard the case.
00:06:50.500 Lamedi was so embarrassed by our lawsuit that he agreed not to delete those records and to hand them over to the library and the archives.
00:06:57.540 So even in his disgraceful exit from Parliament, he's a slippery fish and unethical.
00:07:03.280 So that's the guy brought back by Mark Carney.
00:07:06.840 But there's one more thing I want to tell you about David Lamedi.
00:07:09.020 I don't know if you remember this, but he mused about removing the ability for Western provinces to use their oil and gas constitutionally.
00:07:20.060 Here's the story.
00:07:21.180 He was speaking at an Aboriginal event, and he mused out loud that maybe Canada would take away the constitutional right for Alberta and Saskatchewan
00:07:32.560 to develop oil and gas and coal and other mineral wealth, because you may know that those provinces, when they joined Confederation, were unequal.
00:07:40.100 They didn't have those rights.
00:07:41.260 They had to fight for them.
00:07:42.780 Lamedi, speaking to an Indigenous group, said, you know what?
00:07:46.440 Wouldn't it be cool if we took away the constitutional power of Alberta and Saskatchewan to run their own energy?
00:07:53.000 And he never really backed down from that, and neither did Trudeau.
00:07:55.780 Well, that man, the anti-Alberta, anti-Saskatchewan, dishonorable, sneaky, deeply unethical, document-shredding Montreal insider,
00:08:09.260 has been refurbished and renovated, and he is now the senior insider for Mark Carney.
00:08:18.000 Just disgraceful, super gross, and I think it's a bit of a declaration of war against Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:08:23.540 Anyway, speaking of Saskatchewan, I'm getting on the plane going back to home.
00:08:27.720 It's the morning after a huge event that we had in Regina.
00:08:31.340 I mean, seriously, to get 500 people out in Regina, I mean, proportionately, that would be like 5,000 people in Toronto.
00:08:38.380 They were very interested because I don't think Saskatchewan will lead any independence movement,
00:08:43.400 but it's right next to Alberta, which will.
00:08:45.860 And the provinces are so close.
00:08:47.680 It's almost like they're fraternal twins born on the same day, similar sentiments, similar culture, similar history, similar politics.
00:08:56.760 I mean, so many Saskatchewan people moved to Alberta during the tough times of the NDP, and Saskatchewan's just been booming.
00:09:03.620 There's so much cross-pollination.
00:09:05.260 It really should have been one big province, by the way.
00:09:07.860 So I think that Saskatchewan, if they see Alberta has a separatist or a sovereignist or independence referendum, they might say, hey, can we get that too?
00:09:17.620 And remember in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has said that she's not going to be for independence, but she will allow the people to choose.
00:09:24.880 And I think that's not only a strategic move, but it gives her power in negotiating with Mark Carney.
00:09:31.620 It's the or else.
00:09:32.980 She has a list of demands on behalf of the people of Alberta, but those demands have been made for years.
00:09:38.840 And Ottawa just laughs.
00:09:39.900 David LaMatti laughs and talks about pushing Alberta around some more, pushing Saskatchewan around some more.
00:09:45.340 But now, with a separatist referendum in the wind, there's an or else to it if the Laurentian elites choose not to listen to what Alberta and Saskatchewan want.
00:09:56.200 So that's going to be very interesting.
00:09:57.740 Anyways, that's it for me.
00:09:58.800 I'm going to go get ready to fly home.
00:10:01.380 But let me leave you with some moments from last night's event in Regina.
00:10:06.400 I'll see you soon from our head office.
00:10:15.340 To say that Alberta or Saskatchewan are simply oil and gas would be like saying Quebec is only poutine.
00:10:28.160 It shows a shallowness of understanding.
00:10:30.840 I bet that he has probably been to Alberta and Saskatchewan maybe once each in his entire history.
00:10:38.400 He just doesn't care to know anything about the West.
00:10:41.560 Of course, oil and gas is part of the West's story, the same way as fish is part of Newfoundland's story.
00:10:49.440 Absolutely it is.
00:10:50.960 But that's not all it is.
00:10:53.040 The pioneering spirit, the breaking the land for the first time, clearing the land, living in a house made of sod that you yourself cleared from the land,
00:11:02.840 clearing the rocks, farming, and bringing life to the land.
00:11:05.900 And that's a culture too, the culture of self-reliance and of mutual reliance.
00:11:11.220 That's a culture too.
00:11:12.420 Very different from a welfare state culture.
00:11:14.940 No need for him to get chippy.
00:11:17.100 I think what happened there is he realized that feelings of independence in Alberta and Saskatchewan and other parts of the West
00:11:26.600 are probably more passionate and more likely to succeed than his own eternal project.
00:11:33.820 I mean, seriously, how many decades in a row do you get to call yourself a revolutionary in the Bloc Québécois
00:11:40.300 before people say, aren't you sort of a permanent fixture?
00:11:44.060 Isn't this sort of a ruse where you play good cop, bad cop with Ottawa
00:11:49.300 and you make all scary sounds about separatism and you get all sorts of concessions,
00:11:54.960 but it was all with a nudge and a wink from Ottawa.
00:11:57.560 I think that the reaction by that Bloc Québécois MP was a realization that he's sort of a phony.
00:12:05.840 And when there are more Bloc MPs collecting MPs' pensions than there are in the actual House of Commons,
00:12:12.540 I think that tells you something about the authenticity of their project.
00:12:16.480 I'll get into that later.
00:12:17.680 Let me pause for a second.
00:12:18.720 I just had to say that when I saw that clip.
00:12:21.640 As I said earlier, my name is Ezra Levan.
00:12:23.520 I'm the founder of Rebel News.
00:12:25.720 And Rebel News is a national news source.
00:12:29.800 In fact, we're international.
00:12:30.880 We sometimes tell stories from other countries in the world, too.
00:12:34.080 Our motto is telling the other side of the story.
00:12:36.820 And that's what has inspired us to set up a series of town hall meetings.
00:12:41.460 We had one in Edmonton.
00:12:42.820 We had one in Calgary.
00:12:45.520 We're here in Regina.
00:12:46.520 We're going to have another one in Red Deer.
00:12:47.940 And we have different goals.
00:12:52.440 And let me tell you what some of them are.
00:12:54.900 The first one is to report what the regime media, what the mainstream media, what the bailout media, what the legacy media, what the Mark Carney media will not report.
00:13:07.900 To tell it like it is and let people make up their minds for themselves.
00:13:12.240 To show what is actually happening and let our viewers be the judge rather than have a Ottawa-generated narrative script emerging from the liberal war room or from the CBC.
00:13:25.340 So in the looming debate over independence, Rebel News will report fairly and accurately on what is happening.
00:13:35.480 And in that way, we're inspired by my first boss in journalism, Ted Byfield, who decades ago set up the Alberta Report and then the Western Report.
00:13:45.480 And he became not just a great journalist, but a place to go to find the news that the big boys were not covering.
00:13:52.440 News of, in that case, the growth of the Reform Party.
00:13:56.740 Now, the Reform Party's motto was the West wants in.
00:13:59.640 I worked for Preston Manning for a couple of years and I saw how hard he tried to reform the country from within.
00:14:07.780 And although he tried valiantly, and I'm sure many people in this room helped him, in the end, I think it's not being cruel to say the project was a failure.
00:14:20.400 In the short term, it helped grant three majority governments in a row to Jean Chrétien.
00:14:25.680 And in the long term, all the problems that we talked about in the 80s and 90s and 2000s seem to still be here.
00:14:33.620 And, you know, there was a respite when Stephen Harper was prime minister.
00:14:39.140 He stopped abusing the West because he was from the West.
00:14:42.820 But the moment he was replaced, Canada went back to its natural state of taking the wealth of the West, but giving, well, an abusiveness.
00:14:55.880 In that Donald Trump clip, Trump has a funny way of talking about Canada and the West.
00:15:01.440 He always says, you'll be the cherished 51st state.
00:15:05.200 That's a word he always uses, cherished.
00:15:07.480 And it's sort of funny and it's sort of cheeky, but it makes me think, when was the last time Mark Carney or Jean Chrétien said to the West, we cherish you?
00:15:19.220 I don't think I've ever heard it.
00:15:21.960 And I wouldn't want the empty words if I were to hear it.
00:15:24.720 Frankly, I wouldn't believe it.
00:15:25.720 I'd say, don't tell me you love me.
00:15:27.500 Show me you love me.
00:15:28.600 That's more valuable to me.
00:15:32.580 But those clips, there's a little nugget of truth in all of them.
00:15:35.920 So what will Rebel News do?
00:15:38.600 We will report accurately and honestly what we see.
00:15:41.920 And we will not bend the knee to any government paymasters.
00:15:45.960 For one reason, we don't take any money from the government.
00:15:48.960 And I'm pleased that my colleague, Corey Morgan from Western Standard, can say the same thing.
00:15:54.400 The second thing we will do is we will platform people in the movement who do not get any airtime or coverage in the regime media.
00:16:07.720 What do I mean by that?
00:16:08.680 The CBC, the post-media newspapers, the radio stations, they have their favorites.
00:16:15.500 They have their list of people they call all the time.
00:16:18.540 And you're either in the club or you're not in it.
00:16:20.880 But what if you're an insurgent?
00:16:22.360 What if you're an outsider?
00:16:23.560 What if you are a dissident?
00:16:25.160 What if you're someone who wants more radical change?
00:16:27.960 You're not going to be allowed onto their platform.
00:16:31.500 Even if you wind up being a genuine newsmaker.
00:16:35.180 Professor Manning himself suffered from this.
00:16:39.500 He was rarely covered in the early days.
00:16:41.580 And if he was, he was mocked.
00:16:43.420 One of the things that Rebel News will do is to cover the people who were behind the story and let them have their say and let the viewers be the judge.
00:16:52.020 And I guess that goes to the last point.
00:16:53.620 And they're all linked.
00:16:54.600 But just to respect the movement, not immediately treat it with disrespect and hatred.
00:17:04.960 And I see too much of that already.
00:17:07.520 Even my old friend, the former premier of Alberta, I hear the language that he used talking about the truckers in there when he talks about yahoos and fools and grifters.
00:17:18.780 He may disagree with independence mind of people.
00:17:24.420 I'm sure he does.
00:17:25.240 He's always been a nationalist and he's been a monarchist and he's been in many things looking eastern.
00:17:32.180 But to disparage people who have a different point of view using the language of the CBC left is something that you will never see in Rebel News.
00:17:41.080 And I know that goes for Western standards reporting as well.
00:17:44.960 So that's what Rebel News is doing.
00:17:46.860 We're going to continue to report on this movement.
00:17:49.400 We're going to continue to be a platform for people from different points of view.
00:17:53.860 And we're going to make sure that this time the voice of the people is not drowned out.
00:18:01.280 I also want to do some other things and I'll get into it a little bit later.
00:18:04.280 I want to learn from other independence movements around the world.
00:18:08.800 I want to learn what went wrong and what went right.
00:18:11.220 I want to learn what resonated with people and what was a dead end.
00:18:14.940 I want to make sure that when it comes to the legal questions or constitutional questions, there's a smart answer to it.
00:18:22.820 And there's a lot of questions to be answered.
00:18:24.960 So that, my friends, is why Rebel News is here in Regina today.
00:18:28.860 And we will continue to travel across the West with our friends to make presentations and answer your questions.
00:18:36.080 So thank you for being here.
00:18:37.180 And thank you to Sheila Gunn-Reed for chairing this meeting.
00:18:40.200 I'll sit down now and I'll let Sheila continue the proceedings.
00:18:43.420 Thank you.
00:18:50.940 Great.
00:18:51.500 Thanks, boss.
00:18:52.260 So what we're going to do tonight is we're going to have our panelists, Ezra, Corey, and Nadine, make about a 12, 15-minute presentation, speech, whatever they want to do.
00:19:04.720 And then after that, I think we'll have a short Q&A, maybe a panel discussion.
00:19:11.200 I feel like maybe I put Nadine on the spot a little bit by saying she has to make a presentation.
00:19:15.360 You don't have to go first.
00:19:17.120 Corey can go first.
00:19:18.200 And I want you, when Corey does come up, be extra nice in your applause to him because he's got to sit and watch the Oilers in the Stanley Cup playoffs this week.
00:19:30.880 He doesn't care for that.
00:19:35.280 Corey is a senior columnist and host at the Western Standard.
00:19:39.620 He's a regular contributor to the Epoch Times.
00:19:42.500 He's also the author of a book.
00:19:45.400 It's called The Sovereignist Handbook, and I promised him that Regina would buy a full case of books, and you're halfway there.
00:19:56.580 So make sure you get your book on the way out the door.
00:19:59.720 From his early days founding the Alberta Independence Party to his current role as the leading voice for Western autonomy,
00:20:07.380 Corey's never shied away from calling out federal overreach and championing the cause of a free and self-reliant West.
00:20:14.680 Please welcome, Corey Morgan.
00:20:26.340 What it turned out.
00:20:27.460 Saskatchewan's showing us how it's done.
00:20:29.440 And thank you.
00:20:30.860 We've got to update that flag there.
00:20:36.540 But it's funny, starting with the culture.
00:20:38.260 And part of what I was looking forward to tonight, you don't need another person from another province telling you what to do.
00:20:44.360 You guys know what you want to do, what you need to do.
00:20:46.840 That's why you're here.
00:20:48.340 But listening to Blanchet say there's no culture, unidentified one, that's only what people who've never left their own province could say.
00:20:56.120 Anybody who's driven across this country knows that every province, every region has distinct cultures with good and bad aspects to all of them.
00:21:05.440 But it really shows a lot about the disrespect and contempt that some people in central Canada hold towards us.
00:21:13.100 Could you imagine a Western public figure trying to imply Quebec's a culture not worth identifying or speaking about?
00:21:21.640 No, it would be unimaginable.
00:21:22.680 And it would be rude.
00:21:23.380 We shouldn't do that.
00:21:24.240 We have our problems with Quebec, but we can't deny they have a culture.
00:21:26.880 But they feel they can do it with us.
00:21:28.980 It's one of the things that's interesting, too.
00:21:30.460 If somebody hasn't traveled, and it shows a lot with our, as they call themselves, central Canadians.
00:21:35.620 If you look on a map, actually, Manitoba is the center of Canada.
00:21:38.560 But Torontonians feel they're the center of the universe, and we know that.
00:21:42.460 It's been said a long time.
00:21:44.660 If it's outside of what you can see from the top of the CN Tower, it doesn't matter.
00:21:47.740 And that reflects their attitude a lot.
00:21:49.300 A lot of people think that perhaps there's bitterness from Ontarians or Quebecers towards the West.
00:21:55.900 But actually, guys, it's worse than that.
00:21:57.700 They're indifferent.
00:21:59.020 They don't think about us at all.
00:22:00.960 I'd almost rather they got angry with us.
00:22:02.600 But no, we are a side note.
00:22:04.140 We're just a colony to tax, drain, and feed their central Canadian agenda.
00:22:12.100 And yes, we're getting to a tipping point where we've had enough.
00:22:14.580 But we've got to watch the barbs.
00:22:18.280 We've got to watch the attacks.
00:22:19.840 As I said, it gets frustrating when you see somebody like Blanchet saying something like that, as insulting as it is.
00:22:25.460 But our issue isn't with the people of Quebec.
00:22:27.840 It's not with the people of Ontario or Newfoundland or Lower Mainland BC.
00:22:32.420 It's the system.
00:22:34.280 That's where we've got to kind of refocus and remind ourselves.
00:22:37.500 Canada's system is broken.
00:22:39.980 It's a system that was built to serve central Canada.
00:22:43.080 Canada and even our Western representatives tend to fall in with that system once they get out there.
00:22:49.200 That's why I can't stand it when I see a good friend run to be a member of Parliament.
00:22:52.340 Why send another good person out there?
00:22:54.380 Ruin them.
00:22:55.640 But that's what happens.
00:22:57.180 You know, the old term I think Preston Manning used to use, auto-washed.
00:23:02.540 And there's some truth to it.
00:23:03.940 Jason Kenney, the reformer of the 1990s, fantastic, hardworking, outspoken.
00:23:08.600 The Jason Kenney of today who's calling us yahoos.
00:23:11.520 Come on, Jason.
00:23:13.000 But things change when you're out there for a while.
00:23:15.760 But what we've got here tonight, and this is, again, a magnificently packed room,
00:23:19.960 are people who already know.
00:23:21.400 That's why you're here tonight.
00:23:22.640 You know the current path hasn't been working.
00:23:26.100 It hasn't been serving us.
00:23:27.080 We need to examine new ways.
00:23:29.120 We need to look to get out.
00:23:30.600 But what I want to talk about more then is the how.
00:23:33.560 Because that's the harder part.
00:23:35.080 We know where we want to go, but we've got to figure out how we're going to get there.
00:23:38.760 And that's where I'm not talking at you, but we can share experiences and resources with each other.
00:23:44.240 Because speaking of cultures, if there's any culture that's the closest to Alberta, it's Saskatchewan.
00:23:48.960 I mean, we're siblings in this whole agreement moving forward.
00:23:52.220 And we're more powerful walking together than apart.
00:23:55.600 But at that same time, if we're talking about independence, and if we're talking about following the pathway set in front of us
00:24:01.460 with the Clarity Act and a referendum, that does mean each province has to hold their own.
00:24:08.820 That only makes sense.
00:24:10.160 Albertans shouldn't be voting on Saskatchewan's future any more than Torontonians should be voting on ours.
00:24:16.380 But we have the same goals.
00:24:18.880 We have the same path.
00:24:19.700 We have the same mechanism.
00:24:20.720 But we have the same struggles in getting there.
00:24:22.780 And we really need to build that base to build that.
00:24:27.980 So just after the election, I just on a whim did a YouTube video.
00:24:31.960 It was kind of basically noting a part out of my book.
00:24:35.240 And in saying, because Alberta used to have this terrible Citizens Initiative referendum legislation,
00:24:40.080 you'd have to get 600,000 signatures on a paper petition in 90 days.
00:24:45.480 You know, we're talking full name, full address.
00:24:48.040 It was impossible.
00:24:48.980 It was not going to happen.
00:24:49.740 That was the point of making it that way.
00:24:51.140 So I put a video out that morning saying, this is the first thing Albertans have to do is fix this legislation.
00:24:57.240 We've got to make it reasonable and achievable.
00:24:59.840 And it was really, actually, that afternoon, Premier Smith, I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't.
00:25:06.540 She announced she's got Bill 54.
00:25:08.440 They're going to change it so that the bar was now set to 10% of those who voted in the election rather than 20% of those eligible,
00:25:13.720 which brought it down to 177,000.
00:25:16.980 Realistically, you'll need 200,000.
00:25:18.540 Very big task, but achievable.
00:25:20.360 And now there's groups and people hard at work building the base so that they'll be able to do that when the time comes.
00:25:27.680 Now, in Saskatchewan, you're in very much in the same position.
00:25:31.280 And Nadine, I'm certain, will speak to that.
00:25:33.560 And she's been working hard on getting that together.
00:25:36.200 And what you've got is a legislation that allows for a non-binding plebiscite, which is just a poll.
00:25:42.800 You might as well hold a poll.
00:25:46.800 And the bar, again, is set based on those eligible to vote rather than those who came out to vote.
00:25:52.000 So I hope and think, because Premier Scott Moe has been very outspoken for your province.
00:25:56.940 And, you know, he's been doing a good job.
00:26:01.460 He wasn't elected on an independence mandate.
00:26:03.620 Either was Daniel Smith in Alberta.
00:26:05.600 And that is why, because some people were saying they should come out fully in support of it.
00:26:08.660 Well, hang on.
00:26:09.440 That was not what they were elected on.
00:26:11.860 And they'll stick to what they do.
00:26:13.400 Just give us the mechanism.
00:26:15.220 Put it in the hands of the citizens.
00:26:17.020 We'll take it from there.
00:26:18.040 You guys don't have to.
00:26:19.900 And that's how Premier Smith did it.
00:26:21.800 She hasn't said, and she's getting accused of it anyway.
00:26:24.860 She hasn't said she supports Western independence.
00:26:27.500 She's just said, I will respect the will of the Albertan voters in a referendum.
00:26:31.460 And I'm giving them the ability to do it.
00:26:34.460 That's what Premier Moe needs to do for you guys here.
00:26:37.040 So that's where, in my view, the pressure you need to put on Premier Moe is just fix the legislation.
00:26:41.620 You don't have to worry about getting him to come out and demand independence from Ottawa.
00:26:46.140 Don't worry about that.
00:26:46.740 You guys do that.
00:26:48.020 But you've got to get that tool in your hands.
00:26:50.560 And then to do so, there's a lot of steps.
00:26:53.000 We've got a long ways to go.
00:26:54.860 In Alberta, we've got, you know, the counterpart of Carla back with Nahed Nenshi, former Mayor of Calgary.
00:27:03.160 Special, special man.
00:27:04.220 He hates citizens' initiatives.
00:27:08.820 His big crowning achievement as Mayor of Calgary was to hold the Olympics there.
00:27:12.900 He was going to spend billions to bring a vanity project at the Olympics to Calgary.
00:27:16.960 And one thing, I'll give credit to Rachel Notley, the only thing, I think, at the NDP in Alberta.
00:27:22.180 But she said, you know what?
00:27:23.160 If the government's going to fund an Olympic bid, we're going to put it to the citizens of Calgary in a plebiscite.
00:27:29.240 And the citizens told Nenshi to take his Olympic dreams and roll them up and stuff them up somewhere.
00:27:34.940 So he hates referenda.
00:27:37.380 He hates letting people have a choice.
00:27:39.680 Yet, ironically, just this morning and recently, what he's been saying publicly, he's been calling on Smith saying, let's hold the referendum right now, then.
00:27:48.600 Let's do it right now.
00:27:51.440 It's because he knows it would fail right now.
00:27:54.080 I mean, whatever he is, he's not stupid.
00:27:56.180 He's not principled, but he's not stupid.
00:27:58.520 And he knows if the trigger is pulled on that thing right now, the organization isn't there.
00:28:03.840 The support isn't there yet.
00:28:05.480 And if it came in with 20, 20 percent, 25 percent support in the referendum, you're not going to get another chance for five or ten years.
00:28:13.200 In Saskatchewan, as Nadine, again, will certainly attest, Carla Beck's been working more hard on just saying, we shouldn't even give you guys the means, the ability, the right to vote on it.
00:28:23.120 Not countering the case of the argument for independence.
00:28:26.500 They're just saying, you aren't even allowed to vote on it.
00:28:29.340 But they will evolve, I think, when it becomes real that there's going to be a vote here no matter what.
00:28:33.760 And they'll move more along the lines of Nahed and Enchi and say, let's pull the trigger then and blow this thing up while we can.
00:28:40.340 But they understand it's real.
00:28:42.640 Something real is happening.
00:28:45.140 You know, giving a bit of my background, I wrote the Sovereignist's Handbook.
00:28:48.880 And the reason I did that and I put it out a couple of years ago, I founded the Alberta Independence Party back in 2000 when I was 29 years old.
00:28:55.580 That was a weird young man.
00:28:56.740 And we made a lot of waves at that time and then blew up, much of it due to my own inexperience and leadership, and a lot of us, and just the nature of independence movements.
00:29:06.080 We're a prickly bunch.
00:29:08.000 But I learned a lot.
00:29:09.820 And I worked a lot with the Wild Rose Party and other things throughout the years after that.
00:29:13.300 So I thought, you know what, I want to get all those mistakes into one book.
00:29:16.920 And so that people can read that and then find a whole bunch of new mistakes to make.
00:29:21.800 There's never anything wrong with a mistake.
00:29:23.740 Repeating mistakes.
00:29:24.560 That's the problem.
00:29:26.020 So I've shared that.
00:29:27.120 And I'm sure there's more to be made.
00:29:28.320 But eventually you're going to run out of mistakes and you're going to get the job done.
00:29:31.480 And that's why we work with each other.
00:29:33.220 We talk with each other.
00:29:34.360 We organize.
00:29:36.360 So what has to be done now, though?
00:29:38.160 I mean, step by step, similar to Alberta.
00:29:42.580 A lot of it's in the hands of Ottawa.
00:29:44.060 Over time, as things get worse, as things people realize, the elbows-up crowd hiding out there in Regina and Saskatoon.
00:29:50.740 Wow, even for them, nothing changed.
00:29:52.120 Nothing got better.
00:29:52.820 The dollar kept devaluing.
00:29:54.480 Their pensions still look bleak.
00:29:55.940 The cost of living is still terrible.
00:29:58.080 We've got to be there to capture that discontent and direct people towards something positive then.
00:30:02.560 And that's the other part I spoke on recently.
00:30:05.600 It's easy to campaign against something, especially when they give us so much to campaign against.
00:30:11.380 And I forget the quote I used on a video the other day.
00:30:13.660 But Ayn Rand put it out.
00:30:14.640 But said, you know, no movement has ever been successful working against something.
00:30:18.500 You've got to work towards something.
00:30:20.620 So we've got to build that.
00:30:22.620 We've got to build it ourselves.
00:30:23.820 We've got to build it in our own networks.
00:30:25.300 We've got to build it with our friends, families, co-workers, people at the bar, people at the hockey game.
00:30:30.060 And talk positively.
00:30:31.980 What is the day after independence going to look like?
00:30:34.120 Why is it going to be better?
00:30:35.240 And it can be.
00:30:36.600 This is a culture of freedom.
00:30:37.720 This is a culture of workers.
00:30:38.980 This is a culture of individualists who still love to stand up for their neighbours.
00:30:42.860 There's a lot positive.
00:30:44.680 But it needs to be in a system that entrenches the ability, the freedoms to be able to do those things.
00:30:50.280 The ability to fully take advantage of your resources so you can have the lifestyle and your children and grandchildren can look forward to that as well.
00:31:00.000 Because this should be the richest place on the planet.
00:31:02.680 And when you look at our GDP per capita, it's bloody embarrassing.
00:31:05.520 But it's all there.
00:31:08.820 It's there.
00:31:09.840 We've got that.
00:31:10.860 But we've got to get it together.
00:31:12.480 We've got to organise.
00:31:14.040 Petitioning is tough.
00:31:15.420 And then when a referendum comes, you're on to a whole new campaign.
00:31:19.020 It's never been done.
00:31:20.800 We're in a new period of history for all of Western Canada.
00:31:24.400 There's never been an independence referendum in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
00:31:27.420 Which I think is awesome.
00:31:29.140 A great time to be living in.
00:31:30.200 But it also means we don't know what the hell to do.
00:31:32.060 As Ezra said, we should be looking at other movements too.
00:31:34.340 See what worked for them.
00:31:35.100 See what didn't.
00:31:35.580 We're at the educational point of this.
00:31:38.000 People are ready.
00:31:38.800 This room is great, as I said.
00:31:41.140 But there's a whole lot of work to do.
00:31:43.300 We've got the environment.
00:31:45.180 We've got the ability.
00:31:46.060 We've got the future.
00:31:46.760 But we've got to organise, get the means.
00:31:51.660 We've got to figure out when the time comes.
00:31:54.300 How are we going to get that tipping point of supporters?
00:31:56.460 As I said, the opponents know it's not there yet.
00:31:59.120 That's why they want to pull the trigger.
00:32:00.220 And it's going to come fast.
00:32:01.300 In Alberta, it might be early 2026.
00:32:02.780 It's going to be a tough task to bring it over a clear majority into 50% by then.
00:32:07.340 But once that clock's ticking, then you've got to go for it.
00:32:10.940 So one of the first steps is getting together in a place like this tonight.
00:32:15.000 It's sharing with each other, learning from each other, organising, finding that path,
00:32:21.040 finding out what's not going to work.
00:32:22.820 But of course, most importantly, finding out what's going to work.
00:32:36.000 So what has brought you out to this event tonight?
00:32:39.760 We're a little bit scared of where Canada is heading.
00:32:42.260 We're old, so we don't have a lot of time left.
00:32:45.860 But we've got grandchildren and children.
00:32:48.820 So we want to see a bright future for them.
00:32:51.160 And we watch Rebel News all the time.
00:32:54.120 So yeah.
00:32:54.940 Yeah, I like listening to Ezra.
00:32:57.040 Yeah.
00:32:58.040 Well, and Mark Carney was in the province today.
00:33:00.780 Do you think that the Western provinces are going to get that change
00:33:03.860 that they're seeking from Prime Minister Mark Carney?
00:33:06.020 No, I think he is the same as Trudeau, where the promises will be made
00:33:11.440 and all the promises will be broken.
00:33:13.940 What's brought you to the event tonight?
00:33:15.840 I'm tired of what's happening in Ottawa, tired of being shut out by these people
00:33:21.300 that think that the only ones that deserve anything is the people in Central Canada.
00:33:29.260 And we've been burned for many, many years here out in the West.
00:33:33.280 And it's time for something to happen, something to change.
00:33:37.180 Well, and Mark Carney's actually just made his visit here to Saskatchewan.
00:33:40.180 Do you think that he's going to provide change for Western Canada?
00:33:43.720 No, I do not.
00:33:44.640 Not for one moment do I think that's going to happen.
00:33:47.540 He's kind of the head guy for net zero.
00:33:49.760 That means no CO2, which, you know, they've fooled people into believing
00:33:56.340 that that's a poison when it's not.
00:33:59.200 And he's going to continue on that path.
00:34:01.600 He's going to push net zero.
00:34:04.120 They're not going to open up any more pipelines for any oil to get to Tidewater, for sure,
00:34:10.660 because that's what he lives on.
00:34:12.960 What brought you to this Regina Rebel News separatist event?
00:34:16.660 I'm from Manitoba.
00:34:18.280 We don't want to be left behind.
00:34:20.620 Fair enough.
00:34:21.100 Well, what is it about Manitoba?
00:34:22.500 What was the unfair treatment you say they've gotten from Ottawa?
00:34:25.860 Well, we're in agriculture.
00:34:26.880 We're just ignored.
00:34:28.120 And we lose 10 times out of 10.
00:34:31.980 We lose even when we have, even when we're on the side of the party in power,
00:34:36.460 the focal point is always central Canada.
00:34:39.680 So our interests are always second.
00:34:42.280 Now, some polling suggests that Saskatchewan is the center point of separation right now
00:34:46.980 within Canada.
00:34:47.460 Most people talking about it are the most important being here in Saskatchewan.
00:34:51.340 Why do you think that is?
00:34:53.300 Government.
00:34:55.180 Federal government, mostly.
00:34:58.820 Dissatisfaction with the way that Parliament has conducted itself.
00:35:04.260 Our votes don't count.
00:35:07.980 That's probably the biggest thing.
00:35:10.180 That and, you know, we're a resource-based economy and there doesn't seem to be any attention
00:35:17.260 paid to the resources or to the farmers, particularly to the canola.
00:35:23.000 Nobody seems to be fighting for us.
00:35:25.260 We might as well be fighting for ourselves.
00:35:27.720 I'm here because I think the West has been, this is a time for us to review the essence of being in Canada as a federation.
00:35:36.720 So I've been listening to the revenues and I think there's no better people to talk to at this point.
00:35:42.520 Now, exactly how has Saskatchewan gotten an unfair deal from Ottawa?
00:35:46.060 Well, I mean, you can see like what we had in the last decades, last liberal decades, that was led by one of the worst prime ministers we've ever had in the history of this country.
00:35:58.060 And for me, I'm obviously an immigrant that came into this country about 11 years ago.
00:36:06.360 And I came here because I thought the future and the direction of this country was what I was looking forward to.
00:36:13.060 But Saskatchewan in particular, as a province, has been stifled by the regulations of the liberals, particularly like pipelines, for example.
00:36:23.540 The oil and gas is one of the strategic strengths of this province.
00:36:27.160 And farming is also one of the strengths of this province.
00:36:32.280 But if you look at what is going on today with all the rules, with the carbon issues and all that, the farmers have been stifled, the oil and gas have been stifled.
00:36:39.380 And so we cannot maximize our potential as a province.
00:36:42.580 So this is a time for us.
00:36:44.700 All of this as a result of the insane regulatory measure, draconic measure by the last government.
00:36:52.440 So I'm here because, as a Saskatchewan resident, I believe that we could do a lot more in this, sorry to say, use the word, we need to revere our state in this country.
00:37:04.880 Well, and why is it, do you think, that separations, according to polls, seems to be the highest in Saskatchewan?
00:37:10.560 Well, I thought it was Alberta, but a lot of dissatisfaction with the past liberal governments.
00:37:17.620 It just goes without saying.
00:37:19.300 It's a thing that's there, you know.
00:37:21.960 And it won't change until something really happens between all the different levels of government, provincial and federal.
00:37:28.320 So what has brought you to this Rebel News separatist town hall event?
00:37:31.140 Well, and why is it that we see Western provinces, notably Alberta and Saskatchewan, have such high sentiments, separation sentiments in the province?
00:37:47.140 It's just sick, tired.
00:37:49.820 Nothing's going to change unless we change it.
00:37:52.620 And today, yesterday, we've had Mark Carney here in Saskatchewan.
00:37:55.920 Do you think that that's going to make a dent?
00:37:59.020 I'd like to make a dent all right.
00:38:00.780 What has brought you to this Rebel News, Regina, separatist town hall event?
00:38:05.400 Well, I guess I'm just tired of the West being screwed by the East my whole life.
00:38:11.820 That's what's happened.
00:38:13.460 Now, obviously, I'm coming from Alberta.
00:38:15.780 And there, obviously, people know it's, you know, oil.
00:38:17.800 There's contention there with the federal government.
00:38:19.060 What is it about Saskatchewan that has them causing issues with the federal government?
00:38:23.380 It's the same.
00:38:24.260 I mean, I think we've got more raw minerals in Alberta.
00:38:28.440 We're just untouched.
00:38:29.500 We're just waiting to be, you know, found.
00:38:33.480 So I think it's just time for us to be on our own.
00:38:37.100 And I kind of like Daniel Smith's thoughts about maybe being a country within our country, just like Quebec.
00:38:47.140 Like, we don't have to separate and we don't have to leave.
00:38:49.980 We don't have to become the 51st state, although myself, I wish we would become the 51st state.
00:38:55.820 I mean, I love America.
00:38:57.740 I mean, they've protected us our whole life.
00:39:00.260 We'd be speaking German right now if it wasn't for the American troops, 450,000 American troops that were killed.
00:39:08.260 I know there was 45,000 Canadians killed as well.
00:39:11.580 But I think it's time that we just kept our wealth here.
00:39:17.580 And I think we'd have everything we need if we kept our wealth in Western Canada.
00:39:22.640 I mean, Quebec's been a country within a country our whole life.
00:39:26.380 And all they've done is had their hands out.
00:39:28.760 We wouldn't have our hands out.
00:39:30.160 We'd just keep our money.
00:39:31.620 And that would be very good for us, I think.
00:39:35.020 Why is it that separation sentiment in Saskatchewan is comparably high to the rest of the country?
00:39:41.160 Well, I think we have an aging population who remembers what it was like, probably more in rural areas.
00:39:47.500 And the young people nowadays have nothing to compare what it was like then to what it's like now.
00:39:53.940 And I think the older people are going to be the ones that make a difference.
00:39:57.080 And what do you make of Mark Carney now being the Prime Minister?
00:40:00.220 And he's obviously in Saskatchewan today.
00:40:01.860 Do you think that he's going to make a change?
00:40:04.040 I wouldn't count on it.
00:40:07.540 Obviously, right now, Alberta is setting themselves up for a referendum on separation next year.
00:40:12.280 What would be your message to them?
00:40:14.400 Go for it.
00:40:15.340 And I think I love the idea, you know, that Saskatchewan and Alberta were supposed to be Buffalo.
00:40:20.840 And we would be, I think we would be a formidable force if we were back in 1905 before they split us up
00:40:30.120 and allowed us to be that union.
00:40:32.860 We would have everything.
00:40:34.040 And, you know, like they've said, we would have the highest per capita income in the world with the resources that we have.
00:40:41.760 And also, Alberta is setting itself up for a referendum on separation next year.
00:40:47.260 What would your message to Albertans be?
00:40:49.740 Do it.
00:40:50.320 Please push hard for it and teach us how to do it.
00:40:53.560 Do it.
00:40:53.800 Yeah, I hope we follow.
00:40:55.360 For the uninitiated, could you introduce yourself?
00:40:58.220 I'm getting that word wrong.
00:40:59.480 Tamara Leach.
00:41:00.260 I was one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy.
00:41:02.380 And what brought you to this event?
00:41:03.880 Well, I saw that Rebel News was coming to Regina and it was so close.
00:41:08.380 And obviously, I think this is an important conversation to have, how the West has been treated by Ottawa.
00:41:14.040 And I really wanted to come and support.
00:41:15.560 And do you think that Mark Carney, he's in Saskatchewan today, do you think that he's going to deliver for Western provinces?
00:41:23.360 Um, well, I haven't seen any action yet.
00:41:25.740 I hear a lot of words, which is very typical of the Liberal governments that we're used to.
00:41:29.480 So, I think until we see some concrete action, I'm pretty happy with the position that Danielle Smith has taken.
00:41:36.340 Putting her foot down and, you know, telling the government what we need out here.
00:41:41.820 And I've been asking those here from Saskatchewan, you know, what's their message to Albertans and their possible referendum next year,
00:41:47.840 those who might be inclined to vote for separation?
00:41:49.760 What would be your message to Saskatchewanian people?
00:41:53.880 Well, I was born and raised in Saskatchewan.
00:41:55.760 So, um, I obviously have a deep, deep love of this province and the people in it.
00:42:00.920 And, you know, they talked about it a little bit tonight.
00:42:03.180 I can't see Alberta leaving and not taking Saskatchewan with it or having Saskatchewan want to join us.
00:42:08.600 We are kind of a team, like siblings.
00:42:11.000 And, um, you know, it's getting out to events like this and having the conversation and talking about what a more autonomous West would look like
00:42:18.580 and, uh, how that's going to benefit us in the future.
00:42:21.680 For the uninitiated, introduce yourself.
00:42:23.740 My name is Chris Barber.
00:42:24.920 I'm a truck driver, business owner in the province of Saskatchewan.
00:42:27.860 And you're also facing a bit of a serious court battle.
00:42:31.180 Uh, where, where is that standing right now?
00:42:32.900 We're waiting for sentencing right now.
00:42:34.360 July 21st to the 25th is the sentencing here for Tamara and myself.
00:42:38.080 Um, a lot of different legal deals we're working with right now within the motion for dismissal right now,
00:42:43.860 a stay, uh, that we've just spent the last week in Ottawa with.
00:42:47.340 And then, of course, we have the, uh, the $300 million lawsuit on, on our tails right now from the statistics of Ottawa.
00:42:53.480 And so how did you go from Freedom Convoy and now you're at a separatist town hall?
00:42:59.500 Well, I don't want to say it's a separatist.
00:43:01.200 I want to say it's an independence.
00:43:02.720 Um, Ottawa has controlled this country for far too long.
00:43:05.340 There's a great divide between West and East right now.
00:43:07.840 And I think that we're in the position right now where we need to start having these conversations.
00:43:11.780 So, and why is it that Saskatchewan in particular seems to have, uh, high support for independence?
00:43:18.160 Well, Saskatchewan and Alberta, as well as portions of Manitoba and British Columbia are feeling,
00:43:22.720 feeling that anxiety towards the East right now.
00:43:24.760 And just the lack of, uh, control that we actually have over our, our everyday ability.
00:43:28.780 And it seems like they're crippling, crippling a lot of our, our, our industry out here.
00:43:33.180 And I think it's, it's time we have this conversation.
00:43:35.700 And if you had a message for an Albertan separatist, what would that message be?
00:43:39.920 Well, I don't like the word separatist, but I like the word independence.
00:43:43.080 And, uh, you know, Quebec has been doing it quite successfully for many years.
00:43:45.980 So, uh, why can't we have that same conversation that they've been doing there too?
00:43:49.760 It's about people standing up right now and letting their feelings be known on, on what needs to change in this country for us to move forward.
00:43:56.980 Well, and do you think Mark Carney is going to deliver that change?
00:43:58.760 I have high doubts that he will.
00:44:01.060 I, I just see it as another, another Trudeau and you look at his cabinet, it's the same thing.
00:44:05.580 So one can hope and, uh, and I'm praying that there's something good comes out of it.
00:44:09.220 But right now there's not much prosperity there.
00:44:11.460 Uh, for the uninitiated, could you introduce yourself?
00:44:13.900 Nadine Ness, uh, with Unified Grassroots.
00:44:16.760 And Unified Grassroots, uh, is that similar to the APP, right?
00:44:20.420 Yeah, it's very similar.
00:44:21.440 We started during COVID.
00:44:24.060 We do a little bit different work.
00:44:25.760 We do a lot of democratic education to try to get more people involved, more engaged into politics or, or just government.
00:44:32.940 Um, where I guess, I guess we're kind of like a populist grassroots driven movement.
00:44:37.580 We're not as, um, organized as APP per se.
00:44:43.880 We just don't have like the, I guess they have a lot, a lot of lawyers and stuff who's kind of moving their stuff.
00:44:49.860 And they have a lot of information that we're not quite there.
00:44:52.260 We're just now stepping onto the whole independence movement as an organization.
00:44:58.200 And, uh, you look to Alberta and then you, uh, to the West, you look to Alberta, to the East, you look to Ontario, uh, the federal government.
00:45:07.000 What, what happened going West across the country that not only Alberta, but Saskatchewan, parts of British Columbia are all feeling this separatist sentiment at the same time?
00:45:16.060 I think it's because there's completely different culture within Canada.
00:45:22.620 So like I said, in my, um, speech, I'm from the East coast.
00:45:27.420 So I know that mindset and I know the mindset of the West.
00:45:30.760 And I myself had an awakening and it's not necessarily that we don't want similar things.
00:45:36.280 The difference is how we get there.
00:45:38.520 And I think the Western provinces have been overlooked and ignored and not treated fairly, not treated with respect.
00:45:46.660 And I think they're done.
00:45:47.840 And I would agree with that.
00:45:50.060 Even coming, someone coming from the East now settled and living in the West.
00:45:53.800 I've been here since 09 in Saskatchewan.
00:45:56.120 And, and I think we're seeing decisions made at the federal level that are affecting us negatively at, at the Western level.
00:46:05.320 So, and some people say it's kind of left versus right.
00:46:07.980 I don't even think it's that.
00:46:09.080 I think it's city versus rural and they're making policies based on city living that are affecting negatively rural folks.
00:46:17.680 And that's what the West mostly is.
00:46:19.540 It's rural people.
00:46:20.540 Well, and on that note, I think that's a great point because Mark Carney just announced that he wants to do more collaboration with municipalities while at the same time, he's also here today in Saskatchewan.
00:46:29.580 Do you think that he's going to provide for Western Canadians?
00:46:33.300 No, I don't think so.
00:46:35.180 And, and while he might be saying some great things or that sound great, if you look at who he is to his core, his values, I don't know if you've read his book.
00:46:44.680 But, but, and if you look at the jobs that he's held and the, the ideology that he's pushed forward, it's very much going to be ideology that's going to negatively affect the West.
00:46:56.560 I think he's just talking a good game right now, but I don't think he's going to be able to stop himself from pushing his ideas and his idea like net zero destroying our oil and gas industry.
00:47:09.300 I don't think he's going to be able to stop himself.
00:47:12.100 He was the, the main guy put pushing ESG, pushing the world economic.
00:47:16.340 He wasn't just a member of the world economic forum.
00:47:18.720 He was a board member.
00:47:20.520 The direction they went, he was part of.
00:47:23.480 So I, I don't feel hopeful.
00:47:26.460 I think he's pulling the wool over a lot of Canadians.
00:47:28.960 He's trying to squash the momentum for the Western independence movement.
00:47:33.780 And I think it's going to backfire.
00:47:35.480 It might be temporary where it might work, but I think within matters of, of months and potentially a few months, we're going to start seeing those policies that negatively affect us.
00:47:46.440 And then we're going to be right there waiting for the people to give them a home, give them a voice to kind of push this movement forward.
00:47:53.120 Luckily, I haven't read the book.
00:47:54.480 Unfortunately, I've had to watch tens of hours of his interviews and conversations and what have you.
00:47:58.540 But last question for you, if you had a message for Alberta and the separatists that are aiming to have a referendum next year, what would your message to them?
00:48:06.360 Don't go without us.
00:48:09.100 If Saskatchewan stays in Canada and Alberta goes, we're going to be in real, real mess of a problem.
00:48:15.600 So hopefully, I'm hoping we're going to be able to gain enough momentum in Saskatchewan so they don't go alone.
00:48:20.660 And I'm hoping they consider having us as part of their official country.
00:48:27.260 I think an Alberta-Saskatchewan government would be really wonderful.
00:48:31.340 When it comes to separation, it seems like Alberta and Saskatchewan have a bit of a bond here, of course, both leaning towards separation comparatively to other provinces.
00:48:41.400 What message would you send to Albertans about the feelings here in Saskatchewan?
00:48:45.700 Well, we stand with you.
00:48:49.240 We're aligned with you.
00:48:50.660 It's no secret that the premiers are all meeting in Saskatoon tonight, today, last night.
00:48:58.760 We'll see whether or not it amounts to anything.
00:49:03.000 Most people don't feel it's going to amount to much.
00:49:05.860 And what would your message be to Alberta?
00:49:07.820 Because obviously, that seems like one of the hotbeds for separation right now.
00:49:10.460 Obviously, Saskatchewan a little more, though.
00:49:11.720 But what would your message be to Albertan separatists?
00:49:15.940 It's not separatism.
00:49:18.300 I mean, it's independence, it's sovereignty.
00:49:21.540 It's time.
00:49:22.740 It just makes sense.
00:49:24.100 It's a very positive thing.
00:49:26.000 And leadership from Alberta will show the rest of us that it's time for a new federation.
00:49:32.100 Why is it that Saskatchewan does have the highest numbers, do you think, when it comes to polling and those who would decide to separate?
00:49:39.820 Why do you think Saskatchewan's the centre point?
00:49:41.640 Probably the resource industries and the economy are very dominant in Saskatchewan.
00:49:50.600 And, hey, Saskatchewan's taken the lead on all kinds of political movements in Canada, from the progressive movement to the CCF.
00:49:59.420 And now this is just time.