Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ King Carney meets with European royalty... but not with President Trump

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Big show today. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is on the show talking

00:00:04.980 about the latest in Canada-U.S. relations. Looking forward to that. And I'll talk to you about Mark

00:00:10.780 Carney, who instead of going to the States has gone to Europe. They're nicer to him over there.

00:00:16.220 And I think he just actually hasn't been invited down there by Trump. I'll get into it a little

00:00:20.840 bit later. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to what we call Rebel News Plus.

00:00:25.580 That's the video version of this podcast. I think it's great with the video. We have so many little

00:00:31.280 video clips. I think it really helps understand the story. But in addition to that, it's how you

00:00:37.280 can support Rebel News. We don't take any government money and it shows. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com,

00:00:44.200 click subscribe, eight bucks a month, and you'll have my gratitude for it.

00:00:55.580 Tonight, why did Mark Carney go to Europe instead of to America? It's St. Patrick's Day and this

00:01:10.120 is the Ezra LeVant Show. Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:26.300 Big show today. In a moment, I'll talk to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith about the latest in the

00:01:32.680 battles over tariffs. And by the way, it's St. Patrick's Day. Here's Conor McGregor at the White

00:01:39.280 House with an unscripted rant against the globalists and mass immigration in his home country. Take a 0.61

00:01:45.860 look. I'm here to raise the issues the people of Ireland face, you know, and it'll be music to the 1.00

00:01:50.800 people of Ireland's ears because never on the main stage has the issues the people of Ireland face

00:01:55.680 been spoke. You know, our government has long since abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland.

00:02:01.360 And it's high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland. What is going on in

00:02:06.720 Ireland is a travesty? Our government is the government of zero action with zero accountability.

00:02:13.100 You know, our money is being spent on overseas issues that has nothing to do with the Irish people.

00:02:18.940 The illegal immigration racket is running ravage on the country. There are rural towns in Ireland 1.00

00:02:24.960 that have been overrun in one swoop, that have become a minority in one swoop. So issues need to be

00:02:30.300 addressed. And the 40 million Irish Americans, as I said, need to hear this, because if not,

00:02:36.640 there will be no place to come home and visit. Well, I want to get back to my monologue for the

00:02:41.060 day, which is I actually don't think that Mark Carney and Donald Trump have spoken. Conor McGregor

00:02:47.320 had a good catch up with President Trump. But I am actually pretty sure that Carney and Trump have not

00:02:55.460 even spoken by telephone. Obviously, they haven't met. One of the other of the two sides would have

00:03:02.180 likely said something. Trump makes a lot of public statements about things, lots of tweets. He hasn't

00:03:08.160 mentioned Carney at all that I've seen. And I don't think he's put out a written statement either, which

00:03:13.060 is unusual if he had had interactions. I do not think that this is a good development. Now, Carney is

00:03:21.120 certainly meeting with other leaders. He met with King Charles, who is the King of Canada, as you know.

00:03:27.120 I think that's completely appropriate at any time. And it's a subtle reassertion that Canada is an

00:03:33.500 independent country. And it pulls on the heartstrings of loyalists and royalists. Carney had a phone call

00:03:40.760 with Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the monstrosity called the European Union. He said,

00:03:48.840 On my call with President von der Leyen, we spoke about the Rearm Europe plan and Canada's role in

00:03:56.160 strengthening defense at home and abroad. In the face of global threats, Canada is meeting this

00:04:01.300 moment, securing new military equipment and working with allies to keep us all safe.

00:04:07.220 Yeah, that's just not true, though. We're meeting this moment? It's in the moment we're in right now?

00:04:15.500 No, we're not. Canada is amongst the tiniest spender in NATO as a proportion of GDP. I mean,

00:04:23.360 I'm not counting the little baby countries like Luxembourg. And we lie about it. We keep doing

00:04:29.520 that. And when I say we, I mean our politicians. In one of Trump's only meetings with Justin Trudeau,

00:04:35.280 Trudeau tried to lie about it to Trump, but Trump knew his stuff and fact-checked Trudeau

00:04:40.500 on the subject in real time, something our own compliant regime media almost never does.

00:04:47.000 Do you remember this from a few years back?

00:04:48.660 Canada does not meet the 2% standard. Should it have a plan to meet the 2% standard?

00:04:54.180 Well, we'll put them on a payment plan, you know? We'll put Canada on a payment plan, right? I'm sure

00:04:58.360 the prime minister would love that. What are you at? What is your number?

00:05:01.720 The number we talked about is 70% increase over these past years, including, and for the coming

00:05:09.440 years, including significant investments in our fighter jets, significant investments in our

00:05:16.420 naval fleets. We are increasing significantly our defense spending from previous governments

00:05:21.620 that cut it.

00:05:22.840 Okay. Where are you now in terms of your number?

00:05:25.980 We're at 135? 1.3.

00:05:29.920 1.4. 1.4. 1.4. And continuing to move forward.

00:05:34.140 They're getting there. They know it's important to do that. And their economy is doing well.

00:05:40.100 They'll get there quickly, I think.

00:05:41.420 If you caught that, Trudeau was counting what he promised he would maybe spend some time in

00:05:46.700 the future. And Trump knew that just wasn't real. That's what Carney is doing in his tweet.

00:05:51.540 We are not meeting the moment. We're not securing new military equipment. That's

00:05:55.500 present tense. Next year, in 2026, if things stay on track, we might receive the first four

00:06:02.540 new F-35 fighter jets. But that's four. Not 40. Four is in one, two, three, four. We're a pretty

00:06:10.280 big country. We'll get our first four next year. Maybe. Hopefully. But of course, the liberals

00:06:16.980 are now talking about canceling the F-35 deal to get back at Trump. Here, take a look.

00:06:24.540 Right now, we have undertaken to purchase 88 of the F-35 fighter jets. It was the fighter

00:06:30.600 jet identified by our Air Force as the platform that they required. But we are also examining

00:06:36.640 other alternatives, whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35s or if there might

00:06:41.240 be alternatives. The prime minister has asked me to go and examine those things and have

00:06:44.840 discussions with other sources, particularly where there may be opportunities to assemble

00:06:49.640 those fighter jets in Canada to properly support them and maintain them in Canada. And again,

00:06:55.400 we're looking at how do we make investments in defense, which also benefits Canadian workers,

00:06:59.820 Canadian industry, and supports strong Canadian economy.

00:07:02.740 Okay. That sounds to me like the F-35 contract is on the table, that some of it, all of it,

00:07:07.700 most of it may not be prosecuted. It may not be completed. You may not buy all the 88 jets

00:07:12.420 if you can find another option. And the direction I've been given by the prime minister is go and

00:07:16.640 look at all of our options to make sure that we make the right decision for Canada.

00:07:19.980 We'll show the Americans. They say we don't pay our fair share of military defense. They say we rely

00:07:26.120 on them to defend our Arctic airspace. They're so mad about sovereignty. When was the last time

00:07:33.760 Canada actually patrolled our north? Even against Chinese hot air balloons, spy balloons. We'll show

00:07:41.480 them by living down to their worst character of us. We'll literally become the thing they accuse

00:07:46.540 us of being, which is freeloaders on America's military apron. You know, we're already unable

00:07:52.380 to participate in NATO exercises. The annual maple flag fighter jet practice at Cold Lake Alberta has

00:07:58.700 been long ago mothballed because we can't keep up with our allies. So yeah, Carney is doing

00:08:05.820 the European circuit. This is him with Emmanuel Macron of France.

00:08:10.880 We both stand for sovereignty and security demonstrated by our unwavering support for Ukraine under your

00:08:22.880 leadership. With you, Mr. President, I want to ensure that France and the whole of Europe works

00:08:30.080 most enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, determined like you to

00:08:40.320 maintain the most positive possible relations with the United States. Canada is a reliable, trustworthy,

00:08:49.200 and strong partner of France, which shares our values and lives them through action during this age of

00:08:57.680 economic and geopolitical crises. We're the most European of non-European countries. It's sort of

00:09:04.320 a weird thing to say. I think I know what he means. I don't think he means that in a racial sense, though

00:09:10.080 I'm sure he'd accuse anyone else of racism if they said that. But but look at this. This is a tweet from

00:09:15.920 Ian Bremmer. That's that's the guy who runs the New York based lobby group called Eurasia Group.

00:09:21.440 It's where Gerald Butts went when he was exiled from Ottawa for threatening Jody Wilson-Raybould.

00:09:26.400 It's where Mark Carney's wife works. It's basically the de facto campaign team for Mark Carney.

00:09:32.720 So look at that. Mark Carney's campaign adviser, his wife's boss, writes,

00:09:38.640 more Canadians on board for joining the European Union than not. And he shows a poll to that effect

00:09:44.800 from abacus. And I'm not disputing the poll. But I'm a bit dizzy. Is that being a proud Canadian

00:09:52.000 patriot or not? Is joining the European Union more patriotic than just being Canadian? I'm so confused.

00:10:00.000 I thought that joining a foreign political enterprise was being a traitor. Or is this just

00:10:05.600 all about hating Trump and whatever gets that done the fastest? Here's a tweet from Mark Carney's meeting

00:10:11.120 with Emmanuel Macron of France last year. So, I mean, he really is a VVIP. Of course,

00:10:16.720 he's on the board of the World Economic Forum. Here's what he said a year ago. He said,

00:10:20.320 it was a pleasure seeing President Macron today. With his leadership, France is attracting

00:10:24.720 unprecedented levels of foreign investment while accelerating the transition to net zero.

00:10:29.360 Looking forward to more work together to create good jobs and build clean prosperity.

00:10:33.760 You know, clean prosperity is code for shutting down oil and gas. Net zero isn't even code at all. It's

00:10:42.160 just a sign of how extreme you are. What serious person would say he's a proud follower of Greta Thunberg,

00:10:49.280 that child actor propagandist? Here's a two minute clip, and I want to run all two minutes of it,

00:10:54.960 where Mark Carney says he's a follower of Greta Thunberg. And then he goes on to demonstrate how

00:11:00.800 extreme his position really is. I see myself as part of the social movement. I think those at the

00:11:06.240 vanguard of the social movement might see me as being farther behind. And I've, you know, full,

00:11:13.680 absolutely full credit, and I do in the book, to Greta Thunberg, who I've had the pleasure of meeting

00:11:19.760 several times, and who absolutely has catalyzed that movement, the youth movement,

00:11:27.840 and also done something incredibly valuable. And this is embarrassing to admit, but I think we

00:11:32.400 should admit it. And this is often true, by the way, in finance. Very obvious truths are not fully

00:11:38.320 understood in the system. So what she hammered home was the carbon budget, how small it was,

00:11:45.120 how rapidly it was being depleted. And we've moved in a few short years, in part because of her,

00:11:52.880 from a world of ESG, sustainability, broader conversations around, as I say, sustainability,

00:12:01.520 to a relentless focus on net zero. It's called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for

00:12:05.440 Net Zero for a reason, because we've moved to the relentless logic of having to get emissions down,

00:12:14.000 consistent with the carbon budget. So in that regard, I'm part of that, and part of mapping what

00:12:21.760 people want to the mechanisms, particularly in finance, in order to deliver it. I'm also though

00:12:28.080 conscious that, of two other things, Lionel. One is that, of course, net zero is, it's absolutely

00:12:35.520 essential to stabilize the climate. But that's not the same thing as protecting biodiversity. It's not the

00:12:41.280 same thing as having a just transition along the way. There are lots of other elements

00:12:45.440 that are necessary to this, that these broader social movements rightly shine a light on.

00:12:50.320 Yeah, that's been his focus and his wife's focus for decades. They're not suddenly going to abandon

00:12:57.120 their deepest beliefs. They're just, what's the word? They're just rephrasing them. I mean, here,

00:13:02.720 take a look at this. He says, the consumer carbon tax is not working. It's become too divisive at a

00:13:09.040 time when Canada needs to be united. As my government's first order of business, I have

00:13:13.520 canceled it. And look at that. Just like Donald Trump, there's a little video of him. He signed

00:13:19.760 a document in a lovely leather-bound folder. He's so great. But, you know, that's not actually how

00:13:26.800 things work in Canada. I'm not sure if you know that. The word prime minister, that two-word phrase,

00:13:33.440 you know, it's not even in our Constitution Act of 1867. It's just not there. All the executive

00:13:41.280 power in Canada is held by the governor general, who does, of course, exercise it on the advice of

00:13:46.480 the prime minister. It's true. But the governor general remains our head of state, not Mark Carney.

00:13:52.560 He's not the head of our executive. The U.S. Constitution, the word president is mentioned

00:13:58.320 more than 20 times. Gives him the executive power to do things at the stroke of a pen.

00:14:03.360 Makes him the commander of chief. That doesn't happen here. Maybe King Charles will give Mark

00:14:10.080 Carney a quick tutorial on just who the boss is. It ain't Mark Carney at a stroke of a pen.

00:14:15.840 Here's a still image of what Carney signed. It just says, I hereby instruct that the fuel charge

00:14:21.600 be removed as of April 1st, 2025, and that the Canada carbon rebate be issued.

00:14:27.840 Um, who, who are you even writing to? There's, it's not clear there. You're just

00:14:33.280 writing a little dear diary entry. Who, who are you instructing? Like, is there someone else in the

00:14:39.680 room with us? Are they in the room with us right now? Who? You and what army is they might say? Under what

00:14:46.320 authority? It's all made up. It was a show. It was a trick. It was him trying to be

00:14:51.280 Trumpy. Prime ministers can't do that though. They can't cancel taxes by writing a little memo

00:14:56.640 to themselves. And I love the part about directing the rebate to be continued as planned. Yeah.

00:15:01.920 Uh, you know, I might sign something directing the rebate to continue as planned. It'll have the

00:15:06.000 same effect that is absolutely nothing, but the regime media, they absolutely love that bit of

00:15:11.360 theater. But back to the man who really does have the power to issue orders by the stroke of a pen,

00:15:16.880 and that is U.S. President Donald J. Trump. So what's going on? I mean, why, why is Carney looking

00:15:23.040 to Europe? I know it's more fun to talk to people like Emmanuel Macron because he isn't making any

00:15:28.480 demands of Canada. He doesn't care if we have fentanyl labs in Canada. He doesn't care about

00:15:33.680 our illegal migration. He has his own problems. He's not really egging on Canada to spend more on

00:15:38.800 the military either. It's just not what he does. Meeting with Emmanuel Macron, it's just a fun trip

00:15:44.560 to Paris for any liberal who likes to jet set like Carney clearly does. But Canada, France trade

00:15:51.920 each year, I looked it up. It's, it's about nine and a half billion dollars. Now that's,

00:15:57.440 it might sound like a lot, 9.5 billion dollars. But Canada, U.S. trade is almost exactly a hundred

00:16:04.560 times more, 923 billion dollars. If you look at our largest exports to the U.S., they can't be

00:16:11.600 transferred to Europe. If this is some sort of trade trip or something, it can't work.

00:16:18.480 At the top five exports we sell to the United States, oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum

00:16:24.560 are three out of those five. Thanks to the liberals, we can't really sell that to anyone other than the

00:16:29.920 U.S. because the liberals blocked any pipelines. Of the two remaining top exports, cars are one of them.

00:16:36.080 I don't think we're going to be shipping tens of thousands of cars to Europe anytime soon. And gold,

00:16:41.280 by the way, is the last one. So yeah, Mark Carney has been the liberal leader for more than a week,

00:16:47.520 and he has not had so much as a phone call with Trump, or as far as we know, anyone in the Trump

00:16:53.440 administration. Now I think that actually suits Mark Carney just fine. He obviously wants to fight

00:17:01.360 with Trump. That's all he said when he ran for leader in whatever process that was. I mean,

00:17:08.800 fighting against Trump is the only chance Carney has. How else could someone who abandoned us,

00:17:13.440 like Carney did for greener pastures a decade ago, justify his return to rule over us? How else could

00:17:20.080 someone show literally, someone who literally moved the giant company Brookfield? He was chairman of Brookfield

00:17:26.000 Asset Management. He moved it out of Canada into the States just weeks before he ran for the liberal

00:17:32.880 leader. How could he possibly recover from such a disloyal act? Well, Carney needs to fight with

00:17:39.920 Trump. The noisier and more painful for us, the better. That's the moral hazard. He wins only if

00:17:46.480 Canada loses, only if there's a disruption and trouble with America. Of course, he puts himself in his

00:17:52.480 party first. Now compare that to Mexico, which of course has so many more problems in regards to

00:17:59.440 the U.S. and drugs and the border. That's where, what, 99% of the immigration problems came from. Now

00:18:05.520 read this in the New York Times of all places. You're tough. How Mexico's president won Trump's praise.

00:18:14.400 A scientist and leftist with limited foreign policy experience, Claudia Scheinbaum seems to have

00:18:19.600 connected with President Trump and her calm demeanor and toughness on the border. What? I thought Mexico 0.56

00:18:27.440 was the huge problem. Let me read a bit. This was from the New York Times just three days ago. This is

00:18:32.080 really new. Ready? I'm just starting in the middle of the story. Her rapport with the American president

00:18:36.960 is helped in part by the contrast with Mr. Trump's much more contentious relationship with Prime Minister

00:18:42.640 Justin Trudeau of Canada, who left the post on Friday. At the start of their most recent

00:18:47.840 conversation last week, Ms. Scheinbaum spent about five minutes, this is my favorite part of the story,

00:18:53.760 spent about five minutes ticking through everything she had done to secure the border and fight fentanyl

00:19:01.280 trafficking, according to two people familiar with the talks. Ahead of the call, she had sent Mr. Trump

00:19:06.480 data to back up her points. She suggested that the tariffs would only make it harder for her to explain

00:19:12.880 this level of cooperation to her citizens. Isn't that interesting? Mr. Trump stayed silent for a long

00:19:20.720 beat after she stopped talking and then, after complimenting Ms. Scheinbaum, abruptly launched into

00:19:28.480 an attack on Canada, the people said. He asked what Ms. Scheinbaum thought of Mr. Trudeau. She said she

00:19:34.800 didn't talk much with the Canadian leader. Mr. Trump said she was lucky. At the end of the call,

00:19:40.400 the people said Mr. Trump offered to exclude many Mexican goods from tariffs and then started

00:19:44.960 dictating out loud a truth social post announcing the deal. Ms. Scheinbaum and her team were elated.

00:19:55.040 There's a lot of interesting things in a few words there. Do you think Trudeau

00:20:00.160 could spend five full minutes, that's a very long time to talk, showing his command of details about

00:20:07.520 border issues, security, drug interdictions, things that Trump has said he's wanted going back to

00:20:13.040 November? Stopping drugs, stopping illegals, but mainly showing that her attention was on the matter,

00:20:20.640 that she was making it a priority, that she was showing him some respect in return for commercial

00:20:26.400 market access to the U.S. It was in Mexico's interest that she did that, so she did her job. 0.95

00:20:33.840 I simply don't think Trudeau or Carney could do what Scheinbaum did, because Canada,

00:20:39.360 to my knowledge, has not done what is necessary on the border yet, other than, frankly, lying

00:20:45.840 about stationing 10,000 troops on our border. Here, take a look at Doug Ford saying that on TV the other

00:20:52.960 day. When President Trump said tighten up the border, we listened. We put 10,000 troops on the border.

00:20:59.920 We have fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and drones, but it goes two ways. We saw fentanyl drop

00:21:08.720 drastically to half an ounce. I can't stand drugs, but I got a report last week saying we busted hundreds

00:21:16.800 of kilos of cocaine, of opioids, of fentanyl, illegal guns, illegals coming across our border. We should

00:21:24.400 work together. I've had the DEA up to my office. We're working with the Canadian, U.S. Border Patrol,

00:21:30.240 state and federal police. If we had a problem, we're acting on it as we speak right now. And it's

00:21:37.840 both sides, by the way. And it's dropped drastically. And we listened to the President, and we're working

00:21:44.400 together with the U.S. Border Patrol and the state police and federal police as well.

00:21:50.560 Yeah. Have you seen any pictures of 10,000 Canadian troops on the border?

00:21:56.240 Yeah, no, me neither. Because it didn't happen. Trudeau mumbled something about 10,000, but

00:22:03.280 that included all border staff, including all bureaucrats in the department, people in Ottawa,

00:22:11.600 like it was another Trudeau lie. I thought Ford saying it. We don't have 10,000 troops to station

00:22:19.680 on the border, even if we had the will to do it. We don't have 10,000 troops available to do anything,

00:22:25.280 to be candid. I say that with great sorrow. That's something that Donald Trump keeps mentioning,

00:22:29.440 how we're freeloaders on the military. And I'm sorry, that's true. But it's like that first

00:22:34.560 video I showed you of Trump and Trudeau sort of fibbing about how much he was spending on

00:22:39.440 the military. Here, just take a quick look at that again. What are you at? What is your number?

00:22:44.240 The number we talked about is 70% increase over these past years, including, and for the coming

00:22:50.880 years, including significant investments in our fighter jets, significant investments in our naval

00:22:58.160 fleets. We are increasing significantly our defense spending from previous governments that cut it.

00:23:04.320 Okay. Where are you now, in terms of your number? We're at 135? 1.3?

00:23:11.200 1.4. 1.4. 1.4. And continuing to move... Claudia Scheinbaum understood the assignment.

00:23:18.560 Toughen up the border and show Trump that you're serious. And she did. And it worked for Mexico.

00:23:28.160 Trudeau and now Carney could do that. They could have done what Danielle Smith did, 0.74

00:23:34.400 actually hire sheriffs and police and sniffer dogs and drones and deployed them, or at least shown a

00:23:41.120 convincing plan to do that. But Trudeau doesn't or wouldn't. He's not against hard drugs. He's not

00:23:46.880 against migrants. So he doesn't really want to do those things. And he doesn't like to do anything that

00:23:53.040 Trump wants him to do. So there's that. I think that's a huge thing. But mainly,

00:23:58.480 the only shot the liberals have at winning is fighting Trump. Oh, and please don't tell me

00:24:03.040 they're suddenly great patriots who love Canada so, so much. China just slapped a 100% tariff on our

00:24:09.200 canola farmers, which is a lot larger than pretty much any other industry that's in question right

00:24:14.160 now. But the media and the politicians don't care because they're Western farmers. I think the

00:24:20.720 Laurentian elites, or at least the liberal side of them, they actually sort of hate things about

00:24:27.200 Canada, our history, our culture. I mean, the liberals hate it. They're the ones who stripped

00:24:32.320 John A. Macdonald off the $10 bill. I think they're just using that newfound patriotism cheaply as a

00:24:38.960 partisan weapon that they hope will win it for them. It's our job to stop that,

00:24:44.080 but the polls are tightening. Stay with us for an interview with Premier Smith next.

00:25:01.360 Well, we're joined now by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Premier, thanks so much for joining us again.

00:25:05.600 Can you give us a quick update? How are your communications going with the U.S. government?

00:25:11.280 I would say that what I've observed is that there are a lot of people around the U.S. president who

00:25:16.560 are very reasonable, very accessible, and don't want tariffs. They actually are kind of on our side

00:25:21.920 in understanding the important relationship that Canada and the U.S. enjoy. And I think we've had some

00:25:27.280 early successes. I was just at the Houston Sierra Week conference this week, and Chris Wright,

00:25:32.480 the Energy Secretary said that it was his view that there shouldn't be tariffs on Alberta oil and gas

00:25:36.960 at all. We also saw that when they did bring through the threat of initial tariffs, there was

00:25:42.000 a reduced rate for energy resources, and that includes critical minerals as well as electricity. I just think

00:25:47.680 we have to make that same argument across the full range of raw materials and intermediate goods so that

00:25:53.280 we can have as much of a tariff-free relationship as possible. I think there's probably still going to be

00:25:58.640 some tariffs that are coming for a variety of reasons, but I think that we can enjoy some

00:26:03.280 special status with the U.S. as we have for many decades. The New York Times had a very

00:26:07.680 interesting story about how Claudia Scheinbaum, the Mexican president, managed to control the emotional

00:26:14.000 energy and actually persuaded Trump that she was doing all she could. And what's interesting,

00:26:19.040 if the New York Times story is accurate, is that Trump thanked her and then pivoted to just bashing

00:26:25.120 Trudeau. And I think a lot of it was a personal feud. Now that Trudeau is gone, do you think we have

00:26:32.880 a chance to restart things? I'm a little worried that Mark Carney, I mean, at least in his, you know, the

00:26:38.800 last few weeks before he was sworn in, his main target seemed to be Trump. Do you think that Mark Carney's

00:26:45.200 going to have the moral hazard of wanting to pick fights with Trump so he can play Captain Canada to

00:26:51.440 defend us? I mean, Claudia Scheinbaum sort of swallowed her pride in a way, but got the deal 1.00

00:26:56.400 done for the sake of Mexico. I'm worried that Mark Carney might want to play Trudeau's game.

00:27:01.280 What do you think? Have you talked to Mark Carney at all? I have not talked to him. We do have a

00:27:07.200 first ministers conference scheduled for this week, so that'll be the first time that the premiers are

00:27:11.440 able to get together. And I hope that's not the case. I mean, there's a lot of people who are

00:27:16.160 really hurt by a tariff war, whether it's our Canadian producers who face tariffs selling their

00:27:21.760 goods into the US, or whether it's our Canadian consumers who are trying to buy American goods.

00:27:26.480 Tariff wars do not benefit anyone. I think we have to acknowledge that that first meeting that

00:27:31.360 the prime minister went to in Mar-a-Lago set us on a bad path. I think he made two key mistakes that

00:27:38.400 the president has talked about over and over again. One, by saying that we would not meet our NATO

00:27:43.600 commitment until 2032, that's not going to be good enough. I think we should all recognize that.

00:27:48.800 And secondly, implying that somehow Canada would collapse if we had 25% tariffs on it. That really

00:27:54.240 displayed a lot of weakness. I don't feel that sense of weakness in Canada right now. I feel like,

00:27:58.800 in fact, everybody is doing everything they can to show, no, we are a strong, united country. We will

00:28:03.040 find new markets. We will support each other. And so I think the message that the prime minister

00:28:07.440 conveyed was the wrong one. And I hope that the new prime minister doesn't make the same mistakes.

00:28:12.720 I'm a bit worried though. He has Stephen Gilbeau as his new Quebec lieutenant. And I don't think he

00:28:18.880 has any Albertans. There's no Albertans in cabinet. In fact, there's only two cabinet ministers west of

00:28:24.080 Ontario. Do you have anyone on the inside of the government who's like a red telephone during the

00:28:32.560 Cold War? Is there someone you can talk to? I mean, in fairness to Mark Carney, he's doing a lot of

00:28:38.720 things at once. But does the government of Alberta have an ear in this government somewhere? Or is it

00:28:45.280 just Gilbeau all the way down? Well, I have to say, I mean, I've had a pretty good relationship in the

00:28:49.920 past with a couple of cabinet ministers. And so I'm able to be in touch with them, especially on the trade

00:28:55.680 front. And a couple of them have been quite constructive. But I mean, make no mistake, Mark Carney has been in the

00:29:02.400 background for the last 10 years advising this government on net zero power regs and net zero

00:29:07.840 emissions targets, whether it's for autos, for houses, for emissions caps, methane caps. And so

00:29:14.640 I haven't really seen much to give the indication that he's going to repeal all the terrible laws that

00:29:20.640 targeted Alberta over the last 10 years. He's gotten rid of the one that is the most visible, which is the

00:29:26.400 consumer carbon tax that you see when you fill up your tank and you and you open up your home heating

00:29:30.380 bill. But it still sounds like he's intending to not only keep the ones on industry, but make them

00:29:36.560 even higher. And I can tell you that that's just not going to be on. We've had that kind of victimization

00:29:41.220 in Alberta of our industry for the last 10 years. And I don't think Albertans will put up with it

00:29:45.180 anymore. So I haven't seen any clear indication that those terrible policies are going to be repealed.

00:29:51.040 But that's why we need to get into an election, because I'd like to know exactly where the new

00:29:55.040 prime minister stands and see where he stands relative to the opposition leader here, Polyev, and then we

00:30:01.320 can make our choice and at least go forward into negotiations with the U.S. with someone who has a

00:30:06.440 clear four-year mandate.

00:30:09.260 One of the things that I thought you did well, if I may, was the fact you went down to the inauguration. So you

00:30:14.440 were signaling, I come in peace. I mean, it was a basic step of neighborly friendship. It would be like if

00:30:21.980 someone moves into the house next door, you come over with some, you know, groceries or a cake or

00:30:26.340 something, it's welcome. You know, and I think you were the only premier who did that. And I thought,

00:30:32.000 you know what, they use a certain language in America first Trump circles. It's sort of different

00:30:37.480 than how Canadians talk. And as you know, I wrote a book called Deal of the Century, the America first 0.98

00:30:44.320 plan for Canada's oil science. And I thought, can we make the case for Canada, not necessarily in the

00:30:50.500 language that we would use ourselves, but something that might click with Trump and his

00:30:55.320 Commerce Secretary Lutnik and others down there. So I've been testing it out with different America

00:31:01.120 first allies. Like I've done a lot of Trump adjacent interviews with Charlie Kirk and Dinesh

00:31:07.080 D'Souba, Benny Johnson. Like I've really been, and I've been saying, look, let's flip the script.

00:31:12.560 When Trudeau is gone, let's turn over New Leaf. Instead of pushing away Canadian oil with tariffs,

00:31:18.420 pull it in closer. Buy more, get the Keystone XL pipeline active. Like it was almost done.

00:31:27.000 And I said, well, maybe think like a real estate developer. Think of this as the deal of the

00:31:31.880 century and lock in 170 billion barrels over 50 years, completely free yourself from OPEC conflict

00:31:40.440 oil. And by the way, you're going to spend $13 trillion doing that. Now Canada has no excuse for

00:31:46.700 not spending money on its military. Like I was trying to think, what would a, what would an

00:31:50.780 advisor to President Trump say and do? And all the people I've met with, I've probably done half a

00:31:56.740 dozen America first type interviews. And they all said, that's a good idea. I just to get away from

00:32:04.960 the feud that President Trump seems to have with the liberals. Here's one thing they asked me,

00:32:10.280 and I wanted to put it to you. And I was hoping you could answer it on camera to show them.

00:32:15.260 They all say, could we go ahead and increase our, our purchases of Alberta oil? Do we need

00:32:23.320 to negotiate a new deal? And I thought it's already there in the USMCA in the side letter on energy.

00:32:29.040 And really the, the industry is ready. Premier Smith, if an America first advisor is watching

00:32:36.240 this video, could you with the Alberta industry ramp up your oil production and send maybe even

00:32:46.220 double as much oil to the United States? Could you and Alberta displace OPEC conflict oil 0.88

00:32:55.160 for American imports? Well, I can tell you that we certainly could double our production of oil and

00:33:00.920 gas, especially if we're building pipelines, East, West, North and South. I already have seen a number

00:33:07.400 of proposals that have come forward going south that could see us sell an extra 2 million barrels

00:33:11.660 per day by 2030 and more beyond that, if the Americans are interested. So keep in mind, that would

00:33:16.920 be a 50% increase in what we're already selling to the Americans. And it would make good sense for them

00:33:21.580 because when we sell oil to the US, we do it at a discounted value just because we have a heavier

00:33:27.680 product. And so it requires more upgrading. And as a result, we do sell it at a discount,

00:33:32.660 keeps prices for American consumers low. And it goes to one of the biggest refining capacity for heavy

00:33:39.120 oil in the United States, which is Texas. And so the Americans don't have a lot of other options when

00:33:45.820 it comes to this heavy grade of oil. They can look at Venezuela, they can look at Iran. And I've always

00:33:51.220 argued that we're a much better trading partner than that. But you're also seeing a couple of

00:33:55.140 other factors. One is that you're seeing some of their traditional conventional resources that

00:34:02.040 they're falling off in production. That's what happens with shale. It comes on in a flood and then

00:34:07.360 the reservoir gets exhausted. That's not the case with Canadian oil. We mine it. And so we know where

00:34:14.700 it is. It's just a matter of having to take the sand out of it so that we can turn it into a useful

00:34:18.580 product. So we have the advantage as they potentially have declining resources to be

00:34:23.340 able to backfill. But even if they don't, we can we can be a joint powerhouse because the world needs

00:34:29.100 both. They need WTI and they also need heavy oil. And we can be in partnership to make sure that that

00:34:34.640 gets to trading partners around the world. But at least by building pipelines to the US, they would

00:34:39.700 have the first offer to buy it. If it is the case that they do need it, if they don't, then we can

00:34:44.640 have it go to the Gulf Coast and export to India, export to our friends in Europe. There's a lot of

00:34:50.200 opportunities for us to work together on that. And I hope we can get past the tariffs so that we can

00:34:54.400 begin to have that conversation because there's a huge amount of opportunity and I sure don't want

00:34:57.760 to waste time. Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, sort of filled the void when Mark Carney and Justin

00:35:03.860 Trudeau were in their interregnum. And I think he got in trouble a bit by making some threats to

00:35:09.560 churning out the electricity. And it felt like Secretary of Commerce Lutnik called him out on

00:35:13.860 the carpet. I wonder if it's possible for you as the friendliest Premier, I don't know if I can say

00:35:20.920 that, or the most open-minded Premier, let me say that, if you could do some positive commercial

00:35:28.120 diplomacy and say, look, we don't actually have to fight Ottawa Liberals. We have the legal structures

00:35:34.360 in place, the USMCA. We have the pipeline plan, the Keystone XL. Let's just do it. Like, do you need

00:35:42.740 to wait for Melanie Jolie, or I forget who the new foreign minister is, do you really need to wait for

00:35:48.000 them? Or could you theoretically meet with Secretary of Lutnik and say, look, don't be trapped in this bad

00:35:54.200 relationship with the Liberals. You got a great relationship with Alberta. Let's just do it. Let's

00:36:00.180 just get it done. Well, I can tell you, I have met with members of the administration most recently

00:36:05.120 in CERA week in Houston with that exact message is that we own the resource. We have the will and

00:36:12.440 the interest to de-risk pipelines if we need to by pledging barrels on it. And we would work in

00:36:17.660 partnership to make that happen. However, it has to be in the context of a tariff-free relationship

00:36:22.640 because it's a bit of a mixed message if they do put a 10% tariff on oil and then say,

00:36:27.380 we want to buy more of it. I would say that if we can get to the point where we have a tariff-free

00:36:32.200 relationship, those conversations can begin very, very quickly. And that's the message that we did

00:36:37.260 want to send when I went down to Houston is that to the world and not just to the Americans, we have

00:36:43.440 a mechanism called our Alberta Petroleum Marketing Agency, which allows us to ink deals directly.

00:36:48.740 We're very close to selling 50,000 barrels a day to a European refinery. We'll announce that very soon.

00:36:54.000 There's another company that wants to help market 100,000 barrels per day of our product to Europe.

00:36:59.220 And who knows, maybe we could get a direct sale to the U.S. Department of Defense in the same way.

00:37:04.880 But that's the point is it is Alberta's resource. We have the ability to get it to market.

00:37:10.860 And I think we now finally have an historic alignment across all political parties that we've

00:37:15.820 got to be supporting each other rather than standing in the way. So I would love to start those

00:37:20.080 conversations in earnest. But I think we have to get through this skirmish that we're having right

00:37:25.740 now over tariffs and hopefully emerge on the other side with the vast, vast bulk of our resources being

00:37:31.920 tariff-free. Last question. I know you have to go. Thank you so much for spending this much time with

00:37:36.880 us. If you could boil down your message to the America First president and his team,

00:37:44.460 what's your value proposition? How would you change how he looks at Alberta oil and Canadian oil?

00:37:53.660 I think we've had some success. I mean, the argument that I've made is that they already

00:37:58.260 do get a deal on Canadian oil. They buy it at a discount. They're able to upgrade it,

00:38:03.240 create great American jobs and great American products. And then Canada buys those products

00:38:07.940 back in greater numbers than anyone else in the world. We're also the U.S. greatest customer.

00:38:11.940 So if you can take $100 billion worth of Canadian oil and turn it into $300 billion with the value

00:38:18.580 added export products and products that your own citizens can use, that's a pretty good deal. It's

00:38:22.720 a 300% return. So I would say that why wouldn't the U.S. be interested in doing more of that so that

00:38:29.060 we can continue to back them on maintaining low prices for their citizens, but also helping Americans

00:38:35.260 exert energy dominance around the world? I share that aspiration. I think we can be an absolute

00:38:40.980 partner in being able to do that. Yeah. And the U.S. Navy doesn't have to protect 0.98

00:38:45.060 Alberta oil from the Houthi terrorists. I mean, that's part of the argument is if you buy your 0.97

00:38:51.060 oil from North America, you don't have to spend $50 billion a year patrolling the Persian Gulf,

00:38:55.540 which is what the Americans do. That's an America first message too, by the way.

00:38:59.620 And the more oil that we sell to the United States, the more revenues it generates also for

00:39:04.320 the federal government. And then they'll have some dollars to be able to meet our NATO

00:39:07.660 commitment so that we can start monitoring and policing our North as well and be that partner

00:39:12.520 that they're looking for in North America energy security and international continental security

00:39:17.320 as well. So I think there's a perfect partnership that we would be able to have. We just have to

00:39:21.620 get through this latest round of tension. I know trade relationships always have tensions,

00:39:26.500 but the sooner we can get past this, I think the sooner we can get on to making sure that both

00:39:30.880 nations are able to prosper. Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm going to do my best to get

00:39:35.420 your comments in front of some, I mean, I know you're doing amazing things. I saw you in action

00:39:41.200 in January in Washington, you had a whole team working and you were meeting with officials and

00:39:47.320 politics in assembly line. I want the America first movement to say Canada is not an enemy.

00:39:54.400 Maybe Trudeau was, and maybe Mark Carney is, but Canada is not, and certainly not Canadian

00:39:59.440 imports of, exports of oil. I mean, that's the America first solution, not the problem.

00:40:05.020 So thank you for saying these things and, and please keep it up. I, I think you were actually

00:40:10.540 the most positive force in our bilateral relationship. I mean, I don't, hopefully Mark

00:40:16.280 Carney will see the light, but I sort of skeptical. Thanks very much. And let's keep in touch in the

00:40:20.320 weeks ahead. Let's do it. Thank you. Thanks for advocating as well. Thanks for your recent book.

00:40:24.580 I'm going to be very interested when I talk to Americans to see how it's being received.

00:40:28.580 Right on. Thank you very much. There you have it. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Good luck.

00:40:32.700 Stay with us for more ahead on Rebel News.

00:40:41.360 Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me, Louise Hislop says,

00:40:45.620 if Eastern Canada votes in Trudeau 2.0, many Western Canadians will be ready to leave this very

00:40:51.080 unhappy marriage. We're tired of being plundered by Eastern Canada. You know, there really is a 1.00

00:40:57.700 regional divide. And I mean, if you saw my monologue 10 minutes ago, Mark Carney is a deep believer in net

00:41:05.900 zero and transitioning off carbon. And he's pro China. I just, I think he's going to do everything

00:41:16.500 Trudeau did to us, but it's going to be smarter and better at it, which is dangerous.

00:41:21.220 Lisa, or Lisa Y says, it's disgusting how they all laugh, cough and smirk when Carney said,

00:41:28.340 buy November for the election. It's insulting to us, the hardworking Canadian people who paid their

00:41:33.220 inflated salaries. They don't deserve any of it. You know, this Mark Carney, he's got that Davos vibe

00:41:40.500 to him. He's a master of the universe. He's a VVIP. Of course, he flies in a private jet while telling

00:41:47.300 you to go net zero. I was thinking about his trip around the world to put together this anti-Trump

00:41:54.300 coalition. He's actually the man to do it. Not Emmanuel Macron or Keir Starmer. Keir Starmer

00:42:00.920 has spent the last 20 years of his life working and plotting and organizing to become the leader of

00:42:06.840 the Labour Party and then the Labour Prime Minister of the UK. Oh, believe me, that's a full-time job.

00:42:11.720 Same with Emmanuel Macron in France. Same with any European leader in their country.

00:42:17.380 They're focused mainly on what they do domestically. And yeah, they're interested in Trump, of course,

00:42:21.840 but the main thing is domestic politics. But Mark Carney, on the board of directors of the World

00:42:26.860 Economic Forum, has done nothing but make these international connections for sort of a globalist,

00:42:33.320 leftist, environmentalist cause. So if you were to ask me, who has the ability to put together

00:42:38.400 an anti-Trump coalition? Macron, Keir Starmer, the new German leader whose name I've forgotten,

00:42:46.180 or Mark Carney, I'd say Carney every time. Monica Pushkin says, I cannot even imagine Carney meeting

00:42:56.040 Trump. Well, it'll be very interesting if it does happen. And it is quite unusual that there hasn't

00:43:02.160 been a word from either side to the other in a week. Well, that's our show for today. Until tomorrow,

00:43:10.340 on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home. Good night.

00:43:13.380 Keep fighting for freedom.

00:43:15.220 Keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - March 17, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ King Carney meets with European royalty... but not with President Trump

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript