Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Mark Carney enjoys warm White House welcome — despite anti-Trump rhetoric

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Mark Carney went to the White House and it was not a disaster.

00:00:04.700 There were some disagreements, but I think he actually had a pretty good day. I'll take you

00:00:08.980 through it with 10 different clips from the meeting. But first, let me invite you to become

00:00:12.720 a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. I want you to see the facial expressions, the gestures. I want

00:00:18.420 you to see the body language when Carney and Trump met. And to do that, you need the video

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00:02:05.580 Tonight, Mark Carney meets with Donald Trump, and it was a love-in. It's May 6th, and this 0.97

00:02:11.020 is the Ezra Levant Show. I was going to do my monologue today about Danielle Smith's interesting

00:02:19.180 announcement yesterday, but we'll have plenty of time to dig into that in the weeks ahead. She

00:02:23.400 basically announced she's opening up two tracks with Ottawa, a negotiation track to get more rights

00:02:29.800 and respect within Confederation, but also she's permitting Alberta citizens to have a referendum

00:02:35.300 on secession. Very interesting combination. But I'd like to today show you some clips from Mark Carney's

00:02:42.460 meeting with Donald Trump at the White House. Now, Trump likes to have press scrums in the Oval Office

00:02:47.980 with foreign leaders. Sometimes it goes really well, like his visit with the Irish president.

00:02:53.480 Time-honored tradition. I'm going to present the bowl of shamrock to President Trump.

00:02:57.380 Boy, they were nervous that would go sideways because all the Irish politicians take shots

00:03:09.760 at Trump. I don't think he even knew it. Sometimes his meetings don't go well, like when Vladimir

00:03:15.400 Zelensky visited, and at the last minute, you could tell he decided to scupper an agreement

00:03:21.060 that he just didn't like. Remember this?

00:03:22.900 You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad

00:03:27.720 position, and he happens to be right about it. From the very beginning of the war, Mr.

00:03:31.660 Brown, I was arrested. You're not in a good position. You don't

00:03:33.300 have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. I'm not playing cards. But right

00:03:37.300 now, you're playing cards. I'm very serious, Mr. Brown. You're playing cards. You're gambling

00:03:41.280 with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World

00:03:47.800 World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.

00:03:53.620 Sometimes the meetings can be a little bit tense, like when the United Kingdom's Keir Starmer

00:03:59.520 met with Trump. Starmer brought gifts with him, which was smart. He brought an invitation

00:04:04.820 to a state dinner with the king. So this is a letter from His Majesty the King. It's an invitation

00:04:13.140 for a second state visit. This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented.

00:04:22.260 And I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us. So this is

00:04:28.380 a very special letter. I think the last state visit was a tremendous success. His Majesty the

00:04:33.720 King wants to make this even better. But Trump and J.D. Vance had their own plans. They took

00:04:38.280 Starmer to task publicly for the U.K.'s infringements on freedom of speech. Great. Yeah. Look, I said

00:04:46.040 what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the

00:04:50.740 U.K. and also with some of our European allies. But we also know that there have been infringements

00:04:55.860 on free speech that actually affect not just the British, of course, what the British do in their

00:05:01.680 own country is up to them, but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American

00:05:06.680 citizens. So that is something that we'll talk about today at lunch. We've had free speech

00:05:10.680 for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.

00:05:16.440 So which one of these precedents would it be with Mark Carney? The friendly Irish visit,

00:05:21.080 the disastrous Ukrainian visit or the half and half U.K. visit? Well, I mean, Carney had some brutal

00:05:27.880 things to say about Trump during the election campaign up here. But I honestly don't think the

00:05:32.440 White House even pays much attention to Canada at all, let alone our campaigns. Half the time

00:05:38.680 when Trump tweeted about the election, I honestly don't think he knew Carney's name. And there were

00:05:43.880 moments when it seemed like Trump still thought Trudeau was around, which he's not. Here's what

00:05:49.160 Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik had to say just yesterday, which again, sounds a bit boilerplate,

00:05:55.160 you know what I mean? Like that. It sounds like a prefabricated statement.

00:05:58.840 Can we make a deal with Canada? I think it's really complex. I think this is really complex

00:06:04.040 because they have been basically feeding off of us for decades upon decades upon decades,

00:06:10.040 right? They have their socialist regime and it's basically feeding off of America. I mean,

00:06:15.320 the president calls that out all the time. Why do we make cars in Canada? Why do we do our films

00:06:21.480 in Canada? Come on. So I think the president's going to have, I think it's going to be a fascinating

00:06:26.440 meeting. I'm glad I'm going to be there listening, but it's going to be a fascinating meeting tomorrow.

00:06:30.360 But I watched the whole meeting today and I have to say from Mark Carney's point of view,

00:06:35.880 really couldn't have gone much better with one exception that I'll mention. But here,

00:06:39.320 the whole public press conference was over half an hour, but much of it was Trump talking about

00:06:44.120 other matters like the Houthi terrorists in Yemen who apparently have agreed to stop being terrorists.

00:06:49.960 and a teaser about a announcement from the Middle East that's yet to come. But here are 10 clips

00:06:56.440 from other parts that do pertain to Canada. I think they're interesting. I'll show you the 10 clips.

00:07:02.360 I think the most startling thing for many Canadians, especially liberals, the kind who said elbows up,

00:07:07.640 the kind who told pollsters that fighting back against Trump was their top issue, was Trump celebrating

00:07:14.280 Carney's victory and in fact, taking some credit for it right off the top. It's a great honor to have

00:07:21.080 Prime Minister Mark Carney with us. As you know, just a few days ago, he won a very big election in Canada.

00:07:28.360 And I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him, but I can't take vote.

00:07:33.960 They were his party was losing by a lot. And he ended up winning. So I really want to congratulate him

00:07:40.280 and it was probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics, maybe even greater than mine.

00:07:46.760 But I want to just congratulate you. That was a great election, actually.

00:07:51.400 I honestly don't know what to make of that. I don't understand how Trump could favor

00:07:55.320 a globalist environmentalist extremist, a former board member of the World Economic Forum. I mean,

00:07:59.720 put aside Carney's personal insults to Trump. How would Trump prefer a socialist woke tax hiker? I just don't

00:08:07.560 get it. Here's another clip where Trump says Mark Carney wants to end the war in Ukraine.

00:08:12.280 I think we have a lot of things in common. We have some tough, tough points to go over,

00:08:16.360 and that'll be fine. But we're going to also be discussing Ukraine, Russia,

00:08:20.200 the war, because Mark wants it ended as quickly as I do. I think it has to end.

00:08:25.000 Now, I'm sure in a way that's true. I suppose everyone wants to end the war, but

00:08:28.760 it's certainly a change of politics and policy from Trudeau, who talked about supporting Ukraine

00:08:34.520 no matter what, all the way to the bitter end. Or maybe Carney just didn't have a chance to get

00:08:38.840 a word in edgewise. I'm not sure. Now, Carney spoke next, and it was actually the most incredible

00:08:45.000 part. It was a love in. He said he admires Trump. He respects him. He loves his leadership. I mean,

00:08:51.320 holy moly. I tell you, he couldn't have been more different a week ago. Take a look. Mark,

00:08:56.920 would you like to say a few words? Well, thank you, Mr. President. I'm on the edge of my seat,

00:09:01.080 actually. But thank you for your hospitality and above all for your leadership. You're a

00:09:09.320 transformational president, a focus on the economy with a relentless focus on the American worker,

00:09:15.240 securing your borders, ending the scourge of fentanyl and other opioids, and securing the world.

00:09:23.960 And I've been elected with my colleagues here. With the help of my colleagues here, I'm going to

00:09:29.320 spread the credit to transform Canada with a similar focus on the economy, securing our borders,

00:09:38.280 again, on fentanyl, much greater focus on defense and security, securing the Arctic and developing the

00:09:44.600 Arctic. And, you know, the history of Canada and the U.S. is we're stronger when we work together,

00:09:49.880 and there's many opportunities to work together. And I look forward to, you know, addressing some of

00:09:54.200 those issues that we have, but also finding those areas of mutual cooperation so we can go forward.

00:09:59.000 Great. That's great. Very nice. Thank you very much. That's a nice statement.

00:10:02.840 Hang on. Does Mark Carney really have a mandate to transform Canada? Does he really? In what way?

00:10:10.840 I don't think he's actually told us. Then Trump came with more praise. I don't believe for a minute

00:10:17.240 that Trump watched the debates, but here's what he said about them.

00:10:20.440 I have a lot of respect for this man. And I watched him come up, in a sense, through the ranks

00:10:27.000 when he wasn't given much of a chance. And he ran a really great campaign. He did a really great

00:10:31.160 debate. I think that debate was very helpful. I was going to raise my hand. I don't know if that's

00:10:38.280 good or bad. I shouldn't say that. That might hurt you. But no, he ran a really great election,

00:10:43.320 I thought. And yeah, something could happen. And here's something that seems surprising. Trump said

00:10:48.360 he wanted nothing from Canada except friendship.

00:10:51.320 The top concession you want out of Canada. The top concession you want out of Canada.

00:10:54.920 Concession? Yes. Friendship.

00:10:57.720 But that's not a concession. No. Just, I just, we're going to be friends with Canada.

00:11:01.720 Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada. Canada is a very special place to me.

00:11:07.560 I know so many people that live in Canada. I don't really think that's true. In fact,

00:11:12.920 in the following moments, Trump did bring up his issues. Then came the 51st state thing. And Trump

00:11:19.560 explains it again, that it was Trudeau who put the idea in his head, which we know from others is how

00:11:26.360 it happened. Trump tones it down a bit with Carney right there, but later starts to dream out loud

00:11:31.880 about it again. Mr. Prime Minister, I'd like to get your responsibilities too. Mr. President,

00:11:36.360 you have said that Canada should become a fit in first aid. No, no. Well, I still believe that,

00:11:42.440 but, but, you know, takes two to tango, right? But no, I do. I mean, I believe it would be a massive

00:11:49.400 tax cut for the Canadian citizens. You get free military, you get tremendous medical cares and other

00:11:57.000 things. There would be a lot of advantages, but it would be, it would be a massive tax cut.

00:12:03.480 And it's also a beautiful, you know, as a real estate developer, you know, I'm a real estate

00:12:07.480 developer at heart. When you get rid of that artificially drawn line, somebody drew that line

00:12:12.200 many years ago with like a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country. When you

00:12:17.160 look at that beautiful formation, when it's together, I'm a very artistic person. But when I looked at

00:12:23.800 that, you know, I said, that's the way it was meant to be. But you know, it, uh, I guess I do feel it's

00:12:30.280 much better for Canada. Now, Mark Carney didn't want to let that stand. And I think he managed to

00:12:35.400 disagree with Trump on the 51st state business in a way that actually clicked with Trump and lowered

00:12:41.080 the temperature on that a bit. As you know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for

00:12:47.080 sale. That's true. We're sitting in one right now, you know, Buckingham Palace and you visited as well.

00:12:51.640 That's true. Uh, and, um, having met with, uh, the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign,

00:12:57.320 uh, last several months, uh, it, it, it's not for sale, won't be for sale, uh, ever. Uh, but the

00:13:03.240 opportunity is in the partnership and, uh, and what we can build together. And we have done that in the

00:13:08.200 past. And part of that, as the president just said, is with respect to our own security. Uh, and my

00:13:15.160 government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security and our partnership.

00:13:21.560 And I'll say this as well, uh, that the president has, uh, revitalized, uh, international security,

00:13:27.720 revitalized NATO, uh, and us playing our full weight, uh, in NATO. And that will be part of it.

00:13:32.120 That's true. And then Trump tore a strip off Christian Freeland.

00:13:35.400 I won't say this about Mark, but I didn't like his predecessor. I didn't like a person that worked for,

00:13:42.040 she was terrible, actually. She was a terrible person. And she really hurt that deal very badly 0.97

00:13:47.320 because she tried to take advantage of the deal and she didn't get away with it. You know what I'm

00:13:52.760 talking about. But, uh, so, you know, I had a, we had a bad, we had a bad relationship having to do

00:14:00.280 with the fact that we disagreed with the way they viewed the deal. And we ended it, you know, we ended

00:14:05.080 that, uh, that relationship pretty much. The, uh, USMC is great for all countries. It's good for all

00:14:11.320 countries. We do have a negotiation coming up over the next year or so to adjust it or terminate it.

00:14:17.960 I've got just two more clips I want to show you. Here's Trump when he, uh, was asked if there was

00:14:22.760 anything anyone could do to make him lift the tariffs.

00:14:26.200 Mr. President, is there anything the prime minister can say to you today to change your mind

00:14:32.280 on tariffing Canada? Tariffing cars? Tariffing Canada. Is there anything he could say to you

00:14:38.360 in the course of your meetings with him today that would get you to lift tariffs on Canada? No.

00:14:43.800 Why not? Just the way it is.

00:14:47.560 Now, Carney weighed in again, suggesting that he has some issues he wants to raise with Trump about those

00:14:53.160 tariffs. And then Trump makes it pretty clear that he's not interested in bending on his key issue

00:14:58.440 automobiles. Trump talks about a trade deficit with Canada. Now, oil and gas imports are the biggest

00:15:03.800 part of that. Trump earlier said that the US doesn't need Canadian oil. That's just not the facts. We

00:15:09.640 help the US displace OPEC conflict oil. They import almost 10 million barrels a day and better to get it

00:15:17.000 from us than from the Saudis or Qataris. But he only mentioned the oil and gas thing in passing. What he's

00:15:21.800 really against, I think, and what Carney hasn't been able to convince him otherwise, it seems,

00:15:27.320 is that the US wants to get out of the auto pact. That's the, well, I guess it's almost 70 year old,

00:15:35.400 65 year old deal with the US for free trade in the auto sector. The US wants to build its own cars in

00:15:41.320 America, not buy them from Canada. The tremendous auto sector between the two of us and the changes

00:15:47.320 that may have been helpful. You know, 50% of a car that comes from Canada is American.

00:15:52.760 That's not like anywhere else in the world. And to your question about, is there one thing? No,

00:15:58.680 this is a bigger discussion. There are much bigger forces involved. And, and this will take some time

00:16:05.480 and some discussions. And that's why we're here to have those discussions. And that's, that is

00:16:10.120 represented by who's sitting around the table. See, the conflict is, and, and this is very friendly.

00:16:16.120 We're, we're not, this is not going to be like, we had another little blow up with somebody else.

00:16:20.840 That was a much different, this is, this is a very friendly conversation. But, uh, we want to make our

00:16:27.000 own cars. We don't really want cars from Canada. And we put tariffs on cars from Canada. And at a certain

00:16:34.600 point, it won't make economic sense for Canada to build those cars. And we don't want steel from

00:16:40.600 Canada because we're making our own steel and we're having massive steel plants being built right

00:16:45.080 now. As we speak, we really don't want Canadian steel and we don't want Canadian aluminum and

00:16:50.840 various other things because we want to be able to do it ourself. And we, because of, you know, past

00:16:57.400 thinking of people, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada. In other words, they have a surplus with us.

00:17:04.600 And there's no reason for us to be subsidizing Canada. Canada's a place that will have to be

00:17:11.720 able to take care of itself economically. What do you think? I think it went pretty well for Carney.

00:17:19.160 I think any true believers, Trump derangement syndrome, liberal voters will be confused. Just

00:17:25.080 like I'm confused, but really liberal voters don't care. They're on the red team. They hate the blue team. 0.94

00:17:30.440 They're especially against Pierre Polyev. So they're happy no matter what happened, I think.

00:17:35.080 I don't see how having a liberal, globalist, environmentalist, anti-carbon radical

00:17:41.640 at Canada's helm, I don't see how that helps the US or his America First agenda. I just honestly don't

00:17:47.880 understand it. I admit that. I'll try to understand it in the months ahead. I'm sure you will too.

00:17:54.120 For the last 10 years, successive liberal governments in Ottawa, supported by their new Democrat allies,

00:18:13.560 have unleashed a tidal wave of laws, policies, and political attacks aimed directly at Alberta's free

00:18:19.640 economy, and in effect, against the future and livelihoods of our people. They have blocked new

00:18:25.560 pipelines with C-69, cancelled multiple oil and gas projects, and banned the very tanker ships needed to

00:18:33.080 carry those resources to new markets. They have stacked an oil and gas production cap on top of

00:18:39.160 a crippling industrial carbon tax, making new energy and agricultural projects economically

00:18:44.680 impossible to pursue, without massive subsidies from governments, which Ottawa has failed to provide,

00:18:50.680 and which our taxpayers cannot afford. This onslaught of anti-energy, anti-agriculture, and anti-resource

00:18:57.960 development policies have scared away global investments to the tune of a half a trillion dollars,

00:19:03.960 driving those investments and jobs out of Alberta and Canada to much more attractive investment

00:19:09.240 climates in the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. Having traveled much of the world these past few

00:19:15.160 years, it is evident that Canada is not viewed as an attractive place to invest in resource development,

00:19:21.240 manufacturing, or agriculture, because of our high carbon taxes, endless red tape, and the uncertainty

00:19:28.360 and chaos brought about by these and other federal government policies. There it is, a clip from Alberta

00:19:33.800 Premier Daniel Smith's presentation yesterday. Very interesting. I like what's going on. It's sort of a

00:19:39.240 two-track approach, a panel on how to get a better position within Confederation, but also lighting the

00:19:46.040 fuse on what will surely be a referendum. We spoke last week with Keith Wilson, the King's counsel, the

00:19:52.120 lawyer, who pointed out the new rules for a citizen referendum. You only need 177,000 names on a petition,

00:20:00.120 which in a province of almost 5 million people shouldn't be too hard to get. You also have 120 days

00:20:05.400 to get it. The Premier herself suggested that she would not be for separation, but she would respect

00:20:12.760 the wishes of voters who, if that was the will of the people. Very interesting strategy. But it suggests

00:20:21.000 to me that the Premier will be more the presiding host of the referendum, as opposed to a contestant

00:20:28.040 therein. We'll try and get the Premier on the show later this week. But there are others who are ready

00:20:33.480 to make their move now. Some are civil society organizations. Some are registered parties. And

00:20:40.440 here's one that I didn't even know existed, I'll tell you that. I suppose that's what happens when you

00:20:43.960 move out of Alberta and move to Toronto. You sort of lose touch with the grassroots. But I'm delighted today

00:20:49.480 to be joined by Cameron Davies. He's the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta. And I went through

00:20:55.640 their literature and it looks like there's some familiar names there. I see my old buddy Art Hanger,

00:21:00.280 former Reform Party member of parliament, is their VP of policy. That's a familiar name. Joining us now

00:21:05.320 is Cameron Davies. Cameron, nice to meet you. Thanks for taking the time.

00:21:08.440 Thanks for having me, Ezra. It's always good to see you. I think we bumped into each other a few

00:21:14.840 years ago at some conservative convention. We're always bumping into each other at, but it's great to see

00:21:20.120 you again. And we're excited to help build the political will to ensure that not only a binding

00:21:28.280 referendum happens, but that the will of the people is followed through on. If you recall,

00:21:33.880 a few short years ago, Alberta spent, the Alberta government spent millions of dollars educating and

00:21:40.440 promoting an equalization referendum that Albertans voted on overwhelmingly in favor of. And since then,

00:21:50.040 successive so-called conservative governments in Alberta have done absolutely nothing to enact

00:21:56.600 the will of the people. You know, it's funny, just when you said that, it made me think of the Brexit

00:22:02.120 referendum in the United Kingdom. By the way, the entire establishment was against Brexit.

00:22:06.680 All the political parties other than UKIP, all the banks, all the media, all the celebrities,

00:22:12.680 all the important people, everyone except for the citizens who voted for it. And my point of saying

00:22:19.000 that is- And it was split. It was split, but it was a win. But here's the thing. The parties in power

00:22:25.400 slow walked implementing Brexit for years. In fact, they had to be sort of finally hectored into doing it.

00:22:34.360 So it sounds to me like you're saying winning the referendum is step one, but then implementing

00:22:39.080 it is step two. I would say step one would be harder. Here's why, Cameron,

00:22:44.440 every single force of the establishment would be out to squash it. And they would take it seriously.

00:22:49.480 They already are. I think Brexit sort of sneaked through. It sort of caught everyone by surprise.

00:22:54.520 But when the premier herself is saying, we're going to do this, I don't know. So you say they already are.

00:23:00.680 Tell me, tell me what's happened. What have you detected? The empire striking back

00:23:06.280 against the rebels who would secede. Tell me what you've seen or heard.

00:23:11.000 So interesting language yesterday. The language was that we would be having another panel,

00:23:18.360 yet another panel. We've already had panels in Alberta, if you recall, the Fair Deal panel 1.0.

00:23:23.320 And now we're having the Alberta Next panel, which we articulated yesterday that we're not interested

00:23:28.360 in Alberta Next, we're interested in Alberta First. But Albertans are tired of panels. Much of the speech

00:23:35.400 from the UCP yesterday was regurgitation of tired talking points, that Alberta has been mistreated, 1.00

00:23:42.440 but somehow another panel is going to lead the way and solve these problems. It simply won't.

00:23:48.280 The fact of the matter is that a citizen-led referendum could turn into, with this current

00:23:54.840 government, nothing more than a recommendation. And that's what we're here fighting against,

00:23:59.480 that there has to be a binding referendum that the legislative powers are bound to execute on.

00:24:06.360 But the political will is also required.

00:24:09.400 Cameron, sorry to interrupt, isn't that what the premier said? Like, isn't that the big news

00:24:14.040 from yesterday that the premier is saying? Yeah. Like, to me, that's the thunderclap.

00:24:17.960 So, a key point there to make note of, a key point to make note of there, Ezra, is that the language

00:24:24.920 that was used is fascinating. That there would be multiple items on a referendum, which could include

00:24:33.160 a question on Alberta independence. Now, many who have looked at the Clarity Act understand that it

00:24:40.680 has to be a singular question for it to count, if you will. And so, there's already a bit of a poison pill,

00:24:48.360 if you will, in that the provincial government is looking at a plethora of questions,

00:24:53.800 not a singular question on independence. And so, there already seems to be

00:24:58.360 some muddying of the waters, an attempt to appease and talk out of all sides to try and appease all

00:25:06.600 Albertans, that I'm against separation, but I'm going to allow the voters to have a vote of one of

00:25:13.640 many votes on things they're displeased with. And that is not how the independence process has to play

00:25:19.560 out. There needs to be a binding referendum, even in the UK. And I say this from experience,

00:25:24.280 having worked on the Brexit campaign in favor of in favor of leave, even in the Brexit campaign,

00:25:29.880 we had a split in the Conservative Party in the UK. And many UK MPs were in favor,

00:25:37.640 many were against, but we had some political will pushing for it, nonetheless.

00:25:43.400 Well, okay, you've made your case, you suggest that it's not a,

00:25:48.040 that there's some wiggle room in there or that the water has been muddied. I'll look at it again

00:25:55.320 with your warning in mind, but it certainly seemed quite, it seemed clear to me. I'll go back and

00:26:01.080 look at it maybe with a more lawyerly skepticism. But let me park that for a second. I want to talk

00:26:07.400 a little bit more about the party, Alberta Republicans. Tell me more about the party.

00:26:13.480 Republican has a certain meaning. Why don't you define the party for me? And then I might ask

00:26:18.840 you some follow up questions. Go ahead. Perfect. We are 100% focused on a binding independence

00:26:25.560 referendum so that Albertans can have the opportunity to choose a new form of government,

00:26:32.680 a constitutional republic, as over 30 other nations in the Commonwealth have chosen

00:26:38.520 to form a new system of government and to take into our own hands, our own self-determination

00:26:46.680 and determine our own future. That's what we're focused on.

00:26:51.640 Okay. Was the party registered as Alberta Republicans or did it start as something else?

00:27:00.280 It started off as a pro-autonomy party prior to the 2022 UCP leadership race.

00:27:07.160 And what was it called? And it was called the Buffalo Party in reference to the territory of

00:27:12.120 Buffalo between Alberta and Saskatchewan. It was one of the premier groups pushing for autonomy at the

00:27:19.800 time. And if you recall in the 2022 leadership race, the leading contender pushed forward a policy

00:27:28.120 called the Sovereignty Act. Right.

00:27:30.440 And the first order of government after that leadership race was to change the Sovereignty Act

00:27:38.040 to a Sovereignty Act within a united Canada. And that was the first, if you will, betrayal

00:27:45.640 of those who had supported absolute sovereignty for Alberta within the UCP.

00:27:50.520 All right. I hear what you're saying. So you're a harder line than the premier. And I think there's

00:27:55.960 certainly room for that. Now, Republicans suggest a republic, I think, and that suggests that

00:28:06.280 why don't you tell me what that means? I mean, some people want to join the United, some separatists

00:28:10.680 want to join the United States. Some want what the Parti Québécois used to call sovereignty

00:28:16.280 association with Canada. Other people talk about being an independent member of the Commonwealth.

00:28:21.960 Um, what is the position of your party on, on that sort of final status question?

00:28:28.120 So, first of all, we're not affiliated with any political party, whether that be within Canada

00:28:33.720 or without Canada. Okay. But you are a political, you're your own political.

00:28:37.560 We are, we are a political party here in the province of Alberta. Currently,

00:28:41.880 our mission is to see Alberta as an independent constitutional republic. Um, we want to see

00:28:48.760 that, uh, the change of government include separation of powers that don't currently exist,

00:28:55.480 among other things that, that Albertans can have more autonomy over their medical choices

00:29:01.000 and property rights, including firearms ownership. Um, we are in an abusive and toxic relationship

00:29:07.160 with Ottawa. And it's not something that's new. It's something that's been happening for decades.

00:29:13.000 And we've tried mediation. We've tried counseling, if you will. And the time is now. Albertans have

00:29:18.920 had enough and it's time for a divorce. Um, it's an interesting analogy. I've, I've referred to that

00:29:25.000 same analogy when Donald Trump quote proposed to Canada, I would say, well, that sounds like an

00:29:31.000 indecent proposal for a couple. We're not interested in arranged marriages right now. That's, that's not 0.99

00:29:36.440 even on the discussion. Um, no, I, I, uh, before I was in journalism, I, I was in the reform party of

00:29:44.120 Canada. So I know a little bit about some of these issues. And I also know the difficulty of a startup

00:29:49.320 party as does art hanger. Um, in fact, uh, you know, back in the day, some 25, 30 years ago, I used to

00:29:55.480 battle with art against the bad guys. Um, and what little I know about politics tells me you need

00:30:05.000 a few things. You need money. You absolutely need money to hire staff, to buy ads, to,

00:30:13.320 you know, you just, that's how it works. You need money to, to even design something for quote for

00:30:19.640 free on the internet takes money. The second thing is you need is members. You need people.

00:30:24.440 You need them to talk to their neighbors, to put up lawn signs, things like that.

00:30:29.240 And then the third thing I think, and I'm just making up my own list here is you need a leader

00:30:34.920 who is out there leading, um, every day in the media, on the ground, crisscrossing the province.

00:30:44.620 I think those are three important elements to a win. Absolutely. What is, what does your party have

00:30:51.320 to say about money members and the leader? Why don't you take me through each of those?

00:30:56.760 How's your fundraiser? What's your budget like? How much money do you have?

00:31:01.320 Well, I can point to our Q1 financials. So there are currently, uh, five, uh, independence leaning

00:31:08.200 parties in the province. Um, and in quarter one, the Republican party of Alberta posted a fundraising,

00:31:16.200 um, achievement of just under $123,000. Uh, all four, uh, other independence minded parties,

00:31:24.920 I think combined raised just under, uh, 6,000. And so on the fundraising side, there is a coalescence

00:31:32.840 of independence minded Albertans that are rallying behind the Republican party of Alberta on the

00:31:38.920 membership side within 48 hours of the federal election. We had signed up over 11,000 new members

00:31:46.840 bringing our party membership to just over 20,000 current members. Uh, if you recall in 2015,

00:31:54.360 the wild rose party, uh, had a membership base of around 30 to 35,000 members. So we are well on our

00:32:00.760 way to becoming a, uh, a, the fastest growing and we are the fastest growing conservative alternative

00:32:08.360 here in the province of Alberta. And on leadership, I have committed to touring over 300 stops across

00:32:15.560 the province between now and end of the year. And we are, we are well on our way, uh, on that tour.

00:32:21.000 It's been an amazing experience so far. We have had packed out town halls, standing room only,

00:32:26.680 and the engagement from Albertans, uh, don't believe mainstream media, uh, independence and

00:32:32.920 actual independence from Canada is on the rise. We're beyond this talk of being team Canada and

00:32:38.920 in a united Canada, Albertans want out. They've had enough. And a 300 stops. That's a very busy

00:32:45.800 itinerary. Um, does that mean you're doing this full-time? I am. I am. I have, I've taken a leave

00:32:53.400 from, uh, from the positions I held with, uh, with my companies and I am doing this full-time

00:32:59.240 because Alberta is too important. Do you have any allies? Do you have any,

00:33:05.480 tell me, are there any influencers or business leaders or, uh, retired politicians who said,

00:33:11.960 I like those? For example, I'm just going to make up a name, Preston Manning. Um, I don't know. I

00:33:17.080 mean, he's written some interesting things in the, in the global mail. He said, Mark Carney could be

00:33:21.720 the end of Canada. Uh, he wrote that op-ed in the globe, but a month ago, and it caused some

00:33:26.360 ruffled feathers at least. Have you had any people from the reform party, from the Canadian Alliance,

00:33:32.520 from the conservative party of Canada and more likely retired than current, uh, has anyone joined your

00:33:39.400 team as some sort of a gray haired source of wisdom? I, I, I might put Art Hanger in that category.

00:33:45.240 Who else? Art Hanger has been a great source of wisdom and he brought him up earlier. Another

00:33:49.240 gentleman that, um, we've spoken to frequently and has been a great source of encouragement,

00:33:55.320 uh, and, and wisdom, uh, from having been in the trenches in this particular endeavor before is

00:34:00.120 former MLA Gordon Kessler. Sure. And, uh, him and I have talked several times and he's been a

00:34:05.160 fantastic, fantastic source of support. Uh, we have a, uh, former United conservative party, uh,

00:34:12.920 executive member on our current board right now. Um, and so, and there, and there, there are many,

00:34:18.760 we've had entire, uh, constituency association boards that have walked over from the UCP to join

00:34:25.240 the RPA. Uh, so there's been an immense amount of institutional knowledge that the early days of wild

00:34:31.880 rose 2007, 2008 didn't have. And so we're, we're about a step ahead in some regards in getting that

00:34:40.360 support from those who have been in the trenches before. Uh, we have some of the founding members

00:34:46.040 of the UCP board, uh, in our corner, uh, helping us out and cheering us on. So there's, there's a lot of

00:34:53.400 institutional knowledge and wealth that's, um, that's been falling, uh, and, and supporting,

00:34:59.880 uh, the RPA and, and helping us get to where we are today. And, uh, the support is, is just

00:35:05.720 increasing. Uh, there's always the naysayers, Ezra, and you know, this having been through in the, in

00:35:09.960 the trenches yourself, there's always the naysayers and those who say, well, we don't need political

00:35:14.920 solutions. Uh, we just need to sign a piece of paper and snap our fingers and everything's going to be

00:35:20.840 okay. And our political experience shows otherwise. I think you've seen that you highlighted Brexit.

00:35:27.000 Uh, it took political leadership and the reform party, uh, to essentially force the execution of

00:35:34.200 Brexit to happen. And Alberta is not any different. Um, it will take political will to see this across

00:35:41.400 the finish line. And that's what we're here to focus on and build. Uh, one more question,

00:35:44.840 just a detail. You say you have 20,000 members now, how many electoral associations are riding

00:35:49.720 associations? I'm not sure what you prefer to call them. How many local in each riding,

00:35:55.560 the committee, the board nominating a candidate? I, I'm not, I think their job would be more to

00:36:01.080 fight for the referendum as opposed to nominating a candidate just yet.

00:36:04.280 All of the, all of the above.

00:36:05.560 How many of these do you have up and running?

00:36:08.680 We have a, we have a different, a different approach to it. So we start off writings as a

00:36:12.760 writing branch, which is a unofficial organization in a writing. And currently there's about

00:36:19.560 38 writing branches that have been formed. There is a more formal process. Once a threshold of

00:36:25.960 memberships in those writings has been reached. And once there's an organizational plan, if you will,

00:36:30.920 like a franchise to ensure that there's a proper organization on the ground, a president, a CFO,

00:36:36.760 so that that writing branch can turn into a constituency association and then participate in

00:36:41.480 the policy development process, which is ongoing. And in fact, MP, former MP Art Hanger is our VP of

00:36:47.640 policy and doing a great job at organizing that and preparing for this fall's AGM and policy convention.

00:36:53.880 Well, Cameron, it's all very interesting. And let me just tell you what Rebel News's approach is

00:36:57.880 going to be. I mean, I'm born and raised in Alberta and I did some work with the Reform Party

00:37:02.760 and the Canadian Alliance. And for about five minutes, I was actually a candidate for the Canadian

00:37:07.720 Alliance before I stepped aside for some young pup named Stephen Harper.

00:37:11.240 But I live in Toronto now and Rebel News's main office is in Toronto. We have journalists across

00:37:20.040 the country, including in Alberta, and we're incredibly sympathetic to Alberta. And we are pro-Alberta.

00:37:26.440 And we agree with the thesis that Ottawa, especially the Liberals, are punitive towards Alberta.

00:37:34.040 And we support this referendum. We support Albertans having the right to complain. The law was,

00:37:40.760 the precedent was set by Quebec, approved by Parliament in the Clarity Act, approved by the Supreme Court

00:37:46.600 in the constitutional reference. So we believe that Alberta should have just as much right as Quebec

00:37:52.040 to exercise its democratic functions. And we believe that those who contest it should be dealt with

00:37:59.080 with respect. You don't see the kind of calumnies and vitriol towards the Parti Quebecois or the Bloc

00:38:06.120 Quebecois. In fact, the opposite. You see Ottawa sucking up to them, appeasing them, compromising with

00:38:11.800 them, bargaining with them. You don't hear them denouncing them. So our role as Rebel News will be to

00:38:16.680 be honest brokers and to help host the conversation and the debates. In fact, we're having two town hall

00:38:23.640 meetings next week in Alberta. We've got on Edmonton on Monday night and Calgary on Winston.

00:38:29.320 And unfortunately, that coincides with some hockey games. But we've already sold out the Calgary event,

00:38:34.840 and I think we'll sell out the Edmonton event too. There's a lot of interest out there. People want

00:38:38.360 to hear what's going on. So I just wanted to tell you, Cameron, Rebel News will be a friendly, objective,

00:38:45.240 truth-telling, democratically sympathetic, journalistic outfit because I think you were

00:38:51.720 going to be attacked by every establishment force that you know of and many that you don't know of.

00:39:00.200 Well, Ezra, my background in Alberta's oil patch and later in life serving as a United States Marine

00:39:07.240 have prepared me in many ways to have the resilience, grit and determination to see this fight through

00:39:15.560 no matter what flies our way. And we are dedicated to this mission. We appreciate your support in being

00:39:21.640 an advocate for those voices that would see a free and independent Alberta. And another Easterner who has

00:39:31.560 been on our side for some time is law professor Bruce Party. In fact, he'll be a speaker at our

00:39:37.480 rally for Alberta on May 24th in Red Deer. And of course, you and the team are more than welcome to

00:39:43.640 attend as are all Albertans. It will be the largest rally for Alberta independence that this province

00:39:50.360 has ever seen. And it's going to further ignite the fuel and organization that this movement needs

00:39:58.680 to ensure that Alberta independence becomes a reality. So I just encourage your viewers,

00:40:03.160 visit albertarepublicans.com, get involved. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

00:40:09.000 All right, May 24th in Red Deer. Well, I'll try and make it if I'm available.

00:40:12.600 Cameron Davies, leader of the Alberta Republicans. Thanks for spending a little time with me,

00:40:16.840 giving me a little bit of a briefing, telling me a little bit of the shape of your organization.

00:40:22.840 It'll be interesting to see how you progress in the months ahead. And I think if I can't attend,

00:40:28.760 in Red Deer, I'm sure one of our Alberta team will. So thanks for the heads up about that.

00:40:32.840 Keep in touch. This is a very important story. I dare say this could well be the most important

00:40:38.120 story of the next year. Thank you so much for having me, Ezra. It's always good to connect with

00:40:42.440 you. And we're in this to make Alberta truly strong and free. All right. There you have it,

00:40:46.920 Cameron Davies, leader of the Alberta Republicans. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.

00:40:58.360 Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me. Lisa Clark says, if CBC is such a national treasure,

00:41:10.600 why do they turn off the comments section on their newscasts? They don't want anyone questioning

00:41:14.920 their narrative. That's why. Yeah. Oh boy. They would get more thumbs down than thumbs up if it was

00:41:23.320 on YouTube. I think a lot of people are sick of the CBC agenda. But really, like I always say,

00:41:29.720 they only have to please one viewer. For the last 10 years, it was Justin Trudeau. Now it's Mark

00:41:34.440 Carney. Every single day, Rebel News and other independent journalists have to listen to our

00:41:39.000 viewers. And if we don't, we go out of business because we're no longer supportive. It's sort of

00:41:43.880 the opposite with the CBC. They only have to please Mark Carney and they know how. Next letter from Richie

00:41:51.080 Buckto says, if you wanted more Canadian news, why did they shut down the media scrum after the

00:41:56.280 English debate? This guy contradicts himself on a daily basis. They don't want more news. The fewer

00:42:03.560 news sources, the better. They literally arranged it so Facebook no longer shares news. Who does that

00:42:09.240 hurt? It doesn't hurt the big players like CTV, CBC, Global. It hurts independent upstarts that are shared

00:42:15.400 more often peer-to-peer on social platforms, social media platforms. They do not want more news. You have to

00:42:21.560 understand that. Last letter from Michael Carriere who says, the look on Carney's face when Trump

00:42:27.460 mentioned what a loser Freeland is, was priceless. And the sad part is there are hundreds of them in

00:42:33.000 our government. It's a weird thing. I really haven't seen such an anti-American campaign in memory.

00:42:40.200 Maybe the free trade debates in the 1980s, but even that was more substantive. People were worried about,

00:42:45.600 you know, technical things. Here it was just raw America hate, Trump hate. And why Trump is fine

00:42:53.560 with that, I do not understand. Maybe I will be illuminated one day. That's our show for today.

00:42:59.580 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night,

00:43:03.860 keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - May 07, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Mark Carney enjoys warm White House welcome — despite anti-Trump rhetoric

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