Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Rebel News on track for one billion views as independent media surges

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, big show today, a feature interview with Keith Wilson, who was the trucker-convoy

00:00:06.700 lawyer, who's now really the lawyer for Alberta Independence.

00:00:10.440 We'll talk to him about the latest, including a court of appeal ruling about the referendum

00:00:15.720 and Mark Carney's Memorandum of Understanding, the MOU, about the oil pipeline.

00:00:21.400 But first, I'm going to take you through an incredible statistic on how many people are

00:00:27.080 watching Rebel News.

00:00:28.240 I don't want to give it away.

00:00:29.800 You got to watch the video, but let me tell you one thing, the growth in viewership is

00:00:34.660 shocking.

00:00:35.880 I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself.

00:00:38.860 I think people are really worried about Mark Carney and Rebel News is giving them information

00:00:43.580 they can use.

00:00:44.200 I'll take you through the stats and I'll show you the details.

00:00:48.080 But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.

00:00:51.100 It's the video version of this podcast.

00:00:53.600 It'll help you to see the stats I'm going to show on the screen, but more to the point,

00:00:58.140 So the $8 a month it costs to get Rebel News Plus, I know that might not sound like a lot to you, but it absolutely adds up for us.

00:01:05.460 We take no money from the government, and it shows, and you'll see why.

00:01:13.980 You're listening to Rebel News Podcast.

00:01:16.280 tonight 2026 is now halfway done and i've got an amazing update for you about our rebel news

00:01:31.920 viewership it's july 2nd and this is the ezra levant show

00:01:35.840 shame on you you sensorious bug

00:01:46.280 A week ago, I showed you a poll by Polara on Media Trust in Canada.

00:01:56.380 I was so happy with what it said about Rebel News.

00:01:59.580 8% of Canadians watch us every day.

00:02:02.460 Another 14% watch us occasionally.

00:02:06.020 That's 22% of the whole country.

00:02:08.340 Not bad for a ragtag team of citizen journalists with no marketing budget and, of course, no government subsidies.

00:02:14.840 and we just started in my living room 11 years ago.

00:02:18.520 I mean, time flies.

00:02:20.040 My favorite stats in that poll, if you recall,

00:02:23.400 were that we are almost twice as popular with Gen Z, Generation Z.

00:02:28.400 14% of them watch us daily.

00:02:31.200 That's as many as those who read the mighty Globe and Mail.

00:02:35.040 Speaking of the Globe and Mail, our trust numbers were almost identical.

00:02:39.960 72% of our viewers trust us.

00:02:43.060 74% of Globe readers trust them.

00:02:45.800 Can you believe it?

00:02:46.440 We're practically tied.

00:02:48.260 And what I loved was the momentum our readership stats had doubled over the previous year.

00:02:54.960 So that's what I showed you from Polara, a liberal-oriented pollster measured by talking

00:03:00.360 to a sample of over 2,500 Canadians.

00:03:03.820 But there is another way to measure how many people are watching or reading Rebel News.

00:03:08.440 And it's sort of obvious.

00:03:09.520 It's by counting the exact number of views and visits that our videos receive.

00:03:15.840 For example, just last week, my colleague Lincoln Jay did a video about drug addicts on the streets of Hamilton.

00:03:23.300 That video has been seen by more than 275,000 people so far.

00:03:28.260 My hour-long report from that mosque in Regina has been seen by around 90,000 people,

00:03:34.240 which is quite something for an hour-long video.

00:03:37.020 So imagine adding up all the views on all of our videos, and not just on YouTube, but on Facebook and Instagram and even TikTok and other places.

00:03:47.580 Add up all of that.

00:03:49.180 Well, I mean, it would be probably impossible, but if you could add up all those, you would get a precise measure, as opposed to what a random group of people told the pollster.

00:03:57.700 Well, as it so happens, there is an app you can use that you connect to all your social

00:04:04.840 media outlets, your YouTube channel, your X or Twitter account.

00:04:08.000 You just plug them all in and it automatically goes through and counts it all with perfect

00:04:14.200 precision.

00:04:15.260 The app is called Hootsuite and it's a reputable tech company.

00:04:19.060 It's actually based in Canada.

00:04:20.960 Well, stick with me now for a moment because I've got some incredible news.

00:04:24.460 You might remember that on New Year's Eve last year, I published our Hootsuite report for 2025.

00:04:31.160 It counted every single view, every single like and share, every single comment on all of our stuff.

00:04:37.880 I was so excited because I actually hadn't used that app before.

00:04:42.420 But here it is, our Hootsuite report from last year.

00:04:46.620 And it showed that in 2025, the whole year, we had 433 million people watch our videos and stories.

00:04:56.260 That's staggering.

00:04:57.240 That's unreal.

00:04:58.800 There were other neat details.

00:05:00.280 Like, for example, people shared our stories 2.2 million times.

00:05:05.040 People love to show their friends and family.

00:05:06.700 And people love to tell us what they thought about our stories.

00:05:09.260 We had 12.4 million comments or reactions to our stuff.

00:05:14.280 Again, that's Hootsuite, just adding it all up electronically.

00:05:18.520 So that was last year, from January 1st to December 31st, 2025, 433 million views.

00:05:25.500 Well, we just hit the halfway mark in 2026, didn't we?

00:05:29.100 So I asked Yankee, our head of social media, to generate a six-month report.

00:05:35.060 And you're not going to believe it.

00:05:36.460 we have already had more views in the first six months of 2026 than we had all year in 2025.

00:05:45.060 Let me show you. And again, these aren't my numbers. These are the numbers provided by

00:05:49.280 this third-party app called Hootsuite, so you know it's legit. In the first six months of 2026,

00:05:55.440 we had 496 million views and impressions. And just, I mean, that's just under half a billion

00:06:03.540 in six months. That's more than we had all last year. I showed you that we had 2.2 million shares

00:06:10.820 last year. Well, in the first six months of this year alone, we're over 2.8 million shares, people

00:06:16.980 sharing our stories. And last year, I just showed you we had 12.4 million reactions or comments.

00:06:23.500 Well, in six months of 2026, we've already had 18 million. People love Rebel News. They love

00:06:32.200 watching it. They love sharing it. They love talking about it. If this keeps up, we are on

00:06:38.480 track for 1 billion views this calendar year. I can't believe it. I mean, I believe it, but I'm

00:06:44.660 amazed. I'm going to post the full document so you can see it for yourself. Our competitors will be

00:06:50.300 able to see it too, but that's fine. I'm very proud of half a billion views in six months.

00:06:55.680 But there is one risk, and you're probably thinking about it right now.

00:06:58.880 Mark Carney and his thuggish censorship plans. He's bringing in hate speech laws, by which he

00:07:07.500 means he'll censor speech that he hates. He's bringing in a new internet ID law where everyone

00:07:14.480 has to prove who they are before they're allowed online so they can track what you're seeing and

00:07:19.360 what you're doing. Who do you think these laws and the other censorship laws he's bringing in,

00:07:24.620 who do you think they're aimed at? CBC viewers? Of course not. They're already compliant sheep.

00:07:31.980 I don't know if it's a coincidence that our viewership has doubled since Mark Carney took

00:07:36.720 over the government. I think people are worried about him and they realize they don't get the

00:07:41.020 full story from the regime media about him. Like I say, that Polara poll shows our audience trusts

00:07:47.100 us more than ever. Quick question. Who do you think is more likely to be prosecuted by Carney's

00:07:53.980 censors? Rebel News or the CBC? Rebel News or the Toronto Star? It's a laughable question,

00:08:01.100 isn't it? We all know the answer. If we only had a few million views, Carney might not care.

00:08:07.860 But when you're on track for a billion views in a year, that's starting to become major.

00:08:13.520 And that Pilara poll shows that 14% of Gen Z voters watch us literally every day.

00:08:19.520 Yeah, Mark Carney isn't ramming through these censorship laws for no reason.

00:08:25.480 He's ramming them through to use them against the number one independent media company he doesn't control,

00:08:33.100 the media company that just happens to employ Tamara Leach, the trucker leader who was public enemy number one to the liberals.

00:08:40.340 If they were willing to throw the country into martial law because of her and the truckers,

00:08:44.840 do you doubt that they'd be willing to prosecute us for hiring her

00:08:48.300 and our outstanding team of journalists from Vancouver to Montreal and everywhere in between?

00:08:53.780 If you want us to keep strong, please go to journalistdefensefund.com and chip in.

00:09:01.340 Because you know, it's only a matter of time until Mark Carney comes for us.

00:09:05.160 He thinks he's got a billion reasons to come for us.

00:09:09.020 Help us prepare for that battle in our Legal Defense Fund.

00:09:12.600 Go to JournalismDefenseFund.com.

00:09:15.580 I promise you we'll fight like our life depends on it, which it does.

00:09:22.420 Stay with us for more.

00:09:32.880 Well, we are focused on so many different subjects at Rebel News.

00:09:36.600 Some of them are foreign affairs.

00:09:37.980 Some of them are, you know, you might call them navel-gazing, fighting for our right.

00:09:42.600 to do journalism, although I think that does impact people other than ourselves. But I think

00:09:47.500 one of the biggest stories of 2026 is shaping up to be Alberta and the prospect of a referendum,

00:09:55.620 Mark Carney's attempts to assuage the province. Will there be a pipeline? There's a lot going on.

00:10:01.520 And I think it's related, the independence referendum and Carney's entreaties to Alberta.

00:10:07.040 What's interesting is Danielle Smith trying to walk the fine line.

00:10:11.300 It's always dangerous for an Alberta Premier to get too chummy with a Prime Minister, especially a Liberal one.

00:10:17.680 But are there things she can win from Ottawa?

00:10:21.580 These are interesting questions, one that we're looking at.

00:10:24.380 But joining us now to talk about it, who's someone who's really at the heart of a lot of these debates.

00:10:29.560 He's the leader of a third-party advertiser called Let Alberta Decide.

00:10:33.580 And you know him for many reasons, including he was the chief lawyer for the truckers in Ottawa.

00:10:39.580 We're talking about Keith Wilson, King's counsel, who joins us now via Zoom.

00:10:43.480 Keith, great to see you again.

00:10:45.100 We've been talking to you for months on and off about Alberta independence.

00:10:48.500 There's a couple of developments just in the last 48 hours, really, that I'd like to run by you.

00:10:53.880 Before we talk about Mark Carney's latest gesture, can you give us an update on the status of the referendum?

00:11:00.840 Because earlier this year, a rogue judge said the petition to have a referendum was illegal because it didn't consult with Indian chiefs first.

00:11:11.880 And that apparently was the law, at least on this trial judge.

00:11:16.800 What did the Court of Appeal say?

00:11:19.040 Well, the Court of Appeal granted a partial stay on the decision.

00:11:23.500 So one of the things that the lower court had said was two things were not allowed to happen.

00:11:29.520 One thing that was not allowed to happen is the chief electoral officer could not count the votes, the petition signatures, how many people signed the petition.

00:11:39.900 And the second thing was that the specific question that was on the petition could not be put to a referendum.

00:11:49.260 So those are the two things the court shut down, the lower court.

00:11:51.840 What the Court of Appeal has said is that, no, the chief electoral officer can go ahead and verify the signatures to see how many people signed the petition. Was it really 300,000? And that's it.

00:12:03.740 So we're status quo for October 19th in the sense that there will still be a referendum and there'll be a question on the ballot in October 19th as to whether Albertans want to stay in Canada or whether they want the Alberta government to enter the formal process of a standalone independence referendum.

00:12:23.560 so it's not much changes other than the fact that we'll have a verification process to confirm that

00:12:30.780 it was around 300 000 albertans who signed the petition all right so it's not a major change but

00:12:36.260 i found it absurd that some judge a trudeau appointee i must add simply uh said no you can't

00:12:43.060 even count petitions without first canvassing indigenous bands as if as if any of those rules

00:12:50.560 apply to Quebec or would apply to Quebec in their independence

00:12:54.460 reference. I tell you, even that whole process, I think, made the argument

00:12:58.360 for independence. Now, Mark Carney,

00:13:01.660 for the last 10 years, his main focus in life was what's

00:13:06.620 called net zero. And his focus, he started

00:13:10.440 something called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. It was an international

00:13:14.600 banker's cartel that basically pressured banks

00:13:18.460 into saying, I won't lend any more money to oil and gas.

00:13:22.520 That's really what it was.

00:13:23.420 In fact, there were accusations that it was a kind of extortion

00:13:27.480 or a kind of undue influence on companies.

00:13:32.240 In fact, the U.S. Congress investigated Mark Carney

00:13:35.600 and actually interrogated him under oath.

00:13:37.560 I don't think most Canadians know that.

00:13:41.680 I think we're expected to believe that suddenly he's a rational man

00:13:45.320 and a pragmatic man, as opposed to a Stephen Gilbeau type, you know, totalist who wants to

00:13:51.180 shut it down. What has Mark Carney said as recently, even today in British Columbia?

00:13:57.460 Help me understand. Is he changing his tune at all? Or is he just using fudge factor words like

00:14:03.500 I support clean energy, which in his mind, an asterisk says that's not Alberta oil sounds.

00:14:09.660 I can't even figure out where does he stand?

00:14:12.160 well it's hard to say but what i do know is i'm not interested in his words i'm interested in his

00:14:19.800 actions and the deal that he required the um of the mou here imposes such increased costs on our

00:14:32.000 production and not just any new production that might go to asia our existing production that

00:14:38.480 Jack Mintz, who's a renowned economist, just released a report in conjunction with the Fraser

00:14:44.300 Institute that said, when you combine Carney's required carbon taxes on our oil and gas industry

00:14:51.080 here in Alberta with the Pathways project, which is a carbon capture project that will cost $20 to

00:14:57.760 $30 billion to install and many billions a year to operate, along with other net zero rules that

00:15:04.800 Prime Minister Carney's imposing on our oil and gas industry, it will make our oil and gas

00:15:09.460 industry uncompetitive. It'll add such significant costs that it will discourage the further

00:15:14.680 production and development of our resources. I think that's his goal. So I think all this

00:15:21.120 stuff about the pipeline and the announcement today in British Columbia, that he's paying off

00:15:29.500 the bc government evie by giving him 10 billion dollars uh of stuff daycare uh terminal improvements

00:15:39.140 and so on that ev says he will not oppose a pipeline um that still leaves hanging whether

00:15:46.980 the veto the prime minister gave to the first nations is going to be enough to block the

00:15:51.260 pipeline but all of this is irrelevant if the cost of producing the oil and gas gets so high

00:15:58.400 because of the net zero costs that Carney's imposing

00:16:02.740 that we can't increase our production.

00:16:05.660 Here's a clip of Mark Carney talking to British Columbia.

00:16:10.420 It's interesting that he went there.

00:16:12.120 First, here, take a quick look.

00:16:13.320 British Columbia is Canada's gateway

00:16:15.760 to the world's fastest growing markets.

00:16:18.880 British Columbia's power grid produces amongst

00:16:21.300 the cleanest and most reliable affordable electricity

00:16:25.320 in North America.

00:16:27.060 BC is a leader in mining, production of gold, zinc, copper, and well beyond.

00:16:32.040 This great province has one of the world's most educated and skilled populations.

00:16:38.080 And so it's on that exceptional foundation that Premier Evie and I are committed to build a stronger, more resilient, more independent province and country.

00:16:48.480 Now, already it's the case that one-third of the initiatives that are advancing through the Major Projects Office come from B.C.

00:16:58.260 But today we're accelerating and broadening that momentum.

00:17:03.080 Premier Eby and I are announcing a landmark Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement.

00:17:09.900 This agreement is comprehensive, it's ambitious, and it will help transform the entire Canadian economy.

00:17:16.120 So it's not just about one province, the entire Canadian economy, and will help fund the public services on which Canadians rely.

00:17:24.500 Now, one of the things that Carney was clear on is that he's not going to remove the tanker ban from northern BC.

00:17:30.520 That's where the northern gateway pipeline from Enbridge was going to go, Kitimat, and there are other ports in northern BC.

00:17:39.560 So Carney is saying, I'm not going to change that, which implies that any new pipeline would have to supply tanker ships in Vancouver itself, which, by the way, I think makes a lot of sense.

00:17:52.260 It's an enormous port, a very busy port, a safe port.

00:17:57.600 There has been oil and gas coming, oil rather, coming and going from the Trans Mountain Terminal there for half a century without a single incident ever.

00:18:07.060 So the idea of sending more oil out of Vancouver, it's not a bad one. But as you say, will it ever happen? I mean, even if the premier pinky swears that he won't try and stop it, all I see are 100 possible judges who would love to be the ones spiking this.

00:18:29.560 i see a hundred possible indian bands that would love to and by the way a lot of them are on the

00:18:35.580 foreign payroll of the tides foundation at least some of the chiefs are so i i just it's really

00:18:42.460 hard to trust that any of this would happen and don't take it from me i'm a know-nothing pundit

00:18:47.420 as far as i know not a single oil producer has said yeah we believe in this enough to put some

00:18:52.880 skin in the game it's from what i can tell this is a a game of pretend this is a pretend game

00:18:59.160 a debate about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

00:19:04.220 So let's talk about the Port of Vancouver for a second,

00:19:07.200 because I've looked into this with some detail.

00:19:09.380 There's four sizes of tankers that you can ship oil on.

00:19:13.240 You've got the smallest, and then the next little bigger,

00:19:16.300 and then even bigger, and then the largest, okay?

00:19:19.720 They can only use the smallest tankers

00:19:22.320 or the second smallest size of tanker at 75% capacity

00:19:28.920 because of the Lionsgate Bridge and because of the draft, the depth of the water.

00:19:33.960 Now, the federal government did approve some dredging that's going to improve things.

00:19:38.260 But we're not going to be able to get the largest size of tanker or the second largest size of tanker.

00:19:43.260 And that's where your efficiency comes from in shipping.

00:19:45.520 So we're going to be constrained, even if Vancouver is the outlet.

00:19:48.520 But here's a more fundamental problem, Ezra, in my view.

00:19:52.060 The Prime Minister, Canada is $1.3 trillion in debt.

00:19:58.920 $1.3 trillion.

00:20:01.060 And the Prime Minister is burning through money

00:20:04.340 faster than even Justin Trudeau.

00:20:06.440 And Justin Trudeau accumulated federal debt

00:20:09.660 burdening all of us, our children, our grandchildren,

00:20:12.540 our great children's future.

00:20:15.740 So the debt that Trudeau amassed

00:20:18.620 is more than all the other governments

00:20:20.440 in the history of Canada combined.

00:20:22.180 It's a remarkable statistic.

00:20:23.900 Here's Carney burning through it

00:20:25.140 at even a faster rate than Trudeau.

00:20:26.780 So in the last three weeks, Carney has announced $28 billion worth of new spending, $28 billion.

00:20:36.800 That's a credit card with your name on it, with an unlimited spending limit that Prime Minister Carney keeps accumulating to.

00:20:45.780 Why do I care about that?

00:20:47.460 That affects affordability.

00:20:49.220 That affects inflation.

00:20:50.940 That means taxes are going to have to go up, not down.

00:20:53.860 We already have an affordability crisis in Canada.

00:20:56.200 We have adult children that are not starting families and can't buy homes.

00:21:02.300 And it's not only a bad deal for the oil and gas industry and the economy to impose all of these net zero costs.

00:21:11.600 It's a bad deal for Canada and Albertans when Prime Minister Carney feels he has to effectively bribe British Columbia with $10 billion we don't have in order to get EV to agree to a pipeline.

00:21:24.320 when eb has no constitutional jurisdiction to object to a pipeline but i i think it's all a

00:21:30.160 pig in a poke i think it's all you know a fantasy role-playing game you know um there's a phrase

00:21:36.620 that kids use larping live action role-playing you know i i think we're all playing dressed up

00:21:41.360 here as if this is going to happen i do not believe that that judges or indian bands will

00:21:46.600 allow it to happen even if the premier eb can be placated for a 10 billion dollar uh you know

00:21:52.820 shakedown um and i think i might emphasize your the point that we're both trying to make here

00:21:58.320 is all of it doesn't matter if the oil companies are saying well we can't make any profit yeah we

00:22:05.720 have to pay billions and billions and billions of dollars to these net zero projects so we're not

00:22:12.900 going to increase production and then the pipeline companies have been absolutely clear they cannot

00:22:18.860 commit to build a pipeline unless oil companies can commit to sign tolling agreements to put oil

00:22:25.760 in the pipeline. And the oil company said, well, we can't agree to that because we can't agree to

00:22:29.060 increase production because it's not economic. Yeah. You know, go ahead. Sorry. No, Carney knows

00:22:35.520 this. So I think he's going through the motions of trying to have it both ways, trying to appear

00:22:40.300 as though he's trying to grow the economy, where at the end of the day, he believes that we need

00:22:45.320 to move to net zero. He said all of his net zero stuff in his speech today. It's all fantasy. It

00:22:50.800 can't work in the real world. We've seen that in the UK and Europe and Germany and so on.

00:22:55.760 So I don't think he's changed. He's still the Mark Carney of values. His wife's very committed

00:23:00.460 to it. I think both of them are going to LARP with us to let us believe that they're actually

00:23:08.300 trying to allow the economy to grow through our energy, where in fact, they're not interested in

00:23:14.020 that at all. Let me talk a little bit about the psychology here, because Premier Smith, who I get

00:23:20.980 along with him pretty well, we talk from time to time. I think a lot of Albertans, especially those

00:23:29.260 who are more independence-minded, are saying, what are you doing lending your moral credibility

00:23:33.400 to Mark Carney here? And I think she would say, no, we can actually find a solution here.

00:23:39.420 I think she's trying to be very constructive and trying to compromise. Trouble is, you know,

00:23:43.560 Even when the first MOU came out, all the demands on Alberta were immediate and concrete, and the promises to Alberta were vague and in the future.

00:23:52.480 I mean, if I'm remembering correctly, there was a promise there might be a pipeline by the year 2040.

00:23:59.080 You know, it was ridiculous.

00:24:01.180 And that's, I mean, I think oil companies who have to be very sober-minded, very hard-headed, looked at this and said, there's just no way the math works.

00:24:08.620 But let me tell you what I think is going on, Keith.

00:24:10.320 You tell me what you think.

00:24:11.200 So Justin Trudeau had a childish arrogance to him. He was an ideologue. He had certain things that he would value above all else. Feminism was one of them. You know, he tried to put a feminist spin on everything from foreign aid to, you know, a she session. You remember he said it's not a recession. It's like crazy stuff.

00:24:33.780 i remember that and and stephen gilbeau a radical convicted criminal who not only broke out of the

00:24:42.600 cn tower very famously but he actually if you recall went on the roof of ralph klein's house

00:24:48.940 in calgary when ralph klein was and and his wife was home alone and some radical antifa style guy

00:24:58.280 from Quebec is climbing on the roof of your house for a stunt like that is a criminal I don't I

00:25:06.400 deeply regret they didn't press charges for that um here's my point if you've got Pierre sorry

00:25:13.440 Justin Trudeau and Stephen Gilbeau and Catherine McKenna and people who are a little bit psycho

00:25:20.040 let's say it's easy to fight them because they are playing about their meaning and their purpose

00:25:25.800 and your natural instincts as a person as a politician come out but if you've got a guy

00:25:32.860 who dresses more like a banker who was a banker who uses some language of sort of businessy jargon

00:25:40.040 you know we're going to have a uh you know we're going to have a lie yeah transform things in a

00:25:46.960 generational speed and build the like he's got the the lingo of of world economic forum bs and he

00:25:54.360 says oh no no no i'm not like those other guys i want this to happen and you can see i mean it

00:26:00.800 because steven gilbeau is having a media tantrum about me and that's definitely not arranged

00:26:05.120 so i think one of the problems is there it's a kind of stockholm syndrome where you think you

00:26:12.240 know i want to look at the very best of this and and maybe there's even that psychological

00:26:15.880 stereotype of i can fix him you know i can i can be the person just to move him over so i think it's

00:26:23.340 a lot higher harder to fight someone who sneaks in trojan horse style than someone who just has

00:26:31.800 a frontal assault on the castle so i think danielle smith believes that she can fix or save or work

00:26:38.140 with carney and i just don't know if it's possible well and i i think the starting point was wrong

00:26:44.180 for the for the respectfully for the premier's approach i think she went into this negotiation

00:26:49.460 last year on the mou and the whole pipeline thinking to use a poker card game analogy that

00:26:56.740 she had a pair of twos when she really had three aces at least and what i mean by that is

00:27:03.180 how did former premier law heed here in alberta back in 1982 get an amendment to the constitution

00:27:12.080 seemingly quite easily where they amended section 92a to confirm the rights of provinces to develop

00:27:20.340 their resources he did that by simply announcing that the government of alberta at a certain time

00:27:28.540 in the future would curtail the supply of oil and energy products to sarnia through line nine

00:27:35.020 that supplies jet fuel and everything to Pearson Airport

00:27:38.980 and helps run the Ontario economy,

00:27:42.040 he said he would reduce the capacity of that pipeline

00:27:45.540 in the supply by 15%.

00:27:47.240 And the federal government came to the table,

00:27:50.640 the provinces came to the table,

00:27:51.700 and they agreed to amend the Constitution.

00:27:54.840 Ontario is dependent upon the pipeline

00:27:58.200 supplying Alberta energy products to Ontario and Quebec.

00:28:03.280 British Columbia is dependent upon the TMX pipeline.

00:28:06.720 If that pipeline gets shut down, the Burnaby refinery runs out of fuel in 10 or 15 days,

00:28:11.980 and the whole economy of the Lower Mainland comes to a halt.

00:28:14.580 Alberta has a position of strength, and all we're seeking is fairness from the government of Canada and the other provinces.

00:28:21.700 I think rather than conceding and agreeing to burden our entirety of our production

00:28:26.560 and make it as Professor Jack Mintz and the Fraser Report reported last week,

00:28:32.000 uneconomic and uncompetitive uh the the economic blow arising from this mou is going to be

00:28:38.780 spectacular and as you noted the premier agreed to immediately implement these costs on the

00:28:44.460 industry these taxes that will provide no value to anyone um for the faint hope that some point

00:28:51.740 in the future there might be a pipeline with all due respect this is a bad deal this pipeline deal

00:28:56.480 the mou is a bad deal for alberta and it's a bad deal for canada you know what i'm not going

00:29:01.960 literally as i'm sitting here talking to you i see my phone light up an email comes in i'm not

00:29:06.320 going to say who this is from but a significant oil man in calgary writes the new pipeline deal

00:29:12.880 is epic total sellout of alberta oh okay i um it pains me it pains me on one hand i admire the fact

00:29:26.640 that the premier is trying so hard to get a deal done but i i just think that um the nature of of

00:29:33.580 the canadian constitution the native the nature of demographic power electoral power in this country

00:29:39.000 the ideological base i just think that that the system makes it impossible for there to be anything

00:29:46.700 else and and if there were some fantastic deal to arrive some judge no one's ever heard of would

00:29:53.520 invent some indigenous title that no one has ever discovered in law before and and you would have

00:30:00.120 all these royal men saying you know what i'm going to invest in uh kazakh sedan it's safer i just i

00:30:05.920 find it heartbreaking as uh as someone who was born and raised in alberta can i ask to go ahead

00:30:11.400 this on this this point peter laughey when he he recognized alberta's strength and he negotiated

00:30:19.240 from a position of strength.

00:30:21.540 And Alberta is way stronger today than it was then.

00:30:25.000 We didn't have the twinning of the TMX.

00:30:27.120 We didn't have the dependency that we have today

00:30:29.820 of Ontario and parts of Quebec on Alberta Energy.

00:30:32.600 We didn't then in the 80s have the dependency

00:30:35.240 of the lower mainland of British Columbia on Alberta Energy.

00:30:39.280 We did not have this fully developed over 80%

00:30:43.380 and almost 90% of our daily production

00:30:45.360 goes to the United States of America.

00:30:47.720 We did not have that.

00:30:48.700 Alberta is way stronger today than it was in the 80s when Premier Lougheed was able to get a good deal for Alberta within Confederation.

00:30:57.540 I regretfully believe that Premier Smith wrongly felt she was negotiating from a position of weakness and had to give all of these ridiculous concessions to the federal government in the faint hope of a future pipeline.

00:31:11.420 This is a bad deal for Alberta.

00:31:12.980 Yeah. You know, I think there's a lot of pressures on a premier, especially when there's trillions of dollars at stake. And I can only imagine the number of people trying to persuade her to go along with this, to keep the status quo.

00:31:29.600 I mean it's not just the political power it's staggering amounts of wealth and if you don't

00:31:37.120 have a countervailing force in your inner circle you're going to be blown off course by this stuff

00:31:43.060 I mean that's how I like to excuse Jason Kenney for clamping down so hard on COVID in Alberta

00:31:49.800 I have no idea what really went on there but I think to myself he was completely surrounded

00:31:54.460 every human being he ever interacted with was saying the same thing pointing the same direction

00:31:59.420 And by the way, he was cut off from the people because there were no meetings allowed back then.

00:32:03.020 So that's a little COVID example.

00:32:04.880 What if every single person you talk to, every bureaucrat, every politician is an Ottawa-centric incumbent who prefers the status quo?

00:32:17.520 Maybe it just wears you down over time.

00:32:20.880 That's my explanation for things.

00:32:22.760 Hey, can I switch gears for one second?

00:32:24.420 Sure.

00:32:24.520 We talked about your new third-party advertisers.

00:32:26.840 That's a legal term for who can get involved in this referendum debate.

00:32:31.880 Political parties can, but anyone who's not the leader of a party has to set up a third-party advertiser.

00:32:37.320 Rebel News did that, and we did that partly as a defensive move because in the past we've done political things

00:32:43.160 and chief electoral officers have accused us of illegal campaign activity.

00:32:47.560 You might recall I even got prosecuted for a book I once wrote.

00:32:50.580 So we, out of an abundance of caution, have registered, and we've enjoyed ourselves.

00:32:55.500 We've run some ads. We've got some lawn signs where we're poking at the bad guys.

00:33:00.000 But you, I think, are operating on a whole other level.

00:33:03.320 You've got this new group called LetAlbertaDecide.com.

00:33:06.640 And first of all, it's a great name.

00:33:08.940 Why don't you give us just a couple of minutes on what that is, what your goals are,

00:33:14.560 what are you going to do with it and how it's being received so far?

00:33:19.220 Well, we're we've developed a sophisticated campaign.

00:33:23.080 we are in a campaign you know a political campaign so we're using the traditional

00:33:27.780 strategies that political campaigns use when they're trying to win win a vote and um and we're

00:33:36.460 we're doing a number of things one of them is we're it's been very grassroots movement here in

00:33:41.100 elbert on independent side and there's been a shunning of the legacy legacy media um but we

00:33:47.940 need to reach 60 of the the electorate that's currently not on side with independents that's

00:33:52.960 the number i use as a as a strategic measure and so one of the things we're doing is i've made

00:33:59.120 myself widely available to um to the legacy media in fact i just had a meeting with a reporter from

00:34:05.920 the new york times um as well as you know the cbc and the global and ctv and and post media so

00:34:15.040 we're trying to work i'm trying to get out there through them and my co-lead tanya clemens who's

00:34:20.760 an amazing Albertan, a mom, a farm wife, former junior high school teacher. She's just a great

00:34:26.140 Albertan. We're trying to reach the audience that currently isn't getting exposed to the ideas about

00:34:33.880 the benefits of independence and the dark course that Canada's on. We're also using sophisticated

00:34:38.780 digital strategies that are going to be revolutionary in nature. We're using traditional

00:34:44.760 campaign techniques. That's why I'm down here in Calgary. I've got back-to-back events,

00:34:48.800 being out with people listening to people giving a chance for me to share

00:34:52.640 our vision for how Alberta can be improved through independence and then we're doing

00:34:57.440 we're going to be later in the campaign doing traditional ads in the same way on radio and

00:35:03.160 television and we also are implementing right away a digital sign campaign using digital

00:35:08.360 taking advantage of the digital billboard space and then lawn signs as well so we've got a lot

00:35:14.620 going. People want to support what we're doing. It's important work. It needs funding. Everything's

00:35:20.180 in compliance with the election laws. They can go to letalbertadecide.com, letalbertadecide.com

00:35:27.100 if they'd like to donate. Only Albertans can donate, either Alberta businesses or residents.

00:35:33.000 Right on. Well, there it is, letalbertadecide.com. And you were just telling me before we turned the

00:35:38.320 cameras on that you had a very strong debut. How have Albertans been reacting?

00:35:42.800 It's been amazing, Ezra. We launched on the 19th in the afternoon and made our portal available for donations. And in six days, we topped $100,000. And we're not even at two weeks, and we're over $200,000 in donations right now.

00:35:59.120 um and uh it's been remarkable uh we announced uh a day and a half ago that we're going to

00:36:06.920 uh have a stampede breakfast uh on the 12th of of of uh the 12th of july down here in calgary

00:36:15.780 with stampede and we were planning for 500 people we've already passed that so fortunately the venue

00:36:22.040 can hold a thousand but we're pretty sure that's going to sell out in a couple of days so the level

00:36:26.080 of support and enthusiasm and energy is just remarkable. There's a lot of Albertans that are

00:36:31.720 very determined to help move Alberta towards independence. Well, you had me at the word

00:36:37.600 pancakes. So I'll see if I can, you know, that's pretty exciting. It is still a David and Goliath

00:36:45.440 match. Absolutely, for sure. I think there's a legal limit to the amount you can spend. I think

00:36:50.260 it's six hundred thousand dollars which sounds like a lot but you're up against every party

00:36:54.540 the governing conservatives um have said therefore remain nahi nenshi's ndp and then all the federal

00:37:02.340 parties mark carney of course so it you're really going to be outspent 20 to one maybe a hundred to

00:37:10.800 one i think uh i i'd assume a hundred to one or more uh but we're not naive about that uh we're

00:37:18.780 We go into this with our eyes wide open.

00:37:21.460 I honestly believe, candidly, that we can win.

00:37:24.740 We can win because it's the right thing to do.

00:37:27.020 The facts and data are on our side.

00:37:29.200 But we're going to have to work more on the emotion.

00:37:32.000 There's a lot of people with an emotional attachment to Canada.

00:37:35.740 And we're working hard on implementing strategies to reach those people,

00:37:42.160 to cause them to vote for option two

00:37:47.560 in the referendum on October 19th.

00:37:50.120 Well, let me close by showing you a short ad,

00:37:52.820 and I know you've seen this and you've retweeted it.

00:37:55.440 This is a short ad that our little third-party group

00:37:57.960 called Alberta's Choice ran a few days ago,

00:38:01.160 and last I checked, it's got about a half a million views,

00:38:04.060 and I think it's good because it's got a sense of humour,

00:38:06.400 and there's no way to deflate a pompous politician

00:38:10.340 faster than poking a bit of fun at them.

00:38:13.420 So for those of you outside the province of Alberta,

00:38:15.880 you'll probably still recognize Jason Kenney.

00:38:18.600 You may not know Nahid Nenshi.

00:38:20.100 He's the leader of the NDP, former Calgary mayor,

00:38:22.520 and Thomas Lukashak with his beautiful Fabio-style hairdo.

00:38:28.000 Here's a little campaign ad that just had me chuckling.

00:38:32.480 And by the way, we've got another one ready to drop tomorrow.

00:38:35.520 Here, take a quick look at this ad.

00:38:36.860 When Alberta dared ask for fairness,

00:38:40.860 Ottawa's strongest soldiers assembled.

00:38:43.860 We must protect the Federation.

00:38:46.860 Canada forever. Alberta under control.

00:38:50.860 Calm down, Alberta. The adults are talking.

00:38:54.860 We must control Alberta, even if it costs them everything.

00:38:59.860 Their mission was simple.

00:39:01.860 Keep Alberta in. Keep Alberta paying.

00:39:06.860 you boys look like the hr department at a pipeline protest

00:39:16.620 well keith i i know you know a little bit about the background of that ad but i think there is

00:39:29.400 something to say about laughing at folks who say i'm from ottawa and i'm here to help

00:39:34.960 which really there's a bit of a condescension, a bit of an arrogance, I think, in the Remain side.

00:39:40.280 And it really is a project fear.

00:39:42.180 They're trying to scare the pants off people.

00:39:44.560 So you have an uphill battle because you were talking about emotion before.

00:39:47.880 It's easy to scare people.

00:39:49.460 And I think that's the plan of Nenshi, Kenny.

00:39:52.920 It's weird to see Jason Kenney and Nenshi on the same side.

00:39:56.060 Last word to you, Keith.

00:39:57.740 Yeah, I think, you know, we know we have an uphill battle,

00:40:00.000 but it's a battle that can be won

00:40:02.840 because the facts are on our side

00:40:04.380 we're not making anything up

00:40:05.780 and in time

00:40:08.060 and we've got three and a half months

00:40:10.180 a normal election campaign is 30 days

00:40:12.940 we're treating this like

00:40:14.900 tomorrow is the last day of the campaign

00:40:16.920 every day

00:40:17.520 and we're going to keep going hard

00:40:20.520 and I think we can win it

00:40:22.440 but we've got a tremendous hill to climb

00:40:24.280 but I think it's achievable

00:40:25.660 I said you would have the last word

00:40:28.120 but I just want to fit in one more thing

00:40:29.600 popped into my mind i was there with you in calgary when you uh announced let alberta decide

00:40:34.800 and not only was there a significant attendance by mainstream media but i watched some of their

00:40:40.860 scrum with you and i don't think i've ever seen such substantive questions being put by the

00:40:48.040 mainstream media and they genuinely wanted to know the answer they weren't i mean they were coming

00:40:53.520 with a certain spin but it was not attacking you which was interesting to me i think that they

00:40:57.900 felt that in you they had an authoritative maybe even an intellectual resource that they that they

00:41:05.980 just really wanted to use they wanted to ask you a hundred real questions i thought it was

00:41:10.820 fascinating i thought i i listened in i thought they were swarming you well they were swarming

00:41:16.240 you to answer technical questions i actually think that you will get a fair shake i know i'm

00:41:23.860 going to eat these words i think you're going to get a fair shake from a lot of media who just

00:41:28.840 ask for real fact based questions because i i think you've got a lot of answers that they're

00:41:35.460 looking for i don't know maybe i'm going to regret saying that but i thought the media was pretty

00:41:39.560 fair to you i i thought so too they have been i got one percent power left on my ipad here

00:41:45.220 and thank you so much uh we're going to keep going uh i'd like to come back on whenever you

00:41:51.040 can have me back. Thanks, Keith. There he is, Keith Wilson from LetAlbertaDecide.com. Stay

00:41:56.220 with us. Your letters to me next. Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me about internet censorship.

00:42:11.400 Robert Haringa says the vast majority of Canadians aren't aware of what's really going on

00:42:16.080 because the mainstream media will never report this because the liberals are funding the

00:42:19.600 mainstream media this is the definition of propaganda folks and it's not a good thing

00:42:23.940 canadians need to wake up before it's too late you're so right i mean i i think it's so predictable

00:42:30.120 you know there's a saying in in tech garbage in garbage out that's sort of an old computer

00:42:34.780 science term if you are watching the cbc and reading the global mail the toronto star all day

00:42:40.040 i know with certainty that you will have certain beliefs at the end of the day if that is your diet

00:42:45.920 of news. I know where you stand on everything from gun control to Donald Trump to Israel to,

00:42:51.620 you know, firearms ownership. I just know. And the mainstream media is a liberal factory. That's

00:42:58.100 what it is. Paul Eddy says, look at Europe today and it seems it will be Canada tomorrow. That's

00:43:04.640 exactly what I say whenever I go over there. I call it a dystopian time machine because it's an

00:43:09.480 unhappy future if we go down that path. I hope our future is one of freedom and strength and

00:43:15.080 dignity and national self-respect, but right now that doesn't seem to be the path we're on.

00:43:21.240 Well, that's our show for the day. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at

00:43:25.300 Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - July 02, 2026

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Rebel News on track for one billion views as independent media surges

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