Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Recession grips Canada under Carney — while the Alberta energy sector pushes ahead

00:00:00.040 Hello, my friends. I actually saw a good news story today involving a business ready to spend

00:00:05.320 billions of dollars in Canada. So naturally, I got worried that the liberals are going to kill it.

00:00:10.020 I'll tell you all about it today. But first, I want to invite you to become a subscriber to

00:00:14.700 Rebel News Plus. It's the video version of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click

00:00:19.240 subscribe. You know, it's only eight bucks a month, which might not sound like a lot to you,

00:00:23.400 but it sure adds up for us. And we take no money from the government and it shows.

00:00:30.000 tonight statistics canada says that mark carney has led canada into a recession but alberta has

00:00:50.120 a better idea it's may 29th and this is the ezra levant show

00:00:53.640 You're ready for freedom! 0.87

00:00:56.640 Shame on you, you censorious bug! 0.92

00:01:08.580 Canada is officially in a recession.

00:01:10.960 That means the economy has shrunk for two quarters in a row, six months in a row.

00:01:15.780 The GDP is shrinking.

00:01:19.000 I love how the regime media are calling it a technical recession,

00:01:22.560 as if that's a better kind of recession or something or not a real recession or something

00:01:28.240 as opposed to calling it say literally a recession or just a recession because frankly

00:01:35.160 it's never a recession for the cbc or the rest of the media political class they'll get more money

00:01:41.260 this year than ever in history the cbc is getting the biggest payment ever the private sector i use

00:01:45.520 the scare quotes for that because they're not private anymore when a third of their money

00:01:49.000 comes from the government. The media bailout is the biggest ever, and it's going up. So

00:01:52.680 for most journalists, it is a hypothetical recession. None of them are affected. We've

00:01:59.140 been in a recession for years, actually, on an individual basis. What I mean by that is GDP per

00:02:05.320 capita has been falling for years, starting in around 2022. That's one of the reasons why Trudeau

00:02:11.780 and then Mark Carney went nuts on mass immigration, because by bringing in millions of people,

00:02:17.400 the total size of the economy got bigger like the pie got bigger even though each of us got a

00:02:23.460 smaller slice but they could use verbal trickery to say no we're not in a recession so we've been

00:02:28.820 in a real recession on a per capita basis for about four years but now uh we're a real recession

00:02:35.640 on a total gdb basis as in it's so bad mass immigration can't cover it up anymore now how

00:02:42.480 is this possible? I mean, you can't go a week without some massive new investment announced

00:02:47.780 by Mark Carney and his cronies. Next week, Mark Carney and his minister, Evan Salman, are about

00:02:53.120 to announce their AI strategy. Of course, that only means one thing. They're going to spend

00:02:58.160 billions of dollars. All the big AI companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars,

00:03:03.960 by the way. Some will succeed. Some will fail. It feels like the dot-com explosion around 25 years

00:03:09.520 ago. Some huge successes came out of that frenzy. Google and Facebook being a couple of obvious

00:03:15.180 ones. A lot of money was poured into losers too. A lot of money was lost. I think of some social 0.90

00:03:20.260 media platforms that failed like MySpace and Friendster. You remember those? You just know

00:03:26.220 that Carney and Solomon are going to spend billions of dollars of your money trying to

00:03:30.160 compete with trillion dollar companies like ChatGPT or Gemini or whatever. They'll spend a

00:03:35.540 billion just to get a cool headline in the newspapers. But you see, they're not actually

00:03:40.300 growing the economy. They're probably shrinking it, in fact, because they'll be taking the billion

00:03:45.060 dollars they're going to spend away from successful Canadian companies who have to pay taxes and

00:03:50.760 giving it to some scheme that is obviously not profitable, let alone workable, or else it

00:03:56.640 wouldn't need a government bailout or government subsidy. There is not this. In Silicon Valley,

00:04:02.220 they don't think, how can I get a grant? They say, how can I make this great product that's

00:04:07.240 going to make venture capital companies invest in us? By definition, whoever Carney and Solomon

00:04:13.420 support next week is a loser. It's a dud, or else they wouldn't take government money. 0.97

00:04:18.760 Reminds me of the tens of billions of dollars that the liberals just spent on electric vehicle

00:04:23.120 batteries. Just nuts. It sort of is a message when no one else will spend it on it. I mean,

00:04:28.620 it was a dumb idea and now we're all poorer my point is they're just moving the money around 0.91

00:04:34.520 from productive people to unproductive people that's not going to grow the economy 0.96

00:04:38.340 now they're talking about a 90 billion dollar monorail or whatever high speed rail scheme

00:04:43.260 they're calling it between montreal and toronto again that will not grow the economy because it's

00:04:48.120 just moving money away from the makers to the takers hey when was the last time you saw a good

00:04:53.980 news story about the economy by the way i mean an actual company using its own money to invest and

00:05:00.200 grow in canada is pretty rare i'm not talking about a government scheme i mean someone choosing

00:05:04.960 to do business here rather than anywhere else sort of hard to think of one but i see you know

00:05:10.760 i see the opposite in fact when it comes to tech i don't know you've been following it we'll have

00:05:14.880 to do a show on it so many big tech companies from google to apple are saying they might actually

00:05:20.320 leave Canada if Mark Carney insists on bringing in his new spyware law called C-22. That allows

00:05:28.200 the government to spy on any social media app, any communications app. This, of course, would

00:05:34.020 violate the privacy of users, violate the policies of these companies, probably violate the U.S. First

00:05:39.500 Amendment. So yeah, Mark Carney is not so good at growing the economy, but if he insists on C-22,

00:05:45.440 he's about to drive out billions of dollars of tech. Hey, but at least we'll have his homemade

00:05:49.700 AI plans. But at the exact same time as I saw the news of a recession, I saw the first good news I've

00:05:55.980 seen in a while. And of course, it was from the oil and gas industry. Look at this. This is a

00:05:59.980 press release from a pipeline company called Southbow. It's a spinoff from TC Energy. They

00:06:07.740 used to be called TransCanada Energy, but they're not really doing a lot in Canada since Trudeau

00:06:12.140 and Carney took power. They made their name change back in 2019. It didn't take them that

00:06:17.320 long to realize that Canada was a bit of a disreputable word when it comes to business

00:06:21.740 and investment for oil. It's very sad when you think about it. Anyways, today there's some good

00:06:26.780 news, sort of. It's good news from a business point of view. Southpaw had proposed to build

00:06:31.520 a pipeline pretty much along the same route as the Keystone XL pipeline, which was proposed more

00:06:37.260 than a decade ago and hasn't been built. In fact, it was killed by Barack Obama, if you recall.

00:06:42.840 Now, Trump is in office. He loves this Keystone XL pipeline. He approved Keystone XL once before, but then Joe Biden killed it a second time. So he approved it again now in its current form. I'm not going to read it all to you since it's pretty technical, but let me read one key sentence from his executive order.

00:07:04.500 He said, quote, permission is hereby granted to the permittee to operate and maintain existing pipeline border facilities, as described herein at the international border of the United States and Canada, at Cavalier County, North Dakota, for the transport between the United States and Canada of all hydrocarbons and petroleum products of every description.

00:07:26.740 In other words, Trump is ready to accept a pipeline from Canada's oil and gas industry.

00:07:30.720 He's been ready for a year now.

00:07:32.240 Well, but back to today's news in Canada, it's a press release from Southbow saying their proposed pipeline is now fully booked up.

00:07:39.400 They have enough customers who have pledged to use the pipeline.

00:07:42.080 It will be a commercial success.

00:07:43.920 They pre-booked the thing.

00:07:44.980 It's like an airline saying we have already sold out all the tickets.

00:07:49.760 We're ready to fly.

00:07:52.600 Here, let me read from their press release today.

00:07:54.640 This is Southbow.

00:07:55.220 They say, Southboat Corp announces the successful outcome of its open season, which closed on March 30th, 2026, securing 20-year binding commitments for firm transportation service from Hardesty, Alberta to U.S. delivery points.

00:08:11.280 So a bunch of oil producers said, yes, if you go ahead and build the thing, spend billions of dollars to build the pipe, we promise to use it for 20 years and we'll pay you.

00:08:19.480 Isn't that amazing?

00:08:21.520 It's sort of the opposite of how Ottawa usually does business, which is to think of a press release, announce the biggest possible expenditure you can, realize that no one is buying what you just built, and when it goes out of business in a year, pretend you didn't know anything about it.

00:08:36.940 It's so rare and unusual to see a real business operate without any government money.

00:08:40.540 I'll read just a little more from the press release.

00:08:42.480 They said, Southwall will continue advancing its proposed Prairie Connector project towards a final investment decision, FID.

00:08:50.620 Targeted for mid-2027, while strictly adhering to the company's risk preferences and capital allocation priorities.

00:08:58.420 In other words, they're saying, if things change for the worse, we're out of here.

00:09:03.540 Next steps include acquiring remaining permits and government assurances for permit durability,

00:09:09.780 advancing execution plans, finalizing cost estimates, engaging with communities, landowners, indigenous groups, and other stakeholders, and securing financing.

00:09:18.100 permit durability as in will the liberals pull the rug out from under us as they did with energy east

00:09:23.920 last time the final investment decision will be subject to the satisfaction of these activities

00:09:29.200 the company will provide more details regarding expected pre-fid activities and spending profile

00:09:34.940 as part of its second quarter disclosures in other words they're ready their customers are ready

00:09:41.180 the only thing left is politics that's what engaging with communities landowners indigenous

00:09:47.720 group and other stakeholders mean. You can predict the price of steel, or the property tax rate over

00:09:53.560 the land you traverse, or the cost of construction. You could predict those plus or minus five or ten

00:09:58.580 percent, right? They've done the math and they think it's a go, at least within their risk

00:10:03.580 parameters. Their customers think it's a go too. Imagine signing up for a 20-year deal. You have

00:10:09.120 to have confidence. Wow, they're ready to go. But that one phrase, engaging with communities,

00:10:14.100 landowners indigenous groups and other stakeholders really means two things mark carney

00:10:18.040 and liberal judges who like to invent new rights for indigenous activists like the right

00:10:23.020 to stop 300 000 albertans from signing a petition or the right in british columbia to the land other

00:10:29.380 under someone's house so yeah this is a test isn't it they say they're going to make the final

00:10:35.920 go or no go decision in mid 2027 one year from now so let's see i mean obviously this project

00:10:43.260 makes sense it's a huge infrastructure project probably going to cost five billion dollars to

00:10:48.660 build amazing imagine all the construction jobs imagine all the steel jobs you know i was out in

00:10:53.460 algoma a few months ago and every single steel worker i spoke to loved the idea of building oil

00:10:59.180 pipelines with canadian steel remember that how are we have a billboard truck and we say build

00:11:04.140 steel pipelines if we could get an oil pipeline from alberta to bc we could use algoma steel what

00:11:09.580 think of that that's a perfect idea that's great for the community versus saint marie for algoma

00:11:15.980 i love it i think it gives us jobs as canadians considering steel's not really selling in the

00:11:21.260 states right now it's a good idea right on cheers you work here yeah good luck yeah thank you thanks

00:11:25.820 what do you think of that idea i agree i absolutely agree i think that's a good idea

00:11:30.300 pipelines are made of steel algoma makes steel it seems like a natural fit i totally agree i just

00:11:36.460 love canadian steel right on me too you know there'd be a billion dollars worth of steel

00:11:41.580 in a pipeline from alberta to the west coast i think it should be bought right here what do you

00:11:45.580 think i think so too right on i'm glad to hear you say that listen i wish you good luck our

00:11:50.140 heart's breaking for what's going on because trump's putting the tariffs on but trump cannot

00:11:54.140 put a tariff on a canadian project yes exactly all right well good luck thank you nice to meet

00:11:59.980 you. I would take the opportunity, get more jobs out here. What do you think? It's so un-Canadian

00:12:07.660 though to actually build something with your own money, private money, investors money, oil and gas,

00:12:13.500 real stuff, not wind turbines or other subsidy stuff. I mean, where can liberal lobbyists get

00:12:18.540 their snouts in to get a cut? So it's one year to live or die this pipeline. By the way, this is

00:12:23.500 already all being approved. Like I said, the Keystone XL pipeline had this very similar route.

00:12:28.060 It was actually approved in terms of regulations and the environment and consultation.

00:12:32.720 It was already all done in Canada.

00:12:35.060 It was Obama who killed it.

00:12:36.800 Now Trump says build it again. 0.59

00:12:38.420 Well, will Carney kill it a second time?

00:12:41.960 What would you guess he's going to do?

00:12:44.820 Stay with us for more, including on this subject.

00:12:46.900 well we've talked to and about the aristotle foundation before they are about civil liberties

00:13:01.800 and freedom so there are kind of people they're led by an old friend of mine named mark milky

00:13:06.400 who's really built it up over just a few years and i think it's a quite a prestigious think tank

00:13:11.440 now and one of the proofs of that is that it managed to convince two of the leading spokesmen

00:13:17.300 for either side of the alberta independence uh referendum to have a debate i'm referring of

00:13:22.980 course to former alberta premier jason kenney and senior lawyer in fact he was the lawyer for the

00:13:28.880 trucker convoy and uh general supporter of independence keith wilson here's a quick clip

00:13:35.780 of that, I think the most astonishing line of debate when Jason Kenney decided he would tell

00:13:41.560 everyone if they vote yes, they're going to lose their passports. Here, take a quick look.

00:13:45.320 Let's be true to the memory of those people who we honor on Memorial Drive, on Remembrance Week.

00:13:52.040 Let's remember that they lie under those maple leaves in foreign soil. Let's not be so quick 0.99

00:13:58.180 to diminish the sacrifices of those generations of proud Albertans, also proud Canadians,

00:14:04.600 who have built one of the most prosperous, generous, and thoughtful places on the face of the earth.

00:14:11.260 We owe it to them, just as we owe it to the future,

00:14:14.220 to build this province and this country, a strong Alberta, in a strong Canada.

00:14:19.500 What you're hearing is no plan.

00:14:22.560 What you're hearing is fear, and what you're hearing is emotion.

00:14:26.220 Those veterans that died did not fight for the values that Ottawa is seeking to impose on us,

00:14:32.720 the censorship, and literally trampling on our rights.

00:14:43.460 So, $1 trillion in investment has left.

00:14:48.060 I am confident, as are people in the investment community that I speak with, that if Alberta

00:14:55.540 moves towards independence, they know they won't have the obstacle of Bill C-69, net

00:15:01.260 zero and all of this other ideological extremist policy imposed on us by ottawa and we won't have

00:15:07.800 to convince ottawa to change the law we'll be able to do it ourselves it is virtually impossible to

00:15:13.940 amend the constitution of canada but you can't separate without amending the constitution of

00:15:19.100 canada which is a paradox unless you go down this road of the unilateral declaration of independence

00:15:25.000 and as i say what happens the next day when ottawa cancels your passport good luck well that's the

00:15:30.200 kind of night it was. Joining us now to talk about the debate, how he got it going, and what

00:15:34.540 he thought of it is the boss of the Aristotle Foundation, Mark Mielke. Mark, great to see you

00:15:39.040 again. Ezra, thanks for having me on. Well, it's our pleasure, and congratulations. I think it was

00:15:44.060 a good thing that you had a debate. There hasn't been a lot of exchanges. It's been two sides sort

00:15:48.920 of sniping at each other from afar, and I would put myself in that category as a sniper as well.

00:15:55.100 Was it easy to get Keith Wilson and Jason Kennedy together on this?

00:15:59.340 Well, for the most part, it just meant arranging dates so we could do that.

00:16:02.920 But I noticed they were debating at a private event in Edmonton, and I know both gentlemen.

00:16:08.620 And so I, you know, we wanted to have a debate in Calgary.

00:16:12.540 We've got an annual debate.

00:16:13.600 Last year, we had one on young Canadians leaving Canada, whether they should or shouldn't.

00:16:17.420 So this year, we wanted to expand it, use the Grand Theater in downtown Calgary.

00:16:21.580 It's a grand old theater, fits about 350 people.

00:16:23.840 And I thought, perfect.

00:16:25.520 Let's have Keith Wilson, who's a separatist, and the former premier, Jason Kenney, debate on the future of Western Canada.

00:16:32.780 And we expanded it to Western Canada, Ezra, very simply because it's not just Alberta, right?

00:16:37.240 I've grown up in the West, British Columbia.

00:16:39.300 I was born and raised, been in Alberta for some decades now.

00:16:42.440 But if you look at the separatist sentiment, there's a bit of it in Manitoba.

00:16:46.080 There's a bit more of it in B.C., but, of course, it's the largest in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

00:16:51.120 So we expanded it to talk about the West and Canada.

00:16:54.340 I think that's a very good move. We had a town hall meeting in Regina on independence, and it was actually larger than any of the ones we've done in Alberta, which is very interesting to me. And I think Scott Mo is watching very carefully what Alberta does. So who was in the crowd? Because it seemed to be a pretty revved up crowd. Were they just general tickets for sale? Or did each side have an allotted number? How did you do that?

00:17:20.680 No, that would have been far too organized.

00:17:22.500 We just wanted to throw it up and open and first come, first serve.

00:17:25.920 So we charged 50 bucks.

00:17:27.580 And I think there was a few more separatists in the crowd than what you'd call federalists, to use the old Quebec language of separatists versus the federalist forces.

00:17:37.220 And Keith was aware of that, so he tried not to encourage them too much.

00:17:41.040 Plus, he quite charmingly said, look, don't interrupt me because I want to win this debate.

00:17:45.600 And so I think the former premier was a bit outnumbered.

00:17:49.980 Look, we should say, by the way, at the Aristotle Foundation, I set this place up along with the staff and board because we wanted to renew Canada, as you know.

00:17:56.900 So we're focused on the entire country.

00:17:59.680 I understand the grievances, if you even want to put that negative spin on them, in terms of Western Canada.

00:18:05.460 Look, I voted against the Charlottetown Accord in 1992 because it gave special status to Quebec.

00:18:10.780 I've written on equalization as much as anyone in the country.

00:18:14.000 I, as you know, was in the war room that the provincial government set up to fight for oil and gas.

00:18:19.600 So I'm quite aware of the issues out here in the West and I'm a born and bred, bred Westerner. So we are pro Canada, full confession. And I told the crowd that and they had to live with it and they were fine. But we wanted a debate because you don't get anywhere in this country, as you well know, if you don't have open debates and too many people shy away from open debates, too many politicians, as you know, like to restrict open debates.

00:18:41.580 They just, you know, they think, oh, that's that. We shouldn't talk about that in polite company. Yes, we should. Because you're not going to settle anything if you don't actually talk about it out loud. And look, you know more that, you know, know that more than anyone. I remember your time, you know, plumping for free expression against the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal. So, look, that was one of the reasons we held the debate was to, you know, clear the air, so to speak.

00:19:03.780 Well, that's great. Now, did anyone, I'm just curious, because I'm thinking about how you describe the importance of the debate and maybe how sometimes it's more rare than it should be. Did you get any negative feedback, people saying you should not platform someone who's for independence? I'm just curious.

00:19:19.780 Not really. I mean, I've seen a few comments online to that effect. But I don't think you like this is the problem with sometimes some of our fellow Canadians, you know, so yeah, some just like, well, you should just ignore the topic. I mean, those are minority from what I can see from the online comments. And it just doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, even the referendum angle. I mean, I disagreed with a judge a few weeks ago who said you can't hold a referendum until you consult every First Nation, whatever she said in her judgment.

00:19:46.920 that's that's nonsensical look the swiss use referendums all the time to settle tough

00:19:52.580 questions right from should we join the united nations i think they said no on that

00:19:56.800 to should we abolish the army no and so on and so forth immigration reform the swiss debate all

00:20:02.780 sorts of controversial things and so i've always admired the swiss for being able to do that and

00:20:07.200 i actually think and look you're familiar with this as right behind closed doors politicians

00:20:10.840 will sometimes look down their noses at citizens or get frustrated with the voters you know because

00:20:15.700 um sometimes you know politicians do try and do the right thing and um you know it's a tough

00:20:21.160 thing to govern province be an mp for riding whatever and um sometimes citizens and i've been

00:20:28.260 one you've been one criticize politicians so fine if governments don't want to deal with an issue

00:20:32.800 throw it to a referendum and let citizens debate it just like we did the charlottetown accord many

00:20:37.800 years ago when you and i were a bit younger point is you can get through some of these tough issues

00:20:42.260 by putting them on the table.

00:20:44.060 So the separatist debate, it was a pro-Canada resolution,

00:20:47.440 be it resolved, the West should stay within Canada.

00:20:50.380 That was the resolution, quite purposely pro-Canada.

00:20:53.180 But it was a very good debate by Keith Wilson

00:20:55.080 and the former premier.

00:20:56.560 Yeah.

00:20:56.900 Well, I mean, it's the same, it's a cousin of

00:20:59.760 you can't talk about it to you can't vote about it.

00:21:02.740 I think those are cousins.

00:21:04.300 And, you know, I think you're right

00:21:07.740 that a referendum is like a safety valve

00:21:09.260 for things that politicians don't want to talk about.

00:21:10.840 And I would rather it be thrown to millions of Albertans or any other subject, millions of Canadians, than than resolved by one judge, because that's not going to that's not going to.

00:21:22.200 All it does is bottle it up.

00:21:24.200 I remember the Charlottetown Accord.

00:21:25.540 Look, I was a political science student.

00:21:27.040 I think you were close to being in law school or already in law school at the time.

00:21:30.820 And I remember fellow students who weren't interested in politics or policy of the Constitution at all debating the proposals in 1992.

00:21:39.040 1992, the Charlottetown Accord. Should we give a special status for Quebec? Should native Canadians

00:21:43.720 have, you know, receipts reserved for them in parliament? This sort of thing. And I remember

00:21:48.460 people who had no interest debating this sort of thing over coffee at the University of Alberta,

00:21:54.720 at the hall there, and talking out loud about it because they had a stake in the outcome. They had

00:21:59.720 a vote that they had to decide on whether they were going to vote pro or con on Charlottetown.

00:22:03.240 So to me, that was a perfect example early on of why referendums should be used.

00:22:07.620 Yeah, I see right now that the Swiss, I don't think they've had the vote yet. I think it's looming to have a referendum on capping Switzerland's population at 10 million, which is a very interesting way to phrase an immigration debate. Alberta, of course, has some immigration questions, too. And there are some people who are saying they want to challenge the legal right to do so. And that I think that shows an authoritarian streak.

00:22:31.140 I think it was a very good thing for Danielle Smith to put the spicy stuff in a referendum.

00:22:35.980 By the way, it got her plausible distance saying, well, you know, I'm just asking questions for the people to answer.

00:22:42.320 And it allows her to keep arm's length from these spicy things while also getting credit for platforming.

00:22:48.340 I think she's done a good job on it.

00:22:49.840 I'm not sure yet what I think about the referendum to have a referendum, but we can talk about that another time.

00:22:54.960 Let's switch gears, though.

00:22:55.860 I really appreciate you talking to us about that debate.

00:22:58.000 You know, before we go on to the next subject, let me just throw in one more clip.

00:23:02.100 I wish I had been there.

00:23:04.020 Here's one more clip from the debate between Keith Wilson and Jason Kenney, hosted by the Aristotle Foundation.

00:23:09.720 Take a look.

00:23:10.120 In fact, I believe Alberta is the most Canadian of provinces because we have been by far the biggest recipients and I would say beneficiaries of interprovincial migration.

00:23:20.460 More people in Alberta have been born in other provinces than is the case in any other part of Canada.

00:23:25.720 and indeed nearly half of people in this province are born elsewhere they're Albertans by choice

00:23:34.300 and not chance and for so many of those Albertans their primary loyalty while they love Alberta and

00:23:40.400 are proud of it and want it to thrive and prosper their primary loyalty is to our country to Canada

00:23:48.120 well if that's the case I'm sure the referendum will go in Jason Kenney's favor and what has he

00:23:53.440 got to worry about hey um mark i want to talk to you about one more thing before we let you go

00:23:58.980 and it's an interesting flip flop flip and then flop again by mark carney i'm getting whiplash

00:24:05.080 trying to understand where he stands on the united states one day he's in china talking about the new

00:24:10.420 world order and pivoting towards them calling them you know a strategic partnership then the

00:24:14.880 next day he's in new york or wherever he was saying that a strong canada will make america

00:24:21.060 great again. And he's sounding like what the liberals would call maple MAGA. And then he's

00:24:27.260 just, you know, every week I feel like he's taking a different position. He wants to join

00:24:31.260 the European Union in some way. He wants to buy Swedish military equipment. But then he,

00:24:38.480 I just don't know where he stands. Canada provides the United States with reliable power,

00:24:43.580 with critical minerals that help fuel American growth.

00:24:47.620 99% of U.S. natural gas imports, 85% of electricity imports,

00:24:52.980 60%, 60% of crude oil imports.

00:24:57.440 That is mutual strength.

00:25:00.600 Let's be absolutely clear.

00:25:02.580 Canada Strong will help make America great again.

00:25:06.700 Maybe he doesn't know where he's at.

00:25:08.260 What's going on with Mark Carney?

00:25:10.320 Well, there's a deep vein of anti-Americanism in Canada.

00:25:13.580 And it comes up, as you've seen in the past year, because of some of the comments of the

00:25:18.060 president, Donald Trump.

00:25:19.480 But this has been a longstanding thing in Canada, maybe not in Alberta as much or the

00:25:24.980 West, a different dynamic out here to some degree, although it does resonate a little

00:25:28.760 bit.

00:25:29.500 But historically, my PhD thesis is on the rhetoric of anti-Americanism in Canada, right?

00:25:34.040 And politicians often play with anti-American sentiment, rightly or wrongly, from John

00:25:38.660 Diefenbaker to Mark Carney and before John Diefenbaker.

00:25:41.920 So, but on Carney himself and the Americans, look, you cannot ignore the biggest market in the world for Canada. If you're a small business in Saskatchewan or southern Ontario, you're not going to really be able to export to what, France or Poland or Germany or even the UK?

00:25:59.640 Like, come on. The easiest thing to do is to try and secure market access, try and ship your products or your services south of the border because it's such a massive market and it's it's a land border.

00:26:11.420 So you don't have to cross an ocean to get your widgets down south.

00:26:15.320 So I think perhaps the prime minister has recognized that despite the rhetoric, it's not like we're going to replace 80 percent of our trade or whatever it is these days, 85 percent of our trade or any big chunk of that by getting to Europe and Asia.

00:26:29.780 And of course, as you know, I think we're in agreement on this, Ezra, I would guess. I mean, our biggest export value wise is energy. And that's something we probably can get to Europe and Asia. But Mark Carney's party has been a problem on that for some years.

00:26:44.680 so um and he's seems to be turning a bit of a corner but not quickly enough so insofar as you

00:26:50.940 get to the americans look yeah ship all we can down there uh market all we can down there but

00:26:55.160 yeah do trade with the rest of the world but then drop the ridiculous anti-oil and gas stance that

00:27:00.920 so many in in uh the federal government have had since 2015 uh drop that like a hot potato and move

00:27:06.440 on you know i i just am confused by the mixed signals i mean he's talking about tripling taxes

00:27:11.780 on us social media platforms and i and that's getting the ire of the tech industry i just

00:27:18.120 i i don't know it feels incoherent yeah so he's i i think he's yeah i think what it is as right he's

00:27:23.100 and i don't know if he's sincere or not uh look he got elected by by doing what he did um you know

00:27:29.300 what's the tension there in the air is the reality you cannot ignore the american elephant and the

00:27:34.040 market that it is and the importance that it is to many canadians um and on the other hand he wants

00:27:39.440 to play with the anti-American rhetoric

00:27:41.040 and play to that crowd.

00:27:42.440 I mean, look, I talked to a business fellow

00:27:43.980 in Montreal who does suits,

00:27:47.680 who manufactures suits in Montreal

00:27:49.240 and a good chunk of his market

00:27:51.220 is south of the border

00:27:52.300 and he needs stability.

00:27:53.760 He needs free market access.

00:27:55.380 He needs to make sure

00:27:56.000 whatever the American president

00:27:57.980 and Mark Carney

00:27:58.760 and their minions negotiate,

00:28:01.320 that his company still has access

00:28:03.440 to the American markets.

00:28:04.520 Otherwise, there will be people

00:28:06.100 sewing suits in Montreal laid off.

00:28:07.760 So perhaps Carney recognizes that he can't simply snub the Americans, which, you know, to some degree, his rhetoric has, of course, been doing over the past year and some months.

00:28:19.440 You mentioned the oil, Patrick. I've got one last question for you about that. And thanks for your time today.

00:28:24.340 The oil and gas exports of the United States are by far Canada's biggest exports, much larger than the auto sector, for example.

00:28:31.580 um and early about about a year ago actually donald trump issued some executive orders

00:28:38.380 allowing the american side to get ready for an oil pipeline from canada sort of where keystone

00:28:46.600 xl was going to go and i see today that the company that sort of inherited that on the

00:28:52.820 canadian side it's called southbow says that they now have sufficient orders that they want to build

00:28:59.440 a 550,000 barrel a day pipeline to the states.

00:29:02.900 And like I say, the American side's ready.

00:29:04.740 Trump has already issued the orders ready to rock.

00:29:07.680 And they've done what's called open season.

00:29:10.140 So everyone says, well, I'll buy this much capacity

00:29:13.560 and I'll buy that much.

00:29:14.380 So it's ready to roll.

00:29:15.800 They say they're going to make

00:29:16.600 their final investment decision next year.

00:29:19.300 It's a no-brainer.

00:29:20.300 The only hurdle between now and then,

00:29:23.460 given that this was all regulated and litigated

00:29:26.240 and passed for Keystone.

00:29:28.040 so basically 10 years ago this all passed the test the only thing is a mark carney or b a court

00:29:35.980 those are the only things that can stop this pipeline and if my quick back of the napkin

00:29:41.020 math is right this is a billion a half dollars a year like what's 550 000 barrels a day i'm you

00:29:46.960 know i just did the math really quickly here it's a staggering amount of money every year plus the

00:29:52.640 build is 5 billion my question to you is will that pipeline actually get built look i certainly hope

00:30:01.440 so and maybe the prime minister if he's sincere can take a lesson from the mayor of calgary jeremy

00:30:07.000 farkas you may or may not know uh living in toronto these days ezra that there was a problem

00:30:11.800 with our water pipeline in calgary and it kept breaking um the major pipeline that is under the

00:30:17.960 ground that gives us all water in this city. And so when Jeremy Farkas came to power last November,

00:30:22.960 it broke again shortly after he ascended into the mayor's chair. Well, the city, believe it or not,

00:30:28.780 this thing was going to take a replacement pipeline for water in Calgary, was going to

00:30:32.040 take three or four years to build. And it's actually going to be done by the end of the year.

00:30:36.920 Within one year, they're building a water pipeline, a water main, under the streets of Calgary. And it

00:30:41.880 occurred to me, look, this has been the first time in history governments, when they want to, can get

00:30:45.520 something done in a hurry think about the alaska highway during world war ii so if mark carney

00:30:50.440 wants to take a page out of somebody's book we'll look to the city of calgary and the mayor and

00:30:54.400 council who actually to their credit removed all the roadblocks said look we need this we need kind

00:31:00.320 of need water in calgary to drink among other purposes and so this needs to be done we can't

00:31:04.720 we can't wait another four years while our existing pipeline keeps breaking and endangers us

00:31:09.540 uh, if the other one broke. Um, so that's a lesson for getting stuff done. And I would say to

00:31:15.580 politicians across the country, figure out a way how you can build things quicker, let people build

00:31:20.160 things quicker. Maybe that's the best way to think about it rather than getting in the way. And

00:31:24.320 perhaps there's a few justices out there that could learn the same lesson. Yeah. I don't think

00:31:28.880 that a self-bow as it's called needs anything. They don't need money. They don't need gifts.

00:31:34.280 they don't need favors they just need mark carney not to mess it up and they need the judges not to

00:31:40.680 discover some new indigenous right to stop it and i'm going to go on the record and predict

00:31:47.240 that this will not happen and i hope i'm wrong i hope i eat my words i hope my pessimistic 0.86

00:31:55.280 prediction no one will be happier than me but if you pay attention to what mark carney says and does

00:32:00.660 not just the last year but the last 10 years he's all in favor of what he calls clean energy

00:32:06.680 which is code for anything but oil so he'd be free natural gas because that's cleanish in his books

00:32:13.740 i do not think mark carney will approve this and boy do i want to be proved wrong mark well i i do

00:32:20.680 hope you're wrong obviously just because this is what 15 20 years overdue and i think um look this

00:32:27.360 actually dovetails with the subject we raised earlier, Alberta separatism. I think if the rest

00:32:32.280 of the country doesn't want to see separatism ramp up, or at least for it to create a problem,

00:32:36.220 even if it fails, right? Look, separatists in Quebec got 40 percent in 1970, in the election

00:32:41.520 in 1976, when Parti Québécois achieved power. 41 percent, I think 40 percent was the vote in

00:32:46.920 favor of separation in 1980. And the country spent far too much time dealing with that issue.

00:32:52.020 If the rest of the country wants Alberta not to, and the rest of the country not to be plagued by

00:32:56.680 separatism fine then um politicians across the country should want alberta and the west in general

00:33:02.340 to prosper it's not just about pipelines it's about everything else we do out here and that

00:33:06.420 includes first nations not blocking things judges not wrongly finding a reason to deny yet again

00:33:12.060 some pipeline or some project from going forward and and also i would say this to separatists in

00:33:17.040 the west that is actually my vision where the west becomes a much more dominant partner in

00:33:22.000 confederation as it has slowly been becoming over the last century but i wish the rest of the

00:33:27.400 country would take would take the shackles off and allow this part of the country to thrive it would

00:33:31.920 be great for the entire country and so um if the rest of the country mark coney on down really

00:33:37.800 don't want to see problematic separatism in alberta or the rest of the country um then do

00:33:44.000 everything you can not to preach but to lift off the shackles of the resource economy and everything

00:33:50.460 else we're trying to do out in Western Canada. And that will solve the separatism problem.

00:33:54.820 Absent that, we're going to be back here talking about both of these issues on a regular basis.

00:33:59.900 I think Mark Carney enjoys indulging in anti-Americanism. And I don't think he dislikes

00:34:06.700 poking at Alberta industry. I think they both profit him electorally. But I hope I'm wrong.

00:34:11.900 I hope you're right. What's the best website for people to follow what you do at Aristotle

00:34:15.020 Foundation? AristotleFoundation.org. Thanks, Ezra.

00:34:18.800 you remember great to see you thanks very much and congrats again on hosting a great event

00:34:22.360 it was great fun take care ezra all right there he is mark milkey the boss

00:34:26.040 of the aristotle foundation stay with it your letters to me next

00:34:30.200 hey welcome back your letters to me a quacker crumb says what would canada be like without

00:34:44.540 colonization or settlers and modernization that everyone benefits from. Recognizing history in

00:34:49.720 such things as monuments and museums are a reminder of how things have been made better in so many

00:34:54.240 ways. Yeah, you know, I'd like to come up with a proper land acknowledgement, not a land

00:34:58.480 acknowledgement, but a historical acknowledgement of the people who came before us who made this

00:35:02.820 a wonderful place, who made it safe and prosperous and developed and built up. I don't want to

00:35:08.760 denigrate the past. I want to say how grateful I am to live in a free country as opposed to

00:35:13.940 unfree one like i think of cuba a lot these days autodidact says nobody ever defaced the statue

00:35:20.780 or knocked it down of slave owner mohawk mohawk chief joseph tyendanegea brant and no one demanded

00:35:29.060 that the southern ontario city of brantford change its name to erase the shame of being named after

00:35:33.560 an actual slave owner gee i wonder why well that's the thing isn't it you know um slavery was

00:35:40.900 abolished in the british empire before canada became a country it was particularly abolished

00:35:46.280 in ontario in phases by the way the biggest slaveholders when it was abolished were the

00:35:52.840 indian bands themselves and that's what you're talking about here it's tough to mention isn't

00:35:57.840 it when you find out that actually there were bands of indians who slavery was an essential

00:36:02.740 part of their ceremonies and their economy sherry says free injection sites also contribute to the 0.99

00:36:09.420 downfall of places too thank goodness calgary is getting rid of theirs in june well i sure hope so

00:36:14.380 boy when i was there a few weeks ago i sure saw a lot of drug addicted people on the streets

00:36:18.740 and it was a little bit repulsive but more than that it was sad for these people well that's our

00:36:25.620 show for today until next time on behalf of all of us here at rebel world headquarters to you

00:36:30.560 at home good night and keep fighting for freedom

Rebel News Podcast - May 30, 2026

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Recession grips Canada under Carney — while the Alberta energy sector pushes ahead

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