You know that thug who hit Sheila Gunn-Reed in the face last year? We finally beat him in court, and I'll give you the details. It's May 10th, and you're watching the Ezra Levant Show.
00:29:04.000There's a very strange thing going on in the Alberta legislature.
00:29:06.820The Alberta NDP keeps putting forward bills that are really not on the public policy radar of most Albertans, in my view.
00:29:15.760But they're doing it for obvious reasons, to distract from the real issues of the province, the economy, the lack of pipelines, the carbon tax,
00:29:25.280and to provoke the United Conservative Party, and to change the subject.
00:29:33.500It's basically a censorship bill that applies to a geographic area, 50 meters, now 150 meters, around any abortion facility.
00:29:42.620In the name of stopping, I don't know, violence or something.
00:29:46.680But of course, there is no abortion violence, no violence at abortion clinics, other than, I suppose, critics would say the violence that happens within those abortion clinics.
00:29:54.760The only evidence that New Democrats have put forward is a videotape of a couple of very quiet Christian grandmas standing with a quiet vigil outside one of them.
00:30:03.760It's obvious this is designed to rekindle a debate of Jason Kenney and the UCP being extremists.
00:30:09.840But the extremists are actually the NDP, I believe, by having a total censorship ban, a censorship zone, 150 meters, that's what, 500 feet.
00:31:28.100Intimidation, harassment against people is illegal.
00:31:31.500So the only thing this bill changes is around protest.
00:31:35.900And, you know, just today, outside the legislature, as we're speaking, there is a peaceful, and as far as I can tell, I haven't been there for it.
00:31:46.400But as far as I can tell, respectful protest of pro-lifers, and there's no issue.
00:31:53.020I would imagine that in the rare circumstance where it could theoretically happen that if someone were to protest outside of the abortion clinic and yell and scream at women going in and out or photographing them, I think that would be inappropriate.
00:32:07.340But the law and court injunctions already make that illegal.
00:32:12.740But what this bill does is it makes it illegal to protest, period.
00:32:17.220And as far as I've ever seen, I've seen a peaceful grandma pray over people.
00:32:22.600Some people might still not like that, but it certainly doesn't reach the level of intimidation or violence.
00:32:27.260But this makes it illegal originally for 50 metres.
00:32:30.800Unfortunately, when the opposition's away, the government will play.
00:32:35.980And so because I was the only conservative in the legislature for six consecutive votes, really just kind of having to man the whole thing myself, the NDP thought that without more than one MLA opposing them, and they can do anything they want, they decided to triple the size of their no-protest censorship zone.
00:32:54.860So it's now instead of 50 metres, it's 150 metres, and this is what happens when you don't have any opposition.
00:33:29.140But the fact that Jason Kenney and the UCP don't want to, quote, give oxygen to this narrative, I don't think that excuses their abandoning their duties as the official opposition.
00:33:40.820If they oppose this bill, then oppose it.
00:33:46.360I think the media acknowledges it's a stunt.
00:33:48.520But if it's bad public policy, the answer is not to run away.
00:33:52.440It's to vote against it and come up with a proper response.
00:33:55.360I think they're the ones playing games, too.
00:33:59.220If they think it's a bad law, they should speak and vote against it, not – I mean, it's – I'd almost say it's childish just to say, oh, I can't – it's like putting your hands over your ears and saying, I can't hear you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:34:10.560No, no, the bill is coming forward anyways.
00:34:16.080You know, if the NDP are playing games by simply trying to bring this up to get abortion on – as an issue of public discussion, and it's really not – today's protest exempted, which is an annual event, it's not really an issue that people are talking about.
00:34:34.120So, yeah, sure, if it's a game by the NDP to try to trap the UCP to talk about this, the appropriate response from the UCP isn't to play games of their own.
00:34:43.640The government, unfortunately, gets to set 98% of the agenda in the legislature, and the opposition, unfortunately, we have to respond to it.
00:34:52.340And the appropriate response when the government's playing games or doing something just trying to trap us is not to be just as immature and to play the same kind of games.
00:35:03.540You know, if Jason Kenney did not believe he was going to get the unanimity of his caucus on this issue, then the appropriate thing is to do what conservatives are supposed to do in theory on controversial social issues and allow a free vote.
00:35:17.540Allow people to vote their own conscience and consult in consultation with their constituents.
00:35:23.200Instead, they've been told they're not supposed to vote one way or another, which would be bad enough, but they're told you're not even allowed to show up for a debate, and you're not allowed to speak to it, and you're not allowed to vote on it, period.
00:35:34.660And their attempt to not give this oxygen, I think, is actually giving it more oxygen.
00:35:39.340Yeah, I think you're exactly right, because it's so bizarre, and it's almost like, you know, the NDP can toy with the government.
00:36:07.420And the thing is, if this law is as improper as I think it is, both constitutionally and in terms of, I mean, there's no problem to be solved here.
00:36:15.300I think violating free speech is inappropriate.
00:36:18.960But if this bill passes and becomes law, which it surely will, if the United Conservative Party becomes the government next year, as many polls suggest it will, will they also be afraid to dismantle it then?
00:36:30.500Will they be afraid to repeal the law?
00:36:33.520If they're so terrified to even mention its name and its word, does that mean that they won't vote on it when they have a majority?
00:36:40.060It's so many strange questions, Derek, and I doubt you have an answer to their thinking because you're an independent MLA right now.
00:38:03.960I mean, doing their most fundamental and basic job as MLAs, but they're told they're not allowed to for party leadership and the whip.
00:38:12.340And, you know, as I can attest, it's not a very good career move to defy what the bosses say.
00:38:20.220Yeah, I want to talk to you a little bit more about that in a minute.
00:38:21.880But this reminds me about the United Conservative Party Convention the other day in Red Deer, huge convention, largest from reports in the province's history, over 2,500 people.
00:38:35.88057% of those delegates said they wanted parents to be notified if the kids go to religious-based or sex-oriented classes or extracurriculars.
00:38:55.220And afterwards, Jason Kenney said, no, no, no, I hold the pen, was his phrase, and I'll interpret the will of the people.
00:39:02.240And I just sensed that this idea that by being not just not pro-life and not pro-parent, but to actually be more NDP than the NDP, to silence,
00:39:16.100who was able to silence the United Conservative Party MLAs?
00:43:23.520Tell me what Jason Kenney has said to you about your desire to have the right to run, not to be appointed, but to put your name to the members of the riding.
00:43:34.760What's Jason Kenney said to you, and what's his explanation?
00:43:37.140Well, I met with Jason in November, and he had been saying for some time, just stay quiet.
00:44:01.440And we had a meeting in either late November or early December and just discussing the details of this.
00:44:10.500And about 90 percent of that meeting was him telling me that I can't run in my own constituency if I wanted to return to the caucus and run in the next election.
00:44:20.540He said – and I'll give you a probably near exact quote of what he said.
00:44:27.560It wasn't recorded or written down, but the near exact quote was – actually, I'll give a bit of context.
00:44:32.720My current constituency, Strathmore Brooks, was combined with the neighboring constituency of Chestermere-Rockyview.
00:44:40.100And Chestermere-Rockyview is represented by Lila Ahir, one of the only two female members of the United Conservative Caucus.
00:44:47.960And the party's pretty lacking in female MLAs, I'll be the first to admit.
00:44:52.960But my constituency was combined with her.
00:44:55.660So either one of us had to run somewhere else or we were going to have to face off against each other in the nomination in advance to determine who the members want to be, the MLA.
00:45:03.920And Jason Kenney said to me that he would not support my return to the caucus and running the next election unless I decided to – unless I moved to a different constituency to run.
00:45:17.740And his quote that he said to me was, how would it look if one of our only two women was defeated in the nomination by some bearded, blonde redneck?
00:45:29.260And – no, I don't take a redneck as a pejorative term, and I don't think he meant it as such.
00:45:35.780But it was pretty clear because there's only two women in the caucus, of which I am not one, that I would be free to run in any other constituency,
00:45:46.620including other parts of my constituency that were conjoined with other neighboring constituencies with incumbent male UCP MLAs,
00:45:58.140And, you know, so it was pretty clear to me that this was a Trudeau-style gender quota, except that the way Trudeau does it is actually probably better, which is hard – very sad to say.
00:46:11.940He says because it's 2015, we're just going to have quotas, and that's that.
00:46:16.320But the way things are happening in the United Conservative Party is in public, when we look you in the face, we say no gender quotas, merit only.
00:46:24.660Let the people, let the members decide.
00:46:27.160But then when we're behind closed doors, we say, well, we've got to look good, so we're just going to do this through dirty backroom politics.
00:46:36.080And that's the way things have happened at UCP.
00:46:38.080So that's why, regardless of any other excuses they've tried to cook up, that is the reason why I'm not allowed – why the members in my constituency have been told they're not allowed to even decide who their candidate for MLA is going to be.
00:46:53.140They're going to be told who the candidates they're allowed to vote for are, but they're not going to let me run because I think they're afraid of what the result might be.
00:47:22.560I think she's fought hard for the oil and gas sector, which is very important to me.
00:47:26.740Because she is a woman, and I think she's a woman of color, I don't know, she is more effective at rebutting certain politically correct attacks from the NDP than people who look like you and me are.
00:47:41.440Sure. But that doesn't, in our system of meritocracy and egalitarianism, trump the right, in my view, of the members of your writing to have the say.
00:47:51.840And obviously, I think I would love it if the both of you were MLAs, and the Constitution and the grassroots guarantee seems to suggest that the members should choose and vote.
00:48:02.380And you're saying that's not going to happen. Does that mean that you're blackballed from any writing?
00:48:06.480Does that mean that you are basically ending your days as an independent MLA, and if you run it again, it's as an independent MLA?
00:48:13.340Is this the last of Derek Fildebrandt in provincial politics?
00:48:18.180Oh, you haven't seen the end of me. I can assure you that.
00:48:23.740Yeah, no, what they said is, because we couldn't come to an agreement, I'm not allowed to run in any constituency for the United Conservative Party.
00:48:30.840You know, and I've got no problem with Lila, other than that, in the later stages, she sought to be protected and not face an open nomination.
00:48:38.540That's the only problem I've had with her. But, you know, regardless of if we think we need more men, women, or purple, brown, or white MLAs, it should always be up to the local members to make that decision.
00:48:52.280And it's not like my constituency is a heavily ethnic constituency. It's a predominantly rural and suburban constituency.
00:48:59.820But it doesn't matter what color the local people are there. It should matter what politics and the person they want to pick for their own MLA.
00:49:09.600I agree. I'm from meritocracy. I mean, I absolutely agree. I mean, I don't think we should have racial quotas or gender quotas.
00:49:15.880And I think it's, in fact, a little bit diminishing for the party to suggest that Lila couldn't win on her own merits.
00:49:23.040So, I mean, I don't know if you've thought of your plan. If Jason Kenney has blackballed your return to the party because you want to run in your home riding,
00:49:31.040sounds like you're going to go down fighting for the remainder of your term, doing the things in the legislature that the other UCP members won't.
00:49:40.080It sounds like you're sometimes the only one in there fighting the fight. I know you put forward a motion that MLA should have a pay reduction.
00:49:46.040You're the only one of anybody who supported it. You're doing great things in your final year there.
00:49:50.280Is it too early to think about what you're going to do afterwards? Because I think you have a strong voice.
00:49:57.060I think you come from your taxpayer's background. You've fought like hell for years.
00:50:02.880It's obvious you're out of sync with Jason Kenney. Then again, so are we here at the Rebels.
00:50:07.820So maybe that's why we get along so well. Is it too early to brainstorm about what you're going to do next?
00:50:12.840It would be a shame if you left the world of public policy.
00:50:14.920I haven't made a decision, but I've had, you know, what really got me moving in was a few weeks ago,
00:50:23.220I had town halls in Strathmore and in Brooks, and I invited folks to come out and talk in the aftermath of the cancellation of,
00:50:31.860or the pending cancellation of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
00:50:35.080And people were very upset that they were being denied the right to pick their own candidate for MLA.
00:50:42.400And a lot of people encouraged me to either run as an independent conservative or to begin a new conservative party.
00:50:49.600And I haven't decided what route to go. I believe in grassroots democracy.
00:50:54.860I don't believe in corporate conservatism. I believe in blue-collar grassroots conservatism.
00:51:00.820And I don't believe in Ottawa-style conservatism here. I believe our party or our movement should be autonomous.
00:51:09.520A lot of people in Alberta are talking about independence right now. I'm not there.
00:51:13.760I still want, I believe in Canada and want Canada to work. But Canada is broken.
00:51:17.840And I believe the route for Alberta is not continued model of federalism, where we just simply yell back at them, as Jason Kenney proposes.
00:51:29.860It's not confederalism where we roll over a short belly to them, as Rachel Notley practices.
00:51:34.580And it's not a full independence, as many people are starting to agitate for.
00:51:38.180I think it's autonomy. It's demanding a repatriation of the British North America Act, 1867 constitutional powers that run our own business here, remaining a part of Canada.
00:51:50.980So I'm considering various options. But my heart lies with an autonomous, strong, and conservative Alberta, and a conservatism that is not an old Tory corporate conservatism, but that works for people in the oil patch, that works for farmers, for real people on the ground.
00:52:12.420Yeah. Well, for what it's worth, I hope you don't start a new party.
00:52:15.220I think splittism at the party level is something that should be avoided. I think the unification of the parties was a success.
00:52:22.320I could understand if you ran as an independent, given your roots in the riding and what you're reporting that you hear. I don't know.
00:52:29.180It's very difficult to run and win as an independent. I hope you continue to contemplate things. I look forward to keeping you in touch.
00:52:34.400I want to make it clear, because I say this when I was talking to my colleague David Menzies about Doug Ford and his decision to throw a great conservative named Tanya Granik-Allen out as a candidate.
00:52:46.880And she was the one who made him the kingmaker in the riding. And David's very mad at Doug Ford, and I understand that, and I'm mad also.
00:52:55.140But I said, look, at the end of the day, Doug Ford has to beat Kathleen Wynne in Ontario. There's just no two ways about it.
00:53:01.820And my view is, at the end of the day, there's two people who could be premier next year.
00:53:07.580One is Rachel Notley, one is Jason Kenney. And without any shadow of a doubt, Jason Kenney is going to be a better premier than Rachel Notley, and he must win.
00:53:15.720But that doesn't mean that we here at The Rebel and grassroots conservatives who care about conservatism shouldn't do our best to maintain the true conservatism and the grassroots democracy.
00:53:27.260And I believe that's our role here at The Rebel, is to be good faith critics of Jason Kenney and the UCP.
00:53:34.400And when they fail, not just to give them a free pass because we're conservatives, not to be gotcha, bad faith critics like the rest of the media, but to try and keep them conservative, because there's no point in having an unconservative conservative party.
00:53:47.120So that's my take on things, Derek. We're fans of yours. I want to see you staying part of the fight, whether it's as an MLA or something else.
00:53:57.080And I'm sympathetic to your concerns. We have reached out to Leela.
00:53:59.860As you know, Jason Kenney is blackballed The Rebel. He's not allowing any other MLA's to talk to us.
00:54:05.560Yeah, that's my take. I'll give you the final word. We've had a good conversation, chewed over a lot of things.
00:54:09.960If you had one last thing you wanted to tell Rebel viewers, what would it be?
00:54:15.180Yeah, no, I was the very first conservative in the legislature to call for the unification of the conservative family in Alberta.
00:54:25.700I'm not as sure that that was the right decision anymore.
00:54:28.360I really believed it was necessary, but now I'm seeing very dangerous signs that this new party is not looking like the new fresh party that I hoped it would be, living up to the grassroots guarantee.
00:54:43.660But it is looking dangerously close to the entitlement to power and self-conceit of the Tories of old.
00:54:54.000Not as bad as it was under the height of Jim Prentice when they thought they would rule the universe, but I'm seeing very dangerous signs.
00:55:00.360And I really want the United Conservative Party to succeed and be the party that I thought it was that we were founding.
00:55:05.560But I'm very concerned about the direction it's going right now when grassroots democracy is stamped out on members picking the policy, when grassroots democracy is stamped out on letting local members pick their own candidate, and when basic parliamentary democracy is stamped out, when MLAs are not even allowed to vote freely or even debate things just because someone else says so.
00:55:28.220Mm-hmm. All right. Well, we'll leave it there. Good conversation went on longer than I had originally thought, but there was so much to cover.
00:55:38.040Yeah, it's been a while. It was great to see you in Calgary at our anti-carbon tax, repeal the carbon tax and pro-pipeline rally a few weeks ago in Calgary. It was great to have you there.
00:55:47.840Thanks for spending the time with us today. We'll keep in touch.
00:55:50.220I think you're an important part, an important voice for conservatives in Alberta and in Canada, and I hope that we can find, and you can find, a place that is satisfying and where you can continue to make a difference.
00:56:08.140There you have it, Derek Fildebrandt. And as I mentioned several times, we have, in fact, reached out to Lila Ahir to have her point of view.
00:56:14.960I remain a fan of Lila's, no doubt about it. Of course, she is under Jason Kenney's prohibition for MLAs from the UCP to talk to any rebel media journalist.
00:56:27.380Stay with us. More ahead on The Rebel.
00:56:28.720Hey, welcome back on my monologue Tuesday about sexual misconduct by powerful feminists in politics.
00:56:46.420I truly feel for the victims of these pigs, especially our own soldier.
00:56:50.080You know, normally I wouldn't say that a soldier, a tough, strong guy, is a victim if a female MP falls from back to his hotel and sleeps with him.
00:57:01.220And I don't think the soldier himself really wants to embrace victimology.
00:57:05.580But it is a fact that he was on a variety of medications, and she insisted he drink alcohol.
00:57:11.740And he said he objected, but she said she was a nurse and knew better.
00:57:15.460So how many ways did she abuse her authority to take advantage of him?
00:57:18.560I'm a nurse. It's okay to drink when you're on meds.