EZRA LEVANT ｜ Steelworkers axed as leftists reject steel pipelines — Make it make sense!
Episode Stats
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Summary
A thousand Canadian steel workers were laid off and the government stepped in with half a billion dollars to shore up those jobs. What do the Liberals have in store for the steel workers? They want to build an oil pipeline made of steel.
Transcript
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Hello, my friends. I'm back at our world headquarters in Toronto, and I want to talk to you about
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a terrible thing that happened. A thousand steelworkers at Algoma were laid off. The
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kooky thing is that they were just given half a billion dollars by the government to shore
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up those jobs. They cashed the check and then laid off a thousand people. What are the liberals
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plan to do? If anything, I'll get into the details and I'll tell you something I'm watching
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out of the corner of my eye that may have an impact on it. But first, let me invite you
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to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. And
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in addition to talking a little bit about that Algoma situation, I can play some clips for
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you. I also want to show you a little bit more from the Alberta United Conservative Party
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convention. So I really want you to see it, not just hear it in a podcast. Please go to
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rebelnewsplus.com. Click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. And not only do you get the great
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video content, you keep Rebel News strong because we take no government money and it shows.
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Tonight, a thousand unionized steelworkers lose their jobs, but leftist politicians refuse
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to build an oil pipeline made of steel. Make it make sense. It's December 2nd and this is
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Almost exactly two months ago, Mark Carney wrote this. He said,
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building the strongest economy in the G7 will be achieved with Canadian steel and Canadian
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workers. We're taking action to support Algoma Steel to protect high quality careers and help
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our steel sector prosper. I don't think anyone serious would think that Canada's economy is the
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strongest in the G7, but put that aside for a moment. Here's the details of the announcement
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that Carney announced two months ago. He wasn't just tweeting. He said, I'll summarize. Basically,
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400 million tax dollars were going from you through Carney to Algoma. And Doug Ford gave another
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hundred million dollars from Ontario taxes. So that's half a billion dollars handed out to Algoma
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for, you read it, great careers. So that was in September, just about eight weeks ago.
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It's December. And Algoma just announced that they are laying off a thousand jobs out of 2,500 or so
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in the plan. They took the cash and laid off the jobs. Half a billion dollars, thousand jobs. That
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works out to $500,000 per job. And it wasn't enough to save it. What was that line from Carney,
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the strongest economy in the G7? I just don't think that's true. But Carney sort of,
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centrally planned, centrally managed economy where big corporations lobby for grants or favors,
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but it's just not enough to overcome deep problems. That's not how you build a dynamic economy.
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That's not Detroit in 1925. That's more Detroit in 2025. You know, a hundred years ago, Detroit was the
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fourth largest city in the United States. Can you believe that? Just booming. It had the highest
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largest wages in America, Detroit. It wasn't some centrally planned scheme. It was the innovation
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of the automobile and then the free market and the competition amongst different automakers. The high
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wagers were not a gift from Henry Ford. That's what he had to pay to attract workers in a competitive
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automobile industry. It's so opposite in Canada today, isn't it? It's very sad. Now it's about who can you
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coax money out of in government. Now I know it's nuts since Carney is an economist and he worked for
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a series of banks, but I'm not sure he actually knows how businesses work, how money is made,
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how steel workers get their jobs, how Algoma is supposed to make money. I think he just knows how
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to spend money, not how to earn it. And he's very political about it all. He seems to hate
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manufacturing, factory, steel, oil, building block, things like that. I mean, remember this?
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Does that not ultimately trickle down? No, because what the big companies are producing,
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by and large, are not products that we are consuming. There's some element of that, but by
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and large, you know, a steel company, how much steel are you using these days, Todd? I mean,
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not as much, not as much. Sorry. Or even this, let me play the long version of this,
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which is worse than the short version. This pipeline going to come. So, so boring.
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It's not actually. It is. It is. No, but it is. It is because it's look, it's don't worry. We're on
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it. We're on it. Like we're on it. But there is this whole world. Okay. Hands up. Who's working
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on the pipeline in this room? Okay. Isn't that a problem? No, no, no, no. Look at all the variety.
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Like Nav, like does your, like it's, we have. Yeah. If there's more prosperity,
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they'll get more cell phone, cell phone services. But look, look, okay. So what's going to drive,
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one of the things with, yeah, don't worry. We're on the, we're on the pipeline stuff.
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Danielle's on line one. Don't worry. It's going to happen. But, well, something's going to happen.
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Let's put it that way. It's not very good negotiating by my perspective.
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Um, but what, uh, some in the room, uh, will unlock on the data center side, the intelligence
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infrastructure side, will have a much bigger impact on productivity in this country. We'll
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have a much bigger impact on, uh, our standard of living and advantaging that, which is what
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we're doing with the productivity super deduction. Like it's an easy conversation to have about
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a pipeline because it's one thing we can see. But the reality is that there's much, much more to
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the Canadian economy and there's much, much more to the future of Canadian economy. And so we're
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attacking it on, on all sides. You know, he's childish. He uses made up words like
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advantaging, but essentially he's bored by oil and steel and things like that. Or maybe just that
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his own portfolio of stocks doesn't include them. They're not exciting enough. He's,
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he's about things like carbon capture and the environmentalist idea that you can make steel
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without burning coal somehow. It's what he keeps demanding that steel makers like Algoma do instead
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of making extremely high heat that you need for steel from burning steel, making coal, which is how
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steel has been made for centuries. He wants it to be done using green electricity. That just,
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just doesn't work. Here's what Penny High do. Uh, perhaps the least qualified cabinet minister in
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Mark Carney's government, no offense to graphic designers, but she was a graphic designer before
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becoming a cabinet minister. That's not really someone who was fit to be a minister of jobs. I
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just don't think it is no disrespect to graphic designers. I just don't know if that's the best
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person to be your jobs minister in this economy. She's literally never created a job or met a payroll in
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her life. Um, here's what she said last night. Uh, I'll just give you the short version. She didn't
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know what to say. Here's the long version. The federal government is standing with Algoma steel
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workers and with Canada steel sector. What does that mean? You're, you're not, you're not physically
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standing with them. You, you already gave them a half a billion dollars to the corporation
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to save the jobs. And the statement, by the way, she gives, doesn't even mention
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that pretty sure Patty didn't even read the contract with Algoma before handing over half
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a billion. And then come her deep thoughts. She said, quote, the situation is serious. Thanks,
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Patty. We didn't know. Global markets are shifting quickly and relying too heavily on a single trading
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partner has left our industry exposed. We are working hard to shore up domestic production and
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make sure workers have real immediate support. Are you really working hard, Patty? Are you, um,
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doing what exactly? What, what can you do? She says, quote, at the federal level, strong tools are
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already in place to protect workers and stabilize the sector. But, but I guess they're not. If a thousand
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people were just laid off, what, what are you saying? Why are you using such baffle gap? What strong
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tools are you talking about? Are you talking about the half billion you just gave two months ago?
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Didn't work. Are you going to use that tool again? Quote, we are tightening controls on foreign steel
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imports and our bi-Canadian policy ensures that major defense energy and housing investments
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translate into jobs here at home. It goes on a bit, but they've got nothing though. They don't,
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they don't know what to do. How could they know what to do? Trump wants to move factories back home to
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America. That includes car factories and steel factories. I honestly don't know if there's
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anything Mark Carney can do about it. I just don't know. But Carney promised that he alone could
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handle Donald Trump. That's what he said. That was his essential promise in the campaign. Now he
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bristles when anyone even mentions Trump like, uh, they did the other day.
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Who cares? I mean, it's a detail. It's a detail. I spoke to him. I'll speak to him again when it matters.
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I mean, it's sort of... Comme j'ai dit, nous sommes très occupés. Nous sommes très, très occupés
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avec l'avenir du Canada. Nous sommes mètre chez nous et avec les, avec les nouveaux partenariats.
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Et il y aura, il y aura des conversations, oui, avec le président et moi, probablement dans les prochaines,
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les prochaines deux semaines. Mais... Et on attend de... You know, I'm always happy to... Sorry,
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I slipped into French because I anticipated the, uh, the en français thing. Um, uh, the, uh, I look forward
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to speaking to the president soon. But I don't have a burning issue to speak with the president
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about right now. Um, when America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side,
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we will have those discussions. I'm going to answer a, a potential question here, and then I'll pass
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back, which is, for example, with respect to Ukraine and the 28-point plan. We, uh, are a member,
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a core member of the Coalition of the Willing. You would have seen a demonstration of that yesterday
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with the meeting of European, uh, leaders, a core group of European leaders, uh, the Prime Minister
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of Japan, ourselves, um, and, uh, which formed a common position. Uh, and that common position
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is communicated, uh, our national security advisors are meeting, uh, today in, uh, in Geneva,
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including Canada's, um, and the common position communicated to, uh, do the additional work
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that's required, uh, on the peace plan there. Each of us do not need to call President Trump
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and communicate that position. I don't know if Canadian steel can be saved. I hope so.
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I can tell you the liberals care 10 times more about those 1,000 steel jobs than they care about
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the 100,000 oil and gas and pipeline jobs they've destroyed over the last 10 years,
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which brings me to a sort of obvious solution. I mean, I don't know if you know this, but oil
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pipelines are made out of steel. I looked it up in the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta
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to BC. That's the one that the Trudeau liberals, uh, canceled that would have used about a billion
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dollars worth of steel. Same thing for the Keystone XL pipeline that was canceled. That one was canceled
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by Obama to be fair. And then there's the mighty energy East pipeline that would have gone from
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Alberta to new Brunswick. That would have been steel too. The entire construction for that energy
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East. It was such a big deal would have been about $16 billion just for the pipeline. And none of that
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money was from the government. The government killed that deal. Do you see where I'm going with this?
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There are two ways you could try and save a Canadian steel company. One is through endless
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loans and grants and standing with you tweets. The other is to actually, you know, build things with
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steel or to be more precise, let the private sector build things with steel and let them pay for it.
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No need for a centrally planned economy where Mark Carney has the power of some Roman emperor to say
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thumbs up or thumbs down based on his whimsical emotional reaction. And to say the obvious, the purpose of a
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pipeline, Northern Gateway, Keystone XL, Energy East isn't just to spend money building them. I mean,
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those three pipelines together, by the way, would probably be 30 or 40 billion dollars just in
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construction jobs. Imagine that. But the purpose of building them is to put things in the pipelines to
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ship through the pipelines for decades. Oil mainly, which would allow all sorts of other jobs to be
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created to make the oil to fill up the pipelines. Like the pipelines aren't just an end. They're a means
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to an end. Mark Carney has a choice, really. Does he love steel more than he hates pipelines?
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And the answer, of course, is no, he doesn't. Because if Algoma were successful on its own by selling
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steel to pipeline makers, what would Mark Carney's role be? He sees himself as the godfather or
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something, granting this project, blocking that one. It's all up to him. He's the boss. You know,
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he pretended for a couple of days to be supportive of a pipeline idea. That's what he had to say to
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Daniel Smith. But listen to him in Parliament, where he basically says, yeah, sure, the pipeline
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could happen. But really, the deal is about green schemes, including carbon capture technology.
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What about people in the caucus and this new agreement? Well, I think it's important to
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recognize that this memorandum of understanding is not just an MOU. It involves a data center,
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an AI data center, and also it involves connections between Alberta and British Columbia when it
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comes to net hydroelectric power, and yes, a pipeline. But at the same time, there must be
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a major investment in carbon capture. So it's a grand bargain. And that creates the possibility
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of accessing energy sources in Western Canada that are more diverse, cleaner. And of course,
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that creates a Canada that is more independent, more independent of the United States.
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That doesn't make any sense. It's just like that baffle gab, the word advantaging. If he really
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wanted to save Algoma, he would greenlight Northern Gateway, Energy East, Keystone XL, and he would beg
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those pipeline companies to come back to Canada and try again. And he would promise not to interfere
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with them again. But he's going to interfere with them. That MOU, Memorandum of Understanding for
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oil pipelines, it's not for oil pipelines. As I noted to the Alberta Premier last week,
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all the pain is front and loaded. The industrial carbon tax is going up. That happens right away.
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The pipeline itself, if it ever gets built, will happen by, I'm not kidding, the MOU says as late
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as 2040. Here's a Carney cabinet minister saying, and he has not yet been corrected for saying this,
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here he is saying that both the province of British Columbia and First Nations, not defined,
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can stop the pipeline. He says the pipeline needs their consent. That's his language. Take a listen.
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Are your BC caucus colleagues comfortable with the idea of a bitumen pipeline through the great
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rainforest to the north coast of British Columbia and with the changes to things like the tanker ban?
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Because these have been issues you ran on in the past as a party and as a government that are now
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Well, David, I think what liberal members of parliament for British Columbia and across the
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country are comfortable with is a process that requires the participation of indigenous communities
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that ensures that jurisdictions implicated are part of that process and conversation,
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that we are working together to ensure that the criteria that have been set
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by the prime minister are met. And I think, you know, when we are talking about,
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you know, a theoretical pipeline, as the premier herself noted, that doesn't have a route,
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that doesn't currently have a proponent, that doesn't currently have the support or has not
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yet gone through the process of getting the support of jurisdictions in question as well as First Nations.
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I mean, this is a theoretical conversation right now. And our job should be to focus on the practical.
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The practical is making sure that the process to do those things is done correctly,
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to have conversations about major projects in a way that we have articulated.
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Anything that goes to the major projects office to be referred has to have the consent of the
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jurisdictions in question, has to have the consent of First Nations. And right now, you know, these are
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all, we have an MOU that is an outline, a roadmap to have a further conversation.
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By the way, which First Nations can stop the pipeline in the liberal view? There are 600 bans in Canada.
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Do they have to be along the pipeline route? Can any one of them block it? Or does it take two? Or is
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there a magical number? And who in the band? Can it be the chief just talking? Does there have to be a
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vote? And where does this power come from? Is this a new law somewhere? Are we now taking the position
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that there is a veto over industrial projects by a particular ethnic group? Can other, can people who
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were married to aboriginals speak out on this? What's the plan? Or is the idea to keep it so vague that
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no one would be foolish enough to try? Hey, while we're at it, can we understand the new rules here?
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I mean, laid off steel workers get not only total sympathy, but lots of money, but oil and gas workers
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get neither. They have to pay for the privilege of working and building. They have to spend money on
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things like carbon capture that no one, no one is trying to capture the carbon in real life. It's not
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of any value. And oil and gas is called dirty, as opposed to Mark Carney's clean energy. By the way,
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out of the corner of your eye, have you been watching Donald Trump lately and the Department
00:19:07.460
of War, as the old Department of Defense is now called, and Venezuela? Are you paying attention
00:19:12.800
to that at all? You know, a few months ago, Trump declared drug cartels to be terrorist groups,
00:19:19.280
and he's been blowing up little smuggling boats for weeks. Now, there's an important legal reason
00:19:24.480
to declare them terrorist boats. That changes the law of how you go about killing someone. It's not a
00:19:31.000
criminal matter anymore. It's a war, really. But you don't need the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest
00:19:38.740
ship ever built, the largest, newest American nuclear power to aircraft. You do not need
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the USS Gerald R. Ford to take on little speed boats. The U.S. Navy has mustered a mighty flotilla
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off the coast of Venezuela. And they've even reestablished an old air force base on Puerto
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Rico. They've just started using it again for jets that are too large to fly on an aircraft
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carry, because it's only about less than an hour's flight from Puerto Rico to Venezuela.
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That is an impressive show of force. And the whole world knows what the U.S. military can do after
00:20:20.700
watching some of its activities, including against Iran. But look at this on the State Department's
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official website. I had to check twice to make sure this was real. This is real. Wanted.
00:20:33.880
Nicolas Maduro Moros. Reward. Increase of up to $50 million. That's like the kind of rewards
00:20:40.860
that would post in the Wild West. You know, bounty. $50. Except for this, it's $50 million.
00:20:46.720
U.S. dollars. That's a lot of money. And no tax on it. That's a lot of money for anyone,
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let alone in a poor country like Venezuela. If you are Maduro's bodyguards, are you tempted just
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a teeny tiny bit? Or maybe if you're some political rival or some general in the army, are you tempted
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to take the $50 million? Why not? If Maduro's gone, it's pretty sure the country's going to have a
00:21:12.680
better path forward. Certainly you would have a better path forward for your family and $50 million.
00:21:19.780
You know, I'll do another monologue another day about Venezuela and why I think Trump's going to
00:21:26.080
topple Maduro one way or the other. I think he's going to do it. But today, let me just talk about
00:21:31.540
oil. I bet a lot of people would think Saudi Arabia has the world's largest oil reserves.
00:21:38.280
And they'd be almost right. Saudi Arabia is a huge oil producer, along with the United States
00:21:45.460
and Russia. They each pump around 10 million barrels of oil a day. It's enormous. But in
00:21:50.360
terms of reserves, that is proven oil still in the ground. Did you know that Venezuela is number one
00:21:57.480
in the world? It is the biggest. It's bigger than Saudi Arabia. But I bet you can believe this.
00:22:04.020
They barely produce a million barrels a day compared to 10 million for America, Russia,
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Saudi. That's what socialism and corruption will do to you. So imagine Venezuela post-Maduro.
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Let's say something happens and Maduro is toppled or flees. Someone takes the 50 mil. I don't know.
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Maduro runs away. I don't know. And a new leader is in place. And the country is poor.
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However, it's unmoored from its former allies. So I don't know if you know this, but Venezuela
00:22:37.460
has sort of been colonized over the last few decades by Russia, China and Iran. And also,
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I know this is sort of crazy. Even Hezbollah has a base of operations in Venezuela. Can you believe it?
00:22:50.380
All of those groups are on the back foot right now. I mean, obviously, America is not just the global
00:22:55.800
power, but it's the regional power. Remember that Monroe Doctrine, that's this American foreign
00:23:01.280
policy doctrine that holds no other major power can operate in the Americas. They all have been.
00:23:08.540
The fastest way to get Venezuela on the path to prosperity, though, which is the path to stability
00:23:14.620
and the path to freedom, is to develop its massive oil reserves. And you can bet the United States
00:23:20.880
will be first in line. In case you don't know, you know, as Venezuela started going down the road
00:23:26.140
of socialism a few decades ago, they expropriated billions of dollars worth of assets from U.S.
00:23:32.440
oil companies like Exxon and Chevron and ConocoPhillips. They were all operating in Venezuela
00:23:38.300
until Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro came along and just grabbed them, just took them, just seized
00:23:44.640
them, nationalized them. And they had some help from Russia and they were allied with Cuba. But all of
00:23:50.720
those allies are looking weak right now. You think Russia is going to divert military equipment and
00:23:56.740
manpower from Ukraine to help Venezuela? You think Iran and Hezbollah, which are both smashed, are
00:24:01.880
going to come to Venezuelan's aid right now? Do you think China is going to muck about there?
00:24:08.020
I think that Venezuela is going to be toppled and it's going to be an oil player pretty back soon.
00:24:13.660
You know that Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips are all going to be back in Venezuela minutes after any
00:24:20.280
soldiers land. And you can bet that Venezuela will soon go from a million barrels a day to
00:24:27.620
three million barrels a day, where it was about 25 years ago, to why not five million or 10 million
00:24:33.320
barrels a day? They got as much oil as anyone in the world. Why wouldn't they be on par? And here's
00:24:38.660
my point. That oil is going to go to the United States, most likely. It's the closest huge market.
00:24:47.660
And which do you think is going to happen sooner? That new Venezuelan oil coming up to the United
00:24:55.960
States by tanker ship right into Texas, right into Louisiana, where all those refineries are
00:25:02.480
that process heavy oil. There's heavy oil in two places. One is called the oil sands of Alberta.
00:25:07.620
The other is called Venezuela. That Venezuelan heavy oil is going to come into the United States.
00:25:12.260
Do you think that's going to get there sooner? Or do you think Mark Carney and Tlaib Nur-Mohamed,
00:25:18.920
that guy, that MP from British Columbia, the premier of British Columbia, grudgingly
00:25:24.380
is going to allow an oil pipeline to be built by the year 2040? Let me phrase it one more way.
00:25:33.680
If you personally, just pretend for a minute, had billions of dollars to invest in oil,
00:25:41.340
would you try to get to the front of the line in Venezuela and get in on that action?
00:25:46.080
Or would you choose the 10 to 15 year heavily politicized plan that Mark Carney has for you?
00:25:53.760
Oh, if he's not too bored by it already. So yeah, my heart goes out to a thousand unemployed men in
00:25:59.840
Algoma. It really does. They're learning what it's like to be in a country where heavy industry is
00:26:04.520
considered boring and dirty and where the prime minister has no clue what to do about anything
00:26:09.560
other than to give temporary handouts. Stay with us for more.
00:26:15.020
You know, I really enjoyed myself at the Alberta UCP convention, and we also had sort of a pub night,
00:26:29.880
a get together for a couple hundred of our supporters, which was really fun. And thanks
00:26:34.740
to everybody who came out. I didn't quite have the chance to talk to every single person there,
00:26:39.460
but I think I spoke to most people and I really appreciate your support. Thank you for that.
00:26:43.860
In addition to the show yesterday, we had Angelica Toy and Sidney Fazzard, a couple of our young
00:26:50.620
reporters who did Streeters, interviewed people, and just basically made their presence felt. I was
00:26:55.960
so proud of our whole Rebel News team. We had Lise Merle there and Lyndon Dunkley from the back of
00:27:00.760
House. I was there. Sheila Gunn-Reed. So it was a whole Rebel News effort. And I think we asked some
00:27:05.020
good questions, if I may say so myself, or at least better than what the CBC would have asked.
00:27:09.900
Again, one of my favorite things about Danielle Smith is she wasn't shy
00:27:12.620
to take questions. In fact, on the Saturday after her big speech, there was a line of reporters,
00:27:19.480
and I think a majority of them were independent citizen journalists. It was wonderful to see.
00:27:24.700
I saw True North there. I saw Juneau. I thought it was really great. Anyways, let me leave you with
00:27:34.480
Alberta's education system has been under intense scrutiny following months of public tension,
00:27:42.640
political debate, and a recent province-wide teacher strike that disrupted families across
00:27:46.980
the whole province. While unions continue to raise concerns over funding and compensation,
00:27:51.360
many parents and taxpayers are also questioning accountability and outcomes from students.
00:27:56.140
Against that backdrop, I put several questions to Alberta's Minister of Education,
00:27:59.560
Dimitri Nicolaitis, surrounding the broader state of Alberta schools.
00:28:03.880
All right, do you believe that the ATA has become more of a political lobbying organization
00:28:10.180
Well, they're certainly getting involved much more than I've seen in the past on political issues.
00:28:14.840
I saw just, I think, yesterday or the day before, President Schilling encouraging teachers
00:28:20.000
to sign up as canvassers for the Alberta Fund Public Schools Citizens Initiative and looking
00:28:28.600
to engage much more in policy conversations that are in areas that don't affect public education
00:28:34.560
or publicly certified teachers. So, certainly seeing them engage in a lot more different avenues
00:28:43.840
And will the government consider banning ideological symbols, including flags from classrooms
00:28:50.000
I think it's absolutely important that we make sure that we're focusing on providing our kids
00:28:54.220
with the strongest possible education. That is priority number one and must always remain
00:28:58.380
priority number one. And I'm going to do everything that I can as Minister to make sure it remains
00:29:02.560
that way. That's why I brought Bill 6 forward to mandate universal literacy and numeracy screening
00:29:07.380
so we can ensure we're focused on helping every kid learn how to read and succeed in math.
00:29:12.760
Those are the fundamentals. That's what we need to stay focused on.
00:29:14.980
So, will the government be banning ideological symbols in classrooms and in school property?
00:29:19.160
Well, we're going to be looking to institute any type of vehicle that we possibly can to
00:29:24.240
make sure that our education system is focused on teaching our children and teaching them everything
00:29:31.020
that they need to be able to succeed. That has to be the priority. And as well, making sure
00:29:36.120
that students have the opportunity to voice their own views and perspectives as well, even if
00:29:39.920
others disagree with. And has mass immigration increased class sizes faster than education can
00:29:46.960
keep up with? Yeah, there's no question. The provincial, excuse me, the federal government
00:29:51.100
has been completely irresponsible with immigration policies, not just my opinion. I know several other
00:29:56.540
provinces have been feeling the pressure and the strain associated with unchecked immigration
00:30:01.120
policies. That's putting a significant amount of strain on our education system. But we're going to
00:30:06.360
step up to the challenge. That's why we're building and modernizing 130 schools, hiring more teachers
00:30:11.200
and educational assistants to contend with it. But as the premier mentioned, we do need to take
00:30:18.940
What is the rationale behind government considering equalizing pay between new teachers and long-serving
00:30:26.900
Well, of course, we want to ensure there's a degree of harmonization between what teachers are being
00:30:32.060
paid across the province. Something, of course, that they've asked for and something that we
00:30:36.340
were working towards in order to try and secure a deal during the collective bargaining phase.
00:30:41.780
Of course, we weren't able to reach a negotiated settlement, but we still believe that that was
00:30:45.740
something we could move forward with. Lastly, do you believe the ATA is independently negotiating
00:30:50.520
or is it operating under political influence by the NDP?
00:30:54.480
Well, I talk to teachers very regularly. I was just talking with a teacher and a constituent yesterday
00:30:58.700
and she was quite surprised about some of the things that I was telling her about how negotiations
00:31:03.440
unfolded, things that the union leadership was coming to the table with and asking us for.
00:31:08.880
For example, with the issue of the COVID shots, something that they came and asked for.
00:31:13.620
She was quite surprised that her union would come to the table and ask for something like that.
00:31:17.880
So I do hear some of those concerns directly from teachers.
00:31:20.820
Right now, not just Alberta, but Canada is going through a large homelessness crisis.
00:31:26.380
There's drugs to have it in that. But what are you doing to help people who are in a state of homelessness?
00:31:30.740
Look, we here in Alberta, we want to help people that have found themselves down on their luck
00:31:34.160
and in tough situations like facing homelessness. But we don't think the approach to it is to build
00:31:38.300
large encampments that we know are run by organized crime that are plugging up our city streets
00:31:43.040
and making things uncomfortable for people in our cities. And so we went with a different approach.
00:31:47.720
Those encampments must come down when they're built. But we built safe places that we call
00:31:51.560
navigation centers for that population to be able to come in and receive services
00:31:55.300
for whatever they may be going through. I'm proud to say thousands of people have utilized those
00:31:59.400
services. And as you drive around now, our largest city here in Edmonton, for the very first time
00:32:03.780
ever, a very long time, you don't see large encampments. And we intend to be doing that all across our province.
00:32:08.900
Now, it's a good thing to have extra housing. But for instance, in Calgary, we have prefabricated modular
00:32:14.580
buildings coming into place. They're basically shipping crates being put together to make
00:32:17.380
apartment buildings. This is clearly a less valuable asset for someone to acquire. Though we have more
00:32:23.000
housing, we're really depreciating our homes. How do you see that situation?
00:32:27.820
Well, look, we want to make sure that whatever we build is safe, it's high quality. There is good prefab
00:32:32.500
and bad prefab. You know, if you go into my constituency in some of our remote areas, prefab is the only
00:32:37.080
option is to get into building cabins and different things in the backcountry. So it's about making sure
00:32:41.980
that we have high quality housing that can keep people safe, and that we'll be there for a long time. And we don't
00:32:47.600
do as a government anything but that. We have high standards. We want to make sure that the assets that we build for
00:32:53.220
Albertans are going to be here for decades to come. But it's something you've got to watch, for sure.
00:32:57.340
And for an individual, is it primarily economic reasons that drives them to homelessness, or are there other issues at hand?
00:33:03.500
Look, at the end of the day, homelessness is a symptom of another challenge. Lots of mental health issues,
00:33:09.440
obviously drug addictions being amongst the most predominant. And that's the difference between us,
00:33:13.840
I think, in the United Conservative Party and our friends in the NDP. We recognize that.
00:33:17.820
And so we don't want to treat homelessness as if it's like a disease or something. We want to attack
00:33:22.500
the challenges that are causing individuals to be in those circumstances, which is why we have our
00:33:26.760
great recovery programs. That's why we're investing in housing programs to help people get to jobs and
00:33:31.520
do not have to rely on the government in the future. And at the end of the day, that's going to be better
00:33:35.680
results for the individuals that are finding themselves in those circumstances.
00:33:39.620
I think it's great to be here at a convention. Second biggest in Canadian history. The first was ours.
00:33:44.360
A lot of really hardworking UCP members out here making clear that Alberta conservatism is alive
00:33:50.160
and well, and we're going to continue to make sure our province is the best place in the country.
00:33:54.740
Obviously, we've had a large announcement in the province. The MOU signed with Ottawa.
00:34:01.040
Well, it's the biggest thing that's happened in Alberta in at least 30 years. It's a very good
00:34:05.200
thing for Albertans. It's going to save them a ton of money. It's going to give a great signal to
00:34:09.120
the international community to come and invest in Alberta. It's going to be the best place
00:34:12.280
in North America for sure to invest, if not the world. It's going to, I think, give certainty and
00:34:18.060
predictability to generally the Canadian industry of oil and gas and say, woohoo. But I think most
00:34:24.880
Albertans are going to clearly see immediately savings on their electricity bills.
00:34:29.540
Well, and to be fair, most people aren't going to actually read the document. They've heard the
00:34:35.340
Yeah, no, exactly. And that's, you know, a good on you.
00:34:37.260
People that have read this document, all the people that have read this document in industry
00:34:40.780
have said, this is amazing. But I have seen one person in particular, a guy by the name of Guy
00:34:46.360
Beau that doesn't like it at all. In fact, if you read his resignation letter, he's gone through it
00:34:50.080
step by step by step by step by step and talked about how much he hates the agreement. So to me,
00:34:54.320
that's pretty much the best endorsement I could possibly give the premier for this great agreement.
00:34:58.120
Well, and for those who haven't read it, though, if you could give them an on-the-ground
00:35:01.680
physical changes that are going to happen, let's say, over the next year because of this.
00:35:05.140
Over the next year, they're starting already. Some of the things that have happened, we've got
00:35:08.300
rid of a cap. We've got rid of the CER. Those are two major signals people are already saving
00:35:13.200
right now today. So this is a go forward for sure. But for pipelines, we've got a great signal
00:35:19.660
on a million barrels a day to the northwest coast or somewhere along BC's coast to go to
00:35:25.760
the Asian market. There's a demand there for at least four to five million barrels a day right
00:35:29.720
now for our heavy crude. And so the world wants it. We just have to get it to them. And this is
00:35:33.580
going to do so much for the people of Alberta, the people of BC, and the people of Canada.
00:35:37.700
We're talking about schools, highways, bridges, a better quality of life. This should raise our
00:35:43.060
quality of life substantially right across the country.
00:35:45.680
And many do hope, of course, that that pipeline will ultimately be built and will actually have
00:35:50.120
You know, I saw Prime Minister Carney back in the days of my time in Ottawa, when he was the governor
00:35:56.600
of the Bank of Canada. And he's still saying the same thing then that he's saying today. I actually
00:36:00.720
thought he was conservative back then until he made it clear to me he wasn't. But I'm very confident
00:36:06.100
that this pipeline is going to be built. As long as he remains prime minister or we get a conservative
00:36:11.060
prime minister, this pipeline is going to get built and we're going to see more of them.
00:36:14.320
And there's obviously more than one way to get energy. What kind of impact does this decision have
00:36:18.920
on all of the other things that we're investing in or looking into, for instance, like nuclear
00:36:24.660
Well, that's what people don't understand. This agreement actually covers many more things
00:36:27.760
besides the pipeline. Everybody's excited about a pipeline because Ottawa has been stopping us
00:36:31.240
for so long. But this talks about the opportunity for nuclear in some areas of the province that
00:36:35.100
we could really see some good benefits from long term. It talks about many different things.
00:36:40.400
Seven of the nine bad laws pretty much are gone or changed substantially. You know the tanker van
00:36:45.900
that I've been watching for a long time and everybody's pretty upset about?
00:36:48.920
They're going to do a carve out on that. And I think once we see tankers go along that coast,
00:36:52.120
we're going to see a bigger and bigger carve out because people are going to see that this is
00:36:55.860
a safe product that does so many things for the world. 6,000 different products,
00:36:59.980
so many different opportunities for wealth distribution across northern BC. This should
00:37:04.820
bring the people in northern BC out of poverty. And that excites me because I've seen it in northern
00:37:08.560
Alberta. I've seen the indigenous populations like Fort Mackay and others do so well. And I only hope that
00:37:14.340
for the rest of the people across this route and on the coast of BC, especially because those people not only
00:37:18.800
can be lifted out of poverty, but they're going to have great, incredible jobs that pay them a lot
00:37:23.580
of money, but give them governance over how that product is just distributed to the world. That
00:37:28.640
means it's going to be safe because they're the best stewards of the land for them and for us.
00:37:33.460
Well, talking about safe, a lot of critics will suggest that, well, why isn't this renewable energy?
00:37:37.860
Why so much of focus on a pipeline instead of solar or instead of wind? Why not?
00:37:41.560
Well, the benefit is just not there on a return for investment. I mean, for every dollar invested
00:37:47.000
in this pipeline is going to give substantial benefits long term. I've seen the numbers and
00:37:51.440
they are staggering. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5 billion a year for the province of Alberta,
00:37:56.640
$5 billion a year for the government of Canada. It's a substantial benefit to the people of Canada.
00:38:02.340
Those are all about jobs and true benefits on infrastructure and quality of life. And let's face it,
00:38:09.020
we've had a stagnant economy for some period of time. We've gone down on productivity. Our numbers
00:38:14.360
are, have increased as far as expenses and costs. We need to find places for revenue. And I think
00:38:19.120
even the prime minister knows the only place they can actually deliver the goods in any kind of time
00:38:24.220
is Alberta and Daniel Smith. I was going to say last for you, but I had one more question. Do you
00:38:29.680
think that this is going to be something that Carney, he's given Alberta something. Do you think he's
00:38:34.800
going to take something away? No, I think that what we're going to see is hopefully a good
00:38:40.640
cooperative confederation where we see substantial support for Alberta and the other provinces and
00:38:47.260
where we work together as team Canada, making sure that we all understand that we're in this together.
00:38:52.100
And if we don't stay together, we don't work together. We are not really a country.
00:39:00.540
And Dan Williams, MLA for Peace River and minister for municipal affairs.
00:39:03.260
And obviously we've talked about municipal affairs before. One of our larger cities,
00:39:09.240
Calgary, has a new mayor. Are you seeing the positive changes that you would like to see
00:39:14.100
I'm very excited to work with the new council and mayor. Mayor Farkas and I have had a couple
00:39:17.520
of meetings already. I really think there's some opportunities where we can collaborate.
00:39:21.400
As you know, as Mayor Farkas, and I hope the whole province knows, my calling card is this
00:39:26.820
should be about basic services. I mean, if you want to declare a climate emergency,
00:39:30.800
if you want to go off and start fighting battles that are not municipal responsibility,
00:39:37.180
you should quit your job, go run to be MP or MLA, get appointed to cabinet, and then you can have
00:39:41.640
those discussions. Until then, there's not someone else doing those jobs in Edmonton or Calgary.
00:39:46.780
It's just the councillors. And they need to do it. They're important jobs.
00:39:49.280
Delivering core services like garbage pickup, fixing water mains, filling potholes, clearing streets.
00:39:54.000
This is why ratepayers and residents pay their taxes. And I think that that's a noble job. It's a good
00:39:58.460
one. So I'm very encouraged to work with municipal council in Calgary and Mayor Farkas. And I think
00:40:02.980
there's a lot of opportunities for us to find common ground.
00:40:05.780
And in the new year, what kind of changes do you want to see? Are there a top three things that you
00:40:10.260
would be looking forward to in the new year to have municipalities step up on?
00:40:13.360
Well, I'm going to be introducing new legislation for the Municipal Governance Act and looking at the
00:40:17.040
L-E-A-E-A after the election. So we'll have that conversation with municipalities as it comes out.
00:40:23.600
I'm happy to have municipalities bring their ideas to me. I'm looking for innovative new ways to try
00:40:28.220
and more effectively and efficiently spend municipal dollars, reduce the tax burden. I'm looking at new
00:40:33.520
opportunities for revenue. But if the idea of revenue that municipal councils have is just another
00:40:37.620
tax of some kind, I'm not interested in that. There are many other jurisdictions across the world in
00:40:42.320
North America that find really good solutions to the crunch we feel around infrastructure.
00:40:46.120
And we can find better ways to spend. We don't need to download this cost onto the rate payers.
00:40:51.760
I think we have to find collaborative and innovative solutions for ways to try and build
00:40:55.580
infrastructure, maintain infrastructure and deliver core services without making it be more and more
00:41:00.600
a burden on whether it be businesses or residential in cities like Calgary.
00:41:04.280
And when it comes to municipal affairs, are there any cognitive divides you find between municipal
00:41:12.040
Well, I don't know. I think that municipalities have really corporal and tangible services they
00:41:18.400
provide. They do things like garbage pickup and they fit potholes. And so they have a close
00:41:22.300
connection to the streets and the neighborhoods that they're around. Municipal councillors really
00:41:26.400
have a good sense of that. I don't want their job. I didn't run for councillor. I ran for MLA and
00:41:32.100
I've been appointed by the premier with a mandate across this province to be the minister of
00:41:35.860
municipal affairs. I have a job to do at the provincial level. Every single municipality is a creature of the
00:41:40.800
province. That's a way of saying they're created by provincial statute. Through the MGA, we establish
00:41:45.360
municipalities. That means my job isn't to be a municipality. It's to be the one running the
00:41:49.580
system to make sure that they deliver those core services. So I'm going to continue to work with
00:41:53.260
them doing my job as the one overseeing the system. And they have to do their part to deliver those
00:41:58.400
core services and work with the province to that end.
00:42:01.200
What rate of growth can our municipalities handle, particularly Edmonton and Calgary? Obviously,
00:42:05.600
Canada is going through a mass immigration situation. What level of growth can they sustain?
00:42:10.100
I think the premier spoke very clearly on that today, that the province is going to be taking
00:42:14.080
over primary responsibility, as is our right, with a shared responsibility in the constitution
00:42:19.240
when it comes to immigration. We want to make sure that the system is working for Albertans and that
00:42:24.280
Albertans are getting jobs and services as they should. And we're very, very proud of our very
00:42:29.340
diverse province and the past that we've had as a province that's grown through interprovincial
00:42:34.280
migration. But we also know that we pay taxes to deliver those services for Albertans. And the premier
00:42:39.520
has a lot more to say on that, and you'll see more of it in the days and months to come.
00:42:43.860
Well, I'm very happy to chat, and I'm looking forward to working with not just Calgary,
00:42:47.620
but every municipal councillor. Congratulations on the recent election. As long as their priorities
00:42:52.100
delivering core services, they'll have no beef with me. But if they go off into woke left field
00:42:57.860
and DEI politics, the province has a responsibility to step in and make sure that municipalities are
00:43:02.700
delivering for the taxes they collect on core services.
00:43:06.460
Well, and I especially wanted to double down on that because being under former mayor Jody
00:43:10.620
Gondek, you saw the headlines were about the climate crisis, were about whatever show might
00:43:15.460
be taking place, not actually tangible things that matter. So thank you for your time.
00:43:21.940
Rebelfieldreports.com is where you have to go. If you want to support our independent journalism
00:43:24.740
on the ground coverage of events like this, thanks to your support at rebelfieldreports.com.
00:43:36.460
Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me about my visit to the United Conservative Party convention
00:43:43.900
in Edmonton. I sure enjoyed it. Boy, it was friendly. It's great to be back in Alberta. That
00:43:50.720
is, you know what, sometimes you're out in Toronto and you forget that there are some very conservative,
00:43:54.940
very freedom-oriented places in Canada. Let me read some of those letters. Gary Shoutson says,
00:44:00.740
British Columbia won't let Alberta have a pipeline now. I doubt they'll let them have one if they
00:44:04.920
leave Canada. Well, that's a very interesting point. There is international law, as much as
00:44:10.040
that is a thing, that you can't landlock another country. I mean, the shoe could be on the other
00:44:16.880
foot. If BC wouldn't allow an Alberta pipeline through, maybe Alberta wouldn't allow trucks and
00:44:22.460
trains from the BC port of Vancouver coming across the Trans-Canada Highway. Now, that would be a
00:44:28.940
terrible battle. But, I mean, it does work both ways. But more to the point, remember that company
00:44:35.380
in Saskatchewan a few weeks ago called Nutrien, a very large company. Nutrien's a fertilizer company,
00:44:42.120
potash, that kind of thing. They are shipping out west. They've simply decided to go around BC. They're
00:44:49.240
going to go down to Washington State. I think that if Alberta were independent, first of all, I think
00:44:56.320
parts of British Columbia would join immediately. But I think that Donald Trump and his cabinet would
00:45:04.240
be more than happy to have an oil pipeline go down south. Lita Katja says, that was refreshing. I wish
00:45:11.740
we had this type of a leader in Ontario. Referring to Danielle Smith. Yeah, you know what? Not only is
00:45:16.500
she ideologically strong, but she's totally unafraid of media. I think it's because she was a journalist
00:45:21.880
for so long. She'll talk to independent media like Rebel News. She'll talk to the CBC. I think she's
00:45:26.560
very media savvy. She's not afraid of media like Mark Carney is. Angela Watt says, the increase in
00:45:33.600
the industrial carbon tax is unconscionable and needs to be taken out of the MOU. Not that the MOU will
00:45:38.300
ever come to fruition. I think you're right. Look, I like Danielle Smith. You know I've known her for a
00:45:44.820
long time and I'm rooting for her. And I understand why she's trying to get that deal. And I understand why
00:45:49.880
she made the compromises in that deal. I just simply think that deal will not come to fruition.
00:45:54.880
You can already see the prime minister backing away from it. Last letter, or maybe this is from
00:46:00.880
Angela Watt, or maybe there's two from Angela Watt. Angela, keep the letters coming. Albertans are
00:46:04.920
skeptical because Ottawa continues not to follow agreements, especially when it comes to Alberta.
00:46:08.900
Until we actually see some progress on this file, we will never believe a thing coming out of Ottawa.
00:46:13.380
Well, I mean, let me get back to Algoma's steel. I'm sure you know that the only way to make
00:46:19.480
steel is with coal because you need to get it so hot, nothing else burns hot enough. Now there's
00:46:28.900
this environmentalist attempt to have electric arc steel manufacturing. It doesn't work. It works
00:46:39.220
in some instances, but not all. It is something that no steel company would choose unless they're
00:46:46.540
being massively subsidized to do it. It's so weird. It's sort of the steel industry's
00:46:54.280
analogy to carbon capture in the oil industry. No real person says, hey, let's capture carbon
00:47:02.300
dioxide and stick it underground. No one says that because carbon dioxide is a natural, harmless,
00:47:07.960
odorless gas that plants need to live and that we exhale, by the way. No normal person says,
00:47:13.860
let's capture all the carbon. No one does that. You're made of carbon. Have you ever heard the
00:47:17.640
word hydrocarbons, carbohydrates? You eat carbon. You are made of carbon. Oh my God, carbon's so evil.
00:47:24.200
No, it is not. Only a kook would say that. So this electric arc steel mill concept is the steel
00:47:32.300
industry's equivalent of the carbon capture industry in oil and gas. But look at how, look at the
00:47:39.000
difference in tone. Mark Carney and Patty Haidu and all the other liberals will do anything to save
00:47:47.240
heavy industrial steel jobs in Ontario. I don't think they'll be able to do enough to do it, but
00:47:51.960
they just gave them half a billion dollars. No problem. Just the respect they have for steel
00:47:56.680
workers compared to the utter derision they have for the oil and gas industry. If Alberta goes,
00:48:02.480
boy, they'll miss it. As Nixon said, you won't have me to kick around anymore. Anyway, that's our show
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for today. From all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night and keep