Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Steelworkers axed as leftists reject steel pipelines — Make it make sense!

00:00:00.480 Hello, my friends. I'm back at our world headquarters in Toronto, and I want to talk to you about

00:00:05.880 a terrible thing that happened. A thousand steelworkers at Algoma were laid off. The

00:00:12.160 kooky thing is that they were just given half a billion dollars by the government to shore

00:00:17.380 up those jobs. They cashed the check and then laid off a thousand people. What are the liberals

00:00:23.260 plan to do? If anything, I'll get into the details and I'll tell you something I'm watching

00:00:28.000 out of the corner of my eye that may have an impact on it. But first, let me invite you

00:00:31.660 to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. And

00:00:36.000 in addition to talking a little bit about that Algoma situation, I can play some clips for

00:00:42.160 you. I also want to show you a little bit more from the Alberta United Conservative Party

00:00:45.840 convention. So I really want you to see it, not just hear it in a podcast. Please go to

00:00:50.500 rebelnewsplus.com. Click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. And not only do you get the great

00:00:56.320 video content, you keep Rebel News strong because we take no government money and it shows.

00:01:01.300 Tonight, a thousand unionized steelworkers lose their jobs, but leftist politicians refuse

00:01:07.880 to build an oil pipeline made of steel. Make it make sense. It's December 2nd and this is

00:01:14.220 the Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:19.200 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:30.200 Almost exactly two months ago, Mark Carney wrote this. He said,

00:01:34.840 building the strongest economy in the G7 will be achieved with Canadian steel and Canadian

00:01:40.780 workers. We're taking action to support Algoma Steel to protect high quality careers and help

00:01:46.900 our steel sector prosper. I don't think anyone serious would think that Canada's economy is the

00:01:53.000 strongest in the G7, but put that aside for a moment. Here's the details of the announcement

00:01:58.260 that Carney announced two months ago. He wasn't just tweeting. He said, I'll summarize. Basically,

00:02:05.640 400 million tax dollars were going from you through Carney to Algoma. And Doug Ford gave another

00:02:14.380 hundred million dollars from Ontario taxes. So that's half a billion dollars handed out to Algoma

00:02:22.060 for, you read it, great careers. So that was in September, just about eight weeks ago.

00:02:27.000 It's December. And Algoma just announced that they are laying off a thousand jobs out of 2,500 or so

00:02:34.920 in the plan. They took the cash and laid off the jobs. Half a billion dollars, thousand jobs. That

00:02:43.780 works out to $500,000 per job. And it wasn't enough to save it. What was that line from Carney,

00:02:51.280 the strongest economy in the G7? I just don't think that's true. But Carney sort of,

00:02:57.000 centrally planned, centrally managed economy where big corporations lobby for grants or favors,

00:03:03.640 but it's just not enough to overcome deep problems. That's not how you build a dynamic economy.

00:03:10.200 That's not Detroit in 1925. That's more Detroit in 2025. You know, a hundred years ago, Detroit was the

00:03:18.580 fourth largest city in the United States. Can you believe that? Just booming. It had the highest

00:03:25.080 largest wages in America, Detroit. It wasn't some centrally planned scheme. It was the innovation

00:03:31.940 of the automobile and then the free market and the competition amongst different automakers. The high

00:03:37.240 wagers were not a gift from Henry Ford. That's what he had to pay to attract workers in a competitive

00:03:44.860 automobile industry. It's so opposite in Canada today, isn't it? It's very sad. Now it's about who can you

00:03:52.340 coax money out of in government. Now I know it's nuts since Carney is an economist and he worked for

00:03:58.720 a series of banks, but I'm not sure he actually knows how businesses work, how money is made,

00:04:04.000 how steel workers get their jobs, how Algoma is supposed to make money. I think he just knows how

00:04:09.220 to spend money, not how to earn it. And he's very political about it all. He seems to hate

00:04:15.180 manufacturing, factory, steel, oil, building block, things like that. I mean, remember this?

00:04:21.860 Does that not ultimately trickle down? No, because what the big companies are producing,

00:04:27.920 by and large, are not products that we are consuming. There's some element of that, but by

00:04:32.940 and large, you know, a steel company, how much steel are you using these days, Todd? I mean,

00:04:37.720 not as much, not as much. Sorry. Or even this, let me play the long version of this,

00:04:41.300 which is worse than the short version. This pipeline going to come. So, so boring.

00:04:46.120 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

00:04:51.700 it. We're on it. Like we're on it. But there is this whole world. Okay. Hands up. Who's working

00:04:57.100 on the pipeline in this room? Okay. Isn't that a problem? No, no, no, no. Look at all the variety.

00:05:05.180 Like Nav, like does your, like it's, we have. Yeah. If there's more prosperity,

00:05:12.800 they'll get more cell phone, cell phone services. But look, look, okay. So what's going to drive,

00:05:18.480 one of the things with, yeah, don't worry. We're on the, we're on the pipeline stuff.

00:05:22.160 Danielle's on line one. Don't worry. It's going to happen. But, well, something's going to happen.

00:05:27.560 Let's put it that way. It's not very good negotiating by my perspective.

00:05:31.280 Um, but what, uh, some in the room, uh, will unlock on the data center side, the intelligence

00:05:38.720 infrastructure side, will have a much bigger impact on productivity in this country. We'll

00:05:44.260 have a much bigger impact on, uh, our standard of living and advantaging that, which is what

00:05:50.480 we're doing with the productivity super deduction. Like it's an easy conversation to have about

00:05:55.340 a pipeline because it's one thing we can see. But the reality is that there's much, much more to

00:06:02.520 the Canadian economy and there's much, much more to the future of Canadian economy. And so we're

00:06:06.180 attacking it on, on all sides. You know, he's childish. He uses made up words like

00:06:10.360 advantaging, but essentially he's bored by oil and steel and things like that. Or maybe just that

00:06:18.600 his own portfolio of stocks doesn't include them. They're not exciting enough. He's,

00:06:21.900 he's about things like carbon capture and the environmentalist idea that you can make steel

00:06:26.980 without burning coal somehow. It's what he keeps demanding that steel makers like Algoma do instead

00:06:33.600 of making extremely high heat that you need for steel from burning steel, making coal, which is how

00:06:40.280 steel has been made for centuries. He wants it to be done using green electricity. That just,

00:06:46.380 just doesn't work. Here's what Penny High do. Uh, perhaps the least qualified cabinet minister in

00:06:52.320 Mark Carney's government, no offense to graphic designers, but she was a graphic designer before 0.84

00:06:57.120 becoming a cabinet minister. That's not really someone who was fit to be a minister of jobs. I

00:07:02.020 just don't think it is no disrespect to graphic designers. I just don't know if that's the best

00:07:07.420 person to be your jobs minister in this economy. She's literally never created a job or met a payroll in

00:07:13.500 her life. Um, here's what she said last night. Uh, I'll just give you the short version. She didn't

00:07:20.060 know what to say. Here's the long version. The federal government is standing with Algoma steel

00:07:25.080 workers and with Canada steel sector. What does that mean? You're, you're not, you're not physically

00:07:30.900 standing with them. You, you already gave them a half a billion dollars to the corporation

00:07:35.360 to save the jobs. And the statement, by the way, she gives, doesn't even mention

00:07:40.320 that pretty sure Patty didn't even read the contract with Algoma before handing over half

00:07:46.680 a billion. And then come her deep thoughts. She said, quote, the situation is serious. Thanks,

00:07:53.000 Patty. We didn't know. Global markets are shifting quickly and relying too heavily on a single trading

00:07:58.980 partner has left our industry exposed. We are working hard to shore up domestic production and

00:08:04.920 make sure workers have real immediate support. Are you really working hard, Patty? Are you, um,

00:08:12.740 doing what exactly? What, what can you do? She says, quote, at the federal level, strong tools are

00:08:20.340 already in place to protect workers and stabilize the sector. But, but I guess they're not. If a thousand

00:08:27.160 people were just laid off, what, what are you saying? Why are you using such baffle gap? What strong

00:08:33.000 tools are you talking about? Are you talking about the half billion you just gave two months ago?

00:08:38.300 Didn't work. Are you going to use that tool again? Quote, we are tightening controls on foreign steel

00:08:44.480 imports and our bi-Canadian policy ensures that major defense energy and housing investments

00:08:49.540 translate into jobs here at home. It goes on a bit, but they've got nothing though. They don't,

00:08:55.660 they don't know what to do. How could they know what to do? Trump wants to move factories back home to

00:09:01.020 America. That includes car factories and steel factories. I honestly don't know if there's

00:09:06.160 anything Mark Carney can do about it. I just don't know. But Carney promised that he alone could

00:09:11.360 handle Donald Trump. That's what he said. That was his essential promise in the campaign. Now he

00:09:15.400 bristles when anyone even mentions Trump like, uh, they did the other day.

00:09:23.000 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.

00:09:28.620 I mean, it's sort of... Comme j'ai dit, nous sommes très occupés. Nous sommes très, très occupés

00:09:35.920 avec l'avenir du Canada. Nous sommes mètre chez nous et avec les, avec les nouveaux partenariats.

00:09:44.140 Et il y aura, il y aura des conversations, oui, avec le président et moi, probablement dans les prochaines,

00:09:54.620 les prochaines deux semaines. Mais... Et on attend de... You know, I'm always happy to... Sorry,

00:10:03.920 I slipped into French because I anticipated the, uh, the en français thing. Um, uh, the, uh, I look forward

00:10:12.040 to speaking to the president soon. But I don't have a burning issue to speak with the president

00:10:18.140 about right now. Um, when America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side,

00:10:24.320 we will have those discussions. I'm going to answer a, a potential question here, and then I'll pass

00:10:29.320 back, which is, for example, with respect to Ukraine and the 28-point plan. We, uh, are a member,

00:10:38.000 a core member of the Coalition of the Willing. You would have seen a demonstration of that yesterday

00:10:42.240 with the meeting of European, uh, leaders, a core group of European leaders, uh, the Prime Minister

00:10:47.120 of Japan, ourselves, um, and, uh, which formed a common position. Uh, and that common position

00:10:53.960 is communicated, uh, our national security advisors are meeting, uh, today in, uh, in Geneva,

00:10:59.820 including Canada's, um, and the common position communicated to, uh, do the additional work

00:11:06.560 that's required, uh, on the peace plan there. Each of us do not need to call President Trump

00:11:12.840 and communicate that position. I don't know if Canadian steel can be saved. I hope so.

00:11:19.200 I can tell you the liberals care 10 times more about those 1,000 steel jobs than they care about

00:11:25.720 the 100,000 oil and gas and pipeline jobs they've destroyed over the last 10 years,

00:11:31.780 which brings me to a sort of obvious solution. I mean, I don't know if you know this, but oil

00:11:37.300 pipelines are made out of steel. I looked it up in the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta

00:11:43.500 to BC. That's the one that the Trudeau liberals, uh, canceled that would have used about a billion

00:11:50.720 dollars worth of steel. Same thing for the Keystone XL pipeline that was canceled. That one was canceled

00:11:57.080 by Obama to be fair. And then there's the mighty energy East pipeline that would have gone from

00:12:02.880 Alberta to new Brunswick. That would have been steel too. The entire construction for that energy

00:12:11.220 East. It was such a big deal would have been about $16 billion just for the pipeline. And none of that

00:12:19.280 money was from the government. The government killed that deal. Do you see where I'm going with this?

00:12:24.200 There are two ways you could try and save a Canadian steel company. One is through endless

00:12:30.420 loans and grants and standing with you tweets. The other is to actually, you know, build things with

00:12:36.640 steel or to be more precise, let the private sector build things with steel and let them pay for it. 0.98

00:12:42.220 No need for a centrally planned economy where Mark Carney has the power of some Roman emperor to say

00:12:47.600 thumbs up or thumbs down based on his whimsical emotional reaction. And to say the obvious, the purpose of a

00:12:53.380 pipeline, Northern Gateway, Keystone XL, Energy East isn't just to spend money building them. I mean,

00:12:59.820 those three pipelines together, by the way, would probably be 30 or 40 billion dollars just in

00:13:05.200 construction jobs. Imagine that. But the purpose of building them is to put things in the pipelines to

00:13:12.140 ship through the pipelines for decades. Oil mainly, which would allow all sorts of other jobs to be

00:13:19.540 created to make the oil to fill up the pipelines. Like the pipelines aren't just an end. They're a means

00:13:25.320 to an end. Mark Carney has a choice, really. Does he love steel more than he hates pipelines?

00:13:35.720 And the answer, of course, is no, he doesn't. Because if Algoma were successful on its own by selling

00:13:43.820 steel to pipeline makers, what would Mark Carney's role be? He sees himself as the godfather or

00:13:50.080 something, granting this project, blocking that one. It's all up to him. He's the boss. You know,

00:13:56.100 he pretended for a couple of days to be supportive of a pipeline idea. That's what he had to say to

00:14:00.660 Daniel Smith. But listen to him in Parliament, where he basically says, yeah, sure, the pipeline

00:14:05.960 could happen. But really, the deal is about green schemes, including carbon capture technology.

00:14:12.580 Of course, he says this in French.

00:14:14.880 What about people in the caucus and this new agreement? Well, I think it's important to

00:14:21.780 recognize that this memorandum of understanding is not just an MOU. It involves a data center,

00:14:30.280 an AI data center, and also it involves connections between Alberta and British Columbia when it

00:14:41.760 comes to net hydroelectric power, and yes, a pipeline. But at the same time, there must be

00:14:52.060 a major investment in carbon capture. So it's a grand bargain. And that creates the possibility

00:15:00.880 of accessing energy sources in Western Canada that are more diverse, cleaner. And of course,

00:15:12.480 that creates a Canada that is more independent, more independent of the United States.

00:15:17.220 That doesn't make any sense. It's just like that baffle gab, the word advantaging. If he really

00:15:25.560 wanted to save Algoma, he would greenlight Northern Gateway, Energy East, Keystone XL, and he would beg 0.99

00:15:31.640 those pipeline companies to come back to Canada and try again. And he would promise not to interfere

00:15:37.480 with them again. But he's going to interfere with them. That MOU, Memorandum of Understanding for

00:15:44.040 oil pipelines, it's not for oil pipelines. As I noted to the Alberta Premier last week,

00:15:48.740 all the pain is front and loaded. The industrial carbon tax is going up. That happens right away.

00:15:55.160 The pipeline itself, if it ever gets built, will happen by, I'm not kidding, the MOU says as late

00:16:00.280 as 2040. Here's a Carney cabinet minister saying, and he has not yet been corrected for saying this,

00:16:06.680 here he is saying that both the province of British Columbia and First Nations, not defined,

00:16:14.420 can stop the pipeline. He says the pipeline needs their consent. That's his language. Take a listen.

00:16:21.440 Are your BC caucus colleagues comfortable with the idea of a bitumen pipeline through the great

00:16:26.920 rainforest to the north coast of British Columbia and with the changes to things like the tanker ban?

00:16:31.500 Because these have been issues you ran on in the past as a party and as a government that are now

00:16:37.300 potentially on the table for removal.

00:16:40.420 Well, David, I think what liberal members of parliament for British Columbia and across the

00:16:45.180 country are comfortable with is a process that requires the participation of indigenous communities

00:16:49.580 that ensures that jurisdictions implicated are part of that process and conversation,

00:16:55.320 that we are working together to ensure that the criteria that have been set

00:16:59.120 by the prime minister are met. And I think, you know, when we are talking about,

00:17:04.960 you know, a theoretical pipeline, as the premier herself noted, that doesn't have a route,

00:17:09.220 that doesn't currently have a proponent, that doesn't currently have the support or has not

00:17:14.520 yet gone through the process of getting the support of jurisdictions in question as well as First Nations.

00:17:18.080 I mean, this is a theoretical conversation right now. And our job should be to focus on the practical.

00:17:22.080 The practical is making sure that the process to do those things is done correctly,

00:17:25.920 to have conversations about major projects in a way that we have articulated.

00:17:29.380 Anything that goes to the major projects office to be referred has to have the consent of the

00:17:33.120 jurisdictions in question, has to have the consent of First Nations. And right now, you know, these are

00:17:37.740 all, we have an MOU that is an outline, a roadmap to have a further conversation.

00:17:44.260 By the way, which First Nations can stop the pipeline in the liberal view? There are 600 bans in Canada.

00:17:50.880 Do they have to be along the pipeline route? Can any one of them block it? Or does it take two? Or is

00:17:58.920 there a magical number? And who in the band? Can it be the chief just talking? Does there have to be a

00:18:04.740 vote? And where does this power come from? Is this a new law somewhere? Are we now taking the position

00:18:12.140 that there is a veto over industrial projects by a particular ethnic group? Can other, can people who

00:18:21.200 were married to aboriginals speak out on this? What's the plan? Or is the idea to keep it so vague that

00:18:28.800 no one would be foolish enough to try? Hey, while we're at it, can we understand the new rules here?

00:18:35.300 I mean, laid off steel workers get not only total sympathy, but lots of money, but oil and gas workers

00:18:42.800 get neither. They have to pay for the privilege of working and building. They have to spend money on

00:18:49.600 things like carbon capture that no one, no one is trying to capture the carbon in real life. It's not

00:18:53.640 of any value. And oil and gas is called dirty, as opposed to Mark Carney's clean energy. By the way,

00:19:02.580 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

00:19:45.720 the USS Gerald R. Ford to take on little speed boats. The U.S. Navy has mustered a mighty flotilla

00:19:55.420 off the coast of Venezuela. And they've even reestablished an old air force base on Puerto

00:20:00.800 Rico. They've just started using it again for jets that are too large to fly on an aircraft

00:20:08.580 carry, because it's only about less than an hour's flight from Puerto Rico to Venezuela.

00:20:15.080 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

00:20:26.500 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,

00:20:52.720 let alone in a poor country like Venezuela. If you are Maduro's bodyguards, are you tempted just

00:20:59.000 a teeny tiny bit? Or maybe if you're some political rival or some general in the army, are you tempted

00:21:05.100 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. 0.99

00:22:04.020 They barely produce a million barrels a day compared to 10 million for America, Russia,

00:22:11.280 Saudi. That's what socialism and corruption will do to you. So imagine Venezuela post-Maduro. 0.94

00:22:19.380 Let's say something happens and Maduro is toppled or flees. Someone takes the 50 mil. I don't know.

00:22:26.000 Maduro runs away. I don't know. And a new leader is in place. And the country is poor.

00:22:32.060 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,

00:22:43.900 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 0.84

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? 0.78

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

00:27:30.520 a few videos from Angelica and Sid.

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

00:28:07.840 than a professional teaching body?

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

00:28:41.500 more recently, for sure.

00:28:43.840 And will the government consider banning ideological symbols, including flags from classrooms

00:28:48.500 and school property?

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

00:30:16.320 more control over immigration policies.

00:30:18.940 What is the rationale behind government considering equalizing pay between new teachers and long-serving

00:30:23.880 teachers with decades of experience?

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.

00:33:38.660 Last or do you?

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.

00:33:58.640 What's your reaction to this agreement?

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

00:34:33.440 news headlines.

00:34:34.480 I did.

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

00:35:49.680 it in the back.

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

00:36:22.400 and other sources of energy like that?

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.

00:38:56.780 Last word to you.

00:38:58.860 Daniel Smith, way to go.

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

00:39:12.600 from a municipality with this change?

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

00:41:09.960 affairs and the public perception of such?

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? 1.00

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.

00:42:43.000 Last word, you?

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.

00:43:18.500 I appreciate it always.

00:43:19.340 Yeah, happily.

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 0.98

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 1.00

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 1.00

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

00:48:08.500 for today. From all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night and keep

00:48:14.600 fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - December 03, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Steelworkers axed as leftists reject steel pipelines — Make it make sense!

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