EZRA LEVANT ｜ The Liberal leadership contest isn’t an election — it’s a selection
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Summary
Today I talk about a lot of things, but I have a great conversation with my buddy Loren Gunter about the Keystone XL pipeline, Donald Trump wants to revive it from the dead four years after Joe Biden buried it, and the liberal leadership candidates are all in on it.
Transcript
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Hello, my friends. Big show today. I talk about a lot of things, but I have a great conversation
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with my buddy, Loren Gunter, about the Keystone XL pipeline. Donald Trump wants to revive it
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from the dead four years after Joe Biden buried it. We'll talk about that. But first, I want
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to invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. It's a video version of this podcast.
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woke trend. Call them at 905-631-5462 or email them at info at rocklink.com. That's
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rocklink with a C, info at rocklink.com. All right, here's today's podcast.
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Tonight, the liberal leadership contest isn't an election. It's a selection. They're all in on it.
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I'll show you. It's February 25th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
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I've got a great, wide-ranging conversation and a bit of a debate with my friend Lauren Gunter tonight
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about the Keystone XL pipeline. Donald Trump says he wants to revive it almost exactly four years
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after Joe Biden killed it. I'll talk to Lauren about that and also about the looming Ukraine
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peace deal led by Trump. I think Lauren and I have a different opinion about that one,
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but let me talk for a minute about the liberal leadership debates. I'm recording this right
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now before tonight's English language debate. I'll be live streaming that from our studios and giving
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my commentary, but I did watch the French language version last night with my colleague,
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Alexa Lavoie. But I wasn't really a debate. All four of the candidates pretty much agreed
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on everything. In fact, they sort of helped each other out. It was an agree-a-thon. It's clear this
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thing is predetermined. If this were a sports event of some sort, like a baseball game or a boxing match,
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it would be called fixed. There were trivial differences amongst them. They all have slightly
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different approaches to the carbon tax, for example, but it's mainly a difference in marketing,
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not a difference in substance. They're all trying to outdo each other with the fear-mongering about
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the U.S. annexing Canada, as if that's something that could just sort of happen, be triggered by some
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magic switch to be flipped or something. They really went nuts. Here's the craziest comment,
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a clearly fictional story by Chrystia Freeland.
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A few weeks ago in Saskatoon, I met a little four-year-old girl. She asked me whether I could
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prevent Trump from invading our country. And that's why I am standing to lead the Liberal Party
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and to become the next Prime Minister of Canada. Trump represents the greatest threat to Canada
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since World War II. He is threatening us with an economic war. And that's nothing new. The last
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time that he was president, he threatened us too. And at the end of the day, I succeeded in protecting
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our economy. But this time, Trump's threats are worse. He wants to turn Canada into the 51st state.
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And it's no joke. That is why he is supporting Vladimir Putin's criminal attempt to redraw Ukraine's
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borders. Trump wants to redraw our borders too. We need a leader who understand the seriousness of
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these challenges and how to face them. A leader that can respond and defend everyone in our wonderful
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country. I will fight for us. I will fight for Canada. And together, we will win.
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Yeah, that just didn't happen. It was clear they all know that Mark Carney is just going to win. So the
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others are really auditioning for cabinet positions. Here's Chrystia Freeland helping out Carney when he
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accidentally, in his rickety French, said, we all agree with Hamas. She helped him.
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Hamas. We all agree on Hamas on a two-state solution.
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No, we don't agree with Hamas. No, we're against Hamas.
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Yes, we're all against Hamas. We are. And we're in favor of a two-state solution.
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By the way, now we know why the liberals refused to allow Ruby Dalla to participate.
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She isn't in on this deal. She would have asked questions of the other candidates, even prickly
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questions about her counterparts. I mean, if you saw my interview with Ruby Dalla the other day,
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she brought up unsolicited the fact that both Carney and Freeland are World Economic Forum people.
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I hope that you'll keep in touch with us if you make a next move, whether that's appealing to the
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court to get back in or running as an independent or doing something else. I'm excited by what you're
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saying. And it's a reminder of what a democracy is supposed to sound like. So thanks very much for
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spending some time with us. You know, I appreciate it. And I think that I joined thousands of Canadians
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of ensuring that we continue to have free speech in our country, that we continue, you know, to have
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a democracy. I have never been a part of the World Economic Forum. And I believe that it is very
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important that we have the leadership in our country who actually reflects, you know, the needs of the
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hour of our country, of Canadian families. Yeah, they let Ruby Dalla register as a candidate to take
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her $350,000 fee. Then they disqualified her but kept the money. Yeah. But I've been thinking a bit more
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about the Trump approach to Canada. And here's a list of what he says he wants tangibly. This is just the
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things I can think of. He wants us to stop illegal migrants. He wants us to stop illegal drugs. He wants us to
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increase our military spending. He wants us to allow US banks to compete in the Canadian market. He wants us to
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allow US dairy to sell in Canada. Those are the main things he's irritated about. Of course, he also says he's
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against a trade surplus. And I'm not sure if he's thought that through, given that the trade surplus is almost
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totally due to oil imports, which the US can't just immediately replace with domestic production.
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Like with Canada, we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. That's because we allow them to make cars,
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we allow them to take lumber. We don't need their cars, we don't need their lumber, we don't need their
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food products, because we make the same products right on the other side of the border. It's sort of
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crazy. So we've just allowed that, you know, bad management has allowed it over the last four
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years in particular to become very imbalanced. And I said to, I call him Governor Trudeau, but he's
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Prime Minister Trudeau when he was Prime Minister. I asked him, why would we do that? Why? And he was
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unable to give me an answer. He said, I don't know. And I said, do you think it's fair that we're paying
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$200 billion to keep Canada going? And what would happen? I said, I asked him, what would happen if
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we didn't do that, if we didn't subsidize Canada? He said, we'd be a failed nation. And I said, then
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you should be a state. Because why are we paying all of that money to Canada when, you know, we could
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use it ourselves, right? So we take care of their military. You know, we ordered, we're going to order
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about 40 Coast Guard, big icebreakers, big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the
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deal. They say, why are we doing that? I mean, I like doing that if they're a state, but I don't
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like doing that if they're a nation. Also, they've been very nasty to us on trade. Historically,
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Canada has been very, very bad to us, very unfair to us on trade. So we'll see how it all works out.
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I would love to see Canada be the 51st state. The Canadian citizens, if that happened,
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would get a very big tax cut, tremendous tax cut, because they're very highly taxed.
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And you wouldn't have to worry about military. You wouldn't have to worry about many of the
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things. You'd have better health coverage. You'd have much better health coverage.
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So I think the people of Canada would like it, you know, if it's explained. But
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just to start off, they'd have a very, they'd have a massive tax cut. And they'd have a lot more
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business, because then we'd let business go to Canada routinely, and there'd be no tariffs.
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You know, if we did that, there'd be no tariffs.
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So either he's going to buy it from us or some other foreign country. So he wants those things
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I listed, which I think are reasonable demands dealt with. And we could demand things in return,
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I'm sure. It's called a negotiation. But instead, the liberals were having a costume party last night
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where they each dressed up as little soldiers ready to go to rhetorical war against Trump. It was
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sort of crazy. And it made me think of this story I saw today in the Financial Times, which is a very
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prestigious newspaper based in London. White House official pushes to axe Canada from Five Eyes
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Intelligence Group. A top White House official has proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes
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Intelligence Sharing Network. As Donald Trump increases pressure on the country, he talks about
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turning into the 51st U.S. state. Now, Five Eyes, of course, is sort of like the super friends
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of the allies. It's just five countries, U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, not even France
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or Germany. It's like a best friends club of democracies. It's the English-speaking countries.
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Now, Peter Navarro came out today to say, no, no, it's not true. But I wasn't convinced. All he kept
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saying is how mad he was that it was an anonymous source that said it. Here's a clip. This nonsense
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from the Financial Times is a product of a culture in the media where they report stories and never name
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their sources. And my view is that we should never have to comment on any story where it's based on
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unnamed sources. Have you ever noticed that? That was just crazy stuff. We would never, ever jeopardize
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our national security, ever, with allies like Canada, ever. So please stop doing that. And I have
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proposed, and I hope somebody's hearing me, that we just don't pay any attention to any questions that
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are based on anonymous sources. Yeah, I'm not actually convinced. Either it was an intentional
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leak from Navarro, or it's a real leak and he's mad about it. But it was a weird way to refute
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something. The Financial Times says they stand by their story, by the way. But mainly, it's credible
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on the face. Trudeau supports Hamas through his tens of millions of dollars going to the U.N. Relief
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Works Agency. Trudeau supports the International Courts of Justice against Benjamin Netanyahu, saying
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that Canada would arrest Netanyahu if he ever set foot in Canada. Trudeau supports Communist China
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and hasn't lifted a finger to stop the Chinese Communist Party infiltration of the Canadian
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government, including in 11 electoral districts. So why wouldn't the U.S. kick Canada out of the
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Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance? Not out of vengeance, just like demanding Canada fund our military. That's
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not out of vengeance. And really, it goes to the thing that Trudeau hates, that 51st state business.
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But really, if we rely on the U.S. economy, if we rely on the U.S. military, if we don't stop
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ourselves from being invaded by foreign interests, in fact, if we fast track Gaza migrants, aren't we
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sort of acting like an unserious country? Maybe like a state, as opposed to a proud nation? I think maybe.
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Hopefully you're having a good time with this podcast, but I guarantee a better time would be
00:13:10.060
coming to Alaska with me, Drea Humphrey, and my other Rebel colleagues. You've got to find out
00:13:17.260
more at our special website, rebelnewscruise.com. But it's taking place June 18th to June 25th,
00:13:25.900
a vacation trip of a lifetime. Again, that's rebelnewscruise.com. I'll see you there.
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Well, Donald Trump has threatened to put a 10% tariff on Canadian oil. Now, that 10% probably
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won't stop U.S. refineries from importing it. Not only do they get a price that's typically lower than
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the world price, but it's a specific grade of oil from the oil sense. It isn't easily swapped out
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by other oil suppliers, particularly from OPEC. I keep holding on to Howard Lutnick. That's the
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Commerce Secretary's statement about a month ago where he said, oh, this is just to get action from
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Canada. We don't actually want to tariff the oil. I hope Lutnick is right. As you know, I've written
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a book about this called Deal of the Century, the America First Plan for Canada's Oil Sines. We'll talk
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more about that book another time. But I've found it frustrating because America First, in my mind,
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means securing the continental supply of oil, not buying oil from OPEC countries. And one of the
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arguments I made in my book Ethical Oil a dozen years ago that I make again in Deal of the Century
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is that the U.S. Pentagon spends at least $50 billion a year securing the Persian Gulf sea lanes.
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The Fifth Fleet is based out there, and it's only doing that because that's where the oil comes from.
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Now, if Americans really want to spend $50 billion and go through the effort of being Globocop,
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if they want to do that for their own reasons, fill your boots. But if they're doing that just to
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protect Saudi oil, why not buy all the oil sands oil you can get? And that's the deal of the century
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that I mentioned in the book. Basically, buy all the oil sands. It's a $13 trillion deal that I would
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think would appeal to a man who likes big deals. Any of that's in the background. And then yesterday,
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take a look at what Trump posts on his Truth Social platform. Let me read it. It says,
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our country's doing really well. And today, I was just thinking that the company building the
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Keystone XL pipeline that was viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden administration
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should come back to America and get it built now. I know they were treated very badly by Sleepy Joe
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Biden, but the Trump administration is very different. Easy approvals, almost immediate
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start. If not them, perhaps another pipeline company. We want the Keystone XL pipeline built.
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Now, I did a little bit of poking around because I assumed that deal was dead. I think it was
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TransCanada Pipeline that originally owned it. I think they sold it off to another or spun it off
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to another company called Southbow. And you can imagine over the last four plus years,
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permits have expired. You know, they're not just all standing by ready. This thing
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is pretty much dead. Joining us now to talk about this and the possibility of reviving the dead
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is our friend, Lauren Gunter, senior columnist for the Edmonton Sun. Lauren, great to see you again.
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You know, I mean, I like Donald Trump's support for the Keystone XL pipeline, and he did indeed
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support it in his first term. Biden killed it. I don't know if you can warm up a corpse after four
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years. I mean, there's a lot of things that would have to work for that to be revived. And I don't
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even think the company itself is sort of interested in it right now.
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Well, TC Energy and Southbow, which is the subsidiary that TC set up to run the Keystone XL,
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have both said they're not interested. But I think that could be overcome. I don't think
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finding the pipe, finding the equipment, getting the workers would ultimately be the big problem. But
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you have to remember that they spent almost a billion dollars in the permitting process.
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And they went, it's not just federal permits that they need. They need state by state permits.
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In some places, they need county permits. And for sure, they need Native American tribal land
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permits. And the environmentalists and a lot of Native American groups fought them every inch of
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the way. And it took them nearly 12 years to get all the permits in line. That's the big holdup.
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It's not, I mean, Trump says in that post that you just read out, easy permits. We've got easy
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permits now. And they probably does. I think he'd probably sign an executive order allowing the
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cross-border permits for the pipeline tomorrow afternoon. You know, the only reason, the only
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thing we're holding him up is he's got 1,500 other executive orders and he's got to get to in advance
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of that. But nonetheless, I think that's right. I think when he says permitting would be easy from
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the federal standpoint, that's probably true. And if the people who are in charge of the
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permitting for the federal government oppose him on that, if they put down on their lists
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that they have to send to Elon Musk every week of the things they've achieved, and one of those
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things is held up the Keystone Pipeline, I think they're out. So I do think all that federal stuff
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is easy. I think the physical side of it, the workforce side of it is easy enough. I mean,
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I wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of all that, but there are people who are good at it.
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But it's all of this other permitting and court challenges and everything else they have to go
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through that I think it's going to be hard. No one would want the Keystone more than you and I.
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Yeah. You know, I'd love to see 830,000 extra barrels a day to the United States. It would
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increase our exports to the U.S. One pipeline would increase our exports to the United States by
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nearly 20%. Yeah. I mean, I remember that it was, I'm just going from my memory of when it was shut
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down, that it has 800, the capacity for 800,000 barrels a day. If I'm, correct me if I'm wrong on
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that, 800,000 barrels a day at 75 bucks a barrel. Now, I'm not sure if it would quite yield that much,
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but that's $60 million a day. I'm just going to use a calculator because I don't want to get that
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wrong. If you do 60, I mean, every day, 60 million times 365, that's $22 billion a year. If my math is
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right, I mean, that's rough numbers. Even if it's half that, that's huge. But-
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Yeah. You know, it's in ours. And so you know how big our trade is already with the United States
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at 4.4 billion, or 4.4 million barrels a day from Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan into the United
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States. Add another 830,000 barrels a day. It's huge. And there, I'm sure when he says he's putting
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tariffs on Canadian oil, he's hearing from all of the lobbyists on behalf of Midwest oil refineries
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who can only refine our oil. They've been set up to refine the heavy crude that we send down in the
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pipelines. And they can't easily switch to West Texas Intermediate or Brent or one of the other
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lighter, sweeter crudes. And they also understand that because most of them are integrated oil
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companies, they're buying from us at a deep discount. And they're then able to sell their
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lighter, sweeter stuff, which commands a higher price on the world market. And so they make money
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twice. They make money by buying from us because it's cheaper. And they make money by selling the
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stuff they don't have to put through their refineries to make oil or to make gasoline.
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So it's a win-win for those American refineries. And there are 25 refineries in the U.S. Midwest,
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and 23 of them cannot take anything else but heavier oil. So it just makes no sense at all. But the
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I think when I saw it, both of these things were said yesterday. I'm putting the tariffs
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on Canadian goods, March 1st, just like I said. Hey, let's get Keystone going. I thought,
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what in heaven? He's not touching two hemispheres of his brain, for crying out loud, because who is
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going to build him a pipeline to take extra amounts of our oil that he's penalizing with his
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like it just, it doesn't make any sense at all. You know, there's so much money afoot. If my math
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is right, if it really is 20 billion a year, and it sounds like it could be like, you're right. It's
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that's like a fifth of what's going on right now. I mean, so just think of, you know,
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a finance guy would do the present value of the future income of this thing. Like if this pipeline
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would last 50 years, the amount of oil that traverses it. Well, frankly, I can do that math
00:22:36.560
in my head. That's $1 trillion. 50 years at 800,000 barrels at 75 bucks a barrel is almost exactly
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a trillion dollars. A lot of things can get done. Now you got a present value that whatever. That's
00:22:51.860
so much money. And that's how he's a dealmaker. He's a real estate developer. He's, he thinks big.
00:22:59.600
I mean, there's the guy who looks at Gazza and say, says, I see a Riviera come in your future. Like
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he's, he, in a way he's a dreamer and a schemer and a planner. And he, the braggadocio is part of it.
00:23:11.040
You know, I really recommend to everybody out there, you want to understand Trump, read, read,
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art of the deal. And, um, I, I don't know. I hope this thing can be revived.
00:23:23.340
He's, he's a disruptor, right? He likes to come into a situation where people want things from him
00:23:30.300
and he wants things from them, but people want things from him. Either he, he wants, you know,
00:23:35.820
they want to put the marble countertops in all the bathrooms in his new Trump tower, uh, or they want
00:23:42.500
to keep selling goods and services to the United States, whatever it is, they want something from
00:23:48.500
him or from the United States. And he, he thinks the best way for him to get the best possible deal
00:23:54.280
is to make those people, is to scare those people into a laundry bill they didn't expect. Right.
00:24:00.720
By, you know, by making them go out, like, look, last night, the, the, the liberal leadership
00:24:06.040
contenders had their French language debate and they spent about a quarter of the time, maybe even
00:24:12.380
close to the half of the time talking about, oh, we can't let Trump annex Canada, annex this, annex, annex.
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Our elite has, has gotten in their heads in this country that there is some quick mechanism where he
00:24:31.380
can just declare us the 51st state and we have to pay fealty to the United States. Like, I think I've used
00:24:39.180
this example with, with you before the city of Leduc, which is right down by the airport in, in Edmonton
00:24:45.500
wants to annex part of the County of Leduc because it wants to build some new subdivisions. Right.
00:24:50.780
So it goes to the province, which has legal authority over both entities. Right. And asks for permission.
00:24:57.620
Yeah. To whom would the United States go to ask permission to annex Canada? It's not the United
00:25:06.020
Nations. Right. It's not the World Economic Forum. It's to Canada. It's to Canada. So they, the United States
00:25:13.680
annexed, voted to annex Hawaii 60 years before Hawaii became a state. And that was because for, I don't know, 55 of those
00:25:26.980
60 years, Hawaiians didn't want any part of being part of the United States. They were happy to be a
00:25:33.140
protectorate, but they didn't want to be a state. Right. And so they resisted, resisted, resisted.
00:25:37.980
Finally, they voted for it and it happened. Right. But could the Americans send a couple of tank
00:25:46.420
divisions over the border? We got nothing to stop them. Yeah. You know what? The whole thing is,
00:25:51.420
they're not going to do that. I want to show you a clip of Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state,
00:25:56.720
who is a longtime senator from Florida. And he's actually, he is quite clever. He's a good
00:26:01.960
communicator. Very smart. And he was a rival of Trump. But I think that shows you again,
00:26:06.920
when Trump uses his bluster and his, his banter and gives you a mean nickname, I don't, it's not a
00:26:14.120
deep hatred. It's just a transactional moment. He, I mean, if you look at who he has appointed into
00:26:19.840
his, J.D. Vance, J.D. Vance practically called Trump a Nazi a few years ago. Now he's his vice
00:26:26.260
president main man. You, that shows that Trump actually can get over things. He's, he's mouthy,
00:26:33.860
he dishes it out. But if you work with him, he's a quick forgiver, actually. I mean, look at his
00:26:40.420
cabinet, all the people in it who were at one point at odds with him. I think he's not the cardboard
00:26:48.260
caricature that many people say he is. But let me show you Marco Rubio, who was asked by Catherine
00:26:54.000
Herridge, who's an outstanding journalist. She said, where did this whole 51st state thing come
00:26:59.440
from? And here's Marco Rubio with the clearest explanation of all. And I'll give it away before
00:27:05.880
I play the clip. It was from Trudeau himself. Here, take a look. President Trump has talked
00:27:10.300
about expanding the U.S. footprint. In a hot mic moment, Canada's prime minister said
00:27:16.660
that absorbing Canada is a real thing. Is it a real thing?
00:27:21.620
Look, you know how that came about. The president's meeting with Trudeau and Trudeau says, well,
00:27:25.180
if you impose, if you even out our trade relationship, then we will cease to exist as a
00:27:29.620
country. At which point the president responded very logically. And that is, well, if you can't
00:27:33.800
exist without cheating and trade, then you should become a state. That was his observation.
00:27:40.060
It is how it started. And I think he's told the story publicly. And that's how all this began.
00:27:43.820
Look, Canada's our friend. Canada's our neighbor. Canada's our partner. But it goes back to the
00:27:49.420
point I made. For decades, the United States allowed uneven trade imbalances to develop.
00:27:55.300
During the Cold War, you know why we did it? We did it because we felt like we want countries
00:27:59.340
to be strong economically, even if it means they're cheating, because we don't want them
00:28:02.820
to fall victim to some internal Marxist coup that overturns their government or what have
00:28:08.100
you. Those days are gone. These are rich, developed economies. And ultimately, who can argue
00:28:13.060
against the fact that whatever they charge us, we should charge them. Whatever they prohibit,
00:28:17.660
if they don't allow American companies to do it, we should not allow their companies to
00:28:20.820
do it here. American banks can't even operate in Canada. So there has to be reciprocity here.
00:28:26.020
We can continue to work together on all kinds of things. But whether it's Canada, Mexico,
00:28:29.660
China, anybody else, when it comes to economics and trade, there has to be reciprocity, there
00:28:34.140
has to be fairness. And who would argue, how can anybody argue against that? The days where
00:28:38.220
we just allow countries to take advantage of us, that has to end. That's not good for
00:28:42.220
the global order. That leads to imbalances that create friction points. That's the case
00:28:46.760
with Canada. It's the case with a lot of countries who are allies and friends. But on trade, we
00:28:52.280
So it was sort of Trudeau who blurted out, well, if you equalize our trade deficits, we cease to
00:28:59.160
exist as a country. Why would you say that to the killer negotiator on the other side? You've just
00:29:05.800
shown him your darkest fear. Well, guess what he's going to talk about for all eternity until he
00:29:13.820
And after he started calling you Governor Trudeau, you lit your hair on fire and started running
00:29:19.660
around in small circles. So of course he's going to play off of that. This started off as, you know,
00:29:26.380
one of those kind of tasteless jokes that people tell after a round of golf and they're in the clubhouse.
00:29:33.180
And then when he noticed that Trudeau grossly overreacted to it, he said it again. He said it
00:29:39.580
again. And then he realized that the CBC and the Globe and Mail and that most of the
00:29:44.540
mainstream media in Canada had also lit all their hairs on fire over this 51st state thing. He just
00:29:50.620
kept pushing that. I think now he's kind of gotten it in his head that, you know, it wouldn't be a bad
00:29:55.740
thing. No, I think it's grown from just a joke into, I don't know, an impulse or something. But he
00:30:05.100
doesn't really mean it. And yes, you said, I mean, he's so busy with Gaza and Ukraine and other things,
00:30:10.460
he could easily forget about this tomorrow. A few weeks ago, every single premier,
00:30:16.620
the 10 provinces and the three territories went to Washington together. I have to say that's
00:30:21.260
remarkable. Those are busy people. And for them to come together actually was sort of inspiring.
00:30:26.620
And they all went to the White House together, but they couldn't get a meeting with any cabinet
00:30:30.460
secretaries. It was just fairly mid-level staff. And on the one hand, I was sort of embarrassed
00:30:36.540
that it happened that way. But then again, if Trudeau himself is there, why is not there? Why
00:30:41.340
would it sort of asymmetrical for the president to meet with the... Who would come out to see a
00:30:47.980
governor? Yeah, exactly. But I looked at the schedule that Trump had that day. He was, if I recall,
00:30:55.100
meeting the king of Jordan to talk about his Palestine plans. And I think India, the prime
00:31:00.220
minister of India was there. So he's doing extremely heavy duty stuff. You could agree with him or
00:31:05.020
disagree with him. But if the premier of Nunavut, God bless him, shows up and says,
00:31:10.620
I want to talk to the president. So does everybody else, brother. And I think it is sort of... Let me
00:31:18.140
say one thing, though, about the idea. We have a law called the Clarity Act. The Supreme Court of
00:31:24.140
Canada itself has verified its constitutionality. And if I'm not paraphrasing it incorrectly,
00:31:32.140
it basically says, if you ask the people a clear question and get a clear result, that's why it's
00:31:38.220
called the Clarity Act, you can indeed separate and the feds will have to negotiate with you. And I put
00:31:44.140
it to you that if... This podcast is bought to you by Rebel News. That's right. So if you want to
00:31:52.460
support us, why not do it in a win-win fashion? By shopping for yourself, one of my favorite things
00:31:58.700
to do, head to rebelnewsstore.com to pick the patriotic gear that pleases your heart. And while
00:32:06.700
you're there, use coupon code DREA10 to save while you do. Mark Carney or Christia Freeland,
00:32:13.260
try some awful shenanigans with the oil patch again. And if somehow there were a referendum in
00:32:19.740
Alberta, to answer your earlier question, how would an annexation work? That's how it would work.
00:32:25.740
Yes, of course. But that's not going to happen unless we ask. Right.
00:32:29.980
Somebody in Canada... Oh, they can't take it. We have to give it.
00:32:32.940
Exactly. Exactly. So all of this hysteria for the last three months about,
00:32:39.260
oh, he keeps saying we're going to be the 51st state, and I'm so worried we're going to lose
00:32:44.700
our son. You people have no understanding of the civics of this thing. Just none at all. You don't
00:32:50.940
understand the Constitution, and you are showing how ill-informed you are every time you open your
00:32:58.140
mouth like that. So I would say to the Christia Freelands and the Mark Carney's, and even to some extent to
00:33:03.980
Doug Ford, back off of that, because that's not going to happen unless we want it to happen.
00:33:13.900
They're not going to invade. I don't care that he fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
00:33:18.300
to get a more warmongery-like guy who will listen to him better. I don't think that was the case, but
00:33:26.460
he's got a loyalist in there. That guy's still not going to say, okay, well, we'll take the Seventh
00:33:33.500
Fleet and three tank divisions and a paratroop brigade, and we'll storm up into Canada and take
00:33:40.060
them over. They're not going to do that. Yeah, well, I don't think... I think the Liberals love the hysteria
00:33:48.060
because they want to pose themselves as the national saviors. It's the first time they've been able to
00:33:53.340
wrap themselves in a flag for a very long time. Last time they saw Canadian flags, they denounced
00:33:57.900
them because it was a truck. You remember they had ads in the, I think it was the 2006 federal election,
00:34:03.100
where they said, if Stephen Harper wins, there will be troops on our streets with guns. Yeah.
00:34:10.940
They talk themselves into this... First of all, they hate the military. Yeah.
00:34:16.220
They are absolute peaceniks. And then they talk themselves, because they don't understand military
00:34:23.580
things, they talk themselves into scenarios that are completely ridiculous. So the thing that also
00:34:32.540
occurred to me this morning when I was writing about this is that here are all these people who
00:34:38.380
have no clue what they're talking about on U.S. annexing Canada. And yet they want to put themselves
00:34:46.300
in charge of the internet to control misinformation. Well, they're full of misinformation. Sorry for the
00:34:53.820
language. They're full of misinformation themselves all the time. Yeah. You know, I like Donald Trump a
00:35:00.780
lot more than you do, I know. But let me say one thing that I believe is true about him. I actually think
00:35:07.100
in his own way, he's a peacenik. He's not a weak peacenik. He's a strong peacenik. And I think
00:35:13.020
his first term shows that. And, you know, they always say, don't take him literally, take him
00:35:19.020
seriously. Right. And a lot of people in Canada will not like the deal that he is about to announce
00:35:26.780
in Ukraine. We know that. Because they believe in fighting till victory, even though I don't know
00:35:33.260
what victory would look like for Ukraine when the men are being ground up every day and Russia
00:35:38.940
inexorably is taking land. So Trump is going to do a peace deal there. And a lot of people are not
00:35:43.820
going to like it. But six months and 12 months and 18 months and two years from now, people are going
00:35:48.220
to realize that Trump stopped the war, even if they don't like the terms. And I don't know if you saw,
00:35:53.260
but Trump talked about reducing the military budget by 8%, like reducing America's budget while
00:36:01.580
he wants the other countries to beef up. And remember that U.S. Fifth Fleet based in the Persian
00:36:08.620
Gulf to defend that OPEC oil that comes to America still. That's a $50 billion a year charge.
00:36:14.940
The Fifth Fleet is not there to protect the cruise liners that show up in Dubai so that the nice
00:36:22.700
people can get off and take their pictures on a camel. It's there for real. I hate what he's doing
00:36:32.060
to and in Ukraine. I hate it. I think there are three canaries in democracy's coal mine. I think
00:36:38.700
one of them is Ukraine, another is Israel, and the third one is Taiwan. And if he gives up Ukraine the
00:36:44.540
way he's about to, I'm worried about Taiwan. I think he will stick by Israel. I really do think
00:36:50.220
he'll do that. He understands that issue better than the other two because he's lived all his life
00:36:55.660
in New York where there are very vocal and activist Jewish organizations that have clued him in on Israel.
00:37:03.420
But I detest what he's doing in Ukraine. But if what comes out of this is a peacekeeping force
00:37:15.180
in Ukraine to keep Russia where it is now that is run by the Europeans, then he will have accomplished
00:37:22.700
something he wanted, which is to make the Europeans more accountable for their own security.
00:37:28.940
And I don't give him credit for being that deep a thinker. I don't think he thinks four moves down
00:37:35.420
the chessboard like that. But if that's what happens, two years, as you say, you know, 18 months,
00:37:41.980
two years, four years, five years from now, maybe we look back and we say, well, you know,
00:37:46.700
that I would still hate that that Ukraine, a democracy had to give up 20 percent of its territory
00:37:54.060
to a dictatorship like Russia. But, you know, I keep talking about Kaya Kalas. I'm not sure if you
00:38:02.220
know that name. She used to be the prime minister of Estonia. Now she's sort of the foreign spokesman
00:38:06.220
for the EU. Estonia population, 1.3 million people. And Sanna Marin, this other young party
00:38:12.780
girl who used to be the prime minister of Finland. And they and she got the country to join NATO. And
00:38:18.540
there were all these and many of them were young women. And there was sort of girl power. And Melanie
00:38:23.660
Jolie was part of the girl power. And I looked at it. And I have to say, what I thought was,
00:38:29.500
this is a costume party. Because the question is, you and what army? And the UK has a bit of an army.
00:38:38.060
And France is a little bit of an army. And the US does. But Estonia doesn't. And Europe doesn't.
00:38:43.180
And in Germany, you have 50,000 US troops, 40 US bases. And so when all these Europeans
00:38:49.260
have their vision for Ukraine, I keep thinking you and what army? And if the answer to that question,
00:38:56.460
Lauren, is, OK, we're going to build up an army now. And I see Keir Starmer says he's going to
00:39:01.420
increase his GDP spent on military from 2.3% to 2.5%. OK, that's more than nothing. And now Germany's
00:39:10.620
talking about their army. OK, well, I mean, isn't that what Trump has actually been demanding they do
00:39:17.180
for years? And Trudeau the other day, Trudeau yesterday said, I'm not ruling out sending troops
00:39:22.380
to Ukraine. Yeah, I know you're not ruling it out, but we don't have any troops to send. But maybe if
00:39:26.060
this lights a fire under Trudeau to actually stop despair, maybe Trump in his tricky ways has got
00:39:32.700
Europe and Canada to pay our bill. This won't spur the liberals to it. It might spur the English to do
00:39:39.580
more, the French to do more, the Germans to do more, although I always have my reservations.
00:39:43.580
That's right. Be careful of that one. When the Germans start building an army. But
00:39:47.500
but nonetheless, you know, there was a great line in 1966 in the Times of London, when England and
00:39:56.700
Germany were going to play in the World Cup final the day before the sports writer and one of the
00:40:02.860
sports writers in the Times said, if tomorrow the unthinkable should happen and we lose our national
00:40:10.540
game to them, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that twice this century, we've beaten
00:40:15.260
them at their national game. Oh, that's so that's a good one. Yeah. So I do worry about the Germans
00:40:20.620
when they start army. But but nonetheless, yes, if the if the Europeans take it more seriously,
00:40:28.060
if we would like we are pikers next to the Europeans, I mean, the Europeans may not have much
00:40:33.660
in the way of armies. And Finland has a pretty substantial home defense because it shares the
00:40:38.940
longest right border with with Russia. Yeah. But yeah, if the Europeans start picking up their bills
00:40:45.660
more, if they start arming better, training their their their soldiers better, fine, I'm all for that.
00:40:51.500
And so maybe Trump does that. And and this disruption, him calling Zelensky a dictator
00:40:57.660
and then getting cozy with Putin to make a peace deal without Ukraine involved.
00:41:05.900
Maybe it comes some good comes of it. But I just hate the way he's doing that. Well, we'll see what
00:41:11.660
it is. I mean, there's a lot of banter by all sides going on right now. And you know what? I let me say
00:41:18.140
one thing about Ukraine and it's we can all take a lesson from it. As I think, you know, when the Cold War
00:41:23.580
ended, there were a lot of military equipment in the former USSR and then all these little SSRs
00:41:33.180
became independent countries. Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union, Georgia, all the former
00:41:39.740
republics. Well, guess what? Ukraine had a very sizable chunk of the former Soviet military. It had
00:41:46.300
the port at Sevastopol and it had a lot of nukes. I think it was immediately like the third or fourth
00:41:52.780
largest nuclear power in the world, Ukraine. And there was something called the Budapest Memorandum
00:41:58.940
where all the major power said, hey, Ukraine, you don't really want those. Those are dangerous.
00:42:06.780
We're going to take your nukes away. But we promise scouts honor will protect you. And if you read the
00:42:12.860
Budapest Memorandum, the United States and the United Kingdom promised to protect Ukraine.
00:42:18.300
And in return for that scrap of paper, Ukraine gave up its nukes. And does anyone in the world
00:42:25.180
think that if Ukraine had kept its nukes, Russia would have invaded in 2014 or in 2022? And there's
00:42:31.900
a lesson there. Russia would have done at least for a time what it has done in all the other
00:42:37.340
SSRs. And that is leave Russians in charge of the nuclear sites and the nuclear weapons.
00:42:47.340
And you remember when Lloyd Axworthy, the liberal cabinet minister, was running around the world
00:42:53.660
trying to get everyone to demine? The biggest number of mines were around those Russian nuclear sites
00:43:01.420
in other countries. I'm pretty sure I would want those mines there. I don't want the kind of people
00:43:07.580
who run in and steal the weapons. I didn't like the Russians, but I trusted them more to not launch
00:43:13.740
the damn things than the baddies who were trying to get in there to steal them. So anyway, I think that
00:43:21.260
the Russians would have been in charge of those Ukrainian nukes for a very long period of time.
00:43:25.820
But maybe eventually the Ukrainians would have taken them over. And if they still had some,
00:43:31.740
yeah, Putin's not going to be mouthing off about maybe he'll use nukes if the Ukrainians have nukes.
00:43:38.700
Well, listen, I hope this war ends because I visited the Ukraine pavilion at the World Economic Forum,
00:43:44.780
and I've gotten the raw, pure, unfiltered Ukrainian government position. And what I take away every single
00:43:50.700
time from that visit, which I do because I'm a skeptic of both sides, but I want to just go in and
00:43:55.580
hear from the heart. And the number one thing I come away with every time is the human toll,
00:44:00.380
the human civilian casualties, the destruction of the country. And it is heartbreaking. And
00:44:08.380
you know, Trump, like you say, is a disruptor. For three years, there has not been peace.
00:44:13.740
And I don't know what this victory that Trudeau keeps talking about looks like,
00:44:18.700
but I would say to him, you and what army, sir? And anyhow.
00:44:22.860
Well, the unfortunate thing is, I think they could be heading towards what happened in Afghanistan,
00:44:28.700
when there was no end game, when there was no route out of the conflict. We just left. And that's
00:44:37.660
absolute worst thing to do. So, you know, some kind of truce is probably better than no truce at all.
00:44:45.820
But I just detest the way Trump is handling all of it.
00:44:48.940
Well, let's see, let's see what the deal is like. Yeah. And, um, you know,
00:44:53.820
remember how he, we've just been talking about how he negotiates, how he says outrageous and
00:44:58.380
landish things. And then talking about a hotel in Chicago now.
00:45:02.620
Well, I mean, but even how he's been dealing with Trudeau and what's the final deal going to look like,
00:45:07.500
it's probably not going to look like his. Okay. He's been treating Trudeau like the Bellman
00:45:11.420
at the hotel in Chicago. I'm okay with that. Yeah. Well, listen, it's great to catch up with
00:45:16.380
you, my friend. I think things are afoot, but let me just close with one thought on my side,
00:45:21.020
which is energy is part of these different battles we're talking about. The reason Russia had the
00:45:27.740
strength to, to fight a three year war despite sanctions against it was because of its oil and gas.
00:45:34.700
And the reason that gave it a superpower is because Europe basically said, we're not going to use
00:45:40.380
coal. We're not going to frack. We're not going to drill for oil or gas. They have a lot of natural
00:45:44.700
gas in, in Europe and they gave it up. And so Russia really had a petro economy. That was their secret
00:45:53.820
weapon for fighting for three years, uh, while Germany de-industrialized. So energy is part of the
00:45:59.580
solution. It's America's solution too. Absolutely. Yep. Absolutely.
00:46:03.980
And, and, and, you know, the, the Germans have also decided to get rid of their nuclear power.
00:46:09.340
Like, it's like, how dumb do you have to be? Yeah. Well, you gotta have some source of power
00:46:15.020
to run a modern industrialized country. That's why they talked about de-industrializing. Well,
00:46:19.820
now their, their employment numbers are way off. Their investment numbers are way off. Their economy is
00:46:26.380
dropping, not rise. I think last quarter, it went up 0.3% on an annualized basis. Wow.
00:46:34.220
That's worse than ours. Yeah. You know, the World Bank says that during the war, Russia's economy
00:46:42.540
crept past Germany's on a producing power parity basis. Think about that. Russia is under massive
00:46:49.420
sanctions. It's in a war and yet it grows to exceed Germany. Germany's doing something wrong. I'll tell
00:46:58.380
you that anyway. There's no question about that. But, but Russia is under sanctions from the West.
00:47:03.740
Right. But India and China have continued to, in fact, have increased their trade with Russia.
00:47:09.180
Well, that's where Russia is coming in. Well, I mean, you know, you got, the West has got to watch
00:47:14.380
that. The West does not want India to become a friend with Russia and China any more than it
00:47:22.220
already is. But yeah. Well, that may be Trump's big. That's that. My theory is that's Trump's big move
00:47:28.940
is to befriend Putin. It's the Nixon strategy. Befriend Nixon befriended China to pit them against
00:47:36.540
the Soviet Union. Perhaps Trump is befriending Putin to remove him from other alliances, including
00:47:44.300
from China. I don't know. We'll find out. It could be. And he's, he's, Trump has done our, yeah,
00:47:49.420
Trump's done really well with the, with the Indian leader too. I, yeah. Thanks for tuning in to this
00:47:57.340
podcast. If you appreciate the news that Revel brings you, consider being a part of what makes it
00:48:03.740
possible. You can do so by subscribing to our exclusive content at rebelnewsplus.com. That
00:48:11.500
means get exclusive shows, documentary, behind the scenes, and more. And it's for a cheap price
00:48:18.700
as low as $8 to start. We appreciate your support. We'll see. We'll see. He's a controversial guy and I
00:48:25.420
understand your reaction to him and I'm not, I'm not disparaging your reaction to a lot of people react
00:48:30.060
to him that way. I, over the course of the last 10 years, um, you know, if you take away the,
00:48:37.660
the hyperbole, there is something underneath it all. And I think it's generally a good thing.
00:48:42.460
We'll, we'll leave it there, my friend. Great to spend some time with you. There you have it.
00:48:46.140
Lauren Gunter, senior columnist with the Edmonton Sun. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.
00:49:00.060
Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me on Trudeau's Ukraine plans.
00:49:08.140
Bry Guy 70 says, tell Trudeau to enlist his son when he's 18. Send the liberals' kids first.
00:49:14.860
You know, isn't that the case? I mean, at least in the United States, there's a real tradition of
00:49:18.780
political leaders serving in uniform. Um, I think J.D. Vance was in the military. Obviously,
00:49:24.860
their secretary of defense was, um, it's very rare that that happens in Canada. We don't
00:49:31.100
treat military service as a proud civic, uh, commitment and sort of proof of patriotism.
00:49:37.980
We just don't do that in Canada. And you're so right. Trudeau treats our soldiers as playthings.
00:49:43.260
If you remember, he sent them to Mali because his mom had a wonderful tourist vacation there.
00:49:49.820
Mike Leo 5990 says, I'd love to hear from any Canadian service members on this.
00:49:54.140
It's shameful how he treats our vets and military. Well, as I said to Lauren Gunner today, you and what
00:50:00.620
army? I mean, for a generation, um, two generations, Canada has denuded our army. And so now when Trudeau
00:50:09.740
talks about fighting till victory, well, I don't think he ever met with our soldiers, but if he's
00:50:15.420
talking about sending soldiers here now, what soldiers? How many does he propose to muster? With what
00:50:21.900
equipment? Um, I think when Donald Trump is calling the bluff of all these other countries,
00:50:26.780
he's saying, you're just not real countries. You're 51st states.
00:50:33.180
On Salman Sema's police interaction, Isabel Theodore says, Ezra, we need to blame our mayor
00:50:38.300
Chow for this two-tier policing. Well, yes, we do. Also the police chief, also the provincial government,
00:50:44.780
which, uh, is in charge constitutionally of police and prosecutions, and also Justin Trudeau himself.
00:50:50.860
There's blame in every level of government. That's our show for today. Until tomorrow,
00:50:56.540
on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.