Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ The Liberal leadership contest isn’t an election — it’s a selection

00:00:00.480 Hello, my friends. Big show today. I talk about a lot of things, but I have a great conversation

00:00:05.320 with my buddy, Loren Gunter, about the Keystone XL pipeline. Donald Trump wants to revive it

00:00:10.440 from the dead four years after Joe Biden buried it. We'll talk about that. But first, I want

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00:01:22.260 rocklink with a C, info at rocklink.com. All right, here's today's podcast.

00:01:31.820 Tonight, the liberal leadership contest isn't an election. It's a selection. They're all in on it.

00:01:37.940 I'll show you. It's February 25th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:41.260 I've got a great, wide-ranging conversation and a bit of a debate with my friend Lauren Gunter tonight

00:02:02.260 about the Keystone XL pipeline. Donald Trump says he wants to revive it almost exactly four years

00:02:08.460 after Joe Biden killed it. I'll talk to Lauren about that and also about the looming Ukraine

00:02:13.600 peace deal led by Trump. I think Lauren and I have a different opinion about that one,

00:02:18.340 but let me talk for a minute about the liberal leadership debates. I'm recording this right

00:02:24.060 now before tonight's English language debate. I'll be live streaming that from our studios and giving

00:02:30.380 my commentary, but I did watch the French language version last night with my colleague,

00:02:34.600 Alexa Lavoie. But I wasn't really a debate. All four of the candidates pretty much agreed

00:02:42.040 on everything. In fact, they sort of helped each other out. It was an agree-a-thon. It's clear this

00:02:49.400 thing is predetermined. If this were a sports event of some sort, like a baseball game or a boxing match,

00:02:55.740 it would be called fixed. There were trivial differences amongst them. They all have slightly

00:03:00.660 different approaches to the carbon tax, for example, but it's mainly a difference in marketing,

00:03:05.380 not a difference in substance. They're all trying to outdo each other with the fear-mongering about

00:03:10.500 the U.S. annexing Canada, as if that's something that could just sort of happen, be triggered by some

00:03:16.900 magic switch to be flipped or something. They really went nuts. Here's the craziest comment,

00:03:21.720 a clearly fictional story by Chrystia Freeland.

00:03:24.620 A few weeks ago in Saskatoon, I met a little four-year-old girl. She asked me whether I could

00:03:38.120 prevent Trump from invading our country. And that's why I am standing to lead the Liberal Party

00:03:49.740 and to become the next Prime Minister of Canada. Trump represents the greatest threat to Canada

00:03:58.340 since World War II. He is threatening us with an economic war. And that's nothing new. The last

00:04:06.340 time that he was president, he threatened us too. And at the end of the day, I succeeded in protecting

00:04:13.900 our economy. But this time, Trump's threats are worse. He wants to turn Canada into the 51st state.

00:04:22.500 And it's no joke. That is why he is supporting Vladimir Putin's criminal attempt to redraw Ukraine's 0.56

00:04:33.640 borders. Trump wants to redraw our borders too. We need a leader who understand the seriousness of

00:04:39.960 these challenges and how to face them. A leader that can respond and defend everyone in our wonderful

00:04:49.000 country. I will fight for us. I will fight for Canada. And together, we will win.

00:04:56.440 Yeah, that just didn't happen. It was clear they all know that Mark Carney is just going to win. So the

00:05:02.260 others are really auditioning for cabinet positions. Here's Chrystia Freeland helping out Carney when he

00:05:08.580 accidentally, in his rickety French, said, we all agree with Hamas. She helped him. 0.95

00:05:14.460 Hamas. We all agree on Hamas on a two-state solution. 0.99

00:05:17.240 No, we don't agree with Hamas. No, we're against Hamas.

00:05:21.320 Yes, we're all against Hamas. We are. And we're in favor of a two-state solution.

00:05:27.880 By the way, now we know why the liberals refused to allow Ruby Dalla to participate.

00:05:33.040 She isn't in on this deal. She would have asked questions of the other candidates, even prickly 0.93

00:05:39.040 questions about her counterparts. I mean, if you saw my interview with Ruby Dalla the other day,

00:05:43.300 she brought up unsolicited the fact that both Carney and Freeland are World Economic Forum people.

00:05:49.980 I hope that you'll keep in touch with us if you make a next move, whether that's appealing to the

00:05:54.680 court to get back in or running as an independent or doing something else. I'm excited by what you're

00:06:00.400 saying. And it's a reminder of what a democracy is supposed to sound like. So thanks very much for

00:06:05.620 spending some time with us. You know, I appreciate it. And I think that I joined thousands of Canadians

00:06:11.800 of ensuring that we continue to have free speech in our country, that we continue, you know, to have

00:06:17.180 a democracy. I have never been a part of the World Economic Forum. And I believe that it is very

00:06:22.760 important that we have the leadership in our country who actually reflects, you know, the needs of the

00:06:29.600 hour of our country, of Canadian families. Yeah, they let Ruby Dalla register as a candidate to take 1.00

00:06:35.300 her $350,000 fee. Then they disqualified her but kept the money. Yeah. But I've been thinking a bit more

00:06:43.700 about the Trump approach to Canada. And here's a list of what he says he wants tangibly. This is just the

00:06:49.860 things I can think of. He wants us to stop illegal migrants. He wants us to stop illegal drugs. He wants us to

00:06:55.740 increase our military spending. He wants us to allow US banks to compete in the Canadian market. He wants us to

00:07:02.560 allow US dairy to sell in Canada. Those are the main things he's irritated about. Of course, he also says he's

00:07:08.680 against a trade surplus. And I'm not sure if he's thought that through, given that the trade surplus is almost

00:07:14.780 totally due to oil imports, which the US can't just immediately replace with domestic production.

00:07:22.580 Like with Canada, we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. That's because we allow them to make cars,

00:07:30.000 we allow them to take lumber. We don't need their cars, we don't need their lumber, we don't need their

00:07:34.180 food products, because we make the same products right on the other side of the border. It's sort of

00:07:39.340 crazy. So we've just allowed that, you know, bad management has allowed it over the last four

00:07:45.420 years in particular to become very imbalanced. And I said to, I call him Governor Trudeau, but he's

00:07:52.680 Prime Minister Trudeau when he was Prime Minister. I asked him, why would we do that? Why? And he was

00:07:58.040 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

00:08:04.760 $200 billion to keep Canada going? And what would happen? I said, I asked him, what would happen if

00:08:10.800 we didn't do that, if we didn't subsidize Canada? He said, we'd be a failed nation. And I said, then

00:08:17.100 you should be a state. Because why are we paying all of that money to Canada when, you know, we could

00:08:24.540 use it ourselves, right? So we take care of their military. You know, we ordered, we're going to order

00:08:30.400 about 40 Coast Guard, big icebreakers, big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the

00:08:38.160 deal. They say, why are we doing that? I mean, I like doing that if they're a state, but I don't

00:08:42.360 like doing that if they're a nation. Also, they've been very nasty to us on trade. Historically,

00:08:48.440 Canada has been very, very bad to us, very unfair to us on trade. So we'll see how it all works out.

00:08:53.520 I would love to see Canada be the 51st state. The Canadian citizens, if that happened,

00:08:59.720 would get a very big tax cut, tremendous tax cut, because they're very highly taxed.

00:09:06.440 And you wouldn't have to worry about military. You wouldn't have to worry about many of the

00:09:11.000 things. You'd have better health coverage. You'd have much better health coverage.

00:09:15.280 So I think the people of Canada would like it, you know, if it's explained. But

00:09:18.480 just to start off, they'd have a very, they'd have a massive tax cut. And they'd have a lot more

00:09:23.920 business, because then we'd let business go to Canada routinely, and there'd be no tariffs.

00:09:28.180 You know, if we did that, there'd be no tariffs.

00:09:31.040 So either he's going to buy it from us or some other foreign country. So he wants those things

00:09:35.560 I listed, which I think are reasonable demands dealt with. And we could demand things in return,

00:09:40.380 I'm sure. It's called a negotiation. But instead, the liberals were having a costume party last night

00:09:46.080 where they each dressed up as little soldiers ready to go to rhetorical war against Trump. It was

00:09:51.400 sort of crazy. And it made me think of this story I saw today in the Financial Times, which is a very

00:09:57.880 prestigious newspaper based in London. White House official pushes to axe Canada from Five Eyes

00:10:05.980 Intelligence Group. A top White House official has proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes

00:10:12.320 Intelligence Sharing Network. As Donald Trump increases pressure on the country, he talks about

00:10:16.960 turning into the 51st U.S. state. Now, Five Eyes, of course, is sort of like the super friends

00:10:22.980 of the allies. It's just five countries, U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, not even France

00:10:28.640 or Germany. It's like a best friends club of democracies. It's the English-speaking countries.

00:10:33.980 Now, Peter Navarro came out today to say, no, no, it's not true. But I wasn't convinced. All he kept

00:10:40.980 saying is how mad he was that it was an anonymous source that said it. Here's a clip. This nonsense

00:10:48.100 from the Financial Times is a product of a culture in the media where they report stories and never name

00:10:58.660 their sources. And my view is that we should never have to comment on any story where it's based on

00:11:06.100 unnamed sources. Have you ever noticed that? That was just crazy stuff. We would never, ever jeopardize

00:11:14.200 our national security, ever, with allies like Canada, ever. So please stop doing that. And I have

00:11:23.380 proposed, and I hope somebody's hearing me, that we just don't pay any attention to any questions that

00:11:30.580 are based on anonymous sources. Yeah, I'm not actually convinced. Either it was an intentional

00:11:35.120 leak from Navarro, or it's a real leak and he's mad about it. But it was a weird way to refute

00:11:41.280 something. The Financial Times says they stand by their story, by the way. But mainly, it's credible

00:11:47.500 on the face. Trudeau supports Hamas through his tens of millions of dollars going to the U.N. Relief

00:11:53.460 Works Agency. Trudeau supports the International Courts of Justice against Benjamin Netanyahu, saying

00:11:59.600 that Canada would arrest Netanyahu if he ever set foot in Canada. Trudeau supports Communist China

00:12:05.700 and hasn't lifted a finger to stop the Chinese Communist Party infiltration of the Canadian

00:12:10.440 government, including in 11 electoral districts. So why wouldn't the U.S. kick Canada out of the

00:12:17.840 Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance? Not out of vengeance, just like demanding Canada fund our military. That's

00:12:24.900 not out of vengeance. And really, it goes to the thing that Trudeau hates, that 51st state business.

00:12:32.760 But really, if we rely on the U.S. economy, if we rely on the U.S. military, if we don't stop

00:12:38.340 ourselves from being invaded by foreign interests, in fact, if we fast track Gaza migrants, aren't we 0.96

00:12:45.420 sort of acting like an unserious country? Maybe like a state, as opposed to a proud nation? I think maybe.

00:12:55.740 Stay with us. More ahead with Lorne Gunter.

00:13:05.020 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.

00:13:32.460 Well, Donald Trump has threatened to put a 10% tariff on Canadian oil. Now, that 10% probably

00:13:42.780 won't stop U.S. refineries from importing it. Not only do they get a price that's typically lower than

00:13:51.120 the world price, but it's a specific grade of oil from the oil sense. It isn't easily swapped out

00:13:57.260 by other oil suppliers, particularly from OPEC. I keep holding on to Howard Lutnick. That's the

00:14:04.940 Commerce Secretary's statement about a month ago where he said, oh, this is just to get action from

00:14:10.140 Canada. We don't actually want to tariff the oil. I hope Lutnick is right. As you know, I've written

00:14:16.040 a book about this called Deal of the Century, the America First Plan for Canada's Oil Sines. We'll talk

00:14:21.400 more about that book another time. But I've found it frustrating because America First, in my mind,

00:14:27.260 means securing the continental supply of oil, not buying oil from OPEC countries. And one of the

00:14:34.860 arguments I made in my book Ethical Oil a dozen years ago that I make again in Deal of the Century

00:14:40.040 is that the U.S. Pentagon spends at least $50 billion a year securing the Persian Gulf sea lanes.

00:14:49.220 The Fifth Fleet is based out there, and it's only doing that because that's where the oil comes from.

00:14:55.860 Now, if Americans really want to spend $50 billion and go through the effort of being Globocop,

00:15:03.700 if they want to do that for their own reasons, fill your boots. But if they're doing that just to

00:15:09.180 protect Saudi oil, why not buy all the oil sands oil you can get? And that's the deal of the century

00:15:17.160 that I mentioned in the book. Basically, buy all the oil sands. It's a $13 trillion deal that I would

00:15:24.160 think would appeal to a man who likes big deals. Any of that's in the background. And then yesterday,

00:15:30.880 take a look at what Trump posts on his Truth Social platform. Let me read it. It says,

00:15:37.160 our country's doing really well. And today, I was just thinking that the company building the

00:15:41.560 Keystone XL pipeline that was viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden administration

00:15:46.440 should come back to America and get it built now. I know they were treated very badly by Sleepy Joe

00:15:52.460 Biden, but the Trump administration is very different. Easy approvals, almost immediate

00:15:56.520 start. If not them, perhaps another pipeline company. We want the Keystone XL pipeline built.

00:16:02.860 Now, I did a little bit of poking around because I assumed that deal was dead. I think it was

00:16:07.300 TransCanada Pipeline that originally owned it. I think they sold it off to another or spun it off

00:16:12.240 to another company called Southbow. And you can imagine over the last four plus years,

00:16:17.640 permits have expired. You know, they're not just all standing by ready. This thing

00:16:22.760 is pretty much dead. Joining us now to talk about this and the possibility of reviving the dead

00:16:29.300 is our friend, Lauren Gunter, senior columnist for the Edmonton Sun. Lauren, great to see you again.

00:16:33.520 Good to see you.

00:16:34.700 You know, I mean, I like Donald Trump's support for the Keystone XL pipeline, and he did indeed

00:16:40.220 support it in his first term. Biden killed it. I don't know if you can warm up a corpse after four

00:16:47.560 years. I mean, there's a lot of things that would have to work for that to be revived. And I don't

00:16:52.820 even think the company itself is sort of interested in it right now.

00:16:55.920 Well, TC Energy and Southbow, which is the subsidiary that TC set up to run the Keystone XL,

00:17:04.340 have both said they're not interested. But I think that could be overcome. I don't think

00:17:10.600 finding the pipe, finding the equipment, getting the workers would ultimately be the big problem. But

00:17:17.020 you have to remember that they spent almost a billion dollars in the permitting process.

00:17:21.500 Right.

00:17:21.940 And they went, it's not just federal permits that they need. They need state by state permits.

00:17:26.580 In some places, they need county permits. And for sure, they need Native American tribal land

00:17:33.960 permits. And the environmentalists and a lot of Native American groups fought them every inch of 0.76

00:17:41.680 the way. And it took them nearly 12 years to get all the permits in line. That's the big holdup.

00:17:48.280 It's not, I mean, Trump says in that post that you just read out, easy permits. We've got easy

00:17:55.040 permits now. And they probably does. I think he'd probably sign an executive order allowing the

00:18:00.720 cross-border permits for the pipeline tomorrow afternoon. You know, the only reason, the only

00:18:08.060 thing we're holding him up is he's got 1,500 other executive orders and he's got to get to in advance

00:18:13.060 of that. But nonetheless, I think that's right. I think when he says permitting would be easy from

00:18:18.320 the federal standpoint, that's probably true. And if the people who are in charge of the

00:18:27.420 permitting for the federal government oppose him on that, if they put down on their lists

00:18:34.120 that they have to send to Elon Musk every week of the things they've achieved, and one of those

00:18:38.980 things is held up the Keystone Pipeline, I think they're out. So I do think all that federal stuff

00:18:46.120 is easy. I think the physical side of it, the workforce side of it is easy enough. I mean,

00:18:54.240 I wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of all that, but there are people who are good at it.

00:18:58.600 But it's all of this other permitting and court challenges and everything else they have to go

00:19:03.660 through that I think it's going to be hard. No one would want the Keystone more than you and I.

00:19:09.780 Yeah. You know, I'd love to see 830,000 extra barrels a day to the United States. It would

00:19:15.880 increase our exports to the U.S. One pipeline would increase our exports to the United States by

00:19:21.740 nearly 20%. Yeah. I mean, I remember that it was, I'm just going from my memory of when it was shut

00:19:28.440 down, that it has 800, the capacity for 800,000 barrels a day. If I'm, correct me if I'm wrong on

00:19:34.080 that, 800,000 barrels a day at 75 bucks a barrel. Now, I'm not sure if it would quite yield that much,

00:19:39.880 but that's $60 million a day. I'm just going to use a calculator because I don't want to get that

00:19:45.400 wrong. If you do 60, I mean, every day, 60 million times 365, that's $22 billion a year. If my math is

00:19:54.920 right, I mean, that's rough numbers. Even if it's half that, that's huge. But-

00:20:00.640 Yeah. You know, it's in ours. And so you know how big our trade is already with the United States

00:20:09.000 at 4.4 billion, or 4.4 million barrels a day from Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan into the United

00:20:16.520 States. Add another 830,000 barrels a day. It's huge. And there, I'm sure when he says he's putting

00:20:25.880 tariffs on Canadian oil, he's hearing from all of the lobbyists on behalf of Midwest oil refineries

00:20:33.100 who can only refine our oil. They've been set up to refine the heavy crude that we send down in the

00:20:41.000 pipelines. And they can't easily switch to West Texas Intermediate or Brent or one of the other

00:20:49.380 lighter, sweeter crudes. And they also understand that because most of them are integrated oil

00:20:56.480 companies, they're buying from us at a deep discount. And they're then able to sell their

00:21:03.160 lighter, sweeter stuff, which commands a higher price on the world market. And so they make money

00:21:08.800 twice. They make money by buying from us because it's cheaper. And they make money by selling the

00:21:14.720 stuff they don't have to put through their refineries to make oil or to make gasoline.

00:21:20.400 So it's a win-win for those American refineries. And there are 25 refineries in the U.S. Midwest,

00:21:26.880 and 23 of them cannot take anything else but heavier oil. So it just makes no sense at all. But the

00:21:39.260 I think when I saw it, both of these things were said yesterday. I'm putting the tariffs

00:21:45.360 on Canadian goods, March 1st, just like I said. Hey, let's get Keystone going. I thought,

00:21:53.480 what in heaven? He's not touching two hemispheres of his brain, for crying out loud, because who is

00:21:59.460 going to build him a pipeline to take extra amounts of our oil that he's penalizing with his

00:22:06.180 like it just, it doesn't make any sense at all. You know, there's so much money afoot. If my math

00:22:13.200 is right, if it really is 20 billion a year, and it sounds like it could be like, you're right. It's

00:22:17.260 that's like a fifth of what's going on right now. I mean, so just think of, you know,

00:22:23.220 a finance guy would do the present value of the future income of this thing. Like if this pipeline

00:22:30.920 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

00:22:44.440 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

00:23:05.320 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,

00:23:15.680 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.

00:24:19.980 By what method would he annex Canada? Yeah.

00:24:25.380 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.

00:27:39.140 That's how it started.

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. 0.57

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

00:28:50.740 have an imbalance and it has to be dealt with.

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

00:29:11.720 manages to get you pinned down.

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 1.00

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 0.92

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 0.66

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 0.97

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 0.57

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 0.57

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 1.00

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 1.00

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 1.00

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 0.99

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 1.00

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 0.99

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 0.66

00:41:23.580 ended, there were a lot of military equipment in the former USSR and then all these little SSRs 0.85

00:41:33.180 became independent countries. Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union, Georgia, all the former 0.54

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 0.61

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 0.90

00:42:37.340 SSRs. And that is leave Russians in charge of the nuclear sites and the nuclear weapons. 0.90

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 1.00

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 0.98

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, 1.00

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, 1.00

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 0.63

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. 0.99

00:46:09.340 Like, it's like, how dumb do you have to be? Yeah. Well, you gotta have some source of power 0.99

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 0.99

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 0.81

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.

00:51:02.140 .

Rebel News Podcast - February 25, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ The Liberal leadership contest isn’t an election — it’s a selection

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