Joe Biden's president. Now what for the oilsands and Keystone XL？
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Summary
Joe Biden cancels the Keystone XL pipeline. What does this mean for Alberta and the oil patch? What does it mean for the future of the oil and gas industry in Canada? My good friend Robbie Picard from Oil Sands Strong joins me to discuss all of this and so much more.
Transcript
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Hello Rebels, you're listening to a free audio only recording of my weekly Wednesday night show, The Gun Show.
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Tonight my guest is Robbie Picard from Oil Sand Strong and we're talking about how awful Joe Biden is
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and his big plan to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, which he obviously campaigned on
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so I don't know why everybody's surprised by his day one decision to cancel it.
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I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gun Show.
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Well, Joe Biden might actually be one of those rare politicians, very rare,
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that actually does what he says he's going to do.
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And normally, that's kind of a good thing, keeping your word.
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But in this instance, it's going to be an absolute nightmare for us here in Alberta
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because Joe Biden says that he's going to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline.
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This should all come as absolutely no surprise to anybody who's been paying even the loosest
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Biden was part of the Obama administration that repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly
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He picked an anti-Keystone XL running mate named Kamala Harris.
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So when I see politicians, and in particular conservative politicians who just couldn't get past
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their personal dislike for Trump's personality, to realize that Trump was the best president
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for Alberta and therefore the best president for Canada, now expressing sadness and disappointment
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and feigning being caught completely off guard by the cancellation of the pipeline.
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Well, what did you people think Biden was going to do?
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Based on his running mate selection, he's now beholden to the radical green socialist wing
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of the Democrat Party, which I think has basically taken over the entire Democrat Party at this point.
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Anyway, this is really, really bad news for the oil patch and for Alberta, and in particular,
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Hardesty and Oyen, the two construction hub towns for Keystone XL.
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And another cancelled pipeline means more layoffs in the patch.
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So joining me now to discuss all this and so much more is my good friend, Robbie Picard,
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from Oil Sand Strong, in an interview we recorded Tuesday afternoon.
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So first of all, because, well, because Joe Biden is going to do something seriously devastating
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to the Alberta economy, and it's something that he promised us that he would do, so I
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don't know why everybody seems so shocked and disappointed.
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We should have, I mean, it's why I'm pro-Trump, is because he was a lifeline for Alberta.
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But Joe Biden said that on the first day of his presidency, which we're filming this on Tuesday,
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so I suppose that starts tomorrow, he will rescind the Keystone XL pipeline permit.
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He was part of the administration, or the Obama administration that blocked Keystone,
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So, I don't know, I just want to hear your thoughts, because, I mean, you live, eat, sleep,
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Well, you know, I'm actually going to be brutally critical of ourselves.
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And, you know, there's no guarantee that Trump was going to get back in.
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I know so many people, oil executives that I was talking to, say, you know, Biden,
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he's just saying that to get elected, and, you know, it's going to be good,
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And the bottom line is that, you know, I mean, I know politicians don't typically do what they
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say they're going to do, but we should have took him at his word.
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And I'm shocked, bluntly, that we put so much into it, instead of, you know, like,
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maybe revisiting Energy East, or working on the Northern Gateway Pipeline, or just ensuring
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I mean, we spend all this time talking about the Americans, the Americans this, the Americans
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And meanwhile, our industry, unjustifiably, is dying the death of a thousand cuts.
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And I mean, he said he was going to cut it, and he did.
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You know, they are going to come after our oil, and they're going to paint us with a brush
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They're a bit empowered right now, and we need to get ready for it.
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And if nothing else, we need to at least ensure that we get our oil to the coast, so we have
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I'm more shocked how shocked we are that he canceled it.
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And I mean, and yes, we can go to court, and we can have an endless battle on a pipeline
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I feel really bad that these people who are tomorrow are going to instantaneously lose
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their jobs, and their hope, and their dreams, and their future, and they're going to go
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But I'm not one bit surprised, and I'm more shocked how reactive we are.
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The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different
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And we seem to do that here in Canada, in Alberta, all the time.
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So, I guess my question is, what does this mean for energy investment in Alberta?
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What does this mean for projects going forward?
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I mean, we're just getting into the heart of the winter drilling season, and frankly,
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But are we ever going to see investment if, first off, we can't get our oil to market here
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And I hope that because now, you know, that there is oil being shipped through the Panama
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Canal that's ending up on the east coast of Canada, that maybe we can get the energy
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And I'm happy that so many Indigenous people are supporting pipelines now like I've never
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seen, and they understand this pandemic has scared a lot of people into the realization
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And if we're not going to develop it, countries are going to develop it with horrible human
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rights records and less environmental centers than we have.
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And the realization that green energy isn't so green.
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I don't believe for a second that this push towards green energy has anything to do with
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And I think you're going to see that coming more and more in the days to come.
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And I think that's the reality that people want.
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There's this impression that universal income is going to help happen.
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And somehow, this is the avenue used to pick to choose it.
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So, but I've been doing this for quite a while.
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And I would argue that I've had some of the most success out of pretty much all the
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advocates and I don't know what to do right now.
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I mean, like I, the people that I think, you know, are brilliantly smart at this, like
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are blowing my mind that they don't see what's coming down the pipe, so to speak.
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And we need to be far more intelligent than we have been.
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So, I mean, you, I think that, like, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta work on sure things.
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And I mean, right now, the only, the real thing we have to focus on is Trans Mountain
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Well, for me, I think Trans Mountain with Biden in power is in serious jeopardy.
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Because I think the foreign funded interlopers and meddlers who dump money into Canada to
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block pipelines are going to feel emboldened and empowered.
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Because now, not only do they have an ally in Justin Trudeau, but they also have fierce
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allies throughout the entire Biden administration.
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And I'm worried that it's just going to be a free-for-all blocking Canadian energy projects.
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Um, the only hope I have is that we're used to it, um, and Trans Mountain is on our side
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But, uh, I, I, I'm worried, I'm, I'm worried, I'm, I'm worried what is coming down, uh, what's
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And I think that, uh, we have to, honestly, you know, I don't know what we have to do, but
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And, like, I mean, the second that Biden even, uh, even had a chance of, like, before
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Trump, uh, you know, when, when Biden, I guess, won that night, or they thought he was going
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to be president, they should have had a team of people there immediately trying to work
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I think that these, these pipeline companies and these oil companies need to get a little
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bit more savvy in their communications and understand that this is a different world.
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And it's not, I mean, and I mean, I, I don't fault them completely.
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And I think that the Keystone pipeline, um, that's what I meant to say, or, um, um, the
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Keystone pipeline is a very safe and a good energy efficient pipeline that is, you know,
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But they're just saying that now that should have been on every billboard across the whole
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I mean, I'm just, we'll have to take it one step at a time, day by day, but I mean, it's
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Now, I'm concerned that our energy companies are going to do more of the same, the social
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license nonsense, the, um, cooperating with the far left radicals who want to shut them
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down in an effort to, uh, I don't know, curry their favor, get them to lay off.
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Um, I'm worried they're going to do more of that.
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Um, we saw it here during Rachel Notley's time as premier and it didn't get anybody anywhere.
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And I'm worried we're going to see more of that.
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So I guess I'll ask you how effective has that strategy been?
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Because I don't see any good that ever came of it.
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Well, I would argue a little bit though, in Notley's defense and the early stages that
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when she decided to go a little bit pro pipeline, she was able to talk to a group of people that
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the oil companies and the conservatives couldn't quite reach.
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I don't know what the answer is now, but the way I see it now is that, um, all of our strategies
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have to change and we need to find a center approach, a common sense approach that people
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understand that oil and gas development benefits everybody.
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And I'm personally going to try to make it like, I used to be very nonpartisan and work
00:14:03.920
And I think we leaned a little bit more conservative lately.
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I'm going to try to push myself back a little bit and just try to talk to regular people,
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no matter what political way they vote and say like, look, this isn't our best interest
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for the future and the sovereignty of our country.
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And it is important that we find common ground.
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And I'm going to try so hard to find common ground.
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It's hard because we have never been more polarized in history.
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Uh, we've never, we've, we've never, I don't think we've ever seen a time like that's so
00:14:33.700
And like, I'll, I'll touch on the Capitol, the riots a little bit.
00:14:38.100
Um, I was blown away by the incompetence and arrogance and slight narcissism of Anderson
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Cooper, the way he spoke to, you know, basically said that these guys are all going to go back
00:14:51.620
to the Olive Garden and the Holiday Inn, like there's something wrong with the Olive Garden
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It, it goes to show that no one on either side of the spectrum is listening and understanding
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the root cause of the division in our world right now.
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There's a group of people that feel not listened to, not understood.
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And they, right or wrong, they rallied behind Trump and they got, they felt that he was listening
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and hearing them and now it's gone back to the, the silence, the, the, the, the cancel
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You are never going to heal if we don't start finding a middle of a ground approach.
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And I, I'm personally going to work really hard at that.
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It's not easy, but we have to start listening to each other and sitting down and talking because
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if we don't, I mean, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're going to be screwed instantaneously.
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Biden just destroyed the lives of a bunch of people because of that pipeline.
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They're going to be worried how they're going to pay their mortgage.
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That little town of Oyen is going to basically become a ghost town again and all the hopes
00:16:08.160
So canceling the pipeline isn't so simple as some woke person thinking that he or she is
00:16:17.520
You just devastated the lives of a bunch of people on both sides of the border.
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And I understand that there's this notion for mass debt right now and payments and all
00:16:26.780
this type of stuff, but eventually our economies are going to have to rebuild.
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And let's just be honest, but you look at the so-called green energy in Europe and Germany
00:16:36.600
and all these places and these solar power plants, they've all shut down.
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Like, once again, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, expecting different
00:16:47.800
And I don't know if we have the intelligence or the wherewithal to actually get better.
00:16:55.100
And I can tell you that on the side of oil sands that they constantly get better.
00:17:00.200
There's sort of a continuous state of kaizen, which means continuous improvement.
00:17:03.340
Um, I'm not quite sure, and I'm not even going to say it doesn't happen on the other
00:17:07.480
side on the, on the solar power of green energy, but all I know is both sides need to work
00:17:12.620
together and we need to come up with solutions for, for the ever changing world.
00:17:16.360
And we're not where everyone is polarized, polarized, and it's just not good.
00:17:21.580
And then our, our prime minister, like, I mean, like, if you're going to support a pipeline,
00:17:26.800
Like we need, like this key, I, you know, as far as I'm concerned, I mean, let's bar
00:17:35.660
And now is the time where we realize that we need to be energy independent and we need
00:17:40.520
to look at other countries like in Asia, China, India, mend those relationships for the
00:17:49.140
And right now I don't, I don't really see us mending anything.
00:17:53.260
We have one customer we supply, you know, I believe it's 25% of the oil to the United States
00:18:07.300
I'm still going to keep going, but we, the, the really intelligent so-called educated people
00:18:13.520
need to really sit down and understand the deep cause of the problems that we base in
00:18:21.480
And those solutions aren't pretty on either side.
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I do appreciate that you're going to try to not preach to the choir because I think sometimes
00:18:31.100
as like pro energy advocates, it's really the path of least resistance to sort of cheerlead
00:18:37.980
for the oil sands and for the energy industry to people who are already pro energy and pro
00:18:45.140
But, um, you know, communicating to people who think that the answer to everything is solar
00:18:51.320
panel and, uh, a Tesla, um, communicating to them the necessity of oil in their lives in
00:19:00.320
a way that they would tangibly understand that doesn't make them feel stupid.
00:19:05.340
Uh, I don't think we've done a very good job of that.
00:19:10.440
And, and the, and the problem, the problem is too, is with like, we're in such, like we
00:19:18.240
had the pandemic and we're in such a zoom society.
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Like we don't spend time understanding we need to, we need to get far better at explaining
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how this better, like, I know a lot of people, some of my family live in Ontario and, you
00:19:31.800
know, they're anti-oil, but then you explain to them how oil benefits them and respectfully,
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And I do believe like, you know, I think Quebec and Ontario are a little scared of what's
00:19:45.660
happening with the pipeline in Michigan right now.
00:19:47.580
Um, the fear of that, um, and you know, there's some wake up calls happening there, but there
00:19:56.300
So people understand everybody's point of view and, and I'm, we are getting better at it,
00:20:04.080
You say, okay, listen, we're going to, we're going to get, you know, we're going to hand
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out stickers and we're going to do these rallies and we're going to do all this stuff.
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Meanwhile, you're trying to run your life and the world keeps changing around you.
00:20:13.560
And then you get these obstacles outside of your control.
00:20:16.000
We can, I can advocate for Keystone XL pipeline, but I can't stop Joe Biden from making a decision.
00:20:22.940
And I would argue people on our side, uh, you know, some of them too are a little too
00:20:27.720
They don't quite have, they haven't really, you know, they have one, one cushy job and
00:20:32.600
another cushy job, and it's never really, they don't really understand what's happening
00:20:36.880
So, I mean, um, we need a broad stroke of, I'm not going to say changes.
00:20:41.300
We need to really, we need to understand where we're coming from and why.
00:20:44.340
Now, you just touched a little bit on Enbridge's line five pipeline.
00:20:50.160
And as we're recording this, it's Tuesday afternoon, news has just broken, uh, that
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Trudeau has been asked to help save Enbridge's line five and the Michigan governor, Gretchen
00:21:11.200
So until May 12th to turn off the flow of that pipeline and Enbridge has now filed a
00:21:18.760
Um, will we see Justin Trudeau help Enbridge's line five or is he just going to be all hands
00:21:27.860
I, I think I, I, it depends on the, it depends on what happens if she successfully shuts that
00:21:35.660
pipeline down and the consequences for people in Ontario and Quebec.
00:21:39.560
Um, he tends to favor people from Ontario and Quebec a little bit.
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Um, and it could jeopardize Ontario and Michigan's energy supply.
00:21:49.660
So, you know, it is, I guess my question is Trudeau going to treat Ontario jobs differently
00:21:58.700
I mean, history has shown that he favors, um, he favors Ontario and Quebec and bluntly.
00:22:04.280
I mean, our, our political system is set up in a way Alberta doesn't really have a voice.
00:22:09.040
We don't, we never, like, I mean, people complain about the electric college in the United States,
00:22:14.140
but we have the actual opposite effect of that.
00:22:16.500
We don't have a say in Alberta because we don't have the population and we don't have
00:22:21.760
And so, I mean, the prime minister of our country is chosen for us time and time again before
00:22:28.980
So, um, yes, he'll favor, he'll do what he can just like he does for Bombardier or anything
00:22:34.580
And the oil sands are, they're just sort of there.
00:22:38.500
Um, and I don't think they, any of them truly appreciate it.
00:22:41.560
It's a lot of lip service, but I don't think they go out of their way to really, you know,
00:22:45.600
and I mean, I'm not going to totally knock him, but I, what I will say is like, you know,
00:22:49.540
when he, when he made that statement about Canada's, when Harper was prime minister, Canada's
00:22:53.660
being ran by Alberta and that little shot at us, he forgets to mention us in, when he's
00:22:58.880
mentioned all the countries and then, you know, then he makes a comment, well, we're going
00:23:03.920
Well, I mean, one, two, three small little things add up to, I don't know, but I do believe
00:23:09.260
he'll fight for that because that's going to have a devastating effect.
00:23:15.960
I mean, can he, does he have the power to deal with the Michigan governor?
00:23:18.920
Why is she suddenly picking a fight on a perfectly good pipeline that's lasted forever?
00:23:25.280
I think we all see a lot of this from some of these more radical United States governors.
00:23:30.800
Now that Biden's in office, I think they're going to feel emboldened.
00:23:34.000
And frankly, I think there might even be a little bit of green radical one-upmanship
00:23:43.660
Someone's going to ban plastic, then someone's going to tax meat, and then someone's going
00:23:48.060
to raise the carbon tax, and then someone else is going to raise a tax on this, a green
00:23:53.260
I think it's going to be escalating green one-upmanship going forward.
00:23:59.920
Robbie, I want to ask you, because you're at work, you're a small business owner, and
00:24:04.740
the pandemic, small businesses are being hammered by the pandemic.
00:24:10.140
Fort McMurray is already sort of struggling because of the downturn in oil and gas.
00:24:13.800
What's it like on the ground there for small businesses?
00:24:19.380
I mean, we've lost, I mean, the last stat came out, 10% of all small businesses.
00:24:24.560
I think it's going to be more like 15 or 20 coming up fast here.
00:24:30.680
And, um, everyone's doing what they can to survive and get through what they need to.
00:24:34.960
Some businesses are doing well and some are not, but, um, yeah, it's a mess.
00:24:44.520
Um, we're lucky though, because we, I mean, our case is really, I think we, we spiked at
00:24:52.080
We're kind of, we, we, we tend to be, uh, for McMurray, they're, they're certain protocols
00:25:03.360
So, I mean, we, we were already hand sanitizing.
00:25:06.120
It wasn't too hard to, to adapt, but yeah, it's been rough.
00:25:09.580
And, um, I think a lot of people feel hopeless and they're scared.
00:25:15.140
If you ride it out, eventually it's going to get better.
00:25:19.320
But, um, it has been, but, you know, as normal as you can make it in a tough situation that
00:25:27.260
We, you know, the bit, like we've had a few small lockdowns and stuff like that, but business
00:25:33.460
And, uh, fortunately, a lot of the small businesses were able to keep going.
00:25:38.420
I mean, I don't, I think the amount of restaurants that are going to be here will be completely
00:25:45.240
The food service and hospitality industry sure has been hammered.
00:25:48.760
Uh, Robbie, I know you're at work, so I'll let you get back to it, but I wanted to give
00:25:54.460
you an opportunity to let people know how they can find the work that you do.
00:25:57.820
And more importantly, support the work that you do, because you don't have big, deep pocketed
00:26:05.680
And you don't, you're, you know, you're up against foreign funded environmentalist groups
00:26:11.180
every single day who have, you know, millions of dollars at their disposal disposal.
00:26:16.520
And you're just a guy in his pickup truck most days.
00:26:19.220
If you go to oilsandstrong.com, um, you can buy some shirts and, um, we're going to be
00:26:24.760
launching a few new, uh, a few new web shows and stuff like that.
00:26:27.800
And maybe setting up like a patron, um, to help, you know, fund what we're doing.
00:26:32.380
I am going to be traveling and going to a couple of these, uh, pipeline towns and doing a few
00:26:38.780
But, uh, that's essentially, um, if you want to help out, that would be great.
00:26:44.320
You do a great job of humanizing the oil patch.
00:26:47.360
A lot of people see, you know, it as big oil, big business, but you're out there, um, telling
00:26:53.580
the stories of the boots on the ground and, you know, how it, it helps lift indigenous people
00:26:59.160
And I think you're one of the few people out there telling those stories.
00:27:14.580
Like I said to Robbie, I think there's going to be an ongoing,
00:27:17.360
escalation of job killing green policies on both sides of the border.
00:27:23.020
Trudeau, well, he wants to be the greenest, most woke leader in the Western world, but
00:27:29.080
Biden, he's not going to be happy to have Trudeau as the rock star of global elite meetings
00:27:39.160
Trudeau won't be satisfied to have a geriatric social justice warrior steal all the spotlight
00:27:44.740
that Trudeau has had at these global meetings and events for the last six years.
00:27:49.800
It's going to be a lot of ego stroking between the two leaders.
00:27:54.560
And at the end of the day, it's the working man that's going to pay for all of it on both
00:28:06.280
I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.
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And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.