Notley, Trudeau bring homegrown recession to Alberta. Will momentum for political change last to 2019？ (Guest： Robbie Picard)
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Summary
Two weeks ago, 2,500 people took to the streets of Calgary on a work day to protest in favour of pipelines. On Monday morning, a smaller protest was held in downtown Edmonton when Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi was in town to speak to a business audience from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.
Transcript
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We are experiencing the worst times in the Alberta oil patch in at least a generation,
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maybe ever. And now the politicians who created this mess say they have all the answers to fix
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it. All we have to do is trust them. Do you? I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
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2,500 angry Calgarians gathered in downtown Calgary about two weeks ago. Justin Trudeau
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was in town speaking to, well, I guess anybody but them. The Calgarians were rallying in support
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of Alberta's oil and gas sector, one that has been beleaguered and hard hit by carbon
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taxes, lack of market access because of dithering on pipelines, cancelled pipelines and bad legislation
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that injects social justice measures into energy project applications and approvals. Late last
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week, a smaller protest was held early in the morning in downtown Edmonton when Natural Resources
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Minister Amarjeet Sohi was in town to speak to a business audience from the Edmonton Chamber
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of Commerce. I was there on the scene with the protesters. People are fearful. They're anxious
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about the future and some are even losing everything and they feel like the government
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isn't listening to them. They're fed up and they feel like if the catastrophic economic conditions
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that exist in Alberta right now existed in Ontario or Quebec or another eastern province,
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the federal government would be a lot quicker to act to help them. And I think they're right. And I
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think this lack of action from the federal government coupled with Rachel Notley's mishandling of the
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energy file from the very beginning is making a lot of non-political people suddenly politically
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motivated to see change. My guest tonight is someone who often describes himself as non-political or
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apolitical. He says he only cares about jobs, but I think that's changing. Joining me tonight from his
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hotel room in Calgary is my friend Robbie Picard from Oil Sand Strong to talk about the wild couple of
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weeks we've had in the Alberta oil patch and what happens next.
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Hey Robbie, thanks for joining me. We've had so much news in pipelines and pipeline protests over the past,
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I don't know, two weeks. Let's go back. I guess it would be two weeks to the protests that happened
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in Calgary. About 2,500 people took the streets of Calgary on a work day to protest in favor of pipelines.
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Well, I think a lot of the big turnout had to do with the fact that Justin Trudeau was in Calgary
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and his charm offensive has finally worn off. People are sick of him.
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Everything he does before flaunting $50 million to a celebrity in the United States,
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to buy in a pipeline and not building the pipeline and not doing everything in the power to make sure
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it's built, people are fed up. On one hand, I'm happy because it's making my cause, advocacy,
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more people are listening, more people are engaged. I'm sad because it took us this long to get to this
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point. I don't know what is wrong with Alberta that we don't, we don't, we're just, we're reactive,
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we're not proactive. So I'm fed up with Justin Trudeau and I'm as non-partisan as I get. I can't take it
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anymore. I can't take his arrogance, his narcissism, his, I don't know, his team around him. And we're
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hurting in Alberta and particularly Calgary. And I just think that people have had enough and people
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are going to do whatever they can to try and express their frustration and fight back.
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And it didn't, I guess it didn't stop in Calgary because the natural resources minister,
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Amarjeet Sohi, who happens to be an Edmonton MP, one of the four few of them that are from the
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Liberal Party in Alberta, he was in Edmonton last week and I ran into you there. And that rally
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started before the sun came up on the unholy side of 7.15 in the morning. And there was a couple
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hundred people downtown Edmonton paying for parking just to protest Amarjeet Sohi. I think
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Yeah, it was, I helped with that rally, helped organize it. And then I was going around with
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the bullhorn. And actually, my job, my marketing company, like I'm go, go, go, go, go. And I
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missed my flight. So I was like, I got a friend of mine to drive me down all night long. And he was a
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nice guy to give me the ride, but he was kept chatting. So I didn't get any sleep, but it was
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okay. And that rally meant a lot to me because Edmonton, Calgary, you know, rallies are kind of
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easy, but Edmonton, it's not as easy. And we're sick of words. We need action. We need like, okay,
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the pipeline is begun under construction. We're not going to put unnecessary tanker bans because
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Gerald Butts thinks it's a good thing to do. We're going to actually act like a country and not be so
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regional. The lip service is insane. They bought a pipeline. It's like Justin Trudeau paid for with
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his own money. I mean, he's not a billionaire. I know he's rich, but it's our money. It's
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collectively the future of Canada. And the entitlement is just blowing my mind. The one I took
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personally, and I really hate entitlement. I hate second generational wealth. I mean, I get it that
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some people are born into money, but I always have a thing against second generational wealth
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because it's the type of kid that comes out of that. It's sometimes kind of messed up. And when
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he, with that, with that just pompous entitlement basically says, you know, well, you know,
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camp workers and construction workers, like the, that they're basically like, I mean,
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I don't know if he's alluding the fact that he thinks that they're rapists, but I mean,
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that's what Lina Lubicon Mossimo and that Candace or whatever, Conowitz Emanuel who went around
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with a bullhorn harassing working Canadians and calling them whitey and stuff. That's what they
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were putting out. Yeah. You know what? Sorry. I dug up the exact quote for you. This is what he said
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when he was in Argentina. He got himself, uh, the international press focused on his face and his
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socks. And instead of advocating for Canadian oil and gas, because the world does need more Canada,
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he took the opportunity to blast our working men who are fueling the economy. This is what he said.
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What does a gender lens have to do with building this new highway or this new pipeline? Well,
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there are impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area. There are social
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impacts because they are mostly male construction workers. How are you adjusting or adapting to those
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impacts? And like you, I took that personally because my husband is one of those people he's
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talking about. Um, my dad was one of those people he's talking about. My father-in-law is one of those
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people he's talking about. My brother was one of those people he's talking about. My brother-in-law's,
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um, and they're just good guys working hard, making sacrifices far away from their families in some
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pretty miserable conditions. And it's one thing for their prime minister to casually say that he's going
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to phase out their jobs, but then he does them this indignity to the international press. I found it
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so insulting how he degraded these men this way.
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You know, as you read that, it makes me more angry with, with Justin. Um, you know, as he is a
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world jet setter spending our tax dollars, like it's his own. Um, you know, when I worked at, uh,
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from other oil companies for five years and, you know, and I'm not your typical oil worker,
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but I did for five years, I got on the bus, um, every day at six in the morning and I put in a,
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you know, 14 hour day driving the largest truck in the world. And I did that, you know, for five
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years and that was to make a better life so I could buy a house and, you know, but what I was saw the
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most of that, you know, made me really understand what makes a country work. Um, and it's not the blue
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callers in Calgary or Toronto in the offices. It's the guys that like, I remember one guy, he,
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you know, he was from Newfoundland. He had a bit of a rough time and he had pictures of all three of
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his granddaughters in his wallet and in his locker. And every time he wanted to quit, he thought of
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them because he was paying for their school. Um, so many, like I'm like, he insulted all of Alberta.
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He insulted my father, insulted everybody. No society's perfect. There's always going to be
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miss subs, but from a, for a trust fund baby like him. And not only does he have a trust fund from
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a famous name, he, um, well, let me phrase that. Not only does he have an inheritance from his father,
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whatever, how he has that, he also has a famous name. So he literally can just walk through life
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and he's good looking and he has, I mean, if you want to talk about white privilege, Trudeau is the
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example of all privilege in the world. He's got Laurentian Lalit privilege. He's got privilege
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because of his father. He's got privilege and he didn't have to work very hard for it. He could
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become a school teacher and then become prime minister. But, and I mean, I, I'm not even faulting
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him for that. I mean, I, I, some of that's not his fault, but to be in Argentina to the international
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press, well, we are trying to change the image of Canadian oil across the world because of people
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like Gerald Butts who've tarnished our reputation. Um, and to talk about that, I, I honestly, like,
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I think he should resign. I, I don't, I, I don't care that he seems to think that he bought a
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pipeline. Canada, a lot of pipeline. He's, he's, he's not, he's not our, he's not our king. Um,
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he's a steward. Um, he's supposed to be in charge of some stuff while he's elected. And, and he, I,
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I'm, I'm blown away by it. Entitlement. I know him. I hosted an event for him a couple of times and
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I don't know. Like I, I, when I hung around Rona Ambrose, I was very impressed with her
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intelligence. Even, even Rachel Notley, um, Jason Kenney. I've met a lot of, you know,
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politicians and leaders and Tom, and even if I don't always agree with them, I was impressed
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with them. I'm not impressed with Justin. I mean, like how dare, after, after that rally
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in Calgary and where he sees, like, I mean, people are upset with him after that rally in
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Calgary. I mean, Calgarians don't, they just want to work. It's a different mentality in Alberta.
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They don't want handouts. They don't want government. They don't care about extending EI.
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They just want to go to work, make money, maybe buy a truck or a car, or have a little bit of a
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life, go on a vacation. But most importantly, they want to feed their families and it's men and women.
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And the camps, that's even though it blew me away, camps are a lot more women than they've ever been.
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Sure. There's a little bit more men, but I would argue that it's, it's, I would say it's 60,
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40, and maybe even a bit more. But he just insults all of Canada instead of saying, you know what,
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Canadian people work really hard and thank you to the construction workers. Thank you for all of
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them. He basically does this sort of, I don't know, this, I'm better than you looking at me,
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I'm prime minister. Oh, by the way, I'm going to give away $50 million. He insulted everybody.
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And I don't think, I don't think he's going to recover. I mean, certainly not with me.
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I, I, I'm not going to let that go. Um, I can't, I mean, I'm just, I'm hurt and I'm angry.
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Um, I mean, that basically like he is completely out of touch with reality and, and you might be
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able to roll up your dress shirt and take off your suit jacket, but you're not a construction
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worker. You've never actually spent 12 hours in the field. I know what those conditions are like,
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just so you can pay for your unborn child or your wife or vice versa. There's plenty of women who go
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and work in those camps as construction jobs. There's this whole thing, which he probably didn't
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even know about. It's called building futures. And that's a huge thing in Alberta where they're
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trying to get women into trades and it's very successful. So he insulted everybody else and
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assaulted women. And I think the biggest insult of all is that he, I hate it when he says I'm a
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feminist. Ron Ambrose is a feminist. Kim Campbell's a feminist. Margaret Thatcher's a feminist. Rachel
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Notley's a feminist. Leave the women to be the feminist. You're a white dude with curly hair.
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That's good looking. He's had a very privileged life. And I hate saying that. I hate, I don't believe
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anybody's has more privilege than anybody else. I hate it. But if there's one person who's
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the epitome of privilege, it's him. For him to sit back and, like, I think that he doesn't want to,
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I don't think, I think he wants, he doesn't, there's too many female politicians like, you know,
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Michelle Rempel and people are just going to him. Well, I'm a feminist. Like, it's like a shield
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that he wears. But, you know, he insulted the entire country. He insulted us. And especially right
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now, we were selling our oil at bargain basement prices that, you know, Kenny and Notley are forced to
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work together. I'm blown away by his complete and netness, incompetence, narcissistic behavior.
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Now, you just touched on something that I wanted to talk to you about. And I think you and I might be
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on different sides of this, but we're friends and I'm a conservative and I'm happy to discuss things
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with people who disagree with me. The cutting of the production by 9% in Alberta, I'm against it.
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And I'm against it because we are cutting Alberta production while we still import $300 million
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every month worth of Saudi Arabian oil. We still import oil from the United States. We import oil
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from Venezuela. We import oil from Algeria. I'm against an embargo on Alberta oil while we are
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still importing oil from other countries. Because I see this as, well, it is. It's an immediate cut
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true to the drilling budget. There will be drilling rigs over the Christmas break that are going to be
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racked and they won't go back to work. And that's because of the production cut. Now, it might keep guys
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downstream in the refineries working to get through the oil glut. But this is going to cause
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layoffs. And that's why I'm against it. But I wanted to know what you thought of it.
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Well, I don't think we disagree with each other. I think that we, because of the blatant
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incompetence in our federal government with this bizarre, and the provincial, with this bizarre
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social license justification thing. We're in a, I can't disagree with you. All I know is that I think
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our price needed to go a bit up, and it did. But I, but I also agree with you. Like it's, it, I think
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we're in a horrible situation that we just don't know what to do and had to do something. So I, I support
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doing something, but I can completely see your point. So I'm not going to say I disagree with you.
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I'm not strongly that they did the right thing. But I'm glad there's, I'm glad the price is going
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up a little bit. And I think that if we're going to sell it, we need to like, it was just dropping
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too much. You know what I mean? And I'm worried if it drops too much. What does that mean? You know
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what I mean? But that I think that's a conversation. I mean, what, what, what a joke. It's like watching
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a bad movie. It really is. It's like, you got a bunch of people who are, I don't know that they
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aren't really skilled, and they're suddenly in charge. I remember like, I'm
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I'm, you know what I'm really worried about? When I was a kid, the people in charge, they
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seem to know what they were doing. Yeah. I don't feel like that anymore. I feel like it's
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sort of like a, like, I don't know, like, you kind of knew what they were doing. Whether
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you like Ma Rooney or not, he kind of knew, Gretchen knew, you know, I think Harper really
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knew. And now it's just like, okay, well, let's try this. Well, let's try that. It's not,
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there's no real ownership, you know? So I support their decision extremely under
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protest. So I don't think we disagree. I think we're kind of on the same page. I see
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your point. At the same time, I think they had to do something, if that makes any sense.
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Sure. I think that, just to add to the point that I was making, and then that I didn't make,
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what this does is it protects Rachel Notley's royalties, right? She wants the price of oil to
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go higher so that the government has more revenue, which means that she's sacrificing private sector
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jobs and drilling and trucking to protect her public sector hiring spree. And that's what I
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really have a problem with. While production in the oil patch in the private sector is being cut up
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to 9%, Notley's not cutting her budget 9%. She's continuing to spend. So only the private sector
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is feeling the pain. And that's the part that really bothers me the most. All of this is being
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borne on the backs of people and families who are already struggling with reduced hours.
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Oh, yeah, you know, you're completely right. And I honestly, I, you'll be surprised. I'm speechless
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on this one. I don't know the answer. I don't think anybody does. When you bring up that point,
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like, I'm just sick of it. I'm so emotional right now. Because, like, I've been emotional a lot lately,
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because I just, I work, like, I do this advocacy, like, at my own expense. I spent over 80 grand in
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my own money this year. And I'm, I care, legitimately care. Do I want to make money on
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my t-shirts? Yeah, I do. I'd like to, I'd like to really get, you know, at least break even at this,
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right. But you work, like, I travel, I take planes, I go to every rally that I think I have an impact
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at. Like, Edmonton, I needed to be there because I've got a good presence and people know me. And
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that rally had a risk of not being perfect, like the Calgary rally. So I went. And I put out,
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I care so much about getting a pipeline built that I'm, you know, and it's emotional because I'm slowly
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watching our country fall apart. And I'm happy. Right now, we've had more support than we've ever
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had. Like, we're in a really strong position right now for support. Like, we're getting support in
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Ontario. We're getting support in Quebec. And, and you can feel it. You know what I mean? When, like,
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horrible organizations like Lush, you know, they boycott, they are attacking our industry. And then
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all of a sudden, it resurvices people like, whoa, Lush, let's, they're, they're, they're engaged,
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which is good. But I mean, I guess I'm another four or five years ahead. And I'm looking at what
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Alberta and Canada is going to look like if we don't get our act together. And I mean, I guess
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the one good, I just want everyone to get along. I want it to be like it used to be. The NDP were
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kind of unions and unions wanted too much. Or then the conservatives were kind of like all business.
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And then both parties kind of fought it out. And then, and then, but it was all about the greater
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good. So the NDP at the time cared about union and union jobs and, and oil jobs and CN jobs and
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that. And the conservatives were about low taxes and business. And sometimes, you know, it went the
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other way. But now, it's a joke. You have the federal NDP who has got to be the worst politician
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in Canadian history, who I don't think is fit to drive a bus. You have, you have, and they don't care
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about jobs. The federal NDP wants to shut down the pipelines. How is that an NDP? My father who is
00:21:00.040
a conservative. He says a conservative represents people better. So the federal NDP, like, I mean,
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like he, it's a joke, shut down the pipeline. And you know, the worst part where I actually feel bad
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for Notley. Notley is the most successful NDP politician in Canadian history. And they all
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abandoned her. They left her. They don't care about her. They're, they're too busy trying to do the
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leap manifesto. Now, I can't forgive Notley for putting Sapporo Berman, the biggest hypocrite joke
00:21:26.580
in Canadian history, um, in that role. And I believe that damaged Alberta. But what I can say
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is I, I, I, you know, I, I, I, I'm torn on that, but I'll go back to that in a sec. Then you have
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Justin Trudeau, who wants to be, I think he wants to be for the UN. I think his ultimate game plan is to
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be like an ambassador for a year. And I think he's more suited for that. He'd be suited to be the queen.
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He'd be perfect. And that's all he wants to do is be symbolic. I care about this and I'm this and
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I'll cut this ribbon. And, but okay, let's have a discussion here. Um, what's the guy's name from
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that late show? Trevor, no, no one, whatever. Trevor Noah, Trevor Noah. Okay. So Trevor Noah is
00:22:07.880
from South Africa. I like his show sometimes, but I'm, I, you know, he's been very anti pipeline,
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anti Keystone XL, and he kind of has this higher than thou kind of attitude. When you tweet
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out $50 million to his charity of choice, you are misrepresenting all candidates. You're
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abusing your position as prime minister. You have no respect for the tax dollars that made
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that $50 million. And when GM just did a massive layoff in Ontario, which you care, which he
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cares more about than the far more, and I'm not downplaying the layoff, but what I'll say
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is that those amount of layoffs are monthly for Alberta. So wake up. Okay. So, but when
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you, you don't get that, that $50 million could have gone somewhere else, but no, you're like,
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you're pledging it. Like if you could just pledge it, like, is there no accountability to Justin
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Trudeau doesn't have to go through some sort of process? I mean, like it's sad. So you have
00:23:04.260
him who really has no sense of money, just spending all the country's money. And I believe that the
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economy is doing good in certain parts simply because he's propping it up with more debt.
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That's my theory. I'm not an economist by any means. And then you have the NDP and then you
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have the Conservatives trying, right? Like, I mean, I'm not sure if Scheer's the right dude or not,
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but at the same time, I mean, they're trying. And I listened to when they speak, especially like,
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you know, um, especially like Michelle Rempel and like, why are these names drawing me blank right
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now? But, um, anyway, I like, I like, they're calling them on, they're trying, right? But,
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but it's not, it's not how it's supposed to be. Like, I don't think anyone really knows what means
00:23:43.800
what anymore. And I'm scared that there's people smarter than me and they're way ahead of Canada.
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And I'm just laughing at us. So like, I'll watch the Canadians play in there. And meanwhile, we're,
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we're slowly, you know, we're slowly destroying everything that made Canada made Canada a great
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country to live in, in a, in a, in a fair and equal country. You know, um, the most important
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thing, someone asked me about Jason Kennedy the other day, like Robbie, you know, you're gay and,
00:24:10.720
you know, all this type of stuff. And I, and, and, and, and Kenny's going to do this and Kenny's
00:24:14.500
going to do that. And I said, all I care about is a pipeline. You can fight about different rules
00:24:21.040
and laws and programs when the economy is good. When the economy is good, you can have these
00:24:27.300
discussions, but if no one has a job and no one can, you know, put their, pay for their families
00:24:33.840
in foreclosure, well then you've got real problems. And that's a real problem. Like, I think we have
00:24:40.580
this problem in society now where we like, we think problems are not our problems. You know what I mean?
00:24:44.860
And, and our families, you know, having money for healthcare and hospitals and, and the ability
00:24:52.180
for people, if they want to make a choice to open a business, that they have a shot, that's
00:24:56.440
really important. And I think that's all on the line. And if we don't solve our oil problem
00:25:02.960
immediately, I don't know what Alberta is going to be. And maybe to poor Berman and Gerald,
00:25:10.120
Daryl Butz, maybe they won. Maybe they've accomplished what they wanted to do. You know,
00:25:15.920
maybe, maybe Gerald Butz convinced Justin Trudeau to buy a pipeline, never to build it. It's not
00:25:20.160
his 4 billion. What does he care? Well, and that's, that's the thing. Like if I were to
00:25:25.320
devise a plan to kill the oil industry, I wouldn't have done anything different than what these people
00:25:32.600
have done. I would do exactly what they've done. Bring in a carbon tax, change regulations on
00:25:38.620
pipelines halfway through, bring in Bill 16, C69 to basically deter any other pipeline proposals
00:25:46.460
by a pipeline, and then never get it built. I would, I would, I literally would not do anything
00:25:56.140
different than what they're doing, including the production cuts. Because if I were an investor
00:26:03.180
to Alberta, I wouldn't go somewhere where the government could put the brakes on my project
00:26:12.460
and my production to protect their royalties. I'd go to Saskatchewan, I'd go to North Dakota,
00:26:20.300
Yeah. And I mean, I agree with you. I'm, you know, I think that's a very terrifying position
00:26:30.920
that we're in. And I don't know, I don't know what I would do if I was in that position. I mean,
00:26:34.840
I honestly never really thought about that point. I'm going to have to give it some time and try to
00:26:39.420
weigh it out before I formulate my final opinion on it. But that is a very valid point. And is that
00:26:45.500
their end game? Are they simply trying to destroy our industry in one way or another? I mean,
00:26:51.780
these guys, they fight on multiple fronts. It's not just like, you know, we fight on a couple,
00:26:56.660
they fight on multiple fronts. They like, I mean, I've seen it, I've, I've seen so many scary things
00:27:01.980
that happen behind the scenes that, you know, people deliberately like come up and they work for
00:27:07.040
a specific organization. And then they, they try, it's all, it's a big game of influence. And it's very sad
00:27:13.720
and very scary because, you know, if we don't fix this, I mean, we're, the funny thing is like all
00:27:21.860
of us will, like, I mean, the Fort Mekhi First Nation, I mean, they have $250 million in a tank farm.
00:27:26.880
You have the, for the Mikasu also, you're going to see everybody fall apart. So, I mean,
00:27:34.880
going forward, we need to be honest. I know there's certain organizations that they fight projects
00:27:42.900
because they want more from the oil companies. I've seen it. So, that needs to stop, right? Like,
00:27:48.740
you can't take Greenpeace, I mean, they can't, they're playing all sides. Like, they're, they're
00:27:52.240
friends with Greenpeace because Greenpeace will kick up a fight until they get what they want. And
00:27:55.920
then when they get what they want, they go, oh, no, Greenpeace is bad. So, that happens. I don't know.
00:28:02.040
I just wish people were more honest. And, and I don't find, like, I mean, whether people like
00:28:07.200
Notley or not, I feel that she keeps her word or at least she, you know what she's going to do is
00:28:10.760
she's elected Trump the same. Trump did everything he said he was going to do. Not true, though.
00:28:15.860
Now, I'm going to have a $10 billion deficit and then say a deficit for the entire term of his
00:28:21.080
election. I mean, oh, it just, it's just scary. I mean, I would take Stephen Harper like any day
00:28:30.260
because I felt that Stephen Harper knew. And then, I mean, and Stephen Harper, like, I mean,
00:28:35.380
when he had that economic crash, I mean, he, out of all of the GA countries, he navigated it the best
00:28:42.100
with intelligence and thoughtfulness and planning. I was very impressed with that. And every single
00:28:48.560
time Trudeau gets called out on something, well, Stephen Harper didn't do this and Stephen Harper
00:28:52.480
didn't do that. I mean, it's just horrible. They're asking him questions and he started bringing up
00:28:55.960
French language stuff in Ontario. I mean, answer the question. Be honest. Be honest. Just simply say,
00:29:03.480
yes, no, whatever. Why with the spin all the time? I don't know. I would expect way more from my
00:29:10.340
leaders. I, you know, I wish we, I wish I do as much as I can with what I have. And I think I have
00:29:19.600
a pretty big impact, but I am terrified right now, to be truthful. Well, that is a pretty dark note to
00:29:27.980
leave our interview on, but I do want to give you the opportunity to plug, uh, yourself and your
00:29:36.720
efforts and your shirts. Um, because you are basically self-funded. You don't have any patrons
00:29:43.300
to help you fight these battles that you fight on our behalf. Um, you're flying all over the place.
00:29:49.860
You're driving all over the place. Um, you're staying in hotels, um, like you are right now.
00:29:56.380
Um, so where can people buy your tur, buy your shirts, buy some merchandise and help you out?
00:30:03.400
So I am going to be, um, redoing my clothing line. You just go to oilsandstrong.com and we have a small
00:30:10.600
store, uh, buy some t-shirts and yes, I am 100% self-funded. Um, I do sell shirts. Sometimes I sell them
00:30:17.580
in bulk, but I'd like to raise a little bit more money. Um, my marketing company, um, like I have,
00:30:24.380
uh, three employees and the contracts I get from my marketing company, from my other business stuff
00:30:28.820
that supplements it. But yeah, I know I'm a self-funded, um, so oilsandstrong.com and then
00:30:34.720
I'm going to be working on some new projects right away. So, um, I'm looking for some sponsorship to,
00:30:39.360
I have a video series called Visit Fort McMurray and I'm doing one called Visit Calgary right away.
00:30:42.980
So I'm looking for some sponsorship in that as well. Um, and then basically, uh, like my,
00:30:48.020
my social media reach is decent. Like last month, I think I had over 5 million impressions on my
00:30:52.480
social media. So I think that's good. So yeah, please sponsor support. Um, if you like what I do or,
00:30:59.360
um, I, I would appreciate that. It's a cool logo. You know, it's pretty, pretty cool. I'm going to
00:31:06.760
have some nice stuff in the near future. Well, I can't wait because I'm going to be one of your
00:31:12.380
best customers, Robbie. I want to thank you so much for coming on the show. Um, taking the time
00:31:17.740
tonight to talk to me and share your thoughts on what's happening in the oil patch. Um, I know it's
00:31:24.040
dark times, um, but I'm hopeful for the future. If we change government a couple of times here.
00:31:30.820
Well, I think, um, look, here's my mess. And I'm, I'm still going to be nonpartisan,
00:31:39.220
but I'm going to, I'm going to be, be political here. When you vote, vote on one simple principle.
00:31:46.540
Is the person I'm voting for going to help me be more successful till I can support my family?
00:31:54.680
And I think that's a key thing. I think that's the most important thing right now. Alberta was the
00:31:59.920
envy of all economies in the world for a while, or at least in Canada and Alberta carried this
00:32:05.300
country and nevermind the tax revenue or transfer payments. Alberta gave people opportunities from
00:32:12.640
Newfoundland that was going through a tough time to come and work in Fort McMurray or work in Calgary
00:32:16.220
or work in Red Deer or wherever and make money to make a better life. And because of the money they
00:32:22.760
made, they were to pay off their house in Newfoundland. They could retire there. Alberta deserves better
00:32:28.200
from the rest of Canada. We deserve an opportunity to have fair market value for our product that the
00:32:36.640
world needs and consumes. So wherever you vote, have a conscious decision. How will that help? And I think
00:32:45.180
that that's very key, um, particularly federally, because like these pipelines should have been built
00:32:52.800
years ago and they should not be influenced by people that, you know, had jobs in, uh, hypocritical
00:32:58.940
environmental organizations with massive payouts before they took a nice cushy job in government.
00:33:06.620
Amen, Robbie. Thanks again so much for coming on the show and thanks for that advice. I hope everybody
00:33:11.800
takes it and runs with it. Although I don't think I have to worry about my viewers not following that
00:33:17.960
advice. Thanks, Robbie. Thank you for having me.
00:33:33.820
My friend Robbie has clearly done his best to remain non-political, but to still try to move the
00:33:40.100
needle and change the discussion around the ethical nature of Canada's oil and gas industry,
00:33:45.840
as opposed to our global competitors like those in Algeria or Saudi Arabia. But it sounds like
00:33:52.520
there's only so much one man can take before he becomes politically motivated. And I don't think
00:33:59.240
Robbie is alone in feeling that way. People who were happy to just go to work and pay their taxes and
00:34:05.360
take care of their families suddenly aren't able to do those things anymore. And they realize that it is
00:34:11.540
because of the politicians who are currently in power. And I think that crowd of 2,500 people who
00:34:18.220
gathered in downtown Calgary to protest Justin Trudeau is proof of that, that normal non-political
00:34:24.460
citizens are being mobilized against the powers that be. Notley and Trudeau's bad policies are creating
00:34:31.500
the political movement that will one day lead to their ouster. Well, everybody, that's the show for
00:34:37.740
tonight. Thank you so much for taking the time as always to tune in. I'll see everybody back here in
00:34:43.240
the same time, in the same place next week. And remember, don't let the government tell you that