00:01:02.040country, calling for an enormous export tax to be imposed on Western Canadian oil and gas into the
00:01:13.140United States as part of an ongoing trade dispute. You see these same voices, many of them,
00:01:21.260jason kenney excluded have previously stated that there's you know no real business case for
00:01:28.480canadian oil and gas some of them have even called for the phasing out of it abby lewis i'm talking
00:01:33.200about you and yet now it's so valuable that it can be used as a trade cudgel against the united
00:01:42.240states all those western canadian jobs be damned it's crazy makes no sense it's cognitively
00:01:49.800dissonant but that's never stopped these people before and then there's mayhem with the mail-in
00:01:56.700ballots over at elections alberta as we approach the independence vote it's a mess heads should
00:02:05.280roll but it's government so they probably won't to discuss all this and more is my friend
00:02:12.220Cori Morgan from the Western Standard.
00:02:16.960So joining me now is my friend Cori Morgan, columnist over at the Western Standard and my partner in crime over at our morning project, Alberta Fact Check at AlbertaFactCheck.com.
00:02:28.560And I thought I would just do a quick independence roundup for the show today.
00:05:11.940the compliance that we have to follow is serious. It's weekly reporting, every dollar going in,
00:05:18.840every dollar going out. We have to account for all of it. And then we have Forever Canadian,
00:05:24.060Thomas Lukaszek, basically running amok. I had these people in the exact same parking lot as me
00:05:32.980doing the exact same thing as me at the exact same time in Lethbridge, but only one of us had
00:05:40.020to declare all of our revenue from that day and all of our expenses from the day. And now we've
00:05:45.020got Jan Arden, who is a vicious, I think, former performer. I guess she still performs, but a lot
00:05:54.260of it has, you know, I blame the Canadian content rules for the rise of Jan Arden. She doesn't seem
00:06:00.100like Albertans all that much, but now she's holding this benefit concert on behalf of Forever
00:06:05.720Canadian. And as far as I know, I'm not a legal expert, but I think that's a donation in kind
00:06:12.060because Jan Arden's regular job is a singer. And so if you provide what you normally get paid for
00:06:18.240as a volunteer to a third party advertiser, guess what? That's a donation in kind. And yet
00:06:23.160And I don't see any evidence of elections Alberta investigating, and I can't see on the declarations of financial disclosures where they paid her.
00:06:36.640So, you know, it's just a free-for-all only if you're on one side.
00:06:41.920That's right. Maybe the value of her contribution at less than $50, and that's why it's not considered a affordable donation in kind, hasn't been worth much since the mid-90s.
00:06:51.000But being serious about it, I mean, it definitely should be something that would be considered one.
00:06:56.340You know, the earlier part with these mail-in ballots, that could be attributed to incompetence and bureaucratic idiocy.
00:07:02.780But it gets more concerning with Lukasik's group and Jan Arden because that starts to look into bias.
00:07:08.960And if you have a biased electoral authority, you don't have a democracy.
00:07:14.160They're turning this entire exercise into a gong show.
00:07:17.520And no matter what the results are, people are not going to see it as legitimate if it keeps carrying on like this, whether on either side, as you said, you know, some, as I did in the fact check this morning with Lorne Gunter claiming, oh, this is going to fuel the separatists.
00:07:32.120Well, no, it's actually just kind of harming everybody.
00:07:35.880If we want resolution to this question, we need a fair, open process and vote.
00:07:42.280So I think everybody's going to leave dissatisfied.
00:07:44.640Yeah. And, you know, at the end of this, I believe there should be a reckoning at elections, Alberta. I'm just not sure that we will see this because this has been so poorly handled from start to finish that somebody along the way should be fired. But this is government and people don't get fired over there.
00:08:03.280Now, I want to ask you about this call for export taxes on Alberta's oil and gas.
00:08:11.320Our Premier Daniel Smith has been explicit that the only way Alberta's oil will be used in the trade war is if we produce more of it, not less of it, and sell more of it to our American friends and everybody.
00:08:25.580and yet the federal government does have the ability not to turn off the taps but to make
00:08:32.900our oil so affordable that nobody will buy it. I've seen Avi Lewis of the NDP call for export
00:09:13.440And now we're talking, the last time there were big export taxes dumped on Alberta's
00:09:17.800oil was the National Energy Program under Pierre Trudeau.
00:09:20.500that policy was a catastrophe for Albertans, for Canadians in general.
00:09:26.960Thankfully, at least Premier Smith is maintaining sense throughout this,
00:09:30.180though she seems to be one of the lone voices out there for it.
00:09:33.540I guess from the perspective of just a human being who wants a degree of prosperity
00:09:38.280and a good economy, I don't want to see an export tax slapped on Alberta's oil and gas.
00:09:43.320From the perspective of somebody who wants to see a positive independence vote,
00:09:47.340I say go for it because I can't see something that would add another 10 to 20 percent support for the independent side more quickly than doing something like that.
00:09:56.100Yeah, you know, when I see Jason Kenney, an avowed and sometimes slightly deranged Federalist advocating for an export tax, it's like he doesn't even know our own history.
00:10:07.620And it feels like it's some sort of psyop for our side, because that will weaponize people in a way I don't think we've quite seen yet.
00:10:17.660You know, a cancel pipeline here, another cancel pipeline over there.
00:10:20.680But an export tax could potentially nuke hundreds of thousands of jobs, not just in Alberta, but trickle down across the country.
00:12:01.860You know, these calls to turn off the taps to the United States would of course starve
00:12:06.020Eastern Canada, particularly Ontario of natural gas and oil.
00:12:12.000And that would be an immediate retaliation from President Trump.
00:12:17.760You know, if we imposed an export tax, what's the next thing that he would do?
00:12:22.280um especially with michigan fighting i think it's line five in court um he would just uh remove0.97
00:12:31.780support for that and then doug ford while he might be one of them eastern bastards freezing in the0.92
00:12:38.460dark well and the people of sarnia that's a refinery district in ontario employing but tens0.88
00:12:45.600of thousands of people uh yes mr ford doesn't seem to be very aware of his own province but i
00:12:51.000mean that's typical of Ontario it's not just that Ontario doesn't care much about the world outside
00:12:56.760of it it's it's as they said if you can't see it from the top of the CN Tower it doesn't matter
00:13:00.740and even the the farther reaches of Ontario routes of Ontario are outside of the the thought process
00:13:07.600of somebody like Doug Ford or outside of Toronto so their myopic view is is is startling I mean
00:13:16.160any premier should at least have that much knowledge on such a large industry within their
00:13:19.340province and that mr ford really exposed himself for the depth he has yeah you know like at this
00:13:26.760point in my life i'm it doesn't shock me when you know central and eastern politicians don't give a
00:13:35.780damn about alberta jobs okay that's fine that's that's why we're here isn't it but for him to care
00:13:42.200so little about ontario jobs was quite something to see yeah well what what it seemed to be exposed0.98
00:13:48.340as we said we saw in the interview he was discovering right at the time it wasn't even
00:13:51.400that he doesn't necessarily care about Ontario jobs it showed that he doesn't have a bloody
00:13:55.940understanding of his own economy it comes down to again incompetence rather than maliciousness
00:14:01.500but both are terribly damaging so if he can't even understand what that would do to the Ontario
00:14:06.600economy it's not that surprising he doesn't understand what he's calling for what it would
00:14:11.520do to the western Canadian economy so you know he doesn't care and he doesn't know pretty bad comedy
00:14:16.760I can't believe nobody. I mean, but this is the guy who poured out a bottle of Crown Royal that was bottled in Gimli, Manitoba as some sort of act of defiance against Donald Trump. So I was going to say, I can't believe nobody showed him the natural resources pipeline map of Canada, but I can believe it. Like I can believe it just perfectly fine.
00:14:45.240Yeah, I mean, I'm starting to think that there's somebody in communications at the premier's office who doesn't like him as much as I don't like him at this point.
00:14:54.560Yeah, it's feeding my conspiracy theories.
00:14:59.080Now, I wanted to ask you about your fact check this morning.
00:15:02.940And it was from you were debunking Adam Legg, who's the president of the Business Council of Alberta, who told the CBC that the business community, they do recognize if the referendum were to be positive in support of separation, that would create a massive amount of uncertainty.
00:15:23.260It's almost like he hasn't even discovered the anti-pipeline legislation we've been plagued with for the last 11 years.
00:15:31.120you know always a fact check where in a sense i kind of agreed with him it will create uncertainty
00:15:37.720because it will change things the certainty we have we already know our pipelines are going to
00:15:43.240be blocked our resources as we see can be used as leverage for eastern canadian trade wars we're
00:15:49.440going to have emissions caps battles carbon tax battles uh over regulation i mean poking in even
00:15:56.220in housing i'm seeing uh shane wenzel talking about things we can have business we always talk
00:16:01.060oil and gas but we forget about others ottawa is dangling transfers uh with conditions for canadian
00:16:07.700alberton home builders so yeah his his business uh community is concerned about uh uncertainty
00:16:15.060why they should be more concerned about the certainty and i noticed there were some caveats
00:16:19.460in his interview where he was talking along the lines of saying some of the members of his
00:16:23.180association were actually staying silent because they do support the independent side and they're
00:16:27.700being quiet about it it's there and these guys are being concerned but it was just a a bad take
00:16:33.980from to make uh you know you're not pointing out a solution you're saying maintain the status quo
00:16:38.040as terrible as it is it's it's like the canada west foundation report that came out too and
00:16:42.420you had ted morton and a number of others talking about this is how horribly alberta's been served
00:16:47.100for 40 years here's all the terrible things we understand how bad it is we feel your pain now
00:16:52.400well, let's stay the course. Well, that's not going to cut it. And that's basically what he
00:16:58.540did there. Yeah. We have certainty in that we will have certain demise or the unsteady possibility
00:17:10.360of something better. I'll choose the unsteady possibility of something better any day of the
00:17:15.160week. Now, I want to talk to you just a little bit before we both have to run. I want to talk
00:17:22.300to you about your third-party advertiser and some of the challenges you've been facing with stolen
00:17:28.540signs, damaged signs, and you know what you're doing about it. Yeah well we've been getting
00:17:36.040massive amounts of theft and vandalism of our signs particularly the ones in public areas but
00:17:42.220in the cities lawn signs have been stolen about one in five lawn signs are stolen within a week
00:17:46.860in the city of Calgary. We've been getting people going around spray painting the signs outside of
00:17:52.200the city somebody sent me a picture of uh magnificent phallus that was uh spray painted
00:17:57.560on one of my signs the okotoks you know uh uh credit due to the symbolism i guess but uh all
00:18:04.000the same of course it means we have to remove that sign and have it fixed as far as what we're doing
00:18:09.560about it a lot of it has been the same as everywhere else so everywhere that somebody
00:18:13.560comes after our stuff we send more volunteers there we redouble our efforts and we make sure
00:18:18.880even more signs appear so these guys realize you're not shutting us down in fact you're making
00:18:23.600us target your area if you keep this up we have cameras on some signs we have volunteers watching
00:18:31.760for things but it is difficult i mean it gets dark and you can only do so much uh it's probably only
00:18:37.200going to get worse as the campaign goes but at the same time things are getting a lot busier for us
00:18:41.360as the campaign gets rolling too so we're just going to be putting more and more out there so
00:18:44.880So we'll keep the vandals very busy, despite the amount of peckers they want to spray paint on their signs.
00:20:45.320Well, as always, last portion of the show goes to you, our beloved viewer at home.
00:20:50.520Because without you, there's no Rebel News.
00:20:52.340I say it every week, but I really mean it.
00:20:54.500We don't take any money from the federal government.
00:20:57.600And how could we call ourselves independent if we did?
00:21:00.600So we rely on your support and you're here as a premium subscriber.
00:21:03.860So you're already doing your part, but I should be listening to the people, you know, not
00:21:09.820turning off comments like they do over at the CBC.
00:21:12.720So if you send me your email, it's Sheila at rebelnews.com.0.98
00:21:18.660Put gun show letters in the subject line.
00:21:20.900You might just see your email read on air, but also one of the wonderful ways that you
00:21:26.760can help us and look you're a premium subscriber so you already do um but if you're so inclined
00:21:33.920just engage with our content wherever you find it leave a comment uh leave a thumbs up it really
00:21:39.840does help us and um we're on our way to two million youtube subscribers crazy right um but
00:21:47.820we are i think we're at 1.97 million and when you engage with our content it
00:21:54.220triggers the algorithm to show it to more people the more engaged with our content the more it's
00:22:01.600just served to more sets of eyeballs and you know we're about 30 000 sets of eyeballs shy
00:22:08.520of 2 million so you know be great if we could get there um and so today's comments come to me from
00:22:16.360YouTube on this incredible little interaction that my best friend Lise Merle had with leader of
00:22:24.920His Majesty's Loyal Opposition Pierre Polyev at the Riders game of all places. Why Lise had a
00:22:34.720microphone in her purse at the Riders game at the tailgate party is beyond me but it is a lesson for
00:22:42.800all of us to be always prepared and lise was and she just whipped her microphone out of her purse
00:22:49.420and put this to polyev look at this i'm good here polyev yeah you too
00:22:55.600well a little bit who are you cheering for i'm cheering for the riders um well pierre polyev
00:23:02.640can i ask you about something you said this week it's got to be quick if we got a big uh we got
00:23:06.320to get out there and support the team no men in women's prisons how come because they're men they
00:23:11.480should be men's prisons trans women are men yeah well men are men women are women so men don't
00:23:17.380belong in women's prisons or shelters or bathrooms or change rooms or swimming rooms no no men in0.91
00:23:23.820women's spaces period very simple very simple that's common sense right i wish we would have
00:23:29.940said this just before the election i think we did actually say that louder louder thank you
00:23:36.140thank you buddy so i wanted to know what the people thought because i thought that was a
00:23:41.600fun little interaction lease is the perfect combination of likable and just warm likable
00:23:52.420fun and but firm with polyev and you know that's why i know her and love her and that's why you
00:23:59.440guys know her and love her and i think polyev walks away from that looking great and so does
00:24:04.080she. So, I mean, as Polly have said, it's common sense. Let's see if common sense existed in the
00:24:12.380YouTube comments. Let's look. First one, Catherine Stouffer, no men in women's spaces. Love you,
00:24:20.180Pierre. All right. Anthony Hawthorne 3450, how far we have fallen as a society? It's depressing.
00:24:29.020It is depressing that we have to ask this of politicians. But I feel like we're coming out of it. The young people are not buying into this stuff anymore, save for the, you know, as I call them, the poison dart frog people who are being weaponized by out of control activist teachers in the classroom.
00:24:47.980And I call them poison dart frog people because in the animal kingdom, the brightly colored amphibians are the poisonous ones and you should stay away from them.
00:25:00.840It's the same thing in the human kingdom sometimes.
00:26:38.960nine nine man says common sense prevails finally finally the problem is the liberals
00:26:48.380who are still just absorbed by this nonsense are still in power making laws that prevent
00:26:55.400women from feeling safe when they are disrobed in a change room happy days seven three eight six1.00
00:27:06.120says, good for him. We need to hear this much more. Thank you, Pierre. Well, it looks like it0.50
00:27:10.660was a win all around for Lise and Pierre Polyev. But yeah, I feel like we're returning to sanity
00:27:18.060a little bit. It feels like we're coming out of some sort of drug-induced psilocybin haze,
00:27:25.520doesn't it? Where we're looking back saying, man, did they really try to tell us that you
00:27:31.620could just surgically alter your body and then magically you're a woman or not even surgically
00:27:36.640alter your body just say that you're a woman and we're all just supposed to go along with it0.86
00:27:41.840all the time you know like I don't care how you live your life frankly I don't I I don't have0.99
00:27:48.160time to care how you live your life and you shouldn't have time to care how I live mine0.69
00:27:52.820However, when you are all of a sudden just in the change room at the municipal pool with your lady wiener out in front of my minor child, all of a sudden I do care.0.90
00:28:12.660So I guess the moral of the story is don't make me care.0.88