Rebel News Podcast - SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Robbie Picard from Oilsands Strong is going on a national tour

00:00:00.000 One of my favorite oil patch advocates is going on a bus tour to put a human face

00:00:06.400 to the oil patch. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:00:10.720 The economic downturn in oil and gas and bad environmentalist policies that really do nothing

00:00:33.700 to make the environment cleaner but serve to make things far more expensive to human

00:00:40.320 families. Well, they don't just hurt big scary oil. They hurt the people who work for big scary oil

00:00:47.640 and they hurt the communities that rely on the economic activity provided by oil and gas

00:00:53.500 development. But for so long, all we ever heard about were the big companies. We never ever heard

00:01:01.900 about the people who rely on those well-paying jobs in their communities to provide for their

00:01:08.600 families and to give themselves another life away out of generational poverty in some instances.

00:01:15.340 That is until now. My friend Robbie Picard from Oil Sand Strong is going on a bus tour across the

00:01:23.700 country. He said he's just going to tootle around and talk to people about how oil and gas development

00:01:31.480 affects them and how it has changed their lives for the better. So joining me tonight in an interview we

00:01:37.400 recorded yesterday afternoon in our offices in Calgary is my friend Robbie Picard from Oil Sand Strong.

00:01:45.220 Take a listen.

00:01:46.020 So joining me now in our Calgary office is my friend Robbie Picard from Oil Sand Strong. And Robbie, I wanted to have

00:01:59.640 you on the show today to talk about your next big project. And I think it's fun, but I think the reason the

00:02:07.820 project came together is also fun because you are sort of going after a big, huge liberal misstep. But I'll

00:02:16.440 let you explain that. So tell us what the project is first.

00:02:20.620 Okay, so I'm doing two things. I've converted a 1977 bus that I bought. And it's kind of has this weird

00:02:28.340 70s, 80s feel. It has a bedroom and a shower and a sink and like a fridge and stuff.

00:02:34.860 It's a school bus though, right?

00:02:36.040 It's a school bus, yeah. But I bought it and we put the logos on it. And then it took me almost a year

00:02:43.220 to change the transmission. So that was going to be like super cool and drive this five speed low and

00:02:48.360 high. And then I drove it in Edmonton and I'm like, yeah, no. So I changed the transmission and I've got

00:02:54.840 this automatic transmission and I'm taking it on a tour heading to Ottawa. And ultimately after Ottawa,

00:03:01.240 I'd like to park it in St. John, New Brunswick so I can actually park it on the way to urban oil.

00:03:08.080 Because ultimately I'd like it if the pipeline was built so we could just have full access to

00:03:13.720 tidewater from each of the coasts, right? So the plan is to get the bus there. But along the way,

00:03:20.060 I'm launching a new project called Oil and Gas World Magazine, which is my head office will be in

00:03:24.840 Fort McMurray. We'll have a Calgary office and it's a print magazine, but it's also as much digital.

00:03:30.300 And what we do is we interview people from all walks of life, some from the high CEOs of oil

00:03:35.660 companies to just people who work in oil and gas or benefit from oil and gas. We also have a fashion

00:03:41.240 section, which is just an excuse that I could sell more of my shirts, but I put them in hot models and

00:03:46.360 make them look all sexy and stuff. And we are going to promote Alberta fashion. Farming will be a big

00:03:51.800 part of it as well. And the goal is, is to take these voices and amplify them. And, um, also just

00:03:58.860 explain that nothing is the oil and gas industry is very, very complex and it benefits multitude of

00:04:05.640 people. And the other thing is we just really need to start this conversation. If we head in this just

00:04:10.500 transition direction, I am researching tailings ponds on lithium ion batteries. And I mean,

00:04:17.860 that makes the tailings ponds of the oil sand look like the Daytona beach or like, or, uh, Miami,

00:04:25.240 Florida. Like, I mean, it's incomparable, the damage that can happen if we suddenly do this major

00:04:31.540 shift. And I think the world will look more like Mad Max a lot quicker. If we mine these rare earth

00:04:38.700 minerals irresponsibly. Um, and the other reason is kind of a, a slow punch back, but a little while

00:04:46.100 ago, a peer poly of war, our hoodie in Ottawa. Um, and he got called the white supremacist. We got

00:04:52.240 inferred that we're a bunch of white supremacist, which is very hilarious. Cause I'm game 18. Plus

00:04:55.900 that very day I was filming a bunch of my friends in the Fort McMurray African community who were

00:05:01.880 insisting on wearing my shirts and dancing yesterday. Our counselor, Funky Banjoko, um, you know, who is 0.58

00:05:09.020 just this like full of life. She's like the Oprah of Fort McMurray. She wanted to be in the magazine as

00:05:15.500 well. So we did an impromptu interview with her where she was dancing in my office of all the

00:05:20.060 things to call me. You can call me many things, but for that, my organization and our group is

00:05:25.280 white supremacist is the most absurd out of touch thing ever. And the elites of Carleton that did

00:05:31.260 that, I mean, they're basically gone now. They did the guy didn't even run against peer and they took

00:05:35.180 the post down, but I'm still going to park the bus in Ottawa to remind those at least that you can't

00:05:40.560 just make statements like that, um, that are quite hurtful and harmful. Like if I, you know,

00:05:45.180 like, and without knowing the situation. So the fact that they didn't even Google me or late, like,

00:05:50.480 or, or do any research on me, I found that very hilarious and, um, out of touch, um, arrogant,

00:05:57.460 um, entitled. So I do want to go there. I don't know if I'll have a run. And frankly, I don't care

00:06:02.220 if I have a run with them or not. Um, this is different than the big convoy that everyone was

00:06:06.980 talking about. I'm going on, I'm putzing along in this bus. We're going to go small. I'm hoping

00:06:10.920 to get some Ukrainian food along the way. I like can, can I want to sell some shirts? You know,

00:06:15.700 I like cookies and stuff. Like, I just want to do a nice little documentary. We'll have some teeth

00:06:21.020 if we need to, but I'm not, I'm not going to blockade roads or anything. I'm just going to park

00:06:26.200 and I, but I am going to make a strong message in Ottawa. You know, I think your bus tour coupled with

00:06:32.460 your new magazine. I think it does the thing that has really never been done, although you really

00:06:40.000 try to do it, but you're sort of a lone voice in all of this. And that's to humanize the people who

00:06:46.160 work in the oil field, but also their families. Um, as you say, there's going to be a strong focus

00:06:52.520 also on farming. Um, farming, the oil field is the perfect job for a farmer because a lot of people

00:07:00.060 don't know, but there are times in the oil field where you can't go on a road. So it's called spring

00:07:05.560 breakup. And incidentally that coincides with planting season. And then in the fall, when things

00:07:10.760 get rainy and you, uh, you can't go on the roads again, then that coincides with harvest. So it's a

00:07:17.280 really great job for a farmer to have. Um, so there, a lot of the people who are under attack by the

00:07:24.220 liberals, it's the same people being attacked both ways with Justin Trudeau's nitrogen targets,

00:07:29.880 it's attacking farmers. Um, and then those same people are being attacked by the maligning of

00:07:35.500 the oil patch, the carbon taxes. So I think you're doing a very important service to everybody

00:07:41.400 involved by doing your best to humanize the workers, the people who work in the offices,

00:07:48.980 the people who work on the Derek floor. You, I think this is something that's never really been done

00:07:55.580 before in, in any sort of effective way. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. That is always what I've wanted

00:08:01.000 to do because it's, it's, it's multifaceted and it's far more complex than people realize.

00:08:05.620 Also, there's a sort of like, cause I'm kind of in between, like I lived in Montreal for quite a

00:08:09.260 while. So I've been in the big city and I've also worked on, I grew up on a, working on a farm

00:08:13.460 and I've driven truck at the oil plants and then, you know, and I'm gay and I'm like,

00:08:17.840 now I'm a fashion guru because I'm going to have a fashion section on a magazine.

00:08:20.820 So there's a lot of, I guess I can look at it from a broader spectrum. Um, but the one thing

00:08:26.440 that I, the one thing, another reason that I'm doing this is I'm not, I am not going to touch

00:08:30.180 COVID or I'm not, but that's not my role in this. But I was, when, when Justin Trudeau made that

00:08:34.920 comment about the unvaccinated and basically labeled them, I, I actually, I'm fully vaccinated,

00:08:40.980 full disclosure, but I took a big offense to that because a lot of my friends are not vaccinated

00:08:46.220 and these are successful business people. These are people worth way more money than me,

00:08:50.480 worth millions of dollars that run businesses. So when he made that statement that like he was

00:08:56.700 kind of labying in that group, I thought, you know, you pompous ass, you are so out of touch 0.98

00:09:01.700 with the reality, whether you like the truck, your convoy or not, there were people there that 0.98

00:09:06.940 needed to be heard. No different than when black lives matters did went there. And let's just be 0.80

00:09:12.180 candid. The damage that was done on those protests was far more smashed windows, riots, that type of

00:09:17.720 stuff. Right. But he still took time to hear them out and sit with them. I, I, when you're a prime

00:09:24.480 minister, you, you have to, you have to, you can't, I mean, being any type of politician is almost a

00:09:30.260 little bit narcissistic in a sense. Yeah. You got to have that kind of like to finish it, I guess you

00:09:35.260 have to have that ability, but you, he's a prime minister of those people as well. And he never heard

00:09:40.560 them. And, and when he made that statement about what he thought of the unvaccinated, I, I, I want

00:09:46.100 to, I want to do my part to, to, to amplify other people's voices that, that aren't necessarily as 1.00

00:09:53.640 heard because the impression that he gave is that small town people are stupid. And that's sort of 1.00

00:09:58.800 what the way I don't like that. Cause that doesn't, there's a lot of people that are very intelligent

00:10:03.700 that don't want to live in the city. There's a lot of people that live in the city are completely

00:10:06.960 brain dead and have no clue how their lights turn on or where food comes from. And they,

00:10:10.820 they think buying vegan stuff at a grocery store is making a difference when it's not,

00:10:15.380 they don't understand where their food comes from or where the oil comes from, or even when they drive

00:10:19.180 an electric car, the amount of plastics and oil it takes to make that car. I'm hoping to do that,

00:10:24.740 but on a larger scale, I'm hoping that this is a more positive trip where we connect the dots a

00:10:29.080 little bit. One of the things that I was sad about is a few years ago, when we were doing our rallies,

00:10:33.740 we were moving the needle when we had the pro pipeline rallies from all the way from Vancouver

00:10:37.700 to when, when those environments, Halifax, when they accosted the stage with the big puppet.

00:10:43.000 But we were moving the needle. And then when we, the first convoy, I think our side made a huge

00:10:49.900 mistake. We, we planned on having a convoy first, but the Yellow Vest announced their convoy before 0.98

00:10:56.020 we announced ours, even though ours was planned. And instead of just stopping our convoy and saying,

00:11:01.560 you know what, like, this is not the time. A couple of us, you know, we went on mainstreaming

00:11:06.120 and not me, but some of the people, right. And they slammed the Yellow Vest and they thought,

00:11:09.640 well, our convoy is better and blah, blah, blah, blah. And the sad part of that, like,

00:11:13.220 forget all that other side stuff. But the other, the sad part of that was, is all the good work

00:11:16.980 we were doing with our pro pipeline rallies across the country just went away.

00:11:20.320 Yeah. You alienated people.

00:11:21.780 A hundred percent. And, uh, so that's where I'm hoping to start over. Right. Um, and I don't want this

00:11:28.520 to be a massive thing. I just want to take my bus, travel, interview people, you know,

00:11:33.380 do a few rallies and stuff like that. But I'm more interested in this sort of from a,

00:11:37.980 uh, I guess a journalist's perspective where we, where we kind of tell stories. And I did a little

00:11:42.460 of this when I went to, um, Oyen, um, and I interviewed the mayor and I did a little series

00:11:47.820 there or the one I met with, uh, chief, uh, Crystal Smith from the Sailor Tooth First Nation in BC.

00:11:53.060 And I really want to amplify those stories. And then I want to take this reach and, uh, make sure

00:11:59.220 that people in Ontario and Quebec understand that it's broader and there's, there's humans behind

00:12:04.100 this type of thing. And all of a sudden strong, I mean, you know, last month our reach was

00:12:07.520 significant. We have over 37 million on our social media. So we have a massive presence, even though

00:12:12.760 we're, you know, not always, uh, we're not always in the fight as much, but that'll, that'll change

00:12:17.760 a little bit. But, but I do hope that we can show it, tell more stories of the country.

00:12:23.940 You know, I think that's, um, actually quite amazing for you to have a reach that broad,

00:12:29.380 um, as big as the entire country and you do it largely unfunded. Yes. You know, you're up against

00:12:38.580 the deep, deep pockets of the foreign funded environmental movement. And all you're doing

00:12:44.960 is just sort of setting the record straight on the things that you know, to be true about the

00:12:51.780 province and industry that you love. And you are taking on these foreign funded organizations.

00:13:00.020 They're akin to multinational corporations at this point, and you're beating them just by being

00:13:06.500 grassroots and telling the truth. I think it's amazing. Well, and that's sort of why I want to

00:13:10.640 take it up a little bit of a level because like one of my favorite accomplishments was when,

00:13:14.500 when Jane Fonda came to Fort McMurray and I got to stand up to her and there has not been a celebrity

00:13:18.840 visit since Jane Fonda, um, other than Greta, but Greta doesn't count as a celebrity. Um, but other

00:13:24.980 than that, and even Greta, I mean, like she had a massive security with her and she was, they were

00:13:29.040 terrified that I, that I was going to like pop up, which was kind of, you know, they kind of her visit

00:13:33.840 before McMurray was not even a blip. Right. Um, so the plan is, but had, you know, had, had a little bit

00:13:40.580 more tools. They now have got a team assembled. We might've been able to take Jane Fonda on the 1.00

00:13:44.320 next level. And the part where I do regret, Jane Fonda was in Washington. Um, they wouldn't,

00:13:49.480 they were planning on coming to Fort McMurray, but they were too scared. So they, they actually

00:13:53.320 had their tech rally in Washington to stop the tech mine in Fort McMurray. And Martin Sheen was

00:13:58.560 there, Susan Sarandon and Jane Fonda. Now, if I had the ability and the time just to go, I would have

00:14:03.540 taken them on right in Washington and I would have had, like, I would have been on them. That is one of the

00:14:08.740 things that I do want to hope that I'm able to do is when there, when the need is there to defend

00:14:12.600 the industry and defend our jobs, um, and our way of life. Um, I like, I'm hoping that this will

00:14:17.480 provide a little bit of a, more of a tool for us to, uh, to do that. You know, and just going back to,

00:14:23.900 um, you know, the, the industry itself and who is in the industry. I think that's one of the things

00:14:30.480 that gets forgotten in all of this. If I had to select an industry in the whole country that I would

00:14:37.280 call an indigenous industry, I would say it's the oil patch. I think by demographics,

00:14:43.480 indigenous people are overrepresented in the oil patch. And I think that has a lot to do with,

00:14:48.440 you know, where the jobs are, where the mines are, where the projects are, that it's often close to

00:14:54.340 indigenous land, indigenous reserves, but also through the partnerships, allowing indigenous people

00:15:00.020 to start companies. Like you see the Mikasu, um, you know, they're, they're worth millions. Um,

00:15:07.800 but you never hear from, as we were saying before we started the interview, you never hear from Fort

00:15:12.840 Mackay. You just hear from the indigenous activists in Vancouver. Well, see part of the, and that's part

00:15:20.340 of the problem when I think when Jane Fonda came to town, I mean, at the time, chief Jim Boucher from

00:15:25.400 Fort Mackay refused to meet with her, um, because he was like, I'm not, uh, I'm not doing this with

00:15:30.840 you. Um, second of all, I mean, like, like, I mean, the, in Fort McMurray, like it's basically

00:15:37.840 industry and the, I mean, all my clients from a marketing company and all that are all indigenous

00:15:42.300 businesses. You know, I'm an indigenous business. Um, we all, uh, it's very interconnected and, um,

00:15:48.880 it's taken, taken a kind of interesting story. So Doug Losky, who, who was in the first issue of

00:15:55.840 oil and gas world magazine, you know, he's a very, very, very successful indigenous business man.

00:16:00.280 Um, and one of the things that was kind of interesting, he would, they were telling me a

00:16:04.300 story that he, when he had a clear water welding years ago, he hired a guy who, you know, was

00:16:08.960 struggling a little bit and gave him a second chance. And well, 20 some odd years later, he got a

00:16:13.300 thank you for that because now that guy's working at Syncrude and has turned his life around. And like,

00:16:17.320 it's just, I think that the two things that I want to cover on this is one, the massive successful

00:16:23.160 stories when you have the, the, the indigenous billionaires or multimillionaires that have just

00:16:28.860 taken it to the next level. But also when I was in BC, I, one story really hit me, uh, that I was

00:16:34.200 talking to this guy cause I just finished filming, uh, uh, chief Crystal Smith. And, uh, he came up to me

00:16:40.000 and he said, listen, I just want to tell you my story. And I wish I didn't have any battery, but it was

00:16:43.600 just such a touching story. He said, you know, 55 years old and I just got my first real

00:16:47.300 job and I'm going to save enough money to put my kids through school or help them.

00:16:51.180 And he wanted to work for 10 years at the Coastal Gath. Like boom, simple, like not, you know,

00:16:56.700 like he's going to, you know, just make enough money that he can retire. And, and, you know,

00:17:00.460 and, and I think that that's the story. And then, you know, that douchebag Mark Ruffalo, 0.81

00:17:04.800 I was watching, it's kind of hard cause I kind of, I kind of like the, the concept of 0.99

00:17:09.040 She-Hulk, uh, uh, attorney of law, which is kind of fucked up. It's ridiculous, 0.99

00:17:13.420 it's ridiculous, but I kind of watched it. I was just like, uh, and I, I do struggle 0.97

00:17:17.460 when I don't like a celebrity, but then sometimes, but sometimes I'm like, you can't, you can't.

00:17:21.740 We would have nothing to watch. So it's sort of like, whatever. But, um, I mean, for him

00:17:26.600 to speak about Coastal Gath Link, I mean, he like, it's just like, it's unbelievable. Those

00:17:33.340 actors that they live this high life. And even if they drive an electric car and they become

00:17:40.420 vegans and eat chickpeas and tofu or whatever, they're still benefiting from oil and gas. But

00:17:46.320 the worst part is, is that he's actually hurting indigenous jobs because when, when these celebrities

00:17:51.240 come and they like, we're here to save you, like they actually don't know the damage they're done.

00:17:55.100 That is the biggest thing I'm proud of with Jane Fonda and bluntly. I mean, like industry should 0.59

00:17:59.180 cut me a massive check because the amount of money that that saved them. Think of that millions of

00:18:04.200 dollars in PR by standing up to Jane Fonda. When even Rachel Notley, the premier at the time,

00:18:08.640 when she spoke out against the visit, when the Fort McMurray, uh, first nation outside of,

00:18:14.660 um, just by Anzac there wrote a statement against her visit. And all of a sudden indigenous people 1.00

00:18:19.300 said, no, she didn't speak on behalf of them. Um, but that's, that's what I'm proud of because

00:18:25.140 Jane Fonda is not going to solve indigenous poverty. She's not going to, um, improve, uh, economic 0.98

00:18:31.880 reconciliation or, um, or the damage done by residential schools by showing up here. She's a

00:18:38.840 multimillionaire who dated a bill or was married to a billionaire. She is part of the Mile High

00:18:45.280 Club and that's an exclusive club. And you can't be part of that club unless you use fossil fuels.

00:18:51.560 Right. Right. And you have, and you have to have a private jet. Cause I mean, maybe, maybe if you,

00:18:57.000 you know, you've tipped the West jet person five bucks or something, but I mean, but that's,

00:19:01.840 that's how absurd Jane Fonda is. I'm actually being serious, which is kind of funny. Cause I'm

00:19:04.900 talking, but she's on Ellen talking about how she's a part of the Mile High Club. Right. And joked

00:19:08.780 about it and all that. But just basically, okay, you were living a life where it's immense privilege.

00:19:14.920 You get to fly in a private jet with Ted Turner. And then you're coming to Fort McMurray and you're like

00:19:19.720 talking about the wildfire and, and how you watched from LA and we were so upset, but it's all

00:19:26.020 because of climate change. And, and if you come back for like seven, seven years, six, seven years

00:19:31.060 later now, all the trees are coming back. It's part of the, the cycle of the forest and you understand

00:19:36.660 what really went down. I think she's, she should be ashamed of herself because I'm not even going to

00:19:42.820 falter for her activism, but she came to McMurray with a purpose and I'm happy that we stood up to her

00:19:48.320 and I'm happy. Like, and that's one thing that I'm very proud of because the damage, the damage that

00:19:53.080 Neil Young did was we still, when he called our community Hiroshima, now we can go on Facebook

00:19:58.740 and post pretty pictures of like the beautiful clear skies and the, you know, the Northern Lights

00:20:03.320 and all that stuff. But to combat what Neil Young did outside of our region, that's hard because he

00:20:09.200 damaged us. Right. Same with Leo, not so much Leo as much as Neil Young. But if we, if I would have been

00:20:15.520 able to like square off with Neil Young and tell him off and point out his hypocrisy, you

00:20:20.060 know, and even if it's vegetable driven Lincoln, you know what I mean? I could have gone into

00:20:23.720 a race with my link, but my point is that I would have called him out on it. Yeah. And 0.99

00:20:28.100 by unfortunately I wasn't doing it at that time. I think that is the PR of, of being there

00:20:33.580 to fight back. So I think that's something that I'm, that I'm going to do a little bit more

00:20:36.520 of, but right now it's, it's been, you know, they're, they're, they don't really come

00:20:39.560 before McMurray as much. Um, and the indigenous, I mean, every single indigenous, uh, organization

00:20:45.760 group of between the Métis, um, from the first nations, et cetera, they all have deals

00:20:50.240 with industry now. So, and they're solid multimillion dollar deals, which is how it

00:20:54.400 should be because the oil doesn't just belong to, it belongs to everybody and everyone needs

00:20:59.460 to benefit from the oil. It doesn't just belong to industry. It belongs to the indigenous

00:21:03.020 people. It belongs to Albertans. And that's, that's the one thing that I think that we need

00:21:07.400 to, I think everyone needs to understand that when the oil does well, we all do well, you

00:21:12.140 know, like, I mean, the oil companies here have had record profits, 3 billion or whatever.

00:21:15.460 And it's, that's amazing. But then when you look at what, um, Saudi America just made. 0.99

00:21:20.040 Yeah. They overtook Apple, I think for a time on being the most, I think it was most profitable

00:21:25.760 company. And it was, you know, it was like, depending on the day where they were overtaking

00:21:30.240 Apple and that should be us.

00:21:32.660 A hundred percent. And, and that's where I think we really need to figure out why it's

00:21:37.340 not us. And, uh, that's not an easy task.

00:21:40.880 Yeah. Well, and you know, I don't know if you've, have you seen the movie Frack Nation?

00:21:45.500 No, I haven't.

00:21:46.000 Okay. So I would recommend that you watch that. It was made by Phelan McAleer and he,

00:21:51.140 it was much like sort of what you want to do. And it was this journalistic journey through

00:21:56.940 Pennsylvania and the difference that fracking had made to the farmers there who were, you know,

00:22:04.460 on the verge of losing their land, losing their farms until the fracking companies came along

00:22:09.980 and said, we're going to frack. Well, directional drill, tiny, tiny footprint, but the royalties

00:22:15.580 you make are going to save your farm. And it changed people's lives. And it was the counterbalance

00:22:21.220 to, uh, Gasland. Do you remember that awful movie Gasland? It was the, the real story, um,

00:22:27.960 of those communities. And I hope that you, well, and I know that you're going to do some of that,

00:22:33.800 telling the stories of how oil and gas opportunity has changed people's lives and maybe even saved

00:22:39.980 their lives. Like that man that you met who was 50 getting his first real job while some white 0.89

00:22:44.900 colonialist named Jane Fonda said he shouldn't have one. 0.77

00:22:48.360 Well, and that's, that's the problem. Right. And it's like, when I, you know, when I took on,

00:22:52.020 I did a video one time with Melina Lubecon-Mossimo and I just got a kick out of her because,

00:22:57.060 you know, she was in New York at a fashion show and then she's with, you know, Jane Fonda. And

00:23:02.620 she's like, like some of these environmentalists, they become sort of, I don't know, the mean girls

00:23:08.600 so to speak, where they're really pretty and they're like, they're doing their photography and

00:23:12.640 stuff and they're posing and we're warriors and that make sure their hair is perfect while they're 0.74

00:23:16.600 doing it. I found that so absurd because they're not really helping and they're not understanding

00:23:24.380 what it means. Like I, you know, Greta Thunberg, I, I'm, I'm fat. I wasn't, I'm like, she's kind

00:23:29.720 of disappeared a little bit now. She turned 18. That's why she's not a child soldier in the war

00:23:34.300 anymore. But what I found quite interesting, they were, they were all, everyone was going after,

00:23:40.620 you know, white middle-aged men that were attacking her and they, they were being vicious to these men.

00:23:44.640 And I thought, okay, why, why is it that a white middle-aged man would go after Greta? And I

00:23:49.660 realized what exactly what it is because those white middle-aged men have daughters and those

00:23:54.620 daughters, you know, they want to put them through school and they care about them. And the absurdity 0.97

00:23:58.940 of Greta and her rich privileged parents, I remember they posed some pictures of her house and they had

00:24:03.460 like these like $10,000 massage chairs. It was just absurd, the wealth that she came from. And

00:24:09.120 when she lectured the world, I mean, and the world bought it for a quite, for, I think it's kind

00:24:16.240 of, she's played her course a little bit, but the bottom line is, is that there is such a disconnect.

00:24:22.300 I mean, her generation is the most privileged generation in the world of like skip the dishes 1.00

00:24:26.260 and, uh, you know, Ubers. And I mean, try to fix a phone now if you break it, there's no point.

00:24:32.880 You know what I mean? Like it's like, it's such a toss away society. I'm trying to fix my dishwasher

00:24:37.700 and I can't fix it. I'm going to have to buy a new one. Like it's insane how you don't,

00:24:42.000 but the generation before, I mean, your fridge would last for a hundred years. Your cars would

00:24:45.420 last. And one of the things too, about this bus and the Lincoln that I'm going to tell a story of

00:24:49.240 like, I, my, the bus is a 19, it's my age. It's my age. I'm going to be honest about my age.

00:24:55.240 We're close to the same age. It's fine. So it's a 45 year old bus and, um, but it still runs

00:25:01.360 and with a little bit of repairs, it runs really good. Same with my 77 Lincoln, my 77 Lincoln

00:25:07.140 runs better than my brand new truck. So this throwaway society, like, is it more,

00:25:14.580 is an electric car that might last 10 years, maybe. And then if the battery goes, you're,

00:25:19.640 you're, you're in real, you're bad trouble. Um, it, is that really more of an environmentally

00:25:26.060 friendly car than a bus the last 45 years that's built well? I think that we need to like, I'm going

00:25:31.500 to tell that side. Cause I think a lot of these old cars, they still run. They like, they fire up.

00:25:36.240 You know what I mean? Like it's, it's, uh, it's an interesting take. I would argue that they're

00:25:41.780 probably more environmentally friendly for the long game. And, uh, and I think that that's something

00:25:46.880 too, that we maybe need to look at. Like, why are we tossing everything away and not, I'm all for

00:25:51.680 improvement. I'm not even anti-solar or anti-wind, but I'm anti this notion that it's like, it's somehow

00:25:57.560 going to make a difference compared to just cheap, affordable energy that if we burn it properly and we

00:26:03.760 take care of it properly and we improve constantly to burn less or hybrid cars, I don't know this

00:26:10.260 direction of just decimating the fossil fuel. And I, you know, the other part is I don't think

00:26:14.240 it's going to happen. I don't see the fossil fuel industry going anywhere, but so instead of just

00:26:19.620 like, I mean, this intense trauma of bashing it, maybe we just work together to make a better world.

00:26:26.200 You know, it's interesting that, uh, the people who decry the consumerism of plastic straws

00:26:33.420 will throw out everything that came before them to have the newest, greenest thing.

00:26:39.300 Well, yeah. Or it's just, and I find those plastic straws hilarious, right? So like you're,

00:26:44.300 everything else that you're getting is all plastic. And the straw is paper. Yeah. And wrapped. Yeah.

00:26:49.060 It's paper like, or yeah, like one of my, one of my friends was like, uh, she's like, we're friends,

00:26:55.960 but she disagrees with me and with my, isn't that interesting that you can be friends with people

00:27:00.840 you disagree with? Isn't that odd? So, but anyway, so she's like, you know, Robbie, you're ruining the,

00:27:06.220 she doesn't like the magazine. She's like oil sands or anything like that, but she's a good friend.

00:27:09.120 So like, you just kind of just, whatever I argue. There's other things to talk about. Exactly. So we

00:27:13.200 talk about fish or, you know, or my decorating or whatever. I'm thinking actually starting a fashion

00:27:17.120 magazine or no, a home decor magazine. So anyway, I can see that actually on a side note. But anyway,

00:27:23.540 which I found kind of funny though, it's like, so the doorbell rings and, um, Amazon drops off dish

00:27:30.220 detergent for her. And I'm like, I thought you were like, so pro environment. What do you mean? And

00:27:36.080 I'm like, someone had to drive this to you, your extra packaging. Like, like she could have made it

00:27:42.200 just part of her general grocery run store. Yeah. But you know, and then, and then,

00:27:47.120 uh, skip the dishes and then Uber. And then there's, or then, uh, well, there's this other

00:27:51.180 one. Um, uh, what's that one? Uh, they, they bring you the ingredients to your house. Now,

00:27:56.920 um, hello fresh, hello fresh. Right. So it's like all of that transportation, like all that

00:28:03.400 packaging, individual packaging. Exactly. So it's like, you know, let's, this next generation

00:28:08.380 isn't so green. You know what I mean? And then the funny part is when you go to like to the

00:28:12.440 grocery store now, they have paper bags again. And I find that hello. I hate them,

00:28:16.980 by the way. How do you hang on to them? You can't hang on to them. I know it's very old

00:28:22.140 school and it feels cool when they're coming them in, like you're getting fresh food, like

00:28:25.920 kind of like grandma would used to do kind of thing. But here's, there are five to seven

00:28:29.780 people in my house at any given time. I cannot carry in the paper groceries like that. But

00:28:34.980 a few years ago, many years ago, they got, why did they get rid of paper bags to save the

00:28:39.680 trees? Don't you know? And now they're back to paper bags. So I, I think the real solution

00:28:45.760 is not getting rid of disposable plastics. It's not, it's not getting, it's figuring

00:28:49.680 out what to do with them after the fact. It's better recycling. It's not sending them

00:28:53.040 to, I'm pro incineration actually. Burn them. I've heard, well, I've heard good things about 0.99

00:28:57.220 that and you can burn them. You can use them for energy also to don't send them to the

00:29:01.000 Philippines. Right. And let's stop faking. We're recycling when we're not like, there's

00:29:05.960 so many stories of like, Oh, my cousin, like she separates everything perfectly. And she's

00:29:12.220 just a little over the top. Right. And anyway, and then she found out that I'll just guess

00:29:16.840 like, like, what are you doing? So maybe like you turn garbage into a commodity where you

00:29:22.660 actually really, you like, you do something with the garbage for energy or, or find like

00:29:29.040 find ways to actually recycle it. I mean, I think there's a, and here's the thing to be

00:29:33.880 honest about how it's getting in the ocean. You look at the Dominican Republic, pretty clean,

00:29:37.700 but Haiti right next to it, rivers and rivers of garbage going in the ocean, call them out 1.00

00:29:42.480 on it. How is us not having, I don't believe, I'm not saying that our plastic in Canada doesn't

00:29:47.620 go in the ocean. Cause I'm sure a little bit of it does, but not. It falls off a ship on

00:29:50.520 the way to the Philippines. Yeah. So like, I think that that's what we need to do. And also

00:29:57.340 we need to be more honest. I do. I'm a big believer in planting trees. Um, I did a little

00:30:01.820 experiment in my backyard where I have a big tree and the temperature is way cooler under

00:30:05.860 the tree in the hottest summer. I think that that's something we could revisit. Like these

00:30:09.940 cities, I think they need way more trees than they have. I also think they need to water

00:30:13.360 the trees. Um, you, you see these new developments. So like, like, like the tree needs help. If

00:30:18.960 you look at trees beside, this is where farmers are smarter. Like when I had the farm, we, we

00:30:23.380 wanted to save moisture. So we built a row of caragannas. Um, and then we made a trench

00:30:29.280 in them deep. So once a year we could take the hose and give them a fiery chance to grow 0.73

00:30:35.480 with more water. Cause the water that the trees that grew by the ponds would always be taller

00:30:40.620 than the trees in the field. So it's like, but that's what the city people don't understand

00:30:44.740 because they don't have that, you know, it's just, it's just weird. And it's like, cause

00:30:48.720 I'm actually really good with plants and I don't know a lot about plants, but you see

00:30:51.400 my sunroom, it's looking amazing. But then I saw this app and he took a picture of the

00:30:55.560 plant and it would tell you if you need a water. And I'm thinking like, like, Oh my

00:30:58.380 God, like I can't, you just touch the pot and it's like dry. And I know if it needs

00:31:02.360 water. Is it yellow? Is it wilting? Yeah. You can kind of tell. Right. So I think that

00:31:06.320 that's kind of sixth sense is sort of missing now in the world of technology. But, um, but

00:31:11.560 yeah, so I'm hoping that this, uh, magazine strikes a conversation. It'll be edgy when it

00:31:15.940 needs to, but the intent is to be far more like, let's go see, let's stop at this small

00:31:21.240 obscure town and talk to a lady. I'm hoping to get a lot, like maybe not. 0.98

00:31:25.420 I don't think I'm going to like get antiques and stuff cause I've got too many, but, um,

00:31:29.600 I'm hoping to just have a little adventure and tell the story of people along the way.

00:31:33.480 I don't, you know, and, but, um, yeah, I'm excited about it and the bus is pretty cool.

00:31:38.540 I'm excited about it. Um, how are you, are you selling ads in the magazine?

00:31:44.760 Yes. So I'm going to, we're going to be, um, selling ads in the magazine, um, but it's

00:31:48.600 more by appointment. We're going to reach out to people and see if, uh, you know, if they

00:31:52.200 want to help out on a longer term scale, we're going to be selling tons of shirts.

00:31:55.420 I haven't decided if I'm going to do like, uh, like a fun, like a GoFundMe type thing

00:31:59.980 here yet or not. Um, I, I might, uh, but we'll, we'll see how it plays out. But, uh, so far

00:32:05.580 it's like, like in this magazine is printed, but it's also very digital and the stories are

00:32:10.980 done digitally. So they're, they're compelling and there's a lot of, I filmed them and then

00:32:15.300 we edit them. Shareable. Yeah. And we edit them and I've done a few little testers. Like

00:32:19.140 I, um, you came to my house. Yes, I did. And we, we, and you left with pickling.

00:32:25.420 I did left with, well, that's, that's what I like. I like, um, I like canned food. Um,

00:32:30.820 so, um, that's, uh, that's sort of the idea. Um, it's a kind of like, and then when you click

00:32:36.220 on the magazine, you get the digital person portion, but it's also a print and they've

00:32:40.300 been looking for distribution. I think we might sell it. It'll be free online, but I think the

00:32:44.440 paper copy we will sell. Um, and, uh, I, yeah, we'd like to, I mean, the more money we make

00:32:50.160 and the, can do it. Like I have, I, you know, I've got seven full-time staff now. My media

00:32:54.320 company is carrying this right now. I'd like it to carry itself. Um, and it's not a not

00:32:58.980 for profit. I have no intention to be a not for profit. I'm a capitalist and this is gonna,

00:33:02.080 but I mean, I've definitely, uh, invested in this for years and I, I think it's the next

00:33:06.860 phase. Now on the other side of your capitalist ventures with oil, sand, strong, how do

00:33:14.000 people support the work that you do there? Because you are up against, like I said, the

00:33:18.440 deep pockets of the environmentalist movement. Um, and we see your shirts everywhere. So how

00:33:23.600 do people get those?

00:33:24.420 So go online to oil sand strong.com and buy some shirts. We're also going to, uh, do the

00:33:29.500 shirt of the month club. So for 25 bucks a month, you get two t-shirts, um, and that change

00:33:35.960 every month. Um, and, uh, and also too, we're going to have like, kind of like a, like we're

00:33:41.560 going to have a, our newsletter, which is that's free, our monthly newsletter. Um, and

00:33:45.660 then the magazine.

00:33:46.660 Oh, wonderful. I'm going to have to join the t-shirt of the month club for sure. You know,

00:33:51.220 me and t-shirts, Robbie, thanks so much. Um, and thank you so much for working so hard to

00:33:55.720 tell the stories of families just like mine. Um, you know, I can advocate for my own family,

00:34:01.360 but there are a lot of people who just feel so forgotten in the equation and the government

00:34:06.480 is doing things to them, not with them. And, uh, they don't have anybody out there sticking

00:34:11.340 up for them. So I'm, I'm glad to hear that you're giving a voice to those people.

00:34:15.820 Thank you. And it's always a pleasure being on your show. So thank you for having me. I

00:34:18.760 think this is the first one we've done like this. No, we've done, we've done one otherwise,

00:34:23.240 but you're in Calgary. So you came by the office.

00:34:26.260 Yes, I did. Awesome.

00:34:27.820 Thanks, Robbie.

00:34:28.220 This is the portion of the show where we welcome your viewer feedback. We actually want to hear

00:34:39.520 from you. We want to know what you think about the work that we're doing here at Rebel News,

00:34:43.380 because really we can't do any of it without you. So one of the best ways to send viewer

00:34:48.120 feedback to me on the show is send me an email, sheila at rebelnews.com. That's my email. Send

00:34:54.260 me a letter, put gun show letters in the subject line so that I can find it. But sometimes I go

00:34:59.040 looking on the Rumble comments to see what you're saying. And so if you have something to say about

00:35:04.660 the work that we're doing, send it to me in an email or leave a comment on Rumble and perhaps I

00:35:10.160 will find it. Now, today's comment comes to me from my email and it's about a story that I did over

00:35:19.480 the course of six months. Um, my friend and I, one of us was unvaccinated, but recovered from COVID

00:35:28.860 diagnosed COVID case. And the other one of us was double vaccinated, but not doing the booster thing.

00:35:36.480 And so we tested every single month because we were trying to prove with scientific evidence,

00:35:43.700 just how unscientific the vaccine passports were because even though we were close friends

00:35:50.080 known each other, most of our lives, we could not go for a beer together. We couldn't go

00:35:58.200 to watch my kids play sports if the sports were happening indoors. And so we thought let's test to

00:36:07.660 show that we are both immune to COVID. And so we tested our, our antibodies every single month at a

00:36:18.060 company called I-Corps. And part of it was to see whose immunity levels dropped off because we could

00:36:24.160 test for, um, just the levels of antibodies in our blood too. So we could test to see whose immunity

00:36:31.880 was lasting longer, the vaccinated or the unvaccinated but naturally immune person. And we

00:36:39.060 tested and we tested and we tested and our immunity levels were never changing, which meant our unvaccinated

00:36:47.720 person was completely discriminated against, but we knew that something else was going on because we

00:36:54.580 knew that the unvaccinated person should have been due for a booster, but they, they're,

00:37:01.880 immunity levels never started to drop off the way you would expect them. Well, as it turns out,

00:37:08.020 the company that we were using, I-Corps Blood Services, towards the end of our experiment,

00:37:13.800 introduced a new test, which actually ended the experiment because the new test was called a T-cell

00:37:19.220 test. And what it does is test not just for immunity levels, but T-cells show natural immunity. You see,

00:37:29.320 we started to suspect that our vaccinated person's vaccines had failed somewhere along the way

00:37:36.980 and they had contracted COVID and didn't even really realize it. And so we tested for T-cells and as it

00:37:46.260 turns out, yes, indeed, the vaccines had failed and that person had contracted COVID, didn't really

00:37:56.300 even realize it to the extent beyond just a cold. And that was sort of the end of the experiment.

00:38:04.920 And it really laid bare the discrimination of the vaccine passports because we were discriminating

00:38:11.780 against people in society based on medicine that didn't work for no reason whatsoever,

00:38:22.720 except to pretend like we were doing something. Anyway, all that is to say, Ollie Kay writes me

00:38:29.820 and says, I haven't seen an update posted on YouTube regarding the test you and your friend

00:38:33.460 were doing comparing blood samples. Just wondering if you're going to continue those

00:38:37.000 or not, as they were quite helpful to folks who've had COVID but chose not to vaccinate in our respective

00:38:43.520 battles. Keep up the great work. So I just told you why we ended the testing. And the test,

00:38:48.240 we ended it because, well, the vaccines obviously didn't work. And as it turns out, both of our test

00:38:53.260 subjects were naturally immune. But it was one of the most emailed stories that I got because people

00:39:00.960 were constantly reaching out to me. How do I do this? I'm curious. And it was a little bit expensive,

00:39:06.920 but it was kind of affordable, you know, just to prove a point. The testing was, you know, like a

00:39:12.860 couple hundred dollars every month. And our T-cell tests, I think were about $300 a piece.

00:39:18.380 But, you know, we just wanted to use our own bodies to prove how unscientific everything is.

00:39:24.540 So I thought, out of curiosity, that maybe we would go back and just get our immunity levels tested

00:39:32.480 again to see now how long natural immunity maintains in the blood. Because the doctors are saying,

00:39:40.360 well, you can't trust natural immunity. But we do have tests that show us how long we can trust it

00:39:46.660 if we're willing to take it. But unfortunately, the testing company that we used has gone into

00:39:52.800 hibernation. Because, you know, when I started going there, it was really busy because this blood

00:39:59.920 testing that they were doing, your doctor, even if he tried to order it for you, the Central Alberta

00:40:08.020 government lab would step in and say, no, no, no, you can't do this test. You can't tell people

00:40:12.740 how immune they are to COVID. So they saw a real boom in business because people like me were trying

00:40:20.100 to prove a point. Some people wanted to know if they had ever even had COVID. They wanted to know

00:40:24.900 if they had the antibodies. They wanted to know how effective the antibodies were so that they could

00:40:30.180 make an informed decision before they chose to vaccinate. Well, as it turns out, the vaccines didn't do

00:40:35.620 any good either. But going on the information at the time, this is what people were trying to do.

00:40:41.960 But then the vaccine passport ended in Alberta, and business dropped off for the company. Now,

00:40:47.600 they've gone into hibernation. But before they did, they did something interesting. So I'm going to

00:40:53.940 read a letter to you from the CEO of I-Corps Blood Testing. That's the company that we use.

00:41:02.580 La Crete did a big experiment with the town of La Crete, Alberta. La Crete is a mostly Mennonite

00:41:10.600 community at the end of the road in northwestern Alberta. And they, despite what the province asked

00:41:17.560 them to do, they never closed their churches, they never closed their businesses, and they never

00:41:21.960 imposed a vaccine passport up there. In fact, they went one step further. If you were a business that 0.87

00:41:27.220 did impose a vaccine passport, you couldn't do business with the county up there, with Mackenzie

00:41:35.480 County, which was wonderful. They stood against discrimination. They stood together as a community

00:41:42.380 and respected everybody's medical choices. And as it turns out, once you took coercion out of the

00:41:48.160 equation, the town of La Crete, only about one in three people made a choice to vaccinate because

00:41:56.300 they weren't coerced. And that town, according to I-Corps Blood Testing, achieved natural immunity

00:42:02.660 way sooner than the rest of the population. So all that is to say, I-Corps, before they went into

00:42:11.480 hibernation, they made a proposal with the Alberta government. And I'll read from the CEO's letter.

00:42:17.420 Just before we went into hibernation, I submitted a proposal to Alberta Health Services for a pilot

00:42:22.320 project. Under this pilot, we would complete screening testing on 1,000 Albertans between

00:42:27.080 the ages of 50 and 75 and screen for 10 different types of cancer as well as cardiovascular disease.

00:42:34.780 The case we want to make is that money spent up front for screening testing can identify individuals

00:42:39.760 with cancer or cardiovascular disease while still in the early stages. By doing this, our healthcare

00:42:45.560 system can then intervene, which not only increases survivability odds, but also decreases the long-term

00:42:52.640 cost impact on the system. We can keep individuals out of the hospital or mitigate expensive late-term

00:42:59.860 treatments. Although I cannot share the details of the pilot, I am pleased to report that we have received

00:43:04.520 positive feedback on it and are hoping for further conversations or approval soon. The outcome of this

00:43:10.380 pilot, if positive and demonstrating value, could then set the stage for an I-Corps resurgence focused

00:43:16.360 on government-backed preventative screening testing. The selection of pilot participants is yet to be

00:43:21.820 determined, but I have requested that I-Corps qualify participants from this mail list. So stay tuned for our

00:43:28.200 next newsletter for an update. I think this is wonderful. Screening people in advance for diseases

00:43:36.440 to increase their survivability, but also lessen the burden on the healthcare system. I don't know why

00:43:44.120 the government wouldn't do this. I wish them the best of luck. This is a huge thing to put healthcare

00:43:51.280 back in the hands of the patient. That's wonderful. Good for I-Corps for being innovators. And let me

00:43:58.060 tell you, I'm not sponsored by I-Corps. They've never given me anything for free. In fact, I paid for

00:44:02.540 all of our testing through the support of our viewers at home. But very innovative. It's the possibility

00:44:13.360 of a public-private partnership with healthcare, which means that definitely the left is going to

00:44:19.820 absolutely hate this because they love big government and making sure that they are in

00:44:25.920 control of your health instead of you. Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thank

00:44:29.720 you so much for tuning in. I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next

00:44:33.760 week. And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:44:37.400 you

00:44:47.500 so

00:44:49.300 We'll be right back.

Rebel News Podcast - August 25, 2022

SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Robbie Picard from Oilsands Strong is going on a national tour

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript