Rebel News Podcast - SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Tight budgets, real choices — and one MP who said 'no' to a raise

00:00:00.000 An MP that refused his salary hike receives great praise from the Canadian public and

00:00:06.980 Alberta's budget is out tomorrow. What are your wish lists? Mine, lower spending.

00:00:13.940 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:00:30.000 Here's the thing when you stand up and do the right thing. The people unwilling to do that right

00:00:38.660 thing become embarrassed because your act of selfless bravery or ethics, it shines a light

00:00:50.240 on their own lack thereof. And I think some of that is happening to Matt Dawson, a conservative MP that

00:00:57.020 describes himself as a drywaller and who refused his automatic salary hike. And then it's budget day

00:01:06.560 in Alberta tomorrow and the premier is already warning that it's not going to be all that great.

00:01:13.420 So join me today to break all this down and a lot more is my friend Chris Sims

00:01:17.860 from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Take a listen.

00:01:27.020 Joining me now is my good friend and good friend of Taxpayers Everywhere, Chris Sims. She's the

00:01:33.400 Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. And we're going to talk about a few things,

00:01:37.700 including how you, the beloved public, feel about MP pay hikes and Chris's wish list for the Alberta

00:01:47.760 budget. And I know some of you are from outside of Alberta, but we really believe that Alberta is

00:01:53.960 leading the way on a lot of issues. I think Daniel Smith on many issues is the de facto leader of the

00:02:01.320 conservative movement writ large and her bravery allows other people to follow behind her. So we're

00:02:08.600 going to talk about the Alberta budget, which comes out tomorrow, Thursday. Chris, thanks for joining the

00:02:14.420 show. Let's first talk about MP Mike Dawson, just an all around good dude, former construction worker,

00:02:22.800 rejecting his pay hike, and then getting a lot of flack for it from, from, from some interesting

00:02:29.880 places. Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it. So for folks who don't know, Member of Parliament,

00:02:36.200 Mike Dawson, he's a brand new MP. He's from Miramichi Grand Lake in New Brunswick. As he puts it,

00:02:43.620 he's a, as he puts it, just a drywaller from New Brunswick. I will point out, my brother's a drywaller.

00:02:50.000 Um, all my brothers are tradesmen. Uh, we don't use the term just, he was doing that because he's

00:02:54.500 super humble. Um, so backbench members of parliament are already paid more than $200,000

00:03:02.280 per year. That's salary. On top of that, they get a ton of their expenses covered. Okay. Like food and

00:03:08.360 transportation and housing and all that jazz. And again, this is a backbench bare minimum. Like you

00:03:13.460 show up with two feet in a heartbeat, you're an MP. So you don't have any committee responsibilities,

00:03:18.360 no critic roles, nothing. Um, what's frustrating is that Mike, Mike is the only one who has said,

00:03:26.500 you know what? No, I'm not taking a pay raise. It's wrong. Especially when men and women who are 1.00

00:03:31.640 working in my riding are really hurting. Okay. They can barely afford groceries and anybody that

00:03:36.620 goes to the store can see that right now. Um, I'm not doing it. And so he wrote an official letter

00:03:41.920 on letterhead from his office to the clerk of the house of commons and said, don't give me this pay

00:03:46.680 raise. And now a bunch of, uh, people are being willfully ignorant, uh, in the house of commons

00:03:51.820 and saying, Oh, well, you can't do that. It's impossible to stop a pay raise, which is stupid.

00:03:57.140 Um, of course they can stop a pay raise. Um, a they're legislators. They literally write law.

00:04:04.280 They can, they can, you know, declare the house of commons to be a circus tent if they want to.

00:04:09.920 Okay. Um, they often act like it is. So he, they can do this. And as, as Mike put it,

00:04:16.340 um, when we talked to him, he said, man, you can put a man on the moon. Like, let's not reinvent

00:04:22.120 the wheel here. I'm sure you can say no pay raises. Um, so we put out a poll and we were so

00:04:28.860 proud to see the numbers as the kids say, this is an 80, 20 issue. Yeah. About 80% of Canadians

00:04:36.640 agree with Mike Dawson and oppose member of parliament pay increases. Why he's the only one

00:04:45.200 that is a mystery for X-Files. I don't get it. I do get it because I think a lot of people get

00:04:56.160 into politics for the money and the power. And as we've seen with Matt Jennero in Edmonton

00:05:03.380 Riverbend, uh, it doesn't matter what party you are with sometimes. And, uh, you know, it's,

00:05:11.760 it's self-preservation, it's, uh, lining one's own pockets and they forget about the people who sent

00:05:18.680 them there, but I'm happy to see that Mike Dawson didn't. And I'm happy to see the amount of people

00:05:25.320 who emailed them, took time out of their own day and wrote a sincere email, not form letter,

00:05:34.460 sincere email to him to thank him. I think it was 10,000. Yeah. Um, I might choke up because I'm such

00:05:42.080 a nerd, but I'm so proud for doing this. Um, so the Taxpayers Federation, uh, we did put out,

00:05:47.660 you know, a, Hey, everybody thank Mike Dawson. But for those folks who are watching, who do get our

00:05:52.660 emails, you notice we don't do forms. It's not click this form to automatically send because that

00:05:57.900 gets filtered out and the people on the Hill don't see it. Um, no, this is, and it wasn't just

00:06:02.940 Taxpayers Federation. There were people who've never heard of us before who saw Mike Dawson's story

00:06:07.860 somehow on either, you know, independent real journalism or, you know, mainstream media.

00:06:13.600 However, they found out more than 10,000 people sent an original email to that guy saying, good job,

00:06:22.280 buddy. Thank you so much. And, um, it must be overwhelming because I know a lot of people with

00:06:28.980 our inbox, they won't just say good job. They'll say why they'll say like how they can't afford

00:06:34.900 something or how their wife just got sick. Or so I just want to give a shout out to Mike because

00:06:39.660 I know sometimes reading thousands and thousands like that can start to weigh on you. Um, keep your

00:06:45.760 chin up, man. We're super proud of you. I will point out it's Wednesday and for nerds on the Hill,

00:06:52.260 that's a caucus day. And that's where all the parties get together within their own groups

00:06:56.580 behind closed doors. And you're supposed to not talk about what happens in caucus, um, every Wednesday

00:07:01.720 morning on the Hill. And so I'm, I'm really, really hoping that he's not getting any grief

00:07:07.500 from any conservative MPs. They better not try to pull this crap again, Sheila, because when I heard

00:07:13.920 about that, ironically through the CBC, um, that he was getting the gears, um, tax fighters were super

00:07:21.500 mad about that. So we need to see some leadership here, frankly, in the house of commons, everybody

00:07:26.980 should be standing with Mike Dawson. Um, I will just put on my political strategist hat real quick.

00:07:32.100 If you don't mind indulging me, please imagine if prime minister Mark Carney's the one that comes

00:07:37.240 out and says, you know what? People are hurting right now and I am going to freeze the pay increases.

00:07:43.960 Talk about getting outflanked, man. Yeah. Yeah. Could happen. I would, if I were Carney.

00:07:51.780 Yeah. He's rich enough.

00:07:53.520 It doesn't matter.

00:07:56.100 That burn hidden him. He's got tons of money and prime ministers are paid like $400,000 per year,

00:08:01.580 plus a fancy place to live, et cetera, et cetera. What's he, what are they going to do? What's

00:08:05.620 his cabinet going to do? Revolt? Leave? He was their, he was their meal ticket during the last

00:08:12.360 election. They're not going anywhere. Yeah. So I wouldn't be surprised if it's Mark Carney that

00:08:17.020 steps forward. You know, it would be a, a, a shrewd political move. Yeah. He pulled the same

00:08:22.120 stunt with the carbon tax. Sure did. Yeah. Sure did. So we'll see. We'll see. Sorry for being so

00:08:27.060 frustrated. Um, it's, it's just that, how do I put this? I feel like there used to be more Mike

00:08:33.800 Dawson's. Yes. Like who were MPs, you know, like back in the early reform days and stuff. And to be

00:08:40.340 fair, even some of the folks who used to work, um, within the NDP, like I remember Bill Blakey being a

00:08:46.280 boiler maker, like talking about the working man and woman all the time, Jack Layton, the late Jack

00:08:51.580 Layton, even he folks might forget. He opposed the carbon tax all the time. We used to book them

00:08:59.140 on CTV all the time and he hated the carbon tax. Why? Because it punished people for heating their

00:09:06.260 homes in winter and driving to work. And he thought that it was especially cruel to poor people.

00:09:11.180 It is. Where are those MPs? Where are those NDP folks who are supposed to be supporting the

00:09:17.160 working man? Like seriously, sorry, I'm getting ticked off. I know. I know. Um, and, and just a

00:09:23.140 message to the conservative MPs who gave, uh, Mike Dawson a hard time. We know who you are,

00:09:29.040 or at least I'm pretty sure I know who you are. Just so you know, just putting you on notice.

00:09:36.060 I'm pretty sure I know who you are and okay. You wouldn't want yourself subjected to extra scrutiny.

00:09:42.220 Would you? Sure wouldn't. Sure wouldn't. Because entitlement, if you're entitled to your

00:09:47.760 entitlements, that's kryptonite politics, man. Yeah. Still is. People do not like seeing their

00:09:54.760 dollars being wasted and they despise entitlement. So folks are going to be getting a really hard look.

00:10:02.800 Yeah, they sure are. Especially in this time of, you know, outrageous, out of control,

00:10:08.780 food inflation, uh, 6% food inflation. People are, are having a tough time just getting by,

00:10:15.380 just putting food in their kids bellies and, you know, being crushed by taxes. And then the people

00:10:24.980 who stand up in the house of commons and make speeches on your behalf about food inflation

00:10:29.400 are taking a pay raise that stings, man. Can I tell you like God's truth story that happened last

00:10:36.900 night? Um, so I was at a grocery store, uh, because I have to head out to Edmonton after

00:10:41.740 we're finished chatting. So, you know, I have to make sure my fridge has got food in it for

00:10:45.860 my people. Um, mom's going to be away. Um, and so there was a lady that was behind me and I could 0.93

00:10:55.260 tell she did not want to talk. You know what I mean? Where don't talk to her or offer her stuff.

00:11:01.000 I could just, you can sense it. Um, anyway, I'm bagging my stuff. Um, and she comes in behind 0.99

00:11:07.180 me. And again, I don't know her circumstances. Um, and I don't know why this is what she was

00:11:11.660 buying, but this is what I saw. She was buying a huge bag of no name brand potatoes. Um, a couple

00:11:20.080 of trays of liver, which were reduced and on sale and a bottle of ketchup. She was digging around in her

00:11:30.000 purse to get the, I forget how much it was costing like $20 that she needed to buy cell phone minutes 1.00

00:11:36.880 for her phone. Okay. So like the cheapest possible way she could do. And I, it was hard listening to

00:11:44.840 her because the, the, the checkout guy, nice kid, um, brand new, they automatically ask if you want

00:11:51.900 to round up to feed kids or whatever it is like round up for the food bank. Um, et cetera. And she said,

00:11:57.800 uh, I'm fighting to feed myself right now. Yeah. But I, I saw this last night and I kind of looked

00:12:06.500 at her and she looked at me like, don't I'm like, cause I was going to say like, do you want my extra

00:12:12.160 bag of pepperoni? Like something, but you could just get the feeling off of her. Right. Where she was,

00:12:16.940 you could tell she was working. She had some sort of like paint work pants on, um, super proud. Um, 0.62

00:12:23.840 and it was fighting tooth and nail to afford stuff. And this is in Alberta. Right. I can't imagine

00:12:31.140 someone in downtown Toronto or a single mom or somebody, God love them in Vancouver or anywhere

00:12:38.620 in BC. Anyway, all this is to say shame on those members of parliament. Right. For wanting those pay

00:12:45.400 hikes. How dare you? How dare you? Yeah. How dare you take the pay hike from that lady struggling to feed 1.00

00:12:52.120 herself from her taxes? How dare you? Poor lady just trying to hang on to her dignity in this horrible 1.00

00:12:59.540 country. I just said, my student's calling and I didn't know I was going to share this story,

00:13:03.700 but the way you, the way you put it, it, I couldn't not tell her story. Yeah. Yeah. She she's the people

00:13:09.680 these conservatives are supposed to be fighting for not themselves in their own pocketbooks. Yep.

00:13:14.480 Skip your pay hike guys. Yeah. For some leadership. Yeah. Um, just, I want to touch on this

00:13:20.940 thing real quick before we go into your wishlist for the, uh, Alberta government for our budget

00:13:26.300 coming out tomorrow. Uh, Carson Binda has done some excellent work, um, exposing British Columbia's

00:13:34.680 waste. Uh, bureaucrats making six figure salaries have blown thousands of dollars on gift cards

00:13:42.320 to sports stores, Starbucks, and Amazon over the past year. All this while the government is hiking

00:13:48.840 taxes on families and rolling back core programs, uh, NDPers being NDPers, I guess, but like, what are

00:13:56.720 they doing there? Um, wasting money as hard and fast as possible. Um, I gotta say, uh, Carson is young

00:14:05.660 enough to be my son and I think of him that way. I am so proud of him. Uh, he has been going after

00:14:14.840 expenses and FOI. So freedom of information, et cetera, with a hammer and tong. Like he's so

00:14:22.840 good at it. And like, I'm not super good at it because I'll put out a bunch of requests and I'll

00:14:28.040 get some stupid delay back and then I get distracted by some other dumpster fire. But Carson is literally

00:14:33.780 going to help me do this because he's so good at it. So at the provincial level, they're doing this,

00:14:41.220 the, both the government and the bureaucrats are doing this and at the city level. Oh yeah. So

00:14:46.740 he's on this like a duck on a June bug. Uh, Carson, uh, somehow manages to make rent in some cracker

00:14:52.740 box apartment in Vancouver. Um, and he has dug into the expenses in places like Richmond. Okay. Metro

00:15:00.700 Vancouver, which is basically, um, a slush fund board for all the mayors of Metro Vancouver to get

00:15:06.780 together and spend money. If you can believe it, Sheila mayors. Okay. So for folks who are watching

00:15:12.980 in British Columbia in the down, in, in the downtown, the greater Vancouver regional district,

00:15:17.780 it used to be called now it's Metro Vancouver. It basically runs from half of Langley all the way

00:15:23.020 through, you know, Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, all the way up to North, North Van that area, your mayors

00:15:29.900 get together a couple of times a month at the Metro Vancouver board meeting. They are paid meeting fees.

00:15:40.300 Like these mayors, I know, I know. So it's so gross. I know it's what I said. So they're already paid

00:15:48.700 salary. Okay. Right. Like 200, 300 grand, whatever the rake off is. Okay. They're overpaid. All of them.

00:15:54.380 Um, if you, these people, choosing my words lightly, um, they show up to a meeting, they get paid like

00:16:05.260 300 bucks per pop. This is like the at issue panel on CBC. Right. But it's just like, you know,

00:16:13.020 I don't get paid unless I roll out of bed. You know, it's just gross. So Carson has done a huge deep

00:16:18.300 dive. Suffice to say tons of taxpayers money going out the door. He once described, um, apparently

00:16:25.980 one, I think it was, I can't remember if it was Richmond or if it was a provincial bureaucratic

00:16:31.580 department, they literally had a bucket of gift cards. Oh my God. Like to sports stores and the keg

00:16:40.620 and all these fancy places. And it's not these stores' fault. They've got nothing to do with them.

00:16:45.660 It's the government and the bureaucrats. They just handed out like candy. This is why you can't

00:16:51.500 afford things. So kudos to Carson. And if I might, I usually don't do this. Um,

00:16:58.860 Global BC has been listening very carefully. There's still a couple of real journalists in there

00:17:04.700 who are doing the who, what, where, when, why, how work. Um, so kudos to them too. They've been

00:17:11.580 picking up on all of Carson's work. They've been handing stuff back and forth, which is how

00:17:15.180 advocacy organizations do their best work. Um, anyway, kudos to Carson. Anybody go check out

00:17:20.860 that spending scandal. It, it'll shock you. And I'm literally going to just copy that kid's homework

00:17:26.540 because I heard, I heard that Calgary. Yeah. There's all sorts of funny business happening

00:17:33.340 right now. Like somebody just emailed me about it this morning. So I'm yeah. Edmonton has funny

00:17:39.980 business happening too. I've got a big story coming out. That's going to make everybody

00:17:43.980 very angry. Next time you're stranded in your neighborhood for three weeks because the city

00:17:50.060 can't clear the snow. Um, I'll tell you what they've been doing in the winter with your money.

00:17:55.260 She already told me, but I can't tell you what I'm super excited.

00:18:01.340 Yeah. Good stuff. Well, bad time you're tripping over a drug addict downtown. Remember what the

00:18:07.900 city's doing with your valuable money. Um, no, Chris, uh, budget day tomorrow in Alberta.

00:18:14.940 And I'm hoping for the best, but as always, as I am in politics, bracing for the worst,

00:18:20.620 what do you want to see? Okay. So I always try to say the nice things first. First off,

00:18:26.300 we are really happy with what premier Daniel Smith is doing. Okay. Like by country mile,

00:18:31.580 she's outshining the other provinces. That's really good. She delivered on a huge tax cut

00:18:36.620 last budget season. Okay. So a year ago, that's a really big deal. They have things like the taxpayer

00:18:42.940 protection act that's been changed now so that they cannot increase spending beyond the rate of

00:18:48.140 inflation plus population growth, like super important stuff. That's good. However,

00:18:55.820 they're still spending too much money. Yes. Like they're adding to the debt, like big time.

00:19:03.740 Right now. I know what people are saying of like, oh, well, the price of a barrel of oil isn't what we

00:19:08.380 need for our benchmark. And yeah, Ottawa sending way too many people here too fast. Like, yes, yes,

00:19:14.140 yes. Ottawa will always do stupid things. Right. We can control the other side of that though with

00:19:19.660 the spending. Yeah, that's right. So we have got to get this under control. I know premier Daniel

00:19:27.180 Smith loves the late former premier Ralph Klein with him holding that sign of paid in full above his head.

00:19:32.940 I know she wants to reach that promised land again. This is how it has to happen though. She has got to be

00:19:39.900 Dr. No. Yeah. She has got to grab the chainsaw or the big pieces, pairs of scissors and cut, 1.00

00:19:47.020 cut, cut. Fraser Institute did a good, really good job. They put out a piece in the fall and they said,

00:19:52.860 Sheila, if we reduce the size of our Alberta, Alberta government back down to pre 2020 levels.

00:20:00.300 So pre lockdown. Okay. Yeah, we would save billions of dollars per year. So she needs to do that. 1.00

00:20:08.860 Start up the chainsaw, cut it back down to like 2018, 2019 levels, because you don't need this much

00:20:13.500 government to, I say 2014 levels, because in 2015, the NDP ballooned the size of the public sector to

00:20:22.380 hide job losses. They added like 50,000 people to the government payroll to offset all the jobs that

00:20:31.420 were being lost in the oil and gas sector to skew their numbers. We need to go to 2014 because we've

00:20:40.060 been artificially inflated since at least then. Amazing. Okay. Well, let's go back there because

00:20:45.660 it would save so much money. So much money, premier. I know what you want to. Okay. Yes.

00:20:51.340 Like, here's your backup. Okay. We got the tanks rolling in. We got your backup. Um,

00:20:56.060 also stop all corporate welfare. Okay. Which costs us billions of dollars. Also stop handing out money

00:21:02.860 to NHL teams. Yeah. Like that's, that's millions of taxpayers dollars. Um, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary

00:21:09.020 Flames, they can pay for their own stuff. Like stop handing out that money. Now, the other, 0.62

00:21:14.060 do you have time to get into the art? Cause it's so dumb. Uh, I would love to, I just want to point

00:21:19.580 out that the more Danielle Smith does the hard things, the higher she gets up in the polls. 1.00

00:21:23.660 I know. Like, you know, if you got all your news from the mainstream media, you would think her

00:21:30.300 banning of explicit materials from elementary school libraries was wildly unpopular or the teacher's

00:21:36.860 strike dealing with the teacher's strike the way she did was wildly unpopular. But as it turns out,

00:21:42.460 she's up 13 points on the NDP, um, in recent polling and she like, that's headed upward. So do

00:21:49.660 the hard things and people will, uh, support you for doing them, but they want the hard things done.

00:21:54.940 We were so glad to see her stand up to the teacher's union. Um, it would have been the easiest

00:22:00.300 thing she could have done in the world is just, okay, that's fine. I'll be the nice person. Here's

00:22:06.380 2 billion more dollars handed to the teacher's union. Okay. I will point out real quick a,

00:22:14.140 the offer that they were offered, which they now have as their contract make Alberta teachers,

00:22:18.780 the highest paid teachers in all of Western Canada. Okay. On average, the classroom number

00:22:24.860 of days that are actually physically worked in classrooms for teachers, about 180, 185 days ish per

00:22:32.460 year. In case you're wondering the average working stiff, uh, about 240 days. Yeah. I wish not even

00:22:41.340 close. Um, and I know, right. And then, and I, sorry if you rewind to October, but it was so important

00:22:48.220 that she stood up like this. Yeah. I will also point out the Alberta teachers union didn't have

00:22:53.580 any strike funds to pay their teachers while they were on the ticket line. Right. That's super weird.

00:22:59.020 If I were a teacher and I've been paying my union dues for the last 10, 15 years, and I got nothing

00:23:04.460 during a strike that they wanted, I'd be super angry and I'd be asking some tough questions.

00:23:09.980 So it was really good for Daniel Smith to say, no, you're not getting an extra 2 billion on top of

00:23:16.700 all of this. This is more than fair. Take your contract. Um, so that was really important. She was

00:23:23.020 a very iron lady there. That was good. And it saved taxpayers $2 billion. Um, so, and yeah,

00:23:29.020 it turns these things turn into 80, 20 issues. They sure do. They sure do. It's amazing. Um,

00:23:35.580 and if I were, if I were a teacher right now, I'd be wondering why I was angry at the province,

00:23:41.020 um, for their, uh, you know, if you listen to the ATA, the province is mismanaging the budget when it comes

00:23:49.020 to education, but it's like, okay, but you guys kind of mismanaged the budget when it came to those

00:23:53.900 union dues, didn't you? Sure did. Maybe you guys aren't the experts on this. You think you are?

00:23:58.940 Sure did. And anyone, um, the budget is actually pretty readable. Like anybody, it's right there.

00:24:05.340 It's on open data. It's right there on all of the government websites. You can go back. Gosh,

00:24:10.140 I think I went back to like 1994 in one of my budget reports before every year. And you can see as a line

00:24:16.860 item, what we're paying for K to 12 education. It goes up like this. Yes. This whole, oh,

00:24:22.380 you've cut education spending. That is not true. Like it's just mathematically wrong. You can,

00:24:28.060 you can hate Daniel Smith. You can love Daniel Smith. You can love Naheed Nenshi. I don't care.

00:24:32.140 Okay. Like math is there and it is not being cut. So let's talk about real things here. Um,

00:24:39.500 this art thing, do you want me to mention this part? Please do. Okay. So people are going to say,

00:24:44.700 oh, well, this is little stuff. Um, I don't know. The way I was raised $5 million is not little stuff.

00:24:52.380 Okay. Yeah. This will surprise some people. The province of Alberta, you, the provincial taxpayer

00:24:59.900 spent more than $5 million in the last fiscal year on individuals, art projects, like people,

00:25:09.500 not a school, not an art gallery or some, you know, show choir. No, no. Like Jane Smith,

00:25:17.020 artist, artist, um, asks for money. I'm using that term really loosely. Um, and they get money.

00:25:26.140 Like, I'll give you an example. Um, there's a lady here in Lethbridge actually. Um, and it's just, 0.88

00:25:31.820 there's one example. There's tons of stupid examples. Uh, lady here in Lethbridge, 1.00

00:25:35.180 she got $15,000. She routinely gets $15,000 in these, in these provincial government grants.

00:25:42.620 Um, one time she flew overseas and videotaped herself flopping around on a lawn chair

00:25:49.820 for like eight minutes. Yeah. She was like, you know, took her Crocs off and like flopped around

00:25:56.380 and videotaped it. Um, if you want to call that art, like fill your boots.

00:26:01.020 I don't want to pay for it. Exactly. Don't make taxpayers pay for it. Start a GoFundMe,

00:26:06.140 get willing donations. Another time, same, same artist. Um, she flew overseas and she taped a big

00:26:13.500 piece of paper to a wall and then she hid behind it. Again, that was like 15 grand. So that's just,

00:26:21.180 so, and there's tons of examples like that. Tons and tons and tons. There's a lady that like 1.00

00:26:24.860 doodled on her hand with pen and thought, oh, that kind of looks like a map of Iraq.

00:26:30.140 And then she took a picture of it. I think that was $10,000. Are you, this is mental.

00:26:37.420 I know. So again, anyone can go look this stuff up, go to Alberta arts foundation,

00:26:44.700 grant recipients, click on it, download the data set, and then cross-reference, find something

00:26:49.900 like find a name, find a location, and then Google that person and see what art they produce. Okay.

00:26:55.660 The point here is, is that of course art is in the eye of the beholder, but taxpayers shouldn't be

00:27:01.100 paying for this. Right. Like go find willing donors, go find willing sponsors. And lastly,

00:27:09.500 even the group stuff. Okay. We're not just paying for, you know, Chinook high school to go do a

00:27:15.420 clarinet lesson. Like I think a lot of people understand to pay for that. Sure. I get it.

00:27:20.300 There's some art galleries, Sheila. It blew my mind. I found this one, um, that actually has a,

00:27:27.500 a window in the downtown Calgary transit way. That's right downtown there by the train.

00:27:32.860 And, uh, the gallery was putting up art in the window. Some of this art, it was takeout food

00:27:41.260 container garbage that was taped to old Christmas tinsel. And then they hanged it in the window.

00:27:48.300 I know I have pictures of it. What am I doing working for a living? I know.

00:27:53.420 What am I doing putting in an honest day's work when I could just go lay in a lawn chair overseas

00:28:02.540 and flop around? I know. Like not just that folks. I don't know if I'm allowed to say like,

00:28:08.060 you know, Sheila, like has her own like trailer. She brings to like Canadian war zones. Like she does 1.00

00:28:14.140 all the things like she, she eats beef jerky out of a cooler for like a week. 1.00

00:28:18.860 Like I want everybody to know when I go on missions and they're local, I bring my own trailer to make

00:28:25.260 sure that I keep the costs low because we're crowdfunded. That's out of my own pocket. I'm

00:28:30.060 cooking steaks out of my freezer that I bought from the boy who lives next door. She's bringing

00:28:35.500 her jar of pickles. I bring my own pickles that I made. I know I had, I still have it. I kept it.

00:28:41.580 I couldn't. And I am working for a living so that some lady can go overseas and lay out in a lawn 1.00

00:28:47.740 chair. And she's like, I'm art. I just can't believe it. Or hide behind a big piece of paper.

00:28:53.820 And again, um, I'm sorry for laughing. If you don't laugh, you'll cry. Plus we need to laugh at

00:28:59.020 them because we have to mock all these people because they think that they're landed dukes.

00:29:02.460 Um, so the one in the transit window, um, again, I'm not kidding. It was food containers.

00:29:08.860 So I've been saving all of the plastic trays and stuff from all of my grocery shops and everything.

00:29:14.540 And I've been washing them and I'm going to make art and, um, I'm going to tape tinsel to it.

00:29:19.980 We should have an art show and one of them will be a video of me doing my art. And that is hiding

00:29:27.180 in haunted houses and corn mazes during the spooky season to make them more exciting for the people

00:29:34.060 who come. It's a public service that I do for free. Um, but it's also my art form. And you know,

00:29:40.860 if a lady can hide behind a piece of paper, I can hide behind a fake coffin and jump out and we'll do 1.00

00:29:46.700 an art show. She sent me a video once guys, it actually terrified me because I didn't know what

00:29:53.740 I was looking at at first. Like it was just no movement. And all of a sudden this thing jumps out.

00:29:58.540 It was great. That was art. Good job, Sheila. It is art. You know what? Taxpayers didn't pay for it.

00:30:02.860 No, no, I actually paid to get in the corn maze and then I did the public service and

00:30:07.260 making it better for everybody. But it is my art. It is my art. Anywho, um, I was shocked to see

00:30:14.700 that Alberta, Alberta, we have to stop this madness. We have to, that was $5 million just for the

00:30:21.500 individuals. There was way more money spent when you add in the groups and stuff. So I know Premier

00:30:28.300 Smith, if she's watching this, she's probably pulling her hair out because she does not like

00:30:32.220 this nonsense. She doesn't like this kind of waste. She thinks it's silly. Um, a stop all the individual 0.82

00:30:38.220 funding. B go through that group funding with a fine tooth comb. For sure. Unless you are a bunch

00:30:43.980 of kids who are trying to go to the Calgary, you know, clarinet center. Yep. Don't pay for that stuff.

00:30:50.220 Yeah. Yeah. Just, I don't want to, I don't want to pay for somebody else's weird hobbies.

00:30:55.100 I'm already paying for my own weird hobbies. Chris, how do people find the good work that you

00:31:01.180 do over at the CTF? And it's not just you, it's Franco, it's Carson, it's, uh, Devin. You guys are

00:31:07.580 all just doing your best to hold the government to account on behalf of the little guy. Oh, thank you.

00:31:12.380 And, uh, Gage Halbrick, I have to, yes, for sure. Yeah. He's our prairie director and he has been

00:31:17.420 going after the gun grab, just tooth and nail crazy folks can go to taxpayer.com. Okay. Click

00:31:24.380 on the petition link. And then there's something there for everyone. Like if you want to defund the

00:31:29.820 CBC, if you want to defund the media, um, if you want to scrap all carbon taxes, if you want to get

00:31:36.540 rid of, uh, the ban on the sale of gas and diesel vehicles, cause it's still happening. It's just the

00:31:41.180 regulation. There's something there for everyone. Okay. Yeah. Stop government waste, stop governor,

00:31:45.740 general waste, something like that. Click on the petition, sign it. And then you're part of our

00:31:50.460 email group. Okay. And what's wonderful about it is a, it's a form of fellowship. So you don't feel

00:31:55.820 like you're alone anymore in this crazy world. And B when it's time to all gang tackle an issue at one

00:32:02.540 time, you'll be part of the taxpayer army. And so just go to taxpayer.com and sign up. It's free.

00:32:07.740 Yep. And if you want to thank a politician who's done the right thing, you'll find out about it there

00:32:14.300 too. You sure will. Yeah. Chris, thanks so much for coming on the show and making the time this

00:32:18.780 morning. And, uh, I know you got to get on the road up to Edmonton. It looks like the roads will

00:32:22.620 be nice today. It's nice weather for once, uh, drive carefully and hold that government to account for

00:32:28.700 us. Thanks, Sheila. Well, as always, the last portion of the show belongs to you,

00:32:40.300 our viewer, because without you, there's no rebel news. So I got to let you have your say. So you

00:32:44.620 can send me a letter to Sheila at rebel news.com, put gun show letters in the subject line. So I know

00:32:50.620 why you're emailing me, but also if you would be so kind as to do a thing that helps us out here at

00:32:56.220 rebel news interact with the clips of the show, you know, the free ones that you might find on

00:33:00.540 YouTube or rumble. If you leave a comment or if you share or like those, it helps the algorithm

00:33:07.020 serve us up in front of more people. And if more people see the clips of the show, then they join

00:33:11.660 our little gang here behind the paywall where you and I get to talk about things. So today's letter

00:33:18.380 comes to me by way of Terrence. He is a regular viewer of the show and frequently writes viewer feedback

00:33:24.860 to me, which I appreciate. And Terrence writes, Hi, Sheila. To begin with, let me say what a pleasure

00:33:30.780 it was to meet you at the independence tour in Red Deer and have you sign your latest book for me.

00:33:36.300 You've always been my favorite rebel reporter and your book is a first class publication. Well,

00:33:41.340 thank you so much. You can get my book at independenceblueprint.ca. And you can find out

00:33:49.980 about the next bit of our independence tour where I'm on the road with Tamara Leach and Corey Morgan

00:33:57.260 over at the Western Standard. And we're talking about Western independence. And for me, I'm talking

00:34:03.340 about the questions we need to have answered for the public based on the Quebec experience. Because,

00:34:12.140 you know, a lot of times Quebec and Alberta were seen as mortal enemies a little bit. We,

00:34:18.700 we pay, they take, but they came as close as anybody to ever leaving this country. And they stress tested

00:34:26.780 in a series of commissions what the people's concerns were and what would get them over to the yes side

00:34:36.540 from the no side. And so I got my hands on those commission documents, read them, wrote a book,

00:34:43.100 book, basically serving up the independence movement, the series of questions and concerns

00:34:48.860 that they really need to alleviate for the public to move from no to yes, in the referendum vote,

00:34:56.220 because I'm sure we will be going to referendum. And once the referendum question is approved,

00:35:04.460 after the petition signatures are counted, it sounds like we will be going to referendum in October.

00:35:11.820 So it's going to be a summer campaign of information. So that's what's coming next. So anyways, I was on a

00:35:20.380 tour stop, I met Terrence, which was a delight. Terrence says, why am I writing? I'm a 77 year old male Alberta

00:35:28.700 boomer who should be basking in my retirement years while contemplating my life well lived. Instead I wake up

00:35:34.220 most mornings with feelings of dread for my grandchildren's future in this country. Man,

00:35:39.980 our Alberta boomers are just better than those liberal voting Toronto ones. For sure. This results

00:35:47.100 from 11 years of dreadful liberal governments. For this, I blame my own generation, mainly my

00:35:53.100 counterparts in Eastern Canada. Me too, Terrence. How can they be so blind as to keep voting these

00:35:58.860 corrupt people into power? Could it be because they have watched the mainstream media all their lives and

00:36:03.660 didn't notice when they're unbiased and professional news correspondents degenerated into pathological

00:36:08.700 liars to please the governing liberals? For that oversight, they should be ashamed. And why did they

00:36:14.460 fall for this elbows up nonsense? It makes them look like idiots. When I was a kid, we had our own 0.93

00:36:19.020 version of elbows up. We would take the palm of one hand and fit it under the opposite armpit and then

00:36:24.700 flap that arm to make obnoxious noises. When I see those elbows up flapping their arms like chickens 0.98

00:36:31.180 with their heads off, it seems to me they're simply being doubly obnoxious just to be annoying.

00:36:38.140 What happened to their sense of dignity? And when they see Pierre Pauly of an honest and honorable

00:36:42.940 man with a beautiful wife and children and then compare him to devious Mark Carney,

00:36:49.500 then how can they possibly choose Carney to represent their country? I no longer feel any

00:36:55.180 allegiance to Canada or its flag with the maple leaf that grows poorly in Western Canada and with

00:37:02.300 those stark red colors symbolic of the Liberal Party. I do however feel proud of being an Albertan

00:37:07.900 along with our beautiful blue conservative flag. Alberta independence does give me hope though

00:37:15.580 and eases my mind considerably. I think my grandchildren have a hope for a decent and prosperous future

00:37:22.060 as long as they stay in a strong and free independent Alberta. Screw the rest, we'll keep the best.

00:37:28.540 Cheers, Sheila, Terence, and Lacombe.

00:37:33.420 A lot of people feel that way. I know a lot of people, young people, they don't see

00:37:41.980 that they will be able to rise to meet their potential in Confederation and I know a lot of

00:37:50.700 older people like yourself, Terence, in Alberta, they don't recognize Canada anymore and they don't

00:37:59.100 feel like bad Canadians when they say they want an independent Alberta because they feel like they are

00:38:04.140 preserving those values that they saw in Canada by voting for an independent Alberta. It's like the only way

00:38:15.500 to preserve what's left of Canada is to keep it inside of a free and independent Alberta.

00:38:22.540 All right. That's a great letter. On that wonderful note, let's close the show. Thanks everybody for

00:38:31.420 tuning in. I'll see you back here in the same time in the same place next week. And as always,

00:38:35.980 don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:38:46.940 I'll see you back here in the same time.

Rebel News Podcast - February 26, 2026

SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Tight budgets, real choices — and one MP who said 'no' to a raise

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