Rebel News Podcast - The untold story of pro-pipeline, pro-business First Nations (Guest： Robbie Picard)

00:00:00.000 Hello Rebels, you're listening to a free audio only recording of my show, The Gun Show. Today

00:00:05.720 my guest is my friend and Métis Fort McMurray oil sands activist Robbie Picard. He's the founder

00:00:12.260 of Oil Sand Strong. We're discussing how Western Canada's First Nations are speaking up to change

00:00:18.440 the narrative around oil and gas development. These pro-oil and gas indigenous groups have

00:00:24.800 been part of the silent majority for far too long while the radicals and the cranks opposing

00:00:30.540 resource development claim to speak for everyone and get all the airtime. I think it's about time

00:00:36.840 these pro-oil and gas voices were heard. If you like listening to this podcast then you are going

00:00:42.080 to love watching it but in order to watch you need to become a subscriber to premium content. That's

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00:01:21.560 and please leave a five-star review on this podcast and subscribe in iTunes or Google Podcasts or

00:01:28.140 wherever you listen to podcasts. Those reviews are a great way to support The Rebel without having to

00:01:34.000 spend a dime. And now enjoy this free audio-only version of my show. What's being called Canada's

00:01:42.980 first aboriginal-led oil and gas rally happened in Lacklebish, Alberta over the weekend. I'm very glad it

00:01:50.540 happened and it's about time, but my Métis guest tonight has been leading oil and gas rallies

00:01:55.840 for the better part of a decade. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:02:01.260 Did you know that oil and gas and mining are the largest employers of First Nations people

00:02:24.660 in the entire country? These high-paying jobs are giving Canada's Indigenous peoples opportunities

00:02:30.760 to pull themselves and their communities out of the generational poverty that has plagued

00:02:36.060 so many of them. And there's also a burgeoning business class amongst Canada's First Nations,

00:02:43.820 particularly here in Western Canada and especially in Fort McMurray, thanks in no small part to oil

00:02:50.460 and gas development and partnerships with major oil and gas companies. But you wouldn't know it if

00:02:57.520 you got all your news from the mainstream media, would you? These Indigenous success stories are

00:03:03.560 very seldom told. Instead, the mainstream media favours the handful of radicals and kooks who block

00:03:10.240 prosperity not only for Indigenous communities, but for the rest of the entire country. We saw it in 0.99

00:03:18.440 the favourable coverage the anti-trans Mountain Camp Cloud protesters received. They were treated as

00:03:24.740 spokespeople for all the Indigenous groups along the Trans Mountain Pipeline route by sympathetic media

00:03:32.220 outlets when that absolutely couldn't be further from the truth. They were indeed the outliers.

00:03:39.140 And we see it right now in the sycophantic coverage that the gas link protesters are receiving

00:03:44.180 in northern British Columbia. The democratically elected band council of the Wet'suwet'en people

00:03:50.260 have approved that gas pipeline, but the handful of self-appointed hereditary chiefs, heavy on the

00:03:57.080 quotation marks, have decided that they speak for all the people. My colleague Kian Bexy did an

00:04:03.080 incredible expose on the protesters of that pipeline and how they are actually an astroturf creation

00:04:09.620 of the anti-oil movement. But I think the tide is finally turning. An Aboriginal-led pro-oil and gas 0.99

00:04:17.680 rally, complete with a truck convoy, was held in Lacklabish, Alberta over the weekend. Not only did

00:04:23.220 the rally celebrate Aboriginal culture, but it showcased just how important oil and gas development

00:04:28.860 is to the health and welfare of our Aboriginal communities. But long before this Aboriginal-led 1.00

00:04:36.080 rally, my guest was speaking out on behalf of these Aboriginal success stories that are growing in our

00:04:43.120 oil and gas sector. And he's Métis himself. He's from Fort McMurray. We all know him. Joining me tonight

00:04:49.300 is Robbie Picard, founder of OilSandStrong.

00:05:10.060 Joining me now from Fort McMurray is my friend, OilSands activist Robbie Picard. Hey Robbie,

00:05:15.760 thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure. Now, Robbie, you've been a

00:05:20.560 pretty busy guy lately, actually. You're always a pretty busy guy. The reason I wanted to have you

00:05:25.860 on today, or just one of the reasons, I have a ton of things that I want to talk to you about, but

00:05:30.320 I wanted to talk to you about this Aboriginal-led pro-pipeline rally that was in Lacklabish

00:05:38.020 over the weekend. I wasn't able to be there, although I was, like at so many of these rallies,

00:05:45.480 there in spirit. How was it attended? How was it received? What was the response from the community?

00:05:54.000 Mostly it was a positive response. I thought it'd be a little bit more attended, but it's the first

00:06:01.120 one of its kind in a place I don't think has had a rally before. There was a good media presence.

00:06:06.280 They had a truck convoy. It was nice to see that finally people are saying, like, hey, wait a minute.

00:06:14.500 Not having market access affects all First Nations people from all parts of Canada, particularly

00:06:20.480 in Alberta, Saskatchewan, where you have small, medium, and large businesses that are just trying

00:06:26.620 to survive. And I really enjoyed it. They had great food and great dancing, but there needs to be a lot

00:06:34.060 more. And it was good. It was good. Yeah, I was really heartened to see First Nations groups come

00:06:42.700 together to do something so loud and so proud. I think these pro-oil and gas Aboriginal groups are

00:06:51.060 often lost in the shuffle when these small, few, loud activist groups really get all the attention.

00:07:00.780 And that brings me to the next thing I wanted to talk to you about, and that is the Aboriginal presence

00:07:06.860 blocking a liquefied natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia. They're doing it against

00:07:14.380 the will of the democratically elected band in the area. And I think, for me, it speaks to this total

00:07:21.740 disregard for the democratic will of the people in that band to have these, really, a half a dozen

00:07:29.940 activists hold up this multi-billion dollar project for the whole country, but not just for the whole

00:07:35.720 country, for these Aboriginal bands that are trying to lift themselves out of poverty. And then we see

00:07:41.940 people like Hollywood actors, Leonardo DiCaprio, for example, taking the side of these Aboriginal bands

00:07:51.540 against the people who elected their band council, who brought forward an agreement to build the

00:07:57.460 pipeline. It's real simple. Our energy industry is under attack by foreign funded entities. Leonardo

00:08:04.840 DiCaprio's opinion doesn't count because he's the biggest hypocrite in the history of hypocrites in the 1.00

00:08:08.900 world. And what they do is they pay off a few people who, for whatever reason, they don't care about the 0.99

00:08:17.540 democratically elected process through their bands. They don't care that they're actually hurting other

00:08:22.880 aboriginals. It's simply they get either getting paid or they get some kind of joy that they're being

00:08:30.800 backed by these so-called celebrity environmentalists. And it's really costing Canadians. It's costing

00:08:36.800 aboriginals. It's costing, it's insane. And as bad as it is, people are standing up. And I mean, 1.00

00:08:47.120 like, it's, it's, it's, it's beginning to resonate amongst everybody that something needs to be done.

00:08:56.040 And it's a colossal mistake, the way they have not responded to anything and the way they've let this

00:09:02.320 go on for so long. So I mean, as much attention as these small, very timely numbers that people are

00:09:08.380 getting, there are also a lot of people saying, Hey, wait a minute, you're taking kid, you're taking

00:09:13.640 food out of my child's mouth. You're hurting my family. You're hurting your own people. You're hurting 0.82

00:09:18.680 your elders. So I'm glad to see that more people are speaking up, but it's, I'm not surprised. And I mean,

00:09:25.460 Leonardo DiCaprio's opinion, I mean, does not matter to me at all. I cannot, I cannot believe that people are

00:09:30.740 still even listening to him. It's just blows my mind. A guy who can get the biggest yacht in the

00:09:36.160 world and prize flies around on private jets is somehow credible in telling regular people,

00:09:41.600 regular Canadians, regular Aboriginal Canadians on how to live their lives. 0.74

00:09:46.480 You know, it's, it's funny because these celebrity enablers, they'll say stuff like,

00:09:52.480 oh, we're standing up for Aboriginal rights. But while they're doing that, they're stomping on the 1.00

00:09:58.700 actual Aboriginal right to pull themselves out of generational poverty through these

00:10:04.480 multi-billion dollar projects. You're in Fort McMurray, you know, some of the most wealthy

00:10:09.280 Aboriginal bands in the country are right where you are. Isn't that right? 0.99

00:10:13.820 Yes, we have, I mean, pretty much it's all 100% support behind pipelines. I mean, tech just inked a

00:10:22.180 very, very strong, powerful deal that had 100% unanimous Aboriginal support. There's issues that come up

00:10:30.220 from time to time, but I prefer that we, I like what I like is for the most part, we deal with those

00:10:35.400 internally, unless there's some sort of celebrity who's trying to, you know, get more famous by acting

00:10:41.740 as if Fort McMurray is a toxic wasteland. It's actually very beautiful. But I think after Jane Fonda's

00:10:48.380 visit here, we haven't seen one of those celebrities in a long time. But I mean, the Mikasu and the Fort

00:10:57.020 McMurray First Nations, collectively, they have a $500 million deal on a tank farm. Tech has, from what

00:11:02.180 I'm told, is it has billion dollar deals with all of the Aboriginals in our region. Aboriginals in our

00:11:09.100 region are now becoming oil producers themselves. I mean, it's the game has changed. So when we don't

00:11:16.600 have access to market access because of lack of pipelines, and you have these celebrities and

00:11:21.160 these so-called environmentalists that are severely damaging it, it hurts everybody here.

00:11:26.460 But I don't think we're going to take it anymore. I've had several meetings recently with a lot of

00:11:32.280 people and they're fed up. I mean, they just, we have the highest environmental standards in the world

00:11:37.540 and we know how to reclaim land. We know how to work together with industry and we don't need

00:11:43.360 American celebrities telling us how to live. Well, and I, I really think you're right about 0.96

00:11:49.940 the tide changing. There's no longer this silent Aboriginal majority who supports oil and gas

00:11:57.780 development or the, I think the us versus them issues are completely over. I actually saw that

00:12:06.740 pretty evident when I was at one of these rallies against the, um, the Bighorn Park development.

00:12:14.520 Um, the people who are really driving home, um, that they are the protectors of the land and they

00:12:22.660 will not be told by the government how to use the land, um, is the Sun Child First Nation. Um, 0.65

00:12:30.060 they've really been at all of these rallies saying, we will fight for this land and everybody's land

00:12:39.900 use, our, our friends and our neighbours and non-Aboriginal communities. Don't worry. We've

00:12:44.660 got your back. We'll invoke our treaty rights. We'll do whatever it takes. Um, because we are all in this

00:12:50.540 together. And as an Albertan, it's really heartening to see that, uh, we really are on the same side of

00:12:58.840 so many issues, despite, uh, the division that seems to be fostered by these activist groups.

00:13:05.740 Well, I, I think like, so if you just look at basic education, okay, in Fort McMurray,

00:13:13.240 more Aboriginals are graduating than ever before. They're, they're completing degrees. And once with 0.98

00:13:18.900 that knowledge and education, the game's changing and people here don't want to be victims. They

00:13:23.920 don't want to be on a, like a poster. What they want is to live a successful life. I was just at

00:13:29.840 the rah-rah awards and I would like, I, I, I very seldom get emotional, but I really like, look, I

00:13:35.420 like love covering stuff for NABA. And, um, I just posted a video and I mean, these, these people are

00:13:41.460 genius intelligence and excellent contributors to the community. And I tend to focus on business. I'm

00:13:47.400 like, well, this person does this and this, but these are one person went back to school and,

00:13:51.620 and then one person who had a bit of struggles and now they're almost finished their nursing degree.

00:13:56.040 I mean, I think celebrities would prefer that, uh, that, that they can put, that the people that

00:14:03.120 they're trying to claim are victims, state victims, instead of digging themselves out of poverty

00:14:07.260 and then becoming successful and becoming wealthy. And then, and, you know, in contributing to society

00:14:12.940 and all whole multitude of levels, generational poverty can be stopped in minutes. If we all

00:14:17.760 work together, utilize the oil sands in the industry and natural gas, um, in a smart, intelligent,

00:14:25.000 um, um, environmentally responsible way, which we do. Um, it, it weakens their argument,

00:14:34.000 like Leonardo DiCaprio's argument, because he's, he's at like, there's no real victims here. We work

00:14:38.380 together. Yes, there's problems, but we, we have enough intelligence and sophistication to solve

00:14:42.540 our own problems. So, um, I, I think, uh, I think we all get it. And I think we're all united,

00:14:48.920 uh, on that one thing. And I'm trying to keep us united on that one message for all I can do.

00:14:54.260 Now being united is, uh, sort of is a good segue to, uh, my next question that I wanted to ask you

00:15:01.060 about. Um, I wanted to ask you about the convoy to Ottawa. Uh, the convoy to Ottawa was organized by

00:15:09.840 the yellow vest movement or loosely organized by them. They sort of split into two. Um, but I wanted

00:15:17.420 to ask you what your opinion is of the yellow vest convoy to Ottawa. I know that some, some pro oil

00:15:27.380 sands activists have reasons why they, they don't approve of the yellow vesters getting involved 1.00

00:15:33.580 in, uh, pro resource rallies. I think anybody who wants to support Alberta's oil sands are welcome

00:15:39.960 to show up and voice their concern. But I wanted to ask you because you really are like the OG of oil

00:15:46.940 sands activism. And so, uh, because you're sort of this godfather of the movement, I wanted to ask you

00:15:52.660 what you thought about that, because for me, your opinion might be the definitive one.

00:15:57.260 Okay. I thought about this a lot actually, because I found myself very torn in a lot of ways. Um,

00:16:05.000 on one hand, working with Canada action and rally for resources and et cetera, I'm going to give you

00:16:10.820 the goods here. Um, they, you know, we, we became, and it's not like everyone had their part. Like I

00:16:17.560 would argue that my attack on Saudi Arabia, um, four years ago is partially why that Justin Trudeau

00:16:23.840 gets questioned often now on why are we going to know from a country that has such a heinous human

00:16:28.640 rights record. I tend to be a little bit of that. These rallies started small, et cetera, et cetera.

00:16:34.500 But, um, when we did ours, I don't agree with how we handled it. Um, now we had a plan to do a convoy

00:16:42.580 before they did theirs, but they launched theirs first and there's had a lot of success. So here's

00:16:48.400 the problem when you're sitting comfortably, like I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm comfortable. Okay. I've

00:16:53.320 been doing this quite a while. I can, I've done a lot of media. I'm seasoned at it. I know how to,

00:16:59.220 I know how to conduct myself. These guys don't necessarily do. So that doesn't take away the

00:17:05.760 fact that a good chunk of the L of us are completely broke. They've lost everything. They've lost their

00:17:10.820 jobs. Industry has disappeared from their communities. And as a good friend told me,

00:17:15.760 who am I to tell them what to do when all they have left in them is to hold up a sign and say

00:17:22.580 something sort of nasty and stand on the side of the road because they don't know what their future

00:17:27.540 holds and all their dignity has been taken from them. Here's the, but we made major progress

00:17:34.640 advocating for pipelines to the point where, you know, we had events where you had the NDP and the

00:17:40.000 liberals and across the country were united. For instance, Quebec, 66% of people in Quebec

00:17:46.300 support the energy use pipeline. So here comes the problem when they post something a little bit

00:17:51.480 racist or they get too much on the UN and all that, it does, it can affect the argument of build the

00:17:57.460 pipeline. So my argument has been very strict to one thing, prosperity for all. These problems become

00:18:03.580 minute if everybody can work and have a good life no matter what they do. So I've tried to stay on

00:18:09.680 message. It is not my place to judge or tell other people how to act or how to protest or how to be

00:18:15.520 angry. And I refuse to do it. And I also refuse to paint all the yellow vests with this brush that

00:18:20.420 they're all racist because I don't believe that. I know quite a few of them. They might lean a little

00:18:24.680 bit more right than I do, but I'm not going to explain that. But the bigger kicker is that they've

00:18:30.480 had their own breakup internally amongst them. And Glenn is doing his own convoy, which is sort of

00:18:37.200 separate from yellow vests now. And I like Glenn. You can't get more Albert than Glenn. He's a

00:18:44.600 paramedic, a firefighter, a good guy. So I have given him 100% of my support. I just did a video

00:18:51.700 encouraging people to support him. And I believe in doing the right thing. And I frankly don't care

00:18:57.720 what anyone else tells me to say, because like you said, I've been doing this quite a while. And

00:19:02.640 I think that it's important to do the right thing. It doesn't matter who's right. It matters what's

00:19:08.260 right. So I think he's going to have a good time. I was going to go on the convoy. I was going to take

00:19:13.540 my camper van and my two dogs, but I have to work. My marketing company is finally doing well

00:19:18.360 and taking a week to go there and a week back. I can't do this. But I am flying to Ottawa and I'm going

00:19:24.180 to speak at his event and I'm going to support him as much as I can. So Canada's broken and we need

00:19:33.440 to fix it. And everybody's voice matters, including the yellow vests. So instead of like, I believe we 0.50

00:19:39.580 need to understand what is bothering them and why and try to find common ground. And that's what I'm

00:19:46.600 trying to do. You know, I love that answer. And I feel the same way about Glenn that you do. I think

00:19:52.000 that he is just a salt to the earth guy. He like you to organize this. I mean, he's a business owner

00:19:59.240 in central Alberta. He and he's not making money to organize this massive convoy, which sounds a lot

00:20:07.400 like herding cats across the entire country. And somehow he's doing it. He's got, you know, a budget

00:20:15.420 and he's got a timeline and he's got permits and organizing a bus so that other people who maybe

00:20:22.100 don't want to drive can go on the convoy. I mean, he's bitten off a lot to bring the message of what's

00:20:29.060 happening here in Alberta in our oil patch to Ottawa. And he's doing his best to keep this sort

00:20:34.720 of one message going forward. And I don't think it's fair for people to attack him as though he's a

00:20:41.840 wingnut. I mean, there's really absolutely nothing in this except a lot of headache for him,

00:20:47.920 but he's willing to do it anyway. So I agree with you. And I do agree with you that we shouldn't be

00:20:53.560 telling people who have nothing left what they can and can't be mad about. And I don't think we should

00:20:59.780 be looking down our noses at the Yellow Vesters when some of their concerns are pretty darn valid. 1.00

00:21:06.500 when a lot of their critics have really never been as down and out as some of them are. And

00:21:13.420 I just, I won't judge them for it. Now, I wanted to ask you about your next project. I think it is

00:21:24.360 fascinating. I'm full of ideas about it that I want to tell you about and I want you to steal them.

00:21:30.640 Um, but maybe we'll do that off air because I don't want to give people a sneak peek.

00:21:34.980 I've never stolen any ideas from you before.

00:21:37.340 I'm giving them. You cannot steal something I'm giving you. Um, tell us about Boots on the Ground.

00:21:44.380 So, um, I have a video series called Visit Fort McMurray, which is sort of kind of like, uh,

00:21:49.420 uh, Fort McMurray's got nice rivers. It's got this and that. And, um, it's really nice. It's,

00:21:54.620 it's gotten almost a million views total between all of them. And, um, I'm proud of that because I

00:21:59.020 haven't put a lot of like money boosting and I'm still growing it, but hang on. I just want to stop

00:22:05.060 you. I love your video series, Visit Fort McMurray and you thought of it on your own. And basically

00:22:11.140 you just go around to these sort of, um, local gems, hidden gems in your community that are

00:22:17.520 beautiful that the rest of the world don't know about. And you're busting this narrative about

00:22:23.220 Fort McMurray, that it's ugly and toxic one video at a time. And you're just one guy out there.

00:22:28.440 You're making videos, driving around with your dogs and they're beautiful and they're well done.

00:22:34.000 I'm from the internet. I know these things. And, and, uh, I really like what you're doing. So

00:22:38.900 sorry to interrupt. Continue. Well, thank you. So like I have a media company and there's three

00:22:45.120 employees, myself, Richard, and, um, I don't think she wants me to say her name, so I won't,

00:22:49.100 but I got to give credit to my team. And, um, we work together, um, and we do a lot of videos

00:22:55.820 actually for different businesses. And I, I, I, oil sounds strong sometimes. Like I like it,

00:23:00.780 but I can be edgy. I like taking on, uh, Fonda, Trudeau, um, and et cetera. Um, so we started

00:23:07.060 Visit Fort McMurray and I, it, it's nice. It's positive. And I, I don't really go too gritty

00:23:13.180 after doing that. I realized like, and actually it was a yellow vester that kind of motivated me to do

00:23:19.080 this. Um, I want to, I want to go a little deeper into the ups and downs of these decisions that

00:23:26.740 other people make in Ottawa and how they affect regular Albertans and regular Canadians. And I

00:23:33.240 want to tell a very honest story about these, these lies. So now some will be business owners,

00:23:38.640 but some might be a guy who is new to Canada and they, they came here to work. And for whatever

00:23:44.380 reason, the system has failed them because they, the, the cutbacks and they, let's just say they're

00:23:49.700 cleaner at, uh, camp. And for whatever reason, um, they, the, the rig get shut down. And now this

00:23:56.520 person is, has to, has no choice, but they get government assistance, assistance. I want to tell

00:24:01.620 those stories, but I want to do it in a hopeful way that the rest of Canada can look into a different

00:24:08.380 perspective. It's a lot of people in the city don't understand what happens in the West actually

00:24:13.460 provides their beautiful city lifestyle. I I've always wanted to bring that together. So I'm

00:24:18.660 going to go and, um, I'm going to try and go and spend 20 minutes, like it'll be more than 20 minutes,

00:24:26.880 but I'll do a 20 minute video once a week on telling the untold stories of regular people

00:24:32.900 that work in oil and gas. And that's sort of the premise behind, behind the series.

00:24:37.640 You know, I think that's a really, uh, beautiful and powerful thing to do to tell the human side

00:24:44.340 of these policy failures. Um, uh, people really forget that every time that they pull up to the gas

00:24:54.160 pump and they count on the fact that there's gas coming out of that pump to go into their car so that

00:24:59.980 they can get their kids off to hockey or soccer. One of the million places I drive my kids to on any

00:25:06.000 given day that there's a drilling rig full of guys working in the cold, far from their family,

00:25:11.760 missing birthdays that made that happen. There's a refinery full of guys working to make sure that,

00:25:19.180 you know, the gas is exactly the right gas that needs to end up in that pump. There's

00:25:24.880 truckers and pipelineers, all these hardworking men and women from Canada, from other places in the

00:25:32.200 world. And they really are being let down by these policy failures. So I think it is,

00:25:37.340 uh, that might be the best way to change hearts and minds. We can talk about abstract numbers about

00:25:42.300 aboriginal employment all day long, but when we're hearing this story of the aboriginal 0.99

00:25:47.020 pipeliner, who's losing his truck, I think that might be the kicker.

00:25:53.480 Yeah. Like, um, when I was in Lloyd Minster, I actually met a woman. I spoke at a rally and I,

00:25:59.620 oh my God, like I got there within seconds before they were closing because the roads were so icy

00:26:03.960 and I just rolled. And I always roll in the perfect, like fashion relates, my thing, but this

00:26:08.580 was actually like, I wasn't sure I was going to make it anyway. So we went out to eat after. I

00:26:12.880 don't even remember what I said in my speech because I drove, like, I ended up driving for

00:26:16.260 eight hours and I, and I was up all night working. So, um, I just got in there. I had my,

00:26:20.800 I couldn't have wanted to watch my dogs and my dogs were everywhere. It was just a whole thing

00:26:23.920 going on minus 40. So, um, I sat down with her after and they wanted to talk to me and they're

00:26:30.120 like, you know, what, what should we do different about the rally? And the rally was, you know,

00:26:33.960 it was, it was decently attended, but it wasn't what they thought. And I said, well, don't be

00:26:36.900 discouraged because like, you got to start somewhere. Anyway, I started talking to her and she tells me

00:26:41.600 that she left an abusive husband and, um, went on, worked on the rigs and she's like, I'm kind of an

00:26:48.260 engineer and has people under her and she supports her child. And it was a whole interesting story.

00:26:54.620 So you have a female oil rigger and she's like struggling to keep her kid because her deadbeat 1.00

00:27:02.540 husband like was useless. And she's not, she's like, I don't want anyone to give me any handouts. 0.89

00:27:07.840 I just want to be able to provide for my child and have a decent life. And I'm like, wow, people need

00:27:12.940 to hear that story. Cause like, this isn't, this is not a typical story. And one of the things I'm

00:27:18.580 struggling with more than anything, and I'm not scared to say it as when Justin Trudeau made those

00:27:23.440 comments about camp workers, I, I, I'm not over that yet. And his pathetic answers to when he's 0.95

00:27:29.900 doing these town halls, this drives me insane. Um, but like, what about her? She lived in camp along 0.99

00:27:36.700 one of these, one of these roads and, uh, like, like she's a bad person too, because Justin

00:27:42.600 Trudeau's claims that he's the feminist of the generation with his gender politics. There's

00:27:47.760 way more to this story than, than coming. I think the biggest mistake with these politicians

00:27:53.140 as they come in and they speak, like, I'm going to save everything. They don't have the capacity

00:27:58.580 to, but at the least that they could understand the big picture. I think they, you know, they

00:28:03.640 walked a mile in her shoes, which Justin probably would like, um, they would, I don't know, that

00:28:08.660 was horrible. Um, they would, um, they would understand more about what she's going through.

00:28:15.560 And, and that was, that's sort of my point. Well, and you know, a woman like her, it doesn't 1.00

00:28:20.240 sound like she wants to be saved. She doesn't need to be saved. She's empowered. She's strong. 0.91

00:28:25.180 She just wants to work like everybody else. It's one of those universal things. Now, are you

00:28:31.660 able to give us a sneak peek hint at the next thing that you're working on? That one? Are

00:28:41.600 you ready to let the, okay, go ahead. The biggest rally in Fort McMurray that I've ever done is

00:28:47.080 coming up in the next couple of weeks. Um, it is huge. Um, it's going to be substantial. I am going

00:28:52.700 to be inviting the prime minister. That's why I'm trying to bite my tongue right now. Um, but he's the

00:28:56.740 only one that I need to bite my tongue with. I've been very respectful of Rachel Notley. I've been

00:29:00.580 very respectful of Jason Kenney. Um, I like, uh, I really admire when we've done these rallies,

00:29:08.200 how everyone has come together and we put all partisan politics aside. And I stand by that.

00:29:13.320 I have been very nonpartisan and very fair. And I, for the most part, I have been, um,

00:29:18.380 I like Jason Kenney's blue truck. It's perfect the way it is. Um, and, uh, I, I'm going to invite

00:29:25.820 everybody to come and speak. Um, we're, we're going to be doing, I kind of want to wait. Um,

00:29:34.220 uh, we're going to be doing, I'll say it, we're going to be doing Fort McMurray's first

00:29:37.200 multicultural rally. So I recently covered an event for visit Fort McMurray at the multicultural

00:29:42.060 association, and I really enjoyed it. You had this Russian lady. She was crazy. She had this like 1.00

00:29:48.000 tin of all these like sweets. And I think these sweets were like illegal. They were like condensed

00:29:53.400 milk and layers. Right. And she kept giving them to me and just like hiding them in the bag. Right.

00:29:56.920 And I, and I got like this biggest sugar high ever, but it was really good. And I found that

00:30:01.060 really funny because there was a Russian Ukrainian community. There was, um, a group from Egypt and

00:30:06.160 they had the greatest desserts. Um, there was every country in the world, there was some first nations

00:30:11.080 dancing. And I realized that our community is very, very diverse. You have people from everywhere

00:30:19.280 coming here and they want a better life. And if we get market access, the good that our community

00:30:27.360 could do for the world, for the oil senses, it's, it's amazing what it could do. And I'm very, uh,

00:30:33.280 I'm very proud to be doing this rally. I'm not going to quite say who it's with yet. Cause I have to be

00:30:38.320 a bit careful. Um, but it's, um, it's, it's, it's kind of emotional for me because I, I really am proud

00:30:45.940 that we are all coming together. And, um, I want to, I want to encourage more people who have been a

00:30:53.920 bit quiet about their support for the oil sands to come together and show their support because it's

00:30:59.760 very important. I feel. Yeah. You know, I was at, I think it was Brooks and it was just after I

00:31:05.420 started working at the rebel and there was like an anti NDP rally, anti carbon tax rally that was

00:31:11.740 happening at a trucking yard in Brooks, Alberta. And I'll never forget this man pulls in and he's

00:31:19.200 got a, a microscope too. And it's like fastened to the roof of his car. And he walks up to me and

00:31:27.120 he's walking quite fast. And I'm thinking, Oh, Holy hell, I'm about to get a blast because of where I

00:31:33.160 work or whatever. And he said, I want to talk to you. And he, and I felt bad for immediately judging

00:31:40.560 how he walked up to me because he told me the most incredibly heartfelt story of how he was from

00:31:51.420 India. He's a geologist. Um, he had been out of work for about six months and he said that all he

00:32:00.540 wanted to do was come to Canada and work. And he said he never wanted a penny from anybody. He refuses

00:32:08.880 to take a penny from anybody. His kids are, uh, getting ready to go to university. He said he's

00:32:15.020 the hardest worker, but he just wanted it to work. And I think there are so many other stories just

00:32:22.300 like his in the oil patch, people who've come to Alberta because it is the land of milk and honey

00:32:27.580 and promise and, uh, government policy has really robbed them of their opportunities, just like

00:32:35.400 everybody else who's in Alberta. And, uh, and, uh, I'm happy that you're doing a rally that sort of

00:32:41.880 shows that, um, we're all together in this. Well, I, I, I find like, you know, a lot of the rest of

00:32:53.480 Canada, like, I don't think they understand that Albertans aren't really about entitlement.

00:32:57.860 They just want a fair shot to earn a fair wage. And that's what Alberta was for so many people

00:33:05.840 that people that they're not satisfied. They don't want government handouts. They don't want

00:33:11.340 to be kept. They just want, Hey, I want a chance to, to do the right thing. Now I, I, I am hopeful as

00:33:20.900 of late. I, I, I truly pray that Justin Trudeau has a plan with that pipeline. I'm, I'm not sure if he

00:33:26.580 does, but I'm praying optimistic, a gentleman, but I think you're optimistic. Optimism is misplaced.

00:33:33.220 Well, if he doesn't have that pipeline built and he blew $4.5 billion of our money, not his trust fund,

00:33:40.820 then we're in a really bad place. And, um, it's, it's sad because the potential that we had as a

00:33:52.120 province, as a region, as a country was infinity. If we would have just got behind it 10 years ago,

00:33:58.780 you know, if, if more, you know, Aboriginal people would have said, Hey, we need this.

00:34:05.060 I truly hope that like, it's good right now. Everybody's on side and we're working together.

00:34:09.580 And I, and I liked that it was easier now than it was four years ago, but I just hope it's not too

00:34:15.180 little too late. And, you know, I, I, I've, when it comes to the prime ministers, like, you know,

00:34:22.680 like I didn't, I'll even say it. I didn't agree with everything that his father did, but I respected

00:34:27.100 him. I was, I, I had a lot of respect for Jean-Claude Chan, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper,

00:34:32.860 even Mal Rooney. I've always met, but, um, I can find common ground with Rachel Nolley. When it comes to

00:34:38.940 Justin, I'm, I'm terrified. I'm terrified that this strange combination of circumstance has led us

00:34:48.580 to a leader that just wasn't ready. And because of his lack of experience and knowledge and a little

00:34:56.600 bit of narcissism, um, there might be unintended consequences that will last for generations.

00:35:04.240 So that I'm, I'm scared of. I'm, and I'm trying, I'm trying to bite my tongue right now. Cause like

00:35:10.000 I have a rally where he might be speaking at, and if he chooses, I will be respectful and I'll make

00:35:13.740 sure everybody's respectful, but it's hard. I mean, it's been four years of just, of just talk.

00:35:20.160 And I don't know. It's, I don't know like how, I don't know a prime minister who's had more

00:35:25.340 scandals. I truly don't. I really don't. Yeah. I think you are, um, a lot nicer than I would be when

00:35:33.640 you say it, it's inexperienced because I don't think he would ever be ready. I don't think he

00:35:38.880 has the mental capacity, um, to run a monopoly board, let alone run, uh, you know, the Canadian

00:35:47.540 economy. Um, but you are trying to be nonpartisan because you want him to speak at your rally.

00:35:54.100 Um, yeah, he might, who knows? Um, as long as there's nobody there asking tough questions,

00:36:00.580 he might show up. Now I wanted to give you a chance to, um, tell everybody where they can find

00:36:06.740 you, tell everybody where they can, uh, get to these great oil sands, strong t-shirts like the

00:36:11.760 one I'm wearing, because unlike other oil sands activists, you don't really have any deep pocketed

00:36:17.840 sponsors. You do a lot of, well, almost all of your work out of your own pocket. You travel on your

00:36:24.200 own dime. Um, you go to all these rallies, you drive late, you're taking time off work and it's

00:36:29.820 all out of your own pocket or the majority of it is out of your own pocket. So plug your business,

00:36:35.620 plug your t-shirts, do what you got to do. Okay. So, um, go to oilsandstrong.com to buy t-shirts,

00:36:43.260 um, and, um, share our posts. I'd really like to go to our page and we, I am toying with the idea

00:36:50.900 of setting up some sort of, if you want to sponsor, um, art show, visit for McMurray or boots on the

00:36:56.900 ground, I'm going to might open the doors to that. Um, I, but I really want to get our clothing line

00:37:02.300 going. Um, we've had some success with it. I'm about to upgrade it. If you're in Fort McMurray,

00:37:07.560 you can go to Napa on parts and, uh, our t-shirts are for sale there as well. And, um, just kind of

00:37:15.620 stay tuned. But, um, my goal is I have, I probably will be selling some sponsorships to the new TV

00:37:21.180 video, sorry, to the new web series. Um, because, you know, I like, there's only so much I can take

00:37:26.640 as a small business person. Um, but, um, it is my labor of love. I, I do enjoy doing it. Um,

00:37:32.420 and for the most part, you're right. I have been 100% self-funded. There has been occasions where I've

00:37:37.140 sold bald shirts. Um, but, um, I definitely, um, I want to grow, um, and I want to, I want to do my

00:37:44.000 best to try and keep my employees going so we can all keep doing this work that we do, but at the same

00:37:50.080 time, have fun and grow, grow at the same time. Well, Robbie, I want to thank you so much for

00:37:55.760 being generous with your time. I told you 20 minutes and we're at well past 30. Um, and I

00:38:01.460 want to thank you so much for doing what you do and fighting so hard for families like mine and

00:38:05.580 trying to keep, um, these important conversations about the ethical nature of Canadian oil and gas

00:38:10.680 going every day. Thank you. It's always a pleasure being on your show. Um, and it's always a blast.

00:38:15.640 Thank you for having me. Thanks, Robbie. You're the best. Thank you.

00:38:20.080 Bad economies don't play favorites and unemployment. It doesn't really care about

00:38:36.300 your ethnicity. The consequences of damaging government policies that chase away investment

00:38:42.960 and kill our jobs are absolutely colorblind. And the best thing for all of us, no matter where

00:38:48.940 we come from is for the government to quit trying to help us and just get out of our way. Well,

00:38:55.400 everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thanks so much for tuning in. I'll see everybody back here in

00:39:00.220 the same time in the very same place next week. And remember, don't let the government tell you that

00:39:05.320 you've had too much to think.

Rebel News Podcast - February 14, 2019

The untold story of pro-pipeline, pro-business First Nations (Guest： Robbie Picard)

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