The Candice Malcolm Show - “Guilbeault will be gone by Christmas” + absurd media coverage of Danielle Smith’s Alberta townhalls

00:00:00.000 Hi, I'm Candice Malcolm and this is the Candice Malcolm Show. Well, folks, it is the middle of

00:00:07.380 summer. I hope everyone is having a wonderful time. Hopefully you're spending lots of time

00:00:10.960 outdoors and family and friends, maybe out at a cottage or a cabin or wherever you might go and

00:00:16.300 do it in the summer. But given that we're in the middle of summer, I mean, it is mid-July,

00:00:20.420 usually it's quite quiet this time of year. There is a lot going on news-wise. We have these Alberta

00:00:24.820 Next Town Halls happening across Alberta. We're going to cover those and talk about those. And

00:00:29.500 then we have the premiers meeting in Muskoka, Ontario, and Prime Minister Mark Carney is out

00:00:35.420 joining them today. So we've got some clips and some updates from us. We have a by-election coming

00:00:39.580 up in Alberta where we will see whether Pierre Polyev, the leader of the Conservative Party,

00:00:44.220 can regain his position as a member of parliament and become the official opposition again. And to

00:00:49.660 talk about these topics and more, I'm pleased to be joined by one of my favourite guests here on the

00:00:52.900 Candice Malcolm Show. I'm talking about Brett Wilson. Brett is an investment banker, entrepreneur,

00:00:56.540 and a philanthropist. You probably know him from his days as the Dragon's Den star. And

00:01:01.340 he also hosted Risky Business on Slice. So Brett, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for

00:01:05.900 joining us. I'm proudest of being a grandpa, but keep going. Okay, well, I'll add that into the bio for

00:01:11.960 the next time around. I want to get your thoughts on these Alberta Next Town Halls. So Alberta Premier

00:01:17.920 Danielle Smith has been hosting Alberta Next Town Halls. They've done two so far, and there will be

00:01:24.280 eight done in the future. So we saw her last week, first in Red Deer on Tuesday, and then Sherwood

00:01:30.580 Park. And they're certainly generating a lot of media, a lot of discussions about the tour itself

00:01:36.640 and, you know, the purpose of it, whether it's fulfilling a necessary role. We know that former

00:01:42.260 Alberta Premier Jason Kenney held similar town halls. And so there are six key questions that are being

00:01:48.020 posed to Albertans during these town halls, getting feedback from the public, basically discussing

00:01:55.060 things related to Alberta's autonomy. So the six questions that are being posed are, one, should

00:02:00.840 Alberta push for equalization reform? Two, should Alberta withdraw from the Canada pension plan and

00:02:06.860 create its own pension system? Three, should Alberta replace the RCMP and have its own

00:02:12.200 provincial police service? Four, should Alberta lead efforts with other provinces to amend the

00:02:17.060 constitution, strengthen provincial rights? Five, should Alberta take greater control over immigration

00:02:22.560 to counter Ottawa's open border approach? And finally, six, should Alberta collect personal income taxes

00:02:28.700 directly rather than through the CRA and have its own system of taxation? So all of these are really

00:02:35.460 interesting questions, certainly interesting in wake of the Liberal government getting re-elected again,

00:02:40.740 right? Like, it's hard to overstate this fact. But typically, in a democracy, you have a sway from

00:02:47.440 left to right, left to right. And it's a course correction, right? And so after 10 years of liberal

00:02:51.760 governments, and we had one of the most left wing liberal government in Canadian history with you just

00:02:57.660 known for its excesses in every area of life. It's like it's time for a shift back. And in a normal

00:03:03.340 democratic system, you would have eventually a shift back to the right. Except for in Canada, we didn't get

00:03:07.980 that. We got another liberal government under Mark Carney. So, you know, of course, there's a lot

00:03:12.300 of frustration bubbling up on the surface, especially in a conservative province like

00:03:16.200 Alberta. So before we get into any of the details of these, the first two town halls and how they went

00:03:21.860 for premiers, I'm wondering, like, what are your thoughts on the state in Alberta and whether you

00:03:26.280 think these town halls are a productive approach to sort of talk about a lot of the issues that are

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00:03:55.560 think is going to happen in the future, you can invest in it at Wealthsimple. Start now at

00:04:00.680 Wealthsimple.com. I think one of the most important things that Danielle is trying to do is raise the 0.69

00:04:05.940 profile of the conversation as opposed to limit it to the social media, limit it to legacy media,

00:04:13.220 and the noise that, to be blunt, it's just not as professional or thoughtful as it could be.

00:04:19.840 The coverage is so biased and it's very frustrating. Let's go back to the big picture. How many

00:04:25.540 questions of those six are, could be rephrased as, can we live the way Quebec lives? In terms of CPP,

00:04:34.740 in terms of RCMP, in terms of collecting tax, in terms of the equalization structure. I mean,

00:04:41.180 so much of what we're asking is, can we not operate and function just like Quebec? And so for people to

00:04:48.640 come out, especially in the media, legacy media, criticizing the fact that we're questioning whether

00:04:54.820 or not the RCMP should be on our budget or part of a, or the Alberta police should be part of our own

00:05:00.800 budget, or should we be paying the RCMP as part of a federal initiative, there's virtually nothing on

00:05:07.560 this list that doesn't tie to the question, if Quebec has these rights, why can't we? And it's that simple. I

00:05:14.200 just don't understand the debate. Now, I've got several friends on the Alberta Next Committee. They were

00:05:20.340 delighted to be asked. They were provoked to be thoughtful and engaging. And please make sure if

00:05:27.240 you're in, you're in for every event. And a couple of my friends, I spoke with them last night,

00:05:33.280 were literally accosted because they were leaving the Red Deer site in an almost bullying way,

00:05:41.020 like saying, you've got to support separation, or you don't serve any purpose here. And some fairly,

00:05:46.540 again, animated, not physically violent, but certainly attempting to be emotionally abusive

00:05:52.880 conversations. And it just didn't make sense. The disappointment from a couple of my friends, again, who

00:05:59.440 attended these, was that the participation of younger people is very low. We kind of laughed and said it was

00:06:06.840 50 to 70, or you're not getting in. And whether that's absolutely true or not, the bias was to a much

00:06:13.900 older age group. And again, my hope, if anyone that thinks that Danielle Smith is the separatist

00:06:20.040 is delusional, misguided, misinformed, or stupid, any of those work. 1.00

00:06:27.020 Right. Right. Like one of the criticisms, certainly from legacy media and people on social media, 1.00

00:06:31.240 is that Premier Smith is stoking the separatist sentiment and that she's using these as a preference

00:06:37.620 to push the separatist idea. I actually see it as the complete opposite, right? She's like,

00:06:42.920 you know, there are legitimate concerns that are out there. And to your point, like,

00:06:47.940 there's already precedent in this country. We are a decentralized federation. There's precedent for

00:06:53.560 a provincial government to have more control over their own resources and over their own destiny.

00:06:58.780 And so if one province can do it, why couldn't another? I mean, it's almost absurd that that would

00:07:03.960 even be a controversial question. And so I do want to get to some of them. And oh, and just one other

00:07:09.260 thing, Brett, I will say that for young people, you know, it's the middle of summer. I don't blame

00:07:13.660 them, right? We get like two, three months of nice weather a year in this country. And, you know, if

00:07:19.040 you're young, you're going to be out with your friends. You're going to be out enjoying life,

00:07:22.100 maybe with your kids at home and not going to a political town hall. So I don't begrudge the young

00:07:28.200 for not going. Although I will say, you know, each of these, it seems that there's been 400 to 500

00:07:32.800 people attend in person, but then another, you know, couple hundred thousand online. So people

00:07:38.020 are still engaging with these town halls online rather than perhaps in person. So we'll start with

00:07:43.760 the Red Deer event, which happened last Tuesday, July 15th. Some 450 people showed up, according to

00:07:50.000 Global News, to put questions to Premier Smith and the 15 other members on the panel. This is sort of

00:07:57.100 what you expect. People go because they're animated, because they're worked up, rather that they really

00:08:02.600 believe in Alberta separation, or perhaps that they really oppose it or that they really oppose

00:08:07.640 what Premier Smith is doing and they're going to heckle her personally or just to show their

00:08:12.540 frustration with the system. I'm here for it. I think these town halls are a great exercise in

00:08:16.620 democracy. But I'll show you one clip from an attendee that I think captured a lot of the sentiment

00:08:21.000 that people were feeling around these panels. So a woman is said, look, sorry, I don't know if it's

00:08:27.620 actually a woman or a man, but an attendee argues that Alberta separation is basically the only choice

00:08:32.820 here. And that if you're not talking about separation, like what are we even doing here?

00:08:36.560 So let's play that clip.

00:08:37.560 Your video said it's, uh, uh, Ottawa continues or has ignored us and will continue to ignore us.

00:08:44.360 It doesn't matter what we do here tonight or what the outcome of this is. They will continue to ignore

00:08:49.740 us. There's one question, one question only that needs to be on, on a referendum. And that is,

00:08:55.760 do you support Alberta exiting Canadian Confederation and becoming a sovereign nation?

00:09:01.880 At that point, at that point, then you'll be able to negotiate with Ottawa. Then you'll be able to

00:09:08.520 negotiate with Quebec. Without that, they will continue to ignore us.

00:09:13.200 So that's an interesting point because you could tell the crowd was mostly in agreement with that

00:09:17.820 gentleman there. He's not even necessarily saying that we need to separate, but he's saying that we

00:09:22.920 need to have a clear question on separation that we could take to the feds that we can take to Quebec

00:09:26.740 and have a better bartering chip. So I think that's an interesting perspective. What do you make of

00:09:31.640 that one?

00:09:32.480 Well, so I appreciate that. And in fact, that's the one part of the conversation that is important.

00:09:37.140 It's just, I kind of make fun. I've been on stage a few times in the last several months

00:09:40.540 talking about separation. And I asked the question, do you want a wall like Trump for put up between

00:09:46.460 Mexico and the US? Or do you want just a chain link fence? Or should we just build a moat between

00:09:52.200 Alberta and Saskatchewan? And people look at me like that's some of the stupidest thought process. 1.00

00:09:56.720 Imagine when I go acknowledge. Absolutely. Because the reality is that separation involves one thing. 1.00

00:10:02.400 That's paperwork. We got to get better paperwork. It's all the elements of the deals we've done

00:10:07.280 with the feds. And if we can use the separation noise, the leverage of the people saying enough is

00:10:14.500 enough is enough. And we need to change relative to call it sovereignty. I happen to be a little

00:10:20.800 biased. I've been asked to put money up and play a more active role in separation. My polite response

00:10:27.020 is, I believe in collaboration. Let's work as the West. And again, there's a group of provinces in

00:10:33.440 Eastern Canada, imaginatively called Atlantic Canada. Well, let's collaborate and become Western 0.55

00:10:40.600 Canada in a working way. Wob Canoe has expressed an interest in the idea of a northern corridor

00:10:46.560 coming from Churchill and maybe ultimately across into Alberta. And then Alberta goes all the way

00:10:53.940 out to Prince Rupert. I mean, there's so many great options embedded in doing things better.

00:10:59.400 But it's paperwork. And what's really interesting is Bill C-5, approved by the Conservatives and the

00:11:05.280 Liberals is in favor, is promoting the acceleration of projects. And the acceleration of projects creates

00:11:13.040 jobs. It creates royalties. It creates income. It creates wealth. And if we're doing that collaboratively

00:11:20.820 in the West, we win automatically. So let's keep those thoughts alive. Anyone thinking that Alberta

00:11:27.940 on a standalone basis is better off is misguided. I believe we need better rapport with the feds.

00:11:35.880 I'm with that person totally in the context of, can we do better with federal Canada? Well, yes. But

00:11:42.500 right from 1907, we've had that problem. Right. Well, I want to add in another element of this,

00:11:48.060 which seems to be that the media in Alberta are out to get Premier Smith and they want to paint this as

00:11:54.200 a train wreck and it as a disaster. So I'll point you to the Edmonton Journal, who was covering the

00:12:00.400 second event, which happened just outside of Edmonton. And so the headline that they put up

00:12:04.020 was, Smith hears mixed reviews from Edmonton crowd on Alberta next pitches. Smith's opening remarks

00:12:09.000 were interrupted by heckles and laughter on Wednesday in contrast to the friendly response

00:12:13.000 she and the panel received the night earlier in Red Deer. And so you would kind of think like,

00:12:18.380 oh, OK, maybe she got like booed off the stage or, oh, that sounds like pretty confrontational,

00:12:23.140 the way that the Edmonton Journal described it, that she was interrupted by heckles. So we went

00:12:27.500 and we watched her opening remarks to try to find the heckling and the laughter. But we had to watch

00:12:33.060 it a few times because you could you could be forgiven for missing it. It was very minor. It

00:12:36.800 was a very small group of people. You could tell. So we're going to play the clip of what happened.

00:12:40.980 And then, you know, the audience can decide for themselves whether Smith was really heckled and

00:12:45.220 laughed during her opening statement. Let's play that clip. Alberta has an Ottawa problem. For the last 10 0.98

00:12:51.020 years, Ottawa, led, it must be said, by successive liberal governments, has taken direct aim at

00:12:56.580 Alberta's core industries from it's the truth. If Alberta is to be a strong and unified country,

00:13:04.840 it has to include a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada able to pursue our own

00:13:11.560 potential. So, yeah, there was one or two guys heckling and then it sounded more like there were

00:13:17.560 counter hecklers, like people telling the one or two hecklers to be quiet. And you could tell by the

00:13:22.240 time Smith finished her sentence that she had won over the room again. They were all cheering for her.

00:13:25.620 So it wasn't exactly contentious the way that the Edmonton Journal was making it seem. You know,

00:13:30.900 a handful of people, you know, if you were to say the statement that Ottawa has been getting in the

00:13:35.620 way of Alberta's resources, like 95 percent of people in Alberta would probably agree. And it just so

00:13:40.440 happened that the five percent that disagree happened to be in the audience and they heckled and then they got

00:13:43.880 counter heckled. And that's kind of the nature of these town halls. Right. That's the point. It's

00:13:47.840 like democracy in action. And it's great. And Daniel Smith handled himself incredibly well. But that's

00:13:54.060 not the way that the headline writes it. What do you make of it, Brett? Well, I certainly intend to

00:13:58.600 attend. So that's one. I want to see the noise and get a sense because I think there's an immediate bias

00:14:05.140 that there's a lot of call it. The noisemakers are attempting to attract other noisemakers to this sort of

00:14:12.120 situation. And again, I talked to a couple of the members of the next panel. They were delighted with

00:14:18.440 the engagement at a very professional level. One of them shared the experience leaving, being bullied

00:14:26.340 effectively by a couple of guys who were pro pro separation only, didn't understand the difference

00:14:33.560 between sovereignty and separation. And again, I get back to do we need independence within the country

00:14:39.540 of Canada? Well, yeah, there's an example. It's called Quebec. I mean, I just don't get why we

00:14:44.680 can't parallel what Quebec has done, other than the fact that we're one of the greatest resource

00:14:49.680 based nations. And I've been when I talk about nations, I'm talking about Western Canada,

00:14:55.320 Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, BC, you've gone in Northwest territories, what we have collaboratively,

00:15:00.420 every product we have as a nation, maybe no lithium, I don't know. But there's got to be a little bit

00:15:06.640 of everything and especially the uranium, especially all the copper and coal and gold and oil and gas

00:15:15.600 and, and trees and, and cows and, and farming. I mean, we've got everything. And if we can work

00:15:22.940 collaboratively, become a little more sovereign, absolutely. But sovereign doesn't mean that we

00:15:28.320 leave Canada. And I can tell you that the bias I hear amongst my own followers is, again, 98%.

00:15:37.740 Let's improve where we are in Canada. But let's not pretend we're leaving Canada.

00:15:44.720 Yeah, well, it's funny that you make the comment about how there was a couple of loud

00:15:47.560 people aggressively sort of pro American type. It's funny, because I hosted an event in Calgary

00:15:53.160 a few years ago, True North Nation, you were there, Brett. And there were a couple guys with

00:15:57.100 51st state hats. And this was way before Trump even said the thing. And it was kind of the same

00:16:03.320 thing. They were like aggressively interrupting and following me around at some point with a camera,

00:16:08.100 basically just trying to get me on record whether I would support the idea. And it's like,

00:16:11.480 that's not what we're even talking about. But I feel like the people who are really gung-ho about

00:16:15.400 that idea aren't exactly the polite types that go to a conference to sit quietly and listen.

00:16:21.200 They're usually there to cause a bit of a spectacle. 0.78

00:16:24.140 You know, what I really wish is that we could have one session for each of Kearney,

00:16:31.360 Polav, Mo, Smith, and Ford to start with, with Joe Rogan. Let's get them down and let Joe

00:16:41.860 pull them apart. Let Joe and his followers. I genuinely believe that if Pierre had been able

00:16:47.440 to swing time with a couple of the, call it the podcast kings of the United States, and there's

00:16:54.500 four or five, not just one, but Joe Rogan being the most obvious, I think he could have picked up

00:16:59.860 in the voting panels the two or three percent needed to have swung dozens of ridings, dozens

00:17:08.580 of ridings could have swung.

00:17:10.800 That's an interview because I've been talking about this with some people kind of behind the

00:17:14.600 scenes on the Poliav campaign. They basically just said, look, Poliav was painted as being

00:17:19.800 too pro-American and too right-wing, right? And so if he showed up on one of those podcasts that

00:17:24.400 the media deem as American right-wing, it would just, they would just have a field day. Like,

00:17:28.560 like the thing that Pierre was trying to win over was those like suburban boomers. And, and those were

00:17:33.940 the people that would pearl clutch the hardest overseeing. And, but I agree, I would love to hear

00:17:38.980 the thoughts, you know, I would like to have a debate, imagine a debate on Joe Rogan between

00:17:44.180 Mark Carney and Pierre Poliav. That would be amazing, way better than anything that the Debates

00:17:48.520 Commission could have presented. And I hope that, you know, in the future we have those kind of long

00:17:53.540 form conversations. And speaking of a couple of the names that you, you mentioned that you'd like to

00:17:57.540 see, a bunch of them were here in Muskoka, Ontario, just a bit north of where I am, having discussions.

00:18:03.920 The premiers all met in Muskoka, Ontario, on Monday. And Prime Minister Mark Carney is there today,

00:18:10.360 mostly just discussing trade, the latest from President Trump and the looming deadline on

00:18:16.440 tariffs that are coming. So I think we have a quick clip of Prime Minister Carney saying that,

00:18:21.920 you know, we're going to do what we can, but the best thing we can do for Canada is just to improve

00:18:26.680 our own economy. Let's play that clip. We are looking for the best deal for Canada. We're only going

00:18:33.040 to accept the best deal for Canada. That is very much informed by our discussions. We understand

00:18:39.340 as well that we all understand that the global trade environment is changing. And there are some

00:18:46.340 countries that are pulling back that are restricting market access. What we collectively can most control

00:18:53.420 is building a stronger economy.

00:18:57.000 So what do you make of how Prime Minister Carney is handling all this, Brett?

00:19:02.300 Well, to start with, the fact that the Fence and the provincial leaders are meeting regularly.

00:19:09.180 I mean, two weeks ago in Prince Edward Island, every energy minister met with Hodgson and team.

00:19:15.220 So they're meeting and meeting regularly. Why? Because talk is talk, action is action.

00:19:20.000 But you've got to start with talk. You can't just start building projects. You've got to get the

00:19:24.580 engagement to happen. And let's not forget for a moment that the Liberal Party hasn't used the

00:19:29.280 word Trudeau for any purpose whatsoever in three or four months. It's pretty clear that they're

00:19:35.600 abandoning what Trudeau attempted to do in terms of abusing our nation for his misguided beliefs in

00:19:42.980 climate and, you know, destroying the Canadian economy will improve the planet for everyone.

00:19:47.720 That was Trudeau's approach. Obviously, the Liberals are very, very conscious.

00:19:53.300 Bill C-5 tells the whole story from my perspective. There's some that argue that it's got too much

00:19:57.740 power. Some of my First Nations friends are upset with their First Nation friends for abusing the

00:20:04.160 fact that C-5 is going to accelerate all of this. C-5 doesn't override anything Indigenous.

00:20:09.460 It overrides some of the noise of Bill C-48, C-69, things that the federal government imposed

00:20:15.660 without logic or reason. All we're doing is trying to accelerate. And so the First Nations 0.83

00:20:20.300 are rightfully saying, look, we've got to be part of this. You can't ignore us. Well,

00:20:24.420 that was never the intent. And that's the beauty, I think, of C-5, if we can get that moving. So

00:20:28.680 just going back to the big picture, you asked, I mean, they're meeting in Huntsville.

00:20:32.520 The leaders are meeting regularly. And that's obvious because, pardon me,

00:20:38.240 I mean, Donald Trump is forcing them to meet.

00:20:40.840 Well, it's really interesting. There's a couple of different dynamics, right? Like one of them was

00:20:44.500 the premiers were all asked about an East-West pipeline, right? And it seemed like a few years

00:20:48.100 ago, this was like a lost battle. It was off the table. And now here we are revisiting it. And it

00:20:52.560 seems like nobody wants oil that goes through the United States when you're in a trade war with

00:20:57.720 America. So it seems like there is more of an appetite to build an East-West pipeline.

00:21:01.660 I want to zoom in a little bit on just the Trump tariffs, though, because I want to point this

00:21:07.040 to people's attention in a CBC article that, to their credit, goes in depth. It says many Canadian

00:21:12.740 exports can avoid Trump tariffs if they're, and then I don't know why, but the CBC calls it C-U-S,

00:21:20.240 I think the Americans call it USMCA, the next iteration of NAFTA, if they're compliant. And so

00:21:26.460 what does that mean? Well, basically, this story says that companies can be exempt from the tariff

00:21:34.180 as long as they are compliant with the trade deal that they've already signed and that some 86%

00:21:40.920 of the value of Canada's exports to the US have the potential to qualify for one of the exemptions

00:21:46.320 just as long as they adhere to the trade agreement that we've already ratified and signed. And so all

00:21:54.960 of this makes me just think, like, this is all just much ado about nothing. Like, this is a bunch of,

00:21:59.340 you know, people getting really concerned in the media drumming this up, like, tariffs more,

00:22:03.300 tariffs are coming. It's going to start the Canadian economy. And then it turns out, well,

00:22:05.940 we already have a trade deal. And as long as they're compliant with the trade deal that exists,

00:22:09.460 they actually won't be subject to these new tariffs. So again, this almost feels a little

00:22:15.280 bit like a manufactured crisis here. What do you think, Brett? It sounds like Canadian media

00:22:20.380 taking control of the nonsense. I'm not as convinced that Trump has a real vision and plan

00:22:28.660 for what Trump's tariffs will look like. He wants a better deal. And that's where, again,

00:22:34.060 there's lots of reasons to disrespect Trump. But when you think about the big picture, protect the

00:22:39.800 border, ruin, get rid of bad guys, try and stop the wars on a global basis. I mean, the previous US

00:22:47.020 government did nothing that was apparent in terms of attempting to make the world a better place.

00:22:52.860 Trump's trying to do it in the style of his own, again, rhetoric, which is, you know, he'll promise

00:22:57.940 one thing on Monday and by Tuesday, he's forgotten. But he's asking for better deals. And the idea of

00:23:03.740 letters, trade agreements, tariffs, all that stuff, his team's working hard. I was really impressed by

00:23:09.660 the way, slight distraction with those four senators that came to Canada to say, look, let's not forget,

00:23:15.260 we're friends. Well, exactly. And I think that, you know, we have a lot more in common than the

00:23:22.820 things that divide us. And I mean, there's a reason why we have these trade agreements, right?

00:23:26.820 It's like we all have industries that we want to focus on, that we want to protect. I mean,

00:23:32.780 Canada's certainly very guilty of doing that with our dairy industry. And, you know, it makes sense

00:23:37.100 that the Americans will say, look, the whole purpose of trade is based on reciprocity. So if you

00:23:42.000 want to subsidize one of your industries, you're going to have to get hit with tariffs. And that's

00:23:46.180 just the way the trading world goes. It's not something that Trump invented himself. And I

00:23:50.400 think that we would all be better off if we remembered that, you know, our economies are

00:23:54.540 very intertwined. Our cultures are very intertwined. Our communities are intertwined. Many of our

00:23:58.860 families are intertwined across both sides. So, yeah, I don't like the drumming of the anti-American

00:24:05.100 sentiment that has been being pushed in Canada last year. I really, really don't like it at all.

00:24:10.700 Now, to jump on your point, I don't want to be the 51st state, but paperwork is paperwork. And if

00:24:17.240 we can get a better deal done with the Americans, for example, just Western Canada trading North,

00:24:23.040 South, then East, West, well, that's a Canadian problem, but it's a win for a, for call it Western 1.00

00:24:29.400 Canada or the, I keep calling it the collaboration, but we, so much we can do. By the way, in the

00:24:35.340 background, I'm starting to move into the coal industry, all hands in, all hands on deck, so to

00:24:41.440 speak. I'll be writing checks, I'm going on boards, and I'll play a more active role in raising the

00:24:46.900 profile of steelmaking for export-only underground coal. I mean, there's absolutely no objection,

00:24:55.380 potential, possible, legitimate, for saying no to steelmaking coal being shipped to the world.

00:25:01.680 One of the greatest ways of making money for Canada. And it's going to be interesting because

00:25:06.060 there's, we've got environmental groups opposed to any coal, any coal. Well, where does that come

00:25:12.660 from? Anyway, just share some of the noise that's in the background that we all have to deal with.

00:25:17.520 Well, it's one of the frustrating things in Canada generally is that there is a large

00:25:22.380 environmentalist group. And look, I love the environment. I love the natural environment. I

00:25:25.660 take time with my kids and spend time in nature every day. But, you know, there is a contingent

00:25:31.740 of the population. It's very small and very fringe, but they're very active. And, you know, any project,

00:25:36.800 any pipeline, any natural resource development, they will get in front of it. You know, they have

00:25:42.980 knowledge of things that are happening. And it's like they have an outsized impact, partially because

00:25:47.920 the media allows them to, partially because our legal system and police sort of treat them with kid

00:25:52.840 gloves. But I think, I think Canada, I mean, that, that's a, that's a whole other. It's an ongoing

00:25:57.480 charge. Yeah. Okay. I want to, a final topic that I want to cover with you today is the longest ballot

00:26:03.060 initiative, because this, again, it's just out of control, right? Like during the federal election

00:26:06.540 in Pierre Polyev's home riding of Carleton, there were some 120 or 160 people on the ballot. It was

00:26:13.360 ridiculous and embarrassing for Canada. And you would think that Elections Canada would do something 0.93

00:26:17.500 about it. No, they have not. And now in the upcoming by-election that Pierre Polyev is running in,

00:26:22.840 there are, sorry, there's 132 people on the ballot, 132 people on the ballot. So the longest ballot

00:26:32.860 initiative record of 91 candidates was broken when it reached 100. It's now, okay, sorry, 138.

00:26:39.060 I mean, this is absolutely absurd. We have Pierre Polyev speaking at a town hall in Stetler,

00:26:44.800 Alberta, just saying that this is a total scam. Let's play that clip.

00:26:47.940 If you can fix this, we can simply, for example, say that everybody who gets on the ballot should

00:26:53.140 have to have a thousand unique signatures from residents in the community, and that no one can

00:26:58.460 sign such a petition twice. That would make it impossible for 200 people to go out and have

00:27:05.580 their names piled onto the list. There are a number of other things that you could do that would make

00:27:09.820 it so that only real candidates who are truly running to put their name forward in our democracy

00:27:14.480 are on that list. But either way, we have to take action because this is, this is a scam.

00:27:20.220 It is unfair. It is unjust and it must stop.

00:27:23.480 Like, I get that the point that people are trying to push is that they

00:27:26.380 believe in proportional representation. So they want to draw attention to the fact that

00:27:31.480 the candidate's vote doesn't necessarily relate to how many seats are in order or whatever.

00:27:37.620 But like, like, why are they allowed to do this, right? Like they can make that point through,

00:27:42.360 I don't know, like an advocacy campaign and writing op-eds in the Globe and Mail or something.

00:27:46.420 Like, why do they have to do it by flooding Pierre Polyev everywhere he goes with all of these

00:27:51.380 candidates? It just makes it confusing. And again, it makes Canada look like an absolute joke.

00:27:56.060 What do you make of this, Brett?

00:27:57.640 Well, there's certainly nothing to be said that these people are claiming advocacy for the benefit of

00:28:03.120 Canada. They're just disturbing or whatever the right term is offline. But, you know, I'm aware

00:28:09.460 that something like 50 or 60 of the names that were in Ottawa are now in Alberta. Well, how did

00:28:15.320 that qualify? How did that happen? I mean, obviously, didn't they say, oh, well, Pierre moved or Polyev

00:28:20.780 moved. So it's okay. Well, let's be crystal clear. There's, and Polyev has said, and I, I agree with

00:28:28.600 them for the most part, I actually like the idea of requiring a $5,000 deposit. And if you don't get

00:28:33.600 1% of the votes, you're out. Too bad. So sad. But Polyev's approach, which was let's get a thousand

00:28:39.060 signatures, legitimate, local, dedicated, single purpose only support for a nomination. That's

00:28:47.300 fine. You can vote for whoever you want, but let's get the nominations properly organized. And the fact

00:28:52.100 that Canada hasn't got that organized, it's an embarrassment in terms of stupidity. And now 1.00

00:28:56.920 Elections Canada can just bow their head and say, well, too bad. I mean, the solutions are so simple,

00:29:04.020 a deposit or minimum names, number of names for, for the nomination. It's so simple.

00:29:09.480 Exactly. Like, it's not like they need to pass whooping legislation to fix this. It's like a

00:29:13.080 procedural thing. Just like, make them put a deposit down or make, make them have proof of

00:29:16.820 address in the writing. How about like, even something very simple like that. It's like, they just,

00:29:21.240 they were humiliated and then they did nothing. And now it's happening again.

00:29:24.420 I know. It's madness. And I mean, I actually talked to a lawyer a while ago and said,

00:29:29.400 is there anyone I could sue over this? And again, just the goal was to pot disturb in terms of what's

00:29:35.920 going on, but it served no benefit. So there's no one particular group. There's a group of people

00:29:41.880 seem to be collaborating, but they don't belong as a group. They aren't the undermine Canada group.

00:29:47.660 Well, and it's also, it just seems a little misguided, right? Because it's like,

00:29:51.860 Pierre Polyev is the leader of the opposition, right? So if this is a group that's trying to

00:29:56.100 get the attention of, I don't know, the liberal government, like, why wouldn't they go after

00:30:00.540 liberals? Why wouldn't they go after Mark Carney or previously Justin Trudeau? No, it's because

00:30:04.480 these, these, all of these advocates, it's always, they have like a secondary motive, which is just

00:30:09.460 that they hate conservatives and they have like an anti-conservative bias. So they're trying to

00:30:13.120 humiliate him. And then they're also supposedly making this other point about direct democracy.

00:30:18.320 Last word to you, Brett. Well, I get a lot of noise on social media. I've learned a long time

00:30:23.980 ago to stop reading it. I get the odd piece I like and I'll compliment it. So reinforce the positive,

00:30:29.580 ignore the negative, but that's hard for people to do on social media. And I even deleted a couple

00:30:35.300 of tweets that I put out on Nahid Nenshi a couple of weeks ago when I had a private moment with him at a

00:30:41.860 social event and realized I was pushing him a little too hard. So I backed off a little bit,

00:30:47.020 but the noise and the way we use social media, and again, go back to legacy media, the two just

00:30:53.240 don't really give us democracy. And these open houses, which is where we started this conversation,

00:30:59.120 aren't really a, it's a great element of the process. So Daniel can look back and say,

00:31:04.460 I visited eight country or eight cities, eight regions, eight areas. And I did so with 10 or 15

00:31:09.660 qualified business leaders, people who have legitimate investments in Alberta. They're not

00:31:15.700 just one vote. Yes, we're all just one vote, but they influence other outcomes because of their,

00:31:20.820 of their role in, uh, in the business world. And I like what she's trying to do. And again,

00:31:25.200 I appreciate that 450 people coming out to rant and who knows what the next six will be.

00:31:31.560 Legacy media is trying to fill the rooms with, um, with rhetoric and, uh, and noise.

00:31:36.460 Right. Well, just final thought is that I remember talking to Preston Manning during COVID and we were

00:31:41.960 talking about the 2021 election and how hard it was for those politicians because everything was

00:31:46.560 done via zoom. They weren't allowed to do big, uh, rallies and conferences and stuff like that.

00:31:51.420 And one of the things that you get from being in a physical room full of people is you get immediate

00:31:56.400 feedback, right? Like when you're online and you're tweeting, you get like your eco chamber. So you get

00:32:00.800 like your trolls that hate you and then your fault, your legion of fans that love you. And, and you don't

00:32:05.040 really get the middle. Right. But if you, if you're forced to go out and go to these kinds of events

00:32:09.380 in like Daniel Smith is doing, right? Like she goes to a friendly place like Red Deer, but then she'll

00:32:13.740 also go to Edmonton where she may not have gotten very many votes or where there may be more people

00:32:17.100 that oppose her. And she, she, she tests different ideas. She says different things. She sees, you know,

00:32:22.360 which one gets a positive response, which her doesn't. And she owns her message and it impacts her.

00:32:26.040 It has an impact. And that is what you want of your leaders. You want them to be out there

00:32:29.700 meeting Canadians, hearing different perspectives and different voices so that they can go back 0.84

00:32:34.040 and decide the best course. And so, you know, I didn't have a lot of good things to say about

00:32:39.260 Justin Trudeau, but I did like the fact that he would go out and do these town halls because it

00:32:42.900 shows that he has confidence in his ideas to go and debate them. Although it didn't always go very

00:32:47.740 well for Justin Trudeau when he was doing that, but for Daniel Smith, certainly she has the ability

00:32:52.040 to stand on her feet. Someone hackles her. She takes it in stride. She goes and by the time she finishes

00:32:56.420 her sentence, the room is behind her and cheering her. And so I think it shows a very confident

00:33:00.240 politician that is able to take all that feedback in real life, but also, you know,

00:33:05.460 stand on their ideas and work through even though there may be, you know, what the media

00:33:11.920 pushes, heckling and laughing and cheering, which was pretty mild. But still, I think these are

00:33:16.800 great exercises. I want more politicians to do them. 0.93

00:33:19.460 Well, the fact that we've got the federal leadership and the provincial premiers meeting on a much more

00:33:28.460 frequent basis than ever occurred under Trudeau, and I ain't even using his word or his name.

00:33:33.680 But the fact that we're trying to move forward and get things done, actions, I mean, the objections are,

00:33:41.740 again, First Nations, for example, it's okay for them to object. It's not okay for them not to come to 0.66

00:33:48.300 the table and have true, thoughtful, ongoing conversations. And so there's so much still to be

00:33:53.900 done. And whether you voted Liberal, Conservative, or the odd NDPer, basically, the parties have said,

00:34:00.860 let's get rolling. And that's what excites me for Canada. Would I rather that Paul Lowe was in the

00:34:05.960 driver's seat? Yeah. Would I wish that he had gone to visit Joe Rogan? Yeah. I mean, there's lots of

00:34:10.880 things that we wish we could have done differently. But moving forward, I'm excited that we're actually

00:34:15.720 in conversation. Again, Bill C-5 was one of the most pivotal bills that I've ever seen in all of my life,

00:34:22.780 watching activity proposed. Without C-5, it would be pointless. It'd be a waste of time. 0.98

00:34:30.780 Yeah. I mean, it would have taken a long time to undo all of the disastrous bills that

00:34:34.460 Trudeau is pushing. And let's just make it be known that Mark Carney was behind the scenes

00:34:38.740 pushing those kinds of bills as well. So it is good to see.

00:34:41.660 Right. Yeah, you're not supposed to say that.

00:34:46.340 It's annoying that Carney could move from such an extreme. But again, they blocked Trudeau. We talked

00:34:52.860 about this before. They put him in a cupboard. They've deadbolted the door. They're not killing

00:34:56.620 him. But they're taking him out of the picture completely. And I'm hopeful. I mean, I really do

00:35:02.900 believe that we can get some things done. It's going to take forever to unwind any of those. I mean,

00:35:07.160 let's go back to the big picture as well. EV mandates. Telling us all we have to buy 20,

00:35:11.900 35 cars. I've pitched Hodgson and others saying, instead of an EV mandate, why don't you celebrate

00:35:17.600 what hybrids can do and make it interesting, make it exciting. But stop telling us what we have to do 1.00

00:35:23.680 to encourage us in terms of what we could, should, and might want to do. And that's just one example.

00:35:29.020 The CER regulations. I think Deebo is going to be out of the room. We haven't heard

00:35:32.940 the word Deebo in a month. He gets no profile now. He's been blocked by a party called the Liberal

00:35:40.300 Party. So I think he's going to lose his role in cabinet in the next three to six months because

00:35:47.500 he's irrelevant. And the only way they can really get rid of the noise that he created under Trudeau

00:35:53.360 is to get rid of Deebo as well. And that's my bet right now. I'm putting three to one odds

00:35:58.020 on him being gone by Christmas. Wow. Well, I don't want to bet you against you because I hope

00:36:03.180 you're right. And I hope that that is the direction that the Kearney government takes us in. Well,

00:36:07.280 Brad, that's an optimistic note to end the podcast. And so thanks so much for joining us. That is

00:36:11.500 Brett Wilson, investor and entrepreneur. That's all the time we have for today, folks. We'll be back

00:36:16.300 again tomorrow with all the news. I'm Candace Malcolm's Candace Malcolm Show. Thank you and God bless.

The Candice Malcolm Show - July 22, 2025

“Guilbeault will be gone by Christmas” + absurd media coverage of Danielle Smith’s Alberta townhalls

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