It's another week in Canada, and the news is still turning faster than we can keep up with it. Franco Tarrazzano of the Taxpayers Federation and Sean Polzer of the Western Standard join me to discuss the latest in the oil and gas sector, and how Canada needs a new Prime Minister.
00:13:09.960There's ones we like more or less than others.
00:13:12.520It's a matter of trying to mitigate and get the best you can out of the bunch and try to keep them accountable.
00:13:18.400That's why it's important for us to stay on the case of the politicians we like just as much as getting on the case of the ones we don't like.
00:13:25.520I have not been thrilled with the budget performance of the UCP.
00:18:43.960And now, I mean, that's part of what Carney's hoping that helped him was getting out of that tax and seeing if maybe that's what's turning around a little bit of electoral fortunes.
00:18:54.480so we got franco in the lobby again let's see if we got that rectified how's it going franco
00:18:57.540can you hear me now i do yes yeah i do i got you finally so you were just explaining thank you uh
00:19:05.800um how the liberals can get out of raising that carbon tax april 1st yeah so you're right in the
00:19:12.240sense that the carbon tax is still scheduled to go up 19 on april 1 but the liberals when you hear
00:19:19.740minister gibault saying well i don't know what to do that is just factually incorrect okay in the
00:19:25.420legislation that brought in the carbon tax it gives cabinet the power to set the carbon tax rates
00:19:33.740okay so with a stroke of a pen today the government could effectively kill the carbon0.63
00:19:39.660tax by setting the carbon tax rate to zero okay don't believe me well how did the federal
00:19:46.780government remove the carbon tax from furnace oil for three years it didn't do it by passing
00:19:53.020legislation but it did it with regulation okay so the government has done it before by removing the
00:19:59.580carbon tax for furnace oil for atlantic canadians predominantly and the government can do it again
00:20:05.420by immediately ending the carbon tax today okay so the government doesn't need to pass any
00:20:11.100legislation the act itself gives cabinet the power to put the carbon tax rate on all the different
00:20:18.140fuels to zero all right good so they've got no excuse and we'll uh remind them of that in the
00:20:24.760the weeks to come here uh so getting on to other things one of the you know we're in the midst of
00:20:29.940this bizarre trade war and the tariffs and counter tariffs and the rest going on something you
00:20:35.700You pointed out, I mean, a strategy, and we're not hearing that tactic much.
00:20:39.640I mean, it sounds like among the many things, I mean, it depends on the hour, what President
00:20:43.380Trump may or may not want from us, but he does say he wants to draw Canadian businesses
00:20:57.800It'll make it even harder for President Trump to snipe them.
00:21:00.840Yeah, you know, I understand the sentiment, right?
00:21:03.940like when someone pushes you you want to push back i understand that sentiment i understand
00:21:09.460that emotion but like folks retaliatory tariffs are just a tax on canadians right so when president
00:21:17.460trump imposes tariffs well that is a tax on american businesses and is passed on to american
00:21:24.340consumers okay so just because president trump wants to increase taxes on americans that doesn't
00:21:31.060mean that ottawa should then go ahead and increase taxes on canadians you know what i mean like
00:21:37.620that's the problem like trump's tariffs will hurt canada's economy but you want to know what's going
00:21:42.980to hurt us even more knee-jerk retaliatory tariffs it's just another tax on canadian citizens that0.58
00:21:50.580canadians can't afford now that doesn't mean that canada should just sit back and do nothing
00:21:56.580no no no we should take the us's lunch money by making canada more competitive okay so number one
00:22:04.020immediately scrap all carbon taxes carbon taxes make the necessities of your life more expensive
00:22:09.540and blew a 12 billion dollar hole in our economy last year number two immediately cancel the capital0.98
00:22:16.420gains tax hike scheduled for next year right nothing tells entrepreneurs to leave canada
00:22:22.820louder than a looming capital gains tax hike but number three as i mentioned right we have to go
00:22:30.020on a major tax cutting campaign okay so canada ranks about 31st out of 38 industrialized countries
00:22:38.420on individual tax competitiveness that is awful we rank 26th out of 38 industrial countries on
00:22:46.740business tax competitiveness that is also awful and on both measures we rank behind the united
00:22:53.460states okay so if you want to really do some damage to the u.s you shouldn't be imposing new
00:22:59.660taxes on canadians we should be doing the exact opposite cutting taxes left right and center
00:23:06.260yeah well milton friedman put it excellently with tariffs when he pointed out saying well
00:23:10.780it's like you're all sitting in the same boat somebody goes and shoots a hole in the boat
00:23:14.160and then you respond by taking out a gun and shooting a hole in right next to it so you're
00:23:17.740both sinking at the same time it doesn't help but and that's fair enough like when you start
00:23:22.740taxing us further but american tariffs on canadian products do harm our outward sales like it's
00:23:28.280going to lead to a reduction in sales so it is punitive to canadians i just i know i don't
00:23:33.880expect you will like using taxes as a tool for much of anything but what about countermeasures
00:23:38.780such as an export tariff when it's trying to put it on to the other end of the bill yeah i mean
00:23:45.900cory look i'm not suggesting that u.s tariffs aren't going to hurt canada and canada's economy
00:23:51.180that's not what i'm suggesting i i agree that u.s tariffs will hurt canada's economy but you know
00:23:58.140what will make that pain worse knee-jerk retaliatory tariffs that make life in canada more expensive
00:24:04.860that will make life more expensive and that will make things worse and look corey i am very
00:24:09.820skeptical that a trade war prolonged with canadian tariffs will work i'm very skeptical maybe they
00:24:16.780will work but probably they won't you know what's more likely to push trump to back down pain felt
00:24:23.740by americans congress people governors who are watching prices soar their economy blow up and
00:24:32.220the stock market crash right so i understand the emotional feeling here when someone pushes you
00:24:38.780you want to hit back but canada's knee-jerk retaliatory tariffs will land like a punch
00:24:45.100across our own jaw if we really want to be serious what we have to do is make canada more competitive
00:24:52.620than the united states if they want to impose taxes on their own citizens we should not be
00:24:58.300doing the same thing and let me just bring up some breaking news from i believe earlier this morning
00:25:03.900where australia's prime minister essentially said the same thing that i'm saying where they're not
00:25:09.020going to impose retaliatory tariffs because that is a tax on their own citizens right so on top of
00:25:15.900that something else that kind of surfaced i know this might be kind of a bit out of left field but
00:25:19.340canada put that hundred percent tariff on chinese electric vehicles last fall which has now led to
00:25:25.420china uh taking a run at canadian goods with tariffs and it's causing harm to canadian farmers
00:25:31.100in particular i mean you know a lot of our canola and other outward crops china is a big customer
00:25:35.980you know this swirling mess i mean i suspect your answer is going to be the same our best
00:25:39.660way out of it is to start just dropping our own bloody tariffs yeah that's exactly right so two
00:25:44.860things come to mind so cory i'm not well versed in that specific issue but two things come to mind
00:25:50.140Number one, isn't it kind of crazy that the federal government and some of the provinces are putting taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars for battery factories in the hopes that Canadians buy more EVs and then they slap tariffs on more affordable EVs, right?
00:26:08.980And also, too, Corey, I just want to bring back my past point that what I think will really stop this tariff war is actually pressure from the United States, whether it's Americans, American lobby groups, Congress or governors.
00:26:22.660Like you mentioned farmers. Well, what led Mr. Trump to reduce the tariff on potash?
00:26:30.180It was pushback from American farmers who rely on Canadian potash for their inputs.
00:26:37.000well and likewise i imagine with these tariffs on steel aluminum the rest any american companies
00:26:42.280that have to buy those products their ceos or representatives have got to be flooding to
00:26:47.000washington right now at least behind closed doors begging trump lay off man we we can't make money
00:26:52.840if you keep doing this to us yeah and cory you know i'm really happy to be on this show with you
00:26:57.960and your audience talking about tariffs because let me just plant the seed right the answer to
00:27:04.200making our economy better or life in Canada better? The answer is not giving Ottawa more
00:27:11.620power to tax us and intervene in our economy. And that's exactly what a tariff is, regardless
00:27:18.980if it's the initial tariff or a retaliatory tariff, okay? A tariff is a way for Ottawa
00:27:27.480or the central government to impose itself in the economy and to impose itself with new taxes
00:27:34.360that make people's lives more expensive. We should not be in support of giving Ottawa
00:27:40.260the tool to tax us more. So an unfortunate thing as we're just kind of running things out is that
00:27:46.580basically the two major parties running in this general election are both calling for
00:27:51.560counter tariffs right now correct yeah you know it's it's unfortunate i mean i actually don't see
00:27:57.640much on the tariff specifically i don't see any of the major parties uh saying no tariffs no new
00:28:05.080taxes on canadians the difference that i'm hearing and again we haven't actually seen any concrete
00:28:10.680plans from the liberal government is how they're going to spend the tariff or tax revenue right
00:28:17.080We've heard some of the media float this notion of how the Liberals might put in some pandemic-era level of spending, right?
00:28:25.940Whereas the Conservatives, they say that most of the revenue from the tariff tax will go back towards tax cuts.
00:28:34.640So that is really the only difference that I'm hearing on this specific issue from the major parties.
00:28:40.920Well, it's going to be a long month in some.
00:28:43.460I mean, and everything changes day by day, too.
00:28:45.700I mean, part of the issue is the instability.
00:28:47.680I mean, the tariffs are on, the tariffs are off.
00:32:27.260Well, the top highlight was probably Premier Smith's address just moments ago, barely an hour ago.
00:32:35.720We've got a breaking news update up on the site.
00:32:38.840I think it's safe to say that she wowed the crowd, although there's definitely a lot of homegrown partisans.0.92
00:32:47.120But I think that the message on the tariffs, I saw your segment briefly with Franco, is starting to register with the people that at least know anything about oil and gas around here.
00:32:59.760And, of course, being in Houston and being at Sierra Week and IHS, we've got some of the biggest luminaries of the oil world all gathered in one spot.
00:33:10.500So what kind of reception has there been, actually, for Canadians down there?
00:33:15.980I would imagine, I would hope that the business community is just looking at the dollars and cents and not taking it personally.
00:33:21.280It's not like we're, you know, seeing the sporting community booing each other's anthems and other such foolishness.
00:33:25.500I mean, they're just talking about dollars and cents down there, I imagine, not bitter.
00:33:32.060And, you know, the message here is that the American Energy Advantage is predicated on the partnership with Canada.
00:33:37.700Like, they really couldn't do it without us.
00:33:39.420So, just assuming that there is a 10% tariff, which is not as bad as a 25% or even a 50% tariff, you know, it seems to be going up by the minute here, just even a 10% tariff, if they were to back those barrels out, Canadian barrels out of the market and replace them with American barrels, they're exporting about an equivalent amount that they're importing from us.
00:35:27.740So, I mean, it's nice to have all these aspirational ideas about exporting more,
00:35:32.980but are we hearing anything concrete about how we might be able to actually get it done?
00:35:36.980Well, that's actually the mantra here, and I mentioned that in the article.
00:35:40.840It's not so much drill, baby, drill, because, you know, the amount of resources that are available is well-known.
00:35:47.900Alberta government is putting out a resource assessment later on today, if it's not already out by the time I get there.
00:35:53.660But Smith was talking about it briefly in her presentation.
00:35:56.840is you know trillion barrels of oil thousands of trillions of feet of natural gas so now the
00:36:02.920problem is is how do we you know get those resources to market so the new slogan around
00:36:09.560here is build baby build it's not so much drill baby drill and the sense is that is the american
00:36:15.800advantage because they can get these projects to market really really fast it's like you said the
00:36:22.360The whole LNG infrastructure down here on the Gulf Coast, I'm going to call it the Gulf Coast, not the Gulf of America, not the Gulf of David, not the Gulf of Alberta, right?
00:36:31.520The Gulf Coast, it's gone from zero to, you know, in just less than a decade.
00:37:12.160So I spoke to some folks from Tourmaline, Calgary-based, Mike Rose Company, biggest natural gas producer in Canada.
00:37:21.440They're actually the first one to actually start shipping LNG through the Gulf of Alberta.
00:37:27.400But, you know, there was a comment made, like, just even with the number of projects that are on the West Coast that are already set in motion,
00:37:34.960you know, once those come online, we are going to be the world's fourth or fifth largest LNG producer.
00:37:41.020You know, it's still not too late to get into that game.
00:37:44.680And Danielle Smith's announcement yesterday with the government of Japan to, you know, sign this, you know, there is no business case for LNG, Corey.
00:37:55.060You know that. We know that. Our prime minister has told us how many times there's no business case for LNG.
00:38:00.780And yet the LNG demand around the globe is going to double within the next however many years.
00:38:06.380And it's because of data centers. It's because of electric cars. It's because of pulling all these other countries out of energy poverty.
00:38:13.480It's because of the wars in Ukraine and in Russia.
00:38:17.300So I don't think that the demand inside of the equation is really the problem.
00:38:22.640The problem is, like I said, getting those trucks and shovels into the ground.
00:44:47.200If you want EVs to actually make a possible run, the best thing the government can do, which is contrary to so much of their nature, get the hell out of the way.
00:46:34.920And what do you get from Trudeau, some dildo showing up at your place with drawings to show you that you might not be a boy, you might be a girl, because that's what's most important to you.
00:46:44.140And all you want to do is friggin' eat.
00:46:46.340Alright guys, hey, tune in to the pipeline tonight.
00:46:49.340I'm going to have another show, it's an election special, it's going to be coming on on Friday, and it's going to be moving probably to a live format on Fridays after that.
00:46:56.560Nigel Hannaford's doing his thing, Derek Fildebrandt, we've got lots of content.
00:47:00.420Subscribe to these channels, keep watching them, keep sharing them.
00:47:03.340I appreciate you tuning in today and we'll see you on the next one.