Western Standard - February 01, 2024


CMS： This is Oil Country


Episode Stats


Length

50 minutes

Words per minute

134.4561

Word count

6,834

Sentence count

471

Harmful content

Misogyny

6

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Calgary has a new ban on single-use plastic bags, and the Canadian Taxpayer Federation applauds the move. But what does this mean for the rest of the country? And what does it have to do with the oil and gas industry?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:09:47.860 Thanks, James.
00:09:49.860 Well, unfortunately,
00:09:51.860 my guest has a flat tire,
00:09:53.860 my guest has a flat tire, so you're stuck with me for 10 minutes on my own.
00:09:55.860 But I want to touch base on this plastics ban situation.
00:09:59.860 Last week, we brought you the war on lunch, and we broke down Calgary's new single-use plastic ban, the bag bylaw, the bag tax, as the Canadian Taxpayer Federation called it.
00:10:13.640 What's happened now in the last week is the city councilors have actually heard from their constituents, and a couple of them have changed their minds.
00:10:21.640 I really actually commend city council for taking this step.
00:10:24.640 Right now, Canadians are facing an incredible affordability problem.
00:10:29.640 You know, groceries have gone up and up and up.
00:10:31.640 The cost to heat your homes have gone up thanks to the carbon tax or the tax on everything.
00:10:36.640 And this is just one more thing.
00:10:38.640 And I'm not saying that we don't need to change our habits, and we can use less.
00:10:42.640 We don't always need 50 ketchup packages every time we order.
00:10:46.640 But, you know, the restaurants and the customers need to have that conversation between themselves.
00:10:51.640 Charging a tax for a bag isn't going to reduce the waste.
00:10:55.640 Instead, trying to change people's attitudes and behaviors.
00:10:58.640 Instead, say, hey, you know what, I don't need this ketchup today.
00:11:01.640 I'm going to return this ketchup.
00:11:03.640 Or simply ask, I don't need a fork.
00:11:06.640 I don't need a knife.
00:11:07.640 I've got my own.
00:11:08.640 But instead, they've always decided to be authoritarian and come at us and say, no, you absolutely cannot.
00:11:15.640 Do things this way anymore.
00:11:18.640 What's even more frustrating is the bags that they're taxing are compostable.
00:11:22.640 We already paid for our compost.
00:11:24.640 You know, it's frustrating when you look at your utility bill every month.
00:11:30.640 And at the bottom of the bill, you have a charge for compost waste recycling and the landfill.
00:11:37.640 But then you have to pay for the compostable bags that you're putting into the system.
00:11:43.640 I am really glad that Calgary has changed course on this.
00:11:46.640 But it'll be fascinating to see.
00:11:48.640 So far, Edmonton hasn't.
00:11:50.640 And I don't believe Banff has either.
00:11:52.640 So it'll be fun to compare the two cities a little bit further down the road.
00:11:56.640 And see how the changes actually worked.
00:12:00.640 If there actually is an increase in waste in Calgary and Edmonton.
00:12:05.640 And if there's, you know, not in Edmonton.
00:12:09.640 Or see if there's more waste in Calgary and less waste in Edmonton.
00:12:13.640 But just taking a look here at the comments as well.
00:12:18.640 I seen this one earlier.
00:12:20.640 I hear all tell about heaven in Alberta where they've got all hell for a basement.
00:12:24.640 That's, yeah, Big Sugar.
00:12:26.640 It's an excellent song.
00:12:28.640 It's about my hometown, Medicine Hat.
00:12:30.640 Rudyard Kipling was the one who made that comment.
00:12:34.640 And it's just, you know, we have unlimited oil and gas.
00:12:37.640 Well, we have limited oil and gas resources.
00:12:39.640 But in Medicine Hat, it was so shallow that people used to go out into their backyards
00:12:44.640 and dig their own natural gas wells.
00:12:47.640 Of course, that resulted in some explosions and a couple of other problems.
00:12:50.640 But, you know, the other thing that people forget about Medicine Hat in the area
00:12:54.640 is there's just an absolute ton of coal in that area as well.
00:12:58.640 So you can actually still go travel around and check out certain areas in old closed coal mines.
00:13:03.640 But you'll actually see the coal seams are on fire.
00:13:06.640 And the coal seams have been on fire since a lot of those mines were shut down.
00:13:09.640 It's, you know, it's kind of awesome when you get out and get to travel around the province
00:13:15.640 and see how our oil and gas and coal and our resource industries have actually shaped the province
00:13:22.640 and shaped the communities, you know.
00:13:25.640 Medicine Hat, it's called the Gas City.
00:13:28.640 And then you've got other areas like Grand Prairie and Fort McMurray where they've got the oil sands and oil.
00:13:35.640 And, you know, we've really built our province around that industry.
00:13:40.640 And it's an important industry.
00:13:43.640 It's not only is it pumping the public coffers full of money and keeping our taxes low,
00:13:51.640 but it's keeping people employed with really, really well-paying jobs.
00:13:56.640 And a lot of people are jealous of the wages that the oil and gas workers make.
00:14:00.640 But like I said earlier, how much money would it take for you to be away from your family for two, three, four weeks at a time
00:14:08.640 and live in, and I used to rent out camps so I can trash them a little bit, but the camps are, you know, not much better than prisons.
00:14:16.640 And, you know, the wages have to match that or nobody would do it.
00:14:21.640 And these people work hard.
00:14:23.640 Most shifts are 10 to 12 hours a day minimum.
00:14:26.640 So you're away from your family, you're working 10, 12 hours a day.
00:14:30.640 And, you know, you're paid for that work.
00:14:35.640 And it's frustrating to see that the Liberals, instead of getting behind the industry and pushing for more creative resource development
00:14:44.640 and cleaner resource development and less emissions, methane is one of the things that drives me crazy,
00:14:51.640 because methane is actually useful.
00:14:53.640 And for years we just flared it.
00:14:55.640 Well, there's some great innovators.
00:14:58.640 One company here in Calgary, Highwood Emissions Management,
00:15:02.640 has been working on ways to reduce these emissions and reuse these emissions
00:15:07.640 and really help grow the clean energy industry alongside of the oil and gas industry,
00:15:14.640 finding ways that they can use synergies to better produce oil and gas.
00:15:19.640 And, you know, I'm hoping to talk about this with Robbie here in a little bit.
00:15:24.640 The social aspects of the Canadian oil and gas field.
00:15:28.640 Canadian oil and gas is the most ethically produced oil and gas on the planet.
00:15:33.640 We have the highest environmental standards, but not only that,
00:15:37.640 we have the highest social standards in the world.
00:15:40.640 You're not going to go to Saudi Arabia and see a ton of women working in the industry. 1.00
00:15:44.640 And you're definitely not going to see anybody from the LGBT community working in the industry,
00:15:49.640 at least not openly.
00:15:51.640 And then we have the pipelines and pipelines management and how pipelines are built and used.
00:15:57.640 The Trans Mountain Pipeline will be the safest pipeline in the world when it's completed.
00:16:02.640 and goes live here soon.
00:16:05.640 The pipeline is built with special reinforcements.
00:16:10.640 And even through the Burnaby Mountains, they basically encased it in concrete.
00:16:15.640 And, you know, we've seen in the past oil spills and we don't want that.
00:16:21.640 But if you compare us to the rest of the world, we're the only ones tracking those oil spills,
00:16:26.640 cleaning up those oil spills and, you know, making sure that we not only extract the resources,
00:16:33.640 but we extract the resources responsibly.
00:16:38.640 The other thing with Alberta's or with Canada's oil and gas industry is that it's not some faceless industry ran by big oil oligarchs.
00:16:50.640 The large majority of Canada's oil and gas industry is small service companies.
00:16:55.640 There's hundreds of rig moving companies while dozens of rig moving companies,
00:16:59.640 but hundreds of rental companies and service supply companies,
00:17:03.640 little pipeline companies that connect each individual well into the larger pipeline system.
00:17:09.640 But there's also the electricians that connect the oil and gas wells to permanent power and, you know, build the compressor stations and everything.
00:17:19.640 There's so many different areas from upstream, downstream, midstream, and every single one of these contributes to the Canadian economy.
00:17:29.640 And I would hate to see what the Canadian economy looks like right now without the oil and gas industry.
00:17:34.640 We would be in a technical recession or in a real recession.
00:17:38.640 And it would be more beneficial if the federal government could find ways to help encourage the oil and gas industry to be more creative
00:17:48.640 and really push hard on different ways to produce more oil and reduce emissions like the Premier's looking for.
00:17:59.640 You know, the United States has become the world's largest oil and gas producer in the world,
00:18:04.640 and they don't have the reserves that we do.
00:18:06.640 So if we could get our pipelines to Tidewater, both in BC and out east,
00:18:12.640 you know, we could help reduce the global emissions by getting our natural gas to India and China.
00:18:18.640 And, you know, if we're going to push for any carbon neutral societies,
00:18:25.640 and if we're now going to lower emissions globally,
00:18:32.640 the fastest way to do that is to help countries with emerging economies reach those goals as well.
00:18:38.640 You know, you've got different countries in Africa, and the wealthier they get by developing their own resources,
00:18:45.640 the more power they're going to consume.
00:18:47.640 And we can.
00:18:48.640 We can use solar.
00:18:49.640 We can use wind.
00:18:50.640 We can use geothermal.
00:18:52.640 We can use all of these things combined.
00:18:55.640 But last time I checked, you need oil to build a solar panel.
00:18:58.640 It requires oil to build a wind turbine.
00:19:01.640 And all of these things have mechanical parts in them that need oil and gas products.
00:19:06.640 And there's no reason why these products can't come from Canada,
00:19:09.640 especially when we're leading the world on doing this properly.
00:19:13.640 And, yes, we've seen quite a few foreign oil companies leave the country,
00:19:18.640 especially after the No More Pipelines bill came in.
00:19:22.640 But, you know, we're working hard to bring those companies back,
00:19:25.640 and we're working hard to expand the industry for jobs and for, you know, the longevity of Canada,
00:19:33.640 but the longevity of Alberta as well.
00:19:38.640 So I'm just hoping here that our guest can get in.
00:19:42.640 He's just sent me another message that he's got a flat tire.
00:19:45.640 So while we're waiting, I'm just going to take a quick peek at the site and see what else is coming up.
00:19:52.640 So this is another thing that's been happening in Alberta is the water shortages.
00:19:59.640 So last week or this week in Edmonton, there was a pump that went down and Edmonton was put on water restrictions.
00:20:05.640 And it looks like now that the federal or the provincial government is trying to get out in front of the water shortages that could be coming this spring.
00:20:14.640 You know, we had historic snowpack in the mountains a few years ago, and since then, you know, our reservoirs haven't been filled.
00:20:25.640 And with the reservoirs not being filled properly, we are going to be running into a bit of a situation this year with drought and with irrigation and even with recreation.
00:20:35.640 And this is going to affect a lot of things. So this is this is another thing that even ties back into oil and gas.
00:20:41.640 Canadians have been finding ways to reduce the amount of fresh water our oil and gas uses more than anywhere else in the world.
00:20:48.640 Most of our fracking, if not all of it, is done using recycled water and recycled products.
00:20:53.640 And that's a huge change from using fresh water for everything.
00:20:58.640 And I think that's something that should be highlighted and pointed out, especially going into this summer, where we're going to have we're going to have this this drought situation across the province.
00:21:11.640 You know, it's really good that Environment Minister Rebecca Schultz is getting out in front of this now and working with stakeholders, irrigation districts, landowners to make sure that we've got enough water this spring.
00:21:25.640 But, you know, for sure, this is something we're going to have to keep our eye on.
00:21:29.640 And I hope that we can figure figure this out because we don't want years and years and years of water shortages going across the country.
00:21:44.640 So I'm just checking here and nope, still no guests.
00:21:49.640 So we're we're struggling.
00:21:53.640 That's what.
00:21:56.640 So let's let's reflect on last week.
00:21:58.640 Last week, last Wednesday, it was Tucker Carlson Day.
00:22:02.640 Tucker Carlson spoke in both Calgary and Edmonton.
00:22:05.640 And it's well, the liberals lit their hair on fire about it.
00:22:10.640 You know, Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, made a remark that she wished Tucker Carlson would put Stephen Gilbeau in his crosshairs.
00:22:19.640 And, you know, Stephen Gilbeau, he took that as a personal attack, saying that this would raise violence against politicians.
00:22:27.640 And, you know, that's just not true.
00:22:29.640 And it's just disingenuous, especially coming from Minister Gilbeau, when, you know, he climbed on top of former Premier Ralph Klein's house and was attempting to install solar panels while his terrified wife was in the house alone.
00:22:44.640 You know, it's a little bit rich coming from a guy who's actually done something against a politician to say that this is going to cause hate against him.
00:22:53.640 And one of the other ministers, Randy Bassanel from Edmonton, he went on some sort of unhinged rant about conjuring the evil mega forces from the United States.
00:23:06.640 I don't even know what that means.
00:23:08.640 Minister, like, come on.
00:23:11.640 And then to follow it up by saying that she invited the homophobic rantings of a mega madman, it just doesn't hold any water. 1.00
00:23:21.640 It's completely disingenuous.
00:23:23.640 I went back and I actually watched Tucker's speech in both Calgary and Edmonton.
00:23:26.640 And if the line for homophobia is calling Justin Trudeau a cross dresser, then we really have some problems with our society.
00:23:34.640 If you take a look, Justin Trudeau's never had a problem putting a costume on and just absolutely making a fool out of himself and making a fool out of Canada.
00:23:45.640 So I would say to both ministers, I would say get a grip.
00:23:51.640 You know, check on the site.
00:23:53.640 Our opinion editor, Nigel Hannaford, has an excellent article up.
00:23:56.640 Time to grow a spine.
00:23:58.640 And that's true.
00:23:59.640 You know what?
00:24:00.640 If you don't want to go into politics and get called out for the decisions and your policies and how you feel,
00:24:06.640 just don't go into politics.
00:24:08.640 You know, it's not a game for the faint of heart.
00:24:11.640 And more than doing or telling people what they should be doing and how they should live their lives,
00:24:18.640 politicians should be seeking to actually, you know, govern the way that their constituents want them to govern.
00:24:25.640 They, you know, they're supposed to listen to their constituents and come up with policy that their constituents can vote for and get behind and that they support.
00:24:35.640 And instead, most of the liberals in the NDP coalition looks down its nose at Alberta politics or at their constituents and tells us what we need.
00:24:45.640 And it's frustrating.
00:24:47.640 It's not how our country should be ran.
00:24:50.640 And it's just, you know, it's sad.
00:24:57.640 So, you know, I watched Tucker's speech and, you know, there was a lot of important things in there.
00:25:04.640 And one of the most important things I think he said was, you know, maybe it's time to start laughing at the ridiculous things that these people are saying.
00:25:11.640 And he's right.
00:25:13.640 You know, when churches are burning across the country and when, you know, they're trying to shut down our major industry and their response is, you're racist.
00:25:26.640 It's, well, no, no, I'm not.
00:25:29.640 And race has absolutely nothing to do with it.
00:25:32.640 And, you know, they say that the right is pushing far right conspiracy theories.
00:25:37.640 I don't even know what that means anymore.
00:25:39.640 Which conspiracy theories?
00:25:41.640 You know, because they used unconstitutional laws to shut down protests.
00:25:46.640 And if you look, these protests, especially convoys headed out east, these have continually been convoys in support of oil and gas,
00:25:56.640 in support of the Alberta and Saskatchewan economies, in support of responsible resource development across the world.
00:26:02.640 And, you know, it's laughable at this point that they just keep shutting things down.
00:26:11.640 And, you know, it's unnecessary.
00:26:15.640 And then to come out and to say that they're outraged and that this is going to cause violence.
00:26:20.640 It's just ridiculously disingenuous.
00:26:23.640 And it's not how the country should be run.
00:26:28.640 You know, we were pretty excited.
00:26:30.640 We got two reporters, one in Calgary and one in Edmonton.
00:26:33.640 We had a lot of great content up.
00:26:35.640 There was a lot of really good discussion from Dr. Peterson, Tucker Carlson.
00:26:41.640 There was Lord Conrad Black in Edmonton and the Premier.
00:26:46.640 And, you know, the Premier took a lot of flack saying that Tucker Carlson's not a real journalist, that she shouldn't be meeting with him.
00:26:54.640 But, you know, if you're a politician, you should take every chance you can to get in front of people and tell them your message.
00:27:03.640 And when the world's eyes are on you because of an event like this, you have the responsibility to get up and explain your position and explain what you're trying to accomplish and what your goals are for your province.
00:27:15.640 And it's frustrating to see that instead of taking the opportunity to talk to different people from different paths to life, that different groups just came out and said, no, we want to shut this down.
00:27:26.640 We want to shut down free speech.
00:27:28.640 It was I forget which minister it was, but one of the ministers said or basically alluded that Tucker Carlson should be stopped at the border.
00:27:38.640 Tucker Carlson's not a criminal.
00:27:40.640 He's not been charged with any crime as far as I know.
00:27:43.640 So why would we prevent ideas from entering the province or entering the country?
00:27:52.640 You know, like they don't even hear their own dictatorship and their authoritarian words coming out of their mouth.
00:27:59.640 It doesn't even process like the liberals have invited Hillary Clinton to come speak to them.
00:28:05.640 I don't hear a single conservative saying we should stop her at the border, that she shouldn't be allowed to speak in this country.
00:28:13.640 I'm just looking at the comments here.
00:28:16.640 And one of them says we should get rid of the useless Senate and replace it with direct democracy.
00:28:22.640 Well, you know what? I agree.
00:28:24.640 We should get rid of the useless Senate. 1.00
00:28:26.640 We should definitely seek for Senate reform.
00:28:28.640 I would love to see the triple E Senate, you know, equal, elected and effective.
00:28:35.640 I don't think we're ever going to see that because the senators that were there would actually have to vote themselves out of out of a job, you know, vote themselves into being elected instead of appointed.
00:28:46.640 And I just I can't see them doing it.
00:28:49.640 You know, they're supposed to be the chamber of sober second thought.
00:28:52.640 And, you know, from the no more pipelines bill to the Online News Act to the online censorship bills and everything else, you know, the senators have had ample opportunity to shut these things down and they haven't done it.
00:29:06.640 And I think that's disappointing.
00:29:08.640 And they have constituents that they're supposed to represent as well.
00:29:12.640 But when they're not elected, they're not actually accountable to anyone.
00:29:16.640 And it's it's sad.
00:29:18.640 So I hope that someday we'll see a triple E Senate.
00:29:21.640 But I don't think that'll happen anytime soon.
00:29:24.640 I would, however, really appreciate if the next prime minister would actually appoint the elected senators that Alberta has elected.
00:29:32.640 You know, Alberta is the only province that put this in place.
00:29:35.640 And, you know, I think it's it's it's better and healthier for democracy if the Alberta citizens actually get to decide who represents them in the Senate instead of the prime minister getting to decide who represents us in the Senate.
00:29:47.640 But it looks like my my guest is here now so I can stop floundering all over the place.
00:29:54.640 And let me just get to do his bio here.
00:29:58.640 So a lot of you guys are already going to know Robbie Picard.
00:30:01.640 He has been taking on Neil Young, Jane Fonda, and most recently drove across the country to tell the story of the oil and gas industry.
00:30:09.640 Robbie's an advocate businessman and a serial entrepreneur.
00:30:13.640 Thank you for joining me today, Robbie.
00:30:15.640 Hi, thank you.
00:30:16.640 And I apologize for being late.
00:30:18.640 I had a flat at the worst possible time.
00:30:21.640 But thank you very much for having me on your show.
00:30:24.640 No worries.
00:30:25.640 That's always the way it goes, though.
00:30:26.640 You're you're never when whenever you you have an appointment or something you can't miss.
00:30:31.640 That's normally when stuff like that happens.
00:30:34.640 And Corey's a little bit better at this than I am.
00:30:37.640 He's had practice with guests that are late.
00:30:39.640 I do not.
00:30:40.640 So I apologize to the Western Standard members.
00:30:42.640 But thank you.
00:30:45.640 Thank you very much for joining me.
00:30:47.640 I'm actually I'm a huge fan of your work.
00:30:49.640 Obviously, from being in the oil and gas industry, I appreciate the advocacy that you've done for our jobs and for our industry.
00:30:55.640 But for the people who don't know who you are, who's watching, who is Robbie Picard?
00:31:01.640 Oh, boy.
00:31:02.640 I guess I am.
00:31:04.640 I'm a local business guy.
00:31:05.640 But I in 2013, 2014, I kind of had an interesting experience at the airport and I was with my friend Cindy.
00:31:14.640 And I noticed this like like this jet land at our airport.
00:31:20.640 And I looked at her.
00:31:21.640 I was walking my dogs and I said, wow, whoever has that jet has a lot of cash.
00:31:27.640 And that was the time that Leonardo DiCaprio came to Fort McMurray to kind of bash us.
00:31:32.640 And I thought, wow, how hypocritical is that you can afford this jet and you come to the community that, you know, contributed so much to the economy of Canada.
00:31:42.640 And you fly a private jet here and then come and slam us. 0.99
00:31:46.640 I guess that was almost two years ago.
00:31:47.640 So I guess I'm an old sounds activist.
00:31:49.640 I have a marketing company.
00:31:51.640 I've got a new magazine called Oil and Gas World.
00:31:55.640 And I believe in getting the other message out there.
00:32:01.640 I really hate the world we're in right now with this wokeness and such polarization.
00:32:06.640 And I don't like it how my community here in Fort McMurray has been so viciously attacked over and over again in regards to the very thing that pays their bills.
00:32:18.640 I believe we have the highest environmental standards in the world.
00:32:21.640 We do reclamation.
00:32:23.640 It's economic reconciliation for indigenous people.
00:32:27.640 So I guess in a nutshell, I'm a marketing guy that is a big believer in Alberta and Canadian energy and Canada's oil and gas.
00:32:35.640 Yeah, that's quite the resume.
00:32:37.640 So tell me a little bit more about Oil Sand Strong.
00:32:40.640 What what what does Oil Sand Strong do?
00:32:43.640 We advocate.
00:32:45.640 So I guess I wear two hats.
00:32:47.640 I got Oil and Gas World magazine, which is more of a humanizing thing where we talk to people, interview them and find out about families in oil and gas and what they do.
00:32:56.640 And then Oil Sand Strong is like it's the group that we stand up.
00:33:00.640 We've got just shy of 300,000 followers on Facebook and our reach is always in the millions and it's pretty strong.
00:33:06.640 And we take on celebrities.
00:33:08.640 So a few years ago and in a very cold January, Jane Fonda came to Fort McMurray.
00:33:13.640 We confronted her.
00:33:15.640 We called her out and then she ended up leaving. 0.86
00:33:19.640 We've taken on celebrities like Janet Arden, you know, all kinds of stuff.
00:33:25.640 So we advocate for Canada's oil and gas industry, particularly the oil stands here.
00:33:31.640 And we were not scared to get the other message out there or combat the sheer hypocrisy of the world right now.
00:33:38.640 Yeah, no kidding. Absolutely.
00:33:41.640 I actually love your video of you confronting Jane Fonda.
00:33:45.640 You know, that's one of the messages that we all like never, ever hear is that when these celebrities show up and they get in front of a microphone, they're speaking to the world, telling them a different story.
00:33:56.640 And finally, somebody stood up and said, hey, but what about these other stories?
00:34:00.640 You know, what about the indigenous community?
00:34:02.640 What about the people who are working here?
00:34:04.640 What about the families who are just here to put food on their table?
00:34:07.640 And what about the fact that we have the most ethically cleanly and progressive society that's producing oil and gas in the world?
00:34:16.640 You know, we should invite Jane Fonda to go on a tour with us to Saudi Arabia, although you and I might want to take some security with us for that.
00:34:24.640 Yeah. Well, and that's the funny part where I found it.
00:34:28.640 I mean, even recently when I saw Ryan Boatsmouth in Ottawa with Stephen Gavol and they were whining about Tucker Carlson's visit.
00:34:35.640 And I'm gay and I've been openly gay this entire time.
00:34:39.640 And I find it hilarious that like that one particular side acts like they speak for all gay people. 0.88
00:34:46.640 Like it's real simple.
00:34:47.640 If I go to Saudi Arabia and I criticize their oil, I'm not just kicked out.
00:34:53.640 I'm dead because I'm gay.
00:34:54.640 They'll cut off my head.
00:34:55.640 They'll throw me off the building or whatever.
00:34:57.640 And I also am kind of, we're in a world now where like, I couldn't believe when Tucker Carlson came, I was at that event.
00:35:05.640 I got to meet him and hang out with him a little bit.
00:35:07.640 I couldn't believe the response from the federal government.
00:35:10.640 I mean, they were just so weak.
00:35:12.640 Oh my God, Tucker Carlson hurt our feelings.
00:35:14.640 And oh my God, we're not going to stand for this.
00:35:16.640 And it's just like, there's such bigger problems in Canada right now that we are facing that if Premier Daniel Smith has a conversation with Tucker Carlson.
00:35:26.640 I mean, it's just insanely ridiculous the world we're in.
00:35:30.640 And I'm happy that the Indigenous and the First Nations, Métis and the First Nations in Fort McMurray are making amazing deals with oil and gas.
00:35:42.640 They're becoming their own producers.
00:35:44.640 So clearly, Jane Fonda, Leonardo Caprio and Neil Young's visit didn't work.
00:35:50.640 And now that they're getting a bigger piece and understanding that, you know, it takes this industry to list people from object poverty.
00:35:57.640 It gives them a purpose.
00:35:59.640 It gives valid validation and resources that they desperately need.
00:36:05.640 And I'm happy to see that I think generational poverty in my region is starting to just wipe out.
00:36:11.640 And now you're actually getting into the opposite where there's, you know, generational wealth.
00:36:15.640 And I'm very proud of that.
00:36:17.640 And I think that Jane Fonda and all those celebrities should be ashamed of themselves for what they did to what they did to our region.
00:36:25.640 And the other thing I think we all need to start talking about is like this ban on gas and diesel vehicles that is going to happen in 11 years.
00:36:35.640 And if we don't like there is no such thing as green energy.
00:36:39.640 I think batteries cause pollution, you know, even hydro electricity causes some type of pollution.
00:36:46.640 And I just watched a show the other day about Manitoba, how their grid is starting to fail.
00:36:51.640 And they thought they were the greenest grid ever because they've got hydroelectric dams.
00:36:56.640 So I don't know. I think the world needs to wake up and understand there's a lot of problems we're facing in this wokeness of our Mr.
00:37:05.640 Dressup prime minister is really hurting our country.
00:37:09.640 Yeah. So let's talk about the grid for a little bit here.
00:37:12.640 So Alberta had to put out a grid alert a couple of weeks ago. 0.77
00:37:16.640 We're importing energy from B.C. and Saskatchewan.
00:37:20.640 Saskatchewan had to fire up an old coal facility in order to make sure that the west grid didn't collapse.
00:37:27.640 And we're years away from Site C if it ever gets finished from coming online.
00:37:32.640 In the short term, we need energy and we need energy now.
00:37:36.640 And we can't rely on wind and solar.
00:37:40.640 What do you think the oil sands and Alberta's oil and gas industry in general should be to make sure that we continue to power the grid and that we actually have safe and secure power?
00:37:53.640 I think there's a couple of things.
00:37:56.640 One, we need to stop.
00:37:59.640 We all know in Fort McMurray that oil is going to continue.
00:38:03.640 We all know that we're going to probably double our output.
00:38:06.640 It's all there.
00:38:07.640 You know, the transplant pipelines firing up here.
00:38:10.640 But the psychological damage that is done on our community with this fake wokeness that they're somehow going to get rid of it really affects the mood up here.
00:38:21.640 And it's funny because, like, we should be booming right now.
00:38:24.640 Oil is a good price and there's very little development.
00:38:27.640 A lot of people are scared to buy homes right now, even though Fort McMurray has the cheapest homes in the country.
00:38:35.640 We have foreclosures like crazy.
00:38:37.640 But it's a really weird kind of dynamic happening here because right now there should be like come to Fort McMurray, buy a house.
00:38:44.640 You can actually get a house, not like Toronto.
00:38:47.640 You can get a good paying job.
00:38:48.640 But the psychological feeling is that Justin Trudeau has put a time limit on our community and that hurts us.
00:38:55.640 Now, on the bigger question, like we got rid of all our coal power in Alberta and they switched to natural gas.
00:39:02.640 But getting rid of coal devastated a ton of communities and they're still recovering from that.
00:39:08.640 So this wokeness that came from the NDP when they did that, I am not convinced that there is one answer in regards to power.
00:39:17.640 I know that this so-called green energy in China, every single one of those facilities is backed up by a coal power plant because they're not that reliable.
00:39:27.640 So I think we just need to stop being ridiculous.
00:39:31.640 Stop this war on energy.
00:39:33.640 Look at other ways of dealing with pollution, like planting more trees, wetlands, that type of thing.
00:39:40.640 But when it comes to Canada, we're 1.5% of all global emissions.
00:39:46.640 We have the biggest forest, the Boreal Forest, that sucks all of our carbon up.
00:39:52.640 I don't understand why we're punishing our energy industry so brutally.
00:39:58.640 I really don't.
00:40:00.640 Me either.
00:40:01.640 I don't understand why we don't get behind the industry and help it to reduce emissions while it continues to grow.
00:40:07.640 You know, I'm still hoping for a day where we see the Tech Frontier mine revisited or approved and actually get under construction.
00:40:16.640 Now, you're Métis and you touched on it a little bit earlier about like indigenous communities and oil and gas.
00:40:24.640 My company has actually had benefit agreements with two different nations and they're amazing.
00:40:32.640 There is no better way to get a steady stream of employees that are getting educated, that are getting better, that want to work in the industry, that work hard than these benefit agreements.
00:40:44.640 What kind of effect have these benefit agreements and these partnerships between resource groups the indigenous communities had on Fort McMurray and the greater, like greater northern Alberta as a whole?
00:40:59.640 I wouldn't make the argument that we are an example for the entire world on indigenous reconciliation and economic reconciliation.
00:41:06.640 I mean, a friend of mine, Chief Raymond Powder from the Fort Mackay First Nation, I helped him on his campaign.
00:41:12.640 They have the, I mean, they've got the Fort Mackay Group of companies.
00:41:16.640 They employ thousands of people.
00:41:18.640 They, you know, they're doing incredibly well.
00:41:21.640 I'm, you know, connected to a bunch of Métis organizations.
00:41:24.640 Same thing.
00:41:25.640 They've got joint ventures now.
00:41:27.640 They've got companies that do direct working with oil companies.
00:41:32.640 Infinity Métis Group, you know, head by Sean Myers is doing incredible deals right now.
00:41:38.640 Crystal Young was in charge of the business arm of the Fort Mackay Métis.
00:41:42.640 They're doing very well.
00:41:43.640 It's not, there's nothing like this in, I would argue, the entire world.
00:41:48.640 I mean, it's, it's amazing.
00:41:50.640 Now it's not always perfect.
00:41:52.640 I would make the argument that if I was to take a shot at industry, they, this consultation should have happened 20 years ago.
00:41:59.640 And then they wouldn't necessarily have had to deal with the negative effects of, you know, celebrity flybys.
00:42:05.640 But, you know, I'm a member of the North, Northeast Eastern Aboriginal Business Association.
00:42:12.640 There's over, you know, 289 members.
00:42:14.640 And no, it's, I mean, this, the city of Fort McMurray particularly is game changing.
00:42:20.640 Like it changes people's lives.
00:42:21.640 You can come to Fort McMurray with nothing and get a job.
00:42:25.640 And then before you know it, you own a home and you have a purpose.
00:42:28.640 If you have a business, I'm, I think like they're doing the worst thing the federal government is doing is, is it hurts our, I mean, not to be weak or anything, but it hurts our collective consciousness.
00:42:41.640 It affects our self esteem when you have, you know, your federal government, you know, attacking your source of income so much that changes everyone's lives.
00:42:51.640 I mean, I cannot tell you the amount of people from the East coast that I know who, you know, were say working in the fisheries and lost their job or whatever.
00:42:58.640 And then they came here and now they're retiring back in Newfoundland and they're buying two properties and they've got tons of money.
00:43:05.640 So, I mean, it's, it's game changing.
00:43:08.640 And then, you know, the worst part is when you, when you see like Quebec get transfer payments after transfer payments and all comes from here, you know, it's kind of demoralizing.
00:43:19.640 So kind of to your question, yeah, it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to indigenous people.
00:43:24.640 And I, I only see more success.
00:43:27.640 I see indigenous people becoming oil producers.
00:43:29.640 I think that's the next step.
00:43:30.640 You're going to see a lot of indigenous owned oil companies.
00:43:33.640 So, I mean, it's good and the rest of the country should learn from it.
00:43:37.640 Oh, exactly.
00:43:38.640 Like the, the oil and gas tide rises all boats and just the, the spinoff to the economy, the tax generation, the resource revenue, the homes, like income taxes.
00:43:50.640 It just, it's exponential how much it actually helps these communities.
00:43:55.640 And, you know, it's kind of rich for Quebec to say, there's no social license for pipelines or oil and gas exploration in Quebec.
00:44:02.640 At the same time, you know, importing oil and gas from some of the worst dictatorships on, on the entire planet.
00:44:09.640 Well, basically treating Alberta, which is one of the most progressive places, even with conservative governments.
00:44:15.640 We're still one of the most progressive places on earth.
00:44:18.640 You know, but they're fine with dictator oil.
00:44:21.640 But before we wrap up here, oil and gas world magazine, tell me about this new project of yours.
00:44:30.640 Okay.
00:44:31.640 So it has become an amazing project.
00:44:33.640 It's like, it's, it's, I love it.
00:44:35.640 Um, we're on our fifth issue now, and they're going to be coming up monthly.
00:44:38.640 It's been a bit hard to get together.
00:44:39.640 It's not easy.
00:44:40.640 Um, I wanted to, I wanted to find a way to like oil sand strong is kind of the fist, right?
00:44:49.640 Like we're, we're, we go after people, we, we defend our industry, but there's a lot of people that are in the oil and gas industry that I find are very interesting.
00:44:58.640 They've got hobbies and they are different and they, there's a soul to them.
00:45:04.640 They're not just these like kind of like tough oil people.
00:45:07.640 So I started this project to travel across the country and interview people from all walks of life.
00:45:12.640 So rather if I'm interviewing, say someone of Brett Wilson's, you know, like kind of a multi-millionaire, billionaire guy in his business,
00:45:19.640 or a friend who just has like a little gas station restaurant, I try to talk to them and hear their stories.
00:45:26.640 And, you know, we always try to connect it to something to do with oil and gas, but that doesn't necessarily have to be.
00:45:31.640 And the response has been amazing.
00:45:33.640 And I, I find myself just love doing these interviews and, um, kind of, we have the written component.
00:45:40.640 Um, it's, uh, it's on our website, oilandgasworld.ca.
00:45:43.640 And then all the interviews are done digitally.
00:45:45.640 We film them ahead of time.
00:45:46.640 We do the editing and then we do the, the, the print version like this, where we put all, uh, all the stories in print.
00:45:53.640 And what I find is the vast majority of people that I've talked to from coast to coast, they want a strong energy.
00:45:59.640 They want pipelines.
00:46:01.640 They want a strong natural gas, um, oil sands.
00:46:05.640 They want, they want that.
00:46:06.640 And the wokeness of the federal government right now has tried to take that message and hijack that message.
00:46:13.640 And I don't believe, I believe the vast majority of Canada, the Canadians want all kinds of energy and no one wants to be forced to drive an electric car.
00:46:21.640 So I love what the projects doing really well.
00:46:23.640 I originally wasn't actually even going to do print.
00:46:26.640 Um, but I did a print one to kind of show the idea and then it just took off and everybody wanted a copy of the print one.
00:46:31.640 So we print them.
00:46:32.640 They're available at all the Canadian brew houses, uh, across Canada, um, and a few other places as well.
00:46:38.640 And, uh, and then if people can't get the copy, we just click the QR code.
00:46:43.640 They can download on their phone and they can watch the videos as well.
00:46:46.640 But yeah, it's been an awesome project and I'm, I'm thrilled to be doing it.
00:46:49.640 It's a lot of fun.
00:46:51.640 That's awesome.
00:46:52.640 I'm really excited about this project as well.
00:46:54.640 Uh, you, you and I got to chat a little bit last week.
00:46:57.640 And, uh, I think one of the biggest things and one of the biggest misconceptions of the oil and gas industry is that it's like six billionaires that are sitting around smoking cigars and pipes in downtown Calgary.
00:47:08.640 When realistically it's hundreds, if not thousands of small businesses, small entrepreneurs, small families, and people working, working in this industry.
00:47:18.640 Thank you very much for joining me though.
00:47:20.640 Uh, you, you already said your oil and gas world, uh, what's that website again?
00:47:25.640 Oilandgasworld.ca
00:47:28.640 Oilandgasworld.ca
00:47:29.640 You can check out, uh, Robbie's project there.
00:47:32.640 And, uh, you can also check out, uh, what's the OilSandStrong website?
00:47:36.640 OilSandStrong.com
00:47:38.640 OilSandStrong.com
00:47:39.640 You can find Robbie and more information about him and his work there.
00:47:43.640 Thank you very much for joining me today.
00:47:45.640 Awesome.
00:47:46.640 A pleasure to be on your show and apologize about being late.
00:47:48.640 No worries.
00:47:49.640 We all have flat tires.
00:47:50.640 Okay.
00:47:51.640 Thank you.
00:47:52.640 Thanks.
00:47:53.640 Thanks.
00:47:55.640 Well, before we go today, I just want to touch on one thing.
00:47:59.640 It sounds like there's going to be announcement about a parental rights bill here in Alberta, uh, either today or tomorrow.
00:48:06.640 And, uh, I, I just want to touch on it just briefly before we go.
00:48:09.640 Uh, you know, this is a very emotional topic.
00:48:12.640 It's complicated and it's been over politicized for far too long.
00:48:16.640 Uh, you know, one side says that the other side's homophobic and that they're attacking the rights of gay kids and trans youth.
00:48:23.640 And that's just not true.
00:48:25.640 So I hope that when these, uh, new policies come out in the next 24, 48 hours, that everybody can take it and approach it from a human point of view.
00:48:35.640 Uh, you know, consider that that's someone's kid that we're talking about, consider that it's someone's parent, that it's their friend, that it's their family member, and that these measures aren't coming out to punish anybody or try to shut down or silence a particular community.
00:48:51.640 These policies are coming out to protect kids, to ensure parents have rights, and to ensure that we have a society where everyone is supported, uplifted, and loved.
00:49:04.640 With that, we're going to end today's show.
00:49:07.640 And, uh, next week, Cory will be back and, uh, we can all go back to normal.
00:49:12.640 So, uh, thank you very much for joining us.
00:49:15.640 If you're not already a member of the Western Standard, you can become a member, www.westernstandard.news slash subscribe.
00:49:25.640 Thanks.
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