Western Standard - THE PIPELINE： Alberta’s push for West Coast pipelines

00:00:00.000 Good day, I'm Corey Morgan, a columnist with the Western Standard,

00:00:29.460 and you're watching The Pipeline. I'm sitting in for our publisher, Derek Fildebrandt,

00:00:34.140 who usually hosts these things, but I got a great lineup of other folks to fill it in.

00:00:39.000 We've got a lot of great stuff to cover today, so I'll kind of start with just introducing the

00:00:43.200 folks we've got with me from the far end. Our news editor, Dave Naylor, is in-house.

00:00:47.680 Corey, you are not just a columnist. You are the columnist of the year, announced at a gala,

00:00:53.020 Western Standard dinner on Friday night, so congratulations. A lot of tough customers to

00:00:59.860 beat. Thanks. Yeah, I was very flattered. It wasn't expected. I mean, we've had hundreds of

00:01:03.400 columnists all year from dozens of fantastic columnists, so I was pretty lucky to rise to...

00:01:09.300 You've done some great work, Corey. I appreciate that.

00:01:14.640 Well done, Corey.

00:01:16.400 Thank you, Elise. Good evening. I'm Nigel Hannaford.

00:01:18.980 Yes, Nigel is here on my right, and our former opinion editor, if we could see, but I don't know.

00:01:24.620 Opinion editor.

00:01:25.580 I'm there, it's just a thing that we're going with.

00:01:28.140 All right. And coming in from the wet coast, we've got Elise Mills. Hi, Elise. How's it going?

00:01:33.480 I'm good. Good day, gentlemen.

00:01:36.520 Good. So, we've got a bunch of stuff to cover. We'll start again on the end with Dave, though,

00:01:41.380 because he's kind of got the news on this. There's been a big announcement from the Alberta

00:01:45.140 provincial government on the pipeline front. What's happening?

00:01:47.420 Big, big, big announcement. Happy day for Alberta. The Premier Smith has announced they're

00:01:52.640 going to start ahead and start pushing for a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to BC.

00:01:59.200 She's brought three companies on board, Trans Mountain. They know a thing or two about building

00:02:04.720 a pipeline. Enbridge and South Bay Corporation. And they're going to get together and plot

00:02:10.340 routes and all the various things you need to plot for a pipeline. And then they're going

00:02:17.640 to have it into Prime Minister Carney's major projects office by mid-2026. So, you know,

00:02:26.060 that puts the ball in Mark Carney's court and especially puts the ball into Premier Eby's

00:02:32.180 court in BC. And he already has had a press conference mocking the idea saying, it's not

00:02:37.200 a real thing. And, you know, call me when you've got something concrete.

00:02:41.400 Yeah. So, we'll go to Elise. You watched the conference, Elise. Mr. Eby has jumped the gun.

00:02:47.200 I guess he got a little while. The Globe kind of leaked a bit of stuff too. And he's not responding

00:02:52.880 with much enthusiasm. Well, I think Dave gave a great lead on that. I'd also have to mention

00:02:59.380 how uncomfortable Premier Eby looked in that press conference. What David Eby is factoring

00:03:05.540 in is that he's lost that green environmental support. That's not a block that he can count

00:03:12.680 on anymore. And he's got his NDP diehards. And he's still got a certain level of popularity

00:03:19.180 in the province, which John Rustad doesn't have. But I can tell he's factoring this in.

00:03:26.460 The problem is David Eby's record on saying no to energy is quite hypocritical. He just seems 0.89

00:03:34.280 to hate pipelines. But he'll take Carney's money for pretty much any other energy or energy

00:03:40.940 facility like his recent agreement with the federal government out at the Richmond airport,

00:03:46.500 for example. But he's looking nervous. The one thing I noticed was as he stuttered through

00:03:52.180 his press conference, and I don't know if Dave agrees with me, that was not a comfortable

00:03:55.900 looking Premier. But it might be because he didn't really understand the details. But he

00:04:01.140 chided Premier Smith by saying, when you have something that doesn't require government funding,

00:04:06.060 let me know. Problem is, and we all know this, it's guys like David Eby and a decade of Jackson

00:04:12.520 Trudeau and the gamesmanship that they played in tearing this country up that has forced government

00:04:18.340 to be one of the proponents, one of the groups involved. It should never be this way. And this

00:04:25.160 is a larger conversation for the economy of Canada. Every big announcement has to be

00:04:31.120 a government announcement. And that is so different in the United States, that's almost a rarity

00:04:35.500 down there. So it might spark several different conversations. But I think it's not only a great

00:04:41.800 day for Alberta, it's a great day for Canada. Problem is that Mr. Eby may not even be around

00:04:49.040 by the time this lands in Mr. Carney's office.

00:04:51.300 Oh, you can always hope. You made the observation, Elise, that it shouldn't be this way. And you

00:05:03.580 know, 10 years ago, it wasn't. Companies got together and they made their pitch. And why is

00:05:11.120 that no longer the case? First of all, I'm all for Danielle Smith getting things moving if 0.71

00:05:16.000 she can. Bless her heart. We need more leaders who are prepared to stick their necks out and go and 0.99

00:05:23.380 try and get things done. But what Mr. Carney has done is create an atmosphere for investment in the

00:05:33.900 energy industry, which totally discourages big companies. The deal now, yeah, he may approve a

00:05:42.380 pipeline, but it's got to carry decarbonized oil. Decarbonized oil, you say, what could that possibly

00:05:49.460 be? It's the carbon in the oil that gives us any value as a fuel. Well, what they mean is that in

00:05:55.020 order to call it decarbonized fuel, you need to take the amount of carbon dioxide that you used in

00:06:02.720 producing it and push it underground. Well, that's what there are companies in Alberta who are looking at

00:06:10.340 a way to do that. I'm talking about the Pathways Alliance. The technology has been demonstrated in

00:06:15.960 Saskatchewan at Weyburn. But there's one thing to do it in Weyburn, and it's another thing to do it on

00:06:22.240 the massive scale that would be required to decarbonize a million barrels of oil a day. The

00:06:29.660 companies are very well aware of the cost challenges they would have to meet. And Mr. Carney is very well

00:06:38.560 aware that that's likely to discourage them. The other thing that might discourage them is the fact

00:06:45.260 that as a major project, it would skirt the usual approval processes, end up in that little office

00:06:53.580 that he's established within his own government to handle major projects. And who knows by what

00:07:00.280 standards it will be judged and by what connivances agreement could ever be caught. So not surprisingly,

00:07:08.520 the big players are saying, you know what, let's just see how this plays out. Premier Smith is trying to

00:07:15.400 at least clear some of the bureaucratic way ahead for them. Good for her. I hope it works. Every

00:07:24.520 old Burton should be hoping it works because there's big money here. But even if it works,

00:07:30.280 I don't know how it's going to play out in a long hole when you have to measure the price that you're

00:07:37.640 getting for the oil against the tremendous costs of bearing in carbon dioxide. There's a whole nother

00:07:42.280 story there. But that's... The other issue is... Go ahead, Elise. Go ahead, Elise. No, sorry. I was just

00:07:53.800 going to say, very similar to the EV mandate. The question, it's very fine and dandy to flood the

00:08:00.800 market with EVs or flood them or put the requirements of the decarbonized bitumen or carbon or decarbonized

00:08:09.140 oil. But the reality is we haven't... We have $92 million missing that went to friends and family

00:08:18.100 of the Liberals on apparently green research. We haven't invested in these, what is, I would say,

00:08:24.500 commonsensical ideas if you really want to address these issues. There hasn't been a significant,

00:08:31.460 a billion-dollar investment in decarbonization. Carbon capture is not the winner-winner chicken dinner

00:08:37.700 that everybody thinks it is. The companies are spending more than they're maybe even making

00:08:42.260 off of it. It's not demonstrating its real value because it's not hooked into something else.

00:08:46.980 We have a very fragmented regulatory environment. We have a very fragmented clean energy slash energy

00:08:53.460 environment. They're still pretty isolated away from each other. We have the ability... We could be a

00:09:00.820 leader in the Western world in how we address these issues, but we keep diverting tons of money, millions

00:09:08.580 and billions to these untested, unimaginable projects. So, yes, we can do... It's like the EV market. We do

00:09:17.380 not have the infrastructure to manage decarbonization. We can't... Yeah, you can buy an EV, but where are you

00:09:23.620 plugging it in? If we all had EVs, we'd break... At least in British Columbia, we would break BC Hydros back.

00:09:29.460 So, that's my frustration, Nigel, is that there's all this lovely chitchat. And I very much want to buy

00:09:36.500 into it. We all want to be better, right? But the reality is, is the infrastructure is not there.

00:09:41.460 And then you look at... Just a second. I'm not into your electric car fantasy. Come on. We drunk V8 up here in

00:09:49.220 Alberta. No, I'd be happy to get a pipeline going. If you want to decarbonize it, fine. Great. Blah, blah, blah.

00:09:56.100 I just need a pipeline. However you slice that, I want a pipeline. If you want decarbonization,

00:10:01.380 great. But then show me that you understand what it takes to do that. And we have a bunch of

00:10:07.060 reactive politicians in this country that have gotten away with not demonstrating their skill

00:10:12.420 set. There is zero skill set on this file at the federal level.

00:10:16.020 At least they know darn well what it takes. It's not that they haven't been told. What is going on

00:10:24.020 here is that they're not that keen to see the pipeline or even to see everybody running around

00:10:29.460 in motor cars at all, whether they're gas or electricity. The whole idea of the green movement

00:10:34.900 is less and less and less. But you'll be happy. It might be because they have politicized the

00:10:40.820 Supreme Court of Canada. So is Carney's office, this project office immune to the constant cyclical

00:10:48.100 legal litigation that we see on these issues? You know, one of the issues that we haven't talked

00:10:54.340 about is First Nations. Obviously, they're going to be key to this whole thing. There was some First

00:11:00.260 Nations representation at the press conference with Premier Smith. So I'm sure she'll be looking for,

00:11:06.420 you know, First Nations to be part owners of this pipeline. And there will be some First Nations 0.99

00:11:12.180 scrambling to get that part of that pie, because it brings in money. Where the problems come in is

00:11:19.540 when you'll get these hereditary chiefs, like we saw over past years and coastal gas,

00:11:27.060 and you get hereditary chiefs and blockades and trains being blocked and all that sort of stuff.

00:11:34.020 So, uh, it's, it's going to be a bit of a long road, but you know, I'm hopefully optimistic on this.

00:11:39.220 And, uh, Premier Smith said, uh, indigenous consultations start on day one.

00:11:44.180 So did Premier Smith mention at all though, the no more pipelines bill and the tanker band,

00:11:50.180 because I noticed she had that big list of demands and the clock's running out on that. 0.78

00:11:53.460 And she suddenly gone quiet. Did she draw a line in the sand? And is she jumping beyond it now and

00:11:58.500 kicking a new demand down into mid 2026? Or is she going to finally do something? Because to be honest,

00:12:04.100 I'm starting to find Premier Smith to be high on posturing and low on action. We've got a sovereignty

00:12:09.380 act. We've got a number of things. She's constantly threatening to use them. Maybe it's time to get a

00:12:14.740 little more assertive because the reality is if Carney doesn't stand, he's got the authority,

00:12:19.380 he's got the final authority that bill five gives him the ability to cut through a number of the,

00:12:24.740 the roadblocks cut through a number of the things. As Nigel has said, he doesn't really want to do

00:12:29.780 this. So it's time to start putting some pressure on that man. I wouldn't disagree with that. Uh,

00:12:35.700 Corey, I will, I will say that in doing what she announced this morning, she is trying to do

00:12:43.940 something. Yeah. Uh, so I'll give her credit for that. Maybe you have to do that first before you

00:12:49.300 go back and start lugging. As I said, she's, she's put the ball into Carney's court. 1.00

00:12:54.340 Yeah. Again, right. Like it was put in with the tanker ban and the no more pipelines. The reality is

00:13:00.500 you can cut the pipe, you can trench it. No company is going to put a nickel into that until

00:13:05.460 the pipeline ban is gone and the tanker ban is gone. They're not going to touch it. So that I'm just

00:13:10.980 saying her conference perhaps should have come with a reiteration of those demands. Like we're

00:13:14.420 trying to create the environment to bring in private investment, but we've got those giant

00:13:18.260 roadblocks that still he won't touch. Yeah. Well, the pressure is now there, right? We've got a,

00:13:23.620 we've got an actual project. We've got work started on it. So, uh, pressure builds on him,

00:13:29.540 but I think you're right. I think Premier Smith has to get, uh, uh, more, more hardline.

00:13:34.580 I'm not saying she's not trying at all. I'm just not sure if how many times can you just keep saying,

00:13:38.260 we're going to do this until you realize he's the problem and we're going to have to start calling

00:13:42.340 him out. I think the power drive is in the relationship that where you see Quebec starting

00:13:48.500 to wane on their hard stance. Now that Alberta has joined forces or is going to support Quebec,

00:13:55.140 uh, in their secular bill, which would be the notwithstanding clause and that whole argument

00:13:59.620 that we discussed, uh, last week. Um, I think their, their relationship is melting. It's not as

00:14:05.860 frosty as it once was. And I think Quebec as the economic storm looms on our shores in Canada,

00:14:12.100 I think Quebec who has a very, um, doesn't have a strong sort of free market economy. It's heavily

00:14:20.340 rooted in government spending. I think they're recognizing the revenue streams that energy

00:14:24.820 could bring and jobs that it could bring, uh, to attract more young people and a more diversified

00:14:31.300 investment, uh, into Quebec. So there may be that, or Quebec is also feeling the same heat that we're

00:14:37.940 feeling in British Columbia on the U S tariffs, especially around forestry, for example, and

00:14:42.580 obviously auto. Um, so I think some of the things that I've been watching coming out of Quebec from

00:14:48.340 the premier demonstrates to me as he, and he even said it last week, he is warmer to a, to a pipeline

00:14:55.700 from Alberta than he has ever been. So things are moving very quickly. And that recession, I think

00:15:02.500 plays a, that's, that's basically here. I know it's here in DC already plays a larger part, uh, than we

00:15:09.940 may, we may consider. Um, you know, a lot of politicians are going to fall off of that, uh,

00:15:15.380 perch, um, or that, you know, that, that pulpit that they've been standing on with energy, I think.

00:15:20.900 All right. Well, it will pull things a little closer. Like I said, I, I do hope it is something

00:15:26.740 that's going to lead to getting some resources out. It's just ridiculous that we're shutting

00:15:29.940 ourselves in like this for so long. And I, I wish. Well, it's ridiculous to us, but if, if, if, if

00:15:35.380 you're actually have an entirely different mindset and you're the prime minister, it's not ridiculous

00:15:40.340 at all. This is working out of the way it's supposed to work. You, you keep making the offer. You

00:15:45.060 keep making it look like you're keen, but you set conditions on it that make it virtually impossible for

00:15:50.420 anybody to finance it or do it. Well, a hundred billion dollar deficit may be looming in the

00:15:56.020 future. So I would think that the economic genius of, uh, Mark Carney would realize you do have to

00:16:01.700 have some revenue flow somewhere, but, uh, we'll see if that sinks in or not. Uh, he seems to much

00:16:07.540 prefer the Keynesian method and we'll just borrow ourselves rich. Um, all right. Well, so locally we've

00:16:13.460 got the teachers are, are, uh, revolting, uh, you know, Alberta, it looks like they may be going

00:16:19.620 on strike as soon as this Monday and, uh, parents are on the hook. I think we might be in for the

00:16:24.420 long haul for a bit. Let me just give you some numbers, uh, to chew over. Uh, uh, they were offered

00:16:30.500 a 12% raise over four years. Uh, teachers with, uh, five years education and five years in classroom

00:16:37.860 experience would be making well over a hundred thousand dollars for 10 months, uh, work. Uh,

00:16:44.020 the deal included, uh, 1500 new educational assistance, 3000 new teachers, uh, to go along

00:16:52.100 with, uh, $8.6 billion in new school construction. And Alberta teachers rejected that by, uh, 89.5%.

00:17:02.020 Uh, they're angry and they've had enough and, uh, they're going to likely go on strike on Monday

00:17:07.780 to help parents. They're going to get $30 a day to pay for, uh, uh, daycare or whatever else they have

00:17:14.660 to do with their kids, 150 bucks, uh, a week. And that money is going to come from, uh, the teachers,

00:17:21.380 what would have been their salaries, but they're not getting them anymore. Uh, they're not getting

00:17:25.140 paid while they're on strike. So that money is going to, uh, families and there's going to be, uh,

00:17:29.860 online courses that the parents can get the, uh, the teachers, uh, going on. But if I was a betting

00:17:36.180 man, I'd say, uh, it's going to last a while this strike. Yeah. I did. Again, I don't think that,

00:17:43.620 I think the premier is laying down a reputation as a hardliner on everything that she touches. 1.00

00:17:50.900 Um, what we've just been talking about with the pipelines is actually a pretty hard line response

00:17:55.700 notwithstanding some of Corey's reservations. Uh, she's taken pretty strong positions on some of

00:18:02.260 the fringe areas around the education act with, uh, with the pornographic textbooks and the, uh,

00:18:09.540 and in terms of the transgender stuff, she's been very firm. Wait till you're 18, wait till your adult. 0.58

00:18:16.900 So she is not afraid. Unlike some premiers, she does not just sort of see which way the wind is blowing.

00:18:24.820 She's got her ideas. She puts it out there. And my sense is that she's not going to like this

00:18:30.980 and she will fight them. You were right. This could go on for a while.

00:18:34.580 I'm liking where she's going already. Again, preparing parents, trying to do what she can.

00:18:38.340 She's already basically signaling to the teachers too. We're not going to flip and settle overnight,

00:18:42.340 guys. You rejected a good offer. We're going to starve you out a little bit here. Uh, Elise,

00:18:47.460 I mean, you know, uh, BC and unions, boy, that's certainly an area and few things put chills

00:18:52.100 into the spine of a politician more than, than dealing with a teacher strike of all things when

00:18:56.580 you have a bunch of upset parents and, and, uh, uh, pressure put on things. But, uh, do you think

00:19:02.020 Premier Smith's going to be able to weather this storm? I think so. I, if I could give a little

00:19:07.060 advice, I was, uh, I'm a former spinner for the Gordon Campbell government, um, and a little bit of

00:19:12.100 the Christie cart government. Um, and I'll say I, there were years where it was just rolling strikes.

00:19:18.500 My child was caught in years of strike action from kindergarten all the way through to grade six.

00:19:24.420 Um, and I regret not pulling my child out and putting her in the public or private system.

00:19:29.300 I would say that we've gone through some heavy duty strikes here. Um, and I would say that you must

00:19:35.620 hold the line. Um, what I can't understand it. I looked at the offer that the Alberta teachers,

00:19:41.780 uh, were, were, was put on the table by the government and I compared it to what BC's last

00:19:47.140 offer was. And that in BC, the BCTS contract, um, actually expires next spring. Uh, so we don't have

00:19:54.020 that long, but I would say that Alberta teachers are far, far ahead than almost every teaching

00:19:59.700 federation or association in the country. I think the sticking point, and I think there's more to this

00:20:04.980 as well. They didn't like the book ban. Um, they're, they're, they've got membership and they're

00:20:10.020 much like the BCTF and maybe more so at the BCTF that's quite militant in its approach. Um, they

00:20:16.820 didn't like being told what type of books they should read, what the, what type of literature and

00:20:21.700 conversation they should be having with their students. I think there's some of that at play at

00:20:25.700 play as well. And they want to push her and this is a bit of a revenge thing, I think as well. But I

00:20:31.060 would say that the, it, I understand some of the parts that the Alberta teachers are complaining

00:20:37.060 about, which is really a federal problem. It has a lot to do with class size caps and that was a

00:20:43.300 sticking feature and has been for almost 12 years in British Columbia. Each province is seeing almost

00:20:49.380 about a 10%, uh, growth in their classrooms. That's a lot for teachers and every child now seems to have

00:20:56.340 an issue and without the special needs of special education attached to that or aid workers, uh, the

00:21:03.060 deal really isn't going to get done. So my advice to the Alberta government is fixate on that, demonstrate

00:21:08.660 to the public that you're coming to the table because there is a lot of parental support. I was

00:21:13.060 surprised there's a lot of parental support in Alberta for the teachers, but it's sticking on this

00:21:17.620 issue. Um, and I think that you can bring kids back to the classroom the way that we did once we

00:21:23.300 finally in the third iteration of these strikes, we relented and we were able to look at class size

00:21:29.140 caps and also the addition of more aid workers. I will say Cringer-Smith has almost come to fully to

00:21:34.740 the table on that. It's just, there's a few numbers there that need to be worked out, I think.

00:21:39.780 It's interesting what you're saying there about parental support for the teachers.

00:21:45.060 Cringer-Smith matters.

00:21:46.900 Cringer- I, yes. Well, I, I have a few people in the, friends in the, in the teaching profession

00:21:54.740 who say that there is a hate on in the teaching profession for the Smith government. They don't,

00:22:04.180 they just, it doesn't, I'm not sure what a good deal could have looked like, which would have got past

00:22:09.620 that. They just don't like the idea that somebody else, not just teachers, somebody else has got some

00:22:17.220 firm ideas on how children should be taught and what they should be taught. I mean, you mentioned

00:22:22.660 the books just now, and I mentioned them earlier too. When you look at what we've got there, like,

00:22:28.020 you would have been put in prison 20 years ago if you'd offered that stuff in a school. So I have to

00:22:33.140 say that if parents are supporting that, well, um, my sympathies are somewhat diminished.

00:22:39.540 You look on Monday, as of Monday, teachers are without paying, right? There, there is no strike

00:22:46.100 fund for, for, to, to pay the strikers. You know, you normally, if you show up on picket line duty,

00:22:51.220 you get, you get a daily stipend. There is no money for that for teachers. So Corey, you talked about

00:22:56.420 starving them out. As of Monday, if they go on strike, teachers have no income.

00:23:00.420 And I mean, they got to, you know, pay for the summer cottage for their two months off somehow.

00:23:04.340 Yes. And their Christmas vacations and the November vacation.

00:23:07.300 That was family day, long weekend, Arbor day. Yes.

00:23:12.420 You name it.

00:23:12.980 Is there another month on these wretched radio ads that we keep hearing?

00:23:16.420 I don't know it. It makes me, where'd all those union dues go?

00:23:19.860 It makes me question how financially secure the, the union is, if they can't afford strike pay.

00:23:24.580 But that said, there is 51,000 of them, right?

00:23:28.420 I would write, I would remind you guys, and I would remind the teachers that it's caught,

00:23:32.020 it's public knowledge at the, at our fingertips, just to Google search.

00:23:36.340 The BCTF and the Alberta teachers and the Quebec teachers and the Ontario teachers and

00:23:40.980 Ontario is an even bigger mess. They have never met a government that they can do business with.

00:23:45.620 And it's been proven with the NDP, the success of governments in British Columbia,

00:23:50.100 the NDP governments from the original, you know, Glenn Clark governments,

00:23:54.180 all the way to David Eby. It's not just right of center or, um, you know,

00:24:00.900 conservative governments, for example, they like to play that narrative as the big meanie,

00:24:05.540 you know, they're right wing fascist. They want to crush us.

00:24:09.140 Well, I would look at the comments they made about Rachel Notley, uh, when they were in their

00:24:13.700 negotiations, they were hard liners. Then they didn't like her. Then they didn't, they don't

00:24:18.100 like David Eby. They didn't like John Horrigan. Um, so this is more about ideology. It's a militant

00:24:24.820 ideology. And unfortunately, I don't think it represents like the postal workers. And I've

00:24:29.540 talked to many BC teachers, for example, it, they're frustrated by these militant union leaders,

00:24:34.820 um, that get ahead and get elected. And what we noticed is that if we gave them enough rope,

00:24:40.980 they would not swing, but you know, they would, the house, the cards would fall down and they

00:24:46.900 eventually do turn on each other. And that's when you have to come back in and say, okay,

00:24:51.380 we're going to come to the table. We understand the capping of class size. And I will say the capping

00:24:56.340 of class size is a pretty antiquated, um, thing to, to stand, you hold your ground on in it's about,

00:25:02.660 it's 10 years old. We've all, all the governments have thought about this. You eventually have to relent

00:25:08.020 because it is an immigration issue. And with immigration has come some serious socioeconomic

00:25:13.060 problems that we are just not prepared. And unfortunately the front line is the classroom

00:25:17.700 and our healthcare system. You know, at least I think we have to remember that there are some

00:25:23.700 really good people in the teaching profession. There are, um, however, only 11% voted in for the deal.

00:25:33.540 And I, I wonder if that gives you some idea of the proportion of the people.

00:25:38.260 You've got to own it when it's a vote. I mean, the rhetoric too, as you're talking about with

00:25:42.980 ideology and so on, as mentioned there with, with, uh, our creepy Senator Wells, uh, calling

00:25:48.100 Premier Smith the dictator, which is kind of ironic considering at least she was elected, he was

00:25:53.940 appointed. So if anybody's more of a dictator, it would be that strange little man, but he's really

00:25:59.940 torquing this sort of thing. I mean, we've got a, a Senator stepping between and getting in the way

00:26:05.620 between a provincial and, uh, uh, you know, a school, a strike going on like this is going to get ugly.

00:26:13.300 Yeah. It's none of his business really. Um, and you're right. He is creepy and, uh, you're right.

00:26:18.740 The rhetoric needs to be toned down. Uh, and it's only going to get worse until Monday.

00:26:23.700 Well, the other aspect too, and we've talked about that a lot, we've had, you know, John Hilton O'Brien

00:26:29.060 speak of it. Uh, if anything's going to help parents start to reconsider keeping their kids

00:26:34.020 in the regular public system, it's when the teachers do things like this. The teachers union despises

00:26:39.620 the thought of more charter schools or private schools or homeschooling, but it's just this sort

00:26:44.100 of thing that makes parents realize that maybe I like those options better.

00:26:46.820 Yep. You can see charter school enrollment booming next year.

00:26:49.700 Yep. Yep. It happened in British Columbia, the public private schools and, uh, what you guys

00:26:55.780 call charter schools completely boomed and it's maintained and it's grown in British Columbia

00:27:02.420 because like Canada posts, BC's education, education system became extremely unreliable.

00:27:08.420 I'm not joking when I say it was six school years of rotating strikes, black armbands as well.

00:27:14.900 Uh, the teachers were wearing black armbands, uh, dressed all in black. They, it horrified the

00:27:21.140 children. It was a horrible time in our province, but private schools, other types of schools have

00:27:27.300 done nothing but extremely well in this province.

00:27:31.220 Yeah.

00:27:31.460 All right. Well, let's move along to other schools. And, uh, yesterday was the

00:27:36.340 truth and reconciliation day. The holiday Justin Trudeau created, uh, for us, uh, or at least for,

00:27:42.180 for government workers, real workers still had to come into work yesterday, but, uh, the narrative

00:27:46.980 has changed a bit. I mean, they are kind of ramping it down. The governor general's speech, uh, was,

00:27:52.580 it was a little less, uh, inflammatory than it had been in the past ones, I guess you could say.

00:27:56.900 Well, she certainly made no reference to, uh, denialism. And, uh, you know, after the

00:28:02.900 first release of him, of, uh, of the first statement from Kamloops, what is that? Four

00:28:08.340 years ago now, 2021?

00:28:09.700 Yep.

00:28:10.100 You know, um, you were, you came in for a lot of criticism and there was threats of

00:28:16.100 legislation even to make it a, an actual crime to deny the whole narrative that-

00:28:23.300 Karina Gould is still trying in the Liberal Party to make it illegal to- 1.00

00:28:26.340 Yes. Yeah. Well, she's, she will have supporters in there. I mean, it's actually pretty,

00:28:31.620 pretty serious when your government actually wants to make a particular point of view

00:28:35.380 illegal. It's one thing to say, we don't agree. We're going to kind of trash you if you, uh,

00:28:40.100 put it out there. We might even put you in an Alberta human rights commission if you say it

00:28:44.500 in Alberta, but to actually say it's illegal to say this stuff, uh, is, uh, I don't think we've seen

00:28:51.540 that in this, uh, in this country before. Anyway, the fact that the governor general did not take

00:28:56.900 the opportunity to emphasize that message. The fact that Parks Canada has now, uh, moderated

00:29:05.060 its language in the description of, uh, sites. There are some residential schools which have been

00:29:10.980 identified as institutions of national importance. And for a while there, they had one narrative.

00:29:15.940 Now they have one that's, that's a little less. So it used to me that the establishment is looking for a

00:29:21.460 way to actually walk this back a bit because they put themselves too far out there, uh, to,

00:29:29.620 to be comfortable. Well, they've torqued it up on this story and nobody will pick up a bloody shovel.

00:29:33.940 Yeah. That's the, you, you were one of the first people to call it a hoax.

00:29:37.220 And I think that's what it is. This whole, millions and millions and millions of dollars spent,

00:29:41.860 uh, you know, given to this, uh, Kamloops band that haven't done any digging.

00:29:46.900 The three of us, and we'll bring Elisa Long, uh, could solve this in an afternoon with a, 1.00

00:29:52.340 with a digger. Yeah. And it would solve the crisis.

00:29:55.700 And I haven't been kidding. If we sunk a hole six feet and found the remains of a child,

00:30:00.740 absolutely bring the RCMP in. Let's get a forensic investigation. Let's get moving and

00:30:05.140 find out exactly what happened. Cause the claims are that this happened in the sixties. It's not

00:30:08.260 impossible that the perpetrators while getting a little old might still be floating around.

00:30:13.220 But with the fact that they are fighting, I mean, they're actively fighting efforts

00:30:16.740 to excavate there just keeps telling us there's nothing there.

00:30:19.700 Yeah. And in fact, the RCMP was specifically called off the case back in 2021. So there's

00:30:26.020 a lot of people who don't, would rather have the, have the narrative out there, be a little uncertain,

00:30:32.820 maybe the, rather than actually have it cleared up.

00:30:36.580 It, sorry, Nigel, it's, it's turned into an industry right now. Everybody's got to have an orange

00:30:42.500 shirt on, on September 30th. Million, you know, and, uh, first nations bands across the country are

00:30:48.420 getting millions and millions of dollars, uh, you know, to investigate these graves. Why would they

00:30:53.460 want it to stop? Why would they want the mystery solved? Answer? They don't know.

00:30:57.460 And the other,

00:30:59.460 I don't know.

00:31:02.420 32.7 million.

00:31:04.420 32.7 million and counting. And meanwhile, in British Columbia, where I am right now,

00:31:07.700 um, on the North coast of British Columbia, um, the outcomes have only steadily nosedived.

00:31:14.660 There's more addiction in first nations. There's more sexual abuse in first nations.

00:31:18.900 Um, the, and yet the upper echelon of first nations is richer than ever.

00:31:25.460 What I would say on all of this, because you've all made really valid points. And I, I do want to

00:31:30.980 give a special shout out to city news in Vancouver, who produced a lie of a story last night.

00:31:39.220 They interviewed chief, uh, Philip Stewart, who might sound familiar to you. He hates high points. He

00:31:45.700 hates energy. He hates Canada. Um, but he was interviewed and they, he was talking about 215, uh, 0.67

00:31:54.740 children. He said, quote unquote, little tiny baby bodies that we were denied and city news ran this

00:32:02.340 and ran this over and over and over again. Um, so I just want to give a shout out because it really

00:32:07.060 ticked me off. Um, and I have written a note to the reporter because they need to know that is

00:32:13.220 inflammatory and it is absolutely not true. But the other thing I would say to first nations 0.95

00:32:18.900 communities and not the leadership, but first nations people that are on front line of poverty,

00:32:24.020 front line of joblessness, front line of not, there's not a lot of hope. And when you add in

00:32:28.980 what's happening economically in British Columbia, forestry, the tariffs on seafood. I mean, it's the

00:32:34.740 first nation communities are getting hit left, right, and center. I would ask them to ask their

00:32:39.700 leaders. Fine. You continue with the grift, keep with the grift, but I want to know what you've done

00:32:44.900 with the money. I can't fight the grift. The grift has already been paid for, but what have you actually

00:32:49.940 produced for me, my family and future generations? What have you done for British Columbia? How have you

00:32:56.100 integrated or involved or invested, uh, in to the economy so that we're growing the future for our

00:33:04.660 people? Tell me what the grift has actually done for us, or have you just taken the money and run?

00:33:10.740 Because at 32 or 37 point, whatever it is, million dollars and no diggers, nothing else than the

00:33:18.420 speculation that in that, or whatever it is, the shadows or whatever that they're seeing, which most

00:33:23.700 people believe are, is the roots are tree roots and other pieces of debris. Tell me what you've done

00:33:31.060 with the money, because we can't fight the grip. I can't fight the grift anymore. And I don't think

00:33:35.700 fighting the grift is going to help, uh, raise or elevate the voices of the regular average First

00:33:41.700 Nations people that are in all of these communities up and down the North Coast that where I am,

00:33:47.220 and all across Metro Vancouver, because it's, it's ground zero here where I think the most poverty and

00:33:52.340 pain is. You make a great point, Elise. And you know, one of the first things that Stephen Harper did when

00:33:59.700 he became prime minister in 2006 was to introduce legislation to make the Indian leadership accountable to

00:34:09.780 indigenous people, their own indigenous people. That was one of the first things that Mr. Trudeau took

00:34:16.100 away when he became prime minister in 2015. So there, there is something that there is more that could be

00:34:24.500 said about this, but with your permission, I'm just going to float a theory. This is a theory. So don't

00:34:31.220 take me to the human rights commission, or don't pursue me criminally here. But the way this works

00:34:37.780 is that as long as there is a plausible allegation that missionaries abused and killed Indian children,

00:34:50.580 the guilt, the guilt blame falling on us is such that it makes it extremely hard to negotiate fair

00:35:03.220 agreements with native people. Because there's always a thing, well, no, you can't push too hard,

00:35:09.940 and look, they've really suffered, you see? So when you then recognize that our own judiciary

00:35:19.780 is instructed by the federal government, by the Department of Justice, that sent on courses

00:35:27.460 and told to listen up, because this is the way we want you to interpret the law. And you know that

00:35:32.420 they have been told to look at aboriginal indigenous people differently than everybody else, not just white

00:35:41.940 people, differently to, I don't know, the folks from India or Pakistan or anything else. Look at the

00:35:47.940 aboriginal people differently. You say, well, how is that justice? Well, you know, then they fall back 1.00

00:35:53.300 on this narrative. So that is my theory, that there are people who want this really badly.

00:36:01.300 And then we're going to back off quickly. But I do find it instructive that at least the governor

00:36:07.220 general didn't step right up to the plate and start talking about this the way that she talked 1.00

00:36:15.940 about in the previous years. And that Parks Canada itself, which is, after all, it's the government

00:36:20.900 speaking is kind of backing away from it a little bit. Well, it's an indication maybe a bit of a

00:36:24.980 different attitude coming from her boss. And I know technically the prime minister is not the

00:36:28.260 governor general's boss, but we know in reality, that's where the messaging comes from. So a bit

00:36:33.540 of a change of priorities, I guess. I don't think Mr. Carney's as interested in diving into that as

00:36:37.620 Trudeau had been either. But he certainly seems to be interested in regulating our speech and our

00:36:42.900 ability. C8 is back. And we're looking to control the internet, control speech, control people's

00:36:49.140 talking. But now the government's talking about they could strip internet access from specific

00:36:52.900 people. Yeah. But in their direction, they can order the telecom companies to just like, say,

00:36:58.340 shut down Nigel's internet. Because he said he had a theory. Because he had a theory. He had a theory.

00:37:04.500 He's done it, hasn't he? Yeah. And that's against what the government wants you to say. And they can,

00:37:09.860 you know, they have the sole power to say, shut down Nigel Hannaford or shut down Corey. You know,

00:37:16.740 it's kind of frightening. It's Orwellian. I mean, they justify this, Dave. And I think you have this

00:37:22.500 in your article this morning in the Western Standard, which we encourage everybody to buy a

00:37:27.940 subscription to, don't we? Yes. Of course. Absolutely. In the, okay, in the article this

00:37:33.780 morning, the justification is always like this. Well, we've got to go after the people who are

00:37:38.740 laundering money or running drugs and so forth and so on. And so the ordinary says, yeah, well, I guess,

00:37:44.420 you know, we probably should cut those off. Well, it starts like that. It always ends up coming to

00:37:51.300 rest with people whose opinions they don't like. So Elise, which one of the four of us do you think

00:37:58.020 would be the first one cut off? So we know who to reach out to and try and find through letter mail

00:38:01.780 when the strike's over. Oh, I think it's you, Corey. I think, I think if there's anyone that's first up

00:38:06.980 for to claim first prize, it would be you probably followed by me. Um, although I, I think that

00:38:14.100 there's a few people ahead of me as well. Um, but I'm slowly edging into that, uh, that, that, you know,

00:38:21.380 that the, the, the, sorry, the list of, uh, bad behavior that they would probably cite. Um, do you

00:38:30.500 remember the first iteration of this bill? So just for a little context, this is now a standalone bill

00:38:35.620 outside of bill C 63 and outside of bill C 26. Uh, so it's like a walking, it's like a Russian doll, 0.98

00:38:43.780 Nigel. You remember, you guys might remember those. So out of every little doll comes a new,

00:38:49.460 more terribly written piece of legislation. And you have to sort of follow the breadcrumbs on this,

00:38:56.340 but I will say that it was obvious that they, you know, contrary to what, um, Minister Sean Fraser said,

00:39:03.060 it had, it hadn't really addressed the issues it's taken. Um, it says it's put more guardrails

00:39:09.460 in and it's more targeted towards who they think the offenders are. But the problem is it hasn't

00:39:14.900 done any of that. What it has done is it has acknowledged some of the dangers and problems.

00:39:21.460 Um, and there's some good stuff in there. Like you shouldn't, you know, be able to, uh, paint your

00:39:26.260 house as flasticas. That's a pretty good thing. Um, but that's just sort of the window dressing.

00:39:32.100 The rest of it's exactly the same as the first two iterations of the online hate bill, which

00:39:38.020 I guess it's not technically a third iteration. Although there's these standalone breakaway bills

00:39:43.700 that, um, I think are meant to confuse people and not have them see it as part of the larger bill.

00:39:50.100 But I agree with you. All four of us are going to end up having our internet cut off. Um, and

00:39:55.380 you can't help, but look at what's happening in the UK where there has been an Orwellian authoritarian

00:40:02.340 enforcement on free speech. And I would ask, and I think enough groups and enough legitimate groups

00:40:08.820 have pushed back, uh, including Canada's top law firms on bill C8. So I don't think it's going to

00:40:15.540 survive. Um, but it's definitely a lesson and we can never let a bill like that show, uh,

00:40:21.380 show up in the house of commons again. And I highly doubt in our future and our time,

00:40:27.860 that it will come back because it is a scary bill if you really read through it.

00:40:31.540 All right. Well, I suspect it'll get trimmed back in the Senate.

00:40:35.540 Yeah. Of course, it's going to be a nightmare with this one, but we'll move on quickly. Uh,

00:40:40.740 we'll kind of hit this faster. I'll just kind of run through it because we're going to get to our

00:40:44.180 parting shots. The time's going quickly before we get cut off the internet. Uh, the, uh, temperatures

00:40:50.740 are going down. The cost of living is going up. Natural gas prices. Yeah. People are wondering why

00:40:54.980 their, uh, gas prices are going up and just, there was a few tips on, uh, making sure, you know,

00:41:00.820 or finding out whether you're on the regulated rate option. So, uh, they're going to double in

00:41:05.540 October. Yeah. So that's going to be a big hit, especially if the temperatures go down. So just

00:41:10.020 letting people know, check your bill, look for those terms and, uh, uh, check for those rates of

00:41:14.580 last resort and such. Just a reminder to folks, cause it's coming fast. It's sliding under the radar.

00:41:20.340 Yeah. I, um, I, I did take a look at that and I guess you basically, you look at your bill and if you

00:41:26.740 got the phrase, uh, R O L R rate of last resort or a DRT, which is default rate, um, you may have a

00:41:36.820 problem. All right. So just check your bills and see what your, your plan is. All right, let's get

00:41:40.340 on to the final shots. We'll start with Elise, uh, quickly, uh, so we don't run over time. And, uh, 0.94

00:41:45.860 what do you want to leave people with on the parting shot there, Elise?

00:41:48.420 Well, my final, my parting shot for today is to make sure people understand I'm not denying residential

00:41:54.740 schools. Uh, and I think for a large chunk of, uh, first nations, uh, people that went through

00:42:00.500 residential schools, it was horrifying. And that is not a history that I'm willing or wanting to deny,

00:42:07.300 but what I won't deny, and I won't stop talking about is the grift and the millions and millions

00:42:13.620 and millions of dollars that have gone unaccounted for. And I want first nations leadership to not

00:42:19.940 look at me, but to look in the faces of those who are hurting the most on the reserves, which is

00:42:25.380 traditionally women and young girls and tell them how, how they spent that money and how it's made 0.99

00:42:31.300 their lives better because we need to stop the grift. All right. Dave, what do you got?

00:42:36.660 Uh, one of my heroes died today, Corey, uh, the, the chimp lady, Dr. Jane Goodall. She was 91 years old. She 1.00

00:42:44.420 passed away in Los Angeles where she was on, uh, on a speaking tour of the United States. Just did, uh,

00:42:51.860 91, uh, in her eighties, she was on the road 300 days a year, giving speeches to school children and

00:42:59.140 groundbreaking worker that she got a lot of stick for. And, uh, at the beginning of it, when she

00:43:03.540 started noticing the similarities between chimps and, uh, and humans and discovered that chimps, uh,

00:43:09.300 uh, uh, were, were capable of using tools. So, uh, definitely a life, well, a life well lived and,

00:43:15.860 uh, rest in peace, Dr. Goodall. Yeah. Well, another life. I was quite sad to, very sad actually, to hear

00:43:22.980 that Nigel Wright, former chief of staff to prime minister Harper had died in the, in London at the

00:43:28.820 age of 62, which is really checking out a bit, a bit too early. Um, take this opportunity to say,

00:43:35.060 he was a wonderful man. He was a great leader in the prime minister's office, a privilege to know him.

00:43:40.980 And, you know, I, I said at the time, and I see other people have been repeating it since that, uh,

00:43:45.940 he was the one who showed you what the difference between a liberal scandal was and a conservative

00:43:50.660 scandal. A liberal scandal is one where you take money out of the till. The conservative scandal is

00:43:56.340 when you put your own into the till to make things good. Yes, it was a, rest in, rest in peace,

00:44:02.740 Nigel Wright. He certainly did his service. A lot of people who did, uh, with me, well,

00:44:07.060 I'm just going to point out and remind folks, actually look on the internet, uh, whilst you can.

00:44:12.260 And, uh, uh, uh, Francis Widowson, who spoke in Winnipeg and was assaulted by a number of First

00:44:18.980 Nations people who were riled up by, it appears to be university staff to come out and confront her.

00:44:23.860 She was assaulted and, uh, will be seeking charges against some of them. It was on video,

00:44:28.660 but again, I'm certain thanks to the Gladney principles, none of them will really face any, uh,

00:44:32.740 consequences. But this is a scary development when we are now physically assaulting people for

00:44:37.060 just showing up on a campus to try and speak. And, uh, yeah, self-promoting plug, Francis will be

00:44:42.900 appearing on my show next week. And we'll discuss that a lot, a little more length and, uh, see just

00:44:48.100 what's going on. Cause that's a really, really ugly development. That video is very, very disturbing,

00:44:52.660 uh, with how she was treated when she arrived there and knowing that university faculty was at least a

00:44:58.500 little bit complacent in this. And, uh, the guy with her, uh, page, he was also a videographer.

00:45:05.460 Yeah. And shaken up. So, uh, you know, we don't want to be going, we're supposed to be moving

00:45:09.380 ahead in the world, not to a place where we fear for our physical wellbeing when we want to speak

00:45:13.860 out on things bad enough with legislative threats to our speech, but physical ones, uh, stirred up.

00:45:19.060 So anyway, I just want to remind folks that I'll be chatting about that. So thank you, Elise,

00:45:23.940 Nigel and Dave for, uh, this episode of the pipeline this week. And, uh, thank all you guys for tuning

00:45:30.900 in. And I just got to put that final nag and reminder and get online. The reason we can do 1.00

00:45:34.900 this, the way we pay the bills and keep the lights on and pay that natural gas is through you

00:45:39.460 subscribing. It's $10 a month, a hundred dollars for your take advantage of volume discounts.

00:45:44.900 Keep supporting us. If you've already subscribed, thank you. We really, really do appreciate it. If you

00:45:48.740 haven't come on, get on with it. And I tell you it's Christmas shopping time. If you really want to

00:45:52.660 drive your liberal uncle crazy, buy him a subscription to the Western standard and maybe it'll grow on

00:45:57.780 him. All right. Thank you again for tuning in guys. And we'll see you all next week. 0.64

00:46:22.660 We'll see you all next week.

Western Standard - October 04, 2025

THE PIPELINE： Alberta’s push for West Coast pipelines

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