Western Standard - The Trump Revolution

00:00:00.000 Good day, I'm Derek Fildebrand, publisher of the Western Standard,

00:00:29.580 and you're watching The Pipeline.

00:00:31.800 Today's January 22nd, 2025.

00:00:35.660 I'm joined, as always, by Western Standard Opinion Editor,

00:00:38.880 Nigel Hannaford.

00:00:39.740 Good to be here.

00:00:40.900 And switching it up today, we've got Western Standard News

00:00:43.860 and Senior Editor, Dave Naylor.

00:00:46.340 What a time to be alive, Derek.

00:00:47.960 What a time.

00:00:50.820 Well, before we get started, I just want to thank our sponsor.

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00:01:30.820 All right.

00:01:31.480 Well, of course, we're going to have to be talking about the Trump revolution.

00:01:36.780 What a hell of a start to a term.

00:01:40.180 I mean, we're not even getting, we can't even get close to everything.

00:01:43.480 Just the executive orders alone, that's a whole show on its own.

00:01:47.600 And we wouldn't even have time to fit it into the pipeline.

00:01:50.000 It's so much.

00:01:50.640 But we're going to talk about the absolute roaring start of the second Trump presidency.

00:01:56.460 And flowing from that, the trade war, the tariffs that Donald Trump has proposed, Danielle Smith starting her very different course than that set by the premiers and the prime minister, some in the East and in the legacy media are calling her a traitor.

00:02:18.140 We're talking, is she a traitor or is she a traitor? 0.99

00:02:22.040 And I thought about that one. 0.55

00:02:24.920 It was well done.

00:02:25.420 I think so.

00:02:26.460 you uh and the liberals uh up here uh ready to jettison the marquee policy that has largely

00:02:34.700 defined them over the last decade besides sancomoni uh and that is their carbon tax uh asked

00:02:42.860 i think yesterday why canadians no longer support their carbon tax policy uh liberal environments 1.00

00:02:48.780 minister uh even gilbo uh pretty much said that's because canadians are too stupid you appreciate 1.00

00:02:54.220 just how good you have it. So that's what we're going to get into. So we'll start with the Trump 1.00

00:03:01.620 presidency. We were here in the newsroom watching this on Monday. Of course, there's all the pomp

00:03:08.560 and the ceremony, concerts galore. I don't know how many times combined I heard Hail to the Chief

00:03:16.920 and the new unofficial Hail to the Chief, YMCA. But boy, we heard those two songs a lot. Lots of

00:03:23.660 lots of trump dances, including one with a sword. I did not have that on my bingo card for

00:03:29.640 inauguration day. Lots of pomp and ceremony. His inaugural speech was different than we've come to

00:03:40.560 expect in more recent presidencies. Normally an inauguration speech is lots of flowery,

00:03:46.580 soaring language, very aspirational, but very general. This was largely a list of,

00:03:51.780 Here is everything I'm going to do this afternoon.

00:03:55.660 And that afternoon was the most action-packed policy session I've seen any politician of any government in any era ever conduct, Dave.

00:04:12.380 It was an absolute whirlwind.

00:04:14.900 We started the day by promising a new golden era for America.

00:04:19.900 So it was a little redder.

00:04:20.820 A little bit.

00:04:21.780 But, you know, that's that's some good stuff goes to the local hockey arena in front of 20,000 people at like a student's desk and start signing these executive orders and and the crowd's going crazy.

00:04:35.860 And then it goes into the Oval Office and they're literally stacked that high.

00:04:42.300 And the aide is reading them out.

00:04:44.720 This is to withdraw from the World Health Organization.

00:04:48.000 And Trump goes, ooh, that's, you know, and signs away.

00:04:52.720 And he's got the media in there, and they're asking him questions.

00:04:56.420 And I think in that one press conference, he answered more questions than Biden has answered in the last four years.

00:05:04.680 So really an incredible day.

00:05:06.440 And for me, the moment I'll always remember, Derek, you already alluded to it, is him and Vance doing the YMCA with the swords. 0.98

00:05:16.100 Fucking holy hell. 0.97

00:05:18.000 And then, yeah, it continued on to the very next day. 0.99

00:05:24.320 They rounded up 308 illegal migrants.

00:05:28.140 They canceled DEI.

00:05:30.800 They fired the DEI admiral.

00:05:33.420 Fired the DEI.

00:05:34.440 They banned any sort of flag, you know, a transgender flag going up the flagpole.

00:05:40.060 It's American flags only.

00:05:42.020 They removed General Milley's portrait from the Pentagon.

00:05:46.160 on, you know, so it's, yeah, it's unlike anything we've ever seen in history.

00:05:52.320 Nigel, normally changing, like, there's been significant differences in administration,

00:05:59.380 but they're normally, you know, there's lots of pomp and ceremony, but it's not like,

00:06:05.900 it feels like they were toppling statues here, like there's just been a revolution,

00:06:10.240 They're tearing down the statues of Lenin.

00:06:13.460 I mean, not to over-dramatize it, but it had that kind of feeling,

00:06:17.780 and they're, like, promulgating just a totally new set of laws here.

00:06:25.600 You've watched these things, and I don't mean to be mean,

00:06:28.820 but you've watched these things longer than I have.

00:06:30.500 Have you seen anything like this?

00:06:31.860 No, of course not.

00:06:32.660 I mean, there has been nothing like this,

00:06:36.200 And the time had come for something like this in America in this year.

00:06:42.560 After the four years of the Biden administration, there have been so many things that so many people, even if they weren't diehard Democrats,

00:06:52.320 said, well, this isn't making any sense.

00:06:54.700 It's not safe to walk down the street.

00:06:57.500 This is not making any sense.

00:06:59.900 My money is going nowhere.

00:07:02.320 This is not making any sense.

00:07:04.300 uh we we walk out of afghanistan and leave behind 100 billion dollars worth of military equipment

00:07:11.920 you know there were so many things that have made so many people unsatisfied and it reminded

00:07:17.700 me a little bit not that i am saying it was like this but it reminded me a little bit

00:07:21.860 of the regan era which is 1980 i think you were around for that i was not you uh i was born in

00:07:30.320 The second Reagan presidency.

00:07:33.360 But look, the thing was that Reagan didn't just appeal to Republicans.

00:07:37.280 He appealed to what they used to call blue dog Democrats.

00:07:39.700 I don't know where you'd find one these days,

00:07:41.180 but these were people who were very conservative in their values,

00:07:45.160 but had always been members of the Democratic Party.

00:07:48.040 And they voted for him because after four years of the late Jimmy Carter,

00:07:54.940 they were ready for something different.

00:07:57.200 I'm not going to waste time talking about Carter,

00:07:59.400 But the thing was, things had not gone well in the United States during that period of time.

00:08:04.900 Things did not go well in this period of time.

00:08:08.340 And so everybody wanted change.

00:08:10.760 And Trump gave them the reward for their votes on Monday by saying, we will do this.

00:08:18.320 We will do this. We will do this.

00:08:20.540 No, it wasn't lofty and aspirational.

00:08:22.780 It was a plan of action.

00:08:24.420 And then, with a pile of executive orders in front of the press, he started signing them.

00:08:30.180 I think a pile is underselling it.

00:08:32.860 It was a dump truck.

00:08:34.860 It was a dump truck.

00:08:35.480 He spent hours signing these things between the ones in the Oval Office and the ones at the arena there.

00:08:43.260 I've never seen...

00:08:45.160 Normally, they're always just done in the Oval Office.

00:08:48.120 But he just said, I'm going to give the people...

00:08:50.080 People sat in an arena watching him sign papers for a while.

00:08:53.000 But you see, this is the showmanship of the thing.

00:08:54.920 People wanted this.

00:08:56.460 You wouldn't always do this, but this was the time to do something like this.

00:09:00.720 Because as you mentioned just now, with the press sitting there,

00:09:04.040 asking him questions, and he said, you know, don't be rude. 0.97

00:09:07.500 That's ridiculous. 0.87

00:09:08.860 You know, and just sort of handing things off, 0.87

00:09:10.780 and then again answering sensible questions.

00:09:14.300 Everybody, whoa, this is going to be a very, very different term.

00:09:19.800 That's not to say that every executive order is going to be followed to the letter immediately, but he certainly told the people who voted for him, I am setting forth to do what you authorize me to do.

00:09:33.740 I only recall one executive order from Biden's first state office.

00:09:38.300 He probably signed more.

00:09:39.860 And this is, I guess I remember it because it affected Alberta in particular so much.

00:09:44.860 But Biden canceled Keystone.

00:09:47.500 He said, Keystone pipeline is dead.

00:09:49.800 it was just weeks earlier possibly that the

00:09:53.300 Kenny government in Alberta had put a couple

00:09:55.240 billion dollars into it and we got

00:09:56.840 so yeah we bought a lemon but

00:09:58.520 I mean you know that was

00:10:01.240 a big thing you know that was a piece

00:10:03.340 of meat to Biden's base but I

00:10:04.680 it's

00:10:06.480 pales in comparison to anything

00:10:09.320 like what we saw yesterday I mean

00:10:10.920 it like you were almost just sweating

00:10:13.260 watching him sign executive

00:10:15.380 orders we're on our way

00:10:17.360 to Mars

00:10:18.460 Yeah, I mean, and I believe it.

00:10:23.960 I am quite convinced that easily within the decade, mankind is going to be on Mars.

00:10:30.220 I mean, so it's not all just executive orders in one day.

00:10:32.140 There is some big aspirational stuff, and that was there.

00:10:35.320 But I guess it could almost get lost in it because of just a tornado.

00:10:39.960 He was a Tasmanian devil of executive orders.

00:10:43.700 All the left had to complain about was Elon Musk. 0.99

00:10:46.800 and you're a Nazi 1.00

00:10:49.820 you're a Nazi 0.99

00:10:50.900 so there's been pictures of 0.98

00:10:53.680 Vice President Harris doing this

00:10:58.080 and Hillary Clinton 0.90

00:10:59.500 and Pope Francis

00:11:01.160 you're looking a little comfortable doing that

00:11:03.520 you're already taking a screen grab

00:11:07.860 there Dave

00:11:08.400 someone's already screen grabbed you already

00:11:11.500 but that's all they've got

00:11:12.960 they called everybody a Nazi

00:11:15.940 during the election campaign.

00:11:17.600 It doesn't work anymore.

00:11:18.780 It doesn't work anymore.

00:11:19.860 So they obviously haven't learned their lesson.

00:11:23.800 So, you know,

00:11:24.680 and I guess that's another question.

00:11:27.440 Who is actually leading the Democratic Party right now?

00:11:30.720 They've got to get that figured out

00:11:32.180 and they've got to reinvent themselves

00:11:33.880 if they have any hope of defeating

00:11:36.300 Brady Vance in the next presidential election.

00:11:39.940 I mean, he'll be the natural choice,

00:11:43.080 But it's not always a given.

00:11:46.840 If he has a good four years and stays in Trump's good,

00:11:50.260 Trump is going to largely be in the very unusual position

00:11:54.040 being able to dictate his, at least the Republican candidate,

00:11:57.640 not necessarily the president,

00:11:58.840 but he'll be able to largely dictate who that is,

00:12:02.080 which is good and bad.

00:12:03.680 I mean, you want someone to still be their own man, 0.94

00:12:06.560 and J.D. Vance is going to need to be his own man.

00:12:08.240 He has, as a vice president, he has to serve,

00:12:10.340 he doesn't technically serve at the pleasure of the president,

00:12:12.080 but similar to it. Speaking of being their own man, the other star of the day was Baron,

00:12:18.000 all six foot eight of them and his steely eye. Looks like he's sort of, all right, I'm going to get you

00:12:23.280 and I'm going to get you. A lot of people were comparing him to Augustus, you know, like, you know,

00:12:28.560 the son, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and Julius Caesar is the great warrior, but he was the

00:12:33.520 more charismatic one. Augustus, the much more, well, that's where we get the term August from,

00:12:39.360 more reserved um but you know brutally efficient and he went over and shook joe biden's hand and

00:12:47.680 joe biden's hand and everybody's wondering what he said to them and uh you know what uh you know

00:12:54.640 he's a young man to keep an eye on in the future and politics himself even though he's just this

00:12:59.040 week announced he's starting his own luxury real estate empire so i guess he'll have some backing

00:13:05.120 from Daniel. I was going to say, the dinner table

00:13:07.300 conversation must be pretty intense

00:13:09.240 in that episode.

00:13:10.320 I thought Augustus was a very

00:13:12.820 interesting metaphor to use.

00:13:15.520 If you had to go back in time

00:13:16.980 into the Roman Empire, you could do worse than

00:13:19.120 pick the time of Augustus.

00:13:21.740 Arguably the greatest.

00:13:23.840 Not saying he

00:13:25.100 would be as good. Although, I am a little

00:13:27.340 sick of family. We're getting over

00:13:29.400 the latest family dynasty

00:13:31.320 in Canada. America's had the Bushes

00:13:33.260 and the Clintons, coming

00:13:35.180 from these royal political families is not

00:13:37.160 necessarily good. But I'll say this,

00:13:39.280 the kid's

00:13:41.320 got an aura about him that is steely.

00:13:43.840 Serious.

00:13:46.700 Okay.

00:13:49.120 Anything else we want to cover directly on

00:13:50.940 the first? Well, you know, it just

00:13:53.360 occurred to me that

00:13:54.240 the American Revolution in 1776,

00:13:57.500 they were rebelling against an authoritarian

00:13:59.200 king who ruled by fear.

00:14:01.680 You know, if I were

00:14:03.080 if I were writing for the Democrats, I'd come up

00:14:05.220 with some line about how we just reinvented

00:14:07.220 George III, do this, do this,

00:14:09.140 you know, it's an amazing thing.

00:14:12.560 The problem is neither

00:14:13.400 party has any authority

00:14:15.120 in criticizing the use of executive

00:14:17.400 power right now. Both of them grossly

00:14:19.600 abuse it.

00:14:21.120 In many cases, though, this was Trump

00:14:23.540 repealing

00:14:25.140 executive orders of previous

00:14:27.440 presidents, including

00:14:28.640 all the way back to LBJ, because

00:14:31.180 they didn't just kill DEI.

00:14:33.540 They nuked DEI across

00:14:35.480 the entire government. But then they went further

00:14:37.420 and they got rid of the old affirmative action

00:14:39.000 executive orders from Lyndon

00:14:41.540 Johnson. So a lot of this is

00:14:43.440 just rescinding old executive orders.

00:14:45.100 Well, actually, it's a really entertaining fantasy

00:14:47.360 because the news came out this morning

00:14:49.340 that people who had been appointed under

00:14:51.140 DEI mandates were told to stay

00:14:53.320 home. They are laid off.

00:14:55.180 Yeah, they've got like a day pay and then tomorrow

00:14:57.340 they're outright fired.

00:14:58.980 Another thing we're talking about, I think, is

00:15:00.940 It was a low-class move, I thought, on Biden to pardon his family as President Trump was driving up.

00:15:08.900 And during the inauguration, Trump knew nothing about it.

00:15:13.080 But, you know, people like Anthony Fauci and Cheney all getting pardons.

00:15:20.980 Preemptive pardon.

00:15:21.940 Preemptive pardon.

00:15:22.820 Wow.

00:15:24.040 But, yeah.

00:15:24.940 I didn't even know there was such a thing.

00:15:26.660 No.

00:15:26.980 But to pardon his family makes him look guilty.

00:15:30.200 and makes it look like he ran a crime family for the last four years.

00:15:34.440 And we all know about Hunter.

00:15:37.160 Yeah, and he promised he would never do that.

00:15:40.400 This was done such last minute, I think.

00:15:42.740 So the Trump wouldn't put it in a speech.

00:15:45.740 And I mean, it would have been like no matter what Biden has done, as terrible as it is.

00:15:51.820 There's value in the continuity of the office and decorum of the event.

00:15:57.540 it would have been a bit odd for

00:15:59.360 Trump to literally look to the guy

00:16:01.400 standing right beside him and being 1.00

00:16:03.220 you criminal son of a 0.99

00:16:05.220 what not 0.99

00:16:06.060 but I mean

00:16:08.940 whatever you thought about Fauci I mean there's a lot

00:16:11.300 of stuff on it I just never

00:16:12.820 followed the Fauci stuff deeply enough

00:16:15.080 people got strong feelings

00:16:16.280 I didn't have strong

00:16:19.360 feelings on it before but now I'm pretty convinced

00:16:21.180 the man's guilty and has committed crimes

00:16:22.820 now I'm quite convinced the man's a criminal

00:16:24.580 now that's enough

00:16:27.160 for me. He's a criminal. Okay, well, bringing it back north of the border, this is obviously 1.00

00:16:33.860 having tremendous ramifications here. That's an understatement in half. What's really been

00:16:42.700 defining Canadian politics for the last several weeks has been trying to define what is Team

00:16:49.840 Canada. Team Canada traditionally means following the lead of the federal government, Ontario,

00:16:55.120 and Quebec, because that really constitutes Canada right there. Those two provinces constitute a

00:17:00.280 majority of Canada's population, and they're upper and lower Canada historically anyway, so they are 1.00

00:17:05.440 Canada. But there's been a total vacuum of any federal leadership in this. Justin Trudeau has

00:17:12.700 zero morally, he can't even lead his own party at this point, let alone the country.

00:17:16.480 um you know we've talked about this before but daniel smith has struck out a very different

00:17:23.880 uh strategy on this than doug ford doug ford is probably doing the more politically popular thing

00:17:29.900 um which is to thump your chest and throw a little machismo yeah you know we're not gonna

00:17:35.080 take it we're gonna fight them but it sounds a bit like chemical alley saying he's gonna destroy

00:17:40.500 the American brigades as they roll in, you know, a kilometer behind them in the Baghdad.

00:17:47.420 The fact is, we're outnumbered, we're outgunned, we're outmatched.

00:17:52.340 There is no way to really beat the Americans at their own game here.

00:17:55.960 We're going to have to be smarter.

00:17:57.140 I'm not really sure what a good way to do that is.

00:17:59.600 But it's been very clear from the beginning, when Doug Ford, when Justin Trudeau,

00:18:05.940 Christian Freeland all say everything is on the table. They mean Alberta's oil is on the table.

00:18:12.800 They don't mean their own primary industries. Doug Ford has never intimated that we're going to

00:18:19.800 disrupt the American auto supply chain if this goes forward. We're going to be willing to shut

00:18:24.600 down the auto sector and throw American car manufacturing into chaos if this goes forward.

00:18:29.940 He's never said that.

00:18:31.680 Francois Legault has never said, we're willing to shut down the aerospace industry and mess with the Americans there. 0.84

00:18:39.720 I haven't heard the Atlantic premier say, we're going to shut down fisheries and starve the Americans of fish. 0.89

00:18:45.300 No one has said that.

00:18:47.660 It's always been Alberta needs to be the human shield here, the human economic shield.

00:18:54.760 And Smith has obviously said no.

00:18:57.060 And if we're going to take one for the team, where's the East been for the last decade?

00:19:03.340 Where have you guys been?

00:19:04.480 Well, we have not even asking.

00:19:06.820 We're not even asking you to make subsidy sacrifices.

00:19:09.220 We're not asking for subsidies.

00:19:10.300 We just want permission to build pipelines, to sell what belongs to Alberta.

00:19:15.380 So we're being asked to take the sacrifice now.

00:19:17.740 She's taken a different route.

00:19:19.260 She's gone to Mar-a-Lago, met with Trump.

00:19:21.120 She's been down around the inauguration at events, meeting with governors, meeting with Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state.

00:19:29.380 That's probably one of the biggest key relationships there.

00:19:33.460 Taking a more diplomatic approach. Hard to see if it'll work or not.

00:19:38.900 I mean, it's it's a complicated administration to get a grip on, I think.

00:19:43.440 But I'll start with you, Nigel. The Liberals and much of the media, not all of it, but much of the media have called her a downright traitor.

00:19:57.800 I don't know. Is there any political resonance with that?

00:20:01.820 Oh, probably in back east, where we render something in the simple two dimensions.

00:20:07.480 But, you know, Smith was actually elected to represent Alberta.

00:20:15.000 And I think people forget that premiers represent the interests of their province.

00:20:20.480 So it makes great sense for Doug Ford to say, you've got to protect my auto industry.

00:20:26.200 but it also makes great sense

00:20:28.600 for Danielle Smith to say

00:20:30.680 this is

00:20:32.640 a $120 billion

00:20:34.300 trade in oil that we do

00:20:36.620 with the United States

00:20:37.680 and the auto industry is worth about

00:20:40.100 $17 or $18 billion

00:20:41.780 so let's just

00:20:43.660 step back and see

00:20:45.700 what is the Team Canada

00:20:48.100 approach, what are we trying to

00:20:50.320 protect here

00:20:51.360 and

00:20:53.480 where is she, I think

00:20:56.200 She did a couple of things that really outsmarted the rest of the premiers and the prime minister himself.

00:21:03.100 First of all, when Trump said, look, I've got a problem with your border security, he reacted to that.

00:21:10.680 And while they were still trying to charter helicopters back east, she actually had a border patrol sheriff's, Alberta sheriff's, established.

00:21:20.460 I mean, it was a small-scale thing, but they were out there with their drones, their helicopters, doing the job, keeping an eye on the border.

00:21:29.780 The second thing that she did...

00:21:30.800 This could be a pretty boring border to watch, probably, but yeah.

00:21:33.500 Well...

00:21:34.220 But that's what the Americans wanted, even if it's a pretty dull border.

00:21:38.480 Hey, look, a good day in a helicopter on the border is better than a dull day in the office, so I'm all for it.

00:21:43.900 Look, the other thing that she did, just going down there and putting a human face on Canada... 0.99

00:21:50.460 I mean, she happens to be an appealing face. 0.56

00:21:52.780 She was exactly the right kind of person

00:21:54.680 that you would want to send in an ambassadorial role to them.

00:21:58.860 But you mentioned a number of people that she'd met with,

00:22:03.140 and obviously a meeting with Trump is the...

00:22:05.860 Trump will remember her when he's forgotten Doug Ford.

00:22:11.780 But she also touched base with Kristi Noem,

00:22:14.700 who's on tap to be Homeland Security Secretary.

00:22:18.560 um rubio department of state these are this is diplomacy that's just explaining everybody you

00:22:27.600 know everybody take a valium we're all crazy up here and i have seen it argued i don't know

00:22:36.060 whether it's based on anything other than goodwill towards danielle smith but i have seen it argued

00:22:42.180 that the fact that Trump did not announce tariffs on day one against Canada

00:22:48.360 can be to some degree attributed to her own quiet diplomacy

00:22:53.760 of the kind that she recommends to the other premiers.

00:22:57.960 Maybe there is a time to just take things a little easy

00:23:01.480 and not go in half-cocked as Team Canada seemed to be ready to do.

00:23:07.640 But it's not stopping the Eastern people from going off half-cocked 1.00

00:23:11.620 There was an editorial cartoon in the Toronto Star yesterday that had, you know, Eastern Canada, all in their Team Canada, hockey jerseys, and Alberta Smith in the old Soviet CCCP hockey jersey.

00:23:26.060 I didn't see that one.

00:23:26.760 I mean, you know, I'm surprised.

00:23:28.960 Who would the Toronto Star to call anyone a communist?

00:23:31.420 Exactly.

00:23:33.080 Did you read the Toronto Star?

00:23:34.220 No, it was in my Twitter feed.

00:23:35.620 Oh, okay.

00:23:36.260 I hate to read it and see what they're up to.

00:23:38.520 I hate to read it.

00:23:39.060 Well, it was an interesting, Monday was an interesting day because all weekend it was Daniel Smith's a traitor, Daniel Smith's a traitor, Trump speaks, everybody realizes, hey, there's no mention of Canada, Daniel Smith's a hero, Daniel Smith's a hero, you know, and even some local commentators went from slagging her to praising her.

00:23:58.540 And then, of course, you had Trump that night say that tariffs are coming on February 1st.

00:24:05.080 Whether they are or not remains to be seen, whether Alberta gets an exemption on oil.

00:24:11.700 You know, bottom line is I can't see them putting tariffs on oil when Alberta oil is so important to the American economy.

00:24:20.100 That's right.

00:24:20.540 And last thing Trump wants to do is raise the price of gasoline because that's the one thing.

00:24:26.560 He promised to cut it in half.

00:24:27.480 yeah and if you're going to put tariffs on alberta oil you're not going to be able to cut the price

00:24:32.440 of gasoline the issue that we're worried about of course is is not that as much for all the

00:24:36.760 reasons you've just said but the issue is that will the uh federal government put an export tax

00:24:46.040 on alberta oil so that's the uh and that might be the way trump could get his 51st state yeah

00:24:53.640 i mean i i prefer to think of it as getting a 13th province actually

00:24:59.480 um if like we haven't talked about it for a little bit now because he hasn't mentioned

00:25:05.800 it in a week or two annexing canada but you know if trump really wants if like

00:25:13.160 i i don't think it's totally crazy to think that he actually is serious about it

00:25:17.080 How serious? Hard to say. But if he wanted to annex maybe just Alberta or to start peeling

00:25:25.360 apart Canada, here's how I would do it if I was him. I would put the 25% tariff on Canada

00:25:32.080 except for Alberta. And then watch the cat among the pigeons. The eastern politicians,

00:25:40.640 the feds, they will come in for Alberta and they'll say, Alberta is not being loyal here. 0.97

00:25:46.440 Alberta carved itself out and did Canada dirty, even though it's Alberta is actually doing reasonable diplomacy right now, unlike the feds, unlike Ontario.

00:25:55.680 And then you'd see an export tax, and an export tax is kryptonite to Alberta.

00:26:01.020 Alberta cannot, under any circumstance, accept that.

00:26:06.360 And then Trump could roll out an offer at that point.

00:26:10.700 And really, what could Canada do? Send the army? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

00:26:14.960 I mean, it's a wild hypothetical, but we kind of get to talk about these wild hypotheticals now because they're only half hypothetical.

00:26:26.040 So if I was Trump and you wanted to set us among ourselves right now, I would do that because Smith has been doing her job as the Premier of Alberta.

00:26:33.660 She's not the Prime Minister of Canada.

00:26:36.680 I don't like Alberta premiers who have an eye on the job of being Prime Minister of Canada.

00:26:41.360 I want them to be the leader of Alberta and only the leader of Alberta with no other ambition.

00:26:47.600 And that's the job she's been doing.

00:26:49.100 And she gets called a traitor out there for it. 0.90

00:26:51.220 I guarantee if Doug Ford got a carve out for the Ontario auto manufacturers, no one would call him a traitor.

00:26:57.980 They'd say, what a wise diplomat.

00:27:02.960 That's the size of it.

00:27:04.940 And all he's done so far is threatened to take Kentucky bourbon off the liquor store shelves.

00:27:11.360 Yeah. Yeah, that's just a reminder for Ontarians about why you should not let the government pick your liquor.

00:27:19.420 Okay. Well, we're going to move it now to more domestic policy. Obviously, it's got some implication from the Americans.

00:27:31.600 It's now pretty clear America will not have a carbon tax. That's been pretty solidly settled.

00:27:37.680 They couldn't even get it through Congress with Biden.

00:27:40.280 You know, if Biden could have done it, he probably would have, but, you know, they had no chance.

00:27:45.300 The Americans have now also, in a million executive orders Trump signed yesterday, they pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord.

00:27:54.260 Powerful stuff. 0.94

00:27:55.560 Not that anyone actually follows this crap anyway, except for guys like Gilbo. 0.96

00:27:59.740 But Paris is over. 0.97

00:28:02.400 Without the United States, the Paris Accord means absolutely nothing.

00:28:05.900 It's done.

00:28:07.680 So the two leading candidates for the Liberal Party leadership and become technically the next Prime Minister, probably the Prime Minister for a few weeks before they get ganned, Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland, both have been kind of a cagey way without any specific said that they're going to get rid of the carbon tax.

00:28:28.160 Now, when they say get rid of the carbon tax, they mean, at most, scrap the consumer portion.

00:28:33.680 They'll still leave the industrial portion, which is actually arguably the worst part and harms the economy the most.

00:28:39.100 But they'll get rid of at least part of it or rename it or something.

00:28:42.300 I mean, they've renamed the carbon tax a few times already.

00:28:44.440 But, you know, they'll repackage it in some way.

00:28:48.420 Stephen Gilbeau surprised me a bit when he...

00:28:53.980 So he backed Mark Carney.

00:28:55.240 I guess he's probably the most likely to win

00:28:58.340 but Christian Freelands I think got a strong chance to

00:29:00.080 he backed Mark Carney

00:29:02.160 and Mark Carney had been intimating

00:29:04.360 that he's going to semi

00:29:06.060 get rid of sort of the carbon tax

00:29:08.100 and he was asked about that because he's a

00:29:09.920 he is a zealot

00:29:11.420 if nothing

00:29:12.440 I think we all respect him actually a bit more than the average

00:29:16.180 liberal because he's not just a politician collecting

00:29:18.160 a job, he is a zealot, he believes in what he's doing

00:29:20.000 but he believes in his terrifying and terrible

00:29:21.900 but at least he believes in something

00:29:23.180 but he's more or less agreed that he's going to have to accept at least a pared back carbon tax

00:29:29.620 even though that means the end of the world but it means maybe his political career goes on a

00:29:33.000 little longer um but you know he was asked by a reporter in a press conference uh you know why

00:29:39.560 don't canadians support uh the carbon tax anymore you know what let's just play the video is there

00:29:45.380 anything that's as effective or more effective than a consumer price on carbon well yes obviously

00:29:50.140 the industrial price on pollution is more effective because it gives us three times more

00:29:54.540 emission reduction. So one obvious answer to if we don't move ahead with consumer carbon pricing

00:30:01.680 would be to tighten a system that we already have for large polluters in the country. That's 0.97

00:30:07.780 certainly an avenue. There are other things we're working on, we're deploying a cap on pollution

00:30:12.740 from the oil and gas sector will be a key component of our tool to ensure that every

00:30:18.120 Every sector of the Canadian economy, whether it's the aluminum sector, steel sector, auto

00:30:22.240 sector or oil and gas sector, does its fair share when it comes to the time to reducing

00:30:26.820 pollution.

00:30:27.820 How did the Liberals lose so badly on policy that's been around for five years?

00:30:31.560 What went wrong?

00:30:32.560 Pierre Poliev went wrong and he lied and manipulated Canadians on this issue because for a number

00:30:41.060 of years, a large amount of Canadians were in favor of the consumer pricing. And through a

00:30:49.180 campaign that has largely lied and misled Canadians, he's made it a very unpopular policy.

00:30:57.280 So essentially, it's all Pierre Polyam's fault. Carbon tax is great, but Canadians are just too 1.00

00:31:04.380 stupid to understand how good they have it. Canadians 1.00

00:31:08.500 used to like the carbon tax. No, actually, Canadians never

00:31:12.140 approved the carbon tax. They tepidly accepted it because

00:31:16.080 we're mild-mannered Canadians, and we just kind of take whatever the government shoves down our throat most of the time

00:31:20.260 until we finally didn't, and Canadians have turned against it, and they will not 0.53

00:31:24.320 be electing any government that runs on a carbon tax.

00:31:29.580 Nigel,

00:31:30.440 I do digest Gilbo's comments here.

00:31:34.380 well

00:31:35.880 first to

00:31:38.280 your point about all your pens in order

00:31:40.280 yeah just one two

00:31:42.100 four pens yeah

00:31:43.900 you just can't rely on

00:31:45.940 this episode of the pipeline sponsored

00:31:47.440 by pens and highlighters

00:31:50.060 yep get your western standard

00:31:52.260 pen only five dollars

00:31:54.000 look the thing with the

00:31:55.960 with Gilbo and the

00:31:58.300 carbon tax first of all there was

00:31:59.860 always an element of dishonesty about it

00:32:02.200 and it would never came more

00:32:03.920 fully to the fore than when in eastern Canada they suddenly said,

00:32:09.240 well, this is hurting us a lot.

00:32:11.040 And because the Liberals had a special hope of electoral success in eastern Canada,

00:32:17.320 all of a sudden the carbon tax was lifted.

00:32:20.340 That kind of thing made other Canadians say,

00:32:24.020 well, if you can lift it in the Atlantic provinces,

00:32:26.420 why can't you lift it in northern Saskatchewan or northern Alberta,

00:32:31.160 where there are also people who live a long way from regular power sources,

00:32:35.700 are dependent upon hydrocarbon fuels, and are paying these taxes.

00:32:40.960 So right there, you were reminded that this is a highly political tax,

00:32:48.140 and it is separated from reality by that politics.

00:32:53.140 I mean, the idea was you pay tax, you drive less.

00:32:55.560 Does anybody drive less because they have to pay an extra five cents a liter for fuel?

00:32:59.320 No, they don't.

00:33:00.120 how high it has to go, I don't know.

00:33:03.580 But

00:33:04.100 we aren't there yet, and we don't want to get there.

00:33:07.380 Now, for Mr.

00:33:08.420 Gilbeau to

00:33:09.180 blame Pierre Polyev

00:33:12.260 for alerting

00:33:14.140 Canadians to the fact that this is

00:33:16.080 hokum, is actually

00:33:18.100 for him to endorse

00:33:19.740 Pierre Polyev as having superior

00:33:22.260 messaging and

00:33:24.300 communications abilities.

00:33:25.360 But he lied. He lied and said

00:33:28.180 it was not good.

00:33:29.620 No, that's an opinion.

00:33:30.700 If we want to go back over lies with Mr. Gilboa,

00:33:35.400 we would probably stumble over a few before we went very far.

00:33:41.420 Personally, I'm not even convinced of the fundamental link

00:33:46.780 between climate change and the burning of fossil fuels.

00:33:53.300 There's a whole narrative behind that.

00:33:56.080 You're committing a hate crime now.

00:33:57.020 I know.

00:33:57.380 Well, arrest me now.

00:33:59.520 Couldn't get us kicked off the air.

00:34:01.080 Yeah, but certainly the United States is not buying it, or Trump is not buying it.

00:34:09.220 And their own removal of themselves from the Paris Accord shows just how much commitment they have to that idea. 1.00

00:34:16.640 How stupid do these liberals think we are? 1.00

00:34:20.300 They must think we're plenty stupid. 1.00

00:34:23.120 Actually, he said so, didn't he? 1.00

00:34:24.260 Yeah, the fact that we're against the carbon tax is proof we're stupid. 1.00

00:34:28.460 Worth mentioning that Stephen Gilboa yesterday took a personal shot at us, went on a Twitter tirade about the West. 1.00

00:34:36.600 I wanted to go there or there. Let's just put it up on the screen.

00:34:42.720 You know, they've got a problem. It's going to be around.

00:34:46.320 It's going to be the albatross around their neck for the entire campaign.

00:34:50.480 Christian Freeland, I'm changing the carbon tax.

00:34:53.260 Well, why did you support it for all these years,

00:34:56.120 including like days before you quit as finance minister,

00:34:59.380 you were advocating for it.

00:35:01.620 Well, I was only following the orders.

00:35:04.760 You know, Canadians aren't going to buy that.

00:35:06.880 And same with Mark Carney.

00:35:07.900 Mark Carney has been a carbon tax enthusiast

00:35:10.780 for as long as that phrase has been going. 1.00

00:35:14.600 So, you know, the Liberals are thinking again that we're stupid. 0.98

00:35:19.180 But they're going to try and take it off the table, leave Polyev with, you know, where's his axe the tax? 0.99

00:35:24.680 Well, we have axe the tax. Polyev has nothing.

00:35:27.440 Well, you know what? I think Mr. Polyev has plenty of ammunition to fight back against those two jokers.

00:35:33.640 And he's going to be able to run against the carbon tax anyway.

00:35:36.700 But first, like the liberals are not going to be able to repeal it in Parliament.

00:35:40.560 They're going to get defeated as soon as, I mean, if we believe Singh, and that's difficult.

00:35:44.380 But he has now, again, under pressure, reiterated that, no, he's going to bring, he's going to vote non-confident with conservatives in the bloc as soon as parliament comes back, no matter who the liberal leader is.

00:35:54.980 Now, let's see, that liberal leader is going to try and cook a deal with him.

00:35:57.540 But, I mean, he's kind of at the end of his political rope here.

00:36:00.380 He has to bring them down.

00:36:02.780 So the liberals aren't going to be able to repeal it before then anyway.

00:36:07.420 This is just going to defy, in some ways, there is no win for the liberals on the carbon tax here.

00:36:14.380 they can run on the carbon tax, and everyone will hate it and vote against them.

00:36:18.260 They can run on getting rid of it, and people will just be like,

00:36:21.220 well, you don't believe in anything.

00:36:22.920 Like, you're just going to say or do anything for votes,

00:36:25.680 and we don't necessarily believe you that you're going to get rid of it anyway.

00:36:29.360 Look, like, Carney, Freeland, here is video from mere weeks ago 1.00

00:36:33.840 of you talking about how excellent it is and how stupid you are if you're opposed to it. 1.00

00:36:38.360 So are you saying you're stupid now? 1.00

00:36:41.000 There is no win for the liberals on it. 1.00

00:36:42.560 But if I was liberals, I mean, no politician generally is saying, I'm going to lose and I'm going to go down losing.

00:36:53.100 But it'd be nice if they would just try with a little dignity, you know, go down with the flags, the colors flying on the ship as the shells hit the deck.

00:37:03.360 You're going down.

00:37:04.820 go down with a little dignity and say

00:37:06.820 this was the policy that we genuinely

00:37:09.080 believe in our hearts is right for Canada

00:37:11.000 and to save the world from evil global warming

00:37:13.220 and if we're going to go down

00:37:15.000 at least we're going to go down with some of our 0.87

00:37:17.000 principles. Now

00:37:18.460 you know, they're raising the white 0.99

00:37:20.980 flag on the deck and they're still going to get shelled

00:37:23.060 and go beneath the waves anyway.

00:37:24.820 It's just a sad thing

00:37:27.080 to see. And I think Derek

00:37:29.060 that although I very much

00:37:31.060 hope that what you said about Mr. Singh

00:37:33.020 is exactly so

00:37:34.100 the very fact that they have a problem with the united states might give him the well i did say

00:37:42.020 that i was going to bring the government down but now we must maintain continuity in order to deal

00:37:48.060 with the americans because the process is but thankfully he's got his pension he'll have his

00:37:51.760 pension you'll have you'll have his uh we have actually for those who haven't seen it uh let's

00:37:56.340 put this up on the screen too uh up on the western standards website we have the jake meet singh

00:38:01.340 pension countdown clock. You can see by the second in real time how long Canadians have to wait

00:38:07.860 before Jagmeet Singh qualifies for his pension and will therefore be liberated and free to vote

00:38:16.100 to trigger an election. And he'll be able to afford things like Maseratis and Rolexes.

00:38:20.880 Rolex, yeah. Now, I mean, there are still quite a few NDP MPs who, in addition to him,

00:38:28.100 are going to qualify for their pension in October

00:38:30.120 and it's possible it goes out there

00:38:34.200 but I think at this point

00:38:36.000 the good money is we're getting an election

00:38:37.980 as soon as Parliament comes back

00:38:40.520 maybe even sooner

00:38:41.720 the Liberals might be smart

00:38:42.920 rather than face the kind of humiliation

00:38:45.140 of being defeated in Parliament

00:38:46.280 just call it themselves

00:38:47.720 you know it's like when you know you're going to get fired

00:38:50.340 you just say well I quit

00:38:51.500 you can't fire me, I quit

00:38:52.760 Liberals can dissolve Parliament

00:38:54.520 Sort of like Chrystia Freeland

00:38:56.400 Touché, Nigel. Touché.

00:39:04.920 Yeah, so it seems to be, the carbon tax is going to end, but I think when we talk about the end of

00:39:12.680 the carbon tax for the liberals, and most it'll be the way Jason Kenney got rid of the carbon tax,

00:39:17.760 he didn't get rid of the full carbon tax. When Jason Kenney came in in Alberta, he got rid of

00:39:21.340 the consumer carbon tax, but he left in place the industrial carbon tax, which is still very

00:39:28.660 costly and damaging to industry, but consumers don't see it directly, and it's not as politically

00:39:34.540 salient, I think. And actually, to be fair, Pierre Polyev has not said yet, if he would get rid of the

00:39:41.060 industrial carbon tax, he just says he'll get rid of the carbon tax. Well, I mean, if you're saying

00:39:46.000 you're going to get rid of the carbon tax, that should mean the whole thing. Otherwise, he should

00:39:50.880 be saying, I'm going to get rid of some carbon tax. I'm going to get rid of a carbon tax because

00:39:55.760 there is two carbon taxes. So Polyev has not actually clarified on that yet, but I'll go out

00:40:01.060 on a limb and say none, whoever the next liberal leader of prime minister is, it will only be the

00:40:07.260 consumer carbon tax at the absolute most. And more likely, they'll keep the industrial carbon tax and

00:40:13.080 keep as much of the consumer one as they can and repackaged in another form.

00:40:17.760 I mean, if you believe the propaganda, the consumer carbon tax is returned to you in these checks that you receive every few months.

00:40:26.020 No, no, you make money on it.

00:40:27.840 They say you make more money.

00:40:29.260 They say.

00:40:30.340 What attack?

00:40:31.580 You pay a tax and you get more money back?

00:40:33.920 We have more of these taxes.

00:40:34.840 I would be interested to hear from readers who have actually gone over their power bills and done a computation of the tax they paid at the pump.

00:40:42.120 added it all up and see if they really

00:40:44.600 do get more back because

00:40:46.020 where we're losing is what the increase

00:40:48.560 in the price of food is as a result

00:40:50.420 of carbon tax paid by

00:40:52.240 first big producers and secondly

00:40:54.440 the industry.

00:40:56.240 Anyway, they could let that go

00:40:58.540 and they would be, for practical purposes,

00:41:00.460 revenue neutral. So they probably

00:41:02.480 will keep the industrial carbon tax

00:41:04.560 because that makes them money.

00:41:06.020 Alright, our last segment here.

00:41:08.520 Dave, have you prepared a parting shot?

00:41:09.920 I have.

00:41:11.040 Okay, well, we'll start with you.

00:41:12.980 It's good to see some common sense return to the United States again.

00:41:18.260 And the one smartest thing that Trump did was reinstall the bust of Winston Churchill

00:41:23.780 into the White House that was put into a cupboard by Joe Biden.

00:41:28.560 And now every day, Trump will walk in there and get inspiration from one of the greatest

00:41:32.980 leaders in history.

00:41:34.140 Amen.

00:41:34.360 so as for me you know it's very clear from the recent public pronouncements of the prime minister

00:41:41.520 that we have contra my remarks earlier we actually do have the power to affect the weather

00:41:49.520 and i just want it to be known as we enter trade negotiations i want the americans to be very aware

00:41:54.940 that we can cause snow in new orleans if we need to so there are blizzards in the gulf of america

00:42:03.460 Yeah, bet.

00:42:06.260 All right.

00:42:06.980 Well, my parting shot.

00:42:08.240 I just want to take note of the other guy running for the liberal leadership.

00:42:12.480 I still can't remember his name.

00:42:14.760 But I just want to, you know, put the image of the other guy up.

00:42:18.840 Maybe his name will come up there.

00:42:21.060 But there are four people running.

00:42:23.420 I want to remind people there are four people running to be the next liberal leader.

00:42:27.300 There's Mark Carney.

00:42:28.460 There's Chrystia Freeland.

00:42:30.300 Karina Gould.

00:42:30.840 Karina Gould, who pretty much nobody knows.

00:42:33.460 but at least I can remember her name

00:42:35.720 but then there's the other guy

00:42:37.500 and one more actually

00:42:39.340 don't forget the campaign life guy

00:42:41.760 campaign life coalition, Mike Clark

00:42:43.700 Mike Clark

00:42:44.140 actually he'll be passing through the western standards newsroom today

00:42:47.560 so maybe we'll interview him

00:42:49.680 and get him on

00:42:50.680 but the other guy

00:42:52.040 he is bilingual

00:42:55.020 he speaks multiple languages

00:42:56.760 unfortunately neither of them are

00:42:59.180 English or French

00:43:00.420 so I just wanted to

00:43:03.400 give a little profile to this guy, remind you, you don't, to vote in the liberal leadership,

00:43:08.940 you don't have to be a member of the party, you just have to register and vote. So I want to

00:43:12.280 encourage everyone watching the pipeline here today to go online, register with the liberal

00:43:17.200 party, and vote for the other guy. All right. And they don't check. You call yourself

00:43:24.900 Xi Jinping, and you'll get your membership card. Extra fast. Yeah. Okay. All right, Dave,

00:43:31.520 Nigel, thank you very much for joining me on the pipeline today.

00:43:33.600 It was a pleasure.

00:43:35.020 And thank all of you for joining us.

00:43:36.940 Remember, the Western Standard is one of the extremely, extremely small number of free press organizations left in Canada

00:43:45.020 that refuses to take the federal liberal government's media bailout.

00:43:50.740 We rely on support from members and advertisers.

00:43:55.660 So we need you.

00:43:56.360 We want you to join us.

00:43:57.380 Go to westernstandard.news right now.

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00:44:06.680 Thank you very much for joining us today.

00:44:08.320 God bless.

00:44:30.500 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - January 23, 2025

The Trump Revolution

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