EZRA LEVANT | Naheed Nenshi’s apology shows who really controls the modern NDP

Summary

Episode Overview

Main Theme:
This episode of The Ezra Levant Show (Rebel News Podcast) delves into the internal dynamics of the modern NDP, focusing on Naheed Nenshi's public apology regarding his photo with Israel's Ambassador at the Calgary Stampede, and what it reveals about the ideological direction of the left in Canada. Ezra Levant connects this incident to broader trends: the NDP’s shift away from its traditional labor-focused roots to a more radical, campus-driven, and increasingly anti-Israel (and, by extension, anti-Semitic) orientation. The episode weaves this with a critical discussion of pipelines, Alberta independence, and internal political machinations, featuring an extended interview with Keith Wilson of "Let Alberta Decide."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Left's Radical Shift and Naheed Nenshi’s Predicament

• Historical Context:
  Levant begins by reflecting on the evolution of left-wing politics, noting how unions once dominated the NDP but have since given way to academia and special interest groups, especially among university students and faculty (02:00–04:00).

• Campus Activism:
  He draws comparisons to similar themes across the US and UK, citing radical campus activism, including anti-Israel protests, to show the ideological transformation (04:40–07:00).

  • Quote:
    “The center of the left wing parties is the university campus, believe it or not. Radical professors, radical students, the kind of people who set up encampments... to condemn Israel and support Hamas.” — Ezra Levant (03:15)

• Avi Lewis and the NDP:
  Levant sharply criticizes Avi Lewis, new NDP leader, for what he frames as extreme anti-Israel stances, contrasting Lewis with his pro-Israel predecessors (07:00–08:30).

  • Quote:
    “Avi Lewis is the most extreme leader in Canada when it comes to the Jews and Hamas. He’ll probably declare war on Israel if he could.” — Ezra Levant (07:13)
  • Audio Clip from Avi Lewis:
    “Israel is a rogue state... Canada stands for international law and against the actions of this rogue state and its genocide.” — Avi Lewis (07:54)

2. Naheed Nenshi’s Calgary Stampede Controversy

• Incident:
  Nenshi is heckled at a Stampede event after appearing in a photo with the Israeli ambassador, illustrating the left’s internal policing and the political risks for leaders (11:56–12:19).

  • Quote (street confrontation):
    “Am I supposed to tell him to f off at a public event? Yeah, that's not how it works.” — Naheed Nenshi (12:03)

• Analysis:
  Levant contends Nenshi’s subsequent apology and positioning are products of pressure from an "anti-Semitic voting bloc," emphasizing tactics of social coercion within leftist politics.

  • Quote:
    “Either you unperson the ambassador, either you cancel him, or the antisemitic voting bloc unpersons you. Join our mob, or the mob will come for you.” — Ezra Levant (12:26)

• Reading of Nenshi's Statement:
  Levant reads and eviscerates Nenshi’s apology, accusing him of insincerity and capitulation.

  • Quote (Nenshi’s apology excerpt):
    “I'm so sorry for the harm it caused. After talking to many people in the community, over the last couple of days I better understand the immense hurt that is being caused to a lot of folks.” — Naheed Nenshi (14:55)
  • Levant retort:
    “The harm? Was someone hurt by a political leader taking a photo at the Stampede?” (14:35)
  • Levant concludes:
    “What a malleable piece of putty. What a loser.” (18:48)

3. Wider Ramifications: Increasing Identity Politics

• Demographics:
  Levant frames Nenshi’s “pivot” as a pragmatic approach to activate the Muslim base in Alberta, mirroring strategies adopted by Avi Lewis federally (11:00–12:00).

• Implications:
  He asserts that the left’s new coalition—woke academics, public sector unions, migrants from countries hostile to Israel—is cementing an anti-Israel line in politics. - Quote:
  “He leads an anti-Semitic party proudly and loudly... winning is everything.” — Ezra Levant (18:00)

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4. Alberta Independence & Third-Party Campaigning

(Keith Wilson Interview, 20:26–40:14)

Let Alberta Decide: Summer Update (20:26–22:01)

• Organization & Momentum:
  Keith Wilson, leader of “Let Alberta Decide,” shares campaign progress:

  • Over $250,000 raised in a month, 1,000+ attendees at a Stampede breakfast.

  • Intention: Reach new audiences in cities and undecided voters.

  • Planning novel outreach and digital strategy.

  • Quote (Wilson):
    “We’ve raised well over a quarter of a million dollars in less than a month... Over 1,000 people showed up [at the breakfast].” (20:52)

Election Process Critique (22:01–25:38)

• Registration Bias Allegations:
  Both host and guest allege Elections Alberta is selectively enforcing regulations, ignoring unregistered “Remain” campaign groups while strictly policing independence groups.
  • Quote (Wilson):
    “Elections Alberta has compromised itself. It is blatantly obvious.” (24:15)
  • Quote (Levant):
    “How can anyone have faith in the process that’s so obviously tilted?” (23:20)

Pipeline Policy, Toll Controversy, and Confederation (25:38–34:50)

• Pipeline Announcements:
  Wilson contends recent federal-provincial deals (including with Mark Carney) are performative and don’t have real backing. The “toll” deal to B.C. is called “extortion.”

  • Quote (Wilson):
    “[Jack Mintz] said, let’s call this new tolling provision... what it is: extortion.” (29:36)
  • If B.C. can toll Alberta oil, why can’t Alberta toll B.C.’s $50B+ goods passing east?

• Nationhood Under Strain:
  The system of reciprocal trade with toll-free passage is part of Confederation’s core.

  • Quote (Levant):
    “The idea every hamlet, village, town, and city could put up a toll booth is contrary to the concept of a nation.” (31:00)

Carbon Capture and Net Zero: (32:29–38:08)

• Economic Critique:
  Wilson decries the $40B+ taxpayer-funded pipelines and carbon capture projects, arguing no private sector player believes these will be implemented successfully and that these costs make Alberta’s oil/gas globally uncompetitive.
  • Quote (Wilson):
    “That’s around $70 billion. That’s the same amount as the government’s budget here in Alberta. This is an astronomical amount of money.” (37:12)

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5. Pushback Against Business Fearmongering (Calgary Mayor)

• Mayor Jeremy Farkas’ Warning:
  Audio clip of Calgary’s mayor warning that independence talk could cost Alberta $62B and 175,000 jobs, drawing on a local Chamber of Commerce report (38:30–39:48).

  • Quote (Farkas):
    “Alberta separation could cost our economy up to $62 billion every year... Up to 175,000 jobs could be at risk.” (38:35–39:00)

• Rebuttal:
  Wilson dismisses these claims as misleading and says they rely on narrow membership and flawed surveys (40:14).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A right-wing Jew and a left-wing Muslim. It was pretty fun. And politically at least we couldn’t be more different.” — Ezra Levant on his old debate partnership with Nenshi (10:15)
• “Stay with us for more.” — Ezra Levant (19:55, closing segment before the interview)
• “Governments don’t have $70 billion. They’re going to borrow it on our credit cards, our kids credit cards and our grandkids.” — Keith Wilson (37:00)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:55 – Overview of topic and show intro
• 03:15 – Ezra describes the modern left’s campus roots
• 07:13 – Scathing critique of Avi Lewis/NDP leadership
• 11:56 – Nenshi confronted at the Stampede by activist
• 14:55 – Levant reads/applies Nenshi's apology
• 20:26 – Interview with Keith Wilson begins
• 29:36 – “Let’s call it what it is: extortion.” (Pipeline tolls)
• 31:00 – Nationhood/reciprocity arguments on tolls
• 37:12 – “$70 billion... same as government’s budget”
• 38:30 – Mayor Farkas’ economic warnings

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Episode Tone and Style

Throughout, Ezra Levant maintains a provocative, combative, and often personal tone—mixing sharp critique, anecdote, and polemic. The banter between Levant and Keith Wilson is confident and policy-heavy, with a focus on perceived injustices, failures of leadership, and the alleged “corruption” of Canadian democracy and confederation. The main thrust: the modern left has become intolerant and radical, forcing centrist figures like Nenshi to denounce Israel to survive politically. The Alberta interview emphasizes a sovereignty movement fueled by frustration with both Ottawa and BC.

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This summary captures the episode’s critical conversations, central arguments, and memorable soundbites while providing a structured guide for listeners seeking to understand the core debates.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, my friends. Nahid Nenshi gets monstered by his own clan and decides the only way to save himself is to come out fully against Israel. That's sort of a weird thing for a provincial opposition leader. I'll take you through the history of it, but first let me invite you to become a subscriber to what we call a Rebel News Plus. It's the video version of this podcast, and I want you to do that because I want you to see what I mean. When he was monstered. That's sort of a British phrase for being mogged, for being sort of ambushed on the street by a lefty who thought that Nenshi wasn't anti Semitic enough. I'll show you what happened. I wanted you to see it, though, not just hear it.

[B]

You're listening to Real News podcast.

[A]

Tonight, Nahid nanchi copies the US left and goes full anti Israel. It's July 16th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show. Shame on you, you censorious thug, You. You know, there was a time when the lifeblood of the political left was the union movement. I mean, that's what the NDP was, a party created by farmers and factory workers. Over time, blue collar became white collar and pink collar as unionized workers took over the parties of the left, both in Canada and the US not too long ago, a quarter of all delegates to the Democratic National Committee's conventions were teachers union members, a quarter of them, let alone other public sector unions. The issues for the left back then were more entitlements, more spending, and things like environmentalism and gay rights. Not surprising when the left was a teachers union left, an overwhelmingly feminine industry, and those are feminine issues. Being cautious, protecting the socially vulnerable, abortion on demand for any reason or no reason. I think there was a moment when gay rights, abortion rights, and global warming were the essential issues in both the Canadian and American left. But over the last decade, a new, more combative strain of politics has replaced that. Though the Marxist view of the world, where everyone is put into one or two categories, the oppressor or the oppressed, I think that's taken over the Democrats. And when you prejudge people on that Marxist dividend and put them immediately into friend or enemy categories, you don't really have debates anymore, do you? Because there's no compromising with pure evil. The only reason to talk to the oppressor is to negotiate the terms of their surrender. That's where cancel culture came from, I think. It's not a traditionally liberal idea. Liberals would debate, would go back and forth. I'M here to tell you that the center of gravity of the parties of the left in Canada and the United States and in the UK too, in Ireland, it's no longer teachers unions or really unions of any sort. Definitely no blue collar workers like truck drivers or skilled trades anymore. You won't find them. The center of the left wing parties is the university campus, believe it or not. Radical professors, radical students, the kind of people who set up those encampments at universities across North America to condemn Israel and support Hamas after the terrorist attacks on Israel. I think the craziest was at Columbia University in the heart of New York. I went down there to take a look for myself. I'm back in New York City in front of Columbia University. This is the gate that we entered for a two hour first amendment window when we were here the other day. That is from 2pm Till 4pm they opened the gates for journalists. And if you recall, there were hundreds of them in line to to see firsthand the protesters inside the Hamas encampment. I call them protesters because I suppose that is what they're doing. But there wasn't a lot of talking from those protesters. They were instructed by their leaders not to talk to journalists, not to talk even to friendly journalists, but rather to have hand picked official spokesman dealing with the media at large. In fact, if any journalists tried to get in the actual encampment, they were blocked by a combination of students, but also teachers too. You know, it's incredible, Columbia university costs about $99,000 for one year's tuition and that's US money. That's around 140 grand Canadian per year. So these are not the working classes. These are rich kids who are bored and want to get back at daddy or something, or who feel guilty about daddy's money. So they take up luxury causes. That's what global warming was. Only rich people care about that. But the edgiest of luxury concerns is Gaza. These kids couldn't find Gaza on a map. Many of the people protesting are not students. Not surprisingly, they wear masks. I think the funniest moment of the day, and I've only been here for about an hour, is seeing people with flags. Flags that aren't even the Palestinian flags. What country's flag is this? What flag is this?

[C]

Palestine.

[A]

Is this a Palestine flag? Are you sure? Hi. Do you know what flag this is?

[C]

I'm not sure, but it's not the Palestine flag.

[A]

She says it's not the Palestine flag. Did you just pick it up or did someone give it to you? I Went to another encampment in New York you saw there at the Fashion Institute of Technology, it's called. And the first people I met with, they didn't even have the right flag for Palestine. They had no idea what they were doing. They just bought some flags that sort of looked right. These are low information voters, but they're not there for the policy. They're there for the emotion, for the sense of belonging. It's a kind of faith. It's a cult really. When you're post Christian and post American and global warming doesn't do it for you anymore, this is the way it's far more exciting. There's some blood and some violence in the air. What a feeling. So yeah, that's today's left. It's not liberal in any sense of the word. It's not for debating and disagreeing with fellow citizens. It's for deplatforming and destroying enemies. It's not moderate, it's not thoughtful, it's not policy based. It's about tribes. Look at Avi Lewis, the new leader of Canada's federal ndp. By the way, both his father and his grandfather were NDP leaders too, if you can believe it. If you want to see our website on the subject, go to Aviluis.com we've actually got that website where we have sort of a depository of our videos on him. Avi Lewis dad and grandpa were actually pro Jewish by the way, pro Israel. But Avi Lewis is the most extreme leader in Canada when it comes to the Jews and Hamas. He's all the way over. He's. He'll probably declare war on Israel if he could. I mean, here's a sample.

[B]

And now 3,000 people killed in Lebanon in war crimes of now a significant, significant scope and not to mention the global destabilization of its attack on Iran which by many accounts it dragged the United States into. This is a rogue state. Israel and Jews of conscience around the world have been standing up to say it must be held to account. And in Canada we have a federal political party that is calling for a real two way arms embargo, a cancellation of our free trade deal with Israel, recalling ambassadors and diplomatic measures and a serious, a serious statement on the international stage that Canada stands for international law and against the actions of this rogue state and its genocide.

[A]

Avi Lewis has taken the position because he's a woke radical where every Israeli is an oppressor no matter what and every Palestinian is oppressed no matter what and any violence from a Palestinian is justified. Therefore, so what's left to debate? I mean the fact that this extremist position happens to attract women voters amongst the millions of new migrants to Canada who've come from anti submitted countries, well that's a happy bonus for him. He's got the woke universities and now he's got the bigoted migrants. And it's working. In the last election the NDP under Jagmeet Singh got just 6% of the vote. It won just seven seats in the country, down from 24 the election before. But under Avi Lewis they've already doubled the vote intention in polls. Here's a recent poll, around 13%. Now, partly it's because Avi Lewis, while a race baiting communist, is just smarter and harder working than Jagmeet Singh. But part of it is because the number one single most radical policy change at the ndp, they are now officially on the side of Hamas and Iran and against America, against the west and against Jews. Same thing's happening in the U.S. democrats. Look at Zoran Mamdani, the new communist mayor of New York. Here's how he watched a soccer game today in prison on Rikers island, sitting next to a new friend who I understand is in prison for strangling his girlfriend.

[D]

And we talked about 66.

[C]

You have one Star Wars. I hope that this shares with people who are incarcerated here on Rikers that they too are a part of New York City. The World cup has been a magical moment for the entire city. These are New Yorkers and they will be New Yorkers when they get out of Rikers. They're New Yorkers today. And I wanted to make sure that we can celebrate this moment together.

[A]

They're not hiding it, they're they're leaning into it. These folks call themselves communists. They want to abolish the police, they want to abolish America. They really mean it. So to Canada. Now I know Nahid Nenshi, the leader of the opposition in Alberta, the leader of the NDP in Alberta. We were in high school debating at the same time, if you can believe it. And then in university we became a debating team and we competed at the National Business School debate competition held every year at Queen's University. And for two years in a row we won the nationals. A right wing Jew and a left wing Muslim. It was pretty fun. And politically at least we couldn't be more different. He's Ismaili Muslim though, which is the moderate Islam that follows the Aga Khan. But that was when Alberta's Muslim community was very small. About the same as the Jewish community. Oh that's not the case now. There are about 200,000 Muslims in Alberta. That's according to the 2021 census, which means it's probably more like quarter million. Now, some of them are moderate like Nenshi, but many are not. So do the same math that Avi Lewis did in the last election. Danielle Smith won her government by fewer than 150,000 votes. If Naheed Nenshi can activate the Muslim base, 250,000 people, he's got a real chance just by making that one change. Add in the wokeism of the NDP base, the government unions, the university students, the radical NGOs, there are very few people in his coalition that he would turn off by going full Hamas. There's only upside for him. So look at this video taken just the other day. Nancy was being monstered at a stampede event. Forget this for the sin of taking a picture just out and about with the Israeli ambassador. Take a look at how he's being hounded from the left.

[C]

So tell me about what's not fair about that.

[A]

Please tell me

[C]

that he comes to the stampede and I say hello.

[A]

Like, am I supposed to tell him

[C]

to f off at a public event? Yeah, that's not how it works. Please don't record.

[A]

I think there's two sides.

[C]

Okay, if you're recording, then I gotta get the stage. Thank you. Thank you for being here.

[A]

Now, here's the innocuous picture of him and the ambassador, by the way. Now, in that video, Nancy was irritated, but he made a good point. Was he really going to physically snub someone like that? Like a child having a tantrum? The whole point of of a diplomat is that you have someone who is a liaison between two countries specifically to resolve issues and disagreements. He doesn't have to be your friend. You don't have to agree with him. The whole point of diplomacy, though, is to be diplomatic. And anyways, what business is it really of the leader of the opposition in a province who has no responsibility for foreign affairs and frankly knows very little about the issue? So good for him for standing up. But that video, it went viral. And obviously a message was sent to Nenshi. Either you unperson the ambassador, either you cancel him, or the anti Semitic voting bloc unpersons. You join our mob, or the mob will come for you. I don't know Nenshi. Well, I did 30 years ago when we were debating partners, but that's a long time ago. He didn't have an anti Semitic bone in his body back in the 90s. I don't think he does today, to be honest. But he's got something just as bad, a desire to win so badly, so desperately, that he will allow the anti Semites to commandeer him. And what he says and does, he will submit to them. He will say what they want him to say. He will do what they want him to do. I don't think he's an anti Semite, but he leads an anti Semitic party proudly and loudly. And like Avi Lewis, he'll smear the Jews all day long. His conscience is clear on that, because winning is everything. So look at what he published today, just a day or two after that viral video of him went public. A message from the hidden hi, I want to speak to you from the heart about a photo going around from last weekend. I'm so sorry for the harm it caused. The harm? Was someone hurt by a political leader taking a photo at the Stampede? At one of many public events at Stampede, I was approached by the Israeli ambassador. We had a very brief and frank exchange during which a photo was taken. I think that's Nenshi pretending that he gave a lecture to the ambassador or something. I think he's trying to sound a little more butch than he was after talking to many people in the community. Which community? What are you talking about there? The community? Who do you mean? Over the last couple of days, I better understand the immense hurt that is being caused to a lot of folks. Has there really been an immense hurt? Have people been hurt by that photo? The Alberta NDP strongly believes in human rights and international law. Our position on this has never changed. Hey, are you sure about that? Because I don't think the NDP actually gives a damn about human rights. Back to the letter. The Israeli government's actions in Gaza have violated international law, as the Canadian government has affirmed. From the refusal to lift blockades that resulted in the Gaza famine to indiscriminate bombing. There was no famine. And the bombing was not indiscriminate. It was in response to the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history, Hamas murdering and raping 1,200 and taking more than 200 captive. Not a peep about that from Nenshi. Those people aren't in his electoral coalition. At least 20,000 children have been killed. A few days ago, southern Lebanon, the ancestral home of many Albertans, was bombed as part of a sustained campaign. Okay, hang on a second. Is it really a sustained campaign to bomb southern Lebanon, or was it a response to Iran's terrorist Hezbollah that has holed up in southern Lebanon, turning it into a terrorist attack base against Israel. Why does Nenshi not mention that Lebanon and Israel just signed a peace treaty just a couple weeks ago whereby both demanded that Hezbollah leave southern Lebanon? I mean, it's one thing to be pro Lebanon, I am, but it's quite something to be outright pro Hezbollah. Is Nancy stupid or just evil? Well, he's not stupid. Even here in home, he continues, we're seeing increases in anger, hatred, anti Palestinian racism and anti Semitism. No, brother, the jews are about 1% of the population and they're about 80% of the victims of the hate crimes. But nice try. Thanks for throwing in that anti Semitism part, man. It really helps. I believe and will always believe that we have the ability here to be models for the world on how people of different faiths can live together purposefully and lift one another up to ensure we all live a life of dignity. I have dedicated my life to that goal and I'll never waver from it. Signed Naheed. Nancy. What a malleable piece of putty. What a loser. You know, maybe he is an anti semite. 30 years ago he was not. But if he had said these things 30 years ago, he would have destroyed his political future. People would have said, whoa, you're crazy. But today, in a rising tide of Jew hatred and violence, Nenchi has done the math again. It's a winner for him, just like it's a winner for Avi Lewis. No Jews are going to vote for Nahi Nenshi. And even if they do, they're a tiny number in Alberta, not a quarter million Muslims. Nihid Nancy might in his heart of hearts not actually be anti Semitic, but there's not a difference on the outside anymore, is there? Stay with us for more. Well, Rebel News is interested in the country and interested in the world. Sometimes we even fly to other countries to bring you the news, especially on themes that affect us here at home, like censorship and mass immigration. But one of the places we follow very closely is right in our own country. I'm talking about Alberta, the place I was born. And I would say that you don't have to be from Alberta to agree with the statement that Alberta is the freest place around, the most conservative certainly, and so the most likely to chafe against the Laurentian elites and their globalism and socialism. So it's not surprising, therefore, that that Alberta has an independence movement, because the way Canada is going, it's not like the Canada we knew when we were growing up. Toronto, the good as I showed you yesterday, that's just. That's just not here anymore. So how is the independence campaign going? It's summertime. Albertans are busy doing what everyone's doing in the country. Going to barbecues, taking time at the lake. Of course, the Calgary Stampede is a big attraction. Even Mark Carney himself came out there, tried flipping some pancakes. I understand that he didn't wear cowboy boots. He wore running shoes, which is about as authentic as a $3 bill. But the man who I think is the driving force now behind the referendum movement is Keith Wilson. Now, Mitch Sylvester was the leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project who went with his army door to door to get the petition signatures to trigger a referendum. But that has been set aside by what I call a rogue judge. And because the rogue judge will not allow an actual referendum to happen, the premier has announced, has announced a referendum on a referendum which she says meets the legal requirements, including consulting with Indian bands. So that race a referendum on the referendum is on. And as you know, Rebel News has created a third party advertising group so we can legally participate. But Keith Wilson has set up a third party group that has seems to be the new center of gravity in the campaign. And he joins us now for an update on how the summer's going. Keith, great to see you again and congratulations. Before we go any further, give us some stats. You have registered with Elections Alberta and set up a legal entity called a third party advertiser, which is required for anyone other than a. A formal political party. Remind us what's the name of your third party advertiser and give us some measurements that show how strong it is.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

We registered a group called Let Alberta Decide. You know, our focus is on getting information and to people, particularly in the cities and those who are leaning towards wanting to vote to stay, who haven't really put their mind to the implications and the realities facing Canada and Alberta and the opportunity of independence. And we've been just thrilled at the response and the energy and the excitement. We've raised well over a quarter of a million dollars in less than a month. We're leading the donations in terms of all of the different groups that are out there on short notice. We organized the Stampede Breakfast for last Sunday and we sold it out in a few days. Over 1,000 people showed up. It was excellent event by all reports. A real diversity of people. A lot of people commented that who are regular sort of at independence events and town hall meetings, that there was so many people there that they'd never seen before. And that's what we're all about is bringing in and broadening the tent. Really excited about that. We're launching a large sign campaign for Calgary because there's a lot of red and white signs and we're going to be matching those. We've got a pretty interesting strategy to deal with that. And we're also deploying and we're well on our way to a very creative and novel digital strategy to reach people because everybody spends time on their devices. So it's going really well. I love the excitement, the caliber of the volunteers. It's, it's, it's going really well.

[A]

You know, I got a question for you because you, you are a lawyer, of course by profession. You're King's counsel, which is a designation given to senior lawyers. So you're a rule, you're a compliance expert in a way. Now the Elections Alberta laws are very particular. I know this because like I said, we registered as well. But I noticed that two of the Remain groups have not registered. One is the mighty union called Unifor. That's one of the richest, most politically active labor unions in the country by the way. They represent hundreds of journalists, which I think is a bit of a conflict of interest. They are a remainder campaign group but they have not registered yet. And Thomas Zukashuk, a former Red Tory cabinet minister, he's got a campaign office, he's got campaign signs, he is doing everything like you. If an alien landed from space, they would say, oh, there's a campaign on. Like the guy's campaigning by every measurement he has not registered. And I don't mean to be a stickler here, but this Elections Alberta chief is so partisan. He, he goes after any conservative who has one jot or tittle out of place. And yet these massive government funded campaigns. I mean Unifor, I guess government funded is the wrong word. Left wing funded campaigns. He's not requiring them to register. How can anyone have faith in the process that's so obviously tilted?

[C]

Well, let's be clear about something. The role of a chief electoral officer and in this case Elections Alberta is one of the most important roles in a functioning democracy because it's through elections and people individual having the secrecy and going into the ballot box and making their choice that even if their choice isn't successful, there's not rioting in the streets. We have peaceful transitions of power in democratic countries because we have an institution like here in Alberta called Elections Alberta. And it is expected to conduct itself with impartiality and the highest degree of integrity and treat all sides the Same. No observer can look at the facts here and conclude that's what's happening. Elections Alberta has compromised itself. It is blatantly obvious. And Thomas Lukasek, with his forever Canada thing is almost rubbing it in now. He's almost doing, na na na na na na. Like, look at you guys are following the rules. And the chief electoral officer is not requiring me to. He said on a, in a BBC interview this week that he's going to do everything he can to win the vote. As you noted, he has a campaign office in both Calgary and Edmonton. He has a campaign bus, he has a campaign slogan, he has a campaign website, he has campaign volunteers. And he's put out thousands and thousands and thousands of campaign signs across the province. And meanwhile, elections Alberta says, oh no, he's not campaigning. But they hunt us down for the slightest infractions. So it's really disappointing. I've said in some other interviews and I'll say here that the chief electoral officer and the key people in that office need to have a look in the mirror. They need to do an honest evaluation of the damage they're doing to democratic institutions. If Albertans cannot trust the integrity of the electoral process, it's a serious threat to democracy. And I hope the chief electoral officer either changes course and enforces the law evenly or he recognizes he's not up for the job and he steps down.

[A]

Yeah, you know, we saw what happens when a radical is in charge of elections. We saw that with Elections Canada for years as well. And it really does corrode trust in the system. But let's talk about some of the issues that are going on. I think pipelines are an important issue, but by far not the only issue. They're more a symptom than anything of an underlying problem. Mark Carney has been going through a certain performance, a kabuki dance where he suggested for a pipeline. He says some of the right words, but it's so obvious that it's just talk and not going to get the job done, that no oil company has stepped forward and said, yeah, I, I believe this pipeline will happen and I'm going to commit to pumping oil through it. Like that's, that's how it works in the pipeline industry. We just saw that with the Southbow pipeline. They said, okay, we're going to have this half a million barrel a day pipeline. Who's in? And they got commitments for 20 years to fill it up. That's how a real pipeline works. No one has said, oh, I believe so deeply in the Carney pipeline. That I'm ready to ship my oil in it and I'm willing to sign on the line that is dotted. Just no one believes it. But what Carney has focused on, which I absolutely believe, is that he demands that Alberta oil companies pay some sort of toll or some sort of, I don't know, commission or payment or shakedown ransom to British Columbia for the right to cross over its holy, holy territory with a pipeline. Tell me a little bit about what Mark Carney and David Evie have talked about, how to, you know, how to pluck the chicken.

[C]

Well, let me say this first generally and I'll deal with the specific tolls issue. These pipeline announcements, the deal between Smith and Carney, the deal between Carney and ebe, and this week the detailed announcement of the agreement between Alberta Canada and the oil sands companies on the pathways carbon capture, billion dollar boondoggle has been the biggest boost to independence. It's not something I thought was going to happen. I thought these pipeline announcements would take the wind out of the sails of independence, but instead it's like a gale force pushing the ship forward. And let me illustrate why. Well, first of all, the level of political capital that's required to expand it to negotiate a deal for a pipeline. Ezra, I'm old enough to remember when we needed a pipeline. A pipeline company determined there was a market for it and that it would provide jobs and return on investment. So the pipeline company would plan the route, file an application, get an approval, construct it and operate it. That's how it worked. Now you've got to do this. Bend on, go on, bent knee, kiss the ring of the Prime Minister to have him designated a project of national interest, which he hasn't even done yet. Go through this complex process. The reason no private proponent comes forward is because of the laws that the federal liberals have put in place, starting with Trudeau. The no more pipeline laws, the tanker ban, the carbon capture, the net zero, the methane rules. I could keep going. They put all these obstacles in place. So a surprise add on to all of this is the agreement that was announced two weeks ago includes in it, and it was economist Jack Mintz who flagged this. And he's very conservative by nature. He's not prone to any form of hyperbole ever. He wrote a public article on this and he said, let's call this new tolling provision where the BC government is now allowed to charge a toll to Alberta for oil going through the TMX pipeline both in the future and existing pipelines. He said, let's call it what it is extortion, Jack Mint's words.

[A]

Yeah, he's no radical. I mean he's very mainstream guy.

[C]

And so this is unprecedented. We Alberta ships $30 billion worth of oil through the TMX pipeline. Some for export, but a lot of it goes to the Burnaby refinery to supply gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel to the lower mainland. If that pipeline gets shut off 11 days later, that whole economy shut down. And now they're going to be able to charge a toll that's on $30 billion worth of commerce going through that pipeline. Well, BC ships over 50 billion, $50 billion worth of goods and products through Alberta on our two major highways and our two major rail lines that go easterly. So does that mean Alberta can now charge a toll on the $50 billion? See, it shows how confederation is broken.

[A]

Yeah. You know, the whole point of the CP rail in the first place was to bind the country together. That was the whole point. Because B.C. looked quite likely to join the United States. I mean, imagine connecting up Alaska with California.

[C]

It was McDonald's national dream.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And foundation of our country.

[A]

And the idea that every hamlet, village, town and city could put up a toll booth is contrary to the nation contra concept of a nation. And you mentioned the 50, 55 billion that goes through Alberta from BC through Alberta. Like just think it's, it's like you say, like here's an example. Every car sold in Ontario and Quebec, that's from Hyundai or Nissan or whatever, every made in Japan, made in Korea car, it comes by ship to Vancouver and then goes typically by rail across. Well, why shouldn't Alberta have a little dip our beak in there? You know, I mean it would get ridiculous is the reason why. Well, it's in the name of carbon. There's all these trucks, these semi trailer trucks that are burning diesel fuel. Imagine the emissions. We need a toll on those SEM trailers. I mean, it's absurd. It's a shakedown. That's not how countries work. And you know, one of the things that skeptics or critics of independence say is, well, you would be at the mercy of your neighbors if you were an independent country. Mercy of its neighbors right now. And by the way, the United States has said it'd be delighted to have an oil pipeline and yet another one go through them. I don't know, it's just if B.C. no other province has to play that game. But for some reason the Prime Minister has approved of this shakedown. I don't think it's registered strongly enough in Alberta that this is A shakedown?

[C]

Well, it's not only that, it's another shakedown in a different way. There's a shakedown going on with the taxpayer. And that is the. You know, when TMX was proposed, this is the Trans Mountain pipeline that goes from Edmonton to Vancouver. It was originally proposed by the private sector, was going to do it. It was going to cost $5 billion to build this new Pacific pipeline that the Prime Minister and Premier have announced in the recent weeks. They're talking about $40 billion of taxpayer money. Taxpayer money. $40 billion. And then this pathways idea of capturing the CO2 and putting it in the ground. Jack Mintz and the Fraser Institute released a study on June 25 that said when you add all of the costs of just the pathways alone and the carbon capture and the industrial carbon tax, it's going to make Alberta oil, natural gas, electricity uncompetitive relative to the United States. These are self inflicted economic wounds. These are self inflicted burdening of the taxpayers. You know what's so troubling to many conservatives here in Alberta is that Premier Smith and the UCP were elected on a platform of opposing the imposition of net zero carbon policies on our economy. And now suddenly something happened this summer and the Premier is a co implementer of it, voluntarily agreed to implement and entrench net zero onto our economy. And not just new production. It's not the case that these new costs on production from carbon taxes and net zero pathway costs will apply to new production. They're going to be applied immediately to all production. So that makes us the differential and the disadvantage of selling our oil products into the United States even worse. It's such a strange decision. So many people from the oil patch and others have approached me and said this makes no sense. This is a bad deal. It's a bad deal. And that's why it's furthering the cause of independence. It's showing how broken the country is that Ottawa holds us back. And to get any chance of increased production, you've got to do a deal with the devil.

[A]

Yeah, you know the phrase Straits of Hormuz? Everyone's learned a little bit more about that lately. Of course, that's the very narrow passageway for oil to come out of the Persian Gulf. Persia, of course, is another way of saying Iran. But there's other OPEC countries there too. My point is that remains an incredibly important choke point for oil, which tells you that there are enormous customers out there for the most ethically blighted oil in the world. I mean, that oil is conflict Oil by any definition. It's also oil that you know. If you cared about misogyny or gay rights or indigenous rights, all of those things are violated. If you care about the environment, you think Iran cares about the environment or any of those OPEC regimes? And the reason I mention that is because the allegation that social, we need social license, that was a line that was used a lot over the last 10 years. I suppose if Alberta doesn't do this carbon capture for billions of dollars, people won't buy our oil. That's never been said in the history of oil buying. If there's a lineup to buy Iranian and Russian conflict oil, even ISIS was able to sell oil when it had control of Syria. It had oil trucks. There were customers for ISIS oil. There will be customers for Alberta oil. We don't have to go through the $20 billion pathways net zero shakedown. I just don't get why we're doing that when no one else in the world does. And that's a big reason why no one wants to actually put oil in this dream pipeline.

[C]

Well, we're only doing it because Mark Carney wrote a book called Values and one of his aspirations is to impose net zero policies first on Canada and around the world. And again, it's absolutely mystifying to so many conservatives here and I think Albertans generally, as to why the Smith government agreed to go along with this. We went from fighting net zero to agreeing to entrench it. So I just say this too, that Alberta has the largest reserve of oil in the world relative to democratic countries in the Western world. We would probably be better off just to ship double our production straight through the US and ship it out of the Gulf of America than all of this nonsense that's going on with the rest of Canada. And again, be one thing to burden the oil and gas industry with these astronomical. When you combine the 40 billion for the new pipeline, which, let's face it, it's never going to get built, nobody's going to afford to produce oil to put in it. And that's what the oil industry is saying. And you combine that with the $25 billion pathways project, that's around $70 billion. That's the same amount as the government's budget here in Alberta. That's health care, everything combined. This is an astronomical amount of money. It will burden the next generation with debt. Governments don't have $70 billion. They're going to borrow it on our credit cards, our kids credit cards and our grandkids. It's going to drive up inflation. It's going to perpetuate the affordability crisis. And that's why increasing number of Albertans are looking at this saying this is yet another reason to support independence.

[A]

I got one last question for you and it's the mayor of Calgary who you know he's got a lot to say about national issues. I suppose Naheed Nancy is weighing in on international issues. So why can't Jeremy Farkas talk about national ones? Let me play for you a little video that the Calgary mayor said. I'd like your reaction to this. Here, take a look.

[D]

Hey Calgary, it's Mayor Jeremy this morning.

[C]

I want to chat with you about

[D]

why I've been speaking out about Alberta separation. There's a reason the bank of Montreal is no longer headquartered in the city of of Montreal. It's because years of political uncertainty convinced businesses to invest somewhere else. And a new report from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, our city's top business leaders suggests that the same thing could happen to us too. The chamber estimates Alberta separation could cost our economy up to $62 billion every year. That's more than what we spend every single year on education and health care in this province combined. That's about $3,000 per Albertan every single year. They also estimate that up to 175,000 jobs could be at risk. And we're already seeing those warning signs. As someone who works every day to sell people on investing in our city, I'm already seeing businesses hesitate, companies delay hiring and employers looking elsewhere to grow. And more than half of Calgary businesses say the separation debate is already hurting Alberta's economy. Nearly all of them say the impact is negative.

[A]

You know, I'm just a skeptic on that. I'm not sure if I believe it. I don't quite know what the mayor's agenda is. Maybe he has higher ambitions. Calgary mayors go on to great things. Ralph Klein became premier. Nahi Nenshi wants to repeat the trick. What's your view on this? And is there any, oh, I don't know, $13 billion data center recently that might dispute his thesis?

[C]

Well, it's disappointing that the mayor would behave in such a reckless manner. He's sputtering nonsense. First of all, the Chamber of Commerce poll, most businesses are not members of the Chamber of Commerce in Calgary. And it turns out that those that responded in a negative way and said this might create some talk of independence, might cause. Cause some businesses to leave is less than 3%. But any event, the overwhelming factual data shows that the mayor is just spouting nonsense. He's obviously seeking favor and doing Ottawa's bidding. And what I mean by that is Meta announced.