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EZRA LEVANT | Steelworkers axed as leftists reject steel pipelines — Make it make sense!
00:48:31
Tonight, on The Ezra Levant Show, it’s hard to imagine a more self-inflicted industrial disaster than this one: a thousand unionised steelworkers lose their jobs two months after Ottawa and Queen’s Park poured half a billion dollars into Algoma Steel. Subsidies in, jobs out. If that’s “building the strongest economy in the G7,” as Mark Carney boasted in September, the phrase has lost all meaning.
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- [00:01]
Ezra Levant
Hello my friends. I'm back at our world headquarters in Toronto and I want to talk to you about a terrible thing that happened. A thousand steelworkers at Algoma were laid off. The kooky thing is that they were just given half a billion dollars by the government to shore up those jobs. They cashed the check and then laid off a thousand people. What do the Liberals plan to do, if anything? I'll get into the details and I'll tell you something I'm watching out of the corner of my eye that may have an impact on. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. And in addition to talking a little bit about that, you know, Algoma situation, I can play some clips for you. I also want to show you a little bit more from the Alberta United Conservative Party convention. So I really want you to see it, not just hear it in a podcast. Please go to rebelnewsplus.com click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month and not only do you get the great video content, you keep Rebel News strong because we take no government money. And it shows. Tonight, a thousand unionized steel workers lose their jobs, but leftist politicians refuse to build an oil pipeline made of steel. Make it make sense. It's December 2nd and this is the Ezra Levant Show. Shame on you, you censorious. Bu. Almost exactly two months ago, Mark Carney wrote this. He said, building the strongest economy in the G7 will be achieved with Canadian steel and Canadian workers. We're taking action to support Algoma Steel to protect high quality careers and help our steel sector prosper. I don't think anyone serious would think that Canada's economy is the strongest in the G7. But put that aside for a moment. Here's the details of the announcement that Carney announced two months ago. He wasn't just tweeting. He said, I'll summarize. Basically, 400 million tax dollars were going from you through Carney to Algoma. And Doug Ford gave another hundred million dollars from Ontario taxes. So that's half a billion dollars handed out to Algoma for you. Read it. Great careers. So that was in September, just about eight weeks ago. It's December and Algoma just announced that they are laying off 1000 jobs out of 2500 or so in the plan. They took the cash and laid off the jobs. Half a billion dollars. Thousand jobs. That works out to $500,000 per job. And it wasn't Enough to save it. What was that line from Carney? The strongest economy in the G7. I just don't think that's true. But Carney's sort of centrally planned, centrally managed economy where big corporations lobby for grants or favors, but it's just not enough to overcome deep problems. That's not how you build a dynamic economy. That's not Detroit in 1925. That's more Detroit in 2025. You know, 100 years ago, Detroit was the fourth largest city in the United States. Can you believe that? Just booming. It had the highest wages in America. Detroit, it wasn't some centrally planned scheme. It was the innovation of the automobile. And then the free market and the competition amongst different automakers. The high wagers were not a gift from Henry Ford. That's what he had to pay to attract workers in a competitive automobile. It's so opposite in Canada today, isn't it? It's very sad. Now it's about who can you coax money out of in government? Now, I know it's nuts since Carney is an economist and he worked for a series of banks, but I'm not sure he actually knows how businesses work, how money is made, how steel workers get their jobs, how Al Goma is supposed to make money. I think he just knows how to spend money, not how to earn it. And he's very political about it all. He seems to hate manufacturing, factory, steel, oil, building block, things like that. I mean, remember this.
- [04:22]
Mark Carney
Does that not ultimately trickle down? No, because what the big companies are producing, by and large are not products that we are consuming. There's some element of that. But by and large, you know, a steel company. How much steel are you using these days, Todd? I mean, not as much. Not as much.
- [04:39]
Ezra Levant
Or even this. Let me play the long version of this, which is worse than the short version.
- [04:43]
Reporter/Interviewer
This pipeline going to come, so, so boring. It's not. Actually.
- [04:48]
Interviewer/Host
It is.
- [04:48]
Mark Carney
No, but it is. It is because it's. Look, it's. Don't worry, we're on it. We're on it. Like, we're on it. But there is this whole world. Okay, hands up who's working on the pipeline in this room? Okay.
- [05:00]
Reporter/Interviewer
Isn't that a problem?
- [05:01]
Mark Carney
No, no, no, no.
- [05:04]
Danielle Smith
Look at all the variety.
- [05:05]
Mark Carney
Like, nav.
- [05:07]
Ezra Levant
Like, does your.
- [05:08]
Mark Carney
Like it's. We have.
- [05:11]
Ezra Levant
Yeah.
- [05:12]
Reporter/Interviewer
If there's more prosperity, they'll get more cell phone. Cell phone services.
- [05:16]
Mark Carney
But look, look. Okay, so what's going to drive one of the things with. Yeah, don't worry, we're on the pipeline stuff. Danielle's on line one. Don't worry, it's going to happen. But. Well, something's going to happen, let's put it that way. It's not very good negotiating by my perspective, but what some in the room will unlock on the data center side, the intelligence infrastructure side, will have a much bigger impact on productivity in this country, will have a much bigger impact on our standard of living. And advantaging that, which is what we're doing with the productivity super deduction like it's an easy conversation to have about a pipeline because it's one thing we can see, but the reality is that there's much, much more to the Canadian economy and there's much, much more to the future of the Canadian economy. And so we're attacking it on all sides.
- [06:08]
Ezra Levant
You know, he's childish. He uses made up words like advantaging, but essentially he's bored by oil and steel and things like that. Or maybe just that his own portfolio of stocks doesn't include them. They're not exciting enough. He's about things like carbon capture and the environmentalist idea that you can make steel without burning coal somehow. It's what he keeps demanding that steel makers like Algoma do. Instead of making extremely high heat that you need for steel from burning steel, making coal, which is how steel has been made for centuries, he wants it to be done using green electricity that just, just doesn't work. Here's what Penny Haidu, perhaps the least qualified cabinet minister in Mark Carney's government. No offense to graphic designers, but she was a graphic designer before becoming a cabinet minister. That's not really someone who was fit to be a minister of jobs. I just don't think it is. No disrespect to graphic designers, I just don't know if that's the best person to be your jobs minister in this economy. She's literally never created a job or met a payroll in her life. Here's what she said last night. I'll just give you the short version. She didn't know what to say. Here's the long version. The federal government is standing with Algoma Steelworkers and with Canada's steel sector. What does that mean? You're not physically standing with them. You already gave them a half a billion dollars to the corporation to save the jobs. And the statement by the way she gives doesn't even mention that. Pretty sure Patty didn't even read the contract with Algoma before handing over half a billion. And then come her deep thoughts. She said, quote the situation is serious. Thanks, Patty. We didn't know. Global markets are shifting quickly and relying too heavily on a single trading partner has left our industry exposed. We are working hard to shore up domestic production and make sure workers have real immediate support. Are you really working hard, Patty? Are you doing what exactly? What can you do? She says, quote at the federal level, strong tools are already in place to protect workers and stabilize the sector. But. But I guess they're not if a thousand people were just laid off. What, what are you saying? Why are you using such baffle gap? What strong tools are you talking about? Are you talking about the half billion you just gave two months ago didn't work? Are you going to use that tool again? Quote we are tightening controls on foreign steel imports and our buy Canadian policy ensures that major defense, energy and housing investments translate into jobs here at home. It goes on a bit, but they've got nothing though. They don't. They don't know what to do. How could they know what to do? Trump wants to move factories back home to America. That includes car factories and steel factories. I honestly don't know if there's anything more Mark Carney can do about it. I just don't know. But Carney promised that he alone could handle Donald Trump. That's what he said. That was his essential promise in the campaign. Now he bristles when anyone even mentions Trump like they did the other day.
- [09:23]
Mark Carney
Who cares? I mean, it's a detail. It's a detail. I spoke to him. I'll speak to him again when it matters. I mean, this sort of cum JD. Avec lavenier du Canada. You know, I'm always happy to. Sorry, I slipped into French because I anticipated the enfrancee thing. I look forward to speaking to the President soon, but I don't have a burning issue to speak with the President about right now. When America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side, we will have those discussions. I'm going to answer a potential question here and then I'll pass back. Which is, for example, with respect to Ukraine and the 28 point plan. We are a member, core member of the coalition of the willing. You would have seen a demonstration of that yesterday with the meeting of European leaders, a core group of European leaders, the Prime Minister of Japan, ourselves, and which formed a common position. And that common position is communicated. Our national security advisors are meeting today in Geneva, including Canada's and the common position communicated, to do the additional work that's required on the peace plan there. Each of us do not need to call President Trump and communicate that position.
- [11:16]
Ezra Levant
I don't know if Canadian steel can be saved. I hope so. I can tell you the liberals care 10 times more about those 1,000 steel jobs than they care about the hundred thousand oil and gas and pipeline jobs they've destroyed over the last 10 years. Which brings me to a sort of obvious solution. I don't know if you know this, but oil pipelines are made out of steel. I looked it up. And the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to bc, that's the one that the Trudeau Liberals canceled. That would have used about a billion dollars worth of steel. Same thing for the Keystone XL pipeline that was canceled. That one was canceled by Obama, to be fair. And then there's the mighty Energy east pipeline. That would have gone from Alberta to New Brunswick. That would have been steel, too. The entire construction for that Energy east, it was such a big deal. Would have been about $16 billion just for the pipeline. And none of that money was from the government. The government killed that deal. Do you see where I'm going with this? There are two ways you could try and save a Canadian steel company. One is through endless loans and grants and standing with you tweets. The other is to actually, you know, build things with steel. Or to be more precise, let the private sector build things with steel and let them pay for it. No need for a centrally planned economy where Mark Carney has the power of some Roman emperor to say thumbs up or thumbs down based on his whimsical emotional reaction. And to say the obvious, the purpose of a pipeline, Northern Gateway, Keystone xl, Energy east, isn't just to spend money building them. I mean, those three pipelines together, by the way, would probably be 30 or $40 billion just in construct jobs. Imagine that. But the purpose of building them is to put things in the pipelines, to ship through the pipelines for decades, oil mainly, which would allow all sorts of other jobs to be created to make the oil, to fill up the pipelines. Like the pipelines aren't just an end, they're a means to an end. Mark Carney has a choice. Really? Does he love steel more than he hates pipelines? And the answer, of course, is no, he doesn't. Because if Algoma were successful on its own by selling steel to pipeline makers, what would Mark Carney's role be? He sees himself as the godfather or something. Granting this project, blocking that one. It's all up to him. He's the boss. You know, he pretended for a couple days to be supportive of a pipeline idea. That. That's what he had to say to Daniel Smith, but listen to him in Parliament where he basically says, yeah, sure, the pipeline could happen, but really the deal is about green schemes, including carbon capture technology. Of course, he says this in French.
- [14:17]
Mark Carney Cabinet Minister
People in the caucus and this new agreement. Well, I think it's important to recognize that this memorandum of understanding is not just an mou. It involves a data center, an AI data center, and also it involves connections between Alberta and British Columbia when it comes to net hydroelectric power and yes, a pipeline. But at the same time there must be a major investment in carbon capture. So it's a grand bargain. And that creates the possibility of accessing energy sources in western Canada that are more diverse, cleaner. And of course, that creates a Canada that is more independent, more independent of the United States.
- [15:20]
Ezra Levant
That doesn't make any sense. It's just like that baffle, gab, the word advantaging. If he really wanted to save Algoma, he would greenlight Northern Gateway Energy East Keystone xl and he would beg those pipeline companies to come back to Canada and try again and he would promise not to interfere with them again. But he's going to interfere with them. That MOU memorandum of understanding for oil pipelines, it's not for oil pipelines. As I noted to the Alberta premier last week, all the pain is front end loaded. The industrial carbon taxes going up. That, that happens right away. The pipeline itself, if it ever gets built, will happen by. I'm not kidding. The MOU says as late as 2040. Here's a Carney cabinet minister saying, and he has not yet been corrected for saying this, here he is saying that both the province of British Columbia and First nations, not defined, can stop the pipeline. He says the pipeline needs their consent. That's his language. Take a listen.
- [16:21]
Mark Carney
Are your BC caucus colleagues comfortable with the idea of a bitumen pipeline through the Great Bear rainforest to the north coast of British Columbia and with the changes to things like the tanker ban? Because these have been issues you ran on in the past as a party and as a government that are now potentially on the table for removal.
- [16:40]
Liberal MP or Government Spokesperson
Well, David, I think what, what liberal members of Parliament for British Columbia and across the country are comfortable with is a process that requires the participation of indigenous communities, that ensures that jurisdictions and jurisdictions implicated are part of that process and conversation that we are working together to ensure that the criteria that have been set by the prime minister are met. And I think, you know, when we are talking about, you know, a theoretical pipeline, as the premier herself noted that doesn't have a root, that doesn't come currently have a proponent that doesn't currently have the support or has not yet gone through the process of getting the support of jurisdictions in question as well as First Nations. I mean, this is a theoretical conversation right now, and our job should be to focus on the practical. The practical is making sure that the process to do those things is done correctly. To have conversations about major projects in a way that we have articulated. Anything that goes to the major projects office to be referred has to have the consent of the jurisdictions in question, has to have the consent of First Nations. And right now, you know, these are all we have, an MOU that is an outline, a roadmap to have a further conversation.
- [17:44]
Ezra Levant
By the way, which first nations can stop the pipeline? In the liberal view, there are 600 bands in Canada. Do they have to be along the pipeline route? Can any one of them block it? Or does it take two? Or is there a magical number? And who in the band can it be? The Chief justice talking? Does there have to be a vote? And where does this power come from? Is this a new law somewhere? Are we now taking the position that there is a veto over industrial projects by a particular ethnic group? Can other. Can people who were married to aboriginals speak out on this? What's the plan? Or is the idea to keep it so vague that no one would be foolish enough to try? Hey, while we're at it, could we understand the new rules here? I mean, laid off steel workers get not only total sympathy, but lots of money. But oil and gas workers get neither. They have to pay for the privilege of working and building. They have to spend money on things like carbon capture that. No one, no one is trying to capture the carbon in real life. It's not of any value. And oil and gas is called dirty. As opposed to Mark Carney's clean energy. By the way, out of the corner of your eye, have you been watching Donald Trump lately and the Department of War, as the old Department of Defense is now called and Venezuela, you paying attention to that at all? You know, a few months ago, Trump declared drug cartels to be terrorist groups and he's been blowing up little smuggling boats for weeks now. There's an important legal reason to declare them terrorist boats. Changes the law of how you go about killing someone. It's not a criminal matter anymore. It's a war really. But you don't need the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest ship ever built. The largest, newest American nuclear power to aircraft car. You do not need the USS Gerald R. Ford to take on little speedboats. The US Navy has mustered a mighty flotilla off the coast of Venezuela, and they've even reestablished an old Air Force base on Puerto Rico. They've just started using it again for jets that are too large to fly on an aircraft carrier because it's only about less than an hour's flight from Puerto Rico to Venezuela. That is an impressive show of force. And the whole world knows what the US Military can do after watching some of its activities, including against Iran. But look at this on the State Department's official website. I had to check twice to make sure this was real. This is real. Wanted Nicolas Maduro Moros Reward increase of up to $50 million. That's like the kind of rewards they would post in the Wild west, you know, bounty. 50, $50. Except for this. At US$50 million, that's a lot of money and no tax on it. That's a lot of money for anyone, let alone in a poor country like Venezuela. If you are Maduro's bodyguards, are you tempted just a teeny tiny bit? Or maybe if you're some political rival or some general in the army, are you tempted to take the 50 mil? Why not? If Maduro's gone, pretty sure the country is going to have a better path forward. Certainly you would have a better path forward for your family and $50 million. You know, I'll do another monologue another day about Venezuela and why I think Trump's going to topple Maduro. One way or the other. I think he's going to do it. But today, let me just talk about oil. I bet a lot of people would think Saudi Arabia has the oil world's largest oil reserves. And they'd be almost right. Saudi Arabia is a huge oil producer along with the United States and Russia. They each pump around 10 million barrels of oil a day. It's enormous. But in terms of reserves, I.e. proven oil still in the ground. Did you know that Venezuela is number one in the world? It is the biggest. It's bigger than Saudi Arabia, but I bet you can believe this. They barely produce a million barrels a day compared to 10 million for America, Russia, Saudi. That's what socialism and corruption will do to you. So imagine Venezuela post Maduro. Let's say something happens and Maduro is toppled or flees. Someone takes the 50 mil. I don't know. Maduro runs away. I don't know. And a new leader is in place. And the country is poor. It's unmoored from its former Allies. So I don't know if you know this, but Venezuela has sort of been colonized over the last few decades by Russia, China and Iran. And also, I know this is sort of crazy. Even Hezbollah has a base of operations in Venezuela. Can you believe it? All of those groups are on the back foot right now. I mean, obviously America is not just the global power, but it's the regional power. Remember the Monroe Doctrine? That's this American foreign policy doctrine that holds no other major power can operate in the Americas. They all have been. The fastest way to get Venezuela on the path to prosperity, though, which is the path to stability and the path to freedom is to develop its massive oil reserves. And you can bet the United States will be first in line. In case you don't know, you know, as Venezuela started going down the road of socialism a few decades ago, they expropriated billions of dollars worth of assets from US oil companies like Exxon and Chevron and ConocoPhillips. They were all operating in Venezuela until Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro came along and just grabbed them, just took them, just seized them, nationalized them. And they had some help from Russia and they were allied with Cuba. But all of those allies are looking weak right now. You think Russia's going to divert military equipment and manpower from Ukraine to help Venezuela? You think Iran and Hezbollah, which are both smashed, are going to come to Venezuelan's aid right now? Do you think China's going to muck about there? I think that Venezuela is going to be toppled and it's going to be an oil player pretty back soon. You know that Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips are all going to be back in Venezue minutes after any soldiers land. And you can bet that Venezuela will soon go from a million barrels a day to 3 million barrels a day where it was about 25 years ago to why not 5 million or 10 million barrels a day? They got as much oil as anyone in the world. Why wouldn't they be on par? And here's my point. That oil is going to go to the United States. Most likely. It's the closest huge market. And which do you think is going to happen sooner? That new Venezuelan oil coming up to the United States by tanker ship right into Texas, right into Louisiana, where all those refineries are that process heavy oil. There's heavy oil in two places. One is called the oil sands of Alberta. The other is called Venezuela. That Venezuelan heavy oil is going to come into the United States. Do you think that's going to get there sooner? Or do you think Mark Carney and Talib Noor Mohammed, that guy, that MP from British Columbia, the premier of British Columbia, grudgingly, is going to allow an oil pipeline to be built by the year 2040? Let me phrase it one more way. If you personally just pretend for a minute had billions of dollars to invest in oil, would you try to get to the front of the line in Venezuela and get in on that action? Or would you choose the 10 to 15 year, heavily politicized plan that Mark Carney has for you? Oh, if he's not too bored by it already. So yeah, my heart goes out to a thousand unemployed men in Algoma. It really does. They're learning what it's like to be in a country where heavy industry is considered boring and dirty and where the Prime Minister has no clue what to do about anything other than to give temporary handouts. Stay with us for more. You know, I really enjoyed myself at the Alberta UCP convention and we also had sort of a pub night, a get together for a couple hundred of our supporters, which was really fun and thanks to everybody who came out. I didn't quite have the chance to talk to every single person there, but I think I spoke to most people and I really appreciate your support. Thank you for that. In addition to the show yesterday, we had Angelika Toy and Sydney Frizard, a couple of our young reporters who did streeters, interviewed people and just basically made their presence felt. I was so proud of our whole rebel news team. We had Lise Merle there and Lyndon Dunkley from the back of house. I was there, Sheila Gonritz as a whole rebel news effort. And I think we asked some good questions, if I may say so myself, or at least better than what the CBC would have asked. Again, one of my favorite things about Danielle Smith is she wasn't shy to take questions. In fact, on the Saturday after her big speech there was a line of reporters and I think a majority of them were independent citizen journalists. It was wonderful to see. I saw Drew north there. I saw Juno. I thought it was really great. Anyways, let me leave you with a few videos from Angelica and Sid.
- [27:38]
Reporter/Interviewer
Alberta's education system has been under intense scrutiny following months of public tension, political debate and a recent province wide teacher strike that disrupted families across the whole province. While unions continue to raise concerns over funding and compensation, many parents and taxpayers are also questioning accountability and outcomes from students. Against that backdrop, I put several questions to Alberta's Minister of Age Dimitri Nikolaides, surrounding the broader State of Alberta schools. Alright. Do you believe that the ATA has become more of a political lobbying organization than a professional teaching body?
- [28:10]
Dimitri Nikolaides
Well, they're certainly getting involved much more than I've seen in the past on political issues. I saw just, I think yesterday or the day before President Schilling encouraging teachers to sign up as canvassers for the Alberta Fund Public Schools Citizens Initiative and looking to engage much more in policy conversations that are in areas that don't affect public education or publicly certified teachers. So certainly seeing them engage in a lot more different avenues more recently for sure.
- [28:44]
Reporter/Interviewer
And will the government consider banning ideological symbols, including flags from classrooms and school property?
- [28:50]
Dimitri Nikolaides
I think it's absolutely important that we make sure that we're focusing on providing our kids with the strongest possible education. That is priority number one and must always remain priority number one. And I'm going to do everything that I can as minister to make sure it remains that way. That's why I brought Bill 6 forward to mandate universal literacy and numeracy screening so we can ensure we're focused on helping every kid learn how to read and succeed in math. Those are the fundamentals. That's what we need to stay focused on.
- [29:15]
Reporter/Interviewer
So will the government be banning ideological symbols in classrooms and in school property?
- [29:20]
Dimitri Nikolaides
Well, we're going to be looking to institute any type of vehicle that we possibly can to make sure that our education system is focused on teaching our children and teaching them everything that they need to be able to succeed. That has to be the priority. And as well, making sure that students have the opportunity to voice their own views and perspectives as well, even if others disagree with it.
- [29:42]
Reporter/Interviewer
And has mass immigration increased class sizes faster than education can keep up with?
- [29:48]
Dimitri Nikolaides
Yeah, there's no question the provincial, excuse me, the federal government has been completely irresponsible with immigration policies. Not just my opinion. I know several other provinces have been feeling the pressure and the strain associated with unchecked immigration policies. That's putting a significant amount of strain on our education system. But we're going to step up to the challenge. That's why we're building and modernizing 130 schools. Schools hiring more teachers and educational assistants to contend with it. But as the premier mentioned, we do need to take more control over immigration policies.
- [30:19]
Reporter/Interviewer
What is the rationale behind government considering equalizing pay between new teachers and long serving teachers with decades of experience?
- [30:27]
Dimitri Nikolaides
Well, of course we want to ensure there's a degree of harmonization between what teachers are being paid across the province. Something of course, that they've asked for, for and Something that we were working towards in order to try and secure a deal during the collective bargaining phase. Of course, we weren't able to reach a negotiated settlement, but we still believe that that was something we could move forward with.
- [30:47]
Reporter/Interviewer
Lastly, do you believe the ATA is independently negotiating or is it operating under political influence by the ndp?
- [30:54]
Dimitri Nikolaides
Well, I talk to teachers very regularly. I was just talking with a teacher and a constituent yesterday and she was quite surprised about some of the things that I was telling her about how negotiations unfolded, things that the union leadership was coming to the table with and asking us for. For example, with the issue of the COVID shots as something that they came and asked for. She was quite surprised that her union would come to the table and ask for something like that. So I do hear some of those concerns directly from teachers.
- [31:23]
Interviewer/Host
Right now, not just Alberta, but Canada is going through a large homelessness crisis. There's drugs tethered in that. But what are you doing to help people who are in a state of homelessness?
- [31:31]
UCP Representative
Look, we here in Alberta, we want to help people that have found themselves down in their luck and in tough situations like facing homelessness. But we don't think the approach to it is to build large encampments that we know are run by organized crime that are plugging up our city streets and making things uncomfortable for people in our cities. And so we went with a different approach. Those encampments must come down when they're built, but we built safe places that we call navigation centers for that population. Population to be able to come in and receive services for whatever they may be going through. I'm proud to say thousands of people utilize those services. And as you drive around now our largest city here in Edmonton, for the very first time ever in a very long time, you don't see large encampments. And we intended to be doing that all across our province.
- [32:09]
Interviewer/Host
Now, it's a good thing to have extra housing, but for instance, in Calgary we have prefabricated modular buildings coming to place. They're basically shipping crates being put together to make apartment buildings. This is clearly a less valuable asset for someone to acquire. Though we have more housing, we're really depreciating our homes.
- [32:26]
Danielle Smith
Is that.
- [32:26]
Interviewer/Host
How do you, how do you see that situation?
- [32:28]
UCP Representative
Well, look, we want to make sure that whatever we build is safe. It's high quality. There is good prefab and bad prefab. You know, if you go into my constituency, in some of our remote areas, prefabs, the only option is to get into to building cabins and different things in the backcountry. So it's about making sure that we have high quality housing that can be keep people safe and that we'll be there for a long time. And we don't do as a government anything but that we have high standards. We want to make sure that the assets that we build for Albertans are going to be here for decades to come. But it's something you got to watch for sure.
- [32:57]
Interviewer/Host
And for an individual, is it primarily economic reasons that drives them to homelessness or are there other issues at hand?
- [33:03]
UCP Representative
Look, at the end of the day, homelessness is a symptom of another challenge. Lots of mental health issues, obviously drug addiction being amongst the most predominant. And that's the difference between us, I think, in the United Conservative Party and our friends in the ndp. We recognize that. And so we don't want to treat homelessness as if it's like a disease or something. We want to attack the challenges that are causing individuals to be in those circumstances. Which is why we have our great recovery programs, why we're investing in housing programs to help people get to jobs and do not have to rely on the government in the future. And at the end of the day, that's going to be better results for the individuals that are finding themselves in those circumstances.
- [33:38]
Interviewer/Host
Last word to you.
- [33:40]
UCP Representative
I think it's great to be here at a convention, second biggest in Canadian history. The first was ours. A lot of really hard working UCP members out here making clear that Alberta conservatism is alive and well and we're going to continue to make sure our province is the best place in the country.
- [33:55]
Interviewer/Host
Obviously we've had a large announcement in the province. The MOU signed with Ottawa. What's your reaction to this agreement?
- [34:01]
Danielle Smith
Well, it's the biggest thing that happened in Alberta in at least 30 years. It's a very good thing for Albertans. It's going to save them a ton of money. It's going to give a great signal to the international community to come and invest in Alberta. It's going to be the best place in North America for sure to invest, if not the world. It's going to I think give certainty and predictability to generally the Canadian industry of oil and gas and say woohoo. But I think most Albertans are going to clearly see immediately savings on their electricity bills.
- [34:29]
Interviewer/Host
Well, and to be fair, most people aren't going to actually read the document. They've heard the news headlines. They've, you know. Yeah, no, exactly. And you're, that's, you know, Good on you.
- [34:37]
Danielle Smith
People that have read this document, all the people that have read this document in industry have said this is amazing. But I have seen one person in particular, a guy by the name of Guibo, that doesn't like it at all. In fact, if you read his resignation letter, he's gone through it step by step by step by step and talked about how much he hates the, the agreement. So to me, that's pretty much the best endorsement I could possibly give the Premier for this great agreement.
- [34:58]
Interviewer/Host
Well, and for those who haven't read it though, if you could give them an on the ground physical changes that are going to happen, let's say over the next year because of this, over.
- [35:05]
Danielle Smith
The next year, they're starting already. Some of the things that have happened, we've got rid of a cap, we've got rid of the cer. Those are two major signals people are already saving right now, today. So this is, this is a go forward for sure. But for pipelines, we've got a great signal on a million barrels a day to the northwest coast or somewhere along BC's coast to go to the Asian market. There's a demand there for at least 4 to 5 million barrels a day right now for our heavy crude. And so the world wants it, we just have to get it to them. And this is going to do so much for the people of Alberta, the people of B.C. and the people of Canada. We're talking about schools, highways, bridges, a better quality of life. This should raise our quality of life substantially right across the country.
- [35:45]
Interviewer/Host
And many do hope, of course, that that pipeline will ultimately be built and will actually have it in the bank.
- [35:51]
Danielle Smith
You know, I saw Prime Minister Carney back in the days of my time in Ottawa when he was the Governor of the bank of Canada. And he's still saying the same thing then that he's saying today. I actually thought he was conservative back then until he made it clear to me he wasn't. But, but I'm very confident that this pipeline is going to be built as long as he remains Prime Minister or we get a conservative Prime Minister. This pipeline is going to get built and we're going to see more of them.
- [36:14]
Interviewer/Host
And there's obviously more than one way to get energy. What kind of impact does this decision have on all of the other things that we're investing in or looking into, for instance, like nuclear and other sources of energy like that?
- [36:25]
Danielle Smith
Well, that's what people don't understand. This agreement actually covers many more things besides the pipeline. Everybody's excited about A pipeline because Ottawa has been stopping us for so long. But this talks about the opportunity for nuclear in some areas of the province. We can could really see some good benefits from long term. It talks about many different things. Seven of the nine bad laws pretty much are gone or change substantial substantially. You know the tanker van that I've been watching for a long time and everybody's pretty upset about, they're going to do a carve out on that. And I think once we see tankers go along that coast, we're going to see a bigger and bigger carve out because people are going to see that this is a safe product that does so many things for the world. 6,000 different products, so many different opportunities. Opportunities for wealth distribution across northern B.C. this should bring the people in northern B.C. out of poverty. And that, that excites me because I've seen it in northern Alberta. I've seen the indigenous populations like Fort Mackay and other do so well. And I only hope that for the rest of the people across this route and on the coast of B.C. especially because those people not only can be lifted out of poverty, but they're going to have great, incredible jobs that pay them a lot of money but give them governance over how that product is just distributed to the world. That means it's going to be safe because they're the best stewards of the land for them and for us.
- [37:33]
Interviewer/Host
Well, talking about safe, a lot of critics will suggest that, well, why isn't this renewable energy? Why so much of focus on a pipeline instead of solar or instead of wind? Why not?
- [37:42]
Danielle Smith
Well, the benefit is just not there on a return for investment. I mean for every dollar invested in this pipeline is going to give substantial benefits long term. I've seen the numbers and they are staggering. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion a year for the province of Alberta, 5 billion a year for the government of Canada. It's a substantial benefit to the people of Canada. Those are all about jobs and true benefits on infrastructure and quality of life. And let's face it, we've had a stagnant economy for some period of time. We've gone down on productivity, our numbers have increased as far as expenses and costs. We need to find places for revenue. And I think even the Prime Minister knows the only place that can actually deliver the goods in any kind of time is Alberta. And Daniel Smith.
- [38:27]
Interviewer/Host
I was going to say last for you, but I had one more question. Do you think that this is going to be something that Carney, he's given Alberta something. Do you Think he's going to take something away?
- [38:37]
Danielle Smith
No, I think that what we're going to see is hopefully a good cooperative confederation where we see substantial support for Alberta and the other provinces and where we work together as Team Canada, making sure that we all understand that we're in this together. And if we don't stay together, we don't work together. We are not really a country. Last reviewer to you, Daniel Smith. Way to go.
- [39:00]
Dan Williams
And Dan Williams, MLA for Peace river and Minister for Municipal Affairs.
- [39:03]
Interviewer/Host
All right. And obviously we've talked about municipal municipal affairs before. One of our larger cities, Calgary, has a new new mayor. Are you seeing the positive changes that you would like to see from a municipality with this change?
- [39:14]
Dan Williams
Oh, I'm very excited to work with the new council and mayor. Mayor Farkas and I have had a couple of meetings already. Really think there's some opportunities where we can collaborate. As you know, as Mayor Farkas and I hope the whole province knows, my calling card is this should be about basic services. I mean, if you want to declare climate emergency, if you want to go off and start fighting battles that are not municipal responsibility, you should quit your job, go run to be MP or mla, get appointed to cabinet and then you can have those discussions. Until then, there's not someone else doing those jobs in Edmonton or Calgary. It's just the councillors and they need to do it. They're important jobs, delivering core services like garbage pickup, fixing water mains, filling potholes, clearing streets. This is why ratepayers and residents pay their taxes. And I think that that's a noble job. It's a good one. So I'm very encouraged to work with municipal council and Council Calgary and Mayor Farkas. And I think there's a lot of opportunities for us to find common ground.
- [40:06]
Interviewer/Host
And in the new year, what kind of changes do you want to see if there's other top three things that you would be looking forward to in the new year to have municipalities step up on?
- [40:13]
Dan Williams
Well, I'm going to be introducing new legislation for the Municipal Governance act and looking at the LEAEA after the election. So we'll have that conversation with municipalities as it comes out. I'm happy to have municipalities bring their ideas to me. I'm looking for innovative new ways to try and more effectively and efficiently spend municipal dollars, reduce the tax burden. I'm looking at new opportunities for revenue. But if the idea of revenue that municipal councils have is just another tax of some kind, I'm not interested in that. There are many other jurisdictions across the world in North America that find really good solutions to the crunch we feel around infrastructure and we can find better ways to spend. We don't need to download this cost onto the ratepayers. I think we have to find collaborative and innovative solutions for ways to try and build infrastructure, maintain infrastructure and deliver core services without making it be more and more a burden on whether it be businesses or residential in cities like Calgary.
- [41:04]
Interviewer/Host
And when it comes to municipal affairs, are there any cognitive divides you find between municipal affairs and the public perception of such?
- [41:12]
Dan Williams
Well, I don't know. I think that municipalities have really corporal and tangible services they provide. They do things like garbage pickup and they fit potholes and so they have a close connection to the streets and the neighborhoods that they're around. Municipal councilors really have a good sense of that. I don't want their job. I didn't run for councillor, I ran for MLA and I've been appointed by the Premier with a mandate across this province to be the Minister of Municipal Affairs. I have a job to do at the provincial level. Every single municipality is a creature of the province. That's a way of saying they're created by provincial statute through the mja. We establish municipalities. That means my job isn't to be a municipality, it's to be the one running the system to make sure that they deliver those core services. So I'm going to continue to work with them doing my job as the one overseeing the system and they have to do their part to deliver those core services and work with the province to that end.
- [42:01]
Interviewer/Host
What rate of growth can our municipalities handle, particularly Edmonton and Calgary? Obviously Canada is going through a mass immigration situation. What level of growth can they sustain?
- [42:10]
Dan Williams
Well, I think the Premier spoke very clearly on that today that the province is going to be taking over primary responsibility as is our right, with a shared responsibility in the Constitution. When it comes to immigration, we want to make sure that the system is working for Albertans and that Albertans are getting jobs and services as they should. And we're very, very proud of our very diverse province and the past that we've had as a province that's grown through inter provincial migration. But we also know that we pay taxes to deliver the those services for Albertans and the Premier has a lot more to say on that and you'll see more of it in the days and months to come. Last Review well I'm very happy to chat and I'm looking forward to working with not just Calgary but every municipal councillor. Congratulations on the recent election. As long as their priorities delivering core services. They'll have no beef with me. But if they go off into woke left field and DEI politics, the province has a responsibility to step in and make sure that municipalities are delivered for the taxes they collect on core services.
- [43:07]
Interviewer/Host
Well, and I especially wanted to double down on that because being under former mayor Jody Gondek, you saw the headlines were about the climate crisis, were about, you know, whatever show might be taking place, not actually tangible things that matter. So thank you for your time. Appreciate it always. Yeah, happily rebelfieldreports.com is where you have to go if you want to support our independent journalism on the ground coverage of events like this. Thanks to your support at Rebel Field Report.
- [43:39]
Ezra Levant
Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me about my visit to the United Conservative Party convention in Edmonton. I sure enjoyed it. Boy was friendly. It's great to be back in Alberta, that is. You know what, sometimes you're out in Toronto and you forget that there are some very conservative, very freedom oriented places. Canada. Let me read some of those letters. Gary Schoutzen says if British Columbia won't let Alberta have a pipeline now, I doubt they'll let them have one if they leave Canada. Well, that's a very interesting point. There is international law as much as that is a thing that you can't landlock another country. I mean the shoe could be on the other foot. If BC wouldn't allow an Alberta pipeline through, maybe Alberta wouldn't allow trucks and trains from the B.C. port horde of Vancouver coming across the TransCanada Highway. Now that would be a terrible battle. But I mean it does work both ways. But more to the point, remember that company in Saskatchewan a few weeks ago called Nutrien, Very large company. Nutrien is a fertilizer company, potash, that kind of thing. They are shipping out west. They've simply decided to go around BC they're going to go down to Washington state. I think that if Alberta were independent, first of all, I think parts of British Columbia would join immediately. But I think that Donald Trump and his cabinet would be more than happy to have an oil pipeline go down south. Lita Kocha says that was refreshing. I wish we had this type of a leader in Ontario. Referring to Danielle Smith. Yeah, you know what? Not only is she ideologically strong, but she's totally unafraid media. I think it's because she was a journalist for so long. She'll talk to independent media like Rebel News. She'll talk to the cbc. I think she's very immediate media savvy. She's not afraid of Media like Mark Carney is. Angela Watt says the increase in the industrial carbon tax is unconscionable and needs to be taken out of the mou. Not the MOU will ever come to. Not that the MOU will ever come to fruition. I think you're right. Look, I like Danielle Smith. You know, I've known her for a long time and I'm rooting for her. And I understand why she's trying to get that deal and I understand why she made the compromises in that deal. I just simply think that deal will not come to fruition. You can already see the Prime Minister backing away from him. Last letter. Or maybe this is from Angela Watt. Or maybe there's two from Angela Watt. Angela, keep the letters coming. Albertans are skeptical because Ottawa continues not to follow agreements, especially when it comes to Alberta. Until we actually see some progress on this file, we will never believe a thing coming out of Ottawa. Well, I mean, let me get back to Algoma Steel. I'm sure you know that the only way to make steel is with coal because you need to get it so hot, nothing else burns hot enough. Now there is this environmentalist attempt to have electric arc coal manufacturing, steel manufacturing. It doesn't work. It works in some instances, but not all. Is something that no steel company would choose unless they're being massively subsidized to do it. It's so weird. It's sort of the steel industry's analogy to carbon capture. In the oil industry, no real person says, hey, let's capture carbon dioxide and stick it on the ground. No one says that because carbon dioxide is a natural, harmless, odorless gas that plants need to live and that we exhale. By the way, no normal person says capture all the carbon. No one does that. You're made of carbon. Have you ever heard the word hydrocarbons? Carbohydrates. You eat carbon, you are made of carbon. Oh my God. Carbon's so evil. No, it is not. Only a kook would say that. So this electric arc steel mill concept is the steel industry's equivalent of the carbon capture industry in oil and gas. But look at how. Look at the difference in tone. Mark Carney and Patty Hidu and all the other liberals will do anything to save heavy industrial steel jobs in Ontario. I don't think they'll be able to do enough to do it. But they just gave them half a billion dollars. No problem. Just the respect they have for steel workers compared to the utter derision they have for the oil and gas industry. If Alberta goes. Boy, they'll miss it. As Nixon said, you won't have me to kick around anymore. Anyway, that's our show for today. From all of us here, Rebel world headquarters. To you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.