Mayor Nahid Nenshi clashes with Alberta’s UCP over its 2023 budget, which she calls insufficient for municipalities. William Macbeth of Save Calgary argues three councillors’ proposed 5% wage cuts (after 38% raises since 2010) are a fair response to Calgary’s financial crisis—$1M wasted on East Village bike lanes, soaring debt interest (4th-largest expense), and Husky/Encana layoffs. He blames Trudeau’s policies for economic strain, citing rising food bank use, substance abuse, and suicide rates while criticizing Nenshi’s past police budget cuts and her own pension perks. Macbeth frames Wexit separatism as a last resort if federal hostility to Alberta’s economy—over carbon taxes and equalization—persists, urging support for Save Calgary ahead of the 2025 municipal election to push for local control. [Automatically generated summary]
Hello Rebels, I'm Sheila Gunread and you're listening to a free audio-only recording of my Wednesday night show, The Gun Show.
However, we're on the internet.
You can listen to me whenever you feel like.
Tonight my guest is William Macbeth from Save Calgary.
Now, if you like listening to the show, then you will love watching it.
Again, you can watch this show whenever you want because this is the internet.
But in order to watch, you need to be a subscriber to premium content.
That's what we call our long-form TV style shows here on Rebel News.
Subscribers get access to my Wednesday night show as well as other great TV style shows too, like Ezra's Nightly Ezra Levant Show and David Menzies' fun Friday night show, Rebel Roundup.
It's only eight bucks a month to subscribe, or you can subscribe annually and get two months free.
And just for my podcast listeners, you can save an extra 10% on a new premium membership by using the coupon code podcast.
When you subscribe, just go to premium.rebelnews.com to become a member.
And please leave a five-star review on this podcast and subscribe in iTunes or wherever you find your podcast.
Those reviews are a great way to support Rebel News without ever having to spend a dime.
And now please enjoy this free audio-only version of my show.
Calgary's Mayor Nahid Nenshi is fighting with conservatives and sucking up to Trudeau.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.
Calgary's ever-progressive mayor, Nahid Nenshi, is fuming at the UCP government for the fiscal restraint, especially towards municipalities that the conservatives have implemented in their new budget.
Calgary's big spending mayor doesn't like the idea that he too has to get his own fiscal house in order at the same time that everybody else is.
Simultaneously, Nenshi and disgraced former progressive conservative premier Allison Redford have volunteered to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau manage the growing sentiment of Western alienation that is spreading like wildfire all across the prairies.
Yeah, you know what?
That'll help.
So sucking up to Trudeau while at the same time fighting with Jason Kenney because Jason Kenney is doing exactly what he was elected to do, get Alberta back to work.
And yet Nenshi gets all uptight about being called Trudeau's mayor.
Now joining me tonight to discuss Calgary municipal politics and how that has bled over into provincial and now federal politics, as well as the continued evacuation of oilfield companies from Alberta in the wake of Justin Trudeau's re-election is my friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary in an interview we recorded yesterday afternoon.
So joining me now from Calgary is good friend of the show, good friend to me, William Macbeth from Save Calgary.
Hey William, thanks for joining me.
There is so much going on with Nenshi and his intertwining with liberal federal politics in the wake of the election that I just had to have you on because you are my Nenshi expert.
And we'll get to him in a second in his intertwining with Justin Trudeau.
But I wanted to talk about this incredible thing that's happening at Calgary City Hall.
There are counselors.
I had to clean my glasses to make sure I was reading this properly, but there are actually elected officials in municipal government who are calling for wage reductions at Calgary City Hall.
Please give us all the news.
It's almost hard to believe, Sheila, that we have found some municipal politicians who actually understand that the way to make government less expensive is to cut costs.
And the biggest single source of cost for City Hall right now is salaries, wages, benefits, and pensions.
So you're absolutely right.
A trio of fiscally conservative counselors has finally taken up Calgary's call for wage cuts.
They're looking at an across the board cut, including for sitting city councilors, of 5% in order to try and bring those costs under control.
Now, you know, some people may think that's not very much.
Other people, those on the left, will try and tell you that it's the end of civilization as we know it.
What I can say is that since 2010, the cost for wages has gone up by nearly 40%.
So it's become 40% more expensive to run the city of Calgary just on the wage bill alone.
So this is a welcome move.
And it's the only way I think we're actually going to see Calgary come close to holding the line on taxes in this next budget cycle.
Yeah, and it's predictably the three that you would think of.
It's Jeremy Farkas, of course, rookie, but a real game changer, I guess, down at City Hall.
Sean Chu, we know he's a fiscal conservative and a great guy.
And Councillor, correct me if I'm saying his name wrong, Joe Maglioka.
Maglioka.
Maglioka.
Okay, perfect.
It was a good guess.
But, you know, it's funny that this is so controversial given the economic situation in Calgary right now.
The day after the election, we saw massive layoffs at Husky.
We've seen Encana pull out of Canada, a couple other smaller oil and gas service companies along the way.
Massive retail vacancy in downtown Calgary.
And yet, there's this desire, especially from the left, to see government workers completely insulated from the reality the people who are paying their salary are living with every single day.
You know, I think some people outside Calgary and across the country have a lot of misconceptions about what is happening in the city right now.
I think a lot of people think that Calgary has turned the corner and that things are getting better, but it's actually just the opposite.
It's the worst it's ever been and it continues to get worse in each and every day.
You've talked about Husky, you know, an energy icon here in Alberta, laying off hundreds and hundreds of people the moment the Trudeau government was re-elected.
We see in Canada started by visionary businessman Gwen Morgan, who has been such a positive contributor from philanthropy and from building up his company, deciding that they just can't keep going based out of Canada.
There isn't enough investment.
There isn't enough opportunity to pursue growing the business.
And so they've decided to decamp to the United States.
It's really been a tough time.
And yet, City Hall, first of all, only really noticed there was a problem, literally, in the last few months.
Up until then, they've been had their heads in the sand.
And they somehow seem to think that the economic turmoil buffeting Calgary shouldn't apply to the people who are paid the highest salaries on average of workers in this city and who have the highest benefits and who are funded by struggling Calgary taxpayers.
So, you know, we're thrilled that finally someone has taken on board our call to cut salaries.
Nobody wants to see their salary cut.
It's not a happy circumstance for anybody, but it is what you have to do to make ends meet when times get tough.
Yeah, I mean, you sort of touched on Encana and I did too.
But Encana, you know, they didn't say that Trudeau was responsible and that economic conditions in places like Calgary are responsible.
But you got to read between the lines here.
Within Canada specifically, they said they're unable to attract investment in Canada.
And that speaks to the investment climate and who's created that investment climate that has gone a complete 180 from when Stephen Harper was around.
And that is Justin Trudeau.
And you see an overlay in municipal politics.
When you have municipal politicians hiking property taxes out of control, of course, it makes it impossible for businesses to stay in business in Calgary.
And you see businesses, smaller businesses, we hear about Ancana and we hear about Husky, but we don't hear about the mom and pop shops closing all the time because of Trudeau or Trudeau Nenshi's anti-business tax policies.
No, you're right.
I mean, Encana founder Gwen Morgan did make it very clear that he considers the actions over the last four years of the Trudeau government to be one of the primary and contributing causes to Incana's decision.
And I think for him, he sees something that he poured his heart and soul into building that reflected passion, the creativity, and the energy of Calgary simply saying we can't make a go of it anymore here in Canada.
And I think you're right that those are the things that do get attention.
When a big company announces they're going to make a change, it becomes national coverage.
The prime minister, who I believe is on vacation right now, did his office put out a statement.
But what you don't hear is when the mom-and-pop restaurant that opened its doors and employed eight people is being forced out of business.
You don't hear when the local store that was started by newcomers to Calgary or even newcomers to Canada who this represented the avenue of opportunity for them is being forced to close their doors because they can't pay their property taxes and people can no longer afford to buy their products.
So these are all things that reflect the really the growing sense of desperation that Calgarians are feeling.
And I think one of the reasons we're finally seeing some city councilors move forward with the options that we've been pushing for is because people are now desperate enough to actually pursue policies that were once considered unthinkable.
You know, when times were good in Calgary, the idea that we would have to reduce salaries for public sector workers would have been greeted with outright hostility on the part of city council.
And I'm sure it will still be greeted that way by a lot of our leftist city council.
But the fact that these things are becoming accepted, the fact that the United Conservative Party was elected with the strongest mandate of voter votes in Alberta's history, and the fact that Calgary got rid of and Alberta got rid of every liberal MP and Saskatchewan did too.
These are all signs that we're reaching the end of our rope about what we can do and we're prepared to take more drastic measures because we've become more desperate.
Yeah, speaking of drastic and desperate measures, Mayor Nahib Nenshi and Allison Redford, of all people, have both volunteered to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau do Western outreach.
If it weren't so laughable, I mean, it would be offensive.
But I mean, these are Nenshi is failing Calgary.
And Redford, I mean, she was run out of town and she was instrumental in ending a four-decade dynasty of the progressive conservatives.
They're failures by, I think, most measures.
But those are the two that have stepped up to volunteer to quell the Western alienation sentiment and bring good tidings to Ottawa.
I mean, this is just crazy.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure, Sheila, if Justin Trudeau watches your show regularly, but probably he does.
I'd like to offer him this piece of advice.
If you want to try and shut down independent settlement and Western alienation, please do not think that appointing Allison Redford or Nehed Nenshi to cabinet is what is going to satisfy angry Albertans.
In fact, I would suggest it will do exactly the opposite.
I mean, it was such an odd scene on election night to watch BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark say that Trudeau could not and should not be re-elected.
In fact, that he was such an embarrassment count on the national stage that, quote unquote, we should take away his passport is what she said.
A BC liberal premier saying it had to be Andrew Shearer and the Conservatives, Allison Redford saying it should be Justin Trudeau.
So, you know, in the top sea-turvy world of politics, I guess anyone can believe anything at any time.
But I could honestly think of no two worse people to put into cabinet if you want to try and show Alberta that its concerns are being heard and will be addressed by the Trudeau Liberal government.
Yeah, it's actually quite frightening to think that Allison Redford could have any sort of influence.
But you know what?
She probably would appreciate the free plane rides again.
Let's move on and let's talk a little bit about the UCP budget because it has some cuts in it.
I don't think substantial enough.
I want someone to go through the government with a machete and just willy-nilly chopping things.
I'd be happy with that.
But that's not what Jason Kenney is doing.
He's doing a more thoughtful approach to government than I would ever have.
And it's making a lot of people mad.
Nenshi is one of them.
He's come out, according to CBC in their headline, swinging against the UCP budget.
Thoughtful Approach to Budget Cuts00:02:45
He said it breaks promises and introduces regressive taxation.
I can't even believe those words came out of his mouth.
Yeah, no, so I think obviously what the mayor is really unhappy with is the fact that Calgary has been awash with money.
We have spent money on every pet project.
And just to name an example, I live in a community in Calgary called the East Village, which has received tremendous investments of tax dollars.
Well, good news, the city of Calgary just spent yet another million dollars to build another tiny section of bicycle lanes through the East Village, despite the fact that there were already perfectly good bicycle lanes that existed in this community.
So, you know, examples like that tell me that, no, the city has not really cut itself to the core when it comes to finding and rooting out wasteful expense.
What Jason Kenney and the United Conservative government have said is we have been living on credit, our credit card, for far too long.
And it wasn't just Rachel Notley and the New Democrats.
It started well before her under the dying days of the PC government.
One of the reasons why Wild Rose became a factor was we no longer had a conservative government who believed in fiscal responsibility.
But we've been borrowing money at every opportunity in order to just keep the lights on in some cases.
And it's caught up with us.
We're paying more in interest than most than we spend in most government departments.
Interest on our debt is now the fourth largest government department.
We spend more on it than we do helping children and seniors and people with disabilities and people in care.
So we have a real problem.
And Jason Kenney, I think, said we need to get our house in order.
And it's not, and he made, I think, a really good point in his televised address.
It's not just a fiscal issue.
It's a moral one.
If you saddle our children and grandchildren with $100 billion or $200 billion worth of debt, you will permanently, permanently decrease the quality of services they're going to get in areas like education and healthcare because we won't be able to afford to pay for them.
So he started to turn the tide.
I think it was quite a measured and as you said, thoughtful approach, some cuts, some staffing reductions, mostly through attrition, some scaling back of capital investment.
But if you listen to people like the head of Alberta's biggest public sector unions, Anda Mayor Nengshi, you'd think it was Attila the Hun rampaging his way across Europe, slashing and burning in his go.
We, you know, and I'll give you the great example of the green line.
They're upset because the provincial government has said they may not fund green line to the level that was once indicated by previous governments.
Green Line Controversy00:12:27
Well, there isn't a green line yet to fund.
They still haven't finished planning it.
They haven't figured out where it will go and what it will cost.
And if you're an Alberta minister responsible for municipal affairs, how could you write a blank check to the city who has spent four years or longer planning a project that still has no firm budget, no firm route, and no firm completion date?
It's ridiculous.
So if the city of Calgary is looking for people to blame because of its current economic woes, they really should start by looking in the mirror.
Yeah, I mean, and I guess that brings me to the next topic that I had up on my computer screen that I wanted to talk to you about.
And it's Doug Schweitzer.
Now, I'm not the biggest fan of the Justice Minister.
He has said some unkind things about me and Rebel News in the past.
He, you know, he sent a fundraising letter basically saying that we were sympathetic to neo-Nazis.
You know what?
And I realize his appointment is outreach to the Red Tories that formed that coalition that sent Jason Kenney into power.
But he did come out swinging against Nahid Nenshi.
Nenshi was critical of him because it appears as though the Kenny government has cut some funding for policing.
But Nahid Nenshi cut funding to policing.
And if he's cutting funding to policing, well, maybe he needs to prioritize, I don't know, maybe see a reduction in some of the salaries around City Hall.
I mean, when you're taking money from the policing budget, and that's a crisis that you need to have an open battle with the provincial government over, maybe consider that 5% wage rollback and I don't know, maybe cut some of the budget for the public art.
Yeah, you know, the major measure that they're concerned about police is the province will now take a greater share of basically speed tickets for someone caught speeding.
The province takes a share and they're going to up the share of the money that they're going to get from that.
But you're absolutely right that, look, they just spent a million dollars building a bike lane around my building.
That's not a necessary or urgent project.
That is something that could have waited.
They want to tear up and redo Stephen Avenue.
They've hired an international design firm to create some specs on it.
Stephen Avenue works just fine.
And we certainly don't have the money to spend ripping it up and rebuilding it based on what a European company decides is best for a cold, flat prairie province.
So I think you're absolutely right that there are places to cut.
Salaries are one of them.
Pensions is another.
The mayor gets an extra pension on top of the one he already gets for being a city councilor.
Many senior civil servants of the city of Calgary have multiple pensions.
They get vehicle allowances and expense accounts, above-average wages.
It's a sweet perk.
And like so many others in Calgary, it's time for people who earn these high salaries to make a small sacrifice in order to help our city keep going.
And I would also say, respectfully, for the Green Line, maybe it's time to think if building a five or six billion dollar rapid transit line, a third of the way it was originally supposed to be built, is the best use for our funds right now.
Councillor Gondeck, who I would consider to be pretty centrist in most of her positions on city council, if not maybe center left, has said, why don't we examine bus rapid transit?
Why?
Because it's a fraction of the cost and it can start right away, unlike Green Line, which has an expected completion date of at least 10 years once they finally finish deciding where it's going to go.
So there's lots of places to save money down at City Hall.
The mayor just doesn't like the idea of not being able to fund all of the special interests and pet projects that are so dear to his heart.
Yeah, he doesn't want to make the tough choices or to think outside the box.
The whole Green Line debacle feels like that episode of The Simpsons where the guy comes and tries to sell them the monorail.
I think that's how it's going to end up.
Now, I want to talk about the thing that literally everybody is talking about on both sides of the debate, and that's Western separatism.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm a Western separatist.
I'm open to the idea, and more importantly, I'm open to the discussion.
I don't think that Alberta's future should be decided for us by people outside of the province.
And I don't think we should be told to shut up by people from outside of the province.
And yet, that is exactly what is happening.
And I think that's only going to make it worse.
Some of these people who are telling us to shut up, I think they're plants from the Wexit movement because they're so effective in angering Albertans to say, you know what, to hell with all of you.
No, I think you're absolutely right.
You couldn't be a bigger advocate for a separation than some of the people who claim to be so dead set against it from out east.
Look, I think for a lot of Albertans, we're proud Albertans, we're proud Canadians, but we also believe that Confederation is a group of provinces who benefit from being in a collective organization, a collective country, because it's better for all of us when we work together.
It's starting to break down, though.
And I think for a lot of people who live in Alberta, they view the Federation as no longer being a benefit to Alberta.
We pay into it through federal taxes, mass amounts of money that then get transferred to other provinces who are frankly anti-our most important industry and anti-our economic success.
And when we see that, when we see the Premier of Quebec come out strongly against pipelines, when we see the leader of the Block Québecois talk about the oil barons that want to institute a new equalization program to transfer tax dollars from high carbon locations to low carbon locations.
We're doing that.
We're doing that already.
The message it sends to Alberta is simply that we are not considered a real part of Canada, that Canada thinks of us as the poor cousin.
And frankly, I think what gets lost a lot in this debate is how much everyday Albertans are struggling, how much everyday families are struggling.
People, you know, the number of people visiting food banks is off the charts.
The number of people suffering from substance abuse is off the charts.
The number of people who are contemplating or have attempted suicide because of the desperate circumstances they find them in is off the charts.
There is a very real human consequence to these somewhat academic debates now about whether climate change needs to be addressed in 10 years or 20 years and the degree to which carbon emissions have that impact.
Well, here in Calgary and southern Alberta, it's about people being able to keep their house.
It's about being able to afford to send your kid to school, the university, to pay for hockey lessons, whether or not you can afford to have a vehicle, whether or not you can afford to put food on your table.
And so for us, again, we talk about desperation and desperate people turn to increasingly desperate measures in order to try and resolve their problems.
And I think for many Albertans, they're looking at this liberal government led by Justin Trudeau, who said his new priority for the new government would be reducing carbon and focusing on green energy and green technology.
And we just don't see a federal government who's going to have our back.
And at that point, I think it is worth having the conversation about whether or not Alberta is best served by remaining part of the federation.
Yeah, you know, I think there's a psychological side effect of this new WEXIT movement.
And right now, or at least in the wake of the election, it was like the entire province is not only economically depressed, but psychologically depressed.
There's not a lot of hope around.
And I think the WEXIT movement, whatever that ends up looking like, if it's a better deal in Confederation or if it's a complete exit altogether, it's giving people hope for something different.
And it's giving them a place where they can fight back in that it's growing.
And there's actually some credible people who are now coming in and saying, okay, well, this is how this could legally happen if it is the will of the people.
And I think it is doing something for the psyche of Albertans.
We're getting that sort of fight back nature back that I think has been dampened recently.
So for me, I'm glad to see that.
I'm glad to see that Alberta can do spirit sort of remaining in the Wexit movement because we've been told for four years under Notley and then another four years under Trudeau that there's not much that we could do.
And I think the Liberal government might find out exactly what we're willing to do and they're going to learn it the hard way.
William, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show.
We're headed up towards our usual time to call it a day.
William, how do people find out about Safe Calgary and support the good work that you do?
Because you've got some really great emails.
Get on the email list.
Well, thank you very much.
Always appreciate the opportunity to talk about ourselves.
So, you know, Safe Calgary, we're less than two years out now until the next municipal election based out here in Calgary.
We think that more than ever, more than certainly in the last seven or eight years, 10 years, there's a real desire to see our city go in a new direction.
So, if you believe we can and must do better as a city government and as a city, I urge you to go to our website, savecalgary.com.
I hope you visit us on Facebook and on Twitter, Save Calgary for both those.
And certainly, if you can, the two things we ask: sign up to our mailing list.
It's how we keep people informed.
It's how we break news, what we've discovered.
There's a lot of secrets down there behind the closed doors at City Hall, and we try and throw them open whenever we can.
So, sign up to our mailing list.
And if you can, make a small donation to us through our website online because we rely on the support of everyday Calgarians, everyday voters who are just fed up with what's been happening down at City Hall.
So, we hope that you take the chance to check us out and to hear from us on a regular basis because this is so important for the future of our city.
Yeah, you know what?
I love the work that you guys do holding municipal government to account.
It seems as though conservatives have forgotten that municipal politics is really the farm team for liberal, provincial, and federal politics, and we have to start there first.
William, thanks so much for coming on the show.
We've got to do this more often.
Instead of, Skype told me it's been two months since I had you on the show, and I was a little disappointed in myself.
Wow.
Well, I'm happy to be back now.
Anytime that works for you is good for me.
Great.
Thanks, William.
Have a great day.
Thanks, Sheila.
Whatever happens with Alberta going forward, whatever Alberta decides to do, whether it looks like separation from Canada, whether it's a new deal within Confederation or complete autonomy as something else.
it's important that those decisions are being made by Albertans for Albertans for once.
And it's going to require new voices and new ideas because the existing politicians and current way of doing things have both completely failed at moving the needle on all of the things that are fueling this Western alienation.
Pipelines, equalization, property rights, fiscal accountability, and even gun rights.
Things are going to change in this country one way or another with regard to Alberta.
And to steal a phrase from Justin Trudeau's old man, just watch us.
Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'll see everybody back here in the same time in the same place next week.