Mathew Embry’s Global Warning (2019) critiques climate policies’ impact on Canada’s oil and gas sector, featuring interviews with Dr. Patrick Moore, Tim Ball, and others, who call it a "foreign-funded war" against energy. The documentary highlights 25% workforce cuts, Indigenous job gains in Fort McKay, and IPCC bias, contrasting activists’ emotional tactics with industry sustainability efforts. Embry’s past work—from Amazon Prime documentaries to activism films—earned rare access to CNRL and UN policymakers, but mainstream pushback persists. Available for $5–$6 USD, it urges balanced debate on energy, Indigenous rights, and environmental costs amid Alberta’s uncertain future. [Automatically generated summary]
Hello Rebels, you're listening to a free audio-only recording of my weekly Wednesday night show, The Gun Show.
However, as you know, this is the internet, so you can listen to or watch the show whenever you want.
My guest tonight is Calgary-based filmmaker Matthew Embry to talk about his documentary, Global Warning.
Now, this documentary did not get a lot of media attention when it was released in October 2019, but it has been nominated for six Alberta Film and Television Awards.
Makes you wonder why you never heard about it.
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A Calgary-Based Filmmaker Exposes Climate Realities00:04:59
A Calgary-based filmmaker exposes climate and energy realities that powerful forces in the world may not want you to see.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.
There is absolutely no basis in fact or science against Canadian oil over other oil.
What is Canada's future in an age of climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and mistrust of public institutions?
What would you do if you had to govern by the balls?
If it doesn't get resolved, I don't know that the country can survive.
I'm here to tell you that the three top officials from the UN are part of this con.
It's a hoax.
And they like the hoax because it brings in all kinds of money.
Now, that's a clip from the trailer for the Canadian-made film, Global Warning.
It's been nominated for six Alberta Film and Television Awards, including Best Documentary, and it deals how the politics surrounding climate are taking the world down a dangerous path.
And it appears that Canada, and specifically Alberta, is ground zero for what can happen when international climate politics meet the traditional energy industry as we know it and then malign it.
The film strives to tell the other side of this story with exclusive access to both sides of the climate debate.
Of course, it features the emotional leave it in the ground environmentalist side of the debate from their safe perch at the United Nations.
And it also showcases the boots on the ground energy workers who are paying the steep cost of being simply collateral damage in the global war on Canadian oil and gas.
The film also has many familiar faces in it, like Dr. Patrick Moore and Tim Ball and even Danielle Smith.
And I think it strived to humanize the energy industry.
Now, clearly, this is the film that you would think most Albertans would already know about.
However, it was released in October 2019 to almost no attention or fanfare at all.
And I think that's because the film sought to provide balance instead of the old tried and true climate hysteria.
So now, nearly 14 months after the release of the film, I'm trying to right that wrong.
And I'm introducing you to the film and one of the filmmakers behind it, behind the film Global Warning.
His name is Matthew Embry.
He joins me tonight in an interview we recorded yesterday afternoon.
Joining me now from his home in Calgary is filmmaker Matthew Embry.
He is the producer, writer, and filmmaker behind a documentary that's not on my radar sooner.
It's called Global Warning.
Matthew, thanks for joining me.
Let's sort of introduce you to everybody.
Now, you've made this documentary, Global Warning, but you're not new to the documentary filmmaker game.
In fact, you've done some work that probably a lot of Canadians, particularly here in Western Canada, have seen and have appreciated.
And you've been nominated for several awards.
Yeah, it's been, I've been very blessed to have a great career here out of Calgary, Alberta.
I've been able to direct some great documentaries on, you know, people like Jan Arden, Ian Tyson, co-directed a project on Theo Fleury.
And then the last one, you know, prior to this was Global, sorry, Living Proof, which is distributed globally on Amazon Prime all over the world and had its opening at the Toronto International Film Festival.
And now Global Warning.
Now, tell me a little bit about, and I don't want to give away the cow.
You know, I don't want to give away the milk when we want people to buy the whole cow.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about the documentary itself?
Because you really did get some unprecedented access.
And we'll talk about that.
But what is the synopsis of the movie itself?
Yeah, so what we wanted to do is, you know, I'm from Calgary, born and raised.
Why We Chose Oil Sands00:04:47
And I wanted to, you know, I wanted to talk about, make a film that was exploring some of the issues in the oil and gas industry that I saw happening.
This goes all the way back to 2008, maybe 2007, when I started to recognize that, you know, the media was portraying international media as well, portraying the Canadian oil and gas industry in a certain way.
And I had done some work up there previously as a director.
I worked on a project for Fort Hills, as well as I worked with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
So I had some on-the-ground experience as a filmmaker working there.
And I was seeing things that I wasn't seeing represented in the media.
And I was seeing things that I thought the average person should be aware of.
And I started that journey to try to tell that story and get that film made that long ago.
It was an uphill battle until the executive producer, Peter Bick, came to the table and I met him and he was able to get some funding and then Super Channel, you know, making a brave choice to take the film and now broadcasting it across Canada.
You know, that you make a really good point when you say it is a brave choice because you really are sort of swimming against the current here being, I don't even know how you would describe yourself as pro-oil sands or pro-oil and gas or pro-fossil fuel, but just giving a balanced view of the oil and gas development here in Canada.
That's not a popular thing, particularly in entertainment.
Have you experienced some pushback from your, I guess, peers and colleagues in the entertainment industry?
Well, I think, you know, not like face to face, that that hasn't happened.
But certainly what's been very, very strange on this project.
And again, I don't necessarily consider myself pro or against oil and gas.
I see myself as a person who's pro-human and I understand that human beings need energy.
And the best case scenario, cheap and efficient energy to, you know, for human life to flourish.
And I think this is where I kind of like wanted to explore.
Now, the pushback and surprise that I have had was the lack of media attention around this project.
I mean, we have some very big names that were being interviewed.
We shot more or less, you know, in multiple countries internationally with some of the top experts in the world.
I mean, this is a big movie to come out of Calgary, right?
You know, and I think that that's fantastic.
I believe in Calgary to be able to be an international hub of content creators.
But I also am shocked that I've had so little, we as a team have had so little attention paid to the film and some of the things that we talk about.
I think you, this interview is maybe the third or fourth, you know, maybe interview I've had.
And that, again, if we look at the legacy of the other films that I've been, you know, really lucky to be a part of, it's certainly an anomaly.
You know, that's a real shame.
And the video or the film did come out in October 20, the lead up to the federal election, when the media and Justin Trudeau's liberals wanted us to believe that, you know, climate change was the top issue of the election.
I really don't think it was.
Statistics say it wasn't.
Polling says it wasn't.
But that you were sort of the counterbalance to that.
And you were completely ignored by the mainstream media, by all media.
I mean, we totally missed the boat on that too.
Now, this film has been nominated for six Alberta Film and Television Awards, including Best Documentary.
You would think that this would be, you know, something that's shouted from the rooftops, this homegrown filmmaker doing wonderful things to tell the story of the industry.
But even the industry isn't talking about this film.
It is really weird.
I mean, and what I find really strange too is, you know, I have a reputation, I guess.
I'm trying my absolute best.
I mean, I'm a social activist filmmaker.
The film, you know, my biggest hit, I guess, you know, our biggest hit as a team that I was able to, you know, to direct was about deconstructing, you know, going after problems around big pharma and some of how charities are set up.
I directed a project on the opioid crisis.
My last one is on cyberbullying with Amanda Todd's mother, Carol Todd.
I have one on concussions coming out.
Global Perspectives on Energy00:15:57
You know, I really try to make projects that affect change in a positive way and to recognize a problem, but also to give people a real world solution.
And I think that's, you know, that's why I commit to certain projects.
And it's no different with this one.
Yeah.
And I'm hoping that people watch it to see that, you know, it's again, what I find so challenging, this conversation has become so polarizing.
And I think that's where I'm trying to walk that line in this project to say, okay, there are two very opposing, strong opposing voices right now.
This isn't going to work.
We need to sit at the table and discuss how we're going to move forward properly, both nationally and internationally.
You know, and that's one of the things that I noticed in the film was, and I think this probably goes back to your sort of sort of social activism filmmaking, is you talk about the real world implications for the normals of the world, not having access to cheap, reliable energy.
When you flip the switch on, you talk about the human cost of it.
And I think one of the most compelling parts of that is when you, Danielle Smith is talking about the layoffs that are happening in the industry because of lack of market access because projects aren't going ahead.
And she's choking back tears as someone is telling her about, you know, having to lay off 25% of their workforce.
And you go out of your way in this film to humanize what these attacks on oil and gas really mean to the people who are working within the industry, not the CEOs who are going to be fine, but the normal people.
Yeah, we really try to do that because I think for the average person, me included, I'm no different.
It's hard to get a sense of the human story here when you were bombarded with number of jobs, amount of dollars that are lost, transfer payments.
It's very confusing for the average person.
And it can become to the point where you just want to shut it off.
And I think that what we tried to do in the movie is say, okay, look, these numbers, these things you're hearing have real life impacts on people.
And this is what is happening in Canada.
We are Canadians.
I understand that, you know, we are in the West, but that doesn't necessarily matter.
We are Canadians like anyone else.
We have the same country on our passports.
We're all in this together.
And I think that, you know, this is what's happening in Canada.
It's also important for people to understand what's going on in the rest of the world and to see that this is a global story, not just a national one.
You know, and that was one of the things that some of your people that you interview, like Patrick Moore, like Tim Ball, like Mark Morano.
I've gone to UN climate change conferences with Mark Moreno, so that's something.
But, you know, yeah, if you've talked to Mark, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
But, you know, Patrick Moore in particular, you know, he talks about how this is a sort of a war just on Canada, that everything else continues as normal in the rest of the world.
And this is a war, a foreign-funded war that's happening in Canada.
And not a lot of people are talking about that.
And, you know, you were critical, I think, of, you know, Jason Kenney's war room here because it talks about stuff like transfer payments and that sort of inequity that we experience as part of Confederation.
But again, that's sort of an abstract thing when you really need to be talking about what this means, what the personal cost is to so many people about landlocking oil and gas.
Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, I want to talk about, you know, I think a concept of seeing the Alberta government and the working hard to put out a narrative to try to change the narrative, I think is very important.
So I hope I'm not being considered to be critical of that.
What I am a little bit concerned about, and I have spoken about this a bit, is making the narrative too simplistic.
Yeah.
That it's, you know, it's us versus them.
And in the case of some of the forum-funded stuff, I think we have to point out these realities, but to also realize that it goes even deeper than that, that this goes beyond North American soil.
And I think that's where we try to get this global perspective.
Go to Berlin, go to Germany, or sorry, go to Bonn, go to Germany, meet the CEO of the Wildlife Federation or whatever his job was at that point, get his perspective.
See, this is a big story.
And it involves Russia and China.
It's beyond just the U.S. and Canada, right?
And I think that that's, again, we need as Canadians to be looking at this global perspective of what's shifting here.
And I think last year when the, I can't remember exactly, so please don't hold me to these facts, but I did a special presentation downtown, downtown Calgary.
And when I showed the movie, you know, afterwards, it was, you know, oil and gas professionals were the audience.
I said, you know, how many people here know about this huge project in Russia that was approved last week?
And I brought up the news articles to show this enormous oil and gas project in Russia that got the green light.
And not even in Calgary did people know the size of it, that this thing was being approved internationally.
So I think it's, again, it's fine to look at what's happening in Canada, but we also need to look what's happening in the rest of the world and understand the implications of those realities that are happening to us.
Sure.
And I think sometimes we're even simplistic when we talk about the foreign-funded attack on Canadian oil and gas.
We think it's coming out of the Tides Head office in San Francisco, but it's bigger than that.
We know that Russia has funded some of the anti-fracking propaganda that we see attacking American energy independence and then as a trickle-down effect, Canadian energy independence.
And I think people are really, as you point out, missing the global scope of everything that's going on.
And we look at San Francisco and we look at tides and we see what they're doing.
And we live with the consequences of that every day, but we are really missing the big picture here.
And I thought that was great.
That was what your film tried to point out, or at least put on people's radar.
Yeah, and also that it's not just Canada.
If other countries, you know, start to stop their oil and gas or oil and gas energy development, there's going to be consequences to those economies, to those countries, especially when other countries aren't doing that.
So, you know, it's, you know, so you can, if you're Canada, I don't care where you are, if you start shutting down your, you know, major industry while other countries are growing it, you know, you ought to watch out.
Now, in your film, you got, and I alluded to this earlier, unprecedented access.
I work in media, so I know it's tough to get access to.
You know, for example, CNRL gave you access.
You were able to get access to the industry on the ground to show what a tailings pond looks like firsthand, as opposed to whatever in Canada is releasing as their press release and what's on their YouTube.
You saw it for yourself.
Why do you think the industry was so open with you when they've really been sort of controlled in the past?
I mean, that's a good question.
I think I also want to note on that.
We also had unprecedented access to Catherine Abreo.
So our access fell on both sides of the argument of incredible access.
And that is a testament to Peter Bayk as a producer.
And I think it's also a testament to our team.
I mean, our team has got a legacy of being able to tell stories and be trusted in regards to how we try to reveal those truths.
And then I think also relationships.
I mean, both Peter and I are from Calgary.
And so there are relationships that go on that no different than anything else to be able to get access to certain events.
Now, I suppose I have a question for you because I have been to UN climate change conferences.
I'm no longer allowed inside of them because I asked a prickly question one time to somebody that was in there and they're not used to people who are sort of skeptical of the whole taxes change the weather landlocked Canadian and gas agenda that comes out of these UN climate change conferences.
I've always been curious about what goes on behind closed doors at these things.
And you were actually, I suppose, there behind closed doors.
Was there something there that was particularly surprising to you?
Or is it exactly how I assume it is?
You know, it's interesting.
That's a good question.
I mean, I think what we, one thing we do in the film is we try to deconstruct why there is such, say, trust or reliance on IPCC recommendations.
And in this movie, we tried our best to say, okay, hey, like we understand this organization exists.
We understand they're giving advice, recommendations, but are they really an organization we should be betting on?
Or is this or not questioning, right?
Why would we not question this?
Like any other organization?
And I think that what I was surprised is that there, it's just a given that whatever comes out of the IPCC, like it's gospel.
And, you know, that's, I think that can be really problematic if we don't keep asking those hard questions of organizations that are trying to, especially enforce policy in our country.
Right.
Because so much of Canadian climate policy is built around the benchmarks of whatever the IPC says is going to happen to us eventually someday if all models work out.
Now, you've been inside behind closed doors with the policymakers.
I want to ask you, what are your predictions for the future?
Are things going to change and get better for us here in Alberta with regard to market access and the narrative around Canadian oil and gas?
Or is it just going to get worse?
It is all lost, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, you ask a really good question.
I mean, that's really hard to know, you know?
And I think that another thing we do explore in the documentary is the relationship also with First Nations communities across Canada.
And again, I think that that is another issue that is become, it's a bit too simplistic in how we're seeing it in the media.
And again, I don't want to point fingers and blame anybody.
These are really complicated issues.
And it's, again, it's not just an us versus them concept.
And that's where I get frustrated about this type of polarity.
The First Nations issue in Canada is very complicated.
And I think that itself poses many questions to how we're going to develop industry, oil and gas, or other industries as well.
And I think that, you know, one thing we talked about is, okay, so oil and gas is the issue that really has brought, say, some of the First Nations issues to, you know, I think.
But what about huge wind farms?
What about huge solar farms?
Like all in major industry is going to have to play by the same rules, no matter what it is.
And I think, again, these are important conversations for the future of Canada.
And then I don't know where things go.
I mean, at this stage.
Well, that's frightening because you've really been in inside where they're making the decisions.
And I know, you know, the Alberta government is working hard to shift the narrative.
But I suppose the question remains, is it really working?
Are we telling the stories of the unemployment rate that is non-existent in Fort Mackay?
Are we talking about the wealth creation that's happening within the Mikasu Cree First Nation?
I don't think the pro-oil and gas side of the debate is as good at humanizing all of this the same way the anti-everything crowd is great at putting kids up front to tell stories about how they're worried that the world is going to end.
I mean, it's just such an emotionally charged debate.
And I think we're just getting run roughshod over.
Yeah, I mean, again, these are, you know, a lot of thought has gone into some of these ideas you're talking about, especially for me over the past almost 12 years, having worked, you know, in the industry at certain times on the outside as a contractor, but I still was able to see things.
But I think you're correct.
I mean, I think that we try to show that in the movie, how, say, the environmental activist side is very good at presenting images that would shock and horrify most people.
And if you play that moral high ground game, which I think is being played, as long as you have the moral high ground, you win.
That game can keep, you can do very well if you keep showing shocking images.
And I think that if you're going to show another side of this, then that has to also be revealed.
So, you know, key issues in regards to human lives being saved because of cheap energy with easy, efficient, easy access.
There are images that, you know, that we should be seeing.
What would happen if we didn't have that?
Well, there are certain territories in the world that you can go to right now to see what it's like to live in conditions where there isn't cheap, efficient energy.
And that would shock most Canadians.
And I think that a lot of Canadians live in a little bit of a bubble, not knowing how bad it can be to exist on this planet without that.
Sorry to interrupt you.
And it's not the tidy utopia that the other side of the debate wants to paint it as.
When you don't have access to cheap, reliable fossil fuels, well, what do you do for heat?
What do you do for cooking?
There's no garbage pickup and things that the environmentalist movement attributes to us, the dirty air, the dirty rivers, that's actually happening in places where they don't have access to cheap, reliable fossil fuels.
I agree.
And that's one of the pieces.
Showing Environmental Impact00:03:50
I mean, we wanted to go to Venezuela in this film to show to in the we couldn't get in because it was just we could, but it was too dangerous at the time for us to go there to be able to show that side of here's what happens when you deindustrialize.
Like, here's what happens when these things, like what you're saying, cheap, reliable energy becomes problematic and able to get like, here's how that looks.
Yeah.
We wanted to show people that.
But that was very, very challenging for us to do.
And again, I think what we, you know, one thing we, it's important that I think, I mean, any kind of time, I mean, humans are going to make, if you walk out your door and step on the grass, you've made an environmental impact.
So in the pursuit of energy, there is no matter what you're doing, there's going to be an environmental impact.
Like this is what's going to happen.
So we need to understand no matter what we're talking about, there's going to be something.
How do we minimize that?
And I think Canadian oil and gas companies, I believe, are trying their absolute best.
And I do believe that.
Sorry, go ahead.
No, I was just going to say, I would suggest we're probably the best in the world at it.
If anybody's ever spoken to an expat oil and gas worker, they'll tell you that much.
Yeah.
And I think that that's another part of this argument that kind of gets lost, where it's like, well, other parts in the world, there's some, you know, pretty, you know, there's some things going on that Canadians could really help.
You know, taking our technologies, where we're going, how we're thinking about things.
You know, and that is, that in itself is a lot of good.
But again, in a black, in a, sorry, a really kind of polarized world, it's so hard to have that debate.
It was just all bad.
I don't think it's that simple.
Well, I know I promised you we'd keep it close to 20 minutes.
But this is fun talking about these sorts of things.
Matthew, can you let everybody know where they can find your documentary?
I think people at home would be really interested in watching it.
I know that I'm going to watch it again, maybe a couple of times because it was just so fascinating.
And there are so many people in your film that are familiar faces to rebel viewers.
Sure.
I mean, you can see it.
It's on Super Channel.
So if you have Super Channel, if you subscribe to that, you can watch it on there for free once you've got the subscription.
And you can also purchase it to watch it on, I believe it's globalwarningdocumentary.com.
So globalwarningdocumentary.com.
And I think it's about five bucks or six bucks to be able to watch it.
Yeah, it was worth every penny.
Matthew, thank you so much for coming on the show.
I can't wait to see what you do next.
And maybe we'll have you back on again when your next documentary launches.
Awesome.
Thanks so much, Sheila.
Great.
Thank you.
Embry's film is powerful because it's told from the perspective of somebody in Calgary who sees the empty office towers every single day.
And like so many of us here in Alberta is also inundated with articles every single day.
it seems, about layoff after layoff after layoff in the oil patch.
And again, if you'd like to see the trailer or purchase video on demand copies of Global Warning, you can go to globalwarningfilm.com.
I think Matthew Embry did a great job of telling our story, the story of Alberta.
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 at the same place next week.