Ezra Levant interviews Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Washington, D.C., during Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th U.S. president, where she criticizes Justin Trudeau’s refusal to negotiate tariffs on Canada’s oil and gas—25% of exports—while Ottawa redistributes revenue. Trump’s 200 executive orders, including border crackdowns and declaring drug cartels terrorists, contrast sharply with Trudeau’s 11-week Parliament prorogation, now legally challenged by the Justice Centre ahead of a February hearing. Levant mocks Freeland’s weak Liberal leadership bid amid Poilievre’s 46% lead and warns Canada’s tax hikes could backfire as the U.S. deregulates, hinting at potential corporate relocations like Shopify. Despite Trump’s past quips about Greenland or renaming the Gulf of Mexico, Levant stresses cooperation over absurdity, urging Canada to drop its "petty" boycott of Washington and secure fair trade terms before globalist policies tighten further. [Automatically generated summary]
It's the inauguration of Donald Trump, the 45th and now the 47th President of the United States.
We talk to so many people.
We talk to people who love Donald Trump, and we talk to people who hate Donald Trump and what their arguments are.
Boy, it was very interesting to hear both sides of that story.
And we had a sit-down exclusive meeting with Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith, who has been here for weeks, really on and off, lobbying for Canada, not just for Alberta, but against Donald Trump's plan to put tariffs on the Canadian economy.
She's been doing the job that Justin Trudeau won't.
Anyway, big show today, and it was great to be down here.
Even though it was so cold.
But before I get to that, let me invite you to get what we call Rebel News Plus.
It's the video version of this podcast.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com and click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
That might not sound like a lot of dough to you, but boy, it sure adds up for us.
And that's how we pay the bills because we take no money from Trudeau and its shows.
By the way, today's show is a feast for the eyes.
You just got to see both the Trump lovers and the Trump haters.
Yeah, you can just get the audio version, but I want you to see these folks in some of the wild signs and hats.
It's pretty fun.
All right.
Before I get to the podcast, I just want to tell you one more thing.
You know, with COVID behind us, who knows what the globalists are planning next?
Maybe it's the expansion of the conflict in Europe or the release of another virus or the undermining of free and fair elections.
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It is essential that you take the time now to sit down with our friends at Rocklink Investment Partners.
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That's Rocklink with a C. Info at rocklink.com.
All right, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, Rebel News is in Washington, D.C., as Donald Trump storms back into the White House.
It's January 20th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
shame on you you sensorious bug oh hi everybody It is a cold day in Washington, as cold as Justin Trudeau's heart.
Upon learning that Donald Trump is back in power and back in a big way, here's an excerpt from his inaugural address.
My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.
That's what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier.
I'm pleased to say that as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families.
Well, today wasn't just a day for words, it was a day for action.
Proudest Legacy: Peacemaker and Unifier00:06:33
Approximately 200 executive orders.
In other words, Trump and his transition team were not waiting for today to get cracking.
Many of the immediate orders had to do with immigration, sealing the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying the military, declaring drug cartels as terrorist groups.
You know, that means any affiliation with them is a crime, and it would allow the U.S. government to use different means to go after them.
I would hate to be part of those cartels.
Other decisions, including moving quickly on deportations.
It looks like Canada has been spared, at least for the moment, when it comes to tariffs.
But wow, has Canada ever been roiled by Trump's threats of tariffs?
It really has revealed the different nature of our politicians.
As you may have seen yesterday, I had a sit-down meeting with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
She jammed me in amongst a whole bunch of meetings she's had lobbying both business and political leaders in America to stop the proposed tariffs on Canada.
I asked her in that interview if she had any allies.
I asked her if anyone else from the Canadian government was lobbying.
Here's her answer.
Who are your allies?
Do you have any allies amongst the premiers?
Do you have any allies?
You mentioned some American allies, but other people.
I mean, I hate this ganging up on Alberta.
It's the worst caricature of an anti-Alberta bigotry that I grew up with in Alberta.
And I had thought it had passed.
Do you have any friends in Canada on this issue?
I would say that what I like about the cough table, Council of the Federation, is when we come together as a group of premiers and we write a communique, we go through it line by line to make sure everybody is comfortable with what's in it.
We make accommodations for each other because when we go out with a statement, we want to make sure that everybody is in agreement on it.
That didn't happen with the first minister's meeting.
And I think that's probably a reflection of Justin Trudeau's style.
He didn't care that I wasn't in agreement and he didn't try to find language where we would be in agreement.
I think we have a lot of common ground.
I think that when I'm out and talking about how we defend Canada, I can talk just as well about the germanium, which is a critical mineral from British Columbia, and gallium, which is a critical mineral from Quebec.
I can talk about nuclear in Saskatchewan, and I can talk about how we've got critical minerals in our northern territories, how the agri-food industry is integrated.
And we can talk about all of the ways in which we can benefit.
I happen to lead with oil and gas because it is the most important export Canada has.
25% of our exports are oil and natural gas.
We also know that that is what the Americans are looking for now for energy security and energy dominance.
But I would say that by leading with the things the Americans care about, we'll be able to, I think, reset the relationship for all of Canada.
So I promote my colleagues and friends and the economies of the other provinces as well.
But we simply will not allow Alberta to be singled out by an Ottawa-based tax that is generating revenue to be distributed in the rest of the country.
So for whatever reason, Trump did not move on the terrace.
Maybe some of the credit goes to Danielle Smith.
It certainly doesn't go to Justin Trudeau or bizarrely to Christia Freeland, who announced her leadership for the Liberals in a very dull event, I should say.
And she said that a reason Liberals should choose her is that Donald Trump hates her.
Did you see that?
I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
Donald Trump doesn't like me very much.
Canada, we don't like their representative very much.
I'm a tough negotiator.
During the first Trump administration, I fought hard to protect Canadian jobs, the Canadian economy, and our way of life.
And we won.
I've left Trudeau's cabinet because I know what we need to do to win that fight again.
Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies think they can push us around.
Trump thinks we're for sale, but he can take what isn't his.
I'm not gonna let saying that Donald Trump hates her is probably true, and it probably appeals to the liberal base that hates Trump in return.
I'm just not so sure if that's a selling point, if you're actually trying to stop a trade war.
But then again, as I've argued several times, I don't think the liberals want to stop a trade war.
I think they want to demonize Trump as their preferred opponent, as opposed to Pierre Polyev.
The latest polls show Polyev at 46% compared to just 20% for the Liberals.
What's interesting to me, also, and while I'm talking about Christia Freeland, is that her event was stormed by the liberal Hamas caucus and the liberal Hamas street gangs.
Didn't happen to Mark Carney.
He's clearly the candidate of choice of the Islamist left.
Here's what happened at Christia Freeland's launch.
It was disrupted, and the liberals didn't like it for the first time.
They've been fine with this sort of thing when it's been targeting Jews and synagogues.
But boy, she didn't like it when it was targeting her.
Did you see this?
Well, back to Washington.
Today was an interesting day.
I went to the big protest against Donald Trump, except it wasn't very big and it was pretty lame.
Certainly different from the massive street riots that roiled America in his first inaugural in January 2017.
Massive riots then.
And then, of course, in the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter riots really ushered in a dark era in America.
Well, I did not see that today.
Small Protest, Big Contrast00:10:26
Let me show you a little bit about what I did see at the coalition against Trump.
It was small, it was pitiful.
And to be honest, and not being mean here, it was pretty dumb.
Take a look.
Don't talk to me.
Why?
Why is everybody being so mean?
Hey, CBC, how are you doing?
I'm Ezra Levant.
What does that mean?
Don't be so rude.
Holy smokes.
Well, you asked me who I was.
Who do you work for?
We're rebel news.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
That's the name of the company.
Why are you guys so prickly?
Why are you so prickly?
Isn't today an exciting day for you?
Rather, not the camera.
Why are you going to a public protest then?
I think you guys have a bad attitude.
Yeah.
Okay.
Hey, boss, how are you doing today?
I'm all right.
Can you explain your sign to me?
What does it mean?
This is the sign for the Democratic Socialists of America.
And if you want to ask them about it, they are right over there.
Which ones?
Them guys right there with the roses.
Do you mind if I ask you one question about your answer?
Why are you telling me to ask them?
Like, you're the one carrying the sign.
I just want to know what it means.
I appreciate that, but I'm familiar with rebel media.
You can definitely speak to them.
We have people who speak to the media.
I'm not one of them.
All right.
Well, I'm sort of disappointed that you won't even tell me what your sign means.
Well, I mean, it's pretty obvious.
So I was going to ask you a challenging question, which is, I think socialism and fascism both have an element of authoritarianism to it.
Do you disagree?
I once again will direct you to the DSA to speak further.
I have no need to speak to the media.
I appreciate you.
What are you talking about?
That's very mean.
You guys are mean.
Yeah, we are intolerant of intolerance.
That is true.
Does that mean you're intolerant too?
Once again, I'll direct you over there.
You guys have a wonderful time.
Thank you.
I've never met such thin-skinned people in my life.
It's really weird.
How you doing?
Who do you represent?
I'm Ezra.
I represent the people.
And what's the symbol of the guillotine?
Well, it's a very powerful symbol.
And I want to just make it clear that we are the people and we are many and they are few.
We have all the power.
I want people to know that they can make themselves heard, make their anger very clear.
And no matter all these different groups have their differences, but now it's the time to join hands and work to make this country a better place.
That's a very positive message.
The guillotine, though, the symbolism is very violent.
How do you square the two?
I have a certain optimism.
I'm not really calling for violence per se.
I'm just, I want people to wake up to the severity of the situation.
You look a little bit scary, though.
I want to be very candid.
Yeah, the thing is, the people in power should be scared and treading lightly.
Again, because we have this power together.
Would you say your concerns are more economic, social justice, foreign affairs?
Like what really gets you going?
My personal reasons for doing this, you know, I have there are communities that I deeply care for that are losing their rights.
But I will say, you know, the economic disparity in France in 1760 to 1790 when they were bringing the real thing out.
We're in a worse spot in this country today.
But we have, you know, a few nice things.
We have iPhones.
We have just these little distractions that make us feel like everything's okay.
But people aren't waking up to the wealth and resources that are kept above our heads and are kept by those higher-ups.
Things could be a lot more fair.
So maybe there's a false class consciousness.
People who are the proletariat think that they're maybe wealthy because they're, you know, you give the people pride and circuses, they won't revolt.
People should be more aware of the disparity.
And it's great and it's tragic.
Did you make it or did you get a friend to help?
It was a big rig.
I had a hand.
Does it actually work?
Like that's not a sharp blade, but it looks like it could work.
It's foam and there's no rails, so it doesn't move.
I want it to be clear that this is.
It's a piece of art.
Performance art, really.
Sure is, yeah.
And are you an artist yourself or you had a friend maybe make this for you?
I think I can now say that I'm an artist.
And I'm involved in art for sure.
You know, I'm from Canada, actually, and the only other person I've ever met who's done blackface is Justin Trudeau.
So this is just around my eyes.
This is, you know, I wanted to, I don't want to have any really identifying information about me out there.
I want it, it's not so that I can be anyone.
It's more so anybody can be me.
Oh, okay.
This isn't about me.
You look a little bit scary.
That looks a little scary, but I found you quite gentle in our conversation.
And thanks for talking with me.
Absolutely.
Yeah, thank you for the interview.
Right on.
Cheers.
Well, I didn't expect that to be so friendly.
In fact, I think he ended by saying, bless you, which I did not expect.
Are you with the guillotine?
And can I ask you what you mean?
I think we need to get together now.
We need to all join together in this revolution because if anything's going to change, we all need to get together.
Can I ask you what kind of things you'd like to change?
Mostly the wealth disparity.
The top 1% have everything.
BlackRock and Vanguard own everything.
The people have nothing.
And we need to take back what's ours.
We made it and we need to take it back.
I criticize BlackRock and Vanguard too.
What are your criticisms of them?
That all these major companies you can think of, they own them.
They own everything.
They own our houses.
They're the same people that sell you your cars, are the same people that sell you your insurance, are the same people that sell you your medicine, are the same people that sell you your houses, are the same people that sell you your food, are the same people that sell you your water.
They have everything, and we have nothing, but it's ours.
We need to take it back.
Thanks for talking with me.
Can I ask you one last question?
Because you mentioned drugs and I'm guessing you have some views on health.
I think it's a radical thing that Donald Trump appointed RFK Jr. to cabinet.
Because I don't know if you follow RFK Jr.
He's been very skeptical of big pharma, very skeptical of industrial food.
And I think he's a man of the left, maybe not the far left, but he is radical in his own way.
What do you think about the fact that he is Trump's nominee for health and human services?
I'd say it surprises me.
It's upset a lot of people.
It's made a lot of people happy.
I don't have any strict opinions on RFK Jr.
Okay, fair enough.
Can I talk to you too a little bit?
Are you with the team here?
Sure.
I see you're wearing the colors of the rainbow.
Are you a gay activist?
I mean, I'm queer.
So, like, I'm here for the gay rides.
Can I ask you a question about that?
Also, because I was looking at some of the appointments that Donald Trump has made, his Treasury Secretary, Rick Grinnell, Tulsa Gabbard, some of his spokesmen.
And there's a lot of LGB appointments, even at the cabinet level.
Trump hasn't talked about them as gay appointments.
They just happen to be gay.
He has a press release about them, but he never mentions their sexuality.
And I think that's a very interesting approach, which is sort of, these are regular folks.
I'm not even going to talk about their sexuality.
They're just the best Treasury Secretary.
Sorry, Tulsi's not gay.
Sorry, I misspoke there.
Rick Grinnell, Treasury Secretary.
I think I erroneously said Tulsi.
So what do you make of that?
I mean, there's a lot of gay appointees.
It's just that they're not sort of radical activists.
I mean, as far as like one sexuality goes, I like don't think it is vital information that in the political world for you to disclose that information.
So personally to me, it doesn't matter whether or not like you appoint someone who's queer or trans and choose whether or well the person that you appoint, they choose whether or not they want that information disclosed.
Doesn't really matter.
It doesn't change my viewpoint of the people.
To me, what's most important is the actual actions that people choose to take.
Are you surprised that Trump has appointed so many gay people to high office?
Honestly, I'm not.
I personally believe that a lot of what goes on in the government is for show.
So, okay, but he hasn't emphasized that.
Like, you would think it was for show.
He would be really talking about, look at all the gay people I appointed.
So, he hasn't actually done the show part.
He's done the appointment part, but not the show part.
I'm saying that, like, if people are taking it to an extra level and they're trying to make a point of, like, oh, well, he chose to not disclose the information or they chose to not or to disclose that information.
I don't think that that's important to talk about.
I think what's important to talk about is what people actually decide to do while they're in office.
Enough Free Time00:02:30
Hey, what do you make of this?
I mean, everyone here, I mean, that fella, you and your friend are pretty gentle.
This is a pretty violent symbol.
I mean, the whole point of a guillotine is to cut off someone's head, most likely with just a show trial.
So, you seem like a very gentle person.
What are you doing standing next to a replica of a killing machine?
I mean, a lot of us also have a lot of righteous anger, I feel like.
What are you angry about?
You're in the wealthiest, freest country in the world.
You're in a beautiful day.
You're surrounded with friends.
What on earth are you angry about?
You say the wealthiest country, we are in.
Even the poor people in this country would be considered rich in most countries in the world.
You are the luckiest generation in history, in the history of the world, in the history of our species.
You are the luckiest.
Why are you angry?
I'm angry because all of our wealth goes up to the top 1%.
The wealth that you talk about is all controlled by.
Even poor people in America are wealthier than rich people in most parts of Africa.
I mean, if you're talking about the poor people that have to spend like all of their time working and have absolutely no free time whatsoever, and they are wealthier than the people in Africa, I'm not saying that they aren't in that sense, but I am also saying that like we are a slave to our jobs.
And like, even as someone who like works multiple jobs to make rents and meet, I have basically no free time.
And I think wealth is more than just money.
I think wealth is also being able to have free time to actually explore the world and actually do things with the world.
You know, I got to tell you, sister, I'm a little bit older than you.
And if being very angry about not having enough free time is the worst problem you got, you live a blessed life.
It's been a pleasure talking with you, and I hope your problems never get any worse than just not having enough free time.
Nice to talk with you.
To have enough free time.
And really, what free time I have, I just find myself wasting it on my phone.
In a way, Joe Biden did everyone a favor by taking away TikTok.
Enough Free Time?00:12:02
I'm not so sure if Donald Trump giving it back is the right thing.
That is sort of amazing that the number one grievance she has in life is not enough free time.
I'm not sure if the guillotine is the solution to that, but what do I know?
How are you, brother?
I want to say hi to, yeah, I want to say hi to Justine also.
Can I...
Can I look at your sign a little bit?
Luigi says, deinstitutionalize violence, hands off the people, free Luigi, and all political prisoners, free me.
But, I mean, he shot a guy.
How is that a political prisoner?
I wonder if she's ever thought of that before.
Can I ask you a question about Lebanon?
Well, I'm just holding the flag.
I actually don't know anything about it.
You know, it's 30,000 people killed.
I want to talk about peace in Lebanon, but is there someone else you point me to?
Or are you just holding the flag?
I mean, there was a ceasefire held, but Israel violated the ceasefire and continued to bomb Lebanon after it was made.
One of the things that Trump gets some credit for is what was called the Abraham Accords.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
The Abraham Accords.
When he was president in his first term, he got a peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and Sudan.
Did you hear about that?
No, but I heard about the United Arab Emirates and how they're funding this war or they're fighting in Sudan and their military.
Do you mean Yemen or doing Sudan?
Well, I guess what I want to ask is I'm hopeful that maybe they would have Abraham Accords Round 2 with Lebanon and then maybe Lebanon could be part of a broader regional peace.
Do you think that's possible?
I'm not informed enough to speak on that.
Can I ask why you're carrying the flag in the protest then?
Well, because the war with the war, because, okay, if you want to know, Hezbollah and Israel were in a conflict, we want to talk about the whole history.
Maxwell.
Yes, Carrington.
We got a march to attack.
Okay, we have a march.
All right, well, good luck, and hopefully peace will come.
Yes, peace.
Ceasefire now.
Okay, I think they did get that part.
Well, I'm standing amongst some pro-Trump folks who were not able to get into the Capital I Coliseum where Trump was having some of his presentation.
Because it's quite cold here, what was going to be an outside presentation was moved inside.
Many people, and I would be one of them, also think there was likely a security issue.
It is indeed cold outside, quite cold, but I think that security concerns are at a fever pitch.
And we're in a new era of drone warfare.
I just don't know if that was a feature of things, but I don't know if you saw the news from Iran.
Two or three senior regime judges were just assassinated.
Did you see those headlines?
Reason I mentioned that is you never know if Iran would try and get vengeance on Israel.
Trump is going to move very quickly.
And his choice of a cabinet shows he's not messing around this time.
He's had a long time to think about the errors of his first term.
And I think many of them have to do with personnel.
He hired people in his sanctum sanctorum, in his inner circle, who were actively working against him.
I should mention that Joe Biden, in his final two days as president, in fact, in one case, just minutes before the handover today, Biden pardoned anyone who had undone Trump, from Anthony Fauci to General Mark Milley to today pardoning his entire family, Joe Biden's brother and extended family.
The entire Biden crime family got a Biden pardon today.
And it's very interesting because Trump, I think, is proceeding on a different tack.
I think that you're going to see more action from this presidency, perhaps since any president since Reagan, even more than Reagan.
I'd say I'd have to go back to the Second World War to see a presidential administration that's more action-oriented than this one.
Donald Trump is in his late 70s.
This is his last term.
He has a lot of work to do, some of it grandiose.
He's thinking now of his legacy.
Keeping promises, yes, but also doing things that presidents haven't thought of in a long time.
I think he was joking about turning Canada into the 51st state, but I don't think he's joking about retaking the Panama Canal.
And I don't think he's joking about turning Greenland into a U.S. protectorate either.
You're going to see an amazing Trump presidency.
Some people will love it.
Some people will hate it, but everyone will be riveted by it.
The question that I'm asking is what will the changes be for Canada?
We've been talking a lot about the trade war and the tariffs, but will the cultural change that Trump is bringing to America spill over to us too?
Let me give you an example.
One of Trump's many orders today was to immediately stop the shenanigans about 53 genders.
According to the executive orders Trump issued today, there will only be male and female in the U.S. government from now on.
There were other steps taken against trans extremism.
Will that reverberate in our country too?
Things have gone totally crazy in Canada on the trans agenda.
I think it's going to have an effect on Canada.
Let me give you one small example.
Canadian sports teams sometimes go to the U.S. for tournaments.
Well, if there is a trans player, if there is a biological male playing on a women's sports team, that will not work in a tournament in the United States.
So that's a tiny way that already Trump's agenda will affect us in Canada.
Of course, the economics are a big deal too.
Trump has promised an agency called DOE, Department of Government Efficiency, which will be led by Elon Musk.
If the United States really does dismantle a significant amount of its regulatory burden, it will put pressure on Canada to do the same.
Right now, Canada is headed in the opposite direction.
I remind you that on April 1st, barely two months from now, Canada's carbon tax will actually go up.
How on earth can ordinary Canadian businesses, let alone ordinary Canadian residents, compete with the United States that will be cutting taxes, cutting the size of government, and unleashing economic opportunity.
It really will cause a brain drain from Canada and a capital drain if Canada doesn't change course.
What's also interesting to me is who the Liberals are putting up.
We talked about Chris Juphel and the other leading choice, of course, being Mark Carney, both of them World Economic Forum directors.
What a stark contrast with Donald Trump, who's the anti-globalist.
By the way, my teammates, Sheila Gunreed and Avi Amini, are in Davos today, their first day on the ground reporting.
I will be making my way there tomorrow to join them.
Interestingly, Donald Trump will be giving a speech at the World Economic Forum this year by video link.
He won't be flying to Davos.
I expect it'll be similar to his last speech there, which is to trumpet American values and basically say to the world's investors, if you're serious about prosperity, come to America, invest in America.
One last point about that.
Mark Carney is the champion not just of carbon taxes, but of what's called ESG, environmental, social, and governance.
That's basically the corporate version of DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
His whole career, including when he was at the Bank of England, was about promoting carbon taxes and turning corporations into socialist errand boys.
But in recent weeks and months, that has fallen out of favor, largely because Trump's back.
And so you see major banks from around the world, including major Canadian banks, abandoning the green projects that Mark Carney had worked on ensnaring them.
So as the world pendulum swings back towards freedom and prosperity, as the pragmatists in the world like Mark Zuckerberg suck up to Trump by rediscovering a belief in freedom of speech, those same pressures will be doubly so in Canada.
If you're the leader of a high-tech company, if you're the leader of a prosperous company in Canada, and you see America getting more and more free and more and more friendly to business while Canada continues to raise taxes and go down the woke path, you're going to be faced with a choice pretty soon to move or to perish.
I think, for example, of the enormously successful high-tech company called Shopify, which is basically the sales page of tens of thousands of businesses around the world.
They use Shopify for their website stores, their online stores.
The leaders of Shopify have been outspoken in defense of freedom and smaller taxes.
It'll be fascinating to see if they can hold on and make a go of it in Canada, or if they will do what so many Canadian companies do is and just move to the States.
I've enjoyed my visit here in Washington.
I was delighted to have the honor of interviewing Danielle Smith, who I think has become a real leader on a national stage.
I think she did what was in the interest of all Canadians, not just Albertans.
And that compares favorably to the internecine warfare preferred by other premiers.
Canada's out of the woods for now on terrorists, but I don't know if that'll be the case for long.
Anyways, that's my report from here on the chilly streets of Washington, D.C. I've been invited to a inaugural dinner tonight with two different companies co-sponsoring it.
One of them is rumble.com.
You may know them as the free speech alternative to YouTube, and that's our favorite place to publish videos at Rebel News.
So I was delighted to receive an invitation from Rumble to attend their event, and it's co-sponsored incredibly by Trump's Truth Social platform.
So who knows if we'll have a visit by Donald Trump Jr. or maybe President Trump himself.
I don't know.
There's a lot of these inaugural events.
I thought it would be worth my time to go in case there was, I don't know, I really don't know what to expect.
I've never been to an inaugural ball before.
And even just to meet the leaders of these free speech-oriented social media platforms, I think it's going to be amazing.
Then right on the plane for me to join my colleagues in Davos, there's so much going on with Rebel News right now.
Alexa Lavoie in Quebec covering Trudeau's final MP caucus retreat.
David Menzies, of course, doing amazing work in Ontario.
We've been covering the Trump inauguration in D.C. and Sheila and Avi at the World Economic Forum.
Parliamentary Prorogation Debate00:03:06
That's Rebel News for you.
And the reason we go to these places is not just that they're interesting, but that they affect our life at home back in Canada.
What happened here today in Washington will have a profound effect on us back home.
And that makes it even more shocking that Justin Trudeau, Dominique LeBlanc, Melanie Jolie, the entire federal government and nine out of 10 premiers refused to come here in some sort of petty boycott.
The fact that Justin Trudeau is putting his own vendetta and feud above the national interest is just reason 101 why he's got to go.
Last point, it was when I was down here that I learned that the Federal Court of Canada has agreed with our friends at the Justice Center to have an expedited hearing on their challenge to the legality of the invocation of prorogation.
Let me speak in plain English now.
Remember when Justin Trudeau had the Governor General suspend Parliament to buy him more time because he was going to lose a no-confidence vote?
Well, the Justice Center is challenging that prorogation in Parliament.
Now, I didn't think that was, I thought that was such a long shot, it had no chance.
But then John Carpe reminded me, actually, I didn't know, that in the UK, that prorogation was challenged and defeated.
Here's a quick clip of my conversation about that with John Carpe from a week ago.
Got a very strong precedent from 2019 when in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson prorogued Parliament for five weeks, not nearly as long as the 11 weeks that Justin Trudeau is proroguing Parliament in Canada or trying to.
Boris Johnson porogued Parliament for five weeks, which was longer than the usual one to three weeks.
And the highest court in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom Supreme Court, ruled that it was a violation of the constitutional principle of the sovereignty of parliament.
Johnson had a minority government.
He wanted to get the United Kingdom out of the European Union quicker.
It was dragging on.
It had been three years since the referendum.
And the court ruled that his prorogation of parliament was illegal because it sought to shield the government from scrutiny by parliament.
And we have the same constitution fundamentally in Canada, where the government is or should be accountable to parliament.
The government needs to enjoy the support of the majority of MPs.
And so what we've got Justin Trudeau doing is analogous to what Boris Johnson did in 2019.
Incredibly, the Justice Center won the first preliminary battle, and there will be a hearing in February as to the legality of that prorogation.
Wouldn't it be amazing if the Justice Center managed to get Parliament to reconvene?
That would be amazing.
Agreeing on Oil Sales00:07:37
A lot of things would happen there.
Well, my friends, I'm going to sign off now, and I'm going to show you a few more videos from our time here.
Some are short, some are long.
All of it was interesting, and all of it should be of interest to Canadians, because for better or for worse, we live right next door to the world's most powerful country.
I think it's 90% for the better.
And I think it's in our entire national interest that we find a government that can work constructively with our U.S. neighbors, not to be so bloody petty about it like Trudeau and others are.
From the streets of Washington, D.C. to you at home, on behalf of Rebel News, good night and keep fighting for freedom.
So you think it's a little bit of bluster, a little bit of a salesmanship?
I wouldn't call it bluster.
I would call it negotiation skills.
And I think that's how he made his money.
That's how he knows how to do business.
And I think that's what he's doing.
I'm not going to second guess him, but I wouldn't say that he's ready to put a tariff on tomorrow as soon as he kicks office.
Now, I've heard that that tariff is coming.
I've heard that Trudeau's response to Trump's demand was not sufficient to stop the tariff.
What do you think of that?
Well, I think it's good that he thinks that, and he'll probably be more open to making a good deal.
And how about Quebec?
Because, of course, they've got French-English bilingualism.
How would that go over?
I mean, maybe Louisiana would like that, but what about, and maybe in Springfield, where there's a lot of Haitian folks.
Quebec could just do what they want.
I don't know if any relates to Quebec to begin with.
Sorry, Quebecers.
But they can vote on it.
Wait till you're the 51st state.
Or maybe you'll be the 11th province.
Maybe, maybe, but we'll have guns down here.
Tell old blackface Justin Trudeau to get take a hike.
Cheers.
See you, buddy.
I have a theory that Trump looks at Justin Trudeau and he gets mad and he takes it out on Canada.
I mean, I look at Emmanuel Macron and I get pretty, I actually like France, but I can't stand Emmanuel Macron.
Do you think Trump's just reacting to his personal feelings about Trudeau?
That, I don't know.
Point, I don't understand why it would be done to your best friend.
Well, I'm not sure the Canadians are, best friends.
Well, who is?
Tell me, who's friendlier?
Who's friendlier?
If they were our best friends, they wouldn't be ripping us off and we wouldn't have it.
Where's the ripoff?
But how's it a ripoff to sell?
They're our best friends.
How's it going?
How is it a rip-off to sell you our oil?
Well, it's a ripoff because we have a $10 billion trade deficit.
Okay, but if you wanted to buy oil from someone else, you would.
We could also get it from ourselves.
I mean, that's the whole point.
We would love to get it from ourselves.
I don't want it from the Saudis.
I don't want it from the Canadians.
I want it from us.
All right.
Well, good luck to us all.
Hopefully we can avoid this trade war between our two countries.
Yes, and good luck to you.
I hope we get to stay on the air a little longer.
Maybe when Pierre Polly, however, his name is pronounced, takes office.
Sounds like you're following Canada.
I don't think most of the time.
I got to keep tabs on the 51st state.
We're going to be neighbors soon.
Well, let me ask you this.
I take it by the fact you're at a Trump rally that you're Republican.
Have you ever considered that if Canada were to join the U.S., it would be in the Electoral College like another California?
It would be the biggest state with the most number of representatives in the House and the most electors in the Electoral College.
And most of them would be Democrats.
Oh, well, if you follow everyone other than Nebraska and Maine, you wouldn't split your electoral votes either, and we'd never have another Republican president again.
So, yeah, I don't necessarily, no offense, I think you guys are fine being on your own.
And yeah, no problem.
On oil.
Like, doesn't that just go straight to what you're talking about, inflation of the gas pump?
Like, if we're, I'd have to check, I think it's like 4 million barrels a day we sell to you.
Why would you put tariff on your own oil?
Well, we need to get drilling at home open back up.
I'm from Oklahoma.
Well, that's an oil state.
We're a big oil state.
And, you know, we've got a lot of people out of work because we can't get those jobs because they're restricting us on where we can drill and what we can drill.
But it's like Canada is restricting you.
It's your environmental rules.
Right, absolutely.
We need to get those fixed as well.
It's not funny anymore.
I mean, it really isn't.
And the safety of this continent is what's critical because, you know, if Iran, right, decides to get their nuclear in just a minute and we get bombed, who's going to be defending Canada?
Last question.
United States of America.
Isn't it better for us to sell it to America because we're good friends?
Sure.
Sure.
I don't think you ought to sell it at all.
Well, what are we going to do for a living?
What are you going to do for a living?
Yeah.
Same things you've been doing.
Well, we make a lot of oil and gas.
I would love to sell our oil.
Saudi Arabia.
Sell it to China.
Sell it to someone else.
I don't think that's a good idea for Canada to sell our oil to China.
I would much rather sell our oil to America because you're our best friends.
But we can only take so much.
Well, you're importing a lot of oil.
Anyhow, I just hope that it's a bit of salesmanship banter.
I hope it's not a real thing.
I'm sure it is.
All right.
They're not going to own Canada.
I think you can own it.
Well, he's talking about that.
He's talking about the 51st state, isn't he?
Greenland.
Well, now, that's something we can all agree on.
It's just a negotiating tool.
Again, nobody else will say that in politics.
He'll jump out ahead and you'll come back and negotiate.
You guys are friends.
We love Canada.
Well, I hope that's how it goes.
I think that Trump, I think when he sees a picture of Trudeau, he gets his hackles up, like a lot of Canadians do.
No, it's just a tactic, guys.
It's a tactic.
We're all going to get everything working fine together, you know, and keep up the trade and keep up the back and forth.
I hope you're right.
What do you think they're going to name?
The 51st State.
What do you think the new name is going to be?
Is it going to be Canada?
Is it going to be Ottawa?
Let me scare you for a second.
What if the name of it was California Jr.?
I already heard that part.
Well, I mean, my point being, get ready for an electoral college that might not go the way you want.
It's pretty far left up there.
I think that the two countries can be independent, but friends, lots of good trade, military allies.
What do you think of that?
We're already doing that.
Well, but here comes 25% tariffs.
Isn't that his threat?
That's just ammunition for him to negotiate, basically.
Same thing with the Gulf of America, Greenland, all that.
I like that Gulf of America.
I got a real chuckle out of that.
I agree.
Shuttering.
You know, but Panama, that's serious.
I mean, that was, Americans built that.
Americans died for that.
Jimmy Carter just gave that away.
That was controlled by China.
I think that that is a more serious project than the 51st State.
To, like, of all the things to do, to slap a tariff on oil that you buy for your own refineries, that just seems so counterproductive.
Like, it's not like you're stopping trinkets and junk.
Like oil.
It's what you make gasoline from.
These times take extreme measures.
All right.
Well, listen, good luck at the pump, ladies.
I own a bicycle.
In fact, I own two.
Well, it's a little chilly for that these days.
You guys take care.
Well, but that, okay, I agree with you.
Drill, baby, drill, but that doesn't happen overnight.
Like, that takes months or years, right?
Absolutely.
All right.
I think there's a way we can work together.
All right.
Well, I'm relying on you to be an advocate for Canadian oil.