Mark Carney’s May 6 White House meeting with Donald Trump, despite trade tensions—Trump vowing tariffs on cars, steel, and aluminum while praising Carney’s leadership—sparked Alberta’s independence push. Premier Daniel Smith’s non-binding referendum and negotiation panel drew skepticism; the Republican Party of Alberta (RPA), led by Cameron Davies, raised $123K in Q1, gained 20K members in 48 hours, and plans a 300-stop tour, demanding real political will like Brexit. Rebel News backs the RPA’s separatist goals but warns of establishment bias, comparing it to Quebec’s unchallenged separatism while CBC faces criticism for suppressing dissent. The episode underscores how Carney’s election and U.S.-Canada trade disputes are fueling Alberta’s constitutional breakaway ambitions. [Automatically generated summary]
Mark Carney went to the White House and it was not a disaster.
There were some disagreements, but I think he actually had a pretty good day.
I'll take you through it with 10 different clips from the meeting.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
I want you to see the facial expressions, the gestures.
I want you to see the body language when Carney and Trump met.
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Mark Carney's Trump Meeting00:15:10
Tonight, Mark Carney meets with Donald Trump, and it was a love-in.
It's May 6th, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
I was going to do my monologue today about Danielle Smith's interesting announcement yesterday, but we'll have plenty of time to dig into that in the weeks ahead.
She basically announced she's opening up two tracks with Ottawa, a negotiation track to get more rights and respect within Confederation, but also she's permitting Alberta citizens to have a referendum on secession.
Very interesting combination.
But I'd like to today show you some clips from Mark Carney's meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
Now, Trump likes to have press scrums in the Oval Office with foreign leaders.
Sometimes it goes really well, like his visit with the Irish president.
Time honor tradition.
I'm going to present the bowl of shamrock to President Trump.
Boy, they were nervous that would go sideways because all the Irish politicians take shots at Trump.
I don't think he even knew it.
Sometimes his meetings don't go well, like when Vladimir Zelensky visited, and at the last minute you could tell he decided to scupper an agreement that he just didn't like.
Remember this?
You're right now not in a very good position.
You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position from the very beginning of the war.
You're not in a good position.
You don't have the cards right now.
With us, you start having playing cards.
Right now, you don't have to be afraid of Mr. President.
You're playing cards.
You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.
You're gambling with World War III.
You're gambling with World War III.
And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.
Sometimes the meetings can be a little bit tense, like when the United Kingdom's Kiir Starmer met with Trump.
Starmer brought gifts with him, which was smart.
He brought an invitation to a state dinner with the king.
So this is a letter from His Majesty the King.
It's an invitation for a second state visit.
This is really special.
This has never happened before.
This is unprecedented.
And I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us.
So this is a very special letter.
I think the last state visit was a tremendous success.
It was.
His Majesty the King wants to make this even better.
But Trump and JD Vance had their own plans.
They took Starmer to task publicly for the UK's infringements on freedom of speech.
Great.
Yeah.
Look, I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the UK and also with some of our European allies.
But we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British, of course, what the British do in their own country is up to them, but also affect American technology companies and by extension American citizens.
So that is something that we'll talk about today at lunch.
We've had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom, and it will last for a very, very long time.
So which one of these precedents would it be with Mark Carney?
The friendly Irish visit, the disastrous Ukrainian visit, or the half and half UK visit?
Well, I mean, Carney had some brutal things to say about Trump during the election campaign up here, but I honestly don't think the White House even pays much attention to Canada at all, let alone our campaigns.
Half the time, when Trump tweeted about the election, I honestly don't think he knew Carney's name.
And there were moments when it seemed like Trump still thought Trudeau was around, which he's not.
Here's what Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick had to say just yesterday, which again sounds a bit boilerplate.
You know what I mean?
Like that?
It sounds like a prefabricated statement.
Can we make a deal with Canada?
I think it's really complex.
I think this is really complex because they have been basically feeding off of us for decades upon decades upon decades, right?
They have their socialist regime, and it's basically feeding off of America.
I mean, the president calls that our all the time.
Why do we make cars in Canada?
Why do we do our films in Canada?
Come on.
So I think the president's going to have, I think it's going to be a fascinating meeting.
I'm glad I'm going to be there listening, but it's going to be a fascinating meeting tomorrow.
But I watched the whole meeting today, and I have to say, from Mark Carney's point of view, really couldn't have gone much better, with one exception that I'll mention.
But here, the whole public press conference was over half an hour, but much of it was Trump talking about other matters, like the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, who apparently have agreed to stop being terrorists, and a teaser about an announcement from the Middle East that's yet to come.
But here are 10 clips from the parts that do pertain to Canada.
I think they're interesting.
I'll show you the 10 clips.
I think the most startling thing for many Canadians, especially liberals, the kind who said elbows up, the kind who told pollsters that fighting back against Trump was their top issue, was Trump celebrating Carney's victory.
And in fact, taking some credit for it right off the top.
It's a great honor to have Prime Minister Mark Carney with us.
As you know, just a few days ago, he won a very big election in Canada.
And I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him, but I can't take vote credit.
His party was losing by a lot, and he ended up winning.
So I really want to congratulate him.
It was probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics.
Maybe even greater than mine.
But I want to just congratulate you.
That was a great election, actually.
I honestly don't know what to make of that.
I don't understand how Trump could favor a globalist environmentalist extremist, a former board member of the World Economic Forum.
I mean, put aside Carney's personal insults to Trump, how would Trump prefer a socialist woke tax hiker?
I just don't get it.
Here's another clip where Trump says Mark Carney wants to end the war in Ukraine.
I think we have a lot of things in common.
We have some tough points to go over, and that'll be fine.
We're going to also be discussing Ukraine-Russia, the war, because Mark wants it ended as quickly as I do.
I think it has to end.
Now, I'm sure in a way that's true.
I suppose everyone wants an end to the war, but it's certainly a change of politics and policy from Trudeau, who talked about supporting Ukraine no matter what, all the way to the bitter end.
Or maybe Carney just didn't have a chance to get it word in edge-wise.
I'm not sure.
Now, Carney spoke next, and it was actually the most incredible part.
It was a love-in.
He said he admires Trump.
He respects him.
He loves his leadership.
I mean, holy moly.
I tell you, he couldn't have been more different a week ago.
Take a look.
Mark, would you like to say a few words?
Well, thank you, Mr. President.
I'm on the edge of my seat, actually.
But thank you for your hospitality and above all for your leadership.
You're a transformational president, a focus on the economy with a relentless focus on the American worker, securing your borders, ending the scourge of fentanyl and other opioids, and securing the world.
And I've been elected with my colleagues here, with the help of my colleagues here.
I'm going to spread the credit to transform Canada with a similar focus on the economy, securing our borders, again on fentanyl, much greater focus on defense and security, securing the Arctic and developing the Arctic.
And the history of Canada and the U.S. is we're stronger when we work together and there's many opportunities to work together.
And I look forward to addressing some of those issues that we have, but also finding those areas of mutual cooperation so we can go forward.
That's correct.
Very nice.
Thank you very much.
It's a very nice statement.
Hang on.
Does Mark Carney really have a mandate to transform Canada?
Does he really?
In what way?
I don't think he's actually told us.
Then Trump came with more praise.
I don't believe for a minute that Trump watched the debates, but here's what he said about them.
I have a lot of respect for this man, and I watched him come up in a cinch through the ranks when he wasn't given much of a chance.
And he ran a really great campaign.
He did a really great debate.
I think that debate was very helpful.
I was going to raise my hand.
I don't know if that's good or bad.
I shouldn't say that.
That might hurt you.
But no, he ran a really great election, I thought.
And yeah, something could happen.
And here's something that seems surprising.
Trump said he wanted nothing from Canada except friendship.
Concession you want out of Canada, the top concession you want out of the country.
Concession?
Yes.
Friendship.
But that's not a concession.
We're going to be friends with Canada.
Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada.
Canada is a very special place to meet.
I know so many people that live in Canada.
I don't really think that's true.
In fact, in the following moments, Trump did bring up his issues.
Then came the 51st state thing, and Trump explains it again, that it was Trudeau who put the idea in his head, which we know from others is how it happened.
Trump tones it down a bit with Carney right there, but later starts to dream out loud about it again.
Mr. Prime Minister, I'd like to get your response to this too.
Mr. President, you have said that Canada should become the fit first state.
No, no.
Well, I still believe that, but, you know, it takes two to tango, right?
But no, I do.
I mean, I believe it would be a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens.
You get free military, you get tremendous medical cares and other things.
There would be a lot of advantages, but it would be a massive tax cut.
And it's also a beautiful, you know, as a real estate developer, you know, I'm a real estate developer at heart.
When you get rid of that artificially drawn line, somebody drew that line many years ago with like a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country.
When you look at that beautiful formation when it's together, I'm a very artistic person, but when I looked at that, you know, I said that's the way it was meant to be.
But, you know, I guess I do feel it's much better for Canada.
Now, Mark Carney didn't want to let that stand.
And I think he managed to disagree with Trump on the 51st state business in a way that actually clicked with Trump and lowered the temperature on that a bit.
As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.
It's true.
We're sitting in one right now, you know, Buckingham Palace, if you visited as well.
That's true.
And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale, won't be for sale ever.
But the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together.
And we have done that in the past.
And part of that, as the President just said, is with respect to our own security.
And my government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security and our partnership.
And I'll say this as well, that the President has revitalized international security, revitalized NATO, and us playing our full weight in NATO, and that will be part.
And then Trump tore a strip off Christia Freeland.
I won't say this about Mark, but I didn't like his predecessor.
I didn't like a person that worked for.
She was terrible, actually.
She was a terrible person.
And she really hurt that deal very badly because she tried to take advantage of the deal and she didn't get away with it.
You know what I'm talking about.
But so, you know, we had a bad relationship having to do with the fact that we disagreed with the way they viewed the deal.
And we ended it.
You know, we ended that relationship pretty much.
The U.S. MCA is great for all countries.
It's good for all countries.
We do have a negotiation coming up over the next year or so to adjust it or terminate it.
I've got just two more clips I want to show you.
Here's Trump when he was asked if there was anything anyone could do to make him lift the tariffs.
Mr. President, is there anything the Prime Minister can say to you today to change your mind on tariffing Canada?
Tariffing cars?
Tariffing Canada.
Is there anything he could say to you in the course of your meetings with him today that could get you to lift tariffs on Canada?
No.
Why not?
Just the way it is.
Now, Carney weighed in again, suggesting that he has some issues he wants to raise with Trump about those tariffs.
And then Trump makes it pretty clear that he's not interested in bending on his key issue, automobiles.
Trump talks about a trade deficit with Canada.
Now, oil and gas imports are the biggest part of that.
Trump earlier said that the U.S. doesn't need Canadian oil.
That's just not the facts.
We help the U.S. displace OPEC conflict oil.
They import almost 10 million barrels a day, and better to get it from us than from the Saudis or Qataris.
But he only mentioned the oil and gas thing in passing.
What he's really against, I think, and what Carney hasn't been able to convince him otherwise, it seems, is that the U.S. wants to get out of the Auto Pact.
That's the, well, I guess it's almost 70-year-old, 65-year-old deal with the U.S. for free trade in the auto sector.
The U.S. wants to build its own cars in America, not buy them from Canada.
The tremendous auto sector between the two of us and the changes they've made have been helpful.
You know, 50% of a car that comes from Canada is American.
That's not like anywhere else in the world.
And to your question about is there one thing?
No, this is a bigger discussion.
There are much bigger forces involved.
And this will take some time and some discussions.
And that's why we're here to have those discussions.
And that is represented by who's sitting around the table.
See, the conflict is, and this is very friendly.
This is not going to be like we had another little blow-up with somebody else.
That was a much different.
This is a very friendly conversation, but we want to make our own cars.
We don't really want cars from Canada.
And we put tariffs on cars from Canada, and at a certain point, it won't make economic sense for Canada to build those cars.
And we don't want steel from Canada because we're making our own steel and we're having massive steel plants being built right now as we speak.
We really don't want Canadian steel and we don't want Canadian aluminum and various other things because we want to be able to do it ourselves.
And we, because of past thinking of people, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada.
In other words, they have a surplus with us.
And there's no reason for us to be subsidizing Canada.
Canada's a place that will have to be able to take care of itself economically.
What do you think?
Liberal Voters Don't Care00:02:22
I think it went pretty well for Kearney.
I think any true believers, Trump derangement syndrome, liberal voters, will be confused, just like I'm confused.
But really, liberal voters don't care.
They're on the red team.
They hate the blue team.
They're especially against Pierre Polyev, so they're happy no matter what happened, I think.
I don't see how having a liberal, globalist, environmentalist, anti-carbon radical at Canada's helm.
I don't see how that helps the U.S. or his America First agenda.
I just honestly don't understand it.
I admit that.
I'll try to understand it in the months ahead.
I'm sure you will too.
Stay with us for more.
The last 10 years, successive liberal governments in Ottawa, supported by their new Democrat allies, have unleashed a tidal wave of laws, policies, and political attacks aimed directly at Alberta's free economy.
And in effect...
against the future and livelihoods of our people.
They have blocked new pipelines with C-69, canceled multiple oil and gas projects, and banned the very tanker ships needed to carry those resources to new markets.
They have stacked an oil and gas production cap on top of a crippling industrial carbon tax, making new energy and agricultural projects economically impossible to pursue without massive subsidies from governments, which Ottawa has failed to provide and which our taxpayers cannot afford.
This onslaught of anti-energy, anti-agriculture, and anti-resource development policies have scared away global investments to the tune of a half a trillion dollars, driving those investments and jobs out of Alberta and Canada to much more attractive investment climates in the United States, Asia, and the Middle East.
Having traveled much of the world these past few years, it is evident that Canada is not viewed as an attractive place to invest in resource development, manufacturing, or agriculture because of our high carbon taxes, endless red tape, and the uncertainty and chaos brought about by these and other federal government policies.
There it is, a clip from Alberta Premier Daniel Smith's presentation yesterday.
Very interesting.
I like what's going on.
Premier's Call for Independence Referendum00:10:06
It's sort of a two-track approach: a panel on how to get a better position within Confederation, but also lighting the fuse on what will surely be a referendum.
And we spoke last week with Keith Wilson, the king's counsel, the lawyer, who pointed out the new rules for a citizen referendum.
You only need 177,000 names on a petition, which in a province of almost 5 million people shouldn't be too hard to get.
You also have 120 days to get it.
The premier herself suggested that she would not be for separation, but she would respect the wishes of voters who, if that was the will of the people.
Very interesting strategy.
But it suggests to me that the premier will be more the presiding host of the referendum as opposed to a contestant therein.
We'll try and get the premier on the show later this week.
But there are others who are ready to make their move now.
Some are civil society organizations.
Some are registered parties.
And here's one that I didn't even know existed, I'll tell you that.
I suppose that's what happens when you move out of Alberta and move to Toronto.
You sort of lose touch with the grassroots.
But I'm delighted today to be joined by Cameron Davies.
He's the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta.
And I went through their literature and it looks like there's some familiar names there.
I see my old buddy Art Hanger, former Reform Party member of Parliament, is their VP of Policy.
That's a familiar name joining us now.
It's Cameron Davies.
Cameron, nice to meet you.
Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks for having me, Ezra.
It's always good to see you.
I think we bumped into each other a few years ago at some conservative convention.
We're always bumping into each other at, but it's great to see you again.
And we're excited to help build the political will to ensure that not only a binding referendum happens, but that the will of the people is followed through on.
If you recall, a few short years ago, Alberta spent, the Alberta government spent millions of dollars educating and promoting an equalization referendum that Albertans voted on overwhelmingly in favor of.
And since then, successive so-called conservative governments in Alberta have done absolutely nothing to enact the will of the people.
You know, it's funny, just when you said that, it made me think of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom.
By the way, the entire establishment was against Brexit.
All the political parties other than UKIP, all the banks, all the media, all the celebrities, all the important people, everyone except for the citizens who voted for it.
And my point of saying that is Brexit.
And it was split.
It was split, but it was a win.
But here's the thing.
The parties in power slow walked implementing Brexit for years.
In fact, they had to be sort of finally hectored into doing it.
So it sounds to me like you're saying winning the referendum is step one, but then implementing it is step two.
I would say step one would be harder.
Here's why, Cameron.
Every single force of the establishment would be able to squash it.
And they would take it seriously.
I think Brexit sort of sneaked through.
It sort of caught everyone by surprise.
But when the Premier herself is saying, we're going to do this, I don't know.
So you say the RDR.
Tell me what's happened.
What have you detected?
The Empire is striking back against the rebels who would secede.
Tell me what you've seen or heard.
So interesting language yesterday.
The language was that we would be having another panel, yet another panel.
We've already had panels in Alberta, if you recall, the Fair Deal Panel 1.0.
And now we're having the Alberta Next panel, which we articulated yesterday that we're not interested in Alberta Next.
We're interested in Alberta first.
But Albertans are tired of panels.
Much of the speech from the UCP yesterday was regurgitation of tired talking points that Alberta's been mistreated, but somehow another panel is going to lead the way and solve these problems.
It simply won't.
The fact of the matter is that a citizen-led referendum could turn into, with this current government, nothing more than a recommendation.
And that's what we're here fighting against, that there has to be a binding referendum that the legislative powers are bound to execute on.
Isn't that what the Premier will is also required?
Kevin, sorry, to interrupt, isn't that what the Premier said?
Like, isn't that the big news from yesterday that the Premier is saying, like, to me, to make note of a key point to make note of there, Ezra, is that the language that was used is fascinating, that there would be multiple items on a referendum, which could include a question on Alberta independence.
Now, many who have looked at the Clarity Act understand that it has to be a singular question for it to count, if you will.
And so there's already a bit of a poison pill, if you will, in that the provincial government is looking at a plethora of questions, not a singular question on independence.
And so there already seems to be some muddying of the waters, an attempt to appease and talk out of all sides to try and appease all Albertans, that I'm against separation, but I'm going to allow the voters to have a vote of one of many votes on things they're displeased with.
And that is not how the independence process has to play out.
There needs to be a binding referendum, even in the UK, and I say this from experience having worked on the Brexit campaign in favor of leave.
Even in the Brexit campaign, we had a split in the Conservative Party in the UK.
And many UK MPs were in favor, many were against.
But we had some political will pushing for it nonetheless.
Well, okay, you've made your case.
You suggest that it's not a, that there's some wiggle room in there or that the water has been muddied.
I'll look at it again with your warning in mind, but it certainly seemed quite, it seemed clear to me.
I'll go back and look at it maybe with a more lawyerly skepticism.
But let me park that for a second.
I want to talk a little bit more about the party, Alberta Republicans.
Tell me more about the party.
Republican has a certain meaning.
Why don't you define the party for me and then I might ask you some follow-up questions?
Go ahead.
Perfect.
We are 100% focused on a binding independence referendum so that Albertans can have the opportunity to choose a new form of government, a constitutional republic, as over 30 other nations in the Commonwealth have chosen to form a new system of government and to take into our own hands our own self-determination and determine our own future.
That's what we're focused on.
Okay.
Was the party registered as Alberta Republicans or did it start as something else?
It started off as a pro-autonomy party prior to the 2022 UCP leadership race.
And what was it called back?
And it was called the Buffalo Party in reference to the territory of Buffalo between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
It was one of the premier groups pushing for autonomy at the time.
And if you recall, in the 2022 leadership race, the leading contender pushed forward a policy called the Sovereignty Act.
And the first order of government after that leadership race was to change the Sovereignty Act to a sovereignty act within a United Canada.
And that was the first, if you will, betrayal of those who had supported absolute sovereignty for Alberta within the UCP.
All right.
I hear what you're saying.
So you're a harder line than the Premier.
And I think there's certainly room for that.
Now, Republicans suggest a republic, I think.
And that suggests that why don't you tell me what that means?
I mean, some people want to join the United States.
Some separate want to join the United States.
Some want what the Partique used to call sovereignty association with Canada.
Other people talk about being an independent member of the Commonwealth.
What is the position of your party on that sort of final status question?
So, first of all, we're not affiliated with any political party, whether that be within Canada or without Canada.
We are your own political party.
We are a political party here in the province of Alberta currently.
Our mission is to see Alberta as an independent constitutional republic.
We want to see that the change of government includes separation of powers that don't currently exist, among other things, that Albertans can have more autonomy over their medical choices and property rights, including firearms ownership.
We are in an abusive and toxic relationship with Ottawa, and it's not something that's new.
It's something that's been happening for decades.
And we've tried mediation.
We've tried counseling, if you will.
And the time is now.
Albertans have had enough, and it's time for a divorce.
It's an interesting analogy.
I've referred to that same analogy when Donald Trump, quote, proposed to Canada.
I would say, well, that sounds like an indecent proposal for a couple of years.
We're not interested in arranged marriages right now.
That's not even on the discussion.
Now, before I was in journalism, I was in the Reform Party of Canada.
Riding the Wave of Independence00:11:22
So I know a little bit about some of these issues.
And I also know the difficulty of a startup party, as does Art Hanger.
In fact, back in the day, some 25, 30 years ago, I used to battle with art against the bad guys.
And what little I know about politics tells me you need a few things.
You need money.
You absolutely need money to hire staff, to buy ads, to, you know, you just, that's how it works.
You need money to even design something quote for free on the internet takes money.
The second thing is you need is members.
You need people.
You need them to talk to their neighbors, to put up lawn signs, things like that.
And then the third thing I think, and I'm just making up my own list here, is you need a leader who is out there leading every day in the media, on the ground, crisscrossing the province.
I think those are three important elements to a win.
Absolutely.
What does your party have to say about money, members, and the leader?
Why don't you take me through each of those?
How's your fundraiser?
What's your budget like?
How much money do you have?
Well, I can point to our Q1 financials.
So there are currently five independence-leaning parties in the province.
And in quarter one, the Republican Party of Alberta posted a fundraising achievement of just under $123,000.
All four other independence-minded parties, I think, combined, raised just under $6,000.
And so on the fundraising side, there is a coalescence of independence-minded Albertans that are rallying behind the Republican Party of Alberta.
On the membership side, within 48 hours of the federal election, we had signed up over 11,000 new members, bringing our party membership to just over 20,000 current members.
If you recall, in 2015, the Wild Rose Party had a membership base of around 30 to 35,000 members.
So we are well on our way to becoming the fastest growing, and we are the fastest-growing conservative alternative here in the province of Alberta.
And on leadership, I have committed to touring over 300 stops across the province between now and end of the year.
And we are well on our way on that tour.
It's been an amazing experience so far.
We have had packed out town halls, standing room only, and the engagement from Albertans don't believe mainstream media.
Independence and actual independence from Canada is on the rise.
We're beyond this talk of being Team Canada and in a united Canada.
Albertans won out.
They've had enough.
And 300 stops, that's a very busy itinerary.
Does that mean you're doing this full-time?
I am.
I am.
I've taken a leave from the positions I held with my companies, and I am doing this full-time because Alberta is too important.
Do you have any allies?
Do you have any tell me, are there any influencers or business leaders or retired politicians who've said, I like those.
For example, I'm just going to make up a name, Preston Manning.
I don't know.
I mean, he's written some interesting things.
In the Globe and Mail, he said Mark Carney could be the end of Canada.
He wrote that op-ed in the Globe about a month ago, and it caused some ruffled feathers at least.
Have you had any people from the Reform Party, from the Canadian Alliance, from the Conservative Party of Canada, and more likely retired than current?
Has anyone joined your team as some sort of a gray-haired source of wisdom?
I might put Art Hanger in that category.
Who else?
Art Hanger's been a great source of wisdom.
You brought him up earlier.
Another gentleman that we've spoken to frequently and has been a great source of encouragement and wisdom from having been in the trenches in this particular endeavor before is former MLA Gordon Kessler.
And him and I have talked several times, and he's been a fantastic, fantastic source of support.
We have a former United Conservative Party executive member on our current board right now.
And so, and there, and there are many.
We've had entire constituency association boards that have walked over from the UCP to join the RPA.
So, there's been an immense amount of institutional knowledge that the early days of Wild Rose 2007, 2008, didn't have.
And so, we're about a step ahead in some regards in getting that support from those who have been in the trenches before.
We have some of the founding members of the UCP board in our corner helping us out and cheering us on.
So, there's a lot of institutional knowledge and wealth that's been falling and supporting the RPA and helping us get to where we are today.
And the support is just increasing.
There's always the naysayers, Ezra, and you know this having been through in the trenches yourself.
There's always the naysayers and those who say, well, we don't need political solutions.
We just need to sign a piece of paper and snap our fingers, and everything's going to be okay.
And our political experience shows otherwise.
I think you've seen that.
You highlighted Brexit.
It took political leadership and the Reform Party to essentially force the execution of Brexit to happen.
And Alberta is not any different.
It will take political will to see this across the finish line, and that's what we're here to focus on the build.
One more question, just a detail.
You say you have 20,000 members now.
How many electoral associations or riding associations?
I'm not sure what you prefer to call them.
How many local in each riding, the committee, the board, nominating a candidate?
I think their job would be more to fight for the referendum as opposed to nominating the candidate just yet.
All of the above.
How many of these have up in the riding?
We have a different approach to it.
So we start off ridings as a riding branch, which is an unofficial organization in a riding.
And currently, there's about 38 riding branches that have been formed.
There is a more formal process once a threshold of memberships in those ridings has been reached and once there's an organizational plan, if you will, like a franchise to ensure that there's a proper organization on the ground, a president, a CFO, so that that riding branch can turn into a constituency association and then participate in the policy development process, which is ongoing.
And in fact, MP, former MP Art Hanger, is our VP of policy and doing a great job at organizing that, preparing for this fall's AGM and policy convention.
Well, Cameron, it's all very interesting.
And let me just tell you what Rebel News' approach is going to be.
I mean, I'm born and raised in Alberta, and I did some work with the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance.
And for about five minutes, I was actually a candidate with the Canadian Alliance before I stepped aside for some young pup named Stephen Harper.
But I live in Toronto now, and Rebel News' main office is in Toronto.
We have journalists across the country, including in Alberta, and we're incredibly sympathetic to Alberta.
And we are pro-Alberta.
And we agree with the thesis that Ottawa, especially the Liberals, are punitive towards Alberta.
And we support this referendum.
We support Albertans having the right to complain.
The law was, the precedent was set by Quebec, approved by Parliament in the Clarity Act, approved by the Supreme Court in the constitutional reference.
So we believe that Alberta should have just as much right as Quebec to exercise its democratic functions.
And we believe that those who contest it should be dealt with respect.
You don't see the kind of calumnies and vitriol towards the Parti Québécois or the Block Québécois.
In fact, the opposite.
You see Ottawa sucking up to them, appeasing them, compromising with them, bargaining with them.
You don't hear them denouncing them.
So our role as Rebel News will be to be honest brokers and to help host the conversation and the debates.
In fact, we're having two town hall meetings next week in Alberta.
We've got on Edmonton on Monday night and Calgary on Wednesday night.
And unfortunately, that coincides with some hockey games.
But we've already sold out the Calgary event, and I think we'll sell out the Edmonton event too.
There's a lot of interest out there.
People want to hear what's going on.
So I just wanted to tell you, Cameron, Rebel News will be a friendly, objective, truth-telling, democratically sympathetic journalistic outfit because I think you are going to be attacked by every establishment force that you know of and many that you don't know of.
Well, Ezra, my background in Alberta's oil patch and later in life serving as a United States Marine have prepared me in many ways to have the resilience, grit, and determination to see this fight through, no matter what flies our way.
And we are dedicated to this mission.
We appreciate your support in being an advocate for those voices that would see a free and independent Alberta.
And Another Easterner who has been on our side for some time is law professor Bruce Pardee.
In fact, he'll be a speaker at our rally for Alberta on May 24th in Red Deer.
And of course, you and the team are more than welcome to attend, as are all Albertans.
It will be the largest rally for Alberta independence that this province has ever seen.
And it's going to further ignite the fuel and organization that this movement needs to ensure that Alberta independence becomes a reality.
So I would just encourage your viewers, visit AlbertaRepublicans.com, get involved.
This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
All right, May 24th in Red Deer.
Well, I'll try and make it if I'm available.
Cameron Davies, leader of the Alberta Republicans, thanks for spending a little time with me, giving me a little bit of a briefing, telling me a little bit of the shape of your organization.
It'll be interesting to see how you progress in the months ahead.
And I think if I can't attend in Red Deer, I'm sure one of our Alberta team will.
So thanks for the heads up about that.
Keep in touch.
This is a very important story.
In fact, I dare say this could well be the most important story of the next year.
Thank you so much for having me, Ezra.
It's always good to connect with you.
And we're in this to make Alberta truly strong and free.
All right.
There you have it.
Cameron Davies, leader of the Alberta Republicans.
Stay with us.
Your letters to me next.
Hey, welcome back.
Your letters to me.
CBC's Narrative Control00:01:57
Lisa Clark says, if CBC is such a national treasure, why do they turn off the comment section on their newscasts?
They don't want anyone questioning their narrative.
That's why.
Yeah, oh boy, they would get more thumbs down than thumbs up if it was on YouTube.
I think a lot of people are sick of the CBC agenda.
But really, like I always say, they only have to please one viewer.
For the last 10 years, it was Justin Trudeau.
Now it's Mark Carney.
Every single day, Rebel News and other independent journalists have to listen to our viewers.
And if we don't, we go out of business because we're no longer supportive.
It's sort of the opposite with the CBC.
They only have to please Mark Carney, and they know how.
Next letter from Ricci Buckdo says, if you wanted more Canadian news, why did they shut down the media scrum after the English debate?
This guy contradicts himself on a daily basis.
They don't want more news.
The fewer news sources, the better.
They literally arranged it so Facebook no longer shares news.
Who does that hurt?
It doesn't hurt the big players like CTV, CBC, Global.
It hurts independent upstarts that are shared more often peer-to-peer on social platforms, social media platforms.
They do not want more news.
You have to understand that.
Last letter from Michael Carrier, who says, the look on Carney's face when Trump mentioned what a loser Freeland is was priceless.
And the sad part is there are hundreds of them in our government.
It's a weird thing.
I really haven't seen such an anti-American campaign in memory.
Maybe the free trade debates in the 1980s, but even that was more substantive.
People were worried about technical things.
Here it was just raw America hate, Trump hate.
And why Trump is fine with that, I do not understand.
Maybe I will be illuminated one day.
That's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.