Ezra Levant condemns Mark Carney’s demand for "decarbonized" oil as impossible, exposing hypocrisy after Carney’s past anti-fossil fuel stance and his appointment of David LeMetti—who sought to strip Alberta/Saskatchewan’s resource rights. At a June 3 Saskatoon meeting, Carney’s proposal sparked outrage, with attendees citing federal neglect of agriculture, pipelines, and Western prosperity since 1905. Tamara Leach and Chris Barber (facing a $300M lawsuit) push for independence over separatism, urging Alberta/Saskatchewan to unite in a new federation. Grassroots groups like Unified Grassroots warn Carney’s policies will escalate separatist tensions, framing sovereignty as the only answer to Ottawa’s decades-long disregard for Western economic survival. [Automatically generated summary]
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Tonight, Mark Carney declares war on Saskatchewan.
It's June 3rd, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
Shame on you, you censorious whoo-bug.
Oh, hi, everybody.
Another day, another airport.
Today I'm in Regina, the Queen City, the capital of Saskatchewan, a province that joined Confederation on the same day as Alberta back in 1905.
Yesterday, there was a meeting in Saskatoon of the first ministers, Mark Carney, meeting with the premiers.
And Carney said something really bizarre.
He said, oh, sure, he'll support oil as long as it's decarbonized, decarbonized.
Look at that really weird clip.
Now, within the broader context of national interest, the interest is in, as mentioned in the press release, decarbonized barrels.
So working alongside forms of decarbonization for those barrels.
That is absolutely in our interest.
It provides diversification of trade partners.
It provides the development of new industries.
It provides economic activity across the West and into the North.
So yes, there's real potential there.
We took up a good deal of our time and discussions and potential to move forward on that.
And if further developed, the federal government will look to advance it.
You know that carbon is what makes oil oil, right?
It's an element in the periodic table.
You can't take carbon out of oil.
It's just part of it.
That would be like taking hydrogen out of water.
It's not water anymore.
I think he's a BSer.
I think he's trying to square the circle.
For the last decade of his public life, he's been against oil and gas.
He's talked about transition off oil and gas, but he just lacks the courage to tell Alberta and Saskatchewan, NBC, and the other energy-producing provinces that, no, he actually is going to carry through on the liberal tradition of blocking oil and gas.
There's no such thing as decarbonized oil.
And anyone who tells you that is selling you something.
That was going on in Saskatoon.
While last night, we had a large meeting in Regina, about 500 people there talking about the possibility of independence.
Because if Alberta has a referendum on independence next year, which looks almost like a certainty, I think Saskatchewan would pay very close attention because, like I say, it was born on the same day as Alberta.
The two provinces are twins.
In fact, I don't know if you know this, but the original plan was for Alberta and Saskatchewan to join Confederation together as one big province called Buffalo, which is sort of cool when you think about it.
I want to tell you one more thing about Mark Carney before I show you some footage from last night's events with 500 folks.
Buffalo Province Dream00:06:37
Carney also announced his principal secretary, which is sort of like his right-hand man, his senior advisor and confidant.
For Justin Trudeau, that person was Gerald Butts until he left in disgrace.
He left, but it was always in the background.
And he found a soft landing at a company, a lobby group in New York City called the Eurasia Group, run by Ian Bremer, that gets a lot of money from the Canadian government.
It's sort of like liberals in exile work there.
Well, wouldn't you know it?
Evan Solomon went there after he was sort of exiled from the CBC.
Now he's an MP and he was just elevated to AI, artificial intelligence cabinet minister for Kearney.
And you know who else works there?
Is Kearney's wife.
It's quite a little place.
Ian Bremer has a lot of influence in Canadian politics and it's for sale, by the way.
What's sort of interesting is during the campaign, he made a tweet that said, oh, don't pay attention to what Mark Carney says, attacking Donald Trump.
He doesn't mean it.
After the election, he'll calm down and be compliant.
That was his advice to his clients and his followers.
Turns out that's exactly what Mark Carney did.
Anyways, back to the principal secretary appointment.
Mark Carney has appointed David LeMetti to be his personal secretary, his cabinet, his right-hand man.
You'll know David LeMeni as the disgraced justice minister who quit and sort of sneaked out of parliament.
He was the one, there's a lot of scandal around David LeMetti.
First of all, he was brought in after Jodie Wilson-Raybold quit, or was fired, actually.
Jodi Wilson-Raybold was perhaps the most principal justice minister in Canadian history.
She wouldn't go along with Justin Trudeau's schemes to stop a prosecution against his buddies at a corrupt firm called SNC Labolette.
And Gerald Butts was the main proponent of that.
So, anyhow, she was drummed out of government, but kept her honor and her ethics.
David LeMeni was brought in by Justin Trudeau to do the opposite.
However, clean Jody Wilson-Raybold was, David LeMetti's job was to be dirty.
He was to be the one who said yes to anything Trudeau wanted.
And in fact, it came to pass that when the Emergencies Act was proposed, clearly illegal, clearly inappropriate, clearly unconstitutional, as a way to deal with the peaceful truckers, David LeMetty rubber-stamped it.
I really to this day believe that Jody Wilson-Raybold would not have rubber-stamped that, but LeMetti did, and the court struck it down as illegal.
Shortly after that, is when LeMetti left.
And you might remember when he left, he deleted his Twitter account, which, not his personal one, his government Twitter account, which meant the destruction of all sorts of public records, including his private messages.
Rebel News ran to court very quickly, and no one less than the Chief Justice of the federal court himself heard the case.
LeMetti was so embarrassed by our lawsuit that he agreed not to delete those records and to hand them over to the library and the archives.
So, even in his disgraceful exit from Parliament, he's a slippery fish and unethical.
That's the guy brought back by Mark Carney.
But there's one more thing I want to tell you about David LeMetti.
I don't know if you remember this, but he mused about removing the ability for Western provinces to use their oil and gas constitutionally.
Here's the story: he was speaking at an Aboriginal event, and he mused out loud that maybe Canada would take away the constitutional right for Alberta and Saskatchewan to develop oil and gas and coal and other mineral wealth.
Because you may know that those provinces, when they joined Confederation, were unequal and they didn't have those rights.
They had to fight for them.
LeMetti, speaking to an Indigenous group, said, You know what?
Wouldn't it be cool if we took away the constitutional power of Alberta and Saskatchewan to run their own energy?
And he never really backed down from that, and neither did Trudeau.
Well, that man, the anti-Alberta, anti-Saskatchewan, dishonorable, sneaky, deeply unethical, document-shredding Montreal insider, has been refurbished and renovated, and he is now the senior insider for Mark Carney.
Just disgraceful, super gross.
And I think it's a bit of a declaration of war against Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Anyway, speaking of Saskatchewan, I'm getting on the plane going back to home.
It's the morning after a huge event that we had in Regina.
I mean, seriously, to get 500 people out in Regina, I mean, proportionately, that would be like 5,000 people in Toronto.
They were very interested because I don't think Saskatchewan will lead any independence movement, but it's right next to Alberta, which will.
And the provinces are so close.
It's almost like they're fraternal twins born on the same day.
Similar sentiments, similar culture, similar history, similar politics.
I mean, so many Saskatchewan people moved to Alberta during the tough times of the NDP and Saskatchewan has just been booming.
There's so much cross-pollination.
It really should have been one big province, by the way.
So I think that Saskatchewan, if they see Alberta has a separatist sovereign sister independence referendum, they might say, hey, can we get that too?
And remember in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has said that she's not going to be for independence, but she will allow the people to choose.
And I think that's not only a strategic move, but it gives her power in negotiating with Mark Carney.
It's the or else.
She has a list of demands on behalf of the people of Alberta, but those demands have been made for years, and Ottawa just laughs.
David Lametty laughs and talks about pushing Alberta around some more, pushing Saskatchewan around some more.
But now with a separatist referendum in the wind, there's an or else to it if the Laurentian elites choose not to listen to what Alberta and Saskatchewan want.
So that's going to be very interesting.
Anyways, that's it for me.
I'm going to go get ready to fly home.
But let me leave you with some moments from last night's event in Regina.
I'll see you soon from our head office.
To say that Alberta or Saskatchewan are simply oil and gas would be like saying Quebec is only poutine.
It shows a shallowness of understanding.
Saskatchewan's Perspective00:10:05
I bet that he has probably been to Alberta and Saskatchewan maybe once each in his entire history.
He just doesn't care to know anything about the West.
Of course, oil and gas is part of the West story, the same way as fish is part of Newfoundland's story.
Absolutely it is.
But that's not all it is.
The pioneering spirit, the breaking the land for the first time, clearing the land, living in a house made of sod that you yourself cleared from the land, clearing the rocks, farming, and bringing life to the land.
That's a culture too.
The culture of self-reliance and of mutual reliance, that's a culture too.
Very different from a welfare state culture.
No need for him to get chippy.
I think what happened there is he realized that feelings of independence in Alberta and Saskatchewan and other parts of the West are probably more passionate and more likely to succeed than his own eternal project.
I mean, seriously, how many decades in a row do you get to call yourself a revolutionary in the Blanc Québécois before people say, aren't you sort of a permanent fixture?
Isn't this sort of a ruse where you play good cop, bad cop with Ottawa, and you make all scary sounds about separatism and you get all sorts of concessions, but it was all with a nudge and a wink from Ottawa.
I think that the reaction by that block Quebecois MP was a realization that he's sort of a phony.
And when there are more block MPs collecting MPs' pensions than there are in the actual House of Commons, I think that tells you something about the authenticity of their project.
I'll get into that later.
Let me pause for a second.
I just had to say that when I saw that clip.
As I said earlier, my name is Ezra Levan.
I'm the founder of Rebel News.
And Rebel News is a national news source.
In fact, we're international.
We sometimes tell stories from other countries in the world too.
Our motto is telling the other side of the story.
And that's what has inspired us to set up a series of town hall meetings.
We had one in Edmonton.
We had one in Calgary.
We're here in Regina.
We're going to have another one in Red Deer.
And we have different goals.
And let me tell you what some of them are.
The first one is to report what the regime media, what the mainstream media, what the bailout media, what the legacy media, what the Mark Carney media will not report.
To tell it like it is and let people make up their minds for themselves.
To show what is actually happening and let our viewers be the judge, rather than have a Ottawa-generated narrative script emerging from the liberal war room or from the CBC.
So in the looming debate over independence, Rebel News will report fairly and accurately on what is happening.
And in that way, we're inspired by my first boss in journalism, Ted Byfield, who decades ago set up the Alberta Report and then the Western Report, and he became not just a great journalist, but a place to go to find the news that the big boys were not covering.
News of, in that case, the growth of the Reform Party.
Now, the Reform Party's motto was the West Wants In.
I worked for Preston Manning for a couple of years, and I saw how hard he tried to reform the country from within.
And although he tried valiantly, and I'm sure many people in this room helped him, in the end, I think it's not being cruel to say the project was a failure.
In the short term, it helped grant three majority governments in a row to Jean-Cretchen.
And in the long term, all the problems that we talked about in the 80s and 90s and 2000s seem to still be here.
And, you know, there was a respite when Stephen Harper was prime minister.
He stopped abusing the West because he was from the West.
But the moment he was replaced, Canada went back to its natural state of taking the wealth of the West, but giving, well, an abusiveness.
In that Donald Trump clip, Trump has a funny way of talking about Canada and the West.
He always says, you'll be the cherished 51st state.
That's a word he always uses, cherished.
And it's sort of funny and it's sort of cheeky, but it makes me think, when was the last time Mark Carney or Jean-Cretchen said to the West, we cherish you?
I don't think I've ever heard it.
And I wouldn't want the empty words.
If I were to hear it, frankly, I wouldn't believe it.
I'd say, don't tell me you love me.
Show me you love me.
That's more valuable to me.
But those clips, there's a little nugget of truth in all of them.
So what will Rebel News do?
We will report accurately and honestly what we see.
And we will not bend the knee to any government paymasters for one reason.
We don't take any money from the government.
And I'm pleased that my colleague Corey Morgan from Western Standard can say the same thing.
The second thing we will do is we will platform people in the movement who do not get any airtime or coverage in the regime media.
What do I mean by that?
The CBC, the post-media newspapers, the radio stations, they have their favorites.
They have their list of people they call all the time.
And you're either in the club or you're not in it.
But what if you're an insurgent?
What if you're an outsider?
What if you are a dissident?
What if you're someone who wants more radical change?
You're not going to be allowed onto their platform.
Even if you wind up being a genuine newsmaker.
Professor Manning himself suffered from this.
He was rarely covered in the early days.
And if he was, he was mocked.
One of the things that Rebel News will do is to cover the people who were behind the story and let them have their say and let the viewers be the judge.
And I guess that goes to the last point.
They're all linked, but just to respect the movement, not immediately treat it with disrespect and hatred.
And I see too much of that already.
Even my old friend, the former premier of Alberta, I hear the language that he used talking about the truckers in there when he talks about Yahoos and fools and grifters.
He may disagree with independence-minded people.
I'm sure he does.
He's always been a nationalist and he's been a monarchist and he's been in many things looking Eastern.
But to disparage people who have a different point of view using the language of the CBC left is something that you will never see in Rebel News.
And I know that goes for Western Standards reporting as well.
So that's what Rebel News is doing.
We're going to continue to report on this movement.
We're going to continue to be a platform from people from different points of view.
And we're going to make sure that this time the voice of the people is not drowned out.
I also want to do some other things, and I'll get into it a little bit later.
I want to learn from other independence movements around the world.
I want to learn what went wrong and what went right.
I want to learn what resonated with people and what was a dead end.
I want to make sure that when it comes to the legal questions or constitutional questions, there's a smart answer to it.
And there's a lot of questions to be answered.
So that, my friends, is why Rebel News is here in Regina today.
And we will continue to travel across the West with our friends to make presentations and answer your questions.
So thank you for being here.
And thank you to Sheila Gunread for chairing this meeting.
I'll sit down now and I'll let Sheila continue the proceedings.
Thank you. Great.
Thanks, boss.
So what we're going to do tonight is we're going to have our panelists, Ezra, Corey, and Nadine, make about a 12, 15 minute presentation, a speech, whatever they want to do.
And then after that, I think we'll have a short Q ⁇ A, maybe a panel discussion.
I feel like maybe I put Nadine on the spot a little bit by saying she has to make a presentation.
You don't have to go first.
Corey can go first.
And I want you, when Corey does come up, be extra nice in your applause to him because he's got to sit and watch the Oilers in the Stanley Cup playoffs this week.
He doesn't care for that.
Corey is a senior columnist and host at the Western Standard.
He's a regular contributor to the Epoch Times.
He's also the author of a book.
It's called The Sovereigntist Handbook.
And I promised him that Regina would buy a full case of books.
And you're halfway there, so make sure you get your book on the way out the door.
From his early days, founding the Albert Independence Party to his current role as the leading voice for Western autonomy, Corey's never shied away from calling out federal overreach and championing the cause of a free and self-reliant West.
Please welcome Corey Morgan.
I would have turned out.
Saskatchewan's showing us how it's done.
And thank you.
We've got to update that flag, though.
Saskatchewan's Example00:10:55
But it's funny, starting with a culture.
And part of what I was looking forward to tonight, you don't need another person from another province telling you what to do.
You guys know what you want to do, what you need to do.
That's why you're here.
But listening to Blanchette say there's no culture, unidentified one, that's only what people who've never left their own province could say.
Anybody who's driven across this country knows that every province, every region has distinct cultures with good and bad aspects to all of them.
But it really shows a lot about the disrespect and contempt that some people in Central Canada hold towards us.
Could you imagine a Western public figure trying to imply Quebec's a culture not worth identifying or speaking about?
No, it'd be unimaginable.
It would be rude.
We shouldn't do that.
We don't have our problems with Quebec, but we can't deny they have a culture.
But they feel they can do it with us.
That's one of the things that's interesting, too.
If somebody hasn't traveled, and it shows a lot with our, as they call themselves, central Canadians, if you look on a map, actually, Manitoba is the center of Canada, but Torontonians figure they're the center of the universe, and we know that.
It's been said a long time.
If it's outside of what you can see from the top of the CN Tower, it doesn't matter.
And that reflects their attitude a lot.
A lot of people think that perhaps there's bitterness from Ontarians or Quebecers towards the West, but actually, guys, it's worse than that.
They're indifferent.
They don't think about us at all.
I'd almost rather they got angry with us.
But no, we are a side note.
We're just a colony to tax, drain, and feed their central Canadian agenda.
And yes, we're getting to a tipping point where we've had enough.
But we've got to watch the barbs.
We've got to watch the attacks.
As I said, it gets frustrating when you see somebody like Blanchette saying something like that, as insulting as it is.
But our issue isn't with the people of Quebec.
It's not with the people of Ontario or Newfoundland or Lower Mainland, BC.
It's the system.
That's where we've got to kind of refocus and remind ourselves.
Canada's system is broken.
It's a system that was built to serve central Canada.
And even our Western representatives tend to fall in with that system once they get out there.
That's why I can't stand it when I see a good friend run to be a member of parliament.
Why send another good person out there?
Ruin them.
But that's what happens.
You know, the old term I think Kreston Manning used to use, auto-washed.
And there's some truth to it.
Jason Kenney, the reformer of the 1990s, fantastic, hardworking, outspoken.
The Jason Kenney of today who's calling us Yahoo's.
Come on, Jason.
But things change when you're out there for a while.
But what we've got here tonight, and this is, again, magnificently packed room, are people who already know.
That's why you're here tonight.
You know the current path hasn't been working.
It hasn't been serving us.
We need to examine new ways.
We need to look to get out.
What I want to talk about more then is the how, because that's the harder part.
We know where we want to go, but we've got to figure out how we're going to get there.
And that's where I'm not talking at you, but we can share experiences and resources with each other.
Because speaking of cultures, if there's any culture that's the closest to Alberta, it's Saskatchewan.
I mean, we're siblings in this whole agreement moving forward.
And we're more powerful walking together than apart.
But at that same time, if we're talking about independence, and if we're talking about following the pathway set in front of us with the Clarity Act and a referendum, that does mean each province has to hold their own.
That only makes sense.
Albertans shouldn't be voting on Saskatchewan's future any more than Torontonians should be voting on ours.
But we have the same goals, we have the same path, we have the same mechanism, but we have the same struggles in getting there.
And we really need to build that base to build that.
So just after the election, I just on a whim did a YouTube video.
It was kind of basically noting a part out of my book and in saying, because Alberta used to have this terrible citizens' initiative referendum legislation.
You'd have to get 600,000 signatures on a paper petition in 90 days.
You know, we're talking full name, full address.
It was impossible.
It was not going to happen.
That was the point of making it that way.
So I put a video out that morning saying this is the first thing Albertans have to do is fix this legislation.
We've got to make it reasonable and achievable.
And it was really actually that afternoon, Premier Smith, and I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't.
She announced she's got Bill 54.
They're going to change it so that the bar was now set to 10% of those who voted in the election rather than 20% of those eligible, which brought it down to 177,000.
Realistically, you'll need 200,000.
Very big task, but achievable.
And now there's groups and people hard at work building the base so that they'll be able to do that when the time comes.
Now in Saskatchewan, you're very much in the same position.
And Nadine, I'm certain, will speak to that.
And she's been working hard on getting that together.
And what you've got is a legislation that allows for a non-binding plebiscite, which is just a poll.
You might as well hold a poll.
And the bar, again, is set based on those eligible to vote rather than those that came out to vote.
So I hope and think, because Premier Scott Moe has been very outspoken for your province, and he's been doing a good job.
He wasn't elected on an independence mandate.
Either was Daniel Smith in Alberta.
And that is why, because some people are saying they should come out fully in support of it.
Well, hang on.
That was not what they were elected on.
They'll stick to what they do.
Just give us the mechanism.
Put it in the hands of the citizens.
We'll take it from there.
You guys don't have to.
And that's how Premier Smith did it.
She hasn't said, and she's getting accused of it anyway.
She hasn't said she supports Western independence.
She's just said, I will respect the will of the Albertan voters in a referendum, and I'm giving them the ability to do it.
That's what Premier Mo needs to do for you guys here.
So that's where, in my view, the pressure you need to put on Premier Mo is just fix the legislation.
You don't have to worry about getting him to come out and demand independence from Ottawa.
Don't worry about that.
You guys do that.
But you've got to get that tool in your hands.
And then to do so, there's a lot of steps.
We've got a long ways to go.
In Alberta, we've got the counterpart of Carla Beck with Nahed Ninchi, former mayor of Calgary, special special man.
He hates citizens' initiatives.
His big crowning achievement as mayor of Calgary was to hold the Olympics there.
He was going to spend billions to bring a vanity project to the Olympics to Calgary.
And one thing, I'll give credit to Rachel Notley, the only thing I think, at the NDP in Alberta, but she said, you know what?
If the government's going to fund an Olympic bid, we're going to put it to the citizens of Calgary in a plebiscite.
The citizens told Nenshi to take his Olympic dreams and roll them up and stuff them up somewhere.
So he hates referenda.
He hates letting people have a choice.
Yet, ironically, just this morning and recently, what he's been saying publicly, he's been calling on Smith saying, let's hold the referendum right now then.
Let's do it right now.
It's because he knows it would fail right now.
I mean, whatever he is, he's not stupid.
It's not principled, but he's not stupid.
And he knows if the trigger is pulled on that thing right now, the organization isn't there.
The support isn't there yet.
And if it came in with 20, 20%, 25% support in a referendum, you're not going to get another chance for five or ten years.
In Saskatchewan, as Nadine again will certainly attest, Carla Beck's been working more hard on just saying we shouldn't even give you guys the means, the ability, the right to vote on it.
Not countering the case of the argument for independence.
They're just saying you aren't even allowed to vote on it.
But they will evolve, I think, when it becomes real that there's going to be a vote here no matter what.
And they'll move more along the lines of Naheda Nenschi and say, let's pull the trigger then and blow this thing up while we can.
But they understand it's real.
Something real is happening.
You know, giving a bit of my background, I wrote the Sovereigntists' Handbook.
And the reason I did that, and I put it out a couple years ago, I founded the Alberta Independence Party back in 2000 when I was 29 years old.
I was a weird young man.
And we made a lot of waves at that time and then blew up.
Much of it due to my own inexperience and leadership and a lot of us and just the nature of independence movements.
We're a prickly bunch.
But I learned a lot.
And I worked a lot with the Wild Rose Party and other things throughout the years after that.
So I thought, you know what?
I want to get all those mistakes into one book so that people can read that and then find a whole bunch of new mistakes to make.
Because there's never anything wrong with a mistake, repeating mistakes.
That's the problem.
So I've shared that and I'm sure there's more to be made, but eventually you're going to run out of mistakes and you're going to get the job done.
And that's why we work with each other.
We talk with each other.
We organize.
So what has to be done now though, I mean, step by step, similar to Alberta.
A lot of it's in the hands of Ottawa.
Over time, as things get worse, people realize the elbows up crowd hiding out there in Regina and Saskatoon.
Wow, even for them, nothing changed.
Nothing got better.
The dollar kept devaluing.
Their pensions still look bleak.
The cost of living is still terrible.
We've got to be there to capture that discontent and direct people towards something positive then.
And that's the other part I spoke on recently.
It's easy to campaign against something, especially when they give us so much to campaign against.
And I forget the quote I used on a video the other day, but Ayn Rand put it out.
It says, you know, no movement has ever been successful working against something.
You've got to work towards something.
So we've got to build that.
We've got to build it ourselves.
We've got to build it in our own networks.
We've got to build it with our friends, families, co-workers, people at the bar, people at the hockey game, and talk positively.
What is the day after independence going to look like?
Why is it going to be better?
And it can be.
This is a culture of freedom.
This is a culture of workers.
This is a culture of individualists who still love to stand up for their neighbors.
There's a lot positive.
But it needs to be in a system that entrenches the ability, the freedoms to be able to do those things.
The ability to fully take advantage of your resources so you can have the lifestyle and your children and grandchildren can look forward to that as well.
Because this should be the richest place on the planet.
And when you look at our GDP per capita, it's bloody embarrassing.
But it's all there.
It's there.
We've got that, but we've got to get it together.
We've got to organize.
Petitioning is tough.
And then when a referendum comes, you're on to a whole new campaign.
It's never been done.
We're in a new period of history for all Western Canada.
There's never been an independence referendum in Alberta or Saskatchewan, which I think is awesome, a great time to be living in, but it also means we don't know what the hell to do.
Saskatchewan's Call for Change00:15:33
As Ezra said, we should be looking at other movements too, see what worked for them, see what didn't.
We're at the educational point of this.
People are ready.
This room is great, as I said, but there's a whole lot of work to do.
We've got the environment, we've got the ability, we've got the future, but we've got to organize, get the means.
We've got to figure out when the time comes.
How are we going to get that tipping point of supporters?
As I said, the opponents know it's not there yet.
That's why they want to pull the trigger.
And it's going to come fast.
In Alberta, it might be early 2026.
It's going to be a tough task to bring it over a clear majority into 50% by then.
But once that clock's ticking, then you've got to go for it.
So one of the first steps is getting together in a place like this tonight, sharing with each other, learning from each other, organizing, finding that path, finding out what's not going to work.
But of course, most importantly, finding out what's going to work.
So what has brought you out to this event tonight?
We're a little bit scared of where Canada is heading.
We're old, so we don't have a lot of time left, but we've got grandchildren and children, so we want to see a bright future for them.
So, and we watch rebel news all the time.
So, yeah.
Yeah, I like listening to Ezra.
Well, and Mark Kearney was in the province today.
Do you think that the Western provinces are going to get that change that they're seeking from Prime Minister Mark Kearney?
No.
I think he is the same as Trudeau, where the promises will be made and all the promises will be broken.
What's brought you to the event tonight?
I'm tired of what's happening in Ottawa, tired of being shut out by these people that think that the only ones that deserve anything is the people in Central Canada.
And we've been burned for many, many years here out in the West, and it's time for something to happen, something to change.
Well, and Mark Carney's actually just made his visit here to Saskatchewan.
Do you think that he's going to provide change for Western Canada?
No, I do not.
Not for one moment do I think that's going to happen.
He's kind of the head guy for net zero.
That means no CO2, which, you know, they've fooled people into believing that that's a poison when it's not.
And he's going to continue on that path.
He's going to push net zero.
They're not going to open up any more pipelines for any oil to get to Tidewater for sure, because that's what he lives on.
What brought you to this Regina Rebel News separatist event?
I'm from Manitoba.
We don't want to be left behind.
Fair enough.
Well, what is it about Manitoba?
What was the unfair treatment you say they've gotten from Ottawa?
Well, we're in agriculture, just ignored, and we lose 10 times out of 10.
We lose even when we have, even when we're on the side of the party in power, the focal point is always Central Canada.
So our interests are always second.
Now, some polling suggests that Saskatchewan is the center point of separation right now within Canada.
Most people talking about it are the most support being here in Saskatchewan.
Why do you think that is?
Government.
Federal government mostly.
Dissatisfaction with the way that Parliament has conducted itself.
Our votes don't count.
That's probably the biggest thing.
And, you know, we're a resource-based economy, and there doesn't seem to be any attention paid to the resources or to the farmers, particularly the canola.
Nobody seems to be fighting for us.
We might as well be fighting for ourselves.
I'm here because I think the West has been, this is a time for us to review the essence of being in Canada as a federation.
So I've been listening to the revenue news and I think there's no better people to talk to at this point.
Now, exactly how has Saskatchewan gotten an unfair deal from Ottawa?
Well, I mean, you can see like what we had in the last decades.
Lost liberal decades.
That was led by one of the worst prime ministers we've ever had in the history of this country.
And for me, I'm obviously an immigrant that came into this country about 11 years ago.
And I came here because I thought the future and the direction of this country was what was looking forward to.
But Saskatchewan in particular, as a province, has been stifled by the regulations of the liberals, particularly like pipelines, for example.
The oil and gas is one of the strategic strengths of this province.
And farming also is one of the strengths of this province.
But if you look at what is going on today with all the rules, with the carbon issues and all that, the farmers have been stifled.
The oil and gas have been stifled.
And so we cannot maximize our potential as a province.
So this is a time for us.
All of these as a result of the insane regulatory measure, draconic measure by the last government.
So I'm here because as a Saskatchewan resident, I believe that we could do a lot more in this, sorry to say, use the word, we need to reveal our stay in this country.
Well, and why is it, do you think, that separations, according to polls, seems to be the highest in Saskatchewan?
Well, I thought it was Alberta, but a lot of dissatisfaction with the past liberal governments.
It just goes without saying.
It's a thing that's there, you know.
And it won't change until something really happens between all the different levels of government, provincial and federal.
What has brought you to this Rebel News Separatist Town Hall of Ed?
I'm a big fan of Canada.
I want to know where it went.
Fair enough.
Well, and why is it that we see Western provinces, notably Alberta and Saskatchewan, have such high separation sentiments in the province?
It's just sick, tired.
Nothing's going to change unless we change it.
And today, yesterday, we've had Mark Carney here in Saskatchewan.
Do you think that that's going to make a dent?
I'd like to make it, Dan, all right.
What has brought you to this Rebel News Regina Separatist Town Hall of Ed?
Well, I guess I'm just tired of the West being screwed by the East my whole life.
That's what's happened.
Now, obviously, I'm coming from Alberta.
And there, obviously, people know it's, you know, oil.
There's contention there with the federal government.
What is it about Saskatchewan that has them causing issues with the federal government?
It's the same.
I mean, I think we got more raw minerals in Alberta.
We're just untouched.
We're just waiting to be found.
So I think it's just time for us to be on our own.
I kind of like Daniel Smith's thoughts about maybe being a country within our country, just like Quebec.
Like, we don't have to separate and we don't have to leave.
We don't have to become the 51st state, although myself, I wish we would become the 51st state.
I mean, I love America.
I mean, they've protected us our whole life.
We'd be speaking German right now if it wasn't for the American troops, 450,000 American troops that were killed.
I know there was 45,000 Canadians killed as well, but I think it's time that we just kept our wealth here.
And I think we'd have everything we need if we kept our wealth in Western Canada.
I mean, Quebec's been a country within a country our whole life, and all they've done is had their hands out.
We wouldn't have our hands out.
We'd just keep our money.
And that would be very, very good for us, I think.
Why is it that separation sentiment in Saskatchewan is comparably high to the rest of the country?
Well, I think we have an aging population who remembers what it was like, probably more in rural areas.
And the young people nowadays have nothing to compare what it was like then to what it's like now.
And I think the older people are going to be the ones that make a difference.
And what do you make of Mark Carney now being the prime minister?
And he's obviously in Saskatchewan today.
Do you think that he's going to make a change?
I wouldn't count on it.
Obviously, right now, Alberta is setting themselves up for a referendum on separation next year.
What would be your message to them?
Go for it.
And I think I love the idea, you know, that Saskatchewan and Alberta were supposed to be Buffalo.
And I think we would be a formidable force if we were back in 1905 before they split us up and allowed us to be that union.
We would have everything.
And, you know, like they've said, we would have the highest per capita income in the world with the resources that we have.
And also, Alberta is setting itself up for a referendum on separation next year.
What would your message to Albertans be?
Please push hard for it and teach us how to do it.
Do it.
Yeah, I hope we hope we follow it.
For the uninitiated, could you just introduce yourself?
I'm getting that word wrong.
Tamara Leach.
I was one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy.
And what brought you to this event?
Well, I saw that Rebel News was coming to Regina and it was so close.
And obviously, I think this is an important conversation to have, how the West has been treated by Ottawa, and I really wanted to come and support.
And do you think that Mark Carney, he's in Saskatchewan today, do you think that he's going to deliver for Western provinces?
Well, I haven't seen any action yet.
I hear a lot of words, which is very typical of the liberal governments that we're used to.
So I think until we see some concrete action, I'm pretty happy with the position that Danielle Smith has taken, putting her foot down and, you know, telling the government what we need out here.
And I've been asking those here from Saskatchewan, you know, what's their message to Albertans and their possible referendum next year, those who might be inclined to vote for separation.
What would be your message to Saskatchewan people?
Well, I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, so I obviously have a deep, deep love of this province and the people in it.
And, you know, they talked about it a little bit tonight.
I can't see Alberta leaving and not taking Saskatchewan with it or having Saskatchewan want to join us.
We are kind of a team, like siblings.
And, you know, it's getting out to events like this and having the conversation and talking about what a more autonomous West would look like and how that's going to benefit us in the future.
For the uninitiated, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Chris Barber.
I'm a truck driver business owner in the province of Saskatchewan.
And you're also facing a bit of a serious court battle.
Where is that standing right now?
We're waiting for sentencing right now, July 21st to the 25th is the sentencing area for Tamara and myself.
A lot of different legal deals we're working with right now within the motion for dismissal right now, stay that we've just spent the last week in Ottawa with.
And then of course we have the $300 million lawsuit on our tails right now from the citizens of Ottawa.
And so how did you go from Freedom Convoy and now you're at a separatist town hall?
Well, I don't want to say it's a separatist.
I want to say it's an independence.
Ottawa has controlled this country for far too long.
There's a great divide between West and East right now.
And I think we're in the position right now where we need to start having these conversations.
Why is it that Saskatchewan in particular seems to have high support for independence?
Well, Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as portions of Manitoba and British Columbia are feeling that anxiety towards the East right now and just the lack of control that we actually have over our everyday ability.
And it seems like they're crippling a lot of our industry out here.
And I think it's time we have this conversation.
If you had a message for an Albertan separatist, what would that message be?
Well, I don't like the word separatist, but I like the word independence.
And, you know, Quebec has been doing it quite successfully for many years.
So why can't we have that same conversation that they've been doing there, too?
It's about people standing up right now and letting their feelings be known on what needs to change in this country for us to move forward.
And do you think Mark Carney is going to deliver that change?
I have high doubts that he will.
I just see it as another Trudeau.
You look at his cabinet, it's the same thing.
So one can hope, and I'm praying that there's something good comes out of it.
But right now, there's not much prosperity there.
For the uninitiated, could you introduce yourself?
Nadine Ness with Unified Grassroots.
And Unified Grassroots, is that similar to the APP, right?
Yeah, it's very similar.
We started during COVID.
We do a little bit different work.
We do a lot of democratic education to try to get more people involved, more engaged into politics or just government.
I guess we're kind of like a populist grassroots-driven movement.
We're not as organized as APP, per se.
We just don't have like the, I guess they have a lot of lawyers and stuff who's kind of moving their stuff and they have a lot of information that we're not quite there.
We're just now stepping onto the whole independence movement as an organization.
And you look to Alberta and then you, to the west, you look to Alberta.
To the east, you look to Ontario, the federal government.
What happened going west across the country that not only Alberta but Saskatchewan, parts of British Columbia, are all feeling this separatist sentiment at the same time?
I think it's because there's completely different culture within Canada.
So like I said in my speech, I'm from the East Coast.
So I know that mindset and I know the mindset of the West.
And I myself had an awakening.
And it's not necessarily that we don't want similar things.
The difference is how we get there.
And I think the Western provinces have been overlooked and ignored and not treated fairly, not treated with respect.
And I think they're done.
And I would agree with that.
Even someone coming from the East, now settled and living in the West, I've been here since 2009 in Saskatchewan.
And I think we're seeing decisions made at the federal level that are affecting us negatively at the Western level.
And some people say it's kind of left versus right.
I don't even think it's that.
I think it's city versus rural.
And they're making policies based on city living that are affecting negatively rural folks.
And that's what the West mostly is.
It's rural people.
Well, and on that note, I think that's a great point because Mark Carney just announced that he wants to do more collaboration with municipalities.
While at the same time, he's also here today in Saskatchewan.
Do you think that he's going to provide for Western Canadians?
No, I don't think so.
And while he might be saying some great things that sound great, if you look at who he is to his core, his values, I don't know if you've read his book, and if you look at the jobs that he's held and the ideology that he's pushed forward, it's very much going to be ideology that's going to negatively affect the West.
I think he's just talking a good game right now, but I don't think he's going to be able to stop himself from pushing his ideas.
Mark Carney's Western Promise00:02:54
And his idea like net zero, destroying our oil and gas industry, I don't think he's going to be able to stop himself.
He was the main guy pushing ESG, pushing the world economic.
He wasn't just a member of the World Economic Forum.
He was a board member.
The direction they went, he was part of.
So I don't feel hopeful.
I think he's pulling the wool over a lot of Canadians.
He's trying to squash the momentum for the Western independence movement.
And I think it's going to backfire.
It might be temporary where it might work, but I think within matters of months and potentially a few months, we're going to start seeing those policies that negatively affect us.
And then we're going to be right there waiting for the people to give them a home, give them a voice to kind of push this movement forward.
Luckily, I haven't read the book.
Unfortunately, I've had to watch tens of hours of his interviews and conversations and what have you.
But last question for you.
If you had a message for Alberta and the separatists that are aiming to have a referendum next year, what would your message to them be?
Don't go without us.
If Saskatchewan stays in Canada and Alberta goes, we're going to be in a real, real mess of a problem.
So hopefully, I'm hoping we're going to be able to gain enough momentum in Saskatchewan so they don't go alone.
And I'm hoping they consider having us as part of their official country.
I think an Alberta-Saskatchewan government would be really wonderful.
When it comes to separation, it seems like Alberta and Saskatchewan have a bit of a bond here, of course, both leaning towards separation comparatively to other provinces.
What message would you send to Albertans about the feelings here in Saskatchewan?
Well, we stand with you.
We're aligned with you.
It's no secret that the premiers are all meeting in Saskatoon tonight, today, last night.
We'll see whether or not it amounts to anything.
Most people don't feel it's going to amount to much.
And what would your message be to Alberta?
Because obviously that seems like one of the hotbeds for separation right now, Saskatchewan a little more, though.
But what would your message be to Albertan separatists?
It's not separatism.
It's independence.
It's sovereignty.
It's time.
It just makes sense.
It's a very positive thing.
And leadership from Alberta will show the rest of us that it's time for a new federation.
Why is it that Saskatchewan does have the highest numbers, do you think, when it comes to polling and those who would decide to separate?
Why do you think Saskatchewan's the center point?
Probably the resource industries and the economy are very dominant in Saskatchewan.
And hey, Saskatchewan's taking the lead on all kinds of political movements in Canada, from the progressive movement to the CCF.