Shaun Newman Podcast - #992 - Marc Cohodes

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Marc Cohodes is a prominent American short seller and investor, widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and outspoken figures in the field. He began his career at Northern Trust Company in 1982 before joining Rocker Partners (later Copper River Partners), where he served as a general partner from 1985 to 2009, building a reputation for identifying and profiting from fraudulent or overvalued companies through rigorous investigations. His work exposing financial misconduct has been featured in major outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, and Bloomberg, as well as in books on market fraud, and he was the subject of Harvard Business School case studies. We discuss Alberta Independence, the state of Canada and the CCP. Tickets to Cornerstone Forum 26’: https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone26/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

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This is Tammy Peterson. This is Danielle Smith. This is James Lindsay. Hey, this is Brett Kessel, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Thursday. How's everybody doing today? Well, did you know you can hold physical gold and silver in your registered accounts?

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The Cornerstone Forum, March 28th at the Westing Calgary Airport, where you have an excellent, excellent lineup showing up, including Premier Daniel Smith, Martin Armstrong, Tom Longo, Alex Kraner, Neil Oliver, Vince Land, Matt Erritt, Chad Prater, Karen Kotowski, Sam Cooper. I can hear people laughing as a butcher that name. Anyways, Larry C. Johnson, I'm working on it. Oh, my goodness. Yes, and here's the crazy thing about the Cornerstone Forum.

I was just saying this to Mel last night, okay? I was in this, like, big push. We got to get to, oh, man, I just hope we get to, like, I don't know, 400 tickets sold. I don't know what it is. And as I sit here this morning, and I better pull it up here so that I, I don't miscount what the number is. Okay? I went from being like, holy crap, we got this many tickets left.

We got to get to this many tickets sold to we only have 139 left. I'm like, when did that happen? And actually, nope, make that 138. I just add one more in there, folks, because they just keep coming, okay? So there's 138 tickets left, which may sound like a lot, but just to put it in perspective, We sold 150 in a week. So if you're sitting on the fence and you haven't bought your tickets left yet, don't wait. Because I'm like, I've went from, oh, man, I just hope we, you know, the fear of maybe we'll get enough people there to make this thing work.

Two, I'm like, oh my God, I think we're going to sell this thing out. And we're at 138 tickets left. I know when I told BVCU and SGB that, they were both like, holy crap, I better get on some of the customers who've been talking about coming but haven't bought their tickets yet. If that's you, don't wait, all right? The Cornerstone Forum returns March 28th. Tickets are going to sell up. I'm calling it right now. 138 left.

That number two years ago would have made me a little bit nervous. But today where I sit, I'm like, holy crap, we're going to sell this thing out. I want you to be there. Don't wait. Grab your ticket. Today, it's all down on the show notes. Cornerstone 4. Showpass.com backslash cornerstone 26.

Forgive me. It's all down in the show notes. If you're listening or watching on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Rumble X, Substack, Facebook, make sure to subscribe, make sure to leave a review. And if you are on Substack, consider becoming a Pave member, gets you some behind-the-scenes footage and some things before anyone else sees it, I might add. And of course, it is the one way which you can support what I do. Appreciate it if you do.

And if you don't, it's free to subscribe to you. All the episodes are there as well. Now, let's get on to that tale of the tape. Today's guest is an American short seller and investor. I'm talking about Mark Cohodas. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Numa podcast today. I'm joined by Mark Cohodas.

Sir, thanks for hopping on. Hey, always fun to be with you. I have to increase my rankings from last year. So I figure we'll start it out early. I chuckled about that when you commented. I got to find a way to get higher up in the top 25. I thought you guys did quite well myself. If it's not one, two, or three, it's a failure.

So here we go. If you ain't first, your last little Ricky Bobby. He play to win the game. Well, you know, Mark, I guess I'm just going to set you loose today. You know, like there's been a lot of chatter going on about Carney when he was at the Wef. And then, you know, he'd mentioned that, you know, it wasn't that long ago. China was our biggest enemy or, you know, concern. on the world stage that he goes to China and, you know, takes Premier Scott Moe with them.

And a whole bunch of things have changed since then, you know, China, Kearney, Canada, your thoughts. Trump, Bessent. So for all those new to the program and my program, I'm a U.S.-based guy. I'm not Canadian. I don't hate Canada. I love when we refer to Canada as Arctic Mexico, so I'll use that a bit today. So there's no hate in me.

I try to be a realist and explain to people my views. Sam Cooper and I have been on this train since 2014, and things have slowly played out the way we thought, and they've gotten worse, but now it's sort of getting out of control. And I want to walk through what I would do if I lived in Canada and what I think is going to happen. So we live in chaotic times. So everyone's playbook from, I'd say, 18 months back, you might as well throw out. Because Trump runs the United States and what's changed.

here is it's now a kingdom and he's the king. And you can see it sort of with ice playing out in Minnesota. There's no reason for him to be there. I mean, Minnesota is not a threat. I mean, Minnesota is a democratic state and Trump lost Minnesota so he doesn't mind taking it out on those people. But now you have white people in broad daylight and sub-zero temperatures wearing masks, shooting other white people. So if you don't believe in, you don't believe in chaos, you know, stop and realize that we're in a chaotic time where anything goes. And Trump is the North American king. He is actually the worldwide king because he produces havoc and creates theater whenever he says it or whatever he does. So for people to think we're in normal times,

That's mistake number one. Mistake number two is the path that Canada's on, or Arctic, Mexico is non-sustainable. You have, I break down Canada in eastern Canada, which is basically Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes. And, you know, people I know walk around the ports of Halifax, and there's, people are so drugged out. they're just zombies. And then you have Western Canada, which is basically Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC. BC's owned and operated by the CCP, so we'll leave them out of the conversation for now. So the key, the way I see it is, the key is Alberta. And I think as Alberta goes, so will Canada. and I've talked to Treasury.

I was in D.C. I was sort of summoned to D.C. in September, Labor Day weekend. And I spoke with Treasury people, and I've spoken with Sissus, which is your guy's intelligence group and others. And so Sam Cooper, by the way. So Sam and I, you know, talk to the same people. And the United States views Canada, and especially with this new Chinese trade deal, pre-Davos and Post, Davos, they view it as a danger. There's money laundering, there's financial crime.

We have the United States enemy, which is the CCP on our northern border. We have flip-flop Carney, who's actually very weak. He says one thing on Monday, different thing, Tuesday. And Trump sort of plays them like a fiddle. So the whole wild card here, and the adult in the room in the United States is Scott Besson, who's the Secretary of Treasury. And he realizes how valuable Alberta really is. And if you're from Alberta or you are Alberta or you're Daniel Smith, you have to be asking yourself the question. Why is Alberta sending something to the tune of $15 billion a year to Ottawa?

And what does it exactly get Alberta? How does Alberta win by doing this? Because if you do the math over the last half decade, you know, you're getting close to $100 billion of what do they call it equalization payments paid back east. So if you're Alberta, you're saying, what are we getting for this money? And my thought and point to Treasury was, why doesn't the United States cut a deal with Alberta, where Alberta basically becomes a territory? They become the United States number one trading partner. We, as in the United States, bring them, you know, regulatory banking, which is better than this OSFI, which is a complete shit show. We'll get into that if you want.

will bring them law enforcement and we'll bring them more open borders with the states. And Alberta, you get to keep your money. You don't have to pay it to Eastern Canada. You don't have to pay it to Ottawa because you get nothing for it. And I think that will be the key domino that trips because anyone who's anyone in Alberta, they all won out. I mean, they all know that what's going on is not. sustainable. Carney doesn't give a rat's ass about Alberta. He just he just wants to go on his world tour preach his bullshit and try to attempt to cut trade deals with Canada,

with you know people who the United States don't view as friendly. We know the United States is keenly aware of Arctic, which is Greenland and how they're trying to play that situation out. But if you look at a map, there's an awful lot of Arctic in Canada or Arctic Mexico, as I'd like to say. And if you think Greenland's a risk, Northern Canada or the Arctic is a huge risk. So if you line up all the cards, you turn the face cards over. You say Canada has Arctic. Canada has resources. Canada has a government that's very shaky, is being kind.

You have huge polarization between Eastern Canada and Western Canada. E.B., who is the Premier of BC, he used to know what was going on, but he's now completely captured. That's a zombie place. Maritimes are zombie. Ontario now has Ford with his EVs now that come in I mean no one's on the same page no one's on the same page

and Trump loves dealing and is very comfortable in chaos and he's very sudden and I think there is a plan and I think Canada sort of gets split up or the map gets reconfigured. And I think, you know, again, I think chaotic times are around the corner.

Well, I think you said it best. It's not around the corner. We're living in chaotic times right now. Oh, we're living in it right now. But I think things can get ratcheted up in a hurry. I mean, there was rhetoric on Venezuela, rhetoric on, I mean, he's had rhetoric on Venezuela for a while. and he's bombing rowboats without board engines out of the water. Now, realistically, those boats to get to the United States would have to be refueled 30 times

to go from Venezuela to hit South Florida. So realistically, those weren't drug boats, but he starts by blowing the boats out of the water. The next thing, you wake up, and Venezuela, the leader was cast. He's a bad guy and he's in jail. And Trump just says, we're running Venezuela. He takes the oil, he sells it, he puts in the bank account in Qatar, and all of a sudden Venezuela is sort of out of the headlines. And the Venezuela thing is over.

And then you have Carney, instead of Carney saying and getting down on his hands and knees and says, Mr. Trump, we are an ally of yours. We want to help. We have resources. have resources, we want to do all sorts of things. With you, you're our number one trading partner and we want to make things right. He does all this stuff to try to show up Trump, whether it's elbows up, whether it's running the billboards about, you know, Reaganomics or whatever bullshit. they do things to more piss them off and why piss them off when you can just work with them.

But Carney has this agenda, and I don't get it because it's so stupid. And you have Alberta, I mean, the real leader of Canada to me is Daniel Smith. I mean, she's the only real adult in the room. And she holds all the cards. But I'll tell you this, the people Alberta are pissed up, and I think they will vote to pull out. And I think that's the big domino that falls. And I do know for sure Treasury, U.S. Treasury is well aware of this. And they're well aware of the financial crimes and the drugs, laundering, the CCP, TD Bank.

I mean, TD Bank got popped on a $3 billion money laundering hit. Not by Canada, but by the U.S. authorities. The U.S., the DOJ and the FBI, they're the ones who are bringing law enforcement on Canada, not Canadians. Where's the RCMP? Where's OSFI, you know, the banking regulator? Where is everyone? They're non-existent. So it's the U.S. who brings up all these issues and tries to enforce the law up there.

And it's just very inside out. I mean, but to me, it's clear as day. I mean, if you, I'm a huge Sam Cooper fan. I mean, that goes without saying. I mean, him and I were talking about his new business model, the Bureau after Global said, you're bad for business, when he was hired away from the Vancouver son, who told him he's bad for business.

And now Sam, you know, to me, is the most credible journalist in North America because he's single, handedly exposing all this garbage. So it's all out there to see it's a very chaotic, interesting, dangerous time, but it's fun to be alive and to try to think clearly through these times. That's sort of first, first starters, and there's plenty more we can talk about. Well, you bring up Ospy, and I wonder if we just don't circle back around on that immediate, you're talking about banking and maybe you can break that down for me.

Okay. So Osfi is the Canadian banking regulator and they used to have balls. And the reason, I mean, I'm not an expert in anything. I mean, I have strong opinions, but I was involved and I exposed something called Home Capital Group, which was a subprime Canadian mortgage fraud, publicly traded, stock. And based in Toronto, I exposed them, I think, in 2015, 16, 17. And Osfi basically went in there and you guys would call it stage the bank. And the Canadian government had to go into Warren Buffett to stop a run on the bank. The OSC, Ontario Securities Commission banned the top three

executives from that were serving on a public company again. They were fined money and the bank was a complete shit show right under Osfi's eyes. And I exposed their subprime mortgages. They're mismarking the book. They're lying to investors. The whole thing. So Osfi knows of the massive amounts of mortgage fraud in Canada and does nothing. Osvi is TD's regulator and they knew of all the money laundering into the United States and Canada and did nothing. It was the U.S. regulators who did it. So there's really five banks and real banks in Canada, right? There's RBC, there's CIB, there's TD, Scotia.

It's that National Bank, which is that Quebec outfit. And instead of cracking down on all, the financial crimes and what's going on, they do nothing. And people assume because they do nothing that nothing is wrong. But there is a real estate fund that was written about recently that had to put up gates that wouldn't allow redemptions on its fund. And that's really a bad sign. It wouldn't allow redemptions because the assets aren't worth what they're on the books for. And they have no cash to pay out investors. So that is a canary in a coal mine. The financial crimes that Sam Cooper talks about is another canary. TD getting busted in the United States is another one.

The drugs that's well known that are coming over from Canada to the United States, that's another issue. And in the meantime, the banking regulator instead of tightening the screws on everyone, making everyone disclosed, kicking the tires and saying, why is this going on? They do nothing. And I think that's a sign that the government does not want to panic its people or to talk realistically about what's truly going on. I mean, the backdrop of this is the average hard work in Canadian pays, what, 50% in tax? And if you make a real living, you pay 53, something like that. And the tax base really is shrinking and doing less well while the people who come into the country

and do bad things, they don't pay any tax. It's sort of the third world's country club. You can come into Canada with stolen money or ill-gotten money, do whatever. you want to do, pay no tax, buy land. Who wouldn't want to do that? And that money goes through the banks. And Osfi has to know about it. They have to know what's going on. But they're silent throughout the entire process. They're dead silent. And my deal to Treasury would be there exists a system. where the Canadian banks sort of become U.S. banks, where the FDIC, the OCC, sort of oversee the Canadian banks and clean up all this garbage. Knock out the money laundering, knock out the financial crimes, knock out all the bullshit, and try to get the thing, you know, somewhat, somewhat fixed.

but we're ways away from that, but things can get fixed. And I think over time they will get fixed, but there's going to be held to pay before we get sort of to the fix. You brought up Venezuela, right, and how there was signs leading up to Trump walking in, grabbing Maduro. There's a headline and big news for probably a week, roughly, maybe it was 10 days and then it's kind of just disappeared.

Trump's like, it's mine and we're going to deal with this and we're going to control the things and stay off our turf. And when I heard that, I'm like, everybody's talking about Greenland. And don't get me wrong, at Davos, his speech talked about Greenland for a period of time. But I'm like, why is nobody talking about Canada, Mark? I mean, we have the longest border with you guys. We're so integrated in trade and all the different things you're talking about. And then you add on the Arctic and everything else that we have and the resources and everything else.

You talk about the flags or the red flags of Venezuela. Do you see the same red flags coming for Canada? Yeah, I mean, the red light is flashing. I mean, that's why I'm trying on my Twitter where I'm at all their laying eggs. there's a there's a whole crew that completely gets it and then there's a whole crew that's like living in denial and folks the light is flashing bright red and all it takes from king trump is a tweet or two i mean The Bessent went on the Sunday talk shows in the United States. What is today? Wednesday.

And talks about this bad Chinese trade deal. The United States is an economic war with China. That should be as clear today. Anyone who has greater than a eighth grade education up there should have that figured out. But Carney, for whatever reason, keeps wanting to fuck with Trump. and I put out on Twitter the other day, I said, who in the hell believes or supports Carney? And it's this naive thing that people think

that you should support Carney because he stands up to Trump. Carney doesn't stand up to Trump. Carney is just sort of baiting Trump and trying to trick-fuck Trump. And it just doesn't work. So as you say, as you said, Arctic, check. Resources, rare earth, check. Unstable government.

Double check. Sort of a civil war without there being a war, which is Western Canada versus Eastern Canada. Check, check, check. Bessence, intimated that they're either going to have talks with Danielle Smith, has had talks with Daniel Smith, or something to that effect. And that was sort of one of my suggestions because this whole thing can go down very smoothly if the U.S. simply wants to cut a deal with Alberta.

And I think they do. And I think Alberta wants to cut a deal with the United States. States. Who wouldn't? But it's this Canada trying to punch above its weight class, trying to pick a rhetorical fight with Trump, which is basically entering Trump's junkyard. That's exactly what he wants. He wants to bait Canada exactly into this. And Eby, who my girlfriend and were the two Americans actually invited to his inauguration. E.B. and I used to be pals. I mean, I helped E.B. with a platform beat Christy Clark, who I thought was horrible. And E.B. and I had a falling out because the first bit of rhetoric from Trump that came out, E.B. called me and said,

what do you think? And I said, what you should do is say, Mr. President, although I disagree with you on certain points, we need help here in various things. We have a drug problem in BC. We have an immigration problem in BC. We clearly have a CCP problem in BC. But we would love nothing more than to trade with the United States, but we need some help. We need border help. We need money help. We need FDIC help. So instead, what does E.B. do?

He goes the complete other way. He says, you know, Trump's being a bully. You know, BC is not going to do this. BC is going to only buy BC products. We're going to throw out American booze. And it's like, man, what has happened to you? I mean, you've completely sold your soul to the worst people around. And instead of helping BC and working with the United States, you give Trump the middle finger.

And it's fine to give Trump the middle finger. It's fine to not like him. I'm not a Trump, or it's fine to call him Ordinj Man or a pedophile or whatever people say. But he's a powerful fucking guy. It a powerful country. And China is sort of like the U.S. is like little brother. Little brother, I mean. If you're 35, little brother is age six.

And it's only getting worse. So as you said, all the signs are there. All the signs are there, but the ball starting to roll down the hill at a quickening pace. and I don't think the average Canadian understands what Canada looks like without one Alberta's payments, equalization payments, I think they call them, which is not a small number. And what could happen and how appealing it would be for Albertans just to be independent and then sort of be a territory. They wouldn't be a U.S. territory.

They wouldn't be a U.S. state. It'd sort of be like a Gibraltar. They'd have their own thing. The U.S. would be a favorite trading partner. Canada would be a favorite trading partner. But Danielle would just simply say, we're more than happy to go it alone right here. We don't, we don't,

what is it that Alberta gets from base Canada? What does Alberta get from Ottawa? I mean, there's, I mean, point of fact, Canada or Bank of Canada, they own no gold. I mean, gold's been a bigger asset tone than Bitcoin. What did Bank of Canada do? I sold it at the absolute bottom. Canada doesn't have a Navy, right?

There is no Navy. The United States could basically take Canada in about 96 minutes. There's what two cell phone providers? I mean, didn't Shaw by Rogers or Rogers. I mean, you know, it's sort of like if you get nothing out of it, nothing out of this, and I want this to be ranked one, two, or three for next year. Think people, just slow down and think and say, how does this have a good ending?

Because Trump's not waking up on Monday and saying, I'm all wrong on Canada. The CCP, you know, is now trading there. They now have everything infiltrated there. I mean, guys like you and Sam and Jason, I mean, you provide people with this great service. The Canadian government pays the mainstream media, what, $3 billion a year to run their propaganda, to fund all the stuff. So the stuff you hear folks from the mainstream media is all Canadian government propaganda to make you think that everything is just great. And it's just simply not. And part of, I think, what's coming are going to be capital controls. I think Carney, when things start

getting heated up is not going to allow capital to flee the country. And I think, you know, all the signs are there. And the reason I think people should pay attention is you can Google me, you can Google Sam. There's plenty of podcasts we've done over the years, articles, things we've said. And it's all turned out to be true. So, It's not like I've just landed here from Mars with these points. Try to be provocative. I try to wake people up. I try to get people to think.

But as you said, all the signs are there. Why aren't people talking about it? Mainstream media is being paid $3 billion a year to keep their mouth shut. You know, to say Carney's speech in Davos was the greatest speech in the world. well it's just a it's just a bunch of garbage you know it's just it's just junk nothing solved why can't the united states and again why can't bass and go to daniel smith and say you know you're having a problem moving your oil through western ports in canada no problem let's just build a pipeline starting on montana going west and you can ship your oil through here

no problem why we'll we'll do it with you you know, we'll be a buyer of your oil. We'll help you send it to wherever you want to go. E.B. doesn't want to do it because he's worried about the Indians, but I guess you can't call him Indians anymore. You have to call him First Nation or whatever the hell he has going on. So the problem's big. Solutions are big.

But there's no simple fix if you live in Canada. It just isn't. Well, if you're living in Alberta right now, and I know you've seen some of the videos, people talk, you know, I love the comments that come back in on social media on X specifically about it is a small fringe minority. There are just these few people out, but I've been around political things now for going on, I guess, five years. And, you know, I've seen when things are, there's nothing going on.

There's 30 people that show up and, you know, yeah, they want to listen. and they're the same 30 they'll show up on any day of the week if you just put out your you know something's going on for 5,000 people plus to descend on calgary the other night and to see that that audience that's something but what's else is something in alberta is any little town that puts on anything where there's going to be a canvasser you have this lineup out the door and mark i know you know this about up here it's not exactly uh sunny and and the beach like florida There are days where it is pretty miserable to stand outside and wait or to have to drive somewhere and wait and all the things. And Albertans right now, is it 50% of Alberts?

No, I wouldn't think so. But there is a large, a growing percentage of Albertans that are showing up and starting to just be like, I just want to sign this thing. Let's get moving. And I think, I don't know, you can tell me from your eyes, but from where I sit, you know, you know, know, Doomberg in me had just talked. And he had said whether it was real or not. And you know, and so I got talking with my group of friends on real because we're here. It's like, oh, it feels pretty real.

I was talking with a few of the people who attend in the freedom convoy. And their thoughts I echo. It feels very freedom convoy-esque. There's the same energy in it of like, maybe there's a way out of this. Maybe there's a way for Alberta to just like say no more of this. Like we're just tired of everything that's going on in Canada. So, you roll the tape back, and again, you know, the internet has a memory, and that's a good thing about the internet. You roll it back to BC when Christy Clark was running the show.

And E.B. and the NDP were nothing. They were polling somewhere near 2%. And E.B. and I used to be really tight. E.B. Sam Cooper and I, I'm still really tight with Sam, but E.B. Sam Cooper and I were really tight. So E.B. and I used to go to dinner at Tojo's in B.C. And whenever I was up there, we used to hang out and we used to talk about things. and slowly but surely the NDP at the time started really pounding Christie on housing, on China, on affordability, how she sold out to the Chinese, and whether it was the Linda Steele show, which I used to be on, and others people used to start banging on Christie.

And sure enough, the momentum which started out as a spark, really got going. And the NDP ended up knocking her out. And I said, Eby at the time, why didn't you run for, you know, party head turned out to be the attorney general. And he said, I thought we had zero shot to win, zero shot. And his wife was having a baby. And he thought in four years or six years he could be the guy. And then Oregon ended up getting cancer and the poor fellow passed away. Now, God rest his soul, and now EB's the premier. But what started in BC was a little bit of a spark that turned into a fire, that turned into a bonfire that ended of burning down the BC liberals, just blew them out. And the NDP ended up ruling the roost.

there is more momentum right now in Alberta for the movement than there was in BC. So what people don't understand is all you need really in Alberta is a handful, fistful, bucketful, of righteous people who makes this movement their soul. thing where they get focused and it gets louder and louder and louder than the average alberton thinks this may not be that bad because what are we working our asses off paying huge taxes and what do we get we're better to go it alone and although Trump is a interesting fellow, I would rather try something new than what currently goes on. And as you would say, you know, people are standing out there.

It's fucking cold up there. It gets dark early. And they're still moving. So when people say, no, that tends to be the people who are from Eastern Canada, who don't know better, who don't have. per se, the boots on the ground, and they underestimate how righteous and motivated the people who want out truly are. And I find it, I think history is going to get very interesting on this. I find it very, it is Canada's way out to fix it. You're going to basically have to burn

the whole place down, not literally, but you're going to have to blow it up to restart. it to make the country great again. And I think this Alberta is a start, is a start. And it's the flame that's going to do it. So I see similarities between what's going on in Alberta now and when the BC liberals got thrown out by the NDP. I mean, people thought in BC, the NDP is a joke. And NDP is a joke.

But they threw Christy Clark. out on our ass. And no one saw it coming. I got a question on Trump. But before we get there, you hit right on a point I'd written down. I'm like, man, the NDP are a joke. Why were you working with Eby and the NDP? When the NDP are the definition of a joke in Canada. Now, in fairness, you've pointed out rightfully that they dethrone the liberals in BC. But I am curious on that, Mark. So on the, I don't know how it all got going, but, you know, the big thing was this radio talk show back in the day called the Linda Steele show. And I, she used to have me on and I got on there and I said the NDP is a fucking joke.

And I said they're such a joke. They should rename the party instead of NDP. They should call them the EBEs. And it started catching on and E.B. said, well, you knock it off because I'm catching a lot of flack at the NDP from the NDP guys. And I said, well, the NDP is a joke. I think it's, what is it, do Democratic Party or something like that? I said, it's the stupidest fucking moniker going. But Christy Clark was so bad.

Just so bad, the NDP was all there was. So it became the enemy of your enemies, your best friend. It was all there was. And I used to say, Eby, they should recreate the NDP into something else. But again, it's gone downhill. But the NDP is a joke and the NDP beat the BC liberals who had all the power. So my point with that is when people say it can't happen, well, when you say it can't happen, it will happen. Because if you never let go of the rope, you can't lose.

I always say that. If you never give up, you can't lose. So the people fighting for these things, they're very righteous and they're very powerful. And I think they're going to get it done. So if the NDP could pull it off in D.C., you know, don't underestimate what could go on in Alberta. That is for sure. Well, then if we're looking at the tea leaves, right? You know, 177,000 signatures need to be collected and verified and all the things in order for a referendum to happen here in Alberta.

Let's assume they get the 177,000 and that there is going to be a referendum in Alberta on whether or not to stay in Canada. Let's just assume for a second that is possible, which I think it is. Now, there's going to be forces that certainly don't want that, but I flip on that and I go, well, you've brought up dissent multiple times.

If you were the United States and seen a possible referendum in Alberta, I mean, what would you see coming out of, I don't know, the United States on that possibility? I think the rhetoric will be. We truly support what the Albertans are doing. It makes no sense that they spend $15 billion a year to Eastern Canada. What do they get? And depending how the referendum shakes out, the United States would love to be the number one trading partner with Alberta.

you know we give people in alberta free borders into the u.s we look forward to have trade deals with minerals and oil blah blah blah it gives us a gateway to the arctic and we feel you know and Canada should feel very exposed with the arctic from either Russia or china because you could basically invade canada from the arctic and what would happen who's there to fight the thing would be over in in three days. So I think the rhetoric from the United States will start getting very positive towards Alberta, because Alberta has stuff the U.S. wants. And I think, you know, Alberta would want to be or have infrastructure from the U.S.

What does Alberta get from base Canada? What do they get? What's the plus? They get a $30 a year break on groceries. they get to buy expired food. I mean, I'd just say, if I live in Alberta, I mean, the weather is great, three and a half months out of the year, maybe four, right? It's just what I would, my thing would be, I would take the $15 billion a year, we send to Eastern Canada and do all sorts of fun, great things, and make this place a research hub and education hub. you know, help people more with health care because health care, even though it's free,

it sort of sucks. And let's be clear, it's not free, right? Where does the money come for health care, right? Like, we say free health care. I know you don't mean it that way, but on this side, it's like we say we have free health care. I'm like, right, we have free health care. You know, I, you know, I'm a Montana resident. And I also hang out in California some.

and there's no state sales tax in Montana, but real estate. I mean, there's always something somewhere. You know, there's a tax somewhere. But if Montana's running a huge surplus and we take our surplus and flush it all the way to New York State, I'd say, what the hell are we doing? You know, why don't we keep that money in Montana? I mean, if I'm from Alberta, the reason you want to leave is, what are we doing sending money? to the east, to Ottawa, because Ottawa then either sends it to the Ukraine or sends it to programs or helps immigrants.

There's not a lot of, again, I'm not a racist, and I don't want this to be interpreted this way, but there's not a lot of people of real color in Alberta. There's all sorts of mischief makers floating around Ontario and eastern Canada who are subsidized basically by Albertans. And I think the people who want out, I think the message is clear. The message resonates. The message can get tightened up.

And the message should simply be, we have a really kick-ass premiere here, and she's smart and she's tough as hell. Why don't we just roll with her, give her the $15 billion in her back pocket, The United States will trade with us 24-7-365. I know this. I was at Treasury.

Hell, I'll even send you some Treasury souvenirs they gave me. I mean, to me, it's clear as day. But when this does happen, everyone's going to have their big aha moment and say what the hell is going on. but it's the Canadian people. I call them the kitten and rainbow crowd. They're kittens, and they look at the rainbows, and they have this idealistic view, and the people who have money in Eastern Canada tend to be older.

They tend to, you know, support their kids. They have their house on the lake in the summer. They have their money. They own low-cost real estate, and they think what the fuck, but all the youngsters there or the people who want to make a life for themselves, it's like a huge fucking struggle and they have to pay 53% in tax and they get nothing for their money. And I don't know. I mean, if people don't realize something drastic is going to happen, has to happen, needs to happen, will happen to make things better. I mean, I just, I don't know what to do.

I mean, it's it's these shows. It's Jason. It's Cooper. It's a couple people on Twitter. Those are the, you guys are the freedom fighters in my both. If I go into the few, you know, like when, when Carney got elected, it was less than 24 hours after Daniel Smith came out lowering the citizen-led referendum petition, how many signatures you needed. Like, it was very clear to me, like, okay, this happened. This is the step.

And, you know, we sat around and talked about it the week prior. Like, if Carney actually gets elected, finds a way to get elected. Alberta separatism, Alberta independence is going to go through the roof. And that's what the Alberta Prosperity Project has said over and over again was the uptake hours after that election was hypersonic, if you would. and then you go okay it's taken a while to get to it and of course there's been legal battles and just different things trying to slow it down and get in its way and stop it but now you're at the petition signing part and there are things coming out and they're trying to name call slash legal battles everything coming down on the petition to try and say this is you know i don't know

unethical mark or whatever word they're using these days and i go yeah all right sure whatever, they said the same thing all through COVID. They've said the same thing as we just go along. If you don't speak the narrative, they call you every name under the book. And you just kind of just, whatever, doesn't matter. Because you can see what's going on. So if I go fast forward from this point, assuming they get the petition signed and have the ultimate signatures to push it through, what you said then becomes really interesting because what Albertans are going to feel is essentially you're going to become the center stage of the world for a time, which means you're going to be demonized incessantly

and also praised from another side, and that being the U.S. Well, see, that's the chaos also. That's Trump. So best since the adult in the room. And, you know, Carney's big elbows-up thing is the Canadians, for whatever reason, like the little weasel, because they say he stands up to Trump. Well, Trump, frankly, just mops the floor with him.

So if you like Carney because you don't like Trump, that's a really, really, really bad view. Right. If you want the guy running your country because you hate Trump so much, that's exactly what Trump wants. Right? It's counterintuitive, but that's thinking in the chaotic world. So when all eyes focus to Alberta, right?

Alberta then can start doing backdoor deals with U.S. companies, have things all set up. And my simple point of view would be to the people of Alberta, with this $15 billion that heads east, what's it getting you? How is the quality of your life the last five years, better, worse? because you're looking at a Canadian government, the Freedom Convoy, right? They viewed it all as illegal. And then the appeal the government made, that was thrown out. The Canadian mainstream media, which again is subsidized to the tune of $3 billion a year,

they don't even talk about it. So I think when the petition gets going, if I were to play this out, you'll see huge negative stories written by the CBC and that macro wrapper Globe and mail saying how crazy it is. You know, the mainstream media will ramp it up and make this idea look bad, which is going to have the counter effect, which is going to make the idea look good, which is going to make the idea look good, because I would say, if all the propaganda guys say this is a bad idea, by design, it must be a good idea. It's going to completely backfire on Eastern Canada and Ottawa. At the same time, the U.S. government will say, screw it, we don't need Canada as the 51st state. We don't even need Alberta as the 51st state.

We'll just recognize Alberta as a sovereign territory. They don't need to vote in U.S. elections. They don't need to vote in Canadian elections. But what we will support them with is a military or police force, a banking regulator, law enforcement, because all the RCMP does is go to the Tim Horton and buy 36 timbits at a time. Downs them. The RCMP is completely worthless. They're in on the scam. But we'll lend you our FBI.

We'll lend you our DOJ. We'll lend your FDIC, but we want to be your trading partner, and you can be, you don't need to be our little brother, but you can be our nephew, or you could be our uncle, or you could be our stepson, and we'll help you out. And if Alberta goes, Saskatchewan goes, too. I mean, that's, that's, that's a given. So I think it's a kind of a two for one. And then BC will be isolated, is the CCP. They'll be completely. surrounded and eb'll get thrown out or jailed whatever whatever happens first and then eastern canada kind of flops and has to retool and that's where the the banking system and all the money laundering and the financial crimes you know float to the surface and alberto say fuck it we warned you guys we we paid you a hundred billion dollars over the years which we shouldn't have paid you which just went nowhere and

Now we're going to be happy doing our thing. And I tell all my pals in Eastern Canada or Ontario, I got some pals in Montreal, I said, either leave to go to the states, you come here, you sure get your money out of that shit hole country quickly. Or you just move to Alberta. You know, you shouldn't move to Alberta because that's the last saving grace. I mean, I don't think there's anything in Saskatchewan. I mean, they're Saskatoon, which I used to joke about. But, I mean, that's how I think this plays out. And to me, it's clear as day because Carney clearly has an agenda.

Carney has his money in the United States. Brookfield has all the heavy hitters in the United States. I mean, so he talks out of the left side of his mouth, but, you know, follow his actions, not as a lot. words. So I think it's very clear, you know, Sam and I talked about a week, week and a half ago, and he's a Canadian. And after Carney got elected, he said there was a 90% chance the shit would hit the fan, 10% it wouldn't. And the 10% was because he's a Canadian patriot and he wants to see it work out. So now he's at 98-2. 98% chance the law.

whole thing melts apart 2% it can get pulled out and with this Carney flip-flopping I mean who knows where Carney is where these guys are on these issues anymore and the funny thing is that Friedland lady I mean the lady who couldn't even put together a sentence without even twitching or whatever a problem is she leaves to become what the financial advisor of Ukraine I mean how do you go from Canada to Ukraine. I mean, at least go to Belize. I mean, go. I mean, why would you want to end up there? I mean, it's so fucked up. It's scary. But people just need to sit back. You know, you can easily check me out and everything I've said over time. You don't have to, you know, take my words as gospel.

But if nothing else, put together the puzzle pieces for yourself to see where this is all going. And if nothing else, I'm on this kick. People need in, what are we, 2006, people need to start thinking for themselves, rather than just listening to this mainstream media paid off Canadian bullshit and saying, what I read, I believe. If you think for yourself, if you're in Alberta, say, what does the Canadian government get me for the amount of money my province ships back east? What do I get? How is my life better? And fuck, for all I know, Daniel Smith could kick that $15 billion out into a dividend. I mean, Alaska kicks out an oil dividend to people who live up in that place.

from oil revenue. They give people, I don't know, two to five thousand a year to live there. I mean, it's something. I mean, it would help defray the cost of expired food. It's better than the $130 on a food rebate? Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just, I mean, the food banks in eastern Canada are bold,

you know, they're blowing out at the seams. So when you have all the people who need assistance in the debt of winter, and this is with Alberta fronting in $15 billion a year, what the hell happens when the 15 goes to zero? I mean, and again, everything's on the margin, right? It's everything is, and when I say on the margin, it's all incremental. If things are tight now, without the $15 billion, they're going to get really tight. And then to make up for the deficit, they're going to raise the taxes on the people who actually work and the financial criminals. They don't get taxed and use all the services. So there's no way, there's no fix unless you just burn it all down to build it all up.

There is no fix at this stage of the game. One final, before I let you out of here, Mark, you mentioned capital controls and that you thought those were coming sooner than later. I might be paraphrasing you for a little bit. But one of the things I certainly know is how many Canadians have left Canada, how many businesses are opening up south of the border or finding ways to just navigate out of this. They just were not interested in this anymore. The Canadian government has to know that. And you go at some point, they're going to put a stop to it. Capital controls.

Your thoughts on just that? I think capital controls, and this is an out-there view, I think they're a given. I mean, you have people, you know, Canada, in my view, is run by 20. wealthy families. It's, it's, that's to me what it is. And I've said that everyone else is a surf. The people who have big money in Canada have pulled it all out of there. It's either offshore or in the U.S. or in Europe. You know, just take Carney. His money is in the U.S. The top Brookfield executives are in the U.S. The tax arbitrage of living in Florida, rather than Toronto or Ontario is huge because Florida you pay no state tax. I know and some of the

people on Twitter, let's just say there's one guy, Art Vandale. I know his real name, but he goes on Twitter's Art Van der Leyen. This guy's worth a lot of money and he's in the financial business. Of course he has kids, he has a dad, the whole thing. He's dying to get out of it. He can't wait and he's looking for ways to get his gold that he owns silver that he owns financial assets he knows owns out of there into the states or somewhere else so he's not the only one so carney's not a fool he knows all this is going on which is why him and his buddies Trudeau's former pal more and all all these guys have money in the Caribbean offshore Bermuda Bahamas US Europe New Zealand right they're way way way ahead of everyone so they know

it's coming because when it comes it's gonna be too fucking late to then move assets which is why it's even more important while Alberta's gonna do its own thing or come with their own currency or come with their own banking system, which of course will be helped by the U.S. doesn't have to be a Puerto Rico or a Guam or a U.S. territory. They can just be independent. But the current state of affairs, if people look at how things were two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, if you're old enough, 15 years ago, it's steadily gone downhill and people's debt net is way up their liquidity or cash in the bank is way down inflation is through the roof and it doesn't really matter the government numbers because

those are completely made up or whatever CBC rights doesn't matter because it's complete propaganda what matters is how people's minds are and and how they feel about the future and the current situation they're in. And it's not good. It's not good. And it's going to be fascinating to watch this whole thing play out. It's going to be, it's going to be some. But I think it, I think it all happens.

I mean, the ticks are getting closer. It used to be tick, tick, tick, tick, and now it's tick, tick. tick, tick, tick. Not pretty soon, it's going to go, tick, tick, tick, tick. But we'll see. Appreciate you hopping on, Mark, and doing this. Well, it's what? It's January.

So maybe we do a few more of these this year, and I get into one, two, or three. I'm not happy with seven or eight or whatever. We finished out. We're in the race to win. But I don't know, people. Just think for yourselves. and you know to me if i was in alberta i'd get all the petitions sign them and bolt appreciate you hopping on thanks very much sean thanks for having me and have a great one