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Federal election campaign felt like a “slap in the face” for this Central Alberta Oilfield Company

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Post from Garett Chandler of Red Deer County 

Today is my daughter Sophie’s eighth birthday and it’s caused me to reflect so here goes…

I was raised to never ask someone who they voted for and I’d certainly never tell someone how to vote, but I do think it’s important we tell our story at GT Chandler Contracting as #regularpeople who live and work in the oilfield.

At times it’s been frustrating listening and watching the rhetoric about the oil industry during this campaign. Too often the entire industry has been carelessly batted around, used as a wedge issue designed to elicit emotional responses from voters on both ends of the political spectrum. It saddens me when the industry is characterized as a set of numbers – be it GHGs or the tremendous wealth it’s contributed to our country – instead of its people.

What’s missing are the thousands upon thousands of #regularpeople’s stories who rely on the industry to get by. We’re proud to be a locally-owned and family-run business operating in central Alberta. From pulling slips to running a brake handle, I’m proud to have worked my way up from the bottom of the patch. When I first moved from Manitoba in search of “Alberta riches” almost 20 years ago I honestly wasn’t even sure what that meant.

Today, I know exactly what it means. It’s a roof over my three children’s heads. It’s a business I look forward to going to work in every day with the support of my wife. It’s the men and women who rely on us for a paycheque. It’s dance lessons, hockey practices and holidays. It’s late nights and early mornings. It’s the look my daughter gave me in this photo when I told her we wouldn’t be going home until the boiler was completely clean! The oilfield didn’t give me a job, it gave me so much more and I’m grateful for that.

And that’s why it’s been tough to see so many people line up to take shots at the industry. It’s important to remember we produce some of the most socially responsible oil and gas in the world and in my time in the patch I’ve seen systems change and regulations evolve to ensure the environment is protected. We’re blessed to live in a country with tremendous wealth which has allowed us to expand social programs and ensure everyone has the same opportunity to succeed. Oil has played a large role in that as have the #regularpeople who have gone to work, putting in long hours and honest days.

We aren’t delusional either, even if we’re misrepresented that way in the media a lot of the time. We understand that oil won’t be our primary source of fuel forever. We also understand that we aren’t ready to abandon it yet. Canadian oil and Canadian oil workers should continue to responsibly meet global needs for oil. The wealth generated doesn’t just help our country, it also helps our entrepreneurs who will lead the next wave of energy tech.

To see leaders stand on the national stage and tell us they would shut down the oilfield feels like a slap in the face. To have provinces refuse to have oil transported by pipeline through their territory, stopping it from reaching the global market where it would be bought at a fair price doesn’t just seem unfair, it’s unneighbourly.

It’s also no secret that Alberta workers have been hurt by the economic downturn. We’ve seen it firsthand. We’ve seen friends lose their jobs. Companies close their doors. And hardest of all we’ve seen the impact, the emotional toll, it’s had on people. It’s been devastating to say the least. These are #realpeople not numbers to be used to score political points. No matter what happens on Monday, our country is stronger when we come together to find solutions. When we have compassion for our neighbours. And when we focus on #realpeople.

Our company, GT Chandler Contracting, is full of #realpeople and we hope you think of them and the thousands of others who work in the patch when you cast your ballot.

Feel free to share if you agree and let me hear your story about being #realpeople working in the oilfield.

And if you’re fortunate enough to run into sweet Sophie today do wish her the happiest of birthdays!!

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Daily Caller

Watch As Tucker Carlson And Glenn Greenwald Get A Good Laugh Over CNN Pretending Biden’s Decline Is Breaking News

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

During a podcast Friday, Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson and independent journalist Glenn Greenwald couldn’t stop laughing over CNN’s sudden realization of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.

CNN’s Jake Tapper along with Axios’ Alex Thompson released their book, “Original Sin,” on May 20, which details Biden’s cognitive slide over the last four years — a concern Republicans had raised even before the 2020 election. While appearing on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Carlson joked that Greenwald had been “scooped” by CNN on Biden’s mental fitness.

“So you are, I think, the dean of alternative media. You’ve been doing this longer than anybody that I know personally. So it must be a little weird to get scooped by CNN on Joe Biden’s dementia, like you had no idea,” Carlson said. “None of us knew.”

“None of us knew,” Greenwald teased. ” There was that debate, and we were all shocked, but we were told he had a cold. So I was like, ‘OK, he’s on some cold medication. Who hasn’t been there before? It makes you a little dragged, a little groggy, a little just like dragged.’ But no, now Jake Tapper has uncovered the truth. It turns out Joe Biden was in cognitive decline.”

Sources told Tapper and Thompson that Biden’s mental fitness had declined rapidly during his time as president, with his mental state becoming so severe at one point that aides discussed putting him in a wheelchair.

WATCH:

Tapper has faced pushback from both Democrats and Republicans over the timing of his book and the revelations it includes. The CNN host has long defended the former president.

Carlson went on to joke with Greenwald about how he believed Tapper gathered the material for the book.

“Just a hardcore shoe leather investigative reporting,” Greenwald joked. “He’s working his sources, calling all the people in Washington, digging up FOIA documents.”

“It’s one of those things where you kind of can’t believe what you’re witnessing because Jake Tapper is pretending to have uncovered a scandal that he himself led the way in the media, or one of the leaders in the media, in covering up,” Greenwald added. “To the point where if somebody would go on his show and say ‘Joe Biden is obviously in cognitive decline.’ He would say ‘How dare you bully kids who stutter?’”

Greenwald went on to reference how Tapper had accused President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, of “mocking” the former president over his stutter during a 2020 interview.

Despite Lara Trump pointing to what she believed were signs of Biden’s problems, Tapper dismissed her remarks at the time, saying she had “no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline.”

In addition to Lara Trump, Tapper also dismissed former Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips during a 2024 interview after Phillips expressed his “concerns” about Biden running for a second term.

“Obviously, he wanted Biden to win desperately and would not tolerate anyone going on the show and saying that Biden was in cognitive decline,” Greenwald said. “Now he’s making millions of dollars off a book.”

Following the media coverage of Tapper’s and Thompson’s book, Biden appeared to tell reporters on Friday he could “beat the hell out of” the two journalists.

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International

Bongino announces FBI will release files on COVID cover up, Mar-a-Lago Raid and more

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Quick Hit:

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the bureau will begin releasing information on a number of controversial investigations long shielded from public view.

Key Details:

  • Bongino said the FBI is clearing information on high-profile cases, including COVID, Crossfire Hurricane, and the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid.
  • The bureau is actively working with the DOJ on releasing Epstein case details and cracking down on child sexual abuse content.
  • Bongino dismissed media attacks on FBI Director Kash Patel as “verifiable lies” and accused the press of fabricating stories.

Diving Deeper:

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino disclosed on Saturday that the bureau will begin releasing information previously kept under tight wraps, including cases that many Americans believe were swept under the rug for political or institutional protection.

Bongino, a former NYPD officer, Secret Service agent, and outspoken conservative commentator, took to X to announce that his office has already started cooperating with Congress and the public by providing long-requested information. Among the cases he cited: the attempted assassination of Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville Christian school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane probe, and the COVID-19 origins and cover-up.

“This isn’t business as usual anymore,” Bongino wrote. “We’re clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible.”

One of the most politically explosive revelations relates to the FBI’s handling of the Mar-a-Lago raid, an unprecedented move to search the home of the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald Trump. Bongino’s announcement signals that internal communications and case files may soon be scrutinized by congressional investigators and the public alike.

Bongino also confirmed that the agency is working closely with the DOJ on the Epstein case, noting the overwhelming volume of child sexual abuse material that must be reviewed. He emphasized that protecting children remains a core mission of the FBI under his and Director Kash Patel’s leadership.

“Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,” he wrote. “Think twice if you’ve targeted children, because you’re next.”

The deputy director didn’t hold back in pushing back against media reports that characterized Patel’s leadership as unserious or performative. “The media continue to entirely fabricate stories,” Bongino wrote, describing reports about Patel skipping briefings and attending sports events as “a verifiable lie.”

He defended Patel’s work ethic, noting that the FBI director routinely works 10–12 hour days and meets with top counter-terror officials and global law enforcement partners.

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