Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start the show off the same way. Same way we start every show off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro. All right, we're back. We got a barn burner today. This is going to be a fun one. Uh, we have a returning guest, uh, gentleman that lives across the street from me. You guys know him well as Mr. Keith McGrath. So Keith, how are you doing today, man?
Speaker 1 00:00:44 It's nice to see her grow your business and to see a hometown boy, or certainly I suppose the are no stranger to some, and I'm actually disliked by a few, uh, and I can live with that. And I suppose as the summer matures, uh, and of course as a know-how group, uh, uses some of your own services, uh, local local services to promote our brain. I'm getting a new, a new respect for, uh, how does media stuff works? I didn't appreciate the power of social media, uh, and it magnifies the ugliness in the world because people, I guess, gravitate to sad news as opposed to happy news. So I guess it's up to us to, uh, to kind of turn that tide if you will. That's right. Yeah, no,
Speaker 0 00:01:31 You're completely right. You couldn't have said it better, actually. It's an actual, it's a sin how most people do gravitate to the bad and the sad when there's so much good that's taking place in our company.
Speaker 1 00:01:42 Well, you know, I, I remember sitting in this very chair a few months back and I think I had a one side of my rib cage that it was going to get back in my head, the quite a concussion. And I look back on life at a, you know, there's a few times I, I suffered with substance abuse or, or just drown my sorrows or the real pain and drugs and alcohol. And I looked up that day and the, uh, before, uh, Danny D lifted that snow machine off me. I see, you know, I seen my wife, I see my daughters and I see my son. And, uh, it was just strange, strange, uh, man, almost with, uh, Cape almost. I didn't know if that was chief Chiefer Singleton, uh, some guys that were in my life. Uh, but, uh, I got another kick out it. Yeah. So I guess I woke up a bit, the last six boats, you know, uh, as you know, as your wife would know from the district, they were probably the best 70 years ever had in public service. So that was the thing that I wanted to give up. So I had more time for a yeah. Yeah. So you guys should be, it should be going to rot. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:09 You've had a pretty interesting life to say the least. Well, a lot of friends are pretty infamous in this community.
Speaker 1 00:03:15 Well, I, uh, I came here on the bus. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. It has given me a family has given me all the material stuff. You can have all that stuff and still have nothing. Yeah. And, uh, w you take a good look or a sober look around the community. There's a lot of families here that gave everything he had to a community. And all I got I'm privileged, privileged to work with, uh, with your kids, right? The same people, whether was nor were Webril, uh, Peter Vera, you know, the blue shards colored rose, Paul Paul fed us just heard 5 23 Hangingstone, but sovereign Sean, because glad old Cece, I think there was probably 12 of us in a three bedroom apartment. My God, if you said that to our kids today, you'd be in court for child abuse. But anyways, we lived in 5 23, how you stole. And I sit here today to take boy. It's, it's been a wonderful community, not just to be, but to thousands of otters, right. And somehow we've lost our way.
Speaker 1 00:04:32 We need to, we need to find a way back. Uh, you know, I take in time, we will, you know, but we've had a multitude of problems, you know, publicly. It was. I challenged personally. Absolutely. I think, uh, I started to find the old way, you know, yesterday when we went to city hall, the doors were locked and I thought it all July almost end of July, uh, you know, I've put on about 68,000 kilometers, uh, the boats I've been sober, I've met some wonderful people. I can tell you that not every politician is a bad politician. So we call upon Senator black dog black on a Saturday morning, we were with some chiefs. And so Beatty leaders, we needed some help. And within an hour, Senator black called us back. I left the road because, you know, indigenous people will never have the trust for white people, you know?
Speaker 1 00:05:33 And, and I get that, you know, there's a whole multitude of challenges, the headwinds that we have COVID as a community, if we're not careful there we'll create a divide that other people tried to champion for years. And I think I feel that, uh, there's enough local people after this community help us to grow some more, turn it into a community that you and I grew up in, where I used to cube Cruz Franklin avenue with childhood, the boys and the old Chevy bag. We'd say less cruise. I know, I'm not saying that we got to go back to that. Let's go back to the blueberry festival days. <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:06:15 in the Robertson jobs is Jermaine's and the bushes, you know, I mentioned Dave's, I can't mention them all because the folks Novi. Yeah, yeah. You know, could I be an arsehole? Yeah, sure. I can. Everybody can be. But at the end of the day, yeah. I've always committed to making sure that our elders and seniors, that our kids are looked after something like yourself and your wife, because there's two generations of people that count on us each and every day, they'll forgive a night out or something like that. But that's what we're supposed to look after. Right.
Speaker 1 00:06:58 I guess what I, the way I have a real appreciation, you know, I, as you know, or most people know, I, I spent over a decade with a con you know, good community partner. You know, we used to get to the soup kitchens here to the Ronald McDonald houses, to the Bissell kitchens and all that started back at Gonzaga in the eighties where we had a, what we call the med for honors program. And I found the true value of giving back. And even though we'd done it, we are Cedars used to love as, uh, as eaves, we played big gold and a brigade are tabled and stuff, but I guess what I'm getting at, that's what we carry down later on in life. This whole community though, to Hatfield's devise Johnny Gillis, you know, the, the owner's east village pub, this is a community that gives for sure, but you're starting to be too many people that take, because every stupid decision is made at city hall is made by some consultant from out of here.
Speaker 1 00:08:02 Right. And what is DOD? You go down Franklin avenue, she torpedoed from one end to the other. And some of these guys that prey themselves around to call themselves big community guys, the same guys that watch, watch people starved while they all buddy. Right. And I guess what I said earlier, I used to draw in a lot of my pay to the late nights. Yeah. But then when I guy upstairs gave me a better breadth to draw after February 21st 21. Yeah. Yeah. So people say, I just change. Some people say, I, I, I display from city coastal and stuff like that. What I displayed was it was from the bullshit. Pardon the French. But boy, look around you look around here. We have grass that's growing on government properties and we let it grow to, or four feet high. We have city properties that people are starting to use as their garbage Leidos.
Speaker 1 00:09:01 Yeah. We've got a real, real problem. That's right. You know, we've, we've lost our way. Right. It is going to take a few good people to bring it all back. And that's why I like to say, I'd like to, I'd like to see a flooded Dave's, you know, I seen people run for council and they're going to, they're going to cherish this and they're going to change that. They're going to do this. I remember I remember, but this time of the year, not too long ago, be blackmailed, you know, by a candidate. But it was, we've got gotta stop that because it's our community. It's not this noting personal is our community. We have one chance, I think, to make this right, to recognize the greatest partners we have is industry. And to recognize that everybody down to city hall, I have done it all before.
Speaker 1 00:09:47 Right. Because we live with that. You see, oh, I done this before. Oh, I dumped him. Well, why did David God, are we up to replacing the sidewalk? You notice seven times around are building a Snowden. Nobody can demonstrate to me that we had to do it. We had to do it because we get these people from out of town. You see, they come in as a consultants consultants on top of consultants. Didn't they tell guys like me and you were to snipe us and I, what we can bring light to it. But here's the problem. When I first joined the race to be an elected official was 1997. I had 500 bucks at Eric. Newell's all a truck from somehow. I think Hatfield, might've got it for 50 or 60 bucks or five, but we had to pay for it. I painted her flat black and I had two sides.
Speaker 1 00:10:36 I was working for 40 coal. I had a piece of paper as a, so it's been a journey, no doubt, but my best, best service was to the Catholic school board. Right? It'll say this publicly, there's good and bad in everybody, in every organization. And what we're going to go through here. Now, a reconciliation that shouldn't be done years ago, but that reconciliation for me comes a little bit closer than people realize, right, Chris, how I would I do here? Listen, <inaudible> the walk that my boss started. Chief bird Javi, the walk that he starts, that he's going to finish. It's not just for those kids. It's for the kids that couldn't talk for the kids that couldn't talk. We gotta, we gotta take a generational problem, but we have to deal with that.
Speaker 1 00:11:45 And biggest healer in all of this will be ourselves and the government that was responsible for what I learned to government is what'd you get a little close to the fire. People either leave, they quit, or they blaming the other guy to feds blame and under province, the province believes I've used probably. But do you know what people put people to those elected officials to be the representatives of those elders and Cedars cause mom and dad want to look out for him too thinks at all ward. Yeah. So it's kind of a, kind of a weird kind of summer because of the best cut of summer I've ever had. But there's another sense in another sense, it's, it's taken me back to a log road and if I could help my boss, Hmm. Just bring the light. Not everybody's bad, but there was a bad dog and I pray, you know, hope that those people, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say they should be forgiven, but we should make takes right. People that are affected that's right. The real cases. Yeah. It is like, uh, you know, the cops get a, get a bad rap. I don't ever remember being in the back of a police car that I didn't deserve to be it.
Speaker 0 00:13:12 Yeah, no, listen, I,
Speaker 1 00:13:15 I grew up in Victoria in Franklin avenue. You see an old handcuff, Harry and Jeff and the bars. Well, if Richard Sherry, the bodies weren't around to keep the old, you know, are getting the tray bed. We Burke, you know, he's, he's out there, Toronto beat a boxer, uh, daughter, guy that kind of helped me out. You know, so reality is, we've all had a bit of brush with the law, but it's not all bad. That's right. But there are some bad ones. Sure. And that gets portrayed as like, it's like a city, it's like a city councilor. They're sitting in the middle of a city council meeting it, getting swayed by public, say out of social media. I don't know if it happens. I hear telling it happens. Uh, Rob Morgan, those dyes, Mr. Carver, they taught me. Well, just looking at him. Just, I don't forget because I ran in campaigns with those guys.
Speaker 1 00:14:04 Yeah. I remember being Jim Carberry. Cause I liked chip. Even though sometimes he gives me a kick in the ears, but he does it for a good reason. But I remember being, you get done as you don't have to use to wave at the traffic years ago, it was a Gigi, but we got to do this don't I don't. I told him, I said, Jim, if you want to be in the mirror, you're going to do this. Well, he lasted two minutes. Yeah. By where Ford is today by barely. Daddy's a beautiful store. He lasted two bit. As he looked at me, he had a little black trench coat on and a little top hat. I looked at him. I said, Jesus, Jim, we might need a fluorescent light because you're going to get knocked over. Don't forget. Now this is an October. It was pretty dark here. Go to work. Don't know a lot of people that got elected, never been door to the bridge. I get that. But uh, it's not a place. Don't get me wrong. We never had the four lane highways we got today. We were, we were half one lane. So he gave me two minutes. He said, I get mad to hear that. Speaking of mares,
Speaker 0 00:15:06 Did he see the post? Uh, it looks like Don isn't uh,
Speaker 1 00:15:09 Well running. I got to tell you Don Scott. I met Don Scott. I think Dan would agree. It was probably second day into Fort McMurray. Okay. And where would a keyboard grab me? The guide that was brand new to four big worry about, I don't know, 15 years ago. Yeah. Was that the thick book? Golf course of the whole liberal world. Yeah. Nice guy. You know, Laurie guy, young guy turned out to be a <inaudible> uh, helped the people get that lease facility noted Conklin. Uh, tried to get that nice facility up there temporarily, but we got, we got to have Willow square. I have a lot of memories and I, my biggest, and I'll make a public apology to Don Scott right here today. You know, back in the day when we had that for the last sober, I think people would know me. I would've dealt with my own way, but I would have been arrested that day.
Speaker 1 00:16:06 But because of administration spent so much time trying to get me out of office, they wanted me to make sure to Don, you know, it was Hey, so that's why I went that way, pastor. Right. I was right. I should have looked after you done, but no, I was coaxed the other way, but people at Lobi again, I don't want to come across as some leased little kid. Yeah. I would've probably, I wouldn't probably what people would have known, but I have a wife and kids to think about. I have myself to think about, but more so I have a community to think about. So I don't want to, ministration are for me to do report it to the RCMP. No, everybody knows it was, it was Ron. I don't, I don't blame Don. Don't forget guys. He just served office for four years. Never missed an event.
Speaker 1 00:16:52 And you know, and he said publicly, his wife was ill. Oh, I don't know if I could do that. Right. So I don't judge Don Scott. I don't judge anybody because I have more false and I'm still working with falls. But the biggest thing I got true was this though, that I had false, false, why God, man, we dropped off into Boston. You got to fight for yourself, whatever you do to double the pay, whatever. But you know what? I don't have that pain anymore though. Uh, I'm not saying a bright, the St. A rug, but I think about a pretty good path. I only wished Don the best, because this has been the worst four years I've ever served editing and I've served. I've served on boards with Mr. Cabaret, Rob Morgan, three of us out of border back, all the, when nobody else wanted to be honest, right?
Speaker 1 00:17:43 I heard people say, if you build that place any bigger, you could shoot a rocket down there and it would hit nobody. Well, the centerpiece of our community and came to that place. And there's 25 golfers that went into her pocket, be included that couldn't afford us. But we believed in the golf course. And we have today, one of the nicest golf courses in Canada, one of the best staff in Canada, and one of the best management teams and kind of running the place at a year ago, they wanted to blow that place off. Yeah. It's crazy nuts. It is nuts. And if you care about your community, you got to do one or two things. You got to try to make a difference or he gotta be, Hey Todd, and let the next generation runners. But as my boss would say, yeah, are hardworking guys, water hat on straight and keep the sun under Raj while they were working. Don't let the guys that were sideways. Look out for your community.
Speaker 0 00:18:41 Now, speaking of young guys, we got one behind the camera, his name's Tanner. He has a segment called the Mac city minute. So a Tanner it Mr. McGrath, up with the Maxine a minute, please. Thank you. All right.
Speaker 2 00:18:52 Question number two. One. What is your most embarrassing moment from your time
Speaker 1 00:18:56 On council? The Donald Scott accolade to kids in front of a cat national camera by a fire
Speaker 2 00:19:04 Question. Number two, if you could choose one person to be the new mayor of Fort McMurray, who would you pick?
Speaker 1 00:19:11 Chief burns? Jovia because he's the only guy I've ever met, except she all your faults. A guy who met 30 years ago to dumpster got a lot of heart. And I heard people of his own people talk about him, but I worked with them now for two and a half years. And if there's ever a be the leader that has a heart to be a leader, you need Harris. Cause you can surround yourself. People with the smartest money, people, people that care about your community. You don't need to be a rocket science. You need to have a heart. We've been missing that for a while.
Speaker 2 00:19:42 Question number three. What do you feel was your biggest personal achievement from your time on council?
Speaker 1 00:19:49 When I see the kids dancing true to splash park and remember the doctorate, I bought three of my kids in the world and everybody else has the Dr. Warren spray products. And second to that, uh, with the help of, uh, uh, Ramona Morrison and Shelley, I wouldn't give up on us, uh, responders way to bridge, uh, all this stuff, all this stuff. It's to me, it's not about me. It's about the people like Ramona and Shelly, uh, Dr. Wan, just during a legacy piece and you know what a cost for big writes often the best pieces in life for free. They're not, they're not lampshades. They're not, they're not facilities that are spend 50, $60 million to a house, a couple of hundred people. My God, the best things in life are to remember those that made a difference in your own life.
Speaker 2 00:20:44 Question number four. What is the best part of moving from council to NOAA?
Speaker 1 00:20:52 Well, I, I think the best part for me is the work with the people that give you my start in four week brief. And, uh, that was the people for Chippewan. When I worked at tailings at old car, I work with birdie, Burke, Fred. I worked with happy dirt boys that took me under their wing. And I don't forget Peter Verica Nelson how's me. How's me. Flew me back to Newfoundland three times. My father got sick and passed away. And let me tell you something. When you're making eight bucks an hour and you owe these two people, six or 7,000 bucks, you're out, you're on a long drive, but Doug, those people built me a place in her hotel. Yeah. Put, be true. We can on college and let me buy a car to under parking lot to sell. And I look over across the nerve Williams.
Speaker 1 00:21:51 He gave me my first truck finances. Yeah. Dave Hill's dad. Let me finance my first ghetto blaster and Denver, of course he's still a gnosis Zimbra life. He's the only guy who paid 600 bucks for a car for him. I owed him, I taught her the boat, but what I'm trying to lay down here is this for the kids of today, materials stuff, don't matter where to think, because it comes and goes out of your life. But what don't come and go out of your life are good people, good people. And I tell you, when you look true your life as a sober guy, even though, Hey, I wouldn't say that, uh, you know, for the rest of my days, but I can tell you the true sober lens. I, uh, I be graced with some beautiful people there for being married. I picked me over, there was down. Give me a kick in the arse with Adidas and, uh, uh, very thankful, grateful. And I think that yet at February 21st, 21st, and that was a week after outfit or your week after family, they were for the first time. And I was a long time where I had my whole family under one roof. There you go. Beautiful.
Speaker 2 00:23:02 And your final question, what is the biggest change you've noticed in Fort McMurray? Since
Speaker 3 00:23:06 You've got here,
Speaker 1 00:23:09 Heart, heart, and opportunity. We left the out we've we've led the outsiders consultants mostly and, and some of those big feelings, big shots, they get those jobs. We let them take over. So the biggest thing that I noticed is ownership and heart. Yeah. And those have been here. Five questions. There
Speaker 0 00:23:29 You go. Well, Keith, thank you very much for coming on the show. Again. Really appreciate your time. We'd love to have you back again and again and again, everybody, before they leave the show gets a shameless shout out. So what would you like to plug with the next few minutes that you have?
Speaker 1 00:23:45 Well, I would like to say no matter where you're at in Ontario, walk up all the kids, very color. We live in a community where our social license is taxed. What are true to fire, true to flood for the pandemic. You don't, there's a lot of hurt in this community and we're not looking out for each other. Nobody else is gonna look after us because every time there's a problem from the feds, a I'd like to be, I'd love to be like all those big, fancy NPS that come back and go to do this and do that. And do the other thing was there was nobody here's more complaints go or, or, or sees the pain that people go through an elected city council, cause they're with us every day, right? And when people, people that are out there shelter, they're going to make this big change in October, hold your hats because the same guys thought we were not trying to negotiate a five D a 10 year transition at distance.
Speaker 1 00:24:59 What I like to say the shape of the salary goes to this. The shameless shout out, goes to the MLA's and MPS that just idly stand by while, while the government rapes us for every nickel, we're getting our kids, our kids we're shrinking our budgets. People thought we were nuts for a 10 year transition. Just wait, just wait till your MLA's you're at peace is sadly by. And you're only getting a quarter of that to run this community. And people can relate when you start paying 12 to $50,000 a year for your, for your home taxes. Because right now we have the lowest home tax, lowest home tax, residential tax, right? Our school tax is about 2200 average, but don't forget that that's not the government probably puts in twice debt. Right? But as a country, we need to recognize this community and get those guys from Quebec added away, get her all down there to where Kira can refuel it.
Speaker 1 00:26:08 We got a guy down to the east, knows the west best. Mr. Carter. Now apparently is their chairman wherever y'all. There's never been like, now you got like you had, you had, you had duel Carter, little, you know, Asher Parkinson. I'm 40. You know what? I'm sorry if I forgot a few more, but yeah. That's your dad's or your question that's who gets the shout out. All they got to do was bring a few of those guys back for a couple of months. Put your hand out to like we did Jordan LaVar. They're more than happy to help you. Yeah. They're more than happy to help you, but we got to get those with those big Eagles added to the way so they can ask for help. Yeah. I mean, when it comes to building a Dyke, she's met her director 24 7 building the day Bobby camera to sober out around here, retired. And there's not a date then that, that leaks that he's overseed. Cause we had to build a few forum. Right. But, but all of a sudden they got guys that come into our community and say that, Hey Keith, while we can't build back on his stuff at wintertime, well we're the only community I can spend 20 minutes and move it later on.
Speaker 1 00:27:17 It's actually criminal. You're going to have people living in the streets and we can piss away so much money, but there's going to be a day of record. He covered for somebody. Yeah. Uh, and I don't mean that to be way no, because the money's going to run out, sir. Yeah. Anybody can have fact budgets cause you got lots of cash. Cash is king. Yeah. We, I heard so many stories in his last term that I'm also now trying to widdle away. True. What's true. What's not. There you go. And I get more information to the public sometimes. Right. Sometimes, but I never swayed by Facebook or Twitter. I do watch right. For my kids and hopefully, hopefully Derrick kids and you know what it wouldn't say it is. I've been choked up all sober because the company has community with Dawson. I said earlier, and I got a little girl
Speaker 0 00:28:15 He's getting married in a few weeks. That's true. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:28:18 So that's uh, that's pretty damn
Speaker 0 00:28:20 Good. It'll be a fun day for you Keith, once again, man. Thank you very much for coming on the show. Appreciate it. And I know you'll be back again, everybody at home. This has been another episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you very much for tuning in from the bottom of my heart. I truly do appreciate it. So thank you. Have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:28:56 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
