Boris Johnson wins and Andrew Scheer resigns： What should Conservatives learn？
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Summary
Reaction to yesterday's election results in Canada and the UK, and a debate between Andrew Scheer and Jeremy Corbyn about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and why the Tories are better off with a leader who actually stood for something.
Transcript
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Hello, my rebels. Well, yesterday was quite a day for conservatives in the Anglosphere.
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Canada's conservatives got rid of a dud named Andrew Scheer, and the UK's conservatives had a
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huge win, gaining dozens of seats, even though they'd been in office for 10 years already,
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because they had a leader who actually stood for something. Brexit, for all his quirks,
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you knew he meant something. I don't know if we can say the same about Andrew Scheer. Here,
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I'll take you through my thinking on both men in my podcast today. Before I do,
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let me invite you to become a premium member. Go to premium.rebelnews.com. It's eight bucks a
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month, and you get the video version of the show, too. Okay, here's the podcast.
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Tonight, two conservative parties, two opposite results. Boris Johnson wins a strong majority in
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the UK, while Andrew Scheer limps back to obscurity in Canada. It's December 13th,
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody
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Big day yesterday. Andrew Scheer resigned as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
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I gave you a couple minutes of thoughts from the road yesterday, and I'll give you a few more today.
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But what was striking was it happened to be the same day of the UK elections, and it was a very
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strong success for the Conservatives over there. Healthy majority, 364 seats, I think, out of their
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650 seat parliament. So the Tories have been in power for a decade already there, but they
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still won, and they grew. Last night's number is up by 47 seats gained. The Labour Party, led by the
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hardcore socialist Jeremy Corbyn, shrunk by 59 seats to 203. Scotland, which has 59 seats in the UK
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parliament, went overwhelmingly to the Scottish National Party, a socialist separatist party.
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It makes me a bit sad that Scotland and the other parts of the UK might actually separate,
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that the United Kingdom and the Union Jack would be disunited. But it's not my fight to fight,
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and there is a global trend towards smaller jurisdictions and stronger identities. It's
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all part of the backlash against globalism. I think it's good. It could be seen as a reaction
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to Brexit, I suppose. But of course, it's its own form of Brexit, too. I don't know what it means
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other than Jeremy Corbyn just couldn't get it done. I think he only had one seat in Scotland.
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I've shown you this shocking picture before of Corbyn standing in front of an actual Hezbollah
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terrorist flag. Full-out terrorist support. Didn't hide it. Why would you need to hide it when
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millions of immigrants to Britain from Muslim countries like Pakistan? Full-out support Muslim
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extremism. Then again, Corbyn was for terrorism before mass Muslim migration transformed the UK.
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Here's a video clip showing some of his associations, including with the IRA.
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You invited convicted IRA terrorists to tea in the Commons a few weeks after the Brighton bomb,
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which tried to destroy our elected government. You stood for a minute's silence to honour,
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your word Mr Corbyn, honour IRA terrorists killed by the British Army. Throughout the 80s and the 90s,
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you spoke at scores of hard-line Republican gatherings which backed the IRA and the armed struggle.
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I always wanted and always do want peace, always want a dialogue between people of vastly different
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backgrounds. And the minute's silence you referred to was in 1987 and it was for all who died in
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Northern Ireland. In honour the eight IRA terrorists that had been killed. That was the purpose of the
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meeting. So yeah, support for terrorism and hostility to the Jews. Here's the great Andrew Neil
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grilling Corbyn about plain old Jew haters in his party. It's like the UK is turning into France
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or something. You've not convinced the chief rabbi or the British Jewish community. Your party is being
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investigated for anti-Semitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Only the BNP has ever been
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investigated before. Hard-right fascists. We're told thousands of cases have been submitted to the
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Equality Commission. British Jews, many of them fear you making it into Downing Street and that
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if you do, many are preparing to leave the country. Are you not ashamed of that?
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Andrew, this morning I made it very, very clear. We will, in government, as in opposition,
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protect any community that's under any threat of any sort. We will support the necessary funding to
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protect synagogues, protect temples and protect mosques. We will protect the cemeteries also.
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We will not allow anti-Semitism in any form in our society because it is poisonous and divisive
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just as much as Islamophobia or far-right racism is. And I think we can agree on that.
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Except that they don't trust you. They don't think your heart's in it.
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They've seen you share platforms with some of the world's violent anti-Semitism.
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Andrew, when you say they, when you say they, who do you mean?
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Many Jews. 80% of Jews think that you're anti-Semitic. That's quite a lot of British Jews. I mean,
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wouldn't you like to take this opportunity tonight to apologize to the British Jewish community for
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what's happened? What I'll say is this. I am determined that our society will be safe for
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people of all faiths. I don't want anyone to be feeling insecure in our society. And our government
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will protect every community against the abuse they receive on the streets, on the trains,
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or in any other form of life. I'll try one more time. No, hang on a minute. Andrew,
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can I explain what we're trying to do? You have, and you've been given plenty of time to do it. I asked you
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if you wanted to apologize, and you haven't. Andrew, I don't want...
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Well, if you think that's something, here's the former Labour mayor of London saying that Corbyn
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only lost the election because of the Jewish vote. That's a laugh. There's only about a quarter
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million Jews in all of the UK. Even Canada has more, and there's, there's about 65 million Brits,
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so they're, they're a sliver of the population. Their vote didn't make a dent at all. Corbyn lost seats
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in working class northern ridings. Most of the Jews in the UK live in London, really. It's just a
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crazy excuse, but that's the Labour Party these days. Conspiracy theories. That old mayor, Red Ken,
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as he was nicknamed, he was just a garden variety communist. Red Ken was his nickname. But recall
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that London's current mayor, the Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, he literally was a lawyer
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for Muslim terrorists before becoming mayor. There's no evidence at all against the three
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British men. The only evidence against them is these confessions. We now have unequivocal proof
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that the confessions were obtained under duress and under torture. As there is no evidence against
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the men, the men need to be released straight away and sent back home to the families. The Egyptian
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government and the state prosecutor have made a terrible mistake. They can correct that mistake,
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by releasing their men now. What we're concerned about is they're compounding their mistake
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by continuing to detain them and having this farce of a trial. This is a breach of Egyptians' own very
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important law. Egypt has a proud history of being the custodians of law and justice.
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So yeah, I'm glad the UK voted for Boris Johnson and Brexit, but I'm not sure if the country is
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salvageable. I think this slowed its decline. It's a perpetual ideological war there. Here's
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one unhappy Labour candidate. He actually won his election, but he sure is mad at voters. Look at this.
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Because the Conservative Party have an aim to break up our country. They aim to destroy our NHS and we
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will say no. We will fight them in the parliament. We will fight them in the courts. We will fight them
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in the workplaces and we will fight them in the streets. They will not destroy our country. Thank you,
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Kentown. Get Brexit done. Get Brexit done. Yikes. And of course, Brexit isn't actually done yet.
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Boris Johnson isn't just quitting the EU. He's talking about negotiating his way out still. Why not
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just quit? The victory was Boris Johnson's, but it came about because of Nigel Farage. It was Farage who
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led the Brexit referendum in 2016. This spring, it was Farage whose new Brexit party came in first in
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the European elections held in the UK. I think that probably steeled Boris Johnson's will on Brexit
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and showed what would happen if he didn't do it. It was Farage who a few weeks ago announced
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that his new Brexit party would not contest any Conservative MPs who were already in parliament or
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seats where it was close. So the Brexit party would not split the vote. I think that is why
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Johnson got his majority. I think last night was Farage's win as much as anything, even though he
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got no MPs himself. Now, I like Boris Johnson. He's smart. I think I like him mainly because he's funny,
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to be honest. He can be really quirky. I think it's a shtick. I mean, what do you think of this?
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I have a thing where I make models of... When I was in the mayor of London, we built a beautiful... I make
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buses. You make models of buses? I make models of buses.
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They're going to be in Downing Street. So what I do... No, what I don't make models of buses,
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what I make is... I get old, I don't know, wooden crates. Yeah. Right? And then I paint them.
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And they have two... I suppose it's a box that's been used to contain two wine bottles, right?
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Right. And it will have a dividing thing. Yeah. And I turn it into a bus and I put passengers.
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You really want to know this? You're making buses. You're making cardboard buses.
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I paint... Okay. That's what you do to enjoy yourself. I paint... No, I paint the passengers...
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...enjoying themselves. Okay. Great. On the wonderful bus. Great.
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That's just really... I've watched that like four times. He's goofy all around, but I think he knows
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exactly what he's doing. He's crazy like a fox. He's crazy. Now, when Trump was new, Boris Johnson mocked him.
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I think Donald Trump is clearly out of his mind, if you think that's a sensible way to proceed. You
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can't ban people going to the United States in that way, or indeed to any country. And what he's doing
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is playing the game of the terrorists and those who seek to divide us. That is exactly the kind of
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reaction they hope to produce. And I have to say, when Donald Trump says that there are parts of
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London that are no-go areas, I think he's betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him,
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frankly, unfit to hold the office of president. Yeah, I bet he wish he could take that back now.
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Johnson has either left his quirks too, besides Trump derangement, which I think he's cured from.
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Boris Johnson claims to be really green. You know, you can bike around London a bit. The traffic there
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is so bad, it's probably quicker to bike than to drive, but it makes no sense for most people.
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most of the time. I mean, take the subway if you want. Johnson's a big global warming extremist in
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his own way, and he pledges zero carbon emissions. What we won't do is take a sledgehammer to the
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economy, which is what Corbyn and McDonnell would do, and thereby make it impossible for us to attain our
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climate change targets. So let's go, as I say, let's go carbon neutral by 2050, Corbyn neutral by Christmas.
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Thank you all very much. Thank you. All right, that was a funny line, but he really is a global warming
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believer. There are bigger issues in the UK than global warming. Brexit, stopping mass immigration,
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cracking down on crime and terrorism, that sort of thing. All in all, Johnson's win is important
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for those reasons and to rebuke the insanity of the UK Labour Party. Remember that Labour over there used to
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be as centrist as Bill Clinton, who was pretty centrist. He did the NAFTA deal, he did welfare reform.
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Tony Blair, the former British Labour PM, was about where Mitt Romney is, I think. I mean,
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wasn't that leftist. Corbyn took that party and took it hard to the left, further left than even
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New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. There were some recriminations about that last night.
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Here's a centrist Labourite just shredding a hardcore left-wing Labourite who started a pressure
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group within Labour called Momentum. That was a grievance group, a hardcore group within Labour
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that kept pushing for Corbyn to be more and more extreme. Look at this argument they had last night.
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Well, I don't live in London. I live in Yorkshire. I live in a working class community.
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And I've known John for many years. John's been around, you know, from the Benite days. And I'm
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afraid the working classes have always been a big disappointment for John and his cult. Corbyn was
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a disaster on the doorstep. Everyone knew that he couldn't lead the working class out of a paper bag.
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Now John's developed this Momentum group, this party within a party, aiming to keep the purity,
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the culture of betrayal goes on. You'll hear it now more and more over the next couple of days,
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as these, this little cults get their act together. I want them out of the party. I want Momentum
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gone. Go back to your student politics and your little, you know, left-wing... But that isn't
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realistically going to happen, is it? Well, I'm just saying what I want. I'm saying what I want after,
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if that exit poll is wrong, the most disastrous result for the Labour Party, the worst result since
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1935. People like John and his pals will never admit this, but they are, they have messed up
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completely. And it's our communities that are going to pay for that. I feel really angry about this,
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that we persevered with Corbyn for this kind of experiment of back to the future.
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Yeah. Wouldn't you say that the Democrats in the United States are doing exactly that,
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going so far, racing each other to the left? Bernie Sanders, full-on socialist,
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the squad, Ilhan Omar. And they're not even the craziest of them. So what do we have in the UK?
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Well, hopefully a Brexit, a rebuke to Jeremy Corbyn for sure. And more importantly, a rebuke to the
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media party who were against Brexit and against Johnson. They'll still try and scupper it, I'm sure.
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Maybe we have a lesson for American Republicans. They too shouldn't make the mistake that,
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sorry, American Democrats, pardon me, that they shouldn't make the mistake that Corbyn and Momentum
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did, going full-out socialist, full-out pro-Islamist. They're going that far. The squad is taking them
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that far. And what about us here in Canada? Well, let me ask you this. What did Andrew Scheer
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stand for as conservative leader? The Derry Cartel, I know, that picture of him drinking
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milk is iconic. Can you think of anything else that's iconic, that's, that's so Andrew Scheer?
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Well, who is he? Is there any policy for or against that really defines him? And don't even say gay
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rights or abortion or whatever, because, of course, he really didn't talk about those things. He's
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weasely and wobbly on those issues, depending on who he's talking to. That's the problem. He
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convinces no one and offends everyone because he's a bit of a trickster on it. He tried to play up his
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folksiness in the campaign, like in this ad showing him walking through a neighborhood in Regina being
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really folksy. He played up that he has an old minivan. Oh, shucks, I'm just like you. Except it turns out
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that he was just, that was just focus group blather too. On the day he resigned yesterday, and possibly
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the cause of his resignation, though he denies it, it turns out he was taking money secretly from the
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Conservative Party to send his kids to a fancy private school. Now, I get that. Ontario public
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schools are some of the worst in Canada. Private schools are expensive. I don't know what school
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Andrew Scheer sent his kids to. Maybe he sent them to a private Christian school. So maybe that's an
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additional reason he did it. Get out of the terrible public system, and maybe if it's a Christian
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school and he's Christian, those are good reasons to send your kid to private school. But why wasn't
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he paying for that himself? Why was he taking money secretly from party donors? The leader of the
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opposition makes more than a quarter million bucks a year. That's also the kind of money he made as
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Speaker of the House for a decade. And let me remind you, both of those jobs, Speaker of the House
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and Office of the Leader of the Opposition, they get free houses in both those positions. So why is
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he getting free money from the party for school, apparently without the knowledge of the governors
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of that Conservative Party fund? And how could he criticize Justin Trudeau for the same sort of
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things while he was doing that on the lowdown? Weirdly, I think he was fake. He was an empty slate.
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He was a nullity, a nil. That's not enough. You can't win with that. I mean, you can be the opposite.
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You can have flaws, even deep flaws, and still win if you believe in something and fight for
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something. Boris Johnson, Donald Trump are proof of that. I can tell you something about those two
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winners, Trump and Johnson. I can tell you something about them that is so true and so authentic and so
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important and so believable and so flavorful. Brexit, make America great. Whatever else they did or said,
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whatever other errors they made, whatever gaffes are unfurled about them, you'll still believe in
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them if their ideas are right for you. Boris Johnson promised to make Brexit happen. That's all people
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needed to hear. He never stopped talking about that, by the way. So if you wanted Brexit, you knew what
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you had to do yesterday, and Brits wanted Brexit. They wanted just to end the issue. Corbyn was a
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never-ending story on that. Trump is about America first. Make America great again. What does that mean
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in real life? Jobs. Less foreign military entanglements. Everything else is secondary. Both
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Johnson and Trump had gaffes. You could say they're gaffe machines, but nobody cares.
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Can you tell me truthfully what Andrew Scheer stood for or against? I swear I can't. I swear I can't.
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And I'm not being dumb on purpose. I can't tell you what he believes in or ever did other than milk.
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And I think that's why he's gone. And maybe we can learn from Boris Johnson and Donald Trump in Canada
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as conservatives choose a new leader. Maybe have someone who stands for something, preferably
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I just informed my colleagues in the Conservative Caucus that I will be resigning as the leader of
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the Conservative Party of Canada. And I've asked the Conservative Party National Council, I will be
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asking the Conservative Party National Council to immediately begin the process of organizing a
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leadership election. Well, there you have it. Andrew Scheer making an announcement that came as a surprise
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to many because, of course, he had assured the party that he intended to press on. And in fact, there were
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some support Scheer grassroots groups popping up to rebut the dump Scheer groups that had presented
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themselves. It was a bit of a surprise. And one possible explanation, though it was somewhat denied
00:20:51.020
by the party, was that it had to do with party expenditures being made from the Conservative
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donations to help subsidize the cost of Andrew Scheer's kids' private school. Now, the party says that there
00:21:05.080
was nothing untoward there. It was standard expenses that the party would pay for any leader.
00:21:10.380
But the timing of that story seemed coincidental. I don't know if it's that important to understand
00:21:17.240
exactly what the precipitating factor was, because what's done is done. And I think the party and the
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country ought to think about what comes next. Well, one man who followed the last election closer than
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most and understands the workings of the party, especially in technical matters like its constitution
00:21:36.720
and its leadership races, is our friend Manny Montenegrino, who used to be Stephen Harper's
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lawyer. And he joins us now by Skype. Manny, great to see you.
00:21:47.240
Well, I was surprised, no doubt about it, because it certainly looked to me like he was digging in there.
00:21:52.840
There were some people calling for his resignation, but he seemed quite firm. And now he's gone.
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I thought it was going to happen. I wasn't quite surprised. The calls I received and what I was
00:22:08.860
seeing, I didn't think he had a chance to continue. Andrew Scheer is a very decent man, a very good
00:22:16.620
man. But he certainly did not grow into the role. And I think Canadians and conservatives want their
00:22:25.340
leaders to grow into the role. And he didn't do it. So I think, you know, there was an opportunity for
00:22:33.320
Andrew after the election, after understanding the reasons of his loss, is to sit there and say,
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OK, I'm going to grow, I'm going to do something differently. He kind of didn't. And he doubled down
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on it. And I think that was the straw that broke a lot of conservatives, the backs and that precipitated
00:22:53.100
this. I'm very pleased. I think he did the most honorable thing. And this is a tribute to Andrew
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Scheer by doing it quicker than later. He understood the process, understood the turmoil that would do
00:23:05.240
it. And to do it before Christmas, you know, it just speaks to the decency of the man and how he puts
00:23:12.120
party ahead of himself. So that's a great tip off to Andrew Scheer.
00:23:18.420
Well, it's funny, because I was paying attention to the British elections last night. And this
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morning, Jeremy Corbyn said he is going to step down as the leader of the Labour Party. He said
00:23:28.140
after some time for reflection, and I thought that was a little bit curious. But then I got an email
00:23:32.760
today. And Manny, I just read this email moments ago before we sat down for the interview. And
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it got me thinking, an email from a senior party source said that Andrew Scheer has not yet resigned.
00:23:50.000
He's sticking around and reflecting as Jeremy Corbyn is, that Scheer's team is still running the show
00:23:57.940
in Ottawa for the Conservative Party. And here's the last part I heard. And again,
00:24:02.920
I haven't been able to corroborate this, but I just heard this from a senior source who's usually
00:24:07.780
accurate, that the party's national council, that's sort of like the board of directors of the party,
00:24:13.120
met for two hours last night on this subject. But they have not yet determined the timeframe
00:24:18.900
for the leadership. So maybe it's nothing. But Andrew Scheer is still the leader. His staff
00:24:27.300
still runs things. He still disciplines MPs. He controls the party whip, the House leader,
00:24:33.060
the agenda. And the party, although they are engaged with this matter, have not set a date.
00:24:41.080
Maybe they need more time to do so. But, you know, I don't know what that means. Maybe things
00:24:46.540
are still so sudden, it takes some time to digest. But sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's it. I think
00:24:52.440
that's it, Ezra. I don't think you have to read anything, you know, nefarious into it.
00:24:56.440
This certainly took a lot of people by surprise, because we were expecting it,
00:25:00.940
you know, sometime after Christmas. So it's a good move. I think this is a great move for the
00:25:05.340
Conservative Party. And it speaks to, you know, the admiration I have about this party, how principled
00:25:14.800
it is. You know, Ezra, we have to look at the realities. And a lot of Conservatives don't
00:25:21.900
understand the realities of Canadian politics. And certainly, you know, if you look at the last seven
00:25:28.340
elections, the progressive vote has been somewhere between 60 to 70 percent. And Conservatives have
00:25:35.620
about 30 to 38 percent. So that is the case. And that is something that we have to understand.
00:25:43.420
And in this election, even though the Conservatives got more votes per than any other party, it's still
00:25:49.520
lost. And what we saw in this election, and I thought the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,
00:25:55.300
did a good job. He was hemorrhaging votes. He lost a million votes. But he started calling himself
00:26:01.000
a progressive. I mean, near the end, he didn't use the word liberal. He said,
00:26:05.740
we progressives got to stick together. We need a progressive Canada. And when you say the word
00:26:10.980
progressive, you draw. And what happened? He siphoned out. Although he was losing a lot of votes,
00:26:16.700
I'll call the middle liberals that just were appalled with what he's done. He drew the hardcore
00:26:23.780
progressives from the NDPs. 650,000 votes is what the NDP lost. And he drew from that to give him his
00:26:33.760
minority government. So we have to understand that, that there really is no, you know, you know,
00:26:40.600
principled party on the other side. And yet we're the principled party always trying to fight it.
00:26:46.380
So that's the challenge that conservatives have. I'm really pleased with the results of what's
00:26:53.040
happened recently. I thought, you know, I was a Bernier supporter in the election in 2007.
00:27:04.740
I was hopeful that Andrew Scheer would grow into the role. He had two years before the election to
00:27:11.660
grow into the role. And he seemed not to have grown into the role of leader of the opposition.
00:27:16.400
He did so slightly, but certainly didn't grow into the role after the loss. Ezra, I had the pleasure
00:27:22.820
of being with Prime Minister Harper after he lost in 2004, the day after. And I met with him and I saw
00:27:31.280
a person who learned so much. I saw a person with great desire. And, you know, Prime Minister Harper
00:27:37.740
only had about four months from being a leader to his first election. And he grew into that role. He
00:27:45.380
learned. And he is just a brilliant. And you saw that. You saw how he was pragmatic and winning
00:27:53.600
minority after minority with the battles that conservatives have against the media. So he was
00:28:00.020
a quick study, a bright man who understood a loss and was really devastated by the loss. And he grew
00:28:06.800
and he grew and grew and grew. And he continues to grow today as a great statesman. We didn't see
00:28:12.360
that acceleration of growth with Andrew Scheer, which is critical if you want to capture all the 38%
00:28:21.980
He sort of went into hiding after the election. Well, let me ask you about the leadership race. And I
00:28:27.140
hear what you're saying. I shouldn't read too much into the fact that he has not yet resigned,
00:28:32.240
that the party has not yet set a date. But let me ask you about the leadership contest. My
00:28:37.220
view, I don't remember the exact rules from the 2017 leadership campaign. But it struck me there
00:28:43.480
were two problems with it. First of all, because of the intricate system for points per constituency and
00:28:53.780
and then the ranked ballot and all these things, there was no winnowing. There were no different
00:29:00.480
moments of truth. Like I'm watching with great interest, the Democratic presidential primaries.
00:29:05.760
And every few weeks, someone else drops out because they're just not getting any purchase. But there's
00:29:10.840
debates all the time. There's polls all the time. And the weak are being culled from the herd.
00:29:16.980
If I recall 2017, everyone was in till the very end. There was no moments of truth until then.
00:29:25.180
It was easy to game the system. And so I think that neither of those things are good. The no
00:29:32.420
winnowing, like letting all 14 go to the final vote. And that the rules were so intricate, you could
00:29:40.840
really work the rules rather than work the same Democratic rules that would apply in the election.
00:29:49.520
That's my view. What do you think? I think they got to change the rules this time for how they
00:29:56.340
Yeah, no, I think you're right. I think I'll start. You know, we have to look at the UK.
00:30:01.720
I mean, the UK, the caucus picks the leader. So we've seen that. So we're more akin to the UK
00:30:11.400
model than we are to the American model. But Ezra, let's, you know, it's not a mystery. And I know
00:30:19.520
people talk about Parliament and what's happening and what the liberals do. And the media always shrouds
00:30:25.000
it in a mystery. It's not a mystery. We have actual evidence of what's going to happen. So take the
00:30:30.900
evidence and work backwards. Now, here's what I mean by that. Stockwell Day became the leader of
00:30:36.960
the Alliance Party September 2000. The election was called November 27, 2000. He had a basically
00:30:46.620
two, three months to get to get to get going. They did it intentionally. John Kretchen knew what he was
00:30:51.980
doing. We have a we have a new leader. Nobody knows. They barely got their oars in the in the water.
00:30:57.240
And boom, comes the election. Stephen Harper, brand new party. February 6 becomes leader.
00:31:04.400
I was there. January, June, the election, another four months to get ready. Do not think for a moment
00:31:12.500
that the liberals are not going to do this again. They are going to structure a failure in this
00:31:18.460
government, whether it be in and I suspect that it will be during budget time, they'll put something in
00:31:24.880
it. That'll be a poison pill to a few people to force an election. And, you know, when you have
00:31:30.020
your opponent without a leader or or or trying to get a leader, even even a black faced
00:31:37.880
Trudeau would win because they're you're winning in the absence. So so I wouldn't get I would sit
00:31:45.640
there and deal with reality. The reality is we're in a minority government. So and reality is,
00:31:50.940
in my opinion, the only hope that the liberal government, I mean, I mean, you know, we talked
00:31:56.900
about this as here he is on his first official. This is the prime minister on his official natal.
00:32:06.080
And he makes a complete utter fool of himself again and enrages the president. So we know that
00:32:12.660
he's weak. He hasn't learned. He hasn't grown into the role. The prime minister is only hope
00:32:17.480
is some shenanigans. And I truly believe that we will see the fall of this government
00:32:21.980
in the next six months because it will be orchestrated by the liberals. And we you've
00:32:26.520
got to be prepared. We can't conservatives can't be always looking for perfection. And I keep saying
00:32:31.160
this to conservatives never make perfect the enemy of good. And that's what we do. We always look for
00:32:37.000
perfection and we hurt good and we allow bad to win. So I would be I would go kind of backwards.
00:32:44.300
I'd say, oh, well, let's say an election is called in June or an election is called in July,
00:32:49.760
which is probably the case, because why? Why? Why would the liberal party give the conservative
00:32:56.420
party a platform to get going? They haven't done in the past. It's been two months, four months. So
00:33:03.720
I'd structure, you know, if I were giving advice, I'd be sitting there saying, OK, and there's
00:33:09.460
and you've got to pick a leader that doesn't didn't doesn't doesn't have the benefit of two
00:33:15.480
years to get his, you know, sea legs. You know, we had Andrew Scheer who had two years and really
00:33:24.240
didn't get a grasp of what it is to become prime minister. So so I would put all that into it.
00:33:30.420
That's very interesting. Well, I mean, if if the election is called so precipitously,
00:33:34.620
the conservative party had better get cracking with their leadership contest date if it's not
00:33:41.400
going to be Andrew Scheer again. Well, listen, Manny, I've just been looking at names that have
00:33:46.820
bubbled upwards as possible suggestions for successors to Andrew Scheer. Some people have
00:33:51.180
taken themselves out of contention already. For example, Brad Wall, the very successful former
00:33:56.120
premier of Saskatchewan. I know the guy a little bit. I think he's a great communicator,
00:34:01.380
looks good, sounds good, ran that problem successfully. But he said categorically he's
00:34:06.680
out. I think that you've got to got to know workable French. And I know that that rankles
00:34:13.220
a lot of Westerners. But my point of view is you got to talk to a quarter of Canada. You got to at
00:34:19.100
least be able to talk to them if you want to be prime minister of the whole country. I think that's
00:34:22.860
just a fact. Let me rattle off some names to you, Manny, and give me a one liner on each of these
00:34:27.940
people. I'm not asking for your endorsement or unendorsement. I just wouldn't mind your quick
00:34:33.020
thoughts. I'm going to put some names to you. Some of these are my favorites. Some of these are
00:34:36.400
other names I've heard out there. Let's start with Rana Ambrose. That's the name Brad Wall actually put
00:34:40.880
forward. Well, you've picked the person on top of my list. Oh, really? Yeah. No, I think she is a
00:34:49.320
great communicator, a bright woman. And remember the metrics that I've given you, Ezra.
00:34:54.360
You need someone that could possibly go into an election in 60 days with gravitas or 80 days or 90
00:35:03.980
days. We don't have, and by the way, the media will not give a conservative leader gravitas,
00:35:11.220
a new person gravitas. So it's not going to be earned by the media. We're not going to know. So
00:35:16.340
it's going to be an unknown versus Justin Trudeau. And so Rana meets that goal. I mean, that is,
00:35:24.980
given her own talents and so on, and she's already succeeded and she just perfected herself as an
00:35:31.500
interim leader. She would be, in my view, meets all the criterias, what I would call under this
00:35:39.620
exceptional circumstances of a minority government, which is going to fall. So yeah,
00:35:45.120
I put Rana very close to the top. Oh, isn't that interesting? Let's do some more quick snappers.
00:35:50.360
One of my favorite guys, Pierre Polyev, or Polyver is sometimes called. What do you think of him?
00:35:55.640
He's an Ottawa area MP. He's a brilliant communicator. He's very good. But, you know,
00:36:02.620
I think he would be excellent. But again, I'm looking at the, you know, who could do the best
00:36:09.760
given the shortest period of time? If we're prepared to say, you know, that was the problem
00:36:15.340
with election 2007. We all believe that there's no way that Trudeau was going to not have at least 10
00:36:23.580
years, you know, two majority mandates and maybe a minority mandate. So we were choosing someone that
00:36:29.780
could grow into the role. And that was how Scheer was chosen. He would, he thought in his mind,
00:36:36.540
he'd have six, seven, eight years to grow into the role. That didn't happen. We were all shocked
00:36:41.860
when we, not, you weren't shocked, Ezra. I wasn't shocked. We knew who the true Justin Trudeau was,
00:36:47.780
but the rest of Canadians found out that he's a complete imposter in a lot of, you know,
00:36:52.940
two-faced positions that he has. So unfortunately, I think Pierre will ultimately be a great leader,
00:36:59.740
her at one time, but, but it's going to be tough for the media to give him the credit and that he
00:37:06.480
now, he will ultimately deserve. I think he should run in any event, even if it's just to get his feet
00:37:14.080
wet for perhaps a future occasion. Let me whip through a few names. A name that's perennially
00:37:21.320
mentioned is Peter McKay. What do you think? Well, I mean, I have great respect for Peter. Peter
00:37:28.500
worked, and I was part of that when he, when he did an immense job of putting the party together.
00:37:36.180
Peter is a great person, did a lot, but I really don't think he's going to be the person. There is
00:37:45.340
still a lot of, you know, issues with respect to him speaking out too soon, seemed to be too anxious.
00:37:52.020
So, you know, these things are going to harm you. You need someone pristine. And it's, you know,
00:37:56.140
again, I go to the point if in 60, 70, 80 days, if there's an election, you need someone pretty
00:38:01.780
pristine. And why I go back to Rana is, is the prime minister put her on the NAFTA advisory board.
00:38:13.620
Pretty hard for the liberal media to go after Rana Ambrose when she was put on by the prime
00:38:19.680
minister on a very important role. So she, she's a very bright woman, figured that out. Uh, and she's
00:38:25.500
touted as being the ambassador, the next ambassador to Canada under the liberal party. So she, you know,
00:38:30.940
it's pretty hard for the media to go after Rana Ambrose. So, uh, but, but, but I, I think
00:38:35.680
unfortunately, um, uh, Peter McKay doesn't have the time, uh, to fight off that media, um, uh, concern.
00:38:42.960
Right. Um, well, there's an MP that I've always liked from Manitoba named Candace Bergen. Um,
00:38:50.060
I think she's ideologically sound. I think she's a good communicator. I, I'm a big fan of hers,
00:38:54.160
but I wonder if she has the profile. What are your thoughts on Candace Bergen?
00:38:58.800
Uh, she's brilliant. I mean, good pick, a brilliant woman. You know, the conservative party
00:39:04.360
have so many strong women. Um, you know, even Lisa Raitt, uh, she, she said she's out of it. Uh,
00:39:10.960
Candace is a strong, bright woman, but does, has not, will call, earn, earn, earned that media.
00:39:19.360
Uh, you know, there's, you know, there, there's kind of a, a gauntlet conservatives have to go
00:39:26.620
through, conservative leaders. They have to run the gauntlet of the liberal media. They get beaten
00:39:31.920
and beaten and beaten. And if you survive, then you can move on. Uh, she hasn't put, been put through
00:39:37.560
the gauntlet. Uh, so, so unfortunately there'll be something that they'll find and, and she's a bit
00:39:43.840
of an unknown. And again, we don't have the luxury. If this was a majority government that we faced,
00:39:48.800
a liberal majority government, and this has happened and we have three years, then all these
00:39:53.380
people that you've mentioned, I think would be, would be great candidates. Give them two years to
00:39:58.200
establish themselves and show their strength. I think Candace would be perfect. I don't think in
00:40:03.240
this circumstance that, that, that she would, uh, fit, fit that role. Let me throw one last one at
00:40:08.480
you. And I suppose it's a direct reaction to what you just said. Uh, there is an MP who in his own way
00:40:14.860
is a household name and face because for years he was a TV announcer. He's a good communicator. Uh,
00:40:24.360
I think people know him or feel like they know him. I'm talking about former global TV anchor,
00:40:30.920
Peter Kent. He's from the greater Toronto area, Thornhill. So it's not actually Toronto,
00:40:37.000
but it's close ish. Um, he, he had senior roles under Harper. He was a cabin minister,
00:40:43.380
really didn't get into trouble. Cautious guy, but I'd call him a conservative. I mean, um,
00:40:49.500
not as conservative as me, but no, not a lot are. Uh, I liked the cut of his jib. Um,
00:40:55.820
what do you think of Peter Kent? Peter's a great guy. I, but he's, uh, I, I think your assessment is
00:41:03.540
right. I don't think you need, you know, you need a special fighter. I mean, it's hard to win a
00:41:11.040
conservative. I don't know why Canadians don't understand this service game, but it's very hard
00:41:16.160
to win as a conservative and you need someone that has fight that, that, and I, I used to say this,
00:41:22.320
you have to find someone that hates losing so much more than winning, like winning. Uh, Stephen
00:41:29.140
Harper hated losing one. You know, when I saw him in 2004, it reminded me of watching Wayne Gretzky
00:41:35.220
when, you know, the, the story, when he lost his first Stanley cup, he was in the, in dressing room
00:41:40.020
for hours, pounding away cause he hated to lose more than he wanted to win. And you gotta, you gotta
00:41:45.720
find that. I mean, you see that, you see that in, in, uh, uh, president Trump, this is, you know,
00:41:51.820
like people you've got to hate to lose and Trump hates to lose. And Trump also, you know, you know,
00:41:58.300
president Trump also learns. He's a fast learner, uh, much like, much like prime minister, uh, uh,
00:42:04.600
Harper was. And, and, and, and, and so, so you have to have a person that's capable of learning,
00:42:09.980
understanding that you're fighting the media, understanding you gotta, and you've got to hate
00:42:15.200
to lose. And, and, and, and I don't see that in, in, in, uh, uh, Peter Kent.
00:42:20.540
Very interesting. Well, I hope that some of these names put their themselves forward, even if, um,
00:42:26.320
the likelihood of them winning is not overwhelming because, uh, I mean, first of all, I would like to
00:42:32.560
see a lot of the names we've just discussed, make it into any future cabinet and let, let the party
00:42:38.100
members choose, let the party members choose. I think that there is a good bench there. And, um,
00:42:45.340
what I've left our conversation with today, Manny, is the urgency that this process needs to get
00:42:51.260
underway because it's not a majority government. There aren't years and years. I think it's
00:42:56.180
measured in months. We'll continue to talk about this, um, uh, in, in the, the time ahead of us,
00:43:03.340
but, uh, I guess the race is on already. Manny, it's great to talk to you. And I know you'll help
00:43:07.900
guide us through the conversation as the leadership race goes. Thanks. Thanks for joining us again,
00:43:12.700
my friend. No problem. Take care. All right. There you have it. Manny Montadegrino, the CEO
00:43:17.500
of ThinkSharp. Some very interesting comments by him. I think he's exactly right. Uh, the liberals will
00:43:24.460
spring the trap on the conservatives when the leaders are unready. They've done that before.
00:43:30.080
They've done that regularly. Uh, it's unfair, but so is life. And I think they'll do that to whoever
00:43:35.580
the next leader of the conservative is. They'll spring the trap on him weeks after he or she is
00:43:40.840
chosen. All right. Stay with us. More ahead on The Rebel. So what do you think about Andrew Scheer's
00:43:53.340
departure? Actually, don't even answer that. I, like you, I probably don't even care. And now that it's
00:43:58.700
gone, why spend another second talking about it? Let's talk about something far more exciting.
00:44:03.400
What do you think of the prospects to succeed, Andrew Scheer? Um, I've been following this, uh,
00:44:11.920
debate online on Twitter and names that keep coming up are Pierre Polyev. I really like that name.
00:44:18.660
Erin O'Toole is a name that comes up. Um, I see Peter McKay's name, but I don't see it being said in
00:44:24.100
any serious way. See Ronna Ambrose's name being brooded and even Michelle Rempel. I don't know.
00:44:29.760
I think the more the merrier, but look, I think there were 14 candidates of memory serves last time,
00:44:35.980
which is fine. That's great. I mean, look, both the Democrats and the Republicans in this cycle
00:44:41.560
and the last one had more than a dozen candidates, uh, probably just about 20. And that's good.
00:44:48.500
If there's a smart way to winnow it down. The problem with the system last time is there was
00:44:54.480
no early reckoning. There was no early indication of how these, uh, candidates were doing. So it was
00:45:02.720
all solved right at once in this preferential ballot that you couldn't, you couldn't really
00:45:08.960
negotiate. Um, it was just like really by computer all on one day. And I think we, the result was the
00:45:17.820
worst of all worlds. It was the least unfavorite guy won. Everyone's second place guy won. That is
00:45:25.600
not how you choose a top dog winner. Uh, frankly, Donald Trump would not have won under the everyone's
00:45:33.220
second place guy. Uh, I don't think Boris Johnson would have either. So I think there needs to be a
00:45:38.300
proper process that the conservative party has. But other than that, bring it on. Let's have a good
00:45:43.880
rollicking debate. And I can assure you the rebel will be part of it. And now that Andrew Scheer's
00:45:48.580
gone, his really weird censorship of the rebel, or not even censor, he didn't censor us. He just
00:45:54.820
banned his team from talking to us. There's so many friends I have in the conservative party,
00:46:00.940
MPs, senators who I would talk to privately and say, Hey, come on the show, talk about that.
00:46:04.860
And they'd say, sorry, no, we're not allowed to not allowed to. Well, you know, right there is sort
00:46:10.300
of an indication you might have a problem if the leader of your conservative party won't talk to
00:46:14.620
reporters from the really the only conservative news outlet in the country. Um, but who cares about
00:46:19.800
all that? That's all in the past. I'm looking forward to a rollicking leadership debate. And
00:46:23.940
you know, the rebel will be right in the thick of it. All right, folks until, uh, until Monday
00:46:29.500
on behalf of all of us here at rebel world headquarters, good night and keep fighting for freedom.