Here's what's REALLY wrong with Trudeau's Florida vacation (Guest host： Sheila Gunn Reid)
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
161.75691
Summary
A scandal-plagued Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been crisscrossing the continent on a luxury vacation over the past couple of days, and boy is my wallet tired. Why is the party in power already campaigning like they re in opposition?
Transcript
00:00:03.840
Tonight, scandal-plagued Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been criss-crossing the continent
00:00:09.600
on a luxury vacation over the past couple of days and, boy, is my wallet tired then.
00:00:16.420
An election in Alberta is imminent, or so our fixed election date law says, so why is
00:00:22.420
the party in power already campaigning like they're in opposition?
00:00:27.040
It's March 14th, 2019. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Ezra LeVant Show.
00:00:34.440
Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:00:38.320
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:00:42.400
The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's
00:00:55.940
Justin Trudeau and his Prime Minister's office are accused of putting illegal pressure on
00:01:01.300
Canada's former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to cut a sweetheart deal with a corrupt Quebec-based
00:01:07.820
company called SNC-Lavalin, all to protect liberal votes in that province.
00:01:13.900
The government is in complete crisis, and now they're being accused of a cover-up after using
00:01:20.380
their majority at committee to block opposition attempts to bring the former Attorney General
00:01:27.620
But what does a responsible grown-up do in crisis?
00:01:31.200
Well, we're not exactly talking about a responsible grown-up here, are we?
00:01:39.220
Well, he goes on a vacation to a private island in Florida.
00:01:42.840
Let me show you what Justin Trudeau was up to while the hot garbage fire of the SNC-Lavalin
00:01:50.260
scandal continues to burn like the fire of a thousand suns in Ottawa.
00:01:55.060
I found this neat little graphic on Twitter, and it shows Justin Trudeau's Challenger jet
00:02:04.360
So, on Saturday, March 9th, Justin Trudeau leaves Ottawa for southwest Florida to a private
00:02:13.960
And then on Monday, March 11th, he turns around and flies back to Ottawa in the Challenger.
00:02:19.520
Then on the 12th, one day later, he flies back to Florida.
00:02:23.580
Was there no better way to plan this vacation so that there wasn't an extra cross-continent
00:02:29.640
flight involved, like putting it off for a couple of days like a normal person would have?
00:02:35.540
Now, according to the folks over at Post Millennial, Justin Trudeau's jaunting back and forth between
00:02:40.640
Ottawa and Florida over the past few days has run up a $100,000 bill to the taxpayer.
00:02:47.840
I've covered Justin Trudeau's travel expenses extensively here at The Rebel.
00:02:52.700
I go over those flight records for the government challenger all the time.
00:02:57.960
And, you know what, to be honest with you, I do get a lot of criticism for doing so, even
00:03:03.120
from people who profess to me that they're conservative, even from people who work for
00:03:09.920
So, let me be clear on two things that people often get so nitpicky with me about.
00:03:15.580
I fully acknowledge that Justin Trudeau cannot fly on a commercial airline.
00:03:20.520
The security detail requirements just make that sort of thing completely impossible.
00:03:27.100
And I certainly don't begrudge a man a vacation with his children, although my tolerance for
00:03:32.300
such things does run a little thin when it seems as though the family vacations are every
00:03:40.580
And also, you know, in the middle of what could be a criminal investigation into obstruction
00:03:45.720
of justice back in Ottawa, normally the same people critical of Trump for golfing at his
00:03:51.260
private estate are the same ones completely excusing Justin Trudeau for wanting all of this
00:04:02.880
But here's where all this excessive Trudeau travel sticks in my craw a little bit.
00:04:07.720
Let's look at the gold standard of prime ministerial responsibility and accountability for a second,
00:04:17.700
The fiscally responsible, low-key couple did take family vacations.
00:04:24.280
And they used the Challenger jet because that is what is required of them.
00:04:29.620
The Harpers, they're precious still and they need to be kept safe.
00:04:33.700
They are national treasures, but whenever they flew on the Challenger for personal reasons,
00:04:40.100
they reimbursed the taxpayer for the cost of the flight had they flown on a commercial
00:04:45.920
It was a good balance between security and respect for the taxpayer and paying for your
00:04:52.980
own family when you already have a pretty decent taxpayer-funded salary.
00:04:58.580
The Harpers didn't exactly come from wealth and means either, whereas Justin Trudeau came
00:05:05.260
into the job as MP and then prime minister as a millionaire with a million-dollar car.
00:05:11.100
Forgive me in this sickeningly slow economy where we can't even get a pipeline built and
00:05:15.820
there are looming layoffs in Alberta literally every single day if I think it's irresponsible
00:05:21.040
and inappropriate to pay for a millionaire's private luxury vacations.
00:05:26.660
But there's another reason for normal people to find this sort of inefficient travel plans
00:05:34.700
The liberals are of the mindset that we only have, you know, 12 years left on this planet
00:05:39.960
before we die of climate change if we don't act now.
00:05:44.140
If I don't park my SUV and pay a carbon tax making everything I purchase and do so much
00:05:55.660
You see, Justin Trudeau cares so much about climate change that he even took the time
00:06:00.520
to lecture Canadians about impending doom of it all on Twitter.
00:06:08.100
That's why we're making big polluters pay and giving the money right back to Canadians.
00:06:13.980
Claim your climate action incentive when you file your taxes this year.
00:06:19.360
Now, when you think about it, Trudeau was probably just landing on the third leg of his Ottawa-to-Florida,
00:06:27.280
Florida-to-Ottawa, Ottawa-back-to-Florida vacation commute.
00:06:32.960
We probably only have 11 years left to live now.
00:06:36.220
I'd suggest to you that Justin Trudeau is probably one of the biggest carbon polluters out there.
00:06:41.700
You know, if you care about those sorts of things, I don't necessarily.
00:06:45.520
But instead of Trudeau paying for it all, like he wants big polluters to do,
00:06:55.940
once they start acting like the climate is in crisis,
00:07:19.740
We are officially in our campaign window here in Alberta,
00:07:26.880
We have to have our elections held between March 1st, 2019.
00:07:33.240
And May 31st, 2019, and we need to have a 28-day campaign.
00:07:40.300
Now, we aren't officially campaigning in Alberta yet,
00:07:43.780
but that hasn't stopped the parties from doing it.
00:07:46.060
But only one party is campaigning with my money.
00:07:50.440
And joining me now to talk about the state of the election campaign
00:07:53.500
that isn't quite yet is my friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary.
00:08:05.960
and I don't want to toot my own horn here, but I'm gonna,
00:08:08.860
who would know as much about this stuff as I do,
00:08:12.360
that we would have an engaging 20-minute conversation,
00:08:14.560
and you were the first guy that popped into my mind.
00:08:18.960
Let's talk about some of the things that Jason Kenney has announced in the last little bit.
00:08:25.520
And there is a ton of red meat in this for conservatives.
00:08:30.160
Some are, you know, they weren't really top-of-mind issues,
00:08:34.240
but I think conservatives are going to jump at them,
00:08:36.820
like the financial supports for veterans and first responders,
00:08:40.480
and that hero fund that Tani Yao, who himself is a firefighter, announced.
00:08:47.460
And I think it might actually even sway some of those traditionally public sector votes,
00:08:54.080
you know, the firefighters union, the police union,
00:08:58.460
You know, I think it's interesting that Jason Kenney has chosen to put out quite as much policy
00:09:09.100
And I think in the case of this Heroes Fund, you know,
00:09:12.700
Alberta has, I think, a pretty enviable track record when it comes to its first responders
00:09:20.000
You know, we saw them here, where I live in Calgary, during the 2013 floods.
00:09:24.060
We saw them doing wonderful work up in Fort McMurray during those devastating fires.
00:09:29.560
And I think there's a genuine love from Albertans for the people who work as our first responders.
00:09:35.520
So I'm really glad that the UCP chose a policy and put forward a policy for a group
00:09:41.740
that maybe doesn't get enough attention from the government of the day.
00:09:46.760
But certainly that's just one of an entire range of policy that Jason's put out
00:09:54.580
And he shows no signs of slowing down on the policy front.
00:09:58.240
So I guess every day we wait to see what comes next.
00:10:04.260
I mean, we're recording this on Wednesday afternoon,
00:10:07.640
and I think we've had three policy announcements this week.
00:10:10.720
One that I know you folks at Safe Calgary and some of your associated organizations have been
00:10:23.320
Why don't you tell us a little bit about that one?
00:10:25.900
Well, you know, it's a term that gets thrown around, red tape, government regulation.
00:10:30.920
And it seems a little, you know, hard to concrete, hard to just sort of really understand what it is.
00:10:38.020
But if you think about it, since Rachel Notley became premier in 2015,
00:10:43.160
this government has been sending the message that we are closed for business,
00:10:47.380
that Alberta is not where, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're an investor,
00:10:51.800
this is not where you're choosing to put your resources and your time and effort.
00:10:56.700
And one of the big things she's done is written tons of new regulations.
00:11:01.660
Now, for a really big business, they have HR departments and legal teams and
00:11:08.780
the thousands of pages of government regulation that exists.
00:11:13.160
But for people who are small business owners, mom and pop shops,
00:11:16.080
people who are running restaurants and small stores and little groups like that,
00:11:20.500
it's completely unreasonable the amount of government red tape that they have to go through.
00:11:26.800
And it's time and money they have to spend complying with arbitrary NDP rules
00:11:31.760
rather than spending the money to create jobs and improve their customer service
00:11:39.420
So the one in three rule, which we've been calling for personally, which we love,
00:11:46.980
Let's cut a third of all unnecessary government regulation.
00:11:50.640
So we can't wait for that to get going shortly after Jason Kenney
00:11:57.400
Well, and enforcing all that extra red tape is also very expensive.
00:12:02.360
So it's not just expensive for the business, but it's expensive for everybody else who's involved
00:12:07.560
in the economy, everybody else who's paying taxes, because those expenses are passed along
00:12:13.260
to the consumer, the ones that are incurred by the business.
00:12:15.640
But you also do need all these government bureaucrats to come along and make sure that you're following
00:12:22.220
And, you know, when you strip some of that out of the system, boy, that sure frees up
00:12:28.120
a lot of cash to do a lot of other things with like higher frontline staff in the hospitals.
00:12:35.360
Another thing that came out this week, I saw rookie MLA Devin Dreshen did a video explaining
00:12:45.540
And I think this is a red meat thing that is tossed out to those former Wild Rose supporters
00:12:51.720
like myself, in all honesty, who were really concerned about the infringement of on our property
00:13:08.260
And as someone who worked for Wild Rose for many years, I can tell you, it was one of those
00:13:14.480
things where when we particularly went to communities outside of the big cities, when we went to small
00:13:20.440
towns and villages, you would have farmers and leaseholders and other people who own property
00:13:26.860
up in arms about the then arbitrary actions of the Redford PCs, but then after that, certainly the NDP
00:13:34.900
in assigning huge swaths of property to protected status or cancelling mineral rights and cancelling
00:13:46.340
And it seemed like it was just whether or not you would get to keep your full property rights.
00:13:52.680
So I think Jason looked at some of those things that people found were irritants under the old PC
00:13:58.560
government, now the NDP, and said, let's not repeat the mistakes of the past.
00:14:03.380
Let's make sure that this new United Conservative Party takes into account the fact that it has two
00:14:09.240
grandfather parties, two legacy parties, and for Wild Rose, absolutely property rights was a huge issue.
00:14:15.220
Now, sticking on the issue of us rural folks, us meaning me and not you,
00:14:20.780
you're one of those fancy city people. There's a new legislation that Jason Kenney has proposed that
00:14:29.640
I think is going to satisfy a lot of farmers. It is the replacement of Bill 6, that's that farm
00:14:39.160
unionization law that put bankers' hours rules on Alberta family farms. This new legislation comes with
00:14:47.240
a fantastic name and really a populist touch because for being someone who followed closely and covered
00:14:56.940
closely and spoke to the farmers and the people who were protesting Bill 6, I think Jason Kenney has
00:15:05.040
listened to exactly what they wanted in his new farm freedom and safety legislation that is the greatest
00:15:13.240
name. No, whoever worked on the team to come up with the name, you know, they deserve an extra day off
00:15:21.820
on the weekend, I think, for services to the UCP. You know, I think for Bill 6, what it demonstrated
00:15:29.800
more than anything on the part of the Notley government was an absolute ignorance of life outside of a big
00:15:37.480
city. And two, you know, the idea that somehow farmers didn't have the best interests of their
00:15:46.680
families and of the people working there. And therefore, the government approached it from a
00:15:52.440
let's treat farmers and family farms like villains. And as opposed to, okay, we see some issues with
00:16:00.120
some things, let's have a conversation with farmers and try and work out something that's going to work
00:16:04.740
for both. The NDP just, it was, it was so tone deaf on the part of the NDP when they put this forward.
00:16:10.400
And I think it really has hurt whatever slim reelection chances they had for their rural seats.
00:16:18.060
I, you know, there's been a couple long articles recently from some journalists about, you know,
00:16:23.560
Rachel Notley and her NDP. And they've talked about a few, you know, the big missteps. And I think Bill
00:16:29.240
6 when they brought it in was. So I'm really happy that Jason Kenney has decided we're going to,
00:16:33.500
you know, right off the bat, change this law, this law that seemed to suggest that, you know,
00:16:39.560
somehow Alberta farms were inherently dangerous and risky and that farmers couldn't be trusted to
00:16:46.040
work with their families to make good decisions about how labor gets done and needed intrusive
00:16:51.540
government in order to fix a problem that frankly, wasn't really a problem at all. So that's going to
00:16:57.480
be a good news for rural Alberta, I think. Yeah. And I like how Jason Kenney went back to what the
00:17:05.840
farmers were saying at the time. Part of the reason the NDP said that they needed to bring in Bill 6 is
00:17:12.220
because these farm employees didn't have insurance coverage. And so the NDP wanted to force everybody
00:17:20.760
to buy WCB coverage. So everybody knows WCB is expensive and it's a hassle. Most people who have
00:17:28.560
to put in a claim have to fight to get their claim acknowledged by the WCB bureaucracy. A lot of the
00:17:38.740
farmers at the time were saying, look, we have better insurance for our employees under our farm
00:17:44.220
insurance. But like you say, the NDP just didn't even understand that that was the case and painted
00:17:49.220
these farmers as cheapskates and villains. So this really does address the problem. It mandates
00:17:55.620
insurance and it gives farmers the choice for what's right for their farm. I think it is fantastic
00:18:01.920
legislation. Absolutely. And I think it shows the two different attitudes towards how to fix a problem.
00:18:11.640
There's big government, big intrusive government, top down, or there's listening to Albertans,
00:18:17.960
to stakeholders, to people who are directly impacted by these things and using their wisdom
00:18:23.500
in building policy solutions. And of course, the NDP, they've never found a government program that
00:18:30.060
they thought they didn't think should be bigger or more intrusive. And I think for Jason and the UCP,
00:18:35.440
we're like, look, we've been farming in Alberta a long time. Maybe our farmers have a better idea of how
00:18:41.360
to handle some of these things than bureaucrats in Edmonton. Yeah, I mean, it's fascinating to see
00:18:47.420
a party listening to the people actually affected as opposed to the Alberta Federation of Labour.
00:18:56.320
Now, I wanted to talk to you about one that's been moderately controversial, I suppose,
00:19:03.140
on line amongst the NDP troll accounts on Twitter, which I guess the mainstream media thinks
00:19:10.320
is news. Jason Kenney has proposed lowering the minimum wage for young people, which would
00:19:18.000
naturally create jobs for young people who are actually seeing some pretty high unemployment rates.
00:19:23.180
But for some reason, that's controversial to the NDP who don't have a business person amongst the
00:19:30.320
bunch. Yeah, I you know, I think for the New Democrats, a lot of them are are very idealistic.
00:19:38.220
And in their world, there are a lot of black and white issues. And there are a lot of we have to
00:19:46.040
set a pure ideological policy and, you know, regardless of the impact. But the impact has
00:19:53.660
been pretty brutal. For anybody who's been looking at job availability in those service sector jobs,
00:20:00.180
places like McDonald's and Walmart and things like that. The $15 hour minimum wage has hit
00:20:06.620
younger workers by far the hardest because they don't have the experience that older workers do.
00:20:12.620
I think a lot of employers look at older workers and see someone who could be working there for
00:20:16.900
five or 10 years, not a teenager who may only work there for a few. So, you know, yes, some people are
00:20:24.240
getting paid more per hour now. They're getting paid $15. But a whole lot of them are just not working
00:20:28.560
at all and are unable to find those entry level jobs that are so important for young people to get
00:20:34.340
the experience they need. Jason's solution is, well, maybe we have a age based discount on that
00:20:42.200
minimum wage in order to spur job creation. The NDP, you know, call it high heresy. But I think for a lot
00:20:49.500
of teenagers, they're like, look, this $15 an hour minimum wage isn't doing me any good if I don't
00:20:55.280
have a job. And jobs, I think, are where some of the things the NDP are going to find really tough
00:21:00.760
going. And, you know, they've been talking about Alberta's recovery is working. Well, give me some
00:21:05.960
evidence that Alberta's recovery is working because Alberta's unemployment rate, 7.4%, Calgary now with
00:21:11.640
the highest unemployment rate of a major city in the entire country, those jobs aren't being created.
00:21:17.620
And it's why, you know, they think that the proposed corporate tax cut from 12% to 8% is, you know,
00:21:24.560
just the most evil policy that's ever been put forward. Whereas Jason Kenney says we need to do
00:21:29.240
something like that, something radical, something dramatic, something bold in order to send the
00:21:34.420
message that Alberta is open for business, that Alberta is where businesses and investors should
00:21:39.860
send their money. It's a distinct opposite message than the one the NDP have been sending. So I think
00:21:45.240
you're going to see a lot of policies that the NDP and the left think are horrible, but that everyday
00:21:51.820
Albertans and that those who are involved in businesses, including small and medium sized businesses,
00:21:55.780
are going to be, thank goodness, this these changes are coming.
00:21:59.360
Yeah, a lot of these policies have a very Ralph Klein feel to them. Which I mean, who isn't
00:22:05.920
nostalgic for the Ralph Klein days? And, you know, I, I often joke, I think the minimum wage
00:22:14.520
hike to $15 is just the NDP giving them a post election, giving themselves like a post election
00:22:21.080
race, because I think that's where a lot of them are going to land, giving their, given their
00:22:28.440
On the minimum wage, Sheila, I had to laugh because I saw an online ad, the NDP are advertising for
00:22:34.780
door knockers and phone callers, and they're paying $20 an hour. And of course, I was shocked by saying,
00:22:40.880
well, wait, surely people will do these jobs for $15 an hour. That's why the minimum wage was hiked up.
00:22:47.360
Are you instead saying that you have to set a salary rate that the market decides is what is worth time
00:22:54.480
and effort? So if you're only going to get door knockers and phoneers for $20 an hour, that's what you
00:22:58.940
pay? Goodness me, they're following the, you know, the conservative approach, let the market set the salary
00:23:05.260
rates. And so, I mean, it means that they don't even believe their own minimum wage, you know, propaganda.
00:23:12.220
Yeah. And given their ability to fundraise, I just, I don't know if they can afford $20 an hour, but that
00:23:20.740
is what the market is paying these days. There's another big one. I think Bill won when Jason Kenney
00:23:28.880
takes office, at least that's what he's campaigned on since the day he decided that he was going to run
00:23:33.580
for PC leader before the parties united was the repealment of the carbon tax. That's Bill one.
00:23:41.740
What do you think that's going to do for business in Alberta?
00:23:45.240
Yeah. I mean, certainly people may not know a ton about where the United Conservative Party is going
00:23:50.980
to land on some issues, but they definitely know that they're against this carbon tax. And I think
00:23:56.620
the carbon tax thing, it's funny how many different sort of economists and other people are now
00:24:02.660
championing the carbon tax because they know it is not politically popular with Albertans,
00:24:08.780
even with rebates and things like that. I think the reasons are pretty simple.
00:24:12.700
It makes life more expensive for Albertans and for businesses at a time when families and businesses
00:24:19.280
are both struggling. The things you buy most, gas, groceries, even insurance, products like that,
00:24:26.960
they're all being driven up, the cost of those driven up by this carbon tax. And as a result,
00:24:33.120
businesses don't want to do business in a place with the carbon tax. You know, you look at our
00:24:37.520
neighbors to the south of the United States, their economy going gangbusters right now. And one of the
00:24:42.760
reasons is if you're looking to invest in North America, do you want to go to Canada with this built-in,
00:24:47.220
make everything more expensive tax? Or do you want to go to the states where they say, no,
00:24:51.820
we want you to come here and do business. And that's why their unemployment rate is,
00:24:55.940
you know, several percent lower than us. It's why their business growth is dramatically higher than
00:25:00.720
ours is. So I think for carbon tax, it was one of those ideas that economists and government people,
00:25:08.540
you know, who live in a very different world than a lot of us sat around and said, well, this is an
00:25:13.280
excellent idea, but that everyday people really haven't gotten on board with and have a lot of
00:25:19.240
concerns with. And rightfully so, there has been no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions because
00:25:25.280
of this carbon tax. BC's analysis, you know, most people have, you know, BC's had the carbon tax
00:25:30.220
the longest. They look at it. Emissions haven't gone down. So what on earth do we have a carbon tax for
00:25:35.440
if it's, you know, giving us all this economic pain, but it isn't actually making the environment any
00:25:40.800
better? Yeah, but you got free light bulbs in a low flow showerhead, William. Aren't you happy
00:25:46.660
about that? Yeah. Well, yeah. Surprisingly, the NDP didn't send me my light bulbs. Maybe I,
00:25:52.980
maybe I was on the wrong mailing list. You're a big boy and I feel like you could probably change your
00:25:58.240
own. I have changed them. Yes. On my own. Didn't need government to do it for me. Oh boy. Now on the
00:26:04.700
flip side, it looks like the UCP, they're campaigning like they are going to form government.
00:26:11.260
They're coming out with actual proposals for legislation that I think, it seems as though
00:26:17.660
each piece of their legislation addresses one major concern with what the NDP have done in the last
00:26:24.260
almost four years. Whereas the NDP, they seem to be just campaigning on dishing out money. And if you
00:26:31.160
go to the Alberta NDP website, it is nothing but a tax on Jason Kenney. There's no real policy
00:26:40.780
proposals happening there. It's Jason Kenney waffling on Springbank. Damn, Jason Kenney's hurt students.
00:26:47.980
Um, it's just, um, uh, like they are campaigning like they're the opposition already. Uh, no,
00:26:54.340
you're absolutely right. And I think it's interesting because a lot of people I think
00:26:57.940
would have described Rachel Notley herself as quite positive and, and, uh, you know, optimistic
00:27:04.700
to use the phrase from our prime minister, a sunny ways person, so to speak. But the NDP campaign
00:27:11.980
is one of, if not the most negative campaign I've ever seen in provincial politics. They are
00:27:17.940
offering virtually no positive image for middle class, middle income, everyday voters, and instead
00:27:26.460
are gambling that if they attack Jason Kenney enough, if they, if they, uh, find enough little
00:27:34.660
things to try and paint him as this, you know, extremist, crazy right wing, Attila the Hun type figure
00:27:42.660
that somehow Albertans are going to forget the frankly quite lousy record of this NDP
00:27:48.620
government in office. I mean, what they, I think should be doing is they should be figuring out
00:27:54.180
if they have any achievements and they should be trying to showcase that and say, you need
00:27:58.080
more of this. We want to continue whatever it is that we've been doing for the last four
00:28:02.220
years. But I mean, I guess they know that that isn't going to work for them because they
00:28:06.620
frankly don't have a record that they can campaign on. They can't campaign on the economy.
00:28:10.360
They can't campaign on job creation. Uh, they can't campaign on, uh, you know, helping, uh,
00:28:16.960
ordinary Albertans, you know, live more affordably or things like that. So instead it's the Sable
00:28:22.720
fear and smear campaign from the left, which has been their standard practice since, well,
00:28:28.200
since I've been doing politics, I remember the 2000 election and how Stockwell Day, that's
00:28:32.760
all the liberals wanted to talk about was, was how evil Stockwell Day was and how evil Stephen
00:28:37.620
Harper was. And now how evil Jason Kenney is. I don't think Albertans are going to buy
00:28:42.620
I don't think so either because, um, it feels like a campaign of gaslighting. We're like,
00:28:48.400
we're supposed to, um, maybe we've experienced the last four years differently to use, you
00:28:56.760
know, the prime minister's excuses. You know, like when the NDP paint themselves as the champions
00:29:02.000
of the healthcare system and Jason Kenney's just going to burn down all the hospitals and
00:29:05.660
bulldoze all the schools, wait times have gone up. We have some of the worst wait times
00:29:11.320
in the country. So for the NDP now to say, no, we need to continue doing it our way. Our
00:29:17.040
way is the best way. Uh, Albertans know if you've tried to access the healthcare system,
00:29:25.160
Absolutely. I think for any, uh, healthcare is a great example. It's the NDP solution is
00:29:29.740
no other changes other than just pouring more money into the system. And at some point,
00:29:36.080
when do we say that's not enough? That is not enough to fix our healthcare problems.
00:29:41.120
Healthcare budgets were once 25% of the provincial budget, then they were 30. Now they're over 40.
00:29:48.240
Is it when it gets to 50% of, you know, one out of every two of our tax dollars being spent
00:29:52.940
to fund healthcare that we finally say, maybe it's time for some new thinking.
00:29:56.700
And instead of, of demonizing people who suggest there might be other and better ways of delivering
00:30:03.200
healthcare, uh, you know, we should be looking around the world at jurisdictions that really
00:30:08.600
have figured out how to do this better. Uh, it's a source of pride. I know for Canadians are publicly
00:30:14.240
funded healthcare system. Personally, uh, I think it's great to have a universal public system,
00:30:19.880
but I don't think that simply maintaining healthcare status quo is either a good policy
00:30:26.140
or it's what particularly Albertans want when they see their grandmothers and grandfathers
00:30:31.740
waiting months or years for hip and knee replacement surgery. When people are waiting months and months
00:30:37.520
and months for MRIs that, you know, that's time that they could be diagnosed and starting to start
00:30:41.680
their treatment programs. There's so many examples of, of inefficiency and waste in healthcare.
00:30:46.420
And for the NDP to suggest that any change, any new thinking on this is, is heretical. Well,
00:30:52.440
that's one of the reasons, the big government reasons why people aren't looking at the NDP
00:30:58.280
Now, one last question for you. Um, when do you think the writ is finally, finally going to drop?
00:31:07.440
When can we get out of this campaign loop that isn't a campaign?
00:31:13.120
Well, I, I should offer the caveat, Sheila, that I've been almost wrong every single time on when
00:31:18.920
I thought an election would be. Uh, it's not been one of my fortes for getting right, but I think
00:31:25.440
there's two schools of thought. I mean, I think there was a thought that it would happen relatively
00:31:29.140
quickly. In fact, a lot of people thought next week, given that there's a throne speech coming out and
00:31:34.560
the government's going to lay out its agenda, uh, and then would go to the polls and campaign on it.
00:31:40.260
We're getting word today though, that they do intend to hold a spring session. They want to
00:31:45.260
introduce another healthcare bill in order to, you know, basically, I guess, guard against the evil
00:31:51.020
Jason Kenney healthcare destruction plan that they foresee coming. Uh, and they probably want to,
00:31:56.800
you know, pass a couple other sort of, you know, uh, bills that, that really help them with their
00:32:02.660
campaign strategies. So we may not end up having this campaign until we get, you know, kicking off
00:32:08.860
in April or even possibly kicking off at the beginning of May. So we may, you know, I would
00:32:15.380
say too, personally, if I were the NDP and I'm looking at these poll numbers, why wouldn't I stay
00:32:20.460
in office every single last day that I could get in my taxpayer salary and my government benefits,
00:32:27.640
knowing that in 28 days after that election call, I'm going to be out of job looking for new work.
00:32:32.660
So there may be that there too. I see that side of the argument, but I just think that it is time
00:32:38.560
to put Albertans out of our misery instead of hanging onto power, like Maduro as long as you can.
00:32:47.040
Um, William, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show and being so generous with your time
00:32:51.600
all the time with me. Um, and thank you and keep fighting for freedom. Well, thank you, Sheila. And I
00:32:57.680
want to say Canadians should be so grateful to have you. How many news stories have you broken
00:33:02.580
in the last few weeks that other media have been, you know, taken credit for? Uh, I think it shows
00:33:08.440
why we're so lucky to have you in the, in the job that you're doing. Well, thanks. You know,
00:33:12.840
sometimes I think I'm doing the Lord's work in that if I can get the national post to chase me,
00:33:17.960
to cover the stories, uh, Canadians actually care about instead of the stories that they care about,
00:33:23.920
maybe they can stave off job losses over there just a little bit longer. So, you know,
00:33:28.320
maybe they should thank me for that. I certainly think they should.
00:33:32.760
Thanks, William. Have a great day. Stay with us more up next after the break.
00:33:48.140
Before we go today, let's take a look at some of your feedback, some of your comments,
00:33:53.340
your queries and questions to us. When David Menzies was in Ottawa this week with our gorgeous,
00:33:59.880
beautiful, jail Trudeau billboard truck, Menzies did an interview with a citizen who was after my
00:34:06.680
heart. She had a lot to say, not much of a good about the state of affairs in Canada under Justin
00:34:12.240
Trudeau. Al Peterson writes, as a typical narcissist, Trudeau does not hate women. He hates anyone who stands
00:34:20.400
up to him. Men or women are fine as long as they know their place in a supporting role. If they
00:34:27.040
don't, they are treated with contempt and kicked to the curb. You know what, Al? I think you are right.
00:34:34.460
Justin Trudeau uses women for the purpose of preening to the entire world about what a feminist
00:34:40.300
he is. But if men's rights were the flavor of the day, then Trudeau would be holding them up to
00:34:46.560
virtue signal too. I think that's how he is. For Trudeau, it's whatever gets him the most clicks,
00:34:52.660
the most likes, the most shares and the most favorable international press coverage and not
00:34:58.160
about how his bad ideas affect those of us at home. As you know, I'm filling in tonight because the boss
00:35:04.440
is over in the UK covering Tommy Robinson's lawsuit against the Cambridge Shire police. Now, Ezra did a video
00:35:12.200
about how he became part of the whole story when the judge at the trial told him to stop giving his
00:35:18.680
color commentary and just act as a court stenographer while reporting. Stephen E writes,
00:35:25.960
when in a police state, don't poke the bear. If it's a matter of two or three days for the judgment,
00:35:31.360
just wait it out. Once outside the UK, you can always be as opinionated as you wish. Just remember,
00:35:38.500
there are 900 thought police in London alone, and if you say something that hurts the feelings of one of those
00:35:44.820
constables, you may get a 5 a.m. visit. Stephen, I think that's good advice, although I feel like Ezra
00:35:52.420
would probably like to experience the exhilaration of being a political prisoner just once in his life,
00:35:59.040
even if it is just for a couple of hours. Could he stand to go on the political prisoner diet?
00:36:04.840
Maybe, but I don't think he'd like it for all that long. Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.
00:36:11.140
Thanks so much for tuning in. Thank you to everybody in Rebel HQ in Toronto for turning what I've given
00:36:18.240
them into a show for you tonight. Ezra should be back in his rightful place tomorrow. And remember,
00:36:25.340
don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.