Juno News - April 04, 2025


Are Canadians losing interest in Mark Carney?

Topics
Mentioned
Has cancel culture run amok during this election? Smith and Quebec team up to fight feds

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

148.07

Word count

1,853

Sentence count

89


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

An exclusive poll shows that support for Liberal Leader Mark Carney may be wavering as his campaign struggles to deal with recent scandals. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invited Quebec s Premier Francois Legault to unite against federal overreach. Liberal leader Mark Carney refuses to repeal the controversial No More Pipelines Bill C-69.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 an exclusive poll shows that support for liberal leader Mark Carney may be wavering as his campaign
00:00:10.880 struggles to deal with recent scandals. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invited Quebec's
00:00:16.800 Premier Francois Legault to unite against federal overreach. Liberal leader Mark Carney refuses to
00:00:22.960 repeal the controversial No More Pipelines Bill C-69. Hello Canada it's Friday April 4th and this is
00:00:30.440 the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Clayton Demain. We've got you covered with
00:00:35.900 all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives
00:00:41.480 you won't hear anywhere else. A new poll commissioned by Juno News and conducted by
00:00:49.920 One Persuasion Inc. reveals national ballot numbers are essentially unchanged but cracks are starting
00:00:56.660 to emerge in Canada's impression of Mark Carney and the Liberal Party as a result of the Liberal
00:01:02.580 leader's multiple scandals. Carney's Liberals hold 42% support among decided voters while Pierre
00:01:09.820 Polyev's Conservatives sit at 33% according to the latest poll commissioned by Juno News. This is more
00:01:17.160 or less unchanged from last week when the poll found the Liberals at 41% and the Conservatives at 36%.
00:01:25.680 The week's poll found the NDP at 11%, the Bloc Québécois at 10%, the Green Party at 3% and other
00:01:33.660 parties at 2%. Overall these scandals had a net impression score of minus 36 on Carney. This means
00:01:41.960 that while 7% said the impression of Carney improved, 43% said it worsened. The lower the net score,
00:01:48.980 the more impactful the scandal. Interestingly, Carney's net impression score is minus 8 with Liberal voters.
00:01:57.120 Usually, when scandals occur, the party leader's own party supporters maintain a positive net impression
00:02:03.600 score. Undecided voters also have a net negative impression score of these scandals with a score of
00:02:10.460 minus 35. The demographic with the most negative net impression score are females 18 to 34 at minus 53.
00:02:20.120 On their own, these numbers are not enough to change the direction of the campaign, but they do confirm
00:02:25.380 two things. First, that the Conservatives, an increasingly BQ vote, is solidifying and quite firm.
00:02:32.380 And second, that Carney's unforced errors are damaging him with soft Liberal voters. Support for
00:02:38.400 a political party is always the last indicator to move. Worsening impressions of leaders are top
00:02:43.880 indicators which filter down and impact ballot support over time. The decision to support a given
00:02:50.240 political party is not formed in a vacuum. There are many factors Canadians consider when deciding whom
00:02:56.980 to vote for. So, Clayton, what are some of the scandals in particular that are harming Carney's support
00:03:03.780 among Canadians? Right. So, this survey was conducted on March 31st and April 1st. So, there were some
00:03:09.980 questions that might have been asked now that weren't asked then. But the questions were regarding his
00:03:16.160 refusal to publicly disclose his assets and the company he chaired having investments in tax havens such
00:03:23.040 as Bermuda. One such office address in Bermuda for Brookfield Asset Management was recently revealed
00:03:29.780 to have been a bicycle shop, an unlikely spot for a finance company to operate out of. It's also worth
00:03:35.880 noting that he lashed out at reporters for even asking about alleged conflicts of interest one day in
00:03:41.000 the UK, only for him the very next day to admit that he would likely have to recuse himself from
00:03:47.000 government discussions due to his conflicts of interest the next day and none of it. The other
00:03:51.960 issue asked in the poll was if news that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis for economics when
00:03:58.200 he attended Oxford University in 1995 shifted opinion. At the same time that he was at Oxford,
00:04:04.840 he claimed during the liberal leadership race to have been in Canada helping Prime Minister Paul Martin
00:04:10.600 balance the budget. A claim he later walked back saying he helped keep it balanced after he
00:04:16.680 started working for the federal government in 2004. Carney seems to constantly be telling falsehoods.
00:04:21.800 He'll tell one group that he's building a pipeline from west to east, like Paulie have pledged,
00:04:27.560 and then to another group in Quebec that he wouldn't dare to do that. Now he says he wouldn't scrap the
00:04:32.520 no new pipelines law, Bill C-69. So it's safe to assume his comments to Quebecers were the more
00:04:39.320 accurate statement. But that's what Canadians are left having to decide, is which version of Carney's
00:04:45.160 contradictory tales is the truth. I would wager the recent scandal of Carney defending a candidate
00:04:52.040 who later dropped out, who essentially suggested that people kidnap a conservative candidate
00:04:58.760 and hand them over to the Chinese government. I would imagine that that might shift opinions
00:05:04.600 as well, if we have the opportunity to ask in the poll. In this case, 43% of respondents said their
00:05:13.160 opinion had dropped. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has written a letter to Quebec Premier Francois Legault,
00:05:22.440 proposing that the two provinces team up in the battle against federal overreach. The letter obtained by
00:05:28.600 True North followed Smith's reading of Quebec's report of the Advisory Committee on Quebec's
00:05:34.200 constitutional issues within the Canadian Federation. Smith had sent the letter to Legault on March 21st.
00:05:41.000 The report listed 42 recommendations related to Quebec's constitutional power and freedom,
00:05:46.840 the province's relation to the country, and more specific issues. Before True North was provided with the
00:05:53.160 letter, Smith addressed its validity after the National Post originally published a news article on its
00:06:00.040 contents. Smith said, quote, Alberta and Quebec should work together more often to keep Ottawa in their lane
00:06:07.880 and to protect the constitutionally protected jurisdictions of our provinces. In Smith's letter,
00:06:14.120 she highlighted 12 of the recommendations specifically and discussed how the two provinces could collaborate
00:06:20.680 to accomplish them. The first recommendation Smith highlighted was the report's call to provide
00:06:25.640 Quebec with a framework law on defending and enhancing its constitutional freedom. She said Alberta had acted
00:06:33.480 similarly by implementing the Alberta sovereignty within a United Canada Act and that she was willing to
00:06:40.200 share information with Legault so that he could implement similar legislation in Quebec. Another recommendation
00:06:47.080 Smith aligned with was adopting a constitutional amendment to enshrine provincial laws concerning property and
00:06:53.800 private law. This change would ensure that provincial laws and civil rights overrule federal laws that
00:07:01.480 intrude on provincial jurisdiction. It could be used to fight the Liberals' gun buyback program. Despite the
00:07:08.280 federal government throwing over 600 million dollars at the program, a single gun has yet to be collected.
00:07:15.080 So, Cosman, what other recommendations did Smith make in her letter to Legault?
00:07:20.200 Yeah, Clayton, there were a few other key recommendations. One of them was that she wanted
00:07:27.160 the provinces to essentially have more power on what they can opt out with in terms of federal spending programs.
00:07:35.160 Additionally, also be compensated for measures that the federal government introduces that intrude on provincial jurisdiction.
00:07:43.320 And we know this has been a huge development when it comes to all the different ways that the
00:07:50.200 liberal government has used federal funding to promote certain education programs, you know,
00:07:57.080 curriculums based in gender ideology, even though education is a provincial jurisdiction.
00:08:02.440 But another key thing she did recommend was also allowing provinces to have more of a say in appointing
00:08:11.160 judges, because she accused former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of using the appointment process to
00:08:19.000 pack the courts with the left wing partisans. And not only courts, but also the Senate, because Alberta,
00:08:27.080 as some of you may know, is the only province that has its own Senate elections. And the
00:08:34.840 province of Alberta can recommend who they want to represent Alberta in the Senate, although
00:08:41.080 ultimately, it is the federal government's final decision when it comes to appointments.
00:08:50.840 Prime Minister Mark Carney made it clear that he has no intention of repealing the controversial
00:08:55.800 Bill C-69, dubbed popularly as the No More Pipelines Bill. Carney has pledged to spur the development of
00:09:03.400 Canadian energy infrastructure projects with the use of federal emergency powers deemed to be in
00:09:08.840 Canada's national interest. However, Carney admitted that a reelected Liberal government would not move
00:09:14.680 to repeal the Trudeau era Bill C-69, which placed severe restrictions on pipeline development. Carney told
00:09:21.720 reporters, quote, We do not plan to repeal Bill C-69 to answer your question. What we have said and made very
00:09:29.000 clear is that we will move for projects of national interest to remove duplication in terms of environmental
00:09:34.440 assessments and other approvals. And we will follow as the federal government, the principle of one
00:09:39.320 project, one approval to move forward from that. The Trudeau government's controversial Bill C-69 led to
00:09:45.800 the Impact Assessment Act, which created a stringent approval process for the energy industry required to
00:09:52.520 approve their projects and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, which imposed numerous regulations on the
00:09:58.520 industry. Provincial governments already have regulations and approval processes for major
00:10:03.880 resource extraction and energy projects that are duplicated by the even more stringent approval
00:10:09.000 process provided for in the Impact Assessment Act. For example, oil and natural gas companies seeking
00:10:14.200 to build a new pipeline must comply with numerous provincial laws and regulations, including the Pipeline Act,
00:10:20.440 the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, the Water Act, and more. Carney's commitment to
00:10:25.160 keeping Bill C-69 contradicts his commitment to the principle of, quote, one project, one approval,
00:10:32.120 as provincial approvals would be duplicated by the federal government. Clayton, as Canada's number one
00:10:38.680 oil and gas energy producing province, Alberta must be impacted by this decision the most. How has Alberta
00:10:47.720 Premier Danielle Smith responded to Carney's pledge to keep Bill C-69?
00:10:52.840 Well, Cosmin, Smith joined the chorus of people calling Carney out for telling contradictory tales to
00:11:00.440 different groups of people. She claimed that he told her that Bill C-69 was a barrier to building
00:11:07.240 large energy projects, which he said needed to be built in Canada, but is now saying he has no intention
00:11:15.080 of scrapping the act. She warned that keeping Bill C-69 will mean little to no energy projects are built in
00:11:21.560 Canada, and the result would mean Alberta and Saskatchewan are cut off from international markets,
00:11:28.440 especially with uncertain trade relationships with the US. Smith noted that keeping the Bill would be
00:11:35.800 counter to what Carney is saying on the campaign trail, that Canada needs to get rid of trade barriers
00:11:42.120 between provinces and build a strong economy, unreliance on the US. She also blasted Carney for buying
00:11:49.640 pipelines in the US while chairing Brookfield Asset Management. So as he's done for years, Carney
00:11:56.200 supported pipelines internationally, if it meant enriching himself and shareholders in the private
00:12:02.120 sector while advocating an anti-oil and gas agenda in Canada. The difference now is he's not just an
00:12:09.240 advisor to the Liberals, he's running to be the chief policymaker for the next four years.
00:12:14.520 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of a new episodes every weekday
00:12:22.440 by subscribing to the Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it,
00:12:26.840 make sure to hit us with a five star rating and please leave a review.