Juno News - April 04, 2025


Are Canadians losing interest in Mark Carney?


Episode Stats

Length

12 minutes

Words per Minute

148.07416

Word Count

1,853

Sentence Count

86


Summary


Transcript

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
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