Juno News - Are Covid restrictions going away quickly enough？ (feat. Candice Bergen)

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show. This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.980 Coming up, never-ending COVID restrictions. What's the hold-up with the Conservative leadership race?

00:00:18.360 And Interim Conservative leader Candace Bergen swings by.

00:00:23.000 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:26.500 Hello and welcome to another edition of Canada's most irreverent talk show, the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:00:36.760 I think we're on Wednesday, right? Yeah, Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022.

00:00:42.360 And we have a great show for you today. I'm going to be joined later on by Candace Bergen, the Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:00:51.420 And also, I'm going to talk a little bit about where the Conservative leadership race is.

00:00:56.100 It's not going to take all that long because it isn't really much of a race at this point, but I think there is something noteworthy in that.

00:01:03.240 So I'll spend like probably three minutes on it later on in the show.

00:01:07.060 But I have to first off send an apology to all of my British Columbian listeners here.

00:01:13.600 Now, I don't know how many of you there are from BC, especially after yesterday's show.

00:01:18.340 So I realized I was very insensitive to the plight of British Columbians yesterday because I did a whole segment on the show in which I was talking about,

00:01:26.540 oh, this province is reopening and even Ontario is getting rid of the vaccine passport and Alberta, Saskatchewan, 0.98

00:01:32.180 they're dropping the mass and even Quebec is doing.

00:01:34.420 And I was talking about all of this and I didn't take a moment to shed a tear for British Columbians

00:01:39.480 who are right now, more than anyone else in Canada, in a state of COVID limbo.

00:01:45.160 It's actually quite baffling to me to look at where the situation is in BC,

00:01:50.740 specifically Bonnie Henry's position,

00:01:54.120 which is that there may never be a point at which restrictions aren't just a fact of life.

00:02:00.120 There was a story my colleagues did at True North where Bonnie Henry,

00:02:03.420 who's the chief medical officer in BC, said even before she drops the restrictions,

00:02:08.420 that she's expecting them to come back at a certain point.

00:02:11.820 There's still a lot of this virus circulating around the globe,

00:02:14.700 so there will inevitably be changes and surprises we will need to adapt to, she said,

00:02:19.840 adding we will have continued uncertainty as we move through the summer,

00:02:23.000 we'll hopefully be in a good place for the next few months and then be able to relieve the pressures.

00:02:28.800 But then she went on to say that once the fall comes,

00:02:31.720 we have to be prepared for immunity to wane and have new approaches to adapt depending on what they see.

00:02:39.200 New approaches.

00:02:40.480 So what Bonnie Henry's saying is that even if you get something over the summer months that resembles freedom,

00:02:47.440 you're unlikely to have it for too long a period of time,

00:02:50.020 because once the fall comes, you're going right back into the 2020 mindset.

00:02:54.020 And even then, it's important to note that the order that is in BC,

00:02:57.480 keeping the vaccine passport in place, isn't supposed to expire until the end of June.

00:03:02.860 So we're still looking at several months from now.

00:03:05.500 And we spent a lot of time on the show yesterday talking about the voluntary aspect of whether

00:03:10.280 businesses would have the right if they really want to, to keep up with vaccine passports.

00:03:15.740 Alberta has said, yeah, you can, but I really don't want you to.

00:03:19.000 Ontario has said something very similar.

00:03:21.160 Bonnie Henry's gone the other direction. 0.84

00:03:22.940 She said in BC, yeah, once this is gone, I encourage you to do this.

00:03:26.420 I want you to do this.

00:03:27.480 She's actually promoting the indefinite nature of vaccine passports,

00:03:32.340 the suspension of this state of civil, well, basically the state of segregation.

00:03:37.400 That's what Bonnie Henry is encouraging.

00:03:39.480 So it's quite shocking because I remember back in, when would it have been, March and April

00:03:44.420 of 2020, you may recall, I was traveling the country producing a documentary series

00:03:50.440 about firearms called Assaulted, Justin Trudeau's War on Gun Owners.

00:03:54.220 And we did a fair bit of filming in British Columbia for that.

00:03:57.820 One of the reasons was there's a huge hub of gun owners in BC.

00:04:01.040 So there were lots of people to talk to.

00:04:03.160 But also BC was a province that at the time other places were locking down really wasn't

00:04:08.860 in lockdown.

00:04:09.560 And I met up with some friends when I was there who all said, you know, we've never really

00:04:14.220 locked down.

00:04:15.080 And I actually commended BC despite having an NDP government for not doing things as

00:04:21.240 aggressively as the conservative governments of Ontario, Alberta, and even Saskatchewan had

00:04:26.680 done.

00:04:27.080 So BC for a while, again, it was a very, very low bar, like the Seven Dwarfs couldn't even 1.00

00:04:32.460 do limbo under it.

00:04:33.760 But BC for a while was better than a lot of other places when it came to lockdowns and

00:04:40.060 restrictions.

00:04:40.460 So any good favor that BC has curried, I admit, is now completely gone.

00:04:46.160 Bonnie Henry wants to just keep restrictions hanging over people like the Sword of Damocles 1.00

00:04:50.600 indefinitely.

00:04:51.860 And it's quite shameful because I already think we are, in a lot of ways, seeing restrictions

00:04:56.560 lift in a manner that is too little too late.

00:04:59.380 This was a big theme that we had on the program yesterday, talking about how, yes, some of these

00:05:04.480 restrictions are lifting, but a lot of them are remaining in place.

00:05:07.480 And since that show, the number of emails, I can't get through them all, but the number

00:05:11.740 of emails I've received from people that say, you know, my kid's day camp is still doing

00:05:15.820 vaccine passports.

00:05:16.980 This concert venue I want to go to is still doing vaccine passports. 1.00

00:05:20.660 A lot of people that are seeing in their lives, a lot of places are not reopening.

00:05:25.740 And again, you know my position on this.

00:05:27.200 I'm a libertarian.

00:05:27.900 I think individual businesses, private businesses should be able to make their own decisions.

00:05:32.660 But when we see places that are government adjacent, that are connected to government,

00:05:38.460 that are going down this road, that is entirely wrong.

00:05:42.240 But again, government has already claimed that this is a right that it holds.

00:05:46.000 Government has already claimed that it has the right to make these decisions.

00:05:48.940 So what's the difference?

00:05:50.560 And that's the problem is that once you surrender your civil liberties to the state, once you give

00:05:55.700 the government the right to make these decisions for you about your life, about your health,

00:06:00.640 about your business, what happens next is only a matter of degrees.

00:06:05.940 And we are going to be in this country for years, sleeping in the bed that we've made over

00:06:11.100 the last two years.

00:06:12.340 And by we, I don't mean me and you listening, but we, the Canadians, generally speaking, who

00:06:17.720 for a long period of this were supportive of this, were welcoming it, were saying, regulate

00:06:22.920 me more, govern me more.

00:06:24.200 There was one sign, I don't think I got a picture of it, but there was one sign that

00:06:28.460 I saw at the trucker convoy rally in Ottawa the first weekend that was like, govern me

00:06:32.660 harder, daddy, which I found, you know, a little bit lewd.

00:06:36.700 But at the same time, I kind of understood the sentiment, which is that you've had Canadians

00:06:40.260 that have just had this like fetishistic way of just demanding more government regulation,

00:06:45.000 demanding more government oversight.

00:06:47.660 And this is the byproduct of that.

00:06:49.900 All of these Canadians that are right now, and again, especially in BC, but even elsewhere,

00:06:53.600 that are looking around the world and seeing the Danes back to normal, the Brits back to 0.99

00:06:57.600 normal, the Finns back to normal, the Chinese back to normal. 0.98

00:07:01.320 And they're looking around and saying, well, in BC, I can't go and get a cup of coffee unless

00:07:05.500 I'm vaccinated and want to prove that.

00:07:07.960 Or I can't send my kid to a day camp unless the kid has the vaccine passport. 0.99

00:07:12.120 Even with myriad studies talking about diminishing returns for vaccinating children, the risks

00:07:19.880 outweighing the benefits.

00:07:22.880 But we're still moving down this road of perpetually mandating vaccination for things.

00:07:28.400 Universities as well.

00:07:29.520 I mentioned this yesterday.

00:07:30.500 Government adjacent or in many cases, just outright government entities.

00:07:33.820 But keeping these vaccine requirements in place, which is denying students the right

00:07:39.160 to an education.

00:07:41.780 Denying students the right to an education, keeping them in place for completely unscientific

00:07:46.840 reasons.

00:07:48.760 And this is going to be with us for quite a long time.

00:07:52.380 Now, there's something I'm working on a story I can't tell you just yet.

00:07:56.140 It's not a groundbreaking investigative story, but it's a segment I'm putting together on

00:08:00.700 this show, a discussion that I want to have that will be next week that you'll want to

00:08:04.180 watch.

00:08:04.440 Because I'm trying to tie this all up in a neat little package for you and explain where

00:08:09.120 we're headed.

00:08:09.780 And I'm trying to do it in a way that is not rooted in conspiracy, that is actually rejecting

00:08:13.920 conspiracy because you don't need to make things up with how bad things are.

00:08:17.220 They're bad enough.

00:08:17.800 You don't need to spin a conspiracy.

00:08:19.320 That's my view, myopic as it may sound.

00:08:21.940 So stay tuned for that next week.

00:08:23.520 But the point that I'm bringing up here in raising it is that nothing government does is

00:08:30.560 by nature temporary.

00:08:32.040 Government doesn't do temporary very well.

00:08:34.340 And even when they do temporary, what they've done is they've created an apparatus and an

00:08:38.060 infrastructure that will outlast and outlive whatever the temporary program is.

00:08:43.060 And that's been the concerns that people have raised about vaccine passports.

00:08:46.340 What's going to happen to these databases?

00:08:48.280 What's going to happen to the QR codes?

00:08:50.800 Now, I never got the QR code.

00:08:52.800 Not because I thought there was anything untoward about it, but just fundamentally, I did not respect

00:08:57.160 the legitimacy of it.

00:08:58.600 So I've never been to a restaurant that required a QR code.

00:09:03.100 When I was out in Alberta speaking at a conference a couple of months ago, I had my little paper

00:09:08.040 pass and that was good enough for them at the time.

00:09:10.340 But the reality is, and by the way, the number of times I've been to a restaurant in the vaccine

00:09:15.740 passport era is basically only when I've traveled.

00:09:18.600 And I think my wife's in my anniversary.

00:09:20.180 That was basically it.

00:09:21.220 Because they've taken the ability away, government has taken the ability away to just function

00:09:28.340 and navigate in civil society the way you're supposed to.

00:09:32.800 And that's why mask mandates are not insignificant.

00:09:36.280 People say, the mask proponents say, well, it's just a mask.

00:09:39.360 It's just a little thing on your face.

00:09:40.640 Why do you care?

00:09:41.480 I care because that is not the way life is supposed to be.

00:09:46.000 It's not supposed to be abnormal to walk around and see a face.

00:09:50.500 I talked to someone, I told this to Ezra Levant on his show the other night when I appeared.

00:09:55.280 I said, I met someone or was talking to someone rather who had started a new job.

00:09:59.140 And they had said just in passing that they had never seen their co-workers' faces because

00:10:03.300 they were working in person.

00:10:04.540 And maybe they had seen it in like a Facebook profile photo or something or a Zoom call.

00:10:08.440 But in person, they had just never seen it.

00:10:10.880 And they were sharing this as a novelty.

00:10:12.760 But there's actually something quite unsettling about that.

00:10:16.000 That that is not the way a healthy, normal society is supposed to function.

00:10:20.700 You talk about kids in school.

00:10:23.060 Kids in school that if they're of a certain age, five, six years old, they've never seen

00:10:27.080 their classmates' faces except for if they're in one of those lunchroom environments where

00:10:30.960 you have to sit and not speak and just stare at your sandwich box.

00:10:34.500 And that's all you're allowed to do.

00:10:36.620 Because science.

00:10:37.680 And one point that I'm not the first to raise, but I need to reiterate it here, is that we

00:10:45.180 may not know for years the total damage that we've unleashed on society economically, on

00:10:51.640 youth and education, in mental health, on adult mental health as well.

00:10:55.800 We tend to focus a lot on the plight of children, and I think with good reason, but adults are

00:11:00.800 barely getting through this.

00:11:02.000 Parents of children who have to be strong and guide their kids through this when they

00:11:07.360 themselves are struggling with it.

00:11:08.600 It will take years for us to realize how much damage we've done.

00:11:12.680 So when I look at people like Bonnie Henry in British Columbia that are still putting

00:11:16.920 this forward, that are still driving this, the question is a fundamentally simple one.

00:11:22.720 What is wrong with you?

00:11:25.400 Seriously.

00:11:25.920 I mentioned that I would spend a couple of moments on the conservative leadership race.

00:11:31.520 Again, not much to update you on.

00:11:34.080 The Leadership Election Organizing Committee, which is the body that sets the rules for the

00:11:38.960 race itself, has been chosen, but they've not actually come to any agreement about what

00:11:43.420 the rules are going to be.

00:11:44.640 So no one knows.

00:11:45.860 Are we going to have a two-month race that's wrapped up by the end of spring?

00:11:49.220 Are we going to have a six-month-long race that's going to go into the fall?

00:11:53.040 No one knows at this point.

00:11:54.880 Pierre Polyev is definitely the frontrunner.

00:11:57.160 Like, any time we talk about this, everyone says Pierre Polyev is the guy they want.

00:12:01.440 So certainly if there's a short race and he's in, he wins very quickly, I think.

00:12:06.940 If there's a longer race, that's where things could change.

00:12:09.880 You've got Jean Charest, the former Liberal Premier of Quebec, who's poking around, who it

00:12:14.940 seems like is all but certainly getting into the race.

00:12:17.840 You've got a broadcaster and columnist Tasha Kyridin.

00:12:21.000 And Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, who we had on the show a few weeks back, three

00:12:25.840 or four weeks back, he's considering a bid as well.

00:12:29.160 And all of this is quite interesting.

00:12:31.140 Brian Platt had tweeted that anyone who's rumored to be a conservative leadership candidate

00:12:36.380 was writing an op-ed in the National Post about Ukraine.

00:12:39.560 And there was like a daily schedule.

00:12:41.240 He posted about that.

00:12:42.480 You know, Peter McKay did his and Pierre Polyev did his and then Jean Charest did his.

00:12:46.940 And he had sort of joked that Patrick Brown needed to whip up an op-ed.

00:12:50.300 And then just this morning, before I started recording the show, I noted that Tasha Kyridin

00:12:54.120 had a Russia-Ukraine op-ed in the National Post.

00:12:57.400 So if anyone writes about Russia-Ukraine in the National Post, I guarantee you they're considering

00:13:02.440 a conservative leadership bid.

00:13:04.520 These are the rules as they've been established right now.

00:13:07.540 I feel bad for anyone who's not running that does it.

00:13:10.140 Like Rex Murphy, who will write, presumably, if he hasn't already, some op-ed on Russia-Ukraine.

00:13:15.120 Everyone will think, oh, Rex must be running for the conservative leadership.

00:13:18.520 You know, Canada could do a heck of a lot worse than that.

00:13:21.520 So if you're listening, Rex, you've got my vote.

00:13:24.360 We have to take a quick break.

00:13:26.400 When we come back, we'll talk to the one who is the leader of the federal conservative

00:13:29.860 party for the time being, Candace Bergen.

00:13:32.260 She joins me up next here on The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:13:34.880 Stay tuned.

00:13:38.320 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:13:43.700 Welcome back to The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:13:47.420 As I mentioned earlier, very pleased to have joining us Candace Bergen, who is the interim

00:13:52.320 leader of the conservatives.

00:13:54.220 Now, if you haven't been paying attention to Canadian politics in the last couple of months,

00:13:58.180 you'll know this came about somewhat abruptly as Aaron O'Toole was removed by his caucus

00:14:04.660 members in the midst of the trucker convoy.

00:14:07.180 And again, I think there were a number of factors there, but certainly that was one

00:14:11.200 of the leading ones here.

00:14:12.600 Candace, good to talk to you again.

00:14:13.760 Thanks very much.

00:14:14.560 And it's been a little while.

00:14:15.640 So congratulations, as I've not spoken to you since you've ascended to this position.

00:14:19.880 But thank you.

00:14:21.340 Thanks, Andrew.

00:14:22.180 Yeah, it's been, I kind of joke, wow, it's been a pretty quiet month here in Ottawa.

00:14:27.120 Sarcastic, not at all quiet, very busy, a lot going on.

00:14:31.860 But it's been productive and there's a lot of good work that I think we've been able

00:14:36.420 to do.

00:14:37.920 Let's actually start right there.

00:14:39.640 This was an abrupt job title change for you.

00:14:43.060 Obviously, the Conservative Party went through this change with Aaron O'Toole being removed

00:14:48.220 and then you being selected as the interim leader very quickly.

00:14:52.780 What has this been for you really practically?

00:14:56.020 Because you've come into this position in the midst of the convoy.

00:14:59.560 We now have the Russia war in Ukraine.

00:15:02.780 We have a number of political challenges in Canada, plus the Conservative Party is obviously

00:15:06.960 going through changes.

00:15:08.220 You had to hit the ground running.

00:15:09.640 What's been the priority for you?

00:15:11.000 Well, I'm fortunate because of the roles that I've had previously under with with Ron

00:15:17.620 Ambrose, Andrew Scheer, and then with Aaron O'Toole as House Leader and then going on

00:15:22.740 as Deputy Leader, I was I really have a good idea of what what the leadership role is.

00:15:29.160 And so I was literally able to hit the ground running the Wednesday when everything happened.

00:15:33.760 It was a very quick day.

00:15:35.220 We had question period right after our caucus meeting.

00:15:38.460 And then we had the vote for the interim leader.

00:15:41.620 And the next day, Parliament was was on.

00:15:43.840 And you're right.

00:15:44.300 We had the convoy out here in Ottawa and issues that we had to address right away.

00:15:49.300 The caucus really has come together.

00:15:51.400 It was a very much hands on all hands on deck kind of mentality.

00:15:56.200 And everybody rallied around and we we were able to tackle some of the difficult issues.

00:16:01.700 So that's really what what we've been doing.

00:16:03.940 In terms of my priorities, Andrew, I'll tell you, I believe, first and foremost, my job

00:16:09.520 is to keep our our caucus united.

00:16:12.240 And when I say united, that doesn't mean that we always agree on everything.

00:16:16.440 I think that it's a myth to think that we can always agree or all be on exactly the same

00:16:22.460 page on every issue.

00:16:23.600 I think, in fact, that's kind of the liberal way of doing things.

00:16:27.680 They think everybody has to agree or somehow it doesn't work as conservatives.

00:16:32.060 We're going to disagree and we're going to have different opinions.

00:16:35.020 And I think that makes us better.

00:16:36.900 But as a caucus, we can talk about it, come to certain positions and then be disciplined

00:16:43.260 and focused in what we're doing for Canadians.

00:16:45.940 So that's really been my goal.

00:16:48.700 And and then also ensure that conservatives are proud to be conservative.

00:16:52.340 I think that we have a lot to be proud of as conservatives, our values, our principles,

00:16:58.940 the foundation that makes us conservative.

00:17:01.220 So I want conservatives to be proud to be conservatives and excited about what we're

00:17:05.380 doing.

00:17:06.540 Clearly, that approach to caucus management that you just described didn't exist.

00:17:10.840 Caucus members felt under Aaron O'Toole's leadership, which is why there was enough discontent

00:17:15.300 that he was removed under the Reform Act.

00:17:17.700 So how do you, moving forward from that, correct that?

00:17:21.300 How do you keep the caucus together, the different factions of the party and also the membership

00:17:25.980 and the base beyond the caucus across the country?

00:17:29.580 Well, I was also fortunate to work under Stephen Harper in his government and in his cabinet.

00:17:34.680 And I found Stephen Harper, although a very strong leader and he knew the direction he wanted

00:17:38.980 to go, he really set an example for how to collaborate and work with the caucus.

00:17:43.420 And that was as a prime minister.

00:17:45.660 Ronna Ambrose continued that and other leaders have done that.

00:17:49.500 And I find that that's the best way to approach issues, whether it's legislation the government

00:17:55.600 is bringing forward, whether it's issues that we as a caucus have to deal with.

00:17:59.500 We have a very intelligent, principled, hardworking group of men and women here in Ottawa who are

00:18:06.200 conservative MPs.

00:18:07.340 And I just find it's the best approach is to consult with them.

00:18:12.020 So we have a good process whereby we do that through our shadow cabinet process.

00:18:15.880 We have priorities, planning committee and then caucus meets regularly.

00:18:20.180 And I ask them what they think and I take their advice and tell them what I'm thinking.

00:18:26.360 And then I find that whether I was house leader or deputy leader or now as leader, that is

00:18:31.760 the best approach to finding consensus of moving forward.

00:18:34.700 You mentioned earlier the convoy.

00:18:37.960 This is, of course, a huge issue that I think not just for Canada and for Ottawa, but for the

00:18:43.340 conservative movement in this country.

00:18:44.980 You had, I think, the conservative base that has been for the last year, certainly very

00:18:50.080 fervently against the vaccine mandates, the vaccine passports, not feeling like there

00:18:54.920 was a voice in the official opposition on those issues.

00:18:58.760 You've had a clear voice on this.

00:19:00.260 You've spoken up.

00:19:01.260 I even played on my show yesterday, your exchange with the prime minister in the House of Commons

00:19:06.000 from question period yesterday about that very idea.

00:19:09.700 But how do you take that and as the interim leader, make sure that those people continue

00:19:14.800 to be heard?

00:19:15.800 Because what I've been hearing for the last two years, especially since the last election,

00:19:20.080 and through the last election was that conservatives in Canada, and I use that with a small C and

00:19:24.620 a big C, did not feel like their interests were being represented by the Conservative Party

00:19:29.500 of Canada.

00:19:30.500 Well, you know, I know I'm from one of the strongest conservative writings in the country,

00:19:36.460 southern Manitoba.

00:19:37.500 And I talked to so many people, first of all, explaining the difference between provincial vaccine

00:19:43.360 mandates and federal vaccine mandates.

00:19:45.500 And the fact that as a federal representative, I had no impact or power over what provinces

00:19:51.040 did.

00:19:52.040 But as a federal MP, I could sure stand up against Trudeau's federal mandatory vaccines.

00:19:58.840 And I think we were all clear.

00:20:00.080 I believe conservatives were all clear on that during the election.

00:20:03.120 Some would say we could have been gone out on it more.

00:20:06.880 That's the past.

00:20:07.880 What I do know is when Trudeau threatened and then implemented the vaccine on truck, the

00:20:13.260 vaccine mandate on truckers, that very much went against conservative policy.

00:20:17.940 And so we could very strongly support the spirit of what the truckers and their supporters were

00:20:25.060 coming to Ottawa to talk about.

00:20:27.500 And that's why we could meet with them.

00:20:29.100 I met with constituents who were here.

00:20:31.340 I believe that's what government and opposition leaders should do.

00:20:35.040 We should listen to people.

00:20:36.380 We should hear them.

00:20:37.380 I think if Trudeau had done a little more of that instead of calling them names and wedging,

00:20:43.260 dividing and stigmatizing, we would not have gotten into the situation that we were in with

00:20:49.460 with the truckers here for as long as they were.

00:20:52.140 We also did believe and we do believe that we need to be following the laws of the land.

00:20:57.660 And that's that was why we said to the truckers and their supporters, don't blockade borders.

00:21:04.260 That's it's too important to Canada's economy.

00:21:06.820 And move the trucks because you can't be parked illegally.

00:21:09.860 And I believe you can say both things.

00:21:11.920 We support your fight against mandatory vaccines, but we don't believe you should be doing things

00:21:17.680 illegally.

00:21:18.680 That was our position.

00:21:20.340 And so now as we're moving forward and I asked the Prime Minister about this recently,

00:21:26.400 those are opening up vaccines or mandates are being lifted.

00:21:31.060 Where's the federal government on this?

00:21:33.000 They frankly are so behind and, you know, I said kind of tongue in cheek, but it's actually

00:21:37.720 true.

00:21:38.720 They always say they're so progressive and, you know, ahead of the times.

00:21:42.280 They're actually looking very old fashioned right now in their approach to vaccine mandates.

00:21:47.800 So we've got to keep pushing them on this.

00:21:50.100 It's not just about freedom.

00:21:51.620 It's actually about what's good for our economy.

00:21:54.140 It's about what's good for Canadians mental health.

00:21:56.280 It's Canadians need to be free to live their lives and the mandates, the restrictions have

00:22:02.620 to be lifted federally.

00:22:03.940 I'm appreciative that you don't want to spend too much time looking into the past here, but

00:22:08.900 I do want to talk about one contrast between the Conservative Party of a few months ago and

00:22:13.980 a position that we've heard from you and also your colleagues in caucus in the last couple

00:22:18.780 of weeks.

00:22:19.780 And that's a very firm position against the carbon tax.

00:22:21.980 And I know with everything else that's been going on in Canada and the world, this hasn't

00:22:25.800 necessarily been the top of mind issue on the political agenda.

00:22:29.280 But for Canadians that are paying their heating bills, it certainly is an issue.

00:22:33.700 And again, talk to me a little bit about where the Conservatives are on this, because I think

00:22:37.660 even a year and a bit ago, Conservative Canadians were fairly confident that your party was against

00:22:44.220 the carbon tax, that then it ran on a version of a carbon price that people have said, the

00:22:50.140 Canadian Taxpayers Federation have said, was a carbon tax.

00:22:53.400 So where is the party now?

00:22:54.880 Where are you now on this?

00:22:56.220 Well, Andrew, I think you are right in that there are a lot of things that Canadians are

00:23:01.340 watching on the news and very concerned about, but they're still going up and going and filling

00:23:05.380 up their tanks and buying groceries and seeing that the cost of everything is going up and

00:23:11.000 is starting at the pumps.

00:23:12.760 So Conservatives are very concerned with inflation and increased taxes on Canadians.

00:23:19.240 Listen, my position is this.

00:23:21.380 We have a leadership race going on right now.

00:23:24.280 Leadership candidates will articulate their belief on how we best fight reducing emissions

00:23:30.760 and fighting climate change and what role Canada can play in that.

00:23:35.640 They can talk about their ideas and the electorate, the membership will support their ideas.

00:23:40.980 So I'm going back just to the basics of what our grassroots party has determined.

00:23:48.300 And Conservatives don't support tax increases.

00:23:50.980 We certainly don't support a Liberal carbon tax that does absolutely nothing to reduce emissions

00:23:56.420 anywhere and only hurts Canadian energy, oil, gas and Canadian consumers.

00:24:03.220 And I think right now when we see what's going on with Putin and the fact that Putin has been

00:24:08.460 able to monopolize the sale of gas to Europe, for example, Canada is cut out of the equation.

00:24:17.600 So we're not only talking about how that hurts the environment, but just as importantly, and I would

00:24:22.780 say more importantly right now, the safety, sovereignty and energy security of the world.

00:24:29.220 When Canada is cut out, whether it's through a carbon tax or other measures that the Liberal

00:24:34.380 government has put on our on our sector.

00:24:36.540 It hurts the world.

00:24:38.540 So, you know, that's that's a big answer.

00:24:41.380 But basically to say I'm on policies like this, I'm I'm in a safe place when I stick with our grassroots

00:24:48.540 policy and then let the candidates articulate their particular views on these these kinds of issues.

00:24:54.220 Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the Russia approach, because I know that the Prime Minister did come

00:24:58.940 out this week and say that we're going to cancel imports of crude from Russia.

00:25:04.060 But I would say, first off, it shouldn't have taken an invasion of Ukraine to start talking

00:25:10.540 about reducing our dependency on foreign oil, especially when we have the capability and capacity

00:25:15.660 in Canada and an energy sector here.

00:25:17.980 And the same could be said about US leaders.

00:25:20.140 I know obviously Canadian politicians don't have as direct control over what the United States does,

00:25:25.580 but we can represent Canada's interests.

00:25:27.980 And in Canada, I still am baffled and especially when I talk to Albertans and people from Saskatchewan 1.00

00:25:33.500 about this baffled at how dependent we are on foreign oil from countries that are not democracies,

00:25:38.620 when we could develop our sector so much more than it is right now.

00:25:43.020 I agree, Andrew.

00:25:44.060 And, you know, it's not only our dependency or still or even that we're still using it.

00:25:49.340 It's the fact that we have no champions in our country.

00:25:52.780 No, we should have a prime minister who goes to other countries and says,

00:25:57.740 do not ever lecture us about oil and gas or emissions, because Canada is the leader when it comes to

00:26:06.380 extracting and transporting the cleanest oil, gas and LNG in the world.

00:26:12.700 But we don't have that champion.

00:26:14.380 And so we allow the world to scold and really reprimand us even in the way that they where

00:26:21.980 there's investment, insurance, all kinds of other measures that they're using to try to constrain

00:26:29.660 Canada's oil and gas development.

00:26:31.740 And if we had a leader who would say, no, enough of that, that's nonsense.

00:26:35.660 And actually point out the big polluters in the world and then ensure that our oil and gas is

00:26:43.580 promoted and used.

00:26:44.460 So that's only it's just one piece of it.

00:26:47.580 But it's I'm I'm glad that we're at least able to talk about it a little more right now.

00:26:53.580 And I think more and more people are seeing that when Canadian oil and gas is kept in the ground

00:26:58.940 and Putin is able to sell his, you know, look at what he's doing.

00:27:03.420 Look at them.

00:27:03.980 Look at the billions of dollars he had.

00:27:06.060 He has. 0.86

00:27:06.620 And he's using it right now to kill and destroy Ukrainian people and a sovereign democratic nation.

00:27:14.140 That's a hard fact to face up to.

00:27:16.460 But it's the truth.

00:27:18.940 Just looking forward to some of the other items on the political agenda here in Canada,

00:27:24.060 the Emergencies Act, very controversial.

00:27:27.020 We know just looking at it in practice in Ottawa that civil liberties were affected.

00:27:31.980 Press freedoms were affected.

00:27:33.420 Peaceful assembly was affected.

00:27:35.740 And obviously the parliamentary oversight of this tended to just disappear when,

00:27:40.700 just as the Senate was weighing this, Justin Trudeau decided that the emergency no longer existed.

00:27:46.540 I know the Emergencies Act does require a report, an investigation of this after the fact.

00:27:52.780 But realistically, does Justin Trudeau get away with this now by declaring the emergency over?

00:27:58.540 Is there still some accountability there?

00:28:01.820 Well, we believe that there absolutely should be.

00:28:04.860 We did not support the use of the Emergencies Act.

00:28:08.220 We, you know, we looked at it and found out very quickly that all of the laws were in place

00:28:12.620 that needed to be.

00:28:13.340 He had, and law enforcement had the laws that they needed to clear, especially we're talking

00:28:18.620 about the trucks.

00:28:19.420 I mean, they obviously did it.

00:28:20.460 They did it before the Emergencies Act.

00:28:21.980 They cleared away the blockades at Borders.

00:28:24.380 But they had what they needed to clear the trucks from Ottawa.

00:28:28.540 Trudeau was in a political emergency, and so he invoked the Emergencies Act.

00:28:33.020 In terms of oversight, we're in Ottawa this week.

00:28:36.060 We then have a two-week previously scheduled riding break where we're in our ridings.

00:28:42.300 But I'm going to tell you this, Andrew.

00:28:43.900 Conservatives are not finished talking about this and holding the Prime Minister to account.

00:28:49.100 He's trying to do, Jerry, really, I guess the word would be he's trying to manipulate the

00:28:55.100 committee to make sure that he's got enough, the NDP, who are basically his lapdogs on this.

00:29:01.420 They're probably going to be helping chair the committee, but we're going to use every tool

00:29:06.620 available and we will not let the Prime Minister get away with doing this.

00:29:11.260 But I will say this, Andrew.

00:29:13.420 We cannot do it alone.

00:29:15.180 We need people who are talking about this, holding their MPs to account.

00:29:20.300 If you have a Liberal or an NDP MP representing you, you need to tell them that what they did

00:29:25.900 wasn't acceptable. Politicians cannot do it by themselves. We need people speaking out loudly,

00:29:32.220 clearly, and forcefully about this. Obviously, in a democratic country, doing it legally, safely,

00:29:38.940 but we need people speaking out about it. And we'll keep doing our job here in Ottawa.

00:29:43.100 I know there's lots more coming up in the next few weeks and months, the revival of Bill C-36, of Bill C-10.

00:29:51.260 So we'd love to get you back on the show to talk about some of those. I know they are very significant

00:29:56.220 for free speech, and I've appreciated conversations I've had in the past with you about that.

00:30:00.380 So we'll have you back on. Candice Bergen, Interim Leader of the Conservatives. Thanks so much for your time today.

00:30:06.460 Thanks, Andrew.

00:30:07.980 That was Candice Bergen, Conservative Interim Leader. Let me know what you think.

00:30:11.980 Andrew at andrewlotton.ca is my email address. And again, the point was to find out what her priorities are.

00:30:20.140 She's not the permanent leader. She's there. I don't mean it in an insulting way,

00:30:23.900 but she's there as a placeholder while the Conservatives select the leader who will carry 0.98

00:30:28.460 the party into the next election. But again, in a minority parliament, that's not necessarily

00:30:32.700 a given. Theoretically, if the NDP stopped becoming the lapdogs, as she aptly put it,

00:30:37.820 there could be quite a significant change there. But at this time, she's just there. And as she said,

00:30:42.620 you can always fall back on the position of standing up for the grassroots.

00:30:46.060 What a concept. What an idea. In any case, we will talk to you soon. This is Canada's

00:30:51.180 most irreverent talk show here on True North, The Andrew Lawton Show. Stay tuned. Thank you.

00:30:55.100 God bless and good day to you all. Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:30:58.860 Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - March 03, 2022

Are Covid restrictions going away quickly enough？ (feat. Candice Bergen)

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