Juno News - Canada’s state broadcaster is obsessed with Kamala Harris

00:00:00.000 I was going to chat about the weather here in Alberta and that it's rodeo season,

00:00:02.920 and I'm taking my kids to watch some bull riding tomorrow night.

00:00:05.200 What's happening in your neck of the woods?

00:00:06.940 Well, you know, Chris, it's actually recording right now,

00:00:08.980 so all of this is being recorded.

00:00:13.220 So I told no one in advance that we'd go easy on you

00:00:15.960 as it's the first time you're hosting the show.

00:00:18.640 Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

00:00:27.240 Hi, welcome to Off the Record.

00:00:28.560 I'm Chris Sims. I'm the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:00:32.140 We're here on True North, and I'm going to, I think I just mentioned it,

00:00:36.260 I'm going to be taking my kids to the rodeo tomorrow

00:00:39.640 to watch some bull riding here in the beautiful city of Lethbridge.

00:00:43.040 So we're gearing up into this moment of the end of summer.

00:00:46.100 Sorry, I felt a little cool breeze this morning.

00:00:48.580 I could sense pumpkins growing.

00:00:50.640 So yeah, that's what we're heading into this weekend.

00:00:52.740 What are you guys up to in your neck of the woods?

00:00:55.900 Definitely nothing as exciting as bull riding, that's for sure.

00:00:58.560 You know, basement living, you know, it's great.

00:01:02.420 Well, I was going to say, maybe Noah this weekend can do some patchwork

00:01:06.020 on his basement there and repair what appears to be some holes in the ceiling.

00:01:11.660 I'm glad it's not in frame right now, but yeah, there's definitely a couple holes.

00:01:15.360 I can see a hole in frame, actually, now that I'm putting my glasses on. 0.98

00:01:18.080 Damn it. 0.99

00:01:20.800 Well, the ventilation in the basement here sucks. 0.99

00:01:24.440 Like the, I don't know, the vents don't really work all that well.

00:01:27.760 So my dad one day just came downstairs and cut a giant hole in my roof.

00:01:31.400 I'm like, what are you doing?

00:01:32.720 But yeah, that was just there.

00:01:36.120 Airflow.

00:01:36.480 He's providing you airflow.

00:01:38.540 Harrison, what are you up to this weekend?

00:01:40.340 Nothing.

00:01:40.860 I may be going to Ottawa, actually, tomorrow to do some work, a video project in the works.

00:01:46.500 And then I'm going to a friend's wedding on the weekend.

00:01:49.140 So no bull riding.

00:01:51.200 Can't really do that in Ontario.

00:01:52.460 But, you know, other things in the works.

00:01:57.120 That sounds really nice.

00:01:57.960 Going to a wedding sounds really nice.

00:01:59.260 Are you popping by the CBC by any chance when you head to the Capitol?

00:02:03.540 Wasn't planning on it.

00:02:04.700 No, I was going to actually try to avoid them as much as I can.

00:02:08.920 But, you know, you never know.

00:02:10.820 If something good comes up, I might pop my head in and see what's going on.

00:02:13.980 Well, if you go to buy some poutine on Spark Street or something,

00:02:17.020 maybe they could come out and cover it breathlessly.

00:02:19.520 Because at least that would be Canadian content.

00:02:21.720 I wanted to bring this up because it was one of those things where

00:02:25.040 I have a lot of Canadian friends and family who are now suddenly talking about

00:02:29.940 the current U.S. vice president and what we're all assuming to be the presumptive nominee for

00:02:35.460 the Democrats in the United States of America.

00:02:39.140 They're all suddenly talking about Kamala Harris.

00:02:41.840 Like a lot.

00:02:43.080 Like way more than I was expecting for like a VP, right?

00:02:45.880 Even as far as her interest in American politics goes.

00:02:48.540 And then I was seeing on True North that apparently more than 60 stories on Kamala Harris have been

00:02:55.880 covered at the CBC.

00:02:57.880 Like, I don't care about private broadcasting.

00:02:59.840 Fill your boots.

00:03:00.500 Talk about her all day.

00:03:01.680 But here we go.

00:03:02.380 Yeah.

00:03:02.660 The CBC's Kamala Mania, as it is headlined, 68 stories on Harris' campaign in just one month.

00:03:10.200 So quick math.

00:03:11.260 That's more than two a day.

00:03:12.500 The reason why I've got an issue with this, of course, is because we want to defund the CBC

00:03:17.080 because the CBC costs taxpayers $1.4 billion per year.

00:03:22.520 And every time we tell them, you know what, you guys should really be defunded.

00:03:25.780 This is a huge waste of money.

00:03:27.300 They clutch their pearls and say, oh, my goodness, who would give out the maple syrup recipes?

00:03:31.840 We're purely Canadian.

00:03:33.840 Like, Noah, what went through your mind when you saw that headline?

00:03:36.480 Well, I just thought, like, the people who try to justify the CBC's existence don't really have an argument

00:03:43.140 that the CBC should be, you know, promoting American content, especially, you know, skewing their coverage

00:03:49.740 in order to coverage one presidential candidate over the other.

00:03:52.460 I just went on, I just popped on the CBC's website before recording, and I saw that, you know,

00:03:56.820 they're doing extensive coverage of the DNC.

00:03:59.460 You know, they're talking about Kamala Harris and how to pronounce her name correctly.

00:04:03.140 And, you know, they're talking about Michelle Obama's, you know, fantastic speech.

00:04:07.920 And then the one story about Trump is a negative story.

00:04:11.460 It's basically bashing his campaign for, you know, a mess up or whatever, which is fine.

00:04:15.760 You know, if President Trump is making a mistake and Kamala Harris is making a mistake, then go ahead, cover it.

00:04:21.280 But if you're only covering Donald Trump's mistakes and not his triumphs,

00:04:24.800 and you're only covering Kamala Harris's triumphs and not her, you know, mistakes,

00:04:29.440 then you're really, you know, showing that you have a bias.

00:04:32.660 And even though the CBC has an American bias, they shouldn't even be covering American politics to begin with.

00:04:38.880 You have a lot of other Canadian news outlets who do just as good of a job,

00:04:44.000 if not a better job, at covering American politics.

00:04:46.280 And you have thousands upon thousands of media organizations in the United States

00:04:50.780 that does a good enough job at covering their own country.

00:04:55.680 The CBC's mandate is to cover Canadian topics.

00:04:59.940 So I think that, in my mind, when the CBC, they're publishing stories about Kamala Harris incessantly,

00:05:07.400 I'm like, where's the stories about Justin Trudeau?

00:05:09.840 Where's the stories about Jagmeet Singh and Premier Ford and the people who are actually in power in Canada

00:05:15.580 and the people that actually matter to Canadians,

00:05:18.200 not just the, you know, the Americans who are, you know, doing their own thing, you know, good on them,

00:05:23.940 but they're not Canada.

00:05:26.100 Yeah, that's a great point.

00:05:27.180 It kind of reminds me of what their, I don't know what their primetime stuff is like lately.

00:05:31.280 I know that very few Canadians are watching it,

00:05:33.540 but it reminds me back when I was a kid where they used to import American primetime shows

00:05:38.220 in a desperate attempt to get people to watch Canadian, the Canadian channel,

00:05:42.880 even though it was American shows.

00:05:44.440 I kind of have some sympathy for that, trying to get some eyeballs.

00:05:47.960 But when it comes to actual news coverage, they always say, but who will defend Canada?

00:05:53.720 They always bring it up as their founding mandate, which it was in language.

00:05:57.480 In fact, CBC Radio was created back in the 30s and 40s in order, ostensibly,

00:06:03.520 to thwart the big powerhouse radio stations coming out of places like CBS New York and Chicago.

00:06:09.560 Those were some powerhouse radio stations.

00:06:11.640 And so all of a sudden, Canada was like, oh, we need our own soap operas.

00:06:14.720 That's how it got started.

00:06:15.980 Then they started covering the war and then we were off to the races. 0.77

00:06:19.080 Harrison, what did you think about that headline when you saw that Kamala Harris

00:06:22.340 is getting more than 60 stories covered in one month on the Canadian broadcaster?

00:06:26.660 Well, in contrast, Justin Trudeau was only mentioned 18 times in that same amount of time,

00:06:31.760 in that one month period.

00:06:33.380 So Harris gets 68 mentions and Trudeau gets 18.

00:06:37.420 And it's pretty obvious what they're trying to do here.

00:06:39.560 But I want to show you some of the headlines for the coverage that the CBC is pumping out

00:06:44.980 about Kamala Harris.

00:06:47.160 You've got this one here.

00:06:48.840 Are Kamala Harris memes of coconut trees and brats summer part of her official campaign? 0.85

00:06:54.560 Some extremely hard-hitting journalism.

00:06:56.760 Let's show you the next one here.

00:06:58.560 What else do we have?

00:07:00.220 Oh, yeah.

00:07:00.780 Why is everyone going coconuts for Kamala?

00:07:03.980 Remarkable stuff.

00:07:05.180 Okay, I need to explain that to me like I'm six, Harrison.

00:07:09.280 What's with the coconut reference?

00:07:11.300 Well, when she famously said that you just fall out of a coconut tree.

00:07:14.440 They're trying to make that seem as though that is, you know, that is one of Kamala Harris's

00:07:18.440 great examples of her legendary oratory skills.

00:07:22.180 We all know Kamala Harris is going to be in the pantheon of great public speakers. 0.95

00:07:27.320 Falling out of the coconut tree is one of her greatest hits.

00:07:29.620 So that's the origin of that particular meme.

00:07:32.380 But again, going back to something Noah mentioned, which is the argument that we hear from the

00:07:37.620 most loyal defenders of the CBC is that if there is no CBC, well, then there's going

00:07:42.720 to be no local news coverage of rural areas in Canada.

00:07:46.180 There's going to be no important coverage in French language.

00:07:49.980 Who's going to be reporting on the stories, on indigenous stories and stories in the far

00:07:55.100 north?

00:07:55.960 Well, this is a clear example that even that argument carries no weight because, like I

00:07:59.880 said at the very beginning, if Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, only gets 18 mentions in

00:08:04.040 a month and Harris gets 68, imagine when they imagine how many times they mention the Manitoba

00:08:09.560 premier or Danielle Smith or local political leaders that actually matter to Canadians.

00:08:15.200 They don't.

00:08:16.000 They don't care.

00:08:17.020 So they're just basically in this in this game of trying to make Kamala Harris out to

00:08:21.200 be this this this figure that she is clearly not. 0.75

00:08:24.780 And, you know, Canadian news be damned.

00:08:27.420 That's interesting because the numbers back that up, what you were just talking about 0.90

00:08:33.040 there, like covering indigenous stories, covering local stories.

00:08:36.700 So, number one, the ratings, the rating share for CBC primetime is tiny.

00:08:44.200 So it's just over two percent.

00:08:46.780 So that means around 97 percent of Canadians are choosing to not watch CBC news for primetime.

00:08:54.060 Further, if you want to drill down, like you were mentioning local news, about one percent,

00:08:59.680 the last numbers we were able to find because they've started kind of making it a bit murky

00:09:03.980 in their annual reports, about one percent of Canadians are tuning in to the CBC supper hour

00:09:10.040 news.

00:09:10.740 So I'm older than both of you gentlemen.

00:09:12.680 Back when I was a kid, the six o'clock news was a big deal.

00:09:15.880 Like people sat around and they watched their TV, they watched their six o'clock news.

00:09:20.300 That is about one percent now.

00:09:22.680 So there, there goes your local.

00:09:25.140 As far as the indigenous stuff goes, that's really interesting, too, because, again, always 1.00

00:09:29.480 go back to the numbers and the data.

00:09:31.640 As far as we can tell, CBC is spending more on their executive brass pay than they are on

00:09:39.220 indigenous coverage.

00:09:40.980 I had to go check that three times because I couldn't really believe it, like to use

00:09:46.640 a comparison, like I watch APTN reasonably regularly.

00:09:50.820 They do an outstanding job.

00:09:52.700 They have a big investigative reporter team.

00:09:55.220 They cover stuff all the time.

00:09:56.580 I think they've got 11 indigenous languages that they report in and they get a tiny fraction

00:10:01.840 of taxpayers money.

00:10:02.820 It's really just a one time thing where they have to have like their summer festival day

00:10:06.580 that taxpayers contribute to all the rest of the operations are paid for through their

00:10:11.040 own money that they generate.

00:10:12.580 So the CBC trying to use this argument of, oh, well, who will cover indigenous culture?

00:10:17.560 It doesn't stand up to scrutiny when you look at the actual numbers.

00:10:21.720 With this kind of coverage given to Kamala Harris, we're entering the territory of Harris

00:10:26.100 having to give away some poutines to some of these CBC journalists.

00:10:30.180 If you recall, that was the gift that Trudeau gave to David Cochran for near sycophantic

00:10:34.580 coverage.

00:10:36.080 It looks like that now.

00:10:37.400 Maybe it'll be a coconut, coconut poutine concoction will be given to the CBC journalists

00:10:43.240 for all of their very, very helpful coverage for the Harris campaign.

00:10:47.080 That sounds gross.

00:10:47.800 I'm going to upgrade it a little bit.

00:10:49.380 Let's go with beaver tails. 1.00

00:10:50.760 Okay.

00:10:51.060 Let's go right on the Rideau Canal.

00:10:52.800 It's winter time.

00:10:53.760 You're skating.

00:10:54.480 It's a beaver tail.

00:10:55.180 They could sprinkle coconut on there, on a beaver tail, along with their, or along with

00:10:59.900 vanilla cinnamon or something.

00:11:01.700 Oh my gosh.

00:11:02.280 That's a lot.

00:11:02.720 I was quite surprised by those numbers.

00:11:05.080 Speaking of numbers, did we want to move on to Mr. Charles Adler being nominated for

00:11:09.960 the Senate?

00:11:10.960 Let's do it.

00:11:11.740 So let's pull up the story.

00:11:13.240 Everybody has heard the news likely already.

00:11:15.280 It's a, it's the summer.

00:11:16.540 It's quiet in Canada, unlike the United States.

00:11:18.500 So Senate appointments really seem to be breaking news in this country.

00:11:23.300 And Charles Adler was appointed by Justin Trudeau to be the next independent senator, a liberal

00:11:31.340 senator.

00:11:31.740 And that surprised some of the, some of the people who knew Charles Adler before 2019, 2018,

00:11:38.420 say when he, when he was a conservative, he's now, of course, far more progressive.

00:11:43.560 You would even consider him to be, most people would consider him to be on the, pretty much

00:11:47.320 on the far left at this point with what he has been tweeting about, the things that he's

00:11:52.220 been talking about on his radio show.

00:11:54.200 He has, he's really kind of, well, he's a changed man.

00:11:57.700 And he's going to change even more because he's just been appointed to sit in the Senate.

00:12:01.100 And there have been some hilarious examples of Charles Adler, well, let's just say not

00:12:06.220 being so independent.

00:12:08.060 Let's show a couple of these examples here for the audience who are watching on YouTube

00:12:12.560 and Facebook.

00:12:13.740 We've got this quote here.

00:12:15.880 PM Trudeau is comfortable at pride events because he's comfortable in his own skin, a

00:12:20.640 self-confident Canadian.

00:12:22.480 Why does Pierre Paulyev not attend these events?

00:12:25.000 Well, he's worried that the homophobes he panders to will barbecue him.

00:12:29.220 Leaders lead, paranoids pander. 0.98

00:12:32.640 You know, maybe it was that tweet that actually gave him the appointment, or maybe it was

00:12:35.400 this one.

00:12:36.360 People ask why I'm not supportive of Paulyev.

00:12:38.700 This is precisely why.

00:12:40.380 Voted PC for most of my life, provincially and federally, but this is 10,000 miles from

00:12:46.160 the center.

00:12:47.020 I would feel ridiculous supporting a Canadian freak show just because it was, it has the 0.81

00:12:52.160 word conservative in the brand.

00:12:53.920 And for those of you that are not looking at this, there was a picture of Paulyev leaving

00:12:58.620 a van with a tiny little Diagelon sticker there, Diagelon symbol.

00:13:03.620 And of course that means Pierre Paulyev must be a Diagelon member.

00:13:07.280 Scary, scary Diagelon. 0.99

00:13:08.920 How about one more here?

00:13:10.240 Well, it's a weird thing with Charles Adler, guys.

00:13:12.660 He has this, well, let's just call it a crush on Sean Fraser.

00:13:16.100 You know, let's see this tweet here.

00:13:18.820 Canada watching new version of a star is born with Sean Fraser.

00:13:23.460 Unlike Pierre Paulyev, he doesn't need image consultants training him to look and speak

00:13:27.840 like a genuine human being.

00:13:29.340 Oh, easy there, Charles.

00:13:31.080 You know, it's remarkable, guys.

00:13:33.560 What a changed man.

00:13:35.740 He's now going to be sitting as an independent senator.

00:13:38.320 And he was once, believe it or not, a conservative.

00:13:41.020 With tweets like that, it's hard to believe.

00:13:42.700 Chris, what do you think?

00:13:44.240 Well, cards on the table.

00:13:46.120 I've known Mr. Adler for a long time.

00:13:48.860 Like, I'd have to really think hard because I was doing hits on his show and booking him

00:13:53.960 for my old radio shows back when he was in Winnipeg at CGOB before Sun News Network ever

00:13:59.620 got started.

00:14:00.860 And then I worked with him from startup to shutdown at Sun News Network.

00:14:05.680 Just, we got along great.

00:14:08.660 He worked well with everybody as far as I know.

00:14:11.140 And then after Sun News Network was shut down, I did his radio show, his national radio show,

00:14:17.720 at least once a week.

00:14:19.600 And so I know a lot of my colleagues at the CTV did his show once a week.

00:14:23.000 And I think it's, I'm giving all of this context because I think it's important for

00:14:27.020 truth and facts.

00:14:28.640 And so that is the way that things were before.

00:14:32.480 Needless to say, there's been a remarkable change.

00:14:34.920 A really notable change.

00:14:38.140 So much so that even in the way he would describe people like that, like, forget about the partisan,

00:14:43.660 forget about ideology.

00:14:45.240 Just kind of describing a politician like that, like, that wasn't really his jam.

00:14:50.200 Like, he might do that sort of thing maybe for Margaret Thatcher when really pressed and feeling,

00:14:55.460 like, nostalgic, but not just your everyday minister.

00:14:59.780 And so my takeaway from this as a Taxpayers Federation is that there's so many people who

00:15:05.580 are now upset about this on both I would describe as the left and the right for different reasons.

00:15:10.820 I think it highlights the idea that perhaps it's time to go back to a triple E Senate.

00:15:15.400 So Preston Manning, former founder of the Reform Party, he wanted a triple E Senate.

00:15:21.560 He wanted it to be equal, elected, and effective.

00:15:24.760 And that's probably a good idea.

00:15:27.480 I'm going to defend the Senate a little tiny bit here, just a smidge when it comes to the

00:15:33.840 idea of independent versus liberal versus PC and all that jazz.

00:15:38.260 The Senate, in two separate occasions that I can remember in the last four years, did tap

00:15:45.800 the brakes on a couple of pieces of legislation that would probably be important to True North

00:15:51.080 viewers.

00:15:52.020 The one that sticks out in my mind, and I'm going from memory, so please forgive me, is

00:15:57.100 during the Emergencies Act.

00:15:59.120 So folks might remember, as far as I can recall, Emergencies Act was rushing through, went through

00:16:04.120 the House of Commons, blah, blah, blah.

00:16:05.620 The folks that hit the brakes on that, if I recall correctly, one of them was a Kretchen 1.00

00:16:09.980 appointed liberal senator that said, um, are we really sure about this?

00:16:14.680 And now, of course, that we have the federal judge ruling, survey says you shouldn't have

00:16:19.680 done that and you guys overstepped your bounds and blah, blah, blah.

00:16:22.460 So I can hear the argument for the idea of sober second thought, but man, when you've got

00:16:28.480 $175,000 per year after six years of service, a huge pension, no way to recall people, it

00:16:35.100 starts getting really unaccountable really fast.

00:16:37.320 And I can see why people want to go back to Triple E.

00:16:39.460 Noah, did you want to get in on this?

00:16:41.940 Yeah, I think my biggest problem with this story is the sort of deception of it all.

00:16:46.440 I think that when Charles Adler declares himself as a conservative, to everyone who knows what

00:16:53.160 he believes nowadays, he's clearly not a conservative.

00:16:55.920 I mean, uh, the conservative party's leader, Pierre Polyev, you know, say what you will

00:16:59.920 with it about him.

00:17:00.840 I have some criticism about him, but he's clearly a conservative.

00:17:04.080 He's believed in conservatism his entire life.

00:17:06.460 If you read, you know, his old essay or whatever.

00:17:08.540 Uh, but Charles Adler clearly isn't interested in conservatism, at least not anymore.

00:17:12.760 And it's completely fine for your political beliefs to evolve over time.

00:17:17.080 You know, my political, if your political beliefs don't evolve over time, you're probably

00:17:19.920 an ideologue.

00:17:20.600 But the problem is, is that if your political beliefs evolve, you should change your label

00:17:27.320 to, to correspond with your beliefs.

00:17:29.520 For example, Charles Adler is not a conservative.

00:17:31.640 He should probably call himself a liberal, uh, or, you know, a centrist or something like

00:17:35.460 that.

00:17:35.820 Not a conservative, clearly not a conservative.

00:17:38.260 So I think not only does that, that bothered me a little bit, but also the fact that he's

00:17:43.260 being appointed to a Senate group, uh, the independents, uh, that are mostly comprised of liberals

00:17:48.620 or whether they're appointed by just a Trudeau or appointed by, uh, past liberal, uh, liberal, uh,

00:17:54.360 prime ministers, which, uh, which for me, I think is deceptive because, uh, as was mentioned

00:17:59.960 before, uh, these independent senators more, more times than not vote with the government.

00:18:04.860 There are exceptions, uh, and usually there are, these exceptions are come from, uh, liberals,

00:18:09.600 uh, in, um, from, you know, the Jean Cartier era, for example, where the liberals were a

00:18:14.880 bit more liberal, not illiberal, uh, like they are now.

00:18:17.680 So it just seems like, uh, Justin Trudeau is trying to deceive the Canadian public when

00:18:22.160 he calls, uh, these senators independent, uh, they're clearly liberals, even though they

00:18:26.260 don't caucus with the liberals, uh, they clearly have, uh, liberal values.

00:18:30.480 I didn't want to say they have a liberal values.

00:18:32.040 They have leftist values.

00:18:33.880 Um, so it's, it's a bit deceptive, uh, to call yourself an independent, uh, senator when

00:18:39.780 you vote along with the liberal party all the time.

00:18:42.180 It's, it's deceptive to call yourself a conservative, uh, when you're bashing conservatives all the time

00:18:46.320 and praising, you know, liberal minister, Sean Frazer.

00:18:49.120 Uh, and it's really does a disservice, uh, to trust in Canadian institutions because when,

00:18:54.960 you know, uh, Canadians see that these independent centers are not acting independently, but Canadians

00:18:59.760 see that the Senator Charles Adler, who self declares a conservative, isn't, you know, voting

00:19:05.120 in a very conservative manner.

00:19:06.480 It undermines credibility in our institutions and the people that run them.

00:19:10.960 I just wanted to note, I think, I think the jury's still out.

00:19:13.840 Aren't we still out on whether or not this will be confirmed?

00:19:16.180 I thought I saw something about this is not yet confirmed, whether or not Mr. Adler will

00:19:19.800 become a Senator.

00:19:21.200 Well, I know that, uh, yeah, the prime minister's office, they sent out a press release saying

00:19:25.940 that Adler and the other Senator, which we should probably get to, um, uh, they, they were,

00:19:30.640 uh, basically, uh, confirmed by the Senate committee, uh, that basically deals with appointments

00:19:36.100 and the prime minister, uh, also announced it.

00:19:38.520 So I think it's more or less a done deal.

00:19:40.920 First nation, the Manitoba first nations leaders actually have criticized the appointment and

00:19:45.660 have called on, uh, on the government to rescind Charles Adler's appointment.

00:19:50.580 So even, even praising the liberals and praising the left like this has not managed to get him

00:19:55.800 on the side of some of these, uh, first nations chiefs.

00:19:58.800 But I do think we're being a little harsh on Charles Adler.

00:20:01.420 After all, it's important to recognize that he is a self-proclaimed talk radio legend.

00:20:06.300 Don't forget that.

00:20:07.560 This is a famous, uh, famous Charles Adler tweet calling himself a legend, a talk radio

00:20:13.540 legend.

00:20:13.840 So, you know, it's important to, to, to make sure we give him, we give him his, his due

00:20:19.160 as, as a legend.

00:20:20.300 He is a legend amongst us and maybe he will elevate the quality in the Senate and bring

00:20:24.480 in more talk radio legend, uh, legendary moments.

00:20:26.840 I wish I have that much self-confidence on myself.

00:20:29.860 You know, I don't know if you want to call that hubris or, you know, just some other

00:20:34.020 devious word in the thesaurus, but, uh, I'm definitely not going to, you're never going

00:20:38.300 to see that on my Twitter.

00:20:39.260 That's what that one kind of surprised me actually.

00:20:41.140 I'm surprised that that's up there.

00:20:43.120 Um, all right.

00:20:43.940 So did we, I wanted to stress that I think a lot of the pushback apart from people who

00:20:49.360 are political nerds or news nerds, all of us included.

00:20:52.000 Um, I think the average public is probably annoyed most about this because of the lack

00:20:58.200 of accountability and the lack, like the lack of, uh, cost effectiveness.

00:21:02.020 I think a lot of people are still struggling right now.

00:21:04.720 We still see record demand for food banks.

00:21:07.140 I always check the MNP, uh, bankruptcy numbers and where they ask people, how close are you

00:21:14.100 to not being able to make your ends meet?

00:21:15.900 50% half of Canadians are within 200 bucks of not being able to make their minimum payments.

00:21:22.680 I'm not talking paying off your credit card or your line of credit.

00:21:25.700 I mean, making your minimum payments and making rent and just enough to have food half.

00:21:31.200 That's crazy.

00:21:32.300 And so then when they see senators willy nilly making 175 grand plus expenses, like they

00:21:38.000 get catered lunches, they get all these really fancy things on parliament Hill.

00:21:41.580 I think that really grinds people's gears.

00:21:43.940 And so I think that's also why this is making news apart from him being, uh, I think 30 something

00:21:49.100 plus year long broadcaster.

00:21:50.940 So there's so much data, so many records on there.

00:21:53.700 Yeah.

00:21:53.780 Noah, you want to jump in?

00:21:55.100 Yeah.

00:21:55.320 Yeah.

00:21:55.500 Just to add to your point.

00:21:56.540 I mean, yeah, you're absolutely right.

00:21:57.820 When Canadians see like, you know, these senators making, uh, these lavish paychecks, uh, it's

00:22:02.220 not really something that, you know, people can relate to, uh, especially when you're appointing

00:22:06.440 senators that, you know, uh, over their lifetimes, uh, donated to the liberal party, uh, thousands

00:22:11.800 of thousands of dollars.

00:22:12.740 And that's, uh, the case with the, uh, Senate appointee Tracy Mugley, who donated to the

00:22:17.940 liberals over 220 times in her lifetime, 221 times, uh, to be specific between 2006 and

00:22:25.400 2020, uh, she donated about $18,000 over almost $19,000 to the liberal party, whether that's

00:22:34.020 to her, uh, local EDA, whether that's to the liberal party proper or in, uh, various liberal

00:22:39.540 leadership elections.

00:22:40.960 Uh, some of the highest, uh, donations that she gave was, uh, I think over a thousand dollars.

00:22:46.160 She also gave, uh, almost a thousand dollars in non-monetary donations.

00:22:50.260 So I guess like she's buying a lot of coffees for her liberal MPs or something like that. 0.76

00:22:55.140 I don't really know.

00:22:56.340 Uh, but these are the type of people that are being appointed to the Senate are, and are

00:23:01.080 going to sit as independents, you know, people who are lifelong liberals.

00:23:05.140 This, uh, woman actually ran as a liberal candidate in 2015 and 2019, not once, but twice,

00:23:12.140 uh, you know, she lost both times.

00:23:14.160 So I guess, you know, Trudeau had to like, you know, get one of his own in there.

00:23:17.840 Cause, uh, you know, she clearly couldn't do it, uh, on the, with the backing of the

00:23:21.600 Canadian people.

00:23:22.600 Uh, but yeah, I mean, this is the type of, these are the type of people that are being

00:23:26.400 appointed to the Senate, people who have, uh, loads of money to just donate to political

00:23:30.240 parties, uh, and, you know, sitting as independents, even though they're clearly liberal partisans.

00:23:34.800 I think that really erodes trust in our institutions, especially the, uh, unelected Senate.

00:23:39.400 It does.

00:23:40.000 And it's been going, this has been the standard operating procedure at the Senate now forever.

00:23:43.760 Like it has been full of political party hacks, both blue and red.

00:23:47.600 Like, and so, yeah, it's just not changing.

00:23:49.360 Is it Harrison?

00:23:50.320 No, I was just going to say that actually, that when, uh, when, when Justin Trudeau is

00:23:54.320 eventually, uh, ousted as prime minister and the government switches over to the conservative

00:23:58.880 side, it's going to be the same thing.

00:24:00.880 It's going to go to people who have donated the conservative party, who have been party loyalists

00:24:05.520 for many years, failed candidates.

00:24:07.600 They'll be the same thing.

00:24:08.960 And you know, it's, uh, it's fun to criticize it now, but it will be topic of conversation

00:24:14.400 for a show on the other side of the debate in a couple of years time when Pierre Pauliev

00:24:18.960 makes an appointment like this, but on the conservative side.

00:24:21.840 So it's just going to be what it's going to be.

00:24:23.920 And, uh, I think it's fitting to end the, end the show with, uh, with this subject.

00:24:28.720 We have our taxpayer, uh, our taxpayer specialist hosting us.

00:24:32.800 So this is like the taxpayer story right now in Canada.

00:24:37.120 Chris, what do you got?

00:24:38.160 Yeah.

00:24:38.560 So hopefully the next show will not involve any of my former colleagues or TV hosts, but

00:24:44.720 for some reason it's like a blue light special on these folks.

00:24:47.760 So Tom Clark, uh, I loved working with him.

00:24:50.880 He was super nice to me.

00:24:52.000 I worked with him for years at CTV.

00:24:54.160 Um, he then I think went to global for quite a while.

00:24:56.880 I kind of tuned out of mainstream media for quite a bit the last few years.

00:24:59.680 He was a global for a long time.

00:25:01.200 He is now the Canadian consul general in New York city.

00:25:05.840 And so for folks who are listening or like, what is that exactly?

00:25:09.360 It's kind of like a mini ambassador.

00:25:11.840 Okay.

00:25:12.320 And we have some of these folks in key positions to be fair around the world and

00:25:16.480 New York city, definitely a key city still around the world.

00:25:20.240 The problem here is that there's this residence slash office slash like it's a map dot.

00:25:28.160 Okay.

00:25:28.480 Imagine you're dropping your Google map dot right next to central park.

00:25:32.560 Apparently it's been dubbed like billionaires row or something like that in New York city.

00:25:37.680 Last I checked is around $9 million for this pad.

00:25:43.680 And this is what's really got people's eyebrows raising saying,

00:25:46.800 really $9 million.

00:25:49.520 Why are we shelling out $9 million for the residence slash building crash pad for the New York consul

00:25:57.440 general for Canada?

00:25:59.120 Here you go.

00:25:59.840 Global affairs.

00:26:00.640 Canada is quote, very proud of $9 million.

00:26:03.600 New York city condo purchase says consul general Tom Clark didn't influence.

00:26:08.480 Okay.

00:26:09.200 So that could very well be the case.

00:26:10.720 This could all be bureaucrats deciding this sort of thing.

00:26:13.440 Um, I would love to be able to privately pick Tom Clark's brain on this, on what he thinks

00:26:20.720 about this.

00:26:21.360 And if he said anything, uh, a fun story, which wouldn't embarrass him at all.

00:26:25.360 Uh, back when I was at CTV at the bureau, uh, I used to say this dorky thing of everybody should

00:26:30.960 get together and go bowling.

00:26:32.480 It was just a throwaway line one Christmas.

00:26:35.360 I figured let's stop these boring office parties that everybody hates at Christmas time.

00:26:40.000 Let's go bowling.

00:26:41.520 And so we actually, the team of us, Bob Fyfe and Craig Oliver, and everybody went bowling.

00:26:46.320 And Tom Clark was like, bowling.

00:26:48.560 Is that the sport where you rent shoes?

00:26:51.840 And he said it in this great anchorman voice.

00:26:54.880 And so I would just love to actually have a beer with him and say, listen,

00:27:00.080 what do you think about this condo?

00:27:01.840 Because at the end of the day, $9 million, that is a ton of cash, especially again,

00:27:08.000 all of this is taxpayers money.

00:27:09.840 This is not coming out of some magic bank account that prime minister Trudeau runs.

00:27:13.680 It's our money and it's a huge waste.

00:27:17.120 Yeah.

00:27:17.440 You know what?

00:27:17.920 It sounds pretty rough.

00:27:19.200 And I think that there was a big sticker shock for a lot of Canadians when the news broke,

00:27:23.040 of course, $9 million is outrageous, uh, especially for residents.

00:27:28.560 Now, the part of this story that doesn't really get told, and I think in order to be fair,

00:27:32.000 it should be mentioned is the fact that Canada just listed last week, the old New York City

00:27:39.120 residents for the consul general, and they listed it for $13 million.

00:27:43.040 So you're thinking that the global affairs will likely be able to pocket the difference.

00:27:47.360 Will the difference go into something useful?

00:27:49.840 No, it won't.

00:27:50.560 Obviously it'll be wasted again, but that is an important part of the story.

00:27:54.160 Oh, I didn't know that part.

00:27:55.200 That is really interesting.

00:27:56.400 So, so they're, they're, they're selling the $13 million old residents and they, they're

00:28:01.120 actually downsizing to a $9 million condominium, believe it or not.

00:28:05.040 And the, the story was that there was going to be a two million, it was going to cost $2

00:28:08.720 million to renovate the old condo, or they could buy a $9 million condo, sell the old one

00:28:15.440 pocket the difference.

00:28:16.720 Here's the way I look at it.

00:28:18.480 In my opinion, it's actually very important for Canada to be able to project diplomatic strength

00:28:23.360 in the most important city, likely in the world, which is New York city, besides maybe

00:28:28.000 Washington, DC.

00:28:29.440 You actually want the Canadian government to be able to use a residence like this to advance

00:28:33.280 the interests of Canadians.

00:28:34.880 You probably don't.

00:28:36.480 And what the conservatives are arguing is that the whole thing is absurd.

00:28:39.200 They shouldn't have spent any money on it.

00:28:40.800 You don't want them to be in an apartment that is falling apart, that is in need of repairs,

00:28:44.400 or that you end up or you're in a hotel conducting events.

00:28:47.840 The same thing goes with Sussex drive, 24 Sussex drive.

00:28:51.200 The way I look at it is the Canadian government for whatever reason has decided that no, they

00:28:55.600 don't want to be the ones to put up the fight to try to save 24 Sussex drive because taxpayers,

00:29:00.880 it's going to cost the taxpayer too much money.

00:29:02.720 But the symbolism of having 24 Sussex drive, the residents of the prime minister being infested

00:29:07.040 with mice and rats while the prime minister lives in the back lawn of Rideau Hall at a nice

00:29:11.840 home, but it's not really fitting of the office of prime minister is something that I think

00:29:16.000 Canadians should be concerned about.

00:29:17.760 There is a value for projecting influence and strength on the world stage in New York City.

00:29:23.360 I think this is a perfect example of it.

00:29:25.200 And I think many of the people arguing against this are those that would say, actually,

00:29:29.200 we shouldn't be spending any money as well on 24 Sussex, because who cares where the prime

00:29:32.800 minister lives?

00:29:34.080 You know, if the government didn't spend $17 million, for example, on Indonesian foreign aid,

00:29:40.000 a country that doesn't need it at all.

00:29:41.440 Or maybe we spent a few less billion dollars on Ukraine into the meat grinder. 0.85

00:29:46.720 We could actually save some more taxpayer money and that would have far more influence

00:29:50.800 for Canadians.

00:29:51.760 But I guess the argument will be that we need to be up in arms over the condo.

00:29:56.320 There is my opposite side on this story.

00:29:59.440 What do you guys think?

00:30:00.160 I am surprised by your take.

00:30:02.320 Um, although I can see you actually, because I will say like, I loved Tom Clark as anchor.

00:30:07.280 I thought he did a great job as an anchor and I can picture you.

00:30:10.000 I can picture you as this anchor man.

00:30:11.680 You'd be doing a good job.

00:30:12.560 So me, so maybe you want this gig is what you're saying in 20 years time.

00:30:16.960 Maybe the only way a journalist can get into a $9 million apartment is to be the consul

00:30:20.800 general for New York.

00:30:21.760 So, uh, I don't know.

00:30:23.520 Listen, I don't want Tom Clark living at the YMCA in Manhattan in his track pants.

00:30:30.080 Okay.

00:30:30.560 I get that.

00:30:31.600 But I think there's a happy medium, you know, can't he be living in a nice residence

00:30:35.760 upstate to take the train downtown for a lot cheaper and have like a really beautiful office

00:30:41.120 space in New York for cheaper.

00:30:43.040 Although I will say selling for 13 and buying for nine.

00:30:46.800 If that's the actual case, that, that thickens the plot.

00:30:51.120 Noah, you wanted to jump in on this one?

00:30:53.760 Yeah, I think it's very fitting that I'm in between you guys in the frame.

00:30:56.640 Cause I, my opinions probably in between you guys too.

00:30:59.040 Like I agree with Harrison on the 24 Sussex point.

00:31:01.920 I just think like $9 million for a condo, it's absurd.

00:31:05.440 I think like, you know, if you hold meetings in a hotel, that's nice and posh and you know,

00:31:11.120 you don't have to spend $9 million.

00:31:12.720 I think that's a good alternative.

00:31:14.640 You can rent out some nice office space.

00:31:16.480 You can rent out a condo for maybe $2.5 million.

00:31:19.520 It's not like $2.5 million is a cheap condo.

00:31:22.480 You know, I don't think I'm going to be able to get anywhere close to that in my lifetime.

00:31:26.800 Although maybe I, you know, win the lottery or become rich in my career.

00:31:29.440 Who knows?

00:31:29.920 Maybe you become the council general to New York.

00:31:31.680 Noah, come on.

00:31:33.200 Yeah, exactly.

00:31:33.920 You know, I got inspired to that.

00:31:35.200 Me and you will compete for that role, Harrison.

00:31:37.120 Yeah, we will.

00:31:37.840 Maybe we can trade it.

00:31:38.720 We'll take half terms.

00:31:41.040 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:31:42.800 But, you know, when you're renting out a condo with Maccoba stone floors, you know, a powder

00:31:48.800 room with jewel onyx finishes, a wet bar with Cristallo gold quartzite, countertops and backsplash,

00:31:56.640 a bathroom clad in Italian white Venato marble.

00:32:00.400 I mean, you saw my roof like, you know, I don't got no Italian Venato marble up in here, you know?

00:32:05.360 So, like, I don't think that I don't think that you need to have like, you know, like to live like me if you're the consul general.

00:32:15.200 But I also don't think that you need to be living in the lap of luxury either.

00:32:20.000 Did you have to practice pronouncing those things?

00:32:22.400 Because I didn't understand half of what you just said.

00:32:24.720 I didn't practice.

00:32:26.640 That's why you didn't understand it.

00:32:27.920 That sounds like very fancy marble.

00:32:32.160 On the real quick point on 24 Sussex.

00:32:35.120 24 Sussex actually isn't really a historical building.

00:32:39.600 It's been around since maybe the 1940s, 1950s.

00:32:43.120 Like it was, and I forget who it was built by, it was like a millwright.

00:32:46.640 So it was some fancy, you know, rich dude had the house built.

00:32:50.640 My point is, is that it was always kind of slapdash added onto over the years.

00:32:55.520 So it wound up being kind of wonky.

00:32:57.840 In fact, I remember when Laureen Harper was in there, when Prime Minister Harper was living in 24 Sussex.

00:33:02.880 She said that she couldn't get a lot of the windows open because they were painted shut.

00:33:06.640 Like it was all sorts of strangeness happening there.

00:33:09.120 And you're right.

00:33:09.840 There's been an aversion to upgrading the thing because the National Capital Commission wastes

00:33:15.840 so much money that if you give those guys an inch, they will take 10 kilometers and they will waste money doing it.

00:33:22.800 So this is now why we're in this bit of a weird situation where he's on the Rideau grounds.

00:33:27.680 Now, I will say, Harrison, Rideau cottage is a pretty fancy building.

00:33:31.600 Like, I think it's got 12 bedrooms or something like that. Like he's not living in a shack.

00:33:36.240 So I think a better spending of taxpayers money would be to sell the property at 24 Sussex.

00:33:41.280 And the area across the street where the Prime Minister is right now, it's pretty secure.

00:33:47.440 They've already got fences and gates and everything there.

00:33:50.720 Just upgrade that a little bit so that he can have international diplomatic meetings and call it a day.

00:33:56.400 I think that might be the smarter way to go for taxpayers.

00:33:59.040 Part of my playful side wants to do something fun with like, you know, a Canadian reno show and raise money that way and like turn it into a bingo hall, the way Preston Manning had said.

00:34:08.800 But I don't think that's going to happen.

00:34:10.640 I think we should split the difference, sell 24 Sussex, build up Rideau cottage a little bit and just call it an end of the day.

00:34:17.360 Yeah, I generally believe that just my perspective is the Canadian government, Global Affairs Canada wastes outrageous amounts of money on foreign aid projects.

00:34:28.400 And these often never get criticized for whatever reason.

00:34:31.600 Maybe it's politically a sensitive topic to address, but it's a complete waste for us to be spending money.

00:34:37.200 Now, I don't believe it's a waste for certain projects in Africa, for example, where I believe it's really needed.

00:34:42.720 But Indonesia, 17 million dollars, the amount of money we give to Honduras, for example, it doesn't matter at all to Canada's diplomatic efforts.

00:34:50.160 Having a having an important place in the world where all the world leaders meet and they can feel like Canada is a serious player, I think is important.

00:34:58.960 And generally, I believe that the residents of the prime minister should be a fitting of the office of the prime minister and the leader of the country.

00:35:05.520 So if it is renovating Rideau cottage and saying goodbye to 24 Sussex, fair enough.

00:35:10.400 But in my opinion, these things matter.

00:35:12.480 The symbols of the strength of our country and the importance of the government matter far more than the amount of money that we just splash around the world for useless projects, which ends up going into the pockets of leaders, which we believe are enemies of Canada, right?

00:35:30.240 That's the most absurd part.

00:35:31.360 Or we're paying for a sex toy workshop. 0.88

00:35:33.200 I was going to say, you don't even need to do, yeah.

00:35:36.520 So let's be concerned about the plight of Canadians and the fact that we can actually spend money on our own people while also making sure that these symbols of the state and the importance of the government are met and not actually be giving it away to people who don't care about our country and are genuinely enemies.

00:35:54.720 We still give a million dollars or a bit more than a million dollars to China, for example.

00:35:59.140 I mean, it is ridiculous and people want to talk about saving taxpayers money.

00:36:04.040 They should be talking about foreign aid far more than they do about nine million dollar condos or traveling expenses.

00:36:10.360 I really think that the argument is lost if you're not talking about foreign aid.

00:36:14.680 You don't even, like Noah mentioned, even moving past foreign aid, just the absolute waste internationally, like sex toy shows in Germany.

00:36:22.780 Did you know we actually spent taxpayers' money in Canada on getting old people to tell their sex stories overseas? 0.88

00:36:29.500 Like we were contracting out old people sex stories with our money. 0.97

00:36:35.060 It's just absolutely bizarre, the amount of money.

00:36:38.120 Now I'm really afraid.

00:36:40.000 Old people sex stories in Canada are like just unique and, you know, just needs to be told to the entire world. 0.76

00:36:46.120 But now I'm really concerned about where the difference is on this, where the difference is going to go on the sale of the old condominium and those few extra million dollars.

00:36:55.340 Which, I don't know.

00:36:56.400 Maybe a little tribe of Rive can, 2.0.

00:36:58.820 If you think you can double that amount.

00:37:01.140 Guys, this has been a delight.

00:37:03.520 Folks, if you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in the comment section there.

00:37:08.660 Send us an email.

00:37:09.600 You can head on over to True North's website and let us know what you think of the show.

00:37:13.220 If you have show ideas, please send them along as well.

00:37:16.040 If you want to argue with any of us about spending $9 million on a condo or what color of track pants Tom Clark should wear at the YMCA, please let us know.

00:37:27.860 Catch us back here next week for more Off the Record.

00:37:30.800 That was pretty solid hosting.

00:37:41.220 I'm thinking we should have a segment every time you're on about, you know, dunking on former colleagues, Chris. 0.96

00:37:47.880 That's ridiculous. 0.62

00:37:49.980 What are the odds of that, though? 0.91

00:37:51.200 Seriously, I mean, that is a bit unfortunate.

00:37:55.200 But I think it went very well.

00:37:57.080 Good. If I were either of those gentlemen, I wouldn't be super mad at me.

00:38:01.580 I think I don't think so. No, no.

00:38:03.420 Yeah. So maybe you should text Tom Clark and tell him that you should text Tom Clark and tell him his job's in peril.

00:38:09.880 I think Polioff said that he would fire him if he gets in office.

00:38:13.100 So you should, like, let him know in advance that, you know, he's not going to be living in that condo for much longer.

00:38:18.480 Harrison's moving in.

Juno News - August 23, 2024

Canada’s state broadcaster is obsessed with Kamala Harris

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