Juno News - June 19, 2022


Conservative Leadership Series： Jean Charest


Episode Stats

Length

24 minutes

Words per Minute

188.73201

Word Count

4,567

Sentence Count

296

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show. This is The Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.
00:00:10.540 Coming off, we kick off True North's Conservative Leadership Series with a sit-down interview with Conservative Leadership Candidate Jean Charest.
00:00:18.660 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.
00:00:22.000 Hello and welcome to a rare weekend edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show on True North.
00:00:30.680 I know we've been focusing on all sorts of elections all over the place lately.
00:00:34.140 The Ontario election, now the Alberta UCP leadership race.
00:00:38.960 But we want to do something that we promised months ago when the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race first started.
00:00:45.780 And it involved waiting until that membership cut off.
00:00:48.320 So we knew exactly who was going to be in the race.
00:00:50.920 And we wanted to go and sit down with all of the leadership candidates one-on-one,
00:00:55.600 have an in-depth, wide-ranging conversation about what it is that they want to bring to the Conservative Party of Canada
00:01:01.440 and also to the leadership of the country.
00:01:04.840 Because ultimately these people aren't just auditioning to run the party,
00:01:08.220 but they all want to be the Prime Minister of Canada in a couple of years.
00:01:12.240 And we've tried to do interviews with the candidates as they've announced.
00:01:15.640 And we've managed to talk to five of the six.
00:01:18.320 But this is a new series that we're doing on the Andrew Lawton Show called,
00:01:22.000 very uncreatively, the Conservative Leadership Series.
00:01:25.560 And to kick it off, I'm sitting down with Jean Charest, the former Quebec Premier
00:01:29.340 and also the former leader of the federal PC Party,
00:01:32.260 which has now been folded into the Conservative Party of Canada.
00:01:36.420 I sat down with Jean Charest last week for, as I mentioned, a wide-ranging conversation.
00:01:41.400 We covered a lot of ground.
00:01:42.840 And if you haven't seen it, I would encourage you to go and look back to my first interview with him
00:01:47.880 a couple of months back when he announced his campaign.
00:01:50.640 And there are some things in there that I talked about, so I didn't bring up in this interview.
00:01:54.800 So if you're wondering, why didn't you ask about X?
00:01:56.680 That's why.
00:01:57.380 So I would encourage you to have a look at that interview as well.
00:01:59.880 But without further ado, my conversation with Jean Charest.
00:02:04.000 Monsieur Charest, we spoke right away, actually, when you had launched your campaign.
00:02:08.180 And obviously, things have changed a little bit now.
00:02:09.900 We know hundreds of thousands of people have joined the Conservative Party for
00:02:13.280 you and some of your other competitors in this race.
00:02:16.440 How are you feeling now with the membership drive complete and just a couple of months to go?
00:02:21.340 I feel very good about where we are right now.
00:02:24.220 We followed the game plan that we set out for ourselves, Andrew, and it focused a lot
00:02:29.260 on what determines who wins or loses, and that's the points per riding.
00:02:34.240 It is complicated to follow for those who aren't initiated, but as you know, it's a preferential
00:02:40.680 ballot, mail-in ballot.
00:02:42.180 You mark your first, second, third, fourth choice.
00:02:45.020 And then it's 100 points per riding, no matter how many members there are in the riding,
00:02:50.360 as long as there's a minimum of 100.
00:02:51.980 And so our whole view of the campaign is how do we make sure that our vote is efficient,
00:02:58.780 that it actually allows us to get the number of points required to win, and we're within
00:03:04.700 that striking distance.
00:03:06.500 The other thing about the campaign that we know from past campaigns is that the front
00:03:11.080 runner, unless the front runner wins on the first ballot, they lose, which was the story
00:03:17.200 of Bernier in 17, and of McKay in 20, or 21, I should say.
00:03:24.000 And then that's where we are right now.
00:03:26.620 I mean, we're within that striking distance.
00:03:29.280 We're feeling very good about where we are.
00:03:31.220 And what I especially like about our campaign is that our support is broad-based.
00:03:35.760 It isn't just one part of the country, and it will be stronger in certain parts, obviously,
00:03:41.080 and I have adversaries who will be stronger in other areas of the country.
00:03:44.840 But we do have a broad-based support.
00:03:47.560 That point system is meant to ensure that, that you can't just sign up in the conservative
00:03:52.040 heartland, 100,000 members, and sweep to victory, or anywhere else in the country.
00:03:56.660 And your whole campaign has really been, in my assessment anyway, predicated on that idea
00:04:01.740 of electability.
00:04:02.680 Your slogan is built to win.
00:04:04.420 You're talking about the importance of winning a national majority government.
00:04:09.640 Conservatives heard that in 2020, though, from a candidate whose primary pitch was electability,
00:04:14.980 the seats in the so-called vote-rich GTA in Quebec, and that came at the expense of a
00:04:20.140 lot of those red meat conservative ideals that a lot of people in the party wanted.
00:04:23.900 So, if someone's looking at you, how are you different than Aaron O'Toole in making this
00:04:29.260 claim that you can actually deliver when he made that identical claim leading into last
00:04:33.340 year's election?
00:04:34.420 Well, the first thing I'd point to is track record.
00:04:36.760 I do have a track record of winning.
00:04:39.760 And in the places that count, in urban areas in particular, where I have run campaigns, I've
00:04:45.880 been successful.
00:04:47.180 And so, I have no doubt in my mind that I'd have that ability.
00:04:51.060 And what we're talking about is winning in the GTA, where there's 53 seats.
00:04:55.280 Conservatives have only four.
00:04:57.080 Zero seats in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
00:05:00.020 Zero seats on the Isle of Montreal.
00:05:01.660 But then 32 block MPs in Quebec.
00:05:04.720 32.
00:05:05.800 That's a big chunk of seats that I will win with Conservative MPs who will help us win a
00:05:11.740 majority government.
00:05:12.620 And we're starting from a strong base in Western Canada that we also have to acknowledge.
00:05:17.440 I mean, that's a real source of strength for our party.
00:05:20.820 The other thing about this leadership race, for me, is that this is about conservatism.
00:05:26.120 And it has to be about not just electing the new leader.
00:05:30.140 You're right.
00:05:30.740 It's about winning the next campaign.
00:05:32.680 There's no, you know, we're not going anywhere if we elect a new leader who leads us down a
00:05:37.100 path where there's actually a more narrow base.
00:05:40.080 But where is that new opening?
00:05:42.600 Where is the future for us as a party?
00:05:45.340 I am a big, big believer in Conservative principles and values.
00:05:50.900 And I think those values, as we express them for the future, are going to have a lot of resonance
00:05:55.520 in the country.
00:05:56.580 I know because it's what I've lived all my life politically.
00:05:59.980 And I've been successful doing that.
00:06:02.160 But Canadians need to hear what it is that we're proposing and not be distracted by other
00:06:07.280 things.
00:06:07.560 And I'll boil it down to a few things.
00:06:09.860 A, fiscal conservatism.
00:06:12.760 There is a boulevard, literally a boulevard out there in Canada for a political, national
00:06:18.240 political party who's fiscally conservative.
00:06:20.980 Everyone in the country gets it that after COVID, this overhang of debt isn't going to
00:06:25.740 just go away.
00:06:27.000 We have to deal with it.
00:06:28.180 The second part is a strong national economic agenda.
00:06:33.160 And that's where I'm going to put the party.
00:06:35.220 We are going to focus on, that will be our platform.
00:06:37.780 And that's what we're going to talk about in a national election campaign.
00:06:41.160 And that will be very much a conservative campaign.
00:06:44.300 I'd like to talk about your fiscal platform in a moment.
00:06:46.680 But I want to just touch on Western Canada because you did mention it.
00:06:49.520 And I think one of the biggest problems for any party is to take its base for granted.
00:06:53.560 Yes.
00:06:54.040 You know, you have members that have won there with 70% of the vote.
00:06:56.920 But we also saw in the last election, the PPC get 14, 15% in some of those ridings.
00:07:01.740 Albertans, as you know, voted in favor of a referendum to challenge equalization.
00:07:07.420 If you were the Prime Minister, how would you address the equalization question?
00:07:11.900 And I'll give you a broadening of that.
00:07:14.420 The general Western alienation sentiments we see, which are quite significant.
00:07:19.380 The sentiment of Western alienation is something I worry about.
00:07:22.700 And it's one of the reasons why I'm running, because it's something I'm familiar with.
00:07:26.360 And whether you take it from the angle of Eastern Canada, and Quebec in particular, or Western Canada,
00:07:31.520 it's something that we should never just brush off as being a sentiment or a moment of, you know, of frustration.
00:07:42.460 It's more than that.
00:07:43.360 It is a lot more than that.
00:07:45.520 And I'm a big believer in our ability as a party to be that national voice that bridges East and West.
00:07:51.940 And on those issues, now let's take equalization, which I'm familiar with, because I worked on changing the formula at least two times when I was in office as Premier of Quebec.
00:08:03.180 To get more money for Quebec, though?
00:08:04.800 Well, a fair deal.
00:08:06.420 It's about getting a fair deal when you're in that office.
00:08:09.260 And I did my job as I think was expected.
00:08:12.140 But, Andrew, when we do that, and when I do that, I'm not working against another part of the country.
00:08:17.300 Make it very clear.
00:08:18.340 I've never approached politics in that zero-sum approach of saying, I win, you lose.
00:08:23.980 I think Albertans feel it is that, though, that Quebec's win is their loss.
00:08:27.460 And, Andrew, I know that.
00:08:28.720 And I do see that.
00:08:30.200 You're right.
00:08:30.780 And they see it that way.
00:08:33.420 I think we need to review equalization.
00:08:35.900 And Albertans are right to ask us to sit down and look at the overall deal and to make sure that it is fair for everyone.
00:08:43.100 Fair for everyone means for them, of course, but also for the rest of the country.
00:08:48.360 And I'd be very open to making the adjustments that need to be made.
00:08:51.700 I've done it in the past and in a spirit of fairness, and I would do it in the future.
00:08:56.980 And also for Western Canada, there's the whole issue of the development of resources, oil and gas and pipelines that are extremely important and for which I would be a very staunch ally.
00:09:06.660 And one thing I can tell you about myself in Western Canada, my interest and my, you know, presence in Western Canada has never varied in time.
00:09:17.000 It's never varied because of the number of votes either obtained or not.
00:09:20.880 And it hasn't varied when I was Premier of Quebec or not.
00:09:24.100 And it didn't vary when I left office.
00:09:26.360 I was in Alberta very often because I like Alberta and I like the West.
00:09:30.200 And I actually think it's a part of Canada that is extraordinary with its entrepreneurs and its vitality.
00:09:40.220 It's, you know, its energy in all sense of the word.
00:09:44.120 So I'm going to continue to be a prime minister, not just for one part of the country.
00:09:50.300 I want to be a prime minister for Alberta.
00:09:51.820 How do you champion oil and gas development when you have two provinces in particular, British Columbia and Quebec, which have been very resistant to that development?
00:10:01.540 Because obviously, I'm assuming as a federalist, you don't want to impose on provinces.
00:10:05.300 But at the same time, not getting it built is letting these provinces stymie the development in other sectors, in other areas.
00:10:12.820 That's where I hope to make the biggest contribution, Andrew, because I have the experience of being a premier.
00:10:17.800 And I have a long experience also being involved in federal and provincial politics.
00:10:23.540 I think it would be a breath of fresh air to have a prime minister who's been in that job and knows how to make the system work.
00:10:29.560 Energy East is a good example.
00:10:31.160 I was in favor of Energy East as I was in favor of the rerouting of Line 9 for Enbridge, which got done, by the way.
00:10:38.660 And it started under my government and allowed us to change the flow of oil that arrives to eastern Canada.
00:10:44.760 And I did the last pipeline in Quebec was done under my government.
00:10:48.420 So I have the confidence that we can get it done.
00:10:50.740 Energy East is an example.
00:10:52.500 On Energy East, when I was in the private sector, I worked for TransCanada.
00:10:56.060 And my suggestion is that the Quebec Pension Fund buy part of the project.
00:11:00.060 And had they done that early on, I think we would have had a very different discussion and debate.
00:11:05.520 The challenge we had on Energy East is that there was no champion of Energy East.
00:11:09.540 The prime minister, Trudeau, never got up and said, I'm in favor of this project.
00:11:12.740 And the pipeline I did in Quebec got done because I said, we're going to do it.
00:11:17.420 I didn't say, maybe we'll do it.
00:11:19.380 If, if, no, we're going to do it and we'll do it right.
00:11:22.920 But we need leadership.
00:11:24.180 And Mr. Trudeau is doing nothing of that.
00:11:26.400 I mean, on the economy, it's all, you know, it's just a government by press release.
00:11:31.160 Frankly, that's what it looks like on almost all issues.
00:11:34.420 But on these issues in particular, it has cost the country a great price in western Canada, a great price because of his lack of leadership.
00:11:41.000 And that will change dramatically the day that I become prime minister of Canada.
00:11:45.680 You can't control, no prime minister can, other jurisdictions.
00:11:48.880 You know, we could have the most gung-ho pro-keystone government here, but we can't make Joe Biden want keystone in the U.S.
00:11:54.340 The same goes for Quebec and British Columbia.
00:11:56.520 So what do you offer to make them want it?
00:11:59.700 Well, you have to have different approaches that allow you to address their issues and not make it a zero-sum game.
00:12:07.960 And the example I gave you on Energy East, I think, works in other parts of the country.
00:12:12.020 What if First Nations or Indigenous communities are equity owners in the projects?
00:12:17.240 You know, part of my policies is that I would create actually a state-owned crown corporation that would allow Indigenous communities to buy equity and have equity in projects.
00:12:27.080 And to push that even further, to allow them to own part of the project.
00:12:30.940 Well, and a lot of the elected bans are the ones most enthusiastic about these projects.
00:12:34.660 Exactly.
00:12:35.300 So we have to continue down that path.
00:12:37.960 We have to actually emphasize it, do more of it.
00:12:41.280 And the same is true in the ownership of the projects.
00:12:44.120 You know, the pension funds, as I mentioned earlier, those are part of the new approaches that we have to take that allow projects to get done because people have a clear path between, you know, crossing the dots on a project of why we do it.
00:12:58.460 Now, the circumstances have changed also.
00:13:00.700 The war in Ukraine has really shed a new light on the relevance of these projects.
00:13:05.420 And there's two aspects to it.
00:13:06.680 One is security of supply, which no one thinks about in normal times, but governments have to think about.
00:13:11.720 And the other one is the very cruel situation of us watching this war unfold in Europe and Europeans funding Russia by buying their oil and gas to attack Ukraine when we could be a supplier and an ethical supplier.
00:13:26.520 So those circumstances do make an added argument.
00:13:29.740 Climate change is another argument.
00:13:31.160 If climate change is as important as everyone thinks it is, and especially environment groups, well, they have to come to the table in a serious way and accept the fact that it is a good thing that Canadian natural gas go to Asia to replace coal thermal plants.
00:13:48.960 I mean, it's just good common sense.
00:13:52.080 But someone has to make that case.
00:13:54.340 And right now, what we're suffering from with Mr. Trudeau is that he is not making that case.
00:13:59.180 He has never stood in his place to say, this is what we should do.
00:14:02.840 It's a good idea.
00:14:04.060 I'm the prime minister of Canada, and I'm going to lead on this.
00:14:07.320 And there's no big project that gets done unless the prime minister exercises some leadership.
00:14:11.880 That's the reason.
00:14:13.100 I think it's the main reason why we're not seeing movement on these projects.
00:14:16.380 On the environment, you've said you want to get rid of Justin Trudeau's consumer-focused carbon tax.
00:14:22.920 But you've also accepted that you would push for a price on carbon in some form.
00:14:27.400 So what is your plan, and how would it differ from Justin Trudeau's?
00:14:31.580 Well, Justin Trudeau's plan is focused on consumers, and I think that's the wrong path.
00:14:36.740 And I'm not alone in thinking that.
00:14:38.200 The environmental commissioner put out a report only a few days after I put out my policy paper saying that Mr. Trudeau's approach,
00:14:46.380 hurts small businesses, and lower-income Canadians.
00:14:49.560 The most efficient approach is the one I think Alberta's had since 2002, which is a levy on large emitters.
00:14:56.500 Who are the ones who are best positioned to put forward the technology and the resources to reduce carbon emissions,
00:15:04.340 and to do it on a good economic foot and sounding?
00:15:07.380 And that's the approach that I would take.
00:15:11.160 Now, that's what we have in Quebec with a carbon trading system between Quebec and California.
00:15:16.400 And it works, and it's widely accepted.
00:15:18.000 But, I mean, conservatives always say that a regulation or a burden, a cost put on a business, flows down to consumers.
00:15:24.180 So it's still essentially affecting consumers.
00:15:26.720 Well, the question we have to ask ourselves is, what is the most efficient thing we can do to be able to,
00:15:33.920 an economic thing, that will have the less impact on consumers and prices?
00:15:37.420 Letting the private sector sort it out is not an option.
00:15:39.740 Well, it is.
00:15:40.320 It is a big, I mean, what I am doing, and by putting it, an option of putting it on large emitters,
00:15:46.360 is really putting it on them to figure out how to do it best with the technologies.
00:15:51.700 Now, my approach is also comprehensive.
00:15:54.240 I want us to do carbon capture and storage.
00:15:57.600 I want us to do hydrogen, whether blue or green, and biofuels and small modular reactors.
00:16:03.120 We have a magnificent project by four major provinces in Canada, which includes Saskatchewan, Alberta,
00:16:10.340 Ontario, and New Brunswick on developing small modular reactors.
00:16:13.920 That's part of my plan to get to zero emissions by 2050, and then planning the transition.
00:16:20.360 And, by the way, industry is there, Andrew.
00:16:22.680 I mean, if you go to Alberta, the Pathways Project, which is really a joint project by
00:16:28.820 the major producers, is a fantastic private sector, intelligent, economically smart approach
00:16:35.380 on how to deal with reducing carbon emissions.
00:16:39.920 And so those are the things that we have.
00:16:41.540 We have to be smart about it, is what I'm saying.
00:16:44.260 And if we are, we're going to economically come out of it in good shape.
00:16:47.880 In 2019, the Conservative platform had a proposal for a balanced budget law that would compel
00:16:53.640 the government to keep the books balanced.
00:16:55.680 We're looking at deficits that have been predicted in Canada for the next 50 years now.
00:17:00.260 I don't think anyone is expecting a balanced budget in the first year of a first mandate
00:17:04.440 of any government.
00:17:05.540 But where do you even start when the situation is like this?
00:17:09.240 And what would your plan be?
00:17:10.600 What would be your definitive target to get to a balanced budget if you were to take over?
00:17:14.540 And Andrew, you're right.
00:17:16.780 I mean, reaching a balanced budget should be something that we do in an orderly fashion.
00:17:21.060 And we don't have to break everything to get there.
00:17:23.640 That's not true.
00:17:24.720 And past experiences taught us that.
00:17:27.820 You know, the Christian government cut cash transfers 40% to the provinces in one single
00:17:34.200 swoop and caused major damage to our health care systems throughout the country.
00:17:39.120 And then Lucien Bouchard in Quebec, retired nurses and doctors.
00:17:42.280 And what have we learned from that?
00:17:44.640 What have I learned when I was in government is the virtues of discipline.
00:17:50.000 And so program spending was always below nominal growth in the economy, which means that every
00:17:55.300 year you gain new space and it becomes virtuous.
00:17:58.800 But, you know, that approach requires a lot of discipline.
00:18:01.600 It means that year after year after year, you have to have the ability to apply that and
00:18:06.620 maintain it, which I did and with very, very significant results.
00:18:11.540 And so that's the kind of approach.
00:18:13.580 On debt, for example, we did something very interesting.
00:18:16.220 We created something called the Generations Fund.
00:18:19.160 So we took the money from non-renewable resources, water rights, mining rights, and we put it into
00:18:26.260 a fund to reduce the size of the debt.
00:18:28.020 But in the public's mind, it allows them to make the link between that revenue and reducing
00:18:34.140 debt.
00:18:34.920 It's still working now.
00:18:36.540 And it's been one of the things that the credit rating agencies love the most in terms
00:18:41.240 of what my government did.
00:18:42.460 And I put that law in place in 2006.
00:18:45.500 It's still operating today in 2022 and will in the future because that's a very effective
00:18:52.020 way of reducing debt, but doing it in a way that doesn't, again, break everything along
00:18:58.420 the way.
00:18:59.440 And in case of COVID, we could think of a COVID approach that would allow us to deal with
00:19:03.980 the COVID debt and identify it and have us work at it in that fashion.
00:19:09.680 You've been very clear about your position on the convoy, so I don't need you to rehash
00:19:14.200 that.
00:19:14.560 But one thing that I find striking is that when you've brought this up in the debates, you've
00:19:19.160 been booed by members of the audience, members of the Conservative Party, is your position
00:19:24.440 one that is welcome in the Conservative Party of Canada's membership right now, that this
00:19:29.040 is, in your words, an illegal blockade?
00:19:31.120 And if not, what does that mean for your future as someone who wants to lead that party?
00:19:35.420 I'm totally convinced that my position is welcome in the party.
00:19:39.240 You know, in the rooms, we all have our supporters and I have mine in Montreal and other candidates
00:19:45.020 have theirs in other rooms and that's fine.
00:19:47.160 But at the end of the day, one of the basic values of conservatism is the respect of the
00:19:53.080 rule of law and law and order.
00:19:54.980 We're not the only party who believes in that, but I'll tell you, it's pretty much front
00:19:58.360 and center of everything that conservatives believe in.
00:20:01.400 And by the way, you know, if you want to live in a society that is free, that has freedoms,
00:20:06.280 the respect of laws is fundamental.
00:20:08.900 I draw a very real distinction between that and those who protest and who legitimately protest
00:20:15.000 and who have been frustrated, especially with these mandates of Mr. Trudeau that just seem
00:20:20.180 to go on and on and on.
00:20:22.060 I mean, I don't know why he kept insisting.
00:20:24.280 Now he seems to have received the message.
00:20:26.960 But frankly, the Trudeau government used, it's almost as though they used the mandate issue
00:20:31.220 as a wedge issue in the country, which from my perspective, I think is unacceptable.
00:20:37.600 Would you have voted for the Conservative motion to call on the government to end the mandates?
00:20:41.460 I would have voted for it.
00:20:43.020 I think it was time to end the mandates.
00:20:44.980 Yes.
00:20:45.320 Because earlier on in the campaign, you said that it wasn't for politicians to make these
00:20:48.760 decisions, but public health officials.
00:20:50.360 So when did, in your view, it become something where politicians should be calling on those
00:20:54.920 changes?
00:20:55.480 Well, it's very obvious right now.
00:20:57.900 Just take what's happening in the country.
00:20:59.640 All the provinces, almost without exception, have taken away all the mandates.
00:21:04.640 I mean, if they've done it, and they're talking to the same scientist as the federal government,
00:21:08.700 why has Mr. Trudeau not done it, at least not until now?
00:21:12.460 Well, that begs the question.
00:21:14.500 Why?
00:21:15.000 I think because he probably sees that politically there's an interest in him maintaining it
00:21:19.160 or had an interest in doing it.
00:21:21.060 The fact of the matter is, to get back to the question on convoys, people in this country
00:21:26.540 have a total right to protest and to express themselves.
00:21:30.380 And we all know that a lot of us were very tired and frustrated from this COVID episode.
00:21:36.100 And Mr. Trudeau didn't help the cause by fanning the flames and making these disparaging remarks
00:21:42.660 and then disappearing and being missing in action.
00:21:45.680 Frankly, the whole thing was such a mess.
00:21:47.760 And Canada looked ridiculous, you know, on the international scene through the whole episode.
00:21:53.240 But there's a difference between that and illegal blockades.
00:21:56.400 That's my point.
00:21:57.280 My point is that.
00:21:58.160 And no one should be allowed to block critical infrastructure in the country.
00:22:04.220 And I feel so strongly about it, Andrew.
00:22:06.220 I would legislate a law that would allow police to intervene very promptly
00:22:11.320 without having to go to courts to an injunction if there's an illegal blockade on critical infrastructure.
00:22:17.420 And that's the point.
00:22:19.040 And that's where I disagree with Mr. Boyd.
00:22:20.840 Yeah, you can't make laws in this land and treat them like a buffet table.
00:22:25.720 If you want to be a legislator, more so a leader of a party, a prime minister,
00:22:31.140 well, you have to accept the fact that you need to respect the laws of the land.
00:22:36.220 Should unvaccinated public servants be allowed to go back to work?
00:22:39.440 I think they should.
00:22:40.600 I think we're at the point now where we should be able to relax the criteria.
00:22:46.180 I don't see, frankly, at this point in COVID, as we look at where the world is,
00:22:52.180 and I'm not saying it's always going to be that way, Andrew.
00:22:54.400 We don't know.
00:22:55.600 No one can really predict.
00:22:57.860 But common sense, and from what I see right now.
00:23:00.600 You know, there was an interesting episode in Quebec about the government of Quebec
00:23:04.200 saying the people in the healthcare system, you have to get vaccinated or we'll fire you.
00:23:08.500 And they were tough and they were firm on it until the last two weeks before the cutoff
00:23:14.100 and realized that 15,000 people were not going to show up at work.
00:23:18.100 And guess what?
00:23:18.880 They changed their mind.
00:23:20.160 There is something called reality.
00:23:22.220 And in this case, I think we've reached the point now where we should resume a normal life.
00:23:27.960 Jean Charest, thank you.
00:23:29.000 Thank you, Andrew.
00:23:30.100 That'll do it.
00:23:30.880 My interview with Jean Charest for the Conservative Leadership Series.
00:23:34.740 Next week, we'll have my conversation with Patrick Brown.
00:23:37.940 And we're going through all of the candidates, extending invitations to all of them.
00:23:41.360 So hopefully within the next couple of weeks, you'll be able to see all of these interviews
00:23:44.800 with different candidates, each one taking on, of course, a different form and flavor.
00:23:49.920 But thank you very much.
00:23:51.060 And if you like this project and other work that True North is doing,
00:23:53.920 please do head on over to donate.tnc.news, donate.tnc.news, and show your support that way.
00:24:01.160 Thanks very much.
00:24:02.080 Thank you.
00:24:02.500 God bless.
00:24:03.080 And good day to you all.
00:24:04.080 Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:24:05.900 Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.