Conservative Leadership Series： Rudy Husny
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
178.01892
Summary
Rudy Husney is a former Conservative staffer, former candidate, and ultimately someone who s promising a bold vision not like what we ve seen to date in Canadian politics. In this episode, he talks about why he decided to run, why he s running now, and why he thinks he s the best choice to lead the Conservative Party of Canada.
Transcript
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Welcome to another edition of The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North,
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sitting down one-on-one, in-depth, wide-ranging interviews
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with all of the candidates seeking the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
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Very pleased to be joined right now with Rudy Husney,
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and ultimately someone who's promising a bold vision,
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not like what we've seen to date in Canadian politics.
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Rudy, it's great to talk to you. Thanks for coming down today.
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So let's talk a little bit about why you're running,
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because you're not someone that's coming from the roster of usual suspects, so to speak.
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Why are you deciding that you're the guy to take over the Conservative Party?
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Look, I've been involved with the Conservative Party for more than 12 years.
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I started, you know, on the side of my normal job, volunteering.
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I loved it so much that after I participated to my first convention in 2009,
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and all of a sudden I realized that in Montreal, in Quebec,
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we needed to have strong Conservative candidates
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to make sure that people understand what's our message, what's our vision.
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and I decided that I wanted to make sure that we send a strong message.
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And at that time, Thomas Mocaire was obviously the person in Quebec
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that was getting a lot of attention, so I decided to run against him.
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Not only because I wanted to be able to debate him, both in French and in English,
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but I wanted to make sure that we started this work of making sure Quebecers pay attention
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After that, as you said, and you mentioned, I was a staffer.
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I was entrusted with an amazing portfolio, which was international trade.
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I like that because we said we were going to open markets all around the world.
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We went on an incredible journey in terms of Canada-EU trade agreement,
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Canada-first trade agreement with Asia, South Korea.
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And to be honest, I didn't want to shoot comment from like 12,000 kilometers.
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I was actually in Oman, in Dubai, back in the private sector at that time.
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Ken, look, I don't want us to replay the 2015 or the 2019 campaign.
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I've been somebody advising ministers, prime minister,
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I just don't believe that our message and our vision is in the right space
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and that we are positive enough towards Canadians.
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I do believe that sometimes, Andrew, we are talking too much to our base.
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But this is not enough for Canadians to get behind us
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and that we can win seats all over the country and form a government.
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So I want to bring a positive conservative vision to this race
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because I just believe that our traditional message,
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and to be frankly honest, our playbook, is not going to work anymore.
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It worked in 2011 and we're able to get a majority,
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but the results of 2015 and the results of 2019
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clearly show that we need to change our playbook.
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more to make a statement about conservatives in Quebec.
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You are the only leadership candidate in Quebec right now.
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I think that some of the other candidates who say they speak French
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will probably be tested in some way as the campaign rolls on.
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But are you running now to win or are you running to make a statement
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I decided to run for a lot of different reasons.
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First of all, I wanted to make sure that it was a strong voice from Quebec.
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We need this in our party, not because I'm a Quebecer,
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I'm able to communicate to all Canadians in French and in English.
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And this is something that for me is not up for debate.
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If we want to be a leader, you need to be able to reach
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and to be able to communicate to all Canadians.
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I am running a full, full campaign because of what's happening and the situation.
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But I had the opportunity already to go twice to Alberta.
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I've just finished a little tour here in Ontario.
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I'm asking people to trust me because I do believe that we need to take a different direction,
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But no, I am running a full campaign to lead this.
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If you're successful and then win an election, you're going to be the prime minister.
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And for a guy who's never held elected office, who's not a household name,
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how do you justify telling Canadians that you deserve to be the prime minister of their country?
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Yes, I haven't been elected, but I've worked on the Hill for more than four years.
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I've worked on crafting bills that were introduced in parliament.
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But it's not just about knowing how the process works.
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It's about that idea of have you been in that public service capacity where Canadians can say,
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Yes, I support what you're doing because you're asking them to let you be their prime minister.
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Look, I've had the honor and the privilege of representing Canada in more than 55 countries
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I've traveled abroad, part of official delegation representing Canada.
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I've worked on trade negotiation at the table, negotiating and supporting the work of our government
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I've actually participated in many of Prime Minister Harper's own international trip where I worked
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and I was there and I had the bilateral table meeting with China, meeting with India,
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So I do believe that if Canadians pay attention to who I am and what I've done in the last,
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and having both experience inside the government, yes, behind the scenes, but still where the work gets done,
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but also in the private sector, I believe that I bring this right balance to lead this country,
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lead our party, and making sure that we address what Canadians want from us.
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You mentioned the 2011 election in which the Conservatives under Stephen Harper won a majority.
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I think one of the dangers of that election is that it proved to Conservatives that you can win a majority without Quebec.
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And that's surely something that you've had to contend with in the party where there hasn't been a priority for Quebec.
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So what do you think needs to be done to tackle that, apart from just having a leader from Quebec?
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No, look, it was a sad day for me in 2011 and also a very joyful day.
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It was the accomplishment of many years of work, as you know, started in 2006, 2008, and finally in 2011, getting a majority.
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But it was a sad day for me because it is true that we didn't get a lot of seats in Quebec,
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and that narrative started that we can win a majority without Quebec.
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I don't believe that it is the case and it will ever be the case again.
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That's why I referenced earlier that we have to throw out the old playbook because those kinds of calculations in terms of writing and where we should win seats, I don't believe it's going to work.
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That's why I've been saying that we need to have a positive, conservative message so we cannot grow our base.
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We need to have people come in our party, and we need to have seats everywhere in this country.
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There seems to be a lot of resistance, especially from Western conservatives, to a Quebec leader.
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And I know you've probably encountered that when you've been to the West, when you've been to Alberta, and even if people like you personally,
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there is this reticence to embrace just another Quebec leader.
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And I know it's unfair, but it's still something you have to contend with.
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Look, I understand, but I beg to differ because I want to tell you very honestly, I'm a pro-energy Quebecer.
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I've said it loud and clear in French and in English.
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I do believe that also today is the premier's meeting, as you know, in Ottawa.
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I have called officially for the government of Canada and me as a leader that I would make available immediately and for the years before the stabilization fund because we need to support Alberta and Saskatchewan.
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I think I can have this discussion with Quebecers about energy.
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And I've said it very clear that, yes, we want transition on the environment.
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But now and right now, as long as Canadians all over the country put gas in their tank, meaning they're still running a car that has oil, I want it to be Canadian energy.
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And this is for LNG, for propane, for diesel, for gas.
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And I've said it also in French and in English.
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Some people are saying, oh, I'm for LNG and I'm against oil.
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At the end of the day, it's all a pipeline and it's all Canadian energy.
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So I believe that I was very well received in Alberta and Saskatchewan, knowing that there's a Quebecer in this race who's bilingual and who has their back.
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Much of your work within government was on the trade portfolio, which I think most people could argue was one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's greatest achievements.
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The volume of trade agreements, everything from TPP to Central Europe and so on.
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I mean, the work started under Stephen Harper for even deals that the current government did.
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All the time I look at them, I say, come on, guys, you weren't there.
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So how do you, as a pro-free trade guy, lead the Conservatives when there seems to be a creeping desire for protectionism and that populist sentiment that free trade isn't necessarily where we want to be moving forward?
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Yes, I worked on free trade agreement, but I also work on something that is also very crucial at the moment was attracting investment to Canada because that was also something that we were working very hard.
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As you know, when we were in government, we were able to attract patronists from Indonesia to come to Canada and invest.
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A lot of investment from Europe, from Germany, for example, in the oil sands.
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We, I think that the most important work that we have to do right now is to send a clear message that Canada is open for business.
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You all know what happened last week in Alberta with the canceling of the tech project.
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Even in Quebec, the Warren Buffett pulling out $4 billion out of LNG, we cannot have that.
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That must be an absolute priority to, you know, rebuild that image that Canada is open for business.
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On your point, yes, we have to continue to work on free trade.
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Not only free trade across our borders, but free trade inside our borders.
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Because you know, well, this is something that Canadians have been telling us over and over again.
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How come, you know, sometimes it's easier for a company in Ontario to get support from the Canadian government to export to Europe or to Asia,
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but they don't think about exporting to BC or Alberta.
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Or the famous bringing a 12-pack of beer from New Brunswick.
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I know the story about, yeah, I know the story about the beers, obviously, but it's more than that.
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So we need to also make sure that Canadian companies, especially with like the uncertainty that is happening now around the world,
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That will also be a priority, something that I don't believe that has been addressed properly.
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But do you think there is a growing resistance within the Conservative movement or the Conservative Party to free trade
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as people see their manufacturing plants in southern Ontario or their oil field in Alberta just hemorrhage money?
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Look, I understand because, to be honest, there were some bad deals that were signed.
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I don't believe that the renegotiation of the NAFTA was done properly and that sent that negative message.
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Look, to be honest, I don't understand how Canada and the U.S. couldn't agree, for example, on autos,
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making sure that the autos plants were not moving to Mexico.
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We all know that it was a challenge that Canada had and the U.S.
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I mean, we were not able to get the U.S. to back us on aluminum to make sure that China doesn't import through Mexico aluminum to Canada
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We all know that cars are now being manufactured with more and more aluminum.
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And this is the result of deals that were not done properly.
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And negotiation, we were not, let's be honest, we were not properly aligned with the U.S. when we were negotiating.
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And Canada didn't get the protection it deserved on aluminum, for example.
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You've talked in your campaign about the need to have bold ideas.
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For a guy who, using your own word, has been an insider, you've been in politics, you've been in government,
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what is your perspective doing that differs from what we've had already when you have been a part of what we've had already?
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Look, what I believe is that I just don't think that we are talking to Canadians on things that they care about.
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I just said that I worked abroad and I worked in a country where they had e-government,
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that everything was, you could access everything electronically.
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All of a sudden, I come back to Canada, I realize that my passport is going to expire, so I go.
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I have to waste half a day, half a day, to go and submit documents that the Canadian government already have.
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Why is the Canadian government, we haven't reshaped the delivery of services.
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Right now, and you know it more than I do in terms of all the problems we face in terms of Phoenix,
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the Canadian government cannot pay its own employee.
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Tomorrow, you have a problem with your taxes or you're just unsure.
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You know, maybe you're renting your cottage this summer and you say,
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You pick up the phone, you call Canadian Revenue Agency.
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After waiting for maybe four hours, there's a chance that there's 75% probability
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that they will actually give you the wrong information.
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This is the way that we have to address those things because Canadians want us to make their life easier.
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We need to address also copyrights, making sure that when we find something in Canada,
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we make innovation, that this technology stays in Canada.
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Those are the things that I believe we haven't put forward to Canadians.
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And that's why Canadians just felt that we didn't care or that our message was, again,
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too traditional and they were not being connected.
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I receive every day or, you know, text messaging.
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She's going to have all her information stolen and we'll have to deal with it.
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And we won't have any, who are we going to call?
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The government is not going to be there to help us, where it should be there.
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So those are the things that I want to bring forward because I don't think they've been
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And I do believe that Canadians are worried about it.
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No one is anti, well, some people are anti customer service and government, but no one
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So what you're talking about is not controversial.
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Why is it that in 10 years of a conservative government, these things couldn't be addressed?
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I'm telling you, why didn't we not talk more about those things during the campaign?
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So your vision of boldness isn't about ideas that are radical, but ideas that there's no
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I just I just have this belief that the Canadian government is still operating like we're in
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I give the example that I still feel that we are in a BlackBerry age where now it's all
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Because they're making your life easier, right?
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With your thumb and with like your app, you can buy and access and do everything.
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But when it comes to government services, nothing, nothing.
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People have to go and stand in line to even receive benefits.
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It's the Canadian government who should tell you, oh, here's what you're entitled to.
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Because there's no way in hell people are all experts and know exactly what they're entitled
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Do you think the failing of the Conservatives when you talked earlier about not talking
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to people about the issues that they care about, do you think that is just about messaging?
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Or do you think that the Conservative Party doesn't have answers to the questions that average
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I've said that I want to run a positive campaign because I do believe that we were not positive
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And when I talk about those topics, I believe that innovation, cybersecurity, all of that,
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I believe it's part of a positive Conservative vision that we have to put forward.
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Look, Canadians know that we are the best, best managers for the economy.
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We've balanced the book under the Harper government.
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That's why we have to say also that we care for each other.
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I'm just afraid sometimes that our libertarian message feels a bit lacking compassion.
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So people feel that we don't care for each other.
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You all know that, you know, if you play by the rules and you work hard, you should receive,
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But I do believe that sometimes we are not putting forward a positive Conservative vision.
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And I've committed in this campaign that I will not attack the current Prime Minister.
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Because I do believe that a leadership race is not about that.
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It's about telling our members and Canadians of what we're going to do for them.
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Attacking Justin Trudeau will be at a later stage.
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But for the moment, Canadians want to know what we are going to do for them.
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You said in a CTV interview a week or two back that you are opposed to a carbon tax,
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And that's a distinction that we usually hear from the Liberals,
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where they say the carbon tax isn't actually a carbon tax.
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And I wondered if you could explain a bit more about your vision on that.
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Because there were a lot of people, myself included, that were like,
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hang on, calling it a price instead of a tax doesn't change the fundamental nature of it.
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my priority is to make sure that there's not one size fits all.
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And we know that there's different systems, there's different economics depending.
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For example, I've said it in Quebec, we have cap and trade.
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Even the Premier of Quebec joined the other premiers challenging the carbon tax.
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But there is a price on carbon through the carbon trade system.
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I'm okay with that system because the provinces made that decision.
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Recently in Alberta, Jason Kenney also made sure that large emitters will also face a price.
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And I'm okay also with that system because it was designed to make sure that large emitters,
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and not mom and dad driving their kids to school, you know, on a Thursday night,
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get the big burden of a carbon tax because they don't have a choice but to use their car
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because they don't have transit or there's no system.
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But I want to make sure that the large emitters do have to pay because, let's be honest,
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and as I said, I think that we need a transition, but we also need to champion energy.
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But as a conservative, you know that any fee or price or tax that's put on a large company
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It gets passed down to their clients, it gets passed down to their customers,
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And then you add the additional aspect of that, which is that if you want to make Canada competitive
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with the United States as an example of a country that's trying to stay away from these sorts of pricing,
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how do you maintain a competitive country while using a punitive measure,
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I believe that companies are already investing a large, large, large amount in R&D.
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So I believe that by making sure that we have incentive for companies to reduce their green gas emission,
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and they have this incentive, are investing in R&D, that is the path forward.
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Because companies have told us, don't tax us twice, which is what's happening with the carbon tax,
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by saying, oh, I'm paying for something, but I don't know where is it going.
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That's why when we brought forward our plan under the last campaign, we said,
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look, if you're going to spend that money in R&D, that should be count towards your effort,
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and it shouldn't be, obviously, go to the government, because you are making those efforts.
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But I do believe that we need to send a message to large emitters and big companies
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that they have to reduce their green gas emission.
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So let's talk about the vision you have for the party,
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because I know that one of the criticisms that has been put towards you in the last couple of weeks
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has been that you would basically close off the party to social conservatives
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We don't know the exact number, and I know that you're personally not interested in revisiting these issues.
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Do you think that the ideal conservative party, the conservative party led by Rudy Husney,
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would not have the ability for individual MPs to champion issues of conscience?
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Look, I believe our party needs a generational change.
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Look, I'm going to be completely honest with you.
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When it comes to LGBT, I have friends that are LGBT.
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They are not LGBT, because that's been something that has been normal for me.
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I'm not part of this generation that was part of that debate,
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and that's why I'm saying, for me, this has been settled in the past.
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I say, look, for me, those debates are in the past,
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and this is part of the person I am because this is how I grew up.
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That's why I was asked, are you going to march in a pride parade?
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And I said, yes, but I said, I didn't make that decision today.
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For me, it's been something that it's been normal because I have friends with different
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orientation, and that's how I grew up, from school to university to work.
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And there's been never, for me, any differences or whatever.
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So this is the message I want to send, and that's why I'm saying I don't want to revisit
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those debates because I do believe that those happened before.
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And I just, the same as, you know, I've mentioned that in the last campaign,
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we didn't talk about the things that Canadians wanted.
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For me, if we're going to talk about those debates, it means that it's a priority for us.
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If it is a priority for us, we're sending the wrong message.
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And that's why I'm saying, please understand and focus on what the Canadians want right now.
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They are not asking us, and there's no consensus about that because for them, it's been settled.
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And I guess that even if we accept that premise, and I think that was the Stephen Harper position,
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and that was even the Andrew Scheer position, despite his personal convictions,
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we look at a party that has, and we know from leadership races,
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a chunk that care about, even if you take LGBT issues out of the equation, abortion, that are pro-life.
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And does your Conservative Party have a place for them?
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I don't want one side to impose a view on the other side.
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No, no, because the debate happened already, and it has been settled.
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So I just don't want to be reopened because now the larger consensus that the Canadian government
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and the House of Commons and Canadians have been settled.
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So if people want to have an abortion, they are free to have it.
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And if people don't want to have an abortion, they can also have the same and follow their own principle.
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I just don't want to reopen the debate and having one side trying to impose their view on the other one
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But I guess the issue is, and it's not even about the merits of pro-life, pro-choice,
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it's about the idea of liberty within your caucus.
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If you tell the members, if you tell members of your caucus, if you're the leader,
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this issue is settled, you can't address this as an individual member,
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No, look, what I'm going to, being an MP, being an MP is obviously a privilege.
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You have duty to Canadians making sure that you address their priority.
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If Canadians are telling us this is not their priority,
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why would an MP use a privilege instead of their duties to bring forward a bill
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that is on a matter that Canadians are not asking him to do it because this matter has been settled?
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Because, let's be frank, if somebody brings a bill on that topic,
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it means that another bill on e-government or on innovation
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or just on making sure that people have rural internet or large,
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whatever makes the life of Canadians easy wouldn't happen.
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So, I'm just asking them to pick and choose the priority of Canadians
00:27:48.060
because otherwise they're going to bring a bill
00:27:50.640
and we won't be able to deliver on the things that we want to put forward.
00:27:55.780
Moving beyond social issues, are there any others where you think that
00:27:59.900
the individual members need to really adhere to the party line?
00:28:04.600
Is this strictness that you have limited to the social issues or is it a broader philosophy?
00:28:12.080
I just believe that when it comes to LGBT and abortion, this debate is in the past.
00:28:17.080
I know, for example, that we are going to have a debate on, again, on the assistant dying bill
00:28:24.500
There's a law and there's going to be, it was challenged in court.
00:28:28.260
The court rendered some decision and it's going to go through the parliamentary.
00:28:32.520
The moment it goes through the parliamentary duty,
00:28:35.480
of course, they will have liberty to express their position
00:28:41.980
because this is something that is part of the normal operation.
00:28:46.340
We had a law, it was challenged, it is part of the agenda of the government.
00:28:50.220
What I don't want is to bring something that is not on the agenda
00:28:58.140
But for the rest, no, I mean, I will let people vote.
00:29:03.100
I will bring forward things and I will let them vote.
00:29:06.040
But as I said, what I want to bring forward are the things that Canadians care about.
00:29:10.220
I know you said you want to run a positive campaign.
00:29:12.980
So I hope this doesn't force you to break that.
00:29:15.620
But are there any policies that the Trudeau government has put in
00:29:18.620
that you think as a very point of priority for you
00:29:23.580
need to be reversed under the next Conservative government?
00:29:26.520
I've said something that is, I've just mentioned it,
00:29:29.620
like we will have to work tirelessly the moment we get elected
00:29:33.560
to restore Canada's reputation abroad in terms of being open for business.
00:29:42.860
No, because we will have to make changes, again, to our corporate,
00:29:50.000
Also, when it comes to investment coming from abroad,
00:29:53.660
we have to review it because they made it more difficult and not appropriate.
00:30:00.000
Look, we all know that there's been some foreign takeovers of Canadian companies
00:30:03.480
that received no review whatsoever because they changed the threshold, for example.
00:30:08.520
Look, I've been asked, and I know maybe I've been asked on CTV about marijuana.
00:30:18.480
I'm not going to revisit that because, again, it's part of my philosophy
00:30:22.800
that if it has been settled, I'm not going to revisit that.
00:30:25.920
If I'm not revisiting a law that has been passed, what, two years ago, I believe, marijuana,
00:30:30.320
why do you want me to go and revisit a bill that was 15 years ago or 20 years ago?
00:30:35.020
Does that outlook, though, limit you in many respects?
00:30:38.820
Because it means that you're forced to live with bad decisions by past governments.
00:30:46.680
I just believe that there's no, and I've seen it myself,
00:30:50.120
in terms of working with ministers and working with a prime minister
00:30:55.620
I think that you have to have a balance between being principled and being pragmatic.
00:31:02.300
There's no ministers, there's no prime minister that, even in their life,
00:31:06.840
must betray their own principles sometimes a little bit to be pragmatic.
00:31:12.200
Best example, and it's Prime Minister Harper who said it,
00:31:17.840
he had to bail out the auto sector and make one of the largest bailouts in Canadian history.
00:31:28.320
He even said it, that went against all his principle,
00:31:31.520
against all his bones in terms of being an economist and all of that,
00:31:36.480
but he had to do it because it was the right thing to do.
00:31:39.340
So what I'm telling Canadians is that I'm principled,
00:31:42.640
but you also have to be pragmatic in certain situations,
00:31:50.740
I know that it's something that is part of the leadership role,
00:32:00.620
now leadership candidate for the Conservatives.
00:32:05.600
And this is another part of the Conservative Leadership Series
00:32:11.980
My thanks to all of you for tuning in and to Rudy for his time.
00:32:17.080
Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:32:19.180
Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.