Juno News - Conservatives need to stop running away from their conservatism

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.

00:00:06.660 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.720 Coming up, firearms flip-flops, the politics of integrity,

00:00:16.720 and Rod Taylor from the Christian Heritage Party.

00:00:20.480 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:24.060 Hello and welcome. This is Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show here on True North.

00:00:31.740 The Andrew Lawton Show, Wednesday, September 8th, 2021.

00:00:36.760 Tonight is debate day, at least for the first official French language debate.

00:00:41.500 I know we had last week the TVA debate, but that was the unofficial French debate.

00:00:45.720 This is the official French debate, and then tomorrow we'll have the official English debate,

00:00:50.240 and, in fact, the only English language debate of the entire election campaign.

00:00:55.620 And I'm not going to tell you where to tune in, except for True North.

00:00:59.020 We are going to be broadcasting the debate live.

00:01:01.540 We have a pre-show starting up at 8 p.m. Eastern.

00:01:04.200 We'll have the debate live for you on all of our social media channels starting at 9,

00:01:09.020 and then we'll have some analysis after the fact.

00:01:11.540 And I'm going to actually be on the ground in Ottawa.

00:01:14.400 I'm actually on my way to... This is pre-recorded, if you hadn't been able to tell.

00:01:18.000 I'm actually on my way to Ottawa right now to be able to cover the debate,

00:01:22.180 the French language and English language debates,

00:01:24.260 and hopefully get some questions to the leaders in the post-debate scrums.

00:01:28.800 And you know what? I didn't even have to sue my way in this time.

00:01:32.080 You may remember in 2019, True North was not accredited,

00:01:35.580 so we had to go to federal court and have an emergency hearing,

00:01:39.240 and we were granted an injunction.

00:01:41.040 It was a very positive day, I'd say, for press freedom in court.

00:01:45.240 This year, we didn't have to.

00:01:46.400 The Leaders Debates Commission accredited us.

00:01:48.960 Now, they didn't accredit Rebel,

00:01:50.280 so Rebel is fighting it out in court and awaiting a decision.

00:01:54.560 But I will say that one of the big things I'm looking forward to at this debate,

00:01:58.400 if we get the chance to go into the scrums and ask the questions as we're expecting,

00:02:03.380 is to put the questions to the leaders that the mainstream media is not asking.

00:02:08.740 And a lot of the time, if you find you watch these press conferences,

00:02:11.660 whether it's Trudeau or O'Toole or Singh,

00:02:14.300 the media, generally speaking, asks questions that aren't always on the radar of what Canadians are thinking.

00:02:22.040 And that's why we think we have something to add there.

00:02:24.280 So that's a little bit of a plug for our debate coverage at True North.

00:02:27.640 I want to talk about one of the big developments in the campaign in the last few days,

00:02:31.800 and not a positive one for me as a gun owner and advocate for gun owners.

00:02:36.500 And that is Aaron O'Toole's flip-flop that was almost like a triple flip

00:02:41.140 and a huge whole bunch of flop on firearms.

00:02:44.880 Now, I want to go back a few weeks here first,

00:02:47.120 because you may remember I was actually in Ottawa when the Conservatives launched their platform.

00:02:51.700 And I was in, they call it a lock-up or an embargo,

00:02:54.740 where before the platform was announced,

00:02:56.600 I was able to look through and find the things that I thought were interesting

00:02:59.960 and cover them so that I was prepared when the platform was launched.

00:03:04.320 And one of the first things I looked up was what he was going to do on the firearms file,

00:03:09.520 because this is something that during the leadership last year, he was very clear on.

00:03:13.140 He said he was going to get rid of the Liberal Bill C-71.

00:03:16.500 He was going to repeal the order in council that the Liberals put in place last May,

00:03:20.960 which prohibited overnight more than 1,500 variants of firearms,

00:03:25.480 including the AR-15 and the Mini-14,

00:03:28.260 and other guns that the Liberals have called military-style assault weapons.

00:03:32.700 And in the general election campaign, I wanted to know,

00:03:35.360 was he going to be just as clear?

00:03:37.460 And he was.

00:03:38.140 It was spelled out right in the platform.

00:03:40.400 You can read it for yourself still.

00:03:42.660 We will start by repealing C-71 and the May 2020 order in council

00:03:47.700 and conducting a review of the Firearms Act with participation by law enforcement,

00:03:52.800 firearms owners, manufacturers, and members of the public.

00:03:56.460 And that's it.

00:03:57.140 That's perfectly clear.

00:03:58.400 And the Liberals decided to jump on that.

00:04:00.980 And I talked about it a little bit on the show last week.

00:04:03.740 It started in the TVA debate in Montreal

00:04:06.740 and then became the Liberals' message of the day every single day since.

00:04:11.780 Bill Blair has been doing press conference after press conference.

00:04:14.600 He's been doing the same press conference every day,

00:04:17.240 saying the same things every day,

00:04:18.940 saying that Aaron O'Toole is too cozy with the gun lobby and has a secret agenda.

00:04:23.460 And this is an election campaign,

00:04:25.560 so obviously the Liberals are going to keep attacking the Conservatives and vice versa.

00:04:29.520 But everything that Aaron O'Toole has done

00:04:32.500 has gotten the same reaction from critics.

00:04:35.920 When he said in the debate last week,

00:04:37.820 we're going to keep the ban on assault rifles,

00:04:39.940 the Liberals said, no, you're going to repeal it.

00:04:41.940 When O'Toole finally clarified his position,

00:04:43.980 the Liberals said, aha, we told you so.

00:04:46.200 And now that Aaron O'Toole has flip-flopped,

00:04:48.940 it hasn't done anything to ameliorate the concerns put forward by the Liberals.

00:04:55.780 What do I mean by flip-flop?

00:04:57.560 Well, Aaron O'Toole came out and said this.

00:05:00.620 Before I take your questions,

00:05:02.600 I'd like to respond to Justin Trudeau's latest attempt to divide Canadians.

00:05:07.760 So I want to make my position on firearms perfectly clear.

00:05:12.200 First, the ban on assault weapons will remain in place.

00:05:18.160 Second, the present ban on a number of other firearms that were reclassified in 2020 will remain in place.

00:05:26.320 Third, we will conduct a transparent review of the firearms classification process

00:05:32.480 to take the politics out of this process and engage the public in decisions with respect to public safety.

00:05:41.460 Justin Trudeau has been importing American-style politics throughout this election campaign,

00:05:47.260 and it is disappointing to see that continue.

00:05:49.620 There is no way to spin it.

00:05:51.280 There's no way to sell it.

00:05:52.300 There's no way to excuse it.

00:05:53.580 That is a flip-flop.

00:05:55.200 After days of saying that he was going to repeal the order in council,

00:05:59.160 after weeks of having that in the platform,

00:06:01.560 Aaron O'Toole came right out and said,

00:06:03.300 anything that's banned now will remain banned.

00:06:07.800 Now, did the Liberals say,

00:06:09.260 oh, well, problem solved.

00:06:10.760 All good.

00:06:11.540 No.

00:06:12.380 The Liberals jumped on to the other thing in the Conservatives' platform here,

00:06:16.680 which is that he's conducting a review.

00:06:19.240 And the Liberals are now pointing out that,

00:06:21.020 oh, well, you know what?

00:06:21.900 He's just promising a review,

00:06:23.480 which means he's going to legalize it anyway,

00:06:25.260 but he's not going to say it.

00:06:27.060 So the flip-flop has not won Aaron O'Toole any good favor

00:06:31.280 from the people who insist on peddling these bad faith and disingenuous arguments

00:06:36.180 about the previous Conservative Firearms Plan.

00:06:40.620 And if you want to understand more about why this order in council was so dangerous,

00:06:45.140 I don't want to rehash everything here,

00:06:46.680 I would encourage you to go and look up

00:06:48.460 Assaulted, Justin Trudeau's War on Gun Owners.

00:06:51.540 Specifically, I want you to look at the episode

00:06:54.060 where we looked at those in the gun business,

00:06:56.340 in the firearms industry.

00:06:58.040 I talked to a number of gun entrepreneurs,

00:07:00.600 business owners, people in the import space,

00:07:03.020 retail space,

00:07:03.920 who are out tens of thousands of dollars.

00:07:06.760 Because the Liberals in May of 2020 overnight banned 1,500 plus types of firearms,

00:07:14.140 making it illegal for these people to do anything with them.

00:07:17.460 They're still sitting on this inventory more than a year after the order in council

00:07:21.740 with the promised buyback not having yet materialized.

00:07:25.220 So understandably, a lot of people were looking to the Conservatives and saying,

00:07:30.000 throw us a friggin' bone here. 0.95

00:07:31.400 What are you going to do for us?

00:07:33.600 And when Aaron O'Toole comes out and says,

00:07:35.740 okay, anything that's banned now will remain banned,

00:07:39.180 there are two interpretations of it.

00:07:41.200 Number one, he's completely rolled and sold out the gun owners.

00:07:44.960 Number two, he realizes this is what he has to say to make the bleeding stop.

00:07:50.640 This is what he has to say to make the attack stop to win the election.

00:07:55.440 And if you look at gun owners online who are very engaged and mobilized on this,

00:08:00.000 you'll see a lot of them are split.

00:08:01.500 Some of them are saying, that's it, I'm voting for the People's Party.

00:08:04.460 Others are saying, no, no, no, just guys, just come on.

00:08:06.880 He's with us here.

00:08:07.700 He's with us.

00:08:08.960 I want to read the statement put out by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights,

00:08:13.000 a group that actually donated a considerable amount of money to produce Assaulted.

00:08:17.220 Tracy Wilson does fantastic work for firearms owners.

00:08:20.500 And this is the statement that the CCFR put out.

00:08:23.120 In our view, Mr. O'Toole is reacting to Justin Trudeau's attempt

00:08:26.420 to make an unnecessary election during a pandemic about gun control.

00:08:30.620 Gun control has always been a political wedge issue to the Liberals,

00:08:33.920 not a matter of public safety.

00:08:35.860 We agree with Mr. O'Toole that the classification of firearms

00:08:38.980 should not be a political process.

00:08:41.540 Mr. Trudeau has used this issue to divide Canadians

00:08:44.320 and a transparent public consultation would bring better understanding

00:08:48.320 of this topic to all Canadians.

00:08:50.460 We would welcome an opportunity to depoliticize this topic

00:08:53.720 and focus on public safety, unquote.

00:08:56.700 So what the CCFR is basically saying there

00:08:59.800 is that they're almost happy about it.

00:09:03.600 The fact that they're not coming out guns blazing,

00:09:06.280 no pun intended, and saying this is it,

00:09:08.040 this is a deal breaker, suggests they're either optimistic

00:09:10.920 that Aaron O'Toole is still going to do what he said he was going to do,

00:09:14.100 or they simply realize that he's certainly going to be,

00:09:17.520 even if he walks this part back, better than Justin Trudeau.

00:09:21.260 Both are entirely defensible positions.

00:09:23.840 If I'm a gun owner, which I am, I would look and say that,

00:09:26.960 you know what, no matter what, Justin Trudeau

00:09:28.920 has proven that he has zero interest in firearms owners,

00:09:32.380 zero interest in sports shooters,

00:09:34.360 zero interest in preserving and protecting this part of Canada.

00:09:37.820 So I understand the gun owner saying,

00:09:40.120 you know what, anyone is going to be better than the Liberals.

00:09:44.100 Even a lot of NDPers, by the way,

00:09:45.800 are better than the Liberals on this,

00:09:47.500 especially those in rural areas.

00:09:49.160 Nikki Ashton in particular is one example of this.

00:09:52.420 So here's the battleground right now.

00:09:54.800 And again, as I've said time and time again,

00:09:57.260 vote Conservative, vote PPC, vote Maverick,

00:09:59.780 vote Liberal, vote NDP, do what you want.

00:10:02.100 I'm not here to tell you how to vote.

00:10:04.240 I'm here to lay out the issues, lay out the facts,

00:10:07.000 and I'll give you my opinion.

00:10:08.060 I'll give you my analysis on these things,

00:10:10.080 which is why I want to unpack the firearms flip-flop

00:10:13.560 in a good amount of detail here.

00:10:16.240 I've said this before,

00:10:17.260 but just in case you're not aware of this,

00:10:19.860 one of the biggest sources of confusion last week

00:10:22.720 when the media still couldn't quite figure out

00:10:24.460 what O'Toole's position was,

00:10:25.940 and even now,

00:10:26.800 is that there's no universal definition of assault rifle.

00:10:30.000 What an actual assault rifle is,

00:10:31.920 the type of gun that's been banned in Canada

00:10:33.740 for, what, 44 years,

00:10:35.300 is different than what the Liberals call assault rifles,

00:10:38.680 which are basically any firearms they want to ban.

00:10:41.280 They call them an assault rifle,

00:10:42.580 and public buy-in goes through the roof

00:10:44.820 on whatever they want to outlaw.

00:10:47.100 But this game of semantics

00:10:48.500 is very difficult in an election.

00:10:50.720 So if the population is not on board with an AR-15,

00:10:54.240 you don't want to have to be the guy campaigning

00:10:56.280 to tell the people of Canada

00:10:57.580 why the AR-15 isn't as scary as they think it is.

00:11:00.180 If you're doing that,

00:11:01.200 you're going to have an uphill battle,

00:11:02.600 and the Liberals are simply going to win.

00:11:04.380 I get that.

00:11:05.800 And it's why a lot of gun owners I've spoken to

00:11:07.760 have said that they would be happy

00:11:09.480 if firearms didn't come up in the election at all.

00:11:12.360 People that have said to me,

00:11:13.360 well, you know what,

00:11:13.940 I know how the conservative politicians are on this.

00:11:16.520 I don't want them to have to, you know,

00:11:18.420 take any guff from the voters.

00:11:19.960 I'm happy if they never mention it,

00:11:21.680 we get them elected,

00:11:22.540 and then they just do it.

00:11:23.480 That's what a lot of gun owners would want, 0.99

00:11:25.460 because they realize that culturally,

00:11:27.680 these issues are very challenging to win on.

00:11:30.120 And the last week in the campaign has showed why,

00:11:32.720 because there's so much misinformation,

00:11:35.180 and in politics,

00:11:36.020 you can't be the great educator-in-chief.

00:11:38.520 You can't change people's hearts and minds on issues

00:11:41.320 when misinformation is so ingrained.

00:11:45.120 And a lot of that is the media,

00:11:46.640 which is why I think media literacy on firearms

00:11:48.700 needs to be a continued priority

00:11:50.940 for anyone that cares about this issue.

00:11:52.480 But I digress.

00:11:54.000 If the election is about guns,

00:11:55.780 Justin Trudeau wins,

00:11:56.840 Aaron O'Toole loses.

00:11:57.680 And I think Aaron O'Toole knew that.

00:12:00.300 However, I'm not defending the flip-flop for a second.

00:12:04.400 And here's why.

00:12:05.600 O'Toole decided to put it in the platform.

00:12:08.300 O'Toole's team put it very specifically in the platform.

00:12:12.700 And I read the section of the platform in question for you earlier.

00:12:16.540 I should note that now it's been amended.

00:12:18.920 There's a little footnote there,

00:12:20.160 a little teeny tiny footnote.

00:12:21.700 All firearms that are currently banned will remain banned.

00:12:27.020 So just understand this here.

00:12:29.280 We will start by repealing the May 2020 Order and Council.

00:12:34.500 And the footnote on that sentence says

00:12:36.500 anything that's banned will remain banned.

00:12:38.340 So they're going to repeal an Order and Council banning guns

00:12:41.760 while simultaneously keeping anything banned, banned.

00:12:47.140 This shows that there hasn't been a lot of thought

00:12:49.800 that has gone into this.

00:12:52.300 They had to do something.

00:12:54.400 And now they have an incomprehensible position.

00:12:56.840 And incidentally, I remember a couple of weeks back

00:12:59.780 when Aaron O'Toole put out this statement

00:13:01.680 about Cheryl Gallant at the time

00:13:03.220 in which he said that any candidate

00:13:05.260 who doesn't back the Conservative platform

00:13:07.420 in its entirety would not be allowed

00:13:09.680 to sit as a Conservative caucus member.

00:13:11.660 And I had a couple of people point out on Twitter,

00:13:13.500 does this mean that Aaron O'Toole

00:13:14.680 has to kick himself out of caucus?

00:13:16.540 Because he's no longer a supporter

00:13:18.760 of the platform that he put out.

00:13:20.320 A little bit of a cheeky political joke for you,

00:13:22.600 but one that will basically have you crying

00:13:25.140 if you can't find a way to laugh about it.

00:13:27.260 So here's the big problem.

00:13:29.900 He decided to campaign on this.

00:13:32.560 Now, sure, maybe it was to tell gun owners,

00:13:34.540 yes, I've got your back.

00:13:36.340 But if you can't own up to that

00:13:38.080 and defend that at the first sign of backlash,

00:13:41.060 why were you campaigning on it in the first place?

00:13:43.940 So there's a bigger point there.

00:13:46.680 A lot of people I know would be content to say,

00:13:49.360 listen, if he gets elected on the economy

00:13:51.040 and on jobs and on COVID recovery,

00:13:52.880 not on guns, I'm fine with it

00:13:54.740 as long as he does the gun stuff,

00:13:56.940 as long as he does the repeal

00:13:58.240 and goes with Bill C-71 repealing and all of that.

00:14:01.340 I don't take that view.

00:14:03.740 And here's why.

00:14:04.600 I take a very romantic view of democracy.

00:14:06.920 I know elections can be a street fight at times.

00:14:09.120 I get it.

00:14:10.700 But as it stands now,

00:14:12.220 he has told Canadians something

00:14:14.020 that if he goes back on it,

00:14:16.380 will be a broken promise.

00:14:18.080 I don't have time for wordplay.

00:14:19.720 I don't have time for semantics.

00:14:21.300 I can't stand it when Justin Trudeau does it.

00:14:23.380 So I'm not going to abide by it

00:14:25.160 when a conservative politician does it.

00:14:27.840 So if he has stopped the bleeding

00:14:29.800 and tried to get the media office back

00:14:31.380 and the liberals office back

00:14:32.460 by saying that everything that's banned

00:14:33.940 will remain banned,

00:14:35.360 anything he does against that

00:14:37.560 will simply not be a good faith effort.

00:14:40.920 Now, look, I'll support the policy

00:14:42.460 because I've been a long time on record supporter

00:14:46.320 of repealing these gun control measures

00:14:48.500 that don't do anything.

00:14:50.120 But I can't support the path to get there

00:14:52.480 if it happens in an underhanded way.

00:14:55.140 As it stands,

00:14:56.660 Aaron O'Toole would have no democratic mandate

00:14:59.520 to repeal the order in council

00:15:02.860 and to unprohibit the AR-15 and the Mini-14

00:15:06.560 if he wins an election

00:15:07.700 because he's now told people that he won't.

00:15:11.700 So there would be no democratic mandate to do it.

00:15:14.300 And I honestly believe

00:15:15.560 that winning an election at all costs

00:15:18.480 is not the goal.

00:15:19.820 You need to win

00:15:20.720 because people voted for you for a reason.

00:15:24.720 You need to win

00:15:25.720 because people endorsed your vision

00:15:27.480 or perhaps they found you to be the lesser of evils.

00:15:29.880 That's fine too.

00:15:31.780 But they need to vote for you

00:15:33.300 knowing that you're going to do something,

00:15:35.220 not because you just hoodwinked them into it.

00:15:39.140 And this is why,

00:15:40.540 as Margaret Thatcher always said so famously,

00:15:43.100 first you win the argument,

00:15:44.920 then you win the vote.

00:15:47.480 People on the right need to lay the groundwork

00:15:49.700 between elections in a long-term way

00:15:52.360 so that when elections come around,

00:15:55.680 conservative positions are not so quickly marginalized

00:15:58.960 and becoming so toxic

00:16:00.920 that overnight they need to be abandoned

00:16:03.700 by the politicians

00:16:04.620 who should be waving

00:16:05.640 the conservative banner vigorously.

00:16:09.480 Aaron O'Toole's flip-flop

00:16:10.740 is a failure of the conservative campaign

00:16:12.680 in one of two ways.

00:16:13.960 It's either a failure of the conservative campaign

00:16:15.960 to stick to their guns

00:16:17.340 or a failure to foresee

00:16:19.120 that this was going to be an issue.

00:16:20.960 Stick to your guns,

00:16:21.740 I meant in the figurative way,

00:16:23.240 but I guess it also works in the literal way.

00:16:24.860 It's either a failure of them to hold firm

00:16:27.360 or a failure of them to foresee

00:16:29.520 that something was obviously going to be an issue.

00:16:32.080 Of course the liberals were going to run

00:16:33.780 on the conservatives like assault rifles.

00:16:36.060 What did we expect them to do?

00:16:37.700 All they have are these half-baked emotional ideas,

00:16:41.320 which is why when Justin Trudeau

00:16:42.760 appeared behind a lectern

00:16:44.100 that had a so-called assault rifle on the sign,

00:16:47.320 on the placard with a line through it,

00:16:48.720 I'm like, of course,

00:16:49.620 the liberals have probably had that printed off

00:16:51.420 for six months,

00:16:52.480 just waiting for the right day

00:16:53.900 for them to trot it out.

00:16:57.520 But conservatives cannot be the cowards.

00:17:03.360 Conservatives have to stand for something,

00:17:05.620 and if conservatives say they're going to do something

00:17:07.620 and they're going to stand for something,

00:17:09.120 they have to be prepared to not cower

00:17:11.380 at the first sign of blowback,

00:17:14.100 which you know is going to happen,

00:17:15.580 you know is coming.

00:17:17.280 This is not like one of these weird attacks

00:17:19.420 that just came out of nowhere

00:17:20.480 that you didn't know was going to happen,

00:17:21.980 like if someone started to just like,

00:17:23.700 you know, declare war on Aaron O'Toole's

00:17:25.840 animal welfare plan or something.

00:17:27.360 No, they knew this was coming.

00:17:30.140 Why did they not have a better defense?

00:17:32.280 Why has Aaron O'Toole not been spinning this

00:17:34.480 to Justin Trudeau

00:17:35.360 and asking the very firm

00:17:36.820 but very necessary question,

00:17:38.240 Prime Minister, define assault rifle.

00:17:40.320 Well, I know Aaron O'Toole is going to get hit on this

00:17:44.060 in the debate.

00:17:44.700 He's going to get hit on it in the French debate.

00:17:46.560 He's going to get hit on it in the English debate.

00:17:50.080 And I'm guessing his answer is going to be,

00:17:52.700 well, yes, you know, we're going to do a review

00:17:54.260 and he's just going to try to say as many words as he can

00:17:57.520 until his time runs out.

00:18:00.120 Instead of actually trying to move the ball on this issue,

00:18:02.440 it's going to be difficult.

00:18:04.080 But, you know, the old thing that I've said

00:18:05.560 time and time again

00:18:06.420 that I think people need to be reminded of here

00:18:08.220 is that you're going to get a tax for this anyway.

00:18:11.660 You as might as well live up to what you believe

00:18:14.520 and what your authentic position is.

00:18:16.480 The liberals are going to be the gun crazy gun nuts

00:18:18.860 to the liberals anyway.

00:18:20.060 So they might as well be that

00:18:21.760 because that's how they're going to be defined

00:18:24.320 by the liberals.

00:18:26.800 And you know what?

00:18:27.540 There's a level of comfort

00:18:28.520 if you just sort of release it and say,

00:18:29.900 they're going to accuse me of this anyway

00:18:31.820 so I might as well do it.

00:18:34.700 They're not going to do that, of course.

00:18:37.160 And this is why the Andrew Breitbart position,

00:18:39.580 the politics as downstream of culture,

00:18:41.560 while not radical,

00:18:42.720 is still not entirely understood.

00:18:45.860 There are so many issues

00:18:47.140 where a position that is a sensible, normal,

00:18:49.760 and I would argue mainstream position in some ways

00:18:52.100 will not be argued

00:18:53.640 and will not be advanced by conservative parties

00:18:55.760 because the institutions are against them.

00:18:57.960 The liberals, all of these NGOs,

00:19:00.680 all of these groups that rally together

00:19:02.460 and take an undeniably left-wing position

00:19:05.620 on so many issues under the sun,

00:19:07.560 whether it's healthcare,

00:19:08.520 whether it's firearms, whatever.

00:19:11.320 And you see this in the debates.

00:19:13.400 Just look at the topics

00:19:14.520 for the English language debate.

00:19:15.980 Not a single topic on foreign policy.

00:19:18.740 Reconciliation,

00:19:20.060 you have economic recovery post-COVID.

00:19:22.860 These are good topics,

00:19:24.100 but undeniably,

00:19:25.460 they are topics where the liberals

00:19:27.900 will have an advantage.

00:19:31.080 And so often,

00:19:31.980 the premise of questions put to politicians

00:19:33.980 is an inherently left-wing premise.

00:19:36.940 What are you going to do about X

00:19:38.840 is based on a left-wing premise

00:19:41.180 that every problem has a government solution.

00:19:44.780 And conservatives are always disadvantaged in this way.

00:19:48.140 Conservatives are disadvantaged 0.70

00:19:49.340 because when everyone wants to know

00:19:51.220 what you as the prime minister,

00:19:52.620 what you as the leader of a government,

00:19:53.940 are going to do,

00:19:54.980 conservatives who traditionally

00:19:56.520 are the low-tax, small-government party,

00:19:59.140 conservatives' instinctual response

00:20:00.920 will be nothing.

00:20:02.180 I'm not going to do anything

00:20:03.320 which doesn't exactly win you votes.

00:20:06.280 But you have to be prepared to own that.

00:20:10.220 I get the whole get-in-there mentality.

00:20:13.240 I do.

00:20:13.580 I really understand that.

00:20:14.960 I've gotten tired

00:20:16.020 when I used to work in partisan politics.

00:20:18.120 I got tired of losing.

00:20:19.740 You work hard.

00:20:20.780 You know your ideas are better,

00:20:21.840 but you know what, you lose.

00:20:23.100 I ran for office once.

00:20:25.280 I'm kind of glad I lost retrospectively

00:20:27.500 knowing what happened to Ontario politics

00:20:29.800 and what happened from the party

00:20:31.120 in which I ran as a candidate.

00:20:32.480 But glad to have put that behind me.

00:20:34.360 The reality is it sucks to lose.

00:20:37.820 So if someone comes along and says,

00:20:39.560 well, you can win,

00:20:40.220 but you have to say this,

00:20:41.300 say this, say this, say this,

00:20:42.960 you have no accountability

00:20:44.780 to your beliefs

00:20:46.800 or to the beliefs of the people behind you

00:20:48.720 if you do that

00:20:49.580 because you haven't actually got elected

00:20:52.380 on anything that matters.

00:20:56.160 And whenever anyone says,

00:20:57.700 well, if you don't vote for X,

00:20:59.600 you're just sentencing Canada

00:21:00.860 to four more years at Trudeau,

00:21:02.120 I say, listen,

00:21:03.280 I'm completely on board

00:21:04.560 if someone wants to make a decision

00:21:05.980 for themselves

00:21:06.600 because they feel that the alternatives

00:21:08.560 are not giving them anything

00:21:10.060 that's fundamentally

00:21:10.920 or substantively different.

00:21:13.040 People can debate and talk about

00:21:14.640 whether that's actually the case, of course.

00:21:16.200 People can talk about whether,

00:21:18.500 oh, you know,

00:21:19.000 Aaron O'Toole, Maxine Bernier,

00:21:20.940 Jay Hill,

00:21:22.240 or Justin Trudeau,

00:21:24.360 Jagmeet Singh,

00:21:24.960 all of these people,

00:21:25.600 they can talk about

00:21:26.260 what the differences and similarities are

00:21:28.260 and that's a debate we can have

00:21:29.460 in a free and democratic society.

00:21:32.280 But I'm never going to begrudge anyone

00:21:33.900 for making a decision

00:21:35.000 if they feel they're not getting something

00:21:38.200 from the person

00:21:40.100 who's holding themselves up

00:21:41.280 as an alternative.

00:21:42.780 And my message to Aaron O'Toole,

00:21:44.560 to the conservatives,

00:21:45.240 to any party,

00:21:46.900 to any party seeking votes.

00:21:49.020 Get people to vote for your vision

00:21:51.160 and don't prove that your vision

00:21:54.060 is not something you care

00:21:55.200 all that much about.

00:21:57.460 If you don't care about the firearms file,

00:21:59.520 that's fine.

00:21:59.980 I realize that gun owners

00:22:00.960 are a minority in Canada.

00:22:03.220 But I would look at O'Toole

00:22:04.600 and say, okay,

00:22:05.660 well, you have this platform

00:22:07.900 that you put out three weeks ago,

00:22:09.980 three weeks and two days ago.

00:22:11.160 If you're prepared to roll on this platform,

00:22:14.700 this one particular section of a platform,

00:22:16.740 what else are you prepared to roll on?

00:22:19.520 Are you prepared to roll on this tax cut

00:22:22.260 or this government program?

00:22:23.740 Are you prepared to roll on this?

00:22:25.080 Whatever the case,

00:22:25.600 I'm not even thinking of specific items.

00:22:27.100 I'm just saying that

00:22:27.660 if you're prepared to walk that back,

00:22:29.400 what else in your platform

00:22:30.620 are you prepared to walk back?

00:22:32.240 And I'm not telling you

00:22:35.380 that the flip-flop was justified, unjustified.

00:22:38.060 I'm not telling you

00:22:38.740 it will hurt the conservatives in the polls

00:22:40.620 because you know what?

00:22:41.300 It probably will help them.

00:22:43.960 But the point that I'm making here

00:22:45.840 is that I'm tired of politicians and parties

00:22:48.440 who are unable and or unwilling

00:22:51.280 to actually stand up

00:22:53.060 for the things we know they believe

00:22:55.800 and stand up for the people

00:22:57.640 who are supposed to be behind them

00:22:59.280 and they need to be behind them.

00:23:00.760 I'm kind of tired of politicians looking

00:23:02.500 and saying,

00:23:03.220 no, no, no, just trust us.

00:23:04.380 We just need to get in first

00:23:05.760 and then we can do this.

00:23:07.460 And then the this may never materialize.

00:23:11.340 We've got to take a break

00:23:12.380 when we come back.

00:23:13.240 More of The Andrew Lawton Show

00:23:14.380 here on True North.

00:23:15.400 Stay tuned.

00:23:17.620 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:23:21.320 Welcome back to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:23:23.520 As I've said a few times now,

00:23:25.420 we obviously have given a lot of attention

00:23:27.480 and continue to to the major parties

00:23:29.340 and major themes that come up.

00:23:31.380 But one of the things we do differently

00:23:32.880 is also shining a light

00:23:34.180 on some of the candidates and campaigns

00:23:36.640 that aren't getting as much attention

00:23:38.460 in the mainstream media.

00:23:40.460 And with that prelude,

00:23:41.740 I wanted to bring into the show

00:23:43.180 Rod Taylor,

00:23:44.020 who is the Christian Heritage Party leader

00:23:46.360 and also the party's candidate

00:23:48.320 in Skeena-Bulkley Valley

00:23:50.080 in British Columbia.

00:23:52.260 Rod, it's good to talk to you again.

00:23:53.600 Thanks for coming on today.

00:23:55.380 Yeah, it's great to be on with you.

00:23:56.860 Thanks, Sandra.

00:23:57.520 Now, I think the name slightly gives it away,

00:24:00.220 but I'll still let you describe it

00:24:01.560 in your own words.

00:24:02.860 What is it that the Christian Heritage Party

00:24:04.540 is all about?

00:24:05.740 Our campaign theme is life, family, and freedom.

00:24:08.780 So we support the protection

00:24:10.700 of innocent human life.

00:24:12.400 We support, of course,

00:24:13.700 marriage between one man and one woman,

00:24:16.160 traditional family values,

00:24:17.940 parental rights, that type of thing.

00:24:19.580 And we stand for freedom.

00:24:21.020 And freedom in 2021

00:24:23.080 has become a pretty big issue

00:24:24.800 in terms of, you know,

00:24:26.600 now they're talking about vaccine passports

00:24:28.620 and that type of thing.

00:24:30.060 But freedom of speech,

00:24:31.560 we've seen social media

00:24:33.560 even becoming a place

00:24:36.020 where other opinion is limited.

00:24:38.640 And so we have to stand up for that.

00:24:40.460 The right of parents

00:24:41.780 to counsel their own children,

00:24:43.060 there's a lot of freedoms

00:24:43.780 that are under attack.

00:24:44.900 We saw churches shut down

00:24:46.300 earlier in the year.

00:24:47.200 So freedom has become

00:24:49.260 kind of the front line

00:24:51.160 because if we don't have

00:24:52.840 freedom of speech,

00:24:53.680 we can't defend

00:24:54.560 any of the other human rights.

00:24:56.640 You listed there

00:24:58.200 your top three items,

00:24:59.580 protection for the unborn,

00:25:01.340 restoring a traditional definition

00:25:02.840 of marriage,

00:25:04.080 and freedom.

00:25:05.320 And I'm curious, Rod,

00:25:06.300 how you square number two

00:25:07.680 and number three

00:25:08.540 because the freedom

00:25:09.920 for people to enter

00:25:11.380 into same-sex marriages

00:25:12.480 is not seemingly

00:25:13.740 one of the freedoms

00:25:14.460 you're upholding.

00:25:15.140 How do you juxtapose those two?

00:25:16.860 Well, you know,

00:25:18.380 to us,

00:25:19.120 just marriage is between

00:25:20.200 a man and a woman.

00:25:21.040 It's, you know,

00:25:22.140 we could create, you know,

00:25:23.560 the freedom for a father

00:25:25.760 to kill their children

00:25:26.580 or whatever.

00:25:26.980 We could, you know,

00:25:27.580 talk about that as a freedom.

00:25:31.440 But, you know,

00:25:32.220 there are certain freedoms

00:25:33.580 that are inherent,

00:25:34.520 rights and freedoms

00:25:35.220 that are inherent

00:25:35.940 in human condition

00:25:37.340 given by God.

00:25:38.240 Of course,

00:25:38.660 government doesn't create rights.

00:25:41.220 Human rights,

00:25:42.480 real human rights

00:25:43.440 are given by our creator.

00:25:45.300 And government can either

00:25:46.700 ignore those

00:25:48.340 and violate them

00:25:49.240 or it can honor them

00:25:50.300 and uphold them.

00:25:51.160 So, you know,

00:25:52.720 we just don't see

00:25:53.740 that there is such a thing

00:25:54.760 as the freedom

00:25:55.460 for men and women

00:25:56.540 to, you know,

00:25:58.200 for same-sex marriage.

00:26:00.160 That's, I think,

00:26:01.840 a so-called right

00:26:03.200 that has been created

00:26:04.680 by the left.

00:26:06.020 There's a funny way

00:26:06.940 of putting it,

00:26:07.400 but we don't see

00:26:09.840 that we're violating

00:26:10.420 anything at all.

00:26:11.480 Now, we are not trying

00:26:13.340 to move against people

00:26:15.920 who live a different lifestyle,

00:26:17.500 but we think it's,

00:26:18.700 the government

00:26:19.260 has no business

00:26:20.100 to endorse something

00:26:24.060 and call it marriage

00:26:25.100 that isn't a marriage.

00:26:26.200 That's how we look at that.

00:26:27.940 Now, why is it

00:26:28.840 the government's role,

00:26:30.060 and I say this as a Christian,

00:26:31.360 to endorse a Christian ethic

00:26:33.460 and the government's role

00:26:34.820 to endorse Christian law

00:26:36.660 and basically God's law

00:26:38.000 as opposed to saying

00:26:38.900 that this is a free country,

00:26:40.480 you as an individual

00:26:41.280 have the right

00:26:41.920 to live your life

00:26:42.600 in accordance with Christianity?

00:26:44.000 Why is that an area

00:26:45.240 where you think a government

00:26:46.520 and, by extension,

00:26:47.540 a political party

00:26:48.520 needs to put a,

00:26:50.720 really put this forward?

00:26:52.680 Well, you know,

00:26:53.900 the preamble

00:26:54.360 to the Charter of Rights

00:26:55.120 and Freedoms

00:26:55.620 as Canada is founded

00:26:56.580 on principles

00:26:57.300 that recognize

00:26:57.940 the supremacy of God

00:26:59.040 and the rule of law.

00:27:01.020 And the, yeah,

00:27:02.360 there are certain,

00:27:03.020 you know, Christians,

00:27:03.940 we don't think everyone needs,

00:27:05.240 you know,

00:27:05.580 we're not trying to impose

00:27:07.140 a Christian theology

00:27:08.880 on this nation

00:27:10.000 that everyone needs

00:27:10.920 to go to church

00:27:11.540 or anything like that,

00:27:12.440 but there are certain basics,

00:27:14.080 you know,

00:27:14.900 don't lie,

00:27:15.460 don't steal,

00:27:16.060 don't kill,

00:27:17.500 you know,

00:27:17.700 don't commit adultery.

00:27:18.680 Those are ethics

00:27:20.540 that are shared

00:27:21.260 by pretty well

00:27:22.260 every population group

00:27:24.520 in the country,

00:27:25.400 Christian or non-Christian. 0.56

00:27:26.880 And I tell people,

00:27:28.280 even if you are not a Christian,

00:27:29.900 you have a Christian heritage

00:27:31.180 because this nation

00:27:32.720 was founded

00:27:33.280 on Christian principles.

00:27:34.380 and the farther away

00:27:36.540 we depart from that,

00:27:38.040 you know,

00:27:38.360 the tougher it gets

00:27:40.640 for everybody.

00:27:41.460 I mean,

00:27:41.660 we think that the principles

00:27:43.020 of love your neighbor

00:27:43.880 as yourself,

00:27:44.660 do unto others

00:27:45.160 as you'd have them

00:27:45.780 do unto you,

00:27:46.720 that these are principles

00:27:47.680 that would make this country

00:27:48.800 a great place

00:27:49.480 and they don't involve

00:27:50.740 imposing any theological,

00:27:52.320 you know,

00:27:53.320 construct on Canadian citizens.

00:27:56.920 Yeah,

00:27:57.420 and certainly a lot

00:27:58.340 of the values

00:27:59.120 are shared by Jews,

00:28:00.880 they're shared by Muslims,

00:28:01.940 they're shared by Christians,

00:28:02.980 they're even,

00:28:03.560 in many cases,

00:28:04.320 shared by people

00:28:05.060 of no faith at all

00:28:05.960 that just have this moral code

00:28:07.640 that may align with it,

00:28:08.860 but it still is

00:28:09.660 a Christian heritage party

00:28:11.540 and in a country

00:28:12.880 in which it seems like

00:28:14.120 through a combination

00:28:14.880 of immigration

00:28:15.980 and education

00:28:16.880 and lots of other factors,

00:28:18.800 people are moving

00:28:19.420 further and further away

00:28:20.440 from identifying

00:28:21.160 as Christian,

00:28:22.260 how is there,

00:28:23.100 in your view,

00:28:23.800 a place for a Christian

00:28:25.500 first political party

00:28:27.040 or where are you

00:28:27.900 finding that space,

00:28:28.780 I guess,

00:28:29.120 is a better way

00:28:29.780 of putting it?

00:28:30.320 Yeah,

00:28:31.160 well,

00:28:31.980 we sometimes

00:28:33.560 feel like

00:28:34.740 a voice in the wilderness

00:28:35.700 because our society

00:28:37.020 is largely,

00:28:38.080 has largely abandoned

00:28:39.580 not only

00:28:41.220 Christian faith

00:28:42.440 but also

00:28:43.660 Christian principles,

00:28:45.180 Christian values.

00:28:46.680 I mean,

00:28:47.080 even,

00:28:47.720 you know,

00:28:48.520 it's,

00:28:49.180 when we talk about

00:28:49.780 moral values,

00:28:50.500 it's not just sexuality

00:28:51.480 and family things

00:28:52.960 but how you spend

00:28:54.460 taxpayers' money,

00:28:56.320 I mean,

00:28:56.660 that's a moral value

00:28:58.080 that we think

00:28:58.760 the scriptures say

00:29:01.160 don't steal

00:29:02.160 but I think everyone

00:29:03.080 understands that

00:29:03.900 it's wrong to steal

00:29:04.620 what we're actually

00:29:05.280 stealing money

00:29:06.360 from our grandchildren

00:29:07.260 right now

00:29:07.960 or the government

00:29:09.000 is handing out money

00:29:10.980 that it doesn't have

00:29:12.040 but it's going to have

00:29:13.080 to be repaid

00:29:13.820 by our grandchildren,

00:29:15.120 great-grandchildren.

00:29:17.060 Christian values,

00:29:18.180 I think,

00:29:18.900 just supersede

00:29:20.440 basically any theological

00:29:22.140 construct.

00:29:24.700 Again,

00:29:24.960 as I mentioned,

00:29:25.900 we think that

00:29:27.920 loving your neighbor

00:29:29.320 as yourself

00:29:29.840 would be good

00:29:30.540 for every Canadian

00:29:31.620 and the government

00:29:33.220 of course

00:29:33.660 can't force people

00:29:34.580 to be good

00:29:35.580 but the government

00:29:36.300 can set a pattern

00:29:37.860 and put forward

00:29:39.880 principles that align

00:29:41.580 with,

00:29:42.200 you know,

00:29:43.160 biblical principles

00:29:43.900 and certainly align

00:29:44.760 with our Charter

00:29:45.380 of Rights and Freedoms.

00:29:47.020 Now,

00:29:47.620 looking at your platform,

00:29:49.040 I know you have

00:29:49.460 a couple of items here

00:29:50.440 like wanting to

00:29:51.220 balance the budget,

00:29:52.380 enforce border protection,

00:29:54.160 eliminate carbon taxes

00:29:55.440 and in the interest

00:29:56.520 of disclosure,

00:29:57.260 I agree with all three.

00:29:58.300 So all three of those

00:29:59.120 are wins for me

00:30:00.360 but I'm just curious

00:30:01.960 where the Christian basis

00:30:04.280 is of that

00:30:04.840 because these are not

00:30:05.760 things that people

00:30:06.940 would inherently associate

00:30:07.960 with religion.

00:30:09.400 They're, I think,

00:30:10.120 good policies

00:30:10.740 but I'm just curious

00:30:11.740 where you've decided

00:30:13.380 as the leader

00:30:13.900 of the Christian Heritage Party

00:30:15.180 to approach these issues from.

00:30:16.580 Well,

00:30:17.700 the carbon tax

00:30:18.740 I think is a matter

00:30:19.480 of following science

00:30:21.120 and, you know,

00:30:22.480 just following the truth.

00:30:24.600 You know,

00:30:24.780 a lot of people

00:30:26.000 have fallen

00:30:26.500 into a political correctness

00:30:27.960 and now it's,

00:30:29.640 you know,

00:30:29.900 many people think

00:30:30.680 if you're,

00:30:31.620 you know,

00:30:31.920 don't agree

00:30:32.900 with the theory

00:30:34.220 that carbon dioxide

00:30:35.660 is ruining the planet

00:30:38.060 that there's something

00:30:40.240 wrong with you

00:30:40.840 and we think

00:30:41.560 we just stand up

00:30:42.220 for the truth

00:30:42.720 and that goes along

00:30:43.600 with, you know,

00:30:44.400 the vaccine mandates

00:30:45.540 and that type of thing

00:30:46.420 as well.

00:30:48.420 I guess

00:30:49.200 maybe the backside 0.88

00:30:51.160 of that is

00:30:51.780 some people have accused us

00:30:52.960 of being,

00:30:53.500 you know,

00:30:53.780 a one-issue party

00:30:54.680 because we are,

00:30:55.800 you know,

00:30:56.280 the only pro-life party

00:30:57.420 at this point in time

00:30:58.240 in Canada

00:30:59.280 actually standing up

00:31:00.440 for the protection

00:31:01.160 of innocent human life

00:31:02.140 in the womb

00:31:02.580 and we say,

00:31:04.520 no,

00:31:04.680 we're not a one-issue party

00:31:06.420 but abortion

00:31:07.760 is a one-party issue.

00:31:09.360 We're the only ones

00:31:10.520 willing to talk about it

00:31:11.640 but these other issues,

00:31:13.540 I mean,

00:31:13.800 you can't be

00:31:14.360 a national political party

00:31:15.520 without addressing

00:31:16.660 all the issues

00:31:18.240 that are on the table there.

00:31:19.600 I mean,

00:31:20.040 and I think

00:31:20.940 people would rightly

00:31:22.260 reject us

00:31:22.920 if we would only talk

00:31:23.960 about abortion

00:31:24.680 or euthanasia

00:31:25.620 or marriage.

00:31:26.640 We do have

00:31:27.600 a fairly broad

00:31:29.100 platform.

00:31:30.420 We're working on it

00:31:31.020 all the time

00:31:31.460 to make it better

00:31:32.160 but,

00:31:32.580 you know,

00:31:34.380 we take stands

00:31:35.420 on things

00:31:36.100 and I guess

00:31:37.300 other people,

00:31:38.480 maybe sometimes

00:31:39.200 even Christians

00:31:39.800 might disagree

00:31:40.400 with us on things

00:31:41.160 and I have told

00:31:42.120 my candidates,

00:31:43.360 the other candidates

00:31:44.140 that are running

00:31:44.660 in this election.

00:31:45.880 I mean,

00:31:46.580 on life,

00:31:48.100 family,

00:31:48.560 and freedom,

00:31:49.860 we're united.

00:31:51.040 If someone has

00:31:51.880 a different opinion

00:31:52.680 about,

00:31:53.360 you know,

00:31:54.780 supply management

00:31:56.480 or about,

00:31:57.540 you know,

00:31:58.020 how to handle

00:31:58.660 the border crisis,

00:31:59.940 I mean,

00:32:00.280 they're allowed

00:32:00.760 to express that.

00:32:02.720 We're not going

00:32:03.620 to be 100%,

00:32:04.800 we're not carbon copy

00:32:06.420 images of each other,

00:32:07.820 right,

00:32:08.140 cookie cutter images,

00:32:09.820 but we are

00:32:11.360 unique individuals

00:32:12.220 and we come

00:32:12.680 to conclusions

00:32:13.460 based on our

00:32:14.400 own personality

00:32:15.480 but if they're

00:32:16.840 not,

00:32:17.220 you know,

00:32:17.480 supportive of

00:32:18.080 the protection

00:32:18.460 of innocent human

00:32:19.000 life,

00:32:19.380 well,

00:32:19.600 they really

00:32:19.920 probably would

00:32:20.500 be in the wrong

00:32:21.040 party,

00:32:21.440 right?

00:32:21.700 So that's how

00:32:22.860 we sort of

00:32:23.320 divide that up

00:32:23.960 but we hope

00:32:24.980 to have

00:32:25.420 a broad discussion.

00:32:26.780 We are actually,

00:32:27.380 we are going

00:32:28.620 to have a convention

00:32:29.600 next week,

00:32:30.320 the last week

00:32:30.840 of the campaign,

00:32:32.180 a pre-planned

00:32:33.540 convention,

00:32:34.560 our triennial

00:32:35.100 policy convention

00:32:36.160 in Calgary,

00:32:36.860 so I'll be

00:32:38.460 down there

00:32:39.220 for the

00:32:39.840 last week

00:32:41.240 of this campaign

00:32:41.980 but then

00:32:43.080 back home

00:32:43.620 in time

00:32:43.920 for voting day.

00:32:45.560 One of the

00:32:46.260 interesting things

00:32:47.140 I will say

00:32:47.940 is that in

00:32:48.480 Conservative Party

00:32:49.500 of Canada

00:32:50.080 politics,

00:32:51.260 it's very

00:32:51.960 difficult,

00:32:52.640 not impossible,

00:32:53.380 but difficult

00:32:53.820 to be elected

00:32:54.440 as a leader

00:32:55.000 without being

00:32:55.620 pro-life

00:32:56.240 or without

00:32:56.900 in some way

00:32:57.540 appealing

00:32:58.080 to social

00:32:59.080 conservatives.

00:32:59.820 We've seen

00:33:00.220 this with

00:33:00.560 Erin O'Toole,

00:33:01.260 we saw it

00:33:01.660 with Andrew Scheer,

00:33:02.620 we saw it

00:33:03.100 with Stephen Harper

00:33:03.840 because social

00:33:04.520 conservatives

00:33:05.020 make up

00:33:05.440 such a huge

00:33:05.920 portion

00:33:06.320 of the

00:33:07.100 Conservative Party's

00:33:08.000 base.

00:33:08.360 You need

00:33:08.820 their support

00:33:09.340 at least

00:33:09.720 in some

00:33:10.460 way.

00:33:11.140 So you are

00:33:11.900 I think

00:33:12.200 right to

00:33:12.700 point out

00:33:13.240 here that

00:33:13.680 there is

00:33:14.080 an appetite

00:33:14.860 for a

00:33:15.420 party that's

00:33:15.880 going to

00:33:16.060 take a

00:33:16.360 stand for

00:33:16.740 that,

00:33:17.220 but as

00:33:17.540 we so

00:33:17.840 often see

00:33:18.480 the Conservative

00:33:19.080 Party of

00:33:19.520 Canada

00:33:19.840 sometimes runs

00:33:21.200 away from

00:33:21.660 that once we

00:33:22.220 get into

00:33:22.600 a general

00:33:23.280 election campaign

00:33:24.180 which is

00:33:24.620 where we've

00:33:25.060 been in the

00:33:25.640 last couple

00:33:26.080 of weeks

00:33:26.400 on the

00:33:26.680 issue.

00:33:27.760 Right,

00:33:28.100 yeah,

00:33:28.580 and of

00:33:29.260 course

00:33:29.440 Erin O'Toole,

00:33:30.680 the current

00:33:31.260 leader of the

00:33:31.740 Conservative Party

00:33:32.380 was crystal

00:33:33.040 clear when

00:33:33.700 during their

00:33:35.420 campaign,

00:33:35.980 he wanted

00:33:37.380 to give the

00:33:37.800 impression that

00:33:38.400 he would

00:33:38.720 allow and

00:33:39.920 work with

00:33:41.300 social

00:33:41.640 Conservatives,

00:33:42.380 but he

00:33:43.040 said,

00:33:43.380 I'm pro-choice,

00:33:44.200 I'm supportive

00:33:45.560 of what they

00:33:47.000 call a woman's 0.98

00:33:47.640 right to

00:33:47.960 choose.

00:33:48.340 I don't like

00:33:49.100 that phrase,

00:33:49.820 but that's

00:33:50.900 the kind of

00:33:51.840 phraseology they

00:33:52.660 use.

00:33:53.120 and he voted

00:33:55.180 against Kathy

00:33:56.700 Wagenthal's 0.83

00:33:57.560 sex-selective

00:33:58.440 abortion bill,

00:33:59.220 C-233.

00:34:00.700 I mean,

00:34:00.980 so his

00:34:01.420 position is

00:34:02.500 not unknown.

00:34:03.120 I'm actually

00:34:03.500 surprised that

00:34:05.040 anyone,

00:34:05.900 I'm surprised

00:34:06.580 that anyone

00:34:07.000 is surprised

00:34:07.840 that he is

00:34:08.800 not supporting

00:34:09.800 pro-life

00:34:10.940 activities.

00:34:12.800 And even

00:34:13.060 you go back

00:34:13.480 to Stephen

00:34:13.880 Harper,

00:34:14.400 who I think

00:34:15.120 was,

00:34:16.380 well,

00:34:16.860 I like

00:34:17.400 Stephen Harper

00:34:17.860 in many ways,

00:34:18.500 but he

00:34:20.120 personally,

00:34:21.560 and with his

00:34:22.440 inner core

00:34:23.140 of the

00:34:24.740 party,

00:34:25.620 resisted

00:34:26.500 four different

00:34:27.440 efforts by

00:34:28.380 his own

00:34:29.120 backbenchers

00:34:29.900 to bring

00:34:30.260 forward pro-life

00:34:31.020 legislation.

00:34:32.940 So I think

00:34:34.000 people who

00:34:34.760 think that

00:34:35.880 the Conservative

00:34:36.700 Party is

00:34:37.320 somehow going

00:34:37.840 to come

00:34:38.100 through in

00:34:38.440 the end

00:34:38.740 and do

00:34:39.040 something

00:34:39.460 pro-life

00:34:40.420 are mistaken.

00:34:42.040 And the

00:34:42.380 idea that,

00:34:43.180 well,

00:34:43.440 I'm just

00:34:43.860 writing a

00:34:44.360 communique on

00:34:44.980 it now

00:34:45.260 about the

00:34:45.720 big blue

00:34:46.080 tent.

00:34:47.000 It's

00:34:47.560 bigger,

00:34:48.500 but are

00:34:50.200 there any

00:34:50.560 tent pegs

00:34:51.140 holding it

00:34:51.560 down?

00:34:51.940 That's

00:34:52.140 kind of,

00:34:52.640 you know,

00:34:52.880 where are

00:34:53.600 the anchors

00:34:54.180 for moral

00:34:55.460 values,

00:34:56.080 right?

00:34:56.400 So with

00:34:57.700 him,

00:34:58.600 of course,

00:34:59.600 now we

00:34:59.940 see there's

00:35:00.360 going to

00:35:00.560 be,

00:35:01.300 he's going

00:35:01.840 to get

00:35:02.060 rid of

00:35:02.340 Trudeau's

00:35:02.840 carbon tax

00:35:03.460 if he

00:35:03.720 has the

00:35:04.020 opportunity,

00:35:04.520 but he's

00:35:05.040 going to

00:35:05.220 introduce

00:35:05.540 his own,

00:35:06.200 right?

00:35:07.500 That type

00:35:08.360 of thing.

00:35:08.820 He doesn't

00:35:09.880 like the

00:35:10.380 concept of

00:35:11.680 vaccine

00:35:12.580 passports,

00:35:14.040 but he's

00:35:15.380 going to

00:35:15.960 have some

00:35:17.640 national

00:35:18.040 system

00:35:18.440 for tracking

00:35:19.000 vaccination

00:35:19.720 and alternatives

00:35:20.660 and whatever.

00:35:21.240 So I think

00:35:22.580 he's trying

00:35:23.020 to, you

00:35:24.040 know,

00:35:24.700 stay close

00:35:25.340 to the

00:35:25.620 middle line,

00:35:26.180 but unfortunately

00:35:26.860 that's where

00:35:28.920 there's a lot

00:35:29.400 of road

00:35:29.660 killing along

00:35:30.320 the middle

00:35:30.620 line.

00:35:31.020 You know,

00:35:31.180 you can't

00:35:32.040 please everybody

00:35:32.720 and if you're

00:35:33.280 trying to

00:35:33.800 please everybody,

00:35:34.320 I think you're

00:35:34.900 going to

00:35:35.040 actually end

00:35:35.560 up pleasing

00:35:35.960 nobody.

00:35:36.380 I know this

00:35:38.000 is one of

00:35:38.340 the most

00:35:38.620 frustrating

00:35:39.200 questions that

00:35:40.300 a leader of

00:35:41.320 a party can

00:35:41.940 get, but I

00:35:42.600 do have to

00:35:43.280 ask, so I

00:35:43.800 hope you'll

00:35:44.100 indulge me on

00:35:44.700 this, vote

00:35:45.480 splitting.

00:35:46.060 It sounds like

00:35:46.900 with the issues

00:35:47.400 that you're

00:35:47.700 taking on, a

00:35:48.460 lot of the

00:35:48.980 votes that

00:35:49.780 you're seeking

00:35:50.360 are going to

00:35:50.940 be with voters

00:35:51.720 that probably

00:35:52.760 would otherwise

00:35:53.500 vote conservative

00:35:54.260 for some other

00:35:55.880 right of center

00:35:56.580 option.

00:35:57.320 And whenever

00:35:57.740 this comes up,

00:35:58.480 the question

00:35:58.820 people are

00:35:59.300 confronted with

00:36:00.000 is, well,

00:36:00.740 is this just

00:36:01.540 eventually leading

00:36:02.340 to more

00:36:03.340 Trudeau

00:36:03.960 elections, more

00:36:04.720 Trudeau

00:36:05.040 victories?

00:36:05.700 How do you

00:36:06.500 square that?

00:36:07.760 Well, there's a

00:36:08.180 few different

00:36:08.600 answers for that.

00:36:09.380 One is, if you

00:36:10.820 don't want to

00:36:11.280 split the vote,

00:36:12.880 I mean, North

00:36:14.380 Korea and China 0.77

00:36:15.280 and Cuba are

00:36:15.900 places where you

00:36:16.460 don't really split

00:36:17.040 the vote because

00:36:17.680 you only have

00:36:18.280 one choice,

00:36:18.820 right?

00:36:20.080 Our system is

00:36:21.480 designed, whether

00:36:22.580 it's a perfect

00:36:23.120 system or not,

00:36:23.900 it is designed

00:36:24.740 to split the

00:36:25.540 vote.

00:36:25.780 People are, if

00:36:26.880 people actually

00:36:27.540 voted for what

00:36:28.200 they wanted instead

00:36:29.220 of voting against

00:36:30.500 what they don't

00:36:31.240 want, or

00:36:32.320 or pragmatically

00:36:33.160 thinking, well,

00:36:34.100 my neighbor's

00:36:34.880 probably going to

00:36:35.380 vote this way,

00:36:35.980 so I better

00:36:36.380 vote that way,

00:36:37.960 right?

00:36:38.220 Or whatever.

00:36:39.720 I think we

00:36:40.540 would have a

00:36:40.980 lot closer

00:36:41.620 representation of

00:36:42.700 the views of

00:36:43.280 Canadians in

00:36:44.020 Parliament today.

00:36:44.920 But people have

00:36:45.740 tended to base

00:36:47.440 their voting

00:36:49.460 habits, they

00:36:50.960 vote out of

00:36:51.440 fear instead of

00:36:52.280 out of hope,

00:36:53.020 I guess.

00:36:54.200 And, you

00:36:55.780 know, so

00:36:56.540 vote splitting,

00:36:57.760 I think if

00:36:58.280 people voted

00:36:59.240 for what they

00:36:59.800 wanted, we

00:37:01.000 would actually

00:37:01.480 have a better

00:37:01.980 idea of what

00:37:02.580 Canadians want.

00:37:04.740 You know, I

00:37:05.160 think there's

00:37:05.600 many more

00:37:06.040 people, I've

00:37:06.740 been told many

00:37:07.520 times, people

00:37:07.960 would, oh, I'd

00:37:08.540 love to vote for

00:37:09.140 you, but I

00:37:09.720 don't want to

00:37:10.220 split the vote.

00:37:11.040 Well, in my

00:37:11.540 writing, Skeena

00:37:12.240 Bulkley Valley,

00:37:13.660 the Conservatives

00:37:14.400 have lost in the

00:37:15.280 last six

00:37:16.260 elections.

00:37:17.240 So the idea

00:37:18.500 that they're

00:37:18.940 going to get

00:37:20.040 rid of our

00:37:20.420 NDP member by

00:37:21.620 voting for a

00:37:22.380 Conservative who's

00:37:23.040 going to lose,

00:37:24.160 and somehow that's

00:37:25.020 going to take

00:37:26.260 power away from

00:37:27.140 Justin Trudeau's

00:37:28.000 Liberals, it's

00:37:29.660 just not logical,

00:37:30.420 but people think

00:37:31.180 that way.

00:37:32.100 We ask people to

00:37:33.280 just vote for

00:37:34.120 what they believe

00:37:34.940 in, and if

00:37:35.960 they did that,

00:37:37.460 our numbers would

00:37:38.500 be much higher

00:37:39.120 than they are,

00:37:40.220 and that would

00:37:40.660 give people hope,

00:37:41.520 right?

00:37:42.700 Christian Heritage

00:37:43.480 Party leader Rod

00:37:44.680 Taylor joining me

00:37:45.420 now.

00:37:45.660 Rod, thanks so

00:37:46.200 much for your

00:37:46.500 time today, good

00:37:47.040 to speak with

00:37:47.440 you.

00:37:48.060 Thank you,

00:37:48.700 Andrew, really a

00:37:49.440 pleasure being with

00:37:50.100 you, and all the

00:37:51.000 best during the rest

00:37:51.940 of this election and

00:37:52.660 on through.

00:37:53.600 Take care.

00:37:54.480 Thank you, God

00:37:55.080 bless you.

00:37:55.900 Yeah, take care.

00:37:56.780 That was Christian 0.75

00:37:58.640 Heritage Party leader

00:37:59.920 Rod Taylor.

00:38:00.920 As I said in the

00:38:01.820 lead-up to that

00:38:02.380 segment, we are here

00:38:03.420 at True North going

00:38:04.140 to pay attention to a

00:38:05.560 lot of the candidates

00:38:06.240 and parties that the

00:38:07.180 mainstream media is

00:38:08.100 not paying attention

00:38:08.980 to, not just because

00:38:10.400 they're not paying

00:38:10.960 attention to them, but

00:38:11.780 because a lot of

00:38:12.440 these people still have

00:38:13.700 something to say, and

00:38:14.580 even if you agree or

00:38:15.740 disagree with it, it

00:38:16.580 doesn't really matter.

00:38:17.820 They're a part of this

00:38:18.560 country and a part of

00:38:19.640 this process, and we've

00:38:20.800 actually gotten a lot

00:38:21.480 of requests from our

00:38:23.120 viewers to have an

00:38:24.580 interview with Rod

00:38:25.480 Taylor, so glad we

00:38:26.300 could accommodate

00:38:26.800 him in the midst of

00:38:28.380 the writ period here.

00:38:29.680 And I'm actually going

00:38:30.440 to be later this week

00:38:32.160 on the road with

00:38:33.260 Maxime Bernier covering

00:38:34.680 the PPC campaign.

00:38:36.380 I spent a few days

00:38:37.260 with the Conservative

00:38:38.120 Party last weekend, or

00:38:39.640 I guess about a week

00:38:40.520 and a week and a few

00:38:41.360 days.

00:38:41.680 Time stands still for

00:38:42.860 me in elections, so

00:38:43.820 it's everything was

00:38:44.740 simultaneously like

00:38:45.900 yesterday and three

00:38:47.240 years ago, but we

00:38:48.920 covered the

00:38:49.440 Conservatives.

00:38:50.260 We're also going to

00:38:51.340 be out West, actually

00:38:52.460 covering the PPC and

00:38:53.680 the Mavericks as well.

00:38:54.760 So lots of time left

00:38:56.200 in the campaign to

00:38:57.080 get things done here.

00:38:58.220 I want to thank all

00:38:58.800 of you who have sent

00:38:59.780 me tips and feedback

00:39:01.060 and all of this other

00:39:02.360 sort of stuff.

00:39:02.940 If you want to, my

00:39:03.820 email address is

00:39:04.820 andrew at

00:39:05.580 truenorthcanada.com.

00:39:07.900 We will wrap things

00:39:09.060 up here.

00:39:09.580 Enjoy the debates.

00:39:10.540 True North's live

00:39:11.480 debate show is

00:39:12.220 tomorrow, Thursday,

00:39:13.380 starting at 8pm

00:39:14.240 Eastern, and I'll be

00:39:15.440 on location from the

00:39:16.660 debate site in

00:39:17.580 Gatineau, Quebec.

00:39:18.800 We'll talk to you

00:39:19.340 soon, folks.

00:39:19.960 Thank you, God bless,

00:39:20.960 and good day to

00:39:21.600 you all.

00:39:22.380 Thanks for listening

00:39:23.020 to the Andrew

00:39:23.640 Lawton Show.

00:39:24.460 Support the program

00:39:25.280 by donating to

00:39:26.080 Truenorth at

00:39:26.780 www.tnc.news.

00:39:29.700 We'll be right back.

Juno News - September 08, 2021

Conservatives need to stop running away from their conservatism

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