Juno News - Corporate Welfare, Internet Speech Crackdown, Forced Bilingualism

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.

00:00:12.580 Coming up, why corporate welfare needs to end,

00:00:16.000 a dangerous proposal to regulate internet news,

00:00:19.180 and why the litmus test on bilingual politicians needs to go away.

00:00:25.200 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:30.000 Yes, indeed. Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends,

00:00:36.120 as that old Emerson, Lake, and Palmer song goes.

00:00:38.460 Good to have you aboard on Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show here on True North.

00:00:43.160 Thanks very much for tuning in.

00:00:45.260 The interesting thing about Canadian politics is that it tends to go sometimes glacially slow,

00:00:53.300 and other times at such pace as you can't keep up with it.

00:00:56.840 It's like feast or famine.

00:00:57.800 And we've actually been very fortunate, given that we're in an election year last year,

00:01:02.740 and that seems to have carried into 2020 so far,

00:01:06.340 that there's a lot going on and a lot to chew on.

00:01:09.200 Not that political news is necessarily good for the country, but it's good for talk radio.

00:01:13.740 So when the country's doing well, I'm happy as a Canadian.

00:01:17.480 When the country's in rough shape, I'm happy as a broadcaster.

00:01:20.460 So it's like that old saying that I've kind of coined,

00:01:23.240 which is there are no bad experiences.

00:01:24.860 There's good experience and there's material.

00:01:27.700 So we're in the material column right now in some respects.

00:01:31.840 We're going to talk later on in the show about this bilingualism litmus test

00:01:36.300 that the media seems to be injecting into Canadian politics,

00:01:39.480 and even into the Canadian Conservative Party's leadership race,

00:01:44.360 which normally has been relatively insulated from this whole Franco-supremacy thing that we see going on.

00:01:52.120 So we'll talk about that later on in the program.

00:01:54.500 I also want to give a little bit of a toast to Nigel Farage and the Brexiteers,

00:02:00.480 who are going to be successful.

00:02:02.440 Britain is leaving the European Union at long last,

00:02:06.780 and this will be the last episode of the show that is recorded while the UK is in the EU.

00:02:13.140 So we have to talk about that and acknowledge a great farewell speech that was done

00:02:17.860 and some other things that are going on in the show today that we'll get to as well.

00:02:21.940 I try not to, at the beginning of the show, tell you too much about what's happening

00:02:25.880 because sometimes I change my mind mid-middle of the show,

00:02:29.240 or I mean, sometimes I change my mind mid-sentence with where we're going.

00:02:32.560 So those little previews about what's coming up, little known fact,

00:02:36.140 I record those at the end once I know what I've talked about.

00:02:38.900 I shouldn't have told you that.

00:02:40.000 No, you never want to know how the sausage is made, so disregard that.

00:02:44.220 It's like a jury.

00:02:44.960 You have to just pretend you never heard that and move on with your life.

00:02:48.140 I do want to start off, though, if you are a credit card user,

00:02:51.760 you are not getting any benefit,

00:02:54.080 even though the company that you may well use for your credit card

00:02:57.020 got a huge $49 million check from the government.

00:03:01.100 This is absolutely insane.

00:03:04.140 MasterCard, one of the two biggest credit card companies in the world,

00:03:07.700 gets $49 million from Justin Trudeau's government to form this intelligence and cyber center,

00:03:16.540 which is going to be $510 million that it costs,

00:03:20.620 and of that, almost 10% coming from the federal government.

00:03:24.400 The center's goal, according to an article in the Vancouver Sun,

00:03:28.720 or a Canadian press article, actually,

00:03:30.220 to ensure that any internet-enabled device ranging from phones and tablets to computers and vehicles

00:03:38.200 can be used without fear that personal or financial information could be stolen.

00:03:44.060 The center will support about 380 jobs and 100 co-op positions.

00:03:49.640 Now, I don't know if they mean like high school co-op students or paid co-op students,

00:03:52.760 but 380 jobs, which works out to be, I think it's like $140,000 or $150,000 per job,

00:03:59.160 if you take the total sum of money that the government is putting into this.

00:04:03.140 But the thing that I find baffling is that on one hand,

00:04:05.880 we're saying this is for cybersecurity.

00:04:09.460 And on the other hand, when Justin Trudeau was asked about this by Andrew Scheer,

00:04:14.340 and also by Jagmeet Singh a lot in the House of Commons,

00:04:18.240 his answer was non-existent.

00:04:21.420 I mean, there was nothing that he said to indicate what actually was going on

00:04:27.540 and what this money was actually for.

00:04:29.560 And I want you to hear this clip

00:04:31.940 and let me know if you have any more of an idea than I do

00:04:35.920 about what it is that Trudeau was actually doing here.

00:04:39.940 MasterCard is a credit card company that makes money off of people

00:04:42.800 who can't afford to pay their full balances.

00:04:45.760 Why did the Prime Minister think that they needed a handout?

00:04:49.620 The Right Honourable Prime Minister.

00:04:53.380 Mr. Speaker, we continue to invest in things

00:04:56.460 that are going to create jobs for Canadians

00:04:58.400 and support hard-working families right across the country.

00:05:01.840 We recognize that investing in different sectors of the economy

00:05:06.300 allows us to move forward in a positive way for Canadians.

00:05:09.940 Everything this government does is focused on growing the middle class

00:05:14.400 and helping people, working hard to join it,

00:05:16.740 like the tax cut we're moving forward with

00:05:19.140 that is putting more money in the pockets of 20 million Canadians

00:05:22.680 and lifting close to a million people off of the federal tax rule.

00:05:26.860 These are the kinds of things that make a difference in people's lives.

00:05:29.560 To give this profitable company $50 million of public money

00:05:36.000 while they drag their feet to deliver the health care that Canadians need

00:05:41.400 so that they can afford the medication,

00:05:43.960 why does the Liberal government keep giving money to profitable companies

00:05:47.160 instead of investing in our health care?

00:05:48.920 The Right Honourable Prime Minister.

00:05:50.940 Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP is choosing to share this erroneous perception

00:05:57.880 that we have not taken real action on moving forward

00:06:02.900 on reducing the cost of prescription drugs for Canadians.

00:06:06.400 We've moved forward in significant ways

00:06:08.760 that have lowered the costs for prescription drugs for Canadians.

00:06:13.120 We've continued to move forward on creating a national drug agency,

00:06:16.760 on moving forward on a strategy for high-cost, rare disease medications.

00:06:22.360 We know there is much more to do.

00:06:23.860 We will continue to work with them and everyone in this house

00:06:26.980 to deliver on affordable health care for all Canadians.

00:06:30.200 What?

00:06:31.360 I...

00:06:31.800 What?

00:06:33.620 So, somehow it ends up becoming about health care and pharma care,

00:06:39.620 and I realize part of that is how NDP leader Jagmeet Singh asked the question.

00:06:43.540 But the original question that Andrew Scheer put forward,

00:06:46.440 a very valuable one.

00:06:47.500 We're talking about a company that posted,

00:06:49.340 I think it was 60 billion or $16 billion in profits.

00:06:54.120 I want to verify that because I had it up on my screen here a moment ago.

00:06:57.680 I think it was $16 billion in revenue last year, not profits, revenue.

00:07:03.140 And we're still talking about a multi-billion dollar company

00:07:06.060 and a profitable company,

00:07:07.680 and one that in many cases is recession-proof in some respects.

00:07:12.220 Now, in other areas, you look at consumer behavior.

00:07:15.120 If you don't have much money, you don't have much cash flow,

00:07:18.020 you're more reliant on credit card.

00:07:20.000 So Visa and MasterCard have solid business models.

00:07:22.600 They tend to do very well over time,

00:07:24.380 and they're getting a bailout, essentially, of $49 million

00:07:28.660 to do something that it sounds like would be a selling point for their business.

00:07:34.620 If MasterCard's saying, hey, we've got this state-of-the-art center

00:07:38.080 that is going to protect your information,

00:07:40.680 protect you, protect all that you're doing,

00:07:42.760 that seems like a really good feature that is going to pay off over time.

00:07:48.120 If it is just about protecting consumer interests

00:07:51.980 and protecting consumer data,

00:07:53.860 then all companies would have these things.

00:07:56.140 The government would be giving money to Visa to do it,

00:07:58.580 to Amex, to all of the banks.

00:08:00.420 No, it's to MasterCard only.

00:08:03.160 And when asked about it, Trudeau doesn't mention cybersecurity.

00:08:06.420 Trudeau doesn't mention all about the Internet of Things

00:08:09.200 and the immersive economy and data and all this stuff.

00:08:11.740 He says, oh, well, we're always going to invest in things

00:08:14.260 that are going to create jobs. 0.93

00:08:16.700 I mean, the problem with corporate welfare

00:08:18.900 is that it never actually creates jobs.

00:08:22.640 It's like that age-old expression.

00:08:24.280 If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.

00:08:27.380 If you give him a fish, he just eats for that one day.

00:08:30.140 And I know I reversed it there, but the sentiment is still true.

00:08:33.240 If you give a bailout or a check

00:08:36.140 or a corporate welfare payment of some kind for jobs,

00:08:41.140 those jobs are only going to exist

00:08:43.260 as long as that government check is there

00:08:45.920 because it is not a sustainable job

00:08:48.240 unless the business model of the company says it's sustainable.

00:08:52.440 And you look at Bombardier as a fantastic example of this,

00:08:55.900 a company that can't stand on its own two feet

00:08:59.080 unless someone is holding it up from behind,

00:09:01.440 pulling it from above, and holding it at the sides

00:09:03.880 just to make sure.

00:09:04.840 This is a company that only exists

00:09:07.140 to be a receptacle of corporate welfare.

00:09:10.440 And the problem with this is that when you're in a recession,

00:09:13.260 government says, well, the economy is bad.

00:09:15.660 We've got to protect and promote and preserve.

00:09:18.340 So we've got to put all of this money towards companies.

00:09:20.900 And when we're in a relatively good economy,

00:09:23.680 and a lot of that is because of the United States,

00:09:26.220 but we're in a relatively good economy,

00:09:28.480 then the government says, well, things are going well.

00:09:30.440 We can afford it.

00:09:31.380 We can afford to invest.

00:09:33.280 So I'm sitting here as a taxpayer going,

00:09:35.780 wait, well, if the time to invest is when things are bad

00:09:39.900 and the time to invest is when things are good

00:09:42.520 and when things are in between you invest

00:09:44.640 because you don't want them to get bad,

00:09:45.780 when is the time to not spend money on this?

00:09:48.280 When is the point that, okay,

00:09:49.500 well, I guess we don't need corporate welfare anymore.

00:09:52.760 And it's not just MasterCard.

00:09:54.340 It's not just Bombardier.

00:09:56.020 Loblaw, a great example,

00:09:57.340 which just a few weeks ago announced job losses

00:09:59.780 despite getting millions from the federal government,

00:10:02.900 I think last year.

00:10:04.100 It might've been two years ago,

00:10:05.280 but I'm pretty sure it was last year.

00:10:08.660 I mean, so when Maxime Bernier comes out

00:10:10.600 and says we're going to end corporate welfare,

00:10:12.400 everyone said, oh, well, that's terrible.

00:10:13.540 That's, you can't do that.

00:10:14.680 Why?

00:10:15.500 What on earth does Canada get out of corporate welfare?

00:10:18.660 Corporate welfare is what leads to companies

00:10:21.820 like S&C Lavalin staying on board and online

00:10:25.880 and getting government contracts.

00:10:27.480 Corporate welfare is the mentality

00:10:28.920 that keeps Bombardier on life support.

00:10:31.340 And corporate welfare is even rewarding profitable,

00:10:34.680 I'd say successful companies for what purpose?

00:10:39.120 For what purpose?

00:10:40.140 How are Canadians benefiting

00:10:42.460 from this money going to MasterCard?

00:10:45.160 And interestingly enough,

00:10:46.380 I was reading in one article a comment that said,

00:10:49.640 this is actually going to be about cybersecurity

00:10:51.620 for the entire world.

00:10:54.140 So this little center in Vancouver

00:10:55.900 is going to be part of MasterCard's global operation.

00:10:59.120 And I know Canada is going to get the employment out of it, 0.80

00:11:01.800 but then I'm like, well, wait,

00:11:02.820 why is customer satisfaction

00:11:05.880 for MasterCard customers in Britain or India

00:11:09.940 or Japan or the United States?

00:11:12.600 Why is that now the responsibility of Canada?

00:11:16.580 And this whole thing is absolutely senseless,

00:11:20.340 but this is where we're going.

00:11:22.000 And now Justin Trudeau's got a friend for life

00:11:24.020 from MasterCard.

00:11:25.480 He's got a friend for life

00:11:26.500 from the people that are going to be working

00:11:28.300 at this center in Vancouver.

00:11:29.800 And the whole point is,

00:11:31.320 if the economy is doing well,

00:11:33.080 these companies clearly can afford

00:11:35.180 to staff their own centers

00:11:37.380 and they can afford to do their own projects

00:11:40.180 because the other side of corporate welfare

00:11:43.680 is that government is picking and choosing winners.

00:11:46.820 Why not Visa?

00:11:47.800 Why not Amex?

00:11:48.680 Why not TD?

00:11:49.520 Why not Scotia?

00:11:50.280 And the reason is once you start doing that,

00:11:53.040 you can't afford it.

00:11:53.860 You can't afford to pay everyone off.

00:11:55.820 So you just pick and choose which ones do.

00:11:58.480 And then these companies have a competitive advantage

00:12:01.400 over all of the other ones.

00:12:03.440 You let the market work this stuff out.

00:12:05.640 And that's why I absolutely love Rick Peterson's idea,

00:12:10.540 which is the conservative leadership candidate

00:12:12.900 who is rehashing the tax plan that he had in 2017

00:12:17.100 in the leadership race,

00:12:18.340 which is to say a 15% personal flat tax

00:12:21.640 for personal income tax and an abolition,

00:12:24.640 a complete abolishment of the corporate income tax rate.

00:12:29.140 And doing this is going to let individuals

00:12:32.380 better manage their finances

00:12:33.780 and also take a lot of the burdens off of companies,

00:12:37.080 particularly small and medium-sized companies,

00:12:39.740 so that they can better be equipped

00:12:42.420 to deal with the market

00:12:43.740 and deal with the market realities.

00:12:46.180 And the way you support companies,

00:12:48.540 real corporate welfare,

00:12:50.380 is by allowing a climate that can let them invest.

00:12:55.560 Because the problem is that there is inevitably

00:12:58.640 going to be a race to the bottom.

00:13:00.840 You see this with production, with film productions.

00:13:04.000 There are more and more,

00:13:04.760 if you watch the credits of movies,

00:13:06.280 which I do because I have no life,

00:13:08.160 the more and more films you see at the end

00:13:12.080 are produced in partnership with the state of Georgia,

00:13:16.240 produced in partnership with the state of Oklahoma,

00:13:19.020 even produced in partnership with these.

00:13:20.860 And ones that are filmed in Canada,

00:13:22.500 the list goes on of, oh, the Telefilm Grant

00:13:24.680 and ACTRA and the, you know, Quebec Film Board

00:13:28.660 and the Canadian Film Board and the National,

00:13:30.400 like, you see this and the list goes on and on

00:13:33.300 of all of these organizations

00:13:34.620 that contributed in some way

00:13:36.040 to buying that production going there.

00:13:38.940 And remember, when Amazon was looking around

00:13:41.860 for its HQ2 that everyone was asking about, 0.97

00:13:46.060 this was like pathetic, 0.94

00:13:48.220 the way that cities, provinces 0.99

00:13:49.900 were bending over backwards to say,

00:13:52.160 how much can we give Amazon?

00:13:53.820 We're just going to make it rain

00:13:54.800 to buy them to come here.

00:13:56.860 And I don't fault the companies for this

00:13:58.840 because the companies are doing what any company is.

00:14:01.840 If someone were to come to me and said,

00:14:03.820 Andrew, I'm going to give you this,

00:14:06.580 for this thing you're already going to do anyway,

00:14:08.240 I'm going to pay for 20% of it.

00:14:09.780 I'd be, all right, just sign me up,

00:14:12.160 hand over the check.

00:14:12.880 Where is it?

00:14:13.860 The responsibility is for government to say no

00:14:17.540 and to say, listen, I mean,

00:14:19.020 we can promise you we'll stay out of your way.

00:14:20.860 We won't regulate you out of existence.

00:14:22.780 We won't tax you out of existence,

00:14:24.360 but we're not going to get into this race

00:14:27.220 to the bottom of buying you to come here

00:14:30.040 because that's what these companies are doing now.

00:14:32.580 They're leveraging their own existence

00:14:34.580 and it's forcing corporate welfare to be ramped up,

00:14:39.260 which is why you have to stop it all.

00:14:40.820 You can't just pick and choose.

00:14:42.100 You have to say, no,

00:14:43.240 this is not something that we are going to rely on

00:14:46.940 as being a tool to somehow grow the economy

00:14:50.260 because it just isn't going to work that way.

00:14:53.820 And that, by the way,

00:14:54.700 when Trudeau says in that little response there,

00:14:57.680 what was supposedly to pass for a response

00:15:00.000 about the importance of, you know,

00:15:02.060 growing the middle class and those seeking to join it,

00:15:04.940 we still don't have a definition for it.

00:15:07.860 So this minister for middle-class prosperity,

00:15:11.620 Mona Fortier, has been on the job now for how long? 0.66

00:15:15.080 Three months, pushing three months,

00:15:16.920 and still cannot identify it.

00:15:20.000 And this was, I think, absolutely laughable

00:15:23.360 because the middle class is this malleable term,

00:15:28.540 but Trudeau speaks of it like it's gospel.

00:15:30.920 He says, oh, you know,

00:15:31.500 the middle class and those seeking to join it.

00:15:33.360 Okay, seeking to join it.

00:15:35.260 What's that target?

00:15:36.340 What's that benchmark?

00:15:37.740 How do I know when I've made it there?

00:15:39.420 How do I know when I've joined the middle class?

00:15:41.260 And the answer to that, according to Trudeau

00:15:44.520 and according to Minister Fortier,

00:15:48.020 quote,

00:15:48.780 The income required to attain a middle-class lifestyle

00:15:51.940 can vary greatly based on Canadians' specific situation.

00:15:56.340 Canada has no statistical measure,

00:15:59.420 no official statistical measure,

00:16:01.160 of what constitutes the middle class.

00:16:04.060 The trick in this is that everyone thinks they're middle class

00:16:07.380 because no one views themselves as being particularly wealthy.

00:16:12.400 I mean, you've got the super rich, obviously,

00:16:13.900 but most people, even those who are very affluent,

00:16:17.880 are going to say, yeah, you know, I'm middle class.

00:16:19.600 And we subcategorize under there,

00:16:21.680 upper middle class, middle middle class,

00:16:23.940 lower middle class.

00:16:25.100 But the government is basically mandating this group

00:16:29.360 that it has no interest in defining,

00:16:31.960 which is great because this is what they do

00:16:33.500 with assault weapons and all of these other things.

00:16:35.400 They just pick a word and expect that everyone knows

00:16:38.900 what it means when it's actually nothing to do

00:16:42.340 with what the government is saying it's to do with.

00:16:46.840 But it's laughable to me that so many people

00:16:49.640 are prepared to go along with this.

00:16:51.960 You as might as well have the Ministry of Feel Goods,

00:16:54.680 the Ministry of Platitudes,

00:16:56.000 the Ministry of whatever.

00:16:57.500 Silly Walks was the old Monty Python one

00:16:59.860 because this is what we're dealing with here.

00:17:02.000 It's a ministry that is completely non-existent

00:17:04.560 for a portion of the population that is not defined.

00:17:08.160 Imagine, for example, there was a Minister of Poverty

00:17:10.740 and they were asked, okay, well, what's poverty?

00:17:13.560 What's poverty?

00:17:14.240 And they said, well, you know,

00:17:15.220 you've got to be open to different things.

00:17:19.540 And, you know, poverty looks different in Toronto

00:17:22.060 than it does in Hamilton,

00:17:23.920 than it does in Owens Sound,

00:17:25.140 than it does in Burnaby.

00:17:26.380 And, you know, poverty, you know,

00:17:28.140 you know if you're impoverished.

00:17:29.480 She's like, well, okay, maybe you do,

00:17:32.060 but if you're talking about a national strategy

00:17:34.200 to address it,

00:17:35.900 you'd think or hope that maybe there is a number in mind

00:17:39.580 or a metric in mind.

00:17:41.540 And it's not just that they haven't figured it out yet.

00:17:44.380 It's that this minister doesn't seem

00:17:46.500 to think it's relevant to even have one.

00:17:49.200 Because she's now had several months,

00:17:51.040 but MP Pat Kelly asks her in the House of Commons,

00:17:53.820 okay, what is it?

00:17:54.480 And she's like, yeah, there's no measure.

00:17:55.780 Then what's the point?

00:17:58.360 How do we know if we've succeeded

00:18:00.600 in achieving that Trudopian dream

00:18:02.360 of joining the middle class

00:18:03.680 if we don't have a measure to know we've got there?

00:18:07.840 More of The Andrew Lawton Show in just a moment.

00:18:10.080 Stay tuned.

00:18:14.260 Hey, welcome back.

00:18:17.860 So I don't really trust government to do all that much.

00:18:22.060 And I don't think I'm alone in this.

00:18:24.420 So color me a little bit skeptical

00:18:27.520 of these proposals that appear in a report

00:18:30.180 that was just tabled before government the other day.

00:18:32.940 In fact, a report chaired by Janet Yale,

00:18:36.080 who was the head of the Broadcasting

00:18:37.660 and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel.

00:18:41.520 She pushed her report to government.

00:18:44.340 And this report deals with a number of issues

00:18:48.000 from whether to tax Netflix

00:18:50.200 to how to make streaming services

00:18:52.300 provide Canadian content,

00:18:53.840 whether CBC is permitted

00:18:56.020 or should be permitted to have advertising

00:18:57.920 or should be entirely reliant on subsidies.

00:19:01.780 And the final report called

00:19:03.380 Canada's Communications Future, Time to Act

00:19:06.420 lists a number of recommendations

00:19:08.860 that among other things

00:19:12.300 would just completely disrupt

00:19:14.740 the way telecommunications

00:19:16.100 and traditional media operate now in some ways.

00:19:20.520 And in other ways, I think,

00:19:21.700 are just absolute tax grabs.

00:19:23.780 But there are a couple of very concerning ones in here.

00:19:26.600 As I look through the list,

00:19:28.320 and I mean, how many recommendations are there?

00:19:29.860 I think there are 97.

00:19:32.740 97 recommendations.

00:19:34.240 But I want to read two in particular

00:19:36.400 that have stood out.

00:19:37.280 And I might do more in the future

00:19:39.260 as I work my way through this.

00:19:41.260 But the two in particular,

00:19:43.160 number 73 and 74,

00:19:45.520 we recommend that to promote

00:19:47.180 the discoverability of Canadian news content,

00:19:50.380 the CRTC impose the following requirements

00:19:53.160 as appropriate on media aggregation

00:19:55.800 and media sharing undertakings.

00:19:57.860 Links to the websites of Canadian sources

00:20:00.580 of accurate, trusted, and reliable sources of news

00:20:04.460 with a view to ensuring a diversity of voices

00:20:07.320 and prominence rules to ensure visibility

00:20:11.240 and access to such sources of news.

00:20:14.340 And number 74,

00:20:15.440 we recommend that the Broadcasting Act

00:20:17.560 be amended to ensure that the CRTC can,

00:20:20.560 by regulation, condition of license,

00:20:22.920 or condition of registration,

00:20:24.920 impose codes of conduct,

00:20:27.020 including provisions with respect

00:20:28.640 to resolution mechanisms,

00:20:30.720 transparency, privacy, and accessibility

00:20:33.060 regarding all media content undertakings.

00:20:37.320 Now, the reason this is so important

00:20:39.660 is because we're talking about

00:20:41.700 the imposition of codes of conduct

00:20:43.420 and also a government definition

00:20:45.660 of what a reliable and fair news organization is.

00:20:49.140 And the only way it can do this

00:20:51.120 is by a centralized registry of online media.

00:20:55.600 And this is something I've been sounding the alarm

00:20:57.840 about for quite some time

00:20:59.500 because it was only a matter of time

00:21:01.720 before it got to this point.

00:21:03.540 As the government takes its crusade

00:21:05.140 against fake news

00:21:06.140 and all of these other things

00:21:07.680 they use as terms of convenience.

00:21:10.680 And Blacklock's reporter,

00:21:11.940 which has just been doing

00:21:12.800 some phenomenal work as of late,

00:21:14.760 had picked up on this as well.

00:21:16.480 And they noted that the report calls

00:21:19.220 for internet news media

00:21:20.440 to register with the government

00:21:22.440 and ultimately do this

00:21:25.440 so that they would be subject

00:21:26.900 to federal codes of conduct.

00:21:28.880 Now, the chair of the panel says,

00:21:31.220 we are not proposing to regulate the internet

00:21:33.860 and we are not proposing

00:21:35.140 to regulate news online.

00:21:37.640 Nevertheless, the panel's report

00:21:39.840 calls what we have right now in Canada

00:21:42.020 a crisis in news.

00:21:44.000 They say it's about helping production of content

00:21:46.680 and all of these other things.

00:21:49.040 Here's the problem.

00:21:50.980 The CRTC does not have jurisdiction

00:21:54.200 over the content of online news.

00:21:57.180 The CRTC has content restrictions

00:21:59.760 on what goes on conventional broadcast.

00:22:02.880 The CBSA has some other controls

00:22:05.740 and I know that's technically industry-led

00:22:08.080 but still it has essentially

00:22:10.380 the force of law behind it.

00:22:12.180 So when you start broadening

00:22:14.300 who's included in this to online media,

00:22:17.440 how can there not be an issue

00:22:20.760 of what we're seeing now,

00:22:22.440 which is the liberals wanting to pick

00:22:24.180 and choose who can access their events,

00:22:25.960 who can cover things,

00:22:27.280 extending to government.

00:22:28.720 And this is so dangerous for Canada,

00:22:32.520 so dangerous that we even have

00:22:34.220 the inch of support

00:22:37.020 or ounce of support, I guess is more accurate,

00:22:40.100 for a registry of government-approved news.

00:22:44.240 Because this is what was happening

00:22:45.620 when the bailout list was put together.

00:22:48.040 All of a sudden, there's a right answer

00:22:50.140 and a wrong answer to

00:22:51.480 what are you doing as an organization.

00:22:54.180 And the government has used this now

00:22:56.400 as the basis to say,

00:22:57.740 all right, well, you're government-approved media.

00:22:59.780 And you may remember back in the federal election,

00:23:02.300 I was jumping around trying to cover the campaign

00:23:04.640 and the liberals were saying,

00:23:05.980 oh, you're not accredited media.

00:23:07.780 You don't have accreditation.

00:23:09.780 And as you've heard me say in the past,

00:23:11.820 there is no centralized accreditation database in Canada,

00:23:15.560 nor should there be.

00:23:17.100 Countries like the UK have press cards,

00:23:19.300 other countries have press licenses,

00:23:21.180 but in Canada, that does not exist.

00:23:23.340 And it shouldn't exist

00:23:24.420 because in a freedom-loving country,

00:23:26.420 a country with free press,

00:23:27.740 there's no gatekeeper to who can be a journalist.

00:23:31.260 You are a journalist or you're not.

00:23:32.760 It's a craft.

00:23:33.820 It's not a licensed profession.

00:23:36.180 And when you start talking about state registries

00:23:39.500 and the idea that there has to be a list

00:23:42.500 of government-approved media,

00:23:44.580 it's impossible to not have that go down the road

00:23:47.560 of government picking and choosing

00:23:48.920 who's legitimate based on subjective measures.

00:23:53.040 And they will be subjective.

00:23:54.880 There's no way they won't be

00:23:55.920 because in a lot of cases,

00:23:57.800 this idea of fake news is in this column

00:24:00.840 of I know it when I see it.

00:24:03.080 And what the government likes to call fake news

00:24:05.400 is opinion it disagrees with.

00:24:08.400 And if you say, all right,

00:24:09.340 well, there's the line right there.

00:24:10.560 No opinion is allowed.

00:24:12.140 Well, CBC has opinion.

00:24:13.560 Toronto Star has opinion.

00:24:14.680 National Post has opinion.

00:24:16.440 Legitimate media incorporates opinion.

00:24:19.700 So all of these platforms,

00:24:21.760 of which True North is one, by the way,

00:24:24.400 risk the government saying,

00:24:26.120 no, no, no, you're not officially.

00:24:28.300 You're not officially media on the list.

00:24:30.900 And once you're off that list,

00:24:33.300 it's not just about whether you get the tax credit

00:24:35.620 or the bailout money,

00:24:36.580 which True North doesn't get and isn't interested in,

00:24:39.660 but it goes beyond that.

00:24:41.160 You lose access

00:24:42.160 because now the government has a tool

00:24:44.620 to deny you access to government events.

00:24:48.160 They say, oh, well, the CRTC has reviewed

00:24:50.640 and you don't fall into this list.

00:24:53.440 So it basically is trying to silence new media

00:24:56.800 and protect the stronghold

00:24:59.460 that traditional media used to have,

00:25:01.240 and I think in some ways thinks they have,

00:25:04.040 on the media sector and on the media industry.

00:25:07.860 So Ms. Yale can say, all right,

00:25:09.840 well, we're not trying to regulate online news.

00:25:11.560 Well, what is this code of conduct?

00:25:13.280 What is the code of conduct?

00:25:15.340 What is the code of conduct going to be

00:25:17.860 that by this report's own definition

00:25:20.140 will be imposed on those who register

00:25:23.940 with the CRTC on these online content providers

00:25:27.680 that are going to be trying to play ball with this

00:25:30.820 because they feel they have to,

00:25:32.240 because that's the only way

00:25:33.280 they'll be able to survive as organizations.

00:25:35.920 And when you read the report,

00:25:38.580 it doesn't actually give you all that much clarity

00:25:41.780 as far as what that means

00:25:44.140 and what that would look like.

00:25:45.760 Now, the good news is this isn't a law.

00:25:47.700 This isn't a bill.

00:25:48.460 The government has to pick this up

00:25:49.960 and decide if it's worth legislating

00:25:52.300 anything further on it.

00:25:54.020 I'm going through some of the other recommendations right now.

00:25:57.620 And like I said at the beginning of this,

00:25:59.000 there is going to be a fair bit of material there

00:26:01.500 that I can work through at other points

00:26:03.860 in the show in the future.

00:26:05.720 And certainly I'll take a look

00:26:07.360 and see if things are being addressed or ignored.

00:26:10.560 And if I have something to add, I will.

00:26:13.380 But I do want to read one additional paragraph here

00:26:17.060 that I think is important.

00:26:18.500 If I can pull it up here,

00:26:19.800 it's that to further promote regulatory efficiency

00:26:23.640 and flexibility,

00:26:25.860 the CRTC should have the power

00:26:27.420 to provide partial or additional relief

00:26:29.860 to issue conditional and interim decisions

00:26:32.260 and to issue ex parte decisions

00:26:34.500 where it considers that the circumstances

00:26:36.220 of the case justifies it.

00:26:38.600 Now, the problem with this

00:26:40.360 is that you're dealing with a regulatory framework

00:26:43.920 that would allow CRTC to start clapping

00:26:46.380 or clamping down on these new media operations

00:26:50.520 that are supposed to be included

00:26:52.520 in the now broadened list of content providers.

00:26:59.380 So these codes of conduct,

00:27:01.600 I mean, some of them that they talk about

00:27:03.180 are how advertising to children works.

00:27:05.820 But others are, and I want to read this section,

00:27:10.880 could apply to different undertakings

00:27:13.140 depending on the level of editorial control they exercise.

00:27:17.520 So codes of conduct could extend

00:27:21.240 to editorial content on new media.

00:27:25.720 And that is absolutely the death knell

00:27:29.600 for free speech in Canada

00:27:32.020 if the government is now regulating the internet speech,

00:27:35.340 not just by saying who's official and who's not,

00:27:37.860 but even by having the mandatory capability

00:27:40.840 of enforcing adherence to an editorial code of conduct.

00:27:45.140 And I'm sorry, but there is no way in hell

00:27:50.120 I would ever agree to play by their rules.

00:27:54.420 There isn't.

00:27:55.840 This is not an organization that has jurisdiction.

00:27:59.700 And if government gives it jurisdiction,

00:28:01.820 everyone better stand up and say no.

00:28:05.420 And this is, by the way,

00:28:06.660 just to segue into a clip I wanted to play for you,

00:28:09.720 what the UK has done with Brexit.

00:28:12.220 I said at the top of the show,

00:28:13.140 the last day, the last show that is recorded

00:28:16.740 while the UK is in the EU.

00:28:18.760 And because of this,

00:28:19.620 I have to share a little bit of this speech

00:28:21.640 that Nigel Farage gave in the European Parliament,

00:28:24.700 signaling his own exit,

00:28:25.940 the last speech he'll give in the European Parliament.

00:28:28.720 And it ended in such a glorious way

00:28:31.800 as the chair of the parliament

00:28:34.120 basically proved the point

00:28:36.320 of what the UK is leaving for.

00:28:39.720 Take a watch.

00:28:40.380 I want Brexit to start a debate

00:28:42.480 across the rest of Europe.

00:28:43.820 What do we want from Europe?

00:28:45.600 If we want trade, friendship,

00:28:47.840 cooperation, reciprocity,

00:28:49.800 we don't need a European Commission.

00:28:52.600 We don't need a European Court.

00:28:54.940 We don't need these institutions

00:28:56.780 and all of this power.

00:28:58.360 And I can promise you,

00:29:00.420 both in UKIP and indeed in the Brexit Party,

00:29:03.460 we love Europe.

00:29:05.760 We just hate the European Union.

00:29:08.320 It's as simple as that.

00:29:10.480 So I'm hoping this begins the end of this project.

00:29:15.540 It's a bad project.

00:29:16.560 It isn't just undemocratic.

00:29:19.240 It's anti-democratic.

00:29:20.880 And it puts in that front row.

00:29:22.800 It gives people power without accountability.

00:29:26.880 People who cannot be held to account by the electorate.

00:29:30.660 And that is an unacceptable structure.

00:29:33.340 Indeed, there's an historic battle going on now

00:29:36.140 across the West,

00:29:37.300 in Europe,

00:29:38.200 America,

00:29:38.780 and elsewhere.

00:29:40.080 It is globalism against populism.

00:29:44.260 And you may loathe populism,

00:29:46.520 but I tell you a funny thing,

00:29:48.000 it's becoming very popular.

00:29:51.280 And it has great benefits.

00:29:53.860 No more financial contributions.

00:29:56.080 No more European Court of Justice.

00:29:58.480 No more common fisheries policy.

00:30:01.000 No more being talked down to.

00:30:02.920 No more being bullied.

00:30:05.080 No more Guy Verhofstadt.

00:30:07.140 I mean,

00:30:07.720 what's not to like?

00:30:10.760 I know you're going to miss us.

00:30:12.680 I know you want to ban our national flags.

00:30:15.360 But we're going to wave you goodbye.

00:30:17.700 And we'll look forward in the future

00:30:19.920 to working with you as sovereign.

00:30:24.900 If you disobey the rules,

00:30:26.940 you get cut off.

00:30:28.440 Could we please remove the flags?

00:30:33.620 Mr Farage.

00:30:34.860 Could we remove the flags, please?

00:30:38.780 That's it.

00:30:39.320 It's all over.

00:30:40.280 Finished.

00:30:42.500 We've gone.

00:30:44.180 Could I please ask for quiet?

00:30:45.900 Thank you.

00:30:46.520 Thank you.

00:30:47.740 Thank you.

00:30:48.700 Thank you.

00:30:48.820 Thank you.

00:30:48.900 Thank you.

00:30:48.920 Thank you.

00:30:49.000 Thank you.

00:30:49.080 Thank you.

00:30:49.420 Thank you.

00:30:50.920 Thank you.

00:30:51.000 Thank you.

00:30:51.500 Thank you.

00:30:51.920 Thank you.

00:30:52.420 Thank you.

00:30:55.320 I'm really...

00:30:56.320 Please sit down.

00:30:57.460 Resume your seats.

00:30:58.520 Put your flags away.

00:30:59.620 You're leaving.

00:31:00.280 And take them with you.

00:31:01.540 If you are leaving now.

00:31:02.940 Goodbye.

00:31:08.640 Isn't that just great?

00:31:09.440 Leave and take your flags with you.

00:31:11.640 I mean, the EU's entire existence

00:31:13.740 is trying to deny countries

00:31:15.240 their individuality.

00:31:16.520 So it's unsurprising

00:31:17.940 that they have a ban

00:31:18.900 on national flags

00:31:20.520 by the same stretch.

00:31:21.660 But Nigel Farage

00:31:22.540 and his caucus

00:31:23.560 happily obliged.

00:31:24.680 They left

00:31:25.040 and they took their flags with them

00:31:26.500 and they won't be coming back.

00:31:28.560 So good for the UK

00:31:29.320 for finally getting it.

00:31:30.380 I know there are still some issues

00:31:31.880 to be worked out.

00:31:32.820 But again,

00:31:33.520 this idea of

00:31:34.780 figure it out later

00:31:35.800 actually makes more sense

00:31:37.100 than delay indefinitely

00:31:38.660 while you try to come up

00:31:39.560 with a deal

00:31:40.040 when that lets the EU

00:31:41.700 drag its heels.

00:31:42.700 So thanks very much

00:31:43.660 for indulging

00:31:44.280 as I play that clip.

00:31:45.180 I'm a big Nigel Farage fan.

00:31:46.760 Back in a moment

00:31:47.480 with the perils

00:31:48.480 of official bilingualism

00:31:49.920 here on

00:31:50.500 The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:31:51.540 You're tuned in

00:31:54.060 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:32:00.280 Welcome back.

00:32:01.440 Bienvenue tout le monde.

00:32:02.860 The bilingualism litmus test

00:32:05.320 is something that we have

00:32:06.380 to talk about here

00:32:07.220 because it's not

00:32:08.160 a requirement

00:32:09.360 to be the Conservative leader.

00:32:10.780 It's not a requirement

00:32:11.580 to be the Prime Minister

00:32:12.520 of Canada.

00:32:13.460 But the media thinks

00:32:14.400 it's not only necessary

00:32:15.740 but also is the most

00:32:17.560 important trait required

00:32:19.400 if you want to lead

00:32:20.320 the country

00:32:21.140 or lead a party.

00:32:22.540 And I'm here to say

00:32:23.380 I don't think

00:32:24.000 that's the case.

00:32:24.920 Now there are a couple

00:32:26.220 of things at stake here.

00:32:27.480 Peter McKay

00:32:28.120 when he announced

00:32:28.800 his campaign

00:32:29.520 made a little bit

00:32:30.580 of a flub

00:32:31.440 in the words

00:32:32.380 that he chose to use

00:32:34.020 when he was announcing.

00:32:35.700 Now admittedly

00:32:36.360 it's kind of a boneheaded move

00:32:38.100 to when you're announcing

00:32:39.200 and presumably

00:32:39.780 you're reading from a script

00:32:40.880 not using

00:32:42.380 the proper French terms.

00:32:44.420 I think he used

00:32:45.480 a three word line

00:32:46.720 and of the three words

00:32:47.900 he got exactly

00:32:48.700 three words wrong

00:32:49.820 which again

00:32:51.440 doesn't bode well

00:32:52.420 but it makes you mocked

00:32:53.920 but it doesn't take away

00:32:55.800 from the point here.

00:32:56.640 And the words

00:32:57.880 that he used

00:32:59.060 je serai candidat

00:33:01.540 instead of

00:33:02.360 je serai candidat.

00:33:04.180 And well

00:33:04.820 that may sound similar

00:33:05.920 if you don't speak French

00:33:06.900 it's

00:33:07.320 if you were to say it

00:33:08.280 in English

00:33:08.580 it would be like

00:33:09.260 imbcandidate

00:33:10.700 or imbcandida

00:33:12.280 or something

00:33:12.800 was what Stephen Marr

00:33:13.820 of Maclean's

00:33:14.520 tried to compare it to.

00:33:16.340 And it's not as amusing

00:33:17.460 as JFK's

00:33:19.280 infamous

00:33:19.980 ode to the jelly donut

00:33:21.280 the Ich bin ein

00:33:22.260 Berliner

00:33:22.840 error in German

00:33:24.400 but it is certainly

00:33:26.160 something that got

00:33:27.140 McKay mocked.

00:33:28.100 He was on the front page

00:33:29.060 of Le Journal de Québec

00:33:30.280 Le Journal de Montréal

00:33:31.400 and they were

00:33:32.520 saying in English

00:33:33.720 on Le Journal de Québec

00:33:35.500 good luck mister

00:33:36.820 as if to say

00:33:37.640 he has no hope

00:33:38.620 in heck of winning

00:33:39.300 because he didn't speak

00:33:40.600 those three words

00:33:41.600 of French properly.

00:33:42.460 And I do think

00:33:44.500 it's interesting

00:33:45.140 why Peter McKay

00:33:46.420 doesn't speak French

00:33:48.220 better.

00:33:48.660 I mean he's had

00:33:49.420 prime ministerial ambitions

00:33:50.880 for quite some time

00:33:52.020 he's obviously

00:33:53.440 been in politics

00:33:55.100 he as a cabinet minister

00:33:56.320 had access to

00:33:57.280 private French lessons

00:33:58.780 since then

00:33:59.640 he could have learned

00:34:00.360 so if he hasn't

00:34:01.780 I wonder why

00:34:03.480 but at the same time

00:34:04.480 I also think

00:34:05.300 that

00:34:05.960 we put way too much

00:34:07.820 stock in this

00:34:08.600 and

00:34:08.760 I don't even want to say

00:34:10.260 we

00:34:10.560 because I don't think

00:34:11.340 Canadians do

00:34:12.240 the media puts way

00:34:13.800 too much stock in this

00:34:14.960 and

00:34:16.080 Aaron O'Toole even

00:34:18.060 the conservative

00:34:18.760 leadership candidate

00:34:19.680 decided to spike

00:34:20.740 the football

00:34:21.280 on McKay

00:34:22.820 and Aaron O'Toole

00:34:23.700 had tweeted out

00:34:24.560 a link to this

00:34:25.280 McLean's article

00:34:26.140 called

00:34:26.840 Why Doesn't Peter McKay

00:34:27.860 Speak French

00:34:28.440 and he had said

00:34:29.720 in it

00:34:31.060 where was the

00:34:31.920 exact thing

00:34:32.780 how can you represent

00:34:33.780 Quebecers 0.66

00:34:34.400 when you can't speak

00:34:35.400 their language

00:34:36.180 and this was like

00:34:37.580 the first attack

00:34:38.640 of the conservative

00:34:39.480 leadership race

00:34:40.320 I think

00:34:40.740 and I've thought

00:34:42.280 about this a lot

00:34:43.040 and I think

00:34:43.440 there is a benefit

00:34:44.440 to speaking French

00:34:45.420 I think if you're

00:34:46.160 running a national campaign

00:34:47.600 and you know

00:34:48.160 that you're going

00:34:48.600 to be approached

00:34:49.160 by French language media

00:34:50.640 and you're going

00:34:51.180 to want to talk

00:34:51.880 to French voters

00:34:52.640 and be in a French debate

00:34:53.860 there is an advantage

00:34:55.520 to speaking French

00:34:56.980 but I don't think

00:34:58.420 it's a requirement

00:34:59.260 and I don't think

00:35:00.320 it's a given

00:35:01.000 and by the way

00:35:02.860 this litmus test

00:35:03.720 is not

00:35:04.340 a long-standing one

00:35:06.100 it's relatively new

00:35:07.160 in 1993

00:35:08.480 Preston Manning

00:35:09.620 did the French

00:35:10.200 language debate

00:35:11.040 and he got up

00:35:12.380 on stage

00:35:12.820 read a prepared

00:35:13.620 statement

00:35:14.080 I believe in English

00:35:15.280 I can't remember

00:35:16.520 I think it was

00:35:17.080 in English

00:35:17.440 that he read it

00:35:17.960 but it was

00:35:18.200 a prepared statement

00:35:19.040 didn't participate

00:35:20.280 in the debating

00:35:21.000 part of the French

00:35:21.860 debate

00:35:22.120 because he couldn't

00:35:22.780 understand what

00:35:23.340 was being said

00:35:24.000 and couldn't respond

00:35:25.040 and then he read

00:35:25.640 a prepared

00:35:26.180 closing statement

00:35:27.200 and that was that

00:35:28.440 and yeah people

00:35:29.320 in Quebec were upset

00:35:30.320 and then people said

00:35:31.060 oh well can he

00:35:31.640 can he actually

00:35:32.300 participate

00:35:32.860 but who cares

00:35:35.080 he's a party leader

00:35:36.220 he doesn't speak French

00:35:37.220 don't force it

00:35:38.000 there are other things

00:35:39.280 you can bring

00:35:39.900 to the table

00:35:40.540 and that's what

00:35:42.140 I think is missing

00:35:42.960 when everyone says

00:35:44.160 that speaking French

00:35:45.160 is the be-all

00:35:46.000 and end-all

00:35:46.560 if you're from

00:35:47.960 rural Alberta

00:35:49.060 or BC

00:35:49.980 or Saskatchewan

00:35:51.400 or most of Manitoba

00:35:52.660 and most of Ontario

00:35:53.600 and most of Atlantic Canada

00:35:55.340 the only reason

00:35:57.200 you have as a politician

00:35:58.540 to speak French

00:35:59.720 is to run for leader

00:36:02.480 of your party

00:36:03.200 basically

00:36:03.700 I mean there's a reason

00:36:04.500 that in Ottawa

00:36:05.400 hey so-and-so's

00:36:07.180 learning French

00:36:07.860 is kind of code

00:36:08.940 for hey I think

00:36:09.700 so-and-so is running

00:36:10.920 for leader of their party

00:36:11.920 because why else

00:36:13.780 would you need

00:36:14.400 that skill

00:36:15.180 if you are representing

00:36:16.860 a part of a country

00:36:17.680 that doesn't have

00:36:18.520 a French population

00:36:19.500 which is most

00:36:20.700 of the country

00:36:21.580 outside of Quebec

00:36:23.080 and outside of New Brunswick

00:36:24.560 the only two provinces

00:36:25.640 that have officially

00:36:27.040 enshrined French 0.99

00:36:28.080 the French population

00:36:29.360 is minuscule

00:36:30.440 and even Ontario

00:36:31.840 which has a Franco-Ontarian

00:36:33.560 population

00:36:34.300 and Manitoba

00:36:35.160 the tiny tiny percentages

00:36:37.700 of the overall population

00:36:40.160 of these provinces

00:36:41.000 we are a country

00:36:42.240 that has French

00:36:43.160 we are not a French country

00:36:44.760 and I think a lot of this

00:36:46.800 comes back

00:36:47.360 to official bilingualism

00:36:49.160 and I want to talk about that

00:36:50.040 in a moment

00:36:50.480 with a representative

00:36:51.640 of Canadians

00:36:52.520 for Language Fairness

00:36:53.720 Gordon Miller

00:36:54.360 but I also think

00:36:55.740 it's important

00:36:56.300 that we understand

00:36:57.140 that this is very much

00:36:59.320 a media driven

00:37:00.580 narrative

00:37:02.000 and not one

00:37:03.380 that the Conservative Party

00:37:04.360 of Canada

00:37:04.840 needs to take

00:37:05.680 too seriously

00:37:06.520 but there are people

00:37:07.840 in the CPC

00:37:08.440 that do take it seriously

00:37:09.740 I think a lot of that

00:37:11.420 is because they just

00:37:12.440 are backing a candidate

00:37:13.620 who speaks French

00:37:14.480 so if they can say

00:37:15.340 oh no they gotta speak French

00:37:16.740 you can't have someone

00:37:17.440 who doesn't speak French

00:37:18.260 it's just because

00:37:19.400 they're trying to

00:37:20.360 draw people to

00:37:21.620 whoever their candidate is

00:37:23.360 kind of like

00:37:24.000 Aaron O'Toole

00:37:24.640 was doing in that tweet

00:37:25.700 but I also think

00:37:27.800 you need to look

00:37:28.280 at the numbers

00:37:28.740 when Stephen Harper

00:37:29.840 won a majority government

00:37:31.160 in 2011

00:37:31.820 he had only five seats

00:37:33.540 in Quebec

00:37:34.000 so a Conservative majority

00:37:36.560 even does not rely

00:37:38.200 on Quebec votes

00:37:40.080 and Francophones

00:37:41.280 outside of Quebec

00:37:42.120 I don't think

00:37:42.800 are as obsessed

00:37:43.540 with this need

00:37:44.960 to speak French

00:37:45.720 like Quebecers are 1.00

00:37:47.140 and obviously

00:37:47.900 it's their language

00:37:48.680 I get it

00:37:49.380 but I wonder why

00:37:50.820 we can't just have

00:37:51.840 politicians

00:37:52.440 that appoint

00:37:53.280 lieutenants

00:37:54.120 lieutenants rather

00:37:55.140 to deal with

00:37:56.800 French issues

00:37:57.440 why can you not

00:37:58.100 just have a

00:37:58.740 Francophone lieutenant

00:37:59.960 in the same way

00:38:01.020 that politicians

00:38:01.840 will appoint someone

00:38:02.780 to deal with the West

00:38:04.240 someone to deal

00:38:04.980 with Quebec politics

00:38:06.100 someone to deal

00:38:06.880 with any of these areas

00:38:08.520 that require

00:38:09.260 special attention

00:38:10.380 you know the Prime Minister

00:38:12.520 represents all Canadians

00:38:14.320 yes

00:38:14.840 but they don't have

00:38:16.360 to be themselves

00:38:17.380 the embodiment

00:38:18.380 of all Canadians

00:38:19.420 you know a Prime Minister

00:38:20.980 has to represent

00:38:21.840 Liberals

00:38:22.320 Conservatives

00:38:23.000 Andy Pears

00:38:23.540 that doesn't mean

00:38:24.300 they need to be

00:38:24.920 all of those things

00:38:25.700 they can't be

00:38:26.420 you can represent

00:38:27.980 Francophones

00:38:28.780 without yourself

00:38:29.720 speaking French

00:38:31.260 just by surrounding

00:38:32.660 yourself with a team

00:38:33.620 of people that's going

00:38:34.420 to help you do it

00:38:35.220 the same way you would

00:38:36.500 to represent all of

00:38:37.420 these other Canadians

00:38:38.300 like those from the

00:38:39.560 North

00:38:39.820 like those who are

00:38:40.640 Indigenous

00:38:41.000 you don't have to be

00:38:42.280 those things

00:38:43.260 to represent those

00:38:44.380 things

00:38:44.800 and yes

00:38:46.280 is it an asset

00:38:47.200 to speak French

00:38:48.000 for sure

00:38:48.660 but if the time

00:38:50.000 that someone could

00:38:50.640 have put into

00:38:51.100 speaking French

00:38:51.800 they put into

00:38:52.520 volunteering

00:38:53.580 or learning

00:38:55.260 about history

00:38:56.060 or bettering

00:38:57.180 themselves

00:38:57.580 in some other way

00:38:58.340 why is that

00:38:59.400 less virtuous

00:39:00.280 than learning French

00:39:01.960 that's the question

00:39:02.700 that no one's been

00:39:03.380 prepared to answer

00:39:04.640 want to talk to

00:39:06.260 now from

00:39:07.000 the Board of Directors

00:39:08.000 of Canadians

00:39:08.560 for Language

00:39:09.100 Fairness

00:39:09.540 a group that

00:39:10.080 fights against

00:39:11.200 official bilingualism

00:39:12.680 Gordon Miller

00:39:13.300 who joins me

00:39:14.360 on the line now

00:39:15.180 Gordon thanks very much

00:39:16.080 for coming on sir

00:39:16.840 it's good to talk

00:39:17.440 to you

00:39:17.920 thank you

00:39:19.100 very good to talk

00:39:19.900 to you Andrew

00:39:20.420 so let's start

00:39:22.040 with the first

00:39:22.640 question here

00:39:23.520 of whether you

00:39:25.020 think

00:39:25.580 and your organization

00:39:26.420 thinks that someone

00:39:27.520 needs to speak

00:39:28.420 English and French

00:39:29.300 to represent

00:39:30.120 all Canadians

00:39:31.240 well

00:39:33.280 I guess really

00:39:35.500 our position

00:39:36.220 isn't whether

00:39:36.920 they need to

00:39:37.800 it's that

00:39:39.080 our concern

00:39:40.940 is that language

00:39:42.220 always seems

00:39:43.000 to trump

00:39:43.480 merit

00:39:44.020 and merit

00:39:45.400 is the principle

00:39:46.980 consideration

00:39:48.820 for any

00:39:50.040 major position

00:39:51.580 in Canada

00:39:52.260 and

00:39:53.220 as far as

00:39:54.900 I'm concerned

00:39:55.420 I don't care

00:39:56.100 whether the

00:39:56.580 Prime Minister

00:39:57.180 is unilingual

00:39:57.860 English

00:39:58.280 or unilingual

00:39:59.020 French

00:39:59.520 as long as

00:40:00.220 that person

00:40:00.780 stands for

00:40:01.500 principles

00:40:02.040 and

00:40:03.440 if we're

00:40:04.700 talking about

00:40:05.400 the current

00:40:05.900 Conservative Party

00:40:07.000 and their

00:40:07.800 consideration

00:40:08.320 that the

00:40:09.080 leader has

00:40:09.640 to be

00:40:09.980 bilingual

00:40:10.520 we just

00:40:12.380 don't agree

00:40:12.900 with that

00:40:13.480 well you

00:40:14.820 raise an

00:40:15.280 important

00:40:15.500 it's

00:40:16.500 desirable

00:40:16.960 sure

00:40:17.640 all other

00:40:20.160 things equal

00:40:20.880 bilingualism

00:40:21.820 is an

00:40:22.060 asset

00:40:22.380 well but

00:40:24.160 that's the

00:40:24.640 point there

00:40:25.220 is that

00:40:25.580 it is

00:40:26.180 something

00:40:26.460 that you

00:40:26.860 can look

00:40:27.320 at I

00:40:27.720 think

00:40:27.960 or should

00:40:28.320 be able

00:40:28.720 to look

00:40:29.120 at as

00:40:29.620 one of

00:40:30.520 many

00:40:30.920 qualities

00:40:31.540 that someone

00:40:32.140 could have

00:40:32.860 and it's

00:40:33.440 like you're

00:40:33.820 hiring for

00:40:34.360 a job

00:40:34.740 you say

00:40:35.060 alright

00:40:35.300 well you

00:40:35.760 know

00:40:35.840 they have

00:40:36.120 a master's

00:40:36.700 degree

00:40:36.940 but they

00:40:37.240 don't

00:40:37.400 speak

00:40:37.640 French

00:40:38.020 but they

00:40:38.300 have

00:40:38.520 10 years

00:40:39.220 of experience

00:40:39.760 and you

00:40:40.160 decide

00:40:40.560 at the

00:40:40.880 end

00:40:41.080 of it

00:40:41.340 on

00:40:41.640 balance

00:40:42.220 which

00:40:42.900 assets

00:40:43.580 matter

00:40:44.380 the most

00:40:44.940 and which

00:40:45.620 bundle of

00:40:46.720 assets and

00:40:47.540 traits you

00:40:48.200 might think

00:40:48.660 is better

00:40:49.020 than someone

00:40:49.520 else's

00:40:49.980 the idea

00:40:50.880 that we

00:40:51.600 see the

00:40:52.080 media putting

00:40:52.660 forward now

00:40:53.360 seems to be

00:40:53.940 as though

00:40:54.300 it's a deal

00:40:55.060 breaker

00:40:55.420 and that

00:40:56.180 idea of

00:40:56.820 making it

00:40:57.380 non-negotiable

00:40:58.460 I think

00:40:58.880 opens us up

00:40:59.720 to and I'm

00:41:00.440 glad you brought

00:41:00.880 up merit

00:41:01.380 a lot more

00:41:02.220 issues down

00:41:02.800 the line

00:41:03.260 if you're

00:41:03.940 prepared to

00:41:04.700 ignore all

00:41:05.760 of those

00:41:06.100 other traits

00:41:06.900 as long as

00:41:07.780 this one

00:41:08.240 is met

00:41:08.720 right on

00:41:10.720 Andrew

00:41:11.100 in fact

00:41:12.340 if this

00:41:13.780 country

00:41:14.100 operated in

00:41:15.020 the way

00:41:15.360 that you

00:41:15.680 just described

00:41:16.540 it would

00:41:17.320 be a

00:41:17.620 different

00:41:17.860 country

00:41:18.360 and a

00:41:18.860 vastly

00:41:19.340 more

00:41:20.280 I would

00:41:22.360 say

00:41:22.760 prosperous

00:41:23.580 and

00:41:24.580 harmonious

00:41:25.560 country

00:41:26.080 I know

00:41:27.820 you're up

00:41:28.480 there in

00:41:28.960 Ottawa

00:41:29.280 and I

00:41:29.640 used to

00:41:29.940 live in

00:41:30.180 Ottawa

00:41:30.400 years ago

00:41:31.100 and I

00:41:31.620 was working

00:41:32.140 for government

00:41:32.700 so I

00:41:33.060 didn't really

00:41:33.400 leave the

00:41:33.880 downtown

00:41:34.260 that much

00:41:35.020 and I

00:41:35.640 had this

00:41:36.120 vision

00:41:36.600 from just

00:41:37.300 walking

00:41:37.720 around

00:41:38.200 those

00:41:38.660 couple

00:41:39.020 of square

00:41:39.460 kilometers

00:41:40.020 that it

00:41:40.900 was a

00:41:41.440 I mean

00:41:41.980 at least

00:41:42.480 half English

00:41:43.380 half French

00:41:43.960 city

00:41:44.240 but certainly

00:41:45.180 one that

00:41:46.320 felt as

00:41:46.960 though the

00:41:47.300 French

00:41:47.640 population

00:41:48.540 was a lot

00:41:49.060 larger than

00:41:49.680 it actually

00:41:50.160 is if you

00:41:50.860 look at

00:41:51.160 the broader

00:41:52.000 city

00:41:52.380 and I do

00:41:53.000 think that

00:41:53.460 it's important

00:41:54.020 to note

00:41:54.480 here that

00:41:54.980 official

00:41:55.760 bilingualism

00:41:56.760 has it

00:41:57.760 sounds like

00:41:58.580 created this

00:41:59.740 idea and

00:42:01.320 this perception

00:42:02.120 that there

00:42:03.140 is a lot

00:42:03.760 more of a

00:42:05.220 presence of

00:42:06.120 Franco

00:42:06.960 Canadians

00:42:07.880 than there

00:42:08.400 actually is

00:42:09.080 outside of

00:42:09.600 Quebec

00:42:09.800 anyway

00:42:10.340 well you

00:42:12.220 get that

00:42:12.640 impression

00:42:13.140 and that

00:42:14.560 that's

00:42:14.920 actually a

00:42:15.340 legitimate

00:42:15.640 impression

00:42:16.220 because

00:42:16.860 Ottawa I

00:42:18.720 think it's

00:42:19.380 somewhere around

00:42:19.900 13 or 14

00:42:21.000 percent we

00:42:21.960 have

00:42:22.140 francophones

00:42:22.940 but you do

00:42:24.360 get the

00:42:24.680 impression that

00:42:25.360 it's much

00:42:25.780 more when

00:42:26.380 you're downtown

00:42:27.060 but a lot

00:42:27.880 of that's

00:42:28.340 because the

00:42:29.040 federal government

00:42:29.860 is in Ottawa

00:42:31.900 is about 70

00:42:32.780 percent francophones

00:42:33.980 it used to

00:42:34.920 be 30

00:42:35.680 and now

00:42:37.200 it's 70

00:42:37.960 how things

00:42:38.980 have turned

00:42:39.420 around but

00:42:40.180 you know all

00:42:40.680 of those

00:42:41.000 francophones

00:42:41.660 are from

00:42:42.040 Quebec and

00:42:42.620 they're downtown

00:42:43.240 in Ottawa

00:42:43.760 so you get

00:42:44.740 the impression

00:42:45.300 that the

00:42:45.920 city is much

00:42:46.780 more French

00:42:47.320 than it

00:42:47.640 really is

00:42:48.380 now is this

00:42:50.380 something that

00:42:51.140 we can link

00:42:51.960 back to a

00:42:53.000 real market

00:42:54.740 pivot point or

00:42:55.840 has this been a

00:42:56.700 gradual rise

00:42:57.860 because I think

00:42:58.540 that the issues

00:42:59.140 that we were

00:42:59.760 talking about at

00:43:00.600 the beginning

00:43:00.980 with the

00:43:01.560 conservative

00:43:02.020 leadership

00:43:02.600 litmus test

00:43:03.480 that we see

00:43:04.160 presented and

00:43:05.360 that stat you

00:43:06.300 just mentioned

00:43:06.960 about francophones

00:43:07.980 in the public

00:43:08.440 service I think

00:43:09.300 those two have

00:43:09.880 to be related

00:43:10.560 well actually

00:43:14.880 I'm kind of

00:43:15.660 missing your

00:43:16.060 point a wee bit

00:43:16.740 but it's all

00:43:19.780 very related

00:43:20.520 it all goes

00:43:21.100 back to the

00:43:21.580 official languages

00:43:22.360 act and the

00:43:23.720 growth of the

00:43:24.880 francophones in

00:43:25.880 the public

00:43:26.320 service is

00:43:27.340 strictly based on

00:43:28.280 French and it's 0.99

00:43:28.920 gotten to the

00:43:29.400 point now

00:43:30.060 unilingual

00:43:32.780 or sort of

00:43:33.940 marginally

00:43:34.580 bilingual

00:43:35.240 anglophones

00:43:36.680 in the

00:43:37.480 federal government

00:43:38.420 they're all

00:43:38.800 they're afraid

00:43:39.380 to even speak

00:43:40.100 about it

00:43:40.560 but there's

00:43:42.100 a definite

00:43:42.520 discrimination

00:43:43.320 going on

00:43:44.040 there

00:43:44.280 it can't

00:43:46.020 be denied

00:43:46.600 and that's

00:43:48.900 that's

00:43:49.720 Ottawa

00:43:50.020 yeah but I

00:43:52.060 guess the

00:43:52.380 question that I

00:43:53.020 was putting

00:43:53.460 there is has

00:43:54.200 this been

00:43:54.680 more gradual

00:43:55.480 or was it

00:43:56.220 just when

00:43:57.180 that official

00:43:57.680 languages act

00:43:58.500 was put into

00:43:59.080 effect it was

00:43:59.760 as though a

00:44:00.380 switch was

00:44:01.240 flipped and

00:44:01.640 we've never

00:44:01.980 gone back

00:44:02.700 well yes a

00:44:05.420 flip

00:44:05.680 switch was

00:44:09.040 flipped

00:44:09.480 but yes I

00:44:12.040 mean it

00:44:12.900 wasn't instantly

00:44:13.740 going from

00:44:14.440 30% francophones

00:44:16.420 to 70%

00:44:17.400 francophones and

00:44:18.440 quite honestly I

00:44:19.460 can't tell you

00:44:20.380 what exactly the

00:44:22.740 gradient was over

00:44:23.720 the years but

00:44:24.780 here's where we

00:44:26.420 are today and

00:44:27.680 the federal

00:44:28.840 public service

00:44:29.720 is a francophone

00:44:30.940 organization now

00:44:32.200 and you know

00:44:33.820 when you get

00:44:34.460 right down to

00:44:35.260 it the whole

00:44:37.740 concept of

00:44:38.520 bilingualism is

00:44:39.600 fine and

00:44:40.240 official bilingualism

00:44:41.740 well actually we

00:44:42.920 really don't agree

00:44:43.700 that there should

00:44:44.200 be language laws

00:44:45.180 but we certainly

00:44:46.000 do agree that

00:44:47.680 the federal

00:44:48.220 government where

00:44:49.160 it meets the

00:44:50.160 public should

00:44:51.780 definitely be able

00:44:52.860 to address the

00:44:54.140 public in both

00:44:55.240 languages and I

00:44:56.340 think you know if

00:44:56.800 you look at the

00:44:57.340 city of Ottawa

00:44:57.960 they do an

00:44:58.580 excellent job in

00:44:59.560 that regard in

00:45:00.600 terms of being

00:45:01.900 able to address

00:45:02.640 both languages in

00:45:03.520 fact I think we

00:45:04.640 actually think that

00:45:05.660 they go way over

00:45:06.440 the top but fine

00:45:08.020 at the public

00:45:10.500 interface that's

00:45:12.140 where bilingualism

00:45:13.180 should be and in

00:45:14.580 this country when

00:45:16.140 I really when you

00:45:16.940 think about it you

00:45:18.180 know anglophones

00:45:18.840 who grow up in

00:45:19.500 Quebec have an

00:45:20.260 opportunity to be

00:45:21.220 bilingual francophones

00:45:22.560 who grow up in the

00:45:23.260 rest of Canada have

00:45:24.320 an opportunity to

00:45:25.780 be bilingual there's

00:45:26.560 amazing opportunities

00:45:28.000 for bilingual people

00:45:29.880 where we need to

00:45:31.000 have bilingualism but

00:45:32.140 the problem with

00:45:32.860 official bilingualism

00:45:33.960 it's just over the

00:45:35.380 top and it really

00:45:37.240 what it amounts to

00:45:38.460 now is that you

00:45:39.480 really have to be

00:45:40.380 competent you know

00:45:41.920 highly competent in

00:45:43.040 French 85% of the

00:45:44.400 Canadian population

00:45:45.360 can't qualify for any

00:45:48.140 type of a supervisory or

00:45:49.620 management job in

00:45:50.620 government because

00:45:51.300 they're just not

00:45:51.980 sufficiently bilingual not

00:45:54.000 only that if you go

00:45:55.560 all the way back to

00:45:56.420 the official languages

00:45:57.320 act and look at the

00:45:59.760 percentage of the

00:46:00.560 Canadian population

00:46:01.660 it was somewhere

00:46:02.240 around 13 14% or so

00:46:04.360 was capable of being

00:46:08.560 bilingual today I

00:46:10.900 think it's 16 or 17%

00:46:12.620 it's hardly changed and

00:46:13.820 that's with all of this

00:46:14.760 money that's been

00:46:15.480 thrown into all of

00:46:16.440 these you know French

00:46:18.600 immersion schools across

00:46:20.600 Canada it's just over

00:46:23.920 the top and you know

00:46:25.540 when we start talking

00:46:26.360 about expense I mean we

00:46:27.860 don't even know how

00:46:28.860 much it's cost for all

00:46:30.820 of the training for

00:46:31.740 bilingualism in the

00:46:32.900 federal government and

00:46:35.640 what's more is that

00:46:37.240 training doesn't work an

00:46:39.060 awful lot of the time

00:46:40.240 because they go on

00:46:41.300 French training but

00:46:42.100 then they're still not

00:46:43.160 sufficiently qualified to

00:46:46.060 take those senior

00:46:46.960 positions because you

00:46:49.420 just can't learn a

00:46:50.740 language because you

00:46:52.500 go and take courses and

00:46:53.700 that sort of thing you

00:46:54.920 need to be immersed in

00:46:55.860 you have to live in it

00:46:57.020 and that's never going

00:46:58.520 to happen in across

00:47:00.060 this country well and

00:47:02.540 that right there is one

00:47:03.660 of the big problems we

00:47:04.800 see with conservative

00:47:06.300 leadership candidates in

00:47:07.840 the current context but

00:47:08.880 politicians more broadly

00:47:10.500 is that they're

00:47:11.100 criticized for not

00:47:11.980 speaking French and

00:47:13.200 even the ones that do

00:47:14.120 go through the process

00:47:15.000 of learning enough to

00:47:16.420 get by are then

00:47:17.840 criticized for not

00:47:19.100 being good enough at

00:47:20.200 French and at a

00:47:20.940 certain point it

00:47:22.060 seems like all they

00:47:23.180 want is for them to be

00:47:24.340 born as francophones

00:47:25.660 it seems like they

00:47:29.340 just are never going to

00:47:30.260 be happy unless it's a

00:47:31.320 francophone that's in

00:47:32.260 that position a native

00:47:33.460 born francophone and

00:47:34.720 that isn't realistic it's

00:47:36.000 not practical and it's

00:47:36.980 not where the country is

00:47:38.680 if you want to limit the

00:47:39.740 pool of talent to a group

00:47:42.080 that is still a minority

00:47:43.140 in Canada well not only

00:47:46.420 limit the pool to a

00:47:48.240 minority it happens to be

00:47:50.280 a minority that comes out 0.95

00:47:51.500 of Quebec and if you

00:47:52.420 look at what's happening

00:47:53.260 in Ontario they were

00:47:54.520 trying to put through

00:47:55.500 new a couple of new

00:47:57.480 acts that would make

00:47:58.480 Ontario essentially

00:48:00.260 officially bilingualism

00:48:01.700 across the province and

00:48:03.240 how do you fill all of

00:48:05.520 the necessary jobs when

00:48:07.080 everything has to be

00:48:08.020 bilingual well they're

00:48:09.100 going to have to come to

00:48:10.020 from Quebec so I mean it's

00:48:11.760 almost like they're asking

00:48:12.860 for an invasion yeah it

00:48:16.140 really it's funny though

00:48:17.740 because I was in Montreal

00:48:19.680 for a project I was working

00:48:21.880 on for one of the other

00:48:23.520 hats that I wear and I had

00:48:25.540 to navigate the bureaucracy

00:48:26.720 and I have a passable

00:48:27.880 knowledge of French I don't

00:48:29.260 consider myself fluent or

00:48:30.460 bilingual and I was dealing

00:48:32.540 with the city of Montreal and

00:48:33.900 at one point could not find

00:48:35.700 someone who spoke English now

00:48:37.900 I don't have an expectation

00:48:39.100 of that I'm in Quebec it's a

00:48:41.240 French province I get that

00:48:42.720 but it is interesting how

00:48:44.680 there is a double standard

00:48:46.200 there that what Quebec is

00:48:48.060 able to do as far as not

00:48:49.760 having anglophones in

00:48:51.660 positions of service would

00:48:53.840 never be able to fly on the

00:48:55.340 reverse in the federal

00:48:56.400 government anyway well

00:48:58.220 absolutely actually in

00:49:02.220 Canadians for language 0.95

00:49:03.040 fairness we actually believe

00:49:05.120 that Quebec as a province

00:49:06.380 has it right they are a

00:49:09.340 French culture with a 0.92

00:49:11.020 French language and they

00:49:12.420 want to preserve it that's

00:49:13.420 great we don't agree with

00:49:15.840 language laws but the point

00:49:18.320 of the matter is Quebec's

00:49:19.480 French it it always has been 0.99

00:49:22.140 and it probably always will be

00:49:24.200 unfortunately the rest of

00:49:26.840 Canada's English always has 0.99

00:49:29.860 been but will it be with the

00:49:32.500 amount of money that's spent by

00:49:33.760 the federal government and all

00:49:35.040 of these linguistic activist

00:49:37.660 groups that are trying to make the

00:49:40.160 rest of the country officially

00:49:42.520 bilingual province by province

00:49:44.320 well fortunately it'll never

00:49:45.480 happen at west but Ontario is in

00:49:47.800 dangerous position and if you look

00:49:49.640 recently the federal government

00:49:52.540 well let's put it this way

00:49:55.480 education is a provincial

00:49:58.940 responsibility under the British

00:50:00.460 North America Act in Ontario

00:50:03.140 uh Doug Ford uh said we're not

00:50:06.680 going to go ahead with this

00:50:08.080 ridiculous expense in this French 1.00

00:50:09.760 university in Toronto and then all 0.56

00:50:12.360 of a sudden the federal government

00:50:13.460 comes in with money and buys them

00:50:15.080 off well you know that that's a huge

00:50:17.660 problem because first of all the

00:50:19.100 federal government shouldn't be

00:50:20.480 involved in education and and and

00:50:22.960 second of all uh Doug Ford

00:50:25.000 essentially capitulated and said

00:50:28.020 okay well you know he'll go ahead with

00:50:29.540 you know go ahead with it now uh not

00:50:32.060 to mention with bills 135 and 137 to

00:50:35.220 make Ontario you know totally uh

00:50:38.180 francophone bilingual etc uh he was

00:50:42.140 basically silent on those things now

00:50:44.060 yes they didn't pass the you know this

00:50:46.360 the second read for the second

00:50:48.140 reading but nevertheless uh he he was

00:50:52.360 he was invisible and we really need to

00:50:55.760 start speaking up because as far as I'm

00:50:58.680 concerned I I have complete respect for

00:51:00.800 any francophone living in Ontario

00:51:02.760 uh I I think they should be able to be

00:51:05.780 addressed in their language at the

00:51:07.480 interface of the federal government

00:51:09.700 uh I would say though the Ontario

00:51:12.420 government uh in communities where

00:51:15.300 numbers warrant by all means but

00:51:17.040 there's no way we should be bilingual 1.00

00:51:19.060 across the province in that regard

00:51:21.080 because we just shouldn't be spending

00:51:22.740 money on that we're broke to begin with

00:51:25.100 yeah very well said and we're talking

00:51:28.060 about a bit about the budget early on so

00:51:30.160 you know you can have all these things

00:51:31.620 on the wish list but it doesn't mean

00:51:33.280 you have the ability to pay for them

00:51:35.100 Gordon Miller from Canadians for

00:51:36.860 Language Fairness joins me on the line

00:51:38.600 now thanks very much for your time

00:51:39.780 Gord

00:51:40.000 well thank you Andrew and thank you for

00:51:42.840 discussing the issues

00:51:44.140 you know that story in Montreal it was

00:51:46.660 very true I was trying to get a parking

00:51:48.640 permit and there was only one person in

00:51:51.560 the city of Montreal Bureau d'Access they

00:51:53.740 call it that could help she was on

00:51:55.400 lunch when she got back from lunch she

00:51:57.060 didn't speak English and I try I really

00:51:59.880 tried my best but at a certain point

00:52:01.580 you're dealing with technical

00:52:02.600 terminology where I don't have it in

00:52:05.320 French she had very little English she

00:52:07.120 had less English than I had French and

00:52:09.660 the greatest part where if I were to

00:52:12.980 script it in a movie you wouldn't

00:52:14.680 believe it happened was when a

00:52:16.920 Vietnamese guy was the savior for whom

00:52:19.720 English and French were his second and

00:52:22.580 third languages in some order and he

00:52:24.860 comes out and greets us with hola in

00:52:27.140 Spanish so we just what we needed

00:52:28.820 another language into the mix here but

00:52:30.600 eventually I got the parking permit so

00:52:32.300 all was good in paradise or Montreal

00:52:34.340 anyway that does it for us today my

00:52:37.200 thanks to all of you for tuning into

00:52:39.280 the show and supporting the program

00:52:40.680 we'll be back next week with more of

00:52:42.940 Canada's most irreverent talk show the

00:52:45.520 Andrew Lawton show on true north thank

00:52:47.260 you God bless and good day Canada

00:52:48.960 thanks for listening to the Andrew

00:52:50.740 Lawton show support the program by

00:52:52.600 donating to true north at www.tnc.news

00:52:56.780 you

Juno News - January 30, 2020

Corporate Welfare, Internet Speech Crackdown, Forced Bilingualism

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