Juno News - October 19, 2020


Covering Up WE


Episode Stats

Length

24 minutes

Words per Minute

179.68813

Word Count

4,471

Sentence Count

163

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.
00:00:06.600 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.
00:00:12.720 Coming up, the We Scam cover-up continues.
00:00:15.600 The Liberals try to turn the page on their own mismanagement
00:00:18.480 and is the United States heading towards a post-election civil war?
00:00:24.440 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.
00:00:30.800 Welcome to the Andrew Lawton Show.
00:00:32.800 This is Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show here on True North.
00:00:36.540 It is Monday, October 19, 2020.
00:00:40.020 Just a couple of months to go until the end of the year 2020.
00:00:43.820 The cursed year, if that's your goal, to get through it and get to 2021
00:00:47.080 and hope things are going to be better on the other side of it.
00:00:50.040 Or if your big comparison to 2020 is going to be the U.S. election,
00:00:54.520 well, we've got you covered there too.
00:00:56.340 We'll be talking about that a little bit later on in the show.
00:00:58.880 We try not to do too much in the realm of U.S. politics exclusively
00:01:03.720 because I know that a lot of Canadian media outlets are so focused on the U.S.
00:01:07.840 that they don't even care about their own country.
00:01:09.760 But we like to have a little bit of a balance.
00:01:11.700 So we're going to be talking about that a little bit later on
00:01:14.240 with a good friend of this show, Dennis Lennox.
00:01:17.300 But in the meantime, I want to talk about the We Cover-Up,
00:01:20.620 the We Scam that is not going away despite the Liberals' best efforts
00:01:25.320 to make it go exactly in that direction, which is to say nowhere.
00:01:30.420 When Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament earlier in the summer,
00:01:34.060 he had said, it's just a little bit of a reset.
00:01:36.600 Just a reset.
00:01:37.320 We just want to hit the reset button and get back
00:01:40.120 and talk about all the ways we're going to make Canada a better place
00:01:42.940 as we get through the coronavirus pandemic.
00:01:45.840 That was the goal.
00:01:46.640 And he said, no, no, no, it has nothing to do with we.
00:01:49.640 Now, we, with not a capital E, all knew that that was not true.
00:01:55.740 We all knew that the Liberals were trying to turn the page on the We Scandal
00:02:00.040 that at that very time when Parliament was prorogued
00:02:02.620 was actually dogging the Finance Committee.
00:02:05.700 And the Liberals said, no, no, no, we're going to give you everything.
00:02:08.340 They handed over thousands of pages of documents,
00:02:10.960 except they were redacted.
00:02:13.380 And redacted in a way that was not consistent
00:02:16.420 with what was permitted under that.
00:02:19.860 And we spoke about this with Pierre Polyev.
00:02:21.880 We also spoke about it on the show with Michael Barrett.
00:02:24.840 Now, Michael Barrett is the ethics critic for the Conservatives.
00:02:28.360 And they both said the work is going to continue.
00:02:30.160 They're going to go through the documents.
00:02:31.840 And they actually did something very smart,
00:02:33.500 which was posting them online and allowing everyone else.
00:02:37.520 They basically crowdsourced the investigation
00:02:40.600 and opposition research.
00:02:41.900 And people could go through them.
00:02:43.460 And we learned a lot from this.
00:02:44.940 We learned a lot from those documents.
00:02:46.900 Like, for example, the Prime Minister's office
00:02:48.820 was highly involved in the development of the program,
00:02:53.240 the 900 and some odd million dollar program
00:02:55.940 that was given to We without going through an open bidding process.
00:02:59.840 They were actually steering it along.
00:03:02.400 A number of emails that show very significant
00:03:04.880 and very clear ties between the Prime Minister's office
00:03:07.760 and we and the Prime Minister's office and the civil service,
00:03:11.480 despite Justin Trudeau's claim that,
00:03:13.100 oh, no, no, no, this was all just the bureaucracy.
00:03:15.280 The strong independent public service of Canada
00:03:18.060 was the one that was steering this ship.
00:03:19.840 We just, I just learned about it later on.
00:03:22.020 And, oh, no, I actually said, no,
00:03:23.740 I said, you need to give me some better information here.
00:03:26.220 So we learned that was not actually consistent with what happened.
00:03:30.500 So this is going back to earlier in the summer.
00:03:34.700 Now, what's in the unredacted documents?
00:03:36.820 What is in the other documents?
00:03:38.300 We don't yet know.
00:03:39.560 One of the details that the committee has been obfuscating on
00:03:42.460 that the Conservatives and I'd say opposition parties in general
00:03:45.660 are trying to get insight on
00:03:47.680 is how much the Liberal family members were paid,
00:03:52.260 how much Trudeau's relatives were paid
00:03:54.280 when they spoke at WE events.
00:03:56.460 We've heard WE's side of things,
00:03:58.020 but there are some questions there given that they at first said
00:04:01.060 they weren't paid anything and then they were
00:04:03.720 and then they were paid a bit.
00:04:05.320 And, well, it's all very complicated, you see.
00:04:08.060 And when the committee was looking at this last week,
00:04:11.100 a House of Commons committee,
00:04:12.800 they actually were filibustering the Liberals.
00:04:15.880 This is what they were doing.
00:04:16.780 They were trying to just go through endless lengths
00:04:19.220 so as to not deal with the motions.
00:04:22.640 And at the end of the day, I mean,
00:04:23.980 they're hoping that Canadians are gonna just get tired of this
00:04:26.520 and move on.
00:04:27.960 And to some extent, I think people have,
00:04:30.560 but there is also a contingent of people
00:04:32.920 that are paying attention to this still.
00:04:35.320 But I wanna talk in a little bit more detail
00:04:37.960 about what's happening here
00:04:39.180 because we've seen now the Conservatives especially
00:04:43.560 beat the drum and try to say,
00:04:45.220 listen, I mean, we're not going away.
00:04:46.820 We're gonna continue to talk about this.
00:04:48.920 Just for context, here was from earlier today,
00:04:52.520 a joint press conference by Pierre Polyev and Michael Barrett.
00:04:56.160 And here are a couple of the takeaways from this event.
00:04:58.560 As my colleague, Mr. Barrett and I will share with you today,
00:05:03.600 Justin Trudeau carried out a massive cover-up again last week.
00:05:08.000 His MPs engaged in dozens of hours of filibusters,
00:05:13.580 preventing the ethics and finance committees
00:05:15.800 from getting at the truth.
00:05:17.960 We're in a pandemic.
00:05:19.140 And here is Justin Trudeau blocking the work
00:05:22.280 of our parliamentary committees,
00:05:24.460 preventing the finance committee from addressing the fact
00:05:26.580 that we have the highest deficit in the G20
00:05:29.040 and the highest unemployment in the G7.
00:05:32.460 Our MPs in the finance committee should be working on that.
00:05:35.420 But instead, Trudeau is blocking that work,
00:05:39.000 preventing it from happening in the first place
00:05:41.920 so that he can continue a filibuster
00:05:44.400 to cover up we scandal documents.
00:05:48.540 It's time for Justin Trudeau to allow parliamentarians
00:05:52.120 to do the work that we've been sent here to do.
00:05:54.960 Particularly in the context of a pandemic,
00:05:57.460 the standing committees that are dealing with
00:05:59.400 these issues of corruption
00:06:01.040 need to be able to give that work,
00:06:03.440 hand it off to an anti-corruption committee.
00:06:07.240 And then the work, the important work,
00:06:09.560 of committees like government operations
00:06:11.800 and official languages, finance, and ethics
00:06:14.700 can continue to do their work
00:06:16.920 and address Canadians' concerns
00:06:18.400 as they relate to the pandemic.
00:06:19.720 Yeah, so it's pretty simple right now.
00:06:21.500 And if you look at what's been happening
00:06:22.660 on the committee,
00:06:23.360 the Conservatives want to make
00:06:24.580 an anti-corruption committee
00:06:26.080 of 15 MPs to delve into the WE scandal
00:06:29.400 and other conflicts of interest.
00:06:31.500 And they're going to get their debate on this
00:06:33.600 this coming week.
00:06:34.800 But the whole point is the Liberals
00:06:36.500 keep blocking and blocking and blocking
00:06:38.620 even so much as a vote on this.
00:06:41.240 I mean, the number of issues
00:06:42.260 that they were supposed to go through
00:06:43.580 when the committee met last week
00:06:45.320 or a week and a half ago,
00:06:46.400 but didn't, was astonishing.
00:06:49.720 They didn't get anywhere.
00:06:50.900 And the Liberals were just using
00:06:52.300 parliamentary tricks,
00:06:53.620 which, hey, look,
00:06:54.460 parliamentary theater is great.
00:06:56.960 It's part of the process.
00:06:57.880 But the Liberals were using
00:06:59.280 parliamentary tricks to avoid
00:07:00.940 actually having Justin Trudeau's
00:07:03.860 ethical lapses and ethical breaches
00:07:06.380 put under the microscope,
00:07:07.800 despite the Liberal promise
00:07:09.500 that the prorogation was never meant
00:07:12.460 to make all of that go away.
00:07:14.020 All this has done is proved
00:07:15.280 what the cynical types like myself
00:07:17.520 kind of saw coming
00:07:18.800 all the way down the road.
00:07:21.640 But here's where things get tricky
00:07:24.600 because if the Conservatives
00:07:26.500 continue to keep the pressure up,
00:07:28.260 which they are doing,
00:07:29.200 if they continue to keep the pressure up,
00:07:31.080 they continue to put motion
00:07:32.360 after motion after motion forward,
00:07:34.240 then there's a good chance
00:07:35.460 that we get the answer here.
00:07:36.940 But a lot of it comes down to the NDP.
00:07:39.420 And we know the NDP has already decided
00:07:43.040 basically that it's going to prop up
00:07:44.820 the Liberal government.
00:07:45.820 We know that it propped up
00:07:46.720 the throne speech.
00:07:48.340 We know there was that one
00:07:49.800 Huffington Post story,
00:07:51.080 the podcast interview with Jagmeet Singh,
00:07:53.220 in which Singh said he may keep
00:07:54.960 the Liberals propped up
00:07:55.920 for another three years.
00:07:57.060 So when push comes to shove,
00:07:58.280 the NDP will surely keep up
00:08:01.060 the pressure in the committee
00:08:02.340 and saying, yeah,
00:08:03.260 we need to have more data
00:08:04.940 and more documents and all of that.
00:08:06.260 But when it matters,
00:08:07.700 if a confidence motion comes up,
00:08:09.880 the NDP will still be like,
00:08:11.320 all right, well,
00:08:11.880 despite all of this,
00:08:12.980 I guess, yeah,
00:08:13.740 we have confidence
00:08:14.580 in the Liberals right now.
00:08:16.820 And that's why a lot of this,
00:08:18.640 I think, is important
00:08:19.360 to bring into the realm
00:08:20.280 of the PR debates
00:08:21.580 and the PR discussions,
00:08:22.860 as in litigating this
00:08:24.320 in the open,
00:08:25.440 in media and in the public,
00:08:26.960 because I don't have faith
00:08:28.900 that when push comes to shove,
00:08:30.780 there will be a satisfactory resolution
00:08:33.100 to people that want accountability
00:08:34.720 throughout the parliamentary chambers.
00:08:36.980 Because at a certain point,
00:08:38.420 you're going to have to,
00:08:39.340 if you want to translate this
00:08:40.540 beyond just a slap on the wrist,
00:08:42.620 which the ethics commissioner
00:08:43.680 can already put on their own,
00:08:45.080 you're going to have to get
00:08:46.060 a party in the NDP
00:08:48.000 and in all the opposition
00:08:49.540 that is willing to step up
00:08:51.120 and say, no,
00:08:52.380 this is not acceptable.
00:08:54.140 And right now,
00:08:54.920 I don't foresee that happening.
00:08:57.300 Now, Chris Selle
00:08:57.960 had a fantastic column on this.
00:08:59.980 He said,
00:09:00.760 nobody should tolerate
00:09:01.960 the Liberals' hideous tricks
00:09:03.240 to hide WE documents.
00:09:04.720 And he quoted Andrew McDougal,
00:09:06.860 who was formerly
00:09:07.660 a communications director
00:09:08.880 to Stephen Harper,
00:09:10.240 saying,
00:09:10.880 there probably isn't
00:09:11.960 a smoking gun in these docks,
00:09:13.560 but the Liberals on committee
00:09:15.160 are certainly acting
00:09:17.280 like there's one.
00:09:18.900 And this is so key
00:09:20.240 because even if there's nothing there,
00:09:22.580 by saying no, no, no,
00:09:24.980 the Liberals are actually
00:09:26.460 making people
00:09:27.260 more and more interested
00:09:28.380 in seeing what might be
00:09:29.620 in these documents.
00:09:30.860 The Liberals are now
00:09:32.180 effectively saying,
00:09:33.260 we don't want you
00:09:33.820 to look at these so much
00:09:34.760 that even people
00:09:35.340 that weren't interested
00:09:36.080 are like,
00:09:36.740 oh, you know,
00:09:37.200 now I'm kind of curious
00:09:38.540 about what's in those documents.
00:09:40.040 Let's hand them over.
00:09:41.000 Whereas if they had done
00:09:41.940 the early release
00:09:43.840 like they were supposed to
00:09:45.720 without the redactions,
00:09:47.620 I mean,
00:09:47.940 unless there is genuinely
00:09:49.120 something there,
00:09:49.820 but if they had done
00:09:50.500 the unadapted document
00:09:51.960 release early on
00:09:53.000 and said,
00:09:54.040 all right, here you go,
00:09:54.740 have fun,
00:09:56.160 then they would have
00:09:56.940 called the bluff
00:09:58.080 of the Conservatives mainly,
00:10:00.340 but of other opposition
00:10:01.660 members as well
00:10:02.440 by saying,
00:10:03.220 yeah, we've got nothing
00:10:04.020 to hide, here you go.
00:10:05.620 But they've not acted
00:10:06.740 like this.
00:10:07.260 In fact, at every stage
00:10:08.220 of this journey,
00:10:08.840 they've acted
00:10:09.380 the complete opposite,
00:10:10.360 which is to say
00:10:11.300 they have a great deal
00:10:12.800 to hide.
00:10:13.720 And the fact that
00:10:14.680 every single chapter
00:10:16.400 of the We scandal
00:10:17.880 has brought
00:10:18.880 a different explanation
00:10:20.700 from the Liberals
00:10:22.260 or from We,
00:10:23.160 every single stage
00:10:24.420 of this has brought
00:10:25.200 a different excuse
00:10:27.940 and a different rationale.
00:10:30.140 Many of them
00:10:30.780 are incredibly contradictory
00:10:32.500 to one another.
00:10:33.800 That in and of itself
00:10:34.740 is telling us
00:10:35.580 that where there's smoke,
00:10:36.480 there is probably fire.
00:10:38.400 And it was funny,
00:10:39.200 the Liberals were saying
00:10:40.380 on the committee meeting
00:10:42.120 that, oh, well,
00:10:42.800 you know,
00:10:43.020 we just think
00:10:43.620 there's more important
00:10:45.080 things to deal with.
00:10:45.920 We got to go
00:10:46.400 with the pandemic.
00:10:47.400 That's what they're using.
00:10:48.560 The pandemic is now
00:10:49.460 the political cover
00:10:50.320 to avoid accountability
00:10:51.940 and oversight
00:10:52.660 for the We scandal.
00:10:54.140 But it's kind of hilarious
00:10:55.660 if you look at,
00:10:56.580 and not in a good way,
00:10:58.240 but hilarious
00:10:58.720 in a very shameful way.
00:11:00.340 If you look at the state
00:11:01.880 of the federal government's
00:11:03.160 pandemic response,
00:11:04.580 for them to say,
00:11:05.600 oh, well,
00:11:06.140 we have no time
00:11:06.740 to deal with We
00:11:07.360 because we're dealing
00:11:08.080 with the pandemic,
00:11:09.940 I would ask,
00:11:10.700 and I think a lot
00:11:11.200 of other people would ask,
00:11:12.300 well, what do you have
00:11:13.140 to show for that exactly?
00:11:15.520 What do you have
00:11:16.180 to show for that?
00:11:17.220 In fact,
00:11:17.780 the Conservatives
00:11:18.540 are saying that the Liberals
00:11:19.520 are botching the second wave
00:11:21.200 with case counts
00:11:22.120 nearing 200,000.
00:11:24.280 Michelle Rempel-Garner,
00:11:25.380 the Conservative MP,
00:11:26.580 and health critic
00:11:27.740 had a press conference
00:11:29.060 on the weekend,
00:11:29.580 and she had called out
00:11:31.360 the Liberals on this.
00:11:32.940 Here's a clip from that.
00:11:34.420 Today,
00:11:35.280 as businesses are closed
00:11:36.500 in another series
00:11:37.920 of COVID-related
00:11:38.900 economic shutdowns,
00:11:40.160 we are looking for answers
00:11:41.680 as to why the federal government
00:11:43.360 left Canadians unprepared
00:11:44.800 to deal with this second wave.
00:11:46.800 Canadians deserve
00:11:47.740 an explanation
00:11:48.560 about why the federal government
00:11:50.160 only has an economic shutdown
00:11:51.880 to rely upon
00:11:52.760 after months
00:11:53.780 and billions of dollars
00:11:55.200 being spent.
00:11:56.480 Canadians have sacrificed
00:11:57.620 their businesses
00:11:58.420 and their children's education
00:12:00.040 and more
00:12:00.680 to give Trudeau time
00:12:02.240 to prepare,
00:12:03.080 and he's failed to do so.
00:12:04.400 So the question she raises
00:12:05.700 is a valid one
00:12:06.600 and actually gets to a topic
00:12:07.880 that I was speaking about,
00:12:09.060 I think it was on the last show
00:12:10.160 or two shows ago,
00:12:11.260 which is that if this was seen,
00:12:13.000 if this was seen in advance,
00:12:14.800 if everyone knew this was coming,
00:12:16.060 if all the lawmakers
00:12:16.840 who have been talking
00:12:18.140 about the second wave
00:12:19.080 since before the first wave
00:12:20.400 ended,
00:12:21.280 if all of them
00:12:22.180 knew this was coming,
00:12:23.820 why are businesses
00:12:24.980 now facing shutdowns again
00:12:26.980 and the federal government
00:12:28.340 still seems like
00:12:29.340 it was caught off guard
00:12:30.260 and has no idea
00:12:31.200 what's going on?
00:12:32.060 And I'm using their terminology.
00:12:34.200 It was Justin Trudeau
00:12:35.120 that got out there
00:12:35.800 in front of Canadians
00:12:36.620 hours after the speech
00:12:38.180 from the throne
00:12:38.660 and said that we are
00:12:39.460 in the midst
00:12:40.120 of a second wave.
00:12:41.400 Well, you were warning
00:12:42.460 about a second wave,
00:12:43.380 so if in fact
00:12:44.180 this is the case,
00:12:45.480 how were you not prepared?
00:12:48.240 Because we know
00:12:48.960 the federal government
00:12:49.900 wasn't really prepared
00:12:50.920 for the first wave
00:12:52.200 of things.
00:12:53.140 Pandemic response
00:12:53.980 was terrible,
00:12:55.080 yet Justin Trudeau
00:12:56.180 still blamed Stephen Harper.
00:12:59.940 Yeah, I'm sure
00:13:00.520 you heard this last week.
00:13:01.460 Justin Trudeau
00:13:02.080 blamed Stephen Harper
00:13:03.460 who was there
00:13:04.100 more than five years ago
00:13:05.620 or almost five years ago
00:13:06.920 for being the reason
00:13:08.820 that the liberal government
00:13:11.340 was not prepared
00:13:12.220 to deal with
00:13:13.200 the coronavirus pandemic
00:13:14.420 in 2020.
00:13:16.140 And this is now
00:13:16.680 Stephen Harper's fault.
00:13:17.700 And as I remarked
00:13:18.400 on Twitter,
00:13:19.180 you don't get to blame
00:13:20.340 the last guy
00:13:21.260 who was there
00:13:21.740 five years ago
00:13:22.780 when in the interceding
00:13:24.460 five years
00:13:25.040 you've done precisely
00:13:26.020 nothing to correct
00:13:27.060 what they did
00:13:28.060 that you thought
00:13:28.640 was so wrong
00:13:29.540 or so negligent.
00:13:30.780 So the blame Harper thing
00:13:32.640 may have been cute
00:13:33.280 for the first couple of months.
00:13:34.480 Maybe I'll give him
00:13:35.280 a year on it.
00:13:36.220 But five years later
00:13:37.120 when you're blaming
00:13:37.640 the last guy
00:13:38.300 it's just plain sad.
00:13:40.120 I'm sorry.
00:13:40.700 But like he might as well
00:13:41.900 be blaming Wilfred Laurier
00:13:43.180 at this point
00:13:43.980 for a pandemic response.
00:13:45.720 Not that Laurier
00:13:46.360 fell short in that area.
00:13:47.620 It's just, you know,
00:13:48.480 plucking up.
00:13:49.100 Let's pick Charles Tupper.
00:13:50.220 We'll pick on Charles Tupper today.
00:13:51.860 Trudeau might as well
00:13:53.020 be blaming Charles Tupper
00:13:54.140 for a pandemic preparedness.
00:13:56.340 But that's where we are.
00:13:57.640 But the interesting thing
00:13:59.020 is that the liberals again
00:13:59.980 say that, oh no,
00:14:00.800 they can't focus on we
00:14:02.500 because they're focusing
00:14:03.340 on pandemic.
00:14:04.320 But it doesn't even look
00:14:05.800 like they're doing
00:14:06.600 all that well
00:14:07.960 in that area as well.
00:14:10.100 And that's not all
00:14:10.920 the liberals aren't doing.
00:14:11.940 Well, they claim
00:14:12.440 that they're focusing
00:14:13.080 on the real important work.
00:14:14.580 They also aren't
00:14:15.620 putting forward a budget.
00:14:17.820 Yeah, this was interesting
00:14:18.980 and good on David Aiken
00:14:20.100 from Global News
00:14:21.020 for keeping track on this.
00:14:22.600 On October 16th,
00:14:24.560 so that would have been
00:14:25.580 Friday, I believe,
00:14:26.460 he said today is the day
00:14:27.740 a record has been set.
00:14:29.880 No parliament
00:14:30.520 has ever existed longer
00:14:31.980 without a budget
00:14:32.820 being presented to it
00:14:33.960 than the current
00:14:34.840 43rd parliament.
00:14:37.120 Justin Trudeau
00:14:37.780 eclipsed the record
00:14:38.540 previously held
00:14:39.500 by Jean Chrétien
00:14:40.940 in the 37th parliament
00:14:42.460 of 2001.
00:14:43.980 Now, this is actually good.
00:14:45.220 Justin Trudeau
00:14:45.700 already made history
00:14:46.520 for the ethical breaches
00:14:48.760 and the conflict
00:14:49.440 of interest violations.
00:14:50.980 Now he's making history
00:14:52.200 as being the prime minister
00:14:53.200 overseeing the longest period
00:14:54.980 in a parliament
00:14:56.040 without a federal budget
00:14:57.840 being tabled.
00:14:58.940 Now that's bad enough.
00:15:00.500 The big problem
00:15:01.260 is that it doesn't seem
00:15:02.380 like there's ever one
00:15:03.660 in sight.
00:15:04.880 If you look at
00:15:05.660 the finance minister
00:15:06.820 Chrystia Freeland's
00:15:08.180 pledges here.
00:15:09.220 So what David Aiken writes
00:15:10.400 in an accompanying column
00:15:11.460 is that
00:15:11.920 she was asked
00:15:12.980 just after the speech
00:15:13.840 from the throne
00:15:14.340 to provide her thinking
00:15:15.360 about the value
00:15:16.480 of a budget
00:15:17.200 and whether she was
00:15:18.240 committed to tabling one
00:15:19.400 before the fiscal year ends.
00:15:20.840 She curtly dismissed
00:15:22.620 the question.
00:15:24.300 She said
00:15:25.040 the throne speech
00:15:26.200 was clear
00:15:26.820 that in the fall
00:15:27.820 we will be presenting
00:15:28.980 a fiscal update.
00:15:30.720 Freeland said
00:15:31.400 apparently oblivious
00:15:32.480 to the fact
00:15:33.000 that one cannot
00:15:33.880 update something
00:15:34.780 the 2020 to 2021 budget
00:15:37.040 that does not exist.
00:15:39.380 Unquote.
00:15:40.020 That's from
00:15:40.640 David Aiken
00:15:41.420 in Global News
00:15:42.140 and his point
00:15:43.000 is quite valid
00:15:43.900 that yeah
00:15:44.260 the fiscal update
00:15:45.300 is actually not
00:15:46.700 particularly relevant
00:15:47.940 because we now
00:15:49.020 don't have
00:15:49.760 a budget technically
00:15:50.940 and I get that
00:15:52.140 a lot of things
00:15:52.760 are in flux
00:15:53.360 and I get there
00:15:53.880 are a lot of questions
00:15:54.660 and quite frankly
00:15:55.940 this reinforces
00:15:56.880 the question
00:15:57.860 that I've had
00:15:58.440 about why Trudeau
00:15:59.360 decided to do
00:16:00.640 the prorogation
00:16:01.520 and the parliamentary
00:16:02.200 reset in the first place
00:16:03.620 if they did not feel
00:16:05.120 they had the ability
00:16:06.060 to put together
00:16:06.780 an accurate
00:16:07.560 and comprehensive budget.
00:16:09.500 It's one thing
00:16:10.040 to roll out
00:16:10.620 the list of pledges
00:16:11.680 and promises
00:16:12.340 in campaign style
00:16:13.960 like they did
00:16:14.580 during the throne speech.
00:16:15.920 It's quite another
00:16:16.820 to say
00:16:17.380 all right
00:16:17.700 here are the numbers
00:16:18.480 here are what
00:16:18.940 we are going to deal with
00:16:20.140 because the liberals
00:16:21.360 don't want to admit
00:16:22.420 just how big
00:16:23.620 the deficit's going to be.
00:16:25.920 They don't want to admit
00:16:26.820 in many regards
00:16:27.760 they probably don't know
00:16:28.720 but when truth
00:16:29.740 when you look at this
00:16:30.960 truthfully
00:16:31.520 the liberals
00:16:32.340 do not want to admit
00:16:33.360 just how bad things are
00:16:35.500 and if you look
00:16:36.560 at some of the numbers
00:16:37.600 the Canada pandemic spending
00:16:40.120 is actually outpacing
00:16:42.540 even other similar countries
00:16:45.080 and this was a really
00:16:46.900 really interesting story
00:16:48.180 that I came across
00:16:49.140 Canada's budget deficit
00:16:51.240 has grown
00:16:51.820 by more than any
00:16:53.060 other G20 country
00:16:54.820 amid pandemic.
00:16:56.280 Now this is according
00:16:57.040 to an analysis
00:16:57.780 at National Bank Financial
00:16:59.760 well ahead of UK
00:17:01.760 which is in the second place
00:17:03.140 on track for a deficit
00:17:04.620 equal to 14.6%
00:17:06.400 of its economy
00:17:07.180 but in Canada's case
00:17:09.500 one-fifth of the country's
00:17:11.340 economic output
00:17:12.200 is likely to be
00:17:13.700 the deficit this year
00:17:14.680 19.6%
00:17:16.260 so let's just say
00:17:17.560 comfortably
00:17:17.980 20% of our country's
00:17:19.540 economic output
00:17:20.340 is going to be
00:17:21.680 the deficit
00:17:22.540 and there is
00:17:23.780 no end in sight
00:17:24.980 and again
00:17:25.340 we go back to that
00:17:26.180 whole second wave idea
00:17:27.440 if this is coming
00:17:28.980 well the spending
00:17:29.920 continues to ramp up
00:17:31.360 well new promises
00:17:32.580 new pledges
00:17:33.420 new programs
00:17:34.180 are being rolled out
00:17:35.200 then we are
00:17:36.520 in we are going
00:17:37.520 to be very quickly in
00:17:38.680 if we're not already
00:17:39.500 a situation in which
00:17:41.020 nothing is sustainable
00:17:42.620 and this is
00:17:44.840 historic levels
00:17:46.160 of spending
00:17:46.920 there's no doubt
00:17:47.680 about that
00:17:48.160 and I actually feel
00:17:48.920 quite bad
00:17:49.620 for whomever
00:17:50.880 is in office next
00:17:52.460 whether it's Aaron O'Toole
00:17:53.480 or someone else
00:17:54.280 because there is
00:17:55.340 no way they are
00:17:56.500 going to be able
00:17:57.160 to achieve
00:17:57.840 any fiscal vision
00:17:59.660 that they would
00:18:00.780 at all want to run on
00:18:01.960 with what they're
00:18:03.520 going to inherit
00:18:04.440 and again
00:18:04.940 I give Trudeau
00:18:06.220 credit
00:18:06.720 not credit
00:18:07.640 I defend him
00:18:08.740 to some extent
00:18:09.540 because it was
00:18:10.100 going to be messy
00:18:10.980 no matter what
00:18:11.800 even the most
00:18:12.940 fiscally responsible
00:18:14.140 governments in the world
00:18:15.180 have had to spend
00:18:16.960 outside of their means
00:18:18.060 for this
00:18:18.540 but it's about
00:18:19.820 how measured
00:18:21.000 you are
00:18:21.560 in your response
00:18:22.420 to it
00:18:22.880 and rather than
00:18:24.240 actually saying
00:18:25.020 alright
00:18:25.240 here are the
00:18:25.820 non-negotiables
00:18:26.760 and here are the
00:18:28.620 things that we can
00:18:29.420 kind of figure out
00:18:30.220 a way through
00:18:30.840 Trudeau just
00:18:31.900 whipped out the
00:18:32.760 checkbook
00:18:33.180 for anything
00:18:33.700 and everything
00:18:34.220 and even when
00:18:35.040 programs weren't
00:18:35.820 working
00:18:36.140 he was starting
00:18:36.740 new programs
00:18:37.520 signing new checks
00:18:38.440 writing new
00:18:39.080 checks
00:18:39.860 and doing this
00:18:40.920 right up until
00:18:41.820 even just a few
00:18:42.820 weeks ago
00:18:43.400 and I mean
00:18:44.040 CERB was
00:18:44.640 constantly evolving
00:18:45.620 and some of the
00:18:46.740 business relief
00:18:47.340 programs were as
00:18:48.240 well
00:18:48.460 but missing the
00:18:49.820 point
00:18:50.180 is exactly what
00:18:51.780 these things were
00:18:52.460 doing
00:18:52.740 because businesses
00:18:54.020 simply wanted to
00:18:55.400 be able to open
00:18:56.280 and operate
00:18:56.960 and function
00:18:57.620 and I know
00:18:59.340 that a lot of
00:18:59.900 the lockdowns
00:19:00.620 came provincially
00:19:01.380 but it was the
00:19:01.980 federal government
00:19:02.720 federal advice
00:19:03.580 that was driving
00:19:04.900 much of this
00:19:05.960 dialogue
00:19:06.440 throughout the
00:19:07.080 earlier days
00:19:07.760 and earlier
00:19:08.280 months
00:19:08.660 of the
00:19:09.260 pandemic
00:19:09.700 so for the
00:19:10.800 liberals now
00:19:11.500 to be in
00:19:12.080 this situation
00:19:12.780 where billions
00:19:14.000 and billions
00:19:14.540 of dollars
00:19:15.080 a deficit
00:19:15.620 that might
00:19:16.000 be nearing
00:19:16.560 400 billion
00:19:17.840 and the
00:19:18.960 number is
00:19:19.540 not at all
00:19:20.020 set in stone
00:19:20.580 I think it's
00:19:21.320 pretty darn
00:19:21.780 important for
00:19:22.380 there to be
00:19:22.760 a budget
00:19:23.180 so we know
00:19:23.820 exactly what
00:19:24.580 we're dealing
00:19:25.060 with
00:19:25.340 but in order
00:19:26.100 for that
00:19:26.540 the liberals
00:19:27.020 would have
00:19:27.540 to know
00:19:27.960 as well
00:19:28.460 we've got
00:19:29.680 to take a
00:19:30.040 break
00:19:30.200 when we
00:19:30.460 come back
00:19:30.880 more of
00:19:31.620 the Andrew
00:19:31.940 Lawton show
00:19:32.420 here on
00:19:32.900 True North
00:19:33.380 stay tuned
00:19:34.060 welcome back
00:19:41.020 to the
00:19:41.660 Andrew Lawton
00:19:42.220 show
00:19:42.400 this was
00:19:42.860 a bit
00:19:43.220 of an
00:19:43.400 interesting
00:19:43.780 sidebar
00:19:44.480 to the
00:19:44.940 weekend's
00:19:45.720 united
00:19:46.260 conservative
00:19:46.840 party
00:19:47.360 AGM
00:19:47.940 if you
00:19:48.360 were tuning
00:19:48.760 into that
00:19:49.380 the media
00:19:50.260 got crazy
00:19:51.260 over
00:19:51.840 Aaron O'Toole
00:19:52.740 and Jason
00:19:53.580 Kenny
00:19:53.880 sitting down
00:19:54.500 beside each
00:19:55.060 other
00:19:55.300 to participate
00:19:56.360 in a live
00:19:57.340 stream
00:19:57.700 now this
00:19:58.140 is a
00:19:58.800 virtual
00:19:59.260 AGM
00:19:59.760 it's all
00:20:00.160 virtual
00:20:00.540 so the
00:20:01.260 only people
00:20:01.720 that are
00:20:01.980 actually at
00:20:02.560 the convention
00:20:03.140 location
00:20:03.720 are the
00:20:04.920 staff
00:20:05.420 that are
00:20:05.660 making it
00:20:06.060 run
00:20:06.340 and some
00:20:06.680 of the
00:20:06.860 politicians
00:20:07.360 who are
00:20:07.740 speaking
00:20:08.120 and for
00:20:09.200 10 minutes
00:20:10.160 Jason
00:20:11.640 Kenny
00:20:11.940 the premier
00:20:12.400 of Alberta
00:20:12.940 and Aaron
00:20:13.680 O'Toole
00:20:13.940 the leader
00:20:14.360 of the
00:20:14.620 conservative
00:20:15.020 sat down
00:20:15.760 and were
00:20:16.720 chit-chatting
00:20:17.440 about all
00:20:18.440 sorts of
00:20:18.840 things
00:20:19.140 and Jason
00:20:19.900 Kenny
00:20:20.200 wished Aaron
00:20:20.740 O'Toole
00:20:21.000 well in
00:20:21.520 his recovery
00:20:22.040 from COVID-19
00:20:22.960 and then
00:20:23.940 this is the
00:20:24.780 story that
00:20:25.500 was put out
00:20:26.000 by the
00:20:26.260 Canadian
00:20:26.580 press
00:20:26.960 O'Toole
00:20:27.580 and Kenny
00:20:28.020 sit side
00:20:28.640 by side
00:20:29.160 for live
00:20:29.680 stream
00:20:29.960 without wearing
00:20:30.500 masks
00:20:31.100 and they
00:20:32.180 get an
00:20:32.520 Alberta
00:20:32.900 health
00:20:33.260 spokesperson
00:20:33.700 who says
00:20:34.320 yes the
00:20:34.700 province
00:20:35.040 still advises
00:20:35.820 everyone to
00:20:36.320 wear masks
00:20:36.880 when physical
00:20:37.700 distancing
00:20:38.140 isn't possible
00:20:39.020 but here's
00:20:40.280 the thing
00:20:40.980 they tried to
00:20:41.820 like push
00:20:42.180 this out
00:20:42.620 missing kind
00:20:43.460 of one
00:20:43.760 key point
00:20:44.600 Aaron O'Toole
00:20:45.800 has already
00:20:46.380 got COVID-19
00:20:47.940 he's at no
00:20:49.640 risk of
00:20:50.340 receiving it
00:20:51.280 or transmitting
00:20:52.800 it based on
00:20:53.580 the best
00:20:54.020 available evidence
00:20:54.940 but then
00:20:55.400 the health
00:20:56.300 officials go
00:20:56.840 back to
00:20:57.160 well we
00:20:57.580 don't really
00:20:58.420 know
00:20:59.060 about
00:20:59.940 reinfection
00:21:00.740 and I
00:21:00.960 remember
00:21:01.160 early on
00:21:01.920 when there
00:21:02.560 were stories
00:21:03.080 about
00:21:03.480 reinfection
00:21:04.600 and there
00:21:04.820 was one
00:21:05.140 in particular
00:21:05.640 I think
00:21:05.960 it was in
00:21:06.280 South Korea
00:21:06.840 or something
00:21:07.340 where they
00:21:07.740 had said
00:21:08.020 well you
00:21:08.740 know 20
00:21:09.120 people were
00:21:10.040 reinfected
00:21:10.660 with COVID-19
00:21:11.440 after they'd
00:21:12.480 had it
00:21:12.740 previously
00:21:13.180 and I got
00:21:14.640 actually quite
00:21:15.140 startled by
00:21:15.660 that I'm
00:21:15.920 like oh
00:21:16.120 that's not
00:21:16.500 good
00:21:16.720 and then I
00:21:17.620 read a
00:21:18.440 follow-up story
00:21:19.160 a few weeks
00:21:19.600 later it's like
00:21:20.180 you know
00:21:20.360 scratch that
00:21:20.960 they just
00:21:21.440 still had it
00:21:21.960 the first
00:21:22.280 time
00:21:22.540 they didn't
00:21:22.920 get
00:21:23.100 reinfected
00:21:23.760 they just
00:21:24.100 it never
00:21:24.680 went away
00:21:25.120 from them
00:21:25.440 so even
00:21:26.520 if we
00:21:27.000 don't have
00:21:27.480 the definitive
00:21:28.080 proof that
00:21:29.580 okay you
00:21:30.480 cannot be
00:21:31.960 reinfected
00:21:32.980 we also
00:21:33.820 don't have
00:21:34.620 any significant
00:21:35.620 reason to
00:21:36.440 believe you
00:21:37.200 can be
00:21:37.880 reinfected
00:21:38.640 and if you
00:21:39.040 compound that
00:21:40.040 with the fact
00:21:41.120 that we're
00:21:41.380 talking about
00:21:41.960 again two
00:21:42.380 people that
00:21:42.900 are on
00:21:43.260 camera here
00:21:44.020 they're still
00:21:45.180 generally
00:21:45.900 distanced
00:21:46.540 in other
00:21:47.140 ways and
00:21:47.680 everyone's
00:21:48.020 wearing their
00:21:48.380 masks off
00:21:49.000 camera
00:21:49.320 it's now
00:21:50.500 this reinforcement
00:21:51.820 of the snitch
00:21:52.760 culture dilemma
00:21:53.600 where
00:21:53.960 people are
00:21:54.700 going to
00:21:55.220 just want
00:21:55.920 to snitch
00:21:56.660 on and
00:21:57.200 rat out
00:21:57.660 anyone that
00:21:58.160 they feel
00:21:58.600 is breaking
00:21:59.140 the rules
00:21:59.660 and I
00:22:00.360 kind of
00:22:00.740 had hoped
00:22:01.220 we had
00:22:01.600 moved beyond
00:22:02.300 this because
00:22:02.900 earlier on
00:22:03.740 this was the
00:22:04.240 issue of oh
00:22:04.840 if you see
00:22:05.540 your neighbor
00:22:05.920 having people
00:22:06.580 over in the
00:22:07.100 backyard or
00:22:07.780 oh you see
00:22:08.240 someone at
00:22:08.760 the town's
00:22:10.320 baseball diamond
00:22:11.060 you have to
00:22:11.720 rat them out
00:22:12.360 to bylaw
00:22:12.920 enforcement
00:22:13.380 I kind of
00:22:14.240 thought we
00:22:14.520 all realized
00:22:15.100 that wasn't
00:22:15.680 where we
00:22:16.020 wanted to
00:22:16.480 live but
00:22:16.820 apparently
00:22:17.160 not if
00:22:17.620 you're
00:22:17.760 Aaron O'Toole
00:22:18.280 and Jason
00:22:19.180 Kenny and
00:22:19.700 you dare sit
00:22:20.340 down and
00:22:20.840 talk to each
00:22:21.480 other on
00:22:21.840 camera you're
00:22:23.000 going to get
00:22:23.320 the media
00:22:24.120 on your
00:22:24.680 back about
00:22:25.320 oh well
00:22:25.840 you're not
00:22:26.280 wearing masks
00:22:27.040 and you're
00:22:27.300 not socially
00:22:27.820 distancing
00:22:28.320 and it is
00:22:30.260 interesting
00:22:30.720 because I
00:22:31.800 mean you can
00:22:32.420 see in the
00:22:33.320 picture here
00:22:33.920 it's difficult
00:22:35.220 to tell exactly
00:22:36.240 how far they
00:22:37.060 are like
00:22:37.400 they're probably
00:22:38.100 not six feet
00:22:38.880 but you know
00:22:39.520 I'd say maybe
00:22:40.040 their faces
00:22:40.860 are four to
00:22:41.600 five feet
00:22:42.400 away from
00:22:42.780 each other
00:22:43.220 I've met
00:22:44.440 Jason Kenny
00:22:45.260 and Aaron O'Toole
00:22:45.960 a number of
00:22:46.560 times
00:22:46.860 neither one
00:22:47.800 has ever
00:22:48.240 done what
00:22:48.920 Justin Trudeau
00:22:49.480 would call
00:22:49.960 spoken moistly
00:22:51.540 on me
00:22:51.820 neither has
00:22:52.280 ever done
00:22:53.060 that
00:22:53.280 so I
00:22:53.960 when push
00:22:54.800 comes to
00:22:55.340 shove
00:22:55.700 I am not
00:22:56.460 going to get
00:22:56.980 outraged about
00:22:57.720 this
00:22:57.980 but it is
00:22:58.880 this theater
00:22:59.900 this theater
00:23:00.900 of it
00:23:01.200 everyone has
00:23:01.720 to be in
00:23:02.360 a very
00:23:02.740 performative
00:23:03.440 manner
00:23:03.820 proving like
00:23:04.980 they are
00:23:05.660 the most
00:23:06.360 adherent
00:23:07.120 to the
00:23:07.800 COVID-19
00:23:08.480 rules
00:23:08.920 and if you
00:23:09.320 aren't the
00:23:09.580 most adherent
00:23:10.140 to the
00:23:10.340 COVID-19
00:23:10.900 rules
00:23:11.340 well well
00:23:12.220 well do
00:23:12.660 we have
00:23:13.080 the the
00:23:13.560 mob remedy
00:23:14.160 for you
00:23:14.680 just circulate
00:23:16.080 the picture
00:23:16.440 on Twitter
00:23:16.840 and it's
00:23:17.720 funny I
00:23:18.020 mean a lot
00:23:18.520 of on
00:23:18.880 for example
00:23:19.800 I watch
00:23:20.220 Big Brother
00:23:20.640 every now and
00:23:21.220 then when there's
00:23:21.620 nothing else
00:23:22.100 on in the
00:23:22.520 summer and
00:23:22.900 this season
00:23:23.320 I was just
00:23:23.760 curious to
00:23:24.280 see how
00:23:25.120 they would
00:23:25.740 navigate the
00:23:26.540 COVID-19
00:23:27.180 issue and
00:23:28.620 they had like
00:23:29.120 all of the
00:23:29.560 people who
00:23:30.240 were contestants
00:23:30.820 in isolation
00:23:32.140 and tested
00:23:33.320 numerous times
00:23:34.200 before the
00:23:34.800 show began
00:23:35.480 and once
00:23:36.760 they leave
00:23:37.440 the house
00:23:37.880 after they're
00:23:38.420 eliminated they
00:23:39.120 have to put
00:23:39.600 their mask on
00:23:40.360 to do their
00:23:41.000 you know exit
00:23:41.900 interview and
00:23:42.880 I'm like they've
00:23:43.840 been in a
00:23:44.540 house in a
00:23:45.340 literal bubble
00:23:46.180 for I don't
00:23:47.600 know how long
00:23:47.980 the show's been
00:23:48.480 on now weeks
00:23:49.160 or a couple of
00:23:49.820 months they are
00:23:51.200 not at risk
00:23:51.860 of anything
00:23:52.320 but they have
00:23:52.920 to be seen
00:23:53.900 wearing the
00:23:54.900 mask that's
00:23:55.540 the issue is
00:23:56.100 that it's it's
00:23:56.900 not about even
00:23:57.480 people buying
00:23:58.160 into this they
00:23:58.760 just have to be
00:23:59.440 seen to be
00:24:00.780 buying into it
00:24:01.740 and that's where
00:24:02.980 society is putting
00:24:04.400 its efforts
00:24:05.060 forward now
00:24:06.020 we have to take
00:24:07.340 one quick break
00:24:07.980 again we will be
00:24:08.840 back talking about
00:24:09.520 U.S. politics
00:24:10.240 momentarily here on
00:24:11.520 the Andrew Lawton
00:24:12.260 show stay tuned
00:24:13.260 you're tuned in to
00:24:18.540 the Andrew Lawton
00:24:19.540 show
00:24:20.000 welcome back to
00:24:25.020 thank you
00:24:34.120 we're
00:24:36.620 we're
00:24:37.680 we're
00:24:38.940 you
00:24:42.720 we're
00:24:43.800 you
00:24:48.660 you