Juno News - August 26, 2020


Diluting Conservatism vs. Selling Conservatism


Episode Stats

Length

39 minutes

Words per Minute

170.04825

Word Count

6,649

Sentence Count

257

Misogynist Sentences

10

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.
00:00:06.740 This is The Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.
00:00:12.740 Coming up, the mainstream media accuses pro-choice Aaron O'Toole of having a secret pro-life agenda.
00:00:18.780 Why today's youth find punctuation triggering, and Michael Barrett on the latest in the Wee scandal.
00:00:26.400 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.
00:00:30.000 Hello and welcome everyone to another edition of Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.
00:00:37.480 This is The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.
00:00:40.240 Thank you very much for joining me for another edition.
00:00:43.640 It is August 26th, 2020, just a few days after Aaron O'Toole won the Conservative leadership.
00:00:50.860 And if you believe in that idea that the enemy of your enemy is your friend,
00:00:55.220 surely you must be pretty enthralled that many in the left-wing media, the left-wing sectors of the media,
00:01:02.400 are not too happy with Aaron O'Toole being the Conservative leader.
00:01:07.000 So if that is in fact a thing that you care about, as in it makes you more like someone,
00:01:12.560 if the people you don't like don't like them, then you may be in good standing right now.
00:01:17.400 I'm going to talk about later on the Wee investigation that the Conservatives are doing outside of the committee,
00:01:23.980 because Justin Trudeau has shut down Parliament, and as you know, he's also shut down the investigation into himself.
00:01:30.280 But I'm going to be talking about that with MP Michael Barrett later on in the show.
00:01:35.400 But I do want to begin by discussing a few of the media reactions to Aaron O'Toole.
00:01:42.240 Now, we spent most of the show Monday talking about how Aaron O'Toole became the Conservative leader,
00:01:47.480 what it's likely to mean.
00:01:49.140 And again, I have to point out here, and this is not a knock or an endorsement of O'Toole,
00:01:54.720 I think it's just a matter-of-fact observation.
00:01:57.880 He, yes, ran as that true blue Conservative.
00:02:00.720 You can't deny that.
00:02:01.720 He ran as being consistent and authentic.
00:02:04.420 But he's not a radical by any stretch.
00:02:07.280 There's a guy who's always been a consensus builder.
00:02:11.220 That's always been his approach, as far as I've known him,
00:02:14.660 going back to his time in the Stephen Harper Cabinet and looking at his previous leadership campaign.
00:02:20.220 And yeah, he's saying right now that, you know, he doesn't want to bend the knee on things.
00:02:23.980 He's going to stand up for free speech and cancel culture.
00:02:26.580 But we're not talking about a hard-line guy.
00:02:29.920 And I think this is important because it's already happening,
00:02:33.640 that the media is trying to paint him as being this radical.
00:02:37.820 And in particular, let's look at his first press conference.
00:02:41.840 So he was supposed to be declared the leader on Sunday.
00:02:44.940 It took until the wee hours of Monday morning.
00:02:47.320 Although, as my friend J.J. McCullough pointed out, who's on the West Coast,
00:02:51.180 he said, you know, all the Ontarians need to shut up
00:02:53.240 because typically the sun rises and sets on East Coast time.
00:02:57.700 So he said it was nice that there was a timing that worked out well for people on the West Coast.
00:03:02.260 But what happened is on Monday morning in the wee hours, Aaron O'Toole is the victor.
00:03:08.600 Because of the late hour, apparently he had, you know,
00:03:11.540 wasn't able to get caught up on all his work on Monday in the daytime.
00:03:14.940 So he waited until Tuesday to do his first press conference.
00:03:18.060 And this was his coming out party, his debutante ball to the media.
00:03:22.040 He comes out, gives a little bit of the same type of speech he gave on Sunday night,
00:03:27.220 the importance of uniting the party and the country.
00:03:30.200 He restated that line about how he wants everyone, black, white, brown,
00:03:35.300 if they worship on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, indigenous, immigrant, all of those people.
00:03:39.500 He wants everyone to come out and support him and find a place in the conservative party.
00:03:45.640 Not a hard line message, not even an ideological message.
00:03:50.160 But then you listen to the questions he's asked.
00:03:53.940 And he is asked in 15 minutes of a press conference,
00:03:57.600 no fewer than four questions that touch on abortion.
00:04:03.000 Four. Four questions about, oh, do you feel you owe social conservatives anything?
00:04:08.300 Which, again, is a fair question.
00:04:09.800 But when you look at the volume of it, four questions that touch on this thing.
00:04:13.700 When Aaron O'Toole is, by his own admission, repeatedly and recurrently, pro-choice,
00:04:19.780 he is not pro-life at all.
00:04:21.760 The only thing he said and did that was pro-life was say,
00:04:25.420 yes, I realize that social conservatives are a part of the party,
00:04:28.820 and I think we need to make sure that everyone has a voice
00:04:31.420 and protect the long-standing conservative tradition of free votes.
00:04:36.480 That was what he said.
00:04:37.560 That was his only position on this.
00:04:39.500 And he was and is unequivocally pro-choice.
00:04:42.780 Why this is relevant is because if someone who is unequivocally and unabashedly pro-choice
00:04:50.120 is getting hit relentlessly with questions about the social conservatism
00:04:54.920 and about the pro-life agenda and all of that,
00:04:57.560 to the same volume, to the same extent that a leader who was pro-life was,
00:05:02.440 what was the whole point of all of that rhetoric we heard from the red Tories
00:05:06.560 that, oh, we can't have a social conservative, you know, that's what sidelines us?
00:05:09.660 No, the media is asking that anyway.
00:05:12.240 Take a listen to this one question.
00:05:14.060 Now, it's translated, obviously,
00:05:15.620 but this is a reporter from Radio Canada yesterday at his press conference
00:05:21.760 asking about, you guessed it, that social conservative agenda
00:05:25.640 based on a vote he made a few years ago.
00:05:28.900 Question.
00:05:29.400 This morning, once again, you said that you are a pro-choice MP,
00:05:32.980 but in 2016, you voted for Bill C-225 that wanted to give legal rights to the fetus.
00:05:40.200 How can you reconcile that vote with the fact that you say that you are pro-choice?
00:05:46.080 Answer.
00:05:47.140 That is incorrect.
00:05:48.920 It was a bill on public safety, in fact,
00:05:52.980 and I voted in favor to have debate in committee on that bill
00:05:58.640 because it was on public safety for women
00:06:02.940 and that is my approach.
00:06:07.860 It's possible to listen to people
00:06:10.720 and to be a pro-choice MP.
00:06:15.440 That is going to be my approach question.
00:06:17.860 But women's rights advocates will tell you
00:06:21.200 that that's the kind of bill that tries to open up cracks
00:06:26.040 to reopen the debate on abortion.
00:06:29.140 How can you reassure people who may think that?
00:06:31.260 Answer.
00:06:32.860 That was a bill on criminal sentencing, actually,
00:06:36.420 and I have a completely clear track record on social issues as an MP.
00:06:42.500 That's not the case for Justin Trudeau
00:06:44.040 because in 2013, I was the first of only 18 conservatives
00:06:51.260 who voted for a bill for the LGBT community.
00:06:57.600 Mr. Trudeau missed the vote for a fundraising activity
00:07:04.260 for the Ontario Liberal Party.
00:07:10.640 But I have a clear record by that Mr. Trudeau does not.
00:07:14.040 They'll be trying to work their little spin cycle
00:07:21.260 and they're already starting.
00:07:22.820 I have a track record of always voting in favor of rights,
00:07:26.100 whether it's the rights of women with respect to choice,
00:07:29.320 whether it's the LGBT community.
00:07:31.680 In my first months as an MP,
00:07:33.200 I was the first conservative of 18 to support an LGBT bill.
00:07:38.040 I will always stand and defend the rights of Canadians.
00:07:41.060 Justin Trudeau skipped the vote, a very close vote,
00:07:45.240 to attend a Cash for Access fundraiser with the Liberals in Toronto.
00:07:49.000 So you'll see where his priorities are.
00:07:51.400 My priorities will be on Canadians.
00:07:53.600 Now, I have to speak about this bill for a moment
00:07:56.040 because Aaron O'Toole,
00:07:57.060 and I didn't actually quite like in his answer
00:07:58.900 how he downplayed what he did.
00:08:01.100 At first he said,
00:08:01.820 oh, you know, he was just voting to put it to committee
00:08:04.740 so that people could talk about it.
00:08:06.300 Then later he said, oh, no, no, no.
00:08:07.900 It's just a criminal sentencing bill.
00:08:10.020 The private members bill in question, C-225,
00:08:14.040 from MP Kathy Wagenthal,
00:08:16.260 had a very specific purpose.
00:08:18.380 And you can see it in the title,
00:08:19.840 Protection of Pregnant Women and Their Preborn Children Act,
00:08:23.660 Cassie and Molly's Law,
00:08:25.340 an act to amend the criminal code,
00:08:27.520 injuring or causing the death of a preborn child
00:08:29.940 while committing an offense.
00:08:31.300 And if you look in the text of the bill,
00:08:33.920 what this would have done
00:08:35.100 is make it a separate offense
00:08:36.900 if you knowingly harm a preborn or unborn child
00:08:42.280 in the course of committing a crime.
00:08:44.720 You have to know that the woman in question is pregnant.
00:08:47.540 And if that happens, it's an additional offense.
00:08:50.220 And that is not carved out in law right now
00:08:52.780 because under Canadian law right now,
00:08:55.160 up until a moment before a child leaves the birth canal,
00:08:58.540 they cease to exist.
00:08:59.500 So that was the point of this.
00:09:00.640 And obviously a lot of people,
00:09:02.660 as this Red Dew Canada reporter clearly believes,
00:09:05.640 thought that, oh, this is just a backdoor way
00:09:08.140 to banning abortion,
00:09:09.580 when in actuality it was covering an aspect of Canadian law
00:09:13.420 that is leaving vulnerable people
00:09:15.920 unprotected and unaccounted for.
00:09:18.040 A heinous crime happens.
00:09:19.680 There is no recognition in law
00:09:21.720 that something has gone wrong,
00:09:23.580 that something has happened.
00:09:24.780 That was the point of this.
00:09:26.960 The bill didn't pass.
00:09:28.400 Okay, moot point right now.
00:09:29.800 Aaron O'Toole voted for this,
00:09:31.960 which I think proves the point
00:09:33.980 that it wasn't a bill
00:09:35.340 that you had to be a pro-life person
00:09:38.160 to see the value in.
00:09:39.840 But even something so adjacent
00:09:42.380 to being pro-life,
00:09:44.420 but not being pro-life,
00:09:45.720 will get you hit by the media
00:09:47.200 for being this, you know,
00:09:48.300 evil, scary, social conservative.
00:09:50.480 And when, because Aaron O'Toole,
00:09:52.540 who is pro-choice,
00:09:53.500 and he said it again,
00:09:54.340 he said it repeatedly,
00:09:55.280 because he's getting hit by this,
00:09:57.940 it actually reinforces
00:09:59.900 what has always been my position on this,
00:10:02.480 that there is no better answer
00:10:04.120 to these questions than the truth,
00:10:06.260 because indeed,
00:10:06.980 there is no correct answer at all.
00:10:09.700 The media is not actually interested
00:10:11.800 in having a dialogue about this.
00:10:14.300 The media just wants to string everyone up.
00:10:17.060 And as I said on Twitter yesterday,
00:10:18.700 if you so much as like,
00:10:19.700 stop to tie your shoe
00:10:20.840 in front of a Catholic church
00:10:21.880 over the last 30 years,
00:10:23.020 you're going to be hit with having
00:10:25.060 an evil, scary, social conservative agenda.
00:10:28.980 So yeah, I wish O'Toole had stood up
00:10:31.200 for Kathy Wagenthal's bill
00:10:33.140 more forcefully than he did
00:10:34.960 instead of downplaying it,
00:10:36.200 because it's pretty easy to figure out
00:10:37.960 just from reading the title and the text
00:10:39.580 what this bill was actually about.
00:10:41.980 But nevertheless,
00:10:43.300 it proves that even having a pro-choice leader
00:10:45.960 doesn't make all of these concerns go away.
00:10:49.220 Now, this is not to say
00:10:50.440 that Aaron O'Toole's position
00:10:51.540 is a calculated one.
00:10:53.120 I believe that it's just authentic.
00:10:54.800 That's what he believes.
00:10:56.220 But it's more of a caution
00:10:57.580 to other people
00:10:58.680 in the conservative movement
00:11:00.220 that, I mean,
00:11:02.160 this is not rocket science
00:11:03.560 or shouldn't be,
00:11:04.220 that even if you give the media
00:11:05.540 and the left
00:11:06.020 everything they say they want,
00:11:08.600 it's not going to make
00:11:09.960 the criticisms go away.
00:11:12.420 And on that note,
00:11:13.780 I have to turn,
00:11:14.760 not that I go to Canada's
00:11:16.500 imitation of the view
00:11:18.000 called The Social
00:11:19.300 to get my in-depth
00:11:20.620 political commentary
00:11:21.620 or punditry fix.
00:11:23.000 However,
00:11:23.600 I have to play this clip.
00:11:25.100 It was actually shown to me
00:11:26.820 by one of my colleagues.
00:11:27.880 Believe it or not,
00:11:28.500 part of my working from home routine
00:11:29.940 is not, you know,
00:11:30.860 flipping on the daytime talk shows.
00:11:32.760 But this was a clip
00:11:33.940 from The Social
00:11:34.720 in which the four,
00:11:36.160 I don't know if they're co-hosts
00:11:37.220 or co-anchors
00:11:37.980 or socialites,
00:11:39.420 whatever the term is,
00:11:40.540 are sitting around.
00:11:41.820 They're talking about
00:11:42.460 the conservative leadership race.
00:11:43.880 And there seems to be
00:11:45.420 this overwhelming sense
00:11:47.160 of sadness
00:11:48.020 that Peter McKay
00:11:49.820 didn't win
00:11:50.600 the conservative leadership,
00:11:52.080 which, okay,
00:11:52.940 people who supported McKay,
00:11:54.600 I get why they'd be sad
00:11:55.860 they didn't win.
00:11:56.620 You're always sad
00:11:57.360 when your person
00:11:58.320 isn't elected.
00:11:59.760 But the rationale
00:12:00.880 I have to jump on
00:12:02.620 from one particular
00:12:03.780 member of this panel,
00:12:05.500 and that is Lainey Liu,
00:12:08.000 who, well,
00:12:09.720 why don't you just
00:12:10.440 listen for yourself?
00:12:11.280 I have to say,
00:12:12.660 I can't,
00:12:14.520 I have been discouraged
00:12:15.980 by Prime Minister
00:12:17.800 Justin Trudeau
00:12:18.800 in many ways lately.
00:12:21.180 Quite disappointed, actually.
00:12:22.860 So when the news came out,
00:12:25.580 or at least in the months
00:12:28.020 preceding this leadership race,
00:12:30.320 that Peter McKay
00:12:31.500 was the frontrunner,
00:12:32.920 I thought that
00:12:34.240 I would have to make
00:12:35.380 an interesting decision
00:12:36.480 that I maybe
00:12:38.540 would be able
00:12:40.240 to consider
00:12:40.980 an alternative
00:12:41.880 to Prime Minister
00:12:42.980 Justin Trudeau.
00:12:44.180 And in many ways,
00:12:45.200 I was looking forward to it.
00:12:46.660 And I was prepared
00:12:47.880 to go in
00:12:48.840 thinking differently
00:12:50.200 about the conservative party.
00:12:52.600 Now, though,
00:12:54.060 with this decision,
00:12:55.460 and as you mentioned,
00:12:56.820 Jess,
00:12:57.120 and the tweet
00:12:57.760 from Fluffy Teal
00:12:58.800 about social conservatism,
00:13:01.480 it feels like
00:13:02.940 this party
00:13:04.120 is turning away
00:13:05.320 from more progressive politics
00:13:07.160 and entrenching itself
00:13:08.880 even further
00:13:10.080 in social conservatism.
00:13:11.680 And it makes someone
00:13:12.540 like me,
00:13:13.140 a Canadian voter
00:13:14.000 who may be
00:13:16.160 open
00:13:17.060 to another option
00:13:18.940 other than
00:13:19.920 Justin Trudeau.
00:13:20.840 And I have
00:13:21.840 voted liberal
00:13:23.360 in the past
00:13:24.920 many times,
00:13:26.180 consistently.
00:13:27.220 It makes me wonder,
00:13:29.020 were you thinking
00:13:29.740 about me,
00:13:30.980 Conservative Party of Canada?
00:13:32.440 Like,
00:13:32.660 didn't you just,
00:13:34.160 did you just lose me?
00:13:35.540 I'm not sure I agree, Lainey.
00:13:38.400 Okay.
00:13:39.160 So, listen,
00:13:40.460 here is my position on this.
00:13:42.460 Yes,
00:13:42.740 the conservative base
00:13:43.680 needs to grow,
00:13:44.440 the conservative family
00:13:45.620 needs to grow,
00:13:46.320 people need to bring in
00:13:47.100 other people.
00:13:48.060 But her issue,
00:13:49.940 well, let me clarify,
00:13:50.940 you can tell how terrifying
00:13:52.380 it is
00:13:52.960 for a downtown
00:13:54.120 Toronto media personality
00:13:55.760 to even entertain
00:13:57.360 voting conservative.
00:13:58.800 And she says as much,
00:13:59.900 she's like,
00:14:00.280 well,
00:14:00.860 you know,
00:14:01.180 to think that I maybe
00:14:02.640 could have considered
00:14:04.220 thinking about
00:14:05.660 at one point
00:14:07.100 talking about,
00:14:08.340 thinking about,
00:14:09.580 maybe casting a ballot
00:14:11.680 that was almost
00:14:12.860 for the,
00:14:13.920 like,
00:14:14.340 she's trying to,
00:14:15.540 like,
00:14:15.680 talk herself into
00:14:17.500 or maybe talk herself
00:14:18.600 out of
00:14:19.200 what she's trying to say,
00:14:20.640 which is that,
00:14:21.120 you know,
00:14:21.320 she doesn't necessarily
00:14:22.480 want to vote liberal.
00:14:23.280 But it's like,
00:14:23.920 it's so painful for her
00:14:25.360 to admit that,
00:14:26.460 which I think is in and of
00:14:27.400 itself interesting.
00:14:28.500 But the more telling part
00:14:30.780 is when she says
00:14:32.540 the conservatives
00:14:33.540 are moving further
00:14:34.600 and further away
00:14:35.320 from progressive politics
00:14:36.960 and then I'm a liberal
00:14:38.440 voter,
00:14:38.900 she says,
00:14:39.500 were you thinking
00:14:40.400 of me?
00:14:42.180 No!
00:14:43.340 No!
00:14:43.800 Why should the conservatives
00:14:44.960 be thinking
00:14:45.740 of diehard,
00:14:47.400 lifelong liberals
00:14:48.520 when they're deciding
00:14:49.760 who should be
00:14:50.400 the standard bearer
00:14:51.620 of the conservative party?
00:14:53.300 No,
00:14:53.640 of course they weren't
00:14:54.520 thinking of you.
00:14:55.780 It's a conservative
00:14:56.880 leadership race.
00:14:57.880 Yes,
00:14:58.220 they want your vote,
00:14:59.320 of course,
00:14:59.760 and yes,
00:15:00.720 you have to reach
00:15:01.500 across the aisle,
00:15:02.700 but when you are deciding
00:15:04.440 who is the conservative
00:15:06.220 standard bearer,
00:15:07.860 the one that gets to,
00:15:09.380 in many cases,
00:15:10.440 sell and champion
00:15:11.600 conservatism,
00:15:13.020 the goal is not
00:15:14.300 to find the candidate
00:15:15.580 that's going to be
00:15:16.560 championing what you call
00:15:18.240 progressive politics.
00:15:21.260 And this proves
00:15:22.940 what Aaron O'Toole
00:15:23.920 was saying
00:15:24.620 in the leadership race.
00:15:25.880 This proves why
00:15:26.700 Aaron O'Toole won,
00:15:27.860 because progressive voters
00:15:29.580 liked Peter McKay
00:15:31.940 not because they thought
00:15:33.680 that Peter McKay
00:15:34.500 was a conservative
00:15:35.500 that they could get behind,
00:15:37.240 but because they thought
00:15:38.300 he was a progressive.
00:15:41.040 That's the whole point.
00:15:42.580 They liked him
00:15:43.520 because they thought
00:15:44.340 he was going to give them
00:15:45.500 progressive politics,
00:15:47.180 not conservative politics.
00:15:49.100 A conservative leader
00:15:50.480 does not,
00:15:51.840 in my view,
00:15:52.940 broaden the base
00:15:53.980 by diluting conservatism.
00:15:55.900 They broadened the base
00:15:57.080 by selling conservatism.
00:16:00.740 And that is a very
00:16:02.260 important distinction
00:16:03.320 that is lost
00:16:04.220 in all of the people
00:16:05.020 that said that Peter McKay
00:16:06.120 would be the
00:16:06.600 quote-unquote
00:16:07.260 most electable.
00:16:09.780 So that's the whole point here.
00:16:11.760 And yes,
00:16:12.300 Aaron O'Toole,
00:16:12.940 to be fair,
00:16:13.500 in his opening remarks
00:16:14.900 at that press conference,
00:16:15.820 said,
00:16:16.500 if you're a lifelong
00:16:17.140 liberal NDP voter,
00:16:18.280 I want you to join the family.
00:16:19.980 But he has to bring
00:16:21.240 those people in
00:16:22.100 by showing them
00:16:23.280 how conservatism works.
00:16:24.960 And the way you do that
00:16:26.400 is actually,
00:16:27.420 I would argue,
00:16:28.100 a page out of
00:16:28.900 Derek Sloan's book,
00:16:29.860 which is you are
00:16:31.020 a conservative
00:16:31.780 without apology.
00:16:32.840 You tell people
00:16:33.600 why these values
00:16:35.220 are right for them.
00:16:37.080 Because if you are,
00:16:38.120 and this is true
00:16:38.720 of any ideology,
00:16:39.620 I'm speaking of it now
00:16:40.520 in a conservative context
00:16:41.620 because that's where we are.
00:16:43.120 If you are a conservative
00:16:44.820 and you believe
00:16:45.500 in conservatism,
00:16:46.660 you believe that
00:16:47.760 for a reason.
00:16:48.600 You believe it
00:16:49.140 because it's correct.
00:16:50.780 So the way you get
00:16:52.020 people on board
00:16:52.820 with that
00:16:53.280 is by showing them
00:16:54.320 the same things
00:16:55.140 that drew you
00:16:56.160 to that way
00:16:57.300 of viewing the world.
00:16:59.220 And that clip
00:17:00.080 from The Social,
00:17:01.060 again,
00:17:01.420 I don't share it
00:17:02.440 because it's,
00:17:03.020 you know,
00:17:03.280 high-minded
00:17:03.980 intellectual debate,
00:17:06.740 nor is it supposed to be.
00:17:07.760 That's not a knock
00:17:08.700 at the host.
00:17:09.260 I'm saying it's not
00:17:09.840 a politics show.
00:17:10.880 It's a chit-chat news,
00:17:12.720 not even really a news show.
00:17:13.920 It's a chit-chat show.
00:17:15.000 But when that clip
00:17:17.180 comes across my radar,
00:17:19.700 I look at it
00:17:20.600 and I'm like,
00:17:21.080 that is exactly
00:17:22.580 the point
00:17:23.080 and that's why
00:17:23.820 Aaron O'Toole
00:17:24.400 got to the place
00:17:25.380 that he did
00:17:26.080 because the only people
00:17:28.820 that were really
00:17:29.500 enthusiastic about McKay
00:17:31.420 were not,
00:17:33.900 in fact,
00:17:34.540 conservatives.
00:17:36.120 He was the favorite
00:17:37.360 of the media.
00:17:38.540 He was the favorite
00:17:39.400 in many respects
00:17:40.640 of the left
00:17:41.400 and people who,
00:17:42.780 again,
00:17:43.040 were thinking,
00:17:43.760 well, you know,
00:17:44.580 I like conservatives.
00:17:46.140 Because here's the problem
00:17:47.700 and this is what
00:17:48.760 Ms. Liu wants.
00:17:49.880 She wants an alternative
00:17:51.820 liberal party.
00:17:54.080 She doesn't want
00:17:55.200 an alternative
00:17:55.720 to liberalism.
00:17:57.000 She wants an alternative
00:17:58.240 to Justin Trudeau
00:17:59.460 and to the liberal party
00:18:00.480 of Canada.
00:18:01.700 And this is, again,
00:18:02.980 an aspect of this dialogue
00:18:04.680 that a lot of people
00:18:05.760 I don't think realize.
00:18:07.620 They just want someone else
00:18:09.240 to champion
00:18:09.860 the same policies
00:18:11.060 that Justin Trudeau
00:18:12.380 and the liberals
00:18:12.860 are championing,
00:18:13.640 but without the baggage
00:18:14.660 of Justin Trudeau.
00:18:16.120 And it's why,
00:18:17.200 by the way,
00:18:17.620 the liberals
00:18:17.980 would be very smart
00:18:19.020 were they to replace
00:18:20.140 Justin Trudeau
00:18:20.900 with a Christian Freeland
00:18:21.900 or some other leader
00:18:23.280 because what the liberals
00:18:24.360 have right now
00:18:25.500 is a branding problem
00:18:26.980 in that the shine
00:18:28.520 has come off Justin Trudeau.
00:18:30.380 No, not the shoe polish.
00:18:31.600 The shine has come off.
00:18:32.980 Well, I mean,
00:18:33.260 maybe the shoe polish
00:18:33.980 has come off too.
00:18:34.940 But this has all come off
00:18:36.060 Justin Trudeau
00:18:36.660 and they're just left
00:18:37.720 with this not-as-advertised guy
00:18:39.960 filled with baggage,
00:18:41.500 filled with scandal,
00:18:42.760 filled with a pretty
00:18:44.060 abysmal record
00:18:45.420 in the last year
00:18:46.680 or so in particular.
00:18:48.420 And that's where
00:18:49.420 they have nowhere
00:18:50.340 left to go.
00:18:51.860 And if you had an NDP
00:18:53.200 that was a little bit more
00:18:54.580 on the ball,
00:18:55.740 that might be a big threat
00:18:57.000 to the liberals.
00:18:58.120 And yeah,
00:18:58.700 you could have a conservative
00:18:59.900 that picks up
00:19:00.580 some of that support
00:19:01.400 by being a Justin Trudeau
00:19:03.520 alternative.
00:19:04.640 But as I said on Monday,
00:19:06.020 at that point,
00:19:06.680 the conservative party
00:19:07.680 ceases to be
00:19:08.700 a conservative party.
00:19:11.120 So there is a lesson
00:19:12.820 in this.
00:19:13.440 The people that were
00:19:14.220 enthusiastic about McKay
00:19:15.680 and excited about McKay
00:19:16.880 only wanted someone
00:19:18.840 who was,
00:19:19.900 and again,
00:19:20.420 I'm hinging a lot
00:19:21.380 on one person's words,
00:19:22.600 but I think she encapsulates
00:19:24.160 a lot of the people
00:19:25.740 that we've seen online
00:19:27.380 and heard from
00:19:28.060 in the last several months
00:19:29.100 about this.
00:19:29.780 They want somebody
00:19:30.680 who's going to champion
00:19:31.600 progressive politics
00:19:32.600 who simply isn't
00:19:33.940 Justin Trudeau.
00:19:36.380 And when you allow
00:19:38.420 your message
00:19:39.680 to not just be diluted,
00:19:41.700 but in many cases reversed,
00:19:43.500 you haven't actually
00:19:44.560 won anything.
00:19:46.280 And that is where
00:19:48.220 it's important
00:19:49.240 to stick to your guns
00:19:50.620 and stick to your principles.
00:19:53.140 We've got to take a break.
00:19:54.320 When we come back,
00:19:54.980 more of The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:19:56.340 Hang tight.
00:19:57.980 You're tuned in
00:19:59.080 to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:20:00.620 Speaking of high-minded
00:20:07.360 political commentary,
00:20:08.580 I had a couple of emails
00:20:09.500 ahead of today's show
00:20:10.540 asking me to tell this story.
00:20:12.640 There's not really much
00:20:13.360 of a story.
00:20:13.960 I got into like a one-sided
00:20:15.300 fight with Jan Arden
00:20:16.400 on Twitter,
00:20:17.080 which is a point,
00:20:17.960 I guess,
00:20:18.220 at which I have already lost
00:20:19.800 just by virtue
00:20:20.700 of engaging in it.
00:20:22.440 But Jan Arden,
00:20:23.620 who, again,
00:20:24.160 I knew of her music,
00:20:26.100 I think,
00:20:26.740 10 to 15 years ago
00:20:28.620 when that was,
00:20:30.160 I suppose,
00:20:30.580 the last time anyone
00:20:31.240 knew of Jan Arden's music.
00:20:32.900 And I liked some
00:20:34.300 of her songs, actually.
00:20:35.300 You know,
00:20:35.500 Easy Listening,
00:20:36.260 Adult Contemporary.
00:20:37.140 She does that one
00:20:38.120 Buble song,
00:20:39.160 and Buble did it.
00:20:40.100 I thought he did it better,
00:20:41.080 but I digress.
00:20:42.580 So Jan Arden is not a fan
00:20:43.960 of Erin O'Toole.
00:20:44.820 So she had tweeted out,
00:20:46.400 you know, again,
00:20:47.140 high-minded political
00:20:48.040 commentary here
00:20:48.920 on August 24th.
00:20:50.180 Erin is a tool.
00:20:51.560 And I'm like,
00:20:51.960 okay, it's a joke.
00:20:52.720 It's not a good joke,
00:20:53.520 but I can respond
00:20:54.320 with a joke
00:20:54.840 that's not all that good.
00:20:56.640 And I had said on Twitter,
00:20:57.660 fun fact,
00:20:58.800 Jan Arden has had
00:20:59.720 the same number of hits
00:21:00.560 in the last 10 years
00:21:01.480 as Erin O'Toole,
00:21:02.720 which is to say none.
00:21:03.880 Because all good jokes
00:21:05.260 are rooted in the truth.
00:21:07.560 Unfortunately,
00:21:08.380 it didn't really work out
00:21:09.820 too well for me.
00:21:10.940 If you can look,
00:21:12.160 you know,
00:21:12.580 an hour later,
00:21:13.460 that was the tweet
00:21:14.380 that I got back,
00:21:15.700 or that was the image
00:21:16.320 I saw on Twitter.
00:21:17.120 Jan Arden has blocked you.
00:21:18.480 So, again,
00:21:19.320 I don't know what I'm
00:21:19.960 missing out on,
00:21:20.660 probably nothing,
00:21:21.360 but there we go.
00:21:22.900 So, dish it out
00:21:23.780 and not taking it.
00:21:24.780 That is one of the
00:21:25.300 great sins of comedy.
00:21:27.660 This is a bizarre story.
00:21:29.660 You'd think it was comedy.
00:21:31.020 And I actually learned
00:21:32.040 of this from
00:21:32.920 William McBeath,
00:21:34.000 who many people
00:21:35.080 involved in Canadian politics
00:21:36.660 would no doubt know.
00:21:37.960 He's a spokesperson
00:21:38.820 for Save Calgary.
00:21:41.260 And William McBeath
00:21:42.320 had tweeted something
00:21:43.160 that I didn't actually believe.
00:21:45.480 And it was that,
00:21:46.820 again,
00:21:48.560 this is,
00:21:48.980 I can't stress enough
00:21:50.460 that I thought
00:21:51.060 this was a joke.
00:21:51.960 that Australia
00:21:53.800 once went to war
00:21:55.960 against birds
00:21:57.120 and lost.
00:21:58.760 And this actually had me
00:21:59.840 looking into a bit
00:22:00.560 of Australian history
00:22:01.520 and I discovered
00:22:02.240 the Great Emu War.
00:22:04.260 Is it Emu or Emu?
00:22:05.940 I think it's Emu.
00:22:06.820 The Great Emu War
00:22:08.180 of 1932
00:22:09.640 in which
00:22:10.260 the Australian military
00:22:11.500 was deployed
00:22:12.160 to fight
00:22:12.820 rampant overpopulation
00:22:14.500 of emus.
00:22:15.240 They were
00:22:15.640 taking the large
00:22:17.220 flightless birds
00:22:18.120 to task.
00:22:18.760 They were armed
00:22:19.380 with guns.
00:22:20.000 They were shooting
00:22:20.820 the emus.
00:22:21.840 They killed a number
00:22:22.620 of them.
00:22:24.040 And still,
00:22:24.660 for some reason,
00:22:25.380 the emus
00:22:26.020 emerged victorious.
00:22:27.900 So,
00:22:28.400 if Canada ever
00:22:29.460 ends up in conflict
00:22:30.320 with Australia,
00:22:31.440 I have a high-minded
00:22:33.640 likelihood
00:22:34.400 that we will emerge.
00:22:36.580 We will not
00:22:37.520 be destroyed
00:22:38.220 if Australia
00:22:39.100 couldn't handle
00:22:39.760 a few birds.
00:22:40.620 So,
00:22:40.980 I thought this story
00:22:42.120 was actually
00:22:42.860 for the birds.
00:22:45.080 No?
00:22:45.760 Nothing?
00:22:46.720 Okay.
00:22:47.220 I need a laugh track.
00:22:48.500 All right.
00:22:48.860 In any case,
00:22:49.280 that was actually
00:22:49.780 a true story.
00:22:50.340 You can read up
00:22:50.800 on the Great Emu War.
00:22:51.960 Thank you,
00:22:52.460 William McBeath,
00:22:53.020 I guess,
00:22:53.460 for telling me
00:22:54.220 that was a thing.
00:22:54.880 Although,
00:22:55.600 to any respect
00:22:56.500 I had lingering
00:22:57.520 for the people
00:22:58.160 of Australia,
00:22:58.940 I feel,
00:22:59.420 is gone.
00:23:00.760 Also,
00:23:01.240 in random news here,
00:23:02.880 this comes from
00:23:03.500 the London Evening Standard.
00:23:05.260 Young people
00:23:05.900 are intimidated
00:23:06.880 by full stops.
00:23:08.580 So,
00:23:08.860 you know,
00:23:09.120 periods at the end
00:23:09.860 of sentences
00:23:10.360 because they see them
00:23:11.800 as a sign of anger.
00:23:14.120 Linguists say,
00:23:15.000 this story has found
00:23:16.980 that people
00:23:17.420 in Generation Z
00:23:18.780 find that
00:23:20.360 a full stop
00:23:21.580 seems deliberate
00:23:22.840 because in text messages,
00:23:24.140 most people
00:23:24.640 don't use punctuation,
00:23:25.740 apparently.
00:23:26.200 It bothers me greatly.
00:23:27.500 So that if you put
00:23:28.480 a period,
00:23:29.440 it means that
00:23:30.580 they are trying
00:23:31.440 to be mad at you.
00:23:32.560 So,
00:23:33.060 if you send a text message
00:23:34.760 without a full stop,
00:23:36.060 Dr. Lauren Fontaine
00:23:38.020 tweets,
00:23:39.240 then it's obvious
00:23:40.800 that you've concluded
00:23:41.660 the message.
00:23:42.180 So if you add
00:23:43.160 an additional marker
00:23:44.300 for completion,
00:23:45.280 they will read
00:23:46.140 something into it
00:23:46.980 and it tends to be
00:23:48.100 a falling intonation
00:23:49.640 or negative tone.
00:23:51.600 So the rationale
00:23:52.520 is that hitting
00:23:53.220 send on a message
00:23:54.320 is good enough
00:23:55.180 to say it's complete.
00:23:56.200 You don't need
00:23:56.520 to put a period.
00:23:57.440 So I'm actually weird
00:23:58.320 because I will put
00:23:59.160 like a period
00:23:59.780 after the word
00:24:01.740 hi or hey
00:24:03.380 just because that's
00:24:04.300 how I was raised.
00:24:05.140 You have to use
00:24:05.860 periods or full stops.
00:24:08.320 I've never really
00:24:08.840 called them full stops,
00:24:09.880 but that's what they are.
00:24:10.860 You have to use
00:24:11.660 full stops
00:24:12.340 at the end
00:24:12.660 of a sentence
00:24:13.040 for it to be proper.
00:24:13.860 Now,
00:24:14.000 maybe I'll just
00:24:14.620 do an exclamation mark
00:24:15.780 because then I'm
00:24:16.620 finishing it
00:24:17.420 with a punctuation mark
00:24:19.360 that is appropriate.
00:24:21.220 But then I'm like,
00:24:22.160 are the youth today,
00:24:23.940 I sound so old,
00:24:24.960 but are the youth today
00:24:25.720 so triggered
00:24:26.420 that punctuation
00:24:28.020 is now seen
00:24:29.900 as this great affront
00:24:32.200 against their
00:24:32.720 delicate sensibilities?
00:24:33.800 Apparently,
00:24:34.460 the answer to that
00:24:35.580 is yes.
00:24:36.600 One linguist
00:24:37.180 at Cambridge,
00:24:38.160 Owen McArdle,
00:24:38.920 had said,
00:24:39.240 oh,
00:24:39.400 he's not sure
00:24:39.880 about emails.
00:24:40.560 You know,
00:24:41.120 I guess it depends
00:24:41.680 how formal they are.
00:24:43.020 But he says,
00:24:43.780 full stops are the exception
00:24:45.120 and not the norm
00:24:46.160 and now have a role
00:24:47.620 in signifying an abrupt
00:24:49.140 or angry tone of voice.
00:24:52.140 So all of the media
00:24:53.600 that thinks Aaron O'Toole
00:24:54.460 was too angry,
00:24:55.240 maybe he's just been using
00:24:56.080 too many full stops
00:24:57.120 in his campaign emails.
00:24:58.760 Perhaps that's the case.
00:25:00.240 And also in political
00:25:01.880 correctness news,
00:25:03.000 Rural Britannia,
00:25:03.820 one of the great anthems
00:25:05.340 of the era
00:25:06.340 and of the West,
00:25:07.040 is now being cancelled.
00:25:09.380 BBC removes the lyrics
00:25:11.760 to Rural Britannia
00:25:13.420 because apparently
00:25:14.740 it is just this great,
00:25:16.360 terrible ode to colonialism.
00:25:19.320 So BBC is having
00:25:20.380 its legendary
00:25:20.940 Last Night of the Proms
00:25:22.060 and is now just doing
00:25:23.340 an instrumental version
00:25:24.900 of Rural Britannia
00:25:26.680 because it is going to
00:25:29.200 just offend people
00:25:30.080 too much
00:25:30.560 to celebrate
00:25:31.320 the colonial glory
00:25:32.620 of Great Britain.
00:25:34.100 So Nigel Farage,
00:25:35.480 of course,
00:25:35.780 didn't take too kindly
00:25:36.580 to this.
00:25:37.000 Here's the video
00:25:37.440 he posted of him
00:25:38.280 just belting it out
00:25:39.460 louder than I think
00:25:40.560 the Last Night of the Proms
00:25:41.880 orchestral choir
00:25:43.040 ever could have.
00:25:43.760 Rural Demons
00:26:05.140 of Technology
00:26:07.220 Rural recursive
00:26:07.340 Rural forced
00:26:12.420 now thankfully boris johnson the prime minister of britain who's never been one to kowtow to
00:26:22.400 political correctness actually went against it sounds like his own staff when he spoke out about
00:26:28.360 this he said uh in one interview they're trying to restrain me from saying this but i wanted to
00:26:34.500 get it off my chest so i'm assuming that they refers to the handlers that are being like oh no
00:26:38.540 you you mustn't you mustn't talk about this no no no you just let them let it go no you mustn't and
00:26:43.160 then he's like ah you know forget about it i'm gonna do it uh but uh but now again when you have
00:26:48.380 like something that is almost a national anthem it's not quite i know god save the queen or god
00:26:53.660 save the king at some points is the british national anthem rule britannia is pretty much
00:26:58.580 the next best thing so when now you're going after that and not even for any real reason i can't find
00:27:05.380 anyone sensible who's actually raised a concern about this you have gone too far we have to take
00:27:11.660 a break when we come back we will speak to conservative mp michael barrett the latest in
00:27:15.920 the we investigation which even if the liberals don't want it to go on is still existing in some
00:27:22.220 form we'll talk about that up next here on the andrew lawton show stay tuned
00:27:26.220 you're tuned in to the andrew lawton show
00:27:30.620 welcome back well as you saw and heard last week pierre pauliev and michael barrett last week were
00:27:39.220 raising the issues of the redacted we documents and talking about all of the things that they were
00:27:46.900 finding in them although a lot of the things that they couldn't find because the liberals decided to
00:27:51.200 take the old black highlighter to these things before handing them over and and when justin
00:27:56.180 trudeau prorogued parliament of course it ended up putting a stop to all of the committee work
00:28:01.800 including the committee investigating the we scandal the scandal in which justin trudeau
00:28:07.560 was handing out giant massive contracts to people that have been paying his family members
00:28:13.400 and bringing bill morneau on vacations and cozying up with liberal staff and all of these other things
00:28:19.180 and the fact is that without the parliamentary oversight of this a lot of people are questioning
00:28:24.700 what can still be done so i want to talk about this with michael barrett he joins me on the line
00:28:30.360 now he's a conservative member of parliament from ontario and also the conservative ethics critic
00:28:35.700 michael good to talk to you thanks very much for coming on today thanks for having me here andrew
00:28:40.340 ethics critic that's pretty much a full-time job with this government isn't it
00:28:43.860 yeah absolutely and it's no uh surprise that the ethics commissioner's office um has had uh job
00:28:51.620 postings uh in in the summer of scandal 2020 with uh with all that's going on so we hear often from
00:28:58.920 justin trudeau that he works closely with the uh ethics commissioner and i think that they should
00:29:05.220 probably just get someone uh on retainer or or maybe put a direct door between the two offices they
00:29:10.760 have to visit so often so yeah for for my part it's uh it's busy we saw the press conference last
00:29:16.500 week with you and your colleague in the conservative caucus pierre pauliev going through
00:29:20.600 a number of those uh release documents from we a great many of them redacted and and the liberals
00:29:26.980 have tried to use the release of those documents in some way to defend against shutting down the
00:29:33.380 committee investigation i was hoping you could set the record straight here what work can actually
00:29:38.440 continue over the course of the summer with parliament prorogued well i'll first note that
00:29:44.220 on those documents that uh the prime minister and other liberals have trumpeted as this great measure
00:29:49.480 of transparency um the the documents came redacted and so uh which is which is contrary to the
00:29:56.520 committee's order they had they had um allowed for the law clerk uh sufficient time to do redactions
00:30:02.920 for privacy purposes you know in someone's uh you know personal phone number name uh that kind of
00:30:08.600 thing uh but they came with uh with substantial redactions from the government so that's that's
00:30:13.960 the first point um the next is that uh while i am the ethics critic and i was a member of the
00:30:21.400 standing committee that was that was uh doing this uh this investigation uh all of the committees
00:30:27.560 effectively cease to exist once parliament is prorogued so no witnesses can be called no further
00:30:32.840 documents can be ordered um none of those a formal uh parliamentary uh um tools can be taken out of
00:30:41.640 the toolbox uh i hear from a lot of folks that they say well there should be a vote of non-confidence
00:30:46.680 because justin trudeau is prorogued well we we have no opportunity to do that until the house
00:30:52.840 uh reconvenes and uh and and then of course see what he has on offer so the short answer to your
00:30:57.880 question is uh the opposition um the the best tool that we have is a microphone and uh and talking
00:31:04.280 to uh and talking to journalists like yourself when parliament does resume can the committee resume
00:31:10.360 its work or is it really going back to start from zero yeah back to zero so the the committees
00:31:15.560 will be reconstituted uh all of the members will need to be reappointed to those committees or or
00:31:20.680 not uh then the motion to initiate hearings or a study and uh and um and then to write a report
00:31:29.640 and to get the documents and and to order witnesses all of those things have to start from
00:31:35.240 from square one so if you have this prorogation which halts this investigation into the government
00:31:42.760 i mean how can canadians have any confidence that there is a willingness to have the investigation
00:31:48.200 to have the hearing of facts from the government which has always been their their official line
00:31:52.440 that oh yes we want everyone to look into it and and have added and justin trudeau made this big
00:31:57.160 magnanimous stand saying that he was agreeing to appear as a witness but that really doesn't amount
00:32:02.520 to all that much if the testimony goes into a black hole well that's right and and we said it before and
00:32:08.920 this is very much a uh prorogation uh to cover up uh this scandal and we have uh we have the
00:32:18.040 independent officers of parliament who are looking at this and there are many you know this matter has
00:32:22.360 been referred to the the ethics commissioner uh to the procurement ombudsman to the privacy commissioner uh
00:32:29.000 to uh elections canada and to the royal canadian mounted police i think i'm leaving one out but there's a lot
00:32:34.840 so those are all happening but but members of parliament have a responsibility to be a check
00:32:40.280 against the power of the executive that's our role as as members all members of the house who don't sit
00:32:46.040 in government that's their job and um it is very damaging to our democratic institutions when we have
00:32:53.240 a prime minister and a government who um so blatantly um you know throw transparency uh to the wayside
00:33:02.200 and uh you know and and you don't flat out um mislead canadians they lie to canadians when they
00:33:08.520 say that you know well they've got all of the you know opposition members have all of the information
00:33:12.920 and they can they can read that and continue to ask us questions that's what justin trudeau said when
00:33:16.680 he prorogued uh parliament so i'm not sure um what time the prime minister is is prepared to take my
00:33:22.760 questions today or tomorrow um because uh because with the chamber locked with committee rooms locked um that
00:33:30.760 uh that check that the opposition is is to exercise on the government uh isn't available
00:33:38.120 you mentioned that a microphone becomes the primary tool in the opposition's toolbox right now
00:33:43.800 what have the more explosive aspects of these documents revealed i i know we heard uh in some cases
00:33:50.600 from you and mr polyev last week about some of the lines from the bureaucrats but has there really been
00:33:56.200 a smoking gun or anything you'd characterize as such in these well i i think that the contention
00:34:03.480 that this was something that was uh imagined by or or first initiated by the public service has been
00:34:10.600 proven to be false so um we've heard over and over again from ministers and the prime minister and his
00:34:16.680 chief of staff that this was recommended by the non-partisan professional public service right it was
00:34:23.160 recommended after uh after uh the we organization wrote the proposal so of course they were the only
00:34:30.120 one who can deliver on it the the the we organization was the only organization that could deliver on we's
00:34:35.880 proposal and uh and we know that there was uh there were conversations with officials with ministers and
00:34:43.720 this we organization that were um denied in in sworn testimony and so this this idea uh that this was
00:34:53.800 you know just one morning a public servant woke up said this is going to be a billion dollar contract
00:34:58.760 it's going to go to cabinet it gets um it gets approved in in a few weeks time it's it's too incredible
00:35:06.200 to believe so um the the the problem is is that the ministers uh the prime minister his chief of staff
00:35:12.920 they've gone to great efforts to muddy the water and what this comes down to andrew is an organization
00:35:18.760 that gave members of the prime minister's family more than half a million dollars and the government
00:35:23.720 then gave that organization a half a billion dollars in that same government there's a finance minister
00:35:29.400 who accepted more than forty thousand dollars in illegal gifts from this organization so um that's
00:35:34.280 what this boils down to and that's what um canadians need to need to consider when justin trudeau
00:35:39.400 talks about doing a reset he's not looking to reset his legislative agenda he's looking to uh
00:35:44.280 change the channel uh reset the story from from this this huge scandal another story that came out
00:35:51.240 recently the husband of justin trudeau's chief of staff katie telford her husband rob silver had
00:35:57.080 apparently lobbied the finance minister's office for changes to the wage subsidy program
00:36:01.960 he's not a registered lobbyist thankfully his pursuit of changes was not successful but there does
00:36:07.720 seem to be that this culture of nepotism and you know a wink and a nod to get into uh some office
00:36:14.120 where someone could give you what you want well that's right and we and and when the question was
00:36:19.080 asked if uh mr silver had contacted uh finance department officials or the prime minister's office
00:36:26.520 there was no response and it wasn't until it was revealed that there were these um previously
00:36:32.920 unreported lobbying interactions by an by a then unregistered uh lobbyist um it it's uh it should
00:36:41.560 cause people great concern uh that that we have um in the in the in the halls of power some people have
00:36:49.240 been given a hall pass uh because of who they know and that's that's the pattern that we've seen with
00:36:55.640 the trudeau liberals they put their um they put their friends first and when anyone calls them out
00:37:00.760 when anyone calls them out um they punish them they punish them as an enemy we saw that in the
00:37:05.160 criminal prosecution of snc lavalon where the prime minister was found to have interfered
00:37:09.160 and uh the then attorney general um jody wilson raybold um she she called it for what it was
00:37:16.120 and she was fired dr jane philpot then the treasury board president saw what was happening um
00:37:21.720 wouldn't be a part of it she was fired and we we see this time and again so it's no wonder that
00:37:27.800 around the cabinet table few have the courage to stand up to the prime minister um and that's why
00:37:32.600 the official opposition believes that more than a few faces need to change around that table and as
00:37:37.880 you mentioned these are precisely the questions and issues that can't be raised right now when there's
00:37:41.880 no question period no committee and no parliamentary mechanism yep that's that's absolutely right
00:37:47.720 conservatives called for the house to sit over the summer in a modified fashion to respect public
00:37:51.880 health guidelines but it's essential that the government is held to account when we have uh
00:37:57.320 opposition members who who give their input who give the feedback from their constituents uh to the
00:38:03.320 and and input that into the process we get better outcomes for all canadians and um this government
00:38:09.960 certainly has demonstrated that they can't operate without uh scrutiny and uh and it doesn't seem like
00:38:16.680 there's any adults in the room so it is very important that uh that parliament reconvene and um
00:38:22.360 and you know frankly uh we should have been in session all summer conservative mp michael barrett
00:38:27.320 thank you very much for your time michael thanks have a great day that was michael barrett thank you
00:38:33.320 very much again to michael and that about does it for me for today my thanks to all of you for tuning
00:38:39.080 into the program if you have anything you'd like to share my email is at andrew lot no that's my twitter
00:38:44.360 my twitter is at andrew lawton my email is close andrew at andrew lawton.ca look forward to hearing
00:38:49.560 from you we will be back next week with more of canada's most irreverent talk show thank you god
00:38:55.160 bless and good day canada thanks for listening to the andrew lawton show support the program by donating
00:39:00.280 to true north at www.tnc.news