Juno News - September 16, 2020


Ep 12 | Pierre Poilievre | Holding Trudeau to account


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 6 minutes

Words per minute

165.06636

Word count

11,031

Sentence count

406

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

14

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

When Canadians began to learn about the damage that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had done during his time, racking up half a trillion dollars in debt, handing out the doomed $900 million We Charity contract, and the mysterious case of 20,000 missing infrastructure projects, Trudeau shut down the investigations by proroguing Parliament. On today's episode of the True North Speaker Series, I sit down with one of the few figures in Canada willing to challenge our Prime Minister and hold him accountable for his scandalous ethics violations and disastrous fiscal policies that put our entire economy at risk.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I think he said to himself, I can do anything I want.
00:00:03.800 You know, no one questions anything.
00:00:07.420 It seems that the normal parliamentary accountability mechanisms are obliterated.
00:00:14.020 So I think the group of them around Trudeau said,
00:00:16.420 we now have unfettered access to the public purse with no scrutiny.
00:00:21.740 And anybody who asks us a question about it,
00:00:23.880 we'll simply accuse them of nasty partisanship in the middle of a pandemic.
00:00:27.660 And we'll assert our pure motives and we'll do whatever the hell we please.
00:00:32.980 That's what I think, that's where I think their headspace was.
00:00:36.160 And frankly, I think if the media had been doing its job,
00:00:39.360 he probably would have been on his toes
00:00:40.960 and he probably wouldn't have been so sloppy in this corruption.
00:00:43.700 How can Canadians hold the minority liberal government to account?
00:00:47.160 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shut down Parliament
00:00:49.400 just as he shut down the economy in response to COVID-19,
00:00:53.920 choosing instead to hold daily press conferences
00:00:56.520 with hand-selected, friendly journalists from the mainstream media.
00:01:01.120 There was no oversight, no accountability, and no transparency.
00:01:04.860 Just daily propaganda sessions with liberal journalists
00:01:08.100 lobbying softball questions at their favourite liberal celebrity.
00:01:11.900 Can you describe specifically what your self-isolation means
00:01:15.320 both for you and your family and your wife?
00:01:18.180 You're outside right now.
00:01:20.160 Is your wife still going outside? 1.00
00:01:21.720 Is your family still going outside?
00:01:22.840 What does self-isolation actually mean for your family?
00:01:24.920 And what are you telling your children about the heightened sense of concern
00:01:28.680 in the country?
00:01:29.800 And also, how are you explaining some of the political decisions that you're making?
00:01:33.580 Okay, that is the Prime Minister of Canada on this Tuesday morning.
00:01:37.040 And I'll just say what everyone is thinking
00:01:38.840 before we get into the meat of what he said.
00:01:40.780 Yes, he did get a haircut.
00:01:41.700 When Canadians began to learn about the damage that Trudeau had done during his time,
00:01:46.540 racking up half a trillion dollars in debt,
00:01:48.820 handing out the doomed $900 million We Charity contract,
00:01:52.700 and the mysterious case of 20,000 missing infrastructure projects,
00:01:57.880 Trudeau shut down the investigations by proroguing Parliament.
00:02:00.940 On today's episode of the True North Speaker series,
00:02:04.860 I sit down with one of the few figures in Canada
00:02:07.200 willing to challenge our Prime Minister
00:02:09.260 and hold him accountable for his scandalous ethics violations
00:02:13.080 and the disastrous fiscal policies
00:02:15.620 that put our entire economy, our entire country at risk.
00:02:19.440 Pierre Polyev is the Conservative Member of Parliament
00:02:22.200 for the Ottawa-based riding of Carleton,
00:02:25.060 where he's been the MP since 2004.
00:02:27.260 Paulieff serves as the Conservative Party's finance critic,
00:02:31.380 and he was instrumental in drawing out new information
00:02:34.100 and exposing the many contradictions and changing narrative
00:02:37.800 Trudeau offered during the We Scam testimonies.
00:02:41.280 I really enjoyed watching him hold Trudeau directly accountable
00:02:44.780 during his parliamentary committee hearings,
00:02:46.960 and I really enjoyed sitting down with Pierre
00:02:49.180 to talk about all of the problems facing Ottawa
00:02:52.200 and how a Conservative government would offer a better vision for Canada.
00:02:56.680 I hope you enjoy our conversation.
00:02:58.880 Let me know what you think in the comments section,
00:03:00.560 and please share this video with friends and like-minded Canadians.
00:03:15.360 Pierre, thank you so much for joining us.
00:03:17.180 Thank you for coming on to the Speaker Series.
00:03:19.060 It's great to have you today.
00:03:20.720 Great to be with you.
00:03:21.600 Well, so before we get into all of the politics
00:03:24.920 and everything that's going on in Ottawa these days,
00:03:27.280 I want to talk a little bit about you and your background.
00:03:30.340 So you are an Ottawa-area MP.
00:03:32.960 You've been representing the people of Nepean for, what, 15 years now?
00:03:38.600 Since 2004.
00:03:40.660 And it was Nepean-Carleton.
00:03:43.680 I unfortunately lost Nepean in the redistribution,
00:03:46.080 so I'm now on the Carleton area, which is sort of southwest Ottawa.
00:03:50.600 Okay.
00:03:51.420 Interesting.
00:03:52.040 But before that, you are from Alberta,
00:03:54.760 which I was just reading your background, your history.
00:03:57.320 It seems like you really cut your teeth in Alberta politics.
00:04:01.520 You were just mentioning off camera that you work for the Byfields,
00:04:04.800 who were the founders of the Alberta Report.
00:04:06.580 So why don't you tell us about young Pierre
00:04:08.420 and the early days working in politics?
00:04:10.800 Well, when I was a teenager, I went to a few meetings
00:04:16.100 for Ralph Klein's Progressive Conservatives
00:04:19.640 and Preston Manning's Reformers
00:04:21.880 and met Preston Manning when I was 16 years old.
00:04:24.820 He represented my southwest Calgary neighbourhood in Parliament
00:04:28.580 and got an intern working for a local Calgary MP
00:04:34.040 when I was 16 or 17 years old
00:04:36.400 and made 600 bucks a month.
00:04:40.380 And it was an hour and a half bus ride each way.
00:04:45.280 So that was how I started off in politics.
00:04:48.120 It was not glamorous,
00:04:49.360 but I was thrilled at that age to get involved.
00:04:52.340 I then became Jason Kenney's intern
00:04:54.120 when I was 18 or 19 years old.
00:04:57.780 And he was one of my great mentors.
00:05:00.440 When I was in my early 20s,
00:05:01.740 I moved to Ottawa to work for Stockwell Bay.
00:05:03.780 And not long after that,
00:05:06.580 I decided to take a crazy gamble
00:05:10.020 and run for a Conservative nomination
00:05:12.080 for the newly merged party
00:05:14.000 in an Ottawa seat that we hadn't won since 1984.
00:05:18.840 And I've been elected six times since.
00:05:21.940 So tell us a little bit about the riding that you represent,
00:05:25.400 because I think a lot of people in Western Canada,
00:05:28.340 you know, they think of Ottawa
00:05:29.300 as a very left-wing kind of government town.
00:05:31.780 And yet you seem to represent a Conservative stronghold.
00:05:35.240 So tell us a little bit about the riding that you represent.
00:05:38.720 Well, it is basically south of the airport.
00:05:42.700 Then it goes west all the way to
00:05:45.020 where the Ottawa Senators Stadium is
00:05:48.960 on the 417 Highway.
00:05:51.600 I'm going to estimate about 75% of my residents are suburban
00:05:55.760 and about 25% are village or semi-rural.
00:06:00.260 All of my riding is in the city of Ottawa.
00:06:03.380 There are a lot of government workers,
00:06:05.280 a fair amount of high-tech employment as well.
00:06:08.740 There is a small farming population
00:06:11.400 that sort of shrinks a little bit each year, unfortunately.
00:06:14.860 But, you know, it had not been Conservative since 1984.
00:06:20.600 The Conservatives had lost it in 88, 93, 97, 2000,
00:06:26.380 before I won it in 2004.
00:06:30.200 So it can be a bit of a swing riding.
00:06:32.460 It's gone both ways.
00:06:33.600 And right now it's the only blue riding
00:06:35.580 on the federal map in the city of Ottawa.
00:06:38.420 We've got seven Liberals and one Conservative.
00:06:40.320 So I'm the chair of the Ottawa Conservative Caucus.
00:06:44.280 Well, good for you.
00:06:45.400 I mean, I think that the Conservatives
00:06:46.900 definitely have their work cut out for them
00:06:48.820 in Ontario in general.
00:06:51.320 I think that's one of the other questions
00:06:52.780 that I wanted to ask you is that
00:06:54.220 it really feels like the country is divided.
00:06:56.560 I saw some polling that came out last week
00:06:58.820 that basically showed that the Liberals
00:07:00.740 are more favourable everywhere west of Ontario
00:07:04.780 and everywhere, or sorry, everywhere east of Ontario
00:07:07.240 and everywhere west,
00:07:08.100 the Conservatives are up considerably.
00:07:10.320 And there seems to be that divide.
00:07:12.480 So, you know, for Western Canadians
00:07:14.780 watching this podcast here,
00:07:16.520 what is it that Western Canadians don't know
00:07:19.380 or don't really understand about the Ontario voter?
00:07:24.140 Well, you know, I'm in a unique position
00:07:27.140 because my riding is in Ottawa,
00:07:29.520 which is the nation's capital,
00:07:30.880 and it's right on the border with Quebec.
00:07:32.420 So, you know, from where I'm sitting
00:07:33.940 in my basement here,
00:07:35.600 I've got five provinces west of me,
00:07:37.780 five provinces east of me.
00:07:39.340 And it gives me a bit of an insight into both sides.
00:07:44.000 You know, I think that the differences
00:07:46.720 are not as great as they seem.
00:07:50.460 We have right now is an extremely divisive prime minister.
00:07:55.060 You know, we've had,
00:07:55.960 we have a conservative provincial government
00:07:57.800 in Ontario,
00:07:58.540 just like people do in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:08:00.400 Saskatchewan.
00:08:01.500 So at a provincial level,
00:08:03.180 we're, you know,
00:08:03.800 pretty much have the same governing philosophy
00:08:05.940 in charge and victorious
00:08:07.520 in this province as, you know,
00:08:10.580 the Western prairie provinces do.
00:08:13.520 But the difference is that
00:08:15.480 we have a prime minister who's decided
00:08:17.500 to mercilessly wage economic warfare
00:08:20.520 against Alberta, Saskatchewan,
00:08:23.800 parts of Northern and Interior British Columbia
00:08:27.580 with his hostility to the resource sector.
00:08:31.480 So in Ontario,
00:08:32.840 the big population centres,
00:08:36.020 Toronto, Ottawa, etc.
00:08:37.800 are not directly resource-driven economies.
00:08:43.080 They haven't felt the brunt yet of that war.
00:08:46.280 They will.
00:08:47.260 I mean, look,
00:08:47.820 Toronto's financial sector
00:08:49.100 has made billions of dollars
00:08:51.720 investing quite rightly
00:08:53.340 in the energy sector.
00:08:56.300 So Torontonians will feel the pain
00:08:58.320 if this idiocy goes on.
00:09:02.360 Ottawa residents will feel the pain as well
00:09:04.960 because, of course,
00:09:06.520 the public service work relies
00:09:08.500 on the tax revenues
00:09:09.580 that the resource sector has paid
00:09:12.440 so consistently over so many decades.
00:09:15.740 So the whole country
00:09:16.660 will ultimately suffer
00:09:18.040 from this anti-resource agenda.
00:09:21.280 But Albertans and Saskatchewanians 0.65
00:09:23.780 are just the first to feel it
00:09:25.540 and thus the first
00:09:26.840 to be justifiably angry about it.
00:09:29.580 You know, I read a lot of
00:09:31.440 the sort of Laurentian elite commentary
00:09:34.300 in the major newspapers
00:09:35.820 and it seems like the consensus
00:09:37.680 is basically that, you know,
00:09:40.120 the oil sands are bad for the environment
00:09:42.360 and it's just inevitable
00:09:44.100 that we have to phase them out
00:09:45.500 and that's just the role
00:09:46.520 of the federal government.
00:09:47.640 And also that a government
00:09:49.860 cannot win power,
00:09:51.500 they cannot get votes
00:09:52.640 in specifically Quebec
00:09:54.260 but also Ontario
00:09:55.400 without, you know,
00:09:57.480 a green agenda
00:09:58.340 and a very ambitious
00:09:59.480 sort of green environmentalist plan.
00:10:02.340 Do you accept that premise
00:10:05.160 or what do you make
00:10:06.140 of the elites that say that?
00:10:09.040 Well, they're not talking
00:10:10.080 to ordinary people.
00:10:10.980 I can say in my riding,
00:10:12.300 I overtly campaign
00:10:13.740 in favor of pipelines.
00:10:15.020 The Energy East pipeline
00:10:16.000 was going to run
00:10:16.660 right through my riding
00:10:17.560 and I was happy to support it
00:10:20.160 from the very beginning.
00:10:21.760 In fact, my liberal opponent
00:10:23.580 tried to pretend
00:10:24.360 he was for pipelines as well
00:10:26.160 because he knew
00:10:27.720 that that's where
00:10:28.280 the population was.
00:10:29.320 Everyday people understand
00:10:31.780 that pipelines make sense.
00:10:34.020 In fact,
00:10:34.880 what a lot of conservatives
00:10:35.940 miss is Trudeau doesn't 0.90
00:10:37.820 overtly or publicly
00:10:39.600 oppose pipelines.
00:10:41.060 He does it
00:10:41.860 in all of his actions.
00:10:43.200 He pretends
00:10:43.700 that he's trying
00:10:44.160 to get them built
00:10:44.820 but in reality
00:10:46.320 he uses all the levers
00:10:47.620 of the state
00:10:48.200 to stop it from happening.
00:10:50.040 So he wouldn't be doing that
00:10:52.060 if pipelines weren't popular.
00:10:55.060 If you look back
00:10:55.760 at his statements
00:10:56.620 in the House of Commons,
00:10:57.520 he very rarely
00:10:58.420 confesses his real opinion
00:11:00.580 on pipelines.
00:11:01.620 He always says,
00:11:02.320 oh, we're trying
00:11:02.860 to work together
00:11:03.580 with all the different groups
00:11:04.760 and make it happen
00:11:05.640 and we're going
00:11:06.600 through all the steps
00:11:07.360 and gosh golly,
00:11:08.740 darn, I'm trying so hard
00:11:10.000 it just doesn't seem
00:11:10.700 to work out.
00:11:11.560 Meanwhile,
00:11:12.100 he's using all
00:11:13.240 of the bureaucratic machinery
00:11:15.000 to stop it from occurring.
00:11:17.100 But my point here is
00:11:18.380 the population
00:11:19.680 overwhelmingly supports pipelines
00:11:21.240 in every region.
00:11:22.780 There's even strong support
00:11:23.780 in Quebec for pipelines.
00:11:24.860 We know that there's
00:11:26.600 a $14 billion
00:11:27.360 natural gas pipeline
00:11:29.040 and liquefaction project
00:11:30.640 that awaits federal approval
00:11:31.960 in the Saguenay
00:11:32.700 for which there's
00:11:33.740 overwhelming support
00:11:34.660 by the Quebec government.
00:11:36.140 So there is public support
00:11:37.620 everywhere.
00:11:38.080 And in fact,
00:11:38.540 the province
00:11:39.680 that was most devastated
00:11:41.000 to learn
00:11:41.440 that the Energy East project
00:11:43.300 was killed
00:11:44.000 was actually not
00:11:45.480 Alberta or Saskatchewan
00:11:46.520 though they were
00:11:47.060 justifiably outraged.
00:11:48.400 It was New Brunswick
00:11:49.200 because New Brunswickers 0.99
00:11:50.920 were going to refine
00:11:52.740 all of that Western petroleum
00:11:55.420 had the pipeline
00:11:56.720 gone ahead.
00:11:57.520 A million barrels a day
00:11:58.480 would have arrived
00:11:59.080 from Alberta
00:11:59.780 in New Brunswick.
00:12:02.260 So we have national support
00:12:04.040 for pipelines.
00:12:05.020 Where we have failed
00:12:06.100 is in properly exposing
00:12:07.600 the fact that
00:12:08.260 there is a single obstacle
00:12:10.080 to pipelines
00:12:10.700 in this country
00:12:11.340 and his name is
00:12:12.500 Justin Trudeau.
00:12:13.620 That's a really interesting point
00:12:15.000 and I hadn't really thought of it
00:12:16.220 but now that I do,
00:12:17.200 you know,
00:12:17.880 when you're looking for
00:12:19.080 examples of how
00:12:20.560 the Liberals oppose pipelines
00:12:22.240 it's usually like
00:12:23.140 something that Gerald Butts
00:12:24.380 said like 15 years ago
00:12:25.880 or something that Trudeau
00:12:27.280 said sort of sneakily
00:12:28.460 in a French language debate
00:12:30.080 that they don't sort of
00:12:31.300 overtly come out.
00:12:32.040 And I recall even
00:12:32.740 at the sort of beginning
00:12:33.560 they sort of
00:12:35.080 beat their chest
00:12:35.920 and said,
00:12:36.380 look,
00:12:36.600 we've actually had
00:12:37.240 more pipelines approved
00:12:38.200 than the Harper government
00:12:39.140 which wasn't true
00:12:41.320 but that was sort of
00:12:42.120 the line that the Liberals took.
00:12:43.480 But it does,
00:12:44.480 Pierre,
00:12:44.720 seem like there is
00:12:45.380 a shift going on.
00:12:46.260 We saw it
00:12:46.840 with Christia Freeland
00:12:48.340 in her sort of
00:12:49.300 first press conference
00:12:50.180 as finance minister
00:12:51.920 stating that the
00:12:53.520 regrowth
00:12:54.740 or the recreation
00:12:55.740 of the economy
00:12:56.480 after the COVID lockdowns
00:12:57.780 here was going to be
00:12:58.980 built on green
00:13:00.380 you know,
00:13:01.840 plans and schemes
00:13:02.700 and there's been
00:13:03.340 a lot of speculation
00:13:04.160 about what's to come
00:13:05.660 in the upcoming
00:13:06.380 throne speech.
00:13:07.720 So,
00:13:08.140 do you think that
00:13:09.360 perhaps the Liberals
00:13:10.820 are taking that shift?
00:13:12.080 That they're going to do
00:13:13.220 a sort of
00:13:13.960 far left shift
00:13:15.120 as what is sort of
00:13:16.500 being implied
00:13:17.400 in the media
00:13:17.800 these days?
00:13:18.360 Yes,
00:13:19.700 I expect a radical
00:13:21.460 new experiment.
00:13:24.360 Gerald Butts
00:13:25.240 who effectively
00:13:26.220 is running the government
00:13:27.280 put together
00:13:28.460 a group of people
00:13:29.980 to write a report
00:13:31.160 on what
00:13:32.220 the post-COVID
00:13:34.280 Canadian economy
00:13:35.000 should look like.
00:13:36.740 And surprise,
00:13:37.380 surprise,
00:13:38.300 they came up
00:13:38.880 with a
00:13:39.220 $49.9 billion
00:13:41.100 green plan.
00:13:42.820 I love how it was
00:13:43.820 $49.9 billion.
00:13:46.040 You know,
00:13:46.700 it's kind of like
00:13:47.380 when you're buying
00:13:48.340 a t-shirt
00:13:48.940 at the store,
00:13:51.760 they don't want
00:13:52.440 to charge you
00:13:52.960 $50,
00:13:53.800 they charge you
00:13:54.380 $49.99
00:13:56.200 so that you think
00:13:57.600 it's a bargain.
00:14:00.140 And,
00:14:00.440 you know,
00:14:00.840 for the very
00:14:01.580 low price
00:14:03.920 with this limited
00:14:04.500 time offer,
00:14:05.340 if you just call
00:14:05.800 this 1-800 number,
00:14:07.960 Gerald will sell
00:14:08.900 you a green economy
00:14:09.860 for $49 billion.
00:14:12.640 But,
00:14:13.160 you know,
00:14:13.800 I can tell you
00:14:14.540 the first thing
00:14:15.100 is if you are
00:14:16.380 a liberal insider,
00:14:17.280 you are going
00:14:17.840 to get
00:14:18.200 fabulously wealthy
00:14:19.880 off of this.
00:14:21.200 There will be
00:14:21.600 many millionaires,
00:14:22.500 maybe even
00:14:22.840 a few billionaires
00:14:23.680 that will
00:14:24.780 result
00:14:26.360 from
00:14:27.380 this plan
00:14:28.380 if it goes ahead.
00:14:29.960 There will be
00:14:30.340 subsidies
00:14:30.760 for phony
00:14:32.100 renewable programs,
00:14:35.040 fake windmill
00:14:35.940 projects,
00:14:37.120 fake solar
00:14:37.860 projects
00:14:38.460 that produce
00:14:39.040 very little
00:14:39.540 electricity.
00:14:40.160 There will be
00:14:41.500 all kinds
00:14:42.000 of funky
00:14:42.960 new science
00:14:44.080 fiction schemes
00:14:45.020 that don't
00:14:46.400 actually produce
00:14:47.300 energy or output
00:14:48.440 but that are
00:14:49.760 dressed up
00:14:50.340 with all the
00:14:50.760 right public
00:14:51.280 relations.
00:14:52.700 Basically,
00:14:53.500 you know,
00:14:53.940 if you want
00:14:54.340 to sell
00:14:55.280 a pig
00:14:56.060 in Ottawa
00:14:56.760 over the next
00:14:58.360 several months,
00:14:59.460 paint it green
00:15:00.080 and bring it
00:15:01.360 to Ottawa
00:15:01.820 and Justin Trudeau
00:15:02.760 will buy it
00:15:03.240 with Canadian
00:15:03.740 tax dollars.
00:15:05.220 We saw,
00:15:05.740 we've seen this
00:15:06.200 before,
00:15:06.620 of course,
00:15:06.940 in Ontario
00:15:07.480 where they had
00:15:07.980 a Green Energy
00:15:08.560 Act
00:15:08.940 and they
00:15:09.780 were paying
00:15:10.280 90 cents
00:15:11.000 a kilowatt
00:15:11.640 hour
00:15:11.920 for something
00:15:12.900 that was
00:15:13.220 worth 3 cents.
00:15:14.620 So you can
00:15:15.060 imagine going
00:15:15.580 to a grocery
00:15:16.140 store and paying
00:15:16.740 90 cents
00:15:17.380 for an item
00:15:18.020 that's worth
00:15:18.420 3 cents.
00:15:19.000 Well,
00:15:19.140 obviously,
00:15:19.640 you're going
00:15:19.880 to bankrupt
00:15:20.680 yourself pretty
00:15:21.440 quickly and the
00:15:22.020 result was it
00:15:22.700 doubled electricity
00:15:23.540 prices.
00:15:24.320 It created
00:15:25.060 something that
00:15:25.580 the Ontario
00:15:26.600 Association of
00:15:27.500 Food Banks
00:15:27.940 called energy
00:15:29.680 poverty,
00:15:30.660 a phenomenon
00:15:31.200 where poor
00:15:32.260 working class
00:15:32.920 people were
00:15:33.440 literally walking
00:15:34.280 into the food
00:15:34.960 bank with
00:15:36.080 their power
00:15:36.680 bill and saying,
00:15:37.520 I can't keep
00:15:38.940 the lights
00:15:39.300 on and feed
00:15:40.020 myself so I'm
00:15:40.900 going to have
00:15:41.260 to come here
00:15:42.120 for some canned
00:15:42.780 goods.
00:15:44.260 And meanwhile,
00:15:45.640 well-connected
00:15:46.980 Liberal insiders
00:15:48.320 managed to land
00:15:49.700 these monstrous
00:15:50.520 contracts.
00:15:51.780 So you have
00:15:52.200 millionaires on
00:15:53.040 Bay Street
00:15:54.100 making a fortune
00:15:54.980 off of little
00:15:55.660 old ladies 0.87
00:15:56.260 who can't afford
00:15:57.020 to turn the
00:15:58.580 lights on in the
00:15:59.280 morning.
00:16:00.020 And this will
00:16:00.660 happen on a
00:16:01.260 grand scale
00:16:02.020 if the Liberals
00:16:03.340 go ahead with
00:16:04.040 the schemes
00:16:04.520 they've been
00:16:05.020 speculating and
00:16:05.840 hinting at in
00:16:07.180 the media over
00:16:07.880 the last several
00:16:08.520 months.
00:16:09.700 You know,
00:16:09.920 it's wild to
00:16:10.640 me, Pierre,
00:16:11.320 that after living
00:16:12.200 through the
00:16:12.660 Green Energy
00:16:13.080 Act and living
00:16:13.740 through McGinty
00:16:14.620 and Wynn and
00:16:15.080 what happened,
00:16:15.660 I mean, I
00:16:15.960 remember there
00:16:16.760 were news
00:16:17.080 stories every
00:16:17.700 week of
00:16:18.340 someone's
00:16:18.960 energy bill
00:16:19.640 where it
00:16:20.220 was like
00:16:20.540 $1,200 a
00:16:21.580 month and
00:16:22.440 there was
00:16:23.060 just nothing
00:16:23.520 that they
00:16:23.800 could do.
00:16:24.220 It was
00:16:24.420 devastating to
00:16:25.200 so many
00:16:25.500 people across
00:16:26.740 Ontario.
00:16:27.840 And at the
00:16:28.420 same time,
00:16:28.880 we were seeing
00:16:29.300 manufacturing plants
00:16:30.380 shut down, 0.68
00:16:31.320 the affordability,
00:16:32.900 not able to
00:16:34.040 compete against
00:16:35.540 organizations like
00:16:38.240 manufacturing groups
00:16:39.060 in the United
00:16:39.540 States.
00:16:40.480 How is it that
00:16:41.440 we get ourselves
00:16:43.000 to this place
00:16:43.500 where we're going
00:16:44.020 through it again?
00:16:45.180 How is it that
00:16:46.420 people in Ontario
00:16:47.080 aren't like,
00:16:47.600 hey, wait a
00:16:48.000 minute, I
00:16:48.760 recognize this,
00:16:49.680 I've seen this
00:16:50.240 before, maybe we
00:16:51.800 should be a
00:16:52.660 little bit more
00:16:53.120 cautious before we
00:16:53.900 jump in onto
00:16:55.020 this green planet?
00:16:56.960 I mean, I don't
00:16:57.720 know if you can
00:16:58.100 answer that question,
00:16:58.960 but isn't there
00:17:00.260 prevailing common
00:17:00.980 sense that we've
00:17:01.600 tried this, it
00:17:02.420 failed massively,
00:17:03.600 let's not do it
00:17:04.220 again?
00:17:06.520 Well, the
00:17:07.180 government is
00:17:07.700 making the same
00:17:08.420 mistake all over
00:17:09.320 again.
00:17:09.840 It reminds me of
00:17:10.660 Kipling's poem in
00:17:12.940 which he said that
00:17:13.820 just as the dog
00:17:14.480 returns to its
00:17:15.260 vomit and the
00:17:16.000 sow returns to
00:17:16.920 her mire, the
00:17:17.620 burned fool's
00:17:18.320 bandaged finger
00:17:19.060 goes wobbling
00:17:20.080 back to the
00:17:20.620 fire.
00:17:21.780 You know, we,
00:17:22.280 you're right,
00:17:23.380 we know exactly
00:17:24.440 how this ends.
00:17:25.780 It ends in tears,
00:17:27.580 but it ends,
00:17:29.920 there's a very
00:17:30.580 happy ending for
00:17:31.520 a small group of
00:17:32.260 highly influential
00:17:32.980 people that will
00:17:34.740 dress up their
00:17:35.900 latest scheme as
00:17:38.520 green and they
00:17:40.120 will get monstrous
00:17:41.920 grants and subsidies
00:17:43.140 and handouts from
00:17:44.240 various federal
00:17:44.960 departments.
00:17:46.820 And it will all be
00:17:47.900 called investments,
00:17:50.400 although in the
00:17:51.800 real world, if you
00:17:52.640 have a viable
00:17:53.680 investment, you don't
00:17:54.480 need a government
00:17:55.000 handout because it
00:17:56.080 will pay for itself
00:17:57.020 through its resulting
00:17:57.960 revenues.
00:17:59.220 But again, it
00:18:00.380 will, it will
00:18:01.200 vaporize tens of
00:18:02.620 billions of dollars
00:18:03.460 of hard-earned
00:18:04.160 money and make a
00:18:05.840 very small group of
00:18:06.700 privileged and
00:18:07.280 well-connected people
00:18:08.160 extremely rich.
00:18:09.460 Well, that's, that's
00:18:10.760 the liberal story, I
00:18:11.820 think, in a nutshell.
00:18:13.400 We've been talking a
00:18:14.340 little bit about how
00:18:15.260 Trudeau alienates
00:18:16.360 Western Canadians and
00:18:17.680 how the country is
00:18:19.040 very divided, but we've
00:18:20.240 also seen a rise in
00:18:21.740 separatism, the
00:18:22.840 separatist sentiment
00:18:23.600 over in Quebec, that,
00:18:25.900 you know, the Bloc 0.93
00:18:26.860 Quebecois was 0.83
00:18:27.380 basically decimated and
00:18:29.400 then hardly won any
00:18:30.260 seats whatsoever in
00:18:31.260 2011, we saw the
00:18:32.520 surge of the NDP over
00:18:34.000 there, but in the
00:18:35.480 last decade, they've
00:18:36.320 sort of creeped back.
00:18:37.460 So maybe you can help
00:18:38.920 us understand, like,
00:18:39.840 what is it about
00:18:40.500 Dustin Trudeau that
00:18:41.900 has led to the rise of
00:18:43.440 a separatist party in
00:18:44.880 Quebec as well?
00:18:47.760 Well, I just think
00:18:48.820 this centralized
00:18:49.820 approach to
00:18:51.040 governance, where you
00:18:52.520 got a big, powerful
00:18:53.540 PMO in Ottawa that
00:18:55.960 runs the economy,
00:18:57.380 and tries to run
00:18:58.600 everybody's lives, is a
00:19:00.620 very divisive force.
00:19:03.060 Ironically, the purpose
00:19:04.600 of it is to pull power
00:19:06.320 inward, but what it does
00:19:07.820 is push people away,
00:19:10.060 because, you know, humans
00:19:11.720 want to have control of
00:19:12.880 their own lives.
00:19:14.200 That's why Quebec has 0.81
00:19:15.320 always been focused,
00:19:17.440 rightly so, on protecting
00:19:18.660 its own jurisdiction and
00:19:20.640 keeping the federal
00:19:21.340 government out of its
00:19:22.940 affairs.
00:19:24.020 So in a sense, I think
00:19:25.140 there's a common cause
00:19:26.280 between Albertans, Western
00:19:28.760 Canadians in general, and
00:19:30.180 Quebecers in the desire to
00:19:32.800 keep the federal government
00:19:34.120 out of their backyard and
00:19:35.860 allow people the popular
00:19:39.600 sovereignty over their own
00:19:41.880 local and provincial
00:19:42.900 decisions.
00:19:44.300 So again, in a heartbeat, I
00:19:45.780 think it's a prime minister
00:19:47.340 who is obsessed with
00:19:49.340 controlling people's lives,
00:19:51.140 and there's a similar
00:19:52.420 backlash in Quebec to the
00:19:54.380 kind that we witness in other
00:19:55.980 parts of the country.
00:19:57.260 That's interesting.
00:19:58.360 Okay, let's walk through
00:19:59.700 sort of Justin Trudeau's
00:20:01.180 prime ministership, because,
00:20:03.720 you know, obviously he was
00:20:04.700 sort of swept in.
00:20:05.960 He's a famous guy.
00:20:07.060 He had a famous last name, a
00:20:08.240 famous father.
00:20:08.820 His father, you know, for
00:20:10.720 all the criticism about
00:20:12.220 him, you know, he was a
00:20:14.120 socialist and he destroyed
00:20:15.420 so much of the Canadian
00:20:16.640 economy.
00:20:18.000 But at least he was sort of
00:20:19.360 an accomplished individual.
00:20:20.740 He was a lawyer.
00:20:21.740 He was well-educated.
00:20:23.320 He had, you know, obviously
00:20:25.400 thought a lot about Canada
00:20:27.000 and the kind of country that
00:20:28.240 he wanted to lead.
00:20:30.660 Justin Trudeau, not so much.
00:20:32.900 You know, he sort of came in
00:20:34.580 on this sort of celebrity
00:20:35.920 style, you know, famous guy,
00:20:38.280 charismatic, articulate or
00:20:40.520 whatever.
00:20:42.160 You know, what has the impact
00:20:44.840 of his prime ministership
00:20:45.820 been?
00:20:46.120 He's been in office for about
00:20:47.940 five years now.
00:20:49.740 You know, what has changed
00:20:50.600 over those five years?
00:20:52.660 Well, you know, first of all,
00:20:53.620 it's interesting observation
00:20:54.680 with the left, you know, that
00:20:55.860 the modern left is very
00:20:56.940 elitist and intellectually
00:21:00.100 stuck up.
00:21:01.100 Their whole kind of narrative
00:21:03.700 is that they're smarter than
00:21:05.000 everyone else.
00:21:05.560 That's why they should be
00:21:06.260 running everyone else's
00:21:07.080 life.
00:21:07.400 And they love to denigrate 0.99
00:21:10.440 the intellect of conservatives.
00:21:13.540 You know, oh, you must be a
00:21:15.100 simpleton if you think that
00:21:16.300 way, we're told.
00:21:18.940 A knuckle-dragging
00:21:20.720 Neanderthal, as Bill Morneau
00:21:22.900 once said, right?
00:21:24.060 Right, exactly.
00:21:24.940 You must not be very
00:21:25.980 sophisticated.
00:21:26.620 But then they elect this guy
00:21:27.760 who, you know,
00:21:28.900 confuses decimal with
00:21:31.620 decibel, who has a,
00:21:34.420 who is a gaffe machine,
00:21:35.900 who accidentally admits that
00:21:39.140 China is his, 1.00
00:21:40.660 the dictatorship in China
00:21:42.000 is his favorite model of
00:21:43.540 governance, who thinks
00:21:44.500 budgets balance themselves.
00:21:45.680 Things that everyone agrees
00:21:46.960 or should agree are utterly
00:21:49.480 ridiculous.
00:21:51.200 And I think that the
00:21:52.300 pathology here on the left
00:21:54.340 is that they'd say, look,
00:21:56.120 you know, he might be a dummy,
00:21:57.320 but he's our dummy. 0.65
00:21:58.140 Um, and, um, and ultimately
00:22:01.120 he's not running the country.
00:22:03.340 Uh, other people
00:22:04.660 who share, uh, the agenda
00:22:07.620 of the, of the far left
00:22:09.320 are running it for him.
00:22:10.560 And he's simply a puppet, uh,
00:22:13.240 to, to the Gerald Butts, uh,
00:22:15.120 establishment.
00:22:16.100 And so I think that's why
00:22:17.320 he's been able to, the left,
00:22:19.380 which is so intellectually
00:22:20.580 pretentious, um, is happy to
00:22:23.700 have someone as unsophisticated,
00:22:25.680 uh, as Mr. Trudeau is
00:22:28.380 because they, they know
00:22:29.180 that he's ultimately being
00:22:30.480 run, uh, by those who share
00:22:32.760 the left wing agenda.
00:22:34.480 Um, what is the result of
00:22:36.260 this?
00:22:37.020 Uh, it means that a small
00:22:38.460 group of people are getting
00:22:39.840 richer and power, more
00:22:40.960 powerful, uh, using the state
00:22:43.240 as their instrument.
00:22:45.260 Um, and, uh, they have him,
00:22:48.580 uh, fronting it all, a
00:22:51.000 friendly face, um, a, a
00:22:54.400 handsome, modern, open-looking
00:22:57.100 fellow, um, is sitting at the
00:23:00.180 front of this, this, this
00:23:01.300 whole apparatus, but behind
00:23:02.980 the scenes, uh, a very well,
00:23:05.380 um, a very sophisticated group
00:23:07.420 of insiders is pulling all the
00:23:09.320 levers and running the
00:23:10.240 government to their own profit
00:23:11.720 and to their own benefit and to
00:23:13.160 everyone else's detriment.
00:23:15.280 Well, you, you sort of seeing
00:23:16.320 that now with the, uh, you
00:23:17.960 know, just another scandal.
00:23:19.280 I mean, it seems like scandal
00:23:20.520 on top of scandal with this
00:23:21.500 government, but the idea that
00:23:23.200 the, uh, prime minister's
00:23:24.540 chief of staff's own husband
00:23:26.460 was lobbying the government
00:23:27.700 and ended up walking away
00:23:29.280 with a contract for $84
00:23:31.520 million or something that,
00:23:32.780 that, that, that, that's
00:23:33.380 sort of, you know, to, to,
00:23:34.800 to the Canadian out of work
00:23:36.780 who's lost their small
00:23:37.780 business or something like
00:23:38.720 that, you know, you look at,
00:23:40.440 you look at this sort of
00:23:41.200 insiderness of Ottawa and you
00:23:43.520 kind of just scratch your
00:23:44.760 head and wonder like, you
00:23:46.220 know, what, what, what is
00:23:46.940 this all for?
00:23:47.620 But to me, Pierre, the thing
00:23:49.720 that I worry about and I, I
00:23:51.240 honestly don't know what the
00:23:52.360 answer to this question is,
00:23:53.200 is you look at the deficit.
00:23:54.700 I mean, I, I, I, I, someone
00:23:56.480 who, uh, you know, very opposed
00:23:58.340 running deficits.
00:23:59.100 I think government should be
00:23:59.920 run like businesses or like
00:24:01.680 households and that the idea
00:24:03.440 of even a modest $10 billion
00:24:04.800 deficit isn't good for the
00:24:06.180 country, that, that, that,
00:24:07.580 that even though interest rates
00:24:08.660 are low, you know, we're still
00:24:10.140 paying about 10% of, of total
00:24:12.340 revenue that the government
00:24:13.980 collects just to, you know,
00:24:15.400 service the debt and, and to
00:24:16.880 bondholders, uh, the, the idea
00:24:19.480 of, of, of, of a $400
00:24:21.220 billion deficit is quite
00:24:23.460 frankly, terrifying.
00:24:24.380 And I have no idea how any
00:24:26.180 government would erase that
00:24:28.180 deficit, let alone work
00:24:29.820 towards paying off a trillion
00:24:31.200 dollar debt, uh, that, that
00:24:32.800 the surely will get dumped on
00:24:34.640 the, on the shoulders of our
00:24:36.400 children and our grandchildren.
00:24:38.800 Uh, how is Justin Trudeau even
00:24:42.000 going to continue governing in
00:24:43.600 this fashion?
00:24:44.180 I mean, he's talking about
00:24:45.260 continuing to have, to have a
00:24:46.820 10% of, of GDP, uh, deficit
00:24:50.220 rate, uh, you know, how, how
00:24:52.360 is it even structurally fiscally
00:24:54.240 possible without a massive
00:24:55.940 increase in taxes?
00:24:57.740 Or is, is there something like
00:24:59.000 that coming?
00:24:59.560 Is there, is there a wealth tax
00:25:01.300 coming?
00:25:01.660 Is there a massive increase in
00:25:03.400 taxes?
00:25:03.820 I mean, the top tax rate in
00:25:04.860 Ontario is already over 50%.
00:25:06.580 It's hard to imagine how much
00:25:08.420 higher you can go, but I, I, I
00:25:10.620 just, I just wonder, you
00:25:11.820 know, for you as an elected
00:25:12.920 official and someone who is in,
00:25:14.400 in government, I mean, you're
00:25:15.360 opposition, but you're still
00:25:16.820 representing Canadians, you
00:25:18.980 know, what do you, what do you
00:25:19.960 tell people about the, the, the
00:25:21.680 fiscal situation in Canada right
00:25:23.800 now?
00:25:25.580 Well, let me just share some, some
00:25:27.840 basic facts that are actually
00:25:30.100 quite startling.
00:25:31.220 So the government will say, well,
00:25:32.980 we've got a crisis.
00:25:33.820 The COVID shutdown is the reason
00:25:35.660 we have this monstrous deficit.
00:25:37.240 So let, let's compare the deficit
00:25:39.060 to other crises.
00:25:40.100 In World War One, our debt, our
00:25:43.540 deficit to GDP was 9%.
00:25:47.540 In the Great Depression, it was
00:25:51.620 about 6%.
00:25:52.760 In the Great Recession of 2008-9,
00:25:59.240 it was about three and a half
00:26:01.220 percent.
00:26:02.280 Right now, our deficit sits at
00:26:04.520 around 17% GDP.
00:26:06.640 So in other words, our deficit as
00:26:08.640 a share of our GDP, so this is
00:26:10.200 automatically adjusted for
00:26:11.460 inflation and for the changed
00:26:13.520 size of our economy.
00:26:15.480 Our deficit is now twice what it
00:26:18.640 was in World War One.
00:26:20.760 It is approximately six times what
00:26:25.300 it was during the Great Global
00:26:26.980 Recession.
00:26:28.580 It is three times higher than it
00:26:30.820 was at its peak in 1932 in the
00:26:33.440 Great Depression.
00:26:34.800 The only time we've ever had a
00:26:36.640 deficit this big was back in
00:26:39.040 1943 when we had a 23% of GDP
00:26:42.240 deficit.
00:26:42.980 And that was, of course, right
00:26:43.960 smack in the middle of World War
00:26:46.240 Two.
00:26:46.720 But the difference there, by the
00:26:48.060 way, is that by 1947, Canada was
00:26:51.380 running monstrous surpluses.
00:26:54.180 Our soldiers came home with all of
00:26:56.060 the wages they had earned and
00:26:57.480 weren't allowed to spend.
00:26:58.960 And they spent it in the economy
00:27:00.660 and they bought homes and they
00:27:01.980 built a great generation thereafter
00:27:05.440 and they gave birth to the baby
00:27:06.640 boomers, et cetera.
00:27:07.700 And we had this surge of revenue
00:27:10.580 and the government didn't spend it.
00:27:12.420 In fact, spending went down.
00:27:14.400 And so we paid off huge amounts of
00:27:16.160 debt.
00:27:17.100 We had surpluses of 5% of GDP in
00:27:19.500 1947, which would be like, imagine
00:27:21.740 today if we had $120 billion
00:27:24.120 surplus.
00:27:25.300 That's how big their surpluses were in
00:27:27.100 the post-war period.
00:27:28.320 So yet people say, the liberals say,
00:27:30.140 oh, yeah, but in the war, the
00:27:31.220 deficits were a little bit bigger.
00:27:32.880 Yes, but they paid them off quickly.
00:27:34.700 As soon as the crisis was over, they
00:27:36.880 quickly went back into surplus, paid
00:27:39.720 it off, and we had another 30 years
00:27:42.660 of prosperity as a result.
00:27:44.140 So I'm just giving that as a
00:27:45.380 perspective.
00:27:46.780 So right now, our debt, our debt now,
00:27:50.120 move to the debt, is it's well over a
00:27:53.680 trillion dollars.
00:27:54.460 We've gone from a debt that was a
00:27:56.520 third of our economy, 30% of GDP, to
00:27:59.280 50% in just six months.
00:28:04.040 So 30% of GDP to 50% of GDP in six
00:28:07.760 months.
00:28:08.360 To put that in perspective, we hit a
00:28:10.620 debt wall in Canada in 1996 where the
00:28:13.700 world wouldn't lend us any money
00:28:15.160 anymore, and it was basically a
00:28:17.120 financial collapse.
00:28:18.440 The IMF put up warnings about us.
00:28:21.100 The Wall Street Journal called us a
00:28:22.860 Third World Fiscal Basket Case.
00:28:25.420 That happened when the debt to GDP
00:28:27.180 ratio was 66.6%.
00:28:29.720 So we've eliminated more than half of
00:28:33.560 the buffer between our previous debt
00:28:37.100 level and the maximum debt we can
00:28:40.280 sustain as a government.
00:28:41.340 We've eliminated more than half of that
00:28:43.240 buffer in six months.
00:28:45.260 So I know I'm throwing a lot of
00:28:46.380 information out, but I just want to
00:28:48.400 give a perspective on how truly massive
00:28:51.380 these deficits are.
00:28:52.640 They are orders of magnitude bigger,
00:28:56.520 many orders of magnitude bigger than
00:28:58.220 anything we've seen outside of the
00:29:00.020 World War II period before or after.
00:29:02.600 So what's going to happen?
00:29:04.160 I believe Trudeau will try to get a
00:29:05.820 majority, and once he does that,
00:29:07.800 there'll be massive tax increases.
00:29:09.240 You ask what a wealth tax?
00:29:10.880 That's nothing.
00:29:12.020 The wealth tax raises $6 billion,
00:29:14.440 according to the parliamentary budget
00:29:15.880 officer.
00:29:16.660 They might claim that that's their big
00:29:18.440 solution.
00:29:19.260 We've got a $380 billion deficit.
00:29:21.660 You're not going to get rid of that
00:29:22.520 with a $6 billion tax.
00:29:24.520 They would need massive new income tax,
00:29:28.860 GST increases, business tax increases,
00:29:33.400 increases in every tax you pay in order
00:29:35.920 to keep spending like this.
00:29:37.480 There is no mathematical way to go on
00:29:39.960 doing what we're doing.
00:29:42.520 And the parliamentary budget officer says
00:29:44.880 you don't just have to believe the
00:29:46.400 conservative finance clinic.
00:29:47.760 Just the other day,
00:29:48.520 the parliamentary budget officer said,
00:29:50.200 we've got one, maybe two years like
00:29:53.580 this before we collapse.
00:29:56.240 So it is a crisis situation,
00:29:58.980 and we're the only party that has
00:30:02.040 foretold this problem,
00:30:03.240 and we're the only party that can get
00:30:04.880 the country out of it.
00:30:06.160 Well, you know,
00:30:07.320 it's kind of interesting when you talked
00:30:08.600 about the Second World War, Pierre,
00:30:10.380 because the spending initiatives and the
00:30:12.640 programs that the government would have
00:30:13.860 introduced at the time were by their very
00:30:16.200 nature temporary.
00:30:17.620 You know, the idea was to go and fight a war
00:30:20.020 and stop the Nazis and protect freedom
00:30:22.340 around the world.
00:30:23.640 But what we saw with the Great Recession,
00:30:26.640 or the Great Recession 2008-2009,
00:30:29.920 the Harper government at least tried to make
00:30:32.000 it so that the programs were temporary,
00:30:34.560 that the stimulus spending that they
00:30:36.260 introduced and some of the bailouts
00:30:37.780 were temporary in measure.
00:30:39.500 I think that that's easier said than done.
00:30:41.440 And, you know, certainly what we saw in the
00:30:43.720 United States was just a proliferation of
00:30:45.980 bureaucracy, and that's what tends to happen
00:30:48.400 during these sort of so-called crises when
00:30:50.880 government has to grow to fill the need.
00:30:53.660 So, you know, with the CERB, I mean,
00:30:55.840 first of all, the numbers themselves are
00:30:57.900 incredible.
00:30:58.600 I saw in the Globe and Mail last week that I
00:31:00.640 think that household income during COVID fell
00:31:03.600 by $21 billion, but during the same period,
00:31:06.920 government transfers increased by $54 billion.
00:31:09.580 So Canadians might have hardly even noticed.
00:31:13.080 They actually might have been better off
00:31:14.500 during COVID than they were working, you know,
00:31:17.620 night and day to try to pay the bills.
00:31:19.880 A lot of people have suggested that perhaps
00:31:22.180 it's time for the government to introduce
00:31:24.600 some kind of a universal basic income or
00:31:27.020 to transition that CERB benefit over to a
00:31:30.400 universal income.
00:31:31.600 It doesn't really sound like that's sustainable
00:31:33.540 financially, though.
00:31:35.360 Is there a concern on the Conservative side
00:31:38.420 that a lot of the programs that Trudeau has
00:31:40.380 introduced are permanent?
00:31:42.420 And if a Conservative government were to win,
00:31:45.100 that they would be criticized for, you know,
00:31:47.440 the same vicious line of attacks you get,
00:31:50.080 oh, bringing in austerity and cutting and all
00:31:53.400 these kind of accusations that we see over and
00:31:56.120 over again?
00:31:56.660 Okay, there's a lot in your question.
00:32:00.780 Let me start quickly with your comments
00:32:02.940 on the Harper-era stimulus.
00:32:06.220 So the Economic Action Plan was worked out
00:32:09.420 to about 2% of GDP, and we had a deficit
00:32:13.240 of 3.5% of GDP.
00:32:16.300 So again, right now we're at 17% of GDP in a deficit.
00:32:19.900 So we're just talking orders of magnitude
00:32:23.460 difference, almost six times bigger deficit
00:32:26.920 in relative terms, again, adjusted for inflation
00:32:29.600 and the size of the economy.
00:32:31.200 Secondly, we did lapse those programs.
00:32:33.880 Every single stimulus program we brought in
00:32:36.240 during the Great Global Recession ended in 2011.
00:32:40.580 And we had real reductions, no, not just real,
00:32:43.880 nominal reductions in spending in every single year
00:32:47.620 that followed in the 2012, 13, 14 and 15
00:32:51.240 federal government spending actually went down.
00:32:54.180 And we did that without, by the way,
00:32:55.560 cutting health care or education,
00:32:57.160 both of which went up.
00:32:58.320 So it is possible to manage down the cost
00:33:01.140 of government and relieve taxpayers of their burdens.
00:33:04.960 And finally, one last point, we never once raised taxes
00:33:07.860 in the entire 10-year period.
00:33:09.440 We were in office.
00:33:09.960 So all of these things are possible.
00:33:12.740 Now on the basic income.
00:33:15.320 So we've had, I've had the Parliamentary Budget Officer
00:33:18.100 cost out various models of a basic income.
00:33:22.220 And there is no model that comes in below $73 billion a year.
00:33:28.020 The cheapest model anyone has been able to put forward
00:33:31.560 was Kathleen Wynne's approach,
00:33:33.940 which she did a basic income pilot project in Ontario 0.67
00:33:37.620 that would pay an individual $17,400
00:33:41.380 and a couple $24,000.
00:33:45.120 That would be 75% of the poverty rate.
00:33:48.960 So, and it would be phased out at a rate of 50 cents
00:33:51.780 for every dollar a person earned.
00:33:55.360 And so that was the model that she designed.
00:33:57.920 I said, hey, Parliamentary Budget Officer,
00:33:59.560 if we did this federally, how much would that cost?
00:34:01.840 And he said that would be about $73 billion.
00:34:03.700 So that is a lot less generous than the serve, by the way,
00:34:08.120 which is $2,000 per person and $4,000 for a couple.
00:34:13.880 So the high end, we're looking at $200 billion or higher
00:34:18.300 for a program of that nature.
00:34:22.700 So that would be half of the typical budget
00:34:24.440 of the government of Canada.
00:34:25.500 It would be five times what the federal government
00:34:28.080 spends on healthcare transfers.
00:34:29.520 It would be 10 times what we spend on the armed forces.
00:34:33.800 It would be, one last thing,
00:34:37.240 it would be six times what we collect in GST revenues.
00:34:40.760 So there's no one out there that has any explanation
00:34:43.860 of how you pay for it.
00:34:45.100 And the difference between this idea
00:34:47.580 and so many liberal spending ideas
00:34:50.360 is most liberal spending schemes are undesirable.
00:34:54.360 This is mathematically impossible.
00:34:56.860 Unless you're prepared to eliminate
00:35:00.180 whole departments and programs
00:35:03.940 and multiple levels of government
00:35:06.640 to find the fiscal space to pay for it,
00:35:09.580 which nobody is proposing, by the way,
00:35:11.860 then it is mathematically impossible to pay for it.
00:35:15.660 And interestingly, I have not yet heard
00:35:18.640 the liberals openly advocate for a basic income.
00:35:22.080 So it is possible that someone at finance
00:35:24.900 sat them down with a calculator
00:35:26.300 and very slowly walked them through
00:35:28.900 what I just mentioned.
00:35:31.960 But listen, every day I'm shocked.
00:35:35.860 Like, I always knew I was more fiscally conserved
00:35:39.940 than these guys are.
00:35:40.880 But every day it blows me away,
00:35:43.500 the amounts of money they're willing to spend
00:35:45.980 and the things they're willing to spend on.
00:35:48.460 So nothing would surprise me.
00:35:50.720 Well, it's funny because, you know,
00:35:53.380 we just had Bill Morneau as a finance minister
00:35:55.580 for five years.
00:35:57.440 And during that time, you know,
00:35:59.080 we saw a bunch of reckless spending decisions.
00:36:01.020 We saw growth of debt, growth of deficits.
00:36:04.120 We saw, like I mentioned,
00:36:05.580 the top income tax rate in Ontario go above 50%.
00:36:09.420 But now as soon as he's gone,
00:36:11.440 all of a sudden it's like he's being remembered
00:36:13.460 as this like fiscally conservative blue liberal.
00:36:16.540 I don't really remember seeing that very much
00:36:19.100 while he was doing the job.
00:36:21.600 But Pierre, you mentioned that you think
00:36:22.900 that Justin Trudeau is going to try
00:36:25.080 to get a majority government.
00:36:26.560 Do you think with this throne speech coming up here
00:36:29.080 that we are headed into election season?
00:36:31.200 Because it does feel like Trudeau
00:36:32.580 is doing a lot of sort of election style announcements.
00:36:36.120 And it almost seems like they're kicking
00:36:38.200 into election mode here.
00:36:40.020 What do you think?
00:36:41.320 I think he needs an election.
00:36:43.120 And there are, I will say,
00:36:45.840 two reasons why he needs an election quickly.
00:36:49.320 One, he needs an election before the money runs out.
00:36:53.340 As I mentioned, the debt levels
00:36:55.820 and the spending levels are unsustainable.
00:36:58.060 The parliamentary budget officer says
00:36:59.440 he's got one, maybe two years.
00:37:01.420 So he needs the election done
00:37:02.680 before the financial collapse occurs.
00:37:05.140 So that he can run on this fairy tale
00:37:09.100 that money will continue to fall out of the sky
00:37:11.500 and everything's free
00:37:12.580 and we'll just put it on the credit card
00:37:14.440 and we won't ever repay that credit card.
00:37:17.380 And he thinks he can swindle an election victory
00:37:20.280 off of that fantasy one last time.
00:37:23.920 And then the brutal hard truth
00:37:25.240 will kick in a year and a half later,
00:37:27.000 but he won't care because he'll have a majority.
00:37:29.340 So that's the first reason.
00:37:31.680 Second reason he needs an election
00:37:33.280 is because there are some very ugly truths
00:37:37.160 that are being, that he's hiding
00:37:38.900 that will become known soon.
00:37:42.200 One, the ethics commissioner,
00:37:44.980 the lobbying commissioner,
00:37:46.060 potentially the RCMP
00:37:47.220 and the auditor general
00:37:48.480 are all investigating the Wee scandal.
00:37:51.420 That will not only produce guilty verdicts
00:37:53.640 and in the case of the lobbying commissioner,
00:37:56.420 outright criminal charges in some cases
00:37:58.700 for certain people,
00:38:00.560 but it will also produce reports
00:38:03.100 that will show what went on behind the scenes.
00:38:07.000 And I'm sure there's much more there
00:38:09.440 than we know of.
00:38:10.640 The commissioner has the power
00:38:12.180 to call documents and people
00:38:14.040 and it's instruction of justice
00:38:15.880 to lie to the commissioner.
00:38:17.600 So that's going to come out.
00:38:21.020 There is an investigation
00:38:22.500 into the prime minister's chief of staff's spouse
00:38:25.680 lobbying for government contracts
00:38:29.420 and subsidies,
00:38:31.260 lobbying his spouse's office.
00:38:33.840 That is likely to be under investigation,
00:38:36.440 at least by the lobbying commissioner.
00:38:38.980 Finally, the auditor general
00:38:41.760 is investigating what I think
00:38:44.240 is a brewing scandal
00:38:45.420 that no one has noticed,
00:38:46.900 which is that there are 20,000
00:38:48.600 missing infrastructure projects.
00:38:50.900 So the government has said,
00:38:52.040 we have funded 52,000 infrastructure projects.
00:38:54.920 And I said, okay, great.
00:38:56.000 Give us a list.
00:38:57.660 So they gave us a list with 32,000.
00:39:00.780 So we have said,
00:39:01.720 so where's the rest of it?
00:39:03.360 And they say, oh, we can't tell you.
00:39:05.720 You know, so these are secretive.
00:39:07.560 It's impossible to build
00:39:09.060 an infrastructure project in secret.
00:39:11.100 They're big, loud, noisy affairs.
00:39:13.080 There's guys in hard hats and machines.
00:39:15.420 Bumping away.
00:39:17.200 You know, if there's an infrastructure project happening,
00:39:19.240 it's not a secret, right?
00:39:20.340 And there would be a list of where,
00:39:22.160 when, how much it costs
00:39:23.680 to build these projects.
00:39:25.740 But they don't have the list,
00:39:27.220 which means that the money
00:39:28.300 went somewhere it shouldn't have.
00:39:29.720 And the auditor general
00:39:30.560 is looking into exactly that.
00:39:32.560 And I think that report
00:39:33.520 will come out in late spring.
00:39:35.160 Long story short,
00:39:36.860 Trudeau needs an election
00:39:37.960 out of the way
00:39:38.640 before any of this stuff comes out.
00:39:40.560 And that's why I think
00:39:41.360 he's going to push for one in the fall.
00:39:42.700 So you said that
00:39:44.400 that report's coming out late spring.
00:39:46.160 Why is it going to take so long?
00:39:48.760 That's the nature
00:39:49.700 of Auditor general examinations.
00:39:52.740 You know, they have to track
00:39:53.760 billions of dollars of spending.
00:39:57.100 The purported infrastructure spend
00:39:59.280 is something like $9 billion a year.
00:40:01.880 And so the AG has to go
00:40:05.380 through all the departments.
00:40:06.720 These are spread out
00:40:08.000 of all these departments.
00:40:09.220 And in Ottawa,
00:40:10.080 they're also involving the provinces
00:40:11.600 and the municipalities.
00:40:13.020 So it just takes a long time.
00:40:14.920 By the way,
00:40:15.640 the auditor general is underfunded.
00:40:18.280 The AG's office is short
00:40:19.620 about $11 million.
00:40:21.800 So one thing Trudeau
00:40:22.860 doesn't want to spend money on
00:40:23.960 is auditors.
00:40:25.360 It's yes to everything else.
00:40:27.020 He doesn't, you know,
00:40:27.660 doesn't care who you are
00:40:28.700 or what you're asking for money for.
00:40:30.100 The answer is always yes,
00:40:31.560 unless you're an auditor.
00:40:32.740 In which case,
00:40:33.380 the answer is a firm no.
00:40:35.600 The only person in Ottawa
00:40:37.000 who hears that, no.
00:40:40.560 He believes in austerity
00:40:42.080 for one office,
00:40:43.040 the auditor general.
00:40:45.260 Well, okay,
00:40:46.380 so let's talk about the WE scandal
00:40:48.000 because we all watched it
00:40:49.800 with a lot of interest.
00:40:51.500 I feel like you're right
00:40:52.620 that there was a lot of liberal MPs
00:40:55.180 and people that were testifying
00:40:56.400 sort of alluding to the fact like,
00:40:58.480 oh, you know,
00:40:58.860 we were just working so hard
00:41:00.140 and it was so crazy
00:41:01.040 and we're just doing our best
00:41:02.540 to try to help Canadians
00:41:04.880 during this difficult time
00:41:06.000 and sort of setting up the idea
00:41:07.560 that, sure,
00:41:08.420 we didn't do all the due diligence
00:41:10.060 that we probably should have
00:41:11.320 in, you know,
00:41:12.240 shipping $400 billion out the door
00:41:14.360 in just a matter of a few months.
00:41:16.180 But for people who maybe
00:41:18.420 haven't been glued
00:41:19.540 to their computer screens
00:41:21.320 watching parliamentary committee
00:41:23.520 testimonies all summer,
00:41:25.140 Pierre,
00:41:25.240 maybe you can just kind of give us
00:41:26.520 a brief overview
00:41:28.060 of the WE scandal.
00:41:29.460 So tell us what happened,
00:41:30.880 how did it happen,
00:41:31.640 and where are we now?
00:41:33.920 Well, what we know now
00:41:35.200 is that in the early part
00:41:37.380 of the pandemic,
00:41:38.500 early April,
00:41:40.020 the Kielberger brothers
00:41:41.320 began aggressively pitching
00:41:43.960 key decision makers
00:41:46.080 in the cabinet,
00:41:47.900 the staff,
00:41:48.560 and the bureaucracy
00:41:49.420 on this idea
00:41:51.600 of a social entrepreneurship program.
00:41:54.640 This was going to apparently
00:41:56.480 teach young people
00:41:58.200 how to be entrepreneurs
00:42:00.180 in the social sector
00:42:01.540 and, you know,
00:42:03.900 they went around the hill
00:42:05.000 and no one was really interested.
00:42:07.720 But then,
00:42:08.800 and this was going to be
00:42:09.580 a small program,
00:42:10.520 you know,
00:42:10.660 I think it was $20 or $30 million.
00:42:13.440 But little did they know
00:42:14.540 that there was a much bigger price.
00:42:15.920 And so the government said,
00:42:18.740 well,
00:42:18.820 we might not be interested
00:42:19.840 in your social entrepreneurship program,
00:42:21.800 but we've got this way bigger initiative
00:42:23.720 called a paid volunteer program.
00:42:27.460 Of course,
00:42:27.780 that's an oxymoron.
00:42:29.860 If you're a volunteer,
00:42:30.960 you're not paid.
00:42:31.480 If you're paid,
00:42:31.940 you're not a volunteer.
00:42:33.840 But, you know,
00:42:34.680 Orwell warns
00:42:35.920 that whenever there's
00:42:36.920 an abusive language,
00:42:38.300 there are other abuses at work.
00:42:40.600 And so anyway,
00:42:42.180 the WE brothers say,
00:42:44.940 you know,
00:42:45.160 great,
00:42:45.460 forget about this stupid 0.92
00:42:46.660 entrepreneur program
00:42:47.720 we had last week.
00:42:49.040 We'll do a paid volunteer program instead.
00:42:52.480 And,
00:42:53.360 you know,
00:42:54.040 we were originally trope
00:42:54.940 by the liberals
00:42:55.560 that the whole thing
00:42:56.220 was cooked up
00:42:56.860 by a bunch of bureaucrats
00:42:58.320 in a Gatineau
00:42:59.860 departmental building.
00:43:02.000 But we learned later
00:43:03.380 that no,
00:43:03.780 no,
00:43:03.880 no,
00:43:03.980 no,
00:43:04.080 it was not cooked up
00:43:04.900 by them at all.
00:43:05.880 It was initiated
00:43:06.620 by Bill Morneau,
00:43:08.180 who had been on
00:43:08.800 an illegal $41,000
00:43:10.440 vacation
00:43:11.760 with the
00:43:12.740 WE brothers.
00:43:13.680 It was cooked up
00:43:15.320 by
00:43:15.680 Vardyf Chagur,
00:43:16.940 who had telephone
00:43:17.940 conversations
00:43:18.620 with Mr.
00:43:19.460 Kielberger
00:43:19.880 and told him
00:43:20.900 to put together
00:43:22.340 a proposal
00:43:23.300 on the subject.
00:43:24.660 It was cooked up
00:43:25.560 by,
00:43:25.940 there were two
00:43:26.560 senior staff,
00:43:27.940 policy advisors
00:43:29.220 in the PMO,
00:43:31.060 one of whom
00:43:31.800 Kielberger
00:43:32.660 credits
00:43:33.580 with having
00:43:34.240 played
00:43:34.840 an important role
00:43:35.840 in designing
00:43:36.500 the whole initiative.
00:43:37.420 So it was cooked up
00:43:39.460 by politicians
00:43:40.200 and their staff.
00:43:41.700 It just so happens,
00:43:42.440 this is the crux
00:43:43.200 of the matter,
00:43:44.060 it just so happens
00:43:44.820 that this is
00:43:46.200 a prime minister
00:43:47.300 whose family
00:43:48.040 had received
00:43:48.600 a half a million
00:43:49.360 dollars from
00:43:50.340 this group.
00:43:51.740 So the group
00:43:52.880 pays the Trudeau
00:43:53.840 family a half million
00:43:54.840 and the Trudeau
00:43:55.480 government pays
00:43:56.260 them a half billion,
00:43:57.420 which is a phenomenal
00:43:58.240 return on investment.
00:44:00.020 They should really
00:44:00.520 be advising
00:44:01.160 Warren Buffett
00:44:01.920 on how to get
00:44:03.480 an ROI
00:44:03.920 because I don't
00:44:05.300 think he's ever
00:44:05.940 produced any kind
00:44:06.860 of return like that.
00:44:08.740 And of course,
00:44:09.740 so here we are now,
00:44:11.440 the matter has been
00:44:12.280 before parliamentary
00:44:13.340 committees that have
00:44:14.100 now been shut down
00:44:15.000 due to Trudeau's
00:44:16.120 prorogation,
00:44:17.380 but worry not,
00:44:18.480 we're going to
00:44:18.880 reconvene those studies.
00:44:20.640 We're also going,
00:44:21.200 we also have
00:44:21.860 investigations by
00:44:23.160 the lobbying commissioner,
00:44:24.920 the ethics commissioner
00:44:27.760 and potentially
00:44:28.460 the RCMP,
00:44:29.360 though they never
00:44:30.020 confirm what
00:44:30.700 they're investigating.
00:44:32.240 The liberals
00:44:33.020 have this weird ability.
00:44:34.060 I mean,
00:44:34.180 I remember during
00:44:34.720 SNC-Lavalin,
00:44:35.580 Gerald Butts
00:44:37.100 resigned and
00:44:37.840 presumably he resigned
00:44:38.940 as an admission
00:44:40.040 of some kind
00:44:40.660 of guilt or
00:44:41.100 responsibility,
00:44:41.640 but during his
00:44:42.860 resignation,
00:44:43.200 he sort of insisted
00:44:44.300 that he had done
00:44:44.860 nothing wrong
00:44:45.540 and lo and behold,
00:44:46.460 a couple months
00:44:46.940 he's back working
00:44:47.780 for Trudeau again.
00:44:49.000 This time around,
00:44:49.580 we saw Bill
00:44:50.360 Morneau resign,
00:44:52.680 but sort of
00:44:54.080 inexplicably,
00:44:54.900 he said that it
00:44:55.760 had nothing to do
00:44:56.620 with this Wee scandal
00:44:57.720 that he was at
00:44:58.660 the center of,
00:44:59.280 that he just
00:44:59.660 happened to have
00:45:01.300 wanted to go
00:45:02.080 pursue an international
00:45:04.080 career with the OECD
00:45:06.620 instead of leading
00:45:08.180 the finances
00:45:09.840 of a G7 country.
00:45:12.160 So at this point,
00:45:13.360 has there been
00:45:14.180 anyone who has
00:45:15.360 taken responsibility
00:45:16.800 on behalf of the liberals?
00:45:18.480 Is there anyone
00:45:19.160 that's admitting blame
00:45:20.100 or are they still
00:45:20.840 insisting that they've
00:45:21.980 done nothing wrong?
00:45:24.660 You know,
00:45:25.160 Trudeau has admitted
00:45:25.940 that he should have
00:45:26.400 refused himself,
00:45:27.200 but I think
00:45:28.440 that's a complete
00:45:29.120 distraction.
00:45:29.880 It suggests that
00:45:30.600 he was a passive
00:45:31.380 player and that
00:45:32.580 something was brought
00:45:33.460 up to his desk
00:45:34.200 and that he should
00:45:34.800 have got up from
00:45:36.220 his desk and
00:45:36.860 walked to the room.
00:45:37.680 In fact,
00:45:38.100 I think he and
00:45:39.320 his team were
00:45:40.700 the ones who
00:45:43.160 initiated it all.
00:45:45.020 So he's cleverly
00:45:47.620 apologizing for
00:45:48.980 the smallest part
00:45:50.340 of the offense
00:45:51.680 while trying to
00:45:53.420 distance himself
00:45:54.940 from the biggest
00:45:55.400 part,
00:45:55.700 which is that he
00:45:56.480 and his staff
00:45:57.220 actively participated
00:45:58.700 to extend a half
00:46:00.300 billion dollars
00:46:01.180 to a group
00:46:01.960 than it paid
00:46:02.860 his family
00:46:03.380 a half a million
00:46:04.100 dollars.
00:46:05.440 It just sort of
00:46:06.700 defies logic
00:46:07.840 as to why
00:46:08.560 they would even
00:46:09.060 want to get
00:46:09.560 involved in this.
00:46:10.200 It seems to me
00:46:10.720 as soon as
00:46:11.880 the decision
00:46:13.460 that the funding
00:46:14.240 proposal became
00:46:15.400 public,
00:46:16.560 it was immediately
00:46:17.840 a scandal.
00:46:18.540 The media
00:46:18.780 immediately said,
00:46:19.520 well,
00:46:19.600 wait a minute,
00:46:20.460 you know,
00:46:20.720 all of these
00:46:21.540 ties to liberals,
00:46:22.700 all of these
00:46:23.100 family ties to
00:46:23.920 Trudeau and
00:46:24.400 Morneau.
00:46:25.360 I mean,
00:46:25.960 you just sort
00:46:26.880 of wonder
00:46:27.280 who's running
00:46:29.080 things at the
00:46:29.980 PMO,
00:46:30.500 who's running
00:46:31.080 things in this
00:46:31.460 government where
00:46:31.900 they wouldn't
00:46:32.580 even acknowledge
00:46:33.400 the appearance
00:46:34.660 of what would
00:46:35.280 obviously be a
00:46:36.320 conflict of interest
00:46:37.020 in trying to
00:46:37.840 ship,
00:46:38.520 like you said,
00:46:39.360 I think it was
00:46:39.900 half a billion
00:46:40.760 dollars in
00:46:42.760 money and then
00:46:44.340 an additional
00:46:44.880 couple hundred
00:46:45.880 million dollars
00:46:46.420 to actually
00:46:47.280 administer this
00:46:48.120 program.
00:46:48.580 So it was
00:46:49.020 912 million
00:46:50.740 dollars total.
00:46:52.340 I mean,
00:46:52.660 did they not see
00:46:53.400 that this was
00:46:53.840 going to be a
00:46:54.440 scandal in the
00:46:55.420 making?
00:46:56.700 No,
00:46:57.180 and I'll tell
00:46:57.540 you why,
00:46:58.140 and the book
00:46:58.800 of Proverbs
00:46:59.420 could tell
00:46:59.880 you why.
00:47:00.860 Pride precedes
00:47:01.700 destruction.
00:47:03.080 Remember,
00:47:03.920 Justin Trudeau
00:47:04.680 was the
00:47:05.140 master of
00:47:05.780 the universe,
00:47:07.280 running the
00:47:08.000 universe from
00:47:09.500 his cottage,
00:47:11.180 from his
00:47:12.420 cottage front
00:47:14.240 steps in
00:47:15.680 April and
00:47:16.460 May.
00:47:17.380 And this is
00:47:18.240 where I think
00:47:18.940 the media should
00:47:20.100 apologize to
00:47:21.020 Justin Trudeau
00:47:21.740 because they
00:47:22.520 filled his
00:47:23.180 head with
00:47:24.040 all this
00:47:24.420 hubris.
00:47:25.880 They were
00:47:26.660 going around
00:47:27.380 Ottawa.
00:47:27.640 It's hard to
00:47:28.100 remember this
00:47:28.600 now, but in
00:47:29.340 April, May,
00:47:30.040 and even June,
00:47:31.200 the media had
00:47:32.020 basically taken
00:47:32.840 the position that
00:47:33.620 no one should
00:47:34.200 be allowed to
00:47:34.740 criticize Justin
00:47:35.660 Trudeau.
00:47:36.180 Here we are in
00:47:36.780 the middle of a
00:47:37.160 pandemic.
00:47:38.040 To criticize him
00:47:39.060 would be to be
00:47:39.540 playing politics
00:47:40.440 and to be
00:47:42.300 putting lives on
00:47:43.320 the line.
00:47:44.440 Anyone who
00:47:45.220 criticizes Trudeau
00:47:46.440 is effectively
00:47:47.440 committing treason
00:47:49.000 and endangering
00:47:49.820 public health.
00:47:51.360 They beat up
00:47:52.120 Andrew Scheer.
00:47:53.160 They said,
00:47:53.560 oh, Scheer wants
00:47:54.380 to bring back
00:47:54.920 parliament.
00:47:55.500 What the hell
00:47:55.860 do we need
00:47:56.220 parliament for?
00:47:57.780 Don't we all
00:47:58.700 realize that now
00:47:59.600 is the time to
00:48:00.300 just gather
00:48:00.860 around the
00:48:01.760 footsteps of
00:48:03.660 Rideau Cottage
00:48:04.720 and let the
00:48:05.200 prime minister
00:48:05.660 come out and
00:48:06.900 bestow wisdom
00:48:08.220 on us daily?
00:48:10.420 And I was
00:48:11.420 regularly attacked.
00:48:12.640 I would go on
00:48:13.280 Twitter and I
00:48:13.840 would tweet
00:48:14.320 something critical
00:48:15.060 and there would
00:48:15.540 be these piranhas
00:48:17.560 in the press
00:48:18.320 gallery would
00:48:18.980 come at me 1.00
00:48:19.500 and look at him
00:48:20.700 he's gone off
00:48:21.160 the deep end
00:48:21.680 he's Italian
00:48:22.200 everyone else
00:48:22.920 is rallying
00:48:23.560 around our
00:48:23.960 prime minister
00:48:24.460 now and here
00:48:25.060 you have this
00:48:25.680 black sheep
00:48:27.040 who's out here
00:48:27.800 standing all by
00:48:28.900 himself.
00:48:30.080 And you know
00:48:30.580 what I think
00:48:30.980 he said to
00:48:31.520 himself,
00:48:32.080 I can do
00:48:32.820 anything I want.
00:48:34.380 You know,
00:48:34.720 no one questions
00:48:36.120 anything.
00:48:38.020 It seems that
00:48:38.820 the normal
00:48:39.360 parliamentary
00:48:40.040 accountability
00:48:40.960 mechanisms
00:48:41.720 are obliterated.
00:48:44.560 So I think
00:48:45.080 the group of
00:48:45.600 them around
00:48:46.040 Trudeau said
00:48:46.800 we now have
00:48:48.380 unfettered
00:48:49.100 access to
00:48:49.760 the public
00:48:50.160 first with
00:48:51.120 no scrutiny
00:48:51.800 and anybody
00:48:52.740 who asks us
00:48:53.420 a question
00:48:53.920 about it
00:48:54.380 will simply
00:48:54.940 accuse them
00:48:55.620 of nasty
00:48:56.160 partisanship
00:48:56.840 in the middle
00:48:57.600 of a pandemic
00:48:58.200 and we'll
00:49:00.440 assert our
00:49:00.900 pure motives
00:49:01.540 and we'll
00:49:02.280 do whatever
00:49:02.620 the hell
00:49:02.920 we please.
00:49:03.540 That's what
00:49:03.960 I think
00:49:04.360 that's where
00:49:04.960 I think
00:49:05.300 their headspace 0.83
00:49:05.900 was and
00:49:06.780 frankly I think
00:49:07.840 if the media
00:49:08.660 had been doing
00:49:09.220 its job
00:49:09.800 he probably
00:49:10.420 would have
00:49:10.740 been on
00:49:10.960 his toes
00:49:11.500 and he
00:49:11.880 probably
00:49:12.240 wouldn't have
00:49:12.620 been so sloppy
00:49:13.380 into corruption.
00:49:14.660 Well maybe
00:49:15.260 the media
00:49:15.980 is doing a
00:49:16.440 service to
00:49:17.020 Canadians
00:49:17.360 after all
00:49:18.160 then by
00:49:18.620 letting him
00:49:18.980 have his
00:49:19.240 guard down.
00:49:19.880 I totally
00:49:20.660 remember that
00:49:21.160 because I
00:49:21.480 remember a
00:49:22.160 couple columns
00:49:23.460 coming out of
00:49:24.000 the Toronto
00:49:24.320 Star basically
00:49:24.880 saying why
00:49:25.680 do we need
00:49:25.940 question period
00:49:26.640 the government
00:49:28.340 gets held to
00:49:29.500 account every
00:49:30.080 morning by
00:49:30.600 these reporters
00:49:31.260 asking questions
00:49:32.540 and it's like
00:49:33.100 True North did
00:49:33.980 an analysis of
00:49:34.840 those questions
00:49:35.400 that were asked
00:49:35.960 more than half
00:49:36.600 of them were
00:49:36.940 coming from
00:49:37.380 the CBC
00:49:37.960 you know
00:49:38.700 they were
00:49:39.000 positive in
00:49:39.960 nature
00:49:40.180 they weren't
00:49:40.560 asking questions
00:49:41.380 about you know
00:49:42.600 anything that
00:49:43.340 was serious
00:49:43.860 about government
00:49:44.560 it was always
00:49:45.240 like you know
00:49:46.120 hey how was
00:49:46.940 your weekend
00:49:47.340 how are you
00:49:47.800 coping
00:49:48.140 did you get
00:49:48.700 a haircut
00:49:49.100 you know
00:49:49.640 these kind
00:49:50.060 of questions
00:49:50.580 so one
00:49:52.120 last question
00:49:53.640 about the
00:49:54.020 Wiescat 0.95
00:49:54.300 it seems like
00:49:54.860 a lot of
00:49:55.260 times with
00:49:55.860 these scandals
00:49:56.680 that the
00:49:57.480 cover up is
00:49:58.100 worse than
00:49:58.560 the crime
00:49:59.020 and I think
00:49:59.820 what we saw
00:50:00.460 right before
00:50:01.060 parliament was
00:50:01.700 probed
00:50:02.540 there was a
00:50:03.380 document dump
00:50:04.060 so I think
00:50:04.580 you got 40
00:50:05.260 or 50,000
00:50:05.920 emails
00:50:06.400 most of them
00:50:07.280 were heavily
00:50:07.700 redacted
00:50:08.380 and you
00:50:08.940 made that
00:50:09.320 point that
00:50:09.960 you know
00:50:10.440 we don't
00:50:11.480 really know
00:50:11.840 what's in
00:50:12.160 these documents
00:50:12.580 but of the
00:50:13.180 things that
00:50:13.540 weren't redacted
00:50:14.280 the timeline
00:50:15.080 kind of came
00:50:15.680 into place
00:50:16.220 and it
00:50:16.460 seemed like
00:50:16.920 there were
00:50:17.260 some major
00:50:17.760 contradictions
00:50:18.540 between what
00:50:19.380 the liberals
00:50:19.840 had said
00:50:20.600 and what
00:50:21.640 really happened
00:50:22.180 particularly
00:50:22.740 your point
00:50:23.680 about how
00:50:24.080 the civil
00:50:24.440 service
00:50:24.760 wasn't
00:50:24.980 really the
00:50:25.240 one
00:50:25.360 recommending
00:50:25.800 it
00:50:26.080 it seemed
00:50:26.720 like it
00:50:27.020 was more
00:50:27.360 something
00:50:27.620 that was
00:50:27.920 led by
00:50:28.260 Minister
00:50:28.720 Chagher
00:50:29.860 but you
00:50:31.220 know
00:50:31.380 part of
00:50:31.980 the issue
00:50:32.460 is that
00:50:33.840 by the time
00:50:34.640 Justin Trudeau
00:50:35.240 came and
00:50:35.820 testified
00:50:36.300 he kind
00:50:37.620 of was
00:50:37.800 giving a
00:50:38.160 different
00:50:38.420 answer
00:50:38.740 than he
00:50:39.060 had been
00:50:39.440 for the
00:50:39.720 previous
00:50:40.080 few weeks
00:50:40.660 all of a
00:50:41.020 sudden
00:50:41.180 he was
00:50:41.620 telling
00:50:42.160 something
00:50:42.980 new
00:50:43.820 and it's
00:50:44.200 like
00:50:44.340 why is
00:50:44.980 the prime
00:50:45.240 minister
00:50:45.400 saying
00:50:45.800 new
00:50:46.180 information
00:50:46.740 now
00:50:47.200 when this
00:50:47.860 has been
00:50:48.200 in the
00:50:48.600 press
00:50:48.940 for a month
00:50:49.900 do you
00:50:51.220 think
00:50:51.480 the liberals
00:50:52.740 were sort
00:50:53.140 of trying
00:50:53.440 to be
00:50:53.700 too cute
00:50:54.240 that if
00:50:54.560 they had
00:50:54.780 come out
00:50:55.240 from the
00:50:55.860 get-go
00:50:56.180 and just
00:50:56.500 explain what
00:50:57.000 would have
00:50:57.220 happened
00:50:57.520 Canadians
00:50:57.940 would have
00:50:58.200 forgiven
00:50:58.460 them
00:50:58.620 but it
00:50:58.860 was because
00:50:59.280 of the
00:50:59.620 evolution
00:51:01.020 of the
00:51:01.620 storyline
00:51:02.080 and the
00:51:02.560 evolution
00:51:02.900 of when
00:51:03.820 did Justin
00:51:04.300 Trudeau
00:51:04.580 find out
00:51:05.040 when did
00:51:05.400 the civil
00:51:05.740 service
00:51:06.080 recommend
00:51:06.460 this
00:51:07.060 contract
00:51:07.860 that that's
00:51:08.820 ultimately
00:51:09.180 what's going
00:51:09.720 to get
00:51:10.580 them in
00:51:10.860 trouble
00:51:11.060 here
00:51:11.400 I think
00:51:12.320 so
00:51:12.640 I mean
00:51:12.980 look
00:51:13.440 the story
00:51:15.100 the truth
00:51:15.680 is ugly
00:51:16.160 in this
00:51:16.520 one
00:51:16.760 I mean
00:51:17.100 whenever
00:51:17.440 you have
00:51:17.900 a prime
00:51:18.900 minister's
00:51:19.480 family
00:51:19.800 getting
00:51:20.100 paid
00:51:20.420 half a
00:51:21.040 million
00:51:21.260 dollars
00:51:21.740 and then
00:51:22.100 he turns
00:51:22.480 around
00:51:22.740 and hands
00:51:23.080 half a
00:51:23.540 billion
00:51:23.800 to the
00:51:24.160 group
00:51:24.440 that paid
00:51:25.680 them
00:51:25.920 you've got
00:51:27.360 a serious
00:51:27.900 scandal
00:51:28.440 potentially a
00:51:29.700 criminal one
00:51:30.260 so there's
00:51:31.120 no doubt
00:51:31.620 they had
00:51:32.020 big trouble
00:51:32.600 based on
00:51:33.620 the facts
00:51:34.120 but you're
00:51:34.520 quite right
00:51:35.120 covering up
00:51:36.560 things that
00:51:37.060 were ultimately
00:51:37.740 going to come
00:51:38.460 out has
00:51:39.340 just made
00:51:39.680 it worse
00:51:40.160 you know
00:51:40.460 you look
00:51:40.760 at Chagher
00:51:41.680 she comes
00:51:43.020 to our
00:51:43.300 committee
00:51:43.640 denies that
00:51:45.400 she ever
00:51:45.780 met with
00:51:46.300 or spoke
00:51:46.980 with the
00:51:47.640 Kielbergers 1.00
00:51:48.360 about the
00:51:50.360 Canada Student
00:51:51.300 Service grant
00:51:52.000 and it turns
00:51:52.480 out she
00:51:52.920 did
00:51:53.180 we have
00:51:54.880 the prime
00:51:56.240 minister
00:51:56.600 saying his
00:51:57.380 office wasn't
00:51:58.080 involved in
00:51:58.540 the decision
00:51:58.920 well we have
00:51:59.640 correspondence
00:52:00.180 showing that
00:52:01.020 two of his
00:52:01.540 senior advisors
00:52:02.340 were directly
00:52:03.760 involved
00:52:04.140 one of them
00:52:04.960 helped design
00:52:05.640 the very
00:52:06.040 program that
00:52:06.720 we're talking
00:52:07.200 about
00:52:07.520 you know
00:52:08.640 we have
00:52:09.180 Bill Morneau's
00:52:10.440 office
00:52:11.040 Bill Morneau
00:52:11.760 saying basically
00:52:12.680 oh it had
00:52:13.320 nothing to do
00:52:13.820 with me
00:52:14.140 I was just
00:52:14.740 the minister
00:52:16.280 responsible
00:52:16.980 but it was
00:52:17.620 all the
00:52:17.900 bureaucrats
00:52:18.360 well now we
00:52:18.840 know that
00:52:19.720 by the
00:52:20.180 bureaucrats
00:52:20.740 own internal
00:52:21.360 correspondence
00:52:21.940 that they
00:52:22.400 said that
00:52:23.600 he was
00:52:24.280 that the
00:52:24.780 minister's
00:52:25.280 office was
00:52:25.740 insisting on
00:52:26.440 it and that
00:52:26.780 they were
00:52:27.060 quote besties
00:52:28.180 besties
00:52:29.160 his office
00:52:30.860 was besties
00:52:31.560 with the
00:52:32.000 we brothers
00:52:32.960 and that's
00:52:34.260 a quote
00:52:34.660 you know
00:52:36.160 the bureaucrats
00:52:37.100 who were
00:52:37.340 supposedly
00:52:37.960 enamored with
00:52:39.200 this program
00:52:39.880 called it a
00:52:40.460 quote
00:52:40.740 shit show
00:52:41.780 that's a
00:52:42.460 quote right
00:52:42.940 out of the
00:52:43.300 email
00:52:43.720 correspondence
00:52:44.420 the
00:52:45.760 you know
00:52:46.940 Trudeau
00:52:47.340 said oh
00:52:47.860 the
00:52:48.140 bureaucrats
00:52:48.700 told me
00:52:49.080 there was
00:52:49.420 no other
00:52:50.120 organization
00:52:50.640 with the
00:52:51.040 capacity to
00:52:51.780 run this
00:52:52.640 program
00:52:53.200 except for
00:52:53.980 we
00:52:54.240 well we
00:52:55.220 now have
00:52:55.540 treasury board
00:52:56.140 secretariat
00:52:56.800 bureaucrats
00:52:57.380 who said
00:52:57.720 they didn't
00:52:58.120 believe we
00:52:58.660 could run
00:52:59.180 the program
00:52:59.680 so it's
00:53:00.740 just all
00:53:01.260 of these
00:53:01.660 lies
00:53:02.300 that are
00:53:02.880 so obviously
00:53:03.780 contradictable
00:53:04.820 for which
00:53:05.680 there's
00:53:05.940 documentary
00:53:06.600 evidence
00:53:07.440 I don't
00:53:08.500 even I
00:53:08.860 don't know
00:53:09.220 why they
00:53:09.660 bothered telling
00:53:10.420 all these
00:53:10.820 lies
00:53:11.220 they should
00:53:11.680 have just
00:53:12.040 come out
00:53:12.460 and said
00:53:12.920 from the
00:53:13.280 get-go
00:53:13.720 look
00:53:14.060 we got
00:53:15.600 excited
00:53:16.020 we did
00:53:17.060 something we
00:53:17.540 shouldn't
00:53:17.820 have
00:53:18.220 there was
00:53:18.880 an obvious
00:53:19.260 conflict of
00:53:19.900 interest
00:53:20.300 it was all
00:53:21.200 our fault
00:53:21.720 you know
00:53:23.180 give us a
00:53:23.940 good
00:53:24.120 licking in
00:53:25.180 the press
00:53:25.600 for a
00:53:26.340 week
00:53:26.560 and then
00:53:27.200 we'll try
00:53:27.520 to move
00:53:27.820 on
00:53:28.100 that's
00:53:28.500 I think
00:53:28.860 the better
00:53:29.220 it would
00:53:29.420 have been
00:53:29.600 the better
00:53:29.940 strategy
00:53:30.500 they still
00:53:30.860 would have
00:53:31.020 been a lot
00:53:31.360 of trouble
00:53:31.740 they would
00:53:32.060 have been
00:53:32.260 found guilty
00:53:32.880 but at
00:53:34.660 least there
00:53:35.120 wouldn't be
00:53:35.460 this whole
00:53:35.840 series of
00:53:36.660 lies that
00:53:37.360 have been
00:53:37.600 exposed
00:53:38.240 little by
00:53:39.160 little each
00:53:39.600 day
00:53:39.880 so that
00:53:41.600 leads me to
00:53:42.080 another thought
00:53:43.060 that I have
00:53:43.840 and I hear
00:53:44.380 from a lot
00:53:45.060 of Canadians
00:53:45.520 about this
00:53:46.160 it seems like
00:53:47.480 Justin Trudeau
00:53:48.080 really is above
00:53:48.860 the law
00:53:49.180 he acts like
00:53:49.980 he's above
00:53:50.340 the law
00:53:50.680 he has
00:53:51.040 this sort
00:53:51.300 of arrogance
00:53:51.720 that he is
00:53:52.420 he has
00:53:53.080 repeated
00:53:53.640 ethics
00:53:54.720 violations
00:53:55.340 he repeatedly
00:53:56.160 gets
00:53:57.240 told by the
00:53:58.620 ethics commissioner
00:53:59.300 that he has
00:53:59.780 violated
00:54:00.400 the conflict
00:54:01.200 of interest
00:54:01.720 act
00:54:02.040 and yet
00:54:02.740 there doesn't
00:54:03.720 really seem to
00:54:04.200 be any
00:54:04.560 repercussions
00:54:05.220 he has
00:54:05.800 a slap
00:54:06.120 on the
00:54:06.360 wrist
00:54:06.660 a minor
00:54:07.120 fine
00:54:07.600 even if
00:54:10.180 he is
00:54:10.480 found
00:54:10.720 guilty
00:54:11.060 of
00:54:11.720 violating
00:54:12.360 the
00:54:13.480 conflict
00:54:13.900 of interest
00:54:14.300 act
00:54:14.560 with this
00:54:15.080 we
00:54:15.500 scandal
00:54:16.120 it won't
00:54:18.140 lead to
00:54:18.560 him
00:54:18.760 losing
00:54:19.660 his role
00:54:21.280 as prime
00:54:21.680 minister
00:54:21.940 so what
00:54:22.840 can the
00:54:23.240 government
00:54:23.540 do to
00:54:24.100 hold
00:54:24.560 Trudeau
00:54:25.180 accountable
00:54:25.680 is it
00:54:27.300 creating
00:54:27.760 another
00:54:28.160 set of
00:54:28.680 laws
00:54:29.080 is there
00:54:30.280 anything
00:54:30.580 that can
00:54:31.200 be done
00:54:31.620 to actually
00:54:32.160 stop
00:54:32.640 an
00:54:33.100 individual
00:54:33.480 who is
00:54:33.940 a repeat
00:54:34.640 offender
00:54:35.160 of these
00:54:36.160 acts that
00:54:36.880 are designed
00:54:37.440 to hold
00:54:38.140 these
00:54:38.340 politicians
00:54:38.800 accountable
00:54:39.420 well
00:54:41.360 look I
00:54:42.240 was the
00:54:42.740 parliamentary
00:54:43.100 secretary
00:54:43.620 who passed
00:54:44.380 the
00:54:45.100 accountability
00:54:45.480 act
00:54:45.980 it was my
00:54:46.620 job to
00:54:47.060 take it
00:54:47.420 through
00:54:47.780 committee
00:54:48.660 and through
00:54:49.220 the house
00:54:49.520 of commons
00:54:50.120 in 2006
00:54:51.220 so all of
00:54:51.980 the laws
00:54:52.380 we're talking
00:54:52.920 about right
00:54:53.500 now
00:54:53.740 the lobbying
00:54:54.280 act
00:54:54.640 the conflict
00:54:55.120 of interest
00:54:55.560 act
00:54:55.940 they were
00:54:57.120 all
00:54:57.560 partly my
00:54:58.780 creation
00:54:59.240 and so I
00:55:00.440 support them
00:55:00.980 but here's the
00:55:01.740 thing is you
00:55:02.340 can't at the
00:55:03.640 end of the
00:55:03.920 day you can't
00:55:04.960 replace the
00:55:06.040 what Churchill
00:55:07.400 called the
00:55:07.980 mighty power
00:55:08.960 of a little
00:55:10.200 man walking
00:55:11.340 into a little
00:55:12.060 room with a
00:55:13.280 little piece of
00:55:13.840 paper and putting
00:55:14.940 it in a little
00:55:15.420 box and that
00:55:16.840 of course is the
00:55:17.440 voter
00:55:17.680 the voter has to
00:55:19.600 decide that they're
00:55:20.280 not going to put up
00:55:20.900 with it anymore
00:55:21.520 at the end of the
00:55:23.480 day you can have
00:55:24.880 all of the law
00:55:25.920 enforcement bodies
00:55:26.820 you want coming
00:55:27.780 out and making
00:55:28.540 findings of guilt
00:55:29.660 but if the voter
00:55:30.960 is not going to
00:55:31.960 hold them
00:55:32.380 accountable for
00:55:33.240 it then he
00:55:34.000 is has
00:55:36.360 impunity
00:55:36.820 there is a
00:55:39.120 weird psychology
00:55:40.560 among the
00:55:41.240 political class
00:55:42.060 in Canada
00:55:42.540 that Justin
00:55:44.420 Trudeau is
00:55:44.920 special
00:55:45.300 that yes of
00:55:46.820 course if any
00:55:47.400 other junior
00:55:48.440 candidate had
00:55:49.560 worn blackface
00:55:50.400 they would have
00:55:50.900 been not even
00:55:51.860 been allowed to
00:55:52.380 run the party's
00:55:53.080 ticket let alone
00:55:53.660 lead it
00:55:54.360 that if anyone
00:55:57.280 else had been
00:55:57.820 found guilty of
00:55:59.100 trying to stop
00:56:00.680 a criminal
00:56:01.120 prosecution
00:56:01.720 they'd immediately
00:56:02.660 have to resign
00:56:03.480 from cabinet
00:56:04.120 many have resigned
00:56:04.960 for much less
00:56:05.720 that there would
00:56:08.020 be criminal
00:56:09.100 charges and
00:56:10.420 there should have
00:56:10.940 been criminal
00:56:11.380 charges for
00:56:12.300 taking a
00:56:13.360 $200,000
00:56:14.140 vacation from
00:56:15.340 someone who
00:56:17.140 was at who
00:56:17.880 was successfully
00:56:18.960 lobbying you for
00:56:20.260 a $15 million
00:56:21.460 grant it's right
00:56:22.600 in the criminal
00:56:23.020 code it's I
00:56:23.880 think it's one
00:56:24.220 section 122
00:56:25.240 it's a criminal
00:56:26.200 offense but the
00:56:27.700 RCMP
00:56:28.200 didn't pursue
00:56:29.720 it and I
00:56:31.260 think it's for
00:56:32.260 Justin it's like
00:56:33.280 you know he's
00:56:33.760 the son of a
00:56:34.560 former prime
00:56:35.140 minister and
00:56:36.520 he's youthful and
00:56:37.440 bashful and
00:56:38.600 there's something
00:56:39.660 kind of
00:56:40.800 something there's
00:56:44.120 sort of an
00:56:45.000 instinct to
00:56:45.960 protect and
00:56:46.480 forgive him
00:56:47.200 among the
00:56:48.040 political class
00:56:48.800 that exists for
00:56:49.540 no other
00:56:50.260 political figure
00:56:51.080 in this country
00:56:51.760 and you know
00:56:53.340 I think it
00:56:53.800 would take an
00:56:54.220 actual psychologist
00:56:55.560 to do an
00:56:56.760 examination of
00:56:57.780 how it is
00:56:58.620 that the
00:56:59.700 system has
00:57:00.720 been so
00:57:01.140 forgiving of
00:57:02.560 the many
00:57:03.400 scandals and
00:57:06.980 in some cases
00:57:07.560 crimes that he's
00:57:08.600 committed
00:57:08.880 that's a really
00:57:10.800 interesting
00:57:11.520 perspective I
00:57:12.660 know now I want
00:57:13.320 to interview a
00:57:13.980 psychologist and
00:57:14.780 find out what
00:57:15.600 what's going on
00:57:16.280 I think so I
00:57:17.120 mean there's
00:57:17.580 something there
00:57:18.220 there's something
00:57:18.760 there yeah there
00:57:19.880 is well I do
00:57:20.800 want to ask you a
00:57:21.500 little bit about
00:57:21.960 the 2019
00:57:22.620 election and
00:57:24.140 the new
00:57:24.760 conservative
00:57:25.480 leader Aaron
00:57:26.100 O'Toole so
00:57:26.800 you know to
00:57:28.060 me the
00:57:29.160 conservatives won
00:57:29.880 the 2019
00:57:30.600 election you
00:57:31.360 guys got the
00:57:31.840 popular vote you
00:57:32.660 increase your
00:57:33.220 vote count your
00:57:34.220 seats in every
00:57:35.200 region Andrew
00:57:36.580 Scheer did a
00:57:37.020 hell of a job
00:57:37.480 standing up to
00:57:38.060 a media that
00:57:38.540 was pretty
00:57:38.860 biased against
00:57:40.100 him but the
00:57:42.000 sort of consensus
00:57:42.800 in the media was
00:57:43.900 that the
00:57:44.120 conservatives lost
00:57:44.780 and that Andrew
00:57:45.600 Scheer needed to
00:57:46.140 go and he
00:57:46.640 sort of agreed
00:57:47.500 with that and
00:57:48.020 stepped down
00:57:48.600 from your
00:57:49.720 perspective why
00:57:50.900 do you think
00:57:51.900 that Justin
00:57:52.960 Trudeau got
00:57:53.520 re-elected and
00:57:54.220 why do you
00:57:54.480 think the
00:57:54.700 conservatives
00:57:55.040 failed to
00:57:55.520 ultimately really
00:57:56.820 sort of win in
00:57:57.780 terms of at
00:57:58.420 least getting a
00:57:58.880 minority government
00:57:59.560 well you're
00:58:02.420 quite right
00:58:02.940 I think Andrew
00:58:03.860 Scheer deserves a
00:58:04.540 lot of credit
00:58:05.060 for the successes
00:58:05.820 you enumerated
00:58:06.680 when he became
00:58:07.260 leader no one
00:58:07.960 gave us a hope
00:58:09.340 of even reducing
00:58:11.280 Trudeau to a
00:58:11.960 minority there
00:58:12.460 was a talk that
00:58:13.280 he would have
00:58:13.700 the biggest
00:58:14.040 majority ever
00:58:14.920 after the longest
00:58:16.100 honeymoon ever of
00:58:17.640 any prime
00:58:18.080 minister look he
00:58:20.860 got 33% of the
00:58:22.380 vote it's the
00:58:22.900 lowest share of
00:58:23.800 the vote of any
00:58:24.540 prime minister in
00:58:25.620 Canadian history
00:58:26.420 many prime
00:58:28.560 ministers have been
00:58:29.300 defeated with by
00:58:30.780 getting a larger
00:58:31.480 share of the vote
00:58:32.220 than he got
00:58:32.820 winning it so he
00:58:35.960 had an incredibly
00:58:36.940 efficient distribution
00:58:39.060 of votes I don't
00:58:40.900 think any party in
00:58:42.320 Canadian history has
00:58:43.260 gotten so many
00:58:44.000 seats with so few
00:58:45.080 votes and I don't
00:58:47.140 say that you know
00:58:47.880 as an excuse
00:58:48.660 it's obviously a
00:58:50.720 tribute in part to
00:58:51.680 their strategy and
00:58:52.660 how they allocated
00:58:53.620 the resources but
00:58:55.440 you know this is
00:58:56.520 not a popular
00:58:57.220 prime minister and
00:58:58.880 he returns to
00:59:00.420 office with an
00:59:01.100 extremely weak
00:59:02.120 mandate and but
00:59:05.040 that said no
00:59:06.440 majority prime
00:59:07.380 minister had been
00:59:08.080 defeated after just
00:59:09.980 one term since
00:59:11.320 R.B.
00:59:11.760 Bennett in the
00:59:12.240 middle of the
00:59:12.540 great depression
00:59:13.160 administration so
00:59:14.120 history the math
00:59:16.720 the media and
00:59:17.740 a whole series of
00:59:18.360 other things were
00:59:19.020 against Mr.
00:59:20.380 Scheer at the
00:59:21.120 time and I wish
00:59:23.580 we had done better
00:59:24.220 as does he but I
00:59:26.220 think we can take
00:59:26.840 solace in the fact
00:59:27.660 that we didn't
00:59:28.280 reduce them to a
00:59:29.000 minority and
00:59:29.900 hopefully we can put
00:59:30.880 an end to the
00:59:31.460 government before they
00:59:32.300 do too much damage.
00:59:33.120 So Aaron O'Toole is
00:59:35.820 out to a really
00:59:36.440 good start I would
00:59:37.420 say he's come out
00:59:38.180 strong I would argue
00:59:40.340 that he's probably
00:59:41.040 not as conservative
00:59:42.060 as Andrew Scheer in
00:59:43.020 terms of his social
00:59:43.920 views but he seems
00:59:45.300 like he really has
00:59:46.660 hit a populist
00:59:47.560 note we saw that
00:59:48.240 with his Labour
00:59:48.760 Day message and
00:59:50.080 his new Canada
00:59:51.180 first economic
00:59:52.540 strategy so I was
00:59:54.320 wondering if you
00:59:54.620 could describe the
00:59:55.320 ways that you think
00:59:56.000 that Aaron O'Toole
00:59:56.740 is different than
00:59:57.880 Andrew Scheer and
00:59:58.720 how the sort of
01:00:00.260 strategy would be for
01:00:01.460 Aaron O'Toole to
01:00:02.200 become the next
01:00:02.740 Prime Minister?
01:00:04.820 Well I think Aaron
01:00:06.360 has a lot of
01:00:07.140 strong attributes
01:00:07.860 he's a veteran
01:00:09.540 a businessman
01:00:10.640 he has strong
01:00:12.640 roots in the
01:00:14.060 parts of the
01:00:14.540 country we need
01:00:15.240 to win in order
01:00:16.180 to form a
01:00:16.760 majority government
01:00:17.520 I think you're
01:00:18.740 right he has
01:00:19.540 struck the right
01:00:20.300 tone I've always
01:00:22.360 believed that the
01:00:23.260 free market is the
01:00:25.160 best way to serve
01:00:26.300 the working class
01:00:27.620 and the poor
01:00:28.340 and by contrast
01:00:31.480 we have is
01:00:32.180 government controlled
01:00:33.120 corporatism that
01:00:34.960 enriches those who
01:00:36.120 have the most
01:00:36.720 political influence
01:00:37.640 at the expense of
01:00:38.560 everyone else
01:00:39.180 we can campaign
01:00:41.480 against that and I
01:00:42.420 think it will be
01:00:42.880 very popular and
01:00:43.760 yes populist to do
01:00:45.460 so so I agree with
01:00:47.300 you he's off to a
01:00:48.100 good start and if
01:00:49.400 he can continue with
01:00:50.280 that momentum he'll
01:00:52.220 be the next Prime
01:00:52.880 Minister.
01:00:54.240 One of the
01:00:54.820 interesting things
01:00:55.500 we're seeing again
01:00:56.740 speculation with this
01:00:57.920 throne speech but
01:00:59.060 the idea that the
01:00:59.740 Liberals have moved
01:01:00.420 so far to the left
01:01:01.400 that the NDP doesn't
01:01:02.740 really have a place
01:01:03.560 anymore and you see
01:01:05.280 Jagmeet Singh I mean
01:01:06.380 he was the real
01:01:07.220 loser in the 2019
01:01:08.300 election they just
01:01:09.240 got decimated in
01:01:10.160 Quebec and reduced
01:01:12.280 in British Columbia
01:01:13.280 and a lot of other
01:01:14.320 strongholds it feels
01:01:15.880 like there's not
01:01:16.540 really a lot of room
01:01:17.460 on the political
01:01:18.260 spectrum for Singh at
01:01:19.880 this point and then
01:01:20.720 you have Aaron O'Toole
01:01:21.920 sort of putting forth
01:01:23.320 this Canada first
01:01:24.460 strategy and when I
01:01:26.680 say populist I mean
01:01:27.600 sort of speaking more
01:01:28.860 to working Canadians
01:01:31.060 blue-collar Canadians
01:01:32.060 and people that might
01:01:32.940 traditionally be part
01:01:34.020 of that NDP voting
01:01:36.000 based union members
01:01:37.820 and that kind of
01:01:38.360 thing do you think
01:01:40.020 that that is part of
01:01:40.740 the Conservative
01:01:41.160 strategy is to
01:01:42.220 capture some of
01:01:44.220 those voters that
01:01:45.140 may feel not
01:01:47.240 represented by a
01:01:48.220 sort of cosmopolitan
01:01:49.480 environmentalist NDP
01:01:51.320 movement?
01:01:53.600 Yes and that has
01:01:54.700 been a problem for
01:01:55.540 the NDP for a long
01:01:56.740 time now you'll
01:01:57.700 recall that the NDP
01:01:59.860 used to be very
01:02:00.600 strong in Saskatchewan
01:02:02.180 in rural British
01:02:05.300 Columbia in parts
01:02:08.100 of Manitoba and they
01:02:11.220 lost that because
01:02:12.500 they became an ultra
01:02:14.740 urban white-collar
01:02:17.480 elite socialist party
01:02:21.080 faculty club socialist
01:02:22.360 party and they forgot
01:02:24.960 about working-class people
01:02:26.220 and farmers and so
01:02:28.440 where the roots of the
01:02:29.420 party were among
01:02:30.160 farmers and workers
01:02:31.380 they're now among
01:02:32.720 activists and loudmouths
01:02:36.660 and protesters and
01:02:38.500 people who get paid to
01:02:40.460 go around screaming and
01:02:41.800 hollering and smashing
01:02:42.620 things and theorizing
01:02:44.820 all day and that's not
01:02:46.660 a particularly big market
01:02:47.960 to pursue and that's why
01:02:50.200 I think you see more and
01:02:51.320 more working-class people
01:02:52.480 are attracted to the
01:02:53.700 conservative message and
01:02:56.160 we're winning we win in
01:02:57.500 places like Oshawa and in
01:03:00.660 rural Saskatchewan and in
01:03:04.520 the north in northern
01:03:05.680 Ontario so a lot of mining
01:03:09.820 towns and assembly line
01:03:12.200 constituencies where that
01:03:14.000 you the NDP used to take
01:03:15.800 for granted are now
01:03:16.800 becoming conservative
01:03:17.680 because they see us
01:03:18.700 representing their working
01:03:20.340 class family values
01:03:22.340 interesting so do you
01:03:24.940 have any any predictions
01:03:26.020 for the fall it's going to
01:03:27.200 be an interesting time
01:03:28.780 with throne speech
01:03:30.040 potentially going into an
01:03:31.740 election and and sort of
01:03:33.180 more uncovering things
01:03:34.700 from your committee the
01:03:35.540 finance committee with the
01:03:36.480 we scandal any any
01:03:37.960 predictions for the fall
01:03:38.840 here
01:03:39.120 yeah I think Trudeau is
01:03:43.000 going to do as much
01:03:43.600 do anything he can to get
01:03:44.800 an election if he can't get
01:03:47.000 the proposition parties to
01:03:48.280 vote down his speech from
01:03:49.660 the throne or his fall
01:03:51.680 update then he might just
01:03:53.860 go to the governor general
01:03:55.360 and say I'm calling an
01:03:56.460 election the challenge for
01:03:58.080 him will be that people
01:04:01.100 will say okay why are you
01:04:02.220 calling an election if
01:04:03.060 you've passed your throne
01:04:04.060 speech you passed your
01:04:05.280 update you passed all of
01:04:06.600 your COVID spending what
01:04:08.520 would a majority give you
01:04:09.780 that you don't already
01:04:10.500 have and of course the only
01:04:12.260 answer is it would allow
01:04:13.440 him to lock in power
01:04:15.860 before people find out how
01:04:17.280 broke we are and before
01:04:18.400 the scandals become fully
01:04:19.920 public and that's not a
01:04:21.980 very good justification to
01:04:23.500 ask people for a majority
01:04:24.680 you know please give me a
01:04:26.480 majority so I can cover up 0.79
01:04:27.820 scandals liberal scandals
01:04:30.420 I doesn't sound like much
01:04:33.320 of a slogan so I think he's
01:04:35.080 in a he's in a bind and the
01:04:38.100 only thing that can help him
01:04:39.060 is if Jagmeet Singh really
01:04:40.240 jumps in and tries to defeat
01:04:41.560 him which would be irrational
01:04:43.080 for the NDP and we know that
01:04:46.100 might be the reason they do
01:04:47.160 it interesting and then just
01:04:49.280 final question for you
01:04:50.160 Pierre what do you think the
01:04:51.120 biggest challenge for
01:04:52.620 conservatives is conservatives
01:04:54.520 are in this country and in
01:04:56.580 bringing down this Trudeau
01:04:57.620 government well I think the
01:05:01.640 biggest challenge is telling
01:05:03.420 people the warning it's not a
01:05:06.120 fun job but warning people
01:05:07.300 about the fiscal catastrophe
01:05:08.580 that's coming and being you
01:05:11.580 know sounding that alarm before
01:05:14.300 everyone realizes there's a
01:05:15.680 fire you know and people say
01:05:19.140 well why are you pulling the
01:05:20.000 alarm well it's because there's
01:05:21.860 a fire well we don't see the
01:05:23.020 fire yet well believe me it's
01:05:24.880 there and it's coming and
01:05:25.980 you're going to see smoke and
01:05:27.000 flames very soon and so we have
01:05:30.100 to be you know the bad guys who
01:05:31.680 come and explain that things
01:05:33.280 cost money and that we're
01:05:35.160 eventually going to run out of
01:05:36.340 it that is a very difficult job
01:05:39.040 to play at some point what we've
01:05:40.540 indicated and everyone will say
01:05:41.860 oh they were right all along but
01:05:43.080 by then it's too late the damage
01:05:45.920 is already done so that is the
01:05:48.060 biggest challenge but you know
01:05:49.420 we have to be happy warriors and
01:05:50.940 get out there and make the case
01:05:52.040 it's the right thing to do and the
01:05:54.020 country will be better off for us
01:05:55.220 doing it well you you certainly
01:05:57.540 have your work cut out for you
01:05:59.000 especially considering you know
01:06:01.180 all the things we talked about how
01:06:02.320 the sort of media adoring Justin
01:06:05.520 Trudeau and seeing that he can do
01:06:06.760 no wrong and the sort of liberal
01:06:08.700 stronghold that exists in Ottawa but
01:06:10.720 Pia we really appreciate your time
01:06:12.720 thank you so much for coming on
01:06:14.020 and explaining all these concepts
01:06:15.700 to us and help breaking down
01:06:17.480 everything from an insider
01:06:18.940 perspective we really appreciate
01:06:20.120 your time thank you so much for
01:06:21.480 joining the true north speaker
01:06:22.760 series great to be with you thank
01:06:24.660 thank you so much
01:06:31.660 you
01:06:33.660 you
01:06:35.660 you
01:06:37.660 you
01:06:41.660 you
01:06:45.660 you