Juno News - Ep 12 ｜ Pierre Poilievre ｜ Holding Trudeau to account

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 1.00

00:08:58.320 if this idiocy goes on. 1.00

00:09:02.360 Ottawa residents will feel the pain as well 1.00

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, 0.98

00:11:08.740 darn, I'm trying so hard 0.95

00:11:10.000 it just doesn't seem 0.99

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 0.98

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 0.92

00:17:16.920 her mire, the 1.00

00:17:17.620 burned fool's 1.00

00:17:18.320 bandaged finger 1.00

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 0.98

00:21:15.100 simpleton if you think that 0.99

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 0.98

00:21:49.480 ridiculous. 0.98

00:21:51.200 And I think that the 0.99

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, 0.97

00:21:57.320 but he's our dummy. 0.71

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. 0.64

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, 1.00

00:42:45.460 forget about this stupid 1.00

00:42:46.660 entrepreneur program 1.00

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. 0.98

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 0.99

00:52:40.740 shit show 1.00

00:52:41.780 that's a 0.99

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 0.89

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 0.91

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 0.72

01:01:07.220 loser in the 2019 0.89

01:01:08.300 election they just 0.82

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

Juno News - September 16, 2020

Ep 12 ｜ Pierre Poilievre ｜ Holding Trudeau to account

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