00:00:00.000well Prime Minister Carney ducked questions from reporters today asking whether he misled
00:00:10.440Canadians on the Gordie Howe bridge revenue sharing deal did you mislead Canadians sir
00:00:19.680well the agreement reads as follows economic participation Canada will provide annual
00:00:26.280economic participation payments outside the 2012 Canada-Michigan crossing agreement equal to 50%
00:00:33.900of net bridge and crossing related revenues for the first 15 fiscal years of bridge operations.
00:00:41.640There's no reference to debt repayment. Earlier this month, Carney said the revenues would only
00:00:49.180be shared after the debt is paid. It's not splitting the tolls of the bridge. It is an
00:00:56.140agreement for 15 years to split net revenues. Splitting of tolls, any sharing of the toll
00:01:03.800revenue won't happen until all of the debt, all of the debt is repaid. We will split net revenues
00:01:11.820over the course of the first 15 years. Well, Canadian taxpayers paid the entire $6.4 billion
00:01:18.360cost of construction of a bridge. Conservative leader Pierre Paglia posted this.
00:01:24.120Last night, we learned that you, Prime Minister, signed an agreement granting the United States 50% of the net revenues derived from the bridge and cross-border activities during the first 15 years of the bridge's operation, even before the debt is repaid.
00:01:43.920This is a straightforward sharing of profits on a bridge that was built 100% with our tax dollars.
00:01:51.600Well, Premier Daniel Smith of Alberta has rejected calls to weaponize Canadian energy in retaliation against U.S. tariffs.
00:01:59.640This in response to Premier Doug Ford, who said Canada could use its energy to inflict economic pain on the Americans.
00:02:08.000We have to hit back. We have to, rather than be on our back heel, as I said, we have to go forward, take the offense.
00:02:16.100We are an energy powerhouse, and we could dismantle the U.S. if we wanted to, if we all work together.
00:02:23.900No matter if it's the electricity, and I'm not speaking for the other provinces, I'm going to be very clear.
00:02:29.480The potash, the oil, we're their number one customer in the world.
00:02:34.520They need to feel the pain rather than us constantly feeling the pain.
00:02:38.460In response, Premier Smith, whose province leads the country in oil production, told Juneau News, it's a hard no.
00:02:47.960Our guest today is Catherine Swift, president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada.
00:02:57.360Well, we've got a certain contradiction here between what Doug Ford is saying, which is we could destroy the United States.
00:03:05.940we can dismantle the United States if we use our energy and if we all get together and have a
00:03:12.340united front against the USA. And Premier Smith, whose province, of course, leads all provinces in
00:03:20.500terms of oil production, says, not so fast. I don't think we're going to go there. It's a hard
00:03:26.540no. What do you make of this? Well, there's so many contradictions these days in our country
00:03:32.520that it's kind of hard to keep track. But I don't really understand where Ford's coming from. First
00:03:38.480of all, the notion that we're going to dismantle the U.S., good grief. How ridiculous is that?0.88
00:03:44.840And why do both Ford and Carney in particular, there's other premiers that do it too. Eby does0.79
00:03:49.960it too out in B.C. But why do they insist on continuing to poke the U.S. administration?
00:03:55.900It's like the 98-pound weakling on the beach, you know, kicking sand in the face of the big
00:04:00.240muscle man and expecting not to have any impact from it. It's utterly ridiculous. It's hurting0.99
00:04:05.220Canada. Sure is hurting businesses, I'll tell you. Our business members, our manufacturers,
00:04:10.260and in other sectors as well, are just at their wit's end. They've endured this now for a year,
00:04:17.120this uncertainty, tariffs, not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow. We've got a federal
00:04:21.820government that clearly is refusing to negotiate. They haven't negotiated in any meaningful way at
00:04:26.580all. And they tried to pretend they were for a while because we speak to Canadians in the embassy
00:04:31.940and in the US embassy and everything, but they're not. They're clearly not. And I think it's finally
00:04:36.260coming out quite blatantly that they're not making an attempt to do that. And there's all kinds of
00:04:41.120theories as to why that's happening. But Ford, I mean, good on Danielle, because why would he speak
00:04:47.420on behalf of the so-called energy superpower, which is clearly Alberta? What nerve he's got
00:04:54.220to do this. He seems to be fashioning himself as Captain Canada, and yet he doesn't have the right
00:04:59.800or the ability, frankly, to do that effectively. So I don't know where he's coming from. It's not
00:05:05.980like he's got an election now for about three years. So I mean, maybe if there was an upcoming
00:05:11.160election, he'd want to look like the tough guy, but that's not even the case. So I'm not really
00:05:16.540sure of his motivations, but what I can definitely tell you, it's not helping Ontario and it's not
00:05:21.820helping Canada. I mean, at one point he did threaten to cut off energy, electricity, of course,
00:05:28.140because he export electricity power to New York, New York States, Minnesota, as well as Michigan.
00:05:35.460And he was threatening to cut them off. And then after Trump threatened huge tariffs on top of
00:05:43.160what he was already doing, he backed off. So that was a retreat on his part. But unfortunately,
00:05:48.620we're seeing him basically use a strategy that has failed, really, for a year and a half now.
00:05:56.420He hasn't changed. It's basically bash, bash, bash. He may take a little time off, but at the
00:06:02.620end of the day, then he'll get back on Fox or CNN and take shots at Trump. And now he's back
00:06:10.400to calling him names. I mean, none of this has worked. It's all been an abject failure in terms
00:06:16.320of strategy, but I don't think he knows any other way to do this. You know, in his mind, you know,
00:06:21.720we can inflict damage on the United States if we do this and if we do that. And his other complaint
00:06:27.980is with his partners in Canada, really, with fellow premiers and so forth, who don't seem to
00:06:36.000be as eager as him, even from the feds. He seems to be at odds with Carney, who at one point said,
00:06:40.960well, we'll see at the end of 29 days if, you know, Trump makes good on these threats around
00:06:47.840these latest tariffs, whether or not we'll respond in kind. But I don't think there's much of an
00:06:51.680appetite on his part to retaliate because of the fact that it hasn't worked. So Ford kind of stands
00:06:58.280alone here. And, you know, they're aware of it south of the border. They could see what he is
00:07:04.400saying. They've heard what he's saying. I don't know if they take him very seriously, but it can't
00:07:08.940be hurting our can't be helping our position in terms of negotiating with the americans at a time
00:07:13.880when we need we need a deal yeah we need a deal desperately our business members keep telling us
00:07:18.760that we're losing jobs and businesses whether they're just going under uh whether they're
00:07:23.440moving to the u.s which as we know quite a few are or are contemplating it according to that kpmg0.99
00:07:28.400study that came out just a couple of weeks ago uh and that whole electricity threat was so stupid0.99
00:07:34.360it would hurt Ontario at least as much, if not more, than the U.S. states. Because the reason0.98
00:07:41.600that with our stupid cockamamie electricity system in Ontario, which, mind you, the Liberal0.99
00:07:47.440government screwed up royally with their green policies and made us pay much more than we should0.98
00:07:53.080have been paying, we actually make some money on electricity that we export to the U.S. that
00:07:59.760Otherwise, we'd be wasting. We'd be in the hole. So even threatening that was dumb. And yes, I call it the cut off our nose despite our face policy, because that's really what it is. We're hurting ourselves here. And is it just bravado? I don't know. Like I say, I don't understand it. The numbers are very clear. The facts are clear. We're getting hurt in Canada, in Ontario by our refusal to negotiate. And a lot of people are saying, well, no deal is better than a bad deal.
00:08:26.900Well, first of all, there's no reason we should get a bad deal if we're playing our cards right.
00:08:31.940If we are negotiating, yeah, Trump's an unpredictable, no question, a difficult cat to deal with.0.89
00:08:38.200However, to not be dealing with him at all as a response is just pure foolishness.
00:08:43.340At least if you're in the game, first of all, you have better information.
00:08:47.040And secondly, you'll be making some progress.
00:08:49.520We are more likely to get a bad deal than the stance we're taking now.
00:08:53.460And some Canadians actually think, no, if we don't ever get a deal, no biggie. Well, they had better give their head a shake because this deal is super important to our Canadian economy, our businesses, our jobs. And without that deal, that deal has helped Canada a great deal. It's helped the US too. So it's not like they're, you know, they're invulnerable. They're not invulnerable. But proportionately, we are way, way worse off without a deal than they are.
00:09:21.320So we do need a deal. Of course, we need a good deal. We've had good deals in the past.
00:09:25.880The last one, Trump negotiated, and he boasted about it himself, as I'm sure you remember.
00:09:30.280Best deal we've seen in the history of the universe or some such extreme statement.
00:09:36.200And it was a good deal, and it helped Canada a great deal. Our auto sector is getting hammered,
00:09:40.300getting absolutely hammered. Ford should be paying a little bit of attention to that,
00:09:45.120because that's largely Ontario-based. Yeah, I mean, our auto sector,
00:09:49.100your point is going to get slaughtered if we don't get a deal because of course that deal is
00:09:54.480the main reason why for instance toyota is in canada and other automakers they rely on that
00:10:01.580deal if if they don't have that heavily market uh there's no reason for them to be here you know
00:10:07.020they'll move those jobs no no no no in fact they're they're really yeah you're absolutely
00:10:12.000right the the old auto pack that was that was negotiated back in the 60s uh and which the trade
00:10:17.660deals have pretty much carried forward. Granted, the industry's changed, so there's been some
00:10:21.420different players and different market sharers and all that kind of thing. But there would not
00:10:26.800be an industry in Canada, period, if we don't have a deal with the U.S. Absolutely. And so,
00:10:34.220you know, the question of what to do next, and it's also a real illustration of how
00:10:39.480different, how divided Canadians are, specifically the premiers are, when you've got
00:10:46.080forward, kind of shaking his fist, saying, you know, we all got to get together here. Can't just
00:10:50.420be me. And then you've got premiers Mo and Danielle Smith saying, wait a minute, you know,
00:10:58.700it's not just our economies that are, but, you know, Alberta's economy, the Western economies
00:11:03.740that are benefiting from oil, the whole country is, as you well know, that's how we see the
00:11:07.600groceries right now, basically, you know, is through energy sales. I mean, you cut that off.
00:11:14.000we're screwed. We're screwing ourselves. Just like, as you mentioned with the electricity0.99
00:11:19.000threat, you know, you cut off electricity, that's surplus energy that we generate at a very high
00:11:25.980cost. We were able to offset some of those costs of production of these renewables, so-called
00:11:32.560renewables, by selling it to the United States. And they've been buying it and helping us deal
00:11:38.340with this surplus energy that we pay exorbitant rates for in terms of production. So none of this
00:11:44.360makes sense. If you're Mark Carney right now, you see basically Doug Ford, who sounds more and more
00:11:52.100like a loose cannon. What do you do? That's a good question. At one point, they were kissing
00:11:59.020cousins, as you may recall. They were very cozy. And Trump was right in Carney's camp and so on.
00:12:06.160Now he is a loose cannon. And I would talk to him if I were Carney and say, tone it down,
00:12:13.140it's not helping. But Carney doesn't help himself either, not just himself, us, the country. He
00:12:19.080doesn't help the country. He's hired a very well-known democratic operative to sit in the
00:12:24.100prime minister's office. Well, let's just poke the US administration in the eye yet again. How
00:12:30.100do they think this is going to be helpful? There's a lot of ways to be diplomatic and
00:12:34.880they're not pursuing any of them. Also, this whole energy superpower thing makes me crazy
00:12:38.800because federal government and Ford also keep trumpeting how we're such an energy superpower,
00:12:45.280but we're not because government policies are preventing it. It is not a mystery as to why
00:12:52.660our economy is in the tank right now. We could be doing a ton better off if they would just get rid
00:12:58.620of all the laws, regulations, red tape that is holding back not just oil and gas, that's a big
00:13:04.400one, but also our mining. When you think, in some instances, it takes 20 years to get a mine
00:13:10.100permitted. There was one out in BC recently that was, they thought they were all, they'd gone
00:13:15.580through all the laborious processes and everything. And this is gold, by the way. And this is a very
00:13:20.760valuable mine. It's also got a fair bit of copper, apparently. Anyway, some First Nations group with
00:13:28.520about, I think it was 60 members, suddenly says they're not consulted. And so our courts, which
00:13:33.600are another huge problem. They decide, oh, well, remember that mine that you've been dealing with
00:13:38.320for years, all of our regulatory burdens that you're going to get going on that will bring
00:13:44.040huge wealth to communities in BC and Canada? Oh, sorry, we got another First Nations complaint
00:13:49.820here that we have to deal with. I mean, come on. No wonder Canada has a reputation of the country0.86
00:13:54.680that nothing can get done. Yeah, absolutely. And it's self-inflicted, Mark. It's self-inflicted.
00:14:00.060it doesn't have to be this way we should be the richest country in the world our governments are0.99
00:14:06.140preventing that yeah instead we look like the dumbest country in the world we do we look like0.95
00:14:10.460that one of the things danielle said a while ago she said other countries look at us and say0.97
00:14:13.920are you out of your mind what you're doing and and she was right yeah other countries are looking at
00:14:19.640us and saying you're nuts you're not taking advantage of all this god-given wealth as well as
00:14:24.460you know our manufacturers they're solid companies and they're in dire straits right now companies
00:14:30.440that have been around for decades too they're not just startups or whatever so bankruptcies
00:14:34.780at record high levels you know i can cite all kinds of data at what point folks canadians don't
00:14:40.560you see all this data and think you know gee i think we got a big problem with our government
00:14:44.920in canada and yet we see approval ratings for carney i don't believe them because they're just0.98
00:14:49.560ridiculous. But at what point does reality sink into people? Absolutely. I have to ask you as
00:14:55.580well about the Cordy Howe bridge, the negotiations, because it certainly appears that the Prime
00:15:01.740Minister was caught in a lie. I mean, if he wasn't lying, then he didn't understand the deal,
00:15:06.500which is almost just as bad, because now that we see the actual wording of the agreement,
00:15:11.840there really is no reference to revenues split after canada has recouped its uh losses in terms
00:15:20.540of construction costs and so forth he just saw it's just a split basically for the first 15 years
00:15:26.800first for 15 years of uh operation and so now i guess uh carney doesn't seem all too eager to
00:15:36.280answer the question what are you supposed to happen here i mean did he think that it was never
00:15:40.620going to be released to the public? Is that why he told Canadians that, no, we're going to recoup
00:15:46.940our losses first before we split tolls with the Americans? Well, Carney has developed quite a
00:15:56.780reputation in a relatively short time of being a big fat liar. He has lied about so much. Yes,0.98
00:16:02.060he's lied about so much. When he stood up from the House of Commons and said, we have the best
00:16:05.740affordability in a decade. I thought, God Lord, buddy, if you're going to lie, at least make it
00:16:11.060a difficult one to prove. That one was the easiest one to prove in the world. But the bridge
00:16:16.260situation, the original deal, there was a deal on the table. When Harper funded that bridge back in
00:16:21.980the day, and it's been, you know, now it's built, and goodness knows it's going to be good for both
00:16:26.220economies. We needed, you know, they had that one, the ambassador bridge was the monopoly,
00:16:31.340And that was just ridiculous. We were being held to ransom. But having this bridge is great for both economies. And there will be competition for a change. But the original deal that was struck was that we would, initial revenues, net revenues, of course, were going to go to pay off Canada's 6.4 billion, as you mentioned, and then revenues would be split between the two countries.
00:16:54.260and Trump and his cabal decided they wanted more out of it. They got more out of it. Another
00:17:01.480concession Carney made with nothing in return. I mean, he was supposed to be the great negotiator.
00:17:07.140He did that with the digital sales tax, as you may recall. The US didn't like it. It was a bad
00:17:11.980policy anyway. It was a good thing for Canada that US opposed it. It was a dumb policy for
00:17:16.080all kinds of reasons. But Carney backed off on that with nothing in return. This is not a way0.98
00:17:21.320negotiate i'm sorry you should get something back when you give up something like that same with the
00:17:26.760bridge we got nothing and we caved so now you're right right now revenues get shared from the get
00:17:33.400go and then i guess canada is going to well who knows our finances are in such a mess who knows
00:17:38.040what's going to happen but i think they'll be devoting at least some of it i hope to the debt
00:17:43.320that we owe to to the debt we incurred by building by paying all the costs of building the bridge
00:17:48.040But Carney clearly lied about it, thought he'd get away with it because most of our media,
00:17:52.220present company excluded, most of our media is so beholden because they're being bribed,
00:17:58.160basically welfare. It's basically welfare on the taxpayer's dime that we never agreed to.
00:18:02.640We never agreed to spend billions and billions to bail out media. And of course, they're super
00:18:08.340complimentary to Carney and they lie for him. They lie for him too. I thought it was rather
00:18:12.740interesting that it was a U.S. media outlet, Bloomberg, that got a hold of the actual
00:18:18.720agreement and came out and called Carney a liar, effectively, because he was totally shooting the
00:18:23.960breeze about the conditions of this agreement because he knew the truth wouldn't look good
00:18:28.400on him, and it doesn't. Well, you make a great point about the media having egg on its face as
00:18:33.580well. Thank you so much. I wonder when they're going to get tired, Mark. I wonder when the
00:18:37.660legacy media in Canada or get tired of being made look like fools because they parrot Kearney's0.98
00:18:43.520bologna. Well, it seems like they have an endless capacity for it. Well, 30 pieces of silver, eh?0.96
00:18:50.860Thank you, Catherine. Great chatting with you again. Great to chat with you, Mark. Take care.
00:18:57.100Let's be real. Crime is up. Repeat offenders are released on bail. Police responses are slower
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00:20:06.240Our guest today is Joe Varner, senior fellow at the McDonald-Laurier Institute. Welcome, Joe.
00:20:12.420Great to be with you, Mark. Well, the hostilities have intensified in Iran now with Trump,
00:20:19.920well, America really drawing almost everything it has at Iran, hoping for some capitulation on
00:20:26.880that country's part. So far, they have not capitulated. They've hit back. We've had a few
00:20:32.820more casualties from the Americans. Thousands have died in Iran. And now the Americans appear
00:20:39.540to be turning their attention towards the Pickaxe Mountains, an area which is believed to house
00:20:46.520nuclear technology or is that your understanding now? Yeah, so what's been reported in the past
00:20:56.280since about 2020, the Iranians have been digging under a mountain called Pickaxe Mountain in0.88
00:21:02.740English. It's about two kilometers from their main nuclear enrichment facility in the Tantz.0.91
00:21:08.400And this mountain is about 1,600 meters high.
00:21:15.060They have burrowed underneath it somewhere between 80 and 100 meters, about 350 feet.
00:21:23.700And the facility is about one square mile to one and a half square miles in size.
00:21:34.440and it's defended by fortifications and anti-aircraft guns.
00:21:39.200And in the last few days, it's been reported that after the 12-day war in June,
00:21:45.340the Iranians moved some of their enriched nuclear material
00:21:48.300and some of their centrifuges underneath the mountain0.91
00:24:10.860And the other thing that you don't hear an awful lot about is the spent fuel rods at the Bashar Nuclear Power Plant.
00:24:18.660Those rods probably have enough material for about 2,000 kilograms of plutonium if they're machined to produce plutonium.
00:24:32.240And, you know, given the secrecy of the Iranian nuclear program, given their lack of respect for international norms, given the steps that they've taken to protect their nuclear program, we don't know if they have an enrichment or a reprocessing facility for that plutonium.
00:32:29.580And we do have a national interest in terms of our geography, our trade, our defense, our security ties.
00:32:36.520Even our arts and culture ties. We've got great ties with the United States. The fact that the government is, you know, almost given up negotiating and seems to want to run and hide from the talks that are going on now between Mexico and the United States, I think is very concerning.
00:32:58.420If I was a Canadian business that had to export to the United States and had to engage in trade, I think I'd be very worried about where Canada is right now in those negotiations because we're not.