Juno News - Independent Press Gallery Fireside Chat： Derek Sloan

00:00:00.000 We did a coin toss for order, and I'm very grateful to have with us the first of our

00:00:11.480 two Fireside Chat Conservative Leadership candidates, Derek Sloan. Please welcome Derek

00:00:16.140 Sloan out. Derek, thank you very much for being here. It's good to see you.

00:00:21.600 So obviously the event that you had anticipated being here tonight is a bit different, so

00:00:26.760 we thank you very much for still being here in spite of all the changes. One of the reasons that

00:00:32.620 the Independent Press Gallery was formed was to advocate for independent journalists to have a

00:00:38.040 voice in this country, and I wanted to start off right there with you. Where do you see the big

00:00:42.940 challenges being for press freedom and for freedom of speech? Well hey, that's a really good question,

00:00:48.580 and I've been a very strong candidate on those issues, and I think that the Conservative Party

00:00:53.760 has to lead from the federal level on free speech, and I've been very clear that bills like Bill C-16,

00:01:00.060 which can compel you to use certain gender pronouns, for example, should be repealed. We can't have 1.00

00:01:07.020 bills like that from the federal level when we claim to believe in free speech, so we need to be very

00:01:12.500 clear on issues like that. When it comes to the press freedom and the inherent bias that's in certain

00:01:19.140 media groups, I think it's great that we're seeing, you know, groups that have started recently or not so

00:01:25.220 recently that are holding their own against organizations like the CBC that get tons of funding,

00:01:31.600 and I'm glad to be here. I think that I've set a trend that says do not ignore Conservative media,

00:01:39.740 and that has been, you know, some people in the Conservative Party don't speak to certain groups,

00:01:45.800 and I've been very clear to speak to all kinds of groups, whether it's Rebel News or groups like

00:01:50.580 yourself, and I've set a standard for other candidates as well, so I'm pleased to be here.

00:01:56.060 You know, on the topic of free speech, we have to do everything we can to defend it, and, you know,

00:02:02.020 I spoke about Bill C-16. There's also social media banning, and I've been the only candidate to my

00:02:08.800 knowledge that's spoken about taking on the shadow banning and the banning and the censorship that

00:02:14.380 we're seeing, and whether that's during elections, we've seen examples of Facebook blocking statements

00:02:21.120 critical of Jagmeet Singh or critical of open borders. We need to take these guys head-on. If they're going

00:02:26.880 to claim to be a neutral platform, then they need to act like a neutral platform, and this is where

00:02:31.980 social media, this is where free speech is at right now. We're talking about university campuses,

00:02:35.960 and I've been clear that universities need to need to be objectively in favor of free speech to receive

00:02:41.960 federal funding, and we need to be we need to be sure that we're pushing for federal funding on the

00:02:47.360 cutting edge, and that means social media. That means it's something simple we can do is to criminalize

00:02:54.620 doxing, and I was speaking with a couple of young conservatives in Montreal just last week who I met with

00:03:02.300 them at their apartment, and I said, hey, you guys want to have a picture together? And they said, well,

00:03:05.820 we'd love to, but that might identify where we live, and one of them had already been doxed by

00:03:10.320 Antifa, believe it or not, who, again, I've said should be declared a terrorist organization,

00:03:15.960 but they had been doxed, and in this country, that's not a criminal offense. You can sue people

00:03:20.300 civilly, but it's challenging. Other countries have made that a criminal offense, and I believe if you

00:03:25.780 are trying to release details of where someone lives or details about where their kids go to

00:03:30.660 school or go to daycare for the intent of having other people cause you trouble, that should be a

00:03:36.140 criminal offense, so I think we need to hit this head on. When you talk about on one hand, though,

00:03:40.500 wanting to push for more free speech on social media platforms, there are those that would, and let's take

00:03:46.480 people's children out of the equation, there are those that would say doxing is a logical extension

00:03:50.700 of online free speech. Well, I think when, again, when the intent of sharing your address and your

00:04:00.700 location with a group of people who, the intent is to cause you problems. The intent is, hey, Andrew,

00:04:06.520 if you have this opinion, I'm going to tell my followers here where you live, where your kids go

00:04:11.260 to school. This isn't about arguing political opinions. This is with the intent of people with

00:04:16.400 bad intent showing up at your home. Basically, the intent is to shut you up. The intent is to scare

00:04:21.920 you into not sharing your opinion. But legislating intent, isn't that the backbone of a lot of these

00:04:27.740 other areas of law, like human rights code, speech laws, other things that conservatives are typically

00:04:33.080 against when you start to get into the thought behind an act as fundamentally changing the nature

00:04:38.160 of the act itself? Well, I mean, criminal law is filled with intent, right? You have mens rea,

00:04:42.300 and you have the most criminal laws have to do with intent, not all of them. So I believe it's

00:04:48.900 perfectly fine to target a behavior which has basically malice as its intent. So, you know,

00:04:55.120 the typical attack on free speech is I don't like your opinion. Your opinion is violent. But if you are,

00:05:00.900 for instance, free speech doesn't cover me threatening you. It doesn't cover me asking someone to assault

00:05:07.960 to. And doxing is basically in that category. So if you're doxing someone, if you're putting out

00:05:14.700 someone's intimate details of what they do and where they go, this has nothing to do with furthering

00:05:19.000 public discourse. This has to do with targeting you and trying to silence you. And so to me, I think

00:05:24.540 that's a legitimate distinction. And on the regulation of social media companies, I guess there are two

00:05:29.180 aspects of this. Number one is the effectiveness when these companies are such a size that they have

00:05:35.920 the GDP of many countries. And most of them are not domiciled or headquartered in Canada.

00:05:41.340 So how do you enforce a Canadian law on these companies without being like China, which is, 0.99

00:05:45.780 you know, restricting access? And the other part is the fundamental nature of, is it not challenging

00:05:51.860 their right as a private company to operate the way they want, even if that means we don't think

00:05:57.680 conservative speech is as valuable as liberal speech or something like that?

00:06:01.500 Yeah. Well, I mean, that's a good question. And I'm not here to tell you the answer is easy.

00:06:06.420 There's obviously different parts of this that would play into provincial jurisdiction. So the

00:06:10.500 point is, is that we need to identify that it's a problem. And that's probably the most important

00:06:15.900 thing. But listen, I believe that organizations need to follow the law in Canada. And there's all

00:06:21.700 kinds of things that businesses can and can't do. And I believe that social media companies,

00:06:27.320 which, again, enjoy the benefits of, you know, they are not subject to, to being sued for, for example,

00:06:36.240 libel or things of that nature. So at the same time, a publishing organization like a newspaper can be.

00:06:44.200 So if they're, if they're, you know, claiming the benefit of sort of a neutral platform and, you know,

00:06:49.900 for everybody to use for, you know, whatever the, whatever the reason, they can at the same time edit

00:06:54.920 comments, you know, without any rationale, they can't be, you know, removing certain comments

00:07:01.320 unless it accords with a very open standard of conduct. And we all know that the codes of conduct

00:07:07.840 on these things are really, in many cases, unintelligible. So really what you're describing

00:07:13.300 there cuts to what we've seen a lot of us of late, which is cancel culture and this idea that

00:07:18.740 conservatives have espress, which is that their voices are not valued by the elites. And we see that

00:07:24.720 in social media companies, you see it in the mainstream media, you've experienced yourself

00:07:30.400 a fair bit of pushback from the mainstream media, not just on social conservative issues, which I

00:07:35.940 suspect we'll get to later on in this discussion, but even your approach to some issues that have

00:07:41.040 been very pertinent throughout the coronavirus pandemic, such as wanting Teresa Tam, the public

00:07:46.200 health officer of Canada fired. We know from the last election, from all of Stephen Harper's

00:07:52.040 elections, conservatives are not dealt a fair hand by the mainstream media. And I think that

00:07:57.140 on the cultural side, we can talk about media bias and all of these things. But if you're within those

00:08:02.600 parameters, you're operating as a figure in Canadian politics, you know, the treatments the media is

00:08:07.820 going to give you is not going to be good. How do you push back against that when you are, as you

00:08:12.080 know, to a conservative without apology, a hardliner on a lot of social and economic issues?

00:08:17.200 Well, I mean, the simple answer is you don't jump through their hoops. And so there's been,

00:08:22.760 I mean, we got a lot of requests from mainstream media that we just ignore. And it has nothing to

00:08:27.240 do with, you know, it has nothing to do with those organizations, but it has to do with the fight that

00:08:33.440 we're in. And right now, our fight is to win this leadership battle. So I'm not, there's some candidates

00:08:38.560 who bask in the glory of, you know, sitting down with CBC and all this stuff. If I don't think that

00:08:44.820 sitting down with a particular media outlet is going to help me reach conservative members,

00:08:49.260 I don't even bother, I don't even bother going on. So part of it is just not jumping through the

00:08:54.080 hoops that the media has. And in a general election, obviously, the strategy is different. But the other

00:08:59.600 thing, too, we have to remember is that we have access to social media. And we can drive our narrative

00:09:03.940 through controversy or not using social media. So I think that we, you know, my experience anyways is

00:09:11.300 that there's some conservatives who feel that they've done a good day's work when the media

00:09:15.400 isn't slamming them. And to me, I say, listen, you know, if the media isn't slamming you, maybe

00:09:20.660 you're not doing a good day's work. You know, if you're going to stand on conservative principles

00:09:24.800 in this day and age, you're going to get kicked back. And sometimes we need to be able to stand

00:09:29.140 there and take it and say, you know what, we've said the right thing. We don't need to apologize.

00:09:33.560 We don't need to rephrase what we're trying to say. And let the media do what they want.

00:09:38.420 I believe at the end of the day, if we push our message, whether through controversy or not,

00:09:44.780 the Canadian populace will see through it. And I think that especially with the use of social media,

00:09:51.540 we can get our message through regardless of what the mainstream media says. And I've seen that

00:09:55.720 happen in my campaign. I think the saying that there's a lot of truth to is that Twitter is not

00:10:00.900 real life. And when you go and knock on doors, most of the people that you encounter, regardless of

00:10:05.880 where it is in Canada, aren't following hashtag CDN Polly on Twitter. They don't know what the

00:10:11.000 Laurentian elite types, the mainstream media are talking about. A lot of people still know what

00:10:15.760 is on the front page of the paper, what's on their six o'clock newscast. And if you've got the

00:10:20.380 mainstream media throwing every name of the book at you, how are you going to expand the base of the

00:10:25.420 conservative movement and the base of the conservative voters if you're the leader?

00:10:29.780 Well, you know, the point you make about Twitter is correct, but it's incorrect when it comes to

00:10:34.660 Facebook. And we're seeing a massive use of Facebook. I forget the stats. It's 80, 90% of

00:10:39.560 like everybody, even like grandmothers that are on Facebook. So I think that social media can be

00:10:44.700 used to our advantage. When it comes to Twitter, you obviously don't look at your combination of

00:10:49.720 positives versus negatives because it's only, you know, politically engaged people that are there.

00:10:54.160 But I believe that you stick to your narrative and people will eventually come around. And I saw

00:11:00.860 that with some of the comments I made about Dr. Tam. You know, initially some people thought it was

00:11:05.100 the end of the world. But even to this day, I still get mail at my constituency office from just

00:11:10.100 random people who say, you know what, thanks for speaking out on this issue. You know, you've proven

00:11:14.600 yourself to be correct. So I think that we have to be okay with, you know, maybe being a little bit

00:11:19.400 early or stepping out on a limb. And the truth will take care of itself. And I think that the

00:11:24.360 media, as biased as it is, you know, eventually the truth will come out. And I think that we have

00:11:30.260 to count on it. You had MPs in your own caucus that, after you had called for Theresa Tam to be

00:11:36.960 fired, wanted you kicked out of caucus in the middle of a leadership race. And you can talk about

00:11:41.700 people's motivations for that, whether they may have had an allegiance to another leadership

00:11:45.860 campaign. But still, there have been people that have spoken up that have said they do not

00:11:50.240 see themselves being able to serve under a Derek Sloan-led caucus. And you can say they're wrong.

00:11:56.020 You can say that they're perhaps having a narrow view of it. But even so, if you are a leader,

00:12:00.940 how do you unite that when you've got people that don't even want you to just not win, but don't even

00:12:06.060 want you in the caucus? How do you serve and unify a caucus like that? Some people think the party is

00:12:12.920 about the caucus. The party is about the members. We all serve at the leisure of the members. If I

00:12:18.840 am given the honor of leading this party, it will be because of the members. And so it's up to the

00:12:23.840 caucus to recognize and respect the members who put them there to begin with and elected the leader

00:12:30.400 that they want to lead the party. So I firmly believe that the caucus will fall behind anyone

00:12:36.680 who is elected. But at the end of the day, there is this attitude that it's about the caucus and,

00:12:41.900 you know, we're in Ottawa and we're important. We're not important. It's the people that put us

00:12:46.400 there. And that's why I'm here. And I will never betray them. You can say that the members put the

00:12:52.300 caucus there. And if you're successful, the members will have put you there. And that is

00:12:56.000 accurate. But even so, leadership is about unifying rather than dividing. So I'm not accusing

00:13:02.380 you of dividing, but you have divided people against you, whether it's by your fault or not. So even if you

00:13:08.300 say the caucus isn't the be-all and end-all, what's your approach going to be as leader with these

00:13:13.640 people? Because you still will have to manage them. Caucus management is still a part of the

00:13:17.660 role of leader of the Conservative Party. Well, you know, it's interesting because I've been very

00:13:22.560 clear that I believe that votes should be free in caucus. So for people who don't agree with me

00:13:27.420 on certain things, I'm not sitting here saying I want to twist their arm. Again, their mandate is to

00:13:34.540 do what they feel their constituents elected them to do. So I have no problem with a caucus member

00:13:39.900 voting according to their conscience, even if it's a different conscience than I have.

00:13:44.720 You know, but I do believe that this leadership race is exposing certain fault lines in the party.

00:13:50.320 And, you know, when you move from a place, when you're moving, you know, from A to B or from a good

00:13:55.620 place to a better place, it's never easy. I mean, if it was easy, then everybody would do it.

00:14:00.420 But improving, moving to a place where we can become the dominant political force in this country

00:14:06.660 takes certain risks. It takes stepping on certain toes. And it's an inevitable outcome of being able

00:14:13.860 to win. And so I'm not surprised that this has happened. But I'm not concerned. Everyone loves a

00:14:21.220 winner. And I've experienced this before. People say all kinds of things about you before you win.

00:14:27.160 And then when you win, they're your best friend. So we'll we'll let that sort itself out.

00:14:31.160 Conservative campaigns have historically been about aversion to risk, as you've seen. And

00:14:36.280 I think a focus on we heard the term throughout the Harper years of boutique tax credits and

00:14:41.560 focus solely on pocketbook issues. I know that you've put forward a vision that deals with economic,

00:14:47.660 fiscal issues, social issues, foreign policy. Do you fundamentally disagree with that idea that

00:14:54.120 when you're asking Canadians to vote for you to vote for your party, that the economics are where

00:15:00.600 it's at?

00:15:02.240 Well, okay, so let me put it. So yes, I guess I disagree with all of it, but in a more nuanced

00:15:07.220 way than how you phrased it.

00:15:08.400 Please, how do you phrase it?

00:15:09.960 Well, here. So I definitely disagree with running on a platform of boutique tax credits. However you run,

00:15:15.900 it needs to be in big, in a big, bold vision and not, you know, hey, Andrew, if you put your kid in

00:15:20.380 soccer, I'll save you 200 bucks. You know, like in this last election, we had people like, literally

00:15:24.860 like, okay, I'm going to save 25% of my cell phone. If I vote liberal, I'm going to get 100 bucks if I

00:15:29.900 put in green lights or your, you know, environmentally efficient lights. So it can't be about that. It has to

00:15:36.320 be about values. And I've said, listen, we need to we need to run on a freedom platform. In the B.C.

00:15:42.580 debate, we saw a poll that was done online from people all over B.C., and I feel that they reflect

00:15:49.280 Conservatives across Canada. And they were asked, what's the most important issue to you? And the economy

00:15:54.140 was asked. Debt was asked. These are things that they are important. I mean, you know, we see a third

00:15:59.080 of a trillion dollars in debt. And yet, 60 some odd percent of people said free speech. The economy was like

00:16:05.480 8%, 9%. So does that mean that, you know, Conservatives don't care about the economy? It does not. But the

00:16:11.300 point is, is that our metanar- I mean, Justin Trudeau does not campaign on the economy. He campaigns

00:16:19.040 on his version of Canadian values, you know, of his version of bringing the country together.

00:16:25.020 He campaigns from the heart, or at least he tries to. And we have to do the same. Because

00:16:29.120 that's what Canadians- at the end of the day, Canadians are going to- are going to follow

00:16:32.240 someone who campaigns from the heart. And so, when we- when we campaign on freedom, all of

00:16:38.100 that impacts the free market. It impacts the economy. It impacts all these things. But

00:16:42.140 we need to have a, you know, a metanarrative that drives our vision. And freedom is what

00:16:46.980 that needs to be.

00:16:48.840 On the economics, because we can't get through a Conservative leadership fireside chat without

00:16:53.200 talking about those. Anyone who inherits the Premiership of Canada, if they win an election

00:16:58.620 after winning leadership, is going to have a very challenging economic situation to deal with.

00:17:03.760 a deficit nearing $350 billion debt that continues to go up. How do you deliver that Conservative

00:17:10.560 vision that you want, which is tax cuts, lower regulations, less government spending, when

00:17:16.040 that's the mess you'll have? What's the budget that you'll put forward, or the economic platform

00:17:21.040 that you'll be putting forward?

00:17:22.080 Well, we have to do all that, and we have to drive the narrative. So, you know, the idea

00:17:26.420 that-

00:17:27.420 What's the narrative though? I'm asking about the numbers.

00:17:29.420 Well, so we have to put forward a budget that cuts Federal spending. Like, period. Right?

00:17:36.720 But when it comes to the economy as well, we have to look at growth as much as we have to

00:17:40.640 look at cutting. So, getting our energy sector back on track is a major way of doing that.

00:17:46.420 I mean, you know, every job in the oil field impacts many other jobs in Ontario and elsewhere,

00:17:51.420 whether it be manufacturing or banking or even legal work. So, the energy sector is a big

00:17:56.140 thing. We have to look at real tax cuts. We have to look at promoting Made in Canada,

00:18:02.140 small business here in Canada. And I have some good ideas of how to deal with that as

00:18:06.140 well. But, you know, to do all these things, we have to put Canada's sovereignty first.

00:18:11.680 And I don't believe that we can get a recovery in the energy sector without getting out of

00:18:15.420 the Paris Agreement. And I think it's very clear that we recognize as Conservatives we shouldn't

00:18:19.700 be in these agreements that don't do us any good and hurt our own industries. So, we do

00:18:24.140 have to do that. But there's also regulations that need to be cut. We need to do what we

00:18:28.140 would we would have liked to do anyways. But now we have a real reason to do it with this

00:18:32.140 with this debt that we have. And we need to be very focused and brave in how we do that.

00:18:37.140 On regulations, your platform calls for a significant reduction in regulations. You talk about not just

00:18:44.140 looking at federal ones, but even using federal authority to reduce provincial and municipal regulations.

00:18:50.140 Now, I'm all for getting rid of regulations, but how on earth do you justify being

00:18:54.140 a Conservative that respects other levels of government if you're wanting to

00:18:58.140 start cutting their own regulations of those other levels of government?

00:19:02.140 Well, again, I don't think we would literally be doing it for them. But this is...

00:19:07.140 We need to get into a culture in Canada where we encourage...

00:19:10.140 Sorry to interrupt. Your platform says you would use federal authority to reduce regulations

00:19:14.140 at all three levels of government. What does that mean?

00:19:16.140 Well, again, what we have to do when we're discussing regulations is we need to make sure...

00:19:24.140 And I think that we're in a good place right now with the premiers of the provinces to offer them

00:19:31.140 certain things from the federal government in exchange for compliance with reducing regulatory oversight.

00:19:37.140 And I think that if we... I think if the federal government champions a move like this, I think that we can get buy-in.

00:19:43.140 And I don't like to... You know, I'm a carrot type of guy as opposed to a stick type of guy.

00:19:48.140 And I think that we can... I think it's in our best interest to have the best economy we can have.

00:19:54.140 And I think that we can work with provinces and municipalities.

00:19:57.140 I mean, you know, as someone who has 19 municipalities in his riding, along with a reserve as well,

00:20:04.140 there is all kinds of infrastructure funding that comes from the feds.

00:20:08.140 So, again, there's all kinds of ways that we can work with our municipalities, work with our provincial partners

00:20:14.140 to encourage this type of streamlining.

00:20:17.140 And you've pushed, I believe, for two in and one out on regulations, right?

00:20:21.140 That's correct.

00:20:22.140 For every one that comes in, you're going to get rid of two.

00:20:25.140 What are the specific regulations that you see as being disruptive to business?

00:20:29.140 The specific ones that if you're in there as prime minister, theoretically, after winning the leadership, have to go?

00:20:35.140 Well, listen, there's a few... I'll give you a couple of examples and maybe we'll just use those as examples.

00:20:41.140 So, I think we can, when it comes to paperwork for small businesses, we can put all of that into one portal.

00:20:47.140 So, and hopefully we could even combine federal and provincial paperwork as well into one portal.

00:20:51.140 So, that would be one example of something we can do.

00:20:54.140 I've also said, and this, again, would be to work in conjunction with provinces,

00:20:58.140 we need to look at ways to be more innovative in our funding.

00:21:01.140 So, when it comes to entrepreneurship, which, again, is something that's very important in innovation to growing our economy,

00:21:08.140 we need to look at more sophisticated ways of allowing, you know, small start-ups to get money.

00:21:13.140 And often, the securities regulations that we have butt up against things like crowdfunding and things like that.

00:21:21.140 So, we need to work with our provincial partners to make it easier to get funding to small business ideas.

00:21:28.140 Because, you know, the Business Development Bank of Canada, these things, they're not geared for the small startup funding that we need.

00:21:36.140 And we lose a lot of these ideas to the states where the capital markets are more developed.

00:21:40.140 So, we need to be a little more creative on these types of things.

00:21:42.140 And when you talk about funding, you're not talking about government funding.

00:21:44.140 You're talking about even accessing private sector funding.

00:21:46.140 No, yes, yes. So, crowdfunding by people who, so, crowdfunding is a great way to, you know, get, quote-unquote, investment for your business.

00:21:55.140 But the way it's set up right now, there's no way to really offer an equity stake in your business unless you go through the rigmarole of securities laws,

00:22:03.140 which requires more money and expertise than a lot of small people would want to do.

00:22:10.140 But it is a great way in a small town or with the environment we have with the Internet right now to find people online who like what you're doing.

00:22:20.140 You know, maybe you're starting some sort of a craft company.

00:22:23.140 They could, they could invest in your business.

00:22:25.140 And again, this is something that would need to be done in conjunction with the provinces.

00:22:28.140 But I'm saying there are ways to make, for example, crowdfunding more accessible to Canadians to allow them to get businesses off the ground.

00:22:37.140 You mentioned earlier about Made in Canada, which is a part of your platform as well, pushing for labeling and identification of products that are made here.

00:22:45.140 Certainly throughout the pandemic, I think we've seen the risks of having such a reliance on other countries for supply.

00:22:52.140 In recent cases on personal protective equipment.

00:22:55.140 But even so, we are a country that is based on free trade.

00:22:58.140 The Conservative government in particular inked numerous trade agreements with countries all around the world.

00:23:04.140 We had recently the renegotiation of NAFTA, which is now the USMCA, I think, or the CMUSA.

00:23:10.140 They changed the letters around.

00:23:12.140 But when you come out and say, we need to make a push for Made in Canada, are you talking about protectionism or are you just talking about promoting that culture of homegrown goods?

00:23:22.140 Yeah, so I think it's about promoting the culture.

00:23:24.140 And I mean, there's all kinds of ways in which free trade doesn't even happen within Canada, between the provinces.

00:23:30.140 That's true.

00:23:31.140 So, I mean, there's a great place to start.

00:23:33.140 But I do believe that, and a key to this, of course, is reasonable energy prices.

00:23:37.140 And we saw with the Green Energy Act, with Kathleen Wynne, our electricity prices increased by about 70%, driving all kinds of manufacturing business out of the province.

00:23:45.140 And they're trying to do that again, by the way.

00:23:47.140 Jerry Butts is in a new organization that's suggesting $50 billion for resilient recovery.

00:23:53.140 Well, God help us if that's the type of recovery that we have.

00:23:56.140 But in any event, with affordable energy, which is fossil fuels and, you know, not subsidizing green energy, which is what we had done before,

00:24:07.140 we can get to the place where we can reduce costs for manufacturing.

00:24:12.140 Reducing regulatory overload, again, is another thing.

00:24:15.140 Still, at the end of the day, we won't be competing directly on a cost basis,

00:24:20.140 but I believe we can compete on a quality basis.

00:24:23.140 And we've seen that happen with success in places like Germany.

00:24:26.140 And I believe a lot of Canadians just want to know.

00:24:29.140 I mean, I hear all the time, you know, hey, I wanted to buy something made in Canada.

00:24:32.140 I couldn't even find it, you know.

00:24:33.140 But I think if we do, in different provinces, Alberta has their own system.

00:24:37.140 I don't care if it's a provincial or a federal one, but we need to let people know where products come from.

00:24:43.140 I think Canadians are primed to buy made in Canada just by virtue of wanting to, and we need to give them the option to do that.

00:24:49.140 So under your ideal scenario, would there be a rollback of some of the agreements that have made it possible to freely trade in goods from everywhere imaginable around the world?

00:25:00.140 Well, we need to evaluate all the agreements that we have.

00:25:03.140 I'm certainly not against free trade.

00:25:05.140 When we're trading with countries like China, I don't call that free trade.

00:25:09.140 I mean, we have a country there that's devaluing their currency.

00:25:13.140 They're using predatory pricing tactics.

00:25:15.140 They're often trying to steal intellectual property.

00:25:18.140 So we have to be very careful that we're not opening ourselves up to theft.

00:25:22.140 So I believe in trading with countries that want to trade with us and want to play fair.

00:25:26.140 And I don't care where they are.

00:25:27.140 They could be in any part of the world.

00:25:29.140 But we also have to be safe when we're dealing with countries that are acting in a predatory nature.

00:25:34.140 Let's talk about national unity here, which is a big problem, not just from Quebec, which has always had its troubles with the Canadian Confederation experience.

00:25:44.140 Also Alberta, Saskatchewan, parts of British Columbia, people who feel that the West is not a part of Confederation anymore.

00:25:53.140 People who completely want to separate or at the very least people who feel like they're getting a raw deal.

00:25:59.140 I know you have said you are a Federalist.

00:26:02.140 You don't want to entertain Alberta separation.

00:26:04.140 But you will still, as a Conservative leader, and if your plan works according to how you want it to as Prime Minister, the growing discontent and discord with the West and with Quebec as well.

00:26:15.140 So what's your vision to keep Canada together?

00:26:18.140 Well, you and I were at an event where a lot of people in the room, this was in Calgary, are on the separatist track.

00:26:24.140 And, you know, I spoke to them and they seemed to like what I had to say.

00:26:28.140 I don't know if everyone is not a separatist now.

00:26:31.140 Probably not.

00:26:32.140 But, you know, it starts with recognizing that, you know, repealing Bill C-69 and C-48 is not enough to call Western separatist sentiment.

00:26:43.140 It's much more than that.

00:26:44.140 These are feelings and issues that go back decades, if not generations.

00:26:50.140 And I think recognizing that is a very important part.

00:26:53.140 You know, I hope Alberta, like other provinces, bargains hard.

00:26:59.140 I hope that the leadership of any province puts their own province first, obviously with a mind to Confederation.

00:27:08.140 But I hope that Alberta stands for their rights, and I've encouraged them to do that.

00:27:12.140 But I also think that we need to do more than simply repeal a few bills that Justin Trudeau has bought in.

00:27:20.140 We need to look seriously at the way that equalization works.

00:27:23.140 And I'm not here to tell you the exact way that that should be done, but we have to make sure that we have something in place that Alberta feels is fair.

00:27:29.140 We have to, on the very base of it, we have to make sure that the representation in the House of Commons is adjusted quickly enough to accord to the changing population levels in BC and Alberta.

00:27:42.140 And we know that BC and Alberta are underrepresented in relation to even Ontario and certainly Quebec when it comes to numbers of representatives in the House of Commons.

00:27:52.140 Alberta should have right now probably about 39 or 40 if it was on the same ratio as Ontario, which is about four or five more than they do now.

00:28:00.140 So these are things that we must look at. We have to put every option on the table.

00:28:04.140 I mean, Andrew, I think you and I know that separatist sentiment is so serious right now, I don't think people in the rest of the country get it.

00:28:11.140 I get it. I've been in rooms with hundreds of people who are so serious about this.

00:28:17.140 And people like me out there. I mean, I've had, there's many people who say, listen, Derek, if you don't win this, I'm out of here.

00:28:26.140 And I think that the number one priority for a conservative leader, for a prime minister, is making sure that every part of the country feels like an equal partner in confederation.

00:28:36.140 And I don't care what it takes, I'll make sure that happens with Alberta.

00:28:39.140 One of the big issues that we heard in the 2017 conservative leadership race, which was odd to become so central, was supply management.

00:28:48.140 And this is an issue where I think conservatives have often philosophically been at odds with some of the political realities.

00:28:56.140 And I know you have farmers in your riding. I know a lot of farmers, including dairy farmers specifically, make up the conservative base.

00:29:02.140 What's your stance?

00:29:04.140 Well, I think that, I think that when you look at, so first I'll say I don't have any intentions to make any major changes to supply management.

00:29:13.140 Although we can always look at ways to modify the system.

00:29:16.140 When it comes to dairy, every country has heavy subsidies for their dairy industry.

00:29:23.140 So, and we have farmers right now that have millions of dollars of property built up into this system. 0.90

00:29:28.140 So, I don't think that there's any easy way to solve this system.

00:29:32.140 I think that when it comes to food security, when it comes to our farmers, we need to make sure that they're getting the help that they need.

00:29:39.140 I mean, these are industries where, you know, when you have a bad season, you may be wiped out.

00:29:46.140 And it's not, it doesn't necessarily fit the immediate constructs that you would see in an economics textbook.

00:29:52.140 That farmer is done.

00:29:54.140 Now, maybe, I mean, you know, maybe someone else can buy his stuff or whatever.

00:29:58.140 But we need to keep our farmers from going there in the first place.

00:30:02.140 So, when it comes to food and when it comes to things like this, I'm okay, as conservatives, making sure that that doesn't happen.

00:30:09.140 So, obviously, we believe in free trade, we believe in all this type of stuff.

00:30:13.140 But, you know, when countries like China are attacking our canola farmers and things like that, we have to step in and defend them. 0.91

00:30:20.140 And when it comes to supply management, listen, it's not a perfect system.

00:30:24.140 But, again, we live in a marketplace where other countries are basically subsidizing their industries to the same or greater degree.

00:30:31.140 At least in this case, and again, it's not a perfect scenario, the subsidy is not undertaken by the government.

00:30:39.140 It's basically on the consumer.

00:30:41.140 So, whoever is purchasing these things is the one that's bearing the cost of it.

00:30:45.140 Which, again, not perfect, but it is better than a generic subsidy that we all pay for.

00:30:50.140 How do we as a country then make ourselves competitive when we're, in many cases, engaged in a race to the bottom

00:30:56.140 with other countries that don't have the moral qualms with subsidizing relentlessly, flooding the market,

00:31:02.140 in many cases, flooding the market with product that is inadequate?

00:31:05.140 How do you make yourselves competitive in a global marketplace in those circumstances?

00:31:09.140 Well, again, I think you just can't be afraid to say, listen, if that's what you're going to do, you're not having free access to our market.

00:31:17.140 So, again, I don't think, like, I certainly have no qualms in saying, listen, we will trade with countries that play by the rules.

00:31:25.140 And we're not going to be giving free access to our market to countries that are actively undermining our own economy.

00:31:31.140 So, again, I think it's fair, and I'm not afraid to say we can make that distinction.

00:31:36.140 What would you say has been the most eye-opening experience of this campaign?

00:31:42.140 And I ask that because it's been a very different campaign than everyone thought when they got into the race,

00:31:47.140 more Zoom calls and all of those sorts of things than actual debates.

00:31:51.140 When you came in, did you have a different vision for what you thought you were going to be hearing from people than what you actually did?

00:31:58.140 Well, there's so much centered around COVID, which obviously nobody expected, and that's very interesting.

00:32:04.140 Obviously, I've seen firsthand the fault lines that have been exposed in the party.

00:32:08.140 You know, really, I've been surprised.

00:32:11.140 You know, it's so interesting.

00:32:12.140 If we would focus on a few different issues, I think we could easily win in an election.

00:32:17.140 And there's a big concern right now in Canada with certain values issues and Canadian sovereignty issues and civil liberties issues.

00:32:25.140 I don't know if I'm just a unique candidate, but one of the biggest questions I get right now, or used to get, everyone knows what I think now, is, are you in favor of, like, mandatory COVID vaccines?

00:32:36.140 What do you think of, you know, like, mandatory masks and things like this?

00:32:39.140 You know, I would have assumed some people would have been concerned about that.

00:32:43.140 But literally, the most frequent question I get, it's not about abortion, it's not about anything like that.

00:32:49.140 It's about mandatory vaccinations.

00:32:51.140 So I think these kind of civil liberties issues, Canadian sovereignty issues when it comes to, you know, UN agreements that we've signed on to, and even values issues.

00:33:00.140 These are such important issues, and I don't see many of the other candidates really focusing on that very much.

00:33:06.140 Do you think there is an opportunity in Canada to push for a bit more of a political approach to appointing judges?

00:33:14.140 This is something that we often hear about in the United States.

00:33:17.140 In Canada, we've seen Conservatives be on the losing end of Supreme Court cases on key issues of conscience.

00:33:22.140 Is that something, as a lawyer, as a leadership candidate, that you've taken an eye to?

00:33:27.140 Well, we have to do everything we can when we're in power to appoint good Conservative judges.

00:33:32.140 And when I say Conservative, I don't mean, you know, that they vote Conservative.

00:33:36.140 I mean that they use Conservative principles when they're interpreting the Constitution, when they're interpreting the law.

00:33:42.140 And what we see is judges that take, you know, an activist, I want to impose, you know, my version of, you know, Utopia or whatever it is.

00:33:51.140 They don't say this, but they're very activist in terms of their approach.

00:33:55.140 Whereas the Conservative, small-c Conservative approach to judicial application is, well, what does the law say?

00:34:01.140 What has the court said before?

00:34:03.140 Whether I like it or not, how do we apply it?

00:34:05.140 And everyone here, even the average Canadian, thinks that that's how it's done anyways.

00:34:09.140 And you and I know that that's not how it works.

00:34:11.140 But we need to get, you know, people in there, you know, originalists, as it were, to borrow language that's used down south a lot.

00:34:19.140 That, you know, interpret the laws that we have as they're written and stop trying to rewrite things for the benefit of, you know, their own political agenda.

00:34:29.140 So really, Conservative judges apply the law whether they like it or not.

00:34:33.140 And I think that that's really unpolitical, but unfortunately not what we see typically.

00:34:38.140 Now, of course, we invited you to participate in a debate, which we didn't get to give you.

00:34:42.140 But we will give you a closing statement, if you'd like, as we wind things down and give people that final pitch for why they should vote for you as the ballot deadline nears.

00:34:50.140 Sure. Well, I'm the only candidate that has been so clear on some of those three points that I mentioned earlier.

00:34:56.140 I'm dead set against mandatory vaccinations for COVID or anything.

00:35:00.140 I'm against mandatory masks.

00:35:02.140 I'm against the Paris Agreement.

00:35:04.140 I'm the only candidate who's been talking about this.

00:35:06.140 I'm against these other UN agreements that we've signed on to.

00:35:10.140 I've been the only candidate that says we need to defund the World Health Organization.

00:35:14.140 I've been the only candidate that says we need to defund these radical green energy organizations.

00:35:19.140 I've been dead set on being against green energy subsidies, and I will always put Canada first.

00:35:25.140 Everybody knows that I'm upfront and what you see is what you get, and I will never compromise on our Conservative values.

00:35:31.140 Thank you, God bless, and God bless Canada.

00:35:34.140 Well, thank you very much, Derek Sloan, for coming.

00:35:37.140 I know that 50% of the field didn't, so we appreciate that you did, and we thank you to your team as well for making this happen.

00:35:44.140 Thank you.

00:35:54.140 Yeah, great day.

Juno News - July 31, 2020

Independent Press Gallery Fireside Chat： Derek Sloan

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