Juno News - Independent Press Gallery Fireside Chat： Erin O’Toole

00:00:00.000 it's my great pleasure to welcome conservative leadership candidate Aaron O'Toole for a fireside

00:00:11.980 chat here brought to you by the independent press gallery Aaron thank you very much thank you very

00:00:16.500 much good to see you yes we'll do the the elbow bump from afar there thank you very much for being

00:00:22.520 here it's truly appreciated well thanks for doing this is a great setup and looking forward to a

00:00:26.700 great chat I thought you had a good chat with Derek so ready to go when we launched the independent

00:00:32.580 press gallery one of the things that we saw was a platform item from your campaign that had pushed

00:00:37.740 for not just recognition of the independent press gallery in relation to the parliamentary press

00:00:43.800 gallery but broadly speaking increased access to independent journalists at government events this

00:00:50.760 isn't something that in 2020 you'd think would have to be in a leadership candidates platform but it

00:00:56.160 is so why was it important for you to include that and why do you think we got to the place where

00:01:01.020 something like that was needed well for a few years I've been talking about the decline of free speech

00:01:07.660 rights in Canada and cancel culture and taking down a statues and a range of things and it's sad to see

00:01:14.220 in a democracy that we would have to have the leadership you guys have shown with the independent

00:01:18.840 press gallery because Parliament itself means to speak Parliament it Hansard was published in the

00:01:25.980 original Parliament so that the constituents across Canada could see what was being debated in Parliament

00:01:31.740 so why would there be sort of a club-like mentality for the press gallery if you actually look at their

00:01:38.520 sort of guidelines and rules they don't even seem to anticipate bloggers podcasters obviously not many

00:01:45.340 Canadians read Hansard anymore but a lot of them listen to podcasts read online blogs some of the great

00:01:50.920 insightful investigative reporting is now done by people who are primarily online and writing for

00:01:58.060 alternative outlets so we should in a democracy welcome as much coverage of the debates of the

00:02:03.640 nation as possible which is why in my platform I'm going to give full recognition to the independent press gallery

00:02:09.340 gallery and really it's time to shake up a sort of out-of-date club in Ottawa and that's that's what

00:02:16.540 I'm going to do as Prime Minister you've taken aim throughout your campaign at cancel culture you've

00:02:22.000 spoken up about free speech you've been criticized for only really recently adopting this see people

00:02:28.540 have said that you're just doing it because that's your niche in the conservative leadership race when

00:02:32.780 was it that you first started to actually speak out and pay attention to these issues I had watched the

00:02:39.220 decline of debates on university campuses for some time and even when I would appear on a university

00:02:44.920 campus you know there would be criticism from activist groups and almost wanting to suppress other

00:02:51.580 opinions other than their own cancel culture when I became very active Andrew was when Justin Trudeau took

00:02:58.000 the name of a father of Confederation off a building as a big symbolic act without any debate in

00:03:04.660 parliament without any discussion of who Hector Langevin was one of only two French Canadian fathers

00:03:11.140 of Confederation who attended all the conferences that led to Canada he was removed primarily because

00:03:16.260 he was conservative by the way with Sir George Etienne Cartier and I challenged Trudeau on that I didn't

00:03:21.940 just complain about it I also said you know what who opened more residential schools than Mr. Langevin your

00:03:28.420 father Justin a hundred years later when the program was known to be problematic and to really be

00:03:34.660 destructive so what I when I challenge cancel culture and this limitation of speech free speech I make

00:03:41.620 sure I go in to win the debates I make sure I stand up for the things I believe in and I think Canadians

00:03:47.380 are are looking to this when I had cancel culture and the removal of statues in my launch video in January

00:03:54.500 many members of the media and some some conservatives in other camps mocked me for it a couple of weeks

00:04:00.340 ago Andrew JK Rowling Malcolm Gladwell 150 authors from around the world said the same thing this online

00:04:07.940 cancel culture driven by the left is impacting free speech impacting the principles that basically

00:04:15.460 underscore our democracy and it's time to stand up for them I've been doing that and as leader and

00:04:19.860 prime minister I will make that a key centerpiece of my leadership how do you defend against that when

00:04:26.900 a lot of the things that you might speak out about are the very things that get people cancelled as the

00:04:31.700 term goes how do you then face the media in an election campaign how do you avoid getting sucked into

00:04:37.780 that vortex that so many people on the right do and actually get your message out if those are by your

00:04:42.900 own admission the stakes of discourse in 2020 well you you you make sure you know what you're talking about

00:04:49.540 and you make sure you plan I don't go into debates to lose them I go in to win in fact

00:04:55.300 I joke that my staff didn't want me I went on to campus two and a half years ago to debate

00:05:01.940 Sir John A McDonald statues an indigenous studies class and my staff said we may never see you alive again

00:05:09.700 but I went and you know what I didn't win everyone over but people heard the other side you know that

00:05:15.220 principle of Audi alder and partum I learned in law school here the other side what's happening to

00:05:19.860 that in our society universities is where that used to be encouraged now it's being discouraged and there

00:05:26.420 were people yelling me at me for being there on unseated land and things like this but the there were a

00:05:31.700 group of people that listened and I actually got positive feedback from the professor who facilitated

00:05:37.060 the debate who I can tell you from his twitter feed is not a conservative but he respected me

00:05:42.740 we need to bring respect freedom of speech and the ability for a conservative principle to be

00:05:49.060 articulated without fear of cancel culture without feel of of ridicule because that makes our democracy

00:05:55.780 better Justin Trudeau you have to have the same view as him on all issues to be a part of his caucus

00:06:01.220 that's undemocratic I think our our diverse and vibrant conservative movement with free votes with

00:06:07.940 freedom of speech that makes our party better because we're truly representative of many views

00:06:14.260 across our country and that's what a parliamentary democracy should be you've said very clearly that

00:06:19.300 you are pro-choice you're pro-gay rights yet you are not going so far as to say that everyone in your

00:06:25.860 party has to be pro-choice that everyone in your caucus has to be to a lot of people who criticize

00:06:32.420 social conservatives that is an indistinguishable position from being a social conservative yourself

00:06:38.100 and we saw this with Andrew Scheer for example he was personally pro-life but had fundamentally the

00:06:42.980 same position as you on the sense that he wasn't going to introduce any legislation he wasn't going to

00:06:48.820 make any changes to Canadian law on abortion so how do you fight back against really going down the

00:06:55.300 exact same road that the conservatives have been down because i've been clear in my political life

00:07:00.260 since i was elected i often say i'm i'm not a career politician so i don't have to go back to the

00:07:04.580 1990s or 15 years ago to put speeches or votes i gave into context when i left the military became a

00:07:11.140 lawyer and then ran for parliament i said i'm running to parliament to defend Canadians rights i'm not here

00:07:16.580 to take away any rights granted by the court under the charter or rights that go back to the magna carta

00:07:22.020 that's why i'm a strong proponent of free speech rights conscience protections and i don't like

00:07:27.860 the increasing view on the left that some rights are okay and other rights can be dismissed in a

00:07:33.140 democracy like us you have to respect all points of view and be willing to defend all rights you know

00:07:39.780 that's what our soldiers have done throughout our history that's what our parliament is meant to do

00:07:44.180 that's what Diefenbaker did with the bill of rights we have to defend those rights whether it's property

00:07:49.380 rights of canadians that have seen that right removed with an order of council no debate in

00:07:54.980 the middle of a pandemic for firearms owners or whether it's a conservative who wants to express

00:08:00.020 a point of view based on their faith when did religious freedom become a right we're not willing

00:08:04.660 to stand up for in this country i have concerns about what Justin Trudeau is doing to democratic

00:08:10.740 debates political party organization and really parliament in general and it fuels me and what's great

00:08:16.820 andrew conservatives are a great passionate intelligent bunch from coast to coast we don't

00:08:22.100 have to have the same view on all issues we have to have respect for one another and that's why in my

00:08:26.980 launch video i said unity of the party is key to me it's why i launched in alberta to speak to people

00:08:34.500 that are giving up on our country because they're so frustrated with Justin Trudeau i said let's make sure

00:08:40.420 that Justin Trudeau does not define canada our democracy defines canada let's defeat him and get

00:08:46.820 our country back on track but i'm not sure you really answered the fundamental crux of that question

00:08:51.860 which is that if your vision of the conservative party allows for people who do want to advance on

00:08:57.220 these issues or other issues that come up how will you as leader deflect against the campaign being

00:09:03.620 sidelined by that which to a lot of critics was what sidelined the conservative campaign in 2019

00:09:09.540 they say and it may be that you dispute that premise but you're going to be faced with those

00:09:13.060 same questions so how will you deal with them well look andrew sheer is my good friend um i think he

00:09:18.260 realized he had some challenges in the last campaign squaring off his personal position and his personal

00:09:23.540 views with how he would act as prime minister and and leader of the party i do not um people know that i

00:09:30.180 you know i'm a person of faith i'm catholic my my family you know we we believe in in faith and it's

00:09:37.140 an important part of who we are and as a parliamentarian i've had to square off the fact that

00:09:42.340 my position on rights and my position as a conservative doesn't always square with my faith tradition

00:09:49.380 i have voted consistently in favor of rights even when i'm just one of 18 conservatives that voted on an

00:09:56.340 lgbt bill for example what was great stephen harper allowed a free vote on that that's a principle of

00:10:02.580 our party and i wasn't hurt for being in the minority position i was promoted twice here's the kicker

00:10:08.500 andrew justin trudeau skipped that vote to go to a cash for access fundraiser with his friends dalton

00:10:14.420 mcginty and kathleen wint so they're not going to be able to trot out the the age-old hidden agenda

00:10:19.620 campaign with me because i've been clear and you know what i'm going to defend free votes friend defend

00:10:26.500 free speech as a principle of our party at a time that i think canadians want to see that they

00:10:31.380 don't want a cookie cutter politician who has been a member of the we board and the liberal party they

00:10:37.620 want real debate they want accountability they want ethics they want leadership and that's what they will

00:10:42.580 have with aaron o'toole as prime minister throughout the conservative leadership race there have been two

00:10:47.620 candidates disqualified one of them richard de carrie another one jim carahalios and the reason i bring

00:10:54.100 those up is because your campaign had actually complained about jim carahalios campaign in the

00:10:59.540 race a lot of members have reached out to us wondering how you square on one hand being against

00:11:05.540 cancel culture and being for free votes but on the other hand seemingly supporting a position that

00:11:11.220 denied the members the ultimate right to determine who their leader should be or who their candidates

00:11:16.100 should be well we have a leadership election committee the leo committee that decides we

00:11:20.980 complain because mr carahalios was lying lying to thousands of canadians about me and on issues that

00:11:28.580 i'm very passionate about you know when he's sending letters to people in our party suggesting

00:11:33.380 i'm bringing sharia law to canada andrew that's a lie and it's divisive and more than that i served in

00:11:41.700 the military i know people that have died fighting the taliban i will do whatever it takes to make

00:11:48.420 sure that law or those cultural practices never come to canada they're they're 180 degrees removed

00:11:54.900 from what we rep what we are as a society so if you want to come and debate um tax issues economic

00:12:03.460 issues foreign policy i love that when you just start sending out stuff that's completely fabricated

00:12:10.420 um i think you have to be held to account so we have within the rules the ability to file that

00:12:15.620 complaint it was the party that made the decision and it's disappointing because i do think he probably

00:12:20.420 has some perspective to contribute but now we've seen this with the ontario pc party we've now seen

00:12:27.540 with this with the federal party uh let's have a good debate um i win debates i don't lose them but you

00:12:33.460 can't lie you can't divide canadians you can't mislead particularly on something like that

00:12:39.780 and so we had to connect correct the record because once people get lists of thousands of peoples they

00:12:45.540 they can send out whatever they want reminds me of the old churchill quote a lie gets around the world

00:12:51.300 before truth gets its pants on so i had to make sure for the record my values as a strong conservative

00:12:59.300 particularly on law and order issues is fundamentally opposed to the the elements of sharia law and people

00:13:06.420 deserve to know that when you mentioned in that response canadian values this has become a pivotal

00:13:12.420 part of the discussion about immigration we know stephen harper had a great deal of backlash from

00:13:17.540 the media to go back to how we started on media bias for really suggesting that values should be a

00:13:23.780 consideration in immigration we've seen under justin trudeau the problem of illegal immigration balloon

00:13:29.860 how do you put forward your vision what is your vision if you're the conservative leader if you're the

00:13:34.660 prime minister on immigration well we have to fix the system justin trudeau allowed the system to

00:13:40.660 become broken and even worse than that andrew now canadians confidence in our system has been

00:13:47.780 undermined if i go into it tim hortons in my riding now i have people that have serious concerns about

00:13:53.780 our system about our levels all these sorts of things that didn't exist seven years ago when i was

00:13:58.660 elected and jason kenney was our minister we need a fair compassionate rules-based system so when people

00:14:06.900 see 60 000 people walk across the road at roxham road breaking the law doing that claiming asylum in

00:14:13.940 an improper way and nothing being done and that surge starting after trudeau's welcome to canada tweet

00:14:21.380 within days some of our consulates around the world sent notes back to ottawa saying look the prime

00:14:28.660 minister's got to clarify this ridiculous example of virtue signaling that's what he was doing he's

00:14:33.540 done it many times because they were saying people feel this is a change in our rules in canada and so

00:14:42.260 in my riding i represent a riding in the greater toronto area the most frustrated people from the whole

00:14:47.940 rocksham road situation andrew were families waiting longer and longer to sponsor a family member

00:14:54.820 according to the rules they feel and i had someone say this to me should i tell my relative to just go

00:15:01.700 to new york state and walk across the border what do i say to them no of course not that's not the way

00:15:06.820 it's supposed to work but justin trudeau's incompetence on this file now has some canadians

00:15:11.940 questioning immigration we need immigration in this country in fact we have a less than replacement

00:15:17.460 birth rate so if people like cpp and all of our our programs we need to have immigration it's good

00:15:24.260 for canada but it's good when it's fair compassionate rule space same with refugees the private sponsorship

00:15:30.820 route have better outcomes for families on on housing on jobs on opportunity a year after they're here

00:15:39.700 the government route has less successful outcomes so it's unfair to the people that are coming so let's 1.00

00:15:46.660 fix it i've talked to jason kenney who you know is supporting me quite a bit on these issues i think

00:15:52.020 we can show canadians we're going to get back on track and you know what defending your border and

00:15:57.140 actually having people respect the border is a fundamental element of our sovereignty and it's okay

00:16:03.060 to criticize trudeau's inaction we had a federal court decision just recently that really called into

00:16:09.540 question that safe third country agreement which has been used to basically justify accepting or

00:16:16.820 denying uh refugees or people that claim asylum at official ports of entry and thus creating the 0.72

00:16:22.180 roxham road problem with federal courts saying that this agreement is no longer valid that it violates the

00:16:28.740 charter how do you secure the border how do you protect people from gaming the system taking advantage of

00:16:34.900 the compassionate part and ignoring the rules based part because i agree when you say fix it but i

00:16:39.460 haven't heard what that fix is well first i've read the decision it's actually easy to fix what the judge

00:16:45.780 called out i don't think it was a great decision to be honest with you but her concern was actually

00:16:50.500 the incarceration of the people once they went back to the united states so andrew i think i can actually

00:16:55.700 fix that as we renegotiate closing off the loophole in the safe third country agreement um so until we do that

00:17:02.980 she delayed the decision by six months anyway so it's not in effect we may even be in government

00:17:08.580 within six months we need to turn roxham road into a border stop and even temporarily once that's done

00:17:17.540 the loophole in the safe third country agreement is addressed you can then say did you claim asylum in

00:17:23.380 the first country you were in yes you then cannot claim you can't forum shop in in claiming asylum

00:17:31.220 so the temporary uh creation of a border stop there would would fix this entirely i've been advocating

00:17:38.500 for this for three years andrew and i do think we could as part of our negotiations with the united

00:17:44.660 states to say look when we're returning people that cross illegally we do not want them to go into 1.00

00:17:49.700 this incarceration uh element for the for the offense because our court has questioned the safe third

00:17:56.660 country agreement i think the u.s want that treaty to be in place so if we can have a new pro approach

00:18:04.100 for them to be returned under that would fit within the spirit of the of the decision right now we're

00:18:09.620 facing a major employment crisis in canada we have in many cases cbsa no longer doing removals deportations

00:18:17.460 we know the list of people waiting for a hearing for their asylum claim is ballooning do you think we need

00:18:23.380 a wholesale reevaluation whether it's a pause or a reduction or even just a back to basics back to

00:18:30.500 square one redrafting of our approach to immigration right now well i think as we're fixing the failures

00:18:36.900 of the trudeau government on this and addressing the rocks and road issue which i've been talking about for

00:18:41.860 several years i think we can do a refresh to the system post-covid right because some of the skills the

00:18:48.420 express entry program the great approach that jason kenny had to fill product you know productivity

00:18:53.700 gaps in our economy that's going to be slowed because of unemployment but here's a catch we know

00:18:59.060 that one thing that was hurting families during covid with the closure of daycares and schools was

00:19:04.020 child care so can for a while we pivot to more family reunification particularly if it helps solve the

00:19:10.660 the care needs of a family or sometimes elderly care in the home can we pivot while the economic

00:19:17.540 situation is is sorting itself out in terms of on employment levels those sorts of things to make

00:19:24.020 sure that the system adapts to the needs of the country that's what we should be doing we should

00:19:29.060 not do things the way they were done 50 years ago just for the sake of doing it the same way we need

00:19:35.860 to make sure that our system addresses the needs of canada today particularly post-covid so i think

00:19:41.940 there's actually a pivot we can do to more family reunification to help families get to work if

00:19:48.580 there's prolonged school closures or something like that and then as we see the private sector recover

00:19:54.100 we should almost on an annual basis say where are the gaps in our productivity in skilled trades in

00:20:00.980 ontario or or you know when the resource sector comes back after we win are there some gaps in western

00:20:06.660 canada we should make sure the system is nimble enough to pivot to address those one of the things

00:20:12.500 that most conservatives i think can agree on is that the carbon tax is a job killer i think this is

00:20:16.980 something that everyone on the right tends to get even many people not on the right you say in your

00:20:21.860 platform that the carbon tax is gone you also say you want a national regulatory and pricing scheme

00:20:28.820 on industrial emitters and your rationale for this has been that you don't want to target individual

00:20:34.020 canadian families but rather target the companies themselves we all know that any cost that a

00:20:40.820 company has to bear gets filtered down so any tax that's put on a manufacturer or distributor is

00:20:46.420 something that canadians are paying so how can you say you're against the carbon tax when your plan

00:20:50.580 seems to just move the tax to another payer no it there is no tax there's no federal carbon tax i will

00:20:57.380 eliminate the carbon tax completely andrew what i've said in terms of the national framework

00:21:03.140 we have to respect what the provinces are doing now in bc there's been the their provincial carbon

00:21:10.100 tax started by gordon campbell i've talked to him about some of the challenges and problems that were

00:21:15.300 caused but he explained to me his rationale there quebec has a version of a cap and trade system alberta

00:21:21.780 ontario my own province has a large emitter strategy just working with emissions of the larger emitters

00:21:27.940 we need to follow the provinces here because guess what they have shared jurisdiction on the economy 0.87

00:21:33.780 i've been saying this for years the court of appeal in alberta in february just supported my view when

00:21:38.500 they said trudeau's carbon tax is unconstitutional we actually have to say on the federal government

00:21:44.980 how can we make sure we respect the different approach within a national framework and say this is

00:21:51.620 how we're going to reduce emissions not with attacks but with partnering with the provinces to

00:21:57.060 get their emissions down but does your platform or does it not say pricing because the provinces are

00:22:03.460 pricing but you say national pricing so is there going can you say that there is not going to be

00:22:08.420 any federal price on carbon at a federal level for anyone whether it's a family or an industrial emitter

00:22:15.140 the provinces will be in the driver's seat so i will respect what they do look two great conservatives

00:22:21.620 my friends jason kenny and doug ford have large emitter approaches where they're stepping down through

00:22:28.100 a price on carbon for emitters what the provinces decide to do often with the cooperation of industry

00:22:36.260 i will respect and the national framework is because we are reporting a canadian response and we have

00:22:43.620 to recognize we have a confederation we have a national unity crisis because justin trudeau doesn't

00:22:49.860 understand that that's why the wexit movement is gaining steam because he has attacked the ability

00:22:56.500 for certain provinces to live to their economic potential i will respect that in fact i will empower

00:23:02.580 it my first hundred days is all natural resources but if they want to work on reducing emissions

00:23:09.700 and target working with and partnering with large emitters why should ottawa get involved andrew we

00:23:15.140 should say we are going to incorporate alberta's approach alongside quebec's approach and we're not

00:23:21.380 going to say this approach is bad and this one is good we're going to say canada's diverse economy

00:23:26.980 we've got an offshore in newfoundland labrador as well that's in trouble now because of trudeau we are

00:23:32.020 going to try and make sure that we have a national respected approach that allows the provinces to lead but

00:23:38.260 what if a province says they don't want any part of it a provincial government in some province says

00:23:42.580 we don't believe that we need to deal with emissions we don't believe in a carbon tax

00:23:46.580 does inaction fit into that national framework if that's what a province chooses if that's what the

00:23:51.060 province chooses yes i look these are we have to have a real climate change policy a real environmental

00:23:57.940 policy in the next election if we don't we lose so the other candidates in the race aren't ready to run

00:24:04.100 in an election this fall anyway but i don't think they realize i've knocked on doors in southern

00:24:09.140 ontario for two elections now where this was an issue we were seen as not having real policy i'm

00:24:15.780 going to make sure we have real conservative approach so that when i say i'm killing the carbon tax

00:24:21.460 i'm going to say here's what we're going to do a lot of it will be partnering with the provinces

00:24:26.020 but can we invest in carbon capture and sequestration as part of our solution particularly with

00:24:31.460 some of the provinces that still use coal for generating electricity nuclear energy i'm a big

00:24:37.300 advocate of greenhouse gas emission free you know the left they hate it because it's actually

00:24:42.420 technology that will allow us to have a productive economy the activists on the left they want to

00:24:47.540 shut down our economy i want to grow our economy particularly the resource economy that has given us

00:24:53.700 this rich wealthy and respected nation we're actually the best producer of all the goods we produce

00:24:59.620 because of our human rights record our rule of law our indigenous engagement we don't need anyone

00:25:05.220 including the un telling us what to do we are the world leader in environmental social governance i will

00:25:13.060 i will empower that and at the same time i will show canadians i am very pro development and resource

00:25:20.180 oil and gas you know forestry agriculture and we're going to have substantive policies that will reduce

00:25:28.020 emissions without disrupting the economy it's difficult but attacks is what the liberals do

00:25:35.220 because it's easy and dumb we are going to do smart policy and canadians that care about the environment

00:25:41.380 will know the conservatives will have a plan that will reduce emissions without them losing their job

00:25:47.540 fiscal management going to be a huge problem in canada as we look at what the next government is going

00:25:53.540 to have inherited we have deficits that are rising even beyond what they were before the justin trudeau

00:25:59.620 approach was that when the economy is great it's time to spend and when the economy it's bad it's

00:26:03.460 it's time to spend how do you balance the budget how do you get the books in check without having to

00:26:10.260 raise taxes or without having to cut spending or how do you accomplish all of those things that

00:26:15.380 conservatives want to do financially well you're right world did change i thought we were dealing with

00:26:21.060 a 25 billion dollar deficit when we launched uh our campaign in alberta in january which was terrible

00:26:26.820 enough because we had good economic times strong employment numbers trudeau was raising taxes and

00:26:31.940 still running huge deficits so is this the guy that's going to dig us out of this hole he got us in the

00:26:37.780 hole so our approach has to learn the lessons from jim flaherty and and stephen harper have a plan to get

00:26:44.660 the balance keeping taxes low over a timeline and be disciplined stick to it now do you mean personal

00:26:51.860 corporate or both both in fact andrew small businesses we're probably going to have to provide

00:26:57.860 more tax relief i want to bring back the elements for small businesses that justin trudeau took away

00:27:03.860 with his war on small business 70 roughly of canadians work for small and medium-sized enterprises 70

00:27:10.980 why do we have high unemployment and we'll likely have it coming out of covet trudeau didn't save many

00:27:17.300 jobs he put everyone on the serve so i'm actually going to work with small businesses and over the

00:27:22.660 next few years we actually may have to provide some tax relief to small businesses and maybe seniors

00:27:29.620 on pension income because of tight circumstances for many of them but we can do that stephen harper did

00:27:35.700 it he took a five-year program to to do it after the 2009 recession ours will likely be longer but i

00:27:42.580 think if canadians know that we are doing it for the long-term prosperity of the country they will be

00:27:47.780 with us but the key part of my plan andrew is tax is low a plan to balance over a period of time

00:27:55.700 but a private sector renaissance we need to eliminate the anti-development programs of justin trudeau

00:28:01.700 we need to renegotiate uh trade arrangements with the united states we need a softwood lumber agreement

00:28:07.860 we need fair trade amongst free countries free trade with democracies and start taxing or tariffing

00:28:14.820 the bad actors like the china's of the world and canada needs to help lead that process we're not even at 1.00

00:28:21.140 the table with trudeau he every country he's interacted with as prime minister our relationship with that

00:28:27.060 country is worse every single one as foreign affairs critic for the conservatives i meet with them

00:28:34.660 they would often say to me behind closed doors andrew what has happened to canada right now after

00:28:40.340 five years of trudeau we are poorer and weaker at home and less respected around the world that is why

00:28:47.460 i'm ready to go in september to hold them to account and win an election that could come in the next few

00:28:52.820 months we need to get our country back on track we need to take it back from an ideological out-of-touch

00:28:59.860 government that has our future prosperity at risk you've been a big proponent of kansuk which is an

00:29:06.660 agreement for those that can't decipher it from the letters that would really put canada in a special

00:29:10.980 partnership with australia and new zealand the united kingdom is that really where you think the future

00:29:16.660 of trade needs to be which is to trade with the countries most like you which really seems to

00:29:22.420 be putting uh values assessment onto trade agreements or do you think that's a unique

00:29:27.780 relationship outside of broader free trade policies with countries around the world like we saw from

00:29:32.740 the harper government in which you were a minister the answer is a bit of both okay kansuk is very

00:29:37.780 special look you know my my sister married an australian fighter pilot she met when i was in the military

00:29:43.940 and he was on exchange with canada we have fought and died together with these countries we're in the

00:29:48.820 five eyes security partnership with them already our closest relationship so we should be doing

00:29:54.660 more in fact prime minister johnson is talking to australia and new zealand now about more trade more

00:30:00.500 capital sharing more exchange of people and ideas between some of the closest countries where's canada

00:30:06.900 of course trudeau and morno i think was in kenya on a we trip he wasn't actually at the meetings

00:30:13.380 with some of our closest partners so we have to be there beyond that i do think when you say free

00:30:20.260 and fair trade amongst free countries um it's not just commonwealth or or our traditional close allies

00:30:26.340 japan our relationship with japan an important trade partner is in the doldrums after trudeau he he

00:30:32.260 skipped a leaders meeting for the trans-pacific partnership meetings to meet with facebook rather than

00:30:38.340 to meet with other world leaders all of our relationships have deteriorated india the world's

00:30:43.940 largest democracy a commonwealth partner many of the same systems in terms of parliament and rule of law

00:30:50.180 there's more we can be doing there we literally doubled trade with india under harper we all remember

00:30:56.180 the state visit justin trudeau paid there you know could flash a few photos on the screen to remind

00:31:00.900 people of his trip they slapped tariffs on canadian lentils right after that we've had italy tariff

00:31:08.180 durham wheat after ridiculous comments trudeau made about about italian and greek immigrants to

00:31:13.860 canada so we have to repair a lot of these relationships and while kansuk will be a very

00:31:18.660 unique one i see doing more with japan india especially a growing and important partner france

00:31:25.860 a lot of our partners in europe i think we need the democratic world to stop allowing the bad actors of

00:31:32.100 the world the china the the russia the venezuela saudi arabia to game the u.n to game the wto we see

00:31:41.700 the results the countries that play by the rules lose so the democracies have to to start standing up

00:31:48.100 i've been talking about this for several years i talked i ran on u.n reform and holding back our dues

00:31:53.540 when i ran in the 2017 leadership now i think we're ready to win and implement these as prime minister

00:32:01.940 just as we wind down here do you feel that you have pivoted in some way from your 2017 run or do

00:32:08.340 you think that you're talking about a lot of the same issues and if it is the latter what makes you

00:32:12.660 think that they're going to resonate this time um i have not pivoted you know the media loves to say

00:32:18.020 you know oh tool's very different almost all my policy is the same what has changed justin trudeau has

00:32:24.820 divided this country to the point that people are giving up on it my first rally in niscu alberta back

00:32:30.980 when we could have rallies the first question i always take q a from my audience was a veteran

00:32:36.980 who stood up and said thank you for your service aaron i served almost 30 years from my country

00:32:42.100 and i want to leave it now after what trudeau's done to my province wow i agree with what derek

00:32:48.260 said most canadians don't know how tenuous our national unity is a reporter in the press gallery

00:32:54.500 when i said my main priority will be unity he kind of said well some of the issues they have out west

00:33:00.820 aren't valid that's part of the problem we've got a laurentian elite ottawa bubble and they don't

00:33:07.860 realize that our country is at risk after an ideological trudeau government that fuels me am i more

00:33:15.060 passionate and and frustrated this time than in 2017 absolutely because of what justin trudeau done to a

00:33:21.460 country that i believe in that i'm proud of i'm a patriot some campuses that would be a bad word

00:33:28.580 these days i think a lot of canadians want someone that's going to put our interest at the front of

00:33:34.340 the agenda make it make people proud of our history and our country um i'm hearing that everywhere i go

00:33:41.860 years ago when i was talking about sir john a mcdonald's statues i would get notes from people saying

00:33:46.740 thank goodness someone is standing up to this cancel culture type approach that's what i will do as

00:33:53.220 leader and i can't stress it enough if we allow the we scandal the out of control situation with our

00:34:00.340 economy all of this if we don't have a leader in the house this fall we miss the opportunity to replace

00:34:06.820 a corrupt and incompetent government i'm ready to go and i'm ready to unite the party and win

00:34:12.900 we promised you a debate and we told you and your team that there would be an opportunity for

00:34:17.060 a closing statement in that and with all the changes i think we can keep the closing statement

00:34:21.060 so if you want to give us people are putting their ballots forward in the next couple of weeks that

00:34:25.220 final pitch please well thanks i love a good debate um so i regret that but i respect my colleagues in

00:34:31.860 this race i want their help as we rebuild and take back canada from a from a government with justin

00:34:38.820 trudeau that has their own personal interests ahead of the national interests i'm ready to win and

00:34:45.140 conservatives across the country need to know that there's a true blue conservative that has won three

00:34:50.820 times in the gta where we need to win seats here in southern ontario if we win just most of what doug

00:34:57.940 ford won two years ago in ontario we will form a strong stable majority conservative government

00:35:03.140 government i'm asking for the trust of members of our party to make sure we keep our movement united

00:35:09.940 grow it where we need to and win the next election by standing up for the things we believe in

00:35:16.580 i'm a leader that's ready in the house now and i bring experience from outside of ottawa at a time we

00:35:22.340 need it 12 years in the canadian armed forces i lived across the country work in the private sector

00:35:28.340 i'm in it for you and your family we need to replace a tired and corrupt trudeau government

00:35:34.740 conservative leadership candidate aaron o'toole thank you very much for being here thank you andrew

Juno News - August 03, 2020

Independent Press Gallery Fireside Chat： Erin O’Toole

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