Juno News - Liberals blame Stephen Harper for everything

00:00:00.000 I saw that, like, Connor McDavid did, like, this video where he gave a tour of his home in Edmonton.

00:00:06.640 It was pretty nice.

00:00:07.820 I'd love it there.

00:00:08.260 I would imagine so.

00:00:09.980 He got a lot of flack over that video because, I don't know, people are like, oh, this guy has no personality, and he's just so bleh.

00:00:16.380 He's a hockey player.

00:00:17.400 He doesn't need to have a personality.

00:00:18.600 He's, like, one of the world's best hockey players.

00:00:21.560 And then something funny happened later in an interview.

00:00:24.020 This was months later.

00:00:24.860 Someone asked him about shoveling his driveway, and he's like, I got heated driveways.

00:00:29.040 I don't need to shovel.

00:00:31.000 Living the dream.

00:00:32.360 Yeah.

00:00:33.980 I love this idea that rich people shouldn't actually spend their money on anything.

00:00:41.380 All right, guys.

00:00:42.480 Let's get it started.

00:00:49.460 Hey, everyone.

00:00:50.660 Welcome back to Off the Record, our Friday fun show.

00:00:54.780 I am joined today by my True North colleagues, William and Isaac.

00:00:58.900 Thank you both for being here.

00:01:00.880 Thanks for having us.

00:01:02.920 Yeah, thanks for having me as well.

00:01:04.580 I'm sure the audience is familiar with both of you at this point.

00:01:07.660 I think you're regular stalwarts on Off the Record.

00:01:10.540 And, you know, some weeks it's less spicy news than other weeks.

00:01:13.920 But this week, I think we have one of, like, the biggest news stories of the year, where

00:01:18.280 two men in Toronto were planning a terrorist attack.

00:01:22.540 And incidentally, one of the men had been given Canadian citizenship and was later found

00:01:27.060 that he had been allegedly tied to an ISIS plot.

00:01:29.860 And so now questions are swirling if, you know, how he got into Canada, how he got his citizenship.

00:01:36.480 There, you know, is allegedly a video of him hacking a body, I believe.

00:01:39.980 And, you know, people are saying that he was a part of aggravated assault.

00:01:44.500 And so obviously, this seems like a pretty big miss from the federal government that he

00:01:47.660 was able to come into Canada, first of all.

00:01:50.320 And second of all, that he was granted citizenship.

00:01:52.220 And I'm personally not terribly surprised to see this because we're letting so many people

00:01:57.320 into the country and the Liberals have really ramped up immigration.

00:01:59.880 And I think all of us have kind of been watching this very warily, saying we're letting too

00:02:03.800 many people in and these people are not going to be properly vetted because we just can't,

00:02:08.060 you know, keep up with the pace of people that are coming here.

00:02:10.720 This is sort of blown up for the Liberals this week because I think it really speaks to the

00:02:14.860 frustration that Canadians are feeling about immigration right now.

00:02:17.400 People are very concerned.

00:02:18.680 People are looking at what's happening in the UK.

00:02:20.220 Hey, they're wondering if something like that could happen in Canada.

00:02:22.800 And then this story happens and everyone's sort of, you know, worst fears are confirmed

00:02:27.640 that there are people who are living in Canada that haven't been properly vetted that want

00:02:31.640 ill for Canadian people, in this case, planning a terrorist attack in Toronto, which thankfully 1.00

00:02:36.260 the police caught before it happened.

00:02:38.900 And, you know, the Liberals are now saying they're looking at revoking this man's citizenship.

00:02:43.000 But instead of taking responsibility for the action, the Liberals are trying to blame

00:02:49.180 former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who hasn't been in power for nine years now.

00:02:55.120 And it's just absurd.

00:02:56.840 So here's, you know, Jennifer O'Connell speaking about this in a House committee hearing this week.

00:03:01.600 Here is Jennifer O'Connell blaming Stephen Harper's government for this absolute failure. 1.00

00:03:06.260 I am very pleased to see the Conservatives finally realize that their cuts have consequences.

00:03:15.500 And previously under the Harper government, when they cut more than a thousand CBSA employees,

00:03:23.040 at the time, the president of the Customs and Immigration Union said, quote,

00:03:27.980 there will be little and in some cases potentially no investigating or surveillance being done

00:03:34.300 to keep these criminals out of the country and out of our communities.

00:03:39.560 Fortin also said, if the government doesn't change the course and withdraw its plan to implement these cuts,

00:03:45.920 the federal government will be putting the national security and public safety of our communities at risk.

00:03:51.760 End quote.

00:03:52.960 This is precisely why we have been making reinvestments to staff up CBSA to deal with the previous Conservative cuts.

00:04:02.600 And it's exactly why we continue to make investments through the budget,

00:04:07.880 through the fall economic statement, which Conservatives voted against.

00:04:11.020 So we look forward to having these meetings so Conservatives can truly appreciate

00:04:15.820 that their cuts have consequences to our national security and the safety of our communities.

00:04:22.060 So we are very supportive of these amendments and having that conversation.

00:04:26.980 So obviously O'Connell is trying to redirect, take the attention off of the massive failure of her government 0.55

00:04:33.040 and put it back on the Conservatives.

00:04:35.680 William, do you think that she's doing this successfully?

00:04:38.240 Is this something people are actually going to believe?

00:04:40.160 Yeah, I mean, nine years is a long time.

00:04:45.300 I think people are starting to really not even remember the Harper government in any real sense or clear sense.

00:04:53.940 Just, you know, an interesting point.

00:04:55.940 I suppose it's at least debatable whether or not the Harper government could or should have done more

00:05:02.260 to prevent the entry of this person, even though they entered the country after the Liberals took power in 2015.

00:05:10.800 But it was very much the Liberal government that decided to grant citizenship

00:05:14.720 and allow this person to remain in Canada, which would have been years after that.

00:05:19.640 And they would have been empowering years.

00:05:21.080 And so I think it's really very ironic to see a Liberal government trying to blame the Harper governments

00:05:28.720 for something that they were clearly responsible for.

00:05:31.380 The fact that they're being this desperate, the fact that they're trying to pin the blame on someone

00:05:35.760 who hasn't been in office, as you say, for nine years, I think reflects a large amount of the desperation

00:05:42.080 they're feeling in terms of their flagging poll results, particularly around issues like immigration,

00:05:47.620 where they are so off base with where the rest of the Canadian population is.

00:05:51.960 Yeah, I think you raise a really good point.

00:05:54.720 We were talking just before this show started about Justin Trudeau during when he was running for,

00:06:00.420 when he was running to be prime minister back in 2015.

00:06:02.560 And, you know, that infamous clip of him debating Stephen Harper and they're talking about citizenship

00:06:06.660 and Harper saying that people who are involved in sort of these terrorist incidents

00:06:11.540 should not be given citizenship in Canada or in cases their citizenship should be revoked

00:06:15.280 and Justin Trudeau says a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

00:06:18.260 Isaac, do you think that that is something the prime minister would say today,

00:06:23.160 given the level of scrutiny that Canadians are looking at immigration with?

00:06:28.120 Definitely not.

00:06:29.180 You know, Canada, I think, historically has been pretty pro-immigration, not only from a federal policies perspective,

00:06:37.780 but from a citizenship perspective in that most Canadians throughout history, I think, have been favorable of immigration.

00:06:44.520 But unfortunately, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with his deeply flawed policies, has kind of turned the tables on that.

00:06:52.660 I mean, look, they're bringing in millions of people a year.

00:06:55.880 None of our social programs can support that.

00:06:58.880 And when you bring in people in such a high volume, obviously, there are going to be a few bad apples that fall from the tree.

00:07:06.580 And something I wanted to add as well was that I remember the parliamentary budget officer,

00:07:11.660 he released a report a few months ago, which was about federal departments and bonuses.

00:07:17.440 But more importantly, their goals.

00:07:19.380 Were they meeting their goals?

00:07:20.620 None of them are.

00:07:21.420 None of them are doing an adequate job as themselves have determined to be.

00:07:27.780 So, obviously, that would apply to immigration as well.

00:07:32.060 And that being the borders.

00:07:34.060 So, is every single person coming into Canada, the millions per year, being vetted properly?

00:07:40.160 I would estimate no.

00:07:41.420 And just if I could add, Rachel, you know, the whole idea of a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

00:07:48.980 Well, when you immigrate to this country and become a citizen, you take an oath of loyalty.

00:07:54.880 You make a solemn vow to be loyal to your new country and to abide by the values of that country.

00:08:02.160 Committing an act of terrorism is a complete breaking of that oath.

00:08:06.600 And so, therefore, I think the government will be well within its rights to rescind it on the idea that you did not fulfill the commitment you made in front of the government and God when you became a citizen of this country.

00:08:20.020 So, for the prime minister to play, like, just, you know, play games like, oh, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. 0.93

00:08:25.520 Well, a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist.

00:08:27.660 And if you've committed an act of terrorism, I think Canada will be well within the rights to revoke your citizenship and send you packing.

00:08:35.040 Very well put, William.

00:08:36.620 You know, one of the other aspects of this controversy that just kind of bothered me is I felt like it was a little bit misguided from the Liberals to put Jennifer O'Connell as the lead on this.

00:08:45.400 I mean, I'm surprised her answer wasn't something like boo-hoo, get over it.

00:08:48.900 This is, like, not a serious political player.

00:08:51.280 I don't think that she's trusted with the Canadian people.

00:08:53.940 I think she often acts in bad faith.

00:08:56.380 And so, to see her, you know, putting the blame back on Stephen Harper is not surprising to me.

00:09:01.320 And I think she's really lost a lot of respect among the Canadian people because she's always playing political games.

00:09:06.600 And I don't think she actually wants to see solutions.

00:09:08.740 I don't think she's working towards solutions.

00:09:11.040 There are some parliamentarians who are better at working with the other side and do so in good faith.

00:09:16.900 And there are others who are only interested in playing politics.

00:09:18.780 And she is one of those who's only ever interested in playing in politics. 0.96

00:09:21.840 And, you know, we put a compilation together of some other bad actors within the Liberal Party who can't help themselves.

00:09:28.200 And every time there's criticism of their government, they blame Stephen Harper, who, as we said, hasn't been in power for nearly a decade.

00:09:34.360 Take a look. Take a look at this.

00:09:35.580 I think it's important to remind people that when we formed the government in 2015, there were absolutely no measures in place to detect, disrupt and counter foreign interference in the electoral context.

00:09:50.180 Mr. Poliev was Minister of Democratic Institutions.

00:09:53.220 Two years in 2013, CSIS publicly identified the risk of interference in democratic processes.

00:10:01.020 The previous Conservative government did absolutely nothing.

00:10:03.580 Under my watch, personally, I've been in this role for about six and a half months.

00:10:06.720 I've appointed 64 judges so far and more. There are more to come.

00:10:11.200 And the average year under the Harper government, they appointed 65 per year.

00:10:14.700 So on that metric alone, I'm working twice as fast as the Harper government.

00:10:17.500 So that's the first point.

00:10:18.240 Would the Conservatives actually like to know that since 2006, the five years with the highest amount of car thefts in Canadian history were under the Stephen Harper government?

00:10:30.220 In 2015, Stephen Harper presented a budget that had slashed funds for policing, slashed funds for CBSA officers, slashed funding for Veterans Affairs Services, and we were there to clean up the mess.

00:10:45.860 I have to say that I really don't think Jennifer O'Connell wants to be playing the game about under which government were car thefts were.

00:10:55.300 I can assure you that back in 2015, I was in high school at the time, there were no reports about people in Toronto taking desperate measures like putting poles at the end of their driveway to stop criminals from driving off of their vehicles.

00:11:08.340 That wasn't the reality then. Back in 2015, there wasn't certain parts of the country that I actively wanted to avoid because I was worried if my vehicle was at a gas station and I was filling up that someone might come along and carjack it.

00:11:19.860 Things have changed drastically. Obviously, people are feeling much less safe they were now than then.

00:11:23.960 But Isaac, what's your take on this whole situation?

00:11:26.320 I mean, do you think that this is just sort of par for the course in politics that the new government's always going to blame the previous government when something happens?

00:11:33.640 Or do you think that there is maybe a window where that's fair to do, you know, maybe in the first two years, maybe depending on the issue a little longer?

00:11:41.260 And after that, Canadians are like, you've been in power for over five years now.

00:11:45.000 You know, it's time to take responsibility for your government's action.

00:11:47.440 What would the timeline on that look like?

00:11:50.320 Yeah, for just answering the first part of your question, I don't know that it's par for the course in politics per se,

00:11:57.080 but I definitely think it's par for the course for the Liberals.

00:12:00.240 When we were talking about compiling a compilation of the Liberals bashing or blaming the Stephen Harper government for their mistakes,

00:12:10.260 I was immediately thinking, oh, there must be hundreds of examples because I'm just thinking of the many press conferences I've watched over the years.

00:12:17.980 I mean, I feel like the Liberals do that on a weekly basis, almost blame the Harper government or at least in some way, the Conservative or Polyefro government.

00:12:28.980 As for the window, yeah, that's a tough one.

00:12:32.700 You know, I think it really varies on the issue.

00:12:36.520 Obviously, here we were talking about a terrorist who came into Canada under the Liberals' watch.

00:12:43.120 So, I mean, at that point, you think you at least have to take some of the accountability,

00:12:47.180 even if it is, in reality, a shared responsibility, which I don't even know if it is.

00:12:51.260 But the Liberals taking accountability for any mistakes or errors that they make is not something I often see them do.

00:12:59.100 They, instead of take accountability, deflect the blame to others.

00:13:03.540 So, yeah.

00:13:04.520 I think that there's probably some room when you form government to say, listen, we're trying to fix these issues that were created by the previous government.

00:13:11.800 But truthfully, I think that Canadians, writ large, are not really interested in these types of excuses.

00:13:17.840 And it's in the best interest of any government to do that as little as possible.

00:13:21.800 And if you are going to do that, you need to clearly explain what your plan is to fix these solutions in a timeline as to when we could see these issues being abated.

00:13:28.660 I think it's used far too often in politics as an excuse for governments not to be held accountable for their crappy and ineffective policies.

00:13:36.940 But while we're on the topic of bad actors, William, True North commissioned a poll.

00:13:41.420 I know that you have the juicy details on this.

00:13:44.620 What have we learned about the CBC this week?

00:13:47.520 Yeah, well, the CBC, in its quest to become ever more hated by Canadian taxpayers,

00:13:52.940 did another great job of convincing taxpayers that they're getting absolutely fleeced when it comes to how their money's being spent.

00:14:01.440 They decided to pay their executives big multi-million dollar bonuses, 18.4 million in bonuses,

00:14:09.560 despite the fact that, according to their own analysis, fewer and fewer people are actually watching CBC, particularly CBC News.

00:14:21.040 So I don't know what the metric is to decide whether or not bonuses are warranted.

00:14:27.080 You would think people actually watching CBC might be one of the factors considered.

00:14:32.920 But as it turns out, nobody is watching CBC.

00:14:36.260 But that didn't stop them from giving themselves an awful lot of our money as a job well done, in their view.

00:14:41.860 I think we see this time and time again when the government, when something's funded by the government,

00:14:48.740 whether it's a government entity or simply receiving government subsidies,

00:14:51.500 all of a sudden there's no need for that entity to actually be successful because the government dollars have been promised

00:14:58.080 and they almost always keep coming anyways.

00:15:00.900 Isaac was just talking about this with a report from the parliamentary budget officer

00:15:04.540 who found that, you know, government services were not meeting their criteria.

00:15:09.380 They were not doing what they set out to do.

00:15:11.280 And the people who are responsible for them are not facing any consequences for their actions,

00:15:14.960 oftentimes because it has to do with protection in unions and things like that.

00:15:18.420 But instead, in this case, they're being given radical budgets.

00:15:21.140 And I can't help but look at this story and wonder, you know, does the CBC,

00:15:25.780 could they help themselves a little bit if they were to turn off the taps on the budgets?

00:15:29.980 Maybe Canadians would have more sympathy for this.

00:15:31.980 Or maybe this is just a situation where they actually see the writing on the wall.

00:15:35.800 They see that it's going to be a conservative government.

00:15:38.520 Canadians, the public has largely turned against them.

00:15:40.920 And they're just trying to take everything they can on the way out.

00:15:43.740 What do you think, Isaac?

00:15:45.540 Yeah, something I wanted to add quickly was obviously these bonuses come after recently laying off.

00:15:51.760 It was 700 or 800 employees.

00:15:53.620 So, I mean, that timeline of events really doesn't make any sense to me.

00:15:57.540 How can you go from laying off employees to dishing out tens of millions of dollars in bonuses?

00:16:03.840 As for the CBC taking accountability, I don't even think it's really a possibility

00:16:09.680 when they're getting the amount of funding that they are, which is, yes, $1.4 billion a year.

00:16:14.800 You're never going to have to be accountable because you can essentially deliver a poor service.

00:16:21.740 Your ratings can all go down.

00:16:23.660 The money keeps coming in and more and more of it.

00:16:26.260 So why would you adapt to the ever-changing market that is the media industry,

00:16:31.200 which obviously the CBC hasn't done,

00:16:33.620 which is why more Canadians are coming to independent outlets like True North

00:16:37.760 instead of government-funded, taxpayer-subsidized outlets like the CBC?

00:16:44.360 Yeah, and we actually look at the bonuses.

00:16:46.560 Correct me if I'm wrong, William, but wasn't it like an average of $74,000?

00:16:50.400 That's more than an average Canadian makes in a year.

00:16:53.300 So when we're looking at all the bonuses that were laid out after people were laid off,

00:16:56.780 it's like, why couldn't those bonuses simply have been used to keep employees on the payroll for longer?

00:17:01.160 No, you're absolutely right.

00:17:02.520 I mean, it is just laughable that a bunch of CBC bigwigs sat around the board table and said,

00:17:06.980 I think we've done a terrific job.

00:17:09.180 Let's give ourselves bonuses.

00:17:10.760 Now, we, by the way, we three aren't the only three who agree that something is deeply wrong at the CBC.

00:17:18.540 True North commissioned a poll that was performed by One Persuasion,

00:17:22.320 and it found that more than 60% of Canadians are in favor of either partially defunding

00:17:28.300 or fully defunding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

00:17:32.220 Only a minority of people were in favor of maintaining the full funding for the CBC,

00:17:40.400 fewer than four in ten.

00:17:41.980 So the fact that more than 60% of the country agree that CBC should not be fully funded,

00:17:48.640 I think is a very strong message to Mr. Polly Evra,

00:17:52.880 saying you had better do something about the CBC when you get elected to office.

00:17:56.660 And I will say at a personal level, if the CBC remains intact exactly the way it is right now

00:18:02.520 after the Polly Evra government has done its first term in office,

00:18:06.140 I personally will be very disappointed in them and their lack of action.

00:18:10.560 Yeah, William, I think that's a good point to raise,

00:18:12.960 is that often we see, you know, conservatives running for office.

00:18:16.180 They come up with these very strong conservative positions and policies,

00:18:19.760 and then once they're elected, that typical move to the center,

00:18:23.120 and a lot of their promises are abandoned.

00:18:24.660 You know, we saw this obviously with Aaron O'Toole when he was running for conservative leader,

00:18:29.060 very conservative.

00:18:30.220 Once he became the conservative leader, he was much more centrist.

00:18:33.020 And I think the party and the conservative base rightfully lambasted and eventually tossed him for that.

00:18:39.540 But, you know, Polly Evra has been very strong.

00:18:42.260 I think if you've ever been to a Pierre Polly Evra rally,

00:18:45.660 or if you've seen one, you'll notice he always has that call to defund the CBC.

00:18:50.180 He usually talks about it in the context of the housing crisis.

00:18:52.700 He'll say, you know, I can't wait to see a young family moving into the CBC headquarters in Ottawa

00:19:00.080 after I've defunded it, talks about how he wants to convert into housing.

00:19:03.280 And that typically gets the largest cheer.

00:19:05.440 Like, no matter what he says in a given rally,

00:19:07.480 that is the thing that riles people up most,

00:19:10.100 is the thought of him defunding the CBC.

00:19:13.480 And, you know, he's going to have to do something about it if he wants to hold on to his base.

00:19:17.220 I guess, Isaac, now turning to you, conservatives are up in the polls, 20 points.

00:19:21.660 Everyone's expecting a conservative government at this point.

00:19:24.040 Do you think that Pierre Polly Evra would follow through on that promise to defund the CBC in some capacity?

00:19:31.440 Yeah, even when William was talking about after the first term, I was thinking to myself,

00:19:35.120 there's absolutely no world I can see wherein Pierre Polly Evra doesn't defund the CBC as quick as he possibly can.

00:19:45.040 Obviously, there are some processes he may have to go through,

00:19:47.320 but this has obviously been one of his largest talking points.

00:19:51.040 I don't know, axe attacks, defund the CBC, and you picked the third most popular.

00:19:56.020 But, look, yeah, you can't focus on something so much during your election campaign

00:20:03.860 and then not follow through with it.

00:20:05.600 I mean, that's just obviously a recipe for self-destruction,

00:20:08.940 and I don't see why Polly Evra would even consider that for a millisecond.

00:20:15.000 And I really think he is not only talking about it a lot on his election campaign,

00:20:20.740 but actually deeply passionate about defunding the CBC.

00:20:23.420 It's something he actually wants to do.

00:20:24.920 So then why wouldn't he go and follow through with it, right?

00:20:29.200 Yeah, and it makes sense for him from a political standpoint as well,

00:20:32.420 not just because he's promised this to Canadians, to Conservatives,

00:20:35.780 but also because we know that the CBC and its coverage of the Conservatives

00:20:39.700 will essentially be campaigning for the Liberals.

00:20:41.860 So, you know, if he was able to get rid of some of that coverage,

00:20:45.200 that would be a very good thing for his government should he be elected,

00:20:49.100 and certainly first party either way.

00:20:51.560 I think, you know, when we're talking about the CBC

00:20:53.720 and the criticism of them doling out these donuses,

00:20:55.780 another big criticism of them was,

00:20:57.580 Isaac, I know this is more your wheelhouse,

00:20:59.540 I'll let you speak to this,

00:21:00.600 but didn't they recently refuse to stream some of the NHL games?

00:21:04.720 And, you know, that's something that Canadians, like,

00:21:07.000 would all obviously want to watch.

00:21:08.340 Like, I don't even watch hockey.

00:21:09.560 I'll be totally transparent with you.

00:21:10.920 I don't watch hockey.

00:21:11.720 But I would totally flip on the NHL game if it was easily accessible to me.

00:21:16.600 And if I'm not mistaken, was that not a big controversy from just a few weeks ago?

00:21:21.500 Yeah, it was even so big that it made it to a committee debate.

00:21:26.020 And obviously, I wrote about that story a while ago.

00:21:27.840 But just from my memory, I mean,

00:21:30.180 it's kind of complicated in the sense that Sportsnet holds the exclusive rights to stream NHL games.

00:21:36.160 But they have a partnership that basically says the CBC can stream NHL playoff games whenever they want.

00:21:43.140 And then the big debate around the CBC not streaming, in this instance, was the Oilers games.

00:21:48.780 And even worse yet, when the Oilers were playing the Vancouver Canucks,

00:21:52.580 they didn't stream some games.

00:21:53.360 That's two Canadian teams, right?

00:21:55.720 And people were listing the shows they were streaming instead, which was like random reruns.

00:22:00.420 And I mean, they're like, oh, we committed to these shows.

00:22:02.780 But really, that's more important than an NHL playoff game.

00:22:07.280 And all the while, the NHL playoff games were setting viewership records,

00:22:10.920 bringing in tens of millions of viewers.

00:22:12.840 And I can only imagine a handful of people watching what the CBC was streaming at the time.

00:22:17.820 Yeah, I was just going to laughingly say maybe they worried that too many people would start to watch the CBC,

00:22:25.820 because apparently having viewers isn't a priority for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,

00:22:31.500 at least according to their own bonus metrics.

00:22:33.700 Just, you know, there was one other interesting statistic True North got from the poll it did on Canada's media landscape.

00:22:40.780 And that was a cheap criticism people level against the CBC is that they are simply biased,

00:22:45.380 that they do not fairly portray Canada's conservatives.

00:22:50.080 They paint them as far right and as extremist.

00:22:53.340 And to be clear, the CBC went so far as to sue the Conservative Party actually in the last election.

00:23:01.160 And I think for a lot of people, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

00:23:04.920 Well, the idea that getting taxpayer funding, biases, reporting, is not restricted just to CBC.

00:23:13.660 That same poll that we did, and I think we just flashed some of those metrics on,

00:23:18.520 but I'll bring the poll back up there.

00:23:20.300 55% of taxpayers believe that if you take government or taxpayer subsidies,

00:23:27.700 then you become unable to impartially report the news.

00:23:32.260 And I think that shouldn't come as a huge surprise for people.

00:23:36.440 But it is really the endemic reason why people don't trust the CBC is because they know that only one of those two parties

00:23:43.720 really wants to give them unlimited funding.

00:23:46.460 But for all of Canada's media who do take taxpayer subsidies, it harms their credibility.

00:23:52.800 And we now know that 55% of Canadians believe that they cannot take taxpayer subsidies and report the news fairly.

00:23:59.820 True North, of course, we do not take government funding.

00:24:02.960 We rely on the support of individual Canadians.

00:24:05.780 And that's why when we report, we keep them in mind, not the government handing out the checks to the other media in this country.

00:24:13.460 I appreciate you saying that, William, because I think even in the context of independent media,

00:24:18.900 you know, that's something that is really special about True North is that we don't take, you know,

00:24:23.920 any advertising dollars or donors or sponsorships or anything like that from the federal government.

00:24:30.320 And it's just becoming increasingly, we're becoming increasingly unique and alone in that.

00:24:34.780 And it's something that I think is important and that we should be proud of and that we should continue to remind people of

00:24:39.280 because it is really such a rare thing, also very difficult to do in today's day and age.

00:24:43.440 You know, one thing I want to just touch on quickly before we get back to the NHL,

00:24:46.960 because I know Isaac has a good story about that, is one thing we might all miss with the decline of the mainstream media

00:24:52.520 and, you know, if Pierre Polyev does indeed turn off the taps for them,

00:24:56.200 is sort of this really combative approach that he's taken to media and just the way that he has really learned to undress their comments.

00:25:04.780 And we were talking about Canadians are recognizing that the CBC is biased,

00:25:07.700 and that's one of the reasons they wanted to defund them, is Pierre Polyev is really an expert in knowing how to really reveal what the media's questions are

00:25:16.980 and to get at the heart of the fact that they are biased, they often don't know what they're talking about at these press conferences,

00:25:22.160 they often have very loaded questions with a lot of inflammatory rhetoric that they can't back up.

00:25:26.880 I'm thinking, of course, about the infamous munching on the Apple scene when the reporter says Canadians think,

00:25:31.320 and then he actually didn't know a single Canadian who thinks that it's,

00:25:33.840 they use that type of language to push their own left-wing agenda and often are not aware of what Canadian thinks

00:25:40.500 because they're so out of touch with Canadians.

00:25:42.120 So that's something I personally will miss, although I suspect it'll still be several years before, you know,

00:25:47.500 before we see a big correction, a big correction in media, generally speaking.

00:25:53.200 Isaac, why don't you go ahead and talk about, you know, the NHL?

00:25:56.500 We saw a little bit of a feud brewing between Trudeau and probably my favorite American governor.

00:26:04.420 So go ahead and break that down for us.

00:26:06.980 Yeah, so you were speaking about being out of touch with Canadians, but now we're going to shift to DeSantis,

00:26:12.380 who, of course, is becoming more and more in touch with Canadians as he embraces the hockey culture.

00:26:18.080 And this clip that we're about to show was in response to a question at the Eric Erickson conference,

00:26:24.960 which is an American conference of conservative politicians, scholars, and the like.

00:26:30.260 And the person asked, they sent an email to Eric Erickson and they said,

00:26:35.500 can you please ask my favorite American governor, that being Ron DeSantis,

00:26:39.980 about my least favorite Canadian, that being Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

00:26:44.400 So we can play the clip right now if you'd like.

00:26:46.440 So all I can say is this, Justin Trudeau, since he has been Prime Minister of Canada,

00:26:54.360 number of Stanley Cups for Canada, zero.

00:26:58.720 Governor Ron DeSantis, number of Stanley Cups for the state of Florida since I've been governor, three.

00:27:05.420 Who's winning that battle?

00:27:06.680 Yeah, so obviously Canada hasn't won the Stanley Cup in like 20, 20 years.

00:27:16.000 And DeSantis is lucky enough to have two NHL teams in his state, that being the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, of course.

00:27:24.500 And they've won three Stanley Cups in the last four or five years as he's been governor.

00:27:29.360 So, yeah, what do you guys think about governor, I mean, Ron DeSantis kind of making a funny jab at Trudeau?

00:27:36.740 You know, it's not that serious, I think.

00:27:39.220 I mean, far be it from me to defend Trudeau for anything.

00:27:43.700 But in this case, initially when I heard this clip, my initial reaction was I had, you know, I said, as I said, I don't really watch hockey.

00:27:49.940 But I spoke to many hockey players and they said, oh, it's very hard for Canada to attract the best players because American players typically get paid more.

00:27:58.220 We actually looked into this and I guess there's a cap for how much you can get paid in the NHL.

00:28:01.880 And I thought, well, taxes in Canada are so much higher.

00:28:04.320 But it's not necessarily the case.

00:28:05.600 It looks like among NHL players, taxes are actually lowest in Alberta.

00:28:09.600 Go Alberta.

00:28:10.640 And highest jurisdictions like Quebec, followed by, you know, New York and LA.

00:28:15.100 So that wasn't really a fair comparison.

00:28:16.740 However, I do think that the quality of life in the States is probably just a little bit better because your money gets you so much more in the States.

00:28:25.100 And also if you live in a southern state, warmer climate, if that's something that's important to you, might not be important to hockey players.

00:28:31.380 And then also with the Canadian market, like Canadians are just so interested and crazy about hockey.

00:28:37.960 And so if you're a hockey player who really just loves hockey but doesn't enjoy the limelight,

00:28:42.680 you might be more interested in playing for an American team where fans are not quite invested in your personal life.

00:28:49.120 They're not quite as invested in your family.

00:28:52.300 You know, we were just talking about that clip with Connor McDavid when he showed his house in Edmonton

00:28:57.360 and he was criticized for not having like enough personality, like just stuff like that.

00:29:01.320 You know, some players might just be really interested in playing the game,

00:29:05.040 but not interested in all the drama that comes along with them.

00:29:07.480 But as I said, you know, I don't want to be lambasted for my comments about hockey because my knowledge is rather limited

00:29:13.920 and I wouldn't consider myself a hockey foreign by any stretch of the imagination.

00:29:17.980 William, what about you? What's your take?

00:29:20.180 I mean, I think it rankles us up in Canada a lot more when it's places that don't have ice that are succeeding in hockey.

00:29:29.900 That really bothers us intellectually and emotionally to know that a place where there is no ice,

00:29:35.160 except which is artificially created, is winning Scantily Cups as opposed to the land of ice.

00:29:40.940 We have ice everywhere for a large chunk of the year.

00:29:44.480 And so that I know is always a bit frustrating.

00:29:47.920 And as for, I definitely think you're right that being a NHL player is a bigger deal in Canada.

00:29:53.940 We treat those NHL players differently than they do in the States.

00:29:57.940 I suppose they have Kardashians and we have hockey players.

00:30:01.720 That's our difference.

00:30:03.380 And Britain are Royals.

00:30:05.280 Yeah. Yes, they do.

00:30:09.220 Isaac, I guess another criticism I've heard is, you know, and you might know a little bit more about this,

00:30:13.520 is that the CRA tends to go after hockey players.

00:30:15.900 There was sort of a case with the CRA going after a former Toronto Maple Leafs captain, John Tavares.

00:30:22.880 And I guess whether or not, you know, signing bonuses are something that they should be paying taxes on.

00:30:26.960 So I guess, you know, even from a financial standpoint, tax is quite low in Alberta.

00:30:30.480 But I just can't help but feel like generally in the States, unless you're living somewhere like really radical last,

00:30:35.800 like New York and L.A., you'll probably take home a little more of your money in the States.

00:30:40.680 That's just my two cents.

00:30:42.400 Yeah, I always thought bonuses, not just signing bonuses, but all types of bonuses were taxed or tax free or less taxed at least,

00:30:50.740 which is why they were even an added incentive for players on top of just the money itself.

00:30:54.800 I remember seeing, yeah, John Tavares going to war with the CRA, but I don't know how that's gone.

00:31:00.980 But thinking of places without ice, yeah, I remember a few years ago when Austin Matthews, the Leafs captain, obviously,

00:31:08.740 who is from Arizona, was the number one overall draft.

00:31:11.440 And I thought to myself, you know, how does that happen?

00:31:15.320 Eric, he's coming from Arizona, which I can't imagine has a strong child hockey market,

00:31:19.840 which is why we see so many kids from Ontario drafted into the NHL, because they have such a strong hockey community.

00:31:27.600 These children are able to access the best coaches in the world.

00:31:31.040 I mean, right, like Austin Matthews, I mean, he's an anomaly in that sense that I really think he had to be more independent

00:31:37.940 than, say, a child would have had to been in Ontario.

00:31:40.660 I don't know. I think maybe we should get like a new hockey show or like a sports show going over at North Isaac to take the lead.

00:31:47.320 I obviously know a lot about this, and I think there's always like interesting ties for how it plays into politics.

00:31:52.680 But that's just an idea. Maybe our audience can let me know if there would be English and something like that.

00:31:57.940 All right, everyone, that's all we have time to cover today on Off the Record.

00:32:02.000 Thank you so much for tolerating us for the last 35 minutes or so.

00:32:05.860 I hope that you guys have a great weekend. We'll see you later.

00:32:08.700 And don't forget that everything you heard today was Off the Record.

00:32:20.360 Well, I had to laugh at that one story where the Liberals were accusing Pierre Polyevre of not doing anything about foreign election interference.

00:32:30.020 They said Pierre had two years and then he didn't do anything election interference.

00:32:34.060 As opposed to the Liberal government, we had eight years where we did nothing about election interference, which is a lot longer.

00:32:40.400 And then, of course, when they they didn't want to do anything about election interference,

00:32:44.000 they had to be pulled kicking and screaming towards actually taking the issue seriously.

00:32:48.740 So, you know, there's a bold claim for the for the Trudeau government to make.

00:32:54.120 But only is it a bold claim, but it's like Pierre Polyevre was never the prime minister. 0.88

00:32:57.140 Well, sure, he was a conservative MP, but like, ridiculous. 0.61

00:33:02.360 Yeah, just details. 0.85

00:33:04.080 Yeah.

00:33:04.480 Just details.

00:33:06.080 Thank you.

00:33:13.460 Thank you.

Juno News - August 16, 2024

Liberals blame Stephen Harper for everything

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