00:00:59.460what the scandal was, piecing it together. And Justin Trudeau sort of inexplicably
00:01:04.480prorogued Parliament and said, okay, we need a pause. We need a month-long
00:01:08.580reset of our system. And a lot of journalists, a lot of watchers, a lot of our viewers
00:01:14.600were probably scratching their heads just wondering why. Like, why do we need to take
00:01:18.640a break? We had just had this long break throughout COVID where we didn't have the
00:01:22.900regular Parliament. Just as we're back, you know, why prorogued in the first place? And
00:01:27.780Justin Trudeau's response seemed to be, well, you know, we need to have a new vision for the future.
00:01:33.480We need to have this new government that's going to do all kinds of things that we hadn't done
00:01:38.920before and just sort of pull the plug. So it's like, you know, we've just had five, six weeks
00:01:44.160of waiting and speculating, and we've seen so many news stories hyping up so many kind of
00:01:49.040harebrained schemes and ideas of what may be to come in this throne speech. I think a lot of it
00:01:56.020was just sort of overblown and sort of like you know the things that were put
00:02:00.640out in the media that won't actually come to fruition that were just meant to
00:02:03.460be a distraction or meant to build up expectations so that when the actual
00:02:08.140throne speech comes out everyone will be left saying oh it's not that's not too
00:02:12.420extreme that's not too drastic that's sort of within the normal realm of
00:02:15.820Canadian politics so I just say it for that reason in just that you know Trudeau
00:02:20.900tried to hit the reset button hit the pause button and now we're finally gonna
00:02:25.120get back to where we were just a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned, Candice,
00:02:30.240the idea that there had been a lot of time away from Parliament given the pandemic, because this
00:02:36.080is very key. It's not even like we were at a normal point where the parliamentary session had
00:02:40.960been going and it had stretched into the summer a bit. And, you know, after all of that work,
00:02:45.340they said, okay, let's take a few weeks before the fall. This was quite the opposite. I mean,
00:02:49.060they had taken an unofficial prorogation, so to speak, while they were dealing with the pandemic,
00:02:53.680only doing very sparse sessions only when necessary and only dealing with pandemic related
00:03:00.040things. So there was actually a lot that the government was supposed to be looking at that
00:03:04.480didn't happen going back to March because of everything coronavirus related. So the idea of
00:03:10.180saying, let's stop, take a few weeks off and then come back actually takes away from a lot of the
00:03:16.080work that should have been done already and should have been in progress. And to your point about
00:03:20.940what is going to come of this, if this ends up being, as they say, a nothing burger, there's
00:03:26.440nothing really that bold, nothing that exciting and nothing that different, then it really will
00:03:30.720show us how this was purely a political opportunity more than anything else, just to
00:03:36.280cut all the criticism, cut the we talk, cut the we committees and come back and try to basically
00:03:42.820turn over a new leaf and start fresh when that wasn't really all that necessary. And the reason
00:03:48.480I say that is because at Trudeau's daily briefings that have been going back to March, and they aren't
00:03:53.520daily anymore, but at those regular press conferences, he was coming out with announcements
00:03:57.440with new policies. So the idea that we needed a throne speech for the government to unveil a new
00:04:02.480plan just isn't true. Well, and it reminds me, and this is something I talked about in my recent
00:04:07.300interview with Pierre Polyev, who's a finance critic for the Conservatives, is that back when
00:04:11.800Justin Trudeau was doing those daily briefings, he was doing a daily 15-minute announcement
00:04:16.620followed by a q a from hand selected members of the mainstream media that that was pitched to us
00:04:22.540the public as being an alternative to question period and even at the point where the conservatives
00:04:27.500were trying to press for having an actual parliamentary having a session and being able to
00:04:33.580hold the government to account and being able to scrutinize those spending announcements the the
00:04:37.660media kind of brushed it off and said oh you know we we do get accountability we don't need question
00:04:43.420period to ask questions of the prime minister and they tried to kind of make it seem like
00:04:48.060they were the ones that were going to hold this prime minister to account well of course andrew
00:04:52.060we know that those press conferences uh were mostly just you know softball questions and fluff
00:04:57.420it was mostly just justin trudeau announcing his latest plan and his latest uh announcement
00:05:02.220of billions and billions of dollars going towards whatever scheme and there wasn't really that kind
00:05:06.460of oversight or accountability which is how we ended up with the we scam in the first place
00:05:11.660because uh trudeau basically thought that he was above scrutiny above the law that that that that
00:05:18.940it was going to be seen as a negative to criticize the prime minister and be seen as being partisan
00:05:25.260in the midst of this pandemic at that time no one knew how bad it was going to be how severe it was
00:05:29.580going to be and all the predictions were really really overblown and so trudeau just sort of
00:05:33.900skated past all that and i think i think that's also an important point in how we got here is
00:05:38.860just that again the prime minister went for months and months without any real kind of scrutiny
00:05:43.660the moment he got back into the the setting where he had that kind of parliamentary
00:05:48.060scrutiny he pulled the plug and said i can't handle this give me six weeks to recoup and then
00:05:53.260that's basically where we are today yeah so it's kind of a catch-22 with where we are now because
00:05:59.100if we have something really bold and radical and very far left that comes down the pipeline i think
00:06:05.180I'll be against it because of that. And if we have nothing particularly, if no, it'll be against it
00:06:09.360because it seems like a waste of time. So from my perspective, it would take a lot for me to be
00:06:13.700happy with what's going to be happening today. And I don't say that just because I've decided
00:06:18.540that I don't like Trudeau or something like that. I say that because there's very little about what's
00:06:23.720happening in the lead up to this and what it sounds like we might hear in the throne speech
00:06:28.960that seems justifiable. And we're going to be talking about this with some guests that we're
00:06:32.720going to have coming on before the throne speech and after. One of the ideas that was brought up
00:06:37.260in media reports when the Liberals were having their caucus retreat was the idea of a universal
00:06:42.140basic income. We know this is something that the NDP has long been a supporter of. And this really
00:06:47.640reminds us that anything the Prime Minister does, anything the Liberals do, needs to get support
00:06:53.160from at least one other party. And that doesn't come without a cost. That doesn't come for free.
00:06:58.120yeah absolutely and andrew it's starting to feel like a lot of those news reports were
00:07:03.560were really just deflections again i mentioned this a couple minutes ago but we we had really
00:07:09.080strong language there's a bloomberg article that came out right after prorogation saying
00:07:14.440more from the perspective of finance minister christia freeland saying that she had been
00:07:18.440tapped to sort of reimagine what government can do and come up with this bold new strategy there
00:07:23.560There were a couple of pieces from John Iveson over at National Post that were really strongly hinting towards, you know, a very remarkable new agenda where Trudeau had basically gone to the senior civil servants, well, Trudeau's people had gone to, you know, deputy ministers and the top people in the civil service to say, hey, look, throw any idea you have at us.
00:07:43.980we're going to like double down triple down on spending pedal to the metal any any idea that you
00:07:49.900have any kind of idea uh that that could be implemented we want to try it this is going to
00:07:54.460be sort of like trudeau's legacy announcement and you know there was this big speculation
00:08:00.700that something big was coming something some kind of big change trudeau was going to be trying to
00:08:05.420reset uh the narrative to to focus really on a green recovery after kobe kind of rebuilding
00:08:11.740the economy and some kind of liberal utopian vision uh but but that that speculation has kind
00:08:17.500of really quieted down the last week or so i would say that the the articles and the and the leaks
00:08:23.260and the columnists what they're writing about has has shifted drastically we're not really hearing
00:08:27.420that language anymore about some kind of uh new utopian trudeau vision for canada you know the
00:08:33.500media focus is now really heavily on the fact that justin trudeau is speaking live tonight
00:08:39.260uh which which is something else that i think that we should uh kind of try to dissect here
00:08:44.220andrew because it's so unprecedented the throne speech i mean we're going to get to it and we're
00:08:48.860going to see it you know there's a 30-minute ceremony that happens before the actual speech
00:08:52.700happens where there's all kinds of just sort of pomp and you know the whole ceremony around
00:08:59.980canada's parliamentary democracy and our traditions that date back to the british traditions you see a
00:09:04.780lot of costumes and a lot of really ceremonial things that that happen and and the reason that
00:09:10.700the governor general reads the speech and it's not it's not the prime minister giving a partisan
00:09:14.780address it's the governor general doing it because it's not supposed to be political and so the idea
00:09:20.540now that justin trudeau is taking to the airwaves tonight at 6 30 p.m eastern time to give an
00:09:26.140address which we're told is not a political address it's a address you know as the leader
00:09:31.260of canada as the prime minister it really sort of confuses the whole issue and again that's become
00:09:37.420the focus now it's the focus is on trudeau the man and his image and what he's going to say to
00:09:41.740canadians not so much about this sort of ambitious agenda that that we were hearing so much about
00:09:48.620yeah i remember a year and a half two years ago you and i were on a tour of the house of lords
00:09:53.420in the united kingdom which is the body on which the canadian senate is based and we had the the
00:09:58.940the great privilege of standing in the the robing room where her majesty the queen would sit
00:10:03.820in preparation for the throne speech and you know you saw in the house of lords the ceremony that
00:10:09.280would take place from the robing room down the hall into the house of lords and the whole point
00:10:14.880of it it's in the name the speech from the throne is that it is about the crown and you may be a
00:10:19.560republican you may not like the monarchy or respect the monarchy that's fine but this is meant to be
00:10:24.620about the crown and the idea of Canada above partisanship, Canada above the prime minister,
00:10:31.020above the political workings of government. And that's very important because Justin Trudeau is
00:10:35.960trying to have the last word here. He's, instead of allowing the speech to speak for itself through
00:10:41.020the governor general, which is the stand in for the queen, he is trying to have the last word and
00:10:45.360give his own speech from the throne, the speech from wherever he's going to be. And there's
00:10:49.300something very self-indulgent about that. And Global News had put out a tweet that said they
00:10:55.000only agreed to give the prime minister the airtime because they got assurances from the prime
00:10:59.680minister's office that it wasn't going to be partisan. How can it not be? He's selling a list
00:11:04.380of promises when there's the possibility at some point of an election, it's going to be partisan.
00:11:10.200There's no way about it. Well, absolutely. And the idea, I mean, what is the distinction,
00:11:15.160Andrew, between being political and not being political. I mean, again, just to read this tweet
00:11:22.360here from a Global News reporter, the PMO's request for airtime from national broadcasters,
00:11:28.440Global News says it received assurances that the Prime Minister's request was based on an
00:11:33.880urgent national importance to the Canadian public and was not a political address. I just don't
00:11:39.880understand if it's an urgent national importance of urgent national importance to the canadian
00:11:45.400public why does it just so happen to fall on the same night as the throne speech i mean couldn't
00:11:49.880he have done it any of the last you know six weeks is what what what today is suddenly of urgent
00:11:56.840national importance presumably he's going to be talking about the new surge in in covid cases or
00:12:01.880the covid recovery perhaps i i assume that's that sort of justification but i i think it's kind of
00:12:09.400silly even on behalf of the media companies new news agencies to fall for that because it's
00:12:15.320clearly a political speech and i hope that they in turn give equal air time to other you know
00:12:22.200opposition leaders leader of the opposition erin o'toole and perhaps even other uh opposition
00:12:26.760leaders because otherwise it will be seen as a sort of political or partisan moment andrew
00:12:32.200yeah and it looks like global may be hedging in a way as in anticipating it will just end up being
00:12:37.560political and they can say, well, we told them, I mean, we told them we didn't want that.
00:12:42.020Let's talk about some of the things that should be in there that we hope are going to be in there.
00:12:46.500Aaron Woodrick is the federal director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and joins us live
00:12:51.740here on the True North Update. Aaron, good to talk to you. Thanks very much for coming on today.
00:25:22.900Yeah, I think he will get the support from the NDP.
00:25:25.080I mean, you have to look at it pragmatically as well.
00:25:27.220Andrew, I was, you know, if you had asked me this question two weeks ago, and I think
00:25:30.140we did talk about it two weeks ago, I was definitely leaning more towards the idea that
00:25:34.560we would be coming up on election that Trudeau had no choice given the fact that he wanted to
00:25:38.780introduce this grand new vision for the country. Given the corner that he had backed himself into
00:25:43.820fiscally you know the auditor general came out with reports saying that the spending is
00:25:48.140unsustainable within one to two years which is not a lot of time and then given the fact that
00:25:53.040he killed the weak committees because he was just getting into hot water it's like you know this guy
00:25:57.860needs to try to go for majority government right now before the Canadian public catches on to just
00:26:02.420how bad the physical situation is and so i think from trudeau's perspective this is probably his
00:26:07.700best shot but i don't think that the optics of him pushing the canadian public into an election in
00:26:12.820the midst of a pandemic is very good optics look you tweeted about this the other day andrew the
00:26:18.340ndp is broke right they they're still in debt from the last election they have a hapless ineffective
00:26:23.700leader in jagmeet singh and they're just they're just not in a position to to push an election
00:26:28.100right now. So I would say that it's probably not going to happen. But again, take it with a grain
00:26:36.380of salt because I have no idea. And perhaps that's why Trudeau wants to talk to me. Perhaps
00:26:40.640that's the real reason why he wants to have an address is because he is going to call that
00:26:44.380election. Yeah. And the NDP, we've seen this. Jagmeet Singh has been laying the groundwork
00:26:49.140for circumstances under which the NDP would support it by saying, well, we're pushing for
00:26:54.060this and we're pushing for this and we want a vision for Canadians and the middle class and
00:26:57.880all of that. So he's basically trying to couch it as though if a throne speech comes out that has
00:27:03.000even peripherally something the NDP has been talking about, he can say it's a win and we
00:27:08.040don't need to go to the polls. And he's got a little bit of political cover, it seems.
00:27:12.400Yes, absolutely. And Andrew, this is a great time. I think we can bring in someone who's a little
00:27:16.340more plugged in on these issues and might have a more sophisticated view on this. We're joined by
00:27:21.020Member of Parliament for Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Garnett Janis. Garnett, thank you
00:27:26.000so much for joining our show. Thank you. It's great to be with you, but that's a bit of an
00:27:31.120intimidating introduction. I don't know if anybody has more sophisticated thoughts than you guys,
00:27:36.040but I just wanted to show off for my audience as well. I wore my Uyghur human rights t-shirt today.
00:27:42.240It's not the issue we're talking about, but with an ongoing genocide happening in China at the
00:27:47.460hands of the Chinese Communist Party, we're going to be pushing the government. In addition to all
00:27:52.900the other issues, we're going to be pushing the government to take a stronger stand on that.
00:27:56.000Well, good for you. One of the things I was just horrified to see over the weekend was the Globe and Mail printing a two-page propaganda spread called China Watch.
00:28:05.220You know, if I see something in a newspaper called China Watch, I would expect at least a little bit to be written about human rights.
00:28:11.060Of course, it was all propaganda and it was provided to the Globe and Mail as a paid advertisement by the Chinese Daily, which is a propaganda wing of the Communist Party of China.
00:28:19.940So I think it's good for you to be holding the government to account,
00:28:23.420but we also have to remember to hold our own media and our own journalists to
00:28:27.560account when they, when they pull crazy little stunts like that. But anyway,
00:33:59.640This is the ceremonial aspect of this.
00:34:02.300And we are going to cover as the day goes on.
00:34:05.080That is Speaker of the Senate, George Fury, right now.
00:34:08.480Garnett, going back to our discussion here, you mentioned, I think, a lot of the priorities
00:34:12.560that we need to see and I think want to see from the government moving forward here.
00:34:16.020My question to you is, how do you think the official opposition, the Conservatives, are going to be able to drive a lot of these issues when I think the WE investigation showed us that when Justin Trudeau doesn't like the way things are going, he shuts things down?
00:34:31.780Well, yeah, so the dynamics of this parliament are, you know, the math of it is that basically the Liberals plus one other party equals a majority.
00:34:42.680So we saw a situation earlier this year where the Liberals made a deal with the NDP,
00:34:48.920which effectively shut down parliamentary chamber sittings. We were still able to continue with
00:34:54.840committees until there was the prorogation of parliament, but that shutting down of chamber
00:35:00.040sitting was possible because of the NDP coming on side. And on any given issue, if the Liberals can
00:35:05.960make a deal with another party, then they can have their way. But if the opposition parties
00:35:10.760stand together, then we can push back. So as conservatives, when it comes to some degree of
00:35:18.840fiscal reality, when it comes to supporting our energy sector, unfortunately, we are unlikely to
00:35:25.960get the cooperation of the NDP and the bloc. But on issues such as ethics, also to some extent on
00:35:33.380some foreign policy issues, we are able to get that cooperation. So on some issues with respect
00:35:40.000to China, like the initial creation of the Canada-China Committee, the Liberals opposed
00:35:43.760it, but the opposition parties stood together and it happened. And certainly on some of the
00:35:47.600investigations related to the WE scandal, again, even on ethics, we haven't always gotten the
00:35:53.520cooperation of the other parties. There were some issues around getting opposition collaboration on
00:35:58.400SNC-Lavalin, but on WE so far, there's been a willingness among the other opposition parties
00:36:04.960to join with us in holding the government accountable.
00:36:07.240So we understand that math, and we're going to do everything we can to move forward on
00:36:16.000Of course, on some issues, again, the fiscal situation, the situation of our oil and gas
00:36:24.580sector, it's just much harder given the dynamics that exist in Parliament.
00:36:28.860And so, Garnett, I want to ask you, what do you make of the idea here that we're going to see the Prime Minister give a primetime address tonight, speaking directly to Canadians? And then sort of a secondary question that will we expect to hear from new Conservative leader Aaron O'Toole as well? Or what is the plan around that?
00:36:48.480yeah i mean what what the prime minister has in mind um you know it's it's anyone's guess i mean
00:36:57.440it it is it's sort of odd that you know today is the day when the government unveils its agenda
00:37:03.620in in parliament uh using a speech from the throne um and then the prime minister
00:37:11.260needs a separate window of time in which to to speak to canadians uh
00:37:18.480You know, like you'd think that if he has something to say to Canadians about the agenda of the government, that it would it would come through the throne speech.
00:37:26.260You know, it seems to me that maybe this is, you know, even even having the governor general deliver the throne speech is just too much, too much sharing of the limelight.
00:37:35.680And he wants to be able to to speak on similar things himself.
00:37:41.180I mean, that's that's the only really.
00:37:43.100He wants to be on the front page of the Globe and Mail.
00:37:45.620He doesn't want the governor general to get that.
00:37:48.480Yeah, I mean, I think that may well be true. And, you know, there is some anticipation around what the governor general is going to say today. I mean, no surprises there. People have been following what's been happening with her office with great interest.
00:38:03.660And so this may be just kind of a media management strategy by the prime minister, him wanting to be the story, not our governor general.
00:38:16.680I mean, anytime the governor general is a story as well, I mean, it raises questions about, you know, the vetting and the competence of his office as well.
00:38:23.260So in terms of the response, I mean, obviously there will be a conservative response.
00:38:28.540And, you know, we're live. So I was going to say, don't quote me on that. But, you know, I don't I I'm not sure if it's going to be Aaron or if it's going to be someone else. But obviously, there will be a there'll be a conservative response to to whatever the prime minister has to say.
00:38:45.260Yeah, and I guess that brings us around to the elephant in the room in a lot of ways today, which is the Governor General. And I wonder if there's a part of Justin Trudeau wanting to not let her become the story, given all of the media coverage that's dogged her and her role in that capacity over the last few months.
00:39:05.520But yeah, I think Candace's point is well taken that instead of just relying on this institution and letting the speech from the throne lay out the agenda, Justin Trudeau needs, you know, time on top of that, which I guess if you need to be the one to keep selling it that much, I wonder how strong the message itself is.
00:39:21.840Yeah, I will say, you know, I'm a big fan of our conventions of constitutional monarchy. I think they encourage a healthy disrespect of politicians like me, in that they make these figures that are above politics, are supposed to be above politics, kind of a locus of national focus and loyalty.
00:39:45.300and it keeps politicians from pushing themselves into the stratosphere too much.
00:39:53.660So I think that the logic of that system is very good, but you can see with Justin Trudeau
00:39:58.540how maybe he's trying to push back against the logic of that system.
00:40:02.560Well, and he has been, Garnett, from the very beginning.
00:40:04.880I mean, the idea of a Canadian prime minister being sort of a celebrity, you see it a lot in the U.S.
00:40:11.000U.S. politics is much more sort of action-packed and it's sort of made for TV. Feels like you're
00:40:16.120watching sports and, you know, their household names, their sort of celebrities in their own
00:40:20.960right. Canada never really had that. And so having a prime minister like Justin Trudeau that's on
00:40:26.300the cover of GQ that gives these international speeches, sort of an aberration from that
00:40:32.020tradition. Do you think that's just the reality of like politics in the 21st century with social
00:40:38.440media that that all all politicians are going to have to be like that or do you think that we can
00:40:42.360go back to those sort of more boring stable traditions that we had pre-trudeau well i think
00:40:48.200there is more of a focus on on image and that is that is a probably a bit of a global trend in
00:40:54.360politics it's not limited to to one system or another um but i think our our new leader aaron
00:41:00.120o'toole's message that uh look i don't have a famous last name but i'm here to fight for you
00:41:05.080um you know i hope i don't get in trouble for saying this i mean aaron's unlikely to be on
00:41:09.000the cover of gq anytime soon um he's he's a he's a strong stable likable highly competent person
00:41:17.000who uh has served this country in uniform um and and he's not a celebrity uh and and uh and i think
00:41:25.320that's that's good coming off the trudeau years people will be looking for someone
00:41:30.920who will really deliver the good someone who is is strong who's competent uh who's committed to
00:41:36.120public service uh not not to the image aspects of this and uh you know going going back to the
00:41:42.280constitutional monarchy issue i always love this quote from winston churchill who said the great
00:41:46.280the great thing about a constitutional monarchy is that when you win a battle you say god save
00:41:50.520the queen and when you lose a battle you vote down the prime minister so uh so so that's that's
00:41:56.600hopefully what we're uh what we're headed towards god save the queen and a new prime minister soon
00:42:01.000enough sherwood park fort saskatchewan member of parliament garnett janice joining us here on true
00:42:06.360north update garnett thanks very much for your time today really appreciate it thank you great
00:42:10.280to be with you thanks yeah i do like that and i'm also alongside garnett candace and our audience
00:42:16.200and that i i have a soft spot for those traditions i just feel like this speech tonight is very much
00:42:21.320thumbing its nose at that very tradition? Well, the fact that the TV stations are letting Trudeau
00:42:27.040sort of do what he wants to do, I mean, you're not going to say no, I guess, to a prime minister
00:42:31.560who wants to give an urgent national address and claims, swears up and down, it's not political,
00:42:36.700but at the same time, they're really just sort of feeding into the ego of this man who, you know,
00:42:41.740can't even let a 150-year tradition of a country supersede his own ego and wanting to be the story,
00:42:49.820the communicator the one who gets clipped the one on tv and not allowing his own governor general
00:42:55.020who he selected which again goes back to his judgment well we have another guest here uh
00:43:00.220catherine swift who is a former ceo of the canadian federation of independent business
00:43:04.860and the current spokesperson for working canadians catherine thank you so much for
00:43:10.380joining us and thank you for coming on the truth update i think you're muted there catherine
00:43:19.820Yeah, we're having trouble hearing Catherine, so hopefully we can get that audio sorted out
00:43:26.260there. Just pipe in there. I don't know if it's an issue with the mic or with Zoom, but
00:43:31.060let's try to get that sorted out. One thing I will say, and I think this is a very important
00:43:36.900part of this dialogue. We talked with Aaron Woodrick earlier about the effect on individual
00:43:42.800taxpayers, and I think the business side is really key. There are stories that have come out in the
00:43:48.540last few days, even about just the sheer volume of businesses, restaurant service sector,
00:43:54.100recreation sector that are not able to reopen post COVID for, so for a lot of businesses and
00:44:00.240a lot of communities across country, these problems are not theoretical. These are very
00:44:05.080real issues here. And I don't know if you've seen this in your own life, Candace. I mean,
00:44:09.860just last night, there was a business that I've frequented in my town of, or city, I guess,
00:44:14.440of London that said it's not opening again. One story said 60% of restaurants may not open. I
00:44:21.360mean, this is, again, a huge problem in all sectors. Absolutely. I mean, so there's a little
00:44:26.540community of shops near where I live in Toronto that, you know, it's basically like what most of
00:44:33.580downtown Toronto and sort of the urban part of Toronto is like. There's these little villages
00:44:37.760throughout the city where there's two blocks of, you know, restaurants and barbershops and coffee
00:44:42.880shops and all those kind of things and it's really stark i mean it's been like this since the
00:44:46.960beginning of the pandemic but i would say about one in every three uh buildings is is just like
00:44:52.560shuttered up uh closed down you know science saying we've moved completely online or we've
00:44:57.840consolidated to one location or we've just gone out of business which again it's it's so it's so
00:45:03.280heartbreaking to see the reality you know we could talk about the physical situation and how much
00:45:08.160money the government is spending and how these CERB payments have really gotten out of control
00:45:13.280but the reality for so many Canadians on the ground I mean it's a heart-wrenching decision
00:45:17.920to have to close down a business that you've poured you know blood sweat and tears into for
00:45:23.280years and years and years I mean I could sort of relate because I started True North and we employ
00:45:29.200you know about 10 people or so full-time and you know to have that to build something like that
00:45:35.760and then to have it taken away over something you know as as distant as a pandemic you have
00:45:40.720no control over you know the government telling you you have to close down i just i just can't
00:45:45.440imagine how heart-wrenching that would be and that really is a story of our economy happening
00:45:50.400from coast to coast to coast i think it's really under reported so when you think of what the role
00:45:55.600of government would be and what the purpose of a throne speech like this theoretically you know
00:46:00.560the idea is to reach out and help people like that create the conditions for the economy to
00:46:05.120thrive again figure out a way for us to all get moving again uh instead you know we're here talking
00:46:10.960about the the partisan politics and and and how the parties are maneuvering and how trudeau is
00:46:16.560spending pet issues and his idea about a green economy i mean it's it's all really beside the
00:46:21.520point uh and and and i think that's that's really important point to talk about yeah and for a lot
00:46:28.080of businesses they were already pretty on the fencer against justin trudeau going back to the
00:46:33.280the big reforms that he and Bill Morneau had put through a few years ago, the famous tax cheat
00:46:37.760dialogue. And then when you have what was already, it seemed like a pretty fundamental disrespect
00:46:42.500for small business, which makes up just the vast majority of enterprise in Canada. And now a lot
00:46:48.260of these businesses are saying, okay, where's our help? And we talked about this throughout the
00:46:51.940early days of the pandemic, when a lot of the programs that were being rolled out, the programs
00:46:56.280that led to that $350 billion deficit were really allowing a lot of business owners to fall through
00:47:02.760the cracks and a lot of those cracks were never actually filled and to this day haven't been filled
00:47:08.760yeah absolutely let's let's try to go back to Catherine Swift I think maybe we've resolved
00:47:12.840your audio issues there Catherine are you uh are you with us I don't know you tell me okay yes you
00:47:19.400are welcome welcome thanks very much for coming on Catherine here I was using my high-tech headphones
00:47:25.000which have always worked fine in the past and now I'm just using my old computer mic and it seems to
00:47:29.960be working so go figure it well we're glad to have you here tell us catherine where is your
00:47:35.560view on on the state of business right now and what you'd like to see from the government to
00:47:40.920really help a lot of the small businesses that we've been talking about in the last couple of
00:47:44.200moments that are really struggling and in many cases are just completely hanging up the shingle
00:47:49.000forever now yeah it's it's it's extremely extremely uh concerning from so many perspectives so this
00:47:55.560is our this is the future of our economy as you know the small medium-sized business sector creates
00:47:59.960uh more than half of the jobs at any given year and represents roughly half the economy
00:48:04.440uh so it's a huge sector and they're getting hammered everybody's getting hammered and say
00:48:08.600but they are getting hammered more than most and as you may have seen an organization that i advise
00:48:14.120called the coalition of concerned manufacturers and businesses of canada uh put out a press
00:48:19.000release yesterday talking exactly about this and how they're they're they're real concern and and
00:48:24.680there's been an awful lot of trial balloons floated in the last few weeks uh that we're
00:48:29.000going to have a focus on this so-called green economy and what this unfortunately seems to be
00:48:35.160meaning is that we are going to spend tens of billions if not hundreds to further subsidize
00:48:42.440industries that do not contribute to canada's bottom line and these are of course all of the
00:48:47.880uh so-called uh green energy sources and all that kind of stuff we use the example of the green
00:48:53.560energy act in ontario where all of the promises were not fulfilled it punished average citizens
00:49:00.120horribly by by way of higher taxes higher much higher hydro rates uh businesses leaving the
00:49:05.480country or just going under uh lost jobs and so on the notion that we want to replicate this
00:49:11.240across the country frankly defies belief so it's the last thing we need to do we don't know yet
00:49:17.800what's going to be in the throne speech but that has been broadcast or forecast i guess as a very
00:49:24.040strong possibility so that's the wrong thing to do we feel the focus has to be on the the businesses
00:49:29.960the industry sectors that actually contribute to the bottom line we know we're in big debt
00:49:35.160personally government-wise and the economy's probably in depression right now what we need
00:49:40.600are the contributors to be encouraged and not by throwing money at them but by removing red tape
00:49:46.680streamlining a lot of the taxation system that exists, taking roadblocks out of our process for
00:49:53.240developing new projects in Canada, and so on. So it doesn't mean throwing billions by any means
00:49:58.920at it, but rather permitting them to do what they do best, which is create jobs and contribute lots
00:50:03.960of tax dollars to get governments out of hock. Catherine, maybe you can give us a bit of an
00:50:08.680assessment of the government's jobs so far. We were talking about it with our last guest or two
00:50:14.120guests ago aaron woodrick of the canadian taxpayers federation about the idea that the
00:50:17.800government was the one that shut down the economy they they were the ones that said look this pandemic
00:50:22.200is mysterious we don't know what's going to happen we don't know the death rate we don't
00:50:25.160know how communicable it is and and they took that risk so you know it was only sort of fair that they
00:50:31.080that they provided uh countervailing uh assistance to to businesses to individuals who were forced
00:50:37.800out of work can you give us an assessment of how that worked how how fairly distributed it was did
00:50:43.320Did it actually help small and medium-sized business owners,
00:50:47.080or in your mind, was it just sort of wasteful and ineffective?
01:29:13.160We need to work together because beating this virus is a Team Canada effort.
01:29:20.800Over the last six months, Canadians have stood united and strong.
01:29:25.820Their actions embody what has always been the purpose of the federal government, bringing
01:29:30.400Canadians together to achieve common goals.
01:29:35.120Personal protective equipment has been shipped across the country.
01:29:38.760Members of the Canadian Forces were there in long-term care homes.
01:29:43.820Close to 9 million Canadians were helped with the Canada Emergency Response Benefit,
01:29:49.900and over 3.5 million jobs were supported by the wage subsidy.
01:29:54.440The government will continue to have people's backs, just like Canadians have each other's backs.
0.77
01:30:01.500Through the first wave, contact tracing and testing ramped up across the country.
01:30:06.820The surge this fall further enforces what we already know, that we must do even more.
01:30:14.740The federal government will be there to help the provinces increase their testing capacity.
01:30:20.320Canadians should not be waiting in line for ours to get a test.
01:30:25.100At the same time, the government is pursuing every technology and every option
01:30:30.960for faster tests for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
01:30:34.840As soon as tests are approved for safe use in Canada, the government will do everything it can to see them deployed.
01:30:43.620The government will also create a federal testing assistance response team to quickly meet surge testing needs, including in remote and isolated communities.
01:30:56.600Local public health authorities are the backbone of our nation's efforts to stop outbreaks before they start.
01:31:04.840As members of the communities they protect, they know the devastating economic impact
01:32:23.960To address the challenges faced by provinces and territories as they reopen classrooms,
01:32:29.440the federal government invested $2 billion in the Safe Return to Class Fund, along with
01:32:35.480new funding for First Nations communities.
01:32:39.720This is money to help kids and staff remain safe in the classroom, whether that's by helping
01:32:47.880schools buy cleaning supplies or upgrading ventilation.
01:32:52.080These commitments build on federal investment to support people who are most at risk and those who care for them, including with a federal wage top-up for personal support workers.
01:33:05.000People on the front lines who have been looking after seniors do vital work, and the government will continue to have their backs.
01:33:13.560At the same time, the government will continue to support Canadians as they take action to keep each other safe.
01:33:19.980Already, people are doing their part by wearing masks.
01:35:11.060Canada's vaccine strategy is all about ensuring that Canadians
1.00
01:35:16.060will be able to get a vaccine once it is ready.
01:35:21.060There are many types of potential candidates.
01:35:25.060Canada is exploring the full range of options.
01:35:28.060The government has already ensured access to vaccine candidates
01:35:31.060and therapeutics while investing in manufacturing here at home.
01:35:36.060And to get the vaccines out to Canadians once they're ready, the government has made further investments in our capacity for vaccine distribution.
01:35:45.640From the Vaccine Task Force that provides the best advice on vaccine purchasing and rollout,
01:35:52.200to the Immunity Task Force looking at how COVID-19 is affecting vulnerable populations,
01:36:00.160Canada's top scientific minds are guiding the government every step of the way.
01:36:04.900The medical and scientific fight against this virus is crucial.
01:36:13.400And so are the livelihoods of every single Canadian worker and family.
01:36:18.760So the second foundation of the government's approach is supporting Canadians through this
01:41:21.200plan will be guided by a task force of experts whose diverse voices will power a whole-of-government
01:41:28.160approach. It has been nearly 50 years since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women
01:41:35.440outlined the necessity of child care services for women's social and economic equality.
01:41:42.160We have long understood that Canada cannot succeed if half the population is held back.
01:41:47.040Canadians need more accessible, affordable, inclusive and high-quality child care.
01:41:54.040Recognizing the urgency of this challenge, the government will make a significant long-term
01:42:01.040sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system.
01:42:11.040The government will build on previous investments,
01:42:14.040learn from the model that already exists in Quebec and work with all provinces and territories to ensure that high-quality care is accessible to all.
01:42:24.040There is broad consensus from all parts of society, including business and labour leaders, that the time is now.
01:42:35.040The government also remains committed to subsidizing before- and after-school program costs.
01:42:41.040With the way that this pandemic has affected parents and families,
01:42:45.040flexible care options for primary school children are more important than ever.
01:42:52.040The government will also accelerate the Women's Entrepreneurship Strategy,
01:42:58.040which has already helped women across Canada grow their businesses.
01:43:04.040As the government invests in people, it will continue to support job-creating businesses.
01:43:12.920Small businesses are the lifeblood of communities and the backbone of the economy.
01:43:18.040The government introduced a range of supports for Canadian businesses, from help with payroll
01:43:23.980through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, to assistance with expenses through interest-free
01:43:30.620loans. COVID-19 has caused businesses across the country, both large and small, to rethink
01:43:39.440their approaches. Entrepreneurs and owners are looking at more digital options, more
01:43:45.260creative solutions, and more climate-friendly investments. The government will help businesses
01:45:13.180The first is to help Canadians in the short term.
01:45:16.000To do whatever it takes, using whatever fiscal firepower is needed to support people and businesses during the pandemic.
01:45:25.000The best way to keep the economy strong is to keep Canadians healthy.
01:45:31.000The second need is to build back better, with a sustainable approach for future generations.
01:45:38.000As the government builds a plan for stimulus and recovery, this must be done responsibly.
01:45:45.000In the longer term, the government will focus on targeted investments to strengthen the middle class, build resiliency, and generate growth.
01:45:55.060The government will also identify additional ways to tax extreme wealth inequality, including by concluding work to limit the stock option deduction for wealthy individuals at large, established corporations, and addressing corporate tax avoidance by digital giants.
01:46:15.000Web giants are taking Canadians' money while imposing their own priorities.
01:46:25.700Things must change, and they will change.
01:46:29.800The government will act to ensure the revenue is shared more fairly with our creators and
01:46:34.720media, and will also require them to contribute to the creation, production, and distribution
01:46:40.800of our stories, on screen in lyrics, in music, and in writing.
01:46:46.640This fall, the government will release an update to Canada's COVID-19 economic response
02:15:08.940It will require a commitment to finding common ground.
02:15:11.940Mesdames and Messieurs, les Parlementaires, les Canadiens comptent sur vous pour…
02:15:18.020Canadians have placed a trust in you to guide this country forward.
02:15:23.020They have placed their faith in you to work together to meet whatever challenges we face.
02:15:27.020Remember that we are here today because of the generations of Canadians who came before us.
02:15:32.020We are here because of the women and men, our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents,
02:15:38.020who had the courage to reach for a better future.
02:15:42.020Today, it is our turn, our moment to build a stronger and more resilient Canada for everyone.
02:15:50.920Members of the House of Commons, you will be asked to appropriate the funds to carry out the services and expenditures authorized by Parliament.
02:15:59.760Members of the Senate and members of the House of Commons, may you be equal to the profound trust bestowed on you by Canadians,
02:16:06.880and may divine providence guide you in all your duties.
02:16:12.020that was the speech from the throne kicking off the latest session of parliament after
02:16:35.920prime minister justin trudeau request and was granted a prorogation earlier this summer now
02:16:41.800as you can see from the shot of the Senate, it's a much more sparsely populated Senate chamber than
02:16:47.500is typical for this, where you'd have the nine Supreme Court justices, the full complement of
02:16:52.640senators and members of parliament all huddled in there, whereas now we've got just a select
02:16:57.740number of senators, a select number of members of parliament, and just the one lone representative
02:17:03.080of the Supreme Court there, Chief Justice Richard Wagner, sitting very lonely in the front row there,
02:17:09.540The only row, in fact, just one chair in the middle of the floor.
02:39:42.480urgent demands of Quebec and seems to be indicating the bloc won't be supporting it a house leader
02:39:47.460for the or deputy leader rather for the conservatives Candace Bergen said the conservatives will not
02:39:51.660be supporting the throne speech as we kind of expected it comes down to the NDP I want to read
02:39:57.120a tweet from Jagmeet Singh here he says today the government's throne speech was full of promises
02:40:01.680we've heard before a throne speech is just words on paper and this PM has shown us that his actions
02:40:07.260don't match his empty words it doesn't need to be this way new democrats will keep fighting for you
02:40:12.060and the help you need. So now if the NDP doesn't support the throne speech, then we might be headed
02:40:19.420to an election. If they do, this was just idle bostering. What do you think is going to happen,
02:40:24.560Vitor? I think the NDP will support the throne speech. I think the government will introduce
02:40:29.320legislation in one or two areas, even before they'll delay the throne speech vote, get enough
02:40:35.520necessary NDP things into the chain of activity in the House of Commons, and then the NDP will
02:40:44.240back it. I think that the government is losing its courage for an early election a little bit.
02:40:52.260I think they're worried about possibly a second wave, though I think it's largely going to be
02:40:59.520driven by who can tell what the difference between the flu and COVID is going to be over the next
02:41:03.600month or two so it's going to be really complicated um but they're worried about that uh i i just
02:41:09.780think that uh we're not getting an election right away but a lot can change between now and the
02:41:16.300budget because i'm not sure uh i'm not sure how canadians are going to react to a budget that
02:41:22.840that says you know all right you know we've improved over 2020 the 2021 deficit will only
02:41:28.880be 300 billion uh remember the largest deficit before this uh was stephen harper's great
02:41:35.600recession deficit and i think it was in the range of 55 56 billion dollars um this year's deficit
02:41:41.840is in the range of well it's headed towards twice the amount the government usually spends for the
02:41:48.800entire expenditure and i think the implications of if you were to add up all of these pieces in
02:41:55.120the throne speech if they all get implemented uh i can't imagine that we'd have a deficit less than
02:42:00.560200 billion dollars for next year well and that's part of the concern vitor because the auditor
02:42:05.840general again said that the government is going to run out of fiscal capacity in one to two years
02:42:10.400and we didn't really see any anything uh addressing that whatsoever what do you think though i i i
02:42:18.080feel like the polling shows that canadians aren't too worried about spending that they're more
02:42:21.520worried about COVID and the response. Do you think that Trudeau is going to sort of get away with it?
02:42:26.400It looks like the deficit will be half a trillion dollars this year or a little bit less. Do you
02:42:31.520think Trudeau will get away with it just given the extreme circumstances we're sort of facing here?
02:42:36.320Yes and that's a problem. Something has gone on in Canada that I can't quite explain.
02:42:44.400We're not having the same policy debates about the reaction to COVID that they are having in
02:42:50.480the united states or that they're having in great britain or france or spain or even italy i mean
02:42:58.400it's the media and the laurentian elites the institutions in our country have closed ranks
02:43:05.680around the government's actions and the and the government's plural government's actions
02:43:11.680on uh on covid and the federal government's you know printing of money on covid and we're
02:43:16.720We're not having this discussion here. So because we're not having the debate and the discussion, the majority of Canadians, you know, and then that's composed of Canadians on the left and Canadians in the center are feeling like, well, it's probably a good thing that we're printing a whole bunch of money and having a series of policies that are designed on taking no chances and taking no risk and dealing with this pandemic in a different way than we ever have before.
02:43:41.360um i'm terrified that those chickens will come home to roost in a couple of years time
02:43:50.300because i think as the united states almost regardless of what happens in the election
02:43:54.460sort of smartens up post-election uh as britain uh looks at this and starts to change their
02:44:01.320approach to covid as the europeans you know have gone forward with their schools open and no big
02:44:07.160debates no no panic response to oh my god little johnny's going to get sick because they've looked
02:44:12.700at the data and said little johnny's not going to get sick um i think a whole bunch of these
02:44:18.120other countries are going to end up spending less in dealing with covid than we are and come 2024
02:44:23.6602025 they're going to be in a better position to jump out of it than we are um i think the
02:44:29.980government of canada's response was based on the fact that everybody everywhere was going to print
02:44:34.360money forever um but that doesn't actually seem to be the case and the problem with getting down the
02:44:42.040direction of modern monetary theory and printing money is it's kind of based on the principle that
02:44:49.560everybody will acknowledge that each of their own individual emperors are wearing clothes
02:44:54.440when they're not but if you're the only if you have the only naked emperor you got a problem
02:44:59.800And we run the risk of, come 2024, having had the only naked emperor for a three-year period.
02:45:06.420I know you're very skilled in the art of campaigning.
02:45:09.920If you're Justin Trudeau, right now you've got Aaron O'Toole in quarantine, Yves-Francois
02:45:14.940Blachet in quarantine, Jagmeet Singh that really doesn't seem to seize his moments.
02:45:19.740Trudeau's got a primetime speaking slot blocked off on all the networks tonight.
02:45:24.660If you're Trudeau, what do you do to sell this?
02:45:27.540You actually do what Trudeau's always done.
02:45:29.400he's going to go on tonight. He's going to do his serious, loud whisper that he uses to
02:45:36.880demonstrate how deeply he cares and feels about how everybody is dealing with this complicated
02:45:44.460and unprecedented problem. And you're going to essentially try to give the media clips of this
02:45:50.460throne speech that aren't being delivered by the poisonous governor general so that tomorrow's
02:45:55.380news stories are all justin trudeau trudeau is the face of it and not her excellency exactly
02:46:01.320and um you know you're also going to remind every new democrat voter in the country
02:46:08.120that uh that pretty much everything on their wish list short of free education for all and
02:46:15.700aoc's green new deal is in this throne speech and you're probably going to even remind them
02:46:22.340of a long list of green technologies and sorry, clean technology, clean energy, clean everything
02:46:29.900else they mentioned is in there. You're going to use the word clean 25 times. It shows up in this,
02:46:35.760you know, green is only in the throne speech once, but clean is in there 12 times. I think
02:46:41.280this is going to be the new liberal word. I think they've figured out that it's the one that moves
02:46:45.960swing voters in the middle rather than green and I think he's gonna be farther
02:46:53.520up in the polls tomorrow than he was today because nobody's thinking about
02:46:58.560how to pay for all of this but Vitor we were assured by the PMO that his speech
02:47:04.020was not political tonight that it was a matter of national urgency that he had
02:47:07.840to speak to Canadians the exact night of the throne speech um in many ways this
02:47:13.620was an incredibly political throne speech. All throne speeches really are, but this one was
02:47:20.480particularly political. And I expect that tonight's prime ministerial address will be
02:47:27.300rather political. And then, of course, the responses will be rather political. So by
02:47:32.020tomorrow, nobody cares about the fact that he lied to the major media about doing a political speech.
02:47:36.660I'm glad we picked up on that a little, Vitor, because, I mean, I don't remember past throne
02:47:42.740speeches like so vividly but to me that throne speech felt so partisan it was just so cringeworthy
02:47:48.340to hear the governor general repeating all of these liberal talking points and liberal platitudes
02:47:53.060i i do kind of remember that uh stephen harper had in his throne speech that uh governor general
02:47:58.820david johnson read uh something about the economic recovery plan and the media thought that was sort
02:48:03.540of offside because that was what uh harper was calling his budgets and that was like a big
02:48:08.980controversy uh but but tonight it was like really really over the top rhetoric wise is is it is is
02:48:16.100it just me that i'm i'm more sensitive to liberal bs or or was that a very partisan throne speech
02:48:22.420that was a throne speech filled with buzzwords and virtue signals and an amalgamation of all of the
02:48:29.060little um uh sucking up to intersectionality that you would expect from this prime minister
02:48:38.020but it's only you that's going to comment on it you know cbc uh the globe and mail um ctv none of
02:48:45.060them will will observe that it was a a partisan speech and and all of these tropes that are in it
02:48:51.940that normal canadians go what does that even mean or they don't know how to define all of those
02:48:56.820things will be viewed as natural and important and they should be there so that's it's nobody
02:49:04.340in the Canadian Laurentian elites or the mainstream media is going to comment on the
02:49:09.800language and the language choices of the throne speech, even though there are so many phrases
02:49:14.480in there that the average human being doesn't know what they mean. I had to look one up. I'd
02:49:20.380never heard of the phrase active transit before. Do you know what active transit is? It's riding
02:49:26.340your bicycle and walking. Otherwise you're known as moving. Otherwise moving. But so, you know,
02:49:33.400the throne speech talks about how they'll provide more money to support transit and active transit.
02:49:37.880And I was like, what the heck is that? So I got into Google and discovered that active transit
02:49:42.520is walking and riding your bike. I'd like to see how the government
02:49:46.600plans on supporting walking. Like how are they going to support Canadians walking?
02:49:52.040Especially when they're telling people to stay in their homes for the second wave.
02:49:54.920Exactly. You get to walk around in circles in your backyard.
02:49:58.360I'm from Edmonton where they developed a program to subsidize people buying electric bicycles.
02:50:03.400So, you know, where the wokeness of our municipal government was such that they thought it was a good idea to give rich people a little bit of a bonus so they could buy $3,000 to $6,000 bicycles.
02:50:16.140So I wouldn't be surprised if the commitment to active transit doesn't turn into something like that in the relatively near future.
02:50:23.720vitor marciano a political campaign strategist former senior advisor to the wild rose party in
02:50:32.980alberta great to talk to you as always thanks very much for coming on and breaking down the big
02:50:37.380things in the speech and the things we wish were in there thank you very much for having me always
02:50:42.120good to talk to vitor he was actually i think like our most popular guest we should have just like
02:50:45.580taken a big extended break during the conservative leadership show uh the one that went on eight
02:50:50.260hours and just let him take the reins because it's always good to uh to talk to vtor so thanks
02:50:54.140again to him for coming on and all of our guests we had a we had a good time today yeah different
02:50:58.680than our last live show andrew that ended up going on eight hours we were joking before because
02:51:03.140as soon as we found out that trudeau was going to go live at 6 30 we're like uh maybe we should
02:51:07.600just keep yeah because that one ended at i think like 1 30 a.m the last one so yeah that is coming
02:51:13.280tonight but we're not keeping the live show going that far if you want to tune into his remarks you
02:51:17.140can do so anywhere on network television, apparently, because they've hijacked the airwaves.
02:51:21.480Yeah, look, there's only so much of this, you know, political partisan stuff that one person
02:51:26.300can take. So I don't know that I could sit and do another live show surrounding Justin Trudeau's.
02:51:31.240I did like Vitor's impression of Justin Trudeau with the loud, sincere whisper. That's exactly
02:51:37.380what Trudeau does. And it sort of drives everyone crazy. But anyway, Andrew, I think this has been
02:51:44.520a great show. It's been interesting to break it all down. Again, nothing really groundbreaking or
02:51:49.840jaw-dropping from that throne speech other than just a whole bunch of cringeworthiness and a lot
02:51:54.140of liberal platitudes packed in to a throne speech. What are your big takeaways, though?
02:52:01.000Yeah, I think that's it. It's really just trying to turn the page without really having anything
02:52:06.600new to do. It's the liberals just trying to remind everyone of all these other things. But
02:52:10.480in a lot of ways, it could backfire when people remember that, well, wait, you've promised this
02:52:14.480before. You've told us you'll do pharma care before. You've told us you'll ban single-use
02:52:18.360plastics. You've told us you'll do this. So I think in some respects, it may backfire,
02:52:22.380which means the messaging is key. Just to recap on where the other parties are standing,