Juno News - Luring Migrants with Healthcare

00:00:00.000 Yeah, so Alex, I wanted to start out with a story we're not actually going to be talking about today,

00:00:04.220 but one that certainly caught my attention yesterday or the day before,

00:00:08.440 which was, of course, Carter Hart signing, I believe, a professional tryout with the Vegas Golden Knights,

00:00:13.880 which is, well, there's a lot of aspects to it.

00:00:18.560 First and foremost, as an Edmonton Oilers fan, a bit disappointing because, of course,

00:00:22.100 there were a lot of rumours of Hart coming to Edmonton.

00:00:25.540 And I think he's from Edmonton, and obviously, you're not going to find a goalie of his calibre

00:00:31.280 that you could get on a league minimum deal, which is essentially what people were thinking,

00:00:35.560 given the Hockey Canada controversy that he was involved in.

00:00:38.760 But I do believe for Vegas, he signed two years at like 1.6 or 1.8, so just above league minimum.

00:00:46.280 But yeah, Alex, what were your thoughts when you first saw this, especially because you covered Hockey Canada so fully?

00:00:51.160 And I don't know whether you thought any of these players would get signed this year or ever again, for that matter.

00:00:57.100 I used to work as a sports journalist before I worked at True North, and I covered Carter Hart.

00:01:03.500 He was at that time playing for the Everett Silvertips.

00:01:07.760 He was kind of considered Canada's golden child as far as goalie prospects went.

00:01:15.220 Canada at that time was going through kind of a dark period as far as goalie prospects were concerned.

00:01:23.360 He hasn't played in, I think, a year or more, which is a considerable gap in terms of the development of any sports prospect at that age.

00:01:34.260 So I'm surprised that he got signed on account of that.

00:01:39.720 But in terms of the trial itself, I'm not surprised at all.

00:01:43.480 Yeah, and how do you feel about him going to Vegas, given the notoriety of the city and the controversy he's been involved in,

00:01:49.200 and kind of whether that's the right place for him to go?

00:01:52.300 Well, I'm just amazed he got signed on account of him not playing hockey for the last year or more.

00:01:57.580 Yeah, especially goalies.

00:01:58.660 They're so hard or cold.

00:01:59.700 Like, one goalie could be the best goalie in the league one year, and then the worst the next.

00:02:03.000 So not playing for a year or even more, I think it's been for him, is definitely a risk.

00:02:08.160 But like I said, I think it's basically a league minimum deal, and I don't even know if he's on the team or it's a tryout,

00:02:13.620 and they might have some clauses in there where it's like, oh, you're not good enough.

00:02:16.220 We could just cut you, and it's not on the salary.

00:02:17.780 I'm not sure.

00:02:19.760 Willie, do you watch hockey?

00:02:21.920 Sorry, I do watch hockey, actually.

00:02:23.360 I used to be a big LA Kings fan, and then I started to string for the Ottawa Senators when they looked like they were half good.

00:02:30.520 But of course, that was never the case, to be honest.

00:02:32.680 Since Eric Carlson left, it's been an absolute tragedy of a franchise.

00:02:38.280 But I'll make it clear that I'm very curious about where Las Vegas sees the potential in this move.

00:02:45.220 I think there might be definitely a different set of backlash,

00:02:47.500 because I don't think many Americans or American fans, for that matter, are all that familiar with the case compared to here in Canada.

00:02:53.760 I mean, I would not see him ever playing hockey for a Canadian NHL team,

00:02:57.420 let alone any kind of Canadian professional team, given that kind of social demeanor that has been put on him,

00:03:04.080 given his involvement in this trial.

00:03:06.100 But, I mean, where, because when I watch hockey, there wasn't such a thing as a team in Vegas.

00:03:11.260 You know, that was kind of more of a joke of an idea, rather.

00:03:15.260 So, where exactly is Vegas in this NHL system?

00:03:19.300 Are they, like, you know, bottom tier?

00:03:20.820 Are they just looking for an opportunity here?

00:03:22.400 Are they...

00:03:22.800 Oh, no, they're like the Manchester United of the NHL.

00:03:26.760 Pretty much ever since they beat...

00:03:28.200 That's a very bad analogy, Alex.

00:03:29.560 Is it? I don't watch soccer.

00:03:30.960 I don't know.

00:03:32.240 I'm sorry, Mike.

00:03:33.260 I'm a big Manchester United fan, and I think we're a team in the recovery, frankly.

00:03:36.360 But it's been 13 years too long.

00:03:37.620 And, sorry, Real Madrid, like, who is, like, the big team in the...

00:03:41.460 Oh, so they are big.

00:03:42.260 Are they in...

00:03:42.720 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:03:43.280 Right now?

00:03:43.980 No, they're serious, man.

00:03:45.000 They're very serious, man.

00:03:45.820 How does that...

00:03:46.240 How does...

00:03:46.720 Off the record, how does this happen?

00:03:48.820 Like, you got a team that joined in, like, what, 2017, 2018?

00:03:51.600 Well, this is how it happens, Waleed. 0.99

00:03:52.960 Basically, like, there's an expansion draft, and the teams could protect X amount of players.

00:03:57.860 But then you can pick, like, two players from each team that aren't protected.

00:04:00.580 So, they got a pretty...

00:04:01.880 Well, not, like, a stacked team, but they had a bunch of, like, decent guys.

00:04:05.620 And they figured it out.

00:04:06.780 And they have, they were...

00:04:08.400 It's not like what happened in the NBA expansion, where there's a draft of players that are not protected by their respective teams.

00:04:14.180 So, that's right.

00:04:14.740 You basically just...

00:04:15.720 You steal players from other teams and make a team.

00:04:18.900 Interesting.

00:04:19.440 Yeah, but the case is, if you really want to get into the weeds on this, one of the things that makes the Vegas Golden Knights so spectacular

00:04:26.780 is the same thing that makes the Florida Panthers, the previous Stanley Cup winning team, so spectacular,

00:04:32.100 which is that there's no state income tax in Nevada.

00:04:35.340 So, there's a huge reason and incentive for players to go there.

00:04:40.400 Yeah, or you can come to Canada and pay half your salary in taxes.

00:04:44.340 Well, there's also the question of the dollar difference as well.

00:04:46.960 I know, for example, the Raptors have to pay, you know, an enormous bill for some of the players simply because they're losing 25, 30% on value compared to U.S. dollar exchange.

00:04:55.940 So, that's already tough.

00:04:57.780 And, of course, taxes and whatnot.

00:04:59.200 I mean, it's a very tough deal for the Raptors to compete with, even like, you know, mid-franchises like Phoenix Suns, for example.

00:05:05.280 But I think the destination as well, Vegas might be attractive to some players.

00:05:08.900 I don't know if that's the case for this one, but it's interesting how a franchise that's so new gets so good so quickly.

00:05:16.620 But as you explain it, it makes more sense to me.

00:05:19.320 Yeah, anyways, for our next stories, we'll take it away from sports and into Canadian politics.

00:05:23.680 My name is Isaac Lamory. I'm joined by my colleagues, Alex Zoltan and Waleed Tam Tam.

00:05:29.820 Yeah, Waleed, so there was this X post on Monday that absolutely blew up. 0.97

00:05:34.720 It's all I could see on the airwaves.

00:05:36.860 Of course, this was the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada posting about prospective migrants to Canada and for them to learn about health care in Canada.

00:05:48.800 Obviously, this is a common leftist trope that is not in any way, shape or form rooted in reality that we often see about Canada's free health care.

00:05:57.920 Because if you look at the data and what we actually pay in taxes for health care, it's among the highest in the world.

00:06:03.940 And this post, of course, comes among insane wait times in the country.

00:06:08.080 We're seeing hundreds of thousands of people die every single year on wait lists in Canada, which Second Street does a good annual report on.

00:06:16.960 I'll just I mean, the national median for wait times, I think, between a specialist and treatment is about 30 weeks.

00:06:23.300 So that's a 222 percent increase since 1993.

00:06:27.900 And I mean, yeah, our health care is in shambles.

00:06:30.340 There's no debating that.

00:06:31.800 So why is the IRCC trying to attract migrants, I guess, by by by saying that they could come here and get public health care?

00:06:41.320 I mean, how ridiculous was this?

00:06:42.480 Like I said, it dominated the airwaves because people were just blasting the liberals for this decision.

00:06:47.320 Well, frankly, I would call it tone deaf.

00:06:50.240 And that's what most critics have been saying.

00:06:52.880 You know, conservative immigration critic Michelle Ruthergarner retweeted the post and she said, read the room, Lena, referring to immigration minister Lena Diop.

00:07:00.740 Of course, I don't think Lena herself was responsible for making that post.

00:07:04.520 You know, as liberal as she is and as, you know, mistaken she is on many points of immigration policy where they need to be in today's day and age, given the situation you mentioned, our health care, our housing, all the deteriorating conditions.

00:07:16.400 As a result of many factors, including just an overly large growing population through the streams of mass migration.

00:07:24.020 I don't think even a minister like Diop would be responsible for a post like this.

00:07:28.300 I think this is mostly staff bureaucrats that aren't reading the room, that aren't reading the polls, that aren't reading the public forum.

00:07:34.960 And I'm simply just trying to provide this, you know, this attractive set of bullet point advertisements to attract both migrants and inform them on what the benefit, the public taxpayer funded benefits are to moving to Canada.

00:07:53.420 And of course, I actually liked a point of critique that I saw from multiple users.

00:07:57.980 I can't attribute this just to one person, unfortunately, but I heard that this was a post, in effect, advertising Canada as a walk-in clinic.

00:08:06.340 And that really struck me because I really do think that's what many, many people online are thinking about this narrative, especially given this post is, you know, are our services so attractive to foreigners that simply that's the incentive for them to come over, that they're being, you know, subsidized in many ways.

00:08:25.840 I think Isaac, you and I had a talk on this show a few weeks back when you said that, frankly, the solution to, you know, immigration or mass migration in Canada would simply be take away the benefits, take away the incentives, you know, incentives matter, as we say.

00:08:42.800 And I think that if we, you know, drop some of these access to services for certain classes of temporary migrants, or if we charge them certain fees to actually balance out the expenses and benefit package, then frankly, I think we'd have a very different equation on immigration today. 0.86

00:09:00.680 And perhaps the public would feel a little bit different.

00:09:03.620 Yeah, people have obviously been talking a lot more in the last few months about re-migration and deportations, but I think it's much simpler than that.

00:09:11.440 You just simply turn off the taps and they'll stop coming and they'll take themselves out of the equation because people are here to more or less take advantage of Canadian taxpayers.

00:09:20.680 Alex, did you similarly get kind of caught up in this on Monday, just see it everywhere you looked because it was such big news?

00:09:30.100 Yeah, I looked into it a little bit.

00:09:33.280 Canada's health care system is clearly in a state of crisis.

00:09:36.140 So I think that this is just stands as another example of the Liberals promising newcomers things that they can't actually do.

00:09:45.800 I mean, if newcomers are coming to Canada expecting to have an easy time finding a walk-in clinic, I think that they're sadly mistaken.

00:09:54.200 Just as somebody who lives in Canada who has eyes and ears, I think that's a reasonable observation.

00:09:59.260 If they really wanted to attract newcomers, they should do what they're already doing, which is have a revolving door justice system for newcomers.

00:10:12.220 Unfortunately, that's not attracting the newcomers that we want, but that's the system that we actually have.

00:10:17.120 And criminals also have eyes and ears.

00:10:19.460 And so I think that we're becoming a safe haven for people who are looking to commit crimes.

00:10:27.180 We have become a safe zone for criminals.

00:10:31.840 I hope that we're not also becoming a safe zone for people looking for free health care.

00:10:37.660 If that's the Liberals' intention, then...

00:10:41.460 And I guess it is free in that sense, Alex, because these people have never paid Canadian taxes.

00:10:46.500 So they're reaping all the benefits without having contributed anything towards the system.

00:10:52.420 But while we're on immigration, we'll lead for our next story here.

00:10:56.600 We saw former immigration minister, Mark Miller, attacking the conservative leader, and that might have backfired.

00:11:03.440 So, yeah, what went on with Mark Miller's attack on Paliyev here?

00:11:08.140 Like, what happened?

00:11:09.260 Well, if I was just blind to the username, I would have assumed this is kind of a more PPC-style attack against Pierre, given the record on immigration.

00:11:18.600 Of course, Pierre, I would admit, has a much different tone today on immigration than he did, for example, in 2022 when he first became leader.

00:11:27.300 I absolutely think he's involved in the issue, as many politicians do.

00:11:30.820 In the case of Mark Miller, he oversaw the backfired portfolio, and that's where his loss of credibility occurred,

00:11:36.240 was when he brought in way too many people into Canada, way too fast, especially through the temporary streams.

00:11:41.380 You saw, guys, the graphs that were published online, with visuals, and how just unprecedentedly high the inbound of temporary migrants were,

00:11:50.380 especially students and temporary foreign workers, or TWPs, as we call them now.

00:11:54.380 And, of course, that has also caused a controversy of its own.

00:11:58.440 So, I mean, I read the comments section, and I think pretty much everyone can agree that Mark Miller and his tenure was cut short for good reason,

00:12:06.200 because he wasn't doing an awfully good job, according to both the Canadian public, but also his own cabinet.

00:12:10.980 Mark Miller does not currently hold a sitting cabinet anymore, so I guess he's putting to the back benches as well, for a reason, by my pardoning himself.

00:12:20.160 He is a Trudeau friend, and he's not someone that shies away from getting into the battle, with Pierre especially.

00:12:25.860 I think I remember back in February, right before, a month and a half before the election was actually announced,

00:12:31.800 there was another first rally hosted by Pierre in Ottawa, and he came out randomly, spontaneously, in front of reporters,

00:12:40.060 to make some ridiculous claims about the Freedom Convoy.

00:12:43.380 He was holding a box of tidbits, I remember, and he was offering it to myself and other journalists,

00:12:47.780 as in a joking matter, referring to Pierre offering tidbits to Freedom Convoy protesters,

00:12:53.460 and he also asserted or alleged the fact that those protesters were pissing on Canada,

00:13:00.220 and that Pierre himself was supporting them pissing on Canada, therefore Pierre had no credibility

00:13:04.160 on his Canada First Nationalist message that he was putting out at the time.

00:13:08.960 So, again, Mark Miller likes to get in heated debates with his best friend's best rival,

00:13:13.780 Justin Trudeau, I'm referring to Pierre being the rival, of course.

00:13:17.020 I don't think that he has much credibility on the matter, and frankly, his Twitter activity,

00:13:22.100 or his ex-activity, could probably seize for a little while after that.

00:13:26.520 Yeah, Mark Miller suffers from Polyev derangement syndrome.

00:13:30.400 He's, like, fully obsessed with him.

00:13:32.320 Yeah, no, and just while we're on the topic of immigration, there's a few things I wanted to cover again

00:13:40.760 on a common left-wing misconception, which I've heard, for example, is recently when I was in the,

00:13:46.300 when I was at the by-election for Polyev in Battle River Crowfoot,

00:13:49.380 some of the other candidates were talking, or the Liberal candidate, to be specific,

00:13:53.500 was talking about how Carney was bringing down Canada's immigration numbers,

00:13:57.500 which just must be some euphoric state that they live in, but not reality at all,

00:14:01.380 because as we saw, the first four months of 2025, what was it, 817,000 immigrants entered Canada?

00:14:07.200 Really? We're celebrating that?

00:14:08.640 That's 2.4 million immigrants in a year, and that's certainly not something worth celebrating, 1.00

00:14:13.800 because people love to repeat the Liberal numbers of permanent residents.

00:14:18.060 It's like, oh, it's only half a million a year, but it's not.

00:14:20.580 When you look at the temporary foreign workers bringing, the international students are bringing, 1.00

00:14:23.780 it's millions, it's been millions for the last several years.

00:14:26.760 It has been millions of immigrants a year, so to rely on that 500,000 number is just completely detached from reality. 1.00

00:14:35.840 But for our next story, I'd like to get into some good news, as we love to do on this show,

00:14:43.920 because maybe even some surprising news on many accounts.

00:14:49.040 Of course, the PCs won a majority government, just won a majority government.

00:14:55.020 I think they just got the exact amount of seats for a majority in Newfoundland and Labrador this week.

00:14:59.680 And, yeah, this seems to be big news, because we often might think of the Maritimes as pretty liberal,

00:15:06.400 especially when it comes to federal elections.

00:15:09.120 But now we're seeing, well, provincially, we're seeing a conservative wave across the province.

00:15:13.480 Even recently in B.C., we saw the conservatives came within inches, really, of winning the provincial election.

00:15:19.620 And I think the conservatives, by and large, govern most provinces when compared to other parties.

00:15:25.700 So while we do have a federal liberal government still, the conservatives are kind of taking over provincially.

00:15:31.880 And I don't know what this might indicate for the upcoming federal election.

00:15:36.860 But certainly when we see a province like Newfoundland and Labrador, which is generally left wing,

00:15:42.040 I think they had a liberal party was ruling for a decade or so, go concert in a majority fashion.

00:15:48.200 It definitely might speak volumes to what's happening nationwide.

00:15:51.840 Because I read the article we wrote on it there and kind of the promises that Tony Wakeham,

00:16:00.220 the progressive conservative party leader, was making.

00:16:02.560 And it's really all the concerns that people want addressed in Canada.

00:16:05.780 Bail reform, dealing with crime, dealing with all the issues that people are feeling in their day-to-day life,

00:16:11.280 health care, cost of living.

00:16:12.880 And I've even seen this municipally.

00:16:14.560 Of course, we have the municipal elections underway in Alberta.

00:16:18.080 And I've seen some of the mayoral candidates talk about that, like,

00:16:20.500 oh, we're going to work on bail reform.

00:16:21.660 It's like, oh, well, you're a municipal candidate.

00:16:23.520 You can't really do much there.

00:16:25.080 But even the provinces have tried to do things with bail reform.

00:16:28.440 They're really, their hands are tied, though, because of the federal legislation.

00:16:33.080 But that's what people want to hear about.

00:16:35.020 Obviously, these are the issues that leaders are presenting to them.

00:16:38.040 So, yeah, were either of you guys surprised when you saw that there was a conservative majority

00:16:43.280 forming in Newfoundland?

00:16:44.380 Well, I wouldn't call this a silver lining.

00:16:48.020 I would call it a sliver lining.

00:16:51.080 As Canadian conservatives, we did not win the federal election, but we did win Newfoundland.

00:16:59.000 You know, like, it's interesting.

00:17:02.000 This is, I think, a reflection of just how Canadians do politics, right,

00:17:05.080 is that they take vengeance on the federal government that they hate

00:17:08.240 by voting for a provincial government that they expect to hate more.

00:17:11.820 And I anticipate that Newfoundlanders will hate their new conservative government,

00:17:18.540 but nobody will pay attention because it's Newfoundland.

00:17:21.760 The rock has turned blue.

00:17:23.040 You really think they're not going to like the provincial government, though, Alex?

00:17:26.640 I don't know.

00:17:27.660 I mean, I feel like it's going to be a similar thing that we have in Ontario, right,

00:17:31.680 where Ontario elected a progressive conservative government,

00:17:35.020 and they use that government to blame all of their problems on,

00:17:40.020 even if those problems are sometimes attributable to the federal government.

00:17:44.560 And it's just this weird thing that Canadians do. 1.00

00:17:48.300 Sometimes I feel like we just hate ourselves.

00:17:52.180 I don't know.

00:17:52.580 Ontario is a bit unique in the sense that most people, I think,

00:17:56.360 especially those with actual conservative leaders, like in Alberta,

00:17:59.860 would not call Doug Ford a conservative by any means.

00:18:03.280 And I don't know enough about Newfoundland and Labrador's leader there

00:18:06.780 to know whether he is actually like a big C conservative,

00:18:09.080 a small C conservative, or a kind of a liberal in conservative's clothing.

00:18:12.840 So I can't really say what will happen there.

00:18:16.860 Yeah, I mean, I would agree with you that Doug Ford is not a conservative,

00:18:20.500 but he is a conservative compared to Wynn.

00:18:22.580 And, Waleed, you're obviously out east.

00:18:27.340 Did you find this surprising in any way, shape, or form,

00:18:31.280 or have you ever paid attention to politics on the rock?

00:18:36.580 One would answer, no.

00:18:39.920 But I do admit the fact that there is always – look,

00:18:44.520 I don't know what the relationship will be between the federal conservative party

00:18:47.740 and, of course, the out east parties, I mean, Tim Houston himself

00:18:51.100 couldn't get himself to endorse Pierre in the last election.

00:18:54.120 I can expect something similar from the new individual elected,

00:18:57.860 who I can't name, by the way, because, as I said,

00:18:59.880 I don't follow their politics out there.

00:19:01.660 But I think out east, there's a very different environment.

00:19:04.060 It still rings the legacy of the PC party,

00:19:06.840 so it doesn't have exactly this full buy-in to the, you know,

00:19:10.820 more aligned style conservative politics that, in their view,

00:19:14.000 Pierre represents more of.

00:19:15.340 You know, maybe if Peter McKay or Aaron O'Toole or whoever else

00:19:18.700 that they like was heading the party,

00:19:20.480 perhaps you would see glaring endorsements from day one,

00:19:23.260 but I don't think that will be the case with Pierre in charge.

00:19:25.640 But also, you know, if new leadership in the PC parties out east

00:19:29.140 or anywhere else from Ontario and beyond do reconcile with the fact

00:19:33.260 that conservatives today, by and large, support Pierre

00:19:35.840 and support a much different approach than leaders of the past,

00:19:39.420 I'm referring primarily to Aaron O'Toole,

00:19:40.920 but you could also say the same for, you know, Andrew Scheer as well.

00:19:44.540 They're looking for something else, looking for something different.

00:19:47.720 Parties change, parties reform, ideas change and move.

00:19:52.180 As the public sways in different directions,

00:19:54.380 I don't think that the PCs will get a PC later right now.

00:19:59.560 And so in that case, they have to seek some clarity

00:20:02.400 in terms of where they stand.

00:20:05.240 Is Newfoundland now the only,

00:20:06.980 there's only one province, I believe, in the country that is not,

00:20:09.920 there's only one province in the country that is liberal.

00:20:14.060 Yes, that I believe is New Brunswick.

00:20:16.100 Yeah.

00:20:16.600 New Brunswick.

00:20:18.000 Every other province is either an alternative party

00:20:20.960 or progressive conservative or what have you.

00:20:24.400 Of course, you have two NDP premiers as well,

00:20:27.260 Wapkin, New and David Eby.

00:20:30.480 Right.

00:20:30.880 I don't want to sound like a tinfoil hatter or anything,

00:20:34.480 but do you guys not think it's a little odd

00:20:37.020 that most of the provinces in Canada have gone conservative,

00:20:40.900 but the federal election went liberal?

00:20:43.000 Well, yeah, no, I was actually going to,

00:20:44.580 I was going to ask Khalid about that

00:20:45.920 because obviously the federal election

00:20:47.800 is not something that happened a long time ago.

00:20:49.980 Like this is recent results from Canadians voting liberal federally,

00:20:54.620 but perhaps Canadians are seeing that things have not changed

00:20:57.880 because as I said, the subsequent provincial elections,

00:21:00.520 while BC didn't go conservative,

00:21:01.760 it certainly shifted the needle towards the conservatives

00:21:04.680 in a way we've never seen,

00:21:06.440 considering how much support they got based on last elections.

00:21:09.640 So yeah, no, I was just going to ask you, Khalid,

00:21:11.480 what kind of this provincial movement

00:21:14.760 towards the conservatives might signify

00:21:16.980 and whether that's just displeasure with the federal government

00:21:20.100 or something greater.

00:21:21.700 And then on top of that,

00:21:23.560 what, like if, let's say every province goes conservative,

00:21:26.120 what that can actually accomplish

00:21:27.880 kind of when you're fighting against the federal liberals?

00:21:32.100 Very good question.

00:21:33.240 So first of all, do I think that, you know,

00:21:35.920 how do I feel about this glaring difference

00:21:39.420 between provincial representation and federal representation

00:21:42.040 between conservatives and liberals?

00:21:44.440 Well, I have to admit, first of all,

00:21:45.740 the brands don't always translate perfectly

00:21:47.840 in the beginning of the century

00:21:50.640 is not what it was beforehand in the previous century.

00:21:53.900 It's a very different machine of negotiation,

00:21:56.920 of talking heads, of ideas and policy positions.

00:22:00.020 It is not the same.

00:22:01.180 On the East, they are still stuck

00:22:03.060 in the progressive conservative McKay-led era.

00:22:06.040 They're not at all buying into this

00:22:08.100 new Pierre Pollyev, new Harper direction.

00:22:11.980 This is the first point.

00:22:13.220 So that's out East.

00:22:14.080 In Ontario, you have something a little bit similar.

00:22:16.920 In the case of Doug Ford,

00:22:17.820 now I follow the last two elections in Ontario very closely.

00:22:20.080 That was in 2022.

00:22:21.360 And as recently as January of this year,

00:22:22.900 we forget that Ontario actually had an election

00:22:24.400 just before the national election, actually.

00:22:27.360 And that provides some very, very good context

00:22:29.420 for Ontario's and Doug Ford's position,

00:22:31.640 which is there are a lot of people

00:22:33.240 that are comfortable voting for Doug Ford,

00:22:35.080 that are not comfortable voting for Pierre,

00:22:36.900 or are comfortable for voting for the liberals,

00:22:39.340 or perhaps even staying at home.

00:22:41.400 I mean, this is the thing about Ontario politics is

00:22:43.140 I think we had a pretty low turnout.

00:22:45.560 I think something around 50, the low 50s.

00:22:48.180 So of course, you know,

00:22:49.220 there is this voter representation question

00:22:52.200 of credibility on Ford himself,

00:22:54.120 specifically leveled from progressives.

00:22:56.000 And as Alex said, I mean, look,

00:22:57.560 you can talk about Doug Ford the way you want to,

00:22:59.640 but when you look at his opponents,

00:23:00.920 and this is what probably takes away his credibility,

00:23:03.080 as Jamil Jowani once said,

00:23:04.640 I mean, this guy is fighting against two.

00:23:07.160 Kathleen Wynne, 2018, I mean, you had 2022,

00:23:10.860 you had Bonnie Crombie and Merritt Stiles,

00:23:13.600 or sorry, that was Stephen Del Duca.

00:23:14.960 I can't even remember the guy.

00:23:16.100 That was his former,

00:23:17.360 Kathleen Wynne's former transport minister, I believe.

00:23:19.560 And then you had later on Bonnie Crombie

00:23:21.300 in this last election that he brought earlier this year.

00:23:24.880 So, I mean, even just judging his opponents,

00:23:27.140 I think you can see there's a loss of talent

00:23:28.780 in Ontario provincial politics.

00:23:30.620 Definitely, there's, you know,

00:23:32.700 there's a breadth for more.

00:23:34.520 And specifically on the conservative side,

00:23:36.120 you've seen the branch out of the Ontario party

00:23:38.080 where Derek Sloan,

00:23:39.400 you also have the new blue party

00:23:40.580 with the two Greek individuals

00:23:42.720 who I can't exactly name

00:23:44.160 because of those Greek last names.

00:23:46.400 And of course, you have other individuals

00:23:48.520 like Roman Babber residing from the PC party,

00:23:52.280 becoming independent

00:23:52.940 and leaving informational politics

00:23:54.600 in favor of joining Pierre,

00:23:56.040 who initially, by the way,

00:23:56.940 was a leadership candidate

00:23:57.880 in the 2022 conservative party race.

00:24:00.620 Roman Babber that was.

00:24:02.260 So, it tells you, I mean,

00:24:03.340 you have defectors of Ford's own government

00:24:05.480 becoming members of Pierre Paul's government.

00:24:07.440 So, this is not a unified frontier.

00:24:10.780 PC victory in one province

00:24:12.480 does not translate to a conservative expanded victory.

00:24:16.380 Perhaps you could say

00:24:17.580 a warm-up to certain ideas,

00:24:19.440 but it really depends on

00:24:20.560 who's at the helm of those parties.

00:24:22.260 There could be unicence

00:24:23.720 and there could be division.

00:24:25.740 It just depends on

00:24:26.500 who's at the head of those respective parties.

00:24:28.880 But in terms of the public,

00:24:30.300 there is a decent demographic

00:24:31.780 of what you call red Tories

00:24:33.460 that are not exactly happy with Pierre.

00:24:35.380 But of course,

00:24:36.320 they're much more congested out east

00:24:38.340 where, of course,

00:24:38.960 the progressive current servant party

00:24:40.080 has long held its edge over the alliance.

00:24:43.560 This is why

00:24:44.160 these two parties came together

00:24:45.880 because, of course,

00:24:47.000 the regional dynamics

00:24:48.680 they could bring in unison.

00:24:50.140 And, of course,

00:24:52.020 the next point I had to say

00:24:53.340 was if you could just remind me

00:24:55.480 of your question, Isaac,

00:24:56.440 your second question.

00:25:00.020 Can I just interject here for a second?

00:25:02.700 There's nothing more Laurentian

00:25:04.380 than turning a conversation

00:25:08.220 about the Newfoundland provincial election

00:25:10.440 into a conversation

00:25:11.880 about Ontario politics,

00:25:13.560 which is what we're doing right now,

00:25:14.880 which I find very fun.

00:25:15.860 Yeah, no,

00:25:17.840 I'm saying

00:25:18.540 they all fit into one coalition.

00:25:20.160 Tim Houston,

00:25:21.060 Doug Ford,

00:25:21.960 they're embracing the same model,

00:25:23.640 the model that helps keep them elected.

00:25:25.740 And this is just the truth.

00:25:27.600 But, yeah,

00:25:28.080 go ahead.

00:25:28.360 Well, I think the brilliant,

00:25:29.720 just to draw on the whole Ford thing,

00:25:32.700 the Ford provincial election,

00:25:34.080 the brilliance of the Ford campaign

00:25:35.500 was the same brilliance

00:25:36.440 of the Carney campaign,

00:25:37.480 which is that he ran against Trump.

00:25:40.860 And Paul Yev should have done that,

00:25:43.300 I think, in hindsight.

00:25:44.100 But that's a whole other kettle of fish.

00:25:47.400 Yeah, that's a complicated issue

00:25:49.380 because lots of conservatives

00:25:50.860 didn't want him to run against Trump.

00:25:53.680 So, you know,

00:25:54.040 it's like,

00:25:54.700 yeah, anyways,

00:25:56.620 what I did want to ask

00:25:57.940 was something a bit different,

00:26:00.600 I guess,

00:26:01.060 because obviously we're seeing

00:26:02.560 that the majority of the provinces

00:26:03.960 are governed by conservatives.

00:26:05.120 I'm wondering

00:26:05.480 what you guys think

00:26:06.960 from both

00:26:08.140 a federal and provincial perspective.

00:26:10.780 What do you think

00:26:11.600 the importance of these,

00:26:12.660 the success of these provincial premiers,

00:26:14.580 that being the conservative ones,

00:26:15.960 for the federal party?

00:26:17.260 Like, does that translate?

00:26:18.220 If the provincial premiers

00:26:19.220 that are conservatives

00:26:20.000 do a good job

00:26:20.840 and there are people like them,

00:26:22.040 do you think that

00:26:22.680 the federal party

00:26:23.920 will gain momentum from that?

00:26:25.420 And do you think

00:26:26.000 that that's an important factor?

00:26:28.000 Like,

00:26:28.200 is Pierre looking at these provinces,

00:26:30.140 like,

00:26:30.320 I hope they do a great job

00:26:32.680 so that my party gets more support?

00:26:34.660 Or is it kind of,

00:26:35.520 these are two detached things completely?

00:26:37.080 That's such an interesting question.

00:26:39.320 And I think it would vary by province.

00:26:42.040 So,

00:26:42.900 because the country

00:26:44.180 is just so wide and different,

00:26:47.420 depending on where you are.

00:26:49.900 Daniel Smith is a really good example.

00:26:51.840 Daniel Smith,

00:26:52.420 I think,

00:26:52.680 has been doing a stellar job.

00:26:54.200 But then you have

00:26:54.780 this whole Alberta separation thing.

00:26:56.740 And most of the people,

00:26:58.120 the most outspoken advocates

00:26:59.500 for Alberta separation

00:27:00.720 hate Daniel Smith,

00:27:01.960 which I find very interesting

00:27:03.100 and ironic,

00:27:03.700 because if you hate

00:27:05.440 the existing government

00:27:06.460 that you already have,

00:27:07.440 what makes you think

00:27:08.080 that if you had your own country,

00:27:09.360 you would suddenly like

00:27:10.200 the new government

00:27:10.900 that you elect?

00:27:13.600 Then you've got Doug Ford,

00:27:15.540 who everybody seems to hate.

00:27:17.780 You know,

00:27:17.940 like,

00:27:18.120 the enemy of my enemy

00:27:19.100 is my friend.

00:27:20.220 Like,

00:27:20.600 this is the one weird thing

00:27:21.900 that seems to unite liberals

00:27:23.000 and conservatives in Canada

00:27:24.320 is this hatred of Doug Ford.

00:27:27.900 And,

00:27:28.420 what other provinces

00:27:29.840 have conservative governments?

00:27:32.480 Saskatchewan.

00:27:32.880 Saskatchewan would be one 0.96

00:27:34.280 because Scott Moe

00:27:34.840 is obviously a kind of

00:27:35.960 a more conservative premier

00:27:37.980 than most,

00:27:38.760 aside from Daniel.

00:27:39.660 He'd be probably

00:27:40.140 the second most conservative

00:27:41.060 premier in my eyes.

00:27:42.300 Yeah,

00:27:42.460 I would say Scott Moe

00:27:43.280 is probably

00:27:43.820 the most popular

00:27:45.160 provincial politician

00:27:46.580 in Canada,

00:27:47.320 as in,

00:27:47.580 like,

00:27:47.720 the least hated

00:27:48.540 by all people.

00:27:49.480 Would that be accurate?

00:27:50.980 Well,

00:27:51.160 no.

00:27:51.440 Wob Canoo has the highest 0.96

00:27:52.520 approval ratings

00:27:53.120 every single time

00:27:54.220 by a long shot.

00:27:56.620 And he's obviously

00:27:57.100 an NDP premier,

00:27:57.940 but the people

00:27:58.880 in Manitoba there,

00:28:00.120 they love him.

00:28:01.540 I think NDP

00:28:02.060 leaders respect,

00:28:02.860 sorry,

00:28:03.200 the considers respect them.

00:28:05.520 Wob Canoo? 0.97

00:28:07.040 Yeah.

00:28:08.020 Wow.

00:28:08.520 His own,

00:28:08.940 I mean,

00:28:09.580 within his jurisdiction,

00:28:10.860 within his province,

00:28:11.720 I'm not speaking nationally,

00:28:12.880 of course.

00:28:13.400 The thing about,

00:28:14.080 we have to remember,

00:28:14.820 provincial politics

00:28:15.460 is it really,

00:28:15.960 the results

00:28:18.080 and the trends

00:28:19.860 embed the culture

00:28:21.080 of the province.

00:28:21.680 And yes,

00:28:22.240 there is cultural differences

00:28:23.560 from province to province

00:28:24.840 out east

00:28:25.720 or out west.

00:28:26.900 In the case of Wob Canoo, 0.61

00:28:28.200 I think that

00:28:28.800 he speaks

00:28:30.040 boldly enough

00:28:31.440 to satisfy more

00:28:32.400 considers

00:28:32.800 on a number of issues.

00:28:35.020 And I think

00:28:35.320 the trade war

00:28:36.000 has benefited

00:28:36.640 his political credibility

00:28:37.680 as well,

00:28:38.340 the way he talks

00:28:39.160 to the feds

00:28:40.380 and the way

00:28:40.720 he has been engaging

00:28:41.900 on social media

00:28:42.600 ever since.

00:28:43.440 So, I mean,

00:28:43.920 I saw how his

00:28:44.660 week-to-week approval

00:28:45.600 was,

00:28:46.260 or not week-to-week,

00:28:47.080 but month-to-month

00:28:47.720 approval was increasing.

00:28:49.260 I think,

00:28:49.900 I don't know

00:28:50.600 what the difference

00:28:51.100 is between him

00:28:52.260 and the second place,

00:28:53.240 but it's somewhere

00:28:54.280 around 20 points.

00:28:55.280 It's pretty significant.

00:28:56.740 Really?

00:28:57.720 Wow.

00:28:58.120 Because I hear

00:28:58.600 more people

00:28:59.100 complain about

00:29:00.140 Wob Canoo 0.98

00:29:01.520 than I do

00:29:01.980 about Scott Moe,

00:29:02.820 but maybe that's

00:29:03.360 just the circles

00:29:04.440 that I'm in.

00:29:05.940 Yeah, perhaps.

00:29:06.800 I also remember

00:29:07.480 Saskatchewan's

00:29:08.100 a pretty small

00:29:08.960 population as well.

00:29:10.000 That's true.

00:29:10.620 Yeah, yeah.

00:29:11.200 So I have a lot

00:29:11.740 of voices altogether.

00:29:13.300 Perhaps.

00:29:13.560 Yeah, it's a Saskatchewan.

00:29:14.620 Yeah, quiet place.

00:29:16.240 Yeah, I wanted to ask this

00:29:17.400 because we're coming

00:29:18.540 towards a point

00:29:19.120 where let's say

00:29:19.660 hypothetically

00:29:20.240 every province

00:29:21.020 was conservative.

00:29:21.940 Do you think

00:29:22.340 that they could really

00:29:24.140 do anything effectively

00:29:25.720 against liberals?

00:29:26.540 Because, for example,

00:29:27.380 and you'll know

00:29:27.720 this well, Alex,

00:29:29.060 all the premiers,

00:29:30.660 every single one

00:29:31.480 across party lines

00:29:32.320 have written

00:29:32.740 to the liberals

00:29:34.280 collectively numerous times

00:29:36.380 asking them to fix bail

00:29:37.520 and nothing has happened.

00:29:38.900 So it's like,

00:29:39.720 can they actually

00:29:40.480 do anything?

00:29:41.320 Like if all the premiers

00:29:42.120 united against

00:29:42.980 some of the federal

00:29:44.340 government's policies,

00:29:45.620 we're talking about

00:29:46.000 immigration, for example,

00:29:47.360 would there be anything

00:29:48.480 that can be done

00:29:49.080 or are the federal

00:29:51.020 government just

00:29:51.740 untouchable in that sense?

00:29:53.300 I think in the case

00:29:54.160 of Carney and the issues

00:29:55.640 are two issues,

00:29:56.420 natural resources

00:29:57.060 and crime,

00:29:57.680 I think if every premier

00:29:58.720 at the same time,

00:29:59.560 so let's say in BC

00:30:00.680 you have a conservative leader,

00:30:01.960 of course,

00:30:02.300 that doesn't mean

00:30:02.800 John Rostad

00:30:03.380 that can be someone else

00:30:04.140 in the future

00:30:04.540 because I think the BC

00:30:05.200 conservative party

00:30:05.720 is definitely heading

00:30:06.460 in a very, you know,

00:30:08.500 divided direction

00:30:09.200 for that matter.

00:30:10.540 But if every premier

00:30:11.540 across the country

00:30:12.720 with excluding perhaps

00:30:13.600 Quebec

00:30:13.980 and maybe another province

00:30:15.080 because, you know,

00:30:15.620 it's hard to get everyone.

00:30:18.000 I mean,

00:30:18.700 the schedules of elections

00:30:20.020 are not exactly lined up

00:30:21.160 in the same time.

00:30:21.940 So maybe when the

00:30:22.600 conservative blue wave

00:30:23.400 is coming through,

00:30:24.220 a few provinces

00:30:25.300 might end up

00:30:27.120 in a very different

00:30:27.760 political scenario.

00:30:29.200 But in case of

00:30:30.760 more provinces

00:30:31.680 being more conservative,

00:30:32.740 I think that gives

00:30:33.660 someone like Carney

00:30:34.320 more room

00:30:34.920 to govern on that,

00:30:36.320 govern, I guess,

00:30:37.320 a little bit more

00:30:38.140 ambitiously

00:30:38.720 perhaps on the issue

00:30:40.280 mostly of energy

00:30:42.280 and natural resources

00:30:43.360 development

00:30:43.860 because of the fact

00:30:45.020 that you have

00:30:46.140 provincial buy-in

00:30:47.100 from province to province.

00:30:48.400 I mean, right now

00:30:48.780 we're talking about pipelines.

00:30:50.120 That's going to be

00:30:50.660 an issue between

00:30:51.320 David Eby in BC

00:30:52.380 and Daniel Smith

00:30:53.460 in Alberta.

00:30:54.260 You replace David Eby

00:30:55.200 with a pro-pipeline

00:30:55.960 conservative premier,

00:30:57.060 even a PC,

00:30:58.460 you know,

00:30:58.960 a red Tory,

00:30:59.640 so to speak,

00:31:00.440 would probably

00:31:00.960 green light a project

00:31:01.980 coming from Alberta

00:31:02.820 going out west.

00:31:04.080 So that case,

00:31:05.140 Ottawa could much more

00:31:06.060 ambitiously approach

00:31:07.060 that agenda

00:31:07.500 with more support

00:31:08.360 from the provinces.

00:31:09.360 So it definitely

00:31:09.800 would help

00:31:10.340 in case getting a few

00:31:11.480 things moved further

00:31:12.440 down the line.

00:31:13.660 Would it help

00:31:14.180 as well?

00:31:15.320 I know you didn't

00:31:16.320 ask this directly,

00:31:17.300 but would it help

00:31:17.740 the prospects of

00:31:18.420 conservatives?

00:31:18.940 Well, I think it would

00:31:19.540 for sure,

00:31:20.420 because then you'd

00:31:21.560 have this opposite effect

00:31:22.500 as much as provinces

00:31:23.560 have the ability to,

00:31:25.060 sorry,

00:31:25.320 as much as the federal

00:31:25.960 government or Ottawa

00:31:26.600 has the ability to,

00:31:27.580 you know,

00:31:28.900 override or overgovern

00:31:30.700 the provinces.

00:31:31.440 The provinces also

00:31:32.120 have a fair share

00:31:32.780 of jurisdiction.

00:31:33.920 I'm referring to

00:31:34.360 education and healthcare,

00:31:36.420 also areas where

00:31:37.540 there's a great appetite

00:31:38.200 for reform.

00:31:39.300 I think Ottawa

00:31:40.040 under conservative government

00:31:41.000 will have much more

00:31:41.660 freedom to take on

00:31:42.420 the more ambitious

00:31:43.020 approaches of cuts

00:31:44.660 and austerity

00:31:45.340 and reform

00:31:45.940 and tax policy

00:31:46.840 because, of course,

00:31:47.900 you'd have governments

00:31:48.540 that might be

00:31:49.000 in accordance with that.

00:31:51.540 So, again,

00:31:52.240 there's always going

00:31:53.180 to be this divide

00:31:53.820 between Ottawa

00:31:54.260 and the provinces,

00:31:54.980 even on a party-to-party

00:31:56.000 basis,

00:31:56.680 but I definitely do think

00:31:57.880 that, you know,

00:31:58.840 if you had more

00:31:59.480 conservatives in charge

00:32:00.560 at the different

00:32:01.460 capitals across the country,

00:32:02.520 then maybe you would

00:32:03.180 have some more

00:32:04.500 problem projects

00:32:05.400 on the table right now

00:32:06.420 and perhaps Minister,

00:32:08.000 the Energy Minister

00:32:08.920 would not necessarily

00:32:10.680 take this hands-off

00:32:12.120 approach

00:32:12.500 and would be more

00:32:13.200 directly involved

00:32:13.920 in actually getting

00:32:14.520 something done

00:32:15.000 for once.

00:32:16.880 Well,

00:32:17.560 I think what we have here,

00:32:19.560 like,

00:32:19.760 Canada is a federalist system

00:32:21.340 and the provinces

00:32:23.100 deal with

00:32:24.360 the things that we need,

00:32:25.920 I would say,

00:32:27.500 like healthcare

00:32:28.260 and education,

00:32:29.380 and the federal government

00:32:30.880 deals with things

00:32:31.540 that we don't

00:32:32.280 necessarily need,

00:32:33.960 primarily being

00:32:35.120 the military,

00:32:36.140 we rarely need them

00:32:37.420 unless we're in a war,

00:32:38.620 and tax collection,

00:32:39.880 which nobody likes.

00:32:41.360 We do need it,

00:32:42.280 but nobody likes it.

00:32:44.040 We're kind of

00:32:44.800 in a worst-case scenario.

00:32:46.960 Ideally,

00:32:47.740 at the provincial level,

00:32:49.440 the government

00:32:49.880 that provides you

00:32:50.560 the things that you need,

00:32:51.420 healthcare and education,

00:32:52.520 should be socialist,

00:32:53.600 and the federal government,

00:32:54.600 the things that give you

00:32:55.360 the things that you don't need,

00:32:56.520 which is tax collection

00:32:57.440 and the military,

00:32:58.280 should be conservative.

00:33:00.240 In my opinion,

00:33:01.440 that would be

00:33:01.960 the ideal situation,

00:33:03.420 right?

00:33:03.660 A federal government

00:33:04.560 that collects less taxes

00:33:05.720 and has less wars

00:33:06.760 and contributes less money

00:33:08.220 overseas

00:33:08.760 would be ideal,

00:33:10.460 and a provincial government

00:33:12.420 that offers you

00:33:13.160 more for less

00:33:14.060 in terms of education

00:33:15.480 and healthcare

00:33:16.020 would also be ideal,

00:33:17.180 but unfortunately,

00:33:17.940 we seem to have

00:33:18.800 the worst possible scenario,

00:33:20.820 which is a federal government

00:33:21.720 that is oversized,

00:33:22.720 taxes you too much,

00:33:23.840 and a provincial government

00:33:24.800 that is sometimes undersized

00:33:26.500 and doesn't offer you enough.

00:33:29.500 Well, speaking of

00:33:30.540 worst-case scenarios,

00:33:31.800 Alex, for our next story,

00:33:33.080 I don't know

00:33:33.560 if that's the worst-case scenario,

00:33:35.260 but the Ontario Provincial Police Force

00:33:37.900 had a pretty shocking arrest there.

00:33:41.080 So, yeah,

00:33:41.440 what was happening

00:33:42.320 in Ontario there?

00:33:45.460 Yeah, so this originally

00:33:46.700 started as a cocaine probe

00:33:48.300 by the Ontario Provincial Police,

00:33:50.460 and then it developed

00:33:51.440 into a further investigation.

00:33:53.800 I think they were quite surprised

00:33:54.920 to uncover 72 guns.

00:33:56.880 Only two people

00:33:57.540 have been charged.

00:33:58.340 That's 36 guns per suspect.

00:34:02.400 Obviously,

00:34:03.480 all of us have two hands,

00:34:05.740 so 36 guns each

00:34:07.120 is pretty ridiculous.

00:34:10.160 The interesting thing

00:34:11.240 I found about this story

00:34:12.280 is that both of the guys

00:34:13.220 are named Singh,

00:34:14.720 and they're from Brampton,

00:34:16.140 and that's no surprise

00:34:17.600 to me at all,

00:34:18.560 but of course,

00:34:19.320 a lot of people online,

00:34:21.180 specifically on X,

00:34:22.980 and I believe a lot

00:34:23.900 of Indian origin accounts

00:34:25.360 have immediately labeled

00:34:26.540 these people as Calistanis.

00:34:28.680 That's a whole, again,

00:34:29.860 other kettle of fish,

00:34:32.140 but I feel like

00:34:33.060 this is happening

00:34:33.980 commonly in Canada.

00:34:35.100 Canada clearly has a problem

00:34:36.660 with people

00:34:37.440 from the South Asian

00:34:38.320 or Indian diaspora

00:34:39.500 committing a lot of crimes,

00:34:40.700 and a lot of them

00:34:41.260 are named Singh.

00:34:42.620 But then we also have

00:34:43.560 this issue of foreign actors

00:34:46.940 aligning these criminals

00:34:49.600 with the Calistani movement,

00:34:51.360 and then aligning

00:34:52.440 the Calistani movement

00:34:53.380 with the Conservative Party

00:34:54.380 of Canada.

00:34:54.960 We saw a ton of this

00:34:55.800 during the last election.

00:34:57.240 I think this is a clear example

00:34:58.700 of foreign interference,

00:34:59.640 and I believe

00:35:01.520 a disinformation campaign.

00:35:03.040 I'd be curious

00:35:03.460 to hear your guys' thoughts

00:35:04.320 on that.

00:35:05.800 Yeah, no,

00:35:06.140 the first thing

00:35:06.600 that stood out to me,

00:35:07.380 Alex,

00:35:07.820 which of course came

00:35:09.200 as absolutely no surprise

00:35:12.100 to me,

00:35:12.500 which was every single

00:35:13.360 one of those 72 firearms

00:35:14.640 was, surprise, surprise,

00:35:16.260 smuggled from the United States,

00:35:17.520 not a legally owned firearm,

00:35:18.980 which the Liberals

00:35:19.640 have continued to wage war on.

00:35:21.360 Of course,

00:35:21.680 we're hearing over the last few weeks

00:35:23.380 that the gun buyback program,

00:35:25.060 which of course they just piloted

00:35:26.440 in Cape Breton there

00:35:28.420 is in shambles,

00:35:29.680 and it may soon

00:35:30.760 well be canceled.

00:35:31.540 They just extended

00:35:32.420 the amnesty this week,

00:35:33.780 unsurprisingly,

00:35:34.740 for the third time

00:35:35.780 in four years.

00:35:36.880 But yeah,

00:35:37.720 well, unsurprisingly,

00:35:38.700 these aren't rifles

00:35:40.500 that people in Canada

00:35:41.520 are hunting with.

00:35:42.240 They're probably like

00:35:43.260 semi-automatics

00:35:44.460 that got smuggled

00:35:46.040 over the border

00:35:46.600 from the U.S.,

00:35:47.260 which as we know,

00:35:48.640 almost every single crime

00:35:50.000 that we're seeing

00:35:50.640 guns committed with

00:35:52.040 are from illegally 0.94

00:35:53.380 smuggled firearms,

00:35:54.540 not the very ones

00:35:56.100 that the Liberals

00:35:56.740 have waged war on.

00:35:57.640 So that was the first thing

00:35:59.140 that stood out to me.

00:36:03.340 Yeah,

00:36:03.820 and some of the handguns

00:36:05.120 are pretty cool,

00:36:05.820 actually,

00:36:06.680 if you look at the pictures.

00:36:08.700 One of them,

00:36:09.460 I think,

00:36:09.720 was like a rainbow-colored gun,

00:36:11.160 which I thought

00:36:11.500 was interesting.

00:36:15.080 Yeah.

00:36:16.940 What are your thoughts on this?

00:36:18.140 Because you've covered

00:36:18.660 the whole India thing as well.

00:36:21.180 I'm curious

00:36:21.880 what your thoughts are

00:36:22.740 in terms of

00:36:23.560 potential foreign interference

00:36:25.100 and calling all these people

00:36:27.500 Kalistanis,

00:36:28.360 which I find kind of

00:36:29.360 ridiculous, frankly.

00:36:30.980 Well, look,

00:36:31.460 I think, frankly,

00:36:32.400 there is this

00:36:33.200 very clear agenda

00:36:34.680 on the part

00:36:35.620 of the Indian government

00:36:36.380 to try to paint

00:36:38.800 its more,

00:36:40.240 let's say,

00:36:41.320 problematic diaspora,

00:36:43.160 specifically from

00:36:43.920 the Sikh community,

00:36:44.700 which is a religious minority

00:36:45.860 that is not exactly aligned

00:36:47.280 with the political view

00:36:48.240 of the majority

00:36:49.300 Hindu population

00:36:50.160 or government

00:36:50.920 that it represents.

00:36:52.060 I think that means

00:36:54.100 that whether it be

00:36:55.800 bots or whether it be

00:36:56.820 agents of the government

00:36:57.740 or both,

00:36:59.440 there is a benefit

00:37:00.680 to the least

00:37:01.920 of an agenda

00:37:03.120 of painting

00:37:03.920 people

00:37:05.920 from this specific

00:37:07.580 Sikh,

00:37:08.460 Punjab background

00:37:09.500 as Kalistanis

00:37:11.220 and painting Kalistanis

00:37:12.960 as, you know,

00:37:14.520 terrorist supporters

00:37:16.040 or terrorists themselves

00:37:17.440 or involved in crime.

00:37:19.320 And of course,

00:37:20.160 in this specific case,

00:37:21.220 there are, you know,

00:37:22.040 talking about actual criminals

00:37:23.440 and trying to find a way

00:37:24.960 to link them

00:37:25.500 to that movement

00:37:26.200 and the benefit

00:37:27.280 of getting more recognition.

00:37:29.740 Look,

00:37:29.960 the truth of the matter

00:37:30.820 is governments

00:37:32.160 on,

00:37:33.460 when they're dealing

00:37:33.980 with the groups

00:37:35.600 that they define

00:37:36.260 as terrorists,

00:37:36.640 because you see

00:37:37.160 the terrorist designation

00:37:38.080 is always going to be

00:37:38.960 much more regionally focused.

00:37:40.720 So, you know,

00:37:41.540 I wouldn't expect

00:37:42.560 you get that many

00:37:43.440 designations around the world

00:37:44.880 that, you know,

00:37:45.480 this Kalistani movement

00:37:46.660 is a terrorist group,

00:37:47.860 provided that the group

00:37:48.980 has not operated

00:37:49.940 significantly in the country.

00:37:51.760 And I think

00:37:52.040 the reason why

00:37:52.640 the Kalistani groups

00:37:54.940 or paramilitary groups

00:37:56.020 have operated in Canada

00:37:57.220 is because

00:37:57.580 the diaspora is huge

00:37:58.640 and they found room,

00:37:59.620 they found civil liberty.

00:38:00.560 So, I think the case is

00:38:02.460 the Indian government

00:38:03.740 would love

00:38:04.520 if Canadians,

00:38:05.580 more Canadians,

00:38:06.680 besides just conservatives

00:38:07.580 that are already critical

00:38:08.520 of migration

00:38:09.560 and security

00:38:10.260 as it stands,

00:38:12.320 I think they would be happier

00:38:14.180 if Canadians

00:38:14.740 were more in tone

00:38:16.000 to the risks

00:38:17.100 and potential violence

00:38:19.700 that comes from

00:38:20.440 these specific individuals

00:38:21.540 and, of course,

00:38:22.540 that political community

00:38:23.520 at large.

00:38:24.260 And I think there is a case

00:38:25.120 to be made there

00:38:25.740 without much foreign interference.

00:38:28.060 I think we've already seen,

00:38:29.000 frankly enough,

00:38:29.520 but perhaps,

00:38:31.220 I mean,

00:38:31.540 as you identified, Alex,

00:38:32.580 maybe this is a term

00:38:34.860 that's thrown around

00:38:35.800 a little bit too softly

00:38:37.800 or too lightly

00:38:38.680 for the purposes

00:38:39.540 of painting

00:38:40.800 a certain political narrative.

00:38:41.940 I absolutely understand it.

00:38:42.900 I think the topic

00:38:43.400 of this Indian sectarianism

00:38:45.220 we're seeing in Canada

00:38:45.800 is a quite interesting topic

00:38:47.060 and, frankly,

00:38:47.520 it's something

00:38:47.780 I will be trying

00:38:48.760 to follow up

00:38:49.220 with politicians

00:38:49.700 in the upcoming days,

00:38:51.100 especially because

00:38:51.940 a minister

00:38:52.400 concluded her visit

00:38:54.440 to India

00:38:54.780 recently this week

00:38:55.740 and I'm just very curious

00:38:57.600 to know

00:38:57.880 what were those conversations like.

00:38:59.020 I can imagine

00:38:59.940 quite brief.

00:39:01.380 I know I nod to herself

00:39:02.160 as, I believe,

00:39:02.680 of Hindu background,

00:39:03.840 of Indian Hindu background,

00:39:04.900 so I'm sure

00:39:05.320 she could say

00:39:06.260 I had to mold

00:39:07.020 with anti-Hindu

00:39:09.380 sectarian sentiment

00:39:10.280 that seems to be shared

00:39:11.240 from a certain

00:39:11.960 population within India

00:39:13.920 and, of course,

00:39:14.740 across the border

00:39:15.420 in Pakistan as well,

00:39:16.820 which, by the way,

00:39:17.840 Pakistan is often 1.00

00:39:18.780 accused of supporting

00:39:19.660 basically every movement

00:39:20.560 that has issue

00:39:21.580 with the Indian government.

00:39:22.240 So I think

00:39:23.220 there's going to be

00:39:23.620 a very interesting

00:39:24.080 conversation coming up

00:39:24.940 on this issue,

00:39:26.220 especially as

00:39:26.740 Indian-Canada

00:39:27.760 relationships

00:39:28.400 or diplomatic relations

00:39:29.800 resume.

00:39:31.180 And, of course,

00:39:31.960 the class things

00:39:32.460 will have something

00:39:33.400 to say about it as well.

00:39:35.400 Yeah, and I think

00:39:35.920 that the Hindu community

00:39:36.880 in Canada

00:39:37.400 has some point

00:39:38.240 to some extent,

00:39:39.020 which I can kind of

00:39:39.680 understand,

00:39:40.260 because in these drug

00:39:41.560 and gun busts

00:39:43.040 that you see,

00:39:43.700 you rarely see a Sharma,

00:39:45.740 but you almost

00:39:46.440 always see a Singh. 0.99

00:39:48.640 Right?

00:39:48.920 So there has to be

00:39:50.040 that, like,

00:39:50.700 I'd be an idiot

00:39:51.820 to not recognize

00:39:52.960 a pattern here.

00:39:55.660 I think we all would be.

00:39:57.600 But I also

00:39:58.800 don't buy the explanation

00:40:01.040 that every single Singh 0.98

00:40:02.280 who commits a crime

00:40:03.300 is automatically

00:40:04.160 a Kalistani. 0.60

00:40:05.600 These Indian accounts

00:40:07.760 consistently identify

00:40:10.680 anybody named Singh

00:40:12.060 who is charged

00:40:13.100 with a crime in Canada

00:40:14.020 as a Kalistani,

00:40:15.080 sometimes within seconds,

00:40:16.440 often within seconds.

00:40:17.640 of the police

00:40:18.880 releasing these media releases.

00:40:20.580 I personally find

00:40:21.800 that incredulous.

00:40:22.980 I don't think

00:40:24.080 that the Indian media

00:40:26.920 is capable.

00:40:28.500 Like, do I think

00:40:29.080 that they're watching

00:40:29.900 Sikh Canadians

00:40:30.920 and waiting for Singh

00:40:32.540 to commit a crime

00:40:33.460 who is a Kalistani,

00:40:34.680 and then to identify it?

00:40:36.120 It's completely ridiculous,

00:40:37.100 frankly.

00:40:38.320 And I think it is

00:40:39.780 a classic case

00:40:40.920 of foreign disinformation

00:40:41.840 campaign,

00:40:42.660 and I think it's worth...

00:40:43.540 So many things

00:40:44.160 can be true at once.

00:40:46.040 Right?

00:40:46.280 Singh's going to be 0.99

00:40:46.780 committing more crimes

00:40:47.960 than Hindus,

00:40:48.660 that's true,

00:40:49.240 but does everything

00:40:49.920 in Kalistani?

00:40:50.780 No.

00:40:51.620 My name's Isaac Lameru.

00:40:52.700 I'd like to thank

00:40:53.280 my colleagues

00:40:53.700 Alex Zoltan

00:40:54.340 and Walid Tamtam,

00:40:55.100 and remember

00:40:55.360 everything you heard

00:40:55.900 today was off the record.

00:40:56.940 your 5th century.

Juno News - October 18, 2025

Luring Migrants with Healthcare

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