Juno News - September 20, 2021


Maverick candidate says Ottawa needs to leave the West alone


Episode Stats

Length

11 minutes

Words per Minute

185.22379

Word Count

2,192

Sentence Count

128

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I know one of the criticisms of the Maverick Party's approach has been that if you want to look at Quebec as being the poster child for advancing a provincial agenda, Quebec's success has mostly come from having a strong provincial party looking out for Quebec issues.
00:00:19.840 People have said the Bloc Québécois hasn't really done that much for Quebec and Ottawa.
00:00:24.040 What's your read on that? Because the Maverick Party is obviously seeking seats in Parliament in Ottawa.
00:00:28.460 Can you advance a provincial agenda through federal politics?
00:00:31.620 I think you need both, Andrew. I think what you do is you need both.
00:00:35.180 You need a federal party that backs provincial requirements that need federal intervention.
00:00:40.200 So things like equalization being an easy example of that.
00:00:43.540 And so when I look at when I look at the Bloc Québécois, for example, Yves Blanchet over the last few days has been on fire and has essentially trolled the other leaders and said, hey, I only care about Quebec.
00:00:55.400 Now, what we want is someone that at the federal level, because we have a lot of our industries that are federally regulated.
00:01:01.680 So I think of oil and gas being one, especially pipeline transmissions, and the second one being aviation.
00:01:07.200 So these are two big industries in the riding gear. I don't want Ottawa managing these.
00:01:11.380 I'd rather they be managed in Western Canada, because Ottawa is mismanaged or, if anything, has worked on shutting down our industries.
00:01:19.900 You mentioned the lack of a Western discussion at the debates, both English and French.
00:01:24.520 Obviously, the French debate probably not going to focus as much on the West.
00:01:27.640 But let me ask you, what are the issues that you think are distinctly Western that need to be addressed?
00:01:32.140 Because a lot of the things that Albertans and people in the West are facing are issues that everyone in Canada is facing,
00:01:37.520 whether it's affordability, taxes, government accountability.
00:01:40.020 Why do you think the West needs to be addressed separately from that?
00:01:43.960 So there's a number of issues that are uniquely Western, and I'll think of our energy sector as one.
00:01:49.460 So our energy sector provides the prosperity really for the rest of Canada.
00:01:54.100 And we look at it and we said, now we have a government that is comfortable buying foreign oil,
00:02:00.540 $60 million a day worth of it from places like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela,
00:02:05.000 but refusing to buy or develop our own resources.
00:02:08.480 This has never been a question of green energy versus oil.
00:02:11.640 So that's one.
00:02:12.540 Two, when it comes to things like taxation, equalization, etc., what we want is the government to get out of the way.
00:02:19.300 So we don't want subsidies.
00:02:21.000 We don't want handouts.
00:02:22.300 The Western way of life is to earn it, and the Western way of life is to work hard.
00:02:25.960 And right now what we have is the government in the way of aviation, in the way of agriculture,
00:02:31.300 in the way of oil and gas, and in the way of tourism.
00:02:34.060 Those are the four biggest industries we've got here in the riding.
00:02:37.300 And I'd like to see the government get out of the way because right now if you look at,
00:02:40.920 I mean, you go buy a plane ticket, look at what your fare is compared to all your taxes and fees.
00:02:45.080 And that over-regulation, that over-taxation is what we want.
00:02:50.460 So our issues are pretty unique here.
00:02:52.640 The other thing is we continue to see our economy get battered,
00:02:57.340 even though right now economic conditions are favorable.
00:03:00.300 The price of oil is really good, right?
00:03:01.980 But companies are reluctant to develop pipeline and to develop rigs
00:03:06.320 when the government's in the way and they're saying,
00:03:08.620 well, what will the permitting process look like, right?
00:03:11.120 For a lot of federal politicians especially, and arguably provincial politicians elsewhere,
00:03:17.320 oil and gas pipelines are very abstract, ideological issues.
00:03:21.380 You have NDP politicians that are very anti-oil and pipelines.
00:03:25.400 You've got Quebecers that oftentimes, even a conservative government in Quebec,
00:03:29.420 that's very much against pipelines, against Canadian oil and gas sector.
00:03:34.020 Here it's not ideologically.
00:03:35.920 It's the livelihood of a lot of people.
00:03:38.360 It's the lifeblood of the province.
00:03:39.540 And even the politicians that talk about transitioning and getting people new jobs
00:03:44.420 who are displaced because of anti-oil policies,
00:03:46.960 does any of that actually materialize to something that on the ground,
00:03:50.840 people in the oil and gas sector in the West think that they would actually get?
00:03:54.200 It doesn't. That's a great question. It doesn't.
00:03:56.700 I mean, I ask, go around and ask, where are all the green jobs around here?
00:04:00.520 And, you know, transition isn't a bad thing.
00:04:03.340 But I look at it and I say nobody regulated the VHS out of existence.
00:04:06.940 Something better came along, right? And something better, quicker, faster.
00:04:10.320 What we're doing is we're taxing the life out of our industry in favor of buying foreign oil.
00:04:16.320 So here, yeah, it isn't an ideological thing.
00:04:18.880 It is what pays for mortgages.
00:04:21.520 It is what puts food on the table.
00:04:23.360 And it is also what drives all of the services around the economy.
00:04:26.980 So people think it's just oil and gas.
00:04:28.440 But it drives hotels, it drives restaurants, it drives transportation,
00:04:32.940 it drives a whole bunch of other industries.
00:04:35.340 It's a key economic driver.
00:04:37.720 And to think that oil consumption in the world and oil demand right now is going up,
00:04:41.740 but we're intent on shutting down a very ethical, very responsible,
00:04:45.660 very human rights forward industry here in the West blows my mind.
00:04:50.580 And I think also the carbon tax is a big one.
00:04:53.120 And so it doesn't just affect oil and gas, but affects everything.
00:04:56.400 It's a tax on everything.
00:04:57.660 And I look at, to your point, the Conservatives, even out East,
00:05:01.580 have somehow convinced themselves that a tax is going to save the planet.
00:05:06.160 I think it's incredibly naive to think that, you know, that's going to save the planet.
00:05:09.860 And you're going to punish Canadians for heating their homes or driving their vehicles
00:05:14.080 when you don't have a choice.
00:05:15.480 It's not a discretionary choice here, whether you can or can't heat your home.
00:05:18.900 We had a mini-controversy earlier on in the election about the politics of pickup trucks.
00:05:24.560 And I think you and I talked about this in our previous interview.
00:05:27.160 One of the first things you did when you moved here was buy a pickup truck.
00:05:30.200 These sorts of things are kind of amusing when you've got, you know,
00:05:33.000 people on the left and people in the media saying no one should be able to have pickup trucks.
00:05:36.800 But they do reveal, I think, a very genuine disconnect
00:05:39.640 between the Western way of life and the rest of Canada.
00:05:43.740 And I'm curious if you think that divide can be bridged.
00:05:47.120 Right. You know, this is the beauty.
00:05:49.620 It's a great question.
00:05:50.480 This is the beauty of why I'm running for the Maverick Party,
00:05:53.380 is we don't have a divide to bridge.
00:05:56.200 We only look out for the West.
00:05:58.520 We have tried relying on the Conservative Party.
00:06:01.740 This is the base of the Conservative Party.
00:06:03.260 And we've tried relying on the Conservative Party
00:06:05.280 to really relay our way of life, our industries, you know, the way we live.
00:06:10.920 And we found not only have they failed at that,
00:06:15.020 but they've also not really stood up in defending us.
00:06:19.000 So, yes, people out in the cities in the East think that, you know,
00:06:23.200 we drive pickup trucks because we're bold and bad and all that.
00:06:26.580 Well, how am I going to move these guys?
00:06:28.060 You know, and I need a pickup truck as a tool for my way of life and work and all of that.
00:06:34.220 So, I look at it and I say, it isn't feasible for me to be driving around a Prius or a Tesla for my way of life.
00:06:42.020 Now, here's the difference between us and the Conservative Party.
00:06:45.700 The Conservative Party is now trying to appease a voter in Toronto and Quebec
00:06:50.280 that they've completely forgotten about their base, the base that lives like this,
00:06:54.980 and the base that lives in Saskatchewan and Alberta and the Prairies and BC.
00:06:59.120 And we've said, you know what, we have to look after our own now.
00:07:02.620 And if the divide wants to exist, and I'll give you another example of that, Andrew,
00:07:07.080 if Toronto want to ban all their guns, we're not going to argue with it anymore.
00:07:12.040 But what we want is a regional firearms officer that, you know, builds our own firearms laws because we need them.
00:07:18.820 It's a tool of our trade, whether we're ranchers, sport shooters, hunters, etc.
00:07:23.740 It's part of the lifestyle that we live here.
00:07:26.620 So, I look at it and I say, the divide exists.
00:07:29.200 It's, we've, for as long as I've known, we've tried educating Eastern Canada on how ethical and clean our oil is,
00:07:35.520 and how human rights forward it is.
00:07:37.800 We've tried telling them about our lifestyle, and it just seems like it doesn't work.
00:07:41.920 So, I'll say, you know what, if the divide exists, let it exist, and let's focus on the West.
00:07:46.000 So, at the risk of putting words in your mouth, you're not interested in winning over
00:07:51.840 Zoe in downtown Toronto or Jean-Pierre in Montreal.
00:07:54.880 You just want to be left alone.
00:07:56.360 Exactly.
00:07:57.080 And we want the governments out of the way, Andrew.
00:07:59.520 And the thing is, that's the beauty of our party, is we don't have a single voter to appease
00:08:04.960 or pander to in Quebec and Ontario, just like Aaron O'Toole is.
00:08:09.380 Because, you know, you look at the, it's simple numbers.
00:08:12.220 231 seats are east of Manitoba, and 107 of them are Manitoba West.
00:08:17.160 So, that you're always going to have the government being set, depending on what Eastern Canada votes.
00:08:23.080 And forget, you know, you always hear it, by the time we vote in Alberta,
00:08:25.820 well, by the time we vote in Manitoba, the government's typically decided.
00:08:29.000 So, relying on Eastern Canada to vote one way or another isn't a winning strategy.
00:08:34.440 We need to start voting now on Western issues and saying, we want a Western voice.
00:08:40.560 I put out a tweet this morning, like, can you imagine if the West had a Blanchette type in the debates
00:08:46.900 that said, Western Canada, Western Canada, Western Canada, all the time.
00:08:50.620 Right now, we don't.
00:08:52.300 And I'd like to see that, I mean, I hate saying it,
00:08:54.940 but I'd like to see someone speak exclusively for Western Canada
00:08:58.380 and start to push forward, and this is what we're trying to do,
00:09:01.540 is we're trying to push forward constitutional amendments
00:09:04.300 that bring fairness and equity back to Western Canada.
00:09:07.960 So, I guess on that note, let's say Mavericks do elect two or three members of Parliament on September 20th.
00:09:13.080 How much power can they really have if they are dominated by, as you've mentioned there,
00:09:18.620 an Eastern House of Commons?
00:09:21.920 So, I'll give you examples of power.
00:09:23.740 So, we're running 30 candidates, and just before the election was called,
00:09:28.500 if I'm not mistaken, the Bloc Québécois have 31, 32 candidates in the House.
00:09:33.580 That's equal.
00:09:34.760 And that's just our first start here.
00:09:36.800 As we continue to grow that movement, 107 ridings in Western Canada,
00:09:42.560 Quebec has 78 seats.
00:09:43.980 So, think about that in terms of a voting bloc over time as we grow.
00:09:48.040 And I'll give you the easiest example.
00:09:49.660 The Green Party has, what, two seats now, or three, two or three seats?
00:09:53.280 Look at the amount of voice, press, ink that they get for two or three seats.
00:09:59.200 Or, I'll use the easiest example, Jody Wilson-Raybould pushing Bill C-96 back into debate
00:10:05.600 as one independent MP.
00:10:08.960 Look at the power she had in the House to bring attention to that issue.
00:10:13.580 So, it is possible, and, you know, I'd love to see all 30 Maverick candidates go to Ottawa
00:10:20.780 because it would be the absolute best thing for the West.
00:10:23.940 Now, there is an issue in people's minds here in the West of,
00:10:27.680 ah, do we split the vote, etc.
00:10:29.480 Despite the fact that they're very disappointed with Erin O'Toole representing no Western issues,
00:10:34.260 flip-flopping on gun control, flip-flopping on the carbon tax,
00:10:37.600 continuing to appease Quebec for everything that it wants.
00:10:41.860 is the best outcome for Western Canada for this immediate election here in just over 10 days
00:10:47.460 is to see an Erin O'Toole government that gets supported by a Maverick party
00:10:55.760 who will never form a formal coalition.
00:10:58.000 But you say, if you want our support, then these are a list of demands,
00:11:01.220 including things like scrapping the carbon tax and building an energy corridor.
00:11:05.100 So, how powerful would it be if it's the Mavericks that get Erin O'Toole over the finish line
00:11:10.860 and say, you want our support? This is what we want.
00:11:14.280 Perfect. Thank you.
00:11:15.120 Thanks, Andrew.
00:11:16.020 Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.
00:11:18.200 Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.
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