Juno News - September 20, 2021Maverick candidate says Ottawa needs to leave the West alone
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Summary
In this episode, I sit down with the candidate for the Maverick Party in the upcoming federal election, Andrew Scheer. We talk about his platform, why he s running for the party, and what he s looking for in a federal politician.
Transcript
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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.
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People have said the Bloc Québécois hasn't really done that much for Quebec and Ottawa.
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What's your read on that? Because the Maverick Party is obviously seeking seats in Parliament in Ottawa.
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Can you advance a provincial agenda through federal politics?
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I think you need both, Andrew. I think what you do is you need both.
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You need a federal party that backs provincial requirements that need federal intervention.
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So things like equalization being an easy example of that.
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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.
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Now, what we want is someone that at the federal level, because we have a lot of our industries that are federally regulated.
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So I think of oil and gas being one, especially pipeline transmissions, and the second one being aviation.
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So these are two big industries in the riding gear. I don't want Ottawa managing these.
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I'd rather they be managed in Western Canada, because Ottawa is mismanaged or, if anything, has worked on shutting down our industries.
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You mentioned the lack of a Western discussion at the debates, both English and French.
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Obviously, the French debate probably not going to focus as much on the West.
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But let me ask you, what are the issues that you think are distinctly Western that need to be addressed?
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Because a lot of the things that Albertans and people in the West are facing are issues that everyone in Canada is facing,
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whether it's affordability, taxes, government accountability.
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Why do you think the West needs to be addressed separately from that?
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So there's a number of issues that are uniquely Western, and I'll think of our energy sector as one.
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So our energy sector provides the prosperity really for the rest of Canada.
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And we look at it and we said, now we have a government that is comfortable buying foreign oil,
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$60 million a day worth of it from places like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela,
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but refusing to buy or develop our own resources.
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This has never been a question of green energy versus oil.
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Two, when it comes to things like taxation, equalization, etc., what we want is the government to get out of the way.
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The Western way of life is to earn it, and the Western way of life is to work hard.
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And right now what we have is the government in the way of aviation, in the way of agriculture,
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in the way of oil and gas, and in the way of tourism.
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Those are the four biggest industries we've got here in the riding.
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And I'd like to see the government get out of the way because right now if you look at,
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I mean, you go buy a plane ticket, look at what your fare is compared to all your taxes and fees.
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And that over-regulation, that over-taxation is what we want.
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The other thing is we continue to see our economy get battered,
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even though right now economic conditions are favorable.
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But companies are reluctant to develop pipeline and to develop rigs
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when the government's in the way and they're saying,
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well, what will the permitting process look like, right?
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For a lot of federal politicians especially, and arguably provincial politicians elsewhere,
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oil and gas pipelines are very abstract, ideological issues.
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You have NDP politicians that are very anti-oil and pipelines.
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You've got Quebecers that oftentimes, even a conservative government in Quebec,
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that's very much against pipelines, against Canadian oil and gas sector.
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And even the politicians that talk about transitioning and getting people new jobs
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who are displaced because of anti-oil policies,
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does any of that actually materialize to something that on the ground,
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people in the oil and gas sector in the West think that they would actually get?
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It doesn't. That's a great question. It doesn't.
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I mean, I ask, go around and ask, where are all the green jobs around here?
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But I look at it and I say nobody regulated the VHS out of existence.
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Something better came along, right? And something better, quicker, faster.
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What we're doing is we're taxing the life out of our industry in favor of buying foreign oil.
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And it is also what drives all of the services around the economy.
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But it drives hotels, it drives restaurants, it drives transportation,
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And to think that oil consumption in the world and oil demand right now is going up,
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but we're intent on shutting down a very ethical, very responsible,
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very human rights forward industry here in the West blows my mind.
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And so it doesn't just affect oil and gas, but affects everything.
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And I look at, to your point, the Conservatives, even out East,
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have somehow convinced themselves that a tax is going to save the planet.
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I think it's incredibly naive to think that, you know, that's going to save the planet.
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And you're going to punish Canadians for heating their homes or driving their vehicles
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It's not a discretionary choice here, whether you can or can't heat your home.
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We had a mini-controversy earlier on in the election about the politics of pickup trucks.
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And I think you and I talked about this in our previous interview.
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One of the first things you did when you moved here was buy a pickup truck.
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These sorts of things are kind of amusing when you've got, you know,
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people on the left and people in the media saying no one should be able to have pickup trucks.
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But they do reveal, I think, a very genuine disconnect
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between the Western way of life and the rest of Canada.
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And I'm curious if you think that divide can be bridged.
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This is the beauty of why I'm running for the Maverick Party,
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We have tried relying on the Conservative Party.
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And we've tried relying on the Conservative Party
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to really relay our way of life, our industries, you know, the way we live.
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And we found not only have they failed at that,
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but they've also not really stood up in defending us.
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So, yes, people out in the cities in the East think that, you know,
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we drive pickup trucks because we're bold and bad and all that.
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You know, and I need a pickup truck as a tool for my way of life and work and all of that.
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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.
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Now, here's the difference between us and the Conservative Party.
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The Conservative Party is now trying to appease a voter in Toronto and Quebec
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that they've completely forgotten about their base, the base that lives like this,
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and the base that lives in Saskatchewan and Alberta and the Prairies and BC.
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And we've said, you know what, we have to look after our own now.
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And if the divide wants to exist, and I'll give you another example of that, Andrew,
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if Toronto want to ban all their guns, we're not going to argue with it anymore.
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But what we want is a regional firearms officer that, you know, builds our own firearms laws because we need them.
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It's a tool of our trade, whether we're ranchers, sport shooters, hunters, etc.
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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,
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We've tried telling them about our lifestyle, and it just seems like it doesn't work.
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So, I'll say, you know what, if the divide exists, let it exist, and let's focus on the West.
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So, at the risk of putting words in your mouth, you're not interested in winning over
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Zoe in downtown Toronto or Jean-Pierre in Montreal.
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And we want the governments out of the way, Andrew.
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And the thing is, that's the beauty of our party, is we don't have a single voter to appease
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or pander to in Quebec and Ontario, just like Aaron O'Toole is.
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Because, you know, you look at the, it's simple numbers.
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231 seats are east of Manitoba, and 107 of them are Manitoba West.
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So, that you're always going to have the government being set, depending on what Eastern Canada votes.
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And forget, you know, you always hear it, by the time we vote in Alberta,
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well, by the time we vote in Manitoba, the government's typically decided.
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So, relying on Eastern Canada to vote one way or another isn't a winning strategy.
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We need to start voting now on Western issues and saying, we want a Western voice.
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I put out a tweet this morning, like, can you imagine if the West had a Blanchette type in the debates
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that said, Western Canada, Western Canada, Western Canada, all the time.
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And I'd like to see that, I mean, I hate saying it,
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but I'd like to see someone speak exclusively for Western Canada
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and start to push forward, and this is what we're trying to do,
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is we're trying to push forward constitutional amendments
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that bring fairness and equity back to Western Canada.
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So, I guess on that note, let's say Mavericks do elect two or three members of Parliament on September 20th.
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How much power can they really have if they are dominated by, as you've mentioned there,
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So, we're running 30 candidates, and just before the election was called,
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if I'm not mistaken, the Bloc Québécois have 31, 32 candidates in the House.
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As we continue to grow that movement, 107 ridings in Western Canada,
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So, think about that in terms of a voting bloc over time as we grow.
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The Green Party has, what, two seats now, or three, two or three seats?
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Look at the amount of voice, press, ink that they get for two or three seats.
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Or, I'll use the easiest example, Jody Wilson-Raybould pushing Bill C-96 back into debate
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Look at the power she had in the House to bring attention to that issue.
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So, it is possible, and, you know, I'd love to see all 30 Maverick candidates go to Ottawa
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because it would be the absolute best thing for the West.
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Now, there is an issue in people's minds here in the West of,
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Despite the fact that they're very disappointed with Erin O'Toole representing no Western issues,
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flip-flopping on gun control, flip-flopping on the carbon tax,
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continuing to appease Quebec for everything that it wants.
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is the best outcome for Western Canada for this immediate election here in just over 10 days
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is to see an Erin O'Toole government that gets supported by a Maverick party
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But you say, if you want our support, then these are a list of demands,
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including things like scrapping the carbon tax and building an energy corridor.
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So, how powerful would it be if it's the Mavericks that get Erin O'Toole over the finish line
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and say, you want our support? This is what we want.
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Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.
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Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.