Juno News - January 07, 2025
NON-CITIZENS, FOREIGN ACTORS can CHOOSE Trudeau’s SUCCESSOR & next PM
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Summary
Justin Trudeau announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister, which leaves Canada without a Prime Minister to negotiate with Donald Trump on border issues and the looming threat of 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods. Meanwhile, there are stunning revelations about the threat of foreign interference, as well as the fact that people who aren't Canadian citizens can vote for the next Liberal leader.
Transcript
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By now, you know that Justin Trudeau has announced his intention to resign, but you
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might not know just how precarious of a position it leaves Canada in. We have no one to negotiate
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with Donald Trump ahead of the looming threat of tariffs. And now, there's stunning revelations
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about the threat of foreign interference, as well as the fact that people who aren't Canadian
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citizens can vote for the next Liberal leader and the next Prime Minister of Canada. Joining
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me today to discuss is Brian Lilly of the Toronto Sun. I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome back to the Rachel Parker Show.
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Hey Brian, thanks for joining the show again today. I want to start by asking you right off the hop,
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you've been pretty vocal online, that you are not happy with the announcement that Justin Trudeau
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made on Monday morning because of the situation that it puts Canada in as we seek to negotiate with
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these tariffs and Donald Trump. Can you explain that a bit further? Well, we're in the worst possible
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position. We have a lame duck Prime Minister who is going to be, what, the one negotiating
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with Donald Trump who is going to be inaugurated in less than two weeks now. Trump has said starting
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day one, 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods unless we do something about our border. Well, what can we
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do about our border? Danielle Smith in Alberta has come up with some ideas. Francois Legault in Quebec has
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some ideas. Even Wab Canoo in Manitoba has sent conservation officers down to patrol, I think, down
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around Emerson. But, you know, the border is a federal responsibility and we do not have a functioning
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government at the moment. Now, in the fall economic statement, they promised 1.3 billion dollars
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in new funding over five years for border measures. Guess what? That money has not been voted on.
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That appropriation has not gone through Parliament. Can they even spend it? And, you know, is Trump
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going to take Trudeau seriously? He's announced he's leaving. So who does Trump negotiate with? Who
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does his team negotiate with? The finance minister, current finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, who's also
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in charge of border issues, he's looking at a leadership run. Half of Trudeau's cabinet is going to
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look at a leadership run. We will not have an effective functioning government for the next six
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months as we deal with a very real threat to our economy. What we needed was an election, but we
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also needed that a little while ago so that there would be someone in Ottawa with a mandate to actually
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negotiate with Trump to talk to the incoming U.S. President with some authority.
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So you think rather than announcing his intention to resign and provoking Parliament, Trudeau simply
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should have asked the Governor General for an election on Monday?
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Absolutely. And we could have gotten that over with quickly. We would have a new government in
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place by early March. Now, you know, my calculations, and you can hear me out on this, there's even a
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nightmare scenario where Justin Trudeau still runs in the next election. But I'm thinking the earliest
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we could have a functioning government is one elected by May and then, you know, in place, sworn in
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and everything by early June. That's not a good scenario. And think about this. We don't know when the
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liberals are going to have their leadership race. We, you know, I think that they're going to try and
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have the leadership race before the House comes back on March 24th. I was speaking with my friend and
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colleague, Warren Kinsella, who has a bit of experience in running liberal leadership races in
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election campaigns. And he says, there's no way that the party can actually do that. They're writing
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associations across the country have fallen apart because of the way the party runs now, this cult of
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personality around Trudeau. There's no infrastructure to run a leadership race anymore. And so he thinks
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it'll be passed March 24th before they pick a leader. Let's say that happens. The government
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comes back on March 24th because they have to pass a spending bill. Government runs out of money on March
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31st. So there's going to be a confidence vote on the spending bill. The conservatives will have an
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opposition day. Well, that will be a motion of non-confidence and they don't need to vote on the
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speech from the throne. That's optional. But if they do, that's confidence vote. So two, possibly
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three confidence votes in that first week, they come back. If they come back with Justin Trudeau as
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their leader, there's no way that anybody's making a deal with them. The NDP is not going to cut a deal.
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The bloc has already said they're voting the government down. So Justin Trudeau is still prime
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minister and we head into an election because they can't get their shit together, as Pierre
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Paulieff said to Jordan Peterson recently. Just quickly going back to the tariffs, you know,
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with Canada really lacking in lead negotiator on this front now, is there any hope of Canada avoiding
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these tariffs when Trump's inauguration becomes official on January 20th? Unless Trump is in a good
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mood unless he suddenly feels like, oh, well, let's be nice to Canada. I don't see it. I don't think
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that we've put enough in the window so far in terms of being able to show that we're serious on this.
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There have been some overtures about what, as I said, provinces will do and a little bit about what
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the feds will do. But all that is up in the air right now. And we know that Trump likes to find
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weakness and seek out weakness. And right now, we are very weak because, as Danielle Smith put it,
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So you've raised a lot of the concerns over Justin Trudeau perot in parliament. I know most
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Canadians were pretty unhappy with the announcement that he made on Monday. I think people were expecting
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a resignation and said we got an intent to resign, plus the prorogation. Some people that I've spoken
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to have also said there is a positive side to this because there was so much harmful legislation that
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was before the House that is now dead in the water that will have to be reintroduced, including the
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capital gains tax. Is there a positive thing? No. The capital gains tax changes are going through.
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It would make sense that because of prorogation,
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they wouldn't go through. But I checked with CRA and I said, my understanding is you're still going
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to go forward with this. And they sent a long detailed explanation. And I can understand their
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logic behind it, but I still fundamentally disagree with it. But let me back up. So the capital gains
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changes were announced in the budget, I believe. Then they were supposed to take effect June 25th.
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They didn't table their ways and means motion until September 23rd. Then parliament was seized with
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the green slush fund scandal and the question of privilege. So no government business was done
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until the tabling of the fall economic statement. So the ways and means motion has never been voted on.
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In my view, that means that it's not passed. It's not legal. And now that the House is probed, it dies.
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CRA says that their longstanding tradition is that they act as if the tax changes are in effect as soon
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as the ways and means motion is tabled. And that that has been going on for across governments of
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all stripes and for years, uh, year upon year. So they are still going to act as if that one is, uh,
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is going forward. Um, an awful lot of people are going to be upset about that, but I just wanted
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to get that out there. That's still going forward. Online harms bill that's done.
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So generally seems like we're in a very bad state in Canada. Sure. There's some legislation that Canadians
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were not pleased about that. Certainly conservatives weren't happy about that will die, but generally seems
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like we're not in a good scenario. I want to talk to you a little bit about the liberal leadership race.
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Do you have any idea currently who's going to be putting their names forward in that race?
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Uh, I can tell you that, uh, Chrystia Freeland has been, um, getting the backing of some old, uh,
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liberal MPs and, uh, and, and party stalwarts from the Chrétien Martin era. Um, Christy Clark has hired
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Don guy, a Toronto based, uh, strategist and campaigner who's, um, you know, had success at
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both, both federal and provincial levels over the years. Um, well-connected guy within the liberal
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party. She held a, a conference call on Monday night with a hundred different liberal organizers
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across the country. So that's pretty impressive. Um, her support base would be, uh, in Western Canada
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rather than in Toronto, but obviously pulling some from Ontario. Now, when I say Western Canada,
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of course, you know, the liberal party is not a big going concern where you are in Alberta, but
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British Columbia was key to Justin Trudeau's victories. Um, and, uh, it is always key to the
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liberal party in trying to, uh, uh, form a majority government. So, uh, Clark would be a, uh, you know,
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a viable candidate there. We know that Mark Carney is, is pausing to think about it, but now he's
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having people post photos of him saying, oh, look, he's handing it with, uh, Ghislaine Maxwell. Uh,
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you'll have to explain that. Um, you know, or, or explain that it's not her. I, I have no idea,
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but I'm seeing him be bombarded with that. Why Mark Carney would give up the life he has, uh, earning
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megabucks to, uh, uh, pontificate about the need for, uh, uh, green climate initiatives in order to
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get into the muck of, uh, political mud wrangling. I have no clue, but you're going to have a bunch of
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also rands in there. Uh, Anita and Anne, um, you know, lovely lady, it seems, but, uh, you know,
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she doesn't have the, the political, um, clout or the political chops to be able to pull off a
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leadership race. So there's going to be a lot of also rands and we'll have to wait and see what the,
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uh, what the voting rules even are. I mean, we know the crazy part of the voting rules.
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We know that a 14 year old Chinese exchange student in Toronto can go vote. And we know
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that because of the foreign interference scandal. So I, but we don't know when the leadership race
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will be, when it will start, when you have to have a membership by things like that. Um,
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I just expect a lot of foreign interference. I know we're getting the,
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the Hogue commission report at the end of this month, uh, into past foreign interference.
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There's going to be a whole new chapter on the liberal leadership race. If they'll interfere
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with Han Dong's nomination in Don Valley in Toronto, what do you think they're going to do? Or what
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India will do or Russia or Hamas supporters will do, uh, in rallying to Melanie Jolie, uh, if,
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if they can help pick the next, uh, prime minister of Canada, leader of a G7 country.
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Yeah. I want to touch on this foreign interference a little bit more because you reported this morning
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that a teenager who's not even a Canadian citizen can vote in the liberal leadership race. Is this
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solely due to foreign interference or does the liberal party need to clean up their leadership
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rules a little bit more and maybe have some more safeguards around them to ensure that it's
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actual Canadian citizens who are voting in this contest?
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I, I think all the parties need to, and I'm now in a position that I wouldn't have been several
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years ago before the foreign interference, uh, revelations. I think that we need to have
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Elections Canada have a bit of say in, in how party nominations are held. Uh, before I would have said,
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no, it's a, it's a private club. You don't need to, to get Elections Canada involved. You don't need more
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bureaucracy, but they've all got some pretty strange rules. I think for the conservatives,
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you can vote in a, uh, a leadership race or a nomination at the age of 16, but I believe
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you have to be a citizen. I think you have to be a citizen in the NDP as well. Uh, excuse me,
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for the liberals, you just need to be 14 years of age, 14 and ordinarily reside in the riding that
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you want to vote in. Well, in Don Valley, they had Chinese students at high school and college
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students who were bused in to and told by the Chinese consulate who to vote for. Of course,
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that same sort of thing is going to happen in a national leadership race and it's going to happen
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in the oddest places. And now we've got foreign students everywhere. I mean, there's going to be
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people who will, you know, we've seen the protest people saying, we don't want to, um, uh, we don't
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want to, uh, go home when our visas expire. Okay. All those students, including in far off ridings,
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this is how you win a leadership race, by the way, it's a hundred points per riding, just like the
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conservatives. And then those points are allotted. You take over one of these defunct, um, uh,
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uh, local riding associations. And there's a hundred points up for grabs. You could just
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sign up 25 people. They may be the only 25 members. You're going to get all hundred points
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for your candidate. And all of them could be people who aren't citizens in Canada.
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How do we allow this to happen? In this case, not only are they voting in a national leadership
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contest, but they're also voting for the next prime minister. So how is this even legal that you
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can vote while not being a Canadian citizen? Because we don't have, um, rules around,
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uh, party nominations. Uh, it's considered a private organization and, uh, it's not considered
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the same as a general election. Uh, I think we're seeing the problem with that now, the folly of it.
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And, and it needs to change. I think the rules should be the same as a general election. You need to be a
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Canadian citizen. Um, and you need to live where you're voting. Um, and you should be 18 years of
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age. We, we need to change this and, and make it that way for all the parties. If you want to,
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to contest in a federal election, then you should follow the, the same rules as a federal election
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in your nomination races. Wow. Brian, thank you so much. There's clearly some shocking implications
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that I think I hadn't necessarily thought of when, uh, Trudeau announced, um, that he was
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resigning and the leadership race on Monday morning. And I know for Canadians, uh, very informative,
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but certainly a lot to be concerned about here. So thank you very much. Thank you.
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Okay. Again, that was Brian Lilly of the Toronto Sun. Certainly some very serious implications about the
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people that will be choosing the next prime minister of Canada. Now, of course we would be
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remiss on a day like today, if we didn't cover some of the hilarious media reactions to Trudeau's
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resignation and CB CBC was in mourning, basically all day, Monday. I've been busy today. I haven't
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checked back, but I'm sure it's about the same. They had a number of panels. Everyone seemed very eager
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to praise the departing leader. And here is the NDP's former director of communications talking
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about what a wonderful man Jess Trudeau was. He's done some really good things for, for this country.
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He's done some, um, really good things for people. I will forever love dental care. And I know,
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you know, I'll say the NDP pushed that, but, but he delivered on it, right? That is a reality.
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People that I love are getting dental care because, you know, something that the prime minister does,
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did. So regardless of all of this thing that's happened lately and, and where we are at with
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caucus, um, I think people will remember him kindly. He wasn't mean spirited. He wasn't,
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you know, punching to punch. Um, and, and I think that's really important in our leaders
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and it's not always the case. So, um, uh, maybe that, that's what I'll, I'll say about the prime
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minister. I think, uh, folks will remember him for the kind things that he did and, and he did have
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an impact, a positive impact. Do you guys remember Justin Trudeau for the kind things that he did?
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Kind? I can think of a lot of words to describe Justin Trudeau, but kind certainly isn't one of
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them. The thing that comes to my head is maybe when he called us all a radical fringe minority
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with unacceptable views. Was that kind? That's not an example of punching down, is it? Hmm.
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Just some, some food for thought for you all. I'm sure you'll have your own thoughts.
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Then another clip that I wanted to play for you all. I felt like this one was very interesting
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because I think it reveals a lot about Americans attitudes toward Canada. One of the things that
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we've seen a lot in the American news is the Americans are saying, oh, Justin Trudeau left
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shortly after his meeting with Donald Trump and Donald Trump caused Justin Trudeau to resign.
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Now I was just talking about this with my producer, Sean. I think most of you are familiar
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with him from his days on the Andrew Lawton show. And you know, certainly Donald Trump
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was an extra layer and added stress to a prime minister was already hanging by a thread. There's
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that correlation. There's already obvious, but the conditions that caused Justin Trudeau to
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announce his intentions to resign on Monday morning were already there. They've been there for about a
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year, maybe even a year and a half now. So Justin has long been on his way out and sure we can thank
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Donald Trump for being maybe that added layer of stress that finally, you know, was the nail in
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the coffin. But those conditions that caused Trudeau to leave, that's multifaceted. That already
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existed. I think a lot of Americans are not really willing to look at all those reasons probably just
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because, you know, tend to be less informed on another nation. But here is a Fox business host
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asking Danielle Smith if Canadians really want radical change or if we're pretty much going to want par for
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the course like we saw with Justin Trudeau. And take a listen to the premier's response.
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And forgive me for being a cynic. I've watched what's happened in Canada now for several years.
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And to me, it seems like a stretch that the Canadian people are going to choose a radically
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different route than the one they've been going down. Do you really believe with new leadership,
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Canada could turn the corner in a way that, you know, America sort of seemed to do in this last
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election? One of the things I would ask, I don't know if you had the chance to see, but who I think
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is our future Prime Minister, Pierre Polyev, was just on Jordan Peterson's podcast, got 40 million
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views. So I think that that tells you something about what he has tapped into. And I think it's a
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very, again, it's the parallel track that we've been going on seeing that the Americans have had enough
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with the wokeism, with the punitive measures, with the unaffordability. And I would say that
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in a few months' time, you're probably going to see Prime Minister Pierre Polyev. And if that does
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happen, then our Conservative province will have a partner in being able to do development. We'll
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have a partner in building pipelines. We'll have a partner in development. We'll have a partner in
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productivity growth. And we'll have a partnership, I think, that will be a really strong ally of the
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United States. So if the Americans can wait just a few months, I think you're going to see quite a
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Very well said. All I have to say is that I hope she's right. Okay, everyone, that's all we have
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time for today on The Rachel Parker Show. It was great to get back into it. Let me know what you
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think in the comments section below. Did you know about the risk of foreign interference in the liberal
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leadership race? Did you know that non-Canadian citizens can vote for the next Prime Minister of
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Canada? What do you think about it all? I'll be sure to get to some of your comments next week.
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Have a good one. I'll see you guys tomorrow. And God bless.