Juno News - Ontario’s New Blue party commits to banning vaccine passports

00:00:00.000 We have a lot happening this week.

00:00:10.220 Ontarians go to the polls for the provincial election on Thursday.

00:00:13.780 Of course, advanced polls were already taking place,

00:00:16.760 so a lot of Ontarians have already voted.

00:00:18.340 But still, I think it's important to talk about the themes

00:00:21.340 that are coming out in this as Doug Ford

00:00:23.820 and the Progressive Conservative Party seeks re-election.

00:00:26.920 New Blue leader Jim Karajalios joins me back on the program here.

00:00:31.460 Jim, we talked a little while ago,

00:00:33.560 but I wanted to drill in to the policy aspect here.

00:00:37.000 Tell me about the new blueprint.

00:00:38.760 What is this?

00:00:39.720 Well, thanks for remembering the name of it, Andrew.

00:00:41.460 And we're really happy with the new blueprint.

00:00:44.000 It's the most important topics going into this election

00:00:47.640 for the new Blue Party and our candidates,

00:00:50.220 presented in six bullets,

00:00:52.420 in addition to the COVID-related legislation

00:00:55.920 that we've been pushing back on

00:00:57.360 since Belinda voted against Doug Ford's lockdown bill, Bill 195.

00:01:01.300 And we're really, really proud of it.

00:01:03.180 I'm happy to go over some of the key highlights for you.

00:01:06.320 But of course, we've been talking since last summer

00:01:08.940 about banning the use of vaccine passports,

00:01:13.600 not just making them optional in the public or private sector,

00:01:16.860 but banning them.

00:01:18.200 I was there.

00:01:19.360 I saw you in Ottawa at the trucker convoy

00:01:22.000 talking about restitution for some of those truckers

00:01:25.040 who had their businesses, 39 of them,

00:01:27.300 had their businesses shut down without due process.

00:01:29.800 And for some of the churches who had their doors shut

00:01:32.940 and their keys taken from them

00:01:34.580 and couldn't access their facility.

00:01:36.320 But we knew that the PCs were going to run away

00:01:38.940 from their COVID record

00:01:40.060 and make it sound like they had nothing to do with it

00:01:42.540 or wasn't their fault in the last two years.

00:01:44.160 And so we've been very diligent to make sure

00:01:46.840 that we're talking about fiscal, social and democratic issues.

00:01:50.300 We're the only party out there talking about scrapping

00:01:52.620 the per vote subsidy for the establishment political parties

00:01:56.340 that Doug Ford brought back and increased by 40%

00:01:59.340 over $100 million in 10 years has gone to the PCs,

00:02:02.880 the Liberals and the NDP.

00:02:04.100 We're talking about cancelling the Toronto Star's

00:02:06.480 online gambling license.

00:02:07.920 And we need one provincial party that fights for free press.

00:02:10.940 And we're talking about bringing down electricity rates

00:02:13.600 by getting rid of the wind turbines.

00:02:15.740 And I'm happy to get into that some more with you

00:02:18.260 because it's a complicated file.

00:02:19.660 And of course, we all remember Belinda was the only MPP

00:02:22.560 to vote against critical race theory in Bill 67.

00:02:25.960 And we launched that stopwoke.ca petition

00:02:29.320 that Belinda read on the last day of the legislature.

00:02:33.620 And in our platform, the new blueprint

00:02:35.640 is getting rid of critical race theory in our schools

00:02:38.080 and offering tax credits for those parents

00:02:41.360 who've chosen alternatives in education.

00:02:44.060 Let me go back to what you said at the beginning there, Jim,

00:02:47.020 which is preventing the government

00:02:48.600 from being able to do some of the horrific things

00:02:51.300 they've done in the name of public health and COVID

00:02:53.580 with vaccine passports and mandates and all of that.

00:02:56.680 I mean, the federal government has a constitution

00:02:58.980 which theoretically, and I mean, there's a big debate

00:03:02.060 we could have about the efficacy of the courts here,

00:03:04.060 but theoretically constrains future government's actions.

00:03:07.060 If you were to get in and you were to pass this,

00:03:09.800 what's to stop a government from basically doing

00:03:11.840 what the Doug Ford government did,

00:03:13.660 which is ripping up the law and ripping up all of this

00:03:16.520 and saying, we're doing it anyway.

00:03:17.960 I mean, a government that can impose a restriction on itself

00:03:20.720 could also remove that restriction

00:03:22.260 when it was expedient to do so, couldn't it?

00:03:24.640 And it's kind of a similar question on a variety of policies,

00:03:27.820 even in Doug Ford's industrial carbon tax

00:03:30.040 that we're talking about, that's part of the new blueprint.

00:03:32.140 But I've always said that these are not just legal questions,

00:03:36.020 these are political questions.

00:03:37.480 And I remember, Andrew, when I was in law school in Ottawa,

00:03:40.800 I hope the viewers forgive me for going to law school.

00:03:44.000 Belinda did when she met me.

00:03:45.540 But I remember some of the judges that we had met

00:03:48.460 admitted that when they make some of these charter decisions

00:03:51.540 or constitutional decisions,

00:03:52.820 they do look at public sentiment

00:03:54.440 and they do look at what the debates are in the legislature.

00:03:58.240 So it's not just a legal answer.

00:04:00.960 And lawsuits are necessary in advocacy,

00:04:04.720 just as are protests and rallies and petitions.

00:04:08.020 But the other piece is having a political party

00:04:10.760 fighting to change legislation

00:04:12.600 and pushing back when legislation is changed in the future.

00:04:16.620 So we saw the government throw away a lot of the,

00:04:21.200 what we thought were constitutionally protected rights

00:04:23.940 and freedoms.

00:04:24.440 And we saw Doug Ford take emergency powers

00:04:27.540 that we traditionally thought

00:04:29.400 were only for a period of time of under a month

00:04:32.280 and expand it to two years.

00:04:34.160 And you're right.

00:04:35.020 A future government can do that

00:04:37.800 under the current political climate that we have here.

00:04:41.400 But we need a political party to say,

00:04:43.280 it's not enough to just walk away

00:04:45.660 and say vaccine passports are going to be optional now.

00:04:49.060 We need, government created this problem.

00:04:50.900 We need the pushback to be government

00:04:52.780 is going to solve this problem.

00:04:54.040 And it starts with advocacy from the new blue party

00:04:56.880 saying we're going to ban vaccine passports,

00:04:59.400 public or private sector.

00:05:01.000 And I think that's an important step

00:05:03.080 in ensuring that future governments

00:05:04.480 know not to try this again.

00:05:07.100 The pessimism that I had through a lot of the pandemic

00:05:10.940 came from the fact that it seemed like

00:05:12.640 a lot of Ontarians welcomed restrictions.

00:05:15.260 A lot of Ontarians welcomed vaccine passports.

00:05:18.180 I mean, how do you square what you're proposing

00:05:20.320 with what I fear was at times in the pandemic,

00:05:23.540 a democratic will for some of these things?

00:05:26.340 Well, I think in the early going,

00:05:28.200 there was a lot of fear that came over.

00:05:30.980 And even when Belinda voted against Bill 195,

00:05:34.880 we saw a lot of politicians vote in favor of it

00:05:39.880 who later cheated.

00:05:41.000 And so sure, the public was afraid.

00:05:44.060 And part of the problem, I think,

00:05:45.400 is that the government was,

00:05:48.200 I've said this publicly,

00:05:49.760 it's nefarious that St. Joe's and Hamilton

00:05:52.560 had early treatment for COVID.

00:05:54.800 And it wasn't readily being promoted and expanded,

00:05:59.460 whether it's monoclonal antibodies

00:06:02.160 or other early treatments.

00:06:03.340 It wasn't expanded across Ontario.

00:06:05.080 So the public's fear was there's no treatment for this.

00:06:08.360 Nothing can be done.

00:06:09.300 And that gave the government some early leeway.

00:06:12.860 But if you look now,

00:06:14.440 the PCs have been running away from their record

00:06:16.760 and they're scaring the public

00:06:18.840 about these types of mandates and lockdowns,

00:06:21.220 saying that the NDP might do

00:06:22.840 exactly what Doug Ford did a few times.

00:06:25.320 So I think it's important with advocacy,

00:06:28.540 the public responds.

00:06:29.820 And the public mood may shift,

00:06:32.300 depending on more information that comes out.

00:06:34.280 And so maybe in the beginning there was skepticism,

00:06:37.480 but I think largely the more people find out

00:06:39.900 about treatments for COVID

00:06:41.300 and the studies that have come out

00:06:43.620 and in discussion that the lockdowns did nothing

00:06:46.220 to curb the spread. 0.72

00:06:48.240 And there was no such thing as COVID zero.

00:06:50.480 And the same with the vaccine passports.

00:06:52.940 I think the public comes around.

00:06:55.120 And I would also remind people on this

00:06:57.040 that the government and their public health advisors

00:07:00.000 have not ruled out the return of these things.

00:07:03.540 I mean, it's all well and good during an election

00:07:05.240 to see everyone mask-free, vaccine passport-free.

00:07:08.340 But Kieran Moore has gotten up there and said,

00:07:10.600 you know, once winter comes around,

00:07:12.080 who knows what's going to happen.

00:07:13.860 And we've got to,

00:07:14.600 that's why the new blue party

00:07:15.540 is just getting started on June 2nd.

00:07:17.300 It's no conclusion.

00:07:18.500 We need a political party

00:07:19.820 in every corner of this province, Andrew,

00:07:22.040 that when the establishment parties,

00:07:24.140 and we know, it's not even if,

00:07:25.620 we know that they're not going to stick

00:07:27.660 to their commitments and especially the Ford PCs.

00:07:30.100 We're going to be there.

00:07:30.740 The new blue party outside the legislature,

00:07:32.420 hopefully inside the legislature

00:07:34.240 to keep advocating and keep pushing.

00:07:36.840 And one of the things that COVID brought up

00:07:38.780 in the last two years,

00:07:39.660 you'll know this, Andrew,

00:07:41.280 that the power that some of the local bureaucrats

00:07:44.140 have in the name of public health.

00:07:45.840 So you can have specific regions

00:07:47.960 just declaring without any due process,

00:07:50.560 without any debate in the legislature,

00:07:51.960 they're going to shut down businesses.

00:07:53.600 And part of the new blueprint

00:07:54.600 is doing a comprehensive review

00:07:56.500 of what those legal powers are

00:07:59.460 of local bureaucrats

00:08:00.440 in the name of public health.

00:08:01.980 They have no idea what it's like

00:08:03.340 to operate a church

00:08:04.740 or worship

00:08:05.560 or run a small business.

00:08:07.460 They shouldn't have that power

00:08:08.620 in many instances

00:08:09.960 to shut down small businesses

00:08:11.280 and tell people how many people

00:08:12.860 they can have over for Christmas

00:08:13.920 and Thanksgiving.

00:08:15.320 Yeah, I mean,

00:08:16.000 there was a time not that long ago,

00:08:17.720 I guess two years and a bit,

00:08:19.220 where the public health officer

00:08:20.880 was the one telling you

00:08:22.020 about getting your malaria shot

00:08:23.740 before you go to Africa,

00:08:25.220 teaching people about

00:08:26.120 the importance of safe sex

00:08:27.620 and, you know,

00:08:28.720 making sure that there were

00:08:30.080 drug overdose responses available.

00:08:32.420 I mean, these things

00:08:33.020 that most people associate

00:08:33.960 with public health.

00:08:35.040 The amount of power

00:08:36.260 that we've learned

00:08:37.060 was always there,

00:08:38.120 but has only more recently

00:08:39.280 been deployed

00:08:39.920 is shocking to people.

00:08:41.880 And I guess the question is,

00:08:43.520 how big of an overhaul

00:08:44.900 do we need to rein that in?

00:08:47.060 We need a comprehensive overview

00:08:48.660 of the laws and the regulations

00:08:50.460 on the books

00:08:51.000 for the local bureaucrats,

00:08:52.180 in addition to repealing

00:08:53.460 all of the laws

00:08:54.740 that Doug Ford put in

00:08:56.160 under the guise of,

00:08:57.200 you know,

00:08:58.060 lockdown mandate

00:08:59.100 related legislation,

00:09:00.320 including Bill 100

00:09:01.400 that he put in

00:09:03.260 near the end

00:09:03.920 of the legislative sitting

00:09:04.960 that allows him

00:09:05.640 to go after people

00:09:06.520 without due process

00:09:07.300 and shut down businesses.

00:09:08.920 It's got to be

00:09:09.640 a comprehensive overview

00:09:10.780 of the last two years

00:09:12.040 of COVID lockdown

00:09:13.700 related legislation

00:09:15.140 and mandate

00:09:15.700 related legislation

00:09:16.720 and proactive legislation

00:09:18.980 because of the problem

00:09:20.600 the PCs have created

00:09:21.880 in many instances

00:09:23.340 where Doug Ford

00:09:24.500 is now saying

00:09:25.140 it's an option

00:09:25.940 for people

00:09:26.680 or facility operators

00:09:28.520 whether they want to use

00:09:29.460 the COVID vaccine passport.

00:09:30.760 But a few months ago

00:09:31.680 when Belinda was standing

00:09:33.080 in the legislature

00:09:33.740 challenging them on it,

00:09:35.540 whether it was

00:09:36.060 a liberal private members bill

00:09:37.380 or otherwise,

00:09:38.740 the PCs were advocating

00:09:39.960 for it publicly

00:09:40.680 and in the legislature

00:09:41.720 telling facility operators

00:09:44.260 to impose COVID vaccine passports

00:09:46.860 and the nurses 1.00

00:09:47.500 that were terminated

00:09:48.420 from their jobs.

00:09:49.300 It's only increased

00:09:50.020 the backlog of procedures,

00:09:51.520 the new blueprint calls

00:09:52.480 for rehiring those nurses.

00:09:54.280 So there's a lot of work to do

00:09:55.840 but it starts with ensuring

00:09:57.220 that the discussion continues

00:09:58.980 and the advocacy

00:09:59.780 in the right direction continues

00:10:01.480 and that's what

00:10:02.340 the new blue party

00:10:03.040 of Ontario was started

00:10:03.920 for two years ago

00:10:05.080 and we're just getting started

00:10:06.160 on June 2nd.

00:10:07.400 You've gone in the new blueprint

00:10:08.900 back to basics

00:10:09.720 on I think conservative

00:10:10.920 fiscal policy here,

00:10:12.160 a reduction in the HST

00:10:13.600 from 13% to 10%.

00:10:16.080 So that's a pretty significant

00:10:17.500 reduction in the provincial

00:10:18.780 portion of that.

00:10:19.680 I'm not even going to pretend

00:10:21.320 that I'm opposed to that.

00:10:22.500 I think that's wonderful.

00:10:23.600 I'd say bring it on.

00:10:24.780 How would you pay for it though?

00:10:26.660 The payment's got to be

00:10:27.840 through economic growth.

00:10:28.940 I mean conservatives

00:10:29.600 in the past, Andrew,

00:10:30.680 would say we don't have

00:10:32.040 a spending problem,

00:10:33.180 we have a revenue problem.

00:10:34.740 Well, under 20 years

00:10:35.960 of liberal and PC governments,

00:10:37.580 we have a spending problem

00:10:39.000 and we have a revenue problem

00:10:40.540 because the economy's growing

00:10:41.700 at over 1%

00:10:43.060 and we all know that

00:10:44.140 the more you increase taxation,

00:10:46.300 the economy's not going to pick up

00:10:47.820 and we saw it with Doug Ford

00:10:49.320 put in an industrial carbon tax

00:10:51.240 that's part of the same tax relief

00:10:53.060 we're promising

00:10:53.680 in the new blueprint

00:10:54.920 and every time you add

00:10:56.720 one of these taxes,

00:10:57.540 you're just slowing down

00:10:58.460 the economy.

00:10:59.520 Our new blueprint

00:11:00.180 has the best plan

00:11:01.040 to get the economy going again.

00:11:03.340 It starts with reducing

00:11:04.340 electricity rates

00:11:05.420 by taking down

00:11:06.140 and decommissioning

00:11:06.880 those wind turbines

00:11:07.740 and reducing the HST

00:11:09.420 will also have

00:11:10.340 an economic impact

00:11:11.800 and that's how

00:11:12.700 we're going to pay

00:11:13.260 for tax relief

00:11:15.140 and for social services

00:11:17.220 going forward

00:11:17.800 and social services

00:11:18.600 are in trouble

00:11:19.200 because if we keep

00:11:20.240 growing this economy

00:11:21.180 at a fraction

00:11:22.360 of what our spending increases,

00:11:24.120 we're going to have

00:11:25.280 a big problem.

00:11:25.780 But I'll say one more thing,

00:11:26.840 Andrew,

00:11:27.100 I said this to someone

00:11:28.280 who interviewed me

00:11:28.920 the other day

00:11:29.480 from a publication.

00:11:32.160 When it's time

00:11:33.580 for the PCs

00:11:34.140 or the liberals

00:11:34.760 to spend money

00:11:35.660 like Doug Ford just did,

00:11:37.000 he spent more money

00:11:37.800 in the last four years

00:11:38.700 than any government,

00:11:40.140 he's run greater deficits

00:11:41.620 excluding COVID spending

00:11:43.000 than any government

00:11:44.400 in the history of Ontario.

00:11:46.040 It's amazing

00:11:46.560 that the establishment press

00:11:47.700 never says,

00:11:48.640 how are you going

00:11:49.160 to pay for that?

00:11:50.080 It's just like,

00:11:50.820 it's a bottomless pit

00:11:51.880 of money

00:11:52.660 when it comes to spending,

00:11:54.020 when it comes

00:11:54.640 to $6.9 billion

00:11:55.720 to try to keep

00:11:57.440 hydro rates down.

00:11:58.340 But when it comes

00:11:58.880 to tax relief,

00:12:00.080 the left is all

00:12:01.060 over the place

00:12:01.640 and the establishment

00:12:02.260 media are screaming,

00:12:03.420 you can't pay for it.

00:12:04.340 Well, the best way

00:12:05.080 to afford tax relief

00:12:07.140 is by doing a tax relief

00:12:08.600 and getting the economy going.

00:12:10.900 Are there any

00:12:11.360 big significant expenditures

00:12:13.440 that you see?

00:12:14.320 I mean, obviously,

00:12:14.700 you're not in there

00:12:15.440 and you don't have access

00:12:16.540 to the full books

00:12:17.320 in the sense that you would

00:12:18.600 if you were the premier,

00:12:19.780 but are there things

00:12:20.660 going into it

00:12:21.340 that you know you could cut

00:12:23.060 that are big ticket items

00:12:24.260 or that you would

00:12:24.760 at least look at for cuts?

00:12:26.660 Well, one of the ways

00:12:27.480 we reduce spending

00:12:29.400 is through the alternative

00:12:30.460 schooling tax credit

00:12:31.860 and other wasteful spending

00:12:34.360 like the $100 million

00:12:35.180 a year that Doug Ford's

00:12:36.520 been doing

00:12:37.100 for the political parties

00:12:40.080 over the last 10 years.

00:12:41.100 He didn't do the $100 million,

00:12:42.360 but the establishment party

00:12:43.480 set it in motion.

00:12:45.060 But the other big spending,

00:12:46.720 $6.9 billion a year

00:12:48.280 of taxpayer money

00:12:49.060 being used

00:12:49.780 to artificially deflate hydro rates

00:12:52.220 when the solution

00:12:52.980 is to take down

00:12:53.720 the wind turbines.

00:12:54.720 And we just saw him

00:12:55.720 for two months

00:12:56.480 make promises

00:12:58.420 in the billions,

00:13:00.760 hundreds of millions

00:13:01.580 of dollars worth

00:13:02.900 of green energy,

00:13:05.460 electric vehicle subsidies.

00:13:07.240 And I hate using

00:13:07.980 the term green energy

00:13:08.780 because it's not.

00:13:09.660 It's not green energy.

00:13:11.280 So right there

00:13:12.300 with his commitments

00:13:13.240 that he's promised,

00:13:14.580 totally opposed

00:13:16.040 to the electric vehicle subsidies,

00:13:17.900 corporate welfare

00:13:18.520 going to create

00:13:20.160 these industries

00:13:21.540 that are entirely

00:13:22.720 going to be dependent

00:13:23.480 on government funding.

00:13:25.400 And the minute

00:13:25.920 the government can't afford

00:13:27.040 to fund them anymore,

00:13:28.060 those industries

00:13:28.660 will collapse.

00:13:29.860 So there's a lot

00:13:30.800 of wasteful spending

00:13:31.560 that the Ford PCs

00:13:32.520 have continued

00:13:33.720 in continuing

00:13:34.880 the McGuinty-Winn legacy

00:13:36.180 and trying to create

00:13:37.480 a provincial paradigm

00:13:39.160 here in Ontario

00:13:40.600 of whatever

00:13:41.060 Justin Trudeau wants federally.

00:13:43.440 Things like accountability

00:13:44.920 are not

00:13:45.720 or should not

00:13:46.360 be left-right issues.

00:13:47.960 The COVID handling,

00:13:49.160 I've seen a lot

00:13:49.800 of criticism

00:13:50.380 towards what Doug Ford's

00:13:52.080 done here from the left

00:13:53.080 and from the right.

00:13:54.280 And I think increasingly

00:13:55.220 from people

00:13:55.760 that aren't even political

00:13:57.020 or aren't even

00:13:57.560 on the political spectrum.

00:13:59.080 So let me ask

00:13:59.740 how you envision

00:14:00.780 your party fitting

00:14:01.680 into the political

00:14:02.340 landscape here.

00:14:03.140 Are you trying to be

00:14:04.060 an alternative

00:14:05.040 for conservative voters

00:14:06.320 or do you actually

00:14:06.980 see something in here

00:14:08.060 that's going to attract

00:14:09.440 votes from

00:14:10.140 former liberal voters,

00:14:11.840 NDP voters,

00:14:12.780 Green voters,

00:14:13.540 and non-voters?

00:14:15.240 One of the biggest

00:14:17.120 components of our supporters

00:14:19.080 are people who have

00:14:19.820 stopped voting

00:14:20.600 for a long time.

00:14:22.660 We get it

00:14:23.220 in Kitchener-Conestoga

00:14:24.780 and Cambridge

00:14:25.320 and across Ontario,

00:14:26.280 people who have said

00:14:27.600 they gave up

00:14:28.740 on the establishment

00:14:29.640 parties because

00:14:30.260 they're all the same

00:14:31.100 and whether it's

00:14:32.880 we are talking

00:14:34.040 about issues

00:14:34.820 that voters

00:14:36.640 previously would have said,

00:14:38.240 you know,

00:14:38.500 I consider that

00:14:39.300 a right-of-center issue

00:14:40.740 or they thought

00:14:42.140 that that was not

00:14:43.040 a right-of-center issue

00:14:43.960 and they're coming around

00:14:44.860 and realizing

00:14:46.320 that's actually

00:14:46.960 a good solution

00:14:47.780 or whether we're

00:14:49.920 talking about

00:14:50.640 the things

00:14:51.280 on accountability

00:14:52.520 and democratic reform

00:14:54.160 and not wasting money

00:14:55.240 that a lot of voters

00:14:56.760 used to think

00:14:57.380 was common

00:14:58.360 amongst all the parties.

00:14:59.500 For example,

00:15:00.480 the idea

00:15:01.020 that you're subsidizing

00:15:02.080 a political party

00:15:03.000 for their operations,

00:15:04.440 I don't think

00:15:05.040 there's a voter

00:15:05.640 out there

00:15:06.140 on the left

00:15:06.660 or the right

00:15:07.320 that thinks

00:15:08.020 that's a good idea

00:15:08.960 or very few at least.

00:15:10.180 The idea that,

00:15:11.000 you know,

00:15:11.580 the PCs

00:15:12.160 would not allow

00:15:13.700 Belinda's private members

00:15:15.020 bill to pass

00:15:15.960 in 2019

00:15:16.800 and they parked it

00:15:18.400 at a committee.

00:15:22.700 Oh,

00:15:23.340 I think we,

00:15:23.960 I think you froze there.

00:15:25.320 Do we still have Jim?

00:15:26.760 Which was to,

00:15:28.260 for the first time,

00:15:30.260 Yeah,

00:15:30.540 sorry,

00:15:30.740 we got you back now.

00:15:31.600 We're carrying on there.

00:15:32.740 So,

00:15:33.340 in Ontario's history,

00:15:34.800 there's never been a law

00:15:35.960 against voter fraud

00:15:37.140 in internal party elections

00:15:38.560 and Belinda proposed 0.95

00:15:39.980 that private members bill

00:15:41.080 and she got

00:15:41.620 unanimous support

00:15:42.960 from all the parties

00:15:43.860 in the legislature

00:15:44.540 because the Greens,

00:15:45.840 the Liberals,

00:15:46.280 the NDP,

00:15:46.820 they all know

00:15:47.400 that their voters

00:15:48.360 wouldn't be in favor

00:15:49.200 of voter fraud

00:15:49.740 but the Doug Ford PCs

00:15:50.960 just parked at a committee

00:15:52.480 never allowed

00:15:53.220 that private members bill

00:15:54.340 to become law.

00:15:55.380 I mean,

00:15:55.540 what kind of party,

00:15:56.440 Andrew?

00:15:56.760 wouldn't pass into law

00:15:58.180 a bill against voter fraud

00:16:00.000 in internal party elections

00:16:01.200 and a lot of voters

00:16:02.480 in Ontario,

00:16:03.240 whether it's Cambridge

00:16:03.820 or otherwise,

00:16:05.060 they had no idea

00:16:06.580 that there are no laws

00:16:07.800 on the books

00:16:08.360 against voter fraud

00:16:09.480 taking place

00:16:10.020 in a leadership

00:16:10.620 and a nomination

00:16:11.520 at a party convention

00:16:13.000 and of course,

00:16:14.480 the other promise

00:16:15.580 we've made

00:16:16.060 is to scrap

00:16:16.660 the Toronto Star's

00:16:17.540 online gambling license

00:16:18.620 and Andrew,

00:16:19.640 you're one of the best

00:16:20.920 read on this stuff.

00:16:21.640 you'll see a lot of

00:16:22.960 left-leaning commentators

00:16:25.200 writing articles

00:16:26.260 on this stuff

00:16:26.920 saying this is a terrible idea

00:16:28.440 to mix online gambling revenues

00:16:30.700 with print media

00:16:31.880 is a terrible idea

00:16:33.020 and there's other local issues

00:16:35.440 that we've been fighting for

00:16:36.380 like Belinda's been standing up

00:16:37.540 against a drug injection site

00:16:38.740 in Cambridge

00:16:39.240 and voters

00:16:40.960 that traditionally

00:16:41.840 may have voted

00:16:42.420 on the left

00:16:42.920 or the right

00:16:43.440 or never voted

00:16:44.260 are coming around

00:16:46.700 and saying

00:16:47.020 I agree with that.

00:16:47.740 So we are talking

00:16:48.560 about the things

00:16:49.280 that the establishment parties

00:16:50.760 and others

00:16:52.020 in the political process

00:16:53.320 are not talking about

00:16:54.400 and that's where

00:16:55.420 we've been building

00:16:56.020 our support

00:16:56.560 for the last two years

00:16:57.460 and even before that

00:16:58.360 since I started

00:16:59.980 the Acts of Carbon Tax campaign.

00:17:01.720 I know about 15 years ago

00:17:03.680 Ontarians voted

00:17:04.580 in a referendum

00:17:05.360 on electoral reform

00:17:07.040 on introducing

00:17:07.920 mixed member

00:17:09.000 proportional representation

00:17:10.180 which would have allowed

00:17:11.320 for some proportional

00:17:13.180 representation

00:17:14.020 in the legislature

00:17:15.120 which would have allowed

00:17:16.620 for newer parties

00:17:17.660 and upstart parties

00:17:18.580 to have a bit more

00:17:19.400 of a direct path in.

00:17:20.500 Is that something

00:17:21.020 you'd support

00:17:21.920 or you have a position

00:17:22.940 on as leader of New Blue

00:17:24.080 electoral reform?

00:17:26.240 It's not in the new blueprint.

00:17:27.920 It's something

00:17:28.460 that we're always looking at

00:17:29.640 ways to strengthen

00:17:30.600 our democracy

00:17:31.340 but in the immediate future

00:17:33.520 we're fighting for

00:17:34.820 a cleanup

00:17:35.860 of the internal party process.

00:17:38.380 So I think

00:17:39.860 that's the immediate thing

00:17:40.960 that needs fixing

00:17:41.740 and tinkering

00:17:42.480 with the general election system

00:17:44.200 is kind of, you know,

00:17:45.720 jumping a few steps ahead

00:17:46.980 federally

00:17:48.240 you remember

00:17:48.940 in 2005

00:17:49.840 Stephen Harper

00:17:50.660 brought forward

00:17:51.340 the Accountability Act

00:17:53.080 and he made a clear line

00:17:55.540 between lobbyists

00:17:56.500 getting involved

00:17:57.100 in internal party politics.

00:17:59.000 Provincially

00:17:59.400 we've seen

00:18:02.060 those same guys

00:18:03.560 like Doug Ford's

00:18:04.380 campaign manager

00:18:04.940 taking advantage

00:18:05.720 of the fact

00:18:06.240 that in Ontario

00:18:07.100 there are not

00:18:08.320 as strong laws

00:18:09.260 against that

00:18:09.960 and we've seen

00:18:11.340 lobbyists

00:18:11.980 or reported lobbyists

00:18:13.260 on the PC side

00:18:14.200 jumping on caucus calls

00:18:15.560 and telling caucus

00:18:16.980 how they should be voting

00:18:18.360 and the entire

00:18:19.420 internal party system

00:18:20.780 in Ontario politics

00:18:21.960 is totally broken

00:18:24.040 not just damaged a bit

00:18:25.720 where it's entirely driven

00:18:27.200 by the leader

00:18:27.900 and whoever

00:18:28.540 the gang in the back is

00:18:29.760 so the focus

00:18:30.720 has to be on

00:18:31.520 cleaning up

00:18:32.060 the internal party system

00:18:33.220 first

00:18:33.620 I think

00:18:34.460 before we start

00:18:35.160 tinkering with

00:18:35.860 how the general election

00:18:37.980 model works.

00:18:39.140 Now I mean

00:18:39.500 just one last question

00:18:40.580 Jim

00:18:40.760 if that happened

00:18:41.860 is a party

00:18:42.540 like the New Blue

00:18:43.260 needed

00:18:43.680 if the major parties

00:18:45.300 or the established parties

00:18:46.740 are subject

00:18:47.580 to the rules

00:18:48.180 that you've proposed?

00:18:50.080 Well that's just

00:18:50.960 one element of it

00:18:51.940 but the New Blue Party

00:18:52.860 of Ontario

00:18:53.780 I worked really hard

00:18:54.900 and Belinda

00:18:55.260 worked really hard

00:18:55.980 and there were

00:18:56.460 thousands of others

00:18:57.420 that really worked

00:18:58.480 very very hard

00:18:59.220 for many years

00:18:59.840 to influence

00:19:00.560 the Ontario PC party

00:19:04.580 work from the inside

00:19:06.240 is what they said

00:19:07.040 to push for the solutions

00:19:08.460 that the establishment parties

00:19:10.080 don't want to talk about

00:19:11.120 and June 2nd

00:19:12.420 is just a starting point

00:19:13.400 for us

00:19:13.800 we're not going away

00:19:14.640 we've balanced the narrative

00:19:16.540 we've changed the course

00:19:17.920 and we've challenged the left

00:19:19.060 for the last few years

00:19:20.380 and we're going to continue

00:19:21.140 to do that.

00:19:23.060 Jim Carajalio is leader

00:19:24.380 of the New Blue Party

00:19:25.420 I know it's a big week

00:19:26.220 with the election

00:19:26.720 coming up Thursday

00:19:27.520 so thanks very much

00:19:28.360 for joining me again.

00:19:29.520 Thanks Andrew.

00:19:30.020 Thanks for listening

00:19:30.600 to the Andrew Lawton Show

00:19:31.800 Support the program

00:19:33.060 by donating to True North

00:19:34.320 at www.tnc.news

00:19:40.080 www.tnc.news.gov.au

Juno News - May 31, 2022

Ontario’s New Blue party commits to banning vaccine passports

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