Juno News - Pierre Poilievre on the Emergencies Act, firearms, drugs and provincial sovereignty

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show. This is The Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:10.300 Coming up, Conservative leader Pierre Paulyev and I talk about the Emergencies Act, Alberta sovereignty, drug policy and more.

00:00:17.460 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:21.140 Hello and welcome to you all. This is Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show here on True North, The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:00:27.740 Thank you very much for joining us. Not a usual program, as you can tell. We're not in the usual studio.

00:00:34.600 I'm actually in Ottawa right now and I've just concluded an interview with Pierre Paulyev, leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition,

00:00:42.460 leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, which we'll share with you in just a moment.

00:00:46.900 But I want to set the stage for it here because this is Pierre's first interview with True North since he became the leader earlier this year.

00:00:54.700 We spoke to Pierre a number of times during the leadership race and I've certainly interviewed him before.

00:01:00.080 He's always been very accessible to independent media.

00:01:03.440 Since he's become leader, we've asked for an interview and this is the first opportunity we've had to sit down with him.

00:01:09.680 And just to basically set the stage here, one of the challenges in Canadian Conservative politics

00:01:15.080 is that people will talk one way in the leadership race and then once they've become the leader,

00:01:20.440 they'll pivot and start talking in a very different way.

00:01:24.200 To Pierre Paulyev's credit, we haven't seen much of a pivot so far.

00:01:28.140 For example, he spoke about defunding the CBC during the leadership race

00:01:32.060 and has continued to talk about defunding the CBC now that he is the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:01:39.320 But obviously the mainstream media has had a bit of a freak out that they don't believe he is being as accessible to them as they would like.

00:01:45.900 He's only done one official Ottawa Parliamentary Press Gallery press conference since he became the leader

00:01:51.600 and was basically heckled during that for not doing more questions or something to that effect.

00:01:57.780 So we're very grateful to have the opportunity to sit down with Pierre Paulyev in Ottawa.

00:02:05.860 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:02:10.860 Conservative leader Pierre Paulyev, thank you.

00:02:13.500 Thanks for having me.

00:02:14.200 Let's start first off with this discussion because you've faced a fair bit of criticism

00:02:18.800 from some of the Ottawa Parliamentary Press Gallery types for being inaccessible to media.

00:02:23.800 And I know in recent weeks you're sitting down with me, you've spoken to ethnic media,

00:02:27.900 you've been on radio shows, but you've not done the conventional press conference approach to politics.

00:02:34.900 So why is that?

00:02:37.160 Well, you know, first of all, I think that for too long the debate in Canada has been dominated.

00:02:44.000 by a very small group of Laurentian elites, mostly in Ottawa, who believe that they should have a kind of monopoly on the political discourse.

00:02:57.540 I don't agree with that.

00:02:58.480 And so I've made a point, I also don't agree with the idea that the press gallery represents all the media in Canada.

00:03:06.960 There's plenty of media that are not part of the press gallery.

00:03:09.360 And I don't believe they should be excluded.

00:03:12.240 So instead, I've talked to multicultural media in Toronto and Vancouver and elsewhere.

00:03:19.240 I've done one-on-one interviews with news outlets like yours, but also talk radio.

00:03:26.440 I've used social media and I've used the platform in the House of Commons.

00:03:31.760 And I think those combined methods are the best way to communicate directly with Canadians

00:03:36.980 and go around the filter of the mostly liberal press gallery on Parliament Hill.

00:03:44.440 There are some good reporters who are in the press gallery,

00:03:46.700 but for the most part, there is a definite bias in favour of just defending the government

00:03:51.820 and regurgitating its talking points.

00:03:54.520 And I don't need to validate that.

00:03:57.760 And so I'll answer questions from a broad range of media.

00:04:02.440 And in fact, just over the weekend, I was doing a very extensive press conference in Toronto

00:04:07.560 with multicultural outlets from all different kinds of backgrounds.

00:04:11.680 Chinese Canadians, South Asian Canadians, Latinos, people from African descent.

00:04:18.140 They have all their publications and I wanted to talk with them and I did.

00:04:22.240 It must have been there for an hour or so.

00:04:24.420 So you'll see a lot more of that.

00:04:26.140 And there'll be a lot more voices heard under my leadership than there is under Justin Trudeau.

00:04:33.640 Let's talk about that idea of expanding your base, if you will,

00:04:38.800 because, you know, obviously we've seen a fair bit of divisiveness from Justin Trudeau's rhetoric,

00:04:43.140 whether it's been on people against vaccine mandates or I think in general along Conservative Canadians.

00:04:48.440 The last election, we saw the PPC rise from, you know, I think 1.9% or something in the 2019 election,

00:04:56.680 almost tripling that.

00:04:57.840 And a lot of those people were Conservative voters traditionally,

00:05:00.940 who felt very disenfranchised by the Conservative Party.

00:05:04.560 So do you have an active strategy to re-engage those people?

00:05:08.880 Is that part of your approach?

00:05:11.200 Well, I want everybody to join.

00:05:12.600 We've had my leadership race brought in,

00:05:14.280 my leadership campaign brought in all kinds of people who had been voting NDP,

00:05:18.380 working class folks who wanted to take back control of their lives,

00:05:23.180 some of who voted PPC.

00:05:25.600 I had former Liberals show up at my rallies.

00:05:29.100 And so it has to be a big, broad spectrum of everyone who wants to have more freedom through less government,

00:05:35.660 who wants their dollar to go further,

00:05:37.960 who wants freedom of speech on the Internet,

00:05:40.340 who believes that the government is a servant and not master.

00:05:47.200 All of those people are welcome in our tent,

00:05:49.460 and we're not going to push anyone away.

00:05:52.060 Over the last seven weeks, we've heard scores of witnesses,

00:05:56.700 hours and hours of testimony before the Public Order Emergency Commission

00:06:00.180 investigating Justin Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act.

00:06:03.620 Now, I know that the Conservatives and you were against that act,

00:06:07.460 but looking back on this, we're now coming up on 10 months,

00:06:10.740 almost a year since the convoy protests and since the Emergencies Act.

00:06:15.340 Where is your perspective on this now after the commission hearings have commenced?

00:06:20.120 The same place that it was before the protesters even arrived in Ottawa.

00:06:25.180 I was out there, actually out that way,

00:06:28.900 I was on the steps of the John A. Macdonald building across from the Parliament buildings,

00:06:34.360 and they asked me,

00:06:35.400 what do you think about all the terrible people that are coming for this protest?

00:06:39.320 And I said, well, you know, you're talking about,

00:06:43.820 you know, they pick one or two examples of bad actors,

00:06:46.760 and I said, look, there are in any protest going to be good people and bad people.

00:06:53.460 You have thousands of people attending a protest.

00:06:55.980 You can pick a group that are not behaving properly.

00:07:01.260 But on the whole, I supported the peaceful and law-abiding protesters

00:07:06.440 who wanted their liberty and livelihoods back

00:07:10.520 while simultaneously condemning anyone who broke laws, behaved badly,

00:07:15.680 or blockaded critical infrastructure.

00:07:18.080 And that's what I feel today.

00:07:20.320 I also think Justin Trudeau provoked this entire crisis

00:07:23.160 with an entirely unnecessary and unscientific vaccine mandate on truckers.

00:07:28.680 It was imposed as the rest of the world was beginning to lift mandates,

00:07:33.660 and it was imposed on the very people least likely to spread a virus

00:07:37.860 because they're in a truck by themselves all day long.

00:07:42.980 And so I thought, this is unfair and unjust.

00:07:47.060 And if he had not done that, there would have been no trucker protest on Parliament Hill.

00:07:52.300 We wouldn't even be having this conversation.

00:07:54.600 And he has, to this date, not provided any scientific evidence

00:07:58.520 that there was a medical reason for doing it.

00:08:01.200 So I think it was part of a deliberate strategy to divide and conquer, 0.55

00:08:05.340 one that his own Liberal MP, Joel Lightbound, called out during the convoy protests.

00:08:12.820 And we're dealing with all of these costs, all of this division,

00:08:16.440 all of this distraction, because he deliberately provoked it at the outset.

00:08:20.740 Let me return to that comment you gave,

00:08:22.900 which I've heard you say before about condemning lawbreakers

00:08:26.220 and supporting law-abiding peaceful protesters.

00:08:28.720 Because one of the big questions about this protest is,

00:08:32.120 at what point did it become, in the government's eyes, unlawful?

00:08:34.900 So when you talk about someone like Tamara Leach, for example,

00:08:37.680 is she an example of the one you support and who is peaceful and law-abiding?

00:08:40.660 Or is she an example of one of the law-breaking ones you condemn?

00:08:43.680 Well, I'm not going to talk about any particular individual,

00:08:46.800 because I think she has a case for the courts,

00:08:49.100 and I'll let the courts determine.

00:08:51.820 Because I haven't studied every single person's conduct

00:08:54.360 over that two or three week period.

00:08:56.180 I wasn't on the ground surveilling people.

00:08:59.980 So I can't say what people did and what they didn't do.

00:09:03.000 But I can say that from the vast majority of people that I witnessed

00:09:07.440 who participated in it,

00:09:09.060 seemed to be just doing the normal Canadian peaceful protest.

00:09:14.840 Now, again, there were people who behaved badly

00:09:18.000 or blockaded critical infrastructure.

00:09:20.180 I don't support blocking borders or shutting down highways.

00:09:24.140 What about Wellington Street?

00:09:25.260 Is a trucker on Wellington Street a peaceful law-abiding protester?

00:09:28.360 Well, look, I think it depends if they're on foot.

00:09:31.720 I think my preference would have been for them to be on foot

00:09:35.200 and to park their trucks off-site.

00:09:38.260 I think that would have been better.

00:09:40.520 But that said, I think overall,

00:09:43.900 the reason we had these protests and all of this disruption

00:09:47.960 was because of an unnecessary and very disruptive vaccine mandate

00:09:53.820 that deprived all of these truckers of their livelihoods.

00:09:58.680 And that's why they felt like they had nowhere to go.

00:10:01.660 You know, it was the middle of February, I think, and cold.

00:10:06.120 And I don't think it was a luxury for them to be sleeping in their trucks.

00:10:10.080 They did it because they had nowhere to go.

00:10:12.100 They had no job to return to

00:10:13.940 because their job required them to seamlessly pass through the border

00:10:17.780 with their goods.

00:10:20.320 And the Prime Minister took away that livelihood from them.

00:10:23.820 And that's why this thing went on for so long.

00:10:26.080 If he had not done that, we wouldn't be having this conversation today.

00:10:29.760 If the Commissioner finds that the Emergencies Act was not justified,

00:10:33.520 one of the concerns that's been raised is that Parliament can take it,

00:10:36.900 review it, perhaps propose amendments,

00:10:38.620 but there really isn't a sanction or a penalty attached to the government on that.

00:10:42.960 And Jagmeet Singh, as I understand it, has said that even if that happens,

00:10:46.500 he's going to continue supporting the Liberals.

00:10:48.200 So how are you in a position, if you are at all,

00:10:50.820 to really demand accountability if this was an overreach?

00:10:54.220 Well, I think we need to look at...

00:10:57.100 I've consulted with some legal scholars on ideas

00:11:00.080 to protect Canadians against abuses of power under the Emergencies Act.

00:11:05.760 And I think we need to have some review of that

00:11:10.440 because, obviously, the Prime Minister used it when it was unnecessary.

00:11:15.860 You know, the border blockades were already lifted, as you know,

00:11:19.520 when the Emergency Act came.

00:11:22.620 And it's hard for the Prime Minister to explain what the emergency was.

00:11:26.340 There's obviously some disruption in downtown Ottawa on several blocks.

00:11:31.180 But, you know, that doesn't constitute a national emergency,

00:11:36.440 like a, you know, catastrophic earthquake or a foreign invasion

00:11:40.940 or some sort of terrorist attack that takes down a large building.

00:11:48.680 That's what you think of when you say national emergency.

00:11:51.080 And we didn't have a national emergency.

00:11:54.720 What we had was a large protest

00:11:58.000 and some roads blocked in a downtown setting

00:12:02.680 while the borders were completely open to commerce.

00:12:06.360 So I think we need to have another look at the Emergency Act powers

00:12:10.180 to make sure that no Prime Minister is able to abuse

00:12:13.600 the power in the Act like that again.

00:12:16.940 And there may be some more checks and balances required to do it.

00:12:21.260 Pivoting to another issue you actually raised in a video last week,

00:12:24.560 there is a very real crisis taking place caused by drugs.

00:12:28.380 And you did a video which I think went very viral in Vancouver.

00:12:33.040 And you talked about some of the overdose problems there.

00:12:35.320 But it's existing in communities across the country here.

00:12:38.540 And you took aim at a political aspect of this,

00:12:42.000 which was the granting of so-called safe supply

00:12:45.160 that we see particularly in British Columbia.

00:12:47.680 And a lot of people on the left defend that

00:12:50.260 by saying it's harm reduction,

00:12:51.660 that it actually is taking an approach to drugs

00:12:54.300 that is causing less harm overall.

00:12:56.320 Do you dispute that?

00:12:59.060 Well, I think the facts dispute the approach

00:13:01.160 that both federal liberals

00:13:03.080 and provincial and municipal New Democrats have been taking.

00:13:07.640 Look at the results.

00:13:09.320 They're in places like Vancouver.

00:13:13.840 The massive increase, tripling of drug overdoses

00:13:18.320 over the last seven years.

00:13:20.520 Nationwide, there have been 30,000 drug overdose deaths

00:13:23.520 since 2015, since Justin Trudeau took office.

00:13:27.420 And so the current approach is not working.

00:13:29.760 What I would say is, first, there's no question

00:13:36.720 that we should use medications to revive overdose victims.

00:13:43.600 There's no question that we should use medications

00:13:45.600 to make the withdrawal symptoms of quitting drugs more tolerable.

00:13:51.000 Because it's obviously incredibly painful

00:13:52.880 for someone trying to get themselves off these drugs.

00:13:55.100 And there are medications that can reduce that suffering

00:14:00.600 and therefore help people make the difficult step

00:14:03.940 to clean up their lives.

00:14:07.620 But the problem with the current approach

00:14:10.340 is that it's harm perpetuation rather than reduction.

00:14:15.980 And what I think we need to do is,

00:14:18.340 one, shift resources over to recovery and treatment.

00:14:22.320 We're seeing that in Alberta.

00:14:23.360 They've doubled the number of inpatient care facilities.

00:14:30.200 So it used to be there were 4,000 beds.

00:14:32.520 Now there's 8,000.

00:14:34.080 You bring the addict in.

00:14:36.000 Give them the medications to help them

00:14:38.040 wean off the addictive substance.

00:14:40.720 Detox, counseling, getting into a routine

00:14:44.980 and putting together a plan

00:14:46.520 for when they get out of the facility to stay clean.

00:14:50.140 That's the best way to save lives

00:14:53.100 is by getting people off of the drugs in the first place.

00:14:56.580 Secondly, I think we need to target

00:14:59.820 the most violent repeat offenders.

00:15:02.660 I don't think that people,

00:15:04.520 I don't think we should put people in jail

00:15:06.600 for using these substances.

00:15:08.340 But the violent repeat offenders and kingpins

00:15:12.920 who use coercion and other criminal violations

00:15:18.860 to spread drug use

00:15:20.720 and those who lace drugs with poisons,

00:15:24.300 they should be put in jail.

00:15:27.060 And what we're seeing like in Vancouver,

00:15:28.660 in Toronto, sorry,

00:15:29.220 in British Columbia,

00:15:30.940 the Union of Mayors wrote a letter

00:15:32.500 saying that in Vancouver,

00:15:34.320 40 offenders committed 6,000

00:15:37.320 negative interactions with police,

00:15:39.960 mostly arrests.

00:15:40.920 You have 40 people in one year

00:15:43.600 having negative interactions with cops.

00:15:47.140 That means 150 negative interactions

00:15:49.620 per person per year.

00:15:52.400 Imagine if you just got those 40 off the streets, 0.99

00:15:55.240 how much less crime you'd have

00:15:56.660 in downtown and east side Vancouver.

00:16:00.660 And then finally,

00:16:02.220 we need to try to keep

00:16:05.460 some of these precursors out.

00:16:06.600 I know it's difficult

00:16:07.320 because a lot of them come in by mail,

00:16:10.200 but we should work where we can

00:16:12.300 to stop both the flow of illegal drugs

00:16:14.740 and firearms into our country 0.65

00:16:17.080 from other places.

00:16:18.560 So that's the approach I would take.

00:16:20.140 I think it's common sense.

00:16:21.760 In Alberta, the approach I described

00:16:23.740 has already led to a reduction

00:16:25.880 by almost half

00:16:26.800 in the number of overdose deaths.

00:16:28.640 And that's what we should do.

00:16:29.980 I don't think we should leave people

00:16:31.140 on the street dying in tents.

00:16:33.020 I don't think we should accept

00:16:34.380 that their permanent fate

00:16:36.000 is to be hopelessly addicted to opioids

00:16:39.220 because we know that eventually

00:16:41.180 that will kill them.

00:16:42.560 You mentioned firearms. 0.98

00:16:44.020 The Liberals in committee last week

00:16:45.640 had proposed an amendment

00:16:46.820 that effectively would expand

00:16:48.740 their ban in C-21

00:16:50.320 to virtually every semi-automatic rifle

00:16:53.120 out there except for small-caliber 22s.

00:16:55.980 Is this an amendment

00:16:57.220 that you would oppose?

00:16:58.380 And C-21 in general,

00:16:59.660 if this is law by the time

00:17:00.980 you become prime minister,

00:17:02.280 if that happens,

00:17:03.000 would it be repealed?

00:17:04.040 So I oppose both Bill C-21

00:17:06.420 and the amendments

00:17:08.140 that they most recently brought in.

00:17:10.600 The idea that we should...

00:17:11.960 This amendment, by the way,

00:17:14.340 effectively bans

00:17:15.720 there's hundreds of thousands,

00:17:17.740 if not millions of Canadians,

00:17:23.080 sorry, millions of firearms

00:17:24.940 that are in Canada today

00:17:26.380 that are used for hunting.

00:17:28.000 These are hunting rifles

00:17:28.880 and hunting shotguns.

00:17:31.140 And so there,

00:17:32.460 as Raquel Dancho,

00:17:35.140 our public safety critic,

00:17:36.220 said they're going after Grandpa Joe

00:17:38.100 and his rifle, right?

00:17:39.400 Yeah.

00:17:40.000 And there's no science behind this.

00:17:42.960 There's no evidence

00:17:43.720 that the massive increase

00:17:46.380 in violent crime

00:17:47.440 in our inner cities

00:17:48.660 is the result of people

00:17:50.640 in the country

00:17:51.320 using hunting rifles

00:17:54.000 or shotguns.

00:17:54.920 So obviously,

00:17:56.120 conservatives oppose that

00:17:57.180 and we'd repeal it.

00:17:58.740 And I would replace

00:18:00.120 this approach

00:18:01.280 with a...

00:18:02.960 I put in place

00:18:04.140 a committee

00:18:05.180 of cops,

00:18:08.300 border guards,

00:18:10.240 licensed and law-abiding

00:18:12.700 First Nations hunters,

00:18:15.420 anglers,

00:18:17.380 and sports shooters

00:18:18.400 who can put together

00:18:21.380 serious, clear criteria

00:18:23.380 to determine

00:18:24.060 how a firearm is classified.

00:18:26.660 You know,

00:18:27.240 the old machine guns

00:18:30.320 and traditional firearms

00:18:33.920 that were banned

00:18:34.660 back in the 70s,

00:18:35.840 obviously those

00:18:36.480 should stay banned.

00:18:37.600 But those that are appropriate

00:18:38.640 for use in hunting

00:18:39.860 and recreational sports shooting

00:18:42.520 should be classified accordingly.

00:18:45.000 And my approach

00:18:46.320 would be

00:18:46.800 to put that right in law

00:18:48.200 so it's very clear

00:18:49.740 and the government

00:18:51.480 and the politicians

00:18:52.180 can't constantly

00:18:53.140 and suddenly change the rules

00:18:54.640 at great cost

00:18:55.960 both to the lawful property owner

00:18:58.760 but also to the taxpayer.

00:19:00.880 That's the other thing

00:19:01.480 that no one's talking about

00:19:02.360 is if they're going to do

00:19:03.000 a buyback

00:19:03.700 of all these hunting rifles,

00:19:06.460 we could be talking

00:19:07.180 about billions of dollars.

00:19:08.920 And for what?

00:19:09.680 Like, there's no

00:19:11.020 public safety benefit

00:19:13.000 to taking hunting rifles

00:19:14.680 away from people

00:19:16.200 in the countryside.

00:19:17.680 Why not take the same money,

00:19:19.120 bolster the borders,

00:19:20.040 keep out the smuggled guns

00:19:21.140 that are leading

00:19:22.220 to the killings

00:19:23.080 in our urban settings?

00:19:24.760 Turning to Alberta

00:19:25.720 for a moment.

00:19:26.460 There's a new premier there,

00:19:27.660 Danielle Smith,

00:19:28.340 who's proposed

00:19:28.960 as her first order of business

00:19:30.400 a sovereignty act

00:19:31.660 to reclaim sovereignty.

00:19:33.520 Now, your leadership campaign

00:19:34.980 was all about

00:19:35.600 taking back control.

00:19:36.600 Is that something

00:19:37.600 that you'd support

00:19:38.360 from a federal perspective

00:19:39.480 province is doing?

00:19:41.000 Well, when I'm prime minister,

00:19:42.100 bills like this

00:19:43.060 will be unnecessary

00:19:43.760 because I'm going to respect

00:19:45.200 provincial jurisdiction.

00:19:47.140 And, you know,

00:19:48.140 it's entirely reasonable

00:19:50.400 that premiers across the country,

00:19:52.540 whether it's Quebec's Legault

00:19:54.280 or Saskatchewan's Scott Moe

00:19:58.220 or Danielle Smith 0.58

00:19:59.320 or anyone else

00:19:59.980 would want to protect

00:20:00.760 their jurisdiction

00:20:01.500 because Trudeau

00:20:02.480 has invaded it

00:20:03.700 with C-69

00:20:04.540 which appropriates

00:20:06.920 federal control

00:20:07.960 over provincial resource decisions

00:20:09.800 with carbon tax

00:20:11.020 which again imposes

00:20:12.640 a federal mandate

00:20:13.920 to,

00:20:14.820 proposes a provincial tax

00:20:16.900 through a federal law

00:20:17.940 through these recent

00:20:19.500 firearms policies

00:20:21.040 which ban

00:20:22.240 hunting rifles

00:20:23.660 that harm law-abiding people

00:20:25.940 in places like Alberta.

00:20:27.160 these are all examples

00:20:29.400 of massive federal interference

00:20:31.760 in provincial jurisdiction.

00:20:33.880 As prime minister,

00:20:35.180 I would repeal C-69, 0.94

00:20:37.120 I would repeal the carbon tax,

00:20:39.000 I would also repeal

00:20:40.580 the hunting rifle

00:20:42.060 and hunting shotgun ban

00:20:43.780 that Trudeau is proposing.

00:20:46.000 So, I suspect

00:20:47.160 not long after

00:20:48.660 I become prime minister,

00:20:49.700 most premiers

00:20:50.720 will stop talking

00:20:52.180 about this stuff.

00:20:53.020 You remember,

00:20:53.300 none of this was happening

00:20:54.120 when Harper was prime minister.

00:20:55.200 That is true.

00:20:55.880 I don't remember,

00:20:57.240 even in Quebec,

00:20:58.560 they briefly had a PQ government

00:21:00.660 while Harper was in

00:21:02.060 and other than

00:21:03.620 the normal squabbles,

00:21:04.820 there was nothing

00:21:05.440 on this scale.

00:21:07.340 And in fact,

00:21:08.200 when Harper left office,

00:21:09.320 the separatist movement

00:21:10.260 in Quebec

00:21:11.260 was annihilated

00:21:12.480 and in Alberta,

00:21:14.960 it was unheard of.

00:21:16.480 No one talked

00:21:17.360 about separation

00:21:18.080 and that is because

00:21:20.340 when the federal government

00:21:21.500 respects provincial jurisdictions

00:21:23.060 and lets local provinces

00:21:25.360 make their own decisions

00:21:27.020 in their own realms,

00:21:29.040 you tend to have

00:21:29.700 a more united country

00:21:30.660 because people aren't

00:21:31.460 antagonized by each other.

00:21:33.200 Would you appoint

00:21:33.980 the winners of Alberta's

00:21:35.180 provincial Senate elections?

00:21:37.000 That would be

00:21:37.700 my inclination.

00:21:38.520 Although,

00:21:38.680 I have to figure out

00:21:39.440 when I take office,

00:21:40.840 it's 2025,

00:21:41.880 how long it will have been

00:21:42.960 since the election.

00:21:44.320 But my view is

00:21:45.580 that election should lead

00:21:47.300 to who goes in the Senate

00:21:48.840 and not just

00:21:50.700 a prime ministerial edict.

00:21:52.060 Although,

00:21:52.760 in most provinces,

00:21:53.560 there are no elections

00:21:55.840 and will be none.

00:21:56.760 So I will have

00:21:57.580 to appoint senators

00:21:58.980 and I will appoint

00:22:00.380 those who respect

00:22:01.720 the will of the people.

00:22:03.080 Just as you look forward now

00:22:04.580 and the last election

00:22:05.640 came around,

00:22:06.480 the Conservatives

00:22:07.140 had this approach

00:22:07.860 that it was

00:22:08.360 an unnecessary election,

00:22:10.160 which struck me

00:22:10.840 as a bit odd

00:22:11.360 because they had also

00:22:12.180 been talking for years

00:22:13.060 about how Justin Trudeau

00:22:14.560 was doing all this stuff

00:22:15.760 that was wrong.

00:22:16.700 What's your approach

00:22:17.280 on an election now?

00:22:18.160 Is it the sooner

00:22:18.740 the better for you?

00:22:20.780 Well,

00:22:21.140 I have to go back

00:22:24.900 to the serenity prayer

00:22:25.840 because at the end of the day,

00:22:28.700 I can't choose

00:22:29.340 the election timing.

00:22:30.460 It's up to the majority

00:22:32.000 in the House.

00:22:32.540 And right now,

00:22:33.260 that majority

00:22:34.060 is the Trudeau-Sing coalition.

00:22:36.680 And those two

00:22:37.620 have coalesced

00:22:38.880 to stay in office

00:22:40.140 until 2025.

00:22:43.020 My view is

00:22:44.080 we have voted

00:22:44.800 non-confidence

00:22:45.440 in the government

00:22:46.680 by opposing its budgets,

00:22:47.940 by opposing its spending,

00:22:50.100 and by saying

00:22:51.160 the government

00:22:51.520 is on the wrong track.

00:22:53.320 But at the end of the day,

00:22:54.300 it will be up

00:22:54.720 to Jagmeet Singh

00:22:55.520 to decide

00:22:55.940 how long he wants

00:22:56.700 to perpetuate

00:22:57.520 an inflationist government

00:22:59.360 that has contributed

00:23:01.360 to doubling housing prices,

00:23:02.920 41-year highs

00:23:03.740 in inflation,

00:23:05.020 major tax increases

00:23:06.320 on home heating,

00:23:07.120 gas,

00:23:07.500 and groceries,

00:23:08.880 and countless other attacks

00:23:11.120 on working-class people.

00:23:12.340 If the NDP

00:23:13.360 wants to continue

00:23:14.060 to support that,

00:23:14.860 then we will hold

00:23:15.440 them accountable

00:23:15.920 for their decision

00:23:17.940 at election time.

00:23:19.220 If there were

00:23:19.680 an election

00:23:20.060 in the coming months,

00:23:20.760 would you be unhappy with it?

00:23:21.800 I'll ask it that way.

00:23:22.540 Well, we'll take it

00:23:23.220 whenever it comes.

00:23:24.200 Fairfellow, yeah.

00:23:24.740 Thank you.

00:23:25.180 Thank you very much.

00:23:26.080 Good to be with you.

00:23:26.660 Thanks for listening

00:23:27.560 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:23:29.280 Support the program

00:23:30.020 by donating to True North

00:23:31.260 at www.tnc.news.

00:23:34.680 Thank you.

Juno News - November 30, 2022

Pierre Poilievre on the Emergencies Act, firearms, drugs and provincial sovereignty

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