Juno News - April 03, 2025


Poilievre's ＂biological clock＂ comments rooted in facts


Episode Stats

Length

10 minutes

Words per Minute

168.47592

Word Count

1,821

Sentence Count

87

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Legacy Media slammed Pierre Polyevre for highlighting how Canada's housing crisis is
00:00:09.440 forcing millennials to delay having kids, despite previously reporting on the same issue themselves.
00:00:15.100 Pierre Polyevre pledges to scrap the Liberals' automatic alcohol tax hikes and rollback rates
00:00:20.120 to 2017 levels. A Georgetown, Ontario pub is facing online backlash for hosting a Liberal
00:00:26.680 event with Mark Carney. Hello Canada, it's Thursday, April 3rd, and this is the True
00:00:32.040 North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux. And I'm Jeff Knight. We've got you covered with all the news
00:00:37.200 you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't
00:00:42.040 hear anywhere else. The Legacy Media attacked Conservative leader Pierre Polyevre after he
00:00:50.560 referred to millennial couples who are foregoing having children due to Canada's housing crisis
00:00:55.480 and high cost of living, despite news outlets reporting on the same issue in the past.
00:01:00.040 Polyevre said that under a Conservative government, couples in their mid-30s who have been faced with
00:01:05.160 balancing an unaffordable housing situation with a biological clock that is running out
00:01:10.200 would no longer be overlooked. Planets jumped on this statement soon after trying to malign the
00:01:15.880 Conservative leader. Polyevre said, quote, we will not forget the single mom who can't afford food.
00:01:21.160 We will not forget the seniors who are choosing between eating and heating. We will not forget that
00:01:26.440 36-year-old couple whose biological clock is running out faster than they can afford to buy a
00:01:31.880 home and have kids. Polyevre made the comments during a campaign stop in New Brunswick on Monday.
00:01:37.560 While some were quick to be offended by Polyevre's comments, claiming that he was, quote,
00:01:42.120 out of touch with female voters or that they were rooted in misogyny, the statements were factual.
00:01:48.600 Regardless of the polarizing reaction on social media, Canada's falling birth rate is and has been
00:01:54.600 at least partially tied to the fact that most millennials have given up on the idea of ever
00:01:59.880 affording a house. In fact, this is an issue that's already been addressed for several years
00:02:04.760 by media outlets like CBC News, The Globe and Mail, and The National Post. Statistics Canada,
00:02:10.680 a government-run agency, has also reported on this connection for years. Canada saw its lowest
00:02:16.040 fertility rate on record in 2022. The same year, the Bank of Canada recorded the highest inflation
00:02:21.800 rate since the 1980s. So, Jeff, why is there such a double standard from the media on this? Can you
00:02:27.000 point to other times where they've also reported on this issue? The media's reaction to Pierre Polyevre's
00:02:32.200 comments about couples delaying kids due to housing costs and a ticking biological clock is a clear
00:02:37.320 double standard like you said. What Pierre said about the biological clock running out is pointing
00:02:41.880 to a real documented issue, Canada's housing crisis and its ripple effects on family planning,
00:02:47.000 yet outlets and pundits pounced calling him out of touch or misogynistic despite their own past
00:02:52.280 coverage of the exact same problem. It's a classic case of the legacy media picking and choosing when
00:02:57.000 to care about facts versus when to spin a narrative. They're fine highlighting the housing fertility link when
00:03:02.280 it's a dry stats story, but when a conservative ties it to policy and everyday struggles, suddenly it's
00:03:07.720 a big scandal. As for other times that the media's covered this, I mean, they've been at it for years.
00:03:12.920 Back in as far as 2019, CBC News ran a piece on how high housing costs in cities like Vancouver and
00:03:18.840 Toronto were forcing millennials to delay starting families, quoting experts who tied it straight to
00:03:24.280 affordability. The Globe and Mail, in 2021, dug into StatsCan data showing Canada's fertility rate dropping
00:03:30.760 alongside soaring home prices, with young adults telling reporters they couldn't even think about
00:03:36.040 kids until they owned a home. The National Post, too, has chimed in. Back in 2023, they linked the
00:03:41.400 record low birth rate in 2022 to inflation and housing woes, citing economists who said it's no
00:03:47.640 surprise people are opting out when basics are out of reach. StatsCan's been tracking this for ages,
00:03:53.320 noting that in 2022, the fertility rate hit 1.33 kids per woman, which is the lowest ever,
00:03:59.880 while the Bank of Canada flagged that year's inflation as the worst since the 80s. The media's
00:04:04.600 own archives back Polyev's point, so the outrage feels more like a convenient pile-on rather than a
00:04:10.360 principled stand. Conservative leader Pierre Polyev has vowed to end the automatic annual
00:04:17.560 alcohol tax hikes brought in by the Liberals, adding that he would bring the tax rate back down
00:04:22.440 to 2017 levels. Polyev's pledge came the same day that the consumer portion of the carbon tax was
00:04:28.120 paused by the Liberal Party of Canada leader Mark Carney after months of pushing by the Conservatives.
00:04:33.400 The new pledge has earned applause from taxpayer advocates. Federal Director of the Canadian
00:04:38.040 Taxpayers' Federation, Franco Terrazzano, said that the celebration of future prospects might be
00:04:43.160 dampened by the fact that the federal Liberals just hiked alcohol taxes again. He explained that the
00:04:49.080 recent hike would cost Canadian taxpayers $40 million this year. Since 2017, when former Prime Minister
00:04:55.960 Justin Trudeau's government introduced the escalator tax, Terrazzano said Canadian taxpayers have forked
00:05:01.880 over more than $900 million for it. The alcohol escalator tax automatically raises federal excise
00:05:08.120 taxes on beer, spirits, and wine annually on April 1. By 2023, taxes accounted for the majority of the
00:05:14.840 cost of alcohol. 50% of beer's cost was taxes, followed by 65% of the cost of wine, and 75% of the cost of
00:05:22.760 spirits. The recent 2% tax increase on April 1 followed a 4.7% increase in 2024. While helping
00:05:30.280 Canadian consumers, the Federal Director of the CTF also said that the Canadian brewers will rejoice
00:05:36.200 after raising concerns about making it through the tariff war. He added that life will improve for
00:05:40.760 Canadian restaurants, breweries, distilleries, wineries, and more. The Conservatives called the
00:05:45.560 automatic tax hike a quote, a front to our democracy, as it is a tax increase not voted on in Parliament. The
00:05:52.440 party similarly pledged to cancel all future automatic tax increases. Isaac, were there any other taxes
00:05:58.520 that increased this year that Canadians might not be aware of? Yeah, Jeff, so as some of our loyal
00:06:03.800 readers might remember, I previously published an article at the end of 2024 warning of the many
00:06:09.800 incoming federal tax hikes coming in 2025 that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation previously warned about.
00:06:15.960 Among them were payroll taxes, the carbon tax, the alcohol taxes, and of course, the temporary sales
00:06:21.800 tax holiday, many of which have since been removed, at least temporarily. Firstly, the Liberals were
00:06:28.280 raising the mandatory contributions to the Canada Pension Plan and employment insurance this year,
00:06:33.000 which is said to cost Canadians up to $403. So a Canadian making $81,200 or more will contribute taxes
00:06:41.720 worth a combined $5,507 in 2025, and their employer will also be forced to contribute $5,938. And also,
00:06:50.680 just briefly, I wanted to mention that Canada's debt is much worse than the federal Liberals claim it to
00:06:55.480 be, as they count the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan as assets in their budget. But
00:07:01.080 obviously, these cannot be used to pay off Canada's debt, as previously highlighted by a study of the
00:07:06.680 Fraser Institute. The two pensions account for around $716.7 billion in combined assets,
00:07:14.120 equating to more than a quarter of the $2.7 trillion difference between Canada's gross and net
00:07:20.120 debt. Per the CTF's debt clock, Canada's current federal debt sits at over $1.255 trillion, in part
00:07:28.920 due to the fact that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent more during his tenure than every other
00:07:34.360 Prime Minister before him combined. Of course, the consumer portion of the carbon tax was recently
00:07:39.480 lowered to $0, but the law still remains on the books, and Parliament must be reconvened and vote
00:07:45.240 in a majority fashion to officially remove the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Despite
00:07:50.840 Poilievre's pledge, the alcohol tax and escalator portion of it still remain. The GST tax break, aka tax
00:07:58.280 holiday, costed taxpayers $2.7 billion, and ultimately left businesses frustrated with the
00:08:04.520 administrative burden, which resulted in the break actually being a net negative for many businesses.
00:08:11.160 The incoming capital gains tax hike, which we've covered extensively as well, also only remains
00:08:17.080 deferred until next year, not cancelled outright. The winner of the next federal election on April 28th
00:08:23.480 will determine whether a lot of these policies are cancelled or not.
00:08:30.360 A Georgetown, Ontario pub has found itself facing online backlash after hosting an event for Liberal
00:08:35.640 leader Mark Carney. The campaign event sparked a backlash from community members leading the
00:08:40.840 establishment to issue a statement defending its position as a non-partisan business and extending
00:08:45.720 an invitation to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The St. George pub addressed the criticism in a
00:08:51.560 Facebook post, clarifying that their choice to rent out the space was a business decision rather than a
00:08:57.080 political endorsement. The business wrote, quote, please do not judge us for renting our space. We are
00:09:03.160 a business. Today's event had nothing to do with our political views. Like every party, there is a minimum
00:09:09.160 spend for the space and we were paid to host this event. If Pierre Poilievre wished, we would be happy to
00:09:14.920 welcome him to the St. George. The statement suggests that the pub views itself as a neutral venue
00:09:21.400 available for various events regardless of political affiliation. However, the decision to host Carney's
00:09:27.080 event, which took place yesterday, has nonetheless drawn criticism from those who see it as an endorsement
00:09:31.800 of Carney in a region where he's unlikely to gain ground over Poiliev's Conservatives. Some locals took to
00:09:38.200 social media to express their disappointment with calls to boycott the pub surfacing online. Other
00:09:44.520 users defended the establishment's right to conduct business without boycott. So, Jeff, was there any
00:09:51.000 other recent incident where a business received backlash for hosting a political event? Yeah, Isaac,
00:09:57.000 a similar incident occurred last year in February when Brewer's Pantry in Bowmanville, Ontario,
00:10:02.280 faced significant backlash for hosting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The brewery event drew heavy
00:10:07.960 criticism on social media, with locals and online users slamming the business for associating with
00:10:12.760 Trudeau, who was seen as a polarizing figure. Brewer's Pantry issued a statement defending their decision,
00:10:18.200 emphasizing that they were not political and had simply rented the space to the Liberal campaign.
00:10:23.080 However, the backlash was so intense that the brewery reported receiving hate comments,
00:10:27.560 negative Google reviews, and threats, prompting them to express frustration over the public reaction.
00:10:32.600 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by
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