Juno News - The Andrew Lawton Show： Business as Unusual

00:00:00.000 Welcome to another edition of The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:00:13.260 Hope you are doing well and keeping healthy in these pretty scary times for many people.

00:00:19.760 I do hope you are managing your way through it.

00:00:22.320 Thank you very much for tuning in.

00:00:24.420 And I'm going to preface this right out of the gate by saying that the show today is going to be mostly COVID-19 related.

00:00:32.500 And I think that's going to be true of most of the shows we have moving forward.

00:00:36.720 And a couple of reasons for that.

00:00:38.360 I mean, the first is that the world is effectively at a standstill.

00:00:42.400 Everything except for this virus has been shelved because of the virus, with one exception.

00:00:48.760 And we'll also talk about that later on.

00:00:50.760 And that is the conservative leadership race.

00:00:52.880 The other part of that, though, is that this is something that is really cutting at the core of pretty much every facet of society.

00:00:59.960 Whether it's, you know, the social cohesion, whether it's public health, obviously, economics, all of this right now is impacted by it.

00:01:08.300 And I don't want to make it a depressing show.

00:01:11.800 I'm not going to lie.

00:01:12.500 I'm probably going to be cracking jokes throughout it because that's how I cope with many of the things that I think have a negative edge in society.

00:01:20.580 Laughter is the best medicine, as they say.

00:01:23.360 But also, I want to tell you that I'm going to be trying to highlight some of the different stories that come through this and also showcasing a narrative in this that I think is absent from a lot of the other coverage.

00:01:36.440 So that's at least the plan right now.

00:01:38.460 I don't know if it's going to change moving forward.

00:01:40.220 Last week, we had a bit of a different approach to the show.

00:01:44.640 And I want to talk about that right out of the gate, too, because last week, the shows were interviews with leadership candidates in the conservative leadership race.

00:01:53.140 And I wrote a column about this at TNC.news, almost lamenting the fact that we had to publish those interviews because I wanted to talk about COVID.

00:02:05.100 But we had made commitments to these candidates that we would interview them and publish those interviews before March 25th, because that is the cutoff, at which point candidates must submit their $300,000 and $3,000 signatures to the conservative party.

00:02:20.580 And we had said that we wanted to get those interviews out before March 25th.

00:02:25.760 And doing that meant that we had to prioritize putting those out amid a crisis that we didn't know existed when we started scheduling and setting up those interviews.

00:02:36.280 So I'm going to be talking about the conservative leadership later on.

00:02:39.460 But I wanted to tell you that was why last week we had those interviews out in lieu of other content that we might have done had things shaken up differently.

00:02:48.640 And as I will also say later on, this was not something I wanted to do.

00:02:52.820 I would have loved it if the conservative leadership race was just a far off in the future thing that we don't even need to worry about right now.

00:03:00.900 But let's talk about what's happening with coronavirus, because a case that jumped out at me on the weekend is that a woman with COVID-19 was arrested in Quebec City after she decided to break her quarantine.

00:03:14.100 Now, this is a case in the Montreal Gazette, where the police arrested a woman on Friday, acknowledged this to the media.

00:03:23.880 They said intervention was carried out with the goal of reissuing.

00:03:28.400 So I think that means they were basically just trying to get her back into her home.

00:03:32.320 And this was something that was done under the Public Health Act, which apparently puts into power all of the appropriate measures where the non-respect of instructions can jeopardize the health and safety of the public.

00:03:46.760 Our ultimate priority is the health and safety of all.

00:03:49.700 And we will use all the necessary and required measures at our disposition to make sure instructions are respected.

00:03:55.900 So this is a woman who tested positive.

00:03:58.820 It wasn't just a precautionary isolation like a lot of people who have returned from travel abroad have done.

00:04:04.340 It sounds like she actually had the virus.

00:04:06.360 But the part that I found interesting was the aspect that police acknowledge they are using surveillance, which I did not know.

00:04:17.140 So the center noted that when a person receives an isolation order, police are asked to do surveillance to make sure it's respected.

00:04:24.880 And in the case of this woman, they found her out for a walk and then she was taken to the hospital and then presumably brought back home.

00:04:34.000 I would hope that part isn't in the story.

00:04:36.560 So you have police doing active surveillance of people for the purposes of mandating these quarantines.

00:04:44.280 Now, this is just Quebec at this point.

00:04:46.240 I haven't heard of this happening elsewhere.

00:04:47.820 Although Saskatchewan is allowing huge fines to be put on people who violate the precautionary order.

00:04:55.400 So if you have a concert, if you have a big party, you could be fined thousands of dollars in Saskatchewan right now.

00:05:01.940 And I think what's fascinating here is that all of these measures and mechanisms that government uses to keep people safe,

00:05:10.580 that's the stated goal of this, they only work when people buy into them.

00:05:15.020 They only work when people believe them, when people agree with them,

00:05:19.680 and when the expectation does not come at a higher level than the purported inconvenience of following that expectation.

00:05:30.100 So right now, for example, my wife and I are working from home,

00:05:34.060 which I can tell you is as absolutely delightful as it sounds.

00:05:37.600 And when we are going out to do grocery shopping, it's very infrequently,

00:05:42.300 and we're doing all the things that we have to do.

00:05:44.400 And this is just what we are doing in that effort of social distancing.

00:05:48.560 But one of the problems right now is that you've got all of these terms that are being thrown out

00:05:52.860 that no one has ever heard before two weeks ago.

00:05:56.300 Flatten the curve, social distance, self-isolation.

00:06:00.460 These are not concepts that people know.

00:06:02.920 So don't get me wrong, if you are testing positive for COVID-19,

00:06:07.900 and you're told you're in quarantine, and you go out for a walk,

00:06:11.660 I think you deserve to be publicly shamed, and you deserve to be sent back home.

00:06:16.640 And I would be interested, though, in knowing what went into this.

00:06:20.220 Because I'm entirely convinced that there are a lot of people that don't understand what's expected of them.

00:06:26.920 And that's true with isolation and quarantine.

00:06:29.400 So for example, is it that you weren't allowed to see anyone?

00:06:32.440 Is it that you're supposed to, if you see someone, sit six feet away from them?

00:06:36.220 Is it that you're not supposed to go grocery shopping?

00:06:38.480 Is it that if you go, you're supposed to just run around through the aisles so you don't run into someone?

00:06:44.060 Which, let me tell you, is hard to do at the small grocery store that I shop at,

00:06:48.460 where basically you're getting boxed in because someone's coming down one aisle and then the other aisle,

00:06:53.820 and at some point you just have to, you know, ram your cart into one of them and run by if you don't want to be in that six-foot radius.

00:07:01.340 I don't advise that, by the way.

00:07:03.280 But in all honesty, so what does social distancing mean?

00:07:07.140 Does it mean don't go out?

00:07:08.700 Does it mean go out infrequently?

00:07:10.100 Because I've seen a bunch of graphics circulating about this that say going for a walk can be fine.

00:07:16.880 So it could be this woman thought she was entirely within her rights to go for a walk because she was alone. 0.61

00:07:22.680 Maybe she was wearing a mask, wasn't keeping a close distance to people. 0.88

00:07:28.580 That's not to say she's wrong.

00:07:30.080 But it is interesting when you get to this point where all of these things that people are being asked to do become a lot murkier.

00:07:39.620 And once you put state surveillance and arrests there, people are going to be a lot less willing to comply.

00:07:47.580 People are going to be a lot less willing to go along with this,

00:07:51.760 hey, it's just about being a good neighbor when all of a sudden the police are cracking skulls.

00:07:56.100 And that's not what happened here.

00:07:57.680 But I'm warning that this could be the direction we're headed down,

00:08:01.840 especially if this new reality in which we're living goes longer than a couple of weeks.

00:08:07.220 I know other people have said this, but it's true. 1.00

00:08:09.900 And I think bears repeating here that for a couple of days, it's a novelty.

00:08:15.380 A couple of weeks, maybe it's a vacation.

00:08:17.900 It goes longer than that.

00:08:19.700 And this is a world that we are not set up for.

00:08:22.640 This is a world that companies are not set up for.

00:08:25.200 This is a way of living that individuals are not set up for.

00:08:28.740 I mean, you look at the fact that you've got this mass toilet paper shortage,

00:08:32.940 despite the fact that I don't even think explosive diarrhea is one of the symptoms of COVID-19.

00:08:38.980 But for some reason, you can't find toilet paper anywhere in North America.

00:08:43.940 And if you have socks and a washing machine, you can make do.

00:08:47.020 But the reality is we're looking at a world right now that, yes, everyone's trying to do it.

00:08:52.460 Everyone's trying to go along with it.

00:08:54.680 But I don't think people are prepared for what happens if this goes on for longer than a couple of weeks.

00:09:01.160 And look, I mean, I'm seeing conflicting information here, which is why I almost don't even read some of the forecasts.

00:09:07.460 Because in some cases, I'm seeing people say, oh, everything's doing really well in Canada.

00:09:12.000 Canada is doing a good job.

00:09:13.320 And, you know, we don't have a huge growth.

00:09:15.440 And then other people are saying, oh, this is going to get worse before it gets better.

00:09:18.700 So you either have it's going to get better or it's going to get worse.

00:09:23.200 You know, I would obviously like it to be the former.

00:09:27.180 But if it's the latter, people have to be prepared.

00:09:29.540 And as much as everyone now knows these terms social isolation and social distance, these don't mean that much if you don't know what's expected of you and if you don't necessarily want to go along with it.

00:09:44.020 And if people are feeling isolated and they're becoming, you know, stir crazy, as the old saying goes.

00:09:50.140 And once you start talking about state enforcement of these sorts of orders, you're going to breed a lot more resentment and you're going to breed resistance to these orders and to these directives.

00:10:05.600 And look, I've been watching every day for the past week, which feels like the past year, press conferences that Justin Trudeau is doing every day, that Ontario Premier Doug Ford is doing.

00:10:15.700 I'm watching some of the Alberta ones as well.

00:10:17.940 Well, Chrystia Freeland, Bill Blair, the COVID-19 committee and the Canadian government, I'm watching their daily briefing as well.

00:10:26.300 And, you know, the one thing that I find interesting, especially in Ontario, and I don't know if it's just because of the reporters that are working the Ontario legislative beat right now.

00:10:35.660 But they keep trying to get Doug Ford to say, you know, when are you going to crack skulls on people?

00:10:40.880 And all of the questions, not all, many of the questions that I'm seeing there are really coming from that premise that, oh, you know, what are you going to do if this happens?

00:10:50.480 What are you going to do if this happens?

00:10:51.640 And Doug Ford, who I know somewhat, has really taken, I think, a very good position on this, which is, listen, you know, we don't need to look at government as being the answer for this.

00:11:04.600 We want everyone to just do the right thing.

00:11:06.880 And like I said earlier, be a good neighbor and respect this and all of that.

00:11:10.680 And I think that's all well and good.

00:11:12.340 I hope it's true and I hope it works.

00:11:14.760 But what happens if it doesn't?

00:11:17.500 What happens if it gets to the point where people are not wanting to play ball?

00:11:21.200 People are not wanting to go along with it.

00:11:23.420 And I don't have an answer to that question.

00:11:26.640 But that story from Quebec City really rubbed me the wrong way because it gave a glimpse of what might become the new reality moving forward.

00:11:34.580 And look, I don't think you have enough police resources in Canada to babysit people that are not respecting or complying with what they should be.

00:11:45.760 And look, I mean, right now, I'm sure you've all seen that video that's gone around, just in case you haven't, I'll play a clip of it here in a moment, of these people that went to spring break and decided that everything was fine and they didn't need to change their plans on account of COVID-19.

00:12:00.680 Take a look.

00:12:01.280 If I get corona, I get corona.

00:12:03.460 At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying.

00:12:05.800 I've been waiting.

00:12:06.780 We've been waiting for Miami spring break for a while.

00:12:09.460 About two months we've had the strip plan.

00:12:11.140 Two, three months.

00:12:12.000 We're just not even having a good time.

00:12:13.780 Whatever happens, happens.

00:12:14.920 It's really messing up with my spring break.

00:12:18.020 What is there to do here other than go to the bars or the beach and they're closing all of it?

00:12:22.440 It's really messing up.

00:12:23.160 I think they're blowing it way out of precaution.

00:12:25.080 I think it's doing way too much.

00:12:26.620 It's doing us bad.

00:12:27.200 We need a refund.

00:12:28.580 This virus ain't that serious.

00:12:29.820 It's more serious things out there like hunger and poverty.

00:12:33.020 We need to address that.

00:12:34.540 Yeah, I mean, we planned this a long time ago and it was kind of up in the air if we still go.

00:12:38.560 But we're here.

00:12:39.580 I just turned 21 this year, so I'm here to party.

00:12:42.080 So it's kind of disappointing.

00:12:43.620 But we're just making the most of it.

00:12:45.460 We met these other people in our little Airbnb spot.

00:12:48.640 So we're just hanging out with them and trying to get drunk before everything closes.

00:12:53.400 I mean, it sucks, but we're going to make the best of it.

00:12:58.060 We're enjoying our time now.

00:12:58.460 We're enjoying ourselves. 0.99

00:12:59.940 It sucks. 0.99

00:13:01.000 And I'm from New Orleans, so this really sucks. 0.99

00:13:03.600 However, we're going to enjoy ourselves. 0.90

00:13:05.500 We're having day parties all day.

00:13:07.420 It's my birthday, St. Patrick's Day.

00:13:09.280 Turn up.

00:13:09.820 We're just trying to roll with the point.

00:13:11.540 We're just living for the moment.

00:13:13.480 We're just going for it.

00:13:14.520 We're just going to do what happens, when it happens.

00:13:17.240 When stuff closes, we're going to do it when it closes.

00:13:19.480 But besides that, we're just trying to have the best chip we can.

00:13:23.320 So COVID-19, wherein 19 also equals the number of combined IQ points of everyone in that video.

00:13:30.480 If I get corona, I get corona.

00:13:32.640 That's probably the anthem for a generation right now.

00:13:36.200 So, but again, you know, the Darwin Awards are, I'm sure you've heard, is this internet phenomenon

00:13:41.940 where you talk about people that had, like, the most spectacularly predictable death.

00:13:47.360 And it's basically the thinning the herd, the natural selection of Darwin.

00:13:51.620 And the thing about it is that, and not that I wish death on anyone, obviously,

00:13:56.600 except Harvey Weinstein.

00:13:57.520 He's got COVID-19, and I wouldn't care if he went, but anyone else, I don't.

00:14:01.580 And the thing is, like, you've got people that are saying, if I get it, I get it.

00:14:08.340 I don't think anyone cares about what happens to them.

00:14:12.000 If they get sick, it's like, well, tough luck.

00:14:14.140 The problem with a virus is that you're dealing with one infection,

00:14:18.080 potentially translating into dozens and dozens.

00:14:21.280 You look at that famous patient 31 in South Korea,

00:14:25.080 where pretty much one person, the 31st individual to contract COVID-19,

00:14:30.620 was responsible for most of the bulk of the country's infections,

00:14:35.120 just because of that exponential growth of the virus.

00:14:39.400 So the thing is, like, we're still dealing, and I don't know the numbers,

00:14:43.120 but there are still people from Canada, presumably,

00:14:45.920 that decided to go away for spring break,

00:14:48.460 or have gone on vacation and come back.

00:14:51.000 And these people, I think, we should be worried about,

00:14:53.140 because they are being told when they enter Canada again,

00:14:56.480 don't forget, you've got to isolate for 14 days.

00:14:59.280 But they were also told by the same people, don't go away, and they did.

00:15:04.620 So if they didn't listen to the don't go away command,

00:15:08.340 how likely are they to listen to the stay isolated for 14 days,

00:15:13.080 don't interact with others demand that they're getting?

00:15:16.800 And that, I think, is the X factor.

00:15:18.900 That's the big variable here that I'm not sure we can necessarily predict,

00:15:23.860 which is why, I mean, you have to make a point of protecting yourself,

00:15:27.240 and hence the precautionary isolation that I've been doing,

00:15:30.600 and that a lot of people I know have been doing.

00:15:33.000 And it's not pleasant.

00:15:34.780 Like I said, I mean, the novelty wears off after a couple of days.

00:15:38.260 Now, for me, I mean, I'm in the same studio that I'm always in.

00:15:40.860 I work from home.

00:15:41.880 But there's a difference between working from home because you want to,

00:15:46.100 and working from home because you are not allowed to leave home

00:15:49.620 or you're not supposed to leave home.

00:15:51.440 So there is a mental difference in, you know, the reason you're doing something.

00:15:56.660 Whereas, look, there's nothing I'd love more a lot of times

00:16:00.060 than just not leaving home on the weekend.

00:16:01.800 It's different when you can't.

00:16:03.560 Like when this is expected of you,

00:16:05.540 and you'll be flogged in the streets if you dare to leave your home.

00:16:09.380 So that is going to be the variable, the spring breakers, 0.72

00:16:13.240 when they come back and are they going to listen to what they're being told to do?

00:16:17.720 Because this is changing a lot of things.

00:16:20.560 And, you know, I still think that the length of time,

00:16:24.620 even if things go well,

00:16:26.860 the length of time here is going to be a big problem.

00:16:30.780 Like you look at the 2020 Tokyo Games,

00:16:34.080 which at this point are scheduled in July.

00:16:36.320 And April, May, June, July.

00:16:38.820 So that's four months away,

00:16:40.220 which when you say that sounds like forever.

00:16:42.520 It sounds like it's just miles away.

00:16:45.100 You don't even need to worry about it.

00:16:46.380 You don't even need to think about it.

00:16:48.280 Canada has become the first country to say it is not sending athletes there.

00:16:52.960 So Canada at this point is not competing in the Tokyo Games.

00:16:56.780 Australia, I believe, has joined,

00:16:58.560 or at the very least said at this point,

00:17:00.500 they're pushing for a postponement.

00:17:02.900 So the International Olympic Committee

00:17:04.840 is saying that they are starting on July 24th.

00:17:09.300 Now, that will change if key countries decide

00:17:12.740 they're not going to participate in the Games.

00:17:16.120 And it was interesting.

00:17:18.160 Last week, one of the daily press conferences,

00:17:21.740 the media asked the ministers who were on this dais

00:17:25.360 whether they would support athletes going to Tokyo

00:17:29.140 with everything that's happening.

00:17:30.740 And they didn't really give a straight answer.

00:17:32.580 Chrystia Freeland was like, well, you know,

00:17:35.060 we ask that people avoid non-essential international travel.

00:17:39.020 And it's like, well, wait, is this essential or non-essential?

00:17:41.780 Because there are a lot of people who think the Olympics are essential.

00:17:44.520 I'm not one of them, but people think that.

00:17:46.920 People say that.

00:17:48.120 So in that particular case,

00:17:51.040 it sounds like the Olympics will have to

00:17:53.880 have a bit more of an introspection

00:17:56.780 than they do right now about saying it's business as usual

00:18:00.900 and everything can go on and everything can go forward.

00:18:04.120 So this is, I mean, I don't want to scare people.

00:18:07.200 I don't.

00:18:07.940 But this is the, if I did,

00:18:09.780 I would just talk about like Justin Trudeau being stuck in office

00:18:12.580 because we can't have another election because of COVID-19,

00:18:15.680 which is actually more terrifying than this,

00:18:18.100 which is, so that was a good way to lead into it.

00:18:19.760 But this comes from the National Post.

00:18:23.700 Stopping COVID-19 could require eight months

00:18:26.720 of aggressive social distancing outbreak modeling shows.

00:18:31.280 Now she's basing this, Sharon Kerkey, the writer,

00:18:34.020 on an email that has now become just ubiquitous

00:18:38.100 across the country among doctors.

00:18:39.980 It's from Dr. Brent Wolfram,

00:18:42.140 who's a former medical officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:18:46.020 And he says that, you know,

00:18:48.100 basically it's going to be an eight month long fight,

00:18:51.260 stress, uncertainty, social isolation,

00:18:54.000 periods of crisis, periods of calm.

00:18:56.620 And that's how it's going to be.

00:18:58.640 So he's published something here

00:19:00.820 in the top medical journal in Canada.

00:19:04.600 And ultimately, I think it's quite terrifying

00:19:07.880 to think of whether the world could sustain this

00:19:11.240 for eight months and what this looks like.

00:19:14.460 Because this is the problem.

00:19:15.740 If you can contain it to a couple of countries,

00:19:18.100 and say Canada is not one of them,

00:19:20.080 does Canada need to continue

00:19:22.160 with this aggressive social distancing, as it's called?

00:19:26.480 Or is it just enough to keep travel restrictions in place?

00:19:30.240 Which is why travel restrictions

00:19:32.040 should have been among the first things that were done here.

00:19:36.000 Now, I want to just share with you 0.77

00:19:38.020 how ridiculous this has gotten.

00:19:40.780 We went from, we would never close the border.

00:19:43.880 Closing borders don't work.

00:19:45.140 Viruses don't know borders.

00:19:47.020 Patty Hajdu was the one beating this drum, 1.00

00:19:49.540 the Canadian health minister.

00:19:51.380 And then a couple of weeks later,

00:19:53.200 she has gotten to where she is as of this past weekend,

00:19:57.440 which is, we might even consider allowing

00:20:00.540 provincial borders to close.

00:20:02.860 So she went from, we can't shut down Canada's border.

00:20:06.520 It's never going to do anything to,

00:20:07.900 oh my goodness, you shouldn't even be able to go from PEI

00:20:10.800 to Nova Scotia at this point.

00:20:13.640 And I find it, you know, again,

00:20:15.260 I don't take delight in where we are as a country.

00:20:19.420 But I do think there is a benefit in the told you so thing,

00:20:23.300 because these people were so arrogantly saying

00:20:25.660 that their open border ideology

00:20:28.880 was trumping science and disease containment

00:20:32.580 and that their open border virtue signaling

00:20:34.580 was apparently more powerful

00:20:37.140 than COVID-19 and the coronavirus.

00:20:41.180 That this whole hashtag welcome to Canada song and dance

00:20:44.620 was better than what all of the viral experts

00:20:47.820 in the world were saying and doing.

00:20:49.760 And now they've all come around

00:20:51.560 to what most sensible Canadians were pushing for

00:20:55.020 right out of the gate.

00:20:56.980 They've all come around on this

00:20:58.560 because they realized that, hey,

00:21:00.220 just saying a virus knows no borders isn't actually true.

00:21:04.240 And you may not be able to eradicate a virus

00:21:06.840 through shutting down borders,

00:21:08.360 but you can certainly delay and dampen its effect

00:21:12.560 in your own country,

00:21:13.720 especially if that country is Canada,

00:21:16.000 which is geographically removed

00:21:18.080 from the epicenter of this virus.

00:21:22.100 So it is interesting.

00:21:23.660 And just to walk you through what happened here.

00:21:25.540 So at first, it's a virus knows no borders.

00:21:27.500 That's the line.

00:21:28.580 And then Justin Trudeau saying,

00:21:29.920 oh, you know, we can't shut down borders.

00:21:31.740 And by the way, this last week that I was talking about,

00:21:34.920 this felt like a year.

00:21:36.640 Even within that week,

00:21:38.420 the government's position changed.

00:21:40.500 And then the government drops a bombshell,

00:21:42.820 I think it was on Tuesday,

00:21:44.440 that we are going to be suspending

00:21:46.120 all non-essential travel.

00:21:48.160 That basically the government was saying,

00:21:50.040 if you're not a Canadian citizen,

00:21:51.560 if you don't meet these criteria,

00:21:54.520 you can't come into the country. 0.98

00:21:56.980 And then that was still exempt for US citizens.

00:22:00.900 And then a day later, it's okay,

00:22:02.840 we are now suspending non-essential travel

00:22:05.020 between Canada and the US.

00:22:07.140 Now, there are a lot of variables there,

00:22:10.180 like trade and the definition of essential.

00:22:13.820 The government hasn't quite defined.

00:22:16.520 And this is now in effect, however.

00:22:18.100 You cannot just,

00:22:18.840 if you're in London, Ontario, like I am,

00:22:21.340 and you want to take a weekend in Chicago,

00:22:22.660 you can't do it.

00:22:23.800 If you are in Chicago,

00:22:24.780 and you, for some reason that I don't understand,

00:22:27.480 want to take a weekend in London, Ontario,

00:22:29.420 you can't do that.

00:22:30.860 So what you can do is go across the border for trade.

00:22:35.380 It sounds like if you have family on the other side,

00:22:38.680 you might be able to,

00:22:40.340 but again, it's unclear how you prove it.

00:22:42.940 And I fear that the manifestation of this

00:22:45.880 might be in some respects like the honor system.

00:22:49.640 But what we do know is that there is still a restriction

00:22:54.480 and the government has determined the need for a restriction.

00:22:57.500 And all of the international flights

00:22:59.480 that are still coming into Canada,

00:23:01.000 it sounds like are probably empty

00:23:03.780 because most people are ineligible to be here.

00:23:07.120 So this is something that should have been done

00:23:10.260 right from the outset of this

00:23:12.460 when this was just a disease

00:23:14.880 that China was exporting directly to other countries.

00:23:18.460 Because remember, at the very beginning,

00:23:20.160 the only cases,

00:23:21.220 the only cases anywhere in the world

00:23:22.820 were people from China

00:23:23.880 going from one country to another.

00:23:26.420 And then they get there

00:23:27.660 and then someone catches it there.

00:23:29.700 But they could all be traced to China.

00:23:32.460 And then it got to a point

00:23:33.720 where it was more difficult

00:23:34.760 because you had various epicenters,

00:23:37.280 the big three being China, Iran, and Italy.

00:23:40.740 And in Canada, I think we got more,

00:23:42.880 I may be wrong about this,

00:23:44.220 but I think we got more from Iran than from China

00:23:47.560 just because there was that surge a couple of weeks ago

00:23:51.060 where it seemed like all of the new cases

00:23:54.520 were people that had been to Iran and just got back.

00:23:58.260 So let's talk about this sensibly here.

00:24:01.600 If you have a virus,

00:24:02.940 and I know it's supposedly racist 0.91

00:24:04.700 when Donald Trump says it's a Chinese virus 0.93

00:24:06.820 or a foreign virus,

00:24:07.980 but that is a matter of fact.

00:24:09.600 It is those things.

00:24:11.700 And it's not to say you should take out your anger

00:24:14.140 on Chinese people.

00:24:15.520 They are not the problem. 0.95

00:24:17.200 But it's a virus that has a national point of origin.

00:24:21.620 And if it has a national point of origin,

00:24:23.580 it's not unreasonable or racist or xenophobic to say,

00:24:26.820 hey, we don't think people

00:24:28.420 that might be carrying that virus

00:24:30.420 by virtue of the geography of the virus,

00:24:33.100 not the nationality of the people.

00:24:35.720 It's about geography, not nationality.

00:24:38.480 We would be right to restrict that.

00:24:40.380 Now, look, this is too little, too late now.

00:24:42.540 And I know that.

00:24:43.720 But when every expert is saying

00:24:45.560 we need to prepare ourselves for the next wave,

00:24:48.160 this is how you do it,

00:24:49.400 by understanding what went wrong the first time around.

00:24:53.480 And let's face it,

00:24:54.560 we've got a government right now

00:24:55.820 that's saying all of these things

00:24:57.580 that were terrible yesterday

00:24:59.020 are the right idea today.

00:25:01.500 Stopping illegal border crossers 1.00

00:25:03.120 from entering Canada.

00:25:04.320 For three years,

00:25:05.460 the government's been saying

00:25:06.360 there's no way to do it.

00:25:07.380 You can't do it.

00:25:08.300 You can't send them back.

00:25:09.300 You can't block them.

00:25:10.500 You can't close Roxham Road.

00:25:12.260 And then overnight,

00:25:14.040 it was literally overnight,

00:25:15.600 one day the government says,

00:25:17.020 oh, no, illegal border crossers, 0.97

00:25:18.660 we're still letting in 0.51

00:25:19.500 and we're going to put them in quarantine.

00:25:21.260 And then the next day it was,

00:25:23.200 yeah, we've reached an agreement

00:25:24.300 with the United States.

00:25:25.180 We are sending them back.

00:25:28.120 Okay, I mean,

00:25:29.240 I applaud it.

00:25:31.140 I welcome it.

00:25:31.920 I've been calling for that for three years.

00:25:33.840 But again,

00:25:34.540 why is it only now

00:25:36.100 that the government has said

00:25:37.640 it can do that

00:25:38.800 when for the past three years

00:25:40.040 it was how dare you say that 0.99

00:25:41.560 you're just a racist old stock Canadian? 0.97

00:25:45.220 It's amazing what can happen 0.99

00:25:47.060 in a time of crisis.

00:25:48.620 Now, this is unsubstantiated,

00:25:50.900 but I'm fairly confident

00:25:52.260 that this was pushed for

00:25:54.480 by the Americans,

00:25:55.740 that Trudeau went along with it

00:25:56.960 because Trump wanted it

00:25:58.140 and not because Trudeau wanted it.

00:26:01.180 And I mean,

00:26:01.640 what he got in return,

00:26:02.620 I don't know,

00:26:03.540 but it does very much look as though

00:26:06.080 this is a situation

00:26:07.120 where the U.S. stands to benefit more

00:26:09.100 because now it can say,

00:26:10.500 listen, we're worried about immigration

00:26:12.140 on northern and southern borders.

00:26:14.100 And it gives Donald Trump

00:26:15.600 the political cover

00:26:16.800 to take the southern border

00:26:19.100 a lot more seriously,

00:26:20.360 which is where the big problems are.

00:26:22.080 Let's face it.

00:26:23.040 I mean, I love Canada

00:26:23.940 and I love America.

00:26:25.600 Not many people are going

00:26:27.460 from Canada to the U.S. illegally

00:26:29.580 by sneaking across

00:26:30.900 the Vermont-Quebec border

00:26:33.420 or the New York-Quebec border.

00:26:35.740 So I think that's where

00:26:36.880 we look at a bit of 3D chess

00:26:39.120 that might be going on here.

00:26:40.560 But regardless of the motivation,

00:26:43.000 it's a fact to say

00:26:44.740 that this was something

00:26:46.140 that Trudeau said was impossible

00:26:47.460 and shouldn't have been done one day.

00:26:49.200 And then by the time

00:26:49.840 the next day rolls around,

00:26:50.980 it's we are going to return.

00:26:52.560 Now, so far,

00:26:53.680 the government is not committing

00:26:54.880 to extending this

00:26:56.280 beyond the border restriction period here.

00:26:59.840 They aren't admitting

00:27:00.800 that maybe they can keep this going long term.

00:27:04.700 I would love it if they did.

00:27:06.740 And more importantly,

00:27:07.720 I know a lot of people

00:27:08.740 are approaching this

00:27:09.920 with a fair bit of skepticism,

00:27:11.760 saying, we'll all believe it

00:27:13.200 when I see it.

00:27:14.080 I will as well.

00:27:15.320 But at this point,

00:27:16.200 it was a very clear

00:27:17.420 and clearly delineated position

00:27:19.200 that if you enter Canada

00:27:20.900 illegally to claim asylum,

00:27:22.680 you will be returned immediately.

00:27:24.940 You won't even enter the system.

00:27:26.820 You won't enter the pipeline.

00:27:28.160 You won't even become a part

00:27:29.620 of the Immigration and Refugee Board process.

00:27:32.580 You will just be sent right back

00:27:34.400 to where you came from.

00:27:35.920 And this is long overdue.

00:27:37.640 If you don't respect

00:27:38.520 a country's borders,

00:27:39.620 you aren't respecting

00:27:40.480 the country's laws,

00:27:41.620 and therefore,

00:27:42.520 you aren't respecting the country.

00:27:44.580 And I would say

00:27:45.640 we could also fairly say

00:27:47.860 that a virus may not respect borders,

00:27:51.300 but a virus's living host has to.

00:27:54.220 Because the virus is not just like

00:27:55.840 swimming around in the air

00:27:57.220 and deciding that,

00:27:58.440 oh, you know,

00:27:58.880 I'm going to go and check out Toronto.

00:28:00.760 And oh, no, I don't like it there.

00:28:01.820 I'm going to go to check out New York.

00:28:03.420 And oh, like the virus is not just

00:28:05.320 like the little,

00:28:06.320 what is it,

00:28:06.740 the feather in Forrest Gump

00:28:08.020 just going all over the place.

00:28:09.640 No, the virus is in a person.

00:28:11.380 The virus is in a person.

00:28:12.860 And I'm sorry,

00:28:13.720 but, you know,

00:28:14.360 unless a border guard

00:28:15.280 is hosting a virus exorcism

00:28:17.200 and the virus gets into the country

00:28:18.620 and the person doesn't,

00:28:20.040 if a person is denied entry to Canada,

00:28:23.100 they are not going to be

00:28:24.720 bringing the virus into Canada.

00:28:26.560 So that's one fewer case.

00:28:28.920 And if you look at

00:28:29.640 the exponential growth of viruses

00:28:31.480 like patient 31 in South Korea,

00:28:33.980 you know that one person

00:28:35.780 can actually be tens of people,

00:28:38.080 thousands of people.

00:28:39.820 This is what happens.

00:28:41.120 And this is known

00:28:43.000 by the government of Canada.

00:28:45.500 Now, I'm not one of these people,

00:28:47.420 believe it or not,

00:28:48.300 that hates everything Trudeau does

00:28:49.960 because of a dislike for Trudeau.

00:28:52.060 I think he's actually been

00:28:53.360 a very capable communicator

00:28:55.740 through this crisis.

00:28:56.680 And I think that goes

00:28:57.760 for Chrystia Freeland as well.

00:28:59.400 I don't agree with all the policies

00:29:00.800 they've taken,

00:29:01.660 but they have been available every day

00:29:04.700 and they have been making

00:29:06.440 their point known

00:29:07.900 and communicating

00:29:08.800 what the government is doing

00:29:10.100 clearly every single day.

00:29:12.080 And I think that is

00:29:12.860 very much commendable.

00:29:14.380 I think Doug Ford

00:29:15.140 has done a great job as well.

00:29:16.900 Jason Kenney has done a great job.

00:29:18.860 I haven't been following

00:29:19.800 as much the other provinces.

00:29:21.500 I know BC's government

00:29:22.920 has done a fair bit.

00:29:24.260 I don't know about

00:29:25.120 the Premier John Horgan,

00:29:26.820 but the public health officer there

00:29:29.620 I know has done a fair bit.

00:29:31.280 So there is a good communications strategy

00:29:34.880 that's at play here,

00:29:36.060 but you need to be having

00:29:37.740 a message worth communicating.

00:29:39.860 And that's where

00:29:40.600 just the sheer incoherence

00:29:42.580 of the border discussion

00:29:44.180 up until just a few days ago

00:29:46.980 really could have made this crisis

00:29:49.960 a heck of a lot worse

00:29:51.440 than it needed to be.

00:29:53.900 And that's the big problem

00:29:55.580 that I think needs to be understood now

00:29:58.240 is that if you ever want to

00:29:59.340 deal with this in the future,

00:30:01.280 and prevent it,

00:30:02.680 you have to make those moves

00:30:04.460 a lot more quickly.

00:30:06.760 We've got to take a quick break.

00:30:08.420 When we come back,

00:30:09.060 more of The Andrew Lawton Show

00:30:10.540 here on True North.

00:30:13.120 You're tuned in

00:30:14.320 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:30:17.020 We are back here

00:30:18.340 on The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:30:20.220 And listen,

00:30:20.920 I said at the beginning

00:30:21.880 of this program

00:30:22.600 that I want to make it clear

00:30:24.120 that the world is on hold

00:30:26.220 in many cases,

00:30:27.560 and COVID-19 is the priority.

00:30:29.440 It's what people are

00:30:31.000 living and breathing.

00:30:31.840 That was a cruel joke.

00:30:32.940 I didn't mean that as a joke.

00:30:33.960 It just ended up coming out as one.

00:30:36.160 And also that if you don't accept

00:30:39.220 that things aren't business as usual,

00:30:41.000 you are grossly missing the mark.

00:30:43.700 And this is where

00:30:44.820 the Conservative Party of Canada,

00:30:46.480 a party that I voted for,

00:30:48.280 has very much been,

00:30:50.420 I think,

00:30:51.640 in the wrong on this.

00:30:53.820 And I'm not a party loyalist,

00:30:55.540 so when I criticize a party,

00:30:57.920 it's about giving credit

00:30:58.780 where it's due

00:30:59.320 and giving criticism

00:31:00.360 where it's due.

00:31:01.500 But the Conservative Party of Canada

00:31:03.500 has refused to budge

00:31:05.960 on its leadership race,

00:31:07.460 which right now

00:31:08.440 is scheduled to go on

00:31:09.700 as though nothing happened

00:31:10.840 in the world in June.

00:31:12.200 But the problem is

00:31:13.280 that there are also things

00:31:14.600 between now and then

00:31:16.440 that they are not changing.

00:31:18.100 The most imminent

00:31:18.860 is a cutoff March 25th,

00:31:21.160 so that is on Wednesday

00:31:22.420 of this week,

00:31:24.640 by which point candidates

00:31:25.940 must submit $300,000 cash

00:31:28.540 and 3,000 signatures

00:31:29.800 to remain in the race.

00:31:31.980 So the way it works

00:31:33.040 is to get in,

00:31:33.700 you have to pony up

00:31:34.580 $25,000 and $1,000 signatures,

00:31:36.940 and then you have to,

00:31:38.460 to get access

00:31:39.280 to the membership list

00:31:40.320 of the party,

00:31:41.280 give $150,000

00:31:42.720 and $2,000 signatures,

00:31:44.540 and to be on the ballot

00:31:46.000 by March 25th,

00:31:47.320 you have to give

00:31:47.920 that final batch

00:31:49.380 of money and signatures.

00:31:50.760 And as it stands now,

00:31:52.500 if you look at the CPC membership

00:31:54.580 or the CPC leadership page,

00:31:57.840 the candidates

00:31:58.520 as of recording time

00:31:59.980 Monday morning,

00:32:00.960 four of them

00:32:01.680 have done the max,

00:32:02.940 Leslyn Lewis,

00:32:03.780 Peter McKay,

00:32:04.540 Aaron O'Toole,

00:32:05.300 and Derek Sloan,

00:32:06.560 and two of them

00:32:07.400 have not achieved

00:32:08.520 that threshold yet,

00:32:09.720 Marilyn Gladue

00:32:10.520 and Rudy Husney.

00:32:12.160 Now, last week,

00:32:13.460 I actually interviewed

00:32:14.540 four of these candidates,

00:32:17.500 and of those,

00:32:18.820 we have two of them,

00:32:20.700 or three of them

00:32:21.240 that are out,

00:32:21.940 Marilyn Gladue,

00:32:22.720 Rudy Husney,

00:32:23.380 and Derek Sloan.

00:32:24.540 I may interview

00:32:25.140 with Leslyn Lewis,

00:32:25.920 will probably be out

00:32:26.740 sometime next week.

00:32:28.700 But the thing is,

00:32:30.140 the idea there

00:32:31.820 about these two candidates

00:32:33.840 is that they've said,

00:32:35.560 listen,

00:32:35.860 we can't campaign

00:32:36.800 because of the pandemic.

00:32:38.340 So all of these

00:32:39.360 fundraising events

00:32:40.420 that we were supposed to do,

00:32:41.900 we can't do.

00:32:42.760 All of these member drives

00:32:44.280 to get people to sign up,

00:32:45.560 we can't go to.

00:32:46.440 So they've asked the party

00:32:48.000 to postpone

00:32:49.020 that March 25th cutoff,

00:32:51.220 and the party has said no.

00:32:54.200 Now, Rick Peterson,

00:32:55.440 who was also running

00:32:56.920 up until,

00:32:57.700 I think,

00:32:58.120 Saturday,

00:32:58.720 was saying the same thing.

00:33:00.060 Now, Rick Peterson,

00:33:01.000 who ran for the leadership

00:33:01.980 last time,

00:33:02.840 he didn't get

00:33:03.580 a huge chunk of the vote,

00:33:04.880 but still,

00:33:05.460 he raised money,

00:33:06.260 he made it on the ballot.

00:33:07.880 He said,

00:33:08.900 listen,

00:33:09.300 I mean,

00:33:09.800 I am not going to be able

00:33:11.120 to do what you want me

00:33:12.360 to do by March 25th

00:33:13.640 with the COVID-19 pandemic,

00:33:15.920 ergo,

00:33:16.740 I'm just bowing out

00:33:17.920 of the race.

00:33:19.380 So Rick Peterson

00:33:20.320 took the step of saying,

00:33:21.940 listen,

00:33:22.200 I'm just done.

00:33:23.080 I'm not going to be able

00:33:24.040 to be on the ballot

00:33:24.980 with these circumstances,

00:33:26.580 and the party

00:33:27.200 has still said nothing.

00:33:28.440 Now,

00:33:29.000 the other person

00:33:29.900 who was supposed to be on

00:33:31.220 but is not

00:33:32.240 is Jim Carajalios.

00:33:33.960 Jim Carajalios

00:33:35.040 was kicked off

00:33:36.920 the ballot

00:33:37.800 by a decision

00:33:39.380 supposedly made

00:33:40.620 by the Conservative Party

00:33:41.820 of Canada's

00:33:42.460 Leadership Committee,

00:33:43.600 but at this point,

00:33:44.380 it's not actually clear

00:33:45.420 who made that decision.

00:33:47.180 I'm looking at

00:33:48.100 the statement

00:33:49.420 that was provided to me

00:33:50.880 by the Conservative Party

00:33:52.120 of Canada,

00:33:53.660 and everyone else

00:33:55.100 has now, like,

00:33:55.680 republished this screenshot

00:33:56.920 that I put out

00:33:58.120 of this statement

00:33:58.880 because it was sent to me,

00:34:00.260 and the thing about it

00:34:01.580 is that it says

00:34:02.860 the DRAC,

00:34:04.640 DRAC,

00:34:05.580 was the body

00:34:06.600 that disqualified him.

00:34:08.280 So that's the

00:34:08.740 Dispute Resolution

00:34:09.760 Appeals Committee,

00:34:10.520 and they are tasked

00:34:12.340 with appeals

00:34:13.780 at the Chief

00:34:15.060 Returning Officer

00:34:15.820 decisions

00:34:16.300 with the Leadership

00:34:17.020 Election Organizing

00:34:17.900 Committee,

00:34:18.320 and, I mean,

00:34:18.940 you could look

00:34:19.300 in the statement,

00:34:19.860 there are a whole

00:34:20.140 bunch of acronyms,

00:34:20.980 but they say

00:34:21.580 that DRAC issued

00:34:23.160 a ruling

00:34:23.660 that Carajalios

00:34:25.000 would be disqualified,

00:34:26.460 and that ruling

00:34:27.300 was issued

00:34:27.860 on May 18th

00:34:29.920 after an appeal

00:34:31.180 of a prior decision

00:34:32.520 by the Chief

00:34:33.600 Returning Officer.

00:34:34.440 So I don't want

00:34:35.640 to get too

00:34:35.980 in the weeds

00:34:36.440 on this,

00:34:37.020 but again,

00:34:38.420 right now,

00:34:39.280 it seems like

00:34:40.060 there are probably

00:34:40.800 more important things

00:34:41.880 to be focused on

00:34:42.860 than internal

00:34:44.000 party politics

00:34:45.480 and internal

00:34:46.080 political and

00:34:46.820 partisan strife,

00:34:47.980 yet still,

00:34:48.880 you've got

00:34:49.240 the Conservative Party

00:34:50.080 disqualifying a

00:34:51.180 candidate this week

00:34:52.160 for, in its words,

00:34:54.600 past comments

00:34:55.740 made through

00:34:56.920 email, mail,

00:34:58.280 and social media

00:34:59.320 earlier in the month,

00:35:01.600 and then you've got

00:35:02.380 now leadership

00:35:03.620 candidates that are

00:35:04.420 saying we can't

00:35:05.160 actually run

00:35:06.080 our campaigns

00:35:07.360 because of

00:35:08.520 this pandemic.

00:35:10.260 So all of the,

00:35:11.780 up until last weekend

00:35:13.380 or just a few days ago,

00:35:15.000 the only people

00:35:16.240 that were calling

00:35:17.040 on the party

00:35:17.840 to postpone

00:35:18.740 were people that

00:35:19.460 weren't yet on

00:35:20.060 the ballot themselves.

00:35:21.200 Now I'm very grateful

00:35:22.480 that Derek Sloan,

00:35:24.060 who is on the ballot,

00:35:25.220 has nothing to gain

00:35:26.120 from letting other

00:35:27.200 people get on,

00:35:28.220 and Aaron O'Toole,

00:35:29.280 who's one of the

00:35:29.920 perceived frontrunners

00:35:31.200 of the race,

00:35:31.980 have both said

00:35:33.160 we've got to

00:35:34.860 postpone this,

00:35:36.220 the country needs

00:35:37.420 to focus on

00:35:38.660 unity and health

00:35:39.820 first,

00:35:40.660 Conservative leadership

00:35:41.580 can wait,

00:35:42.280 and Aaron O'Toole

00:35:42.820 actually put out

00:35:43.560 a lengthy video

00:35:44.580 to this effect

00:35:45.340 on the weekend.

00:35:46.420 Here's a clip

00:35:46.840 of that video.

00:35:47.340 As a Member of Parliament

00:35:48.600 seeking to lead

00:35:49.440 the same great party

00:35:50.680 that Sir Robert Borden

00:35:51.800 once did,

00:35:52.940 his personal example

00:35:54.120 has been weighing

00:35:54.880 heavily on me.

00:35:56.760 It was Borden

00:35:57.460 who forged a union

00:35:58.560 government

00:35:59.020 with his political

00:35:59.800 opponents to ensure

00:36:00.920 that the young nation

00:36:01.980 of Canada

00:36:02.660 remained united

00:36:03.940 amid a time

00:36:04.960 of crisis.

00:36:06.520 Therefore,

00:36:07.480 with the example

00:36:08.240 of Robert Borden

00:36:09.100 in my heart

00:36:09.980 and in my mind,

00:36:11.580 today I am proposing

00:36:12.860 three measures.

00:36:14.600 First,

00:36:15.180 I'm asking

00:36:16.200 the Leadership Committee

00:36:17.160 of the Conservative Party

00:36:18.260 of Canada

00:36:18.800 to delay

00:36:19.840 the Conservative

00:36:20.580 Leadership Contest

00:36:21.760 to ensure

00:36:22.880 that all time

00:36:23.720 and resources

00:36:24.260 of our Conservative

00:36:25.100 Caucus

00:36:25.680 and our grassroots

00:36:26.860 members

00:36:27.400 can be focused

00:36:28.180 on helping

00:36:28.780 our constituents

00:36:29.500 and the needs

00:36:30.760 of our communities

00:36:31.500 in the fight

00:36:32.280 against COVID-19.

00:36:34.480 Second,

00:36:35.520 I'm asking

00:36:36.240 my leadership team

00:36:37.340 and our thousands

00:36:38.280 of Conservative supporters

00:36:39.580 across the country

00:36:40.540 to devote

00:36:41.440 any support

00:36:42.340 or resources

00:36:42.880 they may have

00:36:43.680 to the needs

00:36:44.580 of their community.

00:36:46.260 Today,

00:36:47.120 Rebecca and I

00:36:47.920 will be making

00:36:48.560 a donation

00:36:49.120 on behalf

00:36:49.680 of our family

00:36:50.420 to the St. Vincent

00:36:51.820 de Paul Food Bank

00:36:52.980 in Bowmanville

00:36:53.580 to help those efforts

00:36:55.280 towards those in need

00:36:56.520 in Durham.

00:36:58.020 Third,

00:36:58.880 I am proposing

00:36:59.680 to the Government

00:37:00.340 of Canada

00:37:00.900 to create

00:37:01.700 a special

00:37:02.460 COVID crisis committee

00:37:03.900 to leverage

00:37:04.900 the best minds

00:37:05.820 we have in

00:37:06.320 Canada's Parliament

00:37:07.100 towards an all-party

00:37:08.680 response to this crisis.

00:37:11.180 As a veteran,

00:37:12.380 business leader,

00:37:13.020 and former

00:37:13.660 Cabinet Minister,

00:37:14.880 I am offering

00:37:15.580 to be a part

00:37:16.360 of this all-party effort.

00:37:18.760 Let us work together

00:37:19.780 to keep our

00:37:20.400 parliamentary democracy

00:37:21.540 strong

00:37:22.180 and to transform

00:37:23.340 accountability

00:37:24.060 into collaborative

00:37:25.600 strength

00:37:26.360 at a time of crisis.

00:37:28.580 I want to thank

00:37:29.620 the thousands

00:37:30.180 of Canadians

00:37:30.800 who have already

00:37:31.440 donated or volunteered

00:37:32.580 on my campaign

00:37:33.540 to be the next leader

00:37:34.700 of the Conservative Party

00:37:36.040 of Canada.

00:37:37.420 I'm not leaving

00:37:38.480 the race.

00:37:39.580 In fact,

00:37:40.160 I believe

00:37:40.720 we will win it.

00:37:41.520 But today,

00:37:42.980 I'm proposing

00:37:43.560 that we put

00:37:44.220 the needs

00:37:44.800 of our fellow

00:37:45.420 citizens first.

00:37:47.260 Like Sir John A.

00:37:48.520 MacDonald

00:37:48.920 or Sir Robert

00:37:49.800 Borden before us,

00:37:51.260 we are all engaged

00:37:52.660 in political life

00:37:53.540 to serve

00:37:54.100 and build

00:37:54.640 this great country.

00:37:55.900 And that can be

00:37:56.880 best accomplished

00:37:57.860 by delaying

00:37:58.960 this contest

00:37:59.500 and putting

00:38:00.580 Canada first.

00:38:02.200 Thank you

00:38:03.020 and God bless

00:38:04.200 Canada amid

00:38:05.080 this challenging crisis.

00:38:06.200 So again,

00:38:07.400 I think what

00:38:07.740 Aaron O'Toole said

00:38:08.580 is entirely valid

00:38:09.920 there,

00:38:10.300 that there are

00:38:10.760 bigger things

00:38:11.500 right now.

00:38:12.260 So when I wrote

00:38:12.880 my column

00:38:13.480 about this,

00:38:14.000 I led off

00:38:15.020 with a very

00:38:15.880 accurate sentiment,

00:38:17.820 I think,

00:38:18.180 which is that

00:38:18.600 I'm baffled

00:38:19.380 and disappointed

00:38:20.160 that I even

00:38:20.760 needed to write

00:38:21.480 this,

00:38:21.860 that the Conservative

00:38:22.960 Party of Canada

00:38:23.860 couldn't just

00:38:24.500 see itself,

00:38:26.260 hmm,

00:38:26.760 I think that

00:38:27.800 we can probably

00:38:28.800 say that things

00:38:29.820 are not business

00:38:30.780 as usual right now

00:38:32.080 and that's the term

00:38:32.800 I keep going back to.

00:38:34.460 So of this race,

00:38:36.820 of the people

00:38:37.360 in this race,

00:38:38.640 you know,

00:38:38.980 the ones that are

00:38:39.520 at the top,

00:38:40.100 it's easy for them

00:38:40.760 to go dark.

00:38:41.440 It's easy for Peter

00:38:42.180 McKay to carry on.

00:38:43.220 He's doing his

00:38:43.860 town halls

00:38:44.500 and he's sending

00:38:45.460 out emails every day

00:38:46.740 and doing phone stuff

00:38:47.980 but he's on the ballot

00:38:50.040 so there's no real

00:38:51.560 benefit to him

00:38:52.760 doing the in-person

00:38:54.700 stuff right now,

00:38:55.740 that retail politics

00:38:56.840 that the lesser

00:38:57.620 known candidates

00:38:58.600 are trying to do.

00:39:00.400 So when I look

00:39:01.240 at some of the

00:39:02.020 other MPs

00:39:02.880 like,

00:39:03.340 Marilyn Gladue,

00:39:05.080 here's a woman 1.00

00:39:05.760 who's very capable,

00:39:07.020 very competent.

00:39:08.180 My interview with her

00:39:09.140 was very well received

00:39:10.620 but here's a woman 1.00

00:39:11.900 who again

00:39:12.320 needs to get out there

00:39:14.120 and she even said

00:39:14.920 that in the interview

00:39:15.580 that people like her

00:39:16.420 when they know her,

00:39:17.620 they just don't all

00:39:18.460 know her.

00:39:19.840 So she needs to get out 1.00

00:39:20.980 at these events,

00:39:21.740 these fora,

00:39:22.760 these all candidates

00:39:23.560 meetings,

00:39:24.540 these EDA events

00:39:25.640 that are being hosted

00:39:26.380 across the country,

00:39:27.320 none of them exist anymore

00:39:28.760 so how is it possible?

00:39:30.740 So listen,

00:39:31.500 the rules are the rules

00:39:32.420 and I get that

00:39:33.260 and the rules

00:39:34.420 shouldn't be changed

00:39:35.520 because candidates

00:39:36.600 are falling short.

00:39:37.940 They should be changed

00:39:39.020 because the world

00:39:40.000 has changed

00:39:40.620 since those rules

00:39:41.580 were cemented.

00:39:42.760 The world has changed

00:39:43.660 since this race started

00:39:44.740 and it looks just

00:39:46.240 tone deaf

00:39:46.920 which by the way

00:39:47.860 is par for the course

00:39:48.820 right now

00:39:49.340 with this Conservative Party

00:39:51.140 of Canada

00:39:51.680 which also sent out

00:39:53.520 a fundraising email

00:39:54.780 in the midst

00:39:55.480 of the COVID-19

00:39:56.740 scare last week.

00:39:58.200 so the very heart

00:40:00.740 of the crisis

00:40:01.680 in Canada

00:40:02.200 when things were ramping up

00:40:03.300 and the party

00:40:04.100 sends out an email

00:40:04.960 trying to shake people

00:40:06.040 down for money

00:40:06.820 which is why

00:40:08.060 I've got a lot of respect

00:40:08.960 for candidates

00:40:09.740 like Rudy Husney

00:40:10.840 and Marilyn Gladue 0.95

00:40:11.820 even if they weren't

00:40:12.940 going to win

00:40:13.640 for saying

00:40:14.460 listen,

00:40:14.900 I mean,

00:40:15.100 we refuse to campaign

00:40:16.840 during some period

00:40:19.180 that is so difficult

00:40:20.520 we aren't going

00:40:21.940 to ask people

00:40:22.600 for money

00:40:23.300 when they are

00:40:24.100 trying to focus

00:40:24.880 on keeping their jobs,

00:40:26.780 getting food

00:40:27.260 on the table

00:40:27.800 and doing all

00:40:28.360 of these things 0.99

00:40:28.840 like how ignorant 0.98

00:40:30.040 would we be 0.99

00:40:30.700 to do that

00:40:31.320 and the Conservative Party 0.98

00:40:32.340 says not ignorant enough 0.97

00:40:33.720 apparently 0.98

00:40:34.380 that's the CPC's line

00:40:35.760 on this

00:40:36.180 so to focus so much

00:40:38.120 on this petty partisanship

00:40:39.820 when there is a

00:40:41.240 serious

00:40:42.360 bona fide crisis

00:40:44.240 afoot

00:40:44.920 is so baffling

00:40:47.520 to me

00:40:47.920 but this is what

00:40:49.080 we expect

00:40:49.980 in this political process

00:40:52.080 and listen

00:40:53.500 I mean,

00:40:54.060 I don't know

00:40:54.580 how long

00:40:55.080 it's going to last

00:40:56.000 and there is

00:40:56.680 an argument

00:40:57.260 and I get

00:40:57.980 this argument

00:40:58.560 by the way

00:40:59.100 that the Conservatives

00:41:00.600 need to have

00:41:01.260 a leader

00:41:01.900 that is there

00:41:03.700 and ready

00:41:04.320 in the event

00:41:05.000 that something happens

00:41:05.980 this is the rationale

00:41:06.980 now I think

00:41:08.680 it's possible

00:41:09.320 to delay

00:41:10.660 the cutoff

00:41:11.580 without delaying

00:41:12.560 the race

00:41:12.940 that's one option

00:41:13.700 I think you can

00:41:14.160 delay the race

00:41:14.880 altogether

00:41:15.420 remember

00:41:16.340 the Conservatives

00:41:17.060 have a policy convention

00:41:18.640 scheduled for November

00:41:19.760 they could turn

00:41:21.060 that into

00:41:21.760 a leadership convention

00:41:23.060 that's entirely

00:41:24.120 within their rights

00:41:25.020 and let's face it

00:41:26.160 most events

00:41:27.140 right now

00:41:27.640 are being cancelled

00:41:28.680 in some cases

00:41:29.980 by state mandate

00:41:31.520 I mean

00:41:32.040 it would be

00:41:32.780 I think it's illegal

00:41:33.680 to have

00:41:34.380 the Conservative convention

00:41:35.980 because it's supposed

00:41:36.760 to be in Toronto

00:41:37.480 right now

00:41:38.280 it would be illegal

00:41:39.020 to have the Conservative convention

00:41:40.520 where you can't have

00:41:42.920 more than 50 people

00:41:43.940 in a room

00:41:44.400 without the state

00:41:45.360 shaking you down

00:41:46.000 so given that

00:41:47.440 it would be illegal

00:41:48.180 I think the Conservatives

00:41:49.140 would have a right

00:41:49.700 to say

00:41:49.980 hmm

00:41:50.200 we know it's still

00:41:51.160 in a couple of months

00:41:51.900 but out of an abundance

00:41:52.720 of caution

00:41:53.340 we're delaying

00:41:54.220 the convention

00:41:54.820 now voting

00:41:55.940 is done by mail

00:41:56.880 so they're saying

00:41:57.540 that that's not an issue

00:41:58.960 but counting the ballots

00:42:00.440 that all has to be done

00:42:01.460 by people in a room

00:42:02.460 people from campaigns

00:42:03.940 need to travel

00:42:04.740 to the counting site

00:42:05.940 send their scrutineers

00:42:07.320 so there are things

00:42:08.380 you don't think of

00:42:09.440 that at this point

00:42:10.260 would not be permissible

00:42:12.020 and again

00:42:14.000 this is not a discussion

00:42:15.540 that we should be having

00:42:16.760 I didn't want to publish

00:42:18.320 my interviews

00:42:18.940 with leadership candidates

00:42:20.140 last week

00:42:20.800 I wanted to talk

00:42:22.080 about COVID-19

00:42:23.040 but I also didn't want

00:42:24.540 to bring dishonor

00:42:26.460 to a pledge

00:42:27.420 that I had made

00:42:28.120 which is that

00:42:28.580 I'll help you

00:42:29.160 get your messages out

00:42:30.460 before that member cutoff

00:42:32.580 and the reason

00:42:33.800 just before anyone

00:42:34.840 criticizes

00:42:35.460 the reason

00:42:36.020 I'm holding back

00:42:37.140 the Leslyn Lewis interview

00:42:38.740 which was the other

00:42:39.580 one of the four

00:42:40.480 that I did

00:42:40.920 that isn't out yet

00:42:41.740 is because she's already

00:42:43.200 a verified candidate

00:42:44.260 so she doesn't need

00:42:45.720 the exposure

00:42:46.460 prior to March 25th

00:42:48.160 there's a bit of time there

00:42:49.120 but again

00:42:49.600 this is inside baseball

00:42:51.080 I just know that

00:42:52.120 you know

00:42:52.800 blind partisanship

00:42:54.080 means I'm going to get

00:42:54.960 criticized for 1.00

00:42:55.780 really stupid things 0.99

00:42:57.320 so I'm trying to preempt 0.99

00:42:58.320 as much of it as I can

00:42:59.780 but this is where

00:43:02.020 things are headed

00:43:02.740 right now

00:43:03.300 so I hope

00:43:04.440 I mean look

00:43:05.040 I record in the morning

00:43:06.520 and the show comes out

00:43:07.440 in the afternoon

00:43:08.020 I would love

00:43:09.200 nothing more this week

00:43:10.580 than for all of this

00:43:11.760 to be moot

00:43:12.320 by the time the show

00:43:13.140 comes out

00:43:13.680 because the political party

00:43:15.320 in question has said

00:43:16.360 you know what

00:43:17.160 we think all of these

00:43:18.300 people are right

00:43:18.860 we're moving it

00:43:19.480 I'm not optimistic

00:43:20.520 though

00:43:20.940 I am not optimistic

00:43:22.200 but let me just say

00:43:23.220 a message from the past

00:43:24.760 if it has changed

00:43:25.800 I am so happy

00:43:27.360 to be proven wrong

00:43:28.320 if the conservative party

00:43:29.860 grows a sense of common sense

00:43:31.820 in the interceding hours

00:43:34.240 between when this was recorded

00:43:35.900 and when it was published

00:43:36.860 so we'll have more for you

00:43:38.360 in a couple of days

00:43:39.120 I would also just

00:43:39.880 as a plug here

00:43:40.820 encourage you

00:43:41.500 to tune in to

00:43:42.860 Candace Malcolm's

00:43:43.840 and my new show

00:43:44.840 True North Update

00:43:46.060 this is something

00:43:46.820 that is here

00:43:47.740 as long as the crisis

00:43:48.840 is afoot

00:43:49.820 daily updates

00:43:50.980 on what's happening

00:43:51.700 just the headline

00:43:52.540 no analysis

00:43:53.320 the well minimal analysis

00:43:55.460 and the whole thing's

00:43:57.280 done within 20 minutes

00:43:58.780 it's just about

00:43:59.420 what you missed

00:44:00.120 because we realize

00:44:01.360 people are still

00:44:02.020 trying to go about

00:44:02.720 their days

00:44:03.180 and trying to go

00:44:03.900 about their lives

00:44:04.540 so our goal

00:44:05.540 is to let you know

00:44:06.860 what's happening

00:44:07.420 and only what's happening

00:44:08.600 and if you want

00:44:09.520 the full experience

00:44:10.600 you can still tune in

00:44:11.800 to the Andrew Lawton show

00:44:12.780 so I truly hope

00:44:14.220 you are all staying healthy

00:44:15.420 keeping well

00:44:16.060 we'll talk to you

00:44:16.980 in a couple of days

00:44:17.760 here on True North

00:44:18.540 thank you

00:44:19.000 God bless

00:44:19.580 and good day Canada

00:44:20.540 thanks for listening

00:44:21.540 to the Andrew Lawton show

00:44:22.760 support the program

00:44:23.800 by donating to True North

00:44:25.040 at www.tnc.news

Juno News - March 23, 2020

The Andrew Lawton Show： Business as Unusual

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