Juno News - January 19, 2023


The elites run away from the media


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

196.65779

Word Count

812

Sentence Count

40


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Coming to you from Davos, Switzerland, here for the World Economic Forum 2023 Annual Meeting.
00:00:06.100 The World Economic Forum, an organization that many people have many different perspectives of.
00:00:10.840 On one hand, the way that we can foster global cooperation to solve the world's crises.
00:00:15.720 On the other hand, this sinister, evil, scary, bond-villainy corporation
00:00:19.520 that is trying to do all sorts of things to control the world.
00:00:23.400 Like with anything, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of those.
00:00:26.800 The World Economic Forum prides itself, it says, on transparency.
00:00:30.880 They live-stream sessions, they accredit members of the media,
00:00:33.780 even people like me that have been somewhat critical of the organization.
00:00:37.220 But the big question that we've been asking all week is,
00:00:39.660 what exactly is happening outside of public view?
00:00:42.920 There are rooms for bilateral meetings and multilateral meetings,
00:00:46.140 for business leaders and country leaders, heads of government and state and NGO leaders
00:00:51.220 to all get together in ways that are not on the public agenda, that are not on the public program.
00:00:55.380 And on the sidelines, no one knows what conversations are taking place,
00:00:59.400 but certainly we probably see the policy implications of those conversations
00:01:03.380 when politicians come home and start putting into action ideas
00:01:07.720 that they've discussed with their counterparts around the world.
00:01:10.600 So the question remains, if there is nothing to hide,
00:01:13.840 why not be open about what you're doing here?
00:01:16.320 This was one of the questions I wanted to put to Deputy Prime Minister of Canada,
00:01:19.880 Chrystia Freeland, who, as you know, is a member of the WEF Board of Trustees,
00:01:24.300 isn't having those two roles itself a conflict of interest?
00:01:27.980 That was what I asked Deputy Prime Minister Freeland.
00:01:31.280 Hi, Minister, Andrew Lawton, True North.
00:01:33.220 I was just wondering if it's a conflict of interest for you to be a trustee,
00:01:35.820 while also a Cabinet Minister.
00:01:38.220 Are you proud of the work?
00:01:39.400 And if so, why is there an issue answering a question about it?
00:01:43.580 Enjoy your panel, Minister.
00:01:44.620 As you can see, she didn't want to answer any questions whatsoever,
00:01:48.200 didn't even want to make eye contact.
00:01:49.900 This is the woman who once tried to ban True North from asking her a question
00:01:53.300 at a Media Freedom press conference at the Global Conference for Media Freedom,
00:01:57.800 which she was co-hosting a couple of years back.
00:02:00.540 But I will give credit to Minister Freeland.
00:02:03.160 She's not the only politician to want to duck questions.
00:02:06.100 Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
00:02:08.280 wasn't interested in making eye contact,
00:02:10.240 let alone talking to any members of the media as he was walking through Davos today.
00:02:15.320 And also John Kerry, the United States climate envoy,
00:02:18.460 was in a very controlled environment talking about all the great things the U.S. is doing
00:02:22.680 and that he wants other world leaders to do.
00:02:24.880 But you take him outside of that environment and he's a little bit more tight-lipped.
00:02:28.240 Why should anyone else in the world have to deal with emissions reductions when China is not?
00:02:33.720 You can't speak about China's impact, sir?
00:02:35.840 Why should we have to deal with carbon prices when China is not lowering its emissions?
00:02:42.080 Most people have been all too friendly and all too willing to chat about what it is they want to do.
00:02:47.180 And certainly if you look at the panels, you get remarkable candor from some WEF partners
00:02:51.100 and invite a guest about the policy prescriptions they believe the world needs.
00:02:55.480 On that last one, I think I will combine it with your question,
00:02:58.920 what it would be your wish, is to get much higher carbon prices
00:03:03.080 and to use that money to subsidize clean energies.
00:03:06.220 It's very, very simple.
00:03:07.440 But in Europe, we've seen an enormous response this year,
00:03:11.360 20% less natural gas usage.
00:03:13.640 Why? It was very expensive.
00:03:15.840 It's very simple.
00:03:17.280 It's a very capitalist intervention,
00:03:19.000 but just make what you try to avoid expensive
00:03:21.520 and subsidize the thing that you try to build.
00:03:24.980 It's not difficult, but we're not doing it, certainly not globally.
00:03:27.540 Now, you may agree with that, you may disagree with that,
00:03:30.040 but remember, you don't vote for any of the people here.
00:03:33.060 You do not have any oversight or any say in what happens in those rooms
00:03:37.380 in the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.
00:03:39.840 It's not a government.
00:03:41.000 It's not an intergovernmental organization.
00:03:43.120 It just acts like one.
00:03:44.920 Yet all of the influence and all of the authority that the WEF has
00:03:48.080 is because people decide to give it to the organization.
00:03:51.360 People like Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland,
00:03:53.560 who lends her name and influence as a Minister of the Crown in Canada
00:03:58.060 when she sits on that board of trustees.
00:04:00.600 And still, she won't answer a single question
00:04:02.600 about whether such a relationship is a conflict.
00:04:05.540 For True North from Davos, I'm Andrew Lawton.