00:11:34.600So why are we giving $45 million in bonuses and raises to these failing central bankers?
00:11:40.240I mean, Andrew, I can't believe I have to say this, but bonuses and pay raises are for when you do a good job.
00:11:46.740Yeah, failing upward seems to be a general trend in politics.
00:11:50.680We have members of Parliament getting pandemic pay raises while locking people down and denying them the ability to work.
00:11:57.000And similarly, when inflation is at a point that is untenable for Canadians,
00:12:00.660you have Bank of Canada staff that are somehow coming out ahead.
00:12:04.600And I wish it stopped there, but that's just the beginning of it.
00:12:07.260That's just the tip of the iceberg, right?
00:12:09.240Our favorite state broadcaster, the CBC, $51 million in bonuses and raises during the pandemic.
00:12:17.100And then, by the way, the recent budget update just gave the CBC another $42 million.
00:12:24.020So the CBC is getting an extra $42 million to help it deal with its pandemic issues just after giving $51 million in bonuses and raises to its employees during the pandemic.
00:12:35.560The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, another federal crown corporation that is no stranger to the taxpayer cookie jar,
00:12:43.620gave its employees $60 million in bonuses and raises during 2020 and 2021.
00:12:50.120Now, what's so interesting about that?
00:12:52.300Well, the CMHC has one overall objective, according to its own website, Housing Affordability for All.
00:13:40.540It was illegal for people to travel to Canada, right, from outside of the country.
00:13:46.360Despite all of this, Destination Canada still handed out millions in bonuses and pay raises while the people they were supposed to be marketing took it on the chin.
00:13:58.460That one's a fascinating one because, you know, airlines, I've got a lot of issues with airlines in Canada.
00:14:44.000The one, the two, the three pay raises for politicians during the pandemic.
00:14:48.060The pay raises for more than 300,000 federal government employees.
00:14:51.740The bonuses for federal government employees, Crown Corporation employees.
00:14:56.720This is one of the fundamental unfairness issues around the pandemic.
00:15:01.400Like there is a lot of different issues to, to dissect on what happened during COVID-19.
00:15:06.280But I think one of the biggest and key issues is between the makers and takers.
00:15:12.340The people who were hurt by the pandemic restrictions, the private sector taxpayers, the workers for businesses, the people who own businesses, are the ones who are going to have to face a higher tax bill.
00:15:26.440To pay for all of this government largesse, the pay raises, the bonuses that happened during a time when their neighbors in the private sector were struggling dearly.
00:16:29.620I mean, remember, the CBC is getting a billion every single year.
00:16:33.900The media bailout when it was first announced was about $600 million.
00:16:37.620But look, when you talk about a death by a thousand cuts, when a government can't do the small things right, when you find out that it costs taxpayers $1.3 million to the governor general and her entourage can go to the Middle East for a week.
00:16:52.880When you find out that somebody in the government spent $6,000 per night on a single hotel room.
00:17:02.180When you find out that the government is spending $8,000 on a sex toy show in Germany.
00:17:07.960Well, these little things, when the government can't do the little things right, guess what happens?
00:17:11.600The government can't do the big things right either.
00:17:15.160Back last April, for the budget 2022, we saw essentially the biggest spending budget in Canadian history.
00:17:23.800The budget said the government would spend $452 billion in 2022.
00:17:29.580That's $90 billion more than pre-pandemic spending, which was already at all-time highs, even after accounting for inflation and population growth.
00:17:38.440Well, then in November of 2022, Ms. Freeland, our finance minister, comes out with the mid-year budget update.
00:17:45.160And it shows that the government is now on track to spend $472 billion.
00:17:52.000It means that in just seven months, halfway through a year, the government, Ms. Freeland, was somehow managing to spend $20 billion over budget.
00:18:04.180$20 billion over her big spending budget that she penned only half a year earlier.
00:18:12.620Instead of spending $20 billion over budget, Freeland could cut the sales tax from 5% to 3% and still reduce the deficit.
00:18:22.460So if you're listening to this and you're wondering why your tax bill seems to go up and up and up year after year after year, well, you're paying too much tax because the government wastes way too much money.
00:18:33.840Yeah, and it is truly relentless in that sense.
00:18:39.120And I want to go back for a moment to that point you made about if they can't do the small things right, how are they going to do the big things?
00:18:44.120Because another issue that CTF has been very strong on, and I'm grateful for it, is C11, which is the government's internet regulation bill, which unfortunately has not been getting nearly the resistance it should have been from other parties in Parliament.
00:18:58.740Just the Conservatives were really standing up against this, but effectively, C11, for those who haven't been following, and I don't judge you, but I don't know how you've been able to get through and not hear it if you haven't, but C11 basically expands the government's regulatory capacity that exists right now on TV and radio to the internet.
00:19:18.380So something like that does not happen without ballooning the size of bureaucracy, but also ballooning the size of government's control of what you see on your computer.
00:19:28.520They say, oh, we have to elevate Canadian content.
00:19:30.860Now, maybe that means more of my show.
00:19:32.720I don't know if I'm the type of Canadian content the government wants.
00:20:00.540And number three, more government accountability.
00:20:03.600Now, we see Bill C11, the online censorship bill, as a threat to government accountability.
00:20:10.240Now, the last people who should be telling us good folks here in Canada how to hold our politicians accountable are the unelected bureaucrats in Ottawa.
00:20:21.000The unelected bureaucrats in Ottawa who would see more power under this bill.
00:20:26.320Well, and I think, look, if we've noticed one thing in terms of accountability during the pandemic is really the importance of online accountability, right?
00:20:36.940Whether it's sharing a story on Facebook or sharing something on Twitter or watching an online news source on one of these social media platforms.
00:20:44.200Well, if the government has more of an ability to crack down on the content or to influence the content, a better way to put it, of what we're seeing online, well, that limits fundamentally the ability of Canadian taxpayers to hold the government accountable.
00:21:03.400So that's why we jumped into this fight, because we are worried that Bill C11 will limit Canadians' ability to hold their politicians, to hold their governments to account.
00:21:15.680Yeah, and one of the most insidious parts of this all has been the government's failure to articulate at each stage of this debate what the bill actually is.
00:21:25.440And part of this has been, I think, Stephen Gilbeau's fault.
00:21:28.340And part of it has been that I think the government got busted on this and didn't think they were going to.
00:21:32.500And they've been just so wildly over the map about what this thing actually does.
00:21:53.800Yeah, and Gilbo in particular, I think, has been the weak link on this.
00:21:57.400And the claim that we will not regulate what you as a user publish is, I don't think, particularly accurate given the text of the bill.
00:22:06.800But beyond that, it is that it sets up the government for having the ability to force someone like you, for example, who wants to publish videos on YouTube, to have a license to do so.
00:22:17.400If the government feels that you qualify for whatever they say is captured by this bill.
00:22:22.540Yeah, I mean, without getting just too into the weeds, right?
00:22:27.240If a government is trying to encourage any type of product, any type of video, to encourage one thing, you must be discouraging something else, right?
00:22:38.760And so fundamentally, we don't believe that the government has a role to play outside of the criminal code, right?
00:22:47.460Outside of the criminal code, when it comes to determining what videos we see on our social media platforms.
00:22:56.220We have noticed over the last two years in particular, just how important it is to hold our governments accountable for us to be able to share videos or share content on social media.
00:23:05.580And we are very, very concerned that by giving these unelected bureaucrats here in Ottawa more control over what we see online, that we are going to be reducing all of our ability to hold these politicians accountable.
00:23:18.480And let's be honest, our politicians really need to be held accountable right now.
00:23:25.220Let's turn to another big picture federal item.
00:23:27.480Now, this one's obviously been in the news for different reasons the last few weeks, but the government's approach to firearms.
00:23:33.360And again, people may think that gun rights are not a taxpayer issue on the surface, but they are when you look at the cost of having to buy back lawfully owned and lawfully acquired firearms.
00:23:44.880I don't even like the term buy back because they were never the governments in the first place, but to compensate while confiscating firearms that were lawfully owned.
00:23:54.240And, you know, you and I have talked about this in the past.
00:23:56.520It's amazing how much the government has spent without even buying a single gun.
00:24:00.900Millions has already spent millions of dollars without buying a single gun.
00:24:04.580Now, Andrew, let me just preface this whole conversation.
00:24:07.400To be honest, man, I don't have a gun.
00:24:09.560I have nothing, nothing against people who have guns.
00:24:17.300A taxpayer boondoggle that does absolutely nothing to improve public safety.
00:24:22.940So when the Liberal Party, when they first announced their intentions to have this gun ban and buy back, the confiscation and compensation, to use your term there, Andrew, when they first announced this, it was going to be a few hundred million.
00:24:39.360That's already large enough for a program that isn't going to improve public safety.
00:24:43.440However, we continue to see, like many other things with this government, the bill go up and up and up and up.
00:24:51.480The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report that said that just just compensating gun owners, just compensating gun owners could cost up to seven hundred and fifty six million dollars.
00:25:03.240So significantly higher than the original estimate.
00:25:06.980But again, that's just the money to actually compensate gun owners.
00:25:10.260That doesn't include perhaps the most costliest part of running this whole program, which is actually administering and staffing what a gun buyback would be.
00:25:20.900Because remember, this would be a quite legitimately big task for the government to actually do, to have all these different types of collection centers, to make sure that you have the RCMP essentially transporting the guns, right?
00:25:38.820And we have saw the Fraser Institute put out a report that when you include all the costs with the gun ban and buyback, the tab would be billions and billions of dollars.
00:25:50.520Not only is it going to cost, most likely, billions of dollars, but it's not going to make Canada more safe.
00:25:56.940Andrew, maybe I'm just skeptical of government, but I don't think there's going to be too many gangsters showing up to government offices handing in their guns.
00:26:05.440Yeah, just waiting, although it depends what they're offering.
00:26:07.620I mean, maybe it's more advantageous if the government is offering a competitive enough price for gangsters to just, like, steal more guns and then just turn them in just to keep getting compensation from the government.
00:26:21.860Yeah, it'll be like the Iran-Contra thing, the Canadian version of it at a certain point.
00:26:26.160But I should say also, when you started out on this and the CTF started out on this, it was for an initial ban and buyback that was announced in May of 2020.
00:26:35.680Now, since then, the government has gradually, and I'd say more recently, has accelerated this, banning even more guns.
00:26:43.720So I'd say those are very lowball estimates, given that the government keeps adding to the list of guns that it might need to buy back.
00:26:50.460Yeah, that's a very, very good clarification.
00:26:53.140And, you know, we're talking about how Bill C-11 has been as clear as mud.
00:26:56.700Well, this new addition to the gun ban and buyback has been even less transparent, right?
00:27:02.620It's been about as transparent as a coconut.
00:27:04.460It's tough to know exactly what's going on.
00:27:07.480And when you listen to some of the committee meetings, I don't even know if many of the members of Parliament here in Ottawa know what's going on with what has been added here.
00:27:17.280But let's go back to the point about public safety, because I think we all want to live in a safe Canada with safe communities.
00:27:24.440Well, the union that represents the Mounties, they say that this gun ban and buyback isn't going to make Canada safe because it doesn't address the key issues.
00:27:34.460Which is preventing the illegal flow of guns across the border or illegal gang activity.
00:27:40.500In fact, the RCMP union says that this can make Canada less safe because it's diverting resources away from cracking down on the legitimate criminals and pushing resources to cracking down on law-abiding Canadian citizens.
00:27:56.240Yeah, I would very much agree with that.
00:28:00.360And I just want to, as we're running out of time here, I want to circle back to the carbon tax for a moment, because I know this is a big issue.
00:28:07.300And it's one that I feel is one of the most winnable for people that are opposed to the carbon tax right now.
00:28:12.980Because when all of the cost of living stuff that we were talking about earlier on comes to roost and people see, well, the government is forcing me to spend more on these just basic necessities in my life.
00:28:22.880Which, contrary to how people in downtown Toronto might think, are actually necessities for people in many parts of the country here.
00:28:30.540And politically speaking, in the last election, the Conservatives, I think, did something very wrong, which was come out after unequivocally saying in the past, no carbon tax, with their own version of a carbon tax in the 2021 election.
00:28:45.340I know the Canadian Taxpayers Federation criticized that.
00:28:48.860Now we have a new Conservative leader who, as I understand it, has been very clear on opposing the carbon tax, correct?
00:28:55.800That is correct. I mean, remember the last leader of the Conservative Party, I can't remember his name, he broke the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's pledge, right?
00:29:06.180Remember, he signed our pledge saying that he would scrap the carbon tax and replace it with nothing.
00:29:10.260Well, unfortunately for him, Canadians aren't stupid. Canadians have a good memory.
00:29:16.640And look, so he lost, the voters essentially said, no, thank you. He lost, he's out of the way.
00:29:23.140Now you have a new leader, Mr. Pierre Polyev. He said he would scrap the carbon tax.
00:29:28.160He said he would replace it with nothing. And Mr. Polyev is also on the record against the second carbon tax that is coming in through fuel regulations.
00:29:36.540Now, one thing I want to talk about is how the Trudeau government is misleading Canadians, fundamentally playing word games with Canadians.
00:29:43.900We keep hearing the Trudeau government say or claim that its carbon tax and rebate scheme is going to make people better off.
00:29:51.080Well, Andrew, if you think that the government is going to tax everyone, then skim some off the top, and then give you some of your money back, and you think you're going to be better off?
00:30:00.200Well, then I've got some Ocean View property in Regina that I want to sell you.
00:30:04.580But look, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has been very clear that the Trudeau government is using magic math.
00:30:11.260And in fact, the carbon tax will cost households hundreds and hundreds of dollars every single year, even after the rebates.
00:30:19.040Let me read you the numbers right from the PBO.
00:30:21.660In 2023, the carbon tax will cost the average household anywhere between $400 all the way up to about $850 even after the rebates.
00:30:31.760Again, hundreds and hundreds of dollars every single year, even after the rebates.
00:30:46.620At a time when people, like I said, are struggling to afford a taco night with their family, an extra $400, an extra $850 for people whose paychecks are stretched too thin, it's disastrous for some people.
00:31:04.720And it's coming at the worst possible time.
00:31:06.200And one thing I do also want to point out is that while Ottawa continues to stick Canadians with higher tax bills, many other countries are doing the right thing and cutting taxes.
00:31:15.900We found 51 other national governments that have cut taxes during the pandemic or to ease the pain of inflation.
00:31:23.160More than half of G7 and G20 countries, two-thirds of OECD countries have cut taxes.
00:31:29.200Ottawa raised the carbon tax, raised payroll taxes, raised alcohol taxes, and is bringing in a second carbon tax.
00:31:35.160So other countries are finding out a way to do the right thing.
00:31:38.060Ottawa continues to raise our gas prices and our heating bills.
00:31:42.700I'll end on this question, Franco, and I fear I know the answer, but I have to ask it anyway.
00:31:47.380Are you, as we head into this new year, an optimist or a pessimist?
00:31:51.460Oh, man, I feel like I've been a rain cloud this whole interview, right?