Juno News - October 22, 2024


Tories could still pull off a WIN in BC


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

194.3459

Word count

7,067

Sentence count

405

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

BC Conservative Executive Director and Campaign Manager Angelo Isiduro joins The Rachel Parker Show to discuss the results of the BC election and what it means for the chances of the Conservatives forming a coalition with the Greens to form a government.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 The incumbent NDP government went toe-to-toe with the BC Conservatives on Saturday's election.
00:00:06.320 Now, it appears the BC Conservatives have 45 seats compared to the NDP's 46, and the Greens
00:00:12.120 have two. But even now, the results of the election have not been finalized, and aren't
00:00:17.320 expected to be completed till Saturday, a week from election day. Why? Partly due to two ridings
00:00:23.480 currently going to the NDP that were decided by less than 100 votes. Elections, BC will be issuing
00:00:29.280 a recount in both those cases, but also because of 49,000 mail-in and absentee ballots that
00:00:35.240 have yet to be verified. We'll get into all that and what happens next, like whether the
00:00:39.820 Conservatives have a chance of striking a deal with the Greens to form government, with BC
00:00:44.620 Conservative Executive Director and Campaign Manager, Angelo Isiduro. I'm Rachel Parker,
00:00:50.280 and you're watching The Rachel Parker Show.
00:00:59.280 Hey, everyone. I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show. We're going
00:01:12.020 to be taking a dive into the BC election that was on Saturday. We still don't have the official
00:01:18.020 results for that election. We're going to dive into what happened and when we can expect the
00:01:23.640 results of that election and why it's taking so long. Joining me today is BC Conservative Executive
00:01:28.740 Director Angelo Isiduro. Angelo, thank you so much for being here today.
00:01:32.560 Thank you for having me.
00:01:34.080 So I just want to get started on BC Conservatives. You've been a part of the party for a little
00:01:38.440 while now. Can you sort of take us through the journey briefly as to what happened when you join
00:01:43.760 as the Executive Director to the point where you actually brought the BC Conservatives to a place
00:01:49.680 where it could potentially be forming government within a couple days or at least be within the
00:01:54.140 realm of being possible to do so from going really from a very little, small, you know,
00:01:58.880 a party that didn't carry a lot of weight to now a party that has the potential to form government.
00:02:02.900 What happened to make that a possibility?
00:02:06.660 So it all really started with the BC Liberal Leadership Race back in 2020. My friend Aaron
00:02:12.980 Dunn was running in that BC Liberal Leadership Race. The BC Liberals historically have been seen as
00:02:17.860 a coalition between Conservatives and Liberals, even though it has the Liberal name. So Aaron ran for
00:02:24.000 the leadership and was disqualified a week into it by the powers that be who disagreed with, you know,
00:02:30.800 his brand of conservatism. And I was part of that campaign. I was helping manage him.
00:02:35.620 And since then, basically, you know, even on the night he was disqualified, we sat down and said,
00:02:40.820 look, there's a huge vacuum here. And this party has made a massive mistake in not recognizing
00:02:46.800 that there are people in this province who are really hungry for change and really hungry for
00:02:51.380 something different, not just NDP light. So from there, you know, we looked at our options and we
00:02:57.140 found the BC Conservative Party, which, as you note, has sort of been this nothing burger party.
00:03:01.560 It's actually the oldest party in BC. It actually governed BC in the 20s.
00:03:05.980 But since then, it's basically been, you know, a very small party got two percent in the last
00:03:12.540 election. So, yeah, in 2022, we we took over the party and rebranded it and cleaned it up and
00:03:20.120 professionalized that as best we could. But really, you know, the big puzzle piece that was missing
00:03:25.380 was an MLA leader. And, you know, in the same year, I met John Rustad, who was also kicked out of
00:03:34.220 the BC Liberal Party. I would say that kicking him out is a lot more severe, given that he was an MLA
00:03:40.180 for 20 years, former cabinet minister, and they kicked him out over a retweet. So he ended up
00:03:46.180 becoming our leader. And from there, it just snowballed. From there, we had floor crossings,
00:03:50.820 we had momentum, we had, you know, air war that we were winning, we got official party status in the
00:03:56.300 legislature, which allowed us to ask questions every day. So, you know, for the first time in some time,
00:04:01.220 we got to actually see what an actual opposition is like to the NDP, not just a feckless opposition.
00:04:07.820 And it just kept snowballing. It's a team effort, right? It started off with going to,
00:04:12.640 you know, meet and greets with 10 people, then 20, then 30, then, you know, 2000 people last week. So
00:04:17.900 it's been a long three-year journey, but it's all led up to this.
00:04:23.080 Would you characterize some of the success of the BC Conservatives as the fact that the province is
00:04:28.440 just too hungry for change? Or do you consider John Rostad to be a really charismatic leader that's
00:04:32.900 able to bring out these big crowds?
00:04:35.520 I think it's a bit of both, right? I think there is a hunger for change. And I think he was the
00:04:40.460 conduit for change, right? You needed a leader who could articulate a common sense vision, who could
00:04:47.340 be straight up and honest, who could be authentic. Because I think when we talk about change, it's about
00:04:52.660 what type of change. And I think a lot of people were looking for a type of leadership that was
00:04:57.500 very authentic and just straight up. And that's what John is. He's entirely authentic. Who he is
00:05:03.340 privately is who he is publicly. So I think people really wanted to see that from their leaders,
00:05:08.620 particularly when you had David Eby, who was just so vapid and shallow, that he contrasted that.
00:05:13.960 But the hunger for change was there. And people wanted a big change, not an incremental,
00:05:18.760 mushy middle change. They wanted a clear, stark binary. And I think that's what's given us so much
00:05:25.300 success.
00:05:26.840 So on Saturday, you guys go into E-Day. I know all of us across Canada, we've all been watching
00:05:32.860 that polling really closely. And we knew there was a real chance that the BC Conservatives would
00:05:37.220 be able to form government, which is very impressive on its own. When you went into Saturday's election,
00:05:43.280 was there any part of you guys that were aware that might be days before you knew the results of the
00:05:48.380 election? Yeah, yeah. My understanding always was that the mail-in ballots and the absentee ballots
00:05:56.340 would take some time to count. I didn't realize it would be a week. But the way the new election
00:06:01.860 system in BC works is if you live in a particular riding, you don't have to actually vote in that
00:06:08.520 riding anymore. Like if you're working in another riding or you're traveling, you're in a different
00:06:14.100 part of the province, you can walk into any polling station and vote at that polling station
00:06:18.000 for your riding, which on one hand makes it super convenient to vote. On the other hand,
00:06:24.100 creates a pretty significant logistical issue where now in an election that is this close,
00:06:29.100 literally one of the ridings were behind by 20 votes. You know, in an election this close,
00:06:35.180 we have to look at every single vote as they come in to make a determination on who actually won.
00:06:43.300 For sure. There was obviously going to be a bit of a delay given that two of the ridings currently in
00:06:47.900 which the NDP are leading in were decided by less than 100 votes. In those cases, there's an automatic
00:06:52.300 recount when a riding is decided by less than 100 votes. It's the same here in Alberta. That being said,
00:06:58.200 I know that elections BC also needs to ratify the votes from mail-in ballots and absentee ballots,
00:07:04.180 as you said, about 49,000 votes, which is causing part of the delay. We have a similar system here
00:07:09.760 in Alberta where people can vote anywhere on election day, even if they're not in their home
00:07:15.400 riding. And then those results are counted by counting machines, electronic counting machines
00:07:21.520 and tallied. And then they're eventually counted on election day. It caused quite a lag here for us on
00:07:27.540 election night. By a few hours, however, not as bad as what we're seeing in BC right now. We did still
00:07:32.620 know the results of our election in 2023 on election night. We didn't have to wait a week.
00:07:37.460 I think it's becoming a bit of a phenomenon in North America where voters are having to wait
00:07:42.480 significantly longer for the results of their election. In some cases, whether that's hours,
00:07:47.420 but in many cases, it's coming into a situation where it's days or weeks to know the results of
00:07:52.880 an election. Do you think that this is appropriate? Is this something that voters in BC
00:07:56.700 are okay with? Or is this a problem? Well, it's not fun. I mean, to your point,
00:08:02.540 the new system counts votes quicker. Like we knew within, you know, an hour and a half,
00:08:08.180 I think an hour and a half or two hours, 90% of the votes were in, right? So it counts votes very
00:08:13.780 quickly. But I think there are definitely some holes in how much it lags to actually process the
00:08:18.980 mail-in votes and the absentee ballots. So, you know, I think it definitely creates chaos
00:08:23.980 for voters and for BC residents because if you ask, if you ask someone who's politically inclined
00:08:31.840 right now, who is going to be the next government, they don't know, right? So I think a week is a
00:08:36.960 long time in politics and it's sort of, it puts us in an awkward position where we do interviews and
00:08:41.820 we don't necessarily know what to say in terms of, are we preparing a cabinet? Are we not preparing
00:08:47.860 cabinet? It's, it's, it definitely complicates things. After the last US election, I remember
00:08:54.160 going into the States, you know, Donald Trump had just lost and I was asking Americans, you know,
00:08:58.560 what do you think happened? Do you think that there was cheating in the election? And not every
00:09:02.140 American thought that, but what basically everyone said to me was, even if there wasn't outright
00:09:07.900 cheating, Donald Trump had to contend with such strong media bias throughout the entire campaign
00:09:12.900 that in and of itself was a very unfair election. He was running against the entire media party
00:09:18.600 and whether we like it or not, you know, there are still the media in Canada and the States does
00:09:23.760 still hold a lot of influence. I wanted to talk a little bit about John Rustad and the BC Conservatives
00:09:28.720 experience with media. We have a clip of him. This was after election day on CBC news. Let's take a
00:09:35.540 look at this and just look at how the host is treating him. Take a look at this.
00:09:38.980 I mean, drugs and crime and SOGI are two ways to scare people, basically.
00:09:45.180 Well, I wouldn't say that necessarily, but parents are very concerned about their kids. They're
00:09:50.100 concerned about their own safety.
00:09:52.040 Sure. But is there anything to, but does, I don't want to get into it because we do every
00:09:55.940 time, but really, is there anything to fear from SOGI? Really?
00:10:00.160 Well, you know, when your six-year-old boy, his grandson comes home and sitting at the dinner
00:10:05.380 table and saying, you know, Grandpa, is it okay that I'm a boy? At six years old, should
00:10:09.200 they really be asking those questions?
00:10:10.540 Why not? Why wouldn't they ask a question?
00:10:12.200 Well, that's a question I think that the electorate looks at and says, you know, they
00:10:16.060 don't find that acceptable. When you look at also, quite frankly, the pornography that
00:10:19.960 is in our schools.
00:10:20.620 There is no pornography involved in the SOGI program.
00:10:23.660 There is no pornography in the SOGI program. And I don't want to go through this again because
00:10:27.580 we go through it every time. But let's also talk about the crime and drug factor,
00:10:31.900 too, because you're in Richmond warning them against what you are calling drug dens.
00:10:36.860 There are no supervised consumption sites in Richmond.
00:10:40.080 So, first of all, let's show, let's actually show the books that are being made available
00:10:44.980 in our schools on your television show. And let's see what kind of ratings you get with
00:10:48.760 that.
00:10:49.060 That are being made available in our schools.
00:10:50.480 That are being made available in our schools.
00:10:51.420 Right. But they're not part of a curriculum.
00:10:53.100 They came from the SOGI initiative, which is not a curriculum. It is a philosophy that has
00:10:58.460 been brought in schools. But when it comes to, you know, what's going on in Richmond,
00:11:01.660 there was, there is housing units that are being put in where drug consumption is being
00:11:07.180 allowed. There was safe injection sites, which were proposed to come into Richmond,
00:11:11.100 that we said, no, we will not allow that to happen.
00:11:16.040 Wow. So first, I just want to clarify for my viewers, SOGI refers to sexual orientation
00:11:21.820 and gender identity. You see John Rustad going toe to toe with CBC host Stephen Quinn there.
00:11:27.460 One of the things that strikes me most watching that clip as a journalist is that host Stephen
00:11:33.240 Quinn is not even allowing Rustad to respond. He's saying, we don't need to talk about this.
00:11:37.680 We've talked about this before. That's a very inappropriate way to respond to a guest that
00:11:41.620 has come on your show, is taking their time to do an interview with you, to educate your
00:11:45.540 audience on what is important to them. I've never responded to a guest on my show that way
00:11:49.660 ever, nor would I, because it's not appropriate. But he's also sort of like rolling his eyes at
00:11:54.660 Rustad. You can hear me. He's getting huffy. He's like, here we go again. It's a very inappropriate
00:11:58.820 way to treat a guest on your show, whether or not you agree with their views. If you don't agree with
00:12:03.380 what they're saying, if you maybe even think that they are not being truthful, then you continue to
00:12:07.560 question them to get at the heart of what they're saying and to potentially expose them if they are
00:12:12.540 lying. Stephen Quinn doesn't do that. He actually doesn't let John Rustad respond, which is, in my
00:12:18.180 opinion, egregious for a journalist to do. Angelo, how much did you guys have to contend with this?
00:12:23.980 And do you think that, you know, it impacted voters like it does elsewhere in the world,
00:12:28.660 watching conservative politicians being questioned and they're being given such a tough time by the
00:12:34.700 mainstream media? Yeah, I mean, look, it's definitely a factor, right? I'll add the caveat of it's not all
00:12:40.060 mainstream media. We've had some good experiences with some mainstream media in NBC. But definitely,
00:12:45.260 you know, I was appearing on Stephen Quinn's show for a little while. It definitely gets combative.
00:12:50.000 I think, you know, the crux of it comes from this perception that we're sort of this party of like
00:12:58.920 ragtag, you know, far right, sort of low IQ idiots, right? Like that is sort of the impression that you 1.00
00:13:07.160 get sometimes from the media, particularly given that two years ago, we like just didn't exist as a
00:13:12.060 party. So when it comes to these issues like SOGI, which is about the sexualization of children, you have a 0.62
00:13:19.480 culture in BC, that really emanates from the NDP from EB. And it's a culture of like this hubris around, you
00:13:29.840 know, this pearl clutching of all you're such a lowly sort of silly person for questioning what your children are
00:13:38.060 taught. And we're such a, you know, higher echelon wise elite class, and you need to learn and learn
00:13:45.460 your place. And I think what we found was a real referendum on that entire mentality, particularly
00:13:52.300 among immigrants, right? Like this party, it wasn't clear what the coalition of the party was,
00:13:58.840 right? The liberals were a coalition of federal liberals and federal conservatives. And I got asked
00:14:04.320 about that. I said, No, we're not really broken up that way. What we are is a coalition of individuals
00:14:09.180 of different groups that are concerned about different things. So there's a headline today,
00:14:13.940 I forget in what outlet that said the BC conservatives are, you know, held up like they surged because of
00:14:20.100 immigrants because of ethnic minorities. And it's actually true, which I know blows the minds of 1.00
00:14:25.220 progressives that were actually a party mostly of ethnic minorities, particularly Indo-Canadians in
00:14:32.160 Surrey and Chinese Canadians in Richmond. And the issues that those groups care about, beyond just
00:14:37.220 crime, as John noted, is SOGI. Like we won Surrey North. To give your viewers an idea, Surrey North was
00:14:44.860 considered unflippable. Surrey North is heavily, it's heavily Indo-Canadian and Muslim, lower working 1.00
00:14:53.860 class for the most part demographically. It was an NDP stronghold, and its MLA was the Minister for
00:15:00.520 Education. And we blew them out of the water in Surrey North, right? So we have created a new,
00:15:08.400 you know, a new coalition within this part within the province. And I think the NDP are shocked by
00:15:15.580 it. And I think a lot of the media still don't understand it. And they have this perception
00:15:19.680 that's basically like, well, your issue is not real. It's like, you're just lying, you're making
00:15:25.400 people be scared, but it's not a real issue. And it's like, these people are bringing the issues
00:15:29.580 to us. We have parents coming to us, showing us what is being taught in school, right? So we can't
00:15:35.880 just keep gaslighting the public and saying, well, you know, according to this document from the
00:15:40.500 government, it's not real. It's like, I'm sorry, that's not the reality on the ground.
00:15:45.340 To your point, we actually have just a little clip here of an example of one of those books
00:15:50.100 that is being available in school for kids, parents, viewers at home. If you're watching
00:15:56.180 this, if you have little kids in the room, you're probably just going to want to put this next
00:15:59.160 segment on mute. This is extremely vulgar. It's very, very gross. So this is your official trigger
00:16:04.540 warning. If you've got kids in the room, you're going to want to mute this until this next clip ends.
00:16:08.820 This is so disgusting. Take a listen to this, just so you're aware that this is what is available
00:16:13.620 to children in schools in BC. Take a look. I stand here today as a distraught father and
00:16:21.160 grandfather. I stand here with parents in Abbotsford who are deeply concerned about sexually graphic and
00:16:28.020 explicit content available in certain fictional books within our public school libraries to children
00:16:33.880 as young as 11 years of age. Mr. Speaker, I would ask that the House brace themselves for the following
00:16:40.720 words from one such book called Eleanor Park. And I quote, I know you're a slut. You smell like cum, 1.00
00:16:47.000 nothing but a bitch in heat. And quote. Member, please do not use that kind of language. I apologize,
00:16:55.080 Mr. Speaker. And I actually would retract those words.
00:17:01.320 Honestly, like I have to laugh just because it makes me so, it makes me so uncomfortable. Like I'm so
00:17:06.200 uncomfortable listening to that. We actually had last year at our True North Nation conference,
00:17:10.720 we had a segment where we did clips that you might find in a pornography book versus material
00:17:16.860 that's available in schools. And the audience had to guess which was which. And I think everyone left
00:17:21.840 it, you know, feeling very sober. It was a little awkward, but everyone left it feeling very sobered,
00:17:26.800 being aware of what type of materials available for kids. How much did you hear about the SOGI
00:17:31.280 initiative on the campaign trail, Angelo? Yeah, we definitely heard a lot about it, especially in
00:17:36.100 Richmond and Surrey. Again, it was a sleeper issue, right? Because the media was never really
00:17:41.880 willing to address it. The media was willing to address crime somewhat, although even with crime,
00:17:46.520 they would contend, well, statistics say crime is down and they would ignore the fact that people
00:17:50.520 aren't reporting crime. But when it came to SOGI, it was a real echo chamber of like, you are not
00:17:56.420 allowed to criticize this program. So what we did, as you saw in the clip, this was like,
00:18:02.140 I think it was like a week and a half into us actually being an official party in the legislature.
00:18:09.020 You know, Bruce got this book from, from our team. And we thought, you know, if, if you can't read this
00:18:17.940 in the legislature, and you have to retract the comments, why, why is it allowed in schools,
00:18:23.280 right? It's the same with the media, like, you know, should we go on to these shows and read out
00:18:28.580 to this book, it won't be able to air. So why is your kid able to consume it, right? I think there's
00:18:34.660 this perception that when we talk about these books, and these programs, people look at us like,
00:18:40.060 oh, the evangelical conservatives from the early 2000s that want to ban Harry Potter.
00:18:44.680 It's like, that's not what this is. Nor are we saying that we should ban sex head. That's not what 0.97
00:18:49.060 this is. What this is, is that it's gone too far. It has gone too graphic. And I think that
00:18:54.920 many parents, although they would never say it publicly, because they would be shunned by,
00:19:01.380 you know, the zeitgeist, when they're behind the curtain voting, or when they're around their
00:19:07.120 kitchen table, all concede that this stuff is a little, it's a little crazy.
00:19:12.860 Yeah, I would fall into the evangelical Christian community in which I was allowed to read Harry
00:19:16.980 Potter. And that was considered very controversial with some of the people I grew up with.
00:19:20.800 To your earlier point about, you know, winning Surrey North and appealing to some of those
00:19:25.320 ethnic communities, I think we're starting to see that across Canada. And I think the
00:19:29.320 mainstream media doesn't really know how to take it. I think the ruling class isn't really sure
00:19:34.040 what to make of it. I think the A Million March is a really good example of that, you know, 0.96
00:19:38.300 was organized by Muslims, but Christians and other religious groups that care about what goes into
00:19:43.660 their children's minds and want to be the primary caretakers of their children all join together on
00:19:48.820 that. I know it's something that's very prominent in Alberta right now with different ethnic groups
00:19:52.880 and certainly different religious groups, supporting the conservatives in ways that I
00:19:57.000 don't think the NDP necessarily expected. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out over the
00:20:02.240 next few years. I wanted to touch about what comes next. So I know that BC conservative leader
00:20:08.020 John Rustad has said he's open to working with the Greens to potentially form government. How likely
00:20:13.940 do you think it is that the Greens would be willing to work with you guys?
00:20:18.440 Yeah, it's hard to say at this point, because of the ballot issue, right? Like,
00:20:24.500 we're looking to figure out whether we can work with the Greens at the same time as we're looking
00:20:28.260 to figure out what's the final vote count? Because we don't know. It's entirely possible that,
00:20:35.000 you know, these mail-in ballots come back in and we actually win and form government.
00:20:38.940 But it's also entirely possible that they come in and maybe they're not good for us and we
00:20:41.980 actually go down in seats, to which point the two extra seats from the Greens is a moot point.
00:20:47.440 So we're sort of in a holding pattern for the next week until we see what the actual results are.
00:20:54.420 If the results of the mail-in ballots don't go your way and you guys are not able to form
00:20:59.280 government, would it be a situation where you might potentially keep trying to chip at
00:21:03.920 maybe the Greens or even at NDPs to see if they would be willing to switch to your party and
00:21:10.140 eventually, you know, you guys would be able to be in a position to form government?
00:21:14.480 Well, you know, I think one of the interesting things about our party is that it has been
00:21:18.220 built by partially our ability to get people to join us, right? I mean, we had a former NDP MLA run
00:21:25.600 for us. We had former Greens run for us. We had former Liberals run for us. And we had former BC
00:21:29.840 Liberal MLAs actually cross the floor to us. So I think we do have an ability to reach out to people
00:21:35.520 and say, look, we don't agree on 100% of things. Do we agree on 80% of things? And what are those
00:21:41.740 things? Do we agree on the core issues? And I think it's about figuring out where your line is,
00:21:46.620 right? I mean, we want to get rid of the carbon tax. There's no debate around that. So I think if
00:21:53.040 we're in a situation where the Greens, you know, are fighting to keep it, that's obviously somewhat
00:21:58.020 untenable. But then there are other issues that are important to the Greens that I think we can work
00:22:01.840 with around renewable energy. You know, there's a few different issues that we can work on. I think
00:22:07.620 most of all, the Greens obviously are going to be very impactful no matter what happens. So they want
00:22:13.600 to have some level of prominence. And I think we're open to it. Same with the NDP MLA's. I mean, who
00:22:18.300 knows, right? I think what it does come down to is just what the final numbers are. And then from there,
00:22:24.260 we can make a determination. If we do have the misfortune of, you know, another term, however
00:22:31.900 long it may be, of an NDP minority, we will basically work at every opportunity to topple that
00:22:39.700 government. The British Columbians cannot afford another four years of the NDP. I think they said
00:22:47.580 that very loudly and clearly. And we will basically work to ensure that we are back at the polls soon.
00:22:54.260 Angela, you've been so generous with your time this morning. I just have one question for you,
00:22:58.660 changing directions a little bit. This has been interesting to watch, knowing you personally,
00:23:03.620 because I feel like it's such a massive success story. For my viewers who aren't familiar with
00:23:07.900 you, you were actually sort of infamously cancelled back in 2017 when you stood outside the Vancouver
00:23:14.060 Trump Hotel with a mega Make America Great Again hat on. And you were really invasive that you were
00:23:19.740 cancelled in the years to follow. And so I know that you were treated very viciously by the mainstream
00:23:25.400 media over in BC. And I feel like this is just a really strong success story for you, you know,
00:23:31.020 from being cancelled to having this amazing comeback. You're leading the BC Conservatives.
00:23:35.200 They've had such an amazing comeback, such an amazing story. How does it feel personally for you?
00:23:40.880 Oh, it feels incredible, right? It feels incredible. It feels incredibly validating
00:23:44.800 to know that you're part of a movement where it's not just you, where it's not just the people in the
00:23:50.180 room. To watch the votes come in and see that, you know, 900,000 people, you know, are with you and
00:23:57.960 are with your policies and are with your platform that you built. And it feels incredible, right? And
00:24:03.160 for those watching or listening across the country, you know, you can make a difference. And I know it's
00:24:09.120 very difficult. And I know that it's an ugly business. Politics is an ugly business. We say
00:24:14.740 bad people get attracted to politics. But that's because good people don't, right? Good people don't
00:24:19.780 get involved. So we allow these bad people to run our society. But good people don't want to stay in
00:24:24.640 politics because of how vicious and nasty it is. And cancel culture has really been a big theme
00:24:30.280 in this election. I mean, they've come after me, they've come after my colleagues or candidates,
00:24:34.780 obviously. And what you have to remember is that there is noise and then there is the reality of
00:24:41.320 what people are feeling. And often, you know, these attacks on you individually or someone you're with
00:24:47.540 are not organic, they're manufactured, and they don't actually reflect the reality of what people are
00:24:54.420 feeling in relation to the cost of living, in relation to crime, in relation to drugs, in relation to
00:25:00.640 mental illness. So if you are in a situation where you find yourself getting attacked viciously, you
00:25:06.080 have to, first of all, ground yourself, go back to what, you know, holds you steady, your family or
00:25:11.720 your God. But then also be reminded that there is evil. I believe in evil. I believe there is evil in
00:25:19.960 the world. And I think you have to recognize that we are in a bit of a battle for the soul of our society,
00:25:27.180 right? And I think it's important that you participate. I think too many of us are checking
00:25:31.260 out of politics. And my hope, and John's hope, really, for this election was that it wakes people
00:25:38.480 up to the fact that, yes, you can do change. Yes, you can bring change. One in two youth want to leave
00:25:43.520 our province, right? Like, our goal was to make British Columbia the place to be. And our goal was
00:25:50.340 to send a shockwave across the status quo and say, hey, we can make a difference. We are here. We're not
00:25:56.880 just a protest vote. We're going for the gold, you know? Very, very well said. Well, we'll be
00:26:05.100 watching those results closely when they come in on Saturday. But honestly, either way, congratulations
00:26:09.280 are in order. What a massive success for you personally and for the entire party. So congratulations
00:26:14.340 and thank you for being here today and for all your time. Thank you so much, Rachel.
00:26:18.880 That was Angelo Isiduro, the Executive Director of the BC Conservatives. Moving on to the rest of the
00:26:27.060 show here, we have our clip of the week. This was once again pulled from Sean. As you guys know, I do
00:26:33.180 not watch these clips in advance. Sean pulls them for all of us. I think we're going to really enjoy
00:26:38.540 this when he gave me a little bit of information about what we're going to be talking about today.
00:26:42.760 It has something to do with Tim Hortons, which I know is very controversial right now. If you've been to
00:26:47.580 Tim Hortons lately, you know why, but more likely than not, you're just avoiding Tim Hortons, as I
00:26:52.640 certainly do. So let's take a look at this clip of the week from Sean. I actually, he also mentioned
00:26:57.160 it was in French, but he did say that what is being said here is not as important as the environment.
00:27:03.000 So for those of you who are watching on video, which I know most of you guys tend to do, you're
00:27:07.960 going to want to pay particular attention to the environment and the scene of this Tim Hortons.
00:27:13.280 Let's take a look at this.
00:27:14.360 Okay. So there's two women there from Quebec. They're in Tim Hortons in Dubai. Obviously, 0.97
00:27:42.420 Dubai is an extremely wealthy place, far, far more so than Canada. But the issue here is that
00:27:49.020 that Tim Hortons was absolutely beautiful. You could see there, you could see all the beautiful
00:27:52.040 lighting. You could see the beautiful floor and the counters. And it looked like a really nice cafe.
00:27:57.900 Like if you were to go and enjoy a nice cafe today, you wouldn't think, oh, let's go, let's go sit in
00:28:02.660 Tim Hortons. It is such a nice, you know, it has such an aesthetically pleasing environment.
00:28:07.300 You wouldn't think to go to Tim Hortons. You probably have a local cafe in your town. Every
00:28:12.220 town needs a local cafe. So you probably have a nice one that you like to go sit in to do your
00:28:16.520 readings and you probably wouldn't pick Tim Hortons. The issue is not that Dubai is a wealthier place.
00:28:23.040 The issue is that Tim Hortons has been hailed as a Canadian icon for basically as long as I can
00:28:29.960 remember. And probably for as long as you can remember as well. When people who are, you know,
00:28:35.040 come here internationally, one of the very first things they do is they go try Tim Hortons.
00:28:40.980 And, you know, there was a time when that was sort of fun and cute. And we all joked about our
00:28:44.620 Tim Hortons. And when I was, you know, in the States, people would be like, oh yeah, you guys
00:28:47.800 have like Tim Hortons up there. By the way, you can go to Tim Hortons in the States now, especially
00:28:52.160 if you're in places like Buffalo, there are some Tim Hortons available. I believe it was bought out by
00:28:56.660 an American company. Please don't fact check me on that. I'm not entirely sure.
00:29:00.380 Um, and I'm pretty sure either way, we all know that the quality of Tim Hortons has extremely
00:29:07.720 degraded in the last number of years. The food is disgusting. The food is now pre-made and it's
00:29:13.280 sold frozen. The donuts are not made fresh in house. You guys, when I was a kid, when I was in,
00:29:18.580 I think it was kindergarten, I went on a class trip to Tim Hortons and we actually got to go into the
00:29:23.480 kitchen and we got to all like freshly dip a fresh donut. That would never happen nowadays because the
00:29:29.560 donuts are all pre-made and they're just basically baked in the ovens, warmed up. Um, I should say
00:29:34.760 they're warmed up after they've been frozen and shipped out the food. You know, you guys have
00:29:38.600 seen these images, um, of Tim Hortons and people are being given raw food. There's cases where there's
00:29:43.900 molds on the food. I saw a report of one lady who worked at Tim Hortons and, and she left and she 1.00
00:29:49.280 said, and they actually reuse their coffee grinds. They reuse their coffee grinds to save money.
00:29:54.280 So I think Tim Hortons has really lost its status and sort of the elephant in the room
00:29:59.320 of this whole issue is that Tim Hortons has been criticized for not really having any white
00:30:03.820 people anymore. They don't seem to be hiring any white Canadians. Instead, they seem to be hiring 0.96
00:30:09.060 international students. And, you know, there's been some criticism about this. People are saying
00:30:14.460 they've been given, essentially they're being given government grants to hire international
00:30:19.240 students. And, you know, it's an issue because Canadians, as my colleague Harrison has covered
00:30:24.540 this extensively, young Canadians are having a really hard time finding places to work. When
00:30:29.460 I was a kid, it was like so easy to find a job. I printed off a bunch of resumes. I went
00:30:34.500 to a bunch of stores, handed them out and I got a couple calls, you know, and I was always
00:30:38.560 able to find a job when I needed one. And young people today don't have that same access, especially
00:30:43.820 places in Ontario where there is so many immigrants and those, you know, sort of low 1.00
00:30:48.980 level beginner jobs. There's just so much more competition for them than there used to be.
00:30:53.900 And so Tim Hortons has naturally come under some criticism for this because people are
00:30:57.800 saying, are they only hiring international students nowadays? And what's the reason for
00:31:01.860 this either? Are they still hiring any Canadians? And so at the same time, you know, we're seeing
00:31:06.380 the quality really go down into Hortons. They're just cheapening out on the products or cheapening
00:31:10.840 out on the food that they're serving you. And I think they really lost some of the hallmark
00:31:15.140 of what made Tim Hortons so special. I think it is really too bad because it is something
00:31:19.960 to be proud of that they were considered a Canadian icon and that they were so beloved
00:31:24.760 across Canada. And now Canadians are choosing to get their coffee like at McDonald's or Starbucks
00:31:30.100 because Tim Hortons just, the quality simply isn't there anymore. I think that they could
00:31:35.200 definitely change the direction. I think they should spend a little more money on the food 0.78
00:31:39.460 and the quality of their products that they're serving Canadians. But at this rate, you know,
00:31:43.660 I don't really want to be known. I don't want Canada to be known as a place that is known
00:31:47.820 for Tim Hortons. And even in the structure of the Tim Hortons, we see this time and time
00:31:51.760 again, like McDonald's. Do you remember when you were a kid and you used to go to McDonald's
00:31:55.340 and they had the big playground there? They had the slides and the ball pit and the whole
00:31:59.060 thing. They hardly ever have those anymore. They've completely redone McDonald's. They've
00:32:02.680 gotten rid of all of those fun aspects that made it so great to go there as a kid. And
00:32:08.020 they've made it really bland and simple. There's probably some criticism of modern
00:32:12.180 architecturalism in there for you just because so many of these buildings, they're being demolished
00:32:18.580 and they're being created to look really bland and there's nothing special or unique or creative
00:32:22.040 about them anymore. And we're seeing that all over the place with, you know, whether it be
00:32:25.720 Starbucks or McDonald's or Tim Hortons, but at least at Starbucks and McDonald's, you can get a
00:32:30.940 good cup of coffee. And I don't think the same can be said for Tim Hortons anymore. So Tim Hortons,
00:32:36.680 I think you have a lot to improve on. All right, everyone. And finally, I wanted to respond to some
00:32:42.500 of your comments from last week. So let's take a look at these. Okay. This was a response from an
00:32:48.040 ex-user. Rocky Mountain Duke said, good to see you embracing the rural lifestyle. But if you get an
00:32:54.360 electric vehicle, your Alberta residency needs to be revoked. EVs are for NDP voters. You have a big
00:33:01.420 decision to make here. Don't disappoint your fans. I have been seeing such strong responses
00:33:08.280 about my, you know, my thoughts about maybe getting a Cybertruck one day. You guys really
00:33:15.360 think it's a bad idea. Listen, I think we can sort of acknowledge that EVs writ large are, you know,
00:33:22.460 not the best. They're not the best thing. We don't like that they're being pushed on us. However,
00:33:26.620 I think if you're watching the show, I think I can feel fairly confident in saying that
00:33:31.420 you're probably a fellow conservative, not necessarily a big C conservative, but at least
00:33:35.180 you have conservative low C values, lowercase C values. And I think that you should allow me,
00:33:41.480 you know, the freedom to make this decision. I'm not making this decision or even considering
00:33:45.760 getting a Cybertruck because I'm concerned about using gas. No problems with using gasoline in our
00:33:52.260 massive truck that we have now. I just like the look of the Cybertruck. I think it could be a fun,
00:33:56.880 a fun vehicle to drive around in. And I, you know, and I want to support Elon Musk. I want to support
00:34:04.180 Elon Musk more than I potentially want to support a company like Toyota with all of its woke initiatives
00:34:10.480 pushing gender ideology and paying for those surgeries in some cases for employees and their
00:34:17.240 families. So, you know, I think at this point, when I look at getting an X vehicle, I'm still sort of
00:34:22.180 leaning towards a Toyota Tacoma, because I think it's probably a more reliable vehicle for the
00:34:27.620 Alberta winter. That being said, I think given the reasoning, my reasoning for why I would be getting,
00:34:34.100 potentially even considering getting an EV, if you, if you understand the reasoning behind it,
00:34:38.440 I think you should allow me the freedom as a fellow conservative to make that decision for myself.
00:34:42.900 So that is my request to the audience, but I will continue to keep you updated on where I land
00:34:47.920 with that decision. And I am actually still interested in having potentially an expert come
00:34:52.120 on the show and to talk just because even in my comments, they're still very split with some of
00:34:55.740 you saying you cannot get an EV here in Alberta. It will be disaster. And others of you saying,
00:35:01.000 honestly, it'll be totally fine. I live in Calgary. I drive a Tesla. It's not an issue. So still sort
00:35:06.880 of weighing that decision, but just due to the sort of reliability of Toyota, which I do have a Toyota
00:35:11.940 currently, it's just a smaller vehicle. I am sort of still kind of leaning towards a Tacoma. I also think
00:35:17.320 it's like the perfect woman truck because it's like a smaller truck. No offense to any of you men 1.00
00:35:21.620 out there who drive Tacomas, but it is like the perfect lady truck because it's just a little 1.00
00:35:25.040 smaller, a little more compact, just a bit, you know, sexier. So, and then I have one more comment
00:35:29.880 here. This is from user a Luke seven one 80. He says, don't be fooled. Liberal MPs are not tired
00:35:37.340 of the carbon tax. They're trying to save their political career too little too late. I couldn't have
00:35:43.320 said it better myself. Last week, we covered some of the liberal MPs who are putting pressure on the
00:35:48.000 prime minister to ax the carbon tax. You're right. They don't care about all of you at home. They've
00:35:51.940 made that clear enough. They are really just trying to save their seats. And I think that it is too
00:35:57.060 little too late at this point. I think I said that last week exactly, but yes, I would agree that they
00:36:01.280 are not going to be successful in that endeavor. All right, everyone, that's all I have time for
00:36:05.240 today. I'll be back tomorrow with some coverage of the American election. Just my favorite stuff to
00:36:11.380 dive into right now. American politics is so fascinating. There's always so much going on
00:36:15.360 and there's so much to talk about. So I'll be back with that on Wednesday. I hope that you guys have
00:36:19.920 a great rest of your week. God bless.