Juno News - Tories could still pull off a WIN in BC

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.

Juno News - October 22, 2024

Tories could still pull off a WIN in BC

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