Juno News - True North’s LIVE coverage of the Conservative Leadership Debate

00:00:00.000 Thank you for joining us.

00:00:30.000 Hi, everyone, and welcome to True North Live.

00:00:51.740 It is my great pleasure to be joining you tonight.

00:00:54.540 I'm your host tonight, Candice Malcolm, and we're here for the Conservative Party of Canada

00:00:59.020 leadership debate i'm very pleased to be joined by two of my colleagues here first harley sims

00:01:04.900 who is an editor and senior reporter here at true north he's based out of somewhere around

00:01:10.620 vancouver i think one of the suburbs in vancouver uh harley great to have you great to see you

00:01:15.180 and also we have harrison faulkner who is a producer on the canister malcolm show

00:01:19.520 and also a reporter harrison great to see you as well great to see you so so here we are

00:01:25.920 at the second debate in two weeks.

00:01:29.020 And, you know, for me, I moderated the last one.

00:01:31.300 So I have a newfound sort of respect

00:01:33.260 for the entire sort of operation

00:01:35.900 of putting one of these events together

00:01:37.540 and the sort of nerves that you feel

00:01:40.920 before the event starts,

00:01:42.340 not just for the candidates,

00:01:43.480 but for everyone who's organizing it

00:01:44.860 and the moderator.

00:01:46.000 Tonight's event out in Edmonton, Alberta,

00:01:48.460 is moderated by Tom Clark,

00:01:50.120 who is a former legacy media reporter, journalist,

00:01:52.660 who was with Global News for a long time.

00:01:54.820 And I think now he is a consultant. So a little bit of a strange pick, given that this is the only debate in Western Canada.

00:02:01.020 It's the debate in Alberta. And they didn't they didn't have an Albertan or a Westerner to to demoderate it.

00:02:07.600 And interesting because, you know, that we have five candidates in this race and they're all from Ontario or Quebec.

00:02:13.600 We all represent Quebec. I know Pierre Polyev was born in Calgary, raised in Calgary.

00:02:17.680 And I'm sure he'll mention that many, many times tonight. But we'll go to you first, Harley.

00:02:21.080 What are you expecting? What are you excited about? And what do you think is going to happen

00:02:25.500 tonight? Well, all things at stake, Candice. I'm not ashamed to say I'm looking for an

00:02:31.440 entertaining debate. I don't think a lot of people other than political junkies watch these things

00:02:35.980 expect, you know, expecting to be entertained. But I mean, the last one was pretty fiery. And

00:02:41.380 I don't think it's right to say this is a normal debate. I mean, there are a lot of things that

00:02:49.000 these candidates will be putting forward tonight that will shape the direction of our country

00:02:53.780 going into the next election. I'm looking for just an honest recognition of the issues that

00:03:01.400 are facing Canadians rather than just the usual politics. And I think those issues include

00:03:05.280 the economy, namely affordability and civil liberties. I mean, we are over a trillion

00:03:11.100 dollars in debt. Gas here in BC hit 220 a liter. Our housing has become unaffordable for the next

00:03:18.940 generation and beyond that we just went through two years of a pandemic that saw people uh

00:03:25.420 people's businesses shut down people denied entry to certain places people still unable to leave the

00:03:30.780 country due to vaccination status uh peaceful protesters who were uh arrested and uh had their

00:03:39.260 bank accounts and uh their vehicles uh seized i mean we're in a crisis right now i don't think

00:03:44.860 think there's any way around that. So I'm looking forward to seeing which candidates take that head

00:03:49.440 on and which ones want to just pretend it's business as usual. Well, it's interesting because

00:03:55.420 at the last debate in Ottawa, I think one of the rowdiest moments of the whole debate was

00:04:01.520 exchange between Pierre Polyev and Jean Charest. And I was really surprised because Jean Charest

00:04:06.520 just took a direct shot at the trucker convoy. And you're in a room full of 800, 900 people.

00:04:13.620 sure, you're in Ottawa, and that's sort of the establishment capital of Canada, the fake news

00:04:17.720 capital of Canada, we called it on my show last week. But the room gave him a resounding set of

00:04:22.760 boos, like it was loud, it was intense. And it was like, that, you know, that is one of the issues

00:04:27.260 that even though the trucker convoy became controversial, even though there was a lot of

00:04:31.700 stuff that happened that I think a lot of people don't agree with that sort of lawlessness and some

00:04:35.860 of the more extreme characters that the media focused on, of course, that wasn't the broad

00:04:39.620 sentiment uh but but but there was one thing it seemed that the conservative base was really

00:04:44.100 behind and that was that these truckers were doing something righteous they were doing something

00:04:48.820 good and that they deserve respect and attention empathy all of the things that justin trudeau

00:04:54.100 should have done we've been talking a lot about harrison you were you were the tracker convoy do

00:04:57.700 you think that's going to be a sort of main theme of the debate tonight or do you expect them to

00:05:01.860 talk about something a little different i think the moderators are probably going to do their

00:05:05.700 bad or the moderator is going to do his best to avoid making it all about the convoy but it's

00:05:10.100 really the i think that's really where all of the big ticket big sort of red meat items at the base

00:05:16.820 um want to hear that's kind of where it all comes from a lot of the civil liberties discussion will

00:05:21.280 stem from the convoy protest and i think that it was a a total flash point in in the country and

00:05:28.420 and really emblematic of where we find ourselves like harley i think the last thing i want to see

00:05:33.580 tonight is a boring debate we have two hours they have to fill two hours which is not not easy it's

00:05:38.620 gonna be a long a long debate but it'll make it a lot better if they really go after each other

00:05:43.740 really carve out a space for themselves and i've written down some notes about what i'm expecting

00:05:48.780 to see and i know we'll get into this before the debate starts but yeah i i hope it's not i hope

00:05:54.460 it's not um totally dominated by the convoy itself i think there was a lot of opportunity

00:05:59.660 for the candidates to make their pitch on that issue in the last debate. I think what we're

00:06:04.300 going to see is a lot of resource-related debate, a lot of conversation on who has a better track

00:06:12.020 record when it comes to supporting natural resources and supporting the oil and gas sector.

00:06:17.160 And of course, I think the big takeaway will be how Patrick Brown performs, how he receives a lot

00:06:23.520 of the heat that I'm sure he's going to get from the candidates, and how he dishes it.

00:06:26.800 yeah absolutely well i i will be the third one to echo that i hope it's an entertaining

00:06:32.360 debate two hours is a really long time to fill but we do have a new uh campaigner debater that

00:06:39.180 will be on the stage and that is patrick brown he was absent uh from from the last debate he

00:06:43.680 seems to be laying pretty low his strategy is sort of to not really do any interviews not really

00:06:49.760 have any presence and kind of maybe hope to slide through without scrutiny and uh should be

00:06:55.640 interesting just you know a lot of people getting their first glimpse of him tonight i i want to

00:07:00.660 talk a little bit about the legacy media and how they respond to things because what i noticed in

00:07:06.020 the in the coverage and the feedback from the first debate was that a lot of media a lot of

00:07:10.900 journalists were commenting were not very happy with the tone they call it angry and bitter and

00:07:16.140 you know even even uh my friend over at the toronto sun brian lily uh he didn't like the

00:07:22.020 tone of the debate and he thought it was unbecoming. To me, you know, this moment in the country,

00:07:26.300 and I'll sort of circle back to what you said off the start, Harley, you know, our country has gone

00:07:31.880 through something really incredible the last two years. And there's a lot of, there are a lot of

00:07:36.220 people out there that are feeling just completely angry, completely disaffected, outside, left behind.

00:07:44.200 I mean, there's so many words to describe it. And I think you want your politicians to reflect that.

00:07:49.120 I think that a lot of the anger wasn't coming because Pierre Polyev and Jean Charest and

00:07:53.940 Roman Bavar, thank goodness that he's part of this debate because he's raising so many

00:07:57.300 of these important issues.

00:07:58.380 You know, they're not bitter and angry people.

00:08:00.300 They're actually, each of them in their own way, quite positive and optimistic.

00:08:04.340 But the reason that I think that the tone of the debate was so aggressive is because

00:08:09.100 they're tapping into the anger and resentment and the sort of growing divides that are very

00:08:15.380 evident under the surface in our society.

00:08:17.120 We're basically just lived through two years where almost every institution that we rely on has failed us in some way, shape or form.

00:08:24.240 So, Harley, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that.

00:08:28.460 Yeah, I don't know what place civility has right now.

00:08:32.040 Non-violent for certainly, but Justin Trudeau was the first person to throw civility out the window.

00:08:38.800 I mean, the September 2021 election, he started using hate to wedge people.

00:08:43.820 He used the unvaccinated issue as a way of gaining votes and demonizing Canadians.

00:08:50.200 Before that, if you actually heard him talk about mandating vaccines, he said he was concerned.

00:08:54.160 He didn't want to create divisions.

00:08:56.020 He knew there were people who weren't going to take it.

00:08:58.140 But the election came along and obviously he thought he had an edge by speaking about Canadians in a hateful way.

00:09:04.200 And it was hateful.

00:09:04.940 So now we need a leader, a conservative leader, who are willing to accept that Justin Trudeau is hateful towards a certain segment of his own population.

00:09:13.820 and come in aggressively and and i mean it's it's not a matter of shaking hands anymore um

00:09:18.940 like the gauntlet has been thrown down uh we have a prime minister who basically showed uh canadians

00:09:24.140 that that uh protesting peacefully and talking isn't good is it doesn't work with him i don't

00:09:30.300 know what message that sends uh but like i said i think we need someone who's willing to show his

00:09:36.060 fangs come out and tell the canadians that desperately want to see some opposition um what

00:09:41.820 what he's made of and that he's not going to mince words come election time. I think you're

00:09:46.720 right. I think so many Canadians just want someone who can take on Trudeau, someone who won't be

00:09:50.860 deferent to him in the way that the media are and won't be too polite to him because he doesn't

00:09:54.460 frankly deserve our courtesy and our politeness given the way that he's treated us. I want to

00:09:59.580 bring in True North's Andrew Lawton. Andrew Lawton is on the ground at the debate in Edmonton. There's

00:10:05.100 Andrew. Hey, Andrew, welcome to the live broadcast here. You're in Edmonton. Why don't you tell us a

00:10:10.300 bit about what is going on at the debate uh set the stage for us about the event over there

00:10:16.140 yeah i will do so right now i'm actually just outside of the foyer where they've had a nice

00:10:20.700 little reception area and as much as i love the cash bar in there it was a little bit too noisy

00:10:25.260 to dial into the broadcast from there uh they're expecting about 800 well actually i should say

00:10:29.980 they have room for 800 they had about a thousand people register so i don't know if it's going to

00:10:33.980 be standing room only but a lot of enthusiasm here people in western canada especially in

00:10:39.340 in Conservative politics, often feel like everything is very Eastern-focused, Ontario-centric.

00:10:44.560 So they're very happy that the party is having this debate out in Edmonton. They're very happy

00:10:49.320 to have the opportunity to hear from the candidates here. And when I was chatting with people, one of

00:10:53.740 the big questions I was asking is, do you have a candidate in mind? Met a couple of people who

00:10:57.780 were undecided, but every single person but one who was not undecided was saying they were here

00:11:04.440 for Pierre Polyev. And I don't share that because I'm endorsing Pierre. I share that just because

00:11:08.480 when the debate starts, I think you can expect to see a home field advantage from Pierre Polyev

00:11:13.860 here, who was born in Alberta. And I was wondering if that would actually give him enough cred to be

00:11:19.460 recognized as a Westerner. And a lot of people are saying, yeah, he's Albertan enough for them.

00:11:25.000 Well, I mean, it's true. And I think that a lot of people at West are just excited that,

00:11:29.960 you know, Pierre has the momentum, he's got, you know, he's kind of has the ability to go viral

00:11:35.260 online and you know the fact that he is elected in ontario kind of shows that he can be elected

00:11:41.180 in multiple parts of the of the of the country so i think he certainly has a lot going for you

00:11:46.540 going for him andrew i wonder though like you know the the sort of heart and soul of the

00:11:51.500 conservative movement the conservative party has always been alberta and it was sort of strange

00:11:55.580 that you we didn't see any alberta mps uh throw their hat in and and try to run for for leader

00:12:01.500 Do you hear any grumbling about that? Is there any reason why we don't have any Alberta MPs

00:12:07.360 trying to become leader of this party at this point?

00:12:10.560 It's a tough question. And I think that one of the big things that a lot of people are latching

00:12:14.960 onto is whether they have Alberta-centric policies or policies that are friendly to

00:12:20.180 Albertans in Alberta. And a big part of that comes down to energy, oil and gas, that sort of stuff.

00:12:24.860 But it isn't exclusively that. And I think that's the big thing. There are a lot of challenges that

00:12:29.020 people in Western Canada are raising about sovereignty, about independence on taxation

00:12:34.300 and other government policies, about equalization. That's a big one. People that want a prime

00:12:39.220 minister and a leader that's going to advocate for a renewed equalization formula. So there are

00:12:43.720 other challenges that I hope will be raised tonight and that a lot of people here hope will

00:12:48.100 be raised tonight. And to go back to the discussion you were having before you brought me in about

00:12:52.020 what we can expect from the moderator, that's the big thing. A lot of the time, the legacy media

00:12:55.980 folks don't care about the West or don't know about the West. We're talking about the conservative

00:13:01.180 heartland here. We're talking about a debate in Alberta for the leadership of the Conservative

00:13:05.580 Party of Canada, a party that wouldn't even be in play if it weren't for Alberta and Saskatchewan

00:13:10.260 seats. So there need to be questions about the West and its place in Canada that go beyond just

00:13:16.000 pipelines. Well, I certainly, you know, I think that Tom Clark has his work cut out for him. I'm

00:13:22.060 certainly cheering for him just in terms of you know doing exactly that you being in touch with

00:13:26.380 what conservatives care about what issues are important in western canada because there's

00:13:30.220 certainly a big divide we saw this a lot both in 2019 and 2021 andrew where you know the media

00:13:36.700 would fixate on these really little minute issues and you'd have like 20 questions about critical

00:13:43.420 race theory or systemic racism and it's like you know they don't they don't talk about the issues

00:13:48.060 um that actually matter and so i i really hope um i am cheering for tom clark and i hope he he

00:13:53.340 does a good job i'm sure he will i want to ask you about patrick brown because he is sort of

00:13:57.500 making his first appearance you know he doesn't do a lot of media he doesn't do a lot of interviews

00:14:01.020 he didn't bother to show up to the canada strong and free debate last week he was the only one that

00:14:05.420 didn't and i i'm wondering you know does he have support out there uh have you had a chance to

00:14:11.420 talk to him or any of his people and and what do you sort of expect him to do i think the pressure

00:14:15.980 on him to do something and everyone's gonna be watching him. So I'm wondering what your take is

00:14:20.580 on that. Yeah, I mean, all of the candidates, each of the candidates was given a table on which they

00:14:25.400 could have volunteers and put up signs and give out pamphlets and that sort of stuff. And one of

00:14:30.280 the interesting things that happened is all of these tables were full of volunteers handing it

00:14:35.540 out except Patrick Brown's. When I was last in the room about 15-20 minutes ago, his table was empty

00:14:40.140 and just had a little placard on it that the party had sat there that said Patrick Brown. Now, maybe

00:14:43.980 they've loaded it up since then. But at the time that I was in there, they weren't really interested

00:14:47.760 in doing that politicking that all of the other candidates are doing. Now, I should say the one

00:14:52.380 person I spoke to who is a decided voter that wasn't a Pierre Polyev supporter was a Patrick

00:14:57.340 Brown supporter. So he does have some support if some is greater than zero in Alberta. But, you

00:15:03.060 know, he can surprise a lot of people because his strategy has been don't worry about debates,

00:15:07.360 don't worry about media, focus on selling membership, selling, selling, selling. And if

00:15:12.000 you're a local candidate seeking the nomination in a riding like Brampton West or a Bitsy Beach

00:15:17.140 and Miskaming that's the strategy you you aren't going to get votes doing radio interviews and all

00:15:21.240 candidates forums but in a leadership contest in a national contest I don't know if that's enough

00:15:27.140 I don't know if you can win people over unless you're prepared to take the stage and answer

00:15:31.380 questions I mean maybe the joke will be on all of us and he'll have outsold everyone but that's

00:15:35.800 going to be the big question is you know at a certain point you lose support by not being there

00:15:40.300 and I worry that was the case for him last.

00:15:42.540 I mean, I know he said he won the debate last time

00:15:44.220 by not being there.

00:15:45.200 This one, the party requires them to be at.

00:15:47.240 They get fined $50,000 if they're not there.

00:15:49.620 So he's got to be here.

00:15:51.420 Oh, that was a pretty arrogant comment

00:15:52.980 from my perspective that you won by not showing up

00:15:56.260 because no one knows you.

00:15:58.880 You haven't had an opportunity to show yourself.

00:16:00.300 So I'm pleased, hopefully he will be there.

00:16:03.540 Now, Andrew, why don't you just quickly walk us

00:16:05.280 through the evening, what we can expect?

00:16:06.800 I know we're going to be streaming the debate

00:16:08.560 live on this channel.

00:16:09.720 So some people in the chat are wondering, where can I watch the debate?

00:16:12.440 When does it start?

00:16:13.140 Well, we're going to have it for you right here.

00:16:14.740 Just keep watching.

00:16:15.960 But Andrew, why don't you sort of walk us through what to expect,

00:16:18.460 both during the debate and then afterwards as well.

00:16:21.240 Just to give you a little behind the scenes, I don't know if you saw,

00:16:23.220 but Jean Charest just walked by to walk in the debate hall,

00:16:26.500 Roman Baber a few moments before him.

00:16:28.520 So that means I'll have to be following quickly behind them.

00:16:31.140 The candidates are going to be taking the stage in just 14 minutes.

00:16:34.660 It is, as you mentioned, a two-hour debate.

00:16:36.460 Tom Clark is the moderator.

00:16:37.640 we know some of the broad themes that are going to be there but we don't know

00:16:41.000 the questions the candidates don't know the questions and afterwards that there

00:16:44.760 are going to be opportunities for the candidates to do what are called scrums

00:16:48.400 which are these these post-debate press conferences that they do and this is

00:16:52.700 what you know I participated in after the federal leaders debate in the last

00:16:56.760 election and I will say at that debate each candidate stood up and took ten

00:17:00.800 minutes of questions here each candidate is doing five minutes of questions so

00:17:04.640 after the debate, there's going to be no more than 30 minutes of these scrums combined

00:17:08.880 among all six candidates. So if you've got a candidate that is pretty long-winded,

00:17:13.520 gives longer answers, they might only take one or two questions. Some that can do rapid fire

00:17:18.360 soundbites might burn through a whole bunch of them. But there are going to be lots of

00:17:22.260 opportunities for the candidates to talk to each other on stage, a little bit less to talk to media

00:17:26.580 offstage afterwards. Oh, that's really interesting. Well, Andrew, I know you have to go because the

00:17:30.840 debate starts in 13 minutes. Just one final question for you though. You know, obviously

00:17:35.260 independent media is a really important issue to us and there is sort of this growing divide between

00:17:39.460 legacy media and independent media. Are there other independent media there? Are there other

00:17:44.220 journalists that are not part of legacy media or what have you seen so far? Yeah, I've seen

00:17:48.460 Rebel News has a couple of people here. I've seen someone from the National Telegraph as well. I've

00:17:53.080 seen some other reporters who I didn't have identification on them. So I didn't know which

00:17:56.960 outlets they were from. They may have been mainstream media or they could have been, you

00:17:59.780 know, the 27 people from CBC. But we do have a lot of media interest here. And I will say I was

00:18:05.020 talking to one legacy media reporter who was telling me about just streeters that she was

00:18:09.380 doing earlier. And she found similar to what I found that Pierre Polyev was really the only one

00:18:14.780 that she could get anyone to say here that they were supporting. So, you know, a lot of people

00:18:19.500 would look at that and say, great, you know, it's a runaway for Pierre. The problem is this early in

00:18:23.280 the race, if you're the one in the front, you're the one everyone wants to attack. So that'll be

00:18:26.940 the interesting question. I mean, front-runner syndrome is very real in politics. We saw that's

00:18:31.520 what happened with Peter McKay last time, and it may be what happens to Pierre Pauly of this time,

00:18:36.160 but we will have to see. Well, Andrew, I appreciate your insight, and it's great to have you on the

00:18:40.880 ground. We're looking forward to seeing you during the scrums, and hopefully you get some good

00:18:44.800 questions into the candidates. So we will let you go so you can get positioned for the debate,

00:18:49.480 which again is starting now in 11 minutes. So that's Andrew Lawton on the ground in Edmonton

00:18:53.460 at the Conservative Party debate. Well, we've got Harrison Faulkner joining us again. And I don't

00:19:03.320 think I mentioned it before, but Harrison, you're based in Toronto. And we were talking a little

00:19:08.500 bit there, Harrison, about Patrick Brown and the fact that he's making his first appearance,

00:19:12.880 the fact that Pierre Polyev is sort of the front runner. And so expectations around him are really

00:19:17.320 high. We did see in the last debate, a lot of the candidates were going after him. We saw direct

00:19:22.060 sort of challenges from Roman Babber on saying that the federal conservatives weren't there

00:19:27.660 during COVID. They weren't standing up for Canadians. Leslie Lewis claimed that he wasn't

00:19:32.040 at the trucker convoy, that he was only pretending to be. And then, of course, Jean Charest had a

00:19:36.780 number of attacks against him. So I'm wondering, what do you expect from both Pierre Polyev

00:19:42.420 and Patrick Brown specifically in this debate? Well, I think that obviously Pierre Polyev is

00:19:48.520 to try and do what he did last time, which was continue to get as much attention as he can,

00:19:53.400 go out swinging, obviously take his opportunity to swing at Patrick Brown and return some of the

00:19:59.900 shots that Brown has been sending his way. I think what we're likely going to see from Patrick

00:20:05.880 Brown is criticism of Pierre Polyev on being softer on the Quebec 21 bill. Brown is probably

00:20:16.820 going to go back into the uh call criticism into the hot into the um what is it the tip line from

00:20:22.740 2015 i mean those are the kind of issues that he's relying on because of his his his strategy at uh

00:20:28.500 appealing to diaspora politics is appealing to these immigrant communities i i don't think it's

00:20:32.900 going to be um i don't think it's going to be as policy focused i imagine it's going to be just like

00:20:37.780 a good fist fight that we saw the last debate interesting what are your thoughts harley

00:20:42.900 well uh you don't hear many people talk about um leadership candidates of a party at a gas station

00:20:51.960 and i've heard a lot of people talking about pierre polliver everywhere i've gone a lot of

00:20:56.380 people they don't even know his name that pierre guy that they don't know how to pronounce his last

00:21:00.280 name but they're into it so he's got the momentum and i think uh it's up to the other candidates to

00:21:06.140 distinguish themselves at this point i mean strange things can happen at leadership elections

00:21:10.800 people can come up the middle. You saw that with Aaron O'Toole. You saw it with Stéphane Dion with

00:21:15.000 the Liberals. So, I mean, right now, I think Pierre just has to keep nailing his points home,

00:21:21.500 keep saying the same things that's gotten him all the attention. And I think it's really just

00:21:25.960 a race between the people that recognize that Canada is in an unprecedented situation

00:21:32.620 constitutionally, legally, and the people that, like Jean Charest, who are constantly accusing

00:21:38.400 poliver of supporting illegal activities. So to me, it's just that it's two completely different

00:21:46.140 streams. And it's interesting to see those two heads go at it. Sorry, go ahead.

00:21:54.420 Well, I was just going to say that one thing I'm also looking forward to seeing is how Roman

00:21:58.760 Baber performs. I think that he surprised a lot of members in the debate last week. I know in the

00:22:03.840 comments, people are, are supporting Roman Baber. And I think that he has a really unique opportunity

00:22:09.020 to, um, obviously he's one of the only candidates that has a different, a different sort of

00:22:14.120 perspective comes from a different place from the provincial level. And he's got a very strong

00:22:19.280 record on the issues that a lot of conservatives are looking to hear him speak on. And, and, um,

00:22:23.880 I thought he came out measured. Um, he was, he was very well-spoken and I do think he surprised

00:22:29.160 a lot of people. I'm looking to see how he surprises members tonight. I felt that too.

00:22:34.140 Like I know, just to echo what Andrew said earlier that, you know, he's walking around

00:22:37.860 trying to look for people to interview and asking who you're supporting. When I was in Ottawa,

00:22:42.760 the last debate, almost everyone I talked to was a peer supporter. Like that was, you know,

00:22:47.200 they were interested in some of the other candidates and they thought so-and-so did a

00:22:50.140 good job, bad job. But when people were willing to say who they supported, it was usually Pierre.

00:22:55.340 However, I just felt the energy in the room and during the debate that it was Roman that was really hitting the applause lines. It was really getting people behind him. Like when he was talking, there was just a sort of organic agreement with him and people shouting out and people applauding him throughout the debate. So he is definitely onto something with the issues that he talks about.

00:23:16.520 and you know it'll be interesting to see whether he can kind of drive on that momentum because

00:23:22.020 I do think that a lot of people just simply don't know him you know he's not a federal politician

00:23:25.480 he's he's on the scene in Ontario and you know even for for us and for me personally you know

00:23:32.100 I had him on my show during the pandemic because he was he was sort of a lone fighter speaking out

00:23:37.460 against some of the craziest you know policies and and and the harmful impact was having on kids

00:23:43.460 and schools and, you know, people at the margins and people who suffer, could suffer from falling

00:23:49.120 through the cracks. Like he was really an advocate for those people at a time when there weren't very

00:23:53.260 many. And I think a lot of people really admired him for that. I certainly did, especially leaving

00:23:58.480 a conservative government, right? Like it's not like he, you know, he had to go it alone. He took

00:24:03.220 incredible risks. And I think that the fact that he's in this race, he adds so much just because

00:24:09.540 he is so willing to talk about his issues. It's like, you know, he doesn't really have a lot to 1.00

00:24:13.760 lose, right? He's still trying to establish himself as a sort of federal figure. And he can

00:24:19.560 really speak out in an honest way that you can't really when you're part of a caucus or when you're

00:24:24.420 really the front runner, right? So I feel like Roman brings a lot of honesty and attention to

00:24:30.680 some of the most important issues that I think many in our political elite class, and unfortunately

00:24:34.980 that does include Pierre would rather not talk about because it's uncomfortable to look in a

00:24:40.260 mirror and say, you know, you let this happen. You let kids suffer not going to school. You were

00:24:44.760 responsible for churches closing and AA meetings shutting down and all of these people, you know,

00:24:49.960 falling again through the cracks. So I'm happy to see him here. Harley, I know this is sort of

00:24:56.100 your beat and the thing that you cover the most with True North is civil liberties and all of the

00:25:00.180 different ways that our country has failed us over the last two years. What did you think

00:25:05.180 specifically about Roman Baber and his presence at the last debate? I think you're right. I think

00:25:11.260 he's in a privileged position where he can say exactly how he feels. I think he's a fast-running

00:25:16.300 pace setter. I think he can set the stage. He was born in the former Soviet Union. We've had a few

00:25:23.160 Canadians who supported the protests, the convoy protests from the former Soviet Union,

00:25:29.240 including a police officer in Edmonton who said, you know, people need to recognize what's happening

00:25:33.580 because I see it. Roman Barber is one of them. I have friends who like him a great deal. I think

00:25:38.500 he's doing really well. And you're right. Pierre Polivar, sorry, Andrew Scheer pronounced it

00:25:44.460 Polivar, Polivar, has been around a long time, close to 20 years. He's not a new face. So this

00:25:51.400 kind of wave he's riding is new for him as well. And he has to be careful at the same time as he

00:25:57.700 he really has to you know he has to grab the red meat when it's thrown at him so he's actually in

00:26:02.880 a pretty precarious situation as well it's almost like he has to be careful but he has to jump at

00:26:06.640 the same time so I think Baber is in a great position to debate Pierre into making the stands

00:26:11.980 that he'd be otherwise a little bit careful about making well that's kind of also the fun of these

00:26:17.300 you know leadership races and you see this in primaries in the U.S. and Republican side that

00:26:22.800 you know, what ends up happening is that, you know, you're talking to a conservative base,

00:26:27.680 you're talking to an audience of people who fundamentally share your values, and you can go

00:26:31.620 a lot further than you than you might when you're talking on a federal stage or a federal election.

00:26:35.740 So it's, it's really interesting, to your point to see maybe if, if Baber and Leslie Lewis can

00:26:41.260 kind of push Pierre into more of the populist red meat conservative stuff, and, you know, pull that

00:26:47.220 out of them, because maybe you'll have to go down that path in order to be leader. And then and then 0.82

00:26:52.080 you know, it's a fun part for us as independent journalists to make sure we hold these guys to

00:26:55.920 account because as we've seen far too often in the last couple of years, conservatives say one

00:27:01.780 thing over here to get elected from their base and you get put in as leader. And then when it

00:27:07.080 comes to the national stage, they change their tone and they're afraid of the media and they

00:27:10.940 just want everyone to like them. And it's a totally different thing. Harrison, do you think

00:27:15.540 we run that risk with this crop of candidates? And what specifically are you looking out for

00:27:21.520 tonight? Well, I think tonight what I really want to see is Leslyn Lewis break out of what I felt

00:27:27.920 was a bit of a hole she found herself in. She was really hammering on the Freedom Convoy and 0.99

00:27:32.620 laying into that message. I think she has more to offer. And I'm looking forward to seeing what

00:27:36.880 she has to say on some of the, specifically some of the Western issues. I think that's a place

00:27:42.060 where she lacks. And I think obviously from my opinion with Roman Babber, I don't know if he's

00:27:48.560 necessarily expecting to win the leadership, but he was part of the race to make sure that he puts

00:27:53.820 himself on the federal level. In many ways, I think he's already done that and proven to be

00:27:58.320 successful in that. So if Roman Babber can have a similar performance as he did last week,

00:28:03.080 I think he'll continue to ride this momentum. I'm looking to see how Patrick Brown handles some of

00:28:08.560 the heat I'm sure he's going to receive on stage. And yeah, like I said, I'd like to see what

00:28:12.520 Leslie Lewis has to offer that is outside of what we know about her stance on the Freedom Convoy.

00:28:18.560 Yeah, I'll echo that. I hope she sort of expands and touches more on some of the great

00:28:23.620 policies. She's putting out some great stuff in terms of her ideas for the party. I know

00:28:28.840 that she put out a whole sort of pro-natalism, pro-mother, pro-family set of policies that

00:28:35.500 include doubling your CCB Canadian child care benefit if you don't enroll your children

00:28:42.100 in one of these government daycare schemes. She wants to offer women two years maternity 0.94

00:28:46.260 leave. She wants to start paying this child benefit when the mother is pregnant 12 weeks in 0.91

00:28:51.660 just to help with costs that come with bringing a little one into the world. And I think those 0.94

00:28:58.040 are the kind of things that conservatives really need to be talking about and promoting our own

00:29:03.180 policy agenda, conservative policy agenda. One name we haven't mentioned yet is Scott Aitchison.

00:29:08.220 Do either of you gentlemen want to comment on his performance in the last debate and what you

00:29:12.880 expect from him tonight maybe maybe harley you can take a crack at this one well he's a fellow

00:29:18.820 british colombian uh i felt scott uh the really the only thing that stuck out to me is he just

00:29:25.120 was kind of like one of those let's all get along guys i mean he kind of every time somebody's two

00:29:29.600 people started going at it or three people he'd be like let's let's just calm down let's all let's

00:29:33.980 all play it nice um i don't think that's going to cut it here i think he's going to have to jump in

00:29:38.720 And he's going to have to take the gloves off and start swinging with the rest of them, because that's not the situation we're in as a country and certainly as a leadership election campaign.

00:29:48.260 What about you, Harrison? What do you think?

00:29:50.540 Yeah, I mean, I think Scott Aikerson is one of the only candidates to really come out strong on supply management.

00:29:56.440 And that seems to be the one thing he's very confident about.

00:29:59.140 And it is a it is a touchy issue, especially even in the conservative base.

00:30:02.820 So he's in Alberta. He's got a chance to pick up on the performance. I think he came out as sort of one of the softer candidates on stage. And maybe he can lean into that one policy on supply management that he seems really to be quite strong on.

00:30:19.880 Yeah, it's almost to me a little off-putting because Scott HSC seems like a really great

00:30:25.160 guy, nice guy interpersonally and sort of has that quaint, quirky sort of small town

00:30:29.980 mayor type feeling, which I think he was a small town mayor before he became a federal

00:30:33.820 politician.

00:30:34.960 And even his message will still get along.

00:30:37.180 But as we all know, the supply management is such a precarious issue in the party and

00:30:42.500 it's so divisive.

00:30:43.240 And I just remember this really cringey moment from Andrew Scheer because he infamously

00:30:47.680 supported the supply management policy and was able to beat Maxime Bernier in his own riding

00:30:52.480 during the 2017 leadership race. And then he and then at one of the whatever press gallery dinners

00:30:58.880 or whatever, he pulled out a big jug of milk and started drinking it. And it was like, just to rub

00:31:03.100 it in, like add insult to injury that he wasn't really a free marketer. But, you know, I find it

00:31:08.420 a little surprising that Scott Aitchison, who is this sort of very establishment, very like centrist

00:31:13.140 sort of uh tory from ontario or harley you said he's from bc i thought he was from ontario

00:31:18.580 but he represents a riding in ontario and it just seems like i mean i'm for free market so i think

00:31:27.480 it's great that he's he's he's taking that position but i barely hear him talk about he

00:31:30.920 didn't bring it up once at the last debate so it's interesting yeah he's on he's ontarian you're

00:31:35.420 right i just i just double checked myself okay found himself in a position where he knows that

00:31:41.580 he you know he's probably got the smallest profile out of all the candidates and he needed that one

00:31:46.700 policy that he was going to basically make his name on it's uh it's it's a bold strategy as you

00:31:52.140 said um but if he's not going to bring it up now in this debate when when will we have a great

00:31:57.100 chance to get some sound bites out of it otherwise i think it's i think it's kind of a wasted move

00:32:02.460 yeah absolutely so people are just wondering uh you know the debate's supposed to have started

00:32:06.700 it's 8.02 eastern time here and my understanding is that they are just doing an intro of the

00:32:12.520 candidates they're playing uh videos so we have a few minutes but I promise as soon as the debate

00:32:18.120 is introduced and and and they get going uh we we will cut to that and and and just to sort of fill

00:32:25.080 you in again for for anyone who's just tuning in so the debate is two hours long it's uh being

00:32:30.140 it's live location out in Edmonton Andrew Lawton told us that there were about 800 to 1000 people

00:32:35.940 in the room. So it's going to be a big room full of conservative activists and volunteers and the

00:32:41.280 sort of grassroots of the party in the sort of heartland of the party and the movement, which

00:32:46.440 is Alberta. So really, you know, it's going to be fun just to watch it, witness it. And then

00:32:53.780 afterwards, we'll be back. We'll do a live show. We'll have Harrison Faulkner, Harley Sims, I

00:32:59.740 believe our colleague Ellie is also going to be jumping on for that. And then of course,

00:33:04.520 Andrew Lawton will be in those scrums. So following the debate, six candidates, they'll each have five

00:33:09.420 minutes to what we call scrum, answer questions from the media, the media will be jumping in and

00:33:14.240 asking them follow up questions. So we've got a long live broadcast planned for you. And you know,

00:33:20.740 keep up the conversations. It's fun to watch. We can we can see both the Facebook and the YouTube

00:33:25.720 comments popping up in our stream. So you know, let us know where you're watching from. Let us

00:33:30.720 know if you have any specific questions that you'd like addressed. And we will be back after

00:33:38.740 the debate to give sort of live reaction and then we'll cut to the scrums as they happen. So thank

00:33:44.180 you so much for tuning in. We really appreciate everyone for watching. We are going to head on

00:33:50.860 over to the debate. We'll cut the camera over to the live stream of the debate in Edmonton. And

00:33:56.780 then we will be back uh in two hours time so enjoy the debate and uh thanks thanks everyone

00:34:03.100 for joining us thank you to harley and harrison thanks to the behind the scene team uh true north

00:34:07.640 for throwing this event together we appreciate that and yeah let's have a good debate here we go

00:34:26.780 .

00:34:49.780 ...during the debate so that we can get through a very busy agenda.

00:34:54.780 In the debate rules, we were very clear that there were to be no signs or noisemakers and this is the one rule

00:35:01.160 We really plan to enforce so if anybody disrupts the room you will be removed

00:35:06.060 So please no clapping booing cheering or jeering. Let's have a great evening tonight

00:35:12.240 It is now time to introduce our moderator

00:35:15.660 For the last seven years he's been the chair of global public affairs

00:35:19.100 but for 45 years he was a fixture in the living rooms of Canada as one of this

00:35:24.080 country's most distinguished journalists. He's interviewed every Prime Minister

00:35:28.400 since John Diefenbaker. Please welcome Mr. Tom Clarke.

00:35:35.620 Thanks very much, Rick and Diane, and good evening, Edmonton.

00:35:47.180 How are you?

00:35:49.460 Terrific.

00:35:52.140 And in fact, good evening, Canada, because this event is being broadcast live right across the country by CBC and by CTV,

00:36:01.600 so this is for everybody.

00:36:05.620 I want to thank all of you to start off with and, of course, the organizing committee for

00:36:11.920 inviting me to participate in what is going to be a very important evening.

00:36:16.860 And frankly, I don't know who was more courageous, them or me, but anyway, here we are.

00:36:23.720 This is going to be a very big night for conservatives, obviously, for all of you in the room and conservatives

00:36:28.540 across the country because you will have the opportunity to listen, to assess, and ultimately

00:36:34.460 to judge who among these six candidates is the best one to lead the party into the future.

00:36:41.400 I would also say that this is a very big night for Canadians everywhere in Canada, regardless

00:36:47.160 of political stripe or affiliation, because good, healthy, informed, and yes, passionate

00:36:55.820 debate is the very lifeblood of a good healthy democracy and therefore everybody has a real

00:37:11.760 stake in what happens on this stage tonight so a couple of quick notes before we begin I want to

00:37:19.200 back up what Rick and Diane said as they say in the theater business please remain seated for the

00:37:24.320 entire performance no clapping no booing nothing nothing nothing you know the

00:37:31.640 consequences of what will happen if you do but honestly tonight let's just leave

00:37:36.140 the stage to these six people I think that's the right way to go I'm gonna be

00:37:41.720 calling a pretty tight game tonight there is going to be no mushiness on

00:37:50.180 time we're going to keep to a tight schedule and also I'm going to be

00:37:57.740 expecting some pretty clear answers to some pretty clear questions and I hope

00:38:03.540 you are expecting the same final quick note there are five distinct parts of

00:38:13.740 this debate and as we begin each part I will be reminding the candidates of what

00:38:21.120 the rules are what the format is and what the timing is and through them

00:38:24.540 you'll be hearing the same thing so you'll know at the beginning of each

00:38:28.860 segment exactly where we're gonna go and what we're going to be doing buckle up

00:38:34.800 everybody now please welcome your candidates for the leadership of the

00:38:41.700 Conservative Party of Canada.

00:39:11.700 Good evening, candidates. Everybody well? I do believe this is my problem.

00:39:25.080 I'll be right with you. There we go. Thank you so much. Okay. So, good evening. To remind you of what we are going to do right off the top, as you know, we gave you, in a sense, a little assignment before you came here.

00:39:38.940 You've been working on this, no doubt diligently, for a couple of days now.

00:39:42.700 But what we asked you to do was to finish this sentence.

00:39:47.580 My vision for Canada is...

00:39:51.320 You will have 45 seconds in which to tell us what your vision is.

00:39:56.940 But there's a twist, and you know it.

00:40:00.080 You can't mention any other candidate on the stage, and you can't mention any other federal leader.

00:40:05.620 If you do, there's going to be trouble, and here's what you're going to hear.

00:40:08.940 Now, I will then, after you've done your segment, I will engage you.

00:40:19.520 You have 30 seconds to engage with me, and then we'll move on.

00:40:23.080 The draw has been done, and we are going to start this debate with Mr. Scott Acheson.

00:40:30.340 Mr. Acheson, the floor is yours.

00:40:32.380 Thank you very much.

00:40:33.040 My vision for Canada is to renew the promise that the next generation will be better off than today's.

00:40:39.040 High grocery bills, a housing crisis, inflation, all make life harder.

00:40:44.040 Millions of Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, and a Liberal government does little more than make inflation worse.

00:40:51.040 Divisive rhetoric leaves millions of Canadians feeling frustrated and even demonized by their own government.

00:40:57.040 own government. The answer to today's challenge is not to fan the flames of

00:41:01.120 those frustrations and make Canadians more angry. Those politics of division

00:41:05.540 have left you behind. You deserve leaders who care more about your success than

00:41:11.200 our own. I seek to lead the Conservative Party and our team to form a government

00:41:15.880 that delivers more than just photo ops but real solutions to the challenges we

00:41:20.080 face. We will build that future together.

00:41:23.220 Thanks very much.

00:41:24.260 Quick question to you.

00:41:25.820 You were saying you want to take the politics of division

00:41:29.060 out of the equation.

00:41:30.120 How do you do that?

00:41:32.640 I repeat the question, please.

00:41:33.740 How do you take the politics of division

00:41:35.820 out of the equation?

00:41:37.320 It's the divisive rhetoric that we need to take

00:41:39.120 out of this, out of our discourse.

00:41:43.780 And all parties are guilty of it.

00:41:45.100 I'll give you the most obvious example,

00:41:46.720 and I'm gonna use the name of another party leader now

00:41:49.000 because I think I'm allowed to.

00:41:50.300 But if you look at the way the prime minister

00:41:51.660 used vaccine mandates and actually divided Canadians by demonizing one group over another.

00:41:57.080 You know the rules.

00:41:58.080 You just broke them.

00:41:59.080 We're moving on.

00:42:00.080 Okay.

00:42:01.080 All right.

00:42:02.080 Roman Baber, your vision of Canada is.

00:42:06.720 Thank you.

00:42:07.720 My name is Roman Baber.

00:42:09.200 My vision for Canada is a return to be an incredible democracy, that we don't censor

00:42:14.100 people or speech, that we end 21st century segregation and let people make their own

00:42:19.440 medical decisions.

00:42:20.440 that we restore Canadian kindness and respect diversity of opinion my vision

00:42:25.760 for Canada is that we unleash our economic opportunity by making us a

00:42:29.980 natural resources superpower my vision for Canada is that we let Canadians work

00:42:35.920 love their families and that government finally leave us alone thank you

00:42:44.680 quick question and we're gonna get into this into the debate but mr. baby you

00:42:48.860 want to turn us you want Canada to become an energy superpower in the

00:42:52.340 world in 30 seconds tell me how do you do that yeah so I think that our natural

00:42:57.140 resources are a blessing and I'm not gonna let oil and gas be cancelled and

00:43:01.160 it's good for a strategic interest for economic bottom line and it's also good

00:43:05.460 for our planet because Canadians can derive and clean clean and safe energy

00:43:10.160 better than any other nation in the world we need to work with our provinces

00:43:14.960 we can restore the right balance, but that is the way out of the economic mess that we're in.

00:43:22.320 I'm going to turn Canada into a natural resources superpower.

00:43:30.620 Patrick Brown.

00:43:31.860 Sorry, Patrick Brown. My vision of Canada is...

00:43:35.020 My vision of Canada includes a Conservative Party that builds a broad, multi-faith, multicultural coalition that can win.

00:43:41.700 We've lost three elections in a row and we've forgotten how to win in areas like

00:43:46.880 suburban Canada in the GTA where I get elected. We'll never win with a divisive

00:43:51.420 leader who repels voters and doubles down in discriminatory policies that

00:43:55.800 trample over the religious freedoms of Canadians. The choice before the party is

00:44:00.240 clear. Do we want an unelectable party leader who drives voters away, walks

00:44:05.200 straight into liberal traps giving unclear answers on divisive issues like

00:44:09.800 abortion and wedges conservatives against each other are we ready to win

00:44:14.180 I'm Mayor Patrick Brown and I'm ready to win and we need your help now I just

00:44:23.280 want to remind the audience you're you're all crossing a red line here so

00:44:27.680 you want to be careful I just let me pick up Patrick you're talking about

00:44:32.720 like mr. Acheson did the politics of division you skated pretty close to

00:44:37.600 mentioning the name of somebody on here which you know was against the rules so

00:44:41.500 that's fine but how do you how do you take suburban Canada and make it

00:44:50.640 conservative blue with the background that you've been talking about and the

00:44:55.420 failures in the past we know I look at suburban candidates a mosaic of the

00:45:00.160 country and I truly believe and I've shown you can convince you convince

00:45:05.380 residents who have traditionally voted for other parties that their values

00:45:08.860 are our values, conservative values. I've seen that in Brampton, I've seen that

00:45:12.460 across the GTA, so it's really about building those relationships and telling

00:45:16.880 our story that we're the party that will fight to make sure we don't spend

00:45:21.520 beyond our means, balance budgets, and fight for every Canadian. And that's key.

00:45:25.840 We need to send a message we'll fight for every Canadian no matter their walk

00:45:29.160 of life. Thank you very much. Mr. Polyev, your vision of Canada is?

00:45:37.260 Is one where you, the citizens, are masters and your government is servant. It is one where people

00:45:44.360 have the freedom to take back control of their lives. That means freedom from inflation so that

00:45:49.960 hardworking single mothers can afford nutritious food for their kids. Freedom from inflation so 1.00

00:45:56.160 that 32 year olds don't have to live in their parents basements that they can

00:45:59.820 actually afford their own homes freedom from inflation and carbon taxes that

00:46:05.040 have made it in unaffordable for working people to fill their trucks with gas the

00:46:10.440 freedom to speak without fear and censorship and the freedom to make your

00:46:14.700 own medical decisions in other words the freedom to be master of your own destiny

00:46:19.440 and a captain of your own life.

00:46:21.980 Thank you.

00:46:28.680 Folks, here's the deal.

00:46:30.220 Supporters of any candidate,

00:46:32.200 the time that you cheer

00:46:33.800 is going to be taken away from your candidate.

00:46:35.720 Just so you know, that's the way the deal works here.

00:46:37.860 Mr. Polyev,

00:46:38.920 you talked about inflation

00:46:41.420 and freedom from inflation.

00:46:43.160 How many years is it going to take you

00:46:44.820 to bring inflation down to what?

00:46:46.580 1% or 0%?

00:46:47.660 Well, it's hard to say how high it will be when I take office, but there's no question that we have to hold those accountable who have caused it.

00:46:56.280 You know, money printing government deficits have caused more dollars chasing fewer goods driving higher prices,

00:47:03.080 and the Bank of Canada governor has allowed himself to become the ATM machine of this government.

00:47:08.320 And so I would replace him with a new governor who would reinstate our low inflation mandate, protect the purchasing power of our dollar, and honor the working people who earn those dollars.

00:47:25.440 Okay. I have a feeling we'll be getting back to the point you made in a minute.

00:47:30.240 Dr. Leslyn Lewis, your vision.

00:47:32.000 My vision for Canada is to once again make Canada a beacon of hope and opportunity for

00:47:39.260 all.

00:47:40.260 A nation where we respect our charter and where our government never has the opportunity

00:47:46.820 to freeze our bank accounts without a court order.

00:47:50.820 National unity is at an all-time low.

00:47:53.280 Many people have been traumatized by COVID lockdowns and government mandates.

00:47:57.880 I'm running to be a bridge builder, to unite the party, and to unite the country.

00:48:03.700 Business owners will have the confidence to take chances again.

00:48:07.640 We will develop our natural resources while protecting the environment without a carbon

00:48:12.600 tax.

00:48:13.600 We will respect freedoms and uphold our charter of rights.

00:48:17.700 I'm running to make Canada one of the freest and most prosperous countries in the world.

00:48:23.660 Dr. Lewis, you're out of time.

00:48:25.160 Let me quickly pick up on one thing that you said.

00:48:27.700 said that we have never been so divided or national unity has never been so challenged

00:48:33.620 what are you basing that on if you look at the last two years we have seen families torn apart

00:48:41.460 by covid we see parents not talking to children we've seen a government that has pitted canadians

00:48:48.740 against each other there are millions of people who cannot travel in their own country people who

00:48:54.340 are unemployed the government has used covid to divide canadians and it's time for us to heal

00:49:04.660 uh folks i've really got to i don't i don't want to stop the debate but we will

00:49:10.820 if necessary you've been asked a number of times now please don't do that

00:49:15.140 so i'm asking you once again please don't do that or your candidate will get penalized

00:49:19.620 Finally, Jean Charest, your vision of Canada is?

00:49:24.460 Well, thank you, thank you very much.

00:49:26.580 And first, let me say how delighted I am to be here in Edmonton, Alberta, and to join

00:49:31.540 with my fellow candidates on this stage.

00:49:34.780 You're asking the fundamental question of this leadership campaign, and the reason I'm

00:49:38.740 running is because I see a country that is deeply divided.

00:49:43.760 And I am running because I believe that national unity is the number one challenge of any prime

00:49:51.020 minister in this country.

00:49:52.820 That nothing big, nothing of substance gets done unless we're able to bridge the country

00:49:59.320 between the east and the west.

00:50:02.100 And that's what I've done all my life.

00:50:03.680 It's what I've fought for.

00:50:05.320 And that's what the Conservative Party needs to be about in the next election campaign

00:50:09.240 to offer that national vision.

00:50:10.880 Let me just pick up on one thing that you said. You're talking about East and West.

00:50:15.900 You know, in the battles gone by, it was always Quebec and is Quebec in or is Quebec out.

00:50:20.700 How much of the East is about Quebec and that national unity piece is about Quebec?

00:50:25.380 It isn't just about one province. It can never be about just one province.

00:50:29.720 It's about the whole country, Tom.

00:50:32.080 And, you know, on issues like energy, for example, whether it's oil, gas, or pipelines, or mining,

00:50:38.300 We, as a country, need a national leader who is going to stand up for the resource industry.

00:50:43.300 When have we ever heard the Prime Minister say,

00:50:47.300 I believe in this project, I think it should happen?

00:50:50.300 And yes, please, I'm delighted to name them if you want me.

00:50:53.300 You heard that.

00:50:55.300 I did.

00:50:56.300 You broke the rules.

00:50:57.300 Well, and I did it deliberately. Thank you.

00:51:00.300 We're moving on to the second section of the debate now,

00:51:03.300 and let me just quickly remind the candidates of what this is all about.

00:51:07.300 we are asking you a series of rapid-fire questions on a number of policy issues

00:51:12.520 and we're looking for a yes or no the question will be very clear there will

00:51:16.280 be no doubt about the yes or no answer but there's also 15 seconds right away

00:51:20.680 for you to expand a little bit or qualify your yes or no if you wish you

00:51:25.480 don't have to but you can if you want to once everybody is answered I will choose

00:51:29.900 two of the candidates who perhaps have opposing views and query it a little bit

00:51:34.840 more and let you talk a little bit uh and uh we will be moving on the draw has been done for this

00:51:40.540 as well uh and i'm just looking for how much time you've got here uh 15 seconds then 30 seconds when

00:51:47.400 we come back when i pull the two people out okay rapid fire question here we go and we're starting

00:51:53.340 with dr lewis and then we'll work down the line from there dr lewis the war in ukraine as we all

00:52:00.160 know has been an unspeakable tragedy and it continues as we speak tonight carnage and

00:52:07.760 destruction are unimaginable do you support creating a no-fly zone over ukraine

00:52:14.960 the attack on ukraine should be taken seriously we have to ensure that we do not exacerbate

00:52:25.680 the tensions that are already there.

00:52:27.980 Is that a no?

00:52:29.180 Oh, that's right. No.

00:52:31.520 No. Thank you very much. Moving on.

00:52:33.540 Mr. Baber.

00:52:34.380 No. You know, my mother's family is from Ukraine.

00:52:37.160 I'm heartbroken. We're witnessing a catastrophic loss of life 1.00

00:52:39.740 and infrastructure. There needs to be

00:52:41.700 a greater effort to end the conflict.

00:52:43.940 Escalation will not get us out of it.

00:52:45.740 The only way to end it is to bring

00:52:47.660 the sides to a ceasefire.

00:52:50.860 Mr. Charest.

00:52:51.980 We could only do that if our NATO

00:52:53.780 allies agreed. Canada can't do that alone. We all admit that. What we need to do in Ukraine is three

00:52:59.220 things. Lethal weapons for Ukraine. That's what they need and that's what Canada should do more 1.00

00:53:04.260 of. More aid and bringing Ukrainians who want to come to Canada here in this country so that they're

00:53:10.100 secure. I'm not sure whether that was a yes or a no. It's a no. Our allies are not there Tom. We

00:53:15.300 can't do it. Mr. Aitchison. No and I'll build on what Mr. Sherey said. Part of the problem of course

00:53:20.100 says that we've never met the two percent of her GDP in terms of military funding to meet our

00:53:24.660 commitments to NATO. Canada is not a reliable partner in the world and we need to do a lot

00:53:28.400 better than we are. Mr. Brown. Yes, I believe Canada should push and actively advocate and be

00:53:37.940 part of it to show that NATO is serious about these encroachments. We need to stand steadfast

00:53:43.720 with our allies in Ukraine?

00:53:46.340 Mr. Polyev. 0.90

00:53:47.680 No, but I believe we should provide more lethal weapons 1.00

00:53:50.620 to our Ukrainian allies 0.98

00:53:52.620 and offer refuge to Ukrainians who are fleeing.

00:53:57.540 We also need to unleash Canadian energy production

00:53:59.920 so that we can help break European dependence on Putin.

00:54:03.360 Okay, thank you very much.

00:54:05.220 I'm just going to go with Patrick Brown and Mr. Polyev on this

00:54:08.220 because you have opposing views.

00:54:09.720 Mr. Brown, you said that we should encourage

00:54:11.940 and participate in a no-fly zone over Ukraine you Mr. Polyev say no so Mr.

00:54:16.480 Brown let me ask you about the concerns that people have about escalating a war

00:54:21.480 by doing such a thing as a no-fly zone which would require offensive fire

00:54:25.820 against for example radar stations and installations I certainly don't believe

00:54:30.900 we should abandon our allies and you know the pleas from Ukraine need more

00:54:35.220 than promises and best wishes. 0.99

00:54:39.680 We are seeing an encroachment in Europe 0.92

00:54:43.460 that has not been seen in the modern era, 0.99

00:54:46.120 and we need to make sure they know

00:54:49.020 that Canada stands with them

00:54:50.300 more than our wishes and photo ops

00:54:54.260 with the prime minister showing up in Ukraine.

00:54:56.480 We need to give them all the support they've asked for,

00:54:58.720 which includes, and that's the request from Ukraine.

00:55:00.900 and mr polyev if i could just play off of that you say no and yet it's the very thing that the

00:55:08.900 ukrainian government has asked for over and over again the no-fly zone right that the reason is

00:55:14.240 that if we bring in a no-fly zone it could very quickly escalate to canada being in a war with

00:55:18.620 russia and i'm not standing on the stage today promising to declare that war i'm making the

00:55:24.520 responsible position that will provide the material support necessary uh that we can as

00:55:30.120 Canadians, both to the population and to those fighting against Russians, but also do what

00:55:35.560 we can strategically to provide Europe with an alternative source of energy so that the

00:55:39.700 Europeans no longer have to fund Russia's war with the machine by buying all it is oil

00:55:45.000 and gas.

00:55:46.020 Thank you very much, both of you.

00:55:48.740 Next question, Mr. Baber, it goes to you.

00:55:51.220 Way back in the 1970s, you may not be able to remember that, but nevertheless, ancient history, but Pierre Truro brought in supply management, basically a state-run system to manage dairy and poultry industries in this country, setting huge tariffs for foreign products and in the process, inflating prices here at home.

00:56:13.200 Do you support the current supply management system? Yes or no?

00:56:17.280 No, there is no free country when you have centrally planned economy.

00:56:21.280 Instead of protecting supply management and central political planning,

00:56:25.280 we should not cap how much dairy Canadians may produce.

00:56:29.280 It's utter nonsense. I oppose supply management.

00:56:33.280 Mr. Charest.

00:56:35.280 I fully support supply management. I always have.

00:56:39.280 And in this era of supply chains that are disrupted,

00:56:44.280 This is, in fact, a policy that guarantees us access to food that we need.

00:56:50.340 So I unequivocally support supply management.

00:56:54.260 No, I don't.

00:56:55.540 In fact, supply management costs the average Canadian family about $600 a year.

00:56:59.480 I think it's important in an affordability crisis that we actually help Canadians make food cheaper to eat.

00:57:04.400 That's the problem with supply management.

00:57:06.080 It's costing too much for Canadians.

00:57:08.100 Thank you. Mr. Brown.

00:57:10.620 Yes, the party has a history of supporting supply management.

00:57:14.280 But I think it's fair in this affordability crisis to have a broader consultation with our membership.

00:57:20.460 Mr. Polyev.

00:57:22.380 I do support supply management.

00:57:24.820 The alternative would be to buy out the quota, and that would cost $10, $20, $30 billion,

00:57:30.260 and that would have to be done through a tax on consumers, which could be more expensive than the alternative.

00:57:35.840 We should lower food costs by getting rid of the carbon tax and other taxes that are driving up the cost of food.

00:57:41.200 Mr. Aitchison and, oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Lewis, my apologies.

00:57:46.680 Supply management.

00:57:47.640 I do support supply management.

00:57:49.600 Our dairy and egg producers give us superior products. 0.89

00:57:54.240 Without supply management, our industry would be overrun by U.S. producers.

00:58:00.700 I prefer to have a superior product that we'll pay a little bit more for,

00:58:05.260 and if we want to bring down the price, cut the carbon tax.

00:58:07.660 Okay. I'm going to ask Mr. Baber and you, Dr. Lewis, because you hold opposing views on this.

00:58:14.080 Mr. Baber, why don't you tell Dr. Lewis exactly why it is that we should not have supply management

00:58:19.340 and perhaps, as the critics of your position would say, put those industries into jeopardy.

00:58:26.360 So one of the themes today is cost of living.

00:58:30.220 At a time when cost of living is so high, visit a grocery store, life is becoming unaffordable.

00:58:36.260 Why not to increase more supply instead of telling farmers how much milk they can produce?

00:58:41.840 We should encourage the creation of more goods, especially if we're worried about inflation.

00:58:46.580 But I support a gradual phasing out of supply management because, yes, we do have quotas and we have concessions that people bought.

00:58:53.260 We have to provide them with some ease down, but we should not cap how much Canadians can produce.

00:58:58.680 Okay. And Dr. Lewis, critics of your position might say, what is a conservative doing supporting the policies of Pierre Trudeau on a state-imposed mechanism?

00:59:09.600 Well, from a free market perspective, supply management, of course, is not a free market ideology.

00:59:18.320 However, we have to ensure that we support our farmers and we have to ensure that Canadians get the best product on their table.

00:59:27.300 If we want to cut costs, we can cut the carbon tax, and that is what is bringing up the cost of food for Canadians.

00:59:35.080 Thank you very much, both of you.

00:59:37.260 Mr. Charest, you get the first swing at this next question.

00:59:42.280 As we've seen in the United States in the last couple of weeks, there are no laws around abortion.

00:59:48.520 Abortion is only allowed by the Supreme Court decision known as Roe v. Wade,

00:59:53.840 and courts, as we are seeing, can change their minds.

00:59:58.080 In Canada, we don't have any laws either on this.

01:00:00.720 We depend on the Morgenthaler case,

01:00:03.420 which essentially decided that it was not illegal.

01:00:06.980 So the question is this.

01:00:08.100 Would you support legislation around abortion?

01:00:12.120 I am pro-choice, and my government would not bring in legislation

01:00:16.600 or support legislation to change or to restrain the rights of women.

01:00:21.140 the situation we have now is what we should maintain and that is a very clear

01:00:26.240 I mean they're all candidates except one on this stage okay has stated their

01:00:30.900 position on I got mr. Richardson I will always defend a woman's right to her

01:00:37.760 personal reproductive health choices period always thank you sir mr. Brown I'm

01:00:45.200 pro-choice I support a woman's right to choose and any government that I lead

01:00:48.980 would not revisit this issue. Mr. Polyev? A Polyev government would not introduce or pass

01:00:56.340 legislation restricting abortion. Dr. Lewis? I am pro-life and 0.94

01:01:05.300 women in Canada can have an abortion up until nine months and so there is no restriction on abortion.

01:01:15.440 What we need to do is have conversations about what we believe in, what we agree on.

01:01:20.560 Mr. Beiberg.

01:01:21.580 I don't believe that government has a role in how people start and grow their families.

01:01:25.380 If it's conservatives who want to stay out of people's lives, then we should stay out of the most intimate areas of their lives.

01:01:30.700 But that doesn't mean that we don't respect parliamentary democracy, that we gag our MPs, that we don't allow people to contest nomination.

01:01:36.840 I'm wondering how all my friends feel about others in caucus who have different views.

01:01:40.940 we're okay let's just further explore this a little bit mr shere i want to start with you

01:01:47.020 and mr aitchison i want to bring you into the conversation as well i you say you know everybody

01:01:52.780 interpreted the question of a law around abortion as restricting it what if it was a law enshrining

01:01:59.900 it well it's it's not what's anticipated i mean it's clearly not the case but on this issue let's

01:02:06.940 can we be clear on one thing every candidate in this race needs to tell the women of canada where

01:02:12.700 they stand whether they're pro or against they the women of canada deserve to know where they

01:02:17.980 stand and mr poliev's answer quite frankly does not fit that test okay

01:02:26.060 uh we will be taking 10 seconds away from mr poliev but mr aitchison get in

01:02:30.940 I think it's important for us to always be respectful of each other. There are really

01:02:42.160 strong views and deeply held beliefs on this issue, and this is one of the problems that

01:02:46.660 I see in our party today. We've become factions, and we don't listen to each other and respect

01:02:53.120 each other as we debate ideas and differing opinions. The Canadians will never trust us,

01:02:58.740 And so this to me is about respect, and really I don't see a lot of that, unfortunately,

01:03:03.780 on this issue.

01:03:04.780 Right.

01:03:05.780 Thank you very much.

01:03:06.780 Next question, Mr. Acheson, we're going to start with you.

01:03:10.460 Last year, Canada took in more immigrants than at any other time in our history, doubling

01:03:15.960 the usual number of about 200,000, 250,000, and we're planning to increase that number

01:03:21.100 even more.

01:03:22.180 So looking at the latest numbers of around just over 400,000, is 400,000 or a little

01:03:29.400 bit more the right number to be bringing in every year into Canada?

01:03:33.900 Well this much I know we need more Canadians, we need more workers, we need more skilled

01:03:37.620 workers in our economy.

01:03:38.900 It's one of the reasons we have a housing shortage in this country.

01:03:42.920 We need 200,000 skilled tradespeople in this country today.

01:03:45.660 So we need more workers whether 400,000 is the number or not, it should be targeted though.

01:03:51.140 Mr. Brown.

01:03:52.140 No, it's not enough. We're not meeting our skilled labor shortage, not even close.

01:03:56.220 And the backlog right now under Justin Trudeau, under the current Prime Minister, is the largest it's been in Canadian history.

01:04:02.800 He's not properly resourcing our immigration department. It's been an abysmal failure.

01:04:07.900 Mr. Polyev. 1.00

01:04:10.180 We need the workforce, frankly, but when we bring immigrants here, we need to make sure they have the freedom to own a home

01:04:16.880 by getting rid of the gatekeepers that prevent housing construction and the freedom to work in their field

01:04:21.340 by getting rid of the gatekeepers that prevent them from getting licenses in their professions

01:04:24.980 and trades. So I will get rid of those gatekeepers and give them that opportunity.

01:04:28.480 Dr. Lewis.

01:04:29.960 The issue is not about quantity. It's about quality. We need to make sure that we bring

01:04:35.960 immigrants here who can contribute to our society. I came here when I was five years

01:04:41.400 old, and we need a compassionate immigration system that will have jobs for people.

01:04:46.400 All right. Thank you. Mr. Babe.

01:04:47.880 I'm an immigrant to Canada, and I had every blessing our country has to offer.

01:04:52.700 And I think that Canada's multiculturalism is beautiful.

01:04:55.380 We have an aging demographic, a shrinking labor force.

01:04:59.420 We need to encourage lawful immigration. 0.99

01:05:01.900 Democracy and opportunity is why immigrants come to Canada.

01:05:04.180 Those are conservative values. 1.00

01:05:05.180 Thank you.

01:05:06.180 Mr. Chouret.

01:05:07.180 400,000 may be within the right zone, but it is very much dependent on our ability to

01:05:12.220 integrate people.

01:05:13.400 And how do we integrate?

01:05:15.120 We integrate through a job.

01:05:16.720 We integrate through language.

01:05:18.260 We integrate by allowing people to integrate into communities.

01:05:22.220 And credentials is one of the key elements to integrate Canadians.

01:05:27.120 Let's pick that up.

01:05:28.120 Mr. Brown, I want to just explore a little bit more of your thinking.

01:05:33.220 400,000, 405,000, it's a record number for this country.

01:05:36.800 But should it be 500,000, 600,000?

01:05:39.220 We know that we've got a labour shortage.

01:05:41.320 What's the right number?

01:05:42.320 You know, I was speaking to a friend of mine, Joseph Mancinelli, who's the head of

01:05:45.600 Leona Canada and he told me today just today they're short 30,000 workers and

01:05:51.720 these are in the skilled trades great jobs good paying jobs and you could

01:05:56.040 change the education system but that takes you know 10 years to in terms of 0.98

01:06:00.060 creating a new stream of workers in the skilled trades we need that immigration

01:06:03.860 we need that talent right now there are jobs that they can't build houses we

01:06:07.860 can't build bridges we can't build because of the lack of labor we need to 0.52

01:06:11.220 unleashed the Canadian economic potential through immigration. 1.00

01:06:14.340 Thank you very much. We're going to move on to the next question now.

01:06:21.140 And Mr. Brown, this goes to you actually. In 2014 at a NATO summit in Wales, the Canadian

01:06:29.140 government led then by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, agreed, promised to spend 2% of our GDP

01:06:37.140 on national defense since then as you know we haven't even come close with war on europe's

01:06:43.620 doorstep right now and with our vast northern regions now vulnerable would you meet the pledge

01:06:50.340 of two percent that is our nato commitment yes absolutely frankly we're not taken seriously on

01:06:57.460 a world stage and we can't even meet the the obligations that we've committed to and it's

01:07:02.020 It's not just about a peacekeeping role abroad.

01:07:05.100 It's about our own sovereignty, the Arctic, and so 100%.

01:07:08.200 Mr. Poglio.

01:07:10.580 We need to work towards hitting that goal, and we need also to make sure the money we

01:07:14.380 spent gets results.

01:07:15.540 Right now, too much of the procurement of equipment is tied up in politics and political

01:07:20.140 favoritism.

01:07:21.140 That's why billions of dollars have wasted, and products are not delivered to the front

01:07:25.020 line for our soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

01:07:27.620 So not only will we increase it, we will spend it well.

01:07:30.140 Dr. Lewis.

01:07:31.140 Unfortunately, we have not invested enough in our military.

01:07:34.020 Yes, I would commit to meeting that 2%.

01:07:37.020 Right now, we are underfunded, and that is one of the reasons why we have not been able

01:07:41.140 to supply the needs that Ukraine could use to assist them.

01:07:46.900 Mr. Baber.

01:07:47.900 Yes, we need to increase our defense spending by 50% in order to meet our NATO commitment.

01:07:53.300 If we're going to ask men and women in uniform to risk their lives, then they must have the

01:07:57.520 best equipment and the best training. 0.71

01:07:59.340 But I believe that our defense policy should be limited to safeguarding our country and

01:08:02.820 meeting our treaty commitments.

01:08:04.100 Thanks very much.

01:08:05.100 Mr. Charest.

01:08:06.100 Well, the answer is yes.

01:08:07.340 This is an issue of sovereignty for Canada.

01:08:09.500 And I put out a defense policy that's very detailed.

01:08:12.500 One thing that I think we need to do urgently is assume our sovereignty in the Arctic.

01:08:17.860 And I would open two bases in the Arctic, one with a deep sea water port to defend our

01:08:23.180 sovereignty against Russia in particular.

01:08:25.220 Okay.

01:08:26.220 Mr. Aitchison.

01:08:27.220 Yes.

01:08:28.220 The sad reality of this is that our military procurement system has become a joke in the world, and we waste money, and we don't have the right equipment for our men and women in service, and our partners, our allies, are making new alliances without us because we're not a reliable partner.

01:08:44.160 Mr. Polyev, I just want to dig a little bit deeper into your answer.

01:08:48.140 You said that we should work towards it, so not necessarily meeting it.

01:08:53.340 But as you know, this is one of the main irritants in Canada-U.S. relations, regardless of the administration.

01:08:59.780 When you say work towards it, have you got a time frame in mind as to when we get to 2%?

01:09:05.960 Look, it will take a progressive move because it's roughly an extra $14 or $15 billion a year.

01:09:11.860 If you up the budget in one year, well, then you're going to have a bunch of bureaucrats at the Defense Department trying to shovel the cash out the door without getting proper results.

01:09:20.320 In fact, they can't spend the budgets they have right now and get results.

01:09:24.280 So I will increase it as fast as we possibly can within the confines of our accosted budget and towards putting those dollars into getting results for our soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

01:09:36.880 Thank you very much.

01:09:37.820 And Mr. Baber, I want to come back to you on this because you have a slightly different view as to what we should be doing.

01:09:45.300 Yeah, I think that Canada's credibility in the world is eroded right now because some countries don't believe we're an actual democracy anymore.

01:09:53.020 And so we need to focus on resolving our issues at home while increasing our NATO commitment, to meet our NATO commitment, and that's about 50%.

01:10:01.240 But we should not go beyond our treaty commitments at this point.

01:10:05.580 I appreciate the role that Canada played traditionally in peacekeeping, but now it's time for other countries to step up and take the lead.

01:10:12.960 God knows we have enough problems at home at this moment.

01:10:15.660 Thank you all very much.

01:10:17.060 We're going to go to the final question now.

01:10:18.660 It's Mr. Polyev.

01:10:20.160 Mr. Polyev, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its final report in 2015.

01:10:25.280 That is seven years ago, and it contained 94 recommendations.

01:10:29.260 would you make

01:10:31.740 a commitment to

01:10:33.540 implementing all 94 recommendations

01:10:35.600 I can't make the commitment to

01:10:37.640 100% of the recommendations but what I

01:10:39.700 can is to address the structural

01:10:41.340 unfairness that leads to the injustice

01:10:43.820 and that is fundamentally in the Indian Act 1.00

01:10:45.700 we have to give First Nations communities control

01:10:47.740 of their money, their land 1.00

01:10:49.700 and their resources

01:10:51.000 that is the only way that they will be able to have

01:10:53.720 prosperity and paychecks for their people

01:10:55.720 Dr. Lewis

01:10:57.300 We need to make sure that First Nations people are at the table where the decisions are being

01:11:03.040 making. And we also need to make sure that we keep our promises. We have been promising

01:11:08.500 year after year clean water on reserves, and we have not delivered. If we cannot deliver on

01:11:14.120 simple promises. We have to be honest and learn our history so we don't repeat it.

01:11:19.860 But dividing Canadians is actually hurting reconciliation. The best thing we can do

01:11:25.380 for reconciliation is to improve the lives of Indigenous peoples.

01:11:30.000 Thank you.

01:11:30.680 And Mr. Chiraj, just in case people forgot, the question is,

01:11:33.260 would you commit to the 94 recommendations in the Truth and Reconciliation Report?

01:11:36.660 Well, the 94 recommendations, you can't commit to all of them.

01:11:40.740 But, Tom, Indigenous Canadians deserve respect

01:11:44.140 and a lot better than virtue signaling and false promises.

01:11:47.520 They should be part of our resource economy. 0.91

01:11:49.780 They should own equity.

01:11:51.180 And I would put together a Crown Corporation that would allow them to own equity.

01:11:54.660 Okay. Dr. Lewis, I just want to come back to you because I didn't hear whether you

01:12:02.760 were going to support all 94 recommendations, but can you tell me if you're not going to

01:12:07.320 support all 94 recommendations? Oh, I didn't know you were here. I'm terribly sorry. I'm terribly

01:12:16.200 No, he's going to take time away from me! Stop, stop, stop!

01:12:23.200 Mr. Atchison, my apologies, please.

01:12:28.200 My answer is yes, I would, but I would also make sure we eliminate all boil water advisors.

01:12:33.200 I would expedite the installation of broadband internet.

01:12:36.200 And my approach to reconciliation is a journey,

01:12:39.200 but it will be about fewer conferences in Ottawa and more action on the ground.

01:12:44.200 Thank you very much. Mr. Brown.

01:12:47.220 Yes, having a strong collaborative relationship with indigenous communities will be essential if we are committed to building pipelines in this country.

01:12:55.400 We need to have that strong collaboration. We need to get pipelines built. We need to create prosperity in indigenous communities and across the country.

01:13:03.320 Okay, and I just want to bring you and Dr. Lewis in because there was just one thing I didn't quite understand.

01:13:09.060 Would you, Dr. Lewis, implement all 94 recommendations?

01:13:12.140 I will implement any recommendation that uplifts the lives of Indigenous people.

01:13:19.280 We have let them down. 0.98

01:13:21.500 Even our missing and murdered Aboriginal women, we have not committed to even dealing with that issue,

01:13:27.740 which is a fundamental issue that affects the core of the society on reserves. 0.64

01:13:34.160 Okay.

01:13:34.520 Mr. Brown, if we don't implement all 94, what ones would we not implement if the 94 choose

01:13:43.220 one that you would not implement?

01:13:44.420 Well, my answer was that I would support the recommendations.

01:13:47.480 So I said yes, and I believe it's integral for us to have that strong collaboration if

01:13:53.060 we're going to have the joint prosperity through the construction of a national energy corridor

01:13:57.920 and pipelines. 1.00

01:13:58.920 I just don't see how you can build partnerships with indigenous communities to get pipelines

01:14:02.740 built if you ignore the recommendations that are so important to indigenous

01:14:06.400 communities across the country thank you all very much on that that ends this

01:14:11.720 section of the spontaneous yes or no answers we are now moving towards the

01:14:17.860 lightning what we call the lightning round now let me explain you you have

01:14:21.240 been informed of this I believe it or not there are Canadians who don't know

01:14:27.400 you guys and Dr. Lewis yet. So this is a chance just to get to know a little bit

01:14:32.980 about who you are and character and likes, dislikes and that sort of thing.

01:14:38.440 I'm gonna ask everybody the same question. We're just gonna go down the

01:14:41.920 line. Everybody gets a chance. It's a very fast answer. You'll see that these

01:14:47.260 things are, you know, you got 15 seconds to answer this and we're gonna be

01:14:51.460 starting with Mr. Charest. And Mr. Charest, the very first question I have for you is

01:14:56.440 what book are you reading now? What book are you reading now? Oh, I was reading the most recent

01:15:04.920 book that I've been reading has been about Russia, and I forget the title right now, but it's been

01:15:09.500 about Russia. Very good. Mr. Aitchison. I'm actually reading a book that Dennis Mills,

01:15:16.500 former member of Parliament for Toronto Danforth, gave me on water. Do you remember the title?

01:15:21.540 called water oh it's called water okay you would like to know what it's about

01:15:25.260 okay it's about water yeah I get it it's about the future of water and the

01:15:31.800 importance of water and geopolitical issues anyhow mr. Brown what are you

01:15:37.140 reading these days let's say on the leadership campaigns be honest there's

01:15:39.600 no time to be laying around reading books but historically I've loved you

01:15:43.840 know legal novels the John Grisham books growing up I loved Horatio Alger the

01:15:47.460 you know the rags-to-riches stories which is you know our Canadian dream

01:15:52.360 Mr. Poliev, what are you having time to read these days?

01:15:56.180 Well, Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules.

01:16:00.380 Great book and a lot of good lessons.

01:16:03.540 We all need to improve ourselves,

01:16:05.800 and I think he has a lot of good wisdom in that book that could help anybody.

01:16:10.380 Dr. Lewis.

01:16:11.980 Shackleton's Way, it's about sacrificial leadership.

01:16:14.820 It's about lending yourself to service for others

01:16:18.640 and being a leader that people can admire and aspire to.

01:16:23.160 Thank you. Mr. Baber.

01:16:24.820 It's been difficult since the leadership started,

01:16:26.980 but before that, a friend suggested that I read David and Goliath,

01:16:31.260 and that's been a theme that throughout our campaign,

01:16:35.600 we continue to exceed expectations.

01:16:37.400 Sometimes people might surprise you, and you might have an unlikely result.

01:16:42.600 Mr. Acheson, I wanted to ask you and give everybody a chance.

01:16:46.000 There's a question and there's a twist to the answer.

01:16:49.640 I want to know who your political hero is, and you cannot say Winston Churchill.

01:16:57.500 Prime Minister Diefenbaker.

01:17:01.240 Prime Minister Diefenbaker, he was a tremendous orator, he brought us the Bill of Rights.

01:17:05.120 He was an amazing Canadian who defended Canadians' freedoms and enshrined them in law.

01:17:13.280 Mr. Brown.

01:17:14.280 Absolutely.

01:17:15.280 former Premier Bill Davis. I felt he radiated decency. I learned more from

01:17:20.740 him than than anyone else. He lived only a few doors down from me in Brampton,

01:17:24.640 Ontario and I think his legacy is one that is enormous in our country.

01:17:30.860 Mr. Polyev. Well, Wilfrid Laurier. He opened up the West to immigration that

01:17:37.480 brought many of my ancestors here. Though he was a Catholic, he made a point of

01:17:41.840 reading a Protestant Bible so he could understand the other side. He said that

01:17:45.760 he used to pick fights with the Scottish boys and flirt with the

01:17:48.980 Scottish girls and managed to bring all the Canadian nations together into this

01:17:53.000 wonderful country we call Canada based on the principle of freedom.

01:17:56.840 Thank you. Dr. Lewis. Point of clarification was it did it have to be

01:18:02.300 Canadian? I didn't hear. Just your political hero as long as it's not Winston Churchill.

01:18:06.640 William Wilberforce. He spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery, even though he never knew whether or not he would see that materialize. But he had convictions to stand up for what he believed in, and he did not matter if it sacrificed his political career.

01:18:25.880 Thanks very much. Mr. Baber.

01:18:27.140 Margaret Thatcher, we will either stand on principles or we will not stand at all.

01:18:33.260 She was not afraid of making difficult decisions.

01:18:35.640 She stood up to the radical left-wing mob.

01:18:38.700 This is something that I hope we're going to restore to the Conservative Party of Canada.

01:18:42.140 Courage to say what we believe and do what we believe is right.

01:18:45.700 Mr. Charest.

01:18:46.700 Darcy McGee, born in Ireland, went to the United States, chose to come to Canada, renounced

01:18:53.180 Irish nationalism and gave his life for his country because he was assassinated, one of

01:18:57.580 the only political assassinations in the country, by Finians. 0.53

01:19:01.000 Thank you all very much.

01:19:03.720 That was actually really interesting to hear all that.

01:19:06.420 Dr. Lewis, I'm going to start with you and then of course everybody else gets a chance.

01:19:11.060 I know you're all busy.

01:19:12.100 I know that you've got stuff that you're doing right now, but when you have the opportunity

01:19:17.620 to sit down and listen to some music, what do you listen to?

01:19:22.000 I would say probably jazz is my go-to, but I like to.

01:19:26.220 Who's your favorite jazz artist?

01:19:29.320 Coltrane.

01:19:32.520 Cool, okay.

01:19:33.820 Mr. Baber.

01:19:35.360 Amy Winehouse.

01:19:36.500 When I hear Amy Winehouse, I can see into her soul.

01:19:40.120 She speaks to issues of addiction and mental health,

01:19:43.000 something that people know that I'm very, very passionate

01:19:44.880 about, and she left us too early.

01:19:47.580 But yeah, Amy Winehouse, back to black. 0.73

01:19:50.140 Okay.

01:19:51.060 Mr. Charest?

01:19:52.200 Well, for jazz, Pat Metheny,

01:19:53.840 but my family and I are also great lovers

01:19:57.080 of Chalas Neville.

01:19:59.760 There we go.

01:20:00.840 Mr. Acheson?

01:20:02.460 Well, I play the piano,

01:20:03.340 so I love to listen to Oscar Peterson,

01:20:05.520 but since my assistant, Parker,

01:20:07.980 has been driving around with me,

01:20:08.880 I'm starting to listen to a little more country music,

01:20:10.460 so I'm learning a bit more about that.

01:20:13.140 Okay, Mr. Brown?

01:20:14.480 Well, I think I have to say Alessia Cara,

01:20:16.220 because I'm from Brampton,

01:20:17.180 and Alessia Cara is our most famous musician right now,

01:20:20.140 But I should also say, MIA, we're trying to get them for our candidate party.

01:20:24.140 A great story of overcoming adversity.

01:20:27.140 Terrific. And Mr. Polyev?

01:20:29.140 Well, pick a local hero, Paul Brandt, Alberta Brown.

01:20:33.140 You've got to let them applaud that, Tom. Come on.

01:20:39.140 Okay.

01:20:42.140 I'll allow the applause because it's for Paul Brandt, okay?

01:20:46.140 You'll have to take it off his time.

01:20:48.140 Yeah, I'll take it off his time, yeah.

01:20:51.620 Mr. Brown, I want to start with you.

01:20:55.560 What do you think is, and remember 15 seconds,

01:20:59.600 what do you think is the single biggest threat to Canada today?

01:21:06.600 Our financial chaos right now, we're $1.2 trillion in debt.

01:21:10.740 And if you allow the finances to get out of control of the country,

01:21:13.920 you lose all capacity to deal with the challenges in your country.

01:21:17.280 $1.2 trillion, $2 billion a month in interest.

01:21:21.320 Thank you very much.

01:21:22.580 Mr. Polyev.

01:21:23.880 Well, I would build on that.

01:21:25.100 It's not just the $1.2 trillion federal, but the other one-plus trillion provincial,

01:21:30.080 and then the other $7 trillion of private debt that is about to collide with higher interest rates.

01:21:35.940 The government and the central bank have set us up for a massive debt crisis,

01:21:39.380 and we don't have time to avoid it.

01:21:40.960 Thank you.

01:21:41.460 Dr. Lewis.

01:21:41.960 I think our declining democracy, people have lost trust and confidence in our democracy.

01:21:48.240 The invocation of the Emergency Measures Act and freezing of people's accounts without

01:21:53.240 a court order has led people to question our institutions such as the media and our political

01:21:59.460 institutions.

01:22:00.460 Thank you.

01:22:01.460 Mr. Baber.

01:22:02.460 100% with Dr. Lewis.

01:22:03.460 The erosion of our democracy is the greatest threat to Canada right now.

01:22:06.900 Government is passing law to censor speech.

01:22:09.300 of Canadians are treated like second-class citizens, state-funded media bailouts, and

01:22:14.240 state-funded media, an unlawful declaration of the Emergency Act, I'm going to defend

01:22:18.860 Canada's democracy.

01:22:20.260 Mr. Charest, the single greatest threat to Canada is?

01:22:22.820 Well, it is national unity.

01:22:25.020 The greatest mistake we all could make as Canadians is to take this country for granted.

01:22:29.760 And of all the things you've named on this stage at Colleagues, none of them can be addressed

01:22:34.140 unless there is a national conservative government that includes Alberta at the table.

01:22:38.960 That's what is the most important threat, our national unity.

01:22:41.980 Mr. Aitchison.

01:22:43.540 And I'll build on that.

01:22:44.580 I think the greatest threat to Canada right now is division.

01:22:47.560 It's our political rhetoric and a political system that's designed to divide us to win votes.

01:22:52.320 It's short-sighted and doesn't build a country up at all, and I think it's dividing our country.

01:22:58.520 Thank you all very much.

01:22:59.700 I want to go to a question maybe a little more lighthearted, getting to know you a little bit more.

01:23:04.520 and there were a lot of people who want to know this.

01:23:08.880 It's not just me, trust me.

01:23:11.000 But Mr. Baber, what was the last thing that you binge-watched on TV?

01:23:21.700 Married with children.

01:23:24.320 I was at the cottage, and, you know, that was some time ago.

01:23:29.220 I learned the English language watching Married with Children, with subtitles.

01:23:35.220 It's a great tool for new Canadians to learn English. Watch a good TV show.

01:23:40.220 Okay, thank you. Mr. Charest.

01:23:42.220 There was a French series that was absolutely fantastic because it speaks to relationships.

01:23:49.220 They say, Appelle mon agent, call my agent in English. It was absolutely spectacular.

01:23:54.220 I like that one too. Mr. Aitchison.

01:23:57.220 My parliamentary colleague Eric Melillo got me hooked on Brooklyn Nine-Nine while we were

01:24:02.980 doing French Immersion in Quebec.

01:24:06.800 Mr. Brown, yeah.

01:24:07.800 You know, normally if I have free time, I love watching hockey, no surprise there.

01:24:11.800 But my wife got me into Ozark and we binge-watched it and I'm told there's a new season out

01:24:16.100 right now and I'm too busy to watch it, so I'm in trouble with my wife.

01:24:18.600 I've seen the final season and I won't tell you how it ends, but you can imagine.

01:24:26.300 Mr. Paulyev?

01:24:27.300 Well, I think it was Netflix had a series on Trotsky, actually, and it helped me to

01:24:33.500 better understand the diabolical evil of communism and to tell her socialism, but the bright

01:24:41.020 side is it helped me appreciate the freedom that we have in Canada that we have to stand

01:24:44.760 up for and defend.

01:24:45.760 Thanks very much.

01:24:46.760 Dr. Lewis?

01:24:47.760 Bridgerton.

01:24:48.760 Bridgerton. And what I loved about that is that people, it was a different era, and people did not see race.

01:24:57.600 They just existed and coexisted, and it was very beautiful because I also watched it in French and also improved my French.

01:25:06.280 Okay, excellent. Thank you all very much. We've got one question left, and then we're going to go back to some other stuff.

01:25:12.020 But this is a good one, and Mr. Polyev, I'm going to throw this one to you.

01:25:15.300 What historical figure from any time, anywhere, would you most like to have dinner with?

01:25:24.300 Abraham Lincoln. I think through principle and courage, he saved the American Union and ended slavery.

01:25:33.300 He did so at great, obviously, ultimate personal sacrifice with his eventual assassination. 0.59

01:25:39.300 But he had an incredible brain that he brought, that he taught himself as an autodidact, coming from humble beginnings as a working class person.

01:25:48.820 Thank you very much. Dr. Lewis.

01:25:50.940 Nelson Mandela. He existed at a time when his country was divided, torn apart by racial hatred, and yet he fought against it.

01:26:01.380 He was able to overcome and bring people together.

01:26:05.740 Mr. Baber.

01:26:06.640 Ronald Reagan. He opposed one of the greatest evils of the 20th century, opposed the radical left and communism and did it with grace and with courage.

01:26:17.800 And we need to be resolute in the face of all those that would seek to erode our democracy. I admire him very much.

01:26:23.840 Thank you very much. Mr. Sheray.

01:26:25.900 I'm a great fan of the partnership of Sir John A. MacDonald and Georges Etienne Cartier.

01:26:30.880 and my son and I wrote a chapter in a book about Georges Etienne Cartier

01:26:34.080 who showed extraordinary resilience, promoted property rights

01:26:38.340 and was one of those who allowed this country to actually come to be.

01:26:42.680 You know, Sir John A. would probably stick you with the bill for that dinner

01:26:45.140 but that's another thing altogether.

01:26:47.740 Mr. Aitchison.

01:26:49.120 Mine is actually Nelson Mandela as well.

01:26:51.180 He's a hero.

01:26:52.140 How he brought South Africa together

01:26:55.440 and ended apartheid is nothing short of miraculous and incredible.

01:27:00.880 Final word to you, Mr. Brown. Dinner. 0.56

01:27:03.260 I'll agree with Mr. Shray.

01:27:04.540 Johnny MacDonald, I resent the cancel culture we're seeing on great figures who built our country,

01:27:10.420 and the adversity, the challenges of uniting our country, building Canada.

01:27:15.400 That would be a fascinating dinner.

01:27:20.760 Sorry, I'll figure this out by the end of the debate.

01:27:23.220 My microphone.

01:27:23.960 Thank you all very much.

01:27:24.900 That was fascinating.

01:27:25.880 I know it was a weird little journey to go on, but I think it was interesting.

01:27:29.620 We are now moving on to the next segment of the debate, which is called Face-Off.

01:27:35.620 And before we start that, I'd like to bring Em up, who is going to give you all a prop.

01:27:41.040 And I'll explain to everybody what this is all about.

01:27:45.020 So as we are handing these out, this, in a way, is the segment that you've all been waiting for

01:27:51.440 when the candidates can choose who they want to debate on any particular issue.

01:27:57.540 And here's the way it's going to work.

01:27:58.960 I'll introduce the topic of the debate to a candidate.

01:28:03.340 Not the question, just the topic.

01:28:05.440 And then you decide, you tell the audience

01:28:07.640 who you want to debate this with.

01:28:10.280 Once you've chosen your opponent,

01:28:12.180 I will then tell you what the question is.

01:28:15.840 There will be three rounds of the person

01:28:18.880 you have chosen to debate.

01:28:20.440 The first round, each person gets a minute each.

01:28:23.420 The second round, you get 45 seconds each.

01:28:26.260 The third round, you get 30 seconds each.

01:28:28.960 Now, this is where it gets interesting in why you have the prop in your hand.

01:28:32.800 After we've done the three rounds between the two people,

01:28:37.120 anybody else can answer this by simply raising your paddle.

01:28:41.580 And you will have a guaranteed 30 seconds to put your 30 seconds in with.

01:28:48.760 Here's the trick.

01:28:50.760 There are six questions, and you can only use your paddle five times.

01:28:54.440 you can use it all on one question if you want or you can use it wherever you

01:28:59.240 think you have the greatest advantage so there is some strategy involved here

01:29:03.560 and I wish you good luck with this. Now unless there are any questions we are

01:29:11.480 going to start and question number one Mr. Polyev the topic is law order and

01:29:18.380 blockades who would you like to debate patrick brown patrick brown okay here then mr polyev is

01:29:25.660 the question and remember you have one minute in the first round to uh say your piece we've seen

01:29:31.740 over the past few years blockades at our borders blockades on rail lines blockades of construction

01:29:36.780 blockades at logging sites and a blockade in an occupation of our capital city law enforcement

01:29:42.780 experts say we will likely encounter more and more of this as the years progress how do you decide

01:29:50.300 when a protest becomes a threat to our national security and our national economy and would you

01:29:57.820 outlaw any protest that disables critical infrastructure and that includes our cities

01:30:04.300 and that includes our cities i believe that that blocking critical infrastructure should be

01:30:09.740 illegal and that's why before the truckers even arrived on parliament hill i said i supported

01:30:14.940 their peaceful and law-abiding efforts to restore their liberties and their livelihoods while

01:30:21.100 condemning any individuals who broke laws blocked critical infrastructure or behaved badly that's

01:30:27.820 what individual responsibility actually means now i just find it interesting that you didn't

01:30:33.820 include in your list of threats the axe-wielding terrorists who've been attacking our pipeline

01:30:38.780 workers in western canada i don't know why that doesn't seem to be a trouble to you but nor or

01:30:44.140 the rest of the national media because you're more concerned about truckers who lost their jobs

01:30:49.340 because of an unfair vaccine mandate imposed on them by a prime minister who was targeting them

01:30:55.260 without any scientific basis than you were about holding accountable people who've actually done

01:31:01.100 violence and most recently just set the car the car on fire of someone who was investing in the

01:31:06.620 energy sector thank you mr brown you have one minute tom i don't support illegal blockades

01:31:13.100 whether it's at the ambassador bridge um whether it's against a pipeline i think conservatives

01:31:17.580 need to stand for law and order full stop and illegal blockades have a massive um cost on the

01:31:23.980 country you look at the cost when there was the blockade on on ambassador bridge in windsor

01:31:28.620 i was just visiting mayor drew dilkins in windsor just last week and he was talking about how it

01:31:33.020 affected their economy, Ontario's economy, Canada's economy, and I think

01:31:38.480 Conservatives are the party of law and order, and we can't give exceptions to

01:31:42.280 that. Full stop, no illegal blockades. You haven't used your full time, but if you

01:31:48.620 want to give it back, that's fine. We can always use it. Well, in terms of law and

01:31:52.220 order, I would just add that there are areas that the Conservative Party have

01:31:55.100 not focused on enough in Parliament. I look at bail reform. You know, I see it in

01:31:58.900 the GTA. There is a giant loophole in our criminal justice system, and you've got

01:32:02.540 Frequent flyers, literally the same people getting arrested and released again and again.

01:32:07.240 And there's a cost to public safety with that.

01:32:11.040 Mr. Polyev, you have 45 seconds.

01:32:13.080 Well, there is, and there's also a cost to the approach taken by Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Chiray.

01:32:18.000 They both believe in targeting law-abiding people who use firearms responsibly after having been vetted, licensed, and are already in possession of a license and training.

01:32:31.160 If Ture went after them with a long gun registry in Quebec, Trudeau wants to spend a billion dollars targeting these same people.

01:32:37.900 That money that Ture and Trudeau spent going after law-abiding people could have been spent reinforcing border security

01:32:45.400 to stop the 80% of gun crimes that actually come in through smuggling.

01:32:50.560 And we could also, instead of going after the lawful, target the criminals who would do the crimes with mandatory prison sentences to take them off our streets.

01:32:59.640 Thank you. Mr. Brown, 45.

01:33:01.160 you know what we do have a huge problem at our border and I get briefings almost

01:33:06.200 on a weekly basis by the chief of police in Peel and we've had meetings with all

01:33:11.000 the chiefs of police in the GTA to talk about smuggled firearms 90% of our

01:33:15.920 homicides last year in Peel were from firearms smuggled across the border and

01:33:21.120 we need a government of Canada that would take that seriously criminal

01:33:24.600 organizations are becoming more sophisticated than ever before in terms

01:33:28.440 of getting firearms into our country using new technology and we need to actually listen

01:33:33.620 to our law enforcement.

01:33:35.120 In Ottawa, we have a government that announces photo ops and press releases when it comes

01:33:39.420 to firearm policy.

01:33:40.920 They're not listening to law enforcement and we desperately need them to.

01:33:44.320 Mr. Polly, you have 30 seconds.

01:33:46.960 Remember the state needs to be under the law and what Trudeau is now doing is unlawful

01:33:51.500 censorship.

01:33:52.500 C11 is an attempt by him to give his bureaucrats the power to control what you see and say

01:33:57.720 online and to take down things that he doesn't agree with. That is not lawful,

01:34:02.400 that is not democratic. I will repeal those laws and I will restore the

01:34:09.000 freedom of speech as a principle for the federal government and also bring

01:34:13.140 financial penalties to universities that shut down open and free debate on

01:34:18.120 campuses. And Mr. Brown, 30 seconds to you. You know I would just add that when it

01:34:23.780 comes to firearm legislation in this country we have bad legislation on top

01:34:27.460 of bad legislation and we've got a government that is that is missing the

01:34:30.700 mark one of the reasons we've had a proliferation of gun and gang violence

01:34:35.220 where there's no respect for postal codes and jurisdictions is there isn't a

01:34:39.280 concerted national approach under Prime Minister Harper there were serious

01:34:43.020 consequences we understood that we had to draw a line when it when it came to

01:34:46.780 gun crime in our country and we need the same strict approach again thank you

01:34:51.140 very much the two of you mr. Sharae your first up and anybody else if you want

01:34:55.240 again, just raise your paddle. Mr. Charest. Thank you. And since I've been brought into

01:34:59.420 this debate, let me start by pointing out that Mr. Poitier is very conveniently rewriting

01:35:04.840 history tonight. The fact of the matter is he did support illegal blockades. We all admit

01:35:10.660 that this was a mess created by Mr. Trudeau, unnecessary, a total mess. But I disagree with

01:35:17.760 anyone who has a privileged position of making laws supporting illegal blockades that have

01:35:23.500 cost us millions of jobs and cost us investment in this country.

01:35:28.200 Thank you, sir. Mr. Baber and then Dr. Lewis.

01:35:30.880 This is a good opportunity to set the record straight. Everything that Justin

01:35:34.900 Trudeau said about the protest in Ottawa turned out to be false. There was no

01:35:38.620 foreign collusion. There was very little foreign funding. The arson was not

01:35:43.480 connected and there were no weapons found anywhere near the site. And on

01:35:47.140 February 18th we saw as the government was breaking the rule of law with an

01:35:51.160 unlawful declaration of emergencies, the protesters remained peaceful. There was

01:35:55.780 no resistance, no assaults, and on February 18th we saw this was a truly

01:35:59.400 peaceful movement. Thank you very much Dr. Lewis. Go ahead. I think we're missing the

01:36:06.580 point about the illegal blockades. If elected officials had just listened to

01:36:11.860 the truckers, they would not have been there that long. In addition, the

01:36:16.760 The vulnerability that Canadians face knowing that Big Brother can go into their account

01:36:22.700 and freeze their account without a court order.

01:36:26.080 That has set our democracy into a declining state.

01:36:30.260 We need to uphold our charter of rights.

01:36:33.020 We need to uphold our freedoms and ensure that governments never do that again.

01:36:38.300 Thank you very much.

01:36:39.300 Anybody else want to get in on this going, going, gone?

01:36:42.340 You want it?

01:36:43.340 Okay.

01:36:44.340 Mr. Baber, second chance.

01:36:45.340 I just want to talk about an important issue.

01:36:46.740 My first law job was at a community legal clinic where I picked up a lot of compassion

01:36:51.940 and love for people.

01:36:53.140 Far too often, our criminal justice system criminalizes addiction and mental health.

01:36:57.760 I'll come down hard on sex offenders, on gun violence and traffickers, but imposing

01:37:01.980 strict criminal penalty for possession does nothing to deter drug addiction or heal addiction.

01:37:08.980 We have a mental health and addictions catastrophe in our country, and we need a justice system

01:37:13.920 that recognizes it and offers Canadian a treatment 0.78

01:37:16.780 and a way out.

01:37:18.180 Thank you very much.

01:37:19.120 And Mr. Polyev.

01:37:20.460 I think Dr. Lewis raised an excellent point

01:37:22.920 about the government's abuse of the Emergency Act

01:37:26.260 to freeze bank accounts.

01:37:27.660 Well, now there's a proposal to create a central bank

01:37:30.980 digital currency, which would involve people depositing

01:37:34.860 their accounts, their money, with the government itself.

01:37:37.680 This gives massive new powers for surveillance, control,

01:37:40.520 and censorship and gives the state far too much control over our money and that's why

01:37:46.400 I would ban a central bank digital currency and give people back control of their money

01:37:50.540 from bankers and politicians.

01:37:51.960 Dr. Lewis?

01:37:55.100 Mr. Poliver encouraged people to buy bitcoin which is a digital currency so I'm quite surprised

01:38:01.440 that he is saying now that he would ban digital currency as if he does not know that bitcoin

01:38:07.360 is a digital currency.

01:38:09.200 He also encouraged people to cash in their fiat currency, their paper money and buy Bitcoin.

01:38:15.820 If they had done that, they would have lost $37,000 by the time he had said to do that

01:38:22.020 to today.

01:38:23.020 So I'm very concerned about that.

01:38:25.780 Mr. Polioff.

01:38:26.780 Well, that's just false.

01:38:28.780 One, Bitcoin is not a central bank digital currency.

01:38:32.400 It is obviously not.

01:38:34.840 It's not controlled by any central bank anywhere in the world.

01:38:37.640 Two, people can make their own investment decisions.

01:38:40.740 I've simply said they should be free to decide whether or not they want to use Bitcoin. 0.74

01:38:45.980 I don't want to be like Communist China and ban Bitcoin or other technologies

01:38:51.300 because in a free market, people should have the opportunity to make those decisions for themselves.

01:38:56.680 That's my position.

01:38:57.780 Thank you very much.

01:38:59.020 Are we done?

01:38:59.460 Go, Dr. Lewis, one more time.

01:39:01.840 In fact, Mr. Polyverse said that you could hedge against inflation, which is not true.

01:39:07.200 So Mr. Polivar is promoting a decentralized currency over his own government's currency.

01:39:14.100 That is a problem for someone who held a shadow cabinet position as a finance minister.

01:39:22.920 Sorry, Mr. Shere and then Mr. Brown.

01:39:25.740 Well, on Bitcoin, I mean, everyone just finds it totally bizarre what Mr. Polivar is suggesting.

01:39:31.560 We all get it on blockchain. That's fine.

01:39:34.000 Bitcoin has lost 60% of its value since November of last year, 20% in the last month.

01:39:39.760 Anyone following his advice that we saw on YouTube would have lost 20% of their earnings.

01:39:45.260 Do you actually think your parents enjoy having your parents lose 20% of their retirement funds? 0.83

01:39:50.460 I mean, this is ludicrous, and it doesn't make sense at all. 0.67

01:39:55.280 Mr. Brown. 0.76

01:39:56.380 I have to agree with Dr. Lewis and Mr. Sherey.

01:39:59.200 I disagree with Mr. Polyev's approach that you can opt out of inflation with cryptocurrency.

01:40:05.160 Magic internet money fluctuates vastly, 30% or more in one day.

01:40:10.580 And the last thing we should be doing is encouraging our parents and grandparents,

01:40:14.760 along with vulnerable families, to gamble their savings, their retirements,

01:40:18.640 in something this risky that's been learned watching late-night YouTube videos.

01:40:24.680 Mr. Polyev.

01:40:26.160 Well, Mr. Brown, that's not what I said.

01:40:28.180 you're misleading the public. I clearly stated that people should have the freedom. Now, the

01:40:33.180 reason why many people have chosen to exercise that freedom is because central banks have been

01:40:38.420 attacking the value of our national currencies by printing $400 billion here in Canada, leading to

01:40:45.080 30-year highs in inflation, doubling the house prices, leading to massive volatility in many

01:40:50.880 sectors of our economy. And that risk is one I pointed out earlier on and could lead to another

01:40:56.460 debt crisis. So frankly, we should protect the value of our traditional money rather than banning

01:41:01.060 private money. Mr. Brown, you're up. So Mr. Paul, I've just said that he didn't say that. No one in

01:41:06.880 this room and no one in Canada will believe that you didn't say you can opt out of inflation

01:41:10.700 through cryptocurrency. That is misleading. Your words are there. You can Google it yourself and

01:41:16.080 watch it on the internet. And I have to say, it is bad advice to be giving to Canadians that is so

01:41:22.060 risky. And you should know that. As a former finance critic, that's not the advice you should 1.00

01:41:25.920 be giving to the country and mr. Polly have you raised your your paddle for one more time mr.

01:41:32.480 mr. brown if you want to talk about risks to people's finances you were the one who said you

01:41:38.880 promised when you ran for the leadership of the progressive conservative party of Ontario you

01:41:43.500 would oppose the carbon tax and then as soon as you got in you reversed yourself entirely not

01:41:48.720 only you did you endorse just any carbon tax you endorsed the carbon tax of Justin Trudeau which

01:41:54.960 is in place today and recently increased and is one of the reasons why prices are so high across

01:42:00.280 this country. That is a threat to our money. That is a decision you made after you promised not to.

01:42:05.460 People can't believe a word you said. Mr. Bever. I can't believe that you have a bunch of politicians

01:42:10.380 here, career politicians, giving people investment advice. Let's distinguish the issue, okay? There's

01:42:15.900 digital currency controlled by government that has government friction potentially and compromises

01:42:20.340 our privacy. And then there are investment decisions that people make. Human ingenuity

01:42:24.820 is great. We should encourage research and development and diversified portfolios. But

01:42:29.580 we should behave like conservatives again and not tell people what they should and should

01:42:33.040 invest in. Maybe we should oppose supply management. Maybe we should oppose equalization. We should

01:42:37.860 not be afraid of being who we are. Enough. Mr. Baber, that's great. Are we all done?

01:42:43.760 Okay. I do remind you, you've only got five. So, talking about bank accounts. I don't know, but somebody over there does. And they will tell me and I will tell you. All of this conversation, though, leads neatly to my next question. And the topic is the future of the party. Mr. Charest, who would you like to debate on the future of the party?

01:43:06.980 Mr. Poliev.

01:43:08.980 Mr. Poliev, there we go.

01:43:10.980 The question.

01:43:12.980 The leadership campaign, this leadership campaign has been particularly vicious on a personal level.

01:43:18.980 We've seen that.

01:43:20.980 We've heard candidates call each other liars, accuse others of having no integrity.

01:43:24.980 One of you even says it sounds like a kindergarten class.

01:43:27.980 There are also deep divisions on a lot of policy issues from abortion to zero emissions.

01:43:32.980 The conservative movement has split before in the recent past.

01:43:36.860 We know that.

01:43:38.340 So the question to you, Mr. Charest and Mr. Polyev,

01:43:42.360 how do you make room in the conservative tent for all those who hold opposing views to yours?

01:43:48.640 How does the party enter the next election?

01:43:51.600 How can the party enter the next election united?

01:43:54.840 Mr. Charest, you have one minute.

01:43:55.580 And Tom, this is, for all those listening to us tonight and in the room, this is the key question.

01:43:59.960 Everyone knows that the Trudeau government needs to get out of office and they're looking

01:44:05.660 to the Conservative Party of Canada as a national alternative.

01:44:09.260 And the question they're asking themselves is this, are you up to the task?

01:44:13.940 Are you, yes or no, going to be a national conservative alternative and party?

01:44:19.700 That's our challenge, ladies and gentlemen.

01:44:21.720 And what is that party?

01:44:22.720 It's based on core values that we all agree on.

01:44:26.560 conservatism, a market-based economy, economic policies that promote economic growth, including

01:44:32.740 oil, gas, pipelines and mining, families also, all sorts of families, plus respecting the

01:44:40.080 rule of law, a foundation of our society.

01:44:44.180 There is no freedom if you do not respect the rule of law.

01:44:48.160 There is no freedom.

01:44:49.260 And it includes a federalism that conservatives practice, that includes Alberta, includes

01:44:54.400 Ontario, Quebec, that actually makes this country work.

01:44:59.400 We need to unite the party around freedom.

01:45:02.900 Social Conservatives want the freedom to raise their kids with their own values and preach

01:45:06.980 their faith without censorship.

01:45:09.160 Fiscal Conservatives want the freedom to make their own financial decisions, control their

01:45:13.780 own money, including without excessive taxes or carbon taxes.

01:45:19.540 Rural Conservatives want the freedom to own and control their own property.

01:45:23.520 conservatives want for women, minorities, first nations to have the freedom to make their own

01:45:28.560 decisions without discrimination. Libertarian conservatives want freedom of speech, freedom

01:45:33.920 to make their own decisions online, and freedom to speak without the government censoring them.

01:45:40.000 So when we unite the party along that consistent principle of freedom, then we bring all the

01:45:46.400 various parts of our party together, and we electrify and excite a new generation of young

01:45:53.280 people that I've been bringing into the coalition so that we can form the next government and beat

01:45:57.520 Justin Trudeau. Mr. Charest, you have 45 seconds. I want to be very clear. I'm not running as a

01:46:05.060 hyphenated conservative, ladies and gentlemen. We've had enough. We'll leave that to the Trudeau

01:46:09.960 and the left to hyphenate everyone. I am not a hyphenated conservative. I am a conservative,

01:46:15.120 period. You know what values I espoused and practiced all my life. And once we are rallied

01:46:22.040 around those values, and we're together, you also know that we will respect those who don't agree

01:46:28.580 with us, who may have different views. And Mr. Poirier talked about social conservatives. Let's

01:46:33.700 talk about that. He still won't tell you his position of whether he is pro-choice or pro-life.

01:46:39.080 I respect social conservatives. They will always have a place in our party.

01:46:44.160 They are good people, faith-based people, who deserve a place at the table and in the family.

01:46:50.080 Mr. Paul, you have 45.

01:46:51.220 I believe in freedom of choice on that issue. I already said that at the very beginning.

01:46:54.580 So I don't know what you missed. I don't know if you were listening.

01:46:59.100 Yes, it is. That's what I said.

01:47:01.200 But Mr. Charest, why didn't you take a moment to acknowledge that you're the only one on this stage

01:47:05.220 who actually voted for a law that would recriminalize abortion when you were part of the Mulroney

01:47:09.400 government.

01:47:10.400 You did.

01:47:11.400 You did.

01:47:12.400 And you can take a moment now to renounce your earlier vote if you've changed your mind,

01:47:15.560 but that was your position.

01:47:17.020 You seem to have forgotten it.

01:47:18.620 You've forgotten a lot of things about your record.

01:47:20.560 You forgot that you brought in a carbon tax.

01:47:22.520 You forgot that you raised the fuel tax, the sales tax, the health tax.

01:47:26.080 You forgot that you banned natural gas development in your own province.

01:47:30.100 You forgot you brought in a long gun registry.

01:47:32.020 You seem a little bit forgetful about your record, Mr. Charest, but Canadians now remember.

01:47:36.020 I... hang on. No, no. No, no, no, no. You know, you guys know the rules. You know the consequences.

01:47:45.020 Mr. Charest, 30 seconds.

01:47:46.020 I am very proud of my record as a Conservative that stands on its own merits, on fiscal conservatism,

01:47:55.020 on reducing the size of government, reducing taxes, which I did when I was Premier, by the way.

01:48:01.020 Quebecers had a billion dollars less taxes paid and higher disposable income after I finished in government, ladies and gentlemen.

01:48:10.020 And by the way, Mr. Poliev, thank you for at least now telling us that you are pro-choice.

01:48:16.020 We understand that's what you're saying tonight. Please, confirm that for us.

01:48:19.020 Mr. Poliev, you have 30 seconds.

01:48:21.020 I did confirm my position that I will not introduce any law on abortion as Prime Minister. I made that very clear.

01:48:26.020 very clear. But Mr. Charest, you're wrong about your tax record. You raised the sales tax, the

01:48:30.600 carbon tax, the fuel tax. Just like Patrick Brown, you're trying to flip-flop on it and say one thing

01:48:35.280 on the stage different than what you said before. And the overall tax burden in Quebec went from 19%

01:48:40.960 of the economy to 25% of the economy under your government. That is your record. You can't run

01:48:47.060 away from it. I have a clear, solid record as a tax cutter that leaves more money in people's

01:48:51.620 Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Brown, you have 30 seconds.

01:48:55.380 First of all, Pierre Pauly have just ran on a carbon tax on a carbon tax and knocked on doors in Carleton literally six months ago, literally in the last election.

01:49:04.160 Now, but let's talk about the future of the party.

01:49:06.460 The future of the party, we have to win where we've lost.

01:49:09.180 We've lost in suburban Canada, and I don't see us winning any new seats.

01:49:13.380 Actually, I see us losing seats if we run on the same discriminatory policies that Pierre Pauly has had a history of supporting.

01:49:19.020 We must be the party that celebrates and supports religious freedom, not tramples it.

01:49:23.600 Full stop.

01:49:24.400 Thanks very much.

01:49:25.440 Dr. Lewis.

01:49:26.920 Well, Mr. Poliev said that no pro-life bill will pass in his caucus, but he believes in freedom.

01:49:32.280 Are you going to give your MPs the freedom to vote their conscience on issues of life?

01:49:39.120 Am I allowed to answer?

01:49:40.160 If you use your paddle, you can.

01:49:42.920 that's well he he he's he's been silent on on the issue so mr. Polyev you've

01:49:53.180 raised your paddle you have 30 seconds I do believe in free votes so there's

01:49:56.360 your direct answer and as for mr. Brown sorry Patrick you told the members of

01:50:02.120 the Conservative Party in Ontario that you were against a carbon tax then you

01:50:04.880 flip-flop and embraced a carbon tax you said that you were a pro-life social

01:50:08.800 conservative. And then after you became leader, you said that social conservatives were intolerant

01:50:14.180 dinosaurs. You said that you would get rid of the sex ed program in Ontario, and then you embraced

01:50:19.080 it. You now attack all the Harper government policies that you enthusiastically supported

01:50:24.000 and embraced when you were part of his caucus. Thank you, Mr. Paulyab. Is anybody else wanting

01:50:28.520 to get involved in this? Mr. Aitchison, 30 seconds. Well, I appreciate everybody talking

01:50:35.000 about the importance of, you know, all the different types of conservatives. I think

01:50:37.580 Mr. Poliab gave us a great list of all the different types of conservatives.

01:50:40.960 It is important for us to respect each other and have respectful dialogue, but it's not

01:50:45.840 enough just to unite conservatives.

01:50:47.460 We need to win over swing voters, people who aren't part of our party, and I think that's

01:50:52.620 going to be extremely difficult, especially if they watch some of the nastiness on this

01:50:56.820 stage tonight.

01:50:57.820 Mr. Baber.

01:50:59.820 I'll unite the party by restoring democracy in the conservative party, but most importantly

01:51:06.240 bring back disillusioned voters our party failed to stand up for many 0.99

01:51:10.240 Canadians against lockdowns against mandates until the truckers came to town

01:51:14.340 many Canadians felt that we've abandoned them so they voted for another party or

01:51:18.540 they didn't vote at all another disillusioned with our party I'm the

01:51:21.840 only one on the stage who stood up for Canadians for two years for year and a

01:51:25.820 half before it was popular and I'll bring back disillusioned voters we cannot

01:51:30.020 win if we're not united right of center. Anybody else? Dr. Lewis? Mr. Baber was

01:51:38.640 not the only one who stood up for Canadians who lost their jobs due to

01:51:43.400 mandates, who were discriminated against, who cannot fly. I also stood up for those

01:51:49.340 Canadians and I wanted to make that point. And Mr. Brown, I believe you've got one

01:51:56.520 left okay well let me be very clear i was one of the only big city mayors in the country that didn't

01:52:01.640 impose vaccine mandates no firefighter no police officer no long-term city employee lost their job

01:52:07.160 in brampton i stood by the right to have personal health choices and i have to say it's surprising

01:52:11.800 during the leadership campaign that all of a sudden pure poly comes out against mandates

01:52:16.200 because in the heat of the battle he didn't say a word he was hiding in his basement at a time that

01:52:20.840 I had longtime municipal employees in Ottawa calling me asking for help. I give Roman Baber

01:52:26.760 credit. He was there. He was hurt. Dr. Lewis was hurt. Disappeared.

01:52:31.480 Thanks very much. It would seem appropriate for me at this point, and I'm getting the information

01:52:38.360 in my ear, but I want to pass it on. Mr. Brown, you've got one intervention left. Mr. Polyev,

01:52:44.040 you're out you're you've used your five uh dr lewis so have you um and uh i'm waiting to hear

01:52:52.760 mr baber you've got four four oh you've got one left mr baber mr chariot you've got three

01:53:02.200 left oh god you're keeping count and you've got four left is everybody clear on what you've got

01:53:09.240 and what you don't okay thank you very much i miss lewis this next question is for you

01:53:15.320 and the topic is energy and who would you like to debate

01:53:23.000 i'll debate mr aitchison mr aitchison and dr lewis excellent here's the question

01:53:28.840 for both of you starting with dr lewis uh oil and gas as we know in canada has seen a price

01:53:35.320 rebound in this year but the export growth of these commodities has been constrained by

01:53:39.640 pipeline infrastructure you've all said that you would boost the building of pipelines there are

01:53:46.280 multiple jurisdictions as we know that need to be involved in that process so the question is this

01:53:52.360 how would you do this who would pay for these pipelines and how would you deal with indigenous

01:54:00.200 or provincial opposition. Dr. Lewis. Investing in Canadian oil and gas is the

01:54:06.380 best way to grow our economy. We can enter into agreements with indigenous

01:54:12.300 populations that will actually enrich those populations and many of those

01:54:16.700 agreements have been entered into and and it has been beneficial in uplifting

01:54:21.680 those populations. We also need to ensure that we eliminate these Bill C-69 and

01:54:29.580 Bill C-48, which is really crippling our local capacity to develop our oil and

01:54:36.420 gas. We have to get our products to market, build pipelines, we could go

01:54:41.100 through Churchill and out get to get our products to Tidewater and offset

01:54:46.380 dictatorship oil. You haven't used all your time but if you're conceding it

01:54:52.200 I'll go to you Mr. Aitchison for one minute. Well I mean I think it's safe to

01:54:56.400 that everybody on this stage is pro-pipeline, but we do need a real plan. You know, Mr. Polyev talks

01:55:02.800 about the gatekeepers and the federal bureaucracy, and of course there are a lot there, and so

01:55:06.960 probably the first thing I would do as leader of a party, and as the prime minister, is I'd make

01:55:11.120 Payal Polyev, my minister of natural resources, to deal with the gatekeepers and solve that problem.

01:55:18.320 Gatekeepers he can fire. Second, we need to create a framework that allows more building.

01:55:24.560 clear and concise rules we need clear guidelines timely approvals set timelines on these things

01:55:30.080 and get the process moving and make sure it's not delayed we must simplify and speed up this process

01:55:34.960 stop dithering and provide certainty this is one of the biggest challenges that we face if their

01:55:40.240 investment doesn't like uncertainty and this is part of the problem we face here is uncertainty

01:55:44.480 we need to make it clear concise and put timelines on it and i think pierre would be perfect at that

01:55:49.280 Dr. Lewis, you have 45 seconds.

01:55:53.280 I think it was very short-sighted for us not to invest in pipelines,

01:55:57.280 and we're seeing the implications of that now. In Europe, 40%

01:56:01.280 of all the oil that's purchased is purchased from Russia. We're

01:56:05.280 actually financing the war between Ukraine and Russia

01:56:09.280 by not getting our products to offset dictatorship

01:56:13.280 oil. Every day we import 555,000

01:56:17.280 barrels of oil we have the third largest accessible oil reserves on the planet which we are leaving

01:56:23.840 untapped it is a great resource that we could use to rebuild our economy develop our infrastructure

01:56:30.960 for every job that's created from the oil and gas sector seven splinter jobs are created across the

01:56:36.720 country this could help us out of the recession mr aitchison to you for 45 yeah i just i would

01:56:44.080 also add that of course i think we all agree that one of the reasons we're all so pro pipeline is

01:56:47.840 because canada's energy is the answer to a lot of problems in this world today i mean we see what's

01:56:52.800 going on in ukraine right now in canada we don't even have the capacity to scale up to help countries

01:56:58.640 like ukraine and countries like germany and and europe because because we're not ready we haven't

01:57:03.920 been doing the work we've had a liberal government that's just gotten in the way and made things more

01:57:07.920 difficult every step of the way it's good for our economy it's good for our environment and it's

01:57:12.560 good for advancing foreign policy canadian energy is some of the cleanest in the world people don't

01:57:16.800 realize that that the that fort mac has reduced their carbon output from their production by over

01:57:23.440 30 percent that's incredible i guarantee a venezuela is not doing that uh mr lewis back to

01:57:29.600 you for 30 and i just underlined part of the question which is who pays for this i'm sorry

01:57:34.640 part of the question is who pays for this well if we are building pipelines and we are selling our

01:57:41.520 products and we're getting our products to market, we will have enough resources that we can

01:57:47.040 reinvest back into our economy and actually improve the lives of certain regions. Even in

01:57:52.760 the north, we could invest in improving those individuals' lives and making sure that we build

01:58:00.260 critical infrastructures in the north, bring down the cost of fuel, assist with the high cost of

01:58:07.960 food and and cancel the carbon tax thank you mr. ageison 30 seconds left for you and you're asking

01:58:14.120 me who pays for the pipelines yeah yeah industry should pay for the pipelines there's no question

01:58:18.280 about that and if there is certainty in the process there's certainty in the system they're

01:58:21.400 more than happy to make those investments but it is the industry that should be doing it

01:58:26.120 terrific anybody else want to get involved in this discussion going going gone well i think

01:58:31.160 only two of you have battles left so let's move on to the next one uh and mr. ageison this is a

01:58:36.840 question to you and the topic is the north who do you choose to debate mr.

01:58:47.760 baby mr. baby it is okay and here's the question mr. Richardson the largest part

01:58:52.840 of our landmark landmass in this country is north of where most Canadians live

01:58:57.960 and while incredibly beautiful as we all know the north is struggling

01:59:02.340 economically demographically and now with melting ice its very security may be at risk as hostile

01:59:08.420 nations move to take advantage of that area one could argue that the north is our biggest challenge

01:59:13.620 but it's also our biggest opportunity so what is your vision for the north

01:59:20.020 my vision of the north includes actually engaging in the north i think mr shere made a very good

01:59:25.220 point about making sure we have not just one but two deep water ports in the north uh you're quite

01:59:30.100 correct that ice is melting and there are other nations that are cruising through our our northern

01:59:35.700 waters and not all that interested in what we think about it we need to defend uh the north

01:59:40.660 we need to engage with the north and we need to be making investments in the north but that includes

01:59:44.820 of course uh our military commitments we need to be we need to be making sure that we're not just

01:59:50.420 committing two percent of gdp uh on military spending to meet our nato commitments but we

01:59:54.740 also need to be making sure we're meeting commitments to protect canada and and it's

01:59:59.140 It's not just enough to be protecting the east and the west coast, we have a north coast.

02:00:03.180 And it's been neglected and we need to invest more there.

02:00:05.720 And so I fundamentally think that this is about engaging all parts of our country

02:00:10.960 and making sure that we can secure it at every port, at every coast.

02:00:16.960 Thank you. Mr. Baber, for one minute.

02:00:19.120 Thank you. The best way to help northern communities is to unlock their natural resources potential

02:00:25.500 and not just soil and gas.

02:00:27.200 I'm very interested in mining. There's an insatiable appetite right now around the world for precious metals and precious

02:00:33.860 minerals and Canada and the north are blessed with them and we can do this. We can strike the right balance.

02:00:40.380 We can consult stakeholders and we can protect the environment, but we need to end this resistance to the development of natural resources and

02:00:48.200 Northern communities are going to be the greatest beneficiaries of that. That also means we'll improve infrastructure and build roads and highways in the north.

02:00:55.580 let's bring northern communities a true economic opportunity let's build roads

02:01:01.580 let's start building and and working in our country again let's get back to work

02:01:08.200 mr. Acheson back to you for 45 I think speaking about the north also provides

02:01:13.880 an opportunity to talk about housing which is an issue that has not come up

02:01:16.280 in this debate yet and it is it's a crisis in this country and it's

02:01:19.020 particularly a crisis in the north and we need to commit as a federal government

02:01:23.000 not just to ensure that big cities and southern Canada is getting things built,

02:01:29.440 but we need to make sure that we make a commitment to the north as well

02:01:31.620 because the housing situation there is as much of a crisis or worse

02:01:35.700 than anywhere else in Canada.

02:01:37.500 And so housing would be a crucial investment to make sure that we're engaged

02:01:42.280 and making sure that the health of residents in northern Canada is sound.

02:01:47.980 Mr. Baby?

02:01:48.900 I won good-paying jobs in the north.

02:01:50.660 I had a gentleman approach me a couple of months ago

02:01:52.460 who I didn't know and he told me that his company owed a mining permit for 15

02:01:56.000 years and they weren't able to go ahead because local stakeholders would not

02:02:00.960 consult I know that the Supreme Court recognized that there's a duty to

02:02:04.880 consult but it doesn't mean that we can't strike a balance we can be

02:02:08.460 reasonable again let's mitigate environmental risk let's agree on on

02:02:12.980 profit sharing but I will not allow to hold up the development of Canada's

02:02:17.600 natural resources we need them for the well-being of our northern communities

02:02:21.800 And most importantly, we need them to get out of the fiscal mess that the Liberal government is leaving us in.

02:02:28.780 Mr. Acheson, you have 30.

02:02:31.680 Some debate between Roman and I. I think we were agreeing on almost everything here.

02:02:34.900 And I think that that's kind of nice.

02:02:38.140 I don't really have much more to add on the issue.

02:02:40.440 I think that there's been a lot of talk over the years about engaging in the North.

02:02:46.180 And not a lot of action.

02:02:47.500 I think that that's pretty typical of this Liberal government.

02:02:49.480 we've seen you know when it comes to housing lots of photo ops but not a lot of ribbon cuttings

02:02:54.200 and i think that's disgusting and and we need to do better and conservatives are

02:02:57.560 are a party of action and so we will get these things done and we will engage with the north

02:03:01.400 and actually do it okay mr polyeth oh i'm sorry this is a very complicated show okay mr paper go

02:03:11.880 ahead thank you i i appreciate my friend scott for his kindness and and for his gracious approach to

02:03:17.720 this race perhaps it will give me an opportunity to politely respond to dr lewis um i'm the only

02:03:23.480 one on the stage that opposed lockdowns i was removed from the dr doug ford caucus in january

02:03:28.600 2021 when i spoke up about the collateral harm that we're causing our health and mental health 0.54

02:03:34.200 by way of locking down healthy people instead of a focused approach against a very transmissible

02:03:39.160 virus but i appreciate that she joined against mandates subsequent to the last general election

02:03:44.600 Thank you.

02:03:46.600 Mr. Charest, did you raise your paddle?

02:03:48.600 May I respond?

02:03:50.600 I'm sorry.

02:03:51.600 No, you can't.

02:03:52.600 Mr. Charest, go ahead.

02:03:54.600 Well, thank you.

02:03:55.600 And Scott and Roman have both said things that I totally agree with.

02:03:59.600 And thank you for a very constructive discussion on the north, to which I want to add.

02:04:04.600 Yes, I would build two military bases in the north, one with a deep water port.

02:04:09.600 This is one of the most important issues facing our country.

02:04:11.600 And this is a good city to talk about.

02:04:13.600 Edmonton has a very deep connection to the North, but it also includes

02:04:17.680 affirming our sovereignty, it includes things like icebreakers and armed ice

02:04:22.360 breakers, submarines that we also need to build to be able to patrol the North, it

02:04:26.860 includes solidifying our agreement with the Americans on NORAD. We're done.

02:04:31.180 Anybody else want to... no? Okay, we're gonna move on to the next question. Thank

02:04:36.340 you very much. Mr. Baber, this is for you. The subject is cost of living and who

02:04:41.500 would you like to debate? Mr. Charest. Mr. Charest and Mr. Baber on this

02:04:46.480 question. We have seen a rapid rise in the cost of living for Canadians at

02:04:51.640 levels we haven't seen in 40 years and we are certainly not alone. Every

02:04:56.600 Western country is going through this right now. Under your leadership, is there

02:05:00.780 anything a Canadian government can do to reverse the worldwide trend without

02:05:05.200 making the wealth gap any larger in Canada than it already is today? So

02:05:11.380 So I think it's important that we acknowledge the cause of inflation and the rising prices.

02:05:15.640 It's not just a half a trillion dollars in debt that we printed in the last two years.

02:05:19.940 It's lockdowns, something no one on the stage other than myself was willing to acknowledge.

02:05:25.160 We stopped the global supply chain at its tracks numerous times and then restarted demand

02:05:30.320 again.

02:05:31.320 Supply is not catching up to demand.

02:05:33.200 The best thing we can do right now is to provide the market with some certainty.

02:05:36.560 I will never allow for any lockdowns or any stoppages.

02:05:39.960 I'm also going to restore discipline to government.

02:05:43.380 We're spending way beyond our means, but in terms of affordability,

02:05:47.640 I'm going to repeal the carbon tax on day one,

02:05:51.180 and I will cut income taxes across the board with money saved from equalization payments.

02:05:56.820 I would rather that Canadians spend them instead of provincial governments.

02:06:01.500 We are the conservative government.

02:06:03.420 We should not be afraid to be talking about cutting taxes.

02:06:07.860 Mr. Baver, thank you. Mr. Charest.

02:06:09.960 Well, Roman, on the issue of lockdowns, and I agree, I think one of the things we need to do if we don't want to have the lockdowns and the restrictions we had the last time is change our healthcare system so that we have capacity.

02:06:21.600 That's one of the reasons why Canada had more restrictions than anywhere else in the world, because we don't.

02:06:27.880 So we need to open up this healthcare system so there's more flexibility, more private sector participation in this.

02:06:34.460 on inflation, we need to reduce spending, and we also need to, I think, reduce the income tax load

02:06:41.740 of Canadians. I did that during the Great Recession, and we had a better performance

02:06:46.080 than Ontario, Canada, the United States, or Europe. Lower unemployment and stronger economic growth.

02:06:52.920 Those are the things that we can do to increase the disposable income of people, which is exactly

02:06:58.820 what happened after I was Premier. The disposable income, especially of lower-income people,

02:07:04.460 increase substantially because we reduce taxes and controlled spending thanks very much mr

02:07:11.500 baber you have 45. we should never lock down mr shere no matter what the circumstances are

02:07:18.140 we have to acknowledge the toll that this took on people a mental health pandemic uh

02:07:23.660 in ontario alone more than 300 000 surgeries were delayed more than a million cancer screenings

02:07:28.860 missed the whole point is that the toll on our health was considerably greater instead

02:07:34.140 we should have been protecting vulnerable populations, beefing up our resources in

02:07:40.540 congregate settings where 80% of the risk was. We should have been increasing the healthcare

02:07:47.740 capacity we had, but we should acknowledge lockdowns, the effect on our children, the effect

02:07:53.260 on small business. This is something that we cannot escape and we need to think about and resolve

02:07:58.140 going long long term well and you know we agree we agree that we need to avoid the lockdowns and

02:08:04.860 that's why i would change the canada health act i do introduce a new hat because canada's issue

02:08:10.300 has been capacity we're the country in the world who's had that problem capacity able to absorb

02:08:15.340 people but let me also talk about something else in relation to inflation mr pollier's suggestion

02:08:20.700 of firing the governor of the bank of canada his suggestion that i'm saying that the bank

02:08:25.740 in Canada is financially illiterate is irresponsible. It creates doubt. If you're

02:08:31.380 an investor looking at coming to Canada and you hear that kind of a statement

02:08:35.580 coming from a member of the House of Commons, you'd think you're in a third

02:08:39.600 world country. We cannot afford to have any leader who goes out there and

02:08:44.160 deliberately undermines the confidence in institutions. Conservatives do not do

02:08:49.560 that. Mr. Baber you have 30 seconds. Thank you. I'm going to go back to the cost of

02:08:54.480 living the political class is out of touch with Canadians prices for produce

02:08:59.700 for instance have tripled this may be one of the greatest challenges that

02:09:03.300 Canadians are facing right now and we need to do everything possible to make

02:09:07.980 life more affordable for them not more expensive let's repeal the carbon tax

02:09:13.020 it's increasing the price on everything let's cut the income tax and let's stop

02:09:19.560 developing the loonie. Well on the on the carbon tax I agree with Roman that we

02:09:26.960 need to get out and repeal the Trudeau carbon tax on consumers and I would be

02:09:32.660 inspired by Alberta. Here in Alberta since 2002 and you renewed this in 2019

02:09:39.180 there is a price on carbon for large emitters and let me point something out

02:09:44.520 here this is extremely important to get it right otherwise we will not be

02:09:48.640 elected as a political party if we're not credible on this, A, B, we will not get

02:09:53.500 investment unless there is a predictable investment environment on an issue like

02:09:57.820 pricing carbon. Thank you. That round is finished. Would anybody else like to join

02:10:04.000 in? Mr. Brown, you've still got points as do you. We don't have any more points. No, I know you're out.

02:10:11.960 yeah sorry about that okay we are now going to move on to the next question

02:10:19.720 then mr. Brown the issue is climate change who would you like to debate my

02:10:25.400 friend dr. Leslie Lewis okay dr. Lewis and Patrick Brown mr. Brown here is the

02:10:32.300 question in 2015 almost every country in the world including Canada signed on to

02:10:40.160 Paris Accords to fight climate change. To date not a single G20 country is on

02:10:45.980 track to meet that obligation. Should the Paris Agreement still be the benchmark

02:10:51.200 for Canada in measuring itself by and if yes would you commit to meeting the

02:10:56.420 initial Paris Agreement by 2030 and who will bear the cost of getting us there?

02:11:02.120 So first of all I should say that the Liberals promise Canada to targets they

02:11:06.780 have no intention no plan to meet and that's part of the problem we need to

02:11:11.280 have a credible environmental plan to actually achieve the targets the Canada

02:11:15.600 commits to I don't believe in Canada committing to targets that were unable

02:11:19.140 to commit and frankly it is it is photo op environmentalism how is it better for

02:11:24.780 the environment to be importing foreign dictator oil into Canada I find it

02:11:30.600 infuriating that I can't use when I want to fill up the pump in Brampton Ontario

02:11:35.100 can't use and be a wealth generator for the Canadian energy sector and I and I

02:11:39.960 have to say at the fact that our Prime Minister this Prime Minister doesn't

02:11:46.320 understand that it is a huge toll on our economy it's costing Canadians more you

02:11:51.860 know looking at the latest stats 73,000 barrels from Saudi Arabia the loss to

02:11:57.300 our economies he hasn't invested into our energy corridor 14 billion you know

02:12:02.160 We, thank you.

02:12:04.700 Thanks very much, Mr. Brown.

02:12:05.920 Dr. Lewis.

02:12:07.160 Canada signed on to the Paris Accord.

02:12:10.380 They didn't meet their targets.

02:12:12.660 The US pulled out of the Paris Accord.

02:12:17.140 They met their targets under Donald Trump.

02:12:19.660 The issue is not whether or not we sign on to the Paris Accord.

02:12:24.400 The issue is the resolve to make sure that we leave for future

02:12:29.660 generations better environment than what we inherited. There is no partisanship in the

02:12:36.200 environment. We must work together to make sure that we are protecting the environment. The carbon

02:12:42.360 tax doesn't reduce emissions, it just increases revenues. We need to ensure that we adopt technology

02:12:50.080 that will bring down emissions, that will increase conservation, and we have to have a

02:12:57.800 Incredible environmental plan and that plan has to have a component of education to change the way we interact with the environment

02:13:08.520 Mr. Brown 45 seconds. Yes, so you look at China one of the greatest polluters in the world 30% of the global emissions

02:13:15.480 To help with environment we need to export clean

02:13:19.940 Canadian energy to the world, you know since 2014 18 LNG projects none approved at the same time in the US

02:13:27.120 seven were built and now they have 22% of the global market share so the

02:13:31.020 question about helping countries reliant on coal have clean Canadian energy

02:13:35.880 should should be how Canada could help abroad and right now you know we need a

02:13:41.340 conservative government that can get pipelines built and the reality is

02:13:45.180 there's some candidates on this stage who would have no chance to get

02:13:48.420 pipelines built because of derogatory remarks they've made about indigenous

02:13:51.600 Canadians dr. Lewis well that's that person certain I know that mr. Brown does

02:13:59.580 not refer to me on that one so it is very important that we look at the entire

02:14:07.200 lifecycle of a product so even when we commit to something like net zero we

02:14:12.960 should not be virtue signaling to use the environment as virtue signaling we

02:14:21.300 We have to ensure that we look at the entire life cycle of a product.

02:14:25.780 So even if we have a green product, we have to look at the entire production from the

02:14:32.660 start to the finish, such as green energy, such as green cars, electric cars.

02:14:39.400 What is the entire product?

02:14:41.660 Mr. Brown, you have 30.

02:14:45.780 So if the premise to get pipelines built is indigenous collaboration, I have to ask Pierre

02:14:50.540 Pauli of the question how he believes he could ever get a single pipeline built in this country

02:14:55.180 when on the heels of Prime Minister Harper's historic residential school apology, he attacked

02:15:01.260 in a disgusting manner Indigenous Canadians saying they lacked work ethic. Someone who attacks

02:15:06.160 Indigenous partners who we require to build pipelines will never be able to build a single

02:15:11.360 pipeline in this country. And Dr. Lewis, you have the last 30 seconds. I just wanted to expand on 1.00

02:15:18.620 my comment about the entire life cycle.

02:15:22.060 I'm very concerned with things like electric vehicles

02:15:26.120 that we do not consider the fact that it starts off

02:15:30.100 in poor countries, in some African countries

02:15:33.940 where children as young as five years old

02:15:36.800 are working in cobalt mines.

02:15:38.740 So when we think of protecting the environment,

02:15:41.140 we must think of the entire impact,

02:15:43.740 the entire life cycle.

02:15:45.240 Thank you. Would anybody else like to say anything? Mr. Charest.

02:15:52.240 Well, this is a key issue for us. We need to do a lot of things, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, blue-green, biofuels, small modular reactors.

02:16:03.240 Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan are working together to develop those technologies.

02:16:09.240 replace the carbon tax of Mr. Trudeau with something similar to what Alberta is doing for large emitters

02:16:16.120 and have a credible policy on this in the next campaign, ladies and gentlemen.

02:16:21.280 Otherwise, our government will not be elected.

02:16:25.820 Mr. Aitchison.

02:16:27.720 Thank you. I actually wouldn't propose a similar plan to what former Prime Minister Harper had in 2008.

02:16:32.580 It's similar to what Mr. Charest has proposed in this campaign.

02:16:35.020 In fact, I'm making my cabinet right here as we go. I'd make him minister of the environment probably.

02:16:39.240 And I think we need to offer a balanced regulatory approach.

02:16:44.820 I do agree with taxing or the large industrial emitters, but I think it's too important

02:16:50.740 to point out what's going on right here in Alberta.

02:16:53.240 The innovative work going on in the economy here is something we need to take an opportunity

02:16:57.440 to sell our products to the world to help countries like China reduce their emissions.

02:17:03.560 I think that's it, and I see no more paddles being raised.

02:17:07.720 I just want to say that you have been all so incredibly

02:17:10.780 disciplined with your time that we

02:17:13.300 find ourselves in the lovely position of me

02:17:15.900 being able to offer some time back to all of you.

02:17:19.980 Throughout this debate, no doubt,

02:17:21.720 you have been dying to say something

02:17:24.260 about what has been discussed here today.

02:17:27.380 So I want to go down the line.

02:17:29.480 And we'll just take it in geographical order here,

02:17:33.620 starting with Dr. Lewis, and go down the line.

02:17:36.100 30 seconds to say anything that you have wanted to say that you didn't get to say so far.

02:17:41.420 30 seconds each.

02:17:42.420 Dr. Lewis, up to you.

02:17:43.840 I wanted to add on my point for the environment that we can protect the environment without

02:17:49.000 punishing average Canadians.

02:17:51.100 Every time they're filling up their gas tanks, they're heating their homes, they're putting

02:17:55.220 food on the table, they're being punished with the carbon tax.

02:17:58.140 I would cancel the carbon tax.

02:18:01.280 Thank you very much.

02:18:02.760 Mr. Faber.

02:18:03.520 First of all, I really enjoyed today's debate, and of course I appreciate the tone.

02:18:10.660 I think it's okay to have a little bit of fun as we did last time around.

02:18:15.220 And also I think that we should encourage people to speak more freely.

02:18:18.920 A lot of candidates may wish to respond to one another.

02:18:21.840 We should perhaps accommodate such opportunity.

02:18:24.380 And finally, if I may, in the 10 seconds they'll give me, I think that we should not be afraid

02:18:31.180 to stand for what we believe is the Conservative Party.

02:18:34.960 And unfortunately, I'm out of time.

02:18:36.440 You're out of time.

02:18:37.560 Mr. Charest.

02:18:38.720 I look forward to working with everyone on stage here,

02:18:41.640 and Mr. Aderson, I appreciate the invitation.

02:18:44.560 I want to talk about resources

02:18:46.240 and point something out here about Canada.

02:18:48.520 We have a knowledge-based economy,

02:18:50.420 but a good part of our exports are resources.

02:18:53.040 Whether it's mining, oil, gas, whether it's pipelines,

02:18:56.020 we need to stand up for the development

02:18:58.800 of our resource industry.

02:19:00.080 We need a Prime Minister who's actually going to say this is a good idea.

02:19:03.540 We can do this in transition to zero emissions in 2050.

02:19:07.380 It is possible to do it, and only the Conservative Party of Canada has the ability to offer that

02:19:12.220 leadership.

02:19:13.220 Thank you, Mr. Chere.

02:19:14.220 Mr. Aitchison, what have you been dying to say?

02:19:17.080 Well, I guess I really think it's important to say that as Conservatives, we need to have

02:19:21.920 the courage of our convictions to defend our values and our principles.

02:19:26.360 values and principles as conservatives are timeless and if we stick to those

02:19:29.800 and if we offer a principled consistent message to Canadians we can form the

02:19:34.700 next government. Thank you very much Mr. Brown. I believe in technology not taxes

02:19:40.860 in Brampton will be the first big city in Canada to have a fully electrified

02:19:44.600 transit fleet clean green and no emissions I should also say you know we

02:19:49.040 need to have a conversation about a carbon tariff at the border the fact

02:19:52.880 that some candidates on this stage are okay to allow India and China to flood the market

02:19:57.800 where they have no environmental standards, they have no labor standards, and compete

02:20:01.420 with Canadian goods is wrong. We need to create a Canadian advantage and protect against product

02:20:06.660 being dumped with no environmental cost. Thank you very much. Mr. Polyev. The biggest

02:20:12.160 issue I've heard about that people haven't talked about today is housing. Our 32, 33-year-old

02:20:18.080 people living in their parents' basements. We have the fewest houses in Canada per capita

02:20:23.540 in the G7. At the same time, our central bank has been printing money to inflate prices.

02:20:28.780 The solution is, of course, to fire the gatekeepers. I've already announced that I will fire the

02:20:33.340 governor of the central bank to get inflation under control. But I will also tie infrastructure

02:20:38.460 dollars for cities to the number of houses they allow to get built by removing the red

02:20:42.900 tape and allowing builders to build home for homes for our young people to live in thank you very much

02:20:49.860 we are now going to the final section of the debate and uh once again uh all the candidates

02:20:58.260 have been advised in advance of of this uh and it is simply to and we started the debate with

02:21:04.820 the question what is your my vision for canada is dot dot dot this question is why should i be

02:21:11.860 the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, dot, dot, dot. 45 seconds to each

02:21:17.560 of you to answer that question and we are going to start with Scott Aitchison.

02:21:23.620 We've increased it to 45. I got my 45 back. We must welcome more people to our

02:21:32.560 party if we are to succeed, but we cannot do it with angry rhetoric and attacks on

02:21:36.880 each other. Leaders always engage, empower, and inspire the team around them. As

02:21:42.280 leader, I will bring Conservatives together and we will learn the trust of

02:21:46.660 all Canadians to govern again. I know our best days lie ahead. With our team

02:21:51.700 focused on all that unites us, we will fulfill the promise of a brighter

02:21:55.600 tomorrow. And if you seek a Conservative government focused on making life more

02:21:59.740 affordable, join me. Join me at votescott.ca. Thank you.

02:22:04.880 Thank you very much Mr. Acheson. Mr. Brown. Thank you Tom. I want to be leader

02:22:10.680 of the Conservative Party of Canada because we need a leader who can defeat

02:22:13.920 Justin Trudeau not just yell at him. We need to expand our party with new

02:22:18.320 members, new supporters, new volunteers and most importantly new voters. But it'll

02:22:23.160 never happen if we choose a leader who repels voters and supports failed

02:22:27.640 election losing policies that trample over the religious freedom of Canadians.

02:22:32.600 I won in the GTA by proving to voters who have traditionally not supported the

02:22:37.840 Conservative Party that their values are our values, conservative values. With

02:22:43.100 your support we can do that on a national scale from coast to coast to

02:22:47.120 coast and win. Thank you very much Mr. Brown. We are now going to Dr. Lewis. 45

02:22:53.180 seconds. Are we not doing Mr. Poli yet? No? Okay. We drew for these slots and you

02:22:59.600 drew number three so thank you there you go. Canadians are tired of legacy 1.00

02:23:05.540 politicians that will say anything to get elected. Wokeism and cancelled

02:23:10.420 culture are robbing people of their voices. Our Charter of Rights needs to be

02:23:15.820 defended. As your leader I pledge to work tirelessly to heal our institutions and

02:23:22.460 win back the trust of Canadians but I can't do it alone. I hope you will join

02:23:28.880 this movement to restore our declining democracy and return prosperity to Canada

02:23:36.200 because only then will we remain glorious and free. Thank you very much

02:23:43.100 Dr. Lewis and Mr. Chiray. Thank you Tom. There are millions of Canadians who are

02:23:49.160 orphans in this country right now. They're political orphans and they are

02:23:53.060 looking for a national alternative and a conservative alternative. We need to be

02:23:58.860 that party. I want to lead that party. I want to unite the party and I want to offer a national

02:24:05.340 vision not based on anger, not based on tearing down institutions, but on building our country.

02:24:13.660 We are the most privileged citizens in the world. We won the lottery of citizenship.

02:24:18.700 We should be living up to that aspiration, passing on to our children the country that we received

02:24:24.220 from our parents it is your responsibility and mine to do that and as leader of the conservative

02:24:29.180 party of canada i will give you a national majority government thank you mr shere uh mr paulia

02:24:38.380 people feel like they've lost control of their lives elderly people who have to choose between

02:24:43.500 heating and eating single moms who can no longer afford sporting for their kids full of grown adults 0.85

02:24:50.140 stuck in their parents' basement, not able to start a family or build home equity for the future. 0.98

02:24:56.880 Inflation out of control at a 30-year high, and a government that instead of hearing these concerns

02:25:01.300 tries to censor them by cracking down on the population.

02:25:05.080 I'm running for Prime Minister to put you back in control of your life by making Canada the freest nation on Earth,

02:25:11.180 by removing the gatekeepers so that we can build more homes for our young people,

02:25:15.120 unleash opportunity for our energy workers reduce our energy costs so

02:25:19.500 everyone can go where they want and heat their home make this the country that is

02:25:23.940 the freest on earth so you can take back control of your life thank you thank

02:25:27.780 you mr. Polyev and final word goes to Roman Bavor thank you my name is Roman

02:25:34.140 Bavor I was born in a communist regime and I'm very scared for what is happening

02:25:37.860 to Canada's democracy and I'm running to become Prime Minister so I can defend

02:25:41.240 Canada's democracy. With me, what you hear is what you get. For the last two years

02:25:45.640 I've been standing here trying to defend Canadians because I'm not afraid to say

02:25:51.140 what I believe. I'm not afraid of cancel culture or the left-wing lockdown mob. I

02:25:55.280 love Canada and I love Canadians and you can always count on me to defend you and

02:26:00.480 your family. No matter how hard it gets, you will always know where I stand. I ask

02:26:06.360 that you become eligible to vote at joinroman.ca and that you rank me number one thank you so much

02:26:13.720 for welcoming all of us tonight thank you candidates very much it was a challenging format

02:26:21.560 but i think that we uh we did well i just want everybody to know that you will all be the band

02:26:27.000 we're getting the band back together again on may 25th in laval quebec for the french debate

02:26:31.880 You can all tune into that as well.

02:26:34.880 On behalf of myself, I just want to thank all of you

02:26:38.880 for a superb debate tonight, an exchange of ideas.

02:26:43.880 As I said, good, passionate debate

02:26:46.880 is the lifeblood of good democracy.

02:26:49.880 Thank you all very much.

02:26:50.880 Ladies and gentlemen, that is tonight's debate.

02:27:01.880 Thank you.

02:27:31.880 Well, that was the last leadership debate.

02:27:55.480 I don't know about you guys,

02:27:56.760 but I think I'd rather watch the one

02:27:58.420 that Candice Malcolm and Jamil Giovanni hosted for the next 10 hours

02:28:02.400 and watched another half hour of that one.

02:28:04.640 So the first topic to discuss with the debate should never be the format,

02:28:13.460 but I think we'd be remiss to jump over that.

02:28:16.340 So let's start with that.

02:28:17.700 I'm Harley Sims, Senior Editor with True North.

02:28:20.620 We're joined by Elie Kenton-Nantel, who's one of our reporters,

02:28:24.140 and Harrison Faulkner, producer and reporter as well.

02:28:27.100 So Elie, let's start with you.

02:28:29.360 Let's talk about this format.

02:28:31.020 Go.

02:28:32.460 Well, I've seen a few debates since getting interested in politics,

02:28:36.100 and I do have to say that it was probably the worst that I've seen

02:28:39.220 in terms of this format.

02:28:40.580 I thought the format wasn't very good.

02:28:42.980 It was quite subpar.

02:28:44.760 The rules, like the no clapping, that didn't make a lot of sense.

02:28:47.500 I feel as part of a democracy, like clapping and seeing people

02:28:50.280 agreeing with policies is important.

02:28:52.360 The time they had to answer was also way too short.

02:28:54.680 like people have to have time to express their ideas if politics is about 15 second pitches and

02:28:59.800 i think that's a problem that needs to be addressed we need to have longer conversations

02:29:04.920 about policy ideas not just 15 seconds clips that maybe will look good on a facebook post

02:29:12.200 yeah i mean i think we need more than 15 seconds to discuss the fundamental issues of our country

02:29:17.560 and our democracy absolutely harrison what do you think well where do you start harley it's uh

02:29:23.640 it was really it was really quite embarrassing i think for um people who take these sorts of

02:29:29.800 things very seriously canadians who want to actually hear who the potential next leader of

02:29:35.240 our country is and what they have to say and the way that it was moderated the way that it was

02:29:39.960 formatted was was horrendous it's so bad in fact that the moderator who i thought was incredibly

02:29:45.240 poor couldn't even keep up with his own rules i mean he had to ask the candidates on stage

02:29:50.520 what the rules were so he could he could follow along himself and i think one thing that just

02:29:55.240 jumped out at me was on top of the fact that obviously most conservative party members were

02:30:00.680 let down by that debate they didn't even touch on housing which i think is a key issue in this

02:30:05.880 entire uh campaign and also the front runner didn't get to speak for the last 45 minutes of

02:30:13.160 the debate because the way the format worked out he had something to say he had something

02:30:17.400 challenge the uh the person who i think most would agree that is in second place john charay

02:30:22.360 that's pierre paulia but he went back and forth with john charay and then he lost the rest of

02:30:26.520 his chance to speak so he couldn't even speak for the last 45 minutes of the debate and i think it

02:30:30.360 was a huge waste yeah i was watching it um and i i couldn't understand why uh pierre paulia wasn't

02:30:38.200 speaking towards the end and then i had to be reminded he right he'd run out of paddle points

02:30:42.360 because people in the audience had cheered him and he was personally punished for that so i think

02:30:47.000 you're right like what is this this is this a democracy or dictatorship i think you're

02:30:50.920 you're right on with that uh but but let's get past that i mean uh the the format's taken up

02:30:55.640 enough of our time so uh how do you think though the performances went um you know they didn't have

02:31:01.000 a lot of time to go face to face with things i think uh the moderator tom clark kind of steered

02:31:06.360 them in the directions he wanted but as far as their ability to to debate ideas how do you think

02:31:11.160 that went early well i do have to say i wasn't as impressed as i thought i would be with certain

02:31:17.400 candidates i mean of course i think just like the last debate the one that really stands out

02:31:21.560 is roman babber and it's uh because of his ideas roman babber has very kind of wealth

02:31:26.280 thought through ideas he uh has said the same thing since uh when he came out against the

02:31:32.360 lockdowns i mean i want to remind everybody that roman babber uh was kicked out of the pc doug

02:31:37.240 for his caucus when he opposed his lockdowns and then stood in the legislature and fought for the

02:31:43.000 reopening of Ontario, fought for unvaccinated people that wanted to lose their jobs. Meanwhile,

02:31:47.800 I don't personally recall Pierre Polyèvre saying anything while O'Toole was clamping down on the

02:31:52.760 civil liberties caucus that MPs like Marilyn Gladoux tried to form. So I think, again,

02:31:58.760 Roman came up as very genuine. I will also give a bit of credit to Jean Charest. While I don't agree

02:32:05.560 with some of his policies for someone his age he he is very charismatic he's very passionate and and

02:32:12.120 i for also somebody who is not anglophone he's like me he's french canadian he expressed himself

02:32:17.480 i thought very well tonight i agree i think baber came out on top actually just uh he didn't miss

02:32:24.760 any opportunities to get some punches in yeah he stood up for the freedom convoy pointed out

02:32:29.560 everything had been debunked he didn't seem afraid to make a stand for anything so i definitely agree

02:32:34.200 with you there uh harrison how do you think the candidates did who do you think came out on top

02:32:38.280 and who do you think uh came out near the bottom yeah well i i it's it's a shame um because i do

02:32:45.240 hold leslie lewis in high regard i do think that she is an is an important figure in the

02:32:49.880 conservative party but i was disappointed by her debate performance tonight i thought that

02:32:54.920 um it was a little rocky and that she didn't sound very confident in what she had to say now

02:32:59.640 Now, in regards to Roman Babber's performance, as we talked about in the pre-show, Roman Babber is clearly the breakaway surprise of this campaign.

02:33:09.040 And even on the issues where you don't expect him to perhaps put forward the best policy, I thought, for example, on the northern issues and his ideas for developing the north, I was actually quite surprised to hear his take on it.

02:33:26.600 And it appears to me that, as Ellie said, he's got all of the key issues that he was asked about today well thought through.

02:33:35.900 He's deeply thought about these issues and has come forward.

02:33:39.520 Now, I also think that Patrick Brown didn't shake up the debate as much as I think people were expecting him to,

02:33:46.940 given that he was not at the first debate and the way that his campaign has sort of taken the direction it has.

02:33:53.460 I think a lot of people were expecting him to throw some more shots to some of the candidates.

02:33:58.960 Obviously, he went after Pierre quite strong.

02:34:02.260 But I also just think that it was a missed opportunity.

02:34:05.620 Because of the format, we weren't able to hear a really good exchange between Patrick Brown and Pierre Polyev.

02:34:12.220 The only good exchange we got was between Jean Charest and Pierre Polyev.

02:34:15.960 And Pierre was the only person to land a zinger, which I think is going to be the lasting clip of the debate.

02:34:21.220 i i agree uh i guess i would go to um what stood out i mean it's it's tough to tweeze anything

02:34:31.040 really you know scintillating out of that debate uh one thing that stood out for me though where

02:34:35.520 uh parapoly have really stood out was when he was answering the question about uh blocking

02:34:41.440 critical infrastructure and uh he actually took issue with the question which i thought was great

02:34:47.360 He said, you know, you know, you guys, you're grouping these all into one thing.

02:34:51.080 You're calling them all blockades.

02:34:52.360 You're calling the freedom convoy blockade the same thing as the attacks on LNG sites in northern B.C.

02:34:59.480 And, you know, that's not right.

02:35:00.900 And you and the legacy media keep pretending it's all the same thing.

02:35:03.680 That, for me, stood out.

02:35:05.440 I know there were some other things.

02:35:07.160 But, Eli, what were some moments in that debate that actually stood out for you that way?

02:35:11.900 Well, Harley, I think I agree with you that that definitely stood out.

02:35:16.100 I mean, the moderator called the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa an occupation, which is personally

02:35:21.720 as somebody who covered it, not how I refer to that, the Freedom Convoy, I thought it

02:35:26.120 was a peaceful protest.

02:35:28.580 When it comes to things that stood out, there's that moment, I think, too, the whole exchange

02:35:33.080 on the crypto and the Bitcoin was pretty interesting.

02:35:36.340 And when Roman said, why do we have career politicians giving us investment advice?

02:35:42.060 I thought that was a pretty fair point.

02:35:43.900 But again, I do have to kind of go back to the format. What really stood out to me were these questions about what book people read or what music they listen to. I kind of had almost had to like pinch myself like, is this for real? Because there's so many pressing issues going on in Canadian society right now. And things like that stood out because to me, this downplayed the seriousness of Canadian democracy.

02:36:09.800 Yeah. Not only what are you reading, what are you binge watching? You're right. I couldn't

02:36:13.600 believe this. There are people who have committed suicide due to the government response to the

02:36:18.600 pandemic and the effects it's had on them. Kids have lost two years of schooling. Their grades

02:36:23.900 have plummeted. Diseases of despair. This is not something to have fun with. So I completely agree

02:36:28.920 with you there. Harrison, what stood out for you? Well, I mean, the unfortunate reality is that

02:36:35.920 Ellie is right. The fact that the moderator, the organizer of this debate, which was the

02:36:40.760 Conservative Party, which I think is something that I think a lot of Conservative members should

02:36:45.220 take issue with. They tried to get the candidates to explain the biggest threat to Canada and to

02:36:51.720 Canadians in 15 seconds. And to me, as you said, Harley, it makes a mockery of the suffering,

02:36:59.560 the real suffering that Canadians have had to go through unnecessarily, I would say,

02:37:05.300 throughout the past few years, it makes a mockery of the hard work that a lot of people

02:37:12.120 are trying to do to help the country get on the right path. Yeah, you know, it's really

02:37:18.600 disappointing because we know from watching the Canada Strong and Free Network debate

02:37:24.120 moderated by Candace Malcolm and Jamil Giovanni, we know exactly, well, first of all, we knew we're

02:37:29.560 going to get before that, which is going to be a good debate on the issues that allows the candidates

02:37:33.020 to have a legitimate back and forth in a conversation and we know that's what we're

02:37:37.420 going to get with the independent press gallery debate but the candidates have to go through

02:37:41.020 another one of these uh party-led debates this time in french and based off of this performance

02:37:46.700 i'm afraid unless it might be people like you ellie but i don't know how many people are going

02:37:50.780 to tune into the french i think i i think based on the last two french debates of the last two

02:37:56.940 leadership races uh the french debates tend to uh have a reputation for not being of quality

02:38:03.340 uh i'm not sure what the french level of all the candidates are i know that some of them who

02:38:07.500 struggled last time like leslie lewis has been improving her french but uh i will just say i i

02:38:14.140 do not look forward to watching french debates in the leadership race because to see people butcher

02:38:19.820 your your your maiden language it is somewhat disappointing people are running for the prime

02:38:27.420 minister at least their mother tongue french that's great but when you want to be when you

02:38:31.900 want to be prime minister and you can't even speak one of our official languages i think that

02:38:37.260 personally that kind of like disqualifies you well as far as the book question go i don't think

02:38:43.900 you can go too wrong with jordan peterson i just wonder why he took so long to read it that book's

02:38:48.220 has been out for a while now. But I mean, let's face it, people are watching True North's coverage

02:38:54.380 of this. They know what's going on here. So why don't we just get right down to it and talk about

02:38:59.360 the issues that were brought up for debate? I mean, Candace and Jamil hosted a great debate

02:39:05.180 at the Strong and Free Conference. They got into the issues of civil liberties and

02:39:08.920 costs of living. And these are the issues that the conservative leadership candidates want to

02:39:13.680 talk about themselves because they matter and we know they matter. So give me an example of some

02:39:19.860 of the issues that they were steered to talk about that kind of expose the kind of, I guess,

02:39:25.920 the line of thinking of the moderator and why we should probably look to better opportunities to

02:39:33.320 understand their positions in the future. Well, I think right off the bat, the very first question

02:39:39.680 of the debate, which is when everyone's paying attention, could have been about these issues

02:39:43.300 that conservatives really care about, that they really want to know about.

02:39:46.680 But instead, it was an odd question about whether they would impose a no-fly zone over

02:39:53.300 Ukraine, which I think no one except for Patrick Brown disagreed with.

02:39:59.340 Everyone was in agreement on that.

02:40:01.380 I think most people would be, that would be an unnecessary maneuver.

02:40:04.660 Again, it shows you that, I honestly believe, part of me wants to think that they chose

02:40:11.480 questions that conservative voters, frankly, weren't interested in. And they forced the

02:40:17.080 candidates to avoid getting into the issues that they care about. And I can't understand why,

02:40:21.780 because to lead the debate off with a question about whether they would impose a no-fly zone

02:40:25.320 over Ukraine, when we've just spent the last, what was it, the last 10 minutes or so explaining

02:40:31.220 exactly what the issues Canadians are facing are, shows to you, Harley, that they never had

02:40:37.460 any real intention of giving conservative voters what they wanted, a debate on the serious problems

02:40:43.560 that are facing Canadians. I think the only time that anyone veered into it, Pierre Pauly veered

02:40:48.560 into just briefly the central bank digital currencies and the digital encroachment on the

02:40:54.500 lives of Canadians. That could have led to a great conversation about some of the issues that a lot

02:40:59.300 of people are worried about, digital ID, things like this, giving Canadians their own sovereignty

02:41:05.780 back but instead of course it just goes back to um what paris climate targets and ukraine no fly

02:41:12.900 zones it's it was a huge disappointment no lee you put out a good story today you went to a

02:41:19.160 parliamentary press conference and you asked a liberal minister about uh whether or not they

02:41:24.380 would uh let unvaccinated u.s women into canada to have abortions because of course uh the trudeau

02:41:31.500 government declared that if the Roe v. Wade is overturned, they would welcome American women up

02:41:36.340 here to have their abortions. So you asked them, what about unvaccinated women? What about women 0.83

02:41:40.240 from marginalized communities who disproportionately access abortion services? I mean, 0.97

02:41:47.520 these are all gotcha issues. I mean, what do you think is the reason that they keep bringing this

02:41:53.500 issue up and throwing it in conservatives' laps? When does it end? What's the point?

02:41:57.500 Well, I think as somebody who is personally pro-life, I always kind of find it disappointing, the lack of courage to take on this issue head on.

02:42:09.060 I mean, I believe that you could be pro-life and promise to reduce abortion in Canada without banning abortions, because there's a lot of abortions that are taking place due to economic factors or social factors that I think the government could try to improve.

02:42:23.840 the liberals have created such a stigma around this issue where, I mean, we saw it Andrew Scheer.

02:42:29.800 Andrew Scheer said that he would not bring in any abortion regulation. He said he was personally

02:42:35.900 pro-life, but he made it very clear that he would not do that. And they basically made it seem as

02:42:41.420 you were not allowed to even be personally pro-life. So I think liberals are taking advantage

02:42:48.280 of conservatives here because a lot of conservative leaders lack conviction. And even, you know, I will

02:42:51.940 give some criticism to Pierre Pellievre. Pierre Pellievre is very outspoken on a lot of issues.

02:42:59.120 He talks about a lot of issues, just says it like it is. But when it comes to this issue,

02:43:03.840 he never said, I am pro-choice. He said, I support free choice or I will not be open.

02:43:07.820 But Jean Charest tried to make him say, I'm pro-choice and he couldn't. Pierre Pellievre

02:43:11.880 had a pro-life voting record for many years as an MP. I have friends who go to the same

02:43:17.260 Catholic churchism, suddenly he says he's pro-choice. To me, this is, again, he is falling

02:43:23.840 into this trap. He's got to be honest with people where he stands. And I think politicians should

02:43:28.480 be able to state their personal conviction. It comes off as more genuine to say, look,

02:43:33.760 I'm pro-life, but I do not want to divide this country at a time where it's already divided and

02:43:38.300 bring in more polarizing policies like what's going on in the United States. We will focus on

02:43:42.400 canadians and improving life i think they like asking us these questions because they like to

02:43:48.760 watch conservatives squirm uh it's the same thing with uh the with the uh you know carbon taxes we

02:43:55.820 live out here in bc they keep raising the taxes climate uh carbon keeps uh rates uh keep going up

02:44:02.280 it's not working right but they want to see people say the right things they put them they put the

02:44:06.560 crosshairs on them i'm just getting noticed that we're about ready to head over to the scrums

02:44:11.320 uh our uh colleague andrew lawton will be asking the candidates uh questions um i'm going to see

02:44:19.580 if we're about ready to go there um not quite yet uh harrison yeah i'll just say yeah i'll just say

02:44:30.500 that ellie was bringing up a point and you harley touched on it about making conservatives struggle

02:44:36.460 in front of the camera, forcing conservatives into the liberal debate. Instead of setting the

02:44:42.700 debate ourselves, very few conservatives have the courage and the fortitude to stand on the

02:44:47.980 principles that they believe in. Instead, they'd much prefer just to basically fall in line with

02:44:54.120 the legacy media, fall in line with the liberals. And it's very obvious, you know, there was nobody

02:45:01.980 on the stage. Lesley Lewis is very open and admits her pro-life stance. But then when it comes down

02:45:09.980 to defending it with strength, no one can really defend it with strength. And it's an example of

02:45:14.620 conservatives constantly losing the cultural battle of setting the debate and setting the tone.

02:45:20.060 Until such time as conservatives can regain the cultural ground and set our own debate and set

02:45:27.740 own tone uh we're gonna forever be in the shadow uh of the liberals and we're gonna dance to their

02:45:32.940 tune just like they want us to yeah that's very well said that's i i don't know i agree it's very

02:45:38.300 well said uh i guess uh from there i think i would ask which which issues were completely avoided in

02:45:46.620 this i never heard a you know things like globalist organizations brought up i mean i know the legacy

02:45:51.980 media likes to call it all conspiracy theories. But what else were some issues that were not

02:45:58.780 brought up at all that you think were things that the conservative audiences really wanted to hear

02:46:04.620 about? Billy? Well, I mean, this debate was taking place in Western Canada. I worked in Western

02:46:11.500 Canada for a year last year, and I saw a great deep alienation. I personally did not see a lot

02:46:17.540 discussion about this. I wish they would have talked more about Western issues. People in the

02:46:24.400 West have lost complete hope and faith in Ottawa and in Eastern Canadian institutions. And it's

02:46:31.040 a big problem. I didn't realize how serious it was until I flew to Alberta and stepped foot on the

02:46:38.780 ground. Sorry, Ali. I like nothing more than seeing a Quebecer stick up for the West, but I 0.60

02:46:43.100 think we're up. Scott Aitchison is up and we're going to throw to Andrew Lawton. Thanks a lot.

02:46:47.320 Sounds good.

02:47:13.100 Please vote in French and English.

02:47:26.500 How can Conservatives win if they don't have an environmental plan,

02:47:30.720 if their members don't vote for a motion recognizing climate change?

02:47:37.960 Well, I think you're referring actually to an event that occurred during our last convention.

02:47:43.100 And the situation is a little more different than what you've just described.

02:47:47.380 In fact, what that motion did was amend a motion that was kind of poorly worded,

02:47:52.440 but does in fact acknowledge climate change exists, and the amendment itself was poorly worded.

02:47:56.900 So in our materials, in our policy documents, we do in fact acknowledge that climate change does exist.

02:48:05.440 It is a reality.

02:48:06.780 And I think you heard tonight some great ideas about how we can move forward with a credible climate change plan

02:48:12.000 that doesn't actually punish the most vulnerable in our society.

02:48:14.880 But how can Conservatives win on the environmental plan

02:48:18.500 if those members are not backing up any kind of plan on climate change?

02:48:22.960 And if you can also try to answer in French, please.

02:48:24.760 I think they do, in fact, agree that climate change is a reality,

02:48:29.040 and it already is in our policy documents,

02:48:31.120 that it is something that exists and that we need to address it.

02:48:34.480 So, sorry, and I'm not going to be able to answer that in French now.

02:48:37.820 Is it one or two?

02:48:39.660 We're just pulling by now.

02:48:42.000 Hi, Mr. Acheson, Celine Gallus for Rebel News.

02:48:51.740 The Liberals have imposed a backdoor gun registry through an order in council

02:48:56.120 which changes regulations to require retailers and sellers to collect data on purchasers.

02:49:01.660 New rules come into force May 18th. Will you commit to repealing these?

02:49:06.220 I will. Canada has among the most regulated firearms industry in the world.

02:49:10.960 The problem that we have in this country is the issue of illegal guns coming across our border and getting into the hands of gangs.

02:49:18.660 That's a much difficult challenge to deal with.

02:49:22.000 And you see the Liberals time and again using firearms and legal law-abiding firearms owners in this country as a whipping tool

02:49:29.680 to try to lather up their base and generate votes while not dealing with the real issues.

02:49:36.880 It's the wrong approach for Canada.

02:49:38.920 What we need to do is address the real problem, not not demonize law-abiding firearms owners.

02:49:58.940 We're good? Great. Thanks very much.

02:50:08.920 Good evening, Andrew Lawton, True North.

02:50:33.940 You've been unequivocally against vaccine mandates.

02:50:36.860 that obviously includes mandates for public sector workers if you were prime minister would you

02:50:41.260 rehire anyone who was fired because of vaccine mandates and if so would you give them retroactive

02:50:47.020 pay for time they missed uh so 100 i would mandate i i try to pass similar legislation in ontario the

02:50:53.340 jobs and jabs act that would retroactively protect workers we have to think about how we're going to

02:50:58.700 go about that we certainly want to try and put them in the position that they would have otherwise

02:51:03.020 been. I'm not sure if we're going to do that through EI. I'm also not sure how we're going to

02:51:06.800 go about that when it comes to those that are not unionized. Those that are unionized should be

02:51:11.120 a lot easier. Those that are not unionized, going to have to give that some thought. But

02:51:14.920 I think that it's inhumane to make someone choose between their ability to put food on the table

02:51:19.100 and their personal health care choice. We've got to do right by all Canadians.

02:51:23.660 As a follow-up, there are a number of legal challenges against the Emergencies Act, vaccine

02:51:28.400 passports, vaccine mandates. A lot of these are going to take years and years to litigate. They

02:51:33.100 could span into another government. What directive would you give on these legal challenges if you

02:51:38.360 were prime minister? So I know what I would do, which is I would outlaw all mandates and passports 0.99

02:51:46.320 and those that are beyond the reach of the federal government. I would be very, very hard on the

02:51:51.600 provinces that allow for any semblance of that in place. I will not permit 21st century segregation in Canada.

02:52:06.100 Sidney Fisard with Rebel News. Former Conservative Party heritage critic MP Alan Reyes actually pushed for more censorship from the government.

02:52:12.880 Sorry, I can't hear you, sir.

02:52:14.780 Sorry.

02:52:14.940 Okay. Former Conservative Party heritage critic MP Alan Reyes actually pushed for more censorship from the government, calling out the Falun Gong-founded Epoch Times by name, calling it a conspiracy site.

02:52:27.460 Now the party opposes Trudeau's call to regulate the Internet. What changed, and why didn't you speak sooner?

02:52:33.580 I apologize. I'm having difficulties hearing you, but I think I understand that, General, Toner, your question.

02:52:38.020 Look, I think that there is no freedom of speech in Canada without a free and independent media.

02:52:42.700 And that means that we need to stop subsidizing mainstream media, we need to stop the bailouts, we need to defund the CBC, and also we should not having some sort of lip-intest test by government bureaucrats saying who's a journalist and who's not a journalist.

02:53:01.420 I think that independent media provides available perspective and it should be encouraged.

02:53:12.700 Hello, Rachel Emanuel with the Western Standard.

02:53:24.620 Mr. Baber, you had a news release today about ending equalization payments.

02:53:27.700 I'm wondering how you think this will bode with voters in central and eastern Canada?

02:53:31.980 Yeah, I think it's time to end dependency and equalization.

02:53:37.120 Equalization is basically redistribution, and I'm against redistribution.

02:53:41.760 And look, I'm not satisfied that any province can come to the table and say that they're

02:53:46.040 unable to provide an equal, a comparable level of services given what their succession now

02:53:51.980 is at this time.

02:53:53.980 And should there not be able to be, I would like to work with them in terms of enabling

02:53:58.980 them and empowering them.

02:54:00.460 And that begins with unleashing their natural resources.

02:54:04.400 I would propose that we work together to make our nation the natural resources superpower

02:54:10.500 that we ought to be sure you've been speaking a lot about equalization payments and making canada

02:54:15.220 natural resource superpower i'm wondering you know you're clearly appealing to the west here i'm

02:54:18.980 wondering if you think your focus on western issues will make other candidates really take

02:54:22.980 alberta seriously and bring those issues to the forefront for them as well look of course we

02:54:28.180 appreciate regional disparity and and we appreciate the effect of equalization on on various provinces

02:54:33.700 But I believe that my plan to empower our entire country to develop our natural resources stems beyond

02:54:42.740 the Western provinces. We see Newfoundland, for instance, that used to be a have-not province that no longer receives equalization.

02:54:51.460 Brian Higgins, the premier of New Brunswick a couple of years ago, came out against equalization.

02:54:57.400 And so I think that we can accomplish this coast to coast.

02:55:00.760 we can unite behind the fact that we should make ourselves more competitive

02:55:04.260 and encourage economic opportunity rather than dependency.

02:55:08.100 Thank you very much, everyone.

02:55:11.260 Mr. Baber? Hi.

02:55:15.800 I got one for you. The same as for Mr. Aitchison.

02:55:19.520 I'm Audrey with Nervy with French CBC.

02:55:22.540 How do you think that Conservatives can win on the environmental aspect

02:55:26.580 if a majority of their members vote against a motion recognizing climate change?

02:55:32.820 Look, I think it's important that we recognize what the membership thinks,

02:55:37.460 but at the same time, I think that we need to have a pragmatic approach to the environment.

02:55:41.640 I do not believe that taxing Sally $10 at the gas pump is going to move climate change.

02:55:48.780 And I think that making life more affordable for Canadians

02:55:53.240 is not something that they would seek to do at this time.

02:55:56.120 I think that we need to be clear about where we stand on this, and I'm comfortable taking it to the general election.

02:56:03.720 Thank you.

02:56:26.120 I was going to ask the same thing, if everyone can just look forward, even though we're

02:56:41.280 the ones asking the questions.

02:56:43.120 I'm curious for your thoughts on the format of this debate.

02:56:45.460 It was a bit unique, and in some cases, there was only 15, 30, 45 seconds to answer questions.

02:56:51.100 In your opinion, was that enough, or did you feel sort of handcuffed, like you weren't

02:56:54.660 able to fully get your thoughts across well I guess you never have enough time

02:56:58.380 to get in everything you want to say but I thought we were able to cover a lot of

02:57:02.160 topics so it was a fun night and appreciated the opportunity to have a

02:57:07.420 feisty discussion tonight

02:57:16.040 Sheila Gunn-Reed Rebel News you have given some confusing statements around

02:57:21.600 moving the embassy to Jerusalem will you commit to moving the Canadian embassy to

02:57:29.640 the Israeli capital of Jerusalem no I will not move the embassy I support the

02:57:33.920 position that was articulated under Stephen Harper's government which was

02:57:37.960 not to move the government as it would make the peace process more difficult

02:57:42.500 and a second question you have said that now is not the right time to raise the

02:57:48.660 carbon tax. However, you have been a proponent of the carbon tax. So when then would be the

02:57:54.160 right time to raise the carbon tax? So I don't support raising the carbon tax, period. And I

02:57:59.800 believe that we should respect provincial jurisdiction. What I would say is I think

02:58:04.240 there needs to be a serious conversation about carbon tariffs at the border, given the fact that

02:58:09.500 we continue to see product dumped in Canada from China and India that competes with Canadian goods

02:58:16.280 and, frankly, product that doesn't have the same environmental or labour standards.

02:58:21.900 Hi, Stephanie Taylor with the Canadian Press.

02:58:24.040 You're going after Mr. Paglia for policies that he's actually not talking about.

02:58:28.640 The 2015 campaign was a long time ago.

02:58:31.100 He's not talking about things like in the Cobb ban.

02:58:33.620 He apologised for the comment he made about the residential school settlement.

02:58:38.480 Why are you bringing this up, and why do you think Conservatives today want to be reminded of this? 0.73

02:58:45.380 Well, frankly, I don't believe Mr. Polyev is electable, particularly in suburban Canada.

02:58:50.740 And these policies, these discriminatory policies still haunt the party.

02:58:54.960 Look at the results in the last three federal elections in suburban Canada.

02:58:58.840 We've been blown out for policies that Pierre Polyev refuses to disavow.

02:59:05.380 And some more recently, the vote where he refused to condemn hate against Muslims and Islamophobia,

02:59:10.280 that was only a few years ago.

02:59:11.700 And so, unfortunately for Mr. Polyev, his voting record and his past make it very difficult for him to be a champion of religious freedom,

02:59:20.320 which I believe is important if you're going to make breakthroughs in suburban Canada.

02:59:26.680 As a follow-up, it seems that your campaign, and correct me if I'm wrong, is so focused on bringing in new members.

02:59:32.440 You're not necessarily talking to the grassroots.

02:59:35.280 You skipped out on the Manning conference last week.

02:59:37.400 Didn't seem that necessarily your message was resonating that much with people in this room. If you become the leader

02:59:43.340 How do you expect to be able to stay in the role when you have so few support within caucus and within the existing membership?

02:59:50.680 So first of all, I'd say we're very encouraged by the

02:59:54.140 Support in the existing caucus and and also within the existing membership. We're gonna do just fine

02:59:59.780 Amongst existing members, but my point is we need to grow the tent if we're gonna win

03:00:04.200 I'm not interested in a fourth losing election I want to make sure and I'm

03:00:08.880 laser focused on this that we're electable in suburban Canada electable

03:00:12.640 in the corners of the country where we've lost and to do that we need to

03:00:16.260 grow the size of our party to make sure our party reflects the beautiful mosaic

03:00:20.340 of the country you know I've gone into riding associations in seats where we

03:00:24.320 have a hundred members there's no chance you can win a seat when you have no

03:00:28.300 connectivity with the communities in that riding and so that's what I plan to

03:00:32.220 change to make sure we have the type of infrastructure that I developed provincially in the 905 where

03:00:38.280 frankly the the PCs were able to sweep because we built real meaningful relationships and

03:00:43.920 infrastructure in rodings that had a strong liberal foothold. Bonjour M. Brown, Audrey Neveu

03:00:49.740 de Radio-Canada. Comment est-ce que vous croyez que le Parti conservateur peut gagner sur le plan

03:00:54.600 environnemental si une majorité de ses membres vote contre une motion qui reconnaît l'existence

03:01:00.380 I think it's important to have a full policy that understands that there is a crisis in our country, but in the same time, to support the challenges where we can fight climate change.

03:01:22.380 J'ai, à Brampton, avec notre système de transport, j'ai un record où je vais faire ça.

03:01:30.440 Et c'est sauf les nouveaux impôts, c'est avec les nouvelles technologies.

03:01:35.380 Mais en tant que chef du Parti conservateur, est-ce que vous mettriez de l'avant une plateforme plus forte pour la lutte contre les changements climatiques?

03:01:44.340 Je pense que tu peux faire le deux.

03:01:46.440 Now, with the Liberals, they talk a lot about climate change, but every time there is a

03:01:55.560 gap, they lack gaps. I think it's important to see a Conservative Party

03:02:03.080 support the two challenges, the sustainability and in the same way to fight climate change.

03:02:16.440 Thank you.

03:02:39.360 Good evening, Andrew Lawton, True North.

03:02:41.200 Earlier today, the Correctional Service of Canada

03:02:43.940 confirmed its policy that biologically male inmates can be reassigned to women's prisons

03:02:50.240 based on preference alone. I was wondering what you think about that policy and if you would

03:02:54.920 reverse that as Prime Minister. Well I think it's very important that people whatever their gender

03:03:02.340 has a certain level of comfort in certain situations. I also think that there are situations

03:03:10.660 where biological females may feel a sense of vulnerability

03:03:18.080 because of the situations that they may have been in,

03:03:23.460 for example, if they were sexually assaulted by a male, et cetera.

03:03:28.080 And so we have to make sure that we find compassionate ways

03:03:32.080 to accommodate the diversity of individuals that will find themselves in a facility,

03:03:43.200 whether it is a shelter or whether it is a correctional facility.

03:03:48.400 You were the only candidate tonight on a question about abortion to say that you were pro-life.

03:03:54.040 Do you have confidence that if any one of your opponents on this stage were the leader of the Conservative Party,

03:03:58.780 that you would have a place and have the latitude to express your values as a Conservative MP?

03:04:04.060 Well, I would hope that everyone that's speaking about how important freedom is would honour that.

03:04:10.280 And I think it's very important that in a free and democratic society that MPs are not forced to vote against their conscience.

03:04:19.700 And so I'm confident that the individuals on the stage, I'm confident and I'm hoping sincerely that because they believe in our charter, they believe in freedom, that they will also believe in the right to have free votes.

03:04:38.540 Adam Sose here for Rebel News.

03:04:40.520 The Allen inquiry found that foreign funding for Canadian-based environmental initiatives totaled $1.28 billion from 2003 to 2019,

03:04:50.140 most of it largely untraceable, and a substantial amount of it was dedicated to blocking Alberta oil and gas development.

03:04:57.040 Do you see this as a problem, and if so, what will you do to change it?

03:05:00.620 Absolutely. I think it's important that we have the courage and conviction to develop our natural resources,

03:05:07.600 even in the face of foreign interference.

03:05:11.320 And where we can detect that foreign interference does exist

03:05:17.540 and that it's preventing us from realizing our potential,

03:05:23.240 building pipelines, developing our natural resources,

03:05:26.800 getting our product to market, offsetting foreign dictator oil,

03:05:31.780 we should definitely ensure that those individuals and those organizations are stamped out

03:05:41.340 and comply with our laws, which means not blocking critical infrastructures.

03:05:51.600 Hello, Wyatt Claypool from the National Telegraph.

03:05:54.900 I just wanted to ask what your opinion is on, because a lot of the times the media and other candidates

03:06:00.120 and just other people in general

03:06:02.240 make you kind of justify your pro-life positions,

03:06:05.420 whereas nobody has to justify their opposition to abortion.

03:06:09.780 And I'm wondering what you feel about the current status of the debate

03:06:13.760 where people never have to come out and explain

03:06:16.800 why they're okay with late-term and sex-selective abortion

03:06:19.420 and whether or not you think you're getting fair treatment on the issue.

03:06:22.780 I think that's a very good question.

03:06:26.160 The abortion issue is so polarizing,

03:06:28.720 And I think it's very important that we get to the point where we could talk about what it is that we agree on.

03:06:37.080 The media, I believe, is just genuinely curious with someone who has the conviction to come out and say,

03:06:44.840 yes, I'm pro-life.

03:06:46.580 And because of cancelled culture, many people are afraid to say what they stand for.

03:06:54.120 I think that it's important to recognize that whether you're pro-life or pro-choice,

03:06:58.720 that we can have conversations and we can find things that we agree on.

03:07:03.400 And because it's such a polarizing issue, it's important that we start by looking at what it is that we agree on.

03:07:12.000 Hi, Ms. Lewis. Stephanie Taylor with the Canadian Press.

03:07:14.600 Pierre Polyev said he would fire the Bank of Canada governor.

03:07:18.020 Do you agree with him? Do you support? Would you do the same?

03:07:20.660 I'm very concerned about any speech on behalf of an elected official that undermines credibility in our economic system.

03:07:34.940 And I don't agree that members of Parliament should be meddling in the Bank of Canada.

03:07:43.420 The Bank of Canada has long-term plans in Parliament.

03:07:49.040 Their budgets are of a short-term nature.

03:07:52.500 I respect the division of powers there.

03:07:56.640 I respect the Bank of Canada having the capacity and their officials having the capacity to make long-term projections that are not based on partisanship.

03:08:13.420 That's time. Thank you.

03:08:15.420 Thank you.

03:08:17.420 Mrs. Lewis, can I ask a question? Same as the others.

03:08:21.420 Yeah, it was five minutes. They're each doing five. Sorry.

03:08:24.420 Oh, I would have asked the same question as the others.

03:08:43.420 Thank you.

03:09:13.420 Audrey Neveu de Radio-Canada.

03:09:15.420 Si vous pouvez regarder après vers la caméra,

03:09:17.420 ça aidera tous les réseaux de télévision.

03:09:19.420 Vous savez, le son est très mauvais dans cette salle-là.

03:09:21.420 Le son était mauvais ce soir.

03:09:23.420 Alors, ça n'a pas aidé, mais allez-y.

03:09:25.420 Alors, vous voulez que je regarde votre caméra,

03:09:27.420 mais c'est où votre caméra?

03:09:29.420 Monsieur Charest, comment...

03:09:33.420 Just pull cameras right down the middle.

03:09:36.420 D'accord. OK, I got it.

03:09:38.420 That's fine.

03:09:40.420 Monsieur Charest, comment est-ce que vous croyez

03:09:41.420 Do you think the Conservatives can win on the environmental plan if a majority of members vote against a motion that recognizes the existence of climate change?

03:09:51.420 Well, the course of leadership is a choice. And, just, it's the opportunity to debate these questions.

03:09:57.420 And the next chief will, on the basis of the choice which will be made, the process of proceeding with the policies that he or she will propose.

03:10:05.420 And what will be your plan there-dessus?

03:10:07.420 Well, I've made public my plan.

03:10:09.580 My plan, I've made public.

03:10:11.060 It includes the carbon capture, the hydrogen blue, the green, the blue, the green, the big central nuclear, the biogaz, the renewables.

03:10:26.940 So, there is a global approach, a approach that allows us to achieve real results.

03:10:30.960 And above all, I get rid of the tax on the carbon carbon of Mr. Trudeau.

03:10:37.960 We put in place a tax on the large emitters, which is very constant with what we have done in Quebec,

03:10:42.960 with the system of exchange permits, with the California one part,

03:10:47.960 and with the other part, with what is happening in Alberta.

03:10:50.960 And thirdly, even the Commissioner of the Environment,

03:10:53.960 And in the meantime, our politics said that Mr. Trudeau's tax was wrong to the PME and

03:11:01.960 people who were less fortunate.

03:11:03.960 So, all of that is constant.

03:11:23.960 bad thing? I'm just wondering what you think. You know, every time there's debate, people look for

03:11:28.700 formats that is going to give the balance between equal time, fair time, and a debate. And it was an

03:11:35.660 unusual format. I mean, none of us expected the questions that were a more personal level. So you

03:11:42.400 do your best when you're on the stage to try to convey what it is that you want to propose. I come

03:11:47.960 into these debates trying to do that every time and say, at the end of the evening, I'd like folks

03:11:52.900 to, you know, come away and say, well, this is what Mr. Charest would do if he becomes the leader.

03:11:58.240 And that's what I believe in.

03:12:00.100 But I did see something tonight that I have never, ever seen in a debate in my lifetime.

03:12:04.760 Never, ever have I seen someone flip-flop on stage on something like abortion.

03:12:12.580 I mean, Mr. Poilievre, to flip-flop in one answer to the other is unprecedented on an issue like that.

03:12:19.280 I've never seen that happen before.

03:12:20.780 I think that says a lot about him.

03:12:22.900 So, Prochain.

03:12:24.900 Mr. Sherry-Adams-Sos from Rebel News.

03:12:27.900 I know this is a question you've been asked a number of times, and I completely respect

03:12:31.900 and appreciate your sentiment that no one should have to apologize for work that they

03:12:35.900 have done in the past.

03:12:37.900 But I just wanted to give you an opportunity to address the fact that Huawei was developing 0.99

03:12:41.900 AI technology to enforce the CCP's social credit system and to identify Uyghurs for 0.99

03:12:47.900 internment. 0.63

03:12:48.900 of this do you have any apprehension or criticism of the party aside for of the company aside from

03:12:53.540 the work that you yourself were doing all the work that i've done in my lifetime has always been

03:12:58.420 aligned with the interest of canada private public sector period it's that simple and for huawei i

03:13:06.420 would ban huawei i'm very clear on that and and just to remind you how things evolve it was a

03:13:13.780 conservative government that brought Huawei into Canada. A conservative

03:13:17.800 government of which Mr. Poitier was a member of. I mean Huawei was actually a

03:13:21.600 sponsor on Hockey Night in Canada. So my position is very clear. Thank you.

03:13:29.160 Good evening. Andrew Lawton, True North. You've said that the convoy is an illegal

03:13:34.460 blockade. Obviously you've been very open about your position and you've

03:13:38.460 distanced yourself from other candidates. Could you in good conscience

03:13:42.720 vote for a candidate in your local riding

03:13:44.900 that supported the convoy,

03:13:46.220 given the comments you've made

03:13:47.260 about how Mr. Polyev's support for the Freedom Convoy

03:13:50.080 is, in your words, disqualifying?

03:13:52.320 And Andrew, I'm glad you asked the question

03:13:54.560 because this whole story has parts to it.

03:13:58.520 First part is, people do have a right to protest.

03:14:01.560 There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about that.

03:14:05.060 Peaceful protest is part of democracy,

03:14:07.700 and if someone knows about that

03:14:09.360 because I've been on the other side of it in my lifetime,

03:14:11.860 it's me.

03:14:12.720 And I've never, ever questioned that.

03:14:14.740 So that's the first part.

03:14:16.120 Second part, you know, the whole mess was very much on Mr. Trudeau.

03:14:21.420 I mean, how come this happened?

03:14:22.940 I mean, and by the way, when you return to that whole story, it's just, I mean, it was incredible.

03:14:27.960 How could the situation degenerate the way it did?

03:14:32.300 Now, that being said, that is not an excuse for those who go out there and support an illegal blockade.

03:14:39.200 and when I'm saying that I'm not trying to I am NOT at all criticizing

03:14:44.300 truckers and people who have their legitimate jobs to who we owe a lot

03:14:48.100 because during this whole COVID period they stepped up and they did their job

03:14:52.020 and they deserve nothing less than our very deep respect and gratitude but

03:14:57.900 illegal blockades at borders or anywhere else but especially borders we lost

03:15:03.540 hundreds of millions of dollars folks in the automotive industry question

03:15:07.500 whether they should be investing in Canada.

03:15:09.560 The American president would have to call up Mr. Trudeau

03:15:11.820 to ask him whether he needed an American intervention

03:15:13.920 to clean up a blockade in Canada.

03:15:15.820 That's embarrassing for us.

03:15:18.300 My point is simple.

03:15:19.560 If you have the privilege of being a member of parliament,

03:15:23.560 you make laws, you change laws,

03:15:25.380 you can't treat the laws of the land like a buffet table

03:15:28.600 from which you choose what's popular,

03:15:30.500 what's popular or non-popular.

03:15:32.420 And sometimes you have to resist, that's leadership,

03:15:35.400 what may be popular in the instant for what is a more fundamental principle so

03:15:39.920 I'm sorry if I went on longer than I usually do and I certainly did in this

03:15:43.000 debate but I was allowed time to do that thank you Andrew what about the

03:15:50.300 blockade well it's a hypothetical question I mean we'll we'll get to after

03:15:55.140 I become leader there'll be plenty of time to debate these things thank you

03:15:58.440 Andrew. We're out of time. We're out of time. Thank you very much. Merci.

03:16:28.440 Thank you.

03:16:58.440 You

Juno News - May 12, 2022

True North’s LIVE coverage of the Conservative Leadership Debate

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