Juno News - November 05, 2023What is the ARC Forum？ (ft. Leslyn Lewis)
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Summary
In this episode, I chat with Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis about her experience on the board of the World Economic Forum, why she joined it, and what she hopes it will bring to the table at the inaugural conference of the Forum.
Transcript
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I wanted to just take a bit of a deviation to share my chat with Leslyn Lewis, who is
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not only a Conservative member of Parliament who will be familiar to many of you because
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we've had her on the show on her leadership bids for the Conservatives notably, but she
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is also one of the advisors on the board of ARC. So anyone who takes issue with Chrystia
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Freeland being on the board of the World Economic Forum, I'll tell you that what Leslyn's doing
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on ARC is very different because she's not up there to try to pass policy for Canada
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that we all just wonder how it came about. She's there because she wants to kind of benefit
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from this exchange of ideas, bring it back to the country, and elevate Canadians. So
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I chatted with her a little bit about what it is that ARC is to her and why she decided
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ARC is just an organization of people from all political persuasions and with different
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life views that want to tell a better story. And it's a story that deconstructs and is in
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opposition to the nihilistic deconstructionist approach that has been really consuming our
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Western society. And it's really an organization of hope of telling a story of human perseverance
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and overcoming challenges and recognizing that we can overcome things like the destruction
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of the family. We could engage in sustainable development without putting people in energy
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poverty. So there are different ways of solving the problems that we have without deconstructing
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One of the trends I've seen and heard so far that's really refreshing is a celebration of
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the individual and a family. And I think this is something that's so absent. I mean, if you
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look at a lot of the policies and proposals we hear from the World Economic Forum, it's the
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opposite of that. So how important is that in a policy context in Canada to really look
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at what individuals can do and what families can do to achieve that different story, as
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Well, we believe that families are the foundation of any vibrant and functioning society. And
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it is a bedrock of the society. And so policies should be around enhancing families and supporting
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them. And when there are problems between parents and children, encourage parents to be involved
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in their children's lives, give them the tools to be able to solve those problems and create
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a structure that respects the family and keeps governments out of people's homes.
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You're a member of parliament. You're here with 1,500 people from 72 different countries.
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You're in a bit of a unique spot given you're on the advisory board. But what do you take away
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from this personally, having put all the work in to get here? When you go back home, what
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is it that you are really going to bring from this?
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Well, this is an inaugural conference. And as you can see, it's phenomenally run. I'm
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very proud to be a part of this board. And bringing back is just bringing back the courage
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of knowing that there is a better story, that there are people who are looking towards building
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on our society rather than tearing it down. And so I take that back knowing that there's
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partners and allies all over the world that are working to build a better story.
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And just the one thing I'll ask related to that in closing here is that everyone seems
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to have a role to play. I think there has not really been that I've heard any sense that
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the decisions are being made here that will go back and affect people. Everyone here is being
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asked to make their own decisions and then bring that back to their community. So what
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would you like other attendees to take from this this year? And what would you like Canadians
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moving forward to learn from some of the things that are being discussed here that are all being
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Well, it's an organic ecosystem of thought leaders, of people that have influence in their various
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sectors, whether it's a single mom or a CEO of a corporation. We know that their life
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experience contributes something to that better story. And so what I want people to understand
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is that even though I'm an elected official, I can still gain a lot of insights from someone,
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an ordinary Canadian. If you take a look at something like the trucker convoy, those were ordinary
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people coming out and standing up for what they believed in. And then politicians really said,
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okay, we'll stand with you. But they were the more profound voice. And that's just the reality
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of where we are today in society. If we're going to build on our great achievements, then we need
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different voices, different perspectives. And so everybody has a role to play in building that
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