kinsellacast - April 28, 2024


KINSELLACAST 309: A happy and sad week - with good friends and good music


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour and 12 minutes

Words per Minute

128.18806

Word Count

9,248

Sentence Count

674

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

13


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 It's the KinsellaCast, starring Warren Kinsella.
00:00:13.820 Hey, it's Warren. Welcome to the KinsellaCast.
00:00:17.540 Big week ahead. Equal parts sadness and happiness when sudden anxiety mixed in.
00:00:24.080 On Sunday, we travel to Maynooth to remember he's mom who died a year ago.
00:00:31.380 There's this beautiful cemetery there.
00:00:34.200 There was a parish run by Jesuits, and the cemetery has Irish and Indigenous people side-by-side.
00:00:41.240 That's one of the things that makes it beautiful.
00:00:44.220 So that's Sunday. During the week, I'll be writing more about the anti-Semitism and hatred that's everywhere these days.
00:00:50.820 And how do I know what I'll be writing ahead of time?
00:00:55.580 Because for the past six months, I've been getting emails and texts and DMs and phone calls from Jews.
00:01:02.000 Not members of the Knesset, not ministers in the Netanyahu government,
00:01:07.560 just regular people who are afraid and confused and terrified by what is happening all around them in Canada.
00:01:15.460 I've received so much of it, about Jewish kids being attacked at schools, about hate rallies targeting Jews,
00:01:24.380 about vandalism, about violence, about people in authority showing total indifference to the plight of our Jewish neighbors,
00:01:32.000 that it is hard to keep up.
00:01:35.260 Like, it never stops.
00:01:36.860 Every day there's some new disappointment, some new outrage, some new disgrace.
00:01:41.460 Trust me when I say this.
00:01:44.480 Canada has one of the worst anti-Semitism problems in the world now.
00:01:48.580 People in Israel and Europe and the U.S. talk to me about it and wonder how that can be.
00:01:55.300 And I don't have an answer for them. Not yet.
00:01:58.160 But it's true.
00:01:59.940 That's the middle of the week.
00:02:01.100 And then on Friday, some of us will be at Cotonet Cemetery, Montreal.
00:02:05.740 We'll be there to fulfill a promise I made to my dad on his deathbed 20 years ago.
00:02:11.460 To combine his ashes with my mom's and to place them at Cotonet, where all of us Kinsella's can be found,
00:02:18.640 more or less, going back to when we arrived from County Wexford.
00:02:23.180 It will be sad and happy, I think, but I know I will be happy to have fulfilled the promise I made to him.
00:02:29.060 They will be together forever in Montreal, where they began.
00:02:33.480 And then, the next morning, I will be back in Toronto, hopefully, to board a plane that will start a long journey to Israel.
00:02:42.400 So, I am going there as a writer, with the help and support of some amazing people in the Jewish community,
00:02:49.400 who want me and others to bear witness to what happened there on October 7th.
00:02:55.480 And in the days that have followed, we're going to all of the sad places, which I'm told have not been changed much.
00:03:03.660 I'll be in the north, and then I'll be at the line dividing Gaza and Israel and other places.
00:03:09.580 It will be sad, but it'll be important.
00:03:13.720 So, that is the week.
00:03:15.660 Sad and happy, happy and sad.
00:03:18.200 In that regard, I've decided to replay some of my favorite songs of all time.
00:03:23.460 And you're on notice, all of you, that I want these songs, and a few others, played at my funeral, where you can make fun of me.
00:03:29.780 These songs are sad and happy, too.
00:03:32.220 Joy Division and New Order's Ceremony, New Order's Temptation, Modern Baseball's Thrash Particle,
00:03:38.380 Michael P. Hinson's The Day Texas Sank to the Bottom of the Sea.
00:03:43.140 And, of course, I'll be talking to some of my friends, like Brian and Alex and more.
00:03:50.000 It's going to be a week to remember, I think.
00:03:53.120 I'll try and do the next Kinsella Cast from Israel, but it may have to wait.
00:03:58.360 We'll see.
00:03:59.400 In the meantime, hug the ones you love.
00:04:02.580 Life is fleeting, and happiness and sadness come at you in equal measure.
00:04:13.140 Life is fleeting, and happiness and sadness come at you in equal measure.
00:04:43.140 Life is fleeting, and happiness and sadness come at you in equal measure.
00:05:13.120 Life is fleeting, and happiness and sadness come at you in equal measure.
00:05:20.440 Oh, you've got green eyes.
00:05:23.120 Oh, you've got blue eyes.
00:05:25.080 Oh, you've got grey eyes.
00:05:28.240 Oh, you've got green eyes.
00:05:30.700 Oh, you've got blue eyes.
00:05:32.640 Oh, you've got grey eyes.
00:05:34.520 And I've never seen anyone quite like you before
00:05:41.540 No, I've never met anyone quite like you before
00:06:04.520 Heaven, a gateway, ah
00:06:11.140 Just like a feeling I need, it's no joke
00:06:19.480 I know it hurts me to see you this way
00:06:29.040 Betrayed by words I've never heard
00:06:32.600 Too hot to say
00:06:34.560 Oh, up, down, turn around
00:06:39.620 Please don't let me hit the ground
00:06:41.500 Tonight I think I walk alone
00:06:43.220 I'll find my soul as I go home
00:06:45.200 Up, down, turn around
00:06:47.140 Please don't let me hit the ground
00:06:48.960 Tonight I think I walk alone
00:06:50.780 I'll find my soul as I go home
00:06:52.800 I'll find my soul as I go home
00:07:00.300 I'll find my soul as I go home
00:07:06.820 Oh, up, down, turn around
00:07:11.100 Thank you.
00:07:41.100 Thank you.
00:08:11.100 Thank you.
00:08:41.100 Thank you.
00:09:11.100 Thank you.
00:09:41.100 Thank you.
00:10:11.100 Thank you.
00:10:41.100 Thank you.
00:11:11.100 Thank you.
00:11:41.100 Thank you.
00:12:11.100 Thank you.
00:12:41.100 Thank you.
00:12:43.100 Thank you.
00:12:45.100 Thank you.
00:12:50.100 Warren Kinsella, former special advisor to Jean Chrétien, CEO of the Daisy Group, and probably, I would say, one of the number one speakers against anti-Semitism. And for that, we appreciate you. Thank you, Warren.
00:13:02.040 Thanks for having me on.
00:13:04.040 I should mention, because I think it's important that you have penned a number of pieces of following the dollar of where is the money coming from to support these protests. Like, where is the chain? You already laid out a number of, you know, pieces of who's backing these well-organized protests. But this one is like you lay out the underground manual created by a group called Palestine Action. And it takes, kind of puts the truth to these, these fallacies out there that we're seeing.
00:13:33.240 Yeah. So, Palestine Action was formed about four years ago. They're mainly active in Britain, but they're a network that is found around the world. And certainly, the behavior and the actions of Palestine Action we're seeing in Canada all the time. Canada's got one of the worst anti-Semitic crime problems in the world.
00:13:53.940 So, Palestine Action, this manual was given to me by a source. And now, I've confirmed that it is real. They confirmed authorship to me. They wouldn't talk about it, they said, because it's part of a criminal prosecution of them in Britain.
00:14:09.620 This thing talks, Alex, about forming cells, secretive cells, you know, in the way that Bader Meinhof did or Abu Nidal or the IRA, keeping it small to avoid infiltration, picking the targets, and prepare for action.
00:14:24.980 And the action they talk about is everything from smashing windows and exterior equipment. I'm quoting them here. Blocking pipes, going into a company using concrete, like those protesters did in Toronto a few days ago on the railway tracks and the junction.
00:14:40.280 Disrupt the target. Disrupt the target. They talk about break-ins. Here's a quote. Breaking into your target and damaging the contents is obviously a very effective tactic.
00:14:50.340 They talk about carrying only cash when buying equipment, whether it's spray paint or sledgehammers, and never to leave a digital trail.
00:14:58.260 Like, it is a manual about how to instill terror in their targets, which most of the time are Jews and people who support the state of Israel.
00:15:09.540 Yeah, I mean, everything from we'll get you a lawyer, you got access. I mean, it's not the first time at the rodeo for them, right?
00:15:17.060 You've been seeing, obviously, what's going on in the United States. But look, this has been going on now for seven months.
00:15:22.740 We would not put up with this nonsense from anybody. We certainly didn't put it up with the convoys.
00:15:29.100 And Warren, we didn't see any of the stuff that we're seeing for the last seven months with the convoys, as much as they were an aggravation.
00:15:35.640 And yet there was so much more done to denounce it. I mean, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that the prime minister and all his ministers were on Twitter or social media last night denouncing what was going on in Ottawa.
00:15:47.100 And my first takeaway is, well, that's great. But where have you been for seven months? Because it's happening.
00:15:51.640 But when's it going to stop? Because these groups can be looked into. Who's looking into them?
00:15:56.640 Well, and they, you know, you can go back even further than the convoy stuff to take a look at.
00:16:04.040 We have taken action about this type of activity in the past.
00:16:07.400 The same stuff that is happening now, firebombings of businesses and shooting up of schools and public buildings and threats, you know, attacking politicians and citizens.
00:16:18.540 Like all of that stuff is happening. And the stuff about colonial institutions and colonists, that all happened with the FLQ, right, in Quebec and in the rest of Canada in the 70s.
00:16:30.760 And ironically, ironically, it was Justin's father who said enough is enough and said, you know, just watch me.
00:16:39.220 And he brought down the hammer and he threw these guys in jail and he used the laws that he had.
00:16:44.820 Justin has laws that he can deploy, you know, support for a terrorist group, as happened on Parliament Hill, like right outside the windows of Justin's office on Saturday.
00:16:55.600 They were there, not just, as you pointed out, pledging allegiance to Hamas.
00:17:01.200 They were paying tribute to October 7th when 1,200 men, women, children and babies were slaughtered.
00:17:08.680 Like they were saying, long live October 7th.
00:17:11.700 So that is a criminal offense. Like that's something that we can do something about.
00:17:15.760 They've been promoting hatred against an identifiable group here, obviously Jews.
00:17:20.080 Like Justin's father knew what to do with far fewer laws back in the 70s.
00:17:24.580 Why isn't this guy acting now? We've got the legislative framework to do it, but he's not doing anything other than issuing a couple of tweets.
00:17:33.000 Yeah, I mean, look, my cynical side says, A, they have been putting a butt cheek on both sides of the fence because they don't want to ruin the votes.
00:17:40.640 They don't want to they want to pay. This is about votes. Right.
00:17:42.500 And we're seeing in the United States, there's a lot of pandering to domestic politics, which is, you know, might help them down the road.
00:17:48.400 But it's certainly creating a lot of permanent dangers and damage to both countries, I think, on this.
00:17:54.580 But what's he going to do? Call the Emergencies Act? He already did that.
00:17:57.260 And we don't need the Emergencies Act for this because, Warren, we've got laws in the books.
00:18:00.720 We just need people to actually be charged that you can't come into this country and or you can't be in this country and promote terror or you can't, you know, chant death to whatever.
00:18:10.000 We've got the laws. No one uses them.
00:18:12.000 Right. And, you know, if that is his calculated, cynical, you know, political motive here, well, there's 400,000 Jews in Canada and there's four times as many Muslims.
00:18:24.260 Well, I'm going to favor the latter over the former.
00:18:27.060 Well, you know, number one, like the National Council of Canadian Muslims condemned the synagogue attack in Toronto over the weekend before Trudeau ever did.
00:18:37.200 Actually, I don't think Trudeau has yet. But number two, it's not working.
00:18:40.620 If that's his strategy, it's not working.
00:18:43.060 But all of the leading Muslim groups have said to him, we don't want to see you during the election campaign.
00:18:48.320 You're not allowed to come into our mosques. So if that is his cynical, craven strategy, even that ain't working because he's angered the Muslim side as well.
00:18:59.020 So the focus should be the one thing we've seen, you know, out of the attack that took place by Iran on Israel.
00:19:06.120 It was it was wonderful with the Saudi Arabia, the Jordanians, the UAE actually intervened militarily to protect Israel.
00:19:15.580 Now, that tells us here that there's no downside in Justin Trudeau acting against this pro Hamas mob, including the people who are there in front of his office on Saturday.
00:19:27.040 Like there would be a lot of support from that across the board from Jews and Muslims, but he's not doing it.
00:19:32.980 And it's just it's cowardly. Yeah. And it's not the first time they have they have protested at his office many, many times.
00:19:39.780 But again, having said all this, where do we go from here? Because this is not stopping.
00:19:46.560 And, you know, I think it would be very easy to look into these particular organizations.
00:19:50.980 We've seen France. We've seen Germany. They're turfing people out of the country.
00:19:54.540 If you're a student, if you're not a permanent resident, you're done like we are.
00:19:57.960 There are things we can do to send a message that you can't come into this country and bring your terror beliefs or your dangers with you.
00:20:06.060 But I don't think anyone has the political, you know, the testicular fortitude to do that.
00:20:12.140 Well, I think you're quite right, because there are things all of us can do.
00:20:14.760 So as we just talked about, you know, the politicians at all levels, right.
00:20:19.140 Trudeau with his jurisdiction over the criminal code, Ford with his jurisdiction over prosecutors and and Olivia Chow with her jurisdiction over the police.
00:20:27.200 All of them can and should be doing things. But, you know, it's not just that.
00:20:31.640 Those of us in the media need to be digging into this. As you pointed out, I've been spending months trying to figure out where the money is coming from and who's doing the organization.
00:20:40.180 Because clearly this thing is organized. Just one week ago today, we saw capitalism, basically institutions shut down around the globe.
00:20:50.580 From where there is O'Hare's airport in Chicago to streets in downtown Ottawa.
00:20:56.900 Like it is an organized effort. And as citizens, like I encourage everybody, speak up.
00:21:02.420 Don't be intimidated by these thugs. Oppose them.
00:21:05.480 Because the majority, the vast majority of Canadians are on side.
00:21:09.600 And they believe, as we do, that Israel has a right to defend itself and anti-Semitism is wrong.
00:21:14.320 Yeah. But I would say this, you know, when I heard the premier say that, you know, there's no need to look into universities or anything to get funding.
00:21:22.440 I was like, really? What a lost opportunity. He can't be serious. Right.
00:21:26.440 No. And there's symbolic things, too, like the CAFIA and the legislature.
00:21:30.620 You know, it's against the rules of the legislature.
00:21:32.800 You know, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa is a lost cause.
00:21:36.900 He's allowed it there. But the Speaker at Queen's Park did the right thing by saying, look, you know, if I do that, if I open the door to that, there's going to be a whole bunch of other stuff happening as well.
00:21:47.440 We need to have decorum and decency in our legislature.
00:21:50.480 So he said no. So that was that was a good decision.
00:21:53.260 That was something good that happened last week.
00:21:55.620 But there's many more things that the politicians can and should be doing.
00:21:58.600 Yeah, that's a Pandora's box they should stay away from.
00:22:02.000 And, you know, for that person that wants to show up with their white robes on and, you know, a pointy white hat, I don't think they'd be OK with that either.
00:22:08.700 Warren, I appreciate it. We'll talk again.
00:22:10.760 Thanks, my friend. Take care.
00:22:28.600 We'll be right back.
00:22:58.600 We'll be right back.
00:23:28.600 We'll be right back.
00:23:58.600 We'll be right back.
00:24:00.600 We'll be right back.
00:24:28.580 We'll be right back.
00:24:30.580 We'll be right back.
00:24:32.580 We'll be right back.
00:24:34.580 We'll be right back.
00:24:36.580 We'll be right back.
00:24:38.580 Oh, I'm waiting now, no miss the show
00:24:50.720 Heaven knows it's got to be later
00:24:54.380 Now it is more than the trees
00:24:57.780 Picture me and then you start watching
00:25:01.400 Watching for heaven
00:25:08.580 Watching for heaven
00:25:18.580 Watching for heaven
00:25:22.580 Watching for heaven
00:25:28.580 Oh, I'm waiting now
00:25:34.580 I'm waiting now
00:25:40.580 I'm waiting now
00:25:44.580 Thank you.
00:26:14.580 And we're back, and we're back with my buddy Brian Lilly.
00:26:32.120 And Brian, this week I thought we could talk about kind of the zeitgeist of the country, the mood of the country, which seems in equal measure to be kind of sad and angry and pessimistic and so on.
00:26:48.120 And you see that in all kinds of different indicators, housing and our politics and, you know, the wars that are happening abroad and all that kind of stuff.
00:26:58.800 People, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but people seem to be in a pretty crummy mood these days in Canada.
00:27:04.700 Well, you were posting a story earlier in the weekend about 23% of the Canadian population says they experience food insecurity.
00:27:15.080 Um, I was interviewing Pierre Polyev at the Daily Bread Food Bank just over a week ago, and the executive director there is telling us, like, Daily Bread feeds one out of 10 Torontonians at some point throughout each and every month.
00:27:35.920 Um, Ipsos poll, and this one is shocking to me, eight and 10 believe that owning a home in Canada is now only for the rich.
00:27:46.060 And I saw that poll from our friend, Daryl Bricker, and I thought, oh, that's, that's just got to be young people.
00:27:53.620 No, it's not.
00:27:55.940 It's across the board.
00:27:57.480 It's across the country.
00:27:59.920 Um, you know, I, I find it shocking.
00:28:02.680 I come from a very, uh, middle-class industrial city, Hamilton, that always had a very high level of home ownership.
00:28:13.200 Um, and people are writing it off now.
00:28:16.220 It's not just in Toronto.
00:28:18.280 It's people, so you add all these things up and, you know, Justin Trudeau is saying the system's not working for people.
00:28:27.880 That was one of his messages this week, and that's why he's got this giant wealth transfer budget, but they're not, they don't believe that he's got the answers anymore.
00:28:36.780 And, and by the way, that the system used to work for people before you were in office.
00:28:42.120 Now it's not.
00:28:43.060 Is there a correlation?
00:28:45.700 The, um, let's talk about Polyev and Trudeau, and maybe Polyev first.
00:28:51.280 So you've spent time with him in the past few days.
00:28:53.880 You know, some time ago, he started talking about the country being broken, and I disagree with him.
00:28:59.880 Uh, I thought, no, the country's not broken, our politics are broken, but when you hear statistics like that, maybe he was right and I was wrong.
00:29:08.920 Maybe people do feel that Canada doesn't work for them anymore, and, you know, they're despairing in the choices they've got.
00:29:16.240 Do you think that, just, so I guess this is Polyev's view.
00:29:21.120 Does Polyev have a solution?
00:29:22.440 Um, yeah, he's been putting out ideas.
00:29:28.960 Will they work?
00:29:30.320 I don't know.
00:29:31.880 Um, one of his ideas on the issue of, uh, housing is something that, that Trudeau was talking about this week, but they're coming at it from very different points of view.
00:29:43.560 So, as we just mentioned the Ipsos poll, 80% don't think that they'll be able to afford a home.
00:29:49.280 Well, Polyev says, we've got thousands of parcels of surplus land, thousands of surplus government buildings that the federal government owns that we don't need anymore.
00:30:01.360 We can turn them into housing.
00:30:03.660 Polyev's plan would include selling them off to develop them into housing.
00:30:08.540 Trudeau's plan, which he was very adamant about this week, is he will do 99-year leases for affordable home rentals, geared to rental, or geared to income rental housing with long-term leases so that land stays public.
00:30:25.040 Well, if people are worried about not being able to own a home, and your solution is to build government-owned apartment blocks, well, guess what?
00:30:36.720 You're not going to help them do.
00:30:37.920 Um, it, and look, everyone's trying to rush around on housing and act like they've got the magic bullet, and you see this in fights between provincial governments and municipal and the federal and the provincial.
00:30:55.240 It took us a long time to get into this mess, and no one single issue is going to change it.
00:31:02.880 I would say Polyev does have a pretty comprehensive plan.
00:31:06.760 The liberals mocked it for a full year and claimed he didn't have one, and now they are meticulously going through it and stealing policy after policy, then putting their own twist on it, like with the public lands that I just mentioned.
00:31:20.800 I think, I think, I think there could be, uh, a, a, a mix, absolutely, you know, have the government own some of them for affordable rentals, but don't make that the whole thing.
00:31:31.840 I, I used to live, um, uh, the home I, one of the homes I owned in Ottawa backed onto a parcel of surplus land.
00:31:40.480 Everyone thought it was part of the green belt.
00:31:42.640 It wasn't.
00:31:43.660 It was the Department of Lands, Mines, and something else.
00:31:48.040 Like, those were the signs on the trees, a department that ceased existing in the 60s sometime, and, and they didn't need the land anymore.
00:31:56.700 So it was sold off, and it was all kinds of mixed-use homes.
00:32:00.900 It was semi-detached.
00:32:02.600 It was stacked housing.
00:32:04.840 It was single-family homes.
00:32:06.320 It was townhomes.
00:32:07.240 It was a fully functional neighborhood that they built in this, and it's quite beautiful now.
00:32:11.900 Um, but in that case, they sold off the land, and that worked.
00:32:15.820 Uh, so have a mixture of it, uh, but everyone's running around acting like they've got the only solution, and none of them do.
00:32:22.600 It's going to, it took us a long time to get into this mess.
00:32:24.820 It'll take us a long time to get out.
00:32:26.840 So let's talk about Trudeau then.
00:32:28.820 You know, he did his budget.
00:32:31.040 Um, I think it's possible, you know my view, that it could be his last budget.
00:32:36.080 Um, it really had a Hail Mary pass kind of feel to it, and all of the numbers, all of the polling subsequently has shown, it really hasn't moved the needle.
00:32:47.040 I mean, there's been Frank Graves at Ecos, but nobody's taking that seriously.
00:32:51.360 All of the others show that the deficit that Trudeau had, you know, 15 to 20 points, has remained.
00:32:58.040 Um, you know, he, I think, wanted, wanted to improve circumstance for himself and his party, but that budget didn't do it, did it?
00:33:08.280 No, it didn't, and for everyone pointing to that 11-point gap poll that Graves came out with, I want to read you one of his tweets.
00:33:17.720 Came out late at night, I wonder why.
00:33:19.740 A real conservative option is a healthy counterbalance and a healthy democracy.
00:33:23.840 Pierre Polyev is an acolyte of authoritarian populism.
00:33:27.040 This is never healthy.
00:33:28.000 You were on notice.
00:33:28.780 Going to make sure you were never going to leave my country.
00:33:31.000 I don't make idle threats.
00:33:32.220 No, Frankie doesn't like that I, you know, resurrected his tweet and will continue to do so, but, you know, he claims, he acts as if this is the only time he's been hyper-partisan.
00:33:42.860 It's not, and I don't think his polling numbers match up or make sense.
00:33:49.280 Whether it's Abacus, Angus Reid, Ipsos, they all show the same Ipsos app by generation.
00:33:54.860 They put out Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers, and with Gen Z, it's like 38% are voting, say they'll vote for Polyev and the Conservatives.
00:34:09.120 The Liberals are in the third spot at 23%, just behind the NDP.
00:34:13.520 With Gen Z, those are the guys they're really focused on, and with Millennials, it's not much better.
00:34:19.420 The Conservatives are at 40%, the Liberals are at 28%, just ahead of the NDP.
00:34:25.560 So it didn't work, and that's why you're seeing him try to link Polyev to a guy that Polyev's never met, and that most Canadians would have to Google and say, who's this guy?
00:34:39.240 You know, people obsessed with politics know who Alex Jones is, but the average person in Canada doesn't.
00:34:44.660 The average American doesn't.
00:34:45.960 The average American conservative doesn't.
00:34:47.700 Alex Jones is, he owns more real estate in the heads of people on the left than he does anywhere else, because there's this obsession with him.
00:34:58.620 He is not relevant in the, even in American conservative circles, and you know that I know a lot of the big names down there.
00:35:08.440 Alex Jones ain't one of them.
00:35:09.720 It's just so desperate.
00:35:12.940 Like, it looks pathetic, you know, all of this stuff that they're trying.
00:35:17.500 And it looks like they just continue to make mistakes, but they're not the only ones.
00:35:21.720 You know, full disclosure, I've done some work for the Doug Ford government in the past, communication stuff.
00:35:28.100 You've got friends and family who are, you know, part of that government or close to that government.
00:35:35.580 And Doug Ford, I think he got hurt by this keffiyeh stuff.
00:35:42.260 Like, I think you and I have the same view.
00:35:44.820 We've got other issues to deal with other than the keffiyeh.
00:35:49.520 But it has become a symbol of indifference to the plight of the Jewish people at the present time, in my view.
00:35:59.700 But it's also a very strongly politicized symbol, which is why you've got white, liberal legislators in provincial and federal parliaments wearing it.
00:36:14.520 Only when they talk about Israel or vote about UNRWA and they make the raised hand fist symbol, you know, they're doing it for very political reasons.
00:36:26.440 And our legislatures have long had rules against that.
00:36:31.000 Like, you know, the example I keep using is 100 years ago, someone showing up in their orange sash from the Orange Lodge could have caused violence inside and outside the legislature.
00:36:42.240 So things like that, not allowed.
00:36:44.520 Things like this, not allowed.
00:36:45.880 So that you can calm the temperature down, bring it down, and have civilized discussions.
00:36:51.280 I thought Ford was off on that, wrote strongly on that.
00:36:55.600 He's now said, move on.
00:36:57.320 But the NDP came out, Merritt Stiles, the Ontario NDP leader, says they're going to keep defying the legislature and run protests to overturn this.
00:37:08.260 And they're saying, Doug Ford better overturn it.
00:37:10.000 Well, Merritt Stiles has been around long enough to know that it's the Speaker and not the government that makes this decision.
00:37:16.500 But she's trying to politicize it.
00:37:18.980 She's lying.
00:37:19.480 So she has turned it into what the Speaker said it was, a highly politicized symbol, which the rules of the legislature don't allow for.
00:37:27.920 I just don't get it.
00:37:29.420 Why import the troubles of the Middle East into the middle of the legislature?
00:37:33.540 Like, I don't know what all of them were thinking.
00:37:36.580 But now they've got it.
00:37:38.060 Like, yeah, well, so that by-election.
00:37:40.300 They're thinking the Milton by-election.
00:37:41.340 And that's over next Thursday.
00:37:43.640 What do you think is going to happen?
00:37:45.080 It's tight between the Liberals and the PCs.
00:37:47.740 I really don't know.
00:37:48.840 I know that Galen Naidoo Harris, who, you know, I definitely know from his mother's side that he's got Indian background via South Africa, because that's her background.
00:38:04.000 The last name Harris in there, that's a pretty Scottish name.
00:38:07.460 I guess he's been celebrating his culture by wearing a keffiyeh ever since this became an issue.
00:38:14.060 But he's the only guy that didn't show up at a debate with the Muslim community during the week.
00:38:17.980 Oh, that's interesting.
00:38:20.120 So, yeah, I don't know.
00:38:23.300 Can I give you this quick factoid about keffiyeh?
00:38:25.420 Please, please.
00:38:26.640 They were never mentioned.
00:38:27.940 I could not find a mention of them in Hansard, in the Ontario legislature.
00:38:31.800 Until October 27th, PCMPP Andrea Kangen made mention of them in relation to protests.
00:38:38.540 Then in November of 2023, Peggy Statler made mention of them in terms of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
00:38:48.340 And she made mention of a lot of other symbols.
00:38:50.860 And then there was no mention again until April, until this issue happened.
00:38:56.020 Nobody was wearing them.
00:38:57.500 Nobody was talking about them.
00:38:58.780 If you weren't wearing a keffiyeh before October 7th in the legislature, and now you are, you're telling us a lot about yourself.
00:39:09.000 And it's just such bullshit.
00:39:11.140 And it relates back to what we started talking about.
00:39:14.260 Maybe we can conclude with this.
00:39:15.820 Like, it just feels like our leaders are making, you know, so often the wrong moves.
00:39:21.680 You know, Paliyev is not.
00:39:23.120 Obviously, he's tapped into the mood of the country.
00:39:25.840 You know, he wouldn't have the support he does if he hadn't.
00:39:28.340 But it's just, it really feels like right now, you know, it's just as a general principle, general observation, that our political leadership are letting us down.
00:39:39.500 You know, instead of lifting up the country, the country really feels let down.
00:39:43.680 And I don't know how to fix it.
00:39:47.080 I'm staring at a headline right now.
00:39:48.860 The Toronto Sun website, BC asks health candidates to make drug use in public illegal again.
00:39:55.180 Yeah.
00:39:56.100 You know, talk about a dumb boneheaded move that the public didn't support.
00:40:00.760 Tell us why.
00:40:01.740 Tell us what happened there, because you know more about it than just anybody I know.
00:40:06.440 What happened in BC when they did that?
00:40:08.360 So they got permission to decriminalize all drugs for use anywhere.
00:40:15.440 And this was part of dealing with the opioid overdose death problem.
00:40:21.260 And of course, the deaths did not go down.
00:40:23.780 They went up last year.
00:40:24.740 They had 11 months of decriminalization, because it happened January 30th, 2023.
00:40:30.520 And they still had a record year for opioid deaths.
00:40:33.760 And every time they do something like this, the drug deaths go up.
00:40:37.620 But then they started having people smoking crack, doing fentanyl, shooting heroin in public parks, in hospitals.
00:40:46.740 And hospitals were putting out memos to nurses, don't take stuff away, let them keep their weapons.
00:40:53.060 And so it became a big problem.
00:40:54.920 And, you know, the government kept saying, no, this is not an issue.
00:40:58.220 The cops kept saying, no, it's not an issue.
00:40:59.920 It's gotten so bad that they've asked them to, as quickly as possible, make it illegal in public again.
00:41:06.280 So it won't be illegal if you are at a safe consumption site or in a private home or a shelter or a couple of other spaces.
00:41:13.840 But, you know, you can't be shooting up in the school playground, which was allowed.
00:41:19.400 And nobody was allowed to do anything to stop them.
00:41:22.200 So they're making parts of BC unlivable.
00:41:24.140 And they've realized that it's a mistake, just like Oregon realized it was a mistake.
00:41:29.720 But the chief medical officer of the city of Toronto still believes this is the way to go.
00:41:35.140 The chief medical officer of the province of Ontario just suggested we go this route.
00:41:39.800 And, you know, everywhere it's been tried, it's a disaster.
00:41:42.120 But our leadership keeps telling us to go.
00:41:44.920 And thankfully, the Ford government said, go pound sand.
00:41:47.820 And it's never happening.
00:41:49.980 But, you know, why do people feel like their leaders aren't leading?
00:41:54.180 Because they're not.
00:41:56.220 They're making decisions not based on facts and evidence.
00:41:59.940 Like they always like to claim they're following agendas that lead you to this.
00:42:06.800 There's nothing compassionate about letting somebody just do fentanyl and never offering them help until they die.
00:42:13.260 So we have an obligation to lift up our fellow citizens, whether they're Jews or people who are addicted or people who are struggling to get by.
00:42:23.460 And we're going to help people out.
00:42:25.300 And anyway, I totally agree with you.
00:42:28.460 It doesn't feel like our governments are doing that at present time.
00:42:31.480 But hopefully, hopefully there will be some change in the future.
00:42:35.660 So my friend, have a great day and a great week ahead.
00:42:39.180 I'm going to be heading off to Israel at the end of the week, following in your footsteps and hoping to do some great journalism like you did when I'm over there.
00:42:47.200 And thank you.
00:42:48.860 Enjoy the trip.
00:42:49.540 We'll talk when you're back.
00:42:51.000 Thanks, my friend.
00:42:51.680 Didn't watch your exescent.
00:42:57.120 I just laughed and thought about you.
00:43:01.440 Like when your teeth graze those lips.
00:43:05.400 And you begin to smile.
00:43:09.180 Later, you took my hand.
00:43:12.760 You led us to the doorway.
00:43:16.440 But you let go of me.
00:43:19.900 Once you saw your friends.
00:43:24.080 And I've known you forever.
00:43:27.500 At least that's what I tell Jake.
00:43:30.180 When I'm too drunk to walk home.
00:43:33.960 When your brother's away.
00:43:38.060 You suggested I write a song about the first time we met.
00:43:44.760 But I can't seem to remember where or when.
00:43:50.720 I couldn't watch your exescent.
00:43:56.600 Instead, I wrote this song about you.
00:44:00.520 Thought, would you show your kiss?
00:44:04.520 If you found the time was right.
00:44:08.240 You tell them where it went.
00:44:10.640 You never thought I'd leave the east coast.
00:44:15.160 We were young and full of sin.
00:44:18.160 And I too dumb to understand.
00:44:21.300 Yet, I've loved you forever.
00:44:26.760 At least that's what I tell home.
00:44:28.980 When I'm too drunk to lie.
00:44:30.920 When I'm too drunk to lie.
00:44:31.920 I'm too drunk to be alone.
00:44:37.160 You suggested I write a song about the first time we met.
00:44:43.920 Oh, I don't want to remember when there were men.
00:44:51.840 So, is this the hook you wanted?
00:44:57.320 Is it stuck inside your head?
00:45:01.020 Can you say it with your friends or alone?
00:45:05.560 So, am I watching it?
00:45:11.540 Say you love me to my face.
00:45:15.960 Little gossip, walk away.
00:45:19.480 And then go.
00:45:21.280 So, is this the hook you wanted?
00:45:26.640 To sing about me to my friends?
00:45:30.280 Or you're just stuck inside your head?
00:45:34.180 Oh, no.
00:45:35.560 Oh, you were all I needed.
00:45:41.600 Said I loved you to your face.
00:45:45.320 But you just laughed and walked away.
00:45:52.060 This is CFRA Live Sunday Political Panel.
00:45:59.700 And it is time for our political panel.
00:46:01.920 Joining us on the phone this morning is strategist and post-media columnist.
00:46:05.060 He is Warren Kinsella.
00:46:06.080 Warren, thanks for joining us this morning.
00:46:07.660 I appreciate it.
00:46:08.880 Good morning.
00:46:09.600 Happy Sunday to everybody.
00:46:10.860 Carl Belanger.
00:46:11.520 He's the president at Traction Strategies.
00:46:13.340 Good morning, Carl.
00:46:14.220 Morning, guys.
00:46:15.240 And Tasha Carradine's political columnist for the National Post and author and writer for GZero Media.
00:46:19.120 Good morning, Tasha.
00:46:20.700 Good morning.
00:46:21.280 All right.
00:46:22.280 All right.
00:46:22.460 We've got to – I don't know.
00:46:23.560 I kind of find it hard to believe we're still kind of getting some reaction on the federal budget because it has not gone well for the liberals.
00:46:29.280 But this capital gains reaction has kind of come out a lot this week.
00:46:32.420 So we're seeing doctors kind of pile up.
00:46:34.520 I think from what we've seen so far – we just had a real estate agent on last hour.
00:46:38.540 I think from what we've seen so far, you know, I think the intention may have been good here.
00:46:43.080 We'll give it to the benefit of the doubt.
00:46:44.660 At least I'll try.
00:46:46.040 But in terms of kind of creating more problems, it seems like that's what it's done.
00:46:50.700 Tasha, I'll start with you on this.
00:46:52.220 Is this – I don't know.
00:46:53.680 Was this wise political wrangling here from the liberals to put this tax in place?
00:46:59.020 Well, they didn't do it in a smart way.
00:47:01.300 I think if you're going to do the tax the rich scenario, then the only way to do that is to tax an income bracket.
00:47:08.540 Because once you go after subgroups of people, what happens is they organize and they make noise and they start agitating.
00:47:16.540 Because they are the ones on the line.
00:47:18.300 And it's just like the milk lobby and Maxine Bernier and the conservative leadership race, you know, about I don't know how many years ago now.
00:47:25.420 When you upset one group, they will organize to oust you or destroy your ambitions or whatever because they've got so much at stake.
00:47:33.920 So this is what's happened here is that groups that have been targeted by this particular change have an agenda and an interest in fighting, and they will.
00:47:43.540 So it stays in the news.
00:47:44.780 And the more it stays in the news, the more people will hear it.
00:47:47.220 And then they may think, well, if not them, what about me?
00:47:49.580 Or that doesn't sound fair.
00:47:50.960 So it was a very, I think it was an ill-advised move if they were going to look for tax revenue to go after this particular one.
00:48:01.320 And Carl, you know what, the people that are upset, you know, obviously have a right to be upset.
00:48:05.220 As I mentioned, you know, the messaging here has to be to make this system kind of fundamentally more fair for many people here.
00:48:11.500 But do you think the liberals may have, you know, missed the mark with their good intentions?
00:48:15.960 Well, it depends.
00:48:17.220 I mean, the first polls I've seen show that the majority of Canadians were in favor of this measure.
00:48:22.480 But, of course, this may change as the campaign against it rages on.
00:48:27.940 And Natasha is right.
00:48:29.120 It will continue.
00:48:31.320 Listen, like, nobody likes taxes to go up, especially when it's our taxes.
00:48:35.720 So, of course, people will fight back.
00:48:38.420 And I think the liberals have misunderstood the impact on people because they were claiming that only 1% or less than 1% of Canadians will be affected by this.
00:48:50.220 But the truth is that that's year to year.
00:48:53.140 That's when, you know, people make those capital gains in one year over a quarter million dollars.
00:48:59.340 And when you look at the reality, you have, like, over 4 million people who have properties, more than two properties.
00:49:06.140 You have over 10% of Canadians who have a college.
00:49:08.820 So, eventually, they will be affected by this measure.
00:49:12.820 And it's like taxing the dream, right?
00:49:15.700 The dream of that investment, the dream of that property that will now go to the government.
00:49:21.880 And people do not like that.
00:49:23.160 They envision them being targeted later.
00:49:25.420 They know they will be targeted later.
00:49:26.900 And they're reacting.
00:49:28.720 I don't know if the liberals will win that battle.
00:49:31.700 But it was interesting.
00:49:32.860 I thought that the Conservatives and Pierre Poirier did not go against it, did not pledge to repeal it.
00:49:39.260 Why?
00:49:39.920 Well, because it will bring a lot of money into the government coffers.
00:49:42.740 And that as well.
00:49:43.940 And I was wondering, Warren, just kind of more to Carl's point, too.
00:49:46.460 Was there perhaps a trap here being laid that the liberals were trying to lull the Conservatives into to, you know, defend the rich or whatever you have you?
00:49:54.520 But it seems like the Liberals kind of didn't, or the Conservatives didn't take that bait.
00:49:59.400 Yeah, kind of.
00:50:00.660 Yeah.
00:50:01.480 And I agree with much of what my colleagues say.
00:50:04.020 But, you know, in preparation for this morning, I was reading a fine post-media newspaper.
00:50:09.440 And that had a column in it talking about what both Carl and Tash have said, which is that this change, this tax change, from what my former boss, John Cretchen, did so many years ago, is unfair.
00:50:24.520 And destructive, you know, to people who take risk in economies.
00:50:28.400 And to doctors and tech people, who the Trudeau government, you know, usually says it wants to attract more of.
00:50:36.360 And anyway, it was a very, very tough column against this change.
00:50:40.520 And it was written by two guys named Dwight Duncan and John Manley.
00:50:46.900 You know.
00:50:47.620 May have heard of them.
00:50:48.840 Yeah.
00:50:49.180 May have heard of the former Liberal, you know, finance ministers saying what a mistake it is.
00:50:55.200 If they don't have those guys, that there's, you know, it's over.
00:50:59.440 I think this thing is as done as the carbon tax.
00:51:02.420 Like, it's just a change.
00:51:03.580 I mean, they're going to do it on June 25th.
00:51:05.700 But in terms of selling it to people, they haven't.
00:51:08.040 And just to follow on that, Warren, you know, if this was the messaging, we're trying to make this more fair, as I mentioned, do you think, did they go, was this the right way to do it?
00:51:16.900 To Tash's point, you know, was it making a new income bracket, for example?
00:51:19.820 Was this kind of the wrong way to kind of go about this messaging?
00:51:23.240 I think, no, I think you could actually do it.
00:51:27.880 You can market something like this.
00:51:30.700 The problem isn't the message, per se.
00:51:33.280 It's who's the messenger.
00:51:35.760 And, you know, we've reached now the point, you know, every week the three of us come on with you, Andrew, and we, you know, declare that the patient is dead.
00:51:44.840 The patient is still dead.
00:51:46.360 The problem is, you know, not the message.
00:51:49.280 It's the messenger.
00:51:50.460 It's the Trudeau government.
00:51:51.220 People don't believe anything that they say.
00:51:54.320 It's gotten that bad.
00:51:56.680 They could come up with a cure for the common cold, and I think most people would doubt it or be opposed to it.
00:52:02.880 It's just nobody believes anything that comes out of their mouths anymore, and the polls reflect that.
00:52:08.680 Well, and just to follow up on that, because I've been saying something very similar about Trudeau's attacks about Pierre Pauly, that they're not necessarily wrong or bad attacks,
00:52:18.240 but it feels like, you know, people are just upset with the messenger and kind of tuning this prime minister out at this point.
00:52:23.040 So, you know, similarly, we did see Pauly visit some convoy-like protesters this week, and the prime minister immediately did kind of pivot, started jumping on this Alex Jones stuff and conspiracy theorists.
00:52:34.100 And I was kind of wondering, you know, is that message not going to work just because people are sick of the messenger at this point?
00:52:43.100 Just back to you, Warren.
00:52:44.460 Yeah, no, they are.
00:52:45.780 And, you know, has Pauly missed an opportunity in not condemning those people?
00:52:51.040 And, you know, are condemning at least Alex Jones, who's a conspiracy theorist who says that Sandy Hook didn't happen.
00:52:59.740 Yeah, maybe he's missed an opportunity, but Trudeau misses a bigger opportunity, but something happening right here.
00:53:05.520 You know, Samadam, which is an organization that the government of Canada continues to allow to exist here in Canada,
00:53:12.920 held a rally in Canada this weekend calling Hamas martyrs and praising October 7th.
00:53:20.040 Like, that's a form of extremism that's, like, right close to home that just happened that I think is worth condemning.
00:53:27.720 But the Trudeau guys aren't doing that.
00:53:29.040 And, again, you know, to your point, Andrew, they just don't have credibility on stuff like this because people have tuned them out.
00:53:35.860 And, Tasha, yeah, just kind of similar following up on that point in a sense of do you think that those messages,
00:53:42.500 kind of the greatest hits from Trudeau perhaps are kind of falling on deaf ears at this point,
00:53:46.200 even if there may be some, you know, political wrangling to it?
00:53:50.040 Well, I think the, you know, right-wing extremism is the conservative's Achilles heel,
00:53:55.320 and the left didn't have quite the same Achilles heel until now.
00:53:59.620 And to Warren's point, it does now, because now what you're seeing is the opposite end of the political spectrum
00:54:05.580 mired in disorder, protest, hate speech, you name it.
00:54:11.080 So it's pot-calling kettle black, right?
00:54:13.820 If Trudeau is going to say, oh, Polyev, you're an extremist, he goes, well, hey, look at you.
00:54:18.060 Look at the people who you're courting.
00:54:20.840 What are they?
00:54:21.960 So it's now become this polarity.
00:54:24.680 And so that changes the narrative.
00:54:27.140 You know, it doesn't make what Polyev is doing necessarily right or these people right.
00:54:31.480 Absolutely not.
00:54:33.140 But it doesn't allow Trudeau to push back in the same way, because you can just turn around and look at him.
00:54:38.880 And to the point we made earlier, he's not a popular messenger in any quarter, really.
00:54:44.580 I did want to say one thing about the budget, because it is important just to bring that back.
00:54:48.940 Polling was done about how people felt about that change.
00:54:51.280 And 71%, according to a Spark poll that I had read, said that almost everyone's going to pay more because of that capital gains change.
00:54:59.260 So clearly the messenger didn't get it out that it was for the 1%.
00:55:03.620 And what you're seeing now with Polyev, too, I don't think it's going to permeate the same way it would have, say, even six months ago.
00:55:11.280 Carl, just a couple of things on that.
00:55:13.160 I guess in terms of Polyev's visit with these protesters this week, do you think that he did more harm than good in terms of his election prospects?
00:55:22.280 Well, it should be the case, but it is not the case, because I think people don't care.
00:55:27.040 It's been with these type of protesters before, and you want the leadership anyway.
00:55:32.800 It was not a liability, even though it should be.
00:55:35.300 And I think you're seeing that more and more in politics, and you certainly see that south of the border,
00:55:40.920 where the moderate Republicans will still enable Donald Trump.
00:55:46.220 And here, the moderate conservatives will still enable Pierre Polyev, no matter what he does.
00:55:50.880 Why?
00:55:51.960 Well, because the guy on the other side will always be worse than the worst of our guys.
00:55:59.080 That's the logic that people apply to politics nowadays.
00:56:02.400 And it doesn't matter what he does.
00:56:04.080 As long as he's not Justin Trudeau, he'll be fine.
00:56:07.060 At this stage in the cycle, that's the reality.
00:56:10.120 So I think, unfortunately, the world has changed.
00:56:15.940 There is less room for moderation.
00:56:19.280 And frankly, the voters that could be susceptible to go back to the liberals based on this are long gone.
00:56:26.500 And I don't think they're coming back.
00:56:27.900 I mean, you look at the polls.
00:56:29.740 New Democrats are holding steady.
00:56:31.020 So the liberals are hoping to poach that group of voters with the kind of budget we've seen.
00:56:36.300 So far, it's not working.
00:56:38.200 And the red-blue switchers that have migrated to the conservatives don't seem to be affected by this kind of attacks by the liberals.
00:56:45.360 We'll see if that lasts.
00:56:46.520 But for now, I don't think it's going to work.
00:56:48.960 And just kind of speaking of the poll numbers, just to bring it back to the budget, as Tasha did there, Carl, as well,
00:56:52.800 are you surprised that the liberals, not just like a tiny bump, it seems like they've got no bump at all.
00:56:58.380 Well, I think the liberals are surprised because they had a plan.
00:57:01.960 They had a plan to campaign on this.
00:57:03.540 They had a pre-budget tour with multiple announcements.
00:57:06.440 The problem is they gave all the goodies out of the budget.
00:57:10.100 And then when the budget was tabled, everybody's talking about one thing, tax increase.
00:57:14.220 It doesn't matter what tax.
00:57:15.400 It doesn't matter what it is.
00:57:16.540 That's the message coming out.
00:57:17.860 And that's what we talked about this morning.
00:57:19.280 So all the goodies, all the good things about housing, all the investment that we've seen, child care,
00:57:24.980 and there was a number of announcements, they've been overshadowed by this capital gains tax increase.
00:57:33.080 And in that sense, I think they miscalculated how people will respond to the pre-budget tour,
00:57:41.520 and the coverage since then has not been very positive for them.
00:57:44.820 And I guess kind of a similar one in terms of the carbon tax here because it is just a kind of a pointed liberal government policy here
00:57:54.240 or a very kind of stable liberal government policy here.
00:57:56.580 We're seeing the premiers continue to push back, trying to throw barriers up.
00:57:59.460 I'm wondering, Warren, maybe I'll start with you on this.
00:58:01.440 Is this the biggest political football of many, I guess?
00:58:04.680 But is this the biggest political football that the Trudeau liberals are holding right now?
00:58:07.860 Well, they've fumbled the football, if it is, in fact, a football, to extend the metaphor.
00:58:14.600 You know, I think, again, you know, the three of us have been pronouncing this one dead to you for some time
00:58:21.280 when you had liberal premiers starting to come out against it, when public opinion started to turn against it,
00:58:26.900 when public opinion was previously in favor of it.
00:58:29.620 But when, excuse me, Jagmeet Singh's NDP finally said, you know, we've got a problem with it, like, that's it.
00:58:37.460 Like, it's done.
00:58:38.840 And, you know, notwithstanding the fact that Trudeau actually did, in fairness to him,
00:58:43.920 have a mandate to do a carbon tax, to do, you know, a price on pollution in his, you know, election platforms for three elections.
00:58:53.340 Like, it's just done.
00:58:55.060 Public opinion has turned against it because everything has become so expensive in people's lives.
00:59:01.180 And, you know, maybe it would have been saved.
00:59:04.120 Maybe you could have marketed it if, you know, the pocketbook issues hadn't exploded in the way that they did.
00:59:10.500 But they have.
00:59:11.740 And, you know, Polyev, quite frankly, has brilliantly taken advantage of it.
00:59:16.380 And he's turned public opinion.
00:59:17.840 Public opinion used to be in favor of a carbon tax.
00:59:20.540 It really did.
00:59:21.320 And Polyev just kept hammering away at it.
00:59:24.780 Now he's got the majority on his side.
00:59:26.840 It's a very good point.
00:59:27.740 It's been a very stark reversal in that sense.
00:59:30.500 Carl, you know, if you are the Liberal government right now, do you stick by this?
00:59:35.360 Do you go down right to the end with it?
00:59:37.120 Or do you kind of start to soften up a little bit?
00:59:40.700 Well, I mean, they did start to back up on this a little bit.
00:59:47.000 You know, we saw what happened in the athletic provinces.
00:59:48.980 But the reality is that admitting defeat is hard.
00:59:53.940 And if they do that, I don't think it will help reverse their fortune.
00:59:58.900 So I'm not sure that they can back up.
01:00:03.860 And even more than they did, I think the Liberals are kind of stuck with it.
01:00:09.800 And they have yet to make a demonstration or, you know, to defeat the argument that the Conservatives are making,
01:00:15.680 which is the reason why everything is up, why everything is costing more is because of the carbon tax.
01:00:20.920 It's not true.
01:00:22.420 But people are buying that message.
01:00:24.700 And the Liberals have yet to come up with the counter narrative.
01:00:28.620 And that's the key here, because they let the Conservatives get away with it.
01:00:32.720 And the Conservatives are very, you know, systematic.
01:00:35.080 Like, they raise it every single time.
01:00:36.800 Like, you go to any kind of committee meeting on the Hill, it's unrelated.
01:00:41.060 Like, it might be about librarians.
01:00:42.980 And they will raise the carbon tax.
01:00:44.600 It doesn't matter.
01:00:45.940 They raise it again and again and again.
01:00:47.660 Why? Because in political communications, you have to repeat, repeat, repeat the message for people to hear it and assimilate it.
01:00:54.220 And it's working for them.
01:00:55.600 The Liberals do not have that counter narrative.
01:00:57.840 And I don't know that they will be able to come up with one now at this stage.
01:01:00.840 Yeah, and I don't know if it's too late to come up with one at this stage.
01:01:03.660 But it's definitely fascinating to watch.
01:01:05.720 Tasha, I guess it is a big challenge, obviously.
01:01:09.740 And the premiers seem to be a barrier to this.
01:01:11.840 Do you think this is the biggest challenge or political football that the Liberals kind of have right now?
01:01:17.660 Well, it's ironic because this is really, I mean, the only, apart from legalizing marijuana, legacy project this government has.
01:01:25.980 The idea was we're going to, you know, contribute to climate change, set Canada on a path to net zero, do our part, have this progressive incremental increase in the carbon tax over time.
01:01:40.060 That's going to, you know, that's what we're doing.
01:01:42.520 And it's all falling apart.
01:01:44.580 And it's falling apart, as Warren pointed out, because economic circumstances changed.
01:01:49.360 And when people can't eat, the environment takes second place.
01:01:52.720 It just does.
01:01:54.440 And that's what you're seeing, because if the tax isn't there, you know, people would, they blame something else.
01:02:00.580 The Liberals, it's difficult for them to say, well, things are up because of other things, because those other things, like inflation, you know, interest rates, all those things, people will say, well, you didn't do anything about that either.
01:02:12.260 Right. So there's nothing they can point to and say, well, you know, we it's it's it's it's something else that's not our fault.
01:02:20.180 It ends up being in people's minds. It's still their fault.
01:02:23.480 So they're they're stuck. I think they'll stay with it.
01:02:26.020 I think they'll go, you know, the ship will sort of sink down into the under the iceberg there with the carbon tax on board.
01:02:32.400 I don't know what its future will be.
01:02:34.220 I mean, the next government would repeal it if it was a conservative government, which it probably will be.
01:02:37.960 But what will they do instead in terms of the environment?
01:02:42.260 Not clear. So, you know, it might come back someday in a different form.
01:02:48.420 But for now, I think the Liberals don't really have a choice but to stay with it, because otherwise it is basically undoing everything they came there to do.
01:02:56.120 I'm kind of summing up the fascination of politics and timing there in one succinct answer as well.
01:03:01.300 But we'll leave it there for this weekend.
01:03:03.140 Carl, Warren and Tasha, thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
01:03:06.280 Thank you. Thanks, guys.
01:03:07.960 Carl Belanger is the president at Traction Strategies.
01:03:10.460 Tasha Carradine is a political columnist for the National Post, a writer for GZERO Media and an author.
01:03:14.700 And Warren Cotelli is a strategist and post-media columnist.
01:03:17.140 You can find him often in the Toronto Sun.
01:03:18.940 and do the E.
01:03:26.860 You can find Admiral Cotelli.
01:03:29.400 And we can find Admiral Cotelli.
01:03:31.500 So, look it over.
01:03:32.540 But I'm here in the Tasha and we can find Admiral Cot accurately.
01:03:35.840 Make the show that we have on the other side of the tower with the big側.
01:03:40.260 Oh my God.
01:03:42.160 That's right.
01:03:42.540 Thank you.
01:04:12.540 Here's all that I have to give
01:04:27.740 I'll admit it's not a lot
01:04:36.000 But it's all that I've got too
01:04:42.000 Hang myself with
01:04:47.400 In hopes that you'll take notice of me
01:04:57.300 I've been waiting
01:05:02.700 So long up in these trees
01:05:10.100 Trying to hang myself with thoughts of you
01:05:22.100 Thoughts of me
01:05:27.000 I've been wishing so long
01:05:34.100 Why can't you see
01:05:39.500 I've been waiting for you
01:05:44.900 I've been waiting for you
01:05:46.900 I've been waiting for you
01:05:48.900 I've been waiting for you
01:05:54.300 I've been waiting for you
01:05:58.300 I've been waiting for you
01:06:00.300 I've been waiting for you
01:06:05.700 I've been waiting for you
01:06:07.700 I've been waiting for you
01:06:25.100 Here's all that I
01:06:51.540 Have to give
01:06:56.080 I'll admit it's not a lot
01:07:04.220 But it's all that I've got
01:07:08.540 To hang myself within
01:07:16.780 Hopes that you'll take notice of me
01:07:25.580 I've been waiting so long
01:07:32.780 Up in these trees
01:07:38.280 Trying to hang myself with
01:07:45.160 Thoughts of you
01:07:50.780 Thoughts of me
01:07:55.280 I've been wishing
01:07:59.280 So long
01:08:02.280 Why can't you see
01:08:07.780 Me?
01:08:37.780 I have to
01:08:43.280 Make sure that you are
01:08:46.840 Too long
01:09:03.440 Here's all that I have to give
01:09:24.420 I'll admit it's not a while
01:09:32.520 But it's all that I've done to
01:09:38.620 Pay myself with Him
01:09:45.160 Holes that you'll take notice of me
01:09:53.920 I've been waiting so long
01:10:01.520 Up in these dreams
01:10:06.620 Trying to hang myself with
01:10:14.060 Thoughts of me
01:10:20.160 Thoughts of me
01:10:25.160 I've been wishing so long
01:10:32.160 Why can't you sing?
01:10:38.260 I've been wishing so long
01:10:46.360 I've been wishing so long
01:10:48.360 I've been wishing so long
01:10:50.360 I've been wishing so long
01:11:02.460 I've been wishing so long
01:11:06.460 I've been wishing so long
01:11:22.560 I've been wishing so long
01:11:30.660 I've been wishing so long
01:11:34.660 I've been wishing so long
01:11:38.660 Thank you.