KINSELLACAST 345： We ain't for sale - with Lilley, Kheiriddin, Belanger, Wieder, Mraz, Mulroney, Pierson! Plus Bowie, Velveteers, Bad Dreems, Oh Daisy, Clay J Gladstone, Dead Pony, Old Mervs, Wonder Years
00:01:33.320It's just hard to keep track in Canada, in the United States, United States against Canada, Europe, Middle East, you name it.
00:01:41.220But I just wanted to focus on one thing, something that's simple.
00:01:45.560And it says something about our politics, and certainly says something about us as a people, when the simple wearing of a trekkers cap can cause a sensation.
00:01:56.460Canada is not for sale, the words on the cap declared.
00:02:00.300And beneath it, a steely-eyed Ontario Premier Doug Fort looked out at the assembled cameras at Wednesday's first ministers gathering in Ottawa.
00:02:08.780And he wasn't smiling, and really, who can blame him?
00:02:12.240There's not a lot to smile about these days.
00:02:14.720The President-elect of the United States of America had said he's going to use force against us.
00:02:21.320That we have nothing to offer the world.
00:02:23.400He doesn't care what our leaders have to say, whether on the right or the left.
00:02:26.500He's going to tank our economy with a 25% tariff.
00:02:29.260He's even published maps, like Hamas does, with Israel, showing Canada completely gone.
00:02:35.500So as my colleague Brian Passifiume at Post Media reported on Wednesday, Ford's hat, blue, it's got a Canadian flag on one side, 1867 on the other, caused a sensation.
00:02:46.400Everyone, and like, no exaggeration, everyone expressed admiration, verging on adoration for Ford.
00:02:53.400And everybody immediately wanted to know where to get one of those hats.
00:02:55.940And so many tried, the Ottawa company that makes them, their website crashed.
00:03:17.760And as the news of Doug Ford's hat-wearing broke, I was on the TV set, a TV set, a Zoomer TV, with another colleague, Brian Lilly, and historian Conrad Black was there, remotely.
00:03:32.020And the subject matter was what Canada should do about Trump's threats.
00:03:41.140Anyway, Brian made an important point, as he always does.
00:03:43.720Trump's ravings all felt like a joke, he said at the start, but they don't feel very jokey anymore.
00:03:50.300And Black, who told us he considers Trump a friend, conceded that his friend's rhetoric was over the top, but he insisted that Trump isn't serious.
00:03:59.560And I was, of course, the Trump hater on the panel, and I had a different view.
00:04:28.460And some supportive noises were made on the panel about Alberta Premier Daniel Smith, who is the Neville Chamberlain of Confederation, and I was the dissident again.
00:04:40.280Right out of the gate, Smith basically parroted everything, every bit of crap that came from Trump's fincter mouth.
00:13:50.800So, you know, this is what's going on.
00:13:54.480And, you know, when Trump started, he said it was to get us to act on the border issues, increasing illegal migration, drugs, things like that.
00:14:08.020That was an easy act for us to give, if, you know, that's what it was.
00:14:11.820Then he started joking, or we thought it was a joke, about making us the 51st state.
00:14:16.540And now we don't know if that's a joke.
00:14:20.880If that's what he's after, well, then we're screwed, because how do we give that to him?
00:14:25.50080% of Canadians would say no to that.
00:14:28.120And they've been saying no for well over a century.
00:14:31.980I'm going to read to you from Richard Cartwright, who was in the Ontario legislature debating the issue of whether to go ahead with Confederation.
00:14:45.820And a big part of it was the difference between they were debating the different views of liberty, between how they saw it and how the Americans saw it.
00:14:56.440And Cartwright said, for myself, sir, I own frankly, and I prefer British liberty to American equality.
00:15:03.000I had rather uphold the majesty of the law than the majesty of Judge Lynch.
00:15:07.220And you can find all kinds of quotes from George Brown and others in this book that I'm going through about Canada's founding debates on that this is, it wasn't just that they were anti-American.
00:15:20.520They viewed how the country should be structured different.
00:15:23.920And we've been doing that since those days.
00:15:27.680We've kind of lost our way, but now we're under threat.
00:15:54.560So I think you're about to be proven right tomorrow.
00:15:58.720In terms of the Canadian political universe, such as it is, from Doug Ford, Daniel Smith, Legault, the premiers, Justin Trudeau departing the stage, Pierre Polyev, can you give us kind of quick assessments?
00:27:29.320And Trump is, of course, claiming credit for all of that.
00:27:33.200What's your view on Trump's impact, if any, on the Middle Eastern conflict?
00:27:37.280I think the threat of Trump 2.0 must have had some impact or certainly offered some consideration and pause for thought to whomever is really in charge of Hamas right now.
00:27:49.120I'm not at all sure it's the leader they put in front of the microphone.
00:27:52.620I suspect it remains with money in Qatar and elsewhere.
00:27:59.440As much as I don't approve of Bibi Netanyahu's leadership, and I know you agree with me on this.
00:28:07.120And certainly there have been some interesting reportage over the last week on those that left his ship from the far right in Israel because they thought he gave far too many concessions to Hamas.
00:28:19.680Hamas and to the other, I guess the other negotiators were Egypt and Qatar.
00:28:25.520And I do want to talk about those concessions.
00:28:28.460I mean, we're talking about letting out several hundred Alistinian, but let's not call them that, Hamas and Hezbollah activists who slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians
00:28:42.280and are being released in exchange for a paucity of hostages' lives.
00:28:47.460I, of course, want every hostage to come home, whether they're dead or alive, they deserve to be buried or loved once more, and I'm delighted they're coming home.
00:28:58.540And a lot of the other aspects of that deal, safe corridor, no flyover zone, a return to no Israeli presence at the Egyptian border where all those weapons were coming in in the first place, is very troubling to me.
00:29:13.500Plus the fact that the leadership of Hamas said, sir, it's a ceasefire, and in 45 days from now, the war is on again, and we still want to wipe Israel off the map and kill every Jew in the world.
00:29:24.080Okay, I agree with every word you said, but I want to talk about Trump.
00:29:54.600What is Trump a stabilizing or a destabilizing force in Israel and Gaza and Lebanon and Iran?
00:30:02.400As I said, he might have been influential in pushing those parties in the Middle East to the table, but I don't believe that ceasefire will hold, because I don't believe Hamas or one of the other 10 groups that think Hamas are not tough enough are going to be able to restrain themselves from firing rockets at Israel within the next week.
00:31:33.160But really, remember that Biden was depending on an economy in North America that was being bolstered by immense arms manufacturing and security manufacturing processes.
00:31:47.780Simply selling arms or even giving them away makes money in America and supports an economy that Trump needs to blossom and at least survive because of all the promises he made.
00:32:05.360I want to start by saying it's being reported that it's a stalemate over there.
00:32:10.400Russia has taken back over 100,000 square kilometers in the last five months of land that they had lost during the counteroffensive by the Ukrainians.
00:32:19.240And while the Ukrainians are up in Russia, they never expected to hold that land, and they couldn't if Russia really mustered a force there.
00:32:26.400So I think that Trump does have the ability to force Zelensky to sit down with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
00:32:36.060But I'm not sure that he can force Zelensky and the Ukrainian population to stop fighting, even by cutting off their arms.
00:32:45.020And I am lucky enough to be working with some European political consultants this work, and they assure me that Britain and the rest of Europe remain wholeheartedly committed to supporting Ukraine because they've got Russian.
00:33:04.760Let's turn our attention to we're doing a hopscotching very rapidly here because this has been just an extraordinary week with all kinds of activity on it.
00:33:15.020A hostage is being released on the same 24-hour period as an inauguration, as a bunch of other events.
00:33:20.980In Canada, obviously, I think you and Brian Lilly and I and many others have been saying for a long time he means it about the tariffs, or I think that's what you would say.
00:33:33.100And so it looks like it's very much going to happen.
00:33:35.160You've got the Premier of Ontario saying half a million jobs could be lost in this province alone.
00:33:40.220Go through the range, like federally, provincially.
00:33:42.840So Trudeau, Polyev, and provincially, Smith, and Legault, and Ford, and so on.
00:33:56.460By the way, I think of all the politicians in Canada, and Doug Ford will shoot coffee out of his nose because God knows I was not that kind to him in my columns historically.
00:34:05.440But I've started to say good things about him.
00:34:07.300I think he's a pretty good Premier here in Ontario.
00:34:11.900I think Doug Ford's positioning has been the smartest, which is to say, well, be tough but respectful.
00:34:16.780We want to meet you at the table, and we want to make sure Americans and Canadians, neither Americans nor Canadians, are harmed economically,
00:34:25.860and that we continue to be the most loyal and best friends and allies the world has ever known.
00:34:35.560Daniel Smith has to represent an Alberta constituency that probably doesn't want to be part of Confederation and certainly doesn't want to take direction from a Prime Minister that's never given her province any consideration except by sticking a big straw by which we suck oil and taxes out of the West.
00:34:59.040How do you think this is going to affect him?
00:35:00.500Because we're both hearing rumors that there could be an election call as soon as the month of February for a vote sometime in March.
00:35:08.260How does – does this mean – I think Ford could be looking at getting a bigger majority, his third majority, bigger than anyone he's had before if he's running against Trump.
00:35:19.820I agree with you, and I just confessed to someone, and I'm going to get in a world of trouble for this.
00:35:24.120If I had the options that are available on the table right now in the next provincial election, Doug Ford, you have my vote.
00:35:30.500That will be the first time I vote conservative in my life for anything.
00:35:34.320I think he's done a very good job, and I resent having to say it, but merit is – should be praised where merit, you know, exists.
00:35:43.560So what I – but let's get back to, you know, the larger table.
00:35:49.320I can't decide whether Trump is talking about tariffs with Canada, buying Greenland, taking back the Panama Canal, because he realized that daddy made a lot of crazy promises,
00:36:00.880and talking about building American empire and global influence is a lot easier than actually delivering a $2 gallon of gas to consumers, you know, at home,
00:36:10.180or whether he's deadly serious and sees an opportunity to take Canada, even if it's just economically, in our weakened states as the second largest geographic country in the world
00:36:25.720with a population smaller than California and an economy that's wholly dependent on primary resource extraction because we haven't built our manufacturing or our tertiary or our tech sectors.
00:36:36.320I think, as a predator, and he is a capitalist predator, there's no doubt about that, that he is saying out loud what I suspect other presidents and other American statesmen have thought.
00:37:03.220Well, then, so everybody needs to know that vis-a-vis what I'm going to ask you next, which is how does the Donald Trump threat, which we're facing on multiple fronts,
00:37:15.100how does the Donald Trump threat affect Mark Carney and Christopher Freeland, all of these other also-ran candidates?
00:37:22.800Very quickly, how – what's the Trump impact on the liberal leadership race?
00:37:29.900I think both Mr. Carney and Christopher Freeland have already come to the table.
00:37:34.580Christopher came out like a pugilist, almost with a boxer stance and said, I'm a tough negotiator, and I've been there before and I succeeded.
00:37:42.780What I remember is Donald Trump saying, I'd rather she never come back to America, and we don't like negotiating with her, and I won't negotiate with her again.
00:37:51.160Mark Carney, of course, much more statesman-like, diplomat, governor of the Bank of England, governor of the Bank of Canada.
00:37:56.900And I do have respect for both of these candidates intellectually.
00:37:59.980I want to put that out there right now.
00:38:01.780Mark is approaching it as a banker would and saying there's a solution.
00:38:05.760I am not going to speak for Ruby Dalla or the other candidates because they've yet to comment on it.
00:38:10.540But it seems to me that the right way to approach Donald Trump is, as an equal, with respect, understanding, to quote our old prime minister, that we are a mouse living next to an elephant, and that we would be fairly cautious if we want to keep our sovereignty and our economic security intact.
00:38:28.340John Mraz, thank you for your analysis.
00:41:37.460And you need to be an upstander. And there has been such a lack of leadership on this file that has allowed anti-Semitism to percolate and fester like an infection on the street of Toronto.
00:41:48.900You're listening to The Alex Pearson Show.
00:41:51.700That is the voice of Toronto Council Brad Bradford talking to Mr. Ben Mulroney on The Ben Mulroney Show this morning.
00:41:57.900And, you know, yeah, we need leadership. And he's remarking to the latest anti-Semitic attack, this one happening at a Jewish business, a kosher business that was broken into on Friday of last week.
00:42:12.300York Regional Police say this one happened overnight where two suspects broke into this commercial business in the Yonge and Doncaster Avenue north area of Toronto and vandalized the area pretty badly
00:42:24.040and left some very, very noticeable messages that were very clear, but I can't say them on on the radio.
00:42:31.280But this is not new. It's that it just keeps happening over and over and over again.
00:42:36.120And why does it happen over again? Well, because no one stands up to it.
00:42:41.080You know, in moments like this, you have to be absolutely clear in your condemnation.
00:42:46.560We have to stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement.
00:42:49.340And, you know, the mayor likes to often sort of fall back on the idea that we don't direct the police.
00:42:55.740But the the context of that is we don't direct the police who to charge and what to charge them with.
00:43:02.460But we certainly can provide direction.
00:43:05.120And we need to ensure that our law enforcement understands that they are fully supported.
00:43:10.000And and while it might be uncomfortable to watch protests cleared out of the center or to shut down this sort of the hateful mobs that have taken over our streets, that's what needs to happen.
00:43:22.580But it has not. And so begs the question, why has it been so difficult to deal with,
00:43:27.740you know, a suspected terror entity, which in other countries is designated at that.
00:43:35.020But here in Canada, everyone has been too scared to say anything about it's a group called the Hizbub Tahrir.
00:43:41.520And this is a group that has been trying to get a venue in either Mississauga, Hamilton or anywhere so that it can give a conference on how to,
00:43:50.960I guess, start a caliphate here, you know, where we can all live under Islamic Sharia law.
00:43:56.040Sounds fun, right? But women rights were fun. Never mind.
00:44:00.160We're going to go back to Sharia law. But nonetheless, you know, mayor of Mississauga said, well, it's not really welcome.
00:44:05.820Didn't stop it. And then mayor Horvath in Hamilton said, well, you're not really welcome, but didn't stop it.
00:44:11.920And then the federal government was. Don't worry about that. That's just my drink for the 20th time.
00:44:18.460But then, of course, the federal government was under a lot of pressure to step in and either designate this as a terror entity
00:44:26.020because it is a conference of hate against Jews.
00:44:31.180And for whatever reason, they were kicking and dragging and, well, we are telling people not to go and we don't want it.
00:44:37.400But they didn't go as far as canceling it, right?
00:44:39.880They said they would wait for CSIS to decide if it fits the criteria of terror.
00:44:44.360Well, the group has, I guess, now decided to cancel its gathering.
00:44:49.480But why is it so hard for people in this country, especially in leadership, to actually take leadership on these issues?
00:46:45.720And I guess, I mean, it's such a tired line every time I hear about it.
00:46:48.720I'm like, well, it clearly does have a place here because politicians worried about, you know, pandering to specific votes are allowing it to happen.
00:46:55.520I would put, you know, Pierre Polyev in your category.
00:46:58.040He has been very morally clear on where he stands on this.
00:47:01.440And he will bring in, I think, change if elected.
00:47:05.080But we've seen just far too many times with the light left, they pander to it.
00:47:09.000I want to play you, you know, Greg Brady had Olivia Chow on this morning.
00:47:12.800And she's been criticized a lot by the Jewish community for just not showing up.
00:47:17.340But just, I mean, she has cowered way too many times.
00:47:36.080Yes, I know hate crime is on the rise.
00:47:38.960And the chief of police and I are meeting with the top Jewish communities, whether it's UJA or CJAP, to explore ways to, and I'm working with the Koto sector.
00:47:55.320Because the best way for us to see each other and hear each other and be empathetic is through arts and culture to build bridges.
00:48:12.620No, Madam Mayor, actually, there are things that you personally can do.
00:48:17.160So, for example, on the occasion when Israel's flag is raised, just once a year in a little corner of City Hall, you can show up, which she didn't.
00:48:28.480You can, for example, when a vote comes before council to provide a protective zone around places of worship, not just synagogues, but all places of worship, you can do something other than voting against it, which is what you did.
00:48:42.880And in particular, you do have the power to determine the policing that takes place in this city.
00:48:50.980You determine the budget of the Toronto Police Service.
00:48:54.000You determine who the chief of police is going to be.
00:48:56.540And as Brad Bradford said in the clip that you played, you determine the policy that the police implement.
00:49:03.360Olivia Chow is pretending to have no power when, in fact, she's the mayor of one of the biggest cities in the world.
00:49:11.140She has more power than some provincial premiers do, but she's not doing anything because she refuses to show leadership about how a minority group, a minority are being persecuted and attacked criminally because of their religion.
00:49:35.060I mean, it's too late now, but it sure will be interesting.
00:49:37.700You know, this this ceasefire, which is supposed to be signed this afternoon.
00:49:42.120We'll talk about it in a few minutes overseas.
00:49:44.240But we are supposed to get this ceasefire and the hostages return.
00:49:48.560And you just wonder, is it the tide going to turn now?
00:49:51.300Will people will people talk out about it?
00:49:53.000Because Trump has made it clear, you know, those those hostages better be out by the time election inauguration day is here.
00:49:57.960But also, I think the whole tone will change with those protesters in the streets of the United States when he gets in because he's also said he won't put up with it.
00:50:06.140And so he'll pull funding from universities and such.
00:50:08.600But maybe it takes an inauguration day to change the tone.
00:50:12.040But I don't know why it's been so difficult.
00:50:31.360So if he was really, you know, attempting to doing all of this because of politics, he might be taking a different approach.
00:50:38.220So he deserves a lot of credit for for taking that position.
00:50:42.520And, you know, there are some other politicians in the country have done likewise, but they are in the minority.
00:50:48.140And it's got to change because in those jurisdictions where, you know, people run DeSantis in Florida, for example, DeSantis has said to universities and he said to police forces, that's not going to happen in Florida.
00:51:03.500Sorry, we're not going to let you do that.
00:51:05.440We're not going to allow you to intimidate and terrorize a minority.
00:51:10.300And it basically it's stopped in Florida.
00:51:17.060But the key thing is we need leadership.
00:51:19.320And in places like the city of Toronto, we're not getting it.
00:51:22.680No, in many places in Canada, we haven't gone it, which is why we have this dubious distinction and infamous reputation that it will not go away anytime soon.
00:51:39.900Warren Kinsella, I should have asked him, got a book coming out.
00:51:42.860He's been writing a book and certainly he spent his career, like decades writing against things like anti-Semitism in this with white nationalism.
00:51:51.780But he's got a new book coming out and we'll definitely talk about it.
00:51:55.040But that he's been right on the front lines.
01:19:06.740But we haven't done, I don't want to make a partisan statement here, but we haven't done well in the last 10 years, as Diane knows very well.
01:19:14.040We've had terrible capital outflows, including Canadians themselves, because they're better places to invest in Canada because of poor public policy.
01:19:24.000On this business of Trump, he's not serious, he's playing poker.
01:19:27.700And the idea of responding to complaints about people crossing our border into the U.S. by raising tariffs is a non sequitur.
01:19:35.880I mean, we're not East Germany, we're not building walls to keep people in, and it is the responsibility of all countries to set up whatever processes they think appropriate at their borders with incoming people.
01:19:48.840And Trump's real complaint, as he showed in the election in November, was his predecessor's conduct on the southern border.
01:19:55.260He has no complaint of us, really, about how we handle our border.
01:19:59.020If we should do a little more, fine, let's do it.
01:20:01.120But in any case, that's not a terror list.
01:20:03.260All right, I take your point, Conrad, and I do agree that Trump's rhetoric is a bit of a red herring.
01:20:07.860But imagine trading resources in U.S. dollars.
01:20:10.500Imagine maybe Canadians have a seat or two of the Federal Reserve.
01:21:06.540If you, getting back to what Mr. Black said, if you measure public opinion, which is the most important thing, not the dollar value, exchange rate.
01:21:16.060If you measure public opinion in this country, going back decades, we regularly ask this question.
01:21:22.760Do you want to join the United States?
01:21:24.800And whether people are Conservative or Liberal or whatever, or however distressed they are about the way in which the country is being governed,
01:28:21.720Because at the end of the day, the movement of goods across Canadian international borders is still ultimately controlled under the Constitution by the government of Canada.
01:28:32.220So they absolutely had the power to stop the flow of Alberta oil into the United States of America.
01:28:38.780So it will happen whether she wants it or not.
01:28:43.020I just don't understand what the strategy of her and her team is, why she wouldn't participate in the discussion to try and ensure we have a united Canadian position, but also to defend Alberta's interests.
01:32:53.320Because, yeah, I think that this is actually, he's being put in the box, and he either has to step up or he could be quite affected by this.
01:33:03.080I think as things go on, you know, they always said only Nixon could go to China, right?
01:33:08.700If you have a political credibility that you can afford to spend some of your capital, you can go and do things other people can't.
01:33:15.580So if you're a staunch anti-communist, you can go meet with the communists, and you can make that bridge happen, and you won't get criticized for being a sellout.
01:33:46.920If he doesn't do that, then that speaks volumes about where his priorities are.
01:33:51.980And I think Canadians will punish him for it.
01:33:53.740I mean, everyone's assuming it's a given.
01:33:55.600The conservatives are going to win the next election.
01:33:58.020With things developing the way they are, I think they will still win, but I think that they're starting to lose traction already because people are seeing who's causing the problem here.
01:34:09.120It's not, you know, liberals are trying to get everyone in line to fight Trump, and that's going to be the priority.
01:34:15.380Because things after tomorrow are going to go so fast in terms of unfolding between tariffs and also possibly immigration issues, and people start coming here if they don't want to be deported.
01:34:27.960Plus, there are also millions, by the way, of Canadians who have dual citizenship, right, who are in the United States right now.
01:34:33.460They can come back if they don't like the way things are going there, and we can't stop them because they are our citizens.
01:34:40.060What would we do if we suddenly had an influx of so many people?
01:34:44.740We've already had issues with that in the past couple of years.
01:34:46.940So I think that Polyev has to meet the moment.
01:34:49.580And if he doesn't, then people can start asking questions.
01:34:53.120And I wanted to eventually turn domestically here to kind of more on Pierre Polyev and where he needs to turn now that we've seen some more liberals throw their hats into the ring here.
01:35:02.580But just to kind of round out the Trump talk, I suppose, we're prepared as I guess we can be.
01:35:08.500We saw, as I mentioned, you know, the United Front this week as well.
01:35:11.040But are we in a difficult position right now?
01:35:13.660Jim Balsillie coming up on Vasco Capello's later this morning saying we are in a very vulnerable position right now.
01:35:18.420So economically over the course of the past 10, 20 years, but also just with the political situation we find ourselves in right now.
01:35:25.900So, Warren, all of that being said, do you think we're as ready as we can be for what's going to happen in the U.S.?
01:35:43.040Like, honestly, guys, did anybody two months ago think that the next president of the United States would declare economic war on Canada as his first official act?
01:35:55.280Did anybody think that he would promise to use military force against Denmark, a member of NATO, in order to get Greenland or declare, you know, he was going to use the military against Panama?
01:36:30.000This time he doesn't have a bunch of people around him saying, no, don't do that, or you can't do that, or it's illegal.
01:36:36.380So he's got a bunch of hardcore ideologues around him who are dedicated to giving full effect to his crazy agenda.
01:36:44.400So, you know, to everybody listening right now, I'd love to tell you that it's just a negotiating tactic like conservatives were saying, you know, a month ago.
01:36:54.800And he doesn't really mean it about tariffs.
01:36:59.840And when the Premier of Ontario comes out, as he did this week, and actually says half a million Ontarians are going to lose their job, potentially, potentially more, that's something politicians don't like to do, right?
01:37:16.000That's not something, that's not the kind of news a politician likes to deliver.
01:38:13.020And the timing of the decision is going to hurt Canada, for sure.
01:38:17.220Now, there's nothing we can do about that, but it's going to be quite interesting to see in the coming weeks how Canada reacts and how quickly and how nimble and how strongly,
01:38:26.860because you have a government that is basically in a caretaker mode.
01:38:31.440And you have a leadership race that's going to unfold, and we're going to talk about that in a minute.
01:38:35.840But, you know, these candidates will say things that will be going against, perhaps, what the official line of the government will be.
01:38:45.680And so that will bring in further division and further confusion, and Donald Trump's going to seize on that.
01:39:13.560But the rest of it, the aggression towards allies, that's the piece that, you know, the idea that the U.S. should once again be a territorially expansive nation,
01:39:24.080that it's ignoring the idea of sovereignty of other countries and just looking at them as prizes, that's something that we could not have anticipated.
01:39:32.680So what we're facing now, and again, this goes back to Daniel Smith, is the fact that when you ask Canadians,
01:39:39.720if you ask Canadians, one-third of us say that we would join the U.S. if we met lower taxes and our dollar would be on par and we would have more opportunities.
01:39:50.660This rises to 40% of young people say they'd consider doing it.
01:39:55.880While other polls have shown only 13% would want to join the U.S., when you throw in all these sweeteners, things change.
01:40:02.980That is scary because things are going to get economically worse in this country.
01:40:06.420And that goes exactly back to what I was saying about Smith earlier, is that for the first time, Alberta has a dance partner.
01:40:12.980And I think in her mind, she's thinking, you know what, that's the way to get concessions, is what Quebec did to the rest of Canada, was threatening to leave.
01:40:20.480We're basically, it's the unspoken words here, is that, well, you know, you don't treat us well, we can go.
01:41:23.580You know, he kind of flubbed his statement.
01:41:25.720I don't know why you need a teleprompter to talk about your life.
01:41:28.780That's the one thing you should be able to talk about without a teleprompter.
01:41:32.080And then from the journalists I know who were there, they said he was evasive on the questions that they asked him about Brookfield and his past and his support of Trudeau.
01:41:41.340So he's not going to be allowed to get away with that, even in a very short leadership race.
01:41:46.820And I was told that also his French is not that hot.
01:41:49.800It's kind of Ottawa bureaucrat level French, but not the kind of French that will attract support in Quebec.
01:41:56.140With her, she had a good, strong video launch.
01:42:19.160And the reason why she's running is she's a stalking horse for Kearney.
01:42:23.080So, you know, Freeland can be attacked, but Kearney can stay above the fray.
01:42:27.600I hope that's not true, but that's what I've been told by about 100 people.
01:42:31.500So that's kind of the state of the race right now.
01:42:33.980You got Frank Bayless in there and some other people and, you know, they're just running for a profile.
01:42:39.700But at this stage, you know, it's it's not helpful to Pierre Pagliot because he has, because of his inability to speak on Trump, he's disappeared.
01:42:49.220But also the liberal leadership race is sitting on top of all federal coverage.
01:42:53.280And it's become noticeable that he has become less noticeable, noticeable, noticeable, he's kind of disappeared because the liberals are eating up all the real estate.
01:43:02.180And, yeah, definitely more attention being paid to the to the liberal leadership race than than to the opposition right now as well.
01:43:08.740Tasha, just when it comes to is there any kind of obvious favorite here?
01:43:13.460I know some people think Mark Carney could be the savior of the liberal party.
01:43:17.540Other people hoping that Christopher Freeland will get a shot here after being deputy prime minister.
01:43:21.360They all have challenges ahead of them. But do you see a favorite after the first week here?
01:43:26.300I don't see a favorite. I mean, I think it's going to be a race between Carney and Freeland.
01:43:31.040And I think that, you know, Carney Carney's launch. Yeah, it could have definitely gone better.
01:43:36.240I think always if you want to launch, you want to have a lot of people around you and doing anything in a smaller venue, even if it's your hometown.
01:43:46.160I wouldn't have necessarily made that choice.
01:43:47.820I think he's got to embrace the fact that he's not he's not a small town guy.
01:43:52.460He left small town behind a long time ago.
01:43:54.660And maybe in this world today, dealing with someone like Donald Trump, that's actually a good thing, because you need to be able to stand up and say, hey, you know, I understand how business works.
01:44:04.160I've been around these people. Let's talk.
01:44:05.980I think anyone else. I think Trump doesn't really respect people who don't have, you know, some fight in them.
01:44:13.400And in that sense, Christopher Freeland's playing that card.
01:44:17.900I think that it is going to be it's a difficult time for for the conservatives, like I said, for the reason simply that right now it's national interest versus Trump.
01:44:26.340Everyone's sort of like pulling together on that point.
01:44:29.060And if you're not on side with that, then you can be attacked for not helping the country.
01:44:35.500Right. And so they've got to decide how to respond to the liberals.
01:44:39.640Liberal race is going to dominate, but it's going to dominate mostly off the mainstream media, the media, the conservatives operate in, you know, the smaller podcast universe and online and stuff.
01:44:49.740They don't need to pay as much attention to it.
01:44:51.520They can still pay attention to the conservatives in those forums.
01:44:54.060And Carl, I suppose, just from the from the perspective of we've just seen it basically, you know, all of the candidates we're probably going to see announced so far.
01:45:03.060Is this essentially a Carney versus Freeland race for you?
01:45:06.980And do you have a favorite at this point?
01:45:09.600I don't have a favorite, but yes, I think it's a favorite in a betting sense.
01:45:13.280I mean, the people who thought that Mark Carney was a savior of the Liberal Party were in for that surprise when he launched the way he launched.
01:45:25.040And, you know, this is the problem with Mark Carney.