BETRAYAL： Is This The End Of Poilievre？
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Summary
The Conservative Party faces a complete mutiny. Is this the end of Pierre Polyev? Let's take a look at that, and see if there are more floor crossers within the party. Today's panelists: - Political analyst Sharon Carr - Former Deputy Chief of Staff to former Finance Minister Bill Morneau - Laura D'Angelo - Executive Director of Media Relations, Sebastian Skamski - And Jason Kenney's former chief of staff, Jamie Ellerton
Transcript
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Dear Patriots, today we have a serious issue, a life-threatening issue. We have traitors that
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are in the midst. The Conservative Party faces a complete mutiny. Is this the end of Pierre
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Polyev? Let's take a look at that. Interestingly, Don Tremont also suggested that there could be
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more floor crossers following suit. And you got to remember, Pierre Polyev is facing a leadership
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review in January. So much for the front bench to talk about tonight. So needless to say,
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this is not good. And the video gets worse as it goes along. Sharon Carr is a CTV News political
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analyst. She's former Deputy Chief of Staff to former Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
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Laura D'Angelo is with Enterprise Canada and previously worked in Prime Minister Justin
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Trudeau's office. Jamie Ellerton is the Principal at Canaptis and worked for Minister Jason Kenney
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during the Harper government. And rounding us out this evening, Sebastian Skamski was former
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Director of Media Relations to Conservative leader Pierre Polyev. Hello, everyone. Happy floor crosser
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Wednesday. Laura, I'll start with you. In your view, how big of a deal is this one?
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I think this is a pretty big deal for Pierre Polyev, who's facing the leadership review in January,
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right? I think this is a pretty direct reflection of his leadership style, as Chris Donchema has said
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himself, that he didn't like that leadership style. I think this coming on the heels of Pierre Polyev's
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comments about the RCMP, which put a lot of people off, and as you and I talked about on radio
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earlier today, doesn't really help the party get to where they want to go. I think that this is a big
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deal for him. It's going to be a much bigger deal if more members cross the floor, and if the news
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cycle continues to be what it was today, which is names flying around that sound pretty credible to
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Two of those names, Sebastian, I'll throw over to you. My instinct is that your feelings on this are
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quite precise. Two of those names, Matt Jenneru from Edmonton, and Dominic, why is the last name
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escaping me at the moment, but she's a Quebec MP. She put out a video. Matt Jenneru put out a statement.
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It's not me. It's not me. Yeah, pardon me, Dominic. Sebastian, what is going on here,
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and how big of a deal is it from where you sit? I think it's important to remind your viewers
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that Mr. Dontremont made this decision driven by his professional self-interest. It's expected
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seemingly from politicians that they will put themselves first, but it is unfortunate when it
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happens in such a blatant way. Mr. Dontremont, in speaking with Politico, who broke this story,
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was clear that this was simply about the fact that he was unable to become elected deputy speaker,
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and he even mused about his desire to have a better likelihood in the upcoming election.
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So I think it's important to put in that context and understand that, unfortunately, this is something
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that he, a conclusion he came to just a month and a half ago, having attacked the liberal government
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and Prime Minister Carney, ironically enough, about the size of his deficit spending and the negative
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impact it has on the constituents in his riding. So it's a betrayal, really, of the Canadians and the
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constituents who voted and elected him to stand up to the government to fight for lower prices on
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food, lower prices of homes, and affordability in general.
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Now it's a nice way of saying that Chris Dontremont, the conservative MP that crossed the aisle,
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is a traitor, just like Doug Ford. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Conservatives were so close,
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they were so close to victory, and then the snake came along and stabbed them all in the back.
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Before we go any further, I want to remind you all I'm being censored. So if you see this part of
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the video, let me know in the comment section, give me a quick like and subscribe. Thanks.
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On principle, I 100% understand that viewpoint, Sharon. Politically, what do you think it says?
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I think it says everything about peer polyev and it says nothing about loyalty to a party. Listen,
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this is not the first time we've talked about it. This is not the first time I've heard about it.
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And it's also not the first time it's happened before. We see floor crossings happen. It's not
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something that happens too frequently, but it does happen. And I do think that this is purely an
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indication of how people within the party feel about peer polyev. Now, he's an excellent
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communicator, but he's polarizing. Like Laura said, his comments about the RCMP really struck
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a chord with a lot of people within the party. And you know, there's been names that have been
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floating around for weeks now. We talked a bit about this a few weeks ago when there were
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speculations originally about a floor crossing. And I think, again, this has a lot to do with how
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people are feeling, who their representative is, who their leader is. And all politics to a certain
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extent is a local. So of course, you're going to get people in writings who will have mixed opinions
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about whether or not someone they voted from, from a specific party crosses the floor. But also a lot
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of people just want a good elected official who has principles and values. And I think that's what
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we're seeing here. Listen, we're probably going to hear more names popping around. I'm not surprised
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by the names we've seen. People like Matt Jenneru are actually very reasonable, centrist type of
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conservatives. Some, there's a lot of conservatives that I talked to, and he's someone that I actually
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find to be very reasonable, very thoughtful, and actually just generally a good person and a good
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representative. So I'm hearing a lot of talk in Ottawa that there is going to be more crossings
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that are, I mean, I know we saw this statement that came out earlier today from his office. But
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what I would say is that I think that we're going to see more coming up in the next couple days,
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couple weeks. And a lot of it is even kind of clear if you look at what's happening internally in
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the Conservative Party. Word on the street is there was a lot of hustle and bustle around what was
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happening in the opposition leader's office last night around strategy. So to be determined.
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Now, clearly, this is bad news. All the Liberal Party needs is two more people to cross the aisle,
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and then we're going to be stuck with a Liberal majority for the next three years. Needless to
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say, I'm very disappointed in this MP, and to anyone else that dares consider crossing the aisle.
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These people are traitors, not only to their constituents, but to the people of Canada.
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And I'll have more to say on that later in the video.
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So, yeah, let's talk about that a little bit. How significant do you think it is for the party
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if it stays at this one individual, Jamie, versus if there are others? And what do you imagine is
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happening behind the scenes to ensure that it does just stay with Chris Dantremont?
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Yeah, undeniably, actually, this is obviously incredibly disruptive. There's a lot of people
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who feel a really personal sense of betrayal. But I think the more you hear Conservatives kind of
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railing against him now in the coming weeks, all it's going to do is feed oxygen into the story
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and remind Canadians that a Conservative MP cross the floor and join the Liberals. And I don't think
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that's helpful to the Conservative cause right now. I think if you're Pierre Poliev meeting with your
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senior strategy group, I think you need to, one, obviously go back and do your homework and look
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at every member of caucus, reach out to them, have those points of contact, who's in their good
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books, who are they more likely to take overtures from, and make sure that this isn't actually going
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to become a trend, because then it truly becomes an existential problem, I think, for Pierre's
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leadership. If it's one, I really don't think it's going to have that big of an impact.
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But the other piece, instead of talking about the deficit today, instead of debating the future
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of the country and the country's finances, we're talking about a floor crosser. And so
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Pierre Poliev is going to have to somehow find a channel changer to really turn the page on this
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quickly and get back to holding the government to account so that he can be back on his front foot
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rather than back on his heels. Like I said earlier, this MP, he's a real snake. Canadians,
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Conservatives were so close, so close to turning things around. But this fool, this jerk,
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this Judas figure had to make everything about himself. And why did he do it? I have some
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theories that the mainstream media won't tell you. So stick around to the end of the video.
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Do you think that's true, Laura? If Pierre Poliev wants to change the story and not have it be about
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his leadership and the flaws there, I think he does have to change the channel. Because right now,
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it's been a pretty great news, almost 48 hours now for the Liberals. And hopefully that continues.
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As opposed to other weeks. Yeah. It's been 25 hours. It was 4 p.m. when it broke yesterday. It is now 5.30.
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Yeah, you're right. You're right. Fair enough. Good correction. Good correction.
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Sebastian, the last word goes to you. Because you had talked in principle. And like I said,
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I totally understand that view. I think some of his constituents, if not many, will share it.
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But from a political perspective, you had a front row seat to like how parties maneuver around
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various crises, around issues. Like, what will you be watching for in the next little while to see
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how this one is navigated? Well, I think we saw an incredible rallying of support around
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Mr. Poliev from caucus members today. People like Michael Chong, Michael Barrett, and really everyone
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in between on the spectrum. So again, I think this is really, and unfortunately, an isolated incident
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with Mr. D'Entremont, who will have a lot of time to think this through and understand that
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this kind of betrayal of his constituents, of the values that he held for so many decades,
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and especially ran under seven months ago, is really unacceptable. And I think the people of
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his riding in the next election will have a say in that. Words can't describe how disappointed I am.
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What a snake this guy is. Now, of course, we can only speculate as to what Chris D'Entremont's
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motivations were. Maybe he was bribed. Maybe it was blackmail. Maybe he did this to save himself
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and his political career. Maybe it was all three. I have some theories, and let me tell you. Let's
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face it, politics is a really dirty business, and I wouldn't put anything past the crooked liberal
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party. It's entirely possible that D'Entremont got an envelope in the mail with a bunch of pictures
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and a bunch of links. And this envelope read, you do what we tell you to do, or else these pictures
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and videos, they go public, your wife is going to leave you, your kids are going to hate you and be
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ashamed of you, and you're never going to have any friends for the rest of your life. So you better
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think about this really carefully. You either come with us, or you lose everything. Now, of course,
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there's no evidence to back that up, and we'll never know what happened behind closed doors.
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We'll never know what D'Entremont's true motivations were. However, like I said, politics is a dirty
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business, and I wouldn't put anything, anything past Mark Carney and co. What's more likely is
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that D'Entremont was crushing the numbers, and he realized that if there was a new election, he might
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not win. And he did this to save his own skin, sort of like they indicated in the video. However,
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you'll never really know what happens behind closed doors, and how much money he may or may not have
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gotten, or what kind of threats were levied against him. Hell has a special place for traders,
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and hell has lots of room for people like Doug Ford and Chris D'Entremont. God knows what both
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these men have done, and we'll judge them accordingly. However, I still remain optimistic,
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and let me tell you why. Yes, we had one MP cross the floor, one trader. However, he's receiving a lot
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of backlash for this, and it's going to discourage other MPs from doing the same. Chris D'Entremont was
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so scared and so hurt by the backlash, he actually locked his ex account. So I think other MPs are
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going to think twice about doing the same thing. I still maintain at least some hope that the budget
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will be defeated, and we'll have a Christmas election. Then, if there's a Christmas election,
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we'll get a Polyev supermajority. I'm not 100% confident that's going to happen, but I do have
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faith that sooner rather than later, we're going to get Polyev into office. We just have to hang in
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there. Have a bit of faith. Have a bit of patience. Good things are going to happen. We're going to win,
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and we're going to win big. Talk to you tomorrow, Patriots.