CTV Drops BOMBSHELL, Admits Elbows Up FAILED
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Summary
Even CTV admits that everything Prime Minister Mark Carney has failed, and that he's unlikely to get a good deal with President Donald Trump on trade with the United States. Brian Gallant, Lisa Rodden, and Rob Benzie join us to discuss why this is a bad idea.
Transcript
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with American President Donald Trump tomorrow
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in a high-level meeting regarding the economy. Even CTV admits that elbows up has failed and
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Mark Carney is unlikely to get a good deal. Let's check that out together.
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Let's bring in our front bench with me tonight, former New Brunswick Liberal Premier Brian Gallant.
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He's the CEO of Space Canada. Former Conservative Deputy Leader Lisa Raid is here. She's the Vice
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Chair and Managing Director of Global Investment Banking at CIBC. CTV News political analyst and
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former NDP leader Tom Mulcair is with us, as is the Toronto Star's Queen's Park Bureau Chief Rob Benzie.
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Hi, everybody. It's good to see you. Brian, I'll start with you. We just spoke to Kelly Craft,
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who was the Trump ambassador during the first term of the U.S. president. And she was very specific
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about sort of look to what other countries have had to agree to, to even think about what, you know,
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Canada might have to do, kind of more intimating that there's more ground we could see, we would
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have to cede to even arrive at some sort of reduction in the tariffs that do exist right
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now. What's the implication of that, do you think, for the Carney team?
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I think she's Trump's ambassador on that panel as well. I mean, she was pretty firm and, frankly,
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I think a bit ridiculous on some things. I was cringing listening to it. First off,
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I just want to say the idea that the U.S. can just bully everyone around,
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it's the largest economy, so can it bully people? Sure, that can happen. But the repercussions of
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that are important as well, right? The idea that the country that's supposed to be the leader of
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the free world is bullying everyone, I don't think sets us up very well for geopolitical tensions in
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the future. But anyways, that's not necessarily what we're all talking about, because we're all
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focused on the immediacy of the tariffs and sort of the economic implications. So second,
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for Carney and co going to Washington tomorrow, yeah, I mean, I think there's no question that
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the backdrop of all of this is the idea that they have been somewhat successful. Some countries have
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given in and some countries have given some concessions or made promises of big investments.
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So that's the backdrop. Now, Canada is a different position because we are their most important trading
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partner. So we can certainly hurt them a little more if ever we want to stand our ground. And it really,
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and it comes to, if it comes to that, more so than other countries would be able to. So that puts us a
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little bit in a different position. Also, I'd like to think, I'm not sure it's worth anything nowadays,
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but I'd like to think that Americans, the public have a soft spot for Canada for many reasons. We don't have
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to all go through it in the panel here, but our history and our economic ties and even our family
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ties and the list goes on. So look, I think that is the backdrop, though. And I know you asked that
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question. And frankly, it's something that the Carney team is going to have to be wrestling with as they
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try to go to Washington tomorrow. Not sure they'll get a direct win out of the Oval Office. I'm not sure
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anyone ever does coming out of the Oval Office, but hopefully it builds ties, relationships, and the
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conversation keeps going in a positive direction. Lisa, Brian's right that it is cringy and ridiculous
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that the idea that the U.S. could kind of bully everyone into the trading relationship at once,
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but that is what's happened. Those countries that have arrived at deals with the United States have
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all agreed to base tariffs that they wouldn't have dreamed of a year ago. Trump has, we don't have
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the weight of the world behind us. Only China levied any kind of counter tariff that's commensurate in
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any fashion. We're the only other country that did. Like, what kind of negotiating position does
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that leave us in? Everything that we've tried was wrong. So there you have it. Even CTV admits that
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everything Carney has done has failed. Carney lied to us. He said he was the chosen one, the only one
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that could deal with Donald Trump. Seven months later, even his own paid propagandists are calling
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him out on live television. You can't make this stuff up. Because we seem to be in a bad position right
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now. And the prime minister going down to see Mr. Trump, it's going to be a difficult after
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discussion because Mr. Trump will take what he wants from it. He'll say that Mr. Carney is a very
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nice man and I like Mark. And he'll say all those lovely platitudes. But he's also going to point out
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once again that Canadian economy is hurting and that he's stealing business from us. And the reason why
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that is so difficult for us in Canada is it introduces uncertainty into investment in Canada.
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It's not just the tariffs, Fashi, that are hurting us. It's the fact that other companies are saying,
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what's next for you guys up there? What else is he going to do to you? And quite frankly,
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the risk associated with the uncertainty around Canada, we may as well just work with the United
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States directly. And that's the kind of impact it's having now. It's not just on the tariff
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industries. It's on everything that you could possibly think about, just like the announcement
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today, 25 percent on medium and heavy duty trucks going into the United States. Tom Mulcair kindly
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explained to me what that was before we actually came to air. Before that, I didn't even know it was
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a possibility. So, you know, expect the unexpected, but serious meeting. Trump's going to use it for his
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own purposes. And he's also going to try to spank us on foreign policy, tomorrow being October 7,
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which is a very difficult day for a lot of people in this world.
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And to be fair, this woman makes a good point. This is not the right time for Carney to be
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recognizing Palestine as a state. We're literally in the middle of one of the biggest trade wars
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we've seen in recent times, and this is only adding fuel to the fire. We need to settle this
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dispute with the United States before interfering in Middle Eastern politics. I think we can all agree
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on that. I think to Lisa's point, Tom, right, like even you heard in those comments from Trump,
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they just happened right before we went to air, right? The thing he zeroed in on when it came to
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tariffs was the impact he says it is having on what Lisa just described, right, that companies are
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picking up and moving to the United States. It's not true in its entirety, but aspects of companies
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here, look at the auto sector, for example, are delaying operations that we're going to go ahead
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here and instead pursuing ones in the United States. What does that tell you about sort of
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the playing field tomorrow? And how risky is this politically for the prime minister,
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even if he doesn't have another choice but to go, obviously? Yeah, right. And I do think that it
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shows that the Americans are very good at this game. They might have been a little bit rusty. We
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weren't always sure what Trump was going to be up to. But the question about those trucks,
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that zeroes in not just on a Canadian industry. It zeroes on a Canadian industry in Quebec at a very
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fraught time for the votes of the federal liberals in Quebec. The PACCAR factory just north of Montreal
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puts out all of the Peterborough, sorry, Peter Bilt and the Kenworth trucks. It's a huge employer.
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These are great jobs. They pay super well. And what Trump was saying was, you know, 20, 30 years ago,
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they used to build those factories in Canada and now we're bringing them back. If I were working there,
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I'd be very afraid of what that meant. Because it's true that that factory was built with tons of
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Quebec government money. It was brought in and there was a whole tussle with other people that
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wanted it. And Quebec got it. And it's one of the very few things we have. You know, the auto industry,
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you know, right across the highway, there used to be a big GM plant. That's long gone. And so Ontario's
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got pretty well the whole industry. That's basically what's left in Quebec. And Trump zeroed in,
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without naming it, zeroed in on that idea. Over the weekend, we were so ham-fisted talking about the F-35s.
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So we don't really have to buy them as if that was the top of our threat list. And the person that we
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sent out to explain it, a junior minister of defense, had so much trouble getting anything
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out about the F-35s. If you're going to make a threat and you're going to get to the table with
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Trump, you better be darn sure that you're going to be able to play right through. I don't think that
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anybody in Washington cared one bit about what we were saying about the F-35s. We'll see what comes
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out of this meeting tomorrow. But I like Lisa's point that coming on October 7th, it might give
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Trump the occasion to talk about what Canada did, which, as far as the Americans were concerned,
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went against their best interests and those of Israel. I don't think they should overplay their
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hand because Trump wants to be seen right now as the peacemaker. And he's still hoping, I guess,
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to get his Nobel. But for Canada right now, this is a very difficult time. And it's not getting easier.
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This all has to dovetail with the renegotiation of the Canada-US-Mexico trade deal,
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and anything that comes out of tomorrow's meeting, I think it's going to have a hard time
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meeting that test. Let me translate that for you. Carney is screwed. When you have a CTV panel,
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a left-wing CTV panel, calling you out on the evening of an important trade meeting,
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you know you're in trouble. And Carney, he's in a lot of trouble. I'm going to be straight. In the
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short term, this is bad for Canada. And as a patriot, someone who loves this country,
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and as a decent human being, I want what's best for Canada, regardless of who's in power.
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However, if tomorrow's meeting goes as bad as I predict it will, there's going to be some issues.
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However, those are going to be short-term issues, and there's going to be some long-term benefit.
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And I'll explain that later in the video. If you're enjoying this episode so far,
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I started the segment off, Benzi, by talking about that letter from the leader of the Federal
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Conservatives, which kind of speaks to, in more general terms, the pressure here at home, right,
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the sort of political context here at home. There's what's going to happen there, but also how it plays
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here. Is it enough if nothing worse happens at the end of this meeting, if there aren't any additional
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tariffs, or there isn't, you know, some throwing away of Kuzma to some degree? Or does the Prime Minister
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need to come back and say, I actually am able to reduce, let's say, steel and aluminum tariffs by half,
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something like that? He's going to have to show a deliverable at some point, Vashi. I mean,
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I mean, there was a lot of snark in Mr. Polyev's letter. Understandably, he's the leader of the
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opposition. He lost an election because he didn't see the Trump issue, or his campaign didn't grasp
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how that was going to play. Carney exploited it successfully. Did you hear that? CTV is finally
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saying the quiet part out loud. Of course, Mark Carney selfishly exploited the situation with Donald Trump
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for his own benefit. We already knew that, but at least CTV is finally saying it.
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But now, Prime Minister Carney has to show why, okay, Canadians said they trusted him to deal
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with Donald Trump. They have to see some results at some point. Now, the one thing, Vashi, that
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Canada has going for it is the U.S. consumer. American consumers are now facing 17.4% average
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tariffs on goods, according to the Yale Budget Lab, which is a nonpartisan think tank. That means
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the average U.S. household is spending $2,300 more than they did when Joe Biden was president
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on the same goods. So that means inflation's hitting. Under Biden, the average tariff was
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around 2%. So they're at 1935 levels. And that's good for Canada in the sense that there's going to
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be pressure on Mr. Trump because it's his voters who are hurting the most, the kind of lower middle
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class, angry folks who felt that they weren't getting a good deal under Biden. Well, they're
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paying a lot more for those goods and services now. But is it going to be enough to put pressure
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on Trump that he's going to cut Canada some slack tomorrow? I doubt it. But it's building. Mr.
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Trump's polling is not great. He's resorting to invading the cities of Chicago and Portland
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to distract attention from the fact the economy is not doing so great in the United States.
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So he can say all he wants about how factories are moving back there. That's just, there's a few,
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but it's not, it's that the success is not being felt by the American consumer.
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So personally, I'm glad that CTV aired that clip. Let's break it down a little bit.
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Now, anyone with half a brain knows that Mark Carney is not going to get a good deal tomorrow.
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And now that's really bad in the short term, but it's good in the medium to long term. And let me
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explain. If Mark Carney fails to get a good deal with Donald Trump tomorrow, his supporters,
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they're not going to be happy. And this comes as Paulyev continues to rise in the polls,
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while Carney continues to fall in the polls. Carney failing to live up to his one major campaign
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promise is going to be the death blow that the Liberal Party so desperately deserves.
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And it's sort of ironic. Carney got in because of Trump, but now he's going to be pushed out
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because of Trump. Think about this. We have CBC, CTV, even members of the Liberal government,
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they're turning on Mark Carney. Now, next month, we have a vote on the budget. And once Canadians see
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just how big that deficit is, they're going to be voting Carney out or else he's going to resign in
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shame. And look, I really understand. These are rough times. But like I've said before,
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have some patience, have some faith. Paulyev will be in office soon enough.
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Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you tomorrow. Don't forget to like and subscribe.