Mark Slapinski

00:00:00.000 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech about the budget was so bad, so poorly done,

00:00:05.600 that even CTV is calling a moat over it. Let's take a look at that, then stick around to the

00:00:10.180 end for some commentary. Did the speech hit the right marks and how will political parties

00:00:14.660 position themselves ahead of the budget? Let's bring in our front bench. Former BC Premier

00:00:18.720 Christy Clark is here. She's now a senior advisor with Bennett Jones. Marco Medicino is former

00:00:23.240 Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Mark Carney, as well as a former Liberal Cabinet Minister.

00:00:27.380 CTV political analyst and former Conservative Industry Minister James Moore is with us. He's

00:00:31.160 now a policy advisor at Edelman. And Tony Clement served in senior roles in Conservative Prime

00:00:35.300 Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet. He's now CEO of Tony Clement International. Hi, everybody.

00:00:39.860 Really nice to see you tonight. Thanks for making the time. James, I'll start with you because

00:00:43.460 we were together last night watching the speech live on TV and sort of had our initial reactions.

00:00:47.960 You've had a day to kind of digest it. We saw what the reaction was from the opposition today.

00:00:52.920 Ultimately, what, Mark, do you think this speech did or didn't leave?

00:00:56.840 Well, I'll give it a letter grade. I suppose it was a C. It lacked both sizzle and steak. Wasn't a bad

00:01:02.240 speech, but I think it was mostly forgotten by the time most people brushed their teeth before bed

00:01:06.360 last night. And nobody's talking about it today. So it was a missed opportunity. When you raise the

00:01:11.500 expectation of having a primetime speech in the Eastern time zone anyway, a primetime speech where

00:01:16.420 you tell people, you know, the budget's coming up. It's a watershed budget. We've been hyping up the

00:01:20.880 importance of this budget, what it means for Canada, given our threats from President Trump. And

00:01:25.500 here we go. And then you deliver a speech that was mostly a lot of the same stuff and not a lot of

00:01:30.180 zip to it. I think it was a bit of a missed moment. There were no, there was no bad moment in the speech,

00:01:35.000 but there was just no captivating moment that I think people can cling on to and repeat through

00:01:39.660 social circles and say, you know, this is a really special thing. So a missed moment, but not a bad

00:01:44.920 moment, but for sure a missed moment.

00:01:46.900 All right, let me quickly translate that for you. What he's saying is that Carney's speech was really

00:01:51.900 bad. However, he's paid to say good things about him. So we can't say that directly. That's basically

00:01:57.760 what he's saying. The fact of the matter is that Carney's speech sucked and even liberals, the left, 0.98

00:02:03.780 they're embarrassed because of it. Before we go any further, I want to let you know my videos are

00:02:08.020 being heavily censored. So if you see this part, like subscribe and let me know whether you saw this

00:02:13.320 in the comment section. Thanks. The opposition today in the conservatives, Christy, have really

00:02:18.300 gleaned on to the message around sacrifice and the fact that it was made at the University of Ottawa to

00:02:24.420 a mostly younger audience. And you see that sort of positioning from the conservatives that we saw a

00:02:28.700 lot during the campaign, which was, you know, talking very specifically to that cohort of Canadians

00:02:34.540 who feel very, you know, not able to get ahead and, you know, not that there are not jobs out there

00:02:41.020 and sort of criticizing the prime minister on that point specifically. Why do you think that's

00:02:45.340 what they went after? Well, I mean, there's no doubt that young people are, a lot of them voted for

00:02:52.000 the conservatives under Pierre Polyev and they were hoping for, you know, something different than

00:02:57.000 they got. So there's no doubt that the conservatives would want to exploit the speech and talk about,

00:03:01.500 you know, how the sacrifice, they shouldn't have to sacrifice. Well, seriously, did anybody think

00:03:07.240 that Pierre Polyev wasn't going to be cutting a lot of programs that might benefit young people?

00:03:12.780 And I think that's what Carney was talking about. And James and I would disagree a little bit about

00:03:17.440 this, I think. I think it was very unusual for any prime minister to stand up there. This hasn't

00:03:23.980 happened in over a decade. The senators say, hey, listen, it's not all roses out there. This is going

00:03:28.760 to be really tough. And there is going to be some sacrifice required. It is a very tough message for a

00:03:35.560 politician to bring. But I think it was really important that he bring it because that is exactly

00:03:40.940 what we are facing after 10 years of a smothered economy. And now we're facing all the terrorists

00:03:47.760 from the United States. So he has no easy task. I'm not at all surprised that he's trying to lower

00:03:53.560 expectations. On the other hand, though, I would say, Vashi, he talks about jobs and they are going to

00:04:00.000 be spending a lot of money. And people can argue about that, too. But the thing is, they'll be

00:04:05.700 spending that money trying to create jobs by building big infrastructure. So I think he's

00:04:12.720 right to disabuse people of the notion that this is all going to be easy. It isn't. But it wouldn't

00:04:18.360 have been easy for any government in any case. What do you think, Marco, is the message that the

00:04:24.500 prime minister and the government is trying to telegraph two weeks out from the budget about what it is

00:04:28.940 supposed to be? That we're living in a time of great change and transition. And as a result,

00:04:35.180 we are going to have to make some tough choices. But that there is a silver lining. And that silver

00:04:39.560 lining is each other through our skills, our smarts, and ultimately our solidarity. And I think if there

00:04:45.640 is one principle that is sort of divulged by the set of remarks, it's coming back to building one

00:04:52.220 Canadian economy. I want to pick up on the two points that my colleagues James and Christy made. I do

00:04:58.300 think that there was a moment here. And that moment was to level with Canadians broadly and more

00:05:05.400 specifically with young people who have been disproportionately impacted by the turmoil in the

00:05:11.480 economy in the form of higher unemployment. The number one criticism that politicians hear all the

00:05:16.540 time is that there's just too much BS. And so I think that the prime minister was trying to cut

00:05:21.540 through that and say that there is this budget that's coming up, that there will be some tough choices

00:05:26.460 that need to be made, but that we are going to invest. We're going to invest by getting our energy

00:05:31.720 to market. We're going to invest by doing some things around making housing more affordable,

00:05:37.180 particularly for young people. And we're going to invest in you. And that is the scene setting

00:05:42.560 point of last night. Now, I acknowledge that you didn't get the exclamation mark and it wasn't

00:05:48.980 punctuated by clear resolution. That's what the budget is about. But we are talking about it,

00:05:54.560 I would say, with respect to James. And I think that that was also the point is getting people

00:06:00.200 to pay attention ahead of the budget. So I do think it was a moment and it was a moment that

00:06:04.160 was captured by the prime minister. Well, I'm forcing the discussion just to be

00:06:08.660 I'm teasing. Tony, what are your thoughts? Just jumping off what Marco said. I mean,

00:06:14.240 if that is what the government hoped the message was, do you think that is the message that landed

00:06:19.680 for people who did watch the speech? Well, I think we'll know where it lands on November 4th.

00:06:25.640 Really, this was a setup for the budget. Not a lot. I mean, I remember that commercial,

00:06:31.700 that Wendy's commercial, Where's the Beef? You're all too young for that commercial,

00:06:36.160 but I remember it. But so I think we do have to see some sacrifice. What does that mean?

00:06:43.040 What sort of sacrifice? Who's making the sacrifice? Investments? What sort of investments?

00:06:47.840 Who is going to be in charge of those investments? And is that the private sector?

00:06:52.280 Is it the public sector a combination? These are all unanswered questions. So I think that,

00:06:57.980 sure, the prime minister wants to speak to a wider audience in anticipation of the budget. I get that.

00:07:02.780 He wants to set the table. But really, we want to see what the meal is.

00:07:08.140 I thought what was interesting, today they held a press conference, Premier Ford, pardon me,

00:07:11.660 and Prime Minister Carney James. And one of the questions from a reporter was exactly what

00:07:16.040 Tony just laid out. What does sacrifice actually, what is it in reference to when you talk about

00:07:21.320 sort of restraint or the operating budget? What are we looking at? And it was, there weren't many

00:07:27.360 details provided, but what I did glean from it was, it wasn't necessarily, oh, there will be programs

00:07:33.140 that are cut. It's just that he intimated that programs and certain projects would not accelerate

00:07:39.680 or expand to the degree he said that they would like them to. So that was the only kind of,

00:07:45.520 you know, specific piece of information that was added today. What do you take from that?

00:07:52.420 Yeah, look, I like the, actually, I prefer the way in which Marco articulated the dynamic in front

00:07:57.040 of us than, frankly, than the prime minister did last night about sort of sending a flare up into the

00:08:00.900 night sky and saying, you know, there are some tough times ahead of us, but a dawn awaits.

00:08:05.060 And so I think that's important. But look, the prime minister, he's also captured, and there's

00:08:09.400 some sympathy, I think, here that's owed, right? He is still captured by the realities of a minority 1.00

00:08:13.480 parliament. You know, six out of the last eight federal elections have yielded minority parliaments,

00:08:17.420 which handcuffs him from making, frankly, some of the bold decisions that are necessary

00:08:21.040 in order to right the ship. There was a report that came out today by the chief economist of the

00:08:25.660 National Bank where they pointed out that Canada's manufacturing sector is now smaller than that

00:08:30.600 of Ireland. Ireland, a country of about five and a half million people. Our manufacturing base has

00:08:34.900 shrunk. And then we have the Spelantis decision. We have the Peterbilt decision. We have a lot of

00:08:38.900 really challenging economic dynamics in front of us. And I think a dispassionate, substantive,

00:08:44.120 and thoughtful prime minister just sort of saying, these are tough times. Tougher times are probably

00:08:48.560 ahead. The president of the United States has clearly declared an economic war on Canada. We're

00:08:53.180 trying to mitigate that the best we can. But we're going to have to work together as a government and

00:08:56.780 citizens to make sure that we look out for each other and we have better days ahead. And we're doing

00:09:00.880 everything we can to get that done. But the reality is, of course, in a budget is you have to make

00:09:05.160 some decisions. And this minority parliament, I think, is going to create challenges for the

00:09:08.460 prime minister that he's going to find very frustrating. They'll sort of pivot him away from

00:09:13.960 having to make some of the broader, more sweeping changes that are necessary. Prime Minister

00:09:18.480 Christian had the virtue of a clear majority parliament in 1995 to deliver that watershed budget.

00:09:23.980 And he had a fractured conservative opposition. So he had a clear runway in front of him

00:09:27.780 to do a lot of things and have two years to recover from it politically and go into the

00:09:32.460 1997 campaign. Mark Carney doesn't have that kind of room in front of him. So how he does

00:09:36.780 this budget and how he politically manoeuvres is going to be one of the unique and critical

00:09:41.580 challenges of, frankly, maybe the last half century of Canadian politics.

00:09:45.900 Your colleagues are all nodding as you say that. Christy, I have about 30 seconds left. The last word

00:09:49.740 on that to you. How big of a challenge do you think that will be?

00:09:53.000 I think Canadians are more ready for it than we think. And I think that young Canadians

00:09:57.520 we're underestimating them if we think that they don't know that this is all going to be hard.

00:10:01.740 They're facing AI powered by quantum. It's not easy for them already. I actually think the young

00:10:10.160 people's expectations are lower now than they might have been, you know, 10, 15 years ago.

00:10:14.500 And he's trying to speak to that. So I've delivered a bunch of budget speeches where I've had to say,

00:10:20.120 you know what, this isn't going to be all shits and giggles here, folks. This is going to be tough. 0.64

00:10:23.560 And I think, you know, in, in my experience of that, people understand what life is like out

00:10:29.940 there. They understand how hard it is. So I think it's always hard to navigate these things,

00:10:34.700 but it's necessary. And I think that the Canadians that voted for Mark Carney understood that they

00:10:40.480 were doing so believing that he would do what was necessary.

00:10:43.860 Now I have to point out the mainstream media has been taking a really peculiar approach as of late.

00:10:47.860 They've been attacking Polyev nonstop over non-issues. And then for some reason,

00:10:53.480 they're also attacking Carney. But I think there's a method to their madness. Let me explain.

00:10:58.420 It really seems like the mainstream media is hedging their bets. On one hand,

00:11:02.060 they want to attack Polyev and make sure he doesn't get into office. On the other hand,

00:11:06.400 they're also trying to cover their asses in case Polyev gets in and tries to cut their funding. 0.91

00:11:11.880 That's what I think is going on. I truly believe that Carney is not going to last very long. 0.56

00:11:16.100 He's pretty early in his term and you already have CTV putting out hit pieces on him.

00:11:21.540 Think about that for a sec. Like I've said a million times,

00:11:24.820 it's only a matter of time before Carney is out of office. Minority governments never last 1.00

00:11:29.480 and Carney's government, it should not be an exception. I don't think it will.

00:11:33.500 Once again, I want to give a huge shout out to my members, especially Patriot level member,

00:11:38.060 Mary Lou Cleveland. She's a great lady. If you see her in the comment section, be nice to her. 0.52

00:11:43.060 But on top of that, I want to thank anyone. Anyone that's watched my videos,

00:11:47.160 liked my videos, commented on my videos, shared my videos. I appreciate every single one of you.

00:11:53.740 This is a team effort and I'm glad to have you all around. Have a great weekend.

00:11:58.020 I'll talk to you either tomorrow or on Sunday. Cheers.

CTV Panelists Turn On Carney (AGAIN) Over Budget

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