Off the Record - Canadians want an election NOW

00:00:00.000 Have you guys got your Christmas shopping for the year done?

00:00:05.880 You're good.

00:00:06.720 Absolutely not.

00:00:07.760 Absolutely not.

00:00:08.940 Really?

00:00:09.360 Even with the GST, HST, easy to understand tax break, you haven't rushed right out to get your shopping done?

00:00:15.820 You know, the other thing that the government completely screwed up on that has totally screwed up my Christmas shopping has been this Canada Post strike.

00:00:23.640 So, number one, the whole idea of doing back-to-work legislation is unpopular anyway.

00:00:28.680 So, you just, you eat that.

00:00:30.620 You eat that unpopularity of saying, get back to work.

00:00:32.960 But only this government, William, could manage to pull off of, go ahead and go back to work.

00:00:39.380 By the way, Christmas is still screwed for everyone.

00:00:42.180 Good job.

00:00:43.000 Good job, everybody.

00:00:44.180 So, yeah, needless to say, this mom who has, like, relatives across Canada, y'all are getting your presents around, I don't know, Valentine's Day.

00:00:51.740 So, no.

00:00:54.260 No, it was the worst of both worlds.

00:00:55.820 It was the worst of both worlds.

00:00:57.220 It was like, oh, yeah, well, we're going to put you back to work, so we're going to piss off the unions.

00:01:01.580 But we're going to delay it so that all Canadians can, you know, equally feel the pain, you know.

00:01:05.980 It was just like, at this point, Trudeau's not even trying. 0.96

00:01:10.280 It's kind of ridiculous. 0.86

00:01:12.400 William, are you one of those dudes that goes out on, like, Christmas Eve day and you're out at the mall? 0.97

00:01:17.640 I can picture you.

00:01:18.320 No, I did my shopping mostly on Black Friday.

00:01:22.160 But, unfortunately, with the post-strike for Christmas, technically, everybody's going to get the drill count of posts, sorry, we missed you.

00:01:30.960 We'll let you pick up your package at a deeply inconvenient location, slips.

00:01:36.440 I think that's what everybody's going to get this year.

00:01:38.180 I'm actually screen-grabbing things.

00:01:40.720 I'm buying people and I'm printing them as pictures and I'm sticking them under the tree.

00:01:45.500 Whatever.

00:01:46.320 They're not here.

00:01:47.280 You're stuck in a truck somewhere.

00:01:49.000 All right, guys.

00:01:49.780 This is too much fun.

00:01:50.880 Let's get this started.

00:01:51.740 Welcome to Off the Record on True North.

00:02:02.540 I'm Chris Sims.

00:02:03.380 I'm the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:02:06.480 Pinch-hitting this week, so thank you so much for listening to me, along with my friends, William and Noah.

00:02:12.740 Gentlemen, this week feels to be about three weeks long.

00:02:16.660 And I think that's because a lot of people got what would be a surprise resignation from the Finance Minister this week.

00:02:24.820 It has been quite something.

00:02:27.660 So, for folks who've been asleep and didn't know, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was supposed to deliver her fall economic update.

00:02:36.040 What that means in normal people talk is like a baby budget, like a mini budget, where you update the numbers.

00:02:41.640 And that was supposed to be done, like, weeks ago, but it was going to then be done on Monday.

00:02:48.240 Turns out, yeah, no, sorry, no soup for them.

00:02:52.080 They blew through their so-called fiscal guardrail, which, by the way, was a $40 billion deficit, which is a crazy, terrible fail, okay, from this government.

00:03:02.240 But they blew through that, and it's about a $62 billion deficit.

00:03:06.700 But apparently, Freeland didn't want to polish that one for Trudeau, and she resigned before that could happen.

00:03:14.720 So, I just wanted to go around the horn before we get to our clips and all the fun that happened after that.

00:03:19.720 What was your guys' reaction to that when you saw the wheels falling off there on Monday?

00:03:24.520 My favorite part was when the speaker stood up at 4 o'clock.

00:03:28.940 He's like, well, it's 4 o'clock, and technically I'm supposed to stand up and get the Finance Minister to talk, but there's no Finance Minister.

00:03:35.980 That was wild.

00:03:39.840 No, I thought it was a really interesting day.

00:03:43.080 You know, I woke up on a Monday thinking, oh, well, it's going to be another day, maybe the fall economic statement provides some news.

00:03:49.680 But I did not have this one on my bingo card, and I'm pretty sure most people didn't either.

00:03:54.660 I mean, it's understandable from Chrysia Freeland's perspective, as someone who wants to run for the liberal leadership after Trudeau, and someone who doesn't want to have their reputation tarnished further.

00:04:07.180 You know, it's not like her reputation is, you know, extremely clean.

00:04:10.700 You know, she's widely beloved by all Canadians.

00:04:14.280 But tabling a fall economic statement in which you blow past your fiscal guardrail, it really does not help if you're trying to, you know, appeal to Canadians and try and convince them that you are going to be able to adequately manage the country's finances if you become Prime Minister.

00:04:33.520 So, she did, and she also has a book coming out, which is interesting, it's called Chrysia.

00:04:39.700 So, you know, this, I think, you know, this was probably, you know, more or less planned by her.

00:04:44.380 She, you know, came to this conclusion probably a while ago.

00:04:47.980 And it also seems that this was like a bit of an interpersonal dispute between Trudeau and Freeland.

00:04:53.620 Freeland has been very loyal to Trudeau, one of Trudeau's most valiant soldiers.

00:04:58.800 And she has taken a lot of blows on behalf of the Prime Minister.

00:05:04.200 But after the Prime Minister said, yeah, I want you out of the finance ministry, I'm going to put you in a role with where you get no staff and no additional resources.

00:05:13.940 You're basically just going to have a nameplate on a door and that's about it.

00:05:19.700 She's like, no, I'm not going to deal with this.

00:05:21.660 I want to be Prime Minister in the future.

00:05:23.240 I'm gone.

00:05:23.820 And it looks as if a lot of Liberals are, you know, looking up there as like a folk hero of sorts.

00:05:30.400 But it's definitely a lot, all the more pressure for the Prime Minister to resign after a disastrous year in office.

00:05:38.340 William, what did you think about Freeland's JetBlue performance?

00:05:42.320 Well, look, I think I figured out what happened.

00:05:45.000 And it's that Justin Trudeau went to the new finance minister store and he ordered himself a new finance minister.

00:05:52.160 But unfortunately, because of the Canada Post strike, the new finance minister didn't show up on time.

00:05:57.540 Mark Carney's probably stuck in a Canada Post warehouse right now, waiting for Canada Post to deliver him.

00:06:04.020 So the fact that he already fired his former finance minister without actually getting a replacement left him into a really embarrassing situation on Monday,

00:06:14.100 where Chrystia Freeland, after being put upon by this prime minister, oh, so much over the past few months, finally said enough is enough.

00:06:22.420 I'm not going to defend an economic update with measures in it that I don't believe in.

00:06:27.680 And I'm certainly not going to do it knowing that you've tried to boot me or have booted me for someone else.

00:06:34.320 By the way, someone else who didn't want to even join Mr. Trudeau's government.

00:06:38.860 And I mean, it is hilarious.

00:06:40.800 You couldn't have planned a better set of circumstances, I think, for all of this to happen.

00:06:46.120 It to me, I felt some undertones.

00:06:49.060 For those of you who are a little older, you may remember there was another finance minister who lost his job in kind of a similar way.

00:06:57.320 His name was Paul Martin, and he was fired by John Krekshan because Krekshan decided he didn't want him anymore.

00:07:04.480 He wasn't being loyal, didn't have his confidence, whatever the case is.

00:07:07.760 Well, you know, if you looked what happened after that, Mr. Krekshan was not long for his premiership after that.

00:07:14.340 In fact, some would say it was the incident that finally brought Mr. Krekshan tumbling down.

00:07:20.580 Will that happen this time?

00:07:22.060 I guess we'll only have to wait and see.

00:07:24.100 But certainly, everything is not happy in Liberal land right now.

00:07:28.220 No, for sure.

00:07:29.020 I am old enough to remember that.

00:07:30.880 I was working on Parliament Hill when that happened.

00:07:33.480 And I remember distinctly, Paul Martin was in a press conference, and he was asked something along the lines of,

00:07:38.960 do you have confidence in the Prime Minister?

00:07:41.100 And he hesitated a little tiny smidge too long.

00:07:43.840 And then all hell broke loose.

00:07:45.320 I will point out, from a taxpayer's perspective, this is a totally different Liberal government.

00:07:51.240 We have got a record deficit, and Chrystia Freeland, as finance minister, helped Trudeau double the national debt.

00:08:02.420 She was a huge carbon tax cheerleader. 1.00

00:08:05.520 She loved hiking up the capital gains tax on people's properties and assets.

00:08:10.220 She froze Canadians' bank accounts when they had the temerity to disagree with her government peacefully.

00:08:16.020 So yeah, she's one of the worst finance ministers I've ever known in Canadian history. 0.98

00:08:21.120 And I'm saying one of the, to hedge my bets, because I'm always scared there's some alternate dimension way back in the 1800s that I'm not aware of,

00:08:29.620 where there was a worse finance minister. 0.65

00:08:32.100 But brother, she's up there.

00:08:34.340 So as far as the Parliamentary Press Gallery goes, they can save the sonnets, okay, when it comes to Freeland.

00:08:39.680 All that said, William and Noah, I did enjoy the circus that happened afterwards, and it just kept rolling all week.

00:08:48.660 We've got this clip, and it is a clip, it's a long one, from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

00:08:53.560 And I've been told to say this, warning, it's a clip from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

00:08:58.640 So please stay with us, listen to the entire thing.

00:09:00.820 But this is fascinating, because this is, keep in mind, after Freeland quits, after they have no finance minister to deliver a terrible fall economic statement,

00:09:13.240 after a massive caucus meeting that went on and on, where Freeland apparently got a standing ovation, and he did not.

00:09:21.680 So imagine all of this going up to your annual holiday party.

00:09:26.840 That's awkward.

00:09:28.300 All right, play this clip.

00:09:29.260 It has been an eventful couple of days.

00:09:33.480 It hasn't been easy, and that's why I'm so happy to see you guys.

00:09:41.180 You know, it's hard not to feel happy when we're like this, among liberals, among family, because that's what we really are, a big family.

00:09:51.700 Now, like, like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays.

00:09:58.920 But, of course, like most families, we find our way through it.

00:10:05.380 You know, I love this country.

00:10:16.340 I deeply love this party.

00:10:18.440 I love you guys.

00:10:19.860 And love is what families are all about.

00:10:22.180 Yeah.

00:10:24.980 Um, don't drink the punch.

00:10:28.260 Just singing.

00:10:30.020 Don't drink the punch.

00:10:31.580 I've been in the arena a long time.

00:10:33.640 I've talked to that prime minister probably three dozen times.

00:10:37.880 He's mad.

00:10:39.380 He was basically talking through gritted teeth there.

00:10:43.300 Uh, what was your take on it quickly there, guys, William and Noah?

00:10:46.500 Well, I mean, I loved the whole we are family.

00:10:50.080 And I thought, yeah, you know, the Manson family called themselves a family, too.

00:10:54.280 That's what I meant.

00:10:55.140 I like him going to drink the punch.

00:10:58.020 Definitely a cringeworthy moment.

00:11:01.240 He almost seems divorced from reality, that what has happened in the real world doesn't

00:11:07.340 doesn't even go through his head, that he, you know, I kind of want a vacation where Mr.

00:11:13.960 Trudeau's, you know, mind is at because it seems like a happy, warm and fun place because

00:11:19.160 it's definitely not the reality the rest of us are sitting in.

00:11:21.700 I think, you know, for him to go to a very high end liberal fundraiser following his terrible

00:11:27.540 day, not to talk to reporters, not to talk to Canadians about the fact that their elected

00:11:32.120 government appears to be in complete disarray.

00:11:34.480 But boy, he always has time for liberal donors who paid a lot of money to the liberal party

00:11:39.720 makes time for them.

00:11:40.760 I think really just sums up this prime minister party before country and self before anyone

00:11:46.420 else.

00:11:46.880 No, you hit it right on the head of the nail there, William, because instead of addressing

00:11:52.600 the Canadian people after that tumultuous day, I mean, it wasn't just political chaos.

00:11:57.460 It was it had an effect on the Canadian economy.

00:12:00.320 We saw our dollar drop below 70 cents per dollar value to the American dollar.

00:12:07.560 So like this had an implication when it came to the financial markets and especially the bond

00:12:14.120 markets, we had people in the bond market saying, hey, like, can we really trust Canadian bonds

00:12:21.000 and buy these bonds when Canada looks like it's going to have even a harder and harder

00:12:25.140 time paying back their debt?

00:12:28.100 This was a very serious day.

00:12:30.320 And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would rather go in front of a friendly crowd of liberals that

00:12:35.980 the most diehard of diehard and make jokes. 0.94

00:12:38.880 I think it's a little disgusting.

00:12:40.720 And not only did he do that, but he canceled all of his year end interviews.

00:12:44.140 The prime minister usually gives at least one, a few year end interviews generally.

00:12:49.440 And he decided, hey, I'm not even going to just cancel all of them except for one, maybe

00:12:54.120 with his favorite reporter at the Global Mail or Global News or CBC or whatever.

00:12:59.760 He didn't even do any interview.

00:13:01.320 He's not going to do any interviews.

00:13:02.420 And it really shows like, it really looks like he's trying to avoid political accountability.

00:13:07.300 He's not trying to face the Canadian people because he's probably just trying to, he probably 0.94

00:13:15.600 feels that if he can reconstitute a plan to regain his support.

00:13:19.980 But that opportunity is long gone.

00:13:23.340 He's delusional if he thinks that's a possibility.

00:13:25.500 And it's a shame that in a democracy like ours, the prime minister doesn't want to face the

00:13:32.180 people.

00:13:33.180 I find it very interesting that after nine years of puffball interviews that he's been

00:13:39.340 given by the mainstream media and largely directly from the press gallery to zero in on them,

00:13:44.540 I hold them responsible for the fact that they've given this guy carte blanche free reign for the

00:13:50.020 last nine years and the moment that he might get an uncomfortable question at the year-end

00:13:56.080 interview, he's not showing up.

00:13:58.720 So very interesting.

00:14:00.840 These are the sunny ways.

00:14:02.160 Yeah, right.

00:14:02.860 Exactly.

00:14:04.020 So it just speaks, you know, frankly, it just speaks to the fact that he's never had to be

00:14:08.220 accountable.

00:14:09.040 Like he's never had to worry about a bill.

00:14:10.940 He's never had to worry about paying rent.

00:14:12.720 That's why it's so frankly disgusting when he jets down to places like Brazil to some up with 0.99

00:14:17.760 people conference and scolds all the rest of us, saying that we should value paying his

00:14:23.000 carbon tax over feeding our kids and paying rent as if he knows the first thing about

00:14:30.020 either of those two things.

00:14:31.380 So to me, it just speaks volumes.

00:14:33.360 It's the same guy who wanted the budget to balance itself, right, and said, forgive me

00:14:37.820 if I don't think about monetary policy.

00:14:39.820 This is what you get.

00:14:41.160 You get a doubled national debt.

00:14:43.820 Doubled.

00:14:44.120 Our debt is more than $1.2 trillion.

00:14:48.240 For the folks at home, that's $1,000 billion.

00:14:51.920 If you started counting right now, it would take you 30,000 years to count to $1 trillion.

00:14:58.100 The ice age was more recent than that.

00:15:02.060 That's crazy.

00:15:03.180 So that's where we are after this Trudeau government.

00:15:05.440 Speaking of delusional, did we want to move on to the leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh?

00:15:11.340 And I will give some credit to my old colleagues at the Parliamentary Press Gallery here, because

00:15:17.400 you can hear them, William, getting exasperated, finally, finally, with this NDP leader, because

00:15:26.100 amid all of this stuff, finance minister quitting, having to rush down to governor general, begging,

00:15:32.640 you know, his old baby sitter to become finance minister, all this stuff happening.

00:15:36.940 Jagmeet Singh comes out and speaks to reporters and again says exactly nothing.

00:15:40.680 William, what was your take on this?

00:15:42.640 Can you break it down for us?

00:15:44.480 Yeah, you know, Jagmeet Singh, that paragon of political strategy and effectiveness in

00:15:49.980 the House of Commons has, you know, just become such a laughingstock for all of us who follow

00:15:56.500 Canadian politics.

00:15:57.660 You know, this is a guy who said he was ripping up the Supply and Confidence Agreement, proceeded

00:16:02.620 to continue to vote to keep Trudeau and the Trudeau government in power.

00:16:06.820 Well, you would think out of any time that this would be the moment he would summon himself

00:16:12.140 to finally say enough is enough.

00:16:14.840 We're going to vote no confidence in this government.

00:16:17.460 But of course, never one to miss an opportunity.

00:16:20.380 Jagmeet Singh completely missed the opportunity.

00:16:23.520 And instead, to a yes, no question, gave this incredible, well thought out and concise answer.

00:16:32.400 Let's watch this amazing clip together.

00:16:35.860 Right now, Canadians are struggling with the cost of living.

00:16:39.840 I hear it everywhere I go.

00:16:40.780 People cannot find a home that they can afford.

00:16:43.580 They can't buy their groceries.

00:16:45.120 And on top of that, we have Trump threatening tariffs at 25%, which put hundreds and thousands

00:16:51.920 of Canadian jobs at risk.

00:16:54.620 And instead of focusing on these issues, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on themselves.

00:16:59.380 They're fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians. 0.61

00:17:02.480 And for that reason, today, I'm calling on Justin Trudeau to resign.

00:17:06.040 He has to go.

00:17:07.300 Will you declare no confidence in the Liberal government as soon as possible?

00:17:10.980 All tools, all options are on the table.

00:17:14.960 People are hurting.

00:17:16.260 People are struggling.

00:17:17.500 And so all options are on the table.

00:17:18.840 That means everything is possible.

00:17:20.980 But what is clear, given what we have seen, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government that

00:17:25.860 are focused on themselves, they are infighting at a time when people cannot even do their

00:17:30.460 groceries.

00:17:31.020 They can't even find homes that are affordable.

00:17:33.860 And we've got the threat of Donald Trump and 25% tariffs that mean hundreds of thousands

00:17:39.420 of jobs are at risk.

00:17:40.880 Because of that, I'm saying very clearly that Justin Trudeau has to resign.

00:17:45.780 All options are on the table.

00:17:47.060 Thank you very much.

00:17:47.640 That's a nice touch, this part.

00:17:51.620 Yeah, that's good.

00:17:52.600 The I feel equivocation in my soul touch.

00:17:56.420 That's right.

00:17:57.520 That's good.

00:17:58.400 Very, very negative.

00:17:59.600 Just from watching that.

00:18:00.540 Yeah.

00:18:01.400 Just from watching that, you can just sense all the political cynicism just emanating

00:18:07.820 from the front hole that he has on his face.

00:18:10.720 Like, it's really, it's really, like, just annoying that he won't come out and just say

00:18:16.600 what his true intentions are.

00:18:18.020 He's keeping the Trudeau government in power because he sees that the NDP are down in the

00:18:22.740 polls and he doesn't want to go to an election where they're probably going to lose seats

00:18:26.380 in an election where they should easily win seats as an opposition party when the government

00:18:30.580 is extremely unpopular.

00:18:32.560 That and also because he wants to get his pension.

00:18:34.740 You know, like, like, you have a lot of money already.

00:18:37.920 Like, we see the Prada bags and the Maseratis and the Rolexes and the $2,000 suits, you know,

00:18:44.100 like, now he wants even more money on the back of taxpayers.

00:18:47.820 He wants to go get his pension.

00:18:49.200 Like, he's a hustler, you know, and I would be able to respect that if he was hustling to

00:18:55.800 improve the lives of Canadians.

00:18:57.580 But he said he's just hustling to, you know, line his pockets and to, you know, keep a very,

00:19:03.660 very unpopular prime minister in power.

00:19:05.980 If he decided to not, you know, sign this confidence and supply and confidence agreement,

00:19:12.160 then he would have been able to position his party as a true opposition party to a prime

00:19:16.940 minister.

00:19:17.260 That is not good.

00:19:18.420 And then he decided to, you know, take the supply and confidence agreement and rip it

00:19:22.980 up, you know, and then he's still supplying them with confidence.

00:19:27.060 It's, it's, it's, it's actually like really, really annoying as an observer of Canadian

00:19:33.140 politics.

00:19:33.680 And I think most Canadians are annoyed because polls show 50%, 58% of Canadians want to go

00:19:39.760 to an election and majority of NDP voters want to go to an election.

00:19:44.620 33% of liberal voters want an election.

00:19:47.500 So it's, it's, it's not as if he is, you know, fighting against this demand from the

00:19:53.500 conservatives, uh, for an election that is going to be unpopular, like the 2021 election.

00:19:58.360 This is probably the election that Canadians have wanted the most in years, in decades even,

00:20:04.660 and he won't give the people what they want.

00:20:07.440 William, it is truly hilarious.

00:20:10.900 And I apologize for not knowing if it was either Chris Sully or Matt Gurney, one of the

00:20:15.300 two posted a great tweet and it was about Justin Trudeau, uh, basically fall, carrying

00:20:21.960 a sword, slipping, falling on the sword, having a spill of oil on himself, lighting himself

00:20:27.660 on fire at the same time as scabbing himself with the sword.

00:20:30.860 And he says, Jagmeet Singh, looking on, eyes narrow, thinking closely and saying, not yet.

00:20:36.000 And that really is what it comes down to.

00:20:38.900 And I mean, I think, you know, there's been a lot of speculation.

00:20:41.840 Why is Mr. Singh delaying this election?

00:20:44.520 Why is he avoiding collapsing the government?

00:20:47.100 And one of the theories that has been put forward is, is because in, uh, if he waits just

00:20:52.580 a little bit longer, another, another two months, he becomes eligible for his government

00:20:57.260 taxpayer funded index link MP pension.

00:21:00.620 And New Democrats have been very quick and ardent in denying that this is the reason, except

00:21:07.300 they have yet to provide a, a convincing alternative reason for why they're actually not voting to

00:21:15.620 collapse the government now.

00:21:16.720 And until they do, I think all of us are going to believe that this is really just a crass

00:21:22.800 exercise on the part of Jagmeet Singh and the New Democrats in order to make Mr. Singh have a,

00:21:28.000 have a soft feather MP pension landing rather than the best interest of Canadians, a card.

00:21:34.340 Yeah, I don't care.

00:21:35.120 I'll just say it.

00:21:35.820 I think it is because of his pension.

00:21:37.240 I think that most people who've been observers long enough figure that as well.

00:21:41.540 And you know what, to your point exactly, William, uh, the NDP is not doing itself any favors.

00:21:46.220 I think it was, uh, I think it was Julian.

00:21:48.420 I think it was Peter Julian.

00:21:49.760 That's like answering, I'm paraphrasing, answering the question of, okay, well, when do you see

00:21:53.980 this government falling?

00:21:55.060 And he basically pulls out a calendar.

00:21:56.680 It's like, ah, late February, early March ish.

00:22:00.280 Yeah.

00:22:00.680 You know what?

00:22:01.400 That's after this big pension date, which I think is the 25th or 26th of February.

00:22:07.480 So they're not doing themselves any favors.

00:22:10.020 And for folks who are watching this, uh, who are big supporters of the dippers and you're

00:22:14.220 offended, okay, prove me wrong.

00:22:16.980 Go ahead.

00:22:17.940 I will gladly say, you know what?

00:22:19.860 I was wrong.

00:22:20.800 They brought them down as soon as they possibly could.

00:22:22.840 And I wanted to point out something kind of procedural and nerdy for folks who are watching,

00:22:27.700 who listened to, to Mr. Singh say that Trudeau should resign.

00:22:32.500 Well, that kind of sounds serious, right?

00:22:34.520 That sounds like, okay, that means the plug is pulled.

00:22:37.280 No, no, no, no.

00:22:38.000 He very specifically said, Trudeau needs to resign.

00:22:42.400 He didn't say, I'm withdrawing my confidence in this government at the earliest possible

00:22:47.240 opportunity.

00:22:48.040 Because what that would do is the leader of the party that happens to be in power would

00:22:53.800 no longer be leader.

00:22:54.840 So then that, that party would muddle through and put in an interim leader in the middle

00:23:00.880 of it.

00:23:01.500 So somebody, anybody, frankly, would be interim leader and they'd have to have a little, you

00:23:07.140 know, leadership race of some sort.

00:23:09.120 Okay.

00:23:09.500 And that would muddle them through until at least, what would you say, William, March,

00:23:15.540 April at the earliest?

00:23:16.900 You, you could definitely survive until the government was about to run out of money again.

00:23:21.420 That's right.

00:23:21.620 And the parliament to vote the more money.

00:23:23.740 That buys you many weeks by him saying that exact answer, which is why I think that was

00:23:30.080 Marika Walsh from the Globe and Mail, who was yelling at him saying, is that really a credible

00:23:34.400 answer?

00:23:35.740 Channel that to all of the reporters on Parliament Hill who are part of the press gallery.

00:23:40.320 You know how you're being fed that line deep down, you know, that's true.

00:23:44.440 So channel that anger and keep asking these folks hard questions of all political parties.

00:23:50.020 Speaking of political parties, Noah, did you want to chat about, there was a big, there

00:23:55.360 was a switched win.

00:23:56.600 It was in Cloverdale, Langley in BC, and it was a gain for the conservatives?

00:24:01.980 Yep.

00:24:02.560 So in British Columbia on Monday, to cap off the disastrous day that Trudeau had on Monday,

00:24:08.520 there was a by-election in British Columbia.

00:24:10.980 And this seat was held by the liberals.

00:24:13.560 The liberals won the seat in 2021, and I believe also in 2019.

00:24:18.960 And the conservatives, they put up a candidate named Tamara Jensen.

00:24:23.800 Now, the conservatives, they've tried to move away from their stance on abortion issues,

00:24:30.720 just to try not to talk about it, and probably have said he's pro-choice.

00:24:34.120 But this candidate was a pro-lifer.

00:24:35.720 So you would think that this is an easy candidate for the liberals to attack the conservatives on,

00:24:40.920 you know?

00:24:41.520 The liberals, they love harping on the abortion issue.

00:24:44.880 But instead, the liberals, they got decimated in this by-election.

00:24:49.160 And I mean decimated.

00:24:51.400 Remember how I said the liberals won the last election in Cloverdale, Langley?

00:24:57.300 Instead, the conservatives won this by-election with 66.3% of the vote, with the liberals at 16%.

00:25:06.040 That is about over a 50-point swing.

00:25:09.580 We never see this in politics, from one election to another.

00:25:13.280 If you extrapolate a 50-point win nationally, that means that the conservatives would win

00:25:19.600 like 300 seats in the next election.

00:25:21.560 Now, that's probably not going to happen.

00:25:23.220 But a 50-point swing in British Columbia province that the liberals are supposed to be competitive

00:25:29.740 in, this is not like in Alberta, where the conservatives win 66.3% of the vote if they put a horse as the

00:25:37.660 candidate.

00:25:38.460 But instead, they lost a by-election that they were supposed to be competitive in.

00:25:45.240 Now, going into the election day, we thought that the conservatives would win.

00:25:48.500 But this is an embarrassment for the liberals.

00:25:51.360 This probably had something to do with an announcement earlier in the day that Christian

00:25:56.740 Phelan was inviting.

00:25:57.700 A lot of liberal voters probably said, well, what's the point of even going to the polls? 0.99

00:26:01.740 Our party sucks right now. 0.97

00:26:03.340 But it looks as if the liberals are digging themselves in a deeper and deeper hole. 1.00

00:26:09.460 These by-elections are getting worse and worse for Trudeau and the liberals.

00:26:12.940 And it doesn't seem as if they're going to be able to save very much furniture in that

00:26:18.040 next coming election.

00:26:19.440 What do you guys think of this by-election result?

00:26:23.440 Go ahead, William.

00:26:24.440 Yeah.

00:26:25.020 I always say, don't ever read too, too much into any one by-election.

00:26:30.260 There can be weird things happening in by-elections, lower turnout, and rarely does a future of

00:26:37.700 a government hang on the outcome of a single by-election.

00:26:40.620 All of that being said, I think you have to look at the series of by-elections that have

00:26:44.560 happened over the past eight or so months, past year.

00:26:49.280 And the fact that the liberals are now consistently losing what had been described as safe liberal

00:26:53.660 seats to the conservatives and, in one case, to the bloc, I think is painting a very worrying

00:26:59.840 picture for what this means to the Liberal Party.

00:27:03.080 Now, if you look at other advanced democracies, the Liberal Party is a bit of an anomaly.

00:27:11.280 It's this, quote-unquote, centrist party.

00:27:14.200 It's moved quite far to the left, I would say, under the leadership of Mr. Trudeau and

00:27:19.080 his college roommates who are in cabinet.

00:27:22.900 And his groomsmen, come on, William, be fair.

00:27:26.540 It was his wedding party and college roommate.

00:27:28.380 You're right, or it is a wedding party.

00:27:31.180 You're right.

00:27:32.680 But having this centrist party exist sort of between a left-wing opposition and a right-wing

00:27:37.260 opposition is unusual.

00:27:40.000 And in many places, centrist parties just have been unable to continue existing after electoral

00:27:46.140 defeat.

00:27:46.720 And that, you know, you look at Ontario and the Kathleen Wynne Liberals, well, the Liberal Party

00:27:52.460 has disappeared virtually or become, you know, a very much less of a factor.

00:27:58.040 Alberta, we don't have a Liberal Party anymore.

00:27:59.860 I mean, maybe we do on paper, but it doesn't say or do anything.

00:28:03.280 It's either the United Conservative Party or the New Democrats.

00:28:07.520 And, you know, that's the case everywhere.

00:28:10.060 So the real worry for the Liberal Party isn't just losing this upcoming election to Pierre

00:28:13.960 Pagliabra.

00:28:14.740 It could be losing the Liberal Party as a political force, as a viable alternative in party politics.

00:28:22.600 The only saving grace, I would say, for the Liberal Party is the fact that the New Democrats

00:28:27.880 are being led by Jag Eatsingh, who is just so incompetent as a political party leader.

00:28:33.820 If the New Democrats had a competent leader who was politically astute, who was good on

00:28:40.040 policy, leading an energized United Caucus, I bet that the amount of space between, you

00:28:46.260 know, popular support, they would just be crushing those Liberals in between them and

00:28:50.660 the Conservative Party.

00:28:51.480 And a bag showing for the Liberal Party now could send them into the wilderness, maybe for

00:28:56.240 five years, maybe for a decade, maybe forever.

00:28:59.880 We should only be so lucky, I should say.

00:29:01.420 Maybe letting my political, partisan political feelings show just a little bit there.

00:29:06.400 Well, you bring up a great point, because even in Canada, you see this consolidation

00:29:13.140 of the political landscape.

00:29:14.860 In British Columbia, you have the NDP, and, you know, there was a nominally center-right

00:29:19.920 party, the B.C. Liberals, they renamed to the B.C. United.

00:29:23.560 But they got outshined by a center-right party that is, you know, unafraid to say that they're

00:29:32.660 Conservers, the B.C.

00:29:33.560 Conservative.

00:29:34.160 You see in Alberta, the Liberals get pushed out.

00:29:36.800 In Ontario, it looks like the NDP and the Liberals, they're both suffering from weak

00:29:40.480 leaders.

00:29:41.020 So we'll see what party rises to the top once one of them becomes electorally viable.

00:29:47.480 You see even in Manitoba, they have the PC-NDP divide.

00:29:50.780 It looks as if Canada is polarizing into falling into one or two distinct political identities,

00:29:59.500 either you're center-right or center-left, and that's about it.

00:30:02.500 And it seems as if this consolidation would be happening on the federal level, if not for

00:30:08.140 the NDP.

00:30:09.560 If the NDP were, as William said, a lot stronger, you'd probably see the Liberals being pushed

00:30:14.600 out and probably at 10% with it.

00:30:16.360 But you have this problem where Justin Trudeau is staying on, and his brand is very toxic

00:30:23.240 to the Canadian people.

00:30:24.720 You go even in the streets of Toronto, and you talk about Justin Trudeau to the average

00:30:29.440 person, and they're not going to have great things to say about him.

00:30:33.040 So Trudeau is hastening the decline of the Liberal brand in Canada.

00:30:37.800 But as William says, Jang Lee Singh just cannot capitalize on this.

00:30:41.940 The NDP have been going down in all their by-election results, as have the Liberals, and it's making

00:30:47.400 it very easy for Pierre Poliav to pick up all the people who are frustrated with the government

00:30:53.440 as supporters and to get them to vote for the CPC in the next election.

00:30:58.720 To that point, mentioning center-left and Manitoba and by-elections, the NDP won a by-election

00:31:06.480 recently in Manitoba.

00:31:08.860 And I learned this week that NDP Premier Wab Kanu of Manitoba, did you know that he speaks

00:31:16.460 French?

00:31:18.120 No.

00:31:19.220 Can I say that?

00:31:20.660 He speaks English, obviously, Ojibwe, and French.

00:31:25.080 And gotta say, dude's a very good communicator.

00:31:28.700 So definitely somebody to watch there.

00:31:30.760 Speaking of watching with a lot of popcorn, did we want to get to President-elect Trump

00:31:39.440 and the imminent invasion?

00:31:44.700 Who wants to leave that one off?

00:31:46.640 These things are so good.

00:31:48.280 Okay, so for folks, again, who haven't been following, U.S. President-elect and former

00:31:53.020 President Donald Trump has been apparently following Canadian politics pretty closely.

00:31:57.700 As we know, he is threatening, very seriously, a 25% tariff on stuff that we ship in to the

00:32:07.220 United States.

00:32:08.180 Our relationship with the United States, as far as just trade goes, forget the fact that

00:32:13.220 we're neighbors and relatives and allies and all that stuff and good friends, our trade

00:32:19.140 relationship cannot be overstated.

00:32:21.580 Like, it cannot.

00:32:22.340 It is not duplicated anywhere else in the world.

00:32:24.440 It is billions and billions and billions of dollars that cross that border.

00:32:28.620 And he's apparently been watching a lot of this stuff going back and forth, and so much

00:32:33.060 so that I actually had a relative text me earlier this week, like, freaked right out,

00:32:38.020 like, about Manifest Destiny and, aren't you worried about this?

00:32:41.660 So just off the top, I'll take my CTF hat off, because tariffs are bad and we should take

00:32:47.660 this stuff really seriously.

00:32:48.920 But as somebody who was raised in the 80s, I've read Donald Trump's main book, Art of

00:32:56.380 the Deal, and I used to watch wrestling all the time, and I would occasionally tune in

00:33:01.340 to his old show, The Apprentice.

00:33:03.540 This is how he talks.

00:33:05.660 This is like somebody getting ready for an MMA fight and giving you shots beforehand.

00:33:10.980 He is trash-talking you before he pulls you into the octagon.

00:33:15.560 So to me, I know, I don't think that the U.S. Army is going to roll across the 49th parallel.

00:33:21.920 Now, I could be wrong.

00:33:23.860 William, are you gathering your acorns to use them in your slingshot, or what's happening

00:33:28.780 in your house?

00:33:30.180 Yeah.

00:33:30.840 You know, I think it's funny to watch the reaction to Mr. Trump's comments, because the

00:33:39.540 hysteria we're seeing from some quarters, is precisely what Mr. Trump wants to have happen.

00:33:47.000 He's saying these things precisely to elicit a response.

00:33:52.440 And the more the Canadian side flaps about, the more strength it puts his position in for

00:34:00.220 negotiating when the actual negotiation comes to pass.

00:34:04.340 We're in the pre-negotiation phase right now, you know, where he's laid out dire trade consequences

00:34:10.800 for Canada unless progress is made on several issues.

00:34:14.820 And now he is simply fanning the flames of sowing the seeds of discord or sanity on our

00:34:24.480 side in order to simply be able to put himself in a position to extract more concessions for

00:34:30.060 when the deal finally happens.

00:34:31.180 The best thing any people could do would be to focus on the trade issue and the specific

00:34:38.280 border issues that Mr. Trump has brought forward and ignore everything else.

00:34:44.340 Because if he tweets something and doesn't get a response, he's going to move on to something

00:34:50.680 else, right?

00:34:51.740 He won't just keep saying something if there's no response to it.

00:34:54.920 If we keep responding with increasingly insane responses, then he's going to be saying it

00:35:01.940 for the next 8, 12, 18, however many years he manages to keep himself in the White House

00:35:09.220 through whatever means he employs.

00:35:11.240 So it is, but it is pretty funny to watch.

00:35:13.900 And, you know, should Canada, you know, ever find itself on the receiving end, there's only

00:35:20.240 a few things I can say, which is, first of all, good luck trying to afford a house up here right

00:35:25.540 now for anybody who wants to.

00:35:26.760 You don't want this size.

00:35:28.040 No, no.

00:35:28.440 Governor Trudeau not doing a good job.

00:35:30.560 And secondly, to Mr. Trump's and Republicans' own best interests, Canada would be a blue state,

00:35:37.480 I think, if it ever became the 51st state.

00:35:39.840 Do you really want to give more electoral votes to the Democrats in every presidential election?

00:35:45.680 Strategically, not a great idea for President Trump and the Republicans.

00:35:50.320 So just keep that in mind, Mr. President-elect, when you're making things.

00:35:54.640 Noah, I think Polly was right when he stated in his press conference something along the

00:35:59.780 lines of, Trump can spot weakness a mile away.

00:36:03.780 This is how he negotiates.

00:36:05.220 It's how he gets his art of a deal going.

00:36:07.520 And freaking out about him teasing us, saying, oh, Governor Trudeau, 51st state, just screams

00:36:14.060 weakness.

00:36:14.480 So keep your powder dry.

00:36:16.920 Noah, what was your take on this?

00:36:19.500 Well, my general take was, this kind of reminds me of when a little kid makes a joke that adults

00:36:26.180 find funny, and then they just keep repeating it and repeating it, and it just loses all

00:36:29.960 the luster that it had originally. 0.89

00:36:32.900 Like, Trump, he's a bit childish, in my opinion.

00:36:36.960 And he thinks it's funny, you know, prodding Canadians over this joke.

00:36:42.800 And Canadians are a little insecure.

00:36:44.700 You know, we like to think of ourselves as better than Americans. 0.66

00:36:48.300 Oh, we have a better health care system than you guys.

00:36:50.460 We might not.

00:36:51.560 There's a doubt.

00:36:52.420 No, we didn't question it.

00:36:54.100 Yeah.

00:36:54.420 Definitely debatable.

00:36:55.200 You know, we like to say, oh, we're nicer.

00:36:57.980 We're this, we're that.

00:36:59.040 We have less crime.

00:37:00.300 You know, before in the 1800s, they used to say, we're more religious than you guys.

00:37:04.680 We don't say that anymore.

00:37:05.580 But, like, we always have had this insecurity since 1867 and even before.

00:37:12.080 So, Trump exploiting this is kind of funny, you know, as someone who doesn't take Trump

00:37:17.120 very seriously when he says these types of things.

00:37:19.680 But, as William said, we do need to take serious the trade thing.

00:37:24.160 And we need to, you know, make overtures to Trump and flatter him a little.

00:37:28.840 That's how you sort of get on the good side.

00:37:30.800 When Trump went to visit China, Xi Jinping, you know, fouled him with, you know, this pomp

00:37:35.960 and ceremony and, you know, probably fed him some good food, some McDonald's.

00:37:39.540 And, you know, he's like, wow, this Xi guy, you know, I really like this guy. 0.55

00:37:44.380 The same thing when he visited North Korea.

00:37:46.360 He's like, oh, Kim Jong-un, you know, he's not rocking that anymore.

00:37:49.980 But, you know, when he goes to visit, like, Germany or whatever, and Angela Merkel's, like,

00:37:54.520 you know, giving him a scorn, like a sour face.

00:37:56.980 Like, you know, that doesn't help American-German relations, and it doesn't help Canadian-American

00:38:02.160 relations.

00:38:02.800 So, I think what Daniel Smith is doing is really smart.

00:38:05.740 Going on Fox News, talking to American conservatives, you know, putting forward the Canadian conservative

00:38:12.060 position that a lot of Americans would resonate with.

00:38:15.240 I think Xi has been a great leader when it comes to trying to deal with the threat of tariffs.

00:38:21.160 And Trudeau is absolutely the opposite.

00:38:22.980 You know, he goes to, like, a conference and makes a speech about how the Americans should

00:38:28.820 have voted in Kamala Harris, and, you know, the Americans are sexist because of it.

00:38:33.300 You know, it's not smart when you're trying to flatter, you're supposed to be trying to

00:38:39.140 flatter Trump to get him to remove these tariffs.

00:38:42.400 But, you know, Trudeau is stuck in this, like, now that he realizes that he's done with his

00:38:49.760 time in office, pretty much, he's going to just, you know, become a bit more ideological,

00:38:54.180 a bit more stringent.

00:38:55.180 He's going to try and keep Pierre Poliev out of office as long as possible because he views

00:38:58.940 him as a mortal enemy.

00:39:00.020 And he's going to, you know, prod and poke Donald Trump because he views Donald Trump

00:39:05.200 as a mortal enemy, too. 1.00

00:39:07.020 Damned, you know, the terrorists. 1.00

00:39:08.400 Damned what that's going to do to the Canadian economy. 1.00

00:39:10.640 We've got to, you know, tell Trump that he's a sexist. 0.99

00:39:12.780 So, you know, but just in general, I think the joke should not be taken seriously.

00:39:18.140 We're not going to become the 51st state guys, you know, don't worry.

00:39:21.400 And if they invade, we got army of moose, I think, you know, we ride them like, you know,

00:39:27.880 like horse, just instead of, you know, horse, we got the atlers to ram into the tanks.

00:39:33.460 Hopefully that'll work.

00:39:34.400 So a nice way of putting it is that when you're trying to imagine like you're getting

00:39:42.560 married, OK, and you're melding two families together, maybe the families have their differences.

00:39:48.440 The best thing to do is to meet people where they are, find commonality and ingratiate

00:39:54.100 yourselves to them based on those common interests.

00:39:57.160 So to your point, Noah, on Premier Daniel Smith, she's doing the smart thing.

00:40:02.080 She's climbing into Trump's living room by going on Fox News and going on Fox Business

00:40:08.800 and actually talking not about her feelings.

00:40:12.880 Who cares?

00:40:14.020 She's talking about facts and laying out what she's going to do to uphold her end of the

00:40:19.660 bargain.

00:40:20.180 That is how you make deals with adults is showing how you're going to uphold your end of the

00:40:26.220 bargain.

00:40:26.520 And so it is very good that we have some premiers in Canada who can be the adults in the room.

00:40:34.260 So Premier Ford out in Ontario is getting a lot of play this way.

00:40:38.340 I would say that's largely because it's an Ontario dominated mainstream media still.

00:40:42.980 I am a little biased because I'm a Western Canadian gal.

00:40:46.120 I think Premier Smith is doing a great job of kind of doing the Captain Canada thing here

00:40:51.660 right now because she's talking about facts and dates.

00:40:55.140 Ford is doing some as well.

00:40:56.960 And this is all leading back to the initial reason why apparently Trump said all this.

00:41:02.060 He wants us to toughen up our border.

00:41:04.980 Like that generally will just benefit Canadians.

00:41:09.000 At the Taxpayers Federation, we've been railing against the gun grab, for example, here, where

00:41:13.880 the Trudeau government is trying to penalize law abiding licensed firearms owners and steal

00:41:20.300 our property from us, even though he is letting tons of illegal weapons and firearms and guns

00:41:26.520 rush across our border back and forth all the time.

00:41:29.360 So sure, he needs to be taken seriously because, of course, a tariff like that is going to damage

00:41:34.340 economies, frankly, on both sides of the border.

00:41:36.340 Because if you want to get back to Premier Ford, the auto pact, the auto industry, they're

00:41:41.720 the same industry.

00:41:43.360 They just happen to straddle the border.

00:41:45.300 So I don't think he wants to do this either.

00:41:48.100 We just need to actually make a good deal and stop taking so much of this personally.

00:41:53.320 Folks, thank you so much for watching.

00:41:55.220 William and Noah, thank you so much for joining us.

00:41:57.920 Please leave your comments under the channel here on the YouTube channel.

00:42:02.320 You can always go to the True North website and send us a message there.

00:42:05.840 Let us know what you think of the show.

00:42:07.640 But until then, remember, everything we've said is off the record.

00:42:18.300 Off the record, they're posting on the internet.

00:42:21.740 I mean, I think Danielle makes a good point, too, where she's trying to debunk that hundred 1.00

00:42:26.640 billion number.

00:42:27.920 And I think that's useful saying a lot of its raw imports into the United States, oil, gas

00:42:33.740 and lumber and other things which big American companies, you know, turn into really great

00:42:39.920 products that they sell for trillions of dollars on the global market.

00:42:43.640 So, you know, why don't we look at it as we're investing in each other?

00:42:47.760 We're being part of a team that together we're both going to be successful.

00:42:51.760 So I really hope that message starts to start sneaking out there.

00:42:55.400 I think it will because he knows that.

00:42:57.540 He totally knows that.

00:42:58.640 And he'll be so impressed that smart Daniel Smith is saying this back to him.

00:43:04.280 This is my I'm very optimistic when it comes to this stuff.

00:43:07.500 I think he'll be impressed by that knowledge.

00:43:09.140 And I think we will get a deal.

00:43:10.960 This is so much bluster, like so much bluster.

00:43:14.040 Everybody's taking the bait.

00:43:15.220 Quit taking the bait.

00:43:17.120 And I mean, like, you know, you're elected on a mandate of like improving things.

00:43:20.400 It's like, oh, immediately our prices are up 20 percent because we're the tariff on Canada.

00:43:25.100 You know, that that won't really play well in America.

Off the Record - December 20, 2024

Canadians want an election NOW

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