Off the Record - Does the U.S. need Canada？

00:00:00.000 yeah I was wondering Rachel I don't know if I seen you in glasses before probably not I gave

00:00:06.020 up on wearing them for like two to three years and um yeah my eyesight got a lot worse than that

00:00:11.140 time do you wear contacts at all or no no no I never really had like they were they're a really

00:00:17.700 minor prescription and then all of a sudden I started getting all these headaches and I like

00:00:21.460 noticed I was like squinting to see the clock when it was a few feet away and um I put them on

00:00:27.500 and I was like oh that's what that's supposed to look like so I think I am at the point now where

00:00:32.500 they might become like a a regular occurrence but they were basically just something I would wear

00:00:37.420 like here and there before I've heard like falling asleep with contacts is like the worst thing

00:00:43.020 yeah they seem like a huge pain and then when you travel you've got to like bring all that extra

00:00:47.520 stuff so I think I'll just stick with the glasses frames I've noticed a similar decline in my

00:00:55.920 vision since working at true north probably because I'm staring at a screen all day so that's a

00:01:01.440 casualty of war you know we're putting our bodies on the line out here at true north

00:01:05.260 cosmic the mug is a much better fit for you whenever I drink it that you can't see the logo because

00:01:14.700 it's it's backwards look I know it's like a plain mug we need to talk to management about this

00:01:22.520 we need the label on both sides I think Williams to blame for that I mean most people are right-handed

00:01:28.860 so it does seem like quite the oversight yeah yeah we're gonna have to have start having two mugs

00:01:34.540 lefties and righties anyways let's hop put it on both sides let's hop into our first story here

00:01:41.900 so I guess I mean we've all been following the trade war that's breaking out between Canada and

00:01:52.760 the United States I feel like as soon as I put out content on this it immediately becomes out of date

00:01:58.740 because there's like constant new announcements I think we probably all felt that way on inauguration

00:02:04.540 day like the day before everyone was talking about the tariffs were coming and we saw all these op-eds

00:02:08.880 about all the you know were coming into effect and then first thing on inauguration day I guess that

00:02:14.360 was Monday morning oh we hear the tariffs aren't coming and now people writing op-eds about how

00:02:19.280 you know Danielle Smith won and there was not going to be any tariffs or there was like the counterpoint

00:02:24.160 that we were not getting the tariff despite Danielle Smith not having a team Canada approach

00:02:28.840 and then a few hours later in the day oh we are still getting the tariffs they've just been delayed to

00:02:33.980 February 1st and it's basically just been a really transient story yesterday I had a guest on my show

00:02:41.260 the Rachel Parker show you guys should all go watch if you haven't seen it actually was at the

00:02:45.120 inauguration a former special advisor to Jason Kenny and he's a number of contacts in DC including people

00:02:51.280 headed into the Trump administration and you know he was on the ground he was getting a feel for what

00:02:56.880 everyone was saying and seems like you know what he from what he's heard Danielle Smith has been very

00:03:02.340 well received there and the Americans have noticed her efforts to you know work with Donald Trump and

00:03:10.920 with the Republicans to get a deal for Canada and she's actually you know pretty respected for being

00:03:17.360 there because in contrast you know Justin Trudeau and the federal government really should have been

00:03:23.400 there they should have at least had some representatives at the inauguration trying to secure meetings with

00:03:29.660 Republicans uh to advocate for Canada and to show excitement for the new American administration to

00:03:35.740 have you know our voices Canadian voices heard at the table they were noticeably absent we know that

00:03:41.380 Justin Trudeau had his last caucus retreat just a final last gift of the bill to taxpayers for a luxury

00:03:49.820 retreat for him and his staff the type that an average Canadian would never get to experience

00:03:54.580 and so what I heard was that Danielle Smith was well received but the federal government was missing in

00:04:00.500 action at the table and the Americans picked up on all of that and so flash forward to today

00:04:06.940 Donald Trump was speaking at the World Economic Forum conference that's currently happening in Davos

00:04:14.020 Switzerland and he's basically saying we don't need Canada we do not need their lumber we have our own

00:04:20.840 lumber we do not need their car parts we can manufacture those car parts here in America and he said we do

00:04:27.120 not need their energy we have our own energy that we are going to produce take a listen to exactly what

00:04:33.400 he had to say at the WF today we do one thing we're going to be demanding is we're going to be demanding

00:04:38.700 respect from other nations Canada we have a tremendous deficit with Canada we're not going to have that

00:04:45.520 anymore we can't do it it's it's I don't know if it's good for them as you probably know I say you

00:04:51.300 can always become a state and if you're a state we won't have a deficit we won't have to tariff you

00:04:56.400 etc etc but Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years and it's not fair that we should have

00:05:02.720 a 200 billion or 250 billion dollar deficit we don't need them to make our cars and they make a lot of

00:05:09.500 them we don't need their lumber because we have our own forests etc etc we don't need their oil and gas we have

00:05:15.460 we have more than anybody so obviously this spells bad news from Canada for Canada and I think what

00:05:21.680 we're really seeing here is um protectionism from Donald Trump and we're seeing sort of a return for

00:05:29.060 wanting to do things at home in the state he does want to increase manufacturing in America to create

00:05:36.480 those good American jobs we've heard him say time and time again and he especially said this over and

00:05:41.400 over at his inauguration speech he said this is going to be the golden age of America and we know

00:05:46.820 that something that's so important to him is putting good paychecks in the pockets of American

00:05:52.540 voters and he's planning to do that by creating jobs through manufacturing whether it's to increase

00:05:58.040 their lumber capacity he sounds like he's even planning on increasing their energy capacity you know

00:06:04.620 there might be a time when they do not need as much energy from Alberta as they currently get now that's

00:06:08.760 not something that's going to happen overnight those are big projects that often require years to get

00:06:13.340 built to the point where you can begin producing that energy but we're seeing a shift and how the

00:06:21.040 Americans are going about their relationship with Canada and I don't think that Canada is really

00:06:26.040 prepared to deal with that because our economy especially here in Alberta and that's not necessarily

00:06:31.680 the fault of the Albertans but it is so reliant on Americans buying our products and we have not

00:06:38.720 been successful in you know building those pipelines that we want across Canada you know whether that's

00:06:43.860 the whether that's to the east or to the north we know that Alberta has tried and the rest of Canada

00:06:47.720 has shut down which is one of the reasons why Daniel Smith was so angry when the federal government

00:06:53.880 said if Donald Trump implements these tariffs we're going to turn off the taps and we're not going to let

00:06:58.000 Alberta energy flow to the states because she said look Alberta's wanted to get our product to markets

00:07:03.160 elsewhere in Canada but the rest of the provinces just didn't want that and now you're basically

00:07:08.420 going to be ending our ability to produce and to create revenue for the province so this is new

00:07:14.520 information today with Donald Trump saying we don't need Canada anymore is new information and I think

00:07:19.960 there's a lot of premiers who are probably freaking out right now Cosmin what's your take

00:07:24.700 sure you mentioned at the beginning that the news cycle is changing so rapidly but I think it's just

00:07:33.960 the legacy media is in complete panic mode they don't have a clear head about what's going on I think

00:07:40.460 at the federal level nobody's thinking about this situation clearly and that's exactly what Donald Trump

00:07:48.440 wants he lobbed a grenade into Canadian politics at a perfect moment for the Americans because the

00:07:58.360 Americans have the upper hand there's insta political instability at the federal level in Canada we're

00:08:05.260 facing an election we don't have a clear leader we have a lame duck sitting in the office of the prime

00:08:13.680 minister and now the provinces are left to deal with this mess on their own and they're struggling

00:08:20.780 to have a unified message simply because this is bringing up all of the problems we have as a nation

00:08:30.300 when it comes to unification there are clear and current issues when it comes to Western sentiments

00:08:39.060 and the unfair deal that Western provinces particularly Alberta face at the national level

00:08:46.600 and yeah speaking on the lack of unification let's call it Cosmin between the premiers it really comes

00:08:54.420 down I think to the difference in opinion and approach of Daniel Smith versus everyone else of course we saw

00:09:01.880 the premiers all meet with Justin Trudeau recently and Smith refused to sign the joint statement that

00:09:10.080 they all released in regard to the American tariffs this is right before Donald Trump was sworn in and

00:09:17.440 then we've seen a recent rift I think this was yesterday because Trudeau said he wanted to go dollar

00:09:22.940 for dollar on tariffs with the United States and then Ontario Premier Doug Ford actually said the very

00:09:29.840 same thing but Smith of course was saying the U.S.'s economy is 10 times the size of ours and they rely

00:09:37.660 much less on us than we do on them if we try and start this war with them we are going to be decimated

00:09:43.700 and these arguments don't even get into the fact that we need the United States for protection

00:09:48.860 not just from an economical standpoint but from a public safety standpoint so I mean just we're really in

00:09:56.280 a no-win situation here I think with any bickering with the United States they're like our big brother

00:10:01.660 we need them and we in no way shape or form should be egging them on with a tariff trade war

00:10:08.200 yeah Isaac I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said this is a no-win situation for

00:10:14.180 Canada and also your comments about defense the source that I had on yesterday basically said you know

00:10:20.480 we're hearing time and time again from our American counterparts just how bad security is in Canada

00:10:27.080 and Canadians aren't even aware of it because it's not covered here in the legacy media and so you know

00:10:33.080 I think for a lot of us we thought oh there's so few you know illegals crossing into the states from

00:10:38.400 Canada versus what they're getting from Mexico Donald Trump can't really mean that the tariffs you know

00:10:42.900 this is about something else well no actually security is a big problem and it is a concern for them

00:10:48.120 and on the issue of retaliatory tariffs you know we're talking about how this this is a constantly

00:10:53.500 changing news story I mean now Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is saying I don't know if I'm with the

00:11:00.860 with the feds and with Ontario for that so that so-called team Canada approach that Danielle Smith and 0.95

00:11:06.480 Alberta were roundly criticized for not engaging in it's sort of falling apart all around us and I don't

00:11:12.860 know how the Canadian provinces are going to respond to the tariffs on February 1st because that is

00:11:19.940 in flux as we speak right now well just look if I can jump off of that I think the main issue is

00:11:28.280 Donald Trump is treating Canada looking at Canada as an adversary and our federal government has given

00:11:36.620 him a lot of reason to do so particularly in the way Prime Minister Justin Trudeau his cabinet and other

00:11:45.440 members of the liberal government have responded to Trump and viewed Trump but also we we haven't played

00:11:53.260 nice on the trade front with the Americans we impose the digital services tax when no other country

00:12:00.240 uh refused to do so I think it was it was the oh it's being talked about in the OECD but nobody else

00:12:07.840 imposed this tax and we imposed it on American tech companies the U.S. trade representative under the Biden

00:12:15.300 regime kept asking the liberal government to remove this tax so there there's plenty of reason but I

00:12:23.540 don't I don't think Canada is the United States is adversary China is the number one adversary when

00:12:30.940 we're talking about trade when we're talking about you know that they they don't it's not just unfair

00:12:37.680 trade practices China's involved in corporate and uh national espionage and they're trying to steal trade

00:12:46.240 secrets from the Americans they're trying to outdo them on every front that's the real adversary 0.98

00:12:51.600 and I think it's about repositioning Canada and perhaps a new government might do that as a friend

00:12:59.040 to the Trump administration as a partner instead of an adversary to attack and to essentially try to

00:13:07.140 do economic damage to and there have been a few statements by the U.S. president he said look at

00:13:15.260 what Canada and the United States could do together he said that would be something right if these

00:13:21.500 two countries combined their massive wealth their massive you know natural resources then we would

00:13:30.500 we would be you know the greatest economic force if we just got along yeah it's interesting I think

00:13:39.020 to your point we are being treated like an adversary because that is just how much Canada's global

00:13:45.860 reputation has slipped on the stage in the last nine years under Justin Trudeau on the liberals to the

00:13:51.900 point that we were once seen as close allies as good friends as neighbors and now we are being treated

00:13:57.760 essentially like a hostile state because of just how low America's opinion has become of us under the

00:14:04.320 last number of years um on Pierre Polyev I don't know what his relationship is with Donald Trump I don't know

00:14:10.960 what it would be should he become the next prime minister because he stayed so quiet perhaps wisely

00:14:17.520 on a number of these issues like how Canada should proceed with the trade war we know he said I'm not

00:14:22.620 the prime minister it's not my job to respond to these issues but I don't know what that relationship

00:14:27.600 with Donald Trump would look like and I wonder if Canada would be given more respect with Pierre

00:14:32.300 Polyev running the ship or not what are your thoughts Isaac? Yeah if I do recall Polyev he did at one 0.95

00:14:39.520 point call for retaliatory tariffs but look the Liberal Party of Canada have been very combative

00:14:46.500 with Donald Trump over the last few years in in many instances they have just been combative with

00:14:52.820 him and not been kind to him at all so not just Pierre Polyev but anyone with a clean slate you would

00:14:58.680 assume would have a better start than the liberals currently do because they have a negative relationship

00:15:03.280 with Donald Trump so you're going from the negative to at least a neutral stance and I know Trump has

00:15:08.720 commented a few times on Polyev I can't remember exactly what he said but he has spoken of him

00:15:13.700 publicly so he obviously knows who he is we've seen Trump have a good relationship with other

00:15:20.260 conservative leaders in Canada example being Danielle Smith of course they're close enough because she's 0.98

00:15:26.720 always in the United States negotiating on Canada's behalf at this point with without a prime minister

00:15:33.700 with a public mandate but speaking of Polyev for our next story here we're going to hop in

00:15:39.660 to a clip that recently went viral of Polyev which might remind you of a certain apple munching clip that

00:15:46.320 we saw back in the day where he challenged a reporter once again let's watch it now all right let's go back

00:15:52.860 to D.C. right now obviously on his first day on the job President Trump signed an executive order

00:15:57.560 you know the U.S. government only recognizing two genders male female they're unchangeable 1.00

00:16:02.660 you know if elected as prime minister is that something that you're going to kind of walk in line with

00:16:07.500 or what are your feelings on that executive order well I don't know you have any other genders that 1.00

00:16:13.220 you'd like to name me personally I'm yes I'm just asking more so if you're in line with what he is saying

00:16:22.940 do you agree with what he's saying is that something that you would be lockstep with if elected as prime minister

00:16:27.580 well I'm not aware of any other genders than men and women I mean if you have any other that you want me to

00:16:34.860 consider you're welcome to tell me right now well there's well there's personally I am a man I am a

00:16:42.220 people who say cis man there are people there who you know they say they're me too gender neutral

00:16:46.980 you're a man yes there are people out there who say they're some gender neutral yeah they say they're

00:16:50.920 gender neutral uh they're you know they're they're a trans person is that something that you would

00:16:58.280 recognize here whereas in the states at least with their U.S. government the way they're seeing it

00:17:03.560 there's only two I'm only aware of two but I mean if you have if you come up with another list then

00:17:11.380 you're welcome to do that but I'm aware of two and as far as I'm concerned we should have a

00:17:17.680 government that just minds its own damn business and leaves people alone to make their own personal

00:17:21.900 decisions that's the kind of government I'm going to run and with that you know the current government 0.87

00:17:26.380 they currently have passports that allow people to put on you know gender neutral on their passport

00:17:31.340 advocate groups want the government mind you the outgoing government to ask the U.S. would the U.S.

00:17:37.340 recognize these passports obviously on their way out if you are the next prime minister is that

00:17:42.100 something that you would I have to be honest yeah I have to be honest with you I just saw your

00:17:46.320 segment on homeless encampments that are popping up all over Toronto we've got 25 percent of our

00:17:53.660 population in poverty housing costs have doubled crime is rampaging through our streets I just find

00:17:59.800 it to be a strange priority to spend time talking about this my priority is to give people back control

00:18:05.980 their lives bring back Canada's promise that anyone who works hard gets a powerful paycheck and pension

00:18:12.620 that buys affordable food gas and homes in safe neighborhoods that's the promise we need for

00:18:18.720 Canadians if liberals want to talk about different labels that for gender that they want to put on

00:18:25.200 passports in the United States they can do that I'm going to talk about the things that will bring

00:18:30.100 home Canada's promise yeah so we saw polyevra implement the same technique he did in the apple

00:18:36.960 munching clip where he flipped the question back onto the reporter to get a sense of where he stood and

00:18:42.540 and uh the cp24 news reporter in this instance seemed hesitant but we we seen polyevra ask whether

00:18:49.660 this reporter had any examples of other genders than men and women and he was really pushing the envelope on

00:18:56.820 what do you mean by other genders uh I think the reporter named two or three but certainly not

00:19:01.980 through the list of like 70 that some people uh claim there are so yeah what do you we we haven't

00:19:09.420 really seen polyevra engage much on the gender debate or many debates in the past because he seems to

00:19:16.260 really try and keep a neutral stance uh on lots of things maybe because he doesn't really need to get

00:19:23.220 involved with them to to win the subsequent election based on current polling yeah what did

00:19:29.040 you guys think of that clip there well I had a good chuckle at the clip it was a very Canadian exchange

00:19:35.100 and I had to laugh at all of the posts being like pair poly of roast mainstream media reporter when asked

00:19:42.940 you know if there should be more than two genders because like he didn't actually roast like it was 0.94

00:19:48.760 sort of a awkward and funny exchange and watching it you were just so like this is so ridiculous and 0.79

00:19:54.300 so silly that we're having this conversation but it is relevant it is important in this ear but the

00:19:59.480 fact that like we're having a conversation about how many genders there are like if you take a moment 0.99

00:20:03.160 and actually think about it it's like so dumb that the leader of the official opposition needs to take 0.91

00:20:08.200 the time and say that on national television but really when he was asked about it he didn't say 0.92

00:20:12.860 anything rude back to the reporter he was just like well what genders would you have me add like

00:20:17.940 it was it was a very simple defense and in that sense I think very Canadian because it wasn't rude

00:20:23.860 or hostile and so I just kind of laughed at the exchange um and I think you know it really caught

00:20:29.960 the reporter off guard because reporters are not typically used to being asked questions um in response

00:20:36.140 to their questions and we've noticed that leaders um throughout North America have started doing this to

00:20:41.260 point holes in their in the arguments and the fallacies of the questions that they're asking

00:20:45.020 in the first place and I think that has been very effective so but go ahead Cosman yeah just goes to

00:20:53.160 show how out of touch the legacy media is that they're even asking this in the first place

00:20:58.400 obviously it was in response to an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump but of all of the

00:21:06.160 different news we've talked about here and the ongoing problems we have uh I think this is our

00:21:12.360 primary problem is the trade stuff touching on anything else the public wants to know what is

00:21:18.780 going to happen they're looking at Canada we're going to face a recession they want to know how we will be

00:21:25.880 protected as citizens as businesses and as workers and how can we move forward but the media is out there

00:21:35.660 they're not doing anybody favors by pursuing this line and it's ridiculous it now is not the time for

00:21:42.760 that now is the time to look at things objectively and with a clear head yeah Cosman you kind of touched

00:21:51.900 on something that Polifra said as well which was of course people are gonna focus on the lead let's call

00:21:58.680 it of that interview where wherein he's just asking the reporter what he actually thinks but he also said

00:22:03.540 why are we focusing on this gender stuff when we're our country is in economic disarray I think

00:22:08.580 Polifra cited 25 percent of Canadians live in poverty I mean that is a shocking number so the legacy media

00:22:15.500 focusing on this and I think Polifra even alluded to the fact that the Liberal Party has been focusing

00:22:20.460 on these gender issues it's just we have much bigger concerns as Canadians and if I could just add

00:22:27.300 Isaac the other thing is that's more notable about this as well is that as soon as you push back even

00:22:34.800 a tiny amount at the people who believe in this gender nonsense immediately break down because there's 0.99

00:22:42.680 no rational logical foundation for their beliefs it's just simply based on you know their feelings and

00:22:50.220 and they they talk you know they will always cite human rights etc etc but it's not it's not based on

00:22:56.920 reality and I think this interview is a clear example of that that even the most simple question of how

00:23:03.780 many genders do you think exist trips people up who buy into this because they they know from you know 0.68

00:23:14.040 they're like their subconscious mind knows that there are only two genders and when they try to argue 0.61

00:23:22.280 make an argument otherwise it's like their own brain starts to light up and and have to make excuses and

00:23:30.140 come up with and it's funny that he he brought up the I have fact that there's three you know he said

00:23:35.940 well that I know there's man woman and and gender fluid and what is that like what where are you talking 1.00

00:23:41.900 about like like everything else like I it's just it's it's so not grounded in reality and I it's good

00:23:49.960 that this clip brings that out because it just goes to show people that when you are talking to people

00:23:57.100 who try to bring this nonsense up the easiest thing you can do is just push back with simple questions

00:24:02.660 yeah I have to say that I I mean I didn't take I actually don't think that the reporter was wrong

00:24:08.740 to ask the question it was actually a really good question and even the fact that it's blown up now

00:24:14.980 like as a reporter you don't want to become the story but don't you kind of want your interviews

00:24:19.600 to blow up don't you want to get as many eyeballs with them as possible don't you want a viral moment

00:24:24.200 albeit maybe you don't want to be you know the the point of the butt of the joke in that viral moment

00:24:29.340 um I would have asked Pierre probably of something similar you know Donald Trump passed this executive

00:24:34.500 order is this something you agree with would you look to make such legislative changes here in Canada

00:24:39.380 should you become the next prime minister it was really the awkwardness became in that moment when

00:24:44.580 Pierre Polyev didn't really answer the question he just kind of responded with what what what should I add

00:24:50.340 uh obviously I would have said well well yeah I think it's a great policy to pass I think

00:24:54.500 obviously you need to explain that there should only be two genders and that should be federal

00:24:58.120 government policy in the in the way that they word things and and that reporter though that isn't

00:25:04.500 his understanding of the situation and certainly wouldn't be his worldview and that's when he

00:25:08.840 caught started to get a little bit caught off guard and then you know he felt like he needed to give a

00:25:13.340 defense for the others but he didn't know what who the others were he doesn't actually know anything

00:25:19.360 about the transgender movement that was clear so he had surface level information on something and as

00:25:24.860 soon as he was tested on it he didn't know how to respond because he couldn't even think of what

00:25:29.180 other genders were and I don't blame him because I don't know what they all are either there's like how

00:25:33.100 many are they claim there's like 60 or 70 or 90 I don't know what they are but I don't believe that

00:25:37.680 so I don't care and it's not important for my worldview that I know that information where it was kind of an

00:25:42.580 awkward moment then for the

00:25:43.840 got embarrassing pretty quickly

00:25:47.640 yeah this uh actually reminds me of a red deer conference I went to where Chris Ruffo was speaking and

00:25:56.560 and he he really emphasized uh when speaking with people on the other side of the political

00:26:02.640 spectrum or challenging them in any way it was very important he said to question them to

00:26:08.300 really understand whether they even believe what they're saying which is essentially what

00:26:12.680 Polievre did in this instance with the reporter it's like okay well what what do you actually know

00:26:16.300 about what you're asking me anyways um I also read through the executive order uh that Donald Trump

00:26:22.600 signed regarding the genders where he essentially said that the government would only recognize man

00:26:27.500 and woman and we saw NDP leader in Canada Jagmeet Singh comment on this uh saying that Canada could

00:26:36.020 become a safe haven for transgender people uh let's watch that clip now should Canada amend the safe third

00:26:41.920 country agreement for trans Americans who come to our borders seeking refuge uh on that note I think it's

00:26:49.720 really sad for the folks in the states right now that that heard uh the president basically say that they don't

00:26:54.460 exist or or that their their reality or their identity is no longer recognized it's really scary for a lot of

00:27:01.240 folks and and I just want to acknowledge how scary that must be for people who heard that who now feel

00:27:05.960 really alone who feel really afraid um I think what Canada's always done is shown as a as a country that we are

00:27:12.080 there for people when they're in their times in need it's something that's been a point of pride of Canada so

00:27:17.880 looking at um the third country the third the that agreement and and how we can amend it uh it's been

00:27:24.680 something that we've been considering for a while we've raised concerns about the the agreement uh for

00:27:29.000 a while um and so it's something we'll look at yeah so what do you guys think of what Singh had to say

00:27:33.960 there especially if say what what he's alluding to actually occurred and transgender people started

00:27:40.600 flocking here from the United States with the existing border concerns and the existing immigration

00:27:45.860 concerns I mean what how does that how does this kind of play into that well they do this all the

00:27:52.380 time right like they they will say Canada you know people are gonna flee the United States to Canada

00:27:58.080 they did it with the uh Supreme Court ruling on abortion laws in the United States they were claiming

00:28:03.860 oh all these women are gonna come to Canada to seek abortions right but that it's just they don't 1.00

00:28:10.340 view this clearly as I've been saying like they they have a totally distorted understanding of what

00:28:18.200 is really happening and in the fact is the United States it it is safe to be transgender it is safe to

00:28:25.140 be gay it is safe to be a lesbian it is safe to be you know an immigrant it's not a country where 0.66

00:28:32.780 there's religious persecution there isn't you know race persecution it has a history of slavery yes but

00:28:41.260 there is no slavery in the United States anymore it it is a free country it is one of the it is the

00:28:46.620 freest country in the world by by objective standards and to say that Canada will somehow become this place

00:28:54.540 where people are fleeing the United States is ridiculous because there's no reason to flee you know it's

00:29:00.580 admitting that there are two biological genders is not uh you know persecution it's just a statement 0.87

00:29:07.680 of fact it's like getting angry and and upset at somebody saying the sky is blue

00:29:13.860 yeah very simple we actually don't need any more people in this country right now we certainly don't 0.90

00:29:21.840 need any more people with mental illness in this country and I can tell you right now that if you come 1.00

00:29:26.360 you know you're gonna have health care needs especially if you're transgender you're always in and out 1.00

00:29:30.540 of the hospital if you're actually getting those surgeries and stuff and you're gonna find it a lot

00:29:35.560 worse off here than in Canada than in the States because you simply wouldn't be able to get the

00:29:39.700 treatment that that you need so just just stay in the States don't listen to Jagmeet Singh he's not

00:29:44.300 actually that relevant here you might think he is because he holds political office but trust me he's far

00:29:49.460 less relevant than he seems and he certainly does not hold a lot of political sway so probably just you

00:29:55.460 know let that one go on by yeah and just to talk about Jagmeet Singh's relevance I completely forgot

00:30:02.600 this guy existed in the last few months he has not contributed anything he's I mean the his ability

00:30:10.020 to take advantage of the political situation you would think the NDP would be coming out on top of this

00:30:18.640 as the only legitimate left wing alternative to the liberals but they're not they're there they've

00:30:24.740 totally fumbled a golden opportunity because of Jagmeet Singh he is just nobody likes him and he's

00:30:33.920 dragged his own party from a position of like relative power to being completely irrelevant he was he

00:30:43.260 literally had the say over what the liberal government was doing and his consistent support

00:30:49.140 of the liberals in non-confidence votes and propping them up for years has cost him and his party's

00:30:57.660 complete political future essentially I I totally blame him and I think the NDP should ask be asking

00:31:04.240 themselves do we want to keep this guy around for much longer because it hasn't been an uphill ride for

00:31:10.460 them at all yeah we've seen in looking at the historical polling and kind of the downfall of

00:31:18.320 the liberal government instead of the NDP taking those seats from the liberals they have fallen as

00:31:24.460 well alongside them and all the seats have gone to the conservatives in fact I was looking at the

00:31:28.380 seat distribution polls on 338 Canada just yesterday and I think the NDP were in fourth place behind

00:31:36.340 the bloc and the liberals because the bloc would win so many seats in Quebec so I mean

00:31:40.240 they're nowhere near becoming a governing party we'll all remember Jagmeet Singh said he was going

00:31:45.660 to be the next prime minister of Canada but that doesn't seem to be the case in any sense

00:31:51.980 yeah Cosmin what's going on with the carbon tax we're seeing a lot of historical proponents of

00:32:00.100 the carbon tax now back away from it in light of the leadership election what's going on with that

00:32:04.420 yeah so Stephen Gilbo the environment minister essentially said he's open to replacing the

00:32:13.100 consumer side of the carbon tax with a different mechanism now he hasn't provided any specifics he

00:32:20.020 hasn't you know is it just going to be another rebranding like the liberals did of but with the

00:32:26.560 carbon rebate like what is he talking about I'm not so sure I 100% believe him but we have a clip of

00:32:34.120 that of him announcing that right now do you know what he's going to do or have you been briefed

00:32:39.500 on the specifics of his plan and and do you think it can be an effective replacement for the consumer

00:32:44.280 carbon tax the short answer to your question is yes I have I have spoken with him and I'm confident

00:32:51.300 that by working together with other members of of the liberal caucus and and membership we can come

00:32:58.740 up with a plan that will ensure that Canada achieves uh its its climate goals uh and again he's he's the

00:33:07.040 he's he's incredibly knowledgeable I I I have great respect for for everything he's done but also his

00:33:13.760 vision and understanding of of this issue which really very few people in the world can say uh they've

00:33:20.900 done as much as he has and understand this issue and so Gilbo additionally also supported

00:33:28.020 uh Mark Carney's plan uh for the carbon tax and Mark Carney has also indicated support for removing

00:33:36.560 the consumer aspect of the carbon tax but from my understanding the corporate carbon tax would still

00:33:43.040 remain it would still impact businesses uh how genuine do you take this like how is is Gilbo being genuine

00:33:52.080 here are the liberal leadership candidates being genuine Rachel I don't think so I think they realize

00:33:59.440 that the carbon tax has become extremely unpopular and it's really untenable to run on that in this

00:34:05.040 current climate especially with the conservatives really having made that their issue and so we've

00:34:09.860 seen the front runners for the liberal leadership race come out and say oh we're not going to do the

00:34:14.420 consumer carbon tax we might look at a different plan I wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw

00:34:20.600 them I think that if they were to be elected we'd see them come forward shortly with a plan to make

00:34:27.920 life very difficult for Canadians at the same time I think that the conservatives need to get serious

00:34:33.640 and realize that this is probably not going to be a carbon tax election as they have pinpointed it to be

00:34:40.960 and they are going to need to do some serious rebranding very quickly um to discover what their new

00:34:46.800 pitch because it really needs what's the question of the election what is the issue that's top of

00:34:51.320 everyone's mind because I don't think it's going to be the carbon tax and we haven't seen the

00:34:54.580 conservatives make that pivot yet and you bring up a really good point uh Rachel that I'm going to throw

00:34:59.640 to you Isaac it has this opened up the conservatives to uh is this a weak point for them because

00:35:07.260 Pierre Polyev has been running on the idea that the next election will be a ticket on the carbon tax

00:35:15.120 voters will be specifically asking themselves about the carbon tax and Justin Trudeau and that's no

00:35:23.580 longer the case obviously Justin Trudeau will not be running for prime minister in the next election it

00:35:28.920 will either be Carney or Freeland so how much has this opened up the conservatives to a certain

00:35:36.980 political vulnerability in the way that they conduct the next campaign a few months out from a

00:35:43.760 potential election this spring yeah I think you know Canadians across the nation have been wondering

00:35:50.220 that and if I recall I think Polyev was interviewed yesterday and they kind of asked him a question

00:35:54.620 along the same lines like how do you pivot away from the carbon tax now that all the liberals are

00:35:58.820 against it and I don't know that he necessarily

00:36:01.640 insinuated that he was willing to do that he's kind of if he if he were to stick with the carbon tax of

00:36:09.220 course he's going to talk about how the liberals are lying about the carbon tax for example we haven't

00:36:13.520 mentioned that Freeland has also stepped away from the carbon tax and uh uh Polyev actually put out

00:36:19.620 a statement on her today saying it's Freeland versus Freeland because everything she's saying now is

00:36:23.860 the exact opposite of what she was saying just a few weeks or months ago so it's really uh a battle of

00:36:30.560 the liberals versus themselves in terms of public opinion because we're seeing them try and distance

00:36:35.580 themselves from things that the public clearly disapprove of and dislike based on polls but of course the

00:36:41.700 liberals themselves are the ones who implemented these very policies so it's hard to and Harper

00:36:46.600 talked about this is in his interview last week too he said where the liberals were really in an

00:36:51.260 untenable position because the candidates of the leadership election would have to run on the liberal

00:36:56.100 party's platform which Canadians are done with but now we're seeing these very candidates try and

00:37:02.360 pretend or distance themselves from the platform altogether so it's a really weird phenomenon

00:37:08.920 wherein the the candidates of the party are trying not to associate with the party's policies it's

00:37:14.540 really uh yeah it's just compelling isn't it yeah and it just brought to mind i'll point to

00:37:21.860 my province that i live in in british columbia in the last uh provincial election just a few months ago

00:37:29.620 premier david eby said that he would be willing to do away with this province's carbon tax if the federal

00:37:37.600 government changes direction on it or removes the requirement now british columbia is is actually

00:37:44.180 not under the federal pricing scheme they have their own carbon tax so they could get rid of it

00:37:49.200 uh whenever they wanted and then they would get slapped with the federal carbon tax but i just bring that up

00:37:54.900 because now uh eb has a coalition with the greens and there's been no indication that he's going to

00:38:02.240 follow through on that promise and we have another election on the federal level where the candidates

00:38:08.420 that are likely to replace prime minister justin trudeau are making a similar promise at the federal

00:38:14.660 level to remove this requirement at least for consumers how much like i i know i asked this but like

00:38:22.700 you know is this just political posturing like are they just making false promises to canadians

00:38:29.500 and how much will canadians buy that are like you know i i don't i think that trust has been lost

00:38:37.100 to some degree and i just don't see canadians falling for a false promise and you touched on that

00:38:44.440 rachel but i'll throw it to either of you yeah yeah just quick talk is cheap and this just reminded me

00:38:50.960 quickly of the recent policies we saw almost implemented there by by the liberals in regard to the tax break

00:38:57.820 and i i just remember reading the polls on this and it's like they're trying to uh give canadians

00:39:03.080 these tax breaks which are working against them as a party because can canadians in these polls were

00:39:07.960 saying that these policies the liberals were implementing were making would make them less

00:39:12.700 likely to support the party in the future not more likely so the policies you're trying to implement

00:39:17.460 to save your party at the last minute are actually pushing canadians further away and i i think

00:39:22.700 this whole backstepping on the carbon tax could uh cause a similar pushing away of canadians because

00:39:30.560 it's like well we know that you're just saying these things but we might not trust that you'll

00:39:35.720 actually follow through on what you're saying i think that voters are fickle i think that given

00:39:42.120 that prime minister justin trudeau has announced his intention to resign when a new leader is selected

00:39:47.540 the margin that we saw you know the conservatives were kind of running away with things that look

00:39:52.220 like i think we'll see that gap narrow i think that we'll have a real election campaigns really

00:39:58.300 do matter what the conservatives do in a general election campaign is going to have a big impact on

00:40:05.140 the outcome of the election i think depending on who the liberals select as our next leader will also

00:40:09.560 greatly impact the election christia freeland is going to have a much harder time distancing herself 1.00

00:40:14.940 from justin trudeau than mark carney is sure mark carney was an advisor but he wasn't the one being

00:40:22.260 tromped out there every other week to make announcements that hurt canadians he's not the

00:40:26.400 one who's been pictured with justin trudeau for the last number of years he wasn't justin trudeau's

00:40:31.200 right hand man like christia freeland was so christia freeland going to be a lot easier to tie her

00:40:36.500 to that disastrous record than it is for mark carney so i think it's going to be a real election i don't

00:40:42.100 know that the conservatives are going to run away with it something that stephen harper also recently

00:40:46.080 said in that public interview that he did is he said the thing that canadians are really angry at

00:40:52.960 justin trudeau for is actually the number one issue isn't the economy it's that we've lost our culture

00:40:58.760 under justin trudeau canada has lost its culture and canadians don't know what canada is anymore

00:41:04.320 i don't know i can't speak for anyone else but that absolutely rings true for me

00:41:08.640 i am angry that we've lost our culture i am angry that justin trudeau has described canada as a

00:41:14.240 post-national state with no identity now that of course donald trump wants to claim canada turns out

00:41:19.480 he didn't actually mean that but i think that this election should be one of canadian culture and

00:41:24.800 identity especially because we've seen canadians drastically turn against the high number of

00:41:29.900 immigration okay well canadians haven't turned against immigration because they're racist it's

00:41:34.180 because they care about their culture and because we're seeing it being eroded and i think that's

00:41:37.880 what the election issue should be but do you i'm just curious to ask quick rachel do you think

00:41:44.480 paulia will do you think he'll make it about immigration because we've seen how reluctant

00:41:51.820 he is to talk about immigration in the past i'm no i don't think immigration because there's so many

00:41:57.980 videos of him in the past few years pushing for more immigration you know calling to stop the

00:42:04.000 deportation saying that more students needed to get visas and then needed to get a pathway to

00:42:08.260 citizenship so it would be a very difficult path for him to do at this point now you can always say

00:42:13.320 you know you've changed your mind um you've changed your ways you see new information it can be done

00:42:18.460 but i don't suspect that the conservatives will make that elect make that the election question

00:42:23.140 as of right now it seems like they're sticking with the carbon tax but i do believe they are going

00:42:26.700 to have to pivot from that at some point okay good to know well that pretty much wraps up our stories

00:42:34.540 for the week uh everything you've heard today has been off the record cool yeah my son woke up about

00:42:44.960 10 minutes into that pretty pissed i didn't hear him at all well he's a few rooms over so i was like

00:42:53.820 well that noise suppression these days is getting pretty good you know i don't think it's not that

00:42:58.540 good i need some in the in this room i don't think wave actually has any such device but like on zoom

00:43:04.480 and stuff and and other apps it's pretty insane what the noise suppression is like is capable of

00:43:09.380 i feel like for little kids they should make a helmet where you can turn the volume down a little bit

00:43:15.480 like not mute them but just like kind of turn the volume down a few like in the when you're in bed

00:43:21.080 and like the monitor goes off and you're like a few more minutes just gonna turn that turn that

00:43:25.900 down for a little longer yeah my ex-girlfriend had a friend who was uh hard of hearing and uh she could 1.00

00:43:32.860 uh adjust the volume in her ears or something and i always kind of was jealous of that i was like man

00:43:38.380 you could really just turn off your hearing if you don't want it if you don't want to listen to

00:43:41.320 something my opa does that but he often will just like pretend not to hear things

00:43:46.740 when he doesn't feel like talking about them

00:43:49.360 yeah all right guys i gotta hop off thanks yeah

00:43:55.720 yeah

Off the Record - January 24, 2025

Does the U.S. need Canada？

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