Off the Record - How low can Trudeau go？

00:00:00.000 Yeah, see, I thought I am very Scottish, and then I wondered how Scottish I was, and maybe it's English, and it turns out I'm, like, very distantly related to Alfred the Great.

00:00:09.000 And then a whole bunch of people said, oh, billions of people are doing that, so I don't know if it's even true.

00:00:13.580 So, we'll have to see.

00:00:15.400 Is it really, like, that, not to, like, discredit your heritage or anything, but is it really that, like, oppressive to be related to, like, a distant king or whatever?

00:00:24.580 Like, is, like, a quarter of the world's population related to Genghis Khan or something like that?

00:00:28.480 That's what I keep hearing.

00:00:30.000 So, that's why I've only talked about it with my dear friends like you right now on the internet, and not spread it around.

00:00:38.060 All joking aside, going back into your ancestry is pretty crazy, so that was pretty cool.

00:00:43.740 But the thing I wanted to mention at the bottom of the show, if we have time, is the fact that now Canadian taxpayers own vacant land in Senegal.

00:00:51.460 But I don't know if that makes us, like, an emperor or something.

00:00:54.940 It's pretty good.

00:00:55.560 We own vacant land in Senegal, but no Canadians can afford to own land in Canada.

00:01:00.620 Wonderful.

00:01:02.960 According to the liberals, isn't that, like, neocolonialism or something?

00:01:06.120 I don't think we're supposed to do that, according to them.

00:01:09.480 I think we have a clip of Trudeau.

00:01:10.700 Okay.

00:01:11.160 Since we're already getting into the show, we should probably start the show.

00:01:13.900 Let's get this thing started.

00:01:14.760 Hi, my name is Chris Sims.

00:01:22.680 I'm the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:01:25.920 I'm sitting in here for True North on Off the Record with my dear friends, Isaac and Noah.

00:01:30.820 Gentlemen, we have a lot to get to.

00:01:33.060 And for our viewers and listeners, a warning.

00:01:36.400 We have a lot of Trudeau clips.

00:01:38.460 I actually hear from people who say, I need a warning.

00:01:40.740 So, this is your warning.

00:01:42.260 And they're really good clips.

00:01:43.300 You have to listen to them.

00:01:44.840 Gentlemen, where do we want to start?

00:01:46.700 Do we want to start with DEI, or do we want to start with him getting big mad about the carbon tax bumper stickers?

00:01:52.840 I'll start with carbon tax.

00:01:54.000 Yeah.

00:01:54.700 Yeah.

00:01:55.500 All right.

00:01:55.900 So, just to set this up, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a speech at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce out there on the East Coast.

00:02:04.160 It was quick, the speech.

00:02:05.220 I listened to all, like, 52 minutes of him from Monday night.

00:02:08.900 And then he did a sit-down where he talked about a lot of stuff, especially the carbon tax.

00:02:15.760 And he went over again this gnard that you can magically give the government money in the form of a carbon tax, and they will magically give you more back than you paid in at no cost to you, which is not true.

00:02:26.460 And then he seemed to get, like, really upset, like, ranty even, about bumper stickers and the state of politics.

00:02:34.420 So, without further ado, let's listen first to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explaining, in his view, the carbon tax to all of us.

00:02:44.360 We're not having real conversations around politics now.

00:02:48.500 We're having, you know, seven-second TikTok videos.

00:02:52.620 We're having a bumper sticker or a flag that's waving when I'm around.

00:03:00.700 That's political discourse and debate.

00:03:03.160 Of course, it's easy to say, tax is bad.

00:03:11.120 Sorry, I don't know why I sounded like Frankenstein when I was doing that, but okay.

00:03:14.420 Fire, bad.

00:03:16.860 But having conversations about how we actually solve the challenges we're facing in this world in thoughtful ways,

00:03:26.340 how we reduce our emissions and support hard-working families,

00:03:30.260 that's a more complex answer than my opponents actually want you to have.

00:03:38.780 Quite out there.

00:03:39.880 I will point out that the tee-up question for this was something like,

00:03:44.940 so, your party really tanked in the provincial election,

00:03:48.720 and it was largely because of the carbon tax, and people really rejected it.

00:03:52.220 What do you think about that?

00:03:53.440 And his answer was this big, long-winded rant.

00:03:55.640 Paraphrasing here, but how people aren't smart enough to grasp the genius of his carbon tax policy,

00:04:03.440 which is a really bad idea to tell voters.

00:04:06.840 Gentlemen, what did you guys think of this when he did this sit-down?

00:04:11.280 Yeah, I mean, Trudeau's response we've seen from so many members of the Liberal caucus,

00:04:16.460 which was not a response at all.

00:04:18.220 You ask them a question and they just start talking about some random virtue-signaling thing that might not even be related, quite frankly.

00:04:25.760 And yeah, I mean, I don't know why the Liberals keep repeating their 8 out of 10 Canadians are better due to the carbon tax lie

00:04:33.880 that the PBO has repeatedly disproven.

00:04:37.440 And as we talked about before the show, Chris, I was mentioning, let's say the cost is a few hundred dollars per family.

00:04:44.480 In Canada, based on the PBO reports, I mean, we all know it's much higher than that

00:04:49.220 because these reports don't go into the trickle-down effect of the production line

00:04:53.080 because when you tax gas or diesel and something you buy has 10 different lines of transportation that it's taxed on,

00:05:01.540 of course, you're going to pay more.

00:05:03.200 But the fact that any Canadian could believe they get more back into the carbon tax is ridiculous.

00:05:10.640 And Canadians obviously aren't buying the lie based on all the polls and data we've seen.

00:05:15.720 Yeah, and to add on to your point, Isaac, I mean, the parliamentary budget officers found that, you know,

00:05:21.320 when accounting for the fiscal and economic impacts, Canadians lose over $1,000 a year from the carbon tax.

00:05:27.880 And it's probably higher because the parliamentary budget officer generally, you know, makes these reports, you know,

00:05:33.240 very modestly and very cautiously.

00:05:35.700 And they're not exactly trying to account for every little thing that could be causing households to have a net loss

00:05:44.360 when it comes to the carbon tax.

00:05:45.560 And this is especially affecting people in Alberta because Albertans are on average paying about $2,300 net in net costs to the carbon tax.

00:05:57.640 And it's a lot higher than other parts of the country.

00:06:00.380 It seems as if, you know, prime ministers with the last name Trudeau just have a knack for, you know,

00:06:04.980 getting after Albertans and, you know, making their lives a little harder.

00:06:09.140 So I think, you know, Canadians, when you tell them that it's raining, but, you know,

00:06:16.800 he really is just a guy, you know, how do you just, you know, pissing on you, 0.52

00:06:20.300 people are going to get sick out of it.

00:06:23.360 Like, you can't continually gaslight Canadians for nine years and they feel the effects of your policies

00:06:30.820 and then tell them, you know, be grateful for our, you know, rebates, you know,

00:06:34.880 oh, well, we are actually just like robbing you blind and, you know, causing a net negative impact to the economy.

00:06:42.200 So careful on gaslighting because that's natural gas and there's a carbon tax on natural gas.

00:06:46.560 So I'm not sure how much Trudeau's came to gaslight us with the carbon tax on natural gas.

00:06:51.920 As far as the numbers go here for Alberta, just to give you an idea, like for across the country,

00:06:57.980 the mandatory minimum carbon tax, the first carbon tax, because we have several, on diesel is 21 cents per liter.

00:07:06.300 So if you do that math, really, and you fill up a big rig truck, for example, that's about $200 extra,

00:07:13.480 just in the carbon tax, not including administration cost, not including DST.

00:07:18.100 And the truckers finally came out and said so.

00:07:20.340 I think it's costing them $2 billion this year.

00:07:23.720 B, that's just the first carbon tax.

00:07:26.340 Also keep in mind for home heating, right now, I don't know about you guys,

00:07:30.360 but it's pretty frosty out here in Lethbridge.

00:07:32.940 Everything is coated in ice and frost.

00:07:35.160 And most of us use natural gas for home heating here in Alberta.

00:07:38.720 And the average, average Alberta household will pay about $400 extra just this winter, just in the carbon tax.

00:07:47.980 So it is a huge expense for people.

00:07:49.980 And this is something I wanted to get into, because the prime minister clearly does not understand what it is to pay a bill.

00:07:58.000 I mean, let's be honest here.

00:07:59.580 He's never had to worry about his bill in his entire life.

00:08:03.040 He was born wealthy.

00:08:04.860 He was raised largely at 24 Sussex in a taxpayer-funded mansion.

00:08:08.780 And he has staff to do stuff for him.

00:08:11.440 Now, it's okay to be wealthy.

00:08:13.560 We want people to achieve and work hard.

00:08:15.740 But what really gets frustrating for people is when he's the prime minister and he keeps lecturing the rest of us about how important his carbon tax is and how we should be prioritizing that over feeding our kids and paying rent.

00:08:29.620 And he said that again during this chit-chat.

00:08:33.520 He also said it for the first time on stage a couple of weeks ago in Brazil, which was just bonkers.

00:08:39.100 It went crazy online.

00:08:40.360 But I wanted to pull up one of his other greatest hits that he dug up during this chat.

00:08:45.140 And that's where he says something to the effect of, he said this a few weeks ago,

00:08:48.960 You know what, Isaac and Noah?

00:08:51.860 The only people who are truly feeling the cost of the carbon tax are people with mansions with indoor swimming pools and a bunch of personal cars.

00:09:00.720 He doubled down on that.

00:09:02.420 But get this.

00:09:03.420 Now it's up to three mansions.

00:09:05.520 Listen to this.

00:09:07.260 Everyone gets here in Nova Scotia about $824 a year from the Canada Carbon Rebate.

00:09:13.200 That's the average price.

00:09:14.420 Now if you have three big mansions with an indoor swimming pool, that $824 a year isn't going to cover that price on pollution.

00:09:23.940 You're choosing to pollute more than we're giving you back for.

00:09:26.760 But if you're a middle class family, and if you're living in rural areas, we give a 20% top up because we know you have to drive further to go to school, to drop your school or work.

00:09:36.040 We're giving you that money back.

00:09:40.080 So again, he keeps pushing this.

00:09:42.620 And to your point, Noah, with the latest parliamentary budget officer report, because of course they've gone back and forth and they fought over what the real numbers are, even in the most conservative possible read of it, when you go take a look at the overall impact of the carbon tax, the average Alberta family, even on paper, is still out $400 this year.

00:10:04.860 And it's only going to go up as they continue to increase the carbon tax.

00:10:08.000 So even his own data defies this, which is, of course, you know, a violation of common sense.

00:10:14.340 I don't know about you guys, but I did not grow up with an indoor swimming pool.

00:10:19.120 And no judgment, did either of you guys grow up with an indoor swimming, heated swimming pool?

00:10:24.200 I don't know.

00:10:24.760 My roof has a hole in it.

00:10:26.700 So, yeah, take your guesses.

00:10:29.100 No, my roof has a hole in it, too.

00:10:30.640 So, my roof is intact, thank goodness.

00:10:34.800 But of the people on this call and in this chat, we've played a clip from a guy twice who grew up with an indoor swimming pool at 24 Sussex.

00:10:44.900 Just saying.

00:10:45.720 In fact, it was installed when his dad was prime minister.

00:10:49.340 So, we know for faxies that he grew up, at least partially, with an indoor heated swimming pool.

00:10:56.360 So, speaking of not getting it, I didn't watch this clip because it wasn't pertaining to, like, balanced budgets or carbon tax or something.

00:11:04.300 But apparently he said something along the lines of he was really sad that Kamala Harris didn't win the presidency.

00:11:11.280 Who wants to take this one away?

00:11:14.680 Well, I can.

00:11:15.500 So, basically, Justin Trudeau, he has been trying to, I guess, ease tensions between Canada and the United States, specifically because Donald Trump recently said that he would be imposing a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, as long as we do not meet certain conditions pertaining to border security and drug smuggling.

00:11:41.360 So, you know, while we're in this, the middle of this, you know, tense negotiation, Trudeau gets up on stage in all of his hubris and progressive aura and basically says that, you know, I kind of wish that Kamala Harris won the election.

00:11:55.920 And, you know, her losing the election is, quote, women's progress under attack. 1.00

00:12:02.500 I think we have a clip for this, so we should hear it from the donkey's mouth himself. 0.95

00:12:08.060 Now, it shouldn't be that way.

00:12:11.020 It wasn't supposed to be that way.

00:12:12.920 We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult sometimes, march towards progress.

00:12:18.380 And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president. 0.78

00:12:29.000 Everywhere, women's rights and women's progress is under attack, overtly and subtly.

00:12:36.160 But I want you to know that I am and always will be a proud feminist.

00:12:41.280 You will always have an ally in me and in my government. 0.89

00:12:44.360 I mean, absolutely ridiculous, especially considering what he did to Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott.

00:12:54.400 But, like, I just I don't want to go on too much of a tangent. 0.82

00:12:58.100 But when he talks about the sort of march of progress or whatever he says, that's a very sort of, like, left-wing view of the world that, you know, we have to get rid of old traditional mores.

00:13:10.100 And we have to get rid of the values that Canada was founded on and our civilization was founded on and instead replace it with these new progressive values.

00:13:19.480 And we've basically been dealing with that for the past nine years.

00:13:23.000 And look at what it's gotten us.

00:13:24.900 You know, we basically got rid of the old values of, you know, moderate immigration. 0.96

00:13:29.040 And, you know, he wrapped it up and look at what look what's happened.

00:13:31.900 You know, he's got rid of the idea that we're supposed to be Canadians, first and foremost, and have pride and love for our country.

00:13:38.920 And instead, you know, went toward this post-national view of the country.

00:13:42.680 And look what's happening in our streets when we have people marching for foreign terrorist groups in Montreal and in Toronto. 0.98

00:13:50.580 It's absolutely ridiculous. 0.60

00:13:52.880 This is the sort of worldview that Justin Trudeau, that Justin Trudeau's worldview gets us to.

00:13:58.360 So what did you guys make of Justin Trudeau saying that Kamala Harris's defeat is, you know, an attack on women and their progress and their rights?

00:14:08.920 Yeah, so my first takeaway from what Trudeau said there is he is essentially saying DEI should supersede democracy.

00:14:18.900 This from the leader of Canada, the prime minister of Canada, a democratic democratic nation.

00:14:24.360 I mean, the fact that anyone could possibly agree with those words being uttered by our leader is shocking.

00:14:33.140 I mean, in what world should world leaders be chosen on DEI attributes, not because they're brilliant, economically savvy, smart?

00:14:44.120 I mean, the list goes on of adjectives you could use, by the way, none of which I believe Kamala Harris was.

00:14:48.400 So there's the good example.

00:14:50.220 And we saw we saw how decisive of an election it was in the United States.

00:14:54.600 They clearly voted against DEI initiatives.

00:14:57.860 So Trudeau's kind of on the other side of the coin.

00:15:01.140 And I mean, I think in the near future here, we're going to see at least the Western world completely shun DEI.

00:15:08.980 So Trudeau can continue down this path, but I don't know that that will get him much support.

00:15:13.680 So as a woman, I find it really insulting and demeaning for him to try to speak for me.

00:15:22.440 I think that's gross.

00:15:24.660 As someone who values lower taxes and balanced budgets, has he met Premier Danielle Smith?

00:15:33.120 She's the Premier of Alberta.

00:15:35.540 And as of right now, and it better stay that way, keeping an eye on you, the budget is balanced here in Alberta.

00:15:41.920 We are saving money in the Heritage Fund.

00:15:45.600 We have a Taxpayer Protection Act that they have beefed up so that if they wanted to increase any personal taxes that are already existing, we'd have to have a referendum to do it.

00:15:56.040 Like, there are a lot of awesome things here happening fiscally in Alberta.

00:16:02.060 And the Premier happens to be a woman. 1.00

00:16:05.920 So this should be based on numbers and results and merit and performance.

00:16:11.180 He might have cracked open a history book.

00:16:14.460 I think his father probably met the late Margaret Thatcher.

00:16:18.740 She was just Prime Minister of, you know, the United Kingdom for more than a decade.

00:16:22.960 So it's weird to have just saying, as a woman who's been in the political arena now for like 25 years,

00:16:29.760 it's weird to have the Prime Ministers making this about men and women rather than, number one, that's another country.

00:16:37.720 And they had a democratic election.

00:16:39.680 And that's their choice.

00:16:41.100 Two, you got to go into negotiations with this dude now.

00:16:45.040 That you just finished saying out loud with your face, wished hadn't won.

00:16:49.600 That's not going to go super awesome for you.

00:16:51.600 And three, it's weird to have him overlooking really competent political leaders who happen to be women here in Canada for the purpose of his own narrative.

00:17:02.760 So that can get squishy there. 0.95

00:17:05.460 Did we want to go to GST?

00:17:07.520 Who wants to take the fun with the GST?

00:17:09.600 Right, the GST poll?

00:17:13.300 Yeah, the GST poll.

00:17:14.640 So for folks who don't remember, we've got a temporary reprieve of GST on some items you find in the grocery store and other stuff like, you know, kids' clothes and diapers, which frankly shouldn't have GST anyway.

00:17:25.860 And it's going to last for a couple of months.

00:17:27.720 And then there's also, in February, if I'm correct, everybody's supposed to get, who's working, supposed to get about $250 each.

00:17:35.420 So, but there's a poll now out on it?

00:17:37.300 Yeah, and this poll went into both the GST, HST holiday and the $250 check, highlighting that essentially Canadians are not buying what the Liberals are selling.

00:17:49.700 So, yeah, this was a survey from the Angus Reid Institute, and it asked Canadians about, as I mentioned, both the $250 one-time check and the GST, HST cuts, which, by the way, both policies will cost more than $6.2 billion.

00:18:04.660 This with, what's our debt at now, Chris, $1.25 trillion just over at?

00:18:10.500 Yep.

00:18:10.900 Yeah.

00:18:12.200 So, the interesting thing about this poll was it really went into the data, and it showed that over a quarter of the poll respondents said they weren't even eligible for the check.

00:18:22.920 Even more, almost 40% said it would have absolutely no impact on their household, while only just over 30% said it would help a little.

00:18:31.640 But get this, only 5% of Canadians said it would help a lot.

00:18:35.440 So, that's not really doing anything for them.

00:18:37.380 And then, going into the GST, HST exemptions, this over half, 55%, said that it'll do nothing to help their household.

00:18:47.440 And then over a third, 38%, said it would help a little.

00:18:49.960 But again, only 7% said it would help a lot.

00:18:53.740 And yeah, the poll got into all the income groups and age groups and, of course, the parties as well, which, as you would expect, the conservatives were the most likely to say that these policies were, quote, entirely political, with 82% of those who intend to vote conservatives saying that.

00:19:12.220 Compared to when you look at all parties, it was 55% overall who said that it was entirely political.

00:19:20.980 That is rough, actually.

00:19:22.300 Yeah, I mean, there's so much data I could go into it all, but basically all you guys need to know is that Canadians aren't buying either of the policies.

00:19:30.140 Yeah, what do you think about that?

00:19:32.640 Go ahead, Noah.

00:19:34.160 Well, yeah, I think that it's entirely political, and Canadians know that, and they don't want to feel bought off.

00:19:41.960 I mean, this is the type of stuff that happens in 10-part, you know, democracy, even like Latin America or like Africa or somewhere, you know, before an election, they're just handing out, you know, a couple hundred bucks to people.

00:19:52.920 It's like, okay, now go vote for us, you know.

00:19:55.460 That's exactly what Trudeau wants to do, especially since there was speculation that the liberals might want to try and call for a spring election or at least maneuver, I think, the parliament so that an election does occur in the spring, right, just before or after the checks get mailed out.

00:20:11.960 The Canadians, so, and you see this in other promises, too, like British Columbia and Ontario and Quebec is part of the reason.

00:20:20.540 But the thing is, this stuff does not work.

00:20:23.340 In Quebec, Francois Legault, I think, mailed out $500 checks to people, I think, during the pandemic and just after the pandemic.

00:20:29.000 And his approval rating is at the lowest it's ever been.

00:20:32.560 I think his personal approval rating is at like 26%.

00:20:35.920 His party is at like 21% in the polls.

00:20:39.020 Doug Ford is immune to all political hits.

00:20:42.940 And, you know, so Ontario is just weird like that.

00:20:45.660 In BC, you've seen a big backlash against the EB government with the BC Conservatives coming within an inch of forming government.

00:20:53.900 And Trudeau is, you know, sticking to these terrible tactics, terrible policies, trying to buy Canadians off.

00:21:00.420 People don't want to feel like it's still grimy, you know, like, you know, getting paid off to, you know, vote for a politician.

00:21:07.400 Like, people don't want to feel like that.

00:21:09.240 So it's actually going to probably cause a backlash and cause more people to move away from the lower party, which I think is absolutely hilarious.

00:21:17.280 Yeah. Speaking of that, Noah, let me just get into that data quickly, which I forgot to mention.

00:21:21.520 This is very, very key, is that it actually is causing a backlash.

00:21:25.940 So get this.

00:21:27.000 Less than 2% of the respondents, this excluding those that already intend to vote liberal, said that these policies would make it, quote,

00:21:33.540 much more likely that they would vote for the liberals in the future elections.

00:21:37.120 Whereas 3% said that it would make it, quote, more likely.

00:21:41.580 55% said it would make no difference.

00:21:43.480 But get this.

00:21:44.080 This is where it gets interesting.

00:21:45.280 So 8% of respondents said that these policies would make it, quote, less likely for them to vote liberals in the future.

00:21:51.820 Whereas 28%, 28% said that it would make it, quote, much less likely that they would vote liberals in the future due to these policies.

00:22:00.680 So what do you, I mean, this is, these are insane numbers.

00:22:03.820 What do you think about the backlash we're seeing from, from these policies?

00:22:07.860 I mean, clearly they are panning out terribly.

00:22:11.360 Yeah.

00:22:11.820 People don't want to be bought off and, you know, like $250, it's marginal.

00:22:16.240 You know, the carbon tax, it's, it's, it's rinsing Canadians for thousands of dollars every year.

00:22:21.160 Instead of, you know, mailing out these checks, it'd be like, oh, here you go.

00:22:24.340 After we robbed you blind, I'm going to give you.

00:22:26.440 So it's like that meme where the guy hands out a $10 bill from like a wallet where he has a hundred bucks and the guy just takes the wallet instead of the $10 bill.

00:22:34.480 So you're left with, you know, a little instead of giving the guy what you actually wanted.

00:22:37.820 Like, this is like that meme in real life.

00:22:40.360 You know, they're going to rinse you, rinse you with thousands, for a thousand dollars worth of carbon tax.

00:22:44.960 They're going to rinse you with increases in, in, in taxes elsewhere and the capital gains tax.

00:22:50.400 Economic activity is going to go down.

00:22:52.760 Waging, wage growth is going to be stunted.

00:22:54.480 She's like, oh, here's 250 bucks. 0.99

00:22:56.140 Like people know that this is absolutely ridiculous and it's going to hurt the true, true liberals politically as it should.

00:23:04.340 To me, it's a big indicator that 28%, that's a big number. 0.58

00:23:09.120 To me, this just indicates people are angry, like really angry.

00:23:14.080 And no matter what this government does, it sounds like, it's just going to keep on getting angrier.

00:23:20.220 Um, it's one of those situations where it's almost like an interpersonal fight where a line has been crossed and you're completely done with that person.

00:23:29.160 It's like, no, no, no.

00:23:29.800 No matter what you say, it is going to make me matter.

00:23:33.420 So they come back with some roses, you know, it doesn't really, you know, like, oh.

00:23:36.880 No, exactly.

00:23:37.840 You know, take your chocolates and I'll chuck them over the fence.

00:23:40.220 Right.

00:23:40.480 So it seems like we're getting to that boiling point.

00:23:44.420 Now, again, to be fair, um, this happens in government.

00:23:47.800 Uh, people were super mad at the Brian Mulroney government and that is why the PCs were reduced to two seats.

00:23:54.640 So to me, um, that was a conservative government kind of.

00:23:59.020 And to me, this is feeling like that again, where people are just completely done and they're at the moment of let's vote the bums out. 1.00

00:24:07.480 Um, I will also point out that even the so-called sausage making isn't working very well right now, uh, in Ottawa.

00:24:15.280 So quite often it's important to kind of pull back the curtain, like in The Wizard of Oz, and see what's going on behind the curtain.

00:24:22.560 And apparently, for example, the, uh, the Premier of New Brunswick, who's a newly elected Liberal Party Premier of New Brunswick,

00:24:31.640 was barely consulted about this temporary GST pause.

00:24:35.700 So much so that, especially in Atlantic Canada, they have an HST.

00:24:41.380 So meaning their provincial sales tax, which we do not have here in Alberta, thank you very much.

00:24:46.140 Um, their provincial sales tax is enmeshed with the federal one.

00:24:51.220 And apparently she had like a 36-hour heads up. 0.99

00:24:55.080 And, oh, by the way, this is going to blow this big of a hole in your provincial budget in the revenue column.

00:24:59.900 Now, again, I'm all for a tax cut.

00:25:01.820 That's a really good thing.

00:25:02.800 I'm talking about the fact that there is nearly no consultation, even with your closest players.

00:25:09.520 And a birdie was telling me, because I still have a lot of friends in Ottawa, bless them,

00:25:13.580 um, that apparently even the bureaucrats, so those in the department, the unelected part of the financial department,

00:25:20.920 they still have some adults working in there, believe it or not, were tearing their hair out at this, saying,

00:25:25.760 what? You're doing what? You haven't talked to whom?

00:25:29.080 So this was a seat of your pants, quick grasp to try to fix stuff.

00:25:34.020 And again, if you're giving me 250 bucks back of my own money, I'm going to take it.

00:25:38.380 Because that goes a ways towards your energy bill.

00:25:40.980 It can buy a few groceries.

00:25:42.180 That is a good thing.

00:25:43.540 But the fact that they could even screw up a tax cut. 0.97

00:25:47.140 It's ridiculous.

00:25:49.840 Like, like, like, even good ideas, and I don't think it's a good idea, but even like good ideas implemented poorly,

00:25:55.820 it's just going to be bad policy that's not going to help anyone, you know, I, but this is like a policy that was written on the back of a napkin

00:26:03.620 and then handed over to Christopher Freeland's like, implement this now, you know, like, I sort of imagine, like,

00:26:08.860 there was a cabinet meeting, you know, Trudeau was hearing from the cabinet ministers, didn't like what he wanted or what they were saying.

00:26:15.500 So, you know, brings Melanie Jolie into the back room, you know, they each have a scotch with one another.

00:26:20.360 And then they conceived this plan, you know, like, and then they're like, okay, guys, this is what we're doing.

00:26:25.920 And Freeland's like, what?

00:26:27.360 All the bureaucrats are like, you can't do this.

00:26:29.200 And they're like, no, we're doing it.

00:26:30.440 So, you know, like, it's just a bad idea.

00:26:33.500 You know, tax relief, it's great.

00:26:36.080 Do it properly, though.

00:26:37.000 And they're absolutely not doing that.

00:26:39.180 And, you know, they obviously didn't give the bureaucrats enough time to be able to implement this properly,

00:26:44.140 which is bad governance.

00:26:45.480 It's the opposite of good government.

00:26:47.620 Reminds me of lining up to take a quick sprint, like a good race, and just forgetting to tie up your shoes.

00:26:52.880 And you just rip and fall on your teeth.

00:26:55.040 So this is kind of what this is happening.

00:26:57.380 Do we want to get on to our last story here, the fun one about global affairs,

00:27:02.540 spending millions of dollars to own stuff around the world?

00:27:05.300 Who wanted to take that one away? 0.95

00:27:09.300 I could if you wanted to.

00:27:12.780 I did.

00:27:13.460 But this was based, of course, on the CTF's write-up, which you had done, Chris.

00:27:18.040 But if you want me to do it, sure, that's fine.

00:27:21.300 You did a really good write-up on it.

00:27:22.980 So I think you should get the cred.

00:27:24.200 So give her. 0.84

00:27:24.520 Thank you.

00:27:25.020 Thank you, Chris.

00:27:25.640 Yeah, of course, the CTF, through some access to information documents, revealed that taxpayers were funding the tab for a federal department's real estate portfolio,

00:27:34.900 which was costing $186 million over the last decade.

00:27:39.940 This was from Global Affairs Canada, who owns more than 400 properties in over 70 countries.

00:27:45.660 And no, people, these aren't standard properties.

00:27:49.540 For example, one of the expenses, $12.5 million for vacant land in Senegal.

00:27:56.760 I mean, what are we talking about?

00:27:58.100 Who pays $12.5 million for vacant land, except maybe in Vancouver?

00:28:01.300 Maybe we're going to build another Disneyland there.

00:28:07.000 I hope not. 0.99

00:28:08.340 All the people in Vancouver right now are like, this goddamn Isaac, you know? 0.98

00:28:12.360 He's making fun of Robbins. 0.99

00:28:14.280 That's true.

00:28:15.580 My favorite part of that, and I say favorite because folks who are watching this that are, like, really struggling, I know.

00:28:21.080 We have to stay happy, warriors.

00:28:23.000 If we don't laugh, we will cry about this.

00:28:25.240 Also, it's really important to laugh at this government because they hate it.

00:28:29.540 Like, they take themselves super seriously.

00:28:31.960 Like, they think they're landed dukes.

00:28:33.800 The Prime Minister of Canada is paid more than $400,000 per year, taxpayer-funded, and lives in a mansion with staff.

00:28:40.980 So, it's important for us as jesters to poke and laugh at the king.

00:28:44.280 Super important.

00:28:45.300 So, my favorite part of this was the fact that taxpayers are on the tip tab for $41 million for properties that we own in Afghanistan.

00:28:55.220 Now, before you get started on the whole Operation Medusa and all that stuff, no, no, no, no.

00:29:00.160 Folks, they bought this in late 2018, 2019.

00:29:05.140 Well into the early indications that we'll be leaving soon, guys.

00:29:09.460 So, I think this happened after then-U.S. President Donald Trump was having meetings with the Taliban saying, yeah, knock it off and we're leaving.

00:29:17.940 So, pretty much everybody in the Western world, as far as I could tell by then, knew we were leaving.

00:29:22.700 But, nope, here comes Canada, Foreign Affairs Canada.

00:29:25.440 We're going to spend $41 million on property.

00:29:28.040 And, by the way, that's now obviously being totally controlled by the Taliban.

00:29:31.460 We have no way of even checking on it.

00:29:33.580 But, boneheaded the decision to buy this.

00:29:37.180 I mean, like, you couldn't rent it?

00:29:39.160 Like, you know, like, why did you have to own the piece of land?

00:29:42.480 And, like, furthermore, I've got you, like, you guys invaded Afghanistan.

00:29:46.700 Just take it.

00:29:47.320 You don't have to buy the land, you know.

00:29:49.000 Like, I don't have to take it.

00:29:51.600 It's right there, you know.

00:29:53.800 Like, what are we doing here?

00:29:55.680 Like, it's absolutely ridiculous that global affairs, like, is just wasting taxpayers' money, like, have unlimited amounts of cash.

00:30:03.580 Like, $10.2 million on a chancery in Ukraine.

00:30:07.940 I don't even know what a chancery is.

00:30:09.500 I have to look that up.

00:30:11.300 You know, like, vacant land in Senegal.

00:30:13.620 I mean, come on, guys.

00:30:14.860 We can do a little bit better.

00:30:16.780 Have some more care for the taxpayer.

00:30:19.280 And the value of their dollar.

00:30:21.240 A chancery is kind of a super special embassy with an official residence, correct?

00:30:27.140 Like, why do we need that, though?

00:30:28.980 Like, settle it.

00:30:30.420 Like, the Ukrainians need, like, shelter for the bombs that's dropping.

00:30:34.460 You know, like, let them have it.

00:30:36.300 Don't, I don't know.

00:30:37.720 It seems ridiculous to me.

00:30:39.560 It's also an awful lot of money, again, on the New York embassy as well with the official residents there.

00:30:44.720 The point of this is, is that quite often when we'll yell about the fact that the budget is horribly imbalanced, as of right now, technically on paper, the deficit is about $40 billion in the red.

00:30:57.620 To give you an idea of what kind of money that is, that would build you 38 brand new, really awesome hospitals.

00:31:04.600 That's just the deficit.

00:31:06.040 And we don't have the fall economic statement yet.

00:31:08.900 But apparently all the rumors are is that it's going to be even a bigger deficit.

00:31:12.620 So whenever we yell at them and say, could you clowns try to balance the budget, they say something like, oh, what do you want to cut first, food to orphans or health care for grandma? 0.50

00:31:24.460 No. 0.93

00:31:25.240 How about you not spend $41 million on property in Afghanistan that is now being controlled by the Taliban?

00:31:32.160 Just to start.

00:31:32.820 Chris, just wanted to get your thoughts on something because I see your defund the CBC sticker in the back there.

00:31:38.320 And obviously the Canadian Taxpayers Federation previously highlighted that the CBC's real estate portfolio was worth over $444 million across 12 properties.

00:31:48.640 I mean, these properties are over $30 million each.

00:31:53.300 What are they buying?

00:31:54.640 So the two big ones, again, I don't care.

00:31:57.460 I'm going to pick on Vancouver all I want because I was raised just outside of Vancouver.

00:32:00.620 It used to be a really fun place to work and live.

00:32:02.560 It is not fun anymore because it's outrageously expensive.

00:32:05.740 They own a ginormous piece of property right on the waterfront in Vancouver is where the CBC headquarters is there in BC.

00:32:14.480 So it's right downtown.

00:32:16.400 I actually think it was right around the corner, frighteningly enough, from like a shooting that happened there just like a few days ago.

00:32:22.940 So that was pretty freaky.

00:32:24.240 So that's now bleeding into like downtown fancy Vancouver.

00:32:27.700 So they own a big property there in downtown fancy Vancouver right near the water.

00:32:31.540 And also the big one, of course, is in Toronto, that gigantic building that they have there like that.

00:32:40.260 The building is so big that when you walk in, they used to have like three story tall pictures of Jian Ghomeshi, who used to be, of course, the host of Q.

00:32:50.620 That like superhuman size.

00:32:54.100 And they even had two.

00:32:55.380 I don't know if they still have them.

00:32:56.640 They had these little droids that used to deliver your mail. 1.00

00:33:01.000 So your inter-office like mail, if you're mailing something from, you know, one floor to another floor.

00:33:06.060 They had bots that did that before bots were even a thing. 0.99

00:33:09.800 Like this thing is huge.

00:33:11.340 So, yeah, this is what you're paying for with the CBC.

00:33:13.600 That's why we took them to the cleaners there at the committee, the Heritage Committee, and said, you guys are costing us this year $1.4 billion.

00:33:23.680 You're getting microscopic ratings.

00:33:25.980 And it's wrong for journalists to be paid by the government.

00:33:29.420 And we just think those are inassailable.

00:33:31.300 But you're right.

00:33:31.900 A big chunk of that cost is the holdings of real estate that the state broadcaster is hanging on to.

00:33:37.940 Thank you for reminding me.

00:33:39.000 I'm Matt L again now.

00:33:41.980 All right, folks, that was really fun.

00:33:44.100 Any other parting shots that you would like to take?

00:33:49.000 Well, I just got to say that if you are a Global Affairs Canada bureaucrat, like don't spend like you have Elon Musk's wallet, you know, like you don't.

00:34:00.400 It's not a limited amount of money.

00:34:02.460 You can't, you know, spend billion dollars more on stuff just because you want to buy it, like, you know, Musk did for Twitter.

00:34:08.920 Just like spend like, you know, you're a college student trying to make ends meet.

00:34:14.480 And the taxpayers will thank you for it.

00:34:16.480 But right now, you're going to have the Canadian Taxpayers Federation on your back because you guys are doing a good job.

00:34:23.600 Thank you.

00:34:24.260 Well, I wish Musk would come up here when he's finished cleaning it up in the States because we definitely need our own Department of Government Efficiency.

00:34:30.400 But until then, remember, everything is off the record.

00:34:41.000 Speaking of Musk, we never did get into him.

00:34:43.180 So I'll just reference that quickly because for those who don't know, he mentioned Trudeau on Twitter and Musk said, quote, he's such an insufferable tool.

00:34:52.100 We won't be in power for much longer.

00:34:54.520 So, yeah.

00:34:55.500 Oh, there it is.

00:34:56.340 Perfect.

00:34:56.720 Isn't Musk a Canadian citizen?

00:34:58.140 I think he has like eight citizenships, but I think he's partly Canadian.

00:35:02.240 I would like him to come up here, if for nothing else, to try to cut some government spending.

00:35:07.440 So thank you for that.

Off the Record - December 13, 2024

How low can Trudeau go？

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