Off the Record - How “strong and united” are the Liberals？

00:00:00.000 You said you have something planned for Halloween there, Chris.

00:00:02.860 What's happening with the CTF and Halloween?

00:00:05.220 So the debt, the national debt is super scary because it's something crazy now.

00:00:09.440 It's like $1.2 trillion.

00:00:11.180 It would take you like 30,000 years to count a trillion.

00:00:13.760 So we're bringing the debt clock, which is super scary to Calgary.

00:00:17.500 And then a friend of mine, the Prairie Director, Gage Habrick, he's coming with me.

00:00:21.820 And we're going to dress up in our best Halloween gear.

00:00:24.480 And we're going to put on like a big press conference about how scary the debt is.

00:00:28.380 So I've got my best witch hat.

00:00:30.720 It has like gold and green undertones.

00:00:32.900 It really brings out my natural witchiness.

00:00:34.660 So I'm really looking forward to that.

00:00:36.600 Are you guys doing Halloween-y things?

00:00:38.320 What are you doing?

00:00:39.460 Well, I was going to add, I think that the debt keeps Canadians up at night, but I doubt it keeps Trudeau up much.

00:00:46.460 No, he, I would say Canadians have had a lot of tricks from this liberal government and precious few treats in terms of at least cost of living and keeping life affordable.

00:00:56.940 Certainly my, my life doesn't seem any more affordable.

00:01:00.140 I haven't gotten a lot of treats from this liberal government.

00:01:02.780 Well, in no time flat, people who aren't trick-or-treaters are going to be doing a lot of door knocking.

00:01:08.380 So he should keep all of that in mind.

00:01:10.100 All right, let's get this thing started.

00:01:11.780 Welcome to Off the Record here at True North.

00:01:22.180 My name is Chris Sims.

00:01:23.180 I'm the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:01:25.820 Our friends at True North have been very nice to let me host a few of these shows.

00:01:29.960 I'm here with my good friends, Cosman and William.

00:01:32.320 Thank you both for joining us.

00:01:34.340 It's great to be here, Chris.

00:01:35.420 Thanks for having us.

00:01:36.100 It's been quite the week for anyone who is a political nerd.

00:01:40.640 It was a big showdown leading up to the caucus meeting on Wednesday.

00:01:45.240 And quite often I find fans of True North will come up to me at events and they'll say something like,

00:01:50.660 we really want the inside scoop, like explain how these things work.

00:01:54.000 So just give me one little second here.

00:01:56.640 So I worked on Parliament Hill for way too long.

00:01:59.140 And one of the main things they do each week when the House is in session,

00:02:02.920 so when all the members of Parliament, 300 something of them, are all in Ottawa,

00:02:07.080 every Wednesday morning from around 8.30ish till around 11.30ish, sometimes later,

00:02:14.000 Wednesday morning, each party goes into these rooms by themselves,

00:02:18.100 usually with no phones even allowed, and they lock themselves in.

00:02:22.100 And that's usually where they can hash things out. 1.00

00:02:24.500 Like if you think your leader's being stupid, 0.99

00:02:26.280 if you're hearing from your constituents about something crazy that you don't want to get out, 1.00

00:02:30.200 but you want people to know, that's called caucus meeting.

00:02:33.880 And so, by the way, as a little aside,

00:02:36.200 which was a very sad anniversary for the passing of Corporal Nathan Cirillo,

00:02:39.860 that is why that terrorist, that attacker, picked Wednesday morning,

00:02:45.360 because he knew where they were all going to be.

00:02:49.000 And so that is why you had that stark image of back then,

00:02:51.940 Prime Minister Stephen Harper's caucus on one side of the hallway.

00:02:54.640 And then at the time, the opposition's NDP across the hall,

00:03:00.300 they were all in caucus, so they were all in one place in one time.

00:03:03.760 So fast forward to this past Wednesday,

00:03:06.440 this is a really critical meeting for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,

00:03:10.000 because we were hearing all sorts of things.

00:03:12.020 Things like there was going to be a rebellion within caucus,

00:03:14.640 that enough Liberal members of Parliament were going to take the microphone

00:03:17.380 and stand up and be heard and speak back to Trudeau on things like affordability

00:03:22.700 and on things like the carbon tax.

00:03:24.780 At least that's what we were hoping.

00:03:26.380 So there was an awful lot of fireworks going in and out of the building.

00:03:30.740 And so I just wanted very briefly to get your impression first,

00:03:34.120 and then we'll go to the clips.

00:03:35.080 William, what was your take on this?

00:03:37.220 Did you think this turned into a nothing burger?

00:03:39.300 Do you think there's still some fire there?

00:03:41.960 Yeah, I mean, politically, I think the Prime Minister came out of it

00:03:45.480 about as well as he could have hoped for.

00:03:48.100 He seems more or less to be in the same position he was going in,

00:03:52.420 except maybe even a little bit better,

00:03:54.380 maybe some of the deflate in the sales of the Dump Trudeau movement,

00:03:58.660 because they don't appear to have made much damage in ousting the Prime Minister.

00:04:03.900 And I think we'll see a clip in just a bit where you can even see

00:04:07.920 a pretty cocky walking Prime Minister as he leaves that caucus meeting.

00:04:13.540 And, you know, it's quite telling when you get to see our Prime Minister

00:04:17.340 on full peacock display.

00:04:20.080 We have to watch that now.

00:04:21.220 You've teased it so well.

00:04:22.480 Let's roll that clip. 0.89

00:04:23.720 This is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emerging from the caucus meeting.

00:04:26.920 I will point out an hour later than people were expecting.

00:04:30.580 So that was a long grind of a caucus meeting.

00:04:32.760 Watch this.

00:04:38.580 So that's quite the clip.

00:04:48.420 He is a theatre kid.

00:04:50.160 So fellow theatre kid here, you know your body language

00:04:53.760 and you know blocking and you know what you want to portray.

00:04:56.920 And so there, I think he was trying to show his sleeves rolled up.

00:05:00.640 He was cool, calm and collected and confident.

00:05:03.340 Cosmin, what was your take on this meeting?

00:05:06.260 Yeah, definitely.

00:05:06.900 He's definitely trying to portray a sense of confidence and assurance

00:05:11.440 to other members in his party that he's got things under control.

00:05:15.760 But it doesn't address the fact that most Canadians are looking at this government

00:05:21.660 as if they're not serving their interests and they're not able to pull together.

00:05:28.260 Because you still see these signs of rebellion within at least a significant,

00:05:34.040 I think I've heard numbers up to 40 Liberal MPs who don't have confidence in Trudeau.

00:05:40.000 So he must have some key supporters who are able to keep him there in place.

00:05:45.920 But whether that's actually going to translate to things working out for Canadians,

00:05:50.740 I don't think so.

00:05:52.200 One of the key issues that we were trying to push them to speak up about,

00:05:56.400 and we know for a fact that these members of Parliament,

00:05:59.360 particularly in the Liberal caucus, were getting flooded with emails.

00:06:03.720 Hundreds, if not thousands, per email saying,

00:06:07.680 get rid of this carbon tax, for example.

00:06:10.120 And quite often when you get enough constituents pushing an MP,

00:06:14.120 saying, hey buddy, your job's on the line because I'm not going to vote for you next time

00:06:17.520 unless you wake up on this stuff.

00:06:19.140 That's when you get them nervous.

00:06:21.100 And that's when you get them speaking up in caucus.

00:06:23.040 So as of right now for tape time, we're about 24 hours out of the caucus meeting.

00:06:29.500 In my experience being a journalist on Parliament Hill, now is kind of the time.

00:06:34.800 So the members of Parliament who had their say or didn't have slept on it,

00:06:39.480 they've thought about it a little bit more,

00:06:41.160 they might be gathering together in like secret meetings at the pub over on Spark Street or something,

00:06:46.200 and they might be gathering courage to speak up.

00:06:49.280 William, do you think that there's still some legs to this?

00:06:52.440 Do you think that they still might find a way of pushing?

00:06:55.300 Because there was this document apparently that was going around,

00:06:57.760 I haven't seen it, of getting them to sign basically a pledge of,

00:07:02.260 I will stand up to Trudeau, something like that.

00:07:05.540 Yeah, I mean, it's one thing to say to a journalist off the record

00:07:10.840 that you want to see the Prime Minister gone and you think he's doing a terrible job.

00:07:15.920 It's another thing to actually stand up in a caucus room

00:07:18.680 and become publicly identified as an enemy of the Prime Minister,

00:07:22.880 who continues to wield an awful lot of power in our system.

00:07:27.600 You know, one of the things I think Canadians and other political watchers are going to be curious about is,

00:07:33.420 what promises did the Prime Minister make when he was in caucus to his MPs

00:07:38.320 in order to try and keep them on board?

00:07:40.580 Did he promise staff changes?

00:07:42.260 Did he promise changes on some policies?

00:07:45.680 You know, are we going to see the end of the carbon tax before the next election?

00:07:50.380 I mean, I know all of us here would be thrilled if we saw that carbon tax go.

00:07:55.940 But of course, you know, that was sort of his signature policy.

00:07:59.240 So, you know, that would be a real defeat for this Prime Minister.

00:08:03.520 You know, and the other one is, you know, the last time he encountered some real trouble,

00:08:09.080 he dropped Gerald Butts, at least formally, from his office staff.

00:08:13.880 I still suspect they stay in pretty close communication since they were best friends for decades.

00:08:21.120 You know, I know there's a lot of growing resentment about Katie Telford,

00:08:25.180 the current chief of staff to the Prime Minister.

00:08:27.800 And, you know, one of the reasons you have staff is so you can fire them when things get rough.

00:08:32.340 And I'm curious to see if we're going to see any policy or personnel changes

00:08:37.200 coming out of the wake of this caucus meeting.

00:08:40.180 Maybe cabinet.

00:08:41.200 Maybe he'll do a cabinet shuffle or add a few more cabinet appointments,

00:08:45.240 dangle some of those goodies.

00:08:46.680 Because cabinet ministers, so your average backbencher,

00:08:49.980 Member of Parliament makes just over $200,000.

00:08:52.740 You're a cabinet minister, you're adding like another $100,000 onto that, typically.

00:08:57.320 So those folks are not hurting.

00:08:59.340 So I'm keeping a very close eye on all this stuff.

00:09:02.360 It was really interesting.

00:09:03.740 So I was there when there was a press conference,

00:09:07.680 and then Finance Minister Paul Martin kind of sort of indicated that he didn't have full confidence,

00:09:13.320 and then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

00:09:15.220 Then all hell broke loose.

00:09:17.100 Like we've said before, things happen gradually, and then all of a sudden.

00:09:20.740 So it really kind of felt rolling into this caucus meeting like that all of a sudden could be happening,

00:09:25.840 because we saw some signals coming from Mark Carney, for example, musing about his future in politics,

00:09:32.920 and then a really strong one coming from former BC Liberal British Columbia Premier Christy Clark.

00:09:39.280 And it was the weirdest announcement.

00:09:42.240 It was just like, I'm not running for leader of the Liberal Party.

00:09:47.060 It's the strangest thing.

00:09:48.680 And so that would be really interesting if she wanted to make that move.

00:09:51.760 Because again, if one of the albatrosses around Trudeau's neck is the carbon tax, 0.69

00:09:58.160 it was the BC Liberals that invented the darn thing in all of North America.

00:10:01.980 And that was under, including then Christy Clark's watch. 0.87

00:10:05.400 It was Gordon Campbell before her, but she kept it going.

00:10:08.340 So that would be really interesting to see if they could fit that into that narrative box.

00:10:13.040 We had a clip.

00:10:14.380 And so we have a clip here of a Member of Parliament, Liberal Member of Parliament, from Atlantic Canada.

00:10:20.660 And this is where reporters kind of stake out the entrances of the building 0.89

00:10:25.000 as they're going into the caucus meeting and coming out of the caucus meeting.

00:10:28.580 So it was a field day for the press gallery.

00:10:31.100 I saw a lot of them getting their work out in yesterday.

00:10:33.140 Sorry, my apologies to our dear True North watchers.

00:10:36.440 So this is a screen grab of the actual story.

00:10:39.940 I mistook that it was a clip.

00:10:41.880 But here we have a question of whether or not they could vote to topple the government

00:10:46.840 and saying that it's actually not out of the question.

00:10:49.760 And this is coming from Liberal Member of Parliament, Ken McDonald.

00:10:52.760 And the reason why that's significant is that he's apparently not seeking re-election.

00:10:57.480 So he feels more entitled or maybe liberated to be able to speak about that.

00:11:03.860 Cosman, did you want to jump in here again to figure out, to let people know where your stance is on this?

00:11:09.360 Do you think this still has legs?

00:11:11.000 Or do you think this is going to be put to bed?

00:11:12.660 They're going to have a long break over Christmas?

00:11:15.280 For sure.

00:11:15.900 I'm glad that you mentioned that Ken McDonald is not seeking re-election because we have so many Liberal MPs

00:11:22.040 who are refusing to run again under the Liberal Party banner.

00:11:27.040 And you also mentioned the prospects of a cabinet shuffle.

00:11:31.540 We actually have a cabinet shuffle coming because another minister also said she won't be seeking re-election.

00:11:38.720 And that was a former agriculture minister.

00:11:41.520 I forgot what her latest role was, but it was Marie-Claude Bebeau who said she won't be running for the Liberals again.

00:11:48.280 We've also seen Seamus O'Regan not want to run for the Liberals again.

00:11:52.540 So I think there needs to be more attention paid to that because it is a sort of unspoken way of signaling to voters

00:12:01.620 that you don't want to participate in this party, or at least you don't have any hopes that there are future prospects for you to be re-elected.

00:12:10.860 Great point there.

00:12:11.940 Did we want to move on to the CBC, speaking of broadcasters and Seamus O'Regan?

00:12:17.220 So Seamus was a backstory.

00:12:19.560 Again, Seamus was at CTV for a long time, particularly at Canada AM, and I was the parliamentary producer for Canada AM.

00:12:25.960 So I worked quite closely with Mr. O'Regan before he jumped into politics.

00:12:29.220 And I didn't know that he was part of Justin Trudeau's wedding party at the time.

00:12:33.500 So let's shift over to our other favorite broadcaster that takes government money, the CBC.

00:12:39.540 So Catherine Tate, she's the president and CEO of the CBC. 0.90

00:12:44.720 People might remember her from past performances at the committee.

00:12:49.520 So again, on Parliament Hill, there's various committees in each separate room.

00:12:54.420 And on different days, they'll have different meetings.

00:12:56.500 And one of these committees is the Heritage Committee.

00:12:59.680 The Heritage Committee is the one that grills Catherine Tate whenever enough members of Parliament on that committee are mad about things like pay and bonuses. 0.99

00:13:09.780 So this time around, she was called to the committee carpet again to answer for the fact that last year, they handed out about $18 million in bonus money.

00:13:19.940 This is not just pay.

00:13:21.420 This is bonus money.

00:13:22.600 And so she had to face down quite a few questions, things like, are we getting good value for money?

00:13:28.440 I just wanted to go around the horn on this first, just to get you with your impressions of her appearance at committee.

00:13:35.040 William, you and I are both old enough to remember that it was pretty rare to see somebody from the CBC up that high being asked such impertinent questions.

00:13:44.120 And now we're kind of getting the front row seat lately.

00:13:47.300 Yeah, you know, every time I watch Ms. Tate come before the committee and answer questions, I secretly think, is she really on the side of the defunders?

00:13:58.400 Because you couldn't have asked for a better CEO to be the poster child for why we need to cut funding to CBC.

00:14:06.820 The level of arrogance and of being out of touch with everyday Canadians is so breathtaking that it borders on almost implausible.

00:14:17.620 You do have to think, you know, is she secretly got money from, I don't know, True North to appear before a committee just to tank the CBC.

00:14:27.480 I can say as our chief operating officer, we are not paying Catherine Tate.

00:14:31.980 But it would be money well spent, just saying, because she's doing a great job. 0.97

00:14:35.220 Honestly, it is just so hard to believe when you watch her, the sheer tone deafness of her responses.

00:14:40.960 Cosman, what was your take on it after watching some of this?

00:14:43.920 Well, it was a sense of almost a lack of self-awareness that I got from everything she says.

00:14:51.880 Anytime she's at committee, she blames everybody else except for CBC's own performance, their obvious bias.

00:15:00.140 I mean, this is a network that sued the Conservative Party unsuccessfully.

00:15:05.800 They are constantly demeaning Canadians, demeaning the values of working class people, 1.00

00:15:13.060 and looking down their noses in their reporting.

00:15:16.840 And so it just strikes me like she's on her way out.

00:15:21.140 She's already, a replacement has already been named. 0.93

00:15:24.320 And there might be some truth to that.

00:15:26.620 Maybe she's just burning bridges. 1.00

00:15:28.640 Maybe she's just burning everything on her way out. 1.00

00:15:31.900 It was quite the performance.

00:15:33.460 And so to give folks some numbers, because full disclosure, I did work at the CBC for a very brief time, around six weeks or so.

00:15:42.120 I have no personal axe to grind.

00:15:43.780 People, they were nice to me.

00:15:45.500 It was in the Ottawa Bureau.

00:15:47.280 This is about, for the Taxpayers Federation, money and conflict of interest.

00:15:53.140 Because number one, this is a huge waste of money for a network that next to nobody watches.

00:15:58.700 And two, it is a conflict of interest for journalists to be paid by the government.

00:16:05.500 Like, to have to say that out loud is kind of weird.

00:16:08.320 So for those two huge reasons of waste of money and major accountability issues, the CTF is one of the ones right in the ring fighting this.

00:16:16.680 So to go by the numbers really briefly before we get to Catherine Tate's clip, because they are spellbinding.

00:16:22.020 The CBC this year is costing taxpayers $1.4 billion.

00:16:27.960 To put that into perspective, that kind of money could instead pay the full-time salaries of 7,000 paramedics and 7,000 cops this year.

00:16:38.560 That kind of money is the equivalent of more than 80,000 households' income taxes.

00:16:46.000 So the next time she tries to say, oh, it's only costing a few dollars per Canadian.

00:16:51.460 No, no, no, no.

00:16:52.760 80,000 homes.

00:16:54.240 Not people.

00:16:55.180 Homes.

00:16:56.080 Picture that.

00:16:57.080 That is the federal income tax bill every year going to this organization.

00:17:02.100 It is an astonishing amount of money.

00:17:04.780 And for the lady you are about to watch, this is CBC CEO and President Catherine Tate,

00:17:10.340 her salary would choke a horse. 1.00

00:17:13.280 She is paid more than the Prime Minister of Canada.

00:17:16.980 For anybody who's picking up on this as a journalist, if you're looking it up,

00:17:20.880 she is under the Crown Corporation drop-down tab.

00:17:23.840 She is CEO level 7.

00:17:25.960 That means she's paid between $468,000 and $551,000 per year.

00:17:33.940 She's entitled to a bonus of 28%.

00:17:37.220 That bonus alone, guys, is up to $154,000.

00:17:44.920 Her bonus is more than what the average two-person family makes in a year.

00:17:51.080 So listen to this first clip here.

00:17:53.780 Ms. Tate, you said that it's confidential, that information, but that just doesn't work for Canadians.

00:18:00.160 Canadians look at $18 million awarded in bonuses, the fact that you just spent $1,000 a night

00:18:07.800 for a hotel room in Paris during the Olympics, and we are in a situation where you are coming

00:18:15.800 to the conclusion of your term being paid more than the Prime Minister of this country makes.

00:18:20.280 And you refuse today to rule out that you will receive either bonuses or so-called performance pay

00:18:30.240 or a severance package at the conclusion of your term.

00:18:34.480 It's confidential, doesn't cut it for Canadians.

00:18:37.360 It doesn't cut it for parliamentary oversight.

00:18:39.620 So again, I ask, will you specifically today share with this committee whether or not you will

00:18:45.920 refuse a severance package or bonus at the conclusion of your term as President and CEO of CBC?

00:18:52.800 As I've said, I consider that to be a personal matter.

00:18:56.420 And I believe I'm protected by the Privacy Act in that regard.

00:19:02.460 So again, gentlemen, to both of your points, that sounds an awful lot like I'm entitled to my entitlements.

00:19:09.640 Very much so.

00:19:10.660 You know, a small petty part of me did wonder for someone who's so highly paid,

00:19:14.320 you think she could have afforded a better dye job on that sparkly red hair of hers. 1.00

00:19:19.120 Look at you, Stassi, today.

00:19:21.120 I'm sorry.

00:19:22.060 I just...

00:19:22.700 I felt it's okay.

00:19:24.080 You see her hair and you wonder every single time she chose that color.

00:19:28.120 No, I mean, $1,000 a night for her to go to the Paris Olympics, to the best of my knowledge, 0.92

00:19:34.260 she wasn't competing on behalf of Team Canada.

00:19:36.920 And so why was she there?

00:19:39.720 You know, why are we paying a bonus to someone who has overseen a massive decline in the viewership

00:19:47.800 of CBC, in the audience, the revenue, the reach, and the influence of CBC?

00:19:54.720 More Canadians than ever have said they do not watch CBC.

00:19:58.480 They do not trust its news reporting.

00:20:00.300 They do not believe CBC journalists are fair and impartial.

00:20:03.640 And so bonuses generally are given out to people who exceed expectations.

00:20:08.780 It is to be given on top of a salary in recognition of a job well done.

00:20:13.180 Rarely is it given to celebrate failure, but that seems to be the CBC's approach to bonuses.

00:20:20.300 I have some fresh, hard data on their viewership, which was astonishing to me.

00:20:25.960 I can get to that in a second, but I wanted to get Cosmo's thoughts in on that clip.

00:20:29.540 You know, for an organization that you would think values things like transparency and being

00:20:38.000 forthcoming with Canadians, they're not transparent at all. 1.00

00:20:41.400 They're not transparent about who gets bonuses, how much bonuses are divvied out.

00:20:45.900 They're also not transparent about what targets they're actually meeting to achieve these bonuses.

00:20:52.360 We're talking about an organization that's on the decline.

00:20:55.980 You're going to bring up some stats.

00:20:58.160 They're losing viewers.

00:20:59.360 They're losing advertisers.

00:21:01.080 Yet they're awarding themselves for what?

00:21:04.620 Yeah, big time.

00:21:05.740 So I've got some stats here.

00:21:07.040 Forgive me while I read them off my phone, but it's coming out in an op-ed very soon in

00:21:11.220 the newspaper.

00:21:11.740 But the numbers are astonishing.

00:21:14.620 So very quickly, Tate says that Canadians are seeing good value for money, but how can we

00:21:20.080 know if nobody's actually watching it?

00:21:21.900 So CBC News Network's share of primetime is 1.7%.

00:21:28.400 That's lower than it was last time we checked.

00:21:32.140 So put another way, 98.3% of TV viewing Canadians are choosing to not watch it.

00:21:39.540 So that is the news side.

00:21:41.560 And if you want to say, okay, well, what about, you know, the comedy drama, right?

00:21:45.140 What about the art side of things, the fiction side of things, right?

00:21:48.620 That's even, that's terrible too.

00:21:50.480 So on the entertainment side, they're not ranking highly either.

00:21:53.980 Their top rated show is a show called the Murdoch Mysteries, which is not produced by

00:21:59.420 the CBC.

00:22:00.240 That is produced by a private company in Toronto.

00:22:02.800 They just air it.

00:22:04.200 They have the biggest audience for that one.

00:22:06.760 It's about 800,000 people.

00:22:09.320 It's 1.9% of the population.

00:22:11.980 And what was astonishing to me is that Tate during the committee actually said, well,

00:22:19.080 if we didn't have programming, like the wonderful show, Son of a Critch, it would be, you know,

00:22:25.260 bad, like basically for the world is what she was implying.

00:22:29.160 So I got curious and I looked up the ratings for Son of a Critch, which is based off of the

00:22:36.620 government paid comedian Mark Critch's life.

00:22:39.380 And it's in its third season, who knew, but you paid for it.

00:22:44.160 So I looked up how much that total is.

00:22:47.060 Where are we here?

00:22:48.100 So last year that, that audience was around 590,000 people.

00:22:53.940 About 1.4% of Canadians are watching that show that the CEO just mentioned out loud with

00:23:01.080 her face in committee as being essential.

00:23:03.420 And one of her other things that she said under questioning about why she went to the

00:23:08.200 Paris Olympics is that, get this, she was already there, guys.

00:23:12.500 She was already there vacationing in France, of course, as one does. 0.74

00:23:16.420 And so she just popped into Paris because she thought that Canadians would be really concerned

00:23:21.560 if she wasn't there.

00:23:23.060 Yeah, well, absolutely.

00:23:25.840 I'm up nights wondering where president and CEO of CBC, Catherine Tate is.

00:23:31.780 Also, I've never seen Son of a Critch. 0.97

00:23:35.340 I'm now thinking how much enriched my life would be if I had watched three seasons about

00:23:42.000 a mediocre comedian who few Canadians could pick out of a police lineup.

00:23:47.380 My favorite CBC programming story is, I would say CBC legitimately deserves credit for Schitt's

00:23:55.880 Creek, mostly because they did it in partnership with the private sector.

00:24:00.000 And the private sector had this impossible or crazy idea that they should produce a television

00:24:05.560 show that people actually want to watch in the world.

00:24:09.880 And so after it was done, you would have thought CBC would have looked at that and said, wow,

00:24:15.020 we produced a popular piece of entertainment, or at least we were marginally part of it,

00:24:20.900 in partnership with Netflix.

00:24:22.680 That was great.

00:24:23.720 Well, no, actually, what they said was, well, we'll never do that again.

00:24:26.640 They lamented the commercial nature of that partnership.

00:24:30.820 The fact that it appealed broadly outside of Canada to an American audience, you know, where

00:24:37.600 there's 330 million people who like to watch TV.

00:24:41.340 And so I just love it.

00:24:42.540 A one tiny example of CBC success.

00:24:46.100 And they said, well, let's never do that again.

00:24:48.500 Isn't it sad?

00:24:49.260 And so, you know, I'm not an art critic, at least while I am privately, but I'm not, I'm

00:24:54.060 not paid to be an art critic.

00:24:55.800 I like pictures of horses, right?

00:24:57.740 That's not my thing.

00:24:59.060 But if people want to produce obscure, weird art for whatever reason, and however they want

00:25:05.700 to do it, however many people they want to see it or not, that's great.

00:25:09.880 Pay for it yourself.

00:25:11.600 Like, pay for it yourself, or do a GoFundMe, or get a sponsor.

00:25:15.500 Get people to willingly pay for the art that you want to produce.

00:25:19.660 But you cannot produce weird stuff that people aren't actually watching if you're using taxpayers'

00:25:25.480 money.

00:25:25.680 And I have to read you her actual quote, because it's almost too hard to believe.

00:25:29.460 She said, without a show like Son of a Critch, it would, quote, be a huge impoverishment of

00:25:36.380 our status and our place on the world stage.

00:25:39.980 Like, wow.

00:25:41.560 So again, this lady makes probably over half a million dollars, and her bonus that she's 1.00

00:25:46.960 entitled to is likely more than what a two-person working family pays.

00:25:51.700 So I wanted to take this moment to make a fun announcement.

00:25:54.780 So we finally have these bumper stickers printed.

00:25:58.060 It says, for folks just listening, it's defunded the CBC.

00:26:01.900 It's a bumper sticker.

00:26:03.100 It's black, red, and white.

00:26:04.860 We have these done.

00:26:06.820 I have the box upstairs.

00:26:08.940 I'm going to be giving them out at True North Nation coming up this Saturday.

00:26:14.960 So I imagine that they're going to be pretty popular.

00:26:17.800 And you're both right.

00:26:20.280 She is really making a solid argument as to why we need to defund the CBC.

00:26:25.280 Did we want to get to our other story here about, this was a Parks Canada story, Cosman,

00:26:31.000 that you had?

00:26:31.620 Do you want to move on to there?

00:26:33.900 Yeah, that's right.

00:26:35.140 Parks Canada is about to undergo an apology tour.

00:26:39.000 They've flagged 27 different national parks across the country, including Banff, including

00:26:44.700 Pacific Rim, Jasper as well, to apologize for the department's role, supposed role, in colonialism

00:26:53.680 and all of this damage that that has caused, supposedly.

00:26:58.120 And it's astounding to me because Parks Canada preserves natural sites.

00:27:03.780 Why is the Canadian government, why do they think that we need to apologize for preserving

00:27:08.840 the environment, creating spaces that everybody can enjoy, First Nations, everybody can enjoy

00:27:15.820 these spaces.

00:27:16.960 So we came across this story because we filed an ATIP.

00:27:20.540 And it was actually at the tail end of this 800-page document.

00:27:24.620 They had this map laid out with all of the locations that they plan on having place-based

00:27:30.040 apologies.

00:27:30.620 Now, I'm not 100% sure exactly what that means because Parks Canada wasn't very forthcoming

00:27:36.580 when I asked them for comment and clarification.

00:27:39.520 But the first location flagged for this apology tour was Jasper.

00:27:44.220 And this was supposed to happen before, it was determined before the wildfires actually

00:27:50.440 broke out, those devastating wildfires that destroyed a huge part of this town and the

00:27:55.800 surrounding area and impacted the national park itself.

00:27:58.580 But there was supposed to be an exhibit opening this September, which was delayed.

00:28:06.120 So it still remains to be the first place that they want to initiate this apology tour.

00:28:11.220 But Chris, I want to turn it to you specifically with regards to the potential costs of starting

00:28:19.500 exhibits, sending government officials, all of the consulting that goes behind these procedures

00:28:24.640 and something so grandiose as touching the entire country.

00:28:28.620 You know, 27 parks is a huge number.

00:28:31.700 Yeah, that'll be interesting to see how much that costs because Parks Canada has been amazing

00:28:37.560 at wasting money.

00:28:39.100 Like folks might remember very recently where I forget how much money we wasted.

00:28:42.680 I think there's tons and tons of money.

00:28:44.920 Hiring sharpshooters from overseas to shoot deer out of a helicopter on some tiny little Gulf

00:28:50.500 Island off British Columbia, I'm already getting all these alarm bells from so many people who

00:28:55.040 live in that area going, what?

00:28:56.540 Why?

00:28:56.940 Wait.

00:28:57.760 So we will, I will definitely look into how much of that is costing because I bet you it's

00:29:02.400 a spectacular amount of money.

00:29:04.360 And just to say the Taxpayers Federation, we try to help everybody out.

00:29:08.940 And we hear from First Nations people all the time.

00:29:12.840 They want the same thing that everybody else does, living in smaller towns included, like

00:29:16.620 really good, accountable government, nice, safe, clean drinking water, good schools for

00:29:20.620 their kids.

00:29:21.200 I have not had one email saying, you know what keeps me up at night is making sure that I

00:29:27.720 get this paid for and all done by the government and bureaucrats involved.

00:29:31.280 Like this just seems like such a personal, strange thing.

00:29:34.460 William, what was your take on this?

00:29:35.960 Well, look, Parks Canada should show up in Jasper and apologize, but they should apologize

00:29:43.080 for allowing a huge chunk of the town to burn down because of their terrible policies in

00:29:49.440 that regard.

00:29:50.260 They dropped the ball on maintaining anti-fire provisions.

00:29:55.060 They weren't clearing away the dead brush that had been recommended.

00:29:58.200 They were silencing internal criticism of their policy.

00:30:01.240 They did not work as full partners in the fighting of the fire, turning down resources

00:30:06.240 that were available to them because they were playing fiefdom over that particular area.

00:30:11.680 So the people of Jasper, the people of Alberta and the people of Canada all deserve apologies

00:30:17.120 from Parks Canada.

00:30:18.420 But it's because of their sheer incompetence that allowed a jewel like Jasper to be consumed

00:30:24.060 by flame rather than a anti-colonial feel-good park nonsense tour that they seem to be planning

00:30:32.620 instead.

00:30:33.400 That I just don't see people rallying in the streets asking for.

00:30:37.540 Like, really, people are worried about being able to afford groceries and their heat bill.

00:30:41.420 Like, it's just mind boggling.

00:30:43.560 You had another real head scratcher there, William.

00:30:46.440 What was the story coming out of a med school in Toronto?

00:30:48.900 I just saw the headline of it.

00:30:50.700 Yeah, I, you know, every once in a while you run into a new story that you have to read

00:30:55.160 at least twice in order to make sure that either it isn't a parody or that what you're

00:31:01.600 reading is actually true.

00:31:03.880 And in the case of Toronto Metropolitan University, which I think most people still remember as

00:31:09.880 Ryersing University.

00:31:11.240 Oh, okay.

00:31:12.500 I didn't understand where it was.

00:31:14.440 Until Toronto Metropolitan University decided that it wanted to be Canada's wokest university.

00:31:21.040 And as part of that, they are opening a new medical school.

00:31:25.360 But this new medical school is going to be for racialized, indigenous, and quote unquote,

00:31:33.800 equity deserving applicants.

00:31:36.600 And in case you're wondering what an equity deserving applicant is, I have a list.

00:31:43.020 It is racialized people, racialized immigrants, and children of racialized immigrants, people

00:31:50.120 with disabilities, neurodivergence, or those living with chronic health conditions, people

00:31:56.020 who identify as part of the 2SLGBTQ plus community, or gender or sexual minority.

00:32:04.300 So that's their target for their new medical school.

00:32:08.600 That means out of the 94 positions they're opening, 75% of them are being held for those

00:32:15.580 specific groups.

00:32:17.000 Only 25% are going to be made available to the student population at large.

00:32:25.620 They're also doing a couple other things that I think people will find interesting.

00:32:28.540 The normal GPA needed to get into a medical school is 3.9 out of 4.

00:32:34.120 I mean, you know, medical school is a tough gig.

00:32:36.780 There's a joke why so many parents want their children to go become doctors.

00:32:41.580 It's a hard gig to get.

00:32:43.480 But for these equity deserving applicants, they'll only need a GPA of 3.3.

00:32:49.280 So far below what non-equity group applicants are going to need.

00:32:55.980 But they also will have to write here, it says, a 500 to 1,000-word essay about their

00:33:03.540 identity as members of those groups in order to be considered for application.

00:33:09.480 So the concern, of course, being when you go to a doctor, it's usually under some pretty

00:33:16.060 difficult circumstance.

00:33:17.200 You're either injured, sick, could be facing a life-threatening condition.

00:33:22.980 You expect your doctor to know everything there is to know about your body, about your

00:33:29.980 medical treatment, and about medicine in general.

00:33:34.280 You don't expect them to kind of know it, and you don't expect them to have gotten into

00:33:38.040 the program and become a doctor because of some personal characteristic that represents

00:33:43.040 on them.

00:33:43.540 I mean, you know, my question for, I think, both of you is, if you found out that your

00:33:48.720 doctor went to medical school as a diversity candidate rather than one based on merit, would

00:33:55.380 you have concerns about that particular doctor?

00:33:58.820 Well, so I'm a huge Star Trek fan.

00:34:05.700 Like, I don't care if you're a purple Klingon. 1.00

00:34:08.560 I want you to be really, really good at your job.

00:34:11.160 Like, no, straight up.

00:34:12.340 Like, I do not care.

00:34:14.860 What I desperately care about is merit because that has results.

00:34:20.180 Because that is what determines a good outcome or a bad outcome in most things, not just medicine.

00:34:26.420 But in this case, you'd be directly affecting patients and their families.

00:34:30.980 And again, there is an accountability level here of we all pay for health care in Canada.

00:34:36.360 Taxpayers do.

00:34:37.660 We all do.

00:34:38.940 So again, I always go back to this.

00:34:41.360 Folks, if you don't like this, contact your member of parliament and let them know that

00:34:45.820 you're opposed to something like this.

00:34:47.740 Cosmin, go ahead there.

00:34:48.500 The other consequences of this is that it actually harms the credibility of the entire

00:34:54.900 industry itself, the entire medical profession.

00:34:57.860 When you are causing doubt within patients about the competence of their doctors because

00:35:06.400 of programs like this introduced by universities, probably encouraged by diversity, equity, inclusion

00:35:13.500 departments.

00:35:13.900 And it doesn't really sense that it doesn't give the sense that this is rooted in actual

00:35:21.820 problems.

00:35:22.900 And these initiatives don't address the endemic issues that Canadian health care has with

00:35:30.440 retaining doctors, hiring doctors.

00:35:33.340 We shouldn't lower our standards.

00:35:35.360 We should make it more desirable to become a doctor in Canada.

00:35:39.680 You know, I just have to think if I was a student, I had worked so hard in my undergraduate.

00:35:46.320 I put in all of that extra time and effort.

00:35:48.840 I have a 4.0 GPA.

00:35:50.320 I have a lifelong dream of going to medical school.

00:35:53.320 But then I find out that actually the position that I would have earned under the merit approach

00:35:59.440 to choosing doctors was given away to someone less qualified with less skills, less knowledge,

00:36:06.960 and less ability for an entirely superficial personal characteristic beyond their control.

00:36:13.840 It would be maddening to do that.

00:36:16.600 And what message are you sending to university students where it says how you were born is

00:36:22.760 more important than your ability and work ethic when it comes to your career?

00:36:28.700 I just think what an awful message we're sending to young people and potentially now a very

00:36:34.680 dangerous one, too, if we're going to end up with a bunch of medical professionals who

00:36:38.680 really aren't as qualified as they could or should be.

00:36:41.300 I am an eternal optimist, again, why I'm a Star Trek fan.

00:36:45.880 And I think if enough people speak up calmly and firmly and genuinely from a position of

00:36:52.460 concern and love, really, and they contact their member of parliament and they say, listen,

00:36:56.160 folks, this is why I oppose this for A, B and C reasons.

00:37:00.120 I do think that people will change.

00:37:02.380 And I do think that if they want to, they can change an enrollment policy like this.

00:37:06.080 So I just want to encourage people, don't give up.

00:37:08.700 If you feel like everything is closing in around you, don't, because there's so many

00:37:14.340 people who feel the same way you do.

00:37:16.220 You just need to get off the bench and get into the arena and you can actually make an

00:37:20.740 amazing amount of change happen.

00:37:22.580 It's one of the reasons we're having our gathering this coming Saturday.

00:37:26.140 So do check out True North Nation.

00:37:28.800 Basically, you get this, but on very good and healthy steroids, if that's a term.

00:37:35.760 And we're all on stage and we're all there together and there'll be a booth set up.

00:37:40.760 The Taxpayers Federation will have a booth.

00:37:42.320 I'm not sure who else will be there.

00:37:44.200 There's going to be things like T-shirts and bumper stickers and bracelets and all that

00:37:47.400 fun stuff.

00:37:48.120 And you can meet all your favorite True North personalities and listen to some of us try

00:37:52.140 to make some sense on air.

00:37:53.580 So click the link.

00:37:55.200 There are still apparently a few tickets left and it's coming up this Saturday in Calgary.

00:38:01.220 William and Cosman, thank you so much for your time today.

00:38:04.660 Oh, well, thanks for having us.

00:38:05.660 It's always fun.

00:38:06.820 You bet.

00:38:07.220 And remember, everything is off the record.

00:38:09.160 You just have to scratch your head over the doctor one, you know, as we were joking a

00:38:23.640 little bit before, there are some jobs where you don't really have to know everything about

00:38:28.700 everything in order to be good at it.

00:38:29.860 You can make it till you make it.

00:38:30.760 I would suggest respectfully that in my job, you know, if I don't fully know something,

00:38:36.740 you know, maybe something doesn't perform as well as it's short or maybe, you know, it

00:38:41.420 doesn't execute as brilliantly as we would have hoped.

00:38:44.320 But very few people die.

Off the Record - October 25, 2024

How “strong and united” are the Liberals？

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