Off the Record - Trudeau buys $9m luxury condo for former journalist

00:00:00.000 Whipped out my True North mug for the occasion.

00:00:02.880 It's a stylish looking mug there, Andrew.

00:00:05.520 It is.

00:00:05.980 Who is it on our team that can't lift it?

00:00:07.740 Is it Phil, for whom it was too heavy?

00:00:10.200 Phil's very delicate hands have trouble with the mug.

00:00:13.700 It's just too big for him.

00:00:16.240 Noah, you've just been doing like the True North mug curls to get in shape for the show, haven't you?

00:00:20.420 Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:00:21.280 That's how I got, you know, these massive biceps.

00:00:24.700 I don't know how the screen works or whatever, but, you know, I've been getting there, you know.

00:00:28.840 I've been putting in my reps.

00:00:31.880 All right.

00:00:32.860 William, have you been putting in your reps?

00:00:35.540 I haven't.

00:00:36.160 I haven't been putting in any reps.

00:00:37.360 I haven't put in a rep since like 1997.

00:00:40.160 Okay, yeah.

00:00:41.360 Yeah, you got lots of reps at the Stampede.

00:00:43.400 I saw William last weekend.

00:00:45.100 He seemed pretty buff, you know.

00:00:46.860 I know everyone was at the Stampede but me.

00:00:48.860 Like, even people that like report to me were all like, oh, I'm at the Stampede this week.

00:00:52.320 I'm like, who's running True North?

00:00:53.700 Anyway, you're all back now, and that's what counts.

00:00:56.680 All right, let's get this started.

00:00:58.840 Hello, and welcome to you all to another exciting, at least I hope, edition of Off the Record.

00:01:12.460 It is Friday, July 19th.

00:01:14.220 I'm Andrew Lawton, kicking things off for the final day of the work week.

00:01:18.720 Well, for us anyway.

00:01:19.880 You may not work Monday to Friday, which is absolutely fine.

00:01:22.520 In fact, I sometimes wish I didn't even do that.

00:01:24.560 But the COO is here, so I'll take that up with him after the fact.

00:01:28.120 Joining me once again is William Macbeth, True North's COO, and I would say one of our regular Alberta correspondents, by virtue of him living in Alberta.

00:01:37.760 It works out very well, so we get to double dip on operations and content there.

00:01:42.280 And also Noah Jarvis, who you hear from time to time on The Daily Brief, and you can catch up with his stellar work on True North's website as well, keeping up on top of the news and all that.

00:01:53.160 I hope you guys had a good week.

00:01:54.840 You were both, we were just talking about this off air, you were both at the Stampede, so are you adequately recovered?

00:01:59.100 Oh yeah, no.

00:02:02.140 By the silence, apparently not.

00:02:04.200 I was waiting for William.

00:02:05.480 He's the true Calgarian.

00:02:07.020 But no, I was out at the Stampede grounds pretty much every day, except for the couple days I went to Banff, where I went hiking.

00:02:13.920 So, you know, I got all of my exercise out, you know, as I showed my biceps.

00:02:19.320 You know, they've been growing, you know.

00:02:21.600 I think the hike really did something for that.

00:02:24.180 But yeah, no, Calgary's great.

00:02:25.420 How do you hike, sir?

00:02:26.520 I don't know a lot about fitness, but what I do know is that I don't think the biceps are engaged with your legs.

00:02:33.100 Listen, you'll be surprised how much arm muscle you'll put on when you're hiking with a hiking stick, you know.

00:02:40.020 But no, I really enjoyed Calgary.

00:02:42.220 The people there treated me really well.

00:02:44.540 And I don't know, I might have to take Rachel Emanuel's spot.

00:02:48.220 Or Rachel Parker, sorry, not to, you know, misname her again.

00:02:52.800 But yeah, you know, it might take her spot because I kind of like it out here a lot, you know.

00:02:58.460 I'm just picturing Noah like arm wrestling a bear in Banff just to like, you know, get the biceps up to full strength on this.

00:03:04.560 Learning all about this.

00:03:06.240 Learning all about the human body from Noah.

00:03:08.880 So thank you for that.

00:03:10.380 William, I don't think your Stampede experience was quite the same.

00:03:13.660 No.

00:03:14.200 I mean, usually you have to pay extra to arm wrestle with the bear when you check in at Banff National Park.

00:03:19.780 But, you know, I must have got the deluxe package.

00:03:22.180 It was a great Stampede, though.

00:03:23.680 We had nearly 1.5 million people come through.

00:03:26.180 An all-time record.

00:03:27.640 Beautiful weather.

00:03:28.540 It was a great time to be in Calgary.

00:03:30.980 That sounds fun.

00:03:31.680 I can't remember if I was saying it last week or if I was just saying it in a meeting.

00:03:35.020 I don't know.

00:03:35.820 It all blends together.

00:03:36.860 But I have never been.

00:03:38.220 And everyone is so shocked about it because I, you know, I'm the type of person that, you know, would have been and should have been there.

00:03:43.320 And I've, like, for whatever reason, it just never seems to work out.

00:03:46.940 And I was going to go this year, but I waited too long.

00:03:49.280 And then hotels were going to be, like, you know, $500 a night for some, like, crappy hotel that wasn't even anywhere near the Stampede.

00:03:55.720 So I need to, like, start planning now to be at next year's Stampede.

00:03:59.220 And hopefully that'll work out.

00:04:00.460 Anyway, speaking of travel, the Liberal government has decided to spend millions of dollars to buy a luxury New York City condo that's going to be inhabited by the Consul for Canada in New York.

00:04:18.620 This is a condo that is going to be for Tom Clark.

00:04:22.240 Tom Clark is currently the Consul in New York.

00:04:25.000 He has been a longtime fixture in Canadian media, retired from media, got a plum diplomatic gig representing the Canadian government in New York City.

00:04:35.540 $9 million is the price of this condo.

00:04:38.340 And I was just reading a story that you wrote for us, Noah.

00:04:41.260 Well, you wrote it.

00:04:41.860 So why don't you tell us what is in the condo?

00:04:44.140 It actually sounds like it has all of the furnishings one might need and more.

00:04:48.140 Oh, well, all the furnishings and some.

00:04:51.460 I mean, if you're really into Makobwa stone floors and a powder room with jewel onyx finishes, then this apartment is right for you.

00:05:00.800 I mean, this is stuff that I've never heard of.

00:05:02.700 You know, I just go to bed on, you know, my double bed and, you know, got, like, regular stone floors or whatever.

00:05:09.200 But, you know, this is, you know, the stuff that all, you know, Canadian diplomats really, really need, you know.

00:05:15.160 It's just, you know, I couldn't, you know, imagine our Consul General sleeping anywhere else other than, you know, this $9 million condo.

00:05:23.240 I went on their website and, you know, some of the condos even go up to, like, $50 million.

00:05:27.180 So he's going to be in some good company, you know, definitely the type of company that Tom Clark and the Trudeau government is sort of, you know, accustomed to being around.

00:05:35.380 That's for sure. But, no, I think, like, during a time when, you know, Canadians are just scrimping to get by.

00:05:41.780 I mean, the government of Canada, they're buying this 3,600 square foot apartment when, you know, your average apartment in Toronto is, like, 900 square foot.

00:05:51.340 So, you know, really goes to show that they're connected to the common man. That's for sure.

00:05:55.580 Yeah, 3,600 square feet in New York is just insane.

00:05:58.660 And, by the way, let me just say, I absolutely want to see Noah Jarvis, the real estate agent.

00:06:03.300 It's got regular stone floors or whatever, which is going to be great.

00:06:08.040 But that's basically it.

00:06:09.740 And, I mean, I think even 900 square feet, to what you said, Noah, in Toronto would be quite spacious at this point.

00:06:15.740 Let me finish off the description.

00:06:17.280 It has a wet bar with Cristallo gold quartzite countertops and backsplash, a bathroom clad in Italian white Venato marble and more.

00:06:27.460 So quite a leap from the regular stone floors.

00:06:30.880 It's my favorite marble.

00:06:31.440 Of your home on which your double bed is situated here.

00:06:34.940 Now, I had a discussion.

00:06:36.880 I think it was on my show.

00:06:37.740 It might have been on Off the Record.

00:06:38.700 We were talking about the catering menu on government flights.

00:06:43.400 And, you know, all of the dishes have these really, really fancy sounding names.

00:06:46.680 And I had someone who works in catering that kind of complained about that and said, listen, I mean, everyone needs to puff up the language on these sorts of things.

00:06:53.080 So I'm having a little bit of fun with this when it comes to the listing of things that are in this condo.

00:06:57.880 But nine million bucks.

00:06:59.740 And the liberals tried to, I know, William, when this got blown up last week, they tried to turn it around and say, well, they wouldn't have had to if Harper hadn't sold the last one they had.

00:07:08.580 Which I think doesn't really help them as much as they think it does.

00:07:11.680 No, I mean, possibly someone in foreign affairs or global affairs or whatever we are calling it now probably should have anticipated that in the middle of an affordable housing crisis in Canada, purchasing a luxury, massive New York condo in something called Billionaire's Row, by the way.

00:07:34.960 That's the name of the neighborhood it's in.

00:07:37.080 Why? Because everybody who's buying into these buildings just typically happens to be a billionaire.

00:07:43.020 I think they should have anticipated some outrage on the part of Canadians who think, well, I can't afford my rent.

00:07:49.700 But thank God our consul general to New York won't have to walk on those dreaded regular stone floors like so many of us do, that he can spend his time floating on the finest marbles imported from Italy.

00:08:03.720 Absolutely, you know, it's just an outrageous amount of money.

00:08:07.820 And really, you know what, I've been to New York, I've stayed, there was a great hostel just off Times Square, and I bet we could put Tom Clark up for about 60 bucks a night.

00:08:18.060 And he would still be very close to where all the action is in New York City.

00:08:21.500 The funny thing is, I love how this story first came about, because Global Affairs Canada wasn't really going to admit this until the New York Post initially reported on it, because they misunderstood how pesky things like constitutional monarchies work, and that the government of Canada doesn't actually own property, it's the Crown.

00:08:39.340 So in this case, it's His Majesty King Charles III that owns property.

00:08:42.860 And the New York Post was just, you know, had some reporter flipping through property, real estate contracts and deeds and found, oh, wow, King Charles has bought a condo.

00:08:51.640 So they initially reported that.

00:08:53.540 And then Global Affairs Canada basically had to run cover for the king and say, well, no, it was actually His Majesty the King and Right of Canada.

00:09:00.300 It's not, you know, King Charles, you know, personal shag pad in New York.

00:09:03.860 It's actually something for a Canadian diplomat.

00:09:08.000 Now, who is Tom Clark, Canadians might ask?

00:09:10.680 Well, Tom Clark, most recently, as he was exiting media in Canada, decided to take a gig as the moderator for the Conservative Party of Canada's most recent leadership race, one of their debates in Edmonton.

00:09:23.020 And it didn't exactly go well because, well, for starters, he brought sound effects.

00:09:28.000 What we are going to do right off the top, as you know, we gave you, in a sense, a little assignment before you came here.

00:09:34.360 You've been working on this, no doubt, diligently for a couple of days now.

00:09:38.220 But what we asked you to do was to finish this sentence.

00:09:42.500 My vision for Canada is, you will have 45 seconds in which to tell us what your vision is, but there's a twist, and you know it.

00:09:55.620 You can't mention any other candidate on the stage, and you can't mention any other federal leader.

00:10:01.040 If you do, there's going to be trouble, and here's what you're going to hear.

00:10:04.100 Yeah, and when the questions started, things didn't exactly get more serious.

00:10:16.640 Take a look.

00:10:17.320 With Mr. Charest, and Mr. Charest, the very first question I have for you is, what book are you reading now?

00:10:23.620 What book are you reading now?

00:10:26.720 Oh, I'm...

00:10:27.720 Mr. Acheson, I wanted to ask you and give everybody a chance.

00:10:30.980 Yes, there's a question, and there's a twist to the answer.

00:10:34.580 I want to know who your political hero is, and you cannot say Winston Churchill.

00:10:41.840 Thank you all very much.

00:10:42.880 That was actually really interesting to hear all that.

00:10:46.920 Dr. Lewis, I'm going to start with you, and then, of course, everybody else gets a chance.

00:10:50.260 I know you're all busy.

00:10:51.360 I know that you've got stuff that you're doing right now.

00:10:54.220 But when you have the opportunity to sit down and listen to some music, what do you listen to?

00:11:00.980 I would say...

00:11:01.960 I want to go to a question.

00:11:05.460 Maybe a little more lighthearted, getting to know you a little bit more.

00:11:10.640 And there were a lot of people who want to know this.

00:11:13.800 It's not just me, trust me.

00:11:16.500 But, Mr. Baber, what was the last thing that you binge-watched on TV?

00:11:22.320 What historical figure, from any time, anywhere, would you most like to have dinner with?

00:11:32.300 Favorite book?

00:11:37.400 What did you binge-watch?

00:11:38.740 What movie did you listen to last?

00:11:41.040 Boxers or briefs?

00:11:42.180 Oh, my goodness.

00:11:43.360 This was it.

00:11:43.960 And I recall there being a lot of frustration.

00:11:46.900 And I actually like Tom Clark.

00:11:48.160 He's a very decent guy.

00:11:49.860 And this debate, I saw what he was trying to do there.

00:11:52.640 I don't know if it was him that was to blame or Conservative Party organizers that were behind this.

00:11:57.740 But this is the guy that's now holed up in a $9 million New York condo.

00:12:03.000 William, what say you?

00:12:04.720 Yeah.

00:12:05.200 I mean, I don't think Tom Clark necessarily set out with the ambition of being a laughingstock at the debate.

00:12:13.240 I don't think that was what he wanted.

00:12:15.400 But I think what it did was show Canadians that a lot in the legacy media weren't taking the Conservative Party seriously as a potential next government.

00:12:26.640 You know, you are interviewing people who could well be the next prime minister of this country.

00:12:31.100 And unlike the current occupant, who really does favor style over substance, the people up there wanted to talk about policy.

00:12:38.900 They wanted to outline where they stood on really important issues that matter to Canadians.

00:12:43.880 Housing, cost of living, you know, our military, our foreign affairs, our place in the world.

00:12:50.640 And instead, Tom Clark's up there trying to go for cheap gags.

00:12:54.660 And I think that really didn't sit well with people who thought they were there to interview and learn about a prime minister.

00:13:02.300 And if you're voting, by the way, for a prime minister based on what music he or she listens to or what they like to binge watch on television or what historical figure they'd like to have dinner with, then respectfully, I think you're using the wrong criteria to evaluate who should be leader of our country.

00:13:18.220 Yeah, it's a weird one, because on one hand, I think that learning about the humanity of our politicians is interesting.

00:13:25.560 And I say this as someone who wrote a book about Pierre Polyev.

00:13:28.320 And I will admit that I looked at his answers in that debate because it provided a side of him that you don't usually get in the standard political lines.

00:13:36.120 But I go back to the old time and place thing.

00:13:38.420 And, you know, if I have a 10 minute interview with someone, I'm going to stick to the really important pressing things that matter from a policy perspective.

00:13:45.520 If I've got an hour and a half with someone, maybe then you throw in a couple of those lighter questions.

00:13:50.660 When you're in a debate and this is the pivotal thing that is meant for one purpose alone, which is to provide contrast between these people, it should be contrast on the points that matter.

00:14:01.380 And I'll ask you about that, Noah.

00:14:02.680 Do you think anyone cares in terms of using a debate for that opportunity?

00:14:09.220 No, I mean, absolutely not.

00:14:10.820 Nobody cares about, like, you know, the favorite book or whatever, but people care about, you know, substantial policy issues.

00:14:16.020 This was in 2022 at a time where inflation was voting in leadership.

00:14:20.360 Yeah, exactly.

00:14:21.980 And if you remember in that debate, you know, Clark was also talking about, you know, like what is your going to be your environmental platform?

00:14:28.280 And, you know, what is your stance on X social issues that really matter to like NDP and liberal voters, but less so to conservative voters?

00:14:36.200 I mean, you know, you said it really well, you know, there's a time and place and you also have to know your audience.

00:14:41.180 This is an audience of people who, you know, have to had to pick through five or six candidates.

00:14:46.860 You know, that's not exactly like a huge lineup of candidates, but you still want to know what each of them stands for and to see where you're going to rank them on your ballot.

00:14:56.180 So, you know, the people that were coming there and were probably very disappointed.

00:15:00.820 You know, I was watching at home and at the time I was very disappointed by Tom Clark's questions because, you know, it was it's very important.

00:15:08.560 I mean, they didn't get a lot of debates, you know, besides the Canada Stronger Free Network debate, I believe this was the only debate and it was like the only official debate that the party ran.

00:15:17.100 Besides, I think there was a French language one that nobody.

00:15:19.280 Yeah. And then they added like a third one afterwards that Polly have just skipped because he thought it was a waste of time.

00:15:24.100 Yeah, exactly.

00:15:26.280 So this was the only, you know, important official conservative party debate of the campaign.

00:15:32.420 And they just, you know, wasted a bunch of time talking about, you know, favorite books and your favorite song, whatever.

00:15:37.300 I would have hoped that Les and Lewis would answer like, you know, my favorite musicians like Vibes Cartel or whatever, because that would have really threw a curveball into the mix.

00:15:46.020 But, you know, I've got to look up Vibes Cartel.

00:15:49.580 OK, no, I spelled it wrong.

00:15:51.460 I spelled V-I-B-E-S-C-A-R-T-E-L and Google knew.

00:15:55.060 You were never going to get it, Andrew.

00:15:56.540 Yeah, I would have said Vibes.

00:15:58.840 V-Y-B-Z Cartel with a K. 0.99

00:16:01.920 And you think Les and Lewis is jamming out to Jamaican dance hall.

00:16:07.460 Well, she's Jamaican. 1.00

00:16:08.820 OK, all right, all right.

00:16:10.780 Oh, sometimes he's also called World Boss or Teacha.

00:16:15.440 The World Boss, yeah.

00:16:16.980 Yeah, all right.

00:16:18.380 I'm learning all sorts about the world of music.

00:16:20.920 I would have gone with the Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo myself.

00:16:25.180 But anyway, no one has ever called me cool in the history of anything.

00:16:30.240 There is a weird I just will say there is a weird fixation this government has on New York.

00:16:34.340 Like Trudeau loves jetting off there.

00:16:35.760 So since we're going through some Canadian political history here, I wanted to play this clip for no other reason than it was fun.

00:16:41.740 This was Pierre Paulyev in the House of Commons when Justin Trudeau was taking a jaunt to New York in the midst of a big public sector strike.

00:16:50.700 This guy is so out of touch.

00:16:52.620 Here we have 150,000 people on strike.

00:16:56.620 The biggest federal strike in Canadian history.

00:16:58.740 Canadians can't get their services.

00:17:00.220 Meanwhile, their housing costs have doubled and crime is ravaging through our streets.

00:17:04.760 And what is he going to do today?

00:17:07.460 Well, start spreading the news.

00:17:10.760 He's leaving today.

00:17:12.320 He wants to be a part of it.

00:17:16.460 New York, New York.

00:17:20.180 Mr. Speaker.

00:17:21.140 Remind the Honourable Members that singing is not allowed.

00:17:25.140 Whether it's good or bad, it's not allowed.

00:17:28.280 These are small-time blues.

00:17:38.420 They're melting away.

00:17:40.540 I'll make a new start of it in old New York.

00:17:43.500 Mr. Speaker, I can't sing very well, but at least I pay for my hotel rooms.

00:17:48.140 Will he pay for his hotel costs when he goes to New York tonight?

00:17:51.060 All right.

00:17:54.820 Pierre Polyev or Vibes Cartel?

00:17:57.040 Who's the better singer? 0.97

00:18:00.440 I'm definitely picking Vibes, but, you know, he has a pretty okay voice.

00:18:05.860 You know, it...

00:18:06.580 Really?

00:18:06.760 I don't...

00:18:07.100 That was terrible.

00:18:09.320 No, listen.

00:18:09.980 For a party leader, I think, you know, that was, you know, pretty up there.

00:18:13.900 You know, if you got, like, you know, Justin Truro to sing, like, everyone is just going

00:18:17.580 to be like this, you know, like, I can't stand the guy's voice, which, you know, most

00:18:21.380 Canadians can't stand the guy's voice.

00:18:22.980 But, yeah, you know, I think it was pretty good.

00:18:25.820 Was that like a Frank Sinatra song?

00:18:27.500 Like, it wasn't that bad.

00:18:28.380 It was the theme from New York, New York.

00:18:30.600 And now I'll ask you, William, who's better?

00:18:32.720 Pardon me?

00:18:33.220 Yeah, you did.

00:18:33.700 Frank Sinatra.

00:18:34.520 I mean, it's not a...

00:18:35.820 I didn't think that was a deep cut exactly, but I'll give it to you because you are a

00:18:39.920 lot younger than...

00:18:41.380 Sean is just, like, dismayed in the chat that Noah didn't even know, like, for sure it was

00:18:45.920 Frank Sinatra.

00:18:46.700 The exact line from our producer, Sean, is OMG Noah.

00:18:50.160 All right.

00:18:50.620 Now, William, Pierre Polyev or Stephen Harper, who's the better singer?

00:18:53.920 Well, Stephen Harper, by far.

00:18:55.900 I've had the privilege of seeing Mr. Harper perform a couple times, formally and informally.

00:19:01.380 He's done so at some Conservative Party events at his annual barbecue.

00:19:05.740 He breaks out the piano sometimes and likes to sing.

00:19:09.000 And he's great.

00:19:10.480 And I think I remember how shocked everyone was when he walked onto the stage of the National

00:19:15.020 Arts Center and performed, with his local area band, a Beatles hit.

00:19:21.680 And Yo-Yo Ma.

00:19:23.020 Yeah, and noted cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

00:19:25.200 I like that you've demoted Yo-Yo Ma to just being some, like, Stephen Harper backup artist

00:19:29.580 in Ottawa.

00:19:30.520 In fairness, I forgot Yo-Yo Ma was there.

00:19:32.400 I was more excited about the Prime Minister.

00:19:34.480 And I don't believe the cello played a huge role in that particular song.

00:19:39.000 But no, I, you know, I think Pierre is great.

00:19:41.720 I think he's going to be a great Prime Minister.

00:19:43.880 But I'll be honest, I think when it comes to singing, Mr. Harper does have the leg up on

00:19:48.100 him.

00:19:48.180 So I actually have a really funny Stephen Harper music story that I've never told before.

00:19:52.500 So during the 2015 election, I was doing my old radio show at Chorus, which we'll be talking

00:19:58.020 about in a little bit.

00:19:59.540 And Stephen Harper was coming to do an in-studio interview.

00:20:02.520 And I had interviewed Stephen Harper before.

00:20:04.100 He had never come to my radio studio.

00:20:05.740 So I was really, really excited about it.

00:20:08.180 When you have the Prime Minister going to a place, you'll have two things will happen

00:20:12.320 beforehand.

00:20:12.940 You'll have RCMP come and do a sweep and secure it.

00:20:16.540 And then an advanced team that will come, which are people that work for Harper.

00:20:20.520 And their job is to basically make your life difficult.

00:20:23.300 Like their job is to make sure that, you know, the temperature is right and there's water

00:20:26.860 where it needs to be and all of that stuff.

00:20:28.500 But anyway, so what happened was they were coming through and my radio station had this big,

00:20:33.700 giant, great hall, and they had this wall of guitars, this wall of guitars.

00:20:38.240 Many of them had been like donated by bands and were signed.

00:20:41.240 And I think there were probably like 25, 30 of these guitars on the wall.

00:20:44.840 And one of the people that worked for Stephen Harper said, oh, interesting.

00:20:48.880 The Prime Minister will love that.

00:20:49.960 You know, he collects guitars.

00:20:51.680 And the station manager got so panicked that Stephen Harper could pick up any one of those

00:20:57.480 guitars to play it.

00:20:58.780 So for the next four hours, he did nothing but sit down and tune every one of these

00:21:03.560 guitars because none of them had ever really been tuned.

00:21:06.860 They were just decorative.

00:21:08.120 And then Stephen Harper comes in.

00:21:09.680 We do the interview.

00:21:10.660 And afterwards, he's in the great hall and he's taking pictures with staff and whatnot.

00:21:14.560 And I pointed, I said, oh, I hear you, you know, collect guitars.

00:21:17.540 You know, you can pick any of these up if you'd like.

00:21:19.240 He's like, oh, no, I don't play them.

00:21:20.380 I just collect them.

00:21:22.160 And just the face of the guy who had spent his entire morning tuning them just dropped.

00:21:27.080 But it's good to know that they all could have been played.

00:21:29.800 Anyway, I hope that story was delightful because I'd forgotten about it until just now.

00:21:33.840 So we will move on to the big question of our time.

00:21:37.680 Mark Carney.

00:21:38.320 I don't know if he's a singer or not.

00:21:39.580 We'll have to figure it out.

00:21:41.240 The Liberals are actively trying to recruit Mark Carney.

00:21:45.060 Noah, what do you think is going on here?

00:21:46.720 Well, Justin Trudeau is not really doing well in polls right now.

00:21:53.000 And they had just lost a very crucial by-election in Toronto, St. Paul.

00:21:57.320 So that, you know, had a lot of Liberal voters and Liberal MPs, you know, pretty spooked that

00:22:02.320 they're going to lose their jobs and, you know, lose their oh-so-dear government.

00:22:06.700 But so now some Liberals are looking out for alternatives.

00:22:09.880 And one of them has been Mark Carney.

00:22:12.000 Mark Carney has been trying to put himself in a position to basically win over the leadership

00:22:17.240 once Justin Trudeau goes, whether that's during this current government or after the

00:22:22.040 Conservatives win a new government.

00:22:24.720 However, it seems as if the average Canadian is not exactly familiar with Mark Carney.

00:22:30.020 A new poll from Abacus really showed that only 7% of Canadians are able to recognize

00:22:36.920 a photo of Mark Carney when they're prompted.

00:22:41.680 Ninety-three percent of Canadians do not know who this guy is.

00:22:45.580 So, you know, usually in politics, we sort of get wrapped up in, you know, this really

00:22:50.120 echo chamber between all supporters, Liberals and Conservatives.

00:22:54.100 And, you know, we really project that, you know, Mark Carney is this, you know, bigger figure

00:22:57.600 than he really is.

00:22:58.500 But when only 7% of Canadians can name him, you know, the average voter certainly sees like,

00:23:03.940 you know, this old technocrat and says like, you know, who's this guy who wants to run the

00:23:08.500 country, you know?

00:23:09.460 And once a lot of Canadians get to know him, which if that only happened if he runs in the

00:23:15.700 Liberal leadership, but once Canadians start to get to know him, they'll start to realize

00:23:19.720 that, you know, this guy's probably a bit of a technocrat.

00:23:23.620 He's a bit out of touch.

00:23:24.520 He supports carbon taxes, which is very unpopular.

00:23:27.320 But, you know, Canadians have not gotten the chance to know him.

00:23:30.360 And it looks like Trudeau Liberal cabinet ministers are significantly more popular than Carney.

00:23:36.300 You know, Chrystia Freeland is recognizable by over a third of Canadians.

00:23:40.500 Anita Anand is recognizable by about 14% of Canadians.

00:23:45.980 And you also have the worst foreign affairs minister of all time, Melanie Jolie, who is 1.00

00:23:51.480 also far more recognizable than Carney.

00:23:54.380 So I think Carney has a long way to go if he ever wants to win over the Liberal leadership.

00:24:01.220 And certainly you'll have to beat out a bunch of Trudeau cabinet ministers who are probably

00:24:06.360 equally as ambitious and better situated to claim the top job.

00:24:10.620 Now, I will say recognizability does not always equal likability because that same poll said

00:24:16.140 98% recognize Trudeau.

00:24:18.380 And I don't think that's exactly working out well.

00:24:20.960 So maybe the unknown is better because if they don't know who you are, they don't know

00:24:23.840 they dislike you.

00:24:25.180 I'll ask you about this, William, because you were involved in politics when Michael

00:24:28.780 Ignatieff came into play.

00:24:30.660 So that would have been, I guess, the end of 2008 or early 2009.

00:24:34.880 And it was not long after the 2008 election.

00:24:37.780 And the thing about that is that there were shades of what we're seeing here with Carney,

00:24:41.800 where you have this elite class that looks at this guy and says, you know, dear leader,

00:24:45.960 dear leader, come in and save us.

00:24:47.280 But no connection between him and ordinary people.

00:24:51.040 And if anything, the more they heard from him, the more they disliked him.

00:24:53.480 Like, you know, I remember there was a story that's told from time to time around my church

00:24:57.900 where someone there who didn't follow politics, knew nothing about politics, overheard a discussion

00:25:03.400 about the election and the name Michael Ignatieff was there.

00:25:06.320 And she said, oh, Michael Ignatieff, isn't that guy that said the only thing he likes about

00:25:09.040 Canada is Algonquin Park?

00:25:10.360 And we all sort of realized if that message has penetrated through to this person, it's

00:25:15.860 going to be a blow up, a blow out for the Conservatives, which it was.

00:25:19.120 But are you seeing the same thing, the Carney and Ignatieff, or is it worse now?

00:25:23.780 Yeah, I mean, I think there is a lot of parallels between these two people.

00:25:27.680 It's surprising that the Liberal Party thinking that, oh, you know, voters think we're out of

00:25:33.000 touch.

00:25:33.380 We don't understand the concerns of everyday working Canadians.

00:25:36.800 We just bought ourselves this $9 million condo in billionaire row.

00:25:42.140 I know what will rehabilitate our image, a rich international banking elite who hasn't

00:25:48.300 been in Canada in the better part of a decade and a half.

00:25:51.800 And who was in the royal box at Wimbledon last week.

00:25:54.180 And who was eating the strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.

00:25:57.100 Yes.

00:25:57.500 So, you know, I don't know if maybe it's so long ago the Liberals forgot exactly how well

00:26:03.900 it went for Mr. Ignatieff, who did end up leading the party to its worst ever showing

00:26:09.200 since Canada was a country.

00:26:11.000 We wouldn't necessarily call that a great success.

00:26:14.320 And I think if they do decide to try and shuffle in Mr. Carney, first of all, I don't think 0.97

00:26:21.220 Mr. Carney is a dumb man. 0.68

00:26:22.520 And I would be surprised if offered the captainship of the Titanic, if he would gladly embrace 1.00

00:26:28.880 that job, saying, of course, I want to lead my party into a historic defeat in the next

00:26:35.280 election.

00:26:36.100 But if he does decide to take on this task, I think he's going to have a lot of trouble

00:26:41.200 connecting with everyday Canadians who, frankly, are tired of a lot of people.

00:26:46.800 Well, elites, bankers, and globetrotters who travel frequently on taxpayer dollars are

00:26:52.480 three of the people they're most sick of.

00:26:54.620 And Mr. Carney happens to embody all three of them.

00:26:57.600 Yeah, no, very well said.

00:26:59.300 There is a huge unpopularity problem right now for the Liberals.

00:27:02.620 Now, I've remarked, and I said this on my show yesterday, that the Liberals want to look

00:27:07.020 everywhere but in the mirror.

00:27:08.240 They want to find all of these things they can blame, these people they can blame.

00:27:11.360 Trudeau has been leaking that Christia Freeland's the problem, basically.

00:27:14.520 But the anger is, in some cases, deserved.

00:27:18.320 Now, I'm a firm objector of political violence.

00:27:21.220 I don't support people harassing politicians.

00:27:24.120 I think protesting, peaceful protest, is legitimate.

00:27:26.700 I think that you should do it at their offices and not at their homes.

00:27:29.740 But I don't like this idea.

00:27:31.640 Marco Mendicino, who used to be a cabinet minister, now he's just a backbench Liberal MP,

00:27:35.860 came out with that we should have protective zones around MP offices.

00:27:39.860 So we should have a cordoned off area of 50 to 100 meters.

00:27:43.660 And inside, it's, I don't know if he wants it to be illegal to protest, or he says it's

00:27:48.860 to protect MPs and their staff against harassment.

00:27:51.760 And if you violate that, you could even, he said, go to jail.

00:27:55.560 So if you aren't allowed to protest your members of parliament at their offices, people that

00:28:01.280 work for you at the places that they work, then where are you allowed to protest?

00:28:06.580 How are you supposed to do this?

00:28:07.840 And again, I'm not saying I'm justifying MP harassment, but I see how something like

00:28:12.320 this would basically be used as an excuse for MPs that don't want to have to deal with

00:28:16.720 people who are unhappy with them.

00:28:18.140 Yeah, it's a really great mechanism to dodge accountability if you're an MP.

00:28:24.920 Now, I sort of get the sentiment because, you know, I think it was just today or yesterday

00:28:29.940 where a Trudeau cabinet minister had his office vandalized by more than likely pro-Hamas

00:28:35.800 people.

00:28:36.320 And this has been something that has been happening routinely throughout the country where, you

00:28:40.480 know, pro-Hamas people will come and, you know, paint big triangles or like a watermelon

00:28:44.860 or smash windows or do whatever they do to sort of, you know, show that, you know, they

00:28:50.480 are an annoying presence in Canadian politics and that, you know, they should be further

00:28:54.340 discredited.

00:28:55.460 But, you know, I feel that, you know, when you have MPs who are, you know, very unpopular,

00:29:01.700 you have a party that's very unpopular, they're going to look for new and inventive ways to

00:29:05.520 dodge accountability.

00:29:06.860 And this is one of them, you know.

00:29:08.260 They don't want, you know, to have people coming up to their constituency offices telling

00:29:13.080 them how bad of a job that they're doing or how, you know, the carbon tax is really

00:29:17.060 affecting, you know, their lives.

00:29:19.320 You know, perhaps they get that message at, you know, the doorsteps and, you know, through

00:29:22.800 emails and stuff like that.

00:29:24.180 But a lot of people don't get a chance to interact with an MP in person.

00:29:29.720 And I feel that once MPs, you know, are sort of shielding themselves off from the general

00:29:34.880 public, it creates, you know, a bigger gap between, you know, the individual constituent

00:29:39.360 and the MP, and you sort of exacerbate some of the problems that people are feeling in

00:29:45.320 politics that, you know, politicians are increasingly disconnected from the people and they don't

00:29:50.060 want anything to do with the common citizen who may have some angry opinions, sure, but

00:29:55.200 they're a Canadian just like, you know, any other Canadian.

00:29:58.140 William?

00:29:59.600 Yeah, I mean, I think, first of all, it's already illegal to deface a building.

00:30:04.160 There doesn't need to be a whole new law in order to say this thing that was already illegal

00:30:08.980 is super duper illegal or whatever the plan is.

00:30:13.480 And, you know, I think what we don't want are people protesting at politicians' houses.

00:30:19.700 We don't want them showing up when a politician is trying to eat dinner with his family and causing

00:30:25.220 a huge scene inside a restaurant, things like that.

00:30:28.760 But I think it's perfectly legitimate to protest outside of an MP's office.

00:30:32.200 And as no one says, our MPs are becoming increasingly cloistered, particularly, I think, because

00:30:37.940 they're just so unpopular, some of them, and they want to avoid it.

00:30:41.480 You know, in England, if you show up to Parliament and Parliament's sitting and your MP is in his

00:30:47.540 office, if you go into the ground floor and demand to see your MP, by law, your MP has

00:30:53.220 to come down and meet with you for a period of time.

00:30:56.640 Yeah, absolutely.

00:30:57.440 I did not know that.

00:30:57.900 And so, you know, the idea that we are a democracy, elected officials are accountable to their

00:31:03.840 voters, isn't some abstract in a lot of other parts of the world.

00:31:07.720 In England, certainly, they say you have an absolute right to talk to your elected official

00:31:12.300 and to share your views and concerns.

00:31:14.260 And I think in Canada, if the Liberals are so concerned that MPs are so unpopular that

00:31:20.160 they need this new bubble of protection around them, then maybe it is time to have a good hard

00:31:24.300 look in the mirror and say, well, why are our MPs now so unpopular?

00:31:29.100 Is it because we're part of an out-of-touch, unpopular government that, you know, frankly,

00:31:35.020 should have been put out of its misery years ago, let alone waiting all the way till next

00:31:39.340 year?

00:31:40.560 Yeah, that's quite interesting.

00:31:42.180 I actually like that little bit of UK trivia.

00:31:44.580 I know UK MPs also host, generally, they're called surgeries.

00:31:48.580 And it confused me the first time I heard it, because I saw some MP say, oh, I'll be doing

00:31:52.120 surgery in my riding.

00:31:53.720 And I was like, oh, that's, I mean, an interesting promotional tool.

00:31:56.840 But they're literally meetings where they sit down in one room for a whole day, basically.

00:32:01.740 And anyone that wants to see them for a constituency matter, for anything, can come and sit down

00:32:06.480 with them.

00:32:06.720 So there is an accessibility there that you certainly don't get in the US.

00:32:10.620 And in Canada, I'd argue, increasingly, you don't as well.

00:32:13.100 So that was very good.

00:32:14.420 I like learning things.

00:32:15.220 So thank you for that, William.

00:32:16.220 I hope it's true, because I will repeat it to people.

00:32:18.200 And if it's not, I will have only you and then myself to blame.

00:32:21.060 And we are told to me, I should say, it was told to me when I was touring the House of

00:32:26.060 Commons by a House of Commons tour guide in the United Kingdom.

00:32:29.860 So what year?

00:32:31.380 Well, this would have been in 2010.

00:32:34.800 OK.

00:32:35.260 All right.

00:32:35.980 Anyway.

00:32:36.780 That's a usual caveat.

00:32:38.300 So yeah.

00:32:38.900 OK.

00:32:39.240 I want to say that's where I learned it from.

00:32:41.040 So unless like Boris Johnson changed it or something, this is still the standard that we're going

00:32:45.840 with.

00:32:46.340 All right.

00:32:46.620 Well, let's turn our attention south of the border, which we historically didn't do on

00:32:51.400 True North all that often.

00:32:52.880 But it's off the record.

00:32:54.260 We get to throw the rules out the window.

00:32:56.100 And I think last weekend, the calculation changed a little bit when the former president

00:33:00.040 and likely the next president survives an assassination attempt.

00:33:03.720 I think this pushes it outside of national borders.

00:33:06.620 But it's been a busy, busy week.

00:33:09.200 We have the Republican Convention, which just wrapped up.

00:33:12.160 Donald Trump spoke last night, but we also had earlier this week him unveiling his running

00:33:17.060 mate, J.D. Vance, who's had a fair bit to say about Canada, which we'll get to in a

00:33:21.640 moment.

00:33:21.960 But let me just first point out a couple of the clips that I would say are pretty unhinged

00:33:26.420 that came out of Donald Trump quite literally taking a bullet.

00:33:29.900 It was in his ear, but it could have quite easily gone through his head had he not turned

00:33:34.040 at the last moment.

00:33:35.580 And Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary, says, well, the ones that are really under threat

00:33:40.080 right now are journalists.

00:33:43.160 It feels all paused right now.

00:33:45.020 One thing for all of us to remember is it may not feel paused tomorrow or Tuesday.

00:33:48.820 And part of that is because the convention is starting.

00:33:52.060 And unless the programming changes, the rhetoric and how the programming is set up is not actually

00:33:58.220 calming the tone or restoring civility.

00:34:01.720 We'll see if that programming changes.

00:34:03.780 But if it stays the same, that is escalating it.

00:34:06.940 It is not it is not a civil approach.

00:34:10.100 That's what I'm going to say.

00:34:14.020 Yeah.

00:34:14.640 And then you have to talk about the real victim of the week, though.

00:34:18.920 I mean, yes, Donald Trump was shot, but Joe Biden got COVID.

00:34:23.500 Here's the question that I have on that.

00:34:25.680 These two men are both elderly.

00:34:27.740 Donald Trump is an elderly man who, for whatever reason, was given nine seconds to take a iconic 0.83

00:34:33.680 photo op during an active shooter situation.

00:34:36.920 Weird situation.

00:34:37.900 We'll figure that out one day.

00:34:39.500 But his survival of that and bouncing right back and going right to his convention is being

00:34:45.540 conveyed in the media world as a sign of strength.

00:34:48.680 This current president of the United States is 81 years old and has COVID.

00:34:54.200 Should he be fine in a couple of days?

00:34:57.500 Doesn't that convey exactly the same thing that he's strong enough older than Trump to

00:35:02.500 have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age?

00:35:07.240 So if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn't that exactly

00:35:12.420 the same?

00:35:13.180 It's not exactly the same.

00:35:14.720 It's not the same incident, but it's all it's an elderly man coming through out of an

00:35:18.940 it should.

00:35:19.660 I like Jen Psaki's little look at Joy Reid.

00:35:25.480 She's like, what are you talking about?

00:35:26.760 Yeah, even when you've lost Jen Psaki, even you realize you've jumped the shark on this.

00:35:31.760 Now, I've had COVID maybe two or three times.

00:35:34.540 I've never been shot.

00:35:35.840 So the idea that these two are in some way equivalent, I find it hilarious.

00:35:40.520 But does this not say, Noah, just how much they've lowered the bar for Joe Biden?

00:35:44.280 Joe Biden getting over a cold is now like, oh, wow, good for you, little buddy.

00:35:50.060 It's like a toddler that takes a second step.

00:35:52.600 Is that basically where we're at?

00:35:55.320 Yeah, every time I call in sick and I come back, you guys have to applaud me for not dying.

00:36:01.020 But, you know, like, oh, you got a cold.

00:36:06.220 Nice.

00:36:07.260 But, you know, like, yeah, lowering the standards completely for Biden.

00:36:12.140 But I don't think like anyone takes this seriously.

00:36:13.820 I think, you know, this is like very partisan Democrats.

00:36:17.120 You know, I think the partisanship in the United States is like a lot more extreme than in Canada.

00:36:21.240 You have to look like very partisan Democrats and MSNBC trying their best, you know, to cope

00:36:25.940 through, you know, what is probably a very bad, you know, few past months.

00:36:29.740 And it's going to be a next a really bad future for the Democrats in the next four plus years,

00:36:35.740 because it looks like Trump's going to win.

00:36:37.740 And you have to, like, frame all of Biden's accomplishments or I wouldn't say catching COVID

00:36:42.920 an accomplishment.

00:36:43.880 I'd say catching COVID is just a circumstance that happened to him.

00:36:47.720 So all the circumstances and minor accomplishments that Biden makes, you know, has to be amplified,

00:36:52.660 you know, to be the greatest thing of all time.

00:36:55.260 But, you know, I haven't, like, you know, ever experienced getting a bullet, you know,

00:36:58.920 like one inch from my brain, from my brain that that that didn't ever happen to me.

00:37:03.320 But I've gotten a few colds in my lifetime and I think I've gotten over pretty much all

00:37:07.840 of them without dying, unless there's one I recall that I just don't recall.

00:37:11.520 So, you know, I think when the Democrats, they cope, they cope really hard.

00:37:17.280 And, you know, it's at the expense of this old guy who, you know, is just like, you know,

00:37:21.080 trying his best to stay alive.

00:37:23.080 And he's, you know, not really doing a great job of that, you know.

00:37:27.280 Now, Vives Cartel, I saw earlier, has an album called Rifle Shot.

00:37:34.460 I don't know what relevance that has.

00:37:36.160 It just seems fun to point out.

00:37:37.740 We call that a callback.

00:37:40.060 I haven't heard the album.

00:37:41.240 I don't know what it's about.

00:37:42.100 I just, Rifle Shot seems like a shot from a rifle, unless we're going, you know, deep

00:37:45.360 metaphor.

00:37:45.660 William, lowering the expectations, is that what's happening here?

00:37:49.500 Do these people genuinely believe it?

00:37:51.840 Yeah, no, I mean, I want to talk about this extremism rhetoric language that they've been

00:37:57.360 using.

00:37:58.000 Now, look, I think both sides of the political divide are guilty of using inflammatory rhetoric.

00:38:04.860 I think, you know, for the Republicans to suddenly, you know, put their hand on their

00:38:10.060 heart and say we're shocked to discover that people have been saying outrageous things on

00:38:15.220 our side.

00:38:16.140 But if you look at extremism and the media, the media only, and I would say almost exclusively,

00:38:24.760 report on extremism on the right.

00:38:27.500 They talk about right supremacy.

00:38:29.100 They talk about hate groups on the right.

00:38:30.780 They talk about extremist language on the right.

00:38:32.540 They ignore all of the same and equally vitriolic statements and extremism on the left.

00:38:40.520 They have completely ignored that.

00:38:43.240 And I think a lot of those of us who are conservative have been trying to point out that double standard,

00:38:48.480 that there are people on the left to espouse, you know, equally or even more vile statements

00:38:54.820 than those on the right and have called routinely for death and destruction of their political

00:39:01.080 opponents.

00:39:01.540 They've used language calling them evil.

00:39:03.900 And, you know, the media have been completely complicit in not covering it and focusing only

00:39:08.460 exclusively on conservatives.

00:39:10.040 So when you see people like Danielle Smith or others who have said it's time for the left

00:39:15.160 to lower the temperature, I think one of the reasons why media are reacting with such shock

00:39:21.100 is because they're just unwilling to admit that there's a problem on the left just as much,

00:39:27.020 if not more so than on the right when it comes to this extremist rhetoric.

00:39:31.540 Yeah, I think you're quite right about that.

00:39:34.700 And also, there's the double standard is always going to be there.

00:39:38.540 And the left just loves to.

00:39:40.200 And I said this in an interview yesterday.

00:39:41.820 The left will treat its radicals as non-existent.

00:39:45.780 The right will disavow and reject its radicals.

00:39:48.420 I think whenever someone from the left commits an act of political violence in some way, the

00:39:53.560 left will try to, you know, basically downplay it, ignore it.

00:39:56.500 When someone from the right does, the left will try to extrapolate it and say they're representative

00:40:01.040 of the right as a whole.

00:40:02.600 And I think it's why the right has become a lot more scrappy.

00:40:06.640 And we've seen it in Canada to some extent.

00:40:08.460 Pierre Paulyev flipping the script on the media.

00:40:11.000 Certainly, you've seen it in the U.S.

00:40:12.480 It's a big part of Donald Trump's appeal to Republican voters and independent voters.

00:40:16.680 And it's a big part of what J.D.

00:40:18.140 Vance, his new running mate.

00:40:19.320 And for a Canadian tie-in, also the former, you know, university best bud of Jameel Javani,

00:40:24.940 who's now a conservative MP.

00:40:26.540 So imagine if, you know, Jameel Javani is like the deputy prime minister and J.D.

00:40:30.500 Vance is a Yale law school chum as the vice president.

00:40:34.320 Think of the powerhouse that'll be.

00:40:36.440 But J.D.

00:40:37.140 Vance has also had Canada on his radar in the past.

00:40:40.260 A couple of tweets I wanted to share with you on this.

00:40:43.000 This one is him responding to, it was sharing an Ottawa police tweet about the takedown of

00:40:50.140 the Freedom Convoy.

00:40:51.180 He says what's happening in Canada is a far greater assault on democracy than anything

00:40:55.160 the left has whined about the last few years.

00:40:57.120 It could happen here if we don't elect people who defend our voters.

00:41:01.100 He also weighed in on the freezing of bank accounts by Chrystia Freeland.

00:41:05.180 This is why crypto is taking off.

00:41:06.920 The regime will cut off your access to banking if you have the wrong politics.

00:41:11.300 And he also took aim at church burning in Canada at a time when no one else was.

00:41:17.020 And he says, what the hell is happening in Canada?

00:41:19.900 Very good question.

00:41:20.660 We'll keep an eye out on that.

00:41:22.200 I don't know if he's, again, he's not elected to be a pundit on Canadian affairs, but it's

00:41:25.740 good to know that he's aware of these issues and aware of what Canadians have been dealing

00:41:30.420 with.

00:41:30.640 I'm not sure if he'll do the old Tucker Carlson thing and like advocate that the United

00:41:34.140 States comes in to liberate Canada or invade us or anything like that.

00:41:37.120 But time will tell, I guess.

00:41:38.300 Just in closing here, I mentioned this earlier.

00:41:41.640 I used to work for Chorus.

00:41:43.880 Chorus has seen better days, has it not, William?

00:41:47.020 Yes.

00:41:47.720 You know, if you are walking down the street of a major Canadian city and you see someone

00:41:51.800 on the street corner begging for change, they might be someone dealing with homeless or

00:41:57.240 they might be a Chorus shareholder attempting to offload their shares before they collapse

00:42:02.980 even further in price.

00:42:04.600 Because I think as of today, the headline you're looking at sits whole time low of 12

00:42:10.780 cents.

00:42:11.520 Well, in fact, Chorus actually ended up closing at nine cents today.

00:42:16.060 So below a dime per share, which is simply catastrophic and completely unexpected.

00:42:22.540 I would say, given the overall collapse of Canada's legacy media market.

00:42:28.000 Can you, Sean, put up the stock chart, of Chorus?

00:42:31.020 So this is the all time stock chart.

00:42:33.660 Now, I'd like it noted that when they fired me, they were in free fall not long after because

00:42:39.920 that was like 2018.

00:42:41.520 So I think 2018, I'm actually going to choose to believe that that peak there you see between

00:42:46.240 2015 and 2019, that was the day before I got canned and then it's all been downhill after

00:42:51.280 that.

00:42:51.500 That's what I'm choosing to believe.

00:42:52.980 When Chorus got rid of me, it was all over.

00:42:54.920 But nine cents, is there a future for the legacy media, Noah?

00:42:59.120 Oh, no, absolutely not.

00:43:00.520 I mean, you know, Chorus, they were supposed to be a staple of Canadian media.

00:43:05.780 You know, they own Global and they own, you know, when I was a kid, I really liked

00:43:09.860 Teletoon and it seems like that's going to go by the wayside.

00:43:13.160 But, you know, it just goes to show that if you're a company that is trying to stay relevant

00:43:16.800 in the Canadian media landscape or the media landscape in any country, you have to innovate.

00:43:20.500 You have to evolve.

00:43:21.840 You have to, you know, perhaps cut some waste and cut some stuff that is unnecessary.

00:43:26.080 And True North, you know, we operate a very nimble operation.

00:43:29.960 And Chorus is the exact opposite of a nimble operation.

00:43:33.620 They're a dying operation with, you know, way too many people.

00:43:37.040 You know, they're bleeding money.

00:43:37.900 And, you know, it's not a great thing that we should be celebrating that Chorus is dying.

00:43:43.500 But it seems like the Canadian consumer has been voting with their dollar by not giving

00:43:49.060 Chorus any more of their money than they feel like they need to, except for, you know,

00:43:53.980 in their cable packages, which, you know, less and less Canadians are buying cable.

00:43:58.400 So, you know, rest in peace to Chorus.

00:44:00.960 Hope, you know, they enjoy their long dirt nap.

00:44:03.380 Hope, and let's hope that something new can arrive from the ashes.

00:44:07.700 Yeah.

00:44:08.500 YTV, Sean noted, was also a Chorus show.

00:44:11.420 And a little fun fact, I was a contestant on Video and Arcade Top 10, which was like an old vintage 90s and early 2000s YTV game show.

00:44:21.820 It was my foray into media.

00:44:23.660 I did not win, but I got to play a game on an N64 that hadn't come out.

00:44:28.840 And I had never really played N64 before.

00:44:30.480 So that was my excuse.

00:44:31.880 Anyway, I was going to say.

00:44:34.300 You're shaking your head, William.

00:44:35.520 No, it doesn't surprise me at all.

00:44:37.240 I think, you know, I was just thinking about you.

00:44:41.760 And the fact is, is that Chorus, you know, systematically eliminated every one of its conservative media personalities.

00:44:50.960 And is it now any surprise that nobody is watching or listening to them anymore?

00:44:55.580 When they drove what, in my opinion, is the majority of the representatives of people, because I believe conservatives are the majority in this country, silent though they may be sometimes.

00:45:06.640 They said, no, we don't want any of you on any of our programmings.

00:45:09.580 Get out.

00:45:10.040 And that was basically the message to their loyal listeners and to their advertisers.

00:45:13.700 We're not interested in your money.

00:45:14.920 We're not interested in your loyalty.

00:45:16.860 We want a candor to the woke mob, just like everybody else.

00:45:20.560 Yeah, and you're right about that, because talk radio is one of the epitomes of go woke, go broke, because it's the one form of media that has a really, really heavy conservative dominance in terms of its audience share, especially in the U.S., but even in Canada.

00:45:37.020 So when Canadian talk radio companies started to do a conservative purge, which they did, and I was a part of it, but there were other casualties as well, they did not recapture anything.

00:45:46.220 All they did is just start serving up Pablum, and everyone said, okay, well, screw that.

00:45:49.720 I'll just go and listen to my podcast on True North.

00:45:51.780 I'll listen to, you know, whatever Rebel News and Western Standard are doing.

00:45:55.300 And that was, I think, the great victory for independent media is that talk radio, I mean, yes, we can talk about newspapers in decline, but podcasts have replaced talk radio because you get to listen to better content and, hey, you don't get the ads.

00:46:06.580 So anyway, that does it for us for today.

00:46:09.640 Thanks, everyone, for tuning in.

00:46:10.640 And thanks to William McBeth and Noah Jarvis for hitting up this show and doing your contributions.

00:46:16.740 And Noah, we'll prescribe you some Frank Sinatra, and I'll do some Vibes Cartel, and we'll reconvene on our company meeting on Monday.

00:46:23.940 But that's it, everyone.

00:46:25.180 And remember, everything you've heard was off the record.

00:46:35.400 See, now I want to know if Leslie Lewis listens to Vibes Cartel. 1.00

00:46:38.240 You've made me wonder.

00:46:38.860 The first song you have to check out is Summertime.

00:46:42.180 It's, you know, the perfect time to, you know, listen to it.

00:46:44.460 It's a banger.

00:46:45.100 You've probably heard of it, like, on the radio or something like that, you know?

00:46:48.040 It's actually kind of popular.

00:46:48.940 Did you not just hear the last segment, I don't listen to the radio? 0.99

00:46:52.620 Ah, damn it. 0.99

00:46:53.900 What's the radio, Noah? 0.99

00:46:55.620 Yeah.

00:46:56.900 Oh, is this a big box thing?

00:46:59.040 I don't know what it is.

00:47:00.320 But, no, like, I promise you, you too, William, you've got to listen to some Vibes Cartel, you know?

00:47:05.920 So, the next time I come to Stampede, I better be hearing that on the loudspeaker, you know, just on repeat.

00:47:12.540 Yep.

00:47:12.960 After the Shania Twain, they'll put on Vibes Cartel.

00:47:15.700 That's how it'll go.

00:47:18.420 I'm sure it will not.

00:47:19.480 I'll listen to Summertime.

00:47:20.860 That I will give you, Noah.

00:47:22.160 I will give you, there's an editing backlog that's, like, a mile long.

00:47:24.860 But I will give you, after we get off this air, the two minutes and 47 seconds of listening to Summertime.

00:47:30.980 It's more important than our work.

00:47:33.080 Thank you.

00:47:33.520 Thank you.

00:47:34.560 Thank you.

00:47:39.480 Thank you.

Off the Record - July 19, 2024

Trudeau buys $9m luxury condo for former journalist

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