Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Andrew Lawton credits journalism for his Conservative run

00:00:00.000 Tonight, one of Canada's best journalists throws his hat in the ring to become a conservative

00:00:20.500 MP, a feature interview with our friend Andrew Lawton.

00:00:24.200 It's October 2nd, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:30.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug!

00:00:43.000 You know, I'm very excited about the kind of candidates that Pierre Polyev is recruiting to run for the Conservative Party.

00:00:49.000 A couple of weeks ago, we spoke to Aaron Gunn, remember that?

00:00:52.000 The filmmaker from Vancouver Island and his new movie about the state of the Canadian military.

00:00:57.000 You know, Aaron is such a good egg, and I love the fact that he is a wonderful storyteller in video, but the idea of having him in the bosom of government is even better.

00:01:09.000 And I'm very excited for Aaron Gunn.

00:01:12.000 And there is another person who is a great communicator, you know him well, and to learn that he has thrown his hat into the ring for the Conservative Party nomination,

00:01:23.000 so he's not yet the confirmed candidate, but he is seeking that, and I have high hopes for him.

00:01:28.000 It makes me feel good because Pierre Polyev is recruiting an excellent team of people.

00:01:34.000 I'm talking about our friend Andrew Lawton of True North, who is now a candidate nominee, and he joins us via Skype from his home in London, Ontario.

00:01:45.000 Andrew, first of all, congratulations.

00:01:47.000 It's sort of exciting and a little dangerous to jump from journalism to politics, isn't it?

00:01:53.000 Yeah, it is.

00:01:54.000 And I should clarify, I've not been recruited or anything, but I do think Pierre Polyev is attracting some very top-tier talent.

00:02:01.000 And when I wrote about him in my book that came out earlier this summer, it was one of the things that I noted, and this was long before I thought that I might end up doing the same thing.

00:02:10.000 But unlike in the past, where Conservative leaders have really shied away from anyone who has said anything and done anything, Pierre Polyev has welcomed that.

00:02:20.000 People like Aaron Gunn and Jamil Giovanni and Roman Babber and Matt Strauss.

00:02:24.000 And I think that, you know, regardless of what happens with my own political ambitions here, it's going to be a really, really strong bench when the Conservatives form government next election.

00:02:33.000 You know, that's such a good point.

00:02:35.000 I mean, Jamil Giovanni, I see him, he won that by-election, I think in Aaron O'Toole's old writing.

00:02:40.000 And I see him in Parliament, and he's hitting hard.

00:02:43.000 And I like to see it, but some of the other names you mentioned, including Matt Strauss, for example, you mentioned that Polyev is a little more comfy with candidates that might attract criticism from the left wing of the left wing of the media party.

00:02:59.000 I think that's very right.

00:03:01.000 Give me your thoughts on that, because politicians normally are terrified about some old statement being dredged up on Twitter.

00:03:09.000 I mean, and I suppose it's fair enough because it's hung around the neck of the whole party to sort of show some courage and to hire some spicier people. 1.00

00:03:18.000 For example, people who were pro trucker, people who were skeptical of forced vaccine mandates.

00:03:24.000 That's a statement, I think, that Polyev is not going to allow the wackos in the press to veto his candidates.

00:03:32.000 And I think it's more importantly about not letting the tail wag the dog and not letting the media set the agenda.

00:03:38.000 You may remember, and I talked about this on my show, in the 2021 election, there were points when the Conservatives changed their platform, their printed, bound, laminated platform, after it was released because they didn't like the types of questions they were getting from the media on things like firearms, for example, or free votes on matters of conscience.

00:03:57.000 So I think there is a very different tone in the Conservative Party today.

00:04:02.000 And I would also point out that it doesn't just extend to candidates.

00:04:05.000 There was a younger woman who was working in Doug Ford's government who donated, I think it was $50 to the Freedom Convoy when that was happening a couple of years ago.

00:04:14.000 And when the hack came out and the names were released, she was fired.

00:04:18.000 She, not long after, was hired by Pierre Polyev's Conservative Party of Canada to be, I think it was in the communications office some way.

00:04:26.000 Someone who had been shown the door for donating to the truckers had a home there.

00:04:30.000 So I do think it's a very encouraging sign as someone like me who's been a long-time advocate for a very real set of principles that we desperately need in politics and in our country.

00:04:41.000 You know, I didn't know that about that young lady. I remember the story of her getting sacked. It was outrageous. 1.00

00:04:46.000 The fact that she was hired after that incident is very encouraging.

00:04:51.000 You know, it's dangerous to go from journalism into politics, although a lot of people do it.

00:04:56.000 I think of Danielle Smith, the current Premier of Alberta.

00:04:59.000 John Tory, the former mayor of Toronto. Same thing, he had a talk show.

00:05:04.000 The reason it's dangerous is because you will pine on everything under the sun.

00:05:09.000 And maybe you say things in the moment that make sense journalistically.

00:05:12.000 But if people say, ah, this is the core of your character in your policy.

00:05:17.000 I mean, I guess what I'm saying is you have a lot more fodder out there for critics to choose from.

00:05:23.000 Although it is practice at handling questions.

00:05:26.000 Like there's really no better training to be a politician than to manage a call in radio show.

00:05:32.000 Because you're going to hear from everybody.

00:05:34.000 And I don't know, it's, I guess it's good practice. What do you think?

00:05:38.000 I mean, you've done the radio, you've done the print.

00:05:42.000 And of course you were the chief reporter over at True North for years.

00:05:47.000 Yeah, I think that it's two things. Number one is that it makes me a much more desirable candidate, I think, to voters because they know where I stand on the issues.

00:05:56.000 I'm not someone that is coming who is just devising a poll tested focus group set of positions that I think will work.

00:06:03.000 I have been talking about the things that matter to me and advocating for the issues that I care about for years.

00:06:09.000 And, you know, it's a thing that people will know keeps me accountable because the last thing I want to be in Ottawa is the guy who has to field calls from people that used to look at my show or listen to my show and say,

00:06:20.000 well, hang on, you used to say this on this and why are you doing this?

00:06:23.000 So I think it keeps me honest and keeps me accountable.

00:06:26.000 But also, I think in journalism, one of the great skill sets is knowing which questions to ask.

00:06:32.000 It's not where I say that I'm an expert on every issue, but I pride myself on being able to know who the experts are to really get to the bottom of it to root out the BS.

00:06:41.000 And that's a skill set that I think is very necessary in government.

00:06:44.000 I mean, anyone who's seen my interviews that I've done over the years with people that might be more hostile to me could probably quite easily picture me jumping into a committee role when we're trying to get to the bottom of, you know, the arrived scam or the we scandal or something like that, because I was doing that on my show already.

00:07:01.000 So I think there is a transferable skill set there, most definitely.

00:07:05.000 Well, how's your book doing, by the way?

00:07:07.000 I mean, I remember you and I spoke about it before and you told me and this surprised me and I felt good about it, that actually the CBC opened their doors to you and they actually let you talk about your book.

00:07:21.000 Even though it was sympathetic to Pierre Polyev and you yourself are on the conservative side of the aisle, are they still friendly to you, the CBC, now that you've thrown your hat in the ring?

00:07:32.000 I mean, I don't quite know why they were friendly to you, maybe because you were really the first guy to come out with a book and it was quite an authoritative book about Polyev, so they all wanted to read it and they all want to sort of crack the code of Polyev, so maybe they were just actually being journalists for once.

00:07:49.000 Are they still friendly to you?

00:07:54.000 I've heard so many CBC calls and I think that's probably good for their sake and for my sake since I ran.

00:07:59.000 A relatively fair article about me when I launched my campaign and I don't have any issues with that or their coverage of me in the last little while, although we'll see in the future.

00:08:10.000 I think a lot of the legacy media had realized by looking at the poll numbers that they were clearly missing something.

00:08:16.000 How does this guy that they put out this message on as being Trumpian or far right or this or that, how is he resonating with so people?

00:08:24.000 So I do think for some in particular, there was a genuine and earnest desire to at least understand a bit more about him.

00:08:31.000 And yeah, I did dozens of interviews with CBC, with other legacy media outlets as well, and the book was on the bestseller list for a couple of months and I'm very grateful for that.

00:08:40.000 And I think that as the election nears, probably more people will be interested in it because still I'm getting messages from people that say, oh, I just got your book or I'm just about to get it.

00:08:50.000 Because they're seeing like this guy Pierre Polyev is not just a flash in the pan, like he is prepared to do something very monumental in Canadian politics just by virtue of the mandate he's on track to get and people are wanting to understand a little bit more about where he's come from.

00:09:05.000 And also what that is likely to mean for a future Polyev government.

00:09:09.000 You know, I like to follow David Coletto, the pollster from Abacus.

00:09:15.000 First of all, he's actually a really nice guy and a really smart guy.

00:09:18.000 But second of all, that firm has some connections to the Liberal Party.

00:09:22.000 In fact, its founding chairman was sort of a liberal insider.

00:09:28.000 And the reason I say that is because if they say things are looking good for Pierre Polyev, they're not saying that because they like to hear it.

00:09:37.000 They're saying that sort of contrary to their own political instincts.

00:09:40.000 So I trust them extra when they have, quote, good news for conservatives.

00:09:45.000 And I saw they had a poll about a week or two ago that talked about how firm voters are in their commitment to Pierre Polyev.

00:09:53.000 You know, people can lean one way or lean the other.

00:09:56.000 But the firmness with which people say they're going to vote for the conservative candidate, Pierre Polyev, is so hard.

00:10:04.000 Like those people will not be swayed by anything.

00:10:08.000 And then there's the probably won't be swayed.

00:10:12.000 The number who said they're still open to changing is so low.

00:10:15.000 I mean, unless some cataclysm emerges, and that is always possible, I think that he's going to be the next prime minister.

00:10:22.000 And I think the whole country is sort of getting ready for that.

00:10:26.000 I know grassroots people are like ordinary citizens are waiting for that.

00:10:30.000 I think CEOs are coming around to that.

00:10:32.000 I saw a weird attack on him in the Globe and Mail yesterday saying he wasn't friendly enough to CEOs.

00:10:38.000 He needs to listen more to CEOs.

00:10:41.000 And I thought that and that was written by a former communications director for Brookfield, which, of course, is Mark Carney's company.

00:10:48.000 And I thought if the Globe and Mail is writing columns telling Pierre Polyev he needs to listen to our kind of people more.

00:10:56.000 It's because they know he's going to be prime minister.

00:10:59.000 The one thing I love, Ezra, because there has been from the legacy media over the last few months, no shortage of columns and stories about what Pierre Polyev really needs to do is this.

00:11:10.000 He needs to be nicer.

00:11:11.000 He needs to be nicer to the media.

00:11:13.000 He needs to be more conciliatory to the left.

00:11:16.000 And it's really difficult to take seriously any article based on the premise of Pierre Polyev needs to do X when he's been consistently polling over 40%.

00:11:26.000 Like that was one of the questions when my book came out.

00:11:29.000 And again, I stress I was not at all eyeing political office at the time.

00:11:32.000 But when my book came out and I was doing interviews, people were saying, well, you know, do you think Polyev needs to do this and that?

00:11:37.000 And I'm saying, look, whatever he's doing now is working.

00:11:40.000 So if you're trying to suggest that some course correction is needed, it really isn't for his benefit.

00:11:45.000 It's for yours.

00:11:46.000 It's because you think or you want him to conform to your expectations and demands of what a conservative leader is.

00:11:53.000 And I hate to break it to you.

00:11:54.000 The conservatives did that in 2021.

00:11:56.000 And where did it get them?

00:11:57.000 Nowhere.

00:11:58.000 You know, it's sort of funny, all the people coming out of the closet sort of want, now that it's sort of clear who the winner is going to be, they want to bet on the winner now that it's a certain day.

00:12:07.000 Ken Bozenkuhl, the lobbyist who was drummed out of the B.C. government for a sexual harassment scandal.

00:12:14.000 He wrote a piece recently that, oh, don't take Polyev seriously.

00:12:19.000 There's no way he's going to repeal the carbon tax.

00:12:22.000 And I saw that Jenny Byrne, the chairman of the campaign, was saying, who, Ken, who?

00:12:27.000 Yeah, he was a lobbyist, but he hasn't, we haven't had anything to do with him in years.

00:12:31.000 It's sort of funny, it's no longer uncool to be conservative.

00:12:36.000 It's no longer uncool to support Polyev.

00:12:38.000 All these late supporters are rushing aboard.

00:12:43.000 And part of me bristles at the fact that these oleaginist lobbyists are sort of circling now.

00:12:50.000 But that's also a sign when the weaselly lobbyists start to ingratiate themselves with the conservatives, that's a sign the conservatives are going to win.

00:13:00.000 I don't know.

00:13:02.000 Here's, let me tell you my favorite thing about Pierre Polyev.

00:13:05.000 And I've said this before, and I'd like your reaction to it.

00:13:08.000 I like him on policy.

00:13:10.000 I like his personality.

00:13:11.000 I like that it's sober minded.

00:13:12.000 I like, he's a good communicator.

00:13:14.000 I think he's pretty smart, actually.

00:13:15.000 I think he understands things like monetary policy better than 95% of people.

00:13:20.000 Certainly better than our current finance minister.

00:13:23.000 If you say, what's your favorite policy, Ezra?

00:13:26.000 It's not actually a policy.

00:13:28.000 My favorite thing about Pierre Polyev, and Andrew I'd like your thought on this, is that he, he won't like this word, but he abuses the mainstream media.

00:13:40.000 Not viciously or heartlessly, but he's a little bit mean on purpose.

00:13:47.000 He, no one thinks he's sucking up to the media, neither the public nor the media. 0.88

00:13:55.000 And he's not shy about dropping the gloves and smacking them.

00:13:59.000 Sometimes it's subtle, like when he was chewing the apple in the orchard at, you know, challenging bad faith questions from just some local reporter.

00:14:08.000 But other times it is very strategic.

00:14:11.000 Like a couple of weeks ago when CTV doctored a video and, you know, to splice together different comments to make a sentence Pierre Polyev never said.

00:14:21.000 Poliev not only said, I'm not talking to anyone from CTV.

00:14:27.000 I'm not talking to anyone from their owner, Bell.

00:14:30.000 And Bell is a questionable company and their lobbyists are cut off.

00:14:35.000 And it was a real showdown.

00:14:38.000 And it would, and it basically said, I am making an enemy out of Canada's largest private broadcaster.

00:14:45.000 I'm going to fight them harder than anyone has ever fought them before.

00:14:49.000 I'm going to question their CEO's pay package.

00:14:52.000 I got to point out that their debt is almost junk debt level.

00:14:56.000 That's how rough I'm going to be because CTV was rough with me. 1.00

00:15:01.000 Suck on it. 0.99

00:15:04.000 And he did that and it worked. 0.99

00:15:07.000 They came out with a ironic apology.

00:15:10.000 And then a day later realized it wasn't enough.

00:15:12.000 They came out with a more groveling apology, fired the two people involved.

00:15:16.000 And he still hasn't forgiven them.

00:15:18.000 I love, love, love, love, love this.

00:15:20.000 I love this as much as I love his carbon tax repeal point.

00:15:22.000 Andrew, what do you think of my little rant?

00:15:25.000 I see the, I see it as being him not viewing as sacred cows things that the Laurentian elites claim should be treated as sacred cows.

00:15:35.000 And I think this is not to say he has a disrespect for institutions, but his respect for institutions has to be earned.

00:15:42.000 He's not going to avoid criticizing the Bank of Canada governor just because, oh, you're not supposed to do it.

00:15:47.000 He's not going to avoid criticizing the parliamentary press gallery because, oh, you're not supposed to do it.

00:15:52.000 If these groups want respect, if they want to be treated like grownups, they have to earn that.

00:15:57.000 And I think that's where I would say what he's doing really falls into.

00:16:02.000 And at the end of the day, I don't think Canadians are viewing institutions in a way that suggests they should be treated with kid gloves either.

00:16:09.000 We've seen trust in institutions of all kinds across the world has been at an all time low.

00:16:15.000 And you may remember when you and I were reporting on the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, I, you weren't there at the time, but I ran into Christine Lagarde, who's the head of the European Central Bank.

00:16:24.000 And I said, the theme this year, Miss Lagarde is rebuilding trust.

00:16:28.000 You know, how are you going to get, and I hadn't even gotten the question out.

00:16:31.000 And she said, well, I'm not taking questions right now.

00:16:34.000 I'm in a quiet period.

00:16:35.000 And that's true of the Davos elites.

00:16:37.000 It's true of the legacy media in Canada.

00:16:39.000 It's true of the Bank of Canada.

00:16:41.000 These people do not believe that they should have to take questions from ordinary folks.

00:16:46.000 And and Polyev is saying, listen, I'm going to just call you on that.

00:16:51.000 And I think that's resonating with Canadians who have had enough of these groups and institutions, too.

00:16:56.000 You know, I think there's afraid this turnaround is fair play.

00:17:00.000 Turnabout is fair play.

00:17:01.000 And I look at the criticism and the abuse, frankly, and the unfairness that Rebel News has been treated with, that True North was treated.

00:17:11.000 You and you and I were in court together in 2019.

00:17:14.000 We were both in the same hearing fighting for our right to get into the Debates Commission.

00:17:19.000 In fact, the case is known as Lawton versus Canada, if you if you look how it's categorized.

00:17:25.000 That was a wonderful victory for both of us.

00:17:29.000 But look at how we were abused.

00:17:31.000 We had to run to court to get our constitutional rights.

00:17:34.000 Look at how both entities are routinely disparaged, ad boycotts.

00:17:40.000 So I think Polyev, he's not going as far as that.

00:17:43.000 But he's saying, well, why should CTV be immune from criticism?

00:17:47.000 And why can't I poke at the owners there?

00:17:49.000 I mean, I hate Bell because I have their cell phone and I'm charged their outrageous prices and their customer services non-existent.

00:17:57.000 Why can't Pierre Polyev use that?

00:18:00.000 Is that a little bit unfair to take on CTV?

00:18:03.000 Maybe a teeny tiny.

00:18:04.000 But the reason I love all of this, Andrew, here's why.

00:18:07.000 It's not just because I like to see left wing journalists taken down a peg.

00:18:11.000 It's not just that I like to see people who are used to playing offense play defense once in a while.

00:18:17.000 Here's why that is the most important thing to me about Pierre Polyev.

00:18:21.000 Because I know that if he's willing to lose the potential friendship and personal relationship with CTV,

00:18:28.000 I know he will never fool himself into thinking that if I just abandoned this principle, CTV will like me.

00:18:36.000 Because that's what Erin O'Toole and Andrew Scheer did.

00:18:39.000 You mentioned before that the Conservative Party used to actually edit their platform because some reporters mean to them.

00:18:46.000 I know in my bones Pierre Polyev will not succumb to the peer pressure of the media party because he's the one on the attack skewering them.

00:18:55.000 I am. That's my favorite thing about him, Andrew.

00:18:58.000 I'll stop rambling on that subject, but give me one last word and we'll keep on to other stuff.

00:19:04.000 I think you're right.

00:19:05.000 And I think it means that he's being utterly true and consistent.

00:19:08.000 And look, one of the core theses of my book, the core thesis, I'd say, is that he has been a consistent champion of his form of conservatism since going back to his teenage years and certainly his early 20s.

00:19:21.000 I refer in the book a couple of times to that essay he wrote for the Magna Competition when he was, I think, 2021.

00:19:27.000 As Prime Minister, I would. And his title was Building Canada Through Freedom.

00:19:32.000 And I think more recently, it's germane to point out how his message in the leadership race did not change after he became the leader.

00:19:40.000 He was still talking about defunding the CBC. He was still talking about standing up to the media.

00:19:46.000 He was still talking about all of the core red meat issues that drove him to victory in the leadership race afterwards. 0.99

00:19:53.000 And what we're seeing now after a year of polling on this, it's been, well, actually, you know, two years since he became the conservative leader.

00:20:00.000 It's working and no one can say that this has been a failed strategy on his part because it isn't really a strategy.

00:20:06.000 It's just who he is.

00:20:08.000 I think you're right about that. I mean, as you point out in the book, I've known him for a while.

00:20:13.000 He was my communications director when I myself had a very brief run for parliament in the by-election in Calgary Southwest.

00:20:19.000 So, I mean, I remember him when he was just out of college.

00:20:24.000 The guy was then the same as he is now.

00:20:27.000 And and we can never know what the future will bring.

00:20:30.000 A person could always change.

00:20:32.000 But I think past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

00:20:36.000 Hey, I want to say one more thing, because I was thinking about this the other day about the truckers and obviously the trucker convoy.

00:20:43.000 He wrote a bestselling book on that as well. You've got some great books out there, by the way.

00:20:49.000 That was the Freedom Convoy, the inside story of three weeks that shook the world.

00:20:53.000 And that did very well. That book was a bestseller.

00:20:56.000 That was literally the number one book in Canada for eight weeks, despite being ignored by the media and banned from Indigo.

00:21:03.000 I'm so glad you wrote that book. And I'm so glad that it did so well, because there's always a battle over who gets to write the history books. Right.

00:21:13.000 And that certainly was a central part of the trucker convoy.

00:21:17.000 You could see the Trudeau and the regime media wanted to write the January 6th narrative of violent insurrectionists.

00:21:24.000 That's what they tried to get out of the Coutts border blockade.

00:21:28.000 And I feel like Diagalon, that goofy, you know, white nationalist group was trying to like I think they they were trying to give that narrative of January 6th.

00:21:38.000 And I think citizen journalists stopped that from happening anyway.

00:21:42.000 So not only was it the news story of the year.

00:21:45.000 Because it really broke the fever about the lockdowns and the Vax mandates.

00:21:51.000 But look what it did to the Conservative Party.

00:21:54.000 It hastened the exit of that dud Aaron O'Toole and brought in Pierre Polyev.

00:22:02.000 I think the best hope the party's had since Stephen Harper and may, God willing, in the long term even exceed Stephen Harper.

00:22:10.000 In a way, the trucker convoy gave us Pierre Polyev, don't you think?

00:22:15.000 Yes, it very much is the case.

00:22:18.000 And I wrote in that book about the Freedom Convoy that, yes, the convoy had set out to basically have Justin Trudeau be its political casualty.

00:22:26.000 But its political casualty was really Aaron O'Toole.

00:22:28.000 And, you know, later on, you could argue Jason Kenney as well.

00:22:32.000 But I think that was an important moment.

00:22:34.000 And the Conservatives realized that they did not want to be and could not be on the wrong side of history on that.

00:22:40.000 And I think that really drove what happened in that leadership race, which culminated in September of 2022.

00:22:47.000 And brought us Pierre Polyev, but also people that he has around him that he hasn't relegated to the back benches that are up front in his government.

00:22:55.000 Leslie Lewis is a great example of this.

00:22:57.000 So I'm actually feeling really good right now about where things are.

00:23:01.000 And I think that's really the recurring theme I've gotten as I've talked to prospective voters is that for the first time in years, people are feeling good to be a Conservative.

00:23:09.000 They're feeling good about their beliefs, good about their values, and not like this is some dirty little secret they need to hide.

00:23:15.000 They're out and proud and saying, yeah, we want to get rid of Justin Trudeau.

00:23:18.000 You know, what's so incredible, again, I'm looking at the polls all the time, is young Canadians are the most conservative youth in the UK, in the US, in countries we often compare ourselves to.

00:23:32.000 I think it's because Pierre Polyev doesn't talk down to young people like Trudeau does.

00:23:39.000 And more importantly, he's addressing youth issues.

00:23:42.000 How can I afford to buy a home?

00:23:44.000 How can I afford to move out of my parents' house?

00:23:46.000 To jump in there, it's also a group that has realized now that they were lied to 10 years ago by Justin Trudeau.

00:23:53.000 Yes, yes.

00:23:54.000 Because Justin Trudeau's victory was in no small part due to his engagement of youth, a demographic that traditionally leans left but often doesn't show up to vote.

00:24:02.000 Justin Trudeau was the youth prime minister.

00:24:05.000 He got the young people out.

00:24:07.000 And folks who were 18, 19, 20 when he was elected are now 26, 27, 28, pushing 30.

00:24:14.000 They can't find a job.

00:24:15.000 They can't afford a house.

00:24:17.000 And this dream of a Trudeopian Canada they were sold has ended up being a lie. 0.92

00:24:21.000 And I think they're seeing in Polyev a much more genuine and authentic voice that they have more confidence in is being able to tackle these challenges.

00:24:30.000 I think you're so right.

00:24:32.000 I think, also, Pierre Polyev doesn't dumb it down.

00:24:37.000 Trudeau does.

00:24:38.000 And I think young people can see through that.

00:24:41.000 Even if they don't understand every word Polyev says, because sometimes he's a little bit technical, I think they can see the authenticity there.

00:24:48.000 Whereas Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau, it's clear they never know what, they never feel like they have a true command of things.

00:24:55.000 Chrystia Freeland's even worse. 0.99

00:24:56.000 She'll give a three minute answer to a simple question. 0.96

00:24:59.000 And at the end, it's just a fog machine.

00:25:01.000 And that may work on the parliamentary press gallery.

00:25:04.000 But I don't think anyone who actually pays attention is convinced by it.

00:25:07.000 Hey, let me throw one more thing at you about Erin O'Toole. 1.00

00:25:10.000 And I know it's unfair to beat a dead horse, but I want to tell you two thoughts I have.

00:25:15.000 And you can give me your reaction to it or we can move on to something else.

00:25:18.000 The first is, I think in his heart of hearts, Erin O'Toole was probably sympathetic to the truckers, but he didn't dare say so out loud.

00:25:28.000 That's my whole media peer pressure point, Andrew, is that if Erin O'Toole was against his MPs meeting with the truckers, it wasn't because he was necessarily anti-trucker.

00:25:37.000 He was absolutely terrified that he would be painted as a January 6er by the media.

00:25:42.000 And the second thing, and I don't know if I've ever told the story, someone whom, one of the truckers met Erin O'Toole at a truck staging area.

00:25:54.000 Maybe you know this story as well.

00:25:56.000 It was outside of the city, Erin O'Toole came to meet the truckers with his own videographer.

00:26:03.000 And they shook hands and they chatted.

00:26:05.000 And Erin O'Toole had someone filming it as in to make an ad or something. 1.00

00:26:12.000 But that ad never saw the light of day.

00:26:15.000 So O'Toole went there.

00:26:17.000 And his instincts, I think, were conservative and freedom oriented.

00:26:20.000 But either he had second thoughts or someone talked him out of it.

00:26:24.000 And this goes to my point.

00:26:26.000 You're either terrified of the media and thus obedient to them, or you brace yourself and blaze through them.

00:26:33.000 And that's why I like Polyev.

00:26:34.000 What do you think of that?

00:26:35.000 Have you ever heard that O'Toole anecdote before?

00:26:37.000 I didn't.

00:26:38.000 I had heard that he went out.

00:26:40.000 I didn't know about the videographer component, but I guess it makes sense.

00:26:43.000 Most politicians probably don't.

00:26:44.000 If I get elected, maybe I have that to look forward to.

00:26:46.000 I bring my own cameraman everywhere I go.

00:26:48.000 But the reality is, I think there are a lot of politicians in Canada and politicians in general that are far too susceptible to the voices in their ear.

00:26:57.000 And I've heard from some where only later on do they really realize just how much that took them away from who they are and what they believe.

00:27:06.000 And I think that one of the real answers to that is having leaders who are prepared to be leaders and having leaders that want to hear from a variety of perspectives and not just one.

00:27:17.000 That's an issue that some politicians fall victim to where they have their one chief advisor and that person is really a funnel for all the information.

00:27:26.000 And just to give you one story about this.

00:27:28.000 I've heard from one politician that I reached out to when I was writing my book about the Freedom Convoy and I asked this person to respond to a list of questions and I never got a response back.

00:27:38.000 And I ran into this person later on after the book came out and they told me that they did actually write a response and they gave it to their staff to provide to me and it was never provided to me.

00:27:48.000 Now, was this just some political ineptitude or was this a staffer trying to enact their own agenda over the will of the person they were supposed to represent?

00:27:57.000 I don't know the answer, but I think if you do not have direct lines with the people you're supposed to represent, you are going to have that consultant syndrome, I think.

00:28:06.000 And one thing that I learned when I was writing my book about Pierre Polyev is that he canvases a large array of people, even outside of his team, he'll call up vendors, he'll call up random people, he'll call up acquaintances.

00:28:18.000 And it's not that he's trying to build consensus and make everybody happy, but he wants to know what the perspectives are.

00:28:24.000 And I think that's a very valuable leadership trait and only something that you can do if you're very self-assured about who you are and what your perspective is.

00:28:32.000 Yeah. So when is the nomination date and what is the official name of your electoral district?

00:28:40.000 So I don't know when the nomination is going to be. My focus, if anyone's ever been involved in a political nomination before, it's you have to sell memberships because the only people that get to vote for who the candidate is are members of the party who live in the riding.

00:28:54.000 And the riding is Elgin St. Thomas London South. So it's a bit of the the southern part of London and also St. Thomas and Elmer and the whole of Elgin County, a beautiful part of the country.

00:29:05.000 And I hope to have the honor of representing them. But it's going to be a fight for the nomination first.

00:29:10.000 And then if all goes well, we'll take the fight to Ottawa.

00:29:13.000 And how urban and how rural? I'm sorry, I don't know that riding personally. Is it mainly the city? Is it small town? Is it countryside?

00:29:22.500 It's a fascinating riding because you have, I think, about a quarter of it is suburban London.

00:29:27.500 So it's a very city riding with city priorities. But a lot of it, the majority of it is rural and smaller communities as well.

00:29:35.500 So you really get a mix. And I think really, in a lot of ways, it's representative of the Canada and we also have a beautiful coastline as well, which is nice.

00:29:43.500 But it is a very large riding as well, not as big as some of the rural Alberta ones.

00:29:48.500 But, you know, I get to get to see lots driving back and forth across the riding, meeting with people.

00:29:53.500 And who is the incumbent and be there?

00:29:56.500 The incumbent is a conservative, Karen Vecchio, but she's not seeking re-election.

00:30:01.500 So that's why the race opened up for the nomination.

00:30:05.500 And did she have a strong margin of victory last time? Sounds demographically like the riding was excellent. 0.71

00:30:10.500 It's a pretty strongly conservative riding. I mean, like anything, I don't take the belief that you should ever take these things for granted.

00:30:16.500 I think you have to earn every vote. And to be frank, I think after what happened in St. Paul's this summer, you could argue most of the country is a safe conservative riding right now.

00:30:25.500 But yes, it's a pretty solidly conservative riding right now.

00:30:29.500 But as I said, when you're winning the nomination or running for the nomination, that has to be the first priority because that's to get on the ballot.

00:30:36.500 Are there other candidate nominees who have put their name forward?

00:30:40.500 There are a couple of names. Yeah, I was the first to announce because, you know, I wasn't comfortable straddling the media and politics world at the same time.

00:30:49.500 I knew that if I was going to jump into politics, I had to jump with both feet and have a clean break from media while I was campaigning.

00:30:56.500 So there are some other names, though. Yes. Yeah.

00:30:59.500 Um, so obviously to vote for you, people have to live in Elgin St. Thomas, London South.

00:31:05.500 And so that limits it to, you know, you have to be one of the hundred thousand people who live there.

00:31:11.500 Can people who are not in the district, can they chip in if they like you because of your work and your journalism and your book?

00:31:18.500 Can they still contribute financially? Yes, absolutely.

00:31:22.500 And I appreciate you asking that. Donations can be made from anyone who lives in Canada.

00:31:28.500 And that is, I think, very much appreciative. As I mentioned, it's a big riding.

00:31:32.500 So even just gas money alone with the carbon taxes is taken up a fair bit of the campaign budget.

00:31:37.500 And there are also costs associated with, you know, printing off brochures and managing the website and all of that.

00:31:43.500 So, yes, if people live in the riding, the most important thing they can do is take out a membership and agree to support me.

00:31:49.500 And there are details about how to do that at AndrewLawton.ca.

00:31:53.500 But if you don't live in the riding and you want to help my website, AndrewLawton.ca has a link to donate.

00:31:58.500 And it's truly, truly appreciated if those folks who are able to can.

00:32:02.500 Are you putting together a bit of a campaign team to have have you started recruiting volunteers to have a campaign manager?

00:32:08.500 Yeah, yeah. I've actually been quite honored at how many people have really wanted to and have just come out of the woodwork saying, I want to help out.

00:32:16.500 I want to do this. And I think it goes back to what I said earlier about it being a really good time to be a conservative.

00:32:21.500 People are feeling energetic. It's not a campaign that's built around anger.

00:32:25.500 Yes, there's a frustration. But more importantly, there's an enthusiasm about this.

00:32:30.500 And, you know, I've had people locally that say, I want to come out and knock on doors.

00:32:33.500 And I've had people elsewhere in the country that say, hey, I can make calls from anywhere in the country.

00:32:37.500 So let me help you make phone calls. So absolutely.

00:32:40.500 The volunteer volunteer step up has been amazing.

00:32:43.500 You know, you're making me think back to 20 plus years when I was briefly a candidate in Calgary Southwest to succeed.

00:32:50.500 I think you would like the best funded nomination campaign in Canadian history or something.

00:32:54.500 I think I did.

00:32:56.500 And I spent so much time going door to door.

00:33:00.500 And first of all, it's good exercise. You're running around.

00:33:03.500 And second of all, people are people were so surprised to see me at the door because no one had ever knocked on their door before.

00:33:10.500 And they all told me that. And, you know, you keep your message brief.

00:33:15.500 But I felt like I made a lot of really strong connections.

00:33:19.500 You know, it's sort of like getting going to the gym.

00:33:23.500 You don't want to. You don't want to. You don't want to.

00:33:25.500 But when you go, you feel great about it.

00:33:27.500 And I hope you do a lot of door knocking and I hope you get a good team of volunteers.

00:33:31.500 And it's obviously my personal hope that you become the candidate and win it.

00:33:36.500 And to be candid, I wouldn't be surprised if you were in cabinet.

00:33:43.500 I mean, or at least in the junior cabinet or were given some other position of responsibility because, you know, you've been around the conservative movement.

00:33:51.500 You've at your work at True North, you've really drilled down into a lot of issues.

00:33:56.500 You're an excellent communicator. And I hope that like our friend Aaron Gunn, who I believe is destined for cabinet, I have high hopes for you, Andrew.

00:34:05.500 And it's we wish you good luck.

00:34:07.500 And again, the website is AndrewLawton.ca.

00:34:11.500 Of course, you can get his book, Pierre Pauly of a Political Life or his Trucker book, which you can still find online, of course.

00:34:18.500 But if you are in that district of Elgin St. Thomas, London South, that's really what counts is because it's those votes on nomination day.

00:34:26.500 Last word to you, my friend.

00:34:28.500 Well, I'll personally hang up the close sign on the CBC headquarters if I get elected.

00:34:33.500 That can be my commitment.

00:34:34.500 But it's always good to talk to you, Ezra.

00:34:36.500 Thanks for having me on.

00:34:37.500 Well, there you have it.

00:34:38.500 Our friend from True North, who's now thrown his hat into politics.

00:34:41.500 Good luck, my friend.

00:34:42.500 Thank you.

00:34:43.500 All right.

00:34:44.500 Well, that's our show for today.

00:34:46.500 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.

00:34:51.500 Goodbye and keep fighting for freedom.

00:34:53.500 We'll be right back.

00:34:54.500 We'll be right back.

00:35:23.500 Bye.

00:35:24.500 Bye.

00:35:25.500 Bye.

00:35:26.500 Bye.

00:35:27.500 Bye.

00:35:29.500 Bye.

00:35:30.500 Bye.

00:35:32.500 Bye.

00:35:33.480 Bye.

00:35:35.560 Bye.

00:35:37.640 Bye.

00:35:43.500 Bye.

00:35:45.280 Bye.

00:35:47.760 Bye.

00:35:50.340 Bye.

00:35:51.480 Bye.

00:35:52.380 Bye.

Rebel News Podcast - October 04, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Andrew Lawton credits journalism for his Conservative run

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