Rebel News Podcast - Labour Day SPECIAL： How Trump changed my mind about unions and tariffs

00:00:00.000 Tonight, it's Labor Day, but whose side are the union bosses really on?

00:00:04.280 It's September 3rd, and you're watching The Ezra Levant Show.

00:00:12.920 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:00:16.720 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:00:20.420 You come here once a year with a sign, and you feel morally superior.

00:00:23.780 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it

00:00:27.380 is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:00:30.000 Donald Trump has changed how I think about labor, and unions, and working men and women, and wages.

00:00:41.420 I think before he came along, I was more of a libertarian purist.

00:00:46.240 I took the view of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman,

00:00:49.400 who basically was for zero regulations in any commerce.

00:00:53.180 For example, when it came to tariffs or other trade barriers,

00:00:55.540 he said a country should just unilaterally declare itself to have free trade with every other country.

00:01:01.720 And he pointed to places like Hong Kong as proof of that theory's success.

00:01:07.020 He was very effective.

00:01:08.640 He's a great communicator.

00:01:09.800 He loved going on TV shows to gently and clearly and friendly debate economics.

00:01:15.220 And it was necessary and effective, especially during the Cold War,

00:01:18.180 when socialism presented itself as a challenge to the Western capitalist free countries.

00:01:24.540 That's the point of view that certainly held sway in the U.S. Republican Party.

00:01:29.160 It came to Canada, too, under both conservative and liberal governments.

00:01:34.420 Canada-U.S. free trade deal and NAFTA have made every party in Canada a free trade party.

00:01:39.520 The corollary to that was the free movement of labor.

00:01:41.900 That's part of globalism, too.

00:01:43.960 Not just free movement of goods, but free movement of people.

00:01:47.020 And that's what the European Union did.

00:01:48.720 It's amazing to be able to travel around freely in that continent, just as if borders don't exist.

00:01:54.180 But it brings problems, too, as you know, more acutely.

00:01:57.560 Huge masses of migrants just walking across Europe,

00:02:01.280 taking advantage of one country's open borders to get access to the whole free movement zone,

00:02:06.920 called the Schengen Zone.

00:02:08.320 And the United States, too, where at least 13 million Mexicans illegally work.

00:02:13.320 I mean, yeah, that's a benefit to employers, sure,

00:02:15.780 and to consumers who, I guess, save a few pennies on every head of lettuce or a basket of tomatoes, a few pennies.

00:02:22.460 But what about the larger costs to society that maybe aren't as easily quantified?

00:02:27.660 Illegal foreign workers lowering wages for citizens,

00:02:30.900 especially competing against low-skilled citizens.

00:02:34.640 But they drive up housing costs.

00:02:36.440 That's stretching citizens, especially the working poor, two different ways.

00:02:40.900 In Canada, we don't have as large a problem with illegals, 0.93

00:02:43.900 but we have legalized our cheap foreign worker problem.

00:02:48.160 We used to call it the Temporary Foreign Workers Program.

00:02:50.820 It's basically a gift to fast food restaurants and banks

00:02:54.340 who don't want to pay an extra dollar an hour to hire Canadian citizens.

00:02:57.740 And that's great for people who don't want to pay an extra 10 cents for their Big Mac, I guess.

00:03:04.720 But is it as good for Canadian teens who should be getting that first job? 0.99

00:03:10.160 I've shown you this video before because it really touched me.

00:03:13.100 It's a 2016 campaign ad by the U.S. steelworkers.

00:03:18.020 Can I show it to you again?

00:03:19.200 I know I've shown it to you before.

00:03:20.200 Take a look.

00:03:20.560 My name is Jack Tippold, and I've been a steelworker for 24 years.

00:03:26.520 This election is a little bit different,

00:03:28.460 and Donald Trump does talk a good game when it comes to China and Mexico.

00:03:33.680 But let me tell you a little something about Donald Trump.

00:03:36.460 The Chinese have been illegally dumping steel and aluminum into this country.

00:03:41.640 The problem is that Donald Trump is buying this steel and aluminum,

00:03:46.520 and he's using it in his projects.

00:03:49.080 Now, Trump says he's going to rebuild the steel industry.

00:03:51.760 That steel could have been made here in Indiana, Pennsylvania, or Ohio.

00:03:56.760 Another thing, Donald Trump says our wages are too high.

00:03:59.900 Let's see him go into one of our plants with his soft hands and work for a day,

00:04:04.660 and then tell us our wages are too high.

00:04:08.240 Donald Trump says he uses bankruptcy as a tool.

00:04:10.880 I've seen what bankruptcy does to our brothers and sisters.

00:04:15.120 I've seen them lose them in their houses and their cars,

00:04:17.460 unable to provide food to put on their tables, can't pay their bills.

00:04:21.420 We don't have a father that can give us a million dollars and bail us out.

00:04:25.780 Look, Donald Trump is nothing more than a boss,

00:04:27.860 and when you go to pull that lever on November 8th,

00:04:31.040 think if that's who you want as your boss.

00:04:36.920 Now, the Milton Friedman in me would say

00:04:39.580 if Trump used cheap Chinese steel in his skyscraper,

00:04:44.380 how is that a problem?

00:04:47.300 Well, it's a problem for the Jack Tipples of the world, isn't it?

00:04:49.660 It's a problem for towns and cities across the Rust Belt.

00:04:53.360 Now, someone like Justin Trudeau or Catherine McKenna or Rachel Notley,

00:04:56.040 who loves to shut down blue-collar industries

00:04:59.160 run by guys who look and sound like Jack Tippold.

00:05:02.900 I mean, remember they shut down the largest coal-fired power plant in North America

00:05:05.780 that was operating beautifully here in Ontario in Nanticoke.

00:05:09.580 They're shutting down perfectly fine coal-fired power plants in Alberta.

00:05:13.040 It's not just carbon they're eliminating,

00:05:15.000 they're eliminating thousands of Canadian Jack Tipples.

00:05:19.340 That's not even through foreign trade,

00:05:20.560 that's just through our own self-destruction

00:05:22.040 at the altar of extreme environmentalism.

00:05:24.280 But it's a similar hollowing out of our industry,

00:05:28.220 real jobs, industrial jobs, six-figure jobs.

00:05:30.780 And the fancy people would say,

00:05:32.200 oh, well, Jack Tippold,

00:05:34.000 just retrain and learn how to do coding.

00:05:37.720 Why don't you design an app for an iPhone?

00:05:40.460 Just learn how to do that and get a new job that way.

00:05:44.800 The thousand men laid off at your steel factory

00:05:47.520 because China is subsidizing its steel

00:05:50.680 to dump below cost into the United States

00:05:53.840 for the strategic goal of killing off America's steel industry.

00:05:59.020 See, how does that work in a Milton Friedman world?

00:06:02.220 When Air Canada is forced to compete against Emirates Airlines,

00:06:06.580 you know that airline's a beautiful airline.

00:06:08.280 It's a luxury airline.

00:06:09.380 They have those new A380 double-decker jets.

00:06:12.860 It just happens to be owned

00:06:14.540 by the United Arab Emirates dictatorship, though.

00:06:17.520 So obviously they get free use of the government airport in Dubai.

00:06:21.540 Compare that to the extremely expensive Canadian airports

00:06:24.420 Air Canada has to pay for.

00:06:26.480 Emirates gets super cheap jet fuel as government policy

00:06:30.340 compared to Air Canada, for example.

00:06:32.640 So Emirates Airlines is really an arm

00:06:34.680 of the UAE OPEC dictatorship.

00:06:39.380 So should we just roll over and let Emirates 1.00

00:06:41.660 put Air Canada out of business

00:06:44.380 because the UAE wants to kill it off?

00:06:48.380 Should Trump let Chinese steel just kill off

00:06:51.040 all the remaining steel mills in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania?

00:06:56.220 Well, he said no.

00:06:57.400 And so far, it seems to be working

00:06:59.500 because in a way he's forced the other countries

00:07:02.320 of the world to live up to Milton Friedman's ideals.

00:07:04.460 Here's what I mean.

00:07:04.920 He's actually saying,

00:07:06.140 if you want free trade with us,

00:07:09.260 then act like it.

00:07:11.160 We're not going to behave well if you don't behave well.

00:07:15.240 So if you don't drop all your tariffs,

00:07:17.200 we're going to hammer you until you do with tariffs. 0.82

00:07:20.140 And country after country said,

00:07:21.820 yikes, here's the EU president giving Trump a kiss.

00:07:26.980 Now, maybe he was drunk there.

00:07:28.740 He's drunk a lot.

00:07:29.620 But I think that was a kiss of relief

00:07:31.780 and desperate, you know, approval

00:07:34.940 after Trump agreed not to crush the European Union,

00:07:38.920 but they agreed to lower their tariffs

00:07:40.800 because Trump threatened a trade war against Europe

00:07:43.480 if they didn't.

00:07:45.180 Mexico agreed to level the playing field

00:07:47.280 because if they didn't,

00:07:48.500 Trump threatened them with huge tariffs too.

00:07:50.600 That's what Trump is saying to Canada right now.

00:07:52.260 Remember his joke when he first met Trudeau at the G7?

00:07:55.060 Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs

00:07:58.700 and all trade barriers

00:08:00.620 between Canada and the United States.

00:08:04.080 Now, that's not a joke.

00:08:05.800 That's his position.

00:08:08.260 Look at the examples I've just shown you.

00:08:09.720 Trump threatens tariffs,

00:08:11.320 but at the end of the day,

00:08:12.280 he actually doesn't implement them.

00:08:14.460 He gets the other guys to drop their tariffs.

00:08:16.620 But if Trudeau doesn't want that deal

00:08:19.060 that Europe's taking,

00:08:20.280 that Mexico's taking, 0.90

00:08:21.680 Trump will just hammer Trudeau

00:08:23.440 until he does or until he doesn't.

00:08:27.180 Get ready to pay an extra 20% tariff on autos

00:08:29.480 you sell to the United States.

00:08:30.680 So far, only the Chinese haven't bent the knee. 0.99

00:08:34.440 And that's because there are bigger arguments afoot

00:08:36.340 with the Chinese,

00:08:37.420 including their control of North Korea.

00:08:39.180 Donald Trump knows that China

00:08:40.380 is his strategic competitor.

00:08:42.080 My point is,

00:08:42.860 Donald Trump's embrace of tariffs

00:08:44.520 is only as a weapon.

00:08:46.300 It's a means to an end.

00:08:47.640 A way to get fairer free trade

00:08:51.620 than the unilateral declaration of free trade

00:08:54.060 that Hong Kong had done

00:08:55.640 that Milton Friedman would say we should do.

00:08:58.820 And you know what?

00:08:59.600 It's realigning American politics.

00:09:01.120 And it started on his first day in office,

00:09:03.680 right after his inauguration.

00:09:05.120 Do you remember this?

00:09:05.760 When the president laid out his plans

00:09:07.760 about how he's going to handle trade,

00:09:10.420 how he's going to invest in our infrastructure,

00:09:12.400 and how he's going to level a playing field

00:09:13.720 for construction workers

00:09:14.680 and all Americans across this country,

00:09:16.620 and then took the time

00:09:18.180 to take everyone into the Oval Office

00:09:20.500 and show them the seat of power in the world,

00:09:23.920 the respect that the president of the United States

00:09:25.700 just showed us,

00:09:27.040 and when he shows it to us,

00:09:28.100 he shows that the 3 million of our members

00:09:29.900 in the United States

00:09:31.540 was nothing short of incredible.

00:09:33.480 And we will work with him and his administration

00:09:36.500 to help him implement his plans

00:09:38.940 on infrastructure, trade, and energy policy

00:09:42.340 so that we really do put America back to work

00:09:45.640 in the middle-class jobs

00:09:47.040 that our members and all Americans are demanding.

00:09:49.360 Thank you very much.

00:09:50.780 Those guys were all Democrats until that day.

00:09:55.580 Yeah, Donald Trump is doing

00:09:56.480 what no Canadian liberal or NDP

00:09:58.560 and what no U.S. Democrat has done in decades.

00:10:01.400 He's actually fighting for working men, 0.96

00:10:04.460 actually venerating and praising heavy industry.

00:10:08.360 He likes smokestacks,

00:10:10.080 and he don't care who knows.

00:10:11.840 In Canada, we're shutting down

00:10:13.860 perfectly fine power plants.

00:10:15.560 We're banning pipelines.

00:10:17.020 We're de-investing from infrastructure,

00:10:19.820 from the oil sands.

00:10:20.740 In America, they can't build fast enough.

00:10:22.620 4.2% GDP growth last quarter.

00:10:25.980 That's staggering.

00:10:26.760 Who would have thunk it?

00:10:29.260 A billionaire property developer

00:10:31.260 is the best friend the working man

00:10:34.080 has had in a generation.

00:10:36.940 Stay with us for more

00:10:37.980 on our special Labor Day show

00:10:39.300 with Catherine Swift.

00:10:40.800 Welcome back.

00:10:58.340 Well, on this Labor Day,

00:10:59.860 who better to talk with

00:11:01.040 about the state of labor in Canada

00:11:02.820 and the United States

00:11:04.080 than our friend Catherine Swift.

00:11:05.480 She's a representative of a group

00:11:07.120 called Working Canadians. 0.55

00:11:08.580 Great to see you again, Catherine.

00:11:09.560 Nice to be here, Ezra.

00:11:11.760 I want to talk to you

00:11:12.520 about a few different things about labor

00:11:14.400 because Donald Trump has changed

00:11:16.120 a little bit of how I think

00:11:17.980 of the labor movement.

00:11:19.820 He has, he's a billionaire.

00:11:22.240 I mean, he's a fancy,

00:11:23.520 gold-encrusted, you know,

00:11:26.120 casino and developer tycoon,

00:11:28.980 but he has a blue-collar sensibility.

00:11:31.380 And it's my view

00:11:32.600 that one of the reasons he won

00:11:34.460 is because he appealed

00:11:36.340 to those working-class men

00:11:37.920 who used to be the base

00:11:40.460 of the Democrats in the states

00:11:41.900 and the NDP in Canada,

00:11:43.840 but who have been forsaken

00:11:45.240 by the Democrats and the NDP

00:11:46.800 in favor of fancy activists

00:11:49.360 and professor types.

00:11:50.800 So I think Donald Trump

00:11:52.440 is grafting on

00:11:54.340 to the blue-collar working,

00:11:56.500 you know, class.

00:11:58.640 Democrats and the new parties

00:12:03.100 of the left are more

00:12:03.920 about extreme, you know,

00:12:06.100 identity politics.

00:12:07.000 That's my theory.

00:12:08.120 What do you think of that?

00:12:09.780 Oh, yeah, I think that has

00:12:10.960 a fair bit to be said for it.

00:12:13.180 There's no doubt his position

00:12:14.600 on a lot of trade issues

00:12:15.820 about jobs having, you know,

00:12:17.700 those traditional jobs

00:12:18.820 having gone elsewhere

00:12:19.740 to the Third World,

00:12:20.940 to China, you know, et cetera,

00:12:22.920 was certainly part of his appeal

00:12:24.740 to that constituency.

00:12:25.880 I do, however, think,

00:12:28.340 and it's interesting,

00:12:29.560 you say the new left,

00:12:30.800 whatever they've managed to,

00:12:32.580 whatever they've managed

00:12:33.860 to look like these days.

00:12:35.380 I don't know that the unions

00:12:37.120 have a lot to do

00:12:38.180 with that traditional

00:12:39.440 working-class base anymore.

00:12:41.240 They did back in their inception,

00:12:44.200 you know, 150 or whatever years ago.

00:12:46.720 But it's very interesting

00:12:48.400 because when you even look

00:12:49.720 at where unions are at these days,

00:12:52.340 they don't seem to represent

00:12:54.540 the average working person.

00:12:56.360 They represent elites.

00:12:57.940 They represent government workers

00:12:59.520 who, as we know,

00:13:00.940 make way more money

00:13:02.180 than they should

00:13:02.920 at the expense of the rest of us.

00:13:05.720 So I think you're absolutely right

00:13:07.240 in terms of that trend.

00:13:08.940 The question when we, I guess,

00:13:10.600 look at Labor Day coming up

00:13:12.120 is how do unions fit into all of this?

00:13:15.440 And I don't think they do,

00:13:17.440 certainly not like they used to.

00:13:18.780 Yeah, you're right to point out

00:13:20.640 the preponderance

00:13:21.380 of government unions.

00:13:22.520 I mean, the teachers unions

00:13:25.080 in both Canada

00:13:26.120 and the United States

00:13:26.980 are very dominant.

00:13:28.060 They're extremely active

00:13:29.660 in Democratic Party politics

00:13:31.940 and increasingly so

00:13:32.900 in Canadian politics too.

00:13:34.880 You know, in the last

00:13:35.420 federal election, 2015,

00:13:37.280 there was a registry

00:13:38.640 of all the so-called

00:13:40.340 third-party campaign groups

00:13:41.840 in the states.

00:13:42.480 They're called super PACs.

00:13:43.920 And that's basically

00:13:44.980 any organized campaign entity

00:13:47.120 that spent money

00:13:48.660 on the election.

00:13:49.340 There were more than 100

00:13:50.180 of these groups.

00:13:51.740 All but one were against

00:13:53.220 Stephen Harper.

00:13:54.200 Not that that would be

00:13:55.380 a surprise to you.

00:13:56.560 But so many of them

00:13:58.000 were teachers unions

00:13:59.340 and other government unions.

00:14:02.220 So they're very active

00:14:04.820 to shore up their own base.

00:14:06.980 I saw a statistic

00:14:07.940 from the Fraser Institute

00:14:09.320 that points to Alberta,

00:14:11.660 which the NDP there is boasting

00:14:13.940 has job growth.

00:14:14.920 It's true,

00:14:16.420 tens of thousands

00:14:17.440 of new jobs,

00:14:18.380 but they're all

00:14:19.180 public sector jobs.

00:14:20.880 The private sector

00:14:21.920 in Alberta

00:14:22.360 is still shrinking.

00:14:24.060 That's, I think,

00:14:25.360 the difference,

00:14:25.960 is Donald Trump

00:14:26.540 is reaching out

00:14:27.320 to private sector

00:14:29.480 union workers,

00:14:30.820 whether it's the Teamsters

00:14:31.940 or the Steelworkers

00:14:33.340 or the Autoworkers,

00:14:35.180 whereas in Canada especially,

00:14:36.980 and the Democrats,

00:14:38.140 they're in love

00:14:38.740 with the government

00:14:39.580 workers unions.

00:14:40.560 Is that it?

00:14:41.120 I'm just trying to come

00:14:42.000 to terms with where

00:14:43.140 unions are in 2018.

00:14:45.700 Well, when you compare

00:14:46.680 Canada to the U.S.

00:14:47.700 too,

00:14:48.060 the situation,

00:14:49.340 the legislative framework

00:14:50.380 and so on,

00:14:51.620 the legal framework,

00:14:52.540 is so, so very different.

00:14:54.460 In the U.S.,

00:14:55.200 the latest statistics

00:14:56.120 I've looked at

00:14:57.480 showed that in the private sector,

00:14:59.980 about 7% of workers

00:15:02.000 are unionized in the U.S.,

00:15:03.480 seven.

00:15:04.020 In Canada,

00:15:05.160 it's about double that,

00:15:06.340 14.

00:15:06.960 Still not huge

00:15:08.020 by any stretch.

00:15:08.800 And when you consider

00:15:09.440 that that number

00:15:10.120 was about 30%

00:15:11.200 back in the 1970s,

00:15:12.660 you know,

00:15:13.040 it's dropped precipitously.

00:15:14.460 But even more so

00:15:16.040 in the U.S.

00:15:17.160 So, I mean,

00:15:18.280 yeah, unions are part

00:15:19.480 of Trump's base.

00:15:20.560 But I think you've got

00:15:21.400 a lot of non-union

00:15:22.620 working, you know,

00:15:23.640 working class people

00:15:24.580 that are also very

00:15:25.740 supportive of him.

00:15:26.580 And of course,

00:15:27.020 that's where the big numbers

00:15:27.880 are from a vote standpoint.

00:15:30.180 But in Canada,

00:15:31.240 first of all,

00:15:32.280 unions in Canada

00:15:33.220 are basically a license

00:15:34.880 to extort

00:15:35.920 taxpayers

00:15:37.160 and other Canadians.

00:15:38.800 When we look at,

00:15:39.580 again,

00:15:40.380 talking about statistics,

00:15:42.640 in roughly

00:15:43.640 20 to 22%

00:15:45.300 of Canadians

00:15:46.020 work for government.

00:15:47.380 But when we look

00:15:48.120 at the total number

00:15:49.200 of unionized Canadians,

00:15:51.200 60% of them

00:15:52.840 work for government.

00:15:54.220 In other words,

00:15:55.000 the majority

00:15:55.680 of union workers

00:15:56.800 are government.

00:15:57.740 And they have

00:15:58.240 way too much money

00:15:59.340 instead of,

00:16:00.360 I mean,

00:16:00.540 I look at these teachers

00:16:01.360 here in Ontario

00:16:02.180 and they're wacky elsewhere

00:16:03.720 in the country too.

00:16:04.860 You know,

00:16:05.120 they're all annoyed

00:16:05.880 because their preferred

00:16:06.980 leftist government

00:16:08.400 didn't get elected

00:16:09.200 to continue to give them

00:16:10.500 more of our money.

00:16:11.680 So they're all up in arms.

00:16:13.660 Why don't they,

00:16:14.440 meanwhile,

00:16:15.000 half of grade six students

00:16:16.200 are failing math.

00:16:18.060 Let's focus on

00:16:19.100 some education here,

00:16:20.180 people.

00:16:20.920 When unions get

00:16:21.940 into these workplaces,

00:16:23.140 particularly government,

00:16:24.060 which has typically

00:16:24.980 no competition,

00:16:25.940 so there's no checks

00:16:26.660 and balances

00:16:27.180 on the union's,

00:16:28.460 you know,

00:16:29.120 power,

00:16:30.300 we see an erosion

00:16:32.020 of standards,

00:16:33.220 whether it's

00:16:33.640 a government department,

00:16:34.740 whether it's

00:16:35.340 education,

00:16:36.080 health care,

00:16:36.800 or a business,

00:16:38.180 because they're suddenly

00:16:39.120 focusing on political

00:16:40.200 agendas,

00:16:41.080 not the bottom line

00:16:42.940 of that particular

00:16:43.840 company or

00:16:45.300 that particular,

00:16:46.460 say,

00:16:46.720 our education system

00:16:47.720 or whatever.

00:16:48.440 So it's,

00:16:49.340 something's got to give here

00:16:50.960 and yet our courts

00:16:51.880 are,

00:16:52.820 and I'm sure you know

00:16:53.460 this is a lawyer,

00:16:54.240 Ezra,

00:16:54.520 our courts continue

00:16:55.700 to back up

00:16:56.900 the unions

00:16:57.580 against the vast majority

00:16:59.220 of Canadians' interests,

00:17:00.780 which continues

00:17:01.480 to befuddle me.

00:17:03.400 Yeah,

00:17:03.820 you know,

00:17:04.200 it's funny,

00:17:04.840 I was just thinking,

00:17:06.120 in the private sector,

00:17:07.840 there's two dynamics

00:17:09.400 at play with unions

00:17:10.860 that aren't there

00:17:11.500 in the public sector.

00:17:12.520 First of all,

00:17:13.600 it is possible

00:17:14.600 for a union

00:17:15.520 to kill a private sector

00:17:17.660 company.

00:17:18.560 Oh,

00:17:18.780 it happens all the time.

00:17:20.120 I'd have to check

00:17:20.300 the facts,

00:17:20.480 but I think

00:17:20.720 the Caterpillar plant

00:17:22.000 in London,

00:17:22.580 Ontario,

00:17:23.280 without going back

00:17:24.340 and briefing myself

00:17:25.340 on the details,

00:17:26.520 I think that that's,

00:17:27.540 that was one

00:17:28.060 of the problems there.

00:17:28.680 So the union

00:17:30.240 is restrained

00:17:31.780 somewhat

00:17:32.320 because they know

00:17:34.220 that the company

00:17:35.380 is mortal.

00:17:37.360 And on the other hand,

00:17:38.360 the company,

00:17:39.800 the managers,

00:17:41.080 the owners of the company

00:17:41.940 that's negotiating

00:17:42.580 with the union,

00:17:43.540 they are limited

00:17:44.400 by, again,

00:17:45.340 their own mortality.

00:17:46.680 Whereas in the government sector,

00:17:48.880 the unions know

00:17:49.940 they can bring out

00:17:51.520 as much as possible

00:17:52.360 from the government

00:17:52.880 and they're not going

00:17:53.440 to kill the host.

00:17:54.580 and the politicians

00:17:56.080 are spending

00:17:56.520 other people's money.

00:17:58.000 And really,

00:17:58.640 it comes to the point

00:17:59.560 where they would rather

00:18:00.280 buy political peace

00:18:01.820 to pave the way

00:18:03.040 for, let's say,

00:18:03.800 another election

00:18:04.740 than fight over

00:18:06.880 outlandish wages

00:18:09.000 or other benefits

00:18:09.920 for government sector workers.

00:18:11.360 So it's sort of

00:18:12.740 what they would call

00:18:13.860 a moral hazard

00:18:15.560 in that

00:18:16.560 there's no natural check

00:18:18.720 on the government

00:18:19.940 in their negotiations.

00:18:21.220 Of course,

00:18:21.540 the most extreme example

00:18:23.020 of that is when

00:18:23.640 a teacher's union

00:18:24.380 rep runs

00:18:26.200 and becomes elected

00:18:27.640 to the school board.

00:18:28.620 So you have the same

00:18:29.580 interests on both sides

00:18:31.220 of the bargaining table.

00:18:32.140 I think that there's

00:18:33.380 a real problem

00:18:34.100 with government unions

00:18:35.040 because of that

00:18:35.860 moral hazard

00:18:36.620 or another way

00:18:37.420 of putting it

00:18:37.800 in a conflict of interest.

00:18:39.620 Well, no question.

00:18:40.640 And, of course,

00:18:41.500 the thinking

00:18:42.020 a number of decades ago

00:18:43.360 was that there was

00:18:44.040 absolutely no place

00:18:44.760 for unions in government

00:18:45.680 for precisely that reason.

00:18:47.660 And then in the 1960s,

00:18:49.080 we saw, you know,

00:18:50.020 political pressure

00:18:50.860 by unions.

00:18:51.480 Naturally,

00:18:51.980 they saw how they could

00:18:53.260 manage to extract

00:18:54.500 massive amounts of money

00:18:55.920 from the rest of us.

00:18:57.080 And they succeeded

00:18:58.080 in convincing

00:18:58.720 it was Pearson in Canada.

00:18:59.960 It was Kennedy

00:19:00.560 in the U.S.

00:19:01.180 in the 60s

00:19:01.840 that permitted

00:19:02.620 widespread unionization

00:19:04.280 of government.

00:19:05.480 And we know

00:19:05.980 what the ultimate,

00:19:07.020 you know,

00:19:07.400 what the ultimate

00:19:07.980 outcome is.

00:19:09.660 I always try

00:19:10.660 to look for solutions.

00:19:12.160 And obviously,

00:19:13.260 one solution

00:19:13.860 is Canadians

00:19:15.400 do not vote

00:19:16.400 for governments

00:19:17.400 that kowtow 1.00

00:19:18.360 to unions.

00:19:19.640 Trudeau

00:19:20.000 was a classic example.

00:19:21.580 He's got somebody

00:19:22.260 like Jerry Diaz

00:19:23.340 on his negotiating team

00:19:24.780 for NAFTA,

00:19:25.900 which befuddles,

00:19:27.820 you know,

00:19:28.080 that boggles the mind

00:19:29.240 that someone

00:19:30.920 from an auto union

00:19:32.560 would be

00:19:33.220 on the government

00:19:34.580 negotiating team

00:19:35.740 in this kind

00:19:37.180 of situation.

00:19:37.960 Of course,

00:19:38.240 we've seen

00:19:38.620 the abject failure

00:19:39.440 that's been to date.

00:19:40.560 So I guess

00:19:41.020 we'll all stay tuned

00:19:41.780 for the next few days.

00:19:43.080 But the government,

00:19:45.000 I think you have

00:19:45.560 to start with government.

00:19:46.400 We look at what

00:19:46.740 they did in Wisconsin.

00:19:48.040 Government Scott Walker

00:19:48.940 came in.

00:19:50.100 He stopped collecting dues.

00:19:52.200 As the employer,

00:19:53.300 he stopped collecting dues

00:19:54.760 for government employees.

00:19:57.280 All of a sudden,

00:19:57.960 their revenues plummeted

00:19:58.860 by about 70%.

00:20:00.420 So, you know,

00:20:02.960 you've got

00:20:03.800 your solutions here.

00:20:05.220 Ultimately,

00:20:05.820 though,

00:20:05.940 I think it's public opinion

00:20:07.040 that needs

00:20:08.040 to be influenced.

00:20:08.980 People,

00:20:09.320 your average person

00:20:10.240 has to realize

00:20:11.300 how much more

00:20:12.060 they are paying,

00:20:13.060 how much more

00:20:13.660 their life

00:20:14.540 is negatively affected

00:20:15.780 by the fact

00:20:16.860 that government employees,

00:20:18.060 for example,

00:20:18.540 earn way more money

00:20:19.560 than their counterpart

00:20:20.820 in the private sector,

00:20:21.920 have much richer pensions,

00:20:23.320 goodies,

00:20:23.760 you know,

00:20:23.940 benefits,

00:20:24.400 and so on and so forth.

00:20:25.800 And this has an impact

00:20:26.840 on every average

00:20:27.940 taxpayer's life.

00:20:29.060 And it's not a good impact.

00:20:30.900 You mentioned Jerry Diaz.

00:20:32.460 It's a very curious thing.

00:20:34.640 I mean,

00:20:35.040 he and so many others

00:20:36.720 within the orbit

00:20:37.480 of Canada's

00:20:38.580 federal liberals,

00:20:40.140 although he's traditionally,

00:20:41.460 I don't think,

00:20:42.040 a liberal.

00:20:42.560 I mean,

00:20:42.700 although the unions

00:20:43.960 have backed

00:20:44.640 the liberals lately,

00:20:45.640 so many of them

00:20:47.360 are unrestrained

00:20:49.180 Trump derangement

00:20:50.760 syndrome types.

00:20:51.580 They're part of

00:20:51.880 the resistance.

00:20:53.080 I find that,

00:20:54.200 I mean,

00:20:54.480 that's a fine position

00:20:55.320 to take.

00:20:55.740 I disagree with it.

00:20:56.420 I'm a supporter of Trump.

00:20:57.760 But the extreme expression

00:20:59.620 of personal

00:21:01.660 viciousness towards Trump,

00:21:03.960 and again,

00:21:04.220 that's fair game

00:21:05.540 for a politician,

00:21:07.420 for a private citizen.

00:21:08.340 But if you're part

00:21:09.020 of a negotiating team,

00:21:10.980 if you're on

00:21:12.180 Justin Trudeau's

00:21:12.940 official NAFTA

00:21:14.500 advisory council

00:21:16.080 and you just can't

00:21:17.300 stop spitting bullets

00:21:18.540 at Trump,

00:21:19.680 that's,

00:21:20.760 I think that's been

00:21:21.780 part of the problem here

00:21:22.680 is the animosity

00:21:24.040 directed towards

00:21:24.840 Trump.

00:21:26.300 Ignored Canada

00:21:27.360 for a year,

00:21:28.660 didn't say a word

00:21:29.440 about Canada

00:21:30.080 while everyone

00:21:31.700 on the Canadian side

00:21:33.100 was disparaging him.

00:21:34.540 Let me show you

00:21:35.100 some,

00:21:35.740 some,

00:21:36.320 you know,

00:21:37.880 here's a column

00:21:38.440 by Jerry Diaz.

00:21:39.560 He's the president

00:21:40.320 of Unifor,

00:21:41.320 which has the auto union

00:21:42.920 within it.

00:21:44.280 This I don't even understand.

00:21:45.520 I'm just going to read

00:21:45.960 the headline to you,

00:21:47.280 Catherine.

00:21:48.480 So this is,

00:21:49.380 Jerry Diaz,

00:21:50.380 he's the president

00:21:51.080 of Unifor,

00:21:52.580 which absorbed

00:21:53.900 the Canadian auto workers.

00:21:55.460 The headline is,

00:21:57.140 Canada must say no

00:21:58.080 to NAFTA

00:21:58.720 and Donald Trump

00:22:00.180 if the price

00:22:01.440 is too high.

00:22:02.640 And then the sub-headline

00:22:03.920 is,

00:22:04.520 this renegotiation

00:22:05.860 was supposed to be

00:22:06.760 about addressing

00:22:07.380 what was wrong

00:22:08.360 with the original NAFTA,

00:22:09.280 not perpetuating

00:22:10.560 its shortcomings.

00:22:12.400 And I think we have

00:22:13.420 one more image

00:22:14.260 from Jerry Diaz.

00:22:16.360 This is,

00:22:17.060 this is incredible to me.

00:22:20.340 Canada must stick

00:22:22.380 the social justice principles

00:22:25.080 that have defined

00:22:27.000 this country's approach

00:22:27.840 to the NAFTA negotiation.

00:22:29.240 I'm in D.C.

00:22:30.100 as the talks resume

00:22:31.020 my column.

00:22:32.100 So that,

00:22:32.760 so he wrote this

00:22:33.580 just a couple days ago.

00:22:35.420 This is the weirdest

00:22:36.440 of them all,

00:22:37.060 Catherine,

00:22:37.320 because the first one

00:22:38.920 was saying

00:22:39.380 only get a good deal.

00:22:41.260 And I suppose

00:22:41.580 you can't really

00:22:42.240 disagree with that.

00:22:43.000 But here he puts

00:22:43.760 some meat on the bones.

00:22:44.500 He says,

00:22:44.900 keep to the social

00:22:46.380 justice principles.

00:22:47.720 That's the feminism. 1.00

00:22:49.340 That's the global warming-ism.

00:22:51.560 That's the aboriginal issues.

00:22:53.740 Those have been things

00:22:55.000 that have been deal breakers.

00:22:56.560 What I don't understand,

00:22:57.860 Catherine,

00:22:58.160 and it goes back

00:22:58.680 to our very first point

00:22:59.660 in our conversation,

00:23:00.460 how does that

00:23:02.120 possibly represent

00:23:03.540 grassroots rank-and-file

00:23:06.000 blue-collar workers,

00:23:06.880 especially those

00:23:07.520 in the Canadian auto industry?

00:23:09.100 If we don't get

00:23:09.620 a NAFTA deal,

00:23:10.840 Trump says he's going

00:23:11.560 to smash our auto industry

00:23:14.220 like a bowl of eggs.

00:23:16.360 How can the auto workers'

00:23:17.840 union say,

00:23:18.700 no, no, no,

00:23:19.680 don't take a deal

00:23:20.760 if we don't get

00:23:21.360 all the feminism we want? 1.00

00:23:23.300 Yeah, I know.

00:23:24.020 I find it unbelievable

00:23:25.360 because I can't imagine

00:23:27.060 that Diaz's objectives

00:23:29.000 would, you know,

00:23:29.800 presumably would be met

00:23:30.980 by such a position.

00:23:32.800 I think it's been

00:23:33.560 very well documented

00:23:34.520 that the Canadian

00:23:36.460 government officials

00:23:37.520 building in all of these

00:23:39.640 social justice,

00:23:40.620 whatever you want to call it,

00:23:41.900 objectives into a trade agreement

00:23:44.340 was a poison pill

00:23:47.800 right from the beginning.

00:23:49.200 And then, of course,

00:23:49.860 a number of,

00:23:50.400 it wasn't just Diaz

00:23:51.240 that was saying

00:23:51.800 very objectionable things

00:23:52.980 about the U.S.

00:23:53.720 I mean, it's one thing

00:23:54.880 to think them,

00:23:55.840 but when I see somebody

00:23:56.940 like Freeland,

00:23:57.900 you know,

00:23:58.220 Chrystia Freeland, 0.88

00:23:58.900 the minister involved,

00:23:59.800 doing speeches,

00:24:01.120 disparaging,

00:24:02.320 you know,

00:24:02.960 and yet she's supposed

00:24:04.220 to be a diplomat.

00:24:05.820 That, to me,

00:24:06.540 is the antithesis

00:24:07.440 of diplomacy.

00:24:09.560 And the stakes

00:24:10.800 are so high.

00:24:11.700 This is not an unimportant

00:24:12.800 issue for Canada.

00:24:13.760 Let's face it,

00:24:14.420 the stakes are extremely high.

00:24:15.920 So, yeah,

00:24:16.360 but, I mean,

00:24:16.840 Diaz is saying

00:24:18.100 basically things

00:24:19.220 that government ministers

00:24:20.720 are also seemingly saying

00:24:22.180 and how you expect

00:24:23.680 to win with that strategy.

00:24:25.120 Well, that's

00:24:26.140 very mysterious to me.

00:24:28.560 Well, and that's the thing.

00:24:29.360 I mean,

00:24:29.520 Chrystia Freeland, 0.88

00:24:30.240 I'm putting more

00:24:32.320 and more credence

00:24:32.940 in Stephen Harper's theory

00:24:34.340 that perhaps the liberals

00:24:35.740 don't want a deal.

00:24:37.000 They want a fight

00:24:38.380 so they can campaign

00:24:39.420 against Trump

00:24:40.460 in the 2019 election.

00:24:42.240 I disagree with that strategy.

00:24:43.500 I don't rule it out.

00:24:44.440 I think it's dangerous,

00:24:45.240 but you can understand it.

00:24:48.340 What I don't understand

00:24:49.440 is how that strategy,

00:24:51.400 which would lead

00:24:52.040 to Trump smashing

00:24:53.300 a 20, 25% tariff

00:24:55.480 on our cars.

00:24:56.020 I mean,

00:24:56.200 he specifically said

00:24:57.180 you add 20%

00:24:58.980 to the cost

00:24:59.860 of a car made in Canada,

00:25:01.400 you're not selling

00:25:02.260 any in America.

00:25:03.680 Like, you may as well

00:25:04.380 just say shut her down. 1.00

00:25:05.840 How on earth

00:25:07.380 does that even make sense

00:25:08.880 for Jerry Diaz?

00:25:10.060 My theory is

00:25:11.020 maybe Justin Trudeau

00:25:12.680 and Gerald Butts

00:25:13.860 have promised him

00:25:14.580 so many pro-labor

00:25:17.220 regulatory and legal reforms,

00:25:19.260 so many concessions,

00:25:20.380 so many other goodies

00:25:21.620 that he's willing

00:25:23.120 to sacrifice

00:25:24.380 the auto industry.

00:25:26.180 But even that

00:25:26.660 doesn't make sense

00:25:27.320 because what could possibly

00:25:28.300 be better for his members

00:25:30.520 than having tens

00:25:32.220 of thousands

00:25:32.720 of auto jobs?

00:25:33.980 I just,

00:25:34.600 that's what boggles my mind

00:25:35.880 and that's what makes me,

00:25:36.820 it leads me

00:25:37.260 to my original point.

00:25:38.400 How can Jerry Diaz

00:25:39.700 be putting feminism 0.99

00:25:41.080 ahead of auto industry

00:25:42.680 when he's the auto union boss?

00:25:44.480 I just don't understand

00:25:45.940 that part.

00:25:46.820 Can you help me, Catherine?

00:25:48.260 Well, no,

00:25:48.900 I don't think I can help you,

00:25:50.380 Ezra,

00:25:50.660 because I'm also

00:25:52.120 mystified by it.

00:25:54.140 Mind you,

00:25:54.840 Labour leaders

00:25:55.280 have sold out

00:25:55.920 the rank and file

00:25:56.620 many a time in the past,

00:25:57.960 so the notion

00:25:58.900 that they will always

00:25:59.820 do the best thing

00:26:00.500 for their members

00:26:01.080 has not been borne out

00:26:02.400 often in history.

00:26:04.980 But let's not forget,

00:26:06.740 though, unions generally,

00:26:08.420 they love monopolies,

00:26:09.700 they hate trade agreements,

00:26:11.520 they hate it,

00:26:12.100 I mean,

00:26:12.680 when the FTA

00:26:13.900 first,

00:26:14.560 a free trade agreement

00:26:15.380 in Mulroney's day

00:26:16.340 first,

00:26:17.240 you know,

00:26:17.880 first was even talked about,

00:26:20.060 the left opposed it vociferously,

00:26:22.220 you know,

00:26:22.420 can't oppose the border,

00:26:23.440 the whole country's

00:26:24.020 going to fall apart,

00:26:24.780 of course,

00:26:25.040 nothing of the sort happened

00:26:26.040 and all the factual research

00:26:28.340 shows that trade

00:26:29.300 is ultimately

00:26:30.240 a winner for everyone.

00:26:31.500 Yes,

00:26:31.680 there's transitions

00:26:32.360 and so on

00:26:33.060 and you can't

00:26:33.820 underestimate them.

00:26:35.000 But I really wonder

00:26:37.800 whether they would mind,

00:26:38.600 I mean,

00:26:38.840 mind you,

00:26:39.420 that unwinding,

00:26:40.740 that unscrambling

00:26:41.360 of the omelette

00:26:41.960 in the auto industry

00:26:42.700 would be exceedingly difficult

00:26:43.980 because as you know,

00:26:45.240 a given vehicle

00:26:46.180 could cross a border

00:26:47.240 several times

00:26:48.140 in its manufacture

00:26:49.040 and has chunks of it

00:26:50.480 coming from,

00:26:51.240 you know,

00:26:51.520 various countries

00:26:52.340 around the world,

00:26:53.080 including the three

00:26:54.200 NAFTA partners.

00:26:55.420 So,

00:26:55.880 it would be an awfully,

00:26:57.400 awfully complex situation.

00:26:58.720 But like you say,

00:26:59.720 why would somebody

00:27:00.420 take such a contrarian position

00:27:02.140 that would seemingly

00:27:03.280 have the end game

00:27:04.860 of hurting their industry badly?

00:27:06.240 There has to be something

00:27:07.600 else at play here.

00:27:08.520 I can't believe

00:27:09.040 there's not something

00:27:09.820 we don't know about.

00:27:10.960 And that's a big worry.

00:27:12.100 Yeah.

00:27:12.340 Because again,

00:27:13.100 unions are already,

00:27:14.000 unions have the catbird seat

00:27:15.860 in Canada compared

00:27:16.700 to other developed countries

00:27:17.800 around the world.

00:27:18.800 Forced dues,

00:27:20.240 you know,

00:27:21.700 rolling in money

00:27:22.800 that they don't even collect.

00:27:24.180 They don't even have to have

00:27:25.080 the machinery in place

00:27:27.060 to collect those dues

00:27:28.040 and so on.

00:27:29.320 We really need,

00:27:30.400 if any other group

00:27:31.440 had the power

00:27:32.080 to extort

00:27:32.940 their fellow citizens

00:27:34.320 that unions do,

00:27:35.480 they'd be in the courts

00:27:36.340 or they'd be in jail.

00:27:37.440 Why do we give that to unions? 0.95

00:27:39.260 It is outrageous

00:27:40.220 and has to end.

00:27:41.620 Yeah.

00:27:41.980 I got one more question

00:27:43.480 and it's in the same vein.

00:27:45.240 And,

00:27:45.740 you know,

00:27:47.820 over the last year or two,

00:27:50.360 Rachel Notley's attacks

00:27:52.220 on the oil industry

00:27:53.480 combined with

00:27:54.200 Justin Trudeau's attacks

00:27:55.340 on the oil industry

00:27:56.180 have caused the flight

00:27:58.760 of $100 billion

00:28:01.320 of investment.

00:28:02.480 and we can name them,

00:28:03.620 $15.7 billion

00:28:04.720 for the Energy East pipeline

00:28:06.240 that was canceled

00:28:07.380 because Justin Trudeau

00:28:08.520 demanded

00:28:09.080 new emissions analysis

00:28:12.580 for the oil

00:28:13.320 that would go through it,

00:28:14.120 like something

00:28:14.460 that has never been done before.

00:28:16.040 It would be a standard

00:28:17.060 that wouldn't be applied

00:28:17.980 to Saudi oil,

00:28:18.820 for example.

00:28:19.460 $15.7 billion there.

00:28:21.440 I think that

00:28:22.460 the Kinder Morgan

00:28:24.960 Trans Mountain pipeline,

00:28:26.260 which the Court of Appeal

00:28:27.180 is now stalling

00:28:28.660 perhaps permanently,

00:28:29.520 that's $7.5 billion

00:28:30.960 for the new one.

00:28:31.700 The Northern Gateway Pipeline,

00:28:33.880 that was over $10 billion.

00:28:35.200 You look at

00:28:35.880 some of the oil sands plants

00:28:37.400 fleeing,

00:28:38.000 you really are up to

00:28:39.200 $100 billion

00:28:39.980 when you add in the LNG

00:28:41.580 that walked away.

00:28:44.260 Not all of those

00:28:45.200 are union projects.

00:28:46.280 Some of them have both

00:28:46.980 union and non-union workers.

00:28:49.120 But to see

00:28:49.900 $100 billion

00:28:51.460 in construction,

00:28:53.360 that's just the construction.

00:28:54.540 That's not even...

00:28:55.740 And without a peep

00:28:56.920 from the...

00:28:58.040 Like, I think the

00:28:58.640 Building Trades Union

00:28:59.540 spoke out meekly.

00:29:01.580 But surely anyone

00:29:03.220 who makes steel,

00:29:04.220 drives a truck,

00:29:05.580 builds stuff.

00:29:07.680 How could we have seen

00:29:09.100 $100 billion

00:29:10.420 in construction

00:29:12.560 flee this country

00:29:13.960 without a word

00:29:15.360 from the unions?

00:29:16.540 In fact,

00:29:16.860 I wish it was

00:29:17.420 without a word.

00:29:18.220 The words they've been saying

00:29:19.440 are global warming,

00:29:21.060 carbon tax.

00:29:22.220 And again,

00:29:22.820 it's like Jerry Diaz.

00:29:24.860 It looks like

00:29:25.700 he's campaigning

00:29:26.300 against his own

00:29:26.940 members' interests.

00:29:28.140 Where were all

00:29:28.980 the building unions

00:29:29.920 saying,

00:29:30.800 we need this

00:29:31.360 $15 billion

00:29:32.220 shovel-ready jobs

00:29:33.440 project called

00:29:34.200 Energy East?

00:29:35.080 That boggles my mind.

00:29:36.940 If they won't even

00:29:37.700 stand up for themselves,

00:29:38.840 maybe it's no surprise

00:29:40.120 that no one else will.

00:29:41.960 Well, exactly.

00:29:42.920 And then this disconnect

00:29:43.720 between the actual members

00:29:44.920 who presumably want jobs

00:29:46.280 and the union leaders

00:29:48.020 has been happening

00:29:49.480 for some time

00:29:50.320 as the union leaders

00:29:51.560 have become

00:29:52.160 more and more politicized,

00:29:53.620 more and more interested

00:29:54.480 seemingly in getting

00:29:55.780 a sympathetic government

00:29:56.720 elected,

00:29:57.540 whether it's federally,

00:29:58.360 provincially,

00:29:59.080 or even municipally

00:29:59.940 for that matter,

00:30:00.860 rather than actually

00:30:01.940 furthering the interest.

00:30:03.160 And this has to be a problem.

00:30:05.220 I mean, again,

00:30:06.080 unionization in the private sector,

00:30:07.640 even in good old Canada,

00:30:09.540 which, you know,

00:30:10.220 hands over privileges

00:30:11.080 to unions they don't

00:30:11.920 to anybody else,

00:30:13.000 you know,

00:30:13.220 it has dropped

00:30:13.720 so precipitously.

00:30:15.600 And this is part

00:30:16.860 of the cause too,

00:30:17.560 though, Ezra,

00:30:18.080 when you have

00:30:18.720 government unions

00:30:19.460 in the ascendancy

00:30:20.600 in the union movement

00:30:22.100 in general,

00:30:23.100 this is also

00:30:23.900 one of the outcomes

00:30:24.920 that you end up getting

00:30:25.860 is that, you know,

00:30:27.160 they don't seem

00:30:27.820 to realize,

00:30:28.420 mind you,

00:30:28.800 that if you do

00:30:29.360 demolish the private sector,

00:30:30.960 ultimately government

00:30:31.820 will suffer too.

00:30:33.080 Maybe not as quickly,

00:30:34.500 but, I mean,

00:30:35.220 we all know what happened.

00:30:36.160 I like to call it

00:30:36.740 the Grecian formula.

00:30:37.880 You know,

00:30:38.060 we all know what happened

00:30:39.160 in other countries

00:30:40.280 when the government

00:30:41.180 got too big,

00:30:41.960 too fat,

00:30:42.800 killed the private sector,

00:30:44.100 and ultimately

00:30:45.560 couldn't pay for itself

00:30:46.680 because, naturally,

00:30:47.420 governments are

00:30:47.920 never self-sustaining.

00:30:48.880 So, I think a real

00:30:50.580 shakeout has yet

00:30:51.720 to happen,

00:30:52.640 but again,

00:30:53.600 public opinion

00:30:54.140 has to be the first

00:30:54.880 thing that moves

00:30:55.640 and it's starting

00:30:56.360 to move,

00:30:57.180 but people have

00:30:57.800 to realize

00:30:58.220 that these unions

00:30:58.900 don't represent

00:30:59.500 their interests anymore

00:31:00.480 and this is yet

00:31:01.420 one more example.

00:31:03.180 And we've been lucky

00:31:03.740 in Canada.

00:31:04.340 I mean,

00:31:04.760 you know,

00:31:05.140 a lot gets forgiven

00:31:06.260 when the economy

00:31:06.900 is not bad

00:31:07.660 and right now

00:31:08.340 the U.S.

00:31:08.800 is doing well.

00:31:09.660 Some of that,

00:31:10.160 not as much as usual,

00:31:11.320 mind you,

00:31:11.660 but some of that

00:31:12.380 does filter over

00:31:13.660 into Canada.

00:31:14.940 In general,

00:31:15.880 around the world

00:31:16.460 right now,

00:31:16.940 we're in a growth

00:31:17.860 part of the business cycle.

00:31:19.820 But in Canada,

00:31:20.720 we've predicated

00:31:21.420 that on huge debt,

00:31:23.020 increases in taxes,

00:31:25.080 and massive,

00:31:26.100 massive run-up

00:31:27.720 of deficits

00:31:28.180 and, of course,

00:31:28.780 all of this

00:31:29.220 is going to bite

00:31:29.800 really hard

00:31:30.660 when the next

00:31:31.280 recession hits.

00:31:32.560 And when that happens,

00:31:34.400 and it'll be

00:31:34.840 very interesting timing

00:31:35.960 around next year's election

00:31:37.140 because if we do see,

00:31:39.300 and we're seeing

00:31:39.700 a slowing now,

00:31:40.480 we're seeing a slowing,

00:31:41.200 but we're not really

00:31:41.820 seeing, like,

00:31:42.580 massive job loss

00:31:43.460 so people are,

00:31:44.320 you know,

00:31:44.580 starting to shake

00:31:45.200 their heads and go,

00:31:46.020 whoa, you know,

00:31:46.800 the government

00:31:47.140 isn't helping me.

00:31:48.400 But at whatever timing

00:31:49.780 that may or may not happen

00:31:51.100 is going to be,

00:31:52.020 I think,

00:31:52.400 a huge factor

00:31:53.120 for the next election.

00:31:54.960 Yeah.

00:31:55.620 Well, very interesting stuff,

00:31:57.080 and I just can't get over

00:31:57.880 the fact that

00:31:59.120 blue-collar,

00:32:00.800 working-class,

00:32:02.100 industrial workers

00:32:03.240 are doing,

00:32:04.860 are thriving

00:32:05.560 under a billionaire

00:32:07.420 Republican president

00:32:09.340 while we're

00:32:10.880 destroying,

00:32:12.740 evaporating,

00:32:14.020 canceling,

00:32:14.740 canceling

00:32:15.460 hundreds of billions

00:32:16.800 of dollars

00:32:17.260 in private sector

00:32:18.300 construction.

00:32:19.060 It's something

00:32:19.360 I just will never

00:32:20.000 understand.

00:32:20.480 Catherine Swift,

00:32:21.200 what a pleasure

00:32:21.800 to spend some

00:32:22.940 of our Labor Day

00:32:23.500 special with you today.

00:32:25.340 Thank you, Ezra.

00:32:26.080 All right,

00:32:26.500 there you have it.

00:32:28.080 Well,

00:32:28.460 that's today's show

00:32:29.940 on this special edition.

00:32:31.960 Until next time,

00:32:32.840 on behalf of all of us

00:32:34.180 here at the Rebel World

00:32:35.040 headquarters,

00:32:36.120 good night,

00:32:37.240 and keep fighting

00:32:37.880 for free.

00:32:38.320 you

Rebel News Podcast - September 04, 2018

Labour Day SPECIAL： How Trump changed my mind about unions and tariffs

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