Exclusive Interview w MP Michael Barrett on Why Parliament Shut Down to Focus on Liberal Corruption
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Summary
Shadow Minister for Ethics and Government Accountability, Michael Barrett, joins us to discuss the ongoing scandal involving the Green Slush Fund, a $400 million slush fund that has been accused of misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.
Transcript
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Hi, welcome back to another episode of Stand on Guard.
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the key conservative shadow minister for ethics and government accountability.
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He's the member of parliament for Leeds, Grenville, Thousand Islands.
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We'll be right back, though, with what promises to be a very exciting...
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So we are in a very precarious position in this country.
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We need political change, but we also need to resolve to resist.
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So, MP Michael Barrett is going to join us, and here he is now.
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It's so nice to have you on the show this morning.
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Well, a lot of Canadians and a lot of my viewers are extremely interested in what's going on right now,
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And it's been widely unreported by the mainstream media.
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I can tell you I've seen maybe two or three credible accounts of what's going on.
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And I wonder if you could just walk us through briefly, of course, what precipitated this
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in terms of how bad is this sustainable development technology Canada,
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How bad is it in terms of wasting taxpayer dollars?
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And if you could take us into Speaker Greg Fergus's ruling, I think it was September 26th,
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where he said that these unredacted documents should be sent to the RCMP
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because the House of Commons voted in favor of that.
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The real fine point on this is that Parliament is seized by liberal corruption right now.
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So no government bills were debated for all of last week.
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The same looks like it will be the case this week, unless that is, of course,
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the Liberals hand over the documents in the scandal that you mentioned,
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this billion-dollar Green Slush Fund, to the RCMP.
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Now, the RCMP are going to have the opportunity to consider, as they would with any documents
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that are turned over to them, whether or not they've launched an investigation.
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But over the weekend, we learned that they have, in fact, started an investigation
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and haven't received the unredacted documents that are at the heart of this scandal.
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The last, you know, conservatives have been spending this last session,
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really trying to peel back this Sustainable Development Technology Canada mess.
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This fund has been around since the early 2000s.
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And under conservatives, it received a clean bill of health from Canada's Auditor General in 2017.
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But after the Liberals got into it, they handpicked a chair, a Liberal-friendly chair.
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And then the conflicts of interest started rolling,
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where we see that this is tens of millions of dollars being handed out inappropriately.
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It's a $400 million scandal, essentially, with well over, you know, 180 conflicts
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at the heart of these funds being misappropriated, allocated outside of the contribution agreement.
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Now, to give a really clear example, the chair of the board voted on a motion
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to give her own company tens of thousands of dollars in a single instance,
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and then did it again and was found, of course, to have broken the Conflict of Interest Act
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by Canada's Ethics Commissioner, a majority of members in the House of Commons
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passed a motion that the government hand over all of the unredacted documents to the RCMP.
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They've defied a lawful order of Canada's Parliament,
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an order made by the majority of democratically elected members in the House.
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This is, it's not surprising from Justin Trudeau,
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someone who himself has twice been convicted of breaking Canada's ethics laws,
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along with some of his front bench ministerial counterparts.
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But it is, of course, something that should be causing Canadians great trouble,
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because this is the supreme authority in Canada is, you know, is the people.
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And when you have a majority of those members make a decision to exercise their authority lawfully,
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and in a case like this, to produce documents that go to the heart of a scandal involving the Liberal government,
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some people will remember the sponsorship scandal in the early 2000s that brought down the then Liberal government.
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Well, one of the senior Trudeau government officials who was caught on an audio recording
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by one of the whistleblowers in this billion-dollar green slush fund,
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he referred to this, one of the Trudeau officials referred to this as a sponsorship type of scandal.
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And we had to drag them kicking and screaming to get some accountability at that organization.
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And now they want to do everything they can to cover up what they knew,
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when they knew it, and how they helped their friends, insiders, get rich.
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So, Speaker Greg Fergus, and this shocked me, I must be frank about this,
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when he decided he ruled in your favor, he ruled with the House of Commons,
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he said the business of the government needs to stop so we can look.
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Essentially, he didn't say it this way, but really what he said was the House needs to look
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and contemplate the Trudeau government's corruption.
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We need to stop and look at these files and see what's going on.
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And since that decision has been made, there has been no regular business going on in the House of Commons.
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Now, you also mentioned, in terms of what needs to be examined here as government corruption,
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you specifically talked about, and I should mention,
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you are the shadow cabinet for ethics and government accountability.
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This is your responsibility, and you have the lead on this file.
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But in the House, you also brought up this incredible situation,
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which I've also talked about on this show and in writing in the past,
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about Employment Minister Randy Boissoneau, the Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre,
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who apparently seemed to be not only a cabinet minister but working for his lobby firm at the same time.
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Now, he has avoided any sort of real scrutiny over this.
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He continues to distract, to deflect whenever it's mentioned.
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Do you think this is another element that we need to consider very carefully?
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We've heard about the other Randy, his business partner who was clearly lying to committee,
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when he said, oh, yeah, the other Randy was this other guy working there,
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Is this another element to this story that needs to be carefully examined?
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Well, this is another extraordinary element of an extraordinary situation.
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So not only has the business of the House of Commons following Speaker Fergus's ruling
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ground to a halt while we deal with liberal corruption,
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the Speaker ruled on another question that I had put to him.
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And he has ruled in our favour, saying that there is what's called a prima facie case of privilege,
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that Randy Boissoneau's business partner, you know, he lied, he prevaricated,
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he didn't deliver documents that were lawfully ordered by a parliamentary committee.
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And so as soon as, so should the government turn over their green slush fund documents,
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you know, to turn our attention back to that for just a second,
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if they did that right now, well, that's exactly what we're looking for.
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But then the House commences debate on this issue dealing with
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Justin Trudeau's minister from Edmonton Centre, Randy Boissoneau,
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and this situation where he's directing his business from the cabinet table, allegedly,
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and this has been reported in media, the situation that kind of came to a head
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when there was this question of this $500,000 payment,
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that's the centre of a fraud allegation in this business that he owned a 50% share in
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Now, Randy Boissoneau came to committee, his business partner came to committee,
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and they said they didn't talk for all of 2022.
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But the, we ordered, the committee ordered the production of phone records,
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and in that first order, Randy Boissoneau didn't produce all of the information that was requested.
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We had to go back and get it again, and then he produced a different set of,
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or a supplemental offering to the ethics commissioner.
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And through these multiple disclosures, we learned that he had, in fact, been talking to this business partner
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when he said he hadn't talked to him for that full year.
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There was a text message exchange, there was a phone call,
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and it was exactly the same time that this business partner of his was talking about Randy,
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nine times in these text messages, said it was an autocorrect, said it was a different Randy,
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And the problem is that the allegation that's been made in some media is that if Randy Boissoneau is the Randy
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that's in these text messages, well, that would mean that he was directing the operation of a business
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that, in fact, went on to win federal government contract from Elections Canada
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while he was serving in cabinet, which, of course, is not permitted.
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We haven't been able to get the truth from Randy Boissoneau or from his business partner.
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So this is the next issue that will seize the House.
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Again, liberal corruption preventing any government business from going forward.
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Now, the Liberals want to talk about Conservatives obstructing the House.
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We're simply exposing the mess that Canadians are, frankly, living with
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after nine years of an NDP liberal government that is so interested in just helping insiders,
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helping their friends, helping their business partners, that they can't even get out of their own way
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to help Canadians who can barely afford to feed themselves.
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There's been a Teflon factor attached to Justin Trudeau and his government.
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He went through the SNC-Lavalin scandal by essentially throwing ministers under the bus,
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female ministries, mind you, which, of course, he's always supposedly defending the most.
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He got through he's gotten through personal scandals that would have brought anybody down,
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Do you think this is the moment in time that's going to bring down Justin Trudeau and this corrupt
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Look, we've put forward two confidence motions or motions of expressing our lack of confidence
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in the Trudeau government, and they received support propping Justin Trudeau up from the
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But I think that the weight of this is really starting to be felt by Canadians when you look
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And it was at a time when Canadians were lining up at food banks in record numbers.
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These liberal insiders were getting it's beyond sweetheart deals.
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They they were they were being given funds, taxpayer funds that they weren't entitled to,
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So there's there's now alleged criminality that's that's at play here.
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And it shouldn't have to come to this for Canadians to change their government, that there's
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allegations of, you know, of criminal wrongdoing.
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But this might be what it has to take, because it seems like after nine years, you know, you
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And and and any one of those is enough to make us, you know, embarrassed on the world
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But I think that, you know, conservatives are going to continue to put the pressure on and
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we're going to continue to demand these documents, because at the end of the day, Canadians need
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to have confidence in their democratic institutions.
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And that's so sorely lacking after Justin Trudeau and and his NDP government have been, you know,
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Well, the bloc seems to be wavering now in terms of any support they have for the Trudeau
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It depends whether it's Tuesday or Wednesday, but I could certainly see the NDP coming around
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to a non-conf supporting a non-confidence vote.
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And I and I really think Justin Trudeau might be waking up to that reality, too.
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Do you think the we're hearing a lot about him proroguing parliament?
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Do you think that's that's a desperation option he might actually try right now?
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Well, it's interesting because the last time Justin Trudeau prorogued parliament, there
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was another scandal, one that you mentioned, and that was the we scandal.
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And the committee that I was sitting on at the time, serving as the shadow minister for
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ethics and accountable government then as well.
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Uh, we had demanded the production of documents, uh, that, um, that spoke to the fees that had
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been paid to Justin Trudeau's mother and his brother, uh, for speaking at events for, for
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Uh, and in order to kill a, an order of the house at that time, the production of those
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documents, he was able to prorogue and that wiped the slate clean.
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Now, if Justin Trudeau, uh, wanted to do that before the 2021 election, while he triggered
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an election, and that of course killed the order for the production of the Winnipeg lab
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And now when we're looking for documents into, uh, into this billion dollar green slush fund
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with, uh, conflicts of interest that have been uncovered and, and, and adjudicated, ruled
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on by the conflict of interest commissioner, uh, the evidence is much of it is in the public
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domain, but now we need these redacted documents to go to the RCMP.
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Suddenly there's talk about him proroguing parliament again, because what happens that order of the
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house of commons would be wiped away with him proroguing.
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So it, it seems to be, uh, every time Justin Trudeau gets, uh, gets himself into hot water
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over the last couple of years, he pulls the fire alarm.
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And now we're hearing rumors that he's considering it again, but you know, look, if it's an attempt
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to discourage us from continuing to litigate these issues, um, he's, he's read us all wrong
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because we're unwavering in our commitment to get accountability.
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I, I guess there's a, some silver lining to proroguing because there are some horrible
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pieces of legislation in front of parliament right now that could likely pass with the
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There's others, uh, there's private members bill from, uh, Charlie Angus that's going
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to absolutely criminalize any promotion of the oil and gas industry, fossil fuel industry.
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So a lot of, a lot of folks are saying, well, at least we'll, we'll see this legislation
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And I really, really thank you for your, for your time today, Michael is why can't,
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why does the government house leader, who I really have no time for ever since she posed
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happily with a picture of a former Boffin SS soldier who she invited to the house of commons.
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But Karina Gould has said on numerous occasions that when the house of commons examines liberal
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corruption, it's somehow a violation of Canadians charter of rights.
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What, how does she possibly make that statement?
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No, this is a, this is, uh, absolute desperation from a government, a liberal government that's
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Um, they believe that the charter's there to protect, uh, liberals from, uh, accountability
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But really, um, the, the charter could be more accurately or, or more appropriately described
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as being there to, uh, protect, uh, Canadians, um, from a corrupt government, not to protect
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a corrupt government from, from the accountability that Canadians would bring to bear on it.
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So they can twist themselves into all kinds of pretzels to try and scare Canadians.
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Um, but this, uh, this isn't something that conservatives cooked up.
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This was a majority of the house who, who voted on this motion for documents about liberal
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corruption to be turned over to the RCMP for their consideration.
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It received, uh, you know, received majority support in the house and, uh, and then was,
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You know, the, the, the speaker of the house of commons is, is an elected liberal.
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He's a member of the liberal party, uh, Greg Fergus.
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And so, um, this, this is, we, we followed this, uh, straight down the middle.
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Of course, uh, conservatives are a party of, uh, the rule of law and defense of, of Canadians
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And, you know, Canadians also have a right to be free from a corrupt government.
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Even if Ms. Gould wants to use misinformation to, to try and scare Canadians.
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Well, I think these are very historic times and I would encourage everybody in the mainstream
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media to at least start reporting on them because we've never been here before.
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And I think we're on the precipice of at least seeing this government fall very justifiably.
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So thank you for your hard work on this file, uh, Michael.
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And I think a lot of people are watching and waiting to see some justice finally after nine
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It has been hard going at times to watch this kind of corruption coexist.
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Well, David, thank you for sharing this story with Canadians.
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As you said, you don't see the coverage that it should get in, uh, in some of the, uh,
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So, um, so thank you for sharing this with Canadians.
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So that was Michael Barrett, MP for Leeds Granville Thousand Islands.
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He's also the conservative shadow cabinet minister of ethics and government accountability.
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And I think these are historic and exciting times.
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And it was such a pleasure to hear a note of hope this morning that one way or the other,
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we're going to see this horrible legislation from the liberal government fail.
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I want to show you what did Justin Trudeau say the last time he prorogued parliament?
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You wouldn't use prorogation as a political tactic.
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There are several committees investigating you right now, and those efforts will be shut
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How can you have said that in 2015 and do this now?
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Stephen Harper and the conservatives prorogued parliament in order to shut it down and avoid
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We are proroguing parliament to bring it back on exactly the same week it was supposed to
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We are taking a moment to recognize that the throne speech we delivered eight months ago had
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no mention of COVID-19, had no conception of the reality we find ourselves in right now.
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We need to reset the approach of this government for a recovery to build back better and those
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are big important decisions and we need to present that to parliament and gain the confidence
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of parliament to move forward on this ambitious plan.
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The prorogation we are doing right now is about gaining or testing the confidence of the
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house which is the opposite of what the conservatives did that we rightly railed against back in 2015.
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Yeah, it's always right when Justin Trudeau says it's right.
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And it's nice to see an official opposition that's not being a lapdog that's actually out
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And I applaud the work you're doing here because this is incredibly important to keep any government
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And as I said, I've got no time for Karina, for Karine Gould.
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This is a woman who suggested after she made, had a photo op with a former Vafin SS soldier,
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Yaroslav Hanka, whom she had a role in inviting to attend a joint session of parliament with the
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He sat in visitors gallery, had two standing ovations.
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And Karine Gould said, after she realized how stupid she was in facilitating that, not
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knowing who this guy was, she said, let's excise it all from the official record.
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Let's censor, hand-sert, like it never happened.
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So here she is talking about how examining liberal corruption is somehow a violation of
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I want to switch gears before I let you go and ask, ask about another part of your portfolio as
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government house leader, which is kind of what's happening in parliament right now.
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I'm not sure everyone is paying super close attention, but there's essentially an order that the, that the
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house voted on for your government to hand over documents, which would then go to the RCMP.
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The documents involve what's known as the Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
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The auditor general found a huge host of issues with it.
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It has since folded and become part of something else.
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The conservatives are saying essentially that your refusal to comply with this order is because you have
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I know that you have contended and pointed to comments from the RCMP that they wouldn't necessarily
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even be able to access those documents as part of the reason why you oppose handing them over.
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Does your government have anything in these documents to hide?
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Look, the, the point of all of this is that the conservatives are using their extraordinary powers
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in parliament to try to go around the charter protected rights of Canadians.
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This is the very first time it's unprecedented that parliamentarians are using their extraordinary
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powers to access documents, not for themselves, but to hand over to a third party.
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And what the speaker actually ruled was that yes, parliament has the power to do this, but he said
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very clearly that he wanted this referred to a house committee to actually study this because it's
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so unprecedented and it has the potential to violate the rights of Canadians.
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And so the conservatives right now are actually obstructing their own obstruction in the house
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because they don't want this to go to committee because if it goes to committee, there'll be a
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whole wide range of experts that come out and say, this is an abuse of power, that parliament
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shouldn't do this, even if they have the right to do it.
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And both the RCMP and the auditor general boast raised their extreme discomfort with this because
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it compromises the really important independence of the police from the legislature.
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And it compromises the independence of the auditor general, who's an independent agent of parliament.
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And even more than that, it potentially violates the charter rights of Canadians because anytime
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police want to access documents, they have to seek judicial oversight in order to suspend the
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And let's be very clear that the government did hand over documents, but they were redacted
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You tell me, when did the Trudeau government have any such sanction when it froze bank accounts?
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When did the Trudeau government have any such sanction when it invoked the Emergencies Act?
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Your rights are not violated because the House of Commons is examining liberal corruption.
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She also has an obligation to protect the rights of Canadians.
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And that is something that, you know, I would hope that even if the Conservatives were in power
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Well, the Conservatives will be in power within a year.
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But it's incredible how you would misinform people about this.
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Your government had no legal right to freeze the bank accounts of Freedom Convoy supporters.
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It produced nothing except the whim of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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This was a really good discussion we had with Member of Parliament, Michael Barrett.
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We're going to have other MPs on the show, and we're here to give you all the news you need to know
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And I hope this left you today with a sense of optimism that the end is near for the Liberal government.