The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - A Trillion-dollar Debt

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to the Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your

00:00:06.880 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, for the likes of Brock with another

00:00:10.920 new episode, new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We do appreciate you

00:00:16.960 joining us. We are not taking a break because that liberal agenda is always moving forward.

00:00:21.900 So we ask that you help push us, help us push back against that agenda. Please like, comment,

00:00:27.520 subscribe, share this program. Together we can do that, ensure that Ariel Jewell is the next Prime 0.97

00:00:32.940 Minister of Canada. And of course, if you can't watch the whole program now, you can download it

00:00:37.840 later on on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there.

00:00:43.580 So today's topic is all about the economy, all about economic recovery. We're seeing a lot of

00:00:50.500 provinces across the country starting to reopen if they haven't already. The economy is trying to

00:00:56.100 come back. The Liberals, of course, have damaged certain sectors of our economy, specifically oil,

00:01:03.240 natural gas. We see problems with the mining sector because of the policies this government

00:01:07.640 is bringing in and has brought in and continue to bring in. So with that, we bring in a newcomer

00:01:14.760 to the show, Gerald Soroka, the Member of Parliament for Yellowhead in the beautiful province of Alberta.

00:01:20.240 He is out meeting constituents, but he has taken time to check in with us in his car. We do appreciate

00:01:26.240 you coming on. Well, thank you, Jamie, for that. And sorry for my background, but it's a busy time

00:01:34.080 of the year for us. And there's always people to meet because Alberta is now officially all open.

00:01:38.960 So we do not have any more restrictions. So it's quite an interesting time for us compared to the

00:01:44.640 other places in the country. Now, what is interesting about that is as the provinces like

00:01:50.220 Alberta, Saskatchewan and others start to reopen, the federal government has decided to continue their

00:01:57.400 spending, right? They are continuing to put all these programs, all this spending on the credit card

00:02:03.500 for future generations to deal with. But they couch all their spending that has nothing to do with COVID

00:02:10.160 in COVID relief. Now, how does that go over with the people you're speaking with, knowing that

00:02:16.340 every dollar that is spent over and above what the government collects is going on the credit card,

00:02:21.480 is going on the national debt? Well, it's a combination of a few things. Like I hear from people

00:02:27.060 asking about what is our national debt act and how are we ever going to pay this back? And they're also

00:02:33.900 worried not only for their children, but even their grandchildren already of how are they going to be

00:02:39.260 able to afford and pay this all back. And it's sort of a double fold because they also know that our

00:02:44.880 current government doesn't support any natural resource extraction here in Canada. And, you know,

00:02:52.340 it's hitting oil and gas as well as, you know, like you said, mining is another area. And people are

00:02:57.380 saying, how can we pay this back if we don't have good, stable jobs as well?

00:03:01.820 And I think it's those anchors that are so important to the economy. Traditionally,

00:03:08.480 like we have mentioned, oil and gas, the mining sector, which then creates spinoff jobs,

00:03:13.400 manufacturing jobs, and the technology and innovation. When that is kind of brought to its

00:03:18.960 knees, the brains that go with it, the people that are coming up with the next great thing,

00:03:23.520 they start to look at other countries, other jurisdictions to do business.

00:03:26.740 And because Canada is just isn't showing leadership in the in this area.

00:03:33.080 Well, that's a very big.

00:03:38.240 Many companies have pulled out billions of dollars in investment. Just the LNG plant now in Quebec was

00:03:45.020 just cancelled by the provincial and federal governments. So you know, there's another area

00:03:50.240 that is hurting Western Canada. And my issue is they don't seem to realize that if they talk about

00:03:56.840 global crisis, it is around the world. If they're burning other types of fuels besides natural gas

00:04:03.920 that are better for the environment, which we could be supplying to many other countries,

00:04:08.240 that would be benefiting our environment. And that's one of the things that I think they're missing out

00:04:14.160 on is the opportunities that we have from our natural resource sector in Canada, that really,

00:04:20.720 this government has failed to take action upon. Instead, they start looking at sort of dream ideas,

00:04:27.300 such as you know, we're going to build a green economy through green technology. Now that sounds

00:04:32.380 nice. But you ask them, what is your green technology? Is it going to be more wind, more solar,

00:04:36.660 more hydro? Or are you going to go with nuclear? Where's the plan? And they give you a starry eyed

00:04:44.180 look as to, I don't know, it's just green technology. That's all I know. And that's the

00:04:49.740 problem is they don't have a well laid out plan on how we're going to change our economy to this

00:04:54.780 green technology or green economy. And I think that's where the conservative plan really focuses

00:04:59.500 in on. It talks about incentivizing individuals, companies to not only create something, come up

00:05:06.940 with an idea, but also manufacture it right here in Canada. So we aren't just having the ideas here

00:05:11.840 and going somewhere else. We're actually trying to get it all here so that we are able then to export

00:05:16.960 and create that revenue source here in our communities, creating those spinoff jobs with

00:05:24.140 that innovation that takes place domestically. Yes, definitely. Because that's something that

00:05:30.480 I think people have really realized from COVID here is how much we rely on other countries to

00:05:36.320 supply our basic needs. And I don't care if it was face masks, rubber gloves, whatever the case may be,

00:05:42.440 people started realizing we aren't producing much here in Canada. And that's a factor that we really

00:05:48.140 got to start looking at is our manufacturing side of things. But going back to our economy and that,

00:05:54.140 there's a prime example of how many things that we can start driving additionally from our oil and

00:05:59.760 gas sector, such as blue hydrogen. I mean, everyone wants to go to electric vehicles, that sounds great.

00:06:05.740 And it's fine to do that. The problem is, is our power grid isn't anywhere near the quality we need to

00:06:12.500 have to have everyone plugging in vehicles. About two weeks ago, when we were hitting that 30 some degree

00:06:18.860 weather here in Alberta, the city of Edmonton, everyone put their air conditioning units

00:06:24.020 on. And they actually had a brownout in quarter of the city, just from 110 volt air conditioning

00:06:29.960 systems. Now, if everyone started plugging in their 240 volt electric car, how is that going to be

00:06:36.520 charging when the power grid collapses? Because we simply do not have enough electrical generation,

00:06:42.060 or the high efficiency lines that we need to in every city across Canada.

00:06:47.800 One of the things we talk about often on this show is the government picking winners and losers.

00:06:53.860 And as you just mentioned, as a prime example, when you're talking about electric cars, where you're

00:07:00.160 talking about a certain technology, whether it be wind or solar, when the government picks winners and

00:07:05.980 losers, it slows down innovation. Because people that are dealing in the marketplace know that the

00:07:13.060 government is going to send certain dollars to a certain area, say wind or solar, for example,

00:07:17.340 but there could be a technology that isn't being talked about that's being developed on the side that

00:07:22.300 has to not only go against that wave of government dollars into their competitors, but also try to

00:07:28.700 raise that capital, come up with something that might be better. But that that's why it's so much

00:07:33.940 better. It's always a better plan when you ensure that there is rapid innovation. So you level the

00:07:38.820 playing field, keep taxes, rules and regulations in a reasonable level so that we are able to compete

00:07:44.700 and create here in Canada. Oh, definitely. Because once you start providing incentives, or like you

00:07:53.660 say, the winner or loser scenario, you don't get that drive for efficiencies, you basically get that

00:08:03.000 compliance that, well, here's how we've done things yet, we'll just keep doing the same kind of, and I don't

00:08:11.100 care if it's the wind generation or the same type of solar panel, there isn't that incentive there to go and

00:08:16.480 say, how can we become better efficient at it, because we need to increase our profits or even be profitable,

00:08:22.660 because a lot of our green technology is not profitable unless it is subsidized in some degree. And that's one of the

00:08:31.340 biggest problems when you get the Liberal government right now trying to build the economy, you can't build

00:08:37.560 an economy when you keep subsidizing everything. So it basically what it means is, you take a large

00:08:44.020 amount of money to subsidize a plan. And then you take a small amount of money economy, if you continually

00:08:49.220 keep putting more and more money into it, that's not building an economy, that's just draining our

00:08:53.340 pocketbooks. And that's why our deficit keeps increasing year after year. And that's why we need to get rid of

00:08:57.780 this type of subsidies all the time, we need to get back to more efficiency, and have the, I guess,

00:09:03.840 the public or the generation, the manufacturing sector, get more to how can they increase profits

00:09:10.280 and efficiencies with what they're producing, as opposed to just subsidizing. And don't forget too,

00:09:15.700 when the government keeps throwing money at a certain industry, a certain sector, it doesn't matter what it

00:09:21.060 is, you're also taking away competition, you're also taking away choice. I look at what the

00:09:26.960 liberals are talking about in their childcare announcements that they seem to be making

00:09:30.640 a lot of hay about. And not only is the cost for this program, all deficit finance, meaning the

00:09:38.320 children that are probably going into daycare or in need of daycare that are going to be

00:09:42.020 potentially getting a space, they probably are going to be tough in to get one because there's

00:09:46.360 never enough money to go around. But they're the ones who are going to pay for that. And at some point,

00:09:50.880 they're going to probably need childcare for their children. But yet, because of the decisions

00:09:55.380 this government's making, it's all going on the credit card now, while at the same time,

00:09:59.560 has the very real potential to basically take away those neighborhood childcare spaces that you would

00:10:08.320 have at usually run by females by women with small businesses trying to make a go of it, you're taking

00:10:15.480 away that competition, you're taking away that choice for the one government program. And if it doesn't

00:10:20.460 work, you're in big trouble, because they've already eviscerated the competition.

00:10:26.180 Yeah, that's a quite a conundrum that they put themselves into, because you're right, they want

00:10:30.760 to do a cookie cutter approach, how everyone's going to do the same type of childcare. But there's

00:10:37.000 many families I know, in my riding, where they have a friend or a family member, you know, even a

00:10:41.980 grandparent that is able to take care of their children. And yet, underneath this liberal plan,

00:10:47.100 that's not an option. We want it to be all institutionalized, basically, just like the

00:10:52.260 school system, which is fine, if that's the way you want to go. But if you've got other options,

00:10:57.960 or want to go in a different direction, now you're not going to be subsidized or have that ability to

00:11:03.020 have affordable childcare. And that's one of the biggest problems with the plan that the government

00:11:08.080 is putting out is that is that cookie cutter approach. And you remember how Justin always talks

00:11:12.720 about even with COVID. Yes, we're going to deal with the masses first, and then we will do a deal

00:11:18.220 with the people that are falling through the cracks. Well, trust me, they always have people falling

00:11:23.040 through the cracks in every program, and they never come back and adjust it or change it to make sure

00:11:28.740 that these people are getting the help that they need. There's so many Canadians have come to me and

00:11:33.360 says, you know, we've fallen through the cracks, when is Justin and this government going to actually do

00:11:38.540 something to help me. And you don't know how discouraging it is when you're on a phone call

00:11:43.160 and saying, this program doesn't work. Or yes, we got a few dollars from that program. But we're

00:11:48.160 financially ruined. And now we're being foreclosed on what are our options underneath, you know, some of

00:11:53.680 the COVID programs, and through no fault of their own, they've gone bankrupt. And yet they didn't get

00:11:59.800 any assistance whatsoever that this government was promising right from the start.

00:12:04.360 Well, it would have been handy if parliament was sitting basically full time, but you remember

00:12:09.700 for the longest time, we had a parliament that wasn't parliament, it was more committee of the

00:12:14.440 whole, but it was, it was often called fake parliament, it really wasn't working where,

00:12:19.260 when these problems came up in our communities, we would have had the opportunity to bring them

00:12:24.700 forward to the ministers or in question period or other forums. And, and really, the liberals,

00:12:30.800 the help from the NDP and the bloc, really shut down the the democratic institution that

00:12:36.980 is supposed to be guiding and keeping the government to account.

00:12:41.800 Well, actually, this COVID really helped out the government whatsoever. Because you know,

00:12:46.240 you take a look, as a new MP getting elected in October of 2019, we didn't sit until the start of

00:12:53.800 December. Now you start thinking about that, did Justin ever really want to have parliament?

00:12:59.160 So now, once it came around to COVID, more boy, they were more than willing to shut the doors down.

00:13:07.080 And, you know, like you said, we basically since March 13, was the last day we sat in the house,

00:13:12.460 not that I remember it that well. But yes, definitely. From that point on, we really haven't

00:13:18.660 had the true parliament, even in September, when they reissued parliament going back again.

00:13:23.320 It wasn't the same feel, you know, yourself, we tried to have as many conservatives as we're allowed

00:13:28.920 in the house, even the bloc and the NDP sent people into the house. But the liberals, if there

00:13:34.380 was two or three people in the house, and yes, I know they say they're on zoom, and they're still

00:13:39.920 in the house, but it's not the same. I know that if there's something comment was said, people would

00:13:45.980 be laughing and it wasn't being heard. People would wonder what was said what was done, you're not the

00:13:50.900 same feel. So if you're not in the house drooling with real parliament, then you're not feeling it.

00:13:57.300 That's sorry, that's just the new MP that really only had about three weeks of true MP experience

00:14:03.500 from the time he's got elected in the last almost two years already.

00:14:08.500 Yeah, for the for the class of 2019, I think it has been a real eye opener on how parliament works and

00:14:15.420 the role of a member of parliament. You're right, you only got started a little bit, and then you were

00:14:19.400 kind of shut down. And, and hopefully, you'll be back very soon where the house is set to resume

00:14:25.040 in September, who knows if there will be an election or not. There's only a few people

00:14:28.900 that do know that and Justin Trudeau is one of them. So as the economy reopens, I've read a lot of

00:14:36.940 articles, I've heard a lot of people around my community talking about going back to the to the

00:14:42.620 office setting, probably in September. And as that happens, we're going to see a kind of a kickstart,

00:14:49.040 I think in the economy, people are going to be back, as most can as safely as they can, or as they

00:14:56.620 feel needed or required, back to normal. And, and in the the issue that continues to really bother me

00:15:04.880 is the rate in which the government of Canada or the the Bank of Canada is printing money to fund all

00:15:12.640 these pet projects for the Liberals, because we've seen some massive inflation numbers in the United

00:15:17.320 States. Some are already saying it could be the same here in Canada, when those numbers are released

00:15:23.500 very, very soon in the coming weeks. But we've already seen it. If you go to the grocery store

00:15:27.560 now, the price of of groceries is is is skyrocketed gasoline, you name it, it's all rising. It's all

00:15:35.040 it's all showing that your dollar is not a dollar anymore. And you can't do this forever. Or you run the

00:15:40.280 risk of debauching the economy or the currency, probably a combination of both.

00:15:44.020 Well, there's there's so many things I want to talk to you about there. And Jamie is that you said

00:15:49.540 that we're going to get back to normal here in September. One area in my riding is tourism that,

00:15:54.980 you know, isn't anywhere close back to normal. You have to understand I've got Jasper National Park

00:16:00.660 in my riding. So you know, the town of Jasper has been suffering throughout this. And plus, there's so

00:16:05.660 many other communities that rely on tourism. I don't care if it's Hinton, Edson, Drayton Valley,

00:16:10.940 Rocky Mountain House, there's many operators that have different types of businesses, as well as

00:16:15.600 hotels, even restaurants, you know, there's a big issue with people coming or not coming, I guess,

00:16:21.860 is the bigger concern, and not staying as much or if they do stay, they don't stay as long.

00:16:26.980 And the financing side of that and the tourism sector has just been devastating. So that's why I

00:16:32.500 wanted to point to you that it's really not back to normal for a lot of people yet. And it's going to

00:16:37.360 take even a few more, not even months, but years to get back to, I think, a stable base for some of

00:16:43.060 these tourist operators. So basically, it's been another summer that thank goodness, we got opened

00:16:48.100 up here. But I don't think we still have anywhere as close to the same amount of volume of economy that

00:16:54.520 we used to have in this area. But yeah, there was so much there you wanted to talk about. I can't even

00:17:00.140 remember everything that I had to say, but it's just devastating, like you said, about, you know,

00:17:06.240 the deficit that we've taken on. You know, we look at $33,000 per person now has to pay of what we're

00:17:13.900 sitting at. You know, that's a brand new vehicle for everybody in your family. And yet no one looks at

00:17:20.960 in that ways. And I think the big number is, you know, when you're talking $1.2 trillion in deficit,

00:17:25.740 people's eyes just glaze over because they can't even fathom that much money. So it's no surprise.

00:17:32.040 And that's why it's good when you break it down to like $33,000 per person. That's just a staggering

00:17:38.360 amount. And while, you know, you were one and I was another, and so were our colleagues, a lot of

00:17:44.860 these spending programs were passed in the House unanimously. But it's the other stuff that the

00:17:49.860 Liberals have all couched and thrown in the COVID pile, right? The infrastructure, the childcare,

00:17:56.300 and the list goes on of projects that have nothing to do with COVID, but they are spending

00:18:00.660 in this COVID pocket of money. It's almost an invitation for them to use COVID as an excuse to

00:18:08.620 really spend to their heart's desire. And of course, the NDP and the bloc encourage that and

00:18:14.480 continue to push those dollars out the door. But they aren't looking at the fact that somebody will

00:18:21.940 have to pay at some point. And when interest payments rise, the interest rate rise, the amount

00:18:28.020 we pay to service our debt goes up, we will have less for services for Canadians. I think that's an

00:18:33.760 important point that that has to be hammered in. Well, it's a very important part. But the other

00:18:40.160 thing is that they've been promising a lot of this money. But yet, are the projects even being

00:18:45.320 delivered upon? You know, they talk so much about how we're going to build more in infrastructure

00:18:49.980 through the Canada Infrastructure Bank. But yet, when you start looking at how many projects are

00:18:55.180 being completed, they're not as much as they're bragging them up to be. That's the issue is a lot

00:19:01.360 of their red tape that's in the way, as well as when they start announcing projects, a lot of times

00:19:06.720 they start saying, don't worry, even childcare with the in Newfoundland, they were Nova Scotia,

00:19:11.920 sorry for the election, provincial election, they says, don't worry, there's going to be childcare

00:19:16.520 available. Unfortunately, it's not going to be fully through till 2026. Well, that sounds very

00:19:23.700 encouraging. But that's still many years away from families that will need whatever type of childcare

00:19:29.460 that they're going to introduce. So that's the other factor that they're talking about is they

00:19:33.580 promise all these things, but are they actually delivering? And the scary part is they're not

00:19:38.620 only delivering, but the money just keeps going out, and our deficit keeps increasing. So how are

00:19:44.560 we going to build back anything as they call them, build back better with no economy, huge debt loads,

00:19:50.820 and promises that aren't being fulfilled? That's why we have to make sure that Aaron O'Toole is the

00:19:55.900 next Prime Minister of Canada, the Conservatives are the governing party. We are pretty much out of time,

00:20:00.880 but I always give the guests the last word. So Gerald, the floor is yours.

00:20:06.340 Well, thank you, Jamie, for that. And yeah, it's a horrible situation we're in right now with our

00:20:12.980 deficit, the way it is, the economy is in shambles, every area that we know of is not anywhere as close

00:20:20.460 back to a maximum production. Actually, most things are even decreasing, yet the cost of everything

00:20:27.260 continually goes up. You take a look at gas is up 43%, furniture is up 10%, cars are up five, like

00:20:34.080 everything keeps increasing, but yet not the people's salaries, or their job prospects either.

00:20:41.620 You don't know how many people have told me, my child can't find a job here in Alberta,

00:20:48.220 they're either having to go to other provinces, or even other countries right now. I know myself,

00:20:54.520 my two nephews that born and raised in Canada here in Alberta, both right now are in Michigan,

00:20:59.840 one is actually going to be working in New York. That's sort of sad that we can't even create an

00:21:03.400 economy for this younger generation to stay here in Canada.

00:21:06.280 And we also talked about quite a bit the younger workforce in Alberta, and that's that is hurting

00:21:11.480 a lot of families for sure. We will have you back on, Gerald. We have lots more to talk about. But

00:21:17.080 unfortunately, we are out of time. And it looks like you need to get back to your constituents. And I wish

00:21:21.800 your luck, you have a massive riding. I forget how many square kilometers it is.

00:21:27.680 Well, I always put it this way, the province of Nova Scotia has about 56,000 square kilometers.

00:21:33.800 I'm around 74,000 square kilometers. So I'm a little larger than the province of Nova Scotia. So

00:21:39.320 it's a little more challenging. And thank you very much for letting me do this. And I want to wish

00:21:44.500 everyone a great and a happy summer for how much longer we have.

00:21:48.300 Gerald Scirocca, the member of parliament for Yellowhead. We appreciate him coming on and

00:21:52.760 talking about the state of the economy and what conservatives will do to to change this roadmap

00:21:57.780 that the the liberals are using to guide the country because we do think there is a better

00:22:02.640 way to do things. There is a better way. Aaron O'Toole is the prime minister is the person

00:22:06.580 that will lead that charge. Please continue to like comment subscribe share this program help us push

00:22:13.780 back against the ever moving liberal agenda because we will have new content for you every

00:22:18.200 single Tuesday at 1 30 p.m. Eastern time. We do appreciate you showing up. And we do appreciate

00:22:24.380 if you download this program potentially later on to listen to it platforms like CastBox, iTunes,

00:22:29.500 Google Play, Spotify, you name it. It is out there. And remember, low taxes,

00:22:33.640 less governments, more freedom. That is the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - July 30, 2021

A Trillion-dollar Debt

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