The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - A victory for freedom of choice!

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

00:00:07.380 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Kawartha-Lex Brock, with new content

00:00:11.080 for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, subscribe, share this

00:00:16.060 program, because there are ears that need to hear this message. Probably something you're not getting

00:00:20.440 in the mainstream media. Don't forget, your friends can download it on platforms like CastBox,

00:00:24.240 iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. You name it, it is out there. On today's show, the Liberals,

00:00:29.340 once again, going after your natural health products, your vitamins and supplements,

00:00:33.680 there's one person who's standing in the way and the team of Conservatives behind him. It's

00:00:37.440 Blaine Calkins, the Member of Parliament for Red Deer Lacombe. Thanks for joining us.

00:00:41.060 Pleasure to be here, Jamie. It's great that you are leading that charge, your private member's

00:00:44.820 bill, C-368. Why don't you tell us a bit about this, how you came about, and where we are now.

00:00:49.480 Well, I was here, I've been here for 18 years, so I've been through this debate once before.

00:00:54.140 You look like you've only been here a couple. You're aging backwards. 0.95

00:00:57.020 Yeah, I don't have the Benjamin Button effect yet, but natural health products might help

00:01:01.880 with that, at least maybe slowing it down. But all kidding aside, so I've been here for

00:01:07.380 a while, and I've seen the debates on this issue come and go, previous government. And

00:01:12.040 you know, when the government, the Trudeau government here has decided that they were going

00:01:16.960 to make broad sweeping changes to the Food and Drugs Act through a Budget Implementation

00:01:20.980 Act, it raised some alarm bells. The industry was completely blindsided, weren't consulted,

00:01:25.680 were part of the discussion at all. They've testified as much at the Finance Committee.

00:01:30.540 And it's just very, very strange that we would have changes to the Food and Drugs Act through

00:01:34.580 a Budget Implementation Act, when there's no budgetary rationale for it in the budget,

00:01:38.440 there's no new funds, there's nothing like that. So, what this does is it changes the

00:01:42.600 definition of a therapeutic product to include natural health products, which is contrary to

00:01:46.500 all of the previous studies that the House of Commons and others have done, saying that natural

00:01:50.920 health products are more closely aligned or can be considered food than a therapeutic

00:01:57.460 product or a synthetic drug, for example. So, this is your traditional Chinese medicines,

00:02:01.820 it's herbs, it's those kinds of remedies, right? It's vitamin C, it's your protein powders.

00:02:06.780 A huge market.

00:02:07.780 Yeah. So, there's about $5 billion worth of economic activity every year. Of course,

00:02:11.280 $3 billion of that is directly GST producing sales and creates thousands of jobs in quite

00:02:19.840 a bit of the industry. It's actually women that work in this industry and, you know, they 1.00

00:02:27.020 didn't do a gender-based analysis either. So, it's going to have a significant impact depending

00:02:31.520 on who you talk to. Over 80% of Canadians use natural health products and they say that one

00:02:36.880 in five producers is going to leave the Canadian marketplace. There are states in the USA that

00:02:41.880 are already actively headhunting Canadian companies based on the proposal coming forward

00:02:47.080 from the current government. And, yeah, so we just, I looked at the opportunity. Look,

00:02:52.900 we all had those cards coming in. You're a member of Parliament as am I. We all had those

00:02:55.760 cards coming in. And I looked at the card and I said, well, you know what, we can just take

00:02:58.520 this back to the status quo by reversing the changes that were made in Bill C-47. So, I happened

00:03:04.220 to have my, you know, my number coming up fairly quickly. So, I tabled a bill back in

00:03:09.220 December of last year and we're past second reading now.

00:03:12.220 Yeah, you're doing a great job, Glenn, I've got to tell you. But, I'm old enough to remember

00:03:16.640 this coming to the forefront not too long ago. I believe around 2004, 2005 again under

00:03:23.160 Paul Martin, another Liberal Prime Minister. But, every time the Liberals are in power this

00:03:27.940 seems to roll its ugly head.

00:03:29.420 Well, it seems to be the case. If you go back to the 1998, the Health Committee actually

00:03:34.420 did a study, and that would have been a majority of Liberal MPs at the time who suggested the

00:03:38.080 complete opposite of what their leadership always seems to tell them. So, Health Canada

00:03:41.360 obviously is able to convince Liberal Ministers and Prime Ministers that this is the way to

00:03:46.420 go, which is why we found it in a finance bill. Instead of going through the appropriate

00:03:50.420 channel through a Health Minister tabling a health bill in front of Parliament and having,

00:03:54.420 through a debate and discussion about it, at Health Committee where we would actually have

00:03:58.420 time for those conversations. So, now we just have fly-by-night conversations, quick little

00:04:03.420 interludes at Finance Committee talking about all manners of the Budget Implementation Act

00:04:08.420 instead of just specifically these sections dealing with the Food and Drugs Act. So, it's

00:04:13.420 very, very frustrating. Yes, they started in 2004, but I mean every, like I said, every study,

00:04:17.420 every consensus that's been reached in the conversations in this country realize that natural health products

00:04:23.420 shouldn't be treated the same way as, you know, you treat like Pfizer or some of these other large,

00:04:28.420 you know, multi-billion dollar, multinational, you know, pharmaceutical companies. So, these are your,

00:04:34.420 some of them are mum and pop shops. It's, we've got great innovation here. We actually have the

00:04:39.420 largest budget for natural health products of any government, in the modern world at least, and we are

00:04:46.420 pretty much internationally recognized as a safe place. So, companies that currently set up shop,

00:04:52.420 they have a new product, they go through the research and development, they get a natural product

00:04:56.420 number. So, there's only two ways you can get a natural product number. You either have to have

00:04:59.420 ample amounts of what we consider traditional knowledge, for example, you know that ginger makes your,

00:05:04.420 you know, can make your stomach feel better, for example, these kinds of traditional knowledge

00:05:07.420 from various practices, or you actually have, you actually have to have some scientific studies that indicate

00:05:13.420 that the product might be helpful for the ailments that it's claiming to be helpful with.

00:05:18.420 So, nobody's making outlandish or outrageous claims and getting a natural product number.

00:05:23.420 So, there's no, there's no snake oil per se. There's just, these products are out there and Canadians,

00:05:28.420 over 80% of them use them. And we have one of the best regulated industries and we're considered

00:05:34.420 reliable on the international marketplace. So, we've got innovation, we've got entrepreneurs,

00:05:38.420 we've got growers who are making the products, we have manufacturers, labelers, packagers,

00:05:44.420 everybody making these products, and some of them for the domestic marketplace here in Canada,

00:05:47.420 some from around the world creating jobs and opportunity in, you know, like in the GTA,

00:05:52.420 in the lower mainland in Vancouver, places where you would think that typically vote Liberal or NDP,

00:05:58.420 yet their MPs seem to be hell-bent on chasing that business out of Canada. So…

00:06:03.420 Well, what business aren't they intent on chasing under Canada? This is yet another one.

00:06:07.420 This is crushing small business. As you mentioned, this is the mom-and-pop shops.

00:06:11.420 These are the small companies and communities like mine and yours that are making these products.

00:06:16.420 But it's the Liberals and their big government agenda, right? They have two speeds, 0.98

00:06:19.420 big government and bigger government.

00:06:21.420 Who knew that the proprietors of organic health food stores would be chased out of business by Liberals

00:06:27.420 and NDP and Green, who all voted in favour, by the way, of Bill C-47 in the first place.

00:06:31.420 So it's nice to see, you know, when this issue is taken out of that context,

00:06:38.420 and we are able to have a non… a debate about this that doesn't involve confidence,

00:06:45.420 which is what a Budget Implementation Act is.

00:06:47.420 So when Jagmeet Singh gave Justin Trudeau carte blanche in 2022 in March,

00:06:52.420 when he signed on to that Supply and Confidence Agreement,

00:06:55.420 he basically said, I trust Justin Trudeau to do everything right.

00:06:58.420 And, you know, now I've given them a path to redemption,

00:07:02.420 even though they continue to try and somehow blame Conservatives for this.

00:07:05.420 This simply couldn't be further from the truth.

00:07:07.420 So it's under the laws and regulations that Stephen Harper made back in 2011 to 2015, 2008.

00:07:15.420 We had conversations with this industry. We set up a framework that works very, very well,

00:07:18.420 and it's allowed our industry to grow and thrive and prosper and continues to keep Canadians safe.

00:07:23.420 Ironically, Jamie, what's going to happen is if all these companies leave,

00:07:26.420 they take their products elsewhere, then they're going to go to a jurisdiction that's less regulated,

00:07:31.420 because that's… they're trying to escape the fees associated with the regulatory changes that are coming,

00:07:36.420 massive fees that pharmaceutical companies pay, but not…

00:07:39.420 Of course, it's a big business.

00:07:40.420 But not… but not… not your mom and pop shops or your… your natural health product industry, per se.

00:07:45.420 And massive fines, too, if… like up to $5 million a day.

00:07:48.420 Now, that might not be a drop in the… that might be a drop in the bucket to Pfizer,

00:07:51.420 but I can tell you to somebody who's trying to start up…

00:07:53.420 Yeah, crushing it.

00:07:54.420 It just… it's instant… instantly lethal to that business.

00:07:58.420 So… so instead, though, of trying to grow the business here and work constructively with the business community

00:08:05.420 and the business environment, these businesses are, like I said, they're being headhunted right now to move out.

00:08:09.420 They will no longer be regulated under Canadian regulations,

00:08:13.420 they'll be regulated under US or wherever the case might be,

00:08:15.420 and then people will simply buy their stuff online.

00:08:17.420 So you're going to lose the store, you're going to lose the vendor, you're going to lose all of that,

00:08:20.420 all of that, and you're simply going to have personal use products coming in online

00:08:24.420 with little to no regulation or oversight by Health Canada.

00:08:29.420 So we're going to lose access, we're going to lose quality control,

00:08:31.420 we're actually going to lose the public safety component of this,

00:08:36.420 or the consumer protection component of this.

00:08:38.420 So everything that they claim that they're trying to do is they're actually going to get the opposite.

00:08:42.420 But then again, we shouldn't be surprised that the Liberal government's unintended consequences

00:08:47.420 are far worse than the intended consequences are meant to be good.

00:08:50.420 Oh, I'm sure they'll have another government program to fix the… 0.62

00:08:53.420 Yeah, the other government program.

00:08:55.420 …the problem that they created, the other government program.

00:08:57.420 But this is the, you mentioned earlier, the interesting part about the NDP.

00:09:03.420 As a member of parliament, probably the most correspondence I received in my nine years here

00:09:10.420 is on this natural health product issue, right?

00:09:12.420 People are upset about their vitamins, their supplements, etc. being regulated by big pharma

00:09:16.420 and also the job losses domestically that would be associated with it.

00:09:20.420 So the NDP, like you said, the Greens and the Bloc all vote in favor of the budget implementation bill

00:09:25.420 with this poison pill in it.

00:09:27.420 Now they come back and say, well, you know, maybe it was a pretty bad idea

00:09:32.420 and followed suit and voted in favor of yours.

00:09:34.420 So let's queue up cut one.

00:09:35.420 You do a great job in the House during one of your speeches explaining how we got here.

00:09:39.420 And it was actually conservatives, every step of the way,

00:09:42.420 fighting for these people that want to keep their supplements.

00:09:45.420 Play cut one.

00:09:46.420 Well, I appreciate the NDP's revisionist history on this.

00:09:50.420 They are the reason that this change happened in the first place.

00:09:53.420 And I'm glad that they're supporting this bill to take the legislative framework

00:09:57.420 back to where it was under the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper,

00:10:01.420 where we actually have the best regulated and the best natural health product regulations

00:10:07.420 and framework and industry in the world.

00:10:12.420 There is no need to tamper any further with the natural health product industry.

00:10:17.420 So again, we have this Liberal government once again proving that small business

00:10:22.420 is just more of an annoyance to them than, you know.

00:10:25.420 Well, didn't they call them tax cheats?

00:10:26.420 They did call them tax cheats, right?

00:10:27.420 Yeah.

00:10:28.420 And punishing those.

00:10:29.420 And of course, heaven forbid anybody show a little bit of profit and continue to grow

00:10:34.420 and hire more people and develop their businesses and their product lines.

00:10:37.420 And we haven't even touched on, Jamie, the broader issue of giving Canadians

00:10:41.420 as much choice and access to health products as they can for their own personal health choices, right?

00:10:47.420 So the best way to not need the health care system is to prevent going to the hospital

00:10:53.420 and the doctor in the first place if you don't need to.

00:10:55.420 If you're feeling good and you know these supplements work for you,

00:10:57.420 some of them do, some of them don't.

00:10:59.420 I've used many different products in my personal life.

00:11:01.420 Some of them have worked very well for me.

00:11:03.420 Some of them I don't think had any effect at all.

00:11:04.420 But you know what?

00:11:05.420 I had that choice.

00:11:07.420 I had the option to go and try those things out.

00:11:10.420 There's all kinds of literature and research.

00:11:12.420 You can look these things up anywhere.

00:11:13.420 Canadians are more informed and have more access to information than ever before.

00:11:18.420 And why not have a little bit of freedom to choose what's best for ourselves and our families

00:11:23.420 and trying to keep ourselves healthy in a very evolving and changing world.

00:11:28.420 Because Justin Trudeau didn't give you permission for that maybe.

00:11:31.420 That's why.

00:11:32.420 Well, you know what?

00:11:33.420 I don't need to add any more to that comment.

00:11:36.420 But yeah, it seems to be frustrating that he and his current health minister seem to think

00:11:40.420 that they're always the smartest people in the room and my guess is they're in the wrong room.

00:11:45.420 All right.

00:11:46.420 I might have to come back with you on this another time.

00:11:48.420 We've got about a minute or so left.

00:11:50.420 But one quick topic I wanted to talk about was Parks Canada paying.

00:11:54.420 Now it's escalated about $12 million to hire a bunch of foreign hunters to come into Canada.

00:12:01.420 I think the Americans were about... 0.54

00:12:03.420 I don't think they're hunters.

00:12:04.420 I think they're sharpshooters.

00:12:05.420 Sharpshooters, okay. 0.96

00:12:06.420 Even worse.

00:12:07.420 Well, they're not necessarily hunters but...

00:12:10.420 So they're bringing people in outside Canada to take care of a deer.

00:12:13.420 My understanding was New Zealand, sharpshooters.

00:12:16.420 Okay.

00:12:17.420 So it's a very strange scenario.

00:12:19.420 Look, culling animals from time to time is not an uncommon wildlife management tool.

00:12:28.420 But hunting is actually a wildlife management tool as well.

00:12:30.420 There's lots of tools that wildlife and fisheries managers have in their toolbox to make sure

00:12:35.420 that we keep Mother Nature in balance as best we can.

00:12:38.420 And we have these fallow deer which are non-natives on Sydney Island and out off the coast between 1.00

00:12:47.420 the mainland and Vancouver Island.

00:12:49.420 And there's only a few hundred of them.

00:12:51.420 And local residents there are divided on this.

00:12:55.420 They know that by just increasing accessibility and increasing the limits for hunters,

00:13:02.420 they were able to successfully get this population in check.

00:13:06.420 Regrettably, Parks Canada has decided that at a time like this, of all times...

00:13:10.420 When food's through the roof, people are starving.

00:13:13.420 Spending is out of control.

00:13:15.420 They announced a $6 million program which has now seemed to escalate to $12 million.

00:13:20.420 The first round, they had these sharpshooters out in helicopters shooting these deer,

00:13:28.420 not distinguishing between the native black-tailed deer and the fallow deer,

00:13:32.420 shooting everything that looks like a deer.

00:13:34.420 Recovering some of the bodies where they can, I guess.

00:13:37.420 But a lot of them left to rot or decompose or be used where they were shot.

00:13:43.420 And, you know, it worked out to about $10,000 a deer for the first round.

00:13:48.420 Now, a massive program of fencing and whatever else is needed to get rid of these deer.

00:13:53.420 Look, the reality is if the government really wanted to,

00:13:56.420 they would simply make the hunting very accessible for British Columbia

00:14:00.420 or all Canadian residents for that matter if they chose to do so.

00:14:03.420 There would be lots of people that would come out there looking for that opportunity,

00:14:06.420 pay their own money and in fact even pay the government fees.

00:14:09.420 That's true.

00:14:10.420 Pay the government fees on top of it.

00:14:12.420 And maybe an outfitter or two, right?

00:14:14.420 We might create more jobs and economic activity.

00:14:16.420 Create some licensing fees and generate some revenue and resolve the problem.

00:14:24.420 The animals would be taken sustainably and ethically.

00:14:28.420 The meat would, you could be rest assured that the meat would be used most hunters,

00:14:31.420 you know, barring any unforeseen accidents or something like that.

00:14:35.420 But, I mean, everything I've ever shot has ended up in the freezer.

00:14:38.420 So, these are the kinds of things that just, I think, offend the sensibilities of Canadians.

00:14:43.420 They certainly offend the sensibilities of Canada's very large and very capable hunting community.

00:14:50.420 So, our leader, Pierre Polyev, has been right to point this out.

00:14:53.420 And, like I said, that's a lot of money.

00:14:57.420 Twelve million dollars is a lot of money.

00:14:58.420 Absolutely.

00:14:59.420 And there's cheaper and better and more ethical ways to do these things.

00:15:03.420 Another group yet punished by this government.

00:15:05.420 Everyone is getting punished here.

00:15:07.420 All right, Blaine, we're out of time.

00:15:08.420 I do apologize.

00:15:09.420 The guests get the last word.

00:15:10.420 The floor is yours.

00:15:11.420 Well, thank you so much, Jamie.

00:15:12.420 I appreciate being on the show.

00:15:15.420 And for those that are listening, you know it's time that we got back to some common sense

00:15:20.420 in this country and listening to Pierre Polyev and Common Sense Conservatives.

00:15:24.420 We do have better solutions, more affordable solutions,

00:15:27.420 and ideas that are going to improve the quality of lives for all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

00:15:33.420 So, it's time that we bring it home, Jamie.

00:15:36.420 I couldn't… what a way to end it.

00:15:38.420 Thank you very much.

00:15:39.420 Blaine Colgans, Member of Parliament for Red Deer Lacombe.

00:15:42.420 We appreciate his time.

00:15:43.420 We appreciate yours as well.

00:15:45.420 This guy is the champion of saving natural health products in Canada.

00:15:49.420 So, please like, comment, subscribe, and share this program.

00:15:51.420 Lots of people need to hear this message.

00:15:53.420 Know what Conservatives are doing for you.

00:15:55.420 Probably not being dealt with in the mainstream media, and that's why we need your help.

00:15:59.420 Tell your friends, too.

00:16:00.420 They can download it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it.

00:16:04.420 It is out there.

00:16:05.420 New content every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time.

00:16:07.420 Until next week, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.

00:16:11.420 That's the blueprint.

00:16:13.420 Okay, I love you.

00:16:15.420 We can rid the hat.

00:16:16.420 You won't until next week.

00:16:17.420 Do fit.

00:16:18.420 From what weighs the size of your character modeling to smart Chris every single day.

00:16:20.420 Come back on product.

00:16:21.420 We can do our paper.

00:16:22.420 You can mimic the arts.

00:16:23.420 Give us a little shower.

00:16:24.420 I love you.

00:16:25.420 We can do ourerca.

00:16:26.420 Go.

00:16:27.420 To craft watk.

00:16:28.420 We can give us a light sacred jam.

00:16:29.420 If you want your tumест.

00:16:31.420 The Taipei.

00:16:32.420 It works then theekape itself.

00:16:33.420 Fill off the倒ash. 0.99

00:16:34.420 But we can build it everything outside the city.

00:16:36.420 on the bed.

00:16:37.420 Um, so we can learn new on the bed.

00:16:38.420 It's amazing.

00:16:39.420 This is crazy.

00:16:40.420 And we can remove it from our conflicts.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - June 04, 2024

A victory for freedom of choice!

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