The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - August 29, 2018


All-star team joins The Blueprint, live at Convention 2018


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

184.83241

Word count

3,066

Sentence count

192

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Join us live from the floor of the Conservative Party of Canada Convention in Halifax, where we hear from three of our senior leadership team members as they go through their expectations for the two-day convention and what they are looking forward to in the coming days.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.040 It's Tony Clement, and it's The Blueprint, live in Halifax for the Conservative Party of Canada Convention.
00:00:06.200 We are here, we are strong, and we're ready for the next election. Stay tuned.
00:00:11.840 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:16.920 Is the Prime Minister actually saying that taxpayers should be on the hook when he breaks the law?
00:00:22.660 Yeah!
00:00:24.260 Yeah!
00:00:24.740 What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curve his out-of-control behavior?
00:00:38.400 All these deficits leading to nothing but burying Canadians in taxes.
00:00:48.580 And now, here's your host, Tony Clement.
00:00:50.780 And we are live here in Halifax Convention Centre.
00:00:54.980 Welcome to Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:57.580 I'm your host, Tony Clement, Member of Parliament for Paris-Saint-Muskoka.
00:01:01.600 And we are going to be talking live to you today from the floor of the convention with three of my colleagues as we go right into the convention.
00:01:10.960 It's going to start just in a couple of hours, and we're all excited.
00:01:14.280 But let's hear some of the perspectives of some of our senior leadership here in the Conservative Caucus about their expectations, maybe a few stories along the way as well.
00:01:24.400 I have with me James Bazan, a Manitoba MP, and our shadow cabinet minister responsible for defence policy.
00:01:32.880 We have our House Leader, Candace Bergen, Member of Parliament here, and our Chief Parliamentary Whip, Mr. Mark Strahl.
00:01:40.740 Welcome, madame and gentlemen.
00:01:42.940 Thanks, Tony. I take offence to the senior comment.
00:01:47.720 Oh, I've got off to a bad start.
00:01:49.440 And just for the record, I'm younger than Candace.
00:01:51.760 Oh, I don't believe a word he says.
00:01:54.200 So the convention is going to start this evening.
00:01:56.720 I guess we've got Premier Doug Ford, who's going to be speaking to us,
00:01:59.760 and an old friend of mine, Daniel Hannan, who's a member of the European Parliament,
00:02:04.240 and quite a voice on conservatism around the world.
00:02:07.400 What are your expectations?
00:02:09.580 Start with you, James.
00:02:11.060 Perhaps you've been to a few of these in your time.
00:02:13.760 What are your expectations this next two days?
00:02:17.220 Well, I can tell you, Tony, I'm really thinking that this is going to be a great convention.
00:02:21.240 We've actually shattered the records for attendance.
00:02:23.640 I thought we did awesome in Vancouver after the 2015 election.
00:02:27.560 You know, we thought that was going to be a bit of a time to sit around and mope.
00:02:31.500 It actually became a celebration of the conservative movement.
00:02:33.940 I think this is even going to be bigger and stronger than what we saw in Vancouver,
00:02:38.060 and that it is going to set the path for Andrew Scheer and our conservative caucus
00:02:42.140 on how we drive forward as a party to take on Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.
00:02:46.900 This is about making sure that we defeat Trudeau.
00:02:50.000 I think that the policy debates that we're going to have,
00:02:52.620 the constitutional amendments that are coming forward,
00:02:54.520 are going to be well thought out and well discussed in our plenary sessions,
00:02:59.100 as well as the breakout sessions that we have happening tomorrow.
00:03:04.400 As well, it gives us a chance to get to know some of our new candidates
00:03:08.040 that are running this upcoming election, do some campaign training,
00:03:11.740 and really set the mark of where we're headed
00:03:14.840 and what type of direction that we're taking with Andrew Scheer
00:03:17.580 as our leader, the next Prime Minister of Canada.
00:03:20.480 Candace Bergen, we've obviously, we've got a lot going on here.
00:03:24.240 We, obviously, the policy resolutions have, have, in a sense,
00:03:28.360 that's something that has been a very large process,
00:03:30.900 but there's also candidate training and the training to get ready for the next election.
00:03:35.800 What are some of the highlights in your estimation?
00:03:38.300 Well, I've been coming to policy conventions for the past 18 years,
00:03:43.100 and I, like I think so many conservatives, we love policy.
00:03:47.180 We love coming to convention, debating policy.
00:03:50.160 I think we are really the only party in the country that actually has policies from a wide variety of people
00:03:57.720 who have a wide variety of views, and we come here on the policy floor,
00:04:02.180 we debate them, we debate them vigorously, and then we leave here united.
00:04:06.720 And I think we've seen the NDP and the Liberals on so many issues stifle debates.
00:04:10.900 So we're going to have a great debate.
00:04:12.760 It's very, it's vigorous and it's invigorating.
00:04:15.620 Now, I am helping moderate on Saturday, so I actually have to be impartial.
00:04:20.340 Oh, wow.
00:04:21.060 Yeah.
00:04:21.480 Have I ever been impartial before?
00:04:23.120 I will be impartial.
00:04:23.840 Tough to get you to share your opinion sometimes.
00:04:26.540 But I will, I will be impartial.
00:04:28.220 I'm really looking forward to that.
00:04:29.740 But, you know, the other part of this, Tony, that I think is important is the networking that happens.
00:04:35.080 So many of us come together, we share ideas.
00:04:37.640 Again, when I first started, it was as a volunteer.
00:04:40.080 I was a volunteer on a board.
00:04:41.520 I was helping with campaigns.
00:04:43.120 I was helping on our EDA board in, actually, St. Boniface at the time.
00:04:47.360 And coming to a convention like this, you meet people,
00:04:50.480 you meet people that you become actually lifelong friends with
00:04:53.240 because you share that same desire to make Canada better.
00:04:56.660 So I think this is definitely about how we're going to beat Trudeau.
00:05:00.320 But I think we recognize that there is a huge mess that Justin Trudeau is leaving this country in.
00:05:05.900 And so we're going to be talking about what we're going to be doing
00:05:08.180 and what Andrew Scheer will be doing as Prime Minister when we win
00:05:11.560 and how we can get Canada back on track.
00:05:13.640 And I think that's pretty exciting.
00:05:15.300 I think that's really important.
00:05:16.740 You've got me hearkening back.
00:05:18.520 My first convention, I was 16 years of age, and it was in 1977.
00:05:23.360 So as they say, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
00:05:27.320 But I am very much looking forward to it here as well.
00:05:30.240 Mark Strahl, our chief opposition whip,
00:05:34.140 you've obviously been to these as well in your own capacity
00:05:39.280 when your dad was involved with politics as well.
00:05:41.900 What do you think is important to take away from this convention?
00:05:45.020 Well, first, Tony, I should say that your first convention was a year before I was born.
00:05:48.620 But I've been coming to these now for, I'm 40 years old,
00:05:54.860 and I've been coming to these for 25 years now.
00:05:57.220 So I think what I always love to see is the people that volunteer,
00:06:04.120 especially in British Columbia, I see them all the time.
00:06:06.280 They're here.
00:06:07.020 They've made the trip across the entire country
00:06:09.120 because they want to be a part of something exciting,
00:06:12.740 part of something bigger than themselves,
00:06:14.100 part of building the next government of Canada.
00:06:17.020 And it's so exciting.
00:06:18.500 Our policy conventions have always been driven by the grassroots membership.
00:06:23.640 And even the policies that have made it to the breakout sessions,
00:06:28.460 those were all voted on by our local EDAs.
00:06:31.880 They went in there and picked the different resolutions
00:06:35.980 that they thought we should talk about here today.
00:06:38.080 So this is a grassroots member-driven party
00:06:41.520 and a grassroots member-driven process.
00:06:43.680 That's who's decided what we're talking about here today.
00:06:47.360 And that, to me, is exciting.
00:06:48.480 It's, you know, we, sometimes we're, you know,
00:06:51.820 we're the ones that get to challenge Justin Trudeau directly in the House of Commons,
00:06:56.400 and these guys do a great job of that.
00:06:59.500 And so we're kind of on the front lines of it,
00:07:01.780 but we have this whole team behind us.
00:07:04.220 We can't do it by ourselves, can we?
00:07:05.480 Absolutely not.
00:07:06.400 And this is where we get to be reminded of the people on the ground
00:07:11.560 that work day in and day out behind the scenes.
00:07:15.100 They just want to support the work that we're doing,
00:07:17.640 and they want to see us get back into government
00:07:20.120 so that we can deliver the kind of government that Canadians deserve.
00:07:23.500 I think, James Bazan, come back to you,
00:07:25.200 I think that's a pretty critical point,
00:07:26.960 that this just doesn't happen overnight.
00:07:29.460 This conference, yes, is taking place over two days,
00:07:32.580 but there is a lot of build-up to this,
00:07:34.240 a lot of things happening in our individual riding associations,
00:07:37.440 our electoral district associations,
00:07:39.360 a lot of debate, resolutions coming up from the grassroots that way.
00:07:43.580 And I think, you know, both Candace and Mark hit on the point
00:07:47.600 that we are a grassroots-driven organization
00:07:50.280 versus the Liberals, which is all top-down.
00:07:52.560 And, you know, even the EDA's passed resolutions
00:07:54.660 at the Liberal Convention
00:07:56.440 that they're going to take more of that top-down approach.
00:07:59.400 Let Justin Trudeau mark out what he believes
00:08:01.760 or what the Liberal Party of Canada stands for,
00:08:04.400 where we are all about the grassroots of.
00:08:06.500 Our membership, you know, through our EDAs,
00:08:08.640 through our annual meetings,
00:08:09.640 through our policy workshops that we did within our own regions,
00:08:13.240 really defined what policies are coming forward.
00:08:15.620 And I'm glad to say that, again,
00:08:16.800 my riding at Selkirk, Interlake Eastman,
00:08:18.800 have policies that made it all the way through
00:08:21.180 both the regional process, the EDA process,
00:08:23.940 and into the breakout sessions.
00:08:26.940 So one of the 76 resolutions that we're debating in policy
00:08:31.360 comes from our riding,
00:08:33.280 and surprisingly, that's on national defense.
00:08:34.960 But it did get support across the country
00:08:36.680 because every resolution that comes up
00:08:38.760 from the riding association
00:08:40.240 goes on to the ideas lab.
00:08:42.700 And then at the ideas lab,
00:08:44.000 everybody has to vote on it across the country
00:08:45.860 on whether or not...
00:08:46.600 That's pretty critical, yeah.
00:08:47.540 You know, where you have that grassroots engagement
00:08:50.140 and you get to select which policies
00:08:52.960 will actually make it onto the floor for the debate here.
00:08:55.180 So we had hundreds of resolutions,
00:08:57.740 great ideas coming right across the country.
00:09:00.160 And some of it is just, you know,
00:09:01.680 a little bit of housekeeping,
00:09:02.560 cleaning up some of the wording in some of our policies,
00:09:04.160 making sure that it's modernized,
00:09:05.380 making sure it reflects policy changes that have happened
00:09:07.220 through legislative and policy changes
00:09:09.200 of the federal government.
00:09:10.740 But more importantly,
00:09:11.840 it's ideas coming from the people
00:09:13.680 of the Conservative Party of Canada
00:09:14.880 that represents those Canadians across this country
00:09:16.960 who believe in a government that's accountable to them.
00:09:20.200 And that's what we're all about as a party.
00:09:21.680 Absolutely.
00:09:22.440 And Canisberg,
00:09:23.020 and I think this is a critical point too
00:09:24.500 that James has mentioned here,
00:09:27.080 these policy resolutions were not hand-picked.
00:09:30.420 They bubbled up from the grassroots
00:09:32.040 and there was a series of voting procedures
00:09:33.840 where you could log on to ideas lab
00:09:36.500 and say which ones were a priority for you.
00:09:38.940 And that was done by the membership of the party,
00:09:41.600 not by the hierarchy of the party.
00:09:43.560 Yeah, we've always had, I think,
00:09:45.080 a very strong process,
00:09:47.020 a very accountable process
00:09:48.740 for coming up with policy ideas.
00:09:51.320 And, you know,
00:09:52.360 I think now we recognize even more than ever
00:09:54.820 how important it is to have new ideas
00:09:57.380 and to have these policies.
00:09:58.720 The reason it works and why it's good
00:10:00.240 is because we've got some very smart people
00:10:02.600 across the country
00:10:03.380 who are working full-time in their jobs
00:10:05.780 but they're volunteering on our boards.
00:10:07.800 We need access to their ideas.
00:10:09.560 I mean, I'm thinking about some challenges,
00:10:10.860 like, for example, interprovincial trade issues.
00:10:13.640 That's a big problem in Canada.
00:10:15.960 That is not going to be an easy solution.
00:10:17.820 It's going to take leadership.
00:10:18.900 It's going to take strong policy.
00:10:20.600 We're getting those ideas.
00:10:21.740 There's some really good ideas coming on the policy floor
00:10:24.620 and will be debated at this convention.
00:10:27.220 Ideas around trade
00:10:28.380 and expanding our relationships with other countries
00:10:30.900 so that we're not just dependent on a U.S. administration
00:10:35.060 that maybe we're not sure what they're going to do on trade.
00:10:37.440 We have to have these ideas and these options
00:10:40.240 and, you know, when it's just top-down,
00:10:42.620 it can become very small.
00:10:44.220 And I think as Conservatives,
00:10:46.000 that's why we don't like a lot of government.
00:10:47.680 We want overall, we want people managing their lives.
00:10:50.480 We want people managing their day-to-day activities.
00:10:53.140 We want people managing and looking after their family.
00:10:55.500 And we want the people helping to run our party. 0.90
00:10:58.340 That's what we want.
00:10:59.260 And that's why this works
00:11:00.380 and why I think Conservative policy,
00:11:02.920 overall, when we present Conservative policy to Canadians,
00:11:06.360 Canadians accept it and they believe it.
00:11:09.460 Canadians don't want to be taxed more.
00:11:11.460 Canadians are more and more agreeing
00:11:13.500 that a carbon tax does nothing to help the environment
00:11:16.380 and it's just a tax grab.
00:11:18.280 Canadians know that having tens of thousands of people
00:11:21.440 coming across the border illegally is wrong for so many reasons.
00:11:25.340 So this is stuff that we believe and we've been talking about.
00:11:28.540 But it's not just because of us as members of Parliament.
00:11:31.640 It's because Canadian Conservatives have been talking about it.
00:11:34.880 And so that's why this is an important process,
00:11:37.100 not just for democracy,
00:11:38.560 not just because we want grassroots ideas.
00:11:40.640 We want the best ideas for the country
00:11:42.820 because, again, Trudeau is leaving this country in a massive mess.
00:11:48.020 And we're going to have to fix it
00:11:49.460 and we're going to be up for the job.
00:11:50.980 Mark Strahl, we've been talking a little bit
00:11:53.120 about this being a place where people can get together
00:11:57.340 from all different regions of the country,
00:12:00.000 different backgrounds of the country.
00:12:02.540 We've got some great speakers.
00:12:03.900 I mentioned Premier Doug Ford from Ontario,
00:12:06.120 just fresh off the electoral victory there.
00:12:08.580 Daniel Hannon, member of European Parliament,
00:12:11.460 a British thinker.
00:12:14.180 We've also, Jason Kenney will be here, I understand,
00:12:16.860 the leader of the United Conservative Party in Alberta.
00:12:20.520 Tell us a little bit, based on your experience,
00:12:23.340 how important it is to have
00:12:24.740 that kind of cross-fertilization almost.
00:12:28.320 People at different levels,
00:12:29.380 not only just leadership people,
00:12:30.880 but rank-and-file people
00:12:32.200 talking to one another at this convention.
00:12:34.020 Right.
00:12:34.220 And I think when Andrew Scheer was elected leader,
00:12:37.300 he made it a very purposeful point
00:12:39.680 to talk about him being the leader
00:12:42.600 of Canada's Conservatives
00:12:43.940 and that we are all a member of that family.
00:12:48.000 And right across the country,
00:12:50.260 whether it's British Columbia
00:12:52.060 or all the way to Atlantic Canada,
00:12:53.840 we are a family.
00:12:56.260 And we have to work together
00:12:57.760 and we have to find those common things
00:13:01.160 that we can rally around that unite us.
00:13:04.720 And I think that's what we're looking for this weekend.
00:13:08.120 We're going to have these vigorous debates.
00:13:10.080 And I know that the things that we disagree on
00:13:15.020 tend to get the limelight.
00:13:18.000 But we come out of here united
00:13:19.400 and we come out of here focused.
00:13:21.340 And I'm really looking forward
00:13:22.800 to Andrew Scheer's speech on Friday night.
00:13:25.580 I think it's going to be an opportunity for him
00:13:27.680 to really launch the campaign for 2019.
00:13:31.300 I want to talk about that.
00:13:32.400 Okay, you're going to get into that?
00:13:33.400 That was my next...
00:13:34.420 I'm glad you anticipated me
00:13:36.080 because this is a showcase,
00:13:39.000 always has been,
00:13:39.880 every convention is a showcase
00:13:41.080 for the leadership team,
00:13:43.560 but also the leader
00:13:44.640 to talk about his or her vision.
00:13:48.240 And Andrew Scheer has this opportunity
00:13:50.440 to do that.
00:13:51.980 We've got two minutes left.
00:13:52.960 I want to hear from each of you
00:13:54.700 what you're expecting out of Andrew Scheer.
00:13:56.200 Well, I think you're going to hear
00:13:57.940 a unifying message,
00:13:59.460 a principled Conservative,
00:14:00.900 a real leader who is going to take us
00:14:03.780 back to a principled Conservative government.
00:14:07.100 I think you're going to hear Andrew
00:14:09.200 lay out his positive vision for Canada.
00:14:12.120 You know, he's been working so hard
00:14:13.720 since he's been elected leader
00:14:16.180 across this country,
00:14:17.280 crisscrossing it,
00:14:18.120 meeting with our members,
00:14:19.260 meeting with Canadians.
00:14:20.480 And I think this will give an opportunity
00:14:21.680 to those casual observers
00:14:23.060 who perhaps aren't on the Facebook pages
00:14:25.760 or following us so closely on social media.
00:14:28.120 It's going to give an opportunity
00:14:29.100 for that national audience
00:14:30.440 to see what we see,
00:14:31.960 which is the next Prime Minister of Canada.
00:14:33.800 Candice Bergen.
00:14:35.040 You're going to see an individual
00:14:36.920 who's showing Canadians 0.98
00:14:37.980 that he is ready to govern in 2019.
00:14:40.180 I believe there are a lot of Canadians
00:14:41.680 who very much regret the fact
00:14:43.780 that they voted for Justin Trudeau.
00:14:45.240 They are not going to give him
00:14:47.000 another four years
00:14:48.560 to continue messing up the country.
00:14:50.300 And we're going to see Andrew Scheer
00:14:51.920 as we all know him.
00:14:53.440 He's strong.
00:14:54.300 We're united.
00:14:55.080 And he's going to be showing,
00:14:56.300 as Mark said,
00:14:57.200 those people are just watching
00:14:58.280 to see a little bit more
00:14:59.680 about Andrew Scheer.
00:15:00.840 This is a man who's ready,
00:15:02.160 as I keep thinking and saying,
00:15:03.980 to get Canada back on track
00:15:05.660 and fix this mess that Trudeau's created.
00:15:08.200 That's Andrew Scheer.
00:15:08.600 Great opportunity for him
00:15:09.960 to introduce himself
00:15:11.080 to even more Canadians.
00:15:12.220 James Bazan.
00:15:12.620 I think you're right, Tony.
00:15:13.400 What we have is a lot of people
00:15:15.100 I was out door knocking this summer
00:15:16.320 and knocked over 2,000 doors.
00:15:17.800 And a lot of constituents are saying,
00:15:19.700 you know, who is Andrew Scheer?
00:15:21.000 They haven't watched a lot of news lately.
00:15:22.960 And of course, the national media
00:15:24.680 kind of filter out things quite a bit
00:15:26.720 and only talk about us
00:15:28.000 when it's in the negative light.
00:15:29.600 For those that want to know
00:15:30.900 who Andrew Scheer is,
00:15:31.760 watch his speech tomorrow night.
00:15:34.080 They're going to see that he is a statesman,
00:15:35.980 that he's prepared to be
00:15:37.500 the prime minister of this country
00:15:38.620 and really is going to lay out his vision
00:15:40.920 of where we are going as a party
00:15:42.520 while respecting our grassroots,
00:15:44.460 respecting taxpayers
00:15:45.440 and respecting provincial jurisdiction.
00:15:47.520 You've been listening to
00:15:48.880 the Blueprint Canada's Conservative podcast.
00:15:50.840 I want to give a heartfelt thanks
00:15:52.900 to our three guests today,
00:15:54.560 Mark Strahl, Candice Bergen, James Bazan,
00:15:57.220 my fellow colleagues
00:15:58.200 and members of Parliament.
00:15:59.400 Thank you for joining us.
00:16:00.700 Let's have a great convention out there
00:16:02.160 and we'll be back, of course,
00:16:03.900 very soon with another podcast
00:16:05.360 as we take these policies
00:16:07.220 to the people of Canada.
00:16:08.800 We're very much looking forward to it.
00:16:09.980 Thank you for listening.
00:16:12.500 Thank you for listening to
00:16:13.680 The Blueprint,
00:16:14.580 Canada's Conservative podcast.
00:16:16.940 To find more episodes, interviews
00:16:19.060 and in-depth discussions
00:16:20.480 of politics in Canada,
00:16:22.260 search for The Blueprint on iTunes
00:16:23.980 or visit podcast.conservative.ca.
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