The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - April 26, 2023


Canadians have no clear answers to the extent of the Chinese Government’s interference.


Episode Stats

Length

17 minutes

Words per Minute

177.71484

Word Count

3,033

Sentence Count

258


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
00:00:11.600 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton. Coworthalikes Brock with new content
00:00:15.300 for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, comment, subscribe,
00:00:19.840 and share this program. We know there are two people in your social media network that would
00:00:24.580 like to hear this message and a great show lined up for you as well. Of course, if you can't watch
00:00:29.540 or listen to this program in its entirety right this second, download it. Listen to it on platforms
00:00:34.180 like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. You name it, it is out there. We are going to
00:00:39.240 continue our conversation from last week when we had Larry Brock on. We now have Rachel Thomas,
00:00:44.020 the one and only Member of Parliament for Lethbridge. Also, the critic for Heritage is going to talk to
00:00:50.180 us today about that interference from Beijing and the ramifications of that testimony from
00:00:56.800 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Chief of Staff, Katie Telford. Thank you so much for being on the
00:01:00.900 show. Thanks, Jamie. Good to be here with you. All right. You did an awesome job, as usual. This
00:01:05.480 time, going after Katie Telford, asking her some pretty serious questions. And I think her most
00:01:10.780 common answer was, I can't say, or I, it's not appropriate to say this format. I don't think she
00:01:17.940 actually answered anything. So I don't know where we go from here. Yeah. What were your thoughts on it?
00:01:24.620 Let's start there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So, you know, I think you make a good observation,
00:01:28.380 and that is, you know, it's the classic liberal strategy, which is to avoid or deflect. The third
00:01:34.560 would be attack. On this one, they didn't really have much opportunity to attack, so it was just a
00:01:39.680 lot of avoidance, avoidance tactics. So, yeah, we heard a lot of, Katie said a lot, you know, I can't say,
00:01:47.180 but what I can say, and then it would be like some little fluff. It'd be nothing. You know, yeah, totally.
00:01:51.500 And so this is what we saw throughout the entire duration of our time together, which was about
00:01:57.300 two and a half hours, which, you know, kudos to her, two and a half hours of avoidance and
00:02:02.760 deflection. Like, that does take some skill. That's like Pablo Rodriguez style. Yeah. That's
00:02:08.140 almost to that level. Good point. Yeah, good point. Perhaps the two are, you know, colluding with one
00:02:12.680 another. Anyways, but I think out of this committee, you know, what we were hoping for,
00:02:18.680 of course, was to get some straight answers. That wasn't. From a liberal?
00:02:25.480 Yeah, fair. Straight answer from, I don't know. You ask them what color the sky is, they'll tell you
00:02:29.940 what they had for dinner last night. Like, it's just unbelievable what comes out of their mouths.
00:02:34.420 One can hope. One can hope, you know? One can hope, right. I guess. I guess miracles can happen.
00:02:39.900 Well, you know. So that said, you know, you're probably right. I don't know that we could
00:02:46.280 reasonably anticipate that they were going to give us the straight answers we were hoping for.
00:02:50.920 That said, I do think that we walked away with perhaps some information that is useful to Canadians.
00:02:56.660 And that is, Katie made a couple of comments. One, she said that the Prime Minister reads
00:03:02.580 everything that he is given. So that was her comment. Absolutely everything. You can imagine
00:03:07.760 Justin Trudeau late at night. He's got the light on. Just stack after stack after stack. He doesn't
00:03:14.140 miss a thing. He is on top of everything. That guy, Justin Trudeau, he is a wonderful man.
00:03:20.940 Absolutely. Absolutely. He is on top of it. So that was one comment. You can tell by his answers
00:03:26.780 are not answering questions. I don't mean to keep interrupting you. No, no. And then the second
00:03:32.980 thing that came out in committee was that she said, she said nothing is ever kept from the Prime
00:03:40.520 Minister. Wow. Nothing is ever kept from the Prime Minister. So he should know. He would know.
00:03:45.920 So if he was given these thesis reports from Canada's foremost intelligence agency. He reads
00:03:51.720 it all. And if he reads it all. Nothing's kept from him. Nothing is kept from him. It should be on
00:03:56.080 his desk. Then what is the conclusion? Right. The conclusion is the Prime Minister did know and that
00:04:02.600 he chose to turn a blind eye to Beijing's interference. And why would he turn a blind eye to Beijing's
00:04:07.400 interference? The thesis documents tell us. Because Beijing was interfering in order to make sure
00:04:13.200 that there was a liberal minority government elected. And so Beijing was making sure that
00:04:18.060 illegal dollars were funneling into these liberal campaigns. And Beijing businesses were hiring
00:04:24.200 interns who were then placed in these liberal campaign offices in order to work the election.
00:04:31.560 The Prime Minister chose to turn a blind eye because all of Beijing's interference benefited the
00:04:37.560 liberal party of Canada. That is a complete abomination to democracy. Canadians should be outraged by this
00:04:47.140 revelation and what Katie Telford admitted to. I agree. I can remember the media manufactured outrage
00:04:54.000 when Stephen Harper, way back when, and the robocall scandal. Oh, yes, yes. You remember that outrage?
00:05:00.540 Do you remember a headline day after day in the news getting to the bottom of some people getting told to
00:05:06.060 go to the wrong polling station? Yes, that was wrong. But at the same time, I think there's two
00:05:10.460 different scales here. And probably this should be more serious and more Canadians should be. It's
00:05:18.240 interesting, too, to watch, you know, the truanons, as they're many called on social media, defending the
00:05:23.820 Liberal Party and the Prime Minister. Basically, just fluffing this off is no big deal. It really
00:05:29.580 is amazing to watch that twisting. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. And I think, again, that's one of the
00:05:34.700 concerns that I have, that we have as Conservatives, is not only what happened in the election and, of
00:05:41.420 course, what that means for Canadians and the integrity of the democratic process, but I think
00:05:46.260 also, you know, it raises concerns with regard to media coverage and whether or not there is, in fact,
00:05:51.840 fair coverage offered regardless of political party, regardless of issue, regardless of the time
00:05:57.160 period in history. And I think, you know, there's, we know that trust is at an all-time low, both with
00:06:04.360 regard to institutions and the people that are head of those institutions, as well as those who are
00:06:09.940 elected officials, as well as those that are reporting on the news. Trust is low. And the reason for that
00:06:16.020 is because Canadians just don't know who's telling the truth and who's not. What's credible and what's
00:06:21.820 not? And so I think to fix this, you know, we as elected officials have a responsibility to tell
00:06:27.400 the truth. We, as elected officials, have a responsibility to function with integrity. And
00:06:32.740 I think that starts with the top, which obviously is the Prime Minister. And so he has a responsibility
00:06:37.720 to come clean to Canadians and to be really honest, specifically in this case, with regard to what
00:06:41.860 happened with election interference from Beijing. I think you also brought it up, our colleague,
00:06:46.780 our former colleague, Bob Soroya, served from 2015 to 2019 in Markham Unionville, a very, well,
00:06:55.180 it's in the Greater Toronto Area, but heavily Chinese-Canadian population, who received a message,
00:07:02.480 a text message, apparently, from the Consul General in Toronto, basically saying, you're not going to be
00:07:07.500 a member of Parliament after the election. And that was after 2021, in which he lost. And
00:07:13.680 unbelievable. Yeah, so I think the text message was something to the effect of, you know, I truly
00:07:19.900 wish you all the best after the election. So it was an underhanded, you know, message to say,
00:07:27.220 life's going to change for you. So, you know, I think that's really revealing in terms of the
00:07:33.120 interference that was taking place. And beyond, you know, a text message, which I think is telling,
00:07:38.420 we also have, again, we have thesis reports that have been, you know, given to the media
00:07:44.540 and reported on, and the public has access to that now. And so I think we now have a responsibility
00:07:49.940 to hold this government to account. If they're not going to answer honestly when they come to
00:07:55.340 committee, or if they're not going to allow the right witnesses to come to committee, and try to
00:08:00.260 block that from happening, then I think the only mechanism that is left to Canadians is an election.
00:08:06.140 And we can only hope that it's run in a fair democratic way. And of course, you know, our
00:08:15.740 desire for that election would be that the Canadians would be very aware of the misgivings of this
00:08:23.880 current government, the detriment that this current government is to the Canadian population and to our
00:08:29.780 future as a nation, and that ultimately that they would vote in a new government.
00:08:33.720 Something else you brought up that I want to actually highlight is, again, very shocking that
00:08:42.080 it's actually happening. And it seems weird actually saying this next part out loud, but about
00:08:46.820 government officials asking media providers to remove stories that were shining a bad light on
00:08:54.900 the government. Internal documents have revealed this. How is this happening? And I still can't believe,
00:09:03.700 again, those defending Trudeau and his government for doing it. Can you imagine Stephen Harper
00:09:10.420 saying, you know what, CBC, that article is attacking me, I want it off. It's got to come down. Can you
00:09:17.380 imagine what would happen? Or I'm going to cut your funding. Yeah, there'd be riots in the streets,
00:09:22.600 it would be unreal. And yet, it seems to be no big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a negative toward the
00:09:28.900 liberals. You should take that down. Yeah. And again, you know, I think similar to Beijing's
00:09:36.360 interference in our election, that is shocking. It is shocking. It's very shocking. And yet somehow
00:09:44.120 this government has a way of, you know, just kind of, you know, putting it under the rug. In the same
00:09:49.100 way, we have government documents tabled in the House of Commons that show that this current liberal
00:09:55.840 government pressured social media companies a total of 214 times in a 24-month period,
00:10:03.480 214 times. That's incredible. Yes. To take down content. Much of that content was simply embarrassing
00:10:09.980 or content that they just didn't want to be made available to the public. And again, the liberals
00:10:16.020 just kind of shrug their shoulders like it's no big deal. It's no big deal to censor what Canadians
00:10:20.420 can access. It's no big deal. Of course. Because, you know, we're liberals. We're super smart and we know
00:10:23.800 it's good for people. Right? Yeah. They shouldn't access things that are critical. They might think
00:10:29.340 negatively upon our great governance. Oh my gosh. You know, with baked in inflation, a housing crisis,
00:10:35.120 veterans with no services, two million case files in immigration backlog. You know, the list goes on.
00:10:41.060 Yeah. Or airports are a mess. And this is exactly it. And so, you know, I'm very thankful for my
00:10:48.580 colleague, Dean Allison. He's the one who put in an order paper question that, you know, really allowed
00:10:53.920 us to get to the bottom of this and, you know, access the information that showed that the government
00:10:58.520 had, in fact, applied this pressure 214 times to social media companies. And then from there, what we
00:11:05.140 did is we actually called for an emergency debate in the House of Commons because it was important to us
00:11:11.040 to make sure that this issue was explored, to make sure that, you know, we could push to bring truth
00:11:16.400 forward, if at all possible. You know, unfortunately, at the end of the day, the Liberal Speaker of the
00:11:22.260 House of Commons, you know, voted against it or opted not to support our call for an emergency
00:11:28.080 debate. So I think that's sad because I think Canadians deserve answers. They have the right to know
00:11:33.600 what information they're able to access versus what information is being kept from them because this
00:11:38.020 government simply doesn't want them to see it. If the government is, through documents and their
00:11:46.080 own documents, blatantly trying to get social media companies to remove content that negatively
00:11:53.540 affects them, isn't that something you see in, like, countries that are, like, on the verge of
00:11:57.720 collapse? Like, I'm not saying Canada is. Please do not take my point wrong. But I'm just saying you
00:12:02.320 don't expect to see this in Canada. Absolutely. Absolutely you don't. However, we do also have
00:12:09.080 another bill on the docket, Bill C-11. The Liberals have been very emphatic that this is the bill that
00:12:15.340 they want in its current state, which has many, many, many flaws. Those flaws have been pointed out
00:12:20.820 by legal experts. And those legal experts would further say that this bill, which is a censorship
00:12:27.240 bill. It will control what people can see here and post online. Experts have said that this bill does
00:12:33.600 start to liken us to a country like China, like Iran, like Russia. These are not countries we want to be
00:12:40.760 likened to. So the fact that the government, you know, is putting Bill C-11 in place, the fact that
00:12:46.460 they already have taken steps to pressure social media companies to take content down, the fact that
00:12:52.520 they have Bill C-18, which will also be a form of censorship within the news realm. Yikes. Like, it
00:12:59.580 just speaks. So their line of, trust us, this C-11 is okay. It's not regulating anything. The evidence.
00:13:08.540 C-11 is not even law yet. And they're already trying to apply the pressure and make sure that
00:13:13.940 content online is censored. You can only imagine what they'll do once this bill is actually in place
00:13:20.160 and they have legal, legal precedents to start applying pressure and making sure that information
00:13:26.700 is curated the way that they want it to be curated. Exactly. And I think even my opposition, I disagree
00:13:34.020 fully with what the liberals are doing to C-18, but I would want to see this piece of legislation
00:13:39.340 repealed because I don't care what party is in power. No government, regardless of political stripe,
00:13:44.620 should be able to impose their will upon the citizens that they're supposedly elected to
00:13:50.700 represent. It should not be a top-down approach. It should be the people leading it, the people
00:13:56.800 with their voices. Absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, I don't care if Pierre Polyev's Prime Minister
00:14:03.080 or Justin Trudeau. No government should have that power. No, and that's just it. Like, the internet is
00:14:07.880 the new public square. It really should be a place where we're able to engage in the exchange of ideas,
00:14:12.660 where we're able to access information, and where we're able to put information out there for others
00:14:18.200 to consider. And we should be able to engage in this way that is totally non-partisan. It shouldn't
00:14:23.920 matter who's in government. That's right. It's just simply a space that is meant for Canadians to engage
00:14:29.700 with Canadians. It's not the government's place to curate material and determine what can or cannot be
00:14:36.080 said or seen or heard. Yeah, absolutely. You look at industries, music industry, we've talked about
00:14:42.760 many times. Even look at the beer industry, right? Look how many craft breweries we have around the
00:14:47.880 country, right? Every community's got a couple. Yeah. And very unique, very different. Yes. And the
00:14:53.580 government, can you imagine if the government had their hands on it? You'd probably get two or three
00:14:57.180 selections, and that's about it. Like our telecom industry. So, you know. There's a whole other
00:15:03.400 conversation. That's another conversation. I don't know how much time we have for that. But the point
00:15:09.180 is the same. You get innovation. You get rapid innovation when people are able to create freely
00:15:15.360 with the least amount of restrictions on that creativity. Absolutely. And I think, you know,
00:15:22.380 that, I think that's why I'm so proud of our leader and his point, which is to say, you know,
00:15:30.020 as Prime Minister, he wants to make Canada the freest country on earth. The freest country on earth.
00:15:35.840 Isn't that great? Amazing. Amazing. And the reason why we should get excited about that is because we know
00:15:41.380 that where there's freedom, innovation and creativity reign supreme. And where innovation and creativity are
00:15:48.520 allowed to take off, we know that innovative ideas come forward. That's right. And we know that that
00:15:53.760 wealth is generated. And ultimately, we know that Canadians are empowered to function within their
00:15:59.340 gifts and their talents and their abilities and to use those to prosper themselves and their
00:16:04.220 families. Absolutely. That's the type of country that we should be building, not the current one that
00:16:07.820 the Liberals are trying to control. Exactly. Competition is a good thing. It has a better product, a better
00:16:13.720 service, a better price. It makes everything better and a rising tide raises all boats. Yeah. I don't
00:16:20.880 know how much better we can end that with, but as you know, the guests get the last word. So the
00:16:25.300 floor is yours. Oh, well, nothing more than just to say it's been a complete privilege to be here with
00:16:29.880 you. And, you know, together we're fighting for a freer Canada for the sake of Canadians. All right.
00:16:35.460 You keep saying nice things like that. We'll have you on every single week. That is Rachel Thomas,
00:16:39.140 member of parliament for Lethbridge, also the critic for Heritage. We appreciate her time.
00:16:42.900 We appreciate your time as well. Remember, new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern
00:16:47.740 time. Like, comment, share, and subscribe to this program. Great new content for you. Listen to it
00:16:53.980 too. You can download it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. You name it,
00:16:58.180 it is out there until next week. Remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the Blue Rants.