The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Economic Recovery from COVID-19

00:00:00.000 hello and welcome once again to the blueprint it is canada's conservative podcast i'm your host

00:00:19.020 jamie schmale member of parliament for halliburton for the legs brock thank you so much for joining

00:00:23.640 us we have new content every single tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time an amazing guest lined up for

00:00:29.940 you today we're going to talk about jobs finances the recovery the path forward and the conservative

00:00:35.480 vision to get us there but first as a reminder because the content is so great we want you to

00:00:41.200 like comment subscribe share this program help us push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda

00:00:46.900 maybe there's someone in your social network that wants or is open to hearing the conservative

00:00:51.560 message this is an opportunity to get that person and hopefully ensure that erin o'toole is the next

00:00:57.820 prime minister of canada and of course as always if you can't watch or listen to the program in its

00:01:02.940 entirety now you can download it later on listen to it on platforms like cast box itunes google play

00:01:08.280 spotify you name it it is out there without further delay i want to bring in our guest good friend of

00:01:13.880 the show ed fast the member of parliament for abbotsford in beautiful british columbia he's also

00:01:18.340 the shadow minister for finance ed thank you so much for taking time good to be on your show again jamie

00:01:23.740 we have a lot to talk about needless to say the liberal government has decided a budget

00:01:29.100 is no longer necessary for the second straight year this despite provinces and territories all over

00:01:34.640 the country presenting a budget maybe their second depending on where they are and and yet we are

00:01:40.620 blowing hundreds of billions of dollars out the door and we are getting nothing from justin trudeau

00:01:46.680 well you're absolutely right jamie in fact we know that the provinces of quebec

00:01:51.760 and ontario are going to be tabling budgets in the next couple of weeks yet here we have a federal

00:01:58.260 government that has blown through hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers money

00:02:05.520 and yet they haven't presented a plan on how they're going to reopen the economy for two years

00:02:10.820 they haven't tabled a budget in the house of commons that is historic in canada never before

00:02:17.120 has a federal government ever failed to table the budget for two years and here we are we're in the

00:02:24.780 middle of a pandemic when canadians want to know what is the prime minister's plan to actually get our

00:02:32.420 economy restarted to support canadians through to the end of this pandemic what does the future look

00:02:38.720 like how do we manage this massive debt that we've incurred how do future generations see the future will

00:02:45.580 they see a light at the end of the tunnel these are all questions that the prime minister has failed

00:02:50.720 to answer and we're calling him to account well let's not forget even in the first year the liberals

00:02:58.900 with the help of the ndp and at one time the bloc basically shut down parliament we were a fake

00:03:04.120 parliament operating when at a time canadians needed help of the federal government because they're

00:03:09.740 being told by their provincial and territorial governments in many cases to stay home stay safe and

00:03:15.200 shut their small businesses or don't go into work but yet at a time when these programs were so

00:03:20.600 important that needed to be tweaked to ensure that they are hitting the most amount of people as possible

00:03:25.820 parliament was shut down and it was basically the the liberal government the government being cabinet

00:03:31.000 making these decisions almost in a silo exactly in fact that proroguing meant that a number of pieces of

00:03:38.940 legislation that were important didn't move forward and then when we came back the liberals accused us

00:03:45.880 of delaying legislation because we as conservatives do we're doing exactly what canadians elected us to do

00:03:52.540 which is to provide oversight and scrutiny over what the liberal government was doing but this

00:04:00.060 liberal government of course as you know has run away from accountability they talk about

00:04:05.380 transparency in fact the mandate letters to their ministers talk about raising the bar on transparency

00:04:12.700 and yet over the last four years they've run away from transparency and we as conservatives we insist

00:04:20.680 that we hold them to account for when they spend taxpayers dollars and we'll continue to do so

00:04:26.500 when you talk about raising the bar i thought you were going to go in on why the government has

00:04:32.540 decided it's so urgent to raise the debt ceiling canada's national debt forecasted over 1.2 trillion

00:04:39.460 dollars we basically doubled federal spending in the uh in the fiscal year and they're asking for more

00:04:46.160 they're asking for more and it's a bar that i'd hoped we'd never have to reach it's a standard that

00:04:52.780 i'd hope future generations wouldn't have to pay for but that's what the prime minister has asked for

00:04:59.340 a lot of canadians probably don't understand what's happening behind the scenes what the prime

00:05:04.800 minister is asking canadians to do is effectively give him a blank check he wants to increase the

00:05:11.620 amount of money that he's allowed to borrow by listen to this 663 billion dollars the last time they

00:05:21.320 imposed a debt ceiling they blew through that over a period of three and a half years now they're asking

00:05:29.120 for another three years in which they want to blow through somewhere in the order of three quarters

00:05:34.900 of a trillion dollars and what's worse despite repeated requests to the finance minister that she

00:05:43.900 explained to canadians what she would spend that money on she has refused to do so she said listen

00:05:49.820 trust me give me a blank check and then i'll spend that 663 billion dollars but you won't know in

00:05:57.060 advance what i'm going to spend it on how many times in the previous parliament did did we in the

00:06:03.300 opposition speak up in the house and in media interviews and talking to canadians when we

00:06:09.600 focused on the importance of saving for a rainy day we're always pushing just in case something bad

00:06:17.360 happens we shouldn't be deficit spending when times are good and we know justin trudeau did that even

00:06:23.220 though the conservatives left him with a balanced budget of course he dug right into the piggy bank

00:06:28.160 and started spending on the credit card and that continued right up until the pandemic and then it went

00:06:33.760 into overdrive but yet had the government had justin trudeau been fiscally responsible during the good

00:06:39.820 times there would be a little added padding for the bad times well i love the analogy of the credit card

00:06:47.060 because that's effectively what the prime minister has done he's run up a big bill on our national

00:06:53.880 credit card and now he's gone to parliament and said increase my line of credit by another 663 billion

00:07:04.420 dollars you are absolutely right under the previous conservative government when we left office in 2015

00:07:12.520 we actually left the liberals with a balanced budget the books of this country were in really really

00:07:19.800 good shape canadians knew that they could trust a conservative government to manage the finances of the

00:07:27.700 country even though we had come through some incredibly rough times the recession the global recession of

00:07:33.940 2008 2009 required our government to pump stimulus into the economy but when we borrowed money at that time

00:07:44.580 we made two commitments we were going to invest in things that would build our long-term competitiveness

00:07:52.520 so we invested heavily in things such as infrastructure so roads bridges railway lines ports both inland

00:08:00.900 ports marine ports to make sure that long term our country was well positioned to be prosperous so these

00:08:08.780 are really good investments to make and then when we came out of the recession we immediately implemented

00:08:14.780 a plan to return our books back to balance it was really tough to do as you remember but we did it

00:08:21.460 and by the time the liberals came into government we had left them with a balanced budget which of course

00:08:28.100 justin trudeau immediately blew through and way it went way beyond the ability for this country to

00:08:38.420 actually manage uh the finances that we were piling up because right around the corner of course was this

00:08:48.180 pandemic unbeknownst to anybody around the corner was this pandemic that was going to place an even bigger

00:08:54.980 burden on future generations of canadians that's why we've been calling on the minister of finance to

00:09:01.620 be transparent to be open to be accountable to canadians show us where you're going to spend this money

00:09:07.820 so far we as conservatives have supported the expenditures that the government has made because

00:09:15.060 we know that canadians need that support right now and we are committed to providing that support going

00:09:21.940 forward but canadians also deserve a right to know what does this mean for us longer term what does

00:09:28.420 this mean for my children for my grandchildren will they be able to actually afford to live in canada

00:09:35.780 or is that light at the end of the tunnel is actually a freight train coming at them and this is

00:09:42.020 information that canadians are entitled to know i couldn't agree with you more you know we've seen it all

00:09:50.580 from this liberal government obviously government doesn't have anything that it must first confiscate

00:09:55.700 in the form of taxes the most common and we've seen the government do that we've seen during the

00:10:00.500 pandemic the carbon tax increase a number of times the escalator tax on beer and liquor sales has

00:10:06.900 increased amongst others so they've tried to increase taxes to pay for their spending they've tried

00:10:11.620 borrowing on the international markets to help fuel their spending and they've also printed at some

00:10:18.100 point you have to rein that in or you can severely debauch your economy or currency probably a

00:10:24.260 combination of both but the government shows no sign of doing that but they also say now's a good time

00:10:29.700 to borrow because interest rates are low which is true however the problem is this low interest rate

00:10:37.060 period won't last forever the interest rates will rise and even by a point of interest one point of

00:10:42.740 interest means tens of billions of dollars more in interest payments which means we have to service

00:10:48.980 the debt and when we service the debt that's just paying the interest that's not paying down the actual

00:10:53.540 debt which the harper government did by a tune of about 40 billion dollars prior to the collapse and

00:10:58.660 ed you were a minister in that government so you know more about that than than i but it it just goes

00:11:03.940 to show that they're they're banking their their their massive spending on on a wing and a prayer almost

00:11:12.980 that's correct uh when they borrow money and then pump that money into the economy typically that will

00:11:22.500 have a stimulating effect for the economy now that stimulus might be temporary or it might be long-term

00:11:30.740 support for a more competitive economy i prefer to invest in things that have a long-term positive

00:11:37.620 impact on the future of our country on our long-term prosperity but when you pump billions and billions

00:11:45.060 of dollars into the economy which this liberal government has done and is promising to do over the next

00:11:53.380 year or so that means that there's more cash sloshing around in the economy which raises fears of inflation

00:12:04.340 because you've got more dollars chasing the same amount of goods and if you don't have economic growth

00:12:10.820 that's associated with it there's a very good chance you're going to have inflation and how does the

00:12:16.660 bank of canada often control inflation by increasing interest rates today canada pays about 21 billion

00:12:25.380 dollars in interest every year on the debt that it is incurred and as you've said just a marginal increase in

00:12:35.940 that interest rate can have a profound impact on our ability to carry that debt going forward

00:12:43.380 and god forbid that the interest rates double or triple going forward that would make that debt almost

00:12:51.460 unsustainable going forward so every decision that this liberal government under justin trudeau makes

00:12:59.940 has a chance of impairing the long-term prosperity of future generations of canadians and that's why the

00:13:08.340 message i would send to those generations is listen it is important that we help canadians through this

00:13:16.340 very very difficult time like many other countries around the world are doing we have to get people

00:13:23.060 through this pandemic but we want to get canadians vaccinated we want to make sure that they get their

00:13:29.300 jobs back we want to make sure that small businesses get back up on their feet we want to make sure the

00:13:34.420 economy reopens that we have long-term economic growth in our country and if the decisions that

00:13:40.420 this prime minister makes now are not the right ones we will pay a terrible price down the road

00:13:49.300 when you're talking about growth and we've said this to a few guests on the show

00:13:53.940 the anchors of our economy traditionally are natural resources right oil and gas the mining industry all of

00:14:00.340 which especially the oil and gas industry have been severely hurt by justin trudeau and his liberal

00:14:06.740 government so the market has very little to do with the fact that we're not able to get our resources to

00:14:12.740 market here in canada that we have severe barriers to that not only that the travel and tourism industry

00:14:18.820 has been probably one of the most severely impacted by the pandemic you have the airline industry so there are

00:14:26.820 a number of factors at play when we talk about recovery that are are going to be slow and are going to

00:14:34.260 to need some guidance and assistance as they try to ramp back up well that's one of the things that

00:14:42.020 we have lamented is that this liberal government has failed to provide this the targeted sector

00:14:50.420 specific report for the most highly affected sectors and it took our conservative opposition in the

00:14:59.140 house of commons to bring forward a motion that would call upon the government to actually support

00:15:06.740 sectors like hospitality and tourism and the charitable sector and the airline sector and then more broadly

00:15:14.980 speaking we also called for support for small businesses across our country because uh the prime minister has

00:15:22.260 failed to recognize that these are the most impacted sectors that have yet to receive a bit of a leg up

00:15:31.300 or a a hand up not a handout but a hand up to help them make it through this crisis and uh again it took

00:15:39.940 our opposition conservatives to actually get the government to turn its mind to these sectors that

00:15:48.820 are so stressed right now and that are critical to our long-term economic recovery now you mentioned a

00:15:56.900 few but is there anything else that we would do if we as conservatives do if we are in power that could

00:16:03.540 immediately get that economic growth that we're talking about uh jump-started because i i think there are

00:16:10.260 a number of opportunities that that could help but the the government has to take action you're absolutely

00:16:16.660 right actually this liberal government has almost shut down our resource sector by implementing regulations

00:16:26.500 and laws like bill c69 bill c48 that have completely undermined our ability to get job creating projects built in

00:16:37.540 our country it used to be that canada had a reputation for being an environment where projects of national

00:16:45.620 significance could get done and you could build pipelines you could build large-scale resource projects

00:16:54.500 within a reasonable period of time and those would then drive economic growth within our country

00:17:00.660 today the global investment community avoids canada they say listen it takes too long and it's too

00:17:07.540 expensive to develop in canada therefore our dollars for investment are going to go to other places around

00:17:14.980 the world they're going to go to the united states they're going to go to south america they're going to go to

00:17:20.180 africa we just don't trust canada anymore to be a safe and reliable investment destination we as

00:17:28.420 conservatives we believe that if we were in government we would implement regulatory reform we make changes

00:17:37.460 to the law that would allow nation building projects to be built in a timely way that would respect our

00:17:45.220 environmental commitments but deliver jobs and long-term prosperity for canadians that's something

00:17:51.540 this liberal government has never gotten and it's one of the major failures and the legacies they'll

00:17:57.700 leave behind and we are running out of time i always give the guests the last word so the floor is yours sir

00:18:06.100 well you know we've spoken a lot about the pandemic challenge and we've spoken a lot about uh things that

00:18:13.140 this liberal government has gotten wrong but i want to encourage canadians we still live in an amazing

00:18:18.820 country we are going to make it through this what we as conservatives are saying we believe we are a

00:18:26.340 trustworthy competent and ethical alternative to the corrupt liberal regime we have in ottawa right now

00:18:36.020 i still love canada we still have tremendous potential it's just that potential is not being

00:18:42.580 delivered on so working together with people like you jamie man i i get such a charge out of working

00:18:49.060 with our caucus colleagues in ottawa and to think about the future and what it could be and hopefully

00:18:56.420 after the next election we'll we'll get a chance to govern and govern wisely the way canada should be

00:19:02.820 governed i couldn't agree with you more ed fast wonderful to have you back on the show and thank you

00:19:08.260 very much for your contributions we'll get you back on again because there is so much more we could talk

00:19:12.020 about probably go on for hours but i know you're busy we will uh we will say thank you and we'll

00:19:17.060 come back to you again ed fast the member of parliament for abbotsford in the british beautiful

00:19:21.300 province of british columbia is also the shadow minister for finance doing a fantastic job and we

00:19:25.700 thank you for joining us here today new content every single tuesday 1 30 pm eastern time please

00:19:32.020 join us also subscribe share comment to this program help us push back against the ever-moving

00:19:38.260 liberal agenda if you can't listen or watch to it in its entirety right this second please download it

00:19:44.100 later on in platforms like castbox itunes google play spotify it is out there if you go to find it

00:19:49.940 and hopefully we can ensure that erin o'toole is the next prime minister of canada and as always

00:19:54.900 remember low taxes less government more freedom that's the blueprints

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - March 17, 2021

Economic Recovery from COVID-19

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