Feeling the consequences of Justin-Flation
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Summary
Inflationary prices are putting so many people under water, and the cost of living is skyrocketing. We re going to talk about that, as well as some very serious allegations at Hockey Canada and some explosive testimony from a committee hearing.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Co-Orthal Lakes, Brock, with new
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content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, subscribe,
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share this program. Together we can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda. And of
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course, tell your friends about it because they can download it, listen to it on platforms like
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CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. Another great show lined up for
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you today. A first-timer on the show, actually. We're going to talk about, of course, something
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that is being discussed at kitchen tables right across the country. It doesn't matter what
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jurisdiction you're in. Just inflation. Inflationary prices are putting so many people under water,
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barely treading water for many others. We're going to talk about that. Also, some very serious
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allegations at Hockey Canada and some pretty explosive testimony at Committee. We're going
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to bring on the critic for Heritage, also the Member of Parliament for Perth-Wellington. John Nader,
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thank you so much for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me, Jamie. Great to be here for the first
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time, despite best efforts to be on here before. Yes, I have tried, but unfortunately, I do recognize
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schedules are busy and things happen. Let's talk about the Hockey Canada. That's something we
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haven't talked about on the show at all. Some pretty serious allegations coming out,
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stemming from an investigation in 2018, going all the way back to 2003. Maybe you can kind of give us
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the Coles notes here. Yeah, so basically what happened is there's allegations of sexual assault
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that were made regarding an event that was held in London back in 2018 involving the national team,
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the World Juniors team from that year. What we only learned about was until recently these allegations
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were effectively kept quiet by senior leadership at Hockey Canada. We didn't find out until this
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spring that, you know, kids' hockey fees were used to pay sexual assault settlements, and I think
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most Canadians heard about this and were greatly offended by this. And we're talking in the millions
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of dollars. This isn't small dollars. Yeah, absolutely. What we found was that out of this fund,
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close to nine million dollars has been funded for various allegations, various settlements,
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using kids' hockey fees to make those payments. It's pretty distressing and pretty unfortunate.
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So parents trying to struggle to put money together to pay this registration, unbeknownst to them,
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some of those funds are going to keep the stories out of the headlines.
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Exactly. And I think that's what most Canadians who've been reading about this are so upset about,
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that they've been scrimping and saving, hockey's not a cheap sport to play, and then all of a sudden
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they find out that some of these fees are being used to pay sexual assault settlements. So I think
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that's really distressing. The other thing that frankly is angering to me as a parliamentarian,
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and I think most Canadians are angry about, is the fact that the government, Sport Canada within the
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Department of Canadian Heritage, knew about these allegations back in 2018. So for four years,
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the government and government officials knew about these allegations and did nothing.
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Well, this is supposed to be a caring feminist government here, aren't they supposed to be
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upfront about this kind of thing? Transparency was like sunshine, I think Justin Drew said.
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Exactly. And then we find out that no, in fact, this didn't happen. It was noted back in 2018 and not
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followed up on at all. The bureaucrat in question didn't raise any questions, didn't raise any follow-up,
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didn't inform different people within the organization. And so it was ridiculous. And then
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we find out more recently, we're talking about this national equity fund that was used to pay these
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settlements using kids' registration fees. Then we find out that, in fact, a member of the Minister
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of the Day's political staff was informed by Hockey Canada about this fund and about the existence of
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this fund. And again, nothing happened. So it's pretty disappointing on so many levels what's going
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on right now within the organization. So you're looking into it to find out if the Minister actually
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got that briefing note, that staffer, that would be a pretty large thing to overlook to say,
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well, the Minister really doesn't need to know about that. Well, especially when, you know,
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the Minister of the Day was talking about how we need to have safe sport, how we need to make sure
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there's zero tolerance for this type of activity. And then to find out that not only her department,
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but a member of her actual political staff knew about different allegations, knew about different
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the existence of this fund. It's pretty upsetting that nothing happened.
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And that was right through the height of the Me Too movement and everything like that, where
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these types of conversations started taking place in a very public way, and rightfully so.
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Absolutely. But Sport Canada decided, well, we just want to keep this, what, to not shine a bad
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light on the program? Like, I know that's just something you're trying to push out.
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Well, and that's just it. You know, we're talking about the need for a culture shift at Hockey Canada.
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But there also has to be a culture shift at Sport Canada, within the government as well.
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That these types of allegations, when they're made aware that there's actual meaningful action
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taken, that meaningful follow-up. For four years, Hockey Canada continued to receive millions of
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dollars from the government without ever flagging the issue of, oh, by the way, there are these
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serious allegations. Not once did that happen. And, you know, that's the thing that I think
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Canadians should be rightfully concerned about. So, yes, there needs to be change at Hockey Canada.
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Sport Canada has to be right behind them as well.
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Do you think, now this is all speculation now, so Hockey Canada is probably worried, well, if we
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let this go, we might lose our funding because it turns out we're not dealing with the problem
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And that's a real concern with the leadership at Hockey Canada. They were happy and content to allow
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these allegations to be kept under wraps, to not publicly disclose any of this, and then to make a
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settlement to, and oftentimes with non-disclosure agreements, to keep this type of things quiet.
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So, it's a real concern about where this organization is going.
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So, you've already talked about major shake-ups in the bureaucracy, how they do things in terms of
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you come to know about allegations like this, there's a few more steps that have to take place.
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You just can't put it in the, you know, in your drawer, your desk drawer, forget about it.
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This needs to be talked about and dealt with accordingly.
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You also called for a major shake-up at the helm of Hockey Canada itself back in July following a lot of
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the firestorm that's brought up. I see today in the headlines, the minister has finally come around to
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your way of thinking and said, yeah, maybe Hockey Canada does need a bit of a shake-up.
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Yeah, absolutely. So, back in July, you know, following, you know, important comments from people
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like Sheldon Kennedy, who's been a trailblazer in terms of safe sport and ending abuse in sport,
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calling for the resignation of the CEO of Hockey Canada, calling for the resignation of
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senior management team and board leadership. We've been calling for that since the end of July.
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It has to happen. Frankly, I'm incredibly disappointed that it hasn't happened yet,
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that there hasn't been a call from the board to shake up the leadership team, that they're doubling
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down. And in fact, just this morning, we heard the current chair of Hockey Canada give Scott Smith,
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the CEO, an A on his performance. So, I mean, that's incredibly disappointing, frankly,
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Exactly. A defensive tone rather than actually, you know, looking forward for meaningful change
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within this organization. There are, you know, I want to say, you know, thousands of Canadians
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out there who volunteer their time and their energies each and every day, you know, to ensure
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that, you know, our kids, you know, have a safe sport experience. And frankly, what Hockey Canada is
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doing right now is a disservice to those thousands of volunteers who are doing great work,
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but yet, unfortunately, are being affiliated with poor management at Hockey Canada.
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Yeah, it really is a shame because Hockey Canada at one time did have a good name around the world.
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A cultural icon. You know, Canadians think of hockey. And yet, here they are giving the entire
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sport a bad name because of poor management and a culture that, frankly, should have changed
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decades ago and hasn't. Well, if you're talking bad management, it's a terrible segue to
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talk about, go for one very serious topic. We're going to another serious talk about something
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that could have been, in a very significant way, kept under control, and then that is inflation,
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right? The government spent $400 billion, actually created that currency, a third of which had nothing
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to do with COVID, what was couched in the language of COVID, which is sparking a lot of this inflation
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that we're seeing across the board. I have some figures here. Grocery prices are up by
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almost 11%. The average family of four is now spending over $1,200 more each year to put food on
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the table. This is hurting people, like I said, off the top. Doesn't matter what part of the country,
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your gas prices in BC are out of control. This only seems to be getting worse. We have refinery
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shutdown. The price of energy is spiking again. I believe today, energy prices had one of their
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biggest jumps ever. This is concerning everywhere. Oh, absolutely, Jamie. I mean, we look at the things
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that families absolutely need to survive. And groceries are right at the top of the list. You
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know, there's no option not to put food on the table. And so what we're finding is families are
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scrimping and saving to be able to afford their grocery bill each week and each month. And yet, at the
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end of the day, the dollars aren't meeting the ends. And that's the real concern. I'm hearing
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concerns, and I'm sure you are, Jamie, from families who are just doing all the hard work they need to
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do and aren't getting any further ahead. In fact, they're going further and further behind. And so
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groceries, absolutely one of the essential things, going up, like you said, 11% to 12%. But gas prices
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as well. We live in a country which is a rural country, often remote countries, and there's no option
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for mass transit in some of our rural communities. The only way to get to and from work to provide for
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one's family is by driving. And yet we're finding gas prices skyrocketing. And, you know, driving up
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here this week, you know, gas prices at $1.55, which is low compared to where they have been in the past.
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But it's still a massive price for anyone who's trying to get to work to get their kids to, you know,
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hockey practice or ringette practice or to just provide for their families. It's not working. And
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frankly, you know, what we're seeing from the government is a tone deaf approach to this,
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really diminishing the seriousness of these concerns. So it's really unfortunate.
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Well, I think this government has two speeds, big government and bigger government, right?
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I think we all agree that people need relief and they need it now. So the government,
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which is taking in massive, you know, when the NDP talks about massive profits for some of these
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companies, the government is actually taking in massive profits. They've never had it so good.
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But yet they can't seem to figure out they're just on a spending spree right now. But at the end of
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the day, inflation is still here. Well, exactly. And it's even worse. They want to take more from
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Canadians' pockets. That's true. So they, you know, they want to increase paycheck taxes.
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They want to increase paycheck taxes when families are already struggling. They want to take more off of
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each and every paycheck. And then the carbon tax, the carbon tax, which affects everything throughout
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the supply chain. Anything that ever gets delivered by a truck, eventually is going to be subject to
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higher taxes. You know, grocery prices, again, are being driven up by the carbon tax. And just the
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lack of compassion from this government is just mind boggling when we see them raising taxes at a
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time when Canadians can least afford it. I can't remember who said it, but someone put it nice
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this way. When government gives you something with an open hand, they have a clenched fist
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hiding behind their back. So when they're talking about these GST rebates, rent rebates, one time for
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the rent rebate, you get the GST quarterly. But at the same time, the clenched fist is the fact that
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inflation isn't going away. You're still at eight plus percent. Groceries are out of control.
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Exactly. And frankly, these payments are going to be completely liquefied by the rising costs.
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And so $500 for rent isn't going to get you very far in some of Canada's major urban centres,
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when that won't even cover a week's rent in some of our major centres. And frankly,
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we don't even have to look at major urban centres. In smaller communities, rental costs are going up
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there too. And I'm seeing, you know, in some of my small communities, $2,000 plus a month for rentals.
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And so this is a problem that's not going away. And like I said, these payments, you know, everyone
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welcomes a bit of a relief. But frankly, these payments are going to be gobbled up so quickly
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by Justin Trudeau's inflation that it's not going to have the meaningful impact that Canadians expect
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from their government. So the one way to kind of drive down inflation is to raise interest rates.
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That's one way. But the other is to increase supply, to increase supply of things people buy.
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Right. We have refineries, I believe, in Ohio and Washington state that are down for a series
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of reasons, cleaning and maintenance issues and some mechanical issues. But at the same time,
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we we've said it a million times on this show. I hate to keep bringing up, but we could be increasing
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our supply of energy, whether it be natural gas or oil to the world. We have handcuffed ourselves.
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We absolutely we absolutely have, Jamie. I mean, the fact of the matter is we can be
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an energy superpower here in Canada. And that was the vision of former Prime Minister Harper,
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who was to make ourselves not only reliant, self-reliant for energy, but to become that
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international powerhouse. And we can do that. We see with the struggles right now with Vladimir Putin
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and his illegal battle in Ukraine, that we could be that supplier to the European market.
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But yet we're not. And we're handcuffing ourselves. We're refusing to allow our clean Canadian energy
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to be the ones that are supplying not only the domestic market, but the global market as well.
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That's where we need to go. But frankly, what's happening is Justin Trudeau is preventing that
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industry from expanding to lack of pipelines, lack of expert opportunities. And that's what I think
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a lot of Canadians are really upset about and angry about when they can see us bringing in foreign oil
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when we have the cleanest, most ethical opportunity to export that globally.
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The energy is one we want to bring down. We want to bring down groceries. And granted,
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we don't grow and produce everything that we consume here in Canada. But at the same time,
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there's things we can be producing in Canada here. So what's the answer that the government does?
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This liberal government does more regulations, more red tape, more burdens on our agriculture
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sector. They start musing about a 30% reduction in fertilizer. They're going to purposely short the
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food supply like the Dutch are doing. Purposely. We want to bring down the cost of groceries.
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We don't like it when bacon is $8.50 a package. It's ridiculous.
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Yeah. And let's go back to where we talked about an energy superpower. We can also be an
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agriculture superpower. We literally have the most fertile farmland in the world. You know,
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in my neck of the woods in rural southern Ontario, we have farmland that is exceptional,
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producing those commodities that we need to feed our own public and feed the world. We should be
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entirely able to be self-sufficient to eradicate food insecurity here in Canada. But then we have these
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idiotic, and I mean idiotic, because they are efforts by the government to handcuff Canadian
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farmers and farm families, whether it's the fertilizer tariff, whether it's the fertilizer
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reduction. Clean fuel standard, the carbon tax. You name it. And the government is almost as though
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they're purposely preventing farmers from excelling and doing what they do best. At the end of the day,
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you know, farmers and farm families are the best stewards of our land. They're the closest to the land,
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and they're doing what's necessary to ensure that we have a safe, reliable, and self-reliant food
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supply. And yet this government has no respect. And frankly, you know, when I hear questions in the
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House of Commons, and then I hear the answer from the Minister of Agriculture, I am frankly disappointed,
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upset that she is not standing up for Canadian farmers at the cabinet table. She's supposed to be the
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voice of farmers and farm families in Canada, and she's failing to do that at the cabinet table.
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So when we have older farmers retiring, younger farmers, maybe they came to the farm family,
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deciding not to go into the business. Farmers sell their land because that's their retirement,
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right, to potentially a developer or whoever. Or farmers get big, bigger. And that's an issue
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some people have as well. But at the same time, once that farmland goes and is paved over, it's gone
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forever. I think at the bottom line, if we want farmers to get into the trade, we need to allow them to
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make a living. And as much as the the left hates it, they need to make a profit.
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Exactly. And there's nothing wrong with a farmer making a profit. When that farmer makes a profit,
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that money goes back into the community. It goes to upgrade equipment, goes to upgrade their ability
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to do better. And that is not a bad thing because they're doing what's necessary to provide for their
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families and provide for their communities. When we want to see strong rural communities, it's when farmers
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and all farmers are doing well. And what we see from this government is almost an intention
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that they don't do well. What we want to see is good, hardworking farm families respected for what
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they do each and every day. And I think most people do. We just can't figure out why the grocery prices
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are so long. And a lot of that has to do with the taxes, rules and regulations. Of course, government
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comes along and tries to be the hero. Don't look at the problem we just created. We're going to come
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along with a so-called solution, but actually doesn't solve the problem, right? What did Reagan
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say? The more central planning, the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan. Well,
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the solution to one problem, one failed government program is another government program.
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Absolutely. And if the government would just back off, we'd be all further ahead. If they would back
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off on their asinine plans to tax everything, whether through the carbon tax, whether the clean fuel
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standard weather, through the reduction in fertilizer emissions, back off, back off,
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let farmers do what they do best. And we're going to see that change. We're going to see that impact
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because at the end of the day, it's the farmer getting squeezed. It's the farmer getting squeezed
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each and every day. So the tourist industry was another one being squeezed. Arrive Can finally
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becoming optional. I think it should be gone altogether, but hey, baby steps here. This is the
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liberal government we're talking about, but also a lot of the health mandates that were scaled back.
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It wasn't the science that changed because the actual real science changed long ago. It was the
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political science. It was the political science. Exactly. And it's a big document show. The pollsters,
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the cabinet documents on Blacklock's reporter showed that when the government realized that they
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were dropping in the polls because of the mandates, the mandates went away. Oh, exactly. It really is
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amazing. And coming from a tourist area like mine, obviously we talked about agriculture. My area is
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strong into agriculture, but there's also a strong tourism industry as well. We have the amazing
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Stratford Festival, Drayton Entertainment, Stratford Summer Music, Springworks, you name it. We rely on,
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for that aspect of the economy, on tourists coming to our area, coming to areas across the country.
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And yet every time the government issued a new regulation, a new blockade, a new barricade,
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that even causing one small change is preventing people from coming. We want to be welcoming people
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back to our tourism industries, welcome them back to our great cultural institutions, welcome them
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back to spend money here in Canada, to spend the night, to pay for local accommodations, to eat in
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local restaurants, to buy at local retail shops. We need them here. And every time the government adds
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a new burden, they're staying away. So that's, I'm glad, like you said, I'm glad that Arrive Canada's
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now optional. I'm glad that we're seeing changes, but it doesn't go far enough. We need to be welcoming
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people back with open arms and not preventing them from coming to Canada. Absolutely. We need the power
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of the free market to unleash people, their ability to create, to manufacture, and to provide us with
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the opportunities we have. Because if one door, one business closes their door in the free market,
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another one will open itself to you. And that's what we like. John, we are completely out of time.
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I can't believe how fast the time goes. My goodness. Question period is coming up, so we have to get out of
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everybody here. John, I always give the guests the last word, so it's a final thought about whatever
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our conversation, you name it, the floor is there. Well, thanks, Jamie. What I will say is that with
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Pierre Poiliever as our leader, we are well positioned to bring that meaningful change for Canadians. Let us,
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let us, let government get out of the way and actually create meaningful change for, for our economy,
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to be free from, from restraints and actually go about making meaningful change so that all businesses,
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all individuals have the opportunity to excel here in our great country. That is John Nader,
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Member of Parliament for Perth Wellington, also the critic for Heritage. We appreciate his time.
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