The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Feeling the consequences of Justin-Flation

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

00:00:19.000 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Co-Orthal Lakes, Brock, with new

00:00:22.500 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, subscribe,

00:00:28.100 share this program. Together we can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda. And of

00:00:32.980 course, tell your friends about it because they can download it, listen to it on platforms like

00:00:36.880 CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. Another great show lined up for

00:00:42.480 you today. A first-timer on the show, actually. We're going to talk about, of course, something

00:00:46.060 that is being discussed at kitchen tables right across the country. It doesn't matter what

00:00:50.220 jurisdiction you're in. Just inflation. Inflationary prices are putting so many people under water,

00:00:56.480 barely treading water for many others. We're going to talk about that. Also, some very serious

00:01:02.680 allegations at Hockey Canada and some pretty explosive testimony at Committee. We're going

00:01:08.820 to bring on the critic for Heritage, also the Member of Parliament for Perth-Wellington. John Nader,

00:01:13.180 thank you so much for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me, Jamie. Great to be here for the first

00:01:16.640 time, despite best efforts to be on here before. Yes, I have tried, but unfortunately, I do recognize

00:01:21.880 schedules are busy and things happen. Let's talk about the Hockey Canada. That's something we

00:01:26.460 haven't talked about on the show at all. Some pretty serious allegations coming out,

00:01:31.480 stemming from an investigation in 2018, going all the way back to 2003. Maybe you can kind of give us

00:01:36.660 the Coles notes here. Yeah, so basically what happened is there's allegations of sexual assault

00:01:41.060 that were made regarding an event that was held in London back in 2018 involving the national team,

00:01:47.000 the World Juniors team from that year. What we only learned about was until recently these allegations

00:01:53.020 were effectively kept quiet by senior leadership at Hockey Canada. We didn't find out until this

00:01:59.840 spring that, you know, kids' hockey fees were used to pay sexual assault settlements, and I think

00:02:06.860 most Canadians heard about this and were greatly offended by this. And we're talking in the millions

00:02:11.720 of dollars. This isn't small dollars. Yeah, absolutely. What we found was that out of this fund,

00:02:15.680 close to nine million dollars has been funded for various allegations, various settlements,

00:02:21.560 using kids' hockey fees to make those payments. It's pretty distressing and pretty unfortunate.

00:02:27.300 So parents trying to struggle to put money together to pay this registration, unbeknownst to them,

00:02:34.140 some of those funds are going to keep the stories out of the headlines.

00:02:39.120 Exactly. And I think that's what most Canadians who've been reading about this are so upset about,

00:02:43.940 that they've been scrimping and saving, hockey's not a cheap sport to play, and then all of a sudden

00:02:49.040 they find out that some of these fees are being used to pay sexual assault settlements. So I think

00:02:53.580 that's really distressing. The other thing that frankly is angering to me as a parliamentarian,

00:03:00.180 and I think most Canadians are angry about, is the fact that the government, Sport Canada within the

00:03:05.540 Department of Canadian Heritage, knew about these allegations back in 2018. So for four years,

00:03:11.320 the government and government officials knew about these allegations and did nothing.

00:03:15.860 Well, this is supposed to be a caring feminist government here, aren't they supposed to be 1.00

00:03:19.700 upfront about this kind of thing? Transparency was like sunshine, I think Justin Drew said.

00:03:24.420 Exactly. And then we find out that no, in fact, this didn't happen. It was noted back in 2018 and not

00:03:32.220 followed up on at all. The bureaucrat in question didn't raise any questions, didn't raise any follow-up,

00:03:39.340 didn't inform different people within the organization. And so it was ridiculous. And then 0.92

00:03:44.480 we find out more recently, we're talking about this national equity fund that was used to pay these

00:03:49.580 settlements using kids' registration fees. Then we find out that, in fact, a member of the Minister

00:03:54.880 of the Day's political staff was informed by Hockey Canada about this fund and about the existence of

00:04:02.060 this fund. And again, nothing happened. So it's pretty disappointing on so many levels what's going

00:04:07.400 on right now within the organization. So you're looking into it to find out if the Minister actually

00:04:11.560 got that briefing note, that staffer, that would be a pretty large thing to overlook to say,

00:04:16.320 well, the Minister really doesn't need to know about that. Well, especially when, you know,

00:04:19.080 the Minister of the Day was talking about how we need to have safe sport, how we need to make sure

00:04:22.780 there's zero tolerance for this type of activity. And then to find out that not only her department,

00:04:27.580 but a member of her actual political staff knew about different allegations, knew about different

00:04:31.700 the existence of this fund. It's pretty upsetting that nothing happened.

00:04:36.600 And that was right through the height of the Me Too movement and everything like that, where

00:04:40.900 these types of conversations started taking place in a very public way, and rightfully so.

00:04:47.320 Absolutely. But Sport Canada decided, well, we just want to keep this, what, to not shine a bad

00:04:53.660 light on the program? Like, I know that's just something you're trying to push out.

00:04:57.040 Well, and that's just it. You know, we're talking about the need for a culture shift at Hockey Canada.

00:05:01.380 But there also has to be a culture shift at Sport Canada, within the government as well.

00:05:05.520 That these types of allegations, when they're made aware that there's actual meaningful action

00:05:10.040 taken, that meaningful follow-up. For four years, Hockey Canada continued to receive millions of

00:05:15.360 dollars from the government without ever flagging the issue of, oh, by the way, there are these

00:05:20.480 serious allegations. Not once did that happen. And, you know, that's the thing that I think

00:05:24.760 Canadians should be rightfully concerned about. So, yes, there needs to be change at Hockey Canada.

00:05:30.300 Sport Canada has to be right behind them as well.

00:05:32.060 Do you think, now this is all speculation now, so Hockey Canada is probably worried, well, if we

00:05:38.620 let this go, we might lose our funding because it turns out we're not dealing with the problem

00:05:43.140 accordingly.

00:05:44.300 And that's a real concern with the leadership at Hockey Canada. They were happy and content to allow

00:05:51.500 these allegations to be kept under wraps, to not publicly disclose any of this, and then to make a

00:05:59.960 settlement to, and oftentimes with non-disclosure agreements, to keep this type of things quiet.

00:06:05.860 So, it's a real concern about where this organization is going.

00:06:08.660 So, you've already talked about major shake-ups in the bureaucracy, how they do things in terms of

00:06:12.680 you come to know about allegations like this, there's a few more steps that have to take place.

00:06:17.320 You just can't put it in the, you know, in your drawer, your desk drawer, forget about it.

00:06:21.820 This needs to be talked about and dealt with accordingly.

00:06:23.940 You also called for a major shake-up at the helm of Hockey Canada itself back in July following a lot of

00:06:31.300 the firestorm that's brought up. I see today in the headlines, the minister has finally come around to

00:06:35.480 your way of thinking and said, yeah, maybe Hockey Canada does need a bit of a shake-up.

00:06:39.420 Yeah, absolutely. So, back in July, you know, following, you know, important comments from people

00:06:45.060 like Sheldon Kennedy, who's been a trailblazer in terms of safe sport and ending abuse in sport,

00:06:51.080 calling for the resignation of the CEO of Hockey Canada, calling for the resignation of

00:06:55.240 senior management team and board leadership. We've been calling for that since the end of July.

00:06:59.780 It has to happen. Frankly, I'm incredibly disappointed that it hasn't happened yet,

00:07:04.660 that there hasn't been a call from the board to shake up the leadership team, that they're doubling

00:07:09.360 down. And in fact, just this morning, we heard the current chair of Hockey Canada give Scott Smith,

00:07:14.220 the CEO, an A on his performance. So, I mean, that's incredibly disappointing, frankly,

00:07:19.740 distressing. That's the culture that's...

00:07:22.040 It's like circling the wagons here.

00:07:23.960 Exactly. A defensive tone rather than actually, you know, looking forward for meaningful change

00:07:29.160 within this organization. There are, you know, I want to say, you know, thousands of Canadians

00:07:32.860 out there who volunteer their time and their energies each and every day, you know, to ensure

00:07:38.540 that, you know, our kids, you know, have a safe sport experience. And frankly, what Hockey Canada is

00:07:43.740 doing right now is a disservice to those thousands of volunteers who are doing great work,

00:07:48.300 but yet, unfortunately, are being affiliated with poor management at Hockey Canada.

00:07:55.560 Yeah, it really is a shame because Hockey Canada at one time did have a good name around the world.

00:08:00.540 A cultural icon. You know, Canadians think of hockey. And yet, here they are giving the entire

00:08:07.600 sport a bad name because of poor management and a culture that, frankly, should have changed

00:08:13.580 decades ago and hasn't. Well, if you're talking bad management, it's a terrible segue to

00:08:19.660 talk about, go for one very serious topic. We're going to another serious talk about something

00:08:24.220 that could have been, in a very significant way, kept under control, and then that is inflation,

00:08:32.060 right? The government spent $400 billion, actually created that currency, a third of which had nothing

00:08:38.940 to do with COVID, what was couched in the language of COVID, which is sparking a lot of this inflation

00:08:44.780 that we're seeing across the board. I have some figures here. Grocery prices are up by

00:08:48.700 almost 11%. The average family of four is now spending over $1,200 more each year to put food on

00:08:55.260 the table. This is hurting people, like I said, off the top. Doesn't matter what part of the country,

00:08:59.100 your gas prices in BC are out of control. This only seems to be getting worse. We have refinery

00:09:03.900 shutdown. The price of energy is spiking again. I believe today, energy prices had one of their

00:09:08.460 biggest jumps ever. This is concerning everywhere. Oh, absolutely, Jamie. I mean, we look at the things

00:09:16.220 that families absolutely need to survive. And groceries are right at the top of the list. You

00:09:21.020 know, there's no option not to put food on the table. And so what we're finding is families are

00:09:25.340 scrimping and saving to be able to afford their grocery bill each week and each month. And yet, at the

00:09:30.540 end of the day, the dollars aren't meeting the ends. And that's the real concern. I'm hearing

00:09:35.660 concerns, and I'm sure you are, Jamie, from families who are just doing all the hard work they need to

00:09:40.540 do and aren't getting any further ahead. In fact, they're going further and further behind. And so

00:09:45.020 groceries, absolutely one of the essential things, going up, like you said, 11% to 12%. But gas prices

00:09:51.020 as well. We live in a country which is a rural country, often remote countries, and there's no option

00:09:58.140 for mass transit in some of our rural communities. The only way to get to and from work to provide for

00:10:02.780 one's family is by driving. And yet we're finding gas prices skyrocketing. And, you know, driving up

00:10:09.340 here this week, you know, gas prices at $1.55, which is low compared to where they have been in the past.

00:10:15.340 But it's still a massive price for anyone who's trying to get to work to get their kids to, you know,

00:10:20.860 hockey practice or ringette practice or to just provide for their families. It's not working. And

00:10:27.740 frankly, you know, what we're seeing from the government is a tone deaf approach to this,

00:10:33.260 really diminishing the seriousness of these concerns. So it's really unfortunate.

00:10:38.620 Well, I think this government has two speeds, big government and bigger government, right?

00:10:44.140 I think we all agree that people need relief and they need it now. So the government,

00:10:48.380 which is taking in massive, you know, when the NDP talks about massive profits for some of these

00:10:52.700 companies, the government is actually taking in massive profits. They've never had it so good.

00:10:58.060 But yet they can't seem to figure out they're just on a spending spree right now. But at the end of

00:11:02.140 the day, inflation is still here. Well, exactly. And it's even worse. They want to take more from

00:11:08.460 Canadians' pockets. That's true. So they, you know, they want to increase paycheck taxes.

00:11:13.580 They want to increase paycheck taxes when families are already struggling. They want to take more off of

00:11:18.540 each and every paycheck. And then the carbon tax, the carbon tax, which affects everything throughout

00:11:24.620 the supply chain. Anything that ever gets delivered by a truck, eventually is going to be subject to

00:11:30.620 higher taxes. You know, grocery prices, again, are being driven up by the carbon tax. And just the

00:11:37.420 lack of compassion from this government is just mind boggling when we see them raising taxes at a

00:11:44.860 time when Canadians can least afford it. I can't remember who said it, but someone put it nice

00:11:49.980 this way. When government gives you something with an open hand, they have a clenched fist

00:11:54.700 hiding behind their back. So when they're talking about these GST rebates, rent rebates, one time for

00:11:59.820 the rent rebate, you get the GST quarterly. But at the same time, the clenched fist is the fact that

00:12:05.740 inflation isn't going away. You're still at eight plus percent. Groceries are out of control.

00:12:09.820 Exactly. And frankly, these payments are going to be completely liquefied by the rising costs.

00:12:17.500 And so $500 for rent isn't going to get you very far in some of Canada's major urban centres,

00:12:23.260 when that won't even cover a week's rent in some of our major centres. And frankly,

00:12:28.220 we don't even have to look at major urban centres. In smaller communities, rental costs are going up

00:12:33.820 there too. And I'm seeing, you know, in some of my small communities, $2,000 plus a month for rentals.

00:12:41.340 And so this is a problem that's not going away. And like I said, these payments, you know, everyone

00:12:46.460 welcomes a bit of a relief. But frankly, these payments are going to be gobbled up so quickly

00:12:52.460 by Justin Trudeau's inflation that it's not going to have the meaningful impact that Canadians expect

00:12:58.060 from their government. So the one way to kind of drive down inflation is to raise interest rates.

00:13:03.980 That's one way. But the other is to increase supply, to increase supply of things people buy.

00:13:09.420 Right. We have refineries, I believe, in Ohio and Washington state that are down for a series

00:13:15.500 of reasons, cleaning and maintenance issues and some mechanical issues. But at the same time,

00:13:20.700 we we've said it a million times on this show. I hate to keep bringing up, but we could be increasing

00:13:26.940 our supply of energy, whether it be natural gas or oil to the world. We have handcuffed ourselves.

00:13:32.380 We absolutely we absolutely have, Jamie. I mean, the fact of the matter is we can be

00:13:35.980 an energy superpower here in Canada. And that was the vision of former Prime Minister Harper,

00:13:39.980 who was to make ourselves not only reliant, self-reliant for energy, but to become that

00:13:45.340 international powerhouse. And we can do that. We see with the struggles right now with Vladimir Putin

00:13:50.540 and his illegal battle in Ukraine, that we could be that supplier to the European market.

00:13:59.020 But yet we're not. And we're handcuffing ourselves. We're refusing to allow our clean Canadian energy

00:14:05.740 to be the ones that are supplying not only the domestic market, but the global market as well.

00:14:09.740 That's where we need to go. But frankly, what's happening is Justin Trudeau is preventing that

00:14:15.500 industry from expanding to lack of pipelines, lack of expert opportunities. And that's what I think

00:14:21.420 a lot of Canadians are really upset about and angry about when they can see us bringing in foreign oil

00:14:26.780 when we have the cleanest, most ethical opportunity to export that globally.

00:14:31.980 The energy is one we want to bring down. We want to bring down groceries. And granted,

00:14:35.020 we don't grow and produce everything that we consume here in Canada. But at the same time,

00:14:38.860 there's things we can be producing in Canada here. So what's the answer that the government does?

00:14:43.100 This liberal government does more regulations, more red tape, more burdens on our agriculture

00:14:48.460 sector. They start musing about a 30% reduction in fertilizer. They're going to purposely short the

00:14:53.500 food supply like the Dutch are doing. Purposely. We want to bring down the cost of groceries. 1.00

00:14:59.580 We don't like it when bacon is $8.50 a package. It's ridiculous. 0.95

00:15:02.860 Yeah. And let's go back to where we talked about an energy superpower. We can also be an 0.63

00:15:08.540 agriculture superpower. We literally have the most fertile farmland in the world. You know,

00:15:13.660 in my neck of the woods in rural southern Ontario, we have farmland that is exceptional,

00:15:18.940 producing those commodities that we need to feed our own public and feed the world. We should be

00:15:25.180 entirely able to be self-sufficient to eradicate food insecurity here in Canada. But then we have these

00:15:34.700 idiotic, and I mean idiotic, because they are efforts by the government to handcuff Canadian 1.00

00:15:41.580 farmers and farm families, whether it's the fertilizer tariff, whether it's the fertilizer 1.00

00:15:45.420 reduction. Clean fuel standard, the carbon tax. You name it. And the government is almost as though

00:15:50.140 they're purposely preventing farmers from excelling and doing what they do best. At the end of the day,

00:15:56.380 you know, farmers and farm families are the best stewards of our land. They're the closest to the land,

00:16:00.860 and they're doing what's necessary to ensure that we have a safe, reliable, and self-reliant food

00:16:07.260 supply. And yet this government has no respect. And frankly, you know, when I hear questions in the

00:16:13.260 House of Commons, and then I hear the answer from the Minister of Agriculture, I am frankly disappointed,

00:16:19.580 upset that she is not standing up for Canadian farmers at the cabinet table. She's supposed to be the 0.51

00:16:25.260 voice of farmers and farm families in Canada, and she's failing to do that at the cabinet table. 0.99

00:16:30.060 So when we have older farmers retiring, younger farmers, maybe they came to the farm family,

00:16:34.780 deciding not to go into the business. Farmers sell their land because that's their retirement,

00:16:40.220 right, to potentially a developer or whoever. Or farmers get big, bigger. And that's an issue

00:16:47.180 some people have as well. But at the same time, once that farmland goes and is paved over, it's gone

00:16:51.580 forever. I think at the bottom line, if we want farmers to get into the trade, we need to allow them to

00:16:56.940 make a living. And as much as the the left hates it, they need to make a profit.

00:17:02.300 Exactly. And there's nothing wrong with a farmer making a profit. When that farmer makes a profit,

00:17:08.380 that money goes back into the community. It goes to upgrade equipment, goes to upgrade their ability

00:17:13.900 to do better. And that is not a bad thing because they're doing what's necessary to provide for their

00:17:19.820 families and provide for their communities. When we want to see strong rural communities, it's when farmers

00:17:25.100 and all farmers are doing well. And what we see from this government is almost an intention

00:17:30.780 that they don't do well. What we want to see is good, hardworking farm families respected for what

00:17:37.020 they do each and every day. And I think most people do. We just can't figure out why the grocery prices

00:17:41.740 are so long. And a lot of that has to do with the taxes, rules and regulations. Of course, government

00:17:45.900 comes along and tries to be the hero. Don't look at the problem we just created. We're going to come

00:17:50.700 along with a so-called solution, but actually doesn't solve the problem, right? What did Reagan

00:17:54.860 say? The more central planning, the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan. Well,

00:17:59.660 the solution to one problem, one failed government program is another government program.

00:18:04.300 Absolutely. And if the government would just back off, we'd be all further ahead. If they would back

00:18:08.220 off on their asinine plans to tax everything, whether through the carbon tax, whether the clean fuel

00:18:13.980 standard weather, through the reduction in fertilizer emissions, back off, back off,

00:18:21.420 let farmers do what they do best. And we're going to see that change. We're going to see that impact

00:18:26.460 because at the end of the day, it's the farmer getting squeezed. It's the farmer getting squeezed

00:18:30.220 each and every day. So the tourist industry was another one being squeezed. Arrive Can finally

00:18:34.940 becoming optional. I think it should be gone altogether, but hey, baby steps here. This is the

00:18:39.260 liberal government we're talking about, but also a lot of the health mandates that were scaled back.

00:18:44.940 It wasn't the science that changed because the actual real science changed long ago. It was the

00:18:49.820 political science. It was the political science. Exactly. And it's a big document show. The pollsters,

00:18:54.060 the cabinet documents on Blacklock's reporter showed that when the government realized that they

00:18:58.780 were dropping in the polls because of the mandates, the mandates went away. Oh, exactly. It really is

00:19:04.060 amazing. And coming from a tourist area like mine, obviously we talked about agriculture. My area is

00:19:08.380 strong into agriculture, but there's also a strong tourism industry as well. We have the amazing

00:19:12.940 Stratford Festival, Drayton Entertainment, Stratford Summer Music, Springworks, you name it. We rely on,

00:19:18.940 for that aspect of the economy, on tourists coming to our area, coming to areas across the country.

00:19:24.140 And yet every time the government issued a new regulation, a new blockade, a new barricade,

00:19:29.980 that even causing one small change is preventing people from coming. We want to be welcoming people

00:19:35.740 back to our tourism industries, welcome them back to our great cultural institutions, welcome them

00:19:40.380 back to spend money here in Canada, to spend the night, to pay for local accommodations, to eat in

00:19:47.100 local restaurants, to buy at local retail shops. We need them here. And every time the government adds

00:19:52.140 a new burden, they're staying away. So that's, I'm glad, like you said, I'm glad that Arrive Canada's

00:19:56.380 now optional. I'm glad that we're seeing changes, but it doesn't go far enough. We need to be welcoming

00:20:00.380 people back with open arms and not preventing them from coming to Canada. Absolutely. We need the power

00:20:04.220 of the free market to unleash people, their ability to create, to manufacture, and to provide us with

00:20:11.820 the opportunities we have. Because if one door, one business closes their door in the free market,

00:20:16.700 another one will open itself to you. And that's what we like. John, we are completely out of time.

00:20:21.100 I can't believe how fast the time goes. My goodness. Question period is coming up, so we have to get out of

00:20:26.620 everybody here. John, I always give the guests the last word, so it's a final thought about whatever

00:20:30.780 our conversation, you name it, the floor is there. Well, thanks, Jamie. What I will say is that with

00:20:36.140 Pierre Poiliever as our leader, we are well positioned to bring that meaningful change for Canadians. Let us,

00:20:41.340 let us, let government get out of the way and actually create meaningful change for, for our economy,

00:20:46.300 to be free from, from restraints and actually go about making meaningful change so that all businesses,

00:20:52.620 all individuals have the opportunity to excel here in our great country. That is John Nader,

00:20:57.020 Member of Parliament for Perth Wellington, also the critic for Heritage. We appreciate his time.

00:21:00.940 We appreciate your time for coming in. Please like, comment, subscribe, share this program. This is

00:21:06.940 amazing content, probably something you're not getting in the mainstream media, so also tell your

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00:21:15.980 it is out there. New content for you every single Tuesday. Please keep tuning in. Until then,

00:21:21.660 remember low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - October 06, 2022

Feeling the consequences of Justin-Flation

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