The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Full episode： May 18, 2017

00:00:00.000 Coming up this week on The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast, we have three MPs, James Bazan from Selkirk, Interlake, Eastman.

00:00:07.660 Then we've got Michael Cooper from St. Albert, Edmonton.

00:00:10.980 And finally, from Banff, Airdrie, Blake Richards MP.

00:00:15.680 Going to be a great show.

00:00:17.920 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:00:20.940 Well, they thought they were going to have an easy day over there today, but not so fast, Mr. Speaker.

00:00:32.700 What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curb his out-of-control behaviour?

00:00:44.220 And now, here's your host, Tony Clement.

00:00:46.460 Okay, welcome to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast, the official podcast of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:00:52.860 I'm your host, Tony Clement, Member of Parliament for Paris, San Muskoka.

00:00:55.840 And with me right now is the MP for Selkirk, Interlake, Eastman, the Honourable James Bazan.

00:01:02.620 James, great to have you on the show.

00:01:03.920 Thanks for having me on, Tony.

00:01:04.940 Well, he's our Conservative Defence critic, of course, and we've got a lot of issues that pertain to the defence file.

00:01:11.180 First of all, with respect to our defence minister, Harjeet Sajjan, obviously he twice publicly claimed that he was the architect, in quotation marks, of Operation Medusa, one of the largest battles in which Canada has ever participated.

00:01:25.260 So, talk a little bit about the controversy there and why it's important to raise these issues.

00:01:29.700 Well, for some time, I've been concerned that the minister has just a casual relationship with the truth.

00:01:37.120 And it goes back to a lot of his misleading comments that he's made in the House, as it relates to danger pay of our troops that are fighting ISIS, as it relates to the fabricated capability gap with our fighter jets.

00:01:49.060 And he's also gone as far as, you know, lied about whether or not our allies, particularly Iraq and the Kurdistan regional government, were happy with us pulling our CF-18s out of the fight against ISIS, which was proven that they were quite upset and wanted us to keep the jets there.

00:02:07.980 So, you know, he's been lying on those fronts, but then for him to go out and embellish his own service record in Operation Medusa, one of the largest battles that Canada has been in since World War II, while we're fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and to call himself the architect, wasn't a misspeak.

00:02:28.840 We know that he said this originally back in 2015 in an interview when he was campaigning to be the Liberal member of Parliament.

00:02:37.880 This was during the general election.

00:02:39.180 Yeah, it was during the general election.

00:02:40.860 He was actually still in uniform.

00:02:42.620 He was still a lieutenant colonel at that time.

00:02:45.140 And then he said it again April 16th in Delhi on an official mission there, reaching out to the government of India.

00:02:53.480 But he not only said it, he actually wrote it himself into his speaking notes, and it was checked against delivery.

00:03:01.260 So this was approved by his office.

00:03:04.060 It was his official speaking notes.

00:03:05.560 So this was not a mistake or a slip of the tongue or anything like that?

00:03:07.620 No, and so for him to say it's a mistake even is more infuriating for our veterans and for those that are currently serving.

00:03:12.420 And they have a term for this, calling it stolen valor, because he's trying to take credit for something he didn't do in a battle.

00:03:19.160 Tell us a little bit more about, you know, this is obviously not only about him misleading Canadians, but it's also about the culture within our fighting forces.

00:03:29.360 And tell us what the impact of stolen valor is when you take credit for something that wasn't yours.

00:03:34.240 Well, it happens often.

00:03:36.500 And, you know, if you wear medals, for example, that you didn't earn, you can actually go to jail for that, like impersonating an officer.

00:03:44.300 You know, it's a violation of the criminal code.

00:03:46.280 But under the National Defense Act, under the ethos of our Canadian military, they are quite clear that, you know, you don't go around and polish up your own ego.

00:03:57.460 And it is frowned.

00:03:58.760 It's not just frowned upon.

00:03:59.640 You can be court-martialed for stealing valor.

00:04:03.360 And any time that you try to credit when it's a team effort and you try to personally benefit from it is something that is taken extremely seriously by our troops.

00:04:12.500 And so they find this actually very demoralizing.

00:04:15.520 And you tie that into how the minister has lied about how he's treating our troops in Kuwait that are in the fight against Afghanistan and doing the intelligence side of the business, not getting their danger pay.

00:04:28.140 They are demoralized.

00:04:29.420 And so this is starting to, you know, really resonate within our troops, our fighting force, our frontline soldiers.

00:04:37.940 And they don't trust him anymore.

00:04:40.800 And how is he supposed to lead when he doesn't have the trust of the military he's in charge of?

00:04:45.100 How does he actually continue to push out his defense policy when Canadians no longer believe him?

00:04:51.400 And, you know, as you've seen on the Internet, he's turned into a laughingstock.

00:04:55.240 And how is that going to resonate when he goes and meets with our allies in Brussels later this month to talk about defense policy?

00:05:03.040 We're talking with James Bazan, MP.

00:05:05.840 He's the conservative defense critic.

00:05:07.640 You've called on the defense minister, Sejan, to resign as a result of this.

00:05:12.500 And it couldn't come at a less opportune time, really, because he's trying to lead this new defense policy initiative.

00:05:21.720 Meanwhile, they're cutting the budget of the defense department.

00:05:24.360 So talk a little bit about how this impacts on his ability to do his job on behalf of Canada and Canadians.

00:05:31.020 Tony, I think you and I agree that he hasn't been an effective minister right from the get-go.

00:05:34.840 He's more of a figurehead than actually someone that's there advocating on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:05:39.800 And so the first two budgets the Liberals have rolled out has cut $12 billion from future spending.

00:05:46.160 Defense analyst David Perry said, you know, when you take away money from the military,

00:05:50.320 you know that the defense policy coming down the road is going to be less than ambitious.

00:05:53.400 So any talk that they're going to do in trying to spin that this DPR or the Defense Policy Review is good for Canada,

00:06:00.980 is good for our military, is just going to be spin.

00:06:04.040 And it's not going to at all provide the resources, the training, and the equipment that our troops need on the ground

00:06:11.260 to do the job that Parliament often calls upon them to do.

00:06:14.000 And more importantly, you know, this, again, comes down to his own credibility.

00:06:20.480 His reputation is tarnished and damaged beyond repair.

00:06:23.380 How is he going to go out there and sell it and people aren't going to believe him?

00:06:26.080 Well, that's a very good point.

00:06:27.740 Obviously, the Liberals have been stonewalling in Parliament on this issue,

00:06:30.520 but it's not going to go away, particularly when he rolls out the new defense policy.

00:06:34.320 Yeah, it's all going to be deferred spending.

00:06:35.740 It's all going to be, you know, something way down in the future,

00:06:38.580 because we know that $12 billion, they kicked down the road now for two decades.

00:06:42.420 So that doesn't make for a modern fighting force.

00:06:45.620 We're going to talk, move gears for the last couple of minutes, talk about the Magnitsky law.

00:06:50.740 Liberals have just announced that they are going to be pursuing this, which is good news.

00:06:54.460 I know you are at the forefront of advocating for this.

00:06:58.180 So tell our listeners a little bit about Magnitsky and why this is important.

00:07:01.580 Well, first of all, I have to give credit to Senator Reynel-Andrczyk.

00:07:04.420 This is her private member's bill that she started over in the Senate.

00:07:06.780 I had a similar bill in the House, but we started a parallel system.

00:07:11.160 And her bill actually is the best of all the versions that we've seen of the Magnitsky law over the years,

00:07:18.140 because it really dives down into human rights abusers as well as corrupt foreign officials.

00:07:22.460 But Sergei Meninsky was a freedom fighter in Russia, working on behalf of Bill Browder,

00:07:28.920 and did uncover the largest tax fraud in Russia.

00:07:32.400 A real whistleblower within Putin's regime there.

00:07:34.960 $227 million that Putin and his cronies were stealing from Bill Browder,

00:07:38.780 but they were actually stealing from the taxpayers of Russia.

00:07:41.980 And because of his efforts, he was wrongfully convicted in prison, tortured, and killed in Moscow in 2012.

00:07:50.220 And since then, Bill Browder, who's also a human rights fighter,

00:07:56.340 going out there and advocating for governments to make sure that corrupt Russian officials

00:08:02.860 and other officials around the world can't use their legally garnered monies

00:08:10.980 and hide them in offshore accounts, including here in Canada.

00:08:14.200 And Bill Browder just uncovered that over 30 banks were used in the last five years

00:08:18.680 by Russian shell companies to push through over $20 million.

00:08:24.120 So this is not a theoretical thing.

00:08:25.680 It's happening right now in Canada.

00:08:27.120 The proceeds of crime by corrupt government officials overseas is happening right here in Canada.

00:08:33.440 And the effort is to dial up the sanctions on these things?

00:08:36.920 Yeah, travel ban sanctions and making sure that Canada isn't a safe haven and isn't being used.

00:08:42.140 We want to make sure that the Department of Foreign Affairs, the RCMP and CSIS,

00:08:46.300 has the resources to actually go out there and freeze these accounts

00:08:51.920 and make sure these individuals never enter our country. 0.63

00:08:53.940 So it is a challenge, but although I'm glad that Minister Freeland has agreed to the Meninsky law, 0.98

00:09:03.520 we have to continue to work hard to ensure that it passes.

00:09:08.260 We know the Department of Foreign Affairs is not crazy about it because, as Stefan Dion used to say,

00:09:13.240 I want to talk to Russia.

00:09:14.720 We have a policy of responsible conviction, which all translates into appeasement.

00:09:20.120 And we don't appease dictators and despots.

00:09:23.420 We have to go out there and make sure that those that are carrying out the wishes of their leadership

00:09:28.400 and benefiting financially from it by being human rights abusers,

00:09:32.220 by being corrupt in their own governments, are held to account.

00:09:35.480 And this is the way Canada can do it and join the rest of the international community.

00:09:39.360 That's what we made the steps forward.

00:09:40.020 We're the outliers on this, so we're catching up to UK, USA, that kind of thing.

00:09:45.220 Well, listen, congratulations to Senator Andrew Chuck for spearheading that in the Senate.

00:09:49.800 Thank you to you for spearheading it in the House of Commons.

00:09:52.560 We've been talking to James Bazan, a member of Parliament, and our Conservative defence critic.

00:09:57.920 Thanks for joining us on Blueprint.

00:09:59.580 Thanks for having me on, Tony.

00:10:02.140 You're listening to Blueprint, Canada's Conservative podcast.

00:10:09.460 Browse all of our episodes at podcast.conservative.ca.

00:10:13.780 And now, back to the Blueprint, and your host, Tony Clement.

00:10:22.880 You're listening to Blueprint, Canada's Conservative podcast.

00:10:26.200 I'm your host, Tony Clement, Member of Parliament for Paris-San Muskoka.

00:10:29.920 And with me today, we have Michael Cooper, the Member of Parliament for St. Albert Edmonton.

00:10:35.420 And he's also our Deputy Critic for the Conservative Party for Justice.

00:10:39.500 Michael, welcome to the program.

00:10:40.680 Good to be here, Tony.

00:10:41.940 We're going to talk a little bit about Winn's Law, which is something that you have championed

00:10:45.940 in the House of Commons and was named after the late RCMP Constable David Winn.

00:10:50.560 So maybe talk a little bit about Constable Winn and then talk about how that created the movement

00:10:56.380 for Winn's Law.

00:10:57.200 Sure.

00:10:57.520 Well, back in January 2015, Constable David Winn, as well as Auxiliary Constable Derek Bond,

00:11:06.320 were attempting to arrest an individual on a series of outstanding charges.

00:11:12.620 And Constable Winn was fatally shot and killed.

00:11:16.940 And Auxiliary Constable Bond was shot, but survived.

00:11:21.160 But frankly, I've talked to him, and his life will obviously be never the same.

00:11:24.920 And the individual who murdered Constable Winn and shot Auxiliary Constable Bond was a career

00:11:34.380 criminal.

00:11:35.400 He was out on bail at the time, notwithstanding the fact that he had more than 50 prior criminal

00:11:41.900 convictions, 38 outstanding charges, numerous failures to appear.

00:11:47.040 And it prompted RCMP Commissioner Paulson to ask, how was it possible that such an individual

00:11:54.120 was walking amongst us in our community?

00:11:57.340 Right.

00:11:57.720 And one of the reasons why is because of a loophole in the criminal code.

00:12:03.260 And that is that it is discretionary whether the criminal history of a bail applicant is brought

00:12:08.840 to the attention of a judge or justice of a piece at a bail hearing.

00:12:12.840 In the case of Constable Winn's killer, that information was not brought forward.

00:12:18.480 And there's no doubt, in my mind, that had that information been brought forward with

00:12:23.700 this individual's extensive criminal history, he would have been kept behind bars where he

00:12:28.780 belonged.

00:12:29.680 And Constable Winn would be alive today.

00:12:33.620 And so in that case, the judge or the justice of the piece who was hearing the, who was presiding

00:12:39.140 over the bail hearing, had no evidence of priors or no evidence of this criminal history, this

00:12:45.840 likelihood that he was going to re-offend if he was on bail.

00:12:49.120 That's right.

00:12:49.700 He had none of that information.

00:12:51.360 She didn't have any of that information before her.

00:12:54.880 And so what Winn's law would do is close the loophole in the criminal code by simply requiring

00:13:02.340 prosecutors to lead evidence of the criminal history of bail applicants.

00:13:07.460 I mean, that's something that is always relevant and material at a bail hearing.

00:13:13.180 In fact, it's about the only thing that is often relevant and material is to know what

00:13:18.760 that history is so that a judge or JP can properly exercise for discretion in determining

00:13:25.280 whether someone should be kept behind bars or let out into the community.

00:13:28.860 So your bill currently before Parliament does that?

00:13:31.620 It closes that loophole in the criminal code?

00:13:33.080 The bill that had been introduced by Senator Runciman and that I've sponsored in the House

00:13:37.240 does exactly that.

00:13:38.620 Yeah.

00:13:38.800 So it's co-sponsored, Senator Bob Runciman in the Canadian Senate, Bill S-217.

00:13:45.260 Right.

00:13:45.520 And you've got, you're partnering with Senator Runciman to make sure that this is also debated

00:13:50.640 in the House of Commons.

00:13:51.520 Exactly.

00:13:52.020 And Senator Runciman was able to get it through the Senate last year.

00:13:57.060 It passed the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee unanimously.

00:14:01.660 It got through the Senate with the support of every single conservative and liberal senator.

00:14:07.820 And it wasn't until it got to the House of Commons that I guess the government to some

00:14:12.980 degree started to pay attention and decided to put politics ahead of public safety and coming

00:14:18.260 out against the bill.

00:14:19.060 So tell me a bit about that.

00:14:20.780 There's obviously some procedural wrangling that has gone on and some stonewalling by

00:14:25.560 the Liberals.

00:14:26.320 But bizarrely, they're laying up these barriers for this bill being passed.

00:14:33.040 Yeah.

00:14:33.400 Well, it's just incredible.

00:14:35.880 The government opposed the bill at second reading.

00:14:40.000 Nonetheless, I was able to convince 27 Liberal MPs to do the right thing, to put public safety

00:14:46.500 first and vote for Winslaw. 0.75

00:14:49.800 And so we were able to get it through.

00:14:51.740 That was an extraordinary moment, by the way, in the House of Commons for our listeners,

00:14:55.420 because basically, Michael, you did a lot of work behind the scenes and in the background,

00:15:01.840 talked to a lot of Liberal MPs.

00:15:03.240 And we had a whole raft of these Liberal backbenchers who basically defied their own Justice Minister

00:15:09.800 and the Prime Minister, who spoke, we are told, spoke against this Winslaw in the Liberal caucus.

00:15:16.700 And they were willing and able and were present in their seats to vote in favour of Winslaw passing.

00:15:23.860 Right.

00:15:24.300 It really wasn't.

00:15:25.480 What made the moment all the more emotional was the presence of Shelley McInnes Winn, 0.66

00:15:32.500 the widow of Constable Winn, who was present in the gallery to witness that.

00:15:36.520 Right.

00:15:36.740 And frankly, I was not expecting it to pass.

00:15:39.660 I mean, we fought hard, but we were expecting the worst.

00:15:44.340 And so it was just incredible to see that moment, to get it through second reading,

00:15:49.860 notwithstanding the very vigorous opposition of the government.

00:15:53.300 And then what happened, though?

00:15:54.480 Well, but then what happened is it went to committee, where effectively the Liberals have killed it in committee.

00:16:00.860 And that includes, in fairness, a few Liberal MPs on the committee who did vote for it at second reading.

00:16:08.760 One of the primary reasons members of the committee have opposed it is supposedly on the basis of delay.

00:16:17.420 I say that argument makes absolutely no sense.

00:16:20.500 The basis that it was going to delay proceedings.

00:16:23.180 It would somehow delay bail hearings.

00:16:26.840 Well, I would say a couple of things to that.

00:16:28.800 First of all, the bail hearing of Constable Winn's killer was an incredibly efficient bail hearing.

00:16:36.920 It had, however, fatal consequences.

00:16:40.300 I mean, quite frankly, if it's going to slow things down a little bit to make sure that this kind of information is brought forward,

00:16:47.180 well, then that needs to happen, quite frankly, to prevent people like Constable Winn's killer from being let out.

00:16:53.680 But the other thing is, one of the things that we did here at the Justice Committee over and over and over again,

00:17:00.880 including from people who opposed the bill, was the fact that prosecutors almost always do it.

00:17:07.680 We were told that this is the first thing that prosecutors learn about bail hearings.

00:17:11.620 It's the bread and butter of what prosecutors do at bail hearings in terms of leading this evidence of criminal history of bail applicants.

00:17:20.240 So if something is almost always done, and this legislation would simply close the loophole to make sure that it's not almost always done,

00:17:29.400 but always done, I don't think that one can reasonably make the argument that this is going to create any kind of significant backlog in terms of the courts.

00:17:37.760 And I also have to say that it's really the height of hypocrisy for the Liberals to be talking about delay

00:17:47.080 when these Liberal MPs on the committee have stood in silence.

00:17:52.300 As for Justice Minister, fails to do one of the easiest things to do in terms of reducing the backlog,

00:17:59.100 and that is to fill the historic number of judicial vacancies that this Minister of Justice is responsible for in terms of failing to fill.

00:18:09.260 I think right now we've got 62 judicial vacancies. It's just incredible.

00:18:12.920 Right, so that's creating the delay.

00:18:14.740 We're talking, by the way, to Michael Cooper.

00:18:17.000 He's the Member of Parliament for St. Albert Edmonton, the Deputy Critic for Justice for the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:18:23.680 Michael, thank you for being on the program.

00:18:25.920 So where do we go from here with respect to Winslow?

00:18:28.360 I know you're continuing to lead the campaign both publicly and in the House of Commons.

00:18:32.720 Yeah, well, I think we're going to keep fighting, but for all intents and purposes now that the Justice Committee has recommended that the bill not proceed,

00:18:42.060 the Liberal-dominated Justice Committee, I think it's very unlikely that Winslow will become the law in this Parliament.

00:18:50.160 But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep on fighting.

00:18:53.860 I know in my community in Edmonton there's a real sense of outrage over this.

00:19:00.220 So I think we'll keep fighting until the vote, and assuming that the Liberals voted down, they're going to have to be held accountable.

00:19:09.980 There's still another vote in the House of Commons for the committee recommendation to make it to the House.

00:19:14.420 That's right, and, you know, it's obviously very disappointing.

00:19:18.540 But at the same time, I have to say, given the government's opposition, I was surprised that it went as far as it did.

00:19:26.120 And it has brought attention to this important issue, and you know as well as anyone that in the case of private members' bills,

00:19:37.360 that sometimes it takes more than one Parliament to get the right legislation passed.

00:19:42.040 Michael Cooper, what can the public do?

00:19:44.160 Is there a petition board or a comment board, or should they write a letter?

00:19:48.500 What should they do?

00:19:49.060 Well, I did have an e-petition, a Winslaw Now petition, that was signed by thousands of Canadians.

00:19:57.220 So I will be tabling that petition in the House of Commons.

00:20:01.520 Excellent.

00:20:01.960 And what I would encourage your listeners to do is call their MP to tell them that this law is important,

00:20:09.980 that this loophole needs to be closed because it can save lives.

00:20:12.920 Well, Michael Cooper, thanks for being on the program and continue the great work on behalf of Canadians for Winslaw

00:20:18.640 and generally in the causes of justice that you're championing.

00:20:21.960 Right. Well, thanks, Tony.

00:20:23.000 Thank you.

00:20:24.920 You're listening to Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:20:32.220 Browse all of our episodes at podcast.conservative.ca.

00:20:36.460 And now, back to The Blueprint, and your host, Tony Clement.

00:20:45.580 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast, the official podcast of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:20:52.120 And I'm your host, Tony Clement, Member of Parliament for Paris Saint-Maskocca.

00:20:55.960 And with me is Mr. Blake Richards, Member of Parliament for Banff-Airdrie.

00:21:00.040 Blake, welcome to the program.

00:21:01.400 Thanks for having me, Tony.

00:21:02.420 You are the chair of the Conservative Party of Canada Tourism Outreach Caucus, which is a big caucus, by the way.

00:21:09.320 Tell us a little bit about that and what you do with respect to the Outreach Caucus, and then we'll take it from there.

00:21:14.640 Yeah, that sounds great.

00:21:15.440 Yeah, it is a big caucus.

00:21:16.680 We've got a lot of interest in tourism amongst our caucus,

00:21:20.200 and that's because I think that our caucus recognizes really well that tourism plays a really important role in our economy.

00:21:25.940 I mean, we only have to look at tens of thousands.

00:21:29.300 It's almost 200,000 businesses that are, you know, employed, I guess we'll say, by the tourism ministry.

00:21:36.300 And then you would look at, you know, 1.6 million Canadians that have a job that relates to the tourism ministry.

00:21:42.020 So we all get that it's important to our constituencies because it's important in every community all across the country,

00:21:48.040 and one that creates a lot of economic activity for our country.

00:21:53.680 And so the Tourism Outreach Caucus, we get together, I'm a member of this caucus too,

00:21:58.400 we get together on a regular basis and discuss tourism issues,

00:22:02.740 and not only from a parliamentary point of view, but from an economic point of view.

00:22:06.500 And one of the issues that came up, of course, was something that was unfairly targeting campground owners and other small operations.

00:22:15.400 Tell us a little bit about what the Liberal government is trying to do here.

00:22:18.060 Yeah, it's actually quite shocking.

00:22:20.540 I just actually came from the industry committee where I was asking the tourism minister about this,

00:22:26.800 based on a letter that she and the Minister of Revenue and also the Minister of Finance had co-authored to some of the campground officials.

00:22:35.140 And it's really quite shocking what they're essentially telling these small businesses.

00:22:39.440 Campgrounds are one.

00:22:40.480 There's actually many storages that have been affected as well.

00:22:42.960 And we're really concerned it could be a lot of other, it could be golf courses, it could be bed and breakfasts,

00:22:47.240 it could be a lot of marinas, there's a lot of potential businesses that could be affected here.

00:22:51.780 So far, it's been confined to those two particular industries.

00:22:54.860 And so what it's essentially doing is they're saying they're too small to be a small business,

00:22:58.980 which I know sounds ridiculous when you think about it on the surface.

00:23:01.560 Right.

00:23:01.780 But essentially what it is is...

00:23:03.180 And this is for taxation purposes.

00:23:04.400 Yes, it's for taxation purposes.

00:23:05.520 Yeah, so this is about my big tax hit here.

00:23:08.440 Yeah, to be able to qualify for the small business deduction.

00:23:10.540 That's what it is.

00:23:11.200 And so there's, to really simplify it, because as you know, the tax code is anything but simple,

00:23:15.500 but we'll simplify it the best we can.

00:23:17.200 There's essentially two triggers that would determine whether you could be considered an active

00:23:21.320 or passive income for this particular purpose.

00:23:23.820 And what it is, is first of all, you've got to have five full-time year-round employees to be able to qualify.

00:23:33.500 Well, you can imagine for a lot of tourism businesses, that's going to be very difficult

00:23:36.980 because they're not necessarily year-round businesses.

00:23:40.500 Campgrounds are one of those, you know, in fact, in many cases, it's government mandated even that they can't be open year-round.

00:23:46.560 So there's a problem right there.

00:23:48.440 And the second provision, and part of it, is that Revenue Canada has to determine that their business is an active business.

00:23:57.380 And this is an arbitrary decision that Revenue Canada gets to make.

00:24:00.260 That's how it's currently set up anyway.

00:24:01.880 So their inspectors can wake up one morning and decide you're not an active business.

00:24:05.380 And that's exactly what's happened.

00:24:06.800 We've got campgrounds right now that are in court with the government on this.

00:24:10.940 And it's based on what's happened is Revenue Canada has decided that every year they've been doing these things

00:24:15.020 exactly the same as they've been doing in past years.

00:24:17.200 They file their taxes, and all of a sudden, they're reassessed, not only for the current year,

00:24:23.300 but they go back, what they've been doing is going back three years.

00:24:26.460 So for a lot of these businesses, this is tens of thousands of dollars that we're talking about here.

00:24:30.700 So they made it retroactive as well.

00:24:32.240 Exactly.

00:24:32.760 Wow.

00:24:33.000 Exactly.

00:24:33.320 So in some of these cases, I think one of the cases we saw was almost about $300,000 that they were,

00:24:38.800 because it's a tripling of their tax rate, essentially.

00:24:41.760 And they've been paying it, and as far as they know, they were doing everything right.

00:24:45.880 And according to Revenue Canada, they were doing everything right.

00:24:47.880 And suddenly, they just arbitrarily decide that they're going to change this.

00:24:51.620 So it's put some of these campgrounds and some of these self-storage facilities out of business.

00:24:55.660 So you've talked to a lot of these campground owners.

00:24:58.120 What are they saying?

00:24:59.420 Obviously, this is just disastrous for them.

00:25:01.960 Well, obviously.

00:25:02.880 I mean, when it's putting them out of business or the threat of doing that.

00:25:06.300 And of course, they're all worried now, because what do we do, right?

00:25:10.300 We believe we're doing everything right.

00:25:12.120 We continue to do it.

00:25:13.180 But we don't know when we're going to wake up tomorrow when something's different, as far as Revenue Canada is concerned.

00:25:17.120 So what we had actually done when we were in government, Tony, was, as you know, in our last budget,

00:25:23.040 we had instituted a review of these rules.

00:25:26.200 And the goal was, of course, to try and clarify this so that this wouldn't be something that Revenue Canada could arbitrarily just determine.

00:25:31.800 That review began, and 12 of 13 stakeholders that came before the review said, this needs to change.

00:25:40.320 There's a problem here.

00:25:42.000 The Liberal government actually, in their first budget, canceled that review.

00:25:45.740 And then in August of last year, suddenly, guess what?

00:25:49.940 There's an interpretation of the rules that comes up from Revenue Canada that says, oh, guess what?

00:25:53.820 We're going to go after these guys.

00:25:55.300 And so what they're doing, the latest thing that's happening with this is they're in a situation now where Revenue Canada says,

00:26:01.680 okay, well, how about you provide us a list of the services you provide, and we can try to determine whether you're an active business.

00:26:06.280 Well, first of all, anyone who's ever camped knows that, you know, it's not a passive income earned by a campground owner.

00:26:12.500 They provide a whole host of services to their guests, right?

00:26:15.540 I mean, we all know that.

00:26:17.020 In fact, they probably work as hard as anyone out there I can imagine.

00:26:20.720 In many cases, it's a small family-run operation, and they're working 24 hours a day almost.

00:26:24.740 Yeah, my experience is a lot of these are family-run, for sure.

00:26:27.260 Right, and so they can be up at 3 in the morning providing security, or they can be up at 4.30 in the morning to fix, you know, a shower that's not working, or, you know, whatever it might be, right?

00:26:38.060 And so they're saying, give us a list of the services you provide.

00:26:42.080 So they're providing the lists.

00:26:44.320 And then Revenue Canada says, well, what do you charge for each of these services?

00:26:47.440 Well, as we know, when you go camping, how it works is you pay a fee, and everything's kind of a part of that.

00:26:53.740 So Revenue Canada says, well, no, no, no, I mean, you've got to do it just like the government does.

00:26:57.120 You've got to charge for everything, right?

00:26:58.520 Find a way to nickel and dime people.

00:26:59.900 So they're saying, if you don't charge individually for X, Y, and Z service, it's not a service.

00:27:06.140 How does that make any sense?

00:27:07.540 Wow.

00:27:08.200 So, by the way, I'm talking with Blake Richards, the Member of Parliament for Banff Airdrie.

00:27:12.760 Blake, thanks for being on the show.

00:27:14.060 He's the chair of the Conservative Party of Canada Tourism Outreach Caucus, talking a little bit about changes to campground owners' rules, tax rules, basically, that's hurting them.

00:27:25.480 So, now, I think you asked the Revenue Minister what's going on here and received a very insulting reply.

00:27:31.460 So talk a little bit about that. 0.78

00:27:32.700 Yeah, it actually has been pretty pathetic, really, Tony.

00:27:36.520 Over a number of months, we've asked the, you know, first of all, we started by, of course, writing letters to the Revenue Minister, the Finance Minister.

00:27:44.680 We got, you know, really sort of, it was a brush off of a response.

00:27:50.920 And, you know, so then we thought, well, we'll take this a little further.

00:27:55.220 We'll ask about this in question period.

00:27:56.920 And over a number of months, I asked this question and got the same response over and over again.

00:28:02.100 No matter how many times you try to explain, look, this has clearly been changed.

00:28:06.080 We show why it's been, how it's been changed, what's been done.

00:28:09.340 Can prove it from looking at our budget, their budget, and the change that was made.

00:28:13.260 We can show them the interpretation bulletin.

00:28:14.880 And we've done all of that.

00:28:16.880 You know, I did that at committee.

00:28:17.860 I actually tabled that interpretation bulletin so all Liberal members, including the Revenue Minister, could see it.

00:28:23.440 And the response continues to be this really insulting answer.

00:28:26.300 It's, well, we've got to make sure everyone pays their fair share. 0.96

00:28:29.000 And we really do support small businesses, but, you know, nothing's really changed here when it's clear to the contrary.

00:28:37.740 Yeah, I mean, when you say pay your fair share, you're basically accusing these small businesses of being criminals.

00:28:42.620 Exactly.

00:28:43.080 You're saying they're tax evaders.

00:28:44.100 They're tax evaders.

00:28:44.700 Which is really insulting.

00:28:45.760 Very insulting for these hardworking business people.

00:28:48.320 So what can we do?

00:28:50.020 I know you've raised this in question period, raised it at a committee.

00:28:52.980 What are you asking people to do to help us change the mind of the bureaucrats and of the Liberal government?

00:28:58.460 Well, we're really encouraging people.

00:29:00.240 They've got to get active on this because if you own a small business and you've got any kind of a land component to it, this could be you that's affected next.

00:29:07.300 So don't just think this is about campgrounds and say, well, sorry, tough luck for them.

00:29:12.160 What you need to do is be vocal on this.

00:29:15.280 I'm telling people, you know, meet with your local MP.

00:29:18.340 Write letters to your local MP.

00:29:19.680 Write letters to the Revenue Minister, the Prime Minister.

00:29:21.580 You can also go onto my website at blakerichards.ca where there is actually an opportunity for you to have your say on this issue.

00:29:28.060 And we would then send you a petition that you can distribute to your friends as well and try and gather signatures to try and push for this issue to be changed.

00:29:35.740 So you've got to have your say icon and people can click on that.

00:29:38.520 That's right.

00:29:38.960 Exactly.

00:29:39.360 And add their comments to it as well and add that to the chorus really that's going on right now.

00:29:44.120 That's right.

00:29:44.560 Exactly, Tony.

00:29:45.160 Well, I think that's really important.

00:29:46.980 And I want to say, I mean, we as a party, first of all, a lot of us came from the small business sector.

00:29:53.580 I myself was a co-owner of a small business.

00:29:56.160 And secondly, we take it very seriously that we want to be the voice of small business because they're the backbone of our economy and our society.

00:30:03.180 So, Blake, thank you for the work that you're doing on this particular issue.

00:30:07.340 Thank you for the work you're doing on tourism generally.

00:30:10.220 But I think it's very important that we continue to represent small business in our country.

00:30:14.200 Absolutely.

00:30:14.680 I mean, we only have to look at everything this Liberal government has done.

00:30:18.380 I mean, it seems to just be piled on.

00:30:20.660 It's small businesses who are taking the brunt of this, right?

00:30:22.900 I mean, first of all, you know, essentially they've raised their taxes by not following through with the plan to lower the taxes that we had.

00:30:29.400 And then there just continues to be a hit after hit, you know, things like carbon taxes and payroll taxes.

00:30:34.200 And then there's a number of changes in the last budget that really affect small businesses and hurt them significantly.

00:30:39.020 Well, this is not a one-off.

00:30:40.440 This is part of a general train that's going down the tracks here that the Liberals are hitting small business every which way.

00:30:47.820 That's it, exactly.

00:30:48.620 And we're going to be up there to fight for small business owners and Canadians that are employed by them every step of the way.

00:30:53.700 Well, Blake Richards, thank you for being part of Blueprint today.

00:30:56.300 Absolutely.

00:30:56.720 Thank you, Tony.

00:30:57.220 Coming up next, a special speech from our outgoing and amazing interim leader, Ronna Ambrose.

00:31:05.960 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:31:13.280 Browse all of our episodes at podcast.conservative.ca.

00:31:20.800 And now, back to The Blueprint and your host, Tony Clement.

00:31:24.560 The goodbye party, really, for the party, for the Honourable Ronna Ambrose.

00:31:32.840 She's leaving us and leaving politics, and we wish her well.

00:31:36.400 Here's what happened at caucus this week.

00:31:38.200 Thanks, everybody.

00:31:46.480 Thank you.

00:31:47.800 Thanks, everybody.

00:31:49.220 Thank you.

00:31:51.080 Thank you.

00:31:52.120 Thanks, everyone.

00:31:53.320 Thank you so much.

00:31:55.020 Thank you so much.

00:31:57.140 Colleagues, friends, Sheikh Azmi, it was about a year and a half ago

00:32:01.580 that we gathered together for the first time after the election.

00:32:05.400 Six million Canadians had voted for the Conservative Party,

00:32:08.900 more than in 2006 and 2008, but it wasn't enough,

00:32:14.220 and we were back on the opposition benches.

00:32:16.420 When we suffered a reverse, there was always a risk that we let us define ourselves.

00:32:23.240 We're stuck on the defeat, and we're leaving the ground,

00:32:27.360 fâchés and contrariés.

00:32:29.860 But this is not the way to do it, the Conservatives.

00:32:34.380 And this is not what it is.

00:32:36.360 Six million Canadians, men and women, who work hard,

00:32:41.380 and who are the base of our support, are waiting for us.

00:32:44.900 When we were faced with a setback, there's always a risk

00:32:51.860 that we'll let it define us.

00:32:54.220 We'll dwell on the loss and retreat from the field angry and upset.

00:32:59.300 But that is not the Conservative way.

00:33:03.480 Nope.

00:33:08.400 Nope.

00:33:09.080 Thank you.

00:33:14.900 And that is not what those six million Canadians,

00:33:20.500 hard-working men and women, who are the bedrock of our support,

00:33:25.580 expected us to do.

00:33:27.360 They needed a voice in Ottawa.

00:33:29.540 They needed Conservatives to fight for them.

00:33:32.320 Canadians expected a Conservative Party to give a voice

00:33:35.560 to hard-working families and taxpayers.

00:33:37.960 And we did it.

00:33:40.180 And Canadians asked us to change our tone.

00:33:43.560 And we did it.

00:33:44.800 We changed our tone.

00:33:46.200 And we showed Canadians a Conservative team

00:33:48.860 that is a real, viable alternative

00:33:51.940 to the arrogant, entitled, out-of-touch Liberal government.

00:33:56.100 And it took the Liberals no time at all to get back to their old ways.

00:34:14.120 They promised they'd help the middle class.

00:34:16.380 Instead, they nickel-and-dimed families with tax hikes

00:34:20.860 to pay for their reckless spending.

00:34:23.340 They said they'd grow the economy by borrowing only $10 billion.

00:34:29.940 But their own reports show that the budget won't be balanced

00:34:49.980 until our kids are in their 50s.

00:34:52.060 And Justin Trudeau said that he would be different.

00:34:57.220 A different kind of Liberal.

00:34:59.580 They'd be open and accountable.

00:35:01.840 Not like the bad old days of the sponsorship scandal.

00:35:05.420 But very quickly, they gave in to the old instincts.

00:35:09.700 They were entitled to their entitlements.

00:35:12.140 They helped themselves to generous moving expenses,

00:35:15.320 comfortable limo rides, and office renovations

00:35:18.020 too tempting to pass up.

00:35:19.700 The Liberals collected big donations

00:35:22.320 from people looking for access to the Prime Minister

00:35:25.260 and access to the government,

00:35:27.680 even those representing a foreign regime.

00:35:30.600 And the Prime Minister himself broke the rules

00:35:33.260 to enjoy a trip to a private island in the Caribbean

00:35:36.120 and spent $30,000 on Broadway tickets.

00:35:40.860 Mais heureusement, pour les contribuables,

00:35:43.360 les conservateurs du Canada étaient là.

00:35:45.760 Nous étions prêtes à leur demander des comptes

00:35:49.320 pour ces cynismes, cet élitisme, et cette arrogance.

00:35:53.680 Nous sommes ici pour défendre les citoyens ordinaires

00:35:57.220 et leurs familles, et plus de réaliser des choses importants.

00:36:01.500 But fortunately for the taxpayer,

00:36:03.460 Canada's Conservatives were here.

00:36:06.280 We were ready to hold them to account

00:36:08.520 for the cynicism, elitism, and arrogance.

00:36:11.600 Many of these outrageous examples

00:36:14.220 of Liberal entitlement

00:36:15.220 would never have seen the light of day

00:36:18.340 not for the hard work

00:36:20.000 of the Conservatives in this room

00:36:22.280 defending the taxpayer.

00:36:24.220 We are here to look out

00:36:31.440 for everyday working Canadians and their families,

00:36:34.000 and at the same time, we're getting things done.

00:36:37.120 When Justin Trudeau tried to change

00:36:39.020 what Canadians' vote means,

00:36:41.820 without a referendum, we stopped him.

00:36:45.220 When the Liberals wouldn't do anything

00:36:47.000 to help the Yazidis,

00:36:48.300 the most vulnerable victims of ISIS,

00:36:51.080 Conservatives forced them

00:36:52.620 to recognize the genocide

00:36:54.080 and secured refuge for the women and girls

00:36:56.500 in greatest danger.

00:37:09.500 Canadians, Canadians have noticed

00:37:11.960 our hard work, and believe me,

00:37:14.300 so have the Liberals.

00:37:16.080 They weren't counting on this.

00:37:17.800 They expected us to repeat

00:37:19.720 all of their mistakes in opposition.

00:37:22.640 They thought they'd have

00:37:23.420 a free hand in Parliament.

00:37:25.460 But instead, I think a different thought

00:37:27.760 is dawning on them.

00:37:29.220 Maybe Justin Trudeau

00:37:30.440 could be a one-term Prime Minister.

00:37:32.440 If we've shown anything in the last 18 months,

00:37:52.980 it's that he can be beaten in 2019.

00:37:56.000 As a party, we are strong,

00:37:58.660 we are focused, and we are united.

00:38:00.100 Almost 260,000 Canadians are now members

00:38:03.520 of the Conservative Party of Canada,

00:38:05.400 a testament not just to the hard work

00:38:07.900 of our leadership candidates,

00:38:09.220 but to the broad appeal of our message

00:38:11.360 right across this country.

00:38:17.820 And there are other numbers

00:38:19.720 to prove that support.

00:38:21.000 In the first quarter of the year,

00:38:22.760 Conservatives raised almost three times

00:38:25.540 as much as the Liberals,

00:38:27.080 from thousands and thousands

00:38:28.460 of more Canadians.

00:38:29.880 And our results in the last by-elections

00:38:31.800 and in the polls show that

00:38:33.400 more and more Canadians

00:38:34.720 are voting for us or considering it.

00:38:37.920 And there was no guarantee

00:38:39.060 that things would turn out this way.

00:38:40.540 It was up to us in this room.

00:38:43.300 We had the strengths within ourselves

00:38:45.020 and within our movement

00:38:46.160 to regroup and rebuild

00:38:48.140 stronger and better than ever.

00:38:50.620 It has been a privilege

00:38:51.960 to have led the Conservative Party

00:38:53.580 in this phase.

00:38:54.300 But as I pass the torch,

00:38:56.140 I have to tell you

00:38:56.920 I am confident

00:38:57.900 about the future

00:38:59.160 of the Conservative Party

00:39:00.400 and about the future

00:39:01.520 of this country.

00:39:02.980 In 10 days,

00:39:04.140 we will know

00:39:04.640 who will lead the Conservatives

00:39:06.980 to the next election.

00:39:08.860 No matter who wins,

00:39:10.820 we will be in our hands.

00:39:12.700 We will unite

00:39:13.740 around the values

00:39:14.980 and the principles

00:39:15.680 that we have always defended.

00:39:17.680 It is our love

00:39:18.820 for Canada,

00:39:20.000 our country

00:39:20.840 et le meilleur pays du monde.

00:39:22.980 In 10 days,

00:39:24.140 we will know

00:39:24.720 who will lead Conservatives

00:39:26.040 into the next election.

00:39:27.640 And I have no doubt

00:39:29.360 in my mind

00:39:30.140 that together

00:39:30.720 with this team

00:39:31.540 in this room,

00:39:32.720 the next leader

00:39:33.600 will be the next Prime Minister

00:39:35.020 of this country.

00:39:38.400 Absolutely.

00:39:38.960 We will unite

00:39:54.140 around the values

00:39:55.280 and principles

00:39:56.140 we've always stood for

00:39:57.540 and around our love

00:39:58.840 of Canada,

00:39:59.900 our home,

00:40:00.840 and the greatest country

00:40:02.040 in the world.

00:40:02.800 And we'll unite,

00:40:04.340 we will unite

00:40:05.180 around the leader

00:40:05.920 chosen by our members

00:40:07.340 of our party.

00:40:08.120 We will offer them

00:40:09.600 all of the passion

00:40:11.140 and determination

00:40:11.960 that we've given

00:40:12.860 to our work

00:40:13.480 over the past year and a half.

00:40:15.440 Because,

00:40:16.140 let me tell you,

00:40:17.220 when Canada's Conservatives

00:40:18.480 are strong,

00:40:19.780 focused,

00:40:20.340 and united,

00:40:21.420 Justin Trudeau

00:40:22.160 should be very worried.

00:40:23.920 Thanks, everybody.

00:40:25.200 Merci beaucoup.

00:40:26.380 Merci beaucoup.

00:40:28.200 Thank you.

00:40:29.260 Thanks so much, everyone.

00:40:30.980 Thank you.

00:40:32.020 Thank you.

00:40:33.620 Thank you very much.

00:40:35.440 Thank you.

00:40:36.260 Thank you.

00:40:38.120 Thank you for listening

00:40:39.320 to The Blueprint,

00:40:40.220 Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:40:42.340 To find more episodes,

00:40:43.760 interviews,

00:40:44.220 and in-depth discussions

00:40:45.140 of politics in Canada,

00:40:46.620 search for The Blueprint

00:40:47.480 on iTunes

00:40:48.140 or visit

00:40:48.620 podcast.conservative.ca.

00:40:50.980 Thank you.

00:40:55.040 Thank you.

00:40:56.980 Thank you very much.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - May 18, 2017

Full episode： May 18, 2017

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